Enjoy.

Spiderbait – Glockenpop

Boy: “Where are you from?”

Me: “Around here.”

Boy: “Where do you live?”

Me: “A few blocks from here.”

Boy: “You have any kids?”

Me: “No.”

Boy: “You married?”

Me: “Nope.”

Boy: “Do you know what a gang is?”

Me: “Yeah.”

Boy: “I’m in a gang. South-side Crypts.”

Me: “That’s nice.”

The boy leaves

Me: “Odd child.”

I’ve been in a bit of a rainy day mood today.  It’s not raining though it has been rather gloomy.  On days like that I have my own choices for music.  Tracks that are somewhat melancholy but not necessarily sad and always lovely.  This is one of those choices as well as one of my favorite artists of any genre.

Enjoy.

Sufjan Stevens – For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti

Paper Heart (2009)

Eccentric performer and romantic skeptic Charlyne Yi embarks on a quest to learn the true nature of love — and gathers some surprising findings when she begins a relationship with actor Michael Cera. Real-life sweethearts Yi and Cera star as themselves in this quirky hybrid of documentary and scripted comedy. The charming romance was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

This is a faux-documentary that, if I hadn’t known differently, I would have thought was real.  Perhaps it is because Cera and Yi are a couple in reality or because many scenes in the film were improvised.  Either way, Paper Heart presents a funny and charming story full of indie style quirkiness and one of the more true-to-life young adult relationship stories on film today.

Hamlet (2009)

David Tennant stars as the melancholy Dane and Patrick Stewart portrays his uncle Claudius in this exhilarating version of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s smash hit 2009 production of “Hamlet,” which was filmed on location rather than on the stage. When Hamlet’s father’s ghost reveals he was murdered by Claudius, who then married his widow, Hamlet seeks revenge. Stewart won a prestigious Olivier Award for his riveting performance.

I will admit that I wanted to watch this mostly because it starred David Tennant (whom I first became familiar with through Doctor Who).  There is good reason for that since Tennant is a brilliant actor (and quite scary when he plays crazy).  Add onto that the also brilliant Patrick Stewart as Claudius and all the Royal Shakespeare Company and you have a fantastic Shakespearian production set in modern times.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

When dreamy delivery girl Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) starts popping up in his life, slacker musician Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) takes notice. But to win the love of this rollerblading goddess, Scott must vanquish all seven of her evil exes in martial arts battles. Based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, director Edgar Wright’s action-packed romcom also stars Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh and Chris Evans.

Yes, I know that I’ve banged on about this film before but I still think this is one of the most criminally overlooked films of last year.  A modern day love story with all of the difficulties and baggage that involves wrapped up in a story that is conceptually absurd and emotionally truthful.  It is the kind of pure fun that will stick with you for a while.  Besides, it is directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) so you know it has to be good.

Summer Wars (2009)

Though math whiz Kenji Koiso is a social zero, his avatar flourishes in the online space of Oz — until he accepts an e-mail request to solve a thorny equation, creating a conduit between the real and virtual worlds that may destroy both. Set in the not-too-distant future, this sci-fi anime thriller finds the shy Kenji coming out of his shell as he defends innocent citizens, and his honor, against a viral cyberspace menace.

This film has been described as many things: a romantic comedy, a cautionary tale about technology.  For me, though, this is really a story about the importance of family in good times and bad.  There is something here that will appeal to all ages in one of the best films of 2009/2010.

Your turn.  What do you think?

On a similar unprepared note, I also neglected to pick out a song of the week before now so, in desperation, I started browsing my recommended page on youtube when this popped up.  Two things about it caught my eye.  First, it happened to be the same guy who did a video @evanjstark sent me earlier this week.  Second, it featured another youtuber I follow who goes by Strawberry17.  So I clicked and it turned out to be pretty good.  I always have to admire these youtube musicians who pull off some pretty cool stuff without the big budgets of major label musicians.

Enjoy.

Jimmy Wong – From On High

And for an added bit of fun, here is the same guy doing the Super Mario Bros. theme A Capella.

