Ideas

Aesthetics

2/1/10

35 Rhums

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The more I turn things over in my head, the more flaws and imperfections get to the surface. I sat down to write a brief praise of 35 Rhums as a great, possibly overlooked film of 2009 but it's going all Monet on me. I mean are you still allowed to wait patiently and drop the title of your film into the dialogue? Is this just another plodding French film with a barely discernible plot line? The answer is yes.

That's what's great about it. The story is told with broad, controlled, and perhaps elegant strokes. The drone of the train and the monotony of the passing skyline, the angst of politicized youth, and the solace of home and it's routines are just a few images captured. The absences are even more telling, a mother, a budding relationship, and latent Freudian sexuality are all just shy of the lens.

I'm American. I'm usually waiting for a storyline to jump out and bash me in the fucking head. It's nice to just watch and wonder sometimes.


1/29/10

You are an Artist. Want a Cookie?

My boy Raymond Williams, bringin' it: http://tiny.cc/keYYc

The super-readable story of how it came to be that the social forms and relationships emerging out of the baby-fresh, 18th c. commercial market gave us our current conception of who the artist is - "a symbolic abstraction of a whole range of general human experience," who is also supposed to be... wait for it... happy about it!

HEY: Y
ou are an artist. You are the working stiff's romantic ideal. You are the communal projection of the generalized human values that have been endangered by industrialization. We are also not going to recognize that for shit, socially or industrially speaking. No pressure...you're special! And everybody knows it. Thank you, commercialism.

20-minute playlist #3

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The extra videos are for you to listen to the music before you actually download the mp3s. Enjoy.

Jay Reatard - See/Saw (3:01min)

It's a shame this bro is gone. This track reminds me of the type of 'underground' pop some smart marketing exec would buy up to put into a commercial for some hip new company. Except thankfully this didn't happen and the pure fun of listening to the song remains intact without any force fed images of 'happy times' clouding your vision. I want to play this song for all my friends, real loud, and I want us to party to it. Let's do it.



You Say Party! We Say Die! - Laura Palmer's Prom (4:44min)

As much this song uses big elements- Bernard Sumner-y simplistic guitars, church organ synths, fat mid-tempo drums- the whole thing is held together and in check by some sweet vocals. It's great when a group knows how to hold the best part of a song just out of reach of the listener....until midway the song breaks out for 30-40 seconds then goes right back to that restrained feeling. Then in the final minute they give you the coda and you just feel like listening to the whole song over again. As the lyrics suggest this song is about striving, needing, reaching out. If you love someone, play this for them and sing the lyrics loud and clear. Tell them how great it feels to be with them.



Yuck - Georgia (3:40min)

When it starts you might think you're in the late-80's-early-90's again. Great male/female dueling vocals. The perfect amount of fuzzy distortion and then a perfectly singable chorus about a girl named Georgia. Whoever she is, this song makes me love her too. I have no doubt this band would be great to see live. Don't be tricked by their less than appealing name though.

Jonquil - Pillow Quest (3:50min)

I really noticed this song while reading a blog about graduate school. I'm patiently waiting to hear back from grad schools and right around the 2:20 minute mark this song goes into a build up so triumphant and transcendent that I could feel the utter happiness of receiving an acceptance letter from my top choice programs. It truthfully brought me to tears. If this song can estimate the emotion I would have about feeling so blissfully accomplished then I know it's good. You feel me?



Girls - Solitude (3:45min)

It makes perfect sense that this was the b-side to Album's best track. It has all the emotional depth of Hellhole Ratrace and it's even more listenable than that epic 7 minute love letter. What I picture here is a woodsy bar, middle aged people around smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. And in the middle of it all a young couple escaping it all, slow dancing their troubles away. They're poor and have nowhere to go but some day - "I'll settle down with you".



(18:59min)

1/25/10

Garfield Minus Garfield

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The best contemporary art being made!

