Going on a Wall-E binge last night reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of robot related media; Pete Misner's video for Scent of a Robot. The song is a rap ballad in which an average guy realizes he and everyone else he knows are robots. It's a hilariously deadpan piece of absurdity that easily slides between humor and philosophy, and features some pretty fun CG robot models as well.
You can check out the YouTube video above for instant gratification, though a nice high quality Quicktime is available on Pete's official site.
Q: How is Girl Talk's new album like the Guggenheim after 6pm on Friday?
A: It's pay what you wish!
I could get used to this. As was the case with Radiohead's In Rainbows, the only time I pay for music anymore is when I can name my own price. O, what a spoiled generation to inherit this dying world. Download the Feed The Animals LP in it's entirety at Illegal-Art.
For those wondering who or what Girl Talk is, he's a mash-up artist and everyone just loves him. The gimmick is he samples equally from current commercial hip hop (o_O) and the history of rock, which for him runs from cheeseball 7os anthems to alternative radio one hit wonders. As one who came of age on alternative rock, I have to say GT has pretty impeccable taste in this arena. Only two songs into the new album I was recognizing personal all-time faves like Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog and Boy/Girl by Aphex Twin, so my theoretical issues with him aside, I'm hooked.
The aforementioned issues and the racial politics of meaningless dance music, after the jump....
Alright, so this is what happens when you grow up in Berkeley. You can't not see racial politics in literally anything that you spend more than 30 seconds thinking about. GT's previous album, Night Ripper, is on frequent rotation on my iPod, and from my first listen I've been distracted by the implications of pulling sexually crude/aggressive lyrics from songs uniformly by black artists (and those creating music in one of the most derided genres today, commercial hip-hop) and presenting them in a sort of sideshow, laughably-flamboyant context by grouping these clips together in such high concentration. They're even further decontextualized when positioned against comparatively quaint musical and lyrical excerpts from uniformly white artists, which are taken from a much broader spectrum of decades and genres.
But to bring this critique into reality a little, I don't doubt that Girl Talk loves the rap samples he mixes in. Quote from a Nerve.com interview from the Night Ripper era:
"I've always been into juxtapositions of really different elements. Things like really overtly sexual rap mixed with clean-cut '70s pop music, stuff like that. You hear a guy rapping about having sex, and it's set over James Taylor. I think it's what makes the music fun."
So subjectively, I'm not trying to accuse Girl Talk of anything. Am I saying it's somehow not right to juxtapose sexy stuff from modern rap and precious stuff from the history of rock? That's a no. But any time you have a piece of work that pulls from the cultural ether of two distinct racial groups, I think it's fair to reflect on the significance of what's being extracted.
BUT: this new album actually bucks that critique by drawing from a much broader scope of black artists, and without the same pointed scope of subject matter. The music taken from white artists is also generally less precious, with some metal and trashy modern pop making appearances. In closing, let me remind the reader it is not the job of artists to impose meaning on their work, it's the job of critics. I don't know how I went from being an artist to a critic, but I think I have to go kill myself now.
Hey Gnerd readers! We're thinking of making Weekanerd a weekend feature only. We'll still have daily event listings on the right-hand sidebar, but we'll only do write-ups for Friday through Sunday. Is that cool with you? Let us know at tips@geekanerdblog.com.
"Circuit Bending" sounds kind of dirty, but it's not. It's the act of modifying electronic toys (getcha minds outta the gutta) to create all sorts of crazy audio, from symphonic melodies to R2D2esque doots and dweets. Tonight's concert includes seven performers from around the globe, plus Free Singha beer from 7pm to 7:30, which is important cause it seems like you might want to be just a leeetle bit altered in your perceptions to fully appreciate the festivities. Check out the website for full listings, including workshops on Saturday in case you want to bend some circuits of your own. If you know what I mean.
Mario Kart Wii and 2001 with the weirdest bunch of guests ever, after the jump...
FREE, 2pm @ Nintendo World Store, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan
Test drive the new game, see if those Wii Wheels are worth the cheap plastic their molded from, and get ready to learn how to do blue sparks all over again. Jason Priestly will be making a personal appearance, apparently he owns something called the Rubicon Race Team and well...I guess that's not keeping him too busy. All I want to know is if these guys will be there...
