ONLINE: CoLo Goes Twibel

After numerous requests for her to do her own reality TV show, it looks like Courtney Love (CoLo, in abbreviated gossip-rag speak) has her own YouTube channel to post her latest video rants and raves.

Seeing as how she was tried and now won a case in court for 'Twibel' (libel on Twitter), she might need to be a bit PG-rated on YouTube when it comes to her attacks or disagreements, but she's always good to listen to for a take (or a take-down) on pop culture.

Who needed Stevie Nicks for 'American Horror Story: Coven'? I would have much rather had Courtney Love play the role. I think she really shines in movies and maybe needs to move on from music. Come Back to the Five-and-Dime, Courtney Love, Courtney Love.

MUSIC: Situation Comedy

Today, after a brief (or not so brief) absence, I've re-discovered my love for British pop band The Divine Comedy. I've been playing his albums and tracks all day.

For those not-in-the-know (many, I'm sure), The Divine Comedy is one Mr. Neil Hannon, the only permanent member of this now almost 25-year-old band.

A deep creamy voice, like a young Scott Walker, croons over:

Love songs, like...well, 'Songs of Love'

Social commentary, like 'Sweden' 

and wistful character studies, like 'Commuter Love'

Think Morrissey, if he wasn't afraid to ditch the tired rock n'roll drag; or Neil Tennant, if the Pet Shop Boys dabbled in orchestral pop instead of synthpop.

I'm surprised no one has tried to do a full stage musical using TDC songs. Surely, in his large back catalogue, a great love story-meets-social upheaval drama can be pieced together with multiple threads covering the above themes. Act One opening with a scene on a train ('National Express') and ending with the epic 'The Certainty of Chance' perhaps? The mix-and-match possibilities are endless. Maybe I should start up on writing that? Or at least a Microfilm cover.

By the way, anybody have a copy of 'Fin de Siecle'? I lost mine.

MUSIC: The Cure for Boredom

I listened to the 2010 single 'Not in Love' by Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith (of The Cure, naturally) for the first time in ages. What a joy of a single. The familiar warble of Smith over the synthy crunch of Crystal Castles. It's so shocking to hear the voice of The Cure not stuck in amber, for once. He sounds relevant again.

The Cure have not released an album since 2008. If they do release a new one (Do they have to, one might ask?), can it sound like this track? Synthy, dancey, something besides the spirally-guitar boredom of their last few releases. 'Not in Love' is the freshest thing Robert Smith has had a hand in in 20 years.

MUSIC: I'll Sing Like Billy MacKenzie in Heaven

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the death of The Associates singer Billy MacKenzie, at age 39. He committed suicide after the recent death of his mother and his battle with depression.

Although a blip on the pop radar of '80s UK New Wave, The Associates released six gloriously loopy, lush, pretty, weird, shrill albums (three as a duo and three as a solo act under the band name). MacKenzie's voice was an operatic delight, deep and creamy or high and fluttery, much like his hero Bowie. The Associates first single was a cover of 'Boys Keep Swinging' and came out within a month of Bowie's version.

The Associates cover Bowie

They had a flash of fame in 1982 with their third album 'Sulk' (Top 10 in the UK) and two singles that charted in the top 10 and top 20 in the UK. But then on the eve of touring America for the first time, the band split.

The Associates performing 'Party Fears Two' on Top of the Pops

MacKenzie carried on under the band name for the rest of the '80s and then under his own name for most of the '90s. Although he always remained a critical darling, his albums and singles either charted poorly (the rest of the '80s) or failed to chart at all (the '90s). I'd heard about the band for ages as a teenager but only discovered them buy buying their first singles compilation, 'Popera' (1990) - an apt title.

Here is The Glamour Chase, a 45-minute doc on Billy's life in and out of music. One-time pop anomaly gone cult hero.

Years, even decades, later as part of the electronic duo Microfilm, we wrote a song about him with his name in the title (and the title of this blogpost). I imagine my limited voice achieving the range and glory of Billy in his prime. Listen: 'I'll Sing Like Billy MacKenzie in Heaven'  Additional vocals and guitar were done by Scissor Sisters' guitarist Del Marquis, in his shimmering style.

R.I.P. Billy.

FILM: Pink Jasmine Takedown

Cate Blanchett's Pink Jasmine Takedown

Once again, Cate Blanchett shows off her smarts, sass and wit in a one-line takedown of sexist cameramen.

Start doing this to the male actors too! Start with: Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Idris Elba...

