Delayed understanding.

It's taken me 40 years to fully realize the brilliance of Aqualung.

I have always thought that Jethro Tull's Aqualung was a fantastic piece of music, but as I was trying to explain lyrics to my son, I had an epiphany. I was telling him how it was story the of an old man who I believed was homeless and how people saw him is being scary and strange but actually that there was more to him than that. When I was young man listening to the song, I recall thinking that the song was about the duality in his personality and that he was both things, a gentle old man and dangerous antisocial wild man to be feared. That he was cruel to strangers because the world was cruel to him, but still had the capacity to connect when shown kindness. Not a bad analysis for a teenager. 

 It is amazing how powerful saying something out loud is because when I explained the song to my son it triggered whole new connections. I guess I had never really questioned my interpretation for all these years, but now I'm pretty sure the song is all about our perception of the homeless and how WE treat them. Whether we see The homeless automatically as dangerous, dirty, creatures to be feared... or as people in need of of help. this more nuanced meaning presented itself to me very clearly, and now its hard for me to hear it as anything other than a social commentary on us and how we treat people who find themselves in this bad situation any assumptions we make about them. The juxtaposition of the song going back and forth from the hard rock and the gentle acoustic treatments represents the two extremes, fear and repulsion, and empathy.

I have to say, has someone who was not always sure after secure financial future, and could easily imagine myself in that situation, this new revelation about the song and its meaning had quite an emotional impact on me. I hope that if given the chance to time travel I would keep my mouth shut and allow my younger self to enjoy his interpretation of the song. After all, there's only one or two people in the world, who really know what the intentions of those lyrics are, and to be honest, if they are anything like me, they may have forgotten by now. But that's the wonderful thing about music, it's means what It means to the person listening to it at the time. I have to try to remember that. So even those people who clearly have never listen to the lyrics of any song in their life, are still getting emotional connection from the music, Even if I feel like they are missing a beautiful treasure. Who knows? Maybe they will discover new meaning in that song 40 years later.

I should always be quiet when people around me start talking about music.

Other people still see the creation or music as a healthy and positive thing... I need to remember this.

Some things that kill a conversation:

People don't want to know the depth of the rot in the industry and they don't want to know about all the heartbreak I have witnessed as people who have worked like mad, driven, creatures and sacrificed so much "made it" only to have all that work and time stolen from them because the record companies could make a few more dollars if they "adjusted the lineup" in the band even if it meant replacing founding members.

People don't want to hear that "popular music" is all still horribly broken and that almost everything about it is basically a lie. A magic trick that has been growing in size and scale year after year and that they are the patsy. We used to laugh about The Monkeys... They seem honest now... like quaint folksy media pioneers, at least they were funny and they got Jimmy Hendix open for them and had Tim Buckley on their show singing Song To The Siren as if to whisper..."Hey kids, here is the REAL stuff... don't tell your folks!"



No one wants to think about the fact that their favorite singer may not be able to sing that well... or that they don't need to have the talent any more, real time pitch correction makes it possible to give the modestly talented a live mic if you are feeling brave.

Its not A good move to mention that many music acts are only partially responsible for their own sound... talented producers often shape them dramatically into the finished product you eventually hear.

Here is a social tip, Since most musical acts are not that original and can be traced back to someone they where trying to emulate... don't ever point this out to the person who likes that band, they will hate you for it, even if you honestly think they might enjoy the music of the first band... I mean, clearly their heroes were fans of the earlier band... why wouldn't they want to check them out? : P

Never talk about how making music is "serious" for you. People don't want to think of music that way. It is supposed to be fun and joyous even though most rock is about alienation and anger, somehow making it is supposed to be about having a good time... weird. I know very few musicians who are "happy" most are poor as crap and are wishing for something better... I guess thats all part of the illusion (lie).


All of this leads me to the point of this post...

Even though you would imagine I would be pretty good at it... This is why I don't want to play Rock Band with you when you ask,

It's a lie.

When Does Construction On The Lair Begin?

And for that matter, can you even get real estate in a volcano these days? Maybe a dark swamp or a skull shaped island will have to do for now. Its a sellers market for prime "lair" properties I bet.

Regular visiter BENDER BENDING RODRIGUEZ has burst onto the blog-o-sphere for hacking a child's toy into an evil robot minion...

gizmodo.com
www.destructoid.com
blog.makezine.com

Let his career in supper science/costumed aggression Begin! (We won't judge his lifestyle choice. Villain or good guy, we will still support and nurture him as he carves the turkey at thanksgiving time with his superscience lasers.)

Way to go!

Latest Video:

Darth Needs a Makeover

Here are my favorites...








Oh my god... you have to give love to "Darth Fink!"


Be sure to go check out the rest here..

*Update*
BBR pointed out that this photographer doesn't link back to the artists or the project website, so if you would rather have the WHOLE story... Here is the home of the project: The Vader Project They of course list all the artist and have many more pictures!

