Above: Will of the Night’s Watch approaches fallen corpses on the wrong side of the Wall. Image courtesy ©HBO Original Series.

After many months of toiling, speculating, pilot-shooting, and waiting, the news is in; HBO has given a full season order for Game of Thrones, the character-driven epic fantasy series based on the books by George R.R. Martin. Those who follow this blog will be already aware of this project, but the greenlight is great news!

It will likely be a year before we see Episode 01, but by the look of the talent attached to this project, it should definitely be worth the wait.

For more details on the cast of the series, GO HERE.

First, there is something redeeming in seeing an old guy stand his ground and come out on the winning end of the equation, as this is so often NOT the case. However, let us not presume the old man absolved of all wrong-doing. He WAS provoking the younger man in the beginning of the video: “Let’s get back to business; how much you charge me for a spit shine?” isn’t exactly the best ice breaker with a stranger on a bus who already appears to be giving you grief.

He backs off his original jibe and acts naive, as though the younger man was truly offering to shine his shoes (which I find hard for the old man to have believed). What happens afterword is somewhat sad. You have innocent bystanders who would love nothing but to be anywhere else. You have friends of the young man in the back taunting their friend to “beat his white ass!” and who later proceed to take and go through the old man’s beard after he exits the bus.

Anyways, a fight ensues, with a surprising result, and then it ends. And we move on. Right? Well… there’s a second part of the story, and it involves an old guy with a beard named Thomas Brusco (Tommy Slick, Vietnam Tom). There is a man taking credit for the fight who looks like the man on the bus, but I have good reason to believe it is not the same man. Here is why.

First, they have different voices, very different. For evidence, listen to when the guy on the bus says, “Why you being so hostile, man?” He sounds more like Chong of Cheech and Chong than the gravel voiced Tommy Slick. They also are from different walks of life. The man on the bus wears ironed shorts with his t-shirt tucked in and a belt around his waist. He carries an organic grocery bag with him, and has an affinity for keeping his nose from running with a Kleenex. Tommy Slick is a street urchin who smokes and wears semi-gangster clothing, flat billed cap and a camoflauge jacket. He is much more urban than the man on the bus.

Furthermore, when Tommy Slick gave an interview going back over what happened on the bus, his story just doesn’t hold up. It sounds more like he’s just reciting what he saw on the video, using key words from what the camera caught. And there’s a problem with his story. First he relays what is said on the video, that he needed to spit shine his shoes for a funeral on Friday. But later in the interview, he falls apart saying his mama died two days later. So which is it? Furthermore, in the interview he says he is joking with his white friend next to him, but the man on the bus is flanked by a black man and a white woman. Where’s the white friend?

And some of what Tommy Slick has to say is just preposterous. He claims the man he defended himself against was a murderer, and convicted of robbery. That the black man had a knife on him, and that the old man had a knife of his own for protection. I don’t know where you’d put your knife with those shorts on. He said that the man was going to serve 10 years in prison, and another 18 for robbing him. I didn’t see the young man robbing anyone, though his friends did take the old man’s bag to the back of the bus.

I don’t know why I felt compelled to unearth the truth, but trust me when I tell you that the man on the bus is not the same guy pretending to be him in interviews, the man who calls himself Tommy Slick. Whether or not Tommy Slick is the same old man who gets tased at the Oakland A’s game… that’s for you to decide, but I have my suspicions about Tommy Slick, and how he might have gotten his nickname.

I won’t post the video(s) on my site, due to their graphic nature, but if you’re so inclined you can try and learn more about the 67 year old man bus incident.

“Ohio”

We’ve all heard countless songs about Los Angeles and New York. We’ve gotten our share of songs about Texas, learned how great Chicago is, and listened to songs tell of streets in San Francisco. But I’d like to take this time to pay tribute to one of the lesser appreciated regions of our great country. With that, I present to you five songs written about the Buckeye State… Ohio.

1. Over the Rhine Ohio
2. The Low Anthem To Ohio
3. Sun Kil Moon Carry Me Ohio
4. The Ravenna Colt South of Ohio
5. Bob Miller Ohio Prison Fire

Download Mixtape.

The art of Hiroshi Sugimoto 01 02.

The art of Béatrice Coron.

This just in, Boxingtalk.com has received word from Bob Arum just moments ago stating the fight was off.

“Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon tried to get the Pretty Boy to make the deal, but he didn’t want to and I’m not surprised. Floyd Mayweather never wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao, my friend. Scientists were brought in to explain to Mayweather how protected he was.”

But it was all for naught. Mayweather, despite his own promoters trying to convince him, has refused to accept the final terms. He feels random blood and urine testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) up until fight night is the only way to ensure a fair fight. Manny has agreed to random urine up until the fight, but only three blood tests no sooner than 24 days before fight night. This deal-breaker from Floyd comes despite the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) stated that human growth hormone testing works better through urine, not to mention the complete lack of precedent for such a request in the history of boxing.

Oh well, perhaps cooler heads will prevail this Fall, and the fight can happen then.

Read Full Article Here.

The art of Trent Parke.

The art of Edmund Dulac.

The art of Hayv Kahraman.

Here’s a clip from the upcoming series. Can’t wait!

A note about this list, for those who weren’t around last year to read the first one. This is not (cannot) be the top 26 bands of the year. No, rather, consider this a collection of twenty-six Top 2 lists (I’ve added a Runner-Ups this year as a bonus), one for each letter.

My alphabet would like to give a special thanks to DJ Quik, who put out a decent album with a couple very standout tracks. And also to The XX, who swooped down like an angel from the sky when I discovered that xiu xiu would not, in fact, be putting out an LP this year. And of course a warm thank you to Zaza, who made a short but great album to close out the list.

I personally would like to thank Leo Reynolds, who has allowed me to use his vast collection of found letters from his Flickr page. I recommend checking out his collections when you have a chance.

One final note, at the bottom of the alphabet you will find links to all of the songs from the list in two handy volumes.

So without further ado, here is the list…

Animal Collective – Mp3

Not putting Animal Collective on my list would be like betting against the Chicago Bulls to win the championship in the 90’s. “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” was one of the best albums of the year. Period. And their follow-up EP, “Fall Be Kind,” was better than 90% of the LP’s put out this year to boot. Animal Collective are in this bizarre situation where, instead of over-thinking how they are going to outdo themselves, they simply continue to polish and refine the sound which put them on the map to begin with.

Runner-Up: The Antlers – Mp3

Bat For Lashes – Mp3

“Two Suns,” Bat for Lashes’ sophomore album, is in many ways just as good as her debut, “Fur and Gold,” and in a few ways even better. As I loved 4AD at their apex, and 25% of Björk’s music, I love Bat for Lashes. Her music transports me to a damp, misty jungle where an evil temptress prowls beneath the  unseen. There is a confidence this time around which suits her style of music well. You can hear it on the first notes of the first track, where she gives Lisa Gerrard and Kate Bush a run for their money as music’s most hauntingly angelic vocalist.

Runner-Up: Beirut – Mp3

Neko Case – Mp3

Why not keep it rolling with another great female vocalist? Neko Case, who you might know from the New Pornographers. Or maybe not. In any case, she has released “Middle Cyclone,” this year, a great follow-up to what I consider her strongest album, “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.” She keeps pace with the latter, invoking the same effortless melodies, the same signature nasally croon over top well-composed music. Her songs are confessionals, as evidenced in the opening track “This Tornado Loves You,” which includes lines like: “I have waited with a glacier’s patience, smashed every transformer with every trailer ’til nothing was standing… sixty-five miles wide.”

Runner-Up: Bill Callahan – Mp3

Alela Diane – Mp3

Alela Diane doesn’t do anything fancy; she just does what she does, and she does it well. Unlike other singer/songwriters who are usually stronger at the one or the other, Diane puts the two together in perfect accord. On “To Be Still,” Diane delivers her crystalline vocals in their most haunted capacity — like an off-key harp in an empty ballroom — and sings lines like: “The sea beneath the cliff is the blue in my mother’s eyes that came from the blue in her mother’s eyes,” effortlessly. I’m also a sucker for acoustic guitar, violin, and yodeling coming together to form a spooky set of murder-folk laments.

Runner-Up: Dan Deacon – Mp3

Espers – Mp3

With “III,” their fourth LP, Espers takes us to a forgotten time, when magistrates would bring thieves before the king to receive their punishment, when bards and court jesters danced merrily about, when queens wrought devious plans to overthrow their own husbands. But I digress. Somehow, Espers manage to do this almost entirely through the vocal stylings of Meg Baird and Greg Weeks. I remember The Decemberists trying to evoke a medieval epic feeling on their “Tain,” EP, but when compared to Espers that album was but a Renaissance Faire to Espers’ War of the Roses.

Runner-Up: El Goodo – Mp3

Fanfarlo – Mp3

I fell in love with Fanfarlo earlier this year (see previous post), and haven’t grown tired of their album ever since. It took most of this year for their debut LP, “Reservoir,” to “catch on” (they were a big hit at SXSW this year, so I hear), but they are finally starting to get the credit they deserve. On first blush, you can cite a dozen or more influences (Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Beirut, etc.) but these similarities are a product of zeitgeist rather than derivation. When you put together their sweeping movements, vivid storytelling, and minor-key harmonies, they become something more sincere than secondary.

Runner-Up: Fever Ray – Mp3

Grizzly Bear – Mp3

Perhaps the most anticipated and subsequently acclaimed album of 2009, Grizzly Bear’s, “Veckatimest” (I lost count of how many people I have heard correcting others on the pronunciation of this word) is an amazing piece of song craftsmanship. I use that word because every note, every syllable is right where it needs to be, the harmonies refined to the point of androgyny, each instrument chosen and tuned with the precision of a scientist at CERN. But no matter how spit-shined their songs end up, the magic of the song’s original intent is never lost, only enhanced. That’s a rare gift, and it’s why Ed, Daniel, Chris and Chris have made one of the best albums of the year.

Runner-Up: Girls – Mp3

Richard Hawley – Mp3

Of all the male singers actively recording music, Richard Hawley has the best croon of them all. Jonathan Meiburg may win out in the upper register, Thom Yorke might emote more angelically, but Hawley is quite simply the deserving heir to Sinatra and Bacharach, no question. The difference between Hawley and his contemporaries, however, is that Hawley used to play guitar for Pulp, and is also an amazing composer. If you don’t believe me, check out the slow build and epic sweep of “Soldier On,” from his latest LP, “Truelove’s Gutter.”

Runner-Up: Holopaw – Mp3

Islands – Mp3

Islands manage to take everything I like about Of Montreal and refine it into something less esoteric yet more memorable. Listening to Islands is like eating a Jolly Rancher, no matter how long you turn it over in your mouth, the flavor never dies. Their follow-up LP, “Vapours,” is chock full of catchy tunes and worth-while hooks and melodies. While a little more pop/dance than their former band, Unicorns, Islands are no less diverse and catchy.

Runner-Up: Iron & Wine – Mp3

jj – Mp3

Vampire Weekend, eat your heart out. Alaska in Winter, take note. jj burst on the scene this year with little-to-no introduction, and at this point, other music investigators have gleaned little more than their record label and their alleged names. In a strange way, I almost prefer it this way. Their debut LP, “jj n° 2,” is only 26 minutes long, but they manage to take us from the African savannah to the Caribbean shoreline without ever leaving the keyboards in their bedroom.

Runner-Up: Jóhann Jóhannsson – Mp3

Kronos Quartet – Mp3

This string quartet have been recording music since 1973. Most readers will probably recognize them most recently by their contribution to the“Dark Was the Night,” compilation this year. Their brand of orchestration traverses genres like international flight attendants, but their latest album, “Floodplain,” is something a bit different. “Floodplains,” was created as an homage the cultures who dwell in “areas surrounded by water and prone to catastrophic flooding,” in collaboration with different musicians from around the world. From Serbia to Egypt, from Lebanon to Ethiopia, the songs are as diverse as they are marvelous to experience.

Runner-Up: Knight School – Mp3

Land of Talk – Mp3

Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) produced “Some Are Lakes,” Land of Talk’s debut LP. Whether or not we owe this to Vernon alone is unlikely, but I certainly don’t think his presence could have hurt. You can certainly hear some of his balladry skills on slower songs like “It’s Okay.” Before this LP, I didn’t really know much about Land of Talk. But after “Some Are Lakes,” I have to mention them in the same breath as bands like Rosebuds, Rilo Kiley, Stars, even a little Delgados in there.

Runner-Up: Jason Lytle – Mp3

The Middle East – Mp3

The only bad thing about The Middle East’s self-titled LP is how long it took me to discover it. When I had heard “Blood,” on the radio one afternoon, I realized at once that I was discovering one of the most promising bands of 2009. This Australian foursome sing their bedroom lullabies from the cliffs of an angry sea. At times quiet singer/songwriter, other times soaring ambience like Sigur Rós, and yet other times capable of Explosions in the Sky type intensity. But those characteristics — along with a falsetto that would make Jeremy Enigk shed a prideful tear — are the things which set The Middle East apart from 90% of their peers.

Runner-Up: Cass McCombs – Mp3

Marissa Nadler – Mp3

Marissa Nadler has returned in 2009 with ten more songs of unforgettable melancholy on her fourth album, “Little Hells.” The gothic, snowy cemetary stylings are still there, in all their murderous wonder. While she hasn’t strayed far from what gained her notoriety, Nadler still manages to embellish her voice and guitar with organs, adding weight to her otherworldly elegies. I can always listen to Marissa Nadler, regardless of time of day, mood, or shirt color.

Runner-Up: Neil On Impression – Mp3

Other Lives – Mp3

Any time you can fuse the allure of Brit Pop with the best instrument ever made: the piano, you know you have a recipe for success. Other Lives self-titled LP sounds like what might happen if Rufus Wainwright and Danny McNamara of Embrace came together and made an album. Every song is woven together with the grace and beauty of the former, and the minor-key earnestness of the latter. “Black Tables,” might be the most beautifully somber song I’ve heard all year: Right up there with The Middle East.

Runner-Up: Old Jerusalem – Mp3

Phantogram – Mp3

I really had Portugal. The Man, as my pick for “P” going into the end of the year, but then I was introduced to Phantogram by a friend. This album is the perfect answer to my affinity for “sad bastard music,” as others have so eloquently put it. The reason it’s perfect is that the hint of melancholy persists under the funky basslines, angelic vocals, and crispy break beats. This is a rock album by definition, but plays like more of a melange in practice. The whole album exists within its own microcosm, and when you play it from beginning to end, it feels you’ve been taken inside the band’s psyche and spit out on the side of the road on a rainy night.

Runner-Up: Portugal. The Man – Mp3

DJ Quik and Kurupt – Mp3

One of the best West Coast “Rap” songs ever made was DJ Quik’s “Tonite.” I think he was something like 19 at the time. Kurupt, when he emerged on Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic,” in 1992 as part of Snoop’s Dogg Pound, was the West Coast’s answer to Inspectah Deck. These two coming together trumps Muggs and Gza from a couple years back, and while I haven’t found a West Coast rap album I’ve liked from start to finish since… well… “The Chronic,” there are indeed enough solid tracks on “BlaQKout,” to warrant a “Q” slot.

Runner-Up: Quiet Village – Mp3

Raekwon – Mp3

I remember that first video from Wu Tang Clan in 1993 (“Protect Ya Neck”) like it was yesterday. More than a dozen of the baddest looking rappers I’d ever seen were mugging the camera, some hooded, some masked, some with a mouthful of gold teeth. The music was “hard” in the sense that you felt like a bad-ass just rapping along, trying to guess who was who. Wu Tang have since become musical legends, and Raekwon is one of the few members who has had a critically acclaimed solo career with any consistency. Which is a shame, because my favorite member, Inspectah Deck, cannot claim the same accomplishment. Never fear, for the song I’ve chosen from “Only Built for Cuban Linx II” includes a memorable verse from the Rebel INS himself, taking us back to the grimy streets of Staten Island.

Runner-Up: Real Estate – Mp3

Sunset Rubdown – Mp3

The grandmaster of melodrama is at it again; Spencer Krug (who released albums with Sunset Rubdown and Swan Lake this year) continues adding to his repertoire of one-of-a-kind Shakesperean Anthems. His voice isn’t for everybody, but for me it really adds to the baroque and off-kilter presence his songs tend to have. You never know where his music is going to take you. You may start out under the impression you are listening to an 8-bit laptop folk song and wind up in the middle of a palatial indie opera complete with crashing cymbals, chaotic keyoards, lavish harmonies and soaring guitars. That’s just the charm of Krug, and with Sunset Rubdown he remains the central figure from start to finish, just the way I like it.

Runner-Up: Surfer Blood – Mp3

The Twilight Sad – Mp3

God, this album is good. I’ve never been to Scotland, but after a good listen to The Twilight Sad’s sophomore LP, “Forget the Night Ahead,” I feel like I’ve walked beneath its overcast skies, crossed its rocky hillocks, wended my way through its gnarled forests. What is most impressive about these guys is that—regardless of how messy and distorted the electric guitars get—there is an underlying cohesion which holds up against the very best rock anthems. This is a compliment of the highest order, and if anybody writes The Twilight Sad off as post-rockers with funny accents, you’ll know they haven’t actually listened to their albums.

