MUSIC:
Pill's new mixtape is bursting at the seams with talent. He touches on some great beats (he really tears it up with one of my favorite backing tracks, the one from "I Got 5 On It") and he kicks some really strong verses. This is one of my weekly albums, so I'll be listening to it more and have a more thorough write-up a week from tomorrow.
I'm a few days late to the game on this one, but the Free Yr Radio compilation on Insound has a few nice treats wrapped in a feel-good charity cause. Naturally, Dan Deacon's bit is hella fun and frantic, and as Pitchfork noted, it's worth the price of admission just to access some new No Age.
With news of a freeloadin' remix of Q-Tip's rad "Renaissance," I was just looking forward to hearing Q-Tip on my 2009 shuffled playlist; it was just a bonus (albeit a fantastic one) that the guest verses are top-notch. Also worth your bandwidth, they're freeloading a painfully gorgeous cover via CFCF, a few good tracks from Busy Signal, and an incredible track by Francis and the Lights.
You'll want to listen to them in that order, because finally, Discodust has updated with a truly rad track, (plus blog drama! Read those fiery comments!) and Francis and the Lights funnels peculiarly well into their Moon Unit MP3.
Kanye's blog has yet another N.A.S.A. track. At this rate, I'll have the whole album before it drops. Verdict: throw this one in the "love it" pile.
Pitchfork summed up the YACHT drama.
FILM:
Year One looks like a lot of fun, as does Up, and Super Bowl exposure will likely hurt neither. GI Joe looks like crap though.
Black Freighter stills! And... uh... they don't look legit. I can't overstate how upset I am.
Movies the IFC blog makes me really want to see:
The Missing Person
The Class
And, especially, Medicine for Melancholy
Movies I want to see despite what IFC's aggregate reviews had to say:
Still want to see The Carter, despite the countless critics who are using it as a platform to suggest that Weezy is a fad.
Want to see Adam, because I tend to go the complete opposite of anything the AV Club has to say.
WEIRD:
This detail-hunt gets excruciating, but it's a cool use of youtube.
WORLD:
Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay legislation.
A massive strike is underway in France.
At a panel discussion with Israeli president Shimon Peres, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked off the stage in fury. BBC News tracks some of the fallout, and googling has brought me to the thorough coverage from Taiwan News.
EDITORIAL:
I used to belong completely to the "live in the moment" camp. Throughout high school, I dreamed of getting to college, when I would (theoretically) be able to just live for the day instead of constructing futures doomed not to pass. After all, I'd mention, John Lennon said it himself: "Life is what happens while you're making other plans."
Truth be told, I don't think I was listening to Lennon the right way, because living only for the moment sucks.
I'm not saying you shouldn't seize the day, because you should, and I'm not saying you should assume your dreams will go off without a hitch, because they won't, but it's crucial to have some sort of future plan.
See, when you don't have any idea of where to go next, life becomes peculiarly fatalistic. Since you're not really counting on being anywhere or doing anything in five years, or even five days, you have this feeling that the moment you're in is the end all be all. That's cool enough when the moment is staring into beautiful eyes or dancing in a field, but what about waking up with a throbbing headache or being bored on the couch? Simply put, much like any relationship, The Moment loses its glamour as soon as you start living for it.
For the first few months of college, I tried - really, really tried - to live for the moment. Sometimes it was fun, but I missed dreaming and planning, and I missed the results of a great and well-conceived plan. I really can't stress how much I missed the results: I'd wake up and realize I was out of food, I'd come home to a filthy room, I'd be frantically cranking out an essay that, given time to think, could have been special. I hate to overdose on t-shirt ready catch phrases, but living for today ends up sucking tomorrow.
Now, I honestly enjoy planning. I'm planning for an apartment, for a career, for who I want to be in ten years. Maybe all of that will work, and maybe it won't. But while there's still truth to Lennon's assertion, I'll turn instead to another quote, one from my favorite film of 2008: "You gotta give 'em hope."
PERSONAL:
Los Campesinos! last night at the Parish was one of my favorite shows ever, and a great way to start the year in shows. Openers Titus Andronicus were thoroughly invigorating, and Los Campesinos! were incredible. Oh, and there was crowd surfing. A lot of crowd surfing. Gareth (frontman of Los Campesinos!) even descended into the audience, grasped my friend Jara by the head, and sang to him, on Jara's favorite song no less. (Picture pending) They were all great guys, as was Howard, the down-on-his-luck man we met at the bus stop.
The downside is, after such an energetic and late night, I am feeling well under the weather, hoping it's just exhaustion and not a cold. I skipped album day today for the sake of staying home, napping, and recovering. Oh, and I skipped an incredible concert tonight that... I don't even want to name the band. But I knew I needed to rest.
Side Note: How the hell did "Blame It" grow on me so much?
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 170
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, a little bit confrontational.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Explanation
Friday post was canceled for two reasons. First, I went to a Los Campesinos show at the Parish and it blew my mind... plus kept me out of my dorm until 3:00 AM. Second, reading through the music/news blogs, there wasn't enough to really fill a post... slow news day. So I'll be combining the Friday post and the Saturday editorial this evening.
See you then.
See you then.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
January 29th, 2009
Jesus! Slowest news day all year so far!
MUSIC:
I was reading today's relatively uninteresting music news, grumbling a bit, when this little beauty came along: new Animal Collective song. And predictably, it's phenomenal.
Besides that, though, today just had the clinically unfunny NME staff.
FILM:
New Tykwer flick that isn't The International! By the way, now that I know Tykwer did The International, it's become a must-see.
That Arrested Development movie is for sure happening.
Hey everybody, no need to worry; Ghost Rider is getting a sequel after all! God, the world can seem pretty broken sometimes.
WEIRD:
I've got nothin'. Sincerely.
WORLD:
As Democracy Now reports, Israel will keep the Gaza border closed until their kidnapped soldier is returned.
Obama's attempts to ease relations with Iran have, thus far, yielded mixed results.
PERSONAL:
Shitty news day it may have been, today was still a good one. Given, it was at least 80% feverish anticipation of the Lost episode I download. But I spent time with friends, crystallized plans, spent time with the homeless, resolved a paycheck issue... not perfect, maybe, but damn near, and the crowning jewel of this Music Week of the Year candidate's mundane school segment.
I mean, when you discover that your dorm's grocer now stocks vegan ice cream, nothing - not even the white powder on your bagel that makes you look like a coke addict - is going to get you down.
Holy shit, Tim Hecker's Sea of Pulses has a bass? Headphones are so rad.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 132
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, rockin' out.
MUSIC:
I was reading today's relatively uninteresting music news, grumbling a bit, when this little beauty came along: new Animal Collective song. And predictably, it's phenomenal.
Besides that, though, today just had the clinically unfunny NME staff.
FILM:
New Tykwer flick that isn't The International! By the way, now that I know Tykwer did The International, it's become a must-see.
That Arrested Development movie is for sure happening.
Hey everybody, no need to worry; Ghost Rider is getting a sequel after all! God, the world can seem pretty broken sometimes.
WEIRD:
I've got nothin'. Sincerely.
WORLD:
As Democracy Now reports, Israel will keep the Gaza border closed until their kidnapped soldier is returned.
Obama's attempts to ease relations with Iran have, thus far, yielded mixed results.
PERSONAL:
Shitty news day it may have been, today was still a good one. Given, it was at least 80% feverish anticipation of the Lost episode I download. But I spent time with friends, crystallized plans, spent time with the homeless, resolved a paycheck issue... not perfect, maybe, but damn near, and the crowning jewel of this Music Week of the Year candidate's mundane school segment.
I mean, when you discover that your dorm's grocer now stocks vegan ice cream, nothing - not even the white powder on your bagel that makes you look like a coke addict - is going to get you down.
Holy shit, Tim Hecker's Sea of Pulses has a bass? Headphones are so rad.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 132
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, rockin' out.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
January 28th, 2009
MUSIC:
Holy sweet Jesus fuck, I really like the Jeremey Jay that Fader is freeloading. If only, y'know, the download actually worked. (Functioning download is here for now) Gonna buy this album for sure though.
Also via Fader, I don't really know what this is, but I know it sounds incredible. Oh, and the Pill freeload is hella rad, so I'll be getting that mixtape when it drops. If it's this quality, I'll be hyping the hell out of this.
The Dark Was the Night compilation already sounds great (Byrne-featuring Dirty Projectors opener "Knotty Pine" is one of my favorite songs of 2009 so far) and now their Myspace, which has been streaming tracks all nice and sequentially, drops a rad-ass Grizzly Bear/Feist delight. Dark and intricate, like it damn well should be.
Pitchfork rallies the indie-rock troops with tales of Billboard success. Also, their free Real Estate MP3 is, well, worth getting excited about. It's good stuff.
Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha, MTV doesn't want to admit that it likes Lil Wayne's leaks! This is so adorable. It's like watching a kid who got into the cookie jar; he's done something very wrong, but he's trying so hard to avoid it that it's almost endearing. Something tells me that upon the release of Rebirth, I'll be weeping and gnashing my teeth while I listen to Tha Carter III and wonder where it all went wrong.
Speaking of Weezy's leaks, new theory: these backing tracks are pretty uninspired/derivative, right? Well, has anybody wondered if... What I mean is... Could Weezy be using Songsmith?
Also on Kanye's blog, a N.A.S.A. track. These are pretty love it or hate it for me. This one? I love it. I feel like this is from some bizarre Parappa sequel starring Ghostface. Is it weird to be namechecking a mid-90s arcade game? Well, compare the production values on this MP3 and that game, then draw your own conclusions on how large my sleep deficit is.
FILM:
Sucker for teacher dramas that I am, I would probably have seen The Class anyway, but Paste's hearty approval makes it all the more exciting. They also endorse Che... I need to see it again, soon, and as one piece. Read some interviews first.
New Watchmen still. This movie definitely has us all by the shorthairs.
WWZ concept art looks gory.
Wolverine reshoot photos have been snagged, if you're really that obsessed with a decent-looking superhero flick.
This article should have gotten me all intrigued about the pilot, but in fact, it just makes me want to see Akira again. Be careful with your mildly unrelated images, /Film!
Ahh, a new Coraline trailer. If things sort out properly, I'll be seeing this at the Lamar Drafthouse premiere.
WEIRD:
The Joaquin Pheonix saga continues. Joaquin, please keep this in mind: just because you know what you're doing is idiotic doesn't make it less idiotic to do.
WORLD:
The House passed its massive stimulus plan.
Israel retaliated to the death of an Israeli soldier today.
Big Business got caught plotting against unions. I strongly suggest skimming the MP3 of the phone call; it's chilling stuff. At the very least, check this list of highlights with corresponding audio clips.
PERSONAL:
The aforementioned sleep deficit is no joke; it's something I'm taking seriously this time around. I've even taken a nap, which, for the record, yielded an absurdly cool movie-dream starring Shia LaBeouf as a blind action hero battling a conspiracy.
Otherwise, I'm just excited for pretty much everything that's coming up. It's a good time!
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 129
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, ready to go into sleep mode.
Holy sweet Jesus fuck, I really like the Jeremey Jay that Fader is freeloading. If only, y'know, the download actually worked. (Functioning download is here for now) Gonna buy this album for sure though.
Also via Fader, I don't really know what this is, but I know it sounds incredible. Oh, and the Pill freeload is hella rad, so I'll be getting that mixtape when it drops. If it's this quality, I'll be hyping the hell out of this.
The Dark Was the Night compilation already sounds great (Byrne-featuring Dirty Projectors opener "Knotty Pine" is one of my favorite songs of 2009 so far) and now their Myspace, which has been streaming tracks all nice and sequentially, drops a rad-ass Grizzly Bear/Feist delight. Dark and intricate, like it damn well should be.
Pitchfork rallies the indie-rock troops with tales of Billboard success. Also, their free Real Estate MP3 is, well, worth getting excited about. It's good stuff.
Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha, MTV doesn't want to admit that it likes Lil Wayne's leaks! This is so adorable. It's like watching a kid who got into the cookie jar; he's done something very wrong, but he's trying so hard to avoid it that it's almost endearing. Something tells me that upon the release of Rebirth, I'll be weeping and gnashing my teeth while I listen to Tha Carter III and wonder where it all went wrong.
