Monday, June 29, 2009

Thank You, Hit Singles

Oh, this one is short and sweet, because we like everything nice and compact.
Just look at cellphones!

This is just a shout out to the hit singles.
Not just the songs featured on the radio
but the songs featured on television
and motion pictures! God, I love motion pictures
'cause I can just sit down and have
everything efficient! The experience is like
taking shits
and popping pills! HOORAY!

I'm kidding. I have nothing against liking singles or finding out about a band through whatever form of media. However, songwriters pour their souls just to have 90% of their shit ignored.

But no, we all want to be pop culture guys and dolls. I get it: I'm not featured in a cute movie with Michael Cera. Thank you, hit singles.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Mark Waid's "Irredeemable"

(NOTE: You can right click, and then "Open in new tab" to see the images bigger.)


"Everyone's afraid of their own life
If you could be anything you want
You'd be disappointed, am I right?
No one really knows the one's they love
If you knew everything they thought
I bet that they'd just shut up."

-Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse-
(from the opening lines of the song, "Lives")

That particular piece is off the 2000 album The Moon & Antarctica. Mainstream listeners probably only know Modest Mouse's radio hits, and they really aren't one trick ponies. (I, for one, am pretty upset when people only know my music for just one song.) You can listen to this particular diddly here.

The epigraph relates to what I'll be discussing today. It's something I haven't been able to shut up about for awhile: Mark Waid's "Irredeemable."

There will be spoilers. I already know that most people don't read comics unless if a new superhero movie comes out, in which everyone doesn't shut up about Spider-Man, Batman, or Watchmen. Hopefully you will think differently about comics after reading this as there has been a lot of great literary works that have come out after the first wave of underground comics (Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar) and modern comics (Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and yes, even fuckin' Frank Miller.)

This isn't to say that there isn't a lot of lame comics out there. Some "adult" comics have nothing really mature about them, and are just excuses to show titties and dicks. Superhero books try to be "dark" by unreasonably inserting bizarre love affairs, deaths, and deals with the devil. So, no, not everything is gold, and sometimes you just got to listen to word of mouth. For the most part, that's what I do.

I first found out about Irredeemable from Blair Butler's Fresh Ink Blog. It just sounded like something I would be interested in, and I usually tend to see eye to eye with Blaire. I generally hate comic book bloggers, but she is one of the better ones if solely for the fact that I feel there's a certain level of sincerity, as opposed to other comic book reviewers who try too hard to come off as "cool" or "funny." (Furthermore, she likes The Luna Brothers, Brian K. Vaughn, and Damon Lindelof, and that's always a plus for me.)

What caught me about her words about Irredeemable was that it was a "superhero deconstruction," (I love any literary deconstruction) and that the premise had to do with: "a Superman-esque hero who finally gets tired of being a 'good guy,' and kills everyone."

When I first heard that Irredeemable was written by Mark Waid, my initial reaction was: "What? The guy who wrote Impulse??" Impulse was a series of fun, teenage stories. It was entertaining, but I certainly would not expect the writer to do something such as Irredeemable. Well, needless to say, I was wrong, and I certainly did not know Mark Waid.

I did not know that Mark Waid had written two critically acclaimed works: Kingdom Come and Empire. Kingdom Come dealt with the "ethical price of superheroism," and Empire had to do with what would happen if the super villains had won. In regards to Irredeemable, Waid has stated that it is ""about how the lessons we learn about right and wrong as children can become warped and twisted when challenged by the realities of the adult world" and "how does a man go from being the world’s greatest superhero to its greatest supervillain?"

It was a hunt to find the first issue being as it sold out at most places. I eventually did find it, but it took walking into the comic shop with the worst customer service. (It makes perfect sense, doesn't it?)

Needless to say, I was pretty blown away by it. The beginning to it is pretty nuts. If you'd like to stop and check out what I'm talking about, here's a preview of the first seven pages.

