The summer deadlines are upon us at work. Publication deadlines have been moved up, new projects have been added, and of course, everything is due at the same time. Also there’s the heat wave thing that’s making people melty and crazy, which is just all sorts of helpful when you’re working with students who are in the midst of their own mini-meltdown.
So, today will be a post about beautiful things.
Remember that band I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, The Moulettes? I found a copy of their CD from a British-based second-hand seller off Amazon. Think piratical back-room chamber musicians, dingy wigs askew, getting paid under the table in gin and cigarettes. The vocals remind me of the Andrews Sisters, or maybe a mellow incarnation of the Ditty Bops, with Jill Tracy’s wicked sense of humor and lovely harmonies (no Rasputina-style vibrato warbles here). The main instruments are cello, violin and bassoon, and they shift tempo on a dime.
My only real complaint is that a few of the songs occasionally plummet into the so-soft-as-to-be-impossible-to-hear territory — “Devil of Mine” is particularly prone to this — but that’s a minor irritation compared to the otherwise delicious feast. DoM has an interesting video, too, the sort of imagery that reminds me of someone being lured to a faery party that disappears at dawn and leaves them lying in a muddy grove.
I’ve just discovered the John Barleycorn Must Die blog, chronicling the creative process and tomfoolery of the writer and artist as they bring a graphic novel to life.
WHAT IS ’JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE’ ABOUT?
This graphic novel is about the end of the reign of the sky gods and the birth of humanity.
Since time immemorial, the sky gods, aided by earthly Fraternities, have impregnated mortal women, producing demigods who have influenced humanity in their favour. In the 17th century, Elizabeth Cromwell (Oliver Cromwell’s mother) created a Sorority of mortal women to kill these demigods before they generate ‘sky fall’.
A magician, John Barleycorn, is charged by a mysterious woman to expose the last demigod before he can bring about the enslavement of humanity….
The writer (editor/artist/writer Terri Windling’s husband, Howard Gayton) and the artist (Rex Van Ryn) start with an old folk song and spin it out into a modern story. Which doesn’t end well for poor John Barleycorn, as we all know. They’re posting pages of the novel as they go, so I’ll have to go back and read from the beginning.
Also: I am in delighted awe of Brittney Lee’s papercut art. I really have nothing more to say except that I’m incredibly envious of her talent and creativity. And I’m hoping she does post a tutorial at some point, because I would love to give that a try at some point, if only for my own amusement.
In other news, I admit I laughed out loud the first time I saw the new local Crimestoppers/SBPD commercial that insists graffiti is not art. It shows local children dutifully painting over tags on a building, and is a painfully obvious, panties-officially-bunched, political pissing match response to the CAD article the Tribune ran a few weeks back (which is apparently no longer available on the SBT site, so huzzah for Google cache!).
The second time I saw it, it only succeeded in pissing me off.
Yes, it is art. You may not agree with its method of delivery, or its message, and those are valid and arguable points. There is a moral gray area there. But it is art. It’s the only interesting thing about being stuck watching a train go by. It’s a splash of color on forgotten buildings, and utility boxes no one ever notices otherwise, and deadly dull bridges with failed scrubby landscaping. It’s an unexpected glimmer of creativity in a landscape that is unmitigated boredom. And as far as I’m concerned, it resides firmly in the realm of beautiful things.
Next week marks the first full week of actual during-the-summer vacation in ten years. (Almost a full week, I should say — I have to go in one afternoon to teach a class.) I think I could get used to this “having help during summer deadlines” thing, although the “preparing for a week off ” part thing is murder.
So, a tiring week. And I’ve forgotten any postable ideas that briefly bubbled to the surface.
Instead, here are my two favorite post-Europeans, at least for today. One’s joined the Cult of America and the other’s technically still the Queen’s spy, after all. Also, is anyone else unsurprised that Craig Ferguson is a Lovecraft fan? Neil Himself does make an amusing point about HPL’s characters.
Elsewhere…
Erin Palette is spending the week analyzing the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cast as analogues to the classic D&D adventuring party. I’m curious whether she’s going to go cleric or ranger for Fluttershy. We shall see.
Monica Valentinelli is running a contest for bloggers — write about your passion on your blog and send her the link, and you could win a $25 DriveThru gift certificate or other goodies.
To remind myself to look these up at a later date:
1. Jason @ Wild Hunt says there’s a new Dead Can Dance album coming out the summer of 2012. Suddenly I feel the urge to dig out Spiritchaser again.
2. I had a moment of pure Squee! when I saw the trailer to Besuro. A Capoeira movie that also features appearances by Candomblé orixás! Please oh please let it come to South Bend…
If you’re not familiar with Candomblé, it’s one of the African diaspora religions, most commonly found in Brazil, but also in the Caribbean and South America. It’s similar to Voudou and Santeria; they are based in Western African myth and share many of the same principles and figures, though known by different names. Exu is similar to Eshu and Legba and Eleggua, for example — he’s a gateway figure, the one you invite first, to open the way for other gods; Orixa is a goddess of wind and water.
I’ve been fascinated by the diaspora religions since I was a kid, and I think it’s a crime we haven’t seen more of their stories in media. So yes, I would probably watch this just for the awesome Capoeira fights, but seeing Exu and Orixa in the trailer really made my day.
Not dead yet, just not feeling particularly talkative these days. There are the usual things and then there are the fury-inducing news and politics that I can’t seem to get away from lately. I find myself having to be very careful which blogs and articles I read, lest my ire and frustration manifest itself on some unfortunate, (mostly) undeserving student.
