"Hell Naw, B*tch, You Got a D*ick in Your Mouth!"

That's really one of the cool aspects of music: an artist can incorporate samples taken from movies (and such) and either incorporate them as part of the song (like Nine Inch Nails does in "The Becoming") or use that sample an element or introduction to a song. Additionally, it's through these songs that I've found some equally interesting and/or boring films that I've seen. Finally, seeing what samples are used kind of give you some idea as to what an artist finds interesting. It's like getting to know them as a person, rather than as a musician.

Here are some songs and the samples used that I've found along the way:

Nine Inch Nails, "The Becoming" (the screaming heard throughout the song, on a loop)
The looped scream comes from a scene in Robot Jox 

(The sampled screams come in at about 20 sec. into the clip)

Rob Zombie, "Hands of Death(Burn Baby Burn)
The shouts of "Hail Satan!" and "God is Dead!" come from the final scenes of Rosemary's Baby

(Crappy Lyrics Video, but listen for the clip from 2:40-2:50)

(Listen to the first few seconds of this clip and from 0:55-0:59 for "God is Dead!")

Rise Against, "Survivor Guilt"

The discussion of America's future come from Catch-22 (as hi-lighted in the lyrics video)

(The first clip is from 1:07-1:25; the second, about 3:20-3:25)

Dr. Dre, "Deez Nuts"

The second intro (after the phone call, starting at :35 seconds) comes from a bit called "Chestnuts" from Rudy Ray Moore.

(The original bit begins at 1:45)

Well, that's all I've got for now. I've know of some others, but if I included them all, it'd be an incredible long and tedious post. All in all, it's really interesting to see how artists really incorporate existing material (whether it's from a film, television, or even a stand up comedy bit) into their music and make something that can be either frightening or humorous. Until the next post, my fellow readers!

Wish I Was Here...Already Married

"What do you mean you want to be married already?! You're young! Live life, make the most of your youth, and don't worry about girls until your older...much older! I kid on that, but seriously, why worry about marriage now? It'll come in time. You just have to be patient."

Almost ubiquitously, I get such reactions whenever I mention that I would have liked to be married already. When I was 14, I had hoped that I would have finished university, began my career, and have wedded a lovely, intelligent woman. All by the age of 22. Instead, I'm now 25, still fighting for my undergraduate degree, and single. Not even a girlfriend. We're talking "forever alone" type of situation. Actually, that's not entirely true. If pretty girls didn't make me so damn nervous...!

...

Actually, we're derailing here. You're probably thinking, Why do you want to be married already? What's the rush?, and if you weren't thinking it, you are now. To answer the question (that I imposed upon you - sorrynotsorry about that), the answer is quite simple: security. See, I'm not the kind of guy that just relentlessly pursuits women; I'm not the kind of guy that's constantly seeking for the next girl to smash (euphemism); and I'm not the kind of guy that constantly has some ulterior sexual motive for interacting with people of the opposite sex and gender (I was that person, but I've come along a way since then, but I digress). Perhaps, and embarrassingly so, I have no game (also euphemism) nor have I an interest in playing "the dating game." It's through marriage that I bypass this cruel and, at times, illogical farce of social interaction that juxtaposes bizarre human personalities with other bizarre human personalities. 

The notion that I'd have some special lady to go home to, to give and receive any and all comforts has always been appealing to me. No games, doubts, worries, or other pointless bull. Just an ethereal security of knowing who's waiting for me (and who I'm waiting for) at end of the day. This is why I want to be married and avoid having to spend precious years carrying unnecessary emotional baggage and wear painful battle scars as we desperately search for our other halves like chickens with heads cut off.

In all honesty, I don't know why I'm feeling pressured to be married already. Is it just me playing some distorted mind game with my own self? All I know, at this point, is that I'm feeling all too self-aware of this. Is this just me being emotional or is it something more inherent within me that I'm not attending to?

P.S.: On an unrelated note, Zach Braff recently released Wish I Was Here and it looks interesting, similar to Garden State over a decade ago. If anything, this film just may be Garden State 2.0.

Maybe.

