While you all wait for the upcoming review/interview with Old Abram Brown (you can check them out for yourselves here), an Eastern Massachusetts indie-rock trio whose first full release, Alive In Winter, is currently available and worth more than a listen, spend some time reading the responses to the random questions I threw at them. As a welsh corgi fan, I was very happy with the answer for "Favorite Animal". So, take a gander!
Favorite Movie Soundtrack
It may be easier for us to say favorite soundtrack composers, in which case they are Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Yann Tiersen ( Goodbye, Lenin), and Mihaly Vig (Werkmeister Harmonies). And who can deny how well any Stanley Kubrick score fits his films? Johnny Greenwood's work for There Will be Blood was brilliant also.
Best Venue?
Middle East in Cambridge, MA. Dylan is also a big fan of his trip to Red Rocks.
Favorite Song to Cover
We don't cover often but Radiohead tunes are fun on our own time. We played around with an Enya tune once that we might revisit.
Best souvenir from any place you've been
We don't have many souvenirs that mean all that much, Dylan has an International Wolf Center Pencil that he is quite fond of.
Worst amusement park
The ones that don't amuse.
Humorous childhood story?
Anything from Mt. Pleasant Elementary. In fact, that's where we got our band name. Old Abram Brown was a song Carson and Erik sang in music class at one point.
Eastern Europe or Western Europe?
Western Europe
Favorite animal?
Our Welsh Corgi (not dylan's dog (he's a jerk))
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Erik: A rock star or skate boarder
Carson: A Baseball Player.
Dylan: something to do with video game graphics
Worst comedian?
Carlos Mencia, Seth Green, Chris Rock. And all of those redneck comedians.
Would you rather bullfight or be in the running of the bulls...
Chicago Bulls.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Pop Culture Today
A few weeks ago, I was apart of a conversation that touched upon what Pop Culture "is", or at least this is how I viewed the conversation in my mind. This has had me thinking - what is Pop Culture? It feels as if it has been ridden down with the prominence of television in our society. True, television has been a mainstay in our society for a few decades now, but with shows like "I love the 90's/80's/70's" or "Best Week Ever" being popular (which is never a bad thing!), Pop Culture, in its entirety, is shrunken down into hours on our TV guides.
What is the problem with this? This takes pop culture from being something that surrounds us everywhere, from the news that we hear about or the movies we see to the fashions we wear, to watering it down to the television. It makes it a little easier, as everyone loves the comfort of pushing a button and viewing all that is necessary to view, rather than getting out and enclosing themselves with the same information. It takes less effort from people. However, this causes a chain effect that makes people believe that pop culture is everything seen on television. This is only one facet of a huge thing!
Now, true, this isn't a huge issue, but it is still one worth debate. Pop culture used to be what was going on around us, around in the world and how affected us, and certain forces that go along with our culture have turned it into something far less respectable. In our own faulty behavior, we've turned something meant to be entirely cultural into a mess of tabloids and jokes at celebrities' expense. The only question is, who is really affected by it?
What is the problem with this? This takes pop culture from being something that surrounds us everywhere, from the news that we hear about or the movies we see to the fashions we wear, to watering it down to the television. It makes it a little easier, as everyone loves the comfort of pushing a button and viewing all that is necessary to view, rather than getting out and enclosing themselves with the same information. It takes less effort from people. However, this causes a chain effect that makes people believe that pop culture is everything seen on television. This is only one facet of a huge thing!
Now, true, this isn't a huge issue, but it is still one worth debate. Pop culture used to be what was going on around us, around in the world and how affected us, and certain forces that go along with our culture have turned it into something far less respectable. In our own faulty behavior, we've turned something meant to be entirely cultural into a mess of tabloids and jokes at celebrities' expense. The only question is, who is really affected by it?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
So...
Recently, meaning within the past 3-4 months or so, there has been a surprisingly large amount of good movies out in theaters. Not just typical, hey-this-looks-like-a-nice-sunday-outing movies, but like the films that will be named the future films of this generation; the future "classics", so to speak. Among them, I have seen/plan to see/HIGHLY recommend seeing these films:
Doubt (absolutely wonderful)
Revolutionary Road
The Wrestler
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Happy-Go-Lucky
The Class
The Reader
Therefore, I strongly suggest that everyone make an effort to see at least one of these movies, if it is possible. For such supposedly great films to be out after Christmas, the time alloted for films like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Bride Wars" (get your Anne Hathaway fix with Rachel Getting Married; it's worth it), is wonderful.
Also...I must add in that Coraline should be out in theaters soon...It was one of the best children's books when I was in elementary school - childish and whimsical enough so it caught a kids attention, but it had the ability to foster the creepiness of having a "dream" family whose only prerequisite to you joining the fantasy is a pair of button eyes. If you have a son/daughter/sibling/niece/nephew who is already showing premature signs of an interest in such things (if they can't get enough of tim burton films, etc.), give them the book as a late Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday present. Then, when they fall in love with it and beg for that same auntie to take them to see it, you better do it, as I'm hoping the movie will live up to the expectations I have for it.
