Top Ten Albums of 2009

I've been thinking about doing a top ten since mid-November, and I keep going back and forth as to whether to include EPs or not. In any event, here's the current top 10, with some extras afterwards:

01. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Out of every album I've gotten/heard this year, this is the one I've listened to the most, and have come back to again and again. Where there's so many places it could've gone off-course, Colin Meloy and company always keep the ship steered straight (with nary a whale in sight), and still manage to have some great pop songs in the mix.

02. Brand New - Daisy Continuing their evolution from emo-punk to atmospheric dramatics, Brand New really push the envelope of their sound on this album. The Modest Mouse influence is immediately obvious, and the more Glassjaw-ish tendencies (especially on the first track) are a welcome addition. If this is their last album, it's a great note to go out on.

03. We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
This scottish band overcomes the tweeness of their name and deliver an 11 song salvo of power and emotion. Though I could see how some might find the songs slightly repetitive, I feel the dynamics make all the difference. "Ships With Holes Will Sink" is my song of the year, and "Keeping Warm" never fails to move me.

04. Regina Spektor - Far
Not as much a triumph as Begin to Hope, Regina's follow-up to that amazing record is still full of her trademark peculiarities and strong songwriting, while upping the orchestration a bit.

05. The Lawrence Arms - Buttsweat and Tears
I will buy anything this band puts out, and this 5 song EP is no exception. It continues in the same vein as their last full-length, Oh Calcutta!, and quite frankly, I'd be happy if they just made that over and over again. Hopefully, they have another album coming in '10.

06. Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
After the vignette heavy Happy Hallow, Tim Kasher could be forgiven if he'd just relaxed and put out a couple Good Life albums. Thankfully (after the Good Life's excellent Help Wanted Nights of last year), he reconvened Cursive and made this album, which keeps the horn orchestrations of the last one, while adding some of the more folky arrangements of the Good Life's work. The final track, "What Have I Done", could slot into the older discs of theirs, like Domestica, perfectly.

07. Thrice - Beggars
Written and recorded fairly quickly, in contrast to their "Alchemy Index" of last year, this sounds like Thrice decided to just make a "rock" album. It seems almost rootsy at times, like the "Earth" Alchemy Index section but electrified. I can't wait to see where this band goes next.

08. Cancel the Astronauts - I Am The President Of Your Fanclub (And Last Night I Followed You Home)
Another Scottish band with a science themed name, these guys put out a solid 5 song EP of 80's new wave-style pop songs, and the title track especially gets stuck in my head constantly.

09. Slow Club -Yeah So
This duo is so amazingly fun and vibrant. I could listen to "It Doesn't Have to Be Beautiful" all day (and have!). Their harmonies are what drew me in, but the energy inherent in every track is what kept me around.

10. Muse - The Resistance
While the album does drag a little in the middle, the undeniable one-two punch of "The Uprising" and "The Resistance" manage to carry the momentum through to the amazing suite of the last few tracks. I wish more bands would embrace their inner ridiculous epicness.

HONORABLE MENTIONS TO:

Patton Oswalt My Weakness Is Strong and Paul F. Tompkins Freak Wharf for being two comedy albums that I've listened to multiple times, and still find insanely hilarious.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart for having the most ridiculously overwrought band name, yet still having a great record.

The Beatles remasters, because they're what I've listened to most since September 9th.

Jay-Z "Death of AutoTune", because it's my favorite "listening while driving" track this year.

My Year In Lists

As promised previously, here is my mythical and always highly anticipated Best of the Year lists!!!!

(The extra exclamation points are there to emphasize my complete awesomeness.)

Now, normally, I would expound at length on each entry of each list, or at the very least on the choice for number one. As it stands, though, I am loathe to do so at this time, because I can't quite verbally quantify my feelings for some of the entrants on these here ladders of excellence. And so, I expound not at all. (Except here, because that is how I roll. Deal with it, America!)

In any event, these are my favorites of this past Year of Someone's Lord, Two-Thousand and Eight. Notice I do not say "Greatest" or "Best", because one's mileage may vary. (Though why anyone would think to disagree with me, I'll never know. I am right and good in all things. Like Ghandi.)

So yes, so anyway, here's a list of things. Links where appropriate. Maybe a picture. Enjoy it. Add comments at the end, let's see what some of yours are.

