Underground Halloween Costumes

So after the Jens Lekman show, on the way back to Brooklyn, we saw some pretty cool pre-halloween costumes on the subway--I guess there were a lot of halloween parties on saturday night in new york. Since tonight is halloween, I'll share some of the photos of these costumes to celebrate the ocassion. Maybe after this post, I'll go trick or treating as Fransisco Stein.



I'm not sure if they were going for specific characters or famous monsters, but these people get A for dressing up as something. Sure they may have low-concept costumes, but wearing ridiculous costumes even though halloween was a few days away has to be worth something.

(more coming soon)

Jens Lekman's Hairdresser makes a great song

So after seeing Jens Lekman at Webster Hall in NYC on Saturday night (yes, I was briefly on a trip there and pictures are coming soon--as soon as I upload them) I've changed my new favorite song from Night Falls Over Kortedala from "Opposite of Hallelujah" to "Shirin."

First off, during the set, Jens Lekman mentioned that the only place in Kortedala that produced anything of beauty outside of his own studio was Shirin's "Kortedala Beauty Center," a hair salon. And so, Jens named his apartment's studio (located at Kalendervagen 113.D, the namesake of the bonus album that came with Kortedala) the Kortedala Beauty Center (just check the credits on the album's insert, it confirms this). Anyway, long story short: the song "Shirin" is about that hairdresser named Shirin, who may or may not be real. But who cares? The song is brilliant.

Not only is the song catchy as hell, how F-ing original is a song about a hairdresser that uses a love affair as a metaphor (okay, simile technically) for the awesomeness of the hairdress, "When Shirin cuts my hair it's like a love affair." It's a song not about love that uses love as a metaphor for a non-love thing.

On top of that, there's this underlying theme about how Shirin's family seem to be Iraqi refugees who talked about the Iraq war "cause they were there"? Shirin also apprently runs her Kortedala Beauty Center in her apartment illegally, just take note of the lines "When Shirin does her magic to my frizzy straw/Immigration and tax representatives stumble upon their laws/But what if it reaches the government that you have a beauty salon in your own apartment?". This makes for like double irony here, not only is Shirin an immigrant (possibly illegal?) but she runs an illegal beauty salon in her apartment.

So yeah, that being said, "Shirin" may turn out to be the best cut on this album...


Jens Lekman - Shirin (Yeah, I know, posting mp3s on the blog is like giving away free candy. But this is some candy everybody should taste. Plus, songs aren't so bad for your teeth.)

How Do You React When Schizophrenics Love You?

So apparently, clinical psychologists at UNC Chapel Hill have begun using the show Curb Your Enthusiasm to teach schizophrenic patients social skills. Apparently, schizophrenics really relate Larry David's character in the show. While the producers of the show seem to've forbidden the team of psychologists from using the show's episodes in their research, the psychologists recorded their own versions of the episode's situations to teach the schizophrenic patients how to behave themselves. It's funny because, as much as I love the show, it always seemed that all the lessons were in how NOT to act.

You have to wonder how Larry David feels about being so loved by schizophrenics, he's quoted in the article saying that "I knew that my own mental health was problematic, but should I be worried? I mean, I blow up, too! Is this something undiagnosed? Do I need to see a clinical psychologist?"

Two cool songs

Super Furry Animals - Oi Frango

&

Magnet - Gospel Song

Prison Food Convention: Yummy!

How The Darjeeling Limited is like John Travolta's career (And What To Call A Short Film About God): An Epic Post

Prologue

So for the last 3 years I've been in denial that The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou sucked. Don't get me wrong. It pains me to say that. But the bottom line is that, while I watched every prior Wes Anderson film like a billion times over, I saw Life Aquatic once. I saw it at the theater and never again. Upon leaving the theater, I said to myself, "Maybe it'll get better on repeat viewings." And maybe it does. But I'll never know, because I never saw it again. Why? Because I was lazy? Or maybe because if I saw it again and STILL didn't like it so much, I would have to admit that Wes Anderson, director extrordinaire, was past his film-making prime and that Life Aquatic was the beginning of the end.

