I haven't done this in like 100 million years and I figure that while I'm on a posting roll I might as well keep on going. I don't know why, but I suddenly feel the urge to resurrect my blog and I know I've made promises like this before but I really am going to start blogging here more often. I really want to and I'm going to make it stick this time. (If you couldn't tell I'm trying to convince myself more than anyone else). This is the first time I'm going to post a random ten on my new computer so it's going to look a little different since I have much easier screen capping abilities and I won't have to use the ridiculous and counter intuitive method I've used in t he past to post the song lists. Also, I don't really have all my music on my iTunes yet so keep that in mind. Anyway, here are the lists:
Starting Song: Rancid - Maxwell Murder
Track by track comparisons after the jump.
Miss World vs. Ring Of Fire: I really do love both of these songs but I love Miss World (and most of Live Through This) more than just about anything. I do think Social D does an amazing version of covering a classic song but yea, like I said, I just love Miss World a little bit more. Round one goes to shuffle.
Sick on You vs. White Riot: This is such an easy one. It's definitely White Riot. Sick on You is ok. It's from a MOJO comp of like punk predecessors and I like the kind of cute halfhearted Ain't We Got Fun reprise at the end but if it hadn't come up as part of this feature I probably would have skipped it. Genius gets this round.
Junkie Slip vs. Beat on the Brat: I do like Junkie Slip. I want to start out saying that. I love Sandinista! I'm glad it's as long and ridiculous and weird as it is. Junkie Slip is, of course, not one of my favorite Sandinista! songs but it's also not one of my least favorite. I don't want my preference of Beat on the Brat to imply that I don't like either Junkie Slip or Sandinista! So with that out of the way Genius pulls ahead.
Greased Lightning vs. New Dark Ages: There are only a few Bad Religion songs that I like and New Dark Ages, a song I got as part of an iTunes bundle for using Ticketmaster, isn't one of them. I guess there was a point in my life, High School, where I thought I should really like Bad Religion but that was just posturing. I don't actually like them that much. Infected, Atomic Garden and 21st Century Digital Boy are pretty good songs but other than that I'm not really a fan. Less Than Jake's cover of Greased Lightning is also something that I liked a lot more towards the end of High School than I do now but it's still pretty fun and I wouldn't skip it if it came up on a non-blog related shuffle so Shuffle ties it up again in this round.
Every Little Bit Hurts vs. Armatage Shanks: Even though I hate having Clash songs lose at Shuffle vs. Genius, if Genius had picked a better song by Green Day it may have won. Armatage Shanks is just pretty forgettable. Also I really do like Every Little Bit Hurts, even though it does get a decent amount of flak from Clash fans. Sure it's a little whiny and maybe a little silly too, but whatever, I like it and too bad.
Main Title vs. Fall Back Down: This one is kind of hard because Fall Back Down is probably one of my least favorite Rancid songs and while I love the Once More With Feeling Soundtrack, the Main Title Music is just an upbeat instrumental version of the regular Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme song. I'm going to go with Fall Back Down just because it is a little more exciting and I feel like I'd be more likely to listen to it on a regular basis. So, even though shuffle pulled ahead last round Genius tied it back up again.
The Sound of the Sinners vs. Pretty Vacant: Sound of Sinners, definitely! Not just because it's rapture appropriate but it is just amazing and one of my favorite Sandinista! songs. Joe Strummer acting the part of manic preacher singing about the floods of God juxtaposed against tablets of Valium is fantastic. It's passionate and urgent and wry all at the same time. Pretty Vacant is definitely top three Sex Pistols songs but I just love Sound of Sinners more. Point for shuffle.
Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine vs. Marie Marie: I do like Ronson's version of the Bob Dylan song, even though I'm sure some think it's blasphemous. I kind of agree with his musical philosophy of putting horns on everything even though that maybe indicates that I have bad taste. I don't care. BUT I like the Buddy Holly cover better. It's a faster, harsher but still really simple version of the original and it's fun to dance to. Genius ties it up again.
This Song Has No Effect On You vs. Career Opportunities (demo): TIEBREAKER. Which is kind of unfair because I'm obviously picking the Clash over the local band. Maybe I wouldn't have 10 years ago but I am now. It's kind of a shame because I feel like This Song Has No Effect On You is one of the ASOB songs that has kind of held up for me over the years but there's no way, whatsoever that it's better than just about any clash song. Although I am annoyed that so much Clash came up, most of it was on shuffle, weirdly enough, so I can't hold it against genius in this case.
