After missing both their shows in the Bay Area back in April, JBQ and I caught up with Blitzen Trapper in San Francisco, Sunday night, at The Independent venue. Aside from having our hair smelling like pot (or something) at the end, we had a great time during our stay (at least I did). The sound at The Independent was definitely better than it was at the Cafe du Nord venue a few months ago.

I had my first big personal surprise right after walking in. We decided to sit toward one of the sides, next to another random couple. I kindly said “hi”. And the guy replied “Hi, Eugenia”.

WTF ???

My first thought was that I had a tag with my name, I so quickly gazed through my breasts. Nope. No tag. At that point my face probably looked like a surprised LOLcat.

“Chris McKillop“, the guy said. Suddenly it all made sense. Chris and I have been geeking out online for many years about OS stuff when I used to write for OSNews.com (Chris has worked for QNX, Apple’s iPhone, and he’s now at Palm working on WebOS) but I had never met him in person. I had even interviewed Chris back in 2003, when he was still working for QNX. 10 seconds in, I remembered reading once that he’s also a fan of the Trappas. I asked him how he recognized me, and he said that… I look the same as in my Facebook picture (I am sure it’s my crazy witch-hair ).

To make the long story short, the world is a very small place.

Later, I bought a Blitzen Trapper t-shirt, since ther was no new tour CD available. Drew Laughery (keyboards) was a very sweet person to talk to. Later, I quickly talked to Erik Menteer (guitar/keys) telling him that their Black River Killer video was amazing. He said that no more videos are planned for the Furr album, as the band will now focus on their next one. Both Drew and Erik were very kind and cool to talk to.

20 minutes later, the supporting band, the Wye Oak, took the stage. They sang about 5-6 songs, which were pretty good, but not exactly exceptional. Except “Take it In”, their main hit (free, legal download), and their last song, the rest kind of felt flat to me — not enough melodic variation. JBQ liked them more than I did. One thing is for sure, Andy Stack should be given a medal for being able to play the drums with one hand and one foot, the keyboards with the other hand, and either supporting vocals or using woodwind instruments with his mouth! A true instrumentalist super-hero.

Then, when the Trappas took the stage, I moved directly below the stage, and they rocked my world. The band started very strongly with two very hard rock songs, and then they became a bit more folky and mellow. The band obviously had fun, and joked around a lot.

In between of one of these songs I professed my love for the band’s leader & singer, Eric Earley, by yelling his name, sending him a kiss and winking at him. He saw me that one time, and he cracked a smile, hehe. I’ve been infatuated with his genius since earlier this year when I read that he was homeless (I guess my motherly instinct took over).

My impression of the Trappas in the South Park universe! Click for a larger version.

Going back to the gig, the Trappas have amazing energy on the stage. Towards the end, where they played mostly rock songs, the audience went wild. However, both JBQ and I agreed that the middle part of the gig, where Eric did a few mellow folk solos, were the weak part of the experience. Eric Earley is an amazing writer and performer (his vocal range is amazing), but the mellow stuff took too long. In my opinion, only Black River Killer and Furr of that bunch should have been performed, and the rest of the songs should have been a selection of their more hard rock feel. If the crowd’s reactions are any indication, I think most would agree with me.

At some point Marty (guitar) started singing a capella, and that was much fun. Then, Marty asked the crowd which song they would like to listen, so I yelled: “Sci-fi Kid“. Yup, that request was mine!!! Eric started playing the song, and then the unthinkable happened: he forgot the lyrics and he stopped the song! Oh my! See, the band doesn’t play that song live anymore, and that’s a big shame. Sci-fi Kid is my favorite song of the Trappas (with Gold for Bread coming second), and I believe that if they were to write more such songs they would become super-stars, since these two songs are more modern-sounding than their usual ’70s-styled music.

I was able to take video snippets from about 1/3 of the gig, but then the Independent’s staff asked me to turn off my camera. Oh, well, their loss. “Independent” my ass.

There was also one brand new song that the Eric performed (“The Man Who Would Speak True“), which I thought it was pretty good. However, I believe that the song could be produced in a way that sounds more modern, and by using harsh electric guitars in the chorus instead of the harmonica. If the final album version uses the harmonica like with Furr, I believe that this can be one big loss for the Blitzen Trapper in terms of winning out the alternative rock stations/fans.

Towards the end, the tempo picked up again with hard rock, and the crowd went crazy. Overall, this was the best live experience I had in my life so far. I love the energy the Trappers bring on the stage, and I hope their next album makes them even more successful. Catch them up if they are coming to your town, they worth the attention!

