i charge laughing - The Archive

Venue Change

2011-09-25T22:59:00.003-05:00

I'm going to attempt to restart my blog. And in a move that I've been thinking about for a long time, I am moving the blog.

I have decided that Tumblr will better suit my needs. I need a blog that is more mobile-friendly, both for view and for creating. Tumblr makes it easier to blog from a mobile device.

Blogger has been good to me, but it is time to move on.

I will keep the old contents here, and I will be linking to it from time to time.

Now though, please update your links. The new "i charge laughing" can be found at

http://coachdub.tumblr.com/

Every artist is a cannibal

2011-07-21T08:49:00.000-05:00

Oh, why do I even bother pretending that I'm going to be a better blogger. I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to The Apologist.

Anyway.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the U2 concert at Soldier Field, and it was of course spectacular. First of all, I had never been to Soldier Field before, so that was great in itself. But the concert had been rescheduled from last summer, so I had bought these tickets a year and a half ago. I saw U2 once before, back on the Achtung Baby tour in 1993, so it had been 18 years since I last saw them, and they have grown so big now--I was both excited and a bit apprehensive. Of course everyone says they put on a great show, but I'd never been to a stadium concert before.

But holy crap. What a show. The size and spectacle of their 360 set just has to be seen to be believed. Massive.

Opening band Interpol played a great set, and then U2 came out, accompanied by David Bowie's "Space Oddity." The band then powered up with a stirring rendition of "Even Better than the Real Thing," and then just played one great song after another. One of the best albums ever, Achtung Baby, was heavily represented, which made me very happy.

One of the unexpected highlights for me was the back-to-back of "Miss Sarajevo" and "Zooropa." "Miss Sarajevo" in my opinion sounds better without Pavarotti singing, and it was really just a beautiful moment. And while I've always love "Zooropa," it sounded especially lovely that night--maybe because I did not expect to hear it.

Here's the setlist, which you can see features a perfect mix of old (including their first single ever, "Out of Control") and new (including a dance remix of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" that really threw me for a good loop):

Even Better Than The Real Thing  
The Fly
 Mysterious Ways  
Until The End Of The World  
Out Of Control  
Get On Your Boots  
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For  
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)  
Beautiful Day  
Elevation  
Pride (In The Name Of Love)  
Miss Sarajevo  
Zooropa  
City Of Blinding Lights  
Vertigo  
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
 Sunday Bloody Sunday  
Scarlet  
Walk On
 
Encore:
One  Where The Streets Have No Name
 
Encore 2:
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me  
With Or Without You
 Moment of Surrender  
One Tree Hill

The closing number of encore 2 was a real treat. I guess they don't play "One Tree Hill" very much, and have not played it for several years in the U.S. And everyone knows it is a near perfect song.

I did not have great seats--not bad, though. We had a good view, but we were just a little far away. But I got some good pics.

The huge stage before the show

The giant 360 degree screen above the stage helped with the view.

Astronaut Mark Kelly introduced a song via a link-up (not live of course) with the International Space Station.

On U2's website, you can find their "fan cam" pics, which takes pictures of the crowd from the stage every night. You can see me in the middle of this pic:

My friend Lisa was in the second row, and she got some better pictures. That may be a bit of an understatement.

Simply fantastic.

I am flying on a star into a meteor tonight

2011-07-05T14:28:00.004-05:00

Because I let my blog die for so long, I have missed out on some important album reviews. I will attempt to make up for all of these overlooked albums.

R.E.M. -- Collapse into Now

This album was released several months ago, so I've had plenty of time to listen to it. Everyone knows that R.E.M. is my favorite band of all time, and with their last album, Accelerate, the band sort of returned to big rock and guitars, with excellent results. Early word on Collapse into Now was that the album would be very eclectic, pulling from many of R.E.M.'s sounds throughout the years. And that's exactly what it is--an album with some hard-rocking songs, some plaintive ballads, and some complicated melodies. One critic I read said that Collapse into Now sounds like R.E.M. doing cover versions of R.E.M. songs, but I think that is an unfair criticism. When a band has been around for 29 years, some sounds are bound to come up again. I think that Collapse into Now is a great album filled with some great songs, and yes, of course it sounds like R.E.M. It is R.E.M.

As an added bonus, the band commissioned videos for each song on the album--some are "lyric videos," some are proper music videos, and some are short, abstract films.

Some highlights:

Opening song "Discoverer" really puts the album in Accelerate mode, with Peter Buck's excellent guitar work, and then Michael Stipe's first words of "Hey baby" brings us back to Monster territory, a wonderful place to be. The shouting of the chorus, the sort of off-rhythm phrasings--a great combination for a great first song. (Video)

"ÜBerlin" is a strange and beautiful song. I've posted the video before, which features British actor Aaron Johnson doing a strange dance through the streets, and the band also released a rather hypnotic lyric video. This song features a very interesting verse structure, coupled with a soaring chorus that I can easily picture thousands of people singing along to at a concert. "ÜBerlin" is fantastic, one of the highlights of the album. "I am flying on a star, star, star."

The first ballad of the album arrives with "Oh My Heart," which is a tribute to New Orleans. The music features Out of Time staples like mandolins and accordions, and the chorus has such a haunting harmony, with just the simple words "Oh my heart." As Michael sings, "it's sweet, and it's sad, and it's true." Lovely. (Video) (Lyric video)

I am not sure what the "it" in "It Happened Today," but the song is gorgeous. It starts with Stipe making fun of his own bad rhymes, while the music builds up with strumming strings. The mid-tempo beat kicks in, with Stipe's spot-on vocals singing "I have earned my voice." The song eventually builds to a reflective crescendo of voices (with Eddie Vedder on back-up). (The video is strange and interesting.)

The first radio single is the driving and fun "Mine Smell Like Honey," which sounds like classic R.E.M. meets Accelerate. Simply a great R.E.M. song. (Video)

The strangest, most lyrically fun, most danceable song on the album is the brilliantly titled "Alligator, Aviator, Autopilot, Antimatter," which features back-up vocals by electro-goddess Peaches. (And the video is simply bizarre, but worth checking out.) I love the pounding beat, the yelling background vocals, and everything about the chorus. "Hey hey alligator, you've got a lot to learn."

And one of R.E.M.'s most pop-rock love songs ever, "That Someone is You," just makes me smile. From the earnest feelings of the chorus to the references to "Sharon Stone, Casino" and "Scarface Al Pacino," this little under-two-minute song flies by in a rush of joy. "You pulled me up and out of cartoon quicksand."

These are the highlights for me. Collapse into Now does not break new ground for R.E.M. Instead, the band has realized what they do best and put some fresh spins on it.

Rainbows and Clowns

2011-06-27T21:48:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was the annual Chicago Pride Parade, which is always a fun time. The weather was beautiful--warm and sunny, but not too hot. I met up with my friend Lisa and a couple of her friends, staked out a nice spot under a tree, had a couple of cocktails, and watched the fun.

The atmosphere was very festive, as usual, but people seemed extra excited about the New York marriage law, and that added to the celebration. We did not know at the time that more than 50 floats had their tires slashed overnight in an apparent hate crime of vandalism, but crews worked all night to repair more than 100 tires.

The parade always features a lot of politicians--aldermen, state representatives, etc. But this year our new mayor Rahm Emanuel was at the front, followed by the governor and lieutenant governor, as well as our Congressman. It was nice to see the powers-that-be so supportive.

And then came the floats, representing the flamboyant, the serious, the moving, the scantily-clad, and the fun.

As always, it was a great day.

A group of students, parents, and teachers from a local elementary school.

A group of Chicago teachers.

The tourism board of Tel Aviv, Israel, letting the world know that Tel Aviv is a great place for a gay vacation.

Lots and lots of churches were represented, which was very heartening.

The famous Dykes on Bikes.

And Bozo the Clown.

Ready for a Reboot

2011-06-22T17:00:00.004-05:00

I did not mean for my blog to die. I got so busy with directing the musical, and with grad school, and then the end of the school year that I just sort of became overwhelmed. Just about every day I thought about posting something, just to keep the pulse beating here, but it became one of those situations where it became easier to not do anything than to make excuses and try to post something interesting.

But I do not want to have a dead blog. I don't want to be a former blogger.

First, a quick catch-up:

As you might know, I directed the musical Footloose at my school, and this was my first lead directing gig on a musical. Everything turned out great--the kids were amazing, the crowds were huge, and the reception was wonderful (except for a few people who thought we were too "adult-themed"). I really loved working with the cast. Working with drama students is always interesting, always unpredictable. I cannot wait to do it again next year, even though it does take up so much of my time.

The last couple months of school sort of flew by. I really liked my students this year (for the most part), and I had nice, tight-knit classes. School years here seem to go by much more quickly than when I taught in Minnesota, and I don't quite know why that is. But every year here seems shorter than the previous one.

Well, it did not ALL fly by. Right after the play ended, I got walking pneumonia, which really laid me out for a lot of days. I was miserable, missed several days of school, and took quite a while to get my energy back.

Finally, the last two classes of my grad program have been really solid. The professor was the same one I started my program with, and she really makes the coursework worthwhile, interesting, and fun. So for the last few weeks I've been working with a colleague putting together our "capstone" project, which is a parody of The Office, but set in a school. We've had a lot of fun making it, and I taught myself iMovie, and I'm very proud of the final product.

. . . and most importantly, I am finished with grad school now. The past two years have not always been good, with some real dud professors, but the program really came around. And now I am officially overeducated, with a Master's in English and now a Master's in Education.

So I wanted to fill in what's been going on for the past few months as my blog has died. But consider this the pre-reboot. I'm going to make some big changes here at I Charge Laughing, one of which involves, you know, blogging.

I'm done dreaming that we can fly

2011-04-24T20:40:00.004-05:00

These last few weeks have been some of the busiest of my life, causing me to (once again) totally neglect my blog.

I've been working on my second-to-last grad class, which I actually like quite a bit, but it is taking a lot of time. It's an Action Research class, and we have to do a lot of, well, research. It's interesting, and I love the professor (she was the professor for our first class and also our adviser), but it takes a lot of out-of-class time. On the other hand, we have not had to go to class for the past few sessions because it is an independent study kind of thing.

And that not-going-to-class thing has been great because the rehearsals for the musical have been taking up all of my time. The show is this coming weekend, so this is production week, i.e., hell week. Directing my first musical has been very fun and rewarding, but very stressful. Footloose is a fun show with lots of great toe-tapping music, but it is far more complicated than we thought it would be. The music is surprisingly intricate, and the blocking and choreography have taken a lot of time. But the kids have been working hard, and it will be over soon.

And then I can get back to grading papers.

Meanwhile, new music:

"Contact High" by Architecture in Helsinki

Read books, not Facebooks

2011-04-10T21:23:00.002-05:00

Two of my favorite new songs:

"Made for You" by The Gift

"L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N." by Noah and the Whale

To the wild and the light

2011-04-01T13:23:00.002-05:00

Last week I had one of the greatest musical experiences in my life. As I have mentioned and written about, one of my top five bands in the world is the Trashcan Sinatras. Though they are little known in this country, they continue to put out brilliant music, and they have a very dedicated cult following. I saw them a couple of times in the past two years, and last week they came back, this time for an all acoustic show--Trashcan Sinatras Unplugged, as it were.

The venue for this performance was an intimate but great place in Evanston called Space. I had ordered my tickets right when they went on sale, so I had a "reserved table," but I was not sure what this meant. But when I arrived at the venue, I was ecstatic to learn that my reserved table was in the front, directly in front of the stage. Perfect.

After a very lovely opening set by a band called Canasta, TCS took the stage, and proceeded to wow us all with their musicianship. One of my friends once told me that the happiest I am is when I'm listening to great music, and listening to these lads from Scotland truly makes me happy.

Clever banter filled the gaps between songs, and the setlist was nearly perfect. The music sounded so clear and pure, and as my friend Brad (who did not really know the band very much) said, you could tell that the musicians wanted to be here, wanted to be playing--they felt their music as much as we did.

The highlight of the show came during the strangely ethereal "Oranges and Apples." Normally the song features a sort of spacey synth sound, but since this was an acoustic tour, the band did not bring their keyboards. Instead, lead singer Frank took out his iPad, loaded up the keyboard app, and played along. Well that was fun enough on its own, but then he handed the iPad to me and told me to join in. So I played keyboards for the Trashcan Sinatras! I did not really know what I was doing, but I let the spirit move me, and it sounded pretty good. The band thanked me and I got a good round of applause from the crowd.

So the show was shockingly good, and we left filled to the brim with joy.

The next day, the band posted a message on Facebook that they were having a special private (free) show at an undisclosed location the next night, and anyone who wanted a ticket should email the band and explain why they should get one. So of course I emailed with my story of how I came to love the band, but I also mentioned that I had played the iPad keyboard and was practically a member of the band. They responded that they "dug" my iPad stylings, and I was in.

So the next night, after receiving an email about the undisclosed location, I went to a private concert with one of my favorite bands ever. It was in the upstairs lounge of Schuba's, and the show was basically the band and 50 fans very intimate, very personal. The guys chatted with their fans for a while, and then played two sets of music--27 songs! (Another highlight was the fact that several people at the show recognized me as the iPad player.)

To be in such close proximity to people who have created some of my favorite music in the world was truly an honor. It's hard to convey my feelings since so few people are familiar with the Trashcan Sinatras, but I felt like I was a part of something very special.

I know, I know, I know what I am chasing

2011-03-20T15:57:00.003-05:00

Worst blogger ever.

So I've had a very busy and somewhat rough couple of weeks, and I just have not been in the blogging mood. Of course school is always busy, and rehearsals for the musical are getting pretty involved and taking up a lot of time. I have had a huge amount of grading as well--even though as a public employee and a union member, I am basically just sitting around draining the public funds.

And speaking of that . . . The economy continues to affect even the wealthiest of school districts, and once again this year I got my "pink slip"--my letter of non-reemployment. All the non-tenured teachers got them again this year. So about a week after I got my letter, I found out that I'm going to be cut even more next year. This year I was cut to 7/8 time, which is a fairly minor cut, but it knocked me off the tenure track nonetheless. Next year I will go down to 3/4 time, so I'm getting another 12.5% pay cut.

So in my 12th year of teaching, I'm low-man on the totem pole, and will be for the foreseeable future. And it fucking sucks.

But, some things are still good. The new REM album is great (I'll be reviewing it this week), I ordered an iPad 2, and tonight I'm going to a special acoustic Trashcan Sinatras show, so I can once again be up-close with one of my favorite bands ever.

Meanwhile:

"Uberlin" by REM

Falling off a giant bird that's been carrying me

2011-03-07T19:11:00.004-06:00

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

After a couple of weeks of listening to The King of Limbs, I'm ready to comment. Of course Radiohead is one of the best and most important bands of the contemporary era, so every new release is greeted with save-our-world fervor. Their previous album, In Rainbows, with all the zeitgeistiness surrounding its release, lived up to hype and was one of the best albums of Radiohead's career. The King of Limbs is not, but is a great set of songs. The band does not break new ground or reinvent music or save our souls--but let's face it: a band can't do those things every time they release a new record. They've done all three before; this time they settle for making some really good music.

The album opens with the tinkling of piano keys and a familiar drum beat. "Bloom" has Thom Yorke singing plaintively over slightly jazzy, slightly spacey music, with muted wailing horns and an intriguing bass line. It's an understated, mellow, but gripping little song to start the album.

Next comes one of the album's highlights, the faster drum and pluck of "Morning Mr Magpie." This song is beautifully constructed. Its layered architecture piles on and peels away to form a work of contemplative brilliance.

"Little by Little" sounds like a really good Radiohead song, and the next song, "Feral,"'sounds like a good and creepy instrumental Radiohead song.

Another highlight arrives with the excellent first single, "Lotus Flower." This one is also a bit of a creeper--the throbbing bass and light handclaps make an almost disconcerting combination, and Yorke's vocals soar to his best falsetto as he sings about loneliness and the like. And again, the layers make all the difference. The song adds unexpected blips and flourishes that subtly add up to a greatness.

"Codex" is just a beautiful piano-based vehicle for Yorke's haunting vocals. Sometimes I think he may be keening. And the horns add a delicate and quiet strength, which the low strings build on toward the end. "Codex" is a great song.

The next song begins with chirping birds, a looping sample of Yorke's voice, and a gently played acoustic guitar. "Give up the Ghost" builds to a strange climax with more background vocal samples (one sounding vaguely foghorn-like, to wonderful effect), and yet the omnipresent guitar tap rings a familiarity in our ears to ground us a bit.

And the album closes with the sublimely lovely "Separator." Simply lovely, and though it's a slow song, it has the best guitar work on the album.

It's not fair to expect so much from a Radiohead album. The King of Limbs is a great album, and will be up there on my Top 10 list for 2011. But nothing has toppled or tectonically shifted. And that's okay. For now.

Liveblogging the Oscars

2011-02-27T18:35:00.035-06:00

Well, here we go. I'm very curious about what James Franco and Anne Hathaway have in store for us. I love James Franco, but I'm not a huge Anne Hathaway fan--we'll see what happens.

Opening skit: This Inception thing is pretty funny. Alec Baldwin is always great, and he added a nice touch here.

"I loved you in Tron."

"Microphones get smaller."

"Please, call me Mr. Baldwin."

OK, thje opening skit was good, but the opening monologue was a little stiff. The grandma was funny, but overall it was pretty empty.

But here we go with the first awards!

Art Direction:

I picked Inception.

And the winner is . . . Alice in Wonderland.

Hmm... Not off to a good start. 0/1

This guy is painful to watch.

Cinematography:

Prediction: Roger Deakins

Winner: Wally Pfister for Inception.

I love the work of Roger Deakins, but I'm not too sad I lost this category. Inception really does deserve to be recognized here, and I'm happy this guy won.

0/2

Best Supporting Actress:

This is a tricky category. As I mentioned yesterday, I think that Amy Adams and Melissa Leo might split the vote.

My prediction: Hailee Steinfeld

Winner: Melissa Leo

Well, I was dead wrong on that one. And Kirk Douglas sure made the wait uncomfortable. Melissa Leo did a good job, but mostly I was entranced by her hair in The Fighter. And now she is making things awkward too. She just said "golly sakes" and then dropped the f-bomb. Get off the stage.

0/3

Justin Timberlake just said he was Banksy--brilliant. Also, Justin and Mila should have babies.

Best Animated Short:

Prediction: The Lost Thing

Winner: The Lost Thing.

I won on a complete guess. And did Justin Timberlake just make fun of Kirk Douglas? Fantastic.

1/4

Best Animated Feature:

Toy Story 3 -- obviously.

And the winner is: Toy Story 3

What a wonderful film.

2/5

So far the show is pretty slow. People's speeches are long and boring. Nothing really is happening.

OK, another pair of big awards: screenplay.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Prediction: Aaron Sorkin

And the winner is: Aaron Sorkin

The writing in this film was genius. Aaron Sorkin writes the best dialogue, and he really brought the story to life. I wonder if he's going to thank Mark Zuckerberg . . .

Nope.

3/6

Best Original Screenplay:

Prediction: The King's Speech

Winner: David Seidler, The King's Speech.

I was actually hoping Inception would win because of the creativity in the story. But I also know that David Seidler made a life's work out of The King's Speech, and his speech was one of the best of the night so far.

4/7

Ok, now for a musical number. A Les Mis parody . . .

Well, Anne is a good singer anyway.

And now James in in drag. Good lord.

Russell Brand and Helen Mirren make a great pair.

Best Foreign Language Film:

Prediction: In a Better World (random guess based on the title)

Winner: In a Better World

Woohoo!

5/8 -- After a slow start, I'm back.

Best Supporting Actor:

Prediction: Christian Bale

Winner: Christian Bale

Excellent. As I've mentioned, I had some problems with The Fighter, but Christian Bale was phenomenal. And his speech is very heartfelt--he really loves what he does. I wonder if this beard is for The Dark Knight Rises . . .

6/9

And now a tribute to soundtracks . . .

Best Original Score:

I really want Trent Reznor to win an Oscar--but the music from Inception was also so powerful.

Prediction: The Social Network

Winner: The Social Network

Yes! Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross really created a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, and it's nice to see a more modern-sounding score get recognized.

