Really...Really?!

Looking forward to seeing "The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day"? Yeah, so was I.

It wasn't until I went to Fandango today to look for the film's showing times that I found out the October 30 release of "All Saints Day" was a limited release. (How did I not catch this before?!) So unless you live near one of the LA, New York, or Boston (the only three cities I came across) theaters that are playing the movie, you're out of luck.

From the very little information I could find about this, it's a "Paranormal Activity" situation: If you want it to play in your city, you have to demand it...Well, I'm not sure if it's that easy for "All Saints Day." As far as I can tell, the only way to have the film released in your city is to enter to win a screening through Sonypicture.com's "All Saints Day" page. However, it seems like some people are trying the whole "demanding" thing, since I stumbled upon a couple of petition sites.

I'm pretty disappointed, to say the least. I would love to see this film in theaters (since I didn't see the first one until it was out on DVD), but waiting for the DVD release is better than not seeing it at all, I guess.

I would love to mention when it will have a national release, but I'm not sure if or when that's going to happen. (I'm having a bit of trouble finding full, accurate information on the Web, so if anyone knows more about this, feel free to leave any info or links in a comment.)

Sneak Preview: Bar Regulars

St. Edward's University's Entertainment Journalism class is currently working on a story about bar regulars in Austin. The idea came from photographer Sarah Stolfa's book "The Regulars," which features portraits of the regulars that came into the bar she used to work at. Our own portraits and short profiles of Austin bar regulars will be published in The Statesman in December. Here's a glimpse of what to expect from the article: my own bar regular profile.

The phrase "bar regulars" tends to conjure up the portrayal of the regular bar customers of the 80s sitcom "Cheers." The show embraced the idea of being a bar regular as it presented the Boston bar Cheers as a place to go after a long work day; a place to unwind with a few friends and a few drinks; a place where everyone knows your name. While that last phrase may sound a bit worn out and cliche, that's the kind of atmosphere that brings people back to a bar; that turns a bar customer to a bar regular.

That's what Lavaca Street Bar, located on 4th and Lavaca, is for Adam Hesse. After moving to Austin about a year ago, Hesse, 32, started going to Lavaca because it's close to the restaurant he works at (Maria Maria), its not too busy and has a fair crowd, and it's not overloaded with DJs, he said.

But those aren't the only reasons Hesse frequents Lavaca Street Bar. He feels welcome there. "They all know my name," he said. "It's like 'Cheers,' when Norm comes in and everyone says, 'Norm!'"

According to Hesse, Lavaca Street Bar also takes good care of their regulars. Having worked at a bar before, Hesse knows how important that is. "I had to know [the regulars'] names and exactly what they drank," he said of the regulars that came into his bar. A lot of the regulars came in every day and lived within a mile of the bar, he said. "It was strange," he said. "But it was like a family."

Now, as a regular himself, that's how Hesse feels when he goes to Lavaca Street Bar - it's like a family. "It's a second home," he said. "It really is."

For Hesse, Lavaca Street Bar is the perfect remedy for unwinding after work. "A lot of people go home and watch TV after work," Hesse said. "I come here."

After a long day, there's nothing better than kicking back a few with some friends. And, you know what they say, there's no better place to do that than a place where everybody knows your name (and your drink.)

Horror through Netflix: 30 Days of Night

In a time when vampires are romanticized into beautiful, elegant beings that we want to befriend or fall in love with (enter "Twilight" and "The Vampire Diaries" here), it's refreshing to watch a movie where vampires are shown for what they really are (or, were imagined to be): creepy, foul, terrifying, blood-sucking creatures.

"30 Days of Night," directed by David Slade and based off the graphic novel by Steve Niles, offers just that. The film takes place in the small, isolated town of Barrow, Alaska. As the month-long period of darkness sets in, Barrow becomes a paradise for a group of blood-thirsty vampires, who savagely begin taking out the locals. The town sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) leads a small group of locals from hiding place to hiding place in an attempt to ride out the thirty days of night and the vampires' quest for blood.

