09.16.2008

a bottle of wine. a can opener. an internet connection. math is a mystical creature who is completely indifferent to your existence. so is god.

some people might say that i am too. but, i don't think i'm indifferent to anything. i bleed.

cheap flights and bus rides and rental cars and money to spare.
(or so we thought)
stay home. read a book. learn how to be alone.

 

07.06.2008

i am incappable of really expressing lack of motivation i have. at this time i cannot say how i "really" feel. mostly because i don't really understand it and partially because i'm sure that nobody else would either...

i ache from playing wii and i want to take a nap.

 

04.01.2008

i am living in a devil town. are all my friends vampires?

listen to kara thrace thinks...

speaking of...3 days to BSG.

 

03.23.2008

should i still keep calling the studio "1010" now that we've had to move out of the loft unit which it was named after? our new unit number lacks the flair of 1010...621 just doesn't cut it. or...should i go back to a more transferable name? for years, wherever the studio happened to be located it was called "underwater research and design". i can't remember why i gave up on that name...it wasn't because underwater broke up. i used it for years after. actually, until i moved to los angeles.

 

01.28.2008

more stress. check this out. example of the term douchebag. yep, that's the loft we've been renting. it is NOD. "notice of default" - which means going into foreclosure and us looking for a new place to live. it's a little unsettling to find yourself in the middle of such a mess. especially when you find out via a random internet search...not from your landlord!

also. vote for obama. please. hillary now makes me flinch and twitch when i hear her speak. very similar to my reaction to the very image of george w bush. (listening to him speak makes me damn near suicidal) hillary has somehow become toxic. a poison to us all. while, obama is simply the most inspiring candidate of my lifetime.

anyone want to send me some work?

 

01.13.2008

we’re roughly two weeks into 2008 and, honestly, so far, it hasn’t been that great : a new years day hangover, depression, lost money in vegas, quarterly taxes, and a nasty flu. the only real high points thus far have been playing wii and some really addictive homemade vegan cookies. 2008 has been so unimpressive that olive and i have decided that as soon as my flu is completely gone we’re going to have our own private “happy new new year” party to attempt a fresh start.

so, instead of focusing any longer on the current year, i’m going to look back at all i enjoyed about 2007. olive and i have a yearly tradition of creating “top 10” records of the year lists. usually, these lists are for our own personal entertainment. this year i’ve decided to post mine as a blog for everyone in the world to criticize. i’ve also decided to go beyond music and have included television and films for 2007. so…without further…whatever…

PART 1 – MUSIC.

TOP 10 RECORDS.

1. radiohead “in rainbows” – yeah. i was surprised. i was fully expecting another batch of over-hyped mediocrity. i was initially more interested in their sales/distribution method than the actual record. but, in the end “in rainbows” is a pretty impressive accomplishment. what really works for me is that it’s the first radiohead record that i can sing along to in years.

2. stars “in our bedroom after the war” – go canada! pop genius. every song is a complete story. never did i believe that a song about violent anal sex loving soccer hooligans would bring tears to my eyes.

3. low “drums and guns” – an incredibly dark, abstract follow up to my favorite record of 2006, “the great destroyer”. “drums and guns” might be, initially, a challenge to absorb, but once you get used to how non-low-esque the record sounds there is an immense amount of beauty and emotion to sink into.

4. arcade fire “neon bible” – go canada! (again)…what to say? it’s awesome either in spite of or possible because it sounds an awful lot like bruce springsteen.

5. bloc party “weekend in the city” – released early in the year this record held the top spot on my list for months. far more polished than “silent alarm” it feels like bloc party growing up a little. not better or worse than “silent alarm”, just very different. the reason it eventually dropped out of the top slots was that i realized that i had rarely, if ever, listened to the entire record in one sitting. it’s great but it’s jus too damn long.

6. nine inch nails “year zero” – trent reznor continues his impressive rebirth. “with teeth” was our favorite record of 2005 even though it had a horrible mistake of a title track. “year zero” is a solid piece of conceptual electronic music. it’s not the rock/pop catchy song based record that “with teeth” was…but I absolutely love to have my politics fed to me with synthesizers and insane noise.

7. the go find “stars on the wall” – acoustic guitars and electronic beats are, of course, a big favorite of mine. add catchy ass melodies and lyrics in english written by a belgian guy whose first language is obviously not english and i’m sold!

8. calla “strength in numbers” – calla is one of the loudest fucking bands i have ever seen live and they just so happen to use some of the smallest amps ever. this record is no “televise” or “collisions”, but even when not at their peak calla are great rock band who write amazing, haunting and powerful songs.

9. tarwater “spider smile” – i think anytime tarwater releases a record you can count on it making my top ten. impossible to describe, they are basically musical mad-german-scientists. i wish i could do what these guys do. i truly admire them as artists. just listen to them…please.

10. travis morrison hellfighters “all y’all” – this one was a surprise for me. i knew i liked it when i got it. i knew it was better than “travistan”. (which, I do like and think pitchfork was both moronic and cruel for crushing as they did!) but, i didn’t realize how much it would grow on me. being a plan fan, i really like that “all y’all” sounds more like the dismemberment plan than “travistan” did, maybe due to the fact that it was recorded with jason caddell, or maybe because it’s a band project more than another solo record. 

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS.

