The Dems fail again.

This really annoys me. Some of the Democratic presdential candidates went to a panel on gay rights, and Bill Richardson has the gall to say that being gay is a choice? And it's a choice because he doesn't understand science? Okaaaaay.

What makes no sense to me whatsoever is why so many mainstream Democrats refuse to support gay marriage, but they support civil unions. They must think that supporting gay marriage would keep the religious right from voting for them. Because Billyjoe Redneck is going to say, "Well gee, I was gonna vote for Hillary Clinton, but then she up an' came out in favor of gays marryin' and that's just not right."

Face it, any candidate who is pro-choice (and obviously friendly towards homosexual cohabitation) is not going to win over any new fans regardless of whether the M word is at stake. These people need to get with the program.

I Said It First!

This band LostAlone is SO good. I wouldn't be surprised if they were huge in a year or so. Musically, they're not as woefully emo in style as their unfortunate name, page layout and self-consciously dark song titles suggest. They're more like 80s metal-meets-prog rock-meets-Britpop-meets- emo. Which sounds like a car wreck, but its NOT. It's just what rock should be.

I downloaded Say No to The World. The whole CD is gold. It's rare for an indie-label debut to sound so focused and confident. It's magic when something born of despair is crafted into something to make people happy. Sorry Billy; this is what Zeitgeist should have been.

Listen to the "Gospel" demo on their profile all the way through. It's not on the album, but it's still my favorite song. I have to find a way to listen to it outside of MySpace.

Apparently they're quite big in Germany, rising stars in their native Britain, and unknown in the U.S. They have been nominated for Best British Newcomer in the Kerrang Awards (Kerrang magazine being the foremost hard rock publication in the UK), so I'm not the only one who thinks they're worth something. But I'm the first person on Facebook to tag these guys. I'm sure there will be more when I'm done evangelizing.

Zeitgeist again

For the record, the more I listen to Zeitgeist the more I really like it. This video is probably of interest to no one but me, but it shed some light on the album's production and you can hear part of each song in the background. Billy is so articulate and knowledgeable and Jimmy looks so healthy, it makes me happy.

I miss James though. >>


Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist Track By Track

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Oh Asia.

This amused me.

Just one more reason I worship Toothpaste Drew

toothpastefordinner.com

The Zeitgeist that only kinda sorta arrived: Reformed Pumpkins neither disappoint nor impress

I’m not terribly blown away by the Pumpkins’ comeback album Zeitgeist. It’s worth owning, as a Pumpkins fan, but it’s no Mellon Collie. And it’s clearly trying to be a throwback to that sound, with the emphasis on metallic crunch. It also recalls the lush dark harmonies of 1998's Adore (though not as adeptly) and the strained, almost incoherent overdubbing of their last record, 2000’s Machina: The Machines of God. I liked Machina quite a bit for all its flaws, and loved the extremely underrated Adore. Zeitgeist strives to outdo these two Pumpkin “disappointments” and go back to the hard-rocking days before the group began to splinter in 1996. But, as is to be expected when only half the band bothered to reunite, Zeitgeist gets only halfway there. It’s a good record, but it’s not going to win over any new fans or launch the Pumpkins back into relevancy.

The album opens with the second single, “Doomsday Clock,” which never impressed me when I first heard it, but has grown on me. The lyrics are a little weak – I can’t tell if it’s about the Apocalypse or Billy’s loneliness – and include the phrase “sakes alive!” At first I heard “snakes alive,” though, and realized it could be worse. There are some really strong tracks after that, though. The heavy “7 Shades of Black” has a great riff that sounds like MC's “Where Boys Fear to Tread,” which makes up for the almost too-emo lyrics “how unjust you are/ for bustin’/ my black heart”; “fall in hate with me”), but the track never really comes to a statisfying climax. It just gets better, thought, with the gorgeous “Bleeding The Orchid.” This album highlight sounds like a dark Adore-era melody with a rich Mellon Collie swirling guitar edge, and Billy’s voice really shines on it. Following that is “That’s The Way My Love Is,” a bright and poppy number that sounds like a mix of the better Machina songs. It’s neither deep musically nor lyrically, but it was one of the few songs to immediately demand isolated replay. Then comes good old “Tarantula,” and it’s easy to see why it was chosen as the leadoff single. The interlude guitar solo is the most old-school Pumpkins sound on the whole disk. The punchy, syncopated “Starz” (the obligatory misspelled song – no Pumpkins disk lacks one), is one of the more innovative compositions on here, and while not particularly catchy, it contains the line “What hurts so much is knowing we are free,” which actually made me think.