What sets this movie apart from other vampire movies is the portrayal of the vampires. Films like "Interview with a Vampire" began to portray vampires as cultured, attractive, and elegant - an image that makes you think, "I wouldn't mind being a vampire. Or perhaps, "I wouldn't mind a bite on the neck from one of those vampires." (Enter Brad Pitt.) The vampires of "30 Days of Night," on the other hand, are terrifying. You almost want to be them, at a first glance, as they walk around in a calm, cool, and elegant manner in their sheik black suits...

And then you see them up close and how terrifyingly ugly some of them can be. They're unattractive, dirty outcasts. And by dirty, I mean they don't wipe the blood off of their necks or faces after they've aggressively devoured their victims (which seems a bit unsanitary, not to mention it makes them even uglier than they already are - not that they care, of course.) Their black eyes reflect their dark souls, and their yellow jagged teeth (no typical fangs here) are not the kind you want sinking into your skin.

And yet, that's what makes this portrayal of vampires so intriguing: these aren't your typical vampires...well, that is, they're not the typical vampires that pop culture has transformed the image of a vampire into. However, Slade's vampires do get one "cool" point: They speak their own language. While it sounds Scandinavian, or like some mysterious and mythical language you desperately want to learn, it is actually a fictional language created by Slade, Danny Huston (the lead vampire), and a linguist.

"30 Days of Night" is a unique vampire movie that offers a gruesome and terrifying portrayal of vampires (as they should be.)

Quick Update: SYTYCD

I haven't watched last night's SYTYCD special yet, but I read on the show's website on Fox that Top 20 finalist Billy Bell, the guy who brought judge Adam Shankman to tears with his solo during Vegas week (see the video at my "Getting back into the spirit of SYTYCD" post), has left the show due to illness.

Bell will be replaced by hip-hop dancer Brandon Dumlao.

I was pretty disappointed to hear the Bell will not be able to continue. While that one solo of his was his only performance that I saw, I could tell that he would have gone far in this show (No, Shankman was not overreacting.)

The question now is: Will we see more of Bell next season? Executive producer/judge Nigel Lythgoe has a tendency to invite dancers who have to leave the competition early due to such events, such as injury, back for the next season - straight to the part of the competition where they left off. However, I don't think this situation has ever occurred once a dancer is in the Top 20. (Injuries/illnesses that keep dancers from getting a fair shot in making Top 20 usually happens during Vegas week, so Lythgoe will invite them to Vegas week during the next season, without auditioning...though some have re-auditioned anyway.)

It's doubtful that Lythgoe will put Bell straight into the Top 20 next season, but hopefully Bell will at least get to be in the final group of dancers the judges choose the Top 20 from.

(Note: It looks like I'll be able to watch last night's episode after all - found it on Youtube; hence, the "haven't watched it yet." I know what I'll be doing at work today...besides homework.)

SYTYCD is certainly full of firsts this season...

As I mentioned in my previous "So You Think You Can Dance" post, the Top 20 dancers of season six features a lot of Top 20 firsts. And SYTYCD isn't done with the firsts yet.

For the (yes, I'll say it again) first time ever on SYTYCD, the first Top 20 episode will not be the start of the competition, as usual. Instead, a "special" called "So You Think You Can Dance: Meet the Top 20" will air Monday, October 26, at 8/7 central on FOX, before the actual competition - eliminations and all - starts on Tuesday.

Monday's episode will allow the Top 20 dancers to make their debut performances - solos in their own styles and genres as well as choreographed group dances - and will allow viewers the chance to meet the dancers they'll soon be voting for before the competition begins.

While I'm not sure how necessary this "special" is, it will be nice to get a chance to get to know the dancers better before voting. The beginning of the competition is always tough because the viewers only know a lot about a select few of the Top 20 dancers - what they know being based on the little bits they saw from auditions/Vegas week. This results in some dancers being voted for over others, purely because the viewers know them and like their personalities, which doesn't give the little known dancers a fair chance to become known by showing off their talents and personalities.

Ok, so I think it's necessary after all. I'm just slightly upset that I'll have to miss it.

At the end of the show, the three judges for the night - Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Adam Shankman - will pair the Top 20 dancers up with the partners they'll be dancing with for the first half of the competition. And I'm assuming tonight's episode isn't live, since that would give the dancers only one day to rehearse with their partners - and for the first time. And I guess the fact that there is a preview of tonight's performances should have also been a clue...

