Tim Kasher "The Game of Monogamy"

Tim Kasher is best known for his work in the prog/art punk band Cursive, and also some work in band called The Good Life. With "The Game of Monogamy" Kasher melds these two worlds together. The music sounds more like The Good Life than it does Cursive, but its not nearly as down tempo as most of what I've heard from The Good Life. Lyrically, Kasher is as bleak as ever, and that is most definitely when he's at his best. This album chronicles his life from the start of his "grown up" life through the beginnings of a new relationship, to the monotony of marriage, and the disillusionment of where his life has ended up. "Now all we wrestle with is indifference, 'til we both give in, did we both give in? I thought love was supposed to spill from our hearts." This line, for me summarizes the entire album, its Kasher with an image in his mind of the perfect life, and learning to deal with the fact that that never happens. Tim Kasher hasn't been more personal or more searingly honest than he is on this album. "Writers are selfish, writers are egotists. I'm afraid i'm as bad as it gets. I keep forgetting to censor the truth." Kasher declares in the beautiful "Strays". Musically this album is quite lovely, but once you start paying attention to the lyrics, you'll need a strong will to make it all the way through. This is a wonderful record, however, i think for some people the subject matter may be a bit heavy for repeated listens. But if you can make it through a few times, you'll find yourself falling in love, which if you pay attention to the lyrics of this album, is hard to come by.

The Human Centipede

The Human Centipede is marketed as a "midnight" movie because of its extreme subject matter. The movie is about a German surgeon, specializing in siamese twin separation, who retires and decides to basically do a reverse operation. He decides to connect three peoples gastric systems. And those of you who have seen "Clerks 2" know you never go ass to mouth, so of course this is an extreme taboo. At one point in the film, the doctor, (played by the super disturbing, Walken-esque Deiter Laser) explains what he plans to do to the three patients. Its the point in the movie where you realize, there is no plan for any sort of suspense, its just a gross out movie. The big payoff happens about halfway through the movie when you see the "human centipede" actually put together. After this happens the movie drags quite a bit. As disturbing as the premise is, the actual execution of it is a bit lacking. I may just be desensitized to so called "shocking" movies after having seen about 10 or so of Takashi Miike's films. (nobody does it better than Miike) Its a fun movie for people who are into extreme horror and strange movies, but its nothing too terribly exciting.

The Social Network

I cannot do this film justice. I don't have the experience nor the skills to review a movie like this, that cuts through the current social experience as this film does. The opening scene throws its hooks in you and just never lets up. There are quite a few instances in this film where you find yourself laughing... sometimes because its funny, other times because you've had these "facebook" conversations with other people before. Relationship status, "why does your relationship status say "single"?''...Arguing about the passive aggressive nature of posting a comment or blogging on something rather than saying it straight to someone's face. Even posting this blog after seeing this movie for a second time feels a bit trivial and somewhat inconsequential after seeing the massive impact "facebook" has had on our generation. Think about it, everyone you know is on it. People ask you, "did you see that thing i posted on facebook?" To paraphrase a line from the movie, "...you wrote it on the internet, its what the angry do nowadays." There are a number of lines like this in the film that really make you think about the importance or even the values we have in our society today. Its not necessarily a negative thing that we post things on the internet. We use it to keep in contact with people we otherwise would never speak to again. It seems i'm getting off topic. However i warned you that i could not do this movie justice. This movie cuts to the core of my generation. Its fucking brilliant.