Well, kids, it's time to pour out a 40 of Molson or Labatt's or whathaveyouto the end of Barenaked Ladies as we knew it: Steven Page, after arrest on drug charges, getting divorced, and acquiring a 20-something girlfriend (not necessarily in the that order) has left the band he founded 20 years ago.
Was it the drugs? Was it the pixie-coiffedYoko? Was it because Steve's always been an independent little cuss? Apparently, he's already got projects out the ying yang...
Ed and the rest of band will still be going on as BNL. And while Jim, Tyler, and Kevin are all capable singers and partners to Ed on stage, nothing beats the StEd harmonies and chemistry.
"Call and Answer," "What a Good Boy," "Break My Heart," "War on Drugs"? All gone from the set lists. No one can belt like Steve. On the other hand, almost all their recent singles have Ed on lead, so clearly someone doesn't see him as marketable, or something.
Oh yeah, I'm uncool like that - I dig BNL. True their last sorta double album thing wasn't quite up to snuff, but it still had some gems. And in the seven (7 - true)* times I've seen them it's always been a good show. And it's sad to see this band of sardonic, personable, regular-looking guys become Behind the Music fodder. **
And let me say, that my disappointment (rather than despondency - they're just a pop band, folks) shouldn't imply that I dislike Ed's voice or songs. On the contrary, "Light Up My Room" and "If I Fall" are incredibly beautiful and in my BNL top five for all time.
Good news? It looks like there's gonna be a 20th anniversary box set and the release of Jason Priestly's doc Barenaked in America on DVD, finally.***
Ah, well. They'll always have Scarborough...
(Okay, Warner pulled the original video that showed the bleak fall of suburban Toronto set to a Bruce Cockburn soundtrack ... at least Steve has a beard!)
*I actually pulled out the ye ol' ticket jar and counted just to make sure.**** **Actually, they've already got a Behind the Musicep but the most dramatic aspect was Kev's cancer. No drugs, no girls, no break-ups. ***(Yes, I do own an official VHS copy.) ****Yes, I keep my concert tickets, my theater tickets, and a few special movie tickets. The oldest? Lollapalooza, July 6, 1996, Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, Ind., featuring the headlining duo of Metallica AND Soundgarden (just a few months before they broke up and Chris Cornell ceased to sing anything interesting). It was awesome.
Number of Songs: 1891 Number of Albums: 576 Most Recently Played Song: "What are you going to do with me" by Paper Moon Most Played Song: "Night" by Jeff Hanson Most Recently Added Album: "Dark Was the Night" Red Hot compilation
First Song Alphabetically: "About a Song" by Nancy Sinatra Last Song Alphabetically: "Zombie Stomp" by Ozzy Osborne First Song Numerically: "100 yard dash" by Raphael Saadiq Last Song Numerically: "9 to 5" by Alison Krauss Shortest Song: "Here come the 123s" by They Might Be Giants Longest Song: "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly
First Album Alphabetically:Abbey Road, the Beatles Last Album Alphabetically: Zen Arcade, Hüsker Dü First Album Numerically: 3 Rounds and a Sound, Blind Pilot Last Album Numerically:808s and Heartbreak, Kanye West
First Five Songs That Pop Up On Shuffle: "All Love Gone" Charlie Pickett "Some Small History" Portastatic "Super Trouper" ABBA "Morning tide" The Little Ones "She's Got My Number" Semisonic
And this wasn't the pilot episode because? ...ah. It was supposed to be episode 8. Which explains why we already know Echo's real name, saw how Alpha went homicidal, and how Boyd bonded Echo. This is stuff you usually hold onto until sweeps week or end of the season. Poor Joss has been forced by the FuxHeads to blow the whole kit & kaboodle early in the game. At this point, I'm not sure if Joss has enough story to get through 13 episodes, much less the five years he says he has supposedly planned out.
