LIKE LOVERS DO ON SILVER SCREENS

All sorts of new reviews by yours truly are now up at DVDTalk, including a handful of newly reissued DVDs for some of my favorite old films.

Theatrical Reviews:
* Idlewild, the Outkast movie

DVD Reviews:
* The Castle of Cagliostro, the first movie direced by Hayao Miyazaki, with everyone's favorite thief, Lupin III
* Laurence Olivier Presents, a DVD set of plays Olivier filmed for British television in the 1970s
* Playtime, the new 2-disc edition of Jacques Tati's stunning satire of modern living
* Pretty in Pink: Everything's Duckie Edition and Some Kind of Wonderful: Special Collector's Edition, two of John Hughes' goopiest teenage romances
* Wednesday, Justin D. Hilliard's debut directorial effort, a multi-layered rumination on loss released independently

It's been interesting, as a lot of those films are ones that people have a real connection to, and so I woke up this morning to e-mails and discussion threads being stated on the DVDTalk forum. Pretty in Pink is already in the Top 10 most-read reviews, and I have a feeling Playtime will be in there, too. (The only other time I hit the top 10 was for A Canterbury Tale. The Criterion reviews get lots of activity.) So far, the feedback has been generally positive, though some have questioned my eyes and one reader pointed out a glaring change I had missed in The Castle of Cagliostro. It's kind of wild seeing people react so quickly. I've almost done 50 reviews for the site, and this is the first time.

I had a blast revisiting the John Hughes movies. It's been since the last DVDs came out four years ago that I've watched them, and this time I realized more than ever how much I had been influenced by the man. Anyone see any of Jack from Cut My Hair in Duncan from Some Kind of Wonderful? Notice Duckie hanging around talking to a bouncer in Pretty in Pink? In talking with Chynna about the movies, I even dug out an aborted screenplay from when I was 19 or 20, called Until I Die. It was like every moment had been lifted from a Hughes movie.

Elsewhere in the world of Entertainment, Justin Timberlake's new CD, FutureSex/LoveSound, is mind blowing. 10 of the 13 tracks were done in collaboration with Timbaland, and they've made come up with something incredible. As sort of goofy as the title of the record sounds, it actually is an accurate description of the music. These are futuristic, sexy love songs. "SexyBack" is really only the beginning of where this music goes. There are also heartbreak ballads like "What Comes Around..." and even a socially conscious track about drug abuse, "Losing My Way," that includes a full choir even as the instrumentation is a sparse beat done with bells and Timbaland performing a scat melody.

One thing I really dig about the disc is that it's constructed to be an album experience. While it's full of great pop songs, J.T. and Timbaland have chosen to interlace them with extended interludes that act as connectors between each tune. The front half of the disc in particular, before the trio of songs by other producers breaks things up, is like one long tapestry, all the songs flowing together. It's an ambitious move for a pop album, and I think it pays off.

I think we can see clearly now that of the great pop influx of the late 1990s, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera are firmly entrenched, proving to be the real deal. They've both made smart choics, and their alliance for the Justified & Stripped Tour several years ago was a prophetic showing of who would be sticking around. Neither of them seem to be in service of the machine, but instead come off as doing what they want, following what inspires them. Hopefully they'll hang on to those golden instincts and keep listening to what they say, because I haven't had enough yet.

Current Soundtrack: Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSound

Current Mood: curious

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

PERMANENT RECORDS: YOUNG, FRESH N' NEW

Permanent Records is a year-long project. Each Friday (or thereabouts), I will post a new entry about one specific album, chosen due to its significance to myself as a fan. Though the list is numbered, a particular record's placement should not be considered a ranking. There will be 52 albums in all.

This endeavor is based on a concept started by Chris Tamarri at Crisis/Boring Change. It has since been expanded as a concept, as Neal Shaffer takes on a study of album covers over at Leftwich.

19. KELIS - WANDERLAND (2001)
Personnel: Kelis and the Neptunes, with guest vocals by Clipse, Roscoe, and John Ostby; guest performance by No Doubt
Producers: Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo (The Neptunes) and Rob Walker / Label: Virgin

In a post-Tasty world, where just about every comedy show on television has parodied "Milkshake" in some fashion, it's easy to forget there was a time when Kelis seemed like she was beamed in from another planet. Even stranger, it was a time when the general populace didn't know who she was. Kelis went from being the anonymous girl in the O.D.B. video ("Got Your Money") to the chick screaming "I hate you so much right now!" in her own clip ("Caught Out There"), as well as supplying odd hooks for Busta Rhymes and others. American radio didn't know what to do with her, and her first album, Kaleidoscope, was stillborn. Now she's on her fourth. Kelis Was Here is the highly anticipated follow-up to Tasty, and it was just released this week. It's actually quite good, but it also has a very comfortable sound. Kelis just isn't that weird anymore, and it behooves us to look back at a time when she was.

Despite the failure of Kaleidoscope, hopes were high for her second album, Wanderland. The UK press had embraced Kelis as a fresh new voice, and since her debut, the men she made her music with had also risen in stature. The Neptunes is a production duo comprised of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, and they grew popular constructing beats for hits by Jay-Z, Mystikal, and Lil Kim. They are known for an odd, syncopated sound that comes off like a mutant lovechild of '70s soul movies and Atari video games, with the midwife duties handled by a Casio keyboard. Their idiosyncratic hiphop tracks crossed over into the pop charts, and pretty soon the pop charts were asking them to stay. The Neptunes ended up working with N'Sync and Britney, and their was a growing buzz around their own indie rock band, N*E*R*D. Pharrell would eventually decide he was a soul singer despite his somewhat limited croon, and he'd abandon his weirdness and innovation for a safety-net formula for mainstream radio that ended up giving out beneath him--but that was a couple of years away. Wanderland is the Neptunes at their nadir.

