...In which our heroine presents 2008: The Year in Music

Like Chemguy, I generally don't listen to enough new music. I tend to stick to old favorites and that's about it. But even still, I've made plenty of new discoveries this year in music, they just aren't necessarily from 2008.

RADIOHEAD
This is the year I finally started listening to Radiohead. The rumors were true--they are the best rock band of the past fifeteen years are so. I've found that there isn't really ever a bad time for Radiohead, whether it be studying, cooking dinner, or as background. Thom Yorke's voice reminds me of Neil Young, and Jonny Greenwood is a damn fine guitarist. What else can I say that hasn't already been said? And they killed at Lollapalooza.
SOUNDS LIKE: Themselves. Radiohead is the standard.

THE DECEMBERISTS
I came across "O! Valencia" because I liked the title of the song. A lot of songs by The Decemberists I began to listen to simply because they had cool titles--"The Mariner's Revenge Song," "My Mother was a Chinese Trapeze Artist." I like the huge sound of the band, kind of like a more folky, less choral Arcade Fire, in addition to the incredible wordplay used by frontman Colin Meloy-- "Meet you on the soft verandah/my sweet untouched Miranda." And he's pretty cute, which doesn't hurt.
SOUNDS LIKE: Robyn Hitchcock + Arcade Fire - God

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL
I'd always heard praise for the Athens' band's pretty much one and only album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea but it was one of those albums I just kept putting off listening to. That was stupid, because it's a brilliant album. Beautiful songs backed by Jeff Mangum's not-so beautiful voice, but still it all works. And apparently the whole thing is a concept album about Anne Frank. Sure, that's cool.
SOUNDS LIKE: REM + Afghan Whigs - all the passive agressiveness of Greg Dulli

GIRL TALK
I've already praised the genius of Greg Gillis on here. Feed the Animals is my second most listened to album of the year, behind Radiohead's In Rainbows. Because there is such a musical variety within, I never get tired of it. It's hard for me to pick a favorite mash-up, but I'm particularly fond of Lil' Mama's "Lipgloss" with Metallica's "One."
SOUNDS LIKE: A music history lesson of the new millenium.

FLEET FOXES
A lot of online and print magazines have the Foxes self-titled debut high on their year end lists and they're right. Goregous Applachian harmonies from four scruffy lads. "White Winter Hymnal" is a perfect song for cold weather and the music is incredibly dreamy.
SOUNDS LIKE: The Beach Boys + My Morning Jacket

T. REX
I love Bowie, but had never listened to the often lauded band of Marc Bolan. Electric Warrior is an awesome relic of the glam rock era, full of lots of grandiose guitars and lyrics. Everyone knows "(Get it On) Bang a Gong" which is on this album, but "Mambo Sun" is definitely my favorite.
SOUNDS LIKE: The made-up, superstar band from Velvet Goldmine

ROCK N' ROLL: 1950-1975
I was kind of into the whole classic rock Zeppelin/Floyd/Beatles thing when we went to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame on spring break. But visting there was the closest thing I've had to a religious experience in a while. I'm a sucker for nostalgia and memorbilia and the trip to the Hall of Fame made me realize there was a whole bunch of early rock that I was missing from my life. So I went down the list of Hall of Fame inductees and augmented iTunes. The Motown sound has been a big favorite, especially the girl groups, Sam Cooke, and Otis Redding. I've also quite enjoyed the 1960s hippie movement--CSNY, Cream, The Allman Brothers Band.
SOUNDS LIKE: Heathen music, made for damn dope-smoking, fornicating hellions

Enjoy Katydid's music picks of 2008

SeeqPod - Playable Search

...In which our heroine (ridicules) reviews "The Spirit"

I didn't want to go see The Spirit last night. Like really didn't want to. But Benjamin Button is three hours long and I got voted down by the rest of the group to see it at ten.

I like Frank Miller. Sin City, the comics and the film, are goregous explorations of noir characters and themes. His ark of Batman comics gave us The Dark Knight, at least partly. While I don't consider 300 to be a "good" film, it falls into the category of movies that I think of as "Fucking Awesome" with its counterparts Wanted and Shoot 'Em Up.

But please, do not ever let the man write and direct another film on his own. While it is clear that Miller has a distinct vision, he needs all the help he can get translating that vision into a clear narrative form. To call the visual look of The Spirit something like Sin City Part 2 is a great insult to Sin City. I could say so much about the film, but all the fanboys beat me to it. A couple of shots are cool looking, but the plot and dialogue such as "I'm going to kill you all kinds of dead" are just horrifically bad. We even get Samuel L. Jackson dressed in full SS attire at one point...as he is a Nazi. Yes, it was serious.