Part I

Last night. I attended the free preview screening of the Darjeeling Limited here in Orlando--actually, it was in an Orlando suburb called Altamonte Springs. Before the sneak preview I was worried. "Would Darjeeling Limited be another yawner?" "Would THE director that defined this entire undefinable generation continue to spiral downward?" We sat in a line of what seemed like every little indie hipster in the city just waiting and my doubts about Wes Anderson's future just kept coming. Brian tried to distract me by asking my girlfriend Caeley and me for suggested titles for an untitled short movie he just worked on in search of a title. The movie is about one guy spending a day with God.

Here are some titles the three of us came up with while trying not to think about what may await us inside that AMC Theater and on the sounds and images that await us:

Dammit, God!
Walking on Water and Coffee
[Walking on Water and Coughing]*
[Walking on Water and Unwrapping Toffee]
[God Eats Wgeatoes]**
God Eats Wheaties
[Breakfast of Godians]
Beard and Glory
[God Hates Glitter]
iGod
Please, Call Me God
God with the Pearl Earring

* title created when Brian heard Caeley's suggestion wrong.
** title created by Brian's iPhone based on his typing errors.


Part II

So finally, we entered the theater. It was packed. And the local radio station hosting the free screening, O-Rock 105.9, tried to plug themselves before the movie. They must've paid to have the audio turned off of the pre-Trailers half-hour advertise-show that seems to come before all the movies now-a-days. But instead of replacing the audio track with some music, as would be the logical thing a radio station could do to promote itself, they had two people stand at the front of the theater with a box of O-Rock (and Darjeeling Limited) merch and threatened to give it to people in the audience if they answered trivia questions correctly. Unfortunately, in a packed house, it was impossible to determine who answered the O-Rock promoters' easy-ass questions first so they basically just threw merch at random people in the first few rows, whether or not they answered first. I could barely make out what they looked like from the 3rd to last row in the back, but they looked like a frat guy and sorority girl trying to be cool by basically asking browsing IMDB could answer like: "What is Wes Anderson's first movie?" or "How many Wes Anderson movies has Bill Murray been in?" Correction: they WERE a frat guy and a sorority girl trying to be cool. Anyway, the whole thing made me wish they had kept the audio track on so I could actually hear the movie previews and advertisements before the movie.


Part III

After all was said and done, the movie came on. And it was awesome. How did I know it was awesome? Because it ended way too soon and because I was anxious to see it again and because, maybe possibly probably (if I can somehow get over Rushmore), this is his overall best film yet. By that I mean his most balanced between plot, character dev., style, & humor and with the least "rough edges." Better yet, the pay-off at the end (SPOILER ALERT) is this awesome montage of a camera panning across a train in which each segment is a different room in which different characters (mostly minor and secondary characters) from the movie are shown in the middle of a private moment. The whole thing is reminiscent of Jean Luc Godard's famous car montage in Weekend:





Epilogue

I can't wait for Wes Anderson's next film or even the DVD release of this one. Though I still don't plan on watching Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou again.

A Day Without Headphones

If I read horoscopes, I'm certain today would be a -9. Last night, I laptop-recorded two incredible songs of my friend Sam (aka Summer Sprinklers and a fellow member of Magnet Club) and his friend Casey's (who is in Chicago Bears as well) twee/pop/folk project, Hello Green Fields. Unfortunately, as much as I want to spend my day at work listening to the songs over and over again--seriously, they're that good--I left my headphones at home. I can't use my work computer's speakers since my co-workers are grumpy complainers, nor can I run home to get my phone phones since, with my luck, my boss will surely come in and check on me the second after I step out of the office.

Satan? Can you hear me? If you have a soul contract in need of signing, I have a soul I will trade you for a pair of headphones. But hurry, I'll put this soul on craigslist if you don't contact me soon.