Genius won at the last minute, 5-4 and pulls further ahead of Shuffle with a score of 4-2. I'm kind of annoyed that there wasn't much diversity in either list (I'm currently getting a more interesting mix of songs while listening to iTunes). Shuffle behaved a bit like Genius, which is maybe why it lost. Shuffle shouldn't have tried to beat Genius at its own game.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday Random 10: Shuffle vs. Genius
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Long Tennis Post 1: A New Era and the Streak
Until I do two things: 1. Decide what to name my future tennis blog and 2. Decide whether I want to use Blogger or Tumblr, I'm going to post this and any other tennis posts here. This will be the first post on that hypothetical tennis blog since it’s the first thing that I've written with that express purpose. I think there are only three ways Djokovic’s winning streak will end; either by injury, which would be terrible, and, sad, and unfitting, or defeat by either a 100% on-form Nadal who has gotten over any streak-related intimidation, or someone like Thomaz Bellucci, who has less to lose and doesn't feel much pressure. If this streak had happened at this time last year I would have added a long match on a hot day to the list of steak ending scenarios but I don't think that's a possibility anymore.
Inspired by Sunday’s eventsI want to begin my tennis blogging by summarizing my take on the current atmosphere in men’s tennis. For the past few years that I've been paying attention (as well as several years prior), tennis was dominated by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and now it isn't. Sunday Novak Djokovic earned his second win of the year against Nadal on clay (which, coincidentally, is his second win against Nadal on clay ever) and his fourth win in a row against him this year which brings his record against Nadal from 7-16 to 11-16. The moment Djokovic won yesterday’s final in Rome I realized, with complete certainty, that men’s tennis is in the midst of a new era. Of course, the moment one recognizes the existence of a new era is not necessarily the moment the era started.
Even though at the beginning of the year Djokovic was just as undefeated as he is now, it didn't mean as much. Nadal not winning hard court tournaments against Djokovic isn't exactly surprising, Djokovic had already won a major so his winning the Australian Open wasn’t that surprising either, and neither Federer nor Andy Murray were playing their best tennis. Also, even though Djokovic beat Nadal in Madrid on clay, which was surprising, Madrid is at a higher altitude allowing for faster play. It was definitely a majorly important accomplishment for Djokovic but I don't think it was as important a win as Rome.
That's not to say that he wasn't playing impressively or even excellently, he definitely was, but Sunday when he beat Nadal a second time on clay, in a tournament that Nadal has won 5 times in the past 7 years, I became utterly convinced that tennis is in the middle of a new era. Although, I think that in the future the exact point this new era began will be recognized as either Djokovic's win over Federer at the US Open semi-finals in 2010 or when Robin Söderling ended Federer’s epic Grand Slam semi-final streak at last year’s French Open, depending on how dominating a force Djokovic is in the future.
Right now he’s invincible. In the past Djokovic, while always a threat, had the occasional tendency to choke, exit tournaments early, and double fault often. It's like Failvak Chokeavic (a nickname endearingly used on tennis forums by frustrated fans) has been eliminated completely. It’s as if Djokovic, to use a reference to True Blood, went to Miss Jeanette and stabbed a flawed version of himself in some hallucinatory ceremony and all that's left is an unbeatable player who makes few, if any mistakes and double faults rarely. Or, to use a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference, it's as if Toth used his separation ray on Djokovic and the half with the concentrated strengths is keeping the weak half chained in Giles' book cage, always far enough away so that none of its weakness rubs off. Less interestingly, in reality it probably has more to do with better conditioning, mental toughness and maybe even a gluten free diet.
The one thing I'm not sure of is whether Djokovic would have won in Rome had Nadal been playing his absolute best tennis. I'm going to answer that with a probably. I do think that if Nadal was as good as he can be the score would have been closer, and it was close, but I think there would have been tiebreaks involved. Also I think that some part of Nadal’s loss was mental. I think that the whole reason Murray lost the semi-final to Djokovic was mental, and I think there has been a mental component in many of Djokovic’s wins since, let's say, Indian Wells. There were only a few times, however, when that mental advantage made even a sliver of a difference because of the level of tennis Djokovic has been playing.
Elaborating on the 'someone with no pressure and nothing to lose' theory; unlike Nadal, or Murray, there was no expectation for Bellucci to beat Djokovic in Madrid. If he hadn't injured himself he might have won that match. It'll be interesting to see Djokovic's draw going into the French. Someone like Bellucci or Jürgen Melzer, who have so much ability but virtually no pressure could potentially pull off the elusive win over Djokovic.
Finally, I want to clarify that by saying that Djokovic's win in Rome is, basically, the final nail in the coffin of the Fedal era, I don't mean that whatever new era we're in is going to be a strictly Rafole era. Djokovic's streak has lasted 5 months which is ridiculous and awesome and lots of other superlatives but it is nothing compared to the length of the Fedal era.
