NIGHT SAWNGS

So, I haven't been able to keep up to date with the postings, mostly because of the holiday season craziness. So I'm going on hiatus for a little bit. I'll be back around the beginning of January. Until then, here's a shit load of songs to hold you over:

Little People "Start Shooting"


This song sounds like if UNKLE did the soundtrack for the Matrix. That piano is seriously well mixed with the funky bass line and solid drum line. It's a little redundant with varying highs and lows, but it makes for some great music to work to and leave in the background.

Superchunk "1000 Pounds"


Unfortunately, I could only find this low quality version to share with you, but it's a great song nonetheless. The two guitars are working off a great harmonious sound where neither of them are playing simple power chords. The lead guitar has these amazing little sections to itself where it's left to aid the singer's emotion. The violin adds this other layer that kind of makes it a little whimsical. Superchunk has this great understanding of itself, putting instruments to use where they need to be. I've heard 3 different versions of this song and each time they use different instruments and it sounds amazing all the way around. I really wish rock was more influenced by the song structure of bands like these, though, not necessarily the sound.

David Guetta "Memories (Feat. Kid Cudi)"


Okay, I have a confession. I really like shitty pop/dance music. As much as I love indie/hipster music, I really love this stuff. This really is more of a guilty pleasure of mine. You've probably heard this song before and it isn't really all that complicated or anything, but it does have a great beat and this little interesting use of auto-tune to just make noises. This is really just a sweaty song that you put on when you want bump and grind... or work out to... yeah, that's what I meant.

Bonobo "Light Pattern"


This song takes a lot of cues from both hip hop and R&B and mixes it up a bit. There are moments of what seems like brief reflections upon itself, and then goes back on it's track. The longing violins keep up this white noise note, haunting the background. The drums have this really nice punch to them to keep the song from falling down in temp, while the bass has fun playing a few simple note progressions. Over time the song keeps reducing itself until its barest core and leaves you softly.

Sleater-Kinney "Jumpers"


This is a darker, later era of Sleater-Kinney and not like their previous works so much. This song still rocks harder than any rock band out today. The guitar rhythms really know how to compliment each other and the drums know when to punch when they need to. Carrie's singing is amazing and her voice knows how to have this aggression in it that isn't well displayed in any female singers today. The song keeps building up while falling gracefully has a couple climaxes on the way out. Sleater-Kinney is a band that really knows how to rock out, so hard that it makes Kings of Leon, Three Days Grace, and other bands like them, sound like pussies.

The Postmarks "Goodbye"


I love the numerous instruments used in this song and how they play well together. Everything meshes well: the brass, violin, guitar, glockenspiel, tambourine, synth, and other things. Her voice is small, but she really makes the most of it that she can, in how it fits into the song. What's even more amazing, is that all she does is sing and play guitar, all of the other instruments are done by 2 other guys. The lyrics on the other hand are powerfully sad. It's a break up song that tries really hard to make the best out of a bad situation. The postmarks have an incredibly layered sound while having these lyrical poems that weave the whimsical backbone.


Modest Mouse "Custom Concern"


Most of you might only know Modest Mouse from their song Float On. Before that, this is more so what they sounded like. This is more on the slower end, though. The twangy guitar work and this almost open mic night feeling resonates well with what seems be a heavy influence from The Pixies. The lyrics are so heavy in emotion. Lyrically, it's very reminiscent of a Charles Bukowski poem that has a dreary outlook with such a harsh bite.

Passion Pit "Sleepy Head" both live and keyboard




This song works extremely well in both ways. I gotta tell you though, when I first heard this song, I imagined that the singer looked completely different. I don't know what I was thinking, but it definitely wasn't beard fro. Anyways, the live version isn't really all that live version sounding, but it I picked it because the video better than the official video. The song uses a bunch of elements to construct its unique sound. Though it heavily relies on synth. The drummer does an effective job of making this more of something to hop and dance to. The piano version on the other hand is absolutely lovely. He knows how to use his voice and works it well with the piano.


The Fashion "Like Knives"


The singer's voice can border on grating and annoying, but after the initial shock of his voice, it comes to work with the song's lyrics in how it is very cutting in comparison to the much more pronounced bass and drums. The guitars kind of follow the singer and stick an upper sound frequency and following their own rhythmic path. It makes for kind of a herky jerky song that makes it very fun to jump to.

The Black Kids "Hurricane Jane"


The singer takes a lot of cues from Robert Smith of The Cure. Only during the chorus, does it really sound like they're really trying to make their own sound, though during the verses, they could possibly be any new wave band from the 80's with a little more refinement. The song keeps building and building till it comes to a point when it's much louder and complex than it was previously. The rubber banding of this siren synth noise sort of becomes the little highlight that you can hear above the funkiness of the bass and guitar.



Hopefully this is enough to hold you down until January. Feel Free to comment any song requests and I'll keep them in consideration for when I return to this blogger thang.

Song of the Night: 2 Song Special

Because I was lazy yesterday and didn't do one, you get two today... but this time around it's a little different.



Ted Leo And The Pharmacists cover Tears For Fears


The Clientele covers M.I.A..


AV Club is a website that covers anything going on in the media and is my number one source for upcoming movies and pop culture. Also, the commenters aren't like your average pop culture commenter. They're usually pretty witty and full of classic Simpsons quotes.

Anyways, what AV Club did all this year, was basically create a list of songs for musicians and bands to come in and cover. Once a song was done, it couldn't be performed by another band, so toward the end, the selection of songs is dwindled down to the last one.

I tried to pick two songs from the list that were well known but done by unknown artists. I personally feel that they really added their own style to the song and made them their song instead of just a band covering another band's song. This is how all covers should be done. Not like the band Confide who covered Postal Service's "Such Great Heights". I was originally going to link over to that, but decided against it because I hate it so much. My reason of hate is, not because I also hate screamo, but because I think it brings down the meaning of the song and doesn't deliver on either indie or screamo music. They can't keep the pace or rhythm and they lack the actual talent to play the song with instruments instead of trying to recreate them with synth. Confide doesn't push any effort to make it their song; they're just playing the song their way with no respect to the source material.

