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Post by berkley on May 9, 2024 15:28:47 GMT -5
Finishing up my list of Top 10 albums from 2004... #1 - Hot Fuss by the KillersIndie rock band the Killers might be from Las Vegas, but musically their debut album steadfastly homages British '80s new wave and '90s Britpop. Singer Brandon Flowers even goes so far as to sing in a cod-British accent, which is an interesting twist on the usual pop and rock convention of British singers trying to sound American. Hot Fuss spawned several hit singles, such as "Somebody Told Me", "All These Things That I've Done", "Smile Like You Mean It", and the perennial (even 20 years later!) "Mr. Brightside". There's a youthful and artsy energy to the album that is infectious, with the songs all couched in glitzy, new wave sounds (often recalling early Duran Duran) and guitar-driven, mid-90s Britpop swagger. But beneath these new romantic and indie rock trappings, there are some great pop melodies – and there's nothing wrong with that! For me, subsequent Killers' albums have all been subject to the law of diminishing returns, to the point where Hot Fuss is really the only album of theirs that I have any time for anymore. But this is a remarkably assured debut album, chock full of arena-ready sing-along anthems, and is a record that I just couldn't get enough of back in 2004. I won't subject you to the ubiquitous "Mr. Brightside" or "Somebody Told Me", so take a listen instead to another of the album's hit singles, "Smile Like You Mean It"…
They do sound very English, don't they? This is another band I got tired of almost before I had a chance to enjoy them. Nice enough but nowhere near as special as the hype would have had one believe back then. Possibly I've over-reacted and allowed the pendulum to swing too far into the negative side.
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Post by berkley on May 9, 2024 15:03:36 GMT -5
#1(A) - Old Crow Medicine Show – O.C.M.S. aka Old Crow Medicine Show
I've heard of these folks, but the only song of there's I know is "Wagon Wheel". That's a nice, gentle song and these two examples that you have posted here are similarly pleasent in their old-timey country stylings. I'd be perfectly happy to listen to this music, but it doesn't quite grab me enough to fork out my hard-earned cash to buy any of their stuff.
I like that first track. Wagon Wheel, yes, nice song but it wears think really fast. Some catchy songs are like that, I suppose: the very thing that makes them easy to like on first listen also makes them easy to get tired of. Like you said, it would also help if I hadn't heard it played around a million times, not only on the radio, etc but by bar bands.
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Post by berkley on May 9, 2024 3:04:25 GMT -5
Going through the list for 2009, I think the ones that stood out the most for me were:
Gomorrah: Italian movie about the Neapolitan crime organisation known as the Comorra, based on a book by investigative journalist Roberto Saviano, who had to go into hiding because they didn't like the attention his very successful book brought them.
Anvil!: documentary about a Canadian Metal band that had some brief success in the 1980s and then more or less disappeared ... until this amazing doc brought gave them I think a well-deserved second chance. Anyone inetrested in popular music should see this, it doesn't matter if you're a metal fan or not (I'm not, particularly, of this specific variety, though I can listen to it when I'm in the mood).
L'Heure d'été: Olivier Assayas movie about a family reuniting to dispose of the house and belongings of their parents who have just died. I haven't seen all of Assayas's films but everything I have seen has been good to great. This is one of his more low-key efforts but as effective in its own way as those with more exotic or spectacular scenarios, like Irma Vep or carlos.
Moon: I actually thought this was a bit over-rated at the time, because critics were talking about it as if it were the greatest thing since 2001. But if you put that aside and consider it on its own terms, I think it was quite a nice, thoughtful SF movie. I'll be curious to see how I find it when or if I watch it again, many years removed from the possibly unfairly distracting hype that surrounded it at the time.
Inglourious Basterds: all of Tarantino's movies have made a big impact on me and this one was no exception. At the same time, it's one of my least favourites - not because of any flaws in the film-making itself but because in this one I thought Tarantino's American-ness got in the way of the story, even more than in Kill Bill. In most other ways I'd say it's one of his best, so perhaps this feeling has more to do with my personal outlook than with the film itself - or at least, I must acknowledge, so it will probably appear to most people here. It's impossible to go into this issue more deeply without getting political so I'll leave it at that. Apologies to anyone who feels offended by any of the above. I tried to keep it the minimum I could say without being dishonest.
