Thunderhorse

My friend Sam and I stayed up late playing Guitar Hero. He is the greatest player I've ever seen. Sam plays a little guitar (for reals) and he's one of the best gamers I know...so I shouldn't be surprised...but I look like a whimp compared to him (he's over 1/2 done with the game on hard). Watching him play was insane.

I'm not worthy...I'm not worthy...

Guitar Hero Video Blog

Last night sucked. It started out cool enough, I got a call from my Mom saying my Federal Tax Refund was at the house...for more than I was expecting ($700+). To celebrate, I went out to Best Buy and picked up GUITAR HERO II for my XBOX 360. Came home, plugged it in...and it wouldn't play!!! I need to update my system. Well, that sucked because I can't do that here (my dorm Internet connection only allows one computer to use it...my laptop). SO, with about 1/2 an hour before my movie TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER was supposed to start, me and Sam (a guy from the dorms) decided to leave. Then we heard about a "protest" over at another residence hall (against the new, lame, security measures). So we went to check that out and it made us late. We got to the Tivoli 2 minutes into the movie. But I didn't have enough money for a meter...so we missed the movie (by the time we could have found free parking and walked to the theatre we would have missed the first 15-20 minutes and I just don't do that). So, we back to the halls and made fun of the "protesters" (who were lame...I kept trying to rile them up into a riot, but they were just a bunch of bitchy co-eds...no fight in 'em). So I missed the movie (Josh if you read this...and you went...I'm sorry we didn't make it, and I hope the movie was good).

With no bloodshed in sight, I went over to Leah's (in the hopes of getting my 360 online to update it). But that was turned out to be a big pain, her Internet tower thingy is up in her mom's room...and my 360 isn't wireless out of the box (yes, the Wii is better Leah). So I had to wait till this morning. It sucked, we had to "borrow" her mom's small-ish TV and carry it into her study...then dig through her piles of crap (her mom's a lawyer so there was a shite load of paper). In the end, I got it updated and we've been playing Guitar Hero all day!! It rules. I bought a Ibenez acoustic guitar back in Junior College, and I took a few lessons...but I was too busy (read: lazy) to learn how. BUT this game lets me live out my poser fantasy of being a rock God. I nearly shit myself when I unlocked the Stones "Can't You Hear Me Knocking." Damn good fun. If you're too poor to buy it, go to an electronics store and take the demo for a test drive...too much fun.

Life in Cartoon Motion

Before I get into my main review, I think I need to be up front about my feelings for Freddie Mercury: I love Freddie Mercury. I have no problem saying that, either. I can still remember watching the Behind the Music episode about Queen with my little sister Amber. We both sat there holding (choking on) our tears. Not because his life was tragic (it was in some ways) but rather because of the sheer bravery he fought his AIDS--and how, on his deathbed still poured his heart and soul into his music. No one will ever, could ever replace Freddie here on Earth. His talent, much like Lennon, Shakespeare, Einstein, etc. CAN NEVER be matched. When those people died, that was it. People can imitate, maybe come close but never THAT close to what those people were/had. Just like there are writers influenced by Faulkner and Hemingway, musicians in the pop world are influenced by The Beatles. Bands like Oasis come along, try to fill the gap left behind by their heroes...and fail. They fail, but boy is it a beautiful failure. Queen, similarly, is one of those mega-bands that many artists owe their entire fucking careers to. Bands (I love) like Jellyfish and the more recent/mainstream The Darkness are merely imitations of the original.

Okay, so now that I got that out of my system...let's talk about Mika. Also know as Michael Holbrook Penniman, Mika is a Lebanese-born London-based singer. His debut album, LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION is just like the title suggest: it's big, flamboyant, poppy, and gay as hell. Combine that with the fact that he sounds (a little) like Freddie Mercury and BOOM...you have your Queen comparisons. The album opens with the club track "Grace Kelly," where Mika informs us that he wishes he was like the famous actress of yesterday. It's a good song (reminds me of the Dogs Die in Hot Cars track "Paul Newman's Eyes"). Despite the obvious homosexual-ness of the track, I dug it. Then the second track "Lollipop"came on...and I got nervous. This song makes Scissor Sisters sound like Metallica...Elton John (at his gayest) looks like Kid Rock compared to this song. This song is so gay, it has to be heard to be believed. I loved it...in a kitsch sort of way. Still not quite very Queen-ish though, other than the vocals (which only bare a slight sonic resemblance). "Love Today" the fourth track is probably the most Queen-ish track. It's good, with it's "Bohemian Rhapsody" like backing track and "Radio Ga-Ga" rap-like delivery. The falsetto, Mercury's trademark is also heavily utilized here. It reminds me of second Darkness album. A majority of the tracks sound more Bee-Gees than Queen, though. "Relax (Take it Easy)" sounds like a lost track from SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. Not a bad thing, just not exactly my bag baby.