FILMS

1. The Wrestler
2. The Dark Knight
3. Wall-E
4. Cloverfield (I wrote about this here. You should read it.)
5. Iron Man

ALBUMS

1. Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster... / We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (They put out two full albums this year. I'm counting both, as both are amazing, though each has a slightly different feel.)
   
2. Thrice - The Alchemy Index, vol 3 & 4: Air & Earth
3. the Killers - Day and Age
4. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
5. Stars - Sad Robots EP
6. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
7. Atmosphere -When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
8. Paddy's Well - First Friday (this is my dad's band!)
9. Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony
10. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
    

SONGS (links lead to downloadable versions of the songs. I cannot guarantee the links will last forever.)

1. Baskervilles - "A Little More Time"
2. the Decemberists - "Valerie Plame"
3. Los Campesinos! - "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed"
4. Okkervil River - "Calling and Not Calling My Ex"
5. Chairlift - "Bruises"
6. the Killers - "Spaceman"
7. Ben Folds - "You Don't Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor)"
8. Alkaline Trio - "Help Me"
9. Amanda Palmer - "Astronaut (A Short History Of Nearly Nothing)"
10. Los Campesinos! - "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats"
    

COMICS (specific issues highlighted): creative team

1. Casanova Vol 2. (issue #14): Matt Fraction, Fabio Moon
   
2. All-Star Superman (issue #10): Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely
   
3. Pax Romana (4 issue miniseries): Jonathan Hickman
   
4. Final Crisis (issue #5): Grant Morrison, JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco
   
5. Aetheric Mechanics (a graphic novella): Warren Ellis, Gianluca Pagliarani

TELEVISION

1. The Venture Brothers season 3
   
2. Doctor Who season 4
   
3. The Venture Brothers season 3
4. ok, so I don't watch a whole lot of television...
   

So there you go. Comment with your opinions. Otherwise, I'm just going to assume that all my lists are comprehensive and completely correct.

Excelsior! And never forget:

In Which I Share Some Music, and Make Blanket Statements About Various Things

PART THE FIRST::

SO, every year I make a "Best of" mix. Most of the time, this mix ends up just staying on my hard-drive/Motherboxxx, occasionally to be burnt onto disc and given to someone. BUT THIS YEAR, I have decided to share with the world the SPECTACULARNESS of my music tastes. Sit/stand/lounge in awe of my ability to find good music and combine it into new forms and lists!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/28jkjq

But yeah, this is it. It's less a "These are the best songs" list, as it is a "These are songs I love the shit out of" list. I didn't duplicate any bands (because then it would've ended up being 75% Los Campesinos! tracks), but yes. It is awesome. Go ahead. Taste the freshness.

PART THE SECOND::

All your opinions are wrong.

This is a statement which will cause some ire, I understand. But make no mistake: here, I am the arbiter of all things that are fine and good, and as such, I am forced to play both liberator and captor of the opinions of those who visit. Thus, I am stating, unequivocally, that all your opinions are wrong. Unless they happen to agree with mine, or you have proof that yours are correct and mine are not. (Which begs why they'd be labeled "opinions", but stick around, there's a point here...)

Actually, no, there's no point. I just felt like putting that out there. Whether you realize or not, you are wrong and I am right.

By the way, there is no possible way that this is all tongue in cheek, so... put that right out of your head.



(cough)

Rocket Boy, come home

Jets to Brazil's Perfecting Loneliness is the only album I can label as "personally transcendent."

This is not to say that other albums don't mean anything to me in various ways (nostalgia: In Utero, influence: Something to Write Home About, excellence: The Greatest Story Ever Told, etc.), but they do not approach JTB's final album in my mind. Whenever I listen to Perfecting Loneliness, I can remember every feeling that I've had when previously listening. Moments, memories, situations, an infinite amount of threads that lead back to those 12 tracks.

I'm not doing a great job of translating this into something you can understand, I think, but I feel like having heard/experienced Perfecting Loneliness has affected me and my personality in the years since it's release, and somehow, I feel like I'm a better person for having experienced it. And having heard the majority of it performed live on JTB's final tour is integral as well. I know that, no matter the time or place or whatever my headspace, I can listen to "The Frequency" or "Lucky Charm" or "Rocket Boy", and all will be well. And for that, I am grateful.

In that, I am transcendent.

