Cokemachineglow.com : Song Reviews

The New Pornographers : “The Jessica Numbers”
> from Twin Cinema (Matador; 2005)

Halfway through the most anticipated release of this summer, the New Pornographers’ third album, Twin Cinema, there comes a song that just nails it. Considering the band, this means more than just "solid." For the New Pornographers, “nailing it” means hooks that will lodge themselves inextricably in your brain, choruses so huge and grand that they approach Beach Boys perfection, and composition so jaw-droppingly flawless that you’re left feeling sorry for the competition. Think about the past examples: “Testament to Youth in Verse,” “Letter from an Occupant,” “All for Swinging You Around” and “Execution Day” all come to mind. Yeah, “The Jessica Numbers” is that good. Maybe even a little better.

Twin Cinema is a step forward for the Pornographers, and “Jessica Numbers” reflects that. The hooks take a little longer to catch, and the whole composition is a bit more complex and certainly less straightforward, but in the end it’s just as rewarding. Kurt Dahle’s giant drum intro grabs you, and then Todd Fancey and Carl Newman fill the voids with stabbing guitars, letting Blaine Thurier’s understated synth line ride the melodic groove. Then we get the vocals, and, even with Neko Case not quite in top form, Newman, Case and Dahle are a dauntingly talented trio. With one of the best sets of cryptic Newman lyrics on the album, the three absolutely fly. “Let me through / Paper and fist / Jessica Numbers tell me if / We’re clear / Write me a storm / Just tape the letter to the door,” they belt out before hitting the chorus, where they split into one of those multi-part harmonies that they seem to have an innate gift for. None of it prepares you for the final chorus, where Fancey flips out in a perfect counterpoint to Dahle’s beat, and then the whole thing breaks down to a strummed acoustic finale.

It logs in at barely three minutes, and it’s one of those songs that you can barely comprehend. How can they pack that much into one song? How can they keep it from going overboard or ending up muddled? How does Newman write this stuff? How much more do these guys even have to prove? -Peter Hepburn

Let me through
paper in fist
Jessica numbers
tell me if
we're clear
write me a star
just tape a letter to the door

this thing is your mission
the lone-wishin condition

brave
under the war
Jessica numbers
to the wall
slip through
ever the thief
is posed to hero
but we'll see

this thing is your mission
the lone-wishin condition

push me through
counting the miles
measuring all my shadows by
old star
shifting to red
just tape the numbers to the bed
head-tripping on the sadness
as it passes
as word across
the window frost
and now
starting to fear
the kicking year
at last, yes
keeping an eye on

let me through
paper in fist
Jessica numbers
give me this
let's fall
look where we land
just like the answer on my hand

this thing is your mission
the lone-wishin condition

this thing is your mission
the lone-wishin condition

Jessica numbers
are due

"Feet? Meet Keen" "Keen? Feet"

Urban trekkers will appreciate the old-school sneaker styling and functional design of the nouveau Keen Bronx II shoes.

* Full-grain leather uppers are water- and stain-resistant yet supple for a comfortable fit; classic Blucher-style lacing secures instep
* Calf leather-lined heel pockets and Cambrelle® lining in the forefoot area enhance comfort and moisture control
* Patented rubber Toe Guard and wraparound heels protect feet and uppers against bumps and abrasion
* Removable Metatomical™ EVA footbeds are custom shaped to provide ample cushioning, rebound and arch support; will accommodate orthotics
* Contoured EVA foam midsoles support and buffer feet against shock and fatigue
* Durable, non-marking carbon rubber outsoles are anti-slip, oil-resistant and offer ample traction in all environments

-------------------
They had me at "Urban"...

Subterranean Homesick Alien

Today: one hour in a lawyer's office.
Tomorrow: 9 years.
Next week: 90 days.

on the drive back, noticed that Radiohead's OK COMPUTER is starting to make sense.

Paranoid Android

Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height... height...
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height... height...
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me

That's it, sir
You're leaving
The crackle of pigskin
The dust and the screaming
The yuppies networking
The panic, the vomit
The panic, the vomit
God loves his children, God loves his children, yeah!

Not sure if this is a GOOD SIGN or NOT. Perhaps this means that when I feel better, when I am no longer in this (mental) place, when I complete this metamorphosis, that I'll have to leave Radiohead behind. And that makes me sad (which I already am anyway).

