Video of the Day 2: Bat For Lashes, “Pearl’s Dream”
Bat For Lashes - "Pearl's Dream"
The latest clip from Two Suns features Natasha Khan swinging around the solar system with wolves and waging some kind of staring war with her blonde alter-ego, Pearl. In other words, it’s Christmas Morning at Staticblog!
Video of the Day: Peter Bjorn and John, “It Don’t Move Me”
Peter, Bjorn and John - It Don't Move Me
Life with a disturbed Michael Jackson obsessive can be difficult.
Video of the Day: Dengue Fever, “Seeing Hands”
The L.A./Cambodian pop band Dengue Fever was just announced this morning as one of the next round of headliners for this year’s Dfest, July 24-25 in downtown Tulsa.
Cake, Ra Ra Riot among new round of bands announced for Dfest
The second round of headliners for Dfest were announced this morning. Cake, Mates of State, Ra Ra Riot, Dengue Fever, The Cool Kids, Carney, Ian Moore, Here II Here and Manda Mosher are confirmed acts for Dfest, July 24 and 25 in downtown Tulsa. Organizers also announced a long list of unsigned artists scheduled to perform.
“With roughly two months to go until show time, we are in awe of the way this year’s Dfest has mushroomed into our biggest and most diverse event ever,” said Tom Green, Dfest founder. “The support and enthusiasm of our new sponsors, partners and venues has created an unprecedented level of energy and excitement.”
DVD Review: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — The Criterion Collection”
Rating: 83
David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” makes its greatest statement about the human experience through its perplexing, difficult title character. While one of the chief criticisms of “Benjamin Button” was that Brad Pitt’s Benjamin was a cipher, the story was about a man separated from the rest of humanity by his born-ancient, aging backward condition. He could not relate to most people’s sense of mortality, but was forced to stand apart as everyone around him grew up, grew old and died. Being an observer in a world running in the opposite direction was the only tenable option.
This Criterion Collection edition maintains the impeccable standards of the series, featuring a magnificent digital transfer and Fincher’s audio commentary on one disc. The second disc is filled with copious interviews and technical documentaries, including discussions with Pitt and co-star Cate Blanchett and detailed explorations of visual effects, makeup, costuming, and Fincher’s on-set creative process. If sometimes it feels that the technological issues are given too close an examination in this collection, the groundbreaking effects that allowed Pitt to grow young in “Button” made the film possible after nearly two decades in development.
Even if “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is not to everyone’s taste, this collection sheds light on Fincher’s renowned attention to the finer points of filmmaking. Few directors are as meticulous in creating worlds, and Fincher’s exacting details come out in every pixel of this edition.
Music Review: Eminem, “Relapse” (Aftermath/Interscope)
Rating: 47
Even before the five-year gap that separated “Relapse” from 2004’s “Encore,” Eminem was obviously spinning his wheels — dissing tabloid personalities and engaging in one-too-many murder fantasies about his ex-wife, Kim Mathers. But while the title of “Relapse” directly references Marshall Mathers’ recent battle with prescription drug addiction, it says more about his tendency to revisit the same old territory. No other musical artist of this stature possesses so little forward momentum.
The recent single and video “We Made You” only proved that Mathers can regurgitate “E! News Daily” in verse — does it take special skills to take down Kim Kardashian or Amy Winehouse? Elsewhere, Eminem ups the ante on his verbal killing sprees (blaming the drugs in “3 a.m.”), takes down a stepfather and a cousin, and admits to more fatherly guilt about he is raising Hailie. This is all familiar familial territory with the same boring ingredients ladled on, thick and bloody.
What makes Eminem so vexing is his extraordinary talent. Not just any rapper can craft a line like “Swallowin’ the Klonopin while I’m noddin’ in and out on the ottoman at the Ramada Inn” — that rhyme should be enshrined somewhere. It’s just that Mathers’ facility with the language is put to such tedious use on “Relapse,” and it’s a sad shame that, in a full decade of major-label work, evolution has not been part of the Eminem experience, and more often than not, he seems to actively avoid it. This is like watching a world-class architect design a strip mall.
Video of the Day: Patrick Wolf, “Hard Times”
Visually, what Wolf is doing in this first video from The Bachelor is in line with what Kevin Barnes is doing with Of Montreal — glammy, ostentatious and flamboyant, but without Barnes’ Dargeresque doll imagery. As for the music, it reminds me of what Marc Almond of Soft Cell was doing in his late-’80s solo career, creating lush, orchestral pop songs.
Kanye West “not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph.”
Testing my patience and patronage yet again, here’s Kanye West, interviewed by Reuters about his slim tome, “Thank You and You’re Welcome”:
Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life.
Those of us who love novels and be so wordy and self-absorbed take umbrage with this, of course. Now, let’s examine this knowledge for a moment: ‘Ye likes “actually talking to people and living real life.” Generally, the people who are worth talking to like to read books. If you talk to people who don’t like to read, they usually have things stuck to them and have little to say other than whether they like cheese or debating the merits of kissing buzzsaws. They aren’t bright, Kanye. Stick with the book lovers. Hell, they might even buy “Thank You and You’re Welcome,” which you gave away to thousands of people who saw you at the Ford Center last year.
For a sampler of the supreme worth of “Thank You and You’re Welcome,” let’s turn at random to page 10, which says, in full: “Would you rather have 100% from an average person or 10% from someone who is outstanding?”
I think we just got the second option. For someone who claims to hate Twitter, I think we just got an old-school, spiral-bound Tweet.
As for getting a book’s autograph, if there is a book out there that’s capable of signing autographs — and I’m not talking about a guy dressed as a book — I’m lining up.
Random 10 for May 26, 2009
1. Phoenix, “1901.” Amazing that these Parisians are doing so well with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Here’s hoping there are coattails for Tahiti 80.
2. Lupe Fiasco, “Go Go Gadget Flow.”
3. The Airborne Toxic Event, “Missy.”
4. Sparks, “Perfume.”
5. Lily Allen, “Mr Blue Sky.”
6. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, “Everything With You.” Nearly perfect in its sweet simulation of C86 indie pop. Not deep or meaningful, but every gorgeous jangle resonates.
7. Bebel Gilberto, “Bring Back the Love.”
8. Against Me! “Don’t Lose Touch.”
9. Ghostface Killah, “Beauty Jackson.”
10. Electric Six, “Danger! High Voltage.” Want lurid? Let your love glow with this sick classic.
Video of the Day: School of Seven Bells, “My Cabal”
This is the new video from Oklahoman Benjamin Curtis’ new, post-Secret Machines project with Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. With the obvious Cocteau Twins influence, consider all of Staticblog’s buttons pushed.
