Strictly Rubbadub

www.Monkeylicious.com is imminent...I'm not sure if I'll keep my blog here and link to it from there or just move it.
It will have forums, reviews of movies, music, videogames, comics, tv, and other things. This will also give me an excuse to practice and make DJ Mixes for folks to download...maybe once a month or more? At the very least I want to put up a song each week that folks may not have heard. Photoshop contests, a cartoon(though not at first), and other types of sillyness will also feature. And who knows? If we get big enough, I could see shirts and other such merchandise available for purchase.
The forums are open to sign up and configure right now, so sign up, choose an avatar, and help us build this into something fun and monkeyful!

It's the music that we choose

Well it's only been like five minutes since my last entry, but I'm still nowhere near sleep. Sooooooooo, I figured I'd do some music reviews/recommendations to pass some more time.

Marilyn Manson - The Golden Age of Grotesque: My hopes for this one was that it would at least be better than the last album(Holy Wood), and with the addition of Skold from KMFDM on bass and coproducing, that was pretty much a guarantee. I was also hoping for a new direction. From each album to the next(until Holy Wood), Manson's sound has changed and they've experimented and grown as a band. Holy Wood, however, was a step back from Mechanical Animals to Antichrist Superstar that seemed to me like they didn't know what to do so they thought "why not remake our biggest album?". This new one is different than those two, but not enough to be really great. The music is rockin' and you can hear Skold's influence, but it's still kind of "been there, heard that". What's more, Mr. Manson seems to be running out of decent lyrics, as this disc is chock full of onomotopoea(sp?) like "kaboom kaboom", "bang bang!", and "doll-dagg-buzz-buzz-ziggity-zag"...and if you know what that last one means, please contact your nearest psychiatrist ASAP.

Blur - Think Tank: Damon Albarn is the man. Has he ever done a bad album? Every Blur disc so far has been great, the Gorillaz are amazing(see below), and he's even scored at least one film a few years back: the wonderfully twisted Ravenous. The new Blur album sounds halfway between Parklife and the Gorillaz disc, with a dose of eastern influence thrown in...and it's great! I'm loving it more with each listen and I listen to it pretty much every day. Oh and Fatboy Slim produced two tracks, but the results are better than you'd think...and this is coming from a Fatboy fan, so there:P

Abandoned Pools - Humanistic: I think this one came out about two years ago. I only heard of them from Clone High(they do the theme song and appear in the last episode). This is the kind of rock music I usually don't like. It could be described as whiny I guess, or the kind of post-alternative alternative rock that could show up at end of a teen sex comedy...but dammit, I like it a lot.

boy these reviews are getting shorter, eh?

It's Tha Joint - Illaphilla's Classic Hiphop Mixtape: A compilation I made of late 80's-early 90's rap, including Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario", Blacksheep's "This or That?", "Regulate" by Nate Dogg and Warren G, "Rock the Bells" and "Mamma Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J, and a host of Dre and Snoop songs. It just won't leave my player...let me know if you want a copy:)

I think I'm getting tired now, so here's a few more quick recommendations before bed:
Placebo - Sleeping With Ghosts
Spacemonkeyz vs. Gorillaz - Laika Come Home
Various Artists - More Music From 8 Mile
LoFidelity Allstars - Don't Be Afraid of Love
2 Many DJ's - As Heard on Radio Soulwax pt. 2
Cowboy Bebop - Music for Freelance Remixes
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief demos
DJ Green Lantern - Shady Records Mixtape Vol. 1 and 2 these have some great tracks from Em, 50, D12, Obie Trice and others that don't appear on any commercial releases. Look for em on Kazaa.

send me some music recommendations foks!

You shanked my Jengajam

I have to get up in 6.5 hours and I'm wide awake, partially because of the 10 hours I slept last night and partially because of these damn birds outside my window. For the past two weeks, every night starting around 11:30, they start their incessant chirpping and don't let up until the sun comes up. Music doesn't help, closing the window doesn't help, earplugs don't help. The only thing that blocks em out completely is a combination of all three combined with a pillow over my head...and that's not the most comfortable way to sleep...the most comfortable way to sleep is, of course, on top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies ^_^

If you haven't noticed, I'm using capital letters today. This is due to a concious effort on my part to make this thing just a little more readable. I like typing without caps(as anyone who's ever IM'ed me knows) but it is more difficult to read. So to the four or five people reading this: you're welcome.

