The People’s Albums: #40 Hysteria

One of my favorite quotes from the late great Roger Ebert is the one about how no great film can be too long, and no bad film can be too short. As I’ve been doing this series, I’ve found that the same concept can easily be applied to albums, since it can be pretty tedious to sit through an album’s worth of songs that you’re not really into, especially if it’s a long one. And that’s pretty much the experience I had wading through the hour-long hunk of butt-rock I’ll be talking about here.

Album: Hysteria
Artist: Def Leppard
Release Date: August 8, 1987
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 12 Million Continue reading →

Miyazaki Month: My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

King Totoro is to Ghibli what Mickey Mouse is to Disney. Any kind of merchandise you can imagine and I promise that you can find Totoro’s face on it. Simply put, King Totoro is an iconic image not just in Japan but worldwide. Studio Ghibli even uses Totoro’s image as the production logo that plays before every Ghibli film. King Totoro is a character that represents the true innocence and magic of childhood and that along with his unique design have made him one of the most memorable animated characters of all time. My Neighbor Totoro is the 1988 Miyazaki film that started a universal love affair and is still one of Miyazaki’s most memorable.

Continue reading →

Miyazaki Month: Castle in the Sky

Castle in the Sky (1986)

Castle in the Sky is probably the Miyazaki film I knew the least about going in. If you guessed it’s about a floating castle, then you’re correct! Castle in the Sky further demonstrates Miyazaki’s passion for aviation in a light-hearted adventure flick. While Miyazaki’s tendency to base stories around fantastical creatures takes a backseat, his same proclivity for fantastical flying machines is in full force. Castle in the Sky is a dazzling flurry of dog fights over the blue sky. Though it may not be one of Miyazaki’s more iconic works, it is still a work with a great deal of artistic merit.

Continue reading →

Miyazaki Month: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Back in the early 90s, my family used to visit a small-time video store in Kirkland, WA called “Critic’s Choice”. There you could get all the latest releases on tape or even fancy schmancy laserdisc. As a child I alternated between renting a handful of classics; Milo and Otis, DuckTales the Movie, Gargoyles, but perhaps my most unusual choice was a film called “The Warriors of the Wind”. Before I go any further, just look at the original cover to Warriors of the Wind. Pretty awesome huh? It’s like if Star Wars and He-Man had a sexy baby. Though whenever I popped this movie into the VCR I was always confused. Despite the cover, Warriors of the Wind is not about a Luke Skywalker-type that rides a giant sand worm while fighting some kind of alien-ghost with a lightsaber. Warriors of the Wind isn’t even the actual title, it’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and it’s the beginning of Hayao Miyazaki’s storied career.

Continue reading →

Miyazaki Month

For over thirty-years, Hayao Miyazaki has astonished and moved audiences worldwide. Miyazaki has crafted numerous unconventional, yet powerful emotional stories. Of course let’s not forget Miyazaki’s artwork, still unparalleled today. February 21st marks the U.S. release of Miyazaki’s latest work, The Wind Rises. A film I hope to see when it opens at the Seattle Cinerama. In honor of the film’s release, I have decided to attempt to watch all of Miyazaki’s films and hopefully share my opinions here at Mildly Pleased. I’m not sure how this is going to go down and whether or not I can get anyone else at Mildly Pleased involved but it should prove to be interesting. Let the magic begin!

Gotta Love that Action

I have some other posts I want to write, but for some reason I feel like I can’t until I at least mention the Seattle Seahawks. Last night’s drubbing of the Denver Broncos was not only a fun game to watch, it was the first real championship by a Seattle team that’s occurred during my lifetime. After so many years of pain and disappointment, I finally know what it’s like to support a winning team. The whole experience was in a way anti-climactic in that it was such a lopsided victory. Maybe it would have been more memorable had it been closer, or maybe it’s even better that our team was so good that the opposing team didn’t even stand a chance. Either way I’m quite content to win the big one.

Some people live their entire lives without knowing the pride of having a winning team. Even just a few years ago Forbes voted Seattle as the most depressing sports city… No More. Who knows what happens next? More championships? Is that greedy? All I know for now is that I’m proud of my team and my city. Now I can get back to posting about things that really matter, like movies and stuff.

Forever Dum

Dum Dum Girls – Too True

Maybe I’m just nitpicking here, but it seems that Dum Dum Girls are a band that can’t quite seem to live up to my expectations. Their first album, 2010’s I Will Be was a thoroughly awesome mixture of Ramones-inspired garage pop splashed with a dash of ’60s girl-group melodrama. And needless to say, I was quite excited for their second album — which certainly had it’s moments, but overall saw the Dum Dum Girls fumbling their way into a more mature sound. After that, I was basically ready to give up on them, but then came the unexpected greatness of 2012’s End Of Daze EP, which might hold the pretty much meaningless distinction of being my most listened-to EP ever. So this leads us to the question, is their third album just another case of the Dum Dum Girls building me up just to let me down? Well… kinda, but there’s still some good stuff here.

Maybe the problem is that up until now I’ve failed to realize that the Dum Dum Girls should be appreciated as a singles band, rather than one capable of putting out consistently great albums. This would after all explain why they’re so good at EP’s. And the fact of the matter is that head-Dum Dum Girl Dee Dee Penny has crafted a few more gems on Too True, even if as a whole the album never quite hits its cohesive stride. Among these gems is “Rimbaud Eyes”, a slightly more sinister take on the Dum Dum Girls’ usual brand of teenage lust, while “Too True To Be Good” sees Dee Dee continuing to infuse soaring melodies into lyrics that evoke the more melancholy side of pop romance.

You could say that Too True sees the vehemently ’60s and ’70s-inspired Dum Dum Girls venturing slightly more in to 80s territory, since there are moments of drum machines and synthesizers that occasionally pop up. But for the most part, it sees Dee Dee taking her group in to a slightly more slick and concise direction, while still retaining it’s signature brand of bad girl indie pop. And like pretty much every other Dum Dum Girls release, there’s a pretty great ballad thrown in to the mix with “Trouble Is My Name”. So maybe Too True isn’t quite a leap forward, but it has just enough stand-out tracks that it never really needs to be.

Favorite Tracks: “Rimbaud Eyes”, “Too True To Be Good”, “Trouble Is My Name”