7/10

Best Sound Mixing:

Prediction: Inception

Winner: Inception

Sound was such an integral part of this movie that I felt pretty confident in this prediction.

8/11

Best Sound Editing:

Prediction: Inception

Winner: Inception

Ditto what I just said.

9/12

Achievement in Makeup

Prediction: Barney's Version

Winner: The Wolfman

I have not seen either of these, but I should have known that Rick Baker would win.

9/13

Best Costume Design:

Prediction: The King's Speech

Winner: Alice in Wonderland

I almost changed my vote after Alice in Wonderland won best art direction, but I stuck with my original choice. And lost.

9/14

Even though I predict that Randy Newman will win, he's such a cornball. And a crappy singer.

Jake Gyllenhaal speaks the truth about shorts. They really can mess up the ballot.

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Prediction: Killing in the Name

Winner: Strangers No More

Whatever. 9/15

Best Live Action Short:

Prediction: God of Love

Winner: God of Love

Clearly I know what I'm talking about when it comes to live action short films. And this guy looks crazy. And he thanked Delaware.

10/16

This musicalized thing is pretty funny, especially "He Doesn't Own a Shirt." Very entertaining.

And now an Oprah moment . . . Hi Oprah.

Best Documentary:

Prediction: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Winner: Inside Job

I really need to see Exit Through the Gift Shop and Inside Job. I saw Restrepo and thought it was good. I was hoping Exit Through the Gift Shop would win so we could see if Bansky would show up.

And in our first political moment, the winner here notes that no one has gone to jail for the financial fraud perpetrated on our country. Well said.

10/17

Billy Crystal's presence just make me miss the days when the Oscar show was funny.

I will just admit this right here and now: I have never thought Bob Hope was even remotely funny. That's all.

Best Visual Effects:

Prediction: Inception

Winner: Inception

Obviously. This film's visual effects are simply mind-boggling. Having watched the making-of on the Blu-Ray, I'm even more blown away.

11/18

Best Editing:

Prediction: The Social Network

Winner: The Social Network

The second time I watched The Social Network, I really noticed how seamlessly the stories were blended, so I knew it would win. Inception should have won, but it was inexplicably not nominated.

12/19

Florence! I love her voice so much, and this song from 127 Hours is so beautiful. It should win the Oscar, but I still think Randy Newman might win. But maybe with Trent Reznor already snagging an Oscar, maybe something fresh will be recognized here too.

And I prefer Gwyneth Paltrow when she's rolling on Cee-Lo's piano while he's dressed like a bird and surrounded by Muppets.

Best Original Song:

Prediction: "We Belong Together"

Winner: "We Belong Together"

Well there we go. Thus ends that speculation.

13/20

And now for the Dead People Tribute. And with Celine Dion--gross. We did lose a lot of talented people this year.

Holy diamonds, Halle. But a nice tribute to Lena Horne.

Why is Anne Hathaway wearing a rubber suit?

And now for the big four . . .

Best Director:

Prediction: David Fincher

Winner: Tom Hooper

Well, I have to say that I'm a little surprised. I am pretty sure that The King's Speech is going to win Best Picture, and usually the directing winner is the same, but I really thought that David Fincher would pull this one out.

13/21

Best Actress:

Prediction: Natalie Portman

Winner: Natalie Portman

First of all, what an amazing collection of talent. The clips of each of these performances were stunning. But I'm very happy that Natalie Portman won. I've loved her since I first saw her in The Professional when she was a kid, and she has done great work, but Black Swan just topped them all. And she gave a good speech.

14/22

Best Actor:

Prediction: Colin Firth

Winner: Colin Firth

This one was a sure thing. Again, all of these actors are fantastic, but I knew when watching The King's Speech that Colin would win. The anguish he showed in the close-ups was nothing short of amazing.

15/23

All right--so is The King's Speech going to win the big one? I think so. But as I mentioned yesterday, this is a great collection of Best Picture nominees.

Steven Spielberg--what an amazing guy. That's all.

Best Picture:

Prediction: The King's Speech

Winner: The King's Speech

Well, no surprise. I was at the last minute thinking that The Social Network might pull off an upset, but no problem--The King's Speech is a wonderful film, and it deserves the accolades.

Final score: 16/24. 67%. Not bad--better than the last few years, anyway.

Well, the Oscar show overall was pretty dull. Great movies, dull show. But I still love the Oscars.

Oscar Predictions

2011-02-26T18:23:00.004-06:00

My Oscar Predictions

So here's how it will go down in the major categories. (Not the films I necessarily think should win--but who will win.)

Adapted Screenplay

Nominees:

127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle)

The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)

True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini)

These are all great stories, but the winner is a sure thing. Aaron Sorkin's dialogue was so intelligent that no one can touch him in this category.

Prediction: The Social Network

Original Screenplay

Another Year (Mike Leigh)

The Fighter (Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silverand Paul Tamasy)

Inception (Christopher Nolan)

The Kids are All Right (Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko)

The King's Speech (David Seidler)

I have not seen Another Year, but the rest of these are all excellent screenplays.

Prediction: The King's Speech

Achievement in Cinematography

Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)

Inception (Wally Pfister)

The King's Speech (Danny Cohen)

The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)

True Grit (Roger Deakins)

These films represent a great deal of on-screen gorgeousness, but I am hoping (and thinking) that after years of nominations, it is Roger Deakins's year.

Prediction: Roger Deakins (True Grit)

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams (The Fighter)

Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

This category is always full of surprises, but I think the women from The Fighter may cancel each other out.

Prediction: Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale (The Fighter)

John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

Jeremy Renner (The Town)

Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right)

Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Five excellent performances, and until I saw The Fighter, I would have thought Geoffrey Rush was a lock.

Prediction: Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right)

Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)

Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Why wasn't Julianne Moore nominated?

Prediction: Natalie Portman

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem (Biutiful)

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)

Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

James Franco (127 Hours)

Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

No doubt here. None.

Prediction: Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

Achievement in Directing

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

David O. Russell (The Fighter)

Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)

David Fincher (The Social Network)

Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

I really think that Christopher Nolan and Danny Boyle deserve to be nominated this year. But the award will go to a director who crafted a taut, thrilling, fascinating picture out of something that seemed like unlikely source material.

Prediction: David Fincher (The Social Network)

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The Kids are All Right

The King's Speech

The Social Network

127 Hours

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

What a great list of films this year. And while I think that Inception was the best film, I know it does not stand a chance. Everyone is talking about the two-way race between old school Hollywood traditional storytelling (The King's Speech) and fresh, modern, now (The Social Network). Momentum seems to be pointing one way . . .

Prediction: The King's Speech

I'll be live-blogging tomorrow!

We'll be young men together again

2011-02-24T18:34:00.005-06:00

The Best Films of 2010

I know this list is a bit later than usual, but as with everything on my blog these days, I cannot seem to post in a timely fashion. But since the Oscars are this weekend, I knew I had to get my list out. One thing I think is interesting is that except for one substitution (I think The Town was better than The Fighter), my top 10 is the same as the Best Picture nominees. The Oscars got it right this year.

First, three honorable mentions. I really like all of these movies, but they just are not in my top 10: Shutter Island, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, The Fighter, Rabbit Hole.

So on with the list (links are to my own reviews):

10. The Kids Are All Right

9. The Town

8. Winter's Bone

7. 127 Hours

6. Black Swan

5. Toy Story 3

4. True Grit

3. The King's Speech

2. The Social Network

1. Inception

(Note: I know that a few of my friends think that Inception is not worthy of such praise, but I have now seen it four times, and its impressiveness just continues to grow.)

I'll post my Oscar predictions before Sunday, and then I'll be live-blogging the Oscars!

Stranded Fun

2011-02-24T06:25:00.001-06:00

I had a fantastic time in Minnesota. I got to see great friends and catch up on lives. However, the trip was not without glitches. Remember how excited I was about the early Radiohead download? Well, I got several good listens in on my way to and waiting at O'Hare, and I was loving it. But then when I got on my plane I discovered that one of the earpieces on my earbuds had come off (I have a great and comfortable pair of Klipsch earbuds). The little rubber part was missing, lost either on the floor of the plane or somewhere else en route. Well the missing piece wasn't just for comfort like the black foam covers of Apple earbuds. No, they are the essential sound-channeling aspect of the equipment. Without the rubber tip, the earpiece is just a hard plastic stick.

Long story longer: I couldn't listen to music on the plane. Fortunately my rental car had an AUX input so I could listen on my drive to Brainerd and back.

Then came the snowstorm. I suppose when one voluntarily flies to Minnesota in February, one will eventually have to contend with the weather. And this was a pretty massive snowstorm. I was supposed to fly out around noon on Monday, but the storm was still in full effect, and my flight was canceled. On a positive note, it was canceled before I ever left Brainerd, so at least I just spent the day at my friends' house instead of the airport.

So I was booked on a flight that would depart early Tuesday morning. I decided it made more sense to drive down to the Cities on Monday night, so I got a cheap hotel and then went about all the necessary arrangements for missing work on Tuesday: writing sub plans, arranging a sub, calling my department chair, etc.

After a very long and white-knuckle drive on wind-swept highways and unplowed interstates, I had a good sleep at the hotel. The Minneapolis airport was insanely busy at 5:30 on Tuesday morning since so many flights had been canceled, but I made it on board and was ready to be back in Chicago.

Not so fast. As the plane pulled out of the gate and the crew de-iced the wings, the captain came on the intercom: "Ladies and gentleman, that sound you heard was the second engine shutting down. Because of ice in Chicago, there's a ground stop at O'Hare, so we cannot take off right now. We'll update you in an hour."

Sigh.

At least we were allowed to use our phones while camped out on the runway, so I surfed the internet and played Words with Friends. But I still couldn't listen to music.

Anyway, we were stuck on the runway for an hour and a half, which could have been much worse. I had visions of Liz Lemon going crazy. But I made it home, and though I missed the school day, I made it to school for rehearsal.

So I had a great visit with friends and a big headache getting home.

I will slip into the groove

2011-02-18T08:59:00.003-06:00

Today's a good day. I'm taking a personal day off of work and flying to Minnesota to see my friends up there. Since we already have a three-day weekend, I thought I'd stretch it into a four-day. (The kids don't have school today since it's a faculty work day anyway.) So I'm very excited for my little trip, though it is warm in Chicago right now and cold in Minnesota, so I seem to be flying the wrong way.

And last week Radiohead announced that their new album would be available on Saturday (tomorrow), so I was very excited about that. But then I got a little sad because I was going to be away from my computer all weekend, so I did not think I'd be able to download it until Monday when I get back. It wouldhave been nice to listen to the new album on the plane . . .

But then came the Friday morning surprise: a little tweet from Radiohead that said "It's Friday... It's almost the weekend...You can download 'The King of Limbs' now if you so wish!"

Glory day. So now I've got it on my iPhone (and the three songs I've listened to are fantastic).

And they released the first video from the new album, which features the interesting dance moves of Thom Yorke:

It's going to be a great weekend.

It's a long life, better pinch yourself

2011-02-14T21:21:00.003-06:00

The Best Albums of 2010

I know this list is a month and a half late, but that's how it goes.

13. Tomorrow Morning - Eels

12. One Life Stand - Hot Chip

11. Further - The Chemical Brothers

10. Belle and Sebastian Write About Love - Belle and Sebastian

9. Barking - Underworld

8. Sigh No More - Mumford and Sons

7. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

6. Forgiveness Rock Record - Broken Social Scene

5. Contra - Vampire Weekend

4. Go - Jónsi

3. High Violet - The National

2. This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem

1. The Age of Adz - Sufjan Stevens

So Caught Up in You -- My Birthday Post

2011-02-09T09:06:00.000-06:00

Well here we go -- entering my Strontium year. Unfortunately, strontium is a pretty boring element. But I guess that makes sense--38 is a boring age.

Strontium

The only really interesting thing about strontium is that one of its radioactive isotopes, ⁹⁰SR, is used in cancer therapy. But other than that, strontium is pretty unremarkable.

According to Wikipedia, "the number 38 was especially prominent in Norse mythology. The number was said to represent unnatural bravery, characteristic of the legendary heroes of Norse sagas. Most legendary sagas were divided into 38 chapters, and the number often recurred throughout stories, with the heroes combating giants or other beasts in groups of 38." So I can always hope for a year full of bravery.

In addition, "the number was also significant in Egyptian mythology, as it was the characteristic number of Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death and mummification. Egyptian pharaohs were often buried with 38 statues of cat guardians, and their sarcophagi were adorned with 38 ankhs." Let's just say that this is not my first connection with a jackal-headed god of death and mummification.

In Taiwan, "38" is slang for stupid/idiot. So, yeah.

But all of this means nothing. The reason I don't like this new number is that I don't feel like I can pretend any longer that I am in my "mid-30s." I'm not ready to go "late-30s" yet, but I know the mid days are gone. I don't really know why this bothers me, and I know that I don't really live my life like most 38 year old people, but nevertheless . . .

But with the number 38 on my brain, I knew I had to post a video from 80s hillbilly rockers .38 Special, which is not only a terrible band but also a fine caliber for handguns.

They just don't make videos like this anymore. Nor should they. But I am thinking of growing my hair out like the lead singer.

Illinois highway 38, also known as Lincoln Highway, is the main road through DeKalb,
where I lived for two years during my first grad school years.

For I am a poor and a wretched boy

2011-02-06T21:32:00.004-06:00

The Decemberists show on Friday at the Riviera was amazing. It might have been my favorite Decemberists concert I've been to. Colin Meloy was in great spirits and really interacted a lot with the crowd. I was standing right up by the stage, so I got some great pictures.

Colin came out first and played one of his solo songs, and then the band came on and played three in a row from the new album. The musicians were in top form, and the highlight of this set of songs was definitely "Calamity Song," the most R.E.M,-sounding of their R.E.M.-inspired album. But "Rise to Me" was also beautiful, and the whole crowd seemed to have already learned all the words.

Next the band went a little old school with "The Infanta," "Los Angeles, I'm Yours," and a stirring "The Engine Driver," all of which thrilled the sold-out crowd.

Another highlight came when they played all three parts of "The Crane Wife," some of my favorite Decemberists songs.

Then the new music came back, and I loved every song they played. But "This is Why We Fight" had a new sense of power and emotion when I watched them play it live.

With "16 Military Wives" Colin led us all in a crowd sing-along (as he has done many times before). At one point he looked right at my friend Jill and me and said, "You've done this before." That made us giddy of course.

The final song of the regular set was the true spectacle. Before the song started, Colin said that the way that Rahm Emanuel convinced the Illinois Supreme Court to put his name back on the ballot was by taking a guitar and playing this song for them. Then "The Chimbley Sweep" started up, and the band proceed to get crazy. Halfway into the song, they all began switching instruments, which they don't necessarily know how to play. So Colin was on the drums, Chris was on the accordian, Jenny was playing the bass, Nate was on the keyboards, and John was pretending to be a rock singer. He kept doing rock star poses, and then started some strange spoken word thing about a train. It was basically a cacophony of chaos on stage.

And then Colin came to the front of the stage and handed his guitar to my friend Jill, and she got to play for a while while Colin looked on.

Then Colin began to crowd-surf, as did Chris and Nate.

This whole interlude of craziness went on for about 10 minutes, before the band members all took their real spots and started playing the rest of "The Chimbley Sweep." The whole thing was so incredibly amusing that I was laughing quite a bit.

Colin also at right in front of us and watched the band for a while.

The encores (yep, plural) were also fantastic, with the crowd-pleasing "Mariner's Revenge Song" and the lovely "January Hymn" and "June Hymn"

The show just had a great energy to it. The setlist was superb and everyone had a fun time.

Setlist:
My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist  
Down By the Water  
Calamity Song  
Rise To Me
 Infanta  
Los Angeles, I'm Yours
 The Engine Driver  
The Crane Wife 1 & 2
The Crane Wife 3  
Don't Carry It All  
Rox In The Box  
This Is Why We Fight  
16 Military Wives  
The Chimbley Sweep  

Encore:
A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell cover)
January Hymn  
The Mariner's Revenge Song  

Encore 2:
June Hymn

Sing the praises of your fruit

2011-02-03T21:53:00.008-06:00

Well I survived the great blizzard. It really was extraordinary. I have never seen snow falling so hard, nor have I ever before witnessed thundersnow (with lightning!). Lightning and snow really make a disconcerting combination.

We had an unprecedented two days off from school because after the storm almost all roads were impassable.

Here's the back door to my apartment building (leading to the gangway of the manhole):

Here's my car:

Actually in this picture my car is in pretty good shape. Today I went out to see if I could dig it out and the jack-knobs on either side of my car had dug their cars out and thought it was okay to pile all of their snow behind by car, so now I have a 5 foot pile of packed snow behind my car.

But I realize that my problems pale in comparison to the people who were stranded for 12 hours on Lake Shore Drive, one of the busiest streets in the city. (I did not take this picture.)

These people were trying to get home from work when the storm hit. But every weather report said to avoid Lake Shore Drive because there might be 30 foot waves, so these people are 1) dumb forgetting stuck, and 2) lucky they are not dead.

The two days off of school were nice, and last night I had a great and rare Wednesday night out with friends. However, the snow days have created chaos for musical auditions, so that will be a headache to work through.

Anyway, the storm was crazy and a bit exciting, and now we're all cleaning up.

Elsewhere . . . R.E.M.'s new single has a strange title--"Mine Smell Like Honey"--and a strange video. But the song is great.

So tomorrow is Friday, and then the weekend, after we just had two days off! This weekend will be a great one, with The Decemberists tomorrow and a pre-birthday karaoke extravaganza on Saturday.

Whoa, Milo

2011-01-31T18:55:00.001-06:00

I have lots to say, and school has been very busy lately. Today was the first day of auditions for the spring musical. Last year, you might remember, I had my first experience with musical theatre, assistant-directing Les Mis. Well this year I was asked to be the lead director! It is quite an honor and I'm pretty excited about it. It will also be an enormous amount of work. I decided I wanted to do sort of the anti Les Mis, so we're doing Footloose. I wanted something fun, upbeat, etc., and Footloose seemed the perfect choice. Anyway, auditions started today. I know this will be a fun experience, and I'm sure I'll be posting more about it.

Next . . . I don't really have much to say about the State of the Union. In the past I have live-blogged it, but I wasn't really feeling that this year. I think it was a good speech--short on specifics as they always are, but well done. I think that Obama has done a good job lately on focusing the scrutiny onto the Republicans--as though to say, "Ok, you have some power now," knowing thy they'll have to deliver and bear some of the burden.

And Michelle Bachmann is a grade A nutbag. That's me elevating the dialogue.

Next . . . The Oscar nominations. I have to hand it to the Academy this year: those nominations are pretty spot-on. My own Top 10 list pretty closely matches the Best Picture nominees (my list will be posted this week), and the acting awards are good choices too. This year I had actually seen all 10 of the Best Picture nominees before the announcement, so I feel good about that. I still need to see a few acting performances, but I did well this year.

And back to politics . . . If you've followed the Chicago mayoral race and the whole Rahm Emanuel nonsense, then you might guess I have an opinion. I do. Rahm has every right to be on the ballot, and the Illinois Supreme Court absolutely the tight decision overturning the lower court ruling. And Rahm will be an awesome mayor. He will kick asses that need to be kicked. I'm proud to be casting my vote for him next month. Plus he lives down the street from me.

Ok. I'm blogging on my phone from the train, listening to the new Iron & Wine (more on that later). As I said, my film list, plus my album list, will be posted soon. I am also going to see The Decemberists on Friday, so that will cap off a good week I hope.

A week which may also contain the Snow Event of the Decade. Blizzard warnings abound.

Well, as I started to say, I'm using my phone to blog and I'm getting sore text thumbs. Stay tuned.

Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone-drab

2011-01-24T20:40:00.005-06:00

The King is Dead

by The Decemberists

If you read reviews of the new album by The Decemberists, The King is Dead, you'll see two recurring ideas about it: "country-tinged" and "R.E.M.-inspired." Well, let's tackle these ideas.

(Actually, first let's talk about the title: The King is Dead obviously calls to mind the classic Smiths album The Queen is Dead. Beyond the title, I'm not sure about the connection, but Colin Meloy has made no secret of how much he has been influenced by The Smiths. So I don't know the reasons behind the title.)

