Music Monday - Supremacy, Skyfall

The internet is abuzz with posts about Bond, James Bond. I haven't yet seen the film (no spoiling it for me, you hear!?), but I there's a perfectly good reason for that: I've got tickets to see it on Wednesday in Calgary, on an IMAX screen! Stoked!

Now, Adele is getting a lot of attention because of the theme song she supplied. It's great. Better than great, really. It's more of a "classic" Bond theme, unlike some of the songs in the last decade. Apparently the film itself feels much like a "classic." But that's yet to be seen. Anyways, back to the music.

There's been a rumour going around that Adele was not the only artist being considered for the theme. Gossip will tell you that Muse was in the running, but Barbara Broccoli says otherwise. According to her, Adele was the first and only choice. The first song of Muse's recent album, though, is everything a Bond theme should be. It even has part of the "Goldfinger" theme in it, just like Adele's "Skyfall." The song I'm talking about is called "Supremacy," and it has gotta be my favourite Muse song. Ever.

To illustrate how perfectly this song goes with Bond, please watch the fan-made video below. Enjoy!

Music Monday - Remember, Remember

For those of you who aren't aware, today is Guy Fawkes Day. Arguably, the only reason people even mention this nowadays (outside of Britain, that is) is the film V for Vendetta. It's a favourite of mine, not just because of the storyline, theme, acting, or cinematography. No, it's the music that I have the fondest memories of, particularly a cover by Cat Power of Lou Reed's "I Found a Reason." It's a chilling, emotionally powerful song. At least in my mind.

Anyway, I haven't got much else to say, so please enjoy the song and video montage from V for Vendetta below.

Music Monday: This Circle of Life

On July 23rd, 2011, I did a lot of sitting. I sat in cars, I sat on the ferry between Victoria and Vancouver, I sat in the international departures terminal at Vancouver International Airport, and I sat in a China Eastern flight to Singapore.

It's hard to believe I've now come full circle.

A lot has happened in those 365 days. I've moved to and from Singapore, visited seven different countries, finished my undergraduate degree, moved out of home a little more permanently, and met many, many new people.

There's not really too much I want to say right now, or even have to say, so I'll just skip to the music.

Disney's The Lion King was probably the first film I ever saw in theatres. I loved it then, and love it to this day. The song it made famous came on randomly today, and it pulled on something inside me. I thought it only fitting to choose "The Circle of Life" as my Music Monday track.

Music Monday: Your Song and a Sammich

I'm feeling a little unorthodox today. Why? 'Cause I got one of those research papers finished up, a whole three days before it's due. This is absolutely unprecedented. It called for a celebration.

And so celebrate I did.

How, you might ask? With a sammich. But not just any sammich, it was a deliciously triumphant sammich. I'll give details on it below, but first we've got to get the Music Monday portion of this blog out of the way.

This week I've chosen "Your Song," specifically the arrangement from the film Moulin Rouge as sung by Ewan McGreggor. Moulin Rouge is a favourite of mine, and for good reason. The musical arrangements are prefect and suit the film beautifully, the casting was spot on, and the acting was just over-the-top enough to make the movie campy but not unbearable. If that makes any sense. Anyway, I love a lot of the songs from the film, and I have the album ("Nature Boy" by David Bowie gets a tonne of listening time, by the way).

So why "Your Song?" 'Cause it's the song that I wanted to sing to my sammich. Seriously. Here's the video.

So instead of Nicole Kidman, picture a sammich. In particular, a grilled peanutbutter and banana sammich. Yah. And just how does one make one of these? Read on!

1. Peanutbutter up one slice of bread.
2. Layer thinly sliced banana on peanutbutter.
3. Peanutbutter up second slice of bread. OR use fruit jam, Nutella, kaya, honey...
4. Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium heat.
5. Melt a small amount of butter or margarine in the pan.
6. Place sammich in pan.
7. Grill, flip, repeat.
8. EAT THAT SAMMICH-Y GOODNESS.

That is all. You can thank me later.

a Bit of Bolly

Last night I attended the opening of the Bollywood film "Ra.One," starring Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, two big names in India. That's the poster there on the right, and it's definitely not what you would expect from Bollywood. To be honest, I'm reminded of the cover art for classic PC games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. That said, "Ra.One" is definitely not like other Bollywood movies.

To date it is the most expensive film out of the Mumbai-based industry, as well as the most widely screened. It's one of a few new superhero-type movies, a genre borrowed from Hollywood and given an Indian twist. You can see clear influences not just from Hollywood, but from Hong Kong as well, with choreographed fight scenes involving superhuman feats of grace and agility.

