wish list

Beach House--Teen Dream

Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand (or Beach House) released their new album “Teen Dream” this month. The sound is more mature and polished than their previous two albums, Victoria becomes more confident with her vocals. Many credit the cleaner sound with the album’s release on Sub-Pop and fear that Beach House is selling out. In fact, the album doesn’t lose the dazed quality BH is loved for, it refines it. Teen Dream is all at once sorrowful, delightful, mesmerizing, but modest. This is a triumph of an album, and shows a clear progression from Devotion.

Favorite Tracks

silver soul

Silver Soul is a sad song. It opens with birds chirping , slides into a slow, soulful verse and settles into a devastating chorus. Victoria chants, almost sobs “it is happening again” over and over. The second verse is angrier, the percussion gets stronger and Legrand screams “it’s a sickness, embedded quickness”. The song builds; Scally’s vocals are added as additional rhythm and the song really sweeps you up. You can feel the despair itSilver Soul.

_norway

Norway is the first single off “Teen Dream”. It’s a perfect song for winter. Legrand’s breathy vocals are sampled softly as part of the rhythm section in the chorus. These laid over her soulful, warm voice creates a rich feeling. The song wraps you up in its long sad tones, but delights with its twinkling guitars and upbeat tempo. Norway is a standout track that defines BH”s new, cleaner sound and assures fans they’re not abandoning their dreamy aesthetic.

lover of mine

For me, Lover of Mine is the best track on Teen Dream. It has that haunting quality I love about BH. It begins with a fun sounding 80s synth line. Once the echoy vocals kick in the synth is faded out leaving you alone with Victoria’s tortured voice. The verses sound like fairy tales, lyrics about a dark forest and the contrast of this fantasy with the bleak quality of the vocals and melody makes the song all the more unsettling in the best way, like you’re dreading something, but you don't know what.

Twilight: New Moon

Somehow I've managed to put down the glitter I was adhering to my "Future Twi-MILF" shirt, and stop furiously clicking "TEAM EDWARD" in online polls long enough to write down some of my thoughts on the second film (?) in the Twilight saga. I haven't read the second book so this movie is all new to me, and riveting.

Except that it isn't. As far as I can tell New Moon is about getting the audience to invest in a relationship between Bella and Edward, revealing that he's a werewolf, Bella accepting him for the monster than he is, and then totally fucking him over because Edward is still super hot. Pretty much. And they still haven't refined the sparkle feature in ProTools. Hate this movie.

The problem with the first movie was that they ruined a potentially compelling love story with terrible acting, and spinning camera angles, and Muse songs. They fixed all that for New Moon, firing Hardwicke was a great decision, and the acting was pretty decent, mostly because Robert Pattinson only had to appear in like two scenes. Kirsten Stewart was mostly believable, I really want to like her, you can tell she hates every moment of these movies and just wants to be smoking a bowl on the public sidewalk the day after the movie she stars in breaks records . Love you Kirsten! Anyway, Taylor Lautner's not bad either. The only cringe worthy thing production wise was the ghost-like version of Edward warning Bella against doing dangerous things, but how are you supposed to make that look good.

The blame for this movie falls squarely on Stephanie Meyer's shoulders. The implausibilities are endless. The movie begins with Edward leaving Bella to give her a chance at a normal life, he says he will never see him again and we believe him. Later, when he comes to believe that Bella has died he decides he cannot go on in a world without her and decides to commit suicide. OK, I know that's romantic and all but, Ed, if you're as serious about this as your exaggerated pouting in every scene suggests, shouldn't not being able to be with her be enough to drive you to suicide. Also, a round of applause to the filmmakers for having the audacity to make Robert Pattinson recite lines from Romeo & Juliet at the beginning of the movie because WE DIDN'T GET IT WITHOUT THAT FLASHING SIGN.

