Unfiltered From the Heart, From Me To You

The Human Condition. What the fuck does that even mean? I don't know. What I think it means goes something like, the experience of being human...and what makes up that experience.

I've been reading a lot of David Foster Wallace and aside from his phenomenal prowess as a writer - no one puts together a sentence quite like he does - he manages to relate anything he writes about to something that is deeply important about humanity; boiling everything down to the most essential question at the heart of the matter at hand and how it all relates to what it means to be a person living on planet Earth, commenting on...the Human Condition. Why am I here? What is my purpose? Etc.

Now, I don't really feel the need to try and answer any of those questions - that would be fucking stupid cuz, you know, nobody can answer them, really - I just wanted to say that any artist or person that can make one think about these kinds of things is doing something right. They're getting to the important stuff.

Lately, I've been in awe of Wallace for doing it so well. He turns a piece of reportage on John McCain's 2000 Presidential campaign into an essay about what it means to believe in something; what it means to be part of something; the implications of investing in heroes in the 20th and 21st centuries. He does this while writing informatively about his subject, but at the end of the day you can tell that he is interested more in probing the depths of the human soul and psyche and adressing questions of morality and spirituality.

In general, you have to give it up for artists who can do this. And, I think, you have to question "artists" who don't do this. What's it all for? Wallace writes about Dostoevsky, who, apparently, cared very much about the things that I have been mentioning in the paragraphs above. Wallace goes on to say that if "serious" writers today would write with as much straight forward passion and unwavering commitment and belief about morality and spirituality - i.e. the deep questions, et al. - they would be branded as sentimentalists and, what Wallace considers the insult of all insults in today's day and age, these writers would be "laughed out of town".

I thought about Wallace's claim and agreed, perhaps not entirely, but enough for me to crave...people who wear their hearts on their sleeves a bit more. People who are unafraid to be passionate and don't hide it within layers of meaning and all of the trends that are associated with literature since Ulysses, more or less. Modernism, postmodernism; anything that keeps true moral and spiritual assaults and commentary hidden between and below stylistic bru-ha-ha, cloaking the issues that matter most under a veil of hippness, technical hi-jinks, holier than thou parody and satire - basically all the bullshit that can get between what truly matters most and the reader/viewer/listener/etc.

But there's plenty out there that still hits directly! To be fair, I read a lot, but I don't have the grasp on the current contemporary literary canon to comment accurately and intelligently about it. To be fair, I like a lot of movies that come out and I feel like they're all doing their best to entertain while hitting viewers in the heart and head. As far as music goes, maybe it's because I am pretty much on top of a lot of the new music that's coming out and have a good grasp on the scene as a whole, but I think this tendency of being overly clever and not just coming out and saying it has been hurting music a little bit.

But I don't have any specific axe to grind here. I can't name too many specific books/movies/albums that are afraid of being direct and passionate about morality and spirituality, life and death, love and hate; afraid of addressing these issues openly because they'll be interpreted as sentimentality. But it's a fear of mine, because I do feel that I see it - maybe just in some crazy abstraction, but I feel, within me, that it's happening. People are too hip and jaded and afraid of coming off as any number of uncomplimentary things to be truly open, in many cases.

I hope that people always realize that it is valuable to write openly about what truly matters. To address The Human Condition. To understand that there is a difference between sentimentality and truly caring and wanting everyone to think about what matters to you or to humanity in general. This post itself makes me feel a tad embarrassed because I'm trying to address the issue directly, without being self-conscious about its openness.

What it comes down to for me is that I love artists that put everything on the line in order to get an emotion or an idea across. To take what one feels in their heart and turn it into a song without changing it, without messing with it. It's hard because then you're exposed and vulnerable. It's your heart and soul out there and people will know it. But that's what makes the best shit. Unfiltered from the heart, directly from me to you. Hopefully, not only will it say something about you, but it will resonate with everyone because it is the truth, it's how you feel, and if one communicates directly, from the heart, it will inform us all on the human condition in some way.

Vampire Weekend & An Aside About Hipsters

I think ur a contra.

I've been listening to a lot of Contra, Vampire Weekend's sophomore LP. I'd say it's album of the decade thus far!