Runner-Up: Tiny Vipers – Mp3

Uninhabitable Mansions – Mp3

Here was a case where I discovered the band on my quest for a viable “U” candidate. U.N.K.L.E. hadn’t put out any material (and frankly, I haven’t enjoyed an U.N.K.L.E. record in some time), and the Unicorns are still broken up (but at least we have Islands, see above). Fortunately, Uninhabitable Mansions appeared just in time. Their album, “Nature is a Taker,” is chock full of jangle pop of the sunniest disposition, enough to make The Magic Numbers proud. Their sound falls somewhere betwen Beach Boys, Pavement and Buddy Holly; but you be the judge.

Runner-Up: UUVVWWX – Mp3

Volcano Choir – Mp3

There’s that pesky Justin Vernon again. He shows up in the strangest of places, always wearing that amicable Midwestern smile, always making unique and beautiful music. This time he’s partnered with fellow Wisconsinites, Collection of Colonies of Bees, under their collective moniker Volcano Choir, and the results are unexpectedly astounding. After “For Emma, Forever Ago,” it may have seemed a stretch to pair Vernon’s songwriting and song-playing with experimental electronica. But what he hinted at on his “Blood Bank,” was only but a snippet of the success to be discovered on Volcano Choir’s debut album, “Unmap.”

Runner-Up: Sharon Van Etten – Mp3

Wild Beasts – Mp3

I had heard a song from Wild Beasts earlier this year, before getting my hands on their full-length release, “Two Dancers.” And while I thought the song itself was pretty cool, I was not prepared for the baroque, flamboyant, intense, melodramatic, and confident display of this LP. Just about every song on this album is a full-on experience to be remembered. Like some of my favorite bands (see Sunset Rubdown, above), Wild Beasts put many of their songs together as multi-part movements. We soar and we dive, we hoot and we howl, and we love every twist and turn. Hayden Thorpe’s voice is unlike any I have heard before. Highly recommended stuff.

Runner-Up: Women – Mp3

The XX – Mp3

You don’t need me to say it, but for a someone who has taken on the challenge of putting together an Indie Alphabet for the second straight year, having a band with the letter X in its name is as sought after as a Park Place sticker at McDonald’s during Monopoly month. But for that band to have two X’s in a row—and to also be one of the best bands on the entire list—well that’s just divine intervention. This male/female duo sing lazy verses over tightly produced tracks with the care-free confidence of Massive Attack in their hey-day. Like two star-crossed lovers breaking up then falling in love all over again, XX keep us transfixed at the spectacle of themselves. And it hurts so good.

Runner-Up: Xylos – Mp3

YACHT – Mp3

On paper this album shouldn’t appeal to me: off-key singing over strange 80’s post-industrial synth pop; tried and tired vocal distortions and samples; and the occasional techno beat for good measure. But what you don’t get in words you can certainly hear on their album, “See Mystery Lights.” The very quirks and oddities which shouldn’t go together somehow work. And to bluntly summarize: this album is damn good!

Runner-Up: Yo La Tengo – Mp3

Zaza – Mp3

We’ve made it to the letter “Z” at last. And a fine note to end our journey on. Zaza have only just begun putting out material, but already you can feel their knack for rich orchestrations and opium den atmosphere. Their album, “Cameo,” emits a lush ambience from start to finish; drums, vocals, organs and guitars melt into one, and everything seeps into your skin like a local anesthetic. In short: achingly hypnotic music to send you into a trancelike state until the next Indie Alphabet comes along.

Runner-Up: Zola Jesus – Mp3

Volume I. Download
Volume II. Download

Thanks, Mei-Ling!

The art of Julie Morstad.

Exergian’s Blog.

The art of Alan Sailer.

The art of Cody Hudson.

In an interview with Danish entertainment website TVTID, actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau spilled news that actress Lena Headey (both of whom recently filmed a pilot for HBO’s Game of Thrones) is with child. I’ve included the original and translated interview side-by-side for your consumption.

Some speculate her alleged pregnancy may affect her ability to take on a leading role in a new series; I don’t share this opinion, and frankly, it may help her character, who plays a caring if manipulative mother of three.

Read Interview Here.

The art of Le Creative Sweatshop.

“Internet Meme”

I really don’t have a specific problem with our rampant Youtube culture, viral advertisements, Rick Rolls, or any sort of stupid pranks/jokes/incidents/whatever.

I do, however, hate the phrase internet meme.

As much as I liked the Chuck Norris Facts from yesteryear, I bet if somebody said, “Dude have you seen that Chuck Norris internet meme?” I would have told them to shut up and recoiled in disgust. It’s just a lame phrase. Simple as that.

And for those who haven’t heard this phrase yet, consider yourself lucky. When you finally do, I bet you’ll want to slap whoever uses it as well.

Is it possible that the term “internet meme” might itself be an internet meme? Now that would be funny. ]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/11/bad-word-pairs-035/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/11/quote-of-the-week-052/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/11/quote-of-the-week-052/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:00:37 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2527

“The more specialised you become, the more marginal you are.” – Ray Mears

The art of Kris Kuksi.

The art of Roy Birger Nilsen.

Rating: 74%

If there was such a thing as post-hardcore shoegaze, Twilight City Fracture certainly would fit the bill. Their latest EP, “Exist,” is drowned in nostalgia yet works at carving out a relevance all its own. To grossly oversimplify their sound, think somewhere between Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield,” and Jawbreaker’s “Oh Dear.” “Dear You.”

Regardless of whether that comparison frightened or excited you, I recommend giving these guys a good listen, because they have me convinced that I should rise up and fight against the daily oppression of my relatively sheltered life.

I used Benatar because somehow Twilight’s sound manages to transport me to those fake late-80’s Hollywood city sets, where hipsters (before they were called hipsters) would dance around the lead singer at night, for no apparent reason, celebrating their suburban liberation around flaming trash cans and abandoned shopping carts. After the first couple of listens, I immediately wanted to go and watch Lost Boys and Toy Soldiers back-to-back, but I decided to write this review instead.

As far as I can tell, Twilight City Fracture are a local band from Lacey Township, New Jersey, who are gaining some notoriety. “Exist,” was put together with veteran producer Jesse Cannon (Saves the Day, The Cure, Tiger Mountain), and I have to say, the sound is tight and consistent across each of these five tracks. Special props go out to the clever use of guitar, sometimes eliciting a punk rock vibe, while other times transporting me into the cosmos where I watch down upon a post-apocalyptic Earth in ruins.

If I dig beneath the fuzzy electric guitars and crashy percussion, I can glimpse other influences as well. The way they put harmonies together seem to break that post-hardcore mold enough to earn a shoegaze or dream pop subtitle. More Twilight Sad than Grizzly Bear, though; more Mogwai than Sigur Rós.

The lead off track, “Edward”, plays like an anthem for the thirty-something broken-hearted. A rally cry intended to soothe the inner gen-exer in us all. Before the guitar kicks in in the first few seconds, I thought I had accidentally hit play on the latest Arms & Sleepers album. “Legend on Louisiana,” rises and falls like a stormy sea, and has a spacey undercurrent running through its veins to allure the non Jets to Brazil regime.

Wrestling the proverbial inner-demon while channeling those feelings in the form of borderline over-emotive music seems to be Twilight’s mainstay on this album. They tread a thin wire, however, and flashes of the trite slip in here and there. Lines like “maybe wonder why the media has your mind turned upside down,” feel more like Fall Out Boy excerpts than something substantial. Others, such as “I’ve seen through the devil’s eyes and I’m going blind,” are too literal to be taken seriously. If they can forego some of this blatancy in favor of something a little more abstract and poetic, I can see these guys gaining even more of a following.

There is a collective “WE” spanning these songs which only reinforces that collective angst I was mentioning earlier. But instead of “we belong to the night,” here you have “we look out for the signs,” and “we’ve been in this world with only red’s and blue’s,” and “we’ve been lost in the catacombs in our heads.”

To get a better idea of the band’s evolution, I snuck around the Information Superhighway™ and found a couple of older demos from these guys… and I have to say, I’m really glad they eschewed that conformist, proto-screamo sound in favor of this post-hardcore shoegaze genre I’ve invented for them. There might not be something for everyone, but their reach definitely seems wide enough now to garner the interest of a larger nucleus, myself included.

Mp3. “Edward”
Mp3. “Legend on Louisiana”

Along the way he has collected belts in seven different weight classes. That is an all-time boxing record, for those keeping score. He is one of the fastest, most accurate punchers of all time, and every time he steps into the ring, you are guaranteed a high-intensity fight.

More than all of this, Manny is an extremely humble guy. He leaves the fate of his fights to his God, and says his job is to train hard and fight hard, and that’s it. This humility translates out of the ring as well. He carries the weight of his country on his shoulders, and does everything he can to help his people, many of whom are impoverished and sick.

This spirit is in stark contrast to his next most likely opponent, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who is nothing if not delusional about his status in the boxing world. As one of the most technically sound boxer in history, Mayweather tends to confuse dominance with victory. Mayweather wins fights, Pacquiao dominates them.

To celebrate his seventh world title, I figured I would share a collection of the seven most notable opponents who have tried and failed to dethrone boxing’s true king.

“Plenty should be enough.” – Barbara Kruger

Each commercial opens on a shot of a Sonic, then cuts inside a car where we listen to the ramblings of two passengers at the drive-in. As far as I know, there have thus far been three pairs of characters (I do remember a one-off with the wife and her friend, however).

The first (original?) pair are played by T.J. Jagodowski (as the wily dufus) and Peter Grosz (as the wisdom-imparting driver).

The second casting pair are a married couple played by Molly Erdman and Brian Huskey. Finally, there are a few spots involving a pair of female best friends, though I’ve always considered them to be a female incarnation of the two guys who started it off.

Anyway, I’ve included a fairly extensive set of the campaign, though it is not entirely comprehensive. If you make it through them all and really want to find more, I salute you and good luck!

P.S. If for some reason you load the page, and one of the flash movies isn’t embedding properly, you may need to reload the page. It seems I’m pushing Flash to its limits here!

Pete & T.J.

“Cheap Date”

“Alphabet”

“Spicy?”

“Boys & Men”

“Kick”

“George”

“Meat Jackpot”

“High Noon”

“Commemorate”

“Carpe Burrito”

“The Streak”

“Another Sonic”

“Denied”

“Shawl”

“Carbs”

“Meat Rage”

“Bananas”

“Break-Feast”

“Extra Long”

“Screamy”

“Turf and Turf”

“Outsmarted”

“Happy Hour”

“Charlie”

“Heightened Senses”

“Are You Ready?”

Molly & Brian

“Moustache”

“100% Apple”

“Eat Tea”

“Crantastic”

“Adult”

“Weatherman”

“Share”

“2.0″

“Not Hot”

“Fightin’ Weight”

“Phat”

“Espresso”

“You Decide”

“Happiest Day”

“Cinnasnacking”

“D.I.Y.”

“Speed Bumps”

“Driving Me…”

“Minty Breath”

“Live in the Now”

“Make Up”

“Mixing Spoon”

“The Gesture”

“Game”

Katie & Sayjal

“Want Some Fries?”

“Manly Voice”

The art of Clark Little.

The art of Jeroen Hofman.

Several weeks ago, NASA crashed a satellite into the moon. In the process, they found water, several white buckets full. I think we can all sleep easier now knowing that once we completely deplete our own planet of water (any year now according to Al Gore), us resource gluttons can simply hop into Richard Branson’s White Knight Two and get some cherry sno-cones on the moon.

The art of Kleber Menezes.

Plus, let’s hear it from the local news how this woman came to pass out in the face of certain doom:

“There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar.” – Frederick Edge

via UOL Blog. Thanks, Ryan!

The art of Parkeharrison.

The art of Gregory Euclide 01 02.

The art of Michael Dinges.

The art of Pete Turner.

The art of Ryan Mrozowski.

Thanks, Marco!

“If bears were chairs, what would they be called? They’d still be chairs but sit down and you’d get mauled.” – Jim Guthrie

I have to admit, I’m a little too young to have much insight into the cultural relevance of Will Wegman in his younger days, but happened upon some strange films he made in the 70’s and 80’s which may have renewed my respect for the Anne Geddes of the dog world. Check them out…

“Holding Food Cheese”

Okay, first up I needed to find some imagery of people holding food, and I needed there to be cheese on the dishes they were holding. Sounds simple enough. I didn’t have tons of faith I would find many images like this (and I was right) but I had a sneaking suspicion I’d come across a couple questionable finds. I was right. Here you go…

Not sure I need many words for the above image, but suffice to say, it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

Typical, the woman wants the man’s attention, but the man only has eyes for his M&M cheese pizza.

This is a literal example of someone holding cheese. I can only assume this guy is checking the ripeness of his cheese wheel, but man, it’s a strange image nonetheless. I was tempted to use it just for effect.

For some reason this email didn’t make it into my Junk folder. Personally, I think it was because of how awesome it was. I almost went online to buy some Cialis just to support the makers of this spam.

“The Mayolution Will Not Be Televised” – Colbert Report.
Apologies for the Advertisement.

Some people are just too nice to say anything, myself included. Still, it was worth snapping the shot, if for no other reason than to share this little piece of humanity with you.

Saw this parked out in front of my workplace today. WTF? Was hoping to get a George Jetson autograph, but there were only a few teamsters loitering the vicinity.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie business, “background” refers to extras on a shoot. And yes, that is a dark hallway leading seemingly nowhere.

You be the judge, and thanks for the reco Elz!

P.S. The surveillance video freezes a couple times, no need to adjust your screens, just wait it out.

Drunkest Guy Goes Back For More Beer

I will show you a series of images (how Freudian of me), and they will alternate between original still-frames from Digital Kitchen’s Dexter title sequence, and a series by the Getty Images photographer A. Carmichael.

It is worth noting that the Dexter title sequence was completed in the middle of 2006, while A. Carmichael (according to a correspondence with Getty directly) had uploaded their series only a few months ago. It is also worth nothing that I was able to get the director of the Dexter title sequence to pinky swear that he indeed does not own a time machine and therefore could not have travelled to the future to glean the images you will find on Getty.

As always, this is my opinion of course (see the tagline of my blog!), but I will be very interested to see what you viewers think.

Enjoy!

The art of Félix Girard.

Kudos to Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman, Danielle Flagg, Tyler Whisnand, Julia Oh, Rudy Adler and Jeff Selis of Wieden + Kennedy for being one of the few teams at an ad agency willing to eschew safety for chance and make something brand-defining.

Cary Fukunaga, who directed Sin Nombre, filmed these two ads. Both of them take an eerie collection of Americana moments enshrouded mostly in shadow and silhouette, and put them against sparse music and two well-read Walt Whitman poems.

Enjoy!

Levi’s – “America”

Levi’s – “Pioneers!”

The Los Angeles Times just published an article entitled, “Fur flies on Mr. Fox,” which details some of the experiences and process of the filming of Wes Anderson’s The Adventures of Mr. Fox. The film appears to be a hipster’s answer to The Nightmare Before Christmas, and reminds me quite a lot of The Wind in the Willows, so much so that one has to wonder if the BBC series from yesteryear wasn’t as much an inspiration as Roald Dahl’s original story.

All of that said, one of the points of controversy was how the film was shot. The film was created using stop-motion photography, a technique where you move objects in front of the camera incrementally, and take still photos of each position, thus creating stop-action movement. The process takes ages, especially once you introduce animated characters, lip sync, and secondary animation in the form of swaying branches or passing cars.

Shot on a stage in London, Wes Anderson (who penned the adaptation after several weeks at Roald Dahl’s estate, researching what made the author “tick”) spent much of the production time nowhere near the set, but from his apartment in Paris instead. His opinion was that he would set the tone, and let the animators do their thing. Whenever there was a sequence finished, the animators would submit them as digital movies, and Anderson would fire back detailed emails with his notes, even filming his own digital movies where he would act out a certain gesture to explain what he was going for.

As a director of stop-motion myself, I can tell you that this is an understandable process. While I don’t agree with an entirely absentee director, it is a bit like watching grass grow to sit on set as the animators work on a given sequence.

Read the article for more insight on the Email Auteur himself.

Thanks to KA-POW! for pointing this out.

Step 1: Fill a chamber with hydrogen gas

Step 2: Ionize that gas until it becomes plasma

Step 3: Heat that plasma up to one million degrees fahrenheit

Step 4: Use a powerful magnet to direct that plasma out of the engine

Step 5: Get from Earth to Mars in 39 days

Yes friends, this is real! There is a company (Ad Astra Rocket Company) developing a rocket which will be able to reach Mars in less than 40 days of travel time. By this math, astronauts might be able to reach the end of our solar system, to the Keiper belt beyond the planet formally known as Pluto, in under one year. The trick is to run the engine on hydrogen, which is a common material in the universe, making refueling possible en route. This enables the viability of deep space missions, making it possible and very probable with in the next couple of decades.