It's exciting that the state of men’s tennis is in flux. The era is defining itself as tournaments go by and players distinguish themselves. Anything can happen. Federer could return to form, Murray could finally win a slam, Söderling could win the French after losing the last two finals, Juan Martin Del Potro could overcome his injuries, win a few more slams, and reclaim a spot in the top five, Milos Raonic could continue to live up to his potential and consistently be a major threat. It's all happening now. Bring on the French.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Dinner Time Outrage
So, I was watching Real Housewives of Orange County during dinner because it is Sunday and there wasn't anything else on. It was the episode when one of the thin blonde women who isn't Vicki (I know this isn't that helpful but I really can't tell any of the others apart yet) got celebrity chef Susan Feniger to cook for her upcoming dinner party.
Her husband felt that Latin food wasn't good enough for his pool party. He had planned to serve steakhouse type food. If you're going to, presumably, spend a ton of money on a chef it's probably a good idea to actually know what kind of food she specializes in and then to not ask her to cook something completely different. Like maybe Google her or something. This is the actual first line of her Wikipedia page (emphasis, other than her name, mine): Susan Feniger is an award-winning American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality considered to be a leading authority on Latin cuisine in the United States."
But no, they obviously just wanted someone with a 'name' and figured that if they paid her enough money she'd cook whatever food they wanted. Then, with no sense of irony, the husband asked her to make deep fried Oreos for dessert. Latin food for the main course, no way! Carnival food for dessert, awesome! There's obviously some implied, or even outright, racism there. Also I wonder if he would have had the same crappy, condescending reaction if Rick Bayless, a man, proposed to serve Mexican food at his pool party. If I had to guess I'd probably say no.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Heavy Handed But Enjoyable
I finally got around to watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona last night*. I was kind of disappointed with it even though I did enjoy watching it.
I mostly didn't like the heavy handed exposition in both the narration and the dialogue and the false dichotomy that was set up between 'artistic people' and 'sensible people'. I don't mind narration in general, and at times I even like it (Pushing Daisies was one such instance), but just about everything the narrator said was repeated by the characters at least twice in dialogue. We did not need to hear that Juan Antonio just went through a tumultuous divorce three times, once is more than enough.
Also, I felt like the differences in character between Vicky and Cristina and Juan Antonio and Vicky's husband were, in addition to being overly explained, oversimplified. I much preferred how Woody Allen showed in Melinda and Melinda the differences of character of one person in two different situations. In that film it seemed like it would be much easier to make a black and white contrast between the comedy Melinda and the tragedy Melinda but it was much subtler than the passionate artist/pragmatic student setup in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It also kind of annoyed me that the guy who played Vicky's husband (aka Claire's hot republican boyfriend from Six Feet Under) is continually being typecast as a wet blanket, square (see also Julie and Julia).
Additionally, it was distracting that Catalan culture played a major part in the film but it seemed like everyone was speaking Castilian.
Overall though, despite its flaws, the performances are what really saved the film; specifically Javier and Penelope's**.
Also, I still really want to go to Spain.
*I did not watch this last night but I had watched it the night before I wrote this. According to the time stamp I watched it on July 14th which is still long after the movie actually came out anyway. Better late then never.
**When I watched the film I hadn't seen Rebecca Hall in anything before. Although I don't think her performance in this film stood up to Javier and Penelope's respective performances I did see her in Wide Sargasso Sea and she was absolutely incredible in that.
Project Runway; Why We're Done*
Disclaimer: Ok, this is a super old post but it's the end of the year and I haven't posted much here (at all) since I got tumblr (but I hope to change that soon now that I'm FINALLY getting a new laptop and won't have to use a communal computer) so I decided to post two drafts in a kind of bare-bones, what I have written already, form. This one is basically just bullet points I was going to post in the heat of the moment that now border on irrelevancy. Anyway, here we go.
So basically I, like every other right-minded person who watched Project Runway (including Jack Black who I recently heard voice this opinion making me feel slightly less irrelevant), think Mondo was robbed. He deserved to win, he is awesome and I was really pissed when he didn't. I decided that I wasn't going to watch Project Runway anymore; not just because of this outrage but also because it really hasn't been as good since its move to Lifetime. The challenges are uninspired and I just feel like I've seen it all before.
Here are some reasons why I thought the finale was a travesty of epic proportions:
-the ugliness of Gretchen's clothes
-the fact that her aesthetic was so trendy and therefore ephemeral
-the unfounded criticism of Mondo, I don't think his looks were unoriginal which seemed to be a major point of the judges
-bad for business? Christian Siriano and Chris March have been the only ProjRun names on the red carpet giving the show credibility. They were more avant garde like Mondo who is more likely to have his clothes show up on red carpets (Heidi wore his dress sans-sleeves to the Black Swan premiere)
-even from a 'producer wanting a happy ending' standpoint Mondo is much more likable
*I probably will still watch it next year. Especially now that tons of time has passed.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tumblr And Books
I started a tumblr. It seems pretty fun so far but I haven't done too much with it yet. I need a better theme too but the infinite scrolling thing kind of overloads this computer. Here is the link (which should be obvious): http://ambivalentalumna.tumblr.com/
Also I decided that I'm going to start writing about my progress going through Jezebel's list of 75 Books Every Woman Should Read. When I joined the library, finally, I figured it was a good way to have a ready-made list of books to go to if I was feeling particularly stumped about what I wanted to read next. I'd only read like 6 of the books on the list before I came across it and now I'm about one third of the way through. I already wrote specifically about The House Of The Spirits but I'll probably write a little more about it in a separate post later. So my first Jez Book List post should be coming pretty soon (as soon as I decided what I want the inaugural book to be).
