Birthday Thoughts, Modest Mouse Rocks, 300: Blood, Guts, and Love That Works
Well, nineteen years of survival. Considering how I am, and how I usually view things, I'm a little surprised by how I reacted to this all today. I didn't wake up and say, "Well it's just another day...whatever." And then dwell on it all day, so it wouldn't be whatever. I was pretty much...happy all day long. It was a good day. I've been feeling so thankful. For pretty much everything. So yeah, that's great. I like feeling grateful, with it comes contentment. It feels like being in a fucking Sublime song (not Date Rape, more like What I Got). So Thanks to everyone, and I mean everyone, that so much as called or commented or messaged or hung out with me today, its very much appreciated.
Anyway, Modest Mouse's new CD, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, is just extraordinary. The music is unusually hard for them, and most of the songs have this catchy, steady beat that demands you bob your head to it. And of course there's the bitter, honest lyrics the singer wrote without any shame, and the way he sings them. He goes from solemn simplicity sometimes edging on sadness, to loud, manic, desperate yelling. You can't help but feel the bitter anger and sad realizations that he was experiencing when he wrote these lyrics. And he accomplishes this with the weirdness that I always found in Modest Mouse, and the same clever puns, metaphors, and phrases are present and in full form ("We are certainly uncertain, at least I'm pretty sure I am," is one off the top of my head.) I don't know, I love this album, definitely my favorite of this year so far, beating out the Shins (which was also very good). I'm waiting on Radiohead and Motion City Soundtrack before I make any firm judgements on this year in rock.
*MINOR 300 SPOILERS*
Saw 300 again, and got reminded of why I really like how Frank Miller wrote the marriage between King Leonidas and Queen Gorgo. I saw what a marriage should be, and it's really simple and it's really kinda cliche, but I think it works. It's a partnership. Marriage is about being there, no matter what, and fighting for that person. It's about knowing that person so well, and knowing how far you would go for the person. Knowing how low you'd go to save them. Knowing what kind of people you'd be willing to deal with. Knowing how much you're willing to sacrifice. And knowing that the answers to those questions are, without question: anything and everything. That's a marriage. From the very beginning of the movie, you see this isn't a typical relationship for the time period. He doesn't let anyone talk down to his wife just because she's a woman. She's his partner. When he knows he's about to unleash hell upon himself, even though he's the strongest of the strongest people in Greece, he turns to his wife, who reassures him, and gives him that final push (which he uses to kick that messagner into the bottomless pit like a badass). In bed, before the war, she's who he turns to for a final word of advice. Throughout the war, she's who he fights for. And she understands what he's fighting for. And he understands how far she's willing to go. And it's this understanding that keeps it all going, like a circle. I don't know, in between all the blood and guts and bone and glory, there was a love story that actually got me. One that wasn't cheesy or anything. Just...right. That's how I thing marriage should be, and I don't think enough people take the time and the patience to find that person or be that person, not enough people are open or willing to find or be that person, and they marry so quick, almost in a desperate attempt to not be alone. And they get divorced, or the beat their wives or they abuse their kids or all of the above, and they become part of a statistic that is killing love, marriage, and all that each represents.
But yeah, that's enough for the update. Still working on that list of things to do before I die, try to put it in next update, because I know how antsy you all are to read it, and I know you guys are all a tingle wondering when the next one of these will come out.
Well, till next time.
Anyway, Modest Mouse's new CD, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, is just extraordinary. The music is unusually hard for them, and most of the songs have this catchy, steady beat that demands you bob your head to it. And of course there's the bitter, honest lyrics the singer wrote without any shame, and the way he sings them. He goes from solemn simplicity sometimes edging on sadness, to loud, manic, desperate yelling. You can't help but feel the bitter anger and sad realizations that he was experiencing when he wrote these lyrics. And he accomplishes this with the weirdness that I always found in Modest Mouse, and the same clever puns, metaphors, and phrases are present and in full form ("We are certainly uncertain, at least I'm pretty sure I am," is one off the top of my head.) I don't know, I love this album, definitely my favorite of this year so far, beating out the Shins (which was also very good). I'm waiting on Radiohead and Motion City Soundtrack before I make any firm judgements on this year in rock.
*MINOR 300 SPOILERS*
Saw 300 again, and got reminded of why I really like how Frank Miller wrote the marriage between King Leonidas and Queen Gorgo. I saw what a marriage should be, and it's really simple and it's really kinda cliche, but I think it works. It's a partnership. Marriage is about being there, no matter what, and fighting for that person. It's about knowing that person so well, and knowing how far you would go for the person. Knowing how low you'd go to save them. Knowing what kind of people you'd be willing to deal with. Knowing how much you're willing to sacrifice. And knowing that the answers to those questions are, without question: anything and everything. That's a marriage. From the very beginning of the movie, you see this isn't a typical relationship for the time period. He doesn't let anyone talk down to his wife just because she's a woman. She's his partner. When he knows he's about to unleash hell upon himself, even though he's the strongest of the strongest people in Greece, he turns to his wife, who reassures him, and gives him that final push (which he uses to kick that messagner into the bottomless pit like a badass). In bed, before the war, she's who he turns to for a final word of advice. Throughout the war, she's who he fights for. And she understands what he's fighting for. And he understands how far she's willing to go. And it's this understanding that keeps it all going, like a circle. I don't know, in between all the blood and guts and bone and glory, there was a love story that actually got me. One that wasn't cheesy or anything. Just...right. That's how I thing marriage should be, and I don't think enough people take the time and the patience to find that person or be that person, not enough people are open or willing to find or be that person, and they marry so quick, almost in a desperate attempt to not be alone. And they get divorced, or the beat their wives or they abuse their kids or all of the above, and they become part of a statistic that is killing love, marriage, and all that each represents.
But yeah, that's enough for the update. Still working on that list of things to do before I die, try to put it in next update, because I know how antsy you all are to read it, and I know you guys are all a tingle wondering when the next one of these will come out.
Well, till next time.