England

I’m heading off for England in a week. I don’t really know what to expect, the last time I was there it wasn’t such a big thing for me, I was young. But now my favorite bands are all from across the pond, from punk to britpop to even the ineptly named nu-rave.

Which brings me to a conversation I just recently had: what in the world will the 2000s be remembered for? There’s such a definitive line between the decades, but what of my generation? I hope to god it won’t be remembered for emo, which although significant due to its popularity, is a pathetic attempt to reach out to those who have long lost grunge but want the goth aesthetic. I mean look at them! Tell me they weren’t in it for the money rather than the music. Seriously.

Then again, there is “indie” rock. Although, in this age of MySpace and iPods, and where almost every music loving home owns a computer, why is it that people are accepting the same generic drivel from this tired, worn-out “genre”? Why can’t there be that one guy in his bathroom creating a unique masterpiece that actually gets recognized for it? That, would be indie.

These days, especially in England, people seem to be yearning for that ideal, so much that they just accept a tired Oasis clone as the best thing to happen since… well… Oasis, simply because they represent all things indie, which is principally their rise to fame due only to word of mouth on the internet. I speak of none other than the Arctic Monkeys. “SHUT UP! Enough already, Ballstein! Who cares about Derek Zoolander anyway? The man has only one look, for Christ’s sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They’re the same face! Doesn’t anybody notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” Just the way I feel about these cookie cutter indie bands. Does no one seem to recognize that it’s the same thing over and over again?

By the way, if anyone gets the chance, see This Is England, an amazing movie about skinheads in the 80’s. It’s a heavy one, but what an incredible portrait of the nationalism and racism during the Thatcher years partly brought about by the war in the Falkand Islands.

Concerning England, I really have no idea what I should think about going there. I remember a day when Japan was my country of worship, but I feel as if my bonds with Japan were weaker than what I feel for England. Music is now my life, and music from England has been consistently my favorite, going all the way back to the Kinks and the Beatles and up to Blur and Radiohead.

I guess leaving many of my best friends has also had a bit of an effect on me… It’s tough to think I’ll be seeing so little of the people who are closest to me in my life. But I have to accept it. I have to know that it isn’t the end of the world, and I will see them again, as hard as it is for my deluded mind to believe.

Shameless Plug

Never Mind the Bats has rekindled my love affair with the writing medium typically known as the weblog, or more colloquially known simply as a “blog.” So from here on out, you better get ready for some cogency, and more importantly, coherence, in my writing. That is… as soon as I see Hot Fuzz on Friday.

Two Kubrick Films

I’d wanted to see more Stanley Kubrick movies after being enthralled with A Clockwork Orange and horrified by distant memories of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to mention Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which not only opened my eyes to Kubrick, but introduced me to Peter Sellers, one of my favorite all time actors.

The Shining was the kind of movie that scares you more after you watch it, and besides, it was more about the atmosphere and how it made the viewer feel. But as far as the horror factor goes, Nicholson was the only one who could’ve played the Jack character, he made the film what it is. None of this is really new though, this movie’s been around forever. My only thought was that it’d be a completely different movie if the music were to be changed.

Next, a classic New York film noir. The Killing, made in 1956 (the “classic” era for film noirs), is astonishing. I think of all movies from that long ago as more akin to books than a movie by today’s standards. I say this because you get dropped right into the action, not knowing who people are or what role they play until you figure it out for yourself. This movie builds suspense like none other, not nervous suspense, but of the anxious kind. The end is not what you think it’ll be, but I haven’t seen enough film noir to determine whether this is normal.

Werner Herzog Double Feature 3/23/07 at the Aero

Yesterday was the second of four days devoted to Werner Herzog at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Showing was a new 35mm print of The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (aka Every Man for Himself and God Against All) (1974) and a 16 mm print of Heart of Glass (Herz Aus Glas) (1976). But the films weren’t the main attraction, it was Werner Herzog’s appearance in between them in which he discussed the both films as well as answered questions from the audience.

Kaspar Houser is a charming film about a foundling in 19th century Germany. It’s compelling, sweet, and the acting is brilliant. The story is based on the actual events which happened to Kaspar Houser during this same time period.

Heart of Glass, on the other hand, I was completely unprepared for. Herzog did discuss the process he went through when hypnotizing his entire cast to create a unique effect and dream-like quality of acting, but I felt that it was way too artsy. The main character, who was the only one not hypnotized during production, could see into the future. He could see the demise of this small village which relied on selling a special type of “ruby glass” to survive. The message of this film was clear, but it was not done in a way that I was prepared to sit through. I only had 5 hours of sleep the night before, this movie started at 10:30 and didn’t end until midnight, and I had just finished watching another movie just before it; I was in no mood to fully concentrate on this mind-trip. To be fair, I’m going to rent this movie and watch it again when I have the time and am fully awake.

Highlight of the night: Werner Herzog chuckling to himself while recalling the time he was shot during an interview.

Oink.me.uk

I am now part of the elite class of… oinkers? Oink.me.uk is a crazy exclusive bittorrent community. Luckily I found some very nice people to invite me in. Can you imagine downloading that new album you can’t find anywhere else on the net 2 weeks before it comes out? How about downloading it in less than 2 minutes? Now you may see the advantages of a community like this.

There has to be a catch though, right?

Of course there is, but it’s simply common courtesy as bittorrent goes, meaning you must have a fair share ratio (meaning you upload at least half as much as you download). But I haven’t found it to be an issue yet.

