time vs you 2

This morning I was chatting with my chum Michael about his teenage son fooling around with recording some rap/hip hop music at home with his friends recently. It reminded me of when I was younger and used to do similar stuff with my pals. We’ve made a bunch of fun, silly recordings over the years: a banjo-based mountain music version of the Pokerap, a funny and stupid(er) version of I Get Around by The Beach Boys, covers of The Ghostbusters theme song, Break On Through by The Doors, Liquid Swords by GZA…

It’s been years since we’ve done anything like that though, and I’ve been thinking about why that is. I think it’s because, as we get older, free time becomes more and more scarce. I mean, teens with no jobs who have summers off or only work 20 hrs per week and live at home with their parents have lots of time and money to do fun, silly stuff. But now, a lot of my time is taken up by boring necessary shit — cleaning the house, yard, cars, or doing maintenance on them (cleaning gutters, changing oil, stacking firewood, mowing lawns, vacuuming, learning to clean scale from toilets). I also spend a lot of time working out, hiking, stretching, getting massages and physio to keep my body from fucking falling apart. Shit like that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about these activities. I love all that shit. Even mundane shit like washing dishes while listening to chillwave brings me immense joy. But I want more creative, artistic outlets too, and I want something neat to show for my efforts afterward. I want to write music, I want to record it, preferably with friends, and I want to be able to share it with people afterward. I want to learn to draw, and I want to make a Calvin & Hobbes-style comic that I can hold in my hands and laugh at and be proud of.

Sadly, there simply isn’t time for all of these things. Even blogging like this takes time, time that I can’t put toward learning to use a computer recording program or practicing drawing. And I LIKE blogging, this is one of the things I enjoy doing but sometimes I feel like I should not do this, so that I would have more time to devote to other creative endeavours.

I really just need to fucking retire. Fuck work. Life is too short.

I am a slave to time. And to jobs and money too, I guess.

Captain Marvel movie review: it’s shit, just like every other Marvel superhero movie

I read an article about how the new Captain Marvel movie is a really big deal because it’s the first Marvel superhero movie to feature a female lead, and that’s really stirring up controversy.

Where do I begin? There sure is a lot to hate about this.

• All Marvel superhero movies suck, period. They’re trash fodder for lowest common denominator audiences. Vapid, empty, two-hour long turds meant to do nothing but numb the minds of cattle humans. No one should give a shit about these movies for any reason.

• Changing the lead characters in a long-established franchise from male to female is done under the guise of being forward-thinking and revolutionary but it’s not. It’s a carefully crafted and unimaginative move to tap into new markets and suck more money from a different segment of audience, and to put some kind of new spin on a tired, rehashed film model. It sucked with the new Ghostbusters and it sucks with this.
• People who care too much about comic book movies and flip out when someone changes the lead role from male to female are gross sponges with way too much time on their hands.
• Using garbage pop culture films as barometers for social growth and shifts is bullshit. This movie, along with Black Panther and the new Ghostbusters, don’t change anything for marginalized segments of society. It just makes the slobs who go see the film feel like they’re supporting positive change in the world when all they’re actually doing is shuffling their fat asses into a theater and gobbling back a giant bag of popcorn soaked with butter. These films make middle class white people feel good about themselves while sedating them, feeding them mountains of junk food, and taking money from them. There is no positive aspect to anything these films do for the world.

I’m so sick of garbage art being produced purely for mass consumption, with no trace of integrity yet acting like it’s all about integrity. This stuff isn’t meaningful in any way. It’s shit. It’s literally shit. I know that’s not technically correct but the way I see it, it is.

I just came up with a new Marvel superhero movie. Literally.

i don’t understand why VHS isn’t included in the analog resurgence movement

a lot of people love vinyl records and talk about the superior sound quality of them. i like records fine but don’t really buy that. the hisses and pops are alright and lend themselves to certain albums well but that sort of thing certainly doesn’t enhance every album, so i think it’s weird how nuts some people are about vinyl.

on the other hand, i think VHS videos share a lot of the same qualities but i like it a lot more, and don’t understand why there isn’t a dedicated following for them. i’ve never heard anyone wax on about the warm colours of VHS, the tracking that causes little lines of static every now and then, the slight warbling of the audio…it’s not only retro and awesome. to me, it actually feels more tangible, more true to life than the sterile, cold, flawless, crystal clear pictures of modern HD tv’s.

i noticed this in the last year or so while watching tons of stephen king film adaptations with dana. a few of the flicks we’ve watched have been from my collection of 80’s horror movies on VHS, like children of the corn, graveyard shift, and salem’s lot. after getting used to all the various digital formats for movies and tv now, the warmth and depth of VHS vids is amazing. i’m sure a big part of my affinity for it is nostalgia-based but that’s fine. i still like it.

it’s surprising to me that more people aren’t as pumped on VHS as i am. hell, even audio cassettes have made a modest resurgence with 80’s nostalgists, so why don’t we see a resurgence with VHS? it possesses the same analog qualities that seem to make people rabid over other formats so i just don’t get it.

and if you don’t believe me that VHS is actually awesome, do yourself a favour and go watch an old flick you like on VHS. something like gremlins or die hard or labyrinth or ghostbusters. try it and tell me it isn’t superior.

long live film.