Daily Archives: December 28, 2008

How do you make God laugh?

Posted by Marco Sparks on

It’s Sunday on the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and everything feels, I don’t know, a little laid back. At home, at work, everywhere, right? What better time to take it easy and relax, what do you say? Why don’t you relax with us as we listen to one of our favorite albums, Plans, by Death Cab For Cutie, courtesy of youtube, hmm?

Track 01: “Marching Bands Of Manhattan“

“It’s true what you said, that I live like a hermit in my own head,” is a line from this song that I’ve never been able to shake, honestly. On an album that is so very much about the Big Issues such as death and loss, I think this line is incredibly important. Because after you lose something, where do you go?

Track 02: “Soul Meets Body“

This was the first single from the album and, of course, leaked early onto the internet. The record label was understandably displeased with that development, but Ben Gibbard was quoted as saying, “I love it. The more anarchy we can give the record industry, the better.” Personally, I think that’s the perfect thing for the lead singer of a much beloved and respected indie band to say about the first single from their major label debut, don’t you?

Track 03: “Summer Skin“

Much the same way that Radiohead couldn’t possibly exist in it’s current form without Thom Yorke’s voice, the same could be said for Ben Gibbard‘s voice. Not just his lyrics, mind you, but his voice too. It holds the entire package together, buoying it nicely on his foundation of fragile intimacy and a boyish sense of romance, both idealized and heartbreakingly remembered.

Track 04: “Different Names For The Same Thing“

This is was (before the lawyers snuck in there) the version of Directions, the video album that followed shortly after the release of Plans, and which gave 12 different directors a chance to interpret the songs their own way. This video is directed by Autumn de Wilde. The video is quirky and silly, but it’s always really fun and I like it a lot.

Track 05: “I Will Follow You Into The Dark“

This was the third single released from the album, and probably the best known song from the album. And while it’s not a title track, it’s almost certainly the mission statement of the album. Of the song, Ben Gibbard said this: “It’s the just idea that what if somebody dies and we’re just floating, just stumbling around in infinite darkness, and I’m just trying to find some kind of spiritual kind of peace with myself, and the world.” This is a home made video I found online, and there’s two official videos, one for the single release featuring Gibbard playing the song on his band while an expanding dark abyss begins growing on the floor of his apartment and one from Directions. I didn’t find the the single version, but if you can, I highly recommend watching it.

Track 06: “Your Heart Is An Empty Room“

“And all you see is where else you can be when you’re at home,” the song says. “On on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone.” A perfect description of self-enforced loneliness, perhaps?

Track 07: “Someday You Will Be Loved“

To me this sounds very much like a Decemberists’ song and it’s a lovely reverse on what you think you’re in for with the somewhat sappy title because the boy is leaving the girl here, telling her that soon she’ll forget about him when someone new comes along, which seems to be quite the opposite of the normal pop song, no? Anyways, this is the Ace Norton video for the song from Directions.

Track 08: “Crooked Teeth“

This was the second single from the album and is definitely one of my favorites of not just this album, but the band’s entire catalog, and highlights the band’s almost genius ability to combine melancholy with a nice sense of rocking about. “You can’t find nothing at all if there was nothing there all along.”

Track 09: “What Sarah Said“

Wow, so much to say about this song. This song is possibly my favorite song off the album and by the band as a whole. It’s also the closest thing to a title track on this album and I’ll share with you here what Ben Gibbard said about the album as a whole: “I don’t think there’s necessarily a story, but there’s definitely a theme here. One of my favorite kind of dark jokes is, ‘How do you make God laugh? You make a plan.’ Nobody ever makes a plan that they’re gonna go out and get hit by a car. A plan almost always has a happy ending. Essentially every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time. I really like the idea of a plan not being seen as having definite outcomes, but more like little wishes.”

Track 10: “Brothers On A Hotel Bed“

The first line of this song is “You may tire of me as our December sun is setting because I’m not who I used to be.” I always seem to think this is the last song of the album when I listen to it, but it’s not, even though it would be a perfect one. Also, when I listen to this song I can’t help think of the line “If the silence takes you, then I hope it takes me too,” from “Soul Meets Body.” Above is the video for the song from Directions, directed by Josh Victor Rothstein.

Track 11: “Stable Song“

Despite my always thinking the previous track is the last song on this album, this is the last song, and it’s a beautiful one. I’ll end this with how drummer Jason McGerr described this album: “If Transatlanticism was an inhale, then Plans is the exhale.” Hope you enjoyed listening with us. Take a deep breath and we’ll catch you next time.

My year in lists, part three: Memento Mori.

Posted by Marco Sparks on

Like I said yesterday, while I started a bit early, I wanted to talk about some of the incredibly talented people who’ve left us behind, and now faced with that prospect, I know that there’s no way I can truly do that subject justice. But every year someone famous dies, leaving behind a (possibly) nice body of work, and all we can hope to do is remember them and why we liked them in the first place, right?

“The fall will probably kill you!”

