Lunamania » Books, fliks, tunes…

Musical treats

lunamania — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 02:04:01 +0000

Earlier this week, I received a wonderful surprise from my friend, Wil. Wil and I connected over horror/suspense movies, playroom DJ fun, and more recently, parenthood. I’ve been over/under-whelmed by all the socially mediactic ways to find new music. And confused about the proliferation of /// in this post.
Gone are the days of radio via tuner and mix tapes. I hear vinyl is making a come back, but sadly I haven’t had the chance to get my fingers dusty and well…the vinyl shops in NY are an endangered species. So, I was delighted to receive Wil’s email sharing his recent finds with his fellow music lovers.

I always think of Isaac and Anthony when I find love, joy and community through music. RIP Isaac–I feel you in every cheesy love song and smooth mix.

My favorite of Wil’s shares:
Dntel, Rock My Boat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixP2mFnwqEw&ob=av2e

And I threw in a few of my own. Share yours in the comments and I’ll consolidate into a post–or if I get it together, I’ll make a spotify playlist!
Brenda Fassie, vulindlela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxOepJiw4K4

Monday Michiru, Sunshine After the Rain — a little post-Irene ditty of joy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqzCeekXyFs

Jill Scott and George Benson, Summertime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCaPno7QChY

Ok Go, Muppet Show theme song– love me some muppets! And, ok go on treadmills…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiMZa8flyYY

Sour, Hini no neiro – power to the laptop cams!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfBlUQguvyw

Chatmonchy

lunamania — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:25:53 +0000

I thank thewilyfilipino for this. The vocals are strained and off-key, but the rolling guitar and drums are fun. Chatmonchy feel like the female cousins of Bump of Chicken, but then again, that’s just me. Go, J-Rock!

RIP DJ Roc Raida

lunamania — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:15:27 +0000

So amazing, yet so humble. I’m remembering seeing Roc Raida and the rest of the X-Ecutioners perform at BB King’s in NY many years ago. A sad day for turntablists and DJ’s everywhere.

Michael Jackson and the Magical DJ

lunamania — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:12:12 +0000

Like many geniuses, Michael Jackson had major issues, but his music moved people. I mean literally, you could wield a MJ song and move crowds of people. I’ve seen it. Indeed, I am one of the fortunate DJs to have experienced that sublime moment where the crowd is riding your set and you feel the music controlling the crowd. For a bedroom DJ like myself, it’s a rare thing and I’m ever grateful to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” for allowing me those beautiful moments. I’d groove along until the peak hours and then mix the high horns over the rolling bass line of Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines” and well, whaddayakno, people moved. I was finally a magical wizard! Muahahaha! It was pretty awesome and no other song guaranteed such an enthusiastic response. Here’s the White Lines to Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough bit from my DJ Toro archives.

His hooks are addictive, but oddly not ear-wormish. The sheer breadth of his 40 years of musical production and definitive dance style crowned him the King of Pop. He also served as the tragic poster child of surgical options for victims of extreme internalized racism. And speaking of children…

Although never convicted of child sexual molestation charges, his large settlement payments and convoluted and painful attempts to explain his behavior revealed a man living in some Neverland light years from the rest of the world and its moral conventions. His isolation was creepy and sad. I would not allow my children to play with MJ. I thought to myself, here is a man who should not be hanging out with children. Next thing you know he’s hanging his own child out of a window, shrouded his kids in veils and given them names befitting storybooks (Prince, Prince II, Blanket), not the real world.

Michael Jackson had a freakish personal life, but aaawww, his music was freakish too.

Up!:Hi Pixar, awesome movie, no girls?

lunamania — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:14:04 +0000

Up is excellent. Beautiful. See it in 3D on the biggest screen you can find. I laughed out loud. I cried at 3 scenes. I just might pay $11 to see it again. I rave.

I was so moved that after the credits, “awesome!” was the first word out of my mouth. Then I exploded with “WHAT THE FUCK Pixar? Would it have killed you to have a lead female character?” For real, Just One woman, girl or animal that is not: 1) dead, 2) wordless and myopically focused on returning to children when not cracked out on chocolate and named Kevin (because all cool stuffs must be boy gendered until proven otherwise), or 3) Mom patiently sitting on the sidelines while Son pines for Dad or Grandpa figure.

I’m so jaded by the father-son, boy-man character relationship dominating most films that I rarely get this riled up anymore. Plus, Disney/Pixar is the veritable King of the Mother-less child, Father-Son bonding odessey (Finding Nemo, Pinnochio, Bambi et al.) I shouldn’t expect radical gender bending here.

