top 25 in '05... and the 2005 25 best.

To see last year's movie list, click here. How about here for the song list.

Top 25 Movies in '05 (that I've seen (at least part of))

25. Bewitched -- It would have helped if this comedy actually had parts with actual humor in them. The funniest part of the movie was the lame joke that Family Guy made fun of. Allow me to make a huge generalization. Will Ferrell was hilarious on Saturday Night Live, but is totally lame in cinema.

24. Mad Hot Ballroom -- I saw this documentary about elementary school kids taking up competitive dance with a bunch of my friend girls. I hated it, everyone else loved it. To my dismay I've discovered that pretty much everyone else who saw the film loved it. I guess I could be wrong in my assessment, but I still think watching pre-pubescent kids merengue-ing was the absolute creepiest thing I saw on film this year (with the possible exception of the bum in bumless pants we videotaped at Dee's on Halloween night (although that was actually digital tape, not film)).

23. The Brothers Grimm -- Terry Gilliam is a storytelling genius, which made this boring, soulless, unenchanting fantasy film really unfortunate to sit through.

22. Sons of Provo -- Maybe I shouldn't count this. I actually saw it a year and a half ago at an advance screening. It wasn't a very nice movie. The commercialism of Mormonism isn't cool, but this movie proves that insulting those who participate in it is even less cool.

21. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants -- One night I was in a really horrible mood and I wanted some company, so I asked the aforementioned friend girls if I could tag along with whatever they were doing and for some reason they were on their way to see this movie. I notified them that not all of us were 12-year-old girls. We saw it anyway. For what it is(the story of girls who wear pants) it's okay.

20. Memoirs of a Geisha -- I snuck into this one after finishing up another one as I've already talked about here, so I don't have to speak again about how uninteresting I found this geisha's concept of "love."

19. The Ringer -- I only watched five minutes of this, not because I hated it, but because I had to race into the next theater to catch Geisha on time. The part I saw was pretty funny because it had to do with an out-of-luck immigrant losing his fingers by a lawnmower blade.

18. Fever Pitch -- If I remember correctly, this was the last movie I saw in the theater with Charlotte before she moved. She actually wanted to see Hitch, but I had heard that this one was better. It was pretty alright, but I should have known better. The only good baseball movie is the original Naked Gun.

17. In Good Company -- I found that the most fascinating part of this movie wasn't the love story or the life lesson of "what's really important." It was the horror of life in the business world.

16. King Kong -- This goes to show you that you can have near-perfect music, cinematography, characters, action, story and special effects; but still finish 16th because the movie was just too darn long. Does Peter Jackson even have an editor? I guess he wanted to remake this movie because it's the movie that inspired him to be a filmmaker. If that were the case, it should be the absolute last movie he should attempt to improve upon. Actually as long as I'm complaining, the human actors don't mesh well with some of the computer animation (ESPECIALLY in the scene when they're in the middle of the dinosaur stampede), but I actually did believe in Kong and Naomi Watts' nuzzly relationship.

15. Hitch -- Rhymes with Fever Pitch, but has more funny parts.

14. Santa Claus vs. The Snowman -- My cutie friend Laura and I finally watched this planetarium seasonal favorite. 3-D is so cool. It's not gimmicky to me at all since I hardly ever get to experience it.

13. Corpse Bride -- I like anything with skeletons. When the skeletons play jazz, I like it a little more. Add in a wonderful story involving the anxiety of trying to date two women at once (one of them dead) and there is no way I can hate it.

12. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -- Did you know Santa Claus lives in Narnia? How delightful! I wrote a little about it here.

11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -- Very good, but the one before it is better.

10. Walk the Line -- My brother Jeff needs to know that you don't need to enjoy country music to really enjoy this bittersweet story. You just have to understand desire, imperfection, frustration and sincerity.

9. The Island -- Whoops. Did this thing slip into the top ten? I probably should have at least put Walk the Line ahead of it. Oh well, It's probably not that deserving of the accolades I give it, but it was a lot of fun anyway (more fun than I thought it would be, and exceeding expectations counts for more good than just being good in itself).

8. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith -- It's nice that Star Wars is finally over so that I can go on with my life. I went pretty in-depth with this movie right here.