This is where I would have inserted a video of the preview that's been airing on FOX, but the internet failed to provide me one. So, instead, here's a look at the Top 20 photoshoot:

Intersting Website Find: "Offbeat Bride"

I kind of have an obsession with weddings - the ceremony, the vows, the happy tears, all of the planning that goes into the reception and the always beautiful results...and mostly, the dress. Seriously, I browse through wedding dresses on bridal shop websites on a regular basis. I even have my own picked out already - let's just hope it's still around by the time I get married. (My dream dress before that was an extravagantly gorgeous wedding dress I saw on the cover of a bridal magazine at Borders. I made my dad by the magazine for me. I was fourteen. I still have it. I refuse to throw it away.)

I'm a fan of mostly traditional weddings: A white or ivory dress; standard ceremony/vows; the traditional reception (the couple feeding each other a piece of cake, the bouquet toss, the garter toss, the first dance/bride and father dance/groom and mother dance), etc. The farthest my future wedding plans (yes, I've made them...in my head, not for real) would go outside of tradition is having the ceremony somewhere other than a church.

However, as I've recently discovered, some couples go as far outside of tradition as throwing tradition away completely.

Welcome to "Offbeat Bride," a website/blog that features non-traditional weddings. We're talking Halloween-themed weddings (luckily the colors were white and orange, not black and orange), carnival-themed weddings, pant suits over dresses, bright green dresses over white dresses...I could go on. Instead, I think I'll just let you explore the site for yourself.

But first, a little background. "Offbeat Bride" was created in January 2007 as a way to promote the release of Seattle author Ariel Meadow Stalling's book, "Offbeat Bride: Taffeta-Free Alternatives for Independent Brides." Updated daily, the blog features photos of and stories about real-life offbeat weddings as a way to offer other offbeat brides advice, ideas, and inspiration for their own unique weddings. The site is also meant to encourage couples, who want to show off their unique personalities/relationships, to break away from tradition and embrace individualism.

I don't think I would be doing the site justice if I continued trying to explain it further, so if your in to non-traditional weddings, bold wedding fashion, and unique wedding photography, check out "Offbeat Bride" for yourself. Enjoy!

Coming soon from Horror through Netflix...

Pretty excited about this one. Probably the best/most unique vampire movie I've ever seen. And the scare factor will NOT be a disappointment. (No, I will not be watching this one by myself.)

Unfortunately, I think I mailed the last one too late in the day on Thursday, so I probably won't get this one until Monday rather than Saturday. Looks like a horror-free weekend for me.

Horror through Netflix: Sleepy Hollow

"The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head."

- Washington Irving, "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

The first time I saw "Sleepy Hollow" was in high school...during my freshman computer class. Why? Because it was the week of Halloween, during which, we had a lazy substitute teacher. (Well, who was I to complain?)

I remember being terrified as we watched this classic, ghostly tale, so I was slightly disappointed to find myself more amused than scared when watching "Sleepy Hollow" last night. This is not to say that I do not enjoy this movie. It is still an intriguing, dark, and spooky tale. Terrifying? No. But perhaps that's just because scary/horror films have evolved since this movie was made, resulting in our higher threshold of feeling scared.

Director Tim Burton brings Washington Irving's chilling Gothic tale, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," to life in this 1999 screen adaption. After several mysterious murders in the town of Sleepy Hollow, New York detective Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is sent to the town to investigate the deaths. The victims? Beheaded, and their heads taken by the culprit, who the locals of Sleepy Hollow believe to be the ghost of the legendary Headless Horseman.

Also starring Christina Ricci as Crane's love interest, Katrina van Tassel, and Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman, "Sleepy Hollow" is not only a tale of murder, mystery, and the Headless Horseman but is also a tale of the scandal and corruption of the townspeople of Sleepy Hollow - a tale that Crane begins to unravel through his investigation.

Depp's ability to take on a wide range of roles never ceases to amaze me, and his role as Ichabod Crane is no exception. He brilliantly takes on this intelligent crime investigator with a weak stomach and a tendency to faint whenever he witnesses the Headless Horseman in action. And Christopher Walken is terrifying as the Headless Horseman (you know, during his back story...when he had a head) despite the lack of lines (the most we get out of the Headless Horseman is some yelling and few grunts.)

