After posting last week’s Tokyo Shoegazer song, I did some more research, and it seems that Shoegaze is (thankfully) a lot more popular in Japan than I first realized.
Here’s a band named Supercar (which evidently broke up in 2005) with “Lucky.” Here they seem a little more J-Pop than Shoegazer, but either way they’re very tasty. Skip the first 42 seconds of cheesetacular introduction.
And here’s the live version:
When the three-way trade between the Rockets, Lakers and Hornets was announced yesterday, I wasn’t a big fan of the trade. The Rockets would have gotten Lakers’ center Pau Gasol, arguably the second best center in the game. The Lakers, who do not need any help in getting better, would have gotten the league’s top point guard in Chris Paul, the Hornets would have gotten Lamar Odom from the Lakers and Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic from the Houston Rockets, plus the Kinck’s 2012 first round pick.
I enthused because I think Houston gave up too much for a 31-year old center. Scola is good for 18 points and eight boards a night, while Kevin Martin scores and extremely efficient 23 points a night (though he’s definitely a defensive liability). If Gasol had been 26 rather than 31, I would be more favorably inclined to the deal. (If Rockets GM Daryl Morey had a deal for the Nuggets Nene at hand with the freed-up cap space, as many suggested, then the deal becomes a lot more palatable for Rockets fans.)
But New Orleans clearly made out like bandits, receiving three extremely solid starters and a first round pick for a guy who was going to walk in eight months anyhow. Which is why they’re the ones most screwed by NBA Commissioner nixing the deal for vague “basketball reasons.”
As many commentators pointed out, this was a solid deal with risks and rewards for all concerned. Both Paul and Kobe Bryant have experienced knee problems. If they stay healthy and the Lakers land Dwight Howard next year, yeah, that’s going to suck for everyone else in the Western Conference. But if Paul and/or Bryant go down, and they don’t land Howard, then they’re in a world of hurt from having gutted their front court.
I’m all behind screwing the Lakers, but having Stern do it in this fashion, with so little justification, screws all three teams.
Two, two earworms in one!
Well, Gaga has already had a Eurotrash Disco vibe about her anyway, so it’s no surprise that these two mash up so well…
I was poking around YouTube looking for more Shoegazer songs when I came across “Bright” from Tokyo Shoegazer, an accurate and wonderfully self-referential name.
That’s only part of the song; the full track comes in at 8 minutes and 19 seconds of reverb-and-sustain drenched fuzzy, blissed-out shoegaze goodness.
That track is off of their debut album 「crystallize」, which evidently just came out November 23. For once I’m not ten years behind the curve! All the tracks are available on iTunes. I’ve already picked up “Bright” (which hits very close to the heart of my Shoegazer sweet spot, which is still Slowdive’s Just for a Day), and may end up buying the rest.
Even if you’re not a Shoegazer fan, you have to admit that this collection of guitar effects peddles on the album cover is impressive:
And now that it’s December, enjoy the songs of Nine Inch Nails set to traditional Christmas music.
And as long as we’re on that topic, here’s Bad Kermit’s rendition of “Hurt.”
And here’s a mashup of Nine Inch Nails and The Beatles on “Come Closer Together.”
NSFW warnings apply to all.
Even though it’s been on Fark, I feel I would be remiss in not mentioning that a man has found the workprint for Manos: the Hands of Fate. He intends to restore the film to all it’s, um, glory, and sell Blu-Rays of the newly remastered version.
May his work be blessed by Torgo the White.
The first volume of The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick has finally been published. (Note: That Amazon link has it at half cover price, something I (and most probably other booksellers) can’t hope to match.) Paul Di Filippo offers a review: “It’s like the greatest Spalding Gray staged monologue ever conceived.”
Also of interest to the devoted Dickhead: The Philip K. Dick estate is suing the people who made The Adjustment Bureau, saying they’re owed additional money for the film rights. Media Rights Capital, in turn, is saying that the copyright was never properly renewed. Previous coverage of the dubious status of SF works that might (or might not) be out of copyright can be found here.
Finally, there’s another book of PKD interest coming out, not about Dick himself, but about his missing android head.
Howard Waldrop and I reviewed Hugo over at Locus Online, which we liked an awful lot.
The film involves (slight spoiler) the work of French film pioneer Georges Méliès, who produced, directed, wrote, and starred in over 500 silent short films, many of which no longer exists. But several of the ones that do are up on YouTube, and I thought I would gather them here. Méliès, a former stage magician, was the first to create a number of optical effects.
His most famous film, A Trip to the Moon, with the classic image of the shell embedded in the man-in-the-moon’s eye.
Interestingly, this was not his first film featuring the moon, as shown by The Astronomer’s Dream:
Another interplanetary voyage, this time by train, to the sun (in hand-tinted color, no less):
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:
The Haunted Castle:
Mélies himself is front and center as each of The Four Troublesome Heads:
Likewise as the Man With the Rubber Head:
William Shatner gets some corporate money to tell yourself not to set yourself on fire while frying a turkey:
Warning: Just as the fryer is filled with too much oil, the video is filled with too much Shatner. Way, way, way too much.
For those with low Shatner thresholds, the advice is:
If you’re going to fry a turkey, this is pretty sound advice. And if you live in central Texas, you probably shouldn’t be frying a turkey at all this year with the drought restrictions.
I was reading this John McClain piece in the Houston Chronicle on Matt Leinart starting at quarterback for the Texans when I ran into this line:
“Leinart believes he’s ready for the challenge and doesn’t plan to let down his teammates and coaches.”
The first half of the sentence is fine, but the second half is entirely content-free. Is there any story in the history of sports journalism where a professional athlete said he planned to let his teammates down?
“John, I plan to throw three interceptions against the Jaguars, then blame everyone around me in a deliberate attempt to let my teammates and coaches down. After that, I plan on spiraling down in a shame-fueled orgy of drunk driving, excessive cocaine use, and sex with high-priced hookers until I’m found lying dead face-down in Charlie Sheen’s hottub.”
McClain could have just stopped at “Leinart believes he’s ready for the challenge.” without having to dip into the Whole Foods Bulk Cliche Bin.