Alexander

It has everything to do with how important comics were to you when you were growing up. My dad got me started young on his Marvel backissues, and I've been hooked ever since. Every comic fan has wondered how his or her favorite hero would look on the silver screen, which is why we're such suckers for these movies...

I got it. The live material is FANTASTIC. Damn them!

I'd been listening to jazz on and off (mostly off) for about a year or so. My friend Henry was trying to turn me on to jazz (which he was just discovering), and while I liked what I heard, it just wasn't clicking with me. Most jazz tunes were too long for my attention span of the time (reared as I was on 3 minute singles), and I had a hard time getting with instrumental music (to me "instrumentals" were the boring cuts on soundtrack albums). Things I know I'd heard and liked up until this point: "Stan Getz and Bill Evans," "Kind of Blue," "ESP," "My Favorite Things," "Page One," etc. As I said, I liked all of these albums (had a harder time with "Bitches Brew" and post-1965 Trane), but they just didn't inspire me to sit down and LISTEN to jazz when I could be listening to something else. During this period, I had a horrible temp job doing data entry which enabled me to listen to music on my walkman all day long (the only good part of that job). One day, bored with the Hendrix and Elvis Presley which I'd been listening to everyday, I brought in a copy of "Horace Silver's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2." I popped in the tape, and from the first few notes of "Song for My Father," I was hooked. That was the moment when I GOT it. I started going out and buying as many jazz CDs as I could. I'm STILL at it more than a decade later...

Did ASAP like the movie as much as you did? ← Cute. No, I saw it by myself today (wife isn't as into comic book movies), but I will drag her kicking and screaming to see it...

Just got back from seeing this. Will definitely see it again with my wife, ASAP. Warning: Spoilers ahead... First of all...this is not a prequel to the 1989 Tim Burton film. That film established (contrary to the comic book's mythology) that Jack Napier was the Wayne's killer. Jack Napier was the name Burton and Sam Hamm gave the Joker (who has no name in the comic). This film has it right: that Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered by a mugger named Joe Chill. And that's just one example of how this film gets it right... The film is loosely based on Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" and on Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's excellent Batman stories (such as "The Long Halloween") which are set in the "Year One" universe. In this film, Bruce Wayne is a man in his late 20s, flailing about trying to find a way to avenge his parents. Jim Gordon is not yet Commissioner of the Gotham PD. He is partnered with a corrupt cop named Flass. The film makes much of the corruption within Gotham's government. Katie Holmes (in an outstanding performance) plays a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's who now works in the Gotham DA's office trying to bring down a local gangster named Falcone (nicknamed "The Roman" in "Year One" and "The Long Halloween"). Sadly, Harvey Dent is not in evidence in Gotham's DA office as yet. Maybe in the next movie. One of the things I HATED about both the Burton and Schumacher films was the fact that they were so jam packed with villians that there was no room for the Batman character (much less Bruce Wayne). This film has no fewer than THREE major villians (The Roman, Ra's Al Ghul, and the Scarecrow...four if you count the guy to whom Gordon alludes in the last scene), yet Batman is never shortchanged. This film is ABOUT Bruce Wayne in a way that Burton's 1989 film was not. The film explores Wayne's motives and his methods and makes you feel you KNOW the guy. Christian Bale has NAILED Wayne. His Batman isn't quite as good, though. At times it feels like he's trying to channel Keaton. But considering he actually spends MORE screen time as Wayne, it isn't as big a problem as you might think. I do wish they'd redesign the costume, though. I hate all that rubber. Batman needs to be able to move his head! There are a number of great performances in this film. Bale and Holmes both do a great job. Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Fox (a weapons designer who aids Wayne in his war on crime) take on the father figure roles in young Bruce's life, and are superb. Gary Oldman has a weariness that makes him a great Jim Gordon (I wish they'd given him a bit more screentime and more to do as Gordon). Liam Neeson plays another kind of father figure to Bruce, and he strikes the balance between good and evil in a wholly believable way (unlike whatshisname as Anakin/Darth Vader). Rutger Hauer doesn't get to do too much as a venal businessman who tries to dupe Wayne out of his father's business, but it's nice that he ISN'T connected with the Big Plot to destroy Gotham City. I wasn't familliar with Cillian Murphy, but he's outstanding as the Scarecrow. I've long been a fan of Tom Wilkenson ("Shakespeare in Love," "The Importance of Being Ernest"), and he doesn't disappoint as Falcone. Chris Nolan has made THE Batman film. This is not "Batman 5." This is "Batman 1: A New Beginning." Take THAT Keaton!