After a brief intro, "Young, Fresh n' New" leads off Wanderland (it was also its main single). It comes as both announcement and warning. It delivers on its own description: with grinding guitars and Kelis' vocals being both honeyed and piercing in equal measure, the song charges in on its own big wheels (the video would even have Kelis driving a monster truck). It also instructs those who need it to "run away from...home," or alternately to "run away from...young, fresh n' new." If you aren't ready for this, in other words, get out of the way; if you are ready, then hit the road and start living.

Kelis has an interesting way of approaching a song as a kind of playground singalong, as if she weren't a wild-haired hiphop queen but a little girl skipping along with a basket for grandma. "Milkshake" would later take this to its most lascivious extreme, but first Wanderland would play around with the concept on songs like "Flashback." Kelis can make her deep growl sound innocent and seductive, essentially taking a soul song about fond memories of dirty couplings and making the chorus sensuous and the verses invoke some kind of naughty Lolita. The song starts with a walk to the corner store on a summer's day, but ends with "sex soaring like a plane." The technique is employed elsewhere, usually for the same sort of aural double entendre. "Daddy" is a lecherous come-on, but Kelis raps like it's a nursery rhyme, a sort of "Mockingbird" for a new generation. "Yesterday you bought me some shoes/ Dolce & Gabana and a bag made of Iguana/ And a blazer and a chocolate tie." The Neptunes stack the deck in "Daddy," letting Kelis both rap and sing, with Pharrell stepping in and joining Malice from Clipse to be the singing and rapping parts for the boy Daddy doesn't approve of. The interesting thing is that for as clever-clever as the production is, when it's a Kelis joint, the Neptunes always hang back a bit. There is a strong beat and samples tweaked for a melody, but they are always in service to Kelis.

This is because Kelis is in service to no one.

What makes Kelis a standout in the hiphop world is she can hold firm amongst the hardest of MCs. Most divas just provide the occasional vocal hook for a rapper in turn for his guesting on one of their records, but their voices generally sound frail next to the forceful push of the rapper. It's only the best among them (Mary J. Blige, Beyonce) that doesn't let the rapper push her around. Kelis is too strong a personality to let anyone roll over her. If she guests on your record (Busta's "What It Is" or Foxy Brown's "Candy" being two good examples), chances are her bits are going to be the most memorable. So on her own cuts, the rappers almost seem like nuisances, the drum solo no one really needed. The duo Clipse splits up and each MC takes a turn on different Wanderland tracks, and while "Popular Thug" (featuring Pusha T) and "Daddy" are both great spots on the album, the men almost don't need to be there. You're just listening to the woman in charge.

The same happens when Kelis steps on a stage. I saw N*E*R*D tour their first record, and they brought a lot of the Neptunes crew with them for guest spots. Kelis was among them, and when she stepped into the club's spotlight, hair everywhere, skin glistening, her voice cut right through the smoke and dry ice. The band was gone, all eyes were on her.

So, why did it take so long for people to get hip to Kelis? It certainly isn't a fault of Wanderland. It's a brilliant disc, that's why I picked it to write about. Perhaps it's just the fault of the label, who bungled Wanderland and never released it stateside. Go to iTunes, it's the only Kelis album not available for download. There's a lot that could have been done with this record. "Young, Fresh N' New" could have been pushed to alternative radio, "Popular Thug" would have been at home on most hiphop stations, and "Shooting Star" could have easily nestled into one of BET's late-night soul shows. A velvety slither through romantic bedroom talk with Pharrell providing a counter melody, it's up there with similar new soul by Maxwell and D'Angelo.

Then there's "Perfect Day," co-written by the Neptunes and No Doubt, a collaborative match-up that would hit paydirt that same year when No Doubt released "Hella Good." The band didn't hand Kelis some lame toss-off that they didn't want themselves. "Perfect Day" has a fat Tom Dumont guitar riff, and the sort of high-energy chorus that Gwen Stefani has built her career on. In fact, it's a pretty standard Stefani love song about perfect bliss in couplehood. Wasn't there a way to push this to No Doubt's fans? Certainly the quirks that accompany "Perfect Day" on its half of the album would appeal to the same crowd. Kelis duels with a keyboard on "Easy Come, Easy Go," the rising scales sounding like they were blown through a pipe. The song's danceable rhythms would have found a welcome audience if Kelis had opened for No Doubt. The righteous-lady-wronged histrionics of "Get Even" could have also provided a little bite amongst the girl power anthems cherished in Stefani's Tragic Kingdom. (I saw No Doubt on that tour, and it was a triple-bill with Garbage and the Distillers. I'd have easily traded the Distillers for Kelis.)

It doesn't really make sense to me. On paper, there are a lot of ways that Virgin could have sold Wanderland, and on the stereo, it sells itself. Kelis could have been M.I.A. before there was an M.I.A. So, why did they decide America wasn't willing to hear it?