While not as scary as it probably was back in 1999 (unless you're easily frightened), the dark, foggy, Gothic atmosphere and the sometimes humorous, murder-mystery dinner theater feel of the film makes "Sleepy Hollow" a perfect Halloween night movie.

Getting back into the spirit of SYTYCD...

As much of a "So You Think You Can Dance" fan I claim to be, I am ashamed to say that I have not been watching the auditions these past few weeks. However, the one night I happened to have enough free time to catch the show was the night the Top 20 dancers were revealed.

This is the episode where the best portion of the season starts. So I'm not terribly sad to have missed the auditions (though watching the auditions allows you to get to know some of the dancers who will end up as the finalists for the Top 20 episode.) Hopefully, now that we're actually getting into the actual show, I will be able to confidently call myself a fan again.

Though I haven't seen most of the Top 20 dancers show off their talent, I did get a small glimpse of each dancer through brief recaps of Vegas week. And from what I saw, the Top 20 looks pretty promising this season (much more so than last season's Top 20 looked at this point - I still don't understand how season five was considered to have the best dancers so far.)

Season six's Top 20 includes a few firsts as well. For the first time in SYTYCD history, the top 20 includes a krumper, three tap dancers, and a married couple (at least I can't recall this last one ever being in the Top 20.)

One thing I'm sad I missed (though I got to catch it through a recap tonight) is one of the solo performances during Vegas week. Before this dancer, Billy Bell, found out whether or not he made the Top 20, a clip of his solo was replayed, and after seeing it, I didn't need to hear the judges say he was in. I knew he was. You can always tell when a dancer is going to go far on this show when they bring a judge to tears, and that's exactly what Bell did in this solo. And that is what I will leave you with.

Fashionable Find...

With nothing to do at work today (thanks to a relaxed homework week) but browse the web, I came across an advertisement displaying only a unique-looking clutch bag. Curious, I clicked on the link and discovered Red Ruby Rose "contemporary, original, and handmade" clutches. The goregous images displayed on the clutches are designed by Rowena, a freelance illustrator who specializes in collage and photomontage.

Rowena studied printed textiles at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. After graduating, she found herself in "an increasingly digital working life," as stated in her profile at Etsy.com. In her search for a more creative outlet, Rowena came up with the idea of incorporating her artwork into fabric "using exciting new digital advances in textile production." However, instead of opting for shirts as her canvas (an unoriginal idea, though it would have made for some unique tops), Rowena chose the increasingly popular clutch.

The result? Intricate, original, almost one-of-a-kind clutches that are perfect for any occasion - from a fancy night out to adding an elegant touch to the casual jeans + fitted tee ensemble.

While the clutches are a bit pricey (they range from $45 to $105), the average price is $50. Expensive, yes, but perhaps worth it as Rowena's clutches are so unique (and not very well known, since she only sells her bags through Etsy), there is an extremely slim chance, if any, of running into someone with the same clutch. The price is also worth the "oohs" and "aahs" you and your clutch are bound to hear, not to mention supporting the artist and her stylish passion.

To view more bags, check out Rowena's Red Ruby Rose shop at Etsy. And if $50 still seems a bit pricey for a clutch, Rowena is currently having a sale in which select clutches are discounted by one-third.

Calling all poets and poetry fans!

The first Penniless Poetry Series reading of the semester will be Thursday October 22 at 8pm at Meadows Coffee House on the St. Edward's University campus.

The Penniless Poetry Series was created by Alan Altimont, Associate Professor of English, a few years ago as a way to keep the poetry community on campus active after losing funding for bringing in professional poets to read. However, the silver lining is that instead of paying poets to read their work, the Penniless Poetry readings feature students, which gives us young, unpublished poets a chance to share our work with our peers.

This semester, the English organization Sigma Tau Delta has taken over the series and plans on holding a poetry reading, featuring St. Ed's students and faculty, every month during the fall and spring semesters.

Thursday's poetry reading will feature my fellow Intermediate Poetry tutorial classmates Jake McCoy, Allison Mouret, and Ellie Douglass (it probably would have featured me as well, but I'm not sure where I was when this decision was made...)

Having read these students' work, I know that you'll be in for a creative treat. You'll also find a lot of variety from McCoy's humor to Mouret's vivid imagery to Douglass' short, but full-of-depth personal experiences.