Antichrist: This is a very strange movie, though perhaps not by Lars von Trier's standards. Also very intense. Also, I fear, potentially very misogynistic: strictly in the sense that I think it would be very easy for the casula viewer to take away from this film the message that "women are evil" and the more abstract "beware the feminine principle". Given that his most famous film, Breaking the Waves, was totally in sympathy with the lead female character, I'd say that would be a mistake. But there's no avoiding the question of whether he's portraying ideas, concepts in order to induce some thought on these subjects in the viewer or betraying his own personal feelings.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: I'd rank this just behind Brazil as the Terry Gilliam movie that made the bigget impression on me. Time Bandits is up there too, perhaps in part due to a rare-for-me feeling of 80s nostalgia. Visually brilliant and in a way that supports and enhances the story and characters, not just as a separate thing on its own. The publicity at the time was all about lead actor Heath Ledger's death in the middle of filming: I think the results show that Gilliam made the right decision in carrying on and bringing in other actors (not just one) to portray the same character in different guises. After seeing this, I remember thinking Gilliam should do a movie version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's novella The Golden Pot. Enter the Void: not my favourite Gaspar Noé movie but he's another of those must-see directors for me whose every film is a memorable experience, almost beyond the question of whether I like it or not. For me, the big flaw with this one was that although Noé speaks and understands English, he wasn't used to working with English-speaking actors and I didn't think he had a good ear for judging their delivery of their lines. But then, as always, I have to wonder whether this is just a problem with me as a viewer - for example, from a generation before Noé's, so that possibly I just have different expectations of how
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Post by berkley on May 8, 2024 23:00:46 GMT -5
... I have also had a few chuckles at Canadian mispronunciations. Actor Shane Rimmer, who appeared in a couple of Bond films, Rollerball, and voiced characters on Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds could never pronounce Houston properly. It was always Hooston, which got comical, in Rollerball, as that was the team he was coaching, with James Caan as the star, Jonathan E. I have heard it from a couple of other Canadian actors and comedians and from British performers.
Instead of "Houston, we have a problem.", it's "We have a problem with 'Houston'." !
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Post by berkley on May 8, 2024 21:02:56 GMT -5
I still might be able to make a few suggestions for 2004 myself. As I think of more cds I listened to from around that time and look them up individually I find that some of them were in fact 2004 releases even though they aren't listed on wiki's 2004 in Music page. But my cds are in such a jumble that I haven't been able to find all the ones I'd like to play again before trying to talk about why I like them.
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Post by berkley on May 8, 2024 15:31:22 GMT -5
Another favourite album of 2004... #2 - Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE by Brian WilsonI'll be honest, I've never been a Beach Boys fan...and this does nothing to move the needle to make me like them or Brian Wilson more. I'll also cop that it's possibly a failing on my part, but I kind of hated that.
I have enormous respect for Wilson as a songwriter and I really love most of the Beach Boys classics, especially the slower numbers , e.g. In My Room, but I've never thought he was quite up there with the likes of Lennon and McCartney, which is where the consensus seems to rank him these days.
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Post by berkley on May 8, 2024 15:09:55 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 2004 #4 – Steve Earle – The Revolution Starts Now
This is a protest album almost from snap to whistle. So, if you don't like Earle's politics, just move on...there's nothing you want to see here. This is really a more focused follow-up to his 2002 album Jerusalem where Earle began to explore his feelings about the way post-9/11 America was reacting. I say almost from snap to whistle because "I Thought You Should Know" definitely sticks out here. It's a good song, but thematically it doesn't track. But otherwise this is a focused protest against the jingoism of post 9/11 America. Who knew it would only get worse? Not all the songs work perfectly. "Condi, Condi," yeah...you know who it is about...doesn't quite work as Earle probably shouldn't plan on making a living at reggae. But the title track, "Rich Man's War," and "F the CC" absolutely hit the mark. I don't remember anyone else even coming close to this level of protest songwriting at the time. I didn't put "F the CC" on here as it's very much not family friendly. But it's my favorite track on the album. Don't think I've heard this album or either of those two songs. They both sound really good, so I might have a look for this cd. I think Earle has something a little extra as a songwriter compared to most of the people I hear doing the kind of music he plays, however you want to characterise it as a genre.
