September 11, 2005

Gus Van Sant's "Last Days"

As taken straight from the source:

"Inspired by the true story of KURT COBAIN, the lead singer of the popular Seattle-based rock band Nirvana who committed suicide in 1994, director GUS VAN SANT (Elephant) presents this meditative journey through the last days in the life of a fictional musician"

I was fortunate enough to catch this independent film at a theater at my school. I have split this "review" into two parts; for those of you who have not seen it, you can read about it in the first part. For those who have seen it or would like to hear more details on my thoughts, read the second part.

Part 1:

For the purpose of this review, I will call the names of the characters by their real names, not the names used in the movie.

I saw this movie with my girlfriend, a much less of a Nirvana/Kurt Cobain fan as myself yet considerably knowledgeable about the final days of Kurt's life and his death. Her knowledge and interest in Kurt's life is directly related to my ongoing research and reading on Kurt's death. Even she had unanswered questions after seeing the film; all of which I had to explain. For those who are unaware of Kurt's death and his final days alive (other than knowing "he killed himself") you may find this movie confusing and hard to follow. This is an independent film, you will find lots of odd angled shots, long unnecessary scenes (from a non-artistic point of view) and a short script. Michael Pitt (Dawson's Creek, Murder by Numbers) plays Kurt Cobain (Blake in this movie) and fine job might I add. His looks and sound are pretty authentic sounding which makes the movie better.

Those who are not fascinated or even interested in Kurt Cobain should not see this film. You will most likely find it slow, confusing, and un-eventful. This is not a Hollywood type film, it is cut straight to the point.

Basically the movie is just the directors take on what happened with Kurt Cobain during his final last days of his life despite the fact the movie is really about "a fictional character". (We all know this is not the case).

Overall it is a decent movie for real Kurt fans to see, anyone less of a fan would probably leave the theater. More details on my thoughts can be found below. I don't mean for anything to be a spoiler but there really isn't any since we all know the ending...suicide (or is it?).

Part 2
There are lots of little things in this movie that people who are not familiar with Kurt's death will miss. These points are my observations and what I think they mean in the real life case of Kurt Cobain, they may or may not have been the intent of the Director; if they are not, they are odd coincidences. The facts are in no particular order.

1) Cali (Luke in the movie - long dark hair) took a credit card from Kurt when he was making Macaroni and the 3 others where high listening to music in the other room. Cali claimed he needed money for a heater and a plane ticket. The relevance to the real Kurt: After Kurt was dead, someone was using his credit card. Until this day it is unknown who was using it. This fact that Cali took the card suggests that he had the card and would explain why it was used after Kurt was found dead. This contradicts murder theorists thoughts that the murderer of Kurt Cobain took his card. (Note: If you are unaware of the murder theory, I highly suggest you go to cobaincase.com and have a look at the information provided by Tom Grant, the P.I. hired by Courtney Love to find Kurt Cobain before his death.)

2) The guy with the dark glasses - Cali's friend (or his lover if you believe this part of the movie) saw Kurt in the greenhouse as the three of them (Cali, his lover and his girlfriend) were leaving the house, just before Kurt's death. In the real case it has been said that Cali's friend was in the back seat of the car and looked back to see "someone in the greenhouse" but they chose to ignore it and continue driving to wherever they were going, an odd thing to do since Kurt "was missing and no one had seen him".

3)There were 4 people that should have been in the car stated above, Cali's girlfriend; however, she was not. This leaves the idea that Cali's girlfriend could have murdered Kurt since they left without her. The credit card could come into play here. The credit card Cali took could have been given to his girlfriend to catch a flight to meet up with the other three after "the job was done".

4)When the three of these people were watching the news and saw about Kurt's death they decided to "get out of here". I believe they were at Kurt and Courtney's cabin's in the woods. In real life, Dylan and Tom Grant were supposed to go to the cabins to look for Kurt however they "got lost" and had to turn around. This could have been Dylan avoiding coming into contact with the three of them at the cabin.