This week revealed something more than just how Boyd became protective of Echo: Joss and his Mutant Enemy stable of writers (including this eps' scribe Steven Deknight, of Angel and Buffy, and Tim Minear, of Angel, Firefly, and Wonderfalls) can't write cops for crap. The scenes with Ballard sparring with Agent Mark RomoBadger Sheppard were so...awful, like that's how the writers thought cops/feds talk to each other because that's how dull and unimaginative they are on other cop shows? On CBS?
What I wouldn't give for Bunk and McNutty to come in show 'em how cops can be funny, flawed, serious, and good at their jobs all at the same time.
The poor writing for cops is indicative of one of Joss' major flaws: he has a tendency have all these great ideas, but seems to do little to no research to back them up and/or flesh them out. Two bloggers have taken on Firefly in the last week, discussing Whedon's notions of sex work and Orientalism (minus the actual Asians). The articles and the comments (particularly for the Racialicious piece) smart and insightful, articulating some problems I had with the show in a way I never could. And now, it seems I'll only be popping in my Firefly DVDs for the Fillion/Baldwin/Tudyk funny and eye-candy....
The pilot of Dollhouse did not blow me away. BUT as a stand alone episode, it had enough character and suspense to bring me into next week.
Of notice...
Cast Did you know that Eliza Dushku was kinda hot? I wonder if there is any possible way to show as much of her body as network TV will allow from as many angles as possible to get that across.... Oh she acts too? Yeah, she was pretty good with that. But the 'hot' thing. Someone should try to capitalize on that.
(Also, she is ridiculously tiny. That little girl she was carrying out of the pedo-kidnappers' hideout was as big as she was! Kind blew the seriousness of the scene watching this incredibly petite woman trying to struggle to carry a 10 year old who is already five feet tall.)
Thank you, Joss, for a little parity with the nice long scenes of sweaty, shirtless Tahmoh. Let's keep that up, 'kay? Thx.
Harry Lennix, Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz, Amy Acker, and Olivia Williams* are all those HITGs you wish were in more, and/or wish would be given more in the parts they're in.
Interestingly, these are the adults in this piece (er - maybe not techie Fran/Topher). The 'dolls' - both male and female, apparently - appear to all be relatively young and attractive, and are made child-like by the mind wipes so the actors still seem ... too young? Like they're all at a super high-tech boarding school or something? Or they're sexy 20-somethings that share one of those unrealistically posh beach-front houses you see on the teevee. Speaking of....
The Set reminds me of the House of Blue Leaves from Kill Bill:
Intentional? Think there will be swords? Joss, you should totally have swords.
The Promos Those Summer/Eliza Terminator/Dollhouse bumpers were excruciating. The tank tops, the leather, the overly glossed lips and come-hither dialog.... Jesus. Using sex as a selling point is fine, but let's try to be a bit more subtle about it. Is imagination that dead in Hollywood?
Oh my. That was a silly question...
The Plot I'll wait till the season's over to make a proper assessment of the series. A pilot is such a strange animal storytelling-wise: so much info to present in so little time. Right now it just seems like a decent weekly psychothriller, but I think it can and will be more.
Next in the series of movie reviews of films past well past their sell date: The X-Files : I Want to Believe (extended vers., to be specific)….
On the positive
This was, at heart, good thriller that wove together some tried-and-true genre story lines (mad doctors, organ theft, creepy monster trucks, women as victims...) and created something genuinely creepy. Also: two-headed dogs.
The show theme popping up as Scully and Mulder viewed portraits of G.W. Bush and J. E. Hoover had me laughing for a good five minutes.
Scully, Scully, Scully – Sue me, but this whole franchise would be nothing without Gillian Anderson and Dana Scully. From her astounding beauty to her totally enthralling performance, she holds this whole cabal together. The same can’t be said for Duchovny/Mulder; he is the impetus, but she is the motor that moves the stories along. She is the soul. She is also the baddest of bad-asses. I love love LOVE that she is the one who saves Mulder and the victim, with a block of wood and a scalpel, respectively. Do not fuck with Dana Scully. Woman is STEELY. See her BISH PLEEZE glare at the young Fed who puts the flirt on Fox:
‘Shipper fodder – No cock-blocking bees in this one! They’re living together and smooching just like normal people! And they even kill the absurdly-named youngin* who ever-so-slightly puts the moves on Mulder! They even give the slash-fic writers a bone showing Skinner warming up Mulder in his arms! Ah, sweet, sweet bureaucratic tenderness…. On a more serious note, I think what we see here is that Mulder and Scully are, in fact, quite alike, albeit with different obsessions. Both are tenacious, intelligent, passionate, and so full of integrity you think their hearts will explode from their righteousness. And these similarities are what pull them apart so often, and then inevitably together. Duchovny and Anderson still have wonderful chemistry, and bring out the realities of a long, loving, but frustrating relationship.
