Time Travel is Easy

I invented a time machine. It only has one setting. Forward at 24 hours/day.

Time Travel has become such a huge part of modern American pop culture I think its only fair to talk about a little more in depth. I was recently asked: "If you could time travel into the past, where would you go?". It only took a few seconds to figure out my answer: 1969.

Why? Its obvious to me, first, I'd hit Woodstock, see all the musicians at THE original music festival. I'd see everyone. Over the next few years I'd catch the guys I missed, Dylan, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, all those guys. Essentially knock out my Classic rock favorites... everything I can only listen to on CD nowadays.

Plus, I'd be around for the merging of computers and American culture. Shoot, I might even throw out a few ideas of my own. Plus I know what to invest in. (time travel just ain't right without a little sports gambling and stock market knowledge... more on that later). So if I ever hook myself up to a flux capacitor, crawl into a time travel box, or ride a time travel sled, I'm gonna aim for 1969. With a little detour to Columbia, SC on Jan. 10, 2002 at 3:04 AM... I got a few things to say to myself. What could go wrong?

Back to the Future, H.G. Welles, Primer. Movie, Author/Prophet, Movie. 3 extremely different pop culture views of the mysteries and conundrum that is time travel. Welles did it first, in the 1800s, and for the most part, he had the grandest ideas out of the 3. If you haven't read "The Time Machine", I recommend it. Its been made into a movie 2 times. The first from 1960 is awesome. The 2nd, in the last 3 or so years, is standard mid 2000s over the top special effects with no substance. I recommend the book and the first movie.

In The Time Machine, an inventor at the turn of the century (remember when this used to mean 1900? well that's what it means in this sentence) builds a time travel sled and shows it off to his English aristocrat friends. They "my heavens" and "jolly good show" it up a little, then go home, drink tea, eat crumpets and stroke their mustaches. Meanwhile our inventor hero takes the sled forward to 802,701 AD. WOW, talk about scope. Back to the future pulled the 2015 gag in 1989, just to stay more relatable. Not Welles, he blew it out, sending the protagonist to a completely different human society 801,000 years in the future. Needless to say, things got weird. It becomes a great satire of modern class systems, technology, and pop cultures ignorance to the true suffering of humanity. Bloody hell its crazy. Read it, watch the original movie (its on instant netflix).

Unless you've lived in a Morlock cave since the 80s, you probably know about Back to the Future, so I'm just gonna reiterate that it is epic. Not only does the original movie still stand up against any modern film in terms of story, performance, and special effects, but the 2 follow ups are pretty good too. Back to the Future 2 is great, and although less loved, I can't deny Back to the Future 3. (I'm still waiting to buy a hoverboard Robert Zemeckis!)

But that brings me to my sleeper pick for awesome Time Travel Movie. PRIMER. Written, Directed, Produced and Starred in by Shane Carruth in 2004, it explores the geeky side of time travel on a small scale. I'm talking "hey, lets time travel back to this morning" small scale stuff. But it gets crazy. In it, 2 scientist guys accidentally invent a time machine. From that point on they start trying to use it to their benefit, playing the markets, making small changes to benefit themselves. It begins to destroy their trust in one another, and eventually, to destroy their essence as humans.

Primer is the type of movie that is very cerebral. It took me 3 views to really "get it", and I've since forgotten how it works. Its like Memento in the sense that its demanding for the viewer to be completely on top of it, and to some extent that can be frustrating if you are just looking for a casual film to watch. But its rewarding in a way, that I as a film maker and enthusiast appreciates to all hell.

Heres a little about Primer from Wikipedia for you to chew on:

Primer is a 2004 American science fiction film about the accidental discovery of a means of time travel. The film was written, directed, and produced by Shane Carruth, a mathematician and a former engineer, and was completed on a budget of $7,000.

Primer is of note for its extremely low budget, experimental plot structure, philosophical implications, and complex technical dialogue, which Carruth chose not to simplify for the sake of his audience. One reviewer said that "anybody who claims [to] fully understand what's going on in Primer after seeing it just once is either a savant or a liar." The film collected the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004 before securing a limited release in US cinemas, and has since gained a cult following.

