http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Fri, 4 Jun 2004 00:24:07 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/06/04/002407.php Steven RubioI've entered the MP3 hard drive club, having bought a Rio Karma a couple of days ago. There's lots of stuff I haven't done yet. Haven't used it to transfer non-music files from one computer to another. Haven't ... well, that's about it, really. As I type this, I've stuck 1175 songs on the damn thing ... it rewards obsessive behavior, and it does more as your obsession increases. So, for instance, it's nice to have detailed tags on your MP3 files, because then you can let the Rio DJ do its thing more effectively. I just listened to a ten-song playlist of "country rock" songs ... the only reason I could do that is because I filled in the "genre" tag on all 1175 of those files, so Rio DJ would know what to look for. Here's what it played:Buffalo Springfield, "Expecting to Fly" (not really country rock, that's my fault, not the Rio DJ's) Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen, "Lost in the Ozone" Moby Grape, "Hey Grandma" (I've got to improve my tagging skillz) Grateful Dead, "Sugar Magnolia" Delaney & Bonnie, "Never Ending Song of Love" Buffalo Springfield, "Kind Woman" Rick Nelson, "Garden Party" J.J. Cale, "Call Me the Breeze" Buffalo Springfield, "On the Way Home" (OK, I stuck a lot of their songs on the Karma) Bob Dylan, "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest"Among the other "auto" playlists I've listened to, there was "The 90s" (it was almost entirely Sleater-Kinney), "Americana" (it was almost entirely Lucinda Williams), and British Psychedelia (Donovan, the Move, Small Faces, Syd Barrett, Tomorrow, the Zombies). Some of the auto-DJ functions aren't really useful yet ... maybe I'll report back in a month and see how such functions as "your most-played tracks" and "stuff you haven't played for awhile" work.As for comparisons to the iPod, it's kinda hard when I don't have an iPod to compare the Karma to. I've been playing catchup at the Riovolution site, and it looks like the Karma is much more of a geek toy than the iPod, which has led me to state several times already that, in an interesting shift, the iPod is to the Karma as Windows is to the Mac (and yes, I have those in the right order). The iPod, like Windows, is ubiquitous ... you can always find someone who knows how to fix stuff that goes wrong, lots of software works with it, when people see an MP3 player now they think "oh, an iPod" even if it's another brand. The Karma, like Macs, is different, not ubiquitous, but like Macs in comparison to Windows, the Karma seems to do stuff that iPods don't ... at least, I think that's true, as I say, I don't have an iPod so I can't be sure about that. But my Karma will play FLAC and Ogg Vorbis files, which is v.geeky compared to the iPod, it has a five-band equalizer (and while I don't understand equalizers, I found someone who does understand them at the Riovolution site, and copied his settings), it does cross-fades, blah blah blah. I have no idea which is "better" ... the Karma was better for me because I got 20 gig for $149 ... but it does seem that iPods, like Windows, are mainstream while Karmas, like Macs, try harder because they're #2.Whatever player you get, it takes a lot of work to push the bugger to the limits. I could just stick every MP3 file in my possession on the thing, which would be very easy, but no, I have to fix the tags, make sure the Rio DJ has all the info it needs to make me happy, which is why I have 1175 songs instead of 5000 songs after two days. And that's also why I haven't done much else lately. Because a boy with a new toy just forgets about stuff for a few days. Music16237@blogcritics.org Fri, 4 Jun 2004 00:24:07 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/24/041741.php Steven RubioThis was our 10th time seeing Sleater-Kinney, and they are better than ever. My friend rightly noted that there was very little interaction with the audience tonight, and that matters, because Sleater-Kinney's relationship with their fans is part of who they are as artists. And so, depending on how much importance you put on that aspect of the show, and it is VERY important, you might rank this show a little lower than I did. For me, the band was on fire to such an astounding extent that I didn't notice they weren't very chatty until I was already won over. They barely stopped between songs ... they were very much like an early punk band tonight, just buzzsawing their way through one great song after another with barely a moment to breath.Individual comments: Janet Weiss was Drummer Queen as usual, but this time, she was also one of the opening acts, as part of Quasi. Quasi's not the best band, but Janet Fans like me can't get enough of her playing drums, and boy, did she play drums. (And on one song, she played guitar and drums at the same time!) Quasi was pretty impressive until Sleater-Kinney came on, and you realized that now Janet was playing actual songs, while with Quasi she kinda drummed to her own drummer, if you know what I mean. Corin Tucker was in excellent voice, so "Sympathy" was properly triumphant. She also continued her transformation into an animated rocker ... gone are the days when she'd barely move on stage. Carrie Brownstein was more adorable than ever ... her bangs flopped down in front of her eyes during the first song and pretty much stayed there the entire night ... the bangs gave her a real Joey Ramone look. Her idiosyncratic guitar playing was magnificent. If Janet was the MVP of the evening, Carrie was still the most popular.Other