Update to my last entry. I figured I'd take a look at iTunes 2007 Essentials list in comparison to 1997. First: If you have never seen an iTunes Essentials list - get off this and download iTunes right away and be prepared to never see the light of day again. It is that absorbing. But in reality: the iTunes essential lists are broken down into three catgeories per list. For the annual lists, the categories are The Basics, Next Step, and Deep Cuts. I'm sure you can figure out that The Basics consist of the obvious Top 40 hits, Next Step is basically a continuation of that list, and Deep Cuts are smaller tunes that aren't so full of themselves.
For 2007 Deep Cuts they have The National, The Shins, Sharon Jones, Arcade Fire, Spoon, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, and Band of Horses. Extremely decent!
For 2007 Next Step they include John Mayer, Gym Class Heroes, Alicia Keys, and The White Stripes. Not bad at all.
For 2007 Basics... Avril Lavigne, Plain White T's, Fergie (twice!), The Fray, and two American Idol winners. Hmm..
But I will get behind the other basics: Robin Thicke (although I've never thought of him as mainstream), Maroon 5, and Beyonce. I don't have a problem with sexy R&B at all.
I don't know. Maybe things aren't so bad. Maybe?
31 August 2008
I'd Like to Take You on a Trip: All the Way Back to the Year 1997
Is anyone aware of how many good songs there were in 1997? Although I've been around music since the day I was born, the first year I clearly recall becoming obsessed with specific modern songs was 1997 and it was definitely the coolest year to wake up to these crazy sounds. I have an ecclectic taste in music and I'm almost certain it must've come from being an impressionable 11 year old in 1997. Every song I remember loving as a child was a hit in this wonderful, ridiculous year... take a look.
Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik (number one for a reason!)
You Make Me Wanna - Usher
Lovefool - The Cardigans
One Headlight - The Wallflowers
The Freshman - The Verve Pipe
How Bizarre - OMC
If You Could Only See - Tonic
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band (I remember feeling embarassed when this song was on)
The Impression That I Get - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) - Missy Elliott
All By Myself - Celine Dion (even then I was a sappy loser)
Mo Money Mo Problems - Notorious B.I.G.
All For You - Sister Hazel
Barbie Girl - Aqua
Fly - Sugar Ray
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
Walking on the Sun - Smash Mouth
Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind
Everyday is a Winding Road - Sheryl Crow
Song 2 - Blur
Un-Break My Heart - Toni Braxton
Don't Let Go - En Vogue
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? - Paula Cole
and of course..
You Were Meant for Me - Jewel
A song I still love or possibly love more than ever. It's my theme song.
So bottom line is: How lucky am I to have been brought up in a time when these songs were on the radio? I don't even want to start naming songs that 11 year olds hear nowadays on Z100 and the like. These are classic songs that sound as good today as they did in '97. What an excellent year for music. I never realized..
Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik (number one for a reason!)
You Make Me Wanna - Usher
Lovefool - The Cardigans
One Headlight - The Wallflowers
The Freshman - The Verve Pipe
How Bizarre - OMC
If You Could Only See - Tonic
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band (I remember feeling embarassed when this song was on)
The Impression That I Get - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) - Missy Elliott
All By Myself - Celine Dion (even then I was a sappy loser)
Mo Money Mo Problems - Notorious B.I.G.
All For You - Sister Hazel
Barbie Girl - Aqua
Fly - Sugar Ray
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
Walking on the Sun - Smash Mouth
Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind
Everyday is a Winding Road - Sheryl Crow
Song 2 - Blur
Un-Break My Heart - Toni Braxton
Don't Let Go - En Vogue
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? - Paula Cole
and of course..
You Were Meant for Me - Jewel
A song I still love or possibly love more than ever. It's my theme song.
So bottom line is: How lucky am I to have been brought up in a time when these songs were on the radio? I don't even want to start naming songs that 11 year olds hear nowadays on Z100 and the like. These are classic songs that sound as good today as they did in '97. What an excellent year for music. I never realized..
