Sunday, March 26, 2006
My Film History Class
Hey, since Jonah started the movies discussion, I figured I'd volunteer this little bit. Next term I get to teach film history class. So, I figured I'd let you guys know the movies I'll be showing these unknowing yet impressionable youngsters. It's pretty tame for me, because I'd like to keep this job. No Ichi, The Killer and Old Boy, despite much temptation. Here's the screening list.
1. Casablanca
2. Citizen Kane
3. The Bicycle Theif
4. Annie Hall
5. Raging Bull
6. Do The Right Thing
7. For A Fistfull of Dollars
8. Psycho
9. The Seven Samurai
10. Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control
11. Roger And Me
12. 8 1/2
13. City Of God
14. The Royal Tennebaums
15. 2001 : A Space Odyssey
16. Blue Velvet
Some of these are there because of more historical and departmental concerns. Others are obviously there because of my innitiative.
If you have any thoughts or suggestions give me a comment.
1. Casablanca
2. Citizen Kane
3. The Bicycle Theif
4. Annie Hall
5. Raging Bull
6. Do The Right Thing
7. For A Fistfull of Dollars
8. Psycho
9. The Seven Samurai
10. Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control
11. Roger And Me
12. 8 1/2
13. City Of God
14. The Royal Tennebaums
15. 2001 : A Space Odyssey
16. Blue Velvet
Some of these are there because of more historical and departmental concerns. Others are obviously there because of my innitiative.
If you have any thoughts or suggestions give me a comment.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Not Yet Watched But Already Loved 2
The second installment in my ongoing series of films in my Netflix Queue that I love, but haven't seen:
Boxcar Bertha
Boxcar Bertha Martin Scorsese's first widely-released feature (produced by Roger Corman). Having seen most of Scorsese's short films, I'm interested to see Scorsese young and given the limited means to make a feature. I'm not expecting "Mean Streets", but I am expecting a young filmmaker committing some inspired moments to film.
Tropical Malady
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Experimental Thai love story where the guy disappears and then there is some debate as to whether he is a "menacing, shape-shifting beast."
In Cold Blood (1967)
The movie version of Truman Capote's book (not yet read, but already loved), starring Robert Blake, who was acquitted of murder of his wife, but was subsequently found liable in the civil case, plays Perry. This one sends shivers down my spine.
R. Kelly: Trapped in the Closet
A DVD companion piece based on Kelly's song "Trapped in the Closet". This can't not be funny! I'm waiting for the DVD companion to R.'s "Sex in the Kitchen".
Where the Buffalo Roam
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" starring Bill Murray.
Boxcar BerthaBoxcar Bertha Martin Scorsese's first widely-released feature (produced by Roger Corman). Having seen most of Scorsese's short films, I'm interested to see Scorsese young and given the limited means to make a feature. I'm not expecting "Mean Streets", but I am expecting a young filmmaker committing some inspired moments to film.
Tropical MaladyDirected by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Experimental Thai love story where the guy disappears and then there is some debate as to whether he is a "menacing, shape-shifting beast."
In Cold Blood (1967)The movie version of Truman Capote's book (not yet read, but already loved), starring Robert Blake, who was acquitted of murder of his wife, but was subsequently found liable in the civil case, plays Perry. This one sends shivers down my spine.
R. Kelly: Trapped in the ClosetA DVD companion piece based on Kelly's song "Trapped in the Closet". This can't not be funny! I'm waiting for the DVD companion to R.'s "Sex in the Kitchen".
Where the Buffalo Roam"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" starring Bill Murray.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Not Yet Watched But Already Loved: U/M/S Movie Recommendations
In the days before Netflix, even before Cosmo, back when I had to go to the video store to rent a movie. I remember working my way through the horror section, comedies, midnight movies, staff picks. I remember taking the free posters from the video store and decorating my room with them... 'Total Recall' was a highlight. I remember the first time I wanted to see a movie slightly more obscure than what my local video store would shelve and driving to Point Pleasant, signing up for membership at a video store there just to get my hands on 'Pink Flamingos'. I remember the dork from another video store that always parked his corvette diagonally across the spaces in the parking lot and would give the most impassioned moronic reviews of movies, such as the one where 'these robots pop out of the ground and cut this dude's fucking leg off!'