Speaking of Weezy's leaks, new theory: these backing tracks are pretty uninspired/derivative, right? Well, has anybody wondered if... What I mean is... Could Weezy be using Songsmith?
Also on Kanye's blog, a N.A.S.A. track. These are pretty love it or hate it for me. This one? I love it. I feel like this is from some bizarre Parappa sequel starring Ghostface. Is it weird to be namechecking a mid-90s arcade game? Well, compare the production values on this MP3 and that game, then draw your own conclusions on how large my sleep deficit is.
FILM:
Sucker for teacher dramas that I am, I would probably have seen The Class anyway, but Paste's hearty approval makes it all the more exciting. They also endorse Che... I need to see it again, soon, and as one piece. Read some interviews first.
New Watchmen still. This movie definitely has us all by the shorthairs.
WWZ concept art looks gory.
Wolverine reshoot photos have been snagged, if you're really that obsessed with a decent-looking superhero flick.
This article should have gotten me all intrigued about the pilot, but in fact, it just makes me want to see Akira again. Be careful with your mildly unrelated images, /Film!
Ahh, a new Coraline trailer. If things sort out properly, I'll be seeing this at the Lamar Drafthouse premiere.
WEIRD:
The Joaquin Pheonix saga continues. Joaquin, please keep this in mind: just because you know what you're doing is idiotic doesn't make it less idiotic to do.
WORLD:
The House passed its massive stimulus plan.
Israel retaliated to the death of an Israeli soldier today.
Big Business got caught plotting against unions. I strongly suggest skimming the MP3 of the phone call; it's chilling stuff. At the very least, check this list of highlights with corresponding audio clips.
PERSONAL:
The aforementioned sleep deficit is no joke; it's something I'm taking seriously this time around. I've even taken a nap, which, for the record, yielded an absurdly cool movie-dream starring Shia LaBeouf as a blind action hero battling a conspiracy.
Otherwise, I'm just excited for pretty much everything that's coming up. It's a good time!
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 129
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, ready to go into sleep mode.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
January 27th, 2009
MUSIC:
Kanye's blog has Bon Iver covering Feist live. I'll be straight with you: it's so cold and shitty everywhere on this globe that you really, really need this warm and snugglable song right now. Fireplace optional.
The last Black Lips single really did nothing for me, but this new one is really pretty good. Maybe a little too throw-backy, but pretty good.
DiS writes up ATP. ...OMG?
New Jay-Z leak! Is it from the new album? I like it enough to hope it is. It sounds like Jigga scoring a teen melodrama from the eighties. Lyrically, it's not his best, but it's still stellar. It's streaming here, but yeah, if you want to download it, you guys can find it.
The producers behind Weezy's new single felt pretty much exactly the same as we did. Okay, comment here: Is Weezy versatile enough to pull off something like this? Yes. Tha Carter III was the most diverse album (well, most diverse good album) of 2008. But this isn't rock. This is pop-punk-emo, and nobody makes pop-punk-emo good. And even if he could, if this track is any indication, he isn't.
Even though Hussle samples Kris Kross, watching the video, he sounds oddly fresh.
Also on Fader, Gun Outfit has a concise and old-school indie rock track bein' freeloaded. If you don't have time to listen to it, you are in too much of a hurry.
FILM:
The Sci Fi Wire has a reasonable look at TDK's snub.
/Film has got me all excited over Mr. Nobody. Props to the film for abiding by the Leto rule. (In every Leto role, something terrible happens to him. Here, he is the only person who will ever die. Rule: satisfied. Cinema is hungry for Jared Leto's blood!) Oh, and The Damned United looks good.
If you make the same joke for three films, doesn't it stop being funny? God I hope I am wrong about this.
IFC's Indie Eye writes up the Weezy doc.
WEIRD:
You know what needs to be a musical? Michael Jackson's Thriller.
WORLD:
Our new envoy to the U.N. sounds, well, really great.
A U.N. hospital in Sri Lanka was shelled, killing many U.N. workers.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed by a Palestinian bomb on the border.
PERSONAL:
Today was really, really cold. Also, wet and muggy. It was a good day to own a hoodie, 'sall I'm saying. Also, I was exhausted enough to take a nap, which yielded a weird-ass dream about Shia LaBeouf in a conspiracy theory movie.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 123
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, worried for the first time about underheating.
Kanye's blog has Bon Iver covering Feist live. I'll be straight with you: it's so cold and shitty everywhere on this globe that you really, really need this warm and snugglable song right now. Fireplace optional.
The last Black Lips single really did nothing for me, but this new one is really pretty good. Maybe a little too throw-backy, but pretty good.
DiS writes up ATP. ...OMG?
New Jay-Z leak! Is it from the new album? I like it enough to hope it is. It sounds like Jigga scoring a teen melodrama from the eighties. Lyrically, it's not his best, but it's still stellar. It's streaming here, but yeah, if you want to download it, you guys can find it.
The producers behind Weezy's new single felt pretty much exactly the same as we did. Okay, comment here: Is Weezy versatile enough to pull off something like this? Yes. Tha Carter III was the most diverse album (well, most diverse good album) of 2008. But this isn't rock. This is pop-punk-emo, and nobody makes pop-punk-emo good. And even if he could, if this track is any indication, he isn't.
Even though Hussle samples Kris Kross, watching the video, he sounds oddly fresh.
Also on Fader, Gun Outfit has a concise and old-school indie rock track bein' freeloaded. If you don't have time to listen to it, you are in too much of a hurry.
FILM:
The Sci Fi Wire has a reasonable look at TDK's snub.
/Film has got me all excited over Mr. Nobody. Props to the film for abiding by the Leto rule. (In every Leto role, something terrible happens to him. Here, he is the only person who will ever die. Rule: satisfied. Cinema is hungry for Jared Leto's blood!) Oh, and The Damned United looks good.
If you make the same joke for three films, doesn't it stop being funny? God I hope I am wrong about this.
IFC's Indie Eye writes up the Weezy doc.
WEIRD:
You know what needs to be a musical? Michael Jackson's Thriller.
WORLD:
Our new envoy to the U.N. sounds, well, really great.
A U.N. hospital in Sri Lanka was shelled, killing many U.N. workers.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed by a Palestinian bomb on the border.
PERSONAL:
Today was really, really cold. Also, wet and muggy. It was a good day to own a hoodie, 'sall I'm saying. Also, I was exhausted enough to take a nap, which yielded a weird-ass dream about Shia LaBeouf in a conspiracy theory movie.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 123
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, worried for the first time about underheating.
Monday, January 26, 2009
January 26th, 2009
MUSIC:
TMT makes the new Dälek album out to be pretty great; I think I'll check it out.
Pitchfork has a new, albeit lo-lo-lo-lo-fi, Wrens track.
Lil Wayne's Prom Queen single off his upcoming rock album is leaking everywhere. Spoiler alert: It's really awful.
Just the pick-me-up I needed: new Asobi Seksu video.
Paste interviews PB&J.
YV's new track is a shitload of fun. Also on Fader, a track whose context makes it tragic.
Kanye's blog had a lot of treats over the weekend. That drama-licious Rick Ross track is up. After seeing The Wrestler and thinking about its application to some rap, I feel like Ross is doing 50 a favor. Also, a new N.A.S.A. video!
FILM:
Rotten Tomatoes has a clip from the phenomenal-looking mafia flick Gomorrah.
Gears of War trilogy? Sounds rad! By the Underworld dude? Too bad.
Hilary Duff will star in a Bonnie and Clyde reimagining? Worst idea ever, indeed.
Tintin casting is out of the bag.
/Film also makes me drool over Gilliam's Zero Theorem.
WEIRD:
Black lips were in some big shit, but are now totally okay.
A fantastic side-scroller Zelda. Damn you, indie gaming, and your lack of Mac love!
Thorough album analyses are delicious.
WORLD:
Bolivia has a new, leftist constitution.
The BBC is refusing to air an appeal for Gaza aid in order to maintain "impartiality." The public is responding with outrage.
PERSONAL:
It's been a long, busy, and exhausting day. Also, I am evidently the only guy who finds Hustle and Flow to be a bad film.
Lots of work, so not much to say right now.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 119
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, tired period.
TMT makes the new Dälek album out to be pretty great; I think I'll check it out.
Pitchfork has a new, albeit lo-lo-lo-lo-fi, Wrens track.
Lil Wayne's Prom Queen single off his upcoming rock album is leaking everywhere. Spoiler alert: It's really awful.
Just the pick-me-up I needed: new Asobi Seksu video.
Paste interviews PB&J.
YV's new track is a shitload of fun. Also on Fader, a track whose context makes it tragic.
Kanye's blog had a lot of treats over the weekend. That drama-licious Rick Ross track is up. After seeing The Wrestler and thinking about its application to some rap, I feel like Ross is doing 50 a favor. Also, a new N.A.S.A. video!
FILM:
Rotten Tomatoes has a clip from the phenomenal-looking mafia flick Gomorrah.
Gears of War trilogy? Sounds rad! By the Underworld dude? Too bad.
Hilary Duff will star in a Bonnie and Clyde reimagining? Worst idea ever, indeed.
Tintin casting is out of the bag.
/Film also makes me drool over Gilliam's Zero Theorem.
WEIRD:
Black lips were in some big shit, but are now totally okay.
A fantastic side-scroller Zelda. Damn you, indie gaming, and your lack of Mac love!
Thorough album analyses are delicious.
WORLD:
Bolivia has a new, leftist constitution.
The BBC is refusing to air an appeal for Gaza aid in order to maintain "impartiality." The public is responding with outrage.
PERSONAL:
It's been a long, busy, and exhausting day. Also, I am evidently the only guy who finds Hustle and Flow to be a bad film.
Lots of work, so not much to say right now.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 119
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, tired period.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
January 25th, 2009: The Week in Literal Review
Most Interesting, Music:
Fader's hyper-victorious My President Is Black freeload.
Most Interesting, Film:
The Canadian film board put its entire vault online.
Weirdest:
This week was tough! I loved the moonshine coffee and the Songsmith antics, but I've got to give it to an Austin homegrown treasure, Beastmaster Jr. Go ahead, watch it again. You've earned it.
Biggest World Event:
Obama was inaugurated as President; he began, shortly thereafter, to kick some ass.
Reviews
No reviews this week. I wait a week to review albums, and I saw Che, sure, but I need to see part two before I can review it, and I'm so muddled on part one of the film that I feel I need to see it once more anyway. (I think that knowing what to expect and where it is going will yield greater appreciation)
But if you're looking for an initial reaction, it's hesitantly confused disappointment.
Personal:
Today was very relaxing. I woke up at noon, I studied for a while... nothing major, just some sleep, studying, and dinner with my sister. Oh, and listening to two incredible albums.
Official Fact: Antony has the ability to make me cry.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 114
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, tired of my boring notes. Computers have no love for jazz.
Fader's hyper-victorious My President Is Black freeload.
Most Interesting, Film:
The Canadian film board put its entire vault online.
Weirdest:
This week was tough! I loved the moonshine coffee and the Songsmith antics, but I've got to give it to an Austin homegrown treasure, Beastmaster Jr. Go ahead, watch it again. You've earned it.
Biggest World Event:
Obama was inaugurated as President; he began, shortly thereafter, to kick some ass.
Reviews
No reviews this week. I wait a week to review albums, and I saw Che, sure, but I need to see part two before I can review it, and I'm so muddled on part one of the film that I feel I need to see it once more anyway. (I think that knowing what to expect and where it is going will yield greater appreciation)
But if you're looking for an initial reaction, it's hesitantly confused disappointment.
Personal:
Today was very relaxing. I woke up at noon, I studied for a while... nothing major, just some sleep, studying, and dinner with my sister. Oh, and listening to two incredible albums.
Official Fact: Antony has the ability to make me cry.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 114
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, tired of my boring notes. Computers have no love for jazz.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
January 24th, 2009: Saturday Edition #2
Ah, the weekend: when entertainment news decides to nap. That's why on Saturdays, I use a different format. I mention the few entertainment news pieces worth mentioning, and then I write an editorial about what I'm preoccupied with. Sundays are my Week in Literal Review days, when I review music and movies.
