Viva La Vida

The cover for the Coldplay's upcoming studio album (scheduled for release June 17,though I'm sure it would've "accidentally leaked" weeks before that) looks odd.What else is odd is the album title (officially: "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends") + some of the song titles ("Lost!","Strawberry Hill")-basically its a bit strange how nothing here seems typical for Coldplay,but I guess they've acknowledged that their fans-in the 3 years since their last effort X&Y came out-have changed.

+I don't know whether its my exceptionally good mood,or if my ears are going wonky-but that new Scar Jo song ("Falling Down") sounds heavenly.Sure she sounds a bit monotonous but a lot of singers out there can hardly call themselves professional singers-they just find their niche somewhere,and here her voice sounds great behind a drifty,constant strum of many different instruments.

+After about two weeks of putting Lykke Li's Youth Novel under heavy rotation,I think we've got us the year's first strong contender for something that could match the crazyfantastic Feist album of yesteryear.I wonder why the promotion on this one's running low-its a nice pop/dance record,although it might just not look or sound as "trendy" as the stuff coming out (like that new nearly 7-minute long Death Cab single,now what the hell was that all about?!)

xoxo

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Dark Knight

Sunday.

Dark Knight would be my second most anticipated movie of 2008.The first was Cloverfield,that turned out an empty shell.I haven't bothered to follow Dark Knight's trail of online clues,but the posters released so far looks absolutely amazing.The most recent,popping up only few days back,is the first one I've got up-the film promises mass pandemonium and the poster captures just that,the burning building with its falling debris and smoke-filled sky looks dominating over the sturdy but unsure looking Batman.And finally the tagline:"Welcome to a World Without Rules",fucking clinches it.

The next two exemplify top-notch photography (with a bit of pro-editing,but whatever),both characters with their backs facing us,looking towards Gotham with completely different intentions,and the fact that one stands behind a glass wall whereas the other an open road.It says so much with so little.But the last,my favorite-a blurred out image of Joker,two ominous black spots in place of eyes with his eerie,inviting posture and the vivid red "why so serious?" scrawled over along with the disturbing outline of a smile-is by far the best out of all four.


Under trivia on IMDB,Robin Williams is said to have expressed interest in playing the Joker before Heath Ledger was cast.I can't imagine what a wreck that might've turned out to be.Batman Begins was personally for me the only real enjoyable comic-book hero movie...ever,and whether or not the sequel lives up to its name-we'll find out in July.

Pharmacy

Finally caved in to having some kind of x disorder after 5 straight days of having the brain being tossed around in hot grease.Went to a pharmacy,where a 20-ish,pale-faced Chinese guy stood behind the counter,in a white coat with arms folded smugly.

A: I need some aspirin,one strip will do. (would've taken them myself,but they were behind the counter)
C: What for?
A: I think I have x problem. (Long explanation ensues)
C: Ah,I have just what you need. (Rushes into room far behind-reappears after 3 minutes,hands me a bottle)
A: (eyes the bottle suspiciously,reading carefully the many warnings and dramatic statements printed on the outside label) Is this dangerous?
C: No,aspirin is actually more dangerous.It's not the right medicine for x.
A: But this one looks....and it says here that...
C: Don't worry about those-they write all sorts of things and make you think it's poisonous.
A: And it's not.
C: Doubt it.
A: Don't I need a prescription for this?
C: Don't think so.
A: Don't people commit suicide with this?
C: You look like a happy young chap,I wouldn't worry.
A: So...I take...one...at night?
C: You can take up to 6 a day,2 with every meal.
A: But this looks like a very small bottle.I think I'll go for one a day for now.
C: Or you could try vitamin J,and hope to heal soon.
A: Soon doesn't sound very promising.
C: Then this would work for you.
A: Perfect.

...

Heh.

