A Bowl of Stupid

The good folks at HBO Asia have been playing Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist in pretty heavy rotation this week. Apparently the movie came out a couple years ago, but this is the first I’m hearing of it since it never really got enough traction back in the States for them to release it out here in theatres.

As aptly described by Dan Carlson over at Pajiba, the movie, based on a young adult novel, “is the ultimate tribute to the idea of shoegazing emo pop as savior, and of the mix CD and iPod playlist as the perfect window into a boy or girl’s soul.”

And yes, I agree that the story itself was overly-simplified, Micheal Cera was completely miscast (there’s only so many times Micheal Cera can play himself before that shtick gets got old), and it all comes out feeling pre-packaged and branded. All that notwithstanding, I still found the whole of the film quite charming.

For one, I seem to remember through the fog of years and hallucinogens that, as a teen, my musical playlist actually DID feel like one of the few, if only, methods of accurately displaying to the world the depths of my soul. Secondly, I’m growing a bit of an unhealthy obsession with the leading actress, Kat Dennings (another Philadelphia Jew) — I think she’s adorable, and besides the massive boobs, she’s just got a certain je ne sais quoi.

And third, much like 500 Days of Summer (only more so), the solid Indie soundtrack and the mere recollection of City-bourne teenage angst is touching simply because it reminds me, once again, of a youth of joyful exuberance and hope, of love easily given and powerfully deep, and of even deeper heartache — all of which has long since been involuntarily relegated to the realm of distant memory.

Anyway, here’s one of the better songs from the soundtrack — Vampire Weekend’s Ottoman.

So, needless to say, we’ve been making some minor modifications to the site recently. It’s not that I really wanted to (hell, I’ve barely anything coherent to write about anymore), but due to software incompatibility issues, I was forced to upgrade my version of WordPress.

I’m still checking out the new application, but I’ve already had to make some formatting changes and there may be more. If anyone is conversant in WordPress 2.8 or higher and has any suggestions re: themes, widgets, and any other neat stuff that’s been released over the past … oh, say four (4) years or so, please lemme know. (and for Sasquach, you’ll be happy to know the latest version has an auto-save function, if you’re in the mood to do some guest writing — ‘cha!, as if!).

In the midst of all these formatting and software changes, I somehow managed to fit in a few of the movies that came out back in the States over the last several months. And while I was disappointed with a couple of those flix — Up In The Air & Where The Wild Things Are being the biggest of them — I was absolutely overwhelmed by yet another — 500 Days of Summer.

From what I’ve read, the movie has gone from media darling to industry goat in only a matter of months. I’m no longer back in that scene, so I’ve no idea how or why the hipsters have reacted to this movie, admittedly geared directly towards their dilated pupils.

The reaction, like the audience, is reminiscent of the response following Zach Braff’s Garden State. Each of the two movies do admittedly follow the love lives of a couple of 20-something neo-hipsters, they both make use of absolutely remarkable musical soundtracks, and both feature the locale as much as the characters (New Jersey and Los Angeles, respectfully).

But from there, the comparisons begin to slide — at least in my mind. Whereas Garden State got bogged down in trifling melancholy and predictable plot development, Summer instead plotted a truer course — mostly due to its beautiful screenplay and the charisma of its two leading actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

Their portrayal of what happens, not what movies tell us should or do happen, but what ACTUALLY happens during the course of a relationship is not something I recall seeing in a movie in recent memory, if ever. I’ve been in situations where each of the two of them were portraying in the movie — and I felt as if it could have been my life being depicted onscreen. That is art. That is talent. That is relating to your audience. That is how to properly tell a story — by letting your audience feel as if it were their own.

For me, there are much bigger forces behind my particular attachment with the movie, which I really don’t feel like going into at the moment. But I feel the need to post at least one more song from (and artfully used in) the movie — Regina Spector’s Hero. Unless something significant comes up in the interim, I’ve no doubt I’ll post more in the coming days.

One of the downsides to shopping your wares in a horrible market — one of the MANY downsides — is that it leaves you with little or no time to pursue your own pet-projects, like say … a travel / surf / entertainment blog with an ever-diminishing readership.

