Memories

Some people had Super Mario, others had Zelda and Final Fantasy. But for me, there was only one video game from my childhood that mattered: Gran Turismo. Now, I realize that the game was released 10 years ago but seeing how my parents never bought me a Nintendo or Super Nintendo (due in large part to me never really asking for one), 13 years old is an adequate age to still be considered part of my childhood. Don't get me wrong, I played Mario and Super Mario at my cousin's house when I would go over but it never really excited me the way GT has. Partly because I was probably too young or impatient to sit through a level of Mario and also because GT revolves around what is probably my only true passion: cars. I know its kind of a silly thing for a 22 year old guy to love but I can't help it. I've loved them since I was in diapers. Anyway, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue just released in the U.S. (a precursor, or "demo", to the full version of Gran Turismo 5 which will hopefully release next year sometime) and since I haven't found anyone to take my Xbox 360 off my hands yet, all I have to look at are videos on YouTube of other people playing the game. This got me all nostalgic and I had to look up the intros to the previous four games (which were epic by themselves).

Gran Turismo 1



This is the one that started it all. When I first got home and popped it in the PS1, I had no idea what to expect. All I had to go by was the sleek silhouette of an anonymous car draped under a silver curtain, which was the game's cover art. Once I fired up my console and saw the intro, however, I knew I had found what I'd always been looking for. The intro proceeded to blow my mind with stunning, life-like gameplay footage that made everything else to have ever graced the T.V. screen obsolete (as far as video games are concerned). Even looking at it now its hard to imagine how good the games looks, even compared to more modern offerings. Keep in mind, this is the original Play Station.

All the subsequent releases were huge improvements upon the ones they replaced, but you always got the feeling they respected the older titles. They kept the core themes and idiosyncrasies of the original but never tried to outshine the other one. Put simply, I could go back and play the original version right now and still have a hugely satisfying experience.

The only new version I've played was the downloadable demo on PS3 (Gran Turismo HD) that came out over a year ago. Even though the graphics and driving dynamics had vastly improved, there was something still very familiar about it - like a pair of old jeans or shoes. It just felt right. And this is what I love most about GT (aside from the cars): its unflinching ability to give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. A feeling that, even though everything around you is constantly changing, your old buddy Gran Turismo is there to keep you sane and bring you back to a time when things were a little bit simpler. Now, does anyone want to buy my 360?

Conceptual Art

In the wake of Aliza Shvarts' antics and those of Guillermo Habacuc Vargas, I've been inspired to surpass my monthly quota of two blog posts and write a third. Now, Shvarts' "art project" has been confirmed as a hoax while the validity of Vargas' exhibit is still up in the air. In some small way I believe Shvarts' project was the real deal but is being kept under wraps to protect Yale University's good name. There are so many things wrong both of these stories I don't know where to begin. My main concern with both of these people is that they claim they are shedding light on issues which they believe don't get enough attention. (In this case, stray dogs in Costa Rica and "the relationship between art and the human body.") What both of these people fail to realize is that through the severity and extreme nature of their art, the message disappears in a sandstorm of social outcry. Its the same with the dog, we are all aware that many stray dogs end up dead everyday but actually killing one yourself does not bring attention to the issue; it just raises debate on whether or not you're a murder. I know a way to alleviate the stray animal problem of your country, start an animal shelter. This guy isn't part of the solution. I realize the abortion thing is 99.9% fake, but its the nature of conceptual art that pisses me off. Any asshole who thinks he or she is clever can take a chair and paint it red and put it in a museum or an art gallery and call it conceptual art. Its like this band Health:
There is nothing musical about that "song". Just like there is nothing artistic about those pieces of "art".




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4-20-2008
UPDATE: I knew it! Shvarts' art project wasn't fake at all.

Candice Parker

Just figured out how to take a screen shot. Sweet.

Evil Urges

I know this was posted some time ago but I just stumbled upon My Morning Jacket's live set from SXSW, 2008. The band runs through their typical set list but includes songs from their new album Evil Urges. The new songs sound pretty cool and I've got high hopes for the new album; unlike the fiasco that was the new Ghostland Observatory album. The album drops June 10, so go cop it!

Yo David!