I first became aware of him through hearing the Proclaimers cover My Old Friend the Blues on their Sunshine on Leith album, not hearing Steve Earle's own version until a few years later. I've been lucky enough to see him live two or three times and he always puts on a good show.
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Post by berkley on May 8, 2024 9:53:46 GMT -5
Valero is the co-writer, the art is by Lapone. Ah, hence the confusion. Thanks.
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Post by berkley on May 6, 2024 17:57:51 GMT -5
I know there are issues with Colletta erasing things Kirby drew, but when he's not doing that and is just inking what's there, I actually quite like his inks on Kirby's pencils. I think his style fit Thor, and when he wasn't erasing or using assistants or not doing two jobs at once. It looked good. I don't know if any of the complaints are his inking didn't look good. I mean Paul Reinman and George Roussos on Kirby just looked bad.
I think Colletta added a lot of character to the artwork on the Thor series. His inks gave everything a kind of organic feeling. Thor's muscles looked harder, more powerful to me, somehow, and monsters like Mangog looked much scarier than they would have without Coletta's inks
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Post by berkley on May 5, 2024 21:36:35 GMT -5
Sad to hear about both Richard Tandy and Duane Eddy (and condolences to Tartanphantom on the loss of his friend), each of whom provided many special moments of music-listening pleasure in my life.
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Post by berkley on May 5, 2024 21:34:26 GMT -5
R.I.P to actor Bernard Hill (King Theoden in LotR, Captain Smith in Titanic, et al), dead at 79. And Yosser Hughes! An early 80s icon here in Britain. He was a great actor.
I had to look up the character name to see what show it was from but coincidentally I was just thinking the other day that I might try to watch Boys from the Blackstuff next time I make another extended excursion into the 80s - which might be soon, since I keep coming across things lately that remind me of how much I still haven't seen/heard/read/etc from that decade.
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Post by berkley on May 4, 2024 22:26:25 GMT -5
I finished the rest of Essential Defenders vol. 4, reading Defenders #69-91. Aside from two earlier issues co-written with David Anthony Kraft, this constitutes the entirety of Ed Hannigan's run as writer. I had been more familiar with Hannigan as an artist, particularly of covers. A number of the plotlines take up plotlines from other titles. I had found Lunitak's previous appearances dissatisfying, as a weirdo wielding a staff was able to hold the Defenders at bay. Hannigan salvages it by tying Lunatik's origins to some off-the-wall aspects of Man-Wolf stories I haven't read. It looks like the publication dates don't line up, so this may have been retooled explanation rather the intended plan at the time of Lunatik's introduction. We also get introduced to a realm called Tunnel World. The Defenders team up with a cool-looking wizard ally named Xhoohx. Then, there's an arc that brings over plot threads from Omega the Unknown (which I also haven't read). First, Foolkiller II shows up. He's like a less annoying version of Lunatik. Then, Omega shows up who is dead, but not dead, but dead again. Along the way, we meet his supporting cast. It's hard to follow who's who, as I think there was an additional woman in the supporting cast who I didn't notice at first. Moondragon shows up to sort of help, but eventually condescend and criticize in her inimitable style. Along the way, I learn that Moondragon trained Hellcat in psychic power and Hellcat owns a magic cloak. I've actually read the Avengers and Defenders stories where both of those things apparently happened, but couldn't remember those events for the left of me. Nighthawk temporarily quits the Defenders while this is happening, the Wasp temporarily joins, and the Hulk is off somewhere. Which means for a bit we have an all-female roster. Yellowjacket follows Jan, but it's unclear whether he's considered to have rejoined. But it's a non-team. I wonder if the sales figures were flagging for the current roster, because the original team of Doctor Strange, Hulk, and Sub-Mariner are back for their own arc in Tunnel World that runs parallel to the arc of the newer members on Earth. In these issues, the originals are featured on the cover even when the newbies may have a higher page count. I know that being the strange & ridiculous team title is sometimes a distinguishing characteristic of the Defenders, but during the early part of the Hannigan run (and the end of the Kraft run before) it goes a little overboard. The team