ok, for real, this blog is dead. it was {sort of} fun while it lasted, but that's it. i mean, it could come back as a zombie, but i'm making no promises one way or the other.
in closing, i'd like to say that soulja boy's turn my swag on is an amazingly hype song, which probably has to do with the fact that its all chorus. but then, if you think about it, in order to be all chorus, it has to be a really hype chorus.
TED recently posted a talk by Scott Cloud, which i am very excited to watch in a minute.
and so i say, fare well.
bonus video: yes, the last one
Friday, February 6, 2009
Sunday, November 9, 2008
music videos
A few days ago i wrote a nice long post about some new T-Pain videos which was lost to the whims of the internet. Today, i was pointed to http://www.mtvmusic.com/, which supposedly has just about every music video ever shown on MTV, for Our streaming pleasure. So i will rehash the tp post, and then hit on mtvm.
So T-Pain's new video for Chopped N Skrewed (feat. Luda) is venturing into psychedelic video territory, surprisingly. stylistically, it follows from his previous video (check Pain's hat collection), but really kicks it up a notch with details like T-Pain changing into a digital lion, and Pain and Luda popping out of their own heads. There's also the whole circus aspect to both videos, which confused me until i realized T-Pain's upcoming album is called Thr33 Ringz.
The song is also a little surprising subject-wise, with the girls all rejecting the guys instead of the usual hip hop go of guys having their way with the ladies. Not that it lacks swagger - of course Luda brings plenty to spare - but its not everyday you hear a hip hop hit with the rapper/singer/producer losing.
bonus video 1
Speaking of confusing videos, easily leading the mtvm charts is Britney Spears' Womanizer, which is either totally brilliant or completely stupid, i'm not quite sure. i'd like to think that the naked shots etc. are meant make the viewer lust, which brings One into conflict when denying the song's accusation. But then it just gets confusing, leaving me with no idea. i checked out the director, Joseph Khan, who's previous work indicates this could be relatively brilliant, or not. Unrelatedly, the song reminded me of Goldfrapp.
But MTV music doesn't just bring the new, it's got a great archive, which i've just barely cracked, but thoroughly enjoyed so far. I hope they will add some more browsing features - right now i'm sure it's easy to find what you want, but hard to stumble through randomly; mostly i've just watched videos off their front page or charts. Still, a great resource to have around.
bonus video 2
So T-Pain's new video for Chopped N Skrewed (feat. Luda) is venturing into psychedelic video territory, surprisingly. stylistically, it follows from his previous video (check Pain's hat collection), but really kicks it up a notch with details like T-Pain changing into a digital lion, and Pain and Luda popping out of their own heads. There's also the whole circus aspect to both videos, which confused me until i realized T-Pain's upcoming album is called Thr33 Ringz.
The song is also a little surprising subject-wise, with the girls all rejecting the guys instead of the usual hip hop go of guys having their way with the ladies. Not that it lacks swagger - of course Luda brings plenty to spare - but its not everyday you hear a hip hop hit with the rapper/singer/producer losing.
bonus video 1
Speaking of confusing videos, easily leading the mtvm charts is Britney Spears' Womanizer, which is either totally brilliant or completely stupid, i'm not quite sure. i'd like to think that the naked shots etc. are meant make the viewer lust, which brings One into conflict when denying the song's accusation. But then it just gets confusing, leaving me with no idea. i checked out the director, Joseph Khan, who's previous work indicates this could be relatively brilliant, or not. Unrelatedly, the song reminded me of Goldfrapp.
But MTV music doesn't just bring the new, it's got a great archive, which i've just barely cracked, but thoroughly enjoyed so far. I hope they will add some more browsing features - right now i'm sure it's easy to find what you want, but hard to stumble through randomly; mostly i've just watched videos off their front page or charts. Still, a great resource to have around.
bonus video 2
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Road to the World Beard and Moustache Championships
I have this article cut out with the following circled:
"SHAVING MAKES HAIR GROW BACK FASTER AND COARSER This myth persists even though a study conducted 80 years ago disproved it. Hair that is shaved is dead, and shaving has no effect on the speed of regrowth, which comes from the living hair follicles below the skin’s surface. The new growth may appear darker since it hasn’t been exposed to the sun or chemicals for very long. Also, it may seem coarser since the ends have not been tapered by wear and tear."