But how was the film itself? I'd say that I liked it. I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone, as the genre conventions of Bollywood are quite different from their Hollywood counterpart, especially in this newly developed genre and style. For instance, if I were to compare this film to Hollywood, I would say that visually it's "Tron: Legacy," "Fantastic Four," and "Iron Man," but it has the narrative conventions of a kid's action film such as "Spy Kids." Granted, I watched the entire film in Hindi without subtitles, so the only humour I got were the visual gags, usually to do with getting hit in the balls or air humping. Mature stuff, y'know?
The storyline was really simple, though, so I didn't have much trouble following along. I went with a friend from Delhi (and a huuuge SRK fan), so she explained a few of the cultural references that were made. For instance, the names of the main protagonist and the antagonist are puns, with the name Ra.One (the villain) pronounced Ravan (a Hindu antagonistic figure in legend) and G.One (the hero) pronounced Jeevan (Hindi for "life"). Savvy?

So with a feel much akin to Hollywood superhero movies and a visual style mixed with Hong Kong cinema, the sole thing that makes this film stand out is what makes the heart of Bollywood cinema: song and dance numbers. Despite being an action film, "Ra.One" had two dance numbers in the film itself and another in the credits, and a few more songs as well. These were my absolute favourite moments, I think, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't search down part of the soundtrack.

It has some very modern moments, again something I didn't expect from a Bollywood film. One of the songs is even in the newly popular dubstep style, with lots of wubwubwub instead of unstunstunst (among my friends, that is a perfectly valid way of communicating musical style).

What's really funny, though, is that not all the songs are by Indians: two are sung by Akon. Yes, Akon. In Hindi as well as in English (though he still finds time to throw in a "shawty" or two). I'm not too sure how often an American music star teams up with an Indian production, but based on what I think is a pretty solid assumption I think we can chalk this up as another of "Ra.One"s firsts. And no, I'm not counting that Pussycat Doll remake of "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire."

I think I've written more than enough, so I'll leave you with two videos. Up first is one of the trailers for the film, which I chose because of the variety of action shots and cinematographic techniques it shows. Second is one of the songs by Akon and the official music video, which is comprised of various shots from the film where SRK lip syncs Akons lyrics. It's quite the sight!



all photos by Eros International Ltd. and Red Chillies Entertainment from the film Ra.One (2011)

Music Monday: Bloomin' Pogo

The other day one of the comic artists I follow on Twitter, @kinokofry, posted a silly link that made her giggle (that's what Twitter is for, right?). I clicked it, found it amusing, and then ventured through some of the related videos.

All the videos were by a remix artist who goes by the name Pogo, and I have to say he's quite unique in his craft. Whereas most remixes target the Top 40, Pogo samples bits and pieces from various film and TV soundtracks and clips. For instance, he has songs sampling "Lord of the Rings," "Up," and "the Mighty Boosh."

The song I want to share today is a mix of various Disney films called "Bloom." According to the artist, "Bloom" is "a patchwork of vocals and musical chords from various Disney films. I recorded the harp sample from 'Sleeping Beauty', and a series of chords from 'A.I: Artificial Intelligence' to form the base of the chorus. The vocals are sampled from Disney films, each of which are illustrated in this video." The video is below.


As with the last Music Monday post, this one has a download link! All of Pogo's tracks are available on his site, and you can choose how much you would like to purchase them for. Free is an option, too! But it's always good to support artists that you enjoy. Happy listening!

Making Connections - Molly Millions & Quorra

Being a university student with some background in Literature and focusing on Culture Studies, I'm accustomed to making connections between and among texts. For instance, the character of Molly Millions in Gibson's novel Neuromancer. In his vision of the cyberpunk future, she is the definition of a femme fatale, a former prostitute turned "Razorgirl," a cyber-samurai if you will.

Of course, the only representation of Molly is on the cover of the novel, where we only see her face. The descriptions in the various books she appears in, though, have allowed fans to conjure a likeness that is more-or-less accepted.  Anyway, Neuromancer is one of those novels that influenced a great many things. Heck, it included the internet before it even existed (Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" himself).

Enter the world of Tron, a community existing within a computer system. The parallels between the Tron franchise and classic cyberpunk are quite apparent. I'd like to look at the character of Quorra, though: she's the Molly Millions of the film. Her appearance is similar, her fighting skills are similar, and she, too, is taught amidst an Asian-inspired aesthetic. Huh.


art by deadinsane, Neuromancer cover art (c) Ace 1984, Tron: Legacy movie still (c) Walt Disney Pictures

my Year in Review

First off, this idea (and title?) was stolen from a friend of mine. I like to swipe things like that. Here's what I got up to the last 12 months.