INTERESTING NEWS:
If you mess with Noel Gallagher, you are going to go to prison.
Rogen's Green Hornet may be dead.
Sundance Award results have been posted!
IMPORTANT NEWS:
Schools in Gaza have reopened.
EDITORIAL:
Sometimes I think that the new elitism is the art of appearing "down to earth." Don't get me wrong, I think true casual simplicity is rad and all, but it feels like there's a culture of feigned stupidity developing in response to intellectualism.
For instance, if you listen to complex, textural music with discord and jarring rhythm, people will write you off: "You're just a music snob." But this seems backwards to me. The nature of snobbery is to listen to/enjoy only a small canon of elite things; cutting out all experimental music sets up just such a canon.
I'm probably not making myself clear. I guess I feel like the old-school connotation of elitism, as it applies to the arts, is utterly worthless. That old-school connotation observed elite tendencies amongst the avant garde, which were accurate, but the contemporary avant garde are far from arrogant. No Age, at their own personal forefront of noise music, are friendly and accessible. The same seems to go for a lot of today's experimental groups; hell, when I met Fuck Buttons, they were grinning sincerely, shaking hands, and helping to sell their own merch. Is that behavior typical amongst the "everyman" top-40 bands that play to gargantuan stadiums and desperately avoid encounters with fans?
As it is with music, so it is with the rest of the arts. When you react less-than-favorably to crowd-pleasing cotton candy cinema, most people immediately snub you. And in visual art, if you have a philosophical or metaphorical idea behind your work, it's best to keep your lips sealed lest you seem pretentious. (God forbid!)
Bottomline is, when you start completely shutting out or writing off creative output on superficial grounds, you're acting in a snobbish way. Hence, if you listen exclusively to the mainstream, you're acting in a snobbish way.
It's the cult of the wannabe dillettante, and although I should probably be concerned or upset, I'm too busy revelling in the delicious irony of an elitist mob wearing thousand dollar sweatpants.
PERSONAL:
What a great Album Day! I'll let you know in advance: my review for Merriweather Post Pavilion will just be gushy praise. (I haven't tackled the Crying Light yet; I need to work this bliss out of my system first) I sat in the back of the Exposition, the bus I take home from 6th and Lamar (the best spot in Austin: Whole Foods + Waterloo Records) and sitting in the back for the first time in a while, I forgot how fast that bus feels. Feeling so fast, listening to the glorious electronic rushes in MPP, god, it is a moment I'll keep with me for a long time.
On the other hand, Che part one (from last night) was a decidedly mixed affair; I'll cover this more tomorrow.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 104
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, nice and room-temperature.
INTERESTING NEWS:
If you mess with Noel Gallagher, you are going to go to prison.
Rogen's Green Hornet may be dead.
Sundance Award results have been posted!
IMPORTANT NEWS:
Schools in Gaza have reopened.
EDITORIAL:
Sometimes I think that the new elitism is the art of appearing "down to earth." Don't get me wrong, I think true casual simplicity is rad and all, but it feels like there's a culture of feigned stupidity developing in response to intellectualism.
For instance, if you listen to complex, textural music with discord and jarring rhythm, people will write you off: "You're just a music snob." But this seems backwards to me. The nature of snobbery is to listen to/enjoy only a small canon of elite things; cutting out all experimental music sets up just such a canon.
I'm probably not making myself clear. I guess I feel like the old-school connotation of elitism, as it applies to the arts, is utterly worthless. That old-school connotation observed elite tendencies amongst the avant garde, which were accurate, but the contemporary avant garde are far from arrogant. No Age, at their own personal forefront of noise music, are friendly and accessible. The same seems to go for a lot of today's experimental groups; hell, when I met Fuck Buttons, they were grinning sincerely, shaking hands, and helping to sell their own merch. Is that behavior typical amongst the "everyman" top-40 bands that play to gargantuan stadiums and desperately avoid encounters with fans?
As it is with music, so it is with the rest of the arts. When you react less-than-favorably to crowd-pleasing cotton candy cinema, most people immediately snub you. And in visual art, if you have a philosophical or metaphorical idea behind your work, it's best to keep your lips sealed lest you seem pretentious. (God forbid!)
Bottomline is, when you start completely shutting out or writing off creative output on superficial grounds, you're acting in a snobbish way. Hence, if you listen exclusively to the mainstream, you're acting in a snobbish way.
It's the cult of the wannabe dillettante, and although I should probably be concerned or upset, I'm too busy revelling in the delicious irony of an elitist mob wearing thousand dollar sweatpants.
PERSONAL:
What a great Album Day! I'll let you know in advance: my review for Merriweather Post Pavilion will just be gushy praise. (I haven't tackled the Crying Light yet; I need to work this bliss out of my system first) I sat in the back of the Exposition, the bus I take home from 6th and Lamar (the best spot in Austin: Whole Foods + Waterloo Records) and sitting in the back for the first time in a while, I forgot how fast that bus feels. Feeling so fast, listening to the glorious electronic rushes in MPP, god, it is a moment I'll keep with me for a long time.
On the other hand, Che part one (from last night) was a decidedly mixed affair; I'll cover this more tomorrow.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 104
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, nice and room-temperature.
Friday, January 23, 2009
January 23rd, 2009
MUSIC:
First DiS got me all excited about Marissa Nadler way back on the 14th, and now Pitchfork makes good on the goods with a free MP3. It's laid back and fantastic. And damn, Chris Coady? TVotR and Gang Gang Dance and Yeah Yeah Yeahs Chris Coady? Stars are aligning.
DiS makes a compelling case for why every person should see Of Montreal live before they die. (Scroll to the bottom for video) And JESUS, The Invisible sound rad.
All this Animal Collective at the Bowery coverage (here and here) is making me all the more excited about the tickets I snagged for their June Stubb's show here in Austin.
Coldplay are recording again + Eno.
Via Kanye's blog, a rad-ass video of Q-Tip on Conan.
Holy crap, that Lil Wayne rock album is actually happening.
FILM:
We can all take a deep breath, guys; Sommers didn't make Sienna Miller wear rubber breasts. Also, shitty "abreast" slays any vague sense of legitimacy.
Judging by how bad the game's plot was while I idly watched my roommate play it, Lost Planet will be godawful.
Speaking of godawful, Mutant Chronicles has a trailer at last. Watch as Malkovich deftly phones it in.
I blogged a while back on screens from the japanese HP trailer. Do you not like static images? Then get excited - here's the actual trailer via AICN. Fun fact: AICN accidentally embedded a 500 Days of Summer trailer, so I direct-linked you up.
Wow... what an awful film news day.
WEIRD:
Slash is upset because his house isn't big enough to party in. Too bad he can't sue the world for not giving a damn!
Oh, and Kanye West is not bisexual.
WORLD:
Obama has been doing various awesome things.
The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 1,400.
PERSONAL:
Today went relatively well for me. I nabbed some AC tickets, I got all my work done, and now I'm going to see Che, "part one," a.k.a. the film industry should release entire films as their directors intended. (The screening is soon; that's why this is going up so early)
I can't tell you how excited I am for tomorrow's album day. Merriweather Post Pavilion, and, The Crying Light. I might cry.
Scratch that. I will cry.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 92
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, nice and room-temperature.
First DiS got me all excited about Marissa Nadler way back on the 14th, and now Pitchfork makes good on the goods with a free MP3. It's laid back and fantastic. And damn, Chris Coady? TVotR and Gang Gang Dance and Yeah Yeah Yeahs Chris Coady? Stars are aligning.
DiS makes a compelling case for why every person should see Of Montreal live before they die. (Scroll to the bottom for video) And JESUS, The Invisible sound rad.
All this Animal Collective at the Bowery coverage (here and here) is making me all the more excited about the tickets I snagged for their June Stubb's show here in Austin.
Coldplay are recording again + Eno.
Via Kanye's blog, a rad-ass video of Q-Tip on Conan.
Holy crap, that Lil Wayne rock album is actually happening.
FILM:
We can all take a deep breath, guys; Sommers didn't make Sienna Miller wear rubber breasts. Also, shitty "abreast" slays any vague sense of legitimacy.
Judging by how bad the game's plot was while I idly watched my roommate play it, Lost Planet will be godawful.
Speaking of godawful, Mutant Chronicles has a trailer at last. Watch as Malkovich deftly phones it in.
I blogged a while back on screens from the japanese HP trailer. Do you not like static images? Then get excited - here's the actual trailer via AICN. Fun fact: AICN accidentally embedded a 500 Days of Summer trailer, so I direct-linked you up.
Wow... what an awful film news day.
WEIRD:
Slash is upset because his house isn't big enough to party in. Too bad he can't sue the world for not giving a damn!
Oh, and Kanye West is not bisexual.
WORLD:
Obama has been doing various awesome things.
The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 1,400.
PERSONAL:
Today went relatively well for me. I nabbed some AC tickets, I got all my work done, and now I'm going to see Che, "part one," a.k.a. the film industry should release entire films as their directors intended. (The screening is soon; that's why this is going up so early)
I can't tell you how excited I am for tomorrow's album day. Merriweather Post Pavilion, and, The Crying Light. I might cry.
Scratch that. I will cry.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 92
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, nice and room-temperature.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
January 22nd, 2009
MUSIC:
Franz Ferdinand are streaming their album. Impressions forthcoming.
Not only is Paste's Lovefest column a fantastic idea, but they kick it off with a quick little Antony Hegarty paragraph? My birthday came half a year early, apparently.
Big day for album covers via Pitchfork. If you liked the Rake's Song single art, you should be satisfied with the cover for the Decemberists album. If you like living in the matrix, you should be satisfied with the cover for the PB&J album. Oh, and if you like Colbert, this is for you.
DiS namechecked this truly obscure but rad-sounding group, Urgent Talk.
MTV's got a nice sprinkling of info on Jay-Z's forthcoming.
TMT plays the industry watch-dog once again, calling out Sony's drastic layoffs.
FILM:
First Pheonix goes all jiggy on our asses, and now 50 Cent has a film studio. Prediction: Neither trans-media effort will be even vaguely memorable. Just when I was kind of enjoying 5o's verse on Crack a Bottle, too...
Fun little Sundance write-up.
Oh, and no Sundance is complete unless two key elements are on screens AND in seats: drama and violence.
Collider has some Dead Snow trailers and clips. Not sure how I feel about this one... I'll put it in the could-be-fun category, but this could really go either way, since it looks pointlessly, stupidly grotesque from what I've seen.
I'm curious about the Lil Wayne doc.
RT interviews Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black. Holy shit, Dustin Lance Black is from San Antonio? My hometown just got cooler. Y'know, having raised the writer of the best picture of 2008. Oops, I said it out loud.
This should practically go in the weird section. Word is, Dakota Fanning's gonna be in the new Twilight as, I shit you not, a "seductive young Italian vampire." Uh... what?
My Chemical Romance song in Watchmen? Do not want!
I need a Coraline chaser to that for sure. What a great new trailer.
Weird-ass Sundance film with a weird-ass premise. Sounds perfect.
The National Film Board of Canada has put its full vault online!
WEIRD:
This kind-of-Weezer-knockoff straddles the line between hilarious and nightmarish.
Hell yeah, Roc Boys in the high school tonight.
The co-inventor of spandex-clad crusaders of justice has fetishes? No!
WORLD:
Caroline Kennedy withdrew from the Senate, so, things went a bit nuts.
Sorry, yeah, here's the New York Times article. I guess I'm just really excited that Obama is making good on his promise to close Gitmo.
PERSONAL:
Personal filmmaking epiphanes, the Lost premiere at last, two incredible albums to look forward to on Saturday, Che at the Drafthouse tomorrow... This has been a good day. I served as babysitter for one of the professors I've worked with at the department; a six year old and a four year old, both boys, and me realizing that being a parent someday is going to be difficult. But don't think I'm talking trash, the kids were rad; they were very involved with excavating around the Burdine building.
Oh, and that Lost premiere? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I dropped the f-bomb aloud no fewer than ten times.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 86
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, no longer cold!
