Top 12 Movies I'm looking forward to in 2012

In the order they will come out this year...

1. The Hunger Games
Release Date: March 23
Why? The hype from the books makes me think it's gonna be a really cool story. (Hopefully I can read the books before this comes out).



2. Blue Like Jazz
Release Date: April 13
Why? Because I liked the book and this adaptation looks surprisingly good.



3. Moonrise Kingdom
Release Date: May 16
Why? Because it's directed by Wes Anderson and he makes great movies.



4. The Dark Knight Rises
Release Date: July 20
Why? If you've seen The Dark Knight, this requires no explanation. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Liam Neeson are also new cast members.



5. The Bourne Legacy
Release Date: August 3
Why? Because the Bourne trilogy is one of my favorite trilogies

6. Dog Fight
Release Date: August 10
Why? Because Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are rival congressional candidates from South Carolina. This can't not be funny.

7. The Master
Release Date: Fall
Why? Because it's loosely based on the life of L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology), Paul Thomas Anderson is an incredible director, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is playing Mr. Hubbard.

8. Skyfall
Release Date: November 9
Why? It's a new Bond movie starring Daniel Craig (who has been doing well with this series)

9. Lincoln
Release Date: December
Why? Because Daniel Day-Lewis's portrayal of Lincoln will probably win him the best actor award at the Oscars next year. It's also a plus that Steven Spielberg is directing it.

10. Les Miserables
Release Date: December 7
Why? Because it's probably my favorite novel of all time.

11. The Hobbit
Release Date: December 14
Why? Because the story is awesome and apparently Peter Jackson knows a thing or two about adapting Tolkien stories.



12. The Great Gatsby
Release Date: December 25
Why? I just re-read the book several weeks ago and am interested to see DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby.

(taken from Paste Magazine's 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2012)

Paste Magazine: Signs of Life Everywhere

I was a big fan of Paste Magazine from the first issue I read several years back. Their tagline, "Signs of Life in Music, FIlm, and Culture" has always struck a chord with me. I was very sad to learn that they had to stop printing the magazine last year due to financial issues. However, through their website and somewhat newly installed mPlayer, their reviews and articles are still very much alive and well.

From the latest issue of mPlayer, the editor Josh Jackson wrote an article that conveys so much of what I love about the magazine. Here's a few paragraphs about his personal journey with faith and how he has grown to see signs of life everywhere:

I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of faith and arts. In fact, I tend to get most excited about each when it wanders into the realm of the other. When I went from an agnostic who sneered at religion to a fairly close-minded born-again Christian in high school, a few things didn’t sit well with me, despite my sudden assumption that easier answers were just a few chapters away in a Bible I was reading for the first time.

After a naïve but often-blissful spiritual high, doubt started trickling in. For a brief moment, I wondered if the music and arts which had served as my spiritual food long before I looked to religion might indeed be the corrupting source of nagging questions that begged for something more mysterious than the systematic theology I was being handed. One of my new teachers suggested we toss out albums that weren’t “glorifying God.” He offered up an Outfield album. I countered with a dubbed cassette containing XTC’s Skylarking on one side (with the lyric, “Dear God, I can’t believe in you”) and, tragically, the Pixies’ Doolittle on the other.

But when the “easy answers” didn’t satisfy, it was in the arts where I found the room for a God bigger than any fundamentalism or dogma. There weren’t many musicians dabbling in that strange no-man’s-land, but during my first semester of college—and one of my first writing gigs for the college paper—I came across Vigilantes of Love. For frontman Bill Mallonee, grace was like a battering ram, hammering at him from one side, but its twin on the other side was mystery. From him, I also discovered Mark Heard, a poet slumming in the Christian-music ghetto, overturning the money-changing tables from inside where he could. By the end of my freshman year, the fiction of Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy became as much my creeds and confessions as anything I heard on Sundays.

I’ve since felt closer to heaven via the music of Sigur Rós or the words of Josh Ritter; seeing Roberto Benigni give his son a childhood in a concentration camp in Life Is Beautiful; reading Dave Eggers’ mostly non-fiction account of Sudanese refugees in What is the What; or even playing through some of those epic Final Fantasy games.

I see snatches of the divine in the people all around me and, often more intensely, in the art that they’ve created. I still hold to many of the tenets of faith I was introduced to in college, but I’ve become comfortable knowing that my hold is likely to always be tenuous—that God and faith and life and all their big questions are much bigger than any answers we can grasp.

(...)

I may be strange for looking for echoes of a higher power in videogames, TV and pop songs, but I think that’s what our tagline “Signs of Life” has always meant to me, even if it’s an irreverent YouTube video that’s just going to bring a little laughter. Not every piece of art is going to be The Bicycle Thief or Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” But as far as I’m concerned, so much of pop culture is holy ground.