Music to Time Travel To:

Blur - Blur (1997)

1. "Beetlebum" – 5:04
2. "Song 2" – 2:02
3. "Country Sad Ballad Man" – 4:50
4. "M.O.R." – 3:27 (Albarn/David Bowie/Coxon/Brian Eno/James/Rowntree)
5. "On Your Own" – 4:26
6. "Theme from Retro" – 3:37
7. "You're So Great" – 3:35 (Coxon)
8. "Death of a Party" – 4:33
9. "Chinese Bombs" – 1:24
10. "I'm Just a Killer for Your Love" – 4:11
11. "Look Inside America" – 3:50
12. "Strange News from Another Star" – 4:02
13. "Movin' On" – 3:44
14. "Essex Dogs" / "DanceHall" / "Interlude" (hidden track) – 11:24

Rube Goldberg Machine

Yeah, so this video is freakin awesome:

Somehow I posted a blank post

And I can't figure out how to delete it!

So here is some music to make it worthwhile.

Boards of Canada - Hi Scores EP (1996)

1. "Hi Scores" – 4:57
2. "Turquoise Hexagon Sun" – 5:09
3. "Nlogax" – 6:54
4. "June 9th" – 5:18
5. "Seeya Later" – 4:12
6. "Everything You Do Is a Balloon" – 7:03

Some bands are really cool

Radiohead did it first. At least the first I remember. In October of 2007 they Released their most recent full length album "In Rainbows" digitally online. The groundbreaking part is that they let anyone who downloaded pay whatever they wanted. 10 dollars, 1 cent, 100 dollars... any amount you saw fit. How cool is that? (Answer: Super cool)

So today I found out that Pretty Lights (I'm bad at describing this type of music, they morph and combine lots of different elements of jazz, rock, pop, blues, funk, everything into great music), is releasing 3 EPs this year. The newest, Making up a Changing Mind was just released on their website. The best part? Its free. Super cool.

Heres a link:

Pretty Lights: Making Up a Changing Mind EP - 2010

I've yet to listen to this album, as I'm just now downloading it myself, but I'll report back. Or maybe I won't. It depends on how I feel.

UPDATE: ok listened to half of it so far and its great, very very good, and pretty nice. definitely worth the free download.

I can't seem to find a picture of this Album Cover anywhere but the website and its flash based, so I'm not gonna post it. Instead I'll post this video of these guys flying... so crazy...

A Delayed Update

March is in swing, its been almost 2 weeks since my last update, and for that, I am sorry. I owe you some music.

I barely survived February and January. Some very rough months in what I hoped would be a less than rough year. However, some good things are coming, I can feel it.

Firstly, in a couple weeks we have a huge dual television premiere night on a Sunday. Not only does the genius show “Breaking Bad” return to AMC, but HBO premieres its newest mini-series “The Pacific”.

Let’s start with Breaking Bad.

If you haven’t seen it, Breaking Bad is a drama from creator/writer Vince Gilligan. Here’s the premise: Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher. He has a teenage son with cerebral palsy, a very pregnant wife, and a home in suburban Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Oh yeah, and he just found out he has lung cancer. Being a smart man, he soon realizes that he cannot leave his family hanging if he dies, so he takes the most obvious step to support them. He cooks crystal meth and sells it.

If that doesn’t interest you enough, I’m gonna give you a little bit of a spoiler. Cooking crystal meth is easy for a chemist. Dealing drugs isn’t. Within the first few episodes of the 1st season, Walt and his street savvy partner melt a guy. That’s right, they MELT A GUY.

Watch this TV show. Vince Gilligan is a genius, Bryan Cranston (of Malcom in the Middle fame) is amazing. Everything about it is awesome. Season 3 starts on AMC March 21st. You’ve got 21 episodes to watch before then. I think you can handle it.


