One Too Many Mornings - Dylan (Song)

 

Dylan is too big, too mythic perhaps, for me to try to tackle in his entirety here (not that I would even be qualified for such an endeavor). So instead I have chosen just one out of his hundreds of excellent tracks to cast a little light on. That light, of course, being my opinion about it, as well as the implied (and usually stated) seal of approval that comes just from being on this blog in the first place.

Coming on his third record at the beginning of the fame plateau he was to cross for decades to come, "One Too Many Mornings" has it's place as classic Dylan, but there's more to this song than that. It stands on its own as an interesting example of minimalist folk. It is "folk" in many ways: the lack of dynamics, the simplicity of structure (both lyrically and musically), but perhaps most of all it echos the very heart of folk music's aim: to voice the inner thoughts and feelings of the common individual.

Folk music could be literally interpreted as "people" music, and rightfully so. Dylan knows this and here it shines through perhaps more so than in his (arguably) more influential politically charged songs. This is a song for anyone who has ever felt worn out by life, anyone who has felt tired and sad and impotent. This does not cross political or ideological lines, it doesn't have to. In the universe of this one track the differences in individuals are even more basic than that. "You are right from your side. I'm right for mine," could be a phrase championing understanding and empathy if it were in another context, but here it carries with it a hopelessness--a feeling that the issues will not and cannot be resolved.

It is a lonely song, despite the lover spoken of, despite the mellowness. It offers no answer to these empty feelings, but simply acknowledges and expresses them. It accepts them, end of story. The harmonica isn't really going anywhere, it's just kind of...hanging around, sawing back and forth somewhat playfully but without real aim, filling in the spaces between stanzas. The main picking riff of the guitar does about as much for the song, if not less. It is simply a stage on which this one aspect of life plays out, then quickly fades away. At the end of this acceptance, perhaps we can start looking for ways to be rejuvenated, maybe we can find meaning in our relationships and trials and opinions, but I think the song is suggesting that first we have to just say, "This is how I feel. Other people have felt this way. Okay."

Happy listening.

-MA 6.17.13

----------------------------------------

Down the street the dogs are barking and the day is getting dark.
As the night comes in a-falling the dogs lose their bark.
And the silent night will shatter from the sounds inside my mind;
Cause I'm one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind.

From the crossroads of my doorstep my eyes start to fade
As I turn my head back to the room where my love and I have laid.
And I gaze back to the street, the sidewalk and the sign,
And I'm one too many mornings and a thousand miles behind.

It's a restless hungry feeling, I don't mean no one no good.
When everything I'm saying, you can say it just as good.
You are right from your side. I'm right from mine.
We're both just too many mornings and a thousand miles behind. 

Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes - 8bits Fanatics (Video Game)

He's even hotter than Harrison Ford!

I've been wanting to write about this game for a while, but what with the new systems being launched and the relative disinterest in the indie games on Xbox, I thought maybe its time had passed. Recently, however, a friend of mine sent me an article explaining how Aban Hawkins is getting another shot at life on the Wii U, so I had to jump on the opportunity to tell you all I loved it first.

Well, love/hate is probably a more accurate term to describe my relationship with Aban Hawkins. Love, because it is one of the most tightly-designed, true-to-form 2D platforming titles I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Hate, because this game is harder than an ultra-diamond. I don't know what an ultra-diamond is exactly, and maybe that's because I just made it up, but you can bet an ultra-diamond would be really hard.

The dollar I spent on Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes has the special distinction of being one of the most well-spent dollars of my lifetime. You are a treasure-hunter named Aban Hawkins. You have 1,000 lives. Throughout the game I estimate you get maybe 500 more, but that's it. If you run out of lives, the game ends and you have to start over (or simply throw away your Xbox, as the case may be). 1,500 lives might sound like plenty, but once you realize a single level easily can eat over a hundred, you start to realize that it's a scant ration. To give you an idea of this difficulty, I'll tell you how many lives I ended up beating the game with: eight. I've never been so proud. Every enemy, and nearly every obstacle, represents instant death if touched. There are some traps you cannot know about until after they have killed you. You are basically required to memorize the levels in as few runs as possible, executing your knowledge perfectly. One difficult pitfall might be responsible for thirty or so lives. You may need to resist the urge to throw the controller through the screen on occasion.