Blog Hunter #1 - Swan Fungus

To this relative "noob" to blogging, blogs seem rather randomly scattered around the web. It seems like the blogs with the biggest followings are the ones that post the most free mp3s. I don't blame people for gravitating to these blogs since, before making this here blog on www.blogger.com, the only blogs that came to my attention were those song-posting music blogs. Their creators were like popular DJs of the internet. Like Blog-Js or ... BJs? Anyway, suffice to say, I've been scouring the web (ok, just googling random things and linking around Technorati and Hypem.com) for signs of intelligent blog-life on the web. I'll try to post the ones I find here when I find them--afterwards, I'll add them to my links over on the side. Anyway, here's the first find:

Swan Fungus

This is a kindred blogging spirit if I ever saw one. The blog seems to've been called "Communication Major/English Minor" in the past (reminding me of my own English Major and partial, incomplete minors in Film, Music, and Philosophy and my own impulse to make a blog about that). It seems like Evan (writer/blogger/founder) started the blog around the same time (in his life) that I'm starting this one: a time, shortly after graduating from college, when life seems like a big hassle and jobs (at least good ones) are harder to find than Waldo in some Striped, Red shirt and Hat Store--terrible analog, but it was the best I can come up with. Anyway, his "Adventures in Dating" read like tiny novels and they're pretty funny (though kinda lengthy). Still, this guy is like my blog hero--or at least like a vision far off into the future. A vision into myself 2ish years from now. Kinda scary. Though, not terribly depressing--at least not like this.

Subscriptions welcome.

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Whole Human

Wow, 18,350 U.K. pounds is cheap!

http://www.ectomo.com/index.php/2007/10/11/deviant-artist-alex-wooley/#comment-3256

Orlando's Faux-Skyline

You may notice that Orlando's skyline looks amazing if you drive into Orlando, FL from the West Coast of Florida, heading East on I4 (actually North if you check a compass). Just as you pass that little Conroy Rd. overpass that says "Orlando," between "The Holy Land Experience" and Mall of Millenia, you can see out in the distance, several tall buildings in a New York-like skyline (okay, maybe a more Atlanta-like skyline). If you get off at one of the exits following this "Orlando" overpass/welcome sign, your amazement with Orlando will stay with you forever. But if you're adventurous--or maybe just live here--and wander deeper into the city, when you actually reach downtown Orlando, you may notice that, like some Andrea Pozzo, church ceiling, Orlando's tallest buildings are arranged along a single Avenue (Orange Ave) and there are actually only a few of them.

Downtown was constructed at just the perfect angle and distance from that Conroy Rd overpass as to look like the big city it isn't from that very point. Take note, that from that point Westward (Southward on a compass) begins Orlando's "tourist zone" where International Drive and the Disney parks begin. To the unadventurous tourists that never wander into the meat of the city, the impression left by Orlando--its "Magic" perhaps--is never dispelled into the reality of the small-town with carefully positioned architecture. However, to the brave explorer of the city (or the cynical resident) the reality of the city, the careful positioning of the long, but only one-avenue-wide skyline, looks like the cardboard scenery of a sad stage-production. Or worse, the city (i.e. the actual part where most of its people reside) is the back lot to the biggest tourist trap in the country or perhaps the largest-scale Trompe-l'œil in the world.

Pierre Schaeffer: musique concrete's dad

So this French guy, Pierre Schaeffer, had nothing better to do during the German occupation of France during WWII than develop a contemporary theory of sound. Fascinating stuff. Apparently Stockhausen used his studio/lab to compose (and perform?) some of the first found-object compositions--ever. Read about Pierre here:

http://www.music.psu.edu/Faculty%20Pages/Ballora/INART55/concrete.html

"Opposite Of Hallelujah" (In Spanish and On YouTube)

So, yeah, I finished translating Jens' "Opposite of Hallelujah" and put it up on YouTube:

Jens Lekman (In Spanish)

So the new Jens Lekman CD, Night Falls Over Kortadela, came in the mail yesterday. Today, at work, I've gotten nothing done because I've been listening to it nonstop.

