Black Dogs

Everybody has at least one friend that disappears for a few days, and when they come home, they have a ridiculous story to tell about their whereabouts. Usually the story is so epically exaggerated it is hard to believe that it actually happened, and you are not entirely convinced that it did. Black Dogs by Jason Buhrmester is a story that whether it is true or not, is extremely entertaining. Crack open a can of beer and put on your favorite Sabbath album, this book will hook you like a drug. The story is about a group of troubled teenagers trying to make money by doing illegal scams while living a rock and roll lifestyle. Their main goal is to rob their most hated band Led Zeppelin, while they are on tour in the United States. Once you find this out, you realize that you are in for a ride. Buhrmester creates a real rock and roll feel to these characters lifestyles, complete with booze, women and vinyl. The book starts off easy, the boys get drunk and rob houses of the girls that they are hooking up with. You never for a second think about them being terrible people, you only tap your finders anxiously waiting for them to just get out of the house while they still can! The story slowly leads you into the big plan. Led Zeppelin refuses to be paid by check after a concert, only cash. The boys’ plan is to take the cash after the concert before it can be put in a bank. To be able to get near that cash they have to steal a guitar in order to be able to get close to jimmy page. A 58’ Les Paul is a rare guitar that only 700 were made, a collectors item that jimmy page is willing to buy off of the boys. While their shenanigans unfold they get deeply tangled in a mess with motorcycle gangs and other robbers. The gang members want to kill them because they have accidentally stolen a safe while they were stealing the guitar. The contents of the safe are unknown but the gang members are willing to kill in order to get the safe back, and the person who has the unopened safe is holding it at ransom. These characters have so much luck, good and bad, the good when they find a way out of their messes, and bad luck when getting out of one thing gets them even more tangled in the situations that they have gotten themselves into. Even though breaking the law is wrong, you root for the robbers and anxiously await the outcomes of their adventures. You befriend the characters and what to be at the parties with them in ashtray smelling houses listening to rock getting wasted. You don’t even think twice that they could potentially be dangerous robbers, but you know that they are just really awesome dudes with long hair and beer stained tee shirts. You also don’t think twice about the danger that they get themselves into because they are so cunning that you as a reader know that they can get themselves out of the messes that they have created. They get in so many situations that are hard to get out of, many twists and turns a long the way make the story seem as though it is never going to end. The boys just get deeper and deeper into trouble. This book is so hard to handle but once you find your bad boy side of your personality, it is hard to put the book down. There are so many parts in this book where you will laugh, want to take a drink and just listen to some Black Sabbath. There is crude language, sexual references, drugs, breaking the law, and rock and roll. Perfect story if you want to feel like a badass for the night, only the night because you will finish this book in one sitting. Everybody says they should write a book about the best story they have, even if the story may or may not be true. This story was one of the only ones that is worthy of being a book. This story will grab you and you will not stop reading until it is over.

The Artist

The Artist is a unique film in terms of societies view of what normal movies are these days. Director Michel Hazanavicius created a film where the actors play their characters without using voice as a medium, otherwise known as a silent film. The movie takes place in the late 20’s and early 30”s. The set is spectacular, It really makes you believe that this film has been collecting dust on a shelf for the past 80 years.  The clothing, hairstyles, mustaches and even down to the props are all perfectly dated. Even the tap moves that are performed, such as the Shim Sham Shimmy (the most popular tap dance in the early 30’s ) were historically correct. However the aspect that makes this movie so realistic is the old school font that is used on the blank shots with words written on them to move the story along. There are arguably 3 main characters in the film, George Valentin played by Jean Dujardin, whose character is a famous silent movie actor that looses his fame when hollywoodland starts producing voice movies. And there is Peppy Miller played by Berenice Bejo, who is a cute young lady who is trying everything she can to be an actress. Her Dresses in this film are stunning. Low wasted, sequined, fringed flapper dresses that look exactly like designer ones from the 20’s that can be found on EBay. If anybody deserves an award for this film, everybody in wardrobe deserves props for the magic they created on the screen. Even though The Artist is a black and white film, its hard not to watch this movie and see it in color. The costumes are so dazzling that colors are forced into the imagination. Both Dujardin and Bejo are what every actor should strive to be, since there is no talking in the film these actors have to literally make the audience believe their story by pantomime. Yes this means a little bit of over exaggeration through expressions, but Dujardin and Bejo know how to push their acting to such a great extent, and not go overboard to make their emotions comedic. Where the director gets really clever, is making the dog the third main character. The idea of silence being a barrier is a large concept in this film, and Hazanavicius breaks this barrier using an animal as a character. Since animals do not speak to begin with it was simple to make the animal a main role. When thinking of a silent movie being made in 2012 it sounds like it would be a novelty, However The Artist couldn’t be any further away from that idea.