| Monday, April 30, 2001 10:31 p.m. PST |
| i finished watching neon genesis evangelion in its entirety earlier today, and all i can say is: what a complete mindfuck. uncharacteristically inarticulate, i realize, but the denouement inspired in me a fundamental disbelief and a sense of unfulfillment. not to say that i'm the type that requires a happy ending to every story, but psychological testing indicates that i have a high need for closure. and i personally received none from either of the two endings submitted for audience approval. for those of you who haven't seen the series, i'll refrain from going into specifics.
evangelion is an emotionally draining saga to witness, to say the least. the questions and implications it raises about human frailty are not comfortable ones to ponder. still, like most great art, it gets the rusty gears of the Western mind churning on subjects including but not limited to: religion, social interaction, nature vs. nurture, and the neuroses of adolescence. the viewing experience is at times difficult, and i haven't yet received the cathartic payoff, but i expect that someday i will. in the genre of thought-provoking surrealist sci-fi, it's on par with 2001 and blade runner. in fact, it's so transcendent it was even aired on public television in the bay area last year. public television, people. so it has to be quality, or, more specifically, it's got that hipsterish impress-your-friends cachet that i know y'all just eat up like so much sushi. ya freakin' culture-junkies. |
| Sunday, April 29, 2001 05:25 a.m. PST |
| it's 5:26 am. do you know where your blogger is? 'course you do. he's sitting in front of the computer, clattering away at the keyboard, as per usual. friday night, a couple of friends and i headed up to the city to see the orb live. we'd planned on hitting amoeba music first, but i got lost because i didn't notice that the online directions i'd printed out said to take 280, while i'd automatically taken 101, as is customary for my metropolitan excursions. we soon managed to get stuck behind the monthly bicyclic macroorganism known as critical mass for several blocks, and then we meandered aimlessly through the city until we seredipitously found ourselves at the maritime hall.
alex paterson tours with 3 others guys: witchman, autolump, and simon philips. each wirehead came out individually to dj a set, and then the united group emerged to perform as the orb. i can't really recall now, but i believe it was autolump who spun the lamest set, putting on unmitigated bluegrass from the 40s between his more clubby tracks. the other individuals had their ups and downs, and the unified whole was similarly mediocre. normally i attend shows for the high energy level and crowd enthusiasm, but the orb delivered a fairly sedate performance to a disinterested-looking (yet fairly large) crowd. some of the beats were appealing, but all in all i think i could've done without 'em. my two compatriots were disappointed that the band didn't play "toxygene," one of their three best-known songs (can you name the other two? can ya? huh?), so they made me stay until ten minutes after the bitter end to make sure they weren't doing an encore. finally, we departed. in conclusion, i can't fucking believe i blew 20 bucks on that show. further proof that techno, like most of the world's baser pleasures, is best experienced at home.
one last thing: due to the overwhelming lack of expressed interest, i've decided against posting any more videos. robert tells me "dig for fire" hasn't gotten that many hits anyway, so i'm going to take it down in a couple of days. leech while you may. |
| Wednesday, April 25, 2001 08:28 p.m. PST |
| has anyone else noticed that pitchfork has been doling out a few more 8.x+ ratings than usual lately? maybe they think 2001's more of a banner year for music than last year. personally, i haven't yet decided. due to extreme laziness (and lack of proximal availability), i've only made it to the record store twice this year. of course, both times i bought 8 or 9 discs, as per usual whenever i go without a sonic fix for so long. and now that i think about it, i suppose this year is shaping up to be superior to last year, musically speaking. currently on my purchase list are the latest from unwound, the plan & juno, the beauty pill, and the mercury program. and maybe some other stuff too, if i so decide. i'll be by amoeba records in sf friday night, right before we go see the orb at the maritime hall. i'm not a huge fan of ravers, but it'll be worth it to see robert get his groove on, as he promised he would. |
| Monday, April 23, 2001 08:27 p.m. PST |
| feeling a little dissatisfied with life? has the daily work-sleep-work routine sorta lost its luster for ya, and are you now caught up in existentialist dilemmas of sufficient gravity to make Camus slit his wrists? well, just leave it to 'ol deen to bring meaning to your ridiculously pointless lives. i bring you zeropaid.com, fount of all things peer-to-peer. sign up with a coupla these services and i guarantee it'll become an obsession. my current drug of choice is bearshare, on which i've spent most of today searching for episodes of the critically acclaimed anime miniseries neon genesis evangelion. if you haven't checked evangelion out yet, you're fucking nuts, even if you're not a huge anime freak, and that's all i have to say about that. but you can get anything with these apps: music, warez, movies, porn, and whatever else turns your proverbial crank. but consider this a warning: you have to have a pretty big hole in your life for something this huge not to ruin it or at least slow it down drastically.