Okay: country-tinged. It's pretty hard to side-step this nugget of truth. Songs at various points feature slide guitars, fiddles, banjos, and Gillian Welch, queen of Americana bluegrass. So we're not talking about Toby Keith or Taylor Swift country--this is good old American music, with guitar twangs speckled with love of family, harmonica wails dotted with liberty, and honkey tonk piano melodies jeweled with struggle. Country-tinged indeed.

Next: R.E.M.-inspired. A few months ago I saw an interview with Colin Meloy in which he talked about rediscovering early R.E.M. and being moved by it. And he has said that as he was writing the new songs, some of the music lines sounded like they could be R.E.M. ripoffs, so to avoid such accusations he asked Peter Buck (R.E.M.'s guitar master, obviously) to play on several songs. This way the ripoffs become homages. Well played, Colin. Of course I was thrilled to hear such news since R.E.M. is my all-time favorite and Buck's early guitar parts are the stuff of American music lore. More details in a bit, but yes, R.E.M.-inspired.

Overall, The King is Dead is another bit of brilliance from this incredible band. While I loved the rock opera of their last album, I am actually very happy that the new album is more singles-based. The songs on The King is Dead form tight little packages, each one showcasing Meloy's excellent songwriting and the band's virtuosity. These songs seem more personal, less fairytale-like than previous Decemberists songs, without being simple. This is not to say that Colin Meloy doesn't take us on occasional lyrical journeys through literariness and whimsy--he does.

The album starts off in a much more thumping way than their other albums, with the pounding drums (slightly reminiscent of R.E.M.'s "The Finest Worksong") and wailing harmonica of "Don't Carry it All" -- and what an excellent way to start us off. With beautiful harmonies and tales of neighbor helping neighbor, "Don't Carry it All" has quickly become one of my favorite Decemberists songs.

Which leads us to "Calamity Song," the best song on the album, and the song Colin must have been thinking of when he asked Peter Buck to play guitar. The opening guitar is all at once "Gardening at Night," "Talk About the Passion," "Sitting Still." And it's also The Decemberists. This song is wondrous, both in its imitation and its originality.

"Rise to Me" is one of those country-sounding numbers I mentioned, with a lovely slide guitar, strumming acoustic guitar, and lilting melodies. But what a sublimely sweet and powerful song. A call from Colin to the people and things he loves (including his young son) to fight for themselves and not back down.

The most "Decemberists-like" song (for fair-weather fans) arrives in the form of "Rox in the Box," a jaunty, accordian-infused song telling the tale of . . . well, I have not quite figured that out yet. But the violins are exquisite.

The first beautiful ballad on the album, "January Hymn," starts with a rather haunting melody of "oooh oooh oooh" and perhaps the most personal lyrics of the album. Colin sings, "What were the words I meant to say before you left? When I could see your breath lead where you were going to" over a simple guitar part, drawing us in to a tale of loss. Plus he uses "green" as a verb.

The album's first single, "Down By the Water," again features Peter Buck on guitar and Gillian Welch on backing vocals, and the result is perhaps the most "radio-friendly "song The Decemberists have ever made. Everything about this song is excellent (and the dark music is highly inspired by "The One I Love" by R.E.M.)

Country comes surging back with the opening fiddle of "All Arise!" which also feature a honkey tonk piano. When I listen to this fun ditty, I feel like I'm at a meeting of the Appalachian Dead Poets' Society, where we also beat our wet laundry on rocks. (I don't know what this means either--just go with it.)

Obviously a companion piece to "January Hymn," "June Hymn" is quite simply a phenomenally pretty song. "A barony of ivy in the trees, expanding out it's empire by degrees . . ." Gorgeous.

The pace changes quickly with "This is Why We Fight," and the strumming guitar drives the upbeat tempo to a soaring chorus. The layered percussions, the in-the-background harmonica, the tinkling guitar -- this is jangle pop, darkly and handsomely redone. A true album highlight.

After a muffled bluegrass interlude, the album's somber closer "Dear Avery," arrives to send us off in a sad, melodic way. The music sounds a bit like the final song ("The Drowned") from The Hazards of Love, and also seems to tell a story of loss. "There are times life will rattle your bones and will bend your limbs."

Some Decemberists fans need "The Mariner's Revenge Song" all the time. This album may not be for them. But for the rest of us, those who want masterful musicianship and perfectly crafted indie-Americana, The King is Dead delivers a superb 40 minutes of joy.

Nothing baby but you and me

2011-01-17T18:18:00.004-06:00

First, a word about Ricky Gervais and the controversy over his hosting of the Golden Globes. I thought he was hilarious. Maybe a few jokes were a little much (the Scientologists joke), but everything else was great--and even that one was funny. Someone on the news was saying that Gervais was too harsh on Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Good lord. If these actors can't laugh about the fact that they got paid $20 million to make a movie that everyone hated, then they deserve to be criticized.

And the fact that Gervais thanked God for making him an atheist . . . Excellent.

Anyway, I saw a couple of movies.

The Fighter, the true story of boxer Micky Ward and his once-promising brother Dickie Eklund, showcases some top-notch acting. I have always liked Mark Wahlberg, and he does a good job as Ward--though this is only ostensibly Ward's story. The real star here is Christian Bale, in one of those all-in, lose-a-lot-of-weight performances that defines dedication. (Don't get me wrong, the performance is not just about weight loss.) As former boxer-turned crack addict Dickie, Bale gives a truly astonishing performance. His shakes, his tics, his voice--everything about him as been transformed into this sad character. He may just win the Oscar.

As the boys' mother, Melissa Leo also give an outstanding performance, adding some trashy humor to this interesting story.

But The Fighter, directed by David O. Russell, is mostly about these excellent actors. Dickie's story is interesting, but I did not find him very likable, so I was not really rooting for him. Mickey is a sort of one-dimensional character as well, so for me, the boxing scenes were very well-made, but I was not drawn in. I was definitely not cheering in my seat. That is not to say I was rooting against these guys, but I was not stirred to emotion like I wanted to be.

So I think The Fighter is a very good movie, but not a great one. It lacked something, some heart or some connection.

Nonetheless, Christian Bale's performance must be seen.

Blue Valentine is just downright depressing. Derek Cianfrance has directed this "romance" that tells the tale of a crumbling relationship. In two back-and-forth time periods, we see Dean and Cindy (played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) fall in love and then fall out of love. These two young actors give outstanding and intense performances, and they deliver some of the most realistic and incisive dialogue I've ever seen in a relationship movie. Both Gosling and Williams deserve any nominations they receive.

In addition, the soundtrack by Grizzly Bear is exceptionally good.

The performances make this movie good; the story makes it gut-wrenching. This movie is profoundly sad.

F-f-f-f-fornication?

2011-01-10T21:39:00.003-06:00

The King's Speech

Sometimes you hear about a movie and you think, "Well that just seems like Oscar-bait." You know, that type of well-acted, stuffy, British movie about royalty that will not really interest you but will win awards? Well, when I first heard about The King's Speech, I assumed it was that kind of movie. Of course the acting would be good--Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are always incredible. Well, buzz began to build around tis little movie, and soon I was reading that it was not only winning critics' awards, but "audience favorite" awards at festivals all over the world. So I though maybe I'd check it out. But seriously, a movie about a king who stammers?

Yes, seriously.

The King's Speech , directed by Tom Hooper, is by far one of the best films of the year, and Colin Firth gives one of the best performances in years in the feel-good, funny, crowd-pleasing, and touching true story. Firth plays Bertie, who will reluctantly become King George VI (the current Queen's father), but who suffers from a terrible stammer. The invention of radio poses a problem for the royals, who before could get away with such speech problems. Well, throw in the real-life drama of King Edward VI and his divorced lover, and Bertie becomes king.

His wife (who we knew in our lifetimes as the Queen Mum), played wonderfully by Helena Bonham-Carter, is determined to get Bertie help with his speech problem, and finally encounters Dr. Lionel Logue, who is more of a psychotherapist than a speech therapist. Well Lionel and Bertie begin their sessions, hilarity ensues, etc. These two actors play stunningly well off of each other, and their scenes together are a delight to behold.

Trust me when I say that even if none of this description appeals to you, it is impossible not to love The King's Speech. The story is compelling, the interchanges are poignant and funny, and the climax is stirring.

Colin Firth should win the Oscar. Not only has he perfected the stammer and all the tics that accompany it, but his facial expressions convey such pain, such distress, that you feel like you're watching one of those performances in which the actor had channeled something real.

The King's Speech is quite simply a wonderful film.

It's a journey--it's yours if you want it

2011-01-02T22:01:00.001-06:00

The Best Songs of 2010

I've compiled a list of my favorite "singles" of 2010. I use the word singles a little loosely here, since many of the bands and artists I like don't really release radio singles, but in most cases, the songs were either released with videos or released as "advance singles." Sometimes, however, I'm a little more loose with the definition. For example, "Sprawl II" by Arcade Fire has not really been a single (with video, etc.), but since the band played it on SNL, I'm going with it.

The reason I've decided to confine myself to "singles" is to narrow down the field. Instead of leaving every excellent song from every great album of the year open for the choosing, I've been a bit more selective. In some cases the best "single" from an album is not the best song from that album, but that's just how it goes.

Also, though several artists here had more than one great single this year, I've also limited my list to one song per album.

Now, a word about some of my selections. Most people who know me expect the list to be indie heavy, and it is. But I also liked a great many pop songs this year. So I guess some people might be surprised by one or two songs here.

Anyway, on with it, in alphabetical order.

All to All - Broken Social Scene. A gorgeous, slightly spacey, kind of ethereal song that is simply a joy to listen to.

Animal Arithmetic - Jónsi. Insanely uplifting song on which Jónsi rattles off carpe diem imagery over a strangely springlike industrial cacophony of rhythm.

Another World - Chemical Brothers. Bouncy, propelling. If I could go back in time to when I was a DJ, I'd end my set with this song.

Bird 1 - Underworld. A classic-sounding song from my all-time favorite electronic group. Full of strange images and awesome beats.

Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National. This is a strong contender for best song of the year. Everything about this song works for me, from the drum and piano line to the economic downturn-inspired lyrics. And as I said in my review of the album, the line "I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees" is the best single line of the year.

Boyfriend - Best Coast. If Liz Phair made lo-fi high school girl songs with a Beach Boys touch, it might sound like Best Coast.

Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris. So this might be the first surprise on the list. Here's the thing: this song has a great beat and a catchy chorus, and when I hear it, it gets stuck in my head for hours.

Cooler than Me - Mike Posner. Another pop song! I love everything about this song, especially the beat. It's a silly pop song, but I crank it when it comes on the radio.

Dancing On My Own - Robyn. Robyn should be huge in this country, but instead she's huge everywhere else. "Dancing on My Own" is a danceable little rejection number that just sounds great. "Stilettos and broken bottles . . . "

Dog Days are Over - Florence and the Machine. This song was everywhere this year, and I fell in love with it after watching a performance on the MTV VMAs. I love the sound of Florence's voice, and I am also intrigued by the song's structure.

Fire with Fire - Scissor Sisters. This song is perhaps the most mainstream-sounding Scissor Sisters song, and in fact reminds me a lot of The Killers. But Jake Shears' voice is spectacular as always, and this upbeat song has a great sound.

Fuck You -- Cee-lo Green. What else needs to be said? Brilliant.

Giving Up the Gun - Vampire Weekend. This song is Vampire Weekend's most electronic song, with its dancey drum machines, but it is also their best song. Their new album showed a lot of range, and "Giving Up the Gun" is a standout.

Heirloom - Sufjan Stevens. I'm cheating a little by having two Sufjan Stevens songs on my list, but that is because this one comes from the All Delighted People EP, released a month before his new album. "Heirloom" is a gorgeous piece of acoustic artistry, and it would fit right on Seven Swans, and it has some great Simon and Garfunkel-esque harmonies added.

I Can Change - LCD Soundsystem. The actual best song of the year.

I Died So I Could Haunt You - Stars. With a title like that how could it not be great?

I Want the World to Stop - Belle and Sebastian. The new album has taken a little while to grow on me, and I don't think that this song is the best song on the album, but it was an actual single, and I really like it quite a lot. The really cool bass line makes want to dance around the apartment a bit.

Invent it All Again - Faded Paper Figures. This electronic indie pop band has produced some nice little songs, and their single "Invent it all Again" is another gem. It is pop silliness in the Owl City vein, but with much more interesting lyrics and imagery.

Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons. This is the best song on a stellar album. The acoustic strum propels the verses forward to the thumping drums of the chorus, and the heartfelt lyrics tug at the soul a bit.

Love and Leave - Scattered Trees. Did I just say something about tugging at the soul? On this single from the forthcoming album Sympathy, singer Nate Eiesland's voice gorgeously channels a little Chris Martin, while he sings a heartbreaking dirge of lost love. Even knowing the song is about the death of a father, we can still read it as a song about a heart broken by romantic love. That's a brilliant aspect of the song: the way it can express the universal in the private.

Magic - B.o.B. feat. Rivers Cuomo. A huge guilty pleasure. I know that Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has fallen from the graces of most indie rock fans, and obviously this collaboration with rapper B.oB. doesn't help that image. But I don't care--I think "Magic" is big fun, and finds B.oB. at his most Outkasty.

The Man - Eels. The new Eels album is their best in years, and "The Man" is a remarkably catchy song. Simple drum machine beats under Mark Everett's uncharacteristically upbeat lyrics make for a delightful combination.

Monster - Kanye West. The best rap song I've heard in a long time. The song opens brilliantly with some fuzzed-up Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) lines, and then proceeds as a series of brilliant performances over an amazingly simple but throbbing beat. Rick Ross, Kanye, Jay-Z -- all excellent here. But the showstopper is Nicki Minaj, whose strange schizophrenic verse takes on a wild ride, culminating in the best use of speak-growling ever used in a song. "Monster" is phenomenal.

Rocket - Goldfrapp. Silly, dirty, very dancey. I love it.

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire. This might be Arcade Fire's best song. Regine Chassagne sings of suburban angst over a disco-like beat. What could be wrong with that?

Too Much - Sufjan Stevens. As I said, I cheated a little with two Sufjan songs, but oh well. Two different albums. The Age of Adz represents a huge sonic departure for Sufjan, and "Too Much," while not my favorite song on the album, really showcases the "new" Sufjan. It has lush background voices, it has repeated movements, it has odd but gorgeous horns. This is weird and different, but we should not be so surprised by it.

Undercover Martyn - Two Door Cinema Club. Brit pop, straight up. Awesome beats, great vocals, great Irish indie fun.

Where I'm Going - Cut Copy. When I saw Cut Copy play at Lollapalooza, I loved all the songs from their first album, but I was really intrigued by their new single. While still embracing the 80s sounds of their other songs, "Where I'm Going" is a bit of a departure. A great departure. And I just love the "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whooo!" chorus.

So there you have it. Judge me if you want. But if you want to hear these songs, you can download a zip file of all of them! And then you can trash the songs you don't like! And it's all free! Click here!

Well, that didn't pan out.

2010-12-30T14:51:00.006-06:00

True Grit

Everyone knows that I adore the films of the Coen brothers. In the film class I teach, at least three movies each semester are Coen brothers' movies. These filmmakers just represent mastery of the art. So with great excitement and high hopes, I immersed myself in the new remake of True Grit. I saw the original when I was a little kid, though I have never read the book, and the advanced word was that the new movie would be much more closely follow the book than the original movie. None of that matters.

What matters is that the Coen brothers have masterfully constructed a new classic Western. The Coens' longtime cinematographer Roger Deakins has left his thumbprint all over this film, shooting the gorgeous but stark landscape in glorious beauty and with careful attention to lighting and shot composition.

The acting in True Grit left me in awe. Of course Jeff Bridges gives one of his best performances as the codger marshall Rooster Cogburn. He grunts and grumbles, makes us laugh, makes us think. Matt Damon adds a great of deal of comic relief, and plays his Texas Ranger with great skill. Josh Brolin has a superb ten minutes of screen time as the killer that Cogburn is tracking. But the standout is newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who delivers her lines with intentionally stilted brilliance. As Mattie Ross, the girl who hires Cogburn to track her father's killer, Steinfeld gives a star-making and Oscar-worthy performance. For a young actor to get her big break acting for the Coen brothers must be a dream come true, and Hailee Steinfeld will be a big star.

Much has been made in the reviews I've read that this isn't really as much a "Coen brothers" movie (with all the connotations that term brings) as justa really well-made Western. Well, first of all, enough quirky characters and scenes populate this film that it is definitely Coen-like in that way. But most importantly, True Grit is a beautifully shot, stunningly acted, highly comical, thought-provoking commentary not only on life, death, and justice, but also on the Western genre.

In its excellence, True Grit is most definitely a "Coen brothers film."

This is the not-fucking-around crew

2010-12-22T22:37:00.005-06:00

I don't know quite why I did not see The Town when it was in the theaters--it got great reviews, and several people recommended it to me. But for some reason, I did not see it.

But now I have, and I am very glad I have. The Town is a taut, exciting bank robber movie, and an intriguing, intense character study. The film is exceptionally well acted, with Ben Affleck giving his best performance in a long time as the conflicted and haunted lead, and Jeremy Renner delivering another Oscar-worthy role as a twisted and disturbed bank robber/thug.

The Town provides some well-made action sequences, but the interplay between the characters (the screenplay is co-written by Affleck) really gives the film its soul. And as a director, Affleck shows once again (after his excellent debut Gone Baby Gone) that he gets it. He makes excellent directorial choices, from the angles of the fight scenes to the exceptionally well-chosen Charlestown, MA location shoots. Affleck will continue to get better and better as a director, but he shows with The Town that he already possesses great skill.

Elsewhere, I'm several days into my break, and I'm enjoying it so far. Today my mom came to the city, and we went out to lunch and then met my cousin Megan and her boyfriend for a drink at the 96th floor of the Hancock Building. Though it's a pretty touristy thing to do, the views of both the city and the lake are amazing.

Tomorrow I head down to Indiana for Christmas with my brother and my nephews. I'm looking forward to it, and I plan to knock out a few more movies, so I'll try to blog from there.

What happened to my sweet girl?

2010-12-16T21:49:00.003-06:00

Black Swan

I don't want to say too much about Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky's psychologically disturbing new film about a balletstar ho give a bit too much of herself to her role in Swan Lake. Basically this movie must be seen to be comprehended. And even then it may not be comprehended.

Do go see this movie if:

You want to see one of the most brilliant and all-in performances in a long time. Natalie Portman achieves stunning new heights as an actress here, and she should win the Oscar.
You are intrigued by psychotic mothers
You find Mila Kunis beguiling. I do.
You're ready to surrender logic for a while.
You can handle some truly frightening, mind-twisting scenes. Some moments in this film truly scared me, more than most horror films.
You want to see Winona Rider go crazy.
You don't want to breathe in a steady manner for the last 20 minutes.

Many people won't love Black Swan, but you must see it.

Owned by the Manhole

2010-12-07T21:29:00.006-06:00

Late on Saturday afternoon, I was heading out to my car. I park in a spot in the alley behind my apartment building, so I walk down a gangway out back. In the middle of the gangway is a manhole. Manhole covers are generally sealed shut.

This manhole cover looked like no exception (and I've walked down this gangway hundreds of times).

But on this particular Saturday, the manhole cover was not secured in place. As I walked down the walkway, I stepped on the edge of the cover, and discovered the looseness.

(I've recreated the scene here, though in reality, I stepped with my left foot, not my right.)

So as I stepped on the cover, it flipped up and I basically fell through the manhole, though not my whole body. My body dropped down as my left leg dropped in to the hole. The left side of my ankle scraped the edge of the manhole, causing immediate searing pain, but that was nothing compared to the next pain. As my body dropped, the manhole cover was now vertical, and the full weight my body dropped down onto it. The edge of the upturned metal disk rammed into my inner thigh just above and behind my knee. The rush of pain made me collapse, so my left leg continued to drop into the manhole, while on the right side, my shin crashed down on to the rim of the hole. I screamed in pain and fell face forward onto the pavement. My shin felt like it had been crushed, but the worst pain was in my left leg (which was still down the manhole). I lay on the ground swearing at full volume, almost crying . I managed to turn over onto my back and extricate my leg from the hole. But the pain was some of the worst I have ever felt. (And in retrospect I realize how lucky I was that my manhole cover that I was basically straddling crashed into my thigh. That could have turned out much worse.)