MUSIC/FILM: Frappucinos at the Concession Stand

I've never been one for going to a movie theater to see some kind of "special event." Have you seen those trailers before the actual movie trailers start? They are usually for an opera, sports event or something else subterranean on my list of things I need to spend time on.

I may have changed my tune on a cinema special event screening though.

In lieu of touring (I'd imagine), one of my favorite bands of the last 10+ years, Goldfrapp, has announced a one-night only screening of a five short film collection based around the characters/themes of their latest album, 2013's 'Tales of Us,' a moody, romantic return-to-form for the cinematic-sounding duo.

From the above trailer, it looks to be like a fashion shoot come to life; I see a lot of forests, empty grand estates, swimming pools, blonde curls, running through wheat fields and other cinematic moments. I believe there is also a live concert element to the film, songs from the 'Tales' album, possibly a full concert as the climax of the film?

Having seen Goldfrapp live only once, at the beginning of their career with the 'Felt Mountain' tour, and owner of Wonderful Electric, their double disc concert DVD, I can attest that they are a beautiful sight and sound (live and filmed) experience.

I may take this Goldfrapp moment to fantasize about Microfilm's own glossy, yet hazy filmed musical experience to be dreamt up.

MUSIC: A Blur of Gorillaz

Damon Albarn, frontman of Blur, Gorillaz and countless other lesser side projects, has finally made his first solo album as simply 'Damon Albarn' and the title track has just been previewed.

Although he has released a solo song before (the slight 'Closet Romantic' from the Trainspotting soundtrack), 'Everyday Robots' is his true solo debut. Damon being Damon, he can't escape the ghosts of Blur and Gorillaz, so why not put them in a blender and see what comes out.

Melancholy piano, beautiful strings coloring the background, Albarn doing his wounded vocal best.

I'm officially excited.

TV: Look, But Don't Touch

The long-promoted TV show 'Looking' finally premiered last night on HBO. Brought to fruition by Andrew Haigh, the creator of the much-praised UK film Weekend, and Michael Lannan, one of the people who helped helm Interior. Leather Bar. and I Want Your Love, the promos of 'Looking' looked like a modernized and Instagrammed 'Queer as Folk', a 'Girls' for the gay boys of the 21st century.

The hazy glow of San Francisco is perfectly rendered, with foggy nights and sun-dappled days. The perfectly-rendered cramped apartments and bustling downtown make the backdrops of the multiple dating/relationship dramas sometimes overwhelm the action, especially when it centers around Patrick, a milquetoast blonde twink who doesn't like men "too hairy"(a park tryst), or "too chubby" (his ex's new fiance). This blank everyman finds his visual mirrored twin on a first date with a blonde doctor who drops him mid-date for being shallow. Signs, people!

One of the more interesting characters is Agustin, an artist's assistant with a boyfriend contemplating both three-ways (yes) and moving in with his boyfriend...in Oakland (possibly?) It's interesting how the affordability of SF is only brought up this one time in the debut episode. I wonder if this looming social trend will reappear in the series.

The other lead character is Dom, an approaching mid-life waiter who thrives on his Romeo status and measures his worth on his skills of racking up interested men. Cliche? Yes. But it will be interesting to see this character get his comeuppance or at least maybe a sea change of ideas towards ageing gracefully.

These two co-leads threaten to take over their drippy, dull friend Patrick as the real points of interest for this series.

The laughs are very subtle, the character-building is slow, but 'Looking' has a shot at becoming the next series about gay men with actual legs to stand on.

FILM: Wish You Were Her

I was originally resistant to seeing Spike Jonze's new film Her because of the trailers/ads. The idea that the masses needs to be comfortable with twee shots of Joaquin Phoenix spinning around in a circle giggling like a doofus, or dancing in the street joyously to some indie rock hit in order to see the movie as palatable cheapens the whole experience of Her. Quite the opposite effect, the marketing made me NOT want to see the film.

I retract my initial hesitation after seeing it last night. More complex, subtle, sad, stirring and emotional than I ever thought  would be possible about a film that looks like it's about someone falling in love with their iPhone. It is not just some kind of remake of 'Electric Dreams':

More than just the story of the rebirth of a man pummeled by an unhappy breakup, Her really gave me food for thought about ideas of dependence of computers/phones/gadgets, the idea of love of a imagined soul/voice instead of a physical form, and loneliness and modern-day isolation.

I take back my previous post about Blue Jasmine and decided that I want Her to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. A truly modern, and truly original, anti-fairytale romance.