1/22/10

20-minute playlist #2

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The links below are to mp3s (I'm assuming everyone knows how to find bands on myspace/facebook etc). Enjoy.

Mazes - Painting of Tupac Shakur (1:20min)

I don't know much about this band. When the song starts I get excited about a chill ambient guitar song, something good for either the beginning or ending of a mixed cd I'm making for a friend. Then the guitar goes low and the drum clicks wake you up. Get ready, let's go, alright, alright, alright. How could I forget how fun rock can be?

Street Chant - Scream Walk (2:32min)

Somewhere there is a better version of this song but alas we get the 7" version. These New Zealand kids are young and they like to rock. When I listen to this which I often do I feel like I'm a young angsty teen again, minus the acne, and it's awesome. Bonus for being punk and not sounding like crap. The video version of the song is probably better than the mp3.



Pegase - Wherever You Are (4:44min)

Every time I pick up a bass guitar I play the bass line to this song, even before I had ever heard it. It's just the thing to play when you pick up a bass. I have many personal feelings about this song. I drive to AM/PM and buy 2 sparks (RIP). I get in my car and drive to downtown blasting this song. I drink the sparks and feel hopeful about the night. What more is there? Really.

Deastro - Parallelogram (2:56min)

I have no idea why this guy isn't more popular than he is. Do I have bad taste in music? I don't think so. The musical theme here is triumphant. While the indie/blog trend now is to be lo-fi, chillwave, etc, Deastro puts his music right in the front. He's not afraid of clarity or lushness. The sounds you hear are just as sonically complicated as his lyrics. This song is the soundtrack to something great happening.

jj - Let Go (3:02min)
jj - My Way (3:30min)

Pitchfork unwisely gave Let Go something like 4.4... what the hell are they thinking? Is our generation not deserving of our own Enya? While Enya was sailing away, our parents were buying tevas and ushering us through the movie aisle to get our seats for Jurassic Park. Can't jj get high on ecstacy and sample Lil Wayne while we use our respective iTechnologies? It makes perfect sense.

1/20/10

Sex Is Stupid

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I didn’t feel particularly ruttish. On the contrary, I felt rather passionless. But I also felt despondent and wanted physical attention. People get like that, right? It was probably a mistake. It was a mistake. I wasn’t attracted to this girl. Not at all. I mean, she was okay. She was cute-ish. I liked her body. I was drinking steadily.




Matt and Jesse and Neil met me at this little spot at 8:15. That itself was quite taxing. Why do plans not just make themselves? Emails turn into such goofy threads. I suck at finding spots to eat. I’m the worst. It happened though, thank god. The possibility of having no plans puts me on the verge of tears.

1/17/10

The Internet, The Past, Boundaries

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Breaking Up in a Digital Fishbowl is an article from the NYTimes that I found interesting...

Talks about how, in our modern age of super-interconnectedness (via facebook, primarily), it is near impossible to completely sever ties with someone with whom you were once intimate. It becomes that much easier to check in on that person, to "stalk" them - even if you would rather not - and to remain in a sort of purgatory that keeps a hold of that certain part of your emotional make-up.

It's hard enough to navigate social relations as it is. Boundaries become ever-blurred by this process of living in "public," as it were. How does one know what is appropriate, what is too much to ask of others, what is too much to divulge? As a rather open person, it is a constant struggle for me, personally, to know how best to censor myself for the sake of others, versus my desire to express my thoughts in order to hear them out loud, to receive feedback, etc.

1/15/10

Dream (Anticipation, soaring through air)

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I'm congregating with classmates, acquaintances and friends to watch a film. I walk out the door and people are in the hallway and I'm walking down a staircase but then I'm walking back up because people are saying that the film is actually playing in one of these rooms and I'm a little confused and disappointed but it's not a huge deal so I roll with it. My old classmates Amy and Emily are next to the door and they ask me, incredulously, if I'm on amphetamines and downers, which they know I am.


