Double Reading

I’ve been meaning to get back into the blogging thing for a few weeks, so since Molly tagged me to join her Seven Song meme, I’ll take that as a cue to get warm up.

According to iTunes, these are the seven songs that I’ve most recently added that have a rating of four or more stars:

1. Kylie Minogue - “The One” (Freemasons Vocal Club Mix)
2. Feadz - “Cool as Feadz”
3. Little Boots - “Stuck On Repeat” (Fake Blood remix)
4. Coldplay - “Viva La Vida”
5. Hercules and Love Affair - “You Belong” (Riton remix)
6. Bronski Beat - “Hit That Perfect Beat” (SirBilly HI NRG Vocal Re-Edit)
7. Alphabeat - “Touch Me Touching You”

Tags: coldplay, freemasons, kylie, meme

Why is it that whenever someone jokingly anticipates something horrible happening to them thus resulting in the loss of the knowledge they carry in their head they say, “In case I get hit by a bus.”

Yes, buses do hit and kill people, but I think cars do much more often. I am nearly hit by a car two or three times every week — usually when someone is making a right turn on a red light and not paying attention to people walking.

I’m just wondering aloud, but is this part of some conspiracy against public transportation?

What value is there in having a political debate and limiting responses to 30 seconds?

I’d rather have candidates talk about one or two issues and talk for five minutes and really explain their thoughts than feel pressured to fit everything into 30 seconds (which moderators seem to selectively enforce anyway…).

Southland Tales is one of those movies that I don’t even know where to start “reviewing.” So I’m not going to even try. I’ll just say this: The movie was awesome and quite possibly made just for me.

Other details worth noting in case you are curious about the movie:

• It stars “The Rock,” “Buffy,” and JT.
• Not a small number of supporting roles are played by former Saturday Night Live cast members: Cheri Oteri, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, and Amy Poehler.
• Other actors worth noting: Bai Ling, John Larroquette, Mandy Moore, Holmes Osborne, Zelda Rubinstein, Will Sasso, and Seann William Scott.
• There were for sure cameos by Janeane Garofalo (!!!) and Kevin Smith and I THINK Eli Roth.
• The soundtrack included Moby, The Killers, Radiohead, Blur, and the Pixies.
• There are two “musical” numbers: Sarah Michelle Gellar singing “Teen Horniness Is Not a Crime” and Justin Timberlake “singing” (lip-synching) the Killers’ song “All These Things That I’ve Done.”
• Prior to Southland Tales, the writer/director Richard Kelly created Donnie Darko.
• The movie seemed like a combination of the films: Magnolia + Mulholland Drive + Nowhere + End of Days.
• The movie’s story seemed like it was co-written by Philip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut.
• In fact, Rebekah Del Rio, who sings “Llorando” (”Crying” by Roy Orbison) in Mulholland Drive, sings “The Star Spangled Banner” in Southland Tales. (And if this isn’t an explicit direct homage to David Lynch than I’m not sure what would be…)
• The film is over 2 1/2 hours long.
• Southland Tales premiered at Cannes in 2006 and had a horrible reception… Despite this Sony Pictures bought it and Kelly re-edited it. (I’m already getting excited about a DVD/Blu-Ray release with a director’s cut and/or deleted scenes!!)

In leiu of a fleshed-out plot review, here is a run-on sentence explanation: After nuclear attacks in the southwest US WWIII starts (against Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Syria) and the PATRIOT Act becomes even more intense and I think all media is replaced by USIDENT (including USIDENTelevision) and there is a repubican senator from California running for president and his daughter is dating a movie star who is abducted and brainwashed and co-writes a movie screenplay with a porn star and becomes involved with a leftist neo-Marxist movement that is secretly funded by a German scientist who figures out a way to create an unlimited supply of energy that incidentally causes a rift in the forth dimension that ends up creating a present and future version of a soldier who fought in the Iraq war and was injured in Fallujah in a “friendly fire” incident involving Justin Timberlake who ends up becoming something of a drug lord. Oh and in the end the world ends with a bang, not a whimper because a messiah brings on the apocalypse.

I loved the film but I’m not sure I would recommend it until you enjoy dystopic schizophrenic film experiences (I, for the record, do).

UPDATE:
Here is Justin Timberlake “doing” the Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done”:

I sent this email to a bunch of my friends earlier today and figured the rough form was worth sharing:

i think i’ve mentioned this zizek-ian idea to some of you about how right now most people cannot even fantasize about world peace or an end of capitalism or something like that (i believe he specifically mentioned an asteroid in the movie zizek!). i’m feeling punchy today for some reason and managed to find some very interesting things…

first, the next book i am going to read is: archeologies of future by fredric jameson.

second, oddly enough the stranger (of all papers) intelligently and engagingly reviewed said book:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=25666

third, the author even paraphrases that idea!

