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Spectrum Culture: The Final Articles

admin — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:46:17 +0000

I want to say the largest reason I decided to leave MITYC for a while was my being let go from Spectrum Culture. I could tell I was going to be let go for a month leading up to the main event, and it sucks, but I was relieved when the end finally came. I couldn’t handle being super stressed out over something I wasn’t putting my best into. In all honesty, I had written a resignation letter 10 days before I was let go on September 12th. In that time I had pumped out four mediocre articles, and only three were published. Below are the three that made it, and the one in its entirety that didn’t.

End of the Aughts: Video of the Decade

The Decemberists – “16 Military Wives”

In schools across the country, model United Nations are teaching children about international relationships. The Decemberists took that premise and switched the international relationships to personal ones to represent real problems in the world.

Brendan Benson – My Old Fimiliar Friend

Brendan Benson already has a successful solo career that has seen the release of three albums. He picked up a huge boost by becoming Jack White’s lieutenant in The Raconteurs, and after the release of Broken Boy Soldiers in 2006 and Consolers of the Lonely in 2008, the groundwork had been laid for Benson to make a run at a larger mainstream audience with My Old, Familiar Friend.

Mew – No More Stories…

I’ve always been impressed by the bravado that prog rock bands tend to possess. Sometimes, it just isn’t good enough to have a short, catchy album title. Danish indie-rock band Mew’s latest release is 23 words long:

No More Stories
Are Told Today
I’m Sorry They
Washed Away
No More Stories
The World Is Grey,
I’m Tired
Let’s Wash Away.

This article was submitted, but never published.

Visioneers

Dir: Jared Drake

2008

Are you… stressed out… unhappy with your life… having problems in the bedroom? Experiencing strange dreams? Do you feel like you could just explode? In the Visioneers, the stress of these dilemmas could literally make you spontaneously explode.

On the dystopian meter, Visioneers is closer to The Island than Brazil. It’s the present day, with very few futuristic elements except for a corporation in the United States that is more powerful than the President. As with most omnipresent corporations, it only takes two sentences to get the exposition out of the way. “Welcome to the Jeffers Corporation. The largest and friendliest and most profitable corporation in the history of mankind.”

In the opening of the film, we find a diligent employee or Level 3 “Tunt” George Washington Winsterhammerman. Standing at the doorway of his small office, George steps up to a framed picture of his boss and with the “Jeffers salute” (flipping the middle finger) calmly says, “Good morning Mr. Jeffers.” An epidemic is sweeping across the nation; people are exploding for no reason. To rectify the situation, the Jeffers Corporation and its subordinate—the US federal government, tries to have citizens look at the beauty of the world around them, and all that is wonderful. The Jeffers Corporation believes if it can externally apply happiness; the epidemic of explosions will end.

Visioneers isn’t groundbreaking. It’s a bit reminiscent of the worlds of Brave New World and 1984. The films strength comes from a tour de force performance from Zach Galifianakis as George Washington Winsterhammerman. George is a man who constantly lives in the shadow of his ancestor, President George Washington. Instead he wrestles with his internal revolution. For two-thirds of the film, Galifianakis is deadpan. Using only small movements, Galifianakis acts like a shy child to convey emotion before going on the occasional massive freak out.

Galifianakis’ introduction to mainstream audiences came this summer, in Todd Phillip’s The Hangover and in the rodent infested Disney film {G-Force}. Galifianakis is probably best known for his stand up routine, occasionally touring as a “Comedian of Comedy” with Patton Oswalt, or lip-syncing Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” with Will Oldham on a North Carolina farm. It is Galifianakis’ ability to put his body into violent convulsions and extreme situations that came in handy for when it came time to emote as a person who can’t feel.

Throughout the film, George’s wife Michelle (Judy Greer) follows every bit of advice from TV guru Sara. Now, imagine going through life following everything exactly as Oprah does—you would be dead inside too. Greer and Galifianakis are an awkward couple, but that’s the point. Both George and Judy are traveling through life along a set path. It is only when George starts to deviate, that Michelle must compensate to keep things as normal as possible.

The director/writer team of Jared and Brandon Drake use George’s world to exaggerate the awkwardness of normal human interaction. It’s as if everybody is so emotionally distant, that they don’t understand how to deal with each another on any deeper level. The only time George finds a connection with someone else is with a Level 4 “Tunt” named Charisma. Whenever his office phone rings, George’s face lights up and gets quiet, as he attempts, to cherish every word she has to say.

The score, by Polyphonic Spree front man Tom DeLaughter, is extremely subtle.As George strays farther and farther from what he considers normalcy, a flurry of percussion begins to invade the void left by his sanity. When George finally calms down, the score returns to simple piano chords, allowing the actors space to perform.