5)The first time Dylan and Tom go to the house, Cali tells them to "come back later". I don't recall if this happened in real life or not. However, if it did, Cali could have really said "come back later we are going to the cabins" and thus the reason, Dylan did not go to the cabin's the night they were suppose to.

6)When the three of the people left the cabin they said they would go to L.A., in real life Courtney was in L.A. - could there be a connection?

7)A huge thing in this movie is the fact you don't hear, see, or is it even implied that Kurt killed himself. We know from point 3 above that there is one person not accounted for, could they have killed Kurt?

8)There is a great visual effect when Kurt's soul leaves his body. It really depends on your take on religion on what you want to take as this. You can take it as strictly a visual effect, not meant to have any significance. If you are religious and believe that Kurt was killed and thus would be in heaven, then his body climbing up and out of the greenhouse could resemble his climb to heaven, thus he was murdered. If you believe that no matter what, Kurt was a bad person and he would go to hell no matter if he was killed or not, then there is no significance to his soul climbing up. If you believe in suicide, you could just look at this point as his soul "being free" from his body and life which we are led to believe he hated. (Thanks to my girlfriend for pointing this out to me)

I am sure there are more little subtle things but that is all I can think of off the top of my head. Thanks for reading and remember, these are only my thoughts, not yours or anyone else's.

Posted by tweakmod at 07:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 07, 2005

Censorship on the radio

[note: this entry has explicit lyrics. They have been edited with asterisks * but are still readable]

Censorship has always been a debate in high school, college, and after. Whether it is banning books at the local library, placing parental advisory stickers on CDs, or editing movies to be shown on TV, the fact of the matter is it is against the freedom of speach...well sort of....

I agree with censorship to protect our youth from things they do not need to see and hear at young ages; however, it is the inconsistencies of censorship along with what is and is not censored that bother me.

The radio is something that can be accessed by any age level person. Cars have them and they can be found in nearly every room in a house. Since there are very few ways to restrict who listens to the radio, there has to be control over what is said, just like basic TV. (exceptions to radio are XM radio and exceptions to TV are cable - both of which are paid for...you pay for things to be uncensored).

Recently I ran a poll in the forums about people's opinions on swearing. I received a lot of thoughts from regular members to the staff members. Opinions vary from people not taking offense to swearing to people who do. There is one thing though that was common and that was more than half of people voting (11/16) found B*tch to be more offensive than sh*t. Interesting, B*tch is not censored on the radio, yet sh*t is...

Let's look at some lyrics samples (none are edited on the radio):

Jet - Cold hard bi*tch:
Cold hard b*tch
Just a kiss on the lips
And I was on my knees
I'm waiting, give me
Cold hard bi*ch
She was shakin' her hips
That's all that I need

Theory of a dead man - No Surprise:

Well it ain't no surprise
That you turn me on and leave
It ain't no surprise
That you turn it around on me
I don't know why
You won't give me what I need
It ain't no surprise
That that bi*ch is leavin' me
That that b*tch is leavin' me

The Offspring - Why don't you get a job:

My friend's got a girlfriend
Man he hates that b*tch
He tells me every day
He says "man I really gotta lose my chick
In the worst kind of way"

Now let's look at some lyric samples of songs that are edited:

Stone sour - Bother:

Wish I was too dead to care
If indeed I cared at all
Never had a voice to protest
So you fed me sh*t to digest
I wish I had a reason;
my flaws are open season
For this, I gave up trying
One good turn deserves my dying

Greenday - Longview:

Sit around and watch the tube,but nothing's on
Change the channels for an hour or two
Twiddle my thumbs just for a bit
I'm sick of all the same old sh*t
In a house with unlocked doors
And I'm f*cking lazy (this word is edited)

So I leave the evaluation of these song clips up to you, which one should we really be censored from our youth? Would you rather hear your child say "man he hates that b*tch" or "so you fed me sh*t to digest" - obviously the answer is neither but let us pretend.
I know first hand that kids repeat what they hear. It was my younger brother (5 at the time) that walked around the house pretending to mock "John Hammond" from Jurassic Park as he slammed his make-believe cane into the ground and yelled "damn". Or maybe the nine year old boy that called my local radio station to request the song "Cold Hard B*tch by Jet (which they did play).

