APOCALYPSE? PLEASE!

Go, Mumps! Marc Ellerby speaks! Read the interview and see a preview of Love the Way You Love #3 and #4 at Pulse.

THE PULSE: What do you think sets this apart from other star-crossed lovers type of tales?

ELLERBY: Well there's a lot of surprises in store for the readers, especially come #3 where the shit starts to hit the fan and doesn't let up till #6. The book has a slightly OTT soap opera nature and yes that's the point, but Jamie's not letting Tristan and Isobel get together that easily which I think will keep the readers hooked until the end of the series. It's a fun book, I think some people are taking it all a little too seriously and we're getting flack for people's misinterpretations as it's fluffy and not really melancholic enough or whatever. We'd love to get more feedback from women actually to see how they feel about the book seeing as, hell, they're mainly the target audience.

The rest, in case you missed the link above.

IN THE THEATRES...

* Apocalypto, the new sermon from Mel Gibson. More like A-crock-a-shit-oh!

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* The Beauty Academy of Kabul, a documentary about a unique aid effort to Afghanistan

* Bugsy - Extended Cut, a new version of the Warren Beatty vehicle with fifteen more minutes and awesome bonus features.

Morrissey Watch: Mozzalini has eeked a fourth single out of Ringleader of the Tormentors, the just-released "I Just Want to See the Boy Happy." You can tell the thread is stretched thin by the fact that both of his last two singles have had only one new studio B-side and the rest of the various formats are filled out by live tracks. This time, it's even live material from several years ago, so he's really digging here.

Notable, though, is the new B "Sweetie Pie." My initial reaction to it was, "What the hell?" It's got a dissonant, bare instrumental track, and the vocal melody is almost non-existent. The dominant force is some background warbling from an unnamed source (Kristeen Young, perhaps? I only have a download, my physical copy is in the post). But what a difference some headphones make. Listening to music on one's laptop is just not the same as really listening. I should know that by now. I originally compared "Sweetie Pie" to the musical approach of the midsection of older B-side "Black-Eyed Susan," which isn't bad but you're not quite sure what it's doing there. On closer reflection, it's more like the backdrop of "Seasick, Yet Still Docked." The instrumentation--or lack thereof--is a manifestation of the despair of the lyrics, which has been justifiably stripped of any fancy melodic lines so that it will instead play as a plea, a prayer, an outcry from the gut. It's a lonely song, a hurting song, one full of pain. It suffers a bit from standing out on its own the way it does, it would probably be better in the context of an album (such as how "Seasick" works as a piece of Your Arsenal). It makes me wonder what Morrissey would sound like if he crossed completely over to the other side of the pop music line and started producing records like the last two Scott Walker solo efforts, Tilt and The Drift. One can only ponder.

Current Soundtrack: Jim Reid, "Dead End Kids"

Current Mood: steely

golightly at confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * 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