Obviously, I don't really know, but if I had to hazard a guess, the logic probably was that Gwen Stefani's Tragic Kingdom was more open, that it allowed for a more communal experience, whereas Kelis' Wanderland was a place of her own design, was too unique. Look at the cover of the album. Kelis is peering down whatever rabbit hole will take us to the other side, and all she sees staring back is herself. Perhaps the record company executives were scared that it was a closed circle and no one could get in. It's not the first time corporate America decided its customers were stupid.

If that was the logic, then it's backwards, because the personal nature of Wanderland is exactly what makes it so good. As I've firmly established, there can be no other Kelis, and an unshakable individuality is what has always made great artists great. The reason most pop music is disposable is that it's designed to expire. When Jessica Simpson gets too old, too annoying, or both, she has a little sister waiting in the wings to step onstage and show us her acid reflux. There is no one standing behind Kelis. That would be like trying to replace Björk (with whom Kelis has worked), or Prince, or Bob Dylan, or any of the other one-of-a-kind performers over the years. It's why Kelis eventually rose to the top. You can't keep someone like that down.

By that token, Wanderland won't stay hidden forever either. It's out there, and it's waiting to be rediscovered. You just have to work your way to it, figure out what planet Kelis was beamed in from, find the rabbit hole and adjust your size to fit through the door it's hiding behind.

Notable B-Side: I bet a lot of you didn't know there was a British dance phenomenon called "garage" (and sometimes "grime") a couple of years ago. It had nothing to do with crunchy rock bands. It was a sort of combination of techno, two-step (yet another bizarrely specific dance genre), and hiphop. Its origins were probably in jungle, too, a subgenre known for what I like to call the "breaking plates" rhythm, where the beats would pile up on one another like the sound of a huge stack of plates being dropped on the floor. Garage had a similar beat style, but staying in the lower register with very artificial sounding drums. The backing tracks were sparse, usually just one sound like the Neptunes might use in force repeated ad infinitum. At the head of this movement was the So Solid Crew, Britain's answer to the Wu-Tang Clan. Kelis got A.C. Burrell and Megaman from So Solid to work over "Young, Fresh n' New," and the result is almost like a bizarre demo that Chad and Pharrell might have done for the song. Though it's billed as the "So Solid Remix-Full Vocal," the mixers end up playing with certain phrases from the song itself, working them over a steadily hammering beat and around a looped laser tag sound and some carefully plucked string instruments. The result is maddening in its assault on your frontal lobe, but invigorating in how it moves your feet. It's also a notable remix for taking the song in a different direction while still maintaining its recognizability.

#26 #25 #24 #23 #22 #21 #20
(The first 26) (Permanent Records iMix 1)

Reminder: As always, this post is full of links to Amazon. Click on any one of them when shopping, and Amazon will shave a few pennies off their take to give to me. So, if my reviews make you all hot and bothered and you just have to own one of the things I'm talking about, use my link and contribute to buying me more stuff to review. (Those reading a Live Journal feed will likely have to click to the actual blog page first before heading over to Amazon, though.) Either way, thanks for reading.

Current Soundtrack: sitcoms, because the best fan is out by the TV

Current Mood: relaxed

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

CATCHING UP WITH...

Jamie Hype: I've done an interview for the cIndy Center podcast. This was the one where they let people post questions on their message board, and it worked out really well as a result. I got asked soem interesting things. Visit the cIndy Center here. I am posted in the 8/21 listing. You can also find this podcast on iTunes.

Musical Friends: I got an e-mail from Kevin Matthews the other day. Kevin is someone I know from way back in my Grendel days when he used to write letters to the comic. Kevin is a musician and he has a band called Popland. They have a classic indie rock feel, like Fountains of Wayne and the Judybats, and bigger touchstones like the Jam. You can see their MySpace page here and listen to some tunes. Or read Kevin's blog, Power of Pop.

New Comic Book Review: Graphitti Designs gave me a copy of the first prequel graphic novel to Richard Kelly's film Southland Tales, illustrated by Brett Weldele. DVDTalk thought it would be a cool thing to review for the site, and for lack of a better place to put it, it's in this week's Anime Talk column. Scroll down to the end of the page, it's the last item.

Karaoke Watch: Sunday was an unexpected karaoke event, and I tore up "Mr. Brigthside" by the Killers.

Current Soundtrack: sitcom reruns

Current Mood: headache, day 2

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

CALL THE LAW, AND HOLD THE APPLAUSE

I love Outkast. I wasn't the earliest of fans, but I got in line when Aquemini came out. "Rosa Parks" is still one of my favorite big-party anthems. I remember seeing the video and Andre 3000's big grass pants next to Big Boi, who trying to look tough by compariosn, and thinking I was seeing some normal dude and his weird brother, one of those couples that works and no one quite knows how. At the end of the video, Dre had that huge grin of his going, and a body would have to be dead not to smile in response. The fact that the song also has political overtones makes it an even larger triumph. Think and party--that's Outkast.

But I got off the bus when it came down to the schizoid bloat of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, with my scornful eye landing solely--and to the surprise of the masses--on Andre's side of the jewel case. It was dull and overdone, and after the millionth time seeing him give the exact same performance of "Hey Ya"--a catchy song that, when you break it down, reveals itself to be barely a whole number--I just had enough. When word got out that they were going to be making a movie--and that it would be a period musical, no less--I figured that would be that. Outkast weren't just off the rails, they'd blown up the tracks.