“LOST” is in the end of its life (last season starts this February), so ABC is hard at work trying to find the show that will replace it. Apparently, while “LOST” doesn’t have as many viewers as some other shows, it is very consistent with the 18-49 demographic, which is what brings money in to TV networks. Plus, its DVDs sell very well, despite being one of the most torrented shows in the world, and all its episodes being available for free HD viewing on abc.com and Hulu.

So the show that is set to supposedly replace LOST in the the hearts of us geeks, is “Flashforward“. The first episode aired tonight, puts forward the story for a strong mythology, mysteries, conspiracy and other theories, and of course, personal drama. The first season storyline is building up on the fact that the whole Earth population blacks out for 2:17 mins, and during that time they have a lucid vision of themselves 6 months in the future. The main hero, an FBI agent, tries to put the pieces together.

At this point though, the similarities to LOST are too great to ignore:
- The show starts with a major catastrophe, with the first scene being the main character waking up in this chaotic situation (just like Lost’s Jack woke up in the jungle and ran towards the fallen plane).
- Just like the polar bear on Lost, Flashforward features a kangaroo! A kangaroo out of nowhere running amok in downtown LA.
- Towards the end of the episode, a guy in black, shown to be unaffected by the universal blackout. This guy is the equivalent of the “smoke monster” on Lost, also shown at the end of the Lost pilot episode.
- Two Lost actors have been recruited on Flashforward (Lost’s Penelope and Charlie).
- The show asks philosophical questions about destiny; Lost has dealt with the concept greatly too.
- Heck, there was even a big sign of the Oceanic Airlines in the beginning of the episode, ABC’s way of paying homage to LOST!

Unfortunately, Flashfoward’s pilot doesn’t come close to Lost’s pilot in terms of sets, directing, intensity. It’s a good pilot, but not a masterpiece. The main problem is that apart the main character, the rest of the characters are not as interesting or strongly defined as Lost’s — they feel flat. There’s no Sawyer, there’s no Hurley, there’s no mysterious Locke sitting at the beach not talking to anyone and only smirking away! There are just a bunch of people acting as they would in any other drama. LOST on the other hand, clearly defines its characters from the get go — they feel unique.

Additionally, the main cast seem to be comprised by 14 people, the same amount of actors as in Lost’s first season, however, Lost has a gazillion of supporting actors via flash-backs/forwards/other, enriching the show greatly. Flashforward instead, seems to rely mostly on these 14 characters and very rarely is going to add any more important characters to it. This can make the show feel “smaller” and its plot less significant than the global ramifications it should actually communicate to the viewer. The story should be more epic.

Another thing that bothered me was that the show was not as smart as Lost. For example, when the main character lied to his wife that “he saw nothing else in his vision”, the director/editor shows (again, for a 3rd time in 30 minutes) the part of his vision where he relapses and becomes an alcoholic again. If that was Lost, the viewer would have to figure out what was what in that scene and what was insinuated, rather than having the editor spelling it out for us like we are 5 year old. There were 2-3 more such scenes that Lost would have dealt differently in terms of writing/directing/editing.

Overall though, the first episode definitely made me want to watch more. It is the best new show I’ve watched this fall season so far, and I expect it to stay that way until LOST starts again in February. However, many viewers already complain about how to sustain this plot and keep it interesting: apparently, its writers have said that they have already plotted away 5 seasons for the show. They know where they are going, and most importantly, they have an end date: which is super-important in serialized shows like this (as Lost proved).

I only pray that the show doesn’t become too much of a drama — as was hinted by one of its actors recently — and retains the mythology, action and mystery.

Two months ago I wrote an opinion piece about this decade not having a defining artist with enough music influence to compare to monsters of rock of the previous decade. I know some of you disagreed with the opinion, and the rest completely missed the point. But I am now revisiting the topic, since there are some interesting articles discussing this same issue. Their writers also feel that there is indeed an “issue” with today’s oversaturated music industry.

Refe wrote an article here, published a response from an industry veteran here, and that same veteran wrote an article of his own here. The consensus seems to be that there is indeed a “problem” in this decade pinpointing new genres or influential artists that take the world by storm (rather than being niches). As the internet age is trying to define itself musically, the culture itself takes a hit. Maybe it is a social sign o’ the times. Please read these articles before commenting below.

And please let me rant a bit more, this time about Muse’s brand new album, “Resistance“. It sounds exactly like Queen did in the ’70s and ’80s. The album sounds like a bad cover of Queen (many others have noticed too, and one music reviewer even made fun of the fact). Now think about it: if a “progressive rock” band (that was the definition of Muse’ sub-genre so far) is copying a 30 years old band, how progressive is that? Obviously, not much. I can see the rotten state of music perfectly through the new music of Muse. It is to me a perfect example or irony.

