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.

The Chemicals Between Them: the early summer genre films

Chemistry is a funny thing. In one respect, it is supremely predictable; mix this chemical with that one, and you will get this result/reaction. But in others, it is amazingly unpredictable. Take for example, three films released over the past month: X-Men: Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, and Terminator: Salvation. Each are special effects filled genre films, essentially sequels, attempting to cash-in on the built-in fanbase and name recognition, released in the prime summer blockbuster season. Each, in its own way, is a mix of certain chemicals. Yet the results have been far far different for each. Let us look closer, shall we?

X-Men: Origins: Wolverine


This is what could be considered the 4th film in the X-Men franchise. As such, it has the weight of expectation behind it that it will fit in with the rest of the films. It is a prequel, in fact, so it should, by all means, set-up the preceding three films. It stars Hugh Jackman, a popular actor, as Wolverine, the (arguably) most popular X-Man, in what was his breakout role. Yet it fails, on some level, to really capture what made the first 2 films (the third is mediocre at best) so great. It is flat, placid, almost rote in its movements. The special effects are laughably bad at times, and while the actors (especially Jackman and Liev Shreiber as Sabreto- excuse me, "Creed") do their college try best, the script is far from good. In all fact, it is full of plot holes and continuity errors, not just with the other films, but with ITSELF. It seems, from all appearances, to be the quick cash-grab sequel that many pegged it to be when it was announced (and that Fox as a studio has been known for in recent years, especially with genre franchises). All the elements are there: good actors, up and coming director (Gavin Hood), a lauded screenwriter (David Benioff), and a beloved central character, but they add up to much less than the sum of its parts. The chemicals never mix, and it sits there, inert.

Terminator: Salvation


Also a "fourth" movie, this film bears the burden of not only its predecessors' successes, but of that of its ostensible star, Christian Bale, the erstwhile Batman of the recent Christopher Nolan films. His very presence is both a boon to the film (in terms of the "star power" he brings) and a detriment (in that he carries a certain expectation with him). The problem, as this article/editorial from Chud.com shows, is that his part was not meant to be what it ultimately ended up as. One can argue back and forth as to whether this compromised the film or not, but as the final film shows, it certainly did not make it great. It has a multitude of action sequences, yes, all varied and exciting, a spectacle to the utmost. And that is what is likely the best part of the film, as the rest of its parts never quite come together to make a satisfying whole. It is, to quote, "sound and fury signifying nothing." The script seems glued together from disparate pieces, and its cracks show at times. The actors are nothing really to sneeze at either, as they're all either just rote action cyphers, or "tormented character X." Bale, especially, seems to basically be in Batman mode still. (He desperately needs to play a role where he can have FUN again. Like Patrick Bateman. Something crazy to get him out of "dour, driven tortured man of action" mode.) The various pieces of the movie are there for it to be something interesting and different, a continuation of what made T-2 great (we're ignoring the third one), but it fails to bring them together. Its chemicals fail to react with each other, and it fizzles.

Star Trek


This film bears the greatest burden of the three, as it has had the most predecessors, and the most riding on it. It's not just a continuation of a franchise (which it is), nor is it just a reboot (which it is as well); it had to simultaneously please a very loud and skeptical fandom and attract a new audience which looked at the "brand" as something old and stale, and maybe past its prime. Add to that the glamour and mystery that its director, super-producer and writer JJ Abrams, brings to every project he's involved with. The fact that it succeeds is almost beside the point now. The uphill climb it faced before even a single foot of film had been shot was insane. Of the three films discussed, this one definitely had the closest scrutiny. Its success, both monetarily (which, no mistake, all three of these films made money; how much will be discussed shortly) and dramatically/critically, is the most impressive story of the early summer movie season. And much of that, if not all of it, can be attributed to two things: JJ Abrams, and the cast. Because, make no mistake, the script is not great. There are many plot-holes, and many areas which bear the mark of being maybe one draft away from being fixed. The writers strike affected this film, probably more than the other two, in a very palpable way. But, and this is a large "but", the casting saves it. Every person in every major role has such a sense of fun and life to them, that any plot holes and inconsistencies are easily overlooked. WITHOUT recalling or deriding the actors who played their various roles before. The unique nature of the film (not quite a reboot, but not a direct prequel) made it possible for the actors (with special notice to Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock) to take what elements they wanted from their predecessors and then add their own unique spark. Much like Abrams, in both his directorial duties and in a design sense, ventured away from the past films, but still added touches which acknowledged them. The chemicals mixed, and they reacted, and they made something newer and better.