Billy Connolly is always a treat.
Nicki Aycox looks much better without the bleach-blonde crop. And gives a much better performance without the trite villain dialogue.
Callum Keith Rennie is the Canadian Dean Winters. Ruggedly handsome and versatile. Can fall into any sort of role, big or small, good or evil. His only misstep was that awful, awful Chicago accent he put on in Due South. Leoben totally makes up for it.
On the nitpicky
Where did Sculder live? Virginia? And if so, why would it be so hard for the FBI to find Fox if he’s living so close to DC?
And why did they give place/timestamps for the casework but not the personal?
When did Scully become a surgeon? Autopsy is one thing, surgery very much another.
And Frankenstein’s Altar Boy – they were giving him a woman’s body? He couldn’t have gotten a regular sex change operation? What the hell else was wrong with him?
And does Google really need product placement at this point?
Overall, quite enjoyable and I would not frown upon a third movie...
* Dakota Whitley, WTF? And her fall was quite Hitchcockian.
Thought I'd wait until 2008 was actually over before doing a 'faves of 2008' list. And some of these aren't new...
What I listened to most Flight of the Conchords / Flight of the Conchords - "Thnk about it," "Leggy blond" Heretic Pride / Mountain Goats - "San Bernardino" The Rhumb Line / Ra Ra Riot -- This is how Voxtrot should have moved from EPs to LP: tweak production but don't overload with instrumentation and increasingly arcane lyrics.The songs remain simple melodically with a gorgeous orchestral pop wall of sound behind it. SEE: every track. Dear Science / TV on the Radio - "Family tree," "Shout me out" Live and let ghosts / Jukebox the Ghost - Like Ben Folds & Mountain Goats & TMBG in a delicious enchilada of pop. "Hold it in" I'll Be Lightning / Liam Finn - Saw him live in Newark, and this guy? Insanely talented. No need to worry about the shadow of Daddy. "Better To Be," "I'll Be Lightning" Re-Arrange Us / Mates of State - I've never not liked their work, but now that it's more grown up, richer, and more dynamic, I absolutely love it. And there's some bass this time! "The Re-Arranger," "You Are Free" Swimming / French Kicks Once soundtrack - "If you want me," "Say It to Me Now" In Rainbows / Radiohead - "House of cards" Tennessee Pusher / Old Crow Medicine Show - "Methamphetamine," "Caroline" Distortion / Magnetic Fields - "Please Stop Dancing," "Too Drunk to Dream" Repeat When Necessary / Dave Edmunds - "Girls Talk," "Queen of hearts" Jesus of cool [2008 deluxe reissue] / Nick Lowe - "So It Goes,""Shake and Pop"R Seconds of pleasure / Rockpile - "You Ain't Nothin' But Fine" Mamma Mia! soundtrack - "Voulez vous," "I Have a Dream" Narrow Stairs / Death Cab For Cutie - "No Sunlight" Into The Wild / Eddie Vedder -Indio cover "Hard Sun" Firecracker People / Hotel Lights - "Amelia Bright" American Prehistoric / Warm in the Wake - "American prehistoric" Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! / Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - "More News from Nowhere" Live in London & Paris / Otis Redding - Fuck it, take your pick... Terry Tales & Fallen Gates / The Little Ones Acid Tongue / Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue"; Rabbit Fur Coat is still a more solid record, but there are a couple of real gems here including the title track. And her voice is just so damn beautiful. The Stand Ins / Okkervil River - "Lost Coastlines" Company (2006 revival) - Oh Raul Esparza, you can do no wrong.... Make me armoured / The Scourge of the Sea - "Goodbye, Darkness" 3 Rounds and a Sound / Blind Pilot - "Go on, say it," "3 