Hell, even with regular full-time work, I was able to stuff in a few 30 minute sectors here and there to put together something almost remotely interesting. Now, all my free time is spent pursuing contacts, going to networking events, or getting a 250 baht foot massage (Hey, it’s an investment!). I sometimes manage to fit in a look at one or two of my favorite “regular” web sites here and there. But it’s not much …

For that reason, I’m basically stealing this latest post directly from Chez — who has managed to remain much better connected (and prolific) than I of late. From the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack — yet another movie I’ve not yet had the chance to see — here’s The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition. Awesome track. It’s nice to see music returning to the business of … well, music.

Continuing with the early ’90s era musical kick I’m on this week, I’m going back to a less intense song. Partly because I’ve been listening to it over and over the past couple days, but mostly because I’m not really up for a heavier song this morning — apparently consuming large quantities of rum until 0400 a.m. can lead to an absolutely agonizing hangover.

Yeah, who knew, right?

So here’s another tune from the Singles Soundtrack (I don’t care how ‘gimmicky’ and exploitative of the then up-and-coming Seattle-scene that people say the move was, it still had one of the best soundtracks ever produced). Knock yourselves out.

P.S. Please kill me.

Chris Cornell – Seasons

Yesterdays rant about the movie Singles, the truly amazing music produced for that movie and continuing in through the early 1990′s, and the comparative state of the music industry today, such as it is, got me thinking. And then it got me listening. And I noticed that the majority of my ‘favorites’ from my iPod selection were put out between the years of 1989 and 1995.

This, of course, inevitably got me thinking again — cuz that’s what I do (well, sorta). Anyway, that secondary line of thinking, such as we’ll now call it, led me to the decision to put up some of my other favorite videos from that time (which for me, would probably be of all time).

So I’m gonna do that. Over the course of the next several days. So you’ll have something to look forward to.

C’mon, stop yer bitching, it’s a long holiday for you jokers back in the States. And it’ll help with digestion. Well, that and some roughage. So maybe you should eat a salad while watching. Or don’t, what the hell do I care?

Umm … anyway, here’s the video for Pearl Jam’s Evenflow (probably one of the best semi-live remixes I heard).

Bitches.

“These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of rock stars, and they will ruin rock ‘n’ roll and strangle everything we love about it. And then it just becomes an industry of cool.”
– Almost Famous (2000)

I happened to stumble into the gym this evening just as HBO Asia had started Singles, the 1992 film written and directed by Cameron Crowe that’s come to epitomize the entire Seattle grunge movement.

After watching it, I thought back to my own experience during that heady time in the early 1990′s, which itself could have been a blueprint for another tangent of that whole scene — how I left Arizona to work out of Seattle on the fishing and crabbing boats in Alaska for a couple years between college and law school.

At the time, however, nobody really understood just how radical the movement would be, it was just an alternative to the bullshit that Vanilla Ice and Metallica were churning out. There wasn’t yet the inkling of how it would eventually gain a life and momentum and foothold in the mainstream population that would ultimately claim the sanity (and lives) of several of what the music industry would call the movements “founders.”

At first, it was just music — arguably even when Singles was released in ’92. And this, given Crowe’s repeatedly voiced disdain for the music industry, could be the ultimate irony in that his film itself contributed to the ultimate despoliation of the source (In his semi-autobiographical film, Almost Famous, Crowe describes how corporate interests ‘killed’ Rock & Roll in the early 1970′s, turning it into an “industry of cool” for most of the following two decades).

Indeed, only a couple years later, the whole grunge movement imploded under the extreme pressures of the recording industry, leaving us with the Goo-Goo Dolls, The Verve, Matchbox 20, and the other bullshit “Made For MTV” “grungy-like” musical composites that were far more palatable (and profitable) to mainstream consumption.

Perhaps this is why I take so much pride in being around, and being a direct part of that ‘pre-grunge’ scene at its outset. It was, most likely, the last pure musical renaissance in modern music.

