Getting Antsy.

This is never good - I can tell that I'm just getting really anxious about something or other these days and I can't put my finger on what it is. I don't know if it's the pending romantic holiday that I despise so deeply, the pending day on which I officially get a year older which has had a nasty habit of bumming me out far more than it used to, or if it's just the fact that I am planning on taking an extra day at the end of my three day weekend in order to finish the latest chapter of my thesis.

More than anything, I think my schedule is starting to get to me. I'm getting some four to six hours of sleep in general, and I end my nights too tired to do any significant work on my paper. I run from work to band practices to shows to coffee, and of course to the bars, but that leaves very little time for sitting still, let alone sleeping.

But enough bellyaching. That's not what this blog is for (not entirely at least) and there are far more interesting things to talk about. For instance - movies. I've had a little stroke of fortune: I was able to land a copy of the movie Barfly on DVD. For those of you who don't know, it's a glorious 80s movie based on the work/life of Charles Bukowski starring Mickey Rourke, who is a far more depraved and belligerent drunk than Matt Dillon's interpretation in Factotum. Still, the reason this is so worth mention is the simple fact that it was never released on DVD here in the States, but I was able to find a Region 1 (therefore American DVD player-compatible) copy from a guy in Greece who was selling it on eBay. I tell ya, I'm rife with Bukowski now -- I watched Factotum the other day, I'm watching Barfly as I write this, and I've been re-reading his book Women on my commute. It's been sweet.

Musical Realization Plus Some Exciting News

So I was listening to a little John Vanderslice this afternoon, and while I have been enamored with his album "Death of an American Four Tracker" for some time now, I just had a chance to listen to a little bit of his latest album "Emerald City" and he does something that has become a bit of a trend: he is simulating overdriven tape distortion as a musical device. I don't know why this is such an emerging sound, but there are a number of indie bands moving in that direction. When it is successful it can be divine, as in Tapes 'n Tapes' latest album Walk it Off. However, it can also be blatantly over done. Vanderslice doesn't quite cross the line that extremely in his latest effort, but both Sleater Kinney's The Trees and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's sophomore album Some Loud Thunder both do this ad nauseum. I'm not critiquing the bands, just the technique. Hell, even all time favorites like Spoon and The Pixies have slipped in a couple instances of the technique that grates on my ears. I wish I could figure out why people do it, and moreover, I wish those folks would stop. Please - I love a little lo-fi edge to warm up a recording, but let's keep it under control.

Now on to the exciting (at least I sure as hell hope it is as exciting as it could be) news: they are making a sequel do Donnie Darko. Titled S. Darko, it is supposed to document Donnie's younger sister, Samantha, who is troubled with visions of her own. I'm curious because it's an almost real-time depiction of the time that has passed between the present day and when they made the original movie. Sounds fascinating but I hope with all my heart that they don't screw this one up.