Top 12 of 2011

By raishad | Published: January 7, 2012

Here it is, my definitive playlist of 2011.

  1. British Sea Power – Who’s In Control
  2. Yuck – The Wall
  3. Los Campesinos! – Hello Sadness
  4. Stricken City – Losing Colour
  5. The Chemical Brothers – Hanna’s Theme
  6. Little Dragon – Ritual Union
  7. Ringo DeathStarr – Kaleidoscope
  8. Anna Calvi – Blackout
  9. Those Dancing Days – I’ll Be Yours
  10. jj – The End
  11. Childish Gambino – Freaks and Geeks
  12. Lana Del Rey – Video Games
  13. Smith Westerns – Weekend
  14. St. Vincent – Cruel
  15. College – A Real Hero (feat. Electric Youth)
  16. Summer Camp – Losing My Mind
  17. Big Deal – Talk
  18. Radiohead – The Daily Mail
  19. The Joy Formidable – I Don’t Want To See You Like This
  20. Ghostpoet – Survive It
  21. Basement Jaxx – The Ends

Some fun facts:

Returning bands from last year: jj, Stricken City, and Summer Camp

Tracks from Movie Soundtracks, 3: Chemical Brothers (Hanna), College (Drive), Basement Jaxx (Attack the Block)

Tracks from Bands I’ve seen live, 7: British Sea Power (Best Concert of my life?), Yuck (SXSW 2011), Stricken City (SXSW 2010), Childish Gambino (FFF 2011), Summer Camp (SXSW 2011), Radiohead (Starplex 2008), The Joy Formidable (SXSW 2011, FFF 2011)

Tracks from Bands that I was supposed to see live at SXSW 2011, but did not because of some reason, 2: Anna Calvi (broken arm), Those Dancing Days (visa issues)

Nationality breakdown: 12 – UK, 5 – US, 3 – Sweden, 1 – France

Track Notes:

British Sea Power’s Who’s In Control was chosen because it’s the perfect anthem for the year that is 2011.

I think about Stricken City breaking up and still feel a bit sad. I was lucky to see them at SXSW 2010. I have to thank Long for suggesting that we go to SXSW for the day, and me for tricking him to go see Stricken City because they played right before Soko (French singer that he loves ever so much). Stricken City should’ve taken over the world.

jj didn’t release an album this year, but this track did appear on their blog this year. That’s how much I like jj.

I think Childish Gambino might have peaked with his EP. I’ve listened to Camp, and nothing really grabbed me.

A lot has been said about the authenticity of Lana Del Rey, but you can ignore that because Video Games remains an epic track. Everything else she’s released so far has been kinda mediocre.

Fun Fact, St. Vincent is my age and grew up in Dallas, graduating from Lake Highlands in 2001. Kinda neat.

Radiohead’s track is not from their disappointing King of Limbs, but rather their From the Basement live cd. If you were disappointed by King of Limbs like I was, give the From the Basement version a try. It’s not a bad album.

I saw The Joy Formidable the most out of any band this year, 3 times. Twice at SXSW and then at Fun Fun Fun Fest. I’ll never get tired of their live antics.

I saw Ghostpoet while I was in Melbourne for business. I’m really glad I went. It was really fun to go to a show in another country. The venue was a small room behind the bar, Northcote Social Club. I really liked the venue. It was on the main street of this suburb of Melbourne. It felt real. Traveling to the venue was a great experience too. I had not taken the Melbourne tram out of the city proper before. And then I had to leave the bar at 11:30 so I could catch the last tram back to the city. It gave me a taste of what living in a cool city could be like. After the show, I ended up telling Ghostpoet that I had flew all the way from Dallas to see him. He was surprised. Then I waited a beat before saying really I was there for business. He still thanked me for coming out.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Say Hello to Song of the Day

By raishad | Published: December 30, 2011

One of the two radio shows that I have to listen to weekly is Roundtable. It’s a show where Steve Lamacq and some guests review new singles. But since it’s the end of the year, on the last show Lammo asked his guests to bring in their best singles. I forget who selected Soft Cell’s “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, but of the guests (Charles from Slow Club, James Endeacott and Shaun Keaveny) I would bet it was James Endeacott.