No Pumpkins release is complete without a 9-minute-plus opus, and this time they serve up the call-to-arms “United States.” Some bands seem suited to political statement– whether born that way like Bob Dylan and Bad Religion, or eventually unable to withstand the despair of the times without a comment, like Bright Eyes and Green Day. Personally, Billy Corgan is one whom I can do without crying “Revolution!” again and again, though the ominous back up “la da das” are pretty awesome. Most of the song’s length is devoted to a feedback-filled interlude uncomfortably reminiscent of Dory trying to speak “whale” in Finding Nemo. Some critics love this song; I really could do without it.

The second half of Zeitgeist really loses steam after “United States.” “Neverlost” is another Adore throwback, with an electronic marimba bassline and repetitive, cycling lyrics. It’s harmless, with a nice little harmony-and guitar-rich nugget of a bridge. In fact, many songs on Zeitgeist, like this one, have strong bridges and weak verses. You wonder how much better they could have been if Billy had crafted the songs from the inside out, making the bridge the main melody. “Bring the Light” is a rather dull pop song with no lyrical or melodic strength to speak of, except a kickass instrumental solo near the end. On the other hand, despite its limited melodic range, I really enjoy the upbeat “Come On (Let’s Go).” “For God and Country” is another anti-Bush song, but that’s about all it’s got to its credit, except, once again, the bridge. The lyrics contain some nice conflicted bits (“It’s time to wake up for good / I can’t help you though I should”), but don’t really go anywhere or culminate in any sort of statement. The final track, “Pomp and Circumstances,” is the only really soft song on here. The instrumentation is unusual, maybe the closest to Enya the band has ever ventured. It’s supposed to be beautiful, and parts of it are, but it doesn’t hit any of the heartwrenching heights of past Pumpkins ballads. Thankfully, however, it’s infinitely less annoying than the graduation song it’s named after. I'd march down the aisle to it any day.

The main things that are ever-present throughout Zeitgeist as a record are: (a) unfortunate song titles, (b) ever-present loud driving guitar fuzz, and most uniquely to the Pumpkins’ catalogue, (c) near constant use of overdubbed vocal harmonies. And I don’t like them. Listening to Zetigeist, one would think Billy’s not that good at arranging or mixing vocal harmonies. But then I remembered the absolutely haunting harmonies on much of Adore (“To Sheila” being the best of these), Siamese Dream’s blissful closers “Sweet Sweet” and “Luna,” even loud stuff like “The End is the Beginning is the End” and “The Aeroplane Flies High,” and most impressively, the old B-side “Dreaming,” a hidden gem which has always made me wish Billy and D’Arcy had recorded more duets. I don’t know why he relies on harmonizing with himself so much this time around; James and D’Arcy rarely played the role in the past; and even on the hugely over-layered Machina, usually one vocal track was enough. But I wouldn’t mind the excess if the man hadn’t apparently lost his ear for it.

In the end, Zeitgeist sounds like exactly what it is: a broken band who wants to rock again, and to do it with a statement. I was kind of pessimistic about the result of a SP reunion, so I can’t say I’m terribly disappointed that they’ve produced a merely “good” album. At this point I’d say it’s on par with Machina overall, but doesn’t measure up to their earlier work. Compared to Machina, Zeitgeist is more even, but less eventful. It really lacks its predecessor’s diversity of sound, and even the best tracks here pale against the splendor of “Stand Inside Your Love” or “Age of Innocence.” Thankfully though, it doesn’t suffer from Machina’s palpable last-legs artificiality or conceptual pretension. In fact, for all its pseudo-politicking, Zeitgeist feels like the least pretentious Pumpkins record since 1991’s Gish. For the first time perhaps ever, Billy and Jimmy sound like they’re enjoying themselves. And that alone is worth the price.

Mutterings from wounded gums

I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday, and it really was awful at first -- the gauze in my mouth was so uncomfortable, and I couldn't even drink the milkshake my mom made for me because it was too cold. But now I'm feeling pretty good as long as I don't poke at the holes in my gums. And take my vicodin. :) No adventures for a few days, alas. On the plus side, I might drop a few pounds. XD Mel and Jen are coming to visit me, so it's all good.

My concert buddy and fellow future Cantabridgian Guy (that's what people from Cambridge call themselves...cumbersome, ain't it?) invited me to the Brand New show in Lowell this December. I had been listening to them rather obsessively on the tour bus in Asia, so of course I'm really psyched, but...DECEMBER? This guy is on top of his stuff. I love him. I bought our tickets and he's handling the car business. Why Lowell? Boston venues must suck or something. Also, everyone (*cough*MUSE, Bright Eyes, Dashboard*cough*) is playing New England in the summer and Cali in the fall. >> I probably should have gotten Projekt Rev tickets...but they were overpriced, and I just saw MCR anyway XD. Plus I'm reserving my Taking Back Sunday show for a date with Guy, since they're one of the few of his bands he's still never seen, and Placebo and Saosin...eh, their time will come. Plus I disapprove of Chester's deliberate misspelling (my pet peeve) in the tour name. For shame, neighbor, for shame!

