Yay for bad movies based on good books!

Things that bother me: The new Nicolas Cage movie Next.

When I went and saw Grindhouse a few weeks ago, the movie began with a trailer for Next. Sadly, unlike many of the trailers shown in conjunction with Grindhouse, this one was for a movie that's actually being made. Normally, I wouldn't really mind another stupid action movie, but this trailer said that the movie was "BASED ON A STORY BY PHILIP K. DICK". Since I'm something of a Philip K. Dick fan, I tried to think of a story that features a hero who can see the future stopping a nuclear bomb. The only one that came to mind was a story called "The Golden Man" but I couldn't imagine the two being linked. I don't want to ruin the story of "The Golden Man" (which I encourage everyone to read), but I will say that the only thing they seemed to have in common was the seeing into the future thing. Of course, it turns out that Next is based on "The Golden Man".

Why can't filmmakers just let Dick's stories be, like Linklater did with A Scanner Darkly, or at least try to create something that is true to the original, like Spielberg did with Minority Report? Why must some of the most thought-provoking short stories written in the past 50 years be turned into mindless action movies? The only real solace is that it can't possibly be worse than the tragically awful Paycheck. I guess there's always that.

RANT=OVER.

Keeping Track of Culture

So I've decided to start a list, specifically a list of all the "cultural units" (for lack of a better term) that I come into contact with. What that means is just that I'm gonna start making a list of all the books I read, movies and TV shows I watch, concerts I attend, etc. I'm kind of on the fence about music... I think I'm going to use albums but not songs. Songs are just too ubiquitous to be doable. Anyway, the plan is to do it for a year, starting now. So, without further ado, here we go (starting a couple of weeks ago, so I actually have things to list):

COMIC BOOKS:
-Astro City: Life in the Big City
-Fables, Vol. 1
-DMZ: On the Ground

TV SHOWS:
-Drive (though it's apparently been canceled already...)
-Firefly (I've been re-watching it)
-Battlestar Galactica (finishing up season two, which will complete the whole series)

MOVIES:
-Grindhouse

MUSIC:
-LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver

I think that's all for now.

Filesharing is Caring

note: this post is theoretically crossposted on the Columbia Spectator's Steps Blog, but since that site is down and the post probably won't go up for a month anyway, I've decided to put it here as well. Enjoy.

Ever since I saw Grindhouse on Friday, I’ve had an unhealthy obsession with the soundtrack, and specifically a song called “Chick Habit” by April March. It’s the sort of song that makes you want to run out and play it for everyone you know, or, in this day and age, the sort of song that makes you want to sign on to AIM and send it every single person on your buddy list. Sadly, I can’t. A combination of desperation, laziness, and an iTunes gift certificate has left my album with a veritable mark of Cain, also known as copy protection.
We all know the two main sides in the music piracy fight: those who argue, validly, that downloading music is stealing and those who argue, with less legal validity but roughly equivalent philosophical validity, that they should be able to get music for free. The sides make the issue into a cops and robbers battle. But in setting up the debate in this way, I think an important aspect of filesharing has been lost in the shuffle; I’m referring to the sharing part.
It seems to me that sharing is a good thing. When people make the argument that stealing music exposes them to new artists whose albums they will then go out and purchase, it seems pretty flimsy, but who can deny the power of sharing in its ability to expose people to new things? I don’t know how many albums I’ve bought based on a song I’ve stolen, but I know I’ve been introduced to many of my favorite bands by friends who gave me their music. Sometimes, the music came in the form of a mix CD. More recently, we’ve taken to using AIM. It’s sharing in a very pure sense. I hear something awesome and I just need to have my friends hear it.
Since the radio taping scare back in the day, nobody’s really been too concerned about mix tapes and CDs, and I wonder if, when everything’s said and done, filesharing is really all that different a phenomenon. Is it really that different than, say, me lending my friend a book that I really enjoyed. Sure, we can’t both have the same book at the same time, but is my friend going to buy that book? Unlikely. If I open his eyes to an author he really likes, though, he’s pretty likely to buy the author’s next book. Perhaps the key to winning the music copyright war is just reframing the debate. Maybe all we need is to remind everyone that filesharing is not just using some program to find some anonymous dude in Seoul who has the newest Kelly Clarkson single. Perhaps that’s filesharing at its worst, but at its best, filesharing is about sharing, sharing the things you like with people you care about. Call me immoral, but I can’t see the crime in that.

(I’m actually sort of lucky, in that April March is one artist who is considerate enough to share her music with the public. You can hear the song on her myspace page.)

Frank Bruni <3 my restaurant!

Three Stars!

Oh hey, remember when I used to write in this thing? That was pretty awesome right? Well, quit your moping cause I'm back!

The short story is that I really had no incentive to use this blog because I'd tell everyone everything that happened in my life within a couple hours either in person or on AIM. But those were better, simpler times. In these new Dark Ages it seems that approximately all of my friends have gone away to foreign lands to "study" abroad, which really means they plan to have lots of lots of crazy adventures in foreign countries and then write about them in their fancy new Abroad blogs.

