July 18, 2011

May’s Super-duper Song Review: “Baby” by Justin Bieber

Posted by mayiwrite under links, miscellany, music, observations | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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I had heard of Justin Bieber over a year ago. I’d seen pictures, listened to soundbytes. I’m not one to predict the staying power of any 21st century artist or musician, especially if his testosterone switch hasn’t flipped on yet, but am I EVER SO GLAD to be living in the era of this phenomenon, the “fever.” How can you not love him, his angelic voice, his wispy hair? His smooth dance moves? All before puberty, ladies and gentlemen. Can you imagine what kind of magic will unleash once thicker fuzz appears on his face? Until nearly two months ago in Africa, I did not know the power of this man-boy until a throng of fellow female college students started singing his songs. What a mighty blessing that was. Now, I will never forget him.

One of his timeless classics is “Baby” featuring Ludacris. It is one of the most enigmatic, soul-transforming chef-d’oeuvres that has ever been created. EVER.

Let me show this to you in a fancy, new window.

First, this song is sad. BUT LISTEN TO THE SONG! It has a fast beat and the melodic phrases go up a short scale then back down the scale. It intends to stimulate brain activity, like Mozart. Think of the beginning of  “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” as the notes ascend then descend. The remarkable thing here is that Justin is not performing as a string section of a chamber orchestra. He’s doing everything WITH HIS VOICE, with much aplomb!

You know you love me, I know you care
Just shout whenever, and I’ll be there
You want my love, you want my heart
And we will never ever ever be apart

Can you feel the confidence? I would be beside myself, completely lovestruck, if someone told me what I know and what I want. Why, yes, I DO KNOW that I love you. And it’s great that you know I care, but I wonder if you know what I care ABOUT? YES, YOU. Well, of course I want your love and your heart. I was beginning to think the era of the mindless woman submitting to the domineering man was gone, but fortunately this song is restoring that mentality to full force.

WHENEVER! WHENEVER! WHENEVER!

Um, Justin, where are you? You said you’d come.  What am I supposed to think when I call for him and he doesn’t come? How does he distinguish between what I want and what I will get? HE DOESN’T. EVERYTHING IS SO SIMPLE: IT’S THE SAME FOR HIM. Is he setting conditions for eternal togetherness? I want his love and his heart, therefore, we will stay together forever. That’s all it takes. That’s what I’ve done wrong all these years. I should have wanted a beautiful 16-year-old boy’s love to ensure my life’s happiness.

Are we an item? Girl, quit playing
We’re just friends, what are you saying?
Say there’s another and look right in my eyes
My first love broke my heart for the first time
And I was like…

Uh, oh. Showing insecurity, are we? VERY INTERESTING PROGRESSION. I love how one can experience such a wide range emotions and experiences in this stanza. IT’S OKAY IF HE DOESN’T REALLY KNOW IF HE’S IN A RELATIONSHIP, BECAUSE NOBODY REALLY “KNOWS” THAT KIND OF THING, ANYWAY. Uncertainty, just-friendship, doubt; shock from finding out there’s another love interest; falling so hard for someone that he becomes the victim of a big-time high-school jilting. This perfectly captures the high-school adventure of crushes and heartache, but I can’t really feel sad, because the tune is so happy, at least within the half-octave range it provides.

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you’d always be mine (mine)

One of my favorite things in high school was when people called me “baby.” Nothing made me feel more like an adult or more accommodating of my desire to be independent. What I also appreciate here is the anguish I feel in the “oh”s and “no”s, like he’s going through a type of denial–an important part of grieving–in the loss of his very first love that he absolutely truly thought he would love and be together with forever and ever and never mind that he’s dancing like an elf and making weird faces, because THOSE are DEFINITELY NOT reasons to break up with somebody.

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you’d always be mine (mine)

Apparently, the suffering is so deep, this part of the chorus needs repeating.

Also, not a coincidence this video is shot in a bowling alley. It’s a place where lots of teenagers hang out, and it incorporates the metaphor of the strike. Which either could mean striking out or completely scoring. And whatever kind it means depends on individual situations. Way to integrate relativistic philosophy into a song. IMPRESSIVE.

