What the Hell Have You Been Doing?

Good question... Let's play catch up. We'll start July 15th when the Dinosaur Jr. renuion tour drove into town. (thank you ttam elbanak for the photos)



Yes, that's Gandalf on guitar. A blur of swirling white hair and Lou Barlow created their trademarked wall of sound and for the first 20 minutes of this show I was blown away. I think they pretty much played Living All Over Me in it's entirety (with bits of Bug and their first album). I must say Lou is amazing. I'd seen Dinosouar Jr. in '95 or so and it's strange to think how different their playing styles are. Maybe I'm just ill informed but I've never seen a bass player strum his guitar and created as full a sound as Lou does. And J, well the man's a guitar god, there's no doubt about it. I know of know other 3 piece band that sound like a 6 member assault like these guys.

But as I said, after 20 or 30 minutes the old man in me says, where's the seats and/or when the hell will I be able to get back to my couch. I'm sorry, but I'm having many issues with going to shows these days. I was pleased to see the smashed college dude yelling, "Mascis for president!!" after every song -- I mean, you can't get that experience watching the DVD.

So then, if we're going in order we have the The Penguin Movie aka The March of the Penguins. Short story -- go see it. But, see it at the later showing. We made the mistake of seeing at the matinee and yes, this is a G rated movie, so there was plenty of restless youngsters at the show. But for the most part they were behaved and the best part was listening to them get all scared and worried and want to go home when the whole nature vs. baby penguins stuff starts happening. Like Winthrop says, there's cute and then there's super cute and then there's baby penguins.

But that documentary has nothing on Murderball.
This movie is a true kick in the ass and a well, it's really a treasure -- in that it feels like something you never would have watched but afterward you feel like a better person that's learned something. Do you know the real definition of a quadriplegic? I didn't -- shit, these guys are more active and better well adjusted then I am. Why? Because of wheelchair rugby -- once known as Murderball. But as the spokesman says -- it's hard to sell a sport known as Murderball. If for some reason you're wondering about what documentary to see -- no, nevermind, see this movie -- regardless of the cute penguins, this one will stick with you long after the cuteness and the trials of the penguins. Let me quote a bit from CHUD: "Mark Urman, head of the theatrical division of THINKFilm, who released the movie, says, "The only explanation is that people don't want to see something about handicapped people. There is some resistance."

He may well be right, and that's just tragic. See, Murderball's not interesting because it's about cripples, and it's not great because it's uplifting. It's interesting because it's about this weird, exciting sport you never heard, played by strange and awesome and fascinating people. And it's uplifting, if it is, because the people it's about are real people, not because they're in wheelchairs.

" Well put.

So then, today that is, I got to go to my first Fenway Park game. The things I learned today: the Fenway Franks are pretty gross -- go for the footlong. They play Sweet Caroline in the middle of the 8th inning, everyone sings along, it's kinda fun. Standing room only tickets aren't too bad at all. Don't try to start a chant when the pitching coach is on the mound. And the grandstand seats in the shade are a good place to be.