Archive for May, 2002

Mark E. Smith Vs. William Shakespeare

A preview of The Filth by Grant Morrison.

Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster have done it again - last night's guest appearance by Tom's "daddy" ranks among my favorite Best Show skits. Check it out here, starting just around the one hour mark. Memorial Day father-son boxing matches, rap-rock demos, "Tommy Doom - America's Youngest Daredevil", $100,000 worth of ice cream, "Tommy Nation", and pro arm wrestling are just some of the topics of discussion for Tom and his sleazy dad.

"I agree with every word you said with the exception of the word 'probably'."

Last night's setlist - I didn't really do the set I had in mind, I focused on keeping people on the dancefloor, which I did pretty well. I had a solid dancefloor up til the end.

Peaches "Fuck The Pain Away"/ Le Tigre "Deceptacon (remix)"/ Michael Jackson "Wanna Be Startin' Something"/ David Bowie "Rebel Rebel"/ The Rolling Stones "Let's Spend The Night Together"/ The White Stripes "Hotel Yorba"/ Tiffany "I Think We're Alone Now"/ Wham "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"/ Gloria Jones "Tainted Love"/ Big Ella "Too Hot Too Hold"/ Bobby Byrd "Hot Pants (I'm Coming)"/ Britney Spears "I'm A Slave 4 U"/ Rob Base "It Takes Two"/ Salt N Pepa "Push It"/ Snoop Dogg "Undacova Funk"/ Stevie Wonder "Uptight (Everything's Alright)"/ Spanky Wilson "The Sunshine of Your Love"/ The B-52's "Love Shack"/ Aretha Franklin "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"/ Deee-Lite "Groove is in the Heart"/ Bjork "Big Time Sensuality"/ The Breeders "Cannonball"/ Dub Narcotic Sound System "Fuck Shit Up"/ Joan Jett "Cherry Bomb"/ The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"/ Elvis Presley "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"/ INXS "Need You Tonight"/ The Cure "Just Like Heaven"/ OMD "If You Leave"/ Madonna "Into The Groove"/ New Order "Bizarre Love Triangle"/ ESG "Dance"/ Ol' Dirty Bastard "Got Your Money"/ Jay-Z "I Just Want To Love You (MTV Unplugged version)"/ Nelly "Hot In Here"/ Mystikal "Shake Ya Ass"/ Notorious BIG "Hypnotize"/ Blackstreet "No Diggity" Vs. Grandmaster Flash "The Message"/ Tom Tom Club "Genius of Love"/ Depeche Mode "I Just Can't Get Enough"/ Michael Jackson "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough"/ Prince "Kiss"/ Peaches "Lovertits"/ Taylor Savvy "Share The Dream"/ Crossover "Extensive Care"/ Martha and the Vendallas "(Love Is Like A) Heatwave"/ Chuck Edwards "Downtown Soulville"/ Barrett Strong "Money"/ The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There"/ James Brown "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"/ Otis Redding "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"/ Eddie Bo "Check Your Bucket"/ Keith Mansfield "Young Scene"/ Eddie Holland "Leaving Here"/ The Meters "Cabbage Alley"/ Len Barry "1, 2, 3"/ Sleater-Kinney "You're No Rock and Roll Fun"/ The Slits "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"/ Liquid Liquid "Cavern"/ Ian Dury "Spasticus Austisticus"/ Belle and Sebastian "Legal Man".

I went on about 3 am, and ended around 6:30. There was another DJ who went on just before me, and played just shy on one hour. There were three bands on the bill - Log Jam, The Mosquitos, and The Brite Lites. I wasn't too crazy by the latter two, but I really loved Log Jam. They were like some kind of cross between ESG, and Pavement at their sloppiest. They were very endearing - I was talking to two of the guys from the band afterwards, and they were telling me that this was their second performance, that they are just starting out - I hope they keep at it, cos they were catchy, groovey, funny, and very charismatic. The Mosquitos played fast, loud indie pop - they might have been more enjoyable if they weren't so fast or loud, I didn't really pick up on any of their melodies or lyrics, and I've got a feeling that they maybe weren't so bad. The Brite Lites were more or less a noise punk band with my friend Chuck on bass. I couldn't really get into them, and I don't think all that many other people were either. I just wasn't feeling it.