Sorry for the sloppy reporting in the first place my friends!

Hellboy: The Golden Army... Well, It Sure Was Pretty!

I have to admit that a bit of shine is off my golden boys.

I freak'n LOVE the work of Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola and since they are both credited as writing the screenplay for this film I can't let mike off the hook totally here it would seem. But I was a touch let down by Hellboy II... Maybe my expectations were to high.

It was fun, it was visually stunning as you would expect, but the story just cut too many corners (My friend Leslie pointed out the abrupt and poorly explored change of attitude in one character as something that bothered her and thats a perfect example.) and the film overall treated the source material too lightly for my taste. I suspect they gave in to pressure to make a commercially viable film and sacrificed even more of the tone of the oftentimes heartbreaking work of Mike Mignola than even the first film did.

I know all the arguments about making graphic novels and comics into films and how you have to change them to suit the audience... but you know what? Maybe its time we took back film from the "audience" which is actually just a metaphor for "box office" which is in turn a metaphor for greed.

Make smaller films, make them cheaper, have less people go see them and keep them running for longer periods of time, convert more theaters to digital to accommodate quickly adjusting to a smaller film gaining popularity quickly by word of mouth. In short make films that are not such a compromise because you feel you need to sell "X" number of tickets. I would like to see the death of the "blockbuster" and I would certainly like to see great martial like Hellboy avoid the "blockbuster treatment" in the future... and yet still get made into films. Yeah, I know, I am insane. : )

I am pretty sure about this "compromise to be able to make the big film at all" theory I have. I could be wrong, but if I go read Conqueror Worm and then watch Devils backbone again, I somehow don't think I will come away convinced that those 2 guys REALY wanted to cast Seth MacFarlane as the soulful and deeply troubled Johann Kraus. I was so thrown off by his voice that I turned to my friend during the credits and said "I guess I can't be annoyed about the changes to the Klaus character if Mike Mignola was credited on the screen writing." it was shortly after that that my wife pointed out that it WAS Seth MacFarlane, and after that I could'nt seem to call him Kraus... it kept coming out "Klaus" I think because after making the connection, he was then just a goldfish with a somewhat fake german accent that had been turned into ectoplasm just like Johann was and somehow ended up in this movie.

I have read they cast him because he could do the wheezing and mechanical sound (huh, mechanical sound?)... Sorry, I'm not buying that, we perfected that technology in the 70's with James Earl Jones. I think it would have been much more important to find a "good actor" if thats what they were really going for and worry about letting foley artist and sound engineers do their job after getting the performance... they, (or the studio) where hoping for funny I think... and honestly I don't think they got it. Oh well.

Honestly, There was still lots about it to love and I will watch it again. It just won't end up being in my top 100... which is so strange for me because I love the work of these 2 men so much and it seemed like a sure thing.

Selectively Utopian (Or... Small Content Creators Are The Redshirts Of The 21st Century)

I finally figured it out... People that share files and have this moral attitude that they are doing nothing wrong are not just misguided or using the technology to justify a arguably questionable act, They are just Star Trek fans!

They are trying to force the first steps of a Roddenberrien vision of the future where there is no money, there is no work other than what you do to better yourself and here is the good part... Technology has advanced to the point were all basic human needs are met at zero cost. 

Relevant Utopian Points of a Star Trek future:

1. Energy is essentially free
2. Food can be "replicated" using the free energy
3. Living space and shelter is free (somehow)
4. People create art because they can, not out of a need to earn a living from their talent
5. All human knowledge, entertainment and information, is freely accessible to anyone

So, we have the beginnings of point 5... without any of the other points to support it! What I think people who share files are basically doing is putting the IDEA of intangible media having no monetary value before the needs of the real people that still depend on the income from that content!

The file Sharing community is fond of repeating mantra like "Information wants to be free" well I think I have coined the perfect response by saying that what they are are proposing is a "Selective Utopia"!

They want certain obtainable elements of a futuristic utopia without other supporting elements that make it all plausible to a working society, and they are willing to sacrifice the well being and rights of other human beings in order to get those first elements.

They want the parts of the "perfect future" that they can have now even if that will cause hardship and difficulty to the very people trying to create interesting, unique, or simply new content for them because the other parts of the "perfect human utopia" are impossible with our current technology. I honestly think some of them understand this but instead of being sympathetic or trying to find a interim solution, it is simpler to blame large media companies and and ignore the very existence of small, independent content creators because that causes a moral dilemma for them.

In other words, they see us as expendable, much like a poor guy who made the poor choice to wear red on the day he got picked to beam down with the lading party. Problem is, I don't think this will be a reversible trend and I don't think these attitudes will be "undone" once the war with "big media" is over. How will new art be supported in the future? Good question. Its one that doesn't seem to be getting asked... let alone answered.