Jacob's character is kind of disturbing too. I mean, in that there were several scenes that made a point of making you think about his age (16!). Bella even has to buy his ticket to get into an R rater movie--cringe. Then in the next scene he tears off his shirt to literal SCREAMS from the middle aged women in the audience, skeevesville. There's also seriously a scene where hes chopping wood shirtless in the rain. Congrats producers, you are the worst! I can't wait for Eclipse!!!

Movie Roundup

Paranormal Activity--

This isn't, as some people have suggested, the scariest movie of all time. It is, however, pretty damn scary. I did love how slowly it builds, it takes its time and doesn't get bogged down in some convoluted mythology or real

story. It plays on little s

cares, exaggerating things that really happen to not allow for alternative explanations. Perhaps the best way it scares you is to suggest that things could be happening to you without you knowing it (I'm thinking mostly about the sleepwalking segment, which really shook me). I love that the movie which uses all practical effects, and was made in a weekend f

or $11,000 has managed to make $20 million this weekend! Good to see the little guys succeed, especially when it's a decent movie, like this one. It won't be your favorite movie, but it's a fun one to see in a crowded theater!

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco

I've been on a Wilco kick lately so I decided to check

out this doc about the making of their album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It's a bit of a behind the scenes look into the making of the album, their conflict with each other and with the label releasing the album.

It's entertaining, thanks in huge part to the music included just being SO GOOD, but really theres not enough material here to construct a whole movie. There's glimpses of meetings, interviews explaining who's mad at who and minor drama, but you never get to see any of the creative process which is what I was most interested in. It's worth watching if you're already a fan of Wilco, because there are a lot of really beautiful, stripped down versions of the songs on Yankee Hotel, but it's pretty skipable otherwise.

Mutual Appreciation--

Mutual Appreciation is another mumble-core type movie from Andrew Bujalski--director of Funny Ha Ha. It's largely improvised, lacking in plot and kind of meanders around characters. It really gets the rhythm of everyday life right. It's biggest strength is how characters constantly diffuse tension, refusing to present the audience with that cinematic romantic moment, or that gaze that lingers too long. The characters are all a bit uncomfortable in their skin, and theres a lot of cringing that goes along with watching them. Unlike Puffy Chair, which reveled in the mundane, purposely making you suffer through watching people literally talk about nothing, Mutual Appreciation follows a romance, it just follows it in a real way. No one's running to stop airplanes, or appearing in suits at the top of escalators, they're pretending they need rides home, or forgot their coats to get a couple more minutes alone with the one they're interested in. Definitely worth watching-- it's available on Netflix Watch Instantly!

Where The Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze's "Where The Wild Things Are" isn't going to save movies or be the best thing anyone has seen or change anyones life. It's flawed, in a lot of ways, but the emotional resonance of the whole thing more than made up for it in my eyes.

THE GOOD

• Max--Max is absolutely expertly cast. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. He's totally free of precociousness, but still has the weight to deliver on the emotional moments. Think the absolute opposite of Abigal (awful) Breslin in "Little Miss Sunshine".
• Sets and Costumes--The Henson Company suits fit in so well to the atmosphere the film created. Just whimsical enough, it was refreshing to not be bombarded with CGI neon creatures in a kids (to the extent to which it is, which is not at all) movie. The sand dunes, the secret fort, and the forest were totally breathtaking too.
• Music--Obviously I love Karen O's soundtrack and thought that they blended in really well to the movie and lent it some tonal cohesion (with the exception of Worried Shoes which is an awful song and was distracting).
• Emotional Payoff--So many little scenes were totally devastating. Max and Carol's friendship is developed beautifully and in an understated way. Many little moments hit you hard, Carol and Max talking about the sun on the dunes, Max seeing Carol's model for the first time, the rumpus. It's bound to get a little dusty in the theater at some point.