As the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek puts it, we find it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. We are scarcely able to envision a tolerable and pleasant world without money, advertising, and brand names, and without the vast inequities that characterize a competitive economy. We are missing what Fredric Jameson terms “the desire called utopia.”

point of the story: when you think i’m spouting some crazy idea that is totally impractical and unrealistic and what you consider to be a waste of time, consider the fact that i might be trying to, if nothing else, at least establish that such an idea can at least be imagined and discussed and in doing so that might plant a kernel somewhere in your mind (or someone else’s) and that if we can at least HOPE for it that some aspect of it might come true.

oh and also: i thought i wrote a blog entry once (or maybe i emailed it or im’d it to someone?) about how dystopic movies/stories often have a very socialist aspect to the “big brother” idea and that bothers me too and i think it’s another way to keep the status quo (despite some of these dystopic things often being critiques of capitalism, normality, etc… so i guess i need to do some sort of counter-counter reading?)

The film Across the Universe accomplished something that I’ve been playing around with in my head for a long time: Create dialogue that constantly references pop music lyrics. While Across the Universe took the idea a step further and turned that dialogue into a musical format, I still love the idea and was impressed with the execution.

That said, I’m not sure that the reason for doing it in Across the Universe stems from my inspiration. Across the Universe is a complete homage to the Beatles — from the psychedelic song numbers to the ’60s themes of peace, love, and war. Even the characters names (Max[well], Jude, Lucy, Sadie, JoJo, Prudence, etc.) and events (”she climbed in through the bathroom window”) come from Beatles songs.

I am more interested in the way that popular culture (such as pop music lyrics) permeates into language and somewhat dis/replace everyday language.

I remember reading something in one of my classes that asked whether saying the phrase, “I love you truly and dearly” (or something like that) has lost its value since the phrase had been so overused and cheapened by cheesy romance novels. And further, whether when someone says that, they are saying it because that is the most accurate language to describe or whether they are saying it because they have heard it said so many times in movies/read it in books that the phrase is just expected.

So basically what I am trying to get at has to do with whether the commercialization and constant repetition present in pop culture can void language of its original meaning and/or make it seem too cheesy and disingenuous that even something that is intended to sound sincere cannot anymore.

For some story I was writing at some point (I don’t recall what year I wrote it…) I used Pixies lyrics in place of actual dialogue:

“Hold my head,” he said to her. “We’ll trampoline.” Personally, I don’t think that hold his head would help much, nor did I understand the trampoline thing – that’s how they acted like all the time though, very random.
“No, my child. That is not my desire.” And then she said, “I’m digging for fire.”

and Coldplay:

I spilled my guts for hours. “I came here with a load,” I explained. “I could never go on without you,” I stuttered. “You’re the one that I wanted to find,” I claimed.

But back to the movie — which was awesome. Great songs, great singing, amazing special effects (and done tastefully), compelling/emotional story, etc. etc. etc.

The only thing I didn’t like about it was the feeling I get whenever I watch movies about the ’60s: I get this sense of nostalgia (for a time during which I wasn’t even alive) and disappointment at the same time: “we” were so close really revolutionizing thought and culture but it didn’t quite work. In the end of Across the Universe love wins, blah blah blah but that’s about it… society didn’t change. Just like at the end of Velvet Goldmine: “We set out to change the world, but in the end we only changed ourselves.”

I just returned from the Justice concert.

First, this concert has been a series of ups and downs for me. I got my tickets in August and have been excited for the show since then… then about a month or so ago I found out that Midnight Juggernauts were added to the show. I was super excited because I love Midnight Juggernauts (the song “Tombstone” is absolutely amazing!) and have actually been hoping they would tour the U.S.

Ever since I found out that Midnight Juggernauts were gonna be there, I have been on a campaign to convince my friends to go. Then once I finally get someone to want to go, I find out that the show had been sold out for a week! I had been trying to get tickets all week, but the competition was too tough. (For example, one person from Spokane, Wash. was willing to pay like $200 for a ticket!!) So tonight comes and I don’t have a ticket and I’m resigned to going alone (which is fine — I go to concerts alone frequently).

But then when I went to Neumos earlier today to check the set times, I noticed that Midnight Juggernauts weren’t on there!!! I asked the woman at the box office what happened to Midnight Juggernauts and she was like, “I don’t know what that is.”

I got home and did some research and it turns out that Midnight Juggernaughts were invited to London and Paris to join the Institubes tour (the DJs who blew me away when they wore animal masks a while back). I guess if I were in their situation I would do the same thing. Surkin is fuckin’ hot and an awesome DJ.

I must admit — I was actually more excited to see the Midnight Juggernauts than Justice. I knew that everyone would be super excited for Justice since they were the headliners and all… but musically, I love Midnight Juggernauts more and it’s always more fun to be super into a band when not everyone is as into it…

To make up for removing Midnight Juggernauts (I think?) they added DJ Mehdi to the lineup… I’ll admit, despite DJ Mehdi’s awesome cred, I haven’t been a huge fan of his work. But at the show he was amazing.

