benchilada: (Automat)
"When you've fallen on the highway
And you're lying in the rain,
And they ask you how you're doing.
Of course you say you can't complain.
If you're squeezed for information,
That's when you've got to play it dumb;
You just say you're out there waiting
For the miracle, for the miracle to come."

-- "Waiting for the Miracle" - Leonard Cohen
benchilada: (Automat)
Dear friends [livejournal.com profile] bobbo_y_bobbo and his lovely wife Anne appear as a submarine crew in this delightful video by Gang of Three for their song "Submarine Dream (Submarine Song no. 3)."

It always makes me feel so freakin' mellow.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:

" You know what Air sounds like? Like if there were gay French robots, and they made music.

That's not an insult.I love the Virgin Suicides sountrack, and Moon Safari.

There's nothing wrong with gay French robots.

That's just what they sound like, is all." -- [profile] radiumhead
If you're seeing this and it's still reading 4:34 pm Wednesday as the last time I listened to anything, you'll have a clear idea of how odd the music I listen to really is. And no, I don't know why my tag has "sliipers" instead of "sleepers."

benchilada's Profile Page

This morning I was thinking about live music and the sea.

My brain is boiling with brain juices. Here's hoping I can keep them hot until noon.

b
benchilada: (Bird People)
Sometimes it's good to be reminded that things like this exist.


It blew my mind when I first heard it nearly ten years ago, still blows my mind today.

More info.


Last.fm doesn't really know what to think of my weirdass music tastes.
"If you ain't ever been to the ghetto,
Don't ever come to the ghetto,
'cause you wouldn't understand the ghetto,
And stay the fuck out of the ghetto."

Gimme a lyric from a while ago that makes you think of just a period in your life, good or bad, that makes you feel that weird thing in your heart.

Feel free to name the song and the time, but don't think you gotta.

"I've seen the rains of the real world
Come forward on the plain
I've seen the Kansas of your sweet little myth
You've never seen it, no,
I'm half sick on the drinks you mixed
Through your true dreams, of Wichita."

True Dreams of Wichita, Soul Coughing
Right, so, that whole Five Questions thingie?

[profile] iworkinasaloon is next, and his fucking band question took me about 300 years to answer.

------------------

1. What do you think about this: http://www.pornotube.com/media.php?m=38292 (i don't blame you for not clicking it. Just don't.)

I am--unsurprisingly, for those who know me--not really disturbed by these things. Here's the deal: I figure that, since time began, guys have been putting their cocks in anything that looks like it might or might not move and women have been putting inside of themselves that look like they may or may not move.

Sure, this one's a touch more fucked-up than most things, but worse things have been done for pleasure instead of money.
And here is where somebody chimes in and says "But what if they're exploiting that woman? What if she has no money, and they're paying her thirty bucks to do this just so she can get her next rock of crack?" I hate to sound flip, but what if she's not? What if she's making a lot of money to do this? What if she likes it? What if she's repulsed by it but "Damn, that's a lot of fucking money for something that will be over relatively quickly?" If you've ever watched porn or looked at porn online or what have you--and by IF I mean WHEN--don't tell me you haven't seen women who look like they're drunk/drugged out of their fucking mind while their boyfriend takes digital pics of her with his cock in her. On a very basic level, I'm more repulsed by that because it's PLAIN AND CLEAR that the person in that is not in control of their emotions/actions, and might be getting a thrill from something they'll later regret, IF ONLY because it might end up online.

Without context, it's foolish to assume what is going on with that woman.

Moral of the story: No, it doesn't turn me on, but if it does you? Fucking wank away, my friend, wank away.

2. Butter or margerine, and why?

Well, butter is pretty much a better taste, but sometimes you want that yellowy-plastic taste, you know?
Oh, and margarine spreads better when you're dealing with soft bread and cold butter.

3. Name five of your favorite bands. Why do you like them?

Right, I'm talking bands AND solo acts here. Want to laugh at me about any of them? Go for it. You've got yours, too, and you know it. Only difference is that I won't apologize for any of mine.

