Absolutely loved this movie. There were a ton of alien invasion movies this year, including Super 8, which I also really liked, but Attack the Block took the cake for me. It’s always interesting to see a disaster scenario in a setting where guns aren’t as ubiquitous as they are here in the States. And I appreciated the moral ambiguity of the protagonists. Great alien design, too.

2. Drive

What more is there to say about Drive? It’s gorgeous, it’s moody, it’s soundtrack is incredible, and the performances are incredible across the board. And let me tell you, riding your bike (YOUR BIKE!) while listening to “Nightcall” is way more epic than it deserves to be.

3. Warrior

I actually just watched this last night and I was completely enthralled with it. Nolte and Hardy both deserve some Oscar love for this little fight film. And the fight scenes, man oh man, beautiful and brutal. It’s a shame it made next to nothing at the box office but hopefully more people will discover it on DVD.

4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Full disclosure: In fifth grade, I wanted to be a primatologist to teach sign language to gorillas. I was also way into the original Planet of the Apes movies, so I fully expected to hate this one. Andy Serkis (and the necessary Weta-magic) really made Rise much better than it had any business being. Why Cookie Rocket, indeed.

5. Tabloid

Errrol Morris is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to documentaries and Tabloid does not disappoint. I love that Morris just lets everyone tell their story and allows the audience to figure out the “truth” of a really bizarre story that takes an even more bizarre twist into the world of dog-cloning. Yup.

-SRD

www.soundcloud.com/tybeat

-SRD

Their site claims that the BRT merely duplicates the (1) Division route and at a slower pace. This is patently false. The (1) route runs from 54th street to Central station in 33 minutes.  The BRT will run from 60th street to the Medical Mile, an expanded route over the (1),  in 27 minutes. How that equates to the BRT running slower than the (1) is another example of ITP Watch’s blatant misrepresentation of the data available. Hell, right now, you’d need to transfer from the (1) to the (13) at Central Station to get to the Medical Mile, taking 44 minutes. That’s 17 minutes slower than the proposed BRT. More importantly, the BRT will run every 10 minutes during peak and every 15 during off and will connect three cross-town routes. You can read more about the BRT and how it works here.

27 minutes from the Medical Mile to 60th Street seems pretty damn fast to me. Something tells me that those opposing the BRT don’t spend a lot time actually IN Grand Rapids. If they did, they’d understand how beneficial and revolutionary a system this would be to the city. I’ll even propose this much: if you can drive from Michigan and Barclay down Division to 60th street without once going over the speed limit in less than 27 minutes, during normal traffic conditions, you’re probably a time lord.

Rapid Yes: Spread the word and Vote YES on May 3.

-SRD

that’s the new 14 grand!

-srd

wait, i think i actually issued the president challenge.

new 14 grand!

-srd

star-mars was my very first high school teacher and one of my absolute favorites.  her class was the first to really challenge me and she always pushed me to do better work, especially when i got lazy and wanted to coast.  i remember all the competing for the coveted “plus ones” she’d dole out for particularly insightful comments or questions.  i remember leading the charge to resurrect the colorado trip with a bizzare gift of a coconut and her disappointment when i wasn’t picked to go.  i remember her letting us hide out in her classroom during assemblies.  i remember sean sarniak and i coordinating a barrage of circus peanuts on the last day of class.  and i remember coming back to rhs during my freshman year at michigan to chat about the good ol’ days.

us nerds will miss you, star-mars.

-srd

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists cover Tears For Fears

Superchunk covers The Cure

Clem Snide covers Journey

Frightened Rabbit covers The Lemonheads

Motion City Soundtrack covers Pavement

-srd

exhibit a: the rob bliss waterslide thing. now granted, i’ve said some less than kind things about rob bliss in the past, but i’ve always liked the actual events he’s put together even if i “disagree” with his personality.  someone says to me: “dude (cause all of my friends are surfers, naturally), some kid is turning lyon into a giant waterslide, like in that dodge commercial,” i say, “sign me up, bro.”

not grand rapids.  grand rapids is dicks.

who’s paying for it?! did you read the damn article?! and i’m sorry your kid has leukemia, but what exactly does that have to do with anything?  he probably shouldn’t be on a giant waterslide regardless of the supposed “germ” issue.  here’s some more stupid people.

oh my god, shut the fuck up. and e-coli?  i don’t think you know how that works, rollin butler, if that is indeed your real name, WHICH I DOUBT!  granted, people who comment on local news stories tend to skew overwhelmingly toward awful.  but i’m also seeing people i actually know constantly bitching about really cool shit.

“man, I AM SO SICK of talented filmmakers and hilarious actors coming to grand rapids to shoot movies.  can we get bloated val kilmer back to shoot some direct-to-dvd crap?”

“art prize is just fucking grand rapids elite trying to control the scene, man, even though last year’s probably brought in 200,000 people and $7.6 MILLION to the area.”

“fuck all these new bars and venues popping up downtown.  the orbit room is just fine with me, thank you very much!”

god damnit, people. grand rapids is starting to get awesome in a big way and all you pricks can do is bitch and complain.  and it’s not just outside film companies and business owners doing cool shit.  there’s tons of artists and bands and photographers and god knows who else making and writing and shooting and god knows what else-ing.  i posted this earlier this week but it bears repeating here: when did it become uncool to be excited about shit?

obviously, me bitching about people bitching just helps create a bitching infinite loop that eventually will pull us all into a bitching black hole that no bitching can escape (too much?). so think of this as a call to arms against negativity.  i love grand rapids.  it has a lot of potential to be the next great mid-western city.  don’t drag it down with all your too-cool-for-schooledness.

-srd

1. star trek 2: the wrath of kahn – this is a no-brainer.  it’s undeniably the best of the series and can even be enjoyed by the non-trekkie.  plus, if’s heavily referenced in seinfeld, so that’s always a plus.

2. star trek (2009) – controversial!  plenty of trekkies hate on this one.  those people are idiots.  j.j. abrams took a dead franchise and showed everyone how cool star trek could be with the right hand.

3. star trek 6: the undiscovered country – i’ll always have a soft spot for this one as it’s the first i saw in the theaters with my mom.  it’s a great send-off for the original cast and nice little thriller to boot.

4. star trek: first contact – i grew up on tng so it’s was nice to finally see that crew get a proper movie.  it’s essentially a zombies in space tale.  add time travel and you’re in good shape.

5. star trek 4: the voyage home - speaking of time travel, this one never ceases to make my laugh.  sure it’s silly, but it’s a so much fun.  also, spock mind-melds with a whale.  so there’s that.

6. star trek 3: the search for spock – it’s kind of a big reset button, but it had to happen.  it gets you there with minimal muss and sets up 4 and 6 pretty well.   i could do without christopher lloyd though.

7. star trek: insurrection – this is where the suck starts.  it would’ve made a good two-part episode, but as a movie it’s pretty flat.  still, there’s a enough in there for it to not be a total waste.

8. star trek: generations – yikes.  it’s kind of a downer all around, kind of embarrassing for shatner, koening, and doohan, and kind of a tonal mess.  plus, data + emotion chip = guhhhhhh.

9. star trek: nemesis - i’ve actually seen this one the least amount of times, but i can see the massive problems with it.  kinda wish the tng crew went out on a better note.

10. star trek 5: the final frontier – i said “yikes” before, but man oh man, YIKES.  the only redeeming aspect is the “what does god need with a starship?” line.  and spock’s rocket boots.

11. star trek: the motion picture – i think i’m the only one that truly hates this movie.  it’s just so god-damned boring.  i literally can’t sit through it.  every other movie just decimated it.

if there were ever an appropriate post for the “never getting laid” tag, this is.

live long and prosper, nerds.

-srd

-srd