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D. Composition
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Posts by D. Composition
Top 10 Most Awesome Parents in Film
Nov 18th
I’m not a parent and don’t really have any amazing stories about my parents. So, my friends, I have chosen to compile a top ten list of the most awesome parents in film. The list is by no means inclusive of all of film, as there are still many classics I’d like to see, and because I basically used my movie collection as reference. So here are the best parents (in my film collection). Also, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
Best Parents
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10. Last House On the Left – John and Estelle Collingwood would be a lot higher on the list if their daughter hadn’t been killed. Not that the average parent knows their daughter is going to run into a gang of rapists and killers, but there are other parents on this list that would never have let her go out that night, or at least taught her to better look after herself. Aside from all that though, of course, is the reason they are on the list. It takes a passionate heart and a keen mind to outwit and take revenge on a group of killers, and the Collingwoods manage it in fine style.
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09. National Lampoon’s Vacation – Come on. Who wouldn’t want Ellen and Clark Griswold as parents? Despite the horrible outcomes to so many of the family vacations, they prove that their heart is always in it, and they’re always thinking about the family.
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- 08. The Jerk – Now this is awesome. A big happy family all under one roof. Singing and dancing every day, dinner together at the table, and unbreakable gems of wisdom about shit and shinola. Mother and father Johnson take care of all of their kids as well as Navin, who was left on their doorstep when he was a baby. Even when Navin loses his fame and fortune, his parents show up to take him home again.
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07. Little Miss Sunshine – Richard and Cheryl Hoover don’t seem like the greatest parents right away, but their time together with the family helps them learn a few things about life, and in the end, they understand which things matter the most in their lives. There aren’t a whole lot of things in recent memory that are much more awesome than what the Hoover family manages at the end of the movie.
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- 06. Dumbo – Miss Jumbo is great. She’s a single parent, raising a child in the middle of a circus (literally). She’s gotta deal with asshole circus attendees and all the other gossiping cold-hearted elephants. As you can see in the movie, she’d rather bring down the whole circus than see her baby come to harm.
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- 05. Coneheads – Beldar and Prymatt have the classic immigrant story. They come to America in search of a new opportunity (just happens to be enslaving the blood-skulls), and find not only that they are stuck on Earth for seven zurles, but that they are with cone. They manage to evade immigration and provide a great life for their daughter on an alien planet, and eventually give up the life for which they were hoping and waiting… for her.
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- 04. Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels – Big Chris keeps Little Chris close at all times. They work together in their business ventures like partners and father & son at the same time. Despite the rough nature of their work, Big Chris still keeps Little Chris in line by reprimanding him when he curses or steps out of line with a client. You see just how much emotion is in Big Chris near the end of the film when Little Chris becomes threatened by the character called Dog.
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- 03. Donnie Darko – Eddie and Rose Darko prove to be quite awesome a few times in this movie. The main reason is that when Donnie gets in trouble with a teacher the parents know to be an idiot, they buy him a bunch of “new shit” for standing up for himself and making the teacher look stupid. It’s rare that the parent will take the child’s side in a situation like this (in movies at least). They also seem to have a great sense of humor.
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- 02. Kill Bill Volume 2 – “The Bride” proves to be a great parent when she tells Bill her story about leaving the assassin racket after taking a pregnancy test. Her entire life took a hard right-angle turn when she found out she was pregnant. It’s true that she thought her daughter was dead throughout the whole first movie, but that was a major motivator for her revenge. All she wants to do (from the time she finds out she’s pregnant) is get away from her violent life and start a safe family for her daughter.
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- 01. The Incredibles – What family could be more awesome than this? Bob and Helen Parr put away the hero duds so as not to get sued by people who “didn’t want to be saved”, and start a family. In the interests of safety, they never allow the kids to use their powers. But of course, the situation comes up where the powers are absolutely necessary and the family works as the ultimate superhero team in order to protect each other (and everyone else).
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Nov 12th
“A hero is a man who does what he can” – Romain Rolland
I’ll take the opportunity to use this week’s theme as a means to write about a great classic that I recently read for the first time.