The movie we are about to watch has been hyped up quite a bit, like Where the Wild Things Are. It's a strange setting though because it's being screened in a guy's living room. The guy I recognize as the old manager to the University theater in Berkeley. Everyone takes their place: I sprawl out on a nice piece of couch and then converse with a girl, negotiating taking over the whole couch, which I end up doing.


The movie is disappointing, mainly because there are a lot of technical difficulties and people end up not really paying attention to it. So it's on to the next order of business. Something about brunch with Assumpta and Anya, perhaps. Anya is there and I walk outside and downstairs and so does she. I'm outside and I see some guys playing wall ball or something, and they seem a little sketch but not really dangerous and they ask me to throw them their ball, which I do. Then a whole cadre of people come storming down the alley and they seem really determined or something, like a mob or a marching political group maybe, which they turn out to be.


Suddenly the streets are completely flooded with people protesting something. In order to really make their voices heard, they need to climb the tallest trees and buildings, apparently which I do as well. I climb a house and then a tall thick tree on top of that house and start hollering for freedom and justice.


I am screaming and proclaiming so passionately that I begin to fly. I'm not sure how that worked... Maybe it's because the protest chants were environmental in nature, and we were using leaves to aid our message, and I started soaring with these leaves, first down to the ground, and then in a sort of hovering/propelling motion. It was like I was paddling in air, pushing myself as I went. I fluttered down a flight of stairs and started singing as well. I was amped. I flew into a big open room that felt kind of like a sweat shop, but wasn't. Neil and Assumpta were in there and I riled them up and inspired the whole room to start singing: A-a-a-men! A-a-a-men! A A men amen amen! over and over. Then I flew out. As I left, I heard Neil and Assumpta say to each other: Is there anyone else better suited for that job? No. He's the perfect person to do that.

They were talking about me as a sort of congregational spirit leader or something.


I flew out and caught the eye of some authorities, who were heavily against what I was doing. One looked at me and said - you can't fly! then picked up a rock, looked at me in the eye, and threw it at me. My intention was to catch it and throw it back at him, but I couldn't hold on. I flew on, but it was more of an exhausting hover, like a hummingbird, than a soaring. I sailed on past more threatening authority figures who were trying to take me down. I flap my arms harder, in a sort of backstroke/paddleboat motion, and swim through the sky, away from trouble, singing loudly as I do so.

20-minute playlist #1

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Summer Camp - Was It Worth It

Girl, you are young and beautiful but you're boyfriend doesn't treat you right. Your friends and your family don't understand why you're staying with this guy. One night you decide to have a bottle of wine, maybe call up your girlfriends, you all get drunk and turn the stereo on and this is the song you sing.

Millionyoung - Weak Ends

Forward drums in the beginning, trance-like synths. That eery, reverbed, echoed to hell vocal until the drums drop and then the wail of an underwater creature. If only we lived in the ocean.

You can download one of Millionyoung's eps over at his myspace page.

Still Blue Still Turning - Time is a Place

You hear music but it's far away and you just want it to come closer. You want to be wrapped up in the sounds. But it's an impossibility. It's a long track but repeatable because it never seems to satisfy you the first time through.

B Hugs - In the Lounge

You're out on your father's boat in the middle of the cape. It's that time in between night and day. The orange glow of the sun is being pushed out by the blue and black sky. You might be alone or you might there with friends, it's up to you. You feel lazy and content. But slowly you begin to dream of what is happening on the shore. You struggle between staying out or returning.

First Rate People - Girls' Night

This is the happiest you will ever be with your lover. "Everybody that you look like should send you a letter to say they're sorry they couldn't change..."

First Rate People's myspace is full of interesting things, including a link to download the song above.

