blogolopolis

St. Vincent: “The Strangers” [from Actor; out...

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:38:00 -0700

St. Vincent: “The Strangers”
[from Actor; out 05.05.09 on 4ad]

First Animal Collective, then Asobi Seksu, Grizzly Bear, Camera Obscura, Phoenix, and now St. Vincent! Could 2009 be the best year of music EVER?

babydeer: spookstory: sacredsquid: (via...

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:01:11 -0800

babydeer:

spookstory:

sacredsquid:

(via bullshit)

HAHAHAHAHA

Coast to coast in two hours!

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:55:00 -0800

Yes, it’s even faster than the AGV [Photo courtesy of forcechange.com]

While curiously searching for jobs at organizations that will most likely never hire me, I came across two old reports by the RAND Corporation, a non-profit global policy think tank, on a high speed transit system that is fast, very fast.

During the Seventies, RAND researched the possibility of establishing a trans-continental subway system that would provide an express commute from Los Angeles to New York in TWO HOURS, through airless tunnels via Planetran (or vactrain), a high speed train driven by electromagnetic waves.

It takes a little less than six hours to travel that 2,500 mile distance the old-fashioned way by plane. If you do the math, this extreme train would be covering 1,250 miles in one hour! But since the cost to fund this project would be well over a trillion dollars, the government swiftly rejected the plan.

You can read the RAND reports here:
The Very High Speed Transit System (Robert M. Salter, 1972)
Trans-Planetary Subway Systems: A Burgeoning Capability (Robert M. Salter, 1978)

Wikipedia entry:
Vactrain

I’m assuming technology, thirty years hence these reports were published, has advanced greatly to reduce the costs to build this transit system and perhaps make it even more efficient and very, very fast. If only we had a trillion dollar government surplus rather than a deficit… Oh, the possibilities!

Phoenix: “1901” [from Wolfgang Amadeux Phoenix; out...

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:24:00 -0800

Phoenix: “1901”
[from Wolfgang Amadeux Phoenix; out 05.25.09]

New Phoenix tune! YUSSSSSSSSS!!

[Photo via pds]

Kanye West: “RoboCop” [from 808s & Heartbreak;...

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:25:00 -0800

Kanye West: “RoboCop”
[from 808s & Heartbreak; released 11.24.08 on Roc-A-Fella Records]

Kanye, I feel ya dude.

I’m a sucker for well-cut, blissful teasers that promise...

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 01:46:00 -0800

I’m a sucker for well-cut, blissful teasers that promise indie pop amour. In this case, anti-rom com and post-modern loving — whatever that means. And that damn song by the Temper Trap is so catchy. It seems like the hip trailers of today can’t help but borrow some of the youthful and cool playfulness of Godard’s Masculin Feminin. Anyway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of my favorite young actors and Zooey Deschanel (♡All The Real Girls) is so pretty; they make a perfect movie pairing! Summer, please come soon!

Happiness is the path

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:01:00 -0800

Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)

The beginning of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker suggests a meteor crash or an alien landing on a wilderness site that is now cordoned by the military. Not to be mistaken by the harassing act of following another person, the film is named after expert guides who lead individuals into the Zone to find the room where all of one’s deepest, innermost wishes become reality. Two men known simply as Writer and Professor are carefully directed to this mysterious place by a Stalker of whom has no ulterior motives. Though Writer and Professor share opposing viewpoints on the meaning of life along the way, their conscious search for satisfaction and happiness is plagued by their subconscious desires.

It’s a miracle this film was even made. After filming for a full year at deserted power plants in Estonia, Tarkovsky discovered the experimental Kodak stock he used was defected. Instead of abandoning the film outright, he refocused his energy and re-wrote the script and re-shot almost all of the film. The end product is vastly different from the original, but more true to his vision.

Methodical in pace and enthralling with moments of sheer, sublime beauty, Stalker is an exhausting yet rejuvenating sojourn into the fragility of the human spirit. There is a masterful dream sequence and panning shot that displays Tarkovsky’s stern attention to detail and his natural ability to establish compositions that stimulate the mind with wonder. As a collection of his trademark long takes, the film can seem overwrought and tedious for some, but the director’s intention was to evoke a sense of continuity within the frame where time, space and action become uniform and altogether fluid with the narrative. Tarkovsky’s goal was to film Stalker as if the whole film was made in one shot. In this shot, Tarkovsky captures more than images and sounds; he captures life.