I slowly stood up and determined to my relief that nothing was broken. I made it back up to my apartment, took off my now muddied jeans to look at my injuries. I could immediately tell that these were the kind of bruises that would get worse with time.

I got my camera to document the scene, just in case I needed to file a claim against my building management if I had to go to the doctor.

And here's what the manhole looked like after the incident:

Not very safe.

I spent the evening resting and icing my leg, but the swelling could not be stopped. On Sunday, here's what my leg looked like. The pink line down the middle of the bruise is a scrape. The dark purple spot is where the edge of the manhole cover hit me. You can definitely see how swollen my leg was, and the swelling made it hard to move my leg, especially to bend it.

So that was after one day. After two days, my bruise was so swollen and discolored that my leg looked like a purple manatee. It was pretty foul, as well as excruciating:

That's one for the Christmas card.

Now it has been three full days, and the swelling has gone down a lot. The bruise is still all kinds of funky colors, but the pain is subsiding.

So yeah, I fell into a manhole, something that I thought only happened in cartoons. Next up: falling anvils.

Fuck.

You were like a father to me.

2010-12-05T21:21:00.005-06:00

I don't want to add a link or a photo because it doesn't deserve it. So I'll just say it: Due Date is the worst movie I've paid to see in years. This movie is excruciatingly unfunny, and the characters have no redeeming qualities. When you hope the characters die in a car crash, you know something's wrong. When the one genuinely funny moment (and it was in fact genuinely funny) occurs when a grown man punches an eight year old boy, you know something's wrong. What went wrong here? Two actors I like, a director whose last movie was hilarious. Whatever--waste of time and money. Avoid at all costs.

I cannot find my camera cable to upload pics right now, or else you would be treated to a report on my latest injury. I'll post tomorrow--let's just say, the manhole won.

Not Your Fault But Mine

2010-11-25T09:22:00.004-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I know my blog has been on life-support lately, but once again I want to say that it is not dead. I've just been very busy with work for the last two weeks, and now very grateful for a few days off.

I'm heading to my mom's for Thanksgiving, and she always makes me all manner of delicious vegan tasties.

So I am normally pretty quick to find the new music and such, so I am kicking myself for letting Mumford and Sons fly under my radar for so many months. I heard people talking about them, but for whatever reason I did not ever hear any of their music. But now I have, and I love it.

So I know for many people the song "Little Lion Man" is old news, but I cannot get enough of it. There's nothing about this song I dislike, and I have been listening to it on heavy rotation lately.

Anyway, again--Happy Thanksgiving!

And there it is - stuck.

2010-11-16T21:19:00.003-06:00

127 Hours chewed me up a little, but I came out a little better for it. Danny Boyle has created some of my favorite films, such as Trainspotting, Millions, and Slumdog Millionaire, and his latest story is another wondrous spectacle. Boyle has chosen the story of Aron Ralston, the hiker who had to cut his own arm off after being trapped by a boulder. We all remember the story in the news, and we all wondered if someone would make a movie. Well, Danny Boyle has, and 127 Hours is a great movie.

James Franco plays Aron Ralston, and he basically owns the movie, spending most of the time by himself on camera. Sure, he meets a couple of hikers before he gets trapped, but the rest of the film is Ralston and his memories and hallucinations. Franco does a superb job here, convincingly conveying Ralston's resolve and his fear.

Boyle does a lot of stuff with the camera and the editing, and we are often bombarded with images. But the result is a brilliant portrayal of a man coming to terms with what he has to do because of coming to terms with what he has to live for. All of Boyle's decisions, from split-screens to cameos by Scooby Doo to superimposed images of living rooms and canyons, work well as a whole. Plus, as always, Boyle has put together an awesome soundtrack (culminating in a perfectly chosen "Festival" by Sigur Rós).

When the time comes for what we know is coming, Boyle does not sugar-coat the event or turn the camera away. This is gruesome (and noisy) stuff, but I felt compelled not to turn away--not because of some perverse desire to see such nastiness, but because I truly felt that I had been along for this ride and owed it to Ralston to at least watch what he had to do.

Danny Boyle continues to shine, and James Franco does some of his best work here. 127 Hours will be one to watch at Oscar time. I don't think it is the best film of the year, but man it's good.

Two of us riding nowhere

2010-11-10T20:56:00.009-06:00

I only have a few moments, for you see, my internet has been on the fritz since Sunday night, and I only have service in short, four minute bursts. Every time I've tried to update my blog since I got back from D.C., my internet has been down. I had a very . . . let's say terse . . . conversation with the cable company, which led to me telling the poor woman in India that she works for "a very shitty company." I reminded her that this was now the sixth time I've had this problem in the past two months and that a technician had been to my house five times. I made her assure me that the technician would not simply swap out my modem this time because obviously there is a larger problem. I told her that I had switched my cable from Comcast, "because they are a terrible company," to the new company because I wanted better service. I then told her that it turns out that choosing between the two cable companies was "like choosing between shooting myself in the head or stabbing myself in the head." Anyway, the technician comes tomorrow. I hope I can finish this post before the internet cuts out . . . .

Anyway, I had a wonderful weekend in Washington, D.C. First of all, it was great to see my friend Jennifer, who has visited me several times in Chicago, while I have not visited her in DC for 12 years. I'm a terrible person, as you know. So this trip was to see her and her family. I had only met two of her kids (when they were babies), so I loved meeting all four of them. As I have mentioned on a couple of occasions, Jennifer and I took very different life paths after high school, but we have an unbreakable bond. And I also see from her neat kids what a fantastic stay-at-home mom she has been. So it was a pleasure to see Jennifer in her own environment.

But we also did some fun DC things. On Friday night we had a great dinner with an old friend of my family, and then we went around looking at some of the monuments, which are beautiful at night. My favorite has always been the Jefferson Memorial. I think it is the most beautiful of the "big" monuments, and at night its beauty shines through even more strongly.

Of course I could not resist taking a night time shot of the Washington Monument.

A newer monument that I wanted to see because I had not seen it before was the FDR. Now I must say that I was not only blown away by the size of this monument, but I was also moved by the images. For some reason I thought the the whole monument was just a statue of FDR in his wheelchair. I did not realize that it was instead a sprawling tribute to his presidency and his legacy. The monument features beautiful waterfalls, some of FDR's best quotations (oh that crazy Socialist and his desire to help the less fortunate), and some cool statues as well.

There's a nice tribute to Eleanor:

A fascinating statue of hopeful workers trying to find a job:

And of course the man himself:

I found myself strangely moved by the whole memorial, and I think that seeing a tribute to such progressive idealism right after last week's election did my soul good.

The next day we went back to the city to see some more sights. The only museum I really wanted to see on this trip was the Newseum. Since I am a news junkie (and the newspaper business is in my blood), I was very much looking forward to this visit, and it far surpassed my expectations. The architecture itself is gorgeous, but the exhibits inside are educational, thought-provoking, and powerful.

First, the terrace of the Newseum has a wonderful view up Pennsylvania Avenue:

The current temporary exhibit deals with the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and the newspaper articles and videos on display brought back all the sadness and anger I felt during this terrible time. One fascinating display in this exhibit includes a bunch of the plywood that people used to block their doors and windows:

The most moving part of the Newseum is the 9/11 exhibit, which features an interesting wall of front pages from around the world:

And the centerpiece of the 9/11 exhibit is the crumpled radio antenna from the top of the World Trade Center. Seeing this in person made my heart stop.

The Berlin Wall exhibit features a large section of the wall, along with an actual guard tower from the wall.

This picture is taken from the bottom of the guard tower looking straight up into the tower.

I cannot recommend the Newseum highly enough. It is truly one of the best museums I've ever visited.

In addition, C-SPAN was filming a book talk with Washington Post writer Dana Millbank about his new book on Glenn Beck, so we got to watch that, which was highly entertaining.

We ended our sightseeing with a trip to the new World War II monument, which was quite beautiful, but a little plain . . .

. . . followed by the Korean War Memorial, which quickly became one of my favorite sights in DC. Not only are the statues themselves breathtaking, but the way the memorial just sort of appears as you're walking through the Mall is really a wonder of planning and design.

So my trip was excellent, and I cannot wait to go back to see Jennifer, her family, and the wonderful city of Washington, D.C.

And I finished this giant post while my internet was still intact . . .

It's all right for Saint Naive

2010-11-04T23:05:00.003-05:00

I had parent-teacher conferences today, so despite the late start, it was a long day. But I actually enjoy these conferences most of the time.

I will definitely have lots to say about the Jónsi concert, which was stunning, but it is late and I am going to bed . . .

. . . and am flying to Washington, DC in the morning to spend the weekend with Jennifer, my best friend from high school, and her family.

Go do.

2010-11-03T17:19:00.002-05:00

I need something rapturous to boost my post-election blues.

How about Jónsi in concert tonight? And a late start date tomorrow for which I dont have to be to work until 1:00 pm? Sounds perfect.

Full report to come . . .

You don't know how to drive.

2010-11-01T19:53:00.002-05:00

This weekend I went to the "Moving America Forward" rally on the south side of Chicago. After a really long wait, some good speeches by other politicians, and a couple songs by Common, the President came out and delivered an excellent stump speech.

While not as thrilling as seeing Obama on election night, the opportunity to see a president in person is an amazing one, and since I still love this guy, I knew I had to go.

I know that things are not going to go my way on election day tomorrow, and that makes me very sad, but the crowd was still pretty fired up by Obama's message.

The highlight of his speech was his car analogy, wherein he talks about how the Republicans drove the car into a steep ditch, then stood idly by ("drinking Slurpees and fanning themselves") as the Dems tried to push the car out. (The Republicans even kicked some dirt and rocks down on the Dems along the way.) Well, the car is finally out of the ditch and pointed in the right direction, and now the Republicans want the keys back.

"Sorry, Republicans, but you don't know how to drive."

This is how we do hits

2010-10-28T21:34:00.002-05:00

Hot Chip put on a very good opening show the other night. Of course I saw them at Lollapalooza (right before Lady Gaga), and I loved their set. Here, I saw them more up close, and enjoyed their show very much. They are really just a bunch of nerds, but they can play some sweet dance pop.

But as much as I like Hot Chip, that's not why we were there . . .

James Murphy is awesome. He's indie slob chic, he's a brilliant songwriter, and a great performer. After seeing LCD Soundsystem at Pitchfork this past summer and having my head blown off by the show, I knew I had to go see the concert at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago this week.

And what a fantastic, loud, sweaty show this was. The light show was a barrage of strobes; the sound system was a wall of beat. The performances were spot on, loud, and of course at times very moving ("All My Friends," "Someone Great," "Home.")

The crowd danced nonstop, and on an unseasonably warm late October night, all this dancing made for a very hot and sweaty experience. But though the venue was crowded (sold out in fact) and very hot, I did not care. I was uncomfortable but basking in the power of this night.

The outrageous setlist:

Dance Yrself Clean  
Drunk Girls  
Get Innocuous  
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House  
I Can Change  
All My Friends  
You Wanted a Hit  
Tribulations  
Movement  
Yeah  

Encore:
Someone Great  
Losing My Edge  
Home

Thumbs Down

2010-10-25T10:45:00.002-05:00

My latest grad school course evaluation:

Click for a larger image.

LCD Soundsystem & Hot Chip tonight!

Boy, we can do much more together.

2010-10-18T20:55:00.004-05:00

I knew, from previous reports, that the Sufjan Stevens concert on Friday night would be almost entirely made up of his new music, mostly from his new album The Age of Adz, plus some songs from his EP All Delighted People. And since, as I mentioned in my review, I love the new album (and it has continued to grow and grow), I was pretty excited to see what he was going to do with this new stuff. I also knew that some old fans who had not quite gotten into the new music might be disappointed. But he is touring his new album, after all.

So I found myself at the Chicago Theatre for the second time in a week. We were up in the balcony again, very excited for the show. After a boring opening act, Sufjan took the stage. Again, having heard that the show was entirely new music until the encore, imagine my surprise when the first song was a stunning and loud rendition of "Seven Swans."

And then came the new stuff, and it was pure joy to watch. Sufjan is a genius with an angelic voice, and as he made his way through the new music, I came to love it all the more. In addition, along the way Sufjan explained what the new album was all about. He called it an "exploration of the internal cosmos." In addition, he explained, in great detail, how he had lost his way as a songwriter and needed something new. To that end he decided to throw out everything that was familiar, which, as he said, was why "you won't hear any banjo in these songs." Hearing him explain his process a bit made me fall even more deeply in love with the new album, but mostly the music just sounded amazing.

Sufjan (and his band and backup dancers) jammed out on the upbeat songs and sent our souls to the domed ceiling on the slow songs. The weirdness of the music was made weirder by the odd and often grotesque imagery projected on the back screen.

Some highlights (from the new music) for me included "I Walked," "The Age of Adz," and "Heirloom." but the absolute show-stealing performance was "Impossible Soul," the 25-minute five-part epic that closes the new album. The song covers about eight or nine genres, and goes from slow and mournful to full-on dance. But this song live is a wonder to behold. When the beats kicked in (at about the 12-minute mark), the theater came alive. People danced in the aisles as Sufjan and his band belted out, "Boy, we can do much more together." Then he moved in to the T-Pain autotune, danced around the stage, and finally brought us to the acoustic closing. I stood and stared in awe of the talent I was witnessing.

And then Sufjan acknowledged that perhaps this show was not what people had signed on for. He said, "You are very brave to sit through and entire concert of new music." But the audience erupted in cheering, yelling things like "We love it!" and other such praise. And then Sufjan said, "Of course this is for you, because I used to escape to Chicago . . . Of course it's much nicer now to escape here, with a tour bus. And catering. And a hotel. And a spa." Of course "Chicago" began, and the crowd soared to its feet.

The encore was filled with old songs, including a song he claimed to never play, "Decatur," which he played with just his banjo.

Setlist:
Seven Swans  
Too Much  
Age of Adz  
Heirloom  
I Walked
Now That I'm Older  
Vesuvius  
Futile Devices  
Get Real Get Right  
The Owl and the Tanager  
Impossible Soul  
Chicago  

Encore:
Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois  
Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!  
Casimir Pulaski Day  
John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

The concert closed with some of his most heart-wrenching songs, but as my friend Brad said, we had gone on a great journey during this show. What a powerful, strange, moving, and fun show this was.

Lighting up the path that you walk

2010-10-14T22:33:00.002-05:00

If I had written the setlist for Monday night's Belle and Sebastian concert, I would not have changed much. A few substitutions might have been made, but most of my favorite songs were represented. And a few of these ("Judy and the Dream of Horses" and "The Boy with the Arab Strap") are not just favorite Belle and Sebastian songs, but on the list of favorite all-time songs by anyone.

As I've mentioned before, the Chicago Theatre is a beautiful place to watch a show, and the sold-out crowd was really into the mostly-oldies set. Of course the band played some stuff from their just released album Belle and Sebastian Write About Love, and those songs were already my instant favorites on the new album anyway, so I loved hearing them.

Stuart Murdoch may be the king of stage banter. He made us laugh many times, and as I mentioned the last time I saw them live, Stevie Jackson is also a sight to see with his wee dancing and his clever ways.

There's no use mentioning highlights since it was all highlights. Well okay, the number of songs from If You're Feeling Sinister (including both songs in the encore!) was a definite highlight,

The Amazing Setlist:

I Didn't See it Coming
I'm a Cuckoo  
Step into my Office, Baby  
She's Losing It  
I'm Not Living in the Real World  
Piazza, New York Catcher  
Lord Anthony  
I Want the World to Stop  
Sukie in the Graveyard  
(I Believe In) Travellin' Light  
The Stars of Track and Field  
Mayfly  
There's Too Much Love  
The Boy with the Arab Strap  
Caught in Love  
Simple Things  
Sleep the Clock Around  

Encore:
Judy and the Dream of Horses  
Me and the Major

Are you kidding me with that awesomeness? High on the list of all-time great shows.

Wherever you are . . .

2010-10-11T15:46:00.002-05:00

Why I encourage everyone to come out in support of equality:

It's 2010 and almost 90% of LGBT youth experience harassment in school, and too many lives have been lost. 
It's 2010 and you can still be fired from your job in 29 states for being lesbian, gay or bisexual and in 38 states for being transgender. 
It's 2010 and only five states plus DC recognize that love, not gender, is what matters in a marriage. 
It's 2010 and more than 14,000 servicemembers have been discharged from the military under the failed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.

(Thanks to the HRC)

Also, The Two Months of Concerts continues tonight with Belle and Sebastian at the Chicago Theatre!

"Every creation story needs a devil."

2010-10-06T20:44:00.004-05:00

The Social Network

I loved The Social Network. When I first heard that someone was making a movie about Mark Zuckerberg, I was slightly interested. But then I found out that the movie would be directed by David Fincher (a mastermind), and I could not wait. And then I found out that the movie would be written by Aaron Sorkin (creator of The West Wing!), and I wet myself.

Much has been written about how much of The Social Network is real and how much is fictional. We know that the details of the lawsuits are real. We know that the people are real. We don't know if how they act is entirely real. But you know what? I don't really care. This movie draws us in and holds our attention until the last frame. Sorkin's laser-like script is so cutting, so sharp, so funny, and so disturbing. And Fincher's shots and editing decisions add to the intrigue, creating a multi-layered story of greed and vengeance and entrepreneurialism and backstabbing and nerdery. (Oh, I say it's a word.)

The Social Network may well prove to be a very important film, but for now, I just really enjoyed it. Besides Sorkin's script, most of the greatness of the film can be attributed to the acting. Jesse Eisenberg really captures a version of Zuckerberg that is smart and sarcastic, petty and awkward. And at times I found msyelf oddly sympathetic to his plight in the film. Justin Timberlake really shines as Sean Parker, founder of Napster and bug in Zuckerberg's pants. We all know how talented Timberlake is (just watch him on SNL), but he really succeeds in making Parker the most pathetic of characters. But for me the real scene-stealer is Andrew Garfield, who plays Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's former best friend and the co-founder of Facebook. Saverin is the real "hero" (if this movie has one), and Garfield captures all the angst and frustration of someone jilted out of millions. We don't feel too sorry for the real Saverin (since he won a huge settlement), but in the film, Garfield nails this performance. I think he should be nominated for an Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

And that will be one of many Oscar nominations The Social Network will get. And Aaron Sorkin will win. The Social Network is immensely entertaining and undeniably captivating.

Don't get high on what you create

2010-10-03T14:11:00.004-05:00

Last night was the Broken Social Scene concert at the Riviera in Chicago. I stood in exactly the same spot as I stood for The National last weekend because it is a great spot for viewing the band. The Sea and Cake opened the show, and their set was very good. I love Sam Prekop's voice, though a few songs got a little too jam-band-like at times. But it was a solid set.

At 9:00, Broken Social Scene took the stage. I saw Broken Social Scene a couple of years ago (and I blogged about it!) and was very impressed with the musical skill of the band. This time I was even more blown away. This is one talented group of people.

I love the new album so much, so I was excited to see what kind of old-new mix the group would assemble for the setlist, and I was not disappointed. I think the balance was perfect. The band's most-of-the-time lead singer Kevin Drew really sounded great, and he was in a very fun-loving mood (as opposed to last time, when he got mad and left the stage for a while). He bantered a bit, but mostly just sang really well. And as always, the multi-instrumentalist band members switched around on stage showing their skills. One of the bst parts of seeing BSS liveis seeing the wall of musicians together on stage. At any given moment, between 6 and 13 people are playing their hearts out.

New full time member Lisa Lobsinger handled the vocals on "Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl," and she did a wonderful job. One of the highlights of the set came with her song "All to All" (one of the best songs on the new album), and the band's pounding beats and harmonic din backed Lisa's vocals perfectly. Andrew Whiteman took over the vocals for "Fire-Eye'd Boy" (a favorite of mine) and "Arthouse Director," but when he was not singing, he showed of his stellar guitar skills.

