I recently got the album Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem. It’s such a great, beat-driven, danceably-punky album. Really, for the most part, made of music you can just dance to.
Yet the last track, New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down, really does something to me. It’s very different to every other track: It isn’t stunningly built like or a crazy party track. It’s slow, conquered by vocalist/producer James Murphy’s crooning vocals, professing the ultimate love/hate relationship: one with your hometown.
In many ways, I feel the same about Sydney. Give the song a listen and you’ll know what I mean…
I recently felt that I had to repost this on this blog. I think I might perform this at next year’s Talent Quest/Year12 Concert, with ammended lyrics for Australian modern culture (Neighbours instead of Hollyoaks, etc.).
I also challenge anyone to bring me any aspect of commericial media, art or modern culture, and I will defend it’s value to society to the best of my ability.
So these past few days have been an equal mixture of lazy and exhilarating. Recently, I’ve gone from a double-headline concert with friends to just sitting at home listening to Silverchair’s Diorama on loop. It’s an interesting feeling, yet also a relaxing one. It’s not often (and it definitely won’t be often in the next year) that people get time to just relax and contemplate the world whilst randomly surfing the Internet. Talking about Silverchair, my hair has recently gone from madman-afro to brunette-Daniel Johns. It gets weird when you look at your own shadow and don’t think it’s you. Yet, overall, the new hair is much better to get around.
Another advantage of all the extra time is the time to watch movies. As was last night, with The Last King Of Scotland. The whole Forest-Whitaker-is-exactly-like-Idi-Adim thing is pretty accurate, so I won’t repeat what every other critic, award ceremony and movie viewer already knows. Yet for me, the film was practically held up by Whittaker. Everything else fell flat. James McAvoy, who’s the Scottish doctor and the technical lead in terms of screen-time, was an emotionless stool; by the end of the film, I cared more for his wide variety of cool seventies suits than him. And whilst I understand they were aiming for the thriller angle, the entire thing felt like a Bond film in the end, with Dr. No or Ernst Starvo Blofield being replaced with one of the most evil men in history. That said, you really can’t go past Whitaker, and there are some genuine moments of tension, usually carried by Forest’s ability to replicate Amin’s paranoid-yet-charming attitude.
Anyways, tonight I watch Zodiac. Right now, I suggest you watch the following spoof of the video clip to one of my favourite songs right now: Interpol’s The Heinrich Maneuver. Great fun, it most definitely is.
Although there are still four more days till the end of this term, it already feels quite monotonous to be at school. It feels like outside the necessary acts of giving exam feedback and clearing us out for the year, there’s not much left to be done by your casual Year 11 student (outside of defending the school from the dangers of Intergalactic Evils). Mind games, shallow-yet-horribly-cunning jokes and films that are slightly relevant to what we have or might be studying seem to occupy our time these days.
Maybe it isn’t boredom that fills me, yet a sense of true equality. Probably due to all the events – good, bad and uninteresting – that have occured I have been left emotionally neutral. For all the bad, annoying, disappointing and sombre that has happened, there has been equal doses of great news. Such as a good friend getting a paid acoustic gig during the holidays, or getting a call saying that I’m going with my fellow elder siblings to see Justin Timberlake.
And that’s an example of good news, by the way. Very good news, because tickets are about as hard to get as a proper reason for any argument out of Miranda Devine. As to why a person like myself is interested in a babyfaced commercial-pop act who makes love to himself every time he moves? Well, for one, he has made some incredibly intelligent pop music. And although his voice can sometimes sound like pure masculine pain, he does have a knack as a performer.
And, at the end of the day, he was on of the creative geniuses behind this gem of an SNL clip. It’s said that he occassionally slips this tounge-in-cheek send-up of the likes of BoyzIIMen into his encores. I really hope that he does on November the 13th.
(This clip has uncensored crude humour and language. You have been warned)
So today was the day everyone (i.e. Half-The-Grade) had to hand in their Prefect forms. Some saying less-is-more, others taking the chance to acknowledge every little facet of school involvement they have. I’m not fazed. If I get in, I get in. More Power to the People. If I don’t, then I sincerely hope that the right people get in. The prefect body can actually do something for the greater good of the school, yet no-one ever notices (hence the history of it just being the group that runs fundraisers and controls the canteen line). And trust me, there are people in the SHS Year of 2008 that can actully utilise those powers for good.
Today was a better day than expected. Still quite sour over some issues. Some assessments didn’t go completelt to plan, yet the idea of just getting past this year and going into Year 12 with a fresh start and a much more free learning system is very promising, albeit that it will be the HSC year and stress is practically unavoidable. Either way, the quicker this year is behind me, the better.
The Explosion
I saw it late last night on Ten News and I must say, that in terms of easy publicity, the marketing team for The Dark Knight knows every trick in the book. They’ve already hooked all the fanboys (such as your’s truely!) with their internetviralmarketing campaigns, now they’ve brought this out for the action-hungry macho-masses. Here, they did the simple thing of buying a delapidated building and calling the press. The rest is history.
(The video has no sound, by the way. I suggest making your own explosive sounds, using inspiration from this guy. Enjoy!)
I mean, they’ve been planning this film for five years, then let it lay on Warner Bros shelves completed for two years and only NOW we’re finally going to see it!
……Okay, if you don’t already know, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the new movie by Andrew Dominik, whose only film to date is now-iconic Australian character-study/bogan-action-drama, Chopper. Forgetting the fact that it has Brad Pitt and and the brother of Ben Affleck in the leads (or that this wait has just about killed me), this trailer really sells it. Each scene appears so beautiful, so exquisitely crafted, that even the more action-related scenes can’t defer from the sense of majestic unease throughout.
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I'm a 17 Year Old Sydneysider who sees, hears and experiences many quirky things. These little things are The Spaces Between, and are documented here. Full description in my Profile.