27 August 2008
The Billboard Charts are Hungry
I'm concerned with the state of music. All day I get music related emails at work so I know it's not completely downhill - and I do get paid because music exists - but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I don't get paid very much. That could be a metaphor for the music itself: it's there but not in a big way. And then there's this idea - sorry if it's really out there: Compared to a third world country, I do get paid a lot, it's just in the United States that it would be deemed not much compared to the extreme price hikes. Music is the same way. There's some amazing independent music out there that to the few who know about it is phenomenal. These people will tell you the state of music, artistically at least, is thriving. It's just the mainstream (in my aforementioned metaphor: the US) that's going downhill.
Katy Perry, Chris Brown, David Archuleta, and Rihanna top the Billboard music chart this week. Really? NONE OF THOSE ARTISTS ARE OVER 23 YEARS OLD! This worries me. In order for the music industry to make money (and have credibility) they need artists that are going to have some longevity. One of my co-workers just called, "I Kissed a Girl" a 'throwaway song' and they're absolutely right. It's a semi-catchy, nonsensical song that will last through a couple changing seasons and that's it. No one is going to be 45 years old and still enjoying that song unless they're looking through old high school yearbooks and throwing on some cheesy songs to remind them of the younger years. I appreciate silly songs almost as much as anyone else, especially considering the "Monster Mash" is a song I listen to year round, but when it's not balanced out by any reputable music, it becomes unbearable. I would say out of those four top artists this week, Rihanna has the most chance of lasting. Why? Because her songs are unique in a way that keep you coming back for more. She has had so many catchy hits now that clearly she's not a flash in the pan the way one might have expected when "Don't Stop the Music", her first single, came out.
Judging from my own experience with music, I tend to have several categories:
Die hard Favorites
Constant Companions
Very Enjoyable Acquaintances (that sometimes I try to pass off as a favorite)
Nice Friends (this is where it starts to get iffy)
Mediocre Listens
The Awfuls
In 2004, I probably bought Cd's from every artist in the first three, maybe even four categories. In 2008, I only buy from the first category. On my iPod I have a bunch from all categories but most of it wasn't paid for in any conventional sense. Since getting a full time job (especially considering what that job is) I have made a stronger effort to pay for everything I listen to but even so, one song for $0.99 isn't the same as $14.99 for an entire record. I know there are some wonderful, crazy, beautiful die hard music listeners out there that will spend a ton of money for all things beat infested but the truth is, even considering myself an obsessive music lover, I would never do that! Maybe I enjoyed that Katy Perry song for two seconds, maybe even that is pushing it, but I would never buy it knowing that I'll be sick of it in a week and embarrassed to even have it on my artists list.
Even more than price, I care about the space on my iPod. Although it seems like an oxymoron, space doesn't matter as much with Cds. Yes, you need a place to store them and that task can sometimes be overwhelming but as long as you have a sturdy CD holder with 500 spots, the space is taken care of. I have an iPod mini that holds only 2000 songs on a very, very good day. Unfortunately what the Apple creeps don't broadcast is that on those gorgeous microscopic machines you can put as many music videos as you want as well and each one takes up 50 songs! That means if I take full advantage of the video aspect I will have less room for the main component of the machine to begin with: music. Now they've added those game applications and movies and rentals! I blame Facebook for the disaster that iTunes has become - and Myspace. Facebook, with their slimy international applications, has made every website from here to China a state fair. But that's for another entry.
The real situation here is the lack of acknowledgement for the artists with lasting potential and the pedestals we hand out to novice artists with decent producers that sign them so they can bang them in the bathroom. It's so sad. The only upside is that perhaps people are catching on to this. Most music magazines and websites now have at least a small section catering to Independent artists and unsigned talent. I think the people in charge are even getting tired of listening to Hannah Montana - although that girl is a performance magician. It's funny because I am not cut from the 'Indie' cloth by any means. I love Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash - artists that maybe struggled on day one but certainly not most of their careers. The only difference is that this mainstream is from back in the day. "The Day" being the '70s or earlier, not "The Day" we used to have good music. Good music is all around. Good music is even in supermarkets nowadays, it's the little boy from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids yelling to you from the ground - hear it, love it, support it! Let's get some meat on these Billboard bones. And if you like Katy Perry or any of her minions, don't tell me.