Correction: I've gotten some work done. I've started making a Spanish translation of "The Opposite of Hallelujah" so far this is what I have. It's not a literal translation, but I try to capture the meter as much as possible to make the spanish words singable (is that a word?) in the same melody as Jens' original version:



Jens Lekman's "Opposite of Halleluja" (Spanish Translation by Omar DeLaRosa)


I took my sister down to the ocean
Lleve a mi hermana al mar
But the ocean made me feel stupid
pero en el mar me senti estupido
Those words of wisdom I had prepared
esas palabras que prepare
All seemed to vanish into thin air
me las volo el biento
Into the waves I stared
y mire a las olas

I picked up a seashell
recoji un caracol
To illustrate my homelessness
para illustrar mi falta de hogar
But a crab crawled out of it
pero un cangrejo salio
Making it useless
y el caracol fue inutil

And all my metaphors fell flat
mis metaforas calleron
Down on the rocks where we sat
contra las piedras en que nos sentamos
She asked where are you at?
me preguntaste donde estamos

But sister, it's the opposite of hallelujah
hermana, es alreves que hallelujah
It's the opposite of being you
el alreves de ser como tu
You don't know 'cause it just passes right through you
no entiendes porque a ti te va facil
You don't know what I'm going through
no entiendes por lo que me paso yo

(NOTE: This is the work of an amateur spanish speaker. I speak fluent spanish, but I typed this at work and I don't know how to make accents in WinXP since I usually use a Mac. Furthermore, my spelling in Spanish is horrible since I moved to the U.S.A. when I was 5 and haven't actively sought to improve my spanish-speaking since ... well, ever.)

Musicophilia: Oliver Sacks' new book.

Looks like Oliver Sacks has a new book coming out. And as if he weren't already among my top 5 authors, this one is about case studies related to music (yay!):

check it out here.

Parking Meter Skimming (or P.M.S.)

Don't pay for parking in Orlando. Let others pay for you. If you're trying to find free parking in Orlando for a short trip to get your take-out or something (at Pita Pit for example) timing is everything. What might look like your run of the mill "paid parking meter" becomes a freebie spot when you practice what I call "Parking Meter Skimming" (or P.M.S. for short).

All you have to do is just browse the displays on the meters and find the parking that has some left over minutes on it. Since most people misjudge exactly how much time their downtown errand will take, they always leave extra minutes on the meter when they actually pull out of the parking spot. The key is finding the meters with left over minutes (preferably enough to cover the length of your errand--in my case, Pita pit's quick turn-around time) and snag those spots. If necessary here are a few tips:

Tip #1: Park in the Expired meters (i.e. the ones with 0 minutes) pretending to put money in it as you look around at the other meters for left-over minutes. Once you spot one, jump right back in the car and move it over to that spot.

Tip #2: If necessary, leave the car running as you brwose (WARNING: If following this tip, be careful not to lock the keys in the car or leave the car open to a car-jacking by an opportunistic passerbyer. Remember that not getting your car stolen is essential to the PMS system because parking requires a vehicle.)

Tip #3: Synchronize your watch with your meter. If you lose track of time on your errand--i.e. if you get chatty with the cashier at Pita Pit--then a green envelope with a parking citation could await you at your car turning this from freebie parking spot to $25-40 parking spot.

Why if I see another Ron Paul sign...

Could someone please tell me who is putting up these crudely painted "Ron Paul in 2008" signs everywhere? They're all over Orlando--on lamp posts, on mailboxes, on bumpers, even in the songs of a few local open-mic night folkies (granted, two, rather idiosyncratic and quixotic ones at a small open mic in Winter Park back in July who both sounded a bit like Bright Eyes in their own different ways).

Is this guy turning into the Ralph Nader of the right?

The NY Times Article about him from a while back gives me the impression he's like Peter Sellers' character in Being There: Could be mentally disabled, utters vaguely agreeable/slightly paranoid political banter, and seems to have made it to some pretty high places in politics by simply being there.

I know the political arena for 2008 looks a little bleak and cluttered with loonies, but Ron Paul wins Omar DeLaRosa's First Annual, "Loony of the Year Award" for 2008. Congratulations Ron. You've earned it.

Poptastic No. 1 (or my first imeem playlist)

I know, this is a lot of posts in a short span of time, but I have nothing else to do right now since me and Caeley are at my mom's house doing laundry and it's all still soaking and/or drying. So in that same stroke of being idle, I've put together another imeem playlist (my first?), including some cool tracks that I've been really into lately.

