Wildcat Wire

A Hilarious Pump Up Video for Northwestern

2008-09-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Northwestern has their first Big Ten game of the season on Saturday at Iowa. We're 4-0 against some middle of the road non-conference teams, and Iowa is coming off its first loss of the season to Pittsburgh. I'm nervous about the game, especially after CJ Bacher's 4 INTs last week. Hopefully Tyrell Sutton is healthy like the coaches say he is and we'll have a more balanced and successful offensive attack this week. The defense played pretty damn well, but they've yet to face a truly equal opponent, so we'll see how that goes.

In recent weeks there's been a video circulating through the campus of a fantastic video created by an NU alum. Palestra.net does a lot of college news videos, and I know a few people that now work for the site, but one creation in particular stands head and shoulders above the rest. Mo Greene's "Go U" is a very funny piece of work as well as a pretty good pump up for football fans. A ton of my friends are in the beginning of the video, and the shout outs to key players make the song nice for this season.

A few questions though: Did we need the last minute of this video where Mo Greene basically shouts idiotically and speaks in a gravelly tone about the players? Why is he rapping in an empty stadium, we couldn't try and get some extras in there to be fans? I know there are people devoted enough to NU football to appear in a video, even one as cheesy and ridiculous as this one is. Take a look:

Review: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

2008-09-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

This review appears in edited form on North By Northwestern.

As far as solo albums go, Jenny Lewis' eventual separation from her band Rilo Kiley was fairly obvious. Over the course of their career, Lewis had taken more and more of a lead role, overshadowing her band mates in public fascination, if not always in talent (I still have a giant soft spot for Blake Sennett). When Lewis came out with her debut solo effort Rabbit Fur Coat with the help of the Watson Twins in 2005, the surprise wasn't that she had done solo work on a Rilo Kiley break, but that she'd switched genres. That first album dabbled in gospel and country, leaving us all wondering if she'd gone all Nashville on us for good.

Lewis' follow-up solo effort Acid Tongue takes us in a completely new direction for her. She isn't so much concerned with playing a different genre, but changing a perception. Her first album created a good-girl image; here she's at work deconstructing that image, dirtying it up and doing her best to go bad. Much like Under the Blacklight created a seedy, unfamiliar atmosphere for Rilo Kiley, this album is forward-thinking, if not as strong as her debut.

I'm not sure what it is about this year, but a good amount of records are starting off with lackluster tracks, and Acid Tongue unfortunately falls into that category. The worst offender is probably "The Next Messiah", which is an eight-minute-plus medly that sounds like the black sheep child of The Who and one of Green Day's punk operetta's from American Idiot. It's got too many undercooked ideas packed into one track, and for the first four songs on the record, Lewis sounds too constrained, too caught up in trying to force a change in her perception.

Thankfully the title track comes in at just the right time to shift gears completely. "Acid Tongue" is exactly the kind of catharsis the album needs to shake off the frills and heavy production clogging the music so far. Lewis has been performing a lot of these songs live for years, including the title track, and they sound so well-travelled. Backed by a country-tinged chorus of helping voices, Lewis strips everything down to a very real image of herself. The line "To be lonely is a habit / like smoking or taking drugs / and I've quit them both / but man was it rough" does more for her than anything in the behemoth "The Next Messiah."

From the title track on Acid Tongue plays like a completely different record. It sound freer, more in tune with going for broke and having fun while maintaining an edge. "Carpetbaggers" is an easy standout that maintains some country twangs of Fur Coat but rocks more than any track on that album, and the macabre storytelling of "Jack Killed Mom" keeps with the darker progression both Lewis and her band have been taking through their career. Where gospel invaded her debut, there are bits of soul sprinkled liberally through the later tracks on Lewis' sophomore effort, and she isn't afraid to let her voice explore that style.

After two records, it's still hard to gauge whether Lewis is better off without her band. There certainly aren't full arrangements on the album that could've done with a little guitar meddling from Blake Sennett, but with a guest list that contains Elvis Costello, M. Ward, Zooey Deschanel, and Lewis' boyfriend Jonathan Rice, there's no shortage of star power. Lewis has the chops to create a cohesive and compelling tune on her own, but Acid Tongue stumbles out of the gate with a few weak songs. That isn't to say there aren't very strong tracks later in the record, but one wonders if she had the whole band together if those kinks could've been worked out.

Jack White & Alicia Keys Do 007

2008-09-19T01:04:00.001-07:00

There was some juicy gossip news months ago when Amy Winehouse whined about producers of the upcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace nixing her theme song attempt. What followed was a denial from producer Mark Ronson, and the announcement that none other than Jack White and Alicia Keys would be performing a duet on the actual theme song.

Well, now the day has arrived. The track has been played on European radio and already ripped onto the internet. The track is called "Another Way To Die" and features some odd production for a Jack White track.

It's interesting, I'll give it that, and hearing Keys and White singing opposite each other is surely a trip, but I'm not sure if this really belongs in a Bond movie yet. Maybe another couple listens will help me make up my mind. I am digging the piano, strings, and drums combo underneath the combined wailing of Jack and Alicia.

Take a listen, tell me what you think, and ignore the radio interruptions in the track from time to time.

Jack White & Alicia Keys - "Another Way to Die"

Take Two: Rilo Kiley

2008-09-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Rilo Kiley is probably the most high-profile band to have ever signed to Saddle Creek, after Conor Oberst of course. They rode a wave of indie praise through their early albums, but as of late have not garnered as much critical acclaim, and I don't really know why. Indie critics hypocritically hate two things: bands that deviate from their sound too much, and bands that always sound the same. They want bands that don't deviate to experiment with new sounds, and want bands that go down the rabbit hole to just do what they loved in the first place. It's a lose-lose situation. I don't know why, but for some reason I've liked everything I ever heard from Rilo Kiley. They do different things on different albums, but every time it works for me.

Take Offs and Landings

"Science Vs. Romance" - I love how low-key the first couple songs on their debut record sound. It's very sparse, with Jenny Lewis' voice taking up most of the space, and it's a beautiful one. I know a lot of girls who would go gay for Jenny Lewis after seeing her in concert. This song has such a mellow tone to it, but the lyrics lambast the idea that love can be thought out scientifically, thus the title. Romance is a fluid and ever-changing idea that doesn't have plans that always work, and this song gets that point across nicely. The end of the song drives into a great guitar solo and breakdown, moving away from the completely toned-down sound of the record so far.

"August" - I really dig Blake Sennett, but across Rilo Kiley's albums they've started decreasing his songwriting input, which is a shame. This song, like a lot of Rilo Kiley songs, succeeds on its simplicity. It's a simple message, a simple riff, a simple sound, not much vocal stretching, but I like the sound a lot. There are times where all you want is something stripped down to its bare elements, and Rilo Kiley does a good job of crafting songs in that vein, albeit with a few little production touches here and there.

The Execution of All Things

"The Execution of All Things" - I love the high-pitched guitar line that comes in right before the end of the first verse, as well as the stream-of-consciousness lyrics from Jenny Lewis. They got more atmospheric on their second album, with more little digital blurbs going in different places, but they still kept a great guitar boom between the verses.

"With Arms Outstretched" - A great build from acoustic guitar and Jenny Lewis to a more chorus-like vocal track with many voices, even building to group clapping as the song closes. I like the stripped-down feel and softness of the track, and it slips very nicely into the end of the record.

More Adventurous

"Does He Love You?" - Around this album was when Jenny Lewis pretty much took over all songwriting duties, and she got really amazing at storytelling in her songs for this record. This tells the story of a mistress in heartbreaking fashion, and the emotional highs and lows that Lewis hits in her vocals are amazing.

"Accidental Death" - Perhaps the greatest verse in all of Rilo Kiley's songs is the second verse, about a story of a father hunting deer. The instrumentation is wonderfully layered, the drums echo greatly, the guitars hit the right intensity, and those lyrics are the kind that make me wish I could write a song like they do. It's one of the best songs of the decade for me, and my favorite song on the album.

Under the Blacklight

"Breakin' Up" - A lot of people don't like this album, but I still really dig it as a distinctly LA breakup record. Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett had recently broken up, and just like No Doubt ten years earlier they got a great breakup track out of it. I love the little guitar riff that floats through the song, and for a former child actor and LA resident for a long time, Jenny Lewis does a damn good job of sounding a little bit country in her singing.

"Smoke Detector" - The best lyric on the entire album to me is the second verse when Lewis sings "I took a man back to my room/I was smoking him in bed" then for the rest of the song she only sings "I was smoking in bed." It's like a wink to the audience, only in lyric form. The song is very 60s-simple pop as well, but there are still sleazy LA dark bits around the edges. I love the way that they made a light sounding album full of so much dark little bits sprinkled throughout the songs. Most people say its their worst record, but I really think Under the Blacklight was a great step in a new direction for the band. Unfortunately, with Jenny Lewis rising as a solo artist and the strain of a breakup and increased success, it could be their last.

Non-Album Tracks
"The Frug" - Some of the best Rilo Kiley songs are beautiful for their simplicity. This is one of the best for that reason alone, but the utter catchiness of the melody does a lot to help.

"Teenage Love Song" - Most of the time its annoying when non-teens sing about teenage life, but the attitude Jenny Lewis has as she sings forlornly on this track makes me believe she can fit back into a teen mindset. The song is simple, heartbreaking, humorous, and somehow very calm.

NU vs. Duke Redux: Escape of the Wildcats

2008-09-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Northwestern went 2-0 for the second straight year, barely scraping out a 24-20 win over Duke in Durham, North Carolina. Last season Duke broke their 22-game losing streak by defeating NU in Evanston 20-14, and this year's affair was no less of a nail biter.

In short, they played like crap for a lot of the game, as if they were trying to lose the game to Duke for the 2nd straight year. CJ Bacher is a pretty good quarterback, but he's very streaky. It's why he threw just as many touchdowns as he did interceptions last year. If he's on, he'll throw great passes all over the field; if he's not, like against Duke, he can't really do anything to help the team beat even a mediocre opponent.

Not that the blame should rest only on him, the NU defense let Duke move down the field almost at will, and without a lot of their best players no less.

Tomorrow, we play Southern Illinois in another non-conference game we must win. With Ohio actually challenging Ohio State, I'm concerned about our game next week against Ohio, but we can't afford to look that far ahead.

Hopefully we get another win. We need to go 4-0 before the Big Ten season begins, and then we'll have a shot at a bowl game.

Review: Matt Black - Pitch Black

2008-09-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Back in the summer before my senior year of high school, I did a summer film program at Northwestern. I stayed there for five weeks learning some film theory, writing an original short film, and watching at least two movies a day. A lot of the kids from that program went on to film school, at USC, NYU, Northwestern, or a number of other places. The funniest thing that happened in the dorm were rap tracks that got made by different sections of my hall (East Side, West Side...yeah it was kind of lame). A couple of the kids were actually talented producers or MCs, and its one of those kids that I’m talking about today.

Matt Black (or Matt McFerrin if we’re going by birth names) made a sick film, and was an even better freestyle rapper, especially at 3am after ordering Papa John’s. He had music posted up on a MySpace
for a long time, but I assumed that like most amateur musicians he’d go do something else and those tracks would end up being the last real rapping he ever did. How surprised was I to find that he put out his own indie rap album just a few weeks ago?

Pitch Black is a crazy cacophony of instrumentation, beats, and samples. Matt doesn’t exactly have a heart-wrenching tale to tell with his rhymes, but he does pull out all the stops to make everything he does really fun to hear. It only takes a few plays for songs like “Track 9 From OutaSpace” and “Back From the Jungle” to be a very silly kind of entertainment due to the production values.. Matt careens through rhymes that seem nonsensical, but then I consider that it sounds pretty much like I do when I bounce from pop culture reference to reference in conversation.

I used to have this personal stigma against any rap that didn’t tell a story or have a social purpose like N.W.A., but the more I delve into the genre the more I can separate talented musicianship from the crap that is just shitty party music (Nelly, most if not all Crunk music). Pitch Black walks a fine line in my rap tastes, never being too senseless in its random pop culture and Mary Jane references and containing enough fantastic production to keep me listening if only for the beats. Matt’s flow isn’t deep or imposing, but it sounds like he loves what he does and is having a shitload of fun on every track.

Maybe I just have a soft spot for music that’s created by people I know, and if I was going into journalism that lack of differentiation would be a problem, but I’m not. I really like the album, I have a good time listening to it, and it helps that the production is pretty damn top notch. You may not like his voice, his flow, or his rhymes, but I do, and the beats are universally likeable enough to give it a shot.

Matt Black – “Chemically Enhanced”

The Box Office Mystery of Tyler Perry

2008-09-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

There aren’t too many filmmakers that I outright do not care for at all. I don’t like the films of Michael Bay, Brett Ratner, or Uwe Boll, but I don’t harbor ill will against the people themselves, just the poor-quality films they turn out. I can’t say the same thing about writer/director/douchebag Tyler Perry.

A playwright by the age of 18, Perry has made his own fortune touring his sentimental yet “edgy” family dramedies around the country, featuring his own “original” character Madea (how original is a heavyset, opinionated, wise-cracking black woman, even if its a guy in drag?). When he made the transition from stage to screen in Diary of a Mad Black Woman, I wasn’t surprised to see critics collectively pan the film. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t good, it wasn’t even mediocre. The film was poorly made, poorly written, poorly acted, and was far too cliché, borrowing liberally from other stories and situations that had been done better before Perry chose to drop Madea into them.

What was surprising was how the box office figures turned out. Now we’ve seen people turn out for bad movies before, and my favorite moment of the Hollywood elite not understanding audiences may be Chris Rock’s video at the 2005 Academy Awards where moviegoers tell him their favorite movies of the year were White Chicks and The Chronicles of Riddick, but Tyler Perry becoming a franchise (mainly in the Bible Belt, but there are sizeable audiences elsewhere) just seems wrong to me.

The man doesn’t seem to have any original ideas, and brings back Madea far too often to be the stereotypical loud, angry, black woman who just cracks jokes. I love Kevin Smith, and the knock that he always relies on Jay and Silent Bob is a little bit of a different case to me. The two have very minor roles in Clerks and Chasing Amy, and got their own specialty film in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but they actually provide insight and a moral compass to Smith’s films.

Perry’s films are vaguely religious in their tone, and to that end he’s right when he says Hollywood doesn’t understand the audience of his films. Most big art – and by that I mean television, film, and music - is not made by devoutly religious people anymore; artists don’t require the patronage of wealthy devout people or the church to create works of art.

Where I don’t like Perry on a filmmaker level is that he is bulletproof to bad ratings and devoted audiences drink his stuff up like Kool-Aid. Films like the Movie have seen declining grosses over the years as the terrible ratings rack up, but the devoted audience Perry has cultivated seems content with buying tickets to see his plays, DVDs of his plays being performed, tickets to the movies based on his plays, DVDs of those movies, and continuing to see everything he produces. Perry is a figure that works outside the system, mocks it, and survives the way artists never used to be able to: making money in spite of the lack of quality of their art.

His new movie The Family That Preys comes out on Friday, and in light of the critical beating he’s taken over the years I’m anxious to see if he’s finally made a respectable film, or he’s just recycled another plot that we’ve seen a million times before and packaged it so that his core audience will deliver him another typically-sized profit. It’s as though he doesn’t strive to bring in a bigger audience, to convert nonbelievers if you will. He is uncompromising, difficult, and shuns those that don’t “understand” what he does. If it’s critically substandard, and the ratings all over the internet reflect that, I think people understand fine.

Review: Kings of Leon - Only By The Night

2008-09-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

There are few bands with as deep a mystique as Kings of Leon. Three sons of a preacher and their cousin playing the devil’s music, that’s how they get summed up. They’ve gone through a critically acclaimed debut, an acclaimed deepening of style on a follow-up, and an epic, daunting third record. Amid all the alleged drug use, promiscuous sex, and rehab the group has gone through, I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that their newest foray, Only By The Night, is a record properly absorbed in a candlelit room with a partner.

With the exception of “Sex on Fire”, which plays like a very good, if significantly less metaphoric or subtle, companion piece to “Molly’s Chambers”, the entire record plays like different variations of rock slow jams. It’s like southern-fried rock mixed with R&B. They still maintain that air of classic southern rock, and they’re not breaking new sonic ground with this stuff, but nobody’s ever accused Kings of Leon of being forward-thinking. They’re not revolutionaries, they’re just really good at what they do.

Their sound occupies more space this time around, with voices echoing off into the air and guitars lingering in reverb. His voice is much less of a growl or a drawl and more of a croon, especially in songs like the verses of “Use Somebody.” You keep waiting for the band to kick the tempo up a notch, but it never comes, and you never seem to mind. They’ve slowed their songs down and made them very night-friendly.

They’ve always been overtly sexual, even when including religious imagery. Just take a look at the song titles (“I Want You”, “Sex on Fire”, “Use Somebody”). “17” is dripping with Lolita-esque eroticism as it ponders an underage sexpot (eerily similar to “15” by Rilo Kiley, albeit from a first person perspective instead of third). There aren’t may loud come-ons, just slow burning croons that seduce over time, it’s a delayed release of lust over the course of forty-five minutes.

The album is calm, contemplative, but still contains a layer of erotic tension. His voice, no matter how quavering, always has an air of desire. I can see a ton of these songs being used over sex scenes in indie movies for years. It’s a really solid record from beginning to end, even if there aren’t really any popping singles besides “Sex on Fire”. Only By The Night works as an album, played all the way through during the night, and as a very atmospheric work it succeeds greatly.

A lot of odd things were said about Kings of Leon through their early years. They got unfairly and inexplicably compared to Lynyrd Skynyrd for being a good rock band from the south, and were allegedly virgins on their first tour; but four albums in, they’ve established themselves as a very strong force in rock. This album saw the exploration of a completely new kind of sound within their parameters, and it begs excitement for whatever direction the band chooses to go in next.

Kings of Leon – “Sex On Fire”

My Records of the Summer

2008-09-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I leave for my second year of college. I'm taking a two-day train across the country to Chicago, and most likely will be without internet access. In my final hours at home for the summer, I'm going to write a bit about the albums I spun the most this summer. As with most of the lists I do, they don't represent what I think are the "best" albums, just the ones I personally favored the most.

Ratatat - LP3

Ever since their first album (which I loved immediately), it's taken a while for their newest material to grow on me. There have been a lot of times where I just wanted some instrumental to fill in the silence, and that's given me a lot of time to absorb this album, and I've come to find a place for this album just as I have for their other two. "Mirando" always packs a twittering punch, and "Dura" got a lot of spins as well. From the sound of the album and the song titles, this somehow has tinges of Spanish and Eastern influences, which is experimentation enough on the great electronic formula Ratatat have for me. I remember a lot of critics wondering if the "gimmick" of their first album could spawn others, and I really admire their ability to keep finding new ways to make electronic instrumentals interesting.

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

I was really not impressed when I saw Girl Talk perform at Northwestern in the winter, so this album really came out of left field for me. I didn't pay anything for it, as Gregg Gillis offered it up for free (you can kind of see why, considering all the songs he samples freely and with complete reckless abandon). For some reason this album rang differently to me. Where on other albums I'd feel frustrated by how fast the samples were burned up to move through a song, I felt that they lingered just long enough to capture our attention, and then moved onto something else at the right time. I danced many times to this entire record at parties and in the car over the course of the summer, and I was really taken aback at how much I like what he did on this record. I love being able to laugh at what he's sampling (the moment "Steal My Sunshine" comes on for 10 seconds is the best shout out on the entire CD to me, though "In A Big Country" is a close second). I had so much fun listening to this album in the past couple months; it'll always be linked to anything I remember from this summer, and that's the best praise I can give it.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

I remembering reading about The Hold Steady for the first time the summer before my senior year of high school when a RollingStone writer called them the best band of the decade. Since I'd never heard of them I picked up their debut and have been hooked ever since. Boys and Girls in America is a really hard album to top, but Stay Positive is another in a line of very consistent, very strong records for the band. They deserve all the critical praise they get, and while there's no song here to match my favorite from the last "Hot Soft Light" there are some great barn burners. "Constructive Summer" was an early song of the summer favorite for me, and "Sequestered in Memphis" was played many a time as I drove the highways with my windows down. I really dig the earthy feel of the album art and how it fits the Americana storytelling of the record. I just really like seeing a good band put out something deserving of their name.

Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

I never did get around to commenting on the ridiculousness surrounding the debut album of the much-buzzed about Jacksonville, FL band, so I guess now comes my compressed and delayed reaction. Pitchfork gave their debut EP an 8.4, and then inexplicably gave their full-length debut a non-review of 3.3 just nine short months later. I've seen a lot of internet reviewers trying to build and break down hype with their writing alone, but this case got out of hand quickly. The review smelled terribly of Pitchfork drumming up an audience for itself rather than making good on its intended purpose of reviewing and reacting to music in a helpful and informative fashion. It was more in tune with this Onion article than any well-written review they've ever posted.

Buzz and backlash aside, they did release four tracks from their debut EP re-recorded along with only six other tracks, but I still really like the album. I think the best four tracks close out the record, beginning with their awesome single "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" and continuing through "Love Me Already", "I Want To Be Your Limosine", and "Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)." It's some nice dance-rock, and if people could focus on the music instead of the cloud of internet whining trying to grab at people's attention, everyone could see the strong record underneath it all.

Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

A song that overstays its welcome and lasts too long for its own good is painfully bad. Conversely, a fantastic song that ends too soon is a masterful achievement. Clocking in at just 1:12, "NYC - Gone,Gone" was my favorite song of the summer, and ever since first hearing songs from the record I've been absolutely hooked on it. Aside from the fifty second interlude that is "Valley Mistico (Ruben's Song)", there is not a single weak song on this record. Somehow Oberst found himself using his own name and freeing himself of his longtime producer down in Mexico. From the opening notes of "Cape Canaveral" to the closing of "Milk Thistle" I was stunned. I've liked a lot from his past three records, but this album rang out a "return to form" vibe, and never gave it up. "Eagle On a Pole" is a standout, as are "Danny Callahan" and "Moab." Like I said, it's hard to pick a bad song from the bunch, and it's one of those rare albums that I can listen straight through without skipping a single track.

Bloc Party - Intimacy

It's taken a couple weeks, but just like I thought, the new Bloc Party album is already growing on me. I spin "Halo" a couple times a day, and "Trojan Horse", first single "Mercury" and "Biko" get frequent plays as well. I didn't like the places Bloc Party was growing towards, but now I've accepted the direction and enjoy the sounds. There's less angular, typical guitar work here and much more of Okereke's ideas at play here, but the other members do fill in the bits in fantastic ways. The bells in "Signs" shimmer nicely, and there are still a few walls to be broken down in "One Month Off." They do sound a bit like they didn't their ideas air out to a public reaction before settling on a final draft, but it's still a really enjoyable record, especially for a rabid Bloc Party fan like myself.

There you have it, my records of the summer. Hopefully some of the big profile fall releases will prove to be worth their salt, and maybe this year I'll actually get around to posting a list of my favorite records of the entire year.

"Fun" With A Former Format Leader

2008-09-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

I was really sad when The Format broke up. It was the first in a string of bands I really liked breaking up, and that was the first time since Rage Against the Machine fizzled out that I had to deal with bands I was a fan of not making music together anymore.

Well, now I get to enjoy some "new" music by at least one of those bands. Nate Ruess, former lead singer of The Format, now has a new band: fun. Yeah, all promo material points to the name being lower case.

He's teamed up with Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost to form the new trio, and they're recording during September for a first release. They're on tour with Jack's Mannequin later in the fall, with a single planned for November and an album due in February 2009. Take a listen to the demo for "Benson Hedges" at the link below. It definitely sounds like The Format, which is good if you're a fan, but I wonder what new direction, if any, they'll take as a new outfit.

fun - "Benson Hedges (Demo)"

Oklahoma City's NBA Team Has A Nickname: Thunder

2008-09-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

It's been leaked for about a month now, but today the Seattle, excuse me, Oklahoma City NBA franchise has a new nickname, and it's not the one we all knew it should be (the Bandits). They are now officially the Oklahoma City...Thunder. Sounds pretty lame doesn't it? Check out their website here.