Lately Japan has been on my mind quite a bit since the huge disaster that struck there this week.  It is a tragic situation that landed heavily on my heart even though I have very little direct connection to it.

In light of what is going on there now I wanted to dedicate this week’s song to everyone over there and feature a hopeful song from one of my favorite Japanese bands.  It’s a band I’ve featured here before but that’s alright.

Sambomaster – Utagoe Yoo Kore

P.S.

If you’d like to donate to the Red Cross’s Japan relief fund you can go to this link.

Also, Crunchyroll.com (a site that streams Asian TV shows) is offering to match any donations made up to $5,000.  You can visit this link for that.

Right now my thoughts and prayers are going out to the people of Japan and along the Pacific coastline.  Early this morning an 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred 80 miles off of the northern coast of Japan.  This was the largest earthquake ever in Japanese history and caused a large Tsunami to strike the coastal towns in the region causing massive damage and yet unknown casualties.

Though I have not yet had the chance to visit the country, Japan has long been a place dear to my heart.  I encourage everyone to keep the Japanese people in your prayers and help however you can once we find out the best way to do that.

In honor of that, today I wanted to bring you an artist that hails from the lower-east side of New York City and exemplifies the celebration of world cultures as well as the melting pot of the United States.

Enjoy.

Gogol Bordello -Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher)

This particular musical discovery came courtesy of NPR’s World Cafe program.  I’ve found that NPR’s musical programs are a great place to pick up on great artist that normally fly under the radar.  Go check it out sometime.

Dan Mangan – Road Regrets

On the way home from work today I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR when a story came on about the island nation of Kiribati.  Kiribati is a nation consisting of a string of islands in the Pacific Ocean that, due to climate change, is sinking and may be rendered uninhabitable within the next century.  This particular story focused on 20-year-old Tiibea Baure who is taking part in a program that seeks to relocate citizens of Kiribati.  Baure is now living in Australia where she studies nursing.  She wants to do well and get a job so she can bring her parents over to Australia with her.  The problem with that, though, is that her parents don’t want to leave because they don’t believe climate change is real.  This particular quote from Tiibea’s mother caught my attention:

“I don’t believe, because it’s something beyond me. It’s something beyond my knowledge, and it’s beyond my capacity to understand it. We just believe that God will look after us, and he will do his own way to save us.”

This reminded me, a bit, of an old story I once heard from comedian Jerry Crowder about a man who’s house is being encroached upon by flood waters.  The man is sitting on the porch with the water up to his feet when a boat pulls up offering to save him.  The man simply responds, “Go on ahead.  God’s gonna take care of me.”  Later on when the water is up to the man’s knees the boat comes back.  Again the man responds, “Don’t worry, God’s gonna take care of me.”  Finally, when the water is covering the house and the man is perched on his chimney a helicopter comes and a rescue worker throws down a rope saying, “Sir, grab a hold of the rope.  This is your last chance.”  Once more the man responds, “Go on, God’s gonna take care of me.”  Well, the man drowned and when he got to Heaven he told God, “I’m disappointed in you.  You said you were going to take care of me.”  God then looks at the man and says, “Ya dummy.  I sent you two boats and a helicopter.”

In a way I envy faith like that.  Especially since my own can seem so weak and doubtful at times.  At the same time, though, I wonder if such sentiments of faith can cross over from hope into foolishness.  To be sure, I believe that God takes care of us and that worrying is an utterly pointless and counter productive endeavor.  At the same time, though, I believe that God wants us to be pragmatic.  We are children of God but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to do everything for us.  Much of the time we have to simply dig in and solve our own (and each other’s) problems.  Typically what God does is provide us with the means–a boat, a helicopter, or even a scholarship program.  Most of all, though, He provides us with each other and that is how it should be.

We created our own messes of men so the least that should be expected of us is that we help each other work our way out of them.  God will always be with us and will even help us out in seen and unseen ways but through it all we’re going to have to keep working if we want to see a better world.

Of course we could all just sit around until we get to Heaven but that sounds kind of boring to me.