Video Friday 2/22/08

I've been making a mix of 90's music for the Bandit Queen over the past few days. It's 4 discs long at this point, and that's with a load of limitations I've placed on myself for it (examples: no rap, metal, or ska; only songs that received significant radio airplay; one song per album; etc.) As such, I've been in a 90's music frame of mind. I was already halfway there before I ever began though, as I'd recently purchased and read the 33 1/3 book series volumes on the Pixies' Doolittle, Nirvana's In Utero and Radiohead's OK Computer. (All excellent books by the way.)

I personally love OK Computer, in a way that might be slightly unhealthy. The song "Lucky" makes me feel like I'm having a heart attack. But in a good way! Anyway, this is the video for "No Surprises", a track from that album. It's weird and arty, and for the most part is just Thom Yorke and his creepy eye staring at you, reading your thoughts, and singing along.

Then he drowns.

In Which I Make a Triumphant Return and Declare Myself Lord and Master of All I Survey

Maybe I should write something in here. I feel neglectful and ashamed at my lack of productivity towards my worshipful masses. (Hi, Mom!) The pop culture landscape has been rife, RIFE I SAY!, with subjects worthy of venom, bile, and excoriation, and yet I have remained silent, content in my place of "Fuck that, I would rather keep (re)reading Douglas Coupland and David Foster Wallace, while the world falls apart around me." Which, admittedly, is a rather ostrich-esque way of dealing with things. But screw you, I am the master of this particular domain (not in the internet "domain name" sense, but that's just splitting rabbits), and I will say WHAT I want, WHEN I want, and NOBODY, you hear me meatball?, is going to tell me otherwise!
.....
Sorry, I went all Master Shake for a second, I needed a space to breathe.

BUT ANYWAY, like I said, there's been a lot that has pissed me off, and I would go into exactly what, but then this would become a fount of negativity, and if there's anything that there is too much of on the internet, it's porn. Followed by cat pictures. Then negativity. And I'd like to think that, today, in this rather expansive and (some might say rarely) jolly mood that I am in, I'd like to balance that equation with some positivity. So, without further ado (ok, maybe SOME ado), I will write on what my favorite things of the past Year of Their Lord Two Thousand and Seven are. Bear in mind, this is just one lone (handsome intelligent and awesome) man's opinion, and that it might not necessarily agree with yours. In that case, leave a comment, telling me I'm wrong and why, and then fuck off and start your own blog.* But yes, favorite things, here we go:

Favorite Movie of 2007:
HOT FUZZ
Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg are awesome. That could be the only sentence in this section, and it would still be a perfect encapsulation of why I love this film. They have made two almost perfect films now, Shaun of the Dead and this one, and also produced previously the great BBC series Spaced, and I am now willing to follow them everywhere they go. I mean, jeez, even their contribution to Grindhouse, the fake trailer for a British horror movie Don't!, was genius.

Hot Fuzz was a note-perfect parody of the distinctly American genre of "Buddy Cop" action movies, but set in a distinctly non-American setting: a rural village in England. Skewering every cliche and trope that the genre is known for in its first two-thirds, while also playing as a wonderful mystery with elements of the giallo, the movie then takes an abrupt, Adaptation-esque turn, and BECOMES what it was parodying: a thrill-ride action movie. Except this time, the audience is in on the joke, and what would have seemed ridiculous earlier now makes complete sense in the world that Pegg and Wright have established. As full of laughs as Shaun of the Dead (which I maintain is, along with the first Back to the Future, one of the few perfect screenplays**), it's not only the funniest movie of the year, it's one of the best, period.

honorable mentions: Grindhouse, American Gangster, Knocked Up


Favorite Album of 2007:
Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me
I wholly reserve the right to change this at some future date, as I am nothing if not capricious about music. But, as of right now, Motion City Soundtrack's latest entry in their catalog of goodness is the number one on my own personal Billboard chart. While not as rough as their earlier work, and without the apologetic air of "I fucked up" of their last album, the pop sheen production on this album, along with the much more... well, not overtly positive, but less mopey lyrics, I suppose?... makes Justin Pierre and company's latest effort the one I keep coming back to out of the albums that have come out this year.

The themes hit the usual for Pierre: love, loss, love lost, but this time, it ends on a good note. His struggles with his chemical dependencies and mental instability have been well-chronicled, both on the previous records and elsewhere, but his new-found sobriety seems to have coincided with a brighter outlook in his love-life, as the songs "It Had to Be You", "Antonia" and the title track evidence. The stand out track to me, though, is number 4, "Last Night", if only for the bridge section, which contains the lines "My body aches, it heaves it shakes / all somersaults for so-called art. And I still don't know exactly who I am / I never will, amen." No one knows exactly who they are, and it takes a very strong person to admit that. This album is a great accomplishment for the band, and a stand-out for the year in general.