Shit, even when the corporate MTV shills got their grubby claws on the “grunge scene”, at least they and the artists respected (or at least saw how they could capitalize on) the purity of the music itself — which led to the whole ‘acoustic-grunge’ period, itself a musical triumph (just listen to ANY of the tracks from Unplugged In New York if you doubt me).

Hopefully, the music scene is cyclical, and a new pure musical revolution will spring up again some time soon to wipe away the disgrace of the Britney Spears’, and the Adam Lambert’s, and Justin Bieber’s, and all the other beautiful, synthesized, auto-tuned pseudo-rock stars. Given how much money is at stake, however … I doubt it (while there is something to be said for the indie-rock scene of the past several years, it hasn’t produced ANYTHING even remotely matching what was produced in the early 90′s).

So, with all that whinging about the current state of music out of the way, I’m posting one of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite bands, from one of the purest eras of modern rock, performing in quite possibly the purist way possible — acoustically, on the street, in front of a group of fans.

Smashing Pumpkins — Mayonnaise (acoustic version)

I’m back in Bangkok. Again. And I’m just really glad to be here right now. The trip back to the States, while allowing me to see some great friends and family that I’ve not seen for a while (or, in couple cases, at all in person), was more of a shock to my system than I thought it’d be.

I felt nervous and anxious for most of the trip back, although I’m not quite sure why. Regardless, now that I’m back in Asia, I feel comfortable, more at ease again. Relaxed. I just really can’t explain how nice it feels being back here, with the beautiful weather, the great (and cheap) Thai food, and my other “family” and friends.

I still need a job (REALLY need a job). And I don’t want to jinx things, or else this entire life may come to a screeching halt. But suffice to say, I’m having one of those weeks that you’d hope to recreate over and over for the rest of you life.

Which brings me to my next thought — music. There’s a reason the Beatles were “The Beatles” — while some of their music is admittedly dated, other songs are fairly timeless. The following is one of the latter. It’s probably one of my favorite Beatles songs and it’s WAY before it’s time (indeed, there’s a Chemical Brothers remix/mashup that sounds like it could be released now). Plus, it just suits how I’m feeling this week.

Now listen, turn off your mind, relax and float downstream …

I never really considered myself a fan on Depeche Mode — they just have this aura of ‘pop Euro-trash’ about them, I think. But the other night I happened across a TV show documenting their career.

It turns out that I know, and like, more of their songs than I thought I did — dating all the way back to when I was in high school.

Their latest single, Wrong, is the first from their most recent studio album, 2009′s Sounds of the Universe. While they band members have got to be well into their 90′s at this point (kidding), they still manage to produce a classic Depeche Mode sound, yet wrapped in a cloak of modern post-electronica that still resonates in today’s music scene.

It seems that I stand corrected … this is some pretty good shit.

As aptly noted on Gorilla vs. Bear, ‘one of the best new records that no one seems to be talking about at all is No Way Down, the little 6-song EP from Sweden’s Air France that came out several weeks ago on Sincerely Yours.

With that said: yes, this is some outstanding new music, but it’s also some EXTREMELY poor timing for the album’s release, considering the names of the band and the CD. Here’s the first single, Collapsing at Your Doorstep.

Air France – Collapsing at Your Doorstep

So, as expected, I’ve kinda settled back nicely into my Bali routine of coffee, surfing, hallucinogens, catching up on movies and TV, and doing yoga. One small hitch, tho.

Seems I didn’t scrub out a reef scratch I got out on the islands last month, and I went to the Doctor yesterday to take care of an infected abscess on my right calf. It should be good after a week of antibiotics — no worries for now, we’ll see how it unfolds.

One of the things I’ve just seen/heard since getting back here is Lilly Allen’s newest album ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’, which came out back on February 9th (I live in Indonesia, it takes time for this shit to get to us, okay?). Anyway, I heard the first release, ‘The Fear’ last nite on Jimmy Kimmel. I swear this chick can do no wrong — there’s a great mix of 80′s synth-pop, current electronica production, and awesome tongue-in-cheek lyrics (“I am a weapon of massive consumption …”). Jeez, I so wanna marry this chick.

