Multimedia Friday: Lacuna Coil

Previously, I've only flirted with Lacuna Coil*, a symphonic metal band. I liked what I heard, but never quite enough to pursue it any further. On a whim a few weeks ago, I was in a store in the mall where the goth and emo kids like to hang out. Lacuna Coil's latest album, Shallow Life was newly released and on sale. On a whim, I bought it, listened to it once or twice, then tucked it away in the armrest of my car.

Last week or so, nothing was on the radio, and I was bored with the CDs I previously had in my car. I rummaged around for something different, came up with Lacuna Coil's, and that's been that. It's been "stuck" in my car's CD player since. Any day now I should be getting bored with it, but the first track "I Survive" draws me in, the dual male-female vocals are used to great effect in "Not Enough," and by the time the last track, my tentative favorite, "Shallow Life" comes around, I'm hooked, a goner. The following video is the first single from the album, "Spellbound." Enjoy.



* - Incidentally, Lacuna Coil (along with Within Temptation, Evansecence, and the like) was great for midnight grading. In spite of that connotation, I still enjoy their music.

The Road

Well, I've only been waiting for news about the movie rendition of Cormac McCarthy's The Road for months now. Recently, news: a trailer and a release date. I know one of the things I'll be doing come October.



A few thoughts: I am a bit apprehensive, as any person should be when a beloved book is turned into a movie. It seems to be putting a bit more emphasis on the "end of civilization" bit, but that may be for marketing purposes; the focus really is on the father and son in the book, and it looks like they're capturing the closeness. (You might not tell from the trailer, but the mother is barely there in the book....) Another nitpick: the father seems to be shooting quite a bit in that trailer; in the book, he has two bullets. Again, I hope they're just playing up what they think will get people into the theatre. Ah well. On a tangential note, I hope they maybe use a bit of voiceover or something to capture McCarthy's prose a bit. Like this:

He walked out into the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like groundfoxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.

That passage sends shivers down my spine Every. Single. Time.

That said, I can't wait for the movie. Guess I'll just have to re-read the book in anticipation until then ;).

----------------
Now playing: Todd Thibaud - Finding Out
via FoxyTunes

Multimedia Friday: Artsy fartsy

So I was messing around with pictures of my crocheted projects, trying to salvage some overexposed shots to get my things up for sale on etsy. I saved some with some tinkering. Others...? We-ellll...

Know how they say that if is ain't broke, don't fix it? What about when it's broke? What do you do? Isn't that license to screw it up further? Please tell me yes, 'cause that's what I did.

I present a crochet project turned abstract art.

The splashes of blue convinced me that this had potential. Is it frameworthy? Eh. Probably not. It sure was fun, though.

----------------
Now playing: Rocky Votolato - Makers
via FoxyTunes

Haven't done one of these in a while...

It's Friday. I have multimedia. I am also tired and therefore lazy.

Here's a peaceful, beautiful tune to end the work week on:

Belated Multimedia Friday

I woke up with a craving for the music of Rise Against today. Their music is a good blend of both personal and political lyrics, delivered in the raspy sort of vocals I gravitate toward. I had a specific song I craved this morning, though--"The Good Left Undone"--the lyrics were stuck in my head for some inexplicable reason:

"All because of you,
I believe in angels.
Not the kind with wings,
No, not the kind with halos,
The kind that bring you home,
When home becomes a strange place.
I’ll follow your voice,
All you have to do is shout it out."

Music itself is good, too, though--have a listen.

Multimedia Friday: Dustin Kensrue

I've loved the music of Thrice for a while now, but I only recently explored the solo work of frontman Dustin Kensrue. Ah, be still my heart; I have a new musical crush. I have a weakness for acoustic music side projects released by punk band members; Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry, and Sundowner all fall into this category. Like the former musicians, Dustin Kensrue, capable of writing ear-crashingly yet articulate punk rock goodness, turns that gift to stripped-down, heartfelt songs.