THE POGUES: Not your everyday, average drunken Irish band, right? I mean, sure they've got the requisite songs about drinking and gambling, but you listen to "Fairytale of New York" late at night with a bottle of whiskey in your hand and tell me that's not fucking magic righ there. Yeah, they've got a bit of a depressing history, what with Shane McGowan's self-destructive lifestyle and all, but...dunno, doesn't that sometimes add a sort of twisted humanity to something that's already great from a musical standpoint?

They're not just a drinking band, as some people have reduced them to, they're fucking Irish-English-rock/punk. They're political, they're celebratory, they're fucking out of their heads. The number of bands they've influenced, and this remarkable sub-genre that they founded...just amazing.

Start with the album IF I SHOULD FALL FROM GRACE WITH GOD. If you don't like it, you won't like them. RUM, SODOMY, AND THE LASH is what I'd go to next. Already know them? Try watching IF I SHOULD FALL FROM GRACE..., a documentary about McGowan. Have tissues ready.

PET SHOP BOYS:

Perfected pop, that's what these bastards have done. About half of you out there will say "Didn't they have a hit song in the 80's?" About one-quarter of you will say "They're still around, sure, but nobody listens to them." The rest will either something or something else.
Look, it's easy to dismiss them as simple dancepop, but if you ever stop to listen to the lyrics, you'll find something else. No, not every song is a lyrical masterpiece, or a musical accomplishment, but they've put out some incredible stuff over the years. Perspective? In the past twenty years they've had forty songs in the top thirty of the UK charts and four number ones.

Neil Tennant has a fantastic voice--even after twenty-some years of singing--and Chris Lowe is an amazing musician. And he's got perfect pitch. You listen to some of their songs and think "Yay, dance!" and you listen to others and you think, "Yay, pop!" and you listen to others and you think "Yay...wait, is this a happy-sounding song that's really about life as a gay man over the years of the AIDS epidemic? Jesus..."

Want to try their early stuff, go for ACTUALLY (1987): Great pop, great ballads, great lyrics when you listen.
Early nineties? VERY, often considered their most important album, since it's got lots of songs addressing homosexual topics, and Tennant came out immediately after it's release.
Latinish-dancy with great lyrics? BILINGUAL.
Most recent and almost entirely political? FUNDAMENTAL

COWBOY JUNKIES:

You've only ever heard "Sweet Jane," right? Or maybe "Me and the Devil Blues?" Yeah, you've heard them, but unless you're already a fan, you've only heard some of their soundtrack songs.

Rectify this immediately.

I don't know what the hell to describe them as. They're not country, they're not rock, but they're both. One moment haunting, the next uplifting, the next really fucking haunting, they defy convention whenever possible. Sweet fuck, they're difficult as hell to describe.

Look, go buy BLACK EYED MAN. If you don't like it, I'll mail you something. I promise that it won't be an envelope full of poop. Or at least, it won't all be poop.

THE PIXIES:

If I could only listen to one album for the rest of my life, DOOLITTLE would make the short list, no questions asked. Frank Black's indescribable vocal sound, Kim Deal's SOLID FUCKING ROCK, a kind of music that is--as with many bands I like--clearly made of many different genres, but not able to be nailed-down as any single one.

It's harder for me to break-down the Pixies as well as I can other bands, as their music really needs to speak for itself.

I think I want to die as the Pogues sing "Fairytale of New York" and have my death be quickly followed by the Pixies singing "Wave of Mutilation."

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS:

The two Johns--Linnell and Flansburgh--have been playing together for about 24 years now, and they change and stay the same with every album they release. Sure, they're a good bit of fun, but they're accomplished musicians and brilliantly twisted lyricists as well. To dismiss them, off-hand, as being a novelty act is something that is usually done by somebody who's judging them by the three songs of theirs that you've heard on the radio.

