I'll be doing my radio thing this afternoon from 1 to 4 PM on WUAG 103.1 FM Greensboro. You can tune in online at wuag.net by clicking on the "Live Stream" button in the menu bar. It'll be called the "Best of 2006 Double Dose" as I play two tracks from each of my favorite albums of '06. Expect some Gnarls, Flaming Lips, Art Brut, Guster, Band of Horses, and who knows what else? Plus, if you call (336) 334-5450 and make a request, I might be so kind as to play it on the air!
Also, if you have no plans for New Year's Eve (like me), you can tune in to Turner Classic Movies' Marx Brothers Movie Marathon, which begins at 8:15 PM with Duck Soup and continues all night with selections like Horse Feathers, Monkey Business, A Night at the Opera, and A Day at the Races.
I'd like to wish a very happy New Year's to everyone out there in blogland! See you in '07!
Music video pioneers Cunningham and Gondry were in fine form this year (Gondry even made the Movies of the Year list), but it was newcomers Kris Moyes, Jon Watts, and the always awesome OK Go that came out on top this year in the music video department. Also worthy of note are Daft Punk, who take home the Most Disturbing Video award for their seriously f*cked-up video for "The Prime Time of Your Life" (needless to say, not safe for work or children). Don't forget all those wonderful musicians with Hollywood connections, as Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs prove it helps to know crazies like Dennis Hopper and Pee-Wee Herman.
1. The SoftLightes, “Heart Made of Sound” (dir. Kris Moyes) By the way, a better quality version of this video can be found at the director's homepage.
2. OK Go, “Here it Goes Again” (dir. Trish Sie and OK Go)
3. The Spinto Band, “Oh Mandy” (dir. Jon Watts) Same goes for this guy, too.
4. The Horrors, “Sheena is a Parasite” (dir. Chris Cunningham)
For some reason, most critics were quick to dismiss The Flaming Lips' 2006 release, angry that they had seemingly abandoned the style they had set in stone on 1999's epic masterpiece The Soft Bulletin and its 2003 follow-up, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. If only these people had listened to the album a few more times, they would have heard the Lips' most psychedelic and surprisingly consistent album since Bulletin was released seven years ago (has it really been that long?) Of course, no Best Of list would be complete without mentioning Gnarls Barkley, who exploded onto the scene with that one song no one can seem to get out of his or her head (you know the one). The Decemberists had another excellent year, topping the success of 2005's Picaresque with their Atlantic Records debut, in addition to a well-publicized battle with Comedy Central news pundit Stephen Colbert. Camera Obscura was shamefully omitted from Stereogum's list, a glaring omission considering that they not only out-Belle-and-Sebastian'd Belle & Sebastian, they gave this shy person the strength to get up and do what needed to be done.
It was totally an impulse buy when I stumbled across the new album from Guster at a Borders bookstore, but it was a lucky find, as Ganging Up on the Sun contains some of the catchiest melodies ever set to disc, and Belle & Sebastian did an excellent job of breaking new ground on The Life Pursuit, an album that not only contained '60s throwback R&B and Japanese hyper-pop references, it (dare I say it?) rocked my f*ckin' socks off! Speaking of rock, why are so many bloggers turning a cold shoulder to The Raconteurs? Not only was it a great side project for all those involved, it spawned some infectious hit singles, and a couple awesome non-singles (fav track: "Yellow Sun"). I was already a fan of Band of Horses back when they were opening for Iron & Wine and only had a few demo tracks to their name. Now, their Sub Pop debut is out and everyone's finally caught up. And, finally, we have Maritime and Grizzly Bear, two bands that released solid debut albums, but now they're in the big leagues. Time to pull out all the stops and go for the gold with their sophomore releases...and Indeed They Did.
Here are all my Honorable Mentions of the year, too:
Congrats to those that made the list. You are now eligible for a roundtrip for two to Butte, Montana.
Also, even though I totally picked Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin as my fav new artist of '05, and although Broom "officially" came out that same year, it's still on my list. Deal with it.
P.S. This is prob'ly gonna be my last post before Christmas, so a very Merry Christmas to you and yours. Nustle up by the fire, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate, and put some music on. I highly recommend Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas EP box set, containing not only some of the best renditions of old holiday classics, but also some of the best original Christmas music ever written. I'm serious, folks. It's nog-tastic!
You may notice some small changes on my blog. This is because I recently made the switch over to Blogger Beta, which takes advantage of various Web 2.0 devices like tags, labels, built-in drop down menus, and the like. So, from now on, all posts on this blog will include tags (usually no more than two or three per post). So, if you'd like to see what other posts I've written on the subject of Gnarls Barkley, click on the "Gnarls Barkley" tag at the bottom of one of those posts. Of course, all pre-Blogger Beta posts don't have tags and I probably won't be working to update them any time soon (I don't have that much free time!) Also, I've tried using the new drop-down Archive menu in the sidebar, and it works...up to a point. It seems that if you try to find back-posts before July of this year, you'll get a little "Loading..." notice, and then nothing. I assume they're working on it. Which brings me to another announcement. Since this new version of Blogger is in beta, it's important that my readers keep me informed if they start noticing any bugs on this website. If you see something that looks out of place, or if a feature suddenly doesn't work anymore, send me an e-mail to devin@dimattiafilms.com.
Whoo. I think I went a little overboard on the Best Of lists last year, so this time, I'm gonna keep things simple. Best Movies...then Best Music. Let's begin, shall we?
Devin's Top 10 Films of 2006:
Children of Men
A Prairie Home Companion When Robert Altman passed on, he left behind a legacy of ridiculously innovative and astounding motion pictures, of which his most recent addition, A Prairie Home Companion, is no exception. Based on, written by, and starring NPR personality Garrison Keillor and his seminal, old-timey radio show, the film manages to capture the heartbreaking nostalgia of the early years of radio while conjuring up the inevitable wheels of progress that haunt the film’s stellar cast. Virginia Madsen gives an especially chilling role, not as a person, but more as an idea. The idea that all men and women will one day leave this earth, and that our life here is all too short. But if it never ended, what would be the point of it?
Little Miss Sunshine In your face, Napoleon Dynamite! Music video masters Dayton/Faris tackle the quirky absurdist comedy genre with hilarious results. Each one of these characters is fleshed out with some of the best story arcs ever put to film, and the script by Michael Arndt is so well-constructed that not a dull moment passes before your eyes. Please, somebody give Abigail Breslin an Oscar!
The Departed Departed editor Thelma Schoonmaker is either insane or a genius. Jump cuts fly past the screen like Jean-Luc Godard on speed. Scenes feel like they were cut with a meat cleaver and stuck together with duct tape. It fits the theme of the film perfectly, which is you can’t trust anyone, so you might as well just kill everyone. One of the joys of watching mob movies (and make no mistake, this is a mob movie) is that you can’t help feeling like both the organized crime ring and the staff of undercover cops are simply wasting both groups’ precious time, constantly reaching impasse after impasse, forever coming up even. It seems like, according to Scorsese, once you’ve reached the top, the only way to go is down.