Galifianakis begins the film by giving the audience a “Jeffers salute” and from there it is a 95-minute decent into the human condition. What is happiness? Audiences are bound for a surprise when they don’t find Galifianakis acting awkward or funny. Much like Will Ferrell’s role in Stranger Than Fiction, Galifianakis as the straight man, in a foreign existence makes up for the lack of shtick.

By Nicholas Ryan

Spectrum Culture: The Garden

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:54:33 +0000

I got another review up!!! SCORE ANOTHER ONE FOR ME!!! I’m actually pretty excited about this one. After I submitted it, I was rather worried that it was total shit, so I started rewording the entire thing in my head while in the shower, and later in the day Spectrum’s film editor, Eric wrote me an email telling me it was a great review and to keep up the good work. It was awesome. Please enjoy the trailer above and then have your documentary dreams crushed when you read the review.

The film’s greatest flaw is that the entire conflict is only portrayed through the lens of good versus evil, while the actual story is far more complex.

Now please go read Spectrum Culture’s review of The Garden.

Spectrum Culture: The Saddest Music in the World

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:41:36 +0000

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m totally a sucker for these large articles on Spectrum where a bunch of writers get together and put together a collection of music or movies on a topic. I was sort of skeptical when it came to the topic of depressing songs. Yes, there comes a time and a place when I feel it must be necessary for me to want to be sad and listen to that type of music, but most the time I try to avoid it.

It took me over a week to find the right track to do mine on. I wanted to do the Weakerthans song, “My Favorite Chords,” but a full review of their album had appeared a few weeks ago and I didn’t want to rehash old material. I eventually landed on The Mountain Goats “No Children” because nothing says happy days like a couple burning up in a fire.

What gets me the most about “No Children” is the fact that the husband is so overwhelmed with emotion, he is not only calling for an end to their relationship, but truly wanting both of their deaths.

I hope you die
I hope we both die

Please enjoy Spectrum Culture’s Now Ain’t The Time For Tears: The Saddest Music In The World. My contribution is about half way down, but I highly encourage you to read the whole thing. Everybody did a remarkable job and it also features one by The Hold Steady’s Franz Nicolay.

Two In One Day!

admin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 06:49:18 +0000

Friday morning, I checked Spectrum Culture to find out that I had my interview up AND another article I contributed to. Up first is the interview with Matt & Kim’s Matt Johnson I had posted before. The whole transcript is up there, so in celebration of that, I put up my entire interview. It is about 15 minutes long and unedited, so feast you ears on that one… world.

Press Play or Download Here

And the second thing is my blurb for Man On Wire in our “Screw You, Oscar” feature. I’m not going to put up any of my part of it, I would like everybody to go to Spectrum and read through all the other writers work. I’m very lucky to be a part of a website that has such talented people… I just wish they didn’t make me look so bad everytime we do an article like this.

Spectrum Culture: Best CDs of 2003

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:07:06 +0000

I was really excited for this assignment. Take a look back and figure out my favorite albums of 2003 and figure out which ones hold up today. It is an interesting take on the traditional “End of Year” list, and isn’t as contrived as taking a look at the ’60s and figuring out what the top 100 songs are.

2003 was a big year for me, in short I graduated from high school and started listening to real music. It was the first time I had an “actual” girlfriend and kicked off my journey with KSUA. All of these events had a great affect on my life since.

10. Libertines – Up The Bracket
9. Unicorns – Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone
8. White Stripes – Elephant
7. Strokes – Room On Fire
6. Decemberists – Her Majesty The Decemberists
5. The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
3. Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
2. Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
1. Weakerthans – Reconstruction Site

I have listened to each of these albums over the past month without being told to rank my top 2003 albums. The Weakerthans are probably one of my favorite bands and at the last minute I was given the opportunity to do the write up for Death Cab For Cutie’s “Transatlanticism.”

Here is my write up that I got done over the course of an hour while Shayna was asleep on my bed. Please go to Spectrum Culture and check out the full list, you might even have some fun comparing how many of my albums made the list and which ones didn’t.

I’ll give Ben Gibbard this, he knows how to turn out album after album filled with clever lyrics and innuendo. Transatlanticism is more or less the artistic peak between Death Cab For Cutie’s musicality and lyric prowess. It marks the turning point when Death Cab matured into my generation’s version of The Cure and made it a college radio mainstay. Gibbard is clever. The album is all about a long-distance relationship. Simple enough. Many an artists could simply say, “Oh I miss you so much,” but Gibbard has the song “Title and Registration” kick off with “The glove compartment is inaccurately named. And everybody knows it.” Who talks like this? Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla are the hopeless romantics that we all wanted to be in high school. Pouring your heart out without sounding like a total tool while doing so.

To read the rest, go to Five Years Later: The Best CDs of 2003