Yes, LJ friends, the time has come for me to bid adieu to this place. Unlike most people leaving Livejournal, it has nothing to do with some kind of protest about Livejournal's oppressive stance against slash fiction or whatever. I have nothing against the site, it's simply of little use for me anymore.

I first started blogging with LJ in 2004, and in that time found it to be a fun hobby that allowed me to express opinions, keep my writing skills in practice, and share thoughts with other bloggers. Over the years, the make-up of LJ has changed dramatically, as the things it is designed to do -- be a home to blogs and serve as a online social networking tool -- are better done elsewhere. LJ as an online destination has largely been replaced by Facebook, and I think that's fine. Those who used to just come here to see what friends are up to and post short snippets of their personal lives are better served by Facebook.

For those that blog, LJ was a nice interface with "friends" pages and communities, but for me, most of those benefits have fallen off significantly. Instead, I'd like my blogging to be read, and perhaps get noticed, and Livejournal just isn't the place for that. There has been a number of blogs and bloggers to draw attention in the main stream media these days, and they all share one thing in common: none of them have Livejournals. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to be the next stuffwhitepeoplelike or anything, but I would like to give myself a decent shot at being read by more than just the few people goodly enough to friend me.

With that in mind, I have started up a new blog entitled "Critically Speaking", that you can check out here: http://andythesaint.wordpress.com/ This is where I will be doing my blogging from here on out, so if you've enjoyed reading my stuff over the years, I encourage you to check it out, and maybe even RSS me (oh, and if you're not already RSSing, you should be. Google Reader has made my internet experience roughly 200% better). In terms of new content, I've recently posted a review on Son of Rambow and a list of 18 Great Songs from Commercials. And just so you don't think this will be a one way street, I'll be RSSing the LJs of people I read who are still updating, and anyone who comments over on Critically Speaking that they're still reading me (you can comment with your livejournal account).

Wordpress has been great so far. I set the blog up on the 14th, importing blog posts from here over there (which is really easy, it even posts them with their original dates). In that two weeks, I've gotten 467 views, including a high of 90 on last Sunday (yep, I get actual stats for my blog, which was a big selling feature over LJ). It's nice to know I'm getting some attention, particularly since I just started advertising my presence. As for what this future blog will cover, expect more of the same as you would here, although I'm considering doing fewer reviews and more original list-type features (as my two most popular groups of posts so far are my Top 25 Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and my Top 25 characters from The Wire).

So goodbye Livejournal; it's been fun, but it's time for a change.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Brandon Soo Hoo, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise

Directed By: Ben Stiller
( The Review... )

Zoolander (2001)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Milla Jovovich, Jerry Stiller, David Duchovny, Jon Voight

Directed by: Ben Stiller
( The review, originally posted on June 26, 2005... )

That's right, RECORD collection, AKA vinyl, AKA those big old black round things your parents listened to music, AKA the hipster music accessory for the new millennium. I started to collect vinyl a few years back, for no good reason other than to do it. Sure, aficionados will tell you that music sounds better on vinyl, and talk about audio waves and digital loss or whatever, but I can't really say that's true given that my record player isn't exactly hi-fi.

Instead, I collect records because I like them. I like owning things, but the digital revolution has made that less and less necessary. I download music all the time, so this isn't some luddite reactionary thing. But in an era when owning music means having something on your hard drive, I guess going back to a clunky, classic format is a way of separating myself from the herd. Any idiot with a decent internet connection can avail themselves of almost any album (and I usually do), so I guess listening to records is my way of showing that I'm more of a fan of music than them. Or maybe I just think it's cool.

I'm posting my collection here for the usual stupid reasons: to show off my collection (even though I suspect no one cares), to have a digital copy of my collection should something happen (you know, like theft or fire), so I can remember what I have when I'm away from my house (possibly on my way to buy more records on a lunch break), and for the off chance anyone reading this is thinking of buying me a record, they can consult this list to avoid duplication (look for a link to this post on the sidebar of my blog). And, you know, the whole point of being an obsessive collector is to obsess. So feel free to peruse, critique, discuss, blahblahblah.
( Record Collection A-M )

Joy Division (2007)

Starring: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Annik Honoré, Ian Curtis [archival footage]

Directed by: Grant Gee
( The review... )

This is a list exercise that has made the blog rounds of late. I discovered it via Steve Hyden of the AV Club Blog, who in turn picked it up from Idolator. The premise is simple: list your favourite album for every year you've been alive.