Old Joy Basic plot structure for Old Joy: Man meets up with old college friend, both go to the mountains for a couple days, contemplate the state of their existence, and then go their separate ways. Old Joy joins the ranks of Lost in Translation and Mr. Hulot’s Holiday as one of the great “movies about nothin’,” but as always, there’s plenty more than meets the eye. Director Kelly Reichardt uses her sparse camerawork and minimalist plot to transform the film into an existential mood piece, a film where every facial expression and every sigh the actors emote has a purpose; where every action, no matter how insignificant, has a deeper meaning.
Borat When he’s not making fun of Kazakhstan’s backwards culture and surroundings, Sacha Baron Cohen’s undeniably adored Kazakhstani journalist is taking a hot skewer to American ideals, as well as our blatant ignorance of the world around us. What this movie lacks in authenticity, it more than makes up in laughs. An extended sequence in the middle of the film, featuring a nude Cohen and Ken Davitian wrestling in a hotel room, is as equally shocking and hilarious as most of the sex scenes featured in Shortbus (see below).
The Prestige Über-awesome director Christopher Nolan reunites with his Memento-penning brother Jonathan for this, his fifth feature film. Once again featuring an excellent ensemble cast, including Labryinth star David Bowie, both Nolans capture the spirit and mysticism of 18th century magic, mixed with a good ol’ fashioned Hitchcockian suspense story.
The Trials of Darryl Hunt The best film I saw at Cucalorus this year was also the film that made me the angriest. This documentary about one of the worst-handled homicide cases in North Carolina’s history just goes to show how damaging racism can be. It also profiles a man’s faith in God and how much courage he has to have in order to sustain that faith. The Trials of Darryl Hunt is the best documentary of 2006. Read my full review.
Thank You for Smoking Throughout the history of cinema, audiences’ love of heroes has only been exceeded by their love for villains, a fact that director Jason Reitman exploited by casting the undoubtedly charming Aaron Eckhart as the slimy, quick-witted tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor. When we’re not laughing at his antics, as well as those of the M.O.D. Squad (Maria Bello and David Koechner), we find ourselves rooting for the very man we’re supposed to hate. Damn you, Eckhart!
The Fountain Darren Aronofsky has always walked a fine line between brilliance and frustration. His previous film, Requiem for a Dream, was a stupendous, postmodern, anti-drug movie, but while viewing it, you can’t help but think that maybe he was a little too hard on his star actress Ellen Burstyn. Unfortunately, her acting chops go largely unnoticed in this, his latest film, instead focusing on Hugh Jackman and his slowly wilting flower, Rachel Weisz. Though Aronofsky ultimately bites off more than he can chew thematically, the film is a refreshing burst of energy and optimism in an otherwise drab and unoriginal cinematic world. It’s 2001 for 2006.
The Science of Sleep What kind of year would it be without another brilliant movie from Michel Gondry? 2006 was a good year for him, with the release of this, as well as his docu-musical Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. And while The Science of Sleep oftentimes feels like a low budget Eternal Sunshine, the eccentricities certainly stand out more, and Gondry’s madcap directing style gives ample opportunity for some great performances by his equally eccentric cast.
Honorable Mention:Bubble (Steven Soderbergh’s Mini-DV masterpiece, complete with a stellar performance by a former Kentucky Fried Chicken manager), A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater's brilliant anti-drug "drug movie" ought to be considered for a Best Animated Feature Oscar, but it won't), Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell’s sexual endeavors know no limits, but the joyous cacophony of this film simply cannot be denied).
I wish I knew more about Scrubs so that I would've laughed more at their send-up of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Still, any day I get to see Zach Braff provide the voice of Charlie Brown is a good day. Enjoy!
Now, with the whole YouTube craze upon us, it's time once again to revisit the always-awesome DoCopenhagen blog and their Top 50 Music Videos of the Year list. Last year, downloadable links were provided for all the videos, but now you can watch each and every one of them directly from the site. Cool deal!
#3: Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy" While not their best video (that goes to the "Smiley Faces" video with Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell), the Rorshach test effect is trippy. Plus, it's "Crazy" so...yeah.
#34: Gnarls Barkley, "Gone Daddy Gone" Certainly the band's creepiest video. If you ever wondered what Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse would look like in bug form, now's your chance.
That just scratches the surface of the wealth of awesome videos you'll find on his site. Go and see for yourself.
Fresh from Yewknee is this quirky and unintentionally hilarious McDonald's commercial from the 1980s:
These are the kind of things YouTube was made for. I mean, it's got all the elements:
1. It's classic retro. 2. It prominently features a celebrity (Jason Alexander) while he was still in pre-celebrity status. 3. It's long. Over a minute, so there's plenty of ridiculousness to go around. 4. The product these whacked-out people (Alexander included) are selling is totally absurd. It seems so psuedo-futuristic to put the lettuce and tomato in its own, separate container!
Plus, now that the whole Michael Richards thing is behind us, it's nice to see another Seinfeld alumni back in the limelight. I'm sure Alexander doesn't care that this commercial's out. He did hawk Kentucky Fried Chicken shortly after Seinfeld!
Holy sh*t! Is this for real? After years and years of heartbreak, disdain, cold shoulders, and wistful nostalgia, the Squirrel Nut Zippers are finally making their return to the stage, and at the Cat's Cradle! You may not know it, but the Zippers are one of my favorite bands of all time, and have been that way ever since 1998. I have all of their albums, including the Sold Out EP, which I picked up at one of their shows in Winston-Salem in 2000, when they were touring in support of their fourth, and ultimately their last, full-length album, Bedlam Ballroom.
At that time, they had already lost founding members Ken Mosher and Tom Maxwell, the latter of whom had written their only hit, "Hell," and even though the Zippers left me speechless when they performed that evening, it didn't look like the future would be a good one for the band. The swing revival had come to a close, the Zippers disbanded and went about their separate ways. Lead singer James Mathus formed the Mississippi blues group Knockdown Society, his then-wife Katharine Whalen started a solo career (they divorced in '04; her second album was just released this year), and Maxwell and Mosher teamed up as the duo, you guessed it, Maxwell/Mosher and toured a little, performing the songs they both had written for the Zippers. They also won a lawsuit against the rest of the band, claiming they were withholding royalties, forcing the Zippers to cough up $155,000. As a matter of fact, only Andrew Bird, who performed violin as a sort-of auxiliary member of the Zippers, went on to find success, wowing the music blogs with his sweeping 2005 album The Mysterious Production of Eggs.
But I guess they're back! Though according to this article from the News & Observer, it looks like the concert will be held for purely financial reasons. "We wouldn't be trying to re-form the group to make records and get on the radio," Whalen says. "It would be more about us surviving. The idea would be to do maybe three shows, probably just a couple of corporate gigs for some money. We'll be paying off that settlement for two more years, so it would be cool to play a few nights and just make that go away."
Still, it's better than nothing! See you at the Cradle on Feb. 8! (If only it would be held on the 16th, my 21st birthday. Then, I could get drunk, too!)
Stephen Heintz is quite possibly the funniest man on the Internet (and if he's not, he's second only to the Brothers Chaps). Case in point? Acid Zen Wonder Paint.
Anyway, he posted on his LiveJournal about being propositioned by a drunk prostitute outside a McDonald's (an everyday occurance, I'm sure).
There's an awesome music video by Modular for the band The Soft Lightes. Cool use of color and stop-motion animation.
Also, if you're pissed off that you lost Stephen Colbert's Green Screen Challenge, you can help design the new Decemberists video! They've recorded themselves singing "O Valencia!" in front of a green screen. Now, it's up to you to put some crazy crap behind them! Good luck!