Yeah, songs like "Dig My Grave," a 60 second heavy-metal song about...umm...death, I guess, are off-the-cuff little things, but "Ana Ng" and "Don't Let's Start" throw me into Awesome Mode every time I hear them. And they're not just a great band, they're great performers. Making up songs on the spot, adapting their show for the venue, doing a series of improved songs in which they did one for each of the Planet of the Apes movies and then hiding them on the end of an album.

Christmas album? Yes. But it also sings about Chkahnnukhaha and their first album has a song about a guy's wife cheating on him with their friend who dresses like Santa every year.

Start where you should, with their first album, self-titled and sometimes called "The Pink Album" and then go to their second, "LINCOLN," and then hit their best-known, and some people will argue their best, album FLOOD

DO it.

4. Whats up with the internet? Seriously?

It's amazing, isn't it? I love living in the future. Playing with the internet is like looking inside my own brain. Terrifying and brilliant and insane and magnificent and IS THAT A FUCKING EEL?!

5. What's your favorite food?

Don't have one, as such, but I'll give you a quick list: kimchi, properly-made Chinese fried rice, thick-slab pork chops, kohlrabi, whiskey,  cheese, unagi, umm...yeah, basically anything that isn't a tomato.
Because he brings us things like this, [personal profile] chronovore   is your only god now.

If you don't watch this, I'll fucking cut you arse to tits, I will...



EDIT: It's "Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip"
Please to go give [profile] destro_simpson some of your Madd Lovinzz.

Now.

'cause he made this for / of me...

Also, his art is where your heart goes when you slow your loving.
benchilada: (Alphonse)
I first encountered Jet Daisuke years ago on Orkut, and I still visit his page from time to time, even though it never really changes. You see, the video for Everybody Wants To Be a Robot just gets me every time I watch it.

If you like his two videos (and his adorable Engrish), please drop him an e-mail and let him know.
It's always nice to get feedback on your artistic efforts. :)
Also, I have also have the mp3 for EWTBaR if you want it.

Now click below, pi pi ga ga...



b
Right, so I've had a number of requests for my New Year's Resolutions.

Lemme start by saying that after Halloween, New Year's is my favorite holiday-thing. It's purely symbolic (I mean, the winter solstice--what I would consider to be the new year--was a week-and-a-half ago) but it's a WONDERFUL symbol.

It's not just the old "wipe the slate clean" aspect, which is quite nice in and of itself, it's also that it's a nice time for hope and for aiming high. I'm all about aiming high. Sure, you won't always make it. Hell, you may not OFTEN make it. But shit, that rush from trying...

It's people looking at themselves and seeing what parts they want to be better. It's hope, damn it.

So here are mine, in brief.

1) Last year, I promised myself thirty rejection letters or one published work. I ended up with over a half-dozen non-fiction shorts.
     This year? One published piece of fiction. One comic actually in the works, if not actually submitted to at least one publisher.
2) The usual "better shape" thing. Not for anybody but myself. Okay, sure, for Sara, too, but mostly so I won't wince when I look in a mirror.
3) Love every goddamned minute.
4) Hoard every stray bit of hope I find and give away as much as I can. See, I want YOUR year to kick ass, too.

Told you I aim high.

Oh, and thanks for all the music advice. Got a lot you recommended and a few I wanted.


b
Even by my standards this is a very odd line-up of music that I just listened to.
I mean, only one song from another country that isn't the US or UK (shut up about Brahms), and some pretty standard fare for my collection.

I never make ANY apologies for what I listen to, I just find this list very...well, almost normal, for having come from a collection of 14,800+ songs randomly mixing on my computer.

LIST )

I'll do another one later, see what I snag then...

b
I very very rarely get writer's block, but I've got it now.
All the ideas are there, more all the time, but they won't shit themselves out.

At least I've done one creative thing in the past few days, even if it was something I couldn't draw.

And yeah, I actually used reference for this one.

Anyways, back to music to try to get this stuff out of my head.

In conclusion, I quote modern philosopher [livejournal.com profile] ishitpinecones from a recent meme:

21. What would make you a good parent?
... Well I guess I wouldn't beat em.


b
benchilada: (Kick ass)
Okay, so my recent "STOP COMPARING EVERY KUNG FU MOVIE EVER TO CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON" rant got somebody interested in Wong Fei Hung movies.