I liked the story song "Billy Brown" (about a straight guy who leaves his wife for a gay lover) it was reminiscent of "My Best Friend" or "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy." But the 'biggest' Queen tribute (that was a pun) is the song "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" which...despite agreeing with the sentiment...I have to say I didn't care for because it felt like too much of a rip off of the superior "Fat Bottom Girls." Up until this song I thought Mika was just wearing his influences on his sleeve--at this point it turned into a rip off game. This is a hard line to walk, I understand. Maybe as a B-side it could have worked...but to put this track on his debut, with all the Queen comparisons seems tacky (although, Mika could be making fun of people like me, how sit around comparing new artists to old ones). Mika's an artist, and he can do whatever he wants (that the record company feels will sell records) but the idea of a generation of people growing up with this song of plus-sized empowerment (rather than "Fat Bottomed Girls") makes me kinda sad. The rest of the album's tracks are pretty bland, generic pop that I have trouble recalling (and I just listened to the record) much less write about.

Getting off the Queen-rant...LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION is well produced, glossy pop music. Easy to listen to, easier to dance to. Mika's playful and despite the aggressively gay "Lollipop" I didn't feel embarrassed playing it loud in my dorm room (for all to hear). Frankly, I've had worse played (thank you Leah). I think that if Mika had done a little more original stuff (or done a cover album of old disco songs) I'd have liked his album more. This album feels like half a step into the spotlight...like maybe Mika's not quite ready for prime time. I think the second album will be better (which runs contrary to the usual 'sophomore album blues'). In the end, Mika seems like one of those artists who pops up, just barely missing large fame here in the States, but a few years later appears at the top of Australian or Holland's music charts. I could be wrong, but I bet you'll have to import his next album. According to Wikipedia, LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION made it to number one in the UK (and a bunch of other countries not America).

An interesting, slightly-silly dance-pop record. More girl power than power pop.

Jason gives LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION a C.

As a side note, I think the album has really cool artwork (which is always important). Also, for full disclosure...this CD was "given" to me by a dorm-mate...had I bought this CD I probably would have been more dissapointed. It's just not good enough to spend my non-existant dollars.

Day Off with KILL BILL & Tarantino

So today was a "fun" (read: wasted) day. I went to bed at 3:00AM woke up at 7:00...made it to my first (and only) class--and it was canceled. This is the fifth time this semester (that's over two weeks) that this class, my Linguistics class, has not met. My teacher is a spaz, if you remember I've complained about her before. It's a senior (4000) level class...and boy does it feel like junior college. We take forever to get started, then once we're going she lets the class take over/monopolize the lecture. I haven't learned a single thing in this class...I bought the book, but I don't touch it. I simply don't care, and frankly--it's my teacher's fault. She doesn't think it's important, so I don't think it's important.

Anyway, I wandered over to the student center (MSC) and did some homework. My other English class is really taking off!! We had to read the first two chapters of THE CRYING OF LOT 49 (by my man, Thomas Pynchon). It's about a woman whose first husband (a millionaire) dies and names her as the executor of his estate. I'm only two chapters in, but it's already really freaky. So I did that, and then I worked on some Spanish homework (because you have to do it sometime) then I went back to the dorm. Just in time, too. It started raining really, really hard. There was hail and lightning, the whole bit.

With everything done at 11:00AM I was about to waste my day wandering the internet (or the like) when I got a notion to watch KILL BILL. The whole thing (both two hour movies VOL. 1&2). So I sat down and watched the first one. Now, I'm consider myself to be a pretty big Tarantino fan...but for some reason I forgot all about the KILL BILL movies. They're fantastic artifacts of filmmaking. As a somewhat creative person (who can't decide what he wants to do) I have always admired people who literally do it all. Quentin Tarantino, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplain...these directors wrote (in Tarantino's case writes), directed, produced, and sometimes starred in their own films. Fantastic. Have all your wildest dreams come true, do it all. What better preson to make your vision come to life...than you!

KILL BILL is epic, eye-poping cinema. Sure, it's bloody and violent...but so is the Bible (note I am not comparing KILL BILL directly to the Bible). I like Tarantino because the world's he constructs are always complete, living, breathing things. The characters in his movies (while not "realistic") are much more life like than anything else on the screen today (or ever). I'm so stoked about his latest project GRINDHOUSE (which opens on Friday, and I am SO going to be there, right in the front row!). People say that movies are a dying thing...which it is...but Tarantino's new films are always an event for me. I used to go on opening night for almost every movie I wanted to see--but now I take my time getting there. Maybe it's because he makes so few movies...maybe that's what makes it so special. Anyway, his movies always have so much flair! Seeing them on the big screen is almost the only way they can truly be enjoyed.

