April 29, 2004 - Rollercoaster Dreaming
Here's what I've been doing for the last few months instead of b00mb0x:
Now be a sweetie and write something somewhere on the site for me!
April 26, 2004 - The Streets - A Grand Dont Come For Free
Original Pirate Material was fantastic, my favourite album of 2002, and a breath of fresh air, someone detailing life in all its mudanity. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's a shtick in some regards (does he still live with his mum? OPM sold a million copies!), but isn't every musicians persona? I loved all the grubby detail, you could smell the stale fag smoke, taste the kebab meat, see the two-day old pizza growing fungus under the couch and there were some bittersweet moments that shone through. Some say he couldn’t rap, his beats sucked and he wasn't 'real' hip-hop. Well fuck whatever 'real' hip-hop is, Skinner is his own thing and judge him on his own merits.
When I heard Mike Skinner's 'difficult' second album was to be a concept\narrative about a month in the life of a geezer, my first reaction was, "Oh dear, he's gone lost it". It's all gone horribly Pete Tong, as Skinner might mutter. Yet, it works, there’s a whole cast of characters here and what might at first seem a dodgy move ends up being charming. A concept album about broken TV’s, paranoia, fucking up relationships and self pity. It actually excels for this reason and is great for the whole story arc and lyrics that are subtle, sweet, hilarious and poignant.
Without wanting to give too much away, all Skinner’s troubles (romantic, financial) get (somewhat) resolved in the end (the end being the track “Empty Cans”) as he broods in his kitchen and he curses his mates who’ve turned his back on him and his broken T.V. Then the track rewinds halfway to introduce another scenario and things take an optimistic turn. The music gets more cheery but there’s still a sad refrain in the chorus, “It was the end of something I did not want to end / the beginning of hard times to come / but something that was not meant to be is done / and this is the start of what was“. Standout track is the gorgeous, “Dry your Eyes” which was originally meant to be sung by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, believe it or not. It’s a song that will leave you with a lump in your throat and watery eyes.
There’s oodles and oodles of choice lyrics here too that I'm fully convinced Skinner is the best lyricist around at the moment and the comparisons to Ian Dury are well justified. From “Could Well be in”; ”I saw this thing on ITV the other week that said if she plays with her hair she's probably keen". "Blinded by the light” is on the “Weak Become Heroes” tip ‘cept here it’s all about being in the heat of the club rather than a wistful remembrance. No-one details an E experience quite like Skinner. “Fit But You Know It” details a lairy night out on the tiles in Spain with a ‘Parklife’ style riff with a touch of Sham 69. A tad different and more ‘Britpop’ than his usual stuff but I think it’s a strong single and more than a cringe of recognition to anyone out there who’s ever done the cheapo package holiday shenanigans.
Well this is the part where I go on about the tracks I don’t particularly like, there’s just a few here that don’t work, “What Is He Thinking?” sounds like something he threw in there to keep the narrative arc going without resembling anything like a tune there at all. Some of the production is slightly clumsy and ham-fisted on a few tracks. “Not Addicted” isn’t much of a tune but I might leave it off for having some decent lines (“I need to rethink the technique of my betting shit/ Maybe change the parameters a little bit/ Instead of betting on to win the football, I bet to lose cricket.") at least. But forget the nit-picking, get a hold of this especially if you enjoyed his debut. All in all, this is fiendishly clever stuff and a big fat raspberry to all the haters who thought he was just a flash in the pan. Like Skinner says at the start of the track, “everyone wanted this to all go wrong for me from the start”. Heartbreakingly vivid and sweet.
courtesy of leakedalbums.com
April 23, 2004 - Children's letters to God
The man has and Andean camel and bleaches his ass. What more do we need? I say "castrate" him!