Anyways, back to the point, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists really change up the Tears for Fears song by giving it a very up beat quality and not weighing it down like the original. Don't get me wrong, I love the original, but TL/Rx make it more of a rock out song that you could kinda jam to. They sped up the tempo a bit and instead of using synth, they strummed on an electric guitar and used real drums, which changes the whole mood of the song. It doesn't destroy it like Confide, it alters it enough to make it more their styling and it makes the song just rock. Ted also does a great job of sounding like Roland Orzabal and really hammering on that guitar solo at the end while giving it some neat delay and overdrive effects.

The next song is an even more of as stretch as an indie folk band like Clientele challenges themselves to play a pop song full of effects that they have to recreate through violins and other means. To be honest I am so impressed that they were even able to pull it all off. I really can't say more to add to any of that. Seriously, just watch it again. I actually prefer this version to the original. They really claim this song as their own and don't phone anything in, which is incredible considering it seems like they have less than an hour of prep time.

Both bands really do well in supporting both of their genres while retaining the heart of the songs they cover. You can tell there is a level of respect that is given to the source material while providing an excellent performance.

Song of the Night: Elliot Smith "Angel in the Snow"

I woke up late today. That kind of moved everything in my schedule back a couple hours. Oh well. Anyways, Song of the NIght continues on.



As far as the acoustic guitar goes, it's incredibly layered. Keep in mind that this isn't dual recorded, it's him playing on one guitar. He has this amazing talent for making me think that there's two guitars. Anyways, this song keeps a folksy chord progression and rhythm that's very reminiscent of Neil Young. Elliot Smith's voice is whispy, almost dream-like to me.

It's a complex song, yet keeps itself understated.

Notable Lyrics

"I'd say you make a perfect
Angel in the snow
All crushed out on the way you are
Better stop before it goes too far
Don't you know that I love you?
Sometimes I feel like only a cold still life
That fell down here to lay beside you

Don't you know that I love you?
Sometimes I feel like only a cold still life
Only a frozen still life
That fell down here to lay beside you"

Note:
It's a short song, so I just posted all of the lyrics.

Song of the Night: Los Campesinos! "In Media Res (All's Well That Ends)"

Sorry about the lack-age of song yesterday. There was a graduation celebration for a close friend of mine and it completely slipped my mind to update yesterday. Also, I was drunk. DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT.



This is actually a different version of the song that's on their last CD, Romance is Boring. The original has kind of this march-y feel and has a bit of subdued energy, unlike their previous works which were so layered to the point of almost being unbearable. Which makes this song even that much more an interesting choice for them to make such a reduced version. I mean, during live performances for radio and television shows, they reduce their songs down to around 4 instruments. This one is no different and I'm getting about 5 separate instruments.

What's interesting is that though their stuff is so heavily layered, the core is still incredibly strong.

The whole thing is very elegant for the band and the strange harmonics become even louder, yet have more meaning and purpose. The darker end isn't as dark, but somehow becomes more poignant and when it comes back up, it's super uplifting. It sounds very english, almost rustic sounding, mostly because of how you can hear the actual strum of the strings and almost abrasiveness of the violen. I can understand if you find Gareth's voice unappealing, but to me, its got this really charming quality to it that's like a british version of early Blink 182. Actually, as I was listening to this song, a friend's mom thought that it sounded like Violent Femms.

It ends so quietly. This is such a change of pace for the band and shows a bit of refinement and maturity that I've never heard from them before. Even when they did strip their songs down for live media performances, they were still full of energy and lots of movement with high tempos.

Once again this song really knows how to reduce and build itself up again, through layers and varying chord rhythms. Los Campesinos!, in my opinion, continue to progress and evolve, making them a great band.

Notable Lyrics

"And the woolen dress that clung so tight
To the contours of your body
The dead grass stuck to fibers from us
Rolling in the layby"

"Drop me at the highest point
and trace a line around the dent I leave in the ground
That'll be the initial one you'll marry
Now that I'm not around"

"If you were given the option
Of dying painlessly in peace at 45
With a lover at your side
After a full and happy life

Is this something that would interest you?"

Song of the Night Deadmau5 "Some Chords"

I absolutely love the way this song starts off; it's such a "get ready to dance" intro. Like all electro and dance, you have to wait a minute or so for the DJ to set everything up for the rest of the song. Aafter the set up these heavy synth guitars start pumping up the beat; the chord progression, for the most part simple, is just great to crunk, bump & grind, whateverz to. The higher pitch synth noises may not be for everyone, but it's better than the air horn that they were so obsessed with in the 90's.

I know this isn't a very complicated song, I just needed something fairly simple after Flaming Lips. Also, it's the weekend, so feel crunk yo junk to this song.

Song of the Night: The Flaming Lips "It Overtakes Me"

If you haven't noticed by now, I am a complete sucker for songs that evolve and really change over time so that it's a completely different song in the end, or at least a different variation. At around 3 minutes it really switches it up so much, you'll probably need a neck brace from the whiplash.

I would go on to describe more of this song, but there's some shows on tonight that I would like to watch tonight. I"ll update this more tomorrow.

Update:

The start of the song is this really peppy and quirky with just a touch of some funk. The percussion produces a mixture of clapping and really simplistic beats, not adding to the unorganized jazz stylings of everyone else. It's mostly used to keep tempo in this song while everyone gets to experiment. Even the vocals get experimental with some odd choices of voice filters. There's nothing too complex with the lyrics to encumber this test bed of sound.

And then everything slowly changes, though the change is gradual, it just feels abrupt because of the pace change. You're really expecting the song to end, when you're in the middle. But, this is where the real soul of the song resides. It goes from being a wonky extrovert to this reserved introvert. Everything uses softer chords and even the drums use softer drum taps that you can just barely hear. Then, towards the end of this journey, the bass and synth ease you into this acoustic guitar plucking that is reminiscent of a lullaby.

This song really reduces and reduces itself and showcases the refined experimentalism of The Flaming Lips.

