Tempus Fugit

It's been a while since I've posted anything of substance. Time flies when you're facing fatherhood. The morning rush of dealing with people who forgot passwords is over and I've got Adrian Belew's Side One playing. I picked it up at B-Side this weekend as Pam, Bill, and I were wandering around State Street. I dunno why, but Mad City never got a copy in so I was forced to shop elsewhere. While B-Side has a wonderful selection and a nice, cozy atmosphere, there's just something about the joint that irks me. I've not been there in months but have always felt that the folks behind the counter look down on me and other customers. I don't recall anyone ever having said anything to me aside from banter like "That album comes in next week" or "That'll be $12.56" whereas the folks at Mad City having a warmer disposition and will comment on your purchase that he or she likes the album or that the band will be touring soon or something such as that. The folks at B-Side make me feel like I have to buy either an album by some obscure avant garde minimalist musician or one by an indie punk band that only 2 people in the whole world know about outside of the band themselves. Hell, maybe it's just me but that guy who used to wear the Can t-shirt is just too quiet sometimes – like he's plotting against you. Anyway, Side One is great! I've picked out a couple songs that Adrian played at the show earlier this month: "Writing On the Wall" and "Beat Box Guitar". The first 3 songs on the album feature Les Claypool on bass and Tool's drummer, Danny Carey. "Ampersand" and "Writing On the Wall" are in many ways typical Belew tunes, but the rhythm section has more muscle than usual. The third song that features the power trio, "Matchless Man", is also very typical Belew with its backward-sounding guitar bits but the tempo is slowed down and there's tabla and Claypool's bass is more restrained. "Madness" is a very Crimson-esque bit of noise reminiscent of "Thrak" – just a bit less angular. "Beat Box Guitar" starts off with a programmed rhythm and Adrian going off and doing his thing. Real drums eventually kick in and move the piece along into different territory while Belew continues to cull lots of different sounds from his guitar and lay them on top of the beat. The album ends with 3 short soundscapes and clocks in at only a bit more than 33 minutes. I have read an interview with Belew where he responds to this criticism by basically saying, "I know it's a short album but it says what I wanted to say." Honestly, that's fine with me but why did it cost $16? In this day and age, it's an EP and should have been several dollars cheaper. Still, I'm sure Adrian had little or nothing to do with the pricing scheme. I have to say that I really love this record. It features many sides of Belew and his music. You've got the heavy Crimson-esque bits along with some poppy, Beatles-like material. In addition, there's plenty of his atmospheric soundscaping and weird noises that he is famous for. This album is part of a trilogy and Side Two was released in July, methinks, while Side Three comes out later this year or early next. From what I've heard, Side Two features Belew appropriating electronica and putting it into his arsenal.

Another recent addition to my collection is Richard Thompson's Front Parlour Ballads. It's taking me some time to get into it but I'm getting there. It's an acoustic affair with Dick's brogue in fine form. After a cursory listen, no song really sticks out as being blatantly catchy but the melodies are growing on me, especially "Miss Patsy".

The weekend was good. I woke up Saturday morning only to find the den a complete disaster area. This was odd as everything was normal when I went to bed Friday night. Stevie and Becca were there watching TV. Stevie's back was still fucked up and I was told that he found himself unable to move in the wee hours of the morning so Becca moved everything and made a nice spot for sleeping in the middle of the room. This explained the furniture being in disarray but how did all the candles and cups get strewn about the joint? Pete stopped by later in the morning and we shot the shit for a while before watching the season premiere of Lost. Now that he's dating, he's gotten all mellow and sensitive. He's been dropping by lately to check in and called a couple times last week to see how I was doing. He mentioned that he'd gone to a flick with his fraulein Friday night and I asked which one and he replied, "The wrong one." Things seemed well with him. Work was work and there are definitely worse problems than having to choose between 2 women. After he left, I ran out to pick any straggling vegetables from the garden. With an arm full of tomatoes and peppers, I heard the doorbell ring so I scrambled back into the house. Much to my surprise, it was Ronaldo. He had brought one of his PCs over for me to fix and return a book of mine that he'd borrowed. In return for some computer work, he brought me a couple bottles of dunkelweiss that he'd brewed. We chatted for a bit and he invited me to a full moon party that a friend of his who lived just outside of town was throwing. He hit the road and then I showered in anticipation of Pam & Bill's arrival. They finally made it around 1. We gathered in the living room and shot the bull. Being pregnant, Pam stuck to OJ but Bill and I eagerly delved into Ronaldo's dunkelweiss. Pam had also brought her bottle of Pyrat XO Reserve rum with so I got to sample the stuff. Lemme tell ya, it was mighty fine! I can see kicking back with a snifter of that stuff. It was decided that we needed to eat and Pam had a hankering for dairy products. It was off to Sal's for pizza with extra cheese. From there, we headed over to the Chocolate Shoppe on State Street where we indulged ourselves in what is probably the best ice cream ever – Zanzibar chocolate. On our way back to the car, we made our aforementioned visit to B-Side. The sky had been cloudy all day and it was drizzling heavily by the time we had finished our venture at the CD shop. I think we were all feeling lazy and perhaps a bit tired so we stopped at a liquor store where I bought a couple 6-packs of Lake Louie. It was the first time I'd seen them as my previous visits were always greeted with empty shelves. The three of us ended up back in the living room watching Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Pam had her water while Bill and I sipped on Arena Premium and Coon Rock Cream Ale. I was a bit incredulous that neither of them had experienced the wonderful, insulty goodness of Triumph previously. Needless to say, they found him quite humorous. With that DVD being done, we started on the classic cheesy horror flick, Horror Express, starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas. In the middle of the flick, The Dulcinea came over and joined us as we slouched on the couch staring at the TV. As the hour grew late, Pam decided it was time to make the trek back to Milwaukee. She needs her sleep being heavy with child and all, plus she had a yoga class to teach the next morning. We said our goodbyes and I made sure they left with some Lake Louie and vegetables from our garden. The Dulcinea and I hit the rack not too long afterwards.