Well, guess what? I can have crazy adventures right here in New York City! Yeah! WHAT NOW?

I'm so lonely.

(Postscript: I'm not actually that lonely)

Movin' on Up

So my Blogger Information is out of date, since I no longer work at the Shake Shack. I've moved up to a different restaurant in the Union Square Hospitality Group and am now a reservationist at Eleven Madison Park, which is an upscale American restaurant with a French twist... or something like that. In any case, expect maybe an entry about work at some point, possibly even a couple. In the meantime, I'm just going to point out the Foodie named Eleven Madison one of its best of 2006. If you've got 76 dollars to throw down on a fancy meal, I highly suggest you come visit. Be sure to call your reservation in, though, on the off chance that I answer it and you can say hi.

Why is it that the first thing I do whenever AIM stops working is attempt to go on AIM and complain to somebody about how it's not working?

Here's to movies that apparently live up to the hype!

Woo! Casino Royale got good reviews! Honestly, I kinda half-expected it to flop under the weight of all the hype I'd been giving it. Yes, just my hype.

(What's sort of depressing is that I have at least three long entries I need to write and instead I'm doing this pitiful excuse for a post. Consider it a warm-up. I've been slacking and need to get back in the game.)

I Can Tell That We Are Going to be Friends

There is a God!

Dude! THE PIXIES ARE GOING TO MAKE A NEW ALBUM!

Spank Rock!

So I didn't even catch the name of the opening band at the Beck show, but apparently they're called Spank Rock. In my rush to get to class on time, I think I might have accidentally called them awful, but really that was just a function of the terrible sound quality and such; I could see how they'd be really fun. In any case, the point of this entry is that I had some cool pictures from that portion of the concert, and I've been lazy about putting them up. So here they are.


(click the pictures for bigger versions...)

Six word stories. Some are good.

WIRED has a really cool feature in this month's issue. They asked science-ficiton, fantasy, and horror writers from a variety of fields to write short stories... REALLY short stories. I'm talking six words. Some of them are really cool; some are sort of eh. It's an interesting read regardless. My personal favorite is Alan Moore's. It reads:

"Machine. Unexpectedly, I'd invented a time"

Genius.

Feel free to write your own in the comments.

It's a Beckstravaganza!

Okay, I've lost this entry twice... but third time's a charm, right?



So I went to the Theater at Madison Square Garden this past wednesday to see Beck. For those of you who haven't read my archives yet (you really have no excuse since there are only about ten entries), I'm a big Beck fan and he did not disappoint. Beck's music always shows a flair for the dramatic and unexpected; it's full of subtle (or not-so-subtle) absurdity and a wry sense of humor. I'm happy to say all of these qualities are only accentuated in his live show.

It all began with puppets. Yes, puppets. The center of the stage behind Beck's microphone was dominated by a minature recreation of the stage in its entirety, including a minature recreation of the miniature recreation of the stage. Reason number 285 to love Beck: his live shows feature recursion. In any case, the show began with a puppet version of the band rocking out to Loser. A couple of cameramen filmed the puppets, projecting closeups onto the sort of screen that usually shows closeups of, y'know, the actual band. As the first chorus kicked in, Beck and his band entered, dressed exactly like the puppets, and, without missing a beat, took the song over starting with the second verse. Needless to say, it was a really badass moment. The cameramen didn't start filming the band, though, and for the rest of the show (with one exception that I'll get to later), continued to show the puppets up on the screen. The puppeteers even switched the puppet band's instruments to reflect what the real band was playing as they played the set.

And man, what a killer set. Beck drew heavily from Odelay, Sea Change, Guero, and (GASP!) The Information. I would have liked a little bit more from Midnite Vultures, but I can't really complain. Specifically, the show gave me a new appreciation for a lot of the songs from Sea Change. They worked really well in conjunction with his new songs since The Information's mood is similar to Sea Change's in spite of the faster and rockier/hip-hoppier songs. There was one song I was surprised they didn't play, namely Cellphone's Dead. It's the new single, and the Michel Gondry-helmed video'd just come out that day. I thought it was a sure thing. Oh well. One nifty part of the set was when one of the puppets left the puppet-stage with a handheld camera (Yes, the puppet had a camera!) and filmed the actual band.


Towards the end of the show, after a very chill version of Tropicalia, the band exited the stage, leaving Beck alone with an acoustic guitar. He asked the audience for requests, but seemingly ignored their cries of "Nobody's Fault!" and "Nicotine and Gravy!" (though how he could have played that one acoustic is beyond me) and played a solo version of the Flaming Lips' Do you Realize. As he did so, the stage technicians rolled a dinner table onto the stage, complete with glasses, silverware, and a bowl of fruit. The band proceeded to sit down and eat while Beck played. (So did the puppet band, amusingly.) Beck then started playing The Golden Age, which was pretty cool acoustic, but infinitely cooler when the band began playing the chime and percussion parts with the glasses and silverware. A couple of the guys picked up pieces of fruit from the bowl and revealed that they were actually shakers. All of a sudden, Beck's acoustic show was accompanied by a full band playing with what amounted to found sounds. They played another song at the table, which I didn't know but is apparently called Clap Hands, and on that one even Beck got into it, playing the spoons a bit.