There were a ton of leaks of the name along the way. There was the discovery of the website domain purchases, the NBA website screwing up and posting a schedule for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and then the news the OKC trademarked six different nicknames.

Here were the six nicknames the NBA filed trademarks for: Barons, Bison, Energy, Marshals, Thunder, and Wind. Of those six, Energy, Bison, and Wind are just ridiculously bad. Energy is a WNBA or WUSA-caliber name, Bison were hunted to near-extinction in the Old West, and Wind is just plain terrible. Barons and Marshals are actually two pretty good ideas, and I'd give my vote to Marshals, but Thunder is clearly the weakest of the top three.

The last team to go through a naming fiasco this bad was the Houston Dynamo of the MLS. The original idea was to name the team Houston 1836, after the year of Houston's founding, but the name came under fire for being linked with the Texas War for Independence, and was changed to the ridiculously lame Dynamo...or maybe I'm just bitter they took my Earthquakes out of San Jose for a few years.

Come to think of it, the people that have been doing a good job of naming teams lately are MLS teams. Names like Real Salt Lake, Chivas USA, FC Dallas, Toronto FC, and the expansion team Seattle Sounders FC are proper team names. I've always liked the idea of nicknames developing on their own through a fanbase instead of an artificial mascot propped in front for a new team. Old names in the NFL and MLB are good and traditional, but football always had the right idea about naming teams. Rumor has it the new team in Philadelphia will be named Philadelphia Athletic, which already sounds cool.

Teams in European leagues like Charlton Athletic or Atletico Madrid use the name, and I don't see any reason to burden the team with silly adjectives or nicknames from the get-go in football.

Take Two: Weezer

2008-09-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of people who don't like Rivers Cuomo and his band Weezer. Some don't like his style altogether, others don't like the directions he's taken the band in the years since their resurgance with The Green Album. I don't really care, because I am a huge Weezer fan. Always have been, always will be. There are a few bands that I will follow in whatever musical direction they wander, and Wezer is one of those bands. Here's my take on their albums:

Weezer (Blue Album)

"Say It Ain't So" - It's a wonderfully vivid story told through the lyrics, and the chorus roars through as Rivers rises to a scream. The most powerful point may be when he suddenly crescendos during the second verse, ending on "be cool." The guitar intro is great as well.

"Only In Dreams" - My personal favorite Weezer song of all time. Its an epic track that builds through its immense bridge slowly but surely, rising to a climactic finale. It starts off blissfully, and its transformation into a slow burner is fantastic.

Pinkerton

"Across The Sea" - Rivers plagarized a letter from a Japanese girl so badly in this song that he actually gave her a minor songwriting credit. It's the apex of sexual frustration that inhabits the album, without a doubt their best in my mind. The lewd fantasies of the narrator give way to youthful lonliness, and the emotional and generation shift in the tone of the lyrics is a reason why I believe Cuomo is such a gifted songwriter.

"The Good Life" - After the frustration that haunts the entire first half of the record, this track begins side two by shoving off the complacency and vowing to get back to partying and getting out there. I love the transitions on this record, and the sequencing is excellent, especially with these two songs right after one another, then "El Scorcho" and "Pink Triangle" in succession. It plays through like a great sexually frustrated narrative.

Weezer (Green Album)

"Photograph" - Returning with a new record after 5 years, The Green Album was full of short, punchy, almost teaser songs for the new incarnation of the band. "Photograph" is my favorite of the short, sweet, simple songs on this record.

"Island In The Sun" - Yeah its cheesy, and now its overplayed and used in commertials, but its still a wonderfully relaxing and happy song, great to listen to in the summertime. I'd gladly put a couple more songs from Pinkerton in place of these two, as I find the album to be too short to really offer great songs, but these are some of the best on the record.

Maladroit

"Keep Fishin'" - Any music video that features the Muppets is okay in my book. I love the riff, the chorus, the lyrics, the rocking, everything about this song is what I like about Weezer...except for maybe a little turned down relaxed vibe.

"Burndt Jamb" - Speaking of a great relaxed vibe, this is the buried gem on Maladroit, perfect for sitting back and chilling, with a little guitar solo chucked in for kicks. I like the balance between virtuosic solos and chilled-out verses on this album a lot.

Make Believe

"Perfect Situation" - Almost ten years down the road, and Rivers is still as frustrated as he was on Pinkerton. Much like with Dashboard Confessional, it may be odd to hear the romantic frustrations of a thirty-something, but Rivers makes it work most of the time. The chorus might be a bit weak, but the verses are another great dose of his romance storytelling.

"This Is Such A Pity" - A welcome change of pace and stylistic exploration for the band, I really like the 80s feel and straight-ahead, no stopping sensability of the track. It's another reconciliation track with romance breaking down, but it wouldn't be a Weezer song if there wasn't at least a little of that.

Weezer (Red Album)

"Troublemaker" - Originally intended to be the first single from the record (until the record label-dissing "Pork and Beans" came along in the final sessions for the album with Jacknife Lee), I really like the simplicity of the song. It's no nonsense, simple progression, and really catchy.

"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn)" - A great epic track that changes styles about every 30 seconds, adding a choir here, a power ballad guitar there, and everything between. It goes on for a long time, but I enjoy hearing the quick changes and the myriad of styles the band molds to each time they switch. A lot of people have grown tired of how Cuomo does his songwriting, but he does take it seriously, and I think there are legitimately great songs on every Weezer album. You just have to give the stylistic change a chance, and it'll grow on you.

Non-Album Tracks
"Jamie" - From the Deluxe Edition of The Blue Album, another one of Rivers' perfect lyrical portraits. It's got romance, a tinge of humor in the heartbreak, and a great sound.

"I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams" - The only surviving song from the aborted Songs From the Black Hole album/musical to have full female vocals. It shows off how that concept would've sounded when fully realized, and I have to say, it would've been awesome. People have compiled demos and unreleased tracks to form the unfinished album, and Songs From the Black Hole sits in Top 10 lists of best unreleased or unfinished albums all the time. The female vocals are from Rachel Haden of the band that dog, and now the reformed version of Weezer ex-bassist Matt Sharp's The Rentals. It's a shame the album never got finished, but this one suriving, essentially finished look makes me lament the loss of the fully realized album.

So there's another one of my favorite groups whittled down to just a few tracks per album. I'd love for them to return to the form of their first two albums, but they've gotten too old to express that kind of feel in an album. I just hope they find a groove as they grow older to make something that everyone can appreciate as much as their first forays.

The Next Big Sound is The Next Big Sound

2008-09-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'm in a fraternity at Northwestern, and I distinctly remember hearing a conversation in the house where one of the older brothers that I really like was concerned about not having a job for the summer. Well, a few months later, there shouldn't have been any concern.

The Next Big Sound was founded by a group of 5 guys, two of whom are in my fraternity, working on a project in an entrepeneurship class that got investors from the Illinois Ventures Program. They got their fledgling site off the ground this summer in Champaign, IL, and now its up and running as a startup business in Evanston.

Here's how it works. Users who sign up on the site are called "moguls" who create their own faux record label. They then listen to demos submitted by unsigned artists on the site. If they like the band's music, they "sign" the band to one of ten artist slots designated to each user. Moguls sign artists that they think other people will want to sign, hoping to earn points as a band gains popularity. The bands are rewarded for more people signing them, and the moguls are rewarded when more people sign the band after them. The site keeps track of who signed a band first, so you can actually prove you were listening to a band before anyone else.

It is a little bit more of a business game than it is discovering music, but hey, when you get to pretend to have your own label with music that you like, there's a little bit right in the world.

A lot of bands from the Chicago area or with members at Northwestern see a huge boost in popularity on the site, but that's not to say that eventually it couldn't have regional success anywhere. It's sort of like PureVolume, but with much more user input and involvement. It gets the fans in direct control over who is successful, because to be 1 of only 10 slots you have to sound pretty good to a lot of people.

The site draws comparisons to networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, especially the latter's music section, but there's less of an emphasis on networking between users and more on a fantasy business/game vibe. There's a box office prediction game that I've played every now and again called Fantasy Moguls that is essentially fantasy football for movies, and this site runs a lot like fantasy football with unsigned musicians and bands.

Here's a link to my profile on the site. Take a look at what they've got going there, these guys deserve some success with such an interesting idea.

I Am An Air Bud Apologist

2008-09-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

There are a few movies in each generation that stick in childhood minds more than others. Disney animated films are ubiquitous, but some children don't latch onto them. I have my favorite Disney animated films, but there are live actions ones I thoroughly enjoyed. Bedknobs and Broomsticks for instance, is a great memory from my childhood, as is Mary Poppins. In later years, there were many Disney films I watched on video, but one theatre experience stands out from all the rest: 1997's Air Bud.

It's easy to say that because of a series' later disasters, the original loses some respect, but I beg to differ. I feel like Air Bud has a ton of classic moments in my childhood that the later sins of Golden Reciever, 7th Inning Fetch, and the like cannot sour.

Most kids from the 90s know the story. "Buddy" the golden retriever with the ability to hit a ball with his muzzle, belongs to a mean, abusive clown named Norman Snively (they really stayed impartial on the character with that name, didn't they?), but escapes. Josh Framm's family has just moved to a new home in Washington state after the death of his father, and is too shy to play basketball, the sport he loves. Of course, the boy meets the dog, the boy tries out for the team after meeting the school's "engineer" (who's actually a retired ex-player for the New York Knicks), and Buddy becomes the accidental team mascot after demonstrating his ability to hit the ball into the basket with his muzzle. There's a generic underdog plot going on here for the basketball team, but there's also much more subtle commentary that I only picked up on vaguely as a child, but now notice and commend the filmmaker's for including.

There are three moments that raise Air Bud out of the realm of forgettable and repetitive children's fare, and have stuck in my mind forever.. First, there is the demon of a basketball coach at Josh's school. After the first game Josh plays (one in which Buddy runs onto the court and causes a commotion), one of his teammates has repeatedly dropped the ball. During a thrillingly annoying speech from Josh's principal, he sees Buddy running back towards the gym, where everyone finds the coach chucking basketballs at the poor kid. There's only one light on in the gym, directly above the boy being struck by basketballs. I know mean coaches now, but back then I was scared by this guy, and I'll never forget the principal's line "That'll be enough coach...that'll be enough."

Second, there's the ball hog of the team, Larry Willingham (played by Brendan Fletcher, who went on to appear in the Nickelodeon series Caitlin's Way and The Onion Movie). He's your generic ball hog that always wants the ball and hates his teammates, but his dad is one of the first onscreen examples of terrible athlete parents I ever saw. Mr. Willingham is essentially a second coach for the team in yelling at his son for small mistakes, and eventually yanks his son off the team to move to Spokane so he can play for another team. Obviously this team in Spokane is who Josh's school plays against in the championship, giving the "good guys" a chance to defeat the meddling father who should stay out of his son's athletic life and let him choose what to do. I've seen parents destroy their children's athletic dreams due to too much pressure to succeed. Even my friends at Stanford notice Michelle Wie's parents and their horrible meddling into their daughter's life.

The third moment is perhaps the most heartbreaking. When Snively sees Buddy on television, he comes back to claim the dog. Josh breaks Buddy out before the championship basketball game, and attempts to set Buddy free, but the dog won't understand that he has to leave his new owner. Josh is forced to yell "Get!" at the dog repeatedly, ending in screaming with tears rushing down his cheek before throwing a basketball for Buddy to chase in the wrong direction before running away. I own a golden retriever, and I think of Air Bud every time I play with her, and that scene still brings a little tear to my eye. Giving up a dog, or watching a pet separated from its owner, is always heartbreaking.

I'm a sucker for dogs, underdog stories, and movies from my childhood, and Air Bud hits all three of those buttons. Call me soft, sentimental, or hypocritical for liking these movies, but I distinctly believe that there is a difference between what we find great, and what we personally like. Can I apologize for the terrible lighting in much of this film? Or the overacting by Josh's mom and several of the kids? No, but I don't care, I find the dog story incredibly enthralling, and I will always stick up for this movie.

Northwestern Football Mini-Preview 2008

2008-08-30T01:05:00.004-07:00

I didn't get excited about going to home college football games until after I had arrived at school last year. I got the field over an hour before the game and sat in the front two rows of the student section with new friends, and had one of the most important experiences of my year, even in losing to Michigan 28-16. I became a die-hard Wildcat fan that afternoon, and it carried through the entire season as I watched every game in the front rows or on television, even road tripping to Champagne, Illinois to watch our season-ending rivalry game with the Illini.

Yesterday, the Northwestern University Wildcats' 2008 football campaign opened with a win over Syracuse University. Senior running back Tyrell Sutton got his season off to a great start, hopefully erasing memory of an injury-ridden 2007 season, and the defense started well, even getting a safety to open our scoring. The first quarter didn't go so well, but we went into the half in the lead and never looked back. We depend on a senior offensive trio of Quarterback CJ Bacher, wideout Ross Lane, and Sutton to light up the scoreboard. Our defense last year was incredibly leaky, bleeding yards and big plays all over the place, and hopefully will hold better this year with a new defensive coordinator.

Here's our schedule for the rest of the season (home games in bold):

at Duke University
Southern Illinois
Ohio
at Iowa
Michigan St.
Purdue (Homecoming)
at Indiana
at Minnesota
Ohio State
at Michigan
Illinois

Looking at that schedule, the Wildcats need to win their first four games. We've gotten ourselves a lucky schedule once again, avoiding Penn State and Wisconsin. If results are the same as last year, we take wins at home against Michigan St., and away at Indiana and Minnesota. If that hold true, we end at 7-5 and are bowl eligible, but that's not what could happen in the best case scenario. We should have beaten Iowa at home last year, and they haven't shown too many signs of being better this year, and we definitely should have beaten Purdue away as well. It isn't likely, but we could head into Columbus, OH with a 9-0 record. In the absolute best case, we'd steal a game from the Wolverines, take our rivalry game with Illinois, and have an 11-1 record through the Big Ten season. Will that happen? Probably not. We'll probably lose at Iowa and either Indiana or Minnesota, and home against Ohio State. Besides that, I think we've got a pretty good chance in every home game, and could steal a win from Iowa or Michigan. All in all, I'd say we go 8-4 and run off to a bowl game. I know I'd be making the road trip wherever we'd be headed, and so would a ton of my friends.

I Know Everyone Is Tired of The Movie Movies...

2008-08-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw the release of the latest "spoof" movie Disaster Movie. In the past 8 years since Scary Movie came out, there have now been 9 films in the series. It started with the Wayans brothers, moved to David Zucker (of Airplane! and The Naked Gun fame), then to Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg for the Non-"Scary" Movies. Here's a list of the loosely tied together "series":

2000 - Scary Movie
2001 - Scary Movie 2
2003 - Scary Movie 3
2006 - Scary Movie 4, Date Movie
2007 - Epic Movie
2008 - Meet the Spartans, Superhero Movie, Disaster Movie

I don't know about anyone else, but this series is pretty much the worst ever made. I don't think a single one of them has a positive score on the Tomatometer or on IMDB. I'll be honest, I enjoyed Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2. They had the right kind of bad humor going for them, and at least they parodied horror movies for their blatant silliness. Even 3 and 4 kept a reasonable amount of the parody within its own genre.

Anna Faris legitimized the series to a certain extent, and when she left, the writers just went off the deep end. Things started to unravel to the point of lunacy in Date Movie, but there was still the mostly-genre parody only for romantic comedies. It was in the last four that things have just become absolutely out of control. Beginning with Epic Movie, there has been essentially no semblance of plot along with stupid parodies of recent films that had almost nothing to do with the genre. It's as though the creators of these recent ones just think people will laugh if you put a joke in with a reference to a recent movie, instead of creating context for the joke and a reason why their observation is funny in light of the original. There's no substance here, only recreation of moments from recent blockbusters.

Meet the Spartans starts with 300, but devolves into referencing Britney Spears shaving her head and including such terrible movies as Stomp the Yard and You Got Served, and borrowed its title from Meet the Parents, which has nothing to do with the haphazard, piecemeal, Frankenstein monster-like screenwriting that apparently occurred. It includes references to Nacho Libre and Snakes on a Plane, two at-the-time-recent but distinctly non-epic films. There's also an obligatory scene involving a Paris Hilton look-alike saying "that's hot" before being crushed by a woman falling from above.

The newest, Disaster Movie, might be the worst offender. In the trailer, it combines references to Enchanted, Hannah Montana, Sex and the City, Don't Mess With the Zohan, Juno, Hulk, Iron man, and Hancock. It even repeats the joke of Paris Hilton getting crushed by having Hannah Montana die under a huge rock and bikini-clad women getting killed. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but NONE of those are "disaster" movies. Hulk and Iron Man belong with superheroes, Juno and the Sex and the City girls have nothing to do with disasters, and those two are combined in a single scene which also contains the completely unfunny and unnecessary reference to Zohan. They are mocking jokes from films nobody even though were funny in the first place!

The Hannah Montana scene confuses me the most. It posits that the character wants fans to go out and buy "2 new albums" as she's crushed to death. Now while I understand that Disney has made a ton of money from releasing Hannah Montana albums, created a tour for those songs, released a film version of that concert, and then released a DVD of that movie of that concert in a Star Wars-like cash grab, but all of that possible commentary is completely lost in how lame the joke is. Couldn't it have been a list of what they needed to buy? It's just an unintelligent parody of what could be an interesting commentary. That's what is lacking all over the place, there's no thought put into these jokes to make them subversive or intelligent, they just are trying to ham it up and hope that people laugh.

The proper parody of disaster films is Airplane!; this is just a cruel joke gone horribly wrong. Check the reviews on RottenTomatoes: they're the worst I've seen since Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, the famed worst-reviewed film of all time on the site. The best to me comes from eFilmCritic.com : "So ugly, unpleasant and devoid of laughs that the notion of releasing a film with such a title on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is actually one of the least offensive things about it." Good lord does that sum up how it looks.

The box office can't sustain this, can it? There must be some semblance of intelligence in the American viewing public to stay away from the horrific downturn these films have been for our culture. Here are the numbers in domestic box office grosses, rounded to the nearest million:

Scary Movie - $157 million
Scary Movie 2 - $71 million
Scary Movie 3 - $110 million
Scary Movie 4 - $90 million
Date Movie - $48 million
Epic Movie - $39 million
Meet the Spartans - $38 million
Superhero Movie - $25 million

I'm thankful that the grosses have almost uniformly gone down, and that it looks as those this series could soon meet its end in the same way the Hostel films did, but we've gone on too long with all of this. There are fantastic indie films that have had total grosses less than the opening weekends of these disgusting excuses for film. Disaster Movie is predicted to make around $13 million this weekend, which is extremely high for how bad the film is. I can't believe that people would be so mindless that they would go see this steaming pile. That's not to say mindless entertainment doesn't have its place, but even in the category of mindless entertainment this ranks one of the lowest. Please, do me and everyone you know a favor, and do not see Disaster Movie or any subsequent film by these men. It's for our own good.

Take Two: Echo & the Bunnymen

2008-08-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Among my absolute favorite 80s bands is Echo & the Bunnymen. Ever since hearing "The Killing Moon" in the opening credits of Donnie Darko I've loved their music, and their 80s albums all have different feels to them. Their drummer Pete De Freitas died in a motorcycle accident in 1989, and on either side of that death they've released five proper albums (frontman Ian McCulloch left the band in 1988 and they released an album with a different singer which doesn't really count since they reuinited in 1997). In the interest of preserving my 1980s image of the band, I'm only going to pick songs from their five albums of the 80s. Maybe we'll catch up on the uneven records of the 90s and 2000s some other time.

Crocodiles
"Crocodiles" - I don't know why, but the title tracks of most of these albums are right around my favorites for each record. Maybe they actually titled their albums after one of the strongest songs, or perhaps it was just intriguing names each time. Either way, this song rocks out. It's a good calling card for their early style, straight forward rock with a little punk in there. They just went for breakneck speed here with McCulloch's gravely voice keeping up with the pace.

"Villiers Terrace" - Definitely a harbinger of sound experimenting to come. It's the most memorable song on the record to me, especially with all the drug imagery. McCulloch's lyrics got a little too weird towards the end of the 80s, but here he's very focused, very visual, very cryptic about the place he sings about.

Heaven Up Here
"Show of Strength" - Everything about this song fits together perfectly to me. The bass and drums are in tune with each other's movements, the guitar floats around and punches when it needs to, and McCulloch's vocals careen from a hoarse whisper to a bellow in an instant over the course of the song. The ending breakdown is fantastic as well.

"Heaven Up Here" - Probably my favorite track they ever did. The emptiness the sound disappears into on the track is awesome. The bass line thunders for the entire song, and McCulloch's wailing is in full swing here. Pete De Freitas' drums are going wild for the entire song as well. RollingStone rated this album their highest in their ranking of the Top 500 albums, and I think that's actually accurate. It's not their most popular album, but I really do think it's their most well-rounded and best.

Porcupine
"Back of Love" - A fantastic opening riff makes this another visceral Echo classic. This album was the hardest to record for the band, and the tensions that began here followed them for the rest of their career. This is probably my least favorite Echo record, but they still keep it together on a lot of these songs. McCulloch's screaming and the repeating guitar work really well in contrast, and the strings in the bridge give it an interesting change.

"Heads Will Roll" - Great acoustic opening, with a tinge of the eastern influence that hangs over the entire album. This album did feel a little bit too much like Echo trying to do the Beatles' eastern bits with English rock, but they rock harder to make up for it.

Ocean Rain
"The Killing Moon" - Ian McCulloch claims that this is a candidate for the greatest song ever written. I think it has enough to merit entrance to the conversation for the greats, with the fantastic imagery of the lyrics and the lush, fully realized instrumentation. Everything is timed perfectly in this song, and it comes out as though it took absolutely no effort. The sequence in Donnie Darko that used this song originally was to be scored by "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS, and I think that changing the song in the Director's Cut of the film weakened it a little bit. The acoustic opening and the first verse fit perfectly with that shot of Jake Gyllenhaal biking down a hill.

"My Kingdom" - Far and away my favorite Echo & the Bunnymen song. It's my favorite riff and my favorite lyrics of any song they've ever done. The record itself is only 9 songs long, but the final 4 tracks are just about the best things they've ever done. This is their most popular record, and "The Killing Moon" shot them to some degree of popularity, and deservedly so. McCulloch got a little bigheaded after this album, but for just a short time, they were riding high on a wave of critical and popular success.

Echo & the Bunnymen
"Bedbugs & Ballyhoo" - Echo mastered the slow build on songs like this. They're pretty much on autopilot for most of the song doing what they do best, but damn if it doesn't sound good. Don't try to make sense of the lyrics, they're nonsensical, but the blending sounds, especially when the saloon-style piano enters in the middle, are amazing.

"Blue Blue Ocean" - My favorite departure the band took in terms of their musical style. On this album they got much more into epic 80s synth-style sound, and this one was one of the few that worked for me. They've still got and underlying guitar there that's doing some pretty straight riffing, which is nice. The band was too far apart to survive after the recording sessions for this album, and McCulloch left the band after its release, leaving the band with the terrible idea of replacing their front man for one album before calling it quits for the rest of the 80s.

Honorable Mention Non-Album Tracks:
"Bring on the Dancing Horses" -This is pretty much the most covered song the Bunnymen ever made, and I personally really enjoy it a ton. McCulloch may have been hard to work with, and the rest of the band might have not gotten along really well, but they could write a single.

"Do It Clean" - This song can be found on the remastered version of their debut Crocodiles. You know how Bloc Party releases one-off singles in between records that are sometimes really awesome? Yeah, Echo & the Bunnymen did that twenty years ago with songs like this. Sure it's probably not the first time a band did this, but it's damn cool to hear awesome singles that have no album context to pay attention to sometimes.

There you have it, one of my favorite bands tracked in two songs per album. If you've never listen to them, maybe now's the time to try them out.

Roy Keane Making Moves at Sunderland

2008-08-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Right around the time I started following international club soccer seriously, Roy Keane left Manchester United to play for Celtic. I never really got to see him play, but man did I read a lot of his fiery comments on Manchester United and the game of football. He and Eric Cantona are the two most important commentators on football to me, and Cantona's "Joga Bonita" ad campaign remains one of my favorite commercials of all time.

