Shrek 2

Just as good as the first, if not better.

Van Helsing

Exciting, enjoyable horror romp through the world of Universal Monsters, with Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckensale thrown in for good measure. I really liked it. Saw it originally on May 7, 2004. Then I saw it a second time in New York City on May 13th before seeing Yes at Madison Square Garden!

Survivor: All-Stars Winner!

And, the sole survivor in Survivor: All-Stars is...Amber Brkich! As predicted last week, Amber and Boston Rob made it to the final two and Amber beat out Rob by one vote to win the bucks. However, in my opinion, the person most deserving to win is Boston Rob Mariano, who played this game to win. Another great season of Survivor draws to a close. Can't wait for the next one.

The Pixies On Tour

The Pixies are on tour. Those of you who are fans of the band know why this is a momentous statement. The Pixies haven't been on tour since 1992, right before they broke up in 1993. 11 years later, all original band members, Frank Black (back then known as Black Francis), Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, are together and performing. It's amazing to see this happening, especially when you consider how the end of the band went down. Read about the history of The Pixies here. From Entertainment Weekly to various fan sites, people are raving about the current tour and stating that it's almost as if the band had never broken up. The band is on tour in Europe now and will be coming back to the states for some Lolapalooza dates and a US tour during the Fall. I never had a chance to see them back when I was originally a fan in the late '80's/early '90's. I won't be missing my chance again.

Beastie Boys

Undoubtedly, one of this summer's most important events in popular music will be the long-awaited return of the Beastie Boys. It's hard to believe that their last album was the (mostly) excellent Hello Nasty in July 1998, which is just about 6 years ago and three years before the events of September 11, 2001. The Beasties will have plenty to say about how their beloved New York City was affected by this climactic event on their new album To The 5 Boroughs, due for release on June 15th. There is already a wealth of stuff up on the Beastie Boys website, including a video for their lead-off single, Ch-Check It Out. They are still the most mackinest...if you like the Beastie Boys, you are gonna love this. Also, when you are at the site, be sure to search around the Flash panorama of NYC for the link to a 13-minute-long interview with the band. Not to be missed. On a related note, if you love the Beasties' album Paul's Boutique as much as I do, check out this site. As you probably know, a lot of the fun of the album is the incredible amount of sampling that's on there. This site focuses on an exhaustive listing of all of the samples on the album, explaining the source and importance of each one! Wow!

Survivor

Survivor. Who the hell cares about the last Friends episode; the final regular episode of Survivor was the thing to watch tonight. It's now down to the final four: Boston Rob, Amber, Rupert and Jenna. Big Tom was voted off and is still trying to pull the knife out of his back. Did you see the look that Big Tom gave Boston Rob as he was leaving? I'll say it again...if Rob gets to the final two, there are so many jurors waiting to see that he doesn't get the million that it will be the other person that wins. Will it be Amber? We'll see on Sunday night!

Johnny Cash RIP

One of my favorite performers, Johnny Cash, died last year. Here is a tribute to Cash that I really like: Desperado. This site was featured in this week's Entertainment Weekly magazine (#764 - May 7, 2004 - Pg. 55).