This is How You Stay Funny After a Decade

Everytime I watch South Park, I wonder why I don't keep up with the show more regularly. Somehow Matt and Trey manage to put out episodes that still manage to make me almost convulse with laughter and wonder how the heck they get away with this stuff. Ten-plus years of scatological humor mixed with social satire and it somehow keeps getting better unlike a certain Fox comedy that perhaps should have been put down about a decade ago.

The first two parts of the "Imaginationland"-trilogy have been absolutely brilliant. Take note Family Guy: this is how you work in pop culture references as jokes. As Cartman explained in the equally ingenious "Cartoon Wars" episodes, South Park's jokes are not just throwaway non-sequitors, but actually work in the context of the story. The "Imaginationland" episodes have managed to work in references to Saving Private Ryan, The Abyss, "Thundercats" and damn near every other 80's cartoon staple plus comment (in a heavy-handed, but nonetheless funny way) on the climate of fear created by the ever-popular war on terror.

How can you not love a show where Kurt Russell gets raped by small woodland creatures? Can't wait for next Wednesday.

Here's half of part 1 (the rest is out there too, if you just dig a bit):

South park 1110 imagination land part 1
Uploaded by Itachi117

Movie Recommendation of the Week (for um, next week..)

They sure as hell don’t teach you this stuff in American history class. If Ridley Scott’s new film, American Gangster, is to be believed, then Frank Lucas was one of the most notorious (and ingenious) criminals in modern U.S. history. Morality aside, I came away with what can only be described as admiration for the man. Of course you can’t really separate what he did from the consequences and repercussions of his actions (he was a part of a drug epidemic that brought Harlem, if not NYC to its knees in the 70s), but you have to begrudgingly respect his business acumen.

Denzel does his usual thing playing Frank Lucas. I couldn’t really picture anybody else besides maybe Don Cheadle or Jeffrey Wright playing the role. Don’t get me wrong, I like Washington, but you already know what to expect from him. He’s a superstar and it’s impossible for a superstar to get lost in a role. The audience always sees that guy just beneath the surface. It doesn’t detract from the movie to be fair though.

Russell Crowe gives a good turn as the incorruptible cop set out to bring Frank Lucas down. No scenery chewing, but then I don’t think any could ever accuse Crowe of doing that in any film save maybe A Beautiful Mind. I’ve always dug his performances from L.A. Confidential to The Insider. The rest of the supporting cast ranges from solid to great with special nods to Ruby Dee and Josh Brolin (the former Goonie has had a resurgence of late giving another outstanding performance in No Country For Old Men. Seeing how Sean Astin has made some good films in the recent past, maybe Corey Feldman’s next? Wow…).

I’m usually fairly cool to Ridley Scott’s films. Alien is the only one I love unabashedly. I don’t remember Thelma & Louise or (I’m ashamed to admit this) Bladerunner. I’ll have to add American Gangster to that sparse list. I don’t want to review the film, because I think it has some real pleasures in it that the viewer should just discover on his or her own. I’ll just say the picture is highly recommended. I'll be lining up to see it again when it gets its theatrical wide release November 2nd. I'd love to fly out to L.A. to watch this movie at the Arclight. Why can't they build a Cineramadome here in NY? It's completely unacceptable that the Left Coast should have something we don't. Somebody needs to get on that...

Braniac Dumb-Dumbs Bust the Scientifical

One of the world’s most critically revered music outfits decides to release their 7th LP in what can only be described as an irreverent interpretation of free market economics. The morning of October 10th I received an email informing me that I could now download In Rainbows, the unexpected (originally due out in ’08) new release from Radiohead. In a couple of months, I’ll receive the rest of my purchase including the vinyl, CD with bonus tracks, plus various sundries. All the hoopla surrounding how the band’s inspired distribution method would affect the music business writ large threatened to overshadow a much more pertinent question: Is the album any good? I’d say, well of course, it’s Radiohead, but of course that doesn’t suffice for the non-/casual fan. Well upon first listen, it’s clear the album won’t win any new converts. However, those of us who have watched (or rather listened to) the evolution of this band will find many subtle yet significant changes in how they seem to be making music. When a band has made seven full-length records (plus material for at least four more), some complacency is expected, perhaps unavoidable. In Rainbows is not the sound of a self-satisfied band.

