I've been happily continuing with "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles," but haven't had a lot of time to catch up with the new CDs I need to listen to, let alone find time for movies. You KNOW I'm behind when I've had Liz Phair's new CD for about two weeks and have only made it four tracks into the disc so far (because of time, not poor material)! Plus, "Kiss Alive IV" --- with the Melbourne Symphony, no less --- is on its way!

I would like to spread the gospel about an album that came out in 1984 that instantly jumped into my top 10 favorite albums of all time list, and has remained there since: "Sleep It Off" by Cristina. Please check out the two web sites listed below for background on Cristina, and I'll discuss my thoughts on the album in a day or two. Man, it's wonderful. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, this is the female version of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" and "Blue Mask" albums, but better.

http://www.redoverwhite.org/cristina/

http://www.richardstrange.com/writing/writeb8.htm

Her husband's influential label, Ze Records, has resurfaced, and is rereleasing material from back in the day. Available now are a couple of compilation CDs, one of which includes three of Cristina's disco-era songs. I can't wait for the hopefully inevitable CD rerelease of "Sleep It Off," but thankfully I have a cassette version to appease me until then.

According to the Emode.com IQ test I recently took [my comments in brackets]:

"Congratulations, Joseph!
Your IQ score is 131 [Is that good or bad?]
This number is the result of a formula based on how many questions you answered correctly on Emode's Ultimate IQ test [Keep that in mind if my score seems low . . .]. Your IQ score is scientifically accurate; to read more about the science behind our IQ test, click here [I didn't].
During the test, you answered four different types of questions — mathematical [throw in the towel now], visual-spatial [spatial inference has often been an arch enemy of mine; sort of a Mandarin to my Iron Man], linguistic and logical. We analyzed how you did on those questions, which reveals the way your brain uniquely works.
We also compared your answers with others who have taken the test, and according to the sorts of questions you got correct, we can tell your Intellectual Type is an Insightful Linguist [Is that better than Cunning Linguist?].
This means you are highly intelligent and have the natural fluency of a writer and the visual and spatial strengths of an artist. Those skills contribute to your creative and expressive mind. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results." [Seems like I chose the right, underemployable majors after all . . .]

Evidently it was wise of me not to have read the graphic novel "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" before seeing the film version, because those who I have spoken to who did just that hated the movie. And I enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for anachronistic science and weaponry --- when it comes to futuristic-looking weapons in settings before the 1900s, at least. The movie gives you plenty of that.

Sure, it's a popcorn movie, but it's a fun one that, at the very least, should hopefully expose younger viewers to Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the like. Captain Nemo as a student of mystical Eastern philosophy and an expert martial artist? I must have missed that when I read "Mysterious Island" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" as a child --- or I've just forgotten it. But it works here. Now Dorian Gray as a fop, I remember. A coxcomb, dandy, or dude (by the Webster's definition of a man fastidious in manner and dress), even!

For those of you looking for a blog update, this will have to suffice for today. More soon, hopefully!

I knew before watching "Ringu 2" (the sequel to the original Japanese version of "The Ring") that I should have watched "Ringu" again, but I didn't. And I couldn't remember who the lead character in the sequel was. I'll post more on "Ringu 2" later, after I watch both films again (I recently found out that the films are a two-part adaptation of a single novel). But whether or not you saw or liked the Hollywood remake of "The Ring," I recommend renting the original "Ringu" if you're in the mood for a well-paced (albeit slower paced) chiller, pretty much free of gore. Although it had been touted by buffs as "the scariest film of all time!", I would underhype it and say that it is creepy and well crafted, and for those who prefer references, I found it to be a sort of cross between "The X-Files" and "Twilight Zone."

I am not a big fan of musicals. I did my best to sleep through a live production of "Les Miz," but a friend from work saw fit to wake me up for the climactic wedding scene. Grrrrrrrrr . . . The only musical movies I have enjoyed were "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (in which all dialogue is sung), "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," if that counts, maybe "Little Shop of Horrors," and, if I remember correctly, "Absolute Beginners" (due in large part to Patsy Kensit). "Velvet Goldmine" wasn't considered a musical, was it? If so, throw that in there, too. And I still haven't seen "Moulin Rouge." So when I saw and loved "Chicago" this weekend, it was more than just enjoying a film, it was joyfully adding a new member to a very exclusive club. I happen to enjoy the gritty, double-entendre filled jazz from the era that the musical invokes, so it was an easier sell for me than most musicals. Everybody was good, but Renee Zelwigger did kick major butt.