“The Incredible Shrinking Man” is the best horror story I’ve ever read. I suppose that’s not saying a whole lot since I haven’t been very heavily through the genre, but when you read it, you can feel its potency. I saw the old film adaptation (1957) a few years ago. It was good in the way a lot of old black and white sci-fi movies are, but was also lacking in a way those movies tend to. I also noticed something online that said there’s going to be another version being made with Eddie Murphy *shudder*.
Scott Carey, by way of extremely unfortunate chance, is exposed to elements that make him begin to shrink 1/7th of an inch, daily. Seems like a fairly straightforward sci-fi theme, right? I thought so for a long time too. You add the infamous black widow to the mix and maybe the family cat (giants now), and you’ve got two monsters that push the story into the realm of horror. This is what the story is like when you watch the movie. It’s all (more or less) left this way. The book gets into Scott’s mind, body, and soul.
The chapters in the book jump back and forth between tiny Scott’s survival tactics in the basement and the events (starting with the beginning of his shrinking) leading up to them.
The more Scott shrinks, the more self-conscious, paranoid, and defensive he becomes. On top of that, everything becomes a life or death situation. In all his frustration, he can’t even safely take a walk down the street. Soon after, he can’t go outside at all. Sexual frustrations also take their toll, making for a couple of rather uncomfortable, yet plausible scenes. Scott’s alienation from the world he once knew is so sudden and horrifying and written so thoroughly and convincingly that it almost seems a relief for him to spend his time doing something as simple as hiding from a spider that wants to eat him.
Scott has the problems with his wife, money, and people wanting to treat him like a sideshow replaced by things like becoming deafened by the water heater kicking on, being eaten by a giant black widow, and starving to death (amongst tons of other horrifying possibilities). Scott keeps things in order though. He creates makeshift clothing and a place for sleep and shelter. He marks his height on the wall daily, knowing the day will come that he will shrink that last 7th of an inch into nothing, and thinking about what he needs to accomplish before he becomes too small to accomplish it (and if it’s worth the effort at all). It becomes such an immense strain for him though, that he continually asks himself why he doesn’t just give up and die. Even when he convinces himself that he has had enough horrible luck and he doesn’t care about anything anymore, he continues to try to survive. All he has left in life becomes about what he can do…what he must do for survival.
Despite overwhelming heartbreak, terror, and misfortune, Scott Carey does not give up. That’s what makes him a hero.
5/5 - Punched in the face by AWESOME!
The Advantage of Appreciation
Nov 3rd
I’m probably one of many people who got a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was little. That was big. Being able to play Super Mario Brothers whenever I wanted was like some divine dream. Many other games came after that. Some were great and some were not so great. I remember enjoying the hell out of most of them for reasons I didn’t think about. It was just fun. I saw each game as a whole package. It’s like when you’re little and you listen to music and hear it as a whole, then later on you start to differentiate each instrument and appreciate them more.
So then new systems came and went, and I think I always took the same kind of enjoyment out of everything (probably) until games started to have real bands doing the music and there being cut sequences and such. I even had the occasional nostalgia trip with an old console or emulator (still do sometimes). But it wasn’t really until I heard a band called “The Advantage” that I really became impressed with the music of 8 bit video games.
I don’t remember how I first heard The Advantage, but I remember being instantly shocked at their musicianship. The Advantage is a band that only performs video game cover music (NES covers specifically). Somehow I got wind of their first album (self-titled) and was amazed. I had never realized how potent the music was. When it finally dawned on me, I realized that the music for these 8 bit games has to be looped (for one thing). It also has to be catchy and never, ever get old. Didn’t A.D.D. rise to prominence around the same time as video games? Somehow, those Japanese composers created lots of music like this, and it was flying over the heads of kids like me in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
So the change from composer to cover artist was through instrumentation. The Advantage seem to have painstakingly worked to recreate these old songs with guitars and drums rather than 8 bit waves and blips. The music becomes even more potent because of the fullness of the instruments (not to mention the faithful recreation of the original songs). And this is all from guys who really did notice how good the music was. From this, they created their band (which is a side project for each member) to play those songs they loved as kids and to give game fans an awesome nostalgia trip.
