MMM

Fox News thinks Mr. Rogers ruined a generation of children:



Yeah, um if there's one problem with the kids of today it's that they have too much self-esteem. Sigh... Is there really a need to argue this kind of psycho pseudo-social-darwinistic bullshit? Apparently there is, since Fox News is now instructing a generation of idiot parents to teach their kids that, what, believing in yourself is wrong?

I really hope the recent surge in crazy that's been coming from the right is just the last gasp of a dying movement.

P.S. and I love how they vaguely link it to some "study" to add legitimacy. The conclusion of the "study" showed what? The young adults of today watched Mr. Rogers as children. The researcher believes the young adults of today have a sense of entitlement? Well then, case closed!

Finally somebody eviscerates Glenn Beck, and I'm glad it was Stephen Colbert.
Get your Joe the Plumber hate on here.
Musikmesse 2009, the worlds' leading electronic music trade show, is currently blowing my freaking mind. I'll do a sum up post on my favorite new pieces of gear when it's all wrapped up.
Watchmen's Rorschach as the Randian ideal.
More Inglourious Basterds pics.
The FBI, getting its priorities straight.
peoplewhositinthedisabilityseatswhenimstandingonmycrutches.com

"The task of an American writer is not to describe the misgivings of a woman taken in adultery as she looks out of a window at the rain, but to describe four hundred people under the lights reaching for a foul ball. This is ceremony."
-John Cheever

"A RED STAMP. If lilies are lily white if they exhaust noise and distance and even dust, if they dusty will dirt a surface that has no extreme grace, if they do this and it is not necessary it is not at all necessary if they do this they need a catalogue."
-Gertrude Stein

"The death ... of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world"
-Edgar Allan Poe

So I finally watched a David Cronenberg film that didn't blow me away. Actually, let me rephrase that. It blew my mind - like all Cronenberg movies - but I just don't think it really worked.

A little background: ever since watching Crash a few years ago I've been steadily working through his catalog. He is one of those rare directors that makes intelligent, bizarre films that seem to work on all levels: writing, dialogue, performances, cinematography, awesome Howard Shore scores (if you only know Shore from the LOTR scores, check out music from Crash and Videodrome). On my recent trip to Portland I came upon a wonderful little store called Strange Maine, where I found a bevy of cheaply-priced VHS tapes, which I ravaged, walking away with a sackful ranging from Don't Torture a Duckling to Sunday in the Park with George. I also picked up eXistenZ, which was at the top of my list. It had a killer cast, promised old-school Cronenberg mind-bendingness, how could it go wrong?

Well, here's how. From the beginning, the acting and the dialog across the board is as stunted and cartoony as anything from Scanners (which I tend to forgive because it was early in its career). The opening scene features a cheering crowd of extras that look and sound like they're from a badly dubbed anime. In fact the performances are so silly that some have questioned if it were intentional, reflecting the dubious-nature-of-reality-theme in the film, but I think that's a bit too convenient of an excuse. This weighs heavily against the typical Cronenbergian imagery in the film; the pulsing fleshy game controllers, technologically-constructed bodily orifices, and horrific mutant animals become more ridiculous than intriguing when framed and elucidated by awkwardly-delivered lines. It becomes camp and, even if it were intentional - which I doubt, it is not good camp.

Edelstein notes that eXistenz came after a series of "calamitous receptions" to such films as Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly, and Crash, which is why the film seems to be some sort of Videodrome-lite. I don't know if I'd characterize those films as "calamitous", since Naked Lunch and Crash quickly developed cult-status, but I understand his search for a reason for this film. The film is still adventurous, it is still complex and provocative, but it quite simply doesn't hold together, even with the added touch of there being fourth wall commentary on the feebleness of the plot, and its lack of cohesiveness, which acts as a lazy deus ex machina.

eXistenZ an oddity in an otherwise near-perfect oeuvre, made even the more odd by its normally-stellar cast. You just get the sense throughout the movie that they don't know what in the hell they are supposed to be acting about, and one can hardly expect the audience to be sold on it if the actors are not.

Mafoo's one-line sum-up review:

eXistenZ is a good movie to get baked, watch with a group of friends, and then compare to the Matrix afterwards.