So, color me thrilled that I love the soundtrack to Idlewild. Listening to it, I can hear what they probaby wanted the double album to sound like, and what it probably would have could they have gotten in the same room. It's a progression on from Stankonia: funk and soul and hiphop colliding with the jazz age. If the album's first release, "Mighty O," was a little underwhelming, the follow-up for the summer, "Idlewild Blue," charmed with its bluesy slither. Hold the two up together, and you'll start to get a sense of the eclecticism that defines the disc.

"Morris Brown" has steel drums, "Peaches" has a weird collage of samples, "N2U" is a sexy r&b groove that puts shame to all the embarrassing sex talk that passes as "R&B" these days (example: The Love Below's "Spread"), and "Hollywood Divorce" makes guest stars Lil Wayne sound cool and Snoop Dogg relevant, both of those quite a feat. Even the weird freakout at the end, the over-eight-minutes "Bad Note," kicks a lot of ass, improving on what Dre tried to do last time with "Take Off Your Cool." I'd swear that guitar freakout was cribbed straight out of a Prince jam. (Same goes for the sped-up vocals of "Makes No Sense at All." I smell paisley.)

The stand-out track for me has to be "Call the Law," a Big Boi corker with smooth saloon singing by Janelle Monae. Her bits are almost like one escalating chorus, with B.B. slipping in to knock out a couple of rap interludes. It's catchy and fun, more Bonnie & Clyde than other male-female duets of recent memory. Monae scats, there is a kind of ragtime tango of bass and piano, and it's all built around a handclap rhythm. The whole number speaks easy of romantic drama. We love romantic drama around the Confessional.

My top compliment for the Idlewild soundtrack, however, is that it makes me want to see the movie. If they can get any of the spirit of this album on screen, then we're in for a real treat. I'd even settle for a lame story and a lot of great performance numbers, because the music alone can sell it.

I'm back on the bus, guys. It's good to see you.

Current Soundtrack: Idlewild

Current Mood: bouncy

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

PERMANENT RECORDS: WHEN YOU CYCLED BY, HERE BEGAN ALL MY DREAMS

Permanent Records is a year-long project. Each Friday (or thereabouts), I will post a new entry about one specific album, chosen due to its significance to myself as a fan. Though the list is numbered, a particular record's placement should not be considered a ranking. There will be 52 albums in all.

This endeavor is based on a concept started by Chris Tamarri at Crisis/Boring Change. It has since been expanded as a concept, as Neal Shaffer takes on a study of album covers over at Leftwich.

20. THE SMITHS - HATFUL OF HOLLOW (1984)
Personnel: Morrissey, vocals; Johnny Marr, guitar; Andy Rourke, bass; Mike Joyce, drums
Producers: John Porter, Roger Pusey, Dale Griffin, & the Smiths / Label: Sire/Rough Trade

PAGE 1

Panel 1

A long panel across the page.

We are on a high school race track. Several runners in tank
tops and shorts are heading around a curve. Inside the curve
is the grass field. More runners are there, stretching (make
it three). One of them, all the way up front, is JAMIE. He
has headphones on and a cassette Walkman is in the grass by him.

One of the other guys is blonde, average looking. He is PAUL.

Gutter between Panel 1 and panels 2 and 3

TITLE
"You Are Your Mother's Only Son"

Panel 2

Two-shot. Jamie is in the foreground, Paul is in the
background. Paul is leaning forward to ask Jamie a question.
They are different years. Jamie is a sophomore and on the
junior squad, Paul is a senior and varsity. This can be
indicated by the color of their uniforms. Paul is dark blue,
Jamie light blue.

PAUL
Hey, what are you listening to?

JAMIE
Depeche Mode.

Panel 3

CLOSE-UP on Jamie as he listens to Paul talk. He seems
surprised that this boy is talking to him, particularly
about music.

PAUL
Cool. I like them.
(second)
Do you ever listen to the Smiths?

JAMIE
Not really. I've only heard that
"Girlfriend in a Coma" song.

Panel 4

Another long panel. This is a five row page.

Paul is standing now. He bends one leg behind his back,
clutching the ankle. Jamie is still sitting. The third guy
on the grass is gone.

PAUL
You should check them out. I have
all their albums but one.
(second)
Hatful of Hollow. It's only out in
England.
(third)
Anyway...

Panel 5

Paul takes off running. Jamie watches him go. He's perplexed.
What just happened?

PAGE 2

Panel 1

TIGHT on a car window. We are looking at it from the outside,
and we se that it's Jamie riding in the passenger seat. He
rests his cheek on his hand, his elbow on the door. He
stares longingly at the world passing by.

Panel 2

Jamie is in the dentist's chair. He is leaning back, mouth
open wide. The bright light shines down on him, and the
shadow of the dentist looms over him.

Panel 3

Jamie stands on the sidewalk outside the dentist's office.
We see the sign on the building behind him: ORTHODONTICS.

The boy is looking at his watch. He has time.

Panel 4

OVER-THE-SHOULDER SHOT. We look past Jamie and across the
street. There is a record store there, a big sign: MOBY DISC.

Panel 5

Close up of the record racks. This is 12" vinyl, old school.
We see the divider clearly that says THE SMITHS.

Jamie's hands are in panel. The left one is holding the
stack forward while he pulls out a light blue sleeve with
his right.

Panel 6

The last panel is open, with the image bleeding off the
bottom and right of the page, and also disappearing a bit
behind panel 5.

It's the album cover for the Smiths' Hatful of Hollow. A
treasure found!

