Monthly Archives: February 2006

Books, Movie Reviews

The Ice Storm

1 Comment

The Ice Storm
I just finished watching Ang Lee‘s The Ice Storm and it reminded me of a lot of other family-oriented dramas — and it especially reminded me of plays from the 1950s.

I know it’s hardly profound, but I really like it in movies/plays/etc. traverse into the negative zone (as the movie calls it, borrowing from The Fantastic Four), where everything is sort of different and after the characters enter, everything changes. In The Ice Storm, about half-way through the movie there is (surprise, surprise) an ice storm during which pretty big events happen.

The setup is pretty common among literature. Like I said, it reminded me of 1950s plays such as “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” When I studied “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in college (I wrote a paper titled “Searching for Reality: How Drugs, Self-Deception, and the Influence of Family Help Mary Tyrone Find Her ‘Self’ In ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night'”), I remember my professor commenting on the fact that a major theme of 1950s American drama was family and drinking.

Ever since then, I’ve noticed that lots of literature includes a structure where somewhere around the middle (or Act II), there is either some sort of natural disaster and/or the characters become very intoxicated, and the truth comes out. More recent examples of this setup include Magnolia (raining frogs), Anniversary Party (ecstasy and a lost dog), and Judy Berlin (eclipse), and Short Cuts (earthquake). Likewise, I’ve noticed the theme in older works of literature. Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” comes immediately to mind — once the characters enter the woods, everything changes.

Despite the fact it’s a frequently used trope, I think it works. I think all of us can relate to those strange times or places in life when events compound on top of each other, and then some surreal bigger-than-life phenomenon takes place (or appears to), and for whatever reason, we gain some new insight into life and grow as a person.

Politics

Is Abortion Bad?

Leave a comment

Over on Slate, there was recently a debate between William Saletan and Katha Pollitt about whether abortion is “bad.”

I won’t do any sort of thorough analysis or dissect the argument, but I will say that William Saletan’s arguments about abortion continue to piss me off (despite the fact he’s pro-choice, he still has some moral hang-ups that irk me — he looks at the issue as the ends, not the means, which may be wise politically but I’m not sure it’s the best/only way of maintaining legalized abortion).

What the debate reminded me of, more than anything, is that I don’t necessarily think abortion is bad. It seems that most people who are pro-choice still think abortion is bad and make some sort of moral judgment about people who have them. Numerous times I’ve heard pro-choice people say, “I think it’s a woman’s right, but I wouldn’t personally have one.” What is missing is the next clause in the phrase, which probably goes something like, “Because I’m not one of those people” (or something less obvious and more concealed).

The way I see it, abortion should pretty much be considered a medical procedure like surgery. People don’t get all morally worked up over the removal of a tumor, and at the time of an abortion, whatever is inside the woman is basically similar to that. I know people consider this type of talk to be crass or whatever, but a tumor is an unwanted growth. Language-wise, they are the same thing.

Instead, though, we create this complicated and unnecessarily stressful drama around the idea of an abortion and imply that it should be a tough and grueling decision and that after the procedure the woman should feel sad for her loss and maybe throughout her life cry when she sees a baby and always have a lingering “what if” in the back of her head. A long time ago I read a great article on Salon about this “abortion narrative” (but I cannot find it now, unfortunately).

I hate the political atmosphere where pro-choicers are having to turn into anti-abortionists just to ensure that people have the right to decide what they want to with their bodies/lives. In the short term, we may maintain the necessary rights, but I fear what we sacrifice by continuing to moralize the situation and increasing the amount of guilt a woman feels with implicit language and assumptions. This is yet another case where I worry about the ends justifying the means.

Computers, Music

Where I Get Free MP3s

2 Comments

I know I may be slow to the trend, but I’ve recently discovered the joy of mp3 blogs. Now, every day, I check two sites and load up on promotional songs and rare remixes. It’s been great.

My current favorite is The Prettiest Pony. From this blog, I’ve managed to get a whole bunch of really awesome remixes (from the likes of MSTRKRFT [the guys in Death From Above 1979], Thin White Duke/Jacques Lu Cont/Stuart Price, Linus Loves, and many others). I have no idea where this person gets the tracks, but they are great. I’ve discovered bands such as The Knife, Shit Robot, and Services. Some of my recent favorites from The Prettiest Pony are:

In addition to The Prettiest Pony, the other site I check daily is bigstereo. This site doesn’t have as many remixes, but it does have promo tracks by up-and-coming artists. I’ve learned about bands like The Tough Alliance and Infadels from bigstereo. Also, and this is what endeared the site to my heart, it posted the Simian Mobile Disco remix of The Go! Team’s “Ladyflash.” Though it didn’t give us the Kevin Shields remix (I’ll buy the single just for that), it’s cool to get an interesting sneak peak.

For Salon.com premium subscribers, there is also Audiofile, which provides a download-a-day as well. There is lots of great music here (and well worth the cost of a Salon subscription!) such as Cat Power, Death From Above 1979, the Eels, Belle & Sebestian, Animal Collective, etc. A lot of the stuff is from bands I haven’t heard of, so this is potentially a great place to discover new music. Also, not all of these mp3s are Audiofile exclusives, but it saves the time of searching the web. My “best find” here has been “Grass” by Animal Collective (since I still haven’t bought that album…). Salon’s favorites are at The Best Downloads of 2005.

Another place to find free MP3s, though not daily, is the Vice Records (Bloc Party, Annie, Death from Above 1979, The Streets) blog Up Your Jaxxy. According to the site, new songs will be posted every two months. I highly recommend checking out the first submission, Bloc Party’s “Two More Years” (MSTRKRFT remix). The song is already somewhat of a rarity (only available on a two-song single), so it’s cool to hear the remix.

And finally, if you are still hunting for MP3 by bands that haven’t released albums yet, My Space can be your friend. After hearing The Young Sportsmen on kexp a while ago, I’ve been trying to find their song “Under the Rocks and the Stars.” Lime Wire wasn’t helpful, nor was Amazon since they didn’t have an album out yet, but when I checked out the The Young Horsemen My Space profile, I was able to download songs from the My Space music player.

Hopefully these sites, and others I’m sure (comment with your recommendations!) will keep your iPods full and cravings for new music satisfied. I know they have helped me.

Music

Death From Above

Leave a comment

I am a huge fan of any remix by The DFA (which is basically LCD Soundsystem/James Murphy + Timothy Goldsworthy). I’ve managed to buy or download pretty much every remix they’ve done using LimeWire or other methods.

Hence, I was sort of excited, sort of disappointed to see the tracklisting of the DFA remix compilation, chapter one, due out in April:

  1. “Deceptacon” by Le Tigre (own the Le Tigre remix album — which includes two versions)
  2. “Mars, Arizona” by The Blues Explosion (downloaded)
  3. “The Boxer” by The Chemical Brothers (own the “The Boxer” single)
  4. “Another Excuse” by Soulwax (own the single)
  5. “Dance to the Underground” by Radio 4 (own the single)
  6. “Emerge” by Fischerspooner (downloaded, though I really should buy the single since I have every remix from it)
  7. “DARE” by Gorillaz (downloaded — and damn did it take a long time!! this is by far the gem is the album)
  8. “Orange Alert” by Metro Area (downloaded)
  9. “Just Like We (Breakdown)” by Hot Chip (own the supposedly “limited edition” CD single)

At least chapter two, which will supposedly come out in the summer, will include the Nine inch Nails “Hand that Feeds” remix from the “Only” single (one of my favorites) and Goldfrapp’s super-rare “Slide In” (which I have already downloaded, but oh well…).