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| Thursday, April 26th, 2012 | | 5:37 pm |
King of Hearts
The Saint Etienne connection invades again, Cassie's "King of Hearts" remixed by Richard X, recently on production duties for one of Saint Etienne's recent singles. Check out the slinky video for Cassie: http://vimeo.com/40938503(the T-Mobile commercial Youtube fed me right before the Saint Etienne video used music from a song I've had quoted on my answering machine for the last 20 years... being the hipster I am, I guess I'll have to change it now...) | | Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 | | 8:23 pm |
i stay noided
After this effusive Pitchfork review of Death Grips' album, I was kinda envisioning something like The Locust or when I noticed that this was a hip-hop band, maybe Dälek. Gotta admit, the album doesn't quite make the hype -- it's downright conventional sometimes, but it's not hackneyed, and overall a solid piece of work. Here's Death Grips' "I've Seen Footage" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DigtCrO77L8check it out. | | Monday, April 23rd, 2012 | | 6:13 pm |
| | Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 | | 8:51 pm |
j-movies
Watched the much-hyped Tokyo Sonata (2008) and was kinda disappointed. It was alright, but not quite famous. The robbery was silly. The best part was the kid with the asthma -- that was really spot-on. There was other stuff that was good as well, the older son's character was compelling and surprising, the teacher was funny/sad. Kôji Yakusho wasn't quite as great a presence as I'd like him to be (see Shall We Dance or Cure). A solid three star movie, but not quite up to the hype. Also caught Takashi Miike's 2004 Zebraman -- that wasn't that great either, but I wasn't really disappointed, it was more or less what I'd expected. The geek-turns-superhero thing we've seen a million times in comix and half-a-million in the movies. I had no idea what to expect from Thirst for Love (1967). A twisted family drama that mostly made sense, but nothing profound from it. The worst of the lot was what I watched today, Blood: the Last Vampire. Not really a Japanese movie, it's based on a manga and takes place in Japan. Made in 2009, it takes place in 1970, for no reason I could discern. Afterward, Tim explained that the original manga series took place in 1970 and the main character was from Viet Nam, but then the second series took place in the 80's. Whatever, it was crap. some of Tokyo Sonata's heroine back when she was a popstar | | Thursday, March 29th, 2012 | | 7:57 pm |
crash
So Belle and Sebastian has a version of The Primitive's song "Crash" Kinda lame, really (or "pallid" as Pitchfork put it). At least compared to the original: That was one my hott tracks of the late 1980's, big time. The Primitives didn't really have that many great songs -- "Way Behind Me" was the only one that really kicked. got no words of sympathy
and if I go around with you
you know I'll be messed up tooSongs glorifying good behavior are kind of odd birds. Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" comes to mind. It seems to be more exciting to listen to self-destructive stuff -- Britney Spears' "Freakshow," Rihanna and Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie" -- just about anything by Amy Winehouse. | | Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 | | 4:00 pm |
sick
Every six months or so, I end up staying home sick -- though actually today I did go to work, but came home at lunch. Meh. Not a total loss, though. Sitting here, this Odd Future video made me laugh from the moment I saw the zombie: NY (Ned Flander)And last weekend, watched a few flicks, The Lodger (1944), about a guy who's obsessed with actresses -- Perfect Blue (1997) about an actress being tormented by an obsessive fan. Also checked out the 1966 Rock Hudson movie Seconds, one that I'd been meaning to watch, but was reminded of when I happened to be listening to some Godflesh and read how one of their covers referenced the movie. The movie didn't really make any sense, but wow, Will Geer, aka Grandpa Walton comes across like an insane children's TV host. Scary.  | | Monday, February 13th, 2012 | | 7:33 pm |
Australia
 The main thing I wanted to see were animals. Koalas, kangaroos, mostly. Although Columbia, SC's (not inconsiderable) zoo has koalas, I wanted to see them in Australia. ( Queensland ) | | Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | | 12:10 pm |
back home
Went to bed at 8 last night, finally got out of bed at 10 this morning... And I've been here since Sunday! Another work trip -- went to Guam, and since I was in the vicinity, went to Australia to goof off for a week. Goofed off in Guam, too -- the week that I worked was pretty intense (all I got to see was the hotel, the ship and the road in between) but I had a few days after we finished the job and before the flight to Australia. I've posted a few pix on Facebook and Flickr, I'll get some up on here. | | Saturday, December 24th, 2011 | | 11:20 am |