Speaking of people reading this, here's some links for you folks to check out:
(for some reason the hyperlinks in blogger aren't working, so just copy and paste the urls for now)

Reid's Blog...The Mud Buddha is a jolly sort of bloke from the mystical and far away realm of Rock-upon-Ford. He is possibly sillier than me, but his demeanor can change in the blink of an eye due to chronic VGF(Video Game Frustration).
http://mud_buddha.blogspot.com

Adam's Blog...Adam is an odd one. He has the power to tame wild cats and often beats on his chest for some reason. He has enough movies to open up his own Blockbuster and wears shorts 300 days a year. He is recently sober(congratulations!) and more recently employed(bastard). Read his (much more coherent than mine) ramblings here:
http://alcoholicadam.blogspot.com/

Vanessa's Blog...Vanessa, or 'Nessa, or 'Ness, or just "V" if you're really lazy, is apparently a punk rock grrrrl from the always rockin' state of WV, but I don't buy it;) Currently residing in NC, we have only recently been communicating again(you know how it is), so I can't really tell you too much that her Blog can't:
http://vanessaevemiller.blogspot.com/

JT's Dope Shit...John's World only has a "coming soon" graphic right now, but my man's been bizzy in tha hizzy hockin them cell phones to junior high kids at tha big W. Once he takes a break from chasing Ben Folds around the east coast and updates his site, I'm sure it'll be sicker than a Tupac dedication to Biggie:
http://www.angelfire.com/wv2/johnsworld/

Bob and Friends' Music Group...Bob, Justin, and I have some music in the "Files" section on the left side of the page. We were messing around with Reason awhile back and threw this up to swap songs. Unfortunately Yahoo! has a 20MB limit on total files, so until Reid gets his server working, we can't upload too much:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobnphilsmusic/

If you are reading this and have a site you want me to link to, let me know at illaphilla@yahoo.com.

put it in your middle finger and sing along

Resucked:
ok so i had issues with the first Matrix film for awhile, but over the years i've come to like it...in fact i watched it again tonight to refresh before Matrix Relourded. i still think 1 is overrated but it's a good solid flick. the overwhelming hype coupled with the fact that it broke some technical ground meant that the sequel had a lot to live up to.

i miss my ten dollars. we had some good times together. he'd wait patiently in my wallet, never complaining about those pesky ones, high-and-mighty fives, or arrogant twenties that seemed to never be around. yes, he was a loyal ten dollars, willing to sacrifice himself for me for almost any reason. looking back now, i wish our parting could have been the result of a more meaningful movie...hell, i could have rented Porkies 2 three times from blockbuster and still had enough for some chocodiles from 7-11. sadly, my annual chocoporkydile weekend(may 14-16) will have to be postponed this year, as my ten dollars was needlessly sacrificed for the sake of the Matrix Redoodled.

Matrix Refolded is not a good flick, not on any level. but what about the action scenes you ask? well they are ok for the most part, and yes there are 2 really cool scenes, but they serve no purpose... at one point(the annoying frenchman scene) i asked reid how a movie could be so interesting and painfully boring at the same time. it is both well made and poorly constructed at the same time...all the effort went into the eye candy and mythology, causing the filmmakers to forget about character and dialouge altogether. as a result we're left with hollow characters(almost always severly over or underacted) that i didn't give a damn about, and a loping, dragging, boring plot with absolutely no sense of pacing at all. when a character in the movie has to jusitfy yet another kungfu fight for the audience, something is really wrong.
i could go way more into problems i had with the details of the universe and mythos of the film(and believe me there are plenty) but i could be much more forgiving of those if it was an otherwise well-made film, and sadly it isn't.