I know that I enjoyed the music when I was little. I just didn’t think about it. It was in with everything else. One big ball of silly putty. It just took a few musicians (who did differentiate those things) to create something nostalgic and jarring that would snap me into realizing it. The musicians and instruments changed, but the music (by skills of the band) is as good as it ever was.
**The Advantage have released two official albums and a promo cd that was only available at shows (and online in some places). I’ve heard that they are all involved in new bands at the moment. Their myspace account hasn’t had any updates in quite some time and their official website, sadly, is long gone.**
The Staying Power of a Never-Ending Story
Oct 24th
A person’s memories are powerful things. The naturality of aging and maturing forces us into a constant state of change. I read something once about how close to an illusion all of life (as we know it) is. It stated that since the past and the future are not things we are experiencing, and that the present is not a stationary thing, it is very difficult to grasp things that we perceive as important in our lives. Memories are all we have. Being things of the past, memories seem like landmarks for the people we were at those times. Buoys drifting in a vast ocean of forgotten hours, days, and weeks. Memories alone tend to be rather static though. Physical inputs are what really electrifies memories. Movies, books, photos, and songs are some of the most common and easily accessible of these sensory inputs.
Though I remember events that happened in my childhood, what is difficult to remember is exactly how I felt at any given time. A fragment of it might return though, with the right physical input. A good example is the He-Man theme song. I used to watch that show all the time when I was 4 or 5 years old. One day, the show vanished. I didn’t hear or see anything of the original show for about 20 years. Then one day, I looked it up on Youtube and the opening theme was there. It felt weird to see and hear it (to say the least). Even now, just the “Filmation” sound effect at the beginning is like someone poking around in my brain with a popsicle stick. But above all the weirdness, it reminded me of simpler times.
I am not completely mature. I hope I never will be. And I find it unsettling when I see evidence that other people are. I find kids to be the most interesting, genuine, and creative people that exist. To lose all of that by growing is one of the most depressing things I can imagine, but some people can’t seem to help it. This is not to say that adults cannot be these things, but these are aspects commonly sacrificed to better conform to the adult world. They let their inner children die, or lock them away in the forgotten chambers of their hearts, often times becoming perpetual sourpusses.
I didn’t read much as a kid. I suppose I just wasn’t raised that way. I remember reading being encouraged in elementary school, but in a vague, disconnected way. No one told me about a specific book or why reading was a good thing, they just told me that reading was GOOD and reading a LOT was BETTER. So I mostly watched movies. One of the movies I loved the most as a kid was The NeverEnding Story. My family rented it a ton of times and I never got sick of it. So when I was in high school and had finally taken to reading, it was an obvious choice.
Something about watching the movie when I was little and reading the book when I was in high school really intensified the power of the story for me. Since the end of the movie is only the halfway point of the book, I got the opportunity to pick up where I left off with all of these characters I had already loved for years. It was an opportunity that is rarely afforded. It all reminded me of those nights watching the old vhs tape long before the many stress of high school and growing up. And I enjoyed it. On top of the obvious anti-stress memories attached to the story for me, it was really good. I have such a passion for intensely imaginative things, and the book is definitely of that category.
Bastian is a kid that likes to read and finds himself uncharacteristically swiping a book from an old bookstore owner. You read about Bastian, and as he reads The NeverEnding Story, you do too. Atreyu is the book’s protagonist. He is called upon to find a cure for the Childlike Empress, though he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. All he knows is he is to travel in one direction with no weapons and find the answer for himself. As Bastian reads the story, he realizes that certain characters in the book are aware of him, and eventually call upon him to help their world and become a part of the story. It is stated to Bastian that as he has shared the experiences of the characters in his book, others have shared his experiences in their book, and so on. Hence, “NeverEnding Story”.
In the sequel to the movie, Mr. Coreander (the bookstore owner) suggests something that had intrigued me. When Bastian scoffs and says that he has already read the NeverEnding Story, Mr. Coreander smiles and says “Ah, but have you ever read a book twice? Books change each time you read them” When I first saw this, I figured it was just a plot gimmick. I didn’t think about it much at first. Later on though, I understood that it isn’t the book that changes (like it does in the movie) it’s the reader that has changed. Everything seems different because of the changing way that you understand things. It took me a while to really understand how growing and learning changes your perception. Sometimes this can really kill a good sensory input for nostalgia, but it really depends on the amount you have learned and changed. I’ve found that even though I’m a bit different now, I can still remember how I perceived something when I was little.