Rather than performing his own work, he did a DJ set. It started off a bit slow (which was fine since I wanted to go get a drink anyway…), but then it really picked up. I cannot remember everything he played, but I know it included “Bump” by Spank Rock, “A Bit Patchy” by Switch, “& Down” by Boys Noize, “Get Innocuous” by LCD Soundsystem, and best of all, he closed the show with an extended (by his own doing) version of the Boys Noize remix of “My Moon My Man” by Feist. (I wish I had the Oi Oi Oi shirt I ordered recently!!!) He also threw in some Justice to get people psyched (including the Erol Alkan remix of “Waters of Nazareth” which was especially perfect for me since I was wearing my Erol Alkan t-shirt).

Justice took the stage immediately after DJ Mehdhi, which was great since we didn’t wait around. Justice is obviously taking after Daft Punk — the stage was arranged so that they were behind a large structure with a cross (their logo) in the middle. Checkout photos of them playing live on Pitchfork (and weep with me at how awesome Midnight Juggernauts could have been…).

Also like Daft Punk, their show consisted of them weaving in and out of various songs on their album. “Phantom,” for example, made numerous appearances. Unlike Daft Punk, they included a few remixes in the set as well (includng “Skitzo Dancer” by Scenerio Rock, which I thought was a strange choice considering how many more awesome remix they have).

There were two hits of the night: First was “D.A.N.C.E.” which started out slow and ballad-like then progressed into the “D.A.N.C.E.”-friendly song we all know and love. It wasn’t quite as energetic as I hoped, unfortunately. Then at the end before the encore they did “We Are Your Friends,” the song that arguably put Justice on the map (I first heard the song in May, 2006).

Speaking of encore, it started with a Justice-y remix of Soulwax’s “NY Excuse” and merged into other Justice songs, including one that I totally recognized but couldn’t name.

Downsides: 1. This was the first concert/going out where I actually got tired and needed to take a break for water and stuff! (usually I like to think of myself as the one who keeps on going); 2. There wasn’t any merchandise for sale after the show!; 3. The aforementioned lack of Midnight Juggernauts.

All in all, it was a fun show. My expectations were certainly too high, however. This was my fourth show of the week. I would rate then: 1. Datarock, 2. Justice, 3. Crystal Castles/Metric, 4. Trentemoller.

UPDATE (October 17th, 2007)
I got this e-mail from Midnight Juggernauts (via MySpace):

finally getting through our myspace messages. yeah we missed seattle unfortunately because the stage wasn’t big enough for us to set up on. we’ll be back early next year though. all the best

Also, I’ve remembered more songs that DJ Mehdi played: “Radio Fireworks” by Surkin, “Standing in the Way of Control” by the Gossip, and “Inner City Life” by Goldie.

Also: maybe I like seeing DJs better than bands???

“John the Revelator” has been one of my favorite Depeche Mode songs ever since I first heard it on Playing the Angel (which also happens to be my favorite Depeche Mode album [yes, I'm not quite a Gen-X'er]).

For the fun of it, I was reading about the song today and came across this amazing unofficial video:

I love that the video really highlights the transgressive nature of the Depeche Mode re-interpretation of the “traditional” version of “John the Revelator,” which has a much more religious tone. (Not that the Depeche Mode version isn’t religious — but it’s anti-religious, if anything.) Showing George W. Bush as an evil version of John the Revelator is just awesome.

In addition to that awesome video, the CD single for “John the Revelator” is pretty great, too. The UNKLE remix is my favorite, but Tiefschwarz does nice straightforward and dub versions of the song, too.

Finally, the official version of the video is nice too… it captures the spirit of their “Touring the Angel” tour (which I didn’t see in person but have a DVD of…):

Currently, the Seattle Metro Bus Tunnel is only open on weekdays from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. These hours mean that I rarely use the tunnel. Most of my non-work bus riding is on the weekends or night after 7 p.m.

The good news is that once the tunnel starts having the light rail go to-and-from the airport, the tunnel will be open on the weekends!

I sent feedback and got this response from Sound Transit:

When Link light rail starts operating, the tunnel will be open on weekends. Passengers will be able to travel from downtown Seattle direct to the Airport.

This is awesome. I hope that busses will also use the tunnel on the weekends — it makes for a much more consistent and less confusing transit system (which is always a Good Thing in my book!).

UPDATE 10.08.07
It looks like whether the busses run in the tunnel on the weekends is still up in the air:

The 2009 rail operations plan calls for the tunnel to be open weekends and also late at night during the week. KCM bus operations will have to decide if they wish to run but we at Sound Transit plan to run the train week ends and to continue to use the tunnel.

After all the discussion about being gay in Iran following Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment about there being no gay people in Iran, I found this Newsweek interview with a gay Iranian (who left Iran for the U.S.) interesting and thought it was worth sharing.

One part of the interview especially struck me. The man says:

It’s not easy for everybody to get out of that situation. Especially right now, it’s very difficult for Iranians to leave Iran: they cannot get visas to different countries. They just have to deal with the situation, lead a secret life and tell lies all the time …

I never realized that the U.S. war on terror and all sorts of diplomatic restrictions (denying visas, travel, etc.) against certain countries are making it even more difficult for people in these (often Islamic and religious and extremely conservative) countries — not only economically, but also when it comes to progressive social change.

I’m not sure what the ideal situation is, but the specific case of gay people desiring to leave their super-religious conservative countries never occured to me.