Anyone who knows me or who reads this blog (especially recently) knows that music plays an incredibly important role in my everyday life. I listen to my iPod on my motorbike, while shopping, or just walking around — pretty much any time I’m not in the water surfing, really.

In addition to forming the soundtrack to my life, that same music also reminds of places I’ve been and people I’ve known over the years. And depending on the situation, any particular song can simply jog an insignificant memory or, in some cases, remind me of something so radical as to momentarily turn my world upside down.

Today at the coffee shop, I heard ‘Jesus, Etc.’, from Wilco’s 2002 masterpiece, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

The CD came out soon after I first moved to Miami. It was just after the September 11th attacks, I was working as a lawyer for someone who later turned out to be one of my better friends for the next 4-5 years, my sister and brother-in-law just had their first child, and I living with my beautiful and brilliant (now ex) girlfriend in a small one bedroom apartment in South Beach.

Looking back, it was one of those glorious transitional periods we don’t often recognize while we’re in the midst of them. I don’t think I’ve ever been closer to what I think I want, then I was at that particular time in my life. I suppose I’m lucky to even have had that. But it sometimes hurts to be reminded of what I had, and eventually lost.

In case you’re curious, I was the one who ruined things in the end — I left almost immediately after my ex suggested we buy a condo together. The typical commitment issues, I suppose.

Regardless, until the end, our relationship was fairly solid. Of course, like all couples we fought on occasion — people just tend to grind on each other, especially when they live together. But, also until the end, we always seemed to resolve things — mainly because, although she was younger than I, she was also far more mature (and intelligent). She usually did something to appease my ego while still getting me to see her side of things — effectively diffusing the conflict with little skin off of her nose.

After one of those fights, she bought me a copy of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — one of her favorite new releases at the time. Although I had heard it playing in the apartment, I hadn’t really paid it much attention. But she handed me the CD, together with a piece of paper upon which she had hand-written:

OUR LOVE IS ALL OF GOD’S MONEY

She took the CD and played the song from where the lyric came — Jesus, Etc.. Then she sat down with me and put her head on my shoulder while we listened together.

To this day, I can’t remember what we had fought about, or (besides the obvious) why that particular act of kindness immediately resolved the conflict. All I remember is how loved and comfortable and just … good I felt at the time.

But now, with the passage of time and additional experience, things are different. Now, and particularly today, when I heard that song, and that particular lyric, it was like getting the rug pulled out from under me. Because now, in comparison, I just feel lost.

Sure, it may just be that’s the loss of blissful ignorance talking. But it stings just the same — and then the melancholy comes over me like a warm blanket.

Continuing with the trend towards turning this blog into little more than a soundtrack to my daily life in the islands (and pilfering the best of the songs posted on KEXP’s Song Of The Day), here’s the latest tune I can’t stop listening to — it makes for great driving music, great surfing music and, right now, great just-about-everything-else music.

It’s pretty brand new-ish, Gui Boratto‘s “No Turning Back”, from the 2009 album Take My Breath Away. It’s been a while since I’ve heard something new from the electronic music front — it’s good to know there are still some people producing great new electronic music.

In honor of the newly baptized ‘Swine Flu’ pandemic emanating from the great State of Mexico (the 51st, I believe), I thought the following tune from one of the most unappreciated bands from the late 1980′s — Big Pig, may be appropriate.

The song is Breakaway, and for those of you under the age of 25, the video is from the opening credits to one of THE best movies of all time — 1989′s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (ironically, the clip is from a Spanish dubbed version of the movie).

Enjoy … and keep the hell away from me, you infected bastards.

I pulled a muscle in my shoulder/neck really bad the other day surfing and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve resorted to taking muscle relaxers and Panadol in an attempt to get the muscle to stop spasming. So, needless to say, I don’t feel much like doing anything right now, let alone writing a post.

With that being said, I’m also getting bored just surfing the web, searching for a nice NGO gig, and laying around being high on muscle relaxers. So, in times like these — we compromise. Here’s a music video of Hallelujah The Hills’ 2007 single, Wave Goodbye To Massachusetts.

The video looks like a fan-authored version and kinda sucks, but the song is awesome.