u2roolz

Great article. I agree with Brian Eno.

 

Apparently, there's a giant wind tunnel coming at him.

Perhaps some artists feel that the non-singles are just filler and why bother releasing them if they don't play them live. It's almost as if they never happened.

To use Analogman's Ryan Adams example, I don't really recall every song off of Cardinology. He played about 5 songs off of the cd when I saw him last. So if one releases singles and they become big because it's only one song to grow on maybe an artist will play that live and then dig back deeper into their catalog. LOL. Edit: The LOL is there because digging back deeper usually means the album tracks.

 

It only really satisfies a record company to have more than whatever 10 songs to put out from time to time.

 

For Wilco, maybe they could release a song once every 2 months that was left off of SBS & W(TA) on their site or iTunes. That way they'll have a tabula rasa (hey I'm a Lost fan so..) when it's time for their next record.

 

All of that being said I still love getting an album, but if that alone is stopping me/us from getting stuff then we should think outside the box.

Edit: Speaking of boxes, this whole idea of releasing one song at a time is really trying to put an end to the "box set". Granted, most artists will eventually put these standalone songs onto a box set.

What does this guy have to do with Aerosmith?

As someone who has had a fluctuation in funds in the past few years, I buy a lot of music at iTunes. Now, the only cds I will buy are from people like Wilco, U2, R.E.M., & Pearl Jam to name a few.

Since I became a big user of my several iPods I found it strange to keep buying cds, since I don't play them as much. I can tell the difference in sound, but I don't want to get into an accident by changing my cds while driving. That's why we invented text messaging.

 

Once things turn around for me financially, I may switch back to all cd since there is only an extra 2-4 dollar difference. But then it comes back to the cd collecting dust as I put said cd onto my iPod.

 

Directed to OP: A friend of mine, Bryan Pero, is a musician who still hasn't put out his cd yet. One of his friends, Patrick Dunn, has his album on iTunes. Which to me seems pretty good, since you save on pressing costs. But then the question arises as to how people find out about someone like that. I guess maybe at his shows he sells his album and/or tells folks to buy it on iTunes? Both folks record out of Dirt Floor Studios in CT run by Eric Lichter. For anyone that is curious.

 

That's kind of how I feel. A half shrug about to applaud. And no I'm not a 70 year old sex therapist seen on beyond late night tv.

 

As someone from the Boston area, I guess I'm one of the few who never really like them.

 

Edit: Granted, I feel bad for the diehard Aerosmith fans. Although, the cynic in me feels like this is the beginning of a long scheme leading up to the next summer concert season where they announce their reunion/farewell tour that will last 2-3 years.

My Top Films of 2001 (in release date order).

 

15 Minutes

Memento

Blow

Moulin Rouge

A.I.

Made

Ghost World

The Others

Zoolander

Mulholland Drive (definitely my favorite of this year and will be up in the Top Five for decade)

Waking Life

Donnie Darko

The Man Who Wasn't There

Tape

In The Bedroom

Ocean's 11

The Royal Tenenbaums

Vanilla Sky

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

A Beautiful Mind

Black Hawk Down

 

I guess this was a big year for films for me. 21 seems like a bit much especially if I'm trying to whittle them down to the whole decade. LOL.

Oh well, I felt compelled to list all 21 here since I own them all and cherish them.

 

Honorable Mention: The Million Dollar Hotel, Wet Hot American Summer, Serendipity, Training Day (King Kong ain't got nothin' on me!!!), & From Hell

Yep.

I'm very thankful for this.

Are 8 posts a record for getting the boot from VC? It's clear that this guy/girl came on here to cause stuff. Or am I generalizing too?

 

Anyways, it was good reading while one suffers a sudden onslaught of insomnia.

 

And kudos to Kidsmoke for handling the situation. My lunch money is safe...or is it?

This is me after "the incident"...

I'm glad to see films like Before Sunset, A Scanner Darkly, and Northfork in here.

 

I'm a bit surprised to see Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind missing. This film has stuck with me since I saw it in January of 2003. While I won't go into everything that I loved about it right now, I'll start off by saying that George Clooney did a hell of a job first time feature film directing. Sam Rockwell was fucking amazing. Newton Thomas Sigel's camera work was beyond beautiful - all of those old fashion in-camera tricks was insane. As well as the use of desaturated/saturated colors. Charlie Kaufman adapted Chuck Barris' "autobiography". Overall, it was the story that hooked me in.

