Album review: Turn on the Bright Lights

Firstly, an errant thought on none other than eyelashes guy: I just watched him commentate on CNN a little bit and had the realization that he seems to be rather reasonable when he commentates and he doesn't yell and shout at/over the other commentators like some do. So I guess that's a nice thing that I hadn't explicitly thought of in the past. 

I know technically you're supposed to do reviews of things (movies, music, tv, etc) that have recently been released but I just do them based on what's new and/or interesting to me in terms of things that I've watched/read/listened to regardless of if I'm 15 years late such as for this review of an album released in 2002 when I was only a small child. 

Now, onto the main topic here. In the sort of recent past, the Killers covered a song called Obstacle 1 by the band Interpol. I listened to this cover and thought Flowers did a good job of it and that the song was interesting. So I ended up listening to the original version of the song which Flowers did quite a good job of mirroring. Generally, covers shouldn't stray too far from the original song. Usually I find myself more amicable towards covers of other songs by bands that I already like rather than covers by other people of songs by bands that I like. Hence, I enjoy the Killers covering Obstacle 1 and Muse covering Please Please Please (which is far superior to the original version in my opinion), but I can't be certain that I'd enjoy, say, some other band/singer covering Mr. Brightside or something. Hopefully you get the idea. In any case, in addition to listening to Interpol's Obstacle 1, I branched out a little bit into another song from the same album (Turn on the Bright Lights - 2002) called NYC. It's an interesting song to say the least. Rather mellow and morose at the same time. Obstacle 1 is a bit more upbeat but at the same time it is also morose. Eventually I listened to the album in its entirety - 11 songs. Overall, it's a morose album. I consider it morose as opposed to melancholy which is a word I use to describe All the Stars and Boulevards by Augustana (plus some of their other songs could be described as such) along with thoughtful which describes all of their songs. Having looked up the definitions of morose and melancholy, the latter means something along the lines of a thoughtful sadness which I think makes pretty good sense to describe All the Stars and Boulevards. Morose means gloomy which is a fair enough description of Turn on the Bright Lights. (huh, both of those album titles are sort of long and wordy) 

Overall, the lyrics of the songs on Turn on the Bright Lights range from slightly weird to very weird. Which in some cases works/isn't a particular detriment to the songs but in other cases I don't think it really helps. I think perhaps the lyrics are just a little too weird for me to enjoy the album in full although I do like a few of the songs off of it. Perhaps it's like the people who like Mr. Brightside and Somebody Told Me and All These Things That I've Done off of the Killers' album Hot Fuss but don't particularly care for the rest of the album for whatever reason. 

So, in conclusion, I'm not completely sold on this album and it didn't jump out at me like "wow, what a great album!!" although again there are a few songs off of it that I like. It's possible that (this is a sentence that would require the subjunctive in Spanish, by the way) this album might grow on me if I listened to it more, but I'm not sure if I particularly want to listen to it in full again. I suppose I like this band ever so slightly more than the Strokes, who I tried to get into but just couldn't find any songs of theirs that I particularly liked even after going through like the first 5 that popped up in search results so which I assume are the most popular. I would've thought that I would have found at least one song in that selection that I at least sort of liked but alas, I didn't. However, Instant Crush (which isn't really a Strokes song though) is a good song. I guess I like (?!?!) the Smashing Pumpkins ever so slightly more than the Strokes because there are about 5 songs of theirs that I know, and I don't know any Strokes songs. Even though I don't particularly like the Smashing Pumpkins, I know a few of their songs and occasionally for reasons unknown (see what I did there?) feel compelled to listen to them - these songs comprising of 1979, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Disarm, and Today. Perhaps I could throw Ava Adore on this list as well. But that's it. And I don't even like those songs, I just occasionally for some reason feel compelled to listen to them. A trivia is that the intro to the Smashing Pumpkins' song Today is rather similar to My Chemical Romance's song I Don't Love You. I think MCR was somewhat influenced by the Smashing Pumpkins. However, Gerard seems like a nice person but Billy Corgan just doesn't and I think this is part of why I don't like the Smashing Pumpkins. By this point this post has gotten rather off track from the main subject of Interpol to then the Strokes to then the Smashing Pumpkins with an allusion to the Killers thrown in and then to MCR. So this here will be the end of this long winded post.

Poetry

(bad, cheesy poetry, to be specific)

Here are some poems I have composed; they are on the subject of eyelashes guy in an assortment of styles.

"This is Just to Say"

I have watched
the commentator
that was on
CNN

and whom
you probably
don't
care about

Forgive me
But those eyelashes
So long
and so magnificent

A haiku

Eyelashes guy - wow!
I am just fascinated
by those eyelashes

A sonnet (following the stanza structure and rhyme pattern but not in iambic pentameter because I just don't have the energy to put in that much effort.)