7. The Transporter 2 -- I only saw the last half-hour of this after walking out of another movie. The parts that I saw contained over-the-top camp villainy, ridiculous unnecessary stunts, ridiculous unnecessary martial arts, ridiculous unnecessary wardrobes and lots of techno. Do these things make a weak movie? NO! They make a wicked awesome butt-kicking movie!

6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Read the book. In the meantime, this adaptation of one of my favorite books ever has Zooey Deschanel in it, so you can't go wrong.

5. Serenity -- I invested so much time prepping for my viewing of this film that I'd feel wasteful grading this one any lower. It helps that I care about the characters so much before even entering the theater. I wrote a little more about it here.

4. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit -- The visual gags and puns are as good as any Simpsons episode. Plus it's all just so darn cute! I'll probably take my kids to this one.

3. Sky High -- This movie is about superheroes, has an eighties soundtrack, and takes place in high school! On top of all that it's funny, has a cute planty girl in it and two members of the Kids in the Hall. They made this one just for me.

2. New York Doll -- This one spoke to me on several levels. Mormonism, mortality, the absolute need to rock... I could go on, and I already did on a previous post right here.

1. Batman Begins -- This is how comic book movies are supposed to be made. It doesn't focus on the "fwakathoom" explosions, but rather the words in serious characters' thought balloons. Darkness and depth with no catering to the feel-gooders who just want to see something thoughtless on the weekend.

The 2005 25 Best Songs

25. "Jetstream" by New Order -- New Order's new album is a lot more consistent than their last, but didn't have the single power. This one at least has Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters.

24. "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani -- This song is only annoying if you don't give in.

23. "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson -- Kelly is absolutely the only American Idol who will ever matter. I applaud her tireless efforts to stay that way.

22. "I Predict a Riot" by Kaiser Chiefs -- These guys are plenty annoying, but they're picking the right influences. I'll let them have their fifteen minutes (which have already passed).

21. "Breathe" by Erasure -- I think Vince Clarke isn't putting the energy in he needs to, but the band is saved by Andy Bell's dreamy vocals. Makes me wish I picked up his solo album.

20. "Prepare For the Fight" by Lovemakers -- I only heard this song once, but it took me right back to 1985.

19. "Laura" by Scissor Sisters -- Was this song from 2005? Oh well. Great great groove.

18. "Gold Digger" by Kanye West -- Kanye has bugged me for so long, but I finally gave in for this one.

17. "Hung Up" by Madonna -- I get my hopes up whenever I hear the ABBA sample. The beat is strong, though, and Madonna is still listenable.

16. "It's Not the Fall That Hurts" by Caesars -- I'm so glad I accidentally listened to a Caesar's cd at Virgin a couple of years ago and then really wound up getting into this Swedish group of Kinksy dance-rock. I was really happy to see that their cd made one of EW's year-end best-ofs.

15. "A Pain That I'm Used To" by Depeche Mode -- The opening track of their new cd sounds like a Depeche Mode thesis statement. I wrote more about it right here.

14. "An Honest Mistake" by The Bravery -- I'm noticing that a lot of entertainment publications are knocking The Bravery for being too pedestrian. To me, they simply take their simple sound and simply do it very, very well.

13. "Girl" by Beck -- This was THE song of summer, and I didn't hear it until fall.

12. "Perfect Situation" by Weezer -- I was going to pick "We Are All On Drugs," but this one is just too irresistible and too sing-alongy to. Old school Weezer is back!

11. "Blue Orchid" by The White Stripes -- Their new cd contains tons of piano and marimbas and weird stuff. My favorite, though is the one that pretty much just has a wailing guitar with a rockin' falsetto.

10. "Juicebox" by The Strokes -- I never really considered The Strokes to really "rock" that much, but this one has the best Strokes gravel howl I've ever heard. Looking forward to their new cd.

9. "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers -- "Wait, Jon!" you say. "This one was number four on last year's list!" True, but that was before it was a single, before the Anton Corbijn-directed video and before the entire nation was able to sing along to "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier!"

8. "Vermillion pt. 2" by Slipknot -- "Wait, Jon! Slipknot? Are you crazy?" Maybe I am. I've kept this depressing bassy acoustic number in my head since the very beginning of the year. I swore when I heard it that I wouldn't forsake it. It's pretty sad and sad songs make me happy.