The band played all of my favorite BSS songs, but the true highlight came with the instrumental rocker "Meet Me in the Basement," which on the album is a joy to behold, and in person rocks my soul.

Setlist
1. World Sick
2. KC Accidental
3. 7/4 Shoreline
4. Fire Eye'd Boy
5. Texaco Bitches
6. All to All
7. Stars and Sons
8. Chase Scene
9. Forced to Love
10. Sweetest Kill
11. Cause = Time
12. Hotel
13. Arthouse Director
14. Romance to the Grave
15. Superconnected
16. Anthem for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
17. Lover's Spit
18. The Colony Room
19. Ungrateful Little Father
20. Meet Me in the Basement
21. Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)

As happened last time, the group did not really play an encore but just powered through. Kevin Drew announced that he did not know that the venue had an 11:00 curfew, so at 10:30 he said, "We're just gonna keep playing." So at 11:00 they stopped, having played nonstop for two hours.

I danced, I sang, I marveled. An excellent show.

Follow the flame or fall on the floor

2010-09-30T20:54:00.005-05:00

The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens

It's time to review the new ~~Jackson Pollock painting~~ Sufjan Stevens album. I knew ahead of time that this new album, The Age of Adz, would be very different. News releases indicated a drastic shift, an electronic experiment, a bizarre transformation. "This is not the Sufjan Stevens music you fell in love with!" "If you want your Sufjan to all sound like Come on Feel the Illinoise, you're in for a shock."

And you know what? It's true: The Age of Adz is in fact a bizarre transformation and an electronic experiment. This is most decidedly not the Sufjan Stevens music I fell in love with.

But it is the same Sufjan Stevens I fell in love with. What I have loved about Sufjan has been the layers and the complexity and the beauty of the music of Illinois, and all of that still remains. And what I have loved about Sufjan has been the perfect sounds to match the perfect words in the music of Seven Swans, and all of that still remains. And after several listens--it took several listens--I can say that I love The Age of Adz. This is not Illinois or Seven Swans. But it is Sufjan Stevens, who epitomizes the term musical genius.

The album starts off deceptively simple, with a lovely, quiet song called "Futile Devices." Sufjan sings about love in a more straightforward way than we've seen before, and except for the echo and reverb in his voice, the electronic tinkering is kept to a minimum here. It's a beautiful song.

And when "Too Much" starts, I know I'm in for something very different. Synthesized blips, industrial sounds, strange rhythms. What's going on here? But Sufjan starts singing, and I soon see that his music has always had strange layers of sound--it's just that now the sounds are created differently. As on most songs I love from Illinois, "Too Much" has an unconventional structure, it has lush background voices, it has repeated movements, it has odd but gorgeous horns. This is weird and different, but I should not be so surprised by it. So I'm not, and I go with it.

"The Age of Adz" begins with a very dark, menacing, evil supervillain-type sound, and then Sufjan sings in his most fragile voice about eternal living, while odd bass lines and weird tubas thump in the background. The voices in this song are altered and echoed and strange, but again, I am drawn in. This is intriguing stuff.

My initial favorite song on the album is "I Walked." This song was released on the internet a few weeks ago, so I have had a bit more time with it, and I really love it. The subtle electronic beats that comprise most of the music add a minimalism that helps to highlight Sufjan's straightforward lyrics. Of course I love Illinois, but I find something comforting here about not needing an encyclopedia and atlas to know what a song is about. And he really covers the entire range of his vocals here.

"Now That I'm Older" starts like church hymn, and then becomes an experiment in voice looping. Odd, drumless, haunting.

Another drastic change arrives with "Get Real Get Right," as Sufjan continues his long history of religious language, but this time set to a prominent electronic bass drum, synthesized strings, and sliding trombones. But again, look past the electronics and computer voices and you'll find a pretty Sufjan-like song. And as on some of the other songs on the album, his singing voice here is a bit more "regular," less precious, less perfect, more tortured. It works.

"Bad Communication" is a love song made by 1950s movie aliens.

To underscore the overtly personal nature of "Vesuvius," Sufjan sings to himself:

Sufjan, follow your heart
Follow the flame
Or fall on the floor
Sufjan, the panic inside
The murdering ghost
That you cannot ignore

And then he adds electronically altered pan flutes and Irish whistles. Listening to this on headphones, I hear new noises every time I play it. That's a good thing.

I love the way "All for Myself"starts, with the sound of a record skipping and Siren-like "oohs." Woodwinds join in, and Sufjan's voice is back to what we all recognize, but the layers of sound rise up like a wave and carry me to the end.

Another favorite on the album is "I Want to Be Well," but I cannot decide if I love it for the sounds or because I just like hearing Sufjan say fuckin' a lot. I think a little of both. The background singers add that familiar Illinois sound, but the upbeat drums and keyboards remind us where we are. And in one of his typical song break structures, Sufjan says to us, "I'm not fuckin' around." Indeed.

. . . which leads us to "Impossible Soul." Did you hear that Sufjan has a 25 minute epic of strangeness on his new album? He does. 25 minutes. It's called "Impossible Soul." It has harps, electric guitars, Star Wars laser noises, Shara Worden (from My Brightest Diamond and The Hazards of Love), Sufjan on autotune (yep, he goes all T-Pain on us), about nine tempo changes, soaring horns, and a banjo. I listened to this cacophony on the train today and was completely swept away in its weirdness and its beauty.

And that pretty much sums up the album. The Age of Adz will polarize people. "I want my 'Chicago' back!" some will say. "Sufjan, where's the next 'Casimir Pulaski Day'?" My response: "Chicago" is on your iTunes; look for it there. You already have "Casimir Pulaski Day," so why do you need another one?

Sufjan Stevens has created an experiment. But that is what all of his albums have been, and like the predecessors, The Age of Adz is brilliant.

It Takes an Ocean Not to Break

2010-09-26T22:34:00.018-05:00

As I mentioned before, The National truly blew me away at Lollapalooza. Matt Berninger's stage presence completely transcends space and time. So when I got the opportunity to see The National at the Riviera in Chicago last night, I knew I could not turn it down.

Here is a band that becomes something new on stage. From the absolutely awe-inspiring drumming of Bryan Devendorf to the guitars, pianos, horns, and all other instruments, this band never falters. But Matt Berninger -- he is something to behold. He goes into his own little (drunken) world while he performs, his powerful baritone belting out the melancholy lyrics of so many beautiful songs. But when he is not singing, he wanders around the stage, en

grossed in the music, inside of himself. He talks to himself a bit, he sometimes claps to something else in his head, he spins, he lies down, he screams.

And he goes out into the audience. During the encore finale performance of "Terrible Love," Berninger left the stage, weaved his way through the crowd (singing the whole time) with the cord stretching back to the stage. The fans held the cord up above their heads while Berninger made his way to the back of the room, finishing the song while standing on the bar at the back of the venue. Meanwhile, the band wailed on stage, turning "Terrible Love" into a heavy rock song.

Other highlights for me included "Bloodbuzz, Ohio" (of course), "Mistaken for Strangers," "Apartment Story" (which started out as a beautiful acoustic version), "Abel." "Squalor Victoria" (which was transformed into a very hard rocking song by the end), "Sorrow," and "Mr. November." And probably my favorite was "Fake Empire," wherein the drums and horns gave me goosebumps.

But the entire show was flawless.

Setlist:
1. Runaway
2. Anyone's Ghost
3. Mistaken for Strangers
4. Bloodbuzz Ohio
5. Slow Show
6. Squalor Victoria
7. Afraid of Everyone
8. Available
9. Conversation 16
10. Apartment Story
11. Sorrow
12. Abel
13. Daughters of the SoHo Riots
14. England
15. Fake Empire

Encore:
16. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
17. Mr. November
18. Terrible Love

This concert will stick in my head. The National must be seen live. My appreciation for them has grown each time I've seen them perform, and now their songs mean so much more to me than ever before.

Dancin' in September

2010-09-23T21:54:00.002-05:00

Last weekend my best friend from high school came to visit again, and we had a great time. On Friday, we went to Second City and laughed our asses off. Then on Saturday we messed around in the city during the day and then met up with another great friend from high school to whoop it up at night. We had so much fun--laughing, dancing, reminiscing. What a night!

This week at grad school my professor sort of clarified her remarks to me about veganism being a psychological disorder. Sort of clarified. She basically said that she was simply trying to say that her son "only eats three things" and he married a woman who keeps Kosher. Then she said that unlike some other vegans she's met, I don't look emaciated. All right then.

And then I led a bit of a coup and told her we needed to have a discussion about the way class was run because we just weren't getting as much out of the material and the course as we could. She seemed very receptive as we all discussed the fact that her Powerpoints on facts and statistics about learning disorders and the like did not really have as much meaning as a group of professional like us discussing our experiences, successes, etc. dealing with such disorders. She agreed and told us that she never meant to imply that she did not want us discussing, and that in fact she wants us to talk about those things.

And then she spent the next hour showing us worthless video clips and stifling our discussion.

"Pay raise when it's over. Pay raise when it's over. Pay raise when it's over."

Me and the DSM-IV

2010-09-16T21:06:00.004-05:00

My Grad Class Last Night,

or Turns Out I Need Treatment

My new grad professor is terrible. After a few good ones in a row, we're back to terrible. She never completes a sentence, and her thoughts bounce all over the place. She stifles discussion, and she lectures about the exact same thing that's in the book, and then after an hour of a crappy PowerPoints, she says, "You don't really need to see this."

And last night, she was talking about psychological disorders, and as she got to OCD, this interchange happened:

Her: Some of these serious psychological disorders can manifest themselves in different ways, For example, some people wash their hands a lot, some people are obsessed with doorknobs, and some people are extreme vegetarians.

Me: Wait . . . what? What does that mean?

Her: Well, when my son was a small kid, he found out that the meat he liked was the same as the animals he liked, so he decided he did not want to eat them anymore. Well, we did our best to trick him for years, telling him the beef burritos at Taco Bell was beans, etc.

Me: It's always good to deceive a child.

Her: Well, we wanted him to grow big and strong. But it turns out it did not matter. My son, he's your size, John. My other son, who is as skinny as a rail, eats a side of beef a day, but my other son is your size, John.

(The rest of the class knows I'm a vegan and had begun snickering at this point.)

Me: OK, but please explain what you mean when you say that "extreme vegetarianism" is a serious psychological disorder.

Her: Well, it's bad with my son. He takes it to the extreme, things like reading labels(!), avoiding gelatin, not eating eggs, all that stuff.

Me: So what you call a serious psychological disorder, other people might just call "morals."

Her: Oh, are you a vegetarian too?

Me: Yes, I'm a vegan, and I'm also my size.

Her: (Laughing) I can show you a picture of my son.

Me: No, that's ok.

Then class continued on. At the end of class, she called me over, and I thought she was going to apologize for basically telling me I was crazy. And she did sort of apologize . . .

Her: Oh, John. I'm so sorry . . . I thought I had a picture of my son to show you, but I don't Sorry.

Me: That's OK.

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father

2010-09-13T20:33:00.003-05:00

I enjoyed watching the MTV Video Music Awards last night, and it has been a few years since I had seen the whole show. I thought Chelsea Handler was pretty funny overall as the host, and I especially like her digs at MTV's lack of video-playing.

As for the performances, I though quite a few were quite good. I liked Kanye's song (and his set), though a just admitting one is a douchebag does not necessarily absolve one. Eminem did a good job as well. The performance I really liked the most was Florence + the Machine singing "The Dog Days Are Over." I am a latecomer to Florence + the Machine, but I have been listening to the album for a couple of weeks now, on the recommendation of a friend. But I had no idea that the video for this song was such a big thing, nominated for multiple awards. Again, since MTV does not play videos, I don't know where these nominations come from, but this song is a powerhouse, so I was glad to see the recognition.

Florence and the Machine "DOG DAYS ARE OVER" Music Video from LEGS MEDIA on Vimeo.

I was also glad to see Lady Gaga win so many awards, but the vegan in me was pretty disgusted by her meat dress.

Don't do nothin' . . .

2010-09-06T20:37:00.004-05:00

I had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. After a long week at school (still getting in to the swing of things), I was very much looking forward to a big double sports weekend. That's right: I was a big sports fan.

First, on Saturday a couple of friends and I went to our first Chicago Fire game. I am a sort-of soccer fan. I always enjoyed watching high school soccer games (I would go to them with the Devine family, since David was the coach), and I went to several college soccer games since I had many friends on the team. And for the past three or four World Cup tournaments, I have gotten in to the games. So I am not a huge fan, but I do enjoy the game. But now after this weekend I want to become a bigger fan.

The Chicago Fire were playing the L.A. Galaxy, so the game was sold out. Everyone wanted to see Landon Donovan and David Beckham, though Beckham was not there due to injury. But Saturday was a gorgeous, cool and sunny day, and we were ready for the fun. That fun started early, since we purchased our tickets through a group that provides a charter bus to drive fans to the game. We boarded the bus at a local bar, ready for the 45 minute trek to Toyota Park. The fans were fun, made more fun by the free beer on the bus.

We got to the game just as it was starting, expecting crappy cheap seats, so we were pleasantly surprised to find great goal-end seats near the infamous Section 8, which is a group of hugely entertaining and enthusiastic fans that sit directly behind the goal. The game was fun to watch, with a lot of great plays, culminating in an excellent Fire goal which caused us to erupt in excitement. Sadly, the Galaxy scored within about two minutes after that. The game was a tie, which unfortunately meant that the Fire's playoff hopes were dashed, as they needed a victory.

The friends, the fans, the beer (and margaritas), and the Fire all combined for a great day. I will definitely be going back!

Then on Sunday, a couple of other friends and I went to Wrigley for my last Cubs game of the year. I have gone to more games this year than I ever have, and though Wrigley is always fun, I wish I could have broken my attendance record in a year that the Cubs did not suck. The game Sunday was abysmal, as the boys in blue lost to the sucky Mets 18-5. That's right, 18-5. Against the Mets. But the Cubs won the series, which is small comfort for such a disappointing season. I still love my Cubbies, and I will always be a fan, but this season has been a profound failure.

Nevertheless, I had a fun time because I was with great friends, and the weather was beautiful.

Today I just relaxed, did some grad school work, and watched the long weekend tick away.

Missionary Only

2010-09-02T21:15:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of each school year, I ask my students to write me a little letter in which they address their own expectations for the year. I want to hear what kind of teachers they like, what kind of classroom atmosphere they prefer, what qualities they don't like in a teacher, etc.

One sophomore boy wrote what I think was supposed to say something along the following lines: "I don't like it when teachers have a gender bias." That's what I think he meant to say. That's what I hope he meant to say. Instead, he wrote, "I don't like teachers who favor one type of sex."

Ask the birds singing

2010-08-30T21:08:00.005-05:00

The first week of school last week was very long. Of course I was not used to getting up early, but the days seemed pretty long. As I mentioned in the spring, I was cut to part time this year, and though it is a small cut, I basically teach one fewer classes this semester. My schedule is such that I have a giant block of time in between my classes, and while on paper this seems like a good schedule, it really just means that I do most of my teaching at the end of the day, and the block of nothingness makes the day much longer. On the plus side, I should have no trouble getting my school work done.

And speaking of school work, grad class starts up again this week, so I'm hoping this new professor is good. The class is all about special education.

Anyway, enough of that tediousness. Here are some music-based things I really like right now or am looking forward to:

"The Man" by Eels. The whole new album is fantastic, but "The Man" has a brilliant simplicity about it, plus really cool between-verse drums. Download an mp3!

"Heirloom" by Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan released a strange EP called All Delighted People last week. "Heirloom" blows me away with its banjo and its echo. Download an mp3!

Speaking of Sufjan, he announced this week that he will be releasing a new album on October 12. The Age of Adz with be a bit electronic apparently, and I am exceptionally excited.

And speaking of Sufjan, I have tickets to see him at the historic Chicago Theatre on October 15. Since I loved the last Sufjan concert I saw, I am thrilled to be seeing him again.

And speaking of concerts at the historic Chicago Theatre, four days prior to the Sufjan show, I will be seeing Belle and Sebastian. Since I loved the last Belle and Sebastian concert I saw, I am thrilled to be seeing them.

And speaking of Belle and Sebastian, they announced last week that they will be releasing a new album on October 12 (Yep, the same day as Sufjan's album!). Write About Love will no doubt excite me.

And speaking of music in October, I will be going to see Broken Social Scene on October 2. Yep, loved them before, will love them again.

Have I mentioned some concerts? Well, I just found out that LCD Soundsystem will be back in town, with Hot Chip, at the end of October. Good lord.

And at the beginning of November . . . Jónsi. This concert is supposed to be spectacular, and a little preview video gives me goosebumps.

jónsi tour trailer from Jónsi on Vimeo.

Whatever Happened Happened

2010-08-24T21:43:00.003-05:00

Today, I waited patiently for the sound of the truck. OK, not so patiently. But it arrived at about 5:23.

I eagerly ripped open the package and found the base of a temple waiting for me.

But inside that, I found the real treasure. Hours and hours of Blu-ray joy.

Nausea, Improv, and Sweet Lou

2010-08-22T20:51:00.006-05:00

My weekend started off quite badly. Friday was Freshman Orientation day at school, which capped off several days of meetings at work in preparation for the new school year. The day was fine, except that at about 10:00 AM, a strange stomach flu or something similar crashed into my gut like the Kool-Aid Man and flattened me. I started getting stomach cramps, nausea, clamminess, and other fun stomach-related symptoms that I'm sure you can guess. Fortunately my official duties for the day involved meeting my two freshman classes for 7 minutes each. So while I say at my desk, sweating and trying not to barf, I waited for my two classes. They went off without a hitch, but then I left school early.

The train ride home felt like an eternity, as I hoped I could make it home without any problems. I was dripping with sweat and feeling like shit. But I made it home, where I promptly slept for five hours. After I woke up in the evening, I ate some soup, which felt ok, then went back to bed.

On Saturday morning, I was feeling better, but my whole body ached. I ate some toast, and new the stomach part was over. The real worry was that my brother and his girlfriend were coming to town for the weekend, and we had big plans. I just hoped I would be okay. I did however appear to be on the mend.

By the time my brother arrived, I was feeling pretty much all better, except for my aching body, but I decided to press on. We spent the day going around the city, topped off by a very entertaining night at Second City.

Today we went to the Cubs-Braves game, and when we got to Wrigley Field, I checked my Twitter newsfeed and discovered that today's game was to be Lou Piniella's last game ever. While he had previously announced that this season would be his last, some family issues (a sick mother) caused him to opt out early. So I was sad because I love Lou, but I was glad that I could be at this unplanned landmark game.

And very sadly, the Cubs totally sucked, as they have for most of the season--but this past month has been especially miserable. They are simply godawful. The game was a travesty, so Lou did not get a swan song of any kind.

But Lou did wonders for the Cubs, leading them to consecutive playoffs, so we will remember him for the years before his players sucked. Lou will be missed.

And summer is over--official first day of school tomorrow!

I see you're spiritful

2010-08-17T20:07:00.004-05:00

One of the reasons that The National blew me away at Lollapalooza was that Matt Berninger just really got into the show, going out into the audience, climbing around on the set, etc.

Well I found a video on YouTube that someone took that really shows this amazing performance. The song is "Mr. November," and at one point, Berninger is singing to a little four year old girl, and smartly changes the lyrics from "I won't fuck us over" to "I won't mess us over." Towards the end when Berninger moves around the crowd, the person who shot this was right there (and the original fucks are back in the song). Awesome.

Elsewhere . . .

Jónsi's new video for "Animal Arithmetic," like the song attached to it, revs my soul.

Since it should be watched in HD and full-screen, I'll just give a link instead of embedding it. Watch it here.

Falling on my head like a memory

2010-08-16T17:55:00.003-05:00

I had a wonderful time in Minnesota, despite the weather. Rain filled most of the days, but no matter--we charged anyway, and even made it out on the pontoon a couple of times. Monday night was spent hanging out with the Devine family, some of my best friends ever. We chatted, caught up, watched a movie, etc. Noting crazy, in preparation for Tuesday.

