Alternate.org

I know it’s too early to have a year retrospective, but as of tomorrow, all of the media, toys, and whatnot that I have been craving start to flood into my life. Actually, tonight kind of feels like the day before a birthday, or Christmas. I can’t sleep. It’s just incredibly weird to know that in the next two months, everything I have been looking forward to for the past year is being released. Want insight into my horrible, horrible id? They’re not suprising to those who know me, but these things will rule my life:

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (for PS2)
Monsters, Inc.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
Nintendo Gamecube
Rogue Leader (for aforementioned Gamecube)
Super Smash Bros. Melee (for Gamecube)
Lord of the Rings
the Royal Tennenbaums

All of those things have an insane amount of hype to live up to, and while I look forward to having a good time with them all, I never want to have a year like this again. It’s been unhealthy to live out the Fight Club quote: the things you own end up owning you.

Oh well. I’m going to be off playing Tony Hawk 3 (online!) and Grand Theft Auto 3 for the next couple of weeks. Fun knowing everyone. Go see “The Man Who Wasn’t There.” It’s awesome.

While at everyone’s favorite interactive agency and after-hours Quake facility tonight, my car got broken into. More to the point, my window got broken and the detachable face of my stereo got stolen. Not the entire thing, but just the face. And also some CD jewel cases that contained zero CDs. They happened to miss the cash on the passenger seat and the entire Case Logic CD caddy positively full of CDs right below that. Smart fuckers, these car stereo theives. It’s happened before, in my high-school era 1985 Corolla, so I’m not that shocked/apalled/stricken with grief as most people are the first time they get violated in such a mildly inconvenient way. This is when having a used-car sales manager for a major Denver-area Toyota dealer for a father-in-law proves to be an advantage. Well, this and the fact that we pay cost for near-new cars. But that’s another story.

Are you the same? I am.

I saw “Waking Life” the other night. Bear in mind that I fucking hate “Slacker” (though I realize its importance to indie film) and thought that “Dazed and Confused” was one of the more boring films around. That said, I recognize that I am not the desired definitive Gen-X demographic for those films. So he had a lot going against him. But I am a huge fan of animation, and found this whole rotoscoping technique to be very interesting.

But this will probably be the movie this year that I disliked the most.

Two main reasons: 1) Animation rotoscoping. Fantastic idea. Carried out very poorly. The sole reason I can find for having 8+ different objects in any given scene moving completely independently of each other is because it looks cool on drugs. And thats a stupid reason. I don’t get car sick, and I’ve always had a strong motion sickness immunity. But for the past two years, “Star Tours” at Disneyland has been messing with me. And it bugs. So anyways the film lurched my stomach forward instantly, but it stayed at a steadily upset, and never got out of hand. But it honestly seemed that he used this technique SOLELY to get peoples attention so that he could preach to them about reality for an hour and a half.

Which brings us to 2nd reason: the “story.” Did Mr. Linklater get help from Spaulding Gray on this one? What was the concept conversation like? “Hey, we could have people talk to each other, try to make it interesting and worthwhile, or we could have these ‘characters’ speak almost directly to the camera. About things that only that angry, bootwearing, hipster goth kid thinks is worthwhile!” I mean, I guess this film bugged because it touched directly on my general problems with most philosophy. While its great to contemplate whether or not life is real or not, whether we’re ants, or really just dead always, or any of that, it seems like most philosophy is a poor excuse for fucked up people to justify their socially irresponsible actions. “Hey, you can’t fuck me and just run out on me!” “But baby, you know that none of this happened, it ain’t real. Hey, lets do some crank!”

Basically, I don’t care whether or not you think you’re going to heaven, hell, be reincarnated, have nothing happen, or wake up from a dream, if you’re an ass right now in this life, then you should head to the next.

But most people should check out this pic, just to see what they think. While I barely enjoyed it (loved the dream stuff), and more people left the theatre than I have ever seen, I think it is a very ambitious film.

Can’t believe you said you “hate those people” who left the theatre, Kev. Harsh. Anyways, has anyone else seen this film? Flame on!

Remember the cleverly marked bomb?Well, if the Afghani troops really are ‘fags’ then maybe their guns look like this? Via Newstoday.