Damn. Life is sweet…

Update: Please don’t ask for invites, I only recieve them once I become a power user (upload 10 GB, be a member for 2 weeks, and keep a ratio of at least 1.05). I’ll announce when I become a power user on this blog, and I’ll be happy to invite people as long as they send me some kind of proof that they won’t cheat and that they’ll maintain a good ratio.

Movies, iTunes, iPod

Movies to see:
Science of Sleep
Idiocracy

The recent update to Apple’s iTunes is a huge improvement, despite the occasional bugs, especially on the iPod front. It not only is much more visually rich and attractive, but the syncing is significantly easier to use, not to mention intuitive.

I don’t know about the rest of the population, but a 60 GB iPod simply is not sufficient for an 86.68 GB song collection, and this has been very limiting. I use to manually manage my songs and videos, which was a huge pain if anyone’s ever tried it. Essentially, it entailed dragging every single file I wanted to be on the iPod from the Library to the iPod Library. It worked fine for a while, but then it started to become annoying when I wanted to change the tags for some of the songs or videos, and noticed that, since the computer and iPod don’t sync, I’d have to do the same change twice, once on the computer and once on the iPod. An incredible waste of time to say the least.

However, I recently had an epiphany. I realized that if I put all the music and video I wanted on my iPod into a playlist on my computer, I could have iTunes simply sync that playlist every time I connected. This meant that I could make sure everything was up to date (tags, play count syncing, etc.) on both my iPod and computer. Not only that but now if I want to add a new CD to my iPod all I have to do is drag it to the “Master” playlist, and the next time I hook up my iPod, it’ll be synced automatically.

Now I know this may seem like a very obvious solution, but if I can help just one more troubled soul out there, I could go to sleep proud that I made a difference in the world, albeit a very superficial one.

On games and movies for the iPod:

I’ve just bought Vortex on the iTunes Music Store (they finally dropped the ‘Music’ after about a year of offering TV shows in addition to songs) after adoring Zuma while bored on the bus. Both of these are games designed specifically for use on only the iPod 5th generation (i.e. video enabled), and they are gorgeous. The graphics are great, the gameplay is fantastic, and the fact that you can save your progress was a stroke of genius on the designer’s part. So if you have a video iPod, consider shelling out the $4.99 for Vortex or Zuma (the only ones I can vouch for as amazing).

I’ve also just bought my first movie from the iTunes Store, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. As mentioned in the Stevenote on Tuesday, all video on the iTunes Store will be 4 times the size of what was previously offered, and on my 17 inch monitor, it doesn’t look half bad, but on the iPod it looks fantastic. I’ve downloaded my share of movies and converted them to iPod format, but none ever looked as good as this did.

Sidenote: Saw The Black Keys at Amoeba (got a pin and a poster, which I ripped off the wall and had them sign), then Ima Robot at Safari Sam’s on Tuesday (another poster, no signage though). New club, pretty nice, but no air conditioning. What were these people thinking when they built this place? Pictures will be posted as soon as disposable camera film is developed.

Life is Troubling

I’m beginning to find life troubling. I look at the fake smiles and the wanted words, but all I can hear or see is disappointment because we can’t speak scripted lines that are perfect for each and every moment.

Maybe this is why we admire movies and music and books so much. Everything in them is exactly how we want them to be. There are no unintentional stumbles, no looks of disappointment when the realization hits that there was something infinitely better to say in that moment of time.

Maybe that’s my real attraction to music. I listen to the rhythms and the lyrics and am mystified by how profoundly they affect me. How they can convey such a deep sense of meaning? I want nothing more than to bask in its perfection. I could never duplicate my favorite song; it may sound exactly the same in every way, but it wouldn’t be the original. Or, at least, this is how I used to view much of the entertainment I enjoy.

Looking at more of the independent or alternative entertainments allow me to experience something that is clearly original, but is definitive because it can be reproduced. There is no mysticism about it, it feels natural and can be connected to.

But at the same time I look back and think to how I could still never duplicate, let alone attempt to sound like, some of the musicians I’ve heard in my life.

I’m stuck at a point where I can’t exactly tell what I’m supposed to follow. I don’t know exactly where my life will take me. I have some vague idea that I’ll be somewhere still alive, but it is neither here nor there.

Artists create masterpieces. But where does the inspiration come from? How does one sit down and create without stopping themselves and worrying that others will ruin the feeling that it evokes in the creator? All of my art has been wiped away because I was scared. Who knows who might have liked it, who knows whether I can even remember what it was. But it’s something I need to overcome because I know it will play an enormous role in my life.

I speak of this because my generation has become divided, much like generations before. There are the psuedo-thinkers and the outside-the-box thinkers. The pseudo-thinkers genuinely feel like they have something going on in their head, but nothing of any sense comes out. They stick together and feed off of each other’s knowledge, refusing to find out anything new for themselves. They alienate intentionally. They have their own… unique… tastes.

The outside-the-box thinkers are the revolution. They are the ones who look in between the cracks and discover something to keep for themselves. If their discovery gets out in the open, they leave it high and dry. They create, they move on. Nothing lasts for them. The little known ones are the ones to keep. “Weird for the sake of being weird” rather than “Weird for the sake of fashion.”

The dichotomy is not quite as clear until after the fact; maybe in a decade or so. But the side which draws to you is obvious. Why? Because you’re reading this blog.

I’m with you.

Update: I realize how this sounds, and yes, it was written at 3 am in a painkiller induced stupor.

Swimming with Sharks

Swimming with Sharks is an amazing movie about what lengths people will go to in order to get what they really want from life. Kevin Spacey plays a tyrannical boss to a new assistant (Frank Whaley) whose trying to make it in the movie industry.

Black comedy/drama, Kevin Spacey, great story, what more could I ask for.