7. "Little Sister" by Queens of the Stone Age -- This doesn't just have cowbell, but the cowbell certainly doesn't hurt.

6. "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab For Cutie -- I never much cared for Death Cab, but I adore the mood they set with this song -- sort of a dead serious dreamstate. I also like the image of a Greyhound station being in my head.

5. "B.Y.O.B." by System of a Down -- Every aspect and instrument in this song is pummelling then relaxed. It makes for the absolute funnest song of the year to karaoke, air guitar and air drum to.

4. "Nth Degree" by Morningwood -- They make spelling fun!

3. "Feel Good Inc." by Gorillaz -- I'm actually sick of this song now. I'd probably rather put the beautiful disco "Dare" on here, but "Feel Good Inc." is destined to be a cartoon rap/britpop/disco/dystopian classic.

2. "Do You Want To" by Franz Ferdinand -- I love the sweet attitude of this song: "Sure baby, today's your lucky day... I'll put out for you." I met Alex Kapronos and made the mistake of calling his music throwback eighties. He was like, "Why does everyone say that? I just want to play some rock for you!"

1. "Only" by Nine Inch Nails -- Weird, dark post-industrial mess about (I think) losing faith? I'm intrigued. Disco beat? I'm converted. I think 2005 is totally the year of disco. I mean listen to this. It's dark, but totally glimmering. Listen to my (weak) remix of this song here.

i watched three movies today and only spent $11.75...

... wait that's not a good deal at all. I paid to see Narnia. I met my pal Kristi there. She took off and I stuck around for Memoirs of a Geisha. I was just going to watch the previews, but I figured I might see some really cute Japanese girls. I guess all the actresses in the movie are from China, so maybe I shouldn't have stayed. My car was parked in the mall garage that whole time and the theater only validates for two hours. Both movies were pretty darn long, so I had to pay for quite a bit of parking.

Of the two movies, Narnia was way better. It did have the advantage of being seen first. It was also fun to remember some of the craziness from the books... like Father Christmas showing up out of nowhere. The Christianity was a hoot as well. I suppose it would be less fun if I had less beliefs. Obviously, the fighting wasn't to Lord of the Rings levels, but the use of slow-motion around fast-motion is a gimmick I always like (unless it's used horridly in such tripe as Little Black Book).

Getting back to Memoirs -- it just bugged me, y'know. I may have been totally sick of movies by the time I saw it, but there was no reason the first hour had to drag so much. I almost walked out, but things got better once Michelle Yeoh finally appeared. Ziyi Zhang was the real reason I bothered to sit through the whole thing. Too bad she looked a lot better in Crouching Tiger. Her hair is better down, not geishaized. Seriously, though, I felt very uncomfortable with the idea that they were trying to pass this thing off as a love story. The main character was in love with an obvious pedophile (at least that's how I felt by the end of the movie). Sure geishaism isn't necessarily prostitution, but from what I saw it was still subjugation. I hated the idea of romanticizing something that is the opposite of romance into something romantic. It's like a "Television for Women Lifetime Original." Ever notice there are a lot women being beaten on that network?

The last movie I saw was a fun flick called Serenity. I went through great, ridiculous lengths to prepare for my viewing. See, Serenity is based on a Joss Whedon TV show called Firefly. I'm not the biggest Joss Whedon fan. I definitely preferred the Buffy movie to the TV show. I can't stand the characters and choreography on the TV show. Angel was a bit better. I do, however, like how he put the old costumes back on the X-men when he started writing their comic books. Anyway, I heard good things about Firefly and when the movie came out I knew I'd enjoy prepping for it. I only watched three of the four Firefly discs, but that included EVERY episode that played on TV. It's a fun show. It's what they call "Space Western." This ship travels through space between colonies that are struggling on frontiers very similar to 18th century America. Also there are space-zombies every once in a while. Watching the movie was a great reward for watching all those episodes of the show. I did have a serious problem with the rowdy teens in front of me. They talked through the whole first half-hour and then just left one by one and never came back. Wastoids. The movie does a real good job of catching up the non-experienced viewers up until the middle of the movie. By the middle, the film throws in a couple of characters that were central to the show with little explanation about them. I loved the movie I think because I loved the characters. When you see it, let me see it with you so that I can explain a few things.