The rocket uses plasma and magnetism to create immense amounts of thrust; plasma is what happens when you charge up a gas and break apart its atoms.

And while there are only nine planets to choose from at present, scientists have discovered hundreds if not thousands of Earth-like planets sitting at the edges of our solar system, just out of sun’s gravitational pull. Once we learn how to move planets into the sun’s orbit, we may have a dozen or more Earth-like planets to choose from for first time home buyers.

The FHA is going to make a killing!

Tindersticks + Devendra Banhart + M. Ward + Better =
Timber Timbre.

I love this band. They are seriously contending with The Twilight Sad for letter “T” in my 2009 Indie Rock Alphabet. It’s getting vicious already; if you don’t believe me, just ask St. Vincent and Sunset Rubdown.

Here are a few Timber Timbre videos for your aural enjoyment…

Timber Timbre – “We’ll Find Out”

Timber Timbre – “Demon Host”

Timber Timbre – “Oh Messiah”

The art of Hendrik Kerstens.

For those liberals and conservatives who think the best way to feel at peace with your views is to criticize the faults of the opposing party, could you try to start thinking for yourselves instead of following the talking points of your party? Perhaps you might have some positive, constructive ideas for the future of your nation. Anything’s possible. Name calling and finger pointing create a stagnant and apathetic society.

Allow me a cliché: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

If I hear one more democrat villify Karl Rove or Rush Limbaugh, or one more conservative ridicule President Obama or Keith Olbermann, I’m going to lose it completely. Really, what’s the point?

Last point, it seems like these health care bills floating around DC are something like the bible: the believers swear by it even if they haven’t even read it. I think this country agrees on reform, and insuring all of our citizens, but we are not Denmark or Sweden, we are America. Each of our states are equal to or larger than those countries, and our economy is much different in complexion.

If the plan is to socialize medicine in America and reform health care, I fear it will require a complete reformation of Washington DC first. Sad but true.

</rant>

Favre celebrates a 30-23 victory over his former team. Photograph: Morry Gash/AP

When Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy decided not to bring Brett Favre back to the team after hold outs and draft picks were exercised, you could almost sense the inevitable match up between these two entities. Favre wanted to be traded to the Vikings two seasons ago, which Thompson and McCarthy vehemently opposed. In fact, upper management made sure that if Favre intended to keep playing football, they would make it a painful transition for him. And after a mediocre season with the New York Jets, one may have thought that the Packers had won the battle.

But every battle is just a part of a bigger war, right? And here we are, just two short seasons since that decision to make Aaron Rodgers the franchise, with Brett Favre donning the purple, playing against his alma mater in the very dome he despised his entire career. For the first time, Packers fans were forced to make a choice. Do they honor the contributions Favre made to the Packers organization, literally lifting them up from the Don Majkowski era depression into Superbowl contenders and eventual victors? Or do the Packers fans eschew idolatry for visions of a future with a new, young talent?

The line was drawn, and the fans sided with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers team. Did you really think it would be any other way? I, myself, wondered who I would be rooting for… for a few seconds anyway. Once the ball was kicked off to Blackmon and the game under way, I was giddy with the prospect of the young Rodgers, who admitted his role as an understudy to Favre when he was the backup was icy at best, dethroning a veteran I had come to know, love and respect as a fan over my entire adult life.

And what a show it was. The game was 14-14 before you could blink, and it seemed both of these offenses were going to light up the Metrodome like the days when it was Cunningham to Moss vs. Favre to Freeman with Desmond Howard blazing just about every special teams play. But it didn’t take long for the growing pains on both sides of the ball to emerge. For the Packers, it was turnovers, trivial penalties and a weak offensive line; for the Vikings it was a lack of a running game and timing issues between Favre and his new receivers. Let’s give it to both defenses, however. For Green Bay to hold AD to 55 yards rushing, and for Minnesota to cause turnovers and stop the Packers on several red zone drives says a lot for the future of both teams.

But all-in-all, this was a great game for fans, and for Packers fans, it was the first time to hear the announcers gushing all over Brett Favre during a Packer game, but not as a Packer. Did I find it annoying? Not at all. Because Favre, unlike any player I can remember, commands a certain respect from his teammates and opponents, every time he sets foot on the field. Even Joe Montana was a fair-weather player to San Francisco when he left to become a Chief.

In the end, the Packers lost too many opportunites to put points on the board, and this was especially true in the red zone. Going for it on 4th and goal rather than kicking the field goal was a gutsy call that should have been overruled by the assistant coaches; Jared Allen is far too much of an animal to roll the dice against them. Another scenario, with the Packers on their own 1 yard line, led to a (surprise) Jared Allen sack and fumble. Upon review, it was not a fumble at all… but a safety instead. The fact that accepting a safety was one of McCarthy’s smartest decisions in the game says it all.

You can go to proper sports sites to get a much more articulate breakdown of the game, but I’ll leave you with this: Aaron Rodgers is every bit as talented as Brett Favre. Yes, he threw an interception last night, but he also outthrew Favre by more than 100 yards, throwing for 384 to Favre’s 271 (keep your eyes on Jermichael Finley, Fantasy Football readers).

Also worth mentioning: this is the fourth week in a row that Rodgers has been sacked, hurried, hit and everything else a defense can do to him (he was sacked 8 times last night, making that a league leading 20 sacks so far this season. It’s hard to throw for almost 400 yards without pressure, but for a player to put up those numbers with Jared Allen and co. in his face literally on every other play, has to deserve some note. He is a sharp, accurate passer with enough talent to sate fans and critics alike, if only he can get more time to throw. Chad Clifton returns soon, the Packers’ premier Offensive Lineman, so we will see if they can get their act together.

On defense, Dom Capers, Green Bay’s new defensive coach, has an entirely new scheme in place, which misutilizes some of the inherent strengths to the players (namely Mr. Three Point Stance Aaron Kampman and Mr. Bump and Run Al Harris).

The fact that Rodgers walks in the shadow of who will easily become one of football’s greatest legends, a legend who Rodgers backed up for three years, may be a blessing in disguise. Thus far he has flown under the radar of most analysts and speculators, ruled out as a talented but second rate Favre (literally, if Rodgers does anything remotely Favre like, such as throw off his back foot, the comparisons come out like ants to a Twizzler).

But if the Green Bay Packers can get healthy on the offensive line, and learn this new and promising defensive scheme, the rematch between Rodgers’ Packers and Favre’s Vikings may not be so fortunate for the Minnesotans next time around.

Thanks, Caleb!

Thanks, Marco!

The art of Daren Newman.

A very cool album cover, if I do say so myself. One of the coolest, I imagine.

Oryan are a self-proclaimed four piece folk/rock band from upstate New York. As a “Ryan” myself, I thought it worth sharing this band with you, a band which is helmed by Ryan Megan and Ryan Schoonmaker (there is a third Ryan in the mix, Ryan McCann, which makes one feel almost sorry for Adam Gosney, the fourth and only non “Ryan” in the band).

The lead singer Ryan Megan has a lazy, three-beers type of baritone with just enough gravel in his voice to keep things interesting. As a guy from New York (unless I have this wrong), I wondered where this heavy drawl came from. He slurs his scenes between staccato drums and fuzzy guitars, and the hints of Tom Waits are undeniable. But the songs themselves (while at times benign and others down-right offensive) benefit from an interesting bar-room country meets traditional folk blend.

I caught some faint yet pleasant Mark Eitzel undertones in lead-off track “The Ride,” and liked the partly sunny tones of “Goodbye,” as much as I disliked the disturbing “If Milbrook Got a Taco Bell.” ”Helvetica,” is another nice track which starts out like something you might hear on any old decent country rock album but quickly evolves into something else once Ryan Megan’s vocals kick in.

There are some nice guitar and drum solos throughout, and you can see how the first two Ryan’s got their start just jamming together. Not sure I would put them in league with Deer Tick or Kings of Leon, but one could see where they may fit as the evil, outlandish step-brothers perhaps.

But with occasional, unforgivable lyrics such as: “If Millbrook got a Taco Bell / all the Arabs and Jews would make out / White folks would stop being scared of the blacks / And all the queers would feel free to come out,” I can’t help but wonder if there’s a joke here and I’m just missing it.

Stream album (at your own risk).

Ryan Gosling and cohort Zach Shields have formed a band. It is called Dead Man’s Bones and their self-titled debut sounds something like Patrick Wolf on quaaludes. Or like Black Heart Procession on speed. Or both.

However, there is something interesting about a prim and proper (see The Notebook) and talented (see Fracture) actor joining forces with his long-time friend to make such a macabre, off-kilter album like this. Although I suppose he was the star in the twisted Lars and the Real Girl, so perhaps this shouldn’t be so suprising.

Much of the LP consists of sloppily played instruments arranged in catchy yet morose ways. There are the occasional up-tempo moments, but it is the eerily-choral murder ballad which serves as the album’s mantlepiece time and again.

It is the omnipresence of a zombie-like children’s choir, however, singing lines like: “Like a lamb to the slaughter, buried in water,” and “My body’s a zombie for you,” that raised my eyebrows with intrigue. It only helps to see press materials of this children’s choir dressed like an army of Charles Manson’s children going out to accost the neighborhood in their Halloween costumes (see above).

Perhaps this album represents the way Gosling remembers his time spent at the Mickey Mouse Club as a child? I would completely get it if that was the case.

Enjoy this Youtube clip, and check out their Myspace page to get a tasty preview of what should be a fairly successful debut offering.

The art of Kathleen Lolley.

The art of Gabriele Stabile.

“‘Remember when,’ is the lowest form of conversation.” – Tony Soprano

(#1 USE THE SUPER SOAKERS TO GET AL QUAEDA WET)

(#2 YOU’LL ALWAYS HAVE AN ANGRY GORILLA TO BE ANGRY WITH YOU)

(#3 A THAW IS POSSIBLE)

(#4 MAYFLOWERS MAY BRING LEAD POISONING)

(#5 GETTIN’ BLESSED BY JOE BIDEN FROM SPACE)

(#6 WAKING UP IS A STRANGE REASON TO DIE)

(#7 PEOPLE ON THE ROAD CAN TURN AN “LOL” INTO A GREAT BIG “OMG”)

(#8 I HAVE A MASSIVE DEBT & DEFICIT DRAGON CHART)

1. The LEGO
2. Danish Pastry
3. Femidom (female condom)
4. Hans Christian Anderson
5. Syno-pal (skid-resistant highway surface)
6. The Typewriter
7. Krarup cable (submarine loading cable)
8. Femi-X (female viagra)
9. The O-Ring
10. C++ Programming
11. Drum Motor (used to power conveyor belts)
12. Ussing Chamber (measures electrical currents through tissue)
13. Magnetic Wire Recorder (NOT magnetic tape, as used in casettes)
14. Dry Cell Battery (sort of, later: Duracell)
15. Fiber Trim (a diet pill)
16. The Corn Thresher
17. pH scale
18. Dogme 95 (avant-garde filmmaking movement)
19. Electromagnetic Coil (used in tattoo machines and doorbells)
20. Telegraphy (long-distance transmission of messages)
21. Triplane (airplane with three wings)
22. Aqua Wall (indoor waterfall)
23. DiaTest (saliva collection kit)
24. Hex (board game)

And here’s a fairly useless (and mostly incorrect) Youtube tribute to some of the “top” Danish Inventions…

So . . . Floyd Mayweather easily beat the smaller, slower Juan Manuel Márquez in a fairly clear victory from all sides of the ring. There was a knockdown in the second round, a nice counter left hook perfectly timed by Mayweather, and sending a dazed Márquez to the canvas. But beyond that, the most action we fight fans got to see was after the final bell had rung.

Enter Max Kellerman, HBO’s attempt at finding a younger, more quippish boxing expert/analyst to replace the increasingly verbally meandering Larry Merchant. Max does the post-fight interviews now, and tonight it seemed he had more than he could handle. It all started simply enough, with Kellerman asking standard questions about how Floyd felt he did etc., and Mayweather sending the standard shout-outs to everyone from God to Reebok.

But then two things happened that were ill-planned…

1. Max asks about the Mayweather not making weight, and how it was reported that Márquez received $600,000 for the two pounds over the limit Mayweather came in at ($300,000 per pound). Mayweather didn’t want to talk about it. Max did. Max pressed the issue. Mayweather said: “I’m not here to talk about money” (ironically just after he admitted to conducting his shout-out commercials to make his seven digits).

2. Max mentions the competition. We all know Manny Pacquiao is on the top of everybody’s mind. But apparently Max isn’t just a boxing expert. He’s a boxing expert with an ego problem. He thought it would be profound to make it known that he has someone else in mind for Mayweather. And that man is Shane Mosley. Oh, and Shane is standing in the ring, as part of Golden Boy Promotions. Oh oh oh, and Mosley really wants to call Mayweather out right there during the interview.

Whoops!

You see Max, not only did you lose control of the interview by not softening up Mayweather before going in for your “I’m so knowledgeable I’m going to throw you off your game” questions, you also failed (or maybe didn’t fail) to notice that Mosley was standing to your left when you asked about Mayweather ducking him.

Things quickly became heated when Mosley stepped to the mic and said “Floyd, we just want to get it on,” or something to that effect. Mayweather didn’t appreciate being disrespected during his interview, and some chatter flew back and forth, with (surprise) Bernard Hopkins joining in for good measure.

But this is where it gets annoying to the point of unacceptable. The whole time Mayweather and Mosley were verbally fighting, proud Mr. Max Kellerman refused to offer the mic to either party, opting instead to hold it close to his chest until he could do the talking himself. By the time Max finally got his words in, it was to change the subject to another challenger, Pacquiao. But by then Mayweather had had enough of Kellerman’s amateur shenanigans.

“Let me talk,” Mayweather said to Kellerman. “It’s my turn to talk. You talk too much.”

ZING!

What would proud Mr. Kellerman say to that, you wonder? Better yet, what would Larry Merchant do? I think Merchant would have said something like “Okay, Floyd, you’re the one they want to hear anyway,” and passed it off.

But not Kellerman. Oh, no no no. Max, instead, gets mad like a schoolgirl on a date who isn’t getting enough attention, and passes it off to Jim Lampley at ringside, thus ending the interview at its climax.

Way to go, Max.

A word to the ever so wise: The next time you have media gold on your lap, try not to be offended by the celebrity you are paid to interview. Instead, let the fans see the fireworks they paid to see but maybe didn’t get during the match itself.

And by all means, do not join Jim Lampley and Emmanuel Steward at ring side to defend your useless opinion of what happened in the ring. We all saw it, and we can all make our own judgments. What happened in the ring had nothing to do with Mayweather having a chip on his shoulder against the media, or having the audacity to not like you, Max. I know, it’s an outrage to think that he might not like you as an interviewer, since you are apparently one of the only ones who actually likes him because he’s a pure boxer.

It had to do with Mayweather thinking you were an amateurish interviewer who likes to hear himself speak, more than anybody else in the stadium (including Floyd).

And can we really disagree with the boxer we love to hate and hate to love? I sure can’t.

HBO, please reinstate Merchant as the boxing analyst/expert for championship PPV fights. He may be slower on the uptake, but he is entertaining in his own special way, and much more seasoned at pandering and prodding the most egotistical of boxers big and small.

Or, if nothing else, find someone else. Max has moments of insight, but for the most part he is a poser, the type of expert you hate to hear talk because he’s usually doing it to impress.

*Translation: “Oh look, it’s Winnie the Pooh!”*

“How we die: as deeply doe-eyed as we start.” – Hayden Thorpe

The art of Kristof Saelen 01 02.

The art of Merijn Hos.

“World Tour”

The premise here was simple: simple find a nice mix of songs wherein the band names reflected different countries, continents or providences around the world. I omitted cities and states because who knows, I may do a 50 states mix at some point in the future, or a City Life theme. Anything’s possible. At any rate… Enjoy!

1. Boards of Canada Music Is Math
2. Manitoba Skunks
3. Afrika Bambaataa Planet Rock
4. Portugal. The Man Lovers In Love
5. British Sea Power Man of Aran

Download Mixtape.

The art of Sveinn Davíðsson.

The author and show producers have been taunting fans with casting clues, tormenting us for days on end before a new actor is announced for a role. You have to remember this series is on par with Lord of the Rings, in that the characters are larger than life, as epic as the story they are beholden to.

I have amassed a running tally of the cast so far. Most all of the major players for the pilot have been filled, so I thought it a good time to show you all what to expect (hopefully) come winter of next year. You’ll probably be seeing “Winter Is Coming to HBO” posters next Fall, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

1 – Sean Bean as Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell

2 – Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister aka Tyrion the Imp

3 – Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark, Lady of Winterfell

4 – Tamzin Merchant as Daenerys Targaryen, aks Daenerys Stormborn

5 – Lena Headey as Cersei Baratheon, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms

6 – Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister, Kingslayer

7 – Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon, King of the Seven Kingdoms

8 – Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Bastard of Winterfell

9 – Richard Madden as Robb Stark, Heir to Winterfell

10 – Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark

11 – Maisie Williams as Arya Stark

12 – Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark

13 – Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon, Prince of the Seven Kingdoms

14 – Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel, Master of Arms at Winterfell

15 – Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont, Exiled Lord of Bear Island

16 – Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy, Heir to the Iron Islands

17 – Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen, The Beggar King

18 – Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo, Dothraki Warrior

19 – Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane aka The Hound

20 – Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark

21 – Ian McNeice as Illyrio Mopatis

22 – Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin

23 – Jamie Campbell Bower as Ser Waymar Royce

24 – Richard Ridings as Gared

25 – Bronson Webb as Will

26 – Esmé Bianco as Ros the red-headed whore

“The Inept take meetings as the Adept take naps.” – merkley

View More.

