Oscar time!

Time and my body are conspiring against me. I wanted to do a full prediction post with commentary but I'm so tired right now that this will have to do.

Best Picture
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

I managed to see 7 of these this year! This is my best effort ever in collecting Oscar movies before the big day. \o/

I would put Inception and The King’s Speech at the bottom of my list. I just found TKS handsome and pleasant, but I came out of that movie and I had nothing to say about it, nothing to mull over. Whereas Inception *did* give me something to think about afterwards, but all my thinking came to the conclusion that it had been an intricately constructed house of cards, and once you find one thing to tug from the bottom, the whole thing collapses in a heap. That said, it’s an ambitious mess that was interesting enough while I was watching it in the cinemas.

Despite the fact I couldn’t hear 5/8ths of what Jeff Bridges said, I enjoyed True Grit. It’s beautifully shot (Roger Deakins FTW!), with dialogue that just crackles, and it’s funny and sobering in turns.

The Kids Are All Right is low key and really good, perfectly encapsulating for me that Larkin poem: They fuck you up, your mum and dad. / They may not mean to, but they do. / They fill you with the faults they had / And add some extra, just for you. It seems so effortlessly made but what materials it’s made of – great performances (all three of the main actresses – Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska - are great and Mark Ruffalo works that charm of his to great advantage to the role), and the script has a great ear for the at times loving, at times tense, human rhythms of people who’ve known and loved and worn each other down for many many years.

Even now I don’t really know how I feel and what I think about Black Swan. I was engrossed watching it but I don’t think I could really say I enjoyed it and ever want to see it again. But I admire it for the crazy balls-to-the-wall OTTness of it all, the way it commits to this gorgeous gothic sensibility in everything – character, story, look and performances – and it really works.

I just loved Toy Story 3 - it’s a great balance of funny, nostalgic, eye-poppingly beautiful, sweet and reflective. And when I walked out of the cinema, feeling exhilarated, the first movie I could compare it to was Inglourious Basterds. Both take on themes of death and morality (admittedly with vastly different approaches for different comedic effect) and both are steeped in filmic history, clearly made by film lovers for film lovers. This is clear from the lovingly crafted visual and textual references (particularly to B-movie Westerns) in both movies, and the sense of great filmmaking in the care taken with the action set pieces, structure, a really clear sense of story, beautiful mise-en-scene, witty scripts and memorable characters (particularly complex, menacing and yet almost likeable villains).

But in the end, even though I know TKS probably has this in the bag, I'm still going to say The Social Network.

Prediction: The Social Network

Actor in a Leading Role
• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

Jeff Bridges is good in True Grit, but this nomination owes as much to good will from last year’s win as his performance. Javier Barden can count the nomination as the honour. Similarly, Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco are nominated to recognise their well-lauded performances but as two young first nominees in this field, they have little chance.

The award is really Colin Firth’s to lose, with the power of The King’s Speech juggernaut behind him. Despite my ambivalence about The King’s Speech as a film, he did give a good performance as the stuttering would-be king, revealing the man – loving husband and father, struggling with not just his own fears but the fears of a nation - under a stiff upper lip borne out of a cold upbringing and the burden of duty. And also, he deserved it for last year’s wonderful performance in A Single Man

Prediction: Colin Firth

Actor in a Supporting Role
• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

It’s been called as a two-horse race between Geoffrey Rush and Christian Bale; Rush has The King Speech’s possible sweep behind him, while Bale has won the bulk of the awards in this category over the season. I feel like I should turn in my Aussie card for saying this, but Geoffrey Rush is considered such a consistently good actor that it seems hard to see his performance in TKS as something to single out. (See his complaints about this status as a bona fide Aussie acting superstar here.) Where as Bale, despite bad press over the last year in his personal life and *that* tirade, has garnered a great deal of praise for another showy and difficult role.

Prediction: Christian Bale

Actress in a Leading Role
• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

First things first: Hailee Steinfield belongs in this category *grumble*

Anyway. I actually enjoyed Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska’s performances in The Kids Are All Right more than Annette Bening’s (and I like the Bening normally). I haven’t seen any of the others apart from Natalie Portman in Black Swan but she was captivating – in nearly every single frame of the movie, sometimes duplicated, always creepy and terrified and terrifying and committed. She and Bening have split nearly all the awards between them so it’s really down to the two of them and I think Portman might just have it.

Prediction: Natalie Portman

Actress in a Supporting Role
• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

This sounds like a really strong field – apart from Helena Bonham Carter. It pains me to say this because I love HBC, but her role in TKS amounted to little but looking demure and supportive and lovely in period costume. And she’s better than that, and done more, and deserved this honour more for many other roles (though if you have to pick one, please watch The Wings of the Dove and tell me if it and she doesn’t break your heart by the end because it will mean you are made of STONE). So I’m glad she’s being recognized, and I hope this means she gets roles apart from Burton movies once in a while, but I don’t want her to win.

Sentimentally, I want Jacki Weaver to win – for the Aussie connection, for the fact that she has been great in Australian tv and film for so long and it’s lovely to see her get wider recognition. But I know that it would be quite hard with three other strong performances by better-known actresses or in more widely seen movies.

While Hailee Steinfeld is great in True Grit, let me call back to the category fraud – she’s in her movie more than Jeff Bridges, for goodness sake, and he’s in the Best Actor category. Bah. Also she’s only 14 and I still feel it’s a bit of a career hazard to win an Oscar so super young. So it’s down to the two actresses from the Fighter. I’m calling it for Melissa Leo because she’s had the stronger season coming in, she came close two years ago (for Best Actress) with Frozen River, and I’d be willing to bet that Amy Adams will have several more chances to win an Oscar in her years ahead.

Prediction: Melissa Leo

Directing
• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

This is TOUGH.

I'd sooner give it to anyone but Hooper in the category, for the films they’ve been nominated and body of work.

Prediction: David Fincher

Music (Original Song)
• “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
• “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
• “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
• “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″ Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Wow, I did not expect some of these nominees. And I expected at least one song from Burlesque in here.

Prediction: I See the Light, unless people decide that Alan Menken doesn’t *really* need 9 Oscars. I’d be happy to see it go to Randy Newman also.

Short Film (Animated)
• “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
• “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
• “Let’s Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
• “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Aussie pride (and the fact I love his books) says Yay Shaun Tan! But I've seen clips of all the nominees and 'Madagascar, carnet de voyage' is really beautiful.

Prediction: Madagascar, carnet de voyage

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter’s Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

This one's a no brainer.

prediction: The Social Network (Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin)

Writing (Original Screenplay):
• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King’s Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

Hard category to pick – all films with a lot of critical praise. It’s almost certainly King’s Speech, because I’ve read that Seidler has been extremely personable in the Oscar campaign and has a great and personal story behind how this movie finally made it to screen.

Wish: Another Year, which was so beautifully quiet or The Kids Are All Right; both have a similar ability to convey a natural rhythm in dialogue and story to draw out complex human relationships and bring out characters.

Prediction: The King’s Speech

And some quick miscellaneous predictions to round it off:

Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3
Music (Original Score): The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
Best Foreign Film: In a Better World
Best Achievement in Cinematography: True Grit (Roger Deakin)
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network (more Aussies, yay!)

past nomination posts:
82nd Oscars predictions
80th Oscars Oscars predictions (on The Stirrer)

Best of: Music in 2010

Here be my 10 favourite albums of the year:

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
All those crazy, musically-diverse layers - beats, lyrics, themes, ego and doubts - through the album.

watch: the trailer (or "moving portrait" as Kanye called it) for the video for 'Power' (which is rumoured to be 40+ minutes long), my favourite song along with 'Monster' (but I love Monster more for Nicki Minaj's verse - she steals the song out from everyone)


2. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
The album did not grab me on first listen, but it was definitely a grower - just like previous album Neon Bible - and by the end of the year I had completely fallen in love with the storytelling, the atmosphere. The music is lighter, but the claustrophobia of the Suburbs is clear still within, the dark heart under the beautiful, peaceful surface.