THE BAD

• The Handy Cam--For some reason nearly every shot in this movie is done with a shaky handy cam, I guess this is supposed to put you in the moment and give some frenetic energy to the film, but in almost all cases it turns out looking sloppy and seems as if the choice was made for the sake of doing something different. So many times I found myself wishing that shots would just be opened up to a wide lens and held steady, they created such a beautiful world that it was a shame not to be able to see all of it.
• The Marketing--I really think a lot of the reason this movie isn't being as well received as people anticipated it to be is due to the marketing. The trailers mislead viewers into thinking they'd be seeing a whimsical, inspiring tale about imagination and friendship (I'm thinking mostly about the tagline "Inside all of us is hope, adventure, a wild thing"). The movie, in actuality, is BLEAK. The wild things are kind of horrible, and theres the fear that they'll kill Max looming throughout the whole movie. There's a lot of devastation and not much redemption, which could be really off-putting were you not prepared for it.

Opening Ceremony--Where The Wild Things Are

As the release of Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are draws closer, Opening Ceremony has put out a small collection inspired by the film. The collection includes fur coats, mini-skirts and full body suits. It's really fun and playful, and overall cute as nearly everything Opening Ceremony has a hand in is.

Movie Roundup

Jennifer's Body--

I actually had expectations for Jennifer's Body, the trailers made it look like it could be a fun campy, maybe scary movie, similar in tone to this year's "Drag Me To Hell". However, Diablo Cody

is no Sam Raimi, and Jennifer's Body was short on both thrills, and laughs. Megan Fox did the best she could I suppose, deliv

ering lines like, "you're so lime green Jell-o and you don't even know it". Ugh. There was a fair amount of Veronica Mars crossover in this, and it was sad to see their talent wasted. We didn't see the movie in a full-enough theater to yell at the screen and have a good time, so Jennifer's Body was ultimately totally boring.

Final Verdict: Skip it

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs--

I haven't been impressed with many non-Pixar animated films lately (Bolt came about the closest and it was just OK), but Cloudy

With A Chance took me by surprise. Cloudy is HILARIOUS, it's written and directed by the sa

me guys responsible for Clone High so it's no surprise that the humor was right up my alley. What I liked most is that the humor was funny enough to make my sides hurt, but it wasn't stuff that would go over the kid's heads. It's just funny, character based humor, without shoe-horning cultural references in a-la Shrek. Beyond being HILARIOUS (seriously, one of the funniest movies of '09) it's visually stunning, it's so fun to be transported to this food land. The film had a lot of emotional resonance too. The main character's relationship with his father was real and beautiful and made me cry. The voice work was great too, Anna Faris, Bill Hader, and Mr. T were all highlights. It's a seriously fun, sweet, well-paced moive.

Final Verdict: See it! (In 3-d!)

Word Wars

Word Wars is a really cool documentary about competitive Scrabble playing. Word Wars focuses on 4 competitors, going to the Nationals. They players

are all unemployed, living in squalor, and not anyone that you would aspire to be. These players gamble their money away on high stakes games of Scrabble, and obsess about anagrams all the time. Many of them claim to have the dictionary memorized. The documentary is depressing, it's hard to see people with such a specific, well-developed skill set suffer so much in the real world. Totally worth watching though, stomach-churning as it is.

Final Verdict: Rent It

The Squid and the Whale--

I revisited this movie finally. I saw it in theaters and loved it when it came out, I was 15 at the time. I was worried that like many indie type movies I saw at that age the cool factor would have worn off and I would be embarassed to have liked it. However, The Squid and the Whale held up. It's not often in movies that people who like to think of themselves as intellectuals are criticized, and Jeff Daniels' character is one of the more realistic professor types ever, and he sucks. Everyone in the movie is kind of miserable, and it's hard to watch, but totally enjoyable to revel in on a grey day.

Final Verdict: See it!

Wavves

Wavves played a free show last night in Grinell, IA. They took the stage 2 hours late and the sound in the venue was horrible. Wavves still put on a great, ridiculously energetic set, the highlight of which was definitely No Hope Kids. No one in the crowd knew the songs or who was preforming but they were won over pretty quickly. Great show all around! Also, Nathan Williams was really sweet, polite and mild mannered, which shocked me.