The whole band left the stage after dinner and we were treated to a goofy video of the puppet band visiting various places in New York and trashing their hotel room. It was a mildly entertaining diversion that was really only there to allow Beck time to get into costume for the encore, which was a recreation of the homemade video he made for 1000BPM. Beck came out dressed as a bear and did the raps, while the band danced around hilariously.


A couple other random things:
-Beck had a make-your-own shirt station, playing off the same idea as his make-your-own album cover concept. The shirts were pretty cheap for concert shirts and came out looking really cool. I'll post a picture of mine soon.
-The opening band was really awful, but also really amusing. I took some cool pictures of them, but those are also for a different post.
-If you wanna get a sense of what the stuff I talked about was actually like, here's a video of a different concert, but one where he did pretty much all the same awesome things.

Look it up in the Becktionary as a synonym for awesome

Beck's newest album, The Information, has one of the coolest gimmicks in the history of albums. In case you haven't heard, each copy of the album has a blank album cover and a (somewhat) unique set of stickers, allowing listeners to create their own covers for the CD. It's pretty nifty. It's ironic, though, that he chose to use this idea on this particular album.

Here's the thing : Beck has made a career out of being eclectic, no matter what level you look at. His albums have cycled through all sorts of different personas: Beck the anti-folk blues man, Beck the crazy sampler with two turntables and a microphone, Beck the funky MC in charge of starting the party, Beck the depressed singer-songwriter pining for lost love. But he doesn't stop there, each album shifts styles on a song by song basis. Midnite Vultures moves between funk, dance rock, electronica, slow jams; Sea Change has solo acoustic songs right next to wacky string arrangements. Even Beck's songs frequently feature styles clashing together. The point of these descriptions is to suggest that Beck has always been the sort of artist who let his listeners create their own Beck. Whatever you like, there's at least one Beck song for you, and probably a whole album, not to mention the other songs that might take what you like and turn it into something totally different you didn't even realize you could like.

The Information is not like other Beck albums. Unlike the others, which somehow create cohesion out of an "everything but the kitchen sink" approach, The Information is a coherent album on its own. It can be characterized by deep bass, prominentand generally driving drum beats, dense yet spacey arrangements, and a general dark feel. It sounds great on headphones (and not so great on crappy laptop speakers, at least according to Vespe). Most of the reviews I've read, though, seem to have faulted Beck for this new style or, as many reviewers have framed it, old style. The Spectator's review suggests that "Beck needs to find a niche he hasn’t filled before," and Pitchfork says, "the familiar musical settings are something of a letdown from an artist famous for complete reinvention." To me, this seems like a major case of missing the point. I am a huge Beck fan, and I love the way he frequently tries on new musical costumes as much as anyone, but that's not what really keeps me listening to him. It sounds obvious, but apparently it isn't; what brings me back to Beck time after time is the really good music. And the Information is really good music.

Beck begins with "Elevator Music," a groovy song in the truest sense of the word. In some ways, it's a foreshadowing of things to come. This is an album about killer basslines; I was going to list the songs with awesome bass parts, but I realized it could easily be half the album. (Maybe that's why the album sounds bad on laptop speakers?) But don't worry, this is Beck so there's still enough variety to keep things exciting, whether it's the Rolling Stones piano line in "Strange Apparition", the synthy introversion of "Movie Theme", or the, well, I don't even know how to describe the wackiness that is "1000 BPM". Tying the whole thing together is a set of hooks so offbeat and catchy you'll be singing them for weeks a still won't feel weird about doing it in front of your hipster friends. I'm partial to "Think I'm in Love"s simple refrain of "Think I'm in love but it makes me kind of nervous to say so," but there's something for everyone.

In conclusion, don't be fooled. Beck doesn't need to pick some new genre out of a hat in order to make an album that's smart, intriguing, funny, and simply great album. He doesn't need to be whatever you want him to be in order to make an album that you'll like; he does just fine being himself. If you don't believe me, buy the album and let it speak for itself. At the very least, you'll have some fun with the stickers.

BEST. CONTEST. EVER.

I'm sure at some point in your life you've thought to yourself, "Man, things would be a lot better if [insert fictional character here] were real and held a prominent public office." Well, this is your chance to help the campaign. All you have to do is create poster, put it up, and take a picture. (Note: the previous statement is a slight simplification of the process, please see the link for complete details and also funny examples.) So get on it... the election is only a month away!

And to preempt you (whoever you are): No, John Stewart is NOT a fictional character.