Franz Ferdinand are streaming their album. Impressions forthcoming.
Not only is Paste's Lovefest column a fantastic idea, but they kick it off with a quick little Antony Hegarty paragraph? My birthday came half a year early, apparently.
Big day for album covers via Pitchfork. If you liked the Rake's Song single art, you should be satisfied with the cover for the Decemberists album. If you like living in the matrix, you should be satisfied with the cover for the PB&J album. Oh, and if you like Colbert, this is for you.
DiS namechecked this truly obscure but rad-sounding group, Urgent Talk.
MTV's got a nice sprinkling of info on Jay-Z's forthcoming.
TMT plays the industry watch-dog once again, calling out Sony's drastic layoffs.
FILM:
First Pheonix goes all jiggy on our asses, and now 50 Cent has a film studio. Prediction: Neither trans-media effort will be even vaguely memorable. Just when I was kind of enjoying 5o's verse on Crack a Bottle, too...
Fun little Sundance write-up.
Oh, and no Sundance is complete unless two key elements are on screens AND in seats: drama and violence.
Collider has some Dead Snow trailers and clips. Not sure how I feel about this one... I'll put it in the could-be-fun category, but this could really go either way, since it looks pointlessly, stupidly grotesque from what I've seen.
I'm curious about the Lil Wayne doc.
RT interviews Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black. Holy shit, Dustin Lance Black is from San Antonio? My hometown just got cooler. Y'know, having raised the writer of the best picture of 2008. Oops, I said it out loud.
This should practically go in the weird section. Word is, Dakota Fanning's gonna be in the new Twilight as, I shit you not, a "seductive young Italian vampire." Uh... what?
My Chemical Romance song in Watchmen? Do not want!
I need a Coraline chaser to that for sure. What a great new trailer.
Weird-ass Sundance film with a weird-ass premise. Sounds perfect.
The National Film Board of Canada has put its full vault online!
WEIRD:
This kind-of-Weezer-knockoff straddles the line between hilarious and nightmarish.
Hell yeah, Roc Boys in the high school tonight.
The co-inventor of spandex-clad crusaders of justice has fetishes? No!
WORLD:
Caroline Kennedy withdrew from the Senate, so, things went a bit nuts.
Sorry, yeah, here's the New York Times article. I guess I'm just really excited that Obama is making good on his promise to close Gitmo.
PERSONAL:
Personal filmmaking epiphanes, the Lost premiere at last, two incredible albums to look forward to on Saturday, Che at the Drafthouse tomorrow... This has been a good day. I served as babysitter for one of the professors I've worked with at the department; a six year old and a four year old, both boys, and me realizing that being a parent someday is going to be difficult. But don't think I'm talking trash, the kids were rad; they were very involved with excavating around the Burdine building.
Oh, and that Lost premiere? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I dropped the f-bomb aloud no fewer than ten times.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 86
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, no longer cold!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
January 21st, 2009
MUSIC:
Say what you want about Pitchfork being snobbish pricks or whatever- when they have a good target, it's solid gold. (I'm still waiting for a return to "we-rate-your-album-with-monkey-piss" form, though) In addition, they've got a ton of Animal Collective goodies. Yum! Oh, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are taking a break.
DiS interviews Fanfarlo. The little youtube bits sound fantastic; I'm excited about this one. Also, the Joy Formidable sound so rad that I've pre-ordered their album outright. And BLK JKS! What a day to be DiS.
Fader's freeloading some OJ Da Juiceman.
Fun shit over on Disco Dust! Their Phantoms track is groovy, and same goes for the Treasure Fingers remixes.
FILM:
Slash has on the scoop on a very well-done bit of Watchmen promotional material.
AICN has some rumblings on the live-action Bebop.
WEIRD:
Spectacle begets spectacle; the First Lady's hair stylist is getting a reality television show. Worth it because, well, I can call her the First Lady now.
Kanye, uh, really wants ripped jeans. He also predicts the future.
WORLD:
I'll keep it simple: the New York Times has an outstanding write-up of Obama's first day.
PERSONAL:
Slightly busy day. Scratch that... ridiculously busy. Classes, walking around everywhere, going to Wheatsville... what an odd day. Oh, and people are working on the thermostat at last!
But I need sleep, so that bit will suffice.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 84
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, still cold. But not for long?
Say what you want about Pitchfork being snobbish pricks or whatever- when they have a good target, it's solid gold. (I'm still waiting for a return to "we-rate-your-album-with-monkey-piss" form, though) In addition, they've got a ton of Animal Collective goodies. Yum! Oh, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are taking a break.
DiS interviews Fanfarlo. The little youtube bits sound fantastic; I'm excited about this one. Also, the Joy Formidable sound so rad that I've pre-ordered their album outright. And BLK JKS! What a day to be DiS.
Fader's freeloading some OJ Da Juiceman.
Fun shit over on Disco Dust! Their Phantoms track is groovy, and same goes for the Treasure Fingers remixes.
FILM:
Slash has on the scoop on a very well-done bit of Watchmen promotional material.
AICN has some rumblings on the live-action Bebop.
WEIRD:
Spectacle begets spectacle; the First Lady's hair stylist is getting a reality television show. Worth it because, well, I can call her the First Lady now.
Kanye, uh, really wants ripped jeans. He also predicts the future.
WORLD:
I'll keep it simple: the New York Times has an outstanding write-up of Obama's first day.
PERSONAL:
Slightly busy day. Scratch that... ridiculously busy. Classes, walking around everywhere, going to Wheatsville... what an odd day. Oh, and people are working on the thermostat at last!
But I need sleep, so that bit will suffice.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 84
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, still cold. But not for long?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
January 20th, 2009
MUSIC:
Pitchfork's got the new video for Antony and the Johnsons. Antony's voice is stunning, and the video is comparably lush and dense in the best way. God, I can't wait to buy this album.
In that vein, TMT has an incredible write-up of Antony's new album. January is shaping up to be a phenomenal month for haunting vocal performances.
DiS has a fun write-up of Eurosonic.
For those of you inclined to celebrate, which should be goddamn all of you, Jigga's remix of My President is Black is freeloadin' over on Fader.
HipHopDX has the exclusive hook-up with a free download of Junclassic's new EP. I'm really digging it. It takes a while to grow on you: at first, it just sounds messy and incomplete, but as the tracks roll by, you adjust to Junclassic's slightly neurotic style... and it's rad.
FILM:
Please, please, please let this Seth Rogen-as-Jesus clone project get off the ground.
Japanese trailers reward enterprising fans yet again, as this screencap site will prove. First Watchmen, now this HP goodness; oh global market, how I love thee.
I desperately want to see Medicine for Melancholy. Also, Cold Souls looks great.
It's not really film news, but I want an excuse to watch Epilepsy is Dancing again.
WEIRD:
I am more than proud that the people of Austin produced this magnum opus, Beastmaster Jr.
NME, uh, got it flat wrong? According to them, Aer Obama's video was released by Daft Punk. That's not true. As I've heard it, the video is by Green Dot Films, no real association to the robotic dudes. If I'm wrong, call me on it, but uh, research helps, guys.
WORLD:
It's absurd to report this as though somebody might not know, but this morning, Obama was sworn in. I found his inauguration speech refreshingly direct and felt, for the first time in my time as a politically-aware citizen, included. BBC covers some of the new-media undertones.
The New York Times reports on the rippling tension out of Gaza, in this case, in France.
The Austin Chronicle has some updates/recaps on the Brandon Darby situation.
PERSONAL:
Today went very well. Almost without a hitch. No stride yet, of course, but that will come, and my lingering stress will (hopefully) vanish. I'm sort of viewing this year as three acts: my spring semester, summer, and my fall semester.
I've pretty literally been looping that Antony track over and over for a few hours. I'm definitely excited for the album.
Oh, and for what it's worth, I feel like I'm getting the hang of this blogging business.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 79
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, still cold.
Pitchfork's got the new video for Antony and the Johnsons. Antony's voice is stunning, and the video is comparably lush and dense in the best way. God, I can't wait to buy this album.
In that vein, TMT has an incredible write-up of Antony's new album. January is shaping up to be a phenomenal month for haunting vocal performances.
DiS has a fun write-up of Eurosonic.
For those of you inclined to celebrate, which should be goddamn all of you, Jigga's remix of My President is Black is freeloadin' over on Fader.
HipHopDX has the exclusive hook-up with a free download of Junclassic's new EP. I'm really digging it. It takes a while to grow on you: at first, it just sounds messy and incomplete, but as the tracks roll by, you adjust to Junclassic's slightly neurotic style... and it's rad.
FILM:
Please, please, please let this Seth Rogen-as-Jesus clone project get off the ground.
Japanese trailers reward enterprising fans yet again, as this screencap site will prove. First Watchmen, now this HP goodness; oh global market, how I love thee.
I desperately want to see Medicine for Melancholy. Also, Cold Souls looks great.
It's not really film news, but I want an excuse to watch Epilepsy is Dancing again.
WEIRD:
I am more than proud that the people of Austin produced this magnum opus, Beastmaster Jr.
NME, uh, got it flat wrong? According to them, Aer Obama's video was released by Daft Punk. That's not true. As I've heard it, the video is by Green Dot Films, no real association to the robotic dudes. If I'm wrong, call me on it, but uh, research helps, guys.
WORLD:
It's absurd to report this as though somebody might not know, but this morning, Obama was sworn in. I found his inauguration speech refreshingly direct and felt, for the first time in my time as a politically-aware citizen, included. BBC covers some of the new-media undertones.
The New York Times reports on the rippling tension out of Gaza, in this case, in France.
The Austin Chronicle has some updates/recaps on the Brandon Darby situation.
PERSONAL:
Today went very well. Almost without a hitch. No stride yet, of course, but that will come, and my lingering stress will (hopefully) vanish. I'm sort of viewing this year as three acts: my spring semester, summer, and my fall semester.
I've pretty literally been looping that Antony track over and over for a few hours. I'm definitely excited for the album.
Oh, and for what it's worth, I feel like I'm getting the hang of this blogging business.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 79
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, still cold.
Monday, January 19, 2009
January 19th, 2009
MUSIC:
A new U2 track is streaming. It sounds kind of vapid and poorly conceived to me.
DiS has some nice treats. The Lanterns on the Lake MP3 is very sweet and delicate, and the Friendly Fires video is addictive as hell. Don't forget the singles feature, which links to a download of the mega-catchy We Are ENFANT TERRIBLE single, bashes the Franz Ferdinand single for goofy reasons, and clues me in to a rad-ass single by Tinchy Stryder. I totally missed the boat on the grime movement... damn!
Kanye West hooks us up with some new Feist. Sort of new, anyway: it's a cover. You probably heard it on that athletics commercial. Ben Gibbard shows up too!
The frustrating thing about Lily Allen's self-indulgent interview with NME is that the points she's making about women in the industry are valid, and deserve to be made by people with character and insight. I don't think she's a "puppet," but I do find her tabloid-baiting antics grating and tiresome.
Jeezy's surprise inaugural guest: Jay-Z.
Pitchfork's got an insightful interview with Animal Collective. Also on Pitchfork, a stream of a track by Grizzly Bear that is gorgeous enough to incite weeping. Oh, and if you're like me, PB&J's "Lay it Down" has been looping on your iTunes since it was released. If you're feeling like switching it up a little, but you can't get the song out of your head, try this weirder-than-weird remix by the Golden Filter.
FILM:
Remember that viral Watchmen site I mentioned? Well, now it has content! It's just a few Minutemen-era "snapshots" but it's worth keeping an eye on.
There's a Mapplethorpe biopic in the works. You heard me. This has the potential to be trash or gold, so let's all hold our breath in unison.
Do you smell the fresh cent of money, perhaps tinged with the sensation of cold? You've smelled correctly: the first sale of Sundance has been made! And in case you were waiting with bated breath, don't fear: Black Dynamite got picked up.
Speaking of Sundance, here's a list of the films from the festival that interest me the most:
Humpday
An Education
You Won't Miss Me
Push
500 Days of Summer
The Greatest
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
WEIRD:
Songsmith is a Microsoft program that takes vocal tracks and puts music behind them. Youtube users have been loading in a capella tracks from famous songs. Pitchfork reports on the hilarious results.