$25, 3pm @ Pace University, 3 Spruce Street, Manhattan
Before there was GLaDOS, there was HAL. Wait, 25 dollars?! Oh right, it's part of the Tribeca Film Festival. So in addition to the screening, you get a panel afterwards with this ragtag bunch: Buzz Aldrin(!), Contact screenwriter Ann Druyan, MIT Professor Marvin Minsky, Matthew Modine and Ira Flatow. Jeesh! Sounds like the cast of some nerd's fever dream.
With the start of April comes many burnt blogosphere offerings, but the gem of the day was a nerdlicious new song from MC Chris. He'd been advertising an exclusive preview track from his upcoming album, though given the April 1st release date it seemed unlikely he'd be putting up anything legit. He ended up unleashing a song that won't be on the album, or presumably any other album since the backing track consists almost entirely of samples from the greatest Danny Elfman theme of all time...
UPDATE: Aw man, it got taken off YouTube! Oh well. You can still get it off Chris's MySpace, see the link below.
Awesome. It's available to download for free on mc chris's myspace. Annotated lyrics after the jump....
The following lyrics were posted by MC himself on the MC Chris forums and YouTube. Most of the references should make sense to anyone who counts themselves as a fan of the film, but I added a few annotations for some of the more obscure lines.
im deathly pale bad breath bad teeth hate the sand and the sun never see me at the beach i'll stick with goth chicks transfixed on death that wear black britches i insist on nice breasts
i sleep in a grave lived through the black plague actually that's all my fault but dont wiki that k? green hair downstairs boogers farts and phlegm that's my stock in trade see me startin trends
black and white striped suit or a blood red tux got jack on my hat in japan it's a must (1) i can change shapes do pranks and disguises bioexorcist im the best in a cirisis
parents wanted me to clean up like my brother (2) boss used to say i didnt work well with others now im independent and my methods are effective say my name three times if you want to get connected
beetlejuice beetlejuice one two three i like a little lady name lydia deetz her demeanor is depressed i confess that's sweet dont try to deny she's my bride to be
hey kmart shoppers there's a sale on my services im here to help there's no need for your nervousness i'll eat what u wanna eat swallow what u say (3) relieve you of your living that are ruining your day
have you read the handbook for the recently deceased it's too thick like my dick when i think of little deetz she's the key to my release from this model existence coffin lining's confining and i want out this instant
me and the dragster of doom we're the baddest of dudes (4) we hit the inferno room where the ladies get nude but we're eternally screwed so i become a bridegroom and get lovely lydia to lip synch an i do
i must move the maitlands out of my way give'm zipperlips pitch a plate on their face say hello to hammer hands say goodbye to goulet and then off to fla where my review drew raves (5)
shrimp glove face plant we like cassettes not 8 track clown face much like the one you'll see in dark knight being dead kinda sucks the afterlife's no fun to us im the name that people trust the juice that comes from beetleguts
(1) Kay, we're starting off slow because I actually don't really know what the hell he's talking about here. Possibly refers to the Beetlejuice stage show in Universal Studios Japan?
(2) Reference to Beetlejuice's Parents an episode of the Saturday Morning Cartoon show in which it's revealed that BJ's parents are conservative squares.
(3) Refers Beetlejuice's advertising jingle for his bioexorcism service; "I'll eat anything you want me to eat, I'll swallow anything you want me to swallow, come on down I'll....chew on a dog!" Perhaps the film's finest moment.
(4) Another reference to the cartoon, the Dragster of Doom (or Doomie) was Beetlejuice's sidekick from the second season on.
(5) Beetlejuice's Rockin' Graveyard Revue used to be a live show at Universal Studios Florida, but it's gone now, along with the amazing Back to the Future Ride. Kids today have to settle for some seriously tame bullshit based on The Mummy and Twister.