Algebra

Floating.
+

Hiro going through his angsty adolescent phase.
+

+
Countdown to next week's return of Lost & Breaking Bad.
+
The "let's do it Now" strategy.I love it,especially when it involves group work.Instead of postponing a dozen times,let's all shut the fuck up-get to the nearest pc,and quickbitch our way through this.
+
The decreased awkwardness after meeting someone new the third/fifteenth time.Yeah,so we'll stop talking about how Melbourne's such a great place and assignments are hell-let's skip this bull,and try to become real friends.
+
The guy in one lecture who looks like Seinfeld.He has that funny grin on all the time,like he's about to say something really hilarious and the whole room's going to crack up.I laugh alone anyways,giggling behind my newspaper
+
Foo Fighters this weekend.
+
Monday night cartoons-South Park & Drawn Together.I wish more cartoons were this obscene.
+
The new Uma Thurman flick is getting lambasted out there,one critic says "The Life Before Her Eyes will draw you in, then intrigue you, then bore you, then bewilder you...and finally leave you feeling like the victim of a fraud."Dang.That said,anything for Uma.Ooh yeay Harold & Kumar sequel out soon.

Happy Birthday Sha :)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

As screenwriter,Jason Segel's idea of a story is to basically make it as complicated as possible-there's hardly a moment in the story anyone pauses to genuinely think,they're all swaggering around in this giant move-about because something new happens strikes every five minutes-a whole lot of noise,not much meaning.

It's not all bad.Some of the jokes worked,but for every one of those you had 20 stinker gags seriously testing an already bored and quiet audience.You get a heap of low ones like "You sound like the women on Rock of Love-"I'll KILL YOU"-jokes like these seriously questions whether there were any standards when it came to writing jokes for the film.The best jokes were no doubt the small ones-slipped into conversations and having little to do with anything-when Segel aims big or tries to pull off situational comedy-I couldn't help flinching,thinking that maybe I had inadvertently walked into a bad Ben Stiller film.

Most of the characters are self-absorbed and obnoxious loudmouths,Jonah Hill & Jack McBrayer (who plays Kenneth in 30 Rock) gave bewilderingly humorless performances and were painful to watch-plus it didn't look like they were enjoying themselves either.Kristen Bell (who played Veronica Mars brilliantly throughout its 3-season run) is totally devoid of sex appeal in this supposedly sexual role,and is frustratingly whiny and tool-like (appearing right when Segel seems to have come to terms with the break-up,just to inspire another "hilarious" love run-around).Jason Segel himself seems determined to thoroughly humiliate himself for humor,constantly doing dumb things to get the story going (often into new territory).The only characters inspiring real laughs were Paul Rudd's light-headed surfer and Russell Brand's pompous Brit rocker who were both consistently funny and entertaining.

With the amount of comedy talent attached,Forgetting Sarah Marshall should've come out soaring-but the script's limp brand of humor was a damning curse-often immature and just plain unfunny.Also,the way the film goes bulldozing past things and never once considers developing on anything (that past 90 minutes,so many things have happened but it feels like story hasn't even took off).With a loose sense of purpose and no set of bearings,it falls way off the mark and doesn't come close to the ranks of Judd Appatow's previous efforts.

I'm Good,I'm Gone

Nocturno's Pizza + thick shake oi Yumm.

+Lily Allen debuts two new tracks on her MySpace.

+Prince Bandroom giving away tickets for Click Five gig.At near $50 a pop,no wonder ticket sales haven't been going so well.Talk about bloated egos.The lead singer does have a good voice though,he could do so much better without the band.

+Finally caught up with Pushing Daisies (saw the pilot ep yesterday)-I was expecting another Samantha Morton (that show should be canceled if it hasn't been yet) disaster for some reason,but it turned out surprisingly good although they could use a younger narrator.

+Vid for Lykke Li-I'm good,I'm gone.Excellent song,nice vid.

Adele-Right as rain
The Black Keys-Psychotic girl

+Newsweek has tidbits from the upcoming My Beautiful Mommy book.Any parent who buys this for their kid should seriously think about getting more shrinks on board.