People will pay a lot of money to see Madonna naked, apparently.
Mark is right; this sounds gross and dangerous. However, when the Caffeine Prohibition arrives, moonshine caffeine will be a godsend for neurotic everywhere.
WORLD:
The New York Times gives a thoughtful run-down of the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Fortunately, Russia and Ukraine have resolved their oil dispute. This, however, comes on the heels of news of yet another assassination in Russia.
On this day, you've probably been seeing and hearing lots of MLK speeches. I'd ask you to try and really evaluate each of them, even if you did so five years ago, or a year ago, or a week ago. The MLK speech that always strikes me is his final, almost prophetic, speech.
PERSONAL:
School's tomorrow. I'm still living in a frigid dorm, but hey, at least I'm getting used to it. Tomorrow, I tackle my classes. I also return to work. It's a big day, and my nerves are in a bundle. In my mind, I'm just waiting until the weekend, when I can go to Waterloo for Animal Collective and maybe Antony and the Johnsons.
Anyway, it's been a nice day. My roommate is back, which is great for my disposition. I read in the lawn by the tower, just some old Gaiman to get lost in. I went downtown to see The Wrestler again, but I felt a little distracted. I wish I had no work in the morning, so I could've stayed at the Drafthouse to see American Pop, but so it goes.
Hopefully the day will help with my nerves.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 65
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, adjusting to the temperature.
A new U2 track is streaming. It sounds kind of vapid and poorly conceived to me.
DiS has some nice treats. The Lanterns on the Lake MP3 is very sweet and delicate, and the Friendly Fires video is addictive as hell. Don't forget the singles feature, which links to a download of the mega-catchy We Are ENFANT TERRIBLE single, bashes the Franz Ferdinand single for goofy reasons, and clues me in to a rad-ass single by Tinchy Stryder. I totally missed the boat on the grime movement... damn!
Kanye West hooks us up with some new Feist. Sort of new, anyway: it's a cover. You probably heard it on that athletics commercial. Ben Gibbard shows up too!
The frustrating thing about Lily Allen's self-indulgent interview with NME is that the points she's making about women in the industry are valid, and deserve to be made by people with character and insight. I don't think she's a "puppet," but I do find her tabloid-baiting antics grating and tiresome.
Jeezy's surprise inaugural guest: Jay-Z.
Pitchfork's got an insightful interview with Animal Collective. Also on Pitchfork, a stream of a track by Grizzly Bear that is gorgeous enough to incite weeping. Oh, and if you're like me, PB&J's "Lay it Down" has been looping on your iTunes since it was released. If you're feeling like switching it up a little, but you can't get the song out of your head, try this weirder-than-weird remix by the Golden Filter.
FILM:
Remember that viral Watchmen site I mentioned? Well, now it has content! It's just a few Minutemen-era "snapshots" but it's worth keeping an eye on.
There's a Mapplethorpe biopic in the works. You heard me. This has the potential to be trash or gold, so let's all hold our breath in unison.
Do you smell the fresh cent of money, perhaps tinged with the sensation of cold? You've smelled correctly: the first sale of Sundance has been made! And in case you were waiting with bated breath, don't fear: Black Dynamite got picked up.
Speaking of Sundance, here's a list of the films from the festival that interest me the most:
Humpday
An Education
You Won't Miss Me
Push
500 Days of Summer
The Greatest
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
WEIRD:
Songsmith is a Microsoft program that takes vocal tracks and puts music behind them. Youtube users have been loading in a capella tracks from famous songs. Pitchfork reports on the hilarious results.
People will pay a lot of money to see Madonna naked, apparently.
Mark is right; this sounds gross and dangerous. However, when the Caffeine Prohibition arrives, moonshine caffeine will be a godsend for neurotic everywhere.
WORLD:
The New York Times gives a thoughtful run-down of the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Fortunately, Russia and Ukraine have resolved their oil dispute. This, however, comes on the heels of news of yet another assassination in Russia.
On this day, you've probably been seeing and hearing lots of MLK speeches. I'd ask you to try and really evaluate each of them, even if you did so five years ago, or a year ago, or a week ago. The MLK speech that always strikes me is his final, almost prophetic, speech.
PERSONAL:
School's tomorrow. I'm still living in a frigid dorm, but hey, at least I'm getting used to it. Tomorrow, I tackle my classes. I also return to work. It's a big day, and my nerves are in a bundle. In my mind, I'm just waiting until the weekend, when I can go to Waterloo for Animal Collective and maybe Antony and the Johnsons.
Anyway, it's been a nice day. My roommate is back, which is great for my disposition. I read in the lawn by the tower, just some old Gaiman to get lost in. I went downtown to see The Wrestler again, but I felt a little distracted. I wish I had no work in the morning, so I could've stayed at the Drafthouse to see American Pop, but so it goes.
Hopefully the day will help with my nerves.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 65
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, adjusting to the temperature.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
January 17th, 2009 / January 18th, 2009: Editorial / Week In Literal Review
I'll go ahead and warn you: my editorial for the night is very political. I know this turns most people off, and this won't be the norm by any stretch; most of my editorials will cover a broader range. But with the inauguration on everybody's mind, my own included, I had a few very political things to say.
Anyway, if you're not in the mood, you can go ahead and skip down to my normal Week in Literal Review feature.
EDITORIAL:
We stand at a crucial transition in our nation's history. One era of U.S. politics is coming to its rightful end- I say rightful because its failure has almost reached the point of objective historical truth. I'd like to say I knew it all along, but following party lines and spin in a highly polarized society doesn't constitute having a personal opinion; it was only in the past few years that I developed real opposition.
During this change in administration, looking past the obvious changes (there are many) and past the obvious things that will remain the same (there are many) leads us to question other, more fundamental differences between 2001 and 2009. One of these differences is, to me, striking: our nation has suddenly, miraculously, started seeing gray again.
Notice the rhetoric of our outgoing President during these final days, as reported by Democracy Now: "America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. And this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere." Scoff or cheer, pick your poison, but this pretty much captures the typical U.S. citizen's mindset during this administration. The world was all about black and white, clear moral superiority and clear moral inferiority.
At least, that was the world we wanted to see. But Abu Ghraib put a dent in our sense of ethical impregnability, as did allegations of waterboarding and other torture in various prison institutions run under the radar by our government. There was no need to worry, though; our President washed the fears away: "America does not torture."
I speak facetiously there, of course; most of us took that response to the scandal as a joke, an absurd reductivist approach. Then again, what happened to our attention span on the torture issue? It seems like our compassion waned significantly as torture fell from "headline" status. We don't have to worry about it, we can use that age-old excuse of the contemporary middle class: "there are just too many issues, we can't care about all of them at once."
Along, then, comes Obama's attorney-general designate, Holder, who doesn't shy away from the issue: Waterboarding, he says, is torture. There it is, laid plain in the arena of public discourse. The New York Times covered the aftermath; the constant frustration Holder faces is that his definition will force us to "look back," whereas Obama wants to look to the future.
So if we're not supposed to look back, what can we do to excise our communal demons, the ethical dilemmas that we'd like to get rid of before the new administration? Well, a nice proxy should do the trick. Enter Israel, who (tellingly) compare their recently-ceased invasion of Gaza proudly to U.S. tactics in Iraq. Steven Erlanger's article for the New York Times plays into this handy metaphor: aside from the obvious mistake (not quoting or referencing the Palestinian opinion of anything) he conveniently talks about the nature of guerilla warfare and its relationship to war crimes with barely a mention of Iraq.
This Israel situation is the best thing that could have happened to our national conscience. It's like asking for advice in a sitcom: "Hey, uh, I have this friend, Israel, and he, well, he invaded another nation and killed an inordinate number of civilians." It's a perfect way to talk about legal implications without, well, implicating ourselves.
I'll drop the smart-ass tone here. How dare we? How dare we talk about "not looking back?" What we're shielding from our eyes isn't some intangible error out of centuries past; we are ignoring people who are alive now, people we have hurt very, very recently. We are so excited about moving ahead that we're letting the casualties of our apathy fall helplessly by the wayside. I'll ask it again: how dare we?
Interesting footnote: in the aforementioned article, Israel's logic seemed strikingly familiar. A government official states plainly: "Not to target civilians, not to target U.N. people, not to target medical staff. All this is very clear in Israeli military doctrine.” It's part of the doctrine. Israel does not do that. I guess that's the end of the story- no gray area needed.
THE WEEK IN LITERAL REVIEW:
Most Interesting, Music:
Tough call this week, but one item gets the definite edge. New Decemberists MP3.
Most Interesting, Film:
Ten Sundance shorts for free (yes, free) via iTunes.
Weirdest:
AICN interviewed accidental superstar Soulja Boy.
Biggest World Event:
A ceasefire was forged in Gaza.
Reviews
Fever Ray, Fever Ray
Fever Ray's new album caught me by surprise in more ways than one. First, I was prepared for a March release, so to have the album mid-January definitely caught me off my guard. Second, though I was passingly familiar with a few tracks by The Knife, from which Karin Dreijer Andersson (who is Fever Ray) hails, I had never really looked far into that catalogue. Loading the album up, I was a little confused and hesitant, and in a way, I feel like that's how Andersson would have preferred it.
This is a daunting album. It is moody, arch, and grippingly sincere in a way that will remind some of Björk, but it's got a dark, primitive edge that wouldn't feel out of place on an old Einstürzende Neubauten record. Don't let these references fill in all of the blanks, though; Andersson has a perspective and style that is all her own.
Those who've listened to The Knife will find a lot of this to be familiar territory: thoroughly distorted vocals, sinister and stripped-down electronic beats, they're all here. But these tracks lack some of the poppy, energetic pacing, replacing it with more foreign and intricate beats that drive the songs in a distinct way.
Many of these songs are about monsters, not in the Hollywood sense, but the Steinbeck sense: a character with some fundamentally different perception that makes them totally alien to the world at large. People are capsules of energy, or live between walls, or exist forever. Andersson admits, whether in character or not, that she hates how others desire her love, explaining that she'd be far more content to work among plants. The album envelops you in waves of isolation, the feeling of being hopelessly separate from what is normal and familiar. On "Seven," Andersson darkly comments on the rituals of conformity: a box of light and sound which, if unopened, will make you very alone.
While the layers of instrumentation are perfect companions to the album's tone, the most potent instrument on Fever Ray is Andersson's voice. When thickened and deepened through means artificial, it can be remarkably bizarre and evocative, but her pure, unfiltered voice is the album's strongest weapon, an intimate and unsettling wail that bends and cracks and rises back up to inhuman tones. On "Triangle Walks" and "I'm Not Done" she laces her voice with a malicious determination; on "Now's The Only Time I Know" or "Seven" it takes on an air of desperate, wistful tragedy. Every unforgettable moment on this album is made so because of Andersson's vocal talent. On "Dry and Dusty's lone unfiltered stanza, the delivery of "Work as I've been told/In return, I get money" is crushing. Lyrics, too, bury themselves in your psyche: on "I'm Not Done", the imagery in a simple question ("do you laugh while screaming?") is hard to forget.
In fact, Andersson's voice is so crucial to the album that the one vocal cameo, by Cecilia Nordlund, is - when isolated - gorgeous, but feels here somewhat out of place and wrong. The arrangement on the album is lush and smart, but the haunting element that will keep drawing me in, time and time again, is Andersson's signature singing. It's what elevates this album from interesting audio distraction to a very unique sort of brilliance.
Personal:
Still cold as hell in my dorm. Nobody has come to fix the thermostat. I'm stressed about money, in addition to my irrational fear that I will somehow be unable to attend my classes this semester. I shouldn't complain too much; I got to hang out with some friends, I wrote what they consider to be a reasonably funny sketch, and I got to eat at the divine Mellow Mushroom. I guess there's something oddly comforting in worrying about the future, though; last semester's carefree carpe diem left me in the lurch, feeling sort of fatalistic.
Tomorrow, I attempt to wake up on my weekday schedule. Let's see if I can pull it off!
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 61
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, pissy about the temperature.