Notes:

1. Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am" - This track I discovered on MySpace by clicking "Top Artists" (that link had been there for a while, but I find that I seldom find myself "browsing" myspace using that mish-mash of links all over their page. Anyway, I don't really know anything about her other than that her voice seems to have a Sondre Lerche quality to it (at least compared to the only Sondre Lerche album I have, Duper Sessions). Ingrid has that same confident quirkyness bathed in breathiness and faux-jazziness that Sondre has.

2. Jens Lekman's "Your Beat Kicks Back Like Death (Scout Niblett cover)" - Okay so I heard this on Pitchfork a few months ago when the SC100 compilation came out. But oh well. Shoot me. I still think it's great. "We're all gonna die" couldn't juxtapose more perfectly with the little latin-rhythm, Beach Boys-harmony going on here. Oh you're so sly, Jens.

3. Sean Kingson's "Beautiful Girl" - After my car was messed up a bit in a small accident a few weeks ago (don't worry I'm fine, and the other guys insurance covered my damages), my car was in the shop and the auto-body shop gave me a loaner car with no cd player (only tape--bleh). So on one of the only two radio stations I like in Orlando is Power 95.3, one of the two rap stations, I heard this song and nearly pulled a wild-take (y'know, when the cartoon character's eyes bug out.) Anyway, it is crisp, neo-hip hop production, with some doo-wop harmonies (Wikipedia says it's supposed to be "Stand By Me"?) and some surprisingly bleak lyrics (nice!).

4. Hot Chip's "I Don't Know The Half of How To Have A Hope of Holding Back" - Heard this on Kitsuné Maison compilation 1 ... or maybe 2? Anyway, it was incredible. Hot Chip hasn't cut loose as much as they did on this "Playboy"-era B-side/throwaway track in a long time. Though maybe they will on that new album with "Shake a Fist" (they definately cut loose playing that one live at Bonnaroo 2007 this past summer).

5. Whitest Boy Alive's "Golden Cage" - Why this band isn't already on VW commercials or Levi's Commercials or what is beyond me. Behind them is Erlend Oye's monster talents of penning both minimalistically clean-cut yet overwhelmingly funk-tactular tracks (really, ignore the "whitest boy alive" name). This song is just fun to listen to.

6. Cut Copy's "Saturdays" - Amazing track. Amazing album. Amazing band. I haven't been able to stop playing this track in the 3ish years it's been since Bright Light Neon Love came out. Dance-pop perfection.

7. Magnetic Fields' "The Book of Love" - Eh, I just felt like putting this on 'cuz I wanted to hear it. Great ain't it?

8. Magnet Club's "A Country House" - More of that shameless self-promotion. This instrumental electracoustic/dance-folk track sounds nothing like the stuff we play now and, I'll be frank, I made this in like November of 2006 before "Magnet Club" before I started playing with Jordan, Ken, Jen, and Sam. Actually, it wasn't even "Magnet Club" then. It was just "The Delarosa" and the only shows were open mics, haha.

9. Peter Bjorn and John's "Teen Love" - This commaless band just kicks too much ass for their own good. I think this track was their big hit before "Young Folks" and it might be a cover. Either way it rules.

Anyway, enjoy the tunes.

Re: Imeem

So after looking around this site, I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm the only one I know with Imeem. Does anyone else out there have imeem? If so, add me. I'm at: http://plasticimpossible.imeem.com

*cough* Magnet Club *cough* (Shameless Self Promotion)

This imeem thing sparked my interest recently. It seems to be like a social-networking thing based around media playlists. Everybody's a DJ/VJ/PJ (PJ = Photo Jockey) these days, so I guess it's good. Anyway, I made a playlist of the demo songs of my band, Magnet Club. It sounds like a greatest hits compilation of a band without any great hits. Actually it's all the songs we've recorded in a sort of "polished" fashion--we have a million lo-fi recordings that sound really bad muddy, but oh well. Either way, check it out:

Halloween Soon

Wow, Halloween is coming up soon. What should I be?

