Movie: The Turin Horse

Everything dies, but not at the same time, which is the ultimate cause of grief, conflict, and the horrible realization of one's own mortality. We can find comfort in routine to distract us from our imminent demise, but the routine will degrade over time and eventually crumble due to the fragility of life and the destructive force of nature.

Careers in Post-Capitalism (a gross generalization)

My parents taught me many things when I was younger. One of the messages they found most important was that I get a good education and a good job with a good salary. They taught me this because that's what they wanted to do but were never able to. My father dropped out of college early on and never went back claiming school just wasn't for him. My mother started out as a journalist, but soon gave that up to focus on starting a family and eventually she went to nursing school, a career that has little opportunity for growth and little opportunity for wealthy success. They are reaching retirement age now and they feel more than ever how if certain decisions were made, if they had the money to go to good schools, if they managed to find  jobs with real earning potential, retirement might not be such a scary prospect.

Their perception is based on the reality in which they grew up. My grandparents were extremely hard-working. On one side there was a modest factory worker, on the other there was a doctor. These were careers, single jobs that kept their families afloat. That is what was demanded in their environment. The job market in the United States was simpler to wrap ones head around. If you worked diligently for a given company, they would reward you with a long career and benefits for your family, benefits for your retirement. Of course this is an example of a good story. I fully realize every generation has had to struggle for success. My point is simply that the idea of a career was one long-term job, with one company, with the opportunity for growth and eventual retirement.

And this is the perception that I was taught when I was younger. It's the reason I went into the field of computer science and it's the reason I signed on with Bank of America. I've been with them for 5 years and seeing the shift of this career model, not only at my own job, but in the behavior of my parents workplaces as well, has been profound.

Here is what's going on: Large companies no longer respect their employees. They look at a dollar value of your worth to the company and from that decide to keep you on or let you go. If oversees workers are cheaper, the company will not hesitate to replace you no matter how good your work is. Pensions and other retirement benefits are quickly become a thing of the past. My pension was recently dissolved. The conclusion of this is that there is no job security at large corporations anymore and it won't be returning with any turn-around of the economy. The small companies never had job security to begin with. They are the upstarts, the entrepreneurs who took a substantial risk and hoped for the best. With both of those options of job security unavailable one has to take a different approach. And that different approach is to focus on individual growth

The current environment of fly-by night start-ups and companies based on intellectual property rather than goods is extremely volatile, but it's driven by a unique sort of person who is resilient to this volatility. That person is one with many skills who can find small jobs to fill the time and keep him afloat. The modern worker is a web designer/programmer/consultant. The modern worker is a yoga instructor/hair dresser/stripper. The modern worker who succeeds in this rapidly changing world is multi-faceted, but one new requirement is necessary for these types of people to survive as they deal with so many responsibilities and so much pressure. They need to be absolutely passionate about their work.

During older generations most work was a passionless chore. Jobs were dangerous and generally unrewarding, and this taught the people of this country that their career was not something to feel passionately excited about. It was the only means to start a successful family. One can imagine the toll that takes on a human being. Some themes of the hard working man of previous generations reflected this enormous weight: domestic abuse, alcoholism, and abandonment.

That previous environment based on pumping out tangible goods is what is shifting, what is giving us a ripe opportunity. When the job market is no longer based on industry, but based on ideas, people can literally dream up any original idea and market it. That is what I'll refer to as post-capitalism. As stated before the shift has implications. Goods are a constant need which is why older generations had greater job security. Ideas are short lived and perpetually expanded upon, which is why our environment is so volatile.

But, overall this is a change for the better. People just have to find something they want to do and work at it every minute they can, and then find something else and work at that, and then find something else and so on. There is a lot of reward in capitalizing on your own personal passions.

This new perception of mine leaves me in a pickle, however. I have one skill working at one company who is waiting with hot anticipation to replace me with an oversees worker. I need to find other marketable skills. I need to identify a handful of passions and get to work... I know I want to keep writing, I know I like to help people (the possibility of massage therapy has crossed my mind), I'm knowledgeable of music in a way that most people are not, and I know if I don't start working on these things in a real marketable way, my future is at stake.

Movie: Prometheus

I already accepted Prometheus wasn't going to be a modern classic walking into the theater. After reading a couple reviews (making sure I didn't stumble upon on any major spoilers), it was evident that Alien is an untouchable composition in the annals of Sci-Fi. But I still wanted it to be decent. I wanted Prometheus to be a solid effort with a decent script and a few memorable characters. But it wasn't. It just wasn't.

