C.A.T: Turn on the Bright Lights

Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)

Interpol’s 2002 debut Turn on the Bright Lights stands out the most to me from all the albums that came out that year. Maybe that’s because it showed so much potential for a band that could never quite live up to this monolithic release. Maybe it’s because I’ve already written enough on A Rush of Blood to the Head (it’s good) and Sea Change (it’s the best). Conversely, maybe it’s because I don’t want to write about Yoshimi or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Or maybe it’s because I end up listening to Turn on the Bright Lights all the time. It seems to be installed in my head, like The Manchurian Candidate, I can go off at any moment and find myself compelled to turn on those lights myself.

I find it amusing that a band called Interpol is such a product of one specific place: New York City. These guys know exactly where they are from and it has influenced them in a profound way. Turn on the Bright Lights feels like it’s dedicated to the streets and buildings that turned them into the people they were then and are now. There is a certain emotionality to the album; despite its cool exterior, their is warmth here.

I guess the Joy Division comparisons are unavoidable if you are familiar if that band, but I’m not, so let’s move along. Bright Lights is an album that pulls you in with some pretty amazing songs placed right at the beginning. “Untitled,” “Obstacle 1” and “NYC” all show you exactly what Interpol is about and the best of what they can do. I used to feel like the album got less interesting as it went on, but if you stop and listen to any track on its own, you’ll find that there’s something to respect there. There’s a reason it ended up on so many top ten lists eight years ago.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure everybody’s spent some time with this album before. I volunteered to post a CAT today but couldn’t put in the time to come up with something really creative. And as we careen forward towards the modern day, I know I, just like all of you, will be excited to see where, exactly, these yearly CAT posts stop. Until the next time, remember to be safe with in-ear headphones. Bleeding ears are never cool.

Favorite Tracks: “Untitled,” “Obstacle 1,” “PDA”

"Get Ready for some Heavy Vengeance!"

For all you Da Morgue fans, I’m very happy to inform you that our 43 minute comedy film “Rock McTrigger in Heavy Vengeance” is now available on Vimeo, free of charge naturally. This completes our “McTrilogy” that we started in 2006 and were glad we could go out with a bang, hopefully we can put together a DVD, which would also have to be free (because of copyright issues) but if you read this blog just send us a message.

It was a long road to put this together, but it’s done and were all very happy with it. Really what I cherish most from teh experience is the little things you learn along the way; technical skills, ways to improve hands on production, problems to look for like weather and lighting, there all just little nuggets of experience (of sorts) that will only aid us in future productions. I hope to start another video project again in June with all the usual suspects, so always be on the look out for something offensive on the horizon.

King Con

I Love You Phillip Morris

So many movies so little time… It’s tough when you’re trying to see all the year’s best movies before the new year, especially when they’re all released in December. So sometimes I have to find my own means to see some of them, if you catch my drift. This one was more that I just wanted to see, it cause I’d actually heard the true story before, I didn’t even look at any reviews. Luckily I enjoyed the experience, I didn’t love it, but I don’t regret it,

Steven Jay Russel (Jim Carrey) was an infamous con man during the late 80s and early 90s. Posing under a whole multitude of different personas, Russell made millions through insurance fraud. Sort of reminds me of Catch Me if You Can, but this story has one big difference, Steven wasn’t just caught… He was caught tons of times. He almost became better known as an escape artist than a con man through his ingeniously devised breakouts. Though You couldn’t really talk about Russell without mention of his better half, his gay lover Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). A naive and soft spoken man, the two meet in prison and immediately form a lifelong bond, but can that be upheld with Steven’s addiction to fraud?

I’ve never really been a big Jim Carrey fan, but I find as he’s gotten older he’s mellowed out a little. Sure he’s still playing a flamboyant, con man, with a southern accent, but usually he keeps it in check, only going over the top every once in awhile. Though Ewan McGregor stands out more firmly in my mind, it’s good to see him take on a more unusual role.

I Love You Phillip Morris isn’t quite award season caliber, but it’s still an amusing and fascinating flick, made only more fascinating by the fact that it’s true. It most likely wont be nominated for anything, although I did love the score by Nick Urata, who along with his band DeVotchKa, also did the score to Little Miss Sunshine. So when it comes down to it, I guess you could just say that “I Like Philip Morris.”

