"A.I." (To the tune of “Hey Ya” by Andre 3000) "A.I." (To the tune of E.I. by Nelly) "Make Tha Trap Say A.I." (To the tune of “Make Tha Trap Say Aye” by OJ Da Juiceman) "You Can Call Me A.I." (To the tune of “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon) "UC Davis A.I.s" (To the tune of “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes) "A.I. For Yayo" (To the tune of "Ayo For Yayo" by Andre Nickatina) ENCORE(?): Singularity (Put A Chip In It) (To the tune of "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" by Beyonce)
REJECTED BY "THE KERNAL," OFFICIAL ZINE OF THE ONYX THEATER IN NEVADA CITY, CA When you see a ^ in this essay, that indicates “a book for sale at Brown Banana Books as of this writing.”
Books Are Better Than Movies
Read me out, movie lovers. Give me about the amount of time it would take to watch a “short film” to explain myself and I’m certain you’ll come to the conclusion that I’m smart. Remember when Christopher Hitchens said women weren’t funny, and you all admitted it? This essay will be like that essay, except funny. *ahem* PASSION OF THE CHRIST. It’s the 53rd highest-grossing movie in US History. Young and old, rich and poor, Christian and other, we all love Mel Gibson and his wonderful movie. But did you know that its literary counterpart, THE BIBLE^ is the highest-grossing piece of physical media EVER? Over 5,000,000,000 copies sold. No movie has pulled anything close to these numbers. Remember this, next time a fellow cinephile assures you that movies are more popular than books. Furthermore—it almost feels like a cheap shot to say so—the book is always better than the movie. We’ve heard it remarked so many times we’re tired of the remark. Everyone hates the guy who says the book was better than the movie because he never shuts up, because he never runs out of examples. Here are some examples of books that are better than their movies: LEAVING LAS VEGAS^ (yeah, I said it!), THE SUM OF ALL FEARS^, THE CALL OF THE WILD^ QUEEN OF THE DAMNED^, RED DRAGON^, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE^, THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER^, ENDER’S GAME^, THE GOLDFINCH^, SUPERHERO COMICS^… Why do you feel horrible after watching 4 movies in a day and smart after reading 4 books in a day? The QUANTITY of things is the same—what’s changed? Back in the days of The Scholastic Book catalogue (bet it’s a friggin APP now…QR CODES and crap) us schoolchildren were often tantilized with “novelizations,” or books based on movies. Remember those? It’s a strategy for tricking children and low-IQ adults into reading. I ordered the novelization of JINGLE ALL THE WAY, back in the dingle all the day. It was bad, like the movie, and never even had a shot a being good. But why? I’ll tell you why, immediately: Movies can’t handle being books. They’re the unfunny actress on the talk show with nothing to say. No depth! Sure, we love to stare at them without blinking for hours and oogle over their redonkulous, melony bazongas, but it’s always the same drama with them: Opening credits, hero’s call to action, rising action, etc. Occasionally an “indie” movie—the kind they play at the Onyx—resists this format, but even these movies hit the classic squares on the Every Movie Bingo Card: Bright lights and attractive people wearing makeup, minus-9 hour running time, music, refusal to show full penetration, etc. It’s positively infantile! In conclusion, books are better than movies. If you imagine culture as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, books are the peanut butter and jelly and movies are the bread. THE END.
Most of my posts on thisblog have been about songs that would fall into
the "emo rap" label. It seems that genre’s heyday has
passed, gentle reader. Much like hyphy music peaking a couple years after
Mac Dre's death in 2004, emo rap followed a similar trajectory after Lil
Peep's death in 2017. What we are left with is the most notable
artists of the genre leaning away from the rap side and into things like pop punk, post-punk, and dance music (Bladee's transition from sad cloud rap to hyperpop is something I could write a
10k-word essay on, but I'll spare you). There is only one artist from that
emo rap wave that remains heavy in my rotation:
Drippin So
Pretty's lyrics have always really connected with me. Idk what that says about
me, because they all follow the same themes: 1. I used to do a lot of drugs 2.
I have dark thoughts 3. some emo shit about a girl breaking his heart. I
suppose I just appreciate the vulnerability of his lyrics. From the song above:
Tell me what you see in me because you
can't let it go
Baby I'm just being me and I hate every bone
Then in the next verse he is bragging about getting his dick
sucked and threatening the listener with gun violence. DSP represents the
dichotomy of man in its purest form. We are all just a mix of cocky lil shit
and sad sack of shit.
One thing I love about Whirr is that their band name sounds
like their music (I had to google to recall the word "onomatopoeia"
lol): droning, hypnotic guitars conjuring a hazy atmosphere i.e. guitars going
whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
The best form of music criticism in the post-blog 2020's is
random youtube comments and nothing tops descriptions of Whirr's music:
This song is like finishing a good book or
film, and not knowing what to do with your life after
Love it! Can't really beat that description.
Gleemer is my favorite band out right now. Just the right
blend of wall-of-sound guitars, dreamy atmospheres, and accessible songwriting.
The singer's vocals are great; emotional and longing, but always subtle and
pushed back in the mix. I highly recommend their whole discography.
According to subreddit posts about Whirr and Gleemer,
both bands fall under the rock subgenre
of “Shoegaze”. This is because a common thought you have when gazing upon your
shoes is "my guitar needs more reverb" (jk I know why it's
called that, don't leave a snarky comment). It's a great genre though! Heavy
and loud, without being angry, if that makes sense to you.
I cannot recall how I came across this song, but I have been
listening to it constantly for the last 1.5 years. Something about the singer
absolutely screaming his lungs out, while keeping a melody in his voice and the
accompanying soaring emo guitars really hits the spot for me. Shoutout to the
coffee machine and ugly lamp shade in the video. Very aesthetic!