Posted by: Weenie at February 17, 2004 08:50 PM
In some cultures children get married at 10. What im saying is society frowns upon mikey but maybe its soicety thats crazy not mikey!!!1
Posted by: Dirty Diana at February 18, 2004 01:56 PM
So you think we should condone our children getting married at 10? That's you argument for our society being wrong? That's pretty lame. You're talking about 3rd world countries where the average life expectancy is in the 30's if they're lucky. If someone gives me one good reason why Michael's behavior should be considered appropriate, I would try to see their side of the argument, but any society that condones those kind of relationships with CHILDREN is not a society that I want to be a part of. That's why I live in the United States of America, and I guess unfortunately for Michael Jackson, so does he.
Posted by: Jeff at February 18, 2004 09:45 PM
There are some very mature 10 year olds.
Posted by: Nancy at February 22, 2004 02:43 PM
That doesn't even warrant a response.
Posted by: Jeff at February 23, 2004 06:08 PM
It is so true though! I have a niece, who no kidding, looks just like Jessica Simpson! She is so pretty O my God! I mean in the face. She doesn't have boobs or anything like that yet. But she is so pretty. What was it I was saying? Oh yeah she is so pretty and soooo smart and so mature.
Posted by: Nancy at February 23, 2004 08:40 PM
leave mike alone!! i'd let him fuck me if he wanted. i'd suck thyat cock of his tillhe could'nt cum no more.
Posted by: bradley at February 23, 2004 09:13 PM
Do you think your niece is old enough to get married and engage in sexual activity with Michael Jackson? What is your definition of mature, then? I know a lot of kids that are more mature at say age 10 than others, but that usually is with regard to knowledge and ability. Another part of maturity is experience, as well as your physiological make up. Your body is still changing and in turn your chemical composition as they relate to hormones, etc. is still evolving into the person you will grow up to be. You're not a mature human being by any definition at 10 years old. A person who is mature enough to engage in sexual activity must be mature enough to deal with the consequences. If a 10 or 11 year old girl is by chance physiologically mature enough to have a child, is that girl mature enough to deal with that situation emotionally? No, of course not. Is that girl mature enough to get a job, pay the bills and support the baby as well as herself. No, they would have to live at home and her parents would have to take care of them. That doesn't sound too mature to me. If you believe that 10 year old children are mature enough to engage in sexual activity with adults, that makes you a pedophile. I don't think that's something anyone wants to be labeled as.
Posted by: Jeff at February 24, 2004 05:59 PM
Are youy kidding? I would loooooove my niece to date MJ! That would give me a shot at him too ; )
Posted by: Nancy at February 26, 2004 11:57 PM
Um, yeah, have fun with that. I'm not even sure what gender he is anymore.
Posted by: Jeff at March 2, 2004 02:16 PM
Leave Michael alone he did not molest anyone
Posted by: lassie at March 8, 2004 05:29 AM
Here, Here!!! Thank you Lassie!!!
Posted by: Nancy at March 9, 2004 01:10 PM
Big up Nancy and all our friends at freemichael.org.
Posted by naz at 11:23 AM 001099April 15, 2004 - Air America - The Shit Diaries Pt. 1
Sadly, naz is probably aware that "Air America" has just debuted in America. Um... well, maybe not debuted. I believe it's on 6 markets total, plus satellite radio and a webcast. Wait, did I say 6? According to the Drudge Report, Air America was dropped today from Chicago and Los Angeles due to not paying their bill. Make that 4. Poor broke liberal bastads.
As someone whose politics drift to the left of Marx, I was curious about the station that claims to want to take the airwaves back from the right. It's true that talk radio in America is dominated by the right wing, but that's mainly because radio as a medium appeals to easy, emotional ideas communicated in a simplistic manner. I think it has something to do with how we hear ideas as opposed to how we read them. If I was ever going to bother with a book on tape, for example, I'd go for Jim Thompson or early Stephen King (or even JK Rowling) over other writers I enjoy like William Faulkner or Philip Roth. There is something about listening passively where I don't really want to deal with complex ideas or themes. I essentially want to be treated like an idiot.
