Where the Wild Things Are

Last week I saw Spike Jonze version of "Where the Wild Things Are". I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about the movie. Some critics said that the movie was too sad and unsuitable for children while the other critics that it was one of the best movies that was released this year.

To be honest, I had no clue what to expect when I saw the movie. All I really knew was that it was based on a children's book that was read to me as a child and Spike Jonze was directing it. I have always been a fan of whatever Spike Jonze does. He has made some memorable commericals and some of my favorite movies.

Even though the book itself is only 10 sentences long, the movie stayed as faithfull as it could to the book. The movie could also do almost anything it wanted because there was not that much information in the book.

The film version of "Where the Wild Things Are" is about a boy who, after biting his mom during a date, runs away from home and hides in the woods. His imagination then takes him to a far away place that is ruled by the Wild Things.

The interesting look that Spike Jonze chose to tell the story is that each of the Wild Things are an emotion that Max, the main character, feels with everything that is going on in his life. It really isn't a kids movie because there are only a couple of funny scenes in the film but it is still a great movie.

The movie really just seemed to be about how a kid felt about his dad not being around, his mom dating a new guy, and how his sister and her friends are mean to him and how Max deals with these emotions.

Overall, it was a really good movie. It is more of an adult movie than a kids movie, but nonetheless it was still a great movie.

U2 360* Tour at the Cowboy Stadium

On Monday, October 12 I saw two things for the very first time. One of them was being able to see the band U2 and the second was going to see the brand new Cowboy Stadium that my taxes paid for.

Everyone knew that parking is outrageous at the new stadium. From what I have been told, parking at the stadium will cost 50 bucks while all of the restaurants around the stadium will charge only 40 bucks. We decided to park in Lincoln Square at the TGI Fridays because our friend Tril works there as a bartender and he could hook us up with some cheap drinks and some free parking. After some food and a 10 minute walk to the stadium, we were there.

The stadium was great. It was no surprise that so many people could fit in there. We also checked out where people would be if they hard the party passes. Those people don't get seats so they have to stand the whole time.

The concert started around 7:30 with the opening band Muse. I have seen them once before when the opened up for My Chemical Romance a couple of years ago in Houston. Muse was really good. They started their set by playing their new song "Uprising". They played for about 45 minutes to an hour. I was really surprised by how many of their songs I knew. When they were done with their set, everyone in the stadium was ready for U2 to come out and play.

U2 started their set about 20 minutes after Muse ended their portion of the show. They started out by playing "Breathe". They played alot of their famous songs along with a bunch of songs from their new album. The show lasted about 2 hours. Since it was my first show, I did not really have a clue on how they would perform. Some bands will play their songs just like it is played on the radio or Cd's while other bands try to redo the songs to make them sound better.

They played the majority of their songs like they are heard on the radio, but they did slow down a couple of their songs like "I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For" and it sounded a lot better I thought.

One thing that I really enjoyed about the concert was that U2 had a round stage and everyone in the stadium could have a good view of the show. Right above the stage, the band had screens that would show whatever what was happening on stage at that moment. During one part of the show, the screen came down and expanded to become hundreds of separate smaller screens.

This would probably have to be one of the top 10 favorite concerts that I have been to. I am also glad that I got a chance to see U2 because they have been around for so long, that you know that they are going to have one hell of a concert when they do come into town for a concert.

This is also the last of the concerts that I will be attending for awhile. It was also a great concert to end the concert run with. Click here for Muse's portion of the concert and here for U2's portion.

Metallica Concert

For the past couple of weeks, I have been going to one concert a week. I have been excited and enjoyed all of the concerts that I have been to but nothing compared to the concert that I recently attended.

A couple of friends and bought floor seats a while ago to see Metallica. This was the first time that I have ever seen the band in concert before, while everyone else in the group has been at least 3 times before.

The concert started at 7, so we got there around 5:30 and got places right up against the rail, which was about 5 feet away from the stage. There were a couple of opening acts that were pretty good. One band was a French-Canadian metal band that I could not understand what they were saying to save my life and the other band was Lamb Of God.

Lamb of God was my favorite of the two opening acts although the French-Canadian band did have a crazy bassist. The guy reminded me of what Animal from the Muppets would look like if he played the bass instead of the drums. The dude was just all over the place.

Around 9, when the opening acts were done, the lights were turned off and Metallica turned on their intro music. The band always chooses the same bad ass song that plays when they walk on stage. It is the theme song to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This song kicks ass when there is absolutely no lights on and it just pumps you up even more. In case you don't know what song I am talking about, then you can check it out here.

Once Metallica came on to the stage, the whole arena went crazy, including myself. The concert had pyro, lasers, and alot of awesome songs. The good thing that I really loved about the concert was that there was not that much time in between songs. The band just went from one song right into another. There would be time were James (the lead singer) would just talk a little bit, but that was mainly just to pump up the crowd for the next song.

Since the concert was in an arena, the band set up a round stage so that every band would be in the middle of the arena and every one could have an equal view of the band. It also allowed the bands to move all over the place as well.

Metallica went a step further than the other bands and set up microphones all over the stage. There had to be at least 10 mics set up everywhere and the band went to all of them through out the concert and each song.

The band did an encore, but they did not sing their own songs. In the encore, the band plays some songs that they liked as fans themselves. Once the cover songs were over, they finished the concert by playing "Seek and Destroy". As they were getting ready to start that song, Lars Ulrich, the drummer, grabbed some random 8 year old kid out of the pit and had him play the intro on the drums. I don't know if the kid was nervous, but he seemed to know how the song went and he was alright at it too.

The house lights were kept on during the last song and half way through it, tons of black beach balls of different sizes came down to the crowd. As this was going on, the band finished the song and started to throw out the pics that they were using and I was lucky enough to catch one from guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The band played for a little over two hours straight. It was a great concert and I cant wait to go see them again when they come back into town.