Eyelashes guy, I gaze at thee
When on CNN you speak
It is your eyelashes I desire to see
Although your opinions I critique

Your eyelashes are just magnificent
And your eyeballs rather blue
By others much money has been spent
To have eyelashes like you

Your eyelashes drew my attention 

And I what I had to do
Was to research your political affiliation

I'm not a conservative like you

Sometimes you say things with which I disagree

But you're a conservative and that's just how it's going to be

I tried to come up with a limerick, but I couldn't think of anything. [as with all posts about eyelashes guy, I dearly hope he never reads this.] 

pltcs

(The title of this post is the word "politics" but with the vowels removed, kind of like the title of that one song, Thnks fr th Mmrs. As you can see, I am getting creative with my blog post titles now.) 

This post is about partly becoming more open minded (a topic which I think I have discussed a little in the past) and also about being "out of touch." It has to do with politics so if that's not your cup of tea then perhaps don't read further.

As you may know, eyelashes guy does a podcast in addition to writing political commentary and offering it on TV. So I am listening to an episode of said podcast where eyelashes guy interviews a colleague of his who covers politics and entertainment. During the podcast, they ragged on the celebrities who have made an implorement to Congress members urging them to not support Donald Trump basically. Additionally, eyelashes guy has criticized Meryl Streep for the speech she gave recently at an awards ceremony, for which eyelashes guy has received criticism (mind you, on twitter) for. In any case, I was sort of surprised to hear that from him basically that people don't want to hear about politics from celebrities and said celebrities are 'out of touch' and (my quotation marks) "real Americans" don't identify with those celebrities... things along those lines I guess. In any case, people don't have to listen to what celebrities say about politics if they don't want to, but I see no reason why celebrities can't/shouldn't voice their opinions on the matter. Certainly there are some people out there who agree with them. Whatever. I don't remember exactly the points he made or his guest on the podcast so I'll end this part here. I get somewhat disappointed when eyelashes guy says something stupid (or more eloquently, something I disagree with) but I guess it comes with the territory, him being a conservative. So all I can do is just hope that the next political issue he decides to opine on is one where his opinion is one that I at least partially agree with. Who knows. We'll just have to wait and see.

On a sort of relevant topic to the previous paragraph, here are some thoughts about being "out of touch" as people in/around liberal city areas are called. Maybe, another way to look at things is that people out in the sticks of Texas and other Republican areas are the ones who are out of touch with the city folk. I wonder if they have ever considered that way of seeing it - it's always the people in the big liberal cities that are accused of being out of touch (of which I would say that I belong to... I wouldn't personally consider myself to be ashamed/otherwise unpleased with the state of supposedly being "out of touch," but I'm sure there are people who would be more than ready to criticize me for it).  

I'm kind of sick of writing this post about political issues so this will be the end of it. Probably why I don't plan on becoming a political writer or a politician. The subject can be kind of interesting sometimes, but other times or when you've just had too much of it it can be a drag. Particularly when eyelashes guy says something you disagree with. I'm not a professional political writer nor do I claim or plan to be one. However, sometimes the thoughts just need to be put to keyboard. 

An open theoretical letter

to that one guy...

To start off, I apologize for touching your hair all those months ago if you found that weird which I imagine you did, at least to some degree. But I really wanted to touch it and I was probably never going to see you again so I had to do it then and there. Your hair is very nice and blonde and soft. And I'm pretty sure it's natural. It's very blonde.

What are you doing these days? I looked up on the Internet what kinds of things are considered normal conversation topics because I'm predisposed to talking about strange things like murder, drug addicts, various actors/musicians/etc that I like, Law and Order (that's a big one) and a certain political commentator who I call eyelashes guy (because he has long magnificent eyelashes, obviously). So, those are topics that I probably would talk about but have consciously attempted to avoid at this point because I barely know anything about you. But now you know some stuff about me. Although like I said I will try to talk about things that are considered "normal conversation topics" such as what did you do last weekend, or what do you like to eat, what are you studying, or what's your favorite TV show, etc. (Mine, like I said before, is Law and Order.)

I'm quite worried that this comes across as very, exceedingly weird. But my friend says I need to take more initiative and maybe I will have more success with this than on the online dating website which I mostly use at this point as a kind of exercise in people watching for when I'm bored. Also said by this friend is that if someone they sort of knew of from high school contacted them out of the blue, they would probably respond and have a conversation and following this point is that please don't make me regret this. Come to think of it, that's kind of a... loaded statement. If you really don't like me or something or you think I'm just way too weird (which I wouldn't blame you for) then feel free to indeed make me regret this and just ignore it or say something mean back. I won't bother you anymore if you do that although I will be kind of sad that what my friend said turned out not to happen. Oh yeah, another reason that you could possibly decide not to interact with me is that you have a girlfriend already. In which case the aforementioned applies too.