Though I have been out of school for about six months now, I formally graduated from Parsons/New School University today. The whole day was extremely dull, mostly waiting around with a lot of people with whom I am acquainted, but not enough to have any decent conversation. The ceremony was only a bit more entertaining.

New School president, former Nebraska Senator and Presidential hopeful Bob Kerrey presided and made it clear to everyone in the room why he stands no chance of actually securing a presidential nomination in 2004. This man makes Al Gore seem charming and charismatic by comparison - he was dry and bland, and reminded me a great deal of those guys who used to narrate those high school film strips in the 50s. His speech had very little to do with the commencement, it seemed more like he was addressing a board of trustees or something like that. Ugh. I can't remember the name of the retired historian who spoke after him, but his address was equally inappropriate - rather than saying something 'inspiring' or whatever it is you're supposed to say at college graduations, he gave a detailed justification for his career. That's it. He explained why being a historian is a good thing. Thanks, professor. I hope that made you feel better.

The ceremony ended with a brief speech by James Lipton which made Will Ferrell's impression of him on SNL seem a lot less pompous, verbose, and pretentious by contrast. What made Lipton's speech even more unintentionally funny to me was that he was dressed up in this ornate green, black, and yellow ceremonial gown that he was obliged to wear due to some honor from a French academy. He looked like some kind of pimped-out Pope, I tell ya. I really do wish he had used one of his catchphrases at the end of his speech, but I was let down - I was hoping for a "You are a DELIGHT". Oh well.

Do yrself a favor and don't bother listening to the remixes of Reveal songs on R.E.M.'s website. They all sound so cheesy that I feel as though I need to wash the lameness off of me after having listened to them. A lot of them sound like a cross between awful 80s music (think "Mr. Mister") and post Roger Waters Pink Floyd, and there are some very weak stabs at French house, 'quiet storm' r&b, and diluted Everything But The Girl style electro-adult contemporary pop mixed in too. Yuck. The only thing worthwhile in the bunch is still not very good - Her Space Holiday's remix of "Summer Turns To High" at least starts out interestingly before deteriorating into cheesiness. Someone needs to tap Michael Stipe on the shoulder and tell him the truth: his voice is a terrible match for electronic textures. His voice is perfectly suited for folk, bubblegum, or rock - isn't that enough?

In bootleg news, Boom Selection put up a whole bunch of new mixes yesterday, the best of which is Eminem "Without Me" Vs. Stereolab "Miss Modular". This track is beautifully mixed, perfectly matched, and utterly essential for bootleg fans. I'm surprised more people aren't using Stereolab tracks for boot mixes, or just for samples in mainstream hip hop.

I put up the tracklisting for one of the mix cds I'm making to send out to some Barbelith folks on the Art of the Mix site. If you asked for one, and don't want to have it spoiled, then you should obviously not click on that link. If you want one, please contact me via the guestbook to the left, and leave your email address so I can respond to you.

Mat Honan is building up a massive collection of Attack of the Clones reviews written on personal blogs to illustrate a point.

Thanks to Black Ops on WFMU, I've discovered The Polyphonic Spree's The Beginning Stages Of..., which is currently making me very happy. They sound a lot like how I was imaging the next Flaming Lips LP would sound like, and since I've yet to hear any of Yoshimi vs. the Pink Robots yet, I might still be correct. It's a lot like The Soft Bulletin in its lush over-the-top arrangements, its similar melodies, and its blend of cheery optimism and melancholy. To be more specific, it's like an album long version of "The Gash" from that LP. It's a very lovely record from start to finish, though the final track which is 30+ minutes of chopped up bits of the previous tracks is a bit too "Revolution #9" for me. I especially recommend "Section 7", "Section 8", and "Section 9" for those who want to get a little taste of the record. As implied by the titles (Sections 1-10), the record is meant to be one long piece of music with each song as a movement of the overall album composition. This is certainly one of my favorite records thus far in 2002, I'm looking foward to seeing them when they come to New York on tour.

