Max Ernst

To clarify, it isn't about comprehending lyrics. I am terrible with lyrics. I just don't like how POS blurs all his words together in a way that sounds almost like scatting or something. Fast rapping, to me, works well when syllables are hit hard and clear. OutKast were kind of incredible at that, although they didn't flex that muscle often. Listening to BOB again, I am astounded just how much is in that fucking song. Huge drum and bass sounds with funk guitar, space synths, crowd chant hooks and a rocking solo to top things off. How it all fits and works is beyond me.

A rabbi, a priest, a nun and a vegan go to a bar. The vegan spends the whole time talking about how they are a vegan and no one can get a word in.

I like speed too, but I feel he has a tendency to blur his words together, which is an effect I'm not really keen on. Still, to this day, this is my favourite fast rap song (also one of the greatest songs ever written): .

I like P.O.S. but sometimes he sacrifices clarity for speed and I think his music can suffer for it. This song has a bit of that, but the beat and the Children of Men style video more than make up for it.

One more thing, I just realised that I still haven't heard James Blake's new album yet, despite loving his debut record. Maybe its the fact that he employed the second worst Wu-Tang Clan MC to drop a verse on a track, or the fact that I have heard it promoted on "easy listening" stations, but some small part of me is resistant to hearing it. I don't think I can handle a bad James Blake record, he has too much talent. Here, let us listen to an old song until I get around to hearing the new record. I hope you have nice headphones ready.

I am excited for the BoC album, but I didn't warm to The Campfire Headphase, so I am trying to keep my expectations in check. I think I am more curious as a fan of the group, and as someone who is interested in their artistic direction, rather than as someone looking forward to a new favourite record. I'm interested in how their sound has changed over such a long period of silence. Also, do you ever listen to Double Nickels on the Dime and think "damn, I wish someone took this music and took it to a new direction"? If so, awe at my powers of mind reading. Also, listen to Parquet Courts. A third of the year is over, and this is still the best album released from it. Here are some cuts: http://youtu.be/DrUunhlaFMk http://youtu.be/Rs2_OMnkcxE

Edit: Nevermind, I was making fun of a man who dresses as a bat and punches big tough dudes. Move on.

New Janelle Monáe single is out and it sounds a bit like Prince. This song is eighties as hell, but with enough futuristic sounds to avoid sounding 'retro'. The song structure is odd, the melody is a little all over the shop, and Erykah Badu does her usual thing by not fully fitting into the song. Two hypotheses: this song is fine, but not nearly as good as anything her first record, or this album makes much more sense in the context of her record. Here, have a video of her doing what she does best: Also, b-b-b-b-bonus song because this is also a good song:

Yes, that interpretation is correct. It was a fashionable word in the early 20th century. Feel free to cite me if you wish to brag to your friends.

I'll write up final thoughts when I finish the book, but I will say this now: thank god for the character sheet. There are a lot of people in this book and being that I don't have a firm grasp on how the religious and political hierarchy worked at the time, it can be a little confusing to try and work out who has leverage over another and who is subservient to who. I'm curious how audiobook people will go with it, considering they don't have the benefit of a character sheet always being on hand.

This is Hemingway's best novel. It isn't bogged down in macho stoicism, the female characters aren't paper thin and the novel has something substantial to say about people. Without getting into plot details, this is similar to A Farewell to Arms in that it describes people who fail to live up to their own moral code. Each character is trying to reach their own ideal, as they recognize that their own shortcomings and the limitations of the universe will consistently conspire against them. It deals with the melancholy of recognizing how easy it is to not live up to your own standards. In this novel, this manifests in the directionless lives of the characters. The epigraph of the novel is very important here. While Jake is the exception, as he is much more motivated and self-assured, his physical shortcoming denies him of what he wants. Also, this is the best example of how powerful Hemingway's prose can be. Using so little, he can evoke an emotion, or paint a scene, by using perfect word selection and tender understatement. Hemingway gets a lot of flack for being a simple writer, but I would argue that he is incredibly skilled at creating atmosphere and setting by simply highlighting a few key details: a boy playing with a goat, an old man drinking by himself, etc. Spain comes alive in this novel. So good.