I know YouTube and Drawn! have already featured it, but I wanted to show you guys this very funny, well-made computer animated short entitled Kiwi!:
One of the things that most computer animators don't seem to understand is they have to have an interesting story to go along with all those visuals. Pixar gets it, and so does Dony Permedi, who did this film.
Dirt Nap (Director: D.B. Sweeney; Cast: John C. McGinley, Paul Hipp, D.B. Sweeney, Ed Harris, Moira Kelly, Pat Hingle, Janet Jones, Mark Moses, Rex Linn, Ned Bellamy, Vanna White; dirtnapmovie.com) Road movies always have their share of clichés and obligatory scenes. Dirt Nap takes those preconceived notions and turns them on their collective head. When three middle-aged slackers decide to take a trip to Florida for a football game, their whole world gets turned around, and their lifelong friendship is placed under close scrutiny. A fine cast all around, and an especially fascinating cameo appearance by Ed Harris as an amputee carnival owner.
Old Joy (Director/Writer/Editor: Kelly Reichardt; Co-Writer: Jonathan Raymond; Composer: Yo La Tengo; Cast: Will Oldham, Daniel London) Quiet, provocative filmmaking. People think a movie like this should be boring, but it is anything but. Two men who haven’t seen each other in years spontaneously decide to take a trip to the mountain springs of Oregon. While no major revelations are made, the characters re-evaluate their relationship, and start to realize just how far they’ve come in the many years they’ve known one another. Beautiful cinematography, gorgeous score by Yo La Tengo.
Shortbus (Writer/Director: John Cameron Mitchell; Original Score: Yo La Tengo; Cast: Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindasy Beamish, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, Peter Stickles; shortbusthemovie.com) A sexual revolution has begun, and writer/director John Cameron Mitchell is its muse. From a story developed by his cast, Mitchell gives us sex as a joyous combination, not only of body, but of spirit. Hearts are broken and mended again. New sexual heights are reached. All who enter the Shortbus salon are freed from the depression and anxiety of a post-9/11 New York City. Once again, Yo La Tengo delivers the perfect musical accompaniment.
An excellent review of Shortbus may be found here.
The first narrative I've seen at Cucalorus, and also the most unsettling. In this French film, a poor roofer stumbles across a drug addict's plan to make some big money fast. Fortunately, the addict overdoses before he has the chance to collect, and the roofer is left with a striped envelope containing a train ticket and a hotel reservation. What follows is a sick and twisted multi-player game, where the winner is handsomely rewarded, but the losers...well, you can probably guess what happens to them:
Even though an American remake is already in the works (of course), I'm really glad I saw the original first. I'm sure any American studio would jump at the chance to jazz up 13 Tzameti's ridiculously simple, but riveting storyline. The only problem is the story needs no jazzing up. The film's low-budget, black-and-white production only adds to the look of the film's dark and dingy locations, especially the rooms in which the game takes place, where a single light bulb is the only indicator of whether you will live...or die.
Day 2 of Cucalorus, and the documentaries keep on coming. The Al Franken biopic God Spoke was definitely more lighthearted fare compared to last night's proceedings, but it was still a very fun and very entertaining movie.
When Saturday Night Live alum Al Franken became the target of right-wing radio and TV personalities (maybe it's 'cause he named his first book Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot?), it set off an endless string of debates and yelling contests, usually between Franken and any combination of Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly. Especially Bill O'Reilly. After O'Reilly and Fox News raised a ruckus over what they believed to be copyright infringement (Fox claimed a trademark on the words "fair and balanced," which were part of the title of Franken's new book), the courts threw out the case and Franken laughed all the way to the bank as the free publicity shot his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, to the top of the Amazon.com Best Sellers list.
The film begins with the release of Franken's book and the backlash it received, follows Franken as he haphazardly jumpstarts the first liberal radio station, Air America Radio (which, sadly, has since declared bankruptcy), and as he follows the Kerry campaign during the election of 2004. It's hard to watch the scenes where Franken seems so optimistic about Kerry's certain victory, knowing what surely lies ahead. And filmmakers Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus pull no punches. They show Franken's meltdown after Bush's re-election, ultimately leading to his decision to possibly run for Senate in Minnesota during the 2008 elections.
What I enjoyed most about this film is what I enjoy most about Franken: his sense of humor. He can always turn any depressing political situation into a scathing, satirical one-liner. Even when he's calling out radio personality Michael Medved or going one-on-one with Sean Hannity, he keeps his cool and lets the facts do the talking. Especially hilarious are his bits from Saturday Night Live, notably one in which Franken, as his Stuart Smalley character, consoles a depressed, post-election Al Gore. Also worth mentioning are his USO appearances in Iraq, one of which appears in the film. Franken, dressed as Saddam Hussein, tries to hit on JAG actress Karri Turner. Unfortunately, not much more of his USO tour is shown in the film, which is sad, because if his article about the tour, "Tearaway Burkas and Tinplate Menorahs," is any indication, there's a lot of extra material that's a whole lot funnier. I highly recommend anyone interested in more information on Franken to read that article, which can be found in the 2005 edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading.
Overall, a solid documentary about a very funny man. For more information on the film, visit www.godspokefilm.com.
Today marks the kickoff of Wilmington, North Carolina's premier independent film festival, Cucalorus, now in its twelfth year. The film that opened this year's festivities was the documentary feature The Trials of Darryl Hunt, and I can already tell you, it's going to be very, very hard to top this picture in terms of emotional impact from an audience.
The film relays the story of one Darryl Hunt, a 19-year-old black man who, in 1984, was convicted of raping and murdering a white woman in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. What followed were ten sad and horrifying years of judicial corruption, police incompetence, and outright bigotry, in a scandal that, if it hasn't yet rocked the judicial system of North Carolina to its very core, this film most certainly will. Even after DNA evidence proved Hunt's innocence in 1994, he still remained in prison for an additional ten years, due to the district attorney's stubborn belief that the DNA evidence was either contaminated or inconclusive, even though there was no evidence that either was true. Finally, on Christmas Eve of 2003, Darryl Hunt was released from prison and now walks free. The state gave him compensation for their wrongheadedness, but no amount of money can take back the 19 years of wrongful imprisonment this man has faced.
The Trials of Darryl Hunt is most certainly the best documentary I have seen all year. Yes, better than An Inconvenient Truth and Wordplay. I have always believed that, when the story and its people are handled with the proper respect and admiration, a documentary can be ten times more powerful than any narrative film could ever be. The only reason this film won't be nominated for a Best Documentary Feature Oscar is because it has not enjoyed even a limited release in select cities, a requirement that must be fulfilled before the end of the year. The general public is stuck with having to search far and wide for any film festival where this production is being screened. It's worth the time to look, believe me.