I'm currently reading 100 Years Of Solitude which isn't on the list but I already read Love In The Time Of Cholera which is.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Redemption and Esteban Trueba
This is my first post about a book and I'm actually a bit nervous to write it. It's silly but it kind of feels strange to write about a book, especially a book that I don't have in front of me, in this informal, electronic kind of space. I'm going to keep it pretty loose and free form.
What makes one irredeemable; that no amount of good can make up for the bad? Is there a tipping point when it comes to redemption, is there some point when your good deeds outweigh your bad ones, that when reached brings you redemption? Or, is at the moment that you realize that you have done a lot that you need to make up for and you start doing good that you have been redeemed? Do you need to continue to do good for as long as you can once you make that realization?
Is it what, and how much good you do, or is it the fact that your intentions have changed that makes you redeemable?
Various thoughts and spoilers for those who haven't read the book after the jump.
Towards the end of the book Esteban did help his daughter Blanca and granddaughter Alba, more or less saving their lives. However, it was only after he caused them to suffer directly and indirectly. He was one of the people responsible, if not the person most responsible, for putting their lives in danger in the first place. He helped bring about the coup which led to the capture, rape, and torture of Alba. The same would have happened to Blanca had she been caught.
He also fathered the father of the man who tortured and raped Alba once she was captured, Esteban Garcia. By not being involved in the lives of the child he fathered and through the way he treated the people at Tres Marias, the village where he had his country house, he helped to create an environment where this unrecognized grandson, Garcia, became the monster he devolved into.
Those connections, however, were virtually nonexistent when it came to issues of real power in the government and he resorts to going to a loyal friend and brothel owner in order to save Alba. Would he have even helped Blanca or Alba if he had not been old, feeble, and no longer influential politically? Does that matter?
He was always going to reach a point where he'd no longer be powerful physically as well as politically, living as long as he did. Does the inevitability of the circumstances that softened him take away from the goodness of the choices he made?
If redemption occurs at the moment that you decide to start atoning for the things you've done wrong then it is possible that Esteban Trueba found redemption. However if you need to fully counterbalance everything that you've done wrong in order to be redeemed than Trueba fell far short.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Early Morning Outrage Pt. 2
Ok, I know she would dismiss me as one of those do-nothing bloggers, but Whoopi Goldberg seriously needs to stop using, "But she didn't go to the police," as a criticism of Mel Gibson's significant other. SHE DID GO TO THE POLICE. She got a restraining order before the tapes were released. (Also, I don't know that any woman should be criticized for not going to the police in an abuse case, but it's factually wrong to say she didn't).
Whoopi also needs to stop giving the benefit of the doubt to Mel as to the veracity of the tapes if she isn't also going to give it to Oksana as to whether she leaked them. Whoopi assumes that Oksana is the one who leaked the tapes without any proof. Maybe she did leak the tapes but it's wrong to hold people to different burdens of proof. It's not surprising that Oksana (the side-piece, as Whoopi calls her) is held to higher burden of proof than Mel.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
NY Times Clutches Pearls Over Body Hair
I've read about the fact that Mo'Nique's doesn't shave her legs on a lot of blogs. The first time I read about it was a while ago. It was definitely pre-Precious because when her leg hair was being talked about in an awards show context I was already aware of the fact. The New York Times, perennially behind the times, just decided to tackle the issue of body hair on the red carpet yesterday. It's a silly piece with a gossip blog tone.
The part that bothered me most:
...Mo’Nique...lifted her floor-length dress to reveal her unshaved calves, abundant in their hairiness. This did not go over well. The New York Daily News crowned her “the least superficial actress ever.” On Web sites like TMZ.com, people posted comments like “I have to HURL now ... Disgusting is an understatement.” It would seem that a collective ewww rang out nationwide, one designed to make every ’tween girl snap to attention and realize that leg hair is not allowed.
If this is an attempt from the NYT to be snarky and relevant it's worrying.
Via Roger Ebert's twitter.
Monday, April 12, 2010
M.I.A. On Gaga
I've been meaning to do a Lady Gaga post for awhile. I've felt like I'm the only person on earth that isn't totally into her schtick and I could never articulate exactly what I wanted to say about her. Recently, however, M.I.A. let me off the hook by stating my opinion of Gaga better than I could. From NME:
"People say we're similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently...but she spits it out exactly the same. None of her music's reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna but the music sounds like 20 year-old Ibiza disco. She's not progressive, but she's a good mimic."