Three issues have been released, and this is the story thus far: "The Plutonian, Earth's most powerful and beloved man, has gone rogue. In recent weeks, millions have died at his hands and entire cities have been lost. Now, his former teammates, the Paradigm, are combing through the Plutonian's past, searching desperately for clues as to why a god has turned evil, what he wants... and if there's any way to stop him."

My favorite panel comes from the first issue. The Plutonian's sidekick, Samsara, recollects when he first met his mentor. It was during a baseball game in which the great superhero defuses a nuclear bomb, saving the lives of everyone in the stadium. Nearly everyone is cheering for the rescue, but you got to consider that The Plutonian has super hearing:

How's that for good character work? Look at his facial expression!

Whereas superhero comics tend to have characters who have big hearts to go along with their powers, Waid has stated that his character does not have the emotional capacity to not let the world get to him. He also pointed out that by classic superhero rules, heroes can't concern themselves with what people think of them. His counterargument to this is: "if you are so far removed as to not care what people think of you, it takes one less step to not care what people think."

This following page should be one of the all-time greatest moments in comic history. Issue #2, features a flashback of when Alana Patel (the Lois Lane of the series) finds out that mild mannered Dan Hartigan is The Plutonian:

She feels that this whole time Dan Hartigan had been laughing behind her back, and that this was all a joke to him. The Plutonian tells her, "You mean everything to me and I'll protect you forever. I swear. Alana, you love me. I showed who I am and you still love me." Alana is freaked out by the whole ordeal and responds with, "Love you? I don't even know you!"

I won't go into detail about the third issue, but all I can say is that the opening pages features probably one of the most disturbing things I've ever read. What happens in the beginning sounds like something you'd hear from your crude, immature friend sharing a story about some porn he just watched.

Regardless, I still feel that Mark Waid's Irredeemable is an intellectual work that everyone should check out. Do I think it's going to end well? I really hope so. I'd hate to see another series with a strong beginning, but a crappy ending.

What I really love about Irredeemable's first three issues is that it is turning out to be the ultimate story about the nice guy going bad. There's the age old theory that a person is only an asshole, because originally he was too much of a good guy. I'm not going to say it's like Christopher Nolan's film "The Dark Knight," in which the character Harvey "Two-Face" Dent had his whole spiel about, "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain," because whereas Dent always showed signs of being corrupt, flashbacks of the Plutonian portray that he was lovable, dependable, highly logical, friendly, and just had the makings of what you'd expect from your typical "goody, two-shoes" superhero.

But as the more "superhuman" you become, the more disconnected you are from things. The closer you get to godliness, the more people begin to look like statistics and ants. If you've saved the day, and did the right things a billion times, every thing becomes formulaic, and it always hurts the most when you're right, when you want to be wrong. (And believe me, issue three has a part where The Plutonian is unfortunately right about people.)

While I am by no means, a superhero, I can certainly relate to The Plutonian. I'm pretty sure a lot of people can. How many times have you done what you felt was "the right thing," and still have things blow up in your face? You can have all the praise and adulation from everyone, but suppose the one person you love the most was still an unrequited situation? Perhaps you do favors for people, but they don't ever think about checking up on you; all they care about is what else you can do for them. (The characters in the comic are feeling the ramifications of never getting around to knowing who the Plutonian truly was.) You can't be a caring person in this world without being a martyr, and I feel that The Plutionian character has taken all the bullshit that he can, and has pretty much decreed, "fuck it."

The 1986 Alan Moore graphic novel (Irredeemable is loosely inspired by Moore's "Twilight of the Superheroes" concept) Watchmen has a joke involving the clown, Pagliacci:

"Heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, 'Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up. Man bursts into tears. Says, "But doctor. . . I am Pagliacci."

The Plutonian is probably a lonely guy who has no one to confide in, and nothing can cheer him up.

I'm sure if you read Irredeemable, you'll think that The Plutonian is an asshole, but I feel he's more human than most superheroes.

