Randomizer Experiment

So I've decided to finish what I started back last summer. I decided it would be fun to set my iTunes on shuffle and write stream of consciousness thoughts about the first 10 songs that come up, whether I like them or not. Whether anyone will actually understand (or care hah) about what I say is yet to be seen.

Silver - Echo & the Bunnymen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mJ6B7QStYw

Distinctly British, 80s in a good way, lovely bouncy Brit-pop. Love the strings, not cloying.

Touch Me With Your Love - Beth Orton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ3iZc7lfaY

Vaguely trip-hop 90s chill out song, Beth has a lovely voice but the arrangement isn't strong enough to warrent a song over 7 minutes long. (This is for the album version, the video is edited down.)

Brother Sport - Animal Collective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGQjyGT1-mc

Hyperactive camp song of overlapping chorus, borderline grating like a lot of their music, manic, hipster happy music, Beach Boys on acid harmonies. Settles into a silly, fun bouncy lovely mess.

Obsession - Siouxsie & the Banshees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itTbPv6Mmo0

Stalker sexy, marching arrangement, creepy yet pretty when the strings come in, playful, clanging bells, tapping noises, breathing. (Sorry for the weird video, it's the best audio I could find.)

Rocket - Smashing Pumpkins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PtJu61fQ3Y

Droning guitar, takes you back to the 90s, simple and effective, doesn't stand up quite as well as a lot of other Pumpkin singles but it's still good, lacks a great hook. Love the ending and the badass guitar playing.

Sleeping Pill - Yo la Tengo

(Can't find a video for this one. Sorry :( )

Sleepy, echo-y guitar, evokes images of the west, guitar sound just buries itself in the top of my spine, decends into Hendrix strangeness, definitely prog rock-ish which isn't for everyone but it's good to smoke out to I guess. Pink Floyd.

Underground - Tom Waits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciBAMhLiwyQ

Great Tom Waits weirdness, southern stomp, raspy as hell, clinking clanking, creatures, humorous

Nantes - Beirut

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCkT4K-hppE

Bouncy organ sound reminicent of Vampire Weekend, plaintive vocals are love or hate, I personally love, clanky percussion brings everything together, horns I love horns, I love complicated arrangements that don't fight within their own elements. And some French inserts for added oddness.

Sawdust & Diamonds - Joanna Newsom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClqY--4fpZw

Oddly lovely, Newsom's voice is a aquired taste, no doubt that she's a master lyricist, simple harp arrangement feels very rich, I think it's achingly beautiful even if I don't always know what she's singing about

Mind, Drips - Neon Indian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWs4e7oTn9g

Evokes Boards of Canada's retro synths with a more pop aesthetic, has a great groove to it, is it hipster music sure but it makes me nod my head so how can I be against it, so happy pop music is becoming accepted again

Movie Discussion: Why I Loved "Inception"

I'm not super interested in turning this into a review because everyone and their mother has described the plot, characters, blah blah. I want to talk about why "Inception" is so exciting to me.

On a technical level, it's mind-blowing. Every shot is lovingly framed and well structured. The effects are beautiful. The acting and writing are spot-on. The score is strong and effective. Even more so than these things, the business side is surprisingly intriguing to me. I normally couldn't care less about how much money a film makes, but this is the first film I think I've ever rooted for to break the bank.

This is a summer blockbuster that is not a sequel, remake, reboot, or rehash. It's got a big name director and lead actor behind it, plus a hell of a marketing team. But because it's not a franchise film or based off a successful pop novel, I heard a lot of people predicting that the film would go nowhere. Why? Because "Inception" deals with ideas that shake the foundation of reality, and most casual movie-goers are not capable of enjoying a piece of entertainment that forces them to use their brain. That's what John Q. Idiot up in the marketing division would like you to think anyway.

