nice to know you

I'm listening to Incubus' 2001 smash MORNING VIEW via Imeem; back in the day I couldn't get my head around their sound, like, what the heck was the big deal? It seemed dense, shallow, minimalistic, just not much to chew on. Now those big hits, "Warning", "Nice To Know You", etc. come back to me as nostalgic. Weird how things look in hindsight......

best of, not greatest hits

Ok, I'm tired of people assembling "best of" packages and treating them like "greatest hits" packages. The radio jingles are not always the BEST songs. That's not to say the radio doesn't play must-have music, but all too often radio just plays songs that are danceable or easy to remember for some reason that's more annoyance-related than its positive impact on the human brain (or "heart" as some might say...).

So, since I've heard just about every Michael Jackson album out there (I haven't listened to OFF THE WALL in many many years and I've only heard clips of INVINCIBLE plus "You Rock My World", which has a dumb intro on the original album version, ommited on "THE ESSENTIAL" 2CD set released a few years ago) and since everybody's going crazy over his talent after being reminded of it after he died at a relatively young age (which is probably the most relevant thing he's done in over 10 years), I decided to show off my compilation-making prowess with this list of songs that effect me THE BEST.

THE BETTER BEST OF MICHAEL JACKSON 1979-2001
Disc One
Rock With You - Michael Jackson
Human Nature - Michael Jackson
P.Y.T. - Michael Jackson
The Lady In My Life - Michael Jackson
For All Time - Michael Jackson
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
Speed Demon - Michael Jackson
Liberian Girl - Michael Jackson
Just Good Friends - Michael Jackson
Another Part of Me - Michael Jackson
Man In The Mirror - Michael Jackson
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You - Michael Jackson
Leave Me Alone - Michael Jackson
Streetwalker - Michael Jackson
Disc Two
In The Closet - Michael Jackson
Can’t Let Her Get Away - Michael Jackson
Who Is It? - Michael Jackson
Give Into Me - Michael Jackson
They Don’t Care About Us - Michael Jackson
Stranger In Moscow - Michael Jackson
History - Michael Jackson
Little Suzie - Michael Jackson
Blood On The Dance Floor - Michael Jackson
Morphine - Michael Jackson
You Rock My World - Michael Jackson

weeeeeeeee - $37M for DISTRICT 9

According to stats sent to me by Newburycomics.com, the Peter Travers-approved film DISTRICT 9 looks to have already made its money back. It cost'd $30 million, and it opened with $37M.

Of course, for some dumb reason, when a studio or person/business says how much a film cost to make, they only include the production costs, not the cost of advertising etc...so hopefully by/on next week(end), we'll see that investment returned and then some...

Let's hear it for smart movies!!

a tale of two decades - from music with love...

I think I've managed to narrow down my "favorite CDs" to two. There's lots of CDs I like, some of which i love (maybe), but these are the two that could last forever...they are polar opposites in terms of focus

HIDDEN IN PLAIN VIEW - RESOLUTION (2007)
Released on an independent record label (Drive-Thru), it's a straight-forward, clear-headed, intense and serious-minded work of art.

MARILYN MANSON - ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR (1996)
Released under Uni Distribution (a mega-million dollar conglomerate), it's a somewhat (?) experimental, somewhat (?) tongue-in-cheek, slightly serious, intense work of art (?).

Both of these CDs leave me breathless and amazed if I don't overdo listening to them.