If your Thursday night's looking empty, come enjoy a warm cup of coffee with a side of poetry and support your fellow students and the St. Edward's poetry community. A poet yourself? Open mic for anyone following the featured readings!

(And look out for a future Penniless Poetry reading featuring yours truly.)

Coming soon from Horror through Netflix...

The Headless Horseman comes tomorrow...

Better late than never...

The Sounds played and adrenaline-pumping, sweat-inducing show Friday, October 9 at La Zona Rosa, performing a perfect mix of songs from their new album "Crossing the Rubicon" (2009) and their first two albums "Living in America" (2002) and "Dying to Say This to You" (2006).


The Sounds (consisting of Maja Ivarrson on lead vocals, Felix Rodriguez on guitars, Johan Bengtsson on bass, Jesper Anderberg on synthesizers/piano/guitar, and Fredrik Nilsson on drums) have a contagious energetic presence on stage, playing all songs, old and new, with the same amount of energy.

I mention this because of something I read in a review before I saw the show: that the band seemed to play their old music with much less enthusiasm than they had while playing songs from their latest album. This person ultimately described the performance as "worn out," as if The Sounds were tired of playing the same songs over and over.



But that was not the case during this show. Every song, old or new, was played with the same energy, passion, and enthusiasm. The fans definitely had a lot to do with that as the band and the crowd fed off of each other's energy and excitment.

Songs performed off of their new album included the single "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake," which The Sounds gave a passionate performance of - as passionate as it feels when listening to the song from the album. They stuck mostly to the fast-paced songs from their new album, including "4 Songs & A Fight," "Dorchester Hotel," "Midnight Sun" (a bit slower), and, what I feel is a sequel to the second album's "Tony the Beat," the hit (and next video to be released) "Beatbox."

The Sounds also played a good amount of popular songs from the past albums, such as the "Dying to Say This to You" single "Painted by Numbers" (probably the song the band is most known for.) Other songs from this second album included "Tony the Beat," "Queen of Apology," "Ego," and "Hurt You."

I was slightly disappointed that the songs performed from their first album, "Living in America," did not include "Mine for Life" or "Like a Lady"...or "Seven Days A Week." However, playing my personal favorite, "Rock'n Roll," completely made up for it. Other songs performed from this album included, "Hit Me!," "Living in America," and "Hope You're Happy Now," which they ended the show with. (Kind of a strange choice to close the show with as I don't think it's one of the most popular songs, but The Sounds brought an energy to that last performance that I have not felt from the song in a while.)



The Sounds's performance at La Zona Rosa was more than a great show. It was a great experience. There wasn't a single still body in the crowd, many of those bodies dancing their hearts out (perhaps a little too much...at least the guy who spent half the show trying to get me to dance as insanely as him.) There was definitely an electricity in the air: the music was alive, penetrating everyone in the crowd and leaving them, I'm sure, with an experience that will never be forgotten.

Horror through Netflix: The Others

A few years ago, I gave into my sister's insistance on watching "The Others" and fell in love with it. Seriously, I went through a phase where I watched it constantly. After watching it last night, for the first time in years, I have no idea how I watched it all the time. It's quite depressing. But it still managed to be suspenseful (and make me jump a bit) despite seeing it over a dozen times.

"The Others" (2001), written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar, is an eerie suspense thriller that will raise the hair on the back of your neck. The entire film, which is set in 1945 just after WWII ends, takes place in the large, old house of devoutly religious Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman), who keeps the house almost completely dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare disease that makes them sensitive to light. Sunlight rarely finds its way into the house, but something else has.

After punishing Anne for continuing to scare her younger brother with stories of the "intruders" she's seen in the house, Grace becomes convinced that there really is a presence after witnessing strange events herself and fights to protect her children from the mysterious intruders.

"The Others" is a suspenseful film that's perfect for watching late at night, in the dark, if you're looking for a bone-chilling, goosebump inducing scare. While a bit sad, yes, it's an intriguing movie that will manipulate you as well as keep you in the dark (no pun intended). It's definitely one of those movies you'll want to watch again, not just because of its brilliant story, but because you'll want to catch what you missed before.

"The Others" is frightening enough to be considered a "Halloween night" movie, but carries enough depth in its story to watch any time.