1/13/10

Dream (Troublemaking, things coming easy)

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I am in a very very long line, inside a gymnasium. I am meeting some friends, like Rob and Wes, who want to go on this immense cruise/outing/sports adventure or something. I'm not sure what it is. I meet them though, and my spirits, which start quite low, get very high, very quickly. There is a teacher or organizer on a loudspeaker, and he's barking orders. He or she says something that sounds like another thing, so I shout out that other thing as a joke, which everyone finds very funny. The whole auditorium erupts in laughter. It's a Bart Simpson moment. I get in trouble. A very strict dean/principle appears and takes me out of line, forbidding me from participating in the event.


The hall empties out and I'm sitting at a folding table with the other rejects. It's like detention but not. I'm still in a good mood. I am entertaining everyone. Ben Stiller shows up, as do three other celebrities. Todd Philips is one of them, and I ask him about his career because I'm inspired by it and want to follow in his footsteps or something. I get his business card. I get Ben Stiller's too. They're sitting there, laughing with me. Some other big shots show up and it's a great day.


I feel really good, despite missing the big event. Everything works out.

1/11/10

The White Ribbon

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This is a film to see and to discuss. Michael Haneke, the brilliant director behind The Piano Teacher, Caché, Funny Games, The Seventh Continent and more, is a master of filmic craft. His ideas are always provocative, if not easily digestible and agreeable. In this one, he says it's an exploration of the mindset and childhood of Nazism. I've linked to terrific reviews from two of my favorite critics, who offer countering perspectives on this powerful film.

1/6/10

Dream (Immense beauty, magic elevators, statues in landscapes)

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I was preparing an art piece that consisted of bench-like sculptures. I walked through palace-like halls, which functioned socially and bureaucratically. A few maintenance workers and secretaries were helping me with the grunt work of assembling my piece - I led them out large, impressive glass doors, over beautiful foot bridges and onto great lawns on which concertos were playing and streams were flowing with pristine water.


Things got confusing - I lost track of my helpers and became stressed over my art piece's unveiling. I got caught up with my parents during a little symphonic event, and finally ran off to figure out what was going on. I ran back into the castle/office tower to find myself in a strange room that mimicked a Zelda: WIndwaker board/Disneyworld attraction. It had huge hologram-like, dazzling set-pieces that made me feel like Alice in Wonderland. A large black man paraded about as some sort of magician. I thought about how he wasn't a great actor/performer, and wondered how much he was paid.


I entered an elevator that resembled the magic one from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My mom was in the lobby with me. We boarded the elevator, which whisked us into the air. We flew around, looking at amazing vistas. It was like looking at a a glorious golf course with a castle in the middle of it. Each "hole", as it were, was covered in ornamental (baroque, perhaps?) furniture design and statuary. I was looking for my sculpture piece.


I was deeply hurt and saddened by the fact that these sculptures were what I was trying to build with my art project, except not quite.Finally I saw what seemed to be my piece, which consisted of two cast-iron benches sutured together back-to-back, but askew. I was devastated to see that it looked rather unspectacular.


I woke up from this dream with a heaviness from the previous night's drinking. I thought about how silly it is that I was so concerned and worried over something inconsequential while surrounded by breathtaking beauty and wonder.


1/5/10

Dream (Breathing in water, loving life)

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I'm in a swimming pool. There's a party. It's fun. I jump into the water. I guess I'm wearing clothes. I slowly sink to the bottom and sit there pretzel-style. I'm with someone. I start humming, then singing. Suddenly, this other person and I are singing loudly under water. Everyone seems to join in. I am aware that I can breathe underwater. It doesn't seem that significant, but feels really fun. After our song is finished, I surface and everyone is cheering. I feel spectacular, and everyone else does too.

12/30/09

Best Films Of 2009

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Top Ten (12) List.

Inglourious Basterds
A Tarantino masterpiece and an ode to film and filmmaking. Hilarious, tragic, and beautifully violent. Great acting, brilliant score, superbly written. Tarantino alters history. Great King Kong conversation. This film should easily win all awards in my opinion. Hands down.

