If you just watched the preview for The Box, you will have noticed it is by the same guy who directed Donnie Darko. His name is Richard Kelly and I think he might just be one of the best filmmakers of his time. He created a magnificent piece of work in Donnie Darko with an extremely low budget ($4.5M) and did it in only 28 days.

Sure…the film tanked at the box office but you have the terrorists who crashed into some planes into some buildings up in New York about a month before. After 9/11, I don’t think anybody was thinking about seeing “a psychological thriller” about some freaky looking bunny so it didn’t make shit in the box office. It gained a cult following after its DVD release and all the hipster fanboys debated what it was about over yuppie coffee drinks at their local coffee shop. I love the movie. If you don’t like it, it won’t offend me (but I probably will think less of you as a person). I just hate the hipster fanboys forcing certain interpretations down peoples’ throats. It makes me want to set my hair on fire.

Kelly followed with Southland Tales starring The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Stifler, and J-Tim. It has a plethora of other actors and actresses that you know from all different parts of Hollywood in it, too. It is really hard to classify this film because it defies genres. It is fictional story set after a nuclear explosion that started WWIII. It follows the four main characters (mostly) throughout the film and it really seems to be a parody of the government that we have seen for the past 10-15 years. It is quirky and fun but really has a powerful message. I recommend watching it and then re-watching it after you had some time to marinate on the story. It got bad reviews but I think Southland Tales will stand the test of time and be a film that people will understand better over the years.

Editor’s Note: Richard Kelly is a great person because he said that he wouldn’t be any part in that “sequel” to Donnie Darko called S. Darko that was blatantly a shallow attempt to make a few bucks off of the consumer. I haven’t seen it yet but I know I will be mad when I see the $1 charge from RedBox on my credit card statement.

Anyways, let’s discuss The Box. I have only read a few articles about it and seen the preview. The first thing that really stuck out to me is that this isn’t Richard Kelly’s original idea. He has taken the short story ‘Button, Button’ by Richard Matheson (who has also written some classics like What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes and a shitload of other novels and short stories which some were turned into movies and TV episodes). Since ‘Button, Button’ was a short story (and also an episode of the Twilight Zone), I am guessing that Kelly has but his own little quirky and original twist to the film.

The basic premise of the story is that someone is delivered a box with a button and there is a note that says someone will come by and explain what is going on. The person comes by and tells them that they will receive a large sum of money if the press the button but the only thing is that someone they don’t know will die if they press it.  Suspense ensues…but you probably got all of that from the preview earlier.

I thought the entire preview looked pretty bad ass…minus the casting. I am not really a big fan of Cameron Diaz. She has only done a few things that I have enjoyed and that was because they were comedies (There’s Something About Mary, The Mask, Being John Malkovich and Feeling Minnesota) and didn’t really need a whole lot of great acting except for the Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich. The male lead has pieced me off since I first saw him act which I thought was X-Men (he plays Cyclops) but was actually the shitty teen suspense thriller Disturbing Behavior. He looks like a complete douchebag and probably is.

The one redeeming factor in the main cast is Frank Langella. This guy is a total badass. Sure…he’s old but this guy played Skeletor in Masters of the Universe. I don’t think you can get more bad ass than that. He is also up on his acting chops with his recent performance in Frost/Nixon and was nominated for a bunch of stuff. Unlike Cameron Diaz, he hasn’t been hiding behind a large green cartoon ogre for the past couple of years.

All in all, I think Richard Kelly might make up for these two. The cast is loaded with some really weird looking people so I imagine there are going to be some freaky startling scenes in the film. I have been waiting for this film for about five to six years and I am glad that it is finally coming to theaters on October 10th.

I have been working on my new site about East Carolina sports called 200 Years Too Late where I have spent the last few months designing it and getting it ready for football season. It has taken a lot of work but now we have a great team of writers on there that are putting a lot of work into getting it ready. I hope you will go check it out.

I am kind of turning the Observation Bubble away from what  it used to be which was a caffeine induced frenzy of giving the readers whatever I found cool on the web (i.e. hot chicks, funny videos, funny news, etc.) or some random musings by me or Scotty G with an emphasis on music and sports. It had grown into a requirement of posting 5-6 things a day which got pretty grueling after my real job began to require longer hours. The O.B. was starting to feel more like a job than what I wanted it to be when I first started it: fun.