One song, "I Knew You Before," speaks of the loss of innocence and purity of a young woman who has been taken under the spell of "magazines and media...with their plastic protocol." The song concludes, "And all I can say is I knew you before / You were beautiful back then. // You could be beautiful again."All together ladies, please, a wistful sigh. Another song, "Please Come Home," addresses a prodigal son with the plea in the title.

The song that grabbed me and made me hit re-play more times than I ought to admit, though, is "Pistol," a loving tribute to his wife. She sounds like quite the woman; I'm inclined to envy her, actually...

Multimedia Friday: Greensleeves

It's been a long week of lots of grading--not a bad week, per se, just a long one. A nice peaceful song is a good note (pun fully intended) to end on.

Have a good weekend, folks, and in the meantime, enjoy an oldie but goodie: Greensleeves. This has been my favorite rendition so far, both in terms of the music and the video.

Multimedia Friday: Gaslight Anthem

Last.fm has had the great wisdom to recommend some great artists to me. One such artist is The Gaslight Anthem. I liked their first album on first listen, and I later caught some snatches of their new-ish album.

This week, I finally purchased The '59 Sound. I consider it an investment; it has barely left my car CD player this week. What is their appeal? Well, they're either a punk band with a bluesy feel, or they're a blues band with punk sensibilities. Whatever the case may be, they write heartfelt and catchy tunes. More than once I've caught myself bobbing my head, drumming the steering wheel to the tune, and singing along (and this in the midst of mid-term grading stress!). They have a sensibility I can identify with--the songs go from bittersweet, older-sounding reminiscing ("Here's Looking at You, Kid"), to youthful exuberance ("Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"). More than that, though, their references don't date them as a young culturally oblivious band; allusions include Elvis, Tom Petty, Audrey Hepburn, and even Charles Dickens ("Great Expectations"). And the vocals, like many of my favorite bands, are distinctive--a little gravelly, a little wary sounding.

My absolute, absolute, hands-down favorite song is "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues." The opening chords grabbed my attention immediately, the opening lyrics made me nod in wistful agreement, and the chorus had me tapping my foot and singing along with joyful abandon. Give it a listen, or two, or three, or... Just leave a comment. Let me know what you think.

----------------
Now playing: The Gaslight Anthem - Film Noir
via FoxyTunes

Multimedia Friday: Dance Me to the End of Love

In the pursuit of making the grading process less painful (a difficult, and indeed, often futile venture), I branched out with new musical exploration. Ah, online radio is great stuff.

One semester I found female-fronted gothic metal great to grade to. Another it was emo music I hesitate to admit liking. This time around, I was exploring the music of Nick Cave, in part because he's supposed to be scoring The Road, a movie I dearly hope does justice to an amazing book, and in part because I'd heard his name bandied about and always meant to explore his music.

But the joy of online radio like Last.fm or Pandora is in its related music, which can take you down new paths of discovery. In this case, the stations I was listening to re-introduced me to a few artists I'd heard only in passing, songwriters like Leonard Cohen, for one. When the following track popped up in the playlist, I was entranced by it--it's a lovely song in every sense of the word, with a lovely accompanying video.

Leonard Cohen - "Dance Me to the End of Love"
(Can't embed, but give it a watch/listen. It's worth it.)

Multimedia Friday: Pure awesomeness

As the stress of an approaching new semester starts to hit me, I've been gravitating toward certain favorite songs. The following is one of them, and no introduction I write can possibly do justice to it.

Multimedia Friday: Flobots

A ways back, my friend told me about a band. "I think you'd like them," she said. "They're kinda political." The the Flobots are political, yes (their debut album is called Fight with Tools, and it's a call to fight the injustices that exist), but more than that--I'd never heard a combination of hip hop and violin before.

Now, their first single, "Handlebars," is all over the radio. It's cute and catchy to start, but it builds to a dark ending, and I hope its overexposure doesn't blunt their message or, over time, their originality. (As an aside, blast you, Universal Music, for disabling embedding of your videos. Hint: embedded videos link right back to the original Youtube video...)

Pfft. I liked "Stand Up" better, anyway. The violin really adds to the music here, and the lyrical content is a bit stronger. See for yourself.