Listen: 'The Suburbs' / 'Month of May'


3. All Days are Night: Songs for Lulu by Rufus Wainwright.
I love that Rufus Wainwright's idea of“stripped back”still includes gorgeously lush piano-driven heartbreaking paens to grief and love.

Download: 'Who are you, New York?'

4. Everything Under the Sun by Jukebox the Ghost
So many fine, catchy pop songs, so much intelligent thought behind it. Great follow-up album.

Watch: the band being interviewed at the 'Bean' in Chicago, where they talk about Ben Folds Five comparisons and why they have such a weird band name.


5. Mines by Menomena
I love the musical layers in the songs, from the different qualities of the voices to the fuzzy bass to the beat to those great horns.

Download: 'TAOS'

6. Danger Days by My Chemical Romance
Anthemic and built to be played loud - it's not rocket science, but it is damn catchy and fun.

Watch: Art is the Weapon - a trailer of sorts for the first single, the intro for the thru-story and palette and concept for their whole album.


7. Life is Sweet! Pleased to Meet You by Lightspeed Champion
Great songs that are more complex than they seem at first, with lush orchestral arrangements, clever lyrics, and diverse musical styles.

8. Steel Train by Steel Train
Sweet, fun indie pop that I've had on repeat constantly this year.

Listen: 'Turnpike Ghost'

9. The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens
I'm still not sure I entirely like this album end-to-end though that might be my reflex reaction to at times deliberately harsh electronica mix through his trademark his beautiful, floaty music. But the album does have some absolutely terrific moments, such as I Walked and the 25 minute standout, Impossible Soul.

Download: 'I Walked'

10. The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monae
I love her voice, and the ambitious mishmash of genres and styles all through her music, while remaining catchy as hell.

Watch: the video for 'Tightrope' - great song, great storytelling, creepy video with some mesmerising footwork. What's not to like?


Honourable Mentions

Bad Books – Bad Books
Belle and Sebastian - Belle and Sebastian Write About Love
Annuals – Sweet Sister EP
Boy & Bear – With Emperor Antarctic EP

Looking forward to new releases in 2011 from:

Patrick Wolf (Lupercalia)
Panic! at the Disco (Vices and Virtues)
The Decemberists (The King is Dead is out now)
Bright Eyes (The People's Key)
Okkervil River (I am Very Far)
Manchester Orchestra (Simple Math)
Taking Back Sunday

also rumoured to release new albums are:
fun.
Radiohead
Blink-182

It's looking to be an exciting new year of music! And hopefully some of these guys tour, which brings me to...

live music from 2010!

I saw a total of 19 bands at 16 shows. This included seeing Kevin Devine 3 times and Brand New twice in the space of five days and I don't regret any of that at all (as you will see from the list of best shows below).

Nine Favourite Performances

1. Kevin Devine @ East Brunswick Club, 29 Mar
2. Brand New @ Enmore Theatre, 25 Mar
3. The Decemberists @ The Metro, 19 Jan
4. The Pixies @ Hordern Pavilion, 14 Mar
5. Delta Spirit @ Factory Theatre, 3 Oct
6. Band of Horses @ Enmore Theatre, 29 July
7. Spoon @ The Forum, 7 May
8. Sunny Day Real Estate @ UNSW Roundhouse, 23 Feb
9. Neko Case @ City Recital Hall, 12 Jan

Upcoming Shows:
Sufjan Stevens, Menomena, Andrew McMahon, Belle and Sebastian

Dec 2010 live music compendium (Lemonheads, Jebediah, Lightspeed Champion)

I had three shows lined up for December and unfortunately all three were rather frustrating.

The Lemonheads - 1 Dec 2010 - The Metro
To be honest, this was really 'Evan Dando and friends who are not the original Lemonheads playing through It's a Shame About Ray and then another twenty songs'. All within an hour and a bit, mind - it was an automated assembly line of songs, one note-perfect, joyless rendition after another. The room, sweaty and fully packed for the sold-out show, perked up at the singles and created a nice atmosphere with nostalgic singalongs, but on stage there was nothing fun at all. Dando barely acknowledged the audience, saying about ten words the whole night - and eight of them were 'thank you'. There was a one song encore, a shambolic version of Outdoor Type with old friends and support band Smudge, but at least Dando seemed to be enjoying himself for the first time all night. The band were proficient in their playing, and he still has that great voice (rather unfairly, it seemed that all that hard living has agreed with him) but ultimately, it was not a rousing comeback or even a fun nostalgia trip.

Jebediah - 9 Dec 2010 - Annadale Hotel
And Jebediah was not the fun nostalgia trip I was looking for either. I had such a good time at their last show at the Annadale. This time though...yeah, they were still loud and energetic and still ridiculously young looking (Kev Mitchell has surely drunk from the fountain of life). But after the late start, an hour of listening to them play obscure songs from their back catalog and none of thie hits, weaksauce banter and one too many moments of tech problems, we decided to bail. Just one more song, Al and I said, wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt, but after four times we gave it up for lost. You can't go back to being sixteen again...again.

Lightspeed Champion - 3 Jan 2011 - Spectrum
This was a show steeped in chaos from the start. Cancelled and then rescheduled in the new year, after Devonte Hynes was stuck in New York due to snowstorms, it was a tiny crowd that gathered about a foot from the stage on the night, with the much more popular Born Ruffians show on at the same time just three doors down the road.

Hynes' was truly playing a solo show - just one man on stage, with an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a keyboard and...a laptop. And this is where things get kind of bizarre - he chose, for half the set, to sing along with his backing tracks playing on his laptop, forsaking live instrumentation for the pre-recorded version, even when he *had* said instrumentation at his disposal. This meant that at times, it felt like we were watching someone at karaoke - well-sung karaoke, sure, but still a little underwhelming as an audience at a show. The biggest shame was that when Hynes chose to go without the track and just accompany himself on guitar or keyboard, he was really good and the music was really really lovely. The highlights, for me, were an acoustic version of Deadhead Blues and of Flush Out, a new song (which he released for free download today!).

He was well-received, none the less; surrounded by enthusiastic fanboys and one very persistent photographer, he struck poses and sang his heart out and for the last song, a cover of Hello, he sang to the crowd in the thick of the crowd on the tiny floor, which finally broke the nervous atmosphere and gave the show and the room some life, just a little too late.

Foodie week

So I was pretty sick for most of this week and there were some other RL problems, but I was determined to make it through a gamut of food-related fun things. In the end, I fine dined, enjoyed a workplace Christmas dinner, and on the weekend I baked, cooked and ate some more. All with tonsellitis, hah.

You can see some evidence of the fine dining above. :) It was nice, which seems a very anaemic word to use about such a meal, but I kinda knew going in that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to be ultra-excited. I couldn't smell a thing due to being sick, and between that and having to socialise I just felt so buggered by the end of the night.

Work Christmas dinner at Rhodes Phoenix was fun and relaxed. We did have chilli lobster, which is a nervewracking thing to eat in front of company anyway since it's so messy and fussy, and then on top of Joey (of FoodiePop started analysing my work practices through the way I tackled the lobster, heh. (I was told I was "logical" in the way I removed all the shell from the pieces of meat before me before I started eating, just like how I sort all the medicines from our daily suppliers alphabetically before I put them away. Logical, or obsessive-compulsive? You decide...)

