Bil Sabab Power Hour: Duran Duran - Violence of Summer

"Violence of Summer" is a song by british pop group Duran Duran. It was released in 1990 on their sixth album titled "Liberty". It is a bit of a dark horse in Duran Duran catalogue. The song got lost in the shuffle because it turned up in the wrong time and yet it is one of the most affecting songs in the bands body of work. There is this careless "whatever" feel that drives the song. It just doesn't care about anyone's opinion and rolls and rolls and rolls.

Sonically it is rather sophisticated heady mix. You can hear a lot of diverse influences mashed together seamlessly. First and foremost it is 60's bubblegum pop. The song starts off with stupefying piano intro before kicking into the main part which adds healthy dose of 80's New Romantic New Wave groove. The best way to describe it is snappy. High-pitched organ breaks are timeless - they stick in your head for a long time after listening to the song. Vocal melody is surprisingly distinct and memorable - to the point it doesn't matter what the words are doing there.

Which is interesting because lyrically "Violence of Summer" is beyond comprehension. Simon Le Bon is the master of delivering exquisite word salad that sounds just right in the song but evaporates upon further inspection outside of it. That's a skill you want to master. It is not that lyrics actually don't make any sense. They make, sort of - it is a song about a girl, whose edgy and cool and hangs out with bad boys and a pretty boy whose all nice and clean and just hangs around. They seem incompatible but a chance meeting at the party turns everything upside down inside out and backwards. And then they run away because "love's taking over".

It is typical teenage pop song. But somehow it just jumps out of it into something more subversive and abstract.

"Violence of Summer" was a lead single from an album that nothing to offer. "Liberty" was advertised as a throwback to classic sound after a couple of albums that experimented with new sounds and genres. Unfortunately it wasn't up the snuff for the most part. But "Violence of Summer" was top-notch. It is fair to say that it is the best song off the album. The problem is that there is not much competition. But it holds up pretty well compared to the hits.

End Pages - the best thing about Ed Piskor's "X-Men: Grand Design"

I've been reading issues of Ed Piskor's "X-Men: Grand Design" recently. It is a nice project with noble aspirations - it tries to condense and make sense of five decades of X-Men history. Think about that - years of stories redesigned into one big thing with a throughline. Sounds intriguing, right? Marvel counts on that. They know people like and buy something that is actually readable - although, judging from their recent output, they tend to ignore that. Anyway - the concept is great. But that is about it.

***

The best thing about Ed Piskor's "X-Men: Grand Design" are the end pages where author lists all the sources he used in order to construct the story. That is really interesting part of the project. Because the story Piskor had contructed and the way it is told is rather ordinary and at times feels really contrived and forced. Essentially it is nothing more than a glorified rethread, a little bit more elaborate and inventive recap. It is middle of the road, nothing special, just barely good narrative that tries to make the least conflicted, universally accepted version of the story. Because of that it feels like a wasted opportunity.  

In some way "Grand Design" reminds me of John Byrne's Star Trek Photonovels - but unlike Piskor - Byrne is not doing rethreads, he forges new stories from the old parts.

The list is different thing. Because is not the thing - it is merely an inciting device, a catalyst for something else. It works on a different level.

Unlike the comic itself - the list of sources makes the case for imaginary collage. Something like "make your own story" "for imagination only". And that is something worth exploring. Because it is better than the book itself. It gives space to think and overthink and get bored - unconstrained by someone else's point of view. That is where the weirdness may come and thrive.  

Bil Sabab Power Hour: White Zombie - Thunder Kiss' 65

"Thunder Kiss' 65" is a song by American horror rock band White Zombie. It was released in 1992 as a lead single of their breakthrough third album "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1". It is a tale of love and betrayal and despair and great umbilical struggle of this and that and that and that. It is one of those songs that grind their way to your brain viciously but seeming leaving no trace behind. You can't really catch this song and think it was just a dream - but it really happened and it is really that good.

