Youth, Speed, Trouble, Cigarettes!

Week 2 of Music to get you through the week.

French electronic duo - Cassius.

Hey guys. How was your week?

Mine was decent. I worked on Mozhaets a bit, went to some parties, met some new people. Things were great. I missed you though. :)

Glad to see you're back for your new dose of music. I've picked out some really great tracks this time, I'm sure you'll like at least one of them.

The featured artist this week is Cassius. Wikipedia tells me they're from France, which is cool. Something even cooler is that they've been active exactly as long as I've been alive. So.. yeah, cool.

The absolute best thing to me about Cassius though, is how I discovered them, and what they did to my life.

It was 1996. Little K was sitting in front of the TV. As usual. Problem with little K's TV was that we didn't have cable, or rabbit ears, so I got exactly four stations. One was CBC, one was CTV, third was Global, and last was TVO. Now TVO is a small, public broadcasting kinda thing for Ontario, much like PBS. And every Sunday, the channel would switch to TFO - it's french equivalent.

This meant that every Sunday, little K was exposed to all sorts of french culture. Which he found mostly strange. Amidst the gameshows, and crappy sitcoms,  there was a top 40 music charts show that gave me all sorts of weird glimpses into french music. One music video stands out in my brain. And it was this one: Link

Watch that. There's this white man in a red comic-villain costume, that creeped the shit out of me as a kid, and his image was burned into my nightmares for years... but that's beside the point.

This was my first ever exposure to electronic/techno music. It paved the way to a lingering obsession, and without me knowing it, made me who I am today. So <this> is all Cassius' fault.

One last thing before we start - since I realize not everyone has a hype machine account, Iw'm going to include youtube links where I can.

And so, with the introduction out of the way, lemme throw you your seven.

Click to read more ...

Talk to Strangers!

Because the internet wasn't scary enough already...

The cute, innocent gateway to hell....

I don't have a job. (Right now). I'm trying to find one, but it's difficult.. you know?

And like most people without jobs, that means I have no money (right now). And people without money tend to not do things. I spend a lot of time at home, and since most of my roomates work or go to school, I tend to be alone quite often.

This doesn't really bother me. I'm an only child, so I spent a good chunk of my childhood alone - and it's actually the part of my day I enjoy the most. I spend it reading, writing, drawing, playing video games, whatever  - it's sort of zen, I guess. K-time. It's good, in moderate doses.

And that's the problem, dear reader. I find I'm alone more often than I'd like these days. This lead to a few things: more frequent blog entries, more twitter updates, about twice as many wall posts, and more MSN window conversations. It's a hard life.

That's why my interest was slightly peaked this week when I found out about Omegle. A chat service created this year by an 18 year old (sigh). Basically, it's AOL minus the user names, but more specifically, this is how it works:

Load up the front page, and click the cute little "Start A Chat" button, dead centre. Next, a window will appear, and set you up with your chatting partner. There's no selection involved here, everything is completely random. Pretty soon you're talking to a stranger.

Now, I'm going to ignore the obvious commentary on potential abuse of this website, and instead focus on the facts.

I spent about an hour on the site, seeing if I could scrounge up any real conversation... My results after the jump.

Click to read more ...

I made it rain! That's what I did today!

And that's enough. I've done my part now get down here!

Ted, from How I Met Your Mother does a raindance to impress Robin.

Ok, so new season of television has arrived. Now I'm not going to waste your time and start trying to convince you I have a decent grasp on the what-to-watch of autumn. However, I WILL waste your time by talking about two shows I'll be tuning in for, and why you should too.

NUMBER ONE - NBC's The Office. It's into it's sixth season now, and over the past week I have caught up. This show thrives on awkwardness, and the day it loses that flavour is the day it dies.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I talked about How I Met Your Mother (NUMBER TWO) on this website. Friends of mine know it falls just below Frasier on Ye Olde List of Heavenly Sitcoms.

What do I love so much about it? Well, it's hard to say exactly. It's humour is dark at times, ironic at times, and it's method of storytelling is compellingly original ("Deep Frying", named after the show's producer is the way they tell the story non-linearly) But I think what I really appreciate most about the show is it's inherent romance.

