Review melange

Reviews...sort of...short ones, anyway...shut up, yes, it's summer...I know I should be writing more...

• Plastic Beach by Gorillaz - excellent disc...not every song is perfect, but the totality is awesome...especially dig the track "Welcome to the Plastic Beach" with Snoop, "White Flag", "Rhinestone Eyes", "Superfast Jellyfish", and a bunch more...check a mix of the album in eight minutes...weird, kinda-concept album thing going on, but the music's so good that you don't have to notice that in the least
• Toy Story 3 -  Of course it's really good.  It's great, in fact, but you knew that going in.  I've heard that it's as good as Up.  I don't think it is, though.  Admittedly, there were a couple of misty eyes in this ChemGuy when the toys were nearly melted down.  Didn't see it in 3D 'cause I'm a cheapskate.  
• Ponyo -  Studio Ghibli by way of Disney...beautiful artwork...boring, boring story...there's about ten seconds of drama in the whole 103-minute film...kept waiting for any sort of story, but there isn't one...the only possibility is that it's meant to be told from the kid's point of view - non-sequitor parts drifting together with very small conflicts and very total lack of subtlety (for example, at one point, magic spills out and the world is out of balance - which we know because three times characters say "The world is out of balance.")  Gimme Mononoke or Spirited Away over this piece of dross any day.
• The Stand, uncut version - I'd read The Stand in its shorter version a long while ago and maybe the extended version, too, since nothing so far (800 pages in) has felt new.  Hell of a book.  One of King's finest.  I think it's a little tough to see Walter O'Dim and Randall Flagg as the same person, though.  And I remember the horrors (Lincoln Tunnel, escape from prison, weasels in the corn) being much worse.  Maybe I'm an adult now and am reading it in bright, sunshiny rooms.
• Superman: Kryptonite - gorgeous, 1940s-style artwork with a neat story of how Superman first found kryptonite (at least for now) involving a being trapped in kryptonite...great use of Lex Luthor and some new businessman in town...initial relationship stages between Supes and Lois...high quality stuff from Tim Sale and Darwyn Cooke...beautiful artwork...great story...Superman finds out he's not invulnerable...well worth a read...
• Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine - wide-screen comics at their finest...Wolverine recruited by Nick Fury to kill Hulk...doesn't work...story opens in the middle of the story and flashes backward...then forward once we catch up to how Wolverine got ripped in half...cute red herring of Ultimate She Hulk's identity...nothing earth-shattering here in terms of the Ultimate universe or anything, just fun, nearly-constant throw-down action again proving that Wolverine is the best at what he does...entertaining throughout, but the legendary delays would have killed me if I weren't a wait-for-trader...
• Ultimate Power - second read through because it's a pretty comic...sort of...pretty people in often awkward standing around positions with ridiculously skin-tight costumes - especially the Ultimate Serpent Squad - typical artwork from Greg Land (check this article to read about his use of photographs as starting point)...noticed something on the second read through...there are three authors, each scripting three of the nine issues...Bendis on 1-3, Straczynski 4-6, Loeb 7-9...each artist apparently left the other with a huge cliffhanger that had to be resolved...reminds me of DC Challenge - a great attempt at a different style of storytelling...
• I Told You I Was Freaky by Flight of the Concords -it's a comedy record of songs from their show, a show that I've honestly never seen (ok, a few online clips but never a full episode all the way through)...as such, I actually found it thoroughly entertaining...these guys are masters at co-opting a musical genre and turning it into schtick...rap on "Hurt Feelings", demon metal on "Demon Woman", 80's dance on "Fashion is Danger", club trance on "Too Many D***s on the Dance Floor", Police-style reggae on "You Don't Have to be a Prostitute" (turning Roxanne on its head), and most masterfully using the psychedelia of Donovan et al on "Rambling Through the Avenues of Time"...don't know that the gags will age perfectly, but I can say that I still was enjoying the music after about a week of solid listening while I played Mario Kart...surprisingly, in spite of the constant musical shifts, it's a fun, enjoyable album...
• Kick by Beck's Record Club - Kyle pointed out the completion of Beck's most recent Record Club project, covering INXS's classic Kick album...thankfully, he also provided a link to some sort of downloadable content of the album...so I've added the totality to iTunes...I dig the concept of the Record Club - Beck and some friendly musicians get together and record their covers of an entire album, sometimes rendering outstanding versions, sometimes throwaway versions, but always offering up fresh takes on the songs...this covering is again hit or miss - great "Mystify", unlistenable "Meditate"...it's worth a gander but not a purchase (which is good since Beck doesn't seem interested in putting the albums out there as anything other than videos on his Record Club webpage)...sadly, no Tweedy - Jeff or the younger - this time...