Right before the screening of "Chicago," I saw "Identity." I went in knowing nothing more about the plot than what is shown in the trailers. And I'm not going to elaborate on the film here, because it would be wrong to give any plot elements away (by the way, evidently the DVD and VHS boxes give away a MAJOR surprise in the synopsis --- so if you're thinking about renting it, do so without reading the box!). But I will say that it is worth watching to see which side of the rather divisive fence you stand on after seeing it. My catch phrase description of "Identity": a "Memento" for the masses.

Aargh! I'm trying to figure out how to post a PDF file of my first poetry collection, "Anapest Destiny," on a dedicated site. It's not happening today, I know that much!

I keep playing the songs "A Thousand Kisses Deep" by Leonard Cohen and "Listerine" by Kristin Hersh over and over, and I'm not sure exactly why. I'm posting the lyrics here to share at least that much with you, but just reading the lyrics doesn't do the songs proper justice, naturally. The music in both songs is hypnotic and there are repetitive verses that carry a lot of impact. So, if you have the songs, I hope this might cause you to play them, and if you don't have them, might I suggest that you buy them or (if you are so inclined) download them (Disclaimer: This last remark is not meant as advice, nor does it condone such a heinous act as downloading MP3 files for free from sites such as Kazaa).

"A Thousand Kisses Deep" --- Leonard Cohen

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat.
You win a while, and then it's done,
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it's real,
A thousand kisses deep.

I'm turning tricks, I'm getting fixed,
I'm back on Boogie Street.
You lose your grip, and then you slip
Into the masterpiece.
And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep:
You ditch it all to stay alive,
A thousand kisses deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A thousand kisses deep.

Confined to sex, we pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me.
I made it to the forward deck.
I blessed our remnant fleet
And then consented to be wrecked,
A thousand kisses deep.

I'm turning tricks, I'm getting fixed,
I'm back on Boogie Street.
I guess they won't exchange the gifts
That you were meant to keep.
And quiet is the thought of you,
The file on you complete,
Except what we forgot to do,
A thousand kisses deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A thousand kisses deep.

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat . . .


"Listerine" --- Kristin Hersh

Listerine covers your tracks
Doesn't do shit for the facts

I'm lying on the couch
Scary memories fill my mouth
How did I love a breaking thing?
How did I sleep through a kidnapping?
How'd I trust a band who'd leave me one by one?
I only wanted the spark
I only wanted your hearts
It's hard
It's hard and stupid
I'm the one who let you do it
I only wanted the high
Wasn't much more to my life

I couldn't wait to come down
There's nothing here but the ground

The Vans Warped Tour — or "Punk as a commodity" — Oregon stop was last Sunday. The crowd was an interesting mix of punks who dressed old school, shirtless jocks, folks you'd never expect to see at a punk concert, and of course, lots of 'rents in tow (for whom there was an air-conditioned parental oasis tent with free canned water and cherry vanilla sodas). Here are a few bullet items about what I came away with from my day there:

• Two bands I'd never heard of before rawked majorly and mightily: Damone (more hard power pop than punk) and Same Day Service. Damone's website is www.noelletheband.com, and SDS's is www.sdsrocks.com.
• Of the established bands I knew about, Tsunami Bomb, Dropkick Murphys, and Rancid put on really good performances. Unfortunately, every band was limited to a 30-minute set.
• A sunburned face (now turned almost entirely to tan).
• Three free YooHoo samples and three free Kraft EasyMac samples.
• Two bands I hope to never hear or see again: Poison the Well and The Used. This is where the 30-minutes-per-band time limit seemed way too long.

This is the time of the month where I usually catch up on obscure/foreign/art movies, new-music listening, and reading. But spring cleaning, socializing, and www.popcap.com have taken up much of my time. More soon. I hope you all are having fun, and if not, why not?!

Good fifth of July, everyone. I hope you all had a fun-filled Fourth.