From a musical standpoint "Thunder Kiss' 65" is slightly jumpy funk groove rock and roll song with elaborate fuzzy twang of wasteland stoner rock spliced with a little bit more bluesy meandering hard-edged rock. White Zombie specialized on trashy, bottom of the barrel sleaze with elaborate arrangements and extraordinary tenacity. This song is a nice showcase of the bands ability to make extremely simple catchy song that is seeming beyond description. It is based of one riff that jump around with its tongue sticking out. It feels like it is going backwards but apparently forward but obviously backwards and rather awkward.

The vocal melody comes clashing with the riff - it is head banging contest. And the riff bounces back like a ball time after time. Then things spiral out of control in the chorus with a complex drum pattern. It is a delight to listen. Then "damage control break" comes and things go berserk with guitar turning into sonic flame-thrower writing its own sequence of notes in the air. For a moment it seems to be tamed but than it breaks away and spits fire with sparkles in all directions. Pure bliss. Sweet nuthin'.

Lyrically - it is a caroulesamba bish bosh of horror movie cliched imagery combined with grindhouse movie vernacular. It is half-based on namedropping of various b-movies as elaborate metaphors or plot points. But there is a story hidden deep inside. It is about a girl being really bad and probably a time warp to the past (or not) and then she meets somebody and he gets blown away (or not, who cares). It's a bunch of cool sounding words, ok?

If you read the lyrics of this song separately from listening to it - you might think it is glossolalia transcribed and edited to resemble coherent text. 

Accompanying music video is a thing of its own. Aesthetically it is solid gold tribute / homage to the ultimate great Russ Meyer and his magnum opus "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!". Kinda. It is just people in the middle of nowhere (aka desert) hanging out - dancing with smash zooms and tilts. There is also a guy in a luchador mask, cape and tightsuit. He means fun.

"Thunder Kiss' 65" is flashy, smashy and absolutely nonsensical. Despite this - it is 100% effective.

Goldfish Plays Street Fighter 2

There is something special in arcade fighting games. They seem to be so different from any other genre of video games. I don't know how to explain it. In the any other game - you have some sort of order - certain way of playing it. Because otherwise - the entire thing will be utterly pointless. But in the fighting games - these things do not apply. There's an element of sheer inanity and savage randomness in the gameplay.

I think it is so because of it stupendous simplicity - you need to beat your opponent twice or thrice if he managed to beat you once and then beat another and another and another and then the end or you can fight with your friends until the heat death of the universe or something. And you can try again and again and again and every time it will be different and you will be transformed. You will gain some sort of experience. It is a lot of fun either way. A neverending cycle of thrills...

Critical Beatdown: Black Dahlia Graphic Novel - the David Fincher's version

I just read a graphic novel adaptation of an adaptation of James Ellroy's "Black Dahlia" (more on that later). Long story short - 'twas bad. 

***

I'm a big fan of blood-drenched minced meat prose of James Ellroy. I've learned a lot from his ultra-condensed no-bullshit prose. The way he ties up random details into one puzzle, the way he establishes character through little touches - the man knows how to deliver more with less. 

Ellroy's primary weapon is Occam's Razor and he uses it as a butcher's knife. That is particularly inspiring - everything is chopped to fit together just barely, you can see the stitches and it is either excessively bleeding or is already drained of substance. His writing is as grotesque as the things he writes about. The texts are also quite poetic - wild mix of different slangs, argots, hard-boiled vibe and out there metaphors is worthy of Ezra Pound. 

What is puzzling to me is that almost none of these qualities are translated to film in any measure of adequacy. You know - there is only one great Ellroy adaptation - "LA Confidential" and its greatness is based upon its willingness to step away from the source to make a better film narrative. Other adaptations are so-so for the very same reason but there is also one that is actually stupendously offending in its lacklustre nature - Brian De Palma's "Black Dahlia". But i will not talk about it because i'm bad at morbid comedy. 

I'm going to talk about David Fincher's attempt at adapting Black Dahlia.

Bil Sabab Power Hour: Harry Nilsson - Coconut

I've decided to write about this song because i kept hearing snippets of it from various street musicians throughout the day: i was going to work - 1; going to lunch - 2; heard on the radio while sitting in the office - 3; heard once more while going home -4.

I thought i just needed to get it out of my system.