The game does indeed have many spikes.

The game starts you off in a wonderful Engrish tutorial which explains one of the key functions of the game: two different jumps. You must learn to utilize these two jumps and your ability to throw knives to navigate the ancient temples where Hawkins hopes to make his fortunes. The tutorial is quirky and weird, and gives a glimpse inside the mind of the game's twisted creators. They encourage you to "be the gamer," meaning that you should save every time you are done playing (even if all you accomplished was throwing some lives away). They also explain that "here is no checkpoint" because checkpoints make you weak and prevent you from being "the gamer."

Just looking at this shot is giving me PTSD-style flashbacks.

Anyone who is a game purest will find their home here, and not just because of the quaint 8-bit graphics, but also in the way these levels have been so carefully crafted. The creators know where your head is, it seems, and push you (as a potential "the gamer") to the very edge of what you would be willing to put up with. The reward--a shower of coins you can't spend and gems you can't sell--comes at the end of the game. But the real reward, of course, is just having conquered the thing. The beast.

Good luck!

-MA 6.11.13

She & Him Volume 3 - She & Him (Album)

In doing my research for this week's post, I learned a little about Matt Ward: There is always something interesting going on to his right.

She & Him is the stage name of musical duo Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward; perhaps you've heard of them. I was a fan of both celebrities before they formed this group, and I remember being surprised when I first found out they had teamed up. I liked Deschanel because I thought she was pretty (although that attractiveness lessened severely with each new terrible film she was in), and I was basically in love with Ward (artistically speaking, of course) for his inspired albums. Maybe one day we'll look at Hold Time on here, which (interestingly or otherwise) also features Deschanel. What I'm trying to say is, I've been a fan of She & Him since their first album. Really I could have done any and all of them.

Am I right?

I hate to say this, but I just can't get behind Deschanel as an actress. Not that she isn't capable, but her talents are largely wasted. She's in too many shallow and dumb-A movies/TV shows. You can disagree with me if you like, but I figure if you're reading this blog you are entitled to my opinion. I was pleased to find that I could stand behind her 100% as a song writer though. Aside from the covers, she writes all of the She & Him songs, and I think they're top notch. Ranging from catchy and fun (I Could Have Been Your Girl) to having real depth (London, Take it Back.)

Or am I right?

I'm reviewing only the third album, however, because I believe it is the most fully realized of the set. The songs are likable, but you may notice upon first listening that they sound a little off kilter or even lackluster. This is because--unlike so much of the music that comes out today--this album is not "tuned" for modern ears. A lot of albums that come out these days jump on on the bandwagon of "right now" engineering. This has a few effects: 1) it causes new music to sound "preferable" to many people, and 2) it makes that same music eventually sound dated*, sometimes in as little as five or six years. She and Him Volume 3 is something of a revolution against this idea. This is not an album written for today, or (possibly even worse) for tomorrow; this is an album written to be timeless. There is an effortless quality to the singing which may sound to some listeners like Deschanel lacks energy. Please see this as a deliberate stylistic choice, meant to allow the song to breathe and live for itself. It is art like a painting or a fine poem, not merely a performance of music.

Right...

