I have been very excited about the beginning of this season of Lost for quite some time. My excitement was augmented by my meeting/sitting next to Matt Fox (Jack Shepherd) on a plane from Seattle to Redmond, OR in late December. Alas, last night I was not able to watch the show, so I will watch it today. However, this morning’s blog feeds did not bode well for episode 401. From Commentary’s blog Contentions comes this short post. And I quote:

Gibberish. It was absolute and total gibberish. Once again, it simply set up a series of new unanswered peculiarities rather than doing a thing to address the 27 plotlines its writers have already laid out. In particular, the revelation that Dr. Jack’s doctor father is also an Invisible Man living in a cabin on the Lost Island — if you’ve never watched, don’t ask — relocated Lost to the land of camp. I don’t think there is now any question that the writers and producers of Lost are just making it up as they go along, that they have created mysteries without first knowing the solutions and that, when they reach a dead end, they just make up another mystery. We’ve been had.

Damn it. Of course, this is exactly the crap that every Lost fan is afraid of, and exactly the type of writing that convinced me in the middle of Season 2 to stop watching (I decided to keep watching, in the end). I hope my feelings on the episode are somewhat less negative, but I doubt it.

Cheers.

First off starting around January 28th (I still don’t know the official day/time) I am back on the air. You can hear me on BSR Live either on the internet or the radio in Providence, RI on 88.1 WELH. That being said I have been trying to drag myself back into the wretched world of music review. Luckily, there are some good projects in the works. I will try to write up some reviews of what I have found clanking around the internet or the radio station. To start off I wanted to mention “Murder Mystery” and their new and lengthily named album “Are You Ready for the Heartache Because Here it Comes.” This is their debut and it hits stores very soon. It is a fun little jaunt through the world of twee indie rock. It never really sinks into the realm of “precious kitsch ” but comes absurdly close while still being most excellent. In their pre-release promo material they claim a grand heritage ranging from Lou Reed to early Beatles to Magnetic Fields. While that is all well and good their sound definitely seems to hew more closely to The Jesus and Mary Chain and Beat Happening. They have more contemporary pop sensibility than either of those but follow in that more narrow tradition than anything else they have been hyped to be. It has an intimate lyrical quality while giving a nod to the more rock-a-billy elements of American music while dabbling in pop sounds. The overall effect is quite pleasing. They definitely make memorable splashes on a couple tracks and the rest are not bad at all. I have a feeling that people will be eagerly awaiting a second album. (more…)

I can remember quite well back to my days of youth listening to children’s albums (they were tapes back then). I am sure I could still belt out a rough sketch of ‘Baby Beluga’ or ‘Bananaphone.’ I remember going to see ‘Sharon, Lois, & Bram’ at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum (the largest in the world no less). However, children’s music was always kind of odd for me. I can remember happily listening to children’s tunes on Nickelodeon but I also started watching MTV when I was about 6 or 7. This was when they still played almost exclusively music videos. There was an odd likeness between these two channels. The kids songs on Nickelodeon (i.e. ‘The Cat Came Back’ and pretty much everything on Sharon, Lois & Bram) were always coordinated with cartoons or video essentially making them into the children’s equivalent of MTV music videos. The real counterpoint was the child like nature of a lot of MTV music videos. I remember being enthralled with ‘They Might Be Giants’ and ‘Ah Ha’ music videos. So I have always been a big believer in the Disney and Pixar philosophy that just because its for kids doesn’t mean it has to be dull or simplistic. The converse also being true. Music listeners often time forget that even ‘adult’ tunes can be quite whimsical and even… childish. Therefore, enter indie rock children’s CD’s. ‘For The Kids 3‘ is clearly not the first stab at this (it is 3 after all) but it does an excellent job. (more…)

So it’s been two weeks to the day that I’ve had my iPhone, and although my overall opinion on the device has not changed (still excellent), I do have some definite concerns and fixes that I would like to see implemented in the next software revision, as well as some clear design flaws that should be fixed before the next revision. I will, in no way, review the lack of features … I am getting sick of people saying nothing more than “it should have 3G/HSPDA and GPS”. Well no kidding, it should have a built in projector, blender and tazer too, but it doesn’t … get over it. You can always keep adding an endless slew of hardware features but at some point you have to produce a device: I still think they did a nice job regardless of these shortcomings. I also don’t want to hear any more about AT&T locking and EDGE shortcomings. I am sick of this.