I have long suspected this, but nytimes confimation has definitely been noted.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Boy Talk
Well, looks like Boy Crisis has hit the blog scene, this screenshot showing the second hit in one day, thus achieving a new level of posting frequency. It would seem that they are poised to follow MGMT into the big times, though of course much is left to be played out.
Listening to the two songs found on the hype, I feel some Cansei de Ser Sexy, a bit of Faint, maybe some TV on the Radio, and some serious conciousness-of-and-playing-with/against-rap-lyrics. These are just some impressions on first listen, and only the ones I could name - there was one that was just beyond me from dressed to digress; it might be the marriage of punk-emo to hip-hop, but maybe not. Anyway, I'm excited to watch their progress... I'm also hopeful that eventually Belly Boat will begin the climb to the blogs.
In a brief search through the internet for Belly Boat, I stumbled upon foxy digitals since they reviewed Belly Boat's album, but more importantly to me is this, a review of Ian Nagoski's album. I have not heard this album, but he owns a sweet record store back in Baltimore. Also, Dan Conrad gets a mention. Mr. Conrad was one of my high school physics teachers, introduced me to experimental music, and thus has had a large impact on the course of my life. I only recently learned that, as the review states, he is the brother of Tony Conrad, who is also awesome, though I do not know him personally. As for Ian Nagoski, I believe about a year ago he put together a great compilation of old, obscure world music records. Oh, yes, he did.
In other news, Rock The Bells hits the Bay Area this Saturday. Thanks to URB, I will be attending, in, hopefully, style. Sweet.
Monday, June 30, 2008
The Rainbow Screen
Pixar's new movie Wall-E came out on Friday, which took me a few days to realize, but I am ever so excited to see it. I recently read an interview with the Wall-E sound designer via the Pixar blog, which confirmed that maybe someday sound design is what I would like to do.
The coming weeks also contain new releases I am excited about, with Hancock opening next weekend [optimistic/excited], the new Hellboy the next week [skeptical yet hopeful], and finally the Dark Knight [super excited]. Not only is Batman my favourite superhero, but this is rumoured to be the most kick-ass movie since Iron Man. I hope they are taking some cues from The Long Halloween Batman story, by Jeph Loeb, which follows the events of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, and tells the story of, among other things, the creation of Two-Face, which I believe will appear in The Dark Knight as well, though probably in a different form, just as Batman Begins and Batman: Year One differed dramatically.
And of course, speaking of Iron Man, let's consider the post-credits scene with Samuel L. Jackson a.k.a Nick Fury, who speaks of the Avenger Initiative. This led me to vague thoughts of an Avengers movie in the works, but when I heard that Tony Stark shows up in the new Hulk movie {which I've heard mixed things about, as I expected} to talk of forming a team, my interest was tapped. This could be an amazing set-up for the Avengers, but was Hulk even on the team?
To answer this, I turned of course to Wikipedia. Turns out Hulk {as well as Iron Man} was an original member, but left in the first handful of issues. Captain America joined as Hulk left, and soon after was the only early member remaining among a cast of new faces. Further reading reveals two Avengers movies in the works: "The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) is scheduled for May 6, 2011, followed by The Avengers, scheduled for July 2011."
Zac Penn is listed as a screenwriter for the Avengers material. Wikipedia-hopping led me to discover that this guy not only wrote X2 {yay} and X3 {eh} and more, but also penned PCU after attending Wesleyan University, from whence I graduated just over a year ago. But, he also wrote/directed two movies with Werner Herzog as an actor in them! This blew me away. The two movies are The Grand and The Incident at Loch Ness. The Grand was much improvised, much in the style of Christopher Guest, including the final poker game, which was an actual game played out while being filmed. Incident at Loch Ness is like a several layer mockumentary. These movies have been added to my need-to-see list.
Herzog, should you not know, has directed such movies as [recently] Grizzly Man {my introduction} and Rescue Dawn, [classic-ly] Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God, and [hilariously titled] How much Wood would a Woodchuck chuck... . He's a pretty crazy director from what I know, and there was a great piece in the NYTimes magazine a year or so ago about his battles with his film crew during the filming of Rescue Dawn - a conflict of one man's specific vision against those trained in the industry standard, or one of idealism against pragmatism. Anyway, I highly recommend anything he's done, though I myself have seen only a few titles. I am that confident in him.