Sunday was spent alternately watching flicks and being naughty. The Dulcinea and I also had some intimate conversations in bed. We talked about how we felt about the abortion and, at one point, she asked me a very odd question. Well, I thought it was odd anyway. She asked if I were angry at her for getting pregnant. It's not like she went away for the weekend and mysteriously got pregnant. I mean, I did it. Why would I be angry at her? To correct myself, we did it. Apparently one of the two or both of the fathers of her kids were angry at her when she got pregnant. I don't understand that kind of reaction but emotions are not rational. I told her that I wasn't angry at her one bit and she seemed a bit relieved. I was worried about her more than anything. Her health, her mental well-being. I didn't want to be a father but I didn't have an embryo inside me nor did I undergo a medical procedure. It saddened me to think that either E or P would have been angry at her. To my mind, P abandoned his son by moving to New York. I don't get the impression that he doesn't love his son but he did move a thousand miles away – not the action of someone who wants to be an involved father. E, The Dulcinea' ex-husband, really comes across in the tales I've heard, as someone who really needs to get his shit together and step up as a father. Yeah, I know you can say that I have no right to be critical as I'm not a father myself, but some of the shit he pulls is just plain stupid.

Between blowjobs, The Dulcinea and I watched some flicks. One was Ju-on (The Grudge) - yes, another Japanese horror flick. (After we'd watched it, The Dulcinea said that it had been re-made here in the States starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and, oddly enough was directed by the same director, Takashi Shimizu.) It was quite good and genuinely spooky. It concerns a house in which a murder takes place and a curse (grudge) befalls all who live there. The story goes back and forth between various characters showing how people only tangentially involved get drawn into the grudge. The film also makes a jump forward in time which was confusing. But this wasn't the fault of the filmmaker but rather of this viewer. Reading subtitles and trying to keep a grip on the action and identifying characters can be quite a chore sometimes. So it takes me some time to catch up. This movie was just really creepy with the little boy painted sky blue with heavy black eyeliner showing up at the homes of various characters foreshadowing death. A pitter-patter of feet then a flash of his figure and then his menacing eyes glaring – good stuff! We also caught the first two of six episodes of a mini-series from Japanese television called "Tajuu jinkaku tantei saiko - Amamiya Kazuhiko no kikan" or "MPD Psycho" in English. The show involves a detective who is schizophrenic and is thusly Kazuhiko Amamiya, Yôsuke Kobayashi, or Shinji Nishizono depending on the day. He is brought back into the police force to solve a series of murders which involve women's skulls being sawed off and a flower planted in their gray matter or pregnant women having their stomachs opened and their fetuses replaced with phones. The language barrier proved confusing because the show is very surreal and confusing on its own and then you add in playing catch up with subtitles and it becomes a mess. But it's a good mess! For instance, the victims are all women who have a barcode on their left eye. None of the authorities find this at all odd – it's just taken as a given that there are women out there with bar codes in their eyes and this wasn't explained, though it may be in later episodes. We'll see. Another confusing bit is the censorship. As it was broadcast on TV, women's naughty bits and anything deemed too explicit for television was digitally pixilated and distorted. The box the DVD came in explains that the original unmodified footage was not found for the transfer to DVD so we have to live with it. That's not a big problem but what is is that certain scenes were intentionally modified, not for a general TV audience, but as part of telling the story and there were a couple scenes in which I couldn't tell if the pixilated bits were distorting explicit stuff or were present as a filmic device as Miike uses effects throughout the show. For instance, there are scenes when the schizo detective is outside with people talking and it looks like it is raining but no one is getting wet. The "rain" is there, I think, to give representation to his interior state. There are also exterior scenes with the police chief and a researcher from some think tank which researches crime which are tinted a bright orange with fluorescent green "snowflakes" falling. And so, when there are scenes which are totally pixilated while a character gives a spiel, I can't tell if the character is perhaps naked or a mutilated zombie or if the distortion is there to tell me something about the character or the dialogue.

I read this morning that "MPD Psycho" was originally a bit of manga (anime) or at least was before this live-action piece was made so I'm keen on seeing it after I watch the remaining 4 episodes of this version.

Also this weekend, I watched a couple documentaries by Errol Morris: Vernon, Florida and Gates of Heaven. The former is just a short profile of some of the eccentric residents of that town. I'd seen it before but it'd been a while and I was amused all over again. There's a couple at the end who explain how they'd taken a vacation to White Sands National Park (I think) in New Mexico. They watched the sand drift over the roads there and brought back some in a jar. The wife goes into the house and brings out a quart jar about two-thirds full of sand. She then goes on to explain that it was originally only about a quarter full and that the sand has grown. Classic! Gates of Heaven profiles two groups of people who opened pet cemeteries. Like Vernon, Florida (and indeed all of Morris' works), it's all character study. The first part involves a well-meaning but slightly off-kilter guy who opens a pet cemetery with some friends only to see his dream fall to pieces. His religious convictions and lack of business acumen contrast with the colder, more profit-minded comments of his former partners. The second part profiles a family who runs a successful pet cemetery in California as the father passes the business down to his sons. We get a spiel on the business itself followed by looks at the two sons and how they got to the point of taking it over as both had sought their fortunes elsewhere. There are some really strange people in this world. I also rented Kagemusha by Kurosawa but have yet to watch it.