6pm @ Adam Baumgold Gallery, 74 East 79th Street, Manhattan
Remember that soul-crushing New Yorker cover we posted last Thanksgiving? That was a mere taste of what Chris Ware has to offer the magazine reading public. An exhibit celebrating his work for publications such as the New York and NYTimes, there'll be a reception from 6pm to 8pm. Click the title link for some previews, including this rough version of the aforementioned Thanksgiving cover... The Johns and two great movies, after the jump... Saturday, February 2
8pm @ Galapagos Art Space, 70 North 6th Street, Brooklyn
Sure, the Super Bowl is a great excuse to get horribly drunk, and apparently it does feature some sort of New York theme this year, but it can' t be denied that a significant chunk of the nerd population has either a natural or learned aversion to sports. So if you're looking for something else to do this evening, you can choose between Punch-Drunk Love and Casablanca, playing on two separate screens at Galapagos as part of their MovieHouse series. Included with the evening is free popcorn, a short film before the feature, and a Casablanca trivia contest. All for only $5, and you can watch the superbowl commercials on YouTube when you get home.
Geek rap stalwart MC Chris is having a you-make-the-video contest for his new ode to the ladies, Nrrrd Girl. If the lyrics touch your heart (and they will) and you feel you can further illuminate the song's meaning with your video/animation mastery, enter the contest by February 29th for a chance to....what exactly? It's not clear, but probably the honor of having made an official MC Chris video, and possibly something else. There's no prize like a su-prize!
In related news, Chris will be a guest on Comic Book Club at the People's Improv Theater in NYC this Tuesday, January 22nd. He'll talk comics with the CBC hosts and classic comic artist Jim Starlin, and do a song or two to seal the deal. Tickets are surprisingly still available, only five bucks plus a dollar service charge.
In the wild west of user-generated new media, fan-made video contests have been embraced by a lot of mainstream artists in recent years. The winning entries vary widely in originality and profesionalism, but one tends to get what one pays for.
After the jump, we review high-profile winners and evaluate what it takes to give away your filmmaking talents for no royalties or monetary payment whatsoever. Take that, striking writers! Kurt Nishimura won the infamous Decemberist Video Contest, one of the first challenges that promised the prize of a broadcast debut. Fans were challenged to build a video around footage of the band playing in front of a green screen, an idea Stephen Colbert contends was shamelessly stolen from his own Green Screen Challenge. The controversy culminated in a guitar battle between the Decemberist guy and Mr. Colbert, the humor of which was somewhat diminished when the Decemberists guy performed a yawner of a solo, which there's really no excuse for in the age of Guitar Hero. You might have gotten away with that in like, the 90s, but post-2005 nerds have been re-educated in the ways of the shred.
The winning video is something of a snooze itself, with a simple storyline stretched thin over the song's near four minute runtime. However, Nishimura did come up with the rather ingenious idea of encasing the pre-existing footage within a television set inside the world of the video, allowing total freedom to develop a storyline with original footage without having to use cutaways to get back to the band. More kudos for the muted cinematography, which makes everything feel a bit more professional, despite limited locations and not so polished actors.
By the way, here's the winner of the Colbert Contest, which can always use a second viewing.
From a pool of around 100 entries, Incubus selected both a Grand Prize Winner and a Band/Fan Pick. Wait, so who chose the Grand Prize Winner, the record company? Ooh, I hate those guys! The Grand Prize went to a film schoolie rape nightmare/fantasy with a generous helping of After Effects filters. The fan/band pick by Carlos Oliveira featured no band footage but instead a super emo-cartoon. Again, the problem here is a good idea stretched out to interminable lengths, achieved in case by having the characters move around verrrry slowly. But the art itself grabs you, and the story has a nice mix of literal lyric interpretation and angsty big eyed cartoons people. This entry did end up getting broadcast after all, though with cuts of the band interspliced. It's actually an improvement, and does a lot to improve the pacing issues.
Original Version
Broadcast Version
Bjork fans got the chance to create a video for Innocence, off the phenomenal Volta EP. The winning entry (chosen out of a whopping 500 submissions) was by Fred & Annabelle of France. Now THIS is a video. Perhaps there was a higher incentive for serious artists to submit their work, since Bjork has a rich history of groundbreaking music videos by the likes of Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham. This video fits snugly into that proud lineage, even including some familiar bear and robot imagery. The breadth of CG techniques on display here sometimes venture a tiny bit into demo territory, they come on so abruptly, but over all the images match the feel of the music perfectly. Also, please note this video features not footage of Bjork, but a computer generated Bjork. Amazing stuff.