Since taking charge of Sunderland two years ago, he's brought the team to the English Premier League and kept them from relegation in their first season. This summer he made an extensive effort to sign a lot of new talent. In the past two months alone he's brought Djibril Cisse on loan from Marseille, striker El Hadji Diouf from Bolton Wanderers, three players from Tottenham(midfielder Teemu Tainio, right back Pascal Chimbonda, and winger Steed Malbranque), and today landed West Ham's Anton Ferdinand.

Keane has a history of ripping players to shreds, and one of his more infamous tirades was against Anton's older brother Rio at Manchester United. It seems that Keane has some respect for the players he lambasted at Man U and Celtic, though, because he's brough a lot of cast off players from those teams into his squads in his first two years in charge.

I like the challenging personality Keane had against Sir Alex Ferguson at Man U, mainly because SAF likes to believe everything he says, does, and thinks is right. Keane looks to be developing a nice managerial career, and they've started their first games 1-0-1, so hopefully all the transfers will pay off in the end. While I really want to see Chelsea back on top in everything this year, it would be nice for someone other than the Big Four clubs (Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool) challenge for the title, a Champions League spot, the FA cup, Carling Cup, or just something major. We're in need of a shakeup in English football, and maybe Keane's approach at Sunderland can provide it.

I'm Going Radiohead Crazy: Get Your B-Sides Here + Take Two Update

2008-08-26T22:58:00.001-07:00

You know that period of time after you see a band live where basically all you listen to is their stuff? Yeah, that happens to me really badly whenever I see a show. It's happened for The Hives, Interpol, Daphne Loves Derby, and most recently Radiohead. Last year, right after the release of In Rainbows, I tracked down a ton of Radiohead b-sides over at The Good, the Bad, & the Unknown. I think in light of my recent Radiohead binge I'd like to point people on over there to listen to the two b-side "albums" he made over there: Caisson Disease and Photographic Memory. My favorite things about his b-side collections are that the titles that are inverses of actual releases (e.g. Photographic Memory instead of Amnesiac) and the awesome custom album covers. Check them out, these tracks are just fantastic and are really hard to track down one by one.

And in the spirit of there being some "unofficial" albums of b-sides, I'll update my Take Two from yesterday.

Caisson Disease

"Maquiladora" - That guitar riff, man does that just epitomize the sound of the 90s to me. Hearing Yorke wailing over those dueling guitars is magnificent. I find myself wondering why some of these tracks didn't make the album, but then I remember that the albums are pretty much perfectly sequenced and pared down so there's no filler. These songs work as a b-side collection, but I wouldn't ever really want one of them messing up the images I have of the albums as they are.

"Coke Babies" - That fuzzed out ending is pretty sweet, and I love the semi-floating feeling of the guitar and the drums up until the fuzzing of the chorus. For a gruesome song title, its a pretty sweet sounding track, which is all the more sinister. Considering the amount of material Radiohead releases and the number of songs they hold over from session to session, they really do have an amazing back catalogue of b-sides from over the years. To be able to get multiple collections out of the b-sides is intense, especially when they form albums that dwarf other bands' actual recording output in terms of quality.

Photographic Memory

"Lull" - The shortest song I put on the whole list of Radiohead songs, but I love the guitar work here. All of these songs are culled from different sessions so it's a little hard to place these thematically with one record or another. Caisson is from The Bends-era, and Photographic Memory is from Ok Computer until after Amnesiac, so I'm not really sure where to place this song amongst the records, but I really like it on its own. After a couple more re-listens, the drums are fantastic as well. Short, sweet, simple, altogether not really the kind of track that Radiohead releases, but still awesome. It shows how well they'd do if they were just playing straightforward rock, but we know they're capable of much, much more.

"Talk Show Host" - In a list of my favorite songs of all time it's a all-out-brawl between this song and "2+2=5" for the Radiohead slot (I limit myself to one song per artist). The atmosphere, the guitar, the vocals, the lyrics, the Romeo + Juliet connection, everything just fits for me. The first time I listened to the song outside the film, my jaw dropped I was in so much awe of its beauty.

Okay, now I'm going to stop with the Radiohead overload and try to write something else for once. Just give me a few days or something.

Take Two: Radiohead

2008-08-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

A while ago I was wondering what it would be like to boil down the albums of an entire career into just a few songs. Beyond that, what it would be like to only be able to choose a few songs off each album, making a different kind of "greatest hits" collection. Most of the time you like some albums in a discography more than others and would choose more tracks from there, but that's not the case with these posts.

I'm going to go back into some of my favorite artists who have released four or more albums, and pick two favorite tracks from each album to list. I'm not looking for "greatest" song or big hits, I'm just picking the songs I like the most off of each record. It's especially hard to do because you end up with songs that would be on the list if you weren't limiting yourself to only two songs per album.

Pablo Honey
"Creep" - Just because they hated the touring after their one mainstream hit doesn't mean it isn't a great song. Hell, it's an iconic guitar entrance at the chorus.

"Anyone Can Play Guitar" - Their debut is certainly their weakest album (there aren't too many worthwhile modern bands you can say that about...), but I still find myself coming back to this song when I'm in a Radiohead groove.

The Bends
"Fake Plastic Trees" - I'm a sucker for Thom Yorke beginning a song with just his voice and acoustic guitar.

"My Iron Lung" - One of my favorite opening riffs of any song, ever. People say that this album is what Radiohead would sound like if they didn't go down the creative rabbit hole of Ok Computer, but I'd disagree a little bit. This is a huge step forward from Pablo Honey and was probably just as much of a departure as any of their other albums. They hated the late recognition "Creep" got them and just completely turned away from that attitude.

Ok Computer
"Paranoid Android" - The epic, operatic centerpiece of the album to me. The legend goes that the band stayed up an entire night orchestrating all the instrumentation for the song, and then Thom Yorke heard it and laid down the vocals in one take. The lyrics in the breakdown (especially "kicking, screaming, Gucci little piggy") are some of the best I've ever heard.

"Exit Music (For A Film)" - Originally composed for the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack in the mid 90s (I can hear the play's influence a little bit in the verses), it shows off one of my favorite aspects of Radiohead in the shift from just acoustic guitar and airy noises to a bellowing bass shift that thunders through the track.

Kid A
"Kid A" - I keep picking some soft songs off these records, but damn if Radiohead doesn't do both extremes fantastically and blend them together too. This is probably my 2nd favorite record, and I love the masked vocals so much. Deciphering the words coming out of Yorke's mouth surrounded by the lush sonic landscape is simply beautiful.

"The National Anthem" - How can this cacophany immediately follow the title track on Kid A. What balls, Radiohead! My favorite softer song is followed immediately by their most destructive rocking, but then the horn section comes in. It's like rock mixed with experimental jazz, and then everything cuts out to let Yorke say his piece.

Amnesiac
"Like Spinning Plates" - There's no hiding that this is my least favorite Radiohead album after Pablo Honey, and there are songs off Ok Computer and Hail to the Thief that would bump these two songs off, but they're still great tracks. This track debuts the opening effect that went on to open another great track on Hail to The Thief ("The Gloaming"), and to my mind it kind of represents the sound of spinning plates pretty well. It's a hyper-realistic experience to listen to Radiohead, espeically in a dark setting and a contemplative mood. These are records that make me want to bring back the days of just putting on some music and sitting down with friends, or alone, to listen through it.

"I Might Be Wrong" - This is definitely one of the tracks that separates Amnesiac as something more than a b-sides album to the Kid A sessions. Its got a great backing beat and guitar riff, and the style just feels all its own. That's one thing that always amazes me about the band: their ability to write songs and keep them gestating over multiple sessions, but still have a stylistically cohesive album that sounds as though it was all written at the same time.

Hail to the Thief
"2+2=5" - This is still probably my favorite Radiohead song of all time. I love the guitar being plugged in at the start, the incidental dialogue, the opening riff, the frenetic, gasping-for-breath ending, the otherworldly post-apocalyptic 1984 feeling it instills right from the get-go. This song convinced me to buy into Radiohead as a band, and for that it remains my favorite.

"There There" - Again I choose contrasting songs, this with a much more mellow track, but there's still a feeling of claustraphobia, trapped anger, some emotion waiting just beneath the surface. This whole album feels very alive to me, like its a time capsule for that time in 2003. It's one of those records I can throw on and feel transported to the past.

In Rainbows
"All I Need" - The bass and piano make this song for me. This entire song feels effortless to me, but it's so well crafted and executed. It may have taken four years between albums for the band, but man was In Rainbows worth the wait.

"Reckoner" - I haven't really mentioned Johnny Greenwood a lot and have been mostly praising Thom Yorke, but good lord do I love the little guitar bits here. The things that impress me most about the guitars in Radiohead's work is how subtle it can be, and the many uses they've found for a guitar. They don't use the traditional rock instruments in the same way that all other bands do; they're able to use a guitar to fill gaps instead of set the tone.

So there you have it, my inagural Take Two post. I'll be putting up another one of these later in the week for another artist, I've just got to choose from among the four album plus contenders.

Radiohead Rule Outside Lands (+10 Songs They Didn't Play)

2008-08-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

I considered holding off on writing about Radiohead's set on Friday night until after the first Outside Lands Music Festival ended on Sunday night, but the fact of the matter is that there is nothing that can top that single performance. Yes, the promoters of Outside Lands have some serious traffic congestion and concert layout issues to address in Golden Gate Park if they want to hold a festival like this ever again, seeing as how they tried to have narrow avenues for 10-20 thousand people to move quickly from band to band (many resorted to knocking down fences and walking through the park). Yes, the sound went out completely, twice during Radiohead's set (in the middle of "Airbag" and "All I Need"), but the performance was still flawless. I've waited years to see Radiohead live, and when the Outside Lands lineup was announced in the spring I was waiting on pins and needles until Friday night. I saw only a masterful performance, I can ignore any small glitches or hiccups along the way.

My dad and I frequently talk about the merits of music from his generation compared to mine. To be honest, I find that people claiming there was no good music after a certain calendar year to be completely and total idiots. Someone that says nothing after 1969 or 1979 was worth anything in music can be silenced with the idea that nothing good in music came after 1900, or after orchestra and symphony music stopped being the biggest music "scene." Those time limiting arguments are useless, what remains is that there are important musicians and bands for every generation. However you want to put it, band like the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and the like are creative forces that outlive their time period. When I end up in a conversation about what band from my generation will live on, I always end up thinking of Radiohead.

There are bands that I personally like better than Radiohead, and there are albums and songs I connect to better than Radiohead's catalogue, and by that extension like better, but no other band in my experience has been more consistently incredible than the five men from Oxfordshire. They've mastered the art of deconstructing who they are as a band and building something new and fantastic every time. When I hear bands release new material they wrote in old recording sessions, I usually think it's of lesser quality. Where Radiohead is concerned, they hone songs over multiple album recording sessions, preparing it until it's just right in their minds, and then put it on a record where it fits right in as though its brand new.

The band might not play Pablo Honey live much anymore, and its pretty much their only album that rests below the stratosphere as far as quality is concerned, but I just can't name any other band that hasn't made a bad album. You can debate personal favorites all you want, but Radiohead is the most consistent band in the world right now. They are this generation's Beatles, thankfully without the mania.

It's at this point that I realize I haven't even talked about their set yet. They played a lot off of In Rainbows, which had only the small drawback of them not getting to play many songs off Hail to the Thief. Otherwise, they played a pretty perfect set. After the show on our ride back, I made a playlist of songs they didn't play in their set that I'd like to hear, and it was exactly the length of their set. There are no other bands of our time that can double a set list and maintain their quality in the way Radiohead can. It's astounding. Songs sprinkled in from their entire discography and were met by roars of applause at every turn. While their albums are so disparate, they seem to come together and complement each other perfectly when mixed together in a live set.

Their light show on this tour is just incredible. They performed surrounded in what seemed like a prison cell of fluorescent lights that turned all different colors throughout the set. When rain imagery was necessary, little blue light streaked down the bulbs to imitate rain, during "Fake Plastic Trees" they turned green, during "The National Anthem" they turned red, white, and blue. The set was an all-engrossing experience for sight and sound. The two giant screens on either side of the stage were fixed camera perspectives from places like their piano, the bass drum, Thom Yorke's microphone, and gave an other-worldly feel to the performance.

They mixed songs that bled into each other perfectly, hitting loud highs with "Airbag" or "Bodysnatchers" and diving low with thumping beats on "Videotape" "Idioteque" and "Everything in Its Right Place." It was especially wonderful to hear "Talk Show Host," one of my personal favorites from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. I was more and more excited every time a song started and I recognized that I was actually seeing the band play it live with sensory overload courtesy of the lights. I've been to concerts and loved them before, but this was one time where the experience of the live setting outweighed the daunting quality of the music itself.

It took a while to get to Golden Gate Park, even longer to get situated for Radiohead, and even longer to get back out of the park to our car after the show. It was a completely overpriced ticket considering how poorly handled the festival seemed to be by the promoters, and the layout of the fields was far too small for the number of people that needed to move freely around the park. But in light of the two hours dropped on the Bay Area by Radiohead, none of those complaints matter, I'm nothing but ecstatically happy about that performance. I now will be able to say I have seen the greatest band of my generation, and I'll do it with a huge smile of my face remembering just how great it was.

Set List:
15 Step
Reckoner
Airbag
There There
All I Need
Nude
Talk Show Host
National Anthem
The Gloaming
Videotape
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Idioteque
Karma Police
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Just
Exit Music (For A Film)
Bodysnatchers
Encore:
Pyramid Song
You and Whose Army?
Paranoid Android
Fake Plastic Trees
Everything In Its Right Place

And just for kicks, here are the 10 best songs they didn't play on Friday night:

"The Bends" - They played some straight up rockers off of In Rainbows, but before they went down the rabbit hole, this was as hard rock as they got for me.

"My Iron Lung" - I waited and waited for this song's intro to begin in the dark, but it never came.

"Electioneering" - One of my favorites from OK Computer.

"Kid A" - Oh how I wanted to hear those little intro piano sounds, followed by miraculous electric blips and Yorke's tweaked out vocal track.

"2+2=5" - The first Radiohead track I really remember knowing was them, as well as the first album I purchased. It's a longtime personal favorite, and the 1984 reference and feel of the entirely of HtTT strikes a chord with me.

"Sit Down, Stand Up" - They didn't really have time for a lot of HtTT material, but man would it have been cool to see.

"Backdrifts" - The beginning swooshing electronic sounds could've gone with another track from the album, "The Gloaming." To me they sort of play as the good/evil electronic sounds on the album, with "Gloaming" sounding menacing but "Backdrifts" inviting.

"Go To Sleep" - It could've worked right in to the part in their set with "Karma Police" and "Jigsaw" because they had the acoustic guitar going.

"Where I End and You Begin" - I love this album so much, it's a pity they didn't play more of it, but when you have so much great material there's no way they could play everything.

"House of Cards" - The only song from In Rainbows I wanted to hear that they didn't play.

Honorable Mention: "Creep" - You know they're not playing it, but why not put it down at the bottom of the wishlist?

Well, there you have it. Radiohead in San Francisco. I guess I'll just have to desperately try to see them again in hopes of hearing some of these 10.

Breaking Down the Beijing Olympic Medal Count

2008-08-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Summer Olympics are coming to a close, and there's a little controversy over who is winning the medal count. The US holds a 13 medal lead over China (102-89), but the Chinese have 47 gold medals, 16 more than the Americans. The question is, who wins the medal tally, and how exactly do we measure medals?

There is no official "winner" of the games, but to pretend that some in the world would use the dominance in the Olympics to signify political power is a little ignorant. China wants to win the medal count, badly. Not even the former Soviet Union implemented the kind of athlete farming China is pulling now. They're leading in the number of golds, but are behind in the total medals, which begs the question of who is actually "winning" the games.

It's a little silly to simply say the highest total medals is the best, because by that logic 10 bronze medals beats 9 gold medals, which just doesn't feel right.

For the sake of argument, let's assign a gold medal 3 points, a silver medal 2 points, and a bronze medal 1 point, and see how the totals shake out, unofficially, with around 40 medals still to be awarded.

UNITED STATES
Gold: 31 x 3 = 93 points
Silver: 36 x 2 = 72 points
Bronze: 35 x 1= 35 points

TOTAL: 200 points

CHINA
Gold: 47 x 3 = 141 points
Silver: 17 x 2 = 34 points
Bronze: 25 x 1= 25 points

TOTAL: 200 points

So, if you break it down that way, the US and China are currently tied at the top, but what about those 40 remaining medals?
Well, the US is guaranteed at least 5 more silvers (or potentially golds) by reaching the finals in men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, and men's water polo, and the potential for a bronze medal in baseball. The bulk of the medals to be given out are in boxing and track, but most likely the US will end up winning the "total medals" race, but in this fake analysis the US would have to win gold in a majority of those 5 finals to be the "winner" of the games.

It still doesn't officially mean anything, and it's not as though they're going to give a trophy out to the country with the most medals or with the most weighted points, that's not the "spirit of the games." But if the US does end up on top, it means China didn't come through on its goal completely, and I was completely wrong in thinking that Plan 119, hosting the games in Beijing, and using less experienced athletes in Athens in 2004 would give the Chinese a definitive advantage in winning the medal count.

Outside Lands Music Festival Preview

2008-08-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of the best musical festival to hit San Francisco in my lifetime. Last year was the first annual Treasure Island Music Festival, and it had a fantastic lineup including Modest Mouse, Spoon, and Built to Spill, but it was too late to really be considered a "summer" festival.

This year, Outside Lands will bring down the house in Golden Gate Park, featuring Radiohead, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and (unfortunately) Jack Johnson. It's the first time anyone has ever played a night concert in Golden Gate Park, next to the infamous Haigh/Ashbury district of San Francisco, and Radiohead is popping that cherry. Here are my thoughts about each day:

FRIDAY

It's pretty much smoothe sailing as far as conflicts go on the first day. Steel Pulse has a set to open the festival at 5pm, and then I'll be moving around to see Cold War Kids and Manu Chao. The problem comes in at the beginning of Beck's set from 6:40 to 7:50. He plays across the grounds from where Radiohead will headline the night at 8, and there's no way to get a good view if I stay for the Beck set. I've seen the man before, so I'll probably end up staying for the very beginning and then booking it over to the main stage to get myself ready for the only show I've wanted to see all summer long.

SATURDAY

With the second day starting a little after noon instead of at 5, more conflicts start to arise. Early on I'll probably see one of my favorite local bands Rupa & the April Fishes (who I wrote about last year, and then I'm faced with a difficult decision. Lupe Fiasco and M. Ward play pretty much conflicting sets. I've heard a lot of Ward, but I really want to see another Chicago rapper, so I'd probably take my chances with Lupe. Then Regina Spektor gets some time to herself with no real competition, and then another road block. Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals go up against The Walkmen for about forty minutes, but Harper plays for about a half hour longer after The Walkmen finish, so I'll try to catch parts of both sets. Most likely I'll end up skipping Cake and Primus conflicting sets to set myself up for Tom Petty, because that Super Bowl performance made me wish I paid more attention to him back when he played the Bridge School Concert.

SUNDAY

The weakest headliner by far in Jack Johnson means finding other sets during the day, and surprisingly two stages close to each other provide the best entertainment for the day. Stars kick things off around 2, followed by Andrew Bird, The Cool Kids, Broken Social Scene, Rogue Wave, and Wilco. The other bands competing with them are probably okay, but that lineup straight through with no conflicts is damn impressive to me. Then if you'd like you can waltz on over to Jack Johnson and just chill in the San Francisco air, and take in the first big summer music festival in San Francisco. Here's hoping it's one kick-ass time.

Review: Bloc Party - Intimacy

2008-08-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

Bloc Party is pretty much one of my favorite bands in the world. I've said that a lot of times on this blog, but now it seems like I say it more in defense than in pride. After a day spent spinning their new record Intimacy, it looks like I'm going to have to continue saying it for the former reason.

When The Raconteurs released Consolers of the Lonely, they were criticized for using their rapid release strategy to cover up a less-than-stellar album. Bloc Party's strategy of announcing an album Monday and releasing it three days later might have more to do with their second album being leaked three months before its official release than mediocre quality, but you have to wonder if more time might've given them some perspective on this record.

To a certain extent, the opening track of every official Bloc Party album can describe the quality and feeling of the entire album. Those three tracks ("Like Eating Glass" "Song For Clay(Disappear Here)" and "Ares") are world apart. Silent Alarm was a party throughout, Weekend was the aftermath of that party, and now Intimacy doesn't seem like it knows what it is. It careens through a bunch of different feelings, much more incoherent than its predecessors.

Kele Okereke has said that the album is the first to really be about personal experience, having been recorded after a breakup. To be honest, I can't really tell that's the case at all. There's nothing here that tells me it's a breakup album, or that it's more genuine in terms of emotion that past albums. Songs like "Sunday" off their last record were more compelling than "Biko" here.

I hate to say it, but Kele Okereke has really started to turn the band into his own show, and that's not at all a good thing. The strength of Matt Tong, Russell Lissak, and Gordon Moakes make up a fearsome trio that were on equal pegging with Okereke's lyrics on their first album, and managed to stay afloat over the course of the Weekend album and b-sides. Here, Okereke hogs the spotlight, and not even the fantastic drumming of Tong shines through.

Anyone that questions "Halo" as the best track on this record doesn't have any ears. It's the track that links the best through their career and seems to step forward at the same time. "Biko" holds interest for a while, "Trojan Horse" is another standout, and the album closes on a great note with "Ion Square." Even first single "Mercury" seems much better and less of a crazy one-off departure in light of the context of the rest of the album. What seems to be lost is the element that makes "This Modern Love" my favorite Bloc Party song: the ability for that dynamic shift from soft to loud, slow to fast, calm to frenetic. Bloc Party isolate themselves to one or the other on these songs, maybe dabbling in a tiny element of the other here and there. I still found a lot to like on the record, and I'm sure it will grow on me in the way A Weekend in the City did for me two years ago, but right now I'm sort of scratching my head a little bit.

Like with most bands, I get a little annoyed when people complain that they should do the same thing over and over again. These guys aren't going to produce Silent Alarm for the rest of their lives, and we'd hate them for hitting the same note too many times. That hypocrisy aside, I just don't like the stretching they've done here as much as I have before. There are little bits that impress, and "Halo" goes immediately up with their best tracks, but for a bulk of the album's 45 minute run time, I feel like Bloc Party sound a way they never have before: forgettable.

I'm going to come back to the album in a day or so and write more reactions, and I can see myself justifying a lot of the problems I have with the album right now. This just seems like how a lot of people will react to the album at first, but I'm a big enough fan of the band to see how it grows on me after a bunch of listens.

I Am A Meet Joe Black Apologist

2008-08-21T10:46:00.002-07:00

I'm a sucker for contemplative, well photographed movies. Meet Joe Black wasn't very entertaining to most people, but I had my eyes glued to the screen for every minute of its three-hour runtime. I could care less that the director, Martin Brest, went on to make Gigli years later. With this cast, this film, he made one wonderful film.

Based on the old play Death Takes A Holiday, as well as the couple film versions since the early 20th century, Meet Joe Black depicts the relationship between an aging, extremely wealthy man named William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), and Death (Brad Pitt). Death comes to take Hopkins during a heart attack, but while in the body of a recently deceased man begins to fall in love with Parrish's daughter, and stays Parrish's "execution."

Cue many wonderful sweeping shots of a youthfully innocent Brad Pitt walking through a mansion, Hopkins prattling off lessons about life, and wonderful shots of Claire Forlani as Susan Parrish, the beautiful daughter. This was before Fight Club, before Ocean's Eleven, where we got to see Brad Pitt look dangerously curious about everything he saw. Death is fascinated by everything he sees in the world of the living, and has a strange fixation for peanut butter.

I can't really put my finger on why I love this movie. I love the performance of Pitt, Hopkins, Forlani, and even Jeffrey Tambor as Parrish's son-in-law. I find the film wonderfully photographed in almost every aspect, especially in HD. The end party scene with fireworks is masterful, and it's hard for me to think that Brest moved on from this and thought Gigli was the next film he needed to make.