And what a single “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is

I know “Tainted Love”. Everyone knows “Tainted Love”. But I’m not really familiar with Soft Cell’s catalog. I can’t say if “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is a good representation of their work – sort of how like “Song 2″ sounds nothing like the rest of Blur. But this song is so killer, does it matter? I would be happy just listening to an album with just this song on it repeated 12 times. In fact, I’ve made that album, Soft Cell’s Greatest Hit. I’ve been listening to it on repeat since yesterday.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Blogalongabond #9: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

By raishad | Published: December 27, 2011

I’ve been a bit busy and missed the last couple Blogalongabond’s. Hopefully, I’ll get caught up during this last week of Xmas vacation.

September’s Bond was The Man with the Golden Gun

and what a Bond it was.

The Man with the Golden Gun has a lot of problems. The opening credits weren’t too strong. The opening credits were interesting, with everything being projected on water. But the song was super cheesy. They are still trying to improve upon sexy silhouettes and failing. On my trademark notes page, I use the phrase “the stupidest thing ever” 4 times. 4 times! But if you take the story idea – mistress of the world’s best assassin pits 007 against the assassin in a game of cat and mouse through the far east that culminates in a duel at the assassin’s island fortress. It’s a very compelling idea. No amount of contrived karate schools, boat chases, racist southern sheriffs, and fun house mirrors can ruin it. Though they try very hard.

The Man with the Golden Gun is a very fun Bond where the action moves from one location to another keeping things interesting. All of the locations are amazing. You have Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand plus some super cool bases. Scaramanga’s island base is leading the green initiative for bad guys everywhere, being entirely solar powered. But my favorite of the movie has to be the MI6′s base on the wreck of the Queen Elizabeth. I love how everything is slanted. Reminds me of that level in Jedi Knight. You know the one.

I also enjoyed the Bond girls. Weirdly, Andrea Anders had a very unpunny name (and was sidelined for being such an important part of the story). So to address the balance, the film makers threw in an Asian girl named Chew Mee. And then there was the most amazing Bond girl yet, Mary Goodnight. She is played mainly for comic relief – a sort of ditz with values. Luckily, she doesn’t end up dead and still gets to sleep with Bond.

The Man with the Golden Gun also has one of the coolest stunts paired with a slide whistle ever

So overall, I really enjoyed The Man with the Golden Gun. Some of the movie doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the parts that do work really work and it is an enjoyable watch. There were no silly gadgets (I completely bought the flying car). Scaramanga was supremely cool, though he had the faults of your traditional Bond villain (enough with the talking, just ice Bond already). And I wasn’t bored by tedious investigation. These are all things I look for in a good Bond movie.

My trademark notes page:

On the Official Bond Chart

  1. From Russia With Love
  2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
  3. Dr. No
  4. Goldfinger
  5. The Man with the Golden Gun
  6. Live and Let Die
  7. Thunderball
  8. Diamonds Are Forever
  9. You Only Live Twice

Raishad will return later this week with Blogalongabond #10, The Spy Who Loved Me.

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

The Pretension of Life

By raishad | Published: December 26, 2011

I just watched the Tree of Life, a documentary by Terrence Malick about the universe and Waco, TX.

Is it a good movie? I don’t know. I enjoyed watching it and I ended up giving it 4 stars on Netflix. But I don’t think I would ever watch it again, unless I’m trying to impress someone. There’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (which I’ve seen a few times), and then there’s Tree of Life.

If the Tree of Life wasn’t so beautiful to watch, I would’ve lost interest quickly. The non-linear narrative really hurts comprehension. But if it was more straightforward would we get all of the milk drop visualizations of the universe forming?

