BOO!

Halloween

Thesis

HALLOWEEN

Halloween

HALLOWEEN

Conclusions

HALLOWEEN

Halloween

Feels

Thank Me Later

Thesis

It's beginning to seem like I won't really blog ten times in my favorite month. That's okay. Of greater concern is that I haven't seen a horror movie in over a week. What's going on? I've been bombarded with papers and reading. And for once, extracurricular activities are figuring into my daily life as a university student. Be on the lookout for my inspired music reviews and column in the IDS. Anyhow, the real reason I'm blogging today is simple:

OVOXO

It's Drizzy Drake's 25th birthday. This artist is perhaps more in touch with my current self than any other. "Marvins Room" is obviously the song of the year. I'll be sorely disappointed if Take Care doesn't masterfully reveal the intricacies of Drake's particular brand of despairing celebrity. Music for hangovers. Music for regret. Music for celebration. I don't even mind that he subscribes to compulsory matrimony more than any other artist of his generation. I just need more music that sounds like "Headlines." Shout out to the Indiana Rock that turned me on to this genius.

And now, for the work of another genius...

TWIN PEAKS

I finished it this weekend. Hold me.

Conclusions

This has been a brief and inconsequential blog post from a coffeehouse. Earlier today I visited a house that might just be perfect for me and mine. Moments ago, I was interviewed for a grad student's thesis on Animal Collective and online music culture (my responses were as manic and bumbling as you'd expect). The point is: I'm feeling great. Take it easy, fam.

One of my fav Drake songs :')

Trend Setter

Invitation To Love

Thesis

Could a better day be had? Sure, I was up all last night writing a paper - but I also participated in all my classes, got my schoolwork done, carved pumpkins, and rewatched my current obsession. Forgive me for taking it easy once again. I promise it's important for me to chill out this regularly.

If you can't tell from the above image, I'm freaking out about Twin Peaks lately. I finished the first season yesterday. Tonight I plan on marathoning as many episodes as reasonably possible before bed. So: all of them? I do hope to get some sleep, but the weekend is near enough.

Bad News

Yes, Take Care has been delayed until November 15. Though the wait is now even more excruciating, I appreciate Drizzy's honesty and commitment to the finished product. I must also say that the album is being released conspicuously near the anniversary of MBDTF's landing. Does Drake know that November is the month to unveil magnum opuses? I hope so. Until we find out together just how much of a perfect record this is, take care.

DRIVE

As many of you have noticed on Twitter, I'm currently in the throws of obsession with this movie. There's something inside it that's hard to explain.

Drive [2011]

I've now seen this film twice. On both occasions it was exhilarating, mesmerizing, and exhausting. Rarely does a movie affect such an effortlessly cool.

Its characters are expertly portrayed, if they amount to little more than types. The strong and silent loner. The innocent and helpless dame. The father figure. The untrustworthy mobster. All is forgiven, because rarely are the types embodied so perfectly. Each actor convincingly breaths a visceral presence into the stylishly sparse script. The driver could easily come off as one-dimensional or absurd. Instead, Gosling's nuanced and understated performance hints at a brokenness beneath the driver's laconic cool that feels real and endears him to us.

But this isn't just a sleek indie character study. If you haven't yet seen the movie - or watched the trailer (DON'T WATCH THE TRAILER) and spoiled the movie for yourself - you might want to stop reading now. Okay.

What makes Drive especially exciting is the unexpected and totally grindhouse/camp/pulp turn it takes in its second half. Because things get ridiculous for a couple reels: cocaine swirls on strip club mirrors, exploding heads, and old-school car chases. Seriously. Few films have so successfully pulled off a tonal switch of this magnitude while retaining their thematic weight and emotional effectiveness. The beginning third of the film works economically and masterfully to establish the visual motifs and overarching emotional concerns of the characters, such that the rest of the film's stylized adrenaline rush feels earned. We never lose our emotional stake in the characters or the film, making its frantic action all the more powerful.