Tuesday was the 6th Annual Boys' Cruise -- a very fun gathering of middle-aged teachers. Last year the weather was perfect for this event, but it was not to be this year. Despite the stormy forecast, we all met at Zorbaz, had a few drinks, and then headed out on Gull Lake. The conversation was great, and the beer was cold. (Despite the considerable cloudiness, the temperature was very hot and humid.) So after a little while on the lake, slow-cruising around, we began to feel the first drops of rain, so we headed over to Ernie's on Gull where we sat on the patio under the umbrellas and watched the downpour.

After that session of rain had subsided a bit, we got back in the boat and slow-cruised a bit more, until it started raining again. This time we zipped over to Loony's Beach Hut at Grand View Lodge, which provides ample shelter while still giving us a beachfront view of the lake. The power at Loony's was out (as it was around much of Gull Lake by this point), but that did not stop the festivities. Eventually the power came back on, we paid our tabs, and headed back out.

Back to Zorbaz we went, and by the time we got there, the torrents had begun again. We were completely soaked, having never jumped in the lake. We ended our night hanging out at Zorbaz, talking with old friends, and waiting to dry off. (My extra set of dry clothes was soaking wet from being in my non-waterproof bag.) Fortunately I thought ahead and had stored my iPhone, wallet, and camera in Ziploc bags.

Though the day was a wet one, we won't soon forget it.

The rest of my week was spent with friends. We went back out on the boat on Thursday, this time with the kids, and though not nearly as rainy, the rain still hit us. Oh well.

As I said: no matter--I love going back to Minnesota.

I'm the new blue blood, I'm the great white hope

2010-08-09T09:57:00.001-05:00

The National blew me away.

And I'm leaving for Minnesota for the week.

Like we did it over summer long

2010-08-08T11:28:00.004-05:00

Lollapalooza Day 2 was fantastic. First I watched Stars, who put on an energetic and fun show. As I mentioned when I saw them before, their voices are so powerful live, and their enthusiasm about being at Lollapalooza was contagious.

I met up with some friends and spent the day with them, watching music and hanging out. We saw Grizzly Bear, which I must say was just ok. Their music doesn't translate so well to a big festival setting. We also watched Cut Copy, and they were great. Their music is do danceable and fun, and the crowd was really moving.

But the finale of the night was Phoenix, and everyone knows how I feel about Phoenix. Of course the last time I saw them was at an intimate venue, and Grant Park is certainly not that. But the crowd was huge and loving every minute of the set. The band is so great live, and they played (almost) every song I wanted to hear (except "Napoleon Says"--oh well). I left very happy with Day 2.

One of my favorite parts about Lollapalooza is seeing great music under the beautiful Chicago skyline.

Tonight I'm looking forward to The National and Arcade Fire.

Gaga ooh la la

2010-08-07T11:16:00.007-05:00

Day One of Lollapalooza was great. I was not interested in many earlier acts, so I really only saw three shows. Devo was fun, and they hold up well. Hot Chip was amazing. I have never seen them before, and as I have mentioned on several occasions here, they are one of my favorite new acts in the last few years. They really put on a good show, but not one with a lot of theatrics. They just simply play their songs, pumped up with live energy. Excellent.

And then Lady Gaga. Holy crap this show was awesome. While I have really liked the music she has put out, I am most intrigued about Lady Gaga as a product and as a phenomenon. I just think she's very interesting and brings some boldness that pop music has been missing for along time. I also knew ahead of time that she puts on a spectacular show, and that is just what it was: a spectacle. I loved her attitude, her costumes, her sets, her music, and everything else. And she proved once again that in addition to all the spectacle, she can really, really sing.

And thanks to my friend Lisa, who had camped out for most of the day, I was pretty close to the stage and right in the center. So we had an awesome view, and I was able to get some good pictures. I'll just let them speak for themselves.

I can't let this one speak for itself. I was very amused by the sign language interpreter in front of the stage. She was dancing around, signing with an air guitar when there was a guitar solo, and signing words like "disco stick."

Starting today . . .

2010-08-06T15:08:00.003-05:00

Silent Lucidity

2010-08-05T23:50:00.000-05:00

Technology is starting to scare me. I am really frightened at how well Facebook has gotten to know me. Here are some recent page recommendations:

We are obviously approaching artificial intelligence here.

A Civil Matter

2010-08-04T18:31:00.004-05:00

My internet has been down for five days, and that has been most unbearable. Of course I could still use my iPhone to stay current, but 3G is not as fast as wifi. Yes, I'm spoiled by internet speed. But all is well now.

I believe that today's historic ruling on the unconstitutionality of Prop 8 and on gay marriage bans in general will prove to be a landmark case in constitutional history. Law professor Ari Ezra Waldman offers an excellent analysis of Judge Walker's rulings:

1. This case is about civil marriage. Religious belief has no place here.
Right off the bat, Judge Walker found that "[m]arriage in the United States has always been a civil matter" (p. 60, para. 19). The pen is indeed mightier than the sword. We watched with dismay, anger and frustration as Prop 8 supporters screamed that marriage equality laws would forces churches and synagogues to cosecrate relationships contrary to their liturgy. In one line, Judge Walker does away with this nonsense. What we are dealing with here, he states, is civil marriage. After all, it is the "[c]ivil authorities [who] may permit religious leaders to solemnize marriages but not to determine who may enter to leave a civil marriage." (p. 60, para 19). The supremacy of civil marriage takes this conversation out of the church and onto the town square.

2. Marriage is a state of commitment, not a construct in which to have children.
Just as important is Judge Walker's findings about the nature of marriage. "Marriage is the state recognition and approval of a couple's choice to live with each other, to remain committed to one another and to form a household based on their own feelings about one another and to join in an economic partnership and support one another and any dependents" (p. 67, para. 34). Absent from this definition, based on extensive citations to evidence offered at trial, is marriage based on procreation or gender-specific roles. A marriage is a partnership based on deeply held emotional love and, as an institution, channels benefits to the married couple, their dependents and society at large. What's more, each of those benefits -- facilitating order, creating a realm of intimacy, creating stable households, providing children with support structures, assigning caregivers, facilitating property ownership and incentivizing healthy behaviors -- exists irrespective of the gender and sexual orientation of the married couple (pp 67-71).

3. Same-sex couples are just like opposite-sex couples.
The entree to these appetizers came later. Judge Walker found that "[s]ame-sex couples are identical to opposite-sex couples in the characteristics relevant to the ability to form successful marital unions. Like opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples have happy, satisfying relationships and form deep emotional bonds and strong commitments to their partners. Standardized measures of relationship satisfaction, relationship adjustment and love to do not differ depending on whether a couple is same-sex or opposite-sex" (p. 77, para. 48).

And on the seventh day, he rested.

Seriously, though, this profound description of equality is at the heart of the marriage equality movement. Judge Walker cites Prop 8 supporters' admissions at trial that gay partnerships are loving and commitment and that the capacity to commit and love "does not depend on the individual's sexual orientation" (p. 77, para. 48(d)). We are all the same and we all deserve to be treated as such.

4. Domestic partnerships insufficiently recognize those relationships.
Since marriage is not merely an economic union, or a procreative one, for that matter, domestic partnerships that assign certain economic benefits of marriage to nonmarried cohabitants is a separate, unequal and insufficient substitute. "Domestic partnerships lack the social meaning associated with marriage, and marriage is widely regarded as the definitive expression of love and commitment in the United States" (p. 80, para. 52).
Judge Walker recognizes that we do not want to marry the loves of our lives for the joint tax return or the propsect of doubling our wardrobes. That might be part of it, but it's not the whole story. Citing expert testimony about the cultural importance tied to marriage, Judge Walker finds that marriage is greater than the sum of the economic rights associated with it. And, since same-sex couples are no different in their love and commitment than opposite-sex couples, there seems to be no reason to exclude them from this institution.

In the end, it is hard to accept these facts and not conclude as Judge Walker did. Nothing here is clearly erroneous and any appellate court will be hard-pressed to upset any of these factual findings. (Source)

Go America.

A new and fantastic video has been released:

"Forced to Love" by Broken Social Scene.

BSS goes special effects nutty and then literally rocks the house apart. And then some tress grow. Awesome.

Under lights we're all unsure

2010-07-30T15:37:00.005-05:00

The latest in a series of long overdue album reviews . . .

This is Happening

LCD Soundsystem

Right off the bat: This is Happening is the best album of the year.

When I first heard the first single "Drunk Girls" and saw the amazing video, I thought, "Well this is different." But its catchiness caught me, and I was in love with this song. A few online reviewers said things like "This is no 'All My Friends'" or "'Drunk Girls' is not 'Someone Great'" or other such commentary, and my response was always, "No, it isn't, but neither is 'North American Scum' or 'Daft Punk is Playing at My House,' and those songs are still awesome." We cannot expect every single a band puts out to be as good as the greatest songs the group has put out (or this case, as good as some of the greatest songs ever). "Drunk Girls" is on the surface a very silly dance rock song. But closer inspection reveals more interesting things going on:

I've heard lies that could curdle your heartstrings
A couple truths, maybe burn out your eyes
Drunk boys leave their irons in the fireplace
'Cause drunk girls give them too many tries

Awesome. Plus the classic 60s rock song structure reminds me a little of The Beach Boys.

Now for the rest of the amazing album.

Opener "Dance Yrself Clean" deceives us, in multiple ways. First of all, many people who listened to the album for the first time probably had their ears blown out by the quiet opening three minutes. I thought, "Why is this album recorded so low?" and cranked the volume up, only to have the full volume kick in later in the song. I love both the quiet opening and the loud bulk of the song, and this opener beautiful establishes a recurring motif for the album: using nightlife to mask loneliness.

I miss the way the night comes
With friends who always make it feel good
This basement has a cold glow
Though it's better than a bunch of others

Another highlight is "All I Want." I've read a few online reviews make comparisons to David Bowie here, and I can definitely see that. Regardless, this mid-tempo, fuzzed-out song becomes a profound reflection on loneliness, ending with the plaintive request, "Take me home." Wonderful.

But the true highlight of the album is "I Can Change," which is quite simply the best song of the year. I listen to this song every day, and I love it more and more each time. With a very 80s synth-pop feel, James Murphy laments the ironies of love, and though the song is upbeat and pop-infused, it tugs my heartstrings and, like the best songs, moves my soul. And Murphy pokes fun and his own lyrical abilities, not giving himself enough credit for crafting deep pop songs:

And love is a curse
Shoved in a hearse
Love is an open book to a verse
Of your bad poetry
. . . and this is coming from me

I feel it.

Murphy brings the humor back with the ironic and upbeat "You Wanted a Hit," which I assume is a song written to record company suits: "You wanted a hit? Well this is how we do hits. You wanted a hit? Well that's not what we do." A most ironic feature is the instrumental synth opening, which is as poppy as anything LCD Soundsystem has done, but the poppiness transforms into classic LCD.

What can I say about "Pow Pow"? This trippy spoken word number seems improvised, but the music is so cool and the words are so cleverly strange that I think a lot of work went into it. I don't really know what's going on here, but I can't get enough of "Pow Pow."

Advantages, advantages!

The closing song on the album proves to be one of the most gorgeous and moving songs, and ranks right up there in LCD Soundsystem's catalog. And once again, Murphy has crafted a sublimely beautiful song about the glory and forgetting that comes with being with friends, and the loneliness that awaits us. The beat and the guitar combine with the elegant melody and make one of the most profound dance songs to come along in a long time.

If you're afraid of what you need
If you're afraid of what you need
Look around you, you're surrounded
It won't get any better

Until the night

Here are some mp3s for you:

Another world will surround me

2010-07-28T21:59:00.002-05:00

This video is awesome:

"Another World" by The Chemical Brothers

Forrest Fest

2010-07-24T12:04:00.001-05:00

I'm at a family reunion this weekend for my dad's side of the family. We have not ever really had a reunion, and sadly I had not seen a few family members for about 12 years. But we have all gotten together in Galena, Illinois at a very beautiful and sprawling resort. I'm staying in a big four room house with my dad, his wife, and my brother and nephews. The main event of the reunion will be a big cookout at the house today.

I've enjoyed catching up with some aunts and uncles, seeing cousins and meeting their kids (my first cousins once-removed!), etc. We have games planned for later, and then tonight my generation of cousins will be heading to the nearby casino.

Forrest Fest is named after our grampa, and his spirit is all around!

Dreams feel real while we're in them

2010-07-22T12:18:00.009-05:00

Inception

Inception blew me away. For most of the movie, I was literally gaping in awe at the filmmaking. No joke--mouth open, gaping. In fact, in several places I started laughing, not because something funny was happening onscreen, but because I was overjoyed by the sheer magnitude of the filmmaking. Of course seeing Inception on the IMAX helped me appreciate this magnitude, but the combination of the cinematography, the story, the special effects, the music, and everything else really make up a modern-day masterpiece.

I think the acting in Inception was excellent, but I was especially impressed with Tom Hardy, who played Eames (the forger). From his very first scene, he brought such a personality to his character. Leonardo DiCaprio continues to impress me, and I loved seeing Ellen Page playing someone so different from her famous Juno character. Joseph Gordon-Levitt also shows a lot of skill, as he has in several of his previous movies, and Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, and Marion Cotillard are always good.

In terms of the plot, though I'm not usually one for dream movies, I do love complex, multi-layered narratives. And this is definitely multi-layered. (PS. I know the comparisons to The Matrix make sense, but that piece of crap pales in every conceivable way in comparison to Inception.) And though the levels and layers are complex, I never felt lost in the film, and that can be attributed to excellent editing. As I watched the film, I knew that without a doubt that Inception would win the Oscar for Best Editing. Christopher Nolan and his editors know exactly how to pace the multiple stories to bring us back to each layer. For example, and this is not a spoiler (and if you've seen the film you know what I'm talking about), every time the film cut back to the slow-motion falling van, I felt a rush of joy and understanding.

In several key scenes, the characters are placed in impossible physical situations. Knowing ahead of time that some of these scenes were done without the use of CGI simply increased the awe factor. For example, when the van is tumbling down the embankment and Arthur, played by Gordon-Levitt, is caught in the spinning room fighting off the security, this scene was created using a rotating set, with no CGI special effects. Holy crap.

Scenes like this, along with many others, just show what a genius Nolan is. He has taken a complex story and recreated the inner workings of the subconscious. The ideas here are challenging, intriguing, and hard to grasp. And the sheer immensity of the filmmaking here makes Inception the best film of the year so far, and it will be hard to beat.

I'm like the beat of the hurt

2010-07-21T17:23:00.001-05:00

Forgiveness Rock Record

Broken Social Scene

I think that Broken Social Scene is one of the most interesting, creative, and powerful bands of the last decade. I blogged about their superb concert a couple of years ago, and their previous albums were always in my top five year-end lists. So I was of course very excited when I got the new BSS album, Forgiveness Rock Record, earlier this year.

Much has been made in other articles and reviews about this being a more "song-based" album than previous endeavors. As a large music collective, BSS has created long and sprawling soundscapes of noise, and the new album. As one review notes, "the band enlisted Tortoise's John McEntire to step behind the boards, and the contrast is striking. It's still very much a Broken Social Scene album, but one that's nowhere near as dense or as heavy. The melodies have more room to breathe, the amplifiers never sound ready to explode . . ." I guess I agree with this assessment, and the band also enlists its usual cast of contributors, including Emily Haines (from Metric), Amy Millan (from Stars), Feist, and some new additions as well, including Sam Prekop (The Sean & Cake). And the rest of the band, including Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Andrew Whiteman (the Apostle of Hustle), and Lisa Lobsinger, trade jobs throughout the records. All of this adds up to a great album, and instead of talking about the technical aspects, I'm just going to talk about some songs that I just love listening to.

My Favorite Songs from Forgiveness Rock Record

Album opener "World Sick" really sets a kind of political, kind of depressing, very rockin' tone for this album. After a cool opening guitar solo, Kevin Drew begins the album's lyrics with "We got a minefield of crippled affection." Then he informs us that he gets "world sick every time he takes a stand." Cheery stuff, Kevin. But the layers of guitars plus the prominent cymbals all combine for a melodious mishmash of listening pleasure.

"Texico Bitches" stands as the poppiest, catchiest song on the album. Now a brief word about the title: though the song title is spelled "Texico," the official lyrics spell the word "Texaco" throughout the song (and trust me, the phrase Texaco Bitches gets repeated a lot). I do not know the reason for this discrepancy, except maybe the band wanted oil company executives to think the song was about women from the Southwest, instead of a strange condemnation of the oil industry. At least I think that's what it's about--BSS are not know for having the most easy to interpret lyrics. No matter--this song is awesome. A bit dancey, a lot catchy, and full of "Ooooh!"

"Forced to Love" is sort of a regular rock song--it has choruses, a bridge, soaring guitar solos, etc. A very compact (non-BSS?) bit of rock excellence.

"All to All" might be my favorite song on Forgiveness Rock Record. The song features an electronic background sound that is slightly tube-like--perhaps a little Blue Man Group. But the star of the show is Lisa Lobsinger's beautiful voice, paired with Amy Millan and Feist on back-ups. "All to All" is a gorgeous, slight spacey, kind of ethereal song that is simply a joy to listen to.

The next song is a strange little number called "Art House Director," and the song tells a silly little story about movie making. Whiteman takes over the lead vocals here, but the horns and layers of guitars make this a super-solid BSS song. In fact, the horns might even be the stars of this song, with a fantastic combination of trumpets and low brass dominating the music. "The starlet is a harlot, and she will not leave her trailer. She says that you betrayed her with a surfer form Australia." What? No matter.

"Highway Slipper Jam" is quintessential down-tempo BSS. That's all I have to say about that.

The women take back over on "Sentimental X's" and the result is another harmonic convergence of delight. The band is doing some interesting things with guitars in this song, creating a cool dichotomy between the voices and the plucks and twangs. A lot of stuff is going on in this song, and it really rewards multiple listens.

And a surprising favorite of mine is a hard-rocking instrumental song called "Meet Me in the Basement." This pulsing and pounding guitar and drum number would be truly anthemic in the right venue, and I cannot wait to see them live again. I love the two different parts of the song and the way they interact with each other. Recently, a fan made a mash-up video featuring this song, inspired by the media's coverage (or non-coverage) of the G-20 summit, and the band has endorsed this as the "official video."

What the new album reinforces is what a complex and talented band Broken Social Scene is. Forgiveness Rock Record may not be what I expected from Broken Social Scene, but I don't why I would expect anything other than that.

Have a copy of a couple of my favorites:

"Texaco Bitches" mp3

"All to All" mp3

Everybody keeps on listening in / Nobody's listening up

2010-07-18T19:51:00.004-05:00

I went to Pitchfork Music Festival just to see LCD Soundsystem. I was at the park for a few other acts, but nothing I was interested in. On a very hot and humid day, I met up with some friends, had a few beers, and basically hung out waiting for the Saturday night headliner.

Finally, at about 8:25, LCD Soundsystem took the main stage. We were pretty far back from the stage (I did not want to be crushed by sweaty hipsters and high kids), but I still had a good view, plus two giant screens broadcast the show as well. I was very excited, since I love the new album (overdue review coming soon), the old albums, their whole vibe, etc.

(Pictures are from Pitchfork. Mine aren't very good.)

And basically this show rocked the balls off of Pitchfork. James Murphy, singer and mastermind, is an old dude as hip electrorockers go, but he owned the stage and put everything into the show. The musicians played fantastically well, combining rock guitars, electronic keyboards, and huge drums.

The show started with "Us v. Them," from Sound of Silver, and the crowd really got into the show immediately, and LCD followed with "Drunk Girls," the superbly silly song first single from This is Happening.

I knew because this was a festival show, the band would not be playing a full set, so I did not know what to expect from the rest of the setlist. What surprised me was how much early stuff (from the first album) they played, and I was really expecting "North American Scum." But I'm not disappointed. Here's the set list:

Us V. Them
Drunk Girls
Pow Pow
Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
All My Friends
I Can Change
Tribulations
Movement
Yeah
Someone Great
Losing My Edge
New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

My favorite song from the new album, "I Can Change" arrived with a major tempo change. The band slowed the song way down, and though I still loved the performance, I prefer the full speed version to the live one.

