Archive for October, 2006
October 22nd, 2006 loser
i bought a 30gb video ipod yesterday. i suck. my wallet hurts.
“now you can stop using your old minidisc” is what my brother said to me. i feel regretful giving up that technology, though i might still try to use it for field recording. a model i bought in 2001 with the savings from my first real job, it grudgingly transferred mp3s from my computer to the fancy coloured minidiscs, but there’d be times i was late for work because i insisted on waiting for it to finish the slow process. then the software started crashing in windows, and multiple reinstalls, xp service packs, couldn’t make it better again. i was reduced to burning cd-rws (in itunes, because it organised my music so much better) so it could then copy those to md. oh so slow…
there’s a part review on salon of steven levy’s the perfect thing, his ode to ipods in life, which also partly looks at how ipods make certain tendencies easier (the flitting through songs, collecting albums without actually listening to them). it’s not necessarily the technology that’s evil, but falling into lazy ways:
It arises from the modern condition, and it’s the modern condition, more than the iPod itself, that I’m really complaining about. And there is, of course, no going back.
the technology works - it’s just a means of consumption. and besides, i have a huge backlog of tv shows that i want to get through on the train (like freaks and geeks), which is why i wanted to get a video ipod as opposed to its cheaper siblings. as i listened to the new zarahn album i downloaded this morning on my ipod (which took about ten seconds to transfer), i couldn’t help but think, is this it? no shiny new technology feeling, but instead feeling, i spent three hundred and eighty dollars on this?
according to the boytown wikipedia entry , the vocal talents of the boy band (not to be confused with the acting) includes joel silbersher. joel?!?!? he of scary rockers god & hoss, and friend of tex perkins and charlie owen, now singing about “that special time of the month” and “parent teacher night”.
i think he’s glenn robbins’ singing voice , but i’ll confirm later when i’ve seen it. there’s an offer at the restaurant next to his majesty’s for free tickets this week if you have a meal there (film needs some serious word of mouth, huh?). hopefully the expensive price of lunch won’t cancel out the satisfaction of seeing a movie for “free”. which means i can feel less shithouse if i walk out and realise it wouldn’t have been worth twelve dollars.
compare (a wonky copy) of god’s my pal with boytown’s i cry:
-edit- i am soooo right. i guessed correctly! this from xpress interview with mick molloy:
Q: I see that Joel Silbersher does some of the vocals for the Boytown songs. That’s very ironic, he’s an indie legend…
A: Yeah, Joel does Benny G’s (robbins’ character) voice. [bit about bram presser, molloy's voice double who plays in a jewish hardcore band] It was good fun trying to match up all those voices. It’s quite an artform.
digging around an old dvd i burned of japanese commercials, i found these favourites, both from 2003, the year of amelie madness in japan. but i don’t seem to remember sneezing in the movie…
the music would definitely let us know which protagonist the phone snapping girl resembles, at least in outlook. but it looks like she’s hedged her bets.
mizuki arisa works in a cafe with some ladies who have enough years behind them to know when they see a lovestruck girl. it follows the film rather closely, but changes the details slightly (the object of affection need not look like mathieu kassovitz, for example). and what japanese girl wouldn’t want to be working in a french cafe? music is by miyake jun.
and while looking up things on the amelie phenomenon in japan, i stumbled across this short film, described by some as “amelie-esque”. yumi is fascinated by the strangers she sees everyday on the train, and one day recognises a boy she has not seen since preschool. doki doki was directed by chris eska, and he has posted the film in full on youtube. thanks!