But I’ve paid good money to see 8 out of the 10 Pixar movies in theaters because they are consistently smart, creative and moving storytellers.

Ultimately, my distress is not about Pixar movies per se, but about the deeply entrenched ideas about gender and how they restrict our imaginations and sense of possibilities, especially for girls and young women. I mean, really, you charge a boat load of the best creative minds with making a movie and they can’t create a cast of characters that operate beyond typical gender relationships? Pixar’s cast isn’t even bound by human characteristics. They are fish, robots, animals, toys, monsters, race cars and imaginary super heroes. Yet, they imbue strict human gender identities in each character.

The always secondary female characters Pixar creates shows their team can make funny, complex and engaging female/girl characters: The Incredibles, Eva in Wall-E and of course, Dory in Finding Nemo. Gender roles aren’t encoded in our DNA. They are created and enforced by each of us and promulgated by wonderful storytellers like Pixar.

10 Pixar films and not one with a lead girl/woman. It feels like a deliberate snub. C’mon Pixar! Use your powers for good! Give us a girl!

A musical Friday treat

lunamania — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:28:02 +0000

My Friday gift to residents of Lunamania–a 5 minute musical wonder. It took me a minute to understand the audio and video editing wizardry that seamlessly connects musicians from around the world. Actually, I still don’t understand it, but some art-tech ninja (supported by The Playing for Change Foundation) does and brought us this little gem.
I like ninjas.

Tokyo Sonata: a real review

lunamania — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:15:48 +0000

A little plug for film, eyeballs, brain, a place for smart, well-written reviews of all sorts of movies. Here’s the post about Tokyo Sonata.

Tokyo Sonata:Kyon-Kyon revisited

lunamania — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:18:26 +0000

Mokkun in Okuribito and Koizumi Kyoko, aka Kyon-Kyon in Tokyo Sonata, it’s the year of reincarnated 80′s Japanese pop idols! What’s next? Hikaru Genji at Sundance? That they now both have internationally acclaimed acting careers seems a fitting reward for the indignities their “talent agencies” made them suffer in their teen years.

I cried through a lot of Tokyo Sonata. The movie offers a pitch perfect encapsulation of Japanese repression. But I saw it on a flight from Narita to SFO and admit my tears were also in anticipation of enduring painful (but oh, so sweet) Kyon-Kyon earworms. I think 8 hrs of …Nantetatte Idol…You Are an Idol! looping in my head while trapped in a dimly lit cabin with no one to talk to violates some article of the Geneva Convention. Add the memory of her singing in this dress (sorry, can’t embed it, but the link works)…definitely torture.

Oh and I can’t leave out Kogarashi ni idakarete. So beautifully cheesy and remarkably off-key. That chorus “setsunai kataomoi…” is a total karaoke gem.

Mokkun, I mean Okuribito/Departures, wins Best Foreign Language Film

lunamania — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:04:44 +0000

I didn’t watch the Oscars so almost fell out of my chair when I learned of Okuribito (Departures) winning Best Foreign Language Film through some Japanese news sites–clips here. This movie about an out of work cellist who becomes a traditional Japanese undertaker is…ok, really, who cares? Mokkun! It’s all about Mokkun!

Seeing Motoki Masahiro, aka Mokkun, triggered a time warp to the 80′s when his pretty-boy looks inspired teen heart throb. Seeing him on TV, I found myself channeling my teen self and wanting to shove the director and staff aside to see get a better view of Mokkun.

In the 80′s Mokkun was the “sophisticated” member of Shibugakitai–a 3 member boy band created and manipulated/managed by Johnny’s empire of teen boy performers. Proof below that the ability to sing and dance are not pre-requisites to idol-dom.

After they disbanded, Mokkun posed nude in a Shinoyama Kishin photo book and then embarked on an acting career. I thought he was especially pretty and sparkly in Rampo and Bird People of China.

Departures is scheduled for limited release in the U.S. in May and am looking forward to catching it then.

Note to self–install WP plug-ins to show Japanese characters.

2009: Year of J-pop?

lunamania — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:57:33 +0000

Looks like Utada Hikaru, aka Hikki, is making her second breakthrough attempt. I’m wishing her luck, but my eyes are set on the gender bending ska punk ORESKA band. Anime otaku know them from Pinocchio, the closing theme song to Naruto, but they broke into the stateside indie scene when they became the first and only Japanese (and all-female) band to be invited to the extended South by Southwest Warped Tour. The producers of none other than High School Musical are making a feature length movie about ORESKA Band for release this summer. I might actually shell out $10 to see that in the theaters.