However, my screening of the film was unique, in that Darryl Hunt himself, as well as defense attorney Mark Rabil were present to answer any questions following the screening. The two did not appear until after the screening, prompting one person to ask if Hunt has the strength to view this film again. "No, I don't think I have it in me," he exclaimed. Countless questions were asked, emotions were charged. Hunt took questions asking for his future plans, his feelings toward the whole debacle, and Rabil answered questions relating to the litigation and specifics of the case, which Rabil had worked on since the court appointed him to the case in 1984. One interesting question was why there is no accountability when it comes to district attorney's making cases on fraudulent evidence or withholding evidence altogether, something that Hunt and Rabil experienced during both times their case went to trial (the second trial was in 1990). Rabil said that the three most important things people can do are to vote, serve in a jury, and support causes like Hunt's, who created the Darryl Hunt Project for Freedom and Justice to help individuals, like him, who have been wrongfully accused of crimes, and to educate the public about flaws in the justice system.
Out of all of this, what struck me the most was how kind and pleasant Hunt seemed. Even while district attorneys were frothing at the mouth, begging juries to send down a life sentence, Hunt's face remained stoic. A man with a strong faith in God, as well as a strong faith in his peers, his friends, and his family. Surely, no stronger man has lived.
The Trials of Darryl Hunt did make the Academy's shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, but ultimately was not nominated for the award, in favor of films focusing on more current events, such as global warming and Iraq.
The film will, however, be shown on HBO in April 2007.
Despite harsh weather conditions, an increasingly upset stomach, and the fact that I couldn't find my polling place, I was still able to get my vote cast in this year's midterm elections. If you haven't yet, please don't let your voice go unheard!! And then, once you've voted, tune in to Comedy Central's "Daily Show Midterm Midtacular" at 11 PM. It'll be broadcast live and will merge both "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" into one pseudojournalistic behemoth!!
P.S. Didja see Stewart and Colbert on the cover of Rolling Stone? Classic.
I have received some impertinent information from reliable intelligence reports, leading me to believe that literary genius John Hodgman will be making his triumphant return as The Daily Show's resident expert tonight at 11 P.M. on Comedy Central.
UPDATE: Use this playlist to view all these videos, plus eleven more! Click the playlist button at the bottom of the video to choose the specific songs mentioned in this list. (The Jet video is no longer available on YouTube.)
In celebration of Halloween, I'd like to share with you five music videos that always give me a good dose of the jibblies. YouTube links will be provided. Please keep in mind that most of these videos are inappropriate for kids, and anyone who does not wish to have nightmares should not view these videos.
5. Jet, "Look What You've Done" (dir. Robert Hales) Robert Hales' video for Jet's single "Look What You've Done" isn't scary 'cause of what it shows. It's scary 'cause of what it doesn't show. The video features the Australian rockers in the middle of an animated forest, complete with Disney-esque furry woodland creatures, awakened by the sound of Jet's sweet balladry. But the critters soon turn vicious as the song reaches its bridge and day turns to night. In addition to the animals sudden change of character, most of them end up getting killed by a creature that remains unseen, save for it's yellow eyes and sinister smile. Another thing that adds to the creepiness factor of this video is the fact that the song in no way supports the visuals. It's almost as if Hales already had this idea set in stone, and at the last minute decided to drop Jet into the middle of it with their sugary-sweet melodies. It's a brilliant non-sequitur that ultimately adds up to an undeniably disturbing vid.
4. Interpol, "Evil" (dir. Charlie White) Photographer and creature designer Charlie White makes his music video debut with this surreal and ultimately unnerving video for New York quartet Interpol. He definitely picked the right song for the job; "Evil" is not only the best song off Antics, the obtuseness of the lyrics allows White to do whatever he wants as far as the visuals are concerned. So, he decided to create a humanoid puppet modeled after the physical features of the band, stuck him in the middle of a car crash, and then had him dance around on a gurney. The puppet, which fans have dubbed "Norman," is creepy enough just standing still, but when it starts singing and dancing around, it's all the more disturbing. Plus, the puppeteers didn't quite nail the lip-synch, creating this disembodied voice effect. Creepy!
3. Daft Punk, "Technologic" (dir. Daft Punk) After a string of successful videos by Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, Daft Punk decided to take to the cameras themselves for their third album, Human After All. "Technologic" may have become a hit through a prominent iPod commercial, but the actual video tells quite a different story. More creepy puppets, only this time the featured creature sports a metallic, skeletal exterior, plus some mad-creepy eyeballs and a distorted mouth. Daft Punk (they're the two guys in robot costumes in the video) then props their demented robot up on a podium reminiscent of something out of 1984. Oh, and for some reason, someone on YouTube marked this video as "inappropriate." Go figure.
2. UNKLE, "Eye for an Eye" (dir. Shynola and Ruth Lingford) The longest video in our countdown, and also the only computer animated one. UNKLE had touched upon the creepiness factor before, when MTV pulled their video for "Rabbit In Your Headlights" on the grounds that it was "too disturbing." A hard act to follow, for sure, but Shynola and Ruth Lingford's six-and-a-half minute video for the Never, Never Land single "Eye for an Eye" surpasses "Rabbit" in terms of scares, creepy imagery, and a definitely unnerving ending. Set in a fairytale world where happy little creatures eat fruit and frolic around. That is, until an unexpected surprise drops into their village. Soon, their greed and desire lead to terrifying consequences. Watch the video and tell me those creatures with the gnashing teeth aren't the scariest things you've ever seen. What could possibly top this video?
1. Aphex Twin, "Come to Daddy" (dir. Chris Cunningham) Oh right. This one. Chris Cunningham is a director synonymous with fucked up, scary-ass images, and his first video for Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) is no exception. The video for "Come to Daddy" meshed with the song so well that one can't hear the song without envisioning all the creepy visuals that make up Cunningham's masterpiece. It's got everything: dank, dirty alleyways; sinister groups of children, each with the face of Richard James digitally applied onto their own; and a freakishly tall, humanoid mutant crawling out of a discarded TV, only to howl voraciously at the video's elderly protagonist. This video is definitely one for the ages, or rather, one for the Dark Ages.
Honorable Mention: The Horrors, "Sheena is a Parasite" (dir. Chris Cunningham) Chris Cunningham returned briefly from his music video sabbatical to deliver a two-minute vid for British punk group The Horrors, featuring actress Samantha Morton in the title role. Pretty damn creepy, but way too short to fully capture Cunningham's deranged visual style.
"Black" (dir. Saiman Chow for Adicolor) Last summer, Adidas commissioned a bunch of experimental filmmakers to do videos based on various colors. While the aforementioned Charlie White, whose video "Pink" is pretty damn disturbing, it's Saiman Chow's video for "Black" that takes the cake. Starring a stop-motion panda and fish who play a game of Russian roulette, the video references everything from the Brothers Quay to Sesame Street, all while retaining its own unnerving visual style.
"Saw III was not prescreened for critics. It doesn’t need to be. The midnight preview I attended last night was packed with folks who don’t mind seeing Hollywood beat a dead horse, which, come to think of it, is the one sadistic act that the Saw producers have yet to show us on film."
Are our expectations of horror films so low that whenever a filmmaker comes out with a horror film that's only slightly better, everybody drops a load and won't stop blabbering on about how brilliant it is?
Case in point: The Descent. I heard nothing but good things about it, I went to see it, and it sucked. People wouldn't stop saying how revolutionary it was, and how it redefines the horror genre. But all throughout my viewing, I couldn't help but count how many other horror films had already covered the same ground, and did a much better job at it.
Tom Long at The Detroit News said that the film "revives and electrifies a genre that veers too often toward self-parody." True, recent slasher flicks have started to feel too much like comedies (check: Jason, Freddy, and Chuckie franchises). So much so, that films which are actual parodies of the horror genre (Shaun of the Dead for one) contain genuine scares. But there's a difference between paying homage to the horror classics of the past and ripping off every single classic horror motif, then pasting it all together in an incomprehensible mess that makes no attempt at plausibility, character development, or even a good ending.
A lot of folks have been comparing this film to Alien and for good reason. Both films contain female leads who have to evolve from defenseless supporting characters to bad-ass killing machines. And hey, it's always nice to have a critic mention a classic horror movie on your posters, 'cause then people will think that your movie's good, too!
But there's a little problem: It took Sigourney Weaver's character TWO films to achieve complete bad-assery. In The Descent, the process takes no longer than thirty seconds. It's like "Alien Lite," all the scares, half the plot.
And there are scares, don't get me wrong. But they're not fun scares. Fun scares are when something jumps out at you, but it has a reason to. The scares in The Descent are all for effect, and nothing else. After the fifth or six orchestra sting, I was pretty much able to predict where this film was headed, even though our cave-dwelling heroines weren't.
I'd like to get back to the plausibility of The Descent. Most of the time, plausibility flies out the window of your average horror film, anyway. That's why the average horror film is never a good horror film. The best, however, provide a context and background for the scares. In Alien, they plan ahead by setting their film in the future (how groundbreaking!). That way, they can justify the existence of...hint-hint...ALIEN CREATURES! In The Descent, all events take place in the here and now and, oddly enough, in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. So my question to the filmmakers is this: How can you justify flesh-eating, cave-dwelling, no-seeing mutants in present day North Carolina without first establishing that this film takes place either in a parallel universe (like the one in all the "Godzilla" films where everyone in Japan just takes Godzilla for granted and are never surprised when he shows up) or in the future. 'Cause lemme tell you, I live in North Carolina, and I don't run into these mutant things all that much.
Other recent horror films like the Saw franchise (yes, it's a franchise now) and Hostel aren't much better, but at least they're realistic, or at least as realistic as a horror film can be. A deranged serial killer who puts his victims into sinister "puzzles" makes a lot more sense than blind zombies who dwell in caverns underneath the Blue Ridge Parkway. Hopefully, writer/director Neil Marshall will be able to look past his own hype and make the necessary revisions on his next film. Maybe an Alien sequel?
For those that don't know, I'm currently in a class called "Variations on the One-Minute Film," and one of my assignments is to keep up a video blog where I will post quick little one-minute experimental videos that I have made. The blog can be viewed here, and it features a ton of new material I've been working on. Here's the most recent short film, entitled Late Night Tales pt.1:
What could possibly revive DiMattiaFilms from its dormant slumber? Why, this kickass commercial from Sony Bravia, of course! Directed by music video guru Jonathan Glazer, who is also responsible for the features Sexy Beast and Birth, the commercial depicts huge eruptions of very well-choreographed paint splotches wreaking havoc all over a British apartment complex. Watch and be amazed!
Everyone’s favorite nautical-themed, Alexandre Dumas-reading lit-pop indie rockers from Oregon are back. With The Crane Wife, they’ve delivered their major-label debut, which takes a page from both the Who and Pink Floyd songbooks, resulting in a prog-rock stunner with all the meandering experimentation of Dark Side of the Moon, but with the powerful immediacy of Who’s Next. Plus, their songs are about murderous butchers and magical women who transform into birds. What’s not to love?
Beck, The Information
Beck returns with the real “return to Odelay” record after the faux-nostalgia of 2005’s mediocre Guero. But there’s so much more to love than just blasts from the past. On The Information, Beck walks a tightrope between the shameless psychedelia of Midnite Vultures and the heart-on-my-sleeve frankness of Sea Change. It’s a gamble, but it pays off. Check the last track for bonus dialogue about spaceships, between filmmaker Spike Jonze and humorist Dave Eggers.
Jet, Shine On
Jet are musical chameleons. Their Oasis tracks sound just like Oasis, their Beatles tracks just like the Fab Four. Is there any band these guys can’t sound like? Yes, themselves. Still, it may be imitation, but damn it if it ain’t good-sounding imitation. Leadoff single “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” is their catchiest tune yet, and the title track achieves a climax second only to “Hey Jude.” Damn it, another imitation!
I love Threadless as much as the next person, but lately, I was beginning to think they had lost their edge and just decided to print a bunch of boring, unfunny and/or overtly Abercrombie & Fitch-esque T-shirts. So, imagine my surprise when this week, they come out with not one, but THREE shirts I want!
Featuring a certain someone's bright red bicycle underneath this famous Texan landmark, it's an easy reference to Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. But I mean, c'mon, it's a reference to Pee-Wee's Big Adventure!
'Nother reference shirt, this time to the vast library of musical speed freaks They Might Be Giants. Or rather, just one song in their vast library (though, note the sun in the corner, referencing the Giants' hit "Why Does the Sun Shine?")
I never thought much of these new Type Tees, but this one is pretty darn funny. If you can't read the type, it says:
Haikus are easy But sometimes they don't make sense Refrigerator
"Pick up a newspaper and read about Congress and you will find yourself yelling at walls and terrifying the cat. Last week, Congress moved to suspend habeas corpus, one thing that distinguishes a civil society from a police state. Reaction was muted.
Then the Party of Family Values was revealed to have protected a sexual predator in its midst until finally a reporter asked some pointed questions and the honorable gentleman resigned and ran off to recovery camp: This level of hypocrisy takes a person's breath away. You thought that Abramoff, Norquist, Reed & DeLay had established new lows, but the elevator is still descending.
The power of righteous vexation is what keeps so many old Democrats hanging on in nursing homes long past the time they should have kicked off. Ancient crones from FDR's time are still walking the halls, kept alive by anger at what has been done to our country. Old conservationists, feminists, grizzled veterans of the civil rights era fight off melanoma, emphysema, Montezuma, thanks to the miracle drug of anger. Slackers and cynics abound, not to mention nihilists in golf pants and utter idiots. Time to clean some clocks. As Frost might have written, 'The woods are lovely, dark and thick. But I have many butts to kick and some to poke and just one stick.'"
This just might be one of the worst-assembled DVD covers I have ever seen. The Great New Wonderful, a brilliant and quite dark film about New Yorkers coping with the hassles of everyday life one year after 9/11, is in no way, shape or form the "brilliant comedy" the front of the box proclaims it to be. Also, I can't think of a single moment in the film where Maggie Gyllenhaal is smiling, nor can I think of any scenes where Tony Shalhoub is anywhere but in an employee breakroom (please note the background; I don't think they have bottles of fine wine in breakrooms). They also make it look like those two actors meet each other in the course of the film, but they don't.
I swear, the people that assembled this cover art most definitely did not see the film in question. It reminds me of the cover to Layer Cake, another brilliant thriller starring soon-to-be-James-Bond actor Daniel Craig as a middleman in London drug deals. Not only does the box give away important plot points in its description, it propels actress Sierra Miller to the forefront, making it look like she has a leading role (she's only in three scenes). Likewise, in The Great New Wonderful, Stephen Colbert, hilarious man that he is, only receives about six or seven minutes of screen time, but you'd never tell by his top billing on the DVD cover.
What are some other misleading DVD covers you've come across? I can't think of any more off the top of my head, but I know they're out there.
Last night, I finally decided to get off my ass and start making those changes I was telling you guys about. The most obvious change is the brand new Flash header at the top of the screen. I decided to retire the old header photo (which you can still view here) and replace it with this new image I found on Flickr by jsee. You can view the full image by clicking on his name in the bottom right-hand-corner of the header.
As for the other changes, they are as follows:
Short Films on YouTube: I have eight short films posted on YouTube that I either created or worked on in some way. I'm still working on putting some of the old works up onto YouTube, so keep your eyes peeled for those in the next couple of days.
Mixtapes: I've retired the "Don't Come Knocking" summer mixtape, but a new one, entitled "Airwave Rebellion," is on the way.
Original Music: My first release, Bagel for President EP, is now available for free download. It features three original tracks and three covers: "Papa Was a Rodeo" by The Magnetic Fields, "Happy Together" by The Turtles, and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack. Some of these I have released in the past, but the versions presented here have been remastered and all the vocals have been rerecorded, so give it a listen!
That's all I've got so far. Let me know what you think of the changes by leaving a comment or sending me an e-mail!
The campus newspaper here at UNCW, The Seahawk, has just printed an article on La La, the CD-swapping service I keep plugging on here (because it's awesome!) If you have a lot of actual CDs lying around your place (like I do), and would rather trade 'em for other used CDs instead of a measly buck-fifty at the used music store, give La La a shot.
I am happy to announce that, despite my initial speculation, the new DJ Shadow album The Outsider is pretty sweet. Opener and leaked track "This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way)" is hands-down the best song on here, and while the first half of the album is exactly the kind of glossy, mainstream-sounding rap Shadow's been avoiding on his past albums, they are still pretty solid tracks. Everything comes to a head on the seven-minute "Backstage Girl," with raps provided by Phonte Coleman, has Shadow pulling all the stops out of his vinyl collection to deliver a solid production, while Coleman delivers some hilarious lines about a hookup gone wrong (best line on the album: "I gotta stop fuckin' wit these ho's offa MySpace, dawg.") I could've done without the proliferation of tracks that start out with shout-outs like "DJ Shadow on this bitch!!" or "DJ Shadow up on this mothafucka!" Um...yeah, I know who the DJ is on this album. You don't need to remind me.
I see that iTunes and Amazon.com customers have already given The Outsider an average rating of 2 stars, which leads me to believe they didn't know anything about this album before they bought it. Listen to a couple of the hip-hop tracks like "Enuff" and "3 Freaks" first, then read the All Music Guide review that explains what Shadow's trying to accomplish, then decide if you still want to buy it.
On Monday night, I was witness to four hours of the most energetic rock-n-roll ever to hit the small town of Carrboro, North Carolina. The Cat's Cradle was already abuzz with the sounds of The Spinto Band when my friends and I entered the venue. Yeah, we were a little late. Sorry, Spinto Band! But we did show up just in time to hear them piledrive through their debut album, Nice and Nicely Done, including an exceptionally rocking live version of their hit song, "Oh Mandy," whose brilliant Jon Watts-directed video can be viewed here.
Then it was time for Art Brut, the muthafuckin' band I muthafuckin' came to see! They were in fine form, too. Blasting onto the stage with a brief cover of "Back in Black" before jumping right into their ubiquitous hit single, "Formed a Band." It didn't take long for their energy to reach its breaking point, as lead singer Eddie Argos finally gave into crowd demand and jumped into the audience during a particularly ear-bleeding version of "Modern Art." The antics continued as Argos started jumping-rope with the microphone chord, all the while guitarist Jasper Future is shredding away to the tune of "These Animal Menswe@r." Other highlights included the four new songs, my fav being the surprisingly melodic "Nag Nag Nag Nag"; Argos' monologue in the middle of "Emily Kane" (my fav Art Brut song), in which he says "If Jay-Z were here, he would be telling me, 'Eddie, you got 99 problems. Don't make the bitch one of 'em.' And I would say, 'Jay-Z, I don't appreciate your misogynistic attitude towards women'"; and finally, a madcap call-and-response in the middle of their final song, "Good Weekend," that went as follows...
Eddie: Art Brut! Audience: TOP OF THE POPS! Eddie: The Spinto Band! Audience: TOP OF THE POPS! Eddie: We Are Scientists! Audience: TOP OF THE POPS!
While I am not well-versed in the catalogue of the night's main course, We Are Scientists, I had heard their latest LP, With Love and Squalor, so I at least knew a couple songs. However, at no point during WAS's hour-long set did I feel left out of the action. The band was so into it and the audience happily followed as WAS pummeled their way through Love and Squalor highlights like "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt," "The Scene is Dead," and "Cash Cow." Their banter was hilarious, too, which is rare for most of the bands I've seen this year (with the exception of the eels' set, but theirs was most-certainly planned out). Stories ranged from why Chris Cain's bass is wireless and lead singer Keith Murray's guitar is not (answer: Keith "didn't qualify" for a wireless), when Keith expected Chris to fall off the stage 'cause he forgot to tie his shoelaces (answer: three-and-a-half minutes), and a shameless plug for their new "What Would We Are Scientists Do?" wristbands (WWWASD?, of course). The absolute highlight of their set, as well as the highlight of the evening, was when they performed the sole cover of the night, a heart-stopping rendition of The Ronettes' "Be My Baby."
Another interesting thing of note was that Art Brut leader Eddie Argos was standing in the audience for the majority of WAS's set, and jumped onto the stage, along with Jasper Future, to join in on "The Great Escape," the last song of the evening. All in all, a kickass night of damn straight indie rock. And in the end, isn't it all that matters?
I had a photograph of Art Brut's setlist, but my cameraphone refuses to let me upload it to my computer. So, here's the lo-fi, text only version:
My favorite tracks on Weird Al albums have always been the polka medleys. No matter how many food or TV jokes he throws into his full-length parodies, nothing gets me chuckling uncontrollably more than brief polka-ized versions of Top 40 tracks. He even picks some really good ones this time through, including Coldplay, Gorillaz, Modest Mouse, and Franz Ferdinand. Straight Outta Lynwood drops 9/29.
My mega-post about the We Are Scientists/Art Brut concert last night is on the way! Stay tuned!
There are some pretty sweet music videos out there right now. The Spinto Band's "Oh Mandy," TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me," as well as some past videos by Death Cab For Cutie and The Thrills. Little did I know that they were all directed by the same person!
Meet Jon Watts. The director of ten music videos and three television commercials, each piece he works on looks and feels so different from his past works that he almost takes the form of a creative chameleon. With a body of work as exceptional as this, Watts may be poised to become the next Michel Gondry. Take a look:
The Spinto Band - "Oh Mandy"
The Thrills - "The Irish Keep Gate-Crashing"
All of his videos can be viewed in QuickTime format at the link above. I also recommend Death Cab for Cutie's "Soul Meets Body" video as well as the Frosted Flakes and NY Times commercials, the latter of which uses one of my favorite songs, "Me and My Arrow" by Harry Nilsson.
While I have personally swore never to create a MySpace page (still hasn't happened, bitches!), I am an avid user of Facebook. And now, it seems the craze has reached an apex, what with the News Feed controversy and all.