NEWSFLASH I spoke too soon about the new Flaming Lips LP - I downloaded the record not long after writing the above post, and though it is much too early for me to formulate an opinion about it just yet, I can safely say that it's BIZARRE. Most of it sounds like a soundtrack to a Japanese animated film, and it is very much a concept record about someone called Yoshimi fighting "those evil natured robots", it rarely strays from the lyrical themes. It's not as orchestral as The Soft Bulletin, but it's lush in its own way. There is all manner of synthesizers, drum machines, and electro sound effects all over this record, but also a great deal of acoustic guitar strumming. A few of the songs have a breezy summertime feeling to them, but others are extremely melodramatic and bombastic. This is a very interesting record, to say the least. I was wrong to sell the Lips so short, anticipating a sequel to The Soft Bulletin instead of something else altogether.

I saw Sleater-Kinney last night. It was okay, I guess. I wasn't feeling very well during the show, so it impaired my ability to enjoy myself too much. They played about 10-12 new songs from the upcoming One Beat LP, and I really liked most of them, they left a very good first impression on me. I'm not sure how to describe the new tunes other than that they all rock a lot harder than anything on the last two albums, Carrie sings more often than usual, and that I enjoyed them more than most of the oldies that were played. I wasn't very satisfied with the predictable older selections, I'm getting frustrated with them always preferring to play the more obvious songs instead of the more complicated or subtle songs. For example, I'd rather hear "Burn Don't Freeze" or "Ballad of a Ladyman" than "The End of You", "Little Mouth", or "Dig Me Out", which all strike me as a bit stale by now. I wonder if it's just because I've seen S-K a number of times, that if I hadn't seen them before I wouldn't care all that much about this. I did really enjoy "One More Hour", "Little Babies", "Rock N Roll Fun" and "Call The Doctor", even though I've seen them before several times, so maybe it's just that I'm picking favorites here.

Other than the new songs, this is the order that the older songs were played chronologically. They were broken up into bits between new songs, except the last four which were the encore. Call The Doctor/ One More Hour/ Start Together/ Turn It On/ You're No Rock and Roll Fun/ The End of You/ Little Mouth/ Little Babies/ I Wanna Be Yr Joey Ramone/ Dig Me Out.

I'm really looking foward to the new LP now, there's no question that it's going to be great. But not as great as this or this. (Thanks Tom!)

I want to live in a world where people do not clap in movie theatres.

I just got back in from seeing Attack of the Clones - I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. In some ways, it was really fun, a good space adventure. I'm happy that things actually happened in this story, and that it was mostly true to all the things I really loved about the original trilogy as a little kid. Overall it's pretty good, and is about as good as Return of the Jedi, but lacking in the emotion of Luke's confrontation with his father, or any other emotion for that matter.


SPOILERS.


When I think of the flaws, my opinion of the film drops significantly.

The "romantic" scenes were poor, just absolutely horrid.


"I hate sand. It's irritating. NOT LIKE YOU."

(kissssssss)

What? I just feel bad for Natalie Portman, her character is so flat and dull, she has no choice but to act stiff and generally lack charisma entirely.

Was there any good reason for shoehorning Jar Jar Binks into the film, besides George Lucas' stubborn refusal to admit that the entire planet hates that character with a deep burning passion? Well, everybody except for the guy a few rows ahead of me who kept chuckling at his lines. Something is wrong with that man.

I was very offended by the return of the Watto character, this time making the anti-semitism behind that character more blatantly obvious than the last time by giving him a scraggly little beard and a small black hat, making him appear to be a Hasidic Jew. WHAT THE FUCK? When you consider this sort of anti-semitism, is the scene with the stormtroopers at the end merely a direct visual reference to Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will, or is it a loving homage? This really troubles me, especially since the horrible Asian stereotypes from The Phantom Menace are in this film too. These characters are superfluous - Lucas clearly is adding them in because he thinks they are funny, revealing his bigotry without shame.