So the new poll isn’t the most thought-provoking or new idea in the world, but that’s okay. Think of it as a beta-test, which it actually is. If you run into problems let me know, but please don’t vote more than once, even though you currently can in fact do so. You are only to cast multiple votes if you: a. forgot what you voted for the first time, b. want to change your mind or c. really want to.

Try visiting msn.com using any browser not made by Microsoft.

Hooray for capitalism! Hooray for America. Stop Anthrax now with the Anthrax Box!



Link via MetaFilter

I know how you all like to laugh at Microsoft, so I thought you all might enjoy this.

I played a bit of the XBox today when I went to pick up the suprisingly awesome Grand Theft Auto 3. As before, I wasn’t impressed. That said, some of the launch games are getting some good reviews. Of course, Halo was meant to be on a Mac, so I apologize for opening old wounds. Personally, I’ll just wait a few months and then possibly contemplate getting it. We’ll see. These next coming months will be very interesting for games.

Saw Bjork last night at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. With an awesome harp player. And the wonderful craziness that is Matmos. And a funky choir of Inuit girls from Greenland. Oh yeah, and a 50+ piece goddamned orchestra. It was…good.

Matmos is a band that makes more interesting sounds than they make good music, in my opinion. Using a balloon as a drum. Plucking and bowing on their old hamster’s cage, as a tribute to said ex-hamster. They have an entire CD of surgical sounds called “A Chance to Cut is A Chance to Cure.” They opened, and were far more enjoyable than I expected.

But I didn’t go to see Matmos.

Bjork is someone that most people either love or hate. I can understand why those that hate her do so, but I feel sorry for those people. It must be sad to not love her work. To not have such warm music to rely on. But anyways this was not an electronica performance. This was essentially “An Evening with Bjork.” There was an intermission. I think that is incredibly stylish. We had wonderful seats, and got to witness something incredibly rare. I’m still beaming.

So if you ever get to see one of your favorite artists with an orchestra, I recommend it. It’s so choice.

Oh yeah, no one will probably care, but on the way to the venue we drove by LA’s Pershing Square. I have never been there, and I only know it from Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 previews. Suffice to say, it is very very surreal to drive by a videogame level.

Despite that fact that this whole ‘everything prefixed with a lower-case i’ thing is pretty 1999 (hey, at least the computers don’t come in colors any more), Apple introduced today the iPod and iTunes 2. The iPod is a digital music player with a 5Gb hard drive that weights in at 6.4 ounces and is about the size of a pack of cards. What is quite amazing about it is that it’s got 10 hours of batter life, and can be charged via the FireWire cable that’s used to drag n drop music files to it like a hard drive. An interesting user interface provides the listener with quite a lot of control when away from your digital hub (ie, Macintosh computer), including playlist selection and native language selection. iTunes 2 is simply a newer version of the popular iTunes software, which will be required to connect to the new device. At $399, it ain’t cheap especially for you PC users out there, as you’d have to buy a Mac to use it. Nyah. I also noticed that the new device looks exactly like the MP3 player that was included with Developer Preview releases of MacOS X, prior to the Public Beta which included iTunes instead.

So apparently, I’ve found out what happens when my wife and kids leave town: I drink a lot and see independant films. It also happens that 2 much-anticipated films debuted this week along with the arrival of the Denver International Film Festival, which I didn’t even know existed. What movies did I see, you ask? David Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive,’ a documentary about midwestern high-school football fanaticism, ‘Go Tigers!,’ and the movie on everyone’s mind of late, ‘Waking Life.’



Some quick reviews because I’m not that good at reviewing film:



+ Mulholland Drive

What can you say about David Lynch besides thanking him that you’ve gotten to see Laura Dern’s breasts and that Eraserhead was fucking weird? Well, you might say that ‘Mulholland Drive’ is one of the best films to be released this year and one of the best of this fledgling new century. Typical Lynch-ian editing and subplot mania with backwards and confusing flow. Also, the midget’s back. And lesbians. Go see it.



+ Go Tigers!