And this week is the dissertation deadline for May, so oof. We all know how that goes. Wall of Patience, now would be an excellent time to show yourself.
At least the weather has finally shifted. Spring helps, though I could use some more muggy, hazy days. Last week there were two trips to St. Joe: to see the Russian Icons exhibit at the Krasl Art Center, and to walk along the beach and eat delicious ispanak at Cafe Gulistan. The storm on Sunday helped a bit, too.
After missing nearly the whole summer, my friend H. and I finally got together for a boba tea night. It was delicious, as usual, and conversation largely flowed in eddies around the last few hectic and challenging months: family, travels, the novel she’s writing, our usual venting, and loved ones who have recently passed away. It was a good evening on many levels.
I keep meaning to mention her husband’s musical pursuits here, and finally decided I had to do it tonight after they treated me to two new songs and a sneak preview of the current project. Brian is a great example of the fantastic “get excited and make things” bug you might’ve seen espoused by the likes of the Space Bastard and Wil Wheaton. If you’re at all amused by nerd rock à la Jonathan “Skullcrusher Mountain” Coulton or are just curious what a clever man can put together with a guitar, a piano, and a Mac laptop, please do check out Brian Gray’s music.
Kotaku.com posted the track list for for Rock Band 3. It boils down into three nearly-even categories for me:
Yay! Also, … what took so freaking long? INXS, Echo & the Bunnymen, Primus, Metric, “Been Caught Stealing,” “The Beautiful People,” etc.
Really …? You hate us that much? (Yes. Turns out they do.)
Amy Winehouse, Huey Lewis & the News, Night Ranger, etc.
… Who? Wellllll … all right. We’ll try it. I mean, maybe you’ll introduce me to the next Silversun Pickups …
There are more than a few questionable choices, IMO, but I guess we’ll see. Some will undoubtedly be fun just by sheer dint of pushing the ridiculousity envelope.
Three posts in one day. Of course, I should be working, but I can’t concentrate on the lists anymore. Instead, I’m sweeping out my drafts folder…
The Silversun Pickups are coming back around to Chicago and Detroit the weekend of July 4. Oh, so tempting … If you’ve played Rock Band 2 lately you may have run into a few of their songs: “Lazy Eye,” “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” “Panic Switch,” “Sort Of,” etc.
The SPs are, to me, delightfully good at spinning songs that have stories to them, and those tend to burrow into my thoughts and lodge there for days. And they have a very familiar sound to those of us who remember the heyday of grunge; in a few songs, they remind me of an imminently better version of Smashing Pumpkins, without the obnoxious whine of Billy Corgan. In fact, I love the singers’ voices, mellow and breathy and — in some songs, such as “It’s Nice to Know You Work Alone” and “Three Seed” — gently menacing. I love it.
I’d been meaning to look them up for months, and finally got around to doing so after obtaining the terrible new HIM album Screamworks. They were a guilty pleasure for a few years, especially their mid-to-late catalog, Love Metal through Venus Doom. (Yes, I do know how goofy the names are, but that was part of the charm!) The problem is, Screamworks is just … bad. I mean the music is fine, if a little ’80s retro in places, but … there’s no story at all poking out of those tepid lyrics. So I was surfing around on Amazon and came across Carnavas, the 2006 album by the Silversun Pickups, and damn if I’m not well and thoroughly addicted. In fact, the first time I heard “Lazy Eye” in RB2, I had serious déjà vu from both the name of the song and the music itself; the whole thing was completely familiar. I don’t have any idea why, because other than a vague Pumpkins-esque flavor to a couple of songs, they don’t actually sound like any other band, to me.
i can hear the bottle on the ground
we turned the corner safe and sound
no thought of him as it was done
a clean execution
a clean execution
cool like the ocean
burned like a summer home
fooled by the notion
that the sums don’t add up at all
Now I have Swoon as well, and I will say that the songs on both albums make excellent scene/story fodder. Several are now firmly linked to a particular character from games or stories, for me — and it’s been a long while since that happened.
does it make you nervous
when you hear my bones
animate my body
without a soul
Abney Park is coming to the World Steam Expo in Dearborn, MI at the end of May. They never make it out to the midlands, so I’m seriously considering this.
Oh, and the Foglios of Girl Genius fame will be there, too. And some other people. And apparently there will be lots of workshops and discussions and and a masquerade ball and whatnot, if you’re into doing things.
Still alive, just swamped. And absolutely addicted to the Silversun Pickups, it turns out. More on that later.
Sadly I’ve had to turn off the music temporarily. It’s raining kittens here. Apparently we’re in Tornado Watch mode — and should they go off, I can barely hear those sirens from my office on a clear and quiet day, let alone when it’s actually raining. But oh, I can hear the howling wind just fine when it batters itself against the hallowed halls of the admin building…
I happened to catch this via the Neil Gaiman blog and found myself amused by an impromptu performance: his fiancee, Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame), performing Radiohead’s “Creep”. On a ukelele. With a translator. And a very patient microphone stand.
, the 2006 album by the Silversun Pickups, and damn if I’m not well and thoroughly addicted. In fact, the first time I heard “Lazy Eye” in RB2, I had serious déjà vu from both the name of the song and the music itself; the whole thing was completely familiar. I don’t have any idea why, because other than a vague Pumpkins-esque flavor to a couple of songs, they don’t actually sound like any other band, to me.
as well, and I will say that the songs on both albums make excellent scene/story fodder. Several are now firmly linked to a particular character from games or stories, for me — and it’s been a long while since that happened.