We released a song this year (written last year, before I knew about Her) that, in its brief lyrical content, touches on the idea of computers/artificial intelligence/robots becoming human.

"You see/what I see/with new eyes/like a dream/touch me/and my touchscreen"

LINK to the song here/free download: Open Source Robotics (Touch Me)

FILM: Oscar Bait

(Yeah, that's a 'Planet of the Apes' ape getting up from his seat at the 1968 Oscars; I want more of that)

So, the 2014 Oscar nominations came out this morning, at 3:17 a.m. or some such crazy nonsense. There was the usual huffing and puffing about what was or was not nominated (and rightfully so), but you have to admit, the PR departments really work a number on the voters in the Academy. How else could all those dreadful songs be nominated year-after-year?

Here is my takedown of the (main) nominees. We know 'Gravity' will win all the technical awards anyway.

Best Picture - Do any other Oscar nerds long for the days of a five-picture category (like they used for decades on end)? It's the equivalent to 21st century parenting, where every child gets a trophy. But seriously, NINE Best Picture noms? Let's pretend it's anytime from the 1940s-2000s and say that the true Top Five would be: American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, Wolf of Wall Street (begrudgingly) and Nebraska (dark horse); the Best Director nom's would be the five above (which the Academy agreed with).

Best Actor - I won't quibble with any of the noms, except for Matthew McConaughey (his last name is a proofreader's nightmare.) He won the Golden Globe for it this past Sunday so he'll probably win, but the role just screams Oscar Bait (disease=check; losing weight for the role=check; playing opposite a trans character (if you can't be trans yourself)=check) and I guess the storyline of McConaughey's Second Coming in acting is gaining steam. But c'mon, he did 'Sahara', 'Failure to Launch' and about 235 other horrible movies over the last 20 years. I bet Robert Redford was pissed. Many thought he was a shoe-in for what may be one of his last acting roles.

Best Actress - This is a stellar category this year and is pretty much Bullock vs. Blanchett (Cate for the win). But Streep deserves the nom (she's the glue that holds that wobbly movie together) and although she's MERYL, she's always so damn good you kind of just give in and think she deserves it every time. Does anyone really want to see that 'Philomena' movie? Ugh. I mean I love me some Dame Judi, but couldn't Julie Delpy have slipped in for her fantastic work in 'Before Midnight'? More on her later...

Best Supporting Actor - This is my most problematic category this year. It's going to go to Jared Leto already. You just know. Something about him and his acceptance speech at the GGs was so smug. Plus, you know, he has that band 30 Seconds to Mars. Ugh. But the others? Abdi=novelty. Hill=was he really THAT good? And who would have thought, while watching 'Superbad,' that that doofus would have two Oscar noms under his belt before he turned 30. Cooper=eh, he was fine. Fassbender for the real win.

Best Supporting Actress - All of these performances were very, very nom worthy, except one. And naturally, that's the one that's probably going to win. Jennifer Lawrence already won the GG for the role but, please. Sure, it was a fun, sassy performance but the main fault of the performance was that the role was totally miscast. The character is clearly not supposed to be a 23 year old woman who looks 19. Her work in 'The Hunger Games' was more believable.

Cinematography - 'Gravity' will win and probably should. Surprised there wasn't a nom for 'The Great Gatsby' here. It was a hollow movie with an absolutely stunning look. The sludgy, dirty, dank 'Prisoners' was nominated instead?

Screenplay - Adapted - Shut out elsewhere, I hope the longshot 'Before Midnight' wins. This is the 2nd film in the trilogy to be nominated for Best Screenplay. My question though - How is this an 'adapted' screenplay? Adapted from....?

Screenplay - Original - Mmmm...'Blue Jasmine'. Who knew Woody Allen could still bring it?

Costumes - 'Gatsby' =nominated and deserves to win. Like Cinematography, that movies' saving grace is its look. But it didn't get nominated for make-up/hair (huh? '20s looks on a cast of hundreds of extras)? No, silly, it was too busy being presented to 'Bad Grandpa' and 'The Lone Ranger.' Huh??

Doc Feature - No 'Blackfish'??
Foreign - No 'Blue is...'??

Original Song - Karen O. is the only 'original' in this boring list. Make her an Oscar winner!

Original Score - Arcade Fire meets Final Fantasy for the win!

FILM/TV: Baby Love, My Baby Love

Viral videos have been the new wave of advertising for years now, but how do marketers keep them fresh? By the new wave of 'punk'd/prank viral videos' of course. There was one for the remake of Carrie last fall, with a fake telekinetic girl in a coffeeshop going nutso and throwing a man against a wall, while making books fly off the shelves and tables flip; it was a so-so video promoting a so-so remake.