Let Down

Transport, motorways and tramlines,
starting and then
stopping,
taking off and landing,
the emptiest of feelings,
disappointed people, clinging on to bottles,
and when it comes it's so,
so, disappointing.

Let down and hanging around,
crushed like a bug in the ground.
Let down and hanging around.

Shell smashed, juices flowing
wings twitch, legs are going,
don't get sentimental, it always
ends up drivel.
One day, I'm gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction,
hysterical and useless
hysterical and

let down and hanging around,
crushed like a bug in the ground.
Let down and hanging around.

Let down,
Let down,
Let down.

You know, you know where you are with,
you know where you are with,
floor collapsing, falling, bouncing back
and one day, I'm gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction, [You know where you are,]
hysterical and useless [you know where you are,]
hysterical and [you know where you are,]

let down and hanging around,
crushed like a bug in the ground.
Let down and hanging around.

Ink 19 :: The Unofficial Lego Builder's Guide
"A couple of months ago, I purchased the Lego set I'd been coveting for two years: Lego 10030. Those familiar with Lego will recognize the number as the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer, over three feet long and containing more than 3,000 pieces, the vast majority of them a light gray. It wasn't a cheap set, and I cashed in five years' worth of pocket change (what I called, rightly so, my Lego Fund) to get it. As I walked from the store to the parking lot, the bulky and quite heavy box in my hands, with my kids trailing behind me like tie fighters, a passing woman remarked on how kind I was to purchase such a big set for my son. Dream on, lady."

nitrous

burn

out

wipe

out

" the airbag saved my life "

Ken Onion Shun Chef's Knife

Stainless Steel End Cap - adds beauty and durability

'D' Shaped PakkaWood Handle- Provides beauty and function. The 'D' shape offers maximum comfort and control. PakkaWood provides strength, stability, and moisture resistance.

Stainless Steel Bolster - Unique, offset design enhances ergonomic qualities.

Unique Blade Design - Allows sharpening the blade from tip to the back edge.

Superior Edge - VG-10 holds an incredibly sharp edge longer for easier edge maintenance

Clad Steel Blade - VG-10 'super steel' is clad with 16 layers of SUS410 high-carbon stainless steel on each side to produce a rust free Damascus-look blade. Not only beautiful, the Damascus 33 layer design also reduces food’s ability to stick to the blade.

Drool...

17

edits from OK Computer

greenplastic.com

Airbag

In the next world war
in a jack knifed juggernaut,
I am born again.

In the neon sign,
scrolling up and down,
I am born again.

In an interstellar burst,
I am back to save the universe.

In a deep deep sleep,
of the innocent,
I am born again.

In a fast German car,
I'm amazed that I survived,
an airbag saved my life.

Subterranean Homesick Alien

The breath of the morning
I keep forgetting.
The smell of the warm summer air.

I live in a town
where you can't smell a thing,
you watch your feet
for cracks in the pavement.

I'd tell all my friends but they'd never believe me,
They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely.

let down and hanging around

at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car

The head of state has called for me by name
but I don't have time for him.
It's gonna be a glorious day!
I feel my luck could change.

Sometimes I get overcharged,
that's when you see sparks.
They ask me where the hell I'm going?
At a 1000 feet per second,

hey man, slow down, slow down,
idiot, slow down, slow down.

Hey man, slow down, slow down,
idiot, slow down, slow down.

18

20

FUBAR WATCH: American Idiot / Presidential Wiggles

For President Under Duress, Body Language Speaks Volumes

[snip]
Bush blinks twice. He touches his tongue to his lips. He blinks twice more. He starts to answer, but he stops himself.

"I'm not going to talk about the case," Bush finally says after a three-second pause that, in television time, feels like a commercial break.
[snip]
The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere
[snip]
Bush blinked 24 times in his answer
[snip]
Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling
[snip]
"out of the rubble here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi is a rebuilding"
[snip]
He smiled after observing that Iraqis are "paying a serious price" because of terrorism
[snip]
the presidential eyes zoomed left, then right, then left and right again, then center, down and up at the interviewer
[snip]
Bush pushed out his lower front lip, then licked the right corner of his mouth
[snip]
appeared to provoke furious jiggling of the right leg
[snip]
the first lady had a calming influence on the presidential wiggles

The blogger who loathed me

Salon.com Books The blogger who loathed me

My cyber-nemesis had been trashing me for months. Then we met, and I had a chance to take a terrible revenge.
By Steve Almond

[snip]
A few months later, I received an e-mail from another friend, directing me to an on-line forum of lit bloggers put together by a guy named Dan Wickett. The forum included Sarvas, who described the birth of his blog like so:

I launched The Elegant Variation in a fit of madness on October 14, 2003 with a declaration of my love for James Wood and my loathing for Steve Almond. Nine months later, my positions remain unchanged.