I don’t think it’s possible for the three main creative drivers of the band: Yorke (frontman), Greenwood (lead guitarist) and Godrich (producer) to be complacent. I’ve always pictured Nigel Godrich (the band’s producer since OK Computer) as this not so much mad as intensely focused chemist constantly working to create something special with the elements of the band; always tinkering with the formula (on a molecular level) from one record to the next. I’ve felt like that since watching Meeting People is Easy which had footage of the guys in the studio. They seem like the type of people who’ll stay in the studio for days on end to get an interesting take on a song. Jonny Greenwood just seems to bring an inexhaustible reservoir of creative energy. And Thom Yorke? Well he’s my Dylan, my Lennon, my pre-Player’s Club Ice Cube. Together they’ve created some of the most compelling and innovative pop music of the last decade.

Looking back, Radiohead’s 4th album, Kid A was the equivalent of Tiger Woods rebuilding his swing from scratch. Observers wondered aloud why you would screw with perfection. When Radiohead released OK Computer in 1997, it was hailed as the most important recording since the Watergate tapes. Critics ranked it up there with Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s. Such praise can be deadly for young artists. As Yorke succinctly puts it in Meeting People is Easy:

“It’s like a supply and demand thing…this is what they want me to do, this is what they want to hear, so I can do more of this, this is great and they love me…[this] can be the demise of so many recording artists, because suddenly they start giving you cash as well, suddenly you’ve got money and you get used to this lifestyle. And you don’t want to take any risks, they’ve got you by the balls…you’ve got all this baggage you’re carrying around with you everywhere. You’ve got all these things that you’ve bought or you’re attached to…that’s how they get you.”

So Radiohead goes into the studio and conceives a record that shows almost no trace of OK Computer’s DNA. Some interpreted this as an In Utero-style kiss-off to critics and newly acquired fans alike, but that’s not what it seemed like to me. I felt it was a group of artists saying, you know what, we just want to make music that’s interesting and honest; music beholden only to ourselves. Contrast this to Coldplay who after the success of Parachutes basically decided that they wanted to become the most popular band in the world. Hope it works out for them. No really.

Radiohead’s sound as I said earlier is constantly evolving. This evolution begins and ends with Yorke’s voice. As a friend of mine once noted, it’s as if Thom Yorke isn’t even trying to sing anymore. And indeed, he really doesn’t. He doesn’t so much sing as deploy his voice into the soundscapes the band creates. Granted there are still songs where he does just sing the hell out of a song (see: “How to Disappear Completely”), but often he uses his voice (along with deft digital manipulation) as an exceptionally versatile instrument (see: “Everything in It’s Right Place”). On the new album, that evolution continues with songs like Reckoner. The lyrics are difficult to make out, but Yorke’s voice drives this collage of sound that’s just downright beautiful. Radiohead began as a rather conventional guitar-band that began experimenting with organic and synthetic sounds, weaving them into a surprisingly cohesive tapestry. Others have attempted this shift. R.E.M. tried it out and I thought it fit well (see: “Up”; also produced by Godrich coincidentally), but they abandoned it. U2 got all experimental for one album (see: “Pop” which I dug a whole lot), but then decided to go back to what they did best. Radiohead continued on down the rabbit hole. Their follow-up to Kid A, Amnesiac went even deeper. Many of their songs are about alienation; lovers disconnected physically, emotionally or both; people pursuing each other, fleeing each other, seeking each other out in some surreal landscape; individuals trapped in perpetual discomfit. You know the usual. Radiohead’s songs are at turns claustrophobic and ethereal like being trapped inside the genie’s lamp.

The song I keep coming back to on In Rainbows is “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”:

In the deepest ocean
Bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I’d be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on a phantom
I follow to the end of the Earth
Fall off
Yeah everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And here’s my chance
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes

I swear in like half their songs Yorke’s being devoured by something: wolves, worms, rabbits, you name it. It sounds somber on paper, but the contrast of the lyrics to the driving beat turn it into a deceptively optimistic song. I’m also partial to "Nude", a song that has gestated for well over a decade and appeared in numerous incarnations in their live show. It’s a melancholy song (surprise!) about what happens when expectations come to fruition (“Now that you’ve found it/It’s gone/Now that you feel it/You don’t/You’ve gone off the rails”). The opener, "15 Step" didn’t grab me at first, but a few more spins and I’m nodding my head especially to the nimble bass line that kicks in at the two-thirds mark of the song. I’ve listened to the whole thing all the way through about a half-dozen times now.

This is the work of a band in full command of their talents. It doesn’t try too hard to be different from its predecessors, but it has its own voice. It will take another good week to properly digest the whole thing. It's a shame I'll have to wait until next year to see them perform this material. Now if only the band could figure out a way to circumvent Ticketmaster the way they have the big music labels. I guess it gives them something to shoot for.