Song of the Night: Beck "The Golden Age"

I've been in kind of a Beck mood... though, just saying that could mean anything, depending on the album you're on. Currently, I'm more in the Sea Change era.

This is one of those songs you have on while you drive on the country side, letting the wind blow through at night. Obviously those are part of the lyrics, but those have another meaning as well. I'm not going to explain them because I feel they're fairly self explanatory, but this song essentially sums up how I felt after graduating college.

I'm supposed to be starting off this new life without a structured plan to guide me, like school has institutionalized in me. It's scary and a lot of times I didn't know where I was going to go. I would drive around a lot at night to clear my head. Between a shitty internship where I learned nothing and a potentially mis-matched job, I was kind of freaking out. This song would usually come on and I'd feel wholly calm.

There is a very melancholy and almost zen feel to this song. The drums have this serious weight to them while all the other instruments are fairly light, twinkling along at moments. Only the guitar can really go from the denseness of the drums and then help lighten things as well. The bizarre white noise that fades in over time adds this chaotic element that you just learn to accept, until it ends the song for you.

Notable Lyrics:

"Cool your aching head
Let the weight of the world
Drift away instead"

"These days I barely get by
I don't even try"

"You gotta drive all night
Just to feel like you're okay"

One last thing about this song is that it sets up really well for Paper Tiger, the next song on the album. Sea Change is an amazing album and I seriously recommend it.

Song of the Night: Crystal Castles "Magic Spells"

My apologies for not really making sense on the last post. I wrote half of it, perfectly fine on Sunday and then wrote it, highly caffeinated/tired as balls Monday on evening.

Anyways continuing on,

This is more of a melo song you put in the background while you're doing stuff, only to focus in on the random part where they have sampled lyrics and get freaked out.

The synth ... organ... I think it is, has this really haunting chord progression. The drums do a great deal to make it not sound as dense, while the bass thuds in and compliments the organ. Like last night's song, there are other synth noises that pop in and out, but these tend to be more "ethereal".

When I hear this song I think of exploring a mystical forest in the moonlight. Kind of like one of those goofy bookmarks that you see in Hot Topic, but nearly so theatric... or gay.

On another note, the girl in the band, Alice Glass is super hot.

Now excuse me while I have a birthday dinner to attend.

Song of the Night: Ronald Jenkees Stay Crunchy

My apologies for this being done later. Also, I'm not doing songs on Sundays.

This is song kind of hard to get through at first because it just bursts with this random energy that it doesn't quite know what to do with. It starts out calm and then takes you on a journey and that journey comes crashing together, going out of control. The synth guitar somehow knows it's limits, while the synth string accompaniment supports the guitar by adding another layer of epic emotion. All the other synths in the song weave in and out, coming and going as they please.

The drums kind of hang around, not necessarily doing anything special, but they provide something stable to listen to in case you can't handle everything else. The piano synth is very capricious and will sometimes choose to calm everything down with a couple chords it plays on it's own, or it can escalate everything at certain climaxes. Things can get really overwhelming after a bit, but there's so many layers that you can listen to it over and over again, finding something new.

What his song reminds me of, is ocean waves– how it can be calm all of a sudden and then things start crashing all around you, knocking you down. You can easily be swept up in the seemingly arbitrary rhythm while it slowly allows you to feel the melodic pace.

My favorite part about this song is how it slows down almost abruptly to gently settle you in to not hearing it anymore.

Notable lyrics

That part where it goes all whaayyyyyhooooohhhhhh wweeeenily weenily bwaaaaa howwww

[EDIT]

OH MY GOD. I can't stay awake long enough to edit myself. Parts of that really didn't make sense... at all.

Song of the Night - Peter Bjorn and John "Young Folks"

Welcome to another installment of Song of the Night. Apologies to those that read some ranty ranty-ness last night. Promise I won't go on too much of tangent this time.

You know why? Because this song is too peppy for me to be Mr. Ranty Ranty.

I'm kind of a sucker for songs that start out with a sloppy drum beat that evens itself out later. I'm not sure what that says about me. Anyways, the whistling is incredibly infectious and gets stuck in my brain for weeks on end. The drum beat does not faulter at all and is incredibly peppy. Some songs just jump, this one hops. Peter and Victoria Bergsman (who guest vocals on this song)'s voices are pretty much interchangeable, but that's kind of just how indie rock is. Victoria's voice though, has this wonderful, almost playful timidness; like a cute girl talking with her head cocked, staring at you from behind long hair bangs.

When there's more than one type of precussion in a song, things sometimes get muddled, making it sound like just a bunch of beats coming out to you; but there's a good definition and difference between the main drum line, shakers, and bongos, that it's not so intrusive. The bass line keeps things simple and does what every good bassist does, keeping the backbone of the song strong. I actually just noticed that there is hardly any guitar in this song at all. There's maybe 3 or 4 strums during the chorus and that's about it for the guitar.

They're a really good band that knows when to put certain instruments forward to make the song work.

Notable Lyrics:

"Would you go along with someone like me

If you knew my story word for word"

"Usually when things has gone this far

People tend to disappear

No one will surprise me unless you do "

"I can tell there's something goin' on

Hours seems to disappear

Everyone is leaving i'm still with you"

Song of the Night - Just Jack "Starz in Their Eyes"

Another night, another installment of Song of the Night.

To a certain extent this is kind of a meta song, media making fun of media, this guy if he's looking to be big kind of has to bow down to those that would excrete the kind of crap that he hates. It's just a bitter world of dog eat dog.

Allow me, for a moment, to spiel on my thoughts of reality tv.

It's a strange concept of people who want to become famous. We all seem to feed off this idea of becoming it, but what's more, we (as a society) obsess over the fall. No one wants to watch a show where people get along and really learn life lessons about each other. We'd all rather watch skanks duke it out for some douche that'll just find another harem of desperate women in a couple of months. Oh wait, that was last year's thing. This year was mostly rocked by a train wreck of New Jersey-ians. What's coming up in the pipe-line is something far more demeaning.