Sorry I didn't go into detail. It's a blessing of course. I don't like talking about movies until after you've seen them too, so see these three movies. They're all ok. Well not really, but you'll have to find out for yourself. My mind is mush now.

merry solstice! ... hey u2!

When I was in high school we used to sacrifice a virgin every Solstice. Instead of doing that today, I took a two-hour nap in the middle of the day. I guess it's sort of the same thing.

Early this morning I said goodbye for the second time this year to Charlotte, the love of my life. I probably should quit with the grandiose title, as we're not together anymore, but the girl will always have undeniably high marks. She went back home to Georgia after a brief vacation here to visit old friends -- some from Ireland.

On Saturday Charlotte and I as well as friends Laura, Maria, Ashlie and Jonathan went to the U2 concert. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not the biggest U2 fan in the world. They are severely over-rated. I was disgusted that we had to get tickets nine months in advance for such a standard-sounding band. For me, U2 is everyone's default favorite band which is why they're so popular. And I never really liked "Mysterious Ways," "With Or Without You," "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or even "One." Yes, I'm not the biggest fan, but I'm still a fan. They're still a band I like enough to need to see them live. They haven't been my favorite, but I've been really enjoying their music ever since I first heard "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" when I was seven years old. And since I've gotten into them, there are certain songs I absolutely adore. "Seconds," "Exit," "One Tree Hill," "In God's Country," "Red Hill Mining Town," "Running To Stand Still," "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," "So Cruel," "Stay (Faraway So Close!)" and of course my very favorite "Until the End of the World." The worst part about going into the show was knowing that they probably wouldn't play any of the songs I adore.

Our seats were extremely humorous. Third row from the top and to the side of the stage (behind it a little). We actually looked down onto the speakers and lighting rig. It was like we were above the Delta Center. As a result, there was less poor-quality Delta Center sound to deal with. We could talk to each other pretty easily (something you're not supposed to be able to do at a concert). The bird's eye view of the stage was especially cool for the stage border lights. A set of lights went around the stage and another set of lights went around the catwalk that extended in a circle deep into the general admission seats. The stage lights often lit up in sequence like speed snakes in a circle. The real star of the show was the curtain lights. Curtains of giant pixels descended behind the band to display images. It was like a giant beaded curtain, so the images furled like flags.

Anyway, the band played long enough. They played every song they absolutely had to (i.e. the four songs I mentioned above that I don't particularly like), plus about five songs from the new CD. The middle section was way political. It got old after a while, but there was one stunt that I thought was pretty clever. Bono told the cell-phone waving audience that another thing they could be doing with their cell phones is to text their own name to a number the screen gave in support of ONE.org. Later in the show, the screens displayed all the names of the people who taxt in. I noticed one guy spelled his last name "Younng."

For the first song of their first encore they played "Until the End of the World." Thanks fellas. I owe you one.

Christmastime is here.

Hey everybody! I just posted my Christmas wishlist right here.

happy thanksgiving

something's wrong with the universe

I just got back from the annual torture which is the BYU-UofU football game. Last year I actually attended the game in the middle of red square where there was this girl in front of us who yelled "F*** BYU! Go Utes!" over and over. When BYU's band came out to play at half-time, she yelled "F*** BYU's band!" In the fourth quarter (a few beers later) she accidently slipped up and yelled "F*** Utes! Go B -- I mean F*** BYU! Go Utes!" After being very patient with her all game, I said to her kindly, "Hey, hey... you shouldn't badmouth your own team like that! C'mon! Be supportive! They need you." She pouted and then turned around in a huff and said quietly, "F*** off!" That little story was the ONLY good thing that happened last year.

Up through the first half of this year's game, things were even worse than last year. We were supposed to win easily, but Utah was ahead 24-3 at halftime. BYU made a game of it in the third and fourth quarter, and when the time ran out it was tied at 34. Utah immediately scored and BYU fell apart. So it was better than last year (when BYU was the final notch in Utah's undefeated season), but it's still crappy.

