September 19! That's the day, ladies and gents. In case you've forgotten that Radiohead's OK Computer is a halfway decent album, MVD and Sexy Intellectual are comin'atcha to remindya that it is...good and shit. Cleverly entitledRadiohead: OK Computer – A Classic Album Under Review the DVD is said to include either a studio or live performance of every song on the historic album. It also comes with album insights from experts on the subject of Radiohead. Wait, what was that? Experts? Sure, these "experts" are just Radiohead biographers who've lost touch with things above ground, but it's about time our British avant-compadres got some experts. Let's crack open the Dom Perignon.
Kevin Smith is Lewd & Joel Siegel Has Somethin' Up In His Heinie
So, you hear about this feud? Kevin Smith and Joel Siegel. We're done with the east-coast/west-coast rivalries, and we've regressed back to the battle of taste. 1950s retro, baby.
Smith's Clerks II has hit the screening rooms, and Siegel was there for one of them...but not for long - 40 minutes to be exact. Offended by bestiality jokes (come on, Siegel-'ol-boy), the "Good Morning America" film critic left the theater, but not before he tried to rally his peers: "Time to go!'' and "This is the first movie I've walked out of in 30 fucking years!" Sources say the critic was seen exiting the theater with the pink cord of a cheerleader's baton poking out his rear pucker.
You called it. That last bit was a fib. I have to say, though, I don't expect anything more than a few dick and fart jokes from Clerks II, but Siegel's gotta chill out. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm thinking I'll agree with Siegel. I don't get offended, but if there's no wit to the madness, than all you've got is an Andrew Dice Clay routine. When you get right down to it, though, no matter how terrible the film is, you've got to at least show some decency. At least have sympathy for Smith who obviously couldn't cut it without the Jay and Silent Bob duo, and had to throw out any hope for something grander than Clerks (See the Weezer syndrome).
Smith and Siegel confronted each other yesterday morning on the "Opie & Anthony Show." It was decency that Smith hoped Siegel would show the movie. The Clerks II director didn't even mind him leaving, but to disrupt the screening was what Smith called, "unprofessional." The best part of the confrontation was that Siegel didn't even realize he was speaking to Smith until the hosts let him in on the not-so-classified information. A bit absent-minded our friend is.
The Rapture are back. Their new album is called Pieces of the People We Love. We'll see it in stores on September 4. What can we expect from the new album. I'm sayin' club sensation 2006. I know, we've talked about the single already. You can find the review here, but my I believe my expectations will come true. The album has been produced by not one, but two producers with electronic and techno experience: Paul Epsworth from Danger Mouse fame, and Ewan Pearson who has remixed the Chemical Brothers. Still don't think we're going to be hearing a mirrored-ball boosted variant of Echoes? Well, check out this tracklist:
1. Don Gon Do It 2. Pieces Of The People We Love 3. Get Myself Into It 4. First Gear 5. The Devil 6. Whoo! Alright - Yeah... Uh Huh 7. Calling Me 8. Down For So Long 9. The Sound 10. Live In Sunshine
So, not all of them show signs of disco freak-out, but, come on, Whoo! Alright - Yeah... Uh Huh. It calls to mind the beginning of my review of Get Myself Into It (single released August 21), but I'm not going to give into that part of me that wants to scream out, "I told you so!" I just hope they're sense of humor travels far past their song titles.
Band of Horses Live on The Late Show with David Letterman
On July 13, Band of Horses got their chance to show America why they're one of the hottest live bands around right now. Hottest as in lukewarm in the grand scale, but they're still packin' the venues. They open their performance of The Funeral powerfully with some vibrant vocals and an atmosphere that is mournful, but poignant. They present themselves as a solid band who can rock the train off the track, but who don't work towards much more. The lyrics are good, but the guitars in this guitar-driven band are less than compelling. It's difficult to innovate this brand of music, even when your sound is affecting. The sound has been built upon, deconstructed, and rearranged, all with improving technology, so at this point, you've got to get a little crazy to impress the jaded. Had The Band of Horses taken more chances, I think this Letterman performance would have exhibited something bigger, something mature and exciting. Instead, we get a great performance from an unremarkable group with an interesting vocalist (who's still as derivative as the rest of them).