As much as I enjoyed the book, I don’t remember a great deal of it now. I did begin to read it again though. I can only hope that reading it will continue to reawaken all the old memories. And so far, it has.
Versatility in Flesh Eating and Blood Sucking
Oct 16th
In most things that become horror genres, specific rules tend to crop up. Werewolves can be killed with a silver bullet. Zombies die if you destroy the brain. Sunlight, crosses, holy water, and garlic are the bane of vampires everywhere. If you stay awake, Freddy can’t get you. These rules and how they are utilized, bent, and broken are what makes for the versatility of a genre. But can one genre be more versatile than another?
It can be tough to classify, because if a movie bends or breaks too many of the rules, does it still belong to the seeming genre? For instance, Return of the Living Dead has what most would consider “zombies”, but many of the normal zombie rules don’t apply. These zombies (first and foremost) are runners (the older rule of stiff shambling zombies gets broken most of the time these days, as anyone who has been to the theaters to see a zombie movie in the last 10 years knows). They don’t die by destruction of the brain, severing of limbs, or anything else except complete destruction of tissue by way of a crematorium. So are they zombies? Sure, why not. They still want to eat human flesh (the brains to be specific) and are the dead returned to some form of life. The broadest idea of the genre gets a little broader and more lenient on the rules to be inclusive of similar ideas. I think ROTLD might have even started the whole eating of brains thing.
The vampire rules have been bent numerous times too. I’m sure before “Twilight” came out, Count Dracula was the first thing to come to the average person’s mind when thinking of vampires. The classic, smooth, black cape-wearin’, widow’s peak havin’, menacing hand-extendin’, lady-charmin’, blood-suckin’ Count Dracula. But since the likes of he and Nosferatu, we’ve gone through tons of variations.
The first that comes to mind is a favorite of mine, and probably because it plays out more like a zombie movie than your average vampire movie. It’s From Dusk Till Dawn. While this film doesn’t really break any of the rules (maybe a couple bent), it is far different from “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” or “Interview With the Vampire”. None of the vampires in the movie have the dignified nature of the average Victorian child of the night. With the exception (maybe) of a couple of the strippers (before they get ugly), there is no sense of style or overwhelming influence here. Surely there’s the seduction by the strippers of the bar patrons, but that’s hardly comparable to a “proper” vampire’s powers of persuasion. So it’s more dirty and the dignified nature of the vamps is nowhere to be seen. Otherwise though, everything seems to apply. Crosses, holy water, stakes to the heart, and sunlight all prove useful against the majority of these beasts.
Zombies were always funny to begin with, even as far back as the original Night of the Living Dead. But now we’ve got Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland making good cases for future zomcoms. Vampires have proved their comedic value by way of Buffy, Mel Brooks, Matt Groening, and well, Count Chocula.
I think one thing that zombies have in their favor is the one variable that seems to be a constant through every zombie movie I’ve ever seen. The cause. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a definitive cause of a zombie outbreak in any movie (unless it’s some random chemical leak or something). The characters never seem to get the exact information because there is mass hysteria and confusion. This is one element that could create a lot of elbow room in the genre without stretching too far from the canon. I suppose the cause of vampirism has never been dealt with either (unless I’m mistaken, which I very well may be), but vampires seem to just be accepted immediately as monsters, whereas it’s harder to accept with zombies because they’re often people that the characters know. Also, it’s usually a recent phenomenon.
Vampires have personality though. And as Jules Winnfield said, personality goes a long way. There hasn’t been a zombie yet to match a Count Dracula (or a Jason Voorhees, Wolfman, Mummy, Freddy, or Candyman for that matter). It’s almost always the collective of zombies that matters, not the individual. There has been decent evidence of zombie personality though, mainly in Fido and Day of the Dead. But for the time being, vampires totally own the aspect of personality.