Case in point--KILL BILL (vol. 2). In a pivital scene, the heroine "The Bride" is buried alive. As her captors nail the wooden coffin shut, the light fades on the screen. All that is left, after the final nail is driven into the hard wood...is black. Then we hear The Bride panting, sobbing...as the booming sound of dirt rains down on the outside of the coffin. NOW, when I saw this for the first time, I was in a dark movie theatre. It was a mid-afternoon show so there was hardly anyone there (I think it might have been the first show on the first day Vol. 2 came out). Sitting next to me was my good friends "no" and "one." I'd come alone because, well frankly...I didn't know too many people who were into movies like KILL BILL (my little sister Amber became a convert once she saw Vol. 1 on DVD...we both saw Vol. 2 in the theatres together a few days later). Anyway, the point of my story originally was...I was all alone, sitting in pitch black dark...just like the main character. For a few seconds, I got a taste of the horror of being buried alive. It was fantastic (and really fucked up).

Tonight, after Leah got off work, we sat in my dorm and ate dinner. I popped in Vol. 2, and it wasn't nearly the same as it was sitting in the inky blackness of a darkened movie house. Tarantino's magic works, but it works best in the theatre. Which is why on Friday night I'm going to get the crap scared out of me at GRINDHOUSE. If you haven't heard, GRINDHOUSE is a homage to the B (C?) movies of the 1970's--the hyper violent, sexy, girtty, cheaply made slasher/horror pics. Tarantino cut his teeth on this shit and has faithfully recreated the feel of going to a crappy 70's movie house. It's actually two pictures in one--the first is directed by Tarantino's long time friend Robert Rodriguez, who some of you may remember directed SIN CITY (a film I saw because it was rumored that Tarantino had directed a scene (he had...all two minutes of it) and that it carried the familar Tarantino thumbprint). His half of GRINDHOUSE is called "Planet Terror" and is about crazy zombies. Tarantino's half is called "Death Proof" and is about a stunt man who's car makes him (while he's driving it) death proof. In between the two flicks are going to be fake trailers made by other directors (Eli Roth of HOSTEL fame and Rob Zombie to name two). All of this footage has been aged and tarnished and scratched to make it look old. I've heard too, that "Planet Terror" has some scenes that are "missing" and that this effect (quite common in the old days) helps to heighten the tension (crap! what happened! did our hero die? what's going on? what did we miss!). Adding to the fun are the crap load of cameos (two words: Nic Cage (as Fu-Man Chu in Nazi/werewolf gag trailer shown in between the two films).


I'm a geek, I can't help it. This film, this entire amazing package is the kind of thing I wish I could do. Tarantino is one of those directors that makes me wish I'd had rich parents who could have sent me to film school. Spielberg used to do it for me...but then he went all WWII on me and well...he's kinda lost it for me (though I always make a point to see him work). Another movie I'm excitd about seeing is TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER. I'm going with some dorm people on Thursday night to the Tivoli to see it (last showing before it heads off to that DVD press in the sky).

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER is a Thai action/western from 2000. Go GOOGLE the tailer...it looks amazing, the entire movie is all pastel and surreal...I'll probably go see that and come home and post a mini-review of that one, but expect a FULL review of GRINDHOUSE late Friday/early Saturday.

"Ruby"

A good song, and a good video:

Kaiser Chiefs "Ruby"

Yours Truly, Angry Mob

First, let me say that at $7.99 the new Kaiser Chiefs album is a steal. Buy it for "Ruby" (the lead song and single) and you've gotten your moneys worth. It's a three and a half minute piece of pop I liken to Pop Rocks. Remember Pop Rocks? Those sharp candy shards that pop and fizz in your mouth? After a few seconds it vanishes in your mouth, leaving only a sticky film. That's how "Ruby" is. Great, short, jumpy and sweet. I first heard the song on Little Steven's Underground Garage (it was Steven's Coolest Song in the World one week a month or so ago). It's a great song, and when I heard it I was stoked to hear the rest of the new record.

The Kaiser Chiefs are a British new-wave/pop outfit that burst onto the scene a few years back with their critically hailed debut EMPLOYMENT. That first record was fantastic, start to finish. A couple of years later (I think it came out in 2003 or 2004) I still find myself listening to it (particularly at the gym). Made famous by "I Predict a Riot" and "Modern Way" (now being used by FOX to shill their new car/action show DRIVE).