I think there are several reasons why Utah won. One reason is because BYU performed some kind of "haka" dance before the game to get pumped up. The haka is the absolute worst way to get pumped up. For any of you who don't know, hakas are polynesian war dances that the warriors would perform before battle. I'm pretty sure that the British opened fire on the Maoris of New Zealand as they were performing this dance on the open field. Another reason is because BYU has way too many old people attending the games and they don't pump up the team much. Utah doesn't have nearly as many elderly alumni because most of them succombed to death early as a result of years of alcohol abuse. The other reason is because... I honestly don't know. It's something supernatural. Something evil, though. Not Godly destiny like so many people in red believe.

Now I have to deal with snide Utah fans all year. One of these crazy fans is my bishop. He and most of my other Ute church friends have a pretty distorted belief that there's an unlimited amount hating they can make on my school. I think this stems from the stereotype that everyone who goes to BYU is proud and judgmental. Admittedly, I'm actually pretty proud and judgmental, but just about everybody I knew in school wasn't nearly as bad as I was and certainly not nearly as bad as most Ute fans I've met (and most people don't think I'm all that bad). Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't believe the stereotypes (even though Ute fans definitely won't take my little alcoholism joke in jest). It's pretty interesting: depending on a stereotype of judgmentality to justify one's own judgmentality. It's a truly unique social phenomenon. Anyhow, I've dealt with lots of Utes over the course of my years. Not all of them are like they guy I saw in a red shirt that said, "My testimony is stronger than yours." Most of them are actually like the guy in the shirt that simply read "Go Utes!" (with a picture of a giant middle finger).

The University of Utah isn't all that bad. There are some good folks there. They got that cold fusion thing goin' and all that. I almost went to the U. Sometimes I wish I did, it seems like it could've been a real fun place. But ALL forms of herpes kind of disgust me, so it's probably good that I didn't.

mode a la mode

Just about everybody I knew, including all three of my roommates, had business Friday night. Where most people would see despair, I saw a great opportunity. Friday night became the NIGHT OF JON. I blasted my five-disc changer with The Bravery cd as well as four Depeche Mode discs. I put one television to Spike's showing of The Warriors and I played hours and hours of video games on the other one. I've already mentioned that I just got a new video game and I was pretty anxious to sink my teeth more into it. I also got a demo cd in the mail that had playable versions of some cool new stuff like Star Wars Battlefront II and We Love Katamari. It reminded me of the good old days before I had a ton of friends. Back then I used to relish my Saturday nights where I'd watch Monstervision. Monstervision was this great show that used to be on TNT where they just show two old fantasy/horror/sci-fi movies and in commercial breaks this rednecky guy named Joe Bob Briggs told us what he thought of the action thus far. Some people may think it's pathetic to watch four hours of B-movie schlop every Saturday night. For me, it was the best time of the week. Friday was a whole wicked lot similar to the old Saturdays of yore.

So why was I blasting The Bravery and Depeche Mode? We all know the answer to that question. Saturday night Depeche Mode came to our own E Center and the Killer-hating Bravery opened up for them. My old friend Kristen won the "who wants to go see Depeche Mode with Jon and maybe throw in a couple of bucks?" contest. When she and I were neighbors after she borrowed my Songs of Faith and Devotion she wrote to me a note that said something like: "Wow, I didn't realize music that great was possible." I'm pretty sure she was just buttering me up so that I'd take her to an actual Depeche Mode show years later. So I totally have to apologize to some other girls who may have wanted to go. Kristen was the biggest fan I knew who wanted to go. I was worried about taking somebody who wasn't as big a fan because the band is so different. Synthesizers, backing tape, age -- they have a lot going against them in the live department. Looking back though, I'm sorry I didn't drag more friends along.

Here's an actual image from the show!

Okay fine, camera phones don't work that well. I put some other images from other shows that I got on depechemode.com down below.

We came in later than we should have toward the middle of The Bravery's set. They were good and that's all I need to say about them. Depeche Mode took stage a little after nine. Their set was even weirder than the other three times I've seen them. Their keyboard stations looked like terminals from Lost In Space. There was a flying saucer looking thing with the words "sex," "pain," "angel," "love," "vice," and something else on the other side that I couldn't see affixed to the side. Every once in a while one of the words would light up at appropriate meaningful times during the show. I was glad to find that, I was right, most of the songs really are about sex. They had six screens in the back which they utilized differently than usual The other three times I've seen them there was one straight screen in the back that displayed films specifically made for each song. They did a little of that, but most of the time the screens displayed live, yet erratic, images of the band.