It doesn’t look like vampires or zombies can really surpass one another in versatility. There are rules that the genres are held to, but still so much that could be done with both without having to really break the rules (but even if a couple were broken, no big deal). I definitely prefer zombies, at least at the moment. This is mostly due to the fact that there is no zombie romance series that takes itself way too seriously (that and zombies are way funnier). But even if there was a zombie romance novel, it’s probable it could only work is if it was hilarious (unless someone took the misunderstood monster (King Kong) route).
The Exposure Whine
Oct 14th
As I sit here at my computer, thinking about this weeks subject, “overblown”, a number of recent occurrences come to mind. One of which is the recent release of a few cubic feet of Beatles merchandise. I like the Beatles. I feel that they live up to their colossal, perpetual hype and adoration. But after hearing all of their albums enough times to develop the ability to mentally play most of them back Andy Dufresne style, there’s only so much of the Fab Four I wish to hear, or hear about. Their legacy paired with the continuation of human reproduction will afford them an eternity of remastering, redigitizing, recompiling, merchandising, and whatever else can be done to make the music sound better, honor them, and please their fans (or generate money). But that’s all I really have to say about the subject.
Another recent thing I could talk about is Kanye West and his overblown ego. But this subject is so overblown, I’m sure the sight of the word “Kanye” causes various instant ocular diseases. So nevermind.
I suppose amongst all current things overblown, I have the strongest opinion about one relating to the new Guitar Hero game, “Guitar Hero 5”.
After hearing that Kurt Cobain would be a “playable character” in GH5 (and later hearing that Courtney Love was upset about it. Surprise surprise!) I went over to Wikipedia to check out the song list for the game. Lo and behold, one of my favorite artists, Elliott Smith was amongst the artists on the new roster. (If you haven’t heard of Elliott Smith, you’re probably in the majority. He was, more or less, an under-the-radar singer-songwriter on the indie “Killrockstars” label. He is probably most well known for his song “Miss Misery” on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack and for “Needle In the Hay” on the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack.)
My first reaction to something like this is almost always a positive one. I love Elliott Smith and I’ve enjoyed Guitar Hero to a fair degree, so this is a good thing to me.
The song in question is called “L.A.”. Since Elliott Smith has about one billionth of the exposure that the Beatles have, I don’t know every song name and melody like the back of my hand. So to refresh me on exactly which song “L.A.” was, I went over to Youtube to check it out. Ah, that one. Okay, awesome… but then I scroll down to the comments.
Every other post seems to be about how all the little snot-nosed 15 year olds are going to start liking Elliott Smith now, talking about how they can “5-star” his song, thus “ruining” him for all of us old fans. Us old proud fans that found Mr. Smith when so many others didn’t and it was so special that he was ours and he was sacred and beautiful and blah blah blah. This is such a common overreaction of people in a billion other similar circumstances. “Their” underground or unknown band, movie, hangout, book, or whatever has become endangered by exposure, and more other people are going to start liking it and talking about it. If I can quote Dr. Evil: “Boo frickety-hoo!”.
Are those things any less entertaining after other people have gained knowledge of them? Really? It just seems to me that if you really like something enough to complain about its exposure on a website, the subsequent media and peer blatherings shouldn’t affect your love of that something (unless of course, you’re being inundated with it).
P.S. I can sympathize with the fear of a band going mainstream and becoming mundane pop, because it’s happened with some bands that were the ideal for an underground love. But Elliott Smith is dead. It’s not going to happen this time. (Some might argue that it did happen before he died. These people are musical elitists. Don’t tell them who your favorite band is.)
The Magic & Mystery of Miss A.K.
Oct 1st
Frank Portman has a thing for names. In his first released book, the delightful “King Dork”, the protagonist is a teen named Tom Henderson, although I don’t think he is called this even once in the whole book. Tom’s one-of-a-kind personality coupled with a hellish and hostile day-to-day experience known as “high school” afford him many a creative moniker. A couple of which are: Hender-fag, Chi-Mo, and Sheepie (among numerous others).