Irredeemable is published and copyrighted by BOOM! Studios. (2009.)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Novelty Acts

Before I start, I first want to say "thank you" to the couple of you that have commented on this blog. (Keyword: "couple," because there literally is two of you at the time of writing this.) I honestly wish I could've commented back during the time you posted on this blog, and I'm still figuring out how to have this thing notify me via e-mail.

Furthermore, I have (for the time being) changed the blog settings so anyone can comment on the blog, regardless if they're registered blogger members or not. I'll leave this setting this way, but at the first sight of spam advertisements for penis pills and energy drinks, I will be putting the old settings back.

But anyways, today I will be writing about: Novelty Acts.


The above picture is from the June 12th, 2009 Bootlegs of the Untitled Band/Bassfishing show at Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse in San Pedro. Aforementioned in a previous blog, Bootlegs of the Untitled Band is my brainchild project, and that's me in the orange spacesuit. (I was originally inspired by Paul London to wear one, but it's slowly developing a life of it's own with what I've been doing.)

This particular photo is my new band, Bassfishing. ("Bass" is meant to be read bay-se, like the instrument and not like the fish. That, itself, is a reference to The Wizzard from Tim and Eric's Tom Goes to the Mayor.)

At any rate, if you were to see this at a coffee shop, what would you think? Please be honest. If you were to see a bassist in a ski mask, a DEVO-reject on rhythm guitar, and La Parka wearing his casual clothes wielding an electric, what would be your reaction? It's certainly different.

What do you expect to see at coffee shops? Or better yet: what do you expect to hear when someone pulls out an acoustic guitar? Well, I'm not sure what you expect, but I certainly know what I'd expect. There are three schools of acoustic guitar players: the school of "Bright Eyes" Conor Oberst, the school of John Mayer, and the school of Jack Johnson.

Before I continue, I want to just point out that I'm not going to detract away from their talent. They certainly do things with the six strings that I'd never dream I'd ever be able to do in my entire life. However, I'll admit that I'm not a fan of Bright Eyes and John Mayer. I can understand the appeal of a tortured songwriter who has a painful time telling his stories, but something just doesn't click when it comes to Oberst's music. It's just a little too melodramatic for my tastes. As for John Mayer, I'm sorry but he is too "adult contemporary" for me. I think he's a good guitar player, but y'know, that isn't everything to me when it comes to being music I like. As for Jack Johnson, well, I actually think he is pretty good. His music is pretty fun. He's certainly not an influence of mine, and not something I'd listen to daily, but I can honestly say I like Jack Johnson.

But regardless if I love or hate Jack Johnson, John Mayer, and "Bright Eyes" Conor Oberst, there's no deny that there's this horrible saturation of this type of singer-songwriter, especially at coffee shops. It doesn't matter if it's a girl or a boy singing, they generally tend to emulate one of these type of performances. And believe me, if there's anyone who would know, it would be me. In the Southern California Area, I've been associated/performed at: Nuart Cafe, Portfolio Cafe, Java Town, Cup of Jo, Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse, the It's A Grind in Lakewood, and the It's A Grind along PCH in Long Beach. I share the stage with with these modern-day dramatists.

Between the more typical singer songwriter types and the guy who's been known to wear costumes and shout songs about "Alpha Snails," who do you think is the bigger draw? Who do you think gets the better critical acclaim?

It's honestly the age old battle between comedy vs. tragedy all over again. I'm certainly not saying my whole act is centered around humor, but I tend to be more on the comic side than the tragic side.

I've been called a "novelty" act before by some guy claiming to be a record producer. I've been given weird stares by more "serious" acts. I really want to know: who decides who has emotional depth and who doesn't?

What's with the suppression of comedy? How often do we hear: "I used to think Jim Carrey was lame, but I found out the man could act. He can do serious roles!" Everyone loves to laugh and feel good, but we're more likely to react to a sad ending, as opposed to a happy one. I always hear about good books being the depressing ones; it's always the one's that are "heart-breaking," "haunting" and "emotionally shattering." I'm always told my appreciation of the "novelty" band Ween is shared with thirteen year old kids who'll eventually grow up and reject their fandom.