Like I said, these are all unpredictable things. And make no mistake, all three were monetarily successful films. This time of year, it's very hard for a big franchise film to NOT make money. But only Star`Trek surpassed expectations. Wolverine and Terminator both had large opening weekends, then crashed hard, losing (in the case of Wolverine) up to almost 70% off its box office total in its second week. Star Trek made more than 30% more than expected in its first weekend, then stayed near the top for the next 2 weeks, ending up (as of this writing) with $232 million in domestic box office. (Wolverine has made $176 million, and Terminator has made $115 million.) It, along with UP and The Hangover, is the big winner of the summer so far in terms of money made.

Film is literally made of chemicals: a piece of film consists of a light-sensitive emulsion applied to a tough, transparent base, sometimes attached to anti-halation backing or "rem-jet" layer. The emulsion is comprised of silver halide grains suspended in a gelatin colloid; in the case of color film, there are three layers of silver halide, which are mixed with color couplers and interlayers that filter specific light spectra. These end up creating yellow, cyan, and magenta layers in the negative after development. Movies themselves, though, are a chemistry crapshoot. No one can predict why any one film will catch on with audiences and another won't. Remember: the expectation before release was that Titanic was going to be a huge flop; billions of billions of dollars later. . . It all comes down to luck and timing and the chemistry of filmmaker and audience meeting in a felicitous circumstance. All one can do is make your choices, step forward, and boldly go.

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 Mock and Roundly Disparage Double Oh Seven

At my job (at which I am naturally the greatest and most beloved employee*), I get rather bored occasionally. It is, as most jobs outside of creative fields are, very repetitive. Thus, I tend to read a lot, or write a lot, or text/twitter a lot. And it was while doing the latter that the following list was conceived, in a fit of intense retardation creative genius. You may thank me later, all of you, in various forms of currency.

In any event, this is a list of alternate titles of James Bond movies. Because you demanded it.**

JAMES BOND IN:

• The Minuteness Of Sadosity.
• The Smallest Of Helpings.
• The Physics Of Spangly Objects.
• The Tiniest Of Comforts.
• The Small Things That Accumulate In The Back Of Your Junk Drawer And You Don't Know How To Make Use Of Them So You Leave Them There.
• Beware All Foreigners.
• The Fabulous Fabulous.
• Lie Back And Think Of England Or You Will Get A Smack In The Mouth.
• Noun Action Verb Conjunction Sexual Entendre.
• This Is Not The Newest Bond Film Or Is It.
• Dalek Invasion 2021!
• Fairy Bum Bum Boys pt. 7: Wot's All This Then?
• How I Learned To Stop Worrying Because Britain Is Great.
• Enjoy Your Clams, Cocksuckers.

As you can see, they got increasingly ridiculous as I went along. And I hope to have at least two of them in production within the next 3 years, funding permitting. Would you care to invest? I am looking for investors. Email me, and we can discuss terms. I wouldn't hesitate to throw around the words "Box Office Bonanza." But that's just me.


* This might be hyperbole, or it might not. Who can really say?
** You did not demand it.

Bests.

I am going to do, much like in previous years on both this blog and on my myspace one, a top list of various media. More than likely, at this time, Films, Albums, Songs, and Comics. (I can't in all honesty do books this year, as most of the books I've read are not "new" per se. Though they were new to ME. Also, I don't watch much television.)