Honorable mentions: Radiohead - In Rainbows, Sundowner - Four One Five Two, Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre


Favorite Book of 2007:
The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland is a writer I have been following since high school. To give a better picture of that statement: the only other writers who also fall in that category are William Gibson and JRR Tolkien. My reading taste has changed... not drastically, but has... I suppose the phrase would be "been refined" since then. And yet, Coupland remains. He endures. And this year, he put out one of his best novels since Girlfriend in a Coma (which is in my top 5 all-time).***

Honorable mentions: Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis, Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, I am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert


Favorite Comic/Graphic work of 2007:
The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman

This one was the hardest for me to decide, because there was quite a few great things to choose from this year. And it was made even harder by how much OLDER things I read this year, which confused in my head what came out when, and so forth. As it stand, Jonathan Hickman's mini-series from Image, The Nightly News, keeps popping out in my head as the one. The very distinct art style, and very "controversial" subject matter, kept me interested and involved through it's running time.****

Honorable mentions: LoEG: the Black Dossier by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, Casanova by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba/Fabio Moon, Fell by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith

___________________________________________

SO. Yes. I will be writing in here more. So, check back... I dunno, a lot. There'll eventually be more posts. And they will be fun. And full of awesome. Much like me!


* Make sure to link to me, and tell me, and then we'll have a circle of disagreement. It'll be AWESOME.

** I'll probably do an entire post on my views on this in the future.

*** More info coming.

**** More info coming.

OK Computer.

Radiohead's OK Computer is often thought to depict a dystopia, and its artwork contains references to George Orwell's novels, especially Nineteen Eighty-Four. The band have cited Orwell several times throughout their career. However, singer Thom Yorke said, "Loads of the music on OK Computer is extremely uplifting. It's only when you read the words that you'd think otherwise." A notable aspect of the album is an apparently circular narrative. In the opening song "Airbag", someone survives a horrific car crash, while the final song "The Tourist" contains the line "they ask me where the hell I'm going / at a thousand feet per second" and ends with a chorus of "hey man, slow down". However, the band said this had not been intentional, but they had noticed it after finalising the track listing.

"The Piano Lesson"

Discovering manifold artistic movements that coexisted or succeeded one another on the dynamic Parisian artistic scene, such as Neo-Classicism, Realism, Impressionism, and Neo-Impressionism, Matisse began to experiment with a diversity of styles, employing new kinds of brushwork, light, and composition to create his own pictorial language.

Art is hard.

Album art is very important.

The first thing you see in a record/cd store is the art on the cover. It can be eye-catching, or it can blend in. I feel like the slow transition to on-line music stores is actually sounding the deathknell of well-constructed album art. I've always felt a good cover can do many things: contrast the music within, add to it, comment on it, comment on the themes of the work, anything. So, with that said: these are my top 10 favorite album covers ever.

1. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
I wrote a paper for an art class about the symbolism and composition of this cover. I lost it though, so you're lucky to not be subjected to it. In any event, this is my favorite album cover ever.

2. the Beatles - Abbey Road
Paul's barefoot, because Paul is dead.

3. Radiohead - OK Computer
Moreso than just the front cover art, the entire package is amazing on an aesthetic level. Little written messages in the spine, and a visual representation of the alienation contained therein. Good stuff.

4. weezer - weezer (blue album)
Simple band shot against a blue background. Like the music, not too complicated, but memorable.

5. Spinal Tap - Smell the Glove
Its like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is: None. None... more black.

6. Pink Floyd - The Division Bell
Anyone who talks to me about movies and art knows I'm a sucker for extreme symmetry, and this is a perfect example of such. Its also a visual representation of the album's themes of the breakdown in communication between individuals. Notice: 2 figures, 2 open mouths, and line between them... but no ears

7. Midtown - Forget What You Know
This is the newest cover on my list, a visual portrait of the loneliness and alienation in American society. "So long as we keep our bodies numb we're safe."

8. Elliott Smith - XO
I like the transparent reflection. And its Elliott. Simple as that.

9. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free
I don't know what it is about this one, but the colors, combined with the slightly asymmetrical design, just catch my eye and make for a striking image.

10. Jets to Brazil - Perfecting Loneliness
You think I'd make a music-related list and leave out my favorite album of all time? What a wonderful painting, perfectly capturing the mood of the entire album contained therein.