Perhaps the surprising highlight of the show was "Yeah." Though this early LCD song is always fun, it was so pumped up and big for the show. Murphy went back and forth from singing (which is a pretty one-word affair for this song) and banging on his drum kit. This song had everyone in the huge crowd dancing, singing, jumping, and cheering, and probably most of them had never heard it before.

And though "Yeah" provided the best dance energy, the emotional energy of course came from the sumblime performances of "All My Friends," one of the greatest songs of all time (Yes, I really mean that.) and "Someone Great." The crowd really felt both of these song, and Murphy delivered heartfelt renditions. Here's someone's YouTube video of "All My Friends," which shows some good crowd shots.

For the finale, the band added a beautiful a cappella chorus of "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z to the already beautiful "New York, I Love You . . ." and the result was pure greatness.

Despite what he said in the great second-to-last song, Murphy is definitely not losing his edge. This concert made me so happy.

Fools in the rain and if the sun gets through . . .

2010-07-12T21:17:00.003-05:00

This weekend I saw a very good movie, The Kids Are All Right, starring Julianne Moore (my favorite actress), Annette Bening, and Mark Ruffalo. This film is a very realistic, funny, and at times sad portrayal of a family. Moore and Bening play a couple whose two teenage kids decide to seek out their sperm donor father. The acting in this film is extraordinary, and I think that both actresses (and maybe Ruffalo, who is also great) will be nominated. But the script is just a very real, very surprising, very funny slice of American life--strange American life. I highly recommend The Kids are All Right.

On Sunday, after spending the afternoon watching the World Cup match with one of my best friends from high school, I met up with some other friends for a street fest to watch the Gin Blossoms play. Though I was never a huge Gin Blossoms fan, I have always liked their hit songs, and "Hey Jealousy" is one of the catchiest songs from the 90s.

So we got to the street fair about 30 minutes before the show, knowing that a rain storm was imminent. But we did not care--it had been a hot day, it was a hot evening, and a little rain never hurt anyone (except maybe William Henry Harrison). So we got a few beers and waited for the show. The Gin Blossoms took the stage right on time, and after a few songs, the rain started falling. And then the rain started falling harder. Well apparently the band was afraid of "electrocution" because the stage was "flooding" and they were holding "electric guitars" and they have "families." So they said some nonsense about "We love Chicago but the stage is unsafe. We'll be back on if we can."

So we waited, and after 10 minutes of pretty steady rain, the storm stopped, and within 10 more minutes the band was back on stage. But more rain was on the way.

I am not one to begrudge a band for wanting to play new songs. People have to hear the new stuff--fine. But after your band takes the stage again and you know more rain is on the way, shut up with the new songs and play "Hey Jealousy" already. But no, it had to be new songs. And these songs were fine, but you know . . .

The rain started coming down harder than before. We were absolutely soaked to the skin, but I was still having fun. The band played most of their hit songs: "Found Out About You," "Follow You Down," and "Allison Road." They sounded good, and the lead singer's voice was strong. But then they stopped again--they were once again afraid of dying. But this time we knew the storm was not going to let up, so we left, dripping wet and deprived of "Hey Jealousy."

We all end floating away

2010-07-08T21:35:00.005-05:00

I had a great trip to Indy to see my brother and my nephews for the 4th of July. We blew up a lot of fireworks, which are legal to the extreme in Indiana. The weather was super hot and humid, but we spent some time at the pool, and even more time in the air conditioning. The nephews are great, as always. And I watched Hot Tub Time Machine, which was embarrassingly humorous.

I had my last grad class of the summer session last night, so now I'm finished until September. So I'm halfway through the grad program. But halfway through means I an get a bit of a raise for next year (which will help with my new part-time employment).

New music:

"Fixed" by Stars

"Scribble" by Underworld (one of my all-time favorite electronic acts, of course)

To be there for Andy

2010-06-30T21:07:00.007-05:00

I just got back from grad class -- yep, that's still going on. I am one week away from finishing class #5, being halfway done with this program, and being on break for the rest of the summer. While this particular class, which deals with the way the brain learns, is one of the most interesting of the grad classes I've taken in this program, I am very much ready to be done for a little while. I'll start back up at the end of August, but the next eight weeks will be nice.

I saw Toy Story 3 the other day, and I must say that I absolutely loved it. I loved every second of this beautiful film. While I was already an adult when the first Toy Story came out, I loved that groundbreaking film. Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are funny, entertaining movies, so I was prepared for more of the same.

I was not prepared for how emotionally moving and poignant the new movie would be. Yes, it is very, very funny--especially Michael Keaton's role as Ken. In fact I laughed very hard through most of the movie. In addition, the film had some of the best action sequences of the summer. At times the film is even a bit scary, as some of the new characters are fairly evil. But all of this I was ready for.

Then about 20 minutes before the end, the movie changed and became first a nerve-wracking tale of survival, and then a heart-wringing tale of growing up. Starting about 15 minutes from the end, I began to well up with tears, and then the tears started to fall. Yes, it's true--these weren't just the moisture-in-my-eyes type of tears. Indeed, they were falling from my face and landing on my shoulders. I had warned my friends that I am a big crier, but I had to try to control myself. At a couple of points I had to take deep breaths to keep from audibly sobbing.

The end of Toy Story 3 was definitely written for those of us who saw the original in the theater--those of us old enough now to appreciate the commentary on childhood. Of course today's little kids will enjoy Toy Story 3 (and they have no doubt grown up with the DVDs of the first two films), but the end was not written for them. As I started to see how the film was going to end, I began to think about some of my own childhood toys, think about what Andy was doing in the film and how he felt about Woody and the other toy characters we have come to love, and my heart was moved in a way that few films have moved me before.

Don't bring around a cloud . . .

2010-06-28T20:30:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the 41st Annual Chicago Pride Parade, and it was very fun as usual. The weather called for major thunderstorms all day, but as with the Cubs game last week, the weather forecasts were wrong. Though a pretty severe storm ripped through the city in the morning, by late morning, it was hot and sunny.

I met up with some friends and just had a great time watching this celebration. The parade is always entertaining, sometimes poignant (as when an elementary school contingent marched by, all organized by the kids). This year a couple of important new additions to the parade represented a big step forward for people's perceptions, I think. First of all, the Chicago Blackhawks had a float and Brent Sopel (despite having just been traded) brought the Stanley Cup along. Hockey would be the last sport one might expect to be represented in a gay pride parade, so this was a very cool new float. (And then about nine more floats had some sort of Blackhawks theme, all of them playing "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis, the official Blackhawks song this year.)

And the Cubs had a float as well! The new owners of the Cubs, the Ricketts family, said they wanted to be "good neighbors," since Boystown is basically the same neighborhood as Wrigleyville. And if it weren't cool enough that the Cubs had a float, Mr. Cub himself, the legendary Ernie Banks, joined the new owners on the float. Sadly, my camera's memory stick chose this moment to stop working, so after a few seconds of trying to fix it, I had to pull out my iPhone and snap a quick shot before it was too late. Sadly, it was more or less too late. But there is Ernie, sitting on the front of the float:

So it was a hot and humid, non-stormy day full of fun, friends, cocktails, and celebration. And seeing how many floats there were and the types floats this year made everyone a little hopeful for the future.

Four of Us

2010-06-24T20:17:00.003-05:00

I had a fantastic time with my Minnesota friends, and then I needed a couple days to recover! Starting on Saturday, Bob and John arrived, and we met downtown after they checked into their hotel. We went to a pretty fun sports bar to watch the Cubs-Angels game, which was an embarrassment since the Cubs lost 12-0. I did not have high hopes for the Sunday game we were attending, but the three of us had a great day. We bar-hopped a bit before heading out to a streetfest called A Taste of Randolph, which features a lot of great food tents, beer tents, and music. We saw an amazingly strange and awesome band called Mucca Pazza, which is about 20 hipsters and hippies in marching band uniforms, playing awesome marching band party

music. They refer to themselves as "astounding circus-punk marching band," and that about covers it. Check them out.

The British band One Eskimo came to the stage, and they have a song I love called "Kandi," which I posted about a while ago. They put on a good show, and I liked several of their songs, but the crowd especially loved it when "Kandi" came on.

Day Two, Sunday -- I woke up early to go get David from the airport. I dropped him off at the hotel, and then Bob, John, and David met me at the Cubby Bear, a bar across from Wrigley Field. We went to a couple of other bars as well, and then headed to Wrigley. Bob and David, both avid Angels fans, had never been to Wrigley before, and they loved the intimate nature of the ballpark. We got our seats in the left field bleachers, and enjoyed the time before the game. Bob and David were worried about being heckled for wearing Angels shirts, but the Cubs fans were very nice, and we chatted a lot with the fans around us.

The weather, which all forecasts predicted would involve rain and thunderstorms, was hot and mostly sunny. It never rained, and in fact we welcomed the clouds to give us respite from the hot sun. But the beer was cold!

And the Cubs won 12-1! David and Bob were not happy about that, but they still enjoyed their Wrigley experience.

After the game we basically had a great night out on the town, whooping it up and catching up. We all retired to the hotel and slept well.

Day Three, Monday -- On Monday morning we headed out to watch the Spain-Honduras World Cup game, and had a great day bouncing around. John had to leave Monday afternoon, and after he left, the three of us went to dinner and just hung out Monday night. Then Bob and David left on Tuesday, and I slept.

What a great long weekend this was. These friends are for life, and they are the reason I will always go back to visit Minnesota.

Oh oh ohh, you're going on it

2010-06-18T21:27:00.004-05:00

I have been looking forward to this weekend for many months. Ever since I learned that the Angels would be making their first ever trip to Wrigley Field, I knew what I needed to do. A couple of my best friends from Minnesota grew up in southern California and are huge Angels fans. They have also never been to Wrigley Field.

So those two and one of my other best friends (all former teaching colleagues) are all coming to Chicago for a visit. We will be whooping it up, enjoying a street fest tomorrow and the Cubs-Angels game on Sunday.

Fun will be had. And no, this is not us (yet):

I'll have a full report.

So, here is some new music.

"Rocket" by Goldfrapp

This song is cheesy, poppy, and awesome. I have long loved Allison Goldfrapp's voice, and this new single takes the sound to much poppier heights than the group usually does. Plus the video is all phallic and fun.

Also, "Swoon" by The Chemical Brothers.

The boys' new album will be a combination musical/visual experience, and this song makes me wish I still DJed.

I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees

2010-06-17T23:14:00.003-05:00

I meant to review this album weeks ago . . .

High Violet by The National

Everyone knows that The National's previous album, Boxer, is one of the best albums of the last several years, so High Violet arrives with a heavy burden. And while the new album does not quite equal its predecessor, the album provides an excellent and melancholy listening experience. I have always loved lead singer Matt Berninger's low and somber voice, and he uses it to good measure here on this collection of sad and pensive songs. And while I do not always understand all of The National's lyrics, I am always intrigued by their wordsmithery.

I like all of the songs, but here are the highlights:

I initially fell in love with album opener "Terrible Love" when the band released a series of live(ish) videos filmed in some kind of castle. The imagery for this video really moved me, and as I listened to the song more and more, I became enamored with the guitar work and the slow and steady drums, slowly but surely building. "Terrible Love" opens the album in a sadly beautiful way. "It takes an ocean not to break."

"Sorrow," as evidenced by its title, keeps the melancholy coming, and the choir and piano combo in the second half of the song underscore the song's themes quite well. The next song, "Anyone's Ghost" pairs well with "Sorrow," and we begin to wonder what is bothering these guys.

"Lemonworld" represents one of those songs, like "Apartment Story" from Boxer, in which the lyrics combine the mundane and the transcendent. Berninger sings about the Army and bathing suits, and words like "Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth, and we can say that we invented a summer lovin' torture party." With the odd chorus, the "do-do-do-do" repetition, this song confuses and delights me.

"Runaway" = gorgeous. The acoustic guitar and subtle drum form a sparse and lovely backdrop that adds layers as it goes, culminating in some ethereal horns. But Berninger's voice here really stands out, and the lyrics shine with sober glory. "I'll go braving everything, with you swallowing the shine of the sun."

"Conversation 16" stands out because of its low strings, its drums, and its lyrics: "I was afraid I'd eat your brains, 'cause I'm evil." That's all I have to say about that. A very good song.

"England" sounds like I want my National songs to sound: lush instrumentation, great drums, interesting melodies.

But the absolute centerpiece of the album for me is "Bloodbuzz Ohio." This song rivals any song in the band's collection, and I have listened to it multiple times every day since I got the album several weeks ago. Everything about this song works for me, from the drum and piano line to the economic downturn-inspired lyrics. And the line "I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees" may turn out to be the best single line of the year. The new video for "Bloodbuzz Ohio" showcases Berninger's strange lounge singer swagger:

This song is a wonder. Have a free mp3 of it, won't you?

High Violet does not disappoint. Though the music is a bit more suited to fall than summer, sometimes even in the oppressive heat of summer, we need to just let the sounds wash over us.

The President's Speech on the Oil Spill

2010-06-15T18:55:00.002-05:00

As I wait for President Obama's first Oval Office address, I guess I have some thoughts about the oil spill. I do not need to go in to all the devastation, both environmental and economic, that is being caused in the Gulf. We all know that, and nothing I can say about how sad I am when I see dead animals and newly jobless people really adds to the reality in the Gulf.

I do have some frustrations to vent, however.

First of all, I think that any comparison to the Bush administration's response to Katrina is an absolutely false analogy. After the hurricane, everyone knew what needed to be done, and the government did not do it. With this oil spill, no one knows how to fix the leak, and while Obama has gathered all of the best scientific and engineering minds together, no one can fix it. I know a lot of Republicans would not be satisfied unless Obama went down in a wet suit himself with a giant cork.

Second, for Republicans to blame the Obama administration for mismanagement of the MMS is disgusting, and to hear Republicans talk about the fact that the government needs to be harder on BP is depressingly laughable. One can only clean up so many piles of shit in a day, especially after eight years of shit-spreading. Of course the Obama administration is ultimately responsible for everything the government does, but responsibility and blame are not the same thing. And Obama has already taken responsibility for the problem, an act which Bush took years to do (for anything).

What Obama can do is make sure everyone being deployed is working together. He has the power to streamline and coordinate the response. As the chief executive, he can re-up his reaction and make sure everyone else is doing the same. But anyone who has paid any attention over the last month knows that Obama has not been sitting around.

But for politicians to say that "now is not the time" to push forward on developing alternative energy policies is also disgusting. If drill-baby-drill politicians do not see now that we cannot continue on the same path, then they never will.

I'll be back with some thoughts after the speech.

After the Speech. . .

President Obama delivered a good address, and many of the ideas he presented are excellent. The trouble, of course, is that words mean nothing to the people most affected. So we will have to wait a few weeks and see how Obama's plans manifest themselves. I do like the idea of making BP set aside funds in an independently monitored escrow fund. But I do agree with some post-speech criticism that the address lacked some specifics about what exactly the government will be doing. On the other hand, I am not sure that tonight's address was the place for a list of machinery and equipment, etc. But he did a good job assuring us that he is on the job.

We'll see.

From the back to the middle and around again

2010-06-12T22:36:00.000-05:00

OK, I know I said I'd write about my epic crisis yesterday, but my internet was down all day. And it was the awesome "all-day window," which means that instead of being told to be home between 8:00 and 12:00 or 1:00 and 5:00, I was told that the cable guy would be coming "sometime between 8:00 and 8:00." So I was stuck at home all day yesterday. And when did he arrive? 6:45 PM. Alas.

Anyway, on with the crisis . . .

As you know, I was all excited to DJ the big party at my Grinnell reunion last weekend. I spent hours and hours compiling my playlist for the perfect early/mid-90s dance party. This playlist was going to be monumental. I'm talking Prince, Madonna, Depeche Mode, New Order, the Beastie Boys, the Pet Shop Boys, and the amazing dance floor pop songs such as "100% Pure Love" and "Mr. Vain." That's right, "Mr. Vain." In addition to the party playlist, I also created an pretty awesome background music playlist for our class dorm party on Saturday night (great 90s music, but not necessarily dance tunes).

I got home from work on Thursday, packed my bags, and double checked my sweet playlists. I had decided to bring my computer with me, and was excited because I have a cool DJ program, made even cooler because it has a companion iPhone app so I can control the music remotely in case I need to step away from the booth (to chat with friends, get a beer, etc.). Then I got in my car and started off on the nearly five hour drive.

I arrived in Grinnell at about 9:30, checked in at the reunion desk, and headed for my dorm room. I immediately turned on my computer, because five hours is too long to go without Facebook, plus I wanted to see if my iPhone remote DJ app was going to work on the Grinnell College wireless network. And then I plugged in my external hard drive, the one that has all of my music. Not just all of the music for the party--ALL of my music. 13,000 songs. The hard drive did not appear on my desktop. It was spinning, and it sounded fine, but it was not sending any information.

I panicked, and I truly felt like I was going to throw up. My immediate concern focused on the party--how would I DJ without my music!? But I also thought about all of my music being gone for good. I started cursing myself, since I had told myself two weeks prior that I would go get another hard drive to back up all my music once school was out and I had more time. I don't know why I used my external hard drive as my only music storage. Fool!

So on Friday morning I took my hard drive to the college help desk and the techs took a look at it. After a few hours of checking things out, the people there told me, "You need a replacement part for your drive, but we don't have it here. We think all your stuff is recoverable, but we can't do it."

Relieved a little, I began the task of figuring out what to do about the party. Fortunately, I did have my iPod with me, which had about 60% of the songs I needed for the party. So I spent the rest of the afternoon gathering songs from friends' computers, downloading new copies of songs, etc. By the end of the afternoon, I had rebuilt most of my party playlist. And it turns out that a few of the songs I needed were also stored on my computer's hard drive, so I figured some of the songs must have been backed up at some point. Not very many of them were on there, but no matter for now. The party was saved, and though I stressed out for the next couple of days about my external hard drive and the music recovery, the party was a success and the weekend was great. But I did not get to use my DJ program and remote app, which bummed me out a little.

So I got back to Chicago on Sunday and immediately did some research on data recovery companies in my area. I made some calls, and made arrangements to take my hard drive in to a place on Monday. So I did that. And the tech guys took a few days to diagnose my drive before calling me to tell me that the recovery would require massive labor, removing layers of the disk, etc. And the cost would be $799. Holy shit.

So I had to decide whether the recovery was worth that much money. I thought about what else besides my music was on the drive, and though I know that a bunch of Word documents and school stuff is on there, nothing super important popped into my mind. So I then decided that I needed to figure out exactly how much of my music would be lost forever. I still have all of my hundreds of CDs, so much of my old music would be easily (if time-consumingly) replaceable, but I would have nothing that I had purchased (or downloaded) in the last few years. That is a lot of music.

But then I made a happy discovery. As I mentioned, some of my music was on my computer's hard drive, but when I was getting my music for the Grinnell party, only a few songs I needed were on the computer. But as it turns out, just a low percentage of the songs I needed for that party were on the computer, but a lot more of my music was on there than I initially thought. And I'm not really sure why it is on there, but I'm glad it is. I must have backed some of it up without knowing it (in a brief moment of unintentionally responsibility) or maybe the computer automatically put stuff in the iTunes folder on the internal drive. Whatever.

So I discovered that I had about 75% of my music! Hallelujah! What's missing is many of my most recent downloads and iTunes purchases, but I can replace those things. Very importantly, I decided obviously that I did not need to spend $799 to recover my data. If someday in the future I remember something on the hard drive that I need, I can decide to recover it then, but for now, I am very happy and thankful that this major crisis did not turn out worse than it did. Obviously music makes up a large part of my life, and the thought of all of my music being gone made me want to cry and/or throw up.

And I have already purchased a redundant hard drive.

Oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems

2010-06-10T16:19:00.005-05:00

(Always apologizing, never changing . . . Sorry for the lack of posts. Since I got back from Iowa I've had some long days of school meetings and back pain. Anyway . . . )

I had an awesome time at my reunion at Grinnell. First of all, I simply love being on campus. Every time go back, I immediately feel at home. I feel a sense of peace and comfort at Grinnell, and many wonderful memories always flood my mind when I am back there.

Some of my very best friends attended the reunion, and most of the weekend was spent just hanging out and catching up. On Friday night our class cluster (the classes of '94, '95, and '96) sponsored our very own Harris Party -- the Harris Center is the venue where we always held our all-campus parties). I had a fun time dj-ing the party, and though our 36-38 year old bodies cannot dance for hours like we once did, everyone had a great time.