And then I spent a fair bit of time in the kitchen over the weekend. I made choc chip cookies for a fundraiser at church, and then dinner on Sunday night for my parents.



This recipe made about 50 cookies. And my favourite comment was "These are even better than Subway cookies!" Yes, yes they are.

Choc Chip Cookies
originally from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc At Home cookbook, via Baking Bites

2 1/3 cups plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
225g butter, , chilled and cut into small pieces and divided equally in two portions
1 cup (packed) brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
400g chocolate (mix of dark and milk), chopped

Preheat over to 180 Celcius. Grease and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, mix flour and baking soda and salt.

In a big bowl, beat half the butter with an electric mixer until softened. (Because the day was so hot, I kept the other half of the butter in the freezer just to keep it chilled in the meantime.)

Add in the brown sugar (original recipe called for dark, which I'd run out of - but I think it would make an even more delicious, chewy cookie so I'd love to try it again with the dark brown sugar) and the white sugar and cream with the butter.

Beat in eggs, one at a time. (We had a near-miss at this point as it turned out the first egg I cracked was a bad one!)

Add in the vanilla extract, then beat in the remaining butter at a med-high speed until well incorporated. It's quite a fluffy mixture at this point.

Mix in the flour mixture at low speed on the mixture (or if you want strong arm muscles, fold in by hand).

Stir in the chocolate chunks. (I lessened the amount of chocolate from the original recipe, but was still told by appreciative eaters that there was plenty of chocolate in each cookie.)

Use a tablespoon to drop rougly 1 inch balls (about 1 rounded tablespoon) onto the baking sheet, leaving about an inch and a half between for spreading.

Bake for 13 minutes until cookies are set, matte-looking and lightly golden brown.

Cool for 3-4 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to cool on a wire rack.



Tonight's dinner was spaghetti with seafood ragu, herbed mushrooms stuffed with mozarella, and a simple garden salad with a honey-balsamic dressing. The critics at home declared the pasta the hit of the night but rejected the mushrooms completely (I screwed up on that one as I substituted too many things because I didn't have half the ingredients).

But the ragu...oh, the briny, tomato-y deliciousness. Would definitely make again!

Ragù di Pesce
originally from The Wednesday Chef

1 kg seafood/marinara mix, roughly chopped
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup minced herbs (I used basil and parsley)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 can canned tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
450g spaghetti
Chilli flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Finely dice the onion and garlic. In a wide, deep pan, cook over medium heat in olive oil, along with several spoonfuls of the minced herbs. Keep stirring to make sure the mixture doesn't burn.

About 7 minutes later, add the seafood mix and stir well to coat the seafood in the oil, onion, garlic and herb mix. Cook for a few minutes until the seafood takes on colour around the edges.

Add the wine and let it cook down for a few minutes.

Add the tomatoes (fresh and canned) to the pan and stir. Throw in a good amount of salt (I used a teaspoon). And a nice pinch of chilli flakes if you want it a little spicy (mmm, spicy).

Let the sauce come to boil, then let it simmer away for about 10-15 minutes until it has reduced and is a little thick. Then turn off the heat, stir in the rest of the herbs and add cracked black pepper for seasoning (and salt if necessary).

Cook your spaghetti until al dente, then drain it and add it to the pan with the sauce and mix well before serving.

Ben Kweller/Delta Spirit - 3 Oct 2010 - Factory Theatre

Having not seen any live music in a while, I was itching to catch a gig when I saw that Delta Spirit, who really impressed me at Lollapalooza last year, would be supporting Ben Kweller. I like both artists, the tickets were cheap - I was sold! And I'm so glad we made such a last minute decision to go because I had a really enjoyable night of country-tinged Americana rock.

picture from Delta Spirit by delta spirit

When I saw Delta Spirit for the first time last year, I hadn't heard any of their songs before, but I was so taken by their great stage presence and their catchy tunes. Frontman Matt Vasquez isn't hard on the eyes either...


Tonight, they launched into a rocking set with so much energy, and it was fantastic. I fell a little bit in love with the amazing drummer and the fact they often had double drums going. The band were multi-talented, switching between instruments with ease (and Matt played the harmonica also!); plus the band played so tightly together, which was all the more surprising when they announced the touring guitarist was only playing his second show ever with the rest of the band.

Their eight song set heavily featured songs from their just-released second album History from Below but it was pretty darn catch and melded well with the dips into their older material. The highlight me for me was the back-to-back pairing of Trashcan and People C'mon, though the rollicking set closer - intro'd as the first song they ever wrote - was also lot of fun with its call and response sing-a-long and the instructions for everyone who was enjoying the gig to 'get low' - and most of the room got to their knees obediently!


Delta Spirit - Trashcan (live @ Factory Theatre, 3/10/10)
It was a great show and surrounded by happy, dedicated fans, the 40 minutes went by too fast.

Bushwick Blues
St Francis
Trashcan
People C'mon
History from Below
VIvian
Children
(?)

Confession time - I haven't listened to a full Ben Kweller album since, oh, 2004. So I wasn't really sure what to expect from his set apart from wanting to hear at least one or two songs from his earlier albums. One thing I really really didn't expect was how young he looked as he came on stage in his black Ramones T-shirt and red jeans. Despite seeming like he's been around the music scene for a long time, he's only 29 and he still looks and sounds like he could be 18.


On stage, he was adorable, throwing in ad-libs about not having played Make It Up in forever and apologising when he messed up the words at one point. I was happy two songs in when he played Commerce, TX and even happier a song later when he played a raucous fun rendition of I Need You Back. He played a mean guitar too - and his small band (a bassist, a drummer and a bare set) jammed well together with a shaggy, shambolic charm.


On My Way
Commerce, TX
Make It Up
I Need You Back
Red Eye
Walk on Me
Wantin' Her Again
...

We left after about seven songs. If there hadn't been a more pressing need to find a sweet supper (a mission which failed) and to get home before the last train, I would've been happy to hear some more from him.

Mixtape (Sad Bear, October 2010)

Long time no mixtape, eh? Let's revive an old tradition around these parts...


Side A

Ezra Furman and the Harpoons - We Should Fight
(indie rock)

I wrote this song inside a paper bag

Dr. Dog - Heart it Races
(indie rock-pop)

And we go back to where we moved out
to the places
heart it races

Jukebox the Ghost - Hold It In
(indie rock pop)

Baby I'm in love and maybe it's not to tell
Only thing that I can do is hold it in, hold it in

Delta Spirit - Children
(indie rock, Americana)

Children shut your eyes
we'll tell you what to see
this world is burnin' down
and you're the ones to lead

Lackthereof - Last November
(lo-fi, experimental)

I'm arriving in style
More importantly, alive
And there's something
To be said for
Surviving

Side B

Arcade Fire - Black Mirror
(indie rock, baroque pop)

Black mirror knows no reflection, knows not pride or vanity
Cares not about your dreams, cares not for your pyramid schemes

Shearwater - Red Sea, Black Sea*
(indie folk-rock)

In place of the sun
In place of the moon
A terrible light
Will flood every room

* The link takes you to the artist page on their label. I would download not just Red Sea, Black Sea, but everything on this page. The songs are all really good.

Boy & Bear - Mexican Mavis
(indie folk-rock)

'Cos my love's not a limit

Minus the Bear - Guns & Ammo
(indie, experimental, math rock)

Skip the "you don't understand"
Skip the "you're such a petty man"
Skip the way you'll never listen
You never listen

Annuals - Brother
(indie rock, experimental)

I fell down in a creek bed
Brother wept
In his face I met fear
That I could die right there

I know when you haven't posted for a while, the rules are you should come back with actual content, but I couldn't resist this meme.