Anyway, if you're not in the mood, you can go ahead and skip down to my normal Week in Literal Review feature.
EDITORIAL:
We stand at a crucial transition in our nation's history. One era of U.S. politics is coming to its rightful end- I say rightful because its failure has almost reached the point of objective historical truth. I'd like to say I knew it all along, but following party lines and spin in a highly polarized society doesn't constitute having a personal opinion; it was only in the past few years that I developed real opposition.
During this change in administration, looking past the obvious changes (there are many) and past the obvious things that will remain the same (there are many) leads us to question other, more fundamental differences between 2001 and 2009. One of these differences is, to me, striking: our nation has suddenly, miraculously, started seeing gray again.
Notice the rhetoric of our outgoing President during these final days, as reported by Democracy Now: "America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. And this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere." Scoff or cheer, pick your poison, but this pretty much captures the typical U.S. citizen's mindset during this administration. The world was all about black and white, clear moral superiority and clear moral inferiority.
At least, that was the world we wanted to see. But Abu Ghraib put a dent in our sense of ethical impregnability, as did allegations of waterboarding and other torture in various prison institutions run under the radar by our government. There was no need to worry, though; our President washed the fears away: "America does not torture."
I speak facetiously there, of course; most of us took that response to the scandal as a joke, an absurd reductivist approach. Then again, what happened to our attention span on the torture issue? It seems like our compassion waned significantly as torture fell from "headline" status. We don't have to worry about it, we can use that age-old excuse of the contemporary middle class: "there are just too many issues, we can't care about all of them at once."
Along, then, comes Obama's attorney-general designate, Holder, who doesn't shy away from the issue: Waterboarding, he says, is torture. There it is, laid plain in the arena of public discourse. The New York Times covered the aftermath; the constant frustration Holder faces is that his definition will force us to "look back," whereas Obama wants to look to the future.
So if we're not supposed to look back, what can we do to excise our communal demons, the ethical dilemmas that we'd like to get rid of before the new administration? Well, a nice proxy should do the trick. Enter Israel, who (tellingly) compare their recently-ceased invasion of Gaza proudly to U.S. tactics in Iraq. Steven Erlanger's article for the New York Times plays into this handy metaphor: aside from the obvious mistake (not quoting or referencing the Palestinian opinion of anything) he conveniently talks about the nature of guerilla warfare and its relationship to war crimes with barely a mention of Iraq.
This Israel situation is the best thing that could have happened to our national conscience. It's like asking for advice in a sitcom: "Hey, uh, I have this friend, Israel, and he, well, he invaded another nation and killed an inordinate number of civilians." It's a perfect way to talk about legal implications without, well, implicating ourselves.
I'll drop the smart-ass tone here. How dare we? How dare we talk about "not looking back?" What we're shielding from our eyes isn't some intangible error out of centuries past; we are ignoring people who are alive now, people we have hurt very, very recently. We are so excited about moving ahead that we're letting the casualties of our apathy fall helplessly by the wayside. I'll ask it again: how dare we?
Interesting footnote: in the aforementioned article, Israel's logic seemed strikingly familiar. A government official states plainly: "Not to target civilians, not to target U.N. people, not to target medical staff. All this is very clear in Israeli military doctrine.” It's part of the doctrine. Israel does not do that. I guess that's the end of the story- no gray area needed.
THE WEEK IN LITERAL REVIEW:
Most Interesting, Music:
Tough call this week, but one item gets the definite edge. New Decemberists MP3.
Most Interesting, Film:
Ten Sundance shorts for free (yes, free) via iTunes.
Weirdest:
AICN interviewed accidental superstar Soulja Boy.
Biggest World Event:
A ceasefire was forged in Gaza.
Reviews
Fever Ray, Fever Ray
Fever Ray's new album caught me by surprise in more ways than one. First, I was prepared for a March release, so to have the album mid-January definitely caught me off my guard. Second, though I was passingly familiar with a few tracks by The Knife, from which Karin Dreijer Andersson (who is Fever Ray) hails, I had never really looked far into that catalogue. Loading the album up, I was a little confused and hesitant, and in a way, I feel like that's how Andersson would have preferred it.
This is a daunting album. It is moody, arch, and grippingly sincere in a way that will remind some of Björk, but it's got a dark, primitive edge that wouldn't feel out of place on an old Einstürzende Neubauten record. Don't let these references fill in all of the blanks, though; Andersson has a perspective and style that is all her own.
Those who've listened to The Knife will find a lot of this to be familiar territory: thoroughly distorted vocals, sinister and stripped-down electronic beats, they're all here. But these tracks lack some of the poppy, energetic pacing, replacing it with more foreign and intricate beats that drive the songs in a distinct way.
Many of these songs are about monsters, not in the Hollywood sense, but the Steinbeck sense: a character with some fundamentally different perception that makes them totally alien to the world at large. People are capsules of energy, or live between walls, or exist forever. Andersson admits, whether in character or not, that she hates how others desire her love, explaining that she'd be far more content to work among plants. The album envelops you in waves of isolation, the feeling of being hopelessly separate from what is normal and familiar. On "Seven," Andersson darkly comments on the rituals of conformity: a box of light and sound which, if unopened, will make you very alone.
While the layers of instrumentation are perfect companions to the album's tone, the most potent instrument on Fever Ray is Andersson's voice. When thickened and deepened through means artificial, it can be remarkably bizarre and evocative, but her pure, unfiltered voice is the album's strongest weapon, an intimate and unsettling wail that bends and cracks and rises back up to inhuman tones. On "Triangle Walks" and "I'm Not Done" she laces her voice with a malicious determination; on "Now's The Only Time I Know" or "Seven" it takes on an air of desperate, wistful tragedy. Every unforgettable moment on this album is made so because of Andersson's vocal talent. On "Dry and Dusty's lone unfiltered stanza, the delivery of "Work as I've been told/In return, I get money" is crushing. Lyrics, too, bury themselves in your psyche: on "I'm Not Done", the imagery in a simple question ("do you laugh while screaming?") is hard to forget.
In fact, Andersson's voice is so crucial to the album that the one vocal cameo, by Cecilia Nordlund, is - when isolated - gorgeous, but feels here somewhat out of place and wrong. The arrangement on the album is lush and smart, but the haunting element that will keep drawing me in, time and time again, is Andersson's signature singing. It's what elevates this album from interesting audio distraction to a very unique sort of brilliance.
Personal:
Still cold as hell in my dorm. Nobody has come to fix the thermostat. I'm stressed about money, in addition to my irrational fear that I will somehow be unable to attend my classes this semester. I shouldn't complain too much; I got to hang out with some friends, I wrote what they consider to be a reasonably funny sketch, and I got to eat at the divine Mellow Mushroom. I guess there's something oddly comforting in worrying about the future, though; last semester's carefree carpe diem left me in the lurch, feeling sort of fatalistic.
Tomorrow, I attempt to wake up on my weekday schedule. Let's see if I can pull it off!
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 61
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, pissy about the temperature.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Quick Update
Will compensate for lack of editorial tomorrow. Still frigid in here, and maintenance haven't even come by the room, despite my RA calling them directly to ask for help. Guys next door won't shut the fuck up. This semester is going to be great.
Friday, January 16, 2009
January 16th, 2009
Earlier than usual tonight! Hopefully this will become the norm.
MUSIC:
TMT offers a refreshingly witty response to Lyor Cohen's discussion of Apple's new iTunes pricing.
DiS has some controversial thoughts on how to save the music industry. Frankly, their "block torrent sites" idea deserves the controversy it garnered: it's very stupid.
Too many puns to choose from, so I'll state it plainly: Boy George is going to prison.
Various Lil Wayne news from NME.
Joaquin Pheonix is rapping now - badly. Let's hope this debacle is short-lived. (For another rap music/film geek collision, see: the Weird section)
There's a new video for Q-Tips' "Manwomanboogie" off last year's divine release, The Renaissance. The original video got inexplicably pulled real quick; catch this lower-quality one while it's still around.
Immortal Technique continues to care about the planet; he and M-1 are headlining a Gaza Relief show.
NME basks in the glow of Bloc Party vs. The Killers drama.
Pitchfork's got an MP3 of "Rich Doors" by New Villagers, and, appropriately, it's a rich, fully realized track with great percussion and delicate vocal work.
FILM:
Ten free Sundance shorts available on iTunes! DOWNLOAD THEM. I had the pleasure of seeing I Live in the Woods on a big screen, and it is as glorious as it is brutally cruel.
If you're as excited for Coraline as I am, you'll appreciate this alphabetical poster set.
/Film has some clips from bizarre Cera-featuring meta-flick Paper Heart. From these clips, it looks really great.
Blame it on the years I spent as a debater, but this doc about Zizek's opinions on cinema looks incredible to me.
WEIRD:
I have no idea what this is, but it's shit like this that keeps me reading Kanye's blog. Worth clicking through to the high-quality on youtube.
I am a young adult with tastes in experimental film and independent music, and I care deeply about politics and human rights, but this is still the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life and I am not ashamed. (You'll have to skip the bright pink advertisement to glimpse this glory)
AICN interviewed accidental superstar Soulja Boy because his publicist asked them to. This is one of the weirdest colliding-worlds events in recent history.
Things Soulja Boy believes: he can "change the game" with the animation techniques from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 50 Cent is the best rapper, the music industry is in trouble because Nas said hip hop was dead, somebody will someday make a Notorious-style Soulja Boy biopic.
Things AICN commenters believe: if you know what De La Soul is you are a hip hop expert, you are smarter if you say you are old, it is funny to elongate the word "you," and weirdest of all, that Soulja Boy is somehow the emissary of all black people in the world. (Hence, "who are you interviewing next, Maya Angelou?")
The only person who doesn't come off as an asshole is Beaks, the interviewer. What an odd debacle. I mean, I loathe Soulja Boy, but I doubt the AICN comment crowd would have been more favorable to Weezy or Del or Tech, and that's what really distresses me.
WORLD:
The Israeli invasion of Gaza continues; Palestinian casualties number at least 1,100. Fortunately, as the BBC reports, the Israeli cabinet seems close to declaring a ceasefire. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times poses some interesting questions about the ethics of guerilla warfare.
Democracy Now reports that the family of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi is concerned for his safety. Muntadhar al-Zaidi was the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush during a recent press conference. I'm trying to find articles on this situation, but since the incident, despite mysteries surrounding his detainment, Muntadhar al-Zaidi has barely been mentioned by the international press.
The BBC has some insight into the way technology (in this case, Twitter) affects the media, in this case, coverage of the incident on the Hudson.
Sri Lankan newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga has been assassinated; he was a notable critic of the government's war on Tamil rebels.
PERSONAL:
My dorm remains frigid. I filed a work request, but it has yet to be answered; my RA, after declaring that my room was indeed very cold, promised that he'd get workers up to my hall if the problem persisted. Fellow hallmates remarked on the crisis, stating, "yeah, it's really cold." The frigid temperature may or may not be slowly driving me insane. More on this later. For now, it's time to suit up for sleep. I left my comforter in San Antonio, and my one sheet does little to defend against the cold, so this is my plan:
-Two pairs of pajama pants
-Two pairs of socks
-T-shirt, overshirt, hoodie
-??? pairs of underwear
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 61
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, cold as hell.
MUSIC:
TMT offers a refreshingly witty response to Lyor Cohen's discussion of Apple's new iTunes pricing.
DiS has some controversial thoughts on how to save the music industry. Frankly, their "block torrent sites" idea deserves the controversy it garnered: it's very stupid.
Too many puns to choose from, so I'll state it plainly: Boy George is going to prison.
Various Lil Wayne news from NME.
Joaquin Pheonix is rapping now - badly. Let's hope this debacle is short-lived. (For another rap music/film geek collision, see: the Weird section)
There's a new video for Q-Tips' "Manwomanboogie" off last year's divine release, The Renaissance. The original video got inexplicably pulled real quick; catch this lower-quality one while it's still around.
Immortal Technique continues to care about the planet; he and M-1 are headlining a Gaza Relief show.
NME basks in the glow of Bloc Party vs. The Killers drama.
Pitchfork's got an MP3 of "Rich Doors" by New Villagers, and, appropriately, it's a rich, fully realized track with great percussion and delicate vocal work.