Katy Perry, Chris Brown, David Archuleta, and Rihanna top the Billboard music chart this week. Really? NONE OF THOSE ARTISTS ARE OVER 23 YEARS OLD! This worries me. In order for the music industry to make money (and have credibility) they need artists that are going to have some longevity. One of my co-workers just called, "I Kissed a Girl" a 'throwaway song' and they're absolutely right. It's a semi-catchy, nonsensical song that will last through a couple changing seasons and that's it. No one is going to be 45 years old and still enjoying that song unless they're looking through old high school yearbooks and throwing on some cheesy songs to remind them of the younger years. I appreciate silly songs almost as much as anyone else, especially considering the "Monster Mash" is a song I listen to year round, but when it's not balanced out by any reputable music, it becomes unbearable. I would say out of those four top artists this week, Rihanna has the most chance of lasting. Why? Because her songs are unique in a way that keep you coming back for more. She has had so many catchy hits now that clearly she's not a flash in the pan the way one might have expected when "Don't Stop the Music", her first single, came out.
Judging from my own experience with music, I tend to have several categories:
Die hard Favorites
Constant Companions
Very Enjoyable Acquaintances (that sometimes I try to pass off as a favorite)
Nice Friends (this is where it starts to get iffy)
Mediocre Listens
The Awfuls
In 2004, I probably bought Cd's from every artist in the first three, maybe even four categories. In 2008, I only buy from the first category. On my iPod I have a bunch from all categories but most of it wasn't paid for in any conventional sense. Since getting a full time job (especially considering what that job is) I have made a stronger effort to pay for everything I listen to but even so, one song for $0.99 isn't the same as $14.99 for an entire record. I know there are some wonderful, crazy, beautiful die hard music listeners out there that will spend a ton of money for all things beat infested but the truth is, even considering myself an obsessive music lover, I would never do that! Maybe I enjoyed that Katy Perry song for two seconds, maybe even that is pushing it, but I would never buy it knowing that I'll be sick of it in a week and embarrassed to even have it on my artists list.
Even more than price, I care about the space on my iPod. Although it seems like an oxymoron, space doesn't matter as much with Cds. Yes, you need a place to store them and that task can sometimes be overwhelming but as long as you have a sturdy CD holder with 500 spots, the space is taken care of. I have an iPod mini that holds only 2000 songs on a very, very good day. Unfortunately what the Apple creeps don't broadcast is that on those gorgeous microscopic machines you can put as many music videos as you want as well and each one takes up 50 songs! That means if I take full advantage of the video aspect I will have less room for the main component of the machine to begin with: music. Now they've added those game applications and movies and rentals! I blame Facebook for the disaster that iTunes has become - and Myspace. Facebook, with their slimy international applications, has made every website from here to China a state fair. But that's for another entry.
The real situation here is the lack of acknowledgement for the artists with lasting potential and the pedestals we hand out to novice artists with decent producers that sign them so they can bang them in the bathroom. It's so sad. The only upside is that perhaps people are catching on to this. Most music magazines and websites now have at least a small section catering to Independent artists and unsigned talent. I think the people in charge are even getting tired of listening to Hannah Montana - although that girl is a performance magician. It's funny because I am not cut from the 'Indie' cloth by any means. I love Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash - artists that maybe struggled on day one but certainly not most of their careers. The only difference is that this mainstream is from back in the day. "The Day" being the '70s or earlier, not "The Day" we used to have good music. Good music is all around. Good music is even in supermarkets nowadays, it's the little boy from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids yelling to you from the ground - hear it, love it, support it! Let's get some meat on these Billboard bones. And if you like Katy Perry or any of her minions, don't tell me.
26 August 2008
Picture Party
With all the beautiful photography that goes along with music, from the publicity shots to album covers to magazine spreads, I thought it smart to create an entry I'll try to do two or three times a month specifically dedicated to photographs of a particular theme involving music. I have a few ideas but since this is an especially slow day at work I'll start with the one most fun to look at: attractive male singers. The images below capture different forms of intensity on the faces of some of the more uniquely appealing musicians. Enjoy.