I'll start off with what I liked. Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are so good at what they do and they were allowed to show a little bit of that during the course of this film. Noomi was taken right to the point of desperation and she approached it with such an honest sense of strength. And Fassbender has quickly become one of my favorite actors exhibiting unbelievable professionalism and poise. Watching him play an android with a hidden agenda was mildly disturbing, which is exactly what it was meant to be.

The actual beauty of the film shouldn't be overlooked either. I gratefully tip my hat to the set designers and CG artists who were involved in this effort. All the environments were stunning and fully engrossing. I never doubted any of the sets for a second; all of it was believable. And I am proud to admit that CG presentation as a whole is getting damn close to reality. It was only a matter of time before technology gave the willing artist the ability to create a believable environment on a computer screen, but that day is here.

But the flaws... finally I get to the point where I can blow off a little steam... For anyone that doesn't know, the point of this film was to explain the brief encounter with a technologically advanced humanoid being featured in the original Alien film known by the people involved as an "architect." In Prometheus, the architects are said to be the origin of life on earth. They came to earth and created us. Keep in mind that the premise doesn't include any other life on the planet. So instead of embracing the theory of evolution, the film says, "Oh yeah, humans aren't a result of evolution, we were engineered by this other race of humans and put here." WHAT?! Why at this point in our society would the writers of this film decide to throw evolution in the trash?! 

But accept that for a moment, while I give another spoiler. The architects are bad guys!? Why?!!!! Why would you make the an ultra-advanced humanoid being a violent warrior?! That doesn't make any sense... To achieve limitless innovation to the extent of intergalactic travel a society would have figured out a solution to violent behavior. Technology isn't the only thing that advances. Every part of a society evolves, including how to deal with one another. Violence obviously isn't an intelligent solution to ANYTHING! But, oh well, the architects gave us life and for some unknown reason (follow me here), they set up a military installation on a distant moon and developed biological weapons with the purpose of returning to earth and wiping us out.... WHAT?! I know, I know, that's the mystery, that's the unexplained that Noomi wants explained, but that doesn't make it any less stupid. 

I can see how you'd think that I'm being too critical about that, but just listen for a second. Sci-Fi is all about viewing reality from a perspective that doesn't exist yet. It's about imagining a place in time that is so far removed from current events that each journey into the unknown is an opportunity to introduce an entirely new way of thinking and feeling. What the writers did with Prometheus was to view the future through our violent, short-sighted eyes. We know violence already, we know war and we know how dumb and primitive it is. We know what bashing people over the head with heavy things looks like. I want to know something else. And this film failed to show me a single perspective that was at all futuristic.

Now let's take a second to discuss the characters other than those skillfully executed by Rapace and Fassbender. Uhhh ummmm... oh sorry, I FORGOT THEM. Seriously Ridley... You used to be really good at that; giving a character some heart, some fragility, some god damn humanity. But I guess you forgot. There was one moment that is absolutely unforgivable. Near the end when the ship captain makes the decision to destroy the architect's ship by ramming theirs into it... The two supporting characters just sort of say, "Alright, gotta die sometime..." WHAT?! I get that it's cool to go out in a big way, but to not give a second thought to instantly committing suicide. They literally just threw their arms in the air and embraced it, not really understanding at all that the human race could have been in danger. It took them about 5 seconds to decide it was alright to die. They even ended the scene saying, "I'll see you on the other side buddy." FUCK.

Oh, and one more detail before I close. When you find an alien's head, your first reaction shouldn't be to shove an electrode into it and bring it back to life without a single ounce of  preparation or precaution. That shit just wouldn't happen. And to make the head explode afterward... Where the fuck is Michael Bay... I know he's here somewhere.

Overall this was a pretty film with a couple great actors in it. That doesn't nearly make up for how shallow it is, how many disposable characters there were, how little they felt when their life was at risk, or how blindingly dumb the conflicts were that endangered their lives to being with. 

1/5

Book: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I almost never write negative reviews these days. We have enough resources at our disposal to be able to avoid things we might not like. Generally speaking, any moderately high profile movie, album, or book has been reviewed a handful of times before you're able to experience it and a quick search will let you know what to expect. I realize most people like to just dive in regardless of other people's opinions. I just don't like taking the risk.

There is one exception to this guideline though. If an artist I've really grown to appreciate releases something, I'm going to give it a shot. Very few artists have made it into my favorites and once they have, I'm going to give them my full attention. Haruki Murakami is one of the few. He's proven himself time and again with outstanding examples of surrealist fiction (my favorite literary genre). So when 1Q84 came out I didn't bother looking up reviews; I immediately pulled out my nook and hit the download button.

