As I mentioned earlier, I've been on a GN'R trip of late, which involves checking out what reviews say about the band's releases. In
this review for Live: Era '87-'93, I cracked up when the reviewer made fun of the bit where Axl suddenly shrieks "Gimme some reggae!" in the middle of 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door', and the band promptly switches from slow rock to reggae. I haven't listened to that album in a long while, but have thought of digging it out just to hear that moment.
And then in my recent forays to music stores, I've seen the
Use Your Illusion Tour two-part DVDs, which I've been tempted to buy, but have prevented myself for economic reasons.
Anyway, I just turned on Channel V, and they were showing an edited two hour version of the DVDs. Naturally I stuck with it, for the sake of seeing the band lineup as everyone knew and loved (though minus Steven and Izzy) around two years before it imploded. Had a few giggles at Axl's many cringe-worthy wardrobe changes (especially those tight red hotpants) and his still-skinny physique, half of what he looks like now. Highlight of the show was
that moment mentioned earlier: Axl comes on at the start of the song wearing a cowboy hat, a cowboy jacket with those tassels on them, white shorts and black ankle length boots. And then it's "Gimme some reggae!", and he goes dancing like an itchy baboon. Hilarious.
Just finished all my work for this month, and as usual I'm still on a productive buzz and looking for something to do, so the blog gets dusted off again. Maybe if my memory still holds up, I'll fill in the blanks for last month. For now, I'll just settle for last week.
Tuesday, April 13: The previous night was spent getting work done (or at least trying to). Wasn't finished by daylight, and I probably would've skipped class if I didn't have a group assignment presentation - which I ended up being late for and found myself nodding off in the last few minutes. Then class was in session and I fell asleep again. Usually no one's the wiser, but unfortunately in this case, the lecturer was one with a killer reputation. From various accounts, I hear she's actually a nice person, but every time I pass her by and try to say hi at the very least, she puts on this pompous old cow expression. So why bother with the niceties?
In the realm of work, reviewing Guns N' Roses'
Greatest Hits, the subsequent research involved, and the latest news regarding the band's activities (or lack thereof) has suddenly put me in obsession mode. Or maybe it's just nostalgia:
Use Your Illusion I and
II were everyday listening back in the sixth grade. I downloaded the entire gig at Rock In Rio III featuring the
Buckethead line-up. Haven't heard all of it yet (been busy working, y'see), but it's not too shabby. Axl's between-song rants are hilarious, and there's this bit in the middle of 'It's So Easy' where he tells security to throw a guy out. Just as hilarious is Buckethead, of course. With a name like that, how could he not be? Just hearing him is only half-entertaining, because the visual aspect is where it's at. And in the visual aspect, during his guitar solos, he also twirls around nunchuks and does a robot dance. Freaky shit. Of the new songs, I've only heard 'Madagascar', and that's because it was one of the songs in that medley they did at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. It's a good song, and this is a better performance than the tuneless squealing on MTV. I'm actually looking forward to
Chinese Democracy, if it ever comes out. Well, Brian Wilson finally did
Smile, so it doesn't seem that unlikely anymore.
Wednesday, April 14: Yoga texted me, said the
Weezer DVD had finally arrived from Amazon. Weezer-on-video is something I've been waiting for years, so I wanted to get my mitts on it as soon as possible and arranged to meet him at Plaza Senayan's Starbucks after office hours. When I got there, I found Rio (campus friend) sitting alone beneath the giant clock in the middle of the mall, waiting for
his friend. So I sat there with him and told Yoga to meet me there instead. He arrived, I got my mitts on the DVD, and we just sat there talking and checking out the women passing by. Suddenly some kids walked up to us and attempted to say hi. I didn't react at first, thinking it was friends of Yoga or Rio. But then they started asking where I got the DVD. Don't know if they instantly saw the DVD: maybe they saw my Weezer cap (which I've been wearing a lot lately, so it wasn't just for a special occasion like this) and their eyes eventually caught the DVD. Anyway, they wanted to know how to get, me and Yoga gave them directions. They even tried to buy the one I had in my hands, but I just gave 'em the finger. Well, wouldn't you do the same if you'd waited for something since, like, 1995 and finally got it, only to have someone suddenly try to take it out of your hands?
When I got home, I was going to wait a while before watching, since I still hadn't finished work. But after a few minutes, I just thought, "Screw it," and sat down to watch what I'd been waiting nine years for. It made me cry (the tribute to Mykel and Carli, the Weezer Fanclub presidents who were killed in a car crash in 1997), made me laugh (just about everything else). Made me glad to be a Weezer fan.
Thursday, April 15: Worrrrrrrrk.
Friday, April 16: Finished worrrrrrrk. Avie's birthday today, so I gave her a present that also furthers my efforts to turn everyone possible onto The Beach Boys. We watched this week's
Indonesian Idol episode, which is still in the audition phase. Which, if based on what I've seen on
American Idol, is more entertaining than when the numbers get whittled down to the finalists.