C.A.T.: Discovery

Daft Punk – Discovery (2001)

Now here’s an album that’s just one big joyous ball of awesomeness. I am by no means a fan of dance music, but if there’s any album that stands as the definitive entry in the genre, for me it’d have to be Daft Punk’s Discovery. Hey I just realized this ties in with Tron: Legacy being released this week, and it also ties in with last weeks CAT being Phoenix. Nice.

The robotic duo known as Daft Punk have stated that Discovery was supposed to be a tribute to the music of their childhood, and the playful affect that music seems to have on you when you’re younger. This is certainly evident in the way Daft Punk infuses its signature brand of house music with this somewhat cheesy but undeniably catchy brand of bubble gum pop. I mean just try keeping yourself from getting a big grin on your face when you hear something like “One More Time” or “Digital Love”.

And it’s not just the singles that are great, though they’re certainly the songs that stand out. But tracks like “Crescendolls” and “Voyager” see Daft Punk applying a sound that’s a little bit house, a little bit disco, and just all sorts of fun. It’s just one of those rare records that manages to sound like a lot of music from the past, while also sounding like a document of the time in which it was released while also pointing the way to the future.

As we all know, 2001 wasn’t exactly the happiest year, so I guess it’s only fitting that the wide-eyed optimism of Discovery was unleashed on the world just a few months before the ’00s started to go downhill. It’s definitely got to be one of the best feel-good records of the decade, if not the best.

Favorite Tracks: “One More Time”, “Digital Love”, “Crescendolls”

Posthumous Pop

Michael Jackson – Michael

I remember getting excited when I first heard “Breaking News”, the first track released from this posthumous collection. It wasn’t great, but it still showed that even in his last years, Jackson still carried more pop prowess in one gloved finger than most of your modern pop hacks. Than I heard the first “official” single and it was absolutely terrible. Just typical, uninspired, shitty pop that you could hear basically anywhere, suppose I should of been warned by that “Feautring Akon” credit. After that I was scared, will this album still sound like the original King of Pop? Or it will it sound like some over produced, Timbaland type, pop disaster?

First off, I’d be lying if I said listening to this album wasn’t embarrassing. I mean Michael Jackson’s a great performer, he’s done some incredible work, but this is the Michael Jackson of the 2000s and even he couldn’t avoid being influenced by the dark side of the modern pop scene. Luckily on even the corniest, most uninspired, tracks you can still rely on Jackson’s presence and singing ability to keep it compelling. His vocal hiccups and “Woos” and “Uhs!” are as fresh as ever, you just have to trim back some of the fat to appreciate it.

As far as I’m concerned there are moments on Michael that are just as good or better that the blah Jackson album Invincible (the last album to be released during his lifetime.) I mean there’s a actually a lot of tracks on this album I like, not love but enjoy.Sure it’s unorganized, but it’s because it’s a posthumous release, which there’s no denying was gonna come one way or another.

So you can look at this album in two different ways; as the latest official Michael Jackson album, or as a loose compilation of Jackson just doing what he loved. I prefer the latter and it could of been much worse. Sure the ballads are cheesy, some of the arrangements are so-so, but the style and strength of MJ keeps it afloat as a loving piece of pop.

Favorite Tracks: “Behind the Mask”, “Breaking News”, “(I Can’t Make It) Another Day” (Featuring Lenny Kravitz) “

Black On Both Sides

Black Swan

It seems we’re officially in to that Oscar-y part of the year, where the movies showing up in theaters are starting to get more somber and serious as well as higher in quality. Black Swan, the latest from director Darren Aronofsky is one of those films vying for some Oscar attention. Really it’s a little hard for me to imagine something as dark and twisted as Black Swan getting a lot of Oscar love, but then again, who really cares?

Black Swan sees Aronofsky taking a somewhat similar approach to his last film The Wrestler, in that he takes a very visceral approach to putting you in the shoes of the film’s protagonist, and making you really feel what they’re feeling physically and mentally. In this case, it’s ballet dancer Nina Sayers (played by Natalie Portman), who is cast as the leading lady in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake by a nefarious ballet director (played by Vincent Cassel). Over the course of the production, Nina basically delves deeper and deeper into madness as the role starts to consume her psychologically, all while her paranoia is fueled by her understudy (Mila Kunis) and her overcontrolling mother (Barbara Hershey).

