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Today's agenda:
The new Indigo Girls album
The movie project
The state Latin Convention
Item 1: Become You
Synopsis: It rocks. It kicks major ass, from beginning to fairly near the end. You should buy a copy.
Commentary: The critics explain that Become You is the Girls returning to their roots. They started out with awesome guitar work, sweet harmonies, and killer lyrics, but their style over their career has slowly drifted more towards experimentation--"Touch Me Fall", for example. So a "return to roots" could be both a good and a bad thing. As it turns out, it's both.
The Good: the first ten songs. Emily, usually the less prolific of the two, contributes fully half of the songs on the new album. Most of these are truly beautiful, soaring ballads, and they include (in my opinion) the two finest songs on the album, "Deconstruction" and "Collecting You." Amy, for her part, contributes "Bitter Root," which is either great, if you're into country/folk/hillbilly type music, and really annoying if you're not. In addition, both the title track and the single, "Moment of Forgiveness," are quite good.
The Bad: To paraphrase the classic Wendy's ad, "Where's the Indigo Girls?" With the exception of a scant few, none of these songs really have the duo's classic sound. "Hope Alone" is sweet, beautiful, and well-written, but it's played on a piano with a violin accompanying! When I heard that this would be a "return to roots" album, I expected that we would get more songs like "Blood and Fire," where it's just Amy and her guitar and nothing else. Instead, all they seem to have done is lower the intensity level several notches. Amy doesn't have a single song on here that even sounds remotely like "Go" or "Chickenman." I shudder to say this about a band I love, but. . . this album sounds like. . . pop. Call me a curmudgeon, but I do not like how mainstream their latest offering is.
I know that I've been harsh, but that is only because I expected so much more than what I got. It is still an excellent album, and I urge everyone to buy it, but I had hoped for a return to the angst and poetry that made the Girls great in the first place.
Item 2: The movie project
Synopsis: My friend Mattt and some other people are making a movie, and I am on board as Head Writer and Director of Photography.
Commentary: Actually, I was invited to the second meeting. They had already hashed out a rough plot idea, but they wanted me there when they went over it. We're going to do a suspense/thriller, but Claire insists that it be realistic. The basic plot idea is that, in the far past, a teenager crashed his car, his girlfriend died, and he disappeared without a trace. His younger brother has been having nightmares about this ever since, and the movie opens with such a dream. The plot unravels as such:
The older brother ("Tom") was not killed, but ran away in shame. . . there was a third person in the car ("Bob"), who nobody knew about. . . "Bob" since then has befriended the younger brother ("Joe") and become a successful member of the small-town community. . . "Tom" has since returned under a different name and established himself. . . the two men get into a war over the truth of what happened in the accident. . . "Joe" is caught in the middle, and his nightmares get steadily worse and worse as he learns and unlearns more details of the accidents. . . everything seems to hinge on who he believes. . .
The problem is, Claire insists that we can't have anyone be actually evil as such, because that wouldn't be realistic. My position is that you can't have suspense without something to be afraid of. Oh well, we will see how this turns up; I'll keep my LJ updated as events unfold.
Item 3: The CJCL convention
Synopsis: Latin geeks convene in Los Angeles; I run to be president over the whole sorry bunch.
Commentary: I'm being totally facetious with the tone of the above synopsis. The JCL convention is really cool, although I admit it sounds really dorky to describe to anyone else. The idea is, everyone in high or middle school in California who studies Latin goes to convene, converse and compete over the period of a weekend. There are competitions in everything from Certamen (Team Latin Jeopardy, essentially) to English and Latin Oratory, to Arts and Crafts, to Track and Field. It's the best weekend of the year.
This year will be extra cool (or extra depressing, perhaps) because I will be running for State President. Yeah, that's right, President of the California Junior Classical League. Impressive, nu? I'll be campaigning and schmoozing all day Saturday, and I've been spending all this week designing my posters and stickers and writing my speech and generally preparing to overwhelm the ass out of my competition.
I don't know if "ass" really works the way I used it in that last sentence, but oh well.
Anyway, I won't be able to post the results on here until Sunday at the earliest, but I've promised to call Rae immediately following the General Assembly where the winner is announced, so she'll be able to say something. I can only assume that she'll be excited enough for me to post on her own journal.
Addendum: I've got a copy of the movie "pi" sitting around my room; does anybody want it? I can send it air-mail.
