10) King of New York – Good movie. I like Christopher Walken.

9) Snatch – Some of Brad Pitt’s finer work. Couldn’t really understand a word he said, but it was still a good performance.

The real Serpico and Pacino as Serpico

8) Serpico – If you’re thinking this one doesn’t fit the category you’re wrong. Wearing a badge doesn’t stop you from being a criminal. This is a great movie, especially because Frank Serpico’s story is a true one.

7) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – Dangerous criminals + stupid criminals may be a recipe for disaster, but it makes for a good movie.

6) Pulp Fiction - All-star cast and a plot with lots of twists and turns. I’ve seen this dozens of times and I can still find little things that I’ve never noticed before.

5) The Untouchables – Kevin Costner and Sean Connery are awesome in this movie. It’s a great depiction of the mafia during the mafias hay-day - back when everyone owned a Tommy gun.

4) Donnie Brasco – Most movies where an undercover agent infiltrates the mob is full of suspense – this one takes the cake. Its funny with this film how you start to feel bad for the “bad guy” and begin to dislike the “good guy”.

3) Casino – Very brutal movie that shows how organized crime expanded from New York and Chicago to Las Vegas. Love everything about the movie except the part that takes place in the corn field – I don’t think I’ve watched that entire scene with my eyes open, ever.

2) The Departed – In my opinion, this is a modern classic. It’s one of those movies where the good guys are bad, the bad guys are good, and as for everyone in between, you really don’t know where they stand. It’s a shame that Scorsese had to wait so long for an Oscar, but I think he definitely deserved it for this movie.

1) Goodfellas – Hands down my favorite organized crime movie of all time. I think it’s just about perfect. It has an excellent cast and tells an excellent story, from beginning to end. You really get to know and like the characters, especially since you are first introduced to them when they are children. Plus, any movie that can make Layla feel so creepy gets a lot of cred in my book:

Honorable Mentions: Once Upon a Time in America, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, State of Grace, Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag, Made, Blow, Scarface… oh, and those Godfather. I’m only mentioning the Godfather movies because without them, the movies on my list may have never been made. I just don’t love the Godfather movies like everyone else does. I’ll probably wake up in the morning with a picture of a horse head in my inbox for saying that, but I’m just being honest.

Comments are welcome!

- Krissy

ODB realizes that Kelis probably still does have his money.

Most would probably agree that Kelis is best known for being the girl whose milkshake is, in fact, better than yours. But with her greatest hits collection recently released in the UK, it seems a good time to reminisce about Kelis’ earlier work. You see, long before she was bringin all the boys to the yard, the R&B stylist was providing the refrain for Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Got Your Money.” Many got their first look at the future star in the song’s video, a blaxploitation-laced classic of pimp decadence.

Warning: NSFW

And while we’re on the subject, it’s well worth noting that “Got Your Money” has made a recent reappearance with a cover by Say Anything on the Punk Goes Crunk compilation. This one gives Dynamite Hack’s version of “Boyz in the Hood” a good run for its money in the competition for best awkward white boy rap cover. You always knew the late great king of Shimmy Shimmy Ya had some off the wall lyrics, but you never knew how great it could be til somebody enunciated them.

- Amirah

I just spent the past two hours scouring the internet for an album to download. Not because I’m too cheap to buy it, not because I don’t care about supporting the artist – because the album hasn’t actually been released yet. And the fact that my time spent searching certain sites that may or may not contain the words “rapid” and “share” has thus far yielded no results is not making me a happy girl. Seriously, how dare they keep this album under such tight lock and key that I can’t even find it a week before it hits stores? Who do these people think they are?

Let’s rewind for a minute. All the way back to 1995. October 3, 1995, to be exact. I was sitting in social studies class, supposedly learning about the Civil War, but actually counting down the hours until I could get the hell out of school for the day. Because you better believe I had already made 100% certain that my mom could give me a ride to the local record store to pick up the just released “What’s the Story Morning Glory.” Cause like-oh-my-god-Oasis-is-totally-the-best-band-ever!!! A huge fan of the band’s previous album, this then 14-year-old budding Britpop enthusiast was being driven crazy with anticipation; I’d had the date of the new album’s release circled in my school calendar for weeks. There may have even been a few hearts drawn around it.

It’s a feeling that I miss. Whenever there’s talk of the evils of file sharing, seldom brought up is the fact that easy access to leaked albums has destroyed the concept of looking forward to anything. There’s almost no such thing as “release dates” anymore – there’s just whatever date somebody puts it up on the internet. It’s not something that I expect will go away, nor do I think anyone should step in to try to control such things. It’s just one of those things that you accept because, well, times change. Personally, I am well aware that my behavior will remain the same – if I know an album I want is readily available online prior to its actual release, I’m going to go find it. But sometimes I’m nostalgic for the time when that wasn’t an option, when you actually had to count down the days until you could hear your new favorite CD.