Multimedia Friday: Bonus edition

Is it just me, or does really, really, really good music just send a shiver down your spine.

Coldplay's good, but they're not that good.

On the other hand, Bristle Ridge, a joint effort of Chuck Ragan and Austin Lucas, is. Just. That. Good. But then again, practically everything Chuck Ragan touches is golden. His voice.... *melts* Windows Media Player dubs this stuff country. I will grudgingly concede that it is. I like it anyway. Love, actually.

But. Seriously, go listen to the few tracks streaming on Chuck Ragan's Myspace page. "Bloody Shells" is simply breath-taking, in that old-fashioned-ballad-folk-story-ZOMG-amazing sort of way.

But "Hold My Bed" is its own sort of amazingness. See?



And, having made my fangirly tendencies abundantly clear, I shall bounce off to savor the musical goodness.

Multimedia Friday: Coldplay

I like punk music. I should, therefore, scorn the mainstream. Or so the scenesters would have me believe. Sometimes pop can be good, though.

From time to time a Coldplay track will pop up on my musical radar, and with good reason. It's not their fault the radio stations killed "Clocks" by overplay.

I've never actually dropped money on one of their albums (though I have since...acquired...their previous albums), until Viva la Vida. The song that sold me on it? Not the one made famous by the iTunes commercial, but "Violet Hill." Rest of the album is solid, though, especially tracks like "Cemeteries of London" and "Lost." But here's the video for Violet Hill:



In other news, I may pop back in here tomorrow morning, but otherwise I'll be out of town and without Internet for a few days. I'll bring my camera, though, on the off chance I see something interesting enough to post about.

Multimedia Friday: Mean Kitty Song

Inspired by the scars on my hand from an encounter with my friend's overly playful cat, I decided to share "The Mean Kitty" song. Cat owners and lovers will probably find themselves nodding in bemused agreement, but regardless, it's an amusing rap and video.

Multimedia Friday: Cover the kiddies' ears for this one...

I've decided to share my music again. The song I'm going to share is one that never fails to put a grin on my face.

I became a fan of Against Me! courtesy of Last.fm. Their music resides on the punk-folk spectrum, and vocalist Tom Gabel's got one of those gravelly voices I seem to like. They've got a healthy dose of politics in many lyrics, but they're also able to have some fun.

The song I'm sharing is "Unprotected Sex with Multiple Partners." I love the extended metaphor within the song; it's not about X-rated activities, per se. Here are the first few lines:

Everyone's a critic, but hey, they really respect your talent.
Have your manager call my manager, and we'll make records together.
At this level of success in entertainment, there are certain connotations.
It's a "you give, we take" relation.
No, the kids wouldn't understand it.

If you're interested in hearing it, I've uploaded it in mp3 format here. Again, comment if taking. And if I get absolutely no response or indication of interest, I'll discontinue my experiment in pir sharing music.

Seriously?

My aunt told me the Wi-fi access was 10 bucks at this hotel. I silently scoffed in derision. What place would charge for something that could be gained for free at the nearest McD's or any of the 5 Starbucks locations within a stone's throw? Turns out this one does. Hmph. I found another connection. After all, I had to update my blog. I'm tired, though, so I'll just post a few of the pictures that I was able to snag from the moving train.

Nifty method of travel, the train, but it's time-consuming. It has its perks, though, like leg room. No seriously, I took a picture to prove that there's still such a thing in contemporary methods of transport.
And this next one I just thought was nifty. Can you spot the smoke against the clouds?

If the clouds weren't a tip-off, last night saw a lot of storms and bad weather. Lots of rain, but a smidge late for April showers, methinks.

You see a lot of these in the Midwest:

Finally, we got here, where I will be for two hectic days before going off to another big city:

Wanna play a game of "name that skyline?"

Multimedia Friday: Thrice

Thrice has been a favorite band of mine for a while. Why? Oh, so many reasons, lyrical amazing-ness and musical versatility being top of the list. Previously, my favorite album of theirs was Vheissu. Then came The Alchemy Index. Volumes I and II, Fire and Water, respectively, were good. Fire was very much along the lines of their older material--an articulate assault of sound. Water hooked me in though, which was surprising--the synthetic ambiance isn't my usual sort of music.