Here are the rules:

1 - Go to the Superpower Wiki.

2 - Click the “Random page” button on the left hand side once. Only once.

3 - Revel (or dismay) in the fact that this is your new superpower. But I bet it's awesome even if it's crappy because you now have a superpower. Who wouldn't want a superpower? No one, that's who. Unless you're a dude and you get Pregnancy, which admittedly kind of sucks as far as powers go. Sorry about that.

4 - Post the results. No cheating!

Water Manipulation
The power to control water molecules with one’s mind. Also known as Hydrokinesis, Aquakinesis, Waterbending, Hydromancy or Moisture Manipulation.

Oooh. It says I can make water balloons! And known users include Sailor Mercury, Poseidon and Moses, lol.

donuts and muffins and blondies, oh my!

A semi-successes, and a success from a previous failure. Yes, it's time for more baking adventures!

The last time I tried to make snickerdoodles - said to be some of the easiest to make cookies ever - I failed big time. They didn't rise, they were flat and hard and horrible. I still don't know where I went wrong. :( And I've been resisting them since. But then I got a square baking pan (finally!) and read this very simple recipe and took a punt on another snickerdoodle related baking attempt...

Snickerdoodle Blondies
originally from Baking Bites

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 8×8-inch baking pan (I forgot to do this and it turned out okay).

Cream softened butter and sugar together until light. Add in salt, egg and vanilla extract and combine well. Stir in the flour, mix well, and stir in the choc chips evenly through the batter.

Pour (or push - it's quite a thick dough) into the pan and smooth out the top.

Mix together the extra sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle this topping evenly over the dough.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are lightly brown. Cool in the pan before slicing into bars.

I added the choc chips on a whim, and I should've compensated by dialing back the amount of sugar (which I have done in the quantities listed above).

But I guess these turned out okay as I took them to church for morning tea, and didn't even get to try a piece as it all went quite quickly!

**

And these I made this afternoon. It was ridiculously easy, just a straight combination of ingredients, but they don't really taste like donuts. :(

It made for a decent, quick afternoon snack at least.

Muffins That Taste Like Donuts
originally from tasty kitchen

1 3/4 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 whole egg
3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Prepare a 12-cup muffin tray. Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon).

Combine oil, sugar, egg and milk. Pour into dry mix, and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into muffin holes until just below the rim.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until tops are just lightly brown.

Melt the butter in a bowl (I just microwaved it). Combine the sugar with cinnamon in a separate bowl. Dip the still hot muffin in the butter to coat its top, then into the sugar/cinnamon mix.

Let the muffins cool on a rack.

Band of Horses - 29 July 2010 - Enmore Theatre

This was a rather nostalgic show, for one main reason that had nothing really to do with Band of Horses at all: as I stood on the floor of the Enmore with my best friend, we realised it was almost exactly twelve years to the day we saw our first live concert together, at the Enmore. Ah, plus ça change, and all that.

It was also the third time I'd seen Band of Horses in three years, and while it could not reach the same transcedenscent heights as that glorious time two years ago at the Metro, I certainly still enjoyed last night a great deal, and came out with a big grin, the songs ringing in my ears. They really are wonderful musicians, individually and as a band, and they have a really lovely laid-back presence on stage that works well with their music and their audience. During Detlef Schrempf - which sounded utterly beautiful - someone put up their lighter to Ben Bridwell's glee, and soon, with his encouragement from the stage, everyone raised their lighters in their air. For the rest of the song there was a sea of flickering yellow glows in the dark, and it was just perfect (and perfectly old school; it's just so much prettier than a sea of mobile phone glows) in that moment.

I liked the visual component too: they beamed spliced together footage of live shows and backstage antics as a frenetic backdrop to the more upbeat songs, which were fun; while the slower songs, particularly the more country-sounding tunes from latest album Infinite Arms, were matched with quite peaceful, lovely views of empty American landscapes - snow-capped mountains, endless skies, star filled nights.

At times I thought the mix was a little uneven, I couldn't hear Ben Bridwell over the music sometimes, which made me sad because, man, that voice is golden. But it might not be the sound guy's fault, because we were also stuck next to an intensely irritating couple who talked loudly through 80% of the songs. Also, he was saying stuff like, "Play something I know, I paid good money for this!" and "We should've gone to the Strokes instead." I'm pretty sure everyone around us wished they'd gone to there instead too, then we wouldn't have to listen to them whining incessantly, and tempting us to punch his face in. :p

But apart from that annoying blip, the rest of the show was a delight. Highlight of the night for me was the back-to-back pairing of Ode to LRC, stomping good fun as always, and The Funeral, magnificient. I was a little sad that they didn't play Our Swords and they didn't play Monsters, but I couldn't really fault them when they closed with Am I A Good Man, which was so unexpected but so so appreciated. I'm glad they're still covering that, and I loved hearing the interplay of Ryan Monroe and Ben Bridwell's voices on that song live again. :D

I was keeping note of what they played, except after the seventh song I accidentally deleted it from my phone, d'oh. The set list below is from the review by jayhorn5 that I stumbled across.

The Great Salt Lake
Is There A Ghost
Weed Party
NW Apt.
Islands on the Coast
Blue Beard
Compliments
The General Specific
Older
Marry Song
Detlef Schrempf
Factory
Cigarettes, Wedding Bells
(new song)
Laredo
Wicked Gil
Ode to the LRC
The Funeral

No One's Gonna Love You
Am I A Good Man (Them Two cover)


No One's Gonna Love You (video from phlegmphatale", who braved sore arms once again)

baking adventures in June(ish)

It's been brownie-central here! :)

Black and White Brownie Bars
originally from Baking Bites

1 1/2 cups milk and/or dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp Kahlua
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 180C, Grease and line a baking pan with aluminium foil.

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in the egs one at a time, then add Kahlua (or vanilla essence), salt and flour, mixing until there are no streaks of flour, and it is just combined. Take 2 cups of this batter and put it in a separate bowl.

Melt 1 cup of white chocolate in the microwave (in 30s intervals) and stir until all chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour into one of the batter bowls and mix in well. Do this quickly since the chocolate will set again quite quickly and then it's really hard to mix it into the batter!! (says she who FAILED at this step)
Pour this white choc batter into the pan. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of both milk/dark and white chocolate evenly over the surface.

Now melt 1 cup of dark or milk chocolate and add that to the other batter bowl, mixing well. Drop small dollops of this chocolate batter on top of the chocolate chip layer, then use a spatula to gently spread the chocolate batter into an even layer.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Cool in pan, then lift the brownies out with the foil and slice into long, thin slices.

I deviated from the original recipe only because I discovered too late that I didn't have any semi-sweet chocolate, only blocks of milk chocolate; nor did I have any vanilla extract. So I made do. I still got told they were delicious. :)

Turtle brownies
originally from Technicolor Kitchen

Brownies:
55g unsalted butter
90g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup (70g) plain flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (200g) caster sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup (60ml) whole milk
1 tbsp Kahlua

Topping:
1 cup (200g) caster sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
1 teaspoon Kahlua
¼ teaspoon of salt

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a buttered 20cm baking pan with foil.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter and chocolate together and mix until smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk together sugar and eggs until pale and fluffy. Add the chocolate mixture, milk and vanilla to the egg mix, and combine. Add flour mixture and mix until well combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a skewer/toothpick inserted into the centre of brownies comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet (~30 minutes). Let cool on a wire rack.