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Doppelgängland
Monday, November 9, 2009
Behind on Internet Memes: 25 Random Things (aka The Final Post In My Half-Assed-List-Post Trilogy)
3. I have really short fingers, like when I worked at an elementary school, 4th graders had longer fingers than me.
4. I can’t use chopsticks. I’ve tried really hard many times but I just can’t do it. I worry that when I ask for a fork people will think that I’m some assy ethnocentric person that just refuses to use them.
5. Certain loud noises really bother me; vacuum cleaners, my grandmother’s television.
6. When I’m in a closed in space (usually some form of train) and someone stinks I put on hand cream and smell my hands until I can get out of there.
7. I’m vegetarian.
8. I’m definitely one of those people who don’t know what their real hair color is. I imagine it’s darker now than it was when I started dyeing it, but I’m not entirely sure.
9. I hardly wore any makeup when I was in high school but now I LOVE it and spend way too much money on it.
10. Drinking too much too strong coffee has more of an effect on me than actual stimulant drugs.
11. I started watching tennis again for the same reason I started watching it when I was in middle school: male tennis players are hot, they’re strong but not too muscle-y looking.
12. I probably watch TV more on the internet than on actual TV. This is probably because I watch a lot of UK TV shows.
13. I really miss living in London and being in Europe in general and I wish I had enough money to go back and forth between New York and London/Europe more often.
14. I miss being in college but I can’t decide what to go to grad school for (or if I even want to go because it seems like an insane amount of work and is ridic expensive)
15. I’ve recently decided that instead of dress pants I’ll only wear skirts and dresses. Jeans, of course, are ok.
16. I think I decided to wear skirts and dresses instead of dress pants as an excuse to buy more cute dresses.
17. I always take way too much stuff with me whenever I go anywhere and usually have a way too big bag that annoys me at the time but that in the end I’m happy I had with me.
18. My writing style tends to be confessional, possibly a vestige of Catholicism.
19. I like to read bad reviews of books before I buy them because I think it's important to know why the people who hate them feel that way.
20. I consider myself nerdy and cool and I can’t decide whether I’d be considered a hipster or not. I don’t consider myself one.
21. I tend to wear clothes inappropriate for the weather. I generally dress as if it’s a warm fall day and the actual days that are warm fall days are very small in number.
22. I love to be barefoot and if I’m home or at someone's home I usually am barefoot.
23. I worry about whether people think I’m copying them or copying some famous person but I own up to it if I am deliberately taking inspiration from
24. I usually respond to emails right away unless I’m feeling depressed and then I take forever to respond or don’t respond at all.
25. I don’t wash my hair as often as I should and it’s gotten used to the fact that it’s not washed as often as it should be (doesn’t get greasy for a really long time).
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
10 Albums I've Been Meaning To Check Out But Haven't Yet
oigold - Santogold
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday Tuesday Random2 10: Shuffle vs. Genius
It's not Friday and it's been a super long time since I've done one of these but I figured the best way to get back into blogging would be to do something that was kind of like filling out a form; that I didn't have to be too creative with. Both the Genius and Shuffle lists this week are particularly good so it was extra hard to choose a winner between each song.
Before I go onto the songs I just want to mention how much I love the starting song; Pulp's Like A Friend. It's so gorgeous and so fun and so quintessentially Pulp yet also really fits the movie it was penned for (kind of like Born To Cry, although that's kind of less fun, more sad). I love how it, like most of my favorite Pulp songs, is about relationships and is like sex in the fact that it starts out slow, rises to a climax (the awesome, quasi-headbanging bridge, "You are the last drink..." etc.) and then ends in a slow comedown. It's probably the Pulp song I've played most on bar jukeboxes (along with Disco 2000 and Do You Remember the First Time).
I obviously heard it the first time I watched Cuaron's Great Expectations, which unless I'm misremembering was in my friend Matt's basement, but didn't really notice it at the time, being background music and all. Any time I think of all the times I must have heard Pulp songs but didn't notice it makes me sad I didn't get into them sooner, like Mile End in Trainspotting and I'm sure some Pulp must have been played at the ULU bar, the Duck and Dive, when I was studying abroad. Oh well, onto the lists.
Starting Song: Like A Friend - Pulp
Shuffle Playlist................................Genius Playlist
1. Like A Friend – Pulp.........................1. Like A Friend – Pulp
2. She's Gone – Tindersticks.................2. I Will Kill Again - Jarvis Cocker
3. In Many Ways – Pulp.......W.........W.3. Lazy Line Painter Jane –
4. Tango Maureen – Rent Soundtrack...4. The Drowners - Suede
5. Beyond The Pale – BAD.....................5. Please, Please, Please, Let Me
7. Allison – The Pixies..........................7. Wild Horses - Sundays
8. Theme From Permanent Record.......8. Bar Italia - Pulp
9. This – Vic Ruggiero..........................9. Heroes - The Wallflowers
10. Jezebel – Owen Gray......................10. Love Will Tear Us Apart –
Track comparisons after the jump.