Oh! Camera Obscura’s announced their first single from the forthcoming album release of...

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:09:00 -0800

Oh! Camera Obscura’s announced their first single from the forthcoming album release of My Maudlin Career, which comes out on April 20th. Take a listen.

Besides this and the aforementioned Hush, I’ve been really looking forward to Phoenix’s new LP that’s ridiculously titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix . The music outlook for 2009 is shaping up to be mighty AWESOME.

Deerhunter: “Saved By Old Times” [from...

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:01:00 -0800

Deerhunter: “Saved By Old Times”
[from Microcastles/Weird Era Continued; released 10.28.08 on 4AD]

It’s Friday! And that calls for a celebration!

Is it just me or did Deerhunter become a lot sexier with this song?

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors..."

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:34:00 -0800

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

- Thomas Jefferson

babydeer: (via bebelestrange) It’s Valentine’s...

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:42:00 -0800

babydeer:

(via bebelestrange)

It’s Valentine’s week (whatevs).

Sweet poster.

Starring Al Pacino? Screenplay by Joan Didion? Why haven’t I heard of this movie! Must add to Netflix queue.. I guess my plans for Valentine’s Day are set. God help me.

Cat Power has been cruelly teasing us with this gorgeous cover...

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:50:00 -0800

Cat Power has been cruelly teasing us with this gorgeous cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity for the past six months. Watching this 30-second clip of an ugly, overpriced car with subpar performance over and over is just torture; release the entire song already!

100 milestone

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:40:00 -0800

It’s always a momentous occasion when a song reaches the century mark on iTunes. After scanning through my list of songs earlier, I couldn’t help but notice that Vampire Weekend’s Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa was at 99 plays and has been stuck there for a while. I couldn’t help myself; I had to press play and cement its place in history.

I know it’s a little embarrassing when someone gets a glance at your list of top played songs on iTunes, but 100 plays is a big deal. I’ve had this laptop for a year now so my play counts didn’t transfer over from my last computer where I think I had over 20 songs that reached that milestone. (They were even more embarrassing.) It’s a shame my car doesn’t have a dock for my iPod otherwise this list would be much different.

Anyway, this is a pretty good snapshot of what’s been going through my ears on repeat for the past year. It’s of course biased towards songs released last year, although some tunes from the soon to be released Hush has crept in the top 25 faster than expected.

There will be blood (and lots of it)

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:14:00 -0800

Tokyo Gore Police (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2008)

The film begins with a young woman, Ruka (Eihi Shiina), who witnesses the assassination of her father, a charismatic police chief in Tokyo. Meanwhile, a mad scientist known simply as the “Key Man” creates a virus that mutates people into “Engineers”, killing machines that after each severed limb sprout grotesque weapons of destruction, capriciously resulting in blood splattered anarchy. Tokyo is thus in a state of emergency and the city is forced to combat this bizarre threat by privatizing the police force. The vengeful and somewhat subdued Ruka joins this team of misfit officers and later finds out the truth behind the monsters and her troubled past.

Yoshihiro Nishimura is a master when it comes to constructing blood drenched splat fests. After his work on The Machine Girl, Nishimura decided to film a remake of Anatomia Extinction, an independent film he made over ten years ago. Tokyo Gore Police was then filmed in a two-week span and released in the same year as The Machine Girl. But instead of looking clumsy and rushed, the film tackles the perverse subject matter with unassuming detail. It is a remarkable social satire of unabashed violence and gore. The action rises above the typical camp that exploitative films tend to exude. Each shot of blood and mutated growth is meticulous in its conception which makes the carnage a harmonious exercise in creativity and force. Thrilling and unnerving, Tokyo Gore Police astonishes with bewildering flurry.

I had my share of exploitation flicks and extreme Japanese cinema (Audition, Ichi the Killer, Battle Royale, etc.), but honestly there is one scene in this movie I cannot shake out of my head (it’s been over a couple weeks now). I won’t spoil anything.but the thought of someone even thinking yet alone writing and filming a scene like that is what frightens me the most. Usually I have a high tolerance when it comes to cinematic violence since most of it is fake. Even in the context of this film, it was just demented on a level I could not begin to comprehend. If this piques your interest in any way, I would definitely recommend adding this to your Netflix queue. All the hype is surely warranted.

saladays: (via mbgphotos) More sky and wind blown hair....

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:56:00 -0800

saladays:

(via mbgphotos)

More sky and wind blown hair. Lovely.