The story began like many of his other novels: the introduction of a couple colorful characters, vivid descriptions of the setting, beautiful analysis of the musical piece playing in the background while inner monologue carries on with existential speculation. But, I could sense a change in the style. There was a bit more repetition. It took me a little time to notice the pattern, but after the first few chapters it was obvious what Murakami was doing. He was dumbing down his prose by highlighting important thoughts, events, and descriptions by repeating them every 20 or so pages.

Now, the reason I got into surrealist fiction in the first place was because it attempts to describe things foreign to our world, things that people have never seen or thought before. And Murakami is a master of creativity, coming up with conflicts that place very human characters in situations that would be otherwise unfathomable. I can understand that otherworldly content like this might throw someone not well-versed in the genre and a little repetition is good to keep a new-comer from getting lost and discouraged by the density of such foreign ideas. But, at this point I don't need that, and Murakami has never taken this approach before. With his previous novels he dives in to the deep end before you can even realize what's happened, forcing the reader to pick up clues and swim to eventual understanding. 1Q84 doesn't take this approach, it introduces an idea, explains it from various points of view, and then repeats it so there is no misunderstanding.

1Q84 is quite simply Haruki Murakami's attempt to reach a wider audience... And as rich as a couple characters are, as original as the main plot might be, I found myself perpetually frustrated by the repetition. It was like he was dictating the story to a 10 year old. So for me, his tone seemed borderline condescending and to trudge through this 1000 page novel was ultimately a chore.

2/5

A Change of Seasons: Mix of 10 for Spring

There is a subtle indication of the changing seasons that I wait patiently for around this time of year, when the light from the sun seems to be too much for the cold. The bright rays stab through the final gusts of winter, separating them, weakening them, until they can't put up a fight anymore. The morning's dew may still be frost on blades of grass, but when the sun breaks over the horizon, the frost quickly sublimates into a fleeting mist.

It's important to mark this shift in some substantial way so time doesn't just slip by without punctuating events to fill our memory. So for me that means picking a few songs, making a playlist of music to keep in my car where I can listen with the windows down. This list will be devoted to spring, it will be devoted to the blossoming warmth, the collective awakening of all things from the cold.

#1 - Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

Starting the mix off with such a song may seem a little... cynical. But it's exactly what I was going for to lead into the more beautiful emotions born of spring. Let's take a second to think about all the fake things and step outside into the world that often seems so distant (clothing optional). Let's logoff, shutdown, and unplug, if only for a few minutes, and just listen to the birds and feel the breeze man. Life is too short to spend watering fake plastic trees. (Yes I do realize the irony of expressing that in a blog...)

#2 - The Flashbulb - Meadow Crush

Now that we're outside let's establish some boundaries... just kidding. But we do need somewhere to roam, earth to walk on. Leave that to Mr. Benn Jordan, a master of creating lush atmosphere complete with emotionally stirring melodies that seem to dance around the sky like sparrows darting about for their morning meal of mosquitoes.

#3 - Deftones - Beauty School

And now for something a little heavier. I've been a big fan of these guys since I first started taking music seriously. White Pony was one of my first albums and I've loved everything they've put out since. The Deftones are very good at developing a song with humble beginnings and letting it bloom into a big memorable chorus that has the potential of getting lodged in your head for longer than most people are comfortable with. This song is a perfect example. It bursts forth from the ground and blossoms into something rather beautiful. Your mind has no choice but to take a picture and store it away. For me it's filed under "Songs to play the first day I can roll the windows down"

#4 - M83 - Skin of the Night

Speaking of well-written choruses. Have you ever wished during a great track that the chorus would repeat just a few more times before the end? M83 took this thought into advisement and wrote a track that is literally 80% chorus and for me it never gets old. The words and the inviting delivery warm the blood in my heart. I found myself hitting the "play again please" button a lot when I first discovered it. And every spring since, this has been in heavy rotation on my headphones, in the car, on the stereo, everywhere I can put it.

#5 - The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise

The Smashing Pumpkins are one of my go to bands when I need a break from metal. They have just enough edge, just enough aggression to gently help me down from the adrenaline fest that is my usual listening experience. This song doesn't have much of an edge, but for a Spring Mix there is no better track than Mayonaise; a song about enduring the hard times and trying again. When I can, I will. This is a perfect track for shaking off the last few icicles.

#6 - Queens of the Stoneage - Make It Wit Chu

Spring stirs up all sorts of things. Some don't need any explanation.