I wanted to lay it all out there because I will admit that I'm... different/eccentric/other similar words, as you possibly may have gathered from reading this. And I didn't want to begin with a pretense of normality like what I expect other people would be like. Even if you do have a girlfriend (or boyfriend if you happen to be gay... that's always a possibility) then I would settle for just being friends because mostly I think you look like a model and I would just like to look at you and theoretically photograph you even if you don't actually date me.

The end. If you found me in some way to be someone that you'd actually feel like talking to, then by all means please do. Or if I'm just too weird for you, I understand and you can just decide not to talk to me. I have barely any idea what you're like so who knows how you'll react to this!

Deryueglaadsdhiecsts

(the title is a combination of the words "drug addicts" and "eyelashes")

I was reading about the movies about drug addicts that I've watched recently and came across this choice line in a NYT article... 
"As the junkie Harry, a wasted pretty boy, he seems kept aloft by his eyelashes, the only substantial thing on his frame."

What a quote!! I don't think I have to spell it out as to why I find this quote quite pleasing to have read. Also, the next sentence: "Superficially, it might be easy to confuse the protagonists of '''Requiem'' with the models in a Calvin Klein Jeans ad of a few years ago."

Here is the review that these quotes came from if you'd like to read it in full.

Also, here is another relevant quote. 
"Did you enjoy Darren Aronosky leading you by the hand to the brink of suicide, only to leave you tottering there above an abyss of despair? If so, you’re a bit weird. But don’t worry, you’re not alone; and neither is ‘Requiem for a Dream’. For more of the same spirit-crushing depression, check out ‘The Panic in Needle Park’, ‘Christiane F.’ or ‘What About Me?’" ~ Jonny Sweet

Here is a short little blurb about the two movies.

I just wanted to put this out there.

Movie review: The Panic in Needle Park

Today I was bored because I don't have anywhere to go and so I've just been sitting in the house and decided to try and find something on Netflix to watch. I at first considered some movie that Vincent had been in a couple of years ago and also co-produced (or something like that) but it didn't have particularly good reviews so I thought it might end up being a waste of time (sorry Vincent). So, I decided to watch another movie in the same vein (no puns intended) as Requiem for a Dream (which I would willingly watch a third time, in fact - other people have considered it to be a movie they never want to see again because it's too depressing or something, but I could watch it yet another time...). This movie was from 1971, nearly 30 years before Requiem for a Dream was made although the book Requiem for a Dream was published I think around that time. This movie also apparently was based off of a book but I'm not aware of any particular details about that book. It took place in New York, on the west side of Manhattan, presumably in the 70s compared to Requiem for a Dream taking place in the Bronx (in the book) or Brooklyn (in the movie). Regardless, it's all New York City. 

There were a number of similarities to Requiem for a Dream (although technically, just based off the movies, Requiem is the one which would have been taking cues from Panic in Needle Park. However, I don't know when the respective books were published so it's possible it went the other way around.) however the movies have distinctively different story arcs/effects. The themes are perhaps not quite as different seeing as both movies are about drug addicts, but I do think they are kind of different. One of the interesting similarities to Requiem is in the beginning, the main male character steals a television to sell at a pawn shop although the particulars are a little different - in Requiem Harry takes his mother's tv (which, we see, has been a recurring event) but in this movie the main character (Bobby, which you have to remember is not the same as Bobby from Law and Order) steals the tv out of the back of a truck. Another particular similarity is a line that the main female character (Marion in Requiem, Helen in this movie) says - Marion is going out to dinner with her therapist in order to borrow money from him and she imagines stabbing him in the hand with a fork and screaming at him "YOU SMUG SON OF A BITCH!!!" In this movie, Helen screams this line (minus the smug part, although I do think that would have fit in her case as well) at a cop who did her a favor but wants her to snitch on her boyfriend. Which leads me onto the next subject here. In this movie, a part of the plot is about the characters' run ins with law enforcement because they're using drugs/dealing drugs/being a prostitute in order to get money for drugs, the like. This isn't as prominent in Requiem for a Dream. There is a pair of cops who are after Bobby and his drug dealing accomplices. One of them talks to Helen multiple times in an effort to get her to turn in Bobby.For some reason, I just couldn't see him as a cop. Maybe it was the way he looked. He kind of resembled pop stars of the 80s. I think it was the hair. Plus neither of them had badges, which I thought was weird. In Law and Order the detectives are always wearing their badges. In any case I just didn't really like that character. He rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. 