 

Ok, that is all.

 

Edit: I'll leave you with my Best Films of 2000 (in release date order)

The Ninth Gate

High Fidelity

American Psycho

The Virgin Suicides

Almost Famous

Requiem For A Dream

The Gift

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Traffic

Shadow Of The Vampire

Beltmann, I would love to see your syllabus for that Film as Social Criticism class. I've always wanted to teach a film class like that. One of my greatest memories of going to film school was watching a film with my peers and having us discuss it.

That's a mighty fine list of films. A lot of directors that I respect and love up there.

LOL. That may look like my list when I finalize it.

Although, I haven't seen Amores Perros. I have been told amazing things about it.

Bubba Ho-Tep I actually just bought this past summer for a dollar at a going out of business sale. I have yet to watch it.

 

Edit: My preliminary list didn't have Magnolia on it. Probably because my reference site (thenumbers) has it listed as being released in 1999.

It got a wide release on January 7, 2000. Damn. Another PTA film I have to fit in.

 

This is going to be like that deleted scene in High Fidelity where Cusack keeps calling the music critic with his Top Five List changes. lol.

 

I already have my mind made on one specific list: The Best Martin Scorsese Film of this Decade.

 

The Suspects:

2002's Gangs Of New York

2004's The Aviator

2005's No Direction Home

2006's The Departed

2008's Shine A Light

 

The Aviator closely beats out The Departed but not by too much in my book. One of the "downfalls" of The Departed is on the repeat viewings. Granted this proved to be one of the most shocking somewhat satisfying endings ever. But once you've seen it you tend to pay attention to all that precedes it. This is all amazing stuff to keep you completely in the story, but we all know how it's going to end. Maybe it's best a film to watch after a couple of years with plot amnesia.

 

I really think Leonardo DiCaprio's best performance came in The Aviator. For this reason it sets it higher than The Departed. While I don't like comparing things like this, it is fun to see how one judges one's films of a director against their other works. The supporting cast all put in fine work : Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, & Jude Law.

 

The other single reason that I put this above is the cinematography. Scosese and Robert Richardson did something that really set the film apart and above other historical biopics. They fooled around with the color palette. For the 1st hour or so the scenes have the colors red and cyan blue, leaving out the color green completely. This was done by Scorsese to give the film the look of the old bipack color films & multicolor system (which was owned by Howard Hughes) which left the same effect. Once you get past the 1935 point of the story, the look of the film takes on the saturated old three strip technicolor look. Seeing this in the theater really blew me away. It took me to a time that I could never get to, unless if I rented an old movie from netflix.

 

Edit: Here's a page I found that has a lot of beautiful stills from The Aviator. With examples of both processes I mentioned. I also failed to mention that those processes were done by computer and not film stock.

My link

Bono & Don Knots on stage

(file photo not found ) Damn you AP

 

I agree. Not sure why Bono has the bug for Black Eyed Peas. My spidey sense is tingling: maybe Fergie and Bono get along more than friendly.

Luckily, I saw Snow Patrol with U2 in September. I really hoped for Muse but next time.

I guess I'd like to look at Fergie too instead of the dudes from Snow Patrol & Muse. Although, she is nothing great. But I'm reminded of her hot scenes from Planet Terror. I'm torn like Natalie Imbruglia.

 

This has been an amazing release. I luckily got to hear some of these songs on their 2003/04/08 tour/s.

It's good for people who don't want to plop down the money for their albums pre-Green.

39 songs. That's pretty amazing. 2.5 hours.

Itty Bitty Complaint - Drive, I'm Gonna DJ & Cuyahoga were all featured on their other Live cd.

I'd replace them with Life & How To Live It (which they played a lot), Departure and Ignoreland. Not 100% sure if they did

those songs in Dublin during these rehearsals.

That reminds me I have to run out and buy this today before it goes up in price tomorrow.

 

I picked up R.E.M.'s Live At The Olympia 1st on Tuesday. Which is quite amazing. Got to give the boys from Athens all the credit in the world for going back into their catalog on every tour and pulling out gems. U2 should take note. Although, on their Vertigo tour they did pull out a lot from Boy and Gloria from October. This tour we got The Unforgettable Fire and Ultraviolet (both of which are amazing and in my upper echelon of U2 tunes) but every hit came with it. blah blah blah

 

I just watched this early Monday morning at 130 and I couldn't take it off. My 1st time in about 4 years. I only wanted to put it on for a little bit. I'm doing my Top Ten Films of the Decade and this is definitely going on there.