She's Gone vs. I Will Kill Again: Ok, even though it annoys me that so many Pulp/Jarvis songs showed up in genius (I know it's supposed to have similar songs but instead of the repetition how about some Blur, Cornershop or Black Box Recorder). I'll take a really good Jarv solo song over a sleepy song off an ex’s mix tape any day. Round one to shuffle
In Many Ways vs. Lazy Line Painter Jane: Now it’s shuffle repeating artists. Lazy Line Painter Jane (although off the same mix tape as She’s Gone) is an amazing song. In Many Ways is good for early Pulp (although it's no Blue Girls) but I like LLPJ better.
Tango Maureen vs. The Drowners: Embarassing musical song on my itunes round. I do like all the songs from Rent, pretty much, but The Drowners is my absolute favorite Suede song. It’s sexy, trashy, and homoerotic. Everything I want from Suede. Genius pulls ahead 2-1.
Beyond the Pale vs. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want: Please, Please is one of my fave Smiths' songs but I absolutely love Beyond The Pale. It's my favorite BAD song, mostly because the lyrics just ooze Strummer. "My grandpa came from Russia. Stowed away hidden in some bales. And he took my grandma dancing. To the air raid siren's hail" could easily be from a song on Sandinista! It makes an image form in your head of people waltzing while bombs glow faintly in the background like an orange sunset.
Diamonds In The Dark (Dusty Cabinets remix) vs. Laid: It took a few YouTube searches to find the uncensored Laid video. If you know what come means in this context you probably won't be too damaged by hearing it in a music video, and if you don't, it won't make any sense to you so the censoring is pretty useless. I love Laid, I can listen to it over and over again. I also love that it sounds like a song from the 60's, like it played on the oldies station that used to be on all the time when my parents drove me around as a kid, but Diamonds in the Dark is one of those rare songs by a new band that is completely, unreservedly great, and this particular remix enhances the song without making it lose any of the aura it had to begin with. Also I'm biased because I hung out with Mystery Jets when they played New York awhile ago and they're really fun and really nice and I tend to like it when bands aren't assholes to the people who like them (one of the many and one of the most important reasons for my adoration of Joe Strummer).
Allison vs. Wild Horses: Despite being less than two minutes long, or maybe because of it's awesomeness being so concise I love Allison. It has that dreamy quality so many of my favorite Pixies songs have while still having a hard-ish edge. Sundays' cover of Wild Horses is really pretty, I tend to like covers of Rolling Stones songs better than Rolling Stones songs (probably because I'm immature and my parents like them) and it gets extra points for being in a very important scene in Buffy but it does not beat the Pixies.
Theme From Permanent Record vs. Bar Italia: This one goes to genius. Bar Italia so clearly conveys the kind of malaise one feels while sitting at a coffee shop or diner after an eventful night out. Whether it was eventfully good or bad, there's always a come down when it's all over and your head is spinning and you're too wired to go to sleep but too tired to stay out. It's my go to song for train rides home in the wee hours. The Theme from Permanent Record is good but it's an instrumental and Bar Italia is just so poignant I can't not go with it.
This vs. Heroes: I love Vic Ruggiero's solo stuff. It's trashy and sexy and bluesy and I've been lucky enough to hear him play some of his songs solo. I walked into the last Warped Tour I went to, which I went to mostly to see The Toasters and maybe Rancid, and heard the familiar voice and was completely shocked to see him, guitar in hand, playing to a small group of people. It was awesome. I think that's where I bought his album(s), with the hand drawn artwork, because it was always sold out at Slackers shows but I might have already had it. The Wallflowers version of Heroes is ok, it's pretty faithful but obviously nothing compares to Bowie and I pretty much only have it because I had the misfortune of being a teenager in the late nineties. Vic clearly wins and Genius attempts a late comeback.
Jezebel vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart: This is an easy one, a random song from a Trojan comp (which are awesome and inexpensive and full of songs), the page of which the Jezebel link takes you to as there is no YouTube vid, and my favorite Joy Division song (I'm not that into them yet so the most popular/iconic is still my favorite, I kind of predict that in the future Transmission will be my favorite). I very assuredly go with Joy Division and Genius gets one more point.
This week Genius wins in the end, a close 5-4, eking out shuffle. The overall score sees Genius pulling ahead of shuffle 3-2. (It's really sad I've only done this 5 times.)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Off The Face Of The Internet
I'm back. It's been awhile...
Thursday, April 23, 2009
New Noisettes!!