+Forgetting Sarah Marshall review up soon.

The most annoying thing right now-having to go through the Hotmail front page before clicking on "Mail" to get to the emails.Imagine going through that a dozen times a day,and seeing Keanu Reeve's stupid face every time.

It's a Ray LaMontagne & Camera Obscura kind of Saturday.

Moonlit

Because when I'm lost without a clue
I find stranded bits of you
singing sweet lullabies
somewhere inside of me.

...

Baby Mama

OK so I wasn't aware 30 Rock returned to air last week-I'll start catching up right now,this only means my coming weeks will be so much better now with good comedy around.Up there we've got a pic of Tina Fey taken from her EW feature this week,where she says some things about her upcoming film Baby Mama (I'll watch absolutely anything with Amy Poehler or Tina Fey in it,this one should be a hoot).Funny thing with Mean Girls,as entertaining as it was-neither Tina Fey or Poehler's character came off as funny,at all-which I still find a bit perplexing,but that was most probably deliberate for some reason.

+A hilarious clip from SNL with both funny ladies in woo-hoo."Do not take Annuale if you ever plan to become pregnant,as it may turn your baby into a firemonster".+ "Ask your doctor if Annuale if right for you.And if she says it is-go to a store,buy a hat,and get ready to hold the f***ing on to it".

+Trailer for House Bunny,the film looks crappy as hell (Rumer Willis,eck),but you take the dumbest idea for a movie and put Anna Faris in the lead and it's more or less guaranteed to work.If you're a huge fan of hers and haven't seen Smiley Face,try get to that ASAP.

Tapes 'N Tapes-Time of Songs
Foals-Big big love
Alphabeat-10,000 Nights of thunder
Raconteurs-Consolers of the lonely
Wilco-Hoodoo Voodoo

There ya go,two of the funniest clips I've seen this week and a couple songs to get you walking on sunshine.

Camp

Ok first thing's first-this guy on The Biggest Loser lost 8.1 kilo's.Now we get to why this is such a huge deal-usually Aussie versions of American shows are pretty mellow and undramatic-week to week the contestants gasp over silly piano music when someone loses like 3 kilo's or whatever-these people do nothing but exercise and eat healthy food and think and dream about exercise and healthy food all week,so 3 kilo's is no big achievement.So when this guy comes on the weighing machine-the numbers come up and it's 8 kilo's,you can see the wordless shock on everyone's faces and I'm like "Damn".

Fine that was lame.

Let's get to the sushi issue.This morning I had a couple errands to run,and amidst marching all over town like a fucking Nazi I felt hungry and wanted some sushi-but there was still a lot of work to do,so I bought a few and ate them while walking,boarding the tram,typing shit,answering calls.By the end of it,I was full but had no clue what I had just ate.And the rest of the day was spent doing trivial things like using Microsoft Equation on Word to insert all kinds of pedantic little symbols but Econometrics is kinda fun although a dropping a few of the menial things we have to do would be nice.Back to the sushi issue-so later that evening I had a crushing craving for sushi,it was late so after surveying about 5 closed sushi shops I was almost tempted to buy the ingredients and do it myself-shouldn't be too hard,Japanese rice,teriyaki chicken and okay it would be hard so I'll have some tomorrow maybe.

Had a fantastic weekend,one of the highest points of the year so far,again I find that anything is possible if you push yourself hard enough.It was an out-of-self experience-people always say that and every time they do I'm thinking ''What the hell is he talking about?" but I think I finally know what it means-it's when you embrace something new,and the result might be a smooth combo of pain and joy (it's never ALL good) but at the end you feel that you've gained something invaluable and new,that changing is extremely hard but rewarding in so many ways.

