I've just about had it with overchoreographed Jazzercise posing as action. I watched the second Matrix movie last night and the whole thing was more like Debbie Allen than John Woo to the point where I could barely be bothered watching it. Obviously, there were a couple of interesting action sequences and the Priscilla dude was pretty cool (how ironic that the most artificial character did the best acting), but overall I thought the whole thing stunk. And all the new age/religious symbolism is pretty much lost on me, since everyone knows Danzig is The One anyway.

I saw Once Upon a Time in Mexico recently and didn't like that too much either. Johnny Depp was fabulous as always, but the story gets way too complicated for its own good, which meant I stopped caring about the story before the movie was halfway through. And the flashbacks do little to explain the actions of the characters (what's with the chains Salma and Banderas are wearing anyway?). There are way too many nonimportant storylines and too many characters, so even Depp and his funky shirts can't save this turkey.

In music news I've been listening to Shout Out Louds a bit lately and I especially like the single Please, Please, Please. They won't be playing here any time soon, but if you're a New York Hipster you might want to check them out in early February, where they're playing four shows in NYC (including one with OK Go).

I don't think there are any shows here before Grant-Lee Phillips plays here in late March, so I'm thinking about going to Copenhagen to see Damien Rice and Josh Ritter in early March. But another possibility is trying to save up enough bread for a trip to the UK either in March to see Fountains of Wayne or in April to see Duran Duran. The latter is probably the most likely as I'll need some time to save up the money. It probably won't happen, but if I can stop spending like a crazy person I should be able to at least save up enough for a few days in London.