It's a deeply romantic show. The time Ted makes it rain. The blue french horn. The 2 minute date - hell, I could go on and on. It's like HIMYM's a romance factory, and every season it pumps out two or three instantly memorable moments that leaves people talking for months.

Sweet, so we've established the two shows I love, and the inexorable quality that makes them worth my time. Now I can finally start with my actual point.

Both these shows have been going for about half a decade, and that's about the time in a sitcom's life cycle where things can start to get stale. And frankly, as I've been catching up with the two programs, I started to get worried. Let's review.

In season 5 of the Office, Michael quits Dunder Mifflin for a pretty implausible, and ridiculous reason (He wanted an anniversary party) he leaves the office quite dramatically, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, Pam follows him. The two head out into the parking-lot poised to start their very own paper company.

The story arc is good for a few laughs, but becomes increasingly silly (in the bad way) as the episodes trudge on. At one point, Michael Scott Paper Company hires Ryan (B.J. Novak - the office temp who rose to corporate before being arrested for fraud) who is easily one of the most confusing, and poorly written characters of the show. He only really seems to continue appearing because B.J. Novak is one of the show's writers, and he's scared of never getting any more screen time.

It continues down implausibility lane when Michael's new company starts taking so much business away from Dunder Mifflin that DM decides to buy him out. By the end of the episode, the entire cast is sitting in their old seats, and everything is back to normal.

Words of wisdom from the bossman of Dunder Mifflin.

Meanwhile, on How I Met Your Mother, the waves were getting choppy too. Excited by the sudden star power of Neil Patrick Harris, the writers of the show seemed to be gearing more and more episodes towards him. The two most infuriating story arcs came in seasons 3 and 4.

In one arc, Barney had slept with a woman at some point that was now out to ruin his life. A few separate episodes hinged on this issue, until Barney and Lily discovered the perpetrator was none other than Abbey (Britney Spears) a dull, slightly retarded receptionist from a few episodes prior.

The second lame arc came when Barney and Robin (Ted's ex girlfriend) slept together. Things started out okay with Barney feeling extremely guilty, and the whole situation being examined very realistically, even having Ted actually renounce Barney as a friend for a while - but then things started to go sour.

Slowly throughout the season, we realize that Barney has accidentally fallen in love with Robin. Some people will have no problem with this, they argue that it gives depth to an otherwise two-dimensional character, and with that point I agree. However, there's such a thing as poorly planned out depth. The way the romance is plotted, a hookup seems inevitable, yet I was left surprised and slightly perturbed when it actually happened.

It's like the writers are caught in a struggle. They want to tell a season long story about Barney, but are afraid that they'll be accused of giving the Barnacle a bad case of the Fonzie Effect. What ends up on-screen is a half-baked plot, subdued in order to keep the focus on Ted, but in the process, removing any intrigue, or , really, value of any kind.

One more thing, if there's one episode of HIMYM that you should AVOID AT ALL COSTS, it's The Stinsons. Don't ask me why, in fact... don't even click on that link.

It's these kinds of stilted, badly-thought-out stories that can alienate audiences, or critics, or even crew members. And more importantly, they can cause a show to jump the shark.

For writers, the trick is to hold on to something within your show - find that quality, and make sure it truly is inexorable. And in these cases, they seem to be.

Ted realizes what could have been with a girl from a date seven years ago.

I started my fall-line-up watching with The Office. The beginning continues an arc left by the last season, where we get confirmation that Pam and Jim will be having a child. That's wonderful, and there were some solid laughs in episode 1, but it wasn't until episode 2 last week when things hit their stride. Within the first sixty seconds of "The Meeting", Michael Scott has asked his only homosexual employee into his office to talk Michael through the sensations he might feel during a colonoscopy. That was too much for me. My jaw had dropped, and I was cringing and laughing so hard I knew I'd be hooked for at least another season.

As for HIMYM, well, I was a little more nervous. Nearer and dearer to my heart, the writers would have to really make sure they were on the right track after a few real stinkers from the season before. Again, I wouldn't feel comfortable until episode 2 - "Double Date".

In this episode (photo above) Ted goes on a blind date with a girl he met in 2002, only neither of them remembers. When they finally figure it out, the pair team up to finish the date and explain how each other went wrong. Some examples include Ted making cheesy jokes ("would you like to share the oysters If not, that would be awfully 'shellfish' of you), and noticing that 'Maine Lobster' was spelled incorrectly on the menu. The night finally leads up to the top of Ted's building, where they realize the  first date wasn't so bad, it was just that Ted never called her again.