This just covers what we think is more offensive between two swear words (whatever they may be, this is a topic for another debate). However, there are other inconsistencies in radio and censorship. Most noticeably the various versions of One by Metallica, Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine, and Freak on a Leash by Korn. All three of these songs have the word f*ck in them and on some stations it is edited out and others it is not.

Or how about the song Down with the Sickness by Disturbed? When the song was first released there was a whole section of the song removed because of the intense lyrics. Slowly over time, more and more of this section was added until today, where you can hear the full length song. The part that was originally edited out is as follows:

No mommy, don't do it again
Don't do it again
I'll be a good boy
I'll be a good boy, I promise
No mommy don't hit me Oh-oohh
Why did you have to hit me like that mommy?
Don't do it! You're hurting me Oh-oohh!
Why did you have to be such a b*tch?
Why don't you,
Why don't you f*ck off and die?
Why can't you just f*ck off and die?
Why can't you just leave here and die?
Never stick your hand in my face again b*tch
F*CK YOU!!!
I don't need this sh*t
You stupid sadistic abusive f*cking whore
Would you like to see how it feels mommy?
Here it comes, get ready to die!

Of course there are more (What it's like by Everlast - various edited versions of the song on different stations some of which are hardly edited at all) but I will leave it as that, just some food for thought. While there may be some reasons for this behind the scenes of radio stations around the country, but from the listeners point of view it just doesn't make sense. If you can make exceptions for one song, why cant you for another. Where do we draw the line? Isn't that what censorship is for, to draw the line?

Posted by tweakmod at 09:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 04, 2005

Band of the Week - Beloved

I have been listening to the CD 'Failure On' by Beloved a lot this week. The band comes from the ever great "Tooth and Nail" records, a personal favorite of mine. Some Tooth and Nail Alumni include the most recent Underoath (Taste of Chaos Tour - 2005 with The Used and My Chemical Romance), MxPx, and the ever popular P.O.D. Tooth and Nail is a straight up Christian label but don't expect to hear all preaching from these bands.

Beloved has an amazing mix of melody mixed with hardcore. The lyrics are great. Being a Christan band you get good clean lyrics; no F-Bombs thrown in the middle of a sentence making it totally awkward. In case your wondering, the words 'Jesus' and 'God' are not used once on the CD. One of my favorite tracks is "Death to Traitors" and the lyrics are as follows:

A line drawn in the sand
And we both know
I’m not about to bury myself
Sinking in my footsteps
But not coming up for air
A firm foundation of beating hearts
Is blistering enough on the surface
Closing in and holding out my breath
Hoping to mend the wounds
Opened by years of digging out
We fight fire with fire
And you’ll run back to your
Circles of friends
They won’t help you now
We drew a line in the sand
And this time it’s now or never
Go ahead and burn your bridges
But only if you can swim
Deep in the sea of disbelief
This time your screams won’t be heard
You will fight this battle
But we’ll take you out so quickly
That you and your so-called army
Couldn’t see us coming
Fight this battle
We’ll tear you down to the ground
We can’t stop now
We were born for battle
Without vision we will die
We were born for battle
Against the tide of compromise
There is life in this
The places so close can take you so far
We won’t trust our eyes to keep us there

You can check out sound samples on Amazon by going HERE

If you like good melody, excellent guitar riffs, and some good hardcore singing, you should definitely check this band out. You wont get the cheesy cliché lyrics that you find in a lot of mainstream bands and you wont be afraid to listed to this hardcore music in front of your mom. You can always use the excuse, but mom, it's Christian! (note: you do not have to be religious to use this excuse!).