I sort of knew that there was a new Noisettes album kicking around but I hadn't gotten around to checking it out yet. As a result of a promotional e-mail I checked their out their performance on Jools Holland via YouTube (above).
The first song, Don't Upset The Rhythm is, surprisingly very disco. It's really catchy and very danceable. The lyrics are a bit cliché but in a way that's befitting the poppiness of the song. Also Shingai Shoniwa rocked that gold lamé jumpsuit in a way I doubt anyone else could.
The second song, Never Forget You, started off with a bass line that, along with the off-beat ska rhythm guitar, made me like it immediately. I was kind of afraid at first that it was going to be a little too Winehouse-ish but Shingai's performance makes it very much a Noisettes song. Her voice is probably the best around currently and it's a shame that this band doesn't get more attention. Also the strings on both songs are perfect. I can't wait to pick up this album.
I really love bands that can change their style convincingly. I definitely prefer it to bands that do one style really well (unless that band is the Ramones). When I heard the Horrors new single for the first time I really didn't like it (despite the NME rave). They changed their style but it seemed kind of wishy-washy to me. Maybe I need to listen to it more along with the whole album, but that kind of reinforces how I feel about the Noisettes. I only needed to listen to Don't Upset The Rhythm once to like it and appreciate how seamlessly they were able to shift into disco-ey pop.If you're going to change your sound this is how you do it.
Monday, April 20, 2009
So I didn't think that I was going to join Twitter but I've had an exceptionally bad day and needed to do something that would occupy my mind but at the same time not require too much actual thought, like writing on here about Southland Tales, which I've been meaning to do and probably will do soon unless my day (and days in the near future) manage to get even worse which is a distinct possibility. See that was an extremely bad run-on sentence that I'm not going to even bother fixing because it would require too much thought. Anyway here's my twitter address:
www.twitter.com/ambivlentalumna. I couldn't spell ambivalent properly because it would have been too many letters so I deleted the a so it would still more or less work phonetically.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
I Officially Love Dollhouse
As you may have guessed, based on my affinity for Buffy, I've been watching Joss Whedon's new show; Dollhouse. I've liked it since I saw the first episode but I wasn't as impressed with it as I thought that I'd be. It did start to get significantly better, though, and even from the beginning it was probably still my favorite show on network television. Pushing Daisies, I'd say, is was similarly as good.
I loved Man On The Street, Echoes and Needs. They made it clear that the show was going to be much more than the first few episodes promised. The most current episode, A Spy In The House Of Love quickly became my favorite while I watched it yesterday. I hadn't been inspired to write anything about the show until I watched this scene between Ballard and Mellie:
(only watch this clip if you're up to date with Dollhouse)
Spoilers after the jump. (Definitely click continue though because that's where all my good ideas are.)
So, basically, Ballard has to sleep with Mellie after he finds out that she’s a doll in order to 'maintain the illusion', as whoever programmed Mellie put it, and not raise suspicion at the dollhouse.
He has to do something that he thinks is so wrong that he sacrificed his career to put an end to it. In sleeping with a doll he becomes corrupted; he knowingly has sex with someone who essentially lost any ability they had to consent. If he doesn’t corrupt himself in this way he'll have his plight to eliminate the dollhouse ended and most likely get himself killed.
I was kind of surprised that he went along with it so unflinchingly. As soon as Mellie went back to her un-hacked, active state he went back to exactly how he was pre-hack. He’s either ridiculously good at what he does or he’s pretty easy to corrupt.
What makes it an even shittier situation for him, if it was in fact Mr. Dominic who was hacking the dolls, Ballard's source has now dried up anyway.
At the end of the episode I liked how Dominic was kind of exposed as being similar to Ballard when he accused the dollhouse of hurting Echo after he'd tried to kill her twice. Kind of like how Ballard had to fight Echo in Man On The Street when his main motivation on the series has been to save Caroline.
It was also really funny that Dominic is actually an NSA agent since in Echoes he got outranked by Victor pretending to be an NSA agent.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday Random 10: Shuffle vs. Genius
Finally, it's time for another Friday random 10 comparison (I did actually finish before it became Saturday)! Ok, so as of last time the score is shuffle 2, Genius 1. Here we go...
Starting song: Body Of An American - The Pogues
(This is another bad scan (this time of a not so great pic to begin with) but I decided that where possible I'd use pictures I'd taken. It's from the first time I saw the Pogues, St. Patrick's Day 2006)
Shuffle Playlist...............................Genius Playlist
1. Body Of An American - The Pogues..1. Body Of An American - The Pogues
2. Prayer Of St. Francis -.............W.....2. Police On My Back - The Clash
.......Sarah McLachlan
3. Shark Attack Theme - Sven Libaek...3. Sweet Jane (live) - The Velvet
.................................................................Underground
4. Pencil Skirt - Pulp (Peel Sessions).....4. Visions Of Johanna - Bob Dylan
5. Sell Out - Reel Big Fish....................5. Debaser - The Pixies
6. Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night -...6. Wonderlust King - Gogol Bordello
...... The Hold Steady
7. Under The Bridge -..........................7. Streams Of Whiskey (live) -
.........Red Hot Chili Peppers......................The Pogues
8. Girls & Boys (live) - Blur..................8. Please, Please, Please Let Me Get
................................................................. What I Want - The Smiths
9. Pulp - The Trees.............................9. Rudie Can't Fail - The Clash
10. Home Altars Of Mexico - Art Brut....10. A Message To You Rudy -
.....................................................................The Specials
Track comparisons after the jump.
