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Kung Fu Panda

Date: June 16, 2008
Location: Muvico Boynton Beach

First, I must say (on behalf of my wife) that Fiona is a terror. While she’ll now sit quietly and enjoy a DVD at home, she has yet to make any experience in the theater anything less than a living hell. And Alex inevitably winds up dealing with her and missing half the movie. In this case, I took over for the last 20 minutes but managed to see the climax from the corner of the theater. It’s a good thing she’s cute, or we might have left her behind one of the WALL-E displays and high-tailed out of there.

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The Incredible Hulk

Date: June 14, 2008
Location: AMC Sunset Place

After the bloated, boring Hulk Ang Lee delivered in 2003, I really wasn’t expecting much out of this new incarnation. The presence of Ed Norton intrigued me, but my suspicion was that — everything else aside — the technology isn’t quite there to make a 10-foot green monster man believable. King Kong is, for my money, the most convincing CGI character to grace the big screen, but a 25-foot gorilla is more out-there than something that looks at least partly like a human being.

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Aimee Mann – @#%&*! Smilers

A year or so ago, Amy, Dana and I played one of our elimination games to determine the best female singer-songwriter. The final matchup paired Joni Mitchell (carried there by Amy and Dana’s joint support) against Aimee Mann. Mann was a surprise finalist, not as high-profile as many of the women she bested and I was thrilled to give her my vote (though, sadly, she lost).

For my money, the pinnacle of songwriting and performing talent among the fairer sex is represented by Lucinda Williams, Fiona Apple and Aimee Mann. Tift Merritt has recently made a strong surge into that group as well, and her music is a nice complement to the variety of styles represented by that trio.

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Mudcrutch – Mudcrutch

Amid all this talk of “fusion,” here’s an album that goes entirely in the other direction. Mudcrutch was Tom Petty’s band before he formed the Heartbreakers and hit it big. They put out a couple albums that are pretty much lost now, and this self-titled album serves as their 38-year reunion. It’s a cool concept, though not quite as cool as it could be, considering 4/5 of Mudcrutch went on to join the Heartbreakers anyway. So basically, this album is a chance for one old friend to play with the band again.

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Santogold – Santogold

Speaking of fusion, perhaps no album I’ve listened to recently is a better example than Santogold’s self-titled release. The solo debut of singer Santi White, Santogold is kaledoscopic in its influences. Several songs owe a huge debt to M.I.A., with exotic soundscapes layered over rolling drumbeats and White’s rapped vocals nearly indistinguishable from her celebrated counterpart. But the rest of the album is more interesting by far, evoking everything from Depeche Mode to No Doubt, Bob Marley to Beck.

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