PAGE 3

Panel 1

Jamie is in his bedroom now. He is on the floor, huddling
over a small record player. He is pulling the Smiths record
out of its sleeve.

Panel 2

CLOSE-UP of the record on the player, the needle already on
it, it's spinning.

Panel 3

Borderless panel across the page. No background. Just Jamie
and the record player floating on white space. Jamie is
laying on his stomach, his chin on his fists, elbows on the
floor. His legs are bent at the knees, feet in the air. He
looks like he's in heaven.

Lyrics float by.

THE SMITHS
(with musical notes)
...I would go out tonight, but I
haven't got a stitch to wear...

Panel 4

Jamie sits at the dinner table with his FATHER. They eat
slabs of meat and mashed potatoes and there are peas on
Father's plate but not on Jamie's. Father has a moustache.
He looks at Jamie, slightly concerned, maybe a little
disgusted. Jamie doesn't look up. He appears bored.

FATHER
What was that I heard you listening to?

JAMIE
The Smiths.

Panel 5

Just on Jamie now. He is having a "D'oh" moment, his blood
boiling, his shoulders hunched, maybe a dark squiggle above
his head. Parents just don't understand.

FATHER
The who?

JAMIE
The Smiths.

FATHER
They sound weird.

PAGE 4

Panel 1

Back on the field. Paul is on the grass stretching again.
Jamie is approaching behind him. He's got something in his hand.

JAMIE
Hey, Paul.

PAUL
Yo, man, what's up?

Panel 2

Jamie's hand. He holds a homemade cassette tape. We can see
"HATFUL OF HOLLOW" written on it in pen.

JAMIE
I got Hatful of Hollow.
(second)
I taped it for you.

Panel 3

Paul is standing now, too. He has taken the tape. He stares
at it. This is gold. Jamie watches, still a little shy,
waiting to see the reaction.

PAUL
Wow. Cool! Where did you find it?

JAMIE
There's a place down where my mom
lives.

Panel 4

Paul salutes off his forehead with the tape. He looks stoked,
maybe a little impressed.

PAUL
Thanks. You're a champ.

Panel 5

The rest of the page, a nice open panel bleeding off the page.

Jamie is alone in his room, laying on the floor, hands
behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He has his
headphones on and a big smile on his face.

THE SMITHS
(with musical notes)
...a boy in the bush is worth two
in the hand, I think I can help you
get through your exams...

TITLE
The End.

#26 #25 #24 #23 #22 #21
(The first 26) (Permanent Records iMix 1)

Reminder: As always, this post is full of links to Amazon. Click on any one of them when shopping, and Amazon will shave a few pennies off their take to give to me. So, if my reviews make you all hot and bothered and you just have to own one of the things I'm talking about, use my link and contribute to buying me more stuff to review. (Those reading a Live Journal feed will likely have to click to the actual blog page first before heading over to Amazon, though.) Either way, thanks for reading.

Current Soundtrack: Hatful of Hollow

Current Mood: lonely

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

I FEEL WELL ENOUGH TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN DO...

Marc spotted another review of Love the Way You Love. This time over at Broken Frontier. It's a bit all over the place with us, but Marc comes out nicely.

Snippet: "Marc Ellerby’s panel constructions are very manga, but his figure work is squarely in the tradition of American cartooning. This gives his illustrations a puckish, humorous quality that engages both the eye and our sense of who and what his characters are. And for all the whimsy and anti-gravity hair, the tone of the artwork doesn’t overshadow the serious aspects of Rich’s script, as Ellerby captures his characters’ emotions quite well. He does just as well with conveying their ages, portraying them as young adults who don’t look like teenagers. This gives his characters a more mature affect than his style would suggest. With subtleties like this, the reader sometimes sees Ellerby’s images struggling with the rough patches in Rich’s script. There’s room for improvement, but right now Ellerby is a more developed artist than Rich is a writer, and it shows."

Yowch!

After I read it, I wrote Marc back and noted how there seems to be no consensus on this book. In one review, I'm the greatest thing ever and Marc is a villain, in another I have tied him to the railroad tracks while twirling my moustache. Some people have loved it straight up, and others have hated it all the way through to the backlist. To me that suggests that we're doing something a little more interesting here. To be universally loved could translate to a flash in the pan, and we all know what universally loathed means.

Anyway, I'm making good progress on volume 4, and Marc is somewhere around the 1/3 mark on volume 3. He also did the cover for the "Love the Way You Love" single:

Current Soundtrack: McAlmont & Butler, "Speed"

Current Mood: determined

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

SOME GUYS HAVE SHOWN ME ACES, BUT YOU'VE GOT THAT ROYAL FLUSH

Augie De Blieck, Jr., has plugged 12 Reasons Why I Love Her in this week's "Pipelines" column over at CBR.

Oni Press offers up 12 REASONS WHY I LOVE HER, a new original graphic novel by Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones. I saw some of the preview art available from this book at the Oni table in San Diego last month. It's beautiful stuff, and I can't wait to see the whole thing. As you might suspect, it's a romance book told in 12 parts, but it uses different storytelling techniques along the way. We'll see how it all comes together in October. The final book is $15 and runs 160 pages.

Click over and read his full take on the back half of the Previews catalogue for October, as well as a rundown of some of our friends at Image's forthcoming titles.

The comic is also now listed on Amazon, which means it should start showing up at the e-tailer of your choice, as well.