I have this lil pet theory that the 80's set that standard
for modern pop and the 90's set the standard for modern rock. You can hear 80's
synths in countless modern pop songs, and it's been like that for years.
Similarly, I have been hearing rock music with a strong grunge influence for
over a decade now and I don't think it's going anywhere. Narrow Head have been
making grungey rock for their entire decade-long career, but are so much more than a
90's revival band. Apart from the video's appearance and guitar tone, this song
sounds pretty dang fresh to my ears. I love the change to a heavier tone
at around 2:35 before the chorus (is this considered a bridge?). Check out
Narrow Head if you are about that Seattle heroin life.
Ok that's all for now.
Rest in peace to Galen Kennedy AKA Nyquil. I'm sure he would
hate all these songs and goof on me for not continuing to bump mid-2000s Messy
Marv. Things are always changing for better or worse and I hope to appreciate
each moment in time a little more as it is happening. Some good posts to read about him: Link #1 & Link #2.
Please treat yourself with kindness.
Thomas is a former--wait no, current!--music blogger and ground turkey enthusiast living in North America. He used to have the best music blog of all time (100 Grand On My Wrist, Yeah Life Sucks) but it died. RIP 100grandonmywrist.com and RIP Nyquil. I'm still in the denial phase with both of you.
“Try to remember the best day of your entire life…the sparkle and confidence you had” said the narrator of The Dog Whisperer’s audiobook (NOT The Dog Whisperer, it’s worth noting, or even a guy with a Mexican accent). I scanned my memories of days and was a little disappointed with the “best” I pulled. Definitely wouldn’t have announced it as my best day back then. “Draw from your memories of that day when you’re walking your dog” said the narrator. “The dog likes it when you’re CONFIDENT and DOMINANT (American accent, don’t forget!) because you’re the ALPHA.” Okaaaaay I thought. I was taking my new dog for a spin down 40th Street. For years, everyone in my life’d been telling me to get a dog. That’s what happens when you’re a loser for too long. Concerned relatives analyze your life and think this guy needs something to love him or he’s going to do something gnarly. It hurts. Every time they suggested it I’d think to myself HEY, FUCK, YOU! but passive aggressive people love it when you get mad at their shitty little remarks, so I just got a dog. “No no no” said an ugly old woman passing me and my dog on the crosswalk. The dog was doing something she didn’t like. “What’s the matter with you?” “It’s not my dog,” I said. “He comes from a violent background.” That was probably true enough. My entire life, I’d been the type of guy who’d claim the thing no one wanted (black licorice, middle seat, bread heel) and convince himself it was cool just to avoid the hassle of competition. This mindset is what’d lead me to the dog pound, and to this type of dog: an aggressive pitbull. Not to retread old trodden treads, but can you believe they’re giving those things away? Pitbulls are the best type of dog! They’re cute AND scary in equal measure! The latinas of the dog world. This one wasn’t exactly, shall I say, Amores Perros strong, but you never know. I named hime Lance, after Lance Fusco from The Fusco Brothers.
“You shouldn’t let him shit all over the street like that.” said the woman. “COME, LANCE” I said, conjuring my best day. Lance was many steps ahead of me, though. In fact, he was pulling me. I was on roller blades, a la The Dog Whisperer, and he was towing. WHOOOOSH we went, leaving the old nag in our wake. We were approaching a red light. Lance picked up speed. “SLOW DOWN” I said. Run run run, went the feet. Good thing I was so fat. “LANCE, SIT” I said. I gently applied the rollerblades’ heel brake to no avail. Wobbles. Desperately, I brainstormed more stopping ideas: Jump into some grass….Throw change at the dog…Get tangled in another dog’s leash…. In the end, I went with something similar to that third plan. I maneuvered so I was next to Lance and when he went right around a pole I went left. The leash stopped us. Lance gasped as the collar dug into his throat. “CHAHCaaghgahghaghGHGH.” I gasped too, but regained my bearings quicker than he and tied him to the pole. Better let the engine cool down a little I thought, leaving Lance there and walking back to my apartment alone. Good old apartment #2. It was a sparse, masculine place with no windows or wall art. I opened the freezer and took out a big steak. It was for Lance. I don’t know if you know anything about dogs but pitbulls like big, juicy steaks. Mmmm I thought, looking at the steak. I’m gonna have a steak, too. While the steaks were thawing I went to my bedroom to get some sleeping pills. These were supposed to be for the dog too, but again I felt inspired and popped a few myself. What the hell. I jacked off twice and the steaks were ready. Hungrily, I cooked mine (rare), crammed pills into the dog’s and re-emerged into the outdoors, high on life and pills and dog ownership (which is the same thing as power, maybe?!) Lance had in fact cooled down a little but when he saw the steak he perked right back up. I remembered reading that you’re supposed to start eating before your dog starts eating, so I halted just outside of leash range and took a big performative bite. WRONG STEAK! I’d bitten into Lance’s—the raw one with pills in it. I retched and threw the meat at Lance. He seemed to love it. The pills were kicking in for me now. I felt even heavier and funnier than usual. Very loving towards my new animal son. Look at my strong, manly boy, rippin’ that flesh I thought. My Amores Pero. My little alpha. “Slow down boy!” I said good naturedly, knowing he wouldn’t listen. Slurch slurch slurch. “Ha ha! You don’t stop for nobody!” I said. That’s when my big thought hit. I like it when HE'S confident and dominant…because HE'S the "pack leader." Why would I be pack leader? I’m not confident at all! I took off Lance’s collar. “You are the captain now” I said. He looked up. “Lead” I said. He wasn’t getting it still, so I smacked him on the ass to get him going, and he bit me “OW, FUCK!” I said. Lance ran into the street and got hit by a car. I power walked home and hid.