Things that I’d like to see in the first software update:

That’s what I’ve got so far. Cheers.

One of the most stunning aspects that Akron/Family brings to the album and the live show is the fact that they are completely engaged in their own sound. This comes through most noticeably in their completely unabashed devotional Raise the Sparks (definitely watch this video… it is the band at their finest… only problem is the vocal recording is not mixed quite right). They have no problem wandering into gospel territory with a kind of tribalistic sound because they are so sure (or at least nonchalant) in their own sound. This was especially pointed in Chicago where their gospel blues influence stood out as a historical thread (something they explicitly mentioned). This made it that much harder to switch gears into a different kind of scene and sound for acosta and my second night of music. We somehow stumbled on a South by Southwest (the world’s premier indie music festival in Austin, TX) pre-game show at the Hideout. The show rampaged from noon until midnight miming the style of SxSW. Bands played 30 minute sets, back to back to back. Acosta and I were there a little late (say 7:00 to 11:00) to see The M’s and Maritime specifically. The music was fine and the venue was great but there was a palpable difference in the two nights of music. (more…)

Living in the City By The Lake has many perks and a vibrant, independent music and art scene is one of them. Hardly a week goes by without new contemporary music of all stripes played in every place from concert halls to seedy bars. Last weekend was especially fine since acosta and myself were able to take in some culture and finally get a chance to see the much loved vdov favorites Akron/Family. We also stumbled into the official Chicago SxSW pre-game send-off for the Midwest bands that are now hitting the stages at the country’s most venerable independent music festival. Both shows were quite interesting but quite different. The venues are seemingly similar but it belies their differences. It gave a good insight into the strange topology of the independent music scene in Chicago and elsewhere. (more…)

Its not often that I get a chance to flex my Religious Studies major but I thought it would be a good time for a bit of a rant and a bit of a book review. The book is about media manipulation, hype, and how they butt up against scholarly research. By way of opening remember the Da Vinci Code, the book by Dan Brown and movie. Remember all the hype and hoopla associated with it. The book and movie’s main character, a symbologist (although he is clearly a semiotitician but that is a much harder word isn’t it?), is drawn into a web of danger, intrigue, and crafty thousand year old puzzles surrounding the ultimate secret of Christianity… that Jesus had a wife! Now that has sunk in and you are back in your chair don’t worry. For advertising purposes you were probably made to think that this is new, unheard of previously, and a shocking idea. However, this particular “heresy” is almost as old as the canonical gospels themselves and has long been known to scholars of ancient Christianity and early Gnostic sects of Christianity. Not exactly ideas that will crumble modern Christianity. I thought the vdov readership might like a book that unmasks this kind of sensationalism for what it is. (more…)

Somewhere, once, and I don’t remember where I read a review of Scotland Yard Gospel Choir and I was immediately interested. However, I was not able to get my hands on an album and they didn’t have any music online (this has changed… they now have a great website with wonderful links and a lot of media at sygc.com). So they have been on my back burner for a long time. Luckily, the band is local to Chicago and they played last night at The Empty Bottle. As an added bonus it turned out to be the record release party for their new single “Then and Not a Moment Before” (also “In Hospital” and “Lamppost”, a demo, on the single). Even better it turns out that a friend knows about the band and between shots of Makers Mark (him not me) related some back story. Apparently they have had some rough times and member of the band left for other venues but now they are playing better than ever (or so the story goes). They also recently shopped deals with some major record labels and if the show was any indication it won’t be long. (more…)