Who the hell decided to give Spence Pratt his own advice column? Apparently the assholes at Radar decided that it would be a good idea. The cleverly titled "Yo Spencer!" column deals with problems of "regular folks." Hey, wait, I'm a regular guy. Fuckin sweet! All kidding aside, the column has a few gems like a girl passing out in the bed of a guy she really likes and then wakes up to find she pissed in it. Should she apologize or act like it never happened?! Only the infinite wisdom of Senor Douchebag can get her out of this one. I have advice for you, sweetie: Have sex with the guy and I'm sure he'll forgive you. Good luck getting a hold of him because I'm sure he thinks you're a disgusting bed-wetter. I have a question for Spencer: How does it feel to be hated by basically everyone? Not because you were kind of a dick on T.V. (to a girl who was being a total bitch to you in the first place) but because you and your girlfriend are the fakest thing since Milli Vanilli. The wreckage of Oceanic 815 thinks you're over the top. No number of photo-ops of you feeding the homeless, curing AIDS, cancer, and ending genocide in Darfur could save you. Here's my advice to you: Dump Heidi and go into hiding.

On a lighter note, while reading Austin's post about how the Brand New demos were scrapped because they got leaked, it got me thinking about something my uncle and I were talking about the other day. He was telling me about when he used to work at Sugar Hill studios in the late '70s and early '80s, he would wander into their storage and there were all these studio sessions for huge stars like Hendrix, Clapton, and Willie Nelson, to name a few. I guess before they would play a show in Houston, they would go to Sugar Hill to rehearse in privacy. I can't imagine how many cool tracks and jam sessions are on those tapes. Its kind of crazy to think of how many songs the Beatles could have recorded but decided to scrap. That's why if I ever go to the studio ,for whatever reason, I'm documenting everything so nothing gets lost.

Here's a couple of tracks I'm glad didn't get scraped:
Pinback - From Nothing to Nowhere


The Whigs - Right Hand on My Heart


LCD Soundsytem - All My Friends

There Will Be Blood - In Communications Class

I wanted to write a blog about the Academy Awards but I didn't really get around to it so I decided to just forget about it. Recently in my Communications class, we were asked to discuss the awards and our views about the future of the movie industry. Here's my response:



Topic: Movies - Discussion Group 3 Date: February 26, 2008 1:32 AM
Subject: Movies Author: Falcon, David View PeopleLink Options for this User
I was surprised to hear about the low viewer turnout for the Academy Awards. Then again, with the writer's strike lasting as long as it did, I'm surprised it aired on schedule. I did find it more watchable than the Grammys, however.

In regards to the winners: I wasn't at all shocked that Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for lead actor for his role in There Will Be Blood (my personal favorite movie of the year). I was completely taken back at the Coen brothers dominance of the major categories. I thought No Country was a good movie but the subject matter was too ordinary to take home the award for best picture.

I don't see the Oscars as an award show that interests young viewers. The Grammys have just enough flair to keep a young audience tuned in, but both of MTVs award shows own that demographic.

I don't see the film industry as threatened as the music industry is by the digital age we live in now. That being said, I think movies will have a shorter turn-around time from theaters to DVDs to fight the illegal pirating of movies.


Pretty normal. Then, someone responded to my post and asked me why I thought There Will Be Blood was the best movie of the year:

Topic: Movies - Discussion Group 3 Date: February 29, 2008 2:34 PM
Subject: Re:Movies Author: Christopher, Steven View PeopleLink Options for this User
Please explain to me why you thought There Will Be Blood was one of the best this year.

O.K., so I did some research and found out this guy has some sort of chip on his shoulder about the movie. Here's my response to his question:

Topic: Movies - Discussion Group 3 Date: March 2, 2008 10:12 PM
Subject: Re:Movies Author: Falcon, David View PeopleLink Options for this User
Great acting, superb directing, compelling story, great score and, while it was a little long, it was far more interesting than a movie about teen pregnancy. Please explain to me why you thought it was "the worst 3-hour worthless fiasco" you've ever endured. Also, There Will Be Blood had possibly one of the best and definitely the most satisfying ending of any movie I've ever seen.

Again, normal and not in any way offensive. Then the kid starts to get gay.