Scare hint: Keep the volume on your television way up (you might have to anyway because the movie is pretty quiet most of the time.) It makes all the difference. Trust me.

Movie Review: Law Abiding Citizen

I vaguely remember seeing this trailer for "Law Abiding Citizen," which opened today, a couple months or so ago. I'm sure I had wanted to see it, but I had forgotten about it until a friend of mine picked me up from school and asked if I wanted to go see it, right then. He was so excited. I couldn't say no.

And I'm glad I went (though going to the Alamo Drafthouse so we could eat dinner, too, was a poor choice given the movie's "strong bloody brutal violence and torture." But I can be surprisingly tough enough to eat at least half a meal after watching such a scene...though, I'm not going to lie, I had to force myself through most of my meal.)

"Law Abiding Citizen" is a psychological thriller about seemingly average Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered during a home invasion. The killers are caught and Philadelphia prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is assigned the case, but his boss forces him to make a deal with one of the killers: a light sentence of five years in jail for testifying against his accomplice, who is given the death sentence. Shelton is far from satisfied.

Ten years later, Shelton gets his revenge, killing the man who got away with his family's murder and openly confessing to doing so. And he doesn't stop there. He strategically begins killing off key members who were involved in the case...from inside of prison.

But the film isn't about Shelton's revenge against his wife's and daughter's killer. It's about making a statement about the criminal justice system's failures. In particular, its failure to keep Shelton's family's killer locked up for the rest of his life or from being sentenced to death.

Getting revenge against a murderer is kind of a worn out plot (though film makers continue to find new ways to keep such a story line interesting.) So it was refreshing to see a plot that goes beyond revenge, raising questions about how just, or rather unjust, the criminal justice system can be. Of course, this is not to condone Shelton's actions. But despite the film's overexaggeration of making this statement, it cleverly proves a point: the criminal justice system constantly fails, almost making it just as guilty as the murderers they lightly punish or set free.

While the film's tone certainly is a serious one, Shelton's occasional witty lines slightly lighten the film, if only for a few seconds, and turn Shelton into one of those characters who you can't decide whether to love or hate. He's dark and twisted (and played flawlessly by Butler) as is the movie itself. It's a movie that will make you sad, angry, cringe...But most of all, it will make you think about and question our criminal justice system.

Filled with plenty of action, twists, wit, drama, and a plot that makes a simple statement in almost a genius way, "Law Abiding Citizen" will certainly not leave you disappointed.

What's your favorite scary movie...

Ghosts and vampires and the Headless Horseman, oh my!

In the spirit of Halloween and all things spooky, I am filling my Netflix queue with movies in the scary/horror genre and will be watching them now (well, tomorrow) through Halloween night.

Most of these will be my favorite horror movies. Some will be classics (can't forget Dr. Frankenstein.) And some will be horror movies I've never seen before. Here are a few I've added so far (I'm adding them as they come to me and trying not to add more than I'll be able to watch):

• Sleepy Hollow
• Pumpkinhead 1-4 (Most of these will be cut, but I'm at least going to watch the second one, which I believe is the one my sister and I stumbled upon one day and found hilarious. Yes, hilarious.)
• Interview with the Vampire
• 28 Days Later
• 1408
• 30 Days of Night
• The Others
• Edward Scissorhands (Ok, so this one isn't a "scary" movie nor is it a Halloween movie, but in my world, it fits. And I have a soft spot for Edward.)
• Hocus Pocus (Of course!)
  

I'm also open to suggestions if anyone has any (For example, I can't decide which Frankenstein movie to get: the original, "Young Frankenstein," "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"?) Just note: I am a huge fan of scary movies; I am NOT a huge fan of gore. (No Saw movies for me, thank you.)

First one comes in the mail tomorrow: "The Others." (I'm actually in a "Sleepy Hollow" kind of mood, but by the time I went to move it up in my queue, Netflix had already sent out "The Others.")

Now to find someone to watch all these scary movies with...(I like being scared, but I also only have time to watch movies at night...and I live by myself. Screams might echo through the cool Austin nights these next couple of weeks.)

Billy Talent releases Billy Talent III...September 22...Yeah, I missed it...

"Have you heard the new Billy Talent song?" asked my sister the other day. "What?! No!" was my response.