So, anyway, let me get back to searching for that album. Somebody’s probably got it up somewhere. But you know what? I kinda hope I don’t find it.

- Amirah

…and may have gotten away with it.

I for one am a long time Nintendo fan. Like many, I can vividly remember my days as a youth spent mashing buttons on the old cabbage green-screened Game Boy, and like very few, I actually remember playing a Virtual Boy.

Gone are the wonderful days of my and Nintendo’s youth. And with the release of Super Smash Bros Brawl last month, I can only imagine what journey the company will take me on next. Until I actually sat down and thought about it.

Super Smash Bros Brawl is an amazing addition to the Smash franchise (just a trilogy for now but even Lucas said that about Star Wars…). Depth is abundant with this release, as I can spend just as much time playing anonymous foes from across the country as I can designing and testing my own level. And the plethora of match/item/rule combo’s are more then enough to keep the entertainment fresh for hours on end.

But the one thing I, and many other gamers alike, have been the most excited for, is exactly where Nintendo let us down. The online play.

Sure it’s all well and good that I can at the press of a button play some backwoods small town kid who has never even seen anything beyond his trailer and local Wal-Mart, but the pain in the ass-ness of the “Friends List” and the inability to create a match and invite your friends on your own is a big disappointment. I am quite far from a game programmer, but I’m sure it’s not that hard to create a system that displays the various match rooms, and who’s playing in them, and whatever other information the online player may deem necessary. EA can seem to pull it off pretty easily without sacrifice to the depth and playability of their games, why can’t such a gaming Mecca like Nintendo?

Not only would a match room based system be easier to navigate and see who you’re playing against, it would also alleviate the constant “server trouble” that Nintendo and it’s fans experience when everyone and their Grandmother attempt to get online. I liken this whole experience to a Big Mac meal at McDonalds.

We ordered a #1, but Nintendo forgot to give us our fries, didn’t put cheese on the burger, and gave us Diet Coke when we clearly ordered Coke.

Thomas K. Hooker

From November 1999 to November 2007 I worked for a Baltimore based chain of independent music stores. I started as seasonal help in ’99 making a mere $5.25 / hour when I was just 18. From there I quickly moved on to Key Holder, Asst. Manager, Store Manager, and Manager in Charge of Training. I worked in all 11 locations: doing inventory, re-merchandising, and general cleanup. My point is: I know the ins and the outs of running and working in an indie music store. Here are the stereotypes that I hate that were associated with my previous job:

10. I smoke pot like, uh, all the time. Not that I think it makes a difference to you if I do or don’t, but it did to me – under some circumstances… like with the police. Try calling the cops when someone steals a bunch of shit from your store and have them take you seriously… and not harass you. You can accuse me of a lot of things and you’d probably be right. But for the record, I don’t smoke pot.

9. High Fidelity is the Best Movie - EVER. Guess what? I’ve seen it a couple of times. I hated it, and I’m sorry. Although completely inaccurate I did like Empire Records. I would have had that little thieving bastard from that movie arrested (if the cops even came when I called them) – I wouldn’t have hired him.

8. People think that you just hang out and listen to music all day. I wish that were true but its not. There is actually a LOT of hard work involved in working in and managing a music store. The general public (and their heathen offspring) likes to fuck up your store – especially on the first of the month. It takes a lot of effort to maintain order in a store that is supposed to be kept in alphabetical order! It’s very hard to convey this realism to applicants – they also think that we just hang out and listen to music. If they are totally into My Chemical Romance, but can’t spell their name, they still believe that they are prime candidates for employment.

7. I Bet you’ve never even heard of Buffalo Springfield!

Buffalo who?

Guess what? I have. I might be a young white girl, but I know what I know. I also knew that when people asked for “that the bullet hits the bone song” they are asking for Golden Earring – Twilight Zone. It’s not called “when the bullet hits the bone”, but it’s the song they were asking about. And when people asked for “that heaven sent you song” by Marvin Gaye, I knew it was Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - Your Precious Love, even though I’m not old and I’m white. If you ask me a question about your favorite song, you obviously have no clue what you are asking about: let me at least try to prove to you what I know. These are also the people who used to tease about “I bet you’ve never even seen a real 33 & 1/3 record before!” when there are 30,000 of them in the store.

6. So what kind of discount do I get? Ok. If you charged me $5.00 for a $12.00 pizza or removed all of my late fees for a video I hadn’t returned on time, thank you, but that’s on you. Indie store or not, we never operated on a barter system. I never jeopardized my job for cheap food or movie rentals. (more…)