rounds and a sound"; This and Bon Iver almost brought me to tears when I listened to them back to back, and I wasn't even PMSing. So much beauty. Note to self: don't listen to at work again. For Emma, Forever Ago / Bon Iver - Ubiquitous? Yes. Worthy? Absolutely. Volume One / She & Him - "Change Is Hard" Living in darkness / Agent Orange Lily Allen - She had me at "Up the Junction" and now I'm in pop-love. The album won't be out until later 2009, but half the tracks are already out. "The Fear": A Colbert Christmas - "There are much worse things to believe in" The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 - Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 / Bob Dylan - "Mississippi" Robyn [re-release] /Robyn - "Be Mine" O / Tilly and the Wall -"Alligator Skin," "Falling Without Knowing" Promised Land / Dar Williams - "Troubled Times"
...and the rest Stay positive / The Hold Steady - Doesn't speak too well when the best songs on the album are the three bonus tracks tacked on the end: "Ask Her for Adderall,"Cheyenne Sunrise," "Two Handed Handshake" Way to normal / Ben Folds - "You Don't Know Me," "Kylie From Connecticut"; Surprisingly, meh. He's lost his storytelling prowess, it seems, and the rest sounds like he's trying too hard be cute. The Hollow of Morning / Gemma Hayes - "In Over My Head"; Also, surprisingly, meh, as she moves more and more into whispery vocals and atmospheric noodling. Not bad, necessarily, but kinda boring. Make the Road by Walking / Menahan Street Band / - Wait. There is still new instrumental funk/R&B being made? By hipsters? In Bushwick? Whatever, dude. Whatever... (Seriously, they do the 'Rocky' theme and everything...) Vampire Weekend / Vampire Weekend - "Mansard roof"; It's fun. It's cute. It ain't life changing, just enjoyable Moonwink / Spinto Band Fleet Foxes / Fleet Foxes - Gosh, it's pretty. But the way the songs end abruptly makes it sound like a collection of incomplete thoughts. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust / Sigur Rós - First one with pop-sounding songs which I like. sue me. Saturdays=Youth / M83 Consolers of The Lonely / The Raconteurs - "Many shades of black" ; But when is Brendan Benson gonna release a new solo record? Modern Guilt / Beck Kala / M.I.A. - "Bird Flu" Tea Partying with Ghosts / Cloud Cult Sea Lion / Ruby Suns Last Light & the FREEP / Matt Pond PA These United States Throw Me the Statue You Me and Iowa Fumbling Toward Ecstasy reissue / Sarah McLachlan - "Hold on" ; And her duet with Pink (?!) on the terribly overplayed "Angel" was quite beautiful and Sarah looked gorgeous as a new divorcee (looking good is the best revenge, no?) At Mount Zoomer / Wolf Parade The Seldom Seen Kid / Elbow This is Not the World / Futureheads Evil Urges / My Morning Jacket - that title song is killer the rest is kinda meh The Diggs Second Gleam / Avett Brothers Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams / Solange Knowles - "I Told You So"; Sorry, Beyonce, but you're sister kicked your ass with some quality, old school (trite phrase, I know) R&B As I Am / Alicia Keys - "Superwoman" Vivian Girls / Vivian Girls At the National Grid / The Bats A Hundred Million Suns / Snow Patrol Alphabeat - The Danish Michael Cera and the Danish Lulu bring the pop video back - dancing! color! snappy choruses! - Debbie Gibson and Wham! together at last! "Fascination": Ida Maria - "Oh My God"
Haven't heard yet... Bridemaid's 12" series / Decemberists Snowflake Midnight / Mercury Rev All I Intended To Be / Emmylou Harris 22 Dreams / Paul Weller Harps and Angels / Randy Newman Missiles / the Dears Furr / Blitzen Trapper Carried to dust / Calexico
