Callooh! Callay!

If your not listening to Callooh! Callay!'s album Sassprilluh Champagne, you're really missing out. It's not that it haunts you. That's not quite it. It just... follows you. Sticks with you. You find yourself singing it at odd moments, and puzzling over it in the middle of the night.

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is on USA, a great movie, very unfairly boycotted by Christians of all stripes. Philip Pullman, the author of the trilogy the movie is based upon does, indeed, say that the books are "non-Christian," and inversion of Paradise Lost. Be that as it may, the movies remove the theology from the books. It's not a vast liberal theology to attack religion; Hollywood isn't stupid, it's one vast open conspiracy to make money. They're not going to alienate a vast portion of their audience, unless there's money in it. And there's probably not (remember, this isn't an Oscar-bait movie). Especially after these midterm elections.
But, as I was saying, the movie is great. It's such a shame it failed financially. I'd love to see the take on the later books in the series.
The books, on the other hand, have always been morally problematic for me. Not the over-arching message. People can say whatever they want, and there's some good stuff in the books. No, the big problem for me is the death of Lyra's friend Roger. Lord Azrael kills him to get the other world, infuriating Lyra. Yet, in later books, the issue seems completely paved over. Azrael is one of the good guys, and Lyra decides to do all she can to help him. In order to achieve what he achieves, which, in the context of the novels is "good", Lord Azrael murders a child, tearing away his soul. This seems monstrous to me, far more than the end justifies the means. Yes, one may argue, Lyra and Roger are the true heroes of the story. And, indeed, fair enough. But Azrael is one of the heroes. Azrael's battle sets Lyra on her path. And Azrael is a monstrous murderer. Even after meeting her friend in Hades, or Sheol, or whatever miserable afterlife the books provide, Lyta seems to forget that Azrael is a killer.
It's always troubled me

Next time: Sufjan Stevens and punk rock!

just kidding in that last CrAppy post nothing is wrong Life is Lovely everyTHing is Excellent i love my Pleasant Only girLfrIend so much CostErnation would fall upon me if I didn't

I've been coughing up phlegm for the last couple of days. It's pretty cool, I guess, because it's coming from the dark, scary recesses of my lungs and I don't usually see anything from in there. It's also a little dangerous because sometimes one is not in an area conducive to spitting out a wad of phlegm. I suspect that if I swallow enough phlegm, it will cause me to throw up. So I let it sit in my mouth until it dissolves. Or I show my girlfriend. She says she needs a break. Usually I laugh but last time she got up, went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and plunged into the couch about three inches from my leg.

I've finally figured out what's holding me back from becoming a hipster. It's these damn glasses.

Has anyone else noticed the gay subtext in "Brokeback Mountain?"

Bottletree, June 9, 2010

Last Wednesday, I went up to the Bottletree in Birmingham to see the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Surfer Blood, and, whether I wanted to or not, Hooray For Earth (they were opening). Despite my general unenthusiasm for an opening act I don't really know (I've been burned before), Hooray For Earth turned out to be pretty good. I recommend giving them at least a listen (then again, it's a big difference going from crowded live room to recording so they might suffer from translation). I regret to say I don't really remember much about them other than a general impression of not terrible. That's all I really have to go on.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart played next, and they were very good. They opened up with my favorite song, "This Love Is F***ing Right," so, props to them. Very good fuzzed out fast indie pop. You don't have to notice the lyrics if you don't want to, you can just go ahead and bop your head, but if you do choose to listen to the lyrics they're not bad. 80's revival-ish, but in a really good way. Like they got into some shoegazey Vaseline-ish stuff. It's fun.

A few songs before their set ended they announced that Surfer Blood's van had broken down and, consequently, Surfer Blood was not yet there. Therefore, they were going to stall as long as they could. (Sidenote: Because Surfer Blood was not yet there, I missed out on all three bands playing a Lit song. That could have been the show I was at featured on Pitchfork. Thanks a lot crappy van bus).

So TPOBPAH finished their set at about 11:35 and Surfer Blood still isn't there. My friend and I decide we'll wait, oh, until 12, and if they're not here by then we'll go home. 5 min to 12 rather tired and slightly pissed off looking young men entered Bottletree carrying guitar cases. "Hey," one of them said. "Which way to the stage?" So they made it after all.

I'm really glad they did. I like Surfer Blood's recording work, but something about their live show really pushed it over the top. We already knew "Floating Vibes," "Swim," "Catholic Pagans," and "Twin Peaks" were good songs, but live they take on a whole other elements. They benefit from the noise and power of live guitars. And the singer's voice takes on extra emotion, an extra edge. "Swim" drips with real desperation. Yeah, it's sunny fun loud music, but their album cover featuring the shark is well chosen. This is music with teeth in it and if you're not careful it'll eat you up. I got lucky enough (to mix my metaphors) to dance on the edge of the abyss.