Is there an equivalent to Wednesdays in university degrees? As of January, I was officially at the hump-day of my degree program: 5 terms down, 5 to go. I'm not sure whether I was relieved or even more stressed because of it.

February brought Olympic good times as I spent part of my reading break up in Whistler with some friends. Mittens were worn, events were watched, beers were consumes, and I was hassled over and over about where I managed to pick up my Team Canada hoodie.

Did anything happen in March? Anything at all? The only thing I can think of is that I ate copious amounts of phở, but I do that every month. Well, did that until the phở place became blacklisted. I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all.

This picture isn't exactly accurate, but in April the hard drive in my laptop decided to die (finally?) after four years of service. However, it chose to die in the middle of exams and term papers, and in Kel where my XP boot disks were not. Long story short, I'm now an Ubuntu convert with extreme loyalty to Western Digital.

Even though my school year had only just ended, in May I began looking at the opportunities that I would have this year. And what should catch my eye but an exchange program to NUS. I've been obsessing over it since.

The Canadian group Thunderheist broke up in June, and I had the privilege of attending their last show in Vancouver. Honestly, it was one of the best performances I have seen, and I am so sad that they won't be touring or even making music anymore. Oh, and I turned 21. Minor detail.

Although I go to school in the Okanagan, I had never been there in the summer, when it is at the peak of awesome. In July I flew out to Kel and went camping with a bunch of friends and was finally able to experience an Okanagan summer. Rad.

August brought many of my RA friends back together, after four extremely long months apart (besides the ones I saw in July, heh). More rad people, more rad camping, and rad memories to boot. Mad rad.

I got my first tattoo shortly after I turned 19, and a week later I decided that I hated it. After many years mulling designs, I settled on a Russian firebird to cover the terrible tattoo up. I started the tattoo in September, accomplishing 3.5 hours of work in a single sitting.

October, of course, brought Halloween. I had a posse. Initially, I was a dragon. Then I was a dinosaur. By the end of the weekend, I was the Ogopogo. There were no costume changes. I'm just that awesome. We're just that awesome.

The most terrible month in the history of terrible months was November 2010. I had a very brief post about it, sharing the musicians who helped me through it all. I'm still not quite over what happened that month, but hopefully this new year will bring some healing.

I was finished with exams quite early in the month, so December became the month of movies. In theatres I saw Burlesque, Tron:Legacy, and Black Swan. Many others were screened from the comfort of my living room, or as movie marathons at friends' places. I really needed the down time after this year.




Garfield (c) Jim Davis, Whistler photo by me, phở photo by m0nyet, Thunderheist photo by wagepeace, Okanagan photo by trainboysd40, laser tag photo by a friend, tattoo design by laludia, costume photo by a friend, Chris Corner portrait by lora8, Black Swan poster (c) Fox Searchlight Pictures

Music Monday: Daft Punk - C.L.U.

So last Friday Tronday I saw Tron:Legacy. I was tempted not leave the theatre and watch it again (edit: I went back and watched it two more times in the same theatre). I'm in love. I'm also in love with the soundtrack, which was composed by Daft Punk and features the London Symphony Orchestra (I think. It's a symphony orchestra in London, that's fersuure).



While not my favourite song on the soundtrack, C.L.U. is probably the most exemplary of the beautiful style that Daft Punk crafted when given the chance to work with more "traditional" instruments. Who knew synth and strings went so well together? Or feedback and timpani? Love love love.

the Regular Programming

Alright, I'm ditching the picture challenge series because I got bored of it. That sudden boredom may or may not be because of the next few days of awesome I have in store. It goes a little something like this.

Team project? Check. Two 10-page geography research papers? Check. Final exam in anthropology? Check. There's nothing left for me to do this term. Rad!

Everybody knows what Wednesday means. Heck yes you do. Wednesday means Wing Night, and I plan on hitting it for some buffalo-style lovin'. Mmm mmm!

Thursday morning I'm hitching a ride to Biggie to shred some gnar powpow. In more standard English, I'm going up to Big White to snowboard on all the fresh snow they've got. First time up in two years!

Friday Tronday is Tron day. I'll be watching the original at least once that afternoon before donning my Disney RealD glasses for the multidimensional experience that is Tron Legacy. Nerdgasm.

photos from around. Biggie photo by me.