This afternoon graces us with a new viral video for another horror film, Devil's Due, one of those January/February Hollywood dumping ground films that are done on the cheap and make bucketloads. But there's something special in this viral video: comedy meets horror. Who doesn't love an infant gone wild? OK, well, new parents.

The FX crew has rigged up a remote-controlled stroller with said creeped out baby inside. I'm assuming this babydoll doesn't even star in the film (I think it's a film about possessed pregnancy mainly) but said baby may end up being the biggest star in this whole scenario.

The baby jolts upward at unsuspecting peekers, screeches like a howler monkey, looks demonic, controls its own stroller, bores a NYC janitor (1:02), bursts through a collection of bad paintings (1:08), dislikes the menu at a cafe (1:20), freaks out at a LARK driver (1:22), spews vomit (1:24), scares a dog (1:30), confuses a mentally ill man (1:33), and rightfully screams at a swarm of pigeons (1:37).

If that doesn't sell your movie in the 21st century, then nothing will.

TV: Boys who like 'Girls' to be Girls Who Like Boys

Season 3 of 'Girls' premiered this week and I still don't know what to make of it. We always knew this show would be a navel-gazing, fake-problems stacked, eye-roll inducing twentysomething smorgasbord, but there were always truth kernels, clever dialogue and a few genuinely touching moments in Seasons 1 and 2.

Where did the problems start? What have the symptoms been?

I particularly liked the dark turn Season 2 took, but found Hannah's instant OCD affliction a bit phony. We're just hearing about this now?? In Episode 19 of the show? The new season starts out with this cutesy, gross shot of Hannah swallowing her "OCD control pill" and boyfriend Adam making her open her mouth and stick out her tongue to make sure she took the pill. Coz, you know, most OCD sufferers would want to fake taking the pill so it wouldn't be under control and their lives can spiral out of control. Point being: pill taken; sitcom control over debilitating disease: done. May we never speak of it again.

Only in the world of fairytale NYC, can three twentysomething New Yorkers take multiple days off from their 'jobs'(?) to take a long and winding road trip upstate to pick up a friend. Although Jessa was the naughty, real-talk spark of the first two seasons, her stint at rehab seems phoned in. Her role as the snarky, bored-with-it-all, jaded princess of group therapy is a cliche. A pissed-off therapy member throwing a drink in her face is a wonderful wake-up call to Jessa's character and the show. Can we throw a pitcher of Kool-Aid in Lena Dunham's face to wake her up?

Apparently Hannah is writing a book about....something? Life? Coffee shops? Ill-advised, shapeless haircuts (if you're gonna go for the pixie cut, go REAL pixie.) She's veering dangerously close into 'The Real World: London' Jay's territory and his obsession with "My play! My play!" Her book! Her book!

We're only on Episode 3 next week, so there is plenty of time to turn this ship around and make things a bit more real and less...Freshman year on a bad day.

To quote Belle & Sebastian: "You wrote a book about yourself/The people left it on the shelf/Write another one/Now you've got a story that's worth talking about."

FILM: January: Multnomah County

I've been dying to see 'August: Osage County' since I lived in Chicago and missed it the first time round (it premiered there before going to Broadway), well before it had designs on being made into a film. It was the only 'Oscar bait' film I was awaiting this Christmas season.

After several weeks (because Hollywood appears to think Portland is a 3rd ring suburb of Peoria), the movie finally opened here this weekend. I finally got to see the adaptation of this Tony- and Pulitzer Award-winning play.

Eh.

I have to agree with my friend Byrd who I saw it with that although the acting by most of the cast was the highlight, but the direction was as flat as the Oklahoman landscape and the sense of place was completely lost. Osage County, Iowa? Kentucky? Nevada?

Meryl Streep has her more tics than a Lyme disease-ridden forest but dammit if she doesn't nail an accent and just out-act anyone who dares come within two feet of her acting safety circle. The woman has chompers that will eat up Juliette Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney and even Julia Roberts in one bite. And that's saying something; Julia's mile-wide mouth is in rare form. The stretched out lips drawn in a sharp scowl for 75% of the runtime, open to snap at her cheating husband, petulant daughter, a turkey sandwich.

The centerpiece of the film is a family meal with the whole cast that lasts for a good 30 minutes. A combo of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' meets 'Boys in the Band' for sheer malicious attacks, this is the meat and potatoes of the whole experience. The barbs shine like finely tuned knives, so everything after feels like a slowly deflating, one-hour denouement, not without moments of excellence.