But it was this group that freaked me out the most. The "If this group reaches 100,000 my girlfriend will have a threesome" group is one of the sickest, yet utterly compelling, ideas ever created on Facebook. I haven't stooped to the point of actually joining said group, but to tell you the truth, I admire the creator's courage for creating a group with such a single-minded intention. If only he didn't look like such a dick.
Oh well. There you have it folks. All it took was a Harvard student's complex social networking experiment to help a sex-craved Atlanta, GA resident achieve male fantasy heaven. Hooray for Web 2.0.
UPDATE: So, it turned out the whole thing was a scam. Big surprise.
Sorry if some of you caught a weird post on your RSS feeds (if any of you are doing that kinda thing). I'm testing a new Dashboard widget from Google that let's me post directly to my blog from the Dashboard. So far, it's working alright, though it's still in extreme beta mode (and I don't mean the "beta" mode Blogger and Flickr have been in for ages).
If you wanna see for yourself and give these beta widgets a shot, you can download 'em here.
Just got an e-mail from Chicago musician David Vandervelde, inviting people to submit sexy photographs of themselves (no porn, please) for a chance to adorn the cover of his debut album. Send your pics to imhot@davidvandervelde.com.
Here's a couple of his tracks to get you in the mood:
For a little over a decade, there's been a disturbing trend in the advertising world that I like to call "Try Again Later" advertising. This is the practice of putting on, in public, a notice that is cryptic and vague as to what is being sold, and no further information is revealed until later in the marketing scheme. Example: When the Swiffer came out, it was preceded by a slew of commercials promising a "new breakthrough in cleaning technology." The commercials never told you what the product was, or even what it looked like. It just said it was "coming soon." You would have to return to that channel at a later time (usually, a couple weeks later) to see a follow-up commercial explaining what, exactly, the first commercial was all about. Thus, the phrase "Try Again Later."
The most recent victim of "Try Again Later" advertising (from here on in, referred to as "TAL advertising") is Cartoon Network, a channel I grew up with and now adore for its Adult Swim block of shows (most specifically, Venture Bros.). Their regular programming has undergone a new marketing campaign where commercial breaks are bookended by clips of the most obscure jokes from their respective TV shows, usually followed by a split-second flash of the Cartoon Network logo and the slogan "Yes." (which is such a overtly ridiculous and irrelevant slogan that if you think about it too long, your head might explode). Anyway, the network tried a similar campaign on billboards, where they would simply show the obscure quote from the cartoon and not show who said it or even what the billboard was advertising. This led to a ridiculous amount of confusion on all sides and gave me the unfortunate fate of having to drive by a solid red billboard with the words "I pooted." in bright yellow text every time I had to drive back to college. Eventually, the network sent the billboard guys back out to finish the ads, by adding a drawing of the character who said the line (in my example, Cheese from "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends") and the Cartoon Network logo.
Those last two paragraphs are merely a preface for my main argument and that is this: COLLEGE STUDENTS, STOP TRYING TO EMULATE THIS ADVERTISING PRACTICE. It's not a very good practice for the professionals to be doing anyway, and college students have proven time and time again that they're even worse at it. TAL advertising consists of two phases: (1) the cryptic, vague and confusing initial advertisements, usually posted in a place where everyone can see them repeatedly and where they can be easily replaced by the ads in phase (2) which are the ads that explain what the first ads were all about in addition to plugging whatever product/service/TV show/etc. they intended.
For some reason, when college students attempt TAL advertising, they seem to leave out phase two of their marketing plan, obviously the most important phase. Or they put the explanatory ads in such an obscure place that no one reads them and no one ever figures out what the phase one ads were all about. This happened last year when a bunch of sidewalk chalk ads spread out all over campus proposed the following piece of advice: "Ask her." That's it. Just those two words. "Ask her?" Who's her? Ask her about what, in particular? Should I ask her in passing or be upfront about it? It racked my brain for weeks at a time as I tried to figure out what on earth I should be asking, and to what unfortunate female I should be querying. No further information was provided as to the nature of these ads (big surprise), and it wasn't until much later in the semester that I overheard that the campaign was part of my campus' Health Services department's effort to get people tested for STDs. At least, that was the rumor. I will never know for certain what "Ask her" meant, but I am almost certain it was a failed attempt at emulating TAL advertising.
This year, the same thing is cropping up again. Hundreds of bumper sticker-sized signs have appeared all over campus with the simple plea to "Ask good questions." They've also appeared in really annoying places, too, like inside the elevator of my apartment building and in the stairwells of various campus buildings, so you can't avoid them. What do they mean? Who should I be asking good questions to? What defines a "good question"? I'll probably never know as yet another incompetent campus organization neglects phase two of their TAL marketing operation. Meanwhile, all that paper and all that sidewalk chalk was spent for naught. What a waste.
Here's a good question: Why don't advertisements simply be upfront about what it is, exactly, that they are advertising so people will be more likely to follow the ads instructions and use/buy/watch whatever product/service/TV show they are advertising?
That's right. Now that I've surpassed three hundred posts, it's time for a little spring cleaning...or, fall cleaning, I guess. The most important change is that I am doing away with my CafePress online store starting this Friday. So, if you want any of the merchandise on my online store, you have until FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST AT 5:00 PM to buy! To help get rid of stuff faster, I'm waiving all markups so all merchandise is being sold at the flat CafePress price.
Also in the works...
A new blog template with easier-to-read sidebar and graphics
A YouTube page to view all my short films
More free mixtapes
More original music, free to download
Let's see if I'll be able to keep any of these promises! :-)
The Grudge was not one of my favorite movies the year it came out. I thought it was too disjointed, and the fact that they just took the same concept (in the same location!) as the original and just made the cast American seemed like a cop-out. Granted, it did have a brilliant opening and the first case of a woman doing all the right things (calling the authorities, leaving the premises, etc.) and still getting killed. Now, we have The Grudge 2...
I thank the filmmakers for not trying to pull this elongated title bullshit on us, just simply "The Grudge 2." Also, I think this trailer's pretty solid. Sure, it goes for a ton of easy scares (some of which I hope won't give away too much about the film) but I loved the use of that oldies classic "I Only Have Eyes for You". I also appreciate the fact that they don't try and make it look like Sarah Michelle Gellar is a major character. No; her character dies early in the film. Sorry, didn't mean to spoil the surprise for you, but the trailer said so.
In other horror news, all my friends keep telling me to see The Descent, but I'm still not convinced. What's so damn good about it? No one has been able to tell me. I also hate to say it, but I'm actually looking forward to Saw III. Despite the bad acting in the first Saw and the obvious "haunted house" gimmicks of the second Saw, I have been unable to predict the endings of both films and have been pleasantly surprised. Let's just see if they can do it again.
I'd like to celebrate this, my three hundredth post, but I'm too excited about this other piece of news...
That's right; yours truly is now one of John Hodgman's contacts on Flickr. I'm thinking about catching him in Durham when he does his book tour for the new paperback version of The Areas of My Expertise, soon to be followed by an audiobook version!
In the meantime, I'll just sit and sulk as I read about all the awesome shit I missed by not living in New York and going to see the "Revenge of the Book Eaters" benefit concert hosted by Hodgman and featuring Jon Stewart, Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Sufjan Stevens, and David "This is not my beautiful house!" Byrne!!! Oh, well. At least Stereogum (as always) delivers the good coverage.