Gossip Girl Season 3 Premiere

The biggest surprise of Gossip Girl season 3 so far is that I'm still watching because I'm pretty sure I hate this show. Anyway the premiere, exciting stuff! Third season! New drama! Wrong, this episode is such a snooze fest.

At least the show leads with its best foot forward and the episode opens with Chuck and Blair the only characters I can imagine viewers like. Because it's impossible to be genuinely invested in the struggles of these impossibly, rich, attractive and creepily mature teens, so why not just show us exaggerated fun well dressed stereotypes with catchphrases. I'm bored, and you've ruined my pants. Yes! This is what we want. Anyway we don't get it. Blair and Chuck are playing a game in which Chuck seduces girls, and Blair walks in, pretending to be a woman scorned. This is to prevent their relationship from becoming stale because you know, they're 17 and MID LIFE CRISIS IMPENDING. Anyway they're still in love and this makes them so zzzzzz. Thank God Chuck is gorgeous otherwise this may dip to Vanessa

levels of boring.

Nate is sleeping with some girl from a rival family. Hearts are breaking, forbidden love, scorned grandparents. It's Shakespeare over on the CW guys, tune in. If it ends in a double suicide you'll be sorry you missed it.

Across town Vanessa is mad at Dan for owning a designer wallet because authentic people with morals only shop at Urban Outfitters, obviously. Didn't she date an Archibald last year though? Vanessa's moral high ground act is getting SO TIRED .

Finally, there's Serena's baffling plot line. I seriously have NO IDEA what's going on. She faked being on a spiritual journey for the summer while she was really in Europe trying best she could to get into all the papers. She continues to try to make a scene in New York by losing her top (isn't she supposed to be 17, this show is so ew sometimes) and leaving some Polo match in Connecticut on a horse, who knows? Anyway we're all hating Serena for being some attention whore, but then her voice over let's us know that there's a reason. She wants her father to see he in the pages of the magazines so that he will come back into her life or contact her or something. OK we all sigh in relief together, she wasn't publicly flashing because she's a whore, she only wanted her dad to see!

The only silver lining of this show is that Dan and Serena's step brother is way overly interested in Dan, and I'm really hoping this leads to some gay incest. Also, Georgina next week.

Team Kanye

I know, you're sick of it, I'm sick of it, we're sick of it, there's wars going on, health care etc. Everyone is fatigued on Kanye-Taylorgate '09, but this cultural fixation is only making me more interested. I love that our cuture still isn't saturated with celebrity culture enough to realize that this is 100% a publicity stunt and benefits EVERYONE! Taylor Swift isn't crying because she didn't get to thank Carson Daly for awarding her best female video (do we know what video it was)? And Kanye isn't apologetic because the crazier he looks, the more stunts he pulls, he becomes less of a person and more of a brand. Need proof that Kanye values being distinguishable over dignity?

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury his hair, his leather shirt, and his girlfriend. Kanye the-crazy-George-Bush-doesn't-care-about-black-people-stupid-sunglasses-wearing-I-am-the-king-of-pop controversy monger eclipsed Kanye West the rapper, and certainly Kanye West the person. Which is why his apology on the Jay Leno (who is so ugh) was so interesting.

I may be naive (I am being naive)but I think that Kanye was genuinely upset when Leno asked him how his dead mother would feel about his "outbreak". And I don't know how it's more socially acceptable to scold a grown man by making him imagine his recently deceased mother's disapointment than to momentarily interrupt a speech at an award show at which Fartman makes frequent appearances. Also Taylor Swift is kind of the worst, in her View interview this week she whined about not getting to thank the fans, and having to pull herself together to preform like a professional 5 min later. I'm sorry but your lipsyncing on the subway was not preforming like a professional. This is preforming like a professional (except for the whole 'I'm beasting, of this riesling' line. Cringe.) take notes.