Ok. and here's one for the hell of it. I have a poster of it, and its such a wonderful concept put into practice.

It'd be pretty cool to see what all of yours are. Why not post your own list?

Is there any hope for us, or are the rumors true?

This post at Dave's Long Box pretty much covers why I like the Mighty Thor as a character.

"Yea verily, I swear by all that mine father Odin hath wrought upon this goodly earth, I, Thor, shall claim vengeance on thee! Mjolnir, to me!"

(SMASH, BITCHES)

"By Soggoth's horns, this deed is done!"

Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, thats the good stuff.

So yeah, I've not been writing in here for a good bit, have I? It's not for lack of writing, you can be sure. I've just not been writing anything worthwhile enough to unleash upon you, my blog-reading enthusiasts. See, I have only YOUR best interests at heart.

I do have a quick CD review for you, though, as I know you've been starved for my attention and crave the fix that only my unique brand of self-deprecation and overblown ego provide. Sic Semper Bea Arthur.

The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!


If you know anything about this amazing Chicago punk band, you don't need me to explain how good they are. But seeing as how the only Chicago punk bands most seem to know about are the Alkaline Trio (good) and Fall Out Boy (astoundingly bad), maybe a primer is in order: The last official release from the band was The Greatest Story Ever Told, a concept album based around a circus theme, which also revolved around the comparison between music/entertainment and the conformity of the masses, using massive amounts of both low and high culture references (for instance, in one short chorus, Nabakov, Simon & Garfunkel, Paradise Lost, and the Simpsons are all referenced). Themes both lyrical and musical were repeated and cross-referenced throughout the album, until the final song actually has pieces of every other song contained in it in some way. (Sidenote: interesting comparisons can be made to the "fractal" nature of Grant Morrison's magnum opus The Invisibles here. But that's way too much work for me.)

So, how do they follow that up?

By making what is most definitely one the most aggresively old-school sounding record they've ever done, which, while not as overtly theme-based as the last, is nontheless held together by a thread of discontent and dissatisfaction with the current state of culture in this country. Songs like "The Devil's Takin' Names" and "Are You There, Margaret? It's me, God" do the usual random references the Larry Arms boys regularly make, but there is a palpable anger behind every song, almost tactile in its fierceness. Nowhere is this more evident than on the track "Recovering the Opposable Thumb" (lyrics), which is a scathing indictment of the Intelligent Design theory, and indeed, the concept of using religion as a weapon against thoughtful intelligent discussion in general. All in all, this is an amazing record, and my early vote for album of the year.

Two tracks, and a video for "The Devil's Takin' Names" are on the band's Myspace page.

order the CD from Amazon.

SO yeah.
Great album.

ps. I promise I'll write more in here. As long as someone's reading, I'll be writing.

sic transit gloria mundi

A short entry, since I'm really not in the mood to write for some reason.

• I "acquired" a new Guns N Roses song titled "IRS". You might've heard it, apparently it leaked and a few radio stations played snippets of it. It's.... interesting. Axl truly HAS gone off the deep end if he thinks this is in any way better than when Slash was in the band. Very mid-90's sounding, with techno beats and (oddly enough) Pink Floyd-ish guitar leads.... Yeah, I know. Maybe the album will actually come out soon, but somehow I doubt it.

• I also "acquired" the demos to the new Brand New album Fight Off Your Demons. And I am impressed. They're mostly acoustic, in the vein of "Play Crack the Sky" (last track on Deja Entendu), but there's a few full band songs too, and I have been listening to them quite a bit. The Smiths/Morrissey influence is VERY apparent on a couple of them, as well as the Cure. I am eagerly anticipating this album now, even more than I was.

• The next movie I want to see is V for Vendetta. Everything else can go to hell.

• I spend entirely too much time on Myspace.

• Jawbreaker's song "Million" is one of the most honestly romantic songs I've ever heard. Discuss and prepare a viewpoint, as I will at some point be writing a defense of it.
  

Tempus fugit, man.

Return of the (not really a) Jedi.

My computer's harddrive went to sleep sometime around 3am on Tuesday and never woke up. We had a traditional Irish wake for it (ie. I got drunk and staggered around for awhile Tuesday night.)

BUT.