I could say the one redeeming factor of the film was the femme fatales within, but they weren't even good eye candy. Eva Mendes looks pretty good (trust me, the semi-nude shot of her is the high point of the film) but they even make my #1 girl crush Scarlett Johansson look awful. One of the things I like so much about Sin City is that while most of the female characters are hookers, they own their sexuality and are never victims--they generally just kick a lot of ass.

Gabriel Macht plays the Spirit himself and my god, someone needs to stop watching Clint Eastwood movies. MOVE YOUR FACE, STOP GROWLING AND EMOTE GODAMNIT! Jackson needs to stop being in such campy movies, he's becoming a self-parody.

Don't go see The Spirit unless you are A. alright with wasting eight dollars in order to see how bad the medium of filmmaking can go; B. trying to escape death; or C. highly intoxicated.

However, the company was good. It was once again the dude fest of high school, with me as the only girl, and I couldn't have been happier sitting in Waffle House at one in the morning.

...In which our heroine is once again, a geek.

From Filmdrunk, this is one of the weirdest shorts I've ever seen. The animation and Dick and Jane style is pretty cool, but the rest of the video is kind of out there. It's called "Rabbit" and is directed by some guy named Run Wrake. Nothing says Christmas like trippy cartoons.


In the week's other cool video find, there's this synthesis of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Pink Floyd's "Echoes." I saw 2001 for the first time a couple of months ago, and although I really like Kubrick, I still don't know if I think the movie is totally brilliant or totally bullshit. The visuals are of course stunning, and while the traditional score of the movie fits, this is a pretty interesting fusion. Ben told me that Kubrick wanted Pink Floyd to do the score for 2001 and while they declined, after seeing the film they decided to compose a piece of music specifically for it. " The length of "Echoes" is 23:31--the length of the final segment of 2001 is 23:32. Yeah, I'm a geek and watched the whole thing, and just like "Dark Side of the Rainbow," it works out pretty well.

...In which our heroine doubts her fellow man.

Somedays, I love my job. Nothing says Christmas like when two dads bring in their two small children to eat, behave kindly...then dine and ditch. With their kids. They even made the boy ask for change for a five so that they could all leave unnoticed. Because you can eat $32 worth of food, and not pay or tip your broke college kid server.

IT'S TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS. How can people be so cold, especially when they're in front of their children? I was not pleased. Dine and ditch is made for dumbass high schoolers, not forty year old fathers.

And it really bothered me because I understand broke. I really do. This is going to be the smallest Christmas we've ever had and I'll be happy for $50 in grocery money. My parents told me not to buy them gifts because they can't reciprocate. And we aren't even close to worst of it. I feel a great deal of sympathy for those on the lower side because I know we're always just one bad break away from it, one hospital stay or broken down car. My family has never and will never be affluent, but I could call my grandmother right now and ask for fifty dollars and she'd get it to me however she could. We always tip generously, donate to charity what we don't have. And for the most part, I notice that those who have the least give the most at work too.

But please, don't steal from others who need money too. Do you really think that Bob Evans employees are millionaires, that anyone working at that shitty restaurant doesn't need the money? If you don't have the money, then simply don't pretend like you do. Of course my brain immediatley went to "But what if they don't have any money for food?" That would have been fine, but then I remembered the fathers got the two most expensive meals on the menu.

I live my life my one simple philosophy: Go good, put it out in the world, and that good karma will come back to you, someday, someway. That's all I expect from others. Drop your spare change in the Salvation Army bucket. Hold a door open for an extra second for someone. Take five minutes to talk to the homeless man who sparks up a conversation with you and your boyfriend. Make someone's day, and yours will be made in return.

Enough with the cheese, I think the Animaniacs can explain the true value of what's important this holiday season best:

...In which our heroine talks that upcoming day.

The gods of muzak at Bob's have decided that this year we need to run Christmas music in a continuous stream. If I hear "White fucking Christmas" one more fucking time I'm going to go apeshit with some sausage gravy.

But nonetheless, I guess I am kind of in the Christmas mood. My favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually is on currently and despite the fact that it makes me miss Ben, I love it. I know most of the dialogue verbatim and have turned it into the de facto family Christmas movie, aside from Christmas Vacation.