"Coconut" is a song by american singer-songwriter extraordinaire Harry Nilsson. It was released in 1972 on an album "Nilsson Schmilsson". It is notorious for being extremely popular and incredibly annoying - everybody knows this song because it is so stupid and funny and cute and it is was also featured seemingly everywhere (for example, rather non-sequitir appearance at end credits of "Reservoir Dogs"). Curiously it is almost completely misunderstood despite being outstandingly bafflingly straightforward. I think one of the reasons for it is that the surface is too attractive to get pass through it.

Harry Nilsson was one of the most inventive musician of his age. He could make a song out of anything. "Coconut" is fine example of his songwriting skills. It is a nothing song that is turned sublime but the sheer force of skill. 

MFT: SaidSo.Me

There is something majestic in minimalist writing platforms. They don't have the flashiness and panache of the hydra-like corporate suites but instead they offer different kind of freedom of expression. There are no audience waiting for the show with their tangled set of demands, no code of conduct. You only able to let the thought out into the unknown. And that is so liberating in so many ways. You don't need to think about anything but what you want to express. And then it just goes away. It is a puff of sigh into vast opaque and asinine void - stuck as a cloud frozen endlessly falling down like a rock. 

SaidSo.Me is a minimalist writing platform. Basically - it is nothing more but a place where you can leave the text with an option of sharing through Twitter and Facebook or whatever you want. Nice and simple. And also anonymous because personalities don't mean a thing. You can't search for anything on the platform. You can't penetrate it with search engines. You need to keep the link for the text or it will be lost and that probably will not be a great loss. If the post lays dormant for a while - it may be actually be erased. I really like that "may be" - it is very playful. 

SaidSo.Me is a throwback to the early days of the web with its rather frustrating communicative and technical limitations. It evokes loneliness and futility. You can scream but you are actually in space and no one can hear it. It is stupid. It is "Edvard Munch - The Scream: The App". I really like it that way. 

There is also another way of looking at SaidSo.Me. It is a kind of digital postcards or letters. They can bring far greater level of intimacy to correspondence and that might result in a substantially different kind of development of the relationship. Simply because it feels different from the mundane and morose e-mails. 

MFT: Superman 64 speedrun

This is a video of a speedrun of a game "Superman 64" developed by Titus Software. It was released in 1999 on the heels of success of "Superman: The Animated Series". It is bizarre thing to watch.

Here is why.

Video games are tricky things. They are ultimate form of vanitas - you apply your skills and spend your time in order to reach to the very end of the game (100% finish is preferable) and then you feel good for a moment or so and that is it. You may learn a lesson of sorts but it is up to you. And as for vanitas - video games are extremely hard to do. Not only from a conceptual point of view - it is simply hard to pull off technically. Too many things to think-through, too many things to lay out, too many moving parts. It is gruelling and ultimately punishing to say the least. And the fact that it is multi-billion industry doesn't make it easier.

It makes it stranger. Case in point - Titus Software's "Superman 64".

This game is infamous for its bizarrely unplayable state. It wasn't made that way because of lack of skill. It wasn't intended to be a piece of infuriating, frustrating, annoying, irritating conceptual art. It happened that way because of pressure from the publishers. As you already know - it is a licensed game based on a DC Comics character Superman. Why it is so notorious? The thing with licensed content is that often license holder don't really know what kind of product they want. And that results in frustrating start-stops all of a sudden, making changes on the fly, last minute tweaks, backtracking and other extremities that slowly but surely turn the whole thing into a mess. And if combine it with the developers who plan things they are not really able to realize - you get something really special. In the worst way possible.

"Superman 64" manages to combine visual ugliness with mechanic inaneness. What kind of game it is? Japanese call it "kusoge" - "so bad it is actually quite funny".