I’m trying to figure out which of these will, historically speaking, suck more.

Avatar Trailer
Delgo Trailer

The art of Sam Ashton 01 02 03.

“Indie Falsetto”

I decided to limit the falsettos here to just the indie genre, though the likes of Roy Orbison, Prince, Frankie Valli and Michael Jackson belong in their own hall of fame altogether. Enjoy!

1. Sigur Rós Gobbledigook
2. Bon Iver Brackett, WI
3. The Low Anthem Charlie Darwin
4. Shearwater The Snow Leopard
5. Jeff Buckley Corpus Christi Carol

Download Mixtape.

The art of Zachary Thornton.

The art of Andres Guzman.

But this is a different kind of one-man band. This one is a classically trained, obscure lyricist, premiere whistler and a helluva composer it seems.

Enjoy!

P.S. Apologies in advance for the advertisements. Not my doing.

The art of Blake Hicks.

The art of Alessandro Gottardo.

The art of Eric Fortune.

The art of Lizzy Stewart.

The art of Steven Beckly.

“Money ain’t got no owners, only spenders.” – Omar Little

The art of Rita Bernstein.

“The Accordionists”

I know, the accordion may conjure imagery of going to the Wednesday night pot luck and polka at the local Lion’s Club with your grandparents, but the accordionists I’m referring to here are making music we youngsters can appreciate. I’ve never had a problem with this instrument, not in the way I loathe the saxophone, but enough about my peeves and how about the music? Enjoy!

1. R.E.M. You Are the Everything
2. Beirut La Llorona
3. Arcade Fire Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
4. Bowerbirds In Our Talons
5. Devotchka How It Ends

Download Mixtape.

“Mountain Music”

A simple theme this week: Songs about mountains. There are many to choose from, but I felt like this was a good mix. Enjoy!

1. Fleet Foxes Blue Ridge Mountains
2. M83 Dancing Mountains
3. Fionn Regan Snowy Atlas Mountains
4. Manitoba Kid, You’ll Move Mountains
5. Ryan Adams Magnolia Mountain

Download Mixtape.

The art of Brett Keyes.

The art of Fred Tomaselli.

“Okay, let’s make this official.”

Bob Aram, who represents both fighters, said both have verbally agreed to the terms, and that he expects the contracts to be signed by the end of this week. Aram did not disclose the purse split, but one would be crazy to think that it is anything more than a 60/40 split favoring Pacquiao.

So how do these two match up? Well first of all both of these guys are south paws, so this may level the playing field for the cut-prone Cotto and the duck-and-swing style of Pacquiao. The cuts have really affected Cotto’s recent fights, so this may bode well for him. If Manny has one single strength over the Puerto Rican, however, it’s hand speed. He’s made the best fighters in the world look like they downed a few Valium before their matches.

On the other hand, we have to consider whether Cotto’s monstrous body punching will force Manny’s hands to stay at home base long enough to put the Pac Man on the defensive. Personally, I don’t think so, but we’ll see what the critics say.

To me, speed beats strength at 145 lbs., which is the catch-weight these guys have agreed to fight at. Another question, which I don’t weigh as much (no pun intended), is whether the naturally larger, stronger fighter (Cotto) will be able to bully the smaller guy (Pacquiao) after having to drop weight to a less than comfortable amount. The reason I don’t care about this is that these guys are professionals. Pacquiao started out fighting at 103 lbs. and he’s dethroned world champions at 130, 135, 140 and 145 already.

A final comparison is quite simply who wants it more. Both of these fighters can unload their fists in any given round, and few can claim to have the brute strength of Miguel Cotto while even fewer can lay claim to the explosiveness of Manny Pacquiao. But when it comes down to it, will the Filipino dynamite lay waste to the Puerto Rican tank, who has looked less than convincing in his two biggest fights, or will history rewrite itself yet again?

We’ll find out November 14, I’m already counting the days!

P.S. I’ll have you over for the fight if you can guess who I was quoting at the start of this write-up. You have to get to my place on your own dime, though.

The art of Pat Keely.

Fans of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, are rejoicing at all of the casting news announced early this morning for the HBO pilot being filmed this fall (so far the show includes Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean and Mark Addy as the bigger names, with Gillian Anderson being rumored to jump on board as well). But one can’t help but shake one’s head in dismay at the Hollywood Reporter’s inability to put accurate facts into their releases.

Apparently in this series one must ascend to the Iron Throne in order to ensure their survival for the 40-year winter to come. This sounds enticing, but it is handedly false and mostly unfounded. Sometimes, editors, less is more. If you haven’t read the books, leave out the details.

Sigh.

The art of Ben Peterson.

“Indie Autotune”

Auto-tune. Vocoder. A sound we’ve come to associate with the hip-hop and R&B genre, with artists such as Kanye West, Jamie Foxx, T-Pain and others using and abusing the technique. Jay-Z wants it to die, but the indie genre has other plans. Here is a selection of tracks with an interesting and sometimes unexpected use of auto tune. Enjoy!

1. School of Seven Bells Chain
2. Animal Collective Summertime Clothes
3. Discovery Can You Discover?
4. Alaska in Winter Your Red Dress
5. Bon Iver Woods

Download Mixtape.

Rating: 61%

Josephine, the latest offering from Magnolia Electric Co., a band who – when all pistons are firing – are quite hard to criticize, sounds more like an album they might play in the background while writing a Magnolia Electric Co. album. Jason Molina has thrown away more songs than most of his contemporaries have recorded, and may quite possibly be one of the most prolific artists making music today. But is that enough to hold this album together?

At fourteen tracks nearly identical in tempo, structure, meaning and arrangement, Josephine simply goes on for too long. We roll slowly toward the fourth track (“Shenandoah”) and can’t help but wonder whether this will be the slow and painful death it appears it might be. Our fears are realized six songs later, when “Little Sad Eyes,” uses a brush kit and a forgettable melody one too many times; even the funky organ can’t save this one from the mundane. The reimagined, previously released track, “Shiloh,” rolls by, but by this point I fear the album has already slipped between our fingers like a plume of beach sand.

Long gone are the maps of old horizons. Gone are the ghosts they used to ride around with. There are no arrows to pierce our chestnut hearts. And the black rams? All but extinct. John Henry? Nowhere in sight. This whole place used to be dark, now it’s just a dimly lit elevator to purgatory, and the elevator’s just broken down. I want my slide guitar back, Molina. I want the guest vocals, the country swagger. I want the timeless, classic, tragically perfect songs to resurface from the dust and rubble. I want to sing in the shower to a new Magnolia Electric Co. song.

The album is not without its moments, I guess. The opening track, “O! Grace,” not only scores points for including the namesake of my daughter, it’s a promising opener to the album as well; a false prophecy as it turns out, but you get the feeling there is a band at work here, even if for a fleeting moment. “Rock of Ages,” the very next track, takes us to another place and time, harkening back to the sock hops and doo-wops of yesteryear. But at 2:43, one almost wonders if this band is intentionally trying to keep their charms up their sleeves. There is a pleasant roll and drive to “The Handing Down,” where an electric guitar is allowed to come out and play alongside Molina’s crooning, pleading warble. We can feel it, and it works. Why can’t we feel things more frequently?

Molina has mentioned the importance of recording this album. It is an implied album of healing, a chance to confront the unexpected death of original bassist Evan Farrell. I only wish that import transcended the personal meaning, so that we could all lament and heal and rejoice as one. Instead, the album seems more interested in apathy and self-depreciation than with paying triumphant tribute.

While describing a bit of the album’s inspiration, Molina also promised more output in the coming months, and as he is one of my favorite artists currently making music, I will only hope the future delivers on his band’s promise to create more great tunes. Until then, I have about 150 other Molina tracks to keep on repeat. Life isn’t all that uninspired after all.

Mp3. “O! Grace”
Mp3. “The Handing Down”
Mp3. “Rock of Ages”

“Hope is a psychological mechanism unaffected by external realities.” – Severian the Torturer

The art of David Sherry.

The art of Chris Schiavo.

Click for Larger Image.

If you like going to the DMV, or think our tax code is like totally awesome, then you’re going to LOVE going to the doctor once the government steps in to rescue our health care system! See you at the doctor’s office… in line… with all of our forms… and three ball point pens… and our birth certificates… and our checkbooks. Yay!

5. Mickey Rourke – Rourke reportedly states that his plastic surgery was a means to simply correct the imperfections caused by years of amateur boxing. Fair enough. Nose job, no problem. Cheek implants, not really necessary, but I hear he broke a cheekbone. But the lip implants, face lifts, etc. seem to go above and beyond the call of duty.

4. Leona Helmsley – “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” Ms. Helmsley was a tax evading hotel billionaire, and something of a tyrant. The Queen of Mean served 18 months in prison (reporting to the clink on, you guessed it, April 15… tax day). She saved enough of her fortune to succesfully mangle her face, however, before passing away from congestive heart failure at age 87.

She left most of her $4 billion estate to her own charitable trust, $15 million to her brother, $10 million each to two of her four grandchildren. The other two received nothing (allegedly because they did not name any of their children after their grandfather Harry). However, she did set aside $12 million to her dog Trouble. Aww!

3. Joan Rivers – Once the sidekick to late show legend Johnny Carson, Ms. Rivers has been the guinea pig for plastic surgeons since the late 80’s. But when her husband committed suicide just one week after she left him (she was having liposuction when she received the call), some speculated she spent many years and dollars trying to reinvent herself, to be somebody she never was: beautiful.

She is unabashed about having work done, and believes you should spend your money on you (literally). “Better a new face coming out of an old car, than and old face coming out of a new car.” Oh, the irony.

2. Donnatella Versace – Since taking over for her lat father Gianni, Donnatella has undergone a series of interesting procedures, the most notable being her lip augmentation, which looks to me like two inntertubes stuffed under her skin then inflated to the point of bursting. Botox forehead, breast implants, and who knows what else, we sort of have to question the taste of this couture fashionista, do we not?

1. Michael Jackson – The recently deceased (cause of death wildly speculative though still under investgation) King of Pop is obviously the most extreme case of a makeover gone awry. We all know of his troubled youth, his abusive father, and his never-ending desire to be a child at heart. But we also know that he used to be a black man.

One of the most important black men in history, as a matter of fact. He brought people of every shape, size and color together in rejoice. All of the infamy did nothing to assuage the troubles lurking beneath the surface. A severe addiction to pain killers, and what many speculate to be a passion to shed his ethnicity, lead to a series of incrementally damaging surgical procedures.

Not only did he lose the ability to not look startled, the ability to smell through his undersized triangular nostrils, and the ability to grow facial hair on his cleft chin without looking like a prepubescent criminal, but he also bleached his skin from head to toe supposedly in order to match the pigment loss caused by an apparent case of vitiligo, a condition also suffered by Chris Smith of the 90’s rap duo Kriss Kross.

The art of Alan del Rio Ortiz.

“Houndstooth Blues”

My very first theme is what I’m calling the Houndstooth Blues. Each of these songs conjured images of a lonely Scotsman in his bedroom on a rainy afternoon, thumbing his Houndstooth vest with vacant eyes gazing past his ruddy window sill. If you’re not sure what Houndstooth is, well, nevermind then!

1. Ed Harcourt Shadowboxing
2. Andrew Bird Armchairs
3. Duran Duran Ordinary World
4. July Skies The English Cold
5. Thomas Dybdahl One Day You’ll Dance for Me, New York City

Download Mixtape.

“This one’s for the critics and their disappointed mothers.” – Spencer Krug

Dear Work,

Today was a big day for our daughter Grace; it was the day we decided to upgrade her from a crib to a daybed. It was easy, just remove a front rail and replace it with a single crossbar. Nothing to it. Shortly after converting the bed, we brought her into her room and she jumped right up and got “cozy”. She loved it at once.

Later in the afternoon it was nap time, and we tucked her in with her favorite blanket and mommy’s pillow (you know, because she’s a big girl now).

Fifiteen minutes later, as Erin and I were eating lunch in the dining room directly below Grace’s room, we heard a THUD. We were prepared for the possibility of Grace falling from her bed a few times before getting used to it, of course, but didn’t expect it so soon.

We rushed upstairs to find our two year old bawling on the floor, on her knees, with mommy’s pillow entirely over her head. She had somehow managed to get herself caught between the pillow and the slipcase. No suffocation, mind you, plenty air thru the cotton.

We picked her up and did our normal consoling, the same as we do when she falls on the pavement or bumps her head on a table. But this time was different. This time she wouldn’t hug us like normal. This time she only held onto us with her left arm, keeping her right arm tucked against her little ribcage.

We didn’t like that, so we tested her out to see if anything could get her to loosen up after her understandably traumatic fall. A popsicle maybe? Nope. A walk outside on the grass, perhaps, one of her favorite things? Nope. Nothing was working, she kept nursing that right arm, and crying in surges whenever it was affected.

Erin drove Grace to the hopsital, where she was admitted into the ER and x-rayed, all the while hysterical and in pain. After a couple of hours the results were back. The x-ray had confirmed the doctor’s suspicion:

Grace had fractured her collar bone clean through.

She needed immediate anti-inflammatory medicine along with pain relief. Six hours, a makeshift sling (they don’t make proper slings for two-year-olds), a steady supply of Children’s Motrin and a prescription for Tylenol 3 later, Grace is back in her bed, asleep, for now.

Yes, I turned her bed back into a crib shortly after the incident. Yes, I am harboring a high amount of guilt at the decision to upgrade our daughter’s sleeping situation. And yes, I’d like to work from home tomorrow and be with my daughter in her time of stress and pain.

I hope you understand, as I hate to have to miss coming into work. Please call or write if there is any need for me to be present. I will try and work it out.

Thank you for understanding,

…ryan

UPDATE: We visited the orthopedic doctor today, who gave us an XS sling for her arm, which she doesn’t want to wear but we try and keep it on. She’s doing well today, all things considered. A little hazy from the medicine, but her normal self, with little regard for the golf ball sized red lump on her collar. Doctor things three weeks and she’s back to normal, four days before the pain subsides. Here’s to hoping.

Mp3. “My Girls”
Mp3. “Summertime Clothes”

The art of Carlo Van de Roer.

The art of Valerie Molnar.

The art of Charles Ritchie.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/07/windows-to-a-vacant-soul/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/07/quote-of-the-week-042/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/07/quote-of-the-week-042/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:53:12 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2061

“Of all the forces in the universe, the hardest to overcome is the force of habit.” – Terry Pratchett

Caveat: It is well established that he does his guitar slides backwards, and it’s well commented on as well. Just a heads up.

If you know anything about 90’s rap music, you’ll know who CL Smooth is (of the group Pete Rock and CL Smooth). And if you know anything about pop culture, you’ll have heard of American Chopper, and of Paulie Jr. formerly of Orange County Choppers.

And if you’re like me, you’re wondering: “How did I not notice before how much these two guys look alike?”

I know, and I feel your startled reaction just like I felt it earlier this afternoon. But rest easy; I’m on the case, and on the hunt for any other cross-culture dopplegangers out there.

If you have any, please let me know. The more professionally disparate the better.

Youtube. Paulie Jr.
Youtube. CL Smooth.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/paulie-jr-vs-cl-smooth/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/new-fleet-foxes-blue-spotted-tail/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/new-fleet-foxes-blue-spotted-tail/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:00:24 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2046

As we all sit on pins and needles now that Robin Pecknold has cut his hair, trimmed his beard and abandoned his Twitter account, signs that he may have made a wise decision begin to emerge, as demonstrated by this brand new—unaccompanied—Fleet Foxes studio performance for the BBC6.

The song is tentatively called “Blue Spotted Tail,” and even on his own—without the Josh, Casey, Skylar or Christian to wash it with harmonies and echoed instrumentation—the band looks poised to deliver on last year’s promise of continued greatness.

The song itself is a calm, introspective affair, tasked more with asking questions than sharing wisdom. See “Why is life made only for to end?” or “Why in the night sky are the lights on?” as exhibit’s A and B. The way Robin moves from major to minor notes—both with his guitar and with his voice—harkens to the great folk of yesteryear, going back to Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger before them.

This is timeless music, the hardest kind to make, the best kind to hear.

Mp3. “Blue Spotted Tail”

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/new-fleet-foxes-blue-spotted-tail/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/best-album-title-of-2009/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/best-album-title-of-2009/#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:44:12 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2037

“No Need to Light a Night Light on a Night Like Tonight”
by Snowglobe.