Topic: Movies - Discussion Group 3 Date: March 3, 2008 1:48 PM
Subject: Re:Movies Author: Christopher, Steven View PeopleLink Options for this User
I looked at my watch 2 hours into the movie, wondering when something "compelling" was going to happen. I thought about leaving, but then figured since I'd already sat there for 2 worthless hours I might as well see if something worthwhile would happen. After another hour, your "satisfying" ending just digusted me. I am not impressed nor satisfied by watching someone be brutally murdered on screen.

Did you see this "movie about teen pregnancy," who's name cannot be mentioned?

Man, what a fag. Here's my response:

Topic: Movies - Discussion Group 3 Date: March 3, 2008 4:38 PM
Subject: Re:Movies Author: Falcon, David View PeopleLink Options for this User
Just because a movie doesn't have explosions, chase/fight scenes and fancy special effects, doesn't mean that the movie isn't compelling. The compelling story I'm referring to was the story of the protagonist who, lets face it, wasn't a good guy, try to make a living for himself and his son while fighting mother nature, a crazy evangelical preacher on a power trip and, ultimately, his own son's deafness. The superb acting by Daniel Day-Lewis allowed you to root for a guy for whom we should not being cheering. I didn't enjoy the ending because of its brutality. I enjoyed it because the antagonist, Eli, got what he deserved for exploiting his religion and family.

Now, I think we can both agree that I answered your question as to why I liked the movie properly; whereas you
answered mine with no substantial reason as to why you didn't other than you thought the movie was too long and "worthless." By what merit? It doesn't matter. Since you couldn't come up with a response the first time, I don't expect you to come up with one this time. Nor do I care.

The next time you've decided two hours into a movie that you don't like it, I suggest you use common sense and walk out. No one is forcing you to stay there. Or develop the patience to sit through it, examine it and come up with logical reasons as to why you don't like it.

This is the last time I will address you and this subject.
PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE.

P.S. I'm not here to argue the vitures of Juno, I was just using it as a comparison.

You've been served. I'm hoping this kid leaves me alone but I'm secretly hoping he tries to talk shit to me after class so I can give him the beat down. Why do people walk into fights which they cannot win. Anyway, I kind of just wanted to keep a record of this because these discussions get deleted after a certain amount of time and I wanted evidence of my verbal ass-kicking.

Spring-Time for Hitler

It is with a heavy heart that I begin my first post in almost a month. If you haven't heard by now, Yao Ming is out for the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot. This blog isn't about whether or not the Rockets will make the playoffs this year (because they will), it is about the city of Houston having its heart ripped out and getting slapped in the face all at once. What did we do to deserve this? Seriously. No Houston sports team can catch a break. Houston has always been a city where the sports teams are the epitome of the saying "A day late and a dollar short." We've seen it with the Oilers, Astros and, more recently, the Rockets. Its just too much for one fan to bear. I won't go as far as saying the Rockets season is over, but I just don't know how we can overcome this devastating blow. Its truly a sad day in Houston.

On a lighter note, here's a video by Waking the Cadaver titled "Blood Splattered Satisfaction." [Note: this video is pretty disturbing.]



Did you watch it? Pretty fucked up huh? When you finally get past the absurdity of the music (since when did squealing like a pig become acceptable in music?) your mind starts to wonder about the video. Not so much the actions that take place in the video (even though that's pretty fucked up, too) but about the people who find joy in watching things like this. I don't have the strongest stomach when it comes to gore and blood, but what we have here isn't about the blood and guts. Its about glorifying the people who actually do this. As gross as it is may seem, this is what something like this would probably look like if it were to happen in real life. And I think people realize that and take some kind of sick pleasure in it.

The people who enjoy Waking the Cadaver are probably the same people who would enjoy doing this:



Now that looked awesome.

Here's a couple of videos of music with slightly less pig-squealing:

Ratatat-Gettysburg



Fastball-The Way (More like way 1998.)



The National-Mistaken for Strangers

The 2008 Grammys

Even though my hatred for awards shows is well documented, I tuned into the Grammys anyway because the Rockets weren't playing and Rock of Love II wasn't on for another couple of hours. This being the 50 year anniversary of the awards show was also another reason to tune in. I'm not a regular viewer of the Grammys, but it seemed to have an unusually high amount of "tributes" and "lifetime achievement" awards. Like I said, this could have been typical Grammy fair or it could have been because of the 50 year anniversary, I don't know.