While brownies are baking, boil 1/3 cup (80ml) water and the sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. When mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring, and brush the sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Continue to cook, swirling pan occasionally, until medium amber, 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove from heat, and immediately add cream in a slow pour (if you're too quick it clumps up!). Add vanilla (or Kahlua) and salt. Gently stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until caramel begins to cool and thickens slightly, about 1 minute.
Pour caramel over cool brownies. Refrigerate until cold, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

The caramel will still be quite runny. I had a hell of a time trying to cut these up. But they were so delicious; soft, almost fudgy batter plus sticky salted caramel - om nom nom!

Howl / Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Howl (2010, d. Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman)



Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

I saw these two films on back-to-back nights, and it worked out to be a seredipitously well-matched pair. Both are films about art: what is art, and who gets to decide whether it is so? Who is the arbiter of this mysterious quality that makes art admirable: is it the artist, the cultured audience, or the man on the street?

Both purport to be based on real stories, ostensibly centring around a 'real life personage', an artist (arguably). In Howl, which is composed of overlapping layers of transcripts - a poetry reading of Howl, an interview with the poet, court proceedings - we are given a glimpse of Allen Ginsberg in the period just after the 1955 publishing of his seminal work. In Exit Through the Gift Shop, we are introduced to Thierry Guetta, a French-American man who becomes a LA art personality through his connections with well-known street artists, including Banksy.

The men draw us in, but the stories are really about their works and the arguments over the legitimacy of their work as art. Howl is challenged as an 'obscene' work in the US courts in 1957, though Ginsberg himself is not on trial but his publisher instead. The case hinges on the use of obscene words; the prosecution takes to asking if certain words - cock, balls, blown and so on - are 'necessary' to the poem, if it reduces the artistic merit by being so crude. The issue debated in the court case is really whether art only qualifies as worthwhile if it is morally uplifting. Howl is also derided as illegitimate for its free form jazz rhythms, for not having conventional form and thus, lacking function.

Howl the film approaches this all with a lovely sincerity. It believes in Howl the poem being art, as an true expression of emotion, both of Ginsberg's personal feelings, and that of the human condition. The film is part factual logic - the recreation of the court case with its facts and expert opinions and the final judgement - and part poetic expressiveness, through the double rereadings of the poem; Ginsberg (as ably portrayed by James Franco) performing Howl for the first time in a cramped room full of friends and fans, and a second recitation married with Eric Drooker's illustrations brought to life in simple but fluid animation. It is not a biopic about Ginsberg, choosing only to focus on a sliver of time, with short flashbacks to give historical background to relevant periods of Ginsberg's life. We are introduced to some central characters to Ginsberg's personal life and artistic growth: his institutionalised mother, good friends and fellow Beat poets Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, his partner Peter Orlovsky and the beleagered publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, but we never hear them speak. The words that matter are Ginsberg's, and the words that matter most are the words of Howl the poem. I think it's a particularly fine film because of this narrow focus; it's very satsifying in its passion about the poem and in its defence of it as literature.

Meanwhile, Exit Through the Gift Shop begins just before the new millenium, as Guetta begins documenting the street art movement after filming his cousin in France, the mosaic artist 'Invader', for kicks. After he finally makes contact with the elusive and now infamous Banksy, who admits Guetta into the inner workings of his art process, Guetta is first challenged by Banksy to turn his years of footage into a street art documentary - which we are led to believe is an abject failure due to Guetta's lack of talent - and then to hold his own art show. Guetta is then painted as an art monster of sorts, with Banksy his remorseful Frankenstein, as Guetta becomes a 'star' with his derivative pop/street art mashups and proclivity for hype, an unfortunate triumph of style over substance.

But it's all very tongue-in-cheek, to the point of insincerity. Exit Through the Gift Shop, as a piece of art itself, adheres strictly to the documentary film form, but its tone is arch, the intention satire. Banksy, or a shadowy figure purporting to be Banksy, bemoans the instant, seemingly undeserved success of Guetta - or rather his alter ego Mr Brainwash - as one who hasn't paid his dues to the gruelling process of artistry, who has piggybacked on the art and talent and hard work of others, who's in it for the money and the fame. It seems that Banksy is positioning himself - and other street artists - in opposition, as the artists' establishment; and this, then, is the true driving force behind the film. Exit ... is not about Guetta, Exit... is about Banksy and his attempt to outsmart his critics.

All art is commercial to some extent, and in a remix culture, is there any true originality in art? 'Invader' takes the cultural familiarity of the Space Invader monsters and positions them in unexpected, mundane contexts; Shepard Fairey takes Andre the Giant's mug and plasters it across the world in endless repetition. How are these men any more artists than Guetta? How is Banksy, with his talent for provocative statements to attract media attention and commodification, any less a 'sell-out' than Mr Brainwash? The film is both irritatingly smug on this point as it is endlessly fascinating and interested in teasing out these ideas of artistic (and the artist's) superiority; slyly contesting the right of the establishment to be the arbiter of what is art, all while challenging our ability (as supposed man on the street) to understand and judge this issue.

As the film progresses, as we're led to believe that Guetta is more than a deluded by harmless man with a camera but rather a monster of Banksy's unintentional making. But I think the true monster is this movie, and Banksy is unabashedly proud of his deliberate creation because he gets to show how clever he is. He says, in the film, "art is a bit of a joke". His 'former spokesperson' muses on Guetta's meteoric rise on the same theme, saying, "The joke's on...I don't know who the joke's on. Maybe there is no joke." That's disingenuous. There is a joke, and it's not the art or whether we're laughing at Guetta or the rueful Banksy during the film. The movie is a critical success, and making good money for an indie film; and so, the joke is really on us, the audience, as Banksy laughs it up all the way to cultural and artist supreriority AND to the bank.

Exit Through the Gift Shop may be an entertaining and thought-provoking film, but for all that it's hard to like. I much preferred Howl, and its warm way of championing contentious art. Howl is a flawed but lovingly crafted small gem; Exit Through the Gift Shop is a flashy diamond that can't shake the fact it's a lump of coal at heart.

Cobra Starship - 16 Mar 2010 - UNSW Roundhouse

So Al and I may have way before doors opened coughbecausewewereattendingthemeetandgreetcough* but we weren't really prepared to jostle in the building crowd of kids with artfully messy hair and neon leggings who were already thronging around the door.**

We hung around the near deserted 18+ area upstairs for Owl City's set; the songs have pretty melodies but none of them were memorable except for one song that riffed on Pachebel's Canon. We moved downstairs before Cobra Starship took to the stage, and watched warily as the floor filled with small, underdressed teens dancing for their lives at all the songs on the PA before the show. I'd seen Cobra Starship three times before, as they languished in support acts for their more famous labelmates, but after the popularity of a certain summer hit featuring Leighton Meester, they'd obviously picked up a much younger, much more mainstream audience. And for the first time ever I felt truly truly old at a gig.

However, the show was still great fun. Gabe remains one of the most charismatic frontmen I've seen, with his propensity for rambly rants part of his charm. The band manages to hold their own too, with Alex taking on banter duties for most of the show while the rest of the band demonstrated a fond, long-suffering patience as Gabe invariably sang and danced all up in their space. Audience participation was, as with all Cobra shows, an essential, from the girl who went on stage to do a spirited version of Travis McCoy's rap in Snakes on a Plane to Gabe calling on the crowd to put their fangs up (though this time round, with fewer die-hard fans, the audience needed some prompting as to how). The band also orchestrated a Mexican wave from one side of the room to the other, rather patronisingly asking the young crowd if they knew what a wave was before giving us step-by-step instructions, leading Al to witheringly say in my ear, "I feel like I'm at a Wiggles show".