Sleeping schej update: been sleeping from 6pm to 2am this past week (FAIL), but at least I’ve been receiving the recommended nightly dosage of 8 hours. Oh whaddya know, it’s almost time for bed. Snooze snooze.

Animal Collective: “My Girls” [from Merriweather...

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:18:00 -0800

Animal Collective: “My Girls”
[from Merriweather Post Pavilion; released 01.20.09 on Domino]

Carles is right YALL! We are living in a Post Merriweather Post Pavilion World. Electrobloghaus-core, gimmicky art and fashion, and the resulting degenerate partying lifestyle are dying off. Nirvana’s Nevermind waved the end of a decade of greed, excess, and moral decay. But no one complained let alone cared about the Nineties because we had a prosperous economy with a taste for blissful yet cursory entertainments, via mass media consolidations before the indiscriminate rise of the internets. The rapid deterioration of the current economy is a telling sign and a reflection of the overindulgent Eighties and of the present lost generation of information junkies. We need to be more responsible and our meme meme generation has to grow up and redirect its youthful energies to worthwhile causes. AnCo’s MPP marks a paradigm shift to an ethos starved for individual selflessness that is meaningful, sustainable, and collectively altruistic. Is it by chance that this release coincides with the Obama Presidency? I think not.

[Shibuya via cocoip] I mailed the required docs to my employer today to facilitate the visa...

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:21:00 -0800

[Shibuya via cocoip]

I mailed the required docs to my employer today to facilitate the visa process. Hopefully I’ll get my Certificate of Eligibility within two months. Can’t wait!

Sometimes back shots are more interesting. Okay, I have to fix...

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:12:00 -0800

Sometimes back shots are more interesting.

Okay, I have to fix my sleeping schej this week. Last week was probably the worst it’s been since I started working again. I averaged around 2 to 3 hours during the week, which resulted in the 19-hour snooze-fest that was Saturday. I woke up late Sunday just in time for the game but I ended up taking a long nap (stupid me) soon after that sweet Steelers victory. The food and the emotional swings throughout the game exhausted me.

Goal for today: stay up until at least 8 p.m.

Goal for February: start being more productive and less easily distracted

Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl XLIII Champions

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:38:00 -0800

[Matt Cashore/US Presswire]

Wow. The Steelers’ defense gave up 200 yards passing against an opponent just once coming into this game. If you had told me that Warner would gain almost double that plus three touchdowns, I would’ve told you that the Cardinals would win their first Super Bowl.

What a game! The Cardinals’ defense played hard and their offense came up with a smart game plan of short dumps and slants. They were patient and it paid off with Fitzgerald scoring up the middle for the go ahead lead toward the end of the game.

The only problem: there was still two and a half minutes left. In typical Steelers fashion, Big Ben, Santonio Holmes, and the Steelers’ offense took advantage of what little time they had and came up big with one of most memorable drives and catches to seal the victory.

It was a season of many ups and downs. The Steelers faced the toughest schedule in the league, had a patchwork offensive line, and suffered many key injuries early on. The only consistency came from their defense and Big Ben’s ability to bring the team back from behind in the clutch, which he had to do in a third of the games played this year. They got better and better towards the end and the adversity they faced all season long toughened them up for this amazing playoff run. Though the Steelers’ defense wasn’t its dominating self today, the unit played well enough (thanks to James Harrison’s remarkable end-zone interception and 100-yard return TD) and the offense came through once again.

Congratulations to the Cardinals on this improbable run and the Steelers for winning their league-best sixth Super Bowl.

[Al Bello/Getty Images]

2009 Coachella lineup

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 23:10:00 -0800

The 2009 Coachella lineup has been up for a while now and it does not look pretty, especially with the $300 price tag + lodging.

The first day is a total let down and the big acts on the second day are all right but the smaller acts leave something to be desired. The only day worth going to is Sunday where there are quality acts from top to bottom: No Age, Vivian Girls, Lykke Li, Friendly Fires, Sebastien Tellier, Clipse, The Kills, Jenny Lewis, Antony & the Johnsons, Peter Bjorn & John, Lupe Fiasco, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, and the Cure — it’s actually great, really.

Coachella is lacking that wow factor this year and I’m still surprised none of the top trance DJs are playing. I’ve gone the past four years, but it looks like I’m going to miss out this time around. I wish I had the extra dough to go to SXSW in March…