The episode had some admittedly weak jokes. While the Robin and Barney relationship was beginning to grow on me, some aspects of the B story felt forced, but it was what Ted told the girl at the end of the episode that clinched it.

"I just remembered why I didn't call you. <sigh> I can't believe I'm going to screw this up again, but um, I like finding typos in menus. And I know my shellfish pun is stupid but the truth is, I'm not going to suddenly stop making stupid jokes. (...) shouldn't we hold out for the person who doesn't just tolerate our little quirks but actually kinda likes them? Even if it means finding ourselves on another blind date with each other, seven years from now?"

Ted is committed to finding his soul mate. That's something pretty damn human, and in the end, pretty damn romantic.

Maybe sometimes these shows are badly written. Maybe sometimes the plots are forced and characters aren't thought out properly. And maybe they just plain aren't funny. But that's okay. It's being written and acted by human beings - none of us are perfect. After all, not even all the Star Wars movies are good.

All I can say for sure is that as long as Michael Scott keeps making racially and sexually inappropriate comments, he's doing his part. And as long as Ted keeps making it rain, he's doing his part. So I'm going to do mine, and tune in.

Because like books, and film, and music, or any other form of entertainment - it's the moments of genius amidst a sea of mediocrity that makes television worth watching.

That's all.

-K

How I Met Your Mother is on tonight (Mondays) at 8:00 PM.

The Office is on NBC Thursdays at 9/8c.

All I do is party.

The start of a beautiful new tradition.

MSTRKRFT - Out of Toronto.

Alright, so we're going to start a new tradition at F&F today. I'm still working on what I'm going to call it, but I'm just so excited I couldn't help myself from starting right away.

I'm a big fan of Hype Machine. Like, really super big fan. For those who don't know - HypeM is a networking site that lets you share tunes. It's essentially like a kickass Digg of the music world.

It's really opened me up musically the past few months, and I want to pass the savings on to you!!! (you're gonna need a hypem login, so get ready)

Weekends are about partying, relaxing, unwinding, all that great stuff, right? So here at F&F, every Friday, I'm going to throw at least 7 tracks at you to help you get through the weekend/week/whatever comes your way.Some you'll have heard before, some will be brand new, some will be weird, hilarious mash-ups, and some will just totally suck...

This is going to be the start of a beautiful new tradition. Maybe we can expand on it, who knows? More links? More tracks? Podcast? Maybe! That'd be kind of cool. But for now, let's stick to the basics. Here's your seven for the week:

Click to read more ...

Keanu Reeves: Cowboy Bebop Movie Getting a Rewrite

Generally, never good news.

Cartoon cast of best-anime-ever Cowboy Bebop

I often say that 1999's Cowboy Bebop is the only anime worth watching. This is partially untrue. Along with Akira, Cowboy is the only anime that I've seen that truly has a soul. It's got guns, it's got girls, and it's got value. And best of all - it doesn't span 300 episodes.

When you sit down and watch an episode of this Adult Swim cartoon, you are transported, and except for maybe three can-miss episodes, each one is a gem. It's near and dear to me, which is why I nearly lost my shit over hearing that man-of-a-thousand-faces, Keanu Reeves would be playing the lead role of Spike Spiegel.

That's okay, I thought. I liked the Matrix - heck, I even liked the second two Matrices - maybe I'll like his performance in this. (This was before I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Tangent: From my experience - which is admittedly limited (try saying that five times fast) - films that are announced and then disappear tend to not get made. If the DO get made, it's usually a taped-together, poorly acted bastardization of the source material.

That changed slightly when the only thing we heard was the scriptwriter saying how faithful the movie would be to it's source.

Now, MTV is reporting that Reeves said the script was "so good" that it would take "a billion dollars to make". Which means one of two things, A) the film would be chock-full of fancy set pieces and action scenes, or B) it was such an all-over-the-place mess, that money would have to be pumped into it to keep it afloat. I prefer the former.

Either way, Neo says that the script it going to be pulled back in scale slightly, and is still on it's way to the screen.

Good news... I guess.

Still no recent word on the Leonardo DiCaprio Akira film though.....

-K