I ALSO LOVE HOW MODESTLY DRESSED JUSTIN IS IN THIS VIDEO. I know he is sparing my eyes from his rippling muscles and he wants me to focus on his boy-choir voice and that army dog-tag necklace. Because he happens to know how much I respect the military and have a weakness for men in uniform, plus, since he’s engaging my mind with the composition of the song, his conscientious dress only serves to make me smarter. He’s freaking brilliant.

For you I would have done whatever
And I just can’t believe we ain’t together
And I wanna play it cool, but I’m losin’ you
I’ll buy you anything, I’ll buy you any ring
And I’m in pieces, baby fix me
And just shake me ’til you wake me from this bad dream
I’m going down, down, down, down
And I just can’t believe my first love won’t be around

May I take this moment to compliment Mr. Bieber’s lip-synching abilities. ALWAYS SO SMILEY!

What is the color of desperation? It’s called Justin Bieber. I LOVE how he encourages emotional awareness, despite his denial. He’s in pieces, and he needs the girl to put him back together. BUT she also wants him to shake him, which you would think defeats the purpose of the Humpty-Dumpty repair, but he’s having one of those falling-down dreams, which means he’s losing control, and he needs the girl to help him gain control. I LOVE how specific he gets with his promises: I can shout WHENEVER, for me he would do WHATEVER. His level of commitment completely blows my mind, especially when he expresses that he wants to buy me anything, ANY RING. I LOVE the idealism he has, and this definitely reveals my ignorance of Canadians, because it seems that they propose or betroth or declare everlasting love well before they graduate from high school. It is because of his idealism that he’s in disbelief.  BUT, he’s also really good at being able to tell what his love interest knows and wants. This song is TIGHT.

YET, this song does imply a little bit of optimism with “first” love. There will be others. And you’ll most likely be dumped by them, too. This song prepares people for reality!

And I’m like
Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you’d always be mine (mine)

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you’d always be mine (mine)

Has anyone ever considered the effect of using the word baby for nearly half the words of the refrain? It is a serious jolt to the brain. It establishes a certain expectation in the listener, a point of focus. I now turn my head whenever someone says “baby.” This song is a great conditioning tool if you ever want stop thinking your name is whatever people normally call you.

[Ludacris:]
Luda! When I was 13, I had my first love,
There was nobody that compared to my baby
and nobody came between us or could ever come above
She had me going crazy, oh, I was star-struck,
she woke me up daily, don’t need no Starbucks.
She made my heart pound, it skipped a beat when I see her in the street and
at school on the playground but I really wanna see her on the weekend.
She knows she got me dazing cause she was so amazing
and now my heart is breaking but I just keep on saying…

What I love about rappers’ interludes is how they introduce themselves. This particular section demonstrates the power of girls over boys. And, it’s sort of dirty if you try to connect certain ideas to teenage boys, so I will probably just skip this part. But yes, teenage boys are capable of feeling the drug-like effects that girls have on them. It’s fascinating how boys are really truly the victims throughout this song. Girls should really feel empowered and in not any way degraded by this song at all.

BUT the rapper and Justin Bieber have matching dogtags. Not the least bit ludicrous.

Ooh! Dance-off! These dance circles are universal, and it’s important that all the cool and able dances show off their moves in the center, and it’s especially important that somebody in the circle knows all the words to whatever song is playing at the time. BELIEVE ME: IT DOES HAPPEN. Just ask Africa.

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you’d always be mine (mine)

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you’d always be mine (mine)

I’m gone (Yeah Yeah Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah)
 Now I’m all gone (Yeah Yeah Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah)
Now I’m all gone (Yeah Yeah Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah)
Now I’m all gone (gone, gone, gone…)
I’m gone

One of the last stages of grief is acceptance. Contrast the “no” with the “yeah”s at the very end of the song. Compare the agony of Justin Bieber in this song to that of T.S. Eliot’s in a couple of lines from the Waste Land:

No: “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” and Yeah: “these fragments I have shored against my ruins.” SO MUCH ALIKE! I’m pretty sure Justin got most of his inspiration from T.S. Eliot. That’s just one more reason to love this song with all my heart and soul.

Tragic. Awe-inspiring. All in such a happy little tune. I WANT TO FEEL SAD IN A DANCE-OFF ALL THE TIME AND GO BOWLING AND THROW STRIKES AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE TO SCORE AND REEK OF DESPERATION WITH A SMILE–A FADING SMILE–UNTIL I AM GONE, GONE, GONE.