There's a couple different ways to go about this, with the most obvious being choosing what your favourite album from a given year is now, but a different way would be to try and recollect what your favourite album was then (at least for years where you were old enough to have an opinion). I'm choosing the favourite album now way to go, since I think it's more interesting posting opinions I can defend now, as opposed to ones where I can just say "what do you want from me; I was a kid". That said, in years where I didn't have a strong favourite, or needed a tiebreaker, I chose albums that defined the year for me at the time.

So here's the list, with some thoughts about how it all shaped up to follow:
( Yep, 1977. I'm that old... )

The Dark Knight (2008)

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Eric Roberts

Directed By: Christopher Nolan
( The Review... )

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Starring: Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach, Abe Vigoda, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Bob Hastings, Robert Costanzo, Mark Hamill

Directed By: Boyd Kirkland
( What rot, sir! Why you're the very model of sanity. Oh by the way, I pressed your tights and put away your exploding gas balls. )

Batman (1989)

Starring: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Bassinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance

Directed By: Tim Burton
( The Review, originally posted on June 18, 2005... )

Hellboy (2004)

Starring: Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans, Karel Roden, Jeffrey Tambor, Doug Jones, David Hyde Pierce

Directed By: Guillermo del Toro
( The Review, originally posted July 24, 2005... )

WALL-E (2008)

Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Fred Willard, Jeff Garlin, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy

Directed by: Andrew Stanton
( The review... )

Darfur Now (2007)

Starring: Don Cheadle, Adam Sterling, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Hejewa Adam, Sheikh Ahmed Mohamad Abakar, Pablo Recalde, George Clooney

Directed by: Ted Braun
( The review... )

A Bug's Life (1998)

Starring: Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hayden Panettiere, Phyllis Diller, Richard Kind, David Hyde Pierce

Directed by: John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton
( The review, originally posted on April 12, 2005... )

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons

Directed by: Sam Raimi
( The new review... )

Wanted (2008)

Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common, David O'Hara, Chris Pratt

Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
( The Review... )

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell, William Hurt

Directed by: Louis Leterrier
( The Review... )

This is pretty cool. Head on over to Yahoo here (http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thespirit_flash.html) to see teaser posters for Frank Miller's new movie The Spirit. Make sure your speakers are on, then hover over the poster with your mouse to hear them speak.

Yep, talking posters. The future is here. (Also, kind of hard to believe that it's taken this long for this to happen on the internet).

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Mimi Rogers, Robert Wagner, Michael York, Mindy Sterling, Seth Green, Will Ferrell

Directed By: Jay Roach
( The review, originally posted July 14, 2005... )


Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe, Seth Green

Directed By: Jay Roach
( The review, originally posted on September 22, 2005... )

The internets stole my idea! I wrote my re-review of Fantastic Four over the weekend, posting it to Blogcritics magazine on Monday: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/06/16/162336.php

Then today (when I posted it here an hour ago), I click on an article on Cracked, 6 Great Action Heroes (Who Should Be Convicted of Murder), and what comes up? The muthafuckin Fantastic Four and all the ways in that movie that they put human lives at jeopardy through their gross incompetence.

Cracked: "Literally every single problem in this entire movie can be traced directly to the Fantastic Four's general incompetence. Don't believe us? Just take the scene when the Thing, in a bold act of heroism, saves a man from being hit by a car by causing a massive car accident that almost certainly killed the driver, and killed him in a way that his widow will never be able to adequately explain."

Me: "All the crashes, mayhem, and millions of dollars in property damages happens because The Thing decides to hang out on the Brooklyn Bridge, and scares a guy into traffic. Vehicles start crashing, bridge supports start snapping, and firefighters are put into mortal danger due to the panic created by the hero, meaning that the Fantastic Four's big heroic introduction is basically them cleaning up their own mess."

Now, I'm not claiming any shenanigans on their part. For all I know, this piece was written a week ago too, and I'm pretty confident that the author never, ever saw my post. Just a really weird coincidence that I wanted to point out, mostly so none of you think I ripped the idea off of them.

Fantastic Four (Extended Edition) (2005)

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington

Directed by: Tim Story
( The Review... )

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - A Classic Album Under Review (2008)

Starring: Stephen Street, Craig Gannon, Johnny Rogan, Len Browne, Steven Logan, Brett Anderson, Gavin Hopps, Douglas Noble, Grant Showbiz, Tony Wilson, Morrissey [archival footage], Johnny Marr [archival footage], Thomas Arnold [narrator]
( The review... )

Hulk (2003)

Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte

Directed By: Ang Lee
( The review, originally posted on February 5, 2005... )