Like many bands, though, the Kaiser Chiefs are suffering from the dreaded "sophomore slump." Is YOURS TRULY, ANGRY MOB a bad record? No. Is it as good from start to finish as EMPLOYMENT? No. Is it enjoyable? Hell yes. Besides the single "Ruby" there are a handful of really great cuts. The Hot Hot Heat-ish rave up "Highroyds" stands out with its synth heavy sound and "ooh"-ing backing vocals. Another track, the high energy "Thank You Very Much" recalls the previous records opener "Everyday I Love Less and Less." Likewise the excellently titled "Love is Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)" is a thrilling tale of modern love (and all it's woes). In fact, if I had to say what the records overall theme was...I'd say it was broken love. Not very surprising considering that, as XTC would say, "This is Pop!" But still, the more I age and move away from my teenage years...the more I tire of trivial, juvenile love. The last album seemed to tackle more than just Top 40 love. Not so much for YOURS TRULY, ANGRY MOB.

Many reviews I've read also criticize the band for having a lot of repetition in their lyrics. Songs like "I Can Do it Without You" and "Ruby" could fall into this category. Basically, if you can read those song titles, you could sing 70-85% of those songs. Is this a problem? No, the Kaiser Chiefs don't sit there and pretend to be Dylan. This is a simple, rock record--I find the somewhat simple lyrics to be primal (something all the best rock is guilty of being). Good rock is a battle cry, rallying the troops of humanity against the forces of the mediocre and pedestrian. No song proves this point better than the excellent "Everything is Average Nowadays" (which is a ranting about the sameness of modern life...it's a great bit of BLACK SEA-era Andy Partridge). Rally cries don't have to tell a complex story. Although, this complaint maybe the Chiefs own fault...their first single on the last record made use of the word "thee" which may have lead some critics to think the band was trying to be "intellectual." Whatever.

Some of the songs are weak ("My Kind of Guy" stands out) but suffer more of a case of blandness rather than being unsustainable. A few of the tracks are strange and jar the listener only because they don't seem to fit with the rest of the record. A good example of this is "Learnt My Lesson Well" which opens like a Billy Joel piano-man type song...which isn't bad...but the slowness comes like an emergency brake on a 100MPH freeway. The song meanders on for over five minutes (making it the longest track on the record). It's strange, because the piano song ends, there is a pause--then we get what sounds like the chords from "I Predict a Riot." Different lyrics, same music. "I Learnt My Lesson Well" isn't a bad song, just a strange duck on YOURS TRULY, ANGRY MOB. I get the feeling that the more I hear it, the more I'll like it. But I didn't care for the obvious musical lifting (even if you're stealing from yourself, it's just wrong kids).

The version I bought (from Best Buy) had three bonus tracks the retailer claimed were "exclusive." I'm skeptical about this, because usually these "exclusive" tracks are tacked on EVERY copy of the CD...anyway, there's a live version of "The Angry Mob" (from Berlin) and two other songs. One is just okay ("From the Neck Down") the other is fantastic ("I Like to Fight"). If you happen upon a copy of this record with these on them, I suggest you pick it up. If you find a copy that lacks these tracks...you can pretty much live your whole life without them (though I'm thinking about making "I Like to Fight" my personal anthem).

So, while it's not a major revelation...or a shift in the musical world--YOURS TRULY, ANGRY MOB is in the end satisfying enough. If you're new to the band, I recommend picking up EMPLOYMENT first, then pick this one up while it's still bargain priced. Despite the ablum being slightly less than stellar, I still have high hopes for the bands next project.

Jason gives YOURS TRULY, ANGRY MOB a B-

I'm Going to Quit this Blog

...April Fool's!!!

Yeah, I'm sick of if too. This morning I woke up and downloaded the Rock and Roll Geek Indie Cast (it's a Podcast I've been listening to for about 2 years now)...anyway, they tried to fool everyone into thinking the host (Mike Butler, a really cool guy) had been fired.

I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Leah calmed me down and reminded me that it was April 1 and that it was probably just a joke (it was). I remember when I was a kid, all that April 1 meant was that the kids on the playground would say really outrageous, really un-true things (as a joke). Today, with the internet, it seems that every year the jokes are becoming more and more elaborate (some that I read about being planned all year). This might be going a bit too far. Some of these things are funny, but others are just wrong.

The best one I read was that the government had decided to ban/confiscate all copies of the 1982 Disney movie TRON because it was a "security risk" (some scenes were filmed in a old nuclear power plant (???)). LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So next year, before you get crazy and stir everyone up--think to yourself "is this going to make people kill themselves?" You can laugh, but I can't help but think of Orson Welles and his radio show...WOW anyone?