Paul Newman, 1925 – 2008. The George Clooney to Robert Redford’s Brad Pitt. My mother made sure that our household when I was growing up was always very pro-Redford, so other than The Sting and Butch And Sundance, I had to discover Mr. Newman on my own, but even for just those two classics alone, he deserves high notice on this list. And for Road To Perdition. And, of course, for his delightful line of salad dressings.

“Florida, Florida, Florida!”

Tim Russert, 1950 – 2008. Here was the pundit that you didn’t quite realize the worth of until he was gone. This was the everyday kind of guy who knew what he was talking about and wouldn’t let himself be bullshitted. Am I the only person that missed his wild infectious enthusiasm for the sports of politics this last election cycle?

“Who’s the man who would risk his neck for his brother man?”

Isaac Hayes, 1942 – 2008. I don’t think it even needs to be explained why this is such a powerful loss. Just listen:

We’re just gonna try to forget about the whole Scientology thing though, alright?

“I was never one to obsess about the past. Too much to do in the future!”

Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919 – 2008. Mountain climbing and philanthropy. Not too shabby. Hillary, if you don’t know is one of the first men, along with sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, to reach Mount Everest’s summit in 1953. When Hillary got back, he told his longtime friend, George Lowe, “Well George, we knocked that bastard off.” Awesome.

“One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one…”

David Foster Wallace, 1962 – 2008. A real loss. Not only a writer who had impressive output and influence, but who whose better days seemed to be laying ahead for him. Not so much, according to this very informative bit from Rolling Stone.

A remembrance of things past.

Harold Pinter, 1930 – 2008. A heavyweight of storytelling. Do I need to explain why Pinter is fantastic, do I? Do I really (though I still have some questions about The Birthday Party, but I’ll let them slide for the moment)? Maybe I’ll just throw out this clip as proof of the man’s immense worth:

That’s “The Betrayal,” one of my favorite episodes of Seinfeld, based on Pinter’s The Betrayal, but you can also find the entire episode on youtube, only re-reversed, which is actually kind of… unsatisfying.

Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.

Michael Crichton, 1942 – 2008. The sad thing is that his dead didn’t have any effect on me at all, you know? And it is sad because when I was ten, Crichton’s books made reading and being smart and most importantly wanting to be smart and enjoy that kind of thing in your reading cool. For a long time, this was the author who released a small masterpiece every few years and typically backed it up with a new degree that just screamed authenticity about whatever his latest cautionary tale was about, but the last few books… Tremendous crap. Not just the writing, but the angles he approached them from (he didn’t believe in global warming and thought that SETI was more religious idealization than anything approaching near science) and petty attacks on critics. He finished one last book before he died and it will be released in May of next year. Personally, I’m crossing my fingers in hope of the redemption of a literary master.

“I want to be evil.”

Eartha Kitt, 1927 – 2008. Not only did Miss Kitt want to be evil, but she made me want to fall in love with an evil girl. An affliction I’m happy to have still not quite shaken off.

“…From my cold dead hands.”

Charlton Heston, 1923 – 2008. This one’s tricky, especially since in the last few years of his life, Heston’s come to stand for and be a proud symbol of a lot of the things I despise in this world. And yet, the man was a brilliant actor once upon a time…

…which may seem like a trite statement when coupled with a clip from Wayne’s World 2 (which is a brilliant movie, alright?), but it’s very indicative of how strong of an actor Heston could be, even in cameos. And cameos were what he specialized in back in the 90s. But try not to remember the man as the racist gun nut that he died as, but as the mega star of biblical classics and Touch Of Evil and The Omega Man and The Planet Of The Apes. Oh, and another thing: “Soylent Green is people!”

“Why so serious?”

Heath Ledger, 1979 – 2008. This is the very definition of an actor cut down in his prime. By the end of The Dark Knight, you’re just hungry for the return of this character the way that Ledger’s played him, but you want to run out of the theater and get your hands on everything this actor’s ever done before and devour it. And sadly, while there’s been some wonderful films in his filmography, there’s also been some crap, and he leaves behind too small of a legacy for an actor so tall in talent.

Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits.

Just note that other blogs will merely refer to the seven dirty words you can’t say on television, but Counterforce goes there and tells you them flat out. We’re fucked up, nasty people, we are. But from there we go into the creator of that bit of comedy, George Carlin, 1937 – 2008, and Bernie Mac, 1957 – 2008. I list them together because they’re both hilarious comedians who’ve certainly made their mark but also because I’m not huge fans of them, but for similar reasons on opposite ends of the sprectrum. Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to too much Carlin, but more of the people who were inspired by him, and yet somehow, I feel like I was more exposed to the comedians who inspired Mac. Somewhere in there is a happy medium in which I respect both of these funny men.

Countdown To Mystery.

Steve Gerber, 1947 – 2008. I end this list with the man you’ve probably never heard of, and that’s a shame. Gerber was a giant in the comics industry, creating Howard The Duck, which you can see up above (and yes, you remember the movie, you know you do)(cause it was hot, sweaty genius, it was)(nevermind it, though, go read the original comics, which were brilliant) and the awesome Omega The Unknown, not to mention work on hundreds of other titles. The man was loud and opinionated and he backed it up with awesome skills. Also, you can watch Howard The Duck on hulu, which you should totally go do right this second.