Mp3. “Nothing I Can Do”
Mp3. “Ms. June”

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/best-album-title-of-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/addicted-to-awkwardfamilyphotos-com/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/addicted-to-awkwardfamilyphotos-com/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:33:50 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2032 Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Sometimes they are worth a thousand laughs. I have burned well over 50 calories today on this site. So transcendent. So classic. So timeless.

SO ADDICTIVE!

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/addicted-to-awkwardfamilyphotos-com/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/i-can-see-the-light/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/i-can-see-the-light/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:57:10 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2027

The art of Makoto Tojiki.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/i-can-see-the-light/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-sharon-van-etten-because-i-was-in-love/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-sharon-van-etten-because-i-was-in-love/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:21:10 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2021

Rating: 75%

When Sharon Van Etten sings “I do,” on the second track, “For You,” from her debut LP, “Because I Was In Love,” we do not imagine altars or fresh flowers, no bridesmaids or groomsmen, no priests or witnesses. Rather, the words slip from somber lips to fill her empty bedroom. Pictures of her beloved lay spread across her sheets, spilling from an up-ended shoebox, tattered from the months spent inside her closet. A pressed rose falls from the diary she’s reading, blood red and bone dry. Mascara runs down her cheeks and the ashtray is full. Empty wine glasses line her side table to the point of falling off.

Whoever he is, he is gone, that much is clear, and we spend eleven tracks tragically learning this fact, listening to her confessions and questions over minimally forlorn arrangements. And we are somehow transfixed, because in one way or another, we have all been there. We have lost someone, whether it be a lover, a friend, a family member. We know the tragedy she issues forth song after song.

But enough hyperbole and metaphor; onto the album.

Recorded in a small studio by Greg Weeks (of the band Espers), “Because I was In Love,” is a melancholy selection of songs, comprised mostly of lazily plucked acoustic guitar with the occasional tambourine, organ, or bass as an accompaniment (never all at once, mind you), the music never truly soars.

I think what kept me hooked on this album after a few listens was her transfixing vocal delivery. I am a sucker for haunting and non-girly female singers (see Marissa Nadler, Alela Diane, Neko Case, Meg Baird), and Van Etten reaches deep inside our rib cage to tug on our heart strings in the most delicate of ways. Using words like melancholy, bittersweet, somber or forlorn to describe her, you may suspect this to be an optimist’s worst nightmare; and you would be partially right. But her melodies and sincerely emotional delivery are just so beautifully heartbreaking to hastily write off in such a fashion.

If you have the patience, Sharon Van Etten will let you glimpse inside her breaking heart, and you will feel an oneness to listen. “I’m a tornado. You are the dust you’re all around,” she sings about halfway into the album; a piece of insight that maybe it wasn’t all her lover’s fault after all.

But her blessing is her curse, as there is no sense of healing or evolution here, just an even set of songs all aimed at the same lonely mantra: “I messed up, I’m lost, and I don’t know how to fix it.” A few rays of sun, even if taunting, may go a long way to round out Van Etten’s repertoire on her sophomore offering. Time will tell.

Mp3. “For You”
Mp3. “Tornado”
Mp3. “I Wish I Knew”

View Complete Set
(Via Eric Alba)

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/wwiii-propaganda-posters/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/burtons-alice-in-wonderland/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/burtons-alice-in-wonderland/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:15:46 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2006 Disney releases some concept art for Tim Burton’s upcoming reimagining of Alice in Wonderland. I have to say that, even though Ann Hathaway is going to be in this film (who has been omitted from the below photos for reasons of intolerance on my part), I am still very excited about this film.

Oh, and doesn’t Johnny Depp look like Elijah Wood in that photo?

Larger photos here. IMDB page here.

“The diseased know things the well have overlooked.” - Robert in the Jungle Garden.

The art of HAPPYCENTRO.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/portraits-in-nature-et-al/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/hyper-branchscapes/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/hyper-branchscapes/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:26:19 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1990

The art of David Fuhrer 01 02.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/hyper-branchscapes/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/grace-says-daddy-funny/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/grace-says-daddy-funny/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:11:09 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1986

It’s a cardboard box. How Ironic. (Thanks Whitney!)

Buy it here.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/the-hipster-crib/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/quote-of-the-week-040/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/quote-of-the-week-040/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:04:19 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1975

“Life’s for the living. I don’t think it’s to be remembered.” – Clara Esser

The art of Paula Chamlee.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/icelandic-abstractions/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-deer-tick-born-on-flag-day/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-deer-tick-born-on-flag-day/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:47:13 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1938

Average Rating: 71.5%

(Side 1: 88%; Side 2: 55%)

Listening to Rhode Island’s own Deer Tick is like trying to eat a walnut. You have to crack through an impenetrable outer shell before enjoying the tasty part inside. Case in point: To experience the textured songwriting, the dusty melodies and earnest instrumentation, you have to get past the fact that John McCauley sounds like he’s doing a constant impersonation of Popeye the Sailor Man. This single fact may be the central reason many a listener won’t give Deer Tick a chance.

And it’s a cryin’ shame.

Because Deer Tick are — alongside bands like Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Okkervil River and even Arcade Fire — a band defined more by their collective spirit than by the tonal quality of their lead singer. These East Coasters move effortlessly from the back porches of the Mississippi Delta complete with screen porches and  moonshine to the Texarkana saloons complete with tumbleweeds and spur-clad cowboy boots. They’re as authentic a country rock’n'roll band (with a penchant for the blues) as any you’re like to hear, which is at once the best and worst thing about their sophomore album.

Because for all its promise and potential, there’s a problem with Born On Flag Day which can’t be overlooked. A problem best described by taking you through the album, track by track. Let’s get started…

Side 1 (The Pain of Stayin’ Sober)

1. “Easy,” kicks off the album like an anthem for love-torn souls plagued with silver-lined heartbreak juxtaposed against murderous thoughts of revenge. Vintage Deer Tick, right? Dark, moody, up-tempo and unkempt. Full of spirit. I can feel McCauley’s pain, I share it with him. And I’m hooked. A good start to what could be a great album, and the song you’re most likely going to hear on the radio.

2. “Little White Lies,” follows next and starts off slow. I begin to worry whether we may have lost the tightly tuned songwriting and earnest delivery of yore. In the end I’d say this is one of the lesser songs of the front five tracks, but the change-up just past the two-minute mark grabs me by my flannel collar and throws me into the next track with a smile.

3. “Smith Hill,” is a heart-wrenching, soaring ballad which demonstrates a band coming into their own with important, memorable songs. Everything just comes together here. The peaks and valleys, the chill emotion in every word “I can drink myself to death tonight. I can stand and give a toast. To those who made it out alive, but it’s you I miss the most.”. This song might define the evolution of Deer Tick most succinctly. It’s also the song I want to listen to over and over again.

4. Hollow and barren, yet resonant for all its vacancy, “Song About a Man,” crescendos with a harmonica before retreating back into the creaky saloon where it came from. McCauley’s viewpoint comes through in the songwriting yet again: “How can a man feel anything, when all he’s ever got was sympathy?” A question I’ve never asked myself, yet it makes you wonder…

5. The guitar riff on “Houston, TX,” cascades beautifully, like a finely wrought Iron & Wine song, yet doesn’t resemble Sam Beam in any substantive way. We roll along a dirt road in a muddy pick-up and the sun’s just about to set. Everything’s all right as we ride off into the distance, with McCauley singin’ “Oh move on, oh move on.” And so we keep on moving.

Side 2 (The Joy of Gettin’ Shitcanned)

But wait, there’s still another five tracks, right? So what am I doing driving off into the sunset you ask? Damn, you caught me. It’s just that… well I wish I could stop right now, because the rest of this until-now potential-filled album doesn’t hold a bottle rocket to the first five songs. Side 2 finds a different, lesser iteration of Deer Tick in just about every fathomable way.

This is the side of Deer Tick I hoped had been purged on War Elephant. The gravely emotion is replaced by lackluster honkey tonk homage, with John McCauley vying to open for Marty Stewart and George Strait on the next big Country & Western festival circuit. Summerfest here we come!

6. “Straight Into a Storm,” is something you might dance to at your local tavern, sawdust on the dancefloor, quarter in the jukebox. The only problem is that when you finally touch boot to hardwood floor you’re surrounded by your grandparents and all their friends. They love this song, and so you start to hate it.

7. On “Friday XIII,” McCauley makes a valiant effort to add some dimension with, dare I say it, a duet? I remember when Songs:Ohia made their Magnolia Electric Co. album. Three new vocalists joined the fray, including Jenny Benford, bringing something new to Molina’s music we hadn’t heard before. The only problem here is, this song is more a demonstration in getting drunk and fooling around with your girlfriend in her mom’s bedroom than it is a song of any true note. “So let’s get back to what, all that was fair and just, oh won’t you please love me again?” they croon during the chorus, and I feel like somehow they’re pleading directly to me.

8. “The Ghost,” had me yawning from the start, and nodding off by the end. I don’t mind a sleepy ballad, but when the songwriting devolves to lines like: “Oh you don’t have to say anything. But you have got to mean everything,” you have to wonder where the McCauley of old (just a few tracks old, specifically) ran off to? He sings off key in many places here, but not in the forgiving way borne of emotional delivery. Here I’m reminded of “What Kind of Fool Am I?” and I can’t help but wince.

9. “Hell On Earth,” is easily the strongest of this batch of songs, and for me the only bright spot on the back five. They took a down-trodden narrative and pushed it somewhere noteworthy, the way “Smith Hill,” proved they could do earlier on. Despite a slightly predictable and flat structure, I liked this melody enough to stick it out a little longer.

10. Deer Tick still don’t know how to end an album it seems, as “Stung,” tries desperately to take us out with a drunken doo wop flare. McCauley almost gets me to care through the first verse, even though it’s all a bit bad karaoke and too many Zimas to my ears. When the chorus finally kicks in I realize this is the last song of the album, the last song! and I’m fighting the nagging urge to skip back to the beginning and try to forget it ended like this.

Conclusion

But there’s not enough Coors Light in all of Rhode Island to drown out the memory of four of the last five tracks. They will live on in our iTunes this Flag Day and the next one and the one after that. Things started off so well Deer Tick, but something went wrong. Can I forgive you? Of course, but not until you release your second LP later this year. Maybe you can call it Born On Labor Day, and work a little harder on crafting ten songs to match the promise of the first five here?

11. Oh, there’s also a bonus song at the end of the last track, a cover of “Goodnight Irene,” sung in what sounds to be a friend’s kitchen complete with PBR’s cracking open and laughter and screaming in the din. It’s as warm and fuzzy as it is forgettable, though it might still have been a better choice to end the album than “Stung,” was. I’m just sayin’.

Mp3. “Easier”
Mp3. “Smith Hill”

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-deer-tick-born-on-flag-day/feed/ 2 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/first-impressions-wbodies/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/first-impressions-wbodies/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:00:32 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1923

The art of Kevin Necessary.

The art of Mike Kershnar.

The art of Nadia Sabin.

The art of Magomed Dovjenko.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/the-future-is-melting-swirling/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-arms-and-sleepers-the-motorist/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-arms-and-sleepers-the-motorist/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:16:41 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1906

Cinematic. Somber. Tragic. Desperate. Beautiful. So ebbs this stunning track “The Motorist,” off the newest EP of the same name, from the band Arms and Sleepers.

Opening with glitchy samples, a distant screeching, and bittersweet keyboard work, we discover in layers what darkness and beauty together was always supposed to sound like. The forlorn piano emerges near the end, escaping the hectic, crashy percussion for a moment before washing away from shore, and thus washing the song’s narrative sample away with it, lost in the whispery echoes of our memory.

“Sometimes, I feel, like a motherless child.”

Listen to the Mp3.
Visit their Myspace.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/review-arms-and-sleepers-the-motorist/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/bad-word-pairs-034/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/bad-word-pairs-034/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:00:57 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1846

“Chip Clip”

I am well aware of the reality of wanting to keep food fresh, especially when it comes to those goods prone to becoming stale quickly. Enter the chip clip, the cure-all for rogue chip bags left opened overnight. A chip clip has everything going for it: convenience, ingenuity, and a cute rhyming name. And who doesn’t like to go to sleep at night knowing their Fritos will be deliciously crisp and crunchy the next morning?

There’s only one problem. A chip clip is an extra piece of equipment added onto an object already designed to remedy itself with any amount of homemade logic. I personally am irked by the magnet you find on the backs of chip clips. As much as I love to brush past a chip clip on my refrigerator, send it sailing to the floor where it comes apart and you have to put it back together, you actually don’t need an apparatus to ensure freshness, trust me.

For those out there who want to keep their Fritos fresh next time, just employ the traditional single-fold maneuver. You know, the one where you take the rip-off part of the bag at the top (AKA the part where all the air goes, thus making you feel ripped-off when you finally dig into your half-full bag), fold it once against the bottom part, then lay the chips sideways on a shelf so that the fold is sandwiched between your cupboard surface and the bag itself. Works every time, I promise.

For those who don’t eat much at a time, or if you buy an uncommonly overfilled bag, you may protest how you don’t have enough slack to execute the single-fold with any success. True. However, you simply have to employ the single-fold maneuver with wedge variation. It’s the same as the traditional single-fold, only you need to butt the creased (top) part of your bag against the side-wall of your cupboard or countertop and you’re as good as gold. ]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/bad-word-pairs-034/feed/ 2 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/grace-says-pretty-flowers/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/grace-says-pretty-flowers/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:48:37 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1904

“Escapism is survival.” – Johnny Depp

Album Rating: 96.666%

First off, you should never judge a book by its cover. Unless that cover is for Portugal. The Man’s upcoming album, The Satanic Satanist (See the artwork below if you don’t believe me).

The band’s fourth proper LP drops on July 21, and boy oh boy is it a doozie. Its eleven tracks play like a collection of distilled moments of clarity for a band who continue to evolve and perfect and experiment with their sound. Well, after several hearty listens, I have to say I hope this album becomes not just another mile marker along their musical journey, but rather a beacon off shore, a light source as they sail ahead into the deeper, darker waters of notoriety. Because, if my suspicions are correct about the eminent reception of this album, they will need that beacon in the same way Modest Mouse needed it after Moon & Antarctica. (At this point, however, Modest Mouse need a life-boat to get back on board, but I digress.)

So what does The Satanic Satanist sound like, you ask? Well, if you have followed Portugal. The Man’s previous albums, starting with Waiter: “You Vultures!”, you will have seen an evolution from post-emo spazz rock to more of an art-folk indie vibe (is that even a vibe?). This album, however, is something different entirely. It’s actually deceptively hard to define, but if you will indulge an analogy for a moment: Imagine The Pixies calling up 311 (don’t ask) and inviting them over to Frank Black’s manse to throw a Sly and the Family Stone appreciation party. But half-way through the gala, evil cousins Ween crash in and send the whole night flying off course. And yet, somehow, impossibly, it all works, like a good magic trick.

There are hints of Yeasayer here, though not in a direct way; I think it has something to do with the fluctuating falsettos and experimental nature of both bands. There is also a spacey, pulpy, Jack Vance sci-fi undertone to several of the songs, but I’ll get to that later. You could do worse than to throw Phoenix into the mix as a point of loose comparison as well, for its laser-precise production and sheer pop appeal.

Reputed producer Paul Q. Kolderie, who has produced / mixed / engineered for such bands as Radiohead, Pixies, Uncle Tupelo, Lemonheads and Dinosaur Jr., produced The Satanic Satanist, which, when you listen to the fluidity and refinement of each track, I’d say it shows. It all flows so smoothly; the songs wash over you like the tide, slipping into your subconscious before you ever know what hit you. But by then, it’s far too late.

No song is too long (unlike this review), and if there is a guitar solo, it’s sixteen-bars, maximum. In fact, a few of the tracks are probably too short, based solely on the fact that I wanted more! Working, for the most part, within the confines of straight-ahead verse/chorus/verse structures along with the predictable refrains, bridges, reprises, and breakdowns of pop albums near and far, I found myself wondering how this album continued to surprise me turn after turn.

The lead vocals courtesy frontman John Gourley transform tightly wound, simple productions into all-out anthems. Crooning falsetto melds into quasi-rapping only to be proceded by the ooh’s and ahh’s we’ve come to know and love within the indie über-genre. He’s no Josh Groban, but I’ll take Gourley’s earnest brand of vocal delivery over the former any day of the week.

On the album opener, “People Say,” a very Ween a la “Your Party,” bass line kicks things off, until the chorus steals the show, reminding us why we loved bands like Blur and Oasis once upon a time. “What a lovely day, yeah we won the war / May have lost a million men but we’ve got a million more.” Look for your local college radio stations (XMU if you listen to satellite like I do) to play the hell out of this song (pun intended). This track reeks of song of the year potential.

The very next track, “Work All Day,” defies you not to bob your head along to its chain-gang style beat. It’s the proverbial summer bounce track, pivoting off a sick break beat and an infectious sing-in-the-shower chorus. I put it up there next to Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks,” as another easy contender for song of the year.