Paste's Best Albums of 2010 So Far

Six of the staff at Paste Magazine recently listed their top ten albums of 2010 so far. Combining their lists, here is their top eight:

1. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
2. Sleigh Bells - Treats
3. Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
4. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy
5. Titus Andronicus - Monitor
6. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
7. Suckers - Wild Smile
8. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks

The End of Lost

Well, it's finally coming to an end. This Sunday, from 9pm to 11:30pm, will be the last episode in this very intriguing series. I didn't watch Lost for the first three seasons. My rationale was that I didn't need another TV show to get hooked on. I already had 24 and the Office. That was enough for me.

Well, all that changed when I decided to watch the season finale to season 3 (spoiler alert), the one where Charlie dies, back in 2007. I instantly became hooked. It took me about 3 weeks to watch seasons 1 & 2 (this long because I had a job and had to sleep some too). Then I waited very impatiently for Season 4 to start 8 months later.

I've loved the show for a lot of reasons. I've loved the character development. I've loved the way philosophy is weaved into various elements of the show. I've loved the intrigue of always being surprised about what's going to happen next. And it's just fun. Who hasn't thought about what it would be like to survive on an island?

Well, the last season or two, my excitement has waned a bit. I no longer care when the music gets all dramatic and some big mystery is revealed. I think my capacity was reached for how many confusing and mysterious things could take place, and I'm just ready for everything to start getting tied up.

Paste Magazine reviews the show each week and I thought the conclusion to the latest episode review was humorous. It sums up both my doubt and hope that I've been feeling for quite a while that the show will have a satisifying conclusion:

"What seems most important now is that Smoky must die. Before everyone else does—which may very well happen if the current death rate on the island continues. Let’s hope somebody survives the upcoming two-and-a-half-hour finale, because if the past six years of Lost have all been about protecting a mysterious light, then somebody better protect the damned light."

Best Movies of the Decade

Here are Paste Magazine's picks for the top 50 best movies of the decade.

And here are their top 10:

10. The Royal Tenebaums
9. No Country For Old Men
8. The Son (Les Fils)
7. Lost in Translation
6. Beau Travail
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Almost Famous
2. Amelie
1. City of God

Like my previous post, I'll probably do my own picks towards the end of the year. Of these 10, I haven't seen #1, #6, #8. And I didn't really like Lost in Translation. The rest are top notch. Thoughts?

Best Albums of the Decade

I love Paste Magazine. And I love their Lists of the Day. Check out their latest list, the top 50 albums of the decade. Here are their top 10:

10. M.I.A., Arular
9. The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You
8. Outkast, Stankonia
7. Gillian Welch, Time (The Revelator)
6. The White Stripes, Elephant
5. Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
4. Radiohead, Kid A
3. Arcade Fire, Funeral
2. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
1. Sufjan Stevens, Come on Feel the Illinoise

I'll probably make a list towards the end of the year for my picks. Sufjan's album might be the only album on this list to make mine. Though #3, #4, #8, and #9 are great albums. What do you think?

Paste on the best music of 2009

As we come to the mid-point of the year, seven people from Paste Magazine weigh in on the best albums and songs of 2009. Of the lists, I probably like Josh's list the best:

Albums

1. Passion Pit - Manners
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
3. The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
4. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
5. Wild Light - Adult Nights
6. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
7. Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Elvis Perkins in Dearland
8. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
9. Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree In The Ear
10. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Songs

1. "California On My Mind" - Wild Light
2. "Little Secrets" - Passion Pit
3. "My Girls" - Animal Collective
4. "Lua" - Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch (from Dark Was the Night)
5. "Charlie Darwin" - The Low Anthem
6. "Field Report" - Loch Lomond
7. "Bloodbank" - Bon Iver
8. "Two Weeks" - Grizzly Bear
9. "The Rake's Song" - The Decemberists
10. "No Wedding Cake" - Fol Chen
11. "Airstream Driver" - Gomez
12. Roman Candle - "Why Modern Radio Is A-OK"
13. "This Tornado Loves You" - Neko Case
14. "Make Light" - Passion Pit
15. "Brackett, WI" - Bon Iver (from Dark Was the Night)
16. "Doomsday" - Elvis Perkins
17. "So Far Around the Bend" - The National (from Dark Was the Night)
18. "Come Saturday" - Pains of Being Pure at Heart
19. "Belated Promise Ring" - Iron & Wine
20. "Echoes" - The Decemberists (live Pink Floyd cover, part of the "Save Paste" download vault)

Top Foreign Films of the Decade

Foreign films have become increasingly more interesting to me over the years. They tend to convey more realistic, captivating stories than the typical box-office blockbusters. Living in Atlanta, I love stopping by Tara every month or so to catch a good independent/foreign film. I recommend doing the same.