There are times when reality TV will really warp reality and come to that line where it threatens to cross it, and then it does. What I'm talking about is a show called Bridalplasty. A show where women who have low self esteem about themselves battle to have cosmetic surgery done to themselves before their wedding. The winner is treated to an ultimate wedding spectacle and a complete plastic surgery overhaul to their body. All the while, the groom never sees his wife for 4 months, until the final day.

There's never a "He'll love you no matter what" kind of message in the show and neither is there a "you're beautiful as you are" kind of response from the grooms either. It really is about as cut throat and shallow as it sounds. This isn't a show that furthers our understanding of our selves; this is the fall of our fellow humans as we watch them burn for entertainment. We might as well watch a couple homeless people battle it out for money so their kids can eat. Will they get to feed their kids baloney today?

Anyways, enough of my views of reality TV. This song asks the question to the producers of such programming as to why they would pressure people to try and become famous. The vocalist then turns back to the poor saps competing and then sympathetically treats them human. He warns them about the consequences of fame at the cost of dignity and human self worth. Like the girl who's waiting in line for american idol to get her shot at the big time, through the rain, only to be called up, made into a joke and then spit out. Throughout American Idol's entire seasons, it wasn't any of the contestants that made it big, it was the judges. Simon Cowell leaving American Idol has had a bigger impact on the show than any of the contestants. That's sad when the heart of the show is someone who doesn't dole out the love.

Sorry, I went back to ranting about it again. As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of reality shows.

Back to talking about the song:

I like how the very beginning almost sounds like it's going to be some kind of upbeat coldplay song comming up and then immediately transforms into an indie-hip hop mix with some droll brit rap. Don't get me wrong, the droll brit-rap does wonders for the song because of the whole jaded view the singer has.

The drummer really pulls through, using the entirety of the set to build such a full sound of precussion to complement the funky bass line while the guitar kind of just keeps the rhythm and pace up.

Notable Lyrics:

"Remember they said you'd show them all
Emphasise the rise but not the fall
And now you're playing a shopping mall"

"And now the tabloids use your face
To document your fall from grace
And then they'll tell you that that's just the way it goes
That's just the way it goes"

"It's the same old story well they just didn't realize
And it's a long way to come from your private bedroom dance routines"

Notes about the video:

In the actual song there's actually a bit where it goes into more of a hip hop rap, but I didn't like it; it's not because I don't like hip hop, I just don't think the band itself is strong enough to do it. What I do like is how in the video, they cut that part out.

VW, Hell yeah!

Whoever that one girl is, the one in purple and cop outfit ... I am totally crushing on.

Song of the Night

I'm changing the name! I know, I know, it's only the second night I'm doing this and I'm already making horrible, drastic changes. I just figure that because I'm doing this at night, it tends to defeat the purpose of calling it "Song of the Day". So... here we are.

I also apologize for starting this series with such a song that was deeply personal for me. So to make up for it, I bring you a very fun song; tonight, I present you with Kennedy "Karate".

I kind of like the slow start that lulls you into the mood. The guitar and synth are a great preparation for this thudding bass and drum combo that melds delightfully in this modern disco sound. Kennedy's voice then comes in and the lyrics pretty much lay it straight for you:

"I know Karate

I Know Jujitsu

I Drive Like a Gangsta when I'm coming to see you"

This song has a light playful feel to it while trying to stay casually romantic. Kennedy is inherently charming and there is no way to resist it. There is something deeply addictive about the rhythm and the lyrics are unbelievably fun to sing along with. I find it also interesting that he dedicates so much love to this one lady that when she asks him if she's the only one he has a group of his bro's calling out "HELL YEAH".

I really don't have much else to say about this song because it's all quite self explanatory. I really only wanted to give you snippets of lyrics, but the whole damn song is just so awesome:

I don't need no nine mil glock

These hands are deadly guns

From smokin, drinkin, bein a thug

I sip hypnotyq from a coffee mug

I keep a healthy state of mind

I only drink and drive night

(Chorus)

I know Karate

I Know Jujitsu

I Drive Like a Gangsta when I'm coming to see you

And I'm coming to see you all the time

I Got a bottle of cheap jug wine

Pop some pills and make some love and try to recline

I like to drive into the sun

I like it when your sitting gun

My single is on, it's number one

I know Karate

I Know Jujitsu

I Drive Like a Gangsta when I'm coming to see you

i know Karate

I got some mojo

But holding hands aint something I do, thats true!

My best girl asked me if she's the only one

I gotta be blunt, I say

(everybody) Hell yeah!!!

My only real complaint with the song is that it's not long enough.

Introducing Song of the Day!

That's right followers, or ... ummm people that read here, I'm introducing a new feature of The Mystery Can called song of the day! I'll mostly be doing these at night, because there's this thing called work, and gives me money to buy bee.... thinking liquid.

Anyways, this little section gives me space to basically post a song and write my analysis of it and such.

Starting the series off, we have Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs".

I grew up in the suburbs and the video was pretty much spot on... except for you know, the whole war/military thing; although we did live close to a military base, so close that you could hear the canons firing off in the distance; it would be so loud, sometimes your windows would rattle a bit.

When I first learned to drive, I drove everyone everywhere. I didn't care where and I didn't care when. Sometimes I would take people home I had massive crushes on and other times I would take people I generally disliked. But people rode and they would talk. We all got along and we all bonded in this shitty red car.

I couldn't tell you why we did crazy things as kids. I probably couldn't explain it well myself, if I went back in time to interview myself. I hung around a group of people that I hardly ever see nowadays and in some ways I really miss hanging out with them but am to afraid too acknowledge that we've all grown up and gone our separate ways. Which is why this lyric hits me so hard:

"Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again"

The music accompanying the lyrics are just as powerful. This rolling, almost thundering piano (if you have enough bass in your headphones or stereo to hear it) is almost overpowering to the point that it feels like an Inception trailer. It needed this light hearted, stringing along (pun intended) orchestral section that helped the tempo move along instead of being dragged down by the piano. The acoustic guitar adds this odd old-time age to the song, like some folk song in the 70's or something, but the vocal stylings of Win Butler are really the icing on this amazing cake. Butler really doesn't need to sing at all in this song, but he adds this whole other dimension to the song that doesn't just count lyrically; there's this longing in his voice during the chorus that makes you yearn with him.