Nowadays, in this post-netflix world, I've got a queue overflowing with movies I may never get to. I've gotten to the point where I've had to email the site administrators several times to make sure I still have room to add movies. Now, as I close in on their maximum of 500 movies, I reflect forward to some of the movies I expect to love, but have not yet seen, that may very well remain ignored in my queue's constant evolution.
This week I will review a five movies from my Netflix queue that I have not yet seen, but expect to love:
Le Circle Rouge
Written and Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, who also directed "Bob le Flambeur" which I loved -- and was later remade by Neil Jordan as "The Good Thief", which I bought previously-viewed from Blockbuster but never watched. It's a French gangster flick from the 70's. Ultra-cool and stylish with a very modern element to it.
Z
Intense Greek political mystery/thriller from the late 60's. I'm expecting at least as many twists and turns as the aforementioned letter itself. Also, "Z" is my second-favorite letter.
Hukkle
Experimental Hungarian film tracking the Butterfly Effect chain of events sparked by a hiccup.
Good Guys Wear Black
I want to see this based solely on the cover. A close-up of Chuck Norris' face with mirrored sunglasses. On one of the lenses you see Chuck Norris doing a flying front kick into the front windshield of an oncoming car. On the other lens, you see him moments later, having kicked through the windshield, his foot planted into the driver's face.
Zinda
If you haven't seen 'Oldboy', the Korean movie directed by Park Chan Wook, see it. If you have, it's time to see the uncredited Bollywood copycat version "Zinda". Yes, expect a musical number or two. Directed by Sanjay Gupta, who has previously directed Bollywood ripoff versions of "Reservoir Dogs"/"Kaante" and "U-Turn"/"Musafir".
For other Bollywood movie versions of Hollywood movies, check out www.bollycat.com
Nowadays, in this post-netflix world, I've got a queue overflowing with movies I may never get to. I've gotten to the point where I've had to email the site administrators several times to make sure I still have room to add movies. Now, as I close in on their maximum of 500 movies, I reflect forward to some of the movies I expect to love, but have not yet seen, that may very well remain ignored in my queue's constant evolution.
This week I will review a five movies from my Netflix queue that I have not yet seen, but expect to love:
Le Circle Rouge
Written and Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, who also directed "Bob le Flambeur" which I loved -- and was later remade by Neil Jordan as "The Good Thief", which I bought previously-viewed from Blockbuster but never watched. It's a French gangster flick from the 70's. Ultra-cool and stylish with a very modern element to it.
Z
Intense Greek political mystery/thriller from the late 60's. I'm expecting at least as many twists and turns as the aforementioned letter itself. Also, "Z" is my second-favorite letter.
Hukkle
Experimental Hungarian film tracking the Butterfly Effect chain of events sparked by a hiccup.
Good Guys Wear BlackI want to see this based solely on the cover. A close-up of Chuck Norris' face with mirrored sunglasses. On one of the lenses you see Chuck Norris doing a flying front kick into the front windshield of an oncoming car. On the other lens, you see him moments later, having kicked through the windshield, his foot planted into the driver's face.
Zinda
If you haven't seen 'Oldboy', the Korean movie directed by Park Chan Wook, see it. If you have, it's time to see the uncredited Bollywood copycat version "Zinda". Yes, expect a musical number or two. Directed by Sanjay Gupta, who has previously directed Bollywood ripoff versions of "Reservoir Dogs"/"Kaante" and "U-Turn"/"Musafir".
For other Bollywood movie versions of Hollywood movies, check out www.bollycat.com
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Recommended Music From The Painful Leg Injuriess
On a somewhat weekly basis, I'll be posting a list of recommended CD's. Why me? I think mainly because I have extremely unhealthy habit of buying far too much music. My children are starving while I talk about the nuances of Just Intonation. Okay fine, I have no children, I'm not the least bit hungry and, I really don't wax specifics about Just Intonation out loud.
So to begin my listing, I've picked these recently purchases to highlight. I will mostly talk about releases appropriate to this site with occaisional disc thrown in that I like but would never make anything that sounds like it. So basically I'm just going to talk about whatever I feel like.
This week's recommendations:
1) Burning Star Core - Let's Play Like Wildcats Do
The Very Heart of the World
Mes Soldats Stupides
Burning Star Core is C. Spencer Yeh. He's been around forever but is just now getting some recognition. I first discovered his work after reading a very flattering review of these three records in the Wire. BXC is great at being all over the place all the time. Yeh is a avant garde electronically enhanced violin player, vocal stylist, and drone maestro. Let's Play Like Wildcats Do starts off with simply the most inspired piece of music I heard all last year.