I can't relate the whole weekend to you-so I'll share a few small bits that were exciting.On our way back in the car it was all classic rock music,then "Final Countdown" came on and turned out half the people in that SUV were AD fans-so there was a small chat about Gob "ser-sum-vent" Bluth,and the rest of the way the whole damn car smelled of ham cheese mushrooms cos' everyone was burping after the pizza stop and suddenly someone just yelled out "Pop Secret!" and started laughing.And I met a whole bunch of new interesting people,who all had funny experiences to share ("When I was in Russia,I had this roomie who cured her sinus by snorting up salt" or "I worked in an old folks home but it was too depressing,so now I'm a tour guide at Melbourne Zoo" and things like that) and there was this crazy girl called Olivia,I tried to tell her the story about Olivia from Bolivia and ended up giggling like mad before I even finished the story and Olivia ended up with "Andrew" as her fake name for Nerd night during which almost everyone was so fuck drunk that every minute or so I'd hear someone scream "SKOLL! SKOLL!".

Matt Costa-Sunshine

There was this Chinese girl in the lift who smelled like watermelon,and it was a very cheap unsavory stench.The idea is to smell like fruit,not like a fruit.And yes there is a difference.I smell kebab.

...

Mix-Up

The past two weeks have been a quiet riot in my mind.

They've proved that being yourself provides the biggest payoff,it's such simple math but to believe life as a readable map to which you can say "Do this and you'll find shore" would be a bit naive.I don't pretend to know what the hell is actually going on-I find myself a new person,or far from it.It's not a bad thing,this turmoil-if you can even call it that-I'll simply push past my comfort zone,put myself in a position so vulnerable I might end up fucked for life or I'll survive it with new lessons in hand-anything can happen really,too many possibilities.Enough thinking,count me in.

The Dodos-Ashley
Wilco-Far,Far Away
Modest Mouse-Out of Gas

...

Robyn @ Prince Bandroom 3rd April 2008

So yes,I went to to Robyn.

She was here as part of the Very Very Overpriced V Fest,but tickets for her one-night-only side show were cheap,and I had read a couple good reviews of her US tour-and most of all,her recent album was a really good pop record.A brief chat about that-everyone knows Robyn as the girl who sang that one huge song in the 90s (Show me Love),so she relaunched herself with a self-titled album wanting to be known for more than just a one-hit wonder.You get essentially 3 types in the Robyn album-first few tunes are the really cheesy pop ones where she continually boasts to being someone "not to be messed with" and mafia things like that-usually I'd sooner set myself on fire than admit to enjoying songs like these,but take a listen to "Konichiwa Bitches" or "Bum like you" and you might see they're nothing short of fun-completely unpretentious,silly-catchy and without any "featuring Timbaland" gimmicks.Then you get the techno-heavy club songs and the ballads,both reasserting the fact that this is one good pop album.

Okay,so a quick Wiki search tells me she apparently has 3 other albums preceding Robyn-for the purpose of this gig review,we'll assume they were all crap and better left ignored.

Opening for her was someone called China,I sat outside when "China" performed because there's simply no way anyone can ever,ever,ever justify naming their band "China" (plus it was all stuffy inside),then a lost-looking blonde by the name of Paris Wells took the stage and sang a couple of her own songs (all hip-hop) before doing covers of The Gossip's Standing in the Way of Control and Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side.

While waiting outside,we met a hilarious bunch of people in their late twenties-apparently earlier on they bought a couple champagne bottles and put the record on loop all day,so one of them went "I fucking hate Robyn" and another was drunk off her fucking head.The third one was babbling on about the most random things,at one point going "The people here tonight don't look like they're here for Robyn",staring around the room once again he goes "from the way they dress,I can see they've either mistaken Robyn for Nickelback,or Bardot".True enough,you either had your orange-tanned Barbie types or full-on goth types black top-to-toe with piercings everywhere.Then there were others like me who fell in neither category,too lazy to wear anything nice.