Things get a little hectic when you add in Susan's sort-of-fiance, the sale of Parrish's media corporation before his eventual death, and the commentary on the corporate world and what it does to aging professionals, but the central trio of Hopkins, Forlani, and Pitt keep me riveted all the way through.

The idea of Death learning about the world of the living, and about love is just subject matter that interests me. Death, inhabiting the body of an adult, acts like a child, but that smile on Pitt's face is sinister...probably because his job is to take people to their death. It's an odd choice, performing the task of the Grim Reaper and continuing life as it should, or giving it all up for the daughter of a wealthy man. The scenes where Pitt and Hopkins argue over whether or not Hopkins should stop showing Pitt the world and just die are priceless and superbly written.

Meet Joe Black struck the right chord with me in a difficult balance between comedy, romance, mythology, and philosophy, sometimes all in the same scene. It has things I'd love to be able to replicate in a story or a script, and some snapshots I can easily bring to mind the moment I shut my eyes. It's a commitment to watch the thing, three hours isn't easy, but I still find a lot to like in the behemoth of a genre-bender.

New Bloc Party Album: For Once, I'm Nervous

2008-08-20T00:22:00.000-07:00

As has already been reported all over the internet, Bloc Party sucker-punched everyone with the announcement that they will be releasing their third album Intimacy on Thursday, August 21st.

I read the article on Stereogum about an hour after it was posted, and then read every little bit of news I could find on the release. I'd heard that the band was doing a live web chat, which is where they made the announcement.

So, one day a while ago Kele Okereke shows up at a British radio station and plays "Mercury" for the first time, and now the band pops up and says that their album which was rumored to be released in very late 2008 or early 2009 would be coming out in just a matter of days.

Am I the only one really nervous about this? Bloc Party is one of my favorite bands in the world right now, but from hearing "Mercury" and its b-side "Idea for a Story," then the leak of "Trojan Horse" today, I'm very skeptical about the direction the band is heading. Take a listen to the newest leaked track at Bloc Party's MySpace.

I remember the first bit of backlash to The Raconteurs guerilla release was that it masked a sub-par album, and right now that's exactly what Intimacy is shaping up to be in my mind. I've loved almost every song Bloc has put out, but these last three songs just aren't hitting the right notes for me. I can't quite put my finger on the problem, but when I can put it into words I'll give it a shot.

At least we've only got a day left to wait before hearing it, but I doubt there's an album worth of b-sides waiting to be discovered like the greatest easter egg hunt of all time following the release of A Weekend in the City last year.

Off to College Playlist

2008-08-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

In just a few short weeks college freshman will begin their first exodus to their respective campuses to begin their four years of "wonder" away from home, relying on on themselves. This year I'm helping to run the dorm I live in, and out President sent out a message about a "Going To College" mix. I made just such a playlist last summer as I was preparing to go to NU...but it was a couple hundred songs long, so I decided to make a new, whittled down version and describe it here for incoming freshman that happen to pass by this page. Enjoy, the playlist is attached at the bottom for listening.

The Hold Steady - "Positive Jam"
We're gonna start it off with a positive jam ladies and gentlemen. If you don't know these Minnesota boys, "the best bar band in America," you better start looking them up.

Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago"
There are three kinds of Sufjan Stevens people. First there are those that just don't like him because it's not their kind of music, and then there are others around the country who like him a lot. Then there are the residents of the state of Illinois who deify the man, thus ruining his musical talent a little bit for the rest of us with how annoying they are. Nevertheless, Chicago is a stone's throw away from Northwestern, so this little beautie is appropriate.

The Strokes - "Is This It"
It is said that The Strokes titled their debut album Is This It in response to how they dealt with the veritable mountains of hype that surrounded their early recordings. You might find yourself at times wondering why you thought something about going to college would be so important or stressful. At those times, this song is for you.

Be Your Own Pet - "Adventure"
Never, ever be afraid to go on a new adventure during college, be it a weekend road trip to a random place to a midnight (or much, much later...) excursion to the beach.

Ratatat - "Wildcat"
I seriously consider this song to be my own personal fight song for the Northwestern Wildcats. It has a sample of an actual freaking wildcat in it!

Girl Talk - "Set It Off"
People like dancing, people like mashup DJs. Girl Talk (aka DJ Greg Gillis) came to Northwestern last year and people have been riding that dance high since last winter. If you haven't heard of this guy, get ready to be intimately involved with his music at parties.

The White Stripes - "Fell In Love With A Girl"
Who knows, this could happen to you. Plus the music video features Lego animation directed by Michel Gondry, and it's absolutely astounding.

Vampire Weekend - "Campus"
Another semi-truthful love song, only this time it overtly refers to college. Some of you will undoubtedly feel the emotions described in this song, but don't worry, because you'll get over it after a few spins of songs like this.

Built To Spill - "Strange"
Stuff in college is strange. You don't need me to tell you that in order to have some sort of idea of what I mean. Things just aren't the same on a college campus as they are in the real world.

The Decemberists - "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)"
For residents of my dorm who remember a performance last year of this song, it has remained the one single song I enjoy the most over and over again to come from any Performance Hour. Fall in love with it for the first time if you've never heard it, or fall in love with it again.

Polaris - "Hey Sandy"
People love to talk about TV shows from their childhood, unless you just watched PBS and never saw anything good (Arthur and Wishbone don't count). This was the theme to a fantastic TV show on Nickelodeon that featured guest appearances from many indie icons, and starred the lead character from this music video. Know the show?

The Strokes - "You Only Live Once"
Take the title to heart, and enjoy every single last minute of the first week, first quarter, and first year.

They Might Be Giants - "The Beer Song"
Yeah, drinking happens. Surprised? This is one of my favorite TMBG songs, up there with "Particle Man" and "Instanbul."

Arctic Monkeys (feat. Dizzee Rascal) - "Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend"
Some things can be tempting, like all the usual things (drinking, illegal substances, hookups), but often times the third one comes back to bite you in the ass. Just be careful, and listen to the sweet rap interlude from Dizzee on this track.

Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
This song always meant savoring moments for me and remembering what I wanted to keep in my mind forever.

New Order - "Age of Consent"
A very sweet song to dance to, but the title and some of the lyrics carry an important message about age difference...

Pixies - "Where Is My Mind?"
This song plays over the end of Fight Club, and is pretty much the sweetest song off of the debut record from the Pixies. Sometimes during college you may be asking yourself the title question.

Radiohead - "Talk Show Host"
A very calming song for me, originally from the Baz Luhrmann film Romeo+Juliet. It was a great sound for that film, and it's a great kickback track.

Spoon - "The Way We Get By"
No matter what happens, there will be people in the dorm to help out with stuff. You really do get by because of the people living with you.

Elliott Smith - "Needle In The Hay
This song was famously used by Wes Anderson in his film The Royal Tenenbaums. It still gives me chills sometimes to remember how perfectly it captured a terribly sad moment, but it's still a heartbreakingly beautiful song.

Weezer - "Pink Triangle"
Mistakes happen sometimes, and you need to get used to that. This song just makes a mistake funny and a little pitiful at the same time, which pretty much sums up Rivers Cuomo.

Radiohead - "Exit Music (For a Film)"
Another one originally composed for the R+J soundtrack that found its way onto Ok Computer, a beautiful ending song that I can just drift away while listening to on my headphones.

I Thought This Only Happened To My Parents' Bands...

2008-08-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

In the past couple weeks, two bands that I really like have broken up. Be Your Own Pet announced they were parting ways a few weeks ago after the end of their UK tour. I was upset because I really like their two albums, but they're young kids and I'm sure they'll do something worth listening to in the coming years. I just regret never getting to see them play a live show, that would've been rad considering how wild they sound on their albums.

The more unsettling breakup was last week's announcement that Wolfmother had split, and that the lead singer planned on recruiting new members for the band while the bassist/organist and drummer formed their own band. They'd only released one stellar throwback of an album, and it'd been long enough where me and my friends were wondering what was keeping them from releasing a second album. I didn't think that in-fighting was the reason keeping them from recording.

Coupled with the breakup of The Format a while ago, I'm getting more depressed about bands I like breaking up. I wasn't really old enough to understand Rage Against the Machine breaking up, but I always thought of this stuff as what happened to all those 60s bands my dad liked. I hadn't yet made the connection that all the bands I like wouldn't age like the Stones or U2 and just keep making music forever and ever until I was willing to let them stop. I guess this is what keeps the good bands timeless, the ones that were good while they lasted and didn't stick around long enough to tarnish what made them great in the first place. I've got my own thoughts on the idea of band reunions, but that's for another post.

Once Again, US Men's Soccer Disappoints...

2008-08-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

Early this morning the US Men's Olympic Soccer team lost to Nigeria 2-1, eliminating them from medal contention. This is the latest in a series of really bad disappointments from the Men's National Team since their quarterfinal run in the 2002 World Cup (which should have been a semifinal run or more, the Germany game is still a mockery of officiating).

I hate to say it, but we still have not learned to properly compete on the international level. We've got players with talent, a slowly but surely emerging league (the MLS is adding Seattle, Philadelphia, and most likely another Canadian city in the next 3 years), and some of our best players are in the best leagues in the world. Jozy Altidore now plays with Villareal, Adu with Benfica and now on loan at AS Monaco. Even Damarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan, the two young promising stars from the 2002 Cup are still very good players.

We brough a mysterious U23 team to the Olympics, just like everyone else, with a few exceptions like keeper Guzan and Brian McBride. We played terribly in the first match, but still snuck through on a goal from Holden to beat Japan 1-0. We thought maybe this team of youngsters could pull something off. They fought back from a goal down against Holland to lead the game 2-1 in the final ten minutes, looking as though to go through to the quarters where they were expected to fail. Then...the usual team USA showed up. Freddy Adu got his second yellow in as many games, suspended for the final group game, and then was removed by coach Piotr Nowak, leaving nobody in the midfield to hold the ball away from the Dutch. Michael Bradley got it into his head to waste a ton of time around the 90th minute, and got himself a second yellow card in two games, suspending him for the thrid group game as well. And finally, the very same Holden that saved us against Japan made a costly foul in stoppage time to lead to the Dutch tying goal, screwing the US out of the win they deserved, and making the last group game against Nigeria a "can't lose" situation.

I'm not sure how the US would do in "must win" situations, but I know one thing: when all we have to do is tie, we always find a way to lose. It's incredible the kind of crap we get ourselves into when all we have to do is hold out for once.

All we had to do was hold for ninety minutes against Nigeria, one of the fastest teams at the games. We just had to settle in, not concede an early goal, and maybe carve out some possession to keep the Nigerians from cutting us up on the wings. Four minutes in, another typically American bonehead move cost us composure. Michael Orozco elbowed a man in the chest right in plain sight of the center referee, getting himself a red card. Playing a man down and without Adu or Bradley, the US allowed two goals to Nigeria before staging a desperate attempt at a comeback, leading to a Sascha Kljestan penalty kick and a Benny Feilhaber header off the crossbar.

Seeing the comeback fall just sort of the tie we so desperately needed just amplified how much we set ourselves back with the loss of Adu, Bradley, and Orozco even before the game really got started. The team shot themself in the foot once again, forced to play from behind in an insurmountable fashion.

Over the past six years we've failed spectacularly when everyone is watching. The 2006 World Cup was horrific in the opening loss to the Czech Republic, the two red cards against Italy, and Claudio Reyna's bum knee and Oguchi Onyewu's non-penalty against Ghana. Now with the collapse against Holland and playing from behind against Nigeria, I doubt the composure of any American team to compete on the highest level.

It's as though the run in 2002 didn't give us confidence so much as heap pressure on our team to the point where they are crushed under the stress. I don't really understand it, but with hope the senior national team can learn to relax, and perhaps play out the rest of World Cup qualifying with some ease, hopefully going to South Africa in 2010 with a new frame of mind.

The Olympics So Far

2008-08-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've been watching a lot of the 2008 Olympics, definitely more than I expected to. I stayed up to watch both US Men's Soccer matches, watched a ton of swimming, and have even watched a little of diving and gymnastics among other lesser events. Here are just a few reactions I've had:

NBC needs to stop putting "LIVE" on its broadcasts to anywhere but the East coast...because they're pre-recorded telecasts that are parading as live. Last night's 200m Freestyle was a perfect example. It was a live telecast at around 10pm Eastern Time, but was not broadcast on the West coast until three hours later, depriving a large viewing audience of the thrill of the live race. I'm just a little upset that NBC thinks they'll get higher ratings by rebroadcasting later when people are more likely to watch when they haven't found out the results on the internet.

This story is one in a long line to me that the Chinese Olympic officials just don't understand that you cannot be perfect. That level of tampering in order to acheive a perfect image is scary. We're talking V for Vendetta and Brave New World scary. It's adjusting and fine tuning an image to such a degree that we don't notice what's beautiful, only the huge amount of flaws. Shoving aside protesters and dissenters, not allowing full media and journalist coverage in the way that was promised, these are things that show they are too self conscious. The Opening Ceremony looked very nice, but they spent $300 million on it. A lot of things will look nice when Zhang Yimou is given a $300 million dollar budget to direct a performance, but what country has enough money to waste on PR like this?

I don't know, maybe I'm just at a cultural divide, but I'm just concerned that we're losing sight of the societal stories that were big before the Olympics. Pollution is still there, the treatment of Tibet is still afwul, and we're focusing on Phelps chasing Spitz and the Chinese Gymnastics team instead. The medal count is irrelevant to me, the US doesn't finish first every time (only in the past 10 years have they been dominant in the Summer games), especially when you consider the Winter Olympics. Why then is it a big deal if China tops the medal count? It's not a political statement to have more medals at the Olympics, there are still things wrong that can't be hidden by staging an elaborate Opening Ceremony.

On more sport related notes, I couldn't care less if Phelps matches or beats Spitz's record of 7 golds in swimming, he's a fantastic athlete and he represents the country well.

The men's soccer team put themselves in a terrible position to qualify for the quarterfinals with a 2-2 tie with Holland. Losing Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley to yellow card suspensions for their final group game against a very quick Nigeria team won't help either. Bradley got his yellow for time wasting after the 90th minute, an absolutely boneheaded move.

Team handball is kind of cool, but man is that Brazilian women's goalie annoying when she thinks she's winning. Good thing Hungary scored a last-second goal to tie it.

Week 1 belongs to swimming and gymnastics, Week 2 belongs to track. I'm just not sure how long China can keep up medal dominance when I've never heard of a Chinese track athlete doing well.

If softball, baseball, soccer, and other obviously athletic sports and competitions are in danger of no longer being Olympic events, then there's no way that a ton of the shooting events should be in play. A ton of these less athletic and less exciting events have a ton of medal categories whereas soccer, softball, baseball, water polo, and other team sports only award one set of medals to men and women. It seems a little bit weird to me that we've added these crappy events and don't change them as much as the big sports. I understand that the Olympics are the big competition for those "sports" and soccer, baseball, basketball, and the like have more important professional or international trophies, but the Olympics are still where these big world sports belong.

I'll probably have more reactions as the results come in, so I'll write more on the Olympics as they continue.

I Am an Accepted Apologist

2008-08-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

I am a little ways away from returning to Chicago for my sophomore year of college. I watched the application process happen up close two years ago when I was a junior in high school, went through it myself a year later, have watched friends go through it in the past year, and now my younger brother is just entering the cycle of doom for himself.

I didn't think it was that stressful when I went through it, but looking back on applying to college and that whole process, I hate it with a passion. I'm mostly upset that two years of my academic life in high school was not centered around learning material, but trying to look good to colleges on applications. I think it robs you of some freedom, a lot of fun, and the ability to relax and enjoy some potentially really good years.

Before the tornado really got going at the beginning of my senior year of high school, Accepted came out at the end of August 2006. It was light, funny, but not a great film. What was great about it was the message and the feeling of the film. It wasn't a pressure-cooker of college fright stories, it was exactly the attitude towards applying to college and going to college that those with too much pressure in the college process needed to see and hear. If I had it my way I'd show it to every rising high school senior in the country as a relaxation tool.

Justin Long is great as a lead in Accepted. He works better on the fringes of films like Dodgeball and Live Free or Die Hard, but here the same character works as the center of the story. His character Bartleby doesn't get into college anywhere, and decides to create his own to fool his parents. Trust me, no matter how sure someone is that they will get into college somewhere, they all have a fear of not getting in anywhere. I always just plain enjoyed the premise, because it was a passing thought I never gave much creedence to, but Accepted fleshed out the fantasy with reasonable success.

Jonah Hill has perhaps his best performance outside of Superbad in this film as well. I'd put this over Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and even his hilarious bit part in The 40-Year-Old Virgin just for his likeability. Along the lines of bit parts, a before Gossip Girl-fame Blake Lively plays Bartleby's love interest, and she isn't half bad. It even has Lewis Black as the dean of the made up college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, making their college regalia emblazoned with SHIT.

The plot doesn't really make sense when parents, a Harvard-esque college looking to expand its campus, and a few too many students get involved, but for light-hearted fun that has a good message about college acceptace it's pretty good. The film resonated with me at the perfect time in my life, and too far on either side of that window I think the film wouldn't work if you saw it for the first time. I definitely reccommend it to anyone about to start applying to college, or someone who's just gone through it.

New York Magazine Tackles the August Movie Graveyard

2008-08-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

This week New York magazine is taking an in-depth look at movies released in August. I've always referred to this month (along with September, January, and February) as giant graveyards for studios to dump low-quality films or movies they just don't know how to market. That being said, there are always one or two quality flicks to come out of these couple months, and I'm glad the magazine has recognized that as well.

(Random side note: why greenlight or pay for a film you don't know how to market? If a studio ponies up the money to produce a script, they should be aware of what audience they're going for, or have some kind of contingency plan in place to target some section of the market. They don't skip out on marketing costs, these studios put up tons of money a year in advertising, so why do some legitimately great movies get lost in marketing. This issue never frustrates me enough to consider going into marketing, I just bemoan the hiding of great films due to a bad job done by studio advertisers.)

They've got two articles up: one charting the history of terrible films and diamonds in the rough from August 1993 to the present. The other is "A Theory of Awfulness", which examines why the August phenomenon has come to exist, and a possibility to better it for the future.

Most people are quick to point out that not every other month has a large supply of great films, and that's true. It's just that August, September, January, and February have the lion's share of craptacular movies. August gets the most terrible movies because schools are still out for the summer and some folks are still taking vacations, so they can attempt to squeeze "Well, it's the only thing playing that we haven't seen.." dollars out of some wallets.

And sometimes those diamonds in the rough shine incredibly bright. A few of my favorite films like Collateral, Hero, and Superbad were released in August, but they were one of the very few movies in that particular August to actually be good films. The desparity between films in these months is incredible: you've either got one or two films that would be great regardless of its release date, and then a ton of crap dumped by every studio so nobody associates their studio name with a crappy film.

I've only got one issue with the New York feature. In listing crappy August movies, it's a little unforgiving to some light, entertaining films that I probably apologize for (Accepted, Stardust, Airheads, okay I'll admit it, Air Bud), and claims that some terrible pieces of crap were good August films (Bring it On? Blue Crush for crying out loud???) I think 3 categories are necessary: Diamonds in the Rough, Light Entertainment, and Unforgiveable Crap. Sure there's still going to be debate, and the terrible movie months will have more than their fair share of bad movies, but people like a light piece of fluff that isn't terrible but isn't heavy intellectual lifting from time to time, no matter what the month.

Live: Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band @ Amoeba Records

2008-08-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Bright Eyes is one of those bands that I feel most of its fans don't understand. If you looked at the fanbase for the Conor Oberst moniker, it's mostly teen girls, but if was to describe Oberst's song writing, the one phrase that always comes to mind is "beyond his years." The music never really fit the age that followed it; I always figured that the girls were locked onto his appearance and hadn't really understood his music. Critics maligned Oberst for his youth following, and for never following through on his "next Bob Dylan" tag they stuck on him when he emerged from Saddle Creek at 13.

In 2005 Obherst released two albums of material on the same day, offering two directions his career could go. Down one road was Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, featuring collaborations with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, electronic meddling, and a more youthful record. Essentially it was the album-length equivalent of the experimenting Oberst did on "Lover I Don't Have to Love" from his previous record, which had earned him legions of young, lovelorn fans just beginning to grip the "emo" label. Down the other road was the Emmylou Harris backed I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, a folksy, mature record that just felt right for Oberst. Not to say Digital Ash didn't have it moments, but it was clear that Oberst had finally found the clear direction he needed on IWAIM. Tracks like "Train Under Water," "We Are Nowhere and It's Now," and my personal favorite "Road To Joy" sounded like a contemporary of Harris, not a twenty-something.

On his follow-up Cassadaga Oberst attempted the growing up he needed, and fell just a bit short. He had shifted to more folk-rock, but the youth-courting hit "Four Winds" hung on the album like "First Day of My Life" did on Wide Awake, both good songs, but both carrying the lingering tag of young singer/songwriter.

Now Oberst is on the verge of the release of his first "solo" album in years (technically Bright Eyes is a solo band, but the shift from moniker to his actual name carries some weight). He's gone soft, gone quiet, retained the midwestern sensibilities, and hopefully has completed the shift to being seen as an adult songwriter. He may be embracing the Dylan comparisons a little bit, but it was an unfair connection to draw from the start - Oberst does the electric rock and acoustic folk in about equal numbers, but he has a more personal and less universal aura about him. That's just my opinion though.

For the album Oberst went down to Mexico, recording with the Mystic Valley Band, and that's exactly who showed up with him when he played an in-store gig at Ameoba Records in downtown San Francisco this past weekend. They tore through an 8-song set of exclusively solo material (with one Dylan cover, but come on, its Conor Oberst), and it was satisfying to see so many multi-ear-piercing-and-dye-job kids looking disappointed with the adult direction he's taken as a musician and a songwriter. I really hope this is the record to give him recognition as the almost 30-year-old man he is, and not stuck permanently stick him as a teenager who refused to grow up in his songs.

Take a look at the last song of his set, and check out the setlist below.

Setlist:
Moab
Cape Canaveral
NYC - Gone, Gone
Souled Out!!!
Get-Well-Cards
Smoke Signals (Non-album track)
Corrina, Corrina (Bob Dylan cover)
Lenders in the Temple

The Most Painful Conflicts at Lollapalooza 2008

2008-08-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

I go to college in the Chicago area, but I'm home for the summer working, so I can't go to Lollapalooza this year. Oh well, I'll just go to Outside Lands here in the Bay Area and get my Radiohead live fix then.

However, my girlfriend will be working the lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel for Lollapalooza this weekend, apparently getting to schmooze with some big time bands. Consider me jealous. In honor of that, I figure I'd write a little bit about the festival.

With most of these big multi-day, multi-stage, gaggle-of-bands festivals, there are some conflicts between two or more awesome bands playing at the same time. Lolla08 is no exception, and here are the worst offenders for most difficult decisions.

FRIDAY - Bloc Party OR The Raconteurs OR Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Between 6:15 and 8:00pm

Bloc Party is perhaps my favorite live band, and one of my all-time favorites to listen to. Jack White is a great stage presence, and the last time the Raconteurs played Lollapalooza they had a fantastic set. Stephen Malkmus is coming off another great album and is an indie-rock legend.

So who should you see? My hand tips toward Bloc Party, because they're concert is the most fun I've ever had watching rock music, and one of the few times people have actually danced for a rock band's entire set. Plus, they're probably debuting some new material, which is always sick to watch live. Also, going by the schedules, you could watch both Bloc Party and Stephen Malkmus instead of just seeing The Raconteurs and being all the way on the other side of the festival, risking missing some of Radiohead's set which is on the same stage Bloc Party plays on. Play it safe and stick with Bloc & Malkmus.

SATURDAY - Broken Social Scene OR Battles OR Lupe Fiasco - 6:30 to 7:30pm

Do you see a supergroup from the Great White North? A math-rock powerhouse quartet? Or one of Chicago's Big Three rappers?