Not a movie I would have seen of my own accord, this one was screened at a theater I didn’t even know existed during a film festival I didn’t even know existed. You should see it if it comes to your town, but I’m not sure how far/where it’s playing. More about human reaction to opposition and obstacles than sports. But damn, that tiger-woman is crazy. Also, there’s bulldogs fucking and a kid that I really hope you don’t immediately assume I was like in high-school, because that kid sucks and I was much more eloquent and directed than he is/was.



+ Waking Life

By far the film I’ve been anticpating the most, ‘Waking Life’ is a philosophical ride through a perfectly rendered and executed technical masterpiece. People did leave while it was still playing however, I’m assuming due to the completely philosophical content or maybe they got seasick. Either way, I hate those people and I hope you’re not one of them. A film that will change your view on things a little. I really enjoyed the scene with Speed Levitch from ‘The Cruise.’ I just watched the video about rotoscoping on the website and was very happy to see that such a great masterpeice was… you guessed. Made on a Mac. :)

Macromedia, inexplicably, thinks that they own Adobe’s technology being used for Photoshop and GoLive due to a patent they were issued in 1998. Yeah.. because GoLive wasn’t the name of a company that created the original ‘GoLive’ product named CyberStudio like 5 or 6 years ago, and Photoshop hasn’t been around since like 1989.



Macromedia’s becoming the nasty little bitch company I always thought they were. Flash is their ONLY true product and they are only currently in business because of it. If Adobe’s LiveMotion was a better product, Macromedia wouldn’t even be around today. Let alone the fact that Adobe and Apple created the empire that Quark and Macromedia so happily reside within. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly and ruthlessly Adobe slashes through Macromedia.



I mean, seriously. Who uses Fireworks or Freehand? Nobody. Link via Jen.

Mac News Network redesigned. Pretty good job, too. Just enough Aqua, but not too much.

In an attempt to not entirely but sort of copy The Chooch, I’ve put herded together lists of the top 4 songs of the past 4 months that your favorite people here have been listening to. The rules were that a. the list did not need to contain songs that have been released in the past 4 months, just that the people in question had found themselves listetning to them for whatever reason, and b. the people in question did not have to supply reasons or reviews of said songs, but those types of comments were encouraged. So. Without further ado, here are your lists:



(Note: songs and interviewees appear in no particular order)



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scott (Alternate)



does this have anything to do with your 404 No
Internet post? or are you just getting your Rob from
High Fidelity on? In no particular order…



+ 1) “The City” by the Dismemberment Plan.

I usually hate keyboards in rock, but goddamn is this song great(as is the accompanying album Emergency and I). One of the two bands I would love to see live (along with Sleater-Kinney).



+ 2) “Since I Left You” by the Avalanches.

I’m going to cheat. I don’t just like this song. I’m enthralled by the entire album of the same name. SO not my normal type of music, but the most impressive, enjoyable album I’ve heard all summer. Great href=”http://www.sputnik7.com/vod/vodartist.jsp?key=psch&section=music”
target=”_new”>videos too.



+ 3) “Across the Sea” by Weezer.

Don’t really like this band except for kitsch value and the awesome album that is Pinkterton. This song is its thesis statement. An album that is honestly a bit too personal from one of the least expected places. A great suprise.



+ 4) “Staralfur” by Sigur Ros.

Yes, its cliche. Yes, the singer sounds like a girl. But this is my favorite song off of Agaetis Byrjun. This is holy music for atheists and agnostics.

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jaxon (Alternate)

Number One song that gets stuck in my head that I then can’t get rid of for the rest of the damn day:

+ “Smooth Criminal” remake by Alien Ant Farm. Stop The Insanity! Get Out Of My Head!



Number One song that I like even though I wouldn’t think I would have:

+ System of A Down : “Chop Suey! “



Number One song that I can’t not watch the video for:

+ Britney Spears – “I’m A Slave 4 U” (she looks like Pam Anderson, for the love of God – now with body oil!)