#7 - Alcest - Summer's Glory

Yes, the song is called Summer's Glory. I've obviously picked the wrong track, but no! A big reason why I appreciate Spring is that Summer is just around the bend. The gradual progression is nice but I am admittedly a little impatient for the kind of heat that makes you sweat without even moving. So I chose this song to build up some anticipation. Alcest is probably the most metal band on this list so far, but it comes from a sub-genre so removed from the angry foundations of what metal is, I'd have a hard time calling it that. Alcest has managed to come out on the other side of the spectrum creating some really beautiful music. Their new album Les Voyages De L'Ame is worth looking into if this strikes a chord.

#8 - Devin Townsend - Deadhead

This song embodies my cheesier side. I can remember moments during past relationships when I've played this song in the car, starting the track immediately when I know there's a strip of road that I can push the gas pedal to the floor while I glance over lovingly at the cute girl in the passenger seat as the warm wind rushes through the car like a torrent. In those moments I wanted her to know that she was my goddess and I was the fucking man. Usually after the song was over, the arbitrary girl would be thoroughly unimpressed... ha. I should date nicer girls.

#9 - Meshuggah - Swarm

It's about time I put something legitimately heavy on here. This is another one from this year and the album from which this track comes will certainly be a contender for best of 2012. But the reason I picked it for my Spring Mix is the undeniable fact that all of our swarming friends will soon be coming back from dormancy. The mosquitoes, the horse flies, the hornets and wasps. I welcome you back into existence with a punishingly brutal song and I hope my mortal flesh is sweet enough this year for you little guys to dig in.

#10 - System of a Down - Peephole

Time for the finale, which is an opportunity for a few quick words of warning before you get out there and enjoy the warm embrace of the new season.

Best of 2011

#1 - Death - Human (Remastered)

Ok, ok... I phoned this one in. But seriously what did you expect? Death is my favorite band, the reason I picked up guitar. And Human was originally released with a terrible production job. So in 2011, I spun this masterpiece a lot and loved the shit out of every moment. That's it for 2011, time to bring on 2012, which is already promising to be a good year, even though those pesky Mayans say it'll be our last.

Best of 2011

#2 - Valborg - Barbarian

I've been following Valborg since they started out noting each of their releases as having potential but not being fully realized. This is weird stuff with no discernible influences that I can tell, which automatically earns my attention, but it wasn't until Barbarian that I was really impressed. This album is so fucking moody, so hypnotic and atmospheric, at moments you could call it minimalist with it's apparent simple song structures, but there's a lot between the lines here. On Barbarian, Valborg painted a picture of a hulking, lumbering soldier, battle-ax in hand, on a journey. During some tracks he lays waste to small villages, bludgeoning peasants into muddy battlefields. On others he wanders, he reflects, he regrets. And on the second to last track (I like to think when he meets a special lady) he sings a rock ballad that if played with a different guitar, through a different amp, in a different country, could have easily made it onto a Scorpions album. What the fuck you might say. What the fuck indeed.

Best of 2011

#3 - Shining - VI - Fodd Forlorare

I love black metal that doesn't sound quite like black metal. I like my black metal to have acoustic guitars, parts that don't blast, I like it to have hooks to remember and atmosphere. Shining's motivation is pretty simple. They write songs about killing yourself; a message that's been done a million times before. Luckily the lyrics aren't in English and every other aspect of this album is fucking awesome. Each track has a pulse strongly rooted in rock structure with groovy rhythms and blasts used sparingly with great effect. And even though the lyrical theme is recycled from youthful rebellion, the lyrics are delivered with passion. There are moments on this album where the words seem to come out of the vocal's throat like razor blades, shredding the poor guy to pieces. He's obviously a god damn lunatic, but most great artists are.

Best of 2011

 #4 - 40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room

When I first spun this it didn’t quite click. But as the year limped on, I kept listening to it and it started to melt into my perception of what 2011 was. This album is pure pain and longing drowning in subterranean distortion, guided by someone who has a better grasp on writing hooks than anyone in the business. I sang along to this album more than any other in the past year and every time it left me right on the edge of an emotional breakdown. I’m so happy the Warning crew is back picking up where they left off. Picking up the task of bringing grown men to tears.  

Best of 2011

 #5 - The Atlas Moth - An Ache for the Distance

I've played the song Holes in the Desert off this album so many times... An absurd amount. Everytime I hopped in my car and wanted to feel just fucking cool, wanted to drive fast, take turns wide and fucking blast the doors off of compact KIA's and Ford Fiesta's, I put on Holes in the Desert. It makes me feel like James Dean, like Steve McQueen. Just for that one song, this album makes the list, BUT THE OTHER TRACKS ARE GOOD TOO.