Doubt (absolutely wonderful)
Revolutionary Road
The Wrestler
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Happy-Go-Lucky
The Class
The Reader
Therefore, I strongly suggest that everyone make an effort to see at least one of these movies, if it is possible. For such supposedly great films to be out after Christmas, the time alloted for films like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Bride Wars" (get your Anne Hathaway fix with Rachel Getting Married; it's worth it), is wonderful.
Also...I must add in that Coraline should be out in theaters soon...It was one of the best children's books when I was in elementary school - childish and whimsical enough so it caught a kids attention, but it had the ability to foster the creepiness of having a "dream" family whose only prerequisite to you joining the fantasy is a pair of button eyes. If you have a son/daughter/sibling/niece/nephew who is already showing premature signs of an interest in such things (if they can't get enough of tim burton films, etc.), give them the book as a late Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday present. Then, when they fall in love with it and beg for that same auntie to take them to see it, you better do it, as I'm hoping the movie will live up to the expectations I have for it.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Probably the Funniest Video I've Seen In A While...
Basically the title says it all. I noticed this in an E6 Discussion Board Post...and I couldn't stop laughing. For those not familiar with the indie/hipster community, this is basically a good example of the negative things about them...the music is great but the pretentiousness isn't. Anyways, watch!
http://www.virb.com/847560649383927/videos/11237
http://www.virb.com/847560649383927/videos/11237
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Whoops!/Inauguration Opinion...
After publishing my internet comics post, I realized that the pictures did come out a little lopsided (they weren't entirely there!). If you really wanted to see them, and you didn't already find this out, then all you needed to do was click on the picture and you could see them in all their comic entirety!
Anyways, now that that little technical error is out of the way, on to serious business...for those of you that don't know, I was one of the very few youth who wasn't in favor of Obama. However, at the same time I didn't like McCain either, so I was kind of in a rut. There was no doubt that Obama was going to be our new president - if he didn't get elected after the '04 election, I would have been shocked. Therefore, I decided that no matter what, whether I agreed with them or not, I was going to suck it up and treat the new president with the amount of respect they deserved, unlike nearly every American when it came to Bush (true, he was bad, but he wasn't Hitler, either).
Knowing all this, I expected Obama's speech to be beyond flawless. He is, and always will be a phenomenal speaker - part of this because he knew what he needed to project to the public; partially because the things he had on his platform were things that the common people of America would be enticed by after our economic pitfalls/a war no one agrees with/other issues made prominent by the media/other platforms for politics. He has wonderful people skills, something that everyone couldn't help but notice after George W. Bush's mess-ups and such during his speeches. On top of it, Obama was against John McCain, who, although the differences between him and Bush are somewhat abundant, they were both old republicans who had difficulties in speaking/relating to the public, and this caused problems with the general public.
Anyways, my expectations for Obama's inaugural address were probably beyond what they should have been, so...I must admit that at first seeing it, I wasn't nearly as impressed as I probably should have been. I felt he was really just reiterating what he had said throughout the election, which I guess is what you're really supposed to do, but I was hoping for something more, something that would really solidify to me that he was the right guy for the job.
Listening to it again, it was a truly admirable speech. My confidence that he will serve our country the way it needs to be served during this difficult time isn't there yet, but maybe it is good to wait until he does things to make up my mind.
Anyways, now that that little technical error is out of the way, on to serious business...for those of you that don't know, I was one of the very few youth who wasn't in favor of Obama. However, at the same time I didn't like McCain either, so I was kind of in a rut. There was no doubt that Obama was going to be our new president - if he didn't get elected after the '04 election, I would have been shocked. Therefore, I decided that no matter what, whether I agreed with them or not, I was going to suck it up and treat the new president with the amount of respect they deserved, unlike nearly every American when it came to Bush (true, he was bad, but he wasn't Hitler, either).
Knowing all this, I expected Obama's speech to be beyond flawless. He is, and always will be a phenomenal speaker - part of this because he knew what he needed to project to the public; partially because the things he had on his platform were things that the common people of America would be enticed by after our economic pitfalls/a war no one agrees with/other issues made prominent by the media/other platforms for politics. He has wonderful people skills, something that everyone couldn't help but notice after George W. Bush's mess-ups and such during his speeches. On top of it, Obama was against John McCain, who, although the differences between him and Bush are somewhat abundant, they were both old republicans who had difficulties in speaking/relating to the public, and this caused problems with the general public.
Anyways, my expectations for Obama's inaugural address were probably beyond what they should have been, so...I must admit that at first seeing it, I wasn't nearly as impressed as I probably should have been. I felt he was really just reiterating what he had said throughout the election, which I guess is what you're really supposed to do, but I was hoping for something more, something that would really solidify to me that he was the right guy for the job.