This is fun.

Bear in mind that there have been OVER NINETY TWO movies made about the man, making him arguably the subject of more feature-length movies than anybody else, particularly interesting since he was a realy person. He was usually portrayed quite seriously--with some very noteable exceptions--because the real Wong Fei Hung was known not just for being a master of a number of wushu styles, but also as an expert in Chinese traditional medicine and a superb patriot. As such, you'll really not see him kill anybody in the films, at least not in any I can remember.

So, behind this cut I'll give you a brief primer in Wong Fei Hung movies that I am familiar with and where you might want to start. These films are all over the place in quality, awesomeness, actors, age, and so on. Get ready for a ride, 'cause I've got a LOT of YouTube clips behind this cut.

Oh, and go here to download or just stream THE music from Wong Fei Hung films. To get the songs, you either have to click the tiny little play button on the black bar or wait thirty seconds for the gray bar to say DOWNLOAD.

The first one here has no lyrics, and is recognizeable to every Chinese person ever as the WFH theme.
The second one has lyrics and is the main theme to the Once Upon a Time in China movies.


Nutshell:

Challenge of the Masters: Above average 1970's quest kung fu film.
Dreadnaught: Never seen it, supposed to be pretty good early-eighties/late-seventies fare.
Drunken Master: Better-than-average-but-still-pretty-standard Jackie Chan movie, with final bad guy and training with drunken Beggar So, et cetera
Drunken Master 2: Incredibly fun, a little bit of wire, but not a lot, Jackie's last great hybrid kung-fu / prop film before he started leaning very heavily on the latter due to his age.
Iron Monkey: One of the bars that I use to compare all other 1990's kung-fu movies to. Incredible.
Magnificent Butcher: More about Butcher Wing, but still one of my favorite Sammo Hung movies and worth it.
Once Upon a Time in China (1-5): Lots of wire-fu, but also lots of Jet Li moving at 153 mph. Plots vary from good to bad, jokes vary from okay to terrible, but they're all worth a watch. Except 4...or was it 3...which didn't have Li as WFH.

There are a number of other good ones, including some parody films, like Jet Li's Last Hero in China and the hysterical (?) Master Wong vs Master Wong, but there are the basics.

Telling somebody what order to watch them in is insane, and I'll politely ask people to keep their disagreements peaceable. I say just start with Once Upon a Time in China and go wherever you want to from there, cool? Maybe do a double-bill of Drunken Master 1 & 2, or...whatever, just know that they're all totally different.

Right, back to the Balvenie 10 year scotch...

b
benchilada: (Automat)
Why does Chinese folk music move my heart so much?

Stream: http://72.21.49.122:8202/

Follow that to the website or click ADD and select URL on WinAmp.
Dunno how to do it wth iTunes, but I'm sure it can be done.

Listen for at least 10, 20 minutes, you're sure to get some really great stuff.

*sigh*


More later...

b
Twenty-nine is old enough to feel nostalgic about things, right?

Especially Razormaid remixes of songs that remind me of so many things.

Soviet Snow (Razormaid Remix) - Shona Laing

b
Before real content arrives, today's Fabulous Paragraph comes from [profile] icayrus, recounting a dream he had Saturday night. I added the italics to my favorite line...

"President Bush, in his almighty wisdom, decided to jump up onto the podium itself to give his speech to try and rouse the crowd. There was a sudden in draw of breath as everyone realized this was what he was doing and he began "At this point in history.." and as the O sound started to escape his mouth from the word history, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. At this point all of the African American children who had been placed around the podium, for the great photos of course, got up and swarmed around the President to make sure he was ok. Suddenly, one of the children went flying up into the air, a la Neo fighting Agent Smith on the playground in the Matrix: Reloaded, and someone screamed out from the congregation "Oh My God, George Bush is hitting Black People" and the swarm of children started flying away from where the President had fallen into the congregation.

And now, some music I've been listening to lately...


b

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