Here's Levi Ahmu's winning video for the Smashing Pumpkins song, Tarantula. When did they get back together? Chosen from a mere 60-something entries, this is another After Effects party that looks like Ray of Light meets some of the newer iPod Commercials, with some disaster porn thrown in about 1:45 in. At least it's relatively short.
You may notice all of these winners heavily feature band members. This is due to the fact that these are all commercially distributed artists, and music videos are basically commercials in one form or another. MC Chris, however, is self-distributing his new album, so I'd guess the pressure to advertise his image may not be necessary for the win. You never know though, there's little Chris cartoons all over his merch. I'm guess there will be a lot of flash cartoon entries, given the web savviness and abundance of time I'd expect his fan base to have.
Personal Epilogue:
I'm entertaining the idea of pulling a Nrrrd Girl video together myself. I only heard the song a few days ago while aimlessly browsing my way further into late night depression, and the song helped put me in better spirits. Lyrics like "She might seem shy in person, it's no lie/She's always nervous/But the verdict is she's worth it/She gets crap but don't deserve it" and "She's romantic, known to panic/With anxiety attacks/Literary, it's so scary/Reading Brontes back to back/" really hit home, because some of those qualities hit home personally, and others remind me of the kind of girl I fall for. The whole thing got me a little choked up, and maybe a reaction like that is worth mining for video ideas.
Even the most dedicated Rock Band player can be instantly shamed by the presence of a person who can play an actual guitar. On his writerless show last week, Conan O'Brien showed his staff how to rock for reals, and also gave an amazing rendition of Sabotage as interpreted by Edith Bunker. Writers smiters!
The idea of a Rock Opera is hilarious in itself, so it's no surprise the genre is often used as gag material, some times to hilarious effect and sometimes not so much. The newly released Street Figther Rock Opera, however, has almost no precedent for it's awesomeness. It's the work of collegiate rock band The Man Factory, and the seven songs that make up Act 1 are available for free download on the band's Myspace, complete with lyrics and liner notes. These are a welcome aid in following the plot, which concerns Chun Li's bid to revenge her father's death at the hands of M. Bison, which more or less adheres to the character's actual backstory. The songs are mostly sung from the first person view point of the characters, including a lovestruck Zangief, Interpol Agent E. Honda, and arrogant star of the Vegas boxing circuit, Balrog. Vega and Ryu are referred to, but we'll presumably have to wait until Act 2 for further lyrical insights into their characters.
The Man Factory has a powerpop rock sound that comes in somewhere between Ozma (remember them?) and a more low-fi version of The New Pornographers. The songs can be enjoyed solely as massive in-jokes about the Street fighter mythos, but the tone of the songs are not overtly jokey, and the band surprisingly manages to mine some effective musical drama from the characters and their street-fighting related tribulations. The most effective track is Chun Li, Outside, a tragic song of loss and revenge. You wouldn't think the lyric "Bison got away boat towards Thailand" could inspire a catch in your throat, but an abrupt change from major to minor in the music takes the song from fanart to something with value independent of it's source material.
Not every song flies as high as that one, and the fact that one high-voiced male singer sings all the male parts makes Balrog's strutting hip-hop number slightly cringe-inducing. But over all the lyrical quality is high, and the music is great in small doses. There are two more batches of songs on the way, but in the mean time you can check out a demo track on the band's official site, about fan fave Dhalsim. Well, I liked playing as him. I wasn't going to win anyway.
8pm @ The Green Room, 45 Bleecker Street, Manhattan
Now, I'm not necessarily suggesting you actually go to this event, but the geek snob credibility is undeniably through the roof; mad filmmaker Vincent Gallo and Hole's Eric Eriandson perform some sort of pseudo-musical improvised display. It "may be inappropriate for those under 18", so I can only imagine someone will be blowing Gallo on stage. $26 dollars.