I wonder if and when the internet age re-shuffles itself and the dust is settled down, maybe the new major genre we might look at would be electro-rock. Think of bands like the Passion Pit, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT. This genre encompasses electronic, dancy pop-disco melodies, and rock. It is accessible enough to pop audience, still has rock elements to appease the rockers, and it uses electronic samples which are in line with the internet and computer revolution (each generation uses whatever tools it can to make music, and electronic is today’s main tool). This is the only genre that I see as emerging right now as one that has enough strength to become ultra-popular. If this genre fails too to create major artists (e.g. the way grunge had Nirvana as its poster boys), I don’t see light at the end of the tunnel for music.

Then again, as Refe wrote, maybe the true legacy of this decade is to have true variety, through many niches of genres and artists. And maybe that’s a good thing — just different from what we were used to before.

There are a few songs that I absolutely love. I love them so much more than the actual “singles” hits released from their respective albums. This is my list of songs that I believe that they should have been super-hits, but instead, almost no one knows about (except the people who bought the full albums that is). The four mp3 links I include below are legal btw.

* Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
My favorite Arcade Fire song, way more powerful than any of their biggest hits. And all they did with that song is give it for free and never release a video for it…

* Metric – Gold Guns Girls
Four singles out of their “Fantasies” album, and none of these singles is this song, which happens to be their best IMNSHO.

* Blitzen Trapper – Sci-Fi Kid
This is my all-favorite Blitzen Trapper song, and yet it only manages to be in #35 on their iTunes selling list. Along my second favorite BT song, “Gold for bread” (free, legal download here), they are the only BT songs that don’t sound so hopelessly ’70s folk-rock.

* Feist – One Evening
The best Feist song, IMO. Makes you wonder why this song is not her best-selling iTunes single.

* Franz Ferdinand – Send Him Away
A much better song than ANY of the other songs in that specific album.

* Madonna – How High
One of the best songs from her Confessions album, it was the only song from that album to not be part of her live tour — let alone get released as a single.

* MGMT – Of Moons, Birds & Monsters
Amazing song, amazing atmosphere, sold very little.

* Muse – Map Of The Problematique
While this song was released as a digital single, it remained under the radar. I find this song way more progressive, futuristic and otherwise “this is the music of the future” kind of song, than their pop-trash “Starlight” track that sold so well. Okay, in all truth “Starlight” is not trash, but compared to this amazing song, it is.

* Eels – Old Shit/New Shit
‘nuf said.

The new District 9 movie which has taken the critics by storm is a lesson at multiple levels. Not only for its social commentary, but also for its filmmaking style. The movie was shot with a Red One, and almost 2/3s of it is in documentary style shooting and grading (or lack thereof):

There’s no shallow depth of field, cropping, or aggressive color grading. It’s just a run and gun movie, and it works. The magic is all in the story, apparently.

When I saw the “Eviction” clip showing the guy pictured above I smiled, because the look is exactly like Canon’s “Cinemode” — a look easily acquired by a consumer camera. That scene looked like it was shot with my HV20, and this was a great feeling.

The real funny thing is though that a lot of people shoot in cinemode because the heard that this is how they will achieve the movie look, and then they are unhappy because cinemode looks so flat. But it’s that the beauty of cinemode: in its low contrast, low saturation look.

I was talking to our friend Ralf about music the other day and he expressed some interest in what exactly is electro-rock, so I thought I should put together a small list with that kind of music. Basically, electro-rock is an alternative rock-styled music that also uses some electronic music elements. Such bands include the Maldroid, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Zoot Woman, The Sounds, and more. Here are some legally free mp3s in the genre, from lesser known, but equally good, bands.

* Au Revoir Simone – Shadows
* Bloc Party – Signs (Armand Van Helden Remix)
* Black Moth Super Rainbow – Born On A Day The Sun Didn’t Rise
* Deastro – Light Powered and Parallelogram
* Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool
* The Golden Filter – Solid Gold
* Loose Shus – Mmmmhmmmm
* Metric – Gold Guns Girls
* Miike Snow – Burial
* My Robot Friend – Robot High School
* Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
* Patrick Wolf – Vulture
* The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
* Ratatat – Wildcat
* Shiny Toy Guns – Ghost Town
* Rubies – Diamonds on Fire
* UNKLE – May Day (feat. The Duke Spirit)
* U.S.E – All The World
* We Are Wolves – Fight & Kiss
* The Whip – Trash
* Woodhands – I Wasn’t Made for Fighting

I can’t understand some people. They just make no sense whatsoever to me.

Case in point, two forum threads over at HV20.com. One thread about the “Condition:Human” web series, and one about the “Manifest Destiny” short movie.