Current Soundtrack: Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics disc 2

Current Mood: sultry

IT WAS ACT IV THAT BROKE YOUR HEART

The ever-excellent Largehearted Boy blog, which is a nice place to stop to get caught up on music, movies, and books, has allowed me to participate in their Book Notes section, where authors pick a short soundtrack to go with their new releases. Read my tracklisting for The Everlasting here.

New film reviews, both DVD and Theatrical.
First, opening in theatres tomorrow:

* The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti, directed by Neil Burger
* Factotum, starring Matt Dillon and Marisa Tomei, directed by Bent Hamer from a novel by Charles Bukowski

And on DVD:
* The Charles Bukowski Tapes, Barbet Schroeder's documentary on the author will make you really appreciate Matt Dillon in Factotum
* Burn to Shine 3: Portland Or 06.15.05, a collection of music perfomances by Portland bands like the Decemberists and Sleater-Kinney
* Manderlay, Lars von Trier's astouding follow-up to Dogville

Current Soundtrack: Roddy Woomble, My Secret is my Silence

Current Mood: blank

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

"WHY IS THIS MY LIFE?" IS ALMOST EVERYBODY'S QUESTION

If it's been quiet, it's because I've been busy.

Over the last couple of days, Joëlle turned in over 3/4 of 12 Reasons Why I Love Her and the lettering has begun. I also spent today preparing a mailing to retailers using a list Oni gave me and personally stuffed over 100 envelopes.

The perfect day to do this kind of work is the day I got my hands on the first several episodes of the second season of Weeds. I really love this show. Two episodes into the new lot and things are really getting good. There was no ambling around, easing us back in the way a lot of shows do. The writers started shaking up the contents almost immediately. And Mary Louise-Parker is scary cute.

Anyway, the Joëlle pages are also scary cute, and filthy gorgeous, and whatever other double adjective you can come up with. I can't wait to start showing them around.

Oni has all the elements of Love the Way You Love vol. 2, this while I am banging around on the script for vol. 4. In the area of 4s, just turned in the fourth volume of the manwha Cynical Orange, and I'm waiting on the script for the third Hissing, which is due Saturday.

I'm a quarter into the mammoth Charles Bukowski Tapes. I am due to post my review of Factotum on Thursday, and I'd like to get them up together.

Picked up some printed copies of Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? yesterday, so I can get feedback from my regular sewing circle. I'm also in the middle of two interviews and waiting for a third to start.

So, yes, very busy. If I had more thoughts, I would post them, but alas, I can spare none.

Currently Reading: A Gun For Sale by Graham Greene

Current Soundtrack: Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (And both Joëlle and Ian Shaughnessy told me yesterday I have to get the old Cee-Lo solo album. Coincidence? His fun song for Snakes on a Plane is probably going to be the only good thing about the movie, though I'll likely never find out for myself.)

Current Mood: intimidated

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY, THAT I LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE?

Love the Way You Love vol. 2 is going into production, and you'll be able to read it in September. Check out these awesome Marc Ellerby sample pages:

Have you preordered your copy yet? It's not too late. Give your comic book retailer the Diamond Order Code: JUL06 3345.

Vol. 1 is also still available! Get in on all the action and romance.

Current Soundtrack: The View, "The Don/Wasted Little DJs/Claudia"

Current Mood: excited

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

OUR SONGS, FACES, AND SECOND-HAND CLOTHS

Today marks the conclusion of "Romeo May be Bleeding, But Mercutio is Dead." If you missed anything, here are handy links to each entry.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII
Part IX
Part X
Part XI
Part XII
Part XIII
Part XIV

Current Soundtrack: Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit

Current Mood: apathetic

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

IN PERFUME BY CHANEL AND CLOTHES BY GIVENCHY

Oni has put up their page for 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. The preview should come shortly, and the final cover colors by Lee Loughridge and the design will also be revealed as they are finished. But it's a pretty nice placemarker, no?

The book is in Diamond Previews now, and I have to say, it may be my finest hour. Everything about this graphic novel has clicked from start to finish. You guys are going to plotz at how good Joëlle Jones really is. You've yet to see what she can really do.

If shopping in comic book stores, give them the Diamond Order Code: AUG06 3489. Preorder now!

Current Soundtrack: The Futureheads, News & Tributes

Current Mood: glamorous

PERMANENT RECORDS: THE MUSIC IS LOUDER THAN ALL OF THEIR ROAR

Permanent Records is a year-long project. Each Friday (or thereabouts), I will post a new entry about one specific album, chosen due to its significance to myself as a fan. Though the list is numbered, a particular record's placement should not be considered a ranking. There will be 52 albums in all.

This endeavor is based on a concept started by Chris Tamarri at Crisis/Boring Change. It has since been expanded as a concept, as Neal Shaffer takes on a study of album covers over at Leftwich.

21. DURAN DURAN - SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER (1983)
Personnel: Simon Le Bon, vocals; Andy Taylor, guitar; John Taylor, bass; Nick Rhodes, keyboards; Roger Taylor, drums
Producers: Alex Sadkin, Ian Little, & Duran Duran / Label: Capitol

My favorite term for a Duran Duran fan is "Duranimal." I think the most popular is "Durannie," but that never worked for me. It doesn't sound like whoever coined it was really trying, and frankly, it's also a little sissy (you shut up). Duranimal, though, that has claws. Like a ragged tiger.

