BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S NEW ALBUM IS HIS ‘ANGRIEST’ YET

Like a new Stephen King novel, I miss being excited about upcoming Springsteen albums, and now even the ones I did enjoy (pre-2001) sound a little silly and simple. I haven’t even bothered to listen to his last few releases. Never thought that would happen. And it’s not Springsteen’s obnoxious politics, either. He just bores me, kind of like Wes Anderson’s “sensibility.”

Sinatra. Everything you need to know about life, love, youth, growing old, and what it means to be a man is found in the combined works of one Francis Albert Sinatra.

FIVE NEW POSTERS FOR STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D

Unless the tagline reads: Watch It Suck In a Third Dimension!, a class action false advertising suit is imminent.

ARE BIOPICS BAD FOR US?

This captures some of the problem:

Indeed, I’m not actually sure The Iron Lady does have any meaning, and would rate it primarily as a simply a striking replication, hamstrung in its ability to be much else. It skips across themes of power, struggle, loss, aging and personal conviction but audiences aren’t going to get any depth, because they’re too distracted by the novelty of Meryl Streep’s uncanny makeup.

If you want movies with genuine character that offer affecting tales of strong female outsiders overcoming great difficulties you can watch, say, An Education, Whip It, Hanna or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, to name a few diverse flicks of recent vintage. All of them are built around fictional lead protagonists but have way more soul, substance, human heart and authenticity than The Iron Lady.

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Hearing the same Left, who either participated in or never said a word to protest George W. Bush being called a war criminal and worse, now upset over the ”extreme language” being thrown Obama’s way is absolutely laughable — but nowhere near as laughable as a “blue collar” rock and roller publicly standing up for The Establishment:

“There’s a widespread political consciousness that’s perhaps deeper in Europe than it is in the States,” he told the Sunday Times magazine.

“The climate [in America] is very, very ugly for getting things done. The moderate reforms President Obama fought to make are called Marxist, socialist.

“I mean, the most extreme language is put into play to describe the most modest reforms that would move the economy back towards serving a majority of its citizens.”

The musician, often referred to as “The Boss”, added: “You have a guy [Mr Obama] who comes in, he gets to be president for four years. Maybe eight.

“But you have the financial institutions, you have the military, the corporations. They’re in play constantly and, in truth, they’re shaping the economy and shaping the direction the US is moving in.

“Those forces are huge. The money and lobbyists are pouring in to do everything they can [to preserve the status quo]. It’s a very tough time, a very hard time here in the States.”

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The September 11 attacks reset plenty of people’s ideological clocks, with Dennis Miller being one of the more prominent folks to reconsider their views.

For me, the attacks showed me a new side of some of the country’s most respected artists. And it wasn’t pretty.

Earle

Artists reacted to 9/11 in a number of ways. Some wrote songs promising a holy whup ass (Toby Keith) on the terrorist nation, while others went on to create stirring work about a city struck without warning (Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising”)

Alt-country troubadour Steve Earle opted to write a song from the perspective of the traitorous thug, John Walker Lindh, who joined the Taliban against his own country. (more…)

You know, when you do something really stupid late at night, like read Henry Rollins’ Dispatches section on his website, and you come across his characterization of the tea parties happening around the country as “Small groups of grouchy white people acting out and being ridiculous,” not only do you realize that Rollins is a self-hating grouchy white person, but also that we have entered a whole new era of Rock ‘n Roll:  The Ass-Kissing Years.

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Where this…                                          meets this.

Now let me get this straight:  there are a number of protests by free citizens who think the government confiscates too much of their money and spends it unwisely, and the angry rock anarchist Henry Rollins is on the government’s side?  What the hell happened to Rollins?  He was head of the band Black Flag in the 80s, a hell-raising, system-smashing anarchist punk band.  He wrote songs like Family Man, and lyrics like “swimming in the mainstream is such a lame dream,” for crying out loud. But now, in his dotage, he spends his time ridiculing anyone who speaks up against the almighty State, and calling out anyone who refuses to kiss Presidential ass with him now that his guy won.  Then again, maybe he’s just feeling guilty and trying to make up for writing White Minority way back when. (more…)