James Mercer
John Legend
Common
Jamie Lidell
John Frusciante
22 August 2008
The Ballad of Mraz
It's the end of summer, I had a few nice glasses of Chardonnay last night, and I'm at work with a fan blowing and lots of thoughts running through my head. To me, this screams Jason Mraz. Unfortunately, the bagel and fake sugared up coffee I'm having right now do not. Going from Mechanicsville, VA to singer/songwriter stardom, Mr. Mraz has come to represent an entire generation of surfing, raw foodist slackers that do nothing better with their time than smoke weed and trade philosophical musings. Although, what better time is there?
I've often wished I could live inside a song. There have been so many throughout the years that I want to be a part of in a bigger way than merely through my ears. Jason Mraz has several of these. Lately, I've been enthralled with "The Dynamo of Volition" off his latest album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. although I wouldn't be able to tell you what the words meant at all. It's a mixture of rap, pop, surf, rock, and maybe smooth jazz, CD101.9 style. Mraz himself likes the "yacht rock" music of Christopher Cross and Hall & Oates so it's no wonder his style almost mirrors that but in a younger package. He's done very slinky covers of "I Melt With You" and "Summer Breeze", he has song titles like "Live High" and "Curbside Prophet", and lyrics such as "And I can keep you eating out the palm of my hand, because the dope that we smoked was grown on my land, the words I burn they don't come from a can, the movie in my mind will be the winner at Cannes"... He seems a little crazy, which personally, I love.
Typically I have a problem with musicians being too corny. I think R.E.M. does this, the Talking Heads, etc but Mraz's corniness comes across a little more simplistic and honest than the others. Although I appreciate Michael Stipe as a person, particularly his affinity for the afterlife and the end of the world, I'm not sure I understand his music. It's probably my fault - music like that doesn't translate into anything I'm familiar with and like all people who are scared of what they don't understand, I prefer music that falls into my favorite, little categories. Of course, rock music in any fashion is probably far less corny than some of these singer/songwriters on par with Jason Mraz. People like Colton Graham, James Morrison, Brett Dennen - these characters need to tone it down dramatically or more precisely: tone it up. I have seen both Morrison and Dennen open for John Mayer (the master of finding cheesy artists) and they were almost non-music. How many times can one possibly say things like, "Oh Love, beautiful love, you are my happy day, you are my sunshine"? Corniness burrows in musicians copying one another to cash in on a flash in the pan moment or better yet, ones trying to make nothing into something, i.e. one single line repeating twelve times in order to form a catchy chorus.
Something that must be appreciated about Jason Mraz is his eccletic nature and lack of the obvious. He probably wouldn't even know how to copy someone else's style, regardless of the Jack Johnson comparisons. On his sophmore release, Mr. A-Z, Mr. Mraz decided to go wild with the production values and maybe took some things overboard but still managed to create a couple sublime songs ("Clockwatching" and "Bella Luna" specifically). Mraz messing up a song is like having a beautiful living room with an ugly air conditioner out the window: it may seem out of place but you still have a lot of positives to balance it out. The positives on Mraz's side begin with his angelic voice. When a 30 year old man can sing "At Last" and have it come off just as sweet as Etta James' version, you know there's something special.
An added bonus is that I believe Jason Mraz is a nice guy. When I was sixteen or so, I met him at the Stone Pony and gave him a stuffed cat. Strange, I know, but he has several songs about cats... Anyway, he took the cat and was petting its head for a little while and kept thanking me for it. He posed for a picture with my best friend and me and chatted for a couple minutes. Things like that mean a lot to a young girl and they are never forgotten. My friend and I had waited hours in the sweltering heat with our general admission tickets that night and couldn't even buy a soft drink later on because we had spent all our money on the tickets and merchandise. This being the day after I went four hours away to see him in Providence, RI. I have an overwhelming appreciation for music I enjoy apparently.
Jason Mraz is a genre of his own. For further proof take a listen to the following songs or watch my highly suggested video of him singing the Hall & Oates classic, "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" from Dick Clark's New Year's Eve special. He's a dynamo.