Best of 2011

#6 - Corrupted - Garten Der Unbewusstheit (Garden of Unconsciousness)

There are some people who have fantasies about creating the perfect football team, their dream team of athletes who have proven themselves worthy on a personal level. Since I'm indifferent to sports the dream teams I fantasize about are collaborations of musicians, groups that should get together because a shared project would be undoubtedly captivating. The vague interest took on a new form when I first listened to Altar, a collaboration between drone veterans Sunn 0))) and Boris. That album was perfect, and I wanted more. And it wasn't until 2011 until I heard something of a similar genre that really effected me. Garten Der Unbewusstheit by Corrupted was the album I was waiting for.

This is not a collaboration though, so prefacing this review the way I did might seem awkward, until explaining that the only way I can describe Corrupted's sound is Earth+Boris. The beginning of Garten is very Earth-like, with clean guitars, a slight twang, played excruciatingly slowly. For every gently strummed chord there is a melody written to emphasize the feeling of being lost. Each line leads into the next seamlessly with a low whispered vocal acting as a guide through endless layers of dark reverberating atmosphere.

Then like a landslide of molten lava, a very Boris-esque riff comes in accompanied by a subterranean growl and the word heavy is instantly and forever redefined. This is perfection in composition, this is an example of veteran musicians who know exactly how to manipulate their listeners. Even though it might take a little patience for someone not accustomed to drone, given time, Garten Der Unbewusstheit will raise the bar for drone, for great album-writing in general.

Best of 2011

 #7 - Pantheist - Self-Titled

There were a few very high profile funeral doom albums released this year but this is the only one that really hit home for me. Funeral doom is a tough genre; it might be slow, it might not focus on technical ability or knowledge of complex music theory, but it requires perfect compositional song writing. Within each track, usually spanning up to 10 minutes and beyond, the composers really have to pour their hearts out while making sure they don't bore the listener or alienate them with chord or time changes that would be less startling in faster, shorter songs.

On their self-titled album, Pantheist really stretched the boundaries of funeral doom, bringing quite a bit of beauty along with the sadness that defines this particular sort of music. The most prominent example of this is definitely the abundance of soaring clean vocals. So few funeral doom bands employ the use of clean vocals, it's refreshing to actually hear the vocalist's english accent and hear him stretch for those really heart-wrenching notes in counterpoint with the guitar leads. Each track on this album is well worth your patience especially "Be Here" which earns my award for saddest song of the year (which is a good thing).

Best of 2011

 #8 - Ulcerate - Destroyer of All

There's nothing that gets my attention more than originality. Sure, I respect each genre and respect bands who achieve absolute mastery within their niche, but to hear unrecognizable music, music that can't readily be categorized, is a special treat. When I first heard Ulcerate's "Everything is Fire" I was blown away by the hideousness of it, the razor sharp tones, the dissonance, but it never quite clicked. As much as I like chaos in music, I might still need some sort of foothold to grasp onto and "Everything is Fire" didn't give it to me.

With Destroyer of All, Ulcerate redefined their sound, polished it, sanded off some of the rough edges. I think the biggest improvement is a more consistent sense of groove over the course of the album. The drums are punishingly brutal with a kick drum resembling a machine gun, but the consistency of attractive grooves gives each track a contained environment, trapping the hideous chords and leads that would otherwise be unchained chaos.

With such a dramatic shift of character between their last two albums, I have no idea what to expect from their next one, which makes me very excited to hear it.

Best of 2011

 #9 - Orne - The Tree of Life

If not for Opeth's leap of faith into the chasm of noodly prog rock I would never have found this little album. I remember the moment of discovery quite vividly. I was spinning Heritage thinking, "where are the hooks?!" while surfing the message boards of metalreview.com. Scrolling through the ever present Now Playing thread, the cover for this popped up and I knew exactly what it was before reading a single word of the post itself. The cover is unmistakably prog rock, the sort of prog rock about temptation, damnation, death, in a very biblical context. Upon the first spin of this I knew that there was no need to ever pull out Heritage again. This example of vintage prog rock has hooks, so many hooks, glorious memorable hooks, the sort that grow like vines around the part of the brain where songs get trapped and repeated endlessly.

The most fascinating thing about this album though is how historically accurate it feels. If handed The Tree of Life without the knowledge that it was written this year, I would have guessed it was some recently discovered relic of the late 70's. The production has the warmth of a purely analog signal, the guitar tone has a perfect gain structure that has just the slightest amount of break-up, and this vintage feel makes the prominent proggy organ feel right at home. The finished product is really impressive, really catchy, really beautiful, and it proves that really good prog rock isn't dead yet.