Here's the setlist (songs with asterisks are from the new cd):
> Intro> *A Pain That I'm Used To> *John The Revelator> A Question Of Time> Policy Of Truth> *Precious> Walking In My Shoes> *Suffer Well> *Damaged People> Home> *I Want It All> *The Sinner In Me> I Feel You> Behind The Wheel> World In My Eyes> Personal Jesus> Enjoy The Silence
encore>> Somebody> Just Can't Get Enough> Everything Counts
encore #2> Never Let Me Down Again> Goodnight Lovers

Can I just say that Dave Gahan is one of the slickest cats I've ever seen? He knows how to move his body better than any man I know. He uses the mic stand almost like a male pole-dancer might. He slides along the stage like a reptile. He spins like coked-out ballet guy. Over the past 25 years in a band where they play behind keyboards, all of the live work has been on his shoulders and he's honed it immaculately.

Martin Gore, the mastermind of the band, reminds me of the live awkwardness of Robert Smith. Gore, no showman but goofy in his own right took to the stage in a fake black mohawk and dark angel wings. I guess it let us know who the real guy playing the angel is.

There were a few interesting surprises in some of the songs. The versions of "Walking In My Shoes" and "Home" were unrecognizable arrangements at first. In the middle of "Never Let Me Down Again" shifted to the remixed arrangement bonus track from Music for the Masses that sounds nothing like the original song. Oh, and speaking of, I'm actually kind of sick of waving my arms to that song the way Dave makes us do it. I've done it five times now.

The first encore was a total shock. They played three old songs they didn't have to (Although we were pretty disappointed that "Master and Servant" wasn't played despite "Master and Servant" t-shirts being sold). For the first time, "Somebody" didn't get the massive unusual crowd response it's gotten in the past. We got to sing the chorus of "Everything Counts" a cappella, which sounded just as awesome as the famous audience participation of it on 101. My friend J.B. actually didn't make it to the show (he gave his tickets to my other friend J.R.'s brother Josh and his wife). If J.B. made it though, he would have disowned Depeche Mode as soon as they started playing "Just Can't Get Enough."

With "Just Can't Get Enough," they had a truly unique setlist composed of legitimate Depeche Mode tunes written by Vince Clarke, Martin Gore and David Gahan. Usually the whole show is Martin tunes (considering he wrote 95% of the Depeche Mode canon). Anyway, Dave sang two of the three songs he wrote for the new cd ("Suffer Well," "I Want It All"), which were adequate, but pretty dull too. "Suffer Well" would have been sufficient. I was also perplexed by Martin's vocal inclusion of "Damaged People" when "Macro" would have been a better choice. "Lilian" and "The Darkest Star" were curiously missing from the setlist considering they are two of the best new songs and "Star" contains the lyric "playing the angel," which would fit well in a tour called "Touring the Angel." Depeche Mode always insist on playing too heavy on their most recent cd, which honestly was awesome when I saw them a few months after Songs of Faith and Devotion (my favorite cd ever) came out. They played 7 of the 11 vocal tracks from Playing the Angel (and I actually preferred some of the new songs they didn't play). In my opinion, they've been around too long to be messing with the stuff people don't care enough about.

Harping on the new stuff aside, the show really, really rocked. "A Question of Time" is a standard I've heard done by them five times if I include David Gahan's solo show. It's also got a riff I never get tired of hearing. The flying saucer displayed a three and a half minute countdown during the song which sort of upped the urgency. "Personal Jesus" relied more heavily on Martin's guitar than ever before. Live, it was far more intense than Marilyn Manson's version. "I Feel You," undoubtedly the loudest, rawest Depeche Mode song was a delightful energetic highlight. It was a little awkward with Kristen there, however, since the screens didn't display the band, but instead displayed a girl eager to lose her clothes.

Notable exceptions: "Halo" (a usual live staple and also my very favorite song ever), "Stripped," "People Are People" (never much liked the song, but it probably the one I've heard the most on the radio), "Strangelove," "Condemnation," "Master and Servant" (already mentioned that), "The Bottom Line" (a pretty obscure one, but one of my favorites and I know they do it live on some occasions), "It's No Good," "Dream On" and "I Feel Loved." Maybe next time when they release another greatest hits compilation.