Right wing radio certainly performs that function well. I've always assume that the right p0wned the talk radio airwaves because the right has so many communicators that are precisely what passive listeners want: emotional, slightly irrational buffoons who believe speaking with a 3rd grade reading level vocabulary translates into "talking common sense."
The left tends to eschew playing to people's emotions and generally tries to use the always boring "truth" and "facts" to make their point. Combine this with over-sensitivity and you have a group of people that are really fucking boring and who will likely bomb on talk radio.
So hence my curiosity. Of course, what am I to do? I don't actually ever listen to the radio. As a proper broke commie, I live in NYC and don't own a car. And who the fuck is going to listen to the radio when they are not being a captive prisoner for some reason? It's not like I'm going to listen to Air America instead of doing something that I actually want to do...
But wait. There's a radio in my bathroom! As I live with 3 people, the bathroom radio is normally getting changed to one of 3 stations: the annoying "alternative rock" station by me (so I can listen to Howard Stern ), the news station by my war-minded, news junkie roommate, or a random hip hop channel by my wife.
Well, from now on whenever I take a shower or shit, I will listen to Air America radio so that I may review the short portions I listen to for you, the unlucky residents of the 10,763 cities of the world that currently can not listen to Air America radio. Let's begin with tonight:
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 9:30PM
I just know I have diarrhea. I've been farting all night, and then I ate the "authentic" mexican food on the corner. Man, why does "authentic" always mean I'm going to be spurting brown liquid out of my ass the rest of the night?
I'm correct. I have diarrhea. As my ass sputters and spurts, I turn and twist so I can reach the radio behind me and get that godawful fucking dancehall off the radio. Luckily, the dancehall station is a short AM/FM flick and few twists over to Air America radio.
I tune in just as some guy goes to a commercial break. The commercials, I notice right off the bat, are horrible. The first is for some guys book. He's pitching the book under the idea that his book is so dangerous you should buy lots of copies to burn them and send them to your senators complaining about how dangerous it is. I think it's trying to be funny. It's not funny.
The next ad is for a play by Tim Robbins apparently playing in NYC. More bad jokes, this time about Fox news. The final ad was for some kind of tooth cleaning product.
What was kind of interesting about the ads was how badly produced they were. I mean, much worse produced then the average radio commercial you hear. Maybe they were rushed? Or maybe they pulled ads out of their asses because Air America was giving them the ad time for free since they have no real advertisers yet? I'm betting on the second.
Well, I was finished wiping, so it was time to go and um... type this blog.
Tune in next time for my next Air America review... and documentation of my shit and/or shower.
Posted by assorted at 03:17 AM 001096April 13, 2004 - Let's Fighting Love: Generic TV Blog
So, with a not inconsiderable amount of free time on my hands, I've discovered that the last two months have had best TV I've seen all year.
The third series of 24 has been true to the format of the first two series; a thunderous avalanche of twists and turns that leave you hanging for the next episode. Friends that I lent this series to have stayed up till seven in the morning watching eight episodes in a row. Unfortunately, I've caught up with America because of the fantastic suprnova and I have to wait at least a week for the next fix. And Fox bizarrely decided to suspend the series for the month of March, giving me a whole four weeks to ponder the unbelieveability and ridiculousness of the premise of all that drama happening at once. Keep it high-paced, but don't leave us time to think.
There's something about Miriam is from the kingpin of trash TV, Rupert Murdoch's Sky One. 6 or 7 guys compete over several weeks to win the affections of Miriam, who unbeknownst to the them has a penis. Week by week they are whittled down until the triumphant guy gets a fortnight cruise with this bedicked bobbydazzler. But before it's anhors away, she confesses her secret to her chosen one. That moment is exactly where I started watching this program and I suspect it's the only must see moment of the whole trashy deal. I didn't even have sound, I was bursting my ass laughing of my stool along with the rest of Mickey's while this grinning public school winner of Miriam's hand has the humilation of his life on national television.
It's also the third season of Channel 4's underrated comedy Black Books, the first episode of which see Bernard Black's (Dylan Moran) assistant Manny (Bill Bailey) defect to the trendy Goliath Books next door which is under the management of (Spaced and Shaun of the Dead's writer and star) Simon Pegg. Like a lot of British series, this only runs to 6 episodes and although that reduces the chances of the show being stale and unweildy, I really like this show and feel a little cheated at a half a dozen views.
Last month saw the finale of the fourth season of Larry David's genius improvised comedy Curb Your Enthusaism. People I show this show to either cringe with embarassment and hate it or cringe with embarassment and worship it. Performed as always without a script and just an outline of the plot, CYE series 4 observes David as he prepares to star in a Broadway run of the Producers, systematically alienating or otherwise pissing off a rich cast including David Schwimmer, Ben Stiller and Mel Brooks. This is my favourite sitcom (if that's even the right word) of the last ten years at least.
With all the talk about the Passion of Christ from every single person I know and every website I visit, South Park's lampooning came as a bit of a relief. Friends of mine are reporting how there are old women with rosary beads in the theatre, how it really makes you "think" and how i should go see it. I feel suffocated by the amount of pressure there is to see this film, which I reckon is mainly due to religious crap rather than the film itself. I'm gonna leave off watching this until the chatter about it dies down, because my head really hurts. For now, the Passion of South Park's squealing Jesus will do. Props go to Stone and Parker forgetting class episodes like this out so quickly.
And of course the HBO heavy-weight The Sopranos is back for the penultimate season, replete with Steve Busecmi playing Tony's reformed ex-con cousin, erm Tony. As with every season, the first episodes have generally been setting up the storys for the major plot events of the series that follow later. It's great so far, but you know and expect it's going to get better again.
Posted by naz at 10:14 PM 001095 | Comments (1)
April 01, 2004 - Monster
Monster, a chick kills dicks flick, is just getting it's release here after already making an impact on awards cermonies across the pond. Charelize Theron, in timehonoured suffering for her oscar style, fattens herself up, has a prosthetic do-waddy placed in her mouth and generally uglies herself up for the role.
Now we know the only thing the 'academy' considers a greater barometer of acting prowess than a groaning weighing scales is a dipping IQ. You can just imagine agents advising lightweights (apologies) -
-You should play a dummy, the academy loves actors playing retards!
-hmm, I don't know
-Then play some deadbeat, all you gotta do is stop washing your hair and start eating at McDonald's.
-I can't go to McDonald's, I'm a star!
-Just send your chauffeur.
-Okay.
Twelve months, a crash diet and an oscar later and your stock, not to mention your fees, is through the roof.
Charlize may or may not have had such nefarious thoughts in mind when agreeing to 'Monster,' but regardless of the physical transformation, which is quite startling, it's the look in her eyes that convince you she is Aileen Wuornos, hooker, serial killer, muff diver. If eyes are the windows of the soul, Aileen's offer a glimpse of a black hole of abuse, desperation, despair and neediness.
The film is really a love story, unusually for a serial killer flick, between of Wournos and her girlfriend Selby Wall, played by Christina Ricci, and all of your sympathies lie with Wournos, which is again unusual, the serial killers normally tending to be a hunted/hunting monster rather than a damaged human pushed over the edge by the relentless horror of her life.
The film documents a killing spree that begins in entirely justifiable fashion, killing an abusive john in self defense with her life in danger, which then spirals out of control as she gets a taste for it, exacting revenge on her johns for the abuse she's suffered all her life.
This being a true story, you're aware that the families of the victims would likely have a much, much less sympathetic view of her actions, but in the context of the film it works very well. The narration as a suitably cynical edge to it and Theron in fairness, deserves her oscar.
Posted by Bluegerm at 04:28 PM 001090