“The Sun,” reminds us why we wanted to love Magic Numbers when they first came out, but just didn’t have it in us. This is how you do it, fellas. It’s not about indulgent vocals or over-the-top production. Instead, “The Sun,” pulls it off with distant hand claps, a quirky yet convincing falsetto, and a true appreciation for the R&B greats of an almost forgotten era. “If you’re talking to the moon, the moon might sing about: / the universe shouting out: ‘I don’t need, I don’t need time.” Epic grooviness.

Other standout moments include the fuzzy, layered loveliness of “Do You,” in all of its Pixies-circa-”Where Is My Mind?” wonder; the ‘64 Impala flavored badassedness of “Guns and Dogs;” and the soaring, angelic sweep of “Lovers in Love,” a song the Rosebuds wished they would have recorded when they still had the chance.

As the album unwinds, and its final three tracks lull us into a beautiful sense of quiet (dis)comfort, and the final words of the last track usher us away (“We’ll be just fine, We’ll be just fine, I don’t believe…”), you really have no choice but to circle back and play the whole thing again from the beginning, just to see if there was anything you missed, just to take the ride again.

I later discovered the entire LP is, in fact, a concept album designed to parallel a sci-fi story (written by Gourley himself, I believe) about a man who builds a rocket, is banished by his king, then flies into space in said rocket, and crash lands back onto Earth later on (but the planet is completely void of any signs of life now). Ummm, ok… I’m not saying you will discover this hidden story on your own, but it does explain the undeniable sense of narrative structure to the song cycle.

Where other acts have failed in their attempt at manufacturing a successful concept album (ahem, Decemberists), Portugal. The Man succeed in the best way possible: each song maintains its own distinct identity, while an undercurrents of cohesion flows through their collective veins. It’s also worth noting that this is a gapless album, meaning many of the songs run together without any pause in the instrumentation. I usually loathe this cheese ball tactic (especially on hip-hop albums), but here it truly works to build a seamlessness and connective tissue from one chapter to the next.

As I reflect upon The Satanic Satanist, I realize there is nothing satanic about the album at all. Rather, it is nothing if not a sunny, groovy, summer soirée with hooks and riffs and anthems sent down from a troupe of bearded angels donning unkempt wings. Not a jam album per se (not quite), but a work no doubt destined to turn heads (concert and blog-heads alike) later this season. I guess that means I’ll be turning my head twice, sort of like I was possessed…

My second favorite active songwriter in the known world is back with his band Magnolia Electric Co., set to release their fourth proper LP, Josephine, on July 21.

Here’s to hoping the new album shines as brightly as the Songs:Ohia final LP (Named Magnolia Electric Co.), and not as much like Trials & Errors, which was good not great.

This album is loosely dedicated to late band member, bassist, and key contributor Even Farrell, who died in a tragic apartment fire early in 2008. Molina is very proud of this album (“When I walked out of the studio, I knew that we had done something important.” -via Pitchfork). He feels it is so raw and naked he may never even listen to it.

We will do him that honor, with honor.

Mp3. “Farewell Transmission”
Mp3. “Just Be Simple”
Mp3. “It’s Made Me Cry”

Client
MillerCoors
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi NY
Creative Directors: Ralph Watson, Andy Carrigan
Exec. Producer: Jerry Boyle

Production Company
Michael Schrom & Co.
Director/DP: Michael Schrom
Exec. Producer: Carl Sturges

Post-Production
Ladies & Gentlemen
Creative Director: Ryan Dunn
Exec. Producer: Brendan O’Malley
Design: Shaun Collings, Ryan Dunn
Edit: Ashley Kreamer
Animation/Compositing: Marco Giampaolo, Eric Bauer
Music: Dodos “Visiter”

If you like sports, or if you watch television at night, you may have seen this commercial already. It is an spot I recently completed at my new studio Ladies & Gentlemen, in collaboration with Michael Schrom. The agency approached us with the request to reshoot and rework a concept they had already produced and shelved. Instead of giving their previous commercial a face lift, we asked that we be able to reimagine the whole thing, taking their brief to heart as we came up with a new concept.

Saatchi & Saatchi were very open to the idea, so we presented a new idea, and they loved it.

The concept was actually quite simple: Eschew gimmicky design for straight-up appetite appeal. We were pleased with the results, and so was the client. What separates this commercial (intentionally) from the competition is the risk the agency was willing to take with the music/editorial.

In more conservative hands, we may have ended up with a typical faux-Latin music track somewhere between Macarena and Spice Girls. Instead, our insistence upon keeping an early Dodos track in the mix yielded strong results. It gave us a hazy summer strum to cut to, with crescendos and lulls galore, and also took the beer to a slightly  classier place, something that only amplifies the already tasty close-up beer performance.

After watching the sheer, uncontrollable, unadulterated beauty unfold before your merely mortal eyes, it may surprise you to find out that I have never once sipped a single drop of beer in my life. Scout’s honor.

“Foaming Soap”

This stuff creeps me out. I have a firm believe that lather and suds are meant to be a product of friction (caused ideally with my own hands), not a chemical reaction to air upon pumping.

But even more unsettling than the unnatural foaming is the displacement problem. When you have a puddle of soap in your palm, then clap your hands together, you get this touch-and-go sensation that the foam is going to seep out the sides and drizzle onto floor, or worse your wrist/shirt cuff.

Evil stuff, this foaming soap.

Bat For Lashes and St. Vincent give credence to the phrase similar but different. Or is it different but similar? Either way, I want to take a moment to contrast and compare the two, and see if we can’t get to the bottom of who is better, if that is possible.

The Set-Up

Both of these bands are actually pseudonyms for two women singer/songwriters; Bat For Lashes is Natasha Khan, and St. Vincent is Annie Clark. Each have two LP’s under their belt, with each of their second respective LP’s having been released in 2009. Both women are under 30 years of age; Natasha is the older of the two at 29 (Annie is 26).

Both attended music school, with Natasha graduating from Brighton University and Annie dropping out of the Berklee College of Music after three years. Natasha won the Vanguard award in 2007. Annie won PLUG’s Female Artist of the year in 2008.

Annie’s experience in the industry began as a member of Sufjan Steven’s touring band. Natasha began recording music on her own while working as a nursery school teacher.

Annie is a Libra from Dallas, Natasha a Scorpio from Brighton. Both are brunette? Okay I’m reaching now…

The Critics

Their albums have been met with mostly critical acclaim. It’s hard to say who has made a larger impression upon the industry. St. Vincent made it to 90th on the Billboard 200 Chart, while Bat For lashes made it all the way to number 2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart. Pitchfork gave Two Suns, Bat For Lashes latest LP, an 8.5, and put her on their “Best New Music” list. St. Vincent received an eerily identical 8.5 by Pitchfork for her Actor LP, and coincidentally also made the “Best New Music” list.

The plot thickens.

The Sound

Bat For Lashes makes moody electronic music, no question about it. Her husky voice reminds us of Kate Bush and Björk at times. She conjures images of creepy dolls and lush forests and Smith’s t-shirts. Her arrangements are dense and dark, and her voice echoes against dank, damp, mossy walls. The sun shines through a swaying canopy in dusty, golden shafts.

St. Vincent sings in an also husky though more throwback style, in the spirit of mid-century acts like, I dunno, Lesley Gore maybe?Instead of gothic voo-doo dolls, Annie conjures up hallucinogenic angels flitting about heaven with neon halos. There’s a Lynchian-cum-Blue Velvet quality to her music. It is beautiful, but just a little bit off, like a porcelain patina over a rusted iron figurine.

The Verdict

It’s hard to say which of these bands are to be preferred. I think it depends on what mood you are in, and what type of a person you are. What is likely true, however, is that you would be hard-pressed to find a St. Vincent fan who doesn’t like Bat For Lashes, or vice versa.

What I find interesting is how rarely the two names come up in reviews and conversation. I’ve always noticed strong parallels between their accomplishments, even if the music itself is as different as The Stepford Wives and Lost Highway.

The Winner

Why, the listener, of course. But you saw that one coming, didn’t you?

Bat For Lashes “Daniel”

St. Vincent “Actor”

Video Rating: 78%

Patrick Daughters directed this promo for Grizzly Bear, the first of several I’m sure from their new album Veckatimest, due out May 26. In this clip, the four band members play the part of peculiar sunday school churchgoers singing their twisted hymn while seated in pews backed by stained glass panels. Shot after shot they ooh and they aah and they sing and they glow. You’ll notice fairly quickly that the band look a bit, um, different than you may have remembered. As they sing with independently blinking bug eyes and creepily rosy cheeks, we begin to suspect they have a secret they really want to share with us, and by the end we realize they most certainly do.

On paper, this promo could definitely work well and be interesting/disturbing. The problem, however, is that it requires a certain level of realism in order to succeed. I’m reminded of Chris Cunningham’s early videos and adverts, where he would distort faces to invoke a creepy, unsettling effect. He did it by convincing us that these alien humanoids really existed, and Cunningham shot them in a way where we felt he was just showing us the mutation on film.

I commend Daughters for taking a risk with this clip. The slow-motion camera work kept me engaged until the end, but I have to say it all looks a bit too Steve Madden in execution, seeming gimmicky where it could have been unnerving. The effect works better on Chris Bear and Chris Taylor than it does on Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen, though while trying to foreshadow the glowing climax of the promo, several shots come off like a Photoshop tutorial gone awry. And what was with those Sapphire Sparks filters at the end? Geez. Another nit pick, there’s a low angle quarter view shot at the end, where the band don’t have the eye effect on them; just sort of bugged me (pun intended).

In summary, amazing song, great album, mediocre launch video. Now let’s see what While You Wait for the Others and Cheerleader come out looking like when their videos arrive….

I still think they should have just used shots of my daughter dancing around to their song. Maybe I’m just a poor, jaded director after all.

At 1:15a last night, I was unpacking wardrobe boxes in my new Connecticut home while waiting for my sheets to dry. By 1:30a I felt a mild cramping in my lower left back, and figured I may have gas or something. By 1:45a I was literally on the ground writhing in what would later become the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.

I tried to deal with the agony as long as possible, holding out hope that it may have been simple intestinal cramping, and would go away. It did not.

By 3:00a I had woken my sleeping father-in-law, and asked if he had any ibu-profin. I explained my symptoms to him and he said, without flinching, two simple words.

“Get dressed.”

We arrived at the Danbury Hospital ER within the half-hour, where I was admitted and laid on a stretcher in a small room. They placed an IV drip into my arm, and asked me to describe all of what had happened. I tried to do my best in between shallow, pulled, excruciating breaths. Soon after, they sedated me with narcotics, and asked that I strain my urine the next time I had to go, which I did without protest.

Then I slept.

Two hours later, I was awoke by a new nurse (the day nurse), who informed me we were headed to a CAT Scan, followed by an X-Ray. It’s worth noting that I felt much better by this time, what with the drugging and all. After being wheeled all around the hospital to take the tests I returned to my room to await the results. Within fifteen minutes the doctor on call came into the room. He reminded me of a skinnier Quentin Tarantino.

He told me that the CAT Scan showed what he suspected to be the case: I had a kidney stone, and based on the imagery, I had passed it while in the hospital. This doesn’t mean it has left my body, only that it has made its way from the kidneys and is now floating somewhere in my bladder.

The doctor discharged me with a prescription for Percocet, and two days rest, at which point I will have to have a follow up examination. I am currently back home in bed as I write this, the home I literally just moved into today.

My kidney still throbs vigorously when I stand up, and the pharmacy doesn’t open for another two hours. However, compared to my ordeal in the middle of the night, I am on top of the world.

All of this said, I will not be coming into the office tomorrow to work.

…ryan

So the performers have performed, the judges cast their judgement, voters phoned in their votes. Without a doubt, this was one of the best finales we’ve seen in all eight seasons of the show. And what are we left with? Two artists who have the relevance, talent and ability to sell millions of albums, that’s what.

In the red corner we have Adam Lambert, a Steven Tyler meets Steve Perry meets Nathan Lane type of stage character, and perhaps the first finalist who can really tap into the rock genre and have an impact in the way Carrie Underwood did in country music (I’m not sure if I should count the Nickelback-niched band Daughtry or not). He can definitely sing and perform, and has legions of fans ready to fight for him. His cover of Gary Jules’ cover of Tears for Fears was perhaps the highlight of the season when he first performed it a few weeks back.

And in the blue corner, the proverbial underdog Kris Allen. We’d barely heard a peep about this laid back singer in the auditions portion of the season, and he’s only gotten stronger as the weeks have gone by. I appreciate his ability to perform with an instrument, and feel his presence every time he plays. He fills that John Mayer, Jack Johnson, 311, Starbucks café niche perfectly. His connection to the audience and fans alike is different from Lambert in many ways, though he is just as willing to reinterpret a song, take risks, and make the performances his own. He doesn’t have the vocal prowess of Lambert, but he does possess more of that everyman, ordinary Joe quality which may take viewers by surprise tonight.

Their songs in the finale were for the most part excellent. Round 3 didn’t a prayer, as it was the Idol songwriter’s song round (ugh). But Allen’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and Lambert’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” left it all on the table for the viewers to decide. Allen had the misfortune of ending with an overreaching rendition of the crappy Round 3 song.

I predict Adam Lambert wins, narrowly. I wouldn’t be shocked if Allen pulls one out of the hat however, and I’d be happy either way. We have to remember that Danny Gokey fans had to cast their votes for someone last night, after all. Who do you think they are more likely to latch onto?

But I also predict both of these artists will produce more hits than all previous artists (with the exception of Carrie Underwood, who entered a very anemic country genre when she left the show). I would choose Kris Allen if the decision were in my hands, but with Gokey out of the competition due to a lack of taste and risk-taking, both of these guys would have been my second and third choices for the finals.

It’s worth noting that neither of these contestants have ever visited the bottom three until the final four week. It seems America has gotten it right this season, in my humble opinion.

“Your way of life is getting in the way of your life.” – Dave Doughman (Swearing At Motorists)

I’ve been sworn to secrecy and can’t say too much, but just let me say this: I think you are all in for a very special treat come July 21, 2009.

(Album review forthcoming)

Paramount presents a film directed by J. J. Abrams. Screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Running time: 126 minutes. MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content).

Film Rating: 87%

Star Trek the umpteenth reboot to one of the most iconic and successful and rebooted franchises in TV and film history. It’s a prequel (my friend called it Dawson’s Trek, which after watching I can’t say I really agree with), which is nothing new in and of itself, but funny how a relative newcomer to Hollywood (J.J. Abrams) is showing old timers like George Lucas how it should be done.

This film, in its very concept, works in broad strokes, taking us from the birth of Jim Kirk to his inevitable rite of passage as the more commonly known Captain Kirk. This inevitability is important, because the franchise was up against two factors here; on one hand, they needed to entertain and keep the die hard and part-time Trekkies alike giddy until the end; on the other, they had to initiate a new legion of fans (myself included) into the world of the U.S.S. Enterprise. On the most basic level, I’d say they succeed at both, but not without a few sacrifices and distractions.

First of all, Star Trek was entertaining and fun (for lack of any overly sophisticated words). I found myself cringing as Kirk tried desperately to seek shelter on the ice planet. I clung to every Scottish syllable Montgomery Scott (Scotty) issued forth. And though the romantic element was slightly thin overall, I found solace in an unexpected flame sparked around the half way point of the film. The world building sustained my interest, suspending my disbelief just long enough to get the job done. There were a couple of Armageddon moments, where if you blinked you missed the plot detours, which were usually fed to us by Sulu or Checkov (funny in his Polish dialect, though not as funny as Eugene Hutz in Everything Is Illuminated, who would have been a more interesting casting choice).

Secondly, and equally as important when reading other reviews of this film and wondering why it is not held in the same esteem as, say, the original Star Wars, or even Casino Royale, is that Star Trek is also (for all of its charms) a very pedestrian movie. The plotting was mostly text book sci-fi pulp drivel, the characters strained yet never bent beyond their predeterined archetypes, and the dialog (while entertaining) never held any true sense of import. Moments of sage wisdom or contemplative decision-making came across as telegraphed punches, making the comic relief less sharp than it could have been. Where was the risk? The existentialist Stephen Hawking theories? Why tread lightly when you should be going boldly? I felt like the revelations in this film could have been as epic as the visuals themselves set out to be.

I was surprised by the devotion to Spock as a pivot-point of the plot. You would have thought it might have easily become a journey of Kirk’s rites of passage to becoming captain. I think it was a wise move to shift away from that pitfall, lest it feel too much like the Anakin Skywalker’s rise to Darth Vader. The central conflict—involving an alien race hell-bent on revenge, the Romulans—was just okay, nothing original or Earth-shattering (actually…). That aspect of the film felt like filler to me, the misguided revenge as a weak crux in the middle of a rollicking space opera epic. The macguffin itself, however, I rather liked; the whole red matter as pebble-in-a-pond motif worked for me here (literally) on an inter-planetary level.

