RIP John Entwistle. Thanks for sharing your talent with us; you’ve been inspirational to me and I’ll always treasure the memories of seeing you play live.

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If you’re in the DC area, please come out and catch the band’s last show on Saturday night (June 29) at Kilroy’s in Springfield. It’s about 15 minutes from everywhere in Northern Virginia — I think they use some kind of time warp to get that to work, but they won’t tell me how. Mike Kozemchak, our former bass player, is returning to the stage for our final show, so I’ll be playing electric and acoustic guitars (and loving every moment of it). I guarantee this show will not disappoint you!

Saw Monster’s Ball last night, and it was excellent. Halle Berry was fully deserving of that Oscar. It’s a very raw movie though, both emotionally and visually. The direction and camerawork are fantastic, and the score was also excellent. Billy Bob Thornton and Peter Boyle were also both great, with wonderfully nuanced performances. I think the person who was most highly underrated in this was Heath Ledger, who was almost unrecognizable from his star turns in The Patriot and A Knight’s Tale. And what a mastery of accent! Probably shorted because of limited time on-screen, his character is not only central to the entire plot of the movie and the development of Billy Bob’s character, but also has the most impact per moment on screen. Highly recommended for mature audiences only.

Lot of meetings today. Too many meetings! Slashdot this morning had an interesting link to a story regarding Micro$oft’s new Palladium load o’ crap, designed to cut the testicles off the free software movement (especially Linux, which they fear above all else since it (a) works better than most of their systems, and (b) doesn’t rope users into an endless routine of opening their wallets and bending over every time M$ feels their bottom line isn’t quite big enough). Check it out and fight the abuse of monopoly power!

To preface at least one of the few movies I’m going to review in capsule form tonight, let me just say that I am not a heartless brute. I am, in fact, a big softie when it comes to just about everything emotional. I cry at movies… well, maybe not at the drop of a hat, but let’s just say I don’t hide my heartstrings behind a locked door. I still well up every time I see Magnolia and The English Patient. And anything with a kid? Man, don’t even go there, at least not without the Puffs Plus. (Most parents are probably in the same boat.)

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p>In any case, I saw I Am Sam this past week, and please, if you must rent something, make it a movie as far removed from this one as possible. Sean Penn does his best to save the inept, trite, overly cliched, and sickeningly, cloyingly oversweetened screenplay, and fails miserably. Besides that, the direction is horrible and the photography (shot mostly in handheld mock documentary style, as if that could elevate this piece of crap) completely out of place for the mood and the story. This is probably the first movie I’ve ever seen that made me really think that I could literally hop on a plane to L.A. and just start directing tomorrow. Seeing as how I’ve never even taken a photography class that really says something. Not even the really adorable and talented (and very well-cast) little girl helped this movie. If you must spend money on something that says “I Am Sam” on it, do yourself a favor and just buy the soundtrack, which was filled with wonderful and witty covers of Beatles tunes. But by all that is holy, avoid this film.

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p>Whew. Now, having said that, things that are worth your time:

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p>Black Hawk Down. (DVD Rental) Superbly shot, and providing dazzling action along with a smart and concise screenplay that is emotionally riveting without relying on old war movie cliches, Ridley Scott (director of Gladiator and Blade Runner) has outdone himself yet again. Be warned though, the war scenes (which are pretty much two hours out of this 2-1/2 hour movie) are harsh and realistic, with some stomach-turning and heart-stopping violence. If you needed another shot in the arm to remind you about the tremendous job done by our brave boys in the Armed Forces every time they’re deployed, this is it and then some.

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p>Minority Report. (In Theaters) This movie is probably Spielberg’s best bid for the box office since Raiders of the Lost Ark. (It also is an extremely worthwhile entry in his oeuvre of his more adventurous and mature films.) It sports an intelligent story with a human core; great acting, especially by the lead, Tom Cruise; superb special effects that I really didn’t even think about while I was watching them, so effortlessly are they intertwined with the live action photography; and cinematography that is ground-breaking yet firmly anchored in the language of film noir, by Janusz Kaminski, a frequent Spielberg collaborator. I can’t recommend this film highly enough; the ending is even responsibly somewhat low-key while still being cautiously optimistic. Naysayers (and there are apparently only a few) are likely the same kind of people who either require subtitles to their movies, or spend more time on the Internet than is healthy for a human being. As for me, I say Spielberg is getting better every year as he gets less and less interested in what the audience wants to see, and more interested in filming his personal visions. And for that matter, if you didn’t like A.I., shame on you! Film history will drop a big steaming load on your grave.

I’ve removed the MP3 of my new song until I can re-record it with my brand new mic, a Superlux CM-H8A. It really rocks, especially considering I only paid $99 for it at my wonderful local music store, Bang! Music. I’m just too ashamed of it (the song, not the mic) now anyway. It needs both melodic and lyric work before I re-release it to the wild. I’m sure your life will go on.

Wow, I’m really getting behind here. I try to post every day but lately I’ve been wrapped up in a neat project at work that’s occupying all of my time, including lunch breaks and sanity breaks for practice. Maybe I should have a catheter installed. Currently it’s working on a production scale, but next I want to make some tweaks, improvements, add some friendly options, and so forth. The best part is it could never be done in a Windoze world. Hurrah for Linux!

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p>I saw the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch and it really was fantastic. Even if you’re the kind of person who might say “no” to a movie about an East German transvestite almost-transsexual glam punk rocker, I would recommend you check it out anyway. You’ll be very pleasantly surprised by a great movie. And it’s not bloated either — 95 minutes of pure enjoyment. Translated very well from the stage, as far as I can see, by the creators behind the original production. For my library, I recently added Criterion’s edition of Traffic, the recently released special edition director’s cut of the Dune miniseries that aired last year on Sci-Fi, and the special edition of When Harry Met Sally (well, it was only $10).

I have a Gateway Solo 9500 notebook and lost the plastic second hard disk modular tray at some point while moving offices back in October. I called them up this morning and not only did I not have to wait long for operator assistance, but they got me hooked up with a second drive tray for free since they don’t sell them separately. How cool is that? It’s nice to see customer service still means something out there in the wild!

I read an incredibly interesting and provocative article about the historical significance of references in the latest Star Wars film. It’s definitely worth a read and a mental chew. Please find your own urn before biting off a piece and settin’ a spell.

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p>I was fortunate to meet a really nice local Stick player the other night, Kevin Genus. He bought my ADAT (i.e. the one remaining piece of gear I was selling) and I hope he puts it to great use. Kevin, if you’re out there, I owe you a beer, brother. Anyhoo, Eleya and I have finally been seeing that HBO show “The Sopranos.” Yes, I realize we’re hopelessly behind the media curve; being a dedicated family guy does that. We’re very impressed by the writing and acting and are looking forward to seeing the remainder of the show. We’ve been renting it disc-by-disc from Netflix. Four episodes down, about 28 to go I think.

Last night was pretty productive; I got a new song written and (very hastily) recorded. It’s highly incomplete and the melody needs some real work, but I finally have taken advantage of my new digital recording setup to do a quick demo. From there to finished product is just a matter of spit, polish, and time. Take it in the spirit of Neil Finn and Duncan Sheik and it may make some sense.