I will not be advertising (for now) on the site and will post anywhere from 2-3 times a week to 4-5 times a month depending on how much time I have or if I feel like writing. I am going to start sharing some pictures that I have taken under the new page on the site called big guy/little guy photography. I don’t have anything up there yet but will post some of my shots (which I think are really good) sometime soon from the All Good Festival  earlier this month.

I gotta thank a bunch of sites/people that I now consider friends like Gunaxin, The Bachelor Guy, Illuminati, Gibbs, MoonDog, Brahsome, Jimmy Traina, Cuzoogle, on205th, The Beer Goggler, The World of Isaac & Sharapova’s Thigh because they all really welcomed me and the O.B. into the blogging world. Also, gotta thank the guys at Hugging Harold Reynolds for setting up Blogs With Balls because it helped me find my new sports blogging passion, 200 Years Too Late. I am also going to try to freelance some to get my real name out there which, by the way, is Charlie Brinson.

Hopefully, you will continue to check out the O.B. when you can. Subscribing to RSS might be the easiest way to stay updated.

Take it easy…

GhostLikeSwayze

It is festival season and I couldn’t be more excited. What is better than being able to go to one place and see tons of bands that you listen to on a regular basis all in the same weekend? I can’t think of too many things. This is car camping at its finest. I had been trying to round up a group of friends to take up to Grayson Highlands for a little ten miler but the trip hasn’t been set in stone yet.

I think that I may get my fix of fresh mountain air and scenery while I am at the 13th annual All Good Music Festival at the beginning of July. I have seen a couple of pictures from the past few years and the scene looks incredible. I am looking forward to being able to get out in the open, relax and listen to some good tunes with a good crowd.

You may see the ticket price of festivals and get a little scared if you haven’t been to one before. Don’t let it scare you. It is an unbelievable deal. Think about the last concert that you went to. My last pricey concert ticket (outside of Phish) was kind of embarrassing. I paid $50 to go see Kings of Leon at Bojangles’ Coliseum in Charlotte, NC. You will be paying less than three times that amount to hang out all weekend and be able to listen so many more (and better) bands.

They don’t allow video cameras at All Good but someone came in last year and made this pretty tight video that gives an idea of what festival looks like and what you can be prepared for:

Check out the line-up (as of 6/19/09) that is set to appear at All Good this year. I am pumped because I have somehow never seen Umphrey’s McGee and I haven’t seen TLG or moe. in about two to three years. I could literally go on and on about the excitement from the bands that are going to be there. Just thinking about it has me giddy as a little school girl.

Ben Harper and RELENTLESS7
Bob Weir & RatDog
moe.
Umphrey’s McGee
STS9
Dark Star Orchestra
Les Claypool
Yonder Mountain String Band
Tea Leaf Green
Buckethead
The Bridge
SOJA
Bassnectar
Steve Kimock Crazy Engine
Donna the Buffalo
The New Mastersounds
Todd Snider
Jackie Greene
Lake Trout
Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk
Hill Country Revue
Cornmeal
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave
Fear Nuttin’ Band

I can’t say it is bad that the music has changed from 2002 but it seems like the true jam bands have been whisked away to better festivals like Wakarusa and Forecastle and have been replaced at Bonnaroo by indie rock bands, comedians and celebrity appearances. Shit…Jimmy Buffett played Bonnaroo this year. He used to be a bad ass at the beginning of his career but has turned to shit lately because of his man/boy relationships with Kenny Chesney and various other fake country singers. Okay…Okay…I apologize…Jimmy Buffett is great…FOR ME TO POOP ON!

With that said, I think Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was a perfect addition to Bonnaroo because he says what we are all thinking about those dirty stinkin’ hippies. I imagine that it would be kind of scary to be hopped up on a lot of drugs and then have someone shove a plastic dog puppet with a microphone in your face who begins to antagonize you with hysterical questions and comments.

Check out the 6-7 minute sketch that appeared on Conan the other night:

You may have read my post about the release of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena a few weeks ago (before the previous site went down). I just got my review copy a few days ago and sat down and played it for a few hours over the weekend. Since this type of game isn’t my strong suit, it took a little bit time to get oriented with the style of play.

Truthfully, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had never played the original Escape from Butcher Bay on the Xbox back in the day (because I had a PS2 and it was an Xbox only game) but everything that I have read about it says that it was one of the better games on the Xbox. Atari went back and completely remastered the Escape from Butcher Bay for next generation consoles. The remake has gotten great reviews from people that played the original.

Due to this, I decided that I should start out playing Assault on Dark Athena. Classic mistake… I felt completely lost for about 30 minutes until I went back and played Escape from Butcher Bay where I gained a much better understanding of the plot. I would recommend starting from the beginning.