It all culminates at the end when everything kind of evolves over time and it strikes me so hard. The beginning and the end of the song are basically playing the same notes, but you can hear the pianist (I think it's Butler, at least according to live performances) really hammering on those keys and the string section laying their bows hard. The song gets to this end point where it's so heavy and layered, but not too much; then, lightly dusts off with this lone violin, to whisper goodbye.

This is a song that really knows how to build a climax, but then, that's just why Arcade Fire is so good.

Other notable lyrics:

"I learned to drive

And you told me we'd never survive"

"But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored"

"And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin' at all"

"So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before this damage is done"

To be honest this whole song sums up how I miss my earlier youth but how much I've grown. It's kind of like a nostalgia smack in the face. Most of all I'm reminded of my old red car that was passed down to me from my brother and sisters. It died when I was in college as if to signify that era of my life was over.

This one's going in my Dream Journal! - An Inception Review

So I brought my notepad with me to the theatre and I took some pretty amazing notes... the thing is, I forgot it back at the office and I'm writing this at home.

I've decided that, instead, I'm going to review it all from memory. Or shouldn't I? (an inside joke if you've already seen it... oh yeah, this thing will also be riddled with spoilers, but they'll be in white, so highlight if you want to read).

When I was a child I would have these terrifying nightmares that would haunt me. It wasn't until I reached around 11 or so, that I was able to control things. I would fight these nightmares back and create my own world the way as I saw fit. Lately, though, my nightmares are pulling things out from my subconscious and reformatting them in ways to haunt me again. As I'm struggling to fight between my control and my subconscious, my dreams have become quite abstract.

Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Tarsem's The Fall have both come quite close in reproducing something very similar to my dreams.

Inception hits a little close to home as well, with its colliding dreamscapes and interpretations of occurrences in reality within the dreams. The beginning thrusts you immediately into this confusing state. You are trying to unfold what is happening and discerning what is reality just like when you wake up and try to remember what just happened to you. Things merge with other ideas and concepts your brain is creating, at a faster pace than a hobo scrounging in a dumpster behind Applebee's before the thickest snow falls.

You begin to question the reality of the movie. What is real and what isn't. The entire time, I thought the thing was going to just be a dream. Just like the season finale of Dallas. Leondardo Di Caprio's in the shower just waiting for you to pull back the curtain.

He also has excellent taste in shower curtains

It isn't though, and thankfully, Christopher Nolan knows not to fuck around with a mass audience like that. He still needs to make money for the next Batman movie. He'll let you know what's real and what's not through a simple metal top. It's a totem Leonardo Di Caprio's character, Cobb, uses to ground himself in reality. A device that when spun gives the illusion that it is standing on it's tip until it spins out of control and falls. The kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun's character, Arthur, uses a weighted die. Only he knows the weight of a device used to control fate. Juno... I mean, Ellen Page's character, Ariadne, uses a weighted chess piece, the Queen, a major piece in the game that can move in any direction, however far... honest to blog.

When none of these things acts the way they're supposed to, then they know they're in a dream of someone else's creation.

Mirrors are heavily used throughout the film. A lot of it deals with the symmetry of the movie. The beginning is actually the end of the movie. The entire thing's a flashback. So how's that for a twist? A dream within a dream within a dream within a flashback... within a dream! Mirrors are also a fragile sense of reality. They show you everything, but at any moment, they can be shattered only to reveal that it's only glass. As a bit of a side note, I actually like the idea of vampires that can't be seen in mirrors as it dictates that they only exist in this reality, and not in a reverse universe made of glass.

Speaking of ideas, the movie plays them up the concept of ideas up to the Nth degree. How an idea created in a dream can shape someone's reality. How something like inspiration or guilt can be cultivated in a dream and brought out into the real world. This is similar to how Neil Gaiman's Sandman stories are laid out. Dreams are of the utmost important influence. If you can't tell, this is where the movie gets its title from. The inception of an idea.

Ken Watanabe's character, Saito, is the head of a giant energy corporation who wants to hire Cobb's team of people to plan an idea in someone else's head. That someone else? The heir to the competing energy corporation. This draws numerous parallels to Philip K. Dick's book, Ubik (also the writer of the book Blade Runner was based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the short story Minority Report, and the short story an upcoming movie is based on with the same name, Adjustment Team). I've always loved PKD's universes that involve competing corporations that go through the most extreme methods of trying to kill each other off, the questioning of realities, and the religious undertones of a personal purgatory.

Purgatory for some. My Moon Over My Hammy for me.

Christopher Nolan proves that he knows how to finely craft and hone movies and is establishing himself as a classic movie director/writer. I feel quite confident in saying that he's the next commercially acceptable Stanley Kubrick. He proves that he can better direct Leonardo DiCaprio better than James Cameron and Martin Scorsese. While Michel Gondry still bests Nolan in the dream writing department, Nolan can make a more cohesive story that Gondry still can't quite grasp. Don't get me wrong, I love Gondry's whimsy and dreamscapes, but a plot usually seems to be created as an afterthought.

Back on topic, Nolan has come a long way in doing action. The scenes in Batman Begins were very shaky and not very understandable. He played it safe in a lot of ways and there were times when were just watching a vehicle chase. The Dark Knight made better strides in the action, still involved a vehicle chase that was littered with flimsy dialogue (due to David S. Goyer's terrible writing). Inception on the other hand, played the action to a level of a good Bond film and to the level of crazy dreamscape fighting. When I was a kid, I had this ear infection. It caused me to lose sense of gravity in my dreams quite a bit and they play this up a lot with the action involving Joseph Gordon-Levitt; it was probably my favorite, as from what you've seen in the trailer is the crazy zero gravity stuff.

The acting on the other hand was okay at worst. During the appropriate times, I actually really felt for DiCaprio's character and Marion Cotillard did a spectacular job of playing an evil bitch; very much like the Joker in The Dark Knight, you nearly dreaded seeing her in any scene.

