Trainspotting is the movie that introduced me to independent and foreign cinema, not to mention the amazing music of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. And, of course, two of my most persistent celebrity lovers, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewan McGregor.

It was my favorite movie in high school, because it made me feel somehow cooler by association. Now I can appreciate it with a little more nuance, but that doesn’t take away from its intense cool and the nostalgia it inspires within me.

Ewan McGregor plays Scottish heroin addict and general ne’er do well Renton in the film, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name. In the face of his addiction and the destructive relationships he forms with his similarly worthless friends, Renton decides to Choose Life after an almost fatal overdose and a series of horrible misfortunes that befall his friends.

The movie shows the ill effects of drug use without ever letting the film become overly maudlin. It is a hyper-realized world that Renton and his friends live in, and director Danny Boyle (who has gone on to make 28 Days Later and A Life Less Ordinary) negotiates this with a really innovative visual style that reflects the frenzy of addiction juxtaposed with the banality of everyday life. Read More »

Spinner.com came out with their Top 21 Hardest Partiers of Rock recently. We are HUGE fans of Spinner and usually they are right on point. My mom told me that every good relationship has its ups and downs, and Spinner and I are having a lovers’ spat right now.

Here are Spinner’s Top 5 mistakes:

5. Stevie Nicks is a harder partier than all of Van Halen? Wow…Stevie Nicks couldn’t hold David Lee Roth’s sweaty, vodka-stained jockstrap. Van Halen – even just David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen – drank, smoked, snorted and screwed their way across the country and out of millions in possible tour revenues by being f-d up to perform.

But you know what…OK, maybe Fleetwood Mac knew how to ball, what do I know?! Even my parents thought Fleetwood Mac were gay.

4. I am a more hardcore partier than Britney Spears. In the financial world, people refer to “old money” and “new money.” Brit-Brit is new money, yet she scored higher on Spinner’s list than Iggy Pop, one of the oldest money Legends of Rock.

Iggy has been hammered and high since before Britney was conceived in her mom’s broken down Ford. Mr. Pop has been in and out of rehab more times than Brit has worn a thong. She’s a slave to attention, not partying hard.

Read the rest of the story and see  who made the list after the jump. Read More »