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The Music:
Paul Simon - Graceland
I wanted to do a whole post dedicated to this, and I will most likely some day, but I want to say now that this is seriously one of the best records within the last 30 years. I’ve had it for a bit and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until a friend recently had really sworn by it and couldn’t stop listening to it that I really gave it a shot further than I ever had. It’s very close to becoming a perfect record for me, which there aren’t many of, and it is my favorite solo work Paul Simon has done to date. The album has the 80s sound, slap bass, and as you all know, a sort of an African theme about it (though only a few songs really embrace that), but I’d expect nothing less. I look forward to more time with Graceland and I still find secrets hidden within with each listen. So do yourselves a favor and delve in headfirst and don’t look back (if you haven’t done so already).
This is my props to the ladies for some random videos I like. The last video counts due to Elvis’s jacket. My last ”Video For The Vault” post was for best representation of ”Mesculine Sword” videos. I know you’re at home and/or work and have just hit a good wave of You Tube videos, well here are some more.
Feist - My Moon My Man
The Music:
Mae - Destination: Beautiful
I decided to not be elitist and hip, and pick a record to spite my friend Mike, and because it’s just good. I was there, you don’t know! Mae is actually one of the best live bands that I’ve ever seen. Yes that’s right, ever. Of course they can’t win over Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Ugly Casanova, Sufjan Stevens and Joanna Newsom, but who can? Perhaps reviving some of the dead maybe. Mae though really shocked me when I first saw them at the Roxy years ago and was blown away by how good they were. Admittedly there are a few lyrical dips in Destination Beautiful, but who cares? We’re all having a good time. It is also very unfortunate that they have since slowly formed into what is known in the industry as “dog crap”, but I will always enjoy Destination Beautiful and so should you.
When you hear Wes Anderson’s (Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) name on a movie you know exactly what you’re in for. Often dry humor, apathetic characters, dead-pan lines and pauses between lines that leave you hanging until phrases like “I heard from her yesterday” and “Why did you bring him?” are often followed up with no explanation until later in the film. Actually for show and tell to friends at dinner parties and what not, a friend of mine and I every now and then used to do improve parody Wes Anderson scenes for laughs. This isn’t to poke fun at Wes, because I love his films, but he does have a very distinct way of writing and directing that’s pretty unwavering. The Darjeeling Limited is nothing short of that with 3 brothers (Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson) on a train, love complications, quests, shenanigans, neurosis, and of course Bill Murray.
Film: The Black Dahlia
Rating: -5
Now, living on Franklin Avenue, I have heard the stories of the Black Dahlia and driven past the house hundreds of times; so when I heard that Brian De Palma was directing a film about the murder, I was more then excited!
The story of the Black Dahlia murder is incredible. In early 1947, Elizabeth Ann Short (a.k.a. Betty) realized that, like thousands of others, she wouldn’t become a movie star and she would never amount to a supermodel. She had decided to go back to Massachusetts to live with her family. On January 15th of that year, her 22-year-old body was discovered severed at the waist in a vacant lot at 39th and Norton in South Los Angeles.
Film: Science of Sleep
Rating: +4.2
It’s time we step outside the music realm for a second and step into the schmarm movie realm. I used to go out and see movies a lot and was in search of all those indie-pop films. I was probably that movie guy who thought he could hold his own in the indie movie world, but I was more equal to the guy who tries to drop a name like Death Cab For Cutie for a look. To be totally honest, music actually got in the way and I just stopped seeing “the cool” movies, or movies in general for that matter. Either way, there comes a movie once a year or so that really blows me away and I have to see. Since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind there really hasn’t been anything out worth mentioning…well Final Destination 3 was pretty awesome (seriously).