…it was a busy year for music. some years it’s hard to find 10 records i even like. this year it was hard to limit it to 10…so, here are some runners-ups.

pinback “autumn of the seraphim” – another great pinback record. the only reason it didn’t make the top ten was because it’s basically “more of the same” for pinback.

pj harvey “white chalk” – pj and a piano. it’s gorgeous and the live show was amazing. a really nice change of course.

blaqk audio “cexcells” – ok. here’s the thing. i really don’t like AFI. i never have. i have always wished that i liked them, since i have a feeling i might like the guys personally. i’ve always tried to support straight edge vegans. plus, i recently saw davey at a low concert in LA. still, AFI is just really bad. well, two members of AFI have recorded this record as blaqk audio and i like it. it’s not perfect…it is incredibly unoriginal yet well done synth pop. it'll make you sing along...maybe even dance.

the sea and cake “everybody” – another shocker here…because i have always disliked this band and most of the chicago scene based around these guys and tortoise.  i actually heard a review of this record on NPR, which basically said it was mediocre. but, i was really impressed by the clips that they played, so i broke down and got it. olive keeps trying to convince me that it sounds just like their older material, but i tried listening to “the biz” and i still don’t dig it.

allegra gellar “cassette” – yep. our record. not much else i can say.

 

MOST DISSAPOINTING.

bright eyes “cassadaga” – what happened? normally, i’m a huge sucker for just about anything conor oberst does. but, this is just flat out bad. conor, please lose the over produced goo and start writing good songs again.

smashing pumpkins “zeitgeist” – 1. the absence of james iha means this isn’t really the smashing pumpkins.  2. did anyone, aside from billy, actually need another smashing pumpkins record? 3. it’s fucking awful and only serves to tarnish their legacy.

 

PART 2 - FILM

so, here's the thing...these are 10 films that i have really liked this year. 10 good films. i can't actually make a fully educated favorites list of the year, since there are so many that i have not seen...so, many in my netflix que, like : waitress, king of california, michael clayton, wristcutters, lars and the real girl, and the darjeeling limited. i'm sure at least some of those might make the top 10...but here are the top 10 of the films that i did manage to see this year. these are also in no particular order...

the lookout.

everything's gone green.

once.

juno.

control.

eastern promises.

talk to me.

knocked up.

fay grim.

southland tales.
(a revised list after the second viewing of the film would not include "southland tales")

 

PART 3 - TELEVISION.

this is a new catagory. i've always been very influenced by music and film, but in recent years some aspects of television have started to impress me. i used to avoid it entirely. but now i use it to slow my damn brain down and relax...to stop working at a hundred miles an hour. these are in order...

1. battlestar galactica. - i think i've made it clear that i think this is the greatest tv show ever. if you haven't seen the sneak-trailer for season 4 then your life is not complete...

2. the riches. - come on! it's eddie izzard.

3. big love. - every season is better than the last. it's all about margene... pretty much the best thing HBO has going for it, since six feet under and the sopranos are long done...and, sadly, the wire is now on it's way out.

4. life. - this was our favorite new show of the year. nice twist on the cop show. great acting and writing.

5. house. - this has been on tv a few years now, but i didn't see it until this year. it's a little formulaic, but manages to be continually entertaining. sadly, the season sort of stopped abruptly due to the writers strike.

6. heroes. - my favorite new show of last year. still strong this year. unfortunately, the end of the current season seemed a little rushed due to the writers strike. although, unlike house, they actually managed to write an ending rather than just stop.

7. entourage. - for some reason watching everything i hate about LA on tv is really funny. some of my friends hate entourage, because it's all the crap we see everyday...but...hmm...why do i like it? not so sure, but i am a dedicated fan.

8. top chef. - a reality show. yep. i doubt i would watch this show if i didn't live with olive. she has a fascination with the food network, top chef, project runway, and law & order. it's for the most part drama-free reality programming. especially this season, where everyone seemd to get along pretty well. but, we think tre should have won.

9. journeyman. - another good new NBC show. time travel!

10. rock of love. - i didn't want to admit that we actually watched this every week, but olive insisted that i include it. it was completely mindless entertainment. but, who doesn't want to watch bret michaels humiliate himself? no...it wasn't quality programming. but, it was funny. bret surprisingly managed to choose the most attractive and, most likely, smartest girl on the show as the winner...of course, by the time they got to the reunion show she had already dumped his sorry ass. will i watch season 2? hell no! it started last night and i have absolutely no interest. lightning couldn't possibly strike twice.

 

SHOWS THAT WOULD I WILL HAVE TO CATCH ON DVD SINCE I DON"T HAVE SHOWTIME.

since i've seen the previous seasons of WEEDS and DEXTER, i'm sure the new seasons would have made my list had we subscribed to showtime. also, george says that CALIFORNICATION is really damn good...so, we wait for the dvd releases.

 

WORST NEW SHOWS.

john from cincinnati. - i can't believe i watched as much of this crap as i did. i kept hoping that HBO was actually broadcasting it for some reason other than filler. it's bad and it only get's worse. luckily it was dropped!

bionic woman. - i guess david eick isn't all that without ronald d moore. is it the horrible writing or does katee sackoff forget how to act as she walks from the BSG lot to the bionic woman lot? i'm sure it'll be back for a second season, but i hope it quietly vanishes.

 

well, there are more of my pop culture entertainment opinions than anyone could possibly ever need to read. now i'm gonna go watch the final season of the wire...(and cry)

 

jw