In actuality, the public is flocking to "Inception" in droves, and so far it's made just below the $200 million mark in only 3 weeks. I hope against hope that this is the continuation of a great trend started by last years "District 9". Intelligent blockbusters. "District 9" was a great moneymaker for its small budget, and it was one of the more well-made non-franchise moneymakers I've seen in recent years. "Inception" ups the ante by putting a lot of money into something risky and hoping for the best. And damn did it pay off.

This a message to big-name studios and directors: Give us more, please! No one really cares about 80s t.v. shows being adapted, or movies based on toys, or needless sequels, or lame rehashings of the same trite shit over and over. People are excited about this film. People are talking about it everywhere, whether they understood what it was trying to say or not. I want to see more films that are lovingly created and crafted that just happen to have a big budget, and I think most would agree, Please, and thank you.

Currently:
Reading: Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Listening To: The Black Keys

Watching: Inception (duh)

Music Discovery: Lisa Hannigan

Apparently, I've been a fan of this girl for a while, and I didn't even know it. While noodling around on the Interwebs today, for some reason I had the song "Volcano" by Damien Rice in my head. Damien sings with this girl who has one of the most enchanting voices I've ever heard. So, about 5 years too late, I decide to find out who she is. Lisa Hannigan. Hm. Let's check out her MySpace. She did a cover of Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus, eh? That's ballsy. Let's listen to it. HOLYSHIT *brain explodes* I'm in love.

She sings a short, cute version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" first. "Personal Jesus" is right after that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cn_poCTozc

"Volcano" with Damien Rice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZduDvIBu3EU

Currently...
Reading: Wicked by Gregory Maguire, Oil! by Upton Sinclair, Neuromancer by William Gibson
Listening To: Spill.com podcasts
Watching: So You Think You Can Dance (I'm a dancer. Don't judge me.)

Graphic Novels: An Intro for Caro

So, I'm not one of those people who have been reading comics since they were kids. I had a bunch of lame Looney Tunes stuff, and that's about it. But apparently I'm a lemming because when the whole world started reading Watchmen around the time the film came out, I followed everyone off the proverbial cliff. It was worth it. So very worth it. I'm not going to praise Watchmen because that's been done enough, but I want to touch on the other stuff I've been reading lately.

After years and years of seeing fairy tales get Disney-fied into some formulaic drek, it's cool to see someone try to do something a little ballsy with them. Like, lets put characters like Snow White, Prince Charming, and Bluebeard into real-world New York City and give them real problems to worry about. Beauty and the Beast are having marital problems. Prince Charming is a handsome lothario who uses dumb women for money. And Snow White's sister, Rose Red, has been murdered. The murder is the central turning point of the plot in the first edition of the series, and while it's entertaining enough, the plot is really secondary to the introduction of the main characters and the mythology of Fabletown. If anything the plot is conventional to a fault. It even has a cliched "parlor room" scene, which, granted, it makes fun of itself for. It's a good start for the series, and I'm really interested to see where it goes.

Now, I'm usually not a crime caper, conspiracy theory kind of person, but 100 Bullets might be changing my mind. It starts off with fractured stories with one link: each main character in each story is given 100 untracable bullets and a gun along with irrefutable evidence against a person who greatly wronged them by a man called Agent Graves. They can do whatever they like, they won't be arrested or held accountable in any way. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not super interested in a lot of the individual stories (like the one with the gambling idiot with the cowboy hat in the second edition was a giant snore), but the overarching premise is really interesting to me. Who is Agent Graves and why is he doing this? The morality of it reminds me of the show Dexter. (Yeah, I'm killing people, but they deserve it. Eh?) The first edition is good, but the second one is excellent (except for that damn cowboy). Read the series from the beginning though.

Other stuff I have lined up:
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History (Already halfway through this.)
Batman: The Long Halloween
Wolverine: Origin
The Sandman 1: Preludes & Nocturnes

Currently...
Reading: Oil! by Upton Sinclair, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, Neuromancer by William Gibson
Watching: Pixar movies and Eddie Izzard stand-up
Listening To: Passion Pit and The National