Listening to it again, it was a truly admirable speech. My confidence that he will serve our country the way it needs to be served during this difficult time isn't there yet, but maybe it is good to wait until he does things to make up my mind.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Top 5 Internet Comics
This past summer I attended a creative writing workshop, where the instructor mentioned that writers tend to enjoy categorizing things into lists. Although this was early in the workshop and I proceeded on to learn numerous other things about creative writing, this point stuck with me and made me realize how much I enjoy writing lists, even though I'm a very disorganized person who gets stressed at the thought of composing things into order. Anyways, I recently partnered this interest in list-making with my love of web comics to create a top 5 list of Web Comics! Complete with links, a selection of my favorite comic, et cetera.
The Top 5 Internet Comics!
5. pictures for sad children
As a web comic that actually tells its reader a story they have to follow, I was already interested. When I found out that it was about a ghost...or, a guy who's a ghost who wears a sheet over himself to appear more ghost-like after he dies and has to remain on Earth, how could I NOT find this enticing?!
4. a softer world (older)
Consisting of broken up photography and the cute-in-a-twisted-way typewriter font saying quirky things, who couldn't enjoy the quirks of A Softer World?! Sadly, over time the humor has gone down in quality, but hey, what can you do? The older ones still beat the new ones enough to overrule their suckiness.
3. older marriedtothesea
If a softer world got bad over time, then marriedtothesea is a tragedy. Originally a hilarious twist on old-time illustrations, they were about the dark, the humorous, and sometimes the mundane doings of society. Then, somewhere they decided that it would be good to go and screw it all up with doing supposed "quirky" designs that appear to be in the '50's-time/era/style, and everything got ruined. MTDS went from being one of the comics I checked every day to being disregarded from my life entirely. However, as you'll see from one of my favorites, the humor is just too priceless to disregard it from the top 5 webcomics.
marriedtothesea.com
2. xkcd
Yes, practically everyone knows of them. Yes, they are only stick figures; yes, they are really simple. Yet, they are also absolutely hilarious. Also, their warning at the bottom of the page reads:
Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
That last part cracked me up...
1. Dinosaur Comics (also known as Qwantz)
ANYONE who has the guts to say that they dislike Dinosaur Comics shouldn't be allowed to have a sense of humor! This comic is one of the only comics out there that remains as funny the first day it was sent out onto the internet as it is today. Part of the cleverness in it is the one reason it could be up for debate creatively: the comic is the same six blocks of scenes: T-Rex, the main dinosaur, talking in the first block, a closeup on his face, him on the verge of stepping on someone's house while talking to another dinosaur in the next scene, and so on...nonetheless, it's great. It's worth the couple of seconds it takes to type in the url and check it every week, so do ittt
As a web comic that actually tells its reader a story they have to follow, I was already interested. When I found out that it was about a ghost...or, a guy who's a ghost who wears a sheet over himself to appear more ghost-like after he dies and has to remain on Earth, how could I NOT find this enticing?!
4. a softer world (older)
Consisting of broken up photography and the cute-in-a-twisted-way typewriter font saying quirky things, who couldn't enjoy the quirks of A Softer World?! Sadly, over time the humor has gone down in quality, but hey, what can you do? The older ones still beat the new ones enough to overrule their suckiness.
3. older marriedtothesea
If a softer world got bad over time, then marriedtothesea is a tragedy. Originally a hilarious twist on old-time illustrations, they were about the dark, the humorous, and sometimes the mundane doings of society. Then, somewhere they decided that it would be good to go and screw it all up with doing supposed "quirky" designs that appear to be in the '50's-time/era/style, and everything got ruined. MTDS went from being one of the comics I checked every day to being disregarded from my life entirely. However, as you'll see from one of my favorites, the humor is just too priceless to disregard it from the top 5 webcomics.
marriedtothesea.com
2. xkcd
Yes, practically everyone knows of them. Yes, they are only stick figures; yes, they are really simple. Yet, they are also absolutely hilarious. Also, their warning at the bottom of the page reads:
Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
That last part cracked me up...
1. Dinosaur Comics (also known as Qwantz)
ANYONE who has the guts to say that they dislike Dinosaur Comics shouldn't be allowed to have a sense of humor! This comic is one of the only comics out there that remains as funny the first day it was sent out onto the internet as it is today. Part of the cleverness in it is the one reason it could be up for debate creatively: the comic is the same six blocks of scenes: T-Rex, the main dinosaur, talking in the first block, a closeup on his face, him on the verge of stepping on someone's house while talking to another dinosaur in the next scene, and so on...nonetheless, it's great. It's worth the couple of seconds it takes to type in the url and check it every week, so do ittt
so it all begins!
So here is where I begin!
I've always thought about doing a blog but have never known how to really get into one (I tend to procrastinate a lot...). My tastes/train of thought can range anywhere from politics to fashion to food or music and books and movies. Therefore, this blog isn't about one subject - it's supposed to go along with whatever I'm thinking about/am interested in at the time.
So! Feel free to look around every once in a while. I shall start corresponding pretty soon...
I've always thought about doing a blog but have never known how to really get into one (I tend to procrastinate a lot...). My tastes/train of thought can range anywhere from politics to fashion to food or music and books and movies. Therefore, this blog isn't about one subject - it's supposed to go along with whatever I'm thinking about/am interested in at the time.
So! Feel free to look around every once in a while. I shall start corresponding pretty soon...
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