I played a Wii for the first time last week! I went with Jenny to buy hers, since she's been on the waiting list for a month. We played lots of Sports and I got fairly competent at tennis, of all things. I'm awful at the surgery game and pretty bad at the cooking game, though, because I really can't control the fine position of the remote very well. I always kind of sucked at gaming, which is why I never got too into it beyond old school Nintendo. XD I've been feeling very attached to Jen ever since our trip together. To be honest, it's going to be hard for me to leave her next month. We were just as far apart during college, but our grad school/med school breaks will be shorter, and things are different now between us. And here I thought we might fight and be sick of each other. Ironic.

Return from the Asian Vacasian

So I've been back in my home country for a few days now and finally got up the energy to post about my amazing trip to Asia with Jenny. It was incredible.

The first stop was Japan. My first impression was of how clean the area outside Narita airport was. Japan in general was probably the cleanest place I've been my entire life. On the first full day, we drove to Kamakura where we visited the 12th-century Shinto shrine of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, shopped and sampled bean cakes and pickles on Komachi street, and gaped at the 37-foot Great Buddha statue. Our next stop was Odawara Castle, the inside of which had been converted to a museum of relics from the samurai era. We ended the day in Atami, where we stayed in an onsen resort that was the highlight of the Japan tour. The hotel was designed like a traditional Japanese room, complete with tatami mats and rice paper screens, and we slept on the floor. Both Jen and I were a little reluctant at first to get naked iin front of these people we had to sit on a tour bus with the whole next day, but we did, and we liked it so much we went back the in early next morning. The onsen was really cool; they had outdoor and indoor baths, and I particularly liked the one full of floating rose petals. Dinner that night was a traditional banquet-style affair where we wore yukata and sat in long rows on the floor. The meal culminated in karaoke, which was awkward since the guide insisted upon my singing and I chose Basketcase by Green Day having completely forgotten that I would have to sing "I went to a whore" in front of a bunch of Asian-American parents. haha.

The next day we drove to Fuji-Hakone National Park, which was kind of a bummer because of the weather. On a clear day we would have been able to capture specatacular views of Mt. Fuji, and take a boat out onto Lake Ashii, but on that day the fog was so thick we could barely see twenty feet in front of us. We went up to the Yellowstone-esque Owakudani Valley, where the sulfur and steam made the whole place look beautiful but smell like rotten eggs. We ate the legendary eggs boiled in sulfur, which turns the shell black, and supposedly added seven years to our life spans. We also took the Hakone cable car for the "view," but could really only see the ground immediately beneath us throught the horrible fog. At last we went to Tokyo, and stayed in the Shinjuku district. We discovered that Japanese malls are equally as overpriced as American ones, we explored the brightly lit and club-stacked "midtown" where the fun's at; and found an EXCELLENT ramen place where no one spoke English at all, not even the menu. Completely at the mercy of our intuition, we ended up ordering the best meal we ate the whole trip. IT WAS SO GOOD.

We explored more of Tokyo the following day. We went to the Government Office, which supposedly had views but I just bought a bunch of stuff for my friends and a Totoro plushie for myself. Next came the Meiji Shrine, which was gorgeous -- I love the old Japanese architecture so much. They were selling all these charms at the shrine, including "A Charm For Passing An Entrance Exam," which I thought was hilarious. Then Akasuka, for more temples and a LOT of streetside shopping, and the Imperial Palace, situated by a beautiful bridge. We hit up Ginza, the expensive shopping district where we bought nothing but enjoyed the huge Sony store. Last came Rinkai Fukutoshin, a recently-built entertainment area. We checked out the futuristic Toyota showcase, ate hot pot, and watched an AMAZING sunset over Rainbow Bridge. I wish we’d had more time there to check out the SEGA Joyopolis, the trendy shopping, and the store called “Condomania,” but all the more reason to go back.

The next day we flew to Shanghai and met up with Jen’s college buddy, Sun, who’s been living there for a year working as a designer. His dog is the cutest, most hyperactive thing in existence. He took us out to meet his friends for dinner and then drinks on the roof of this bar where we could see the riverfront skyline. Shanghai is a beautiful city in a very different way from Tokyo. People talk about China as a “developing” country, and I felt it here in the most literal sense; there were huge skyscrapers being constructed everywhere you turn, including what will be the tallest building in the world when completed.