More mercenary dialogue between parents and children, less running after a mother through a wheatfield. I don't think that last item was in the stage version.

TV: Nixx These Pixx?

American Horror Story: Coven aired its much hyped 'Stevie Nicks' episode on 1-8-14, and there were many shawls (and much shade) being thrown at the screen, and the season.

Although Stevie did appear, playing herself-ish, was it really necessary to give her two musical moments in the episode? Her final appearance, playing the quite lovely track "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?", was almost a music video starring Jessica Lange crying on a fainting couch, as one does. But what or who was she crying for?

The problem with the beautiful tableaux and camp on top of camp bitch fights is that it seems like all frosting and no cake. The fear, the bite, and the real darkness of Season 2 (and even some of Season 1) is gone in favor of a 'lightening up' that has lead to an almost inconsequential air over the whole season. If no one truly dies on this season, where is the scare when they actually, you know...die in an episode? They'll be buried or covered in swamp mud or have a hand waved over them and reappear in a matter of scenes. There's nothing at stake and therefore an endless cycle never stops. Even Patti LuPone's minor character has been reborn, only to die(?) again this episode while chugging down a bottle of bleach.

Only three episodes left. Who will be the Supreme? Who's alive again? Or undead? Or getting their 10 minute allotment this episode?

I hope the fourth season (Lange's last) will bring back the darkness, scares and bite that made 'Asylum' so downright harrowing. Even Myrtle playing the theremin (the musical highpoint of the episode) can't completely save the episode.

MUSIC: Chemical Robotics - a New Single

I'm not just a humble blog writer. I also happen to be one half of an electronic pop band.

www.microfilmmusic.com

We have a new single out to celebrate the turn of the new year. it is titled Chemical Robotics. The first track Chemical Wings (Drop Unconscious mix) is a remix of the first track off of our 2013 album AggroPastels; the remix turns it into a stomping tech-house beauty, reminiscent of Moby' remix of Pet Shop Boys's 'Miserablism' a bit. Listen here:

Chemical Wings (Drop Unconscious mix)

The b-side, Open Source Robotics (Touch Me), is a storming, acid house tinged banger that wouldn't be out of place on Daft Punk's Discovery album. The song carries on from the theme of AggroPastels track 'Brass-Knuckled Bowie' and the idea of androids becoming more and more human, craving the emotional response of humans. Listen here:

Open Source Robotics (Touch Me)

The subtitle is a tongue-in-cheek wink to the 1987 Samantha Fox trashy hit 'Touch Me (I Wanna Feel Your Body)'; nothing like a reverse parenthetical title to keep things interesting.

The cover artwork is by Australian graphic designer Grant Cook, who's had previously graced the cover of our 2009 International Velvet EP.

As with a healthy portion of the music we create, it is a FREE DOWNLOAD (did you see those ALL CAPS?) at our Bandcamp page: http://microfilm.bandcamp.com/album/chemical-robotics

We have our whole back catalog on that Bandcamp page, so feel free to explore and download/purchase, if you like.

TV: Downton Crabby

So, Season 4 of Downton Abbey is upon us. I approach it with trepidation. There are some benefits though. Simpering, wimpering, blonde and floppy Matthew has been axed by creator Julian Fellowes. Not sure who ordained him "fan favorite" or Matthew and Mary as the "couple we're all rooting for." Ugh. I was rooting for Sybil and Tom; look what happened.

But I have to say I'm most enamored of Edith's new take-charge attitude and dare-to-be 1922 sexy (a strapless gown?!) It's Edith, so I'm waiting for her new love interest to a) have a family elsewhere and still be married b) be a crook c) be gay and closeted. But can the creators really drop another boulder on Lady E.? I mean, will we see four seasons of her emotionally being destroyed now?

Jan Brady of post-WWI England must survive.

Welcome to Rude!

An oil painting of Sean Connery as a masseuse's client is a perfect introductory image for this blog, Rude, and examination of my own personal taste in music, movies, TV, pop culture, gender, fine art, design, etc.

How does one define 'Rude'? Not only as someone who has no manners but as an exclamation I've used for decades now. When something is gross, creepy, odd but still intriguing enough to talk about.

Will 'rude' always relate to the image/video/art/etc. posted on this blog? No, of course not, but one must always come up with a title for something, sometimes on the spur of the moment. Hence...Rude.

More to come.

Much more.

Matt