Relatively Random Mix

While away on vacation I received a text message from Sean asking me to post a random iPod mix to the blog. Had to wait a few days since I enjoyed my vacation sans Internet, cable TV, and, eventually, the cell phone. A few caveats to my "random mix" posted below:

  • Instead of going through all 13,000 songs, I used a playlist I made up for the vacation, comprised of roughly half the songs in the player. That's still over 6,000.
  • I swapped Song #2 for Song #1. It just made more sense. Other than that, everything played in the order it appears.
To download the tracks right-click and save on the links: Part I (.zip file) Part II (.zip file)

Tracklist:

01 - The Beatles "Intro...Revolution 9" (from the HATE remix album)
02 - Elvis Costello - "Radio, Radio"
03 - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Not What You Wanted"
04 - Arctic Monkeys - "Teddy Picker"
05 - Dead 60's - "Nationwide"
06 - Charlie Parker - "Klaunstance"
07 - Bad Religion - "Requiem for Dissent"
08 - Pearl Jam - "Insignificance (Live)"
09 - The White Stripes - "Conquest"
10 - The Pixies - "Here Comes Your Man"
11 - Big Brother and the Holding Company - "Summertime"
12 - Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - "All in a Day"
13 - Muse - "Stockholm Syndrome"
14 - Sham 69 - "Borstal Breakout"
15 - Joe Satriani - "Strange"
16 - The Kinks - "The Village Green Preservation Society"
17 - A Perfect Circle - "Let's Have a War"
18 - Gladys Knight & the Pips - "The End of Our Road"
19 - Aerogramme - "Barriers"
20 - The Who - "The Kids Are Alright"
21 - Shuggie Otis - "Bootie Call"
22 - Porcupine Tree - "Trains"

There you go. It may not have been completely random, but then you would have been stuck with a lot of Morbid Angel and 20-minute Frank Zappa compositions, and who would be crying then?

That's right...you would. Now shake it off and act like a man.

BOTM for July

2 1/2 weeks of business travel and vacation have put the books read in July far from my mind, but reflecting on the pile sitting atop my computer desk the answer for July's BOTM is obvious.

Into the Wild by John Krakauer is a touching piece of both investigative journalism and a meditation on the way we can choose to live our lives - according to our principles or according to the rigid structure placed upon us by society. Short, precise, and dreamlike in its narrative, the book narrates what we know of the life of young Chris McCandless who, as the front cover of the book explains, donated his savings to charity, abandoned his belongings and invented a new life for himself upon the roads of America, eventually finding his end in mysterious circumstances in the wilds of Alaska. The book drilled its way into my thinking and stayed there long after it was finished. Highly recommended, and I hear that the feature adaptation by Sean Penn is look rather good as well.

Elsewhere in the reading universe:

  • Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - This came very close to being the BOTM. A look into not only what they put into the food in places like McDonald's and Burger King, but also about the workings of the industry. Terrifying stuff - although as much that is made of the food and ingredients, the pieces I found the worst were the descriptions of how the companies are run and, hand in hand with the federal government, look to circumvent teh system at every turn, whether it's hiring unskilled workers so they don't have t worry about benefits or funding school inner city school programs (as long as they consume enough cola, that is). Schlosser makes the read both informative and fun along the way, as long as you don't mind seriously having your brain turned around the next time you pass a Wendy's or a Kentucky Fried Chicken.
  • The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte - My friend Jason will never see a movie adaptation of a book he's interested in without first reading said book. Seeing THE NINTH GATE was not a problem for me, since at the time I had no idea it was based on a book that I would ever get the chance the read. The film left me feeling somewhat flat but, now having read the wonderful Club Dumas, I want to go back and give it a chance. The Three Musketeers was a favorite of mine growing up, and the insertion of some of its key plot points along with a great mystery in the vein of Eco's The Name of the Rose turn this into a great, fast read.
  • Schrödinger's Ball by Adam Felber - Felber takes equal doses of Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Monty Python, and the works of Robert Anton Wilson to tell a shaggy-dog story about what happens when someone accidentally kills himself, but no one's around to observe it.This is a book that seems to be tailored-made to my tastes - wacky, smart, and absorbing for the time it takes to read it (one plane ride to Phoenix). You may not be able to completely understand Erwin Schrödinger's famous theorem, but by the end of this book you'll understand why it makes for fun, sexy escapades.

Book of the Month for July

*NOTE: These Book of the Month Entries were my first regular foray into reviewing. So the books summarzied here unfortunately do not have any independent, self-contained reviews.

