Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Oh, Jack! You know i love my Beef n' Cheddars

As an artist, the worst thing you can really try to do is stuff your art into a genre where it doesn’t belong. This may sound odd at first, but this is the way that completely disingenuous crap gets created on a pretty daily basis. Okay, a big, glaring example of this is that guy from Blink 182 who decided his new band was going to be the next U2. BUT, here’s the problem…Our buddy in Blink isn’t really that versatile of a musician, and as a result, he had songs that sounded like Blink 182 with dumb guitar effects, and UNLIKE Blink, his new band sounded hopelessly contrived. (Just for the record, I hate U2 and I’m in no way saying it’s harder to be U2 than to be Blink. I’m saying it’s impossible for the guy from Blink to become a U2 type, capice?) This new band sounded (sounds) desperately like someone attempting to sell the emperor new clothes. You can’t just put some chorus on the guitars and tell people you’ve been listening to the Arcade Fire and call it indie rock. Only the dumbest people on earth will follow you there. And they have, so that’s cool, but that doesn’t make it any less crappy.
Have you seen the movie ‘The Professional’? Now, everyone talks about how great this turd is, and it never ceases to amaze me. This movie, for those who don’t know, is about a little girl (a young princess Amadala) who falls in love with a trained assassin who decides, between long, pointless shots of him gauzily ironing his shirts, that he’s going to teach her to kill. It’s one of the dumbest, most strained, unnatural movies I’ve ever seen. There’s never a moment where anything that any character does seems motivated by anything other than adhering to the pitch that the greasy Hollywood studio turd threw at the other greasy Hollywood studio turd, which was essentially “it’s like the karate kid but with some molester/sexual tension undertones and guns instead of karate.” Yeah, I know this is an imperfectly fashioned metaphor. Take it up with the rest of the dorks that like this piece of garbage movie on your message board. I’m not attempting to convince anyone that they should stop liking the Professional, I’m merely pointing out that it sucks. It really, really attempts somehow to be an art film. There are so many scenes, pointless, completely labored, chorus-on-the-guitars-in-the-guy-from-Blinks-new-band-style-scenes where he’s ironing, or writing, or staring off into space. What’s the message? He’s a regular guy, and he’s lonely and he misses a woman’s touch? So he trains an eleven year old to kill, huh? Great idea. Good economy in story telling too. Do you hear how dumb it sounds? It’s actually somehow dumber. This is what happens when you stuff your art into the wrong box. This should have been a crappy popcorn movie, and maybe it would have been great fun, but it tries to be some sort of French ennui piece and as a result, well, I’m wasting my precious moments while my baby sleeps complaining about it, fifteen years after it came out. Fuck man. I need a new hobby.
So things don’t have to be that good to be great. They just have to know what they are and exploit that to all the advantages. Okay, like an ugly porn star that’s enthusiastic is a lot more palatable than some hot porn star who somehow has the notion that she’s too good for the porn she’s in. Here’s a little social measuring stick. The porn you’re in defines you, not the other way around. This can be applied to almost anything. Look at the biggest piece of social porn that’s been created in the last twenty years: Of course I’m referring to “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.” Those guys went into that shit as 4 sort of enigmatic, slightly out of touch rock gods and came out of it COMPLETE LOSERS. My lifestyle determines my deathstyle? That’s the lyrics you’re writing now? Jesus fucking Christ. There was a time when James Hetfield was (like it or not, everyone) one of the most innovative rock musicians on the planet, and now he’s this fucked up looking rock and roll colonel Sanders who writes songs that dudes in Metallica tribute bands are going back to being CPA’s because of.
It’s the porn you’re in. You’re not going to elevate the interracial gangbang film with your presence. You’re simply announcing to the world that you are now a person who does interracial gangbang porn. And that’s fine. Okay, I’m in no way dissing that choice. Someone has to do it. Nothing sadder than throwing a gangbang and no one showing up. So I hear. But I’m off topic to be sure, so what I was saying is, things don’t have to be good to be great, but self awareness and figuring out how to maximize what you’re working with is paramount to everything when it comes to creating anything, from the Mona Lisa to Choco-vanilla Anal Parade 76.
The Ramones are a great example of artists who exploited a limited artistic boundary to excellent effect. So is the movie Revenge of the Nerds. It’s got everything, great jokes, timely archetypal, yet believable characters, tits, a rap, a gay character who’s actually sympathetic in the early 80’s in a movie geared towards teen boys…I mean, you may think I’m being glib, but that’s a fucking awesome movie. And it’s not because it’s ‘great’. It’s because it knows exactly what it is, and it excels at that.
Dostoyevsky is a great writer. The book “Demons,” though, is pretty hard to read. I don’t know if it’s too arch for my tastes or if it’s just too theoretical, but I don’t get the compelling exploration of a psyche that I think is Fyodor’s stock in trade from Demons. I don’t know what my point is, because I’m not suggesting it’s bad, I guess I’m just pointing out that things can be technically good without being enjoyable (examples: Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jerry Seinfeld, Cody Lane) Now, on the other side of the coin, we have someone like David Sedaris. He’s a great writer too, but his writing is great precisely because he knows what he can do, and he pushes THOSE boundaries, rather than pushing boundaries he should just leave alone. This is the disconnect for a lot of people. I’m not saying you can’t explore and expand your horizons as an artist, but let’s say you’re Bobby Brown…You really think that you’re gonna ‘go country’? That’s just a bad idea. You’re an RnB dude, take RnB to bold new places…fuck, infuse some country if that’s your bag, but do it from the perspective of Bobby Brown, not some fucking dumb country avatar or whatever. Okay, again, off topic.
David Sedaris writes great, funny stories about pretty much nothing. Recently (actually, about 3 years ago, I guess) I read a story about him going to his crazy sister’s house and doing all the dishes and feeling bad for her life and it was obvious that he felt guilty about writing about it. And the story was no good. Sedaris excels at saying shit without fear of reprisal, or writing shit like no one’s reading it. That’s what he’s great at. The minute he becomes self aware as an AUTHOR exploiting someone else’s life to entertain strangers, he’s broken the proverbial seal, and it just isn’t as much fun.
Okay, and there’s also shit like the Butterfly Effect which is so bad and so hopelessly unaware that it just becomes fucking AWESOME. That’s one of the most fun movies in the world, whether you’re laughing at Ashton Kutcher winking at the camera during his scenes where he pretends to be inept with the ladies (as if, everyone!) or that big fat dude from My Name is Earl playing a bad ass goth guy (which is fucked up for so many reasons it almost makes my head spin) you can’t go wrong with the Butterfly Effect.
Wow, this is long today. I have my class tonight and my skit is about inter office dating on a porn set. Should be funny. But it won’t be. Ah well…They can’t all be happy days, right?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, firstly, speaking of bad popular movies...what is up with the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? I had about 8 different people tell me it is great and, it has fine directing, but is a really boring plot, I'm beginning to think they said its great to feel smart or something.


And every time someone brings up the Butterfly Effect, I ask them if that's the movie with the fat goth twins from the commercial I saw when it was still in theaters...and after like 5 minutes they remember the fat goth guys.

Darren said...

the plot for your skit is brilliant. hopefully it works out well for you!

Sam Tie Blogger said...

Good blog. There is a defintely a difference between between growing as a muscian and not knowing your role and trying to do something outside of your bounds. The Blink 182 thing is a PERFECT example. Also, im seeing alot of things in magazines about dickbags in shitty girl jeans band(circa survive, chiodos) whose frontment are now doing folky acoustic projects.. I havent even heard these bands as they are, but I know they will suck shit.

To bring your band into the equation(which is a nerdy, stupid thing to do, and I feel like a jackass)there is a huge transitional growth from Ghost Stories to Calcutta, and not just trying something stupid to be pretentious.

Seriously though, blink 182 guy having that voice and not using it for dick jokes is such a bad move!

Shane McPain said...

oh god! thanks for reminding of how good revenge of the nerds is! i havent seen that for fucking ages...i think i lent it to someone...



"do you know karate?"
"no"
"good"

that is one amazing film.

Tyler K said...

"things can be technically good without being enjoyable (examples: Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jerry Seinfeld, Cody Lane)"

Poignant, and I could not agree with you more.

Louis Stevens said...

You're just mad because you look like Jean Reno.

Manny Los Gatos said...

Thanksgiving came early this year.

Manny Los Gatos said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Buddy said...

BK,

Since you're into literature, I figured you (or anybody else reading this) might be interested in checking out "Planes, Trains, and Plantains."
It's a really short, thought provoking essay on Oedipus, that is definitely worthy of a quick read, and demonstrates the brazen ingenuity of University students today..
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/image/essay/1

toaster_oven said...

The my name is earl guy also played a white supremist skin head type in American History X. Now THAT was weired.

Anonymous said...

I just want to let the first guy know that Eternal Sunshine was pretty bitchin'. Especially in comparison to the Cable Guy, which is pretty shitty. I also just want to say that The Lawrence Arms or some form of that lineup should come to Lawrence, Kansas, at some point. I hate to be the cliche fan whose first album was Cocktails and Dreams (hardly a legitimate favorite album as compilations are generally excluded from that category), but those six albums got me through the shit storm that is high school. Anyway, take that into consideration if you do plan on playing soon. I have no money to travel anywhere else, so it's either Portland, Maine, in the future or Lawrence, Kansas, before the school years up. Keep up the shit!

amandatague said...

david sedaris should start marketing his books as fiction. i'm not saying he's james frey-ing it up, but he's no phillip lopate if you catch my drift.

Anonymous said...

I should also note that, while it's not entirely likely, the concept of one of your most admired songwriters contacting you would be fucking amazing. If you could find the time to do that, my e-mail address is jregier@ku.edu. No obligations. Just something that'd be relatively badass.

John Brown Style said...

Ah yes, Lawrence, KS, the sister city of the Lawrence Arms. My word verification was strikingly close to grundel.

Unknown said...

Nice 30 Rock reference.