Broken Social Scene are always a pretty cool show, but some of their members are currently touring as Stars, so it's a little unclear whether its the whole brood or just whoever isn't off doing something else. That's the one problem about seeing the band live, they're unpredictable about members.

Lupe is known to give great hometown shows, and has been at the top of his game. He's one of the few rappers I can listen to, because I just don't really like the genre. I definitely enjoy his rapping a lot more than I do a huge amount of rap, though.

Battles is one of the best math-rock bands out there, and don't let the genre name turn you off to them. They're a tight, rhythmic, electric quartet full of high-energy tracks.

Who gets the nod this time? Well, BSS is missing members, so they get knocked down just a tad and are out. Between Lupe and Battles, I'm going to have to go with Lupe. Battles may be a better experience, but even with fellow Big Three Kanye West headlining Sunday night, Lupe is still performing to a hometown crowd that will make his performance so much more amped up.

SUNDAY - The National OR Girl Talk OR Flosstradamus OR Gnarls Barkley - Between 6:15 and 8:15pm

The National have been riding a buzz high after Boxer made a ton of top 10 lists for 2007, and with good reason. Gnarls Barkley had a legendary summer two years ago after the release of their debut, which culminated in a Lollapalooza performance. Girl Talk is the best ADD DJ around, and he's just put out what I think is his best record in Feed The Animals. Flosstradamus is spinning for two hours, and was such a surprise playing at Northwestern's Dillo Day that he made it up into this battle.

Gnarls has had their time at the top, so I think they're not the top of the list here. The National have had enough buzz, but they're still really, really solid. Flosstradamus put on a great show at Northwestern, but they're playing for 2 hours, so you could just see them in passing the other groups.

My suggestion is to start at Gnarls for the opening tracks, then run over to Girl Talk's set, then head over to see the end of The National, hearing some Flosstradamus along the way. Sound like a plan?

So there you have it, my guide to conflicting sets at Lollapalooza 2008. I could've covered Wilco v. RATM or Kanye v. NIN, but it's pretty obvious you should see Rage and Kanye because one isn't touring and the other is in his hometown closing the festival; those aren't hard choices to make.

As a final gift, here's my playlist for the festival featuring many of the performers. Enjoy.

Locksley - "All Over Again"

2008-07-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

Imagine taking the guitar sounds of The Hives and dropping in an American lead singer with a Brooklyn, NY mindset and you'll have a little bit of an idea what Locksley sound like.

They've got a very retro sound going, with the pop sensibilities of old pop rock bands, and their simplistic straight-ahead rock reminds of of The Libertines, just without the burglary, fighting, drugs, or the horrendous PR disaster that is Pete Doherty.

Locksley aren't signed to any label, but they're re-releasing their 2007 debut Don't Make Me Wait on Fontana Records on September 9th with 2 bonus tracks. Check out their MySpace for more details. I've been enjoying the tracks on their player for the past 45 minutes or so, it's actually quite refreshing.

They've toured with the likes of OkGo, the Dandy Warhols, The Hives, Rooney, and even Hanson, leading to the interesting live cover video posted below of AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top." Give them a listen, they're an interesting little trip.

Locksley - "All Over Again"

Pop History Repeating Its Terrible Self

2008-07-31T01:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm a little ashamed of what I'm about to write, but considering some of the pop culture analysis on Paris Hilton in relation to Terrorism I did during one of my classes last quarter, I'll somehow make it through.

The biggest pop star in the world is not the A-Rod breaking, Guy Ritchie maybe-divorcing Madonna, she belongs in the 80s. It's not washed-up deadbeat mom Britney Spears, she left her dignity and tiny bit of singing talent in the 90s. However unfortunately, the queen of pop at the moment is mid-teen Miley Cyrus. Why are so many teen girl popstars emerging from Disney? Is nobody else trying to cash in on this market? First the Mousketeer likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, then Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, and now Cyrus. They've even expanded into male pop stars in the model of former Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake with The Jonas Brothers.

There's a pretty big difference in the shift of the types of female pop stars. Madonna obviously didn't start with Disney, or even in bubblegum fodder (even her earliest material was sexually charged), she was edgy from the get-go. She got the way she was by defying female stereotypes of dealing with sexuality and embracing what she wanted and actually being rebellious. Female pop stars now adhere to the idea of manufactured rebellion; just look at the obvious transitions of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera into sex goddesses by the release of their 2nd albums. They just wore less clothing (look at the regression of music videos, especially in Aguilera's "Dirrty" and Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U", there was nothing about taking pride in your sexuality and turning the idea of men being dominant on its head. Spears and Aguilera became idols for men to ogle and worship, Madonna did what she wanted when she wanted to because that's how she wanted to be.

Now, I'll admit to having listened to a few Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers songs, and I've seen some of the music videos on YouTube, and the stuff just bothers me in the way only heavily overproduced material does. Its catchy, there's no doubt about that, but its all flash and no substance.

There is one thing that occurred to me as I found out a little more about the situation of Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. The two mega-stars are very religious, and Cyrus had a relationship with one of the brothers (I honestly don't care who, it'd be like Hoku dating one of the members of Hanson, you can't tell between any of them), but now they're broken up. Whatever that means, they're 15-year-old devout Christians, but then again so were both of the Spears sisters, and look how that turned out.

Here's where we start to retread our manufactured pop culture. Cyrus' lead hit off her new album is "7 Things," which details 7 things Miley hates about some mysterious ex-boyfriend, later rescinding the hatred in favor of 7 things she likes about her former flame. Now, its impossible to count the 7 things in the chorus because she never separates the ideas into 7 thoughts, and rambles on with commas for certain reasons, ultimately ending with hating/liking that he makes her love him.

Okay, stop for a second, we've got a breakup song between Miley Cyrus and one of the Jonas Brothers, both Disney stars...but that seems strangely familiar. Oh wait, this is pretty much exactly what happened between ex-Mouseketeers Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake around the release of his song "Cry Me A River." Two pop stars, one relationship, one breakup, one breakup song.

So why am I relating these two things? Well for one it allows me to bemoan the decline in music quality over the past six years. "Cry Me A River" is a Timbaland-produced piece of revenge-pop genius with great lyrics and singing from Timberlake (and god damn is that video amazing), while "7 Things" only has catchiness going for it, not danceability or improved re-listening (but honestly what song of hers would actually benefit from multiple listens?). I also see it as a shift towards trying to make meaningless childhood relationships more adult.

Now I really disagree with the conservative viewpoint that movies like Juno and Jaime Lynn Spears giving birth are exposing the possibility of pregnancy and the supposed "dangers" of adult life to an audience too young to view them, but that this kind of dumbed-down similarity emerging in a celebrity "relationship" at 15 instead of 20 just seems odd.

Cyrus' chief audience is even younger than her, what do they know about these kinds of relationships? With Cyrus and Jonas being even younger and more religious, the sex has essentially been driven out of the equation. With Spears and Timberlake there were lyrical allegations of cheating committed by Spears, as well as the question over how virginal she actually was. I don't think that question emerges for Cyrus, despite the photo scandals she's had, and it seems to me that in this bizarre progression of pop stars of younger ages mirroring older more complex relationships, the "adult" topic of sex is being completely left out and kids aren't understanding fully what comes along with something that complicated.

It's a stretch, I know, but when the lines started connecting between Cyrus/Jonas and Spears/Timberlake I just sort of let my mind wander on the topics, and these are my thoughts. Yeah, I've actually written a serious response to a ridiculous music trend, but this is the way the money is going, so we have to pay attention to it, at least to bemoan how terrible it is that people actually pay to listen to these CDs, get tickets to these concerts, pay for a ticket to the movie version of the concert, then buy the DVD of the filmed concert as well as the TV season DVDs. If you can name anything else in music making that kind of revenue, I'll start focusing on them.

A Belated Happy Birthday, and a Happy 100th Post!

2008-07-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

On July 27th Wildcat Wire officially turned 1 year old. I waited a little bit to post about it simply because I was pretty close to 100 posts on this blog as well, so now I'm giving myself a little pat on the back for both at the same time. I guess that means I won't post twice about them, which means I'll get in one extra useful post for anyone who reads this site.

I've got a few little birthday-related presents: the classic Beatles tune, the new birthday classic by Bright Eyes, and Patton Oswalt (the voice of Remy from Ratatouille) doing my favorite bit of his about celebrating birthdays.

The Beatles - Birthday
Bright Eyes - Happy Birthday To Me (Feb. 15th)
Patton Oswalt - You Are Allowed 20 Birthday Parties

For those of you statistically inclined, that my 100th post comes at the 1 year mark means I posted once every 3.65 days, or just under twice a week. I'm going to try and make it up to somewhere between 3 and 4 posts a week during the coming year, and hopefully during winter quarter I won't slack off like this year.

I Am a Vines Apologist

2008-07-29T19:32:00.001-07:00

The garage rock revival between 2000 and 2002 is inevitably linked with The Invasion of The "The's" - meaning four bands that all garnered noteriety with albums released in a short span of about a year: The Hives' Veni Vidi Vicious, The Strokes' Is This It?, The White Stripes' White Blood Cells, and The Vines Highly Evolved. People that followed the bands know their respective trajectories.

The Strokes survived the media hype to their debut, even mocking it in the title, then were criticized horrifically (and a little harshly in my opinon) for their subsequent two records. Room on Fire was an absolutely fantastic album, and the line associated with it that stuck with me came from the RollingStone review of their third album First Impressions of Earth. Rob Sheffield wrote:

"Really, this could be the excessive, erratic second album Room On Fire wasn't; if you switched the order of the two albums, Room On Fire would undoubtedly get hailed as their return to form."

Despite my puzzlement at the reception to that album, The Strokes decided to experiment on their third album, and have since been on a hiatus as Albert Hammond Jr. pretends he can have a solo career.

The White Stripes pulled the masterpiece album Elephant out of a recording session that lasted something like two weeks on equipment that predated the Beatles, and then promptly abandoned garage rock in favor of Tennessee blues and other excesses. I still say Elephant is their best album by far, and I even prefer White Blood Cells to any of the stuff since 2003.

The Hives have indulged themselves in crazier production on songs like "Diabolic Scheme" off of Tyrannosaurus Hives. They moved away from straight ahead garage rock and even worked with The Neptunes and Timbaland in recording sessions for their third album.

The Vines, straight out of Australia, were different from the other three, and have had without a doubt the least successful career. However, I still really enjoy their music. Highly Evolved was a legitimately sweet album, but frontman Craig Nicholls got one too many Kurt Cobain comparisons from the British press. Sure he had the yelling and rambunctious, destructive stage presence down, and he did the soft-loud-soft song structure, but his music never really matched Nirvana. The Vines seemed much more akin to a garage rock Beach Boys, what with all the lush acoustic styling on songs like "Winning Days" and "Sun Child."

The band released their second album Winning Days to little acclaim and less popularity despite some really solid songs. The problem was that most of the tracks were rejects from the recording sessions of their debut album, because the cracks around Nicholls' psyche were already starting to show. During the tour for that album, their bassist left the band after Nicholls blew up in the middle of a concert. What followed was an extended hiatus for the band and a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome for Nicholls. The band seemed finished with a career that showed promise and then burned up in the way most critics thought would've happened to The Strokes instead.

Nicholls was always full of energy and a simplistic rock songwriting skill. The videos the band made prove that, as he was always bouncing around to the simplest of rock chord progressions that he twisted and turned slightly to get as many songs as he could out of them. Some would call that repetitive, others would call it lazy; I saw it a genuine love for music and wanting to just keep writing songs.

Most people didn't pay attention when Nicholls recovered and reformed the band with the two remaining members, releasing Vision Valley with a simple, black and white cover and a return to simple straightforward songs, as well as some pretty nice videos.

The released their fourth album, Melodia, about two weeks ago, and I still enjoy their music. They are the only one out of the four big garage rock class of 2001 to still be doing pretty much what they were doing when they started out. I'm totally okay with that, because every now and again all I want are some simple rock riffs, and Craig Nicholls delivers those in spades. Sure he's not a complete genius, and certainly not the next Kurt Cobain, but I'm really glad he's healthy and back making music.

So, in honor of The Vines, I'm posting a Muxtape of some of my favorite Vines songs. Take a listen and see what the perennially fourth ranked band has to offer. Maybe you'll find 2:30 of enjoyment out of a single song, that'd be good enough for me.

The Essential Vines Muxtape

No Doubt: Katy Perry Makes Gay-Bashing Music

2008-07-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

UPDATED 7/30

There are a lot of songs that have the possibility of being the "song of the summer" every year. All debates aside, the unfortunate song of the summer is "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. A former gospel singer-turned pop star, she's hit pop radio with Miley Cyrus type manufactured pop for the college crowd.

However, whereas most of these summer songs (barring "Crazy" - that was a piece of genius) are simply throwaway entertainment, Perry's music is actually culturally damaging. Perry has had two big hits with "I Kissed a Girl" and "UR So Gay" - both songs dealing with sexuality. The former is (obviously) about a girl that kisses another girl and "likes it," doesn't apologize for it, and wonders if her boyfriend will "mind it." The latter in an insult song, where Perry demoralizes a skinny white boyfriend who dresses effeminitely and tries really hard to be "indie."

The problems with these songs are pretty obvious. First off, they hammer home the already ingrained stereotype that girls kissing girls is compeltely okay, but guys even being slightly gay is completely shunned. Second, Perry uses the word "gay" in the exact way that makes it a complete insult, the very same usage the gay community has been fighting against for years. The line "you're so gay and you don't even like boys" makes the word an insult, and that usage in a mainstream song that has become a hit is frightening. It's the sexuality equivalent to saying "you're such a (n-word) and you aren't even black" or "you're such a (k-word) and you aren't even Jewish." They'd take offense to that, and so should the gay community. Third, the inculsion of irony in her songs is irrelevant. She doesn't sound like she's using the words or themes ironically at all, the inflection isn't there in her voice. She's a pop singer, not Radiohead.

UPDATE: I'm going to go ahead and clarify that analogy. Radiohead makes Hail To The Theif with a bunch of song titles and lyrics that seem like the dystopian future 1984, and pretty much everyone knows they're talking about how our situation now has become a lot like that. "Sit Down, Stand Up" is basically corporate subliminal messaging trying to control everyone's actions - only in song. However, we all understand that Radiohead uses these messages to show us how wrong they are and how wrong the world is. This isn't the case with Perry. There is no understanding that she is saying something deeper and make commentary, trying to say something about the usage of the word "gay." She simply uses it to mean "stupid" and tries to be funny, and the only people laughing are those who don't see the idiocy of it.

Some reviewers of her tracks have said that she's using the word allegorically, I guess somehow in the same way Stephen Colbert adopts a Republican character for his show and is really mocking Republican viewpoints and media figures, but I don't buy it.

There's no wink to Perry's performance, no suggestion that she may be kidding. It's very straightforward, easy-to-digest bubblegum pop, but with a terrible side effect of enforcing gay and lesbian stereotypes.

I'm honestly still surprised this music is still on the airwarves unchecked, and even more surprised someone in this day and age would conceive of a song so idiotic as "UR So Gay." I sincerely hope that the popularity of these songs don't lead her to making more music like this, because it's really just sad. It's offensive to the LGBT community, and it's really the first time I've been angry about something like this in a while. Perry's music isn't innocuous summer pop, it actually could do some harm.

Zack De La Rocha and the Unnecessary Moniker Hiding His Solo Debut

2008-07-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

I love Rage Against the Machine. They are one of the few bands I can just put all of my hate, anger, passion, frustration, and any kind of negative energy into and feel completely better afterwards. However, while I agree with a ton of what lead singer Zack De La Rocha speaks, sings, and screams in their songs, I've always found him a little too political.

No offense, I just turn to music more for escapism, not to see more of the shitty world I'm trying to distract myself from. I know that's kind of the point, especially in "Wake Up" where De La Rocha literally screams the title at the listener over and over again, but it's just my preference in music. I pay attention to what's going on, and I do what I can; I just get turned off at very interspersed moments during their songs due to De La Rocha.

After years of delays, Zack De La Rocha has finally put out a solo effort. After the breakup of RATM, he recorded two albums worth of material with collaborators like ?uestlove, DJ Shadow, and Trent Reznor, which never saw the light of day. Now he returns with ex-Mars Volta (don't even get me started on this band, I just have never, ever liked anything they've ever done, just my personal preference) drummer Jon Theodore to become One Day As a Lion; they released a self-titled EP last week. The name is a reference to a photo of a piece of graffiti art featuring the phrase "it is better to live one day as a lion, than to live a thousand years as a lamb." Sounds like De La Rocha's back to his old tricks.

One Day As a Lion - Wild International

The EP sounds like a combination of De La Rocha's work for Rage and the organ parts of songs by Wolfmother, and I mean that in a completely complimentary way. De La Rocha plays keyboards on the EP, and it suits his delivery to just have the 'boards and Theodore's drums blasting away behind him.

De La Rocha has always been more about the message than the music. Hell, he was disappointed if his albums didn't inspire radical political change, leading to his departure from Rage. I just wonder whether he'll actually stick with this project, move onto a solo one, or fulfill the once-furiously growing rumors of a new RATM album.

I doubt Tom Morello & co. will settle down from they're touring to make another record, but for those hungry for a little new taste of what the old Rage used to do so wonderfully, One Day As a Lion is there to fill the fix for the time being.

The Dark Knight: Not a Review, Just Reactions (Obvious Spoiler Alert)

2008-07-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

The best thing that I can say about The Dark Knight is that I am still thinking about it. With most films there is a separation for me after a few hours, or possibly a night's sleep. There are some films that stay with you the next day, and those are good films. I haven't had I saw in a theatre stay with me for a week since Pan's Labyrinth, and that puts TDK in good company in my mind. I might go so far as to say that TDK is one of the three best films I've ever seen in a theatre. Most of my favorite films I've only ever gotten to see on DVD, but this was one of the most enthralling theatrical experiences I've ever had. That I am still currently thinking about the film, how it works, what I liked, why I liked the things I did, is a testament (at least in my mind) to the quality of the film. It was engaging enough to occupy my mind for this long.

In the days leading up to and since its release, what has most affected me sadly had almost nothing to do with the film at all. It was the pre-and-post release backlash against the film. I have a couple sort-of-friends that I knew would hate the film, not for distaste in the genre, characters, actors, director, or anything within the film, but because it was so widely enjoyed by so many people. They're the same sort of people who love a band when they're "indie" and starving, but turn their backs on them the minute they produce something other people want to listen to and commit the unforgivable sin of "being profitable." I've got an essay on backlash tickling the back of my brain, but I'll wait to bring out my disgust for the backlash machine at a later date.

I essentially have nothing but positive things to say about TDK. Many simple, straightforward questions have been asked about the film, either by reviewers or by the viewing public.

Is it the greatest comic book/super hero film of all time? Perhaps. Without a doubt it deserves placement in the Mt. Olympus that holds Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles, and to me it rises to the top spot. Again, I have another post in my mind about how I would rank comic book movies, so my thoughts here are a bit reserved. I place TDK at the top because I feel that I'm watching a film that doesn't simply desire to be a great "comic book" film, but simply a great film. Spider-Man 2 gives us what we want for Peter Parker in his relationship with Mary Jane Watson, but the supreme theatricality of it all hold the film squarely within its genre. The Incredibles obliquely deals with commentary on the idea of heroes in a real world, but stays within the confines of a family film. They are both superb films, and I loved them both, but there was just something different about TDK, something real.

Until now, the first two Spider-Man films had been both the greatest in terms of box-office/pop cultural importance and comic book quality, but TDK has essentially changed that in one week of release. Back in 2002, Spider-Man changed everything. It was the first film to rake in over $100 million in one weekend, and became a cultural phenomenon. Two years later Spider-Man 2 became the yardstick with which all other super hero films were measured. Now in 2008, TDK has managed to loop another large audience together, with young and old, men and women all putting down their cash to see it in theatres. Will it make over $400 million like the original Spider-Man? Maybe not, but becoming the fastest film to reach $200 million while being the 2nd best reviewed wide release of the year (currently sitting at 95% over on RottenTomatoes) signifies its knocking off both Spidey films from the top of cultural importance and comic quality categories.

Is it deserving of its IMDB rating? The comparisons to The Godfather Part II? Lots of people have used the phase "transcend the genre" in reference to the film, and I would agree that TDK is not just a comic book film, but rather a crime drama. I think the Godfather comparisons are a little dramatic, this isn't a family drama with the historical thread with double-helix plots featuring Vito & Michael. No, the comparison I feel the most comfortable with is Heat, and to be honest I think TDK is a better, more satisfying film than Mann's crime epic. I think the Joker/Batman face-offs (especially in the interrogation room) serve as better payoffs than the one diner scene between De Niro and Pacino, but that's all conjecture. One thinks that the IMDB rating will come down eventually. Return of the King is the only other film to rocket to near the top of the IMDB top 250, and the Godfather hadn't really ever been significantly topped. I guess more people have problems with the films below the top spot that are now surpassed by TDK but with many more votes coming in (and undoubtedly a 1/10 voting campaign from the purveyors of backlash) the film will probably come to rest in the top 20 along with Return of the King and City of God as one of the most well-liked films of the decade. Comparisons aside, I really do believe that this was the first film in the super hero genre to break away from the conventions of its genre and truly embody others. TDH is a completely plausible crime drama that just happens to have its major hero in a batsuit and its major villain in clown makeup.

Which brings me to my next topic: the main hero. I've heard people say that this Batman film was missing Batman. I disagree, you see plenty of Batman, and he's the major fighter against the things that go bump in the night, that hasn't changed. What did was the inner conflict about his parents' death, that's what was missing. That was replaced by guilt Batman feels at those killed by him not succumbing to the Joker's demands of removing his mask. TDK really plays like an unevenly balanced ensemble piece. I still think that Batman is the main character, and the Joker is obviously the main villain, but what makes it so much more complicated are the ways in which the characters are all connected. Take a look:

Batman/Bruce Wayne - Joker - Harvey Dent/Two Face
Batman/Bruce Wayne - Lt./Commissioner James Gordon - Harvey Dent/Two Face
Batman/Bruce Wayne - Rachel Dawes - Harvey Dent/Two Face
Batman/Bruce Wayne - Alfred - Rachel Dawes
Batman/Bruce Wayne - Alfred - Lucius Fox

There are tons of different little triangles being mad amongst the players, but Batman, or Bruce, is always a part of it, thus I believe him to be the main, central character. However, the title is the first in the franchise without the word "Batman," and I think that highlights the ensemble feel of the film. Every character gets at least one moment, from Lucius' retort to a blackmailing employee to Bruce Wayne "trying to catch the light" in his Lamborghini.

And I haven't even mentioned the actors yet. It's taken lots of time for me to come to terms with Heath Ledger's death, and I think that finally with the release of this film it will start to fully fade from my mind. It's the kind of performance that actors dream of having, and without a doubt it will be his most remembered. At his death Ledger was that gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain. His lasting image is forever changed, lost beneath a layer of white makeup and some red scars. I went into the theatre hoping for one last glimpse of the actor I had so admired, but Ledger was even too good for that. He fully and completely disappeared into the Joker, and anyone believing they saw any real bits of Ledger onscreen are dreaming. I don't think I've seen a villainous character so compelling since Hannibal Lecter. Nicholson's Joker was a mobster, played well in its adherence to the comics, but here Ledger delves so much deeper into the ideas of a villain.

The entire film really just go deeper. It isn't so much a true Batman film, and that will upset some people who really just want to see Batman straight out of his comic origins. But haven't we had enough different versions of the origins and emergences of Batmand and his rogue gallery that this fits in just as perfectly as another trade paperback?

I haven't even gotten into talking about Nolan, Bale, Eckhart, Oldman, the cinematography, IMAX scenes, or a number of other things, but I don't think I really have to. TDK is such an all-encompassing film that it lends itself to thought and discussion for hours, and to pick it apart down to the tiniest detail is like trying to analyze a square inch of a giant work of art like the Sistene Chapel (pardon the comparison, I don't think it's as culturally necessary as the Michelangelo classic fresco, but the size comparison works for me). Like I said, I'm still thinking about the film after a week, and I've got loads more that I could talk about, but I don't think its necessary to write it all here. I like that film necessitates discussion, and I've had multiple conversations over the course of the week with a huge range of people about different parts of it, and I always come away with a good feeling about the film. I'm not sure that I'd put it up with my favorite films of all time, and with only a week's distance I know its premature to talk about its quality, but I know I'd put it atop a list of comic movies and a list of super hero movies. I loved the film, and still haven't found anything to dissuade me from believing it to be great. It's not perfect; no film is, not even the classics, but in the end we cherish the blemishes that humanize the best and our favorite films; it gives them character.