I have never had a problem with file sharing really,  I do have a problem with the growing lack of respect for the talent of the people that create content. It seems to get worse as time goes by. I am fearful that recorded music, photography, programing and other inherently digital skills will just be seen as valueless in the future, and thats sickening if you understand how much effort can go into becoming good at those things. I don't want file sharing to end... I just want it to grow with a healthy respect for the content being shared and to find ways to support new and unique artist... I realize this is likely a pipe dream at this point but I keep trying.

There is apparently a movement going on to grow file sharing, to legitimize it. The idea being that if enough people do it then it become the legal standard. That makes sense, I am betting it will happen in some form, but I am afraid the people pushing for this haven't really thought it out, at least from the viewpoint of a small independent content creator.

If enough people buy into the idea that they should not have to pay for intangible media, many people stand to loose their livelihood. This goes for photographers, musicians, illustrators, programers, writers, filmmakers, painters, anyone whose work starts out or can eventually be converted into ones and zeroes. 

Sometimes its only a portion of their livelihood, but it could be the difference between being able to continue to create art or not being able to continue to afford the costs associated with it. In any case, taking income away from hard working people that may need it to survive or to continue making the art that others enjoy.

We are not just talking about huge record labels and movie studios here... The same technology that has given rise to file sharing has also empowered artist and programers worldwide to take charge of their own destiny.

The concept of "Pro" and "amateur" is as outdated as the CD and SoundWarehouse. If a person can make $1000 a year off their photography then by god they should $1000 a year off if and don't let ANYONE call them a hobbyist. When was the last time any of us had a job for more than 2-5 years? If Someone can make music for the rest of their life and sell a few thousand downloads a year then its likely that music may end up being the single highest grossing job they will ever have regardless if they never have a "HIT".

That is of course if people continue to apply any value to recorded music...

We may all just end up living in a selectively utopian world and such a person just ends up working extra shifts at the Sack-N-Save because they can't yet heat their house with free power or replicate free food to feed their kids.

Art takes time and effort, it has value. If it is eventually delivered in a digital form... that dosen't mater! If you make a copy you still are receiving the VALUE when you enjoy the work that was done. If the Content creator offers a digital file for free. GREAT! I do, and I will continue to. But if you are asked to support the art by paying a licence... well, until the time that we have invented dilithium reactors, food replicators, and transporters, you have an obligation, especially to independent content creators.

You could say that the way the file sharing community is currently implementing the progression of the march towards their Selective Utopia, Will end up possibly  permanently denying any hope of a Artists Utopia in the foreseeable future.

(Note about the art: The image of The Mona Lisa in a red Star Trek uniform that you see at the top of this post was created especially for this article. I then uploaded it in its basic form to see if it would spread across the internet and to see for myself how often I was credited, linked to, or to see how often the watermark was removed. "Red Shirt Mona Lisa" or "Star Trek Mona Lisa" has traveled far and wide, so far, I haven't come across anyone selling T-shirts made from the art or anything like that, and mostly I have been happy that people leave the watermark. Every once and a while someone will link back to the original or even spends a few moments to find me and ask before using it... So it has been interesting. And, trust me the fact that it is a modest manipulation of one of the worlds most famous paintings is not lost on me. I don't usually do mash-ups, I strive to be as original as I can. So, I find the fact that it has caught on amusing, hopefully others do also).

Where the Wild Things Is As Dark As You Are... or were.

On message boards around the globe the battle rages on about a mature minded movie involving what its like to be a child, made from a children's book containing adult concepts like the balance of love against anger and being in control of ones own destiny.

Many people seem to want this to be an all around "happy" film with no challenging content or themes. The way I read their comments, I think they would be happy if it was along the lines of Garfield or Spongebob Squaqrepants. They clearly don't see the book the same way I always have. I have even read many people complain that the Wild Things in the leaked test (now gone from the internet) were not smiling like they are in the book!

Holy crap! They think the beasts in the book are smiling! Grinning would be more like it large toothy grins, but mostly they are barring their teeth. Sometimes cracking what might be called a smirk. I mean, they threaten to eat him because they love him so much. : P

Some others in these threads try to point out that the actual words found in the book are not exactly "nice". But people seem to insist that the Wild Things are the 1960's equivalent of Mike and Skully from Monsters Inc. (I love Monsters Inc. btw but Its a different "beast") They call them "cute" and "cuddly". Good God are they missing the mark. I hope they didn't ruin those great characters for their kids by reading the book to them in a "baby talk voice"

I Imagine the parental censorship going something like this...
"They woared their terrwible woars, wolled their terrwible eyes, mooshed their terrwible teeffhies, and showed their terrwible softy-wofty paws."

"They cried, Oh please don't go, we love you so! We'll eat...er kiss you on your belly welly!"

Ugh.