21 August 2008
The National know
It Never Happened
We look younger than we feel
and older than we are
now nobody's funny
no god, they took our fashion week
that's a real bad thing
cause we have scars to cover
now I forget how to think
so crack my skull
rearrange me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
and cover me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
Nothing made a sound in Williamstown that night
and all the air was empty
then what to my wondering eyes should appear
nothing, cause nothing ever happens here
now I forget how to think
so crack my skull
rearrange me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
and cover me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
nothing ever happened here
nothing ever happened here
bad things never happen to the beautiful
Guest Room
They’re gonna send us to prison for jerks
for having vague ideas of the way to turn each other on again
they’re gonna send us to prison for jerks
They’ll find us here here here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my
We miss being ruffians, going wild and bright
in the corners of front yards
getting in and out of cars
we miss being deviants
They’ll find us here here here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my
We can’t stay here
we’re starting to stay the same
we can’t stay here
we can’t stay this way
Just tie your woman to your wrist
give her room to tie the other
They’ll find us here here here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my
Lucky You
Every time you get a drink
and every time you go to sleep
are those dreams inside your head
is there sunlight on your bed
and every time you're driving home
way outside your safety zone
wherever you will ever be
you're never getting rid of me
you own me
there's nothing you can do
you own me
you coulda made a safer bet
but what you break is what you get
you wake up in the bed you make
I think you made a big mistake
you own me
there's nothing you can do
you own me
lucky you
you own me
there's nothing you can do
you clean yourself to meet
the man who isn't me
you're putting on a shirt
a shirt I'll never see
the letter's in your coat
but no one's in your head
cause you're too smart to remember
you're too smart
lucky you
Apartment Story
Be still for a second while I try and try to pin your flowers on
Can you carry my drink I have everything else
I can tie my tie all by myself
I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why
Oh we’re so disarming darling, everything we did believe
is diving diving diving diving off the balcony
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
Hold ourselves together with our arms around the stereo for hours
While it sings to itself or whatever it does
when it sings to itself of its long lost loves
I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
but I’ll be with you behind the couch when they come
on a different day just like this one
We’ll stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days
We’ll stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume
stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume on
We look younger than we feel
and older than we are
now nobody's funny
no god, they took our fashion week
that's a real bad thing
cause we have scars to cover
now I forget how to think
so crack my skull
rearrange me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
and cover me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
Nothing made a sound in Williamstown that night
and all the air was empty
then what to my wondering eyes should appear
nothing, cause nothing ever happens here
now I forget how to think
so crack my skull
rearrange me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
and cover me
lover put me in your beautiful bed
nothing ever happened here
nothing ever happened here
bad things never happen to the beautiful
Guest Room
They’re gonna send us to prison for jerks
for having vague ideas of the way to turn each other on again
they’re gonna send us to prison for jerks
They’ll find us here here here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my
We miss being ruffians, going wild and bright
in the corners of front yards
getting in and out of cars
we miss being deviants
They’ll find us here here here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my
We can’t stay here
we’re starting to stay the same
we can’t stay here
we can’t stay this way
Just tie your woman to your wrist
give her room to tie the other
They’ll find us here here here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my
Lucky You
Every time you get a drink
and every time you go to sleep
are those dreams inside your head
is there sunlight on your bed
and every time you're driving home
way outside your safety zone
wherever you will ever be
you're never getting rid of me
you own me
there's nothing you can do
you own me
you coulda made a safer bet
but what you break is what you get
you wake up in the bed you make
I think you made a big mistake
you own me
there's nothing you can do
you own me
lucky you
you own me
there's nothing you can do
you clean yourself to meet
the man who isn't me
you're putting on a shirt
a shirt I'll never see
the letter's in your coat
but no one's in your head
cause you're too smart to remember
you're too smart
lucky you
Apartment Story
Be still for a second while I try and try to pin your flowers on
Can you carry my drink I have everything else
I can tie my tie all by myself
I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why
Oh we’re so disarming darling, everything we did believe
is diving diving diving diving off the balcony
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
Hold ourselves together with our arms around the stereo for hours
While it sings to itself or whatever it does
when it sings to itself of its long lost loves
I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why
Tired and wired we ruin too easy
sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
but I’ll be with you behind the couch when they come
on a different day just like this one
We’ll stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days
We’ll stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume
stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume on
Californication: The Most Rock 'n Roll Show on Television
Unless you like aliens, David Duchovny is the best kept secret on television - or in all of Hollywood for that matter. Californication not only proves how dumb America is getting (in more ways than one) but it also delivers one of the best casts I've had the fortune of seeing since Six Feet Under. In a strange way I feel like they're similar. Both focus on a man in his thirties grappling with mortality, father issues, and difficult women. Both also take the phrase 'sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll' to an extreme. Screenwriters, most of whom I would assume are in fact in their thirties, really fancy themselves the laid back rock stars capable of picking up the hottest chick in the club. That alone is interesting - or as Rachel Miner's character Dani California (whose father taught me acting) would say, "It's not anything - It's a fantasy."