I could sort of understand what Malick was trying to get across about life, the universe and everything, but don’t expect me to write a book report about it. But if I had to, it would be one sentence:

The Tree of Life is a big swirl of life, visuals, and classical music.

Overall, would I recommend it to someone? It depends. I would give a little warning that it may not be the easiest movie to watch, but it is visually arresting and it is probably going to be part of our pop culture for years to come.

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

How Universal is ruining movies

By raishad | Published: December 3, 2011

I can’t watch any extras because I rented the movie? Why am I being punished?

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Mr. October

By raishad | Published: October 31, 2011

October was a pretty busy month for me.

I turned 28.

Then, I time travelled 1 day into the future and completely skipped Friday, October 14th.

And then, I spent the next 10 days in Australia. Nearly 1/3rd of my October was in another hemisphere.

I destroyed the Melbourne sky line,

touched the Sydney Opera House,

assaulted a tired koala,

and hung out with kangaroo jack.

I really need to get back to Australia.

Posted in Life | Leave a comment

What Doesn’t Happen In Vegas, Stays In Vegas

By raishad | Published: August 30, 2011

For those keeping score, I’m 0 – 6 when it comes to seeing Frightened Rabbit live. The Universe will not let it happen.

2 weekends ago I was in Las Vegas. That Saturday, August 20th, I was checking out Pollstar to see if any bands I knew were playing. I was surprised to see Frightened Rabbit on the list. I could finally see them live! They were opening for Death Cab for Cutie (alright), so technically it wouldn’t be a full set. But, I would still count it – Frightened Rabbit Live! The show was at 8pm. Kinda early. That means they would be getting on stage at 9pm and probably play for an hour. The trouble was, I had reservations at Cut for 8pm. You can’t rush Cut. It just doesn’t work that way. So yet again, I missed Frightened Rabbit. I think we were finished at Cut around 10pm. If the show had started at 9pm, I could’ve theoretically made it and finally seen Frightened Rabbit. But as it turns out Las Vegas is a baby and they start shows early so the headliners can get on stage by 10pm. I thought you were cool, Vegas.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Blogalongabond #8: Live and Let Die (1973)

By raishad | Published: August 28, 2011

August’s Bond is Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die is the introduction to Roger Moore and the 70s. After the disappointing showing from Connery in Diamonds are Forever, the producers must’ve said “Fuck it” and decided to change everything. No more Aston Martin’s, instead you get big honking pimpmobiles. Could you imagine Bond wearing a reversible coat and tear away pants? Or how about constantly smoking obnoxious cigars? Well, this is what you get – plus more racial stereotypes than you can stomach in Live and Let Die. And for the most part, I enjoyed it.

Live and Let Die starts with an amazing theme song, Live and Let Die by Wings. The song is definitely too good for the so-so titles. I would say the titles were terrible, but the skulls really save it. So it’s passable.

The Bond in Live and Let Die is not really a good spy. He sort of stumbles from scene to scene. The upside of this is that you don’t get those long and boring detective sequences. Instead everything is kept light and fun. You get to see Bond get called “honky” as he tries to blend in to a club in Harlem. And it’s not a boring surveillance mission in a hang glider when you’re smoking a giant cigar.

The bad guys, aside from their general incompetence, were entertaining as well. My favorite was Whisper, a fat henchman who is a low talker. I believe he had the most attempts at failing to kill Bond. Yaphet Kotto, whom I know from Homicide, was a pretty good drug lord. I really enjoyed the way he talked. Plus, he has an underground lair with a shark tank and a monorail.

My biggest complaint about Live and Let Die is the cartoonish elements sprinkled through out. At one point Bond is trapped on an island, surrounded by alligators. How does he escape? He runs across the backs of the alligators naturally. In the opening sequence, a spy is killed by hooking up his headphones to a plunger style detonator, and then plunging. It’s too Wile E Coyote for me. And as Whisper is sitting on a couch, Mr Big shoots it with an compressed gas capsule and the couch expands in size and finally explodes. And the way that Mr Big dies is unforgivable. It really takes you out of the film. But Raishad, if that is unforgivable, how could you still say that you enjoyed the film? Well, easy.