(check out topic in Tongue-Tied Lightning).

 

For a good laugh, there's a resident asshole know-it-all who posts on IMDB that he knows everything about this film. I think his user name is Scott-Purcell.

 

Edit: Oops. That isn't the last movie that I saw. I went back a page on here and read about Rachel Getting Married which I quite liked. I'll go into it more if I'm brought before a judge and jury.

 

The last movie I saw was Margot At The Wedding. See how that reminded me?

I've been fascinated by Noah Baumbach. I remember renting 1995's Kicking & Screaming (not the one with Will Ferrell), but I can't quite remember anything about it. Then he did Mr. Jealousy & Highball (both of which I haven't seen). Then 8 years later he came back with The Squid & The Whale which I think is his best film. It's a sad biting look at divorce and the divide it brings into a family. Margot At The Wedding was pretty damn good. It was great to see Nicole Kidman in a role like Margot who basically shows up to her sister's wedding (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) and fills her with guilt about her fiancee played by a very well cast & toned down Jack Black. Oh, and back to Noah he spent some time in between there writing The Life Aquatic with friend Wes Anderson. And they also wrote The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I guess I find him fascinating because he hasn't done too much that's "popular" like his colleague Wes Anderson and some in the press regard him as one of the best American filmmakers. I think to me someone like Richard Linklater is a much better storyteller and filmmaker. I've seen all of his films.

Aretha Franklin

Baby I Love You

Chain Of Fools (with Annie Lennox)

New York New York

Think (with Lenny Kravitz)

Respect

 

Jeff Beck (the order of this set is out of order. Please be advised to follow with caution. )

People Get Ready (with Sting)

Let Me Love You Baby (with Buddy Guy)

Drown In My Tears

A Day In The Life

Foxy Lady (with BIlly Gibbons)

 

Metallica

One

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Turn The Page

Sweet Jane (with Lou Reed)

White LIght/White Heat (with Lou Reed)

Iron Man (with Ozzy)

Paranoid (with Ozzy)

You Really Got Me (with Ray Davies)

All Day And All Of The Night (with Ray Davies)

Stone Cold Crazy

Enter Sandman

 

U2

Vertigo-Rock N Roll High School (snippet)

Magnificent

Because The Night (with Patti Smith & Bruce Springsteen * done twice due to "missed cues from Patti)

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (with Bruce)

Mysterious Ways/Where Is The Love (with Black Eyed Peas)/One

Gimme Shelter (with Mick Jagger & Black Eyed Peas or at least Fergie)

Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of (with Mick * I was reminded that Mick and his daughter recorded a version of this with U2 in 2000 but was never used or really mentioned again.)

Beautiful Day

 

 

That's it. I was not at the show I just checked it now to see what happened and figured I'd share like the kind person who did so for 1st night.

Edit: Thanks Sir Stewart for finding that blog. I'll add more to Jeff Beck's set. I assume the U2gigs guy on the spot was in the bathroom waiting for Bono. Not in a sexual way.

Hey Folks,

 

I did this at my Facebook account. I asked people to post their Top 10 or how ever many films as the best of the decade.

I know it gets tough to whittle it down to 10 but obviously it could be one per year. Or do what you want. Get crazy with it. Do it by genre etc.

 

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/index.php#YearIndex is a good website to go to to get lists of movies by year for refreshers.

 

With only 2 months left I'm not sure anything is coming out that would break into one's Top Anything. I could be proven wrong though.

 

So I'll get back to this soon. I'm doing a "very good - amazing" list by year for now and then will break it down to less films.

 

Thanks,

 

Kristofor

 

PS I'm really curious to see what people list. I always feel like I missed a really amazing film due to time or location (like living an hour away from a big city and canceling netflix to save money.)

http://twitter.com/u2gigs is tweeting the setlist live. For those of you that may be looking for that sort of thing.

I just received my Entertainment Weekly in the mail and noticed that there was an article called Want To Start A Fight? Just tell someone what you think of Spike Jonze's movie Where The Wild Things Are.

 

LOL.

Unfortunately, the article isn't online yet. The author is Mark Harris.

www.ew.com

The word at the U2 message boards is that U2 will be joined by a "60s icon". Then there's footage of them rehearsing Gimme Shelter on their 360 stage from 2 days ago. Makes sense.

Also, should be interesting tonight since the other 3 "main acts" listed on the home page are Eric Clapton, Metallica & Aretha Franklin Wow.