last night i saw enon and the toadies in sf. i seriously dug the new songs enon played; and the crowd seemed sorta into them. they seem a little esoteric to be supporting a southern metal outfit like the toadies, but whatever, i'm just glad i got to catch them live. i picked up a t-shirt, which i'm wearing right now. the toadies were pretty ehh. . . most'a y'all woulda hated 'em. for those who've only heard their 1995 radio hit "possum kingdom," they're pretty basic stp-ish alt-metal with southern-inflected playing and singing. they did cap their encore with a faithful, distortion-laden rendition of "where is my mind," though, so they deserve props for that.
between the two sets, a huge projection screen dropped down in front of the stage and broadcast about 30 minutes of ultraman's greatest hits. now i like giant silver guys kicking space monster ass in tokyo as much (actually, a lot more) than the next guy, but the uninterrupted barrage of clips got just a tad tedious toward the end. i mean, how many different ways can you bodyslam a giant armadillo? |
| Saturday, April 21, 2001 01:43 p.m. PST |
| you guys are so mean to me. i do my best to bring you the best of my original music and priceless opinions, and y'all can't even pay me the respect of signing my frickin' guestbook. and i know who my regular visitors are from my stats service; or at least the colleges they attend. so, shame on all of you.
but i love ya, i really do, and that's why i'm giving you all a present: the entire video for the pixies' "dig for fire/allison" in mpeg format. now you can witness its pretension and utter inappropriateness, which i discussed several weeks ago, for yourselves. the file is about 45 megs large, and low-speed connections run the risk of being dropped. so enjoy, and if some of y'all sign my guestbook i might post some more videos. if i feel like it. |
| Friday, April 20, 2001 12:14 a.m. PST |
| i do so love it when someone informs me i've made a difference in the scene. like today, when i received an email from frank stewart, former guitarist for art-punk/prog-rock synergists durian, whose album sometimes you scare me made #3 on my top 10 list last year. frank informed me that durian broke up in february, due to lineup instability and the other oft-cited bullshit that breaks underground bands up. but those of you who made the near-fatal mistake of sleeping on durian have a chance for redemption: three of the guys have founded a new band appropriately dubbed skilled labor with two additional cohorts. i fully expect the same level of quality evident in durian's wonderfully intricate compositions. they've got an upcoming show at 882 North Harrison Drive, Arlington, VA on April 20; i strongly exhort the entire southeastern indie-rock population to show the fuck up.
vh1 had a special on this evening about the history of punk rock. i'd recommend it to anyone at all interested in the music, though little of it was new for me or, i imagine, anyone else with a general knowledge of the 70s and 80s underground. especially interesting for me was the two minutes vh1 devoted to bad brains. no stupid voiceover, just artists (mainly zack from ratm and dave grohl) giving the brains props with their music blaring in the background. although the band's lack of recognition among the indie press and fans never surprised me, it's always nice to spread the gospel to new initiates. i love being able to point to them and say "yeah, there's a precedent for what i do. right there." i mean, i'm not rastafarian, but i do enjoy rocking out, even if i don't approach the brains' chops yet. so there's two bands not to ignore: skilled labor and bad brains. who else were you gonna spend your money on? |
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