June 2005

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Brains

Filed under: Imported

Since I freaked out about the release of George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, I feel obligated to tell you what I thought of it: Eh. The guy who created the zombie genre is no longer breaking new ground (harhar). Land of the Dead doesn't have the wry humor of the original Dawn of the Dead or the outrageous gore of last year's remake. It's not campy like The Return of the Living Dead or clever like Shaun of the Dead or scary like 28 Days Later or wacky like Wild Zero. Romero's social commentary feels tired but a growing sense of empathy for the flesh-eaters is a step towards something interesting. See it if you must or check out one of the movies I already mentioned. I also recommend Resident Evil; video game-to-film transfers don't come any better. They're usually much, much worse.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 24, 2005 4:02 PM

 

Beautiful Blues

Filed under: Imported

Saw Eels last night at Pantages and was reminded of just how underappreciated they are. Still, the fans in attendance went nuts. Whooping through the intros of obscure B-sides, demanding three encores, hollerin' "Motherfucker!" between songs (it's okay, it's a request). Crazies, all of 'em.

The show was preceded by a cute Cheburashka cartoon about a lonely crocodile. Even better was a trailer for "Rock Hard Times," an Eels documentary that follows E through countless Euro TV appearances. It's easy to forget he's so popular over there and playing to live audiences on Top of the Pops-style programs, when in the states he hasn't, as far as I can tell, even been invited to the perfectly fitting Austin City Limits. But the doc looks like it has some gems, as a deadpan E slogs through some truly insipid interviews.

Foreign host: The recent death of Aaliyah has really shocked people here. What is it like for you as an American?
E: It's awful news. We were planning to do a duet together and now it'll never happen. I think her death is more tragic, maybe even three times more tragic, than the death of Kurt Cobain.
Foreign host: I'm afraid we're out of ti--
E: --I think it's more tragic than the deaths of Kurt Cobain, Hank Williams, and Elvis Presley combined.

If you've never heard this loner with an underbite, go watch some videos. I'm partial to "Last Stop: This Town." He builds a robot out of a carrot!

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 22, 2005 5:10 PM

 

Holy Ball and Biscuit

Filed under: Imported

I've never been so happy to care so little about the White Stripes. $45 at ticket, huh? For that price, Bono better descend from the sky on a giant piece of fruit and remarry those kooks. At the very least, Meg should practice a little beforehand.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 21, 2005 4:13 PM

 

Agreeance

Filed under: Imported

Jim Walsh's critique of Rock School is dead-on. Someone needs to start a rival school where Paul Green can learn about music written within the last 30 years. Hey Paul, there's this thing called "punk" where people make great music without hitting all the right notes. You'd hate it.

Hicky's right about Hal. Neither one of us can stop listening to "Play the Hits" (well, he can cuz I borrowed the CD and won't give it back.) I wanna sing like Del Shannon too! But since I'm a girl, I'll settle for principle castanets player.

I'd also agree that, as someone recently pointed out to me, I enjoy music that's weird and unnecessarily complicated. That's why I went to the Turf Club last night to see Enon. Their setlists seem to include more of Toko's songs every time I see them. She's a helluva bass player and on tape she manages to sound sincerely innocent and sexy at the same time, but her voice just doesn't carry well live. John makes for a better frontman. The way he reels around the stage, leering at frightened audience members, huffing and puffing and sucking on the mic-that's some good Enon. His bug-eyed weirdo persona came out on the only track they played from their first (and most bizarre) album, Believo! The strangely wonderful "Rubber Car" has vocals that about-face from sinuous falsetto to snarling growl, a bass line that slides around like it's about to be sick, indecipherable lyrics about ??? It's weird. And I like weird.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 15, 2005 5:27 PM

 

R. Kelly's insane narrative skillz

Filed under: Imported

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If I wrote stuff like this, would I be:

a) A ridiculously rich, frighteningly tan soap opera auteur who claims early retirement to lounge poolside indefinitely

b) Teaching "The Importance of the Cliffhanger: the Dan Brown Method" at community college

c) Unemployed

 

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 7, 2005 5:24 PM

 

I'm partial to Tuesday Weld as "Girlfriend"

Filed under: Imported

Via Cheek: Pose for your favorite album cover!

This reminds me of one of the Shins' videos for "New Slang" [Side note: Has any song ever had so many completely different videos? I think there are three, possibly four.] This one's mighty hard to find online so just imagine the guys recreating seminal indie rock album covers--Husker Du, Slint, Minutemen, etc. I'll shamefully admit that someone had to explain most of them to me, as the albums came out before I was born. Or rather, before I became a college radio DJ.

But it also reminds me of my dad's brilliant, yet sadly unrealized idea for my high school senior picture. He thought I should spoof the Cars' Shake It Up with giant headphones instead of a martini shaker. We laughed about how it would leave my classmates wonderfully confused, then proceeded to do nothing about it. Still, a picture like that could really spice up my blog header. Anyone got a good pair of cans to lend me?

Ooh. I need this.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 6, 2005 5:34 PM

 

No Problem

Filed under: Imported

Tonight NBC unveils a program to get one-hit wonders off the streets. Imagine a musical battle of the has-beens : a Flock of Seagulls vs. Arrested Development vs. CeCe Peniston vs. Loverboy vs. Tiffany. And that's just the first week (other promised performers include Vanilla Ice and the Knack). But the detail that ruins this otherwise brilliant idea?  It's called "Hit Me Baby One More Time." They paid for the right to call it that. I've been complaining about this, prompting a "Well, could you do any better?" response from my roommate. So.

Escape from the County Fair Circuit
Opportunity Knocks (then Runs Like Hell)
AARP Idol
Van Winkle's Last Chance. No, We Really Mean It This Time.
Desperate Midlives

I didn't say they were good. Just better.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at June 2, 2005 4:43 PM

 

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