SMOKE AND LIGHTNING
It took me quite a while to get around to watching Anvil: The Story of Anvil.
I tend to react snarkily to heavy metal of any stripe, from Black Sabbath to, um, Stryper.
But it turns out the movie has a lot to say about the value of friendship and family and dreams. It’s subtle in ways you might not expect.
Hell, by the time they got to Stonehenge (and they did, literally, get to Stonehenge), I was too caught up in the small-scale human drama to get tripped up by the large-scale Spinal Tappiness of it all.
I think the best thing I can say about Anvil: The Story of Anvil is that I rarely laughed…
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
BROKEN GLASS EVERYWHERE
My hip-hop history?
Well, I can rap about 45% of Rapper’s Delight. Probably deliver about 90% of The Message. And I'm familiar with varying degrees of PE and BDP. But not much beyond that.
I know Kanye West more as a meme-tastic media figure than as an artist.
But all this buzz about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (10.0! A! *****!) has inspired me to take the plunge.
OK, accolades, plus a $3.99 price tag from Amazon.
We'll see how it works out...
My hip-hop history?
Well, I can rap about 45% of Rapper’s Delight. Probably deliver about 90% of The Message. And I'm familiar with varying degrees of PE and BDP. But not much beyond that.
I know Kanye West more as a meme-tastic media figure than as an artist.
But all this buzz about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (10.0! A! *****!) has inspired me to take the plunge.
OK, accolades, plus a $3.99 price tag from Amazon.
We'll see how it works out...
Thursday, November 18, 2010
KNOT MUSIC
So while the official release date for the new Stereolab was 11/16, apparently it was available on iTunes about a week prior.
The curious thing is that it’s not currently available for download from Amazon.
Which leads to the question: Does Apple’s business model really get micro enough to cut deals for windows of exclusivity with relatively low-end unit shifters such as Stereolab?
If so, I don’t know whether to lean toward outright awe or plain derision.
Fun fact: Sebastian took a quick look at this cover the other day and thought it was pretty cool that someone would name an album “Snot Mucis”…
So while the official release date for the new Stereolab was 11/16, apparently it was available on iTunes about a week prior.
The curious thing is that it’s not currently available for download from Amazon.
Which leads to the question: Does Apple’s business model really get micro enough to cut deals for windows of exclusivity with relatively low-end unit shifters such as Stereolab?
If so, I don’t know whether to lean toward outright awe or plain derision.
Fun fact: Sebastian took a quick look at this cover the other day and thought it was pretty cool that someone would name an album “Snot Mucis”…
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 08, 2010
RAKE AT THE (BILL) GATES OF HELL
When all is said and done, I guess I appreciated the irony of that Cadillac “lust for vomit” commercial from a few years back.
Once upon a time, Caddies were emblems of a version of the European immigrant dream (see “The Cadillac stood by the house/And the Yanks they were within” from The Body of an American), and I could see something circular and clean about GM putting a bit of money in the Pogues’ pockets.
That being said, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to reconcile the sandblasting irony of Microsoft using Natural’s Not In It by Gang of Four to sell the Xbox Kinect.
They‘re just utilizing the instrumental opening, but here are the subsequent lyrics:
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the bourgeois life
This heaven gives me migraine
Coercion of the senses
We are not so gullible
We all have good intentions
But all with strings attatched
Fornication makes you happy
No escape from society
Natural is not in it
Your relations are of power
We all have good intentions
But all with strings attached
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the bourgeois life
This heaven gives me migraine
This heaven gives me migraine
This heaven gives me migraine
So, no. Just, fuck no...
When all is said and done, I guess I appreciated the irony of that Cadillac “lust for vomit” commercial from a few years back.
Once upon a time, Caddies were emblems of a version of the European immigrant dream (see “The Cadillac stood by the house/And the Yanks they were within” from The Body of an American), and I could see something circular and clean about GM putting a bit of money in the Pogues’ pockets.
That being said, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to reconcile the sandblasting irony of Microsoft using Natural’s Not In It by Gang of Four to sell the Xbox Kinect.
They‘re just utilizing the instrumental opening, but here are the subsequent lyrics:
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the bourgeois life
This heaven gives me migraine
Coercion of the senses
We are not so gullible
We all have good intentions
But all with strings attatched
Fornication makes you happy
No escape from society
Natural is not in it
Your relations are of power
We all have good intentions
But all with strings attached
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
Repackaged sex, your interest
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the bourgeois life
This heaven gives me migraine
This heaven gives me migraine
This heaven gives me migraine
So, no. Just, fuck no...
Thursday, November 04, 2010
PARAN MAUM
Finally got around to watching the slight but sweet Japanese movie Linda Linda Linda.
I’ve long had a soft spot for the Blue Hearts song that informs the plot, but it took Netflix to put the movie back on my radar.
It’s the story of a band of teenage girls preparing to play at a high school festival. They lose their singer, and end up recruiting a new one on a whim— a Korean exchange student who speaks very little Japanese.
The singer is played by Korean actress Doona Bae, who was in The Host (which is an entirely different flavor of awesome). She has a nice comedic touch— Keatonesque, minus the buster.
In case you never feel motivated to see the movie, take a few minutes now to watch the climactic festival performance…
Finally got around to watching the slight but sweet Japanese movie Linda Linda Linda.
I’ve long had a soft spot for the Blue Hearts song that informs the plot, but it took Netflix to put the movie back on my radar.
It’s the story of a band of teenage girls preparing to play at a high school festival. They lose their singer, and end up recruiting a new one on a whim— a Korean exchange student who speaks very little Japanese.
The singer is played by Korean actress Doona Bae, who was in The Host (which is an entirely different flavor of awesome). She has a nice comedic touch— Keatonesque, minus the buster.
In case you never feel motivated to see the movie, take a few minutes now to watch the climactic festival performance…
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