Watching Movies & Making Lists

After speaking with my friend and co-worker about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, we ended up having this lengthy discussion about movies we want to see, movies we haven't seen, and anticipating movies that haven't been released yet, but they are on our "to watch list." After hours of discussion, we made a list of sorts of movies I have to see/should have seen by now (I ended up shocking my friend by telling him I haven't seen Schindler's List at all. His response, "That needs to change, like now. How haven't you seen Schindler's List?!")

Here's the list (in full) of the movie list that we came up for me recently (in no particular order):

Being John Malkovich

Children of Men

The Grand Budapest Motel

Moonrise Kingdom

The Book Thief

Jarhead

The Royal Tenenbaums

Rushmore

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Unbreakable

The Sixth Sense

Howl's Moving Castle

Schindler's List

7 Psychopaths

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

A Clockwork Orange

2001: A Space Odyssey

Rain Man

The Godfather Trilogy

Burn After Reading

1984

Avatar

Life of Pi

Kill Bill (Vol. 1 & 2)

Toy Story 3

I'm pretty sure I'll be adding more to this list later, as more films come to mind.

EDIT: I'll be crossing out the films I have seen as time goes by.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

"My name is Benjamin Button and I was born in unusual circumstances..."

I had the fortunate pleasure of watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a few days ago. For me, this was one of those movies where it just snuck past me. I knew about its existence since its theatrical release, but I never was compelled to watch the movie until recently.  In short, I loved it. While it was essentially Forrest Gump in reverse, Benjamin Button is one of those rare gems in film where you're not only watching it, you're immersed in it. However, it's just not the story alone that draws you in. It's the people, the places, and even the circumstance that do so. For as long as time moves forward, many people will age, circumstances will give and take life, and life itself is never still.

In some ways, taking the time to watch films that are more artistic, story-driven, and at times emotional seems to reflect the growth I'm going through as a person. For those who've known me over the years, these types of movies were not always my "cup of tea," so to speak. Maybe it has to do with all the reading I've been immersing myself with lately, as well as my binging on so much music that is sometimes unexpected, even for myself. Now, more and more of these types of films are giving me a satisfaction that, if my younger self would encounter the same film, he would dismiss them altogether. I want to continue going on this path and see where it takes me and just how much I'll change in the days, months, and years ahead of me. 

"her"

I recently saw this movie a almost a ago, totally unaware that this movie was released a few weeks back. In short, I was amazed by how great this movie was. Not that I had low expectations for the film, mind you, but when the story revolves around a romantic relationship between a man and an artificial intelligence, you just don't know what to expect! But Spike Jonze delivered a touching story that goes beyond the immediate, or the forever now as I call it (I'll always thank the Psychedelic Furs for that phrase). 

In some ways, I feel that there's some foreshadowing about the direction of where our modern society is heading. For example, while the idea of dating an artificial intelligence seem ludicrous and preposterous now, perhaps it'll be a social/cultural norm in the not-to-distant future, when AIs can be intuitive and responsive as Samantha. After all, more and more relationships seem to created through the Internet or a social media website of sorts, so the idea of humans developing real emotions with AIs almost seems to be the next step. Also, it's a little depressing to say that we may end up being so overworked that people like Theodore (the main character in the film) are hired to wrie a myriad of romantic love letters on behalf of those who don't have the time anymore to even begin to write a love letter for somebody. 

In some ways, I was able to connect with Theodore in not only the predicaments he was finding himself in, but even how he decided to deal with said predicaments. It was almost like looking at a mirror, and in doing so, realizing how my actions and decisions may have pushed her away. It was difficult to watch those moments, to know that I've made those same mistakes Theodore had also made. But on a more positive perspective, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing those surrogate love letters he had composed, mostly because those letters remind me of the letters I've written over a year ago. Perhaps, I should keep on writing letters, even if there isn't a narrative to bring them all together, like the first twelve I wrote did. 

All in all, this is one of those movies that you'll walk away moved, reflecting on what is love, how it's expressed, and how just the right person (or in this case, an AI) can make life all the more beautiful, inspiring, and fulfilling.