Have you ever noticed that bands rarely play a ton of stuff from their second to last album? "Goodnight Lovers" was the only song from Exciter, but I never realized just how beautiful and fitting a closing song it is. Instead of spanning the stage like they did all night Dave and Martin performed it huddled right next to each other right in front of Andy Fletcher's keyboard pod. It was cozy and warm and a very weird way to end a Depeche Mode show. But it totally worked. At the end of your next wicked long day, get out Exciter and sit back and listen to "Goodnight Lovers." It's blissy.

Wow that's it (three days later)! I can't wait to do this again in three years or so. And get excited for the next show because I really want you to come with me this time.

hell no dolly

Caught New York Doll last night. Quite beautiful. Before I ever heard of the movie I had heard a lot about the New York Dolls. I knew they were practically transvestites, the lead singer became the Buster Poindexter alter-ego and that just about every early punk and new wave band that I respected directly cited the Dolls as a very important influence. They were so mythical that I never even heard a Dolls song before the movie. By the time I heard about the movie I had no idea that one of the members became a Mormon. The thought of that was absurd. Whenever I put on make-up and womens' clothes I think about how un-Mormon I'm being. Strangely, the movie sorts every conflict between piousness and rock 'n roll. Although mentioned, the hedonistic excess of the rock lifestyle aren't emphasized. Our hero wants to return to that world not because he misses the drugs and sex, but for serious spiritual reasons. He again wanted to bring happiness and make life better for those around him and he knew he had a great talent doing that as an entertainer. All the Dolls seemed to have this ideal. More importantly he wanted to re-connect with his former bandmates. He worked at the family history center connecting families to one another and his band was really his estranged family. For once in my life, my religion and my passion for rock music are the same. They're about loving each other. I gotta tell ya, I knew how the movie was going to end, but... I... promisediwouldnt... c... cry.

Go see it. Morrissey is in it! MORRISSEY!

calling all beautiful music fans!

This Saturday my very favorite music band, Depeche Mode, is coming to Utah. By absolutely no coincidence, I have tickets. I need somebody to go with me. If you're a beautiful girl and you're at least a fair-weather fan of me or the band, let me know. Also let me know how much you're willing to pay for a ticket. I'll take the girl with the best beauty-to-ticket payment ratio (or I might just take my brother or something). Seriously, let me know. I HAVE A TICKET FOR YOU (possibly). If you don't want to go, tell all your semi-gothic synth-pop oldschool eighties mistresses. Maybe THEY want to go.

Awwwwww.

Before I stop talking about Halloween, I just had to include this photo of my niece Anna Kate and my nephew Charlie. Charlie grew his hair just to be an awesome Dash. Unfortunately, Anna Kate isn't introverted enough to pull off a convincing Violet, but she's still super super cute anyway.

Hey family, hope you had an awesome Halloween!

day of the dead and bloated

Pictures are pending! Halloween FINALLY came to an end last night, which was really the only actual night of Halloween. Best Halloween in years and years. The past couple have been especially lame. My house really really really came through.

I mentioned that we submitted two very fabulous scary movies to the ward film festival. I did one and Rhett did one. The link to my movie is right here. It's a really big file, so I'm going to prepare a lower-quality internet version to more easily download right here. Also, if you want, you can download the director's commentary version right here. Rhett's movie can be downloaded right here.

We won best group costume at the ward party by going as each original member of KISS (I was Ace, Rhett was Gene, Joe was Paul and we stuck Clint with Peter Criss). The pictures are on the way. In the meantime, see the previous post for a quickie of me. We won a pretty hard bag of snickers.

After all that we invited everybody over to our place for root beer and dancing. Strangely, EVERYBODY actually came. Actually even more than that. We must've been the only party around because quite a few cruisers came in. We didn't know half the ilk who showed. A good time was had though. Even my brilliant, yet Debbie Downer-esque, friend Maria danced all night. This is strange because we never see her dance, but she does talk about dancing all the time. Now if only we had a little more Halloweeny-type music. Anyway, apparently Maria caught a couple getting freaky in my room. I've never even gotten freaky in my room. She didn't get their names, but if you two are out there, I'd really really like your pictures for the purposes of my blog.

So summing up: scored hard on self-made movies, won hard on costumes and was the central location for freaking and getting freaky. We're almost done cleaning up.