The game is slick. You high crawl/low crawl throughout the game as Vin Diesel’s character, Riddick, while sneaking up behind enemies and silently killing them to avoid detection. There are various weapons that you use to kill enemies including hairpins, screwdrivers, and these crazy looking blades that you would see on a knife show on the Home Shopping Network.

I found that the controls were a little hard to get acquainted with but about 10 minutes into the game everything was fine. The most appealing thing about the game to me was the cut scenes which look almost life-like. If the cut scenes last more than a minute, you might forget you were playing the game.

The voice acting was great with performances by Vin Diesel, Cole Hauser (O’Donnell from Dazed and Confused) and that Michelle Forbes chick who seems to be in about everything that I see these days. I don’t know how many of you like Vin Diesel. In my close circle of friends, I am mocked for even jokingly mentioning that I am a fan. I feel that he is along the lines of Chuck Norris…and so do the Interwebs. I found this site called 4Q.cc that has some unbelievable Chuck Norris’ style Vin Diesel facts. Here is the best:

If you rearrange the letters in Vin Diesel it reveals his credo: “I End Lives.”

That is what you need to know about The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. Plus, Vin also said “Eh, this guy didn’t like cold soup. Who does he think he is?’” which might be the best thing I have ever heard.

Editor’s Note: I haven’t gotten a chance to run the multiplayer modes from the game but you can check out a review and see some of the gameplay on this YouTube video from the guys over at Machinima.

Photo Credit: Gary Copeland of Boston.com

I never had the opportunity to experience ‘Green Onions’ by Booker T and the M.G.s when it first came out and revolutionized the music industry. Much like my desire to have seen the Beatles or the Grateful Dead, I know it will never happen but I still think about how it would have been and how it would compare to the live music that I am seeing now.

I have heard ‘ Green Onions’ thousands of times before I started writing this post but I just saw the music video for the first time today. It was something that seemed like it was out of an Austin Powers’ movie and seemed so over-the-top that I didn’t know what to think. Check it out below and see what you think:

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‘Green Onions’ has been a staple at ballparks across America and Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as the #181 in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time. Jones wrote ‘Green Onions’ when he was a senior in high school in Memphis, TN. The money that he made from this song gave him enough money to be able to go to college at Indiana University where he studied classical music composition, composing and transposition in between playing gigs with the M.G.s.

Jones spent a lot of time writing music and working with other musicians like Otis Redding and Neil Young where he lent his infamous skills on the organ and keyboard to their records. Over time, he found himself left behind by the changes in the recording industry due to advancement in technology of the digital era. Jones decided that he would take some courses to educate himself on these new technologies so he could continue doing what he loves.

Jones’ name is synonymous with the Hammond B-3 organ and definitely does it justice on his new album, ‘Potato Hole.’ Jones recorded the album with the Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young as the back-up band. This album is more than the normal Booker T. and the M.G.s’ soul music that once was. It is now a powerful rock and roll sound that defies classical interpretations of what rock and roll is. Click the PLAY ALL button below to listen to the album free (courtesy of LaLa.com):

Jones’ album welcomes all different types of listeners. It seduces fans of the hip-hop genre  with the cover of OutKast’s ‘Hey Ya’. It beckons Tom Waits’ fans to hear another version of ‘Get Behind the Mule’ which is much funkier than the original. The southern rock and roll fan will appreciate the DBTs (Drive-By Truckers) sound and Neil’s guitar, which is reminiscent of some of the stellar rips from CSNY, as the backup to Jones’ Hammond B-3 organ throughout the album.

I really don’t know what else to say other than that the album is a thing of beauty. I own few albums that can have such a direct impact on my mood like ‘Potato Hole.’ If I am feeling down because of a long day at work or because I saw a depressingly low number pop up on the ATM screen, all I need to do is toss this album on my car stereo and it will instantly make me feel better.

Booker T. and the Drive-By Truckers have been on tour for the past few weeks and one of their stops was at Bonnaroo earlier this month. I wasn’t able to make it out to Bonnaroo but I found a live recording from Booker T. & the DBTs’ set and it was amazing. The majority of the performance were selections from ‘Potato Hole’ but Booker T. asked the DBTs if they would perform some of their songs with him backing them up. They played ‘Zip City’, ‘Homefield Advantage’, ‘Let There Be Rock’ and ‘Lookout Mountain’.

DOWNLOAD THE BOOKER T./DBT SHOW FROM BONNAROO HERE