Kings and Queens of Drag

So, today was Spirit Day. Y'know, the purple-shirt event I blogged about a few weeks back? Yah, that's the one. I'm glad to say it was a super success! Many many hugs were given, even though I have no blue in me. Funny how that works.

We (yes, I wasn't alone in this. I'm not crazy, y'know) had many mixed reactions, from the enthusiastic spinning hugs to people ducking behind bushes to avoid us. Some people didn't know how to say 'no,' so they had their personal bubbles invaded. Others walked up wanting a 'post-midterm hug,' which we were more than happy to give. It was a good time.

Now, I bet you're wondering about that blog title: Kings and Queens of Drag. Well, I'm taking an anthropology of gender class, and it is finally starting to become interesting. The article I just finished reading featured some theory by Judith Butler, and one particular idea just can't be banished from my mind.

We're all in drag.

Think about it: what makes it natural for a man to dress and compose himself as "masculine?" Or a woman as "feminine?" By putting on those dresses and heels on Friday night, ladies, you're acting out gender. Guys, when you rock the oxford with a double-windsor you're performing gender.

Crazy, huh?

As a closing note, I'd like to say that the image is a promotional shot from the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I love that film to death. I highly recommend it to everyone. Yes, it's LGBTQ in nature, and a musical, and on the artsy side of film-making, but give it a chance.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna change out of my torn blue jeans and leather jacket and go to sleep.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch promotional photo (c) New Line Cinema

my Influence Map

Have you ever taken a step back and asked why you are who you are? It's not really something you think about too often. It's not something I think about too often. But now is not often; I just pondered those thoughts.

The result? This:

please click for full size view

Pretty nifty, eh? It took some work to put together, and even more work to actually think about. I tried very hard to use only photos that I have taken, but that started to limit the representation of my influences. Here's a bit of an explanation for each one, frame by frame.

Spirituality: I was raised in the Seventh Day Adventist church and attended Christian elementary and high school, so religion played a big part in my development. But not just Christianity, or just religion: I've taken bits and pieces of other philosophies, too, probably like the majority of people out there. (photo by me)

Chris Corner: He's a musician, the front man of IAMX and co-founder of the disbanded group Sneaker Pimps. As with the other artists on this map, it's his way with words that has influenced me most, as well as the messages in his lyrics. (photo by Vera Hofmann)

Sia Furler: Another musician, Sia embodies the childlike, carefree, but mature and political adult. She is outspoken in both her art and in her public life. (promotional photo, no listed creator)

Metric: A Canadian band, with singer Emily Haines at the front. Really, I think it is Emily who influences me the most, but I have to give the rest of the band credit, too. I could listen to their latest album Fantasies all day, and frequently do. (photo by me)

Star Wars: Do I really have to explain this one? The films, the books, the entire mythos behind it all. I was raised on Lucas Arts, and continue to be influenced by the franchise today. (photo by We Made This Ltd.)

t.A.T.u.: I always get lots of flak for enjoying the group t.A.T.u. Most people recognize the girls from their two (English) hits in North America, few know that they lasted as a group for ten years. Once their presence completely faded away in North America I knew I'd never be able to see them perform live. I beat that impossibility, though, by seeing them in Italy while backpacking. (photo by me)

Greek Myth: Besides being a Star Wars nut when I was a kid, I had a major soft spot for Greek mythology. I adored the stuff. I read Homer's Odyssey for fun, only to read it again in AP Literature and then bang my head against my desk in second year English because no-one knew what it was about. (photo by me)

UBC Okanagan: Where do I even start with this one? Moving away from Vic has probably been the single most impacting thing I have ever done in my 21 years of life. It completely changed the direction of my education, earned me a tonne of new friends that I know I can count on for almost anything, taught me so much about myself through living with (completely rad) room mates each year, and given me so many opportunities to experience things I never would have tried if I had stayed in Vic. That about sums it up. (photo by UBC)

Mirrors: I should probably also add windows. I have a strange fascination with them, and both often show up as motifs in my writing. (photo by me)

Island Living: Whenever I need an excuse and don't have anything valid, I usually just retort with, "It's 'cause I'm an island boy." (photo by me)

Home: What do I need to say about this one? My family has had a significant impact on me, and will continue to. I have amazing parents who are determined to present me with every available opportunity that approaches, and a sister who is pretty much my best friend. That, and my family (including me) is rather cooking-oriented, so I'm never starved for baked goods. Ever. (photo by me)

Now, what has influenced or impacted you? Feel free to answer in the comments, or write your own post about it. You can find a blank template for the Influence Map here.