Green Day — 21st Century Breakdown
CD | MP3
Producer: Butch Vig
Reprise Records
Released May 15, 2009

Five years after the release of American Idiot, Green Day returns with its latest studio album, 21st Century Breakdown.

2004 marked a huge change for Green Day. Four years after their last album, Warning, Billy Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool emerged a different band: black hair-dyed, eye-linered, and tie wearing. This new Green Day put down their bongs, took their hands out of their pants, and sung about politics. This met with a mixed reaction. They lost fans who thought they had sold out with their emo traits. They faced some curious older fans who weren’t sure if they approved or not and most interestingly, they welcomed a new, younger fanbase. I admired Green Day for having the guts to try something so different, even though I was not a fan of American Idiot. My main problem with the album was I felt they had lost their energy which was a major facet of their sound. I know album opener “American Idiot” has pace but I felt it had no soul, I felt the agenda got in the way.

21st Century Breakdown however combines the energy and philosophy with good effect. It is split in to three acts to create a kind of rock opera: Act 1 is entitled ‘Heroes And Cons’ and encompasses tracks 2-7 (the crackly Billy Joe lullaby intro not included); Act 2, tracks 8-13, is called ‘Charlatans and Saints’; and Act 3, tracks 14-18, ‘Horseshoes and Handgrenades’.

My Name Is Bruce
Directed by Bruce Campbell
Starring Bruce Campbell, Taylor Sharpe, Ted Raimi
Image Entertainment
Available now

When you’re having as bad a week as I am a good movie can be like comfort food. It warms you up and lifts your spirits. When the movie ends you’re full of joy from being entertained and are ready to pick yourself up and get on with your life. Back in February I went through a bad break-up with my girlfriend Suzette. Since then things have cooled and she and I remain on good terms, but at the time I was devastated. I had the unconditional love and support of all my friends but I still needed a little more cheering up. Who better to cheer me up than the greatest of all B-movie actors, an icon and a living legend who even when it came to starring in loathsome direct-to-video schlock always looked and acted like he was having the time of his life? He is the man, the myth, the chin….Bruce Motherfucking Campbell!

This god among men is one of the truest honest-to-L. Ron Hubbard movie stars we have working these days. From the original The Evil Dead to the wonderfully heartfelt comic fantasy Bubba Ho-Tep, Bruce Campbell has built up a unique filmography with more than a few solid gold cult classics, a few too many turgid D-grade sci-fi and horror flicks, a handful of short-lived television series (I miss Jack of All Trades), and the occasional small (and instantly forgotten) part in a major Hollywood movie to pay the bills.

So, your guy Saturday JackBauerstein went to Day 1 of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival in New York City yesterday and let me tell you, the event was pretty amazing.

Now for this year’s event, MoCCA had a location change. Once stationed at the Puck Building, the event had grown too big and just too awesome to be contained in such a small space. Enter: The 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. This massive building would be perfect for such a large gathering of indie comic fans and as usual, I had to be front center, smack-dab in the middle of the event.

I arrived at the location 20 minutes before the event was about to begin and already there was a line in front of me.

The Muppet Show #3
Written and drawn by Roger Landridge
Boom Studios
Release date: June 3, 2009

When news came down the pipe that Boom! Studios was creating a line of child-friendly comics off some licensed properties, I was pretty surprised. I mean, it is tough enough for a smaller publisher to publish non superhero-centric books in this current market, let alone comics geared towards kids. It has the terms “no good deed goes unpunished” and “shoot yourself in the foot” written all over it. But, leave it to the crafty publisher to bring out several quality properties that not only have massive kids appeal, but also mainstream appeal such as The Muppet Show.

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzy, and the rest of the Muppets are back in comic form once again. Following the pattern of the original variety show, readers are treated with an actual Muppet Show as seen on TV, filled with musical numbers, skits, and backstage shenanigans that you come to know and love. While the show is in session, readers are given a main story to follow that spotlights one member of the Muppet clan. So with any given issue, the focus is on a different Muppet and their story.

My Bloody Valentine 3D
Directed by Patrick Lussier
Starring Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Kerr Smith
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 19, 2009

Watching My Bloody Valentine 3-D on the big screen back in January was a watershed moment in my movie going life. Never before have I seen a movie break from its celluloid constraints and literally get in my face. Having been an admirer of the original 1981 My Bloody Valentine I was also interested in what a remake could do to top the first one’s story and gore/violence content, especially in the wake of the release of the uncut original on DVD. I’m pleased to say My Bloody Valentine 3-D takes everything that made the original a standout among the early 1980’s assault of turgid Dead Teenager flicks and amps it up to the Nth degree. Best of all, it’s in fucking 3-D! Grab your pickaxe and let’s have some fun.

The town of Harmony lives and dies based on the success of the Hanniger Mines. The owner of the mines employs his cocksure son Tom (Jensen Ackles) to the dismay of the working stiffs who don’t have it that easy. One night Tom is derelict in his duties and a methane explosion causes a cave-in sealing several men inside. A rescue crew finds only one survivor, Harry Warden (Rich Walters), in a coma. It turns out Harry managed to survive by driving a pickaxe into the heads of his fellow trapped miners in order to conserve air. After one year Harry comes out of his coma and goes on a gruesome killing spree climaxing at the mines where it all began. While the youth of Harmony are having a party in the mines, Harry returns in his miner’s uniform with mass murder on his mind. Before he can claim the life of Tom, the one he blames for his current predicament, Harry is shot by town sheriff Burke (Tom Atkins!) and flees into the tunnel where another explosion causes a cave-in and Harry Warden is assumed dead. Or is he?