Seriously though, an amazingly good album. VW manages to be entirely unique while remaining popular to a large audience. I LOVE THIS. That's a big thing for me, artists who are able to push musical boundaries, take their music to a new level, and stay relevant and popular for a large audience. Love it. Love it, love it, love it.

So let's face it. Pop music rules. Pop: you know, what's nominated for the main awards at the Grammys. That's what most people listen to; it's basically the only shit played on the radio and you'll hear it at a bar mitzvah.

Well, VW were Billboard number one. FANTASTIC. I can't wait for some dweedie indie fuck to put them down for that -- I WILL DEMOLISH THEM. Have they heard this album? This is a daring album. They are conventional without being conventional. That's what I think. I may be going a little crazy with this, granted. But you won't hear an opener like "Horchata" and a closer like "I Think Ur a Contra" on a Billboard #1 again for a long time.

If I were an artist right now, I'd be Vampire Weekend. They are writing amazing songs - have been for two albums - and are MAKING A SHIT TON OF MONEY WITHOUT COMPROMISING THEIR ART. Love it, love i,t love it. AND they're doing it on their own terms. There's no one else like them, nowadays.

Anyone who isn't sold: listen to the whole album! Haha...! Well, yes, that's true. But, specifically listen to track ten, "I Think Ur a Contra". It is a beautiful song full of resonant lyrics about what it means to be in love with someone who you think just might be a contra. Listen to it. The music is just so, so soft, spare, and textured; it makes me want to float away on it honestly, aka, the gayest thing I've ever written. If you can't make your way through the album for some reason: I once read a musician say that if he's having trouble with an album he'll skip to the last track and see where it all leads. Then, sometimes, the rest of the album makes sense. [Not necessarily a preferable tactic, but an ends to a means.]

Lastly, I would just like to say that "hipster" is thrown around way too much these days. For me, a hipster is someone who doesn't have their own identity. A person who, when you talk to them, when you look at them and see how their clothing, hair, shoes, taste, the words that come out of their mouth...something doesn't match up. Something is forced. Something in your brain goes off and you you think, Damn, what a gay. But a hipster is just that. Someone who isn't a real person, not a real man, not a real woman. I prefer dudes, dweebs, fags, losers, scumbags, douchebags, nerds, ASSHOLES, idiots, morons, peens, dunces, pinheads, lame-asses, gaywads, dickweeds, assdicks, jerkasses, fuckheads, dimwits, nerfherders, peenwans, dorks, dicks, dolts, drunks, potheads, wastecases, and all the rest because anyone called these things most likely would deny they are just that and there are TOO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE WHO REVEL IN BEING A HIPSTER. Fuck that.

BEST MOVIES OF 2009

Here's a list of my favorite movies from 2009. A little late, but, hey, here it is!

Some of these movies could prob slide a few spots up or down - except for Basterds which is unquestionably my fav from 2009.

1) Inglorious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino - His best since Jackie Brown. In many ways, this may be Tarantino's finest film, where all of his skills as a director and writer come together to form a film so unique and impeccably executed - the movie as a fucking tour de force, damn it! Everything works. There are scenes of extreme beauty and precision, and even though the film is talky in 5 different languages, none of it seems forced or overlong. It just may be his mastehrpiece.

2) The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow - This film takes place during the Iraq War but it's not really a war film. It's a people film! It's about how people cope with war and all that jazz, and that, along with a great story, action, and acting - not to mention suspense! - make for a film that has it all. To me, this is a film that should appeal to everyone who is human, and that's spoken like a true wild man.

3) A Serious Man - Coen Brothers - Liked it better than No Country for Old Men, but I was never too hot on that one anyway. That said, I dug this movie because, as you all know, the Coens got the best style around. A Serious Man was EXTREMELY well acted (Oscar nom. for Michael Stahlberg - gotta be) and EXTREMELY well directed. I have never seen a movie that conveyed how it feels to be high better than this movie. That counts for something. And it was probably the funniest movie I've seen this past year, but - the genius part? - the movie made me think about what it means to appreciate, and how those who sometimes try so hard to do the right thing still get no respect.