These are two examples of some of the most complex and involved HV20/30-related projects ever shot. There is a lot of work put into these shorts, much more than the usual wanna-be who gets a camera and shoots a “short movie” of complete and utter bullshit, handheld no less. In the case of Condition:Human there was a lot of preparation going on, changing the director’s living room into a green screen, shooting a various locations, and on top of that, implementing complex CGI too. And in the case of Manifect Destiny the sound was superb, the props were superb, the editing more so. Heck, even the sci-fi news site IO9.com wrote an article about the short! And the readers there, loved it! It’s only some HV20.com “I am a better filmmaker than you are” readers who “didn’t like it”.

Some of the HV20.com residents found it “cheesiest, dumbest short”, or said “color me unimpressed”. What the hell? These shorts are more involved and complex AND well-done than your average travel video posted on that forum. How do these people actually compare the god-damn thing? Comparing it to the latest Oscar-winning movie, or to the rest of the amateur filmmaking community? Because, if they are comparing it against the latest Spielberg flick, they should obviously shit on top of 99% of the HV20.com videos too, and not just nitpick the most evolved ones.

Are these films perfect? No, definitely not. But they are BETTER than the rest in that HV20/30 community. Everything is relative in this world, and these guys simply can’t keep perspective. Instead of being HAPPY that someone was able to pull off such a complex project with a $500 camera and no budget to speak of, they nitpick it to death. The better the project actually is, the MORE nitpicking they do! I would agree with the nitpicking only if the filmmakers were boasting that their movie is better than Hollywood’s. But they aren’t. And no, this is not a case of personal likes and dislikes. This is a case of being objective about something. Heck, I can nitpick Condition:Human’s sound problems all day long for example, but I also recognize that the project overall is way too impressive to ignore.

My JBQ also notes: “When stuff is shot with better equipment, jealous people will just say ‘well of course it’s better, they have better equipment’. But when it’s shot with the same equipment, they have to nitpick because they can’t admit that the result is better than what they get with the same equipment. Ken Rockwell said it best about ‘Equipment Measurbators’”.

This is no different than having a genius kid in the first grade class, able to solve the most complex math than any of the other kids, and then having that kid sitting on the chair next to him, who’s terrible with math no less, saying “eh, you’re no Einstein. Not impressed“.

Well, go fuck yourself. Bully. Motherfucking jealous bully.

Today at ComicCon was “Lost” day. The two writers and the cast showed up in front of 6,500 fans to show teaser clips of Lost’s 6th and final season and (vaguely) answer some fan questions. Here’s a rundown:
- Small clips were shown from a timeline where the 815 crash never happened.
- The writers said that the timeline might have changed.
- But they were quick to also say that if they were to erase 5 seasons of plot that would be a “cheat to the viewers”.
- When asked if there will be flashbacks in season 6, the writers said that the “format will be different”.

Now, put all that together and theorize. Potential spoilers below (although I’ve been wrong before):

I believe that S6 will start off with the Oceanic 815 landing safely in LAX. The story will be split between two parallel universes: our original timeline, and a timeline where the crash never happened. Dead characters like Charlie, and Ana Lucia will be shown alive and well. It’s already confirmed that the Juliet actress will be back for a few episodes, and maybe Shannon & Boone too.

The other timeline will continue just after Jacob’s death. The surviving people from the nuclear detonation (which is what created the split of the timeline), will be transported back to 2007-8. This is what Jacob meant when he said just before he died “they are coming”.

In the other timeline, the heroes will just try to get on with their lives. Until that weird guy named Jacob tells them that things are not how they should have been. They think he’s crazy, even real-Locke thinks so too! But quickly after that the “special” people among the 815 passengers would momentarily cross over to another reality. Maybe through dreams, or other means. This is what will make them think that maybe this Jacob guy might not be so crazy after all.

These cross overs have a unique effect on the other timeline: apparitions and whispers. This is how these are going to be explained.

At the end of the season the two timelines will be merged back. But someone will have to take a decision: do you merge back to a timeline where so many people died, but have found their true self just before they died? At this point we should remember the main point of Lost, which is all about redemption and fate.

I posted the above theory on DarkUFO’s site, the biggest Lost fan site on the internet. There were many comments there from seemingly confused people by the various announcements, but when I wrote the above theory, everyone stopped commenting. There were a few saying that my theory makes sense, but they stopped commenting (so far). I feel like a party pooper. It wasn’t of course intentional, as this was simply a theory of mine. But apparently a theory that made total sense to them. Shows once more that what people want are more mysteries, not answers. It’s the answers that kill a show like this, not the added mysteries. It’s counter-intuitive for many people to realize it though.