"Superman 64" is based upon aesthetics of "Superman: The Animated Series". Its story revolves around Superman's gal Lois Lane, Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen and Professor Hamilton the Science Guy being kidnapped by evil bald definitely Pinhead Lex Luthor. As if it wasn't hard enough - he put them into virtual recreation of Metropolis. Superman came to rescue and got into the trap and so he forced to "play the game". Which is "flying through the maze of rings around the city", then walking around and punching shadow-like pew-pew figures many-many times, then flying through rings again. If you think about it - flying stages are classic Luthor messing with Superman circa early 60s. But empirically flying stages are "Battletoads" level of psychological abuse. It can seriously deteriorate your mental state in a matter of minutes. In the future it will be recognized as a form of torture. It also looks good on paper. If you think why Superman couldn't just break the game by sheer force of his powers - he was affected by kryptonite fog. In a virtual reality (it is actually an excuse for very limited drawing distance of the games engine). Along the way Superman manages to fight Metallo, Darkseid (really) and even Brainiac. And then he saves his friends and Luthor escapes because of course he does. Player get congrats and that's it.

Originally it was supposed to be an open world game where Superman what do his thing but then the suits came in and everything escalated to excrement tornado. The game fell victim of ambitions and lack of focus. Publishers and developers were never on the same page and that caused a lot of perturbations and refurbishing on the fly. That is what happened with "Superman 64". 

You can't really play it - you endure it. You can't even motivate yourself to move on from level to level. It annoys you to the point you simply abandon it. But there are some die hards who just don't give because reasons. Believe it or not - there is a man who actually had beaten this game. Even more so - he performed a speedrun of sorts on it. His nickname is headstrong1290. 

This undeniably significant even happened at Awesome Games Done Quickly event. This is probably the best way to experience this game.

MFT: TXT.fyi platform

More often than not modern applications offer too much besides what they are centred around. This results in watering down of the initial concept, overall frustration and subsequent abandonment of the service. It is painfully obvious within the realm of publishing platforms. They offer so many beautiful things bundled with the possibility of posting whatever you want that the whole "writing and publishing" thing takes a backseat in favor of discreet charms of social buttons which promise "exposure" but mostly for those lucky ones who will catch it up in the endless current of newsfeeds.

That's why something like TXT.fyi feels like a breath of fresh air. It is a minimalist publishing platform made by Rob Beschizza of Boing Boing. With its help you can type whatever you want and then post it instantly. And that is it. It is stripped down to barest bones - there is simply a text box and a publish button. No accounts, no comments, no backtracking editing. You don't even know what else is on the platform. There are also some simple hypertext layouts tricks to make thing a bit nicer but that's it.

After hitting "publish" you get a result and you need to save the link because otherwise it will be lost forever (drama cue) - because there is a script that prevents the link from being indexed by search engines and subsequently showing up in search results. The only thing you can do on TXT.fyi is write and have no second thoughts about anyone's reaction. You just let it go into the wilderness. The very notion of this futile vanity is inspiring. There are no overbearing qualms of gratification, no marmot belching, no choking on the keywords, no playing catch-up with the trends. You are on your own. Just like Thoreau...

It is easy to interpret TXT.fyi is a reaction to overexposure and noisiness of social media and various publishing platforms. They really offer too much and they indeed are way too intrusive into our information perception habits and preferences while offering not much in return aside from abstract "exposure". But eschewing the entire concept sharing might seem counter-productive at first. Why would you want to publish something if you are unable to share it with anybody? But then comes the realization - that kind of "sharing" is not really sharing at all - it is more akin to throwing a stone into the river. There is splash but then things come back to normal. It is true that main purpose of publishing platforms is to provide opportunities to be heard. But nowadays they provide only an illusion of exposure. There is too much information and your contribution to the discourse is often lost and barely noticed.

In case of TXT.fyi you only option is to share your work with somebody manually - by yourself. That kind of pass around is far appreciated and bring far more respectful attention than a simple roll-through. 

And that's why i like it...

My Favorite Things: Mark Kermode's "love" of Michael Bay and "Transformers"

This glorious song of pure unexpurgated horror is performed by British film critic Mark Kermode with a little help of his friends - skiffle band Dodge Brothers. It is all about Michael Bay and his then-upcoming fourth entry in the "Transformers" franchise.