Finally,after two hundred light years-Robyn appeared to a long round of applause,small and cute as a bunny,smiling like a kid.Accompanying here was a keyboard and guitar,and two complete drum sets (along with one tiny electric toy drum Robyn bashed to make boppy bongo sounds)-she of course plunged into "Konichiwa Bitches" instantly,to which everyone knew the words (no kidding,even me).People were screaming at the TOP of their voices,clinging on to every single syllable and Robyn jumped around and got her freak on in a dozen different ways.I have never seen anyone with energy like hers-given,I haven't been to too many gigs and the wildest one I've been to was 07s Red Hot Chili Peppers,which was a big-scale stadium gig with all kinds of giant speakers and light shows-to have Robyn bring audiences to that level of mania,with her small band and in this rat-hole of a venue,was one heck of an achievement.

She did a few covers,I think there was one ancient Roxette song and then there was Snoop's Sexual Eruption and Prince' Jack You Off (also on the album).She played an hour-long set,closing with "Show me Love" and a second rendition of "Be Mine" this time really emotional,it's amazing everyone knew the words to the bridge,when the song momentarily goes quiet and there's only Robyn miserably going "I saw you at the station,you had the arm around what's her name-she had that scarf I gave you...".That generally speaks to how cheesy the album is (On Konichiwa Bitches,she muses "I'm so very hot that when I rob your mansion,You ain't call the cops, you call the fire station") but she gets away with it,she's just so full of verve and mischief that I expect in few years she'll be as big as Britney (for all the right reasons) with big sold-out gigs all over.


...

She & Him

How you feel about the album boils down to what you think about Zooey Deschanel's (that name is just begging for a typo) voice.Compared to the last few songs that come off a bit too country,the first few tunes like Sentimental Heart & Change is Hard sound timeless and true.I've been playing the album a bit too obsessively that most of the words to the songs will probably take months to forget.Either way,it's my weekend album-along with Wilco's Summerteeth & Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree.

It's just one of those weekends when you think all you need is a good cup of something hot and sweet or maybe a massive milkshake instead (and when the brainfreeze comes,you smile in your tears),and some music to go with the carefree mood.I'm in the state of mind where all I feel like doing is staring into the sunset and tell myself every thing's going to be okay,it'll all make sense some day when I'm 304 and that things are going pretty o-k if I think about it.And I want to throw myself into the winds,see what happens and if I make it in one piece and where I end up-and to dance a silly jig with the one I love,buy fancy drinks for those who've stood by me this whole time and swear to be good and nice and to not harbor bad intentions or judge myself too harshly unless its like some beauty contest and I'm supposed to.And what are the chances of me entering a beauty contest?Exactly.Also,to get lost in a good book and wonder about dumb things like why in Melbourne can I find an elephant to pat?

Happy Birthday tocktock.

Lars and the real Girl

The "comedy" part mostly concerns the doll and how everyone reacts to it-the first few jokes are effective,but the later ones are repetitious and hollow like a bunch of silly gags stolen from a late-night sitcom.Waitress,another aspiring indie flick-had a shit ending and so-so story,but the jokes were almost always spot-on.With Lars,a brilliant stroke of dark humor appears occasionally,when you find yourself laughing but also feeling great pity-these are the film's most indispensable moments,the rest-I hate to say it-is just ordinary.

Having made his mark with an Oscar-nominated role in Half Nelson-here Ryan Gosling plays it one-note,although to be fair until his character goes through the motions near the end there's not much to do but to flare out Lars' peculiar habits-his constant shutting of eyes,turning away coyly and genial wide smile and try to do what he can with that.Lars does come off genuinely adorable early on,but once the doll appears he's quickly a kook and the psychological reasons behind his "delusion" are explored with fascination at first,but once they've laid down all the "Oh-my-god-it's-a-goddamn-doll" jokes down they start straying off to other parts of Lars' life-some of which do turn out interesting (i.e his relationship with office-mate Molly,who has had a long-time crush on him) but still prove digressional.It would've been interesting to see how the "delusion" came up-sure there are a few lines here and there hinting to it (people referring to the past with lines that start with "I should've not..") but overall the psychological part of the story,even with the presence of a character who's a psychologist,is considered only as a minor point.

Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson especially,give winning performances,and the only sticky thorn in the cast is the husband-figure (brother to Lars) Gus who is written and acted to be so spiteful and selfish he seems like a character off Friends (again,Lars' prominent sitcom feel)-he could be Rachel's sexy-but-narcissistic boyfriend who everyone loathes but his presence inspires comedic situations,all he does is scorn and roll eyes that when he finally does offer a modicum of sincerity it seems vastly superficial.

Finally,the ultimate message put forward or the fruit the whole story eventually bears turns out like something your mom might say after you've done something wrong ("Next time,be more careful with the glasses")-so light and frail,as a result Lars delivers a blow that barely registers.

Bar

Their eyes met,then immediately parted.

Between them,seated on a wobbly bar stool facing a quarter-full glass of beer-was a terrifically old man,who everyone knew wasn't meant to be there but said nothing about it.Besides that,the television was conveniently placed right across the bar (next to the long-defunct jukebox) so you didn't have to peer up awkwardly like in other places.The brown-haired one would once in a while look over the shoulder to it,then again realize it was still the late night news,settle his sullen eyes elsewhere.

Except there wasn't much to look at in there.

Averted once again to the figure at the end of the bar,who now looked much less timid-eyes shut of course,the front of the neck spread wide and neat as she slowly stretched it around-you could see long,delicate bones pressing against that thin veneer of skin.Now her eyes opened and instantly fell onto the observer's-they could escape it now as they did before,it would be so easy.

But both had a yearning that was almost unfathomable-that wanting to say nothing,but blurt out everything all at once-to devoid themselves of secrets and everything that held them back,leave the place completely empty and rise the next morning someone new.Or someone else at least.The girl-sun-kissed curls and dirty,crooked nails-was always losing one thing or another-and one had the feeling that tonight she had set her mind to lose something new,so as days past she'd become lighter somehow and soon simply vanish or float to the skies.

The boy however,need not speak-his face alone told all the stories held inside.One look and you'd notice the way his lips perch unnaturally,the way his gaze rarely moves but when it does its quick and jumpy-you could tell he felt strange,like being human was something God had him ill-prepared for.

The old man in between them woke up with a jolt,startling them both-the girl giggled a bit afterwards,the boy simply looked to the floor and cocked his pink lips into a half-smile.

.....

Avocado

The week's 10.Just because.

1. Union discounts.You get em in so many places,on and off campus.
At The Workshop,buying a 55 cents ruler.
A: Is it too much to ask for a Union discount for this?
C: You could if you want to.
A: I'll do it!
C: And that comes down to....50 Cents.
A: Damn.

2. Stereophonics-Step on my old Size Nines.Beautiful sad song.

3. 30 Rock,Lost & Breaking Bad all currently off the airwaves +Lars & The Real Girl out here this week.

4. Attempts at making dull subjects less dull-Simpsons vids in OB lects,the use of "Booze & Drugs" in diagrams and the occasional mention of "expensive porn" in Micro.

5. GTA IV coming out soon.

6. G: I'm so sleepy,woke up before the sun came up this morning.
A: Woke up for Subuh didya?
G: Nah,there was a Celine Dion special at 5.30.

7. Hot choc with different choc flavours on offer + Additional avocado option at Subway.

8. A: I heard once that she caught two flies having sex on her hand.
J: At least she's good for something.

Overheard at Uni Bookstore.

Aussie in Skinnies: I have this policy for shopping. Everything I buy,I will one day end up needing.

9. MGMT vid for 'Time to Pretend'+ The new Bjork vid for Wanderlust = Earthlessness.

10. Jenny's big "Change the world with Hypothesis Testing!" Lecture,which began with "So while attending a seminar for my PHD, I cornered a world-famous researcher in the toilet.."