Prayer Of St. Francis vs. Police On My Back: Since I have Prayer of St. Francis because of it's use in a Buffy episode so I figured I'd go with a Buffy themed video. It's pretty obvious POMB wins here, I don't even think I have to explain why, the songs speak for themselves. Also I'm pretty sure it's the only song that I've heard both Joe Strummer and Mick Jones perform. I saw Joe play it was with the Mescaleros in 2001 and 2002 and I saw Mick play it with Carbon/Silicon last April (wow, can't believe that was a year ago.)
Shark Attack Theme vs. Sweet Jane (live): I couldn't find anything on YouTube that comes close to this version of Sweet Jane. It's the live version form the Best of the 20th Century Masters Millennium edition so I just linked to the Amazon page where you can preview it. Also the Shark Attack Theme video is pretty random. But, anyway, Sweet Jane is the clear winner here. This version is slow and sparse, sad and pretty, basically everything a VU song should be. It's one of my favorites and beats a random instrumental from The Life Aquatic Soundtrack.
Pencil Skirt vs. Visions Of Johanna: No YouTube for Pencil Skirt but the Different Class version is up on Last.fm and you can listen to a sample on Amazon. The Peel Sessions version of Pencil skirt is a little more interesting to the standard version. It's more flowy, the violin is more featured and it has more of a live feel. Still it can't stand up to the sheer awesomeness of Visions of Johanna. I'd quote some lyrics but I'd probably just end up quoting the whole song. I used to sometimes use "The all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the D train" as an away message back in college when I still used AIM.
Sell Out vs. Debaser: Sell Out is a really fun song. It was kind of the first ska song I liked before I really even knew what ska was. That being said, Debaser is probably a better song. Like most Pixies songs it's really layered and the delivery of the lyrics is perfect. It also references a Salvador Dali film so points for that too.
Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night vs. Wonderlust King: Another Last.fm link for Chicago Seemed Tired and this one's actually working for me now. Wonderlust King is just so passionate and joyful that I definitely prefer it. Maybe if it had been Certain Songs, Don't Let Me Explode, or How A Resurrection really feels I would have gone with the Hold Steady but not this time.
Under The Bridge vs. Streams Of Whiskey (live): Not the same version of Streams of Whiskey but kinda close. The specific version I have is from 1988 with Joe Strummer on guitar. The sound isn't as good as the version in the YouTube clip but I'm going to be completely biased. Even though I don't like when Genius puts more than one song by the artist within the ten, and the sound isn't good the Pogues with Joe Strummer is going to beat just about everything. Sorry RHCP.
Girls & Boys (live) vs. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want: Ok, so the G & B also isn't the exact live version but is pretty close and Please, Please is supposed to be a studio version but I linked a live version. So I'm going with genius yet again here. If it had been the studio version of G & B it would have been a really hard decision but the live version isn't as good. Please, Please is really is another one of those sad and pretty songs I love so much. (I'm totally thinking of doing a full post on sad and pretty songs...maybe sometime soon).
The Trees vs. Rudie Can't Fail: The Clash clip is from Hell W10 which is kind of awesome and makes me miss living in West-ish London. The Trees is a really good song, one of my favorite off of We Love Life but Rudie can't fail is a classic. The interplay between Joe's voice and Mick's voice is probably at it's best in this song. It's fun, great to dance to, has great lyrics; it's pretty much anything you could want a song to be. Has shuffle gotten even one point yet? This is pretty much a landslide.
Home Altars Of Mexico vs. A Message To You Rudy: I've had such bad luck with YouTube this time. Maybe companies are getting more rabid about taking songs down... Anyway, another point for Genius. I really like the Art Brut song but Rudy is just too good. It's a song I've loved for a really long time. I love it in pretty much all of its incarnations from Dandy Livingstone's original, to the Joe and the Meskies live version, to this version. The light, kind of airiness of the keys is what makes me really love this, and is also part of what makes The Specials' Pressure Drop my favorite version of that song.
This weeks competition was a total blood bath. Shuffle didn't even get one point. Genius was a bit repetitive with two Clash songs and two Pogues songs but the songs were so good I didn't really even notice. As for the overall score Genius has pulled into a tie with shuffle, 2-2.