Our China tour was very different from our Japan tour. The tour guide was young and much less like a mother, and the group consisted of only seven people. This was kind of annoying for a relatively long tour, because every meal was eaten family-style in a private room, so we had to be social, and one of the men was super annoying. It’s hard to explain his obnoxiousness adequately, but he drove us nuts. His 13-year-old son was really cool though, and turned out to be a pretty big fan of both Bleach and Naruto. We both realized we get along better with 13-year-old boys than with our fellow “adults.” Haha.

Day one of touring was all Shanghai. I love the architecture there – the skyline is fantastic. We drove through some of the main parts of town, hung out in Century Park, checked out Xintian Di (juxtaposing historical buildings with a rich foreigner coffee shop district), and shopped on Nanjing Street. At night we flew to Huangshan, where we would spend the next few days.

On our way to Huangshan, mountain we went to Hongcun, the ancient Hui-style village village where Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed. It was really hot there, but it cooled off when we got up to the mountains. Huangshan is full of amazing scenery, with names like Beginning to Believe Peak. The fog was thick but incredibly fluid, and kept revealing and covering different parts of the mountains such that you could photograph the same thing within five minutes and it would look totally different. It looked like one of those monochrome ink paintings. We hiked around there to various viewpoints, up steep and winding stairs. It was definitely a highlight of the trip, and we stayed overnight in a hotel at the top of the mountain. More hiking the next day, and I was grateful for the more tolerable temperatures.

When we drove down to Hangzhou, an ancient city that has turned into a tourist mecca, I realized how much I hate heat. Ugh was it ever hot. But it was very beautiful, home to West Lake, which is full of tiny islands with temples on them. We took a self-described “gaily painted pleasure boat” to several of these islands, hearing stories about the various legendary spots in the area. We went to the Grotto of Peak Flying From Afar, a cave full of carved Buddhas, many of which had had their faces smashed during the Cultural Revolution, and to the magnificent Ling Yin Temple.

Next came the water town of Wuzhen and the city of Suzhou, which hosted amazing craft workshops. We went to an Embroidery Research Center (way cooler than it sounds), and a silk factory and watched the workers separate silk from the worms and spin it into beautiful quilts, which we bought for our parents. WE also saw the ancient Tiger Hill Pagoda, China’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, which is probably going to fall down at some point and surrounded by other cultural relics with legends behind them. The Lingering Garden was lovely, one of the most famous in the country.

Returning to Shanghai, we met up with Sun again and revisited the Bund and Nanjing Street by night, bought cheap music, had a delicious dinner and went to karaoke. It’s all private lounges there, which is much more fun because we can make fools of ourselves without embarrassment. XD

Jenny’s grandparents and uncle picked us up when we landed in Taiwan, our final stop. They took us to a temple and a traditional craft center, a hospital (boring, I know…it’s complicated), and a delicious restaurant in Taichung, where they live. They also took us to the museum of natural history that Jen frequented as a kid. They had an awesome newish hi-tech interactive exhibit on the human life cycle that was probably the best museum installation I’d ever seen, as well as the old school animatronic dinosaurs that made Jen all nostalgic. Her grandparents are so sweet, and kept insisting on buying stuff for us. And for some reason, the Taiwanese cuisine was my favorite I tasted. I even liked the Taiwanese take on Shanghai food, which we ate at the bequest of Jen’s grandpa, better than the real thing.

After two and a half days in Taichung, we joined Jen’s family friends in the awesome city of Taipei. This family is the coolest family ever. The father is a sitcom writer, the mother runs her own spa, listens to pop music, and looks like she’s 20, and the kid Eric is our age and has got the most adorable sense of quiet dry sarcasm. For dinner we went to the night market, where blocks and blocks of street vendors had all kinds of food for sale. It was very hot and crowded with young people – apparently the night market scene is kind of a big deal. The next day we went to the National Palace Museum, where most of China’s great artifacts came to reside to protect them during the Cultural Revolution. It was awesome. Then we went to the biggest bookstore I’d ever seen, and to Taipei 101, the tallest finished building in the world. It was pretty cool – the night views are stunning, and I love the design. This trip turned me into an architecture geek, which I had almost no interest in before. That night we went to a jazz club, which was kind of a cultural disjunction but really fun. Our final day in Taipei we ate donuts dipped in soymilk and went shopping for $3 Engrish T-shirts. We bought so much we were feeling a bit of buyers’ remorse at first, but when we actually got home and tried on our stuff, we both wished we had bought more! It was the perfect way to cap off our trip.

That's the short version. Without pictures. Because facing 1000 pictures is kind of overwhelming, really, and I'm lazy, and everyone who reads this has seen them and heard the stories firsthand anyway. It's just for the record, and because when I'm explaining things to you the first time I didn't have any of the names on me (thank you, pdf itinerary!).