A new computer was purchased Wednesday evening. And if my last computer was Jesus, this one is Buddha, because its like 9000 times better. For a visual representation:

My old computer:
Grant Morrison on New X-men. Better than most things. A solid read, interesting ideas and takes on characters he didn't create, as well as some new ones which are cool too.

My New Computer:
Grant Morrison on The Invisibles. The nature of god and the universe and "life as a game" and anarchy and "You are on the Island" and quantum magic and chaos theory and "Eye youse thee enn emm eee" and fucking brilliance in a three volume series. One of my favorite things ever.

So you see how they compare now. Good. Moving on... I got a new camera/music phone. So I am techno-ed out right now.

In completely different news, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain are apparently going to be reuniting and recording as the Smashing Pumpkins. And possibly performing. I don't know how I feel about that. The Pumpkins were my favorite band for a long time (only within the past 2 years have they been overthrown by Jets to Brazil, who are now firmly entrenched), and I'm more than a bit leery of an attempt by Billy to revive them, especially noting the abscence of James Iha. (D'arcy was crap anyway, so I could care less about whether she's in.) We'll see how this develops, I guess. Maybe it'll be good, I don't know.

So yeah. Quick hits: the State of the Union address was laughable, and yesterday Dubya asked for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. You know the one in Iraq, right? the one we "won" in 2003? Yeah... anyway... moving on, The new Strokes album, First Impressions of Earth, is really good, much better than their older ones... I watched about half of Brokeback Mountain the other day, and it's not bad or anything, but it's friggin BORING and insanely overpraised... Grant Morrison is god... ummm... what else...

Oh yeah, Modest Mouse's Good News for People Who Love Bad News is a great album to listen to while driving around in 60 degree weather with the windows down.

That is all.

Info-dump.

Last night, while I was falling asleep masturbating to softcore on cinemax* listening to a Dane Cook cd, an idea came to me about what to write about today: Everyone has random thoughts, right? Just the completely bizarre stuff that you tend to obsess a bit about, and then forget until later. I know I do. So what I'm going to do is compile a list of the topics you'd Google if you had access to my head and wanted to know what the fuck has been running through my mind this week (other than its normal program of fear and loathing). So here we go!

• Eddie Izzard Sexie double cd. While not as consistently funny as Glorious or Dressed to Kill, and not as gleefully blasphemous as Circle (Blas-phe-my!!! Blas-phe-you!! Blas-phe-everybody in the room!!), Eddie's newest release is still one of the funnier things you will ever listen to that's from a modern stand-up. Sample line from the beginning of the show: "I had breast envy! I didn't have penis envy. I had penis nonchalance."

• Infinite Crisis. Driving home the point to me that I know way too much about DC comics history (both Pre- and Post-Crisis [the original]), especially since I never read DC when I was younger, and hardly read any non-Morrison DC now. But, on the whole, an enjoyable mini-series that seems to be getting the "universe threatening crossover!!!111!!1!!" thing right. (Unlike House of M, which was teh suck.) Superboy-Prime going ape-shit was pretty cool, actually.
  

• Harvey Danger Little by Little... album. I posted about this very briefly before, just to get the word out about it, but the Danger boys released their newest album as a free download on their website. I'd suggest downloading it, because it's an excellent slice of indie-rock and well worth your time. I've been listening to it pretty constantly on my iPod, Motherboxxx, especially while at work.
  

• Grant Morrison is the fucking man. Well, duh. Seven Soldiers, All-Star Superman, added atop his already impressive resume of THINGS THAT I LOVE? I am a manwhore for him, in a way your tiny non-5D brains can't even comprehend.

• NEXTWAVE Did I hype this up enough? FUCK NO. It's even funnier than I thought it was going to be. Deal with it.

• Hunter S Thompson. Still in the throes of my HST obssesion. Currently re-reading Fear and Loathing in America: The Gonzo Letters vol 2, and let me tell you: I am still in thrall to this man's writing. Sweet Jesus. Did I just say that? Can they hear me?
  

• Sin City. I enjoyed the hell out of this movie, easily my favorite of last year, and while I generally watch the whole thing (I have the Extended Special Edition DVD), there's one section which I love far and away more than the rest:Clive Owen as Dwight is so amazingly bad-ass. I don't have a DVD drive in my computer, otherwise I'd get a screencap of my favorite shot in the movie (him jumping down the manhole, both guns blazing downwards).