Number One song that I could listen to all day at work:

+ Gene Joke – “Brain Drain” (happy pants dancy trance)

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SU (Signal Vs Noise)



Hmmmm… That’s a hard one. Let’s try these (in no particular order):



+ Orbital, “The Box (Part 2)” (from “In Sides”)

Long route to this one. I went to see the independent film “The Deep End” which features Tilda Swinton. Got curious about this Scottish actress and wanted to know about more films she’s been in. Turns out she appeared in the video for this song—she moves in “real time” while the rest of London moves around her at 10x speed. The video got me listening.



+ PJ Harvey, “A Place Called Home” (from “Stories from the City…”)
Picked this CD up on a business trip to Chicago and got into her music. This song’s chord progression and driving rhythm are easy to work to. The lyrics speak to the rootless feeling I sometimes experience—do I belong where I live?



+ Stereolab, “Captain Easychord” (from “Sound-Dust”)

The song begins “Let live what must live, die what must die.” Good for the recent reflections on life and death following 9/11. The background country jam sound and the mix of French and English lyrics wrap around the horns and the techno beat to form a complex collage.



+ Rufus Wainwright, “One Man Guy” (from “Poses”)

Rufus performs a song from his dad. I first heard it on the World Caf with David Dye (Public Radio International) when Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”) played guest DJ. Wainwright’s voice just kicks ass on this short track.

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ddmmyyy (Alternate)



+ Refused – Tannhauser/Derive

A violin and hardcore that remind me of a torrential storm.



+ onelinedrawing and The Deftones – No Ordinary Love

The lead singer of now dead Far and The Deftones cover Sade’s No Ordinary Love. I can’t find it on CD, but it can be
had.



+ Deathcab for Cutie – Information Travels Faster

This is off their newest album that’s hardly a week old and I’ve already given up to this song. It plays on repeat in my car. Unfortunately it is a little to short to make it to work in one listen.



+ Fugazi – Break

The best first song on an album ever.

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scott (Erasing.org)

+ 1. Brad – “We” (from “Shame”)

+ 2. Tori Amos – “Rattlesnakes” (from “Strange Little Girls”)

+ 3. DJ Shadow – “Stem/Long Stem” (from “Endtroducing…”)

+ 4. Aphex Twin – “Selected Ambient Works Volume II” – all tracks



That last one is kind of cheating, but it’s far and away the album I’ve been listening to the most these past four months, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t include it.



(In any case, none of the songs on that album have titles, and they all kind of jell together into one extended two-disc song that happens to fade in and out every now and then.)

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kev (Alternate)



In no particular order….

+ AFI - Wester

There something about this song. Something. “Tonight.. in the whispers when no one’s around.. nothing can stop us now…” Just the way that AFI can get away with what seemed at first to me to be a sort of Def Leppard-esque ‘6-guys-singing-the-background-to-the-chorus’ technique. I thought it was cheesy at first and now I can’t get enough. And this song makes Eddie cry.



+ Death Cab For Cutie – Company Calls / Epilogue

Sort of cheating, this is actually two songs stuck together with similar names and similar lyrics. So insipiring, I’m actually considering writing a film based on the concept in these two songs. Also, whenever I hear it, I feel like I’m reading ‘A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius’ all over again. The book and the songs go together perfectly. It’s pretty scary, actually.



+ Saves The Day – At Your Funeral

“If I flooded out your house, do you think you’d make it out… or would you burn up before the water filled your lungs….” I was first exposed to Saves The Day by a bad representation of this song via the band’s Flash-enabled website for their latest album and I had to buy it as soon as it came out. A great live band with a ton of energy and crowd appreciation. I’ve also never seen so many 17-year old indie girls in my life.



+ The Cure – The Same Deep Water As You

Out of left field, I’ve found my way back to this song of songs. It’s too bad that it’s 10 minutes long and not radio-friendly, because more people should really hear it. It defined the last 2 years of high-school for me, and I’ve found new meaning in it. There’s something about the guily pleasure of letting yourself sink into 4 slow chords and the saddest chorus-and-reverb-drenched guitar line you’ll ever hear. And Robert Smith will always know how to tug at my heartstrings. “Can’t you see I try.. to swim in the same deep water as you..”



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808 (Alternate)



Misfits – Halloween

Danzig – Sacrifice

AFI – All hallows eve

Nerf Herder – Hotel California