A moment’s attention on the cinematography. I am a fan of J.J. Abrams, and LOST may be one of the all-time greatest television series of all time, but I swear to Jacob himself when I say that I lost count of how many lens flares he used within the first two minutes of the film. I think he even managed to get a flare in on a predawn landscape. He made Michael Mann look like Ken Burns after this. Combine that with J.J.’s newfangled Paul Greengrass inflected handheld maneuvering, and you have a movie that only functions at least twelve rows back from the front. This is an important footnote, for there is nothing as distracting as a camera who is overly aware of herself. I could almost hear her speaking to me like a fledgling pigeon, saying “Watch me, aren’t I clever?” on more than one occasion.

All of that said, I give this film a smiley face with a wink. I loved watching Chris Pine (James Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock, aka Sylar in Heroes, aka a much better choice for the role than the once-courted Adrien Brody) build up their repoire over the course of the film. I really thought several of the scenes were wonderfully imaginative (Vulcan’s educational pods springs to mind, along with the sky diving down to the Romulan’s drill base scene). The acting was over the top but worked for the material, and besides a few of the interior shots of Starship Enterprise (see image below), Abrams managed to eschew the b-movie film/TV series connotations (ie. M.A.S.H. in spandex).

Star Trek is most certainly the first of many new films in an instantly rejuvenated franchise, the denouement alone made that much clear. They’ve rebooted the Bond franchise successfully, why not Star Trek? I can already imagine the sequel in my head; you know, the one where Kirk tries to change the past and rekindle his relationship with his father, only to be faced with a difficult choice when the fate of a helpless planet hangs in the balance. The one where black holes act like quick sand because the CG effects can look cooler. The one with lens flares used as glints on teeth and eyes, just because it makes everything look better. Yeah that one. See you at the theater in a couple years for more.

Oh, before signing off, I just wanted to mention how I found myself tying some of the logic of time travel in this film back to Abram’s LOST project, and actually I think he dropped some clues in this film. Anyone else catch that?

Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton, two of the most acclaimed boxers in the sport, faced off last night in Las Vegas. Many people speculated that brute strength would rule the day. Others posited the fight would come down to speed and elusiveness. Well it turned out they were both right.

Only it was Pacquiao in possession of both, as he steam-rolled the “naturally bigger man”, scoring two knockdowns in round 01 (one a perfectly timed counter right cross, apparently the very punch they worked on in the gym; the other an imposing straight left which connected with Ricky’s glove and subsequently into his face). I worried we might see a repeat of the Juan Manuel Marquez rematch, where Pacquiao knocked Marquez down three times in round 01, only to win a controversial decision.

But then I remembered that this is Ricky Hatton, the Manchester brawler who doesn’t back down, who doesn’t run away… who doesn’t adapt or adjust, try as he may. It only took one more round to be reassured that Hatton, good as he is, was not as good as Marquez last night.

The winning blow came in the waning seconds of round 2; a vicious Bruce Lee inspired left hook to the chin, torquing Ricky’s face and sending the Hitman flailing unconscious into the deep blue canvas (aka next Tuesday). Fortunately Hatton is okay; the way he went down it could have gone either way.

People can talk all they like about the “walk around weight” Hatton puts on between fights. That doesn’t really tell the whole story, however, as was demonstrated in this match-up. It has more to do with what strength and weight and speed and skill you bring with you into the ring, not out. Both of these fighters have huge fan-bases, immense country pride, and original, highly likable personas (case-in-point: watch the HBO 24/7 series).

But more importantly than all of that, both fighters are well-known knockout punchers. It just so happens that Pacquiao is about five times faster than Hatton, and Hatton is pretty fast. I’m not sure who you would consider to be the stronger fighter based on last night’s performance, but I’ll reserve my opinion for now.

I wonder, however, will the pundits reflect upon this victory and say Hatton just had an “off night” or perhaps it was simply a “bad game plan” or maybe Manny “landed a lucky shot”? Will they marginalize Pacquiao’s dominance once again? I surely hope not; that would be half-witted and foolhardy.

However, the critics were quick to throw caveats in the air following his win against De La Hoya, the same critics who deemed Manny the statistical underdog. Manny then went on to utterly dismantle the Golden Boy over the course of ten painful-to-watch rounds. Apparently Pacquiao actually didn’t prove he was a great fighter in their eyes though; Oscar was simply out of shape, dehydrated, past his prime. Funny, though, how much better De La Hoya looked against Mayweather just one year before, when none other than Freddy Roach was training him (Roach, who has been Pacquiao’s trainer and surrogate father for eight years and running; Roach, whom De La Hoya promptly fired after his loss).

But I digress. No matter how you look at it, whether you claim Hatton couldn’t pick himself up and evolve following his heartbreaking loss to Mayweather, or whether you believe Pacquiao is the undeniable pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Only one real question remains:

Will Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather Jr., and get to be the only fighter in the sport to deliver the Pretty Boy a loss?

Or will Juan Manuel Marquez beat him to the punch come this July? I believe it will be one or the other who does the honors, and hopefully the Pride of the Philippines gets the shot. As the boxer who single-handedly (the left hand, specifically) dethroned and dismantled the nearly empirical reign of Mexican warriors far and wide (Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya), Pacquiao has certainly earned it.

“Heavy Petting”

At some point in the history of mankind (probably when we were apes), someone decided it was a good idea to call loving caresses “petting”. Not only that, but the new-school of thinking (probably 1950’s patriarchs) thought it might be nice to put an adjective in front of the act to denote when this caress can get out of control.

And so we are left with the phrase heavy petting, which exists mostly as “something our parents would say”. And thank goodness. Maybe in twenty years our children will make fun of us for using words like “tweeting” or “browsing the web”.

Rose Stretching.

My wife’s mother is a first grade school teacher and she’s teaching her students about grouping names for animals. There are the obvious ones (flock of birds, swarm of locust, herd of buffalo), and then there are the mildly obscure and usually casual dinner trivia ones (gaggle of geese, rabble of butterflies).

But nobody ever told me how absurd and obscure some of these grouping names truly are. It’s fascinating, really. Where this becomes most engaging is when the animal is fairly common, yet we never knew the name of their grouping. Take frogs for example. What is the name for a group of frogs? I bet you weren’t thinking “a bundle”, but that’s exactly what it is. WHAT!? Or what about an odor of skunk?

Some other choice groupings: a bask of Alligator, a shrewdness of ape, a coalition of cheetah, and a cell of eel. But don’t let my preferences sway you, go see for yourself!

*A final footnote. For those of you tossing around the gaggle of geese term at a dinner party. You can be the star of the show when you tell them “actually a gaggle of geese in flight are referred to as a skein, not a gaggle at all.”

View More Animal Groupings.

Brighton’s own British Sea Power, perhaps better known for their sweeping, sometimes raucous indie pop, have joined the ranks of other indie artists (Sigur Ros, Karen O, Jonny Greenwood, Arcade Fire, etc.) and scored a film.

So what makes this soundtrack different and original and worth a damn (or at least a serious listen)? Well, for one, the film in question is not a new film at all, but the 1934 mockumentary Man of Aran, directed by documentary pioneer Robert J. Flaherty.

Second, the album is stunningly beautiful, and one of the great surprises of 2009 as I have not formerly been a religious fan of British Sea Power.

The band were asked to create a score for the film’s 2009 DVD re-release, which isn’t a surprise considering their infatuation with chamber orchestral sonicscapes in many of their songs. I have had the pleasure of listening to the score in full (albeit not against picture, that will have to wait until this fall, when the DVD drops), and I have to say it is one of the most dark, murky, and gorgeous soundtracks of recent memory.

When listening to the album, I feel like I am lost at sea in a haunted dreamscape of ice and fog (created by my own breath) while giant sharks circle my frozen, yawing dinghy. This album has nothing in common with Neil Young’s work on Dead Man, but I have to say there are similarities in the way both have used space and emptiness to create unease and subsequent tension and release. There is also a post-rock quality to some of the later tracks which conjure up the arrangements of Explosions in the Sky and Grails.

I wish I could witness British Sea Power performing their score to the film itself next Thursday at the London screening of the film. If anybody has the good fortune to experience it, pray share afterward.

I will leave you with a track I’ve fallen in love with ever since Koen Mortier reprised it in his RVS insurance spot a couple of years back. The ‘Power have reimagined “Come Wander With Me”, a song originally from an episode of The Twilight Zone (written by Jeff Alexander, performed by Bonnie Beecher), but also has appeared in Vincent Gallo’s Brown Bunny, as well as having been covered by our second favorite Frenchies Air).

The ‘Power’s version include hauntingly beautiful use of cello and distant brass, funereal brush kit rhythms, and dirge-like layered vocals. What’s not to love? Oh, and is that Victoria Legrand of Beach House singing? I wonder…

Wander With Me

The art of Jacob Magraw.

I know what you’re going to say: “But wait! In the first example it’s an old man with a flask, and the second example it’s a boy with a lantern.”

But seriously, let’s be real; the pieces bare a eerily strange resemblance in palette, technique, and execution to one another. The concepts are different sure, audio, etc. but it’s still a good idea to push things far enough away from the source so that the police (ie. me) don’t come out of the woodwork to make a point of it.

“I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.” – Mark Twain

Last night I also had the privilege of seeing Aderbat play at Piano’s. I had the pleasure of drinks with some of the band after the show as well, thanks to their friend and associate Quang (who runs the Philly Deli site).

Aderbat played a short set on behalf of Asha for Education, an annual fundraiser held each year (at this venue I think, though don’t quote me on that). Four bands played, I watched two and a half (had to get to Efterklang after all). I have to say, I was impressed with what Aderbat pulled off in this less-than-small venue.

First of all I get to say I played the roadie, kind of. Well, I helped the keyboardist/drummer Craig Hendrix plug in some of his gear, and handed him his New Castle which was on the bar where I was sitting (apparently the high point of his evening, yuk yuk). Okay, onto the actual show, which was a good mix of brand new jams from a rumored summer release, alongside some of their older material. I think the set was about eight or nine songs in total. Just enough to whet your appetite, and leave you wanting more.

I’ve remarked in the past that lead singer Matt Taylor reminds me a bit of Jeremy Enigk and Josh Rouse. A strange combo, but if you listen to their respective music, I bet you’ll agree. I failed to mention Davey von Bohlen (The Promise Ring, Maritime), another vocal and sonic comparison I would say is valid. All that aside, Taylor has his own thing going on, and you notice it mostly in the songwriting. He is more immediate than Enigk, less sunny than Maritime, and a little less pastoral than Rouse (even before those random European-themed and generally crappy albums).

I can’t say enough about the drumming either. Todd Shied (who visually reminds me a bit of Jason Molina) played so incessantly that I worried he may at some point press the eject button on his chair and launch headlong into the crowd. You could feel the pent up energy channeling through his playing. Band newcomer Craig Hendrix (of Bon Savants quasi-fame) had a mini-kit of his own, along with his guitar and keyboard, and I particularly loved it when both he and Todd attacked the drums together.

For such a small stage, with such a mixed crowd (most were there to see Eighty East, an Indian rock/folk band), I must reiterate my delight at how good the set sounded. I’m also excited (as I was with Efterklang) about Aderbat’s new material. The songs sound very good, and Matt Taylor knows how to write “hits”.

Whether he really wants to or not, well we’ll see, and I’ll be fine either way.

Mp3 – Blog – Myspace

Last night I saw a ghost.

His name was Casper and he had six friends with him. Gaunt, pale, wide eyed and otherworldly, Casper sang to me. He sang to all of us. Last night.

I’m talking, of course, about Casper Clausen, frontman of the band Efterklang. They played the Mercury Lounge in NYC and if I only had one word, the show was EPIC.

I remember the cavernous venue and the rim-lit players cast in red and green lights (odd, it did feel a bit like a Christmas present, but whether belated or early who can say?). I remember the TOP GUN t-shirt and the mustaches. I remember the girl, over there in the corner, the only one not moving around the stage like a doubled-over Greek waiter.

And I remember the music. The swelling, soaring, air tight music. Some old songs, and some new ones, but it didn’t really matter (although the new ones gave me that tingly, prophetic “album-of-the-year” feeling, seriously).

I remember the violin and the flute, and the harmonies of an angel. I remember Casper’s liberal use of drumsticks and kazoo, his persistently piercing vocal delivery and clever banter. On paper, this should have been a hodgepodge of instruments and sounds, all messy and experimental. And yet, in person it was harmonious and composed, and striving for perfection. It was more ambitious and yet more cohesive than, say, an Arcade Fire concert. How unexpected, and blissful for us all.

I remember the encore. Oh, the encore. The one where they asked us (very Danishly, ie. kindly) to sing a melody for them, which we all did. They flipped the script on us, and began layering their music over OUR collective singing (which sounded eerie and beautiful, actually). They brought the drums in, and played alongside our choral wonder.

And I mean that literally: they took the snare, the kick, the high hat, and walked right off stage and into the crowd, only to set up camp right next to yours truly. We formed a circle around them as their drumming got faster and faster. We tried to keep up our singing, and did a fair job of it. But Casper helped us out, wailing his heart out in a slick sheen of serendipitous sweat.

And then… it was over. We were all left breathless, in awe of the ghost who had possibly touched our very souls (I can prove it, my jeans were even vibrating. Wait. What?). I’m still a little breathless, if truth be told.

This was Efterklang as I never remember hearing them. These songs swelled and washed over us like waves crashing against a rocky shore. One song after the other utilized the same recipe of layering and building until we couldn’t hear ourselves thinking how amazing it all was. Only after it was all over could we make sense of that thought clearly enough to analyze it.

I have to go re-listen to Efterklang now, because the band I remember seemed much more carnival than funeral. More experimental than cinematic; but not tonight. After tonight, I feel like they deserve their very own orchestra.

And yet… maybe they don’t need one at all. Ghosts can be tricky that way.

Mp3 – Site – Myspace

These guys have been around for a while, but they just recently jumped on my radar (thank you, ANTENNAE). I just really dig the mix of casual and classy. They juxtapose premium details, like leather interiors and custom molded footbeds, alongside casual sportswear design cues. The result is a comfortable shoe you can hit the streets in, even if you’re headed to the opera house for a night with the philharmonic.

Visit Clae Shoes.

“Do good, be good, and don’t hang with the jags.” – Tim Dunn

5. “You Are the Blood”
Sufjan Stevens

If this is the direction Sufjan is taking his new material, he may just be album of the year worthy. Of course he may pull that off no matter what he decides to put out. This song—one of the stand-outs from the very stand-outish compilation Dark Was the Night—is so glitchy nasty filthy, and irresistable, I want to go swimming in the La Brea Tar Pits. “You are the blood, flowing through my fingers.” Maybe this is his way of purging all those damn Christmas songs from his blood stream?

This Saturday, March 28, Matt Taylor and the guys from Aderbat will be playing a short set in support of Asha for Education at Piano’s in NYC on the LES (for some reason they aren’t listing the event on their site yet). The venue website doesn’t have it listed, but it’s $15/person with 100% of the proceeds going to Asha.

A band I can’t find anything about called Come Together will open the show at 8:00p, followed by Cold Spring’s own Dana Edelman at 9:30p. Aderbat play at 10:30p, and Eighty East (think CSN&Y meets Slumdog) close the show at 11:30p. It should be a fun night, a good mix of bands.

Their Myspace page has the concert listed, and you can check out some of their songs in Mp3 form on their Blog.

Let’s all go! I’ll be the guy in the corner avoiding people and listening to the lyrics the whole time.

Long Beach (1998)

My wife and I were together for less than six months, but already we had bought our first dog Atticus and moved to Los Angeles. We went there blindly, and rented an apartment in Long Beach sight unseen. Little did we know how painful a commute that would cause for us later.

At any rate, these shots of our late pup Atticus were such a pleasant surprise to find. He was so human, and I mean that in the least cliché way possible. I threw in a cityscape of the Long Beach area for good measure.

“Toe Jam”

Dead skin cells, sock lint, skin oils, sweat and bacteria join forces to make one of the more repulsive by-products of the human body. It didn’t help that someone chose to call this concotion a “jam” (I’m guessing it has to do with the concept of a substance between two pieces of bread).

Similar to man boobs, toe jam can be a medical condition as well as simple poor hygiene. Athlete’s foot, for example, can trigger an excess of odor and toe jam.

Usually, though, it has more to do with dirt getting in between your toes, and having shoes with poor circulation (thus creating more sweat, and a moist environment to breed this witch’s brew of disgustingness).

**NOTE: If you have a fungal infection, by the way, PLEASE don’t go to the gym, shower barefoot, and then walk around the locker room without socks or sandals. That’s a gift that keeps on giving, and I’m speaking (unfortunately) from experience.** ]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/03/bad-word-pairs-031/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/03/grace-says-can-i-be-a-mommy-too/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/03/grace-says-can-i-be-a-mommy-too/#comments Sun, 15 Mar 2009 04:55:00 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1610 Sorry for the lethargic blog of late. I am just enjoying my first couple weeks with our new daughter Rose, and soaking it all in. I’ll be back in action in a little while, but for now, Grace has other plans…

It took a little time, but she finally worked up the courage to hold her 5 day old sister on her lap (under the close supervision of mommy, of course). I have video, and maybe I will post it, but suffice to say, the hugs, kisses, and protection she gave to her little sister had us both welling up.