If you know this band or check them out let me know what you think of them.

Posted by tweakmod at 09:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 01, 2005

T-Shirts - The fall of American Children

I have always been puzzled by the T-Shirts young teens wear. I know when I was 11-15 I wore a lot of sports t-shirts or polo shirts. Once and a while I would wear a "band" t-shirt with my favorite band on it. Actually, now I have more of these "band" shirts than ever. When I go into the clothing stores now a days I notice one problem...

the sayings on all our youths t-shirts. If it is not bad enough that our youth are wearing shirts that glorify selfishness with sayings like "All I want is everything, Is there a problem?" (See HERE for shirt picture) but more the fact that there are older and supposedly wiser adults creating these slogans. Personally, I would like to go to a meeting with a T-Shirt designer and listen to their slogan campaign.

"I think we should have a shirt for guys that is pink and says 'Don't laugh it's your girlfriend's shirt' (yes, this is an actual shirt).

No, says another, "I think we should have a young girls shirts that say 'I'm Busy Now, Can I Ignore You Some Other Time?" (See HERE)

Personally I would like to see the daughter of the person who came up with this slogan wear this shirt and the next time their parent asks them to do chores, they point at their shirt and say "No, I'm busy". What, you don't think this is realistic for a child to do this? Then why do we put it on a shirt?

Call me old fashion or too up tight, but this kind of marketing is not good for young people. It may not have a direct influence on crime, drugs, or sex, but it does have an unseen effect on personality. In our American culture where we are all self oriented and do not rely on others, we get too caught up in our personal lives. This "me me me" kind of advertising on our youth shirts are only starting them at a young age to be selfish and self centered.

Remember these are my thoughts and not necessarily yours. Take them as you will.

Posted by tweakmod at 06:19 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

August 24, 2005

No I dont wear a livestrong bracelet!

If you are not sure what a livestrong bracelet is, I took this from their website:

As a tribute to Lance Armstrong's inspirational fight against cancer as well as his historic attempt at a sixth Tour de France win, the LAF and Nike launched the Wear Yellow LIVESTRONG™ campaign last month. Nike will donate $1 million to the Foundation and is leading efforts to raise an additional $5 million through the sale of yellow wristbands engraved with Lance's mantra, Live Strong. All proceeds will benefit LAF programs that help young people with cancer live strong.

This seems like such a great idea except there is one problem...

Now these bracelets are everywhere! No I am not just talking just about the yellow livestrong ones, the ones that started it all, I'm talking about all the rip-off ones. Right now you get a free one with a purchase at American Eagle, you can buy them in packs of 10 at Wal-mart (you think anything goes to a good cause here?) and you can get them in every gas station. Now what seemed like a great way to raise money has now became the next fashion statement. This reminds me of the WWJD bracelets. At the beginning it was a great idea...when you get in a situation and are in doubt just look down and think "what would Jesus do". Then all of a sudden everyone and their mom are wearing one and they dont even know who Jesus is! But hey, atleast we look cool, right?

I wish the marketing people would stop taking a good idea for a good cause and making it a fashion trend. Personally I have bought these bracelets before but I either throw them in a drawer or gave them to a sibling. Honestly, I would rather save the rubber and give you the same amount of money.

Posted by tweakmod at 12:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 09, 2005

I guess it's my turn

Well I thought I would just add my little "hello world" like everyone else. The blogging team (the few of us) have put a lot of hard work into this. I hope to see the blog take off soon and have all sorts of personal blogs going. I think this will be a great way for our staff to express themselves and share

their opinions. Thanks to Corey for getting this blog started and Sid for taking over where Corey left off. Those two guys were our main guys on this project. Thanks to everyone else that helped with input it was greatly appreciated.

I hope the staff has fun and the members enjoy reading these. Hopefully some day we can open this up to our members also.

Posted by tweakmod at 08:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack