Movie: XXY

It's always good to sit down with a foreign film after spending a long time without seeing one. The actors in this were amazing and the reason is so incredibly simple: They spoke more with their eyes than with their mouths. This is still something American film makers just can't do, save for maybe Jarmusch. The script in this one is thin and that's putting it lightly. I don't think there was a single conversation that had more than two or so sentences of dialog, but there wasn't a moment of confusion as to what was going on and what each character was feeling and it was very easy to feel empathy for them.

The story revolved around the difficulties of sexuality, the complications, the confusion, and the judgment in modern society. Modern society is a difficult term to use, however, because there's nothing modern about our current perception of what gender and sexuality are. That seemed to be the purpose of this film. It's hard enough to grow up as either male or female but to grow up not knowing, to be forced by those around you to assume some identity and to be judged harshly for simply existing. That was the conflict of the main character and the young actress expressed it beautifully, with a sense of innocence and charm. If this is the norm for Argentinian films, I'll have to seek out a few more.

Thanks Leo.

5/5

People

There's a Dunkin Donuts in my town. Sometimes i like to drive over and get myself a medium black coffee and a boston creme on days i don't have to go into work. This morning i went early enough to catch the morning rush and was dumbfounded. There was a line of cars extending well out of the property of dunkin donuts, into the street and even into one side street all waiting for the drive-thru. I understand that the establishment is in an odd area that's built up too densely and not planned correctly, so congestion is expected. There's one detail that caught my attention however. THE PARKING LOT WAS EMPTY. And, of course this line of cars was blocking the entrance to it. All someone had to do was say, "This line is ridiculous, how bout i just park, walk inside and order in the store. No. So this is what i did. I noted a car that was waiting in line, a dark green mini-van. I drove across the street and parked in an adjacent gas station. I walked from said gas station to Dunkin. I ordered and walked out. I was able to do all this in the time it took the green mini-van to move two places in line.

Please people, look around. If you notice you're making life harder for other people, adjust your routine. It doesn't take much.

Dear Guitar Center

Remind me again how you explained the benefit of squeezing all of the mom and pop instrument shops out of business. Was it to provide a better service, with more selection and better trained employees? Was that it? Because you failed. If everytime i go to your store i have to order something to be shipped to the store, your existence as a brick and mortar establishment is completely useless. You should save a truckload of money, close your stores, and switch all sales to online. This would allow people actually passionate about music to open a few independent shops that carry some legitimately interesting products outside of the influence of Gibson and Fender.

As a side note, i have nothing against what those two companies have accomplished over the years. There was a time when they made legitimately good products and sold them at honest prices. I do have a problem with their current product line which consists of artificial feeling and sounding shit and equipment that's actually wonderful but priced so high it makes me cringe to peek at the tags.

Music: Kayo Dot - Coyote

2010 has been a rough year for me. My relationship with musical culture has been tested with disappointments for 4 straight months. It is my own fault because after such a strong year for metal, my appetite became insatiable. I was expecting albums of equal or higher calibre than what i saw in 2009 and it just didn't happen. So, i might be taking another break from metal, which leaves me with a question. After all the detours i've taken over the years, what branch of music is most deserving of my attention, of my harsh judgment?

Then i stumbled upon Coyote by Kayo Dot, and the answer became abundantly clear. I've dabbled in Avant-rock and other related progressive genres before but never dove headfirst into the atonal, dissonance before. If Coyote is any indication of the quality of music being produced by these undefinable genres i'm in for an interesting journey.

Kayo Dot has been on the periphery of my attention for a few years, having been a fan of maudlin of the Well way back when i first started getting into heavy music. They began by releasing similar music to what they released under their previous moniker, but gradually travelled into the world of avant-rock with each release since their debut. Coyote seems to be the destination where the tones and composition have settled into something of a distinctive and recognizable style. Previous albums seemed to wander, seemed to question their own existence and what purpose they had in the world of music, but on Coyote it seems the musicians have made a decision of what they want Kayo Dot to be.

The music on Coyote is at times unsettling, at times minimalist, at times chaotic, but it never loses it's sense of balance, which is ultimately why this album is so enjoyable. To picture the composition of the album, the first image that comes to mind is an empty room. The tonal clarity gives such vivid sense of space and every instrument inhabits different locations in that space. Often times each instrument is operating without obvious regard to other instruments until they resolve and that moment is at the same time beautiful and fully satisfying. The pacing of percussion is complex as well, with no discernible tempo or metre, the timing is part of the bigger complex composition and can't be separated into definable parts. Sometimes the album charges forward, sometimes creeps into seemingly unrelated tangents, sometimes comes to a complete stop only to be started again at the will of these talented musicians. After spending so much time with metal, where techniques are so fast the only option is to fit them into simple structures that repeat over and over again, it's incredibly refreshing to encounter a composition that moves like the wind, uncontrolled and unpredictable.

Highly recommended for those who can listen to interpretive music that pays no mind to traditional composition.

5/5

Peter Steele, 1962-2010

I heard the news mid-day today on a trusted music forum that Peter Steele had died of heart failure. He was 48 years old and still very much involved in a musical career that had given birth to many classics of the gothic metal (Type O Negative) and crusty hardcore (Carnivore) variety. Standing 6'7" and making use of a bass-baritone voice, Steele was one of the most recognizable frontmen of all time. He frequented music news articles with shenanigans including posing for a centerfold in playgirl and faking his death in 2005, creating an identity that stood out among myriad other musicians.

According to a few sources he was an atheist up until quite recently. Apparently some personal event had caused him to reflect on his mortality and he took up the beliefs of the roman catholic church. This was a surprise to me, because the most prominent theme in his music is futility. With songs like "Everything Dies" and "Love you to Death" and "Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)" it seemed like Steele understood that death is the ultimate end with no hope of anything to look forward to. This change of heart reveals a very human quality of a man i had often regarded as above the weakness of humanity, so far beyond weakness he laughed in the face of it and welcomed his own demise. My perception was ultimately false, but i don't respect him any less. I'm glad he chose to look beyond his own existence and see something to look forward to. And, i hope that whatever he pictured during his last breath was enough for him to go peacefully and calmly.

I'll be listening to a lot of Type O Negative for the next few weeks and hope that anyone reading this takes the time to seek out a couple tracks and show respect for a brilliant musician who will be missed and remembered for years to come.

Movie: Down by Law

Another Jim Jarmusch film (i'm quickly running out) featuring Tom Waits, Roberto Benigni and John Lurie (from Stranger than Paradise). I've been searching for this one for a long time and finally found it. What sparked my interest, outside of Jarmusch being my favorite film maker, was the presence of Tom Waits as a main character. I've only seen him play such short rolls before and it was worth the wait to see what he can do center stage.

The movie is about three men, a pimp, a radio host, and an Italian who has a very loose grasp of the English language, who get arrested and spend time getting to know each other in a jail cell. Two men are set up for unknown reasons and are ultimately innocent for the crimes they're convicted for, but the third (the Italian and most harmless of the three) is brought in on murder charges.

As with all Jarmusch films, there's hardly any story to speak of, very little is explained, the plot is incredibly simple, and there are only four or five sets in the entire movie. The focus is on the characters. Not who they were, not how they got to where they are, not where they're going in the future, but who they are and how they interact with other characters now. Jim Jarmusch seems to love how complex individuals are, sometimes achieving a level of complexity that makes them unable to exist outside of their places of comfort, unable to interact with anyone outside of their close group of friends. The three actors exhibit this complexity perfectly.

What makes Jarmusch my favorite film maker is the conversations he constructs between characters. He fills dialog with awkward pauses, confused looks, sometimes complete silence and it feels real. If you look at an average movie, there's always something happening and the dialog always has a purpose. Jarmusch wants to portray reality, where hardly anything happens, memorable moments are based on only a few seconds in an expanse of time and people sometimes can't even come up with the words to correctly express themselves which at times might explain more than words ever could.

It's hard to recommend any Jarmusch movie to anyone, however, because film making like this is commonly perceived as boring. They would be wrong, but different people, different tastes, as always.

5/5