WHAT A SUPER-DUPER SONG! SMARTER NOW!
May’s rating scale:

SUPER DUPER!

More mediocrity!

Medially mediocre

Trying too hard!

DUPED.
 

May 19, 2011

May’s Super-duper Song Review: “Firework”by Katy Perry

Posted by mayiwrite under environment, links, miscellany, music, observations | Tags: , , , , , , |
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If you’re just tuning in, see one of May’s Song Reviews to understand the difference in critiques.

Katy Perry is the starter sparkler. Instead of triggering a chain reaction, it’s more like a domino effect, which is so much easier to keep track of. I also LOVE how her pinup aesthetic challenges us to consider her to be more substantial in character than we would expect.

I first heard this song on Glee. The word firework in its singular form really bugged me, but the more I listened to it, the more songwriting treasures I found. Oh, yes. Just keep on reading.

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?

Similes are the kaleidoscope to one’s mind. See what I did there, using a metaphor to describe a simile? The plastic-bag simile alludes to the film, American Beauty, with that scene with that kid videotaping a plastic bag caught in a small whirlwind, and he says how BEAUTIFUL it is. I LOVE how Katy channels into the bag’s desires: the bag wants to start again, after drifting through the wind. Is the plastic bag fromWal-Mart or Target, because that makes a big difference. But what if the bag wanted to keep drifting? Here a philosophical discussion about free will emerges and another movie comes to mind, The Adjustment Bureau. And I cannot even TELL you how much I love Matt Damon. Any song that alludes to Matt Damon is tops in my book.

The second simile refers to one of my favorite bands in the world, Radiohead, who sang a song called “House of Cards.” But do you feel like a house of cards, so unstable, so delicate and defeated and transopaque? Look what Ms. Perry does here by juxtaposing these two images: what if the wind that carries the plastic bag blows down the house of cards? Will the bag catch the cards? Will both objects then have found purpose? Which are you, the bag or the cards? Or are you the wind? If you’re like the wind, then you’re like Baby from Dirty Dancing, and that’s one of my all-time favorite nostalgic movies. This song is batting 1.00 so far.

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there’s still a chance for you
‘Cause there’s a spark in you?

Everyone will experience feeling overwhelmed sometime in life. This progression of rhetorical questions is leading to something bigger. From bag to cards to coffins to that single delayed peak on the heart monitor: a spark. How does Katy know about this spark? Are you watching the video? Is it because she has a spark of her very own? Make no mistake, she’s not short-circuiting, she’s letting her light shine, and there’s no way to hide it under a bushel, because the bushel would catch fire and continue inspiring people. What’s more is that the bushel would burn longer than the sparkler would. Bushels are tinderwood. That probably was an alternate lyric: “Baby, you are tinderwood …” That’s a mighty fine simile, too.

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

This intro rides up the scale and builds volume, the song’s continuing to lead – with the staccatoed strings – to the grand refrain. Don’t you feel it? Are we all like Katy Perry and have self-igniting lights? Do we have our own flints to get a spark? I think my favorite Flintstones characters were Betty Rubble and Dino. They seemed to represent best the modern, stone-age family.

I like how this song stirs up debate about the concept of brightness. How can your light shine if it’s daytime and the sun is out? Also, if the sun is out, and it hasn’t rained in a while, that increases the chances of accidental fires. You’ve got to stand out among losers and not get lost among achievers who have too much in common with you. With them, it’s way too bright, and you lose your specialness.

‘Cause baby, you’re a firework
Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

I LOVE how this song emphasizes how a single, singular firework can own the night like Independence Day. It doesn’t take the whole tent just beyond the Georgia border, but one, individual sparkler. That’s another alternative lyric: “Baby you’re a sparkler …”

I LOVE the half-rhyme of work and worth. Do you sense the intent with equating one’s worth with the work she does? There’s a lot of potential energy in gunpowder, and it does take work – in the form of heat – to release that energy. The weight that energy carries as it moves across the sky turns into momentum, and we all know to use the momentum of goodness to push us through tough times.

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ‘em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ‘em falling down

I like the image of colors bursting and making ‘em go. And who are we going to leave falling down? That’s right, the bad guys, the guys of the darkness. Because they’re in the dark and can’t see and they trip over stuff.

You don’t have to feel like a waste of space
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

I LOVE how well-rounded Katy Perry is. I had no idea she studied meteorology and was familiar with weather patterns. That sort of reliability contrasts well with individual uniqueness and purpose. Just like everyone else, you don’t have to feel like your life is pointless, and you cannot be replaced, just like everyone else.

Maybe you’re reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it’s time, you’ll know

So, there was the old game show, Let’s Make A Deal, with the three doors, right? But here, the deals are all wonderful and perfect. Open one door, any door, and your life is gold.

I LOVE the lightning bolt imagery and the idea of a heart blowing. Exploding. Being the lone peak on the heart monitor, questioning the need for a heart, because if you’re a firework, then maybe you’re one of those kind that are like trick candles and never go out. You’d outlive your heart anyway. You’re too busy being an example to all those depressed and self-pitying people just like you. Everyone will be a bursty boom of light.

Cue strings!

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

‘Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ‘em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ‘em falling down

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It’s always been inside of you, you, you
And now it’s time to let it through

Excellent. Actual fireworks! This is what the song is about, not the wimpy sparklers up to this point. And not the metaphored or personified fireworks that make up most of this video. Now, it’s hard to say that the song could stand strongly enough without the video.

‘Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on, show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go, oh
As you shoot across the sky

Ooh, marching band formations that sort of look like a firework: a circle with sparkly arms. They really thought of everything.

Baby, you’re a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make ‘em go, oh
You’re gonna leave ‘em falling down

Katy Perry’s sort of dancing like Tiffany at a mall concert. You would think that would make me like this video less, but no. This is probably the most redeeming aspect of the video.

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

How can this be a bad song with three booms echo-half-rhymed by three moons? And, do you know how hard it would be to find a light brighter than three whole moons? Your singular firework can do the job. Accept it, and let it burn and shine. Just like everyone else. Best club in the world to belong to.

*Serious Note: Because I can’t make fun of domestic abuse or victims of bullies or girls who hate themselves because they think they’re fat or cancer or gay intimidation or a woman who looks like Amber Tamblyn giving birth to sparklers, and because I actually like when Katy Perry’s voice gets husky, this isn’t nearly as SUPER DUPER! as “Friday” by Rebecca Black.

But I do support the single firework. The one that sets off all the others.

May’s rating scale:

SUPER DUPER!

More mediocrity!

Medially mediocre

Trying too hard!

DUPED.
 

April 1, 2011

May’s Movie Review: Howard’s End

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May synopsis: Sometimes I’m in the mood for a slow and subtle period film. It’s all fine and understated until someone wields a sword.

May’s rating scale:

MAY!

May?

meh…

meh?

MESS.

(The following is actually a response I wrote for a class. I haven’t written a review in a while, and I thought this could serve both purposes.)

Howard’s End, a film adaptation of a novel of the same name by E. M. Forster, recounts the relationship of three families in England at the beginning of the 20th century. The Wilcoxes are wealthy and landed capitalists; the Schlegels appear to be bourgeois, and the Basts represent the lower middle class. The movie is marvelously cast, and the acting is exquisite, bringing a quiet power to the movie’s overall understatedness.

The film seems to depict the tension between these three socioeconomic statuses. Henry Wilcox, played by Anthony Hopkins, seems content to interact with the bourgeois sisters, Margaret and Helen Schlegel, who are played by Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter. Henry even marries Margaret. However, his rootedness in tradition emerges when Helen Schelgel becomes pregnant by Leonard Bast, played by Samuel West. First, Helen is not married when she becomes pregnant, and according to tradition, she should be shunned. Secondly, the other responsible party is a man from a lower class than the Wilcoxes. Helen should have not have become involved with him.

In keeping with tradition of double standards in a patriarchal society, Henry Wilcox’s past emerges when he admits to Margaret that he had a mistress. He cannot be bothered with this particular skeleton when Margaret brings up this fact to show how hypocritical Henry is as she asks him to allow Helen to stay his estate, Howard’s End, for one evening. He adamantly refuses. Life has always been a certain way for him, and he refuses to see anything differently.

It isn’t until Henry’s son goes to prison for murdering Leonard Bast (seeming a true hate crime) that he undergoes a change of heart.  He decides to bequeath Howard’s End to the Schlegels, and Helen plans to raise her new son as heir.

Howard’s End illustrates the shift in mentality in early Modernist England, regarding who should own land and how the classes should interact. In certain aspects, the country at that time slowly opened itself up to new and evolving ideas of society.