What I do know is this: Alicia Keys was lookin' smokin' hot during her performance of "No One", I love Jason Bateman, "The Pretender" sounded really epic (but I still hate the song) and Kanye West is a huge dick. After winning the Grammy for the best rap song, West proceeded to go on stage and trash-talk other artists and predict his victory in the "Album of the Year" category. Then they started playing the "hurry up" music he finally got around to giving a shout out to his late mother. When the music wouldn't stop he started to insult whoever is in charge of the music for playing it while he was going on about his mom. I sympathize with the guy, but c'mon, if you would get over yourself for the first half of your acceptance speech, they wouldn't have to try to drown you out when you are talking about your dead mom. Later on, Kanye performed "Stronger" and it was only saved because Daft Punk came out of that sweet lookin' triangle and totally had their way with the sample. It was very cool.

Fast forward through another hour and a half of lifetime achievements and awkward presenter pairings and we come to Amy Winehouse's live performance. Sadly, it was kind of cool. Not because I like her music or anything, but because she stayed up until the wee hours of the morning and did it via satellite from London. She also won the award for "Record of the Year".

More fast forwarding and we get to the daddy award: "Album of the Year". I was convinced Amy Winehouse was going to win but the the Grammys gave everyone a collective kick in the balls and gave Herbie Hancock the award. I, like everyone else was shocked. Admittedly, I have never heard this album but after hearing Herb's (can I call him that?) acceptance speech I was so glad he won. In an age where Clear Channel and MTV decide what and who is cool, its refreshing to see a man with such incredible musical ability and who is over the age of 28 to win the award. Yeah, I have Graduation and listen to it but I don't think its worthy of Album of the Year. Compared to some of the most influential hip hop albums over the past two decades, it doesn't even compare. Yeah the beats are inventive and fresh, but that's only half of what makes a good hip hop album. Kanye has become a far better lyricist since College Dropout, but he still pales in comparison to Biggie, NaS, TuPac and Mos Def. Any album by those four guys has great, minimalistic beats, deep, gritty lyrics and the all-important "rewind" ability. You know what I mean, the "oh shit, rewind that" factor.

So, while the Grammys weren't enough to get me start watching awards show from start to finish, I can honestly say I had a pretty good time watching them. I got to see some cool performances and I got to see some history (Hancock was only the second Jazz artist in 43 years to win "Album of the Year"). There was also a John Mayer sighting; which is always a good thing.

Also, here's my current favorite song/band:

"I'm like Pete Wentz with the Way I'm Always Trying to Piss You Off "

Let me go on record by saying that I hate Fall Out Boy. So much. They are the boy band for the new millenium. The N'SYNC for 2008. I know they've been around for the past few years and had major success last year but they're the closest thing we've seen since 1998 to a boy band. If you think they aren't, you are wrong. Here are some correlations:
1.) Pete Wentz: He's the Justin Timberlake of the group. The Nick Carter. The Nick Lachey. The...whoever was in charge of O-town. He's the bands face; the thing you immediately think of when you think "Fall Out Boy."
2.) Patrick Stump: He's the sidekick. The J.C. Chasez to Pete's Justin Timberlake. The soft-spoken "other guy" who has a very limited fan-base and would probably not do too well if he were on his own.
3.) The other two guys: The drummer and other guitarist are the faceless backdrop on which Fall Out Boy was assembled. The guys who just look normal and who don't have a persona. While Pete might be the "bad-boy" and Stump might be the "soft-spoken" one, the other two are just "there." They're the kinds of guys who can only be famous by name-dropping the band's name or by coming out of the closet. These guys thank God everyday for VH1's celeb-reality.
4.) The way they dress: You might think that these guys just wear "whatever" on stage but its a carefully thought out strategy which is designed to get you to buy colorful hooded sweatshirts, girl's jeans and eye-liner. Hot Topic has FOB to thank for all of their success and fan-base.
5.) Fan-base: This is most telling sign of a band's boy band status. I recently visited FOB's blog on MySpace and literally 70% of people who comment on the blog are girls, ages 17 and under (There were a few who were listed as being 99 years old, so its probably more like 100%). Who has this many teenage girl fans? Boy bands. And other shitty pop-punk acts like Green Day and Blink-182, et al. Other fans are those who listen because the music brings them back to the "good ole' days" when life was easy and trying to impress some girl in high school was all they knew. No self-respecting young adult can seriously consider Fall Out Boy one of their favorite bands. Plain and simple.
6.) Lack of Talent: Let's just get it out in the open, FOB are terrible live. Yeah their studio albums might sound fine but that's what a 7 figure budget and a vocal processor the size of a Volkswagen will get you. Matt Kic summed it up nicely when he said, "At least boy bands can sing." While wikipedia-ing the band I ran across an interesting factoid: Would-be drummer Patrick Stump was "promoted" ? to lead singer once his "vocal range was discovered." I'm speechless.

