The Motion Sick: No music no screams

I WILL NOT MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT THE PLOT OR ACTION BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN CLOVERFIELD AND DO NOT WANT TO READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT HOWEVER TRIVIAL DON'T READ THIS BLOG.

I don't see many horror movies, I actually don't see any horror movies. I don't like the way they make me feel. Paying someone to make me feel uncomfortable for two hours isn't fun in my mind and since I feel uncomfortable a lot of the time anyway, I'd prefer to spend money on things that help me forget that, however I did see Cloverfield tonight. I am not sure if its really a horror movie but it is definitely in the catagory of movies I wouldn't see normally because of how I would feel.

Though it certianly added to the repertoire of disturbing images I have been collecting since childhood I was not thrilled, scared, or left on the edge of my seat. Why you ask? There is no music to the film. To me that is how all the suspense is built up, classic example, those two notes that sound every time Jaws is around. I didn't see The Blair Witch Project because of my previously mentioned dislike for horror films but I know people who said it was terrirfying. How did they avoid music but retain the terror. I understand the whole found footage theme with both of these movies and think it ts great so I even have a solution so not to ruin that aspect. The writers should have just had a character carry a boombox that happened to be playing a recording of an original motion picture score and soundtrack. It definitely would have helped to punch up my anxiety and fear level not to mention give an indie band like The Motion Sick an oppurtunity for song placement in a Hollywood movie.

The Motion Sick: My fave CD of 2007

Greetings,

I didn't buy or listen to very much in the way of new music in 2007. I did however get attached to the Modest Mouse record, "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank". I think it was my favorite thing to listen to in 2007. The record took me on a journey and enlightened my musical psyche. I love their choice of instrumentation on many of the songs and I fell in love with just about every vocal performance by Isaac Brock delivered. His raw passion and intensity totally blew me away.
I think my favorite song on the record is Parting of the Sensory. Very dark and creepy chorus as well as a very explosive outro/ending. Again, the vocals blew me away. I also really love Spitting Venom, it takes so many twists and turns, you just never know how the song is going to end up. Love the horns!
I think the Rilo Kiley record, "Under The Blacklight" is also a great piece of indie pop. It sounds very much like a Fleetwood Mac record, which is probably why I really like the slight departure, and why Mike probably doesn't... Either way, it's a good pop record that leaves me wanting more.
If you're reading this, than I suggest you look for the Manchester Orchestra's newest release as well as Sea Wolf. 2 bands I've been digging.

The Motion Sick: The Blow-Hard Manager of U2

So, Paul McGuiness apparently has a problem with technology companies... It is not enough that the band he manages just happens to have made more money than probably every Indie band ever assembled; but he's trying to milk every last cent from various technology companies from each file-shared version of "Vertigo".

Now, clearly I'm not saying that I endorse the illegal sharing of music; there has to be some sort of income stream for artists to continue making music; but as the RIAA litigation schemes have shown, threatening a few teens with jail time and making their parents pay out simply isn't good business.

Several other people have much more eloquently made this point, so I'll simply link to them here:

Farhad Manjoo at Salon.com

Mike Masnick at Techdirt

The Motion Sick: The Motion Sick - Interview and Performance

The Motion Sick: My song of the year for 2007

Greetings to The Motion Sick Blog!

I meant to post this before the end of 2007, but since this blog didn't exist at that point; I'm using that as my excuse!

I've been recently reviewing all of the new music I listened to in 2007.. some old and some new. Through that review process, I was trying to find the one song from an artist (ideally, from a record that came out in 2007) that I could identify as my favorite. So, without further ado; that song is:

Impossible Germany, by Wilco; from the Sky Blue Sky disc.

Why this song? Well, for one, I played it 49 times over the course of the year, and considering that the record came out in May; that's a decent number of plays. However, aside from logging the most minutes on my iPod, that song touched me far more than any other on this record; which I have to admit I liked quite a bit. It was a fairly stark departure from their previous two records (which I also liked...) and didn't have the noticeable touch of Jim O'Rourke (who in some ways is my artistic hero) but the record still had a each member of the band doing just what needed to be done along with new comer Nels Cline, who provides a strong contrast to the Tom Verlaine inspired guitar solos on "A Ghost is Born".

I think its probably best to leave the analysis of the lyrics to each listener; but my overall impression is the taking of two rather unlikely allies/lovers and thrusting them into a situation; not entirely of their own making, and the final reconciliation of that relationship.... After the lyrics come the extended guitar solo... which is so biting, yet sweet... it just cries out both the tenderness and paid of these two parties until the end where all three parts are playing in harmony.

So; that's my top song for 2007.

Peace to you all, and good night!

The Motion Sick: Last.Fm

I have been using last.fm in conjunction with Pandora (and my regular winamp listening).  

Make friends with me on there!

The Motion Sick: M. Ward, Zooey Deschanel - She and Him

It almost seems like a joke. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are making an album together under the name "She and Him."