Bonus Video
The coming weeks also contain new releases I am excited about, with Hancock opening next weekend [optimistic/excited], the new Hellboy the next week [skeptical yet hopeful], and finally the Dark Knight [super excited]. Not only is Batman my favourite superhero, but this is rumoured to be the most kick-ass movie since Iron Man. I hope they are taking some cues from The Long Halloween Batman story, by Jeph Loeb, which follows the events of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, and tells the story of, among other things, the creation of Two-Face, which I believe will appear in The Dark Knight as well, though probably in a different form, just as Batman Begins and Batman: Year One differed dramatically.
And of course, speaking of Iron Man, let's consider the post-credits scene with Samuel L. Jackson a.k.a Nick Fury, who speaks of the Avenger Initiative. This led me to vague thoughts of an Avengers movie in the works, but when I heard that Tony Stark shows up in the new Hulk movie {which I've heard mixed things about, as I expected} to talk of forming a team, my interest was tapped. This could be an amazing set-up for the Avengers, but was Hulk even on the team?
To answer this, I turned of course to Wikipedia. Turns out Hulk {as well as Iron Man} was an original member, but left in the first handful of issues. Captain America joined as Hulk left, and soon after was the only early member remaining among a cast of new faces. Further reading reveals two Avengers movies in the works: "The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) is scheduled for May 6, 2011, followed by The Avengers, scheduled for July 2011."
Zac Penn is listed as a screenwriter for the Avengers material. Wikipedia-hopping led me to discover that this guy not only wrote X2 {yay} and X3 {eh} and more, but also penned PCU after attending Wesleyan University, from whence I graduated just over a year ago. But, he also wrote/directed two movies with Werner Herzog as an actor in them! This blew me away. The two movies are The Grand and The Incident at Loch Ness. The Grand was much improvised, much in the style of Christopher Guest, including the final poker game, which was an actual game played out while being filmed. Incident at Loch Ness is like a several layer mockumentary. These movies have been added to my need-to-see list.
Herzog, should you not know, has directed such movies as [recently] Grizzly Man {my introduction} and Rescue Dawn, [classic-ly] Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God, and [hilariously titled] How much Wood would a Woodchuck chuck... . He's a pretty crazy director from what I know, and there was a great piece in the NYTimes magazine a year or so ago about his battles with his film crew during the filming of Rescue Dawn - a conflict of one man's specific vision against those trained in the industry standard, or one of idealism against pragmatism. Anyway, I highly recommend anything he's done, though I myself have seen only a few titles. I am that confident in him.
Bonus Video
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Whistler's Mother
Andrew Bird is a musician I heard a lot about before I actually heard any music from him. Then I found 'Heretics' on some music blog, and I was hooked. I listened to that song over and over. I even figured out one of the riffs, or more likely something similar, on guitar. Someone in my family somehow got the record, and it is great, but 'Heretics' has stuck with me.
So evidently Andrew Bird blogs on the NYTimes blog "Measure for Measure". Who knew? Anyway, I saw a blurb about getting over instrumental music and wanted to save it for my brother, who mainly writes instrumental music. Turns out Mr. Bird is working on [at least] two projects, one of which is a more experimental, intrumental project, which he describes as follows: "I think of it as trying to bridge the gap between Steve Reich or Arthur Russell and West-African musical forms from ornamental kora music to the driving m’bira of Konono No. 1. " I'm sold. And speaking of Konono No. 1 I recently heard they were featured, with Timbaland, on Bjork's song Earth Intruders. I had never made that connection before, but I can hear it now. I would love to see them team up with Andrew Bird or Steve Reich. Or both. Plus Timbaland. Whoa.
Bonus Video
So evidently Andrew Bird blogs on the NYTimes blog "Measure for Measure". Who knew? Anyway, I saw a blurb about getting over instrumental music and wanted to save it for my brother, who mainly writes instrumental music. Turns out Mr. Bird is working on [at least] two projects, one of which is a more experimental, intrumental project, which he describes as follows: "I think of it as trying to bridge the gap between Steve Reich or Arthur Russell and West-African musical forms from ornamental kora music to the driving m’bira of Konono No. 1. " I'm sold. And speaking of Konono No. 1 I recently heard they were featured, with Timbaland, on Bjork's song Earth Intruders. I had never made that connection before, but I can hear it now. I would love to see them team up with Andrew Bird or Steve Reich. Or both. Plus Timbaland. Whoa.
Bonus Video
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