AS IT STANDS, mine should be up in a week or so, but until then, I want to see some of your favorites in the comments. Doesn't matter how you categorize, or number, or even judge them. I just want to see what everyone else is watching/listening to/reading.

So yes. OPINIONS. Give them to me. And maybe I will stop the meteor.

The Cost of Boredom (or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the Bomb)

I am having a very boring evening. (I KNOW, I know. A very exciting topic for a blog post, but trust me, I'm going somewhere with this.) My plans all fell through, no new ones presented themselves, and my various friends were busy or indisposed. "So what?" I thought. "I have plenty here to keep me occupied. I have books, I have movies, I have television. I am set. I am mighty in my entertainment options."

And, oddly enough, I was wrong.

I am an entertainment junkie. I freely admit this, in fact, I proclaim it as a boon, most times. A culture's entertainment says a lot about the culture itself, and I revel in analyzing the hell out of everything I take in. As I've grown older (and maybe [but probably not] wiser), my intake has grown more and more refined. I see less movies than I used to, and watch much less television. Much of this is due to the aforementioned refining, some due to lowering standards in entertainment presentation (but that's another entry I think. . .) The point is, I have a lot of experience in media. I have cable, I have dvds of both films and television series, I have a couple video game systems (all older ones though, nothing newer than the N64), I have music, I have books and comics and magazines, hell, I have my guitar. And yet, tonight, when I had time aplenty to use/abuse any of these things, nothing was satisfying my ennui. And this bothers me.

This bothers me not because of what it implies about my habits or my psyche, but because it struck home to me how much I actually have spent on these various entertainment strategies. I have dropped sums of cash on dvds, books, instruments, etc., and yet none of these could fill my void (so to speak.) The current American culture of leisure demands that we be pacified at all times by the opiates we choose, and MY DRUGS WERE EXPENSIVE BUT DIDN'T WORK. The money spent on these things could have been used on more utilitarian things (with the exception of the guitar, since that is used in my "line of work"), but I decided to put it towards pacifying my inner nerd. And what do I have to show for it? An overdeveloped analytical streak, a large education in pop culture, and really, very little else. So, that's a little sobering.

The main thing that occurs to me is how much I depend on inter-personal relationships now. In years past, I was very much a solitary person. I had friends, lovers, all sorts of acquaintances, but I was perfectly happy being alone and doing things by myself. And I do still on occasion enjoy it, as I use that time to write. (I apparently never actually FINISH anything I start writing, but I do start them!) But I spend much more time with my friends and significant other, just. . . being, I suppose. And to tell you the truth, I think I'm happier that way. An interesting self-discovery, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the indulgence. Hopefully, I'll have something involving cartoons or film up here soon.

And now for something completely different. . .

Number one: the Larch. The. Larch.

Oscars 2008

I will be watching the Academy Awards tonight, as I try to do every year. The major difference is that this is one of the few years (recently, anyway) that I've seen the majority of the major nominees. As such, I feel more confident than usual in my predictions as to the winners. (For example: last year I saw a few of the nominees, but not most, and I was 11/15 in my picking of the winners.)

So, anyway, I usually watch the Oscars, and make fun of the host, ridiculously overdone montages, very overdressed actors, and faux earnestness that the winners put in their acceptance speeches. It's all very amusing to me. Usually, the films I really love in any given year do not get nominated for one reason or another (company politics usually being the culprit), but this year, I liked a lot of the main nominees. So, here we go, the nominees and my picks for 15 categories (my picks are the ones bolded):


Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Director
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: the Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton


Best Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
Away From Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

Best Original Song
"Falling Slowly" from Once
"Happy Working Song" from Enchanted
"Raise It Up" from August Rush
"So Close" from Enchanted
"That's How You Know" from Enchanted

Original Score
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma


Animated Feature Film
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Art Direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood


Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Costume Design
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd

So there we have it. Who will win? No one knows. (Except maybe the Shadow. . .)

Nevahs forgets.