Staying in the dorms was nostalgically weird--and way too hot and humid--but eating in the dining hall was fun, especially since Grinnell has lots of tasty vegan goodies.

Mostly, though, I just loved seeing my friends. We got to catch up in a way that Facebook does allow, and though many of us have been apart for years, we all fell naturally into old ways and old comforts.

My four years of college meant so much to me, and I relished the chance to see the people with whom I went on that journey.

And then when I got back on Sunday night, I went to see the Trashcan Sinatras, one of my all-time favorites, as everyone knows. While the show did not have the same excitement factor as the August show last year (because that was my first ever TCS show), the boys were amazing. They played a different set list than last time, and they sounded great. As always, Frank's banter made us laugh, and the music made me smile.

Of course I got the scrawled-out set list again, though I cannot really understand a lot of the symbols:

But it translates to this:

1. people
2. easy on the eye
3. send for henny
4. astronomy
5. all the dark horses
6. in the music
7. i see the moon
8. freetime
9. prisons
10. i hung my harp upon the willows
11. hayfever
12. weightlifting
13. obscurity knocks
14. oranges and apples
15. i wish you’d met her
16. easy read
17. i’ve seen everything
18. the engine

A fantastic collection of melodies. And I also got an autograph from John Douglas, the rhythm guitarists, back-up singer, co-songwriter:

What an outstanding weekend it was. With one major exception--an epic crisis in fact. I'll write about that tomorrow. (My first ever blog cliffhanger!)

School's Out

2010-06-03T15:17:00.002-05:00

Hooray! Another school year over. I got all my grading done, and now I'm ready to have fun.

To start off, I am driving to Iowa tonight. This weekend is my 15th Grinnell Reunion. I am super-excited about it, since many of my best friends from college will be there. In addition, I will be putting on my DJ hat again and spinning at the all-campus party, just like in the days of yore.

I'll try to post a bit from reunion, but I am ready to get on the road. (Of course my still sore back is not looking forward to the 5 hour drive . . . )

And then when I get back on Sunday night, the Trashcan Sinatras are back in town!

Summer 2010!

Flattened Out

2010-05-31T18:41:00.001-05:00

I had every intention of blogging my reviews of the new albums by both Broken Social Scene and The National today. But I can't. And when I say "I can't," I don't mean "I'm not feeling up to it" or "I'm just not ready to review these albums yet." Nope, I truly can't. You see, I threw out my back today, and while I have had some back troubles before, today's episode is the worst back-wrenching of my life.

I think it must have started this weekend when I went to school and spent hours (14 hours) grading writing portfolios. This week is the last week of school, so I have a lot of grading. But I decided that I wanted to get these portfolios done so this week I can just grade finals and be done. Also, I wanted to go out to the monthly Britpop night on Saturday and needed a giant chunk of grading done so I could dance with a clear conscience.

Anyway, I spent Saturday and Sunday sitting at my desk. This morning I woke up with a pretty sore back, but nothing debilitating. I had a date with a friend to go buy air conditioners today, so we did. My friend helped me carry my new AC up to my apartment, and all was well.

And then I attempted to install my AC, and there my troubles began. As I lifted the unit to the window, I felt the jolt of searing, intense pain shoot into by low back and down my leg. And then I was paralyzed. I could not stand up straight, but the AC was halfway installed, and I really thought the unit might fall out the window if I did not finish. So even though I could only stand with a 90 degree bend at the waist, I finished screwing the frame into the window and putting everything in place. I was in excruciating pain, but I got it done.

And then I basically collapsed on the floor. Lying flat on my back helped a little, but then I tried to get up. Like a pain-ridden turtle on its back, I simply could not get up. The pain was too severe. Each time I moved I felt the shooting and burning all over again. But I had to get to my kitchen where my ice pack and Vicodin live. So after at least 10 minutes of slow, gradual movement, pulling myself onto the arm of the couch, sliding to the wall for support, and a few moments when I genuinely contemplated calling the ambulance, I was standing--well, standing at a severe bend again. Yes, it took me 10 minutes to stand up.

I made it to the kitchen, got my Vicodin and ice, and went back to the living room. I've found a way to sit in my recliner that is only "What would happen if I took 6 of these pain pills?" painful, rather than "Where did I leave my shotgun?" painful, so I'm in this chair for the night.

So I can't write my album reviews because I cannot get to my computer to listen to the music and blog along. No, I can sit here and blog on my iPhone about my pain. I could probably review the albums since I've listened to them nonstop for a couple of weeks (along with LCD Soundsytem), but I owe these albums proper reviews.

So now I'm very glad I got all that grading done, since tonight I'm useless. And glad I got my air conditioner installed, though it has crippled me.

I'll see you in another life, brotha.

2010-05-25T21:08:00.006-05:00

The Lost Finale

SPOILERS ABOUND.

Note: I'm not going to give a complete scene-by-scene analysis. I'm just going to talk about my reactions to the show.

In reading and hearing people's reactions to the Lost finale, I've concluded something important: People who understand it love it. People who don't understand it hate it. (And I suspect that many of these haters are not full-time fans, or are people who don't really understand anything about Lost in the first place.)

Here's what I know: Three weeks ago, what I wanted from my Lost finale was answers to lots of questions. Questions about the Dharma Initiative, the Egyptian statues, the time travel, the electromagnetic fields, Eloise, Daniel, Widmore. Last week, in the second to last episode, everything about what I wanted began to change. When Jacob told Kate "It's just chalk on a wall," I had a moment of clarity that told me that things are not what they seem. I decided that the questions to which I so badly needed answers did not really matter. And more than that, that episode helped me let go of preconceived notions about what was important to the show. I decided to just go with whatever the finale offered and see how I felt about it.

That's not to say that I did not have my own ideas. I definitely went into the finale with some predictions about what was going to happen, especially regarding the flash sideways story line. My predictions did not come true, and I'm glad, because the finale was much better than what I had plotted out in my head.

As I said earlier, I think most people who did not like the finale did not understand it. I know several people who thought that the ending meant that everyone died in the original plane crash. For so many reasons, this is just flat-out wrong. It is a total misreading of the events of the show, and even a partial viewing of the episode disproves this nonsense. And then of course others interpret the ending to mean that the island was purgatory. Again, nonsense. These people either did not watch the show or just don't know how to interpret complex texts. (These are the same people who think Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is about nonconformity and forging one's own path. Silliness.)

As everyone knows, I am a nonreligious person, so one might think that I would have some problems with the very spiritual ending of Lost. But I don't. The story of redemption is a powerful and universal tale, and the producers tackled it with great artistry. They even poked fun at some of their heavy-handedness, as when Kate says, "Christian Shepherd? His name is Christian Shepherd?"

Here's what else I know: About ten minutes into the finale, I suddenly realized (a realization that probably came to everyone else four seasons ago) the obvious fact that the title of the show refers to the characters' souls, not their physical (or temporal) location. These characters need to be found. Correction: they need to find themselves, which they cannot do alone. It is so obvious when I type it that I feel dumb for not figuring it out before.

And so all of these other things like the Dharma Initiative, the Egyptian statues, the time travel, the electromagnetic fields, Eloise, Daniel, Widmore--they don't matter in the way I thought they mattered. They do matter, because they were part of the characters' journeys toward personal redemption, but in that sense they are simply vehicles carrying us toward the larger point of the show. These things are interesting, but they are not what the show is about. The finale tells us what the show was really about, and I have never been so happy to be wrong about something.

So in the end, the six year journey of Lost, which has taken up many hours of my time, has been a wonderful journey. I count Lost near the top of the list of greatest television shows of all time, so I am sad when I hear that some people hated the finale. I'm sad for these people who just don't understand.

About ten minutes before it was over, I thought, Some kind of twist is coming. These reconnections (if you watched the show, you know what I mean) seem so different than they were in previous episodes this season. (And by the way, if you were not moved by these reconnections -- these "letting go" moments -- then you may not have a soul. Especially the Juliet-Sawyer scene and the Kate-Claire scene. Stunning in their purity.) But when all was revealed, I was emotionally jolted. (And by the way, if you were not moved by the exchange between Locke and Ben outside the church, well then good luck in life.) Oh, and Hurley and Jack's conversation on the island once they figured out what needed to happen? Holy crap.

The finale moved me deeply. Like, to the core moved me. I cannot say I completely understood everything at first. No, that's what lying awake in bed was for. And what waking up every 30 minutes or so was for. As I slept and half-slept and no-slept, I tossed this finale around in my head. By morning I was certain that I had seen something powerful and wonderful. And satisfying. Sad and happy and surprising and satisfying.

That's me: deeply, deeply satisfied.

Guys, where are we?

2010-05-23T17:50:00.001-05:00

I wonder what I should watch tonight . . .

What They Died For

2010-05-18T19:28:00.003-05:00

As everyone knows, I am a huge, huge Lost fan. And this season, the final season, has been a spectacular string of amazing shows. We have been treated to more mysteries, lots of answers, and some mind-blowing twists. I've been sort of dreading the end of the show because I do not want it to end. At the same time, I'm very glad the creators picked an ending spot and stuck with it.

That said, last week's episode was one of the worst episodes of Lost ever made. It was cheesy, poorly written, and badly acted. Though it claimed to give answers, it gave none. As someone one Twitter posted, "Please tell me I did not waste 6 years to find out he answer was a glowing drain."

Nevertheless, I predict that tonight's episode, the last regular episode before the finale, will once again return the show to stratospheric heights of brilliance. First of all, the episode is called "What They Died For," and just thinking about that title makes me a little goose-bumpy. But mostly, I really have faith in the creators.

With only 4.5 hours of the show left, I still don't know where Lost is headed, but I know I am excited for the upcoming ride.

I will probably post a bit after tonight's episode.

Post-Lost

All right . . . That was awesome. I now have a few ideas swirling around in my head about the finale next week. Everything about tonight's episode redeemed last week's debacle. I care deeply about what happens.

The eyes have it

2010-05-16T19:41:00.003-05:00

I have had a pretty good weekend--except for a brief visit to the emergency room. On Friday night, the English department had a get-together at a pretty cool wine bar. I had some fantastic conversation with some work friends, a lot of tasty wine, and I just really had a good time. (None of this resulted in an emergency room visit.)

On Saturday, I woke up with what I thought was a speck of something in my eye--perhaps a wayward eyelash or something. (Since I have blond eyelashes I can't see them if they break off.) So I tried flushing my eye a bit, but to no avail. After a few hours of very annoying pain, I decided that I must have a scratched cornea. I did a little research (though I could only see out of one eye--the left one was 100% blurry) and everything online said that I should seek medical attention since a scratched cornea can lead to a bad infection. And have I mentioned how annoying this injury is? Every time I blinked, it felt like something was scarping across my eyeball. Of course I thought of my infamous jalapeño seed in the eye adventure.

Anyway, since it was Saturday, my regular doctor's office was not open, so I contemplated whether or not this injury was ER-worthy. While I was not in any life-threatening condition, I also did not want to wait until Monday to get antibiotics. The other thing I had to consider was that my mom was on the way to Chicago to visit for her birthday. We were going to dinner, and she would arrive on the 5:55 train. So at about 3:00, I decided to go to the hospital.

Well, after about 1.5 hours of waiting, I was finally called back to be examined. The doctor put a weird dye on my eyeball that made the scratch in the cornea show up. By the way, the application of the dye involved her curling my eyelid up and inside-out over a small wooden stick so that she could get the eyelid out of the way while she dabbed a dye-soaked paper strip on my eyeball. Such fun. But the dye definitely showed the scratch on my eye.

Anyway, after all of this, the time was about 5:30. I needed to get home to meet my mom, and inexplicably I had left my phone at home. But even more inexplicably, even though I was done with my exam at the ER (I was going to be getting some antibiotics), I had to wait 30 more minutes. The nurse told me she'd "be right back with the paperwork," and then I was left waiting in the room with no idea what was taking so long. I was freaking out because now it was 6:00, my mom would be at my apartment, ringing my buzzer and calling my phone, and probably thinking I was dead on my apartment floor.

Finally at 6:05, I left the hospital and zoomed home, arriving at 6:15. And yes indeed, my mom was worried that I was dead, and she had no way of getting in to my building. But, all was well. My eye hurt a lot, but we went to get some dinner at an amazing Ethiopian restaurant. (I really, really recommend Ethiopian food, by the way.)

And then today my mom and I went to Wrigley Field and watched a great Cubs game. The Cubs have been sucking huge lately, but they won today in a come-from-behind victory. The weather was awesome, and it was great going to the game with my mom, with whom I had not been to a game in years.

My eye has healed very well in two days, and though it is still a little blurry and feels a bit dry, it is on the mend.

Ready the ark

2010-05-13T20:22:00.003-05:00

Today was a crazy day at work. Though we had a pretty good thunderstorm and rain in Chicago, up north in Lake Forest, a deluge fell from the sky.

While just about everyone at the high school lives within 15 minutes of the school, about half of the student body could not get to school until 2nd or 3rd period because so many roads were closed by flooding. Some students (and quite a few faculty members) took hours to get to school, so the morning was pretty much a bust.

A few of my colleagues got trapped in the water, and one friend even submerged his car. Several students in each of my classes had flooded basements as well.

I'm very glad I take the train to work.

Satan's Choo-Choo Train

2010-05-11T19:13:00.004-05:00

This lady seems to have Michele Bachmann's eyes down pretty well:

And I cannot get enough of The National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio." For some explicable reason I am moved by the lyric "I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees."

Manchester and Liverpool

2010-05-06T19:28:00.003-05:00

I'm working on some more album reviews that will be on the blog in the coming days. Specifically, I'll be reviewing new albums from Broken Social Scene (their new albums always take me a while), Cornershop, and The National.

"Soul School" by Cornershop

"Forced to Love" (Live from Letterman) by Broken Social Scene

In addition, I made a very important life change that has already improved my life: I got my own parking space. This may seem like a small thing, but until you've lived in the city and you have been a slave to street parking ("I have to wait until Saturday morning to go to the store, despite my grocery needs." "I'd like to go to the movies right now, but the bus won't get me there in time." "I am so glad I got home from grad school early tonight. Now I can drive around for 30 minutes looking for parking."), you cannot understand what an important thing this is.

I see you in the trees. I see you're colorful.

2010-05-03T20:30:00.000-05:00

Jónsi - Go

Jónsi Birgisson, the lead singer of Sigur Rós, has released his first solo album. Go came out last month, and it has been a pretty constant presence on my iPod ever since. Go is quite simply a stunning volcano of joy.

Jónsi is known best for his voice, and since most of his previous music is sung in either Icelandic or the made-up Hopelandic, we have counted on his voice (and the beautiful compositions under his voice) to make us soar. But on Go, most of the songs are sung in English, and the result is a lot of inspirational imagery -- once again on top of beautiful compositions.

A few of the songs are slow, and some grow in uplifting crescendo. In other words, they sound like some classic Sigur Rós songs. One of the two songs in Icelandic, the album closer "Hengilas" is a downbeat, atmospheric showcase for Jónsi's voice. Another slower song, the earnest and oddly layered "Grow Till Tall" does the buildup thing, and would have fit well on Sigur Rós's last album.

But most of the rest of Go find Jónsi exploring more upbeat, percussive territory, to soul-stirring effect. Sigur Rós's "pop" song "Gobbledigook" was sort of a precursor for some of the pounding melodies on Go. For example, the album's first song, "Go Do," (with it's awesome video) simply fills my heart and makes me smile. The drums, the flute, the lyrics, the strange electronic tweaks--this song is an aural celebration.

And that celebration continues on the insanely uplifting "Animal Arithmetic," on which Jónsi rattles off carpe diem imagery over a strangely springlike industrial cacophony of rhythm. I am a bit addicted to this song.

The mood changes with "Tornado," which consists mainly of piano and a slow bass drum, and Jónsi has darkened here a bit: "You grow like a tornado. You grow from the inside, destroy everything, destroy from the inside." All the while, he hits his signature high falsetto notes. Lovely.

"Boy Lilikoi," which has actually gotten some radio play, is just a perfect combination of slow and fast, of earthly images and heavenly melodies, of complex layers of sound and simply textures. "Boy Lilikoi" overwhelms the senses.

I love the way "Sinking Friendships" begins, with samples and snippets and digital tics, but then comes the familiar piano, followed by harmonies for the ages. Then about halfway through, the song strips down to some electronic squirks (yes, squirks) and drums for a brief moment, and the spirit of the song shines through.

A final highlight is "Around Us," which borrows some lyrics from the previously mentioned "Grow Till Tall," but in a percussion-filled echo chamber of upliftiness.

Go showcases Jónsi's brilliance as a singer and as a composer, and reveals a side of him that he has only hinted at before. This album is good for my soul, and when I listen to it, I feel like life gets a little sunnier.

Do You Hear The People Sing?

2010-05-02T19:38:00.003-05:00

Success!

Well, the musical is over. As I have said, I have never worked on a musical before, and Les Misérables is an intense and huge production. The show is entirely music, like an opera, and the sets are epic. In addition, the story, though beautiful and heartbreaking, is very complex as well. Les Mis is an epic show.

But the students amazed me. The songs in this show are some of the most challenging and well-known songs in all of musical theatre, and our kids rose to the enormous task. They were professionals, and I was quite truly in awe of the talent I got to work with.

I hope that I can work on the musical again next year. All of the other staff members involved, especially the director, made the last three months great, but really, it's all about the kids. I feel lucky to work with these students, like I did when I got to direct the plays in Brainerd. I feel closer to my job than ever before, and it is great feeling.

But I am also glad the play is over. These three months have involved a lot of hours, and I am glad to have some time back.

To celebrate, I went to see the Cubs today, and they stomped the Diamondbacks. It was a fantastic game with lots of hits and homers. It was a great way to spend my first day of free time in a while.

Out of order or sort of unaligned

2010-04-24T22:20:00.003-05:00

I have to get through this musical I'm directing. I have a lot I want to blog about though. This blog is not dead:

So, thank you for your patience. Please don't give up on me!

Need sleep.

2010-04-15T21:21:00.002-05:00

Some things:

Two weeks from tonight is the opening night of the musical I'm assistant directing. Needless to say, these next two weeks are going to be very tiring. I remember well how draining the weeks before a production can be. Of course in Brainerd I (with much help from students) had to do everything--directing, sets, costumes, lighting. Here, however, we have a technical director and a whole separate tech crew who plan, build, and execute all backstage stuff. We also have a costume person and a choreographer. Much less stressful to only have to worry about the actors, though this is plenty stressful. I'd also forgotten how much I have to put things like grading on hold at this point in a production. All of this said, I love this work I'm doing, and I am excited about the show.

98% of Americans got tax cuts this year, but a majority of Americans think their taxes have gone up. In case we needed actual evidence that the Teabaggers have no grip on reality.

I'm going to my first Cubs game of the year on Saturday. Though the Cubs have improved a bit since their miserable opening few days, I'm hoping a weekend with the Astros (1-8!) will improve our record.

I would love to go see Kick-Ass this weekend, but I am not sure I'll have time. We'll see.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and could not get back to sleep. So I'm going to bed.

Sick in the car seat

2010-04-12T21:36:00.003-05:00

New Music:

Two new songs from a newish band.

"I Can Talk" by Two Door Cinema Club. Eighties-tinged poprock.

"Undercover Martyn" by Two Door Cinema Club

Lovely and fun.

Fest it Up!

2010-04-07T21:14:00.004-05:00

First, the Cubs are off to a bad start. They totally failed in the season opener, mostly because of the miserable pitching of their "ace" Carlos Zambrano, who after 1.1 innings has an ERA of 54.00. And they lost again today. 0-2.

In better news, the Lollapalooza lineup came out the other day, and I'm pretty jazzed about it. Though it does not have any absolute must-see-right-nows (like Depeche Mode last year), the lineup features enough awesome bands that I will definitely be going.

High on my list: Phoenix, Arcade Fire, Hot Chip, Stars, The National, Cut Copy, Grizzly Bear, The Strokes, MGMT, and Lady Gaga (yes, that's right).

This will be a very fun few days.