Figurines

This is a song I've been listening to a lot the last few days. Their new album is really good. Figurines is a band that I forget about until they come out with a new album. They are consistently good, and this song in particular is a really good pop song.

On Trying to Understand Current Music

As I mentioned, I've been listening to the radio lately. I spend a lot of time driving, and it's been a refreshing break from my usual podcasts. I am completely (blissfully, as far as I'm concerned) out of touch with popular music, and when I heard this song, my first reaction was, "What is this crap?" There are about four lines in this song, and they are dumb, but I found myself becoming drawn in as they repeated. Pretty soon I was repeating it in my head like a meditation mantra. Inhale (eeeeeeeh), exhale (yoooooo). I'm not suggesting you use the mindless banality of this song to focus your breathing and relax your mind, but...well, there are worse ways to spend your time. This is a really terrible song.

So you like to dance, huh? And you need space on the dance floor, right? You just want to celebrate the mere fact of your existence, and they way you choose to do that is by dancing and wearing all your favorite brands (brands, brands, brands)? All right. Sure. I don't think I understand why songs get on the radio.

Jesus Fever by Kurt Vile

Apparently, in addition to being soft rock night, Saturday night is also when I will post lots of my favorite songs. Whatever!
I absolutely ADORE this song, and I've never heard a single other thing by Kurt Vile. Perhaps I belong to the Papa Winfrey school of music: he often loves one song by an artist, while not giving a shit about anything else they've ever done. I have a feeling I'll end up loving this whole album once I get my paws on it, though. On The Sound of Young America, Jesse Thorn said he's a twisted Bruce Springsteen or Tom Petty. Fair enough!

Abducted by Cults

I started listening to All Songs Considered again, and I don't know why I ever stopped. Every episode has been killing it, and I've heard so much great music. For example, this song by a band called Cults. The best feeling is hearing a song that encompasses everything you love about music, and this song does it for me. Basically, I like anything that sounds like a 60's girl group. I think Lexie will like this song, and he's probably already heard it because he's infinitely hipper than I am.

Tragedy

I came home from H's early this weekend to do Easter prep, so on the drive home I got to treat myself to one of my favorite things in life: Saturday night soft rock! As anyone (okay, anyone in the Winfrey family) knows, Saturday is when a lot of radio stations have flashback/70's/"lost hits" nights. Mama Winfrey is a BIG fan of this, and I can see why. I heard so many jams tonight! Specifically, this song by the Bee Gees. We love the Bee Gees around Winfrey Family HQ; Alex went through a fairly serious listening-to-the-Saturday-Night-Fever-soundtrack-on-vinyl phase when he was in high school. I was not familiar with this song before tonight, but after listening to it about a million times since I got home, I'm very, VERY familiar with it now.

This is the karaoke version, so you can learn the lyrics now. You're welcome.

WHAT IS THIS.

I've watched a lot of weird movies in my time. Around the Winfrey house, that's basically what we do for fun. What I'm saying is, I might be easily amused, but I'm not easily surprised. Yet when I watched the trailer for this Japanese horror film that Netflix suggested to me, all I could think was, "What the fuck is this?" I'm not the one studying films in school, though. Have you heard of or seen this movie?

At first I was like, "Thanks but no thanks, Netflix." Now I am like, "How soon can you ship this to me?" Bonus points for the wackadoo sitcom intro stuck in the middle of this trailer. What's the deal with the trippy 60's music? What's the deal with the cat painting that looks like the work of a schizophrenic? What's the deal with this movie? I intend to find out, but I'll probably wait until Lexie's home.

Do You Remember This?

Netflix recommended this movie to me, for reasons that aren't entirely clear. I completely forgot about this, but I remember it being really sad. I can't believe this movie was ever made. What a dumb premise.

But then I found a Robin Williams with a (possibly) dumber premise: The Best of Times! It's always a treat to see the films that time forgot. At least Kurt Russell always looks fine. Seriously, what a babe!

Can't You Feel It?

Look at this album cover. So good. Listen to this whole song.



Are you having a cookout this summah? This song is on. The whole time.

PS
Are you listening to Who Charted? Listen to it. At first I thought it was just okay, but it has grown on me. Howard Kremer's got somethin'. He seems like an honest guy.

What's this?

Sorry guys. I've been busy. I know you don't want excuses, you want results. Spring quarter just started up, so blog updates will probably be light. Tonight I went and saw a really good film though, so I thought I'd write about it.

If you have the chance to see Cold Weather in the theater, I would highly recommend it! It's playing here in Athens, but we generally get things on kind of a weird schedule, so I'm not sure if it's playing elsewhere. The film is directed by Aaron Katz, whose previous films (Dance Party USA and Quiet City) are considered a part of the mumblecore movement. If you have a brain, you realize how stupid that word is, and if you're familiar with our blog then you know about my conflicting feelings toward it. I don't want to say anything too bad about these movies, so I'll just say that some of them are not for me.

Mumblecore is such a loose, meaningless label, so I feel dumb using it, but I kind of have to. The reason that I love the Duplass Brothers' films so much is because they are able to take everything good about mumblecore, the emotional honesty and authentic performances, and inject them into a genre film. The Puffy Chair is a road movie. Baghead is a horror movie. Cold Weather is a detective movie, and a very good one.

Some people may be put off by the fact that the plot does not really start until about 40 minutes into the movie, at least that's what I gather from reviews I have read of the film. I had no problem with its structure. It's very beautifully shot (with a RED camera) and the characters are engaging (also attractive). The brother/sister relationship was fun. For me, this was a more exciting film than any of the Bourne movies. I would much rather see someone awkwardly trying to solve a mystery than watch Jason Bourne jump through a window and beat someone up with a rolled up magazine. The stakes were raised in this film! I didn't know what was going to happen!

As more and more mumblecore directors get exposure and access to slightly larger budgets, I hope that they all follow the path of Aaron Katz or the Duplass Bros, and continue to make movies that feel genuine but are also genuinely interesting. Winfrey recommends!