I'll be continuing to talk about the film for the rest of the summer, probably the year. I loved the film, and that I keep talking about it and thinking about it only continues to reassure me that it really was as good as I thought it was when I saw it flicker past me for the first time onscreen.

I Am a Batman & Robin Apologist

2008-07-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my little soundtrack nugget from the Watchmen trailer, I thought I'd kick off a new column with an apologist theme. My friend Krolik, who used to write Truth in a Bullet Fedora and has since moved on to bigger and better things, frequently uses the word to refer to a person, album, film, television show, or other piece of pop culture that one recognizes is not valuable but still cherishes anyways.

I feel that way about Joel Schumacher's gigantic flop Batman & Robin. Now, Batman is by far my favorite superhero, and even my favorite comic character ever (surpassing Calvin, Hobbes, and Jeremy from Zits). I've seen all the movies, I've read The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, and The Killing Joke, and I love all the Batman I can get. On a list of the movies from best to worst, this 1997 disaster is a distant last to any other Batman film. That being said, I'm still fascinated by it for a number of reasons, and will watch it whenever it is on television for as long as I can:

1. George Clooney is without a doubt in my mind the best Bruce Wayne the series has ever had. Why? Because he fucking is Bruce Wayne the playboy in real life. He may not have all the inner conflict that Wayne holds inside behind closed doors, but to watch Christian Bale pretend he was trying to catch a red light or pretend to drunkenly harass a party full of his parents old friends is to see how Clooney can just be natural and pull it off while looking as though he's not even trying.

Yes, Clooney was an awful Dark Knight, and those nipples are infamously terrible and are the focal point for the demise of the series in the late 90s, but don't ever try telling me there was no reason to cast George Clooney in that role.

2. Alicia Silverstone is the biggest celebrity to have grown up in my hometown in California, and there is a certain mythos associated with her to all of us. She babysat two of my classmates from middle school when they were infants, and I had teachers that had her in their classes. It's very comforting to me as a film lover to be able to pinpoint the beginning and end of an actress' career, especially one you have a phantom association with, and Alicia Silverstone is just such a star. Her career truly began with Clueless (I'm not counting The Crush or the Aerosmith videos), and it crashed and burned with her turn as Batgirl in this film. She wasn't just bad as Alfred's niece, she was colossally terrible, and her presence shifted the romantic focus away from Bruce Wayne's playboy status to seeing him try and set Robin up with Batgirl, which made absolutely no sense. Even still, I get a kick out of watching that motorcycle race scene through all the day-glo paint, which again makes absolutely no sense. No self respecting graffiti artist would ever do that, nor would any city planner design streets or buildings the way Schumacher's Gotham City is set up, but that's the beauty of this awful movie. It's a fantastic unintentional comedy.

3. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not meant to play serious dramatic roles. Hell, he wasn't meant to have roles with speaking parts. It's a little weird that he was cast considering the other actors in the running in Schumacher's mind: Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, and the not so odd Hulk Hogan and Sylvester Stallone. What failed in this movie wasn't really Schwarzenegger's acting so much as the writing of Mr. Freeze. He has so many terrible ice puns ("Chill out!" and "Ice to meet you!" are horrific examples) in this film I sometimes wonder whether or not he simply got turned into a punning version of the Riddler, which leads me to...

4. Batman & Robin is one of the worst scripts I've ever seen. It's chock-full of awful jokes, some even in rapid succession one after the other. It doesn't try to hide that Bruce Wayne is Batman, tells everything and forgets to actually show anything, has no compelling villains despite devoting tons of screen time to Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze. It kills Bane as a character by making him a meathead instead of the intelligent character he actually is, and just about all around ruins the entire Batman universe in the span of about 100 pages. How then, can I apologize for this abomination? Because of screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, that's how.

Goldsman is one of those screenwriters that you think you remember, but you really don't. You think you remember what he's done, but it takes a check on IMDB to really be sure. The single reason I remember Goldsman is because in my mind he is perhaps the best example of a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde existing in screenwriting. Obviously Batman & Robin is his Mr. Hyde, but what of his Dr. Jekyll? Is it Batman Forever? The Da Vinci Code?I Am Legend?

No, Goldsman is in fact an Oscar winner for his screenplay A Beautiful Mind. That's right, the man who wrote the worst pun-laden comic book movie of all time also wrote John Nash's bioptic for Ron Howard.

Those four reasons are enough pop idiocy to fascinate me while watching this film, and that is why I am a Batman & Robin apologist. Thank you.

That Amazing Watchmen Trailer

2008-07-23T00:32:00.000-07:00

Everyone who saw The Dark Knight over the weekend, and most of the losers that didn't, have seen the new trailer for Zak Snyder's film adaptation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel Watchmen.

The trailer is edited fantastically, and in comparison to how crappy the trailer for Frank Miller's The Spirit looked, I'd say I dug this trailer just about as much as I did for the first Dark Knight trailer.

However, there's one part about it that doesn't sit quite right with me. The song that provides the trailer with that just-right tone of foreboding and awe is eerily familiar. It's a track by Smashing Pumpkins called "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning", and in the days since the trailer's release it has jumped up to be SP's top selling song on iTunes, as well as entering the Top 20 downloads in all of iTunes. But why is it so familiar, you ask?

Smashing Pumpkins - "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning"

I know exactly where this song is from, and I knew it from the second the track began to play around the trailer in the theatre while I was waiting for The Dark Knight. Even though I'm ashamed to know this, the song was originally on the soundtrack to undoubtedly the worst film in the Batman series, Batman and Robin.

I find it ironic that this particular song was chosen for the big trailer attached to the new Batman film, and some part of me thinks it's a bit of an in-joke. Even still, the song is awesome, it just conjures up bad memories of a complete failure of a movie.

An Apology for Absence

2008-07-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hey there. Over the past two months I've taken somewhat of a summer vacation from writing. I think the end of my freshman year at Northwestern combined with starting an internship at the local CBS news affiliate in San Francisco had made my life busy enough, so I just didn't have any time to put in writing here.

Now though, it's almost the 1 year anniversary of me starting this site, so I want to get back in the swing of things. I work every day, but I'll do my best to have posts up 3 times a week starting today. I've been thinking a lot about the recent music/movies, as well as following the lead up to the Olympics and the summer transfer season in European soccer.

Hopefully I'll get around to writing:
-my reactions to both WALL-E and The Dark Knight
-my ongoing thoughts about Watchmen and Alan Moore
-A new specialty column entitled "I Am A(n) ______ Apologist" in which I examine the merits of detestable items of media
-recaps of the new music to come out, especially Pitchfork's idiotic review of the debut album from Black Kids
-my thoughts on basketball, the men's 100m dash, swimming, gymnastics, and soccer at the Olympics, as well as my reaction to China as a host
-Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Ronaldhino, and more transfer rumors than you can shake a stick at in European club soccer

I'll get around to putting up a post sometime tomorrow. For now, it feels good just to be thinking about this stuff again.

Catching Up At the End

2008-06-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Most of my friends are home from their freshman year of college, but since I'm on quarters at Northwestern I'll be in Evanston for another couple of weeks. That being said, spring quarter has been fucking incredible, and I figured since I hadn't written in a while I'd update you on a few things that went down.

Saturday was Dillo Day, short for Armadillo Day. Thirty odd years ago some students from Texas got together to celebrate the Armadillo for some reason, and since it coincided with a Mayfest celebration, we now combine the two in a big concert out by Lake Michigan called Dillo Day. It is essentially the one day where the entire campus heaves a collective sigh, puts everything down and just tries to have as much fun as they can, which is awesome. This year's acts were Mind at Large (a local band), DJs Will Butler (of Arcade Fire, an NU grad), Flosstradamus, and Clash Gordon (a senior in one of NU's fraternities), Chicago rappers Cool Kids, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Broken Social Scene, Third Eye Blind, and Common.

The weather was gorgeous. It was in the 70s all day, partly cloudy in a way that made the sky look great. However, the field where the concerts were all held had recently been re-sodded, and the patches of grass had not yet grown together. This mean that within the first 30 minutes of the show the entire field in front of the stage had been turned into a mud pit, which people didn't care about over the course of the day.

Third Eye Blind was up first, coming on an hour late. They gave a very good set though, playing 70 plus minutes of old favorites ("Jumper", "Semi-Charmed Life", "How's It Going To Be") with new material, and playing songs from the fourth album they will be recording soon. My only complaint was that frontman Stephan Jenkins took each and every calm moment to plug that forthcoming fourth album, when he only recently finished lyrics and they haven't started recording any music yet.

Will Butler spun pretty nicely as a DJ, and Ted Leo did his usual political rock thing. The College Democrats on campus helped in brining Leo to Dillo Day, so there was a little bit of an agenda behind it.

Flosstradamus turned out to be the secret weapon of the day, and they put on some of the best remix/mashup tracks I've ever heard. We had Girl Talk on campus earlier in the year, and I'd put up good money that Flosstradamus played better shit than Girl Talk did back in winter quarter.

Broken Social Scene played a great set, they're really expansive and fill up any space they get, but their frontman was a total dick to the crowd for pretty much no reason. When I first saw these guys, I was waiting for Bloc Party to get up and headline, so I actually really didn't like their set, but here with a little less craziness and fewer members onstage, I really got into it.

Cool Kids were all right, I wasn't really paying attention to them very much, but Common was a whole other beast. I had no expectation of his set going in, because I just plain don't like rap music. There is very very little of rap that I actually enjoy, so to see Common come out with really high energy and just bust out with layered songs geared towards Chicago, Evanston, and Northwestern immediately got the crowd into it and made things so much cooler. He even freestyled for a bit, a video of which you can see here:

He name-drops a bunch of places at NU, like FlatTop, the Rock, the dorm Bobb, the Lake, just a bunch of shit that made people really like his set and get into it more. He was definitely a surprise for me to like, so all in all it was a fantastic Dillo Day. Here's hoping it doesn't rain next year, that would suck.

NUws Episode VII

2008-05-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here's the 7th episode of NUws, check it out.

Part I

Part II

NUws Episode VI

2008-05-16T00:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the fastest-edited episode of NUws yet. Check it out?

Part 1

Part 2

NUws Episode V

2008-05-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here's last week's episode of NUws. The newest one will be up shortly.

Part 1

Part 2

Review: Narrow Stairs

2008-05-13T00:51:00.000-07:00

This review originally appears on North by Northwestern

Let’s start with the monster. “I Will Possess Your Heart,” the lead single of Death Cab for Cutie’s new album, is nothing short of mammoth. Following in the footsteps of great long tracks by Yo La Tengo and Built to Spill, it starts slow, small and simple, and builds in a seemingly endless fashion before revealing front man Ben Gibbard’s vocals, alone in the spotlight as he inhabits the mind of a stalker unwilling to let the love of his life go. It is chilling in its build, its reveal, its march down from the zenith. In a stretch of eight-and-a-half minutes, Death Cab has found its artistic drive again.

When the band made the leap to a major label after success on The O.C. and prominence as Seth Cohen’s favorite band, they stumbled slightly with their 2005 release Plans, though they achieved hits in “Soul Meets Body” and “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” Something was off: The bigger budget hadn’t given rise to a new approach or a growing sound. The band just put their normal sounds to tape. No artistic risk, no artistic reward. Three years later, they’ve emerged from a difficult and diverse studio experience with an album that propels them off a creative cliff.

Narrow Stairs is not a happy record by any stretch of the imagination, filled to the brim with dark lyrics and darker characters. Even the most upbeat track, “No Sunlight,” declares an absence of light and optimism. On Plans, the band sounded completely clean; all of their parts were fully polished and easily digested. Narrow Stairs sees the band’s music careening around, letting the echoes of their instruments hang in the air. It is a grittier, dirtier record that sounds as though it has taken a few punches.

Gibbard has always had a knack for heavy-handed, overly dreamy lyrics (see “Marching Bands of Manhattan” or “Crooked Teeth”), but here he mostly remains grounded, forming a wide range of dark characters. He shifts through a strong-headed stalker, a friend of a broken-hearted woman (“Your New Twin Sized Bed”), and a man watching a woman marry the wrong guy (“Cath…”). All of these narrators are anonymous, but Gibbard finds a way to once again develop characters in the way he used to have mastered (see “Styrofoam Plates”).

The sequence of the record is not unlike the trajectory of the sound in that mammoth second track, “I Will Possess Your Heart.” The first four songs bleed into each other fantastically, but then in “Talking Bird” and “You Can Do Better Than Me” the band gets a little bored, even while Gibbard’s lyrics delve deep. It helps that those two tracks are two of the shortest on the album, as they head into a five-track closing sequence that ends the record on just as high of a creative note as it started.

Even with those few blemishes, the album is held together by its travel down a darker path, one that the band previously seemed content to stare at, unable to walk down. They suffered from stagnation on their previous few releases, but here they’ve regained momentum. Perhaps it was a critical backlash against Gibbard’s voice or the band’s inevitable super-saturation in pop culture with their previous hits, but something made these men focus. Hard. It’s certainly paid off, with an almost spotless record that eases Death Cab out of their comfort zone. Hopefully they’ll continue down this more dangerous road, because adventurous music is so much better than the same sounds over and over, and on Narrow Stairs Death Cab have finally embraced that fact.

NUws Episode IV

2008-05-09T09:51:00.001-07:00

Here's the fourth episode of NUws...take a look.

Part I

Part II

NUws Episode III

2008-04-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the third episode of my web show NUws. Enjoy.

Part 1

Part 2

Bringing Back the Genesis Days

2008-04-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about working on becoming a DJ. I really like clubs, and dancing, and putting on music that people have fun dancing to.

The problem is, my particular taste in music, especially the music I actually buy, is pretty far from what most people would call "danceable," so in addition to looking into equipment I've been trying to find more danceable music. I did this once during high school, searching endlessly for mashups, but now I've been tracking down remixes or just interesting tracks, and today I hit upon something truly extraordinary.

The RAC (Remix Artist Collective) is a loosely banded group of separate remix artists (who would've thought?) that have just put out the Nintendo VS Sega EP, a four-track EP using audio samples from Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It's some pretty awesome stuff, and they make high quality tracks. My favorite is the last song, which takes a sample from one of my favorite parts of the Sonic games.

RAC - Sonic: Spring Yard Zone (RAC Maury Remix)

Take a listen and remember the days you wasted playing on a Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, or any old game system. I may starting posting a remix of the day or something when I've got the time, so be on the lookout for that.

Bring on the NUws

2008-04-23T01:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some links to the second episode of my collaborative new web show NUws. We discuss some new happenings on campus, make picks for the NBA playoffs, and play a new game in the second segment before hitting the Malleo Wrap-Up. Enjoy.

Part 1

Part 2

I'm sorry, I thought I already saw that one...

2008-04-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

I just saw the trailer for the newest John Cusack movie War Inc. on Apple Trailers.

The plot features John Cusack playing a hit man who has to disguise himself as he poses as a trade show producer in Turaqistan.

Now correct me if I'm wrong...but wasn't that pretty much the premise behind Grosse Point Blank? This one even has Dan Aykroyd and Joan Cusak from that film, just transported into a much more convoluted plot involving a corporate invasion of a war-torn pseudo-Middle-Eastern country, a trade show, and apparently Hilary Duff doing the worst accent this side of The Lizzie McGuire Movie.

Now, I'm a big fan of the Cusacks, and John is one of my all-time favorite actors, but I absolutely hate retread plots. We've had enough of the Iraq war satires for a little while, and this one is recycling plots and jokes from all over the place. I'm sure it's got a bit of good somewhere buried inside it, but the first trailer just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

More Awesome Concert News

2008-04-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Stars played a free concert on the lawn behind the student center at NU. They were booked by our student organization combating human trafficking called OneVoice. It was a great find by a student group, and the indie bands visiting this Evanston campus are only increasing, with the news that NiteSkool is bringing Headlights to the Louis Room in May.

Headlights - TV

I'm really excited that we're getting a lot of niche or lesser-known bands on campus, even if they've been blogged about endlessly for years among the hipster community. I could care less whether NU is two years late to the party on Headlights or however many years on Stars, just bringing them to campus shows that groups are turning towards smaller acts instead of relying on big name corporate acts to increase ticket sales and satisfy the diverse music tastes of the whole student body.

Stars - Elevator Love Letter

Our biggest concert event of the year is Dillo Day, which happens at the end of May every year. Normally it's some bigger acts, and this year is no exception, with the announcement that Chicago-born rapper Common is the headliner. I don't really know a lot about his music, but with rumors circulating that Ted Leo & the Pharmacists could be playing does a lot to ease my misgivings about the day descending into an entire lineup I don't particularly enjoy. We'll see what happens, for now enjoy a couple quality tunes, even though they're a bit outdated.

Reading the NUws

2008-04-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

A week ago I started recording a Crossfire and PTI inspired news show with one of my friends at NU. We talk about sports, movies, and Northwestern campus news. Check it out on YouTube here, or check out a video below. And yes, that song is from Major League.

Episode 1 Part 1

Episode 1 Part 2

Catching Up on Unfinished Business: Winter Quarter Music Roundup

2008-04-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, time really does fly, especially for a new college student. I just finished the final week of my pledge process, and I'm now a full member of my fraternity, which is pretty great. The end of winter quarter, spring break, and now the start of spring quarter has gone by incredibly quickly. I've got two English classes and two Film classes now, which is awesome, so I'm really looking forward to the next couple months.

I never really did a round-up of the music I've been listening to lately, so here's a last-ditch attempt.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Cold Son
When I first listened to the Pavement frontman's solo songs, I didn't really like them. This is the first Malkmus record I have really enjoyed. The songs are a little bit too long, stretching the ideas a bit thin, but a lot of them are still great.

Tokyo Police Club - Centennial
Tokyo Police Club's first full LP is pretty much my album of the year right now. In less than half an hour, the band bangs out solid track after solid track that leaves you wanting to immediately play the entire thing over again. I choose the first track only because I couldn't decide which of about 8 or 9 favorites to put up here.

Gnarls Barkley - Surprise
My favorite song off of there very strong but not spectacular sophomore effort. Danger Mouse's production is fantastic as always. He never fails at making me want to pick apart the background of a GB song.

Tapes N' Tapes - Hang Them All
I loved their debut, but Tapes were essentially last year's Vampire Weekend, a band hyped to the extreme on the internet that delivered a very good first album that just wasn't the second coming. Their sophomore effort Walk It Off is another solid effort, and "Hang Them All" is definitely the best song on the album to me.

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Despite the backlash due to the web hype for this young band of Columbia grads, this song clears the air for me and is a dreamlike few minutes to escape into sonic heaven. The keyboards over the end of the chorus make me feel like floating.

Nada Surf - Ice on the Wing
If Tokyo Police Club is my album of the year candidate, here's my very close #2. I was astounded at the quality of Lucky, Nada Surf's March release. It has great track pacing, and great energy that was really lacking from everything else I'd ever heard by them. Take a listen, because this is a wonderfully catchy track.

The Raveonettes - Blush
I never really listened to the Raveonettes before their newest album Lust Lust Lust, but I really like it. It has a certain spaced-out feel to it that I really liked when listening to bands like New Order, so they've become my go-to band for just reclining and listening to music.

So yeah, that's the music I was listening to for a lot of the past couple months. Give it a listen, and I'll be getting some more stuff up soon. Some new music, some summer movie previews, and some articles from my other job reviewing concerts and such.

Prom feels so long ago, but...

2008-04-09T23:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my senior prom went well. I got a date easily, dated the girl for a while, and it was a great time. It was even at the top of the coolest building in San Francisco. We all had a ton of fun, and I will always remember senior prom for its laid-back, seemingly unimportant feel; nothing like what I had been lead to believe the experience would be like.

However, what my senior class lacked was an extremely creative, romantic, outlandish prom proposal. That is where the current senior class at my high school comes in. From one of my best friends, who happens to be attending Northwestern next fall, I have heard countless stories of increasingly creative proposal from guys, ending in one final video on YouTube that left me speechless. What I present to you is quite possibly the funniest, silliest and at the same time classiest and cutest prom proposal idea I've ever seen, courtesy of a friend of mine at my old high school.

I'm still in shock. It's an amazingly gutsy performance, and good lord what great comedy. Major props man, I hope your senior prom is as rewarding as this video is for everyone that's ever known you.

The Death of Charlton Heston

2008-04-09T01:08:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure most of you know, Chalton Heston died a few days ago. This death in no way hit me as hard as Heath Ledger's did at the beginning of the year, and I've taken a few days to collect my thoughts on why I think that, and I believe I've found the reasons.

Charlton Heston made some fantastic movies in his career. Ben-Hur, Soylent Green, Touch of Evil, and Planet of the Apes are all classics, and Heston was great in those films. He was a great dramatic actor and action star, and for his time as a adult movie star in the 50s and 60s, but I doubt that a lot of people in my generation are away of anything other than Apes.

Instead, Heston's legacy to my generation, however unfortunately, is forever linked with this clip:

...as well as his small part in Michael Moore's 1999 gun violence documentary Bowling for Columbine(note Moore's creative editing at the end with the picture of the little girl, which caused major controversy over the truthfulness of his film):

Now, I really don't care what your stance is on gun control/ownership; what Heston did as the head of the NRA following the events at Columbine was nothing short of atrocious. Holding a pro-gun rally so close to an area that had just suffered severe tragedy involving guns on a scale we had never seen before was distasteful, and it soured Heston's career in the minds of my generation forever. Charlton Heston was a fantastic actor, but his legacy to the young minds of my generation will always be as the insensitive NRA leader that let his volatile politics guide him away from the field he belonged. Much in the same way that Sean Penn's zealous advocacy has lead to some unpopularity for him as an uber-liberal, so did Heston's pro-gun stance cause him some harm as a conservative.

I still think Heston's films are great, but like many in my generation I believe I will never be able to disassociate the man in those films from the NRA leader that caused the Denver area so much pain with a meaningless rally.

Album Review: Volume One

2008-03-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

This review appears on North By Northwestern

It’s an indie-kid’s wet dream: Doe-eyed actress Zooey Deschanel showing off the pipes she gave the world a preview of in Elf on an entire album in collaboration with guitarist M. Ward with a grammatically incorrect group dubbed She & Him. That has to be the album pitch equivalent of the now infamous six word movie pitch for Will Ferrell’s Taladega Nights: “Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver.” As with all heavily anticipated and internet-hyped indie albums, the duo’s debut Volume One is not pop perfection, but it delivers a confidant, filled out album of solid pop music.

Deschanel’s lyrics and delivery are simple and serene, and that fits her just fine. She’s not trying to cross over into the big time like Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton. She ‘s just an actress trying her turn at singing, and she makes the most of it.

Most of her movie roles have been as witty, romantic sidekicks, and the few leading turns she’s had in films like Winter Passing have all had a decidedly melancholy aspect to them. Her songs sound as though they could be on the soundtrack to a few of her films, and I mean that in the nicest way. They are short, simple, self-contained nuggets of pop melancholic romance. Tracks like “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” and “I Should Have Known Better” represent the album’s repetition of lovers who just can’t get past that one guy. You can almost see Deschanel staring at old pictures as she sings, conjuring up her memories of love as she laments loss. Even the brighter emotional moments like the 60s girl group doo-wopping of “I Was Made For You” are songs of trying to attain love, not being in it. The album’s three covers are all slowed down takes on the originals, keeping with the demure tone of the whole record.