Forehead Tittaes w/ Marion Cotillard from Marion Cotillard

All the other characters were pretty much walking plot devices, but there was a style and slickness that came with them, that it was excusable. Also, anything with Ken Watanabe is worth seeing. I'm still waiting for a version of the Last Samurai without Tom Cruise.

The plot, while all over the place at times, plays kind of like a surreal version of Ocean's 11. Its clever and entertaining, while retaining a denseness to keep it grounded. It doesn't always berate you with one emotion and has time for you to catch breathers in between its amazing set pieces and action sequences. Although, before going into the movie, I thought it would be more heavily layered, like all the previous dream-related movies I've seen, but it was fairly straight forward without any major lingering questions or plot holes.

Hans Zimmer and the sound designer played an excellent job of creating specific sounds that you are supposed to hear and fade in the background when the visuals need the full attention of the audience, but they also created an interesting sense of weight in the film.

The film has its strengths and plays them highly. Its pitfalls are relatively small in comparison and the ending is actually kind of predictable, but in a satisfying way. If it had ended in a happier tone, I might have actually been disappointed with it. But that's mostly my opinion of it.

Breakdown

Cinematography - A

"A visual mix that'll delight the Art House people, but not turn away the average man"

Script - B+

"The pacing could speed up here and there, but overall, was very enthralling"

Audio Science - B

"I'm not going to buy the soundtrack, but the audio was very noticeable; in a good way"

Performance - B+

"STOP USING DiCAPRIO, HOLLYWOOD."

Overall - B+

For its Genre - A

Also, I find myself wondering about the unconscious of my mind. I wrote this poem two weeks before the movie's release. It's not great and I'm not exactly proud of it, but it feels like two scenes lifted from the movie:

She lays down

Head against pillow

Dreams crash shores

Of unkown sands

Griped in awe

Doused in sweat

Swept swiftly away

With each ceding wave

Red ribbon flows

From fair wrists

Tethering back

Knife in hand

She cuts loose

Drowning in a sea

Like a visual Harp

Each image seen

Fades away

As the next plucks in

THIS SHIRT

I want this shirt.

Yeah... there was no real sense in posting something like this, but I finally have time now and I feel like I should be posting more often... regardless of its content.

Edit: Also, I just realized that this dude is deathly pale.

Ok, I'm back

And I bring you news of PENTAX!

I own a Pentax K200, and I love it, dearly so. Recently, news of a Pentax medium format camera is going to be released this year, first in Japan and then later to other countries. It'll be called the 645D.

It's going to come with a 40 megapixel chip sensor produced by none other than mutha-fuckin Kodak. It'll be weatherized and ruggedized and will be the Hummer of medium format cameras. Though, it still retains a lot of stuff that you normally find in a consumer DSLR.

The lens is even going to be custom made for it, as this is a whole new market for Pentax.

All for around 9,000$ Now, this may sound like a lot for some of you new to this whole new fangle'd camera stuffs, but that's hella-cheap. Considering a Hassleblad costs around 23,000$ for around the same amount of megapixels.

The only problem is that this camera doesn't have a removable back like the Hassleblads or Mamiyas, to load in different digital sensors (future-proofing them... also, an average price for a digital back is 8-13,000$). Oh well, it doesn't matter because like I said– 9,000$.

I'm really impressed that Pentax has the balls to go into a new, expensive, and niche market. This could really elevate the brand and has the incredible potential to do wonders for the company. Let's hope the beginning magazine and fashion photographers warm up to them first because there is no market for the older generation guys. I mean, this could really make or break Pentax. But here's to cautious optimism!

source

Shutter Island Review (with 3% more spoiler alert!)

Don't worry, it'll make sense... or not.

The last film that I saw from Martin Scorsese was Taxi Driver and it was quite some time ago. I remember it being a very nuanced film that took its time and felt like it didn't have to explain anything to the viewer because it respected the audience. It was also an unpredictable movie with a very charismatic cast. It had an interesting perspective of city life and class system that wasn't really touched too often and pushed a few boundaries. Its imagery and story are iconic to film industry as a whole.

As you can tell, I'm kind of walking into Shutter Island with very high hopes. The film starts out on a boat in the middle of the ocean and Leonardo DiCaprio showing how well he can act by puking in a rusty toilet. It's quite amazing. I guess you could say the performance was moving... in my bowels! Anyways, the movie sets up a very stylistic cinematography that felt kind of cookie cutter in a way. Don't get me wrong, it looked great, but it also looked like Inglorious Basterds and Public Enemies and a slew of other movies that try and model American period pieces of the 20th century. There was also a lot more CG than I would have liked in a movie that I felt didn't really need it. Just because you have the money to blow on stuff like that, doesn't mean that you should. The CG mostly took part in dream sequences (which I find to be quite cliché) that really tried to be surreal, but ended up looking like a Stanley Kubrick rip off. It could have been cut out of the movie and the story would've still been able to stand. Which brings me to my next point.

The screenplay seems like a first draft. There's a LOT of flash backs and dream sequences which is very amateur. There's also a predictable twist that you could pick up within half an hour. Hell, if you've seen the trailer, you could probably figure out the ending yourself. It's all very college level. I know, because I've written college level screenplays before and about 98% of the time, they're terrible.

If there's one thing that I can say was really good about the movie, it's that the actors performed extremely well. There were some moments that were a bit over the top, but I mostly blame that on the inadequate script. Martin Scorsese has a way of coaxing some very fine performances out of actors that I didn't think had anything to them. Robert DeNiro is an interesting example because I thought he was a great actor. And then it seems that he always jumps at the chance to be Ben Stiller's father in law. Robert DeNiro just plays himself in every movie that Scorsese doesn't have him in. Scorsese gives his actors charm and unique personalities that play with shades of gray instead of being one dimensional, black and white drones; ahem, James Cameron.

In other side notes, I found the music of Shutter Island to be overbearingly “dark” or “moody” to the point that it was laughable.