The sound was fuzzy as it always seems to be in the Roundhouse, but the band brought a lot of energy and joy to the night, and Ryland's guitar moves were hot (white hot! *g*). The set was heavy with songs from the latest album, Hot Mess, which the adoring, party-hearty crowd loved, though I was a bit said to see only muted response for some of their equally good older material. Also, considering they have three albums to draw on, their set was ridiculously short; they played for only 45 minutes before leaving the stage. The reason for that was clear though when they returned for an eagerly awaited encore. Gabe's vocal issues have been widely reported in the last year; his singing was fine through the main set but it was obvious by the encore that his voice was shot. He continued cracking jokes with his hoarse voice though and they pushed through two more songs, closing with massive hit Good Girls Gone Bad to the crowd's cheering delight.

The City is at War
Pete Wentz is the Only Reason We're Famous
Nice Guys Finish Last
Kiss My Sass
My Moves Are White (White Hot That Is)
Wet Hot American Summer
The Church of Hot Addiction
Send My Love to the Dancefloor I'll See You in Hell (Hey Mr DJ)
Smile for the Paparazzi
Snakes on a Plane
Hot Mess
Guilty Pleasure

The Scene is Dead; Long Live the Scene
Good Girls Go Bad


* So, my first meet and greet, heh. It involved a lot of waiting in lines with young, squealy, mostly female fans. Al and I had discussed a plan of attack before our turn; we were going to stick together so we wouldn't get stuck making awkward conversation with individual band members...but we were split up as we stepped up. I awkwardly talked to Alex Suarez, the bassist, about seeing the Pixies as he signed for me, followed by the rest of the band in quick succession with little more than a quick 'hi'. Lead singer Gabe Saporta told me he was happy to see a fan of their earlier stuff - I'd brought the CD booklet of their first album - and gave me a high five when I told him it was my favourite of their albums. Al was brave enough to ask them to do hands hearts with us for our one allotted photo.

You may have noticed...tall band is tall

** As we sat a little aways, this kid came up and asked if he could wait with us since he was on his lonesome for the gig. He was here for support act Owl City, but after he and Al started chatting about pop-punk bands they were into, he acquiesced to give Cobra a try. :) He was adorable, not least because he thought we were still in uni, lol. But we gave ourselves away after a while of chatting about bands we'd seen, when he remarked "Wow, you guys go to a lot of shows". Of course we had, in comparison; he was probably in kindegarten when I went to my first show (I wish I were joking, but...)

Pixies - 14 Mar 2010 - Hordern Pavilion

I remember when I missed out the last time the Pixies toured here in 2007, Al taunted (okay, gently teased) me that I might never get the chance to see them again. Hah! Luckily they returned (and will return again in July for Splendour), this time celebrating the 20th anniversary of Doolittle by playing it in its entirety. For once, I was easily among the 'youngsters'; the crowd was full of fervent fans from when the album was first released, and they showered the band with love and adoration throughout the show. The band, in turn, were visibly happy to be there, and Kim Deal's grin could, and did, light up the room (when I could see it...gah, tall people).

The show was so so good all through. They started with a four song run, all B-sides from Doolittle, building the anticipation so when the jangly guitar riff at the start of Debaser finally rang out, the room was just primed to explode in glee. Al turned to me and said, "They've still got it!" and then two seconds later, one of the guys in front of us turned to his friend and said exactly the same thing. They really did still have it - from Frank's wild growling vocal, Kim and Frank's voices in eerie harmony on Silver, those wonderful bass lines, the guitar hooks ringing out - everything sounded familiar and wonderful and not at all dated.

If I had to pick a highlight I'd pick, after a great deal of deliberation, the back-to-back amazingness of the first four songs off Doolittle, and of course Gigantic, which sounded so full and warm, and capped off a great night.

Dancing at the Manta Ray
Weird at My School
Bailey's Walk
Manta Ray

Debaser
Tame
Wave of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away

Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf version)
Into the White

Mind
Planet of Sound
Dig for Fire
Gigantic

Kevin Devine - 29 Mar 2010 – East Brunswick Club (Melb)

First we had to endure a boring few hours in East Brunswick (where everything closes after 4pm, grr) then we couldn’t tear ourselves away from the pitiful support act (Black is the Colour) out of some sense of horrimusement. The lead singer slash guitarist actually introduced a song by saying it was “about AIDS and whatever”. He and the bassist looked like they were going to have a fight either on stage or immediately after the show, and they were both monumentally bitter about the fact they were a support band, constantly telling the audience gloomily that they knew we were only here to see Kevin Devine. These guys should have been thanking their lucky stars they’d managed to get a slot as a support band. It was possibly the dullest half hour I'd ever been subjected to, and Al and I only got through it by making up stories about how the band was going to break up backstage.

The room was really tiny, and it wasn't packed by the time Kevin made it on stage, but it was a warmly receptive crowd nevertheless. I am really glad that he played his own shows on this tour – it was great to see him in both settings, whether it be backed by a hard rocking band to emphasise the strength and power of his songs, or playing acoustically in small rooms where the skill of his songwriting and voice really shines. I hadn’t thought songs like Brother's Blood and Carnival – so rich in instrumentation, loud and powerful on record – could be just as good when only performed solo with just a guitar, but Kevin Devine played his voice like an instrument to give his performance greater depth and emotion. Acoustic nowadays seems to be a synonym for ‘soft and somnolent’ but in this case it was anything but – the rage and range he managed to convey with the naked voice was amazing; I get all verklempt when I think about it still.


Brother's Blood (acoustic)

The setlist was good, weaving between songs from latest album Brother’s Blood to older material and a nod to his influences with a Neutral Milk Hotel cover. Older songs saw adjustments, additional verses, like the extended Burning City Smoking. The undercurrent of political anger that drives so much of his work was more present in this solo show than the crowd-friendly support sets he’d played; that said there were still plenty of light moments during the gig, with joyful renditions of crowd favourites such as Just Stay and No Time Flat.


Kevin wandered through the crowd before the gig, calmly greeting fans who were brave enough to walk up and say hi, and he promised to stay around after the gig to talk to more people. Al, after saying very emphatically that she did not need to meet him, scored herself an impromptu chat when, at the very moment she reached the merch desk to buy her copy of Brother's Blood, Kevin came and swapped places with the merch guy! :D


Billion Bees
Brooklyn Boy
Just Stay
I Could Be with Anyone
Hand of God
Carnival
No Time Flat
Yr Husband
Burning City Smoking
Holland, 1945 (NMH cover)
(?)
Wolf’s Mouth
Another Bag of Bones
Brother’s Blood
Me and My Friends

Kevin Devine / Brand New - 28 Mar 2010 – Palace Theatre (Melb)

We got onto the floor about five minutes before Kevin Devine went on stage. Once again, he was supported by his temporary band, and once again, he was in fine, energetic form. The theatre was yet to really fill, but there was a good sized audience covering about half the floor, and Kevin was well-received enough. He played the same set list as Sydney though this time Jesse Lacey came on stage to growl through a verse in the Nirvana cover. Jesse sounded hoarse and rough, but it suited the song so I thought nothing of it at the time.


Brother's Blood

Cotton Crush
Carnival
Time to Burn (Another Bag of Bones)
You're Trailing Yourself
School (Nirvana cover; with Jesse Lacey)
I Could Be With Anyone
Buried by the Buzz
Just Stay
Brother's Blood


By the time Brand New were due on stage, the theatre was packed tight. Al and I were lucky to grab a spot on the steps at the back of the floor, which gave me the best view I’ve ever had of the band. Unfortunately, Jesse had lost his voice between Sydney and Melbourne. He didn’t let up though, tearing through the first four songs of the set, the same Daisy screamfest as they did in Sydney. It was painful to listen to at times, but I appreciated that they didn’t cut the night short to save his voice, but rather did the best they could as a band. They made some great setlist changes too, again mixing old with new, adding Mix Tape (the first time I’ve heard it live!) and swapping Shower Scene for The No Seatbelt Song , Limousine for Bought a Bride.