Behind the Lens: Cloverfield

I was going to write a simple review of the film Cloverfield (which I saw a week ago, but have been wrestling with in my head since), but I could not quite pin down what I wanted to say. I liked the film, no doubts there. I could dare say I come close to loving the hell out of it. But I could not say exactly WHY. Then it hit me. I kept coming back to one line: "People will want to know. . . how it all went down." This one line says so much about the filmmakers' aims and goals, and simultaneously comments on the current direction of popular and media culture, and it echoes through much of the film both thematically and in specific scenes. So, here we are. Cloverfield as cultural lens.

The plot can be summarized thusly: Giant Monster Wrecks House in New York. Most else is superfluous, in the general "this is what happens" scheme of things. But, for sake of expansion of purpose, I'll elaborate a bit more. The movie purports to be "found footage", a "Digital SD card" (which is a bit of a misnomer, as the D in SD stands for digital) recovered by the US Department of Defense from the "site formerly known as 'Central Park'", referring to an incident known as "Cloverfield". So, from the start, there is a sense that something big has happened in New York, big enough to warrant the renaming of Central Park. (Also, Lost fans, there is a blip flash of the Dharma logo during the DoD watermark intro. Clue, or JJ Abrams fucking with people? U-DECIDE!) The "tape" proceeds to document the going-away party thrown for Rob, a young yuppie type who is going to Japan to take a high-profile marketing job, and is attended by a well-maintained balance of hipster stereotypes and ciphers, including Rob's brother Jason, Jason's girlfriend Lily, his friend "Hud" (who is the man behind the camera for the film, and serves as a sort of narrator [and is named for a first person video game term H.U.D., or "heads up display"]), Marlena, whom Hud has a thing for, and a whole host of nameless pretty people. Also attending is Beth, a girl whom Rob has been good friends with for a while, and, we find out through blips in the video which show the footage that was taped over for the party (and aftermath), whom he has recently slept with and then not called since. In the midst of all this dramadramadrama, a giant monster shows up and wrecks house in the city. There is panic, evacuations, deaths and deaths and deaths, 9/11 evocations, miniature parasitic creatures that are very reminiscent of the Xenomorphs from the Alien films and Bugs from Starship Troopers, bodily explosions, more deaths, and one VERY pissed off monster of unknown origin, species, and motives. Much destruction follows. And the camera is running intermittently through out. (One of the complaints from some is that the movie takes place over a 7 hour period, and there's no way the camera's battery lasts that long. Thing is, the camera is not running the whole time. The actual footage is only the 70+ minutes that makes up the film proper. So, the battery only really ran for a little over an hour. Myth: BUSTED.)

The thing I want to talk about though, revolves around a very specific scene right after the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan. (This is what the first trailer for the film was, shown before Transformers without a title.) During the party, there is what seems to be an earthquake, and many of the kids gather on the roof of the building. A massive explosion happens in the distance and they all flee in a panic for the street, only to see the Statue of Liberty's head flying through the air and come to a rest in the street in front of the building. What happens is very interesting, and very of the moment: the minute it stops moving, onlookers come forward with camera phones and digital cameras (including the camera that provides the audience's POV) and begin to film the head.

That scene, plus the line mentioned above, combine to make a statement about modern society and how people in our culture deal with reality. Shakespeare said "All the world's a stage," and this attitude has been taken to the extreme now, as people need the lens of a camera to make things "real". Any given situation can be said to "be something like a movie" or "like something from TV," to the extent that people LIVE like they are characters in a film. People will not believe something that has not been filmed, analyzed, poked, prodded, and dissected ad nauseum. (And yes, I realize the irony of that statement in an essay analyzing a film. Fuck off, grasshopper.) Reality TV is only a small symptom of this, but it's the most obvious one. See also: celebrity gossip shows.