For mystery to enfold the details of musicians and their bands, there must be a very meticulous engineering of anticipation for a new album. Tool are one of those bands whose obscurity sells their records. They'll print false album titles and track listings, or print nothing at all. They actually trick their millions of fans into believing, once an album does hit the stores, that it's the greatest thing since King Crimson's Discipline, because, well, it was a secret weapon, and if you learned even just one thing about it, the big big surprise would have been ruined.
The Arcade Fire seem like the right kind of band to choreograph this sort of calculating, false sense of suspense. Perhaps because the band have only reached its infancy stages, they don't have that faculty. Instead, they enforce the time honored tradition of a tickling with chunks of information. Their second LP, which won't be released for awhile, has been the subject of much chatter in the band's journal on The Arcade Fire's official site.
A few days ago Win Butler revealed that they will be producing the album themselves with the help of two engineers, one of whom worked on Animal Collective's Feels. They've been recording in a studio-furbished church and have already recorded on a Dracula-sized pipe-organ. Butler told his readers that a lot of the songs sound of the night near the ocean, and wants to do some recording, you guessed it, near the ocean.
It sounds as if the Candian bacon of inspiration has been sizzling with the band for the past month in their home of Montreal. New instruments. New settings. New ideas. I've got this feeling they're going to top themselves. I guess we'll just have to wait and hear, and not load our pants over these posts that can never satisfy our appetites for a new album.
Aired on July 15, Thom Yorke with the help of Jonny Greenwood and Nigel Godrich performed songs off of The Eraser on IFC's The Henry Rollins Show.
The Clock: Yorke is at it alone here. The electronic havoc of the album version, the one with the thick bassline that punches in the beatboxy reiteration, is replaced with an acoustic version on the performance. The community of digital sounds and pulses becomes a Zeppelin-like guitar. The speedy riff repeats under the delicate power of Yorke's distinctly Radiohead vocal melody, but when his lyrical melodies morph into the wordless ones, the song immediately becomes its most evocative. But no matter how deep Yorke finds himself in his song, he still looks like he's having a blast.
View The Clock
Cymbal Rush: This live perfomance is the stripped-down version of the sprawling digi-composition on the LP. Here, you see the radiance in the song with only its most basic components laid out for you. The hoofing rhythm and the mad-science-lab-bleeps are gone, but replaced with Jonny Greenwood's Ondes Martenot space-cries. The sound becomes much more Kid A than it does The Eraser, especially when Greenwood's playing flies over the forward-movement of the Rhodes piano. The familiarity to the Radiohead album doesn't change the fact that the chord progression is Yorke at his best, with bliss and gloom in the very same movement. Nigel Godrich stops by to lay on the drum beat.
View Cymbal Rush
Both songs are modified to a point where they are barely in reach of their original versions. They accent the minor splendor of the songwriting, but sacrifice the complex edge. This is what Yorke's audience might have needed to recognize that The Eraser's melodies and progressions aren't quite as lacking as much as its knack for details.
It’s interesting to see what happens when music video directors move over to the feature film sector.Their tendencies almost always lean towards surrealism.I like to call it the “Charlie Kaufman condition.”His scripts are brilliant and the photography in his films is mind-bendingly seductive.You can thank his friends, directors Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze for their psychedelic spectacles.Their music video résumés give them an altered sense of what looks good on film, and the outcomes are an unexpected glimpse into the mind of the characters.I have a soft spot for their work, but I’ve been waiting for something that is equally startling yet embraces honesty and unmitigated realism.
