Quick Change
Hilarious movie. It's really too bad that it didn't take off. The most underrated movie in Murray's catalogue except maybe Life Aquatic, which is one of Anderson's best films, especially in light of Darjeeling and Fox, which weren't near as entertaining or interesting.

I think the Rat Patrol mix of Straight to Hell is better. I certainly enjoy it more without the edits. Nobody ever agrees with me though.

There's something about the narrative style of Zevon's songs, his more personal style, and his rock leanings that appeal to me more than Waits, but they're not really comparable. Waits deals in doomed carnivals and pre-war jazz-based stuff, and his songwriting is almost a form of acting - it's detached in a way that…

Family Guy
I usually only watch Family Guy in reruns when I can't sleep, so I had no expectations for this episode. It *was* a shitty episode, but I have to agree about the lion bit. One of the best jokes the show's ever done, and I laughed at it for a long damn time. And I rarely laugh at comedy. Even 30 Rock, which…

Bob Dylan
What do you guys think of Bob Dylan's Warren Zevon covers? Mutineer, Boom Boom Mancini, Accidentally Like A Martyr, and Lawyers Guns & Money.

Self-titled is basically perfect, a total classic. His albums were often shaky or are dated by shit production, so I generally don't listen to any of the mid-period studio stuff. Instead I go with the two amazing live albums - Stand In The Fire and Learning To Flinch (which saves some great songs that were on bad…

"And if California slides into the ocean, like the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill"

One of the best songwriters ever.
Too bad a lot of people know him just for Werewolves and not as one of the best LA songwriters period.

The ads
The ads for this movie are outrageously horrible, and suggest one of the worst films ever.

Joe Strummer died because of Obamacare.

If you mark that frame an 8, you're entering a world of pain.

Slim Cessna's Auto Club fucking smokes. Jesus Let Me Down is one of my favorite live albums ever.

James McMurtry, Levon Helm, The Band of Heathens, Billy Joe Shaver's '90s and '00s records (Unshaven, Tramp On Your Street, Earth Rolls On), Dave Alvin, The Knitters, Hayes Carll, Todd Snider, Kathleen Edwards, John Doe, Ryan Bingham, Buddy & Julie Miller, The Flatlanders, Joe Ely, Steve Earle, Slim Cessna's Auto Club.

An acquaintance
There's this country songwriter in my hometown who swears up and down that Toby Keith stole the chorus, melody and music, to some old song he wrote and re-purposed it for Beer For My Horses.

Self Control
That video gave me nightmares as a kid, and I still feel a little quiver in my gut when I hear the song (aka Vice City).

Calvin & Hobbes
It really doesn't get better than Calvin & Hobbes, which all pretense/over-analysis aside, really plays to adults and kids in equal measure. I probably appreciate it more now as an adult than I was a kid reading it in the paper.

Jim Jarmusch
I can't help but feel that Tom Waits' voice-only character in Mystery Train is a reprise of his role in Down by Law. It's kinda cool to see a character cross over and get a little closure in a different movie. It's as if he got out of Louisiana, didn't get arrested, and went back to DJing. It's kind of…

I'm only in my 20s.
So I'm not gonna pretend I'm old in any way. I'm not. Pop culture fads come and go a lot faster these days, so not very much is a "generational divide" as people like to say.

Ain't Love Grand is such a shame - the songs are largely excellent, but the production sucks dicks. I always hated Burning House of Love because of the horrible '80s pop metal arrangement, but live, it smokes. Ditto most of the songs there. That album taught me how important a good producer is to something as simple…

The live version is twice as harrowing, imo.