Duran2 was one of the first bands I really got into, and my first real musical obsession. Strangely, it was also one of the few bands my sister and I could agree on. She owned Rio on vinyl and that was definitely a sort of gateway for me. I kind of preferred their first album and the much stranger videos--the soft focus, the frilly shirts, and bright lights--but it was just the starting point.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger pushed me over the top. It came along when I was eleven, and I found something in Simon Le Bon's cut-and-paste lyrics and the band's multilayered melodies that I could connect to. 1983 was one of the more confusing times in my life. My parents had split, I had been tricked into living with my mother, and I was generally miserable. The belief system I had been raised with had failed me, and I wasn't sure where I would go. A perfect time to discover rock and roll!

An even more perfect time for an album like Seven and the Ragged Tiger. It's an insanely catchy record. Every song has a mega hook, and given the band's popularity at the time, all nine of them could have been singles. Duran Duran could have probably even cracked the top ten with the instrumental "Tiger Tiger," little girls everywhere cowering under its fearful symmetry. So, with young ears that desired to hear some bubblegum go pop, I played my cassette tape to shreds. Even today, at the bridge of "I Take the Dice," I still expect to hear the fade-out at the point where my tape had gotten a kink in it. It's a memory forever burned in my brain.

Oh, cassette tapes. What different days! I had a sixty-minute tape, and I decided that the thirty minutes on each side would be well suited to one song each. I had a friend's copies of the 45s for "The Reflex" and "New Moon On Monday" before I had the album, and I filled one side of the tape with one single and the other side with the second. This meant hitting the record button as the needle met the vinyl, playing the song, pausing, and starting back at the beginning over and over until it was all done. Then I could listen to my favorite songs as many times in a row as I wanted, no effort required. I remember taking my tape player down to the apartment building pool and playing it loud enough so I could hear it while I was even underwater. God, how I must have annoyed my neighbors! "The Reflex" would have fit on the tape about six times, and "New Moon on Monday" about eight. Plus, my tape player switched sides automatically, I didn't even have to get out the water.

It wasn't just about the adrenaline surge of a great pop single, though. As I said, I was a confused kid at that point in time, and I sort of got it through my head that Seven and the Ragged Tiger was almost like a message for me. A road map, maybe, for getting on track again. I'll be perfectly honest, I was eleven, so I didn't really sort it out, and I had no clue what I was really talking about, but that's probably why I was so intrigued. Simon was writing in a jumbled style, inspired by the likes of William Burroughs, and though I didn't know who Burroughs was (and now that I know, I don't much care), I could just feel there was something going on in those nonsensical non sequiturs. Not even the title of the album added up. There were only five people in the band! Even so, I was the lonely child left in the dark in "The Reflex," and as a latch-key kid, I was ready to get with the solitude of "(I'm Looking For) Cracks in the Pavement." "Don't want to be in public/ My head is full of chopstick/ I don't like it," I'd sing, convinced that this sentiment, this search for the other side, was mine.

There was definitely a sense of the dramatic in my appropriation of this music. "Of Crime and Passion" and "Shadows on Your Side," for instance, spoke of dark corners, of letting yourself loose in places most people fear. I wanted to scream out to my parents, "Why did you let me run/ When you knew I'd fall for the gaping hole/ Where your heart should be?" I'd go to school and I'd see my friends at church, and I'd put on the brave face I'd been cultivating since childhood. Everyone thought I was a happy kid, that nothing got me down. "With everybody to say that you're having the time of your life when you life is on the slide."

"The Seventh Stranger" was my favorite song. This seemed like the code that needed to be cracked, and then it would all come clear. Once I told this to my father. We were in the car, and I said, "Dad, I don't know why, but I think this song is about my life."

Bless him, he turned up the volume and said, "Let's listen and see if we can figure it out."

Of course, we couldn't, we were trying too hard. Or maybe he sussed what I thought I was hearing, and he didn't want to say. What did he make of lines like "Was I chasing after rainbows?/ One thing for sure you never answered when I called" and "I'm changing my name just as the sun goes down"? They seem like pretty harsh things to be hearing from your only son.

Now I see what I was groping for, of course. Like much of Seven and the Ragged Tiger, "The Seventh Stranger" is about regret, about not having things turn out how you wanted, and desiring something more for yourself, some way to make a change. It's in a lot of the songs. The second verse of "The Reflex" talks about being on a ride and wanting to get off, and selling prized possessions to get the hell out of wherever you are. "Cracks in the Pavement" opens with "I shed my skin/ When the party was about to begin," while "Of Crime and Passion" is about betrayal and "Union of the Snake" is something outside of you that is alluring and damaging all the same, a crowd you distrust while wanting to join. It's "The Seventh Stranger" that finishes it off, though, a melancholy ballad that edges into hopefulness, crying out against something while you cry for yourself. Brush off the tears, and look at something new. The stranger's eyes are yours, as you look at new experiences, or they are the people whom you can present yourself to as a fresh person. The song exists to be your rock. "Those words are all remainders," it begins, almost sounding like "reminders." Listen, and be reminded.

This is why it hurt when I had to pretend not to like Duran Duran when I was in a Christian school full of heavy metal wild boys. In the dark nights home alone in Canoga Park, CA, while my devious mother went to Lockheed to help build war machines no one really needed, Seven and the Ragged Tiger became my first lifeline, when a rock band offered me something to hold on to rather than sink into the muck of my own despair. Like Peter did on the night Jesus was arrested, I'd have to deny my saviors to the rabble that refused to understand.