Now to say this film borders on melodrama would be a bit of an understatement, as some of the scenes in the film are almost laughably over-the-top. But for a film that is continually drawing parallels towards ballet, where all the emotions are amped-up, it kinda works for the most part. That said, I couldn’t help but feel like the script was a little thin in terms of the story and secondary characters. But that almost doesn’t even matter, since Aronofsky truly excells when it comes to subject matter like this, and his bravura style of film-making is a big part of what makes the film compelling.

Another big part of what makes the film work is the performance by Natalie Portman, who has now got to be one of the frontrunners for the Best Actress Oscar. I’ve never been that big of a Portfan, but I really bought her in this role, as she gives a performance that’s nothing short of fearless. Hershey and Kunis are fine, and I liked Vincent Cassell, even if he’s playing a character that’s only a marginally interesting depiction of a ballet director. But for the most part, this is the Portman and Aronofsky show, and I’m sure both of them will at least get some sort of nomination come Oscar time.

Requiescat in Pace, Capisci

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Before I actually played Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, I had my doubts about it. It has only been a year since the terrific Assassin’s Creed II, so how could Ubisoft have put together a whole new experience for this franchise that’s built on intricate plots and historical environments? Plus, all the marketing hinted that Brotherhood was mainly a multiplayer game with a tacked on story that could have just been DLC for Assassin’s Creed II. Well, it turns that that while Brotherhood feels more like an expansion pack than Assassin’s Creed III, it is also a totally worthwhile experience that fans of the franchise should pick up immediately.

The story mode is substantial, picking up Desmond and Ezio’s stories where they left off. Desmond and the motley crew of assassins set up shop in a familiar Italian environment as they plunge deeper into Desmond’s mind, looking for the Apple of Eden that Ezio has hidden. So we learn that after the end of Assassin’s Creed II, Ezio is forced to return to Rome to take down the Borgia family once and for all. All your favorite characters from the previous game return as Ezio builds up a resistance in the hopes of freeing the city.

This leads to my favorite new game mechanic: recruits. Ezio can’t do it all alone, so this time around you can help rebellious citizens learn the ways of the assassin. After you save an individual you can call upon them to help you in battle or send them off on contracts all over Europe. They gain experience and you can level them up and customize their appearance too. But the best part is when you call them out to assassinate targets. You just lock on to a target and whistle and one of your people will pop out of nowhere and end that dude. It’s really fun to watch and a great addition.

The town upgrading mechanic has made the transition to Rome, tasking you with reopening shops and restoring landmarks to increase your income. It feels a lot like Fable II, you just run around finding places you can buy and investing in them. There are blacksmiths, art dealers, tailors, banks and even sewer entrances (which serve as fast travel hubs) for you to dump your money into. The shops have quests now too, although they simply ask you to bring them items to unlock new equipment.

Fighting groups of enemies has been improved as well. Ubisoft has given you the ability to combo kills, basically when you counter an enemy you can leap to the next one for an instant kill. This makes Ezio look like a complete badass and addresses the most common complaint in the franchise: lengthy battles. However, the platforming controls still aren’t perfect and I found myself jumping off target a bit too frequently.

Multiplayer is the biggest new addition, and it’s pretty cool. Instead of trying to insert the traditional multiplayer modes, Ubisoft made having multiple assassins work. When you spawn, you’re given a target to assassinate and all you have to do is kill that bitch to increase your score. Of course, you’re someone else’s target too, so at any moment someone could pop out of the crowd and put a knife in your belly. It’s pretty cool and more fun than I would have expected, since I figured multiplayer Assassin’s Creed straight up wouldn’t work.

The multiplayer is substantial enough that you could play it for a while. The singleplayer story is compelling on its own, but the sheer number of sidequests crammed into Rome make it amazing. This isn’t an amazing step forward from Assassin’s Creed II, but it is a lot of fun. Trust me, take this leap of faith.