FILM:
Ten free Sundance shorts available on iTunes! DOWNLOAD THEM. I had the pleasure of seeing I Live in the Woods on a big screen, and it is as glorious as it is brutally cruel.
If you're as excited for Coraline as I am, you'll appreciate this alphabetical poster set.
/Film has some clips from bizarre Cera-featuring meta-flick Paper Heart. From these clips, it looks really great.
Blame it on the years I spent as a debater, but this doc about Zizek's opinions on cinema looks incredible to me.
WEIRD:
I have no idea what this is, but it's shit like this that keeps me reading Kanye's blog. Worth clicking through to the high-quality on youtube.
I am a young adult with tastes in experimental film and independent music, and I care deeply about politics and human rights, but this is still the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life and I am not ashamed. (You'll have to skip the bright pink advertisement to glimpse this glory)
AICN interviewed accidental superstar Soulja Boy because his publicist asked them to. This is one of the weirdest colliding-worlds events in recent history.
Things Soulja Boy believes: he can "change the game" with the animation techniques from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 50 Cent is the best rapper, the music industry is in trouble because Nas said hip hop was dead, somebody will someday make a Notorious-style Soulja Boy biopic.
Things AICN commenters believe: if you know what De La Soul is you are a hip hop expert, you are smarter if you say you are old, it is funny to elongate the word "you," and weirdest of all, that Soulja Boy is somehow the emissary of all black people in the world. (Hence, "who are you interviewing next, Maya Angelou?")
The only person who doesn't come off as an asshole is Beaks, the interviewer. What an odd debacle. I mean, I loathe Soulja Boy, but I doubt the AICN comment crowd would have been more favorable to Weezy or Del or Tech, and that's what really distresses me.
WORLD:
The Israeli invasion of Gaza continues; Palestinian casualties number at least 1,100. Fortunately, as the BBC reports, the Israeli cabinet seems close to declaring a ceasefire. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times poses some interesting questions about the ethics of guerilla warfare.
Democracy Now reports that the family of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi is concerned for his safety. Muntadhar al-Zaidi was the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush during a recent press conference. I'm trying to find articles on this situation, but since the incident, despite mysteries surrounding his detainment, Muntadhar al-Zaidi has barely been mentioned by the international press.
The BBC has some insight into the way technology (in this case, Twitter) affects the media, in this case, coverage of the incident on the Hudson.
Sri Lankan newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga has been assassinated; he was a notable critic of the government's war on Tamil rebels.
PERSONAL:
My dorm remains frigid. I filed a work request, but it has yet to be answered; my RA, after declaring that my room was indeed very cold, promised that he'd get workers up to my hall if the problem persisted. Fellow hallmates remarked on the crisis, stating, "yeah, it's really cold." The frigid temperature may or may not be slowly driving me insane. More on this later. For now, it's time to suit up for sleep. I left my comforter in San Antonio, and my one sheet does little to defend against the cold, so this is my plan:
-Two pairs of pajama pants
-Two pairs of socks
-T-shirt, overshirt, hoodie
-??? pairs of underwear
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 61
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, cold as hell.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
January 15th, 2009
A little late tonight; explanation in the Personal section.
MUSIC:
Everybody (even Paste!) is buzzing about the free Decemberists mp3 from their upcoming, ahem, rock opera. And you know what? If this track is any indication, Meloy is going to pull it off. In the context of this song, and the narrative sweep of "The Mariner's Revenge Song" or "The Bagman's Gambit," this rock opera makes perfect sense; it's suddenly confusing why this wasn't an obvious development.
As mentioned, Gorillaz recently previewed some demos over the radio; NME writes up some info and Pitchfork has streams of the demos.
DiS likes the Blood Bank EP.
HipHopDX has officially put Platinum Pied Pipers on my to-buy list. Stream this now, it's only slept on if you guys are sleeping.
Continental Divide's "Golden Throat" is crunchy, jagged, and rewarding. Juelz Santana's new track, on the other hand, comes off equal parts smooth and braindead.
FILM:
Watchmen settlement at last! I'm still pissed at Fox, of course, for bleeding a legitimate project for its own cynical profit.
Keanu confirmed for live-action Bebop.
/Film has some nice 500 Days of Summer clips.
Also, some clips from Moon. I'll be honest... this film looks awful. What a terrible waste of a good premise. At least it will fuel some "Har har Moon is made of cheese har har" review titles.
The Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy, is establishing its cast. If you're like me, right now you're asking: "what Lennon biopic?"
IFC points me to Jerichow, which looks fantastic.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is directing a feature!
WEIRD:
Laserdisc is finally dying. My high school physics teacher is going to be really bummed.
Speaking of physics, ice is ridiculously fun.
WORLD:
The Israeli invasion continues; Israel is targeting hospitals and media buildings. According to UNRWA officials, Israel is using the experimental "white phosphorus" weapon.
As the New York Times reports, the gas dispute in East Europe continues. Evidently, the issue is a bureaucratic one, with the Ukrainian company refusing to transport the Russian company's gas into Europe until the Ukrainian company has its own rates cemented.
PERSONAL:
After a relatively stress-free packing job today, my father drove me back to campus. If I have any advice for yet-to-be college freshmen, this is that advice: the words "I'll just clean the dorm after break" are fatal. My floor is filthy, the refrigerator looks diseased inside, and I spent no fewer than three hours just cleaning this damned thing up. Atrocious! At least I got to eat at Veggie Heaven earlier. Oh Protein 2000, how I've missed you.
I am apprehensive, hoping to hit my stride sometime in the near future. Oh, and for the record, it is just above 60 in the dorm right now, despite the thermometer being set at 80. I'm talking to the RA tomorrow to get this fixed.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 59
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, back on the laboriously (temporarily? [cynically]) clean desk of my frigid dorm room in Austin.
MUSIC:
Everybody (even Paste!) is buzzing about the free Decemberists mp3 from their upcoming, ahem, rock opera. And you know what? If this track is any indication, Meloy is going to pull it off. In the context of this song, and the narrative sweep of "The Mariner's Revenge Song" or "The Bagman's Gambit," this rock opera makes perfect sense; it's suddenly confusing why this wasn't an obvious development.
As mentioned, Gorillaz recently previewed some demos over the radio; NME writes up some info and Pitchfork has streams of the demos.
DiS likes the Blood Bank EP.
HipHopDX has officially put Platinum Pied Pipers on my to-buy list. Stream this now, it's only slept on if you guys are sleeping.
Continental Divide's "Golden Throat" is crunchy, jagged, and rewarding. Juelz Santana's new track, on the other hand, comes off equal parts smooth and braindead.
FILM:
Watchmen settlement at last! I'm still pissed at Fox, of course, for bleeding a legitimate project for its own cynical profit.
Keanu confirmed for live-action Bebop.
/Film has some nice 500 Days of Summer clips.
Also, some clips from Moon. I'll be honest... this film looks awful. What a terrible waste of a good premise. At least it will fuel some "Har har Moon is made of cheese har har" review titles.
The Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy, is establishing its cast. If you're like me, right now you're asking: "what Lennon biopic?"
IFC points me to Jerichow, which looks fantastic.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is directing a feature!
WEIRD:
Laserdisc is finally dying. My high school physics teacher is going to be really bummed.
Speaking of physics, ice is ridiculously fun.
WORLD:
The Israeli invasion continues; Israel is targeting hospitals and media buildings. According to UNRWA officials, Israel is using the experimental "white phosphorus" weapon.
As the New York Times reports, the gas dispute in East Europe continues. Evidently, the issue is a bureaucratic one, with the Ukrainian company refusing to transport the Russian company's gas into Europe until the Ukrainian company has its own rates cemented.
PERSONAL:
After a relatively stress-free packing job today, my father drove me back to campus. If I have any advice for yet-to-be college freshmen, this is that advice: the words "I'll just clean the dorm after break" are fatal. My floor is filthy, the refrigerator looks diseased inside, and I spent no fewer than three hours just cleaning this damned thing up. Atrocious! At least I got to eat at Veggie Heaven earlier. Oh Protein 2000, how I've missed you.
I am apprehensive, hoping to hit my stride sometime in the near future. Oh, and for the record, it is just above 60 in the dorm right now, despite the thermometer being set at 80. I'm talking to the RA tomorrow to get this fixed.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 59
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, back on the laboriously (temporarily? [cynically]) clean desk of my frigid dorm room in Austin.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
January 14th, 2009
Lots of news today. Can we try spreading this evenly, guys?
MUSIC:
It was a good day to read Pitchfork. A few good MP3s... First, Parallelogram by Deastro is fun, quick, and quirky. Then, I've been waiting for new Asobi Seksu for quite some time, and Pitchfork hooked me up at last. It's just as lush and swoon-worthy as I was hoping. Also, remember that deliciously weird PB&J video? Pitchfork's got the hook-up to a free download of the track. Between this and Nothing to Worry About, the new PB&J album is shaping up to be one of my favorites of the whole goddamn year.
Also, Pitchfork brings us three cool videos: Rex the Dog's new video is the most fun video ever, although Fol Chen doesn't give up without a fight. The new Beirut video is straight-up gorgeous.
City of God's Son is a fascinating undertaking. Basically, Kenzo Digital is taking verses from rap music and recontextualizing them into his own narrative. I'll be giving it a full listen and review soon.
If you're jonesing for straight-up dance music, NME's got a free download of Joakim's remix of Cut Copy's Hearts On Fire. They accurately describe it as a slow- burner, but it's worth it.
Fader's got a track off the perfect-by-way-of-absurdity Afro Samurai: The Resurrection. It's RZA, Kool G Rap, Ghostface Killah, and Tash Mahogany. It's got the dramatic sweep of the old-school kung fu flicks, which is, in this isolated instance, a really good thing.
Fader's also got new Mos Def, and it's really damn good. Classy, minimal, and Mos Def is at lightspeed.
DiS' review of Little Hells puts it firmly on my music-to-watch list. Oh, and they scored an interview with Animal Collective.
With all this buzz about who is performing where for the inauguration, Paste's got a guide that, y'know, makes sense and is chronological, rather than "the order of when the news broke."
FILM:
If film geeks you know are outraged about the foreign language list for the Academy Awards, /Film can explain the situation. Basically: Let The Right One In and Gomorra are out of the running.
According to AICN, two films with big potential are in the works: A new adaptation of East of Eden, and a Steve McQueen biopic.
The FCC didn't like it when Aronofsky gave Rourke the bird.
The very NSFW Informers trailer (from the guy who wrote the original American Psycho novel, if that's any indication) looks really good, although I suspect the 80's music of playing a big role in its appeal. But hey... Rourke!
Pushing Daisies might pull a Firefly and get a plot-ending film. This sounds great to me; I had the pleasure of attending a small lecture given by the art directors of the show, and it's a show that had a lot of heart.
Call me a dork, but I will listen to anything Wim Wenders has to say.
WEIRD:
If you know me, you know my affinity for chip music. That's why this NES Dark Knight trailer made me weep, longing for such a game to actually exist. Speaking of chip music, what the hell is up with Anamanaguchi's new album?
Via Paste, the biggest music list ever.
Landmark on Kanye's blog: his favorite post ever, and it's, uh, a lego girl.
WORLD:
The crisis in Gaza continues; the Palestinian death toll has passed 1,000. The invasion is rendering aid groups helpless. As the New York Times reports, Egypt claims to be making progress in efforts to forge a truce.
Confirmations for Obama's cabinet are underway. Clinton, in her confirmation, suggested that she would not negotiate with Hamas.
PERSONAL:
This is my last night in San Antonio for a while. I'm peculiarly nervous about heading back to Austin for college, but I think that will melt into excitement once I'm there.
I'll admit it: I'm a Lost fan, and watching the "enhanced" (interrupted) season four finale, I'm realizing that I'll have to hook up cable in my dorm, at least temporarily. Speaking of television, the new Scrubs episodes were really, really good. Really balanced. I was impressed.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 50
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room, relaxing before the journey back to Austin.