Mix Tape

At the end of the night, Jesse closed with Play Crack the Sky solo, as he did in Sydney. Halfway through, a second figure came onto the dim stage with a guitar, then proceeded to trip over some cords, stopping Jesse in his tracks. Kevin Devine (for it was he) and Jesse then had a very cute exchange, bantering about Kevin ruining the whole performance ("you just ruined like two hours of music!"), before they tried to resume from the second verse - which Kevin missed. Lololol. Jesse’s voice was still cracking and off-key, but it was lovely to see them perform together, and they obviously enjoyed each other's presence.


Play Crack the Sky

Sound-wise, this night was a bit of a bust, but it didn't matter. I got this feeling, from both nights, that these might be the last times I see Brand New perform for a long long time, if not forever – it felt like a farewell tour, from the fantastic career-spanning setlists to the way the band connected with the audience and played to fans in a way they hadn’t always before. I think the Sydney show was slightly better - Jesse still had his voice, hometown bias, plus better overall atmosphere - but I wouldn't have missed the Melbourne show for anything, just to see them live again. I'm grateful that I got to see them supported by Kevin Devine, an artist I never would've heard of and loved had it not been for Brand New and their incestuous music making circle; and I'm glad to have had the chance to see them play such different sets each time they toured. But there was a sadness this time round too, the feeling that it was the end of an era, whether for them, or for me, or both.


Sink
Vices
Gasoline
In a Jar
Sowing Season (Yeah)
The Archers Bows Have Broken
Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't
Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades
Mix Tape
The Shower Scene
Jude Law and a Semester Abroad
Seventy Times 7
Jesus
You Won't Know
Degausser
You Stole
At the Bottom
Limousine
Play Crack the Sky (with Kevin Devine)

Kevin Devine / Brand New - 25 Mar 2010 - Enmore Theatre

I have no objectivity left regarding these two artists/bands. Let's just say that last night was AMAZING and I am so glad that I will get to see them at least once again in the next week. They met my stratospheric expectations and went beyond. I'll try to write a proper review of the run of shows when I get back from Melbourne...

OK, so it's two months later, and I still have hearteyes when I think about this night.

I'd seen Kevin Devine once before, on a sidestage at Lollapalooza with his Goddamn Band, and it was one of my highlights of the festival. I didn't hold much hope for seeing him again, not in Australia at least, for he had practically no profile here; so you can guess how ecstatic I was when I discovered not only were one of my favourite bands, Brand New, returning to Australia, they were bringing Kevin Devine, a friend of theirs, as the support.

He'd played a solo acoustic gig at the Annadale the night before (which I kinda regret missing now) but in his support slot, Kevin Devine was amped and backed by a temporary band that included Brand New's Vinnie Acardi on guitar. They played a great set, mostly of his punchier songs, which suited the excited crowd and atmosphere. I was blown away, once again, by the power and emotion in his music; Brother's Blood is electrifyingly intense live, with its slow burning passion, building up to the dizzying climax of his throaty screams of 'my sorry heart' and the guitar wailing its solo after to lead to its weary, quiet end.

Cotton Crush
Carnival
Time to Burn (Another Bag of Bones)
You're Trailing Yourself
School (Nirvana cover)I Could Be With Anyone
Buried by the Buzz
Just Stay
Brother's Blood


Even though not all fans have embraced last year's album, Daisy, as they have the two before it, there was a buzzing crowd waiting in the Enmore for Brand New. They started with a scream-tastic block of songs from Daisy, loud and raucous and bold, but it wasn't until the fifth song - Sowing Season from previous album The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me - that the crowd really went nuts. Al noted that the set was a travel back in time, going from Daisy to TDAGARIM then back to Deja Entendu and then even further back to poppier favourites from first album Your Favourite Weapon.

This unexpected but welcomed dip into the past was part of what made this concert feel like one for the fans. While I love them to bits, the previous times I've seen Brand New there's always been a level of disconnect between band and audience, as if they, in keeping with the inward looking music, were often playing for themselves and no one else. This time, the music was still in turn angry and restless with energy, but the atmosphere overall was somewhat lighter and less introspective; the band seemed to have gotten the hang on enjoying themselves, losing themselves in the music, while bringing the audience along with them.

It wasn't all sweetness and light though; the second half of the set was dominated by moodier songs, a reminder of how hauntingly good Brand New are with the painful, the emotional. No encore, but the set was so satisfying - in length, in song choice, in performance - that I didn't mind. And I left with my fannish fervour renewed, and with even greater anticipation for the Melbourne shows.

Sink
Vices
Gasoline
In a Jar
Sowing Season (Yeah)
The Archers Bows Have Broken
Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't
Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades
The No Seatbelt Song
Jude Law and a Semester Abroad
Seventy Times 7
Jesus
You Won't Know
Degausser
You Stole
Bought A Bride
At the Bottom
Play Crack the Sky

Oscars predictions 2010

I was hoping to do a week of Oscar posts, reviewing nominated movies I'd seen, but time has totally gotten away from me. And since RL has intervened, I'm not even going to be able to watch the Oscar telecast. *sigh*

So briefly, my predictions/hopes:

Best Picture

* “Avatar”
* “The Blind Side”
* “District 9”
* “An Education”
* “The Hurt Locker”
* “Inglourious Basterds”
* “Precious: Based on the Novel‘Push' by Sapphire”
* “A Serious Man”
* “Up”
* “Up in the Air”

A return to 10 nominees in this race after a break of 60+ years. I've seen only half of these (An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up and Up in the Air) and if it were all about my tastes Inglourious Basterds would win almost everything because it just blew me away. I will say that of the five I saw, I only disliked Up in the Air and felt it didn't deserve all the acclaim it received early in the season, though both the actresses in it were great, and a cut above the rest of the material (including the screenplay, the direction, and the lead performance from George Clooney). However, the buzz has all been about the seemingly two horse race between Cameron's Avatar and Bigelow's The Hurt Locker.

wish: Inglourious Basterds
prediction: The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Leading Role

* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
* George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
* Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
* Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
* Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Like I said, Clooney was overrated in Up in the Air; he gave a much better performance, I felt, in Fantastic Mr Fox. I thought Colin Firth was so good as a restrained, repressed, grieving professor in A Single Man. Jeremy Renner was also great as the adrenaline seeking US Army soldier in the Hurt Locker, making a loose cannon of a character likeable and somewhat understandable in the circumstances. Morgan Freeman is lucky to be nominated (Invictus was lucky to be remembered at nomination time, really), but the momentum of the race has been with Jeff Bridges most of the way through awards season. It's his award to lose.

wish: Colin Firth, A Single Man
prediction: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Actor in a Supporting Role

* Matt Damon in “Invictus”
* Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
* Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
* Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
* Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

If Christoph Waltz doesn't win this it will be a truly immense upset. And I want him to win all the way - who didn't come out of IB both appalled and strangely attracted to him?

wish/prediction: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role

* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
* Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
* Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
* Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
* Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

I only saw one of these performances (Carey Mulligan in An Education) and while I thought Mulligan was great in the role, I don't know if it's strong enough to take down three other very strong, much more highly rated performances in this category (Helen Mirren was a surprise nomination, and the movie has little buzz).

wish: Meryl Streep
prediction: Streep or Sandra Bullock (it's still too hard to call!)

