This is great, even though the band's been making the blog rounds since August. What is a little less understandable is the inclusion of TV on the Radio, another favourite, who blew up big in 2003 with the release of their Young Liars EP. If Rollingstone isn't careful it's going to become about as relevant as the Best New Artist Grammy. (Past musical juggernauts who have won the BNAG: Hootie and the Blowfish, Paula Cole, Milli Vanilli, Jody Watley, and Robert Goulet.)
Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck? People tend to trot out this question when high on the hippie lettuce and sitting around someone's broke ass apartment at 4 in the morning. But for me, there isn't a question. It's Daffy all the way. Self-deprecating, self-sabotaging Daffy destroys cross-dressing, smarmy Bugs in all kinds of ways. Daffy is the Steve Buscemi to Bugs' Tom Cruise. Think of the characters: Duck Dodgers, Dorlock Homes, Robin Hood - classics each and every one.
Then Spielberg brought out Tiny Toons (and then the weirdly wonderful Animaniacs), and tried to force feed us a second helping of the same characters, this time re-magined as annoying adolescents. Tiny Toons' only contribution to the cartoon universe were two music videos for They Might be Giants' songs. Maybe it's just the genius of the songs themselves, but I love these clips. And once again, Youtube has provided.
Ryan has of late been lamenting the lack of good new music. As a frequenter of music blogs I forget that most people rely on the radio or the Halls of the Damned for new music picks. So for anyone who has been feeling music deprived lately, this post is for you. (Really it's for me. Who cares about you?)
Guillemots is a London-based band which includes a 21 year-old Canadian bass player and an electronic musician from Brazil. And the lead singer's name is Fyfe Dangerfield. They also happen to make some of the best music I've heard since Arcade Fire started blowing everyone's freakin' mind.
My pick for early song of the year. Utterly fantastic. Horn stabs. Wailing. Children laughing. The whole song is so unabashedly happy, and then you listen to the lyrics and realize it's all about prophets and blowing things up and maybe dying tomorrow.
This song is too long by about 3 minutes. It loses its way, the lyrics get repetitive, and the entire affair has the suspicious sheen of something that has been done before. So why do I love it? Because somehow, some way, it works. And at the midway point they start to channel Radiohead.
The first Basic Instinct was, I suppose, an ok sort of movie. You got to see Sharon Stone's cha cha, and if that's the kind of thing that works you up you should know there's porn on the internet. Seriously. Just Google "porn." So when I saw the remake I thought hey, it's a decade or more later. I wonder what Stone's forbidden jewel is up to? Apparently we'll get to find out.
Least necessary remake: Superman
When this project was first being floated around, with Kevin Smith and Nic Cage attached, I was excited. And when Batman Begins came out and kicked all kinds of the ass and took all kinds of the names, I was excited. And when they dropped Smith and Cage and started talking Singer, I was excited. And then I watched the trailer.
You must be kidding.
I've seen the original Superman. It had Christopher Reeve. It was not really good, but it had its charm. Now maybe this trailer is doing the new movie, which cost $180 million, a disservice. Maybe this movie is going to take the names and kick the ass. Maybe.
But right now? It looks pretty much like an exact duplicate of the old movie. And that would suck.
On the plus side - how long until the Christian Fundies start marching over that "sent them you, my only son" comment?
* The name of this blog was taken from a case I read in first year Torts, Mulloy v. Hop Sang. In it a doctor had cut off the hand of a "Chinaman" without informing the patient. The judge awarded $50 since the Chinaman, while Chinese, was of average intelligence, and therefore would have understood the doctor's diagnosis.