Another sweet running joke in “KD” is the continual re-naming of Hender-mo’s band, based on either something related to his current situation, or perhaps from nothing more than a vivid imagination and sense of humor on Portman and Henderson’s part. A couple of these gems include: “The Underpants Machine, The Stoned Marmadukes, Oxford English, and Balls Deep.”
I read KD abot a year ago, and recall it being a rather simple, enjoyable read with a sharp wit. There was some kind of blurb on the book about Portman’s next book, entitled “Andromeda Klein” and even a few pages of the beginning of it in the back of KD. I remember reading the sample, but not getting any concrete idea on what it would be like. I read “Andromeda Klein” recently, and it is like KD, except instead of having a high school-loser-punk-rock-mystery theme, It has a high school-loser-occultist-mystery theme, and if you haven’t already guessed, it’s about a girl named Andromeda Klein.
The first thing that comes to mind about the book is how very dense it is on the prominent subject matter of the occult. Andromeda surrounds herself with old and musty books written by the likes of Aleister Crowley and A.E. Waite. AK’s knowledge of tons of kinds of spells (of which I’ve already forgotten all of the names) really hits you in the face for the first quarter (or so) of the book. You can tell Portman did extensive research for this book, and he shows it. It’s a little overwhelming, but for the most part, remembering everything isn’t necessary.
When you couple the deluge of mystic names and rituals and books and spells (etc) with Portman’s humor and seemingly endless plays on words, it gets rather fun.
AK gets her fair share of alternate names, such as Man-dromeda and No-ass, but another lovely little play-on-words device is that AK can’t hear so well. And it leads to instances of people saying things like “bagel worm agony” (naked girl magazine), and her enemies calling her a “toe-ass butter sucking fish” ( fairly obvious). Atop all of this, there is AAK or “alternate Andromeda Klein”, better known as AK’s more confident and sarcastic inner monologue, which later becomes a full fledged character named “Huggy” (I think). And then there are the dreams, self induced and otherwise.
As complex as minor details in the story are, the major elements stay rather simple. AK is a misunderstood girl who is (very) into her own unique interests, and she’s trying to figure out reasons for things happening to her by utilizing those interests (tarot cards and various other mystical means). And she must attempt all this amongst a mom who is a chronic barger, an absent-for-no-clear-reason-ex?-boyfriend, a friend that continuously tries to set her up on dates, an evil book-abducting organization, a deceased best friend’s psychotic mom, and numerous other perilous entities and situations.
I read another review that said the book takes hold after the initial quarter or so. I agree with this. With the mystic info avalanche safely behind you, you might well become riveted by this slickly-written YA high school occult mystery.
4/5 - Nearly classic!
Internet Music 101 – 4 Effective Ways of Finding New Music on the Internets
Sep 6th
I guess I can’t really claim that all of my favorite bands were found after getting a computer with internet. Well, I could, but I don’t think it would be 100% due to that. But it probably is.
Anyway, back in 1999 I was a senior In high school. While swirling brilliant galaxies of amazing music were sitting on store shelves (there used to be stores that actually sold cds, kids!), I was living in the cardboard box of KROQ. I loved Foo Fighters, Static X, Sublime, Blink 182, System of a Down, P.O.D., and a bunch of other bands that I would rarely give a chance today. While these are not all terrible bands per se, I feel that they made a crappy musical boundary for a person my age.
It wasn’t until I graduated that I finally had the opportunity to get my grubby hands on a crappy little Compaq pc that I bought from Best Buy. Oh, if I could have a conversation with my former self. I was forever changed. Now I could easily check out all kinds of new (and old) stuff, without any hassle. (incidentally, I’m typing this on my compaq laptop that has held up for quite a while).
In the time that has passed, I’ve found a few ways to locate new music that have worked well for me. Here they are in no order:
This is the kind of thing people probably talked about long before it ever existed.
Pandora is a website where you can input a band or song name and get a streamed radio station of similar songs by different artists. It’s free and is likely to yield results of which you’ve never heard. In fact, I’ve heard a few people who get frustrated with it because they like some of the artists, but can’t find the music anywhere else. If you get a song or artist that you don’t like, or don’t agree is similar, simply give it the thumbs down, and it’ll never show up again.
As an example, I’ve put in an artist I know Kilian enjoys: White Rabbits. The first song Pandora plays is always from the band you first type in. In this case, it’s “Kid on My Shoulders” from the album “Fort Nightly”. The text that pops up illustrates “electric rock instrumentation, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, acoustic rhythm piano, and minor key tonality”. These are the aspects for which it will find matches in future song plays.
The second song to come up is “Conquest” by Tapes ‘n Tapes. There are some matching aspects listed in the popup, but not all of them are exactly the same, though, the similarities are even more apparent in the music.
- Last.fm
Last.fm is like Pandora with a community built in. But it’s so much more than that.
The whole idea of Last.fm is built around a plugin for your media player. Whether you prefer iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, or anything else, chances are there is a compatible last.fm plugin for it. The plugin monitors your listening habits and sends the data to the last.fm website, where stats on your profile show your top songs and artists. The website also recommends all kinds of things based on your info, such as “neighbors” (people who have a similar musical taste), events by your favorite artists in your area, and artists and songs that play through a streaming radio station.
Last.fm is a rather vast entity for it’s age. There is a webpage devoted to every artist (even every song!) with links to similar artist pages and streaming radio stations that play similar music. There are comment boxes on every artist and song page, with “top listener” information and band information.
Of course you’ll always get the dingleberry that went on Kazaa and downloaded “Love Gun” by Iron Butterfly, listened to it a bunch of times, and got the song into the last.fm databanks… except that Love Gun is by Kiss, not Iron Butterfly. Last.fm recently integrated something that catches these mistagged or incorrectly named tracks and automatically corrects them. This is a simple, yet potent joy for anyone who has seen any horribly mis-labeled tracks that border on being offensive.
This would be the undisputed holy grail of music sites (it probably still is), but has one drawback. The music to which you listen has to be from a device or from your computer. This may not be much of a drawback for most, but personally, I listen to a lot of the music from cds in the car. But if you’re using an ipod, zune, or what have you, there is a plugin that allows you to “scrobble” (send music data to last.fm) the tracks to which you’ve listened. I’m always seeing new ways to scrobble cropping up, so who knows where they’ll take it.
This one is the one about which I’m most excited. I am a mixtape/mixcd fanatic. If I know you and haven’t ever made you a mix, it’s out of the ordinary for me. I have to make a new personal mix about once every one or two weeks, because I’ve gotten pretty picky about what I’m hearing in a given week. I get sick of music pretty quickly.
Being the mixfreak that I am, I’ve searched for a website where I can upload songs and arrange them to a mix, so I could access it if my media player decided to magically clear all my playlists (itunes is the major perpetrator for this). It’s also convenient if you want to share a mix with a friend easily. I’ve found a couple sites in the past that do this, but they have since been shut down (“Muxtape” was one of them). I think this happens because the site creators don’t structure the functionality of the site in accordance with certain copyright laws.
8tracks allows you to upload your songs and create a playlist, but it must be at least 8 tracks long. Other site users can find your mixes via keyword search (you can apply 3 searchable tags to any 1 mix). You can view how many times your mix has been played, as well as comments that other users might leave you on that mix.
You have the option to “follow” any other user, which adds every new mix they make to your “mix feed”. I haven’t done this too much, but I know it’s a good way to get people listening to my mixes. You give a little, you get a little.
- Blogs
Now, if you told me a few years ago that blogs were a surefire way to find great new music, I would have said something akin to “Really? I’ll have to check that out.” Then never give it a second thought. Half of the reason I wouldn’t have given it a chance is that I didn’t think it would work, and the other half is that I wouldn’t know how to search something like that anyway. It turns out it’s as easy as going to google and typing in the band’s name and blogspot.com.
I would recommend searching a band you like first, find a blog containing feature or information on said band, then seeing what else the blog has to feature. Blogs usually stick to some kind of theme or genre, but they often network with other blogs, so there’s more to peruse.
There’s not much else to say about blogs, other than that many of them contain links to free full album downloads.
So there you have it. All of these items have helped me find new music in one way or another. So if you’re looking, check em out and you’re likely to find something you like.