stuff ... saw Greil Marcus, who talked about going to the Fillmore back in the 60s. S-K didn't play "Youth Decay," but they played so many great songs I'm not complaining. And all four of the new songs were excellent ... I have no idea what they were about, but they sound great. For me, this was the best Sleater-Kinney show I've seen so far. They have progressed as a band to the point where I just watched them with my jaw open the entire show. I never thought I'd say this, but tonight, Sleater-Kinney was as great a live band as the Clash. Music15915@blogcritics.org Mon, 24 May 2004 04:17:41 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/11/205644.php Steven Rubiopretty picture beethoven credits Elephantpretty boy blond hair walk walk walk walk walk "hey how's it going" walk walk walkprincipalmore teens walk walk walk walk walk walk "hey how's it going" walk walk walkmean teens victimizing teens sullen teens beethoven walk walk walk walk walk "hey" walkgirls walk talk walk talk walk talk eat walk talk bathroom barf talk talkbeethoventwo boys video game subjective-camera shoot-em-up hitler ("who's that?") guns internet hey i'm gus van sant don't mind me i'm not trying to make a point there is no explanation it's just a coincidence that i showed videogame hitler guns (shower boys kiss) massacre there's no explanation it's a coincidenceBLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!hey it's an actual black teenager BLAM!beethovencreditsthree on a scale of ten ... too sick to be boring, too boring to be sick Video15602@blogcritics.org Tue, 11 May 2004 20:56:44 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/06/032234.php Steven RubioThe women of Deadwood operate within an extremely limited set of options. The first couple of shows, I just assumed the women were uninteresting, and cited the NYPD Blue heritage (that show never having much idea of what to do with its female characters). But Deadwood is subtle enough that it manages to show a pretty interesting variety of strategies the women adopt to maneuver their way through those narrow options, even if about all the women are allowed to do is be whores, and all they can aspire to is being a madam. It's kinda like watching Clint Eastwood act: you know he's only got a couple of facial expressions, but you never know when he's going to change from one to the other, and he has a way of drawing your attention to his face, because you don't want to miss it when the change occurs. He's playing with a deck of two cards, but he makes those two cards pretty damn interesting.Two women so far escape these limitations. The widow Garrett escapes because she has money. Her cluelessness about the state of the other women in the camp is frightening ... when Trixie, one of those "other women," called her a "rich cunt," it spoke volumes, particularly since Trixie has been good to the widow. Class trumps everything in the end, with whatever female bonding that takes place between Mrs. Garrett and Trixie failing to overcome the more crucial class differences between the two.The other woman who manages to make space for herself outside the narrow confines of acceptable Deadwood behavior is Calamity Jane, who does this by co-opting the male lifestyle. Nothing on Deadwood makes you more of a man than the ability to cuss with distinction ... never has the word "cocksucker" been used so freely to such useful purposes. Calamity Jane is the best cusser in the camp, which in some odd way makes her the best man in the camp, as well. If you can imagine Doris Day in Calamity Jane singing "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" from Annie Get Your Gun, then you've got a handle on Deadwood's Calamity. Video15422@blogcritics.org Thu, 6 May 2004 03:22:34 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/04/24/135759.php Steven RubioHere's another way for obsessive-compulsive people to play on the Internet.Some radio stations post playlists online. If you have a favorite program, it's nice to have an archive of what's been played. And with Rhapsody, you can use those station playlists to create Rhapsody playlists. Load in a bunch of songs, hit shuffle play, and you've got your own version of your favorite show.Among the programs I've found enjoyable are The Bonnie Simmons Show, with the great 70s DJ still going strong once a week on KPFA; Little Steven's Underground Garage, hosted by the E Street Soprano; and Morning Becomes Eclectic out of Santa Monica College. Here's a Rhapsody Playlist culled from KFOG's Acoustic Sunrise show:"I Don't Want To Know" - Fleetwood Mac "Block Dog" - David Wilcox "Free Man In Paris" - Joni Mitchell "Bears" - Lyle Lovett "Talk About The Passion" - R.E.M. "The Heart Of Saturday Night (Looking For)" - Shawn Colvin "A Hazy Shade Of Winter" - Simon and Garfunkel "I Am The Sun" - Ben Taylor Band "Don't Know Why" - Norah Jones "Helpless" - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Music15059@blogcritics.org Sat, 24 Apr 2004 13:57:59 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/04/22/185239.php Steven RubioPut on some tunes today because I saw it was someone's 54th birthday. I listened to their music in the mid-70s, and wondered how it would sound 30 years later.I turned 21 in 1974. My wife and I went to a couple of concerts that year ... Dylan and the Band was one, Lou Reed at Winterland in his "Sally Can't Dance" phase was another, and I think Eric Clapton was that year as well. It was a better year for music than I had remembered ... nowadays I think of the early 70s as the crud before the punk storm, but 1974 saw good albums by the likes of Clapton, Randy Newman, Van Morrison, the New