Saturday, November 08, 2003
Good lord! I've gotten my hands on so much fresh data lately. I'll take them in no particular order:
1. Michael Jackson, Thriller. Hot! I'm flummoxed by the consistent derision I encounter when I mention to usu. middle-aged males that I've recently purchased the Thriller album. Although it is the precursor to a lot of the lite-pop pap I despise in today's music market, it has three songs on it that are great beyond classification. By this, I mean that they're great beyond measurement, and that they resist inclusion in the dance/pop genre. I could listen to "Thriller," "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" on repeat almost all day long, and indeed, I have recently done this at work. "Billie Jean" in particular seems just as kick-ass today as it was in '83, and the way the 2/4 opening commands you to shake your booty remains a revelation. Additionally, the album provides us with the best Halloween song of all time ("Thriller," obviously, replete with Vincent Price rapping!), as well as the best pick-scrape of all time (courtesy of Eddie Van Halen in "Beat It"). I just feel good when I listen to these songs, although I always feel confused about just what happened to MJ after this triumph. I mean, everybody knows he turned white, but he never again got close to producing this music of this quality. A shame, although perhaps inevitable.
2. David Foster Wallace, A Compact History of Infinity. DFW is my favorite author, and good enough that he produces high-quality fiction and non- with equal facility. (I also pretty much bite large chunks of his style in my own writing, I must shamefully admit.) Infinity is, if not my favorite topic, certainly one that has greatly interested me since I was a third-grader unable to fall asleep at night because I couldn't stop pondering the size of the universe. The combination of the two is proving a little more abstruse and dense than I'd anticipated, but no less enjoyable. Infinity's hard to wrap your head around, you know? The book was written for people like me, who find higher math intriguing and, in a way, beautiful, but who lack the facility to tackle it firsthand. If you think you fall into this category as well, I highly recommend reading this book. I recommend anything by DFW, in fact.
3. The Matrix Revolutions. Full disclosure: I have only seen this movie in IMAX, my first encounter with the large format. I think IMAX is awesome! Rick, Rob and I were in the second row, and I had to move my head to see things on opposite sides of the screen. My enjoyment of this film may have been enhanced by the grandeur of the format in which it was presented, and it may also have had something to do with the fact that ROMELLE TAYLOR APPEARED IN A SPECIAL TAPED MESSAGE BEFORE THE MOVIE AND PROPOSED TO HIS GIRLFRIEND. Bill Jagnow, I include the preceding 100% true statement for your benefit (she said yes). With that out of the way, I have to say I'm somewhat conflicted about just where Revolutions left the trilogy in my personal pantheon of movies. I enjoyed each movie individually, and I liked a lot about Revolutions in particular, including (but not limited to): the return of the Merrovingian, the battle for Zion, the Train Man (and Mobil Ave Station), the first Neo-vs-Smith fight and NeoVision 3000, et al. My disappointment stems mostly from the fact that I generally thought of the second two movies in terms of their being a collection of discrete scenes that I enjoyed to varying degrees. I gave up trying to determine what the hell was going on and just enjoyed the ride, which for the most part was thrilling, if more conventional than the first two were. It probably sounds like I disliked Revolutions, which is not true--I recommend it. But great movies don't make you want to stop trying to figure them out, and it's for this reason that I can only say the trilogy is "pretty good" rather than great.
4. Looking Glass Games, System Shock 2. Very difficult, very scary computer game. That's all I've got for now. Out.
1. Michael Jackson, Thriller. Hot! I'm flummoxed by the consistent derision I encounter when I mention to usu. middle-aged males that I've recently purchased the Thriller album. Although it is the precursor to a lot of the lite-pop pap I despise in today's music market, it has three songs on it that are great beyond classification. By this, I mean that they're great beyond measurement, and that they resist inclusion in the dance/pop genre. I could listen to "Thriller," "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" on repeat almost all day long, and indeed, I have recently done this at work. "Billie Jean" in particular seems just as kick-ass today as it was in '83, and the way the 2/4 opening commands you to shake your booty remains a revelation. Additionally, the album provides us with the best Halloween song of all time ("Thriller," obviously, replete with Vincent Price rapping!), as well as the best pick-scrape of all time (courtesy of Eddie Van Halen in "Beat It"). I just feel good when I listen to these songs, although I always feel confused about just what happened to MJ after this triumph. I mean, everybody knows he turned white, but he never again got close to producing this music of this quality. A shame, although perhaps inevitable.
2. David Foster Wallace, A Compact History of Infinity. DFW is my favorite author, and good enough that he produces high-quality fiction and non- with equal facility. (I also pretty much bite large chunks of his style in my own writing, I must shamefully admit.) Infinity is, if not my favorite topic, certainly one that has greatly interested me since I was a third-grader unable to fall asleep at night because I couldn't stop pondering the size of the universe. The combination of the two is proving a little more abstruse and dense than I'd anticipated, but no less enjoyable. Infinity's hard to wrap your head around, you know? The book was written for people like me, who find higher math intriguing and, in a way, beautiful, but who lack the facility to tackle it firsthand. If you think you fall into this category as well, I highly recommend reading this book. I recommend anything by DFW, in fact.
3. The Matrix Revolutions. Full disclosure: I have only seen this movie in IMAX, my first encounter with the large format. I think IMAX is awesome! Rick, Rob and I were in the second row, and I had to move my head to see things on opposite sides of the screen. My enjoyment of this film may have been enhanced by the grandeur of the format in which it was presented, and it may also have had something to do with the fact that ROMELLE TAYLOR APPEARED IN A SPECIAL TAPED MESSAGE BEFORE THE MOVIE AND PROPOSED TO HIS GIRLFRIEND. Bill Jagnow, I include the preceding 100% true statement for your benefit (she said yes). With that out of the way, I have to say I'm somewhat conflicted about just where Revolutions left the trilogy in my personal pantheon of movies. I enjoyed each movie individually, and I liked a lot about Revolutions in particular, including (but not limited to): the return of the Merrovingian, the battle for Zion, the Train Man (and Mobil Ave Station), the first Neo-vs-Smith fight and NeoVision 3000, et al. My disappointment stems mostly from the fact that I generally thought of the second two movies in terms of their being a collection of discrete scenes that I enjoyed to varying degrees. I gave up trying to determine what the hell was going on and just enjoyed the ride, which for the most part was thrilling, if more conventional than the first two were. It probably sounds like I disliked Revolutions, which is not true--I recommend it. But great movies don't make you want to stop trying to figure them out, and it's for this reason that I can only say the trilogy is "pretty good" rather than great.
4. Looking Glass Games, System Shock 2. Very difficult, very scary computer game. That's all I've got for now. Out.