This is a really interesting game. Thanks for the heads up. I hope it gets a Steam release.

Reading Gravity's Rainbow is an experience of humility.

I just bought this on vinyl. It's pretty sweet. Also, have some good rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pADgllloQg4

A note on the merits of finishing games prior to their assessment: I felt the last act of Bioshock (the first) was awful. The boss is silly, the locale doesn't inspire, the end cutscene is silly and the game's mechanics wear out their welcome. The game should have ended with the golf club scene. My view of the game was tempered on the completion of the game. I know for a lot of games, you could say "I get it, this game is the same thing over and over", but I think it is worth pointing out the exception, because it is nice to think that some games are interesting enough to warrant completion. As for Infinite:

I'm a third of the way through Wolf Hall, and I will say this: I am glad there is a character sheet, because I would be lost as hell. My knowledge of the era and its events are okay, but not particularly thorough, so I'm constantly flipping back to the beginning of the book to work out who knows who and how. Also, I am totally loving it. If you are like me and like to write down interesting quotes, this novel is tricky. The author's strength is that each wonderful passage is written with the purpose to enrich our understanding of a particular character or scene. No sweeping statements about life, existence, time or death. No narratorial interjection. Just wonderful, direct prose that illuminate a character's personality relentlessly. Therefore, it's really hard to just copy a chunk out onto a blog or whiteboard or whatever, because every line is so tied to the reader's knowledge of the characters and plot of the novel. Also, I just bought a really wonderful edition of Moby Dick, so I am going to read that again very soon.

In this podcast, someone read an Alice Munro story and did a pretty wonderful analysis of it. It was pretty great to listen to, and completely enriched my understanding of the text. This podcast is the best thing if you have to spend two hours of your day commuting like I do.

This game is really, really good but Booker and Elizabeth's dialogue is super corny. It reminds me of shitty screenplays I wrote when I was a teen. Trite witticisms and awful attempts at anguish really take me out of the game. Which is really strange, considering how good the world building story is. The opening to this game is pretty fucking incredible. Might be the best I've ever seen. Also, the food thing is still goofy as hell. "Going to eat this hotdog I found on this corpse to heal my bullet wounds!" That said, loved the game. Big ups.

The world continues to reaffirm its lunacy by cancelling Enlightened. Good work, world.

Hopefully the extra time gave him more material. The episode where he interviewed the dude with a huge dong was pretty bad, yet his examination of the death of online communities was super interesting. I will listen to this when I can.

Adomian was incredible. Razor sharp, absolute commitment to his character and he completely owned the room. That is saying a lot considering how stellar the other guests were. When Ken fucking Marino gets upstaged, you know you have a good show on your hands. Also, somehow my favourite Ken Marino moment doesn't involve him saying a single word:

I'm just going to assume death of the author here (the intellectual equivalent of covering your ears with your hands) because I want to enjoy this game and Rohrer usually makes really unusual, interesting titles.

Saints Row is a weird series because the entire game looks and feels like it is made out of plastic. I appreciate their dedication to the absurd, but ugly, ugly art makes the world uninteresting to live in. The jokes were often awful (dildos and dicks and breasts) and the game felt soul-less. It felt like every unfunny person on Reddit who make gross rage comics wrote the script, as every joke is tacky, pandering horseshit. Sex in itself, or even sexual fetishes, aren't funny. Even their 'joke game mechanics' (shoot people out of your car, being a pimp) are either banally juvenile or uninspired trash. That said, I did like the soundtrack. I love that Tim and Eric were DJs. I appreciate that they tried to close the dissonance that comes from playing GTA (death has reverence in the story but between missions the protagonist kills pedestrians with flippancy) by making everything insane. I just wish the game knew how to do the absurd a little better and without the sterility. But I am super fascinated by the fact this game is coming out so soon, particularly given THQ's meltdown. An open world city game isn't exactly an easy thing to just churn out.

Adaptation is a Spike Jonze joint, so it had nothing to do with Gondry. Also, The Science of Sleep is a really great movie in its own way. Just so surreal, fun an inventive.

Life is beautiful but sometimes it is also really weird and hard to justify. Welcome to the denim odyssey, where mullets are moistened in expensive bubble-baths and everyone's soul mate is their clone.