This plays into one of the major complaints people who dislike the movie have: the unlikability of the characters. The problem here is that I don't see the characters as being all that unlikable. We don't know them enough to like or dislike them. They are the barest of sketches, just enough so that we can feel bad about them getting killed or maimed, or to provide them with motivation for their actions later in the film. The problem here is that they are TOO real. Like mentioned before, there is an astonishing amount of people who act like they are the main character in a constantly filming movie of their life. While there is nothing wrong with this approach to life, it leads to somewhat of a disconnect with how they actually appear to be. I posit that if five random people were placed into the situation of Cloverfield, that they would not act significantly different than the actual characters of the film. People believe they are more interesting and significant in the grand scheme of life than they actually are, and can't see the irony of not finding other ordinary people uninteresting. A pair of ducks, yes.

I don't think this is where the interesting things about the film end. There is much to be said about the 9/11 parallels (and much has been said elsewhere, believe me), and the viral marketing behind the film was a thing of genius. As it stands, I also think there is a strange commentary on the film making process inherent in the film, whether intended by the filmmakers or not. All filmmakers have to, by definition, have the attitude that "People will want to know. . . how it all went down." Otherwise, what is the point of making a movie? The lens of the camera both records and reflects, and the focus isn't always what you think it is.

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.

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.

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.

shiver awake.

Give me a reason to wake up tomorrow. Tell me that everything is fine, and that no matter the outcome of this hand-spun moment to moment diary of consciousness that we refer to as "living", that I'll be remembered after I've gone the way of the dodo.

I know what you're thinking: this is probably not what you want to hear or read or see or know, and I'm sorry for that, but I am nothing if not direct and uncensored on the interwebs. Madness and self-abuse are my specialties, I admit, and while I can sing more songs of disaffection and loneliness, the perfection of it eludes me still, so I shall continue on in the mad nervous rush to include every single phrase into the contents of everything else. "Holographic writing", I call it, wherein the sum is contained in every part.

Thank you, Mr Morrison, for introducing me to this world of prim and chaos and randomness. I am random anyway, so the concept of a random world is not that surprising to me, and this is how I think when I am alone. I know I've said that I'm fine, but I would want you to ask anyway, as I am fragile and prone to breaking down the tiniest detail and turning it into fodder for the late-night parade of parasitic wordplay. The cold air spreads from windows through curtains and breaks my concentration...

They just killed the people on the TV, I am shocked and amused and am waiting for something to go wrong again, as is my wont. Someday I'll fail to breathe, and what then? Will there be a soul who remembers my time in this shell, spreading my sigils and strands of memories, like quantum strings in 5th dimensional compressions. I know I've said that I don't care, but something in me does, I swear, and I'm not smiling but I am. I smile when I mean it. Give me a meaning, add contentment to these words and all the fallacies dissolve into meaninglessness and I will explode from effect preceding cause. My postcard has been backdated to last summer, and it says "Wish I was There". Rings around fingers, and I will never get it back, but I don't care. I have a reason, I've found reason in random and madness and chaos and rhythm and music, and honestly, who could ask for anything more?

Prepare for backlash in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2..

Good god, has anyone else seen this?

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess. This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women And Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.

"The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else."

So what this means is, your opinions, as long as someone else disagrees with you, can be held against you in a court of law, but only if you don't sign your name to them. The quote from the ACLU rep is the most illuminating to me, actually. Who's to say Conservative Republicans don't find Liberal blogs annoying, and vice versa? This seems a pretty blatant attack of Free Speech. But I don't want to name names, as I could be arrested...

Oh what the hell, why not. Fuck Bush, and fuck the Republican party. Not that I'm a Democrat supporter either, to be honest. I think both parties are corrupt and intent on keeping this country locked into a two-party system which offers no real viable choice anyway. But as George and his buddies seem intent on turning us more and more into a police state ruled by fear and terrorism (look up the definition for the word, and see if it doesn't describe the "terror alerts" from a year plus ago), they earn my wrath at this moment.

So yeah, hopefully (and I'm willing to bet) this law gets changed fairly quickly, or some major shit will go down. Maybe. Probably. I think.

The motherfucking boat is exploding!

One of my secrets I usually don't let people know is that I still read comic books. I don't know why it is necessary to keep it a secret, but there is a certain stigma attached to those who read them. Y'know, basically, its encapsulated by the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.


I am, as should be obvious below, not one of them.


Hmm, probably not the best picture to use. Eh, whatever. I'm too lazy to change it now.

My point is that I am not the stereotypical comics fan, nor am I a slavish speculator who buys everything then immediately places them in hermetically sealed bags within climate-controlled longboxes in order to preserve them for eternity. In fact, the few I buy end up in piles after I've read them, in order to be read again at a later date. 'Cause, see, I like to read them.

As a medium, comics have a reputation of being juvenile adolescent power fantasies. And yes, some.. in fact, most, still are. But there is some surprisingly deep and meaningful themes and writing contained in others. See: anything by Alan Moore. And, as always, there is also some kick-ass hyper-science insanity. Mostly thanks to Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis. Which brings me to the point of this entry...

NEXTWAVE is a new series by the aforementioned Mr. Ellis, which looks like most super-hero comics on crystal meth, PCP, and acid at the same time. There's an interview here from the editor of it. There's a press conference interview here with the writer which contains my favorite quote of the moment: "On Sunday I killed someone, and when I left the church, I carved 'NEXTWAVE' into his chest. I hope the papers pick up on that." And it has its OWN FRIGGIN' THEME SONG. Which is catchy as all hell. Can't beat the tagline either: "Nextwave: Healing America by beating people up." Plus, it has a giant dragon named "Fin Fang Foom" in it. That's got to count for something.

And, to summarize:

SO yeah, in conclusion, if you don't like it, don't read it. But eff you if you think I'm not going to. As long as I have the (small amount of required) money and the ability to, I will enjoy my sequential art.

Just, do me a favor.... if I say I'm reading something by Rob Liefeld or Chuck Austen, shoot me. In the head. It'll be for the best.



PS. for further reading, might I suggest The Invisibles by Grant Morrison, about anarchists, metaphysics, drugs, sex, the counter culture, and quantum physics; From Hell by Alan Moore, about the Jack the Ripper murders (and loads better than the movie); and Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis, about gonzo journalism, pop-culture, and cynicism. All goodness, all love, all the time.

Cinematic quotagraphy.

Since this is the eve of the New Year, and I just watched a bunch of movies last night, here is my definitive 10 favorite movies lines of 2005.*

"Welcome to Thunderdome, bitch."
- Dane Cook, Waiting...

"It's time to prove to your friends that you're worth a damn. Sometimes that means dying, sometimes it means killing a whole lot of people."
- Clive Owen, Sin City

"You've gotta wait till the seed grows into a plant. Then you've gotta fuck the plant."
- Seth Rogen, 40 Year Old Virgin

"In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people angry and has widely been considered as a bad move."
- Stephen Fry, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"We are the substitute people."
- Kirsten Dunst, Elizabethtown

"I gotta tell you something. I'm really excited about it. Uh, for the first time, today, I woke up, I came to the store, and I - I feel confident to say to you that if you don't take this Michael McDonald DVD - that you've been playing for two years straight - off, I'm going to kill everyone in the store and put a bullet in my brain!"
- Paul Rudd, 40 Year Old Virgin

"Everything in this room is eat-able. Even I'm eat-able. But that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies."
- Johnny Depp, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

"No... it was beauty that killed the beast."
- Jack Black, King Kong

"Yeah, you should definitely tell her, because I saw this movie called "Liar Liar" and the message was, 'Don't lie'... and that was a smart movie."
- Seth Rogen, 40 Year Old Virgin

"Well, the past is gone, I know that. The future isn't here yet, whatever it's going to be. So, all there is, is this. The present. That's it."
- Bill Murray, Broken Flowers


So, 2005 is come and gone. Not too bad a year, I'll probably do an big end of year recap at some point like I did last year here and here. But for now, we'll just leave it as, another year alive, another year of rock. Here's to an even better 2006, and hopes of romance and adventure.


*I really could put 40 Year Old Virgin as a whole on here, but I didn't think that was fair.

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.)