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
* Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
* Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
* Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick were very good in Up in the Air, bringing depth to thinly characterised female characters, making them complex emotionally in just small gestures and looks. Maggie Gyllenhaal had not made a showing the awards season at all before this Oscar nomination, and has little chance. Penelope Cruz was also, some say surprisingly, nominated over co-star Marion Cotillard, the other actress to get critical acclaim from a movie that mostly bombed; and she's playing a variation on a character that has already netted her past Academy success, so she's not likely to win here. But the one with the most acclaim, and the one who has swept most of the awards in this category over the awards season, has been Mo'Nique.

wish: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
prediction: Mo'Nique, Precious

Animated Feature Film

* “Coraline” Henry Selick
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
* “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
* “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
* “Up” Pete Docter

Coraline and Fantastic Mr Fox are sharper, more daring animated films, with a very keen sense of its visual style. But I found Up so darling - like all the Pixar movies, it balances story, whimsy, humour and beauty in a way that can be appreciated at all ages. I loved the detail, in its look as well as in its ability to capture some of the tougher emotions in life.

wish: I'd be happy if either of the 3 I mentioned won
prediction: Up

Directing

* “Avatar” James Cameron
* “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
* “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
* “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

TARANTINO. Because IB is a film lover's film, directed with such skill that each episode stretches, building tension, until it's wonderfully AND terrifyingly resolved, while leading onto the next part in story and in action and in look. But like Best Picture, this has been seen mostly as a race between Cameron and Bigelow, and on that score, I'd say Bigelow all the way. The Hurt Locker is a well paced movie, and it looks and feels as realistic as the action it depicts, almost effortlessly, unintrusively setting the viewer inside this hitherto shadowy world of the soldiers at war in a hostile place.

wish: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
prediction: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Foreign Language Film

* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

I really want Un Prophete to win this, because it was such a good movie - exciting and interesting with a strange, dirty beauty. But I've heard that because of its gritty subject - it's about a guy trapped within racial conflicts, in prison, trying to escape the confines of this life - there's a chance the judges will go for a more conservative choice. Last year, the race seemed to be between two highly acclaimed features that had swept up all the awards before it; in the end the Oscar went to a lesser known Japanese film with a sentimental bent. So I've heard that this year, rather than the race between Un Prophete and The White Ribbon as it would seem from awards season, Argentina's 'El Secreto de Sus Ojos' might be the one to watch instead.

wish: Un Prophete, France
prediction: El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina

Music (Original Score)

* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

prediction: Up, Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Do you know, they're not having live performances of the Best Song this year! So it's unlikely we'll see Jeff Bridges performing The Weary Kind, or Marion Cotillard singing Take It All, not even in truncated, medley form. Bah.

prediction: The Weary Kind, Crazy Heart

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

I came out of Up in the Air disappointed by its glib smooth surface, masquerading as some kind of emotional touchstone for a disenfranchised middle America, and the more I think about it, the more I think the problems lie in the screenplay. The original screenplay by Sheldon Turner, which is closer to the original book, is meant to be even worse. I just felt it was a clumsy attempt to try to give a soulless man a soul through trite and predictable storylines and words about family and relationships. I really really hope it doesn't win.

You can read the original Lynn Barber memoir that An Education is adapted from. I found Hornby's adapation to be smart, faithful to the general sentiment of the memoir, if sugarcoating some of the events a little.

But I believe the frontrunners to be the movies I haven't seen yet! So I am making this prediction without great confidence.

wish: An Education, Nick Hornby
prediction: District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

I think the buzz (and the general momentum) behind The Hurt Locker could take it to a win in this category too, and it is an interesting look at the Iraqi conflict from a very US-centric but incredibly intimate view (Boal was a journalist embedded with a explosives disposal unit, which is the focus of the film). But I think there's support behind Tarantino in this category too, and it may be the one award it picks up as a consolation.

wish: Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
prediction: Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino

I'm not going to bother with all the technical ones, but I hope Avatar doesn't dominate just because it's high tech, blah blah blah. And I really really want Bright Star to win the award for Costume Design, because it was just such a beautiful movie with some beautiful (and relevant to the story!) costuming, but it is up against the almight Sandy Powell for The Young Victoria, sigh.


related reading:

The Red Carpet Campaign: Inside the singular hysteria of the Academy Awards race

Excellent, absorbing article on the Oscars race and the strange ups and downs, and driving narratives, of the awards season. Reprinted this weekend in the Good Weekend magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald (but you can read it here for free!)

Five Acclaimed Directors Speak Directly

Fascinating LA Times round table with the nominated directors Bigelow, Cameron, Daniels, Reitman and Tarantino about their films, processes and experiences.

Keats Speaks

On Keats, language, the spoken word, and Bright Star.


past nomination posts:
Oscars predictions 2008 (on The Stirrer)

Taking Back Sunday - 25 Feb 2010 - The Metro

There were an agonising few weeks back in January when I realised Taking Back Sunday had scheduled their sideshow for the same night as the My Chemical Romance concert that I already had tickets for. But when MCR cancelled their Australia shows, I took some small consolation in the fact I could now see Taking Back Sunday live.

It can be a real revelation, catching a beloved band live. Some bands are made to be heard in person, and some artists made to be seen in performance. Taking Back Sunday, as lead singer Adam Lazzara pronounced at least twice during the show, are a "professional rock band". A rock band they most certainly are - they played hard and loud and fast - but 'professional', well. That was my revelation last night: while Taking Back Sunday may have build their live reputation in some part due to the showmanship of Lazzara and his antics, last night Lazzara was more sloppy than professional, the show and sound shambolic as a result. But Lazzara was so charmingly sloppy, and the whole band so sweetly enthusiastic, that they almost got away with it; I had fun, and sang my little heart out, despite the faults.


While Taking Back Sunday hurled themselves musically and physically into the start, banging out crowd favourites from all four of their albums, Lazzara started to really flag in the middle third. His vocal was like his (infamous) mike swinging - all over the place! Guitarist Matt Fazzi's vocal kept things on track, and together the harmony of their voices works really well. The rest of the band, with an extra touring guitarist for oomph, are solid performers and supported well. But the personality of the performance, the driving force of the energy, centred on Lazzara; so when Lazzara chose to sing while kneeling on the floor for large chunks of the show, he may have given the front row a great view, but the rest of the room had little to focus on, and the momentum of the show ebbed whenever he was obscured from sight.

But there was still a great deal of passion on show, if not precision, from Lazzara: his long hair whipping around, screaming catharsis in song, giving rambly but sweet speeches to the audience. He waxed lyrical on our screen obsessed culture (he wanted us to put our cameras away), on the existence of drummer Mark O'Connell, whose parents were in the audience ("they did it and so we have Mark - win win for everyone!"), and also on "manlove", as he sadly noted that any suggestion of his great affection for other males, usually members of his band, elicited much greater response than any serious sentiments he uttered.

And then they pulled it out for the last third of the night and started "killing it", as Lazzaraa urged guitarist Eddie Reyes to do on the intense, magnificent 'Everything Must Go' from 2009 album New Again. From them on, it seemed Lazzara was back to his former self in terms of energy and vocal ability, and the crowd responded in turn.


Everything Must Go
It helped too, that the set was composed of an even mix of songs. There were plenty of old favourites from the earlier albums for the diehard fans who know every word, balanced by the newer, poppier songs to keep the night rolling on. But they finished to great excitement with a trio of songs from their best selling album to date, Louder Now, featuring some great instrumental solos and a chance for the tiny Matts (Fazzi and Rubano, on guitar and bass respectively) to shine.


MakeDamnSure

Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team)
Sink Into Me
What It's Feel Like to be a Ghost
Set Phasers to Stun
You're So Last Summer
Carpathia
You Know How I Do
One-Eighty by Summer
Lonely, Lonely
My Blue Heaven
Timberwolves from New Jersey
Everything Must Go
A Decade Under the Influence
Liar
Error:Operator
MakeDamnSure