There are only a few things in life that can bring you a smile no matter what. Mark Kermode's attitude towards Michael Bay and his signature brand of film-making as represented by Transformers franchise is one of them. Mister Kermode can't stand Mister Bay. He hates his guts. He is disgusted with its obnoxious demeanor. He is appalled by the fact that such kind of film-making is in demand. And he likes to tell everyone about his disdain in great detail. His diatribes against Bay are masterclasses of verbal takedowns with extreme prejudice. Seriously - you can learn a lot how to bury something so deep into the ground it will fall into the Earth's molten core.

Just listen to this soundbite from his review of "Pain and Gain": "Werner Herzog could look at pain and gain and actually be scared". Pure bliss.


But Mark's not only all talk. He can also delightfully show how painful it is. His vignettes dedicated to certain news connected with Michael Bay and Transformers are also something to behold. In them Mark is not afraid to fool around in order to prove his point.

For example - here is his reaction video for "Revenge of The Fallen". It is something that can be described as "wordless review". First we get a clip from the film which is all death and destruction and then it segues into Kermode's reaction which in short can be described as "SMASHING HEAD AGAINST THE WALL LONG AND HARD". Metallic sounds come out clanging. Once, twice, three times, four times. He smashes his head against some metal constructions, the wall, against the magazine with a transformer on it, against handrails. Then he takes a distance and runs straight to the wall. After uneventful collision he gets up and goes away while the screen fades to while with a shimmering high-pitched drone.



The short was continued when "Dark of the Moon" was released. It starts off with Mark coming to the camera and taking his glasses on. He then proceeds to smash his head against the camera and the screen itself.

It is sad.

Or here is his reaction to the announcement that Michael Bay will direct Transformers 4. Unlike previous video which pure impressionist tone poem - this one is embedded with narrative. Mark gets up in the morningm makes himself a cup of tea, sits down at the table, open his laptop and sees the disturbing news - Michael Bay will direct another Transformers movie. The news take Mark off-guard. He is shocked. He covers his face with a palm and trembles filled with existential horror as if he just experienced some Eldritch abomination in his stomach. And then he starts smashing his head against the laptop - seemingly to the eternity since the video cuts off.

Found Poem Time!

Few days ago i was writing a post about Mel Bochner's "Blah Blah Blah" paintings while struggling not to mention Iggy Pop and Kesha (it is imaginary struggle made up exclusively for this post). And while doing the research i was checking the dictionaries for some fancy descriptions of the phrase. That's where i have stumbled upon this little thing. I felt piercing lightning strike coming through my brows - it was kinda like carpet bombing moment of clarity - i have found something.



This is a screenshot from a Cambridge English Dictionary page for the word "Blah". There is a section titled "Linguistics: sounds used as interjections" and there goes said collection of words. It is throwaway "look also" section that generates next to none interest for uninitiated. After all - you don't surf dictionaries like that for nothing. But if you do - then you might go into hiding for some time because killing time is a violent crime.

As it is - the list is just another standard selection, nothing really special - but the juxtaposition makes it work. The way the lines are broken turns it into a poem in a lettrist vein. Just read it:

achoo  bam  boohoo  cor
duh  er  eww  hah
oops  ow  phooey
shush  tsk  tut  uh
uh-oh  uh-uh  whoops
yada yada yada  zzz

Having fun with OCR - Fallout Hubologist Shuttle Edition

I'm a fan of Optical Image Recognition. To the point i'm happy to exploit it inappropriately. Recently, i wrote about one very obscure piece of art from Fallout 2. It contained some words and so i thought it was a good idea to OCR the hell out of it. 

The following text is the result of organised onslaught on online OCR services. Lo and behold (and chuckle)!

Accidental anthology of hapless OCR abuse based on an image of interiors of Hubologists Shuttle in Fallout 2

Sometimes it happens that way: Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYo

Sometimes i get bored and don't want to do anything in particular but something i don't know what but still anyway. And it makes me very sad because it is as clumsy as it was described and i still have no idea what it is. For reasons beyond comprehension that does not motivate me to try to find out what it is. The feeling just hangs there and irritates with its mere feeble presence. And so - as i was sadly sitting a couple of hours ago i thought i need to shake things up a bit and get rid of that "notion". And so i went to good ol' Wikipedia looking for a fix. I clicked on "Random article" button and landed on a page for Spank Rock's album "YoYoYoYoYo".