I am sitting in the charred remains of my once-mighty Flying Cocoon. Anyone want to explain why my Cocoon is charred?

Back in yellow, I hit the… Mustard…?

Anyways, so after last weeks debacle of Emmy noms, I’m staying the hell away from that topic this week. So what do we move onto? How bout the fact that once again the National League CANNOT win an All-Star game. Why do I care so much? Cause this year the Mets may actually have a shot at the series and wouldn’t that have been nice to have home field advantage?

How bout that David Wright though? Runner up in the HR Derby and hitting a homer in his first All-Star at-bat? Now consider this: he’s only making $370,000 this year as part of a 1 year contract. The Mets sure as hell better make sure they take care of him the minute this season is over. I’m talking 5 or 6 year multi-million dollar offer because this kid is someone to start building a team around and he’s only 23! Ditto Jose Reyes. I was rough on the guy last year when he didn’t exhibit the ability to take a pitch but he’s grown up this year in a big way and come on, 6 more stolen bases than the 2^nd place SB leader?

Oh and Carlos Beltran stealing like a maniac? When he’s healthy, he’s worth every penny they paid for him.

I don’t care what people are saying, I’ve seen Superman Returns twice now and it’s a good movie. It earns points automatically by not having the resolution be Superman flying backwards around the earth to turn back time (why the hell would that stop the earthquake from happening all over again? Can someone please explain that to me?). Yeah, it’s a little long. Yeah, people who didn’t care for the original Donner movies might get annoyed at the constant references to them. No, I don’t think it’s better than Batman Begins. But it's infinitely better than Superman 3 and yeah, that’s a low standard to meet but then again, Superman 4 didn’t manage to hurdle it. The casting is well done. Brandon Routh makes both an excellent Clark Kent and Superman. No, he’s not as good as Christopher Reeve but come on, you can’t fault the guy for not living up to that. Kate Bosworth’s Lois Lane bothered a lot of people, but not me. Maybe it’s cause I never like the Margot Kidder Lois (honestly, she wasn’t “spunky”, she was a pain in the ass). I like Kevin Spacey’s Luthor, however I was a little disappointed where they took the character or rather where they didn’t go. There’s a great line where in the beginning of the movie as Luthor exclaims that he’s not a God because “Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind.” I thought, wow maybe their really going to get who Lex Luthor is. Not necessarily a cheesy super villain but rather a man who, while he is unscrupulous and power hungry, also views Superman as a threat to all humanity. But after that interesting beginning, they end up going the crazy real estate Hackman-esque scheme which doesn’t really develop Luthor into anything more than a jerk who wants money and power. But I can’t fault Spacey for that. Kal Penn is excellent as the guy who nods. He may only have one line in the movie. I say “may” because it’s a line spoken off screen in a group so you’re not exactly sure who said it. Overall though this was a good reboot for the series and Joss Whedon now has the pressure on as he takes on the last leg of the DC Universe pillars with Wonder Woman.

Music you should be listening to:

The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree

My thanks to Crowley for giving me the heads up on this band. Reminding me much of Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning only with less of a country and more lo-fi rock slant, this not a happy album. Focusing mainly on the childhood trauma at the hands of an abusive step-father, there’s enough pain going on here to fill an Elliot Smith album. In fact the song Pale Green Things does remind me of a soft Smith number. Up the Wolves uses a brilliant analogy of the story of Romulus and Remus to the overcoming of physical and more importantly emotional abandonment. The catchy upbeat tempo of Dance Music plays an effective counterpoint to not so upbeat lyrics. By far the best number though is the biting This Year. The minimal drums and guitar adds emphasis on the lyrics and the desperation in the chorus of “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me”. Bleak? A little. Excellent album? Absolutely.

The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics

Let’s face it, either you like the Flaming Lips or you don’t. If you couldn’t stand Yoshimi Versus the Pink Robots, don’t bother with this album. Lucky for me, I loved those Pink Robots, so Mystics is right up my alley. The album is a little more mainstream pop/rock (if any Flaming Lips album can be call “mainstream”) than Yoshimi but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. Take the Yeah Yeah Yeah song. Probably the most radio friendly song on the album, it starts out with a steady chorus of “yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah” before breaking into a uptempo jam complete with vocalizer (man, between these guys and Imogen Heap, the vocalizer sure is making a comeback). Free Radicals crosses a funk guitar base with the electric trappings of Beck (minus all the Spanish). It Overtakes Me harkens back to Yoshimi with its sirens, spacey electric distortion and any number of seemingly random musical effects. Mr. Ambulance Driver has been put through a little more production since it’s appearance on the Wedding Crashers soundtrack but still maintains it’s soft, melancholy tone. On the whole I still think I prefer Yoshimi however I have no qualms putting this album right beside it.

Until next time:

“Logan, can I have a word”

“Anthropomorphic. All yours, big boy.”