Ceremonies
Went to Taking the Piss last night at Marx Cafe -- I finally had a conversation with this guy named Joie (sp?). I'd seen him year after year, but never said more than a few words to him. We talked about music -- the dj played Galaxie 500's version of Ceremony -- Joie told me he liked Radiohead's version, which I hadn't heard -- though he thought Radiohead's version of The Headmaster Ritual was also a terrific play. So I thought I'd check 'em out. | | Sunday, December 18th, 2011 | | 12:01 pm |
| | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 | | 7:54 pm |
These Days
Heard Tom Rush's "River" on the radio -- good tune. One of his YouTube things is a version of Jackson Browne's song "These Days," and I listened to that for a bit, and it's not bad, but it's Nico's version of that song that's the defining one, for me at least. According to allmusic.com, 10,000 Maniacs did "These Days," on their Our Time in Eden album, though written by 10,000 Maniacs, not Jackson Browne. allmusic didn't have it quite right, though -- the song on Our Time in Eden is "These Are Days" -- not "These Days." But then 10,000 Maniacs does do a version of Browne's song on the Elektra 40th anniversary album. A little complicated. So I guess allmusic can be forgiven. So I put on my I-tunes and listed the songs in alphabetical order and jumped into the various "These Days"es: 10,000 Maniacs (jackson browne) Kinda boring, straightforward version. Nico's version is better. Tom Rush's version is better, too. The Ropers (the ropers) Kinda boring The Rentals (the rentals) mid-grade R.E.M. (berrybuckmillsstipe) solid tune Nico (jackson browne) choice Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (lloyd cole) not bad, but no classic Joy Divisionx3 (joy div) The studio version seems like a throwaway. The live version on the official bootleg Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979 is pretty good, but there's a really kick-ass version on Paradiso, Amsterdam 11 January 1980. Jesus and Mary Chain (jamc) so-so, like the whole Stoned and Dethroned album Nico: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1N8GtDkYfQTom Rush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aJzQMtoOYUJoy Division: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVuDFDkFd70 | | Tuesday, November 29th, 2011 | | 7:10 pm |
parasol
Couldn't have been later than 1994, I went to Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, went to Parasol Records' shop. I bought about $200 worth of stuff there and one of the guys said, "what's your name?" I said "Alan," and they said "Oh yeah! Alan from Virginia!" I'd bought a shitload of their stuff mail order in the early 90's. Next month, they're shutting down the record shop and mail order. I hadn't bought anything from them in the last 10 years, ever since they failed to pay me for the CD's that Mel and I had put together on our record label. I wasn't much surprised that they didn't pay us -- the owner of Quiddity/Drive-In Records had warned me that Parasol would only pay him for one batch of records he put out on his label when he had another batch of new records and told them to pay or he wouldn't send the new releases. When we wrote Parasol, they asked for 30 copies of our CD, so instead we sent 15 -- that way if they didn't pay, we wouldn't lose as much, and if the CD sold, then maybe they'd ask for more. We never did put out a second release to try to get our money from the first batch, so oh well. So anyway, mixed emotions -- I wasn't really upset or anything -- nuthin personal, just bidness, I guess. And in the 90's, they really had exactly what I was looking for. But hey, times move on.  | | Thursday, November 24th, 2011 | | 5:18 pm |
a thanksgiving walk
Tomorrow's Thanksgiving for me -- see my folks, my sis and her husband. Today it's a home day, watched some Breaking Bad, read some, took a nice long walk in downtown Norfolk. I walked around downtown first, then I drove over to Fort Norfolk. Several years ago, I went to Fort Norfolk, where they had this War of 1812-era fort, along with a couple living history guides. So a few months ago, I looked for it again and couldn't find it. No signs, no nothing. Looked to me like they'd built a big condo over it. But they still have a website, and are still in the Norfolk tourist flier. But the website has no hours listed, and if you type the address into Google Maps, it shows a big parking lot. I drove from downtown, parked on Colley Street and walked out toward the water. The street was mostly empty, but not completely -- a few people coming in and out of the Harbor's Edge Retirement Community, this guy in a white jacket standing