6:30pm @ Giant Robot, 437 East 9th Street, Manhattan
An exhibition of illustrations by Adrian Tomine, who'll also be on hand to sign copies of Shortcomings, his quietly brilliant new graphic novel. Seriously, it's the book of the year. Plus this is technically an art opening so, you know. Say it with me now. Free booze.
10am - 6pm @ The Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street, Manhattan
This thing is actually going on all weekend, but there's some particularly neat stuff going on on Sunday. Manga/Sci Fi published Del Ray and Marvel Comics are making a special announcement...Avengers: The Super Deformed Initiative? I'd buy it. Plus Kaiju Big Battel, a Tokyopop special event, the Who Wants To Be A Voice Actor contest/exercise in public humiliation, and....a panel on Japanese Woodblock Prints? Li'l something for everyone...with really specific tastes. $30 for a day pass, $55 for the whole weekend.
12pm @ New Museum For Contemporary Art, 235 Bowery, Manhattan
This museum rules, and now it's back and totally insane looking. For the first 30 hours of the grand reopening admission is free, but only if you've got a ticket, and they already gave them all away. But the official site says if you show up it might be possible to get a returned or unused ticket on the spot, if you want to chance it.
Though they had their on-trend moment in the late 90s, mix tapes are still a labor of music geek love. This new monthly event invites music fans to trade mix tapes or CDs amongst themselves, based on this months' theme of The Saddest Songs In The World. ROCK. I pick Shannon, I Know It's Over, and I Can't Make You Love Me. I'm crying just thinking about them.
If you're of a certain age, let's say old enough to have owned a un-ironic He-Man shirt, you probably have a bunch of old cassette tapes slowly disintegrating in a box somewhere. Some tapes may be easily replaceable. Others you may have no desire to replace. But if your tape collection includes home recordings of your junior high school garage band, or taped-off-the-radio music blocks complete with early '90s commercials, or even that awesome Muppet Babies soundtrack that is now out of print, if you can believe that....these are artifacts of the past that may actually be worth preserving.
The USB Cassette Achiver allows you to easily transfer cassettes to your computer via a USB port. You can save the content as an Mp3 that will live forever in digital immortality. Of course immortality isn't cheap, and this highly specialized machine is currently going for $169 (and that's the sale price). Still, serious archivists and techheads with a weakness for nostalgia may want to add this to their Decemberween wishlist.
Did you know that the Hold Steady produced a comic book that illustrated lyrics from their brilliant 2006 release, The Boys And Girls In America? See them for FREE at this outdoor show, along with The Old 97s and Illinois. Admission on a First-Come basis.
How much comic book fandom can you handle? This meeting of minds between NYC's hottest trios of comic criticism is likely to create some sort inter-dimensional black hole, or will possibly usher forth some matter of uber-nerd. So you'll want to be there for that.
Laurel Lanes, 2825 Rt 73 South, Maple Shade, New Jersey(!)
ARR! Any scoundrel with his wits about him knows the 19th o' Sieptembree be International Talk Like A Pirate day. Gather a crew and a stout vessel, for this port lie in the black uncharted waters of Nova Jersii. Fer yer trouble ye get bowling, costume contests, and piratey drink specials at the local tavern. Hail (856) 778-7467 to make sure this actually be happening. Pirates be a notoriously unreliable lot.
The good people at OverClocked ReMix have put together an album featuring fan arrangements/remixes to 45 tracks from the PSX's Final Fantasy VII. FF7, arguably the most popular and beloved RPG on the PSX, (if not any console), featured a pretty intense soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu. The soundtrack, originally composed using MIDI, was released in four cd's back in the day and remains a staple of videogame music history.
The album spans four discs, split up and themed for four releases from the FF7 Universe: "Crisis Core", "Dirge of Cerberus", "Advent Children", and "Last Order." Combined they have over 3 hours of music. These guys (and all of the fan remixers) have put a lot of work into this, and if you're a FF7 fan, you'll be happy to know it's all free to download. Check out Voices Of The Lifestream and you can grab a couple choice tracks or just take the whole 2.32gb torrent.
Get your hands on the first piece of Will Wright's new masterpiece, and make some creatures that'll put Jim Henson to shame. Well, not really. But you can dream.