Apparently, I'm certainly not "artistic" without some earth shattering, tear-jerking aspects. At the June 12th show, I played a "straight" show. It was a friend's idea, and I took it to consideration. I played a 13 song set with no gimmicks, no "stand-up comedian" stage banter, and I restrained myself from moving too much with the flow. It was an interesting approach, but it certainly felt like performing music with a straight jacket.

I had an epiphany that night, and I realized that the problem isn't with me. I shouldn't have to creatively change myself for anyone, because what I feel is natural when I perform is true, honest, pure, and raw expression. I'm certainly not saying I can't be serious. Some days I'll feel like being goofy on stage, and on other days, I don't. I shouldn't consciously dictate what I should do. Does anyone dictate how they breathe?

The problem is the mentality of rational and pain. Our great logical minds have set the paradigm to be that we must think and analyze, and of course, this leads to pain. Logical minds expect life to play fair and for everything to make sense. We don't want to experience and enjoy things; it seems too easy to do so. We are all subconsciously masochists who want everything to be intricate and technical, so we can get everything down to a science; to say everything fits appropriately with labels. We don't like this idea of life being mysterious, but rather our egos want to say we know everything. We want to be able to proclaim: "I've got you figured out" and "You're predictable." Everything has to be "intelligent," and comedy is rarely ever seen as a "smart" art form.

And so, a simple minded baffoon on stage become a "novelty act." I'm someone that the logical minds think are predictable. Truthfully though, I believe that you can never predict the mind of a fool. The fool is only a fool because someone called him a "fool," and the label comes from being "different." [Of course, I'm not saying one should be just pure comedy over tragedy, because that's when you'll get the true sociopaths. However, I think I'll address this in a later post.]

I truly do feel that Ween are spiritual brethren to my work. Does it bother me that they haven't achieved mainstream success? It's been 6 independent albums, and 10 studio albums. I certainly want them to have bread on their table. I don't wish anyone to starve in the world. Of course, I think generally, nobody takes them seriously.

The 1997 album The Mollusk is one of my favorite albums, but from start to finish, it is quite hilarious. The opening song "I'm Dancing in the Show Tonight" is a showtune-esque number, with a chamber of morphing voices. Another notable song is "Ocean Man," which has been used for a Honda commercial, as well as The Spongebob Square Pants movie. The song most people state as the most out there on the album is the stomp on the floor, "knee slapping" romp that is "Waving My Dick in the Wind." Needless to say, the album is forty minutes of good times.

This isn't to say the band doesn't have its serious moments. The final track on The Mollusk entitled "She Wanted to Leave" is probably one of the few songs that literally had me bummed me out for days. The opening song to the 2000 album White Pepper called "Exactly Where I'm At," has lyrics that really punch you to the gut: "I'm all staged / It's all an act / I'm really scared that I may fall back on the abstract / It'd be exactly where I'm at." And of course, these are all songs that would be considered "emotionally deep," had they not been written by Ween.

There is hope because Ween is one of those kinds of band that has always changed their sound. They've done an album of country tunes, an album themed around the ocean, and an album of Beatles-esque pop. On top of that, while they are considered to be with the indie and alternative scene, they've been known to cover songs by hard rock musicians such as Led Zeppelin, Motorhead, and even Van Halen. On top of that, they've had a great underground following that supports them through and through, showing that it is still rewarding to be uncompromising and express who you really are. Their fans tend to appreciate all aspects of them.

It might not quite be the mainstream, but there is an audience out there that doesn't think of them as just a "novelty" act.

In closing, I leave you with two things. First, here's the infamous 30 second jingle that Ween did for Pizza Hut:
"Where'd the Cheese Go?".
"Where'd the Muthafuckin' Cheese Go At?".

If you haven't figured out, the later is the explicit remix.

I honestly think that had they succeeded in getting that song to be used in a commercial, it would've been as memorable as those old, creepy Quiznos subs advertisements.

Secondly, here's the music video to one of my favorite Ween songs, "Even if You Don't":



It's directed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame.

