Coming out of the dark.

Just coming in to wipe off the dust, and give a nod to some notables...

Happy-Go-Lucky: rented it, loved it. See it!

Cartworks: It hit #100 and is still going. That's my homie.

Til' the next...

-Derrick

What I Watched Instead.

Checked out Two Lovers starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow.

There were no blue "muscles" to look at, and for that, I'm grateful for that alone that I opted for Two Lovers (the only nudity involved a brief shot of Paltrow's left breast).

Shots at that other movie aside, I enjoyed Two Lovers acting performances, especially by Joaquin Phoenix. It's not a totally depressing film, for the most part staying away from easy melodrama where lesser movies would have inserted it.

It's not the best film of 2009 (correction: it was actually released last year) that I've seen so far (I'd give that to Coraline) but I'd personally recommend it.

Other stuff I watched last week:

A Powerful Noise is an excellent documentary. Unfortunately there were only about a handful of us in the theater, and it was a one-time only showing in Stockton (and most likely in your city as well). If you can get a chance to see it though, I highly encourage you to do so.

I also caught the gruesome horror flick, The Descent, on On Demand. It was pretty fun to watch, but the ending left me a little ambivalent. Word is that there is a different (and maybe better) ending for the UK version. There's a sequel supposedly coming out based on the US version though. I'm kind of interested nonetheless.

On television, I caught the first week of Jimmy Fallon taking over for Conan O'Brien in the Late Nite slot, primarily to see how The Roots did as his band. They did a good job, and I'm glad that all of the band members are involved, including Black Thought, who did some singing here and there. The band also played with Ludacris for his performance, which was easily my favorite one out of the week.

As far as the rest of the show is concerned, it's not too bad. It's the first week, so I'm expecting it to get better over time as Fallon relaxes more into the role. He's definitely not as funny as Conan, nor do I expect him to be, but with tighter writing, I can see more special moments from the show accumulating over time. And using "the best band in late night" (in Fallon's own words at the end of each show) whenever possible wouldn't hurt.

Found music.

Some heat I came across while surfing the 'net (specifically Okayplayer's message boards). Enjoy...

"Grand Royal"- Capone N' Noreaga

"Turbulence (Mark Bell Remix)"- Deltron 3030

Not Watching.

I don't want to watch Watchmen. I'm tired of morose comic book adaptations. I didn't like The Dark Knight, not better than Batman Begins anyway. I'm more looking forward to the slate of Marvel films coming out. But you can keep Watchmen. The graphic novel was enough for me, and the fact that the ending is different in the film is a deal breaker. Ask me why, and I have good reasons. Logical reasons. But no, I'm not watching.

Here's a flick worth watching though: Taken. Liam Neeson kicking ass and getting his white girl (daughter) back. Say word.

I think my reading list just got a lot bigger.

I might start playing Sim City again.

I wasn't very good at Sim City when I played on the Super Nintendo. After a couple of hurricanes and fires, I quit. But after reading this, I just might try it out again. Hopefully I'd make a better mayor at this point.

Via Ryan North at Dinosaur Comics:

"February 19th, 2009: Karen Ellis suffered a house fire and lost pretty much everything. I'm mentioning this because her comic is good and you'll probably enjoy it (a journal comic that's interesting for the person who didn't write it! Nice) but also because if you've ever wanted to donate to her, now would be a good time!"