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: it does sound dated, but maybe in a good way. Is that possible? What you probably mean is that these songs harken back to a "classic" era of music, namely the acoustic pop songs of the late fifties to early seventies, and of course you'd be correct. But the influence of these songs is not so much what I'm talking about. What I mean is more subtle, and will probably only interest people who pay close attention to how albums are recorded, and not only the structure of the songs, the lyrics, and the vocal style. Not everyone realizes how big a difference a recording style can make. The percussion, the rhythm and lead guitars, the vocals, bass, keyboards, everything that's in a song--all these things have been recorded in certain tones and timbers. In high budget recordings (meaning basically everything that's not a demo or made by a local band) these tones can be laboriously engineered, agonized over even. They are as much a part of the sound as anything else. Consider, for example, the difference between this and this. These are both songs that start with power chords, which in theory should sound pretty much the same since they are just fifths, but they clearly sound quite different. Obviously there's other stuff going on here--the riffs are very different--but the tone is a big part of what you are hearing.

Right right**!

This is why I've chosen Volume 3 over either of the others, or all three in general. This album speaks to the best of my recording sensibilities. I know that tone is something Ward considers to be vital to a good recording, and that's clear here. I could provide copious examples track by track, but I won't. Just listen to the horns in Together and maybe you'll start to get my drift. The album isn't trying to pandering to the 2013 you, instead the album wants the real you to try to get to know it better, even if maybe right at first you kind of don't want to.

Or, if you require another simile, it is like a very hot hot tub. You know it's going to be good, but it takes some easing into. I'd take that over an album that feels good at first, but leaves me chattering my teeth ten minutes later, just wanting to get out and towel off.  Man, I don't know where that analogy came from but am I good or what?

-MA 6.3.2013

*For a wonderful example of how this trend can make even the most respectable artists sound like dog crap, see Leonard Cohen's "Closing Time." Throw a chair!

**Needle-nose Ned, Ned the Head, c'mon buddy! Case Western High!

My Memorial Day Recommendation

It's a holiday and I don't feel like writing a review. I recommend this one! I always felt it was one of my best, but not that many people have read it.

MA 5.27.13

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - Game Arts (Video Game)

It was probably 2001, maybe 2000, when I got a phone call from my buddy Joe. He was calling to let me know that "The Game Peddler", the used video game store his older brother worked at, had a copy of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for just $35. I had been on the prowl for this PlayStation traditional RPG for a long time, and Joe knew it. I had been to every game store I knew of and all over eBay with no luck. I'm pretty sure I asked my mom to give me a ride to the mall ASAP, and I bought it, in effect becoming bankrupt of money and wealthy in soul. This was a remake of the Sega CD classic, Lunar: Silver Star Story. The remake was done by the original company, Game Arts, and was true in every way to the original.

Fully animated anime-style cut scenes, rich voice-acting sequences, and bright new sprites now punctuated the excellent story, creating what was, at that time in my life, a transcendent gaming experience. With the iOS version now available for seven bucks, I've started playing the game again. I am delighted to report the beauty and simplicity I saw in the game as a youth was not simply a lack of understanding what "quality" meant. (I mean, have you actually watched an episode of Tiny Toons in the last five years?) For RPG fans, this is a "classic" in the highest sense. The story is basically what you'd expect, yet somehow told so artfully as to never be dull.

From the iOS version, which is a direct port of the PS version.

In our present landscape of multi-path storytelling in games, it can be nice to return to a time when a game only had one masterful story to tell, a story which saw no need to be "adult" in order to be interesting. The soundtrack, the characterization, the battles and story--all of these harken back to a different time, now passed. I don't mind that video games have evolved. I finished the Mass Effect series recently and was enthralled by it, but Lunar holds a very special place in my heart. It is a tale of youth, triumph, danger, and excitement. Yes, it can be cheesy at times, but that's kind of the point. It always kind of bothered me that everybody knew about the Final Fantasy series but not Lunar. I recommend it whole-heatedly to the gamers of the world as a way to remember our roots, and in appreciation of its artistry. If you grew up without Lunar in your gaming life, I still recommend it. Pretend you are thirteen again and feel the power! The power--of LUNAR!

Now, if only they would do the same with Lunar 2.