Now onto “The Pacific”

HBO brings back the amazing producers to do a sort-of follow up to their “Band of Brothers” miniseries. If you haven’t seen Band of Brothers, then you are doing yourself and the heroes of World War 2 a disservice. I implore you to rent it on netflix, one disc at a time. If you live in Charleston and are friends with me, I’ll probably even let you borrow it. “The Pacific” is so exciting because it’s the other side of the war. The side that we as Americans know of, but I don’t think we necessarily understand.

Band of Brothers took us through the famous parts of WWII; D-Day, the battle of the bulge, the liberation of concentration camps, the fall of Hitler. It does so perfectly, stringing you along for every heartpounding gutwrenching moment. It puts us into the Army’s now famous 101st airborne division, easy company. We know these guys, we watch them grow live and die.

“The Pacific” promises more of the same, differently. The Pacific plans to follow the Marine companies in the island-hopping pacific campaign of WWII. What excites me about it is that for me personally, I consider myself a WWII history fan, but I don’t know nearly as much about the pacific campaign of the war. I’m so excited to experience it through the eyes of the producers and directors of this series. I can’t imagine it wont be epic. I know it will be. “The Pacific”, I believe premieres Sunday March 14th, on HBO. I bet its at the same time as “Breaking Bad” which premieres a week later on the 21st, but hey, I can’t complain. With an awesome Sunday lineup, Top Gear on Mondays, and Lost on Tuesdays, I’ll have something to watch on Wednesdays because I can’t watch 2 shows at the same time on Sunday.

Or can I? (sets up 2 TVs next to eachother)

And now onto the music… hopefully some stuff you will enjoy:

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

1. "Orchestral Intro" (featuring sinfonia ViVA)
2. "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" (featuring Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
3. "White Flag" (featuring Kano, Bashy and The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music)
4. "Rhinestone Eyes"
5. "Stylo" (featuring Bobby Womack and Mos Def)
6. "Superfast Jellyfish" (featuring Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)
7. "Empire Ants" (featuring Little Dragon)
8. "Glitter Freeze" (featuring Mark E. Smith)
9. "Some Kind of Nature" (featuring Lou Reed)
10. "On Melancholy Hill"
11. "Broken"
12. "Sweepstakes" (featuring Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13. "Plastic Beach" (featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
14. "To Binge" (featuring Little Dragon)
15. "Cloud of Unknowing" (featuring Bobby Womack and sinfonia ViVA)
16. "Pirate Jet"


Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB – Charlotte, NC 2/26/10

Part 1
Part 2

Set I:
Shine
Burlap Sack and Pumps
Push On Til the Day
Cayman Review
All That Almost Was
Sweet Dreams Melinda
A Case Of Ice And Snow
Mozambique
Sweet and Dandy
Night Speaks To A Woman
Tuesday

Set II:
Curlew's Call
Gotta Jibboo
Valentine
Alaska
Peggy
Sand
Goodbye Head>
Mr. Completely
Black Dog

Encore:
Dragonfly
Show Of Life
First Tube

A little about this Trey Show:

I went up there with my good buddy Lionel. The venue opened only 6-9 months ago, and is in a really weird part of Charlotte. Now I love the Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, saw Medeski Martin and Wood there in September and it was a blast, so I was hesitant about this venue. It was amazing, sound was great, it was crowded (2000+ people so of course its crowded for a club), and drinks were WAY too expensive (like $12 for a tallboy of bud? ser?). But our pre-planning helped us save the $. We stashed Jim Beam minibottles, and hooked up free 4 dollar coke refills with a very sexy bartender.

After Lionel was turned away at the door because his "ticket" he bought from a guy was a glorified parking pass, we had a minor freakout. Until the supremely cool guys taking tickets just let him in, no questions asked. Thanks Fillmore! The rest of the night was AWESOME, Trey raged it all night long. The band got into some amazing grooves, there was patience, great builds, good dynamics, and an all around fun vibe. Best Trey Band show I've seen since my first on Halloween 02. Great time, see this guy. He's a freakin jedi.