SLP MEGA-POST: FOUR STARS

This is a hefty post complete with movie ratings, album recs, life updates, rants, product shilling, and more utter nonsense. 

2015 has been the year for Joe. My 22nd year has brought me up and down the coast, onto movie sets, in and out of my mind, and more change than I thought I’d be able to handle. It can’t be stressed enough; I was an utter mess at the end of 2014. I was out of school. I was lonely at Peet’s. I didn’t have any real plans. I didn’t have any growth or output. My weekend highlights were driving around the richmond looking for fast food. I was probably 260lbs, which isn’t terrible given the height. It wasn’t so egregious that I felt I needed to take immediate action. Someone already plagued with boughts of self-conscientiousness wasn’t to be seen dead in a gym.

Fast forward to August, where I find my greatest fuel, spite. See, in some ass-backwards way, I needed to feel rejected on my terms. More clearly, I needed to be rejected on the basis on something besides my appearance/weight. This isn’t to say DT said anything negative about my weight (in fact she was skeptical of the necessity of the weight loss). THE PLAN(1000 calories of kale, turkey, and oats) was a way of literally de-shelling myself, burning of this hurt and ugly person. Andre calls me a shell of my former self, and in many ways he’s not wrong.

So a year later, do I find myself a million times better?

Maybe?

Movie Time

2015 was a great time at the movies. Here some future classics and some not so future classics.

Sicario

Sicario is a monster of a movie. It’s the perfect tonic to a year of armchair activism. Denis Villeneuve takes a pulpy thriller and turns it into Touch of Evil-esque turn into the banality of evil. It’s an aggressively masculine movie, filled with sweeping helicopter shots, long takes, and determined violence. It’s a film where everything runs to theme ( a shootout seen through thermal imaging does a funny thing and detaches the humanity from a human form eh?). Also check out this very sharp article on BMD on rape in Sicario.

Mad Max: Fury Road

There is so much said about Fury Road already. I don’t really know what else I could possibly add EXCEPT that ain’t those War Boys something? Really, there is something so cartoonishly lovable about them. Their worldview is so clear. Their humanity is so clearly understood. And their lives are so valuable. What separates Fury Road from so many action films is that. The audience feels the pain (and the glory) of Warboys’ deaths.

Diary of a Teenage Girl

Of course I was going to like this. It’s a quirky dramedy of a teenage girl in San Francisco in 1976 (my mom was 17 at the time). If you think you’ve seen this movie before, you haven’t. It’s rare to see this type of character, a teenage girl with such agency and curiosity. Minnie’s journey is presented,while often from her hilarious perspective, judgement free. Diary is a fantastic story chock full of likeable characters, cozy photography, and dynamite wit.

Life of Joe

Couple things happened over the past weeks.

• I got hooked on, and finished, the very good British sitcom Black Books. I found the main character, Bernard Black, an amalgamation of Kirwan men. He is an Irish alcoholic bookshop owner, stand-offish but charming. If anyone’s cooked with me, this might be familiar.
• I took a half tab of acid with Andre. We walked around Pasadena and “partied” at an Ultimate Frisbee party in Santa Monica. It was a night that could’ve gone quite sour. (Late in the night I went searching for my tasty Columbia jacket. I found it under the leg of an occupied stool. When I tapped on the shoulder of the lad whose stool i needed to move but one inch, I became entrenched in a discussion of the rules of pool, a game I am no expert in. Quickly, both my shoulders found small men looking to sway me either way, like I was King Solomon. After four minutes I had had enough. My base functions kicked back in and I asked the guy to scoot a bit. I turned and made my exit.Also there was a bit where a drunk bastard hopped into our Lyft)
• I got a gig for Ford in Sacramento. Should be very active.
• Had a comfy time in SF. Didn’t get to hang out with DT, but it’s whatever I guess.
• The Villainous thing blew up. Max and Kent got into a huge argument. The trailer is up but it’s not mine. I haven’t heard back from anyone in a awhile. That doesn’t feel to great.
• For the time being, I’m applying to new things everyday. The Ford thing should keep me afloat for awhile, but again, I’m not above doing something different and wild(and stupid).

Albums of 2015

Here are the modern albums I keep coming back to (released in 2015)

Currents-Tame Impala

At the risk of sounding like a total boner, I think this is the best Tame Impala album. It came at an interesting time in my life, when I was in between cities driving up and down the coast for all kinds of reasons. No album captured the excitement, the pain, the worry, of new love and a new town. (Especially Love triangle stuff ugh)

Natalie Prass-Natalie Prass

No album had me singing in the Vo as loudly and as passionately as the former Jenny Lewis backup singer’s debut. As a huge MASSIVE Dusty Springfield fan, the album felt like a reassurance that the classic Memphis sound could still be conjured, like it was sitting on the shelf for whenever we needed it. This album brings quivers of the heart. Try not to fall in love with Natalie Prass.

Beach House-Thank Your Lucky Stars

So Depression Cherry had been out for a bit, still a very new and fresh Beach House album, when BAM, Thank Your Lucky Stars comes out. And what an album. It gets a lot of Twin Peaks comparisons (synth, haunting female vocals, lots of reasons) and I totally buy that. Can an album be both warm and deliciously chilly?

Juan Wauters-Who Me?

There were a lot of great singer-songwriter dude albums this year, but Who Me? struck me as the warmest and most genuine. The songs are clever and catchy. Wauters comes off as a modern day Jim Croce, all quiet confidence and honesty. I love it.

Toro Y Moi-What For?

Holy shit. This album is plain fun. Like a serious instant classic. That’s all there is to it. Put it on at a party.