2 1/2 weeks of business travel and vacation have put the books read in July far from my mind, but reflecting on the pile sitting atop my computer desk the answer for July's BOTM is obvious.

Into the Wild by John Krakauer is a touching piece of both investigative journalism and a meditation on the way we can choose to live our lives - according to our principles or according to the rigid structure placed upon us by society. Short, precise, and dreamlike in its narrative, the book narrates what we know of the life of young Chris McCandless who, as the front cover of the book explains, donated his savings to charity, abandoned his belongings and invented a new life for himself upon the roads of America, eventually finding his end in mysterious circumstances in the wilds of Alaska. The book drilled its way into my thinking and stayed there long after it was finished. Highly recommended, and I hear that the feature adaptation by Sean Penn is look rather good as well.

Elsewhere in the reading universe:

  • Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - This came very close to being the BOTM. A look into not only what they put into the food in places like McDonald's and Burger King, but also about the workings of the industry. Terrifying stuff - although as much that is made of the food and ingredients, the pieces I found the worst were the descriptions of how the companies are run and, hand in hand with the federal government, look to circumvent teh system at every turn, whether it's hiring unskilled workers so they don't have t worry about benefits or funding school inner city school programs (as long as they consume enough cola, that is). Schlosser makes the read both informative and fun along the way, as long as you don't mind seriously having your brain turned around the next time you pass a Wendy's or a Kentucky Fried Chicken.
  •  

  • The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte - My friend Jason will never see a movie adaptation of a book he's interested in without first reading said book. Seeing THE NINTH GATE was not a problem for me, since at the time I had no idea it was based on a book that I would ever get the chance the read. The film left me feeling somewhat flat but, now having read the wonderful Club Dumas, I want to go back and give it a chance. The Three Musketeers was a favorite of mine growing up, and the insertion of some of its key plot points along with a great mystery in the vein of Eco's The Name of the Rose turn this into a great, fast read.
  •  

  • Schrödinger's Ball by Adam Felber - Felber takes equal doses of Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Monty Python, and the works of Robert Anton Wilson to tell a shaggy-dog story about what happens when someone accidentally kills himself, but no one's around to observe it.This is a book that seems to be tailored-made to my tastes - wacky, smart, and absorbing for the time it takes to read it (one plane ride to Phoenix). You may not be able to completely understand Erwin Schrödinger's famous theorem, but by the end of this book you'll understand why it makes for fun, sexy escapades.

Tegan & Sara @ the Hiro Ballroom: 08-01-07

Another one of those posts I should have put out over a week ago, but that's the way work is swingin', baby. In between exhaustive trips to Phoenix the Missus and I met up with Indie Maven Sean and "finally 21 year-old" friend Victoria B. for some good eats and the Tegan & Sara show at the Hiro Ballroom.

Details are somewhat sketchy at this point, but dinner consisted of an excellent gnocci in pesto and nut sauce as well as 2 1/2 drinks (one half was tragically lost down the front of my shirt and shorts - I don't drink much at all anymore) that fueled my anti-Natalie Portman rant which, now sober, I still stand behind, although I'll readily admit my argument that night probably had more holes than Swiss cheese.

Anyway, all that was merely prep work for the always quirky and cool Tegan & Sara:

For whatever reason, about 5 songs into the set I realized that T&S were playing brand new album The Con in it's entirety in reverse order. Opener/Closer "Call It Off" was was a great, old-style tune that, upon further listening, is fast becoming a favorite track off the new album. For those uninitiated: Tegan is on the left, Sara is on the right.

The once-mighty camera phone was totally defeated in taking any close-up shots. From now on whenever I see a band I really like I'm smuggling in a regular camera. This is Sara performing "Like O, Like H" prior to some excellent off-kilter banter than was a highlight of the show.

We agree to disagree. For the new album I am firmly in the Tegan camp, while Sean was definitely preferring the Sara stuff. For my money, "The Con" (formerly entitled "Encircle Me") is the best song on the album.

No worries. After finishing up with the first song from The Con, T&S went right to the classics, from a great new arrangement of "Monday Monday Monday" to all the best songs from So Jealous, including my favorite, "Where Does the Good Go?"

Brief aside.

There are some songs that, for whatever reason, can completely encapsulate a moment or era in your life. Maybe it's a single line from a song, or the melody of a chorus or verse. The chorus of "Where Does the Good Go?" does that for me. It's the sound of every John Hughes movie, the soaring joys and devastating lows of falling in love when you're young, of meeting and losing friends, of realizing that you're moving from one stage of life to another, and the stage you're leaving will grow more distant every day.