It's called "Mes Soldats Stupides" (not to be confused with a two disc collection of his many works) is in equal measure the excution of the name of his label, Drone Disco. It pits a fierce drone circling and eventually swallowing up a great hand-clapping disco beat. It's big and bombastic , quirky and fascinating. Sounding nothing like this at all, The Very Heart of the World is feature some performances of BXC as a full band. "Come Back Through Me" could be the second most inspired piece of music I heard all last year.
A selection of Yeh's work from 1996-2004 as BXC is compiled on the 2 disc set Mes Soldats Stupides. The sheer scope and variety and excellent exceution of his work on this disc are astonishing. Keep an eye on this one.
2) Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid - The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1
Finally, someone has really made an trully amazing laptop dj/jazz combo record. Seriously, I think it tops all those Spring Heel Jack/Matthew Shipp things with ease. Steve Reid's excellent playing is a perfect match for the way in which Hebden manipulates a sample like an jazz great. I'm a fan of Fourtet, but Hebden left alone can often take on this hermetically sealed quality. Reid's playing completely pulls the rug out from underneath him and it really feels like all bets are off and anything can happen.
3) Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
I never really liked this band. I dug Tigermilk, but I get over retro acts fast. It's like a novelty, that you play with and then cast aside. So I wasn't about to buy The Life Pursuit. I heard it a little at a record store and I got interested, I liked the glam inspired sound. So I used some left over Emusic downloads and got it.
It's a surprisingly entertaining record. Their sad bastard days are behind them, this record's clap along songs are instantly stuck in your head. It feels almost like a breath of fresh air. When indie rock gets too stuffy, a record comes along and throws off the scene's balance. You'll get over this one fast but, when my subway rides are coming close on a end, I can't stop myself from putting on "The Blues Are Still Blue".
-wb
On a somewhat weekly basis, I'll be posting a list of recommended CD's. Why me? I think mainly because I have extremely unhealthy habit of buying far too much music. My children are starving while I talk about the nuances of Just Intonation. Okay fine, I have no children, I'm not the least bit hungry and, I really don't wax specifics about Just Intonation out loud.
So to begin my listing, I've picked these recently purchases to highlight. I will mostly talk about releases appropriate to this site with occaisional disc thrown in that I like but would never make anything that sounds like it. So basically I'm just going to talk about whatever I feel like.
This week's recommendations:
1) Burning Star Core - Let's Play Like Wildcats Do
The Very Heart of the World
Mes Soldats Stupides
Burning Star Core is C. Spencer Yeh. He's been around forever but is just now getting some recognition. I first discovered his work after reading a very flattering review of these three records in the Wire. BXC is great at being all over the place all the time. Yeh is a avant garde electronically enhanced violin player, vocal stylist, and drone maestro. Let's Play Like Wildcats Do starts off with simply the most inspired piece of music I heard all last year.
It's called "Mes Soldats Stupides" (not to be confused with a two disc collection of his many works) is in equal measure the excution of the name of his label, Drone Disco. It pits a fierce drone circling and eventually swallowing up a great hand-clapping disco beat. It's big and bombastic , quirky and fascinating. Sounding nothing like this at all, The Very Heart of the World is feature some performances of BXC as a full band. "Come Back Through Me" could be the second most inspired piece of music I heard all last year.
A selection of Yeh's work from 1996-2004 as BXC is compiled on the 2 disc set Mes Soldats Stupides. The sheer scope and variety and excellent exceution of his work on this disc are astonishing. Keep an eye on this one.
2) Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid - The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1
Finally, someone has really made an trully amazing laptop dj/jazz combo record. Seriously, I think it tops all those Spring Heel Jack/Matthew Shipp things with ease. Steve Reid's excellent playing is a perfect match for the way in which Hebden manipulates a sample like an jazz great. I'm a fan of Fourtet, but Hebden left alone can often take on this hermetically sealed quality. Reid's playing completely pulls the rug out from underneath him and it really feels like all bets are off and anything can happen.
3) Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
I never really liked this band. I dug Tigermilk, but I get over retro acts fast. It's like a novelty, that you play with and then cast aside. So I wasn't about to buy The Life Pursuit. I heard it a little at a record store and I got interested, I liked the glam inspired sound. So I used some left over Emusic downloads and got it.
It's a surprisingly entertaining record. Their sad bastard days are behind them, this record's clap along songs are instantly stuck in your head. It feels almost like a breath of fresh air. When indie rock gets too stuffy, a record comes along and throws off the scene's balance. You'll get over this one fast but, when my subway rides are coming close on a end, I can't stop myself from putting on "The Blues Are Still Blue".
-wb
Sunday, March 19, 2006
More Information About The Painful Leg Injuries's 9th Podcast Series "Rhythm Nation"
This 9th series of The Painful Leg Injuries Podcast all started when I gave up on listening to music when I work at home. I needed something to have in the background, but I kept getting lost in the lines of John Fahey's guitar or distracted by Spunk's numerous genre changes in one piece. So then it hit me, 24 hour news.
The soundbytes amaze me. There's so little information in a soundbyte what happens is that we end up knowing quotes and not having a clue as to it's significance. It's basically this; a story is chosen as the day's news item and there's about two views of that story that are portrayed, and repeated ad nauseum.
About three weeks the repetition of the term "IAEA" got stuck in my head like when I hear that Violent Femmes song "Blister In The Sun". It just gets stuck in my head on repeat until I've sung it to myself to death. I started thinking about those Steve Reich pieces "Come Out" and "It's Gonna Rain" and I was thinking, 24 hour news is just like that, except it never goes anywhere. So I collected every source I could find of newscasts where anyone said "IAEA" I then began a peice where this source is repeated over and over, but slowly as I move into making this musical, as I think of a connection of abstract sounds-scape to this news item, I think more about what the issue is really about.
This could theoretically forcce the listener to do the same. I am far from sugesting that I have any answers to our current politcal problems, I don't know shit. What I am sugesting is that as I go through a process of attempting to look into the structures of the sounds of these news items, someone who happens to listen to this may go through the same process and dig further.
A soundbyte cheats us of substantial information. When I read Walter Murch's tome about film editing "In The Blink Of An Eye", he says and I'm paraphrasing, that if you take the same footage and give it to 20 different editors you'll get twenty different films. He then compares it the fact that a chimp's DNA and human DNA are almost exactly the same. Without context or in the wrong context any bit of information becomes a monkey. The soundbyte is the removal of context. How many people in this country know any more about Howard Dean than "EEEEE-Yah!"?
And in who's hands does this information lie? The hands of those who will do whatever they can to sell us shitty food, cell phone contracts and pills that help you with twitchy legs.
I don't know how much this series of sound art actually accomplishes and I'm really stepping outside of my normal box of not making art or music that is about anything. So I'll probably regret this, but I feel good about this work right so I'll have to go on in this life tolerating my decisions.
This week's part 3 is "UAE" all sourced from one speech by our President. Doom and gloom are all around us (IAEA part 1 and H5n1 part 2), we are clearly in the wrong hands (UAE part 3 and NSA part 4) and we've got no one who can help (FEMA part 5). And there's clearly a one species to blame, birds.
Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
In case anyone feels safer having an explanation: the name Aguavodka derives from the high dilution experiments of the late Dr. Jacques Benveniste during which he found evidence that water could be "informed" with the recorded signal of a chemical in solution. In theory one could record the electromagnetic signature of a chemical solution (80 proof vodka?) on to pure water to create the cheapest (and smoothest) liquor in the land. The appelation El Plan de Aguavodka derives from the "get-rich-quick" scheme tacitly implied. It also refers to a simple yet effective plan to put the spanish word for water right smack-dab up against the word vodka and thereby bypass any need for clarifications.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Beware the Ides of March
I've never had issues with the Ides of any other month, why would March be different? I'm at a loss for the logic here. I'm at a loss for a lot recently. I lost my keys recently.
I've never had issues with the Ides of any other month, why would March be different? I'm at a loss for the logic here. I'm at a loss for a lot recently. I lost my keys recently.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Good morning and welcome to the OKS Recordings of North America blog. We opened this to allow podcast listeners a chance to comment on our work, and for general discussions. Thanks and hope to be reading your many posts.
wb
(The Painful Leg Injuries, The Harmful Free Radicals)
wb
(The Painful Leg Injuries, The Harmful Free Radicals)