***

Emma Thompson’s character wore ties. I want to do that.

 

September 10, 2009

Problems with Last Night’s “Glee”

Posted by mayiwrite under nostalgia, reviews | Tags: , , |
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I might give Glee another chance. Maybe.

Well, let’s see. This show is relatively entertaining. The music is fun – at least from the pilot, and the characters are round-enough caricatures.  Coach Sylvester is certainly quotable. Mr. Schuester is plenty attractive, the students are easily peggable. I can see the story arcs a mile away, and they’re shamelessly and sufficiently inflated so that I don’t have to suspend my disbelief, but instead set it in a box and wear my rose-colored glasses, slightly skewed, which I’m perfectly fine with. I like a little reality in my escapism.

Mostly, I watch for the musical productions, but even last night, I took issue with that.

People, second episode. The dialogue was dirty. Dirty. Durrrrrty. Granted, I overheard a lot of conversations in high school that rivaled last night’s script. I walked away from those. Between classes, I walked the halls and when I heard someone swear, I’d say, “Ouch, my ears!” No lie. I was kind of a dork. Krod. Last night’s episode made me grimace and cringe and turn my head and say “Seriously? Really? Oh, come on.” All I wanted was for those kids on television to channel all the tension into something songy and dancy.

Songy and dancy.

Second episode, second issue: agenda much? Abstinence versus contraception. Not that high school students don’t soapbox, because they do. They do. Not that a girl like Rachel wouldn’t speak out and say girls are just as hormonal as guys and want “it” just as much as guys. And never would I have participated in a celibacy club in high school, because, yeah, Middleburg High School. That never would have flown, though I really wish I could have walked out of one of the band practice room one day, when, say, a certain trumpet player and a certain flute player came in and closed the door while I was practicing my clarinet and started … going at it. They were leaning against the door. I was trapped. I couldn’t watch, so I just kept playing. My own songy and dancy. My fellow band members – the ones smooching right in front of me – now had a soundtrack: the clarinet part to that year’s marching repertoire. So romantic.

Oh, and when the songy and dancy finally happened in last night’s episode? At the school assembly? “Push It” by Salt ‘n’ Pepa? Seriously? Really? Come on! The students’ argument against performing “Freak Out!” was that it was old, outdated, disco. Mr. Schuester explained that the song worked for them back in 1991 because disco resurged temporarily. Thing is, “Push It” dates back at least to my 6th grade year. That means 1987. 19-freaking-87. I was the only one among my viewing party mouthing the words during the production number, but then I stopped because 1) I realized how old I am and 2) the words are dirty, and it occurred to me how easily this song diffused into my head when I was FREAKING 11 years old. The high school students in this show, if it’s set in the present, WEREN’T EVEN BORN when this song came out, so its time argument against disco deconvinces. Just saying, it’s fine that the glee club wants to recruit more members with a sexy song, but at least make the song more current. There are a lot of awesome, skanky-ho songs out there to choose from. Use one of those fine, catchy tunes, dance to it, make me snap my fingers and sing along, like last week with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Remind me why I started watching the show.

I shouldn’t have forgotten only two episodes in.

 

August 29, 2009

Movie Batch

Posted by mayiwrite under movies, my life, new york city, reviews | Tags: , , |
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Planet B-Boy – fun, yet a little bit long documentary following the international breakdancing championships in Germany. The dancing is unreal, and you feel like you’re in the middle of the action. Competitions like these are often organized chaos, and the filmmaker expects you to keep up, as the film as a whole is pretty rough around the edges. However, he invites you effectively to sympathize with and follow a few individuals. Nice, if not unsubtle, commentary on father-son relationships where career breakdancing is not the cultural norm. Go Korea!

The Watcher in the Woods – definitely a rewatch, 6th or 7th. This movie doesn’t really get less terrifying. That this is a Disney film is shocking enough! (And the movie trailers disclaim it being not your traditional family film.) The surprise effects with sound and light, and the sparse, fitting soundtrack were all well-done. Blue lasers shooting! Mirrors and windows cracking! Blood! Drowning! Tense violin chords! Scary, possessed voices that call out common names backwards! “Nerak.” !!! But, if you watch the alternate endings, this thriller suddenly becomes a comedy. I jumped quite a few times. That is all. I’ll probably watch it again in a couple of years.