It was the boat sequence. The boat chase at the end of the movie is exciting and really well done. I’ve never been on a speed boat before, but after witnessing that sequence. I want to be chased by bad guys on a speed boat and do amazing jumps. Again, the cartoonish elements threaten to ruin this sequence with the introduction of a local sheriff, but he’s easy to forget about when a Bond sacrifices his boat to cause a chasing boat to jump into a swimming pool and then he steals another boat! Also, Jane Seymour.

My trademark notes page:

On the Official Bond Chart

  1. From Russia With Love
  2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
  3. Dr. No
  4. Goldfinger
  5. Live and Let Die
  6. Thunderball
  7. Diamonds Are Forever
  8. You Only Live Twice

Raishad will return next month with Blogalongabond #9, The Man with the Golden Gun.

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Blogalongabond #7: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

By raishad | Published: July 31, 2011

July’s Bond is Diamonds Are Forever, and it proves that not only diamonds are forever, but Diamonds Are Forever feels like forever.

Diamonds Are Forever takes us into the 70s. After the amazing Lazenby reminded us how awesome Bond can be, Connery was called out of retirement for one more case (of Just for Men hair coloring). I’ve never seen Diamonds Are Forever before, but I was familiar with the criticisms. Diamonds Are Forever is definitely a step backwards and to the side. But, I did find myself enjoying it. My main criticism of previous Bonds have been the investigation, mainly how boring and tedious they were. But I really enjoyed Bond figuring things out in Vegas. In fact, it was the ending, the assault on the oil rig that really put me to sleep.

The worst thing in Diamonds Are Forever is not Bambi and Thumper or flabby Bond, it’s the opening credits. The high point in the Bond credits have been Thunderball, and since then they’ve been getting worse. The naked ladies are unimaginative and the song by Shirley Bassey is atrocious.

Here is my trademark notes page:

On the Official Bond Chart

  1. From Russia With Love
  2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
  3. Dr. No
  4. Goldfinger
  5. Thunderball
  6. Diamonds Are Forever
  7. You Only Live Twice

Raishad will return next month with Blogalongabond #8, Live and Let Die.

*Phew* Finished with hours to spare

I’ll be going to Vegas in August. I’m looking forward to playing the slots with an elephant.

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Blogalongabond #6: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

By raishad | Published: July 2, 2011

June’s Bond is On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and what a wonder service it was!

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was an amazing Bond. George Lazen-bond takes over for Sean Connery, and aside from the super lame “This never happened to the other fella”, really shines. There’s something about Lazenby that works. It was kinda nice to have a Bond that didn’t have to rely on jetpacks. This is a Bond who can face a spider without a giant pane of glass between them. Fearless.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service isn’t perfect though. I found the opening credits a step backwards. There were plenty of nudey ladies, but no amazing song. Nipples are great, but I want something to get me excited about the movie. Also, the middle investigation section does drag on a bit. OHMSS does for heraldry what The Phantom Menace did for taxation of trade routes. We do see some brilliant Bond womanizing though. So it’s not a total bore.

But you forget all of that boring heraldry nonsense because once Bond reunites with Tracy, OHMSS kicks it into overdrive. If I had never seen Inception, this would have been the finest arctic attack sequence ever committed to film. And you know what else works? The love story. Tracy is definitely the best Bond girl of the series. Bond would not have quit the service for any of his previous floozies. Also, she has a great rack.

Trademark notes:

On the Official Bond Chart

  1. From Russia With Love
  2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
  3. Dr. No
  4. Goldfinger
  5. Thunderball
  6. You Only Live Twice

Raishad will return this month with Blogalongabond #7, Diamonds Are Forever. You see, this Blogalongabond was late.

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment