Two-Word Reviews: Top 10 of 2015

Rather than doing a music top 10, and a movie top 10, etc., let’s be realistic – I’m a parent of a toddler with a full-time job. I don’t get out to as many movies as I’d like, or watch as many shows as I’d like, or listen to as many albums as I’d like. So I’m doing my Dad-best and put together an all encompassing pop culture top 10 for 2015, two-word review style.











#10. Mr. Robot (USA, Season 1) – best debut

#9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (JJ Abrams) – welcome nostalgia

#8. I Wasn’t Born to Lose You by Swervedriver – hypnotic textures

#7. Justified (FX, Season 6) – righteous death

#6. The Martian (Ridley Scott) – science FTW

#5. 30 for 30: The Four Falls of Buffalo – heart wrenching

#4. Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix, Season 1) – binge worthy

#3. Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal by Greg Renoff – incredible insight

#2. The Heart is a Monster by Failure – monster success

#1. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller) – chaotic masterpiece

Honorable mentions:
Mad Men (AMC, Season 7)
The Wrecking Crew (Denny Tedesco)
Star Wars by Wilco
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix, Season 1)
Documentary Now! (IFC, Season 1)
Trainwreck (Judd Apatow)
“Pedestrian at Best” by Courtney Barnett from Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
“Can’t Feel by Face” by The Weeknd from Beauty Behind the Madness
Silicon Valley (HBO, Season 2)

Two-Word Review: Summer/Fall 2015

Recently consumed and digested films and albums with patent-pending two-words reviews.


MOVIES
G.I. Joe: Retaliation – minor improvement
Chef – pleasant story
A Deadly Adoption – hypnotic entertainment
Transformers: Age of Extinction – extinct franchise
Robocop – lifeless remake
Anchorman 2 – tough act
Ant-Man – well balanced
They Came Together – barely together
Trainwreck – effectively offensive
Upside Down: The Story of Creation Records – McGee’s story
Who the F is Arthur Fogel? – buttons pushed
The Martian – book worthy
The Maze Runner – proper tone
Red Dawn (remake) – red dumb

MUSIC
The Cure: Wild Mood Swing – quality swings
The Cure: Pornography – good dirty
The Cure: All Mixed Up – solid efforts
Pink Floyd: A Momentary Lapse of Reason – lapsed urgency
Pink Floyd: The Final Cut – more cuts
Dream Theater: Octavarium – condensed craziness
Dream Theater: Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory – mind bending
Dream Theater: Systematic Chaos – too chaotic
T. Rex: Dandy in the Underworld – true dandy
Wilco: Star Wars – appreciated weirdness

Concert Review: Swervedriver @ Skully’s, Columbus, OH (9/2/15)

Well, mark this one off the bucket list. I came late to the Swervedriver appreciation party, discover Mezcal Head via an early review we did on Dig Me Out. Since then, I’ve slowly ingested their entire catalog, but really Mezcal Head has been the one that sticks with me, somehow the perfect combo of dreamy 90s shoegaze with muscular guitar riffing.

When the concert at Skully’s here in Columbus was announced in support of their newest (and really good) release, I Wasn’t Born To Love You, I knew I had to go. It was a weeknight, and since my wife is a school teacher with an early alarm, I knew I’d be heading out alone. I figured there would be a familiar Columbus music scene face, but alas there was not so I ended up getting their way too early, sitting around and getting really bored waiting for the band to go on. After a solid set by the opening band whose name I forget, Swervedriver came out and did as expected to a 99% middle-aged male audience (hey, I was in good company) – played really loud.

I had initially positioned myself among the hundred or so people there to the left of the stage (not stage left, theater people!) right by lead singer/guitarist Adam Franklins guitar rig AND HOLY SHIT WAS IT LOUD. Stupidly forgetting my earplugs, after one song I was pretty much deaf and mildly nauseous, so I made my way to the back and then balcony for a respite from the volume, where I took in a pretty great set, filled with classic tunes from the catalog, plenty of stuff from the new record, and luckily heavy on Mezcal Head tracks. I also got to spy Adam Franklin’s massive guitar pedal setup, which was multiple rows deep and shaped like a half-circle. I can only image how many years it has taken him to accumulate so many pedals.

I ended up leaving after the main set and skipping the encore because it was past 11pm and I’m old.

Pinterest Project: Built-in Closets

My wife and I had kicked around the idea of eliminating all dressers and big, bulky furniture storage from our bedroom for awhile. The question was how. We had already decided on a bed from Ikea with built in drawers beneath the bed, but that was better for things like blankets and seasonal clothing. After sometime on Pinterest, we settled on building drawers and shelving on our closets, eliminating the need for standard dressers.