The new Indigo Girls album
The movie project
The state Latin Convention
Item 1: Become You
Synopsis: It rocks. It kicks major ass, from beginning to fairly near the end. You should buy a copy.
Commentary: The critics explain that Become You is the Girls returning to their roots. They started out with awesome guitar work, sweet harmonies, and killer lyrics, but their style over their career has slowly drifted more towards experimentation--"Touch Me Fall", for example. So a "return to roots" could be both a good and a bad thing. As it turns out, it's both.
The Good: the first ten songs. Emily, usually the less prolific of the two, contributes fully half of the songs on the new album. Most of these are truly beautiful, soaring ballads, and they include (in my opinion) the two finest songs on the album, "Deconstruction" and "Collecting You." Amy, for her part, contributes "Bitter Root," which is either great, if you're into country/folk/hillbilly type music, and really annoying if you're not. In addition, both the title track and the single, "Moment of Forgiveness," are quite good.
The Bad: To paraphrase the classic Wendy's ad, "Where's the Indigo Girls?" With the exception of a scant few, none of these songs really have the duo's classic sound. "Hope Alone" is sweet, beautiful, and well-written, but it's played on a piano with a violin accompanying! When I heard that this would be a "return to roots" album, I expected that we would get more songs like "Blood and Fire," where it's just Amy and her guitar and nothing else. Instead, all they seem to have done is lower the intensity level several notches. Amy doesn't have a single song on here that even sounds remotely like "Go" or "Chickenman." I shudder to say this about a band I love, but. . . this album sounds like. . . pop. Call me a curmudgeon, but I do not like how mainstream their latest offering is.
I know that I've been harsh, but that is only because I expected so much more than what I got. It is still an excellent album, and I urge everyone to buy it, but I had hoped for a return to the angst and poetry that made the Girls great in the first place.
Item 2: The movie project
Synopsis: My friend Mattt and some other people are making a movie, and I am on board as Head Writer and Director of Photography.
Commentary: Actually, I was invited to the second meeting. They had already hashed out a rough plot idea, but they wanted me there when they went over it. We're going to do a suspense/thriller, but Claire insists that it be realistic. The basic plot idea is that, in the far past, a teenager crashed his car, his girlfriend died, and he disappeared without a trace. His younger brother has been having nightmares about this ever since, and the movie opens with such a dream. The plot unravels as such:
The older brother ("Tom") was not killed, but ran away in shame. . . there was a third person in the car ("Bob"), who nobody knew about. . . "Bob" since then has befriended the younger brother ("Joe") and become a successful member of the small-town community. . . "Tom" has since returned under a different name and established himself. . . the two men get into a war over the truth of what happened in the accident. . . "Joe" is caught in the middle, and his nightmares get steadily worse and worse as he learns and unlearns more details of the accidents. . . everything seems to hinge on who he believes. . .
The problem is, Claire insists that we can't have anyone be actually evil as such, because that wouldn't be realistic. My position is that you can't have suspense without something to be afraid of. Oh well, we will see how this turns up; I'll keep my LJ updated as events unfold.
Item 3: The CJCL convention
Synopsis: Latin geeks convene in Los Angeles; I run to be president over the whole sorry bunch.
Commentary: I'm being totally facetious with the tone of the above synopsis. The JCL convention is really cool, although I admit it sounds really dorky to describe to anyone else. The idea is, everyone in high or middle school in California who studies Latin goes to convene, converse and compete over the period of a weekend. There are competitions in everything from Certamen (Team Latin Jeopardy, essentially) to English and Latin Oratory, to Arts and Crafts, to Track and Field. It's the best weekend of the year.
This year will be extra cool (or extra depressing, perhaps) because I will be running for State President. Yeah, that's right, President of the California Junior Classical League. Impressive, nu? I'll be campaigning and schmoozing all day Saturday, and I've been spending all this week designing my posters and stickers and writing my speech and generally preparing to overwhelm the ass out of my competition.
I don't know if "ass" really works the way I used it in that last sentence, but oh well.
Anyway, I won't be able to post the results on here until Sunday at the earliest, but I've promised to call Rae immediately following the General Assembly where the winner is announced, so she'll be able to say something. I can only assume that she'll be excited enough for me to post on her own journal.
Addendum: I've got a copy of the movie "pi" sitting around my room; does anybody want it? I can send it air-mail.
