Boo

Meep. The URL wasn't coming in for me last night. I was worried that our blog had been completely wiped out. Everything looks fine today though. Hope you're having a good Friday.

Mis-post

Dang, I wrote a semi-lengthy post this afternoon in Word. Then, losing my mind, I closed it without saving it, thinking I posted it in the blog already! Tomorrow I'll try to recreate it.

Sonic landscape. Sounds like a fun project, Brock.

Acting up

Blogger was acting up for me. It looks like it posted every single draft of my latest post. How odd.

'Dance Hall'?

(More like 'Lame Song')

Today I’m doing a little screenwriting work and contemplating my final projects for this semester. The teacher in digital multimedia introduced my next and final project last night: to create a sonic landscape on the computer using purely audio samples. No pictures, no footage, just editing pure, raw audio.

I’ve been listening to Good News for People Who Love Bad News quite a bit, and I have to say I like it. A lot. But I don’t plan on writing a review for it. I think Gabe covered the album pretty well in his review and I agree with his thoughts. For me, it’s an enjoyable album. Whoever thought ‘Dance Hall’ belonged on it though should be shot. I have no idea how you can consider past works, like ‘Wild Pack of Family Dogs’ or ‘Doing the Cockroach’ and say to yourself, ‘Yeah, Dance Hall is a worthy addition to our catalogue.’

That being said, I do want to write something up about the album in the next few days or so. Not a review, but rather a glimpse at some of the lyrics and what could have been.

The Album at Large

So I finally got Good News for People Who Love Bad News. I’m not sure what I think of it so far, but I will say that ‘The World At Large’ is the best new song I’ve heard this year.

Easy Rider

Yeah, it’s been quite some time since we’ve posted. But thankfully, Gabe delivered the goods today with that pair of reviews. As for me, there’s been the draining experience of my Monday night class: Introduction to Cinema. (Pull up a chair kids; it’s story time.)

Introductory to Cinema is a humanities class that I have to take in order to complete my degree. It’s kind of notorious among students as being an “easy ride”. A large number of people every semester enroll in this class because all you have to do is watch movies in order to earn credits.
The thing is, every now and then a film major spills over into the class because their major requires them to know a little bit about film history. In this class they can watch Chaplin films and learn a bit about Georges Melies.
As a film student I’ve found most of the material engaging. But I’m the only film student in the class. Everyone else approaches the material in a less then enthusiastic manner. Just last night, before the class began, there was this whole discussion going on among the students about how boring directors in the 60’s are (the era we’re currently studying). Now I don’t mean to sound like a geek, but they’re sitting there bashing Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick. Eventually bashing of 60’s directors moves into bashing of directors. Finally one of the students let slip “I don’t understand why any of this material is so important anyway. It’s not like anyone here’s a film major”.
Discreetly I replied, “I am.”

It was a fun night.

Coping with Good and Bad News

Wow, we almost went a week without posting. Slacking, we’ve been.

Yes, Brock is completely right about the director of I Died. He, Mark Atwood, continuously blamed the short falls of his film on a small budget, which was around $13,000. Simply, not an excuse. El Mariachi is the prime reason for that. It was supposedly made for something around $7,000, which is contested, probably because it was done so well for a price that small. Even if El Mariachi was made for the same amount as I Died, it is leagues better. Mr. Atwood needs to watch El Mariachi a few times.

A couple long-awaited CDs came out last week – Modest Mouse’s Good News for People That Love Bad News and Audio Learning Center’s Cope Park. Modest Mouse’s album was probably the most highly anticipated, as it had been quite a while since The Moon and Antarctica plus, it kept getting pushed back. After all that, I have to say I was a bit disappointed over all. I like it as a whole, but just “liking” a Modest Mouse CD is comparable to just “liking” a date with the hottest supermodel ever. Even “Float On” is a bit poppy, as demonstrated by its ever growing popularity on the radio. Perhaps it’s because of the departure of the original drummer, but it seems to be missing the quirky, intricate drumming that was once synonymous with Modest Mouse. Instead there’s synth bass, which I feel should be saved for Ugly Casanova. The album still displays the “weirdness” of Modest Mouse, but at the same time the songs seem bland. The standouts for me are “Float On,” despite its poppiness, “The World at Large,” “Blame it On The Tetons,” and “The Good Times are Killing Me.”

Audio Learning Center’s last album Friendships Often Fade Away had an overall depressive theme. It contained sad connotations within the music, lyrics and vocals. It quickly became a favorite of mine. Their new album Cope Park seems to express the angry side of frontman Christopher Brady. This anger is expressed through a flurry of resonating guitar and bass along with Chris’ yells in songs like “Stereo,” “Car,” and “Passenger.” There are still melancholy songs, however, like “You Get That From Your Mother” and the ironically titled “Happy Endings.” Brady uses the bass in a unique way in that it sometimes carries the melody instead of just providing rhythm along with the drums. Just like in the first album, the drums are tight and drummer Paul Johnson provides little intricacies that you’ll miss if not listening closely. Last week I told Brock that I felt Friendships Often Fade Away as being the better album, but as I listen to Cope Park more, that may not be the case.

This week, I’m looking very forward to the EP Smoke and Mirrors from The Casket Lottery and The Will to Strike, a discography of previously released, but out-of-print material, from Kill Creek.