 

SHORT FORM-EPs and Mini LPs

Sheer Mag-II

Anyone that knows me has heard this before, but for the billions who haven’t heard me say it, here ya go. Sheer Mag is absolutely the best thing about rock and roll music today. Clearly they are the best band on the planet. The love child of T. Rex and Thin Lizzy has released two fantastic EPs so far (Joe has both on cassette). These songs have serious energy, craftsmanship, and a SHEER ATTITUDE. This is angry music. This is life-loving music. I used to listen to Sheer Mag every morning, five days a week at 4:45am to get my out of my five hour comas. Blast this EP. Thank Joe later.

Wavves x Cloud Nothings-No Life For Me

A cool collaboration brought us some very interesting songs this summer. Definitely like “Come Down” and the last couple of tracks the most.

Ty Segall-Mr. Face

This record came with some cool 3D glasses fyi. It’s fantastic driving record. Joe likes psych alright. “Circles” is the bomb.

Mac Demarco-Another One

This album actually came out the night of a weird freak out of mine in Irvine. Kind of a catalyst for leaving actually. I was in a swamp of self doubt. I very suddenly hadn’t heard from DT. I didn’t know if Max and I were gonna get the apartment. I definitely felt I had made a mistake in leaving, like I had broken something and couldn’t fix it. Not only had I done something wrong, but I was just sort of broken and doomed to loneliness. Then Mac (my April 30th buddy) releases a song called “No Other Heart” about falling for someone who loves someone else, about trying to cheer her up. Joe was floored. He sweated all over Danny’s pleather couch until tearfully saying goodbye, but promising to return. Big song for Joe.

Movie Time-Stinkers

The Revenant

I don’t think I’ve ever looked at my watch more during a movie. The mainstream appeal to this movie gives me very serious doubts about people in general (it’s an election year of course). Never before have I seen such obvious grasps at profoundness. Not unlike The Holy Mountain, which this film recklessly steals imagery from, it shows striking images with little context. Iñárritu crafted a film, while interesting to look at for brief moments, isn’t nearly as engrossing as it should be. I believe, to truly get it, Iñárritu would need to be sitting cozied up next to me, explaining every metaphor.

Crimson Peak

My dad and I are huge Hammer movie fans. We’ve gone to Boris Karloff festivals. We watch Hound of the Baskervilles yearly. We love the Cush and Christopher Lee. So when I heard Del Toro was working on a haunted house Hammer riff, excited isn’t strong enough a word. Maybe my hype level started too high, but I slowly grew into disliking this by the midway point. It is dressed up as a Hammer for sure. The costumes, the house, and everyTHING is fine, but it has none of the confidence, swagger, or danger of those Hammer flicks. I plain forget the plot of this movie (and my memory for these things is notorious). Please skip this and watch literally any other gothic British movie (Rebecca,Baskervilles).

 

Mini Rant

I had a funky experience the other day, where I was immediately chastised for buying boots that, for the price, didn’t have the very best Amazon reviews. Not bad reviews, the tippy top reviews. I’m wondering where this whole schtick ends. When Yelp and Amazon stars reach their zenith of importance, we’ll be waiting in line at the same restaurants and wearing the same damn shoes.

Product Shilling

Obviously drinking lemonade

Not only is Paul Newman maybe my favorite person to have lived, but his company makes God’s lemonade. Additional deliciousness comes from a special ingredient, good karma. The Newman’s Own foundation does a ton of good shit for needy kids all over the world. Best drink up.

Movie Time-A Thinker

Brooklyn

I saw Brooklyn with my mom and sister and, for the most part, enjoyed myself. It has a young woman leave postwar Ireland and pick up a life in Brooklyn. After anticipated struggles,Eilis earns both an accounting degree and the love of a charming Italian plumber. She marries this plumber after hearing some disheartening news. The death of her older sister brings her temporarily back to the Emerald Isle, and Eilis finds her Irish life fulfilling in a way it wasn’t before. (Having recently moved, this is when my interest peaked.)She finds the fancy of a recently single bartender and ignores the letters of the barely literate plumber. Soon, we presume, she should make a choice as to which man she likes more, or something like that.

SPOILERS!

I hate that bastard

Eilis doesn’t really pick at all. Invited for tea, she is trapped by her former terrible boss, who tells Eilis that her secret marriage is no longer secret. Motivated by spite, this old lady threatens Eilis to back off the bartender.

Eilis then gets up, chastises the old woman, and decides to get back with mini-Frank Sinatra. She leaves the bartender a letter and hits the road back to America.

I feel like a crazy person, but am I the only one who doesn’t really see her choosing Sinatra as much as getting backed into him. It’s realistic in an “Irish people are always getting in each others business” kind of way, but in reviews, it reads more like a decision (which I think I have illustrated, it is less so).

“Being this fucked up addict”

There’s this line in a monologue from Villainous that just got implanted into my skull. I can’t recall the rest of the line. It could be anything really. It’s just so funny to me. It’s a line a character with seriously keen self-awareness would say. I don’t know. Anyway, on the half tab this line twisted and contorted around me. “Being this ugly dude. Being this weirdo loser” It was an upsetting line now, full of self doubt and fear. “Being this broken person.”

In response to Dylan’s question, “Am I happier than before.” I’d say that I’m way more up and down, and that might not be such a bad thing.  I think feeling that I’m going to be alone forever is much more ridiculous. That maybe isn’t such a bad thing.

It was a year of change. The challenge now comes to being ok with the parts of Joe that are stuck. After all that of course I’ll just be myself in the end.