Paste Magazine recently weighed in on their top 25 favorite foreign films of the decade. I've only seen three on this list, including #3 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, #12 Amelie, and #16 The Class. I highly recommend The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. You can watch the trailer here:



What on this list have you seen? Any recommendations?

Lost combining the sacred and the secular

If you watch Lost, you might enjoy this review of last night's eposide by Paste Magazine. Here's how it begins:

"Lost has a long, complicated relationship with religion. While the show is not overtly religious, it is decidedly metaphysical, and not just as a sci-fi nodding to whatever else is "out there." Smoke monsters, ghosts, baptisms, churches and priests with rosaries and biblical walking sticks have all populated the island's lush environs since Season One.

It's highly personal, but this has always made me slightly uncomfortable. Perhaps it's our rigorous separation of church and state that disallowed me from saying the Pledge of Allegiance in middle school, or the music industry's black-and-white genres, marketing Switchfoot to a completely different audience than Iron and Wine. With a divider like the island's electric-fence security system, I want my religion over here and my entertaining sci-fi over there, never the twain to meet.

But in a world where polar bears roam the tropics, this doesn't seem a realistic option. And it probably shouldn't be. Last night's Lost pulled religious (primarily Catholic) themes into the mix again, and I started to settle into it, realizing that this show is all about that twilight zone between the real and imaginary, the sacred and the secular, the bizarre and highly mundane. It pushes us into those uncomfortable places, and perhaps therein lies its brilliance."

Best Oscar Speeches

Well, the Oscars are Sunday night and I know at least one person who will be watching.

Paste magazine recently listed their top 10 most memorable Oscar acceptance speeches.

Paste's top 17 romantic comedies of the decade

Jeremy Madina, from Paste magazine, offers his list of the 17 best romantic comedies of this decade (Be sure to click the link above for a breif synopsis and a standout quote for each movie). Though I don't consider myself much of a romantic comedy watcher, I have seen 7 out of his top 10 (but none of the last 7). How many have you seen? Do you agree with the list?

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Before Sunset
3. Amelie
4. Wall-E
5. High Fidelity
6. Punch Drunk Love
7. Sideways
8. Knocked Up
9. Juno
10. About a Boy
11. Lars and the Real Girl
12. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
13. 40 Year Old Virgin
14. Bridget Jones' Diary
15. Ghost Town
16. Science of Sleep
17. Waitress

Funniest Super Bowl ads

Paste magazine weighs in with their Top 10.

Here's their favorite:

Become a wise consumer of culture

Josh Jackson, editor of Paste Magazine, recently wrote a short blurb on the search in our lives among the countless entertainment options.

"I think I may have a problem...With nearly every CD released coming through my office, most every film I want to see already in my Netflix queue and more magazine subscriptions than would be humanly possible to read, I’m never at a loss for some form of entertainment to fill the gaps in life. Even when I’m standing in line at the back, I’ve got a phone in my pocket with access to free games, YouTube videos and the rest of that wonderful composite of all the knowledge of recorded human history: the Internet. I’m in danger of, as Neil Postman put it, amusing myself to death.

It’s been 47 years and billions of entertainment options since that great ‘malaise’ Binx Bolling, in Walker’s Percy’s The Moviegoer, found more meaning and purpose in his trips to the cinema than in his own life. To counter that, he became enamored with the search--’To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.’ I like to think I’m on that search, and I find that books like The Moviegoer, as well as music, film, magazines--and even TV and video games--can illuminate the path ahead. But only if I’m vigilant about actually living, and separating the wheat from the chaff when I do stop to enjoy a piece of our culture.

...At Paste, we see it as our job to help you discover entertainment options pertinent to your search--not to serve as a replacement for your own story. I believe we were put on this earth to help redeem it. The best music, film and culture will do you no good if you’re buried under it. Become a wise consumer of culture. Or better yet, become a creator of it."

I've blogged before on why you check out Paste Magazine. Do it.

A Void

Ben Gibbard, the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie, recently said the following in Paste Magazine.

“I find it very hard to accept the wonderful things in my life. My life really is great: I do exactly what I want to do for a living, I have a wonderful person to share my life with, I have a great family, I have great friends. But somehow there’s a void.”

Thankfully, there is an answer to this. Jesus said in John 10, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

Paste Magazine

For those of you who don't have a subscription yet, Paste Magazine just made it so you can name your own price for a year subscription. And if you don't know, it's a music magazine that is excellent at introducing new, up and coming artists, as well as talking about bands that have been around for a while. Their tagline, "signs of life in music, film, and culture," pretty much sums up how they differentiate from other magazines (thanks MV).   They seek to give great insight into what really inspires the music that is created.  This is a great time to check it out.