Well, it’s here, kids.Married co-directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, bring us Little Miss Sunshine.It’s their first film, but their catalog of music videos (including the award winning Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins) prove to be all that was necessary to produce a film that’s unforgettable.Little Miss Sunshine is their triumphant launch pad into what I hope will be a long and intimate relationship with the film industry.They were lucky enough to team up with screenwriter, Michael Arndt for their first movie.This is also Arndt’s first time up, but his script screams out something different.Little Miss Sunshine reads as if it’s the apex of his career.I don’t mean to say this is a Godfather or a Citizen Kane.It’s too delicate and the subject matter isn’t lavish enough.But it’s so successful because of the script’s flair for balance.Some of its scenes are emotionally heavy, but it never gets sappy in a movie that is first and foremost a comedy.It’s so successful because of its idiosyncratic wit.It keeps you laughing even through the most touching moments of the film without ever preventing you from feeling the dramatic affects.It’s so successful because of its message of the importance of family, the idea of prosperity, and subjective beauty.
Little Miss Sunshine redefines what we should expect from the road trip movie.It keeps itself away from the silly slapstickiness of National Lampoon’s Vacation and the melodrama of a movie like Thelma and Louise.The film shocks the genre’s body and revives it with uncommon and compounded characters, and a fresh, but timeless humor.It reminds us of what’s fundamental to our lives and what’s trivial to the big picture.It makes us search for the humor even in life’s tallest hurdles.When all else collapses.When your lover leaves.When your body breaks, and your career fails, you still have your family.Even when your grandfather talks about sex and his drug use, and your father imposes his 9-step program for success on you and everyone around you, you can still rely on them for warmth and support.Yeah, I know, some of you don’t have it so good, but the Hoovers don’t either.For the most part, they don’t like each other very much and each of their lives seem more shattered than the next, but when outsiders look to upset that screwy family dynamic, they stick together and grow even closer.
The script seems personal to the scriptwriter, but the audience still connects.We don’t have to have any experience with beauty pageants nor be anything like the film’s characters.All we have to be is human.We can give credit to Arndt or the Dayton/Faris team for this common ground, but we cannot forget the actors, either.Everyone here is at their best, and exhibits some of their most inspired and true to life moments in acting.Steve Carell and Paul Dano validate their mastery of the craft.They’re going to be here for awhile, and they’re not looking to settle for anything less than a deeply moving and thought provoking performance.Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, and Alan Arkin merely demonstrate that they’re nowhere near past their prime.All of the actors have an instinct for the complexities of these characters—their humor, their passions, their inhibitions, their strengths, and their shortcomings.And not only that, the resulting chemistry is convincing and comfortable.Dayton and Faris made it a point to include another actor that isn’t human at all.The family’s malfunctioning VW Bus is as much a character as the rest of them.The bus is personified as an old man on his last assignment right before retirement.He makes it through, but surprisingly so and only with handicap aids.
Dayton and Faris don’t make their presence painfully obvious with forced and busy visuals, but they’re felt right from the start of the film.The characters are introduced and even developed to an extent before words are even spoken.But their brilliant direction is really shown off during the beauty pageant scene.To capture perfectly what these competitions are like, they hired only the little girls who are actually a part of this lifestyle.The point of the scene is to disturb and fret for Olive, but the directors don’t have to yell anything out.They just sit back and allow the scene to speak for itself.The announcer is way over the top and an absolute riot, but is really the only direct jab at the whole pageant experience.The directors are some of the most thoughtful when it comes to illustrating a person’s way of life.Even if the character is completely off his rocker, the two never judge and make it nearly impossible to feel anything but compassion for these thick personalities.
Not only that, Dayton and Faris make it nearly impossible to feel anything but love for their movie.This isn’t an acquired taste.This is our collective experience on stage, and it offers a glimpse of hope for the hopeless and an appreciation for what we often take for granted.No one’s really a loser, here, and if others think you are, it’s us against them, anyway and they’re the ones who lose the battle in this one.The best part of it all, though, is that you do it all while laughing; laughing until your organs float to your feet and you walk out of the theater with a little wiggle to your step.I don’t mean to be so forceful, but it would be in your best interest to check Little Miss Sunshine out.No, stop.Just see it.We have a classic on our hands.
TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain Release
So, TV on the Radio's sophomore LP, Return to Cookie Mountain was released July 3 in the UK. Us Americans have to wait until September 12. The band is based in New York, yet we're the ones who have to wait. Why? Because we were nothing but lowly colonies? Because the UK is the world's good-taste-reps? Who knows. It's probably Interscope and a desire to build up the saliva in you and your neighbor's mouth. Either way, get ready for it. Sure, the album's all over your favorite peer-to-peer network, but it'll be so much more rewarding when you can hold the liner notes that look like that of a metalcore album in the palm of your eager hands. I'm not so patient. The album is TV on the Radio at their most inventive and their most focused. Everyone's favorite Best New Music section to hate gave it a 9.1 . Holy damn. A good review is on its way, if you refuse to trust the guy's at the Fork.
Final 'Sopranos' Season Delayed Until March, at Earliest
The hit HBO series, which was supposed to begin its final eight episodes in January '07, will have to delay the much-awaited finale until March, at the earliest, according to HBO Chairman Chris Albrecht. The delay was originally sparked by actor James Gandolfini's upcoming knee surgery, which would have pushed the series premier back a few weeks, however, this would have conflicted with NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl; a formidable ratings foe. Thus spoke Gandolfini (Albrecht, actually) and now we have no real idea of when the Sopranos will begin its final curtain call. But according to Gandolfini, "I know the story lines for the final eight, and I am absolutely positively certain that when the curtain comes down on `Sopranos,' the vast, vast, vast majority of people will say it's one of the great things of all time."
Quitters Never Win: My Quest to Give Up Smoking (Part I)
God smokes Camel Lights. This I am sure of. The creamy blend of Turkish and American tobaccos, augmented with the perfect combination of sweet nicotine and sticky tar, makes for a most luxurious momentary departure from reality. Because after all, isn't that what these cigarettes are really all about; delusion?
We, as humans, as New Yorkers, have given ourselves over to every half-assed rationalization, only to later regret it as we arise at 5:00 am to smoke a cigarette before returning to bed for another three hours. We regret it as we empty the three ashtrays that, like lighthouses to seamen, are the beacons of our addiction. We regret it as we shell out $8 for twenty cigarettes, half of which will undoubtably wind up in the hands of beggers and other passersby (our friends). But what is it exactly that we regret? Is it our weakening immune systems, our scratchy vocal chords, our lowered lung capacity, our increased heart rate, our dwindling supply of disposable income, our offensive odor? While our regret probably has much to do with all of the aforementioned, I think that it stems from something far more significant; far more insidious.
Perhaps that feeling we get when we smoke our third cigarette of the hour stems from a deeper, subconscious regretfulness, the roots of which can be traced back to our formative years, right before we started smoking. At this time (about 13-17 for most smokers) we were full of life and joy and optimism about the future. We fully believed our parents when they told us we could be whatever we wanted when we grew up (if we stayed committed). And then we went to High School, College, etc. and found a group of people who had given up on that dream already. "Life is suffering, brah. Like, the best you can hope for is to be sustainably miserable. At least we have cigarettes, dude." And although you knew that they would kill you, you lit up anyway because stoner-Phil "makes some interesting points". That was the beginning. That momentary compromise of ideals that would eventually burgeon into an entire way of life.
The regret we feel when we smoke a cigarette, it comes from our regret of that initial compromise. Because once we accepted a slightly lesser version of ourselves, one that could smoke cigarettes, we could accept any version of ourselves, no matter how obscene that person would become; slacking off, eating poorly, not exercising, not calling our grandparents, not remembering our parents birthdays, not going to that job interview, etc. etc. etc. Because the initial compromise of smoking cigarettes involves such a definitive break from the past (remember all those years you told your parents that you would "never smoke"?), any subsequent compromise is exponentially easier for us to make.
And once we come to the conclusion that we need to QUIT, we can't imagine making that change because it involves more than just quitting cigarettes. It involves a deconstruction and reformation of our entire way of life. We need to not only quit smoking but we must also quit compromising our ideals, in general. Instead of constantly accepting a lesser version of ourselves, we need to do the work that is required to build our ideal selves. And this is extremely daunting because most of us cannot even remember what that ideal self is or was. But quitting cigarettes is the first step in rediscovering the person you gave up on being. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself whenever I have a craving.
This is my third day without cigarettes. I'll keep you updated on my progress and/or the deterioration of my will.