-MA 5.20.13

Note: It is nice that this is available on iOS, but unfortunately the company that originally did the excellent translation work, Working Designs, is now defunct. Not having access to the rights to WD material, some other company redid the voice-acting and retranslated the game. I'm grateful that someone did it, but the work isn't nearly as good. But I guess you can't win 'em all!

Shardik - Adams (Novel)

I know, I know. I already did a novel recently, and these are by far my least popular posts, but come on people! Boox Я gud 4 U! I realize that a lot of the time we (as human-type people) just want to veg out, watch a movie or a TV show that doesn't ask a lot of us, or even just search the web for memes or interesting threads. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, within reason, but there's also a time and a place to put some effort into art. This is not something only books or poetry require, there are works which ask a lot of the "art intaker" in every medium, but for me I find myself "grinding" through a book more often than a movie or a TV show.

The book in review today is one I have been wanting to do for a while, but for whatever reason haven't gotten around to: Shardik, by Richard Adams. There and two things that embarrass me when it comes to this book: 1) Yet again, this is a work I know of only because of Mr. King's recommendation, as a "version" of Shardik himself appears in the third Dark Tower novel. 2) It took me more than four months to read this book. I share that with you not because I like publicly shaming myself, although that is not to say that I don't, but because in my life this is the quintessential example of something I really had to force myself to finish, but afterward appreciated more than most of the titles I read. I am a religious person, and this is a religious book. That is not at all to say a non-religious (or even non-spiritual) person would not get much out of it, for it is expertly crafted, but there is special significance to those of us who want to live a religiously moral life, but sometimes find it difficult to do so.

As I see it, the entire book is an allegory exploring what it is like to live a Christian life. Technically it is a fantasy epic, but it's pretty light on the fantasy aspect. Virtually nothing which is beyond the realm of accepted reality occurs within its pages, once you get past the twenty-something-foot tall bear, Shardik. As per my usual, I'm not going to delve much into the plot, as that is something people should discover on their own, but I will say the story involves the discovery of Shardik, a bear which is believed to be a physical representation of God on earth by the villagers nearby. The protagonist of the story, Kelderek, has a special connection with the bear, and is conflicted about how to handle that.

He is told by a holy woman that God expects him to follow Shardik. The "following" is quite literal. She explains that the young man is to walk behind Shardik wherever the bear goes, and in His own time and way, God will reveal the greatest mysteries of the soul to Kelderek. But the holy woman is not the only person with vested interest in the young man's connection to the bear. The village leaders explain that Shardik must be a gift from God to be used as a powerful weapon of war, so that the village can retake its rightful place as the true authority of the land. Though he respects the holy woman a great deal, Kelderek does not understand how following the bear could bring forth the blessings she promises. War, however, is something he understands.

The story goes on from there for quite some time, but I'm not going to divulge anything more of the plot. I think it is sufficient to say that this allegory is beautiful to me. We all have our plans, our human understanding, but God sees above all of this. He has an understanding which puts ours on par with that of an infant, or an embryo, even. I often reflect now on how much better it is to "follow the bear" than to simply do what my impulses tell me, to rely entirely on my pitiful understanding. What looks like a straight line to us does not to God, and his paths often seem bizarre. I have found in my own life it is only in looking back do I see that what He wanted, what the Spirit revealed to me, was actually the "straight" line, the path that got me somewhere of worth.

The book is also packed with action, incredible ideas, and excellent writing. It is an epic, so expect some real work in getting through the walls of description and stage-setting, but the payoff is big. Really big.

I think I may have been hesitant to write this review because I have seen more and more that religious morality is not an acceptable factor to many professional reviewers. Reviewers are expected to not allow God to influence how they feel about a work, but I think that's rubbish. My pursuit to be closer to God is a part of my life, a part of who I am. It has to be a factor. I would never discount the worth of a review on the basis that its writer did not believe in God, and I hope the worth of my review in the reader's mind will not be devalued for the inverse reason, even if the reader does not share my feelings on the matter.