Before I wrap up this review, two things: 1) Drive is that unseen example of a drama/action/romance that effectively incorporates elements of horror to heighten tension, make claims about the characters, and nail some beautiful visual moments, and 2) the lighting and soundtrack are pitch-perfect. The original score and selected pop songs complement the visuals in ways I didn't know I wanted them to. And the lighting is so dramatic and shamelessly theatrical and stylized and did you see how good it looked?

Alright, alright. I'm clearly head over heels for this pop masterpiece. Go see it!

Ps - I'm totally going as the driver for Halloween.

Conclusions

Think I'mma call Ferris up. Did you know Lil B released another mixtape today? I think that makes eight releases for the year. Gotta love it. Let the day off continue with David Lynch and Mark Frost's soap opera spectacle. Take it easy, y'all.

MIXED FEELINGS IDK ABOUT THIS :/

Love ∞ Lockdown

Heaven

Thesis

October is the coolest month. Here we have the best temperatures, the best sunsets, the best moods, and the best holidays (Halloween, Drake's birthday). If all goes according to plan, I'll blog ten (10) times in October.

The horror! The horror!

Horror to me is like the hip-hop of film - the genre most capable of successfully borrowing from other genres. Or maybe I just haven't seen comedy, romance, or drama do horror like horror can do comedy, romance, and drama. Some part of me has long believed that horror movies are the best kind of movies. I think it's the same part of me that cherishes nightmares and delights at being terrified when home alone. Movies that can return me to that same fright are special.

John Carpenter's

In The Mouth Of Madness

[1994]

A seriously underrated gem from one of the masters of horror. This movie is all kinds of crazy.

Sam Neil plays an insurance investigator who is hired by a publishing company to look into the disappearance of its famous horror writer Sutter Cane (obviously modeled after Stephen King). Cane has gone missing in spooky Hobb's End, the town that inspired his fiction - or is it the other way around?

From there the movie goes all over the place. It cooks up its own mythology and goes for broke on its way to a doomed conclusion. There's a special sort of John Carpenter scary-fun weirdness that hooked me from the beginning. Despite its silly premise and magnificently hammy performance from Sam Neil, In The Mouth Of Madness never loses its edge. The effects work is spotty, but the mood is wicked enough to sell the scares. If you're willing to let the film lead you down its bizarre path, you'll have a hell of a time. One of my favorite horror movies.

It's available on Netflix instant view. Watch it!

Conclusions

I hope your October has been eerie and easy! I'm going for a bike ride. Take care, fam.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 from the 2 to the 1

Shame

Welcome 2 Heartbreak

Thesis

Okay, okay; okay, okay. Or: blogging indoors and unshowered on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, after eating six Oreos and watching most of Parks & Recreation's third season. Followed by an episode of Twin Peaks. Followed by the latest Parks & Recreation and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch milk 'n cereal bar. Here's a tip: if the apostrophe on a product's packaging is a cartoon drop of milk, said product will give you a tummy ache. Doubly so if the apostrophe is used in the context of 'n. Ow.

This post has no argument. It's being posted because I still haven't blogged in October (my favorite month).

So, shame. A shame that I haven't blogged in a minute. A shame that I still haven't begun the paper I promised myself to start writing this afternoon. A shame that I'm not at Holiday World with my pals because I have to work tonight. And yet, I feel good.

How

Concerts? Academia? Friends? I don't know. Really. Maybe I'm staying afloat through the tumultuous surf of the school week on the promising raft of my self-indulgent weekends. Keep in mind that my weekends are always-already four-day weekends. My life is Holiday World. So maybe I shouldn't be complaining.

Music Blog

It's been so long since I last blogged (two weeks!). I've dreamed up too many reviews to write. To save me time writing, I'll just provide a list of what's been blowing up my cans lately. [SPOILER ALERT - At least one of these records will be in my Top 10]

Forever by Sleep ∞ Over

Light Cones by Golden Retriever

On The Water by Future Islands

In Heaven by Twin Sister

Check it out, fam.

Conclusions

It's not a shame that I'm going to get work done before work. It's productive is what it is! First, a shower. Take it easy, y'all. The best is yet to come.

On Repeat / <3 F+TM

It's Hard 2 Dance W/ The Devil On Yr Back