Where The Wild Things Are
A Spike Jonze Masterpiece about the complexities of being a child. Visceral. Haunting. Amazing. I saw this with my mom. We both cried. Beautiful music. Karen, I love you.

Hunger (Technically 2008, but US release 2009)
True story of IRA hunger strike in the 1981. Michael Fassbinder starves himself to death for this role. The real Bobby Sands refused to eat for 66 days and died at age 27. Brutal. Powerful. I also had the privilege to see Steve McQueen's video art installation at the Venice Biannale which was amazing too.

12/26/09

Avatar

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A lot has been said for Avatar. People go on and on about its technical achievements, its budget, the 3D extravaganza, etc. I can’t say I’m convinced at all that it’s a good film. In fact, I found it boring and offensive, despite my predilections for visual beauty, peace, environmentalism and a new age consciousness of energy, all of which this movie supposedly espouses. This will be a downer of a review:


11/18/09

"Kismet"

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Music by Souvenir
Video by Keith Telfeyan

11/9/09

Bright Star

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Shy poem of artistic poverty

Everything of such delicate quality
Soft kisses, windblown curtains, moments of everlasting luxury

Thimblefuls of piety
Wings fluttered like your splendid modesty
Carefully sewn cloth, simple snacks in the grass, the safe joy of mutual vanity

Victoria, crisp grass and sun-soaked land
Hands in hair, feet deep in sand
Music floats and hearts broke and a wooden wedding band

10/10/09

Music That Moved Me When I Was 27

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Move to California - Times New Viking
Hint hint.

Testament - the Wake
This is one of my favorite songs from the past few years. Beautiful music. Beautiful lyrics. The entire tone is just perfect.

The Ghost - James Yuill
Tones of protection of and optimism that made this song a good companion for the Fall 2008 election season when everything looked rather peachy and hopeful.
I remember watching this video at the library when I was inundated with work but dreaming of freedom, and then feeling that freedom over the summer as I drove on Highway 89 along Lake Tahoe - the same song blaring from my stereo.

Plays John Cassavetes, Pt. 2 - DJ /Rupture v. Ekkehard Ehlers
Since I began listening to him in 2002, DJ /Rupture has matured a great deal. Like a marriage or friendship, I am happy to be sharing part of my (musical) life with him.

9/24/09

District 9

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District 6 was the home to many South African people in the 1970s who were demanded to vacate by the conditions of apartheid. District 9 is an allegorical reference to it, where aliens, who have stranded themselves via spacecraft over the city of Johannesburg, are segregated by the humans in a shanty town and again relocated further away.

The political and historical issues are interesting and handled with thought. Director Neil Blomkamp grew up through these very times. It shows in the film, which is genuine and entertaining. I really liked the way "documentary" and "news" footage was worked into the film language at the beginning of the movie. This was the strongest part of the 90 minutes, and drew me in. Structurally, it fades into general summertime fare with fighting and explosions, and also includes a worthless love subplot, which is either lazy writing or evidence of compromised vision. A more soulful, inward hero's quest would have worked better thematically, since it loosely parallels Kafka's Metamorphosis.

Alien movies are not about aliens. They are always about us. Extra-terrestrials probably exist. There is too much out there to suppose it improbable. But human thinkers and creators cannot tell a story about extra-terrestrials because it is simply not in the realm of our reality. We have only our imaginations, which run wonderfully wild! In Alien, a gruesome, curious creature erupts from the abdomen of a man. It is man's own subconscious demons, manifested in a stomach ache, a birth, a grotesque death. Later in that film, Sigourney Weaver discovers a fully grown alien beast inside her own chamber. It feels a lot like a Lynchian moment, because Alien and Twin Peaks, for example, both come from a similar imaginative space, wherein our own demons and fears and curiosities haunt us, and their appearance in our actual reality is delightfully frightening.

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