• Driving. Not really pop-culture related or anything, but I'm finding it disturbing how I just zone out when driving to work or class. I literally have no memory of driving these places, unless something unusual happens to make me remember. I get to both places on time, with no accidents or mishaps, but it still weirds me out that I can unconsciously do something as complicated (and let's face it, dangerous) as operating an automobile and not have any memory of it.

• More Driving. Has anyone else ever thought about what it would be like to swerve into the oncoming traffic, just to see what it would be like....? No, just me? Ok.

• Insomnia. It leads me to make things like this:Christopher Walken is your new personal lord and savior. He's also running for president. Vote for him. Or don't. It's your choice. But he'll swallow your soul if you don't.
  

• Anthropic Principle. Doctrine of quantum physics that states that one explanation for why the universe has the properties we observe is that, were the properties different, it is likely that life would not form and therefore we would not be here to observe the changes. Discuss.

• Monty Python's Flying Circus. I need to get the DVDs of the episodes, since I am wearing out my VHS tapes through constant watching. My favorite sketch EVER from the show is The Penguin Atop the Television Set. It is pure bizarre genius.

• I am old. Well, older. And while I have adjusted to this, every so often I get reminded of it, and I curse time and its chronological momentum. Damn you, minutes/hours/years! Damn you all to hell!

Ok, that was fun. I'll have to do this again sometime.


*Actually, it was Showtime.

just say you never met me

Short post, because I feel the need to get this out to ya'll. 'Cause who loves ya likes I do? No ones, thats who!

Harvey Danger, an indie rock band who had a brief flirtation with fame due to the success of their single "Flagpole Sitta" (you know the song; "paranoia, paranoia, everyone is comin to get me..." Yeah, that one.), have released their new album, Little by Little..., online as a free download/torrent. I suggest you get it, because they are an amazing band that was left by the way-side of one-hit-wonder-dom, and deserve all the attention they can get.

So yes. Get it here. And love it.

The crazy things I like to read about, Pt. 1

"Today, the technologies of deception are developing more rapidly than the technologies of verification. Which means we can use a television camera, plus special effects, plus computers, etc. to falsify reality so perfectly that nobody can tell the difference. And the consequences of that eventually could be a society in which nobody believes, everybody knows that seeing is not believing, and nobody believes anything. With the exception of a small minority that decides to believe one thing fanatically. And that's a dangerous social/cultural situation.

One of the consequences of living through a period like this, which is in fact a revolutionary period, is that the entire structure of society and the processes of change become nonlinear. And nonlinearity I think is defined almost by the statement that 'small inputs can have large consequences.' While large inputs can sometimes have very small consequences. That also means in a political sense that very small groups can, under a given set of circumstances, achieve power. And that is a very threatening idea for anything remotely resembling what we believe to be democracy. So we're going into a period, I think, of high turbulence and considerable danger, along with enormous possibilities."

--interview with Alvin Toffler, in Modulations: A History of Electronic Music

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Sometimes when I get really caught up in an “Us vs. Them” mentality, I start to wonder if any side really has the right to claim that they know how things ought to be - if there is in fact a correct and proper map for relating with the world around us. It’s the whole hashishim chaos maxim “Nothing is true, everything is permissable” that’s permeated a lot of post-modernity. Grant Morrison’s own ontology speaks to this implying that the material world is simply placental waiting for us to be birthed into the supercontext. Somewhat implicit in this view is that it doesn’t really matter what we do while we’re here. Such concerns are left for moralists and philosophers.

From this notion the modern archetypal conflict of Right and Left - economy vs. humanity - can be imagined as merely a battle of mythologies or behavioral paradigms. The Right is predicated on the notion that nature is a resource and personal preservation is paramount - at least until death or Revelations and we all move on to the next level. This speaks to the preservation of the individual over community and environment. It is the evolutionary inheritance of the alpha male fighting to accumulate and protect resources. Like Morrison’s own ontology, the Right seems wholly invested in the transiency of our time on this humble planet.

The Left however prefers a softer humanitarianism coupled with a desire to live harmoniously with nature. It is extended from ape communities and predicated on an inherent equilibrium or balance with life on Earth. The underlying subtext of the progressive movement is that the conservative designs of nature should guide the development of human culture. As such, it’s invested in the long-term, supposing that through harmony our longevity on Earth will be much greater.

So who’s right here? And is there a Right anyhow? (What’s right for one may not be right for all). Is it all just a battle of relative wills struggling for dominance on an inherently meaningless playing field? Or is there really a correct way of doing things that will ultimately prevail? If the latter, then who’s got the winning ticket?

-- Key 23 --

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"Remember that human consciousness - that is EVERYTHING WE CAN THINK ABOUT - occupies a very narrow bandwidth. Of the 11 million bits of information our senses receive from the environment every second, the conscious mind edits out 10,999,984 bits, leaving 'us' with very little to think about and to look at - only 16 bits of information per second, in fact. Let THAT sink in. The world around us is seething and swarming with multitudes of things we refuse to or don't need to process into conscious awareness - hence those troubling 'sub'-conscious tremors and blinks we call feelings, intuitions, hunches, deja vu. There's also a half a second time lag between any given external 'event' and our consciousness becoming aware of it. Everything we see and do is actually happening half a second ago and we've already done it before our mind catches up to our actions and assigns them a meaning in our ongoing self-narrative. 'Conscious awareness' offers only the tiniest of perceptual pinholes on the universe and yet we tend to think we have it all worked out. The truth is that we're scantly aware of what's happening all around us, quite literally, as science has shown. The magician tries to bring a little more of this 'dark' unconscious life into conscious light and thereby learns to 'see' the universe better and to work with its mechanisms, to more profitably enrich his/her own experience and that of others. Magic only seems 'spooky' because it often deals with these normally-veiled areas of awareness."

-- Grant Morrison --

the opening salvo

So, here we go. First post in an "official" blog thats not myspace or livejournal. I'm pretty sure I'll still use them too, of course. I'll probably use myspace for songs and more "arty" writing, and LJ for boring day-to-day stuff. This will be for my long expository posts on things of a philosophical nature. I'll try to post as much as the muse allows. We'll see how it goes.

In any event, on with the show...


I'm not that guy.

On the way home the other night from a show, I was just driving along and thinking, as usual. And I've come to the conclusion that I'm not that guy. I don't have tattoos. I don't put on makeup. I don't wear girl jeans. I don't pander to people in order to be loved, then dump them as soon as their usefulness is done. So, basically, I'm not the typical musician in a rock band. At least the typical kind these days.

I know its the popular conception of rock musicians as degenerates who sleep with as many girls (preferably underaged) as possible, who dress provocatively in order to inspire lust in those viewing them, and who generally put out the image of "someone you wouldn't bring home to daddy." But I've never found myself attracted to this way of life. I started in music because I love playing it, and love having people listen to it. And to be honest, I'd be perfectly happy playing anonymously for the rest of my life, if it meant that people would hear it. Hide me behind a mask, a pseudonym, whatever. Just get my music out there.

And this is why modern music continues to baffle me, and modern relationships as well. (AHAH, you thought I was not going to cross that bridge again; well, you thought wrong.) Everything, more and more, seems to be based on image: the young hip indie rock band with the elegantly disheveled hair, practicing their looks of faint disinterest in the mirror, in preparation for their SPIN photoshoot. : the studio-technology-assisted pop songstress who doesn't have a whole lot of vocal range or talent, but boy, look at them titties, eh? : the goth punkers establishing themselves by how they dress rather than what they're playing. I'm not calling "sell-out" or anything (since I hate that term), and I don't want this to be taken as sour grapes, but it does confuse me, as a musician myself. I would like to be taken seriously, and have people hear me on a larger scale. But to do that, must I compromise my sense of moral propriety, and personal ideals? I don't think I can.

And this is connected to relationships how? I'm glad you asked.
I go by the same principles in life, as well as music. The reliance on pure physicality (while MUCH MUCH more obvious in love) is a similar thread through both. I'm not saying I never consider physical attractiveness as being a part of the equation, but thats EXACTly what it is: a PART. Not the whole thing, which a large portion of the population seems to disregard. "Yeah, shes a little dumb, but MAN, is she hot." "Sure, he's hit me, but only twice, and I know he'll never do it again. I love my muscle man."

I forgot where I was going with this originally, but I do remember my ultimate point: I'm not that guy. And I'm never going to be. I'm fine with that, and maybe someone can accept that. But this world seems to be going downhill faster every day (in many ways), and everything I do has a definite shelf-life on it anyway.

So, I will continue to do my music and whatnot, tattoo-less, in regular pants, and without makeup. And hopefully, with work and some luck, something will come of it. More than likely not, but I'm never not going to try.
I'm not the guy to not try.

(by the by, this is not a reference to anyone I know personally, more of a reflection of prevailing attitudes and trends in society. So no one be offended, k? K.)