MUSIC:
It was a good day to read Pitchfork. A few good MP3s... First, Parallelogram by Deastro is fun, quick, and quirky. Then, I've been waiting for new Asobi Seksu for quite some time, and Pitchfork hooked me up at last. It's just as lush and swoon-worthy as I was hoping. Also, remember that deliciously weird PB&J video? Pitchfork's got the hook-up to a free download of the track. Between this and Nothing to Worry About, the new PB&J album is shaping up to be one of my favorites of the whole goddamn year.
Also, Pitchfork brings us three cool videos: Rex the Dog's new video is the most fun video ever, although Fol Chen doesn't give up without a fight. The new Beirut video is straight-up gorgeous.
City of God's Son is a fascinating undertaking. Basically, Kenzo Digital is taking verses from rap music and recontextualizing them into his own narrative. I'll be giving it a full listen and review soon.
If you're jonesing for straight-up dance music, NME's got a free download of Joakim's remix of Cut Copy's Hearts On Fire. They accurately describe it as a slow- burner, but it's worth it.
Fader's got a track off the perfect-by-way-of-absurdity Afro Samurai: The Resurrection. It's RZA, Kool G Rap, Ghostface Killah, and Tash Mahogany. It's got the dramatic sweep of the old-school kung fu flicks, which is, in this isolated instance, a really good thing.
Fader's also got new Mos Def, and it's really damn good. Classy, minimal, and Mos Def is at lightspeed.
DiS' review of Little Hells puts it firmly on my music-to-watch list. Oh, and they scored an interview with Animal Collective.
With all this buzz about who is performing where for the inauguration, Paste's got a guide that, y'know, makes sense and is chronological, rather than "the order of when the news broke."
FILM:
If film geeks you know are outraged about the foreign language list for the Academy Awards, /Film can explain the situation. Basically: Let The Right One In and Gomorra are out of the running.
According to AICN, two films with big potential are in the works: A new adaptation of East of Eden, and a Steve McQueen biopic.
The FCC didn't like it when Aronofsky gave Rourke the bird.
The very NSFW Informers trailer (from the guy who wrote the original American Psycho novel, if that's any indication) looks really good, although I suspect the 80's music of playing a big role in its appeal. But hey... Rourke!
Pushing Daisies might pull a Firefly and get a plot-ending film. This sounds great to me; I had the pleasure of attending a small lecture given by the art directors of the show, and it's a show that had a lot of heart.
Call me a dork, but I will listen to anything Wim Wenders has to say.
WEIRD:
If you know me, you know my affinity for chip music. That's why this NES Dark Knight trailer made me weep, longing for such a game to actually exist. Speaking of chip music, what the hell is up with Anamanaguchi's new album?
Via Paste, the biggest music list ever.
Landmark on Kanye's blog: his favorite post ever, and it's, uh, a lego girl.
WORLD:
The crisis in Gaza continues; the Palestinian death toll has passed 1,000. The invasion is rendering aid groups helpless. As the New York Times reports, Egypt claims to be making progress in efforts to forge a truce.
Confirmations for Obama's cabinet are underway. Clinton, in her confirmation, suggested that she would not negotiate with Hamas.
PERSONAL:
This is my last night in San Antonio for a while. I'm peculiarly nervous about heading back to Austin for college, but I think that will melt into excitement once I'm there.
I'll admit it: I'm a Lost fan, and watching the "enhanced" (interrupted) season four finale, I'm realizing that I'll have to hook up cable in my dorm, at least temporarily. Speaking of television, the new Scrubs episodes were really, really good. Really balanced. I was impressed.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 50
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room, relaxing before the journey back to Austin.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
January 13th, 2009
Slowest news day of the year so far, by a longshot.
MUSIC:
Pitchfork's got the link to a new Franz Ferdinand track, from their forthcoming album. It's got the same trashy, slutty bounce from the Ulysses MP3, but sans the vague sense of mystery.
Morrissey is talking about quitting music. He does sound tired, but hopefully this is just NME blowing things out of proportion. Anyway, I can't imagine Morrissey running out of things to say.
Well, looks like I'll be watching the Grammys this year after all.
FILM:
Samuel L. Jackson may not be playing Nick Fury.
Two members of hilarious sketch comedy team Whitest Kids U' Know have been working on a first feature, and, well, it looks underwhelming. Maybe it's just the trailer, but this looks short on laughs. It just doesn't seem to have the vicious bite of their sketch work. Well, we'll see.
IFC's film blog rounds up the lukewarm response to Notorious.
WEIRD:
Jell-O Clown is satan.
WORLD:
Al Jazeera has released its footage from Gaza. This is crucial; the international media has largely been denied entry.
PERSONAL:
I spent a lot of day hanging out with friends; I watched Elephant with one friend, then Bottle Rocket with a few others. As much as I enjoy this relaxation, though, I'm looking forward to heading back to Austin. I'm craving an Alamo Drafthouse fix.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 43
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room, exhausted from travelling to a friend's house and performing Build-a-Mix duties.
MUSIC:
Pitchfork's got the link to a new Franz Ferdinand track, from their forthcoming album. It's got the same trashy, slutty bounce from the Ulysses MP3, but sans the vague sense of mystery.
Morrissey is talking about quitting music. He does sound tired, but hopefully this is just NME blowing things out of proportion. Anyway, I can't imagine Morrissey running out of things to say.
Well, looks like I'll be watching the Grammys this year after all.
FILM:
Samuel L. Jackson may not be playing Nick Fury.
Two members of hilarious sketch comedy team Whitest Kids U' Know have been working on a first feature, and, well, it looks underwhelming. Maybe it's just the trailer, but this looks short on laughs. It just doesn't seem to have the vicious bite of their sketch work. Well, we'll see.
IFC's film blog rounds up the lukewarm response to Notorious.
WEIRD:
Jell-O Clown is satan.
WORLD:
Al Jazeera has released its footage from Gaza. This is crucial; the international media has largely been denied entry.
PERSONAL:
I spent a lot of day hanging out with friends; I watched Elephant with one friend, then Bottle Rocket with a few others. As much as I enjoy this relaxation, though, I'm looking forward to heading back to Austin. I'm craving an Alamo Drafthouse fix.
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 43
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room, exhausted from travelling to a friend's house and performing Build-a-Mix duties.
Monday, January 12, 2009
January 12th, 2009
It's been a weird and generally poorly-reported day. Thankfully, there's such a thing as BoingBoing.
MUSIC:
Pitchfork says you can get the new Fever Ray album tomorrow. (Fever Ray = one half of The Knife) But they didn't say how it would be released. This led me to try and find where it would be released, and uh, Pitchfork? Rabid already has it up for sale. Full review pending; if it weren't for Animal Collective I'd suspect this as being clear and away the album of the month - this is moody, evocative, smart, glorious stuff. Those vocals can really chill, moreso than the voice of any other working musician, I'd wager.
Bouncing back, Pitchfork gains serious points for the news that new Gorillaz songs are appearing, then loses them all over again by referring to Murdoc as an ape. You guys are having an off day, huh? At least they hooked me up with some sorely needed new Morrissey.
Pet Shop Boys to release a new album. Marr? Owen Pallett? This sounds badass.
If you need to dance today, and you'd like your dance complete with bizarre interjections by the utterly irreplaceable Lil John, Fader will hook you up.
The people you would expect to actually care about Biggie actually care about Biggie. MTV's take on respecting Biggie: you only love him if you pay the film's patrons, like MTV: "Don't disrespect the icon's memory by seeing the bootleg — go to the box office if you want to see the film." Classy.
Oh, and lest I forget to mention, Drowned in Sound is back from what felt like a decade-long vacation! In case you were wondering, they like Merriweather Post Pavilion.
FILM:
If you missed the Golden Globes, /Film will hook you up with the best acceptance speeches. Also, the folks at /Film discovered crack cocaine today.
AICN is on a roll lately. They've got exclusive Adventureland footage and a great interview with an actor in Soderbergh's Che.
I'm absolutely desperate to see Waltz With Bashir. NYT got a great, insightful interview with Folman.
Judging by MTV's braindead speculation on the minutia of comments by David Goyer and Aaron Eckhart, it's time for the internet to freak out about the Dark Knight sequel.
A little late on this one, but Egoyan's working on a new picture!
WEIRD:
BoingBoing is weird as hell today. Highlights:
How to hallucinate with a radio and a ping-pong ball, via BoingBoing. A lot of these are activities for two... best date ever?
Also via BoingBoing, Megaman versus Everybody. Oh Auntie Pixelante, you appeal to the DIY-gamer in all of us. Well, maybe not ALL of us.
To round it all out, pictures of weird diseases and stuff, yeah!
Unfortunately, BoingBoing is bested by TMT, which already wins the prize for best headline of '09. Oh, Jackson. You and your bizarre, cartoonish, grotesque antics!
WORLD:
Democracy Now reports the Palestinian death toll at 900; Israel now admits that no rockets were launched from the bombed UN school being used as a civilian shelter; Israel was aiming at a different target.
Also, Blagojevich was impeached.
PERSONAL:
Today was nice and relaxing. I did give Fever Ray's album a thorough listen. It's so beautiful!
Unrelated, but something I definitely didn't expect: 50 Cent's verse on Crack a Bottle is becoming my favorite on the track. How the hell did that happen?
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 38
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room due once more to fears of overheating.
MUSIC:
Pitchfork says you can get the new Fever Ray album tomorrow. (Fever Ray = one half of The Knife) But they didn't say how it would be released. This led me to try and find where it would be released, and uh, Pitchfork? Rabid already has it up for sale. Full review pending; if it weren't for Animal Collective I'd suspect this as being clear and away the album of the month - this is moody, evocative, smart, glorious stuff. Those vocals can really chill, moreso than the voice of any other working musician, I'd wager.
Bouncing back, Pitchfork gains serious points for the news that new Gorillaz songs are appearing, then loses them all over again by referring to Murdoc as an ape. You guys are having an off day, huh? At least they hooked me up with some sorely needed new Morrissey.
Pet Shop Boys to release a new album. Marr? Owen Pallett? This sounds badass.
If you need to dance today, and you'd like your dance complete with bizarre interjections by the utterly irreplaceable Lil John, Fader will hook you up.
The people you would expect to actually care about Biggie actually care about Biggie. MTV's take on respecting Biggie: you only love him if you pay the film's patrons, like MTV: "Don't disrespect the icon's memory by seeing the bootleg — go to the box office if you want to see the film." Classy.
Oh, and lest I forget to mention, Drowned in Sound is back from what felt like a decade-long vacation! In case you were wondering, they like Merriweather Post Pavilion.
FILM:
If you missed the Golden Globes, /Film will hook you up with the best acceptance speeches. Also, the folks at /Film discovered crack cocaine today.
AICN is on a roll lately. They've got exclusive Adventureland footage and a great interview with an actor in Soderbergh's Che.
I'm absolutely desperate to see Waltz With Bashir. NYT got a great, insightful interview with Folman.
Judging by MTV's braindead speculation on the minutia of comments by David Goyer and Aaron Eckhart, it's time for the internet to freak out about the Dark Knight sequel.
A little late on this one, but Egoyan's working on a new picture!
WEIRD:
BoingBoing is weird as hell today. Highlights:
How to hallucinate with a radio and a ping-pong ball, via BoingBoing. A lot of these are activities for two... best date ever?
Also via BoingBoing, Megaman versus Everybody. Oh Auntie Pixelante, you appeal to the DIY-gamer in all of us. Well, maybe not ALL of us.
To round it all out, pictures of weird diseases and stuff, yeah!
Unfortunately, BoingBoing is bested by TMT, which already wins the prize for best headline of '09. Oh, Jackson. You and your bizarre, cartoonish, grotesque antics!
WORLD:
Democracy Now reports the Palestinian death toll at 900; Israel now admits that no rockets were launched from the bombed UN school being used as a civilian shelter; Israel was aiming at a different target.
Also, Blagojevich was impeached.
PERSONAL:
Today was nice and relaxing. I did give Fever Ray's album a thorough listen. It's so beautiful!
Unrelated, but something I definitely didn't expect: 50 Cent's verse on Crack a Bottle is becoming my favorite on the track. How the hell did that happen?
2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 38
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room due once more to fears of overheating.
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