On to Thanksgiving. *sigh*

'tis the season... for EVIL!

There were three events on Friday that put me in a giddy state of Halloween readiness. First: the weather. It was rainy and gloomy. I guess that's not much of an event, but with me, the small things matter. If it was sunny on Friday like it has been for the last few weeks, I'd be very disappointed.

The second thing that happened requires a little background. I work at a radio station in Provo, and every Friday morning this woman named Donna Maxx comes in on-air and reads a gospel doctrine lesson she's prepared for the benefit of those who wouldn't make it to church the following Sunday. Donna's pretty interesting. She's sort of like that house cleaner in the movie Poltergeist, but without the annoying voice. Anyway, she's reading this lesson and she breaks off into this huge aside about the importance of doing genealogy. The following is the story she told to emphasize her point:

...I awoke in the middle of the night to the voice of my dead fiance, saying, "Donna do my work for me." I knew he was requesting I do his temple work, and half asleep I replied, "But I lost it, I don't know where it is." The voice replied saying that "it was in my old purse, underneath some boxes in the back of my hall closet." I immediately was wide awake, got out of bed, turned on the lights, and pulled everything out of my closet and there under the boxes was my old purse, and inside was the information.

How perfect is that? A ghost story for church over Halloween weekend? Awesome. To listen to more of Donna, tune into 1400 am Monday at 9am and Friday at 9am (and be in Utah County as well).

I heard "Nemesis" by Shriekback on the radio. Todd's Ipod. How often do you hear that song? Have you ever heard that song? Would you like to? It just so happens that that song is one of many songs I included in my own Halloween 1995-2005 Anthology mix cd. You can download it in two short (zipped) files right here and here. Hey hey hey! You can also download this year's Halloween cd right here... and the rest of it right here. Remember you could have always downloaded my remixed version of "Only" by Nine Inch Nails right here.

I gave in and bought that Ratchet and Clank game. Right now it's pretty fun. I was hoping it would be instantly more addicting. The most frustrating thing is the online play. Everyone I deal with online is an obnoxious punk.

Yesterday I finally donned this year's costume: The glorious Ace Frehley. My crew and I hit four separate parties and then wound up at Freaky Dee's at about two in the morning. While there we encountered a bum in bumless pants who was apprehended by the cop-for-hire there. I'm not sure if there's always a cop there or if it's just a Halloween thing. The place was wicked crowded and EVERYBODY was wearing a costume. Many skanks arrived wearing things very similar to the bum with the moon-unit pants, but they were still allowed on the furniture. Thank all that is unholy it's the end of daylight savings and I got an extra hour of sleep last night.

not enough free time for free time.

The new "Ratchet and Clank" video game came out on Tuesday. This is very very weird because I look forward to the new one coming out every year and I haven't gotten the chance to go buy it and play it. It's weird because I work for like four hours a day and I don't have a girlfriend and I love my solitude, but I just haven't done it yet. In the same vein, I love making my Halloween cd every year, but Halloween is almost here and I haven't even burned it yet. I tivo'd Hellraiser just now because I'm all about the scary movies in this season, but I can't picture myself watching it. It's almost as if I have so much goofing off to do, that all of it is getting in the way and nothing is happening. I so apologize to all you working stiffs who are all busy. I should be messing around in your behalf. Don't worry about it. I'll extend October into November. All my leisure will be accomplished.

In the meantime, anticipate me uploading all sorts of Halloween chaos up in here. We gots this year's stuff coming, plus a greatest hits harmony from the past ten years. Good stuff, and it'll extend into November to counteract all this freakish goodwill that seems to poke around in November every year.

Hey hey hey! The blog is finally up! So anyway, if you're reading this imbedded inside of rexbasior.com, you may have to scroll down a little bit, then find the scroll bar at the bottom of this frame to look at my picture and links over there to the right. Sorry, there's a sort of space problem here. So anyway, for now, I'll be updating my blog more frequently than the rest of my site, cuz you know, it's easier. Also, if you don't like looking at the blog in this tiny window, you could open in a new window http://www.rexbasior.com/jonblog/blogger.htm to see my blog in full screen mode.

So anyway... yeah... I'm speechless. Five days to Halloween! Yeah... uh... we'lltalklaterbye!

jon's blog

does this work yet? doubtful.