Volumes III and IV, Air and Earth, just came out, and they're almost singularly responsible for Thrice steadily climbing up my Last.fm profile. Air is other-worldly, but Earth is. . . is. . . amazing. It goes down to musical roots with an indie-folk feel that I've been increasingly gravitating toward.

I could easily go on and on and on about the albums. I can link to Youtube videos of them. Or I can one-up that, let you listen for yourself--a track from each volume.

The Flame Deluge [Lyrics] - A delicious deluge of sound.
Digital Sea [Lyrics] [Video] - Creative take on the water theme. Cool, mellow song.
Daedalus [Lyrics] - We've all heard the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun; this is his father's story. Broke my heart in a good way.
Come All You Weary [Lyrics] - Music with soul. Literally sent shivers down my spine.

I only ask for a comment in return - anything from, "Good lord, you really don't have any taste in music" to "Wow. [Song] is really good."

Multimedia Friday: Silence! I kill you

It's been a long week for me, and I'm tired. So for this week's Multimedia Friday (can I even say that in good conscience? It's more like a bi- or tri-weekly thing), I'm posting an old favorite of mine.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist is a riot. It's not politically correct, but hey, most cutting humor isn't. The comedy routine takes on terrorist attitudes, pop culture figures like Lindsay Loh--you know who I'm talking about--and has-been pop stars whose faces have been ruined by too many plastic surgeries, the Washington Monument, and even that Verizon guy. Enjoy.

Multimedia Friday: Cormac McCarthy interview

One of the best books I read last year was Cormac McCarthy's The Road, followed in rapid succession by Blood Meridian. I read the latter upon recommendation from a friend and the former in spite of the dubious distinction of it being an Oprah book club pick.

Since then, I'm trying to read whatever McCarthy works I can get my hands on; currently, I'm working on Suttree.

McCarthy doesn't do too many interviews. One exception was an interview with Oprah. It was . . . good in some respects; you get a sense of some of his underlying philosophical and aesthetic ideas. And on the other hand, well, it appeared on Oprah. Some of the questions are asinine or downright obvious, but hey. Win some, lose some.

For this week's Multimedia Friday, I'm posting the first of the six videos someone was good enough to put up on Youtube so we snobs don't have to register with Oprah's site to view them. Enjoy.



And that's all I've got. I love that spring's finally here, but my allergies and sinuses sure don't.

Multimedia Friday: On the issue of environmentalism

I swung by the grocery store today to pick up something for my grandmother. I was so proud of myself for finally remembering to grab a paper bag out of my trunk to re-use. Nine times out of ten, I forget to take the final step between toting them around and using them. It's worth a nickel back at most places, but that's barely relevant--plastic comes from petroleum, you know, and that's a finite supply we're dealing with.

So, I bring my paper bag into the store and put it on the conveyor belt. I'll give the clerk credit; he didn't ask, as one cashier did, whether I intended to use the bag(s) (because I brought them just for kicks?). I pay for the item, grab the bag by the handle, and head out.

Only outside the store do I note my cashier's diligence: he placed my paper bag very carefully inside a new plastic bag.

Feh.

That incident reminded me, in a loosely associative way, of a humorous clip on Youtube from environmental activist Derrick Jensen (his name's popped up on this blog before). This particular clip is on how many environmentalists it takes to change a light bulb. It's pretty funny, I suppose, if you find leftist politics interesting . . . and it's even funnier if you've participated in them. I particularly like that he's willing to have a good-humored chuckle at the ridiculousness of what seems like sectarian division amongst people who profess to have a common goal. Does it apply to right-wing political movements? I don't know, haven't participated in any, but from the outside, they seem a little more cohesive. Without further ado, the answer to that timeless question: How many environmentalists does it take to change a light bulb?



----------------
Now playing: Against Me! - Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious...
via FoxyTunes