My he hasn't changed one bit.

 

(sorry Michael)

Hello,

 

I think I am somewhere split down the middle for this film. To me it feels like a film that once you see how it unfolds so unconventionally, in a sense, that maybe the 2nd time you see it it will be better to digest. I should point out that I got my Bachelor's in Film and I always praised the work of Spike Jonze. Even if he did 2 films before this and before that a bunch of commercials. Interestingly enough one of my old film professors confessed that Spike got his start in the business due to his families' big bank account. Ok, that really doesn't matter but in some ways it shows that he's been put in his position due to financial luck. It may also explain why a studio would back a film so financially risky. An $80 million film adaptation of a children's book that may not make its money back if it frightens its main demographic. (as of right now it's made $56 million according to Box Office Mojo)

 

The script - While looking back to Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, I began to realize that maybe Jonze was only as good as the material he was given to work with. You could argue that Charlie Kaufman's scripts really made those films shine. While not overly visual as Wild Things, I give him a lot of credit for pulling off those 2. On this film he worked with Dave Eggers and I read that he wold make up/rewrite the script on the spot before shooting. That's not completely a bad thing since some directors can rely on improvising from talented actors. For me this script worked only in certain scenes and in those scenes I felt like I got the gist of what I should be getting. The 15-20 minute scene of the Wild Things playing with Max bored me and then later on he just packs his shit and leaves quick to end the movie abruptly.

 

What's on the screen - Jonze works again with his Director of Photography from his 2 previous films (lance acord) and really captures the most beautiful images of his 3 films. It tops a room full of Malkovich's. Sadly, for me on first viewing this wasn't enough for me to like the film overall.

 

The Trailer - Someone mentioned something on here about the music in it made the film seem "indie". I don't know about you, but I cringed when I heard The Arcade Fire's Wake Up being used in the trailers. As if the source material and Spike Jonze wasn't enough, the studios threw the emo and hipster crowd a hip bone by tagging on Wake Up. Yes, "indie" films cost $80 million to make under the Warner Bros. Studio. I guess we should start calling "indie" films alternative.

 

"Not Getting A Film Vs. Can A Film Be Ok?" -(on IMDB) A lot of people are bashing those who "didn't get" the film and people are fighting back saying "fuck you it wasn't good to begin with...not a question of not getting it." Is this a hipster battlefield to avoid? Saying you liked it to be cool or smarter than a 5th grader? Saying you didn't like it to be brave thinking that the film is really overhyped and not as good as it thinks it is? One topic title included "Where The Emo Things Are". LOL. Admittedly, I used to be the type of bloke who would boast that I got a certain film, but I'd have the decency to talk it out with someone who it wasn't clear with. I didn't do it to be cool, I did it to prove that film can be a very unique experience where images and dialog could mean something different to each person. I'd stress that what "I" got out of the film shouldn't matter as much as what "you" got out of it. And I want to know what you got out of it to see things from a different point of view.

 

Half assed final analysis - I'm a feeling a bit under the weather, so I'm not 100% with it to make complete sense. A lack of sunlight from living in your parents' basement can be detrimental to ones' health. I really respect this film for being bold in its approach in both a visual and storytelling standpoint. That being said I really need to see this again to find a better critique of it for myself. The problem is I don't feel like sitting through it again. And this is coming from a guy who will watch a David Lynch movie more than once, even if it causes temporary insanity. : ) I remember reading that Lynch was supposed to do a cartoon recently.

 

Wes Anderson and The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Another "hipster" directing a kids movie. Like the Wild Things trailer, this one uses a Rolling Stones song. But the stop-motion animation looks amazing. It looks both cute and disturbing that it looks like an Anderson movie trailer of years past. The white title cards for the actor's names.

 

The Future for Spike Jonze - Well, after Adaptation he mentioned that Kaufman was writing a "horror" script unlike anything before it and it was supposed to be next for both of them. Let's hope that it comes out.

 

Thanks,

Kristofor

 

PS I hope I didn't offend anyone. I'm not usually bitter about this type of stuff. I'll use my old film school excuse: I'd be much better to talk it out with you folks in person instead of typing it.

PPS I don't really live in my parent's basement. That was supposed to be a cliched joke. When I went to see Jay Leno while in Vegas in 04 I was in the front row. He went around asking people what they did. Of course when he got to me I told him that I was in film school. To which he replied "so you plan on living in your parent's basement for the rest of your life."