the Matrix Rejiggered made me want to see X2 again so that i can enjoy a good (CHARACTER DRIVEN) comic/fx/action/popcorn film...and it'll hold me over until the Matrix ReBarBQutions comes out in november.

we will not be angry victims no more

oh the hour i've had...
first some back story...reid's car got broken into on sunday night. it was the rear passenger window and they took his discman, the cradle for his phone, and some cd's with no cases. they left some other stuff.
sooooooooo...i go over tonight(you already know this isn't gonna end well:) around 5ish...at 9 we went to get subway and although we passed my car i didn't really notice anything weird, so we think it was after 9:15 that some jagoff busted in my rear passenger window(not the main one, but the lil triangle one, luckily). i actually first noticed that my hubcaps were gone...then i walked around and saw the hole in the window. opened the door, which was unlocked, and there was a big hole where my stereo was, with the front plate off and wires hanging out. opened the glove box and miraculously the discman was still there...and so are my cd's. in fact, EVERYTHING that was in my car is still in there except the shitty factory tape deck/stereo...and 4 plastic hubcaps.
now this thief is either very eccentric and only steals crap from white cars that are a few years old even though there are several newer and nicer cars in darker spots OR he's a gigantic dumbass...or probly both.
so the wires are all sticking out and the panel lights don't work at all, but the headlights do. so i do my best to clear out some glass, then bag and tape the hole and head home. i stop at a red light and there's cops behind me and the light turns green, i step on the gas and my car stalls...so then i turn it off, turn it on, go and then they flash their lights and i pull into a gas station. they pulled me over cuz my tail lights are out(i didn't know) so i have to give em the license and registration and all that. i got a ticket(no fine or points or anything, i just have to take it in when i get the lights fixed).
so tomorrow i'mma call dad and tell him and see where i should go to get this all fixed. then i'mma call the coppers and tell em about mine and reid's cars, cuz it's obviously the same moron what did it...and then friday night reid and i are going on stake out:) i asked the security guard at the school across the street if he'd seen anyone(he hadn't, cuz he stays in and around the building, but not out front where he could see across the street). we are gonna either sit in a car on the other side of the street, eat donuts, drink coffee and watch and/or walk around. if we see em we can have the cops on speed dial and call em as it's happening. it would be SO sweet to watch em get busted, especially if they try to resist and get hit with sticks for half an hour...it is the LAPD after all:)
to paraphrase travolta in pulp fiction, "it'd almost have been worth it just so i coulda caught him doing it".

by the way, "i'mma" means "i'm going to" or "i'm gonna" ^_^

now playing (in my head): Revolting Cocks - Gillacopter

my eyes ache with joy

saw X2 last night. sweet zombie jesus...the most incredible thing i've seen in a long time. i really can't say enough good things about it, nor am i going to try:) just see the thing as soon as possible. i am going again ASAP. and to think...only 2 weeks till matrix!
bryan singer already made one of my top 10 favorite movies(the usual suspects). never did i think that he'd one day bring the x-men so brilliantly to the screen. on the one hand, i'd like for him to keep making x-movies till he drops dead, but imagine if he got his hands on watchmen or preacher?

tomorrow is free comicbook day!

i'm gonna watch ren & stimpy:)

Spooky Donkey

haven't heard from any of the jobs i've applied/interviewed for, but i did get a new internship...one where i'll actually be doing and learning rather than sitting and vegging. it's for a streaming video website that specializes in reels for directors, dp's, etc.

my roommate has seemingly disappeared. i haven't seen him for almost 3 days now, not that i miss the whining that he calls "singing". he also left 3 inches of black water in the sink with a clogged disposal and full of dirty dishes for over 2 days. after declaring that i wouldn't clean up his mess anymore, last night i caved and fought with the disposal and finally unclogged it with a wooden spoon...then i cleaned the sink and did dishes. i really didn't want to give in but there weren't any dishes left. i had to use a tupperware lid as a plate. i feel sorry for his future wife...unless of course she's as filthy as him in which case i feel sorry for their kids.

10.5 hours till X-men!!!

now playing: Oxide & Neutrino - Execute