I can't explain why the song does this to me - I know part of it has to do with the harmonizing over the chorus. But I don't care why - I just care that it does happen, and that I can with a single song go back to a time in my life when I was still unsure of the person I would become.

Aside over.

Overall the show was great. Although the sound was a little off from the last time I saw them at Webster Hall, the banter and back-and-forth with the crowd more than made up for it. Tegan & Sara are a band I continuously come back to, and tonight's show was simply one more reason why I do.

Attack of the Clones Revisited (1999 to 2007)

I think we're going to have to go with shorter reviews. At this rate, I'll get around to reviewing EPISODE III sometime in the summer of 2009.

Anyway, upon second viewing STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES leaves me with mixed feelings. I honestly think Lucas took a long, hard look at some of the problems of PHANTOM MENACE and tweaked them here. Having the (dubious?) honor of being the first film shot entirely in a high definition digital 24-frame system, the film's startling visual effects and locations feel much more organic and a part of the film, rather than a distraction. In fact some locations, such as the "lost" planet of Kamino, look incredible.

The action is ratcheted up a notch as well, especially the chase through the streets of Coruscant after a second assassination attempt on now Senator Amidala, a.k.a Padme, a.k.a Natalie "Fence Post" Portman (see previous post), whom I already railed off about during an admittedly drunken episode of my own last week. Not only that, but in Christopher Lee's Count Dooku, who is part of a larger plot to throw the galaxy into civil war, we finally get a villain who's actually menacing. There's still some silliness and a generous helping of cheese, but overall I think CLONES succeeds more as a STAR WARS movie than PHANTOM MENACE. Especially with cool battle scenes like this:

And yet, the film still leaves you with a horrible taste in your mouth. So, a sequel with better action, more seamless visual effects, and a dip in all the politics and bureaucracy that mired the first film in mediocrity still manages to suck. What the heck happened?

This happened.

If you thought watching Darth Vader as a LITTLE RASCALS meets GOONIES kid was bad enough, wait until you meet him as a dour, sulky adolescent. I can't even begin to understand how this happened. I want to put all the blame on Hayden Christensen, who I think up until then was best known for being in LIFE AS A HOUSE. I want to completely blame him, but I thought he was great in SHATTERED GLASS. The kid CAN act. So where can we place the blame?

Because let's face it, blame needs to be placed. The core of the movie is the budding romance between Anakin and Padme, who we all know will wind up siring the Super Twins, Luke and Leia. It is absolutely crucial that this cursed love makes you believe everything that will happen as a result could be worth it because, dammit, their love is so strong he HAS to defy Jedi law! She HAS to go against all her logic telling her it's a bad idea!

Instead, we get an after-school special enacted by local kids who look as if they've never been to a movie before, let alone acted in one.

A lot of blame can fall to Lucas the screenwriter, but I think an equal amount has to fall to Lucas the director, who uses cliched images and boring shot choices to attempt to show a relationship that has to anchor all the choices that come after it.

A couple other things that get my goat about the movie. Boba Fett is completely wasted. We already saw Vader as a kid, do we really need to see the same thing enacted by our beloved bounty hunter too? I enjoyed the Jango Fett/Ben Kenobi fight on Geonosis; in fact, I think that's one of the best parts of the movie. But using him as bait to change our perceptions of his actions later (he's really just misunderstood! He saw his Daddy killed and THAT'S why he's so bad) is ridiculous. Couldn't we have just left him as the badass he was in the original trilogy?

But for me (and I know a million STAR WARS geeks will scream in rage against me), the worst laugh-out moment was...Yoda's duel with Count Dooku. I know, as soon as the teasers and trailers hit and we got that iconic glimpse of Yoda with his light sabre, the cheers were loud and proud. But upon watching the actual fight, especially when it's against an obvious stunt man with Christopher Lee's face digitally mapped on, didn't you feel kind of, well, silly? All that jumping around with Frank Oz's voice? I think I even saw Ewan McGregor laughing in the scene. I was more content being left in the dark as to how Yoda became so powerful. The Force should have been so strong in him he had no need for actual physical fighting. It's the explanation for the Force all over again. Sometimes the mystery is better than the proof.

That's it. Potential squandered by a few pieces that, ultimately, drag the whole show down. I did like it more than PHANTOM MENACE, which was thoroughly terrible on all fronts. But the errors here are more egregious, and that's a pain that cuts just as deep. My only hope of salvation is that EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH will be able to lift us up from this galactic pit of despair!

* Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...a moment in EPISODE II that is just as BATMAN-cheesy as the one in the previous post! Watch as she runs across the screen! Wheee!