Talk to any Fall Out Boy fan and one of the first things they will argue is that the band "makes a lot of money." Is this supposed to make them good by default? By that logic cigarettes should be the second coming of Christ. Just because something makes someone else money doesn't mean its necessarily a good thing. Its not the bands' wealth that pisses me off, though. I could understand if they made most of their money from selling albums but the sad fact is they don't. Their name was stamped on the hood of a Honda Civic and they were chosen (read, paid handsomely) to headline the Honda Civic Tour. If I'm going to get my musical tastes from anywhere, its going to be from a Japanese car company. Also, Pete Wentz plays a Fender Squier bass. The guy can't even play bass well enough to have an actual Fender signature bass. If you don't think FOB is the worst band around right now, let me give you some hard, factual evidence, as provided by YouTube. The singing in the chorus is probably some of the worst singing I've heard.



How can people still think these guys are in any way talented. For comparison, here's a video of My Morning Jacket; a band with indescribable amounts of talent and a huge, full sound.



So there it is; my step-by-step look at the re-pussificiation of pop music as we know it. All ushered in by a group of talentless pretty "boys" whose main goal in life is to see how many paparazzi photos of Ashlee Simpson they can find their way into.

Testing 1-2-3

Given the sub-par quality of MySpace's blog function and a general need to be self-involved, I thought I'd give this blog thing a try. This page will probably be a collection of various rants and raves (mostly rants) of all the things which surround my daily life.

Matt Greff recently added the "Stumble" feature to my Firefox toolbar. Its is the most addictive thing I've ever seen. If you don't know, "Stumble" asks you to list your interests and then, after you save them, it sends you to randomly selected webpages which are related to those interests. Since we were drunk when he added it, some of the interests I selected were things I would not normally be interested in. Linguistics and conspiracies, for example. Most of the webpages are amateur pages dedicated to 9/11 conspiracy theories and the Kennedy assassination. Useful information, obviously. If you're looking for something new to waste your time, other than my blog, of course, add "Stumble" to your Firefox browser. If you don't have Firefox , quit being a woman and download it.

Bought an iPhone Saturday. It's seriously the coolest electronic device, maybe even the coolest consumer product, of our generation. Yeah, the touch screen is cool and the interface is really stunning, but its the little things that make it so special. For instance, we were driving around last night and talking about that new movie Strange Wilderness and how funny that scene from the previews is where Steve Zahn is making fun of the shark. Well I pulled it out and got on You Tube and found it and we all watched it in the car a couple of times. Could I have done that with a normal phone? Maybe a few but none would have done it so effortlessly and quickly. Anyone who dislikes the iPhone is a pussy. Plain and simple. " I can instant message with my phone! Can your iPhone do that? Didn't think so." Yeah it can, but it doesn't need to sponsor AOL instant messaging to do so. Its called text messaging. And your conversation is laid out just like an instant message, there's no needless back-pedaling to see what your last message said. Just embrace the technology and get off your hipster-hating bandwangon (I'm not implying I'm a hipster; rather, I think most people have a view of Apple customers that's very incorrect.).

Jeremy Clarkson has the best job in the world. If you're not familiar with Clarkson, he's a British TV personality who hosts a show dedicated to cars called Top Gear. He also writes columns for various British publications. What makes his job so cool is simple: He gets paid to test drive really, really cool cars and talk about it. This is my dream job. Here's a video of Clarkson test driving the Areil Atom:





Pretty cool, huh?

Okay, I guess this concludes my first blog. I'll probably "regularly" update this thing so check back if the mood strikes you.