I cannot believe my sister new their knew song was out before me. (After all, I was the one who introduced the band to her) Guess I haven't checked their Myspace in awhile. (Some fan I am.)

Oh, and I also just found out (when I went to go listen to the song she was telling me about) that their fourth album, "Billy Talent III" (by the way, I absolutely love that Billy Talent just tacks on the next roman numeral to their band name when titling their albums), already came out on September 22. (Where have I been?!)

So I checked out the song, "Rusted From the Rain," and I am not disappointed. The song starts off with guitarist Ian D'Sa playing a soft melody behind Billy Talent front man Ben Kowalewicz's vocals. But Billy Talent doesn't fail to bring the soul (and the rock) as the drums and bass kick in mid-first verse. The song keeps a slower rhythm than the band's other popular songs, which typically have a heart-racing kind of pump to them. But like their other slow-rhythmed songs, you still find yourself rocking out by the end.

Here's the video for "Rusted From the Rain" by Billy Talent (because I know my description doesn't give it justice):


Rusted From The Rain

Billy Talent | MySpace Music Videos

Looks like I have a purchase to make, and I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.

Note: Do not go to shows at Mixx.

I was beyond excited to see my friend's alternative/rock band, Call It Epic, play a show Saturday night (Oct. 10) in Austin's Very Own Weird Woodstock at Mixx, since I missed the band's first two shows over summer. (I've been to a few of their band practices, so I've heard their music, but not any of the new songs they've been working on.)

Well, to say the least, I was disappointed. Not with Call It Epic. With Mixx.

I got there early enough to catch the band before Call It Epic play. They were...ok. Decent, I suppose. Pretty much your average emo band. Their downfall was playing a Boys Like Girls cover song, which I don't think the crowd cared for much. (The lead singer asked if anyone likes Boys Like Girls. Insert long pause here. "Well, I do," he said, before introducing the cover song.) They also didn't even draw a crwod toward the stage, which speaks for itself. (Not that the place was packed to begin with.)

Call It Epic, (consisting of Bryan Bone on lead guitar and vocals, Ami "John" Shabazz on guitar and back up vocals, and Joe Allen on the drums), on the other hand, had a small crowd in front of the stage by the end of their first song's intro.

However, Shabazz's mic wasn't turned up enough nor was Bone's guitar. Why? The sound guy disappeared right after the band started playing.

The result? After Bone repeatedly asking the non-existent sound guy to turn up the volume on his guitar, Call It Epic was told that the band was out of time...after only playing two songs and being on stage for about 10 minutes, if even that. Yet, the band before them, who mostly played cover songs, had been given their full time and played their whole set. (I also caught the following band's first song, which was as unoriginal as the band before Call It Epic and as dull and worn out as its lead vocalist looked - an over middle-aged man who looked like he was trying to recapture his glory days.)

Despite only playing two songs and having sound difficulties, Call It Epic gave a great performance of two new songs they've been working on, the lyrics and music of which were written by Bone. According to a couple of Call It Epic fans who caught the show (as well as the band's first two), Call It Epic played much better than their previous show (their first show being the best so far), which says a lot about how good a band is when they can play so well despite crappy sound technicians and without the chance to play more than two songs.

Let's just say, Call It Epic was not pleased (and I was a bit disappointed myself, but still, I was just happy I got to finally see the band play a show) and will never play at Mixx again.

(Note: Sorry if this post is a bit weak on what the band sounds like, but I'm sure I'll write about them again in the future, in more detail...hopefully after attending a better show. In the meantime, the link, Call It Epic, at the beginning of the post will take you to the band's Myspace page.)

Six days until The Sounds...

(...excitment not contained.)

"Capstoning" = little time for blogging (or anything else, for that matter). So until next Thursday, when Submission 2 is out of my hands, my blogs will probably be short and sweet.

In anticipation of seeing The Sounds next Friday (at La Zona Rosa), here's the video of "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" from their third album, "Crossing the Rubicon" (released in June 2009). I also just noticed on their website that the band created their own label and used their own money to record this album. Pretty cool. (Just thought I'd throw in that little tidbit.)



PS: I want to go shopping with Maja Ivarsson. But I'll settle for admiring her style from only a few feet away next week.