Ward does a great job fleshing out the tracks as he always does as a producer/guitarist. Deschanel is front and center for the album, but Ward moves subtly into different moods, hitting a little country in some places, while getting a tinge of Hawaiian sound on others. His background vocals fill in at just the right places, and he really knows when to flesh out a track or just leave it as sparse as can be. The empty production of “You Really Got A Hold On Me” give the impression of the two of them on an empty stage, with one spotlight bathing the two of them in brightness, crooning away. The album almost seems effortless, with a deliberately slow tempo to it, as though the music simply flows out of Deschanel and Ward naturally.

That the album is named Volume One certainly gives off the idea that the two of them would like to continue their experiment of the actress and the troubadour, and with this accomplished first effort, that may not be such a bad idea. Deschanel proves herself to be not only competent, but entertaining and mysterious at the same time. Listening to her sing makes me want to hear her do more, wonder what else the two of them can accomplish. I’d be willing to listen to as many volumes as this newly minted duo want to send out into the world.

Is Death Cab Great Again?

2008-03-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

I'm totally fine admitting that I completely underestimated Death Cab For Cutie, and how weird I am for actually liking them. I despised the band for its incorporation into The OC and staunchly refused to even try listening to the band for years, until the first time I listened to "Death of an Interior Decorator" of off my little brother's copy of Transatlaticism and begrudgingly gave the band another shot, only to find that I love We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes and The Photo Album. I don't like the two most recent albums as much, but "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" has been my favorite song to play on a guitar for two years now.

DCFC's new album Narrow Stairs comes out in May, but the lead single "I Will Possess Your Heart" is out in two formats: the 8-plus minute album version, and the far inferior 4-minute single mix that's available on iTunes. It's an epic track in its own right, and the first real evidence that the band is done with its stagnation over the past two albums and is finally moving forward again. The way the instruments just fade out to reveal Ben Gibbard's voice and then re-enter the soundscape to fill out the track is just incredible. It's the best song I've heard from them in a long while.

Don't get me wrong, Transatlaticism and Plans are good albums with some great songs, but they were really very similar and narrow in scope. "I Will Posses Your Heart" sounds like the band is finally looking into the future, finally trying to grow as a band again, and that kind of development is always good news to me. Take a listen to the full-length version of the track, which features no vocals for the first haunting and expansive four minutes.

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart

Finally a Festival for me...

2008-03-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

I hate summer festival shows for the specific reason that I can never attend any of them. I used to go to BFD, a festival in Mountain View, CA. I went from 7th grade until my junior year of high school, and missed out on the tradition my senior year. I remember going specifically to see New Found Glory, one of my favorite bands in 7th grade, and I just kept going to the festival as an end-of-year habit. I did get introduced to Interpol, Death Cab For Cutie, and others at various festivals, and I got to see great sets by A.F.I., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and others over the years.

All the other festivals have been too far away or at unfortunate times. Coachella is too far south in CA, and now I live in Evanston, IL when it happens. Bonaroo and Lollapalooza are both when I'm back in CA for the summer, and Bamboozle and Bamboozle Left are too far away at at weird times. Last year San Francisco got its own festival with some of my favorite indie bands, the Treasure Island Music Fesitval, which was the weekend I left for college so I couldn't go.

Finally it has just been announced that the Bay Area is getting another summer festival: Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. This is just a Bay Area Festival, so we're probably going to get some lame, Bridge School Concert reject acts, right? WRONG, they landed just about the biggest band I've been waiting to see: Radiohead.

They've also got Tom Petty, Beck, Wilco, Ben Harper, Regina Spektor, and tiny little band Rupa & the April Fishes, who I saw back in September at a charity show for about thirty people. I'm about 90% sure that I'm going, because I desperately do not want to miss this chance to see Radiohead. I've been listening to a lot of their music lately, and I think I'm going to start trying to do retrospectives on bands, maybe starting with those boys from Oxfordshire.

Album Review: The Odd Couple

2008-03-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

This review was originally published on North By Northwestern

Every summer belongs to a song. In 2006 that song was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." Their debut album St. Elsewhere was a monument of originality, with rapper Cee-Lo delivering the most introspective lyrics of his career backed by DJ Danger Mouse's ever-psychedelic production. The mystique surrounding the duo increased as they always performed live or did photo shoots in costume, choosing never to appear as themselves but as caricatures. As with any hot, critically-acclaimed debut, expectations were unnaturally high for Gnarls' second album. Their sophomore effort The Odd Couple isn't a great leap forward for the duo, but it never really had to be as it delivers solid, far above average hip-hop.

Ever since Danger Mouse shook up the music world with The Grey Album, he's been providing amazing beats for anyone and everyone who wanted his help. His production on the second Gorillaz album Demon Days elevated the fake animated band out of being a kitschy retread, and he's never laid down a bad beat for Gnarls Barkley. He continues his amazing production on The Odd Couple with tracks like "No Time Soon" and lead single "Run." The latter has production value not unlike old songs on American Bandstand, and fittingly the video (featuring a cameo from a wigged Justin Timberlake) is a modern take on an American Bandstand live performance. His ability as a producer has always been an almost unthinkable number of sounds over each other, and not simply using them superfluously. Every little sprinkle in the background fills its place for a purpose; Danger Mouse paints tracks like a painting on canvas, filling every spot with paint to create a full landscape.

Cee-Lo's voice mixes well with the beats, except for his nasally whine on the album's one indisputable clunker "Whatever." Where Danger Mouse upped his game and kept the punchy beats coming, Cee-Lo delivers pretty much in the same way he did on Gnarl's debut, and there's no standout track here like "Crazy" was back in 2006. He's always been a better singer than a rapper, and the gospel-like quality of his wailing voice give the duos songs a nice tinge of James Brown to them. The sound here is much more muted than it was on their debut, with Cee-Lo crooning more instead of hitting swooping highs. The Odd Couple is an album to cruise to, not an album for a dance party.

The album title isn't really an accurate description of the duo or their music. Fat man/thin man duos have been around since black and white television, and have even made the transition into space with C-3PO and R2D2 in Star Wars, and Danger Mouse has coupled his beats with numerous different sources and proven they match up together well. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse have always sought to distance themselves from normality. They claim their name has nothing to do with Charles Barkley, never appear as themselves, and presume to be an odd couple. That they are unsatisfied with being normal is an admirable desire as musicians continually looking to better themselves and perfect their art, but at some point trying to say you're so much different from everyone else gets a little tired.

Gnarls Barkley are unlike any other hip-hop group, rapper, or producer making music today, but even they can't make a classic twice. The Odd Couple a great second record, it just isn't odd, groundbreaking, or eye-opening the way St. Elsewhere was for the industry. That isn't to say that The Odd Couple isn't solid, but somewhere down the line being original in the same way for too long could lead to a little too much monotony. Nobody wants to see that happen, so here's hoping the duo have a few more tricks up their sleeves for the next go-round.

Censoring Violence in Music?

2008-03-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

Be Your Own Pet was one of my favorite new discoveries back in 2006, and I've been waiting for their follow-up Get Awkward for over a year. The album just came out on iTunes, but inexplicably three tracks from the UK version have been deleted from the US release. The offending songs, "Black Hole" "Becky" and "Blow Yr Mind" were deemed to be "too violent for US release" by Universal records.

Excuse me, but have you been listening to rap lately? Or ever? The idea that Be Your Own Pet created songs too violent for American audiences is like giving a Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award to Dr. Dre or Snoop Dogg for Favorite Album in its ridiculousness. Eminem released songs about killing his own wife, and this is what gets removed from an album as too violent? This article on Sterogum goes a little more in-depth, but it's worth noting that both 50 Cent and Marilyn Manson are both artists signed to Universal. Neither of them had songs cut from albums due to violent content, only Jemima Pearl, lead singer for Be Your Own Pet was deemed too violent a lyricist.

Here are the offending songs to listen to and determine for yourself just how insane Universal Records was on this one. "Blow Yr Mind" isn't even a minute long, "Becky" is about an angry girl who's spiteful about the end of a friendship, and "Black Hole" just doesn't have offensive content. The band says that the songs will come out on a special EP during the summer, and that situation just makes me think Universal kept the songs off the record in an attempt to get more money for another release during the summer. Oh well, take a listen and see what you think.

Be Your Own Pet - Black Hole
Be Your Own Pet - Becky
Be Your Own Pet - Blow Yr Mind

On China, the Dalai Lama, and Beijing 2008

2008-03-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Chinese government lashed out at the Dalai Lama, saying he was trying to ruin the reputation of China ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics. This is basically the same thing they did when Steven Spielberg quit as artistic director of the games, and to be honest their comments are just immature. Basically they've resorted to name-calling and whining whenever someone mentions the horrible atrocities the government has committed.

Maybe I'm being a little sensitive, or a little ignorant of our own atrocities that we don't let anyone talk about, but what the hell is that government doing? This just makes the Chinese government look petty and stupid. First you take a shot at one of the biggest directors in the world b/c he won't plan you're opening ceremony, and then you try to cut down a Nobel Peace Prize winner? All they're doing is making themselves look even worse. Every time China complains that someone or some group is giving them bad publicity for the Olympics, they look like the bad ones and end up giving themselves a ton of bad press by looking like a bunch of ignorant idiots for not recognizing the horrible things they're doing.

The situation in Tibet hasn't been good ever since the Chinese takeover. I still think of a scene from Seven Years in Tibet when Chinese officials stomp into a Buddhist temple and swipe their feet all over a painstakingly beautiful sand design the monks had been drawing on the floor for days to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese whenever these problems arise, and can't believe that it's still going on. Tibet is of little political importance, why the hell does China need it? Are they trying to over-compensate that badly?

Clearly the biggest issue regarding China at the moment is their support for the Sudanese government through oil purchases, and the effect those ties have on the Darfur region. It's a total shame that China has yet to address these issues in any meaningful way, choosing only to publicly ridicule anyone who dares to question the authority of such a well-intentioned and nationally beneficial governing party. All it takes is one search of "Tiananmen Square" on Google, and subsequently Google.cn to show how much they actually address national problems.

The more I read about the Beijing games, the more I worry about it being Berlin all over again. These games are where China attempts to show the world that Communism (even though it's fake Communism using Capitalist policies and practices to fuel the economy) is viable and going strong for the entire country and should not be questioned by the rest of the world.

First of all, they're kicking out beggars, vagrants, and mentally ill citizens out of the city for the duration of the games. In addition, it is reported that around 1.5 million people are simply being displaced from their homes. This is absolute ludicrous.

On a slightly less serious note, the Chinese are potentially going to win the medal count this year, making the 2008 Beijing games the first Summer games the United States has not won the most medals at since the fall of the Berlin Wall and then end of the US/USSR battles at the Olympics.

The Olympics have always meant more than just international athletic competition to the governments of the participating nations. National pride, global reputation, and world dominance have always been in the shadows. There's a reason the Miracle on Ice meant so much; it was against the Soviets. The global political connotations of the Olympics haven't come into play since the Soviet Union disbanded.

In Greece in 2004, China specifically used inexperienced, younger athletes instead of the competitors that could have won them more medals at the games. That strategy was employed so that in Beijing this year, China would have athletes in their physical prime at the peak of their careers in their respective events...with Olympic experience. Put aside the documented athletic boarding schools that exist in China with the sole purpose of churning out little athletes who's only purpose is to demonstrate the superiority of the Chinese way of life, this is beyond coaching.

Everyone has a coach, except maybe tennis players, but a unified national platform to win the most medals at your Olympic games? Really? This should be about coming together as a global community, about international athletic competition. It should be about the athletes and their pride in competing for their home country, not about an entire nation defeating another, or a political system being better.

I've been very glad that I never had to see an Olympic boycott or a match of epic political proportions played out on a tiny scale the way lacrosse used to be played to the death in lieu of war, but the buildup to the Beijing Olympics is getting to be too much for me. I'll end up watching, but the Chinese government is using these games to sweep all of their dust under the rug and puff their chest out to the world with a smug grin on their face, and that's just wrong. It's against the spirit of the games; it makes what should be intense athletic competition between the greatest athletes in the world into a petty political tool.

There Will Be Bud

2008-03-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

The Academy Awards went off pretty well despite being the lowest rated year ever. Despite that, last year was a great one for films. The Best Picture category was full of fantastic films, and barring nominations for Norbit and Transformers didn't recognize terrible filmmaking for the most part.

My one problem is that the awards are turning into a ceremony that rewards its great filmmakers retroactively. The last two Best Picture and Director awards have gone to filmmakers that made better films in the past and seemed to be getting rewarded for their career achievements instead of their current films. Sure, Scorcese and the Coens are fantastic, but I would've rather seen them in the category of great directors never to win (like Kubrick, Hitchcock, Altman, etc.) than given a makeup Oscar.

The Oscars should reward original filmmaking that attempts to progress the art of cinema, instead of looking back into a rear view mirror. Yes, some films are able to take what has been made and perfect it (like No Country or Unforgiven, I would argue) but this year the most original and forward-thinking film was clearly There Will Be Blood. That film just has never been made before, and the emotion of Daniel Day-Lewis inhabiting Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson's masterful script was just incredible. In the future, I'd like to see this kind of filmmaking rewarded, instead of simply nominated and passed over for career recognition. It is possible for a director to amass a body of work that is staggering without making the standout film of any one year.

I'll end on a comedic note, sticking with There Will Be Blood. I enjoy film parodies, a lot, and this video I saw a few days ago has to be one of the best little trailers I've ever seen. It goes all-out to parody TWBB, check it out. My favorite is how they deal with the bowling alley during the milkshake/bong rip.

I've got finals this week, but then I'll return to posting a ton of new music...I've been busy getting some of this year's potential best albums.

Indie Rock A Cappella?

2008-03-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've already had my issues with collegiate a cappella groups, especially in regards to their covers of hipster songs simply to be ironic. Now comes a group out of Carleton College in Northfield, MN called the Carleton Singing Knights covering Vampire Weekend's "Oxford Comma":

I like the song, but I still hold firm on my ideas that the song just doesn't work as well with only voices. Plus, doing this cover seems to be just going for indie cred, and with other songs in their arsenal straight from indie rock, I just don't think I like it. I'm uneasy with normal a cappella, but indie rock a cappella seems to invade a little too much on what I like.

I got sent an email a while ago about a group that records all original a cappella songs. One of the members gave me a free link to download their album, but I've never gotten around to listening to it. Maybe in the next couple days/weeks I'll give it a spin and see how I handle a cappella when it isn't just covers.

Flight of the Conchords Visit NU

2008-03-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

This quarter has been a great one for speakers/concerts/comedians brought to Northwestern by student groups. First there was Girl Talk, then BJ Novak from The Office, and last night Flight of the Conchords graced Evanston in a performance that sold out in 45 minutes a few weeks ago.

I got in line for tickets at 8 am, two and a half hours before the box office opened...and I barely got tickets. That is how popular this show was on campus. I had great seats, and the openers were pretty funny.

Mee-Ow was the first opener, an improv/sketch comedy group at NU. They've had some pretty famous alums, like SNL head writer Seth Myers, but they apparently they denied Stephen Colbert a spot in the group when he was a student. Payback is a bitch I guess.

Next was NU alum and "Flight of the Conchords" co-star Kristen Schaal. She had great jokes about her time at Northwestern, but a lot of her jokes using specific people and places can be adjusted to different audiences, like this video of her performing in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival. Just imagine Evanston and George Washington instead of Edinburgh and Winston Churchill.

After an hour of openers, Bret and Jemaine took the stage to thunderous applause. They broke into a 90 minute set of songs from their show and their EP The Distant Future. Even better than their songs was their banter with each other and the crowd. They really are great comics, and better at improvisation than any group I've ever seen. Here are a couple videos of songs they performed, but there is really no way to describe how entertaining, energetic, and ingenious they are as performers.

This is possibly my favorite moment from the first season:

Hopefully I'll start getting some more stuff up soon. Finals are in a week, and then I have spring break to get back my writing focus heading into spring quarter. Until then posts will be sporadic, but I'll try, there's some good music coming out really soon.

photo credit Jared Miller

BJ Novak: A Personal Encounter

2008-02-19T00:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday night was a big one for me. I got to see B.J. Novak perform at Ryan Auditorium at Northwestern with a sell-out crowd of 600 people, then went on to a fraternity event that started terribly but ended fantastically.

Whereas other events I've seen put on by student run production groups, this one went off essentially without a hitch. The opener (Dan Mintz) was great as a deadpan comic, and that was a perfect contrast to Novak's energetic approach. I had my reservations about seeing a man who is great as a TV writer do standup, but in the first five minutes of his act Novak made my waiting outside the Norris box office two hours before opening to get tickets completely worth it.

The meet & greet afterwards was crowded and quick, and I had an event to get to for my fraternity, so I sort of pushed his act out of my mind for the rest of the night, until around 2 in the morning when I ended up at the house of a bunch of seniors, where Novak was partying with some of his siblings.

Having a celebrity visit your campus is one thing. Having that celebrity show up at a house party with a bunch of guys you know is quite another. I heard a story that Mitch Hedberg did something similar a few years back, although I assume he was drinking and using a lot more than Novak.

Novak didn't have to show up that night. The writer's strike was over, he was already back to work, and his performance at NU had been delayed multiple times because of work conflicts, but he came out and performed anyways because of the fervor the campus had been sent into when tickets went on sale. For him to go out and party with students at houses and a bar in Evanston was just the cherry on top. With Girl Talk and B.J. Novak as the last two events on campus, maybe we're finally going to get some more cool events here at NU.

(Hopefully) A Return to Form

2008-02-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

I thought that Heath Ledger's death would get me back into writing, but I've still neglected to post in the past 3 weeks. Full disclosure: I am currently pledging a fraternity, which eats away at most of my time. It's awesome, but it's a real time-sink, so I haven't been able to write as much as I would like.

Like I posted about before, I started writing for North By Northwestern, an online news site here at Northwestern. I also got some free press from them a day or so ago, which was nice. Besides my article on Ledger and my review for Vampire Weekend below, I've written a review of a Girl Talk show here on campus, and a piece about movie relationships for Valentine's Day. Check 'em out if you feel like it.

In other news, I haven't posted some new songs in a long time, so here's some post-Valentine's Day indie rock for you. Gimme Fiction is my favorite Spoon album, though they seem to be aging like a fine wine.

The other song is by a Swedish singer/songwriter who goes by the name of Hello Saferide. For Northwestern students, the name is shared by our unreliable late-night transportation service, but she's a fantastically simple musician. For some reason I've lately had an obsession with small indie singer/songwriters, which all started with this girl. The song is definitely a bleak view of the day, which until this year I would've shared. At any rate, I like both songs, and I felt the need to post.

Spoon - The Two Sides of Mounsieur Valentine
Hello Saferide - Valentine's Day

Look for a post in the next couple days about last weekend's featured performance from BJ Novak of The Office. You can find an interview with him here, but I'll wait to tell my own personal story about the night later.

Review: Vampire Weekend

2008-02-18T12:38:00.000-08:00

This article originally appeared on North By Northwestern

Most of the time, bands don’t get too much mainstream press before they actually release an EP or album of material, but New York outfit Vampire Weekend isn’t your everyday band. The quartet of recent Columbia grads broke all over the net with an EP last year and got so much buzz before the release of their debut that Rolling Stone put one of their songs on their Top 50 of 2007. Heavily talked-about bands from NYC like The Strokes and Interpol have endured this kind of premature media attention with varied results, but now that a record has finally been released, count Vampire Weekend among those that have survived the hype and put out a seemingly effortless and wonderful record.

The band is led by singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig, who paints various northeastern scenes with his lyrics throughout the album. The band is clearly influenced by Afro-pop, with African-tinged beats and elements on almost every song. Bands have included this element before, most notably Dispatch, but Vampire Weekend uses the Afro-pop style in a completely different way.

Vampire Weekend eschews traditional indie-rock, opting instead for a very pop-oriented sound. Their songs are, at first glance, very stripped-down. Koenig’s guitar doesn’t hang around in lasting chords, but pulses in staccato sounds over a snaking bass line and thumping drums. Songs like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “Mansard Roof” exhibit the African influence very clearly, but always subtly, in an element snuck into the back of the production. Album standout “A-Punk” boils down the best parts of the band’s style into a single, two-minute piece, and its accompanying video is evidence enough to show that low-tech styles have re-invigorated the art of the music video. The song and video are a simple kind of pretty, washing over the audience with an assured calm of its high quality.

While most of their songs appear to be very simple, there is always one buried element that makes the songs stick out. A string arrangement here, electronic sounds there, a little garnish on every song that elevates the track into a realm of originality. Vampire Weekend hasn’t crafted a masterpiece of a debut, but they have given themselves a great blueprint to work from. The album would be very easy to put on and listen straight through, not realizing it has finished, then wanting to immediately put it back on and listen through again. It’s too early in the year to think about what will stand in December, but Vampire Weekend’s first record is a very good starting point for the band, and hopefully is a sign of great things to come.

My Own Private Tribute

2008-01-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

I've completed my reaction to Heath Ledger's death on Tuesday. I've started writing for a website at Northwestern, called North by Northwestern. I'm going to be writing for their Entertainment section, and I'll be linking to my articles over there, starting with this one.

I'll be posting the bits and pieces of my article that didn't make it onto that site in somewhat of a "director's cut" format, so be on the lookout for that. I was really saddened by this death, and I hope that I've been able to respectfully honor his career. Please leave some thought if you'd like.

Mid-Week Special: Michael Cera & Ellen Page Sing Moldy Peaches

2008-01-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

As one of my best friends once wrote: rumors of my demise have been great exaggerated.

I'm back from a long hibernation, brought out of the shadows by yesterday's tragic events surrounding the death of Heath Ledger. That sort of gave me the impetus to start writing about these things again, and today I start with a simple song of two people. Michael Cera and Ellen Page, or Paulie Bleeker and Juno McGuff from the Oscar nominated Juno sang this Moldy Peaches cover over the end credits of a film I absolutely loved. I'll be writing about my top films of the year later. It's a great little ditty, very simple, no frills, just the two people singing to each other, and I really love it that way.

Michael Cera & Ellen Page - Anyone Else But You (Moldy Peaches cover)

Hopefully by tomorrow my full reaction to the death of Heath Ledger will be up, though it may just be a link to another site where it's hosted. Thanks.

Heath Ledger Dead at 28

2008-01-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today Heath Ledger was found dead naked on a bed in a Manhattan apartment. According to his agent, he had recently been turning down any film roles tossed his way. This is absolutely shocking to me, not only because of his prominence as an actor but the supposed drug use involved. He was apparently found with pills all around him. I'll be commenting more on his career and significantly untimely death in the coming days, but just wanted to get this message out there.

My Favorite Albums of 2007

2007-12-31T19:05:00.001-08:00

Most of the time, I really don’t like top ten lists. I’d much rather make a list of 10 albums, movies, or whatever else I liked from the year regardless of rank. However, I do still think in my head about where I would rank albums over others. Since that’s going on in my head, despite my best efforts I make ranked lists at the end of each year. I make my lists based on what I liked from the year, and not on what hot, buzzed-about band every zine and blog goes crazy over that particular year. You're not going to find any Animal Collective, Panda Bear, or LCD Soundsystem on here, I just don't like any of that enough to even consider putting it on a list. I respect those releases, but when I do stuff like this, its about what I like.

I think this year has been a pretty good one for music. A lot of times you hear in the press that the year sucked for music, that ten or twenty years ago there was a much higher mean quality of music, but I tend to disagree. I can always find ten albums that I believe legitimately deserve to be remembered from the year, and 2007 is no exception. Here is my list of my top 10 favorite albums of the past twelve months:

10. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga

Conor Obherst finally dropped the boy wonder label with this release, recorded all over the country while he recovered from addictions he suffered from on the tours following his two releases in 2005. The album sounded mature, unwavering, soulful, and honest. I saw him play a concert at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, and with an orchestra behind him Obherst brings the house down on these tracks. It’s great to see him being experimental with his sound while his lyrics add much welcomed maturity to their originality and poetry.

9. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

When I first heard the album, I didn’t really like it except the only previously released song “No Cars Go” because that song is to this day my favorite Arcade Fire track. Over the course of the year though, the album grew on me and deepened in the same way the band changed “No Cars Go” from its first incarnation into the thundering, string heavy, powerful barnburner it is on Bible. They transcended the sophomore slump, and I can’t wait to hear what they’ve got in store for their next, most likely even more ambitious disc.

8. Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare

One of my favorite songs from the year is “Fluorescent Adolescent,” and these English boys delivered another album full of great images of their travels. From the description of a friend in “Brianstorm” to a warning of hometown fans in “If You Were There, Beware” the whole album tells a great series of stories. It moves along at a masterful pace for the first six tracks, takes a break on “Only Ones Who Know” and then plunges into another race until the last track “505.” The last four songs are still the best ending to an album I’ve heard in a very long time.

7. Paramore – Riot!

Sometimes all you want to do when you listen to music is have fun, and no record I heard this year did that better than Riot!, the second album from Paramore. It’s loud, raucous, raging, pulsing, and just a huge good time of an album. It’s full of punchy guitars and loud, fast choruses, and I loved every one of them.

6. Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, & Interference – Once Soundtrack

I love the film for what it is, but it is undeniable that what gave Once its strength was the quality of the songs written for the film by Hansard and Irglova. Achingly powerful in their raw energy, Hansard belts his lungs out on songs like “Leave” and “Say It To Me Now,” but it is the chemistry between Hansard and Irglova (now an official couple off the set of the film) makes “Falling Slowly” and “When Your Mind’s Made Up” some of the best songs ever written for a film. I have no qualms about saying this is the best film soundtrack for popular music since Purple Rain.

5. Radiohead – In Rainbows

It’s on almost everyone else’s year end lists, and if I were to make a list of the most important releases of the year, this would without a doubt be at the top. I love Radiohead, I can’t stop following them down the creative rabbit hole they’ve made for themselves with every successive album. I marvel at the way they are able to go in almost any direction and make a great work of art. This time around they made their most cohesive, thematically tight album since OK Computer. No album Radiohead makes sounds like a previous work, so comparison to a different album’s sound is almost pointless, but taken as another fantastic album in a series, In Rainbows stands above a lot of the bands’ recent work.

4. Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City

A lot of people were turned off by the direction Bloc Party took with their sophomore disc. Kele Okereke chose to create a cohesive, story oriented album about life in a metropolis. Since their debut was such a party-oriented, fun-filled rock fest, this understandably turned a good amount of people off; but those that stuck around were rewarded with a fantastic concept album that plays through better with every subsequent listen. Okereke is clearly scared of London and the life that city fosters in people. The Xenophobia present in "The Prayer" and "Where is Home?" is palpable, with the fear and terror coming through in the music. The rest of the band kept the sound very tight, with Matt Tong's drumming still ranking with the best around. I heard this album develop from the early live debuts of some of the tracks, and the lyric changes only made the album better. If Silent Alarm was the sound of a late-night party, then A Weekend in the City is the sound of knowing you have to eventually leave hat party and walk home through the dark and unfriendly city. Bloc Party captured life in a big city better than any band since The Clash in London Calling, and it'll probably be another thirty years before anyone gets this close again.

3. Daphne Loves Derby – Good Night, Witness Light

They’re my favorite band for a reason, and every song on here resonates with me in a deeper way than anything I heard all year. These boys from the Seattle area possess some of my favorite indie rock ever made, and front man Kenny Choi really got poetic with his lyrics this time around. The title was named after a line from a Robert Frost poem, and the rest of the lyrics grapple with personal issues and finding a place in the world. I’ve loved this band ever since I first heard them as a wide eyed high school sophomore, and I haven’t stopped since.

2. Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight

Longtime fans of the band were up in arms over the sound of the first single off this record, “Moneymaker”, but in retrospect all the criticisms of the album and the new direction the band took seem insignificant in light of the masterful piece of pop music they created. It’s a portrait of Los Angeles, but also a perfectly crafted breakup album of Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett, the worst band mate breakup since Gwen Stefani and that bassist from No Doubt. Instead of just getting “Don’t Speak” out of it, Rilo Kiley got an entire album full of great tracks that fly by over Under the Blacklight’s short running time. Everything about the band over the past few years is examined in the lyrics and sound of these songs, and everything is fantastic.

1. Bloc Party – Another Weekend in the City

Some people might see this as cheating, but I don't give a damn. From the first time I read about the amount of b-sides Bloc Party was putting on different releases of A Weekend in the City I was ready to listen. The idea made fiscal sense because the actual album had been leaked in December of 2006, but it also was sonically different from what made it onto their sophomore album. Instead of being tight thematically in line with songs about a foreboding metropolis, these tracks were more akin to their debut, full of carefree, ballsy, danceable rock. When I first saw the band, it was the first time I had danced through the entire set of a rock band, and I loved that feeling. Listening to these tracks, in the order originally postulated on the Good, the Bad, & the Unknown the week of the emergence of the tracks, I can't believe that a band could release an amazing concept album, but have an equal amount of great rock-out tracks just waiting in the wings. Yes, the album is unofficial, as is the title, tracklisting, and album cover, but I didn't listen any album by any band, new, established, favorite or otherwise than this collection of 11 Bloc Party "b-sides." Considering the quality of all the tracks Bloc Party has released as so-called "b-sides," including "Two More Years" "Tulips" "Flux" and the entirety of these tracks, I have a hard time coming up with a single song they've created that isn't a great one.

My Christmas Playlist

2007-12-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

I never really kept up with my promise of posting Christmas songs, so I'm going to do it in one large playlist. These are my all-time favorite Christmas songs. Some are classics, some are alternative covers, and a few are original Christmas songs that I personally enjoy. May they bring you a little joy during what little of the Christmas season is left.

Hanson - Merry Christmas Baby (the guiltiest pleasure on this list, but it's from what I consider one of the greatest Christmas albums of all time...)
Phantom Planet - Winter Wonderland
Sufjan Stevens - O Come O Come Emmanuel
Sufjan Stevens - That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
Elvis Presley - Here Comes Santa Claus
The Jackson 5 - Santa Claus is Comin' To Town
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song
The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick (the Californian in me can't resist the idea of hearing this song on a beach in the sun when the rest of the country is covered in snow)
Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
Britney Spears - My Only Wish (in retrospect, she obviously wants to wish for more than this for Christmas...perhaps some sanity for starters...)
Relient K - the 12 Days of Christmas
Chris Ayer - Wintertime
Daphne Loves Derby - Silent White Christmas Night (my favorite Christmas song, ever.)
Daphne Loves Derby - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Gatsby's American Dream - Christmas Time Is Here
Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
Alvin & the Chipmunks - The Christmas Song
Fall Out Boy - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas (Sarajevo 12/24)
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You

Happy Holidays

An Early Xmas Gift: A Guest Top 25

2007-12-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Since I got home for Christmas I've essentially stopped posting. I needed a break, but the small readership of this blog has suffered. In any case, in the next few days I will hopefully have a ton of new posts up, starting with my second ever guest post. My friend Jake listens to way more music than I do, and has sent me his Top 25 albums of the year. While I don't agree with all of them, I'm posing them because I strongly believe in having more than one opinion out there. Check out the year-end accumulations over at Metacritic to see most of the media's top albums.

Jake's Top 25 Albums of 2007

25. The Silent Years- “The Silent Years”
24. Sunset Rubdown- “Random Spirit Lover”
23. Dinosaur Jr- “Beyond”
22. Blacks Lips- “Good Bad Not Evil”
21. Dan Deacon- “Spiderman of the Rings”
20. A Place to Bury Strangers- “A Place to Bury Strangers”
19. !!!- “Myth Takes”
18. Iron & Wine- “The Shepherd’s Dog”
17. The Clientele- “God Save the Clientele”
16. Menomena- “Friend or Foe”
15. Wu-Tang Clan- “8 Diagrams”
14. Spoon- “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”
13. Battles- “Mirrored”
12. Beirut- “The Flying Club Cup”
11. White Rabbits- “Fort Nightly”

10. Deerhoof- “Friend Opportunity”
I’ve been a Deerhoof fan for as long as I can remember, and this album definitely satisfied my hunger for their new album. The Runners Four is great, but I think this even surpasses it in terms of a complete album. Considering this came out in January, it’s impressive that when making this list I immediately thought of “Friend Opportunity.”

9. The Fiery Furnaces- “Widow City”
OK, this is no Blueberry Boat, but what is? The Fiery Furnaces, no matter what, will always make a f*cking sweet album. Honestly, I was kind of disappointed and it’s still my 9th favorite of the year. Musically, this album is up there with their best; however, it lacked the completeness that I felt from Blueberry Boat and Gallowsbird’s Bark. Still, awesome.

8. Papercuts- “Can’t Go Back”
I listened to this album well after everyone else did, so I feel a little guilty putting it in my top 10. But it’s so f*cking great, that I couldn’t resist. If anyone puts this album as their number 1, you have no arguments from this guy. From the intense lyrics in the opener “Dear Employee” to the haunting “Unavailable,” this album has a song for anyone who likes music. First time I put this on my iPod, I listened all the way through like I do with every first listen, unless it frustrates me (aka “American Gangster” and “Places Like This”). I then listened to it two more times (Yeah, I have a lot of time on my hands); that’s how good this album is.

7. Liars- “Liars”
Best two track opening to an album of the year, and probably the last 2 years although the Junior Boys may have a good case. Once you play those two songs over and over again, you can finally continue and you’re in for a treat. Great lyrics, wonderful guitar work, just solid in every area.

6. The Besnard Lakes- “Are the Dark Horses”
My “dark horse” of this list is this Canadian group. No words can really describe the feeling I get when I hear this album, but the last two minutes of the second track “For Agent 13” may be my favorite part of any song this year. I was glad to see the Lakes get some recognition in some reviews for the great album they made. I’m expecting big things from these guys in the future.

5. The Arcade Fire- “Neon Bible”
Ahhh The Arcade Fire, the new “kings” of indie rock. Funeral is a tough album to follow up, but Win Butler and crew did an admirable job with Neon Bible. Although I hated the first track, “Black Mirror,” every other track on the disc is superb. From the up-tempo “Keep the Car Running” to the beautiful duet “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations,” Neon Bible appealed to all music tastes, which is fucking impressive these days with all the pretentious assholes out there (not excluding myself).

4. Radiohead- “In Rainbows”
I mean, what’s there to say? You might say it’s no Kid A or OK Computer, but what’s that supposed to mean? Nothing will ever be anything like those albums.

3. LCD Soundsystem- “Sound of Silver”
James Murphy just rocked my world with the opening track “Get Innocuous.” Once I heard that track, I figured the disc would just go downhill, which somehow he managed to avoid. I didn’t really like the last two tracks, otherwise it would have been number 1. Still, awesome work by Murphy.

2. Of Montreal- “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”
Not to be a dick, but I wish Kevin Barnes would be depressed more often. OK, Of Montreal has made some f*cking amazing albums, but this is my favorite of all of them. Although some of the lyrics may be depressing, how can you not dance to most of these songs, or at least move around? When I’m driving listening to this album, I’m dangerous. It didn’t hurt either that track 7 is my favorite song of the year.

1. Okkervil River- “The Stage Names”
What are you talking about? Okkervil River? Really? Have you looked at your list? In a year where you were all into the dance, upbeat shit, this is your favorite? Well, I don’t know what to tell you. They’ve made 5 albums, and the only other one I like was the 2005 disc Black Sheep Boy, which honestly was a completely different album. I was immediately drawn in by the opening track “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe.” It’s such a pessimistic album, while at the same time cheerful. Being able to achieve such a difficult thing to do made for a much more enjoyable listen. Well done, OR.

There you have it, Jake's top albums of the year. I'll admit I haven't listened to a lot of them, and when I post my top 10 it will be relatively clear that I liked much different stuff, but there's a lot of great music on here.

Why I Loved The Dolphins Win

2007-12-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday saw the Miami Dolphins win their first game of the 2007 NFL season to avoid the possibility of being the first team to go 0-16 in the history of the league. It was an amazing evasion of futility, and while a lot of people thought the celebrations got out of hand, I thought it was a great story. However, my favorite part of the win was not the Dolphins avoiding a completely defeated season, it wasn't the undefeated '72 Dolphins being on hand for their 35th anniversary, it wasn't any of those big stories. My favorite part of that whole game was the man that caught the 64 yard touchdown in overtime to win the game: Greg Camarillo.

Most people have no idea who Camarillo is, and seeing as how half the Dolphins are no name players due to massive injuries to the starters I'm not that surprised. But I've known who Greg Camarillo was since I was in middle school. He's the son of Susan Camarillo, a woman who worked at my middle school as a counselor, and who I knew very well for three years. Here's what I know of her son's story:

He went to Menlo-Atherton High School, right down the road from where I went to high school in Atherton, California. He went on to college at Stanford, where he walked onto the football team just as the Tyrone Willingham era had ended, the coach bolted for Notre Dame, and the Buddy Teevens & Walt Harris tenures began. Camarillo played so well at tight end that he was given a scholarship for his later years on the team, and was given a fifth year of eligibility due to injury. After completing his college career, he ended up on the practice squad for the San Diego Chargers, and that was the last I had heard of him until Sunday when I watched him take a pass and run all the way down the field to give the Dolphins their first win in almost a year.

It's extraordinarily satisfying to know his story; to have seen someone take a different route into a meaningful place in the NFL. Camarillo didn't get a scholarship out of high school football, didn't get drafted, didn't have anything handed to him in any way to give him a chance to shine, but he still carved a place for himself in a way many players who have coasted through to a professional career haven't been able to. Yes, the Dolphins suck, and yes, when the starters come back from injuries Camarillo will most likely be headed back to the practice squad. But there's no way fans in Miami will forget the players responsible for keeping them from utter humiliation in the 2007 season. Greg Camarillo's name will be remembered, and I think he's very deserving of that.

Review: Juno

2007-12-12T12:40:00.001-08:00

If I were to offer any complaint about the smash summer comedy Knocked Up, it would be that it is from the perspective of the guy that donates the seed, instead of following the woman who gets knocked up. That small problem is rectified in Juno, the new film from Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) written by newcomer Diablo Cody and starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman.

Almost any kind of simple plot synopsis wouldn't really do this film justice. Basically, Page plays Juno, a high schooler who has sex with her best fried (Cera) and gets pregnant. She decides to keep the baby and let a childless couple (Garner & Bateman) adopt it. Those two sentences don't even begin to describe how brilliant this film is though; it really exceeding every gigantic expectation I had when I walked into a preview screening in downtown Chicago a few weeks ago.

I am a huge fan of Arrested Development, so it was great to see Michael Cera and Jason Bateman in the same movie again, even though they didn't share any screen time. They are both great at being either leading men or filling character holes, and Juno is filled to the brim with quirky, indie characters that fill every niche in the indie-movie blueprint. There's a dog-obsessed stepmother, a vulgar friend, and a host of other small parts that get great lines courtesy of Cody's incisive and side-splitting screenplay.

Diablo Cody was hand-picked to write Steven Spielberg's next project after this movie, and she's got a host of other projects in the works specifically because of how amazing this script turned out. It feels very hip, but very easy going, flowing easily from one fantastic line to the next. Garner and Bateman get great exposition as a wife increasingly ready to be a mother and a husband who isn't sure but doesn't say it.

The soundtrack is also an amazing mix of indie rock you probably have never heard of. Kimya Dawson and The Moldy Peaches provide many of the songs on the advice of Page that they would be what the actual Juno MacGuff would listen to. The songs fit perfectly into the color scheme, attitude, and tempo of the film. You can find my favorite song from the soundtrack at the bottom of this post.

The script, soundtrack, and all the rest of the performances aside, Ellen Page is front and center for the entire film and carries it the whole way. She is nothing short of amazing for the full running time, careening from emotional high to low with incredible accuracy. This is the kind of exposition I wish we saw of Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up. Juno is dealing with an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy, being in love with her best friend, going through high school, and growing up. As she says to her father, "I don't really know what kind of girl I am yet." That Juno is still figuring her life and finds a way through a difficult pregnancy, and we believe it every step of the way is a credit to Reitman, Cody, and especially Page.

I implore each and every one of you to go out and see this film. It's definitely one of the best of the year, and provides a great, possibly superior complement to Knocked Up. See it at all costs, you'll be hearing about it for months, and Page, Cera, Cody, and Reitman will be riding the wave this movie creates for years to come.

The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You

Songs for the Season

2007-12-04T01:30:00.000-08:00

Today I'm posting some of my favorite songs to listen during the Christmas season that aren't necessarily covers of Christmas carols. Most of the time, I don't really like original songs that are about the Christmas season (case and point, The Killers "A Great Big Sled"), but other times something just strikes me the right way.

New Found Glory - Ex' Miss

One of my greatest guilty pleasures is New Found Glory out of Coral Springs, FL. I've listened to them since seventh grade, and I never plan on stopping. This song is about a hated ex-girlfriend during the holiday season, as opposed to just a hated ex-girlfriend, like about 60% of NFG's other songs, and roughly that percentage in the genre as a whole. I still love it though, especially the "Jingle Bells" guitar solo.

The Matches - December Is For Cynics

Who could resist a song that suggests its listeners "get high on art supplies"? That's my favorite line from this Oakland, CA band's wintertime song. I saw them play a private party at a club in Palo Alto once, and they were great. Very energetic, personable, but they did play a private show for two girls having an 18th birthday party, so they were thinking about the money on that decision. To be honest, this is my favorite song by The Matches, but their second album Decomposer has some pretty solid stuff on it.

Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song

I cannot listen to this song without thinking of a log cabin out in the wilderness being covered by a snowstorm. Listen to this song and try not to have that visual stuck in your head. Impressively, this song is actually about seasonal affective disorder during the winter, but it remains a happy, wintery pop tune. I really enjoyed listening to it while I was watching the first snow of the year here in Evanston a couple days ago.

A Viral Music MySpace?

2007-12-03T09:46:00.001-08:00

I was reading Another Form of Relief the other day, and they had a post up about this girl Laura Hocking. She's a Cambridge grad, living and performing in England for a while.

What I was intrigued by was not just that her songs are fantastic, not just that she's giving away fourteen tracks for free downloading, but that she's spread the music out over three different MySpace accounts with three similar names.

From what I can gather the project is titled Laura Sings L*ver, with that * being replaced by an o, e, or i for each of her sites.

The simple guitar+vocals formula works really well; I think she sounds a bit like Regina Spektor with a guitar instead of a piano, what with the quirky sounding voice and staccato delivery. My only complaint is that I wish there was some other place I could find the rest of the songs that belong to the album these free downloads do. If anyone tracks those down, let me know. For now, just take a listen to a few of her songs I really liked, and then go download the rest off of her sites.

Laura Hocking - Leonie Lauder's Morning Jaunt
Laura Hocking - Swim Thru
Laura Hocking - Strongmen and Acrobats

My Favorite Time of Year

2007-12-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today is December 1st, the beginning of my favorite month of the year, leading up to my favorite holiday: Christmas. Over the course of the next 24 days I will put up at least 12 of my favorite Christmas tracks, as well as my year-end lists for my favorite movies and albums of the year.

We start with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and possibly the most epic Christmas song ever. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is made up of almost all the members of prog-rock outfit Savatage, but this incarnation of the band has been much more successful due to its grandiose takes on Christmas material. "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" is perhaps their most well-known song, and it's the only epic Christmas tune I really like. The guitars screech all over the place, and it makes you just want to experience the band live with thousands of people around you. Take a listen, and get ready for the holiday season.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)

Mid-Week Special: The Bird & The Bee Xmas Cover

2007-11-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

Today I'm killing a few birds with one stone. This post kicks off my month-long post-a-thon of Christmas covers by rock bands and other nontraditional styles. It also gives me an opportunity to talk about one of the weirder yet great artists I've recently added to my music library: The Bird & The Bee.

Consisting of Greg Kurstin and Inara George of Los Angeles, The Bird & The Bee are an electronic pop duo that released a self titled album last January. It was a tiny little pop gem of sorts, with melodies that were very sugary but not quite saccharine and witty lyrics to go along with them (see titles like "F*cking Boyfriend").

When I first saw their cover of "Carol of the Bells" on iTunes I had been looking for it, because that is one of my favorite Christmas songs, but I couldn't find it for free anywhere. Imagine my surprise then, when this week's free download of the week was in fact "Carol of the Bells" by The Bird & The Bee. Just when I start to completely lose faith in the iTunes store, they find one tiny little thing to keep me checking in every now and then. Check out the track, and be ready for more to come.

The Bird & The Bee - Carol of the Bells

Before the Weather Outside Gets Frightful...

2007-11-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

Fall Quarter at Northwestern ends in a little under three weeks. I've pretty much finished everything up until I take my finals, so I haven't really had any real work to do and it's felt prematurely like the end of the year. The weather also hasn't gotten too horrific yet. It's been consistently in the 30s, but for the Chicago area in November that's pretty good. There hasn't been any big snowfall, though we've seen a bit of snow in the past two weeks. None of it is sticking, and no amount that is actually recordable.

I have officially begun my Christmas shopping for this year. I always end up making a list that I lose multiple times before getting all my gift shopping done, but who cares, I always have fun going and shopping during Christmas season. It's the one time of the year where I do not dread a long excursion to a mall or other shopping center. Being on a college campus means I've got a little bit of a weird distance to travel for buying stuff, but it's still very fun for me because I love this season and Christmas.

Going with those end of the year type mentalities, I decided to make a mix of songs with the months of the year in their title. I think it's a pretty diverse array of artists, and an enjoyable little playlist. Enjoy:

mewithoutYou - January 1979
Bright Eyes - Happy Birthday To Me (Feb. 15)
Rogue Wave - March
Gillian Welch - April the 14th(Part 1)
Elvis Perkins - May Day!
Bright Eyes - June on the West Coast
The Decemberists - July, July!
Rilo Kiley - August
Earth, Wind, & Fire - September
Be Your Own Pet - October, First Account
Guns N' Roses - November Rain
Weezer - December

I enjoy how this list will lead in to my Christmas music stuff for the month of December. Things to look for in the coming weeks:

1. Early review of Jason Reitman's new film Juno that I caught a preview screening of in downtown Chicago a little while ago.

2. Year end album and movie lists for 2007.

3. More alt-rock christmas covers than you can shake a stick at.

Sir Alex Ferguson Overreacts a Bit

2007-11-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Manchester United lost at Bolton Wanderers for the first time since 1978. Their manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, got sent from the manager's box into the stands during half time for some delightful comments to the referee in the tunnel.

After the game, Sir Alex made some comments during a press conference that just don't sit well with me. The idea that lesser teams should be treated differently by referees because they are not as storied or as championed as Manchester United is absolutely insane. When two football teams step out onto the pitch, they become equals. They are foes for ninety minutes, but they are equal under the laws of football. That idea gives smaller teams a fighting chance psychologically, that they are protected in the same way the other team is even when they're facing some of the best and most expensive players in the world. Hell, the entire structure of the FA Cup is based on the idea that every English club team can earn the opportunity to play against any other team, from a semi-pro team all the way up to the Premier League. It seemed a bit irresponsible for a coach to believe he and his team are above another squad that isn't having one of their better years in the Premiership.

Mid-Week Special: Thanksgiving Thoughts

2007-11-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

Another year, another Thanksgiving, another Dallas Cowboys game on national television. My thoughts don’t exactly all have to do with the games today, but here are some ruminations I’ve had for a little while:

What the hell was with the intro by the Cowboys Cheerleaders on Fox? I understand that Dallas has been billed as “America’s Team” for the past twenty years, but does anybody really believe that? Did anyone believe that when it was first said? A game at Texas Stadium is an NFL tradition, but the better game to me has always been the Packers-Lions game. It’s a division rivalry, the attitudes are much more akin to a college game in its intensity, and even when it’s a blowout the game is more fun to watch.

Also, I keep seeing the trailer for Last Christmas. Why do the studios think America needs this same style movie with the same actors every year? If you see a family dramedy once, you've seen it enough times.

I'll be compiling some year-end lists really soon, but I have to get out and see a lot of the holiday movies before I can make my film list. This year was a pretty damn good one for movies, so it should be a fun holiday season for anyone that wants to see the movies that will get attention come February.

So, in celebration of Thanksgiving, here’s a little track for any last minute shoppers. This is my first holiday away from home, and I can imagine a lot of college kids not going home over this break going to get some food at the last minute. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket