Author Archives: Duff

DVD: United 93.

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I was very reluctant to see this movie…until my Dad hit me over the head with a [metaphorical] 2 x 4, reminding me that the director is awesome…(An earlier flick “Bloody Sunday” is another brilliant piece.)

My dad went to it in the theater and recommended it at the time but I never got around to it.

A bunch of the air traffic controllers PLAY THEMSELVES in the movie. Hello, that fact alone should tell you how authentic it is. Really interesting to see how played things out / how the different air traffic centers had to try and piece together what was happening / how the military was trying to piece together what was happening / how the day slowly came together in people’s minds.

You’re ultra hyperly aware of the whole “hindsight being 20/20” thing the whole time you’re watching the film, of course, as knowing the outcome of that day makes even the most innocuous “random people making phone calls at the airport” scenes seem foreboding. Great use of background music in this flick; just enough to set you on edge.

Very powerful. Very moving. Not cheap. Not exploitive in the least. Highly recommended. But, yes, intense. Not for the faint of heart.

Netflix: The Covenant.

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Oh, delicious young man eye candy. Stereotypical young “hot witches in distress” movie, only the witches are boys and one of them is “Tim Riggins”. Yes, that’s the whole reason I rented this. Totally predictable and bad. And sooooo yummy. The pool scene? Holy crap what a body. I think maybe I’ll watch it again today…

“Hail to the Chief”

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Anyone else just loving the hip-hopped slowed-down marchy-march “Hail to the Chief” playing on all the GM commercials right now? After multiple searches, I believe it is NOT the instrumental by 3rd Bass which you can download here and I’m sure you’ll agree sounds very different / not as brass-y.

But to my ears, it DOES sound like the music behind Bun B’s “The Inauguration” if you watch/listen to this youtube version (you have to get past the intro to hear it start, at about 0:20). Now where can I get my hands on a version without the rap vocals?

(According to other searches, it was a remix made especially for GM and will not be released.)

Netflix*: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

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This is a movie I saw over and over as a kid as it’s a Dad favorite. But I hadn’t seen it in many years and found that while some scenes I remembered vividly, some (the MTV-esque bicycle scene!) I had no memory of whatsoever. Paul Newman was just unbelievably hot when he was young, wasn’t he. He still has the world’s most beautiful eyes; sorry Elizabeth Taylor but he does.

The ending really reminds me of The Wild Bunch, another Western Dad fave.

*Carlos’ queue, not mine.

“High Society” …SOUNDS LIKE… “I’m Not in Love”

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Thank goodness for Carrie and Monica as I was THIS CLOSE to getting really fucking crazy just now trying to figure this out.

Listening to “High Society” by The Bees (U.S.) and the chorus starts with “Ooooo, high society….” “Oooooo, notoriety…” and it …SOUNDS JUST LIKE… “Oooooo, you’ll wait a long time for me….” from the song “I’m Not in Love” which was apparently a hit in the ’70s for some group called 10 CC (?) and covered in the 90s by Will Power (?).

Don’t know which one it is that I know, but that song was playing clear as a bell in my head, yet a) I couldn’t figure out what song it was and b) I was singing the words wrong (I was singing “oooo, been a long time for me“). But then I called Carrie and she said “I don’t know what it is but here’s more of it” and started singing “I’m not in love, so don’t forget it…” then we conferenced in Monica and two seconds later, she was playing it for us! Woot!

My friends kick ass. I’m just sayin’.

EP: She’s Spanish, I’m American.

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You may remember me telling you how awesome Josh Rouse is in concert… His albums tend to be very, very mellow and somewhat same-sounding throughout. But in concert, he’s got a lot more than that going on. When I last saw him, he did one song with a girl who traveled over from Spain to perform with him (he’s living there these days, I believe). Now they’ve gotten together and put out a four-song EP.

It’s much more like his live show than his solo albums. It’s not super hyper, but it’s got some bounce to it. It’s quite melodic and definitely has a little Spanish feel. Thumbs up. (Plus hello it’s only four songs. It’s not a hefty investment to try out!)