I think that overall the clone/droids/Dooku plot was too confusing, I know that my poor mother was confused as hell afterwards as my brother and I attempted to explain what was going on. Basically, Dooku was acting as a double-agent, tricking the Trade Federation/Separatist folks into creating a crisis that Palpatine's clone army could stop, after giving him dictatorship of the Republic. The scheme also seemed to deliberately force Anakin and Amidala together, and kill a whole bunch of Jedi. The story was clear moment to moment, I don't think there were parts where the audience was thinking "huh? what?"; but as a whole, it seems like a big mess of events that seem important but have little resonance. This film is incredibly insular, it certainly is only trying to appeal to its core fanbase at the expense of reaching out to a wider audience. It suffers from the same problems that most mainstream comics have for the past twenty years, and it's a shame.

I'm not sure what I think of Lucas deliberately recycling his own themes/motifs/iconology. There's so much of it throughout the film, sometimes it seemed like a hermetic vacuum of self-reference. Most of the time it felt like the goal was to make the audience feel safe in its familiarity, either that or Lucas was just throwing his hands up in the air and saying "well, I've run out of new ideas! I'd better go back to the greatest hits!". Being less cynical and giving Lucas the benefit of the doubt, I can imagine that it's his attempt at making the series something like a palindrome of motifs and events, that it all adds to the consistency of the series.

I did like a lot of it too, but my misgivings about the film are what linger in my mind after having seen it. I enjoyed the scenes in the beginning with Anakin and Obi-Wan in pursuit of the bounty hunters on Coruscant, the subsequent duel between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett was a lot of fun and visually exciting as well. There were a lot of good action adventure bits, little fan-pleasing tidbits scattered throughout. That's all cool with me. With the exception of some awkward looking alien characters, the film looked really beautiful. I know a lot of people really like the Yoda vs. Dooku duel, but I think it was very anticlimactic even if it was sorta neat to see the little guy jumping around Matrix-style. Whatever.

If I have to pick a side in the Attack Vs. Spidey debate, I'm definitely siding with Spider-Man. It's so much more fun, clear, inspiring, and audience-friendly. Still, I think that Attack of the Clones is a pretty satisfying Star Wars movie. Outside the context of Star Wars, it's not much at all.

My 14 year old brother's theory: "If Attack of the Clones is really bad, they probably won't make another one even if it makes a lot of money cos no one's going to see Episode III if everybody hated the last two consecutive movies."

So young, so naive.

I'm seeing Attack of the Clones with him tomorrow night. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it - my expectations are low, but every time I see an ad for it on tv, I get all "Oooh! Lightsabres! Robots! Spaceships!", so hopefully the film will be enjoyable as far as that goes. I'm pre-disappointed, so I won't be in denial about its quality as I was with The Phantom Menace after I saw it the first time.

I am very happy with how the Cassandra storyline ended in NXM 126. Perhaps part of why I'm not very interested in Attack of the Clones is because I know there's no way it could possibly touch the pure geek excitement that came from anticipating the ending of that story, and my satisfaction in how Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely pulled it off. The ending turned out pretty close to how I imagined it would turn out, but the execution was something I just couldn't map out in my mind in advance, which is rare for this sort of fiction. Normally I can predict the conclusion of sci-fi/superhero stories just from having read so many over the years.

Without saying too much and spoiling things for those who might not have read it yet, I do want to mention that the scene with Cassandra in the school room with Charles and Jean is one of my favorite scenes of all the visual fiction I've ever seen. Brilliantly conceived, perfectly illustrated.

Megachurches as Mini-Towns.

"People are longing for morals, values and ethics," Dr. Kallestad said. "It's not isolation. It's insulation."

In other news, I'm really interested in seeing how Tina Fey turns this New York Times Magazine article into a feature film - it sounds so promising, especially since her best comedic moments are those that fuse female issues with cruelty...