They did a performance on KCRW, which was posted on this blog:
http://fuelfriends.blogspot.com/2008/01/m-wardzooey-deschanel-collaboration-is.html

It's actually pretty good. I am really liking "Sentimental Heart" in particular. Maybe I'll forgive  Zooey for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Tin Man.

I guess there's a bunch of stuff on youtube like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i15bOlgffn0

I haven't had a chance to sit through any of it yet.

My guess is that this album will be better than Scarlett Johansson's album of Tom Waits covers.

DNFMOMD: Rustic Bread

I let the bread machine do the dirty work of kneading the dough, but I came along and shaped it into this:



Secret Ingredients: Roasted Garlic, Dried Basil, Caraway Seeds, and Flax Seeds.

DNFMOMD: Victory Garden

What can make you happier than the budding love of a garlic clove that had sprouted and some cilantro seeds bought last year, co-habitating in the kitchen window?

DNFMOMD: Cupcake Madness!

These are the vegan cupcakes I've made recently:


Mocha with Espresso Icing.



Yellow Cake with a rich Chocolate Glaze.


A traditional Marble (Chocolate & Vanilla Swirl) with "buttercream" frosting, and a dash of cinnamon.

Look for many more cupcake updates in the next month as I will be supplying the goods for a wedding.

The Motion Sick: Jeffrey Lewis - 12 Crass Songs

I have recently started writing a bit for Three Imaginary Girls - http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/user/thesleepwalker

It's a pretty great site. You should read it. I won't cross-pollenate much beyond this post, but just in case you need to read every word I write, I wanted to let you all know that some of those words are over there.

I am so new to it that, in fact, my first review just got posted:
http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/recordreview/2008jan/jeffreylewis12crasssongs

It has the lowest ratio of album analysis to autobiographical spewing of any review I've ever written in my life, but that was the best way I could come up with to get my point across.

I've also written a piece on the song Mad Dog 20/20 and my latest guilty pleasure Elisa Jordana - http://myspace.com/elisajordana

The Motion Sick: Most Depressing Day of the Year: Jan. 21

A researcher claims that, based on WWW searches for the word "depression" that the third Monday of January is the most depressing day of the year.  The only upside is that he calls it "Blue Monday," which reminds me of the extensive discussion of the term in Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions.  Happy depressed day everyone!

The Motion Sick: Pandora

I've just started listening to Pandora radio ( http://www.pandora.com/?http://www.themotionsick.com ).  It has actually done a pretty good job of finding new things I am enjoying.  Oddly, I never used it because I preferred the way Last.Fm ( http://www.last.fm/user/TheMotionSick/?http://www.themotionsick.com ) worked.  Now, I found a way to integrate the two using OpenPandora ( http://openpandora.googlepages.com/?http://www.themotionsick.com ).

The Motion Sick: Welcome to The Motion Sick Music Blog

Members of the band, The Motion Sick will be discussing music, writing reviews, and telling you all of the things you want to know.  Stay tuned!

Jimmy Stewart put the hand of a Yeti in his wife's underwear

That is not some euphemism of unknown origin, but rather a statement of the rumor that Jimmy Stewart allegedly smuggled a Yeti hand from India to London in his wife's underwear in 1959.

The Pangboche Hand, an artifact stolen from Nepal (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangboche_Hand), was sought by wealthy businessman and adventurer, Tom Slick. He allegedly sought to analyze the hand to determine its origin and hired thieves to remove pieces of the hand from a Buddhist monastery in Pangboche, Nepal. The stolen pieces were replaced with human bones. After transport of the hand to India, Jimmy Stewart agreed to receive it and bring it back to London.

(the text below is stolen right from the wikipedia article)
Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman rediscovered this story while writing Tom Slick's biography in the 1980s. Coleman confirmed details of the incidents with written materials in the Slick archives, interviews with Byrne, and correspondence with Stewart. Byrne later confirmed the Pangboche hand story via a letter from Stewart that Byrne published in a general book on Nepalese wildlife.

"Yeti" finger declared human:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-16316397 

Loren Coleman chronicled his research into the unknown history of the "Pangboche Hand" in two of his books, Tom Slick and the Search for Yeti (Boston/London: Faber and Faber, 1989) and most recently in his Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology (Fresno, CA: Linden Press, 2002).

London University primatologist W. C. Osman Hill conducted a physical examination of the pieces that Byrne supplied. His first findings were that it was hominid, but then later in 1960 he decided that the Pangboche hand was more in line with what he would find from a Neandertal.

During the high-publicity 1960 World Book expedition, which had many goals including gathering intelligence on Chinese rocket launchings, controversy regarding the hand was inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary and Marlin Perkins who took a sidetrip in Nepal to investigate and debunk the Yeti. What was unknown to Hillary when he examined the Pangboche hand was that he was looking at a combination of original and human bones placed there by Byrne. Naturally, Hillary determined the artifact was a hoax.