I will say that, at first, Grace was sad and confused. But then that sadness shifted to worry and concern for Rose’s well-being (she knew Rose from inside mommy’s tummy, and loved to hug and caress her there, so she will be a loving sister. This first encounter was just a little bittersweet for our former only-child).

“Horny Toad”

Did you know that a Horny Toad is actually a lizard, and not a toad at all? That trivia fact aside, this word pair is still somewhat silly and unfortunate for the horned lizard itself, which is actually kind of a cool animal.

I’ve always sort of pictured the horny toad to be a cassanova type of creature, like the Dean Martin of the frog world. All the toadettes swoon as he undresses them with his eyes.

Wait, what? Sorry.

It’s not like St. Vincent’s previous album Marry Me lacked in the area of chillingly poison-sweet awesomeness, but if her latest single (released on Annie’s website this afternoon) is an indication of things to come, we are all in for some tasty treats.

This track is titled “The Strangers” and is somewhat of a magical romp through clouds both angelic and stormy, with a recurring line evoking the paradox of Annie Clark’s music. After hearing “paint the black hole blacker,” throughout the song, it’s hard to fathom the heavenly journey she is taking us through (note the Sistine Chapelesque choral bookends contrasted against the apocalyptic cavalry of fuzzed out guitars around the 2:30 mark).

Okay enough of my ramblings, just enjoy the song for St. Vincent’s sake. And get ready for May 5, when Actors is unveiled (or later this week in its low-quality glory, if the plight of Grizzly Bear is any indicator).

Listen to “The Strangers”

It wasn’t until it was over that I realized that I would not be seeing Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy. That was at the California event. Tragic.</nostalgia>

“Wax Poetic”

This phrase bugs the crap out of me. I have a thing for trite, overwrought, gratuitous phraseology. And every time I hear the term “wax poetic” I picture some Ivy League wannabe listening to Eryka Badu in his bedroom while reading prose poems by Maya Angelou.

Later on he slips down to Joe’s Coffee Shop to impress his friends with a lame poem he wrote about his dead fish, something deep and abstract, open to interpretation. After this amazing display of oratorial prowess, he returns to his bedroom, turns off Eryka Badu, and flips the TV on.

He has two DVD’s he loves to watch, Good Will Hunting and Lost in Translation. Which will it be tonight? Who gives a crap. ]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/03/bad-word-pairs-029/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/03/like-two-dory/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/03/like-two-dory/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:17:31 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1561

It was an accident, I tell you. A grizzly affair, truly. The dory just crept to the foreground, forced me to pull it from the black waters. If it didn’t sound so beautiful, I would have thrown it back, done an about face. I promise.

It might not be the best quality meat, but… I… just… can’t… let… go. Not ready, nor able. I’ll digest this one while I wait for the others.

Oh, and about the opera, dory. I was wrong.

In other news.

Apparently my “okay” review of Grizzly Bear last night ruffled some feathers. I wanted to follow up with a positive post about the show, and share with you my top 5 songs from the setlist:

5. “Colorado”

As I mentioned above, this song also suited Droste’s reverbed crooning perfectly. “What now what now what now what now what?” The chorus had me transfixed and entranced, if I can be both at once. A very good song and performance.

4. “Central and Remote”

The original song on the Yellow House LP already had some excellent arrangements. The way this song ebbs and flows is perfectly suited for some exciting moments with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the band did not disappoint.

3. “Deep Blue Sea”

I still feel that Rossen stole the show, I just love the guy’s voice. This song, from the Red Hot Organization’s Dark was the Night album, really showcased his songwriting and vocal prowess. “And it was mama, that got drowned in. In that deep, deep blue sea.” Tragic.

2. “Ready, Able”

Droste sounds a bit like Jens Lekman during the first half of this song, in a good way. I found myself a little uninterested at first. But once the drums kicked in and the chorus took over, I was hooked. “They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did.” Repeat. And again, and again. More lush, haunting lyrics, and Rossen’s falsetto harmonies later on… just lovely.

1. “Two Weeks”

I really was into the keyboard riff that drove this song. I remember them playing this one on Letterman a little while ago, and they did the song justice at last night’s venue. The song, for me, is a great demonstration of all of the band’s allure. Macabre barber shop harmonies, experimental arrangements, and wonderful vocal flourishes wandering back and forth, coming into focus just when you think you might lose them.

Songs I found a little flat include “Dory”, “Foreground” and “Reprise” (though I did enjoy the banjo playing on the latter).

Here are the other two songs from my list, though not from last night’s performance: “Deep Blue Sea”, and “Two Weeks”.

*Thank you to One for the Good Days, for the mp3’s above.

I went to see Grizzly Bear perform with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at BAM in Brooklyn, at the Howard Gilman Opera House. Guess where Grizzly Bear are from? You guessed it. This was sort of a homecoming for them, and I believe it was their first performance since finishing their forthcoming album, VECKATIMEST. Their last performance was in October.

So how was the show?

Well, I really wanted to see the opening act, Final Fantasy, which is fronted by Owen Pallett, the guy who writes arrangements for the likes of Arcade Fire, Beirut, Patrick Wolf and so on. Unfortunately, I mismanaged the evening and was eating dinner through most of his set; I only got to hear the end of his last song, and it sounded spectacular. He would know what to do with that orchestra.

All that aside, I have to say I left the show wanting a little more. Grizzly Bear definitely performed well, and the venue must have been their best venue they’ve ever performed in (this was my first time seeing them, tragically), and a perhaps bit daunting at that. And for that reason, the night came off a little bit lackluster. With the full force of the Brooklyn Philharmonic behind them, they seemed a bit like timid high-schoolers. They said themselves during their encore, after the orchestra left, how it was terrifying to have the orchestra behind them.

The set-list did include most of the strong tracks off of Yellow House (they opened with easier, which was lovely, but no knife which makes sense, but it was my first GB concert, but oh well). They played several new songs (Two Weeks , and a couple older songs they were performing for the first time, like Campfire). Several of the songs, however, had me losing my focus (Foreground, is that ironic?). They didn’t carry the distinctness of some of their stronger material, and I’m just hoping that is a product of being in their infancy live, and not a reflection of the new album’s potential. I liked their rendition of She Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) a lot. Droste changed the “She” to a “He”, however, but I believe he is gay, so that would make sense? I also really liked one of the new songs where the orchestra swelled with the band at the song’s climax (Ready, Able).

Daniel Rossen stole the show for me, with his kermit banjo moment and otherwise sharp, hautning vocals. Ed Droste was on point vocally, but there was so much much reverb on his mic I wondered if I was hearing flashes of Morten Harket. Meanwhile, Chris Taylor was channeling his best Jonny Greenwood impression, going so far as to play his pan flute from a crouched position for some unknown reason. Chris Bear was busy flailing his bangs to and fro, frolicking with his tambourine-adorned high hat, and generally driving the ladies wild with his boyish good looks.

I attended the show with my friend Patrick, who was marveling on the subway at how much better Lykke Li was to him in concert than on her album. I have to say the opposite was true tonight for me. I didn’t get the same magic that drew me to Grizzly Bear in the first place. Maybe it was my mood, being lost in Manhattan with family so far away. I don’t know.

For the most part, I found the set to be overly quiet, bordering on lethargic, and everything just felt a touch bland to my ears. Several of their classic tracks (little brother) sounded slightly elevator music-ish in the hands of Michael Christie and his orchestra.

At any rate, I can’t say I want my money back (there was defnitely plenty to enjoy), but I can’t put it on any Top 10’s either. Let’s just hope the new album makes up for what I missed out on tonight.

One of the better songs of the night, most recently appearing on the Dark was the Night compilation:

“Deep Blue Sea” @ lofi.tv.

Road Trip (2001)

So LA was a bust, and we had moved up to San Francisco in 1999. I started a fledgling web design company called Spinalchord, which lasted 9 months before failing (dot com crash). I took a staff job at a mediocre web studio called Thunk Design before realizing I couldn’t really take the web design thing anymore.

My wife found a job listing through the AIGA (one of the few perks she enjoyed at another design company). It appeared I would be designing interfaces for refrigerators or something.

And so it was written: I took the job in Chicago at a motion graphics company called Digital Kitchen (they were just starting up their Chicago office, and I was asked to come on board and help get things going).

These photos cropped up on our journey from San Francisco to Chicago. I have a bunch more, but four landscapes is more than enough to demonstrate my film roll findings.

Reedsburg (2005)

In the winter of 2005, we took a trip up to Reedsburg, WI, where my wife’s family had a cabin for many years. Not too far from their cabin is an isolated tree farm, where you can cut down your own Christmas tree. So we did.

It was Atticus’ last outing with us, and a special one at that. So needless to say it was a great surprise to find a roll of hidden gems.

“Man Boobs”

This pair speaks for itself. Fortunately, I do not suffer from this condition. Not yet, anyway. Apparently, in some situations the man boobs are, in fact, a disease known as gynecomastia—a glandular growth of the fatty tissues in a man’s breast. So don’t judge thy neighbor too quickly, okay? He may just be suffering from a disease.

Nonetheless, man boobs, or moobs as the cool kids like to call them, or bologna tits as Jerky Boys once coined them, earn a special place on the bad word pair list.

Also, why the hell do men even have breasts to begin with? I don’t know if I should be mad at God or Darwin, or maybe both. ]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/02/bad-word-pairs-028/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/02/lost-film-rolls-vol-3/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/02/lost-film-rolls-vol-3/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:00:27 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1478 Now I’m going back to the beginning of my relationship with my wife. This is the year we met…

Road Trip (1998)

We packed up our stuff and drove from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. My wife had taken a job as an assistant at House of Usher (commercial director Kinka Usher’s production company). I decided to spend a semester at Otis Parsons.

The trip was just that, a trip. We had a Toyota U-Haul, a run down Chevy Celebrity, and our puppy Atticus. We also had a windshield wiper malfunction in Denver, and got snowed in 45 minutes down the road in the Rocky Mountains (Idaho Springs, CO).

I liked this image pair. Something about looking back, and seeing blackbirds and emptiness. We never did make it back to Minneapolis, not exactly. I wonder if we ever will?

The Lost Film Rolls continue with a pair of images I find both haunting and nostalgic. The subjects of these photos are Atticus, Scout, and Christine (my wife’s mother).

Barrington (2005)

Rome (2002)

Here are a pair of double exposures that cropped up on one of my rolls. The images are of Rome, the city wherein my wife and I were married, which makes it sort of tragic, as these are the only two photos that developed on this roll (the rest came out blank).

I think the film must have gotten caught and stopped advancing. Strangely, I have a vague recollection of this happening, almost seven years ago now.

At least the two that did develop are sort of interesting to look at. Maybe there’s a metaphor in the whole thing, but I’m not caffeinated enough to figure it out.

Yeah, I suppose there are elements of Midlake and Arcade Fire and Devotchka here (and a track that really reminded me of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s, “The Skin of my Yellow Country Teeth”), but lead singer Simon Balthazar’s London indie pop band seem to embrace the grandiose and lush sound with guilt-free arms.

Trumpets, violins, mandolins, timpani and harmonies galore adorn their latest LP, Reservoir, and I have to say, even with Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast, Alela Diane’s To Be Still and Fever Ray’s self-titled debut all heavily on my radar, Fanfarlo’s album is currently sitting at the top of my list for year’s best.

Please check them out, here’s are some samples…

Listen to I’m a Pilot,
The Walls are Coming Down,
and Comets.

Also, I predict Danny Gokey, featured in the heart-wrenching video below, will win American Idol. I predicted it after the second round of cuts, and I’m sticking to it. As of this posting, he is in the top 36, which will be cut down to 9 next week.

UPDATE: Last night, Danny made the cut, and is now part of the top 9. So far so good.

Click for Larger View.

RULES:

1. Put your iPod, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Have Fun!

If someone says ‘are you okay’ you say….?

How would you describe yourself?

What do you look for in a guy/girl?

How do you feel today?

What is your life’s purpose?

What’s your motto?

What do your friends think of you?

What do your parents think of you?

What do you think about very often?

What do you think about your first kiss?

What do you think of your best friend?

What is your life story?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you think when you see the person you like?

What will you dance to at your wedding?

What will they play at your funeral?

What is your hobby/interest?

What is your biggest fear?

What is your biggest secret?

What do you want right now?

What do you think of your friends?

What will you post this as?

5. Let the Right One In (2008)
Director: Tomas Alfredson

Vince: Two kids, ones a vampire both in love. What a great plot. This film is beautifully shot, a stunning and original horror film.
Ryan: I actually really want to see this. It was not at many theaters and I didn’t get a chance to see it when it was out. I’ll be renting this DVD.

4. Reprise (2006)
Director: Joechem Trier

Vince: Really fresh movie making. One of the few movies that can make you happy, sad, happy, sad every 15 minutes.
Ryan: Sure, why not?

3. Paris, Texas (1984)
Director: Wim Wenders

Vince: This is one of my favorite movies. A great achievement in style, characters, film making.
Ryan: Seems like a boring but beautiful film to me. And the protagonist, Harry Dean Stanton (he’s in Big Love now I think), I find to be somewhat turnoffish.

2. Before Night Falls (2000)
Director: Julian Schnabel

Vince: Beautiful movie. Rich with texture, great film making, amazing story. Javier Bardem’s performance is stunning, one of the best true story reenactments that I have ever seen.
Ryan: I like Javier Bardem, but that Julian Schnabel dude really irks me in interviews. I don’t know why. I’ll give this film (and his Diving Bell films) a chance, eventually.

1. The Wrestler (2008)
Director: Darren Aronofsky

Vince: No explanation needed here. Hands down one of the best movies this year. Mickey Rourke, Darren Aronofsky, Pro Wrestling and Marrisa Tomei are enough to get me in the theater.
Ryan: This one is heavy on my radar, as in NEXT UP. I want to see it before the Oscars so I can firmly say whether or not Slumdog is as unbeatable as I think it is.

Made of business cards, retail flyers, packaging and other “nice papers”, Sharon’s pass time has become my obsession. I love reading about how she builds these tiny buildings. The passion in her descriptions carry into the works themselves.

The three houses made from the Kido cards is special to me, as it was one of the first baby stores I looked at in NYC, before we had our first baby, Grace, whom you may have noticed popping up on my blog from time to time.

View the Buildings.

“It’s not where you take an idea from, it’s where you take it to.” – Jean-Luc Godard

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/01/grace-says-the-stars-are-falling/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/01/the-divided-states-of-america/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/01/the-divided-states-of-america/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:07:56 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1393 Why does this map scare the ever-living crap out of me?

The art of Brendan Monroe.

“I pride myself on my inability to guffaw.” – Boober Fraggle

Early in 2006, a Frenchman by the name of Mathiew Saura (aka Vincent Moon) hit the streets of Paris with The Spinto Band and recorded a mini-documentary performance in an apartment and a restaurant. He called these glimpses into the psyche of bands Take Away Shows (Les Concerts à Emporter), and since that evening he has gone on to film over 100 more Take Away Shows, and has been involved with several feature-length documentaries, one of them centered around the band Beirut, entitled Cheap Magic Inside.

What is so great about these shows is that you get a different look at musicians you love, as well as exposure to new bands you may never have heard of. Most of these shows are set in Paris, France (though other directors have gotten involved around the world), and use ingenius ways of presenting the songs to us. Whether we’re following Andrew Bird down the street as he whistles and sings amidst passerby, or listening to St. Vincent confess her intimate thoughts in a lush crimson bedroom, the connection is always there.

One of my favorite shows is Yeasayer’s voyage through the underbelly of Paris’ subways, singing acapella until they arrive in a 5th floor flat and find an old piano along with several willing listeners. I also enjoyed following Zach Condon down the streets with his ukelale, until he surprises us all by wandering into a restaurant where the rest of his band awaits to continue his song in epic fashion. Arcade Fire has an awesome setting in the bowels of some old building, with a megaphone and hundreds of fans crowded around them like a swarm of ants.

View the Shows.

Here are a few noteworthy shows, but please check out all of them.

Andrew Bird

Arcade Fire

Yeasayer

Beirut

If you haven’t heard of Alela Diane, now is the time. Imagine Marissa Nadler and Dido throwing a going away party for Meg Baird of The Espers, and they all sat around the table holding hands in a seance and accidentally conjured up the spectral visage of Alela Diane. (Cat Power was invited, but she never showed up.)

If that isn’t obtuse enough, try listening to her songs only once. It’s not possible; they are far too pleasant and far too unsettling. Banjos light up the room beneath her minor key, and as she slips in and out of falsetto, layered acoustic guitars line the entrance to keep you stuck under her folk-laden witchcraftian spell.

“White As Diamonds”
“The Ocean”
“Tatted Lace”

“Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.” – Oscar Wilde

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLMcQ09BHc

http://www.youtube.com/v/ozX24VxC8NA

The writing and acting in this commercial is unparalleled. I’ve never witnessed a more genius way to sell product. Oh wait… huh?

(Thanks, Eric!)

For the rest of you out there, wasn’t this show AMAZING?