All of the characters in this series are brutally injured emotionally by things normal people have to go on accepting in their daily lives. David Duchovny's character, Hank Moody, literally wrecks his entire life because he doesn't understand how he destroyed the one relationship that meant anything to him. To numb the pain, he has meaningless sex with random women, chain smokes, drinks every night, and begs his ex every chance he gets to come home. Like the first heroin fix of a drug addict, he's looking for the same high he once had with the unbelievably gorgeous Natascha McElhone (Karen). He tries to balance this with being a semi-successful writer and father to his exceptionally mature 12 year old daughter, Becca.
But here's why the show is really great: The writers have completely captured what it feels like to be doing one thing on a normal basis while wanting to do something else the entire time. They clearly depict the pitfalls of pretending to be normal while secretly knowing it's totally impossible. They show a man waking up each day, reading the newspaper, going about the errands of the afternoon as if he were like everyone else but underneath this man is so ruined from how good he once had it that there's no way for him to carry on regularly. He has to soak his sorrows in the form of addictive behavior and bad habits. He has a strong taste for records and music but what happens in one of the episodes? He has sex with a hippie and she steals them all! It's the one time we see Hank Moody care for any material possessions throughout the entire series - albeit only slightly. Everything seems to fall apart for him.
The key moment for me that enables perfect understanding of Hank's character is when he purchases a new convertible with the bonus he recieves from one of his novels. His agent tells him to go buy something nice and although he's completely uninterested, he finds himself looking at his car (which he says has 'character') and being too lazy to clean it - so hey, get a new one instead! Obviously, disaster ensues and the car is stolen from him at gunpoint. What does he do? Takes out a cigarette and forgets about the car. I know this sounds far from reality but to me, I understand completely. All he really wants to do with that money is buy an antique ring for Karen who is engaged to another man -which he does. He never cared about the car, it was just something to bide time with, something that would make him appear normal. He just wants her love.
Karen, on the other hand, tries hard to be normal. It's clear from the first episode that she still loves Hank but she had to move on. Although they look perfect together, have similar interests, and hold on to each other's hands a little too long in public, she is with someone else and insists to Hank that she doesn't care for him anymore. It's sometimes painful to watch how much he loves her without open reciprocation. It makes the audience wonder why she would hold back so much - until the flashbacks. These clips, in high contrast to signify the past, show Hank getting so wrapped up in his work he can barely talk to her. She stays cool and mentions it only when she has to. It gets to the point where he can't even look at her and finally she tells him that to her, "fucking and talking go hand in hand". Basically admitting that she's having an affair with someone who gives her attention. Hank is devastated, she walks out, and he pulls her into a passionate kiss as if that will save something. He's not even mad at her - more at himself. She pulls away and runs out. It's pretty heartbreaking.
The strangest thing about this show has nothing to do with plot: it's the audience. I definitely thought, based on reviews and friends who have watched it, that it would be all sex, all the time. I thought the nudity was intense and the scenes were graphic. It seemed like that's all anyone mentioned. How could so many people miss the point? Look at Hank's face in the middle of it - sometimes he's rolling his eyes, sometimes he's even literally sighing like, "Get off of me, already." This isn't some playboy that wants a hot piece of ass. This is a broken man who wants the love of his life back and has to fill in the "meantime".