Got a couple of text messages to remind me that my work is due, and I still haven't done anywhere near 10 percent of it. Yikes. In typical fashion, instead of getting down to it, I ended up watching three (actually two and a half)
Pink Panther movies on the MGM Channel. It's the Pink Panther's 40th anniversary, you see, so the movies are part of the channel's featured viewing for this month. Plus Blake Edwards' appearance on the Oscars got my curiosity going, so it all just fell into place.
Anyway, the movies were surprisingly risque. I guess I associate too much with the cartoon, which as it turns out has absolutely nothing to do with the movies - apart from the animated opening and closing sequences. Probably just playing off the whole 60s-70s vibe.
I think my favourite was
Revenge Of The Pink Panther, 'cos of Cato getting more screen time and the plot was more down-to-earth than
The Pink Panther Strikes Back (vanishing laser beam? Ugh.). They're going to make a prequel set for release next year, starring Steve Martin as Clouseau. But no Cato, just some French equivalent named Ponton, to be played by Jean Reno. I'd guess it's a political correctness thing, or maybe Clouseau just hadn't met Cato yet (this
is a prequel, after all). Anyway, given the negativity from what I've read about the post-Peter Sellers franchise, here's hoping this movie will actually be decent.
Man, this is getting sporadic. As in years past, my journal-keeping tails off in March and usually doesn't ever recover. But it seems one of the benefits of having a public blog is that you get the occasional person who actually reads it and asks about updates. This in turn sends you into a guilt trip, which then makes you write just to satisfy the masses (OK, maybe "masses" is an exaggeration). But oh well, at least it in my case it gives me extra motivation.
Frankly, it seems I need all the motivation I can get, 'cos my current state of mind is one that makes it impossible to get anything done, ranging from work and school to blogging and testimonials. Lots of stuff I want and need to do, but I just can't seem to get going. Which is usually the case, but for some reason it's like my inertia has been amplified tenfold. Probably just too depressed by all the usual things (non-existent relationships, Dad getting on my case at least once a week, etcetera) to do anything productive. This is some real shitty funk I'm in right now, and I'm not even sure how I got here. It's got to the point where I end up staying in my room all day, not really wanting to deal with anything.
Speaking of seclusion, The Beach Boys still occupy most of my listening time and energy, and the indoctrination process is slowly gaining momentum, though it's tricky trying to strike a balance between tailoring those compilations towards the intended victims' specific tastes and being as comprehensive and representative as possible in a limited amount of space with regards to the band's entire career. You think of dumping the surf and car songs in favor of more obscure (yet more interesting) latter-day material, but they're an important part of the band's history, plus most of their hits are from that era. You want to impose as much of your personal taste as is possible, but you don't want to overdo it so as the listener will end up being turned off in the first few seconds. A while ago, my ex sent a text message, saying that she had just seen
High Fidelity, and that Rob reminded her of me. So what would Rob do if he were to introduce someone to the Beach Boys in the space of an 80 minute CD-R?
Anyway, still on the subject of The Beach Boys, but more to do with my own experiences: I have officially become even more consumed with them, especially Brian Wilson. And most definitely
Smile, the lost Beach Boys album he's finally got around to completing and performing on tour more or less in the way it was meant to be, 37 years ago. Dug out my
Good Vibrations box set to hear the
Smile snippets, and I've just realised why the backlash against
Smiley Smile was so huge: they turned the lush
Smile tracks into an assortment of minimalist instrumentation and irritating giggling. Earlier today, I downloaded the entirety of
Smile as performed on one of Brian Wilson's tour dates. It's well-known that The Beach Boys (make that Brian) had some sort of innovation competition with The Beatles, which The Beach Boys lost after they'd abandoned
Smile and The Beatles released
Sgt. Pepper. It's often been speculated if that album would've been as acclaimed and celebrated as it was, had
Smile not imploded.
After listening to
Smile 2004, I'd say that
Smile blows
Sgt. Pepper out of the water, especially if you're talking about the whole "concept album" angle. When you get down to it, what is
Sgt. Pepper's concept anyway? As mind-blowing as the songs are, the only thing tying them together is the idea that it's music by The Beatles pretending to be someone other than The Beatles. Whereas with
Smile...well to be honest I can't really explain what it's about in justifiable terms, so read
this and
this, and try tracking down the live mp3s. I don't know how you'll react, but I've found myself agreeing with what the late Dennis Wilson said all those years ago: "
Smile makes
Pet Sounds stink."
Oddly enough, I've also found myself getting into
Pet Sounds a bit more lately. Just bought the
Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live DVD, and can understand why people would like that more than
Smile, because it's more relatable in a lyrical sense. Sort of like comparing
Rubber Soul and
Sgt. Pepper: the latter may be the more advanced, at least musically, but the former is more touching on a spiritual level.
My, I seem to be rambling. Actually I've been meaning to write about it all and sell to it somewhere, so just consider the above a test run. Now it's matter of getting off my arse and finally getting around to it.