Tron – okay, so maybe when I was 8 years old, when plot sometimes fell secondary, this movie was visually interesting and fun. The story, however? 25 years later? The computer programming jargon that brought all the renegade geeks out of the woodwork and into the theaters in the early 80s? Major snoozer. I wonder if Jeff Bridges watches this movie and then asks himself what he was thinking. Although, he seems to be involved in a remake, or a sequel? Redemptive, hopefully.

Dear Zachary – perhaps one of the most powerful documentaries I have ever seen. Here is a review that won’t spoil it. The language is strong and some of the images are grim. This felt like more of a personal endeavor – which, it really was – and the documentarian masterfully crafted it with a whole lot of heart. It sent me through the emotional gamut: laughing and crying and being en/outraged and then crying some more. It’s not an easy film to watch, but it’s worth it if you make it to the end.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – I saw this for the first time in the theater, in 2004. I remember loving the entire concept of it. The performances are nicely understated; Jim Carrey keeps his cool, at least relatively, in this somewhat frenetic movie. This was not his typical role. Anyway, this film quite creatively encouraged working through kinks and setbacks in relationships. Maybe I related to it a little bit. I cried, but mostly rejoiced.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – I didn’t see this so much as a “movie” as a reminder of one of my adventures around the city, when I first moved here. Cruising in a car with a few of my non-nondrinking friends, looking for gigs, coming from gigs, taking friends home, watching a few of them almost hook up, not getting home until daybreak. It portrays that aspect of city life pretty accurately, and I do adore Michael Cera and think he’s quite talented, even if he is mostly typecast.

The Visitor – There’s this one scene where Walter and Zainab are discussing Tarek’s detention in an illegal immigrant facility in Queens. Tarek is a drummer from Syria, and Zainab is his girlfriend from Senegal. Walter is a bored, washed-out professor in the city who lets the couple live with him in his apartment and becomes their friend. Walter has visited Tarek in Queens and tells Zainab he has hired an immigration lawyer. Zainab interrupts that they cannot afford one, and Walter says it’s okay. I cry at this scene. The acting is exquisite. It’s not so much you can see Walter’s heart and Zainab’s gratitude, but you can sense them. The nuance is stunning. Richard Jenkins really deserved his Oscar nomination for this role.

Princess Mononoke – Not Miyazake’s best work, in my opinion. To be fair, I’ve only seen two of his films, and I liked Spirited Away a lot more. This is an incredibly violent piece of anime, fyi. The friend I watched this with agreed the plot could have been more developed; they could have tied a few elements together better. Maybe the ideas didn’t translate well from the Japanese version. The hate within; forest spirits; general mythology. As a whole, it seemed pretty disjointed. Oh, but you don’t have to second-guess one of the themes of the movie, which is the relationship between man and nature. Save the forests, people! That one they pretty much shove down your throat, all the while neglecting everything else. The movie, for all its 2 hours and 14 minutes, felt incomplete. Maybe they should have cut back on everything else.

 

August 12, 2009

Getting out of Writing A Review of (500) Days of Summer – Possible Spoilers

Posted by mayiwrite under links, movies, my life, relationships, reviews | Tags: , |
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I’ve seen a fair amount of movies in the past couple of weeks. That’s safe to say. I’ve wanted to give proper reviews for some of them, but my brain isn’t working properly. Also, I would rather be spending time with my awesome friends than sitting in front of a computer whining to tired ears – yes, you, internet – yet again, all my woe-is-mes and alases and everything deservedly and not-so-deservedly lamentable.

Last Monday, I saw (500) Days of Summer. As I watched the story unfold, I knew the two main characters weren’t going to end up together. I knew it, even if I didn’t already know the ending, which was revealed in the beginning. I’ve seen this situation many times, from friends who’ve coped similarly to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to friends whose philosophy was/is exactly like Zooey Deschanel’s, to my very own life, where I’ve played both characters, neither very well.

I came across this review of the movie, which exempts me from providing my own. I agree with most of it: it’s very well thought-out, it’s relatable; the character analyses, the story-arc critique are compelling and convincing. It strikes a very nice cardio-cerebral balance. If I hadn’t already seen the movie, after reading this review I would have extracted myself from my wallow-pit apartment to watch it and then reflect and not even wallow in the non-workings-out of some of my romantic relationships. That’s just the way it happens sometimes.