The end of season one left me on the floor at 5am silently thinking about it for more than an hour. If you've ever felt like you'd take up every bad habit known to man to get away from your head for a minute or you've ever felt like the people around you think of love like a disease, than this is the show you have to watch.
All of the characters in this series are brutally injured emotionally by things normal people have to go on accepting in their daily lives. David Duchovny's character, Hank Moody, literally wrecks his entire life because he doesn't understand how he destroyed the one relationship that meant anything to him. To numb the pain, he has meaningless sex with random women, chain smokes, drinks every night, and begs his ex every chance he gets to come home. Like the first heroin fix of a drug addict, he's looking for the same high he once had with the unbelievably gorgeous Natascha McElhone (Karen). He tries to balance this with being a semi-successful writer and father to his exceptionally mature 12 year old daughter, Becca.
But here's why the show is really great: The writers have completely captured what it feels like to be doing one thing on a normal basis while wanting to do something else the entire time. They clearly depict the pitfalls of pretending to be normal while secretly knowing it's totally impossible. They show a man waking up each day, reading the newspaper, going about the errands of the afternoon as if he were like everyone else but underneath this man is so ruined from how good he once had it that there's no way for him to carry on regularly. He has to soak his sorrows in the form of addictive behavior and bad habits. He has a strong taste for records and music but what happens in one of the episodes? He has sex with a hippie and she steals them all! It's the one time we see Hank Moody care for any material possessions throughout the entire series - albeit only slightly. Everything seems to fall apart for him.
The key moment for me that enables perfect understanding of Hank's character is when he purchases a new convertible with the bonus he recieves from one of his novels. His agent tells him to go buy something nice and although he's completely uninterested, he finds himself looking at his car (which he says has 'character') and being too lazy to clean it - so hey, get a new one instead! Obviously, disaster ensues and the car is stolen from him at gunpoint. What does he do? Takes out a cigarette and forgets about the car. I know this sounds far from reality but to me, I understand completely. All he really wants to do with that money is buy an antique ring for Karen who is engaged to another man -which he does. He never cared about the car, it was just something to bide time with, something that would make him appear normal. He just wants her love.
Karen, on the other hand, tries hard to be normal. It's clear from the first episode that she still loves Hank but she had to move on. Although they look perfect together, have similar interests, and hold on to each other's hands a little too long in public, she is with someone else and insists to Hank that she doesn't care for him anymore. It's sometimes painful to watch how much he loves her without open reciprocation. It makes the audience wonder why she would hold back so much - until the flashbacks. These clips, in high contrast to signify the past, show Hank getting so wrapped up in his work he can barely talk to her. She stays cool and mentions it only when she has to. It gets to the point where he can't even look at her and finally she tells him that to her, "fucking and talking go hand in hand". Basically admitting that she's having an affair with someone who gives her attention. Hank is devastated, she walks out, and he pulls her into a passionate kiss as if that will save something. He's not even mad at her - more at himself. She pulls away and runs out. It's pretty heartbreaking.
The strangest thing about this show has nothing to do with plot: it's the audience. I definitely thought, based on reviews and friends who have watched it, that it would be all sex, all the time. I thought the nudity was intense and the scenes were graphic. It seemed like that's all anyone mentioned. How could so many people miss the point? Look at Hank's face in the middle of it - sometimes he's rolling his eyes, sometimes he's even literally sighing like, "Get off of me, already." This isn't some playboy that wants a hot piece of ass. This is a broken man who wants the love of his life back and has to fill in the "meantime".
The end of season one left me on the floor at 5am silently thinking about it for more than an hour. If you've ever felt like you'd take up every bad habit known to man to get away from your head for a minute or you've ever felt like the people around you think of love like a disease, than this is the show you have to watch.
20 August 2008
Autumn Rocks
Some special photographs that remind me of autumn, rock, or a combination of the two - a few took my breath away.
Johnny Cash
James Mercer of The Shins
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver
Frank Sinatra
Van Morrison
Keith Richards
Jimi Hendrix
Ray Charles
The Beatles
Johnny Cash
James Mercer of The Shins
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver
Frank Sinatra
Van Morrison
Keith Richards
Jimi Hendrix
Ray Charles
The Beatles
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