A. Ghost
B. Vampire
C. Zombie
D. The Zombies (i.e. dress up as the entire 1960s Chamber Pop Band)

The Lo-Fi Laptop

A laptop for $100? Actually the idea has probably hit all of us. I remember when I first realized how possible it was (2 years ago) realizing how cheap computer parts had become since I first became interested in building my own computers (back in 1998 when I was in 7th grade, to be exact, when Intel Pentium 2s with 233mhz of memory and "MMX Technology"--whatever that was--cost like $150 OEM) and why no company had jumped on it. Little did I know that the idea had been in works at the time.

Of course, when I first heard of it, I heard of a company called Lonovo doing it (a company I'd never before heard of at the time, but one that turned out to be the Dell of China--huge, ubiquitous, cheap PCs). As the $100 laptop developed, it seemed as if other companies were developing it. Turns out that now (i.e. as of a few months ago) the laptop's named went from "the $100 laptop" to the "XO-1" (a little catchier than the last name I supposed, though it sounds like the name of a friendly robot rather than a computer.) Anyway, now, the official specs on it don't seem quite so bad. And based on David Pogue's video review on the NYTimes website it actually seems pretty cool--even for "snarky bloggers" such as this one. I mean, it's like a totally spartan, portable computer that has all sorts of built in collaborative tools that MacBooks and Windowsified laptops don't have. It comes built-in with a Fedora Core linux, as well as a combination of WiFi capability and "mesh network" when WiFi is not availible. I'm really tempted to buy one at $400 when they come out in November...

Maybe I can trade someone my iPod for one of these XO-1 babies...

So cheesy, even a caveman could write it.

Have you ever tried to take a "three guys walk into a bar" joke and give each guy a back-story? Like standing right there, in front of your friends at a party telling the joke, but elaborating like, "The Polish guy, well he came from Poland to Boston at the age of 18 to attend Boston University. He's going to this bar with the Italian and the Priest because they're both in his frat. Actually, they're all going drinking at this bar because the bar has a great reputation for mixing quality drinks. Plus the Priest heard from a guy in his 'Intro to Economics' class that the bartender is this hot. Also, they all enjoy the music of Cher." No. Who in their right mind would turn a "three guys walk into a bar" joke into that? Well that's exactly what ABC has done with the "three guys walk into a bar"-esque Geico-Cavemen commercials.

After being a fan of the comic genius of the Geico commercials (really, transcendental commercials that broke through their medium), last night's episode of Cavemen was a complete let down. Not only were the comic talents of its cast members (Kroll, Swardson, et al) seriously underused, but the run-of-the-mill sitcom they crammed the cavemen in to me inspired a tear of pity from my eye. Pity for the poor comedians portraying these ill-conceived caricatures. Granted, it might not be easy to fully characterize and render complete psychological portraits of such an absurdly placed group as cavemen in a modern-day U.S., yet the old Geico commercials did just that. Maybe the actors behind the old Geico Cavemen studied their Stanislavski better or something. Still, what seems to've happened in last night's train-wreck (yes, that's what it was) is that the Cavemen themselves were written into your average "other ethnic-group fish out of water" sitcom using the cavemen as a sort of Ur-ethnic group that was not really expanded upon from the basic form laid out by the series of 30 second commercials. The "cavemen culture" simply followed a defacto, uninspired, stereotypical Otherness based on only an oversimplified, lightheartedly xenophobic value-system that boiled down to: "Keep your penis, in your genus" (ok, the one memorable line in the entire half hour.)

I'm not trying to be nostalgic for nostalgia's sake, but what set those old commercials apart is that they were commercials, with memorable characters who had memorable behaviors in a medium (i.e. T.V. advertising) that lacked such attention to detail. What seems to bring this half-hour show down (or at least this first, highly anticipated first episode) is the creative caution it exhudes by being simply being a sitcom and nothing more. Even the theme song's attempt at avant-garde, super-imposing cavemen into famous historical archive footage ala Zelig/Forest Gump/Citizen Kane, uses an obvious, teetering-on-the-verge-of-cliche signifier for avant-gardge like that one.

All I wanna know is: where are you, Geico-advertising department? Can you please take over this ABC production?

geezy

woosh. (this is the intro, btw.)