4) Avatar - The King of the World - I think most people really like this movie, but I've definitely heard from a bunch of people that it was less "Avatar" than "Gayvatar," mostly due to a "stupid science fiction story" and "it's just like Dances With Wolves only not as good!" Well, I haven't seen DWW but I guarantee that it is a snooze fest. As for Avatar's story? I enjoyed that it was a simple, timeless, classic. Foremost, the movie's about the 3D deliciousness and the technology and the thrillz - BUT The King of the World managed to make this an emotionally resonant film. I cared for these characters and was invested in their fate the entire 160 minutes or so of the movie.

And in terms of Avatar being the ultimate movie experience [NOTE: This means seeing it in the theater, in 3D, not at home on the 27 inch plasma] there is no film that matches it, period. Yes, the dialogue is clunky at times (part of the charm, I'd argue) and, sure, the character development isn't "believable" at times, but when you think of all those great popcorn movies of the past - think most Speilberg, Star Wars, etc. - this is the perfection of the art. Not convinced: LOOK AT THE WORLD WIDE BOX OFFICE, the second time The King of the World has done this. Sometimes box office success means diddly, but for Avatar I'd argue that, Hey, millions of people can't be wrong.

5) District 9 - Neill Blomkamp - I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie. My heart was racing. I'm not saying this hyperbolic-ly. It was racing. This was a unique movie in that it managed to be so many things. I loved the quasi-documentary style; I loved Sharlto Copely, who gave one of the year's finest performances. There was humor, there was heart, there were explosions and melodrama. I didn't mind the allegorical parallels! What sticks is the entire conceit of the movie. It's an original. It's derivitive to a degree, yes, of course, but the relationship between alien and human (HUMAN AND ALIEN????) was unlike any other of this kind that I have seen or read. And Sharlto Copely keeps us emotionally involved during the entire movie. The scene where he's about to be operated on? Maybe the best scene of the year.

6) Adventureland - Greg Mottola - Suprising? Maybe. But it's just such a true film. If you thought that Superbad was an "accurate" teen comedy, than you've gotta see this one cuz it takes it to the next level (both were directed by Greg Mottolla, btw) . I mean, Superbad was a comedy so it couldn't be THAT authentic or else we wouldn't have laughed so hard. But Adventureland is a movie that has funny moments, just like life. I'm kind of a sucker for a coming of age story - which is exactly what Adventureland is - but this one was done really well, with a stellar cast (Kristen Stewart bites her lip to perfection!), with humility, grace, and an eye for reality and truth. I can relate. Maybe it's cuz I've been to the actual Adventureland that this movie is based on - no. Doesn't matter. Mottola has made a universal movie with this one, I think.

7) The Hangover - Todd Phillips - Funniest movie of the year. Oh wait, did I say A Serious Man was funniest? Fuck it, I don't care. They're both the funniest. Todd Phillips is clearly the master: Road Trip, Old School, The Hangover. Three comedy classics.

8) Public Enemies - Michael "The" Mann - I feel that sometimes a Mann movie is less enjoyable to watch than to appreciate afterward. They're so life-like, so detailed, that's it's almost like you're not entertained because it's so real. That's KINDA how I felt after this one, though I certainly was entertained by it, what with the explosive shoot outs. But during the drive home; sitting down and talking about it; thinking about it; you realize that Mann makes movies like no one else. I'm a big fan of the hyper-realism and I wish more directors strove towards something similar to what Mann is doing. I think there'd be a lot of good films.

9) Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze - This movie moved me, good flick. Was I let down a little? Yeah, I guess so. But Jonze has a singular vision, and the wild things themselves were flawlessly executed. Flaw: the movie was too short, and I believe the studios made Spike trim it down so it would be a tighter, more commercial film. We'll see when the DVD gets out. Maybe WTWTA gets even better when all the little details are included.

10) The Invention of Lying - Very funny movie. Very Gervais. Quirky. Weird. A bit off putting. And it also addresses...religion and god! If you didn't think it was for you, try it. I think you'll find something to like about it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Paranormal Activity was awesome I thought. Truly spooky. And Up was good as well. Nice film.

NOTE: Fall asleep during Fantastic Mr. Fox because I was drunk. Don't remember the movie. Wish I did. Alas, I still haven't "seen" it.