Now it became clear to me that Sarvas wasn't just your garden-variety Steve Almond hater. No, he was special. He was the president of the Official Steve Almond Haters Club. I considered writing him a congratulatory note and sending along a signed photo. Sadly, I do not possess any signed photos.

Indeed, it struck as me as one of the dinkier titles in the history of belles-lettres to be the president of the Steve Almond Haters Club -- like being an ambassador to Liechtenstein, or maybe, more accurately, an ambassador from Liechtenstein.

Pynchon. DeLillo. Foster Wallace. These were authors one might be proud to revile. But me? I was a short story writer with a small press. The closest I'd come to the New Yorker was a subscription. I couldn't even find an agent to represent me.

Wired 13.10: Return of the King
Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong hits the big screen in December. But for the last year, he's been giving eager fans a behind-the-scenes look at the world he built for the big ape. Posted while the cameras were still rolling, these extraordinary online diaries break every closed-set taboo in Hollywood.
[snip]
The diaries started modestly last September as a way to give Jackson's Lord of the Rings fans a glimpse of his next project. Starring Naomi Watts as heroine Ann Darrow (the role made famous by Fay Wray), Jack Black as filmmaker Carl Denham, and Adrien Brody as writer and hero Jack Driscoll, King Kong is the most anticipated movie of the high-stakes Christmas season. By the time the film is released in December, the director will have posted nearly 100 entries, with a collective running time of six and a half hours. Edited into broadband-friendly installments of three or four minutes each, they are basically snippets that viewers usually see on the DVD: a tour of the set, a roving camera introducing key players behind the scene, a peek inside the sound booth during last-minute dubbing. But the Kongisking journals are more than a mere tease. They have blossomed into a real-time documentary about the making of King Kong, the world's first comprehensive, downloadable study of how a $175 million movie gets made, down to the last fleck of modeling clay.



Wired 13.10: Gorilla Filmmaking
A King Kong photo portfolio









ComingSoon.net : King Kong Production Stills

21

This comes out in December...

still frames from moving images.

KONG

DSL just paid for itself...

Apple-Trailers-King Kong - Oh My God! (and Peter Jackson says "Yes, may I help you?")

Kong is King.net King Kong Peter Jackson's Production Diary

Amazon.com: DVD: King Kong (2-Disc Special Edition)

Nitrous Burn Out v 2.0 now with Ether!

e·ther (e'thər) n.
1. Any of a class of organic compounds in which two hydrocarbon groups are linked by an oxygen atom.
2. A volatile, highly flammable liquid, C2H5OC2H5, derived from the distillation of ethyl alcohol with sulfuric acid and used as a reagent and solvent. It was formerly used as an anesthetic. Also called diethyl ether, ethyl ether.
3. The regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens.
4. The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets.
5. Physics. An all-pervading, infinitely elastic, massless medium formerly postulated as the medium of propagation of electromagnetic waves.

[Middle English, upper air, from Latin aethēr, from Greek aithēr.]



Invention of Ethernet
“In late 1972, Metcalfe and his Xerox PARC colleagues developed the first experimental Ethernet system to interconnect the Xerox Alto, a personal workstation with a graphical user interface. The experimental Ethernet was used to link Altos to one another, and to servers and laser printers. The signal clock for the experimental Ethernet interface was derived from the Alto's system clock, which resulted in a data transmission rate on the experimental Ethernet of 2.94 Mbps.

Metcalfe's first experimental network was called the Alto Aloha Network. In 1973 Metcalfe changed the name to "Ethernet," to make it clear that the system could support any computer--not just Altos--and to point out that his new network mechanisms had evolved well beyond the Aloha system. He chose to base the name on the word "ether" as a way of describing an essential feature of the system: the physical medium (i.e., a cable) carries bits to all stations, much the same way that the old "luminiferous ether" was once thought to propagate electromagnetic waves through space. Thus, Ethernet was born.”

Charles Spurgeon's Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) Web Site