Thankfully, I was to get some vindication. In the spring of my sixth-grade year, we took a field trip to somewhere in Los Angeles, and Matt Auna's mother was driving. The single being pushed at the time was "New Moon On Monday," and on the drive, we heard it twice. All through the field trip, which I think was to some kind of courthouse or government building, whenever there was a pause, Matt would turn to me, pantomimed microphone in his hand, and sing, "I light my torch and wave it for the New Moon on Monday!" I would laugh and wait for him to do it again, and pretty soon he said, "You know, that song's pretty good." He was into it now, and it was suddenly okay for me to be into it, too. I had turned my back on Simon, Andy, John, Roger, and Nick, but they still managed to pull me up out of it when the time was right.

Notable B-Side: Before they had done a James Bond theme for real, Duran Duran released their own take on Cold War paranoia on the flipside of "Union of the Snake." "Secret Oktober" is a quick song, two minutes and forty-three seconds. The music is like a carnival dirge, rising and falling to the point of seasickness. Simon doesn't pause, singing straight through, like he can't stop, he's caught in the inertia of the situation. The lyrics toss out cocktails, killing jars, gunshots on the wind, and other abstract images of nights lost in a haze of espionage. It's an all-night party heading for a hangover--or maybe the grave. "Secret Oktober" and Seven and the Ragged Tiger probably express the weird head trips Duran Duran would have been going through around then, as they were easily the most popular band in the world, their change in lifestyle reflected in the bizarre dream images and sense of doom that would cover both the A and B of this single. "Secret Oktober" stood apart, though, as being cinematic, its own mini movie.

#26 #25 #24 #23 #22
(The first 26) (Permanent Records iMix 1)

Reminder: As always, this post is full of links to Amazon. Click on any one of them when shopping, and Amazon will shave a few pennies off their take to give to me. So, if my reviews make you all hot and bothered and you just have to own one of the things I'm talking about, use my link and contribute to buying me more stuff to review. (Those reading a Live Journal feed will likely have to click to the actual blog page first before heading over to Amazon, though.) Either way, thanks for reading.

Current Soundtrack: Carla Thomas, Stax Profiles

Current Mood: indifferent

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

SEND YOUR ANGELS DOWN TO GUIDE ME THROUGH THAT DOOR

I'm going to be doing more theatrical reviews for DVDTalk, and today I posted my review of the new Oliver Stone movie, World Trade Center. It's a film that's already being discussed quite a bit before it's even out, and I've tried to dig into that a little bit.

* * *

And in the worst transtion ever...

Six years ago, I wrote a letter to Christina Aguilera in the Portland Mercury. It's in their calendar section here, the 10/18 entry. It reads:

Dear Christina,

I'm so glad to hear you're coming to Portland, because you and I need to sit down, young lady, and talk about your future. I'm very concerned about you. What with Britney, Mandy, Jessica, and the others competing for the same place on the charts, the real race has begun--the race to see who will still be here in ten years. I wanna put my money on you. You have the best pipes, you seem to have the best personality (though Mandy sure is sweet), and you're cute as cute can be. But I'm worried you may be going more Mariah than Madonna, and that's not good. Sure, Mariah has the track record when it comes to #1s, but let's be serious: That's more luck and repetition than artistry. Her innuendo has always been more thinly veiled than even "Genie in a Bottle," and she's never had the abandon of your latest, "Come On Over Baby." No, think Madonna. Your commitment to more urban soul on the next disc is a good start, but don't stop there! Immerse yourself in music and let it all in. I'm serious. If you want to talk more, I'll be in section 114, row R, seat 16. I have lots of ideas.

Kisses, JAMIE S. RICH

I feel like this letter gives me full boasting rights to take credit for the awesomeness of Christina's new album, Back to Basics. When I wrote that, I was going to see her on the final leg of the tour for her first album. There were rumors Timbaland was going to produce her next record. Stripped ended up not being as focused as a single producer might have made it, but I've already written about the epic that album ended up being.

Back to Basics is Christina's homage to the jazz and soul singers that inspired her as a singer. Working with DJ Premier, she has put together an amalgamation of those two styles and modern hiphop. The record is classy and infectious. What's great is she also has managed to once again go through the full range of human drama. Only Christina could successfully pull off the salacious double entendres of "Candyman" and "Nasty Naughty Boy" while also delivering the gospel of "Makes Me Wanna Pray" and "Mercy On Me", and then finish the whole thing off with the orchestral histrionics of "The Right Man," an ode to marriage. All the songs are perfectly chosen for Christina's voice. She sounds richer, more honeyed, than she ever has, and she seems more confident than ever, not feeling the need to show off nearly as much as in the past. The girl can sing, she doesn't have to prove it.

And for the record, I've already pointed out that "Ain't No Other Man" is all about me, but you should know I'm the "Candyman," as well. I make the panties drop, and that's all you need to know.

Current Soundtrack: Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic DVD with audio commentary

Current Mood: fey

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

SHYNESS IS NICE, BUT SHYNESS WILL STOP YOU

The fine folks at cIndyCenter.com are going to be talking to me for an upcoming podcast. The interview is going to happen this Thursday, 8/10. They have set up a place on their message boards where folks can give them questions to ask me.

This is your chance. What do you want to know? Go here and tell them.

Current Soundtrack: Utada Hikaru, Ultra Blue

Current Mood: ...

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich