movies

“The Place Beyond the Pines”, a brief review…

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Last night, I finally got around to watching, “The Place Beyond the Pines”. The newest film starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendez, Ray Liotta and Bradley Cooper. This entire movie was filmed in the town of Schenectady, N.Y. which is a town in the Capital District area. The reason this movie is titled, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is because that is just another name for Schenectady. Yes, the film makers and actors really did film this movie in the town of Schenectady. It was filmed on a real location, no movie studios.

The film tells a story about a man named Luke Glanton who is a professional motorcycle stuntman. He learns that he has a son that he didn’t know he had and in order for him to have a better life, he wanted to take care of his son on his own. Luke doesn’t have much of a life other than his professional motorcycle riding which is what he did for a living. He quit his job as a motorcycle stuntman so he can take care of his ex-girlfriend, Romina and his son. Realizing that he can’t make money anywhere else, he decided to start robbing banks as given advice by his friend, Robin. This leads into a major feud with a rookie cop who works for a corrupt police force.

That’s enough of the plot ’cause I don’t want to give too much away. So far, I think this the best film released this year. This film tells three different stories. A background story of Luke Glanton. The film was well-made and the film was acted very well by everyone who starred in the film. Not just the big name stars did a great job in acting, even the lesser known actors in the film did pretty amazing. This is the most realistic movie, I’ve ever seen in a long time. The things you see in this movie can happen in real life. Plus, the film did an excellent job giving you an idea of what Schenectady, N.Y. is really like.

I don’t like Schenectady. Not a lot of people do for a good reason. Schenectady has a corrupt police force. Too many crazy people. Crime rate is high there. Too many kids getting in trouble. You will see stuff like that in the film. Even though I don’t go to Schenectady too much, I do recognize a lot of familiar areas and places in the film especially Vale Cemetery and the ice cream place you see in the photo above.

I thought it was a beautiful film and it was definitely way better than, “Blue Valentine”. The writing was perfect, so was the acting. No complaints. It was a pretty intense movie. I think this film has “Best Picture” potential for the Oscars and it’ll probably get a nomination, hopefully. It was one of the best films released this year. Definitely check it out!

Kev

Poetry

“Complete Control of Your Mind”…

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It is interesting how people
get angry at my online
web presence.
You either love me or you
don’t.
I’m good, either way.

What makes people think they
have complete control of my
thoughts and feelings about
things?
The trick is you don’t
ever want to let people
think they have complete
control of your mind.

When you have an honest opinion
on any topic…
stick with it always.
Don’t ever change just because
people online are pissed at what
you said.

I am realizing that
people only get pissed
at you if they disagree
with what you say or
if you don’t side with
everyone else.

I try not to follow popular
opinion.
It’s absolutely okay to be
different.
When you are different, all
kinds of drama will come out
of it in facebook and people
will write you hate messages.

I’m never offended at anything
at all ’cause I’m man enough
to never take things seriously
and personally.
If you get mad at what I say
online,  that’s good.
It lets me know that I am
successful and saying the
right things.

Haters just make me tougher
and they inspire me.
They just help me keep
doing what I do… pissing people off.
The key to being a good blogger
and online critic is pissing people off.
That’s what a true blogger is
supposed to do.
Don’t care if people get upset.
A big middle finger to all of them.

Kev

Local music

Waylon Jennings has it right! He knows what he’s talking about!

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That’s what I’ve been trying to say about music for years. It is about the music. It is not about the fame, popularity or money. If you do music for those three things, then you don’t deserve to call yourself a musician, in my opinion. It’s about the love and passion for music. That’s me. I play music ’cause I care about it and see it as a passion. If I don’t get any publicity or any press with my music or if I don’t get signed, I’m all good with that. That’s not what I do music for. I do music ’cause it’s in my blood. It’s just as simple as that!

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Finally, got that cable for the Behringer preamp but…

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… still having hissing and humming issues. Got the right 1/4 to XLR balanced male cable that I was supposed to get, hooked up the M-Audio Fast Track to Behringer Preamp successfully. Got the preamp to pick up successfully and can hear it pretty damn good through the headphones but still having noise issues. I’m thinking it definitely have to be a grounding issue in this room ’cause I’m probably gonna keep getting noise issues no matter what kind of preamp I get. This preamp I got is a microphone preamp, not really a guitar preamp.

In order to fix the grounding issue in this room, I would either have to do some major electrical work. I don’t know anything about electricity or wiring and I would have to hire someone to do that stuff for me in this room. Either that or I would have to get some kind of ground isolator or transformer that would be more affordable. That’s the only option that I have.

The microphone on the preamp sounds pretty good amped up and a little louder but I have to get rid of the electrical buzzing sound. I know someone who is an expert and professional at home recording stuff so maybe I’ll have him help me out with this stuff.

I’ll still try to figure things out myself, though.

Kev

TV

Will I watch the new Walking Dead season in Oct??? I’m thinking about giving up on this show…

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I’ll admit it that I was very disappointed with the last season of the Walking Dead. The writing has gotten really bad… even Daryl couldn’t save the show. Last time I checked, this is supposed to be, “The Walking Dead”. Not “The Suck Daryl Dixon’s Dick” show. The whole point of the books were the stories which is what the show is missing. All the craziness of Daryl Dixon is overshadowing the storytelling part of the show. Crazy stupid and pretentious fans. Daryl wasn’t a character in the books and the stories can get really good without him. The books were so much better than the lame TV show. Even if the writing is bad, the makers at AMC are doing whatever it takes to give Daryl a lot of screen time so they can keep the show on the air. Daryl is what keeps the show going. Without him, the show’s ratings will tank and it’ll cancel mid-season probably. So they are probably never gonna kill Daryl off. If they do, I can see angry fans starting petitions or starting rallies to bring Daryl back. Don’t get me wrong. Norman Reedus is a fantastic actor and Daryl is a cool character but they really need to focus on the stories.

I was also disappointed with the direction of the Michonne and Andrea storyline went to last year. Rick going all psychotic and weird was pretty lame as well. Also, The Governor is not menacing enough. If you read the books, you would see that the Governor is a lot more nastier and even more menacing.

Not sure if I’ll continue to watch the “Walking Dead” this year.

At least the writing for “Breaking Bad” and “Dexter” has gotten really good this year. Those two shows are pretty strong. “The Walking Dead” however, has gone way downhill for me. Maybe I’ll try to watch the first couple of episodes this season but if I see they haven’t improved, I’ll stop watching then. It just gotten really boring.

Kev

movies

“Jurassic World” set for June of 2015…

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Universal announced the title for the 4th installment to the Jurassic Park franchise: “Jurassic World” is set for release on June 12, 2015.

Once again, Steven Spielberg will NOT direct this one but he will still help produce. Colin Trevorrow will be the director.

No details on the plot and no casting as of yet but I’m sure we’ll hear more as time goes along.

The Hollywood Reporter, reports.

I wonder if Sam Neil or Jeff Goldblum will return to this one? Maybe both of these guys will star in the film together? Keep in mind that both of these men are aging so they might be a little too old to be running around getting chased by dino’s but ya never know though. Maybe Sam and Jeff would be game to coming back? Anyway, I’m pretty sure we’re gonna see a few familiar faces. They will indeed have a few cast members from the earlier films. One actor I hope to see return to the franchise is Richard Attenborough who played the park’s creator, John Hammond. You probably remember him from the first two films, right?

I like the Jurassic Park series; however, I find Jurassic Park III to be the best one. That was the one where Sam Neil returned in the leading role. JP3 was actually a pretty intense movie.

I hope they do a good job with JP4. I wish them luck.

Kev

Politics/war

Where have all the anti-war celebrities gone???

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There are political memes making the rounds of facebook saying that where are all the anti-war celebrities? On these memes have photos of these celebrities such as Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Streisand, Tim Robbins, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Martin Sheen, etc. These are all politically motivated celebs. These celebs were pretty honest and open during the Bush administration but during the Obama administration, these celebs have been pretty quiet the whole time. Why is this you may ask? I would think the only answer is that all of these celebs are typical liberals, nothing more. They are all probably Obama supporters too, wouldn’t surprise me.

Even though I respect Neil Young as a singer/songwriter, I don’t respect him being a liberal… he even did a whole anti-Bush album on him, “Living With War”. You have never seen Neil Young make a whole anti-Obama album at all.

There are too many liberal celebrities out there, it’s crazy.

Not too many conservative/libertarian celebs out there. So far, the only conservative celebs who are anti-Obama that I know of are Charlie Daniels, Donald Trump, Ted Nugent, Matt Damon, Chuck Norris, and of course, Clint Eastwood. That’s about all. In my opinion, I think Charlie Daniels is the best anti-Obama celeb ’cause the man knows what he’s talking about and he’s right on target most of the time. Yes, Charlie Daniels, “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”, guy. I follow Charlie’s facebook and twitter everyday… pretty inspirational stuff.

I do agree, though, how it’s weird that those anti-war celebrities are staying silent about the Syria stuff. Those liberals are weird.

Kev

Poetry

“Never forget them both”

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Never forget them both.
9/11/01 and the Benghazi attacks.
While most people will be
talking about 9/11/01, you
shouldn’t forget Benghazi
either.

It has been 12 years of 9/11/01
and has been a year of Benghazi.
1 year of Benghazi and still no
answers and no justice for the
4 Americans.

I love my country.
God bless the United States of America.

Kev

music

Cool Video: I just love the new Arcade Fire song, “Reflektor”…

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The new song Arcade Fire “Reflektor” is pretty intense. I don’t give new music positive feedback too much but the new song by Arcade Fire here is pretty incredible. I can’t stop listening to it. Gives me goosebumps every time. The song has a 70’s disco feeling to it. This song is different than their earlier albums.

I am noticing that David Bowie does some backup vocals toward the end of this song. You’ll notice Bowie’s voice immediately. Bowie himself even makes a cameo in this video as one of them weird masked people… you can see him at 5:30. That’s Bowie standing next to a coffin with that weird masked girl. Not sure if the man wearing the Bowie mask is really Bowie himself but that’s definitely Bowie’s mask. It’s just letting you know that he has special guested in this song.

I love Arcade Fire. I have their previous albums and I can’t wait for their new one. Glad they’re back finally!

Kev

Poetry

“The Friend Zone”

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I’ve been friends with quite
a bit of women
over the years but I’ve
been stuck in the friend
zone with pretty much all
of them.

Women just come and go in
my life. No real dates.
Just hanging out and
good company.
Why?
Why haven’t a romantic moment
came out of any of them yet?

Somehow I feel like I’m
being used ’cause they have
no one else to go to.
Some of them came to me
sometimes so they can have
someone to talk to and
they won’t feel alone.

Maybe I get stuck in the friend
zone ’cause maybe I’m too nice
of a guy?
Maybe I’m not good looking enough?
Maybe I don’t have enough money?
Maybe I don’t know how to talk to
them or don’t understand them?

I’m thinking it’s better to
stay in the friend zone.
It’s better to be single
than being hurt or heartbroken.

The next time I become friends with
a woman, I’ll make sure it’s a true
friendship — if there is ever such
a thing — No more women using me.
Done with it.

Kev

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