I prefer the version on Sanctuary, which has the original 15 track album in mono AND an alternate 12 track stereo version (originally delivered by Davies before he withdrew it and recorded a bunch of other tracks). Plus its all on one disc! Great sound too. I have all of the Kinks albums on Santuary through "Village Green," and I love 'em. I do own albums like "Arthur," "Lola," and "Muswell Hillbillies," but I still have them only in vinyl. Each disc has tons of bonus material and decent liners. Well worth checking out...

Timely post - I just got Elvis' Imperial Bedroom and Punch the Clock CDs yesterday. I've only listened to the Punch bonus disc and there's a lot of great material on it - live cuts, rehearsal tapes, demos - even a cover of a Yoko Ono song! But the best part is that the booklets for each CD are like volumes in a book, with EC telling stories (most of them involving alcohol) about what was going on during the periods that the original albums were recorded and released. Unfortunately, the Armed Forces booklet had a cliffhanger ending with Bebe Buell showing up on EC's London doorstep, and my re-reissue of Get Happy didn't continue the story. The Nashville stories about the Almost Blue recording sessions are great. When EC writes his autobiography, it should be a very entertaining read. ← Costello started writing excellent liner notes back when Rykodisc was doing their reissue campaign. The first few ("My Aim is True" through "Armed Forces") were very brief, but then (with the reissue of "Get Happy!!") they started getting longer and longer, and better and better. The Rhino reissues have only continued the trend. I was VERY glad Rhino simply reprinted the liners from the Rykodisc "Punch the Clock," which was my favorite of the Ryko series (his critique of the Falklands War is savage). I've often wished that Costello would write a book. He's a great wit.

I noticed that back when my daughter was watching "Blue's Clues." I thought it was pretty cool. LOVE the music on "Little Bill." Wish she'd watched that more. Now she's into "Teen Titans" and such, which just has frenetic action music (although the theme song is by the great Japanese pop duo Puffy..."When there's trouble you know who to call...TEEN TITANS!").

Welcome to the shit-world of boxing. That's one reason why I can't stand watching it. The other reason I avoid it, is due to the brutality. ← There's a lot more to boxing than just beating the crap out of somebody, but you certainly wouldn't know it to watch Tyson in his heyday. He was a brute. All he could do was hit extremely hard. Once he lost that, he was done. He had no skills, no footwork, no speed, and no strategy. Or rather he had a very limited strategy that consisted of: "Approach opponent. Clobber opponent. Repeat as necessary." I suppose one could make the argument that he somehow psyched his opponents out, but I don't think that was intentional. His opponents were afraid of him because he was capable of making hamburger meat out of them. I don't think it ever rose to the level of "psychological warfare." The best fighters use what's between their ears as much as they use their fists. Tyson may not have been a fool or a simpleton, but he was unsophisticated as a fighter. Learning your trade on the streets just doesn't cut it in the long run.

I can't say I'm sorry to hear it. Tyson was the worst thing to happen to boxing in the 80s.

I acutally use this one in class, and my students love it... "Oedipus Rex" From the Bible to the popular song, There's one theme that we find right along; Of all ideals they hail as good, The most sublime is motherhood. There was a man though, who it seems, Once carried this ideal to extremes. He loved his mother and she loved him, And yet his story is rather grim. There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex, You may have heard about his odd complex. His name appears in Freud's index 'Cause he loved his mother. His rivals used to say quite a bit That as a monarch he was most unfit. But still in all they had to admit That he loved his mother. Yes, he loved his mother like no other, His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother. One thing on which you can depend is, He sure knew who a boy's best friend is. When he found what he had done, He tore his eyes out, one by one. A tragic end to a loyal son Who loved his mother. So be sweet and kind to mother, Now and then have a chat. Buy her candy or some flowers, Or a brand new hat. But maybe you had better let it go at that. Or you may find yourself with a quite complex complex And you may end up like Oedipus. I'd rather marry a duck-billed platypus Than end up like old Oedipus Rex.

Another Leherer song I loved was "The Vatican Rag." I can never keep myself from humming it when I get dragged to a church wedding... First you get down on your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect, And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect! Do whatever steps you want if You have cleared them with the Pontiff. Everybody say his own Kyrie eleison, Doin' the Vatican Rag. Get in line in that processional, Step into that small confessional. There the guy who's got religion'll Tell you if your sin's original. If it is, try playin' it safer, Drink the wine and chew the wafer, Two, four, six, eight, Time to transubstantiate! So get down upon your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect, And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect! Make a cross on your abdomen, When in Rome do like a Roman; Ave Maria, Gee, it's good to see ya. Gettin' ecstatic an' sorta dramatic an' Doin' the Vatican Rag!