Also, if I may spoil something for you, it turns out that this whole thing is an elaborate prank and that Leo has a mental disease. A lot of what he was making up though, was more interesting. Like, I thought it would be cool if there really were old Nazi doctors, teaming up with American scientists, trying to find new discoveries by experimenting with mental patients. I would like this movie more if some Nazi general was constantly tip toeing around and putting his finger up to his lips and shushing the audience.

Nazis... always at the heart of a great script.

It tries really hard to be a classic film noir, but it stumbles repeatedly.

Grades:

Cinematography – C

“Kind of average looking, all things considered.”

Script – F

“I probably wrote this script in college.”

Music – D

“Hey, that guy's not doing anything, but music blatantly tells me that it's important.”

Performance – C+

“Hey, that guy's not doing anything, but man, is he doing it well.”

Overall – C+

For it's Genre – D

Also, if I may add something, I feel that movies should be written like poetry. Condensed and to the point, while leaving bits for interpretation. They shouldn't be written like novels where we have to know every exact detail; ahem, J.R. Tolkien.

I saw this on my way down to DC from Baltimore

If you can't read it, this block of concrete says Retail Storefront Apple Georgetown.

I'm just furthering proof that the Apple store in Georgetown DC is being built.

First Post of the Year: Avatar Review

So, I haven't touched this blog in quite some time, due to holiday parties and me being super busy at work. I also wanted to make the first blog post of this new decade at least something moderately special. So here is my review of Avatar (yes, I know that the movie has been out for some time and you've probably already seen it, but this is my review and if you want to make your own then you can create your own dumb blog to post stupid stuff on).

Pretty lights!

Right off the bat, I will tell you that the visuals were quite amazing. Commercials and trailers online do not do them any justice. It is quite obvious that almost half a billion dollars was spent on this movie's visuals. 3D wasn't exactly worth it though. I don't think IMAX would help the situation that much either. It was kind of disorienting because if your eyes didn't focus on what they wanted you to focus on, things would go into double vision. So if you were looking at the beautiful scenery and some girl walked into view, you would see four boobs. Maybe it wasn't such a drawback after all.

3D was a bit of a waste and didn't exactly help move things along. A few times I actually thought that someone was walking in front of the screen, and it kind of broke the immersion into the movie. In my opinion, and I may have mentioned this before, 3D was best used in the movie Up because it actually added something to the story and visuals. In Up, it starts out very flat because the main character is a dour old man stuck in a depressed state of habit. As the adventure ramps up, the universe expands, along with his personality and you get to visually see the world becoming larger. Avatar made use of 3D in a gimmicky way, but it definitely had more finesse than the My Bloody Valentine 3D movie. Things didn't just randomly come at you for no reason.

Another thing I thought about as the movie carried on, was that there was no real need to have human actors on set. I thought the entire movie could have been done in CG. It was kind of weird to go for extended amounts of time in a CG world (albeit a very realistic looking one) and then plopped back in with real actors. It wasn't so jarring though, but it would just have been smoother to just go the entire route of CG. I'm sure we'll all go back and look at this some day with the same justification that we give Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Someone actually wrote this movie

"Oh dude, me and my girlfriend just rented Dances With Wolves over the weekend because Neflix recommended it to me after I gave The Last Samurai five stars."

"Oh yeah? Was it as good as they say?"

"Way better than I expected, but I feel like it needs to be retold to a newer audience. But with, like, a better ending. It's been long enough, I don't think anyone will remember"

"You know what other movies people don't remember? Ferngully. And Delgo."

"Tru dat."

"Hey, we should combine those two things together!"

"Ferngully and Delgo?"

"No, DWW and TLS with F and D"

"Yes I understand this."

"Better make it 3D so no one will question us."

"Oh dude, noob tube that dude's ass"

"I am T-Bagging his dead body"

"They are all pwnd"

Yes. They came up with this script while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Electric Boogaloo.

Anyways, as the script goes, it is unoriginal and doesn't really challenge any perspective of the viewers. You could pretty much predict what everyone was going to do and say. I would have liked to see humans grappling with having to cope with another ecosystem unlike their own. I would have liked to see more character development, not just of the main character. Some people's whole motivation was simply, I'm a bad guy, I like doing bad things. For a 3D movie, a lot of characters were one dimensional.

So, starting from the beginning, Jake Sully is a handicapped marine from some unknown battle on earth (Venezuela, I think is mentioned, but he never said he got hurt from there). His twin brother is a scientist who was working on this project to pilot these avatar bodies that look like the inhabitants (the Na'vi) of a planet called Pandora. Those avatars though are specifically linked to each pilot through DNA and what not. So his twin gets killed in a freak break dancing accident and Jake is now chosen to be an avatar pilot. Fast foreword six years later when he is out of cryogenic stasis and on Pandora.

I'd like to go forward, but I got so bored writing that previous paragraph. Uggghhhh... ummm... he gets into this body... does some stupid stuff... and... geez, just watch the trailer for a plot summary ok?

The script is pretty sloppy at times with characters explaining things for no real reason at all. A scientist who's been working there for five years gets pissed off that Jake is put on her team and she goes to complain about it to the head corporate guy. FOR NO REASON HE EXPLAINS WHY THEY ARE THERE TO GREAT DETAIL. Shouldn't she know this by now? I mean... if anyone's been working anywhere for 5 years, you'd think they'd know the game plan by now. I mean, if they wanted to explain what Unobtainium is (yes, that is really what the mineral that they're looking for is called), then the scientists could have told Jake since he's the new guy or he could have just been debriefed. Hell, they could have just done a star wars thing and had the opening with giant text that floats away into space, explaining everything; it would look great in 3D.

The love story is pretty cheesy and kind of awkward seeing to CG aliens goin' at it. I would have liked to have seen on of those hill billy soldiers stumble upon their mating and just yelled "GET R DUN!" Then get quickly mauled by a salapanther (salamander/panther and yes, there is one in the movie). There isn't really any way around it, but I could have done without it. Like, sacrifice the love story for more character development all the way around. Which, now that I look at it, there is no B story line. The more I think of it, I could care less if any character died. It wasn't all that tragic. The one I probably felt the worst for was that one alien dude who found out that his princess girlfriend totally went off with some other dude, he got beat up by that other dude, had his home is destroyed, and then he dies. And no one even remembered that it was his 16th birthday.

Jake's voice overs, which are random, aren't even needed. The principle of showing and not telling is completely lost on James Cameron. Maybe if his directing were better, the actors wouldn't need to tell the audience "I'm not sure about this" or "What was I thinking?".

So after a bunch of shit starts hitting some fans, Jake is outed as being one of the "sky people"

and is outcast before the corporate guys start carpet bombing the Na'vi home. So to plan their vengeance, Jake basically goes on an inspirational speaker trip talking to various tribes to rally the troops. What I find hilarious, is that he enlists the "sea people" and... uhhh, they don't do jack shit. They are literally the Aquaman of the story, only coming into play when water is introduced, which is never.

The only twist from the other movies that it copies from, is that the natives win. Oh sorry, I guess I should have said spoiler alert. They actually force the "aliens" out from their planet, which I'm not sure is a good message. Hear me out for a second. The "evil corporate aliens" were trying to offer them schools, medication, hospitals, and other things that could help stabilize their society. They were actually trying to compromise and offer a peaceful co-existence. The film kind of glazes over this idea. The plot is stuck in black and white ideas. Though, there was something that the evil colonel says before he dies though, which I thought would have been an interesting concept if they pushed more with it: "You've doomed the human race."

Was this Unobtanium the last bastion of human hope? Is the human race in desperate need of this? What happened on Earth? None of these questions are answered. So in my head, Jake Sully, the main character just ended any hope the human race had of surviving.

Is this Oscar Worthy?

I don't know if you can tell, but I stopped trying a long time ago.

EUUUUURRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGPPPPPPLLLLLLLLPPPHHHHHHHH. That's the noise I made in my head almost each time someone said something. It was a lazy story fouled up with horrible dialogue. The movie could have done without the random voice over, which in my opinion is pretty lazy because there's definitely somethings they could've just showed and let the audience figure out, was pretty monotone and the opposite of emotional. Don't get me wrong, Sam Worthington is a fairly good actor, but not so great that he could helm this entire thing by himself. A large amount of the time his voice over acting was terrible. Like so bad, I think even a rock in the background was crying. Visually seeing him act though was a different story and it seems he put more effort into that.

Michelle Rodriguez plays Michelle Rodriguez and even utters the typecasted military line "I didn't sign up for this." Which counts as twice James Cameron used that phrase (the first being Aliens). Speaking of Aliens, Sigourney Weaver plays the bad ass scientist with a heart of gold. She played a solid role in keeping things going. Stephen Lang, on the other hand, played probably the best misuse of comic relief. As the war hardened military general leading a group of West Virginians, he utters inappropriate lines at inappropriate times. I would actually watch a show about him tearing down this forest if it was on Discovery Channel and Mike Rowe did the voice over.

If you close your eyes and turn this into a radio play, you would be booing James Cameron right now, forcing him to go on a decade long hiatus where he comes back with another movie about aliens, giant ships, and time traveling robots.

For examples of bad lines of dialogue, go here.

Other things that bothered me:

The main villain is just a Colonel; why is he so high in command? You see him leading hundreds of men into battle. There was no Commander or General to keep him in line. James Cameron likes to assume a lot of the military and his only experience with them seem to be strictly in the movies. I think that the movie would be better if they just got R. Lee Ermy and called it a day.

The Na'vi can speak better english than most people at the UN. Yet they can't pronounce Jake Sully's name to save their lives. Literally in some cases.

They don't explain what Unobtainium is for. Is it fuel? Is it jewelry? They don't explain it except that it is the most expensive material in the universe. I think it would be the one the one thing that would save the human race and that's why their working so hard to get it. Who would they even sell it to? Oh well. Whatever.

Earth = America. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine when a group of people in the future travel in outer space and they all happen to be from America. You'd think that in the future, we'd all pool funds and pull off some international space exploration/mining project. You'd see some Indian guy, an Asian guy, a surly Russian guy. I dunno. Star Trek is the best example of an international (intergalaxy?) team. Also, why are we only sending American Marines into space? Is it because they're the only military that actually does stuff? Oh well.

Ju Ju Bees and Kansas are still references in the future. Ju Ju Bees aren't even popular with the youth of today. What makes it still popular in the future? "We're not in Kansas anymore" is a turn of phrase that may not make sense anymore in the future. Even the phrase "When in Rome" was starting to fade away, until they made it a TV show.

The future military is still wearing current style camo. Keep in mind we didn't even have the same uniforms 50 years ago. Also, with knowledge that it's a completely different environment, the military would have adjusted for a different kind of camo.

Jake goes to the school of Luke Skywalker's Destroy Stuff With One Well Placed Grenade.

This marks the second time there is a human in a robot suit fighting an alien at the climax of the movie for James Cameron. The first being Aliens. Actually, there's quite a bit of parallels with Aliens. If only H.R. Giger did the art design of the Na'vi.

This movie should have just been called Aliens 2... Electric Boogaloo.

Yes, I know I made that joke earlier... but it was too hard to resist.

That's what she said.

The corporate guy practicing his putting swing in middle of command center. THIS MEANS HE IS HEARTLESS AND A CORPORATE ASSHOLE. Just once I would like to see someone practicing a putt and then donate money to children in need.

"Hey, we need a saucy latina who doesn't play by anyone's rules but her own."

Enter Michelle Rodriguez.

While the music was uplifting and well placed at times, that ending credit song is just laughable. What a terrible way to leave your audience.

Final Thoughts

This is what it's doing to our children

Ok, I know I bashed this movie a lot, but it's visuals alone are the saving grace of this movie. I mean, I've never seen fire effects done so well and the lush scenery is just breathtaking. This skin textures are real to the point of gross. Like I could see the Na'vi's gross pores and pock marks in their skin. But visuals aren't all that a movie is composed of. A movie also has to tell a story and have actors... well act in it.

Breakdown

Visuals - A

Writing - F

Acting - C

Music - C

Overall based on it's genre: B +

As a movie: C