Review: Lana Del Rey's Born to Die

I spent a good amount of time defending Lana already, so there's really no need to re-hash that.  There's an actual album of music in our hands now and it's time, as hard as that may seem to be, to review the music for what is - as opposed to what the music should or should not be, as based on your preconceptions of Lana Del Rey. 

FOTM Movie of the Year Award/Oscar Sighs

So the Academy Award Nominations are out.  Usually I don't care much for film awards, only because I know that I've never gone out of my way to watch all the high profile movies that seem to sweep awards seasons.  Still, there's always been something appealing about the Oscars, perhaps because it stands in direct contrast to The Grammys, an awards ceremony that seems less and less relevant every year.  At least with the Oscars, the choices (and this is debatable) tend to mean something.

I really don't have an overwhelming amount of commentary on this year's nominees.  I will say that there's a lot of movies on that list that I either have no desire to see (sorry, Hugo and Extremely Close and I'm Going to Make You Cry Every 13 Seconds) or want to see that I have yet to see (Moneyball and Tree of Life). I still don't know what The Artist is.  It has something to do with silent movies.  Okay.  Also, it seems to have every other award possible.  Great.

Honestly, the only point that I really wanted to make was that I was disappointed with the snubbing of 50/50 and Drive, probably the two best movies from last year.   Especially Drive.

Still, have no worries, Drive - I'm awarding you with the 1st Annual Fortress of Terrible Mixtapes Movie of the Year award.  Contact me to collect your prize, a certificate that I'll draw on a piece of paper when I've heard from you.

Review: Of Montreal's Paralytic Stalks

Of Montreal has a lot of baggage associated with it.  I mean that in two ways.  First, and most obviously, Kevin Barnes has infused of Montreal with an intense amount of emotion and personal reflection over the last few albums; this album being no exception.  Secondly, however, the band of Montreal, itself, has gone through such an evolution over the years that it is almost impossible to write about the band without calling attention to the fact that today's of Montreal is almost a completely different band than the of Montreal of yore.

Beck Week, Day 5

Wrapping it up with Beck week, I thought I'd talk about an album that I didn't truly appreciate until more recently:  One Foot in the Grave.

Beck Week, Day 4

I was going to write some Beck-related entry yesterday, but just didn't find the time for it.  We could pretend that this blog was protesting SOPA, but I'm not sure that'd fly.  Which is fine, because I'll just say that I was building up energy for today's topic:  My favorite Beck album.

Let's talk about Odelay.

Beck Week, Day 2

Let's talk about Mutations.

Defending Lana Del Rey

Somewhere in the summer of 2011, I was introduced to a song called "Video Games" by one Lana Del Rey.  I had heard the song mentioned once or twice, but besides that, I had absolutely no context as to who she was and what this song was about.  At that moment, the hype was still small enough that I could download the song and listen to it without having the opinion of another music fan forced into my face first.  Perhaps this was the best possible way to be introduced to LDR.

Beck Week, Day 1

For, really, no other reason than the fact that I like him (alot), I've deemed this:  Beck Week.  And, just because I can, I'm going to talk about a Beck album everyday this week.  The albums I've picked are not picked because they are my favorites nor are they to be presented in any particular order.  I've just picked 5 Beck albums that I feel like talking about. 

And so, on day 1, let's talk about Midnite Vultures.

Stuff I Forgot to Listen to in 2011

The following is a list of albums from 2011 (some may be from earlier) that I still haven't listened to yet and intend to.  This list mostly exists so that 6 months from now I can read this again and kick myself for still not getting around to listening to them.

Best Albums of 2011

So, just to briefly recap, here are the albums I thought were the best of last year.  If you have a differing opinion, you are invited to argue about it with me.

20.  My Morning Jacket – Circuital
19.  tUnE yArDs – W H O K I L L
18.  Monster Rally – Coral
17.  SebastiAn – Total
16.  Battles – Gloss Drop
15.  They Might Be Giants – Join Us
14.  Foster the People – Torches
13.  Cage the Elephant – Thank You, Happy Birthday
12.  Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
11.  Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain, In the Cloud
10.  Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will
9.  Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
8.  Cults – Cults
7.  Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
6.  …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Tao of the Dead
5.  Teenage Moods – Mood Ring
4.  Rozwell Kid – Rozwell Kid
3.  Wilco – The Whole Love
2.  M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
1.  Peter Bjorn & John – Gimme Some

Welcome to this Thing

It's a new year (this one being called 2012), and I'd like to think that its going to be a better year than previous ones.  Of course, that seems like a bigger challenge than usual, considering how this is supposedly the year that the world goes to hell and John Cusack has to get his kids onto a boat.

New Year's resolutions are pretty awful.  You know this and I know this.  I refuse to make them.  In fact, my former resolution to no longer make resolutions is the first only one I had ever stuck with, and I see no reason to jump off that wagon.  Still, there is something mildly refreshing about a new year that makes you want to pretend that you're going to be a new human.

And so here I am, attempting to try some new things in 2012.  One of those would be this blog.  Mind you, this blog is a little nonessential, but are there many (any) blogs that aren't?  My goals for this thing are as follows:

• Talk about new music that I have listened to.  I do a lot of this in the course of the year, and I've always wanted to keep a journal about my impressions of the new stuff I listen to.  I've tried this before, and failed.  
• Talk about other nerd things that are currently being enjoyed by me.  I go through nerd phases.  Sometimes I really like video games.  Sometimes I really like comic books.  Sometimes I really like video games about comic books.  
• Talk about the ideas I have for projects that I'll (probably) never complete.  This happens a lot, and I'd be nice to record all of these attempts so that I can look back at them later and wonder what the hell I was thinking.
• Other things not covered by the bulleted points above.

Anyways, I'm not seeking Internet fame with this blog, nor am I hoping to amass a group of followers.  I simply want a place to record things in a setting that's public enough that if someone was interested enough, they could read it too.