I grew up on Tom Lehrer. Always loved his stuff. My favorites are "So Long Mom, I'm Off to Drop The Bomb" (I sang that for an audition in high school), "Poisoning Pidgeons in the Park," and "The Irish Ballad." That last one was a great example of what in the 60s was called "sick" humor: About a maid I'll sing a song, Sing rickety-tickety-tin, About a maid I'll sing a song, Who didn't have her fam'ly long. Not only did she do them wrong, She did ev'ryone of them in, them in, She did ev'ryone of them in. One morning in a fit of pique, Sing rickety-tickety-tin, One morning in a fit of pique, She drowned her father in the creek. The water tasted bad for a week, And we had to make do with gin, with gin, We had to make do with gin. Her mother she could never stand, Sing rickety-tickety-tin, Her mother she could never stand, And so a cyanide soup she planned. The mother died with a spoon in her hand, And her face in a hideous grin, a grin, Her face in a hideous grin. She set her sister's hair on fire, a-Rickety-tickety-tin, She set her sister's hair on fire, And as the smoke and flame rose high'r, Danced around the funeral pyre, Playin' a violin, -olin, Playin' a violin. She weighted her brother down with stones, a-Rickety-tickety-tin, She weighted her brother down with stones, And sent him off to Davy Jones. All they ever found were some bones, And occasional pieces of skin, of skin, Occasional pieces of skin. One day when she had nothing to do, Sing rickety-tickety-tin, One day when she had nothing to do, She cut her baby brother in two, And served him up as an Irish stew, And invited the neighbors in, -bors in, Invited the neighbors in. And when at last the police came by, Sing rickety-tickety-tin, And when at last the police came by, Her little pranks she did not deny. To do so she would have had to lie, And lying, she knew, was a sin, a sin, Lying, she knew, was a sin. My tragic tale I won't prolong, Rickety-tickety-tin, My tragic tale I won't prolong, And if you do not enjoy my song, You've yourselves to blame if it's too long, You should never have let me begin, begin, You should never have let me begin.

Yep. "Three is a Magic Number" was the first. While Bob didn't sing all of them, he at least wrote the music to most of the songs, if not both music and lyrics.

Other jazz voices you've heard in Schoolhouse Rock include Bob Dorough ("The Shot Heard Round the World," "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly (Get Your Adverbs Here)," and "Three Is a Magic Number"...among others) and Blossom Dearie ("Unpack Your Adjectives"). Also, Essra Mohawk (Uncle Meat from Zappa's Mothers) sang "Sufferin' Until Suffrage."

When I worked at B&N, the policy was that we had to play the discs the company sent us each month. For the most part, the selection was horrible. Once in a great while, something decent would slip through (and we'd play it to the point where we were all sick to death of it). Now speaking personally, I brought my own discs from home and played good music my whole shift. It was always very good for business. Can't tell you how many copies of "Lester Young with Oscar Peterson" I sold while I worked there (I sold at least one copy every time I played). Did it for years, until I got caught... Now I don't work at B&N anymore. Oh well!

Ok, that last one WAS pretty awesome...

He read my mind too. That's pretty cool!

Me and my brother were talking to each other 'Bout what makes a man a man Was it brain or brawn, or the month you were born We just couldn't understand Our old man didn't like our appearance He said that only women wear long hair So me and my brother borrowed money from Mother We knew what we had to do We went downstairs, past the barber and gymnasium And got our arms tattooed Welcome to my life, tattoo I'm a man now, thanks to you I expect I'll regret you But the skin graft man won't get you You'l be there when I die Tattoo My dad beat me 'cause mine said "Mother" But my mother naturally liked it and beat my brother 'Cause his tattoo was of a lady in the nude And my mother thought that was extremely rude Welcome to my life, tattoo We've a long time together, me and you I expect I'll regret you But the skin graft man won't get you You'll be there when I die Tattoo Now I'm older, I'm tattooed all over My wife is tattooed too A rooty-toot-toot, rooty-tooty-toot-toot Rooty-toot-toot tattoo too To you

This use of the phrase "yas-yas" is also found in Charley Jordan's "Keep It Clean." "If you want to hear That elephant laugh Take him down to the river And wash his yas-yas-yas..."

Had that one too!

Had it!

No stones from me. I'm a big Baker fan. Heck, I even like Chet's singing!

First I want to see proof that you own a hat. ← It's a very nice hat, made entirely out of chocolate cake! Yum!

And yet, as I said, no historical evidence supporting the existence of Jesus exists. So what are we supposed to think? "Gosh, everybody seems to *think* this guy was real. There has to be *something* to it." Bull. Cite one piece of unbiased original empirical data proving the existence of Jesus, and I'll eat my hat.