Jim Webb is doing the Lord's work.
Torture is not torture when we are the torturers torturing. Get it?
Watch Mos Def slowly unravel with a few delicate jabs by Christopher Hitchens.
Tiny synth, MIDI controller, sequencer, sampler, onboard fx, built-in mic, motion sensor, and a freakin' FM radio? I can't wait for the price so I can cry myself to sleep...
I wanna be a baconographer.
Bushy eyebrows are back, finally...

(via RB)

For the record, I don't smoke pot, but I have - like our last three presidents - in the past. I do, though, see it squarely as a civil rights issue. Obama's glib dismissal of the will of the people really pissed me off. There is no reason for the law to be on the books, and there is a wonderful opportunity here to help ease the massive strain of the recession. Wake up man!

What's going on America??

I just returned last night from Mell and my post-Little Death vacation to Portland, Maine. I'll include some pics here from both the show and our trip, as well a link to the full album. Enjoy!

The Show:
(thanks for the action shots Marbot!!)

"Something... happened..."











"You're like... God!!!"


"to... me..."


"And you know Jesus is my best friend!"


"Pe-ne-traaaa-tion!!"


The Hang:


After-show glow










Dinner at Sammy's with the Folks:


Mystified by the seltzer


Mell in her Linda Richman shirt.


Steak it up Wil!!


We found ourselves in the midst of an impromptu bat mitzvah!


Trip to Maine:


You know you're out of NYC when the truck stops have NASCAR romance fiction...


Lobster cages in Portland


At J's, drinking an Amber


I look like I'm trapped in an ad for either beer, eyeglasses, or eyebrow tweezers...


Delicious oysters on the half-shell


More drinkin'. Yummy Bloody Marys!!





Melly, unsure of her first escargot endeavor


I'ma gonn eat you Pinchy!


This is how you pull the head off of a steamed clam.


Our adorable hotel.


Here's the link to the full album or you could just view the slideshow:

Just a reminder to come check out my opera, The Little Death Vol.1 this Friday and Saturday night, 9:30 each night.

Here's that info again:

The Little Death Vol.1
March 20th and 21st, 9:30PM
@ The *NEW* Tank - 354 West 45th Street (in between 8th and 9th Ave.)
Tix are $10

Check out songs from the show here

This is fucking messed up:



and it really, really reminds me of this:

Thank you Lord Google:

Google today finally announced its plans for GrandCentral, the telephony service it acquired in July 2007. GrandCentral will be reborn as Google Voice, a comprehensive suite of telephony services, including all of GrandCentral's features. In addition, Google Voice will also include an automated voicemail transcription service, the ability to send and receive text messages, and integration with your Gmail contacts. Users can now also call any number in the the U.S. for free.

Great news. I used to have a voice-mail transcription service, but it sucked and cost money. This one sounds much, much better:

The automated voicemail transcription feature looks like it will be one of the most useful functions of Google Voice. Transcriptions are fully automated and Google will mark passages in the text where the algorithm was not very confident about the transcription. Transcriptions will automatically appear in your inbox, but Google Voice can also email them to you, or even send you an SMS with the text.

Huge.

Let's hope that the phone companies are running scared like the swindling bastards they are. Exorbitant international calling rates? Paying for SMS and minutes? Hopefully that will all be a thing of the past.

Hey all, if you're looking for something rockin to see this weekend, go check out loadbang at The Tank on Sunday. loadbang ensemble is a great new group consisting of musicians from the Manhattan School of Music's new contemporary music program. It's a kickass program and the cats from there really seem to be filling in the new crop on the New York new music scene. We've invited loadbang to play on The 1st Annual New Music Bake Sale, a show Ensemble de Sade is putting on with Newspeak (more on that soon!), so you can trust me that these guys can rock a concert.

Instrumentally they're a rather unlikely quartet, but I think it works to their favor:

Jeffrey Gavett - Baritone Voice
Andy Kozar - Trumpet
Philip Everall - Bass Clarinet
William Lang - Trombone

How many new music ensembles have brass players in the majority? Awesome. Check them out, here's the deets:

loadbang

Sun, 03/15/2009 - 9:30pm

$10

New York based loadbang will be playing music of American experimentalist John Cage; premiering brand new arrangements of music by the Velvet Underground, written for loadbang by Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang; and playing new pieces by young composers Christopher Jette and Daniel Highman.

For the record, this is the same Tank that my Little Death show is at next weekend. Plug plug!