I mentioned that Of Montreal has a brand new album that is just leaking all over the internet. The leak’s not a bad thing it’s a good thing. Everyone loves it! The name is Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? The so-called-single is “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse” and it now officially has a music video. The only problem is that this video is the worst parts of the 60’s all rolled into one. It is everything awful in the protein hippie synthesis video. However, the song is quite good. The only problem is that the video cheapens the song by making the concept of the album completely explicit in the irony of the video, destroying the fragile layer of belief suspension that allows you to listen to the intensely personal ravings of Kevin Barnes and come out the other side seeing the beauty. The introversion of the album is painted with a silliness that is the hallmark [of] Of Montreal and the what strings it all together is the belief that underneath it all Barnes really means it and isn’t just taking us all for a ride. There is a small hope that artistically the album is not just glam-rock doused with feelings and that it is really feelings dusted with glam. The video would work with something more pat and disposable as an ironic statement but in the context of Hissing Fauna it falls far short of what it could be. That being said, it is still fun and maybe that is the weird beauty [of] Of Montreal. You can’t completely love or hate it and there is a certain art in that. Well, take a peek and enjoy the music even if it means blocking the visual. (more…)

It might be a bit of a lie to call this a comic review. Basically, I am just repeating to our readers something awesome that I found a while back. I know that couple of you at least will be interested. I have had (at the prodding of Mr. Meyers) a little experience with locksport, or rather the recreational art of lock picking. There are sites and groups dedicated to the activity but lock picking has long been a side part of “hacker” and general nerd culture. It is just something about defeating the hard (or not so hard in some cases) work of others. There are basic rules of conduct to it as well, so as to distinguish between the lock enthusiast and the thief. The main one being that one should never pick a lock that they do not own or have been given explicit instruction to do so by the owner. That is the general gist of it. I am still not very good and it specifically relates to my lack of tools. I know that I should have made my own set of picks but I opted for the easy way out and bought a small, basic set. Now you might be wondering where all of this is going? Well its going to the educational comic made by Locksport International! Basically they took Apple’s new Comic Life software for making homebrew comics and used it to teach the art of lock picking. No more will you be forced to learn from some IT Geek or dry MIT created text only walkthrough. Now you can get the basics in colorful comic form, which actually makes it all that much easier to follow. I think instructional comics are largely underrated and would love to see more of them. Anyway I think it is well worth a gander whether you are interested in picking locks or just want to see a good use of Comic Life.

• LSI Guide to Lock Picking: A Locksport Primer

Despite having one of the best given names of any artist Robert Crumb is also undoubtedly one of America’s best cartoonists. His work is whimsical, freakish, volatile, offensive, crude, off-base, and completely fantastic (in a certain sense). Crumb’s work is so undeniably strange that one is left to imagine what kind of person he is, what his family is like, what his childhood was like, and what kind of drugs he was on. “Crumb” is the painfully revealing documentary with all of those answers. It is part comedy, part tragedy, and much like Crumb’s work, revealing of all the pathos and pure weirdness rumbling under the surface of society. The movie delves deep into Crumb’s brain and pulls out a lot of what makes his art tick. If you aren’t familiar with R. Crumb there are plenty of websites that show off his work and he even runs his own personal/family site. There is a very good biography of Crumb at Salon.com. Do remember though that Crumb’s art can be pretty damn offensive, racist, and misogynistic. He is widely respected but has a distinct dark side that many find unacceptable. With all of the oddity involved in his work you might imagine he is some kind of vulgar weirdo and in a certain sense you would be exactly right, but he is not necessarily what you expect. The documentary is intensely personal and more than a little horrifying (or sad it is hard to tell sometimes). (more…)

Of Montreal is a band that I did not care for until I heard their Sunlandic Twins album. Their previous albums seem to fall outside the range of my normal tastes and never reached a novelty or strength of sound to draw me towards them. This might have been a failure of appreciation on my part but I do consider Sunlandic Twins to be their best work so far (if you don’t mind youtube college weenies for the last one)… by far. Before this album I thought they were fun and interesting but not necessarily that great, but afterwards I realized they are really just that good. With Sunlandic they pulled off a piece de resistance that is not easily matched. However, with their new “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer” they get as close as they can.

This album does not officially come out until January 23, 2007. However, it has been sufficiently leaked that every song is available online and can be found through the aggregating glory of The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws. So I feel compelled to review it. (more…)