From there, we sketched out some ideas. My wife wanted more shelving and hanging options for clothing, along with a shoe rack. With my preference for t-shirts, I needed some sort organizational option that didn’t involve folding.

Aside from the shoe rack, which was a Target purchase, the rest is built to her preferences. Plenty of cardigan shelving, three deep drawers and hanging space on each side.

I swapped out the shoe rack for a pull-out pants organizer, and utilized some repurposed wire racks for shoe storage under the dress shirts. For the t-shirts, I bought two 10-foot PVC pipes, but them down to about 11 inches, and glued them all together.

Both closets have two strips of motion sensor lights above the opening, so the lack of lighting is somewhat negated.

Between the two closets, we spent about $250 in materials (not including the shoe rack, which we already owned), and about four days each from demo to finishing painting.

Here are the pictures from my closet:

And here the pictures from my wife's closet:

I Went To BBQ Heaven And It Was Glorious

Last week my family and I traveled to Austin, TX to visit my podcasting co-host and longtime friend Jason and his family. After a rocky start (Nina didn't take well to the long car ride from Dallas to Austin that fell during naptime) we settled in at their place for the three day stay.

We had lots of fun activities planned with the kids, but one lunch trip was set aside for Jason and I to drive forty-five minutes to Black's BBQ in Lockhart, TX. There are plenty of superb BBQ joints in the area, but Black's is considered BBQ heaven, and it did not disappoint.

We got there early, just after opening, and there was already a line out the door. The place isn't huge, but they have it down, customer wise. You enter and make your way down a hallway, plastered with photos of all the famous people who have made the trip before you. You end up at a counter with all your sides. I went with coleslaw, German potatoes and corn bread along with my brisket.

The process is efficient as possible and no frills, which I loved. You get through and get your food quickly, and that helps the line move fast.

Now, to the most important part.

The brisket was AMAZING. I've had plenty of good BBQ, but the way the brisket was smoked, the way it just melted in my mouth with each bite, was insane. I bow down, whatever voodoo they are applying at Black's is working. I've never had anything close to that.

Two-Word Review: Spring/Summer 2015

Two-word reviews for the Spring and Summer of 2015:

MOVIES
Pearl Jam Twenty – deeper appreciation
Going Clear – mind boggling
Ted – zero laughs
Atari: Game Over – enlightening nostalgia
(The Rolling Stones) Some Girls: Live in Texas ’78 – blistering performance
Bad Words – not bad
That Gal… Who Was In That Thing: That Guy 2 – interesting follow-up
Mad Max: Fury Road – spectacular stunts

MUSIC
Courtney Barnett: Sometime I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit – languid riffing
Courtney Barnett: The Double EP A Sea of Split Peas – well developed
Faith No More: Sol Invictus – crazed return
Shonen Knife: Overdrive – 70s riffage

Concert Review: Jack White @ Schottenstein Center, Columbus, OH (1/31/2015)

I like Jack White. Not enough to buy albums, catching the occasional song on SiriusXM has been my maximum investment, though I did enjoy him in the It Might Get Loud documentary.

It was my wife’s idea to go, my first arena concert in many years, and tickets were available through my office, so we made it a date night, got sushi before the show and ended up in pretty good seats eye level, stage right. Openers Chicano Batman were fine, but they locked into a rhythm and stuck with it for much longer than either of us really wanted. I nice, tight half-hour to forty minute set from the opener is all I need in most cases.

White started the set vamping on The White Stripes ‘Icky Thump’ before starting into his solo material, sprinkled with well know Stripes tunes, a Raconteurs song, a couple of covers before an encore that really served as more of a second act, with fifteen songs before the break and twelve after.

Although I was well aware of Jack White “the personality,” seeing Jack White live gave me a better appreciation for him as a songwriter, a player, a band leader and a performer. Even though his voice quickly went ragged and his guitar playing wasn’t note-perfect, he’s simply operating at a level of abandon rarely seen in today’s manufactured and manicured pop stars.

I might have to go out buy one those records soon.

Two-Word Reviews: Winter/Spring 2015

Movies and music from the Winter 2015, with patent pending two-word reviews:

MOVIES
Liberal Arts – liberal reality
Grudge Match – nostalgic hokiness
Thor: The Dark World – fun spectacle
Snitch – slow moving
Last Vegas – dumb fun
The To-Do List – done well
Whiplash – intensity overload
The Wrecking Crew – fascinating history

MUSIC
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Chasing Yesterday – chasing indeed
Gaz Coombes: Matador – welcome curveballs