around, loitering. I walked past the retirement place, across Front Street to the parking lot. It was deserted, and looked overgrown, actually. I walked out to the river and looked at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital across the river, some ships moored at the Portsmouth terminals. It was a beautiful day, cool, not cloudy, the only annoyance the sun sometimes glaring from the sky and reflecting more glare from the water. It felt like I was in an indie film, walking through a mostly-deserted wasteland. It had a cinematic beauty to it, the sound of the wind, the glare of the sun. I walked back to the car, the man in white was still hanging around on the other side of the street. Two cars pulled over to one side of an empty part of the street and a young woman got out of each car. They were both pretty, one got a cardboard box out of her trunk and gave it to the other. Like I said, cinematic, with even some female eye candy there. It's just as well I didn't film it though. I could have, I had my camera in my backpack, I could have made an mpeg out of it. But it wouldn't be worth watching. 10 or 15 minutes long, just me walking two or three blocks to the river, standing there, squinting in the sun. Then walking back, looking at the loiterer, at the two girls. I can't imagine any of them would have really appreciated being filmed. I recently watched The Brown Bunny and it had scenes like that. But I didn't like The Brown Bunny. I could see the cinematic value in these kinds of scenes, but even if they're kinda pretty, they're pointless. Going somewhere and not finding it. Back here, I did a little more looking on Google Maps, and I think Fort Norfolk is still there, it's just labeled US Army Corps of Engineers. There was no sign for a Fort Norfolk there -- I walked past the entrance to the Corps of Engineers area and it's just a gate with barricades. My folks are coming down this weekend (they might actually be in Jamestown today, not sure) but we're looking for something to do on Sunday, so maybe we'll check it out. If you really want to see the street, type "801 Front Street, Norfolk, VA" into google maps and check it out. | | Monday, November 21st, 2011 | | 8:03 pm |
| | 7:49 pm |
| | Sunday, November 20th, 2011 | | 5:49 pm |
| | Sunday, November 13th, 2011 | | 7:28 pm |
On to Richmond
A few years ago, someone on LJ recommended Dennis Danvers' novel The Watch. So I ordered a used copy on Amazon or somewhere and it came in and when I got it, the book smelled terrible, like a fucking ashtray. I got my money back and offered to mail it back to the seller, but the seller told me not to bother. So I put in my garage and forgot about it. Until a few days ago, when I was cleaning out the garage and it was there. The years there seem to have done the book good -- doesn't stink anymore. So anyway, the book was pretty fun -- particularly the first 3/4 or so, after which it went kind of all surreal like V for Vendetta or something. The ending was pretty good though -- deliberately unsatisfying.  Not sure if the book meets the definition of roman-a-clef -- the main character is Peter Kropotkin, but restored physically to the age of 32 and plopped down in 1999 Richmond, Virginia. It was nice to get a virtual visit back to a place I'm reasonably familiar with, with much of the action on Monument Avenue and on Belle Isle. The book deals an awful lot about racism and uses the monuments to evil slaveholders to evoke this theme -- it was a little disappointing that in this universe the Arthur Ashe monument doesn't seem to exist. It was brand new at the time, but it didn't quite fit into Danvers' theme, so he ignores its existence. But Peter Kropotkin is an interesting fellow -- Danvers is clearly in love with the guy. I had never heard of Kropotkin until I read this book, and that made it worthwhile.  | | 6:55 pm |
Writer's Block: Reading corner
Maybe 75% non-fiction, 25% fiction, more or less. I'm not as interested in literary flourish as in getting the information. I'd like to say that I read non-fiction for "the truth," but that would be pretty naive. Either way, it's a sussing out of the truth. | | Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 | | 6:55 pm |
| | Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 | | 6:23 pm |
hey ma, where's pa? gone to the white house, ha ha ha!
Remember the good old days when JFK and LBJ could screw anything with tits and it was no big deal? What happened? The Moral Majority? N.O.W.?  I'm not sure what "draft common sense" means, though... In other news, I took some scrap metal to a scrapyard and watched a guy drive a forklift into an SUV, the forlift blades going through the windows. He picked up the SUV and took it over to wherever they were going to tear it apart. I thought, man, I want that job... |
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