I maintain that there is a specific correlation between your age and the wonderment of Christmas. I wish someone would just buy me a Barbie or some Lisa Frank shit. But I did ask Santa for The Dark Knight, and the real treat comes when I go back to Chicago and Ben and I go on our super fancy date.

I don't have to work on Christmas Eve which is a major bonus. I always feel bad for the people who come into Bob's on holidays and you can just tell that going to get some greasy homestyle food is the highlight of their day, that they have no one else. I try to be as kind as possible to these people but they still make me sad.

Enjoy a couple of my favorite Christmas moments from various media:

Rudolph goes to the Island of Misfit Toys, also known as Columbia College-


Clark Griswold loses it-


The Rugrats teach us the true meaning of giving-


Opus of Bloom County gets his biggest Christmas wish-


When I was younger, my dad decided this episode of Tales from the Crypt was a good choice to watch on Christmas Eve. That evening ended with me crying so hysterically I puked. I couldn't find the episode, but apparently the same segment is in the 1972 film-


The end of Love Actually, although the full thing isn't on Youtube-

...In which our heroine is getting back into the swing of things.

Home. Yeah, I'm kind of bored out of my mind. It isn't a bad bored, but just an adjustment from what I'm used to. I worked last night and that was actually pretty fun, especially since now I have a purpose to work for.

We got a Christmas tree today and I think I'm going to make some cookies tonight. I can't believe Christmas Eve is a week from today, how the time flies. I wish we still had little kids around the family because Christmas just isn't as fun when toys are replaced with practical shit like grocery money. I want a Barbie damnit!

The Wolverine trailer is kind of cool...but it is me who says so.

Everyone needs a Danny Trejo t-shirt in their life.

Bloons Tower Defense 3 is the best yet. I've wasted far too many hours on it already.

Having Bravo again makes me quite happy. I'm currently enjoying my fifth straight episode of Top Chef. I paged through the cookbook a while back, and I realized that I couldn't cook one damn thing from the show--it's amazingly complicated.

I miss Ben something awful. Gallacher, I'll never know how you did four months--I can't stand it after four days. Four down, fourteen to go.

...In which our heroine reviews "Milk," talks more film stuff.

I saw Milk Thursday night, as it was student night at the AMC in Chicago. With such a strong cast, Gus Van Sant at the helm, and an exploration of issues I'm interested in, I had to go.

The film is very good, very well made, especially in terms of sound and editing. Sean Penn is fantastic as Milk, the first gay man ever elected to public office, and well supported by James Franco, Diego Luna, Emile Hirsch, and Alison Pill. Milk is an interesting character, and one I'd like to know more about. Still though, as well done as the film is, it just didn't strike the emotional chord that others this year have. The plot was structured in a very typical rise, success, and fall of one man way, something I won't blame on the screenwriter, whose first script is Milk. I just thought it was almost too typical in terms of plot. However, it still rates as a must-see for awards time, if for nothing else than the performances within.


Speaking of awards season, and since I'm a total and utter geek, here are what I've got so far as to the best films I've seen so far this year: The Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Iron Man, Wall-E, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, and Burn After Reading.

***

My first semester of film school is over, so I'm going to try and take an inventory of all the new films I've seen so far, since living in Chicago. It's nice to not really watch TV anymore, and just watch films instead. I'll vaguely put them in order of how much I liked them:

Citizen Kane

The Graduate

Ratcatcher

It Happened One Night

In the Mood for Love

28 Weeks Later

Punch-Drunk Love

Magnolia

Salaam Bombay

Scorpio Rising

The Wrestler

Slumdog Millionaire

Milk

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Burn After Reading

Choke

Burden of Dreams

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The Limey

The Bicycle Thieves

All That Heaven Allows

Glengarry Glen Ross

The Battle of Algiers

2001: A Space Odyssey

Stay

The Last Laugh

Nothing But a Man

Ashes and Diamonds

A Man Escaped

Four Little Girls

The Kid

Un Chien Andalou

The Birth of a Nation

Rashomon

Halloween (the remake)

The Crime of Monsieur Lange

Battleship Potemkin

Silent Hill

Salo: 120 Days of Sodom--this is the most extreme film I've ever watched. I thought things like Crash (the Cronenberg one, not the shitty Best Picture) and Audition were bad but good lord. I didn't watch an entire portion of the film, it was just too much. And it is from the 1970s, so the shock should have lessened. It didn't.

These are the films I can remember, plus countless other clips and short films. It was a good semester.