In 1991, in conjunction with Coleman's research, it was discovered that the Slick expedition consultant, an American anthropologist by the name of George Agogino, had retained samples of the Yeti hand. The NBC program "Unsolved Mysteries" obtained samples and determined they were similar to human tissue, but not human, and could only verify they were "near human." After the broadcast of the program, the entire hand was stolen from the Pangboche monastery, and reportedly disappeared into a private collection via the illegal underground in the sale of antiquities. George Agogino, before his death on September 11, 2000, transferred his important files on the Pangboche Yeti hand to Loren Coleman.

The Motion Sick: James Bond Theme Songs

Some interesting notes about James Bond themes Full table and much info stolen
from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_music

Apart from the first film, Dr. No, which introduced the James Bond Theme (and
was also the only film to use two songs during the opening sequence), only 3
films have had theme songs with titles differing from the title of the film:

"Nobody Does It Better" - Carly Simon - The Spy Who Loved Me "All Time High"
- Rita Coolidge - Octopussy "You Know My Name" - Chris Cornell - Casino Royale

Duran Duran and John Barry's "A View To A Kill" topped the singles charts in
America and was the only Bond theme to hit #1.  "Live and Let Die" reached #2
on the US Singles Chart. Sheena Easton's performance of Bill Conti's "For Your
Eyes Only" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song Madonna's theme
for "Die Another Day" was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original
Song (2002) in addition to a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Only three
films had instrumental themes: Dr. No (excluding the second song used in the
opening sequence), From Russia with Love (a vocal version of the song was used
in the closing credits), and On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Shirley Bassey, who is Welsh, has performed the most Bond themes – Goldfinger,
Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker. Bassey also recorded her own version of
"Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" for Thunderball, but her version was replaced by Dionne
Warwick's rendition.

Film	Year	Score composer	Title song			Composed by	Performed by
Dr. No	1962	Monty Norman	" The James Bond Theme" "Kingston Calypso"			Monty Norman	John Barry orchestra Monty Norman orchestra
From Russia with Love	1963	John Barry	" From Russia with Love" (instrumental) in the opening credits, a vocal rendition of "From Russia with Love" in the end credits by British singer Matt Monro			Lionel Bart	John Barry orchestra
Goldfinger	1964		"Goldfinger"			Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley John Barry	Shirley Bassey
Thunderball	1965		" Thunderball"			John Barry Don Black	Tom Jones 1
You Only Live Twice	1967		" You Only Live Twice"			Leslie Bricusse John Barry	Nancy Sinatra 2
On Her Majesty's Secret Service	1969		"On Her Majesty's Secret Service"			John Barry	John Barry orchestra
Diamonds Are Forever	1971		"Diamonds Are Forever"			John Barry Don Black	Shirley Bassey
Live and Let Die	1973	George Martin	" Live and Let Die"			Paul McCartney Linda McCartney	Paul McCartney & Wings
The Man with the Golden Gun	1974	John Barry	"The Man with the Golden Gun"			John Barry Don Black	Lulu
The Spy Who Loved Me	1977	Marvin Hamlisch	" Nobody Does It Better"			Marvin Hamlisch Carole Bayer Sager	Carly Simon
Moonraker	1979	John Barry	"Moonraker"			John Barry Hal David	Shirley Bassey
For Your Eyes Only	1981	Bill Conti	" For Your Eyes Only"			Bill Conti Michael Leeson	Sheena Easton
Octopussy	1983	John Barry	" All Time High" 3			John Barry Tim Rice	Rita Coolidge
A View to a Kill	1985		" A View to a Kill"			Duran Duran John Barry	Duran Duran
The Living Daylights	1987		"" The Living Daylights"			John Barry Pål Waaktaar	a-ha
Licence to Kill	1989	Michael Kamen	"Licence to Kill"			N. Michael Walden Jeffrey Cohen Walter Afanasieff	Gladys Knight
GoldenEye	1995	Éric Serra	" GoldenEye"			Bono The Edge	Tina Turner
Tomorrow Never Dies	1997	David Arnold	" Tomorrow Never Dies"			Sheryl Crow Mitchell Froom	Sheryl Crow
The World Is Not Enough	1999		" The World Is Not Enough"			David Arnold Don Black	Garbage
Die Another Day	2002		" Die Another Day"			Madonna Mirwais Ahmadzaï	Madonna
Casino Royale	2006		" You Know My Name"			Chris Cornell, David Arnold	Chris Cornell

The unofficial main themes:

Film	Year	Score composer	Title song	Performed by
Casino Royale (unofficial film)	1967	Burt Bacharach	"Casino Royale"	Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass 5
Never Say Never Again (unofficial film)	1983	Michel Legrand	"Never Say Never Again"	Lani Hall

The Motion Sick: Uncanny

Stolen from: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/04/the_uncanny_val.html

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley

"...as a robot is made more humanlike in its appearance and motion, the emotional response from a human being to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes strongly repulsive. However, as the appearance and motion continue to become less distinguishable from a human being's, the emotional response becomes positive once more and approaches human-human empathy levels."