Anyone really looking at the art and reading the content should see that it is not a "cute" story. Its supposed to be a bit on the edge, without crossing the line. Max is an angry boy. He is frustrated, a bit out of control, and he is trying to deal with his anger at being punished. When he "runs away" what he is doing is working through his problems with his imagination. The wild things ARE his dark side! At least that is my take on it... It seems so clear to me and It's quite brilliant really.

In addition to its simple and elegant story, Maurice Sendak's art in the book is stunning and I can say with no hesitation that it was one of the things that influenced me to pursue my creative abilities. I am a bit subversive, dark, and spooky myself... coincidence? Only somewhat, I am sure I was drawn to the book because of those budding aesthetics in me, but all kids NEED influences that cover a full spectrum of tone. Spooky, joyful, wondrous, dire, playful. Just giving them one "flavor" of life is cheating them and not giving them the tools to deal with the dark uncomfortable feelings they may already have. Children can understand a lot, we just don't give them credit for it. Maybe the fact that I got my hands on a dark and creepy little book about a bad little boy that imagined being the king of the Wild Things helped me work through some of my problems.

Maybe some kids out there need a equally powerful film about that same boy to help them with their problems.

So I guess what I am saying is if you had a happy go lucky childhood, or choose to deny yourself access to those dark feelings you had as a child, then the monsters were smiling... for the rest of us, they were "gnashing their terrible teeth" in an attempt to keep the rage under control. If you grew up like I did, constantly feeling under attack and in danger, you may be more interested in the Spike Jones version... in the same way that the original work by Maurice Sendak was more than just a cute little book to me when I was a kid.

Mr. Sendak gave me a tremendous gift back then... he showed me how to escape.

Where The Wild Things Are film... Laugh or cry?

I just learned of this a few minutes ago and it was a bit of an opinion roller coaster...

Doc learns:
Someone is making a film of his favorite childhood book Where The Wild Things Are
Immediate Response: Yes!
Slightly delayed response: Oh no... what if they don't honor the art or story

Doc learns fact #2:
Its a Spike Jones film
Immediate Response: Yes!
Slightly delayed response: Wait a minute... that could be bad, or could be good. Better look for pictures...


Immediate Response to image: No! No! No! Its never ending story 2008! please "random deity" NO! *sobbing ensues*
Slightly delayed response: Sure its live action, sure those are guys in big furry suits, but it still kinda looks cool. *sobbing ceases*

Doc learns fact #3:
The creatures are lovingly crafted by Henson studios
Immediate Response: Yes! If anyone can pull it off they can...
Slightly delayed response: But can they do it without inserting themselves into the designs? The beasts of WTWTA have a look that is very unique and classic, the same can be said for Hensons creations, problem is, muppets usually LOOK like muppets. Even ones not supposed to, like Yoda for example.

Doc learns fact/rumor #4:
The whole thing is getting killed. Warner Brothers is considering reshooting the entire film, fireing Jones and the writer Dave Eggers so they can rework it as a much more "Kid Friendly" film
Immediate Response: That never sounds good, Studio executives tend to think of kids in the lowest common denominator. The EXACT thing I loved about the book when I was a child was that it WAS subversive! It did make me feel like I may have some power or control over my own destiny, at least in my imagination. Children are smarter than anyone EVER gives then credit for, at least some of them are. When you make dumb media for them, you fail to challenge them and thats a tragedy. Please do NOT make a sub par "kid friendly" overly bright and cheery, trend laden, product placement filed, piece of crap in the name of Maurice Sendak!
Slightly delayed response: Eh, It probably would have sucked no matter what... *sigh*

Doc learns fact/rumor #5
Maurice Sendak has been quoted as saying that he loved Jonze and Eggers's script and that it was the perfect approach to the movie and if the movie was not made that way he would prefer there never to be a Where the Wild Things Are movie.
Immediate Response: Yes! Go get them Maurice!!!
Slightly delayed response: Wait a minute... Artist never have any control. Once he signed that paper WB can do what ever the hell they want. Even if thats a film version of Wild Things On Ice! Staring Dorothy Hamill as Max!

I have also just learned that some clips are starting to turn up on the interwebs. Aperantly there may be a fight going on and Spike Jones may be relesing the clips to prove that the film didnt need to be reshot due to tech dificulties like WB has be making souns about.

This is aperantly an early test... thats not the actual actor as Max and thats not his wolf costume, its an off the shelf sheep sleeper they purchased for the test.



That looked pretty cool... man, I don't know about this whole thing.

As I said... I am very conflicted. One thing is for sure... creative decisions about something very precious to me are currently being made by men in suits trying to maximize gross earenings... I hate that.


Updates:
Rumor: Dan Masse / Film Threat says... "I was talking to Roger Ebert about it after he saw the preview - he said it was by far one of the best things he'd seen in the last DECADE."