Design Coding

We need this guy to redesign our site.

So I just finished God's Country...

And Louis Malle is amazing. The fact that his documentaries can stack up to his fiction films is really really impressive. Everyone should check his films out, he's quickly becoming one of my favorites. See Murmur of the Heart and Au Revoir Les Enfants and this one!

Six Word Reviews of SXSW MP3s: Athens, GA

The SXSW conference/festival is happening right now in Austin Texas, and unfortunately we are not there (well, maybe you are, but probably not). However there is plenty of cool SXSW stuff happening on the internet that we can all partake in. For example, a torrent of 763 free mp3s from bands playing there. I know, 763 mp3s (roughly 48 hours) from unsigned indie rock acts is probably more than you have any desire to consume. Luckily Paul Ford from The Morning News has listened to them all for you, and provided six word reviews, with a rating from one to five "circles."

Since the very nerdy crew happens to all live in Athens, GA and has varying levels of interest in the local music scene, I thought I would do a little roundup of the reviews the Athens bands received, because I know that was the first thing I looked at. So here they are:

Dark Meat - Freedom Ritual
The official band of unshaven legs. Two circles.

King of Prussia - Misadventures of the Campaign Kids
Ideal for a boarding-school movie. Two circles.

Madeline - I Do What I’m Told
Plenty of court and spark here. One circle.

Nana Grizol - Voices Echo Down The Halls
Athens, GA, ensemble...with yowling vocals. Two circles.

Spring Tigers - Economix
They do not transmit their enthusiasm. One circle.

We Versus the Shark - I Am A Fantastic Battle
The shark may win. Or jump. One circle.


Overall, these reviews are pretty harsh. I would have liked to see how Mouser and Quiet Hooves would have fared, as they are two of my favorite local bands at the moment and they are both playing at SXSW. I guess they didn't submit mp3s though.

Play games at work to cure world hunger?

This is brilliant. Everyone go to www.freerice.com

It's a website where it has a simple word game and an ad on each page. The ad money goes to buy food! This is one of the most creative and simple things I've seen in a while. Yay humanity!

So I watched Summer in Berlin today...

And it was good! Really good! We're showing it at Cine this month as part of a German film festival and the print we have is the ONLY ONE IN EXISTENCE! So come see it. It's quite funny and when its sad its not overwhelming or pretentious.

We even have the filmmaker coming to talk about it! Yay!

R. Stevie Moore Day 3 - Too Old (To Fall in Love)

Yay!

R Stevie Moore Day 2 - Stephen, Stephen (Apples in Stereo cover)

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

I think I'll try and write a movie recommendation every day.

I first saw "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" a few months ago. It was really late and I had a few drinks that night. I was too sad and indifferent to write or play videogames so I put it on thinking it wouldn't be very good but would entertain me long enough to wait for a phone call. It turned out to me one of my favorite films.



There's not really any other film like "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs", but its relatively easy to describe. It has the melodrama of Douglas Sirk films, but the majority of the film is as subtle as Ozu's. The story is about Mama, a legend to other hostesses in the ginza, as she gets older and is faced with two options for her future: she can marry or open a bar of her own. The problem is that she's uninterested in all of her prospects besides one who is mostly disinterested in her and the only way she can get the money to open a bar is by becoming the mistress of a wealthy client.

The film handles drinking differently than any other film I've seen, where its almost a given that by the end of every night Mama will go home drunk and moody. Even though it was made in 1959, the effects of alcohol are realistically portrayed and not played up for dramatic purposes. I know this is a really small detail, but its pretty cool.

I think I can recommend this movie to anyone. Its well acted and shot, the music and pacing are great and its totally unique. If you like Japanese movies at all, you should check it out.

ALSO, if you like it you should buy it to hopefully convince someone to put out other films of Naruse's out in America. At the moment, this is the only one you can find here on either dvd or vhs. A DAMN SHAME.

R. Stevie Moore Assault Day 1 - Colliding Circles

Paul Masson Assault!

You should...

Go back and listen to The Glow Part 2 by The Microphones. I think Phil Evrum is really coming from the right place, and the lyrics on The Moon are fucking incredible.

As cynical as I am, I still love this record. It's been on my mind a lot lately; it seemed like the indie music scene was going somewhere really different from where it is. This, 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, Aeroplane Over the Sea, and eventually Thought for Food and Sung Tongs among other records of the time were getting more and more ambitious and had really unique production.

Now when I see a "big" or ambitious indie record, it's something like Arcade Fire. I guess Ys is still of this tradition, but its not homemade like the records from the late 90s and early 2000s were. Maybe I'm just really out of the loop and have missed something. Zuh.

HEY WHA HAPPENED!?