Old Dogs with New Tricks

Radiohead's 7th LP will be released as a download this coming week. Won't make huge waves on the charts for a couple of reasons: 1.) they aren't a gorilla on the U.S. sales charts (with the exception of OK Computer) and 2.) they're only releasing it as a download for now from their website. The really sweet part though is that for the download, they are charging--whatever you want to pay. That's right, you enter how much you want to pay for the music and that's what they charge you. That is so unbelievably cool on their part (thus ensuring that I'll be one of those 60-year olds paying obscene amounts of money to watch them play thirty years from now like Rolling Stone fans). There is also the option to purchase the deluxe edition which comes with more songs, vinyl and artwork for the reasonable price of $40(UK). I chose the deluxe, because I figured I'd buy it anyway when it hit the shelves. So with the battered U.S. dollar the purchase came to a little under something like five grand. (When did the U.S. dollar turn into the freaking Mexican peso?) I don't even own a record player, but somehow it seems worth it.

I'm glad these guys find ways to stay relevant to the music world. They've got the entrenched fan base worldwide that will probably never abandon them, but they just give you more reasons to love them. It's like your girlfriend of five years coming home one day and presenting you with every back issue of X-Men just for the hell of it. I love you guys. "Why can't we just say that every day? I'm not ashamed!"

Essential Radiohead:
1. Kid A - (the album that ushered them to the top of Olympus)
2. OK Computer - ("When I am king/You will be first against the wall/With your opinion/Which is of no consequence at all..." - Paranoid Android, greatest rock song about emotional impotence, existential dread and unborn chickens ever. Ever.)
3. The Bends - (Coldplay before Coldplay)

BTW - You can check out the new album here.

About Last Night...

Comedy is so strange. You know, I watched Knocked Up opening night back in June and I thought it was fall-out-of-the-seat funny at times. I couldn't wait to see it on DVD, because I missed a lot of lines due to the crowd laughing so much. Flash-forward a few months and here I am watching the extended/unrated version at home and I'm thinking to myself, "Wait, what exactly was I laughing at?"

For starters, Ben's (Seth Rogen) character is so obnoxious that I can't suspend enough disbelief to make the relationship with Alison (Heigl) even semi-plausible. I mean, even if Alison wasn't played by the statuesque Katherine Heigl, I'd be pressed to believe he could get a girl to fall for him. He's coarse, crude and practically charmless. Yeah, he's funny at times, but those moments seemed far more rare on the second viewing.

I will say that Paul Rudd remains the most consistently funny thing in the movie. His riff on chairs in Vegas still felt like an inspired completely out-of-nowhere bit of comedy. Unfortunately, there's not enough of him and too much of his character's wife. Leslie Mann's Debbie rubbed me a little the wrong way when I first saw the film, but watching it again, her character was downright unbearable. Ben's defense of her in Vegas when he talks about her humor and kindness just doesn't ring true as far as what the audience sees. And it remains preposterous to have a character even suggest that playing fantasy league baseball is somehow worse or even on a par with infidelity. The only scene with her that I dug was the bouncer's takedown of her and Alison at the club ("It's not that you're not hot. I can't let you in because you old as f@##...for this club, not you know, for the Earth. You old, she's pregnant. Can't have a bunch of old pregnant b!#ches running around in the club. That's crazy."). Classic.

I also never realized how much Rogen's and Jonah Hill's schtick were the same. They both have this mode where they get angry and just launch into these expletive-laced tirades until they get hoarse. Granted, it can be funny (see Hill's Knocked Up deleted-scene commentary on Brokeback Mountain or his constant mantra from Superbad, "What the f@#$!"), but it gets old fast. I still like the guy, but I hope he doesn't lean on that comedic styling too much in his next flick, Pineapple Express. I'm still pulling for him to make funny movies. I actually enjoyed him in Superbad ("Did you just c@ckblock McLovin'? We're supposed to guide his c@ck.").

Speaking of Superbad, it actually does stand up to repeat viewings. Watching it a second time, I still found myself laughing jokes I'd just heard/seen a few weeks prior. Much credit to Hill and Cera. I wouldn't say it's as funny as what's for my money the funniest movie in the last few years, Talladega Nights, but it's a definite keeper. I should go rewatch 40-Year Old Virgin too. I remember thinking it was good but not great at the time, but I've never revisited it. Maybe I'll give Knocked Up another shot in a couple of months; watch it with someone who's never seen it; gauge his or her reaction. We'll see.

What a difference a few months makes. Wow.