I'm going to the Vans Warped Tour tomorrow; I know about three of the bands there (Tsunami Bomb, Dropkick Murphys, and Andrew WK). Expect an overall event/people-watching narrative, as opposed to a band-by-band review.

I've listened to Leonard Cohen's "Various Positions" CD at least three times today (perhaps to counteract the sonic barrage that my ears will be indundated with tomorrow — "Duuuuuuuuuuuuude!"). This was the first album I ever heard by the esteemed troubador — one of my mortal heroes and a source of great inspiration to me — and it started me on an ongoing musical journey that has found me in a myriad of moods at different times in my life. I'll leave you with the following verses, which still strike as strong a note with me today as they did when I first heard this album in 1984:

The crickets are singing
The vesper bells ringing
The cat's curled asleep in his chair
I'll go down to Bill's Bar
I can make it that far
And I'll see if my friends are still there
Yes, and here's to the few
Who forgive what you do
And the fewer who don't even care
— "The Night Comes On"

There are many in your life
And many still to be
Since you are a shining light
There's many that you'll see

— "Coming Back to You"

I have not yet heard the new, eponymous Liz Phair CD, but plan on rectifying that situation as soon as possible. A good friend of mine, however, has sent me a few e-mails and spent part of a phone conversation giving me his opinions about it. With that in mind, I have composed this morning the poem below (in free verse quatrains, and for those who think free verse is a lazy form of poetry, I refer you to Frances Mayes' "The Discovery of Poetry" [Frances was my mentor for San Francisco State University's M.A. in Creative Writing program; she went on to have at least two New York Times bestsellers, "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany," so success like that can really happen to people you know --- maybe even you!]) in all of its second-draft (only two words changed from the original) naïveté.

Oh, Liz . . . return to us,
the adoring cult fans
who adore your back catalog
as much as your backside.

Waste not your time
on trying to crack the Top 40,
for the 13-year-old girls
who decide that chart's results

Will never relate to you,
a worldy grown woman who sings
of oral gratification and your affinity for its inherent result,
As long as they have Avril Lavigne.

Lose the slick production
And market toward me again,
the only male fan, I believe, who
You would truly adore if you met him.

Blame it on Bookworm . . .

To those of you diligent enough to check this blog out every two or three days, thank you, and I apologize for not having updated it more often. Between being bummed about not being drafted by an NBA team, and the evil entity known as Bookworm (the diabolically addictive word game that you can play for free at www.popcap.com), I have neglected my blogging duties, such as writing a long review about why I liked "Gangs of New York" so much.

But yours truly has been busy, both posting elsewhere and doing stuff. Last night I went to My House for the first time ever, and therefore to my first "basement show." To those who aren't aware of the basement scene, it's basically bands playing and/or local artists showing off their work in somebody's basement. My House is probably the preiminent proponent of the basement scene in Eugene. I went specifically to see my favorite Portland-based indie band (Does Sleater-Kinney still fall into that category? I've personally advanced them into the "big time" categoy rather than "indie"), the All-Girl Summer Fun Band, a quartet of 20somethingish gals who play a funderful hybrid of power pop, punk, and sixties pop, with a late-teen-to-post-teen perspective on failed relationships and eternal optimism about the good one that is just about to get underway that will have you nostalgically digging those yearbooks out of the closet. The girls rawked well, the sound was surprisingly good, the sightlines left a lot to be desired (imagine standing in the back of a garage, trying to watch a band, with 40 or so people standing in front of you), and I only got to see them do six songs. When songs from their terrific first CD were requested, they admitted to not having rehearsed any of those songs for this tour. Blast and drat! They have a new CD in the offing; learn more about them at www.agsfb.com and check out their video for "Car Trouble."

I spent part of the previous weekend reviewing restaurants for www.something2eat.com. Go to that site, look up Brail's Restaurant and Taqueria Dos Aguilas, and you'll find my first two reviews under the nom de plume of Rubber Dali.

I made my first official posting on www.wormfood.blogspot.com this morning, and it is worth a visit if you'd like to read about my personal interaction with the conspiracy theorist who believes Stephen King murdered John Lennon.

To my fellow bloggin' buddies who have kindly listed Rubber Dali in their links, thanks so much, and I promise that as soon as I relearn the basic necessary HTML, I will return the favor.

Oh siren call of Bookworm . . . why must you torment me so?