Photos of Bootlegs / Bassfishing taken by Roderick Apellanes at the Sacred Grounds Show. June 12, 2009. His photoblog is here:
Raving_Musashi..


The photo of Jim Carrey is from his role of Lloyd Christmas from the Farrelly Brothers film, Dumb and Dumber. (1994.)

I stole the photo of Ween from old-wizard.com's "
Top American Bands.."

Sunday, June 21, 2009

My Dad (Father's Day Edition Blog)

Recently, my friends and I filmed this:



If anyone is interested, I'm playing the nerdy guy, Patrick of CHINA SMOKE was playing my friend, my dad was played by Mr. K, and lastly, the film was directed by Chris "DJ Gouki" Plummer. So, if any of you guys had heard of Moon Jelly Records, that short "more-annoying-than-actually-funny" skit would know that was basically the whole company right there.

The "plot" (if you can really call it that) was my brainchild. Again, the whole idea behind it was to be more annoying than actually funny. It seems to have caught on, being as a couple of our friends could not stop saying "my dad" in a nerdy voice for awhile.

My friend Andrew and I were hanging out the other day, and he asked me, "Where did you even come with it?" Truthfully, I guess it was too stupid that it came off as original. Truthfully, I would dare say that a part of it is autobiographical.

No, I've never been caught drunk by my parents. No, I've never actually been beaten with a fondue fork. And no, my parents do not prohibit me eating cheese for a week when I'm in deep shit.

I've been spanked by a newspaper before, and they used to scare me with the snapping sound of a belt, but overall, I wasn't a "good" kid per se, but too much of a "weird" kid for them to handle. What could my parents do when I drew their Christmas cards, and there were skeletons and tombstones all over the place? Could my parents really yell at me for accidentally breaking a buddha statue when I was peacefully waltzing with it?

I guess what I'm trying to say what is autobiographical about it is that fear of your dad. When I was a rowdy kid, my dad used to threaten to beat me up if I misbehaved. It's not so much that I can't beat up my dad. He's pretty old and his bones aren't as good as they used to be. But really, at the end of the day, who really wants to punch your father?

It took me a long time to admit this, but I see a lot of myself in my dad. A lot of people are actually a lot like their parents, but hardly anyone ever wants to admit it. My dad is just as weird, just as stubborn, and just as borderline obsessive compulsive as I am. He's always on the move: I hardly ever see him take a day off. Every time he's free from work, he's always fixing or cleaning something in the house.

I'm the same way. Usually when I have a vacation, 75% of the time I don't feel like hanging out with people. I actually prefer locking myself in my room and working on music and art.

And here's the key thing about the two of us: some times, I think we work hard at the things we do just so that we can say we gave it 110% When it comes to things you care about, there's no half-assing in the Ng family work ethic.

I sometimes think my dad really just works hard just for the right to say he's been "selfless" and a "good guy." I share this condition. I think it's a mental illness really, but sometimes I think I give of myself to people (usually friends), just for the sake of being able to say, "I'm giving more." And of course, both me and my dad expect reciprocation and equal effort from everyone, but realistically, the world does not work that way.

The major question here is: do I love my dad? It's really an awkward question to answer, but I would honestly say "yes." It's truly an unconditional love. I'm not saying everyone should love their dad, because that would honestly silly. You can't choose your family, and so I feel, no one ever has to commit to loving their family.

He's weird and goofy, and I make jokes about him all the time. It's definetly easier this way, because if I took some of the things he says to heart, my dad would come off as this mega-jerk, and he's really not. I may not agree with his actions and ideals, but that's always the old vs. the new. (I don't want to digress much, but if you ever read Toni Morrison's novel, Sula. . . my dad would probably lose his leg for me and call it "love," but wouldn't particarly be an affectionate type of person.)

Anyways, the whole point here was the celebrate my dad, and hopefully I did so. Will I probably go back to butting heads with him by the end of the day? Probably. That's usually how it goes for holidays.