Christina Ricci,
Kung-fu cars and cool graphics
Make this movie cool

3.5 out of 5 stars

Write your own haiku review in the comments.

Since videotapes and DVD’s became popular, movies have played a more significant role in our lives. After a bad night at the bar, it’s easy to pop in a movie that relates to your current mode or to make you feel better. We each have movies that we relate to different life experiences. As I sit watching one movie from this list, I’ve created short list of some of mine:

“I quit/got fired from my job” – Reality Bites. When you feel a bit bummed about leaving a job (by choice or otherwise), the thought of Winona Rider losing her job, and Ethan Hawke being fired from 14 makes a person feel a bit better for some reason.

“Women make no sense” – High Fidelity. Yes, women are confusing as hell. What better way to celebrate this than by watching a movie where the man is actually the one with a few screws loose (or is completely sane depending on the day)?

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Those not familiar with Jonathan Coulton are probably the type of people that “have lives.”

When opening band Paul & Storm asked the audance to produce a 20-sided die, you could see numerous people in attendance frantically searching their bags to try and find one. When Coulton himself took the stage, a fan was able to produce a power adapter for his Apple Powerbook that was low on battery life.

Such is the audience at a Coulton concert.

This is the second time I’ve seen Coulton with Paul & Storm opening. It’s less a matter of an opening act and a headliner as two bands that work together well. Paul & Storm provide backup for many of Coulton’s song.

The end result – three hours of laughter and music in the key of geek.

Related links:

My interview with Coulton for 77 Square – “Songwriter embraces lyrical nerdiness”

Madisonite John Kovalic of “Dork Tower’s” cartoon about Coulton’s show tonight.

A link to Mr. Coulotn’s music online.

With changes to the local media landscape in Madison, Thursday is the epicenter for publication releases. Within 24 hours, The Cap Times, Onion, Isthmus, and 77 Square are released into the Madison wild. This week we caught our first glimpse of the two CapTimes.com weeklies. Here are thoughts on each paper for this week.

The Onion. Wow, with the headlines in the Onion, it seems they never left Madison. The “Dying Newspaper Trend” article is ripped right from local media (including this site), while the “‘Get the fuck outta the road’ program” should be directed towards the students at the UW. The Onion also provided a great summer movie preview, that helps me hate Hollywood even more.

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