-MA 5.13.2013

At the Center of the World - Bright Eyes (Song)

In high school, I was really close with one of my English teachers, Ms. Bishop. I never took a creative writing class from her, but I learned more about the creative process talking to her than from all other high school teachers combined. We had similar tastes in music and poetry, and we would often discuss what made art good or bad and how to emulate that. I remember with some clarity an exchange about song structure that I have reflected on many times over the years. I was explaining to her how, as a song-writer myself, I was interested in song structures that deviated from the common "A B A B C B B" format. She warned me that she had heard hundreds of "Lillith Fair" types performing at open mic nights or in coffee shops and how often their music lacked a "center." She said something to the effect of, "I know they think their poems are really good, and they want to just sing it all out in an unbroken line, but really, can't we just have a chorus?"

I didn't say anything at the time, but I was almost offended by how much this opinion differed from my own. Back then anything that didn't have a chorus got five automatic bonus points in my mind simply on the basis that it was "unique." I'm older now, and I understand there really isn't anything all that unique about eschewing a chorus. I'm sure she didn't mean that a song without a chorus couldn't be good, what she was probably saying was that they aberrated out of laziness or an adolescent desire to be different, not because it actually made their songs any better.

There is a reason so many songs have refrains of some kind or another: it works. It resonates with people. I understand now that if you're going to strike off down a different, less common, path, you've got to sell it. There needs to be a reason. Or, at the very least, it needs to be done with skill.

This brings us to today's review: At the Center of the World, a song which has long been one of my favorites by emo/folk/whatever band, Bright Eyes. At the Center of the World, as you may have guessed, has no chorus or refrain of any kind. It is completely linear, without even remaining emotionally constant. What makes this song work is its flow. The unusual structure of the song is only a vehicle for the art, as opposed to being the artistic statement itself. If I had not mentioned that it lacked a chorus, it is likely you would not have even noticed. I certainly didn't until hearing the song a number of times. It is as if it could not be told correctly in any other way.

The lyrics are mystic, the message unclear. I have listened to this song probably more than a thousand times, but still--when I focus on it as I listen--I am drawn in. There is something irresistible in the feeling of this song which, ironically, has no center. A story is told which ranges from the scope of a society to the personal. As listeners, we don't say, "Man, this song is so cool 'cuz it doesn't have one of those repeat-y things," we say, "Man, this song really hits me emotionally. It sticks with me." This song helped me to better understand when to break the pattern, namely, when your piece demands it.

-MA 5.6.13

Here is a YouTube video, but it's much better to listen on Spotify or simply buy the song, because this is pretty low quality audio. Be sure to read along as you listen, the lyrics are most excellent.

 

Don't talk to me about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

This was the first video to pop up on YouTube.

At the center of the world, there's a statue of a girl.
She is standing near a well with a bucket bare and dry.
I went and looked her in the eyes, and she turned me into sand.
This clumsy form that I despise...it scattered easy in her hand.  

And came to rest upon a beach with a million others there.
We sat and waited for the sea to stretch out so that we could disappear.
Into the endlessness of blue. Into the horror of the truth.
You see, we are far less than we knew. Yeah, we are far less than we knew.
 
But we knew what we could taste. 
Girls found honey to drench our hands.
Men cut marble to mark our graves. 

Said we'll need something to remind us of all the sweetness that has passed through us.
The priests dressed children for a choir but found no joy in what was sung.
The funeral had begun.

In the middle of the day, when you drive home to your place
From that job that makes you sleep, back to the thoughts that keep you awake  
Long after night has come to claim any life that still remains 
In the corner of the frame that you put around her face.
 
Two pills just weren't enough.
The alarm clock's going off,
But you're not waking up.
This isn't happening, happening, happening, happening, happening. 
It is.

-Oberst