I thought this movie had a bit of an anticlimactic ending. It just kind of ended. It didn't have quite as defined of a story arc as Requiem for a Dream does. I guess perhaps the assumption is that in the end the characters continue to live on in the way that they did during the movie. Requiem for a Dream definitely has more of an impact on the viewer, I think. It also has the visual side of things going for it as well - just as far as the way the movie looks, it's rather pleasing even though it's about drug addicts. This movie, being made in the early 70s, does look a bit dated and 70s-ish. Not that that's bad, it just is something to note. 

I went and read some stuff about this movie and one thing said that it was the Requiem for a Dream of its time, which is a pretty good description.

Movie review: Reservation Road

I have had a lot of time to be watching movies lately, hence the amount of movie review posts. The latest movie that I watched is called Reservation Road and it had one of the actresses from Requiem for a Dream in it and also Mark Ruffalo. The fact that I was at least somewhat familiar with these actors was part of why I decided to watch it, but I also thought the plot seemed interesting. The movie is about two families in New England, one of which has their son killed in a hit and run accident. The father of the other family is the one who was driving and killed the kid. The premise is rather interesting in and of itself; as the movie progresses we learn that these two men (the father of the dead kid and the guy who killed said kid but whose own son is still alive and well) end up crossing paths in interesting ways although the man with the dead kid is unaware that the other guy is to blame. 

I actually was rather impressed with Mark Ruffalo's performance in this movie and I was surprised by that. I didn't exactly expect that I'd think he did particularly well in this role. I think perhaps this was because of the writing rather than his acting ability - for example, I liked Tom Cruise in Born on the 4th of July but didn't enjoy Vanilla Sky. I like Vincent in Law and Order but I won't watch Men in Black because as far as I'm aware he has a rather cheesy role in that movie. I think Mark Ruffalo sort of perhaps looks better with shorter hair actually like he had in this movie rather than longer hair like in other movies. Although I think he should get his chest hair waxed or something... there was a scene where I caught a glimpse of it and there was a decent amount of it and personally I don't like lots of chest hairs. I wonder if he has back hair as well... 

Sort of interestingly, I found myself sympathizing with Mark Ruffalo's character (the one who hit the other guy's kid and just drove away) more so than the father of the kid who was killed. I'm not really sure why, honestly, because you'd think that one would sympathize with the man whose son was killed by a driver who then left the scene. Perhaps what influenced it was that Mark Ruffalo's character was divorced and only got to see his son sometimes, otherwise he was in the care of the ex wife. Mark Ruffalo's character definitely tried to be a good father/make his son happy (they shared a love of baseball) so perhaps that was part of it. Also, the other guy had a crop of facial hair and heavy eyebrows and honestly looked kind of creepy. And, he began to have problems in his marriage due to how he and his wife (played by the actress who played a drug addict in Requiem for a Dream) were trying to deal with the aftermath of their son's death - he was very angry at the unknown person who had killed his son and was dwelling on it and was contemplating taking justice into his own hands because he believed the police were inept. His wife on the other hand wanted to focus on their remaining child and being there for her rather than steeping in anger about the accident. SPOILERS to come. (highlight between the # symbols with cursor to read) 
# The man whose son was killed eventually does decide to take justice into his own hand and goes out to buy a gun which he then goes to Mark Ruffalo's character's house and threatens him with it (while his son is about to go to sleep in the next room), forces him into the trunk of his car, drives somewhere else and continues to threaten to kill him. A) that's called kidnapping and B) if this were Law and Order and I were Jack McCoy, I would totally prosecute the guy who kidnapped and threatened to kill Mark Ruffalo's character. I mention this because the other day I watched a Law and Order (original version) episode where a mother whose daughter was killed sneaks a gun into the courtroom and shoots the suspect while he testifies. McCoy wants to prosecute the mother because she ended up killing the suspect and people shouldn't take justice into their own hands. His colleagues tell him that no jury will convict the mother because they probably wanted the suspect to be dead as well. However, in Reservation Road, I found the man whose son was killed to be not that sympathetic and I would theoretically prosecute him for the kidnapping. I would build my case by portraying him as unhealthily obsessed with his son's death and unable to let go of his immense anger, which he took out by ruthlessly threatening/attempting to kill the man he believed was responsible. Of course, I'm not a lawyer so this is all just amateur theorizing. Regardless, it's kind of interesting to think about. 
# end spoilers.

All in all I would recommend this movie; I thought it was interesting and I thought Mark Ruffalo did a good job in portraying his role. It reminded me a little bit of the book/movie Charlie St. Cloud in that they both involved baseball fans and car accidents.