is inept at times and Nighthawk is a peevish annoying guy. Nighthawk is under an investigation by various government entities. It's totally confusing what the factual underpinnings of what the charges were supposed to be. My most charitable theory is that it's supposed to be Kafkaesque mess with no real explanation plus a pretext to write Nighthawk in and out of the team's battles as needed. One issue focuses on a surreal investigation into the Defenders. I'm not sure if an explanation was planned by Hannigan, but it doesn't get resolved in his run. Mandrill is also brought in as a villain with his icky "only in 70s" power of mesmerizing women in his scent. Although I have to admit that the equivalent is sometimes done with the Enchantress, for example. Among Mandrill's minions is Mutant Force, the revival of the all-new, totally cheesy version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants introduced during Kirby's mid-70s return to Captain America. One brief arc features a war/misunderstanding between Atlantis and Wakanda that seems to prefigure the conflict of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever movie. That also spawns a story/PSA where Hulk stands up for the whales against overfishing; it's actually kind of good. With Nighthawk's property impounded, the team relocates to a home Patsy Walker (Hellcat) inherited from her mom in Montclair, New Jersey! As a New Jersey resident whose sister went to Montclair State, I find it pretty cool. Not particularly recognizable though. Hannigan's run ends will the resumption of Mandrill's machinations. It's not quite as icky as the earlier run. Matt Murdock is also brought in as a lawyer for Nighthawk and previous enemy of Mandrill. Hannigan actually comes up with an aspect of Mandrill's revenger plot that makes him a little interesting. Hannigan's run ends with a message of thanks to the fans and a moment between Valkyrie and Hellcat. Those two are really the heart of his run in terms of story involvement. But his treatment of the characters is off more about vibes and personality then building up the personal lives and history. Having started Defenders from the beginning after not reading it when I was young, I never realized Hellcat was a member for this long (and still going as of #91).
From memory, I didn't mind the earlier part of Ed Hannigan's run as writer: at the time, it felt like a pretty decent continuation of Kraft's run, which I had enjoyed for the most part. On the other hand, it was somewhere during Hannigan's run that I dropped the book, though I can't recall exactly what brought about that decision now, apart from my general waning of interest in almost all the Marvel titles I had been following around that time. It might have been the Asgardian storyline or Lunatik ... I suppose I'll have to wait until I re-read them to find out. I know there were some especially bad distribution problems in my region with this series at the time so I missed a lot of issues, maybe that had something to do with it too. It was probably a combination of all these factors plus perhaps some I'm forgetting.
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Post by berkley on May 4, 2024 0:12:56 GMT -5
Just a reminder that this is the 'quick question' thread and not the 'why I love/hate artist X' thread.
I must have thought I was in the There I Said It thread.
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Post by berkley on May 3, 2024 22:02:24 GMT -5
Dave Stevens I've read mainly the Rocketeer - did he do many other series or individual stories? Otherwise I know him as a cover artist. I like his style, which I think has a retro influence without being limited to only that.
Frank Cho, I don't think is a great writer. My attitude towards his work is actually the opposite of what it is for most creators: usually I'd much rather see people doing their own, independent creations, but from everything I've seen, I really think Cho's style would be best suited to doing old-fashioned, 70s-style Marvel superhero comics. I haven't read Liberty Meadows because I'm afraid I would find it cringe-worthy but I suppose I should try it one of these days.
Adam Hughes really turns me off. His characters look they were copied from People magazine or whatever the equivalent is these days. I now many people love his stuff but I find it cheap and ugly looking.
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Post by berkley on May 3, 2024 19:02:14 GMT -5
I didn’t know this until now: Here's a bit of related trivia: the guy who invented them was inspired by the British sweets Smarties.
He wasn't inspired enough, because I don't find M&Ms nearly as tasty as Smarties. But perhaps it's just down to which one you get used to as a kid.
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