York Dolls, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lou Reed, Dylan, there was a good Velvet Underground posthumous release (Live 1969), and there was Joni Mitchell and Bob Marley and Steely Dan and Big Star. We didn't really have a "stereo" in those early days of our marriage ... instead we had a record player, an old piece of shit that I think once belonged to my grandmother.We didn't have much money then ... I was in film school, my wife was working odd jobs for the local newspaper ... of course, we only paid $95/month for rent, so a little money went a long way. Suffice to say I didn't buy many albums in those days. But for some reason, one of the albums I owned was the last album Peter Frampton made before Frampton Comes Alive. That's what I listened to this morning.It's very tasty. I have no idea why I found it appealing. The idea that in the year of the New York Dolls's Too Much Too Soon I owned Frampton but no Dolls is pretty much incomprehensible to me. I have an easier time understanding why I owned a Herman's Hermits album when I was a kid.I suppose now is the time to also mention that I saw Peter Frampton twice in concert. Despite our relative lack of funds, I went to a lot more shows in those days ... I used to think that I would never ever tire of going to rock and roll shows, thought it would be a clear sign of impending dotage if I quit going to concerts. I'd go to stadium shows and club shows, I'd go with friends, I'd go alone, I'd go to local shows or shows in the City, I went to shows in Oregon and in Southern California. And then you realize you're 50 years old and you're not always up for the effort, so now I go see my very favorite musicians but don't often go to other shows. But in my salad days, I'd go see just about anybody ... I mean, we saw Pearl Harbor and the Explosions three times, same thing for the long-forgotten Readymades.And those were the times of Day on the Greens, pseudo-festivals at the Oakland Coliseum that would last for one day. We went to lots of them, and I saw a lot of great bands: Fleetwood Mac, The Band, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Santana, Dave Mason, Robin Trower, Joe Walsh, Jesse Colin Young, it's an endless list. One of the themes was "The British Are Coming," and one year, it was probably around 1975, there was Fleetwood Mac just as they were beginning their monster Buckingham/Nicks run, and Peter Frampton was like the third-billed act ... I think Robin Trower might have been the headliner, can't remember. Frampton was a lot of fun, very unpretentious, it was basically the same kind of show that ended up on Frampton Comes Alive and made him a huge star. The next time the British were coming, the live album was out and Frampton was the headliner. He pretty much sucked, seemed way too full of himself. Everything I've read says the unpretentious Peter is the real Peter, so I prefer to remember the first of those two concerts.But I have to say, listening to Frampton today, I won't mind if I don't hear it again for another 30 years. Music15001@blogcritics.org Thu, 22 Apr 2004 18:52:39 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/04/15/123908.php Steven RubioSpoilers ahead ...Derek Powazek has a good article on the new HBO series Deadwood where he compares it to our late lamented Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I get his point, and there are Whedon-esque touches to Deadwood, but the key precursor to the new show remains NYPD Blue, one of producer David Milch's earlier series.Buffy was explicitly female-centric, while NYPD Blue and now Deadwood are guy shows to the core. On NYPD Blue, regular women characters are either the lovers of the male characters, "tough" cops whose behavior is favorably comparable to how "guys" act, or both (although when both, the love wins out over the tough ... see Ross, Charlotte). On Deadwood, the women are almost all whores ... one of the only two exceptions is Calamity Jane (see NYPD Blue under "tough women who act like men"). There is one woman, Alma Garret, who has potential; otherwise, this is a guy show through and through.But a really really good guy show. Keith Carradine's rendition of Wild Bill Hickok has been a joy to behold. He doesn't say much, he doesn't do much, but when he says it or does it, he means it. As Powazek notes, the conversations Wild Bill has with his new friend "Montana" are noteworthy mainly for how much doesn't need to be said. Hickok is the traditional western hero, and Carradine pulls it off with all the cumulative power of the iconography behind him.So, of course, they've already killed him off.Milch is mostly just following history here ... Wild Bill was killed in Deadwood by Jack McCall, and Wild Bill was killed in Deadwood by Jack McCall. So it's not like we didn't see it coming. But it was terrible sad nonetheless.And now we've got a show, only four episodes in, where the closest thing we had to a connection with past traditions has been shot in the back. Leaving just the anarchic mud of the town of Deadwood ... leaving a completely unromantic vision of unbridled capitalism. There are "heroes" as well as villains in Deadwood, to be sure. But mostly this is one muddy show, and another excellent addition to the HBO roster. As someone who found both Carnivale and K Street lacking, I am glad to see HBO is back on track. Video14760@blogcritics.org Thu, 15 Apr 2004 12:39:08 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/04/14/100327.php Steven RubioOne of the most useful aspects of the detective genre is that it creates a believable situation for people from all classes to come together. A working-class