Happy 300th Birthday, DiMattiaFilms! Here's looking towards three hundred more, right guys?! Guys? Hey, where's everybody goin'?
For a glimpse at my laughable original intentions when I started this blog, click here to read post #1! I don't know about you guys, but I have yet to release a single soundtrack to any of the films I've made. Or even made a film that merited its own soundtrack.
While I did enjoy über-blogged-about flick Snakes on a Plane, I have to agree with much of what Chuck Klosterman has to say in this article.
Bad movies are fun to watch because when they were made, the filmmakers took themselves (and their finished film) very seriously. Just see Ed Wood for proof of this.
Snakes on a Plane never once took itself seriously, and while the final product is entertaining, it would've been a million times more entertaining if the filmmakers had gone into it with the intention of making a good movie, not a film that was intentionally terrible.
1. There is no universal format. One application may ask me for a list of references, while others just ask for my previous places of employment. There is no way to anticipate what will be on any given application.
2. They force you to write mad small. One application asked me for the address to my last job and gave me this much space to write it in: ____________. Maybe I could fit the zip code in there, but not the entire address. 'Course, if you write too small, no one at the job will be able to figure it out and you won't get hired.
3. Almost all job applications ask you to describe your duties in your previous occupations. Now, I can see why this might come in handy for some positions. I would probably have to explain what a "Customer Service Clerk" is to people not familiar with this doublespeak term for "bagger." But some positions, like "Cashier" or "Waiter," are pretty self-explanatory.
4. A lot of them ask really gay questions, like "Why do you think you would be a valuable asset to blah-dee-blah-dee-blah?" I don't know because I DON'T WORK HERE YET. One Starbucks application asked me "Why do you enjoy coffee?" and I wrote down "Like an alarm clock, coffee is that jolt that gets me up in the morning. Plus, it tastes better than an alarm clock." True story.
5. There is nothing more fun than asking for an application, filling it out, and handing it back to the manager, only to have her glance at it and say "Sorry, we're not hiring at this time."
"Moby's album Go - The Very Best Of Moby will be released by Mute on 6th November 2006. Go - The Very Best Of Moby compiles 15 songs from his unique back catalogue, including seminal tracks from the multi-million and multi-platinum selling albums Play and 18, as well as containing the brand new, previously unavailable song 'New York, New York' featuring Debbie Harry on vocals.
Play was my first encounter with electronica, and I've been hooked ever since. However, 18 was decidedly lukewarm and Hotel was pretty dull, despite a decent cover of New Order's "Temptation" and a bonus CD of ambient tracks. Also, "Go - The Very Best of Moby"?? C'mon; you guys can come up with a better title than that. Why are so many musicians bent on naming their greatest hit comps after their biggest hit song? I don't think The Flaming Lips would be too keen on naming their best of She Don't Use Jelly and Other Smash Hits!
Who can think of a better title for Moby's greatest hits? (And let's assume you're a fan of his music. No entries like Nobody Listens to Techno! Eminem Selects The Worst of Moby)
Tonight's Venture Bros. was superb. I don't know which of J.G. Thirwell's original compositions I like more: the opening theme or the end credits theme. Download 'em both and decide for yourself.
Elsewhere, a new Sprites track has surfaced, thanks to Catbirdseat. You might remember the Sprites previous MP3, their brilliant and hilarious tribute to the king of zombie films. This one ain't as catchy, but it's just as topical (and funny):
Also, Gorilla vs. Bear may have discovered one of the coolest Beatles covers of all time, a soulful send up of "Eleanor Rigby." Take a listen:
Kim Weston - "Eleanor Rigby" (link expired)
That's all I got. You can catch the encore of the new Venture Bros. episode, "Victor. Echo. November." at 2:30 AM...or you can just watch the damn thing now at the Adult Swim Fix (Windows Media Player required). Thankfully, it's not Mac-repellent like MTV's media player or the Comedy Central Motherload.
So...it's been a while since I posted something. And it's been over a week since the eels concert I attended last Sunday, but I have yet to post anything about it. And there's that new Catbird Records release I haven't talked about yet. So without further ado...
eels delivered one of the best concerts I have attended so far this year. Crafting a concert experience radically different from their "With Strings" tour captured on DVD and CD last year, eels went totally rock 'n roll on our asses, delivering drastically reworked versions of their more somber album tracks. Tracks like "Old Shit/New Shit" and "I Like Birds" were barely recognizable in their new formats. Imagine "My Beloved Monster" chanelled through James Brown, or a version of "I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart" covered by Joe Cocker and you have a general idea of the eels' "No Strings Attached" concert. The covers were varied, too: Peaches' "Rock Show," Tom Waits' "Jesus Gonna Be Here," as well as the standards "I Put a Spell on You" and "That's Life." eels were in fine form, impressive considering the gig they had before their show in Carrboro was Lollapalooza in Chicago!
Catbird Records has just shipped their latest release, Last Night I Saw God on the Dancefloor by Maestro Echoplex, and I am ready to say that it is probably the best CBR release since the Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin/Michael Holt split LP. Download the utterly beautiful "My Eyes are Disconnected From My Head is Disconnected From My Body" here!
My brother expressed interest in seeing a heavy metal band down in Charlotte last Thursday called DragonForce and seeing as how my parents wanted nothing to do with it, I had to drive him there. I gotta say, I was very impressed with what the band calls "extreme power metal!" It was much more enthusiastic and a hell of a lot more melodic then that shitty "screamo" I'd been hearing lately. (All three opening acts for DragonForce were textbook metal, or as Brian Posehn calls it, "metal by numbers.") Bottom line is any band that has a keyboardist who not only plays rockin' solos that incorporate video game sounds and the "Simpsons" theme, but also plays a mean keytar(!) has gotta be worth a damn, right? Right.
Alright, I think that covered everything. Sorry for the shitty grammar, but I wanted to get this done and over with. I head back to Wilmington next Friday, so the next post I write may be written from my brand spankin' new apartment at UNCW! wOOt.
Apple has released a sneak preview of the new OS X, entitled "Leopard." The main selling point of this new operating system is Time Machine, an application with the ability to go back in time to restore any document you should happen to delete.
Which leads me to think, why would you need to ever delete anything again if you know it's all still available on your computer? And is it just me, or wouldn't this application take up a ton of space on your computer? Also, with Time Machine installed, you could never get rid of your Mac, 'cause whoever got their hands on it next would have no trouble restoring all the files you deleted.
Granted, it looks really cool, but I definitely get the feeling Apple's just whipped this up to get folks interested in a new OS X. It's not nearly as cool, or as useful, as the past OS X selling points, like Exposé and Dashboard. As a matter of fact, it looks like Apple's gonna be messing around with the Exposé format by creating Pages. It looks pretty pointless, though I guess it would make it easy to switch from Microsoft Word when the boss is watching to iTunes when the boss has left.
Despite harsh weather conditions, an increasingly upset stomach, and the fact that I couldn't find my polling place, I was still able to get my vote cast in this year's midterm elections. If you haven't yet, please don't let your voice go unheard!! And then, once you've voted, tune in to Comedy Central's "Daily Show Midterm Midtacular" at 11 PM. It'll be broadcast live and will merge both "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" into one pseudojournalistic behemoth!!
I am happy to announce that, 
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