OK, you’ve all seen that VW ad featuring the kids that look like all of us circa 10 years ago dancing to this great garage song, getting into a row with their downstairs neighbor. They climb into their VW, the song still blaring. Eventually you see them dancing to the tune in their new house. The problem is that back then none of us could have afforded that car or that house. But, hey, the point of the ad is that things are different now! So, believe it or not, I broke down because of that ad: I bought the CD. The group is Kings of Leon, and the song is “Molly’s Chambers”. Classic garage, and it’s one great song. The rest of the album isn’t bad either.
Saw “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” last night. At one point, I turn to N and say, “this movie validates my taste in pop music.” Not that it particularly needs validating. But it is nice to see Devo gaining new respect these days. Mark Mothersbaugh does a few of his tyical Wes Anderson cues for this pic–nice but almost too understated. Not as effective as the scene underscored by the classic Devo tune “Gut Feeling.” And the use of “Search and Destroy” is almost too on the nose. Especially since I got the thought process behind the choice right away. They’re rescuing the bond company stooge… stooge… Stooges… Search and Destroy! Oh well, Wes isn’t exactly an obscure director (not, I mean, into obscurity) and it is after all one of the greatest garage band songs ever. I always like hearing Bowie in a film but I think the samba gimmick fell a little flat. eXpecially at the end of the film when you first hear Bowie playing Queen Bitch, and then right away the Samba guy. Ouch! That’s not playing fair!
Right now I have Kasabian in the deck. Thanks to Clickradian AG for the tip. I had seen them on Letterman, then saw their video on Mexican MTV. So we have critical mass. The story here is that BMG copy-protected the thing so it won’t just play in a CD-ROM drive. Oh no you di ‘nt! Forced me to copy WMA files and play those. Hey BMG, that sucks. Especially since I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t listen to mp3s. I listen to CDs exclusively. Oh well, I guess it’s just a challenge to get at the uncompressed audio.
The “Team America: World Police” DVD is out, and if you saw the theatrical release, it’s still worth watching to see the stuff they had to cut out to avoid an X-rating. Once again, the songs make the picture. I particularly like “Pearl Harbor Sucks and I Miss You.” Which brings me back to that Sith business. I don’t want to write too much about. In the New Yorker review, the writer can barely keep to the subject (look, the movie is just plain bad) and supposes that it would have been more effective as a silent picture. No dialogue, just the music. I agree, but even better would have been puppets! The puppet acting and dialogue in Team America was for the most part more convincing than what Lucas accomplished. How does he do it? He must put his stars through the “de-actorizing machine.”
You didn’t really think I was going to buy a car did you?
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