person (the detective) gets hired by an upper-class person to investigate a crime ... in the process of the investigation, the detective must check into people and places from the highest to the lowest reaches of society.Dirty Pretty Things doesn't feature a detective, but rather a regular guy who finds himself trying to get to the bottom of a crime. Much of the film adopts the style of a crime thriller. What is interesting in that context is how invisible the upper class becomes. The characters of Dirty Pretty Things are of the servant class, the ones who, in the words of our Regular Guy, "are the people you do not see. We are the ones who drive your cabs. We clean your rooms. And suck your cocks." Yet in this film, it's those whose cabs and rooms and cocks are being serviced that we do not see. It's like a teen movie where parents are a barely-seen but always-present problem for the youngsters: Dirty Pretty Things spends most of its time making visible those who usually go unseen.This seems to place the film outside the traditional cross-class investigation of a standard detective story, but in fact, the upper classes are always present, even when we can't see them. All of the main characters in the film are forced to confront the possibility of compromise, and in every case, those potential compromises are instigated by the lower-class status of the characters and the dirty needs of those who would hire them.The film's metaphors are a bit thick at times ... the literalization of the concept of selling your body is wrenching but perhaps too obvious ... and while Audrey Tautou has her fans, she's a bit miscast as a Turkish woman who will later try to pass as Italian despite having what to my ears sounds like a French accent. But overall the cast is excellent, and the result is one of Stephen Frears's finest films. Video14711@blogcritics.org Wed, 14 Apr 2004 10:03:27 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/04/02/170859.php Steven RubioBreaking News Story, April 2, 2004:Alecia Moore, better known as the singer Pink, will make her screen starring debut as Janis Joplin in a Penelope Spheeris-directed independent film that is eyeing a summer start date.Steven Rubio's Online Life, June 26, 2002:Pink would be an excellent choice to play Janis if that movie gets made in the next five years Video14335@blogcritics.org Fri, 2 Apr 2004 17:08:59 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/03/25/234440.php Steven RubioI really detest this movie. Many people see it as an inspirational story about a person overcoming handicaps to make a good life for themselves. I understand that reading of the movie, but it's not mine.I see two very unfortunate things happening in Forrest Gump. First, I don't think the film stops with "look what a mentally-challenged person can accomplish." I think the movie goes much further than that. Forrest is basically a better person than everyone else in the entire world of the movie. And he's not just better because he overcomes challenges ... I would argue that the movie makes the case that Forrest is better because he's stupid. He's simple ... he doesn't fully grasp the socio-cultural meanings of life, he's just a simple guy with a simple outlook. And, in the world of Forrest Gump, that puts him closer to god. He understands just enough to get by ... god and good luck do the rest. The unstated opposite side of that philosophy is that intelligence is a bad thing, something that just complicates your life, pulls you away from god. I find this to be a very dangerous philosophy ... I am sure our leaders would love for us all to be as simple and accepting as Forrest Gump, but me, I think it's better that we utilize our intelligence to the fullest, in order to get more out of life. I don't think the film makers agree with me.The other thing I really hate is the character of Jenny. Jenny is the anti-Forrest ... she DOES know what's going on, she experiences the cultural milieu first hand, and she is miserable. Eventually, she gets mortally ill ... before she dies (for all of her sins, which consist of partying and politicking), she sees the light and returns to Forrest. Basically, Jenny is punished for not being stupid, punished for actually engaging in the world (Forrest just gazes at it from the outside).Furthermore, the film's trickery, whereby Forrest and Jenny are inserted into many famous historical events, demonstrates where the movie's sympathies lie. There is no such thing in the movie Forrest Gump as a reasoned political stance. Politics, like everything else that is "of the world," is for neurotics ... only stupid people like Forrest are touched by god. And so Jenny waltzes through the various social movements of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and all of them are treated exactly the same: Jenny's participation is related to her neuroses, she only takes part because her life is empty, and protesting the war in Vietnam is exactly the same as doing coke in the disco era, that is to say, a fad for screwed-up people, something you will dump whenever a new fad comes along.So you've got a movie that treats political activism as serving the same function for neurotics that cocaine does, you've got a movie where the most likable character, indeed the most successful character in all aspects of life, is a stupid man who luckily doesn't really understand any of that silly cultural stuff. I believe Forrest Gump is an extremely reactionary movie that promotes the value of stupidity for the masses. I think it's one of the most dangerous popular films I've ever seen. I hate it. Video14077@blogcritics.org Thu, 25 Mar 2004 23:44:40 EST