There’s a line, the “sucker punch” I mentioned last time. I’m trying to remember the exact quote. I’ll dig it up and think about it. Something about Zooey not wanting with specifically Joseph the kind of relationship Joseph wanted with Zooey. I just wonder if that line was intended purely as a zinger; it feels a bit incongrous with Zooey’s character up until the end of the movie. Then again, you can’t exactly put parameters on personality - hers, especially; her experience with and perspective on relationships almost … entitles her to make such a statement. I suppose the big “surprise” is that Zooey does end up in a committed, romantic relationship. Just not with Ned. I mean, Joseph.

Shoot.

 

April 15, 2009

Indigo Girls, “Galileo”

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Quite a discussion is going on over at my facebook about this list. At least with the first piece. Anyway, I can’t believe I only get to pick ten songs. BUT, I attended an Indigo Girls concert tonight and felt very confident about including one of their songs on my list. How many millennia did the world go on before the Indigo Girls? How will the world go on without them?

I love the Indigo Girls live! They have A LOT of energy, and they always thanked us after each song, and they told us what great singers we were. Which: true. While it ended up being mostly us singing along, I could still appreciate their writing and their harmonies and their guitar/mandolin/banjo proficiency. It was amazing. Really intricate, virtuosic stuff. And they seem like very, very nice people. Plus: activists. We have a similar sense of duty, Amy Ray, Emily Saliers, and I.

I chose an obvious song, but it really has become an anthem in the last however many years since I first heard it. You know the song. It ends with the question I’m constantly asking myself: How long ’til my soul gets it right?

Also? I know I’ve said this before, but I love that they can fit nuclear annihilation into this song. That’s worth extra points if it ever comes up in a game of Encore.

Songs of theirs that come closely behind: “Closer to Fine” (of course), “Chickenman” (for total kicks), “Ghost” (so brilliant in its imagery), “Love Will Come to You” (SO pretty with the countermelodies), “Land of Canaan” (also quite fun). AND, I guess everything else they’ve ever done. SO not fair.

Enjoy. Sing along if you want.

more about “Indigo Girls: Galileo, Toronto“, posted with vodpod

 

 

 

April 14, 2009

Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings

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I’m kind of going through some crap right now. I can’t/won’t talk about it, but I’ll put up my one of my favorite defense mechanisms and change the subject.

One (or a few) of you tagged me in a note on facebook: The 10 Songs I Can’t Live Without. I’ve been filing through the songs in my brain for the past two weeks trying to complete the list. So, I guess since this doesn’t involve anything too deeply and recently personal, I’m going to post a song from this list for the next ten days. They’re in no particular order, but with songs this massive, they don’t need to be. They can be on shuffle and I won’t need to skip ahead to another song. And they can play on repeat forever. Folks, this is my infinite playlist.

The first piece I’ll mention is Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. The passion, the tension, the swelling and shrinking of the melody are astounding and inimitable. It’s one of the perfect songs for me and my life. It has the right combination of dissonance and resolution, grandeur and lowly depths. It starts ethereally, like a single breath, and fades away just the same. And then, after the silence settles, I give myself permission to exhale, slowly. This piece presses against my heart and lodges a sob in the back of my throat, ready to burst at any time, but won’t, quite.

Experiencing Adagio for Strings is one of the best ways to spend ten and a half minutes.

 

 

 

January 13, 2009

2008 Songs on Repeat: “Nobody’s Crying” by Patty Griffin

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About the video below, I believe I was at this particular performance. It was at the Beacon Theatre in April, 2007. I heard the opening chords and I heard her voice start in and my heart pretty much ripped open. The first time I heard “Nobody’s Crying” by Patty Griffin, I was crying.

I know I’ve raved about this song before. It goes through definite long, repetitive cycles for me, and this past year was no exception. And, not so strangely enough, it’s playing right now. 2009. JANUARY. Sticking with the relationship songs, it’s kind of the story of my life, or the beginning of my life, indirectly, like, right now, if you look at it from the right angle. If you’ve ever had any kind of heartache, I dedicate this song to you. Pay particular attention to the bridge that begins, “May you dream you are dreaming in a warm soft bed.”

more about “Patty Griffin – Nobody’s Crying“, posted with vodpod

 

He jumps in the taxi for the sky
He’s off to face some demon dragonfly
He looks at me one long last time
Turns away again and I wave goodbye
In an envelope inside his coat
Is a chain I wore around my throat
Along with a note I wrote
It said I love you but I don’t even know why

Darling I wish you well on your way to the wishing well
Swinging off of those gates of hell
But I can tell how hard you’re trying
I just had this secret hope
But sometimes all we’d do is cope
That somewhere on the steepest slope
There’s an endless rope and nobody’s crying

The long night turns into a couple of long years
Of me walking around and round this trail of tears
With the very loud voices of my own fears
Ringing and ringing in my ears
It says that love was long gone
Every move I make is all wrong
Because you never gave a damn for me
For anything, for anyone

Darling I wish you well on your way to the wishing well
Swinging off of those gates of hell
But I can tell how hard you’re trying
I just had this secret hope
But sometimes all we’d do is cope
That somewhere on the steepest slope
There’s an endless rope and nobody’s crying

May you dream you are dreaming on a warm soft bed
May the voices inside you that fill you with dread
Make the sounds of thousands of angels instead
Tonight where you might be laying your head

I wish you well on your way to the wishing well
Swinging off of those gates of hell
But I can tell how hard you’re trying
I still have this secret hope
But sometimes all we’d do is cope
That somewhere on the steepest slope
There’s an endless rope and nobody’s crying

 

January 5, 2009

2008 Songs on Repeat: “The Re-Arranger” by Mates of State

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I saw Mates of State for the first time in August over in Liberty State Park at the All Points West Music Festival. I’d never heard of them, but we happened to stop by the stage where they were performing, and they impressed me. It’s fun, yet kind of important, indie rock. It’d be great to see them play live again.

Mates of State are a married couple with kids. Here is an ABC news piece on how they manage being rockstar parents. I like their sound. I like their beats and rhythms and their rockin’ melodies. Their latest album (Re-Arrange Us) has my complete attention. 

Most of the songs that went on repeat this past year are about relationships. When I say “repeat,” I mean at least five or six times in a row, then I’d switch to another song (usually by Patty Griffin), then I’d go back to the first song for another five or six playings.

“The Re-Arranger” did that to me for at least three weeks. It’s fun to sing along. I appreciate the implications of “re-arranging” relationships and shaking off the anger. (Plus, it fits the recent theme of my life with moving and shifting and making things better. [However, I did say way too many swear words in the past two weeks.]) I love the mantra at the end: “Love loud, don’t lose loud.”

Red colonial houses lining
all the snow white streets
Working out all our problems there
in the back of the house
where the ghosts all sleep

I know it’s impossible
But you should try to shake it off

With that shot to the chest, boy
I know you mean it (you mean it, you mean it, you mean it)
Defining the problems here
It’s the threat at home of regret at home

I know it’s impossible
But you should try to shake it off

And if you really wanna shake it off
You’re gonna re-arrange, re-arrange us
Just stop and shake it off
You’re gonna re-arrange, re-arrange
(Re-arrange, re-arrange, re-arrange, re-arrange us)

Da da da da, da da da da
Da da da da, da da

You were turning in anger
(You’ve got a fury for the smallest things)
She’s staring at the back twin trees
Kicking back all that fury there
(You’ve got to bury it in your head)
to the part of your head where it can live and seethe

I know it’s impossible
But you should try to shake it off

With that shot to chest boy, I know you mean it
(Mean it, you mean it, you mean it, you mean it)
(Staring at the back twin trees
while you’re spinning your anger red)
Now I know what’s inside you,
I know I don’t want you,
I know I don’t want you

I know it’s impossible
But you should try to shake it off
And if you really wanna shake it off
You’re gonna re-arrange, re-arrange us
Just stop and shake it off
You’re gonna re-arrange, re-arrange
(Re-arrange, re-arrange, re-arrange)

Re-arrange us, re-arrange us
Re-arrange us, ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh

Re-arrange us, re-arrange us
Re-arrange us, ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh
Re-arrange us, ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh

Love loud
Don’t lose loud
Love loud
Don’t lose loud
Love loud
Don’t lose loud
Love loud
Don’t lose loud
Re-arrange us
ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh
Re-arrange us
ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh

Love loud
Don’t lose loud
Love loud
Don’t lose loud
Re-arrange us
ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh
Re-arrange us
ooh-ooh-oooh-ooh

You’re the re-arranger

more about “Mates of State Live- The Re-Arranger“, posted with vodpod
 

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