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Uh, huh-huh-huh

I’m no hot-shot investor, but I know enough not to hand my money over to someone who laughs like that.

Patrick Boyle is at his best when taking down phonies.

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Impromptus

Do yourself a favor: put on your best headphones and listen to all eight videos, either one at a time or all at once.  You won’t regret it.

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Eek! A Greek!

Of course I had to go see this despite reservations about Matt Damon.  How could he possibly convince as the wily Odysseus?  Well, the script helped him out by ignoring “wily” and turning Odysseus into a pensive, guilt-ridden bore, a complete anachronism.  Mr. Damon had no problem with that.

But there’s plenty to like.  Most of Homer’s Odyssey is a flashback, and Christoper Nolan handles matters temporal very well.  The Polyphemus episode, as well as those of Circe and Scylla/Charybdis were excellent. As were the Shades emerging from Hades.  Cool shipwrecks too.

The Laestrygons episode might have been better had Monty Python and the Holy Grail never existed.  For some reason the giants were dressed in medieval armor, which made me expect them to demand a shrubbery or say “none shall pass.”  As they were chasing the Greeks off the island, I was half-expecting the Greeks to start shouting “Run away, run away!”

In a similar vein, Agamemnon resembled Darth Vader, which seemed comical to me.  I was reminded of Rick Moranis in Spaceballs.

Some of the inevitable changes to Homer worked well, others not.  The movie cut the island of the Lotus Eaters, instead having Calypso give Odysseus lotus flowers to keep him forgetful and happy.  Excellent idea.  But for some reason Helen and Clytemnestra are now twins.  Why?  I get changes that make a leaner movie, but that seems random.  And where the hell was Laertes?

Borrowing Sinon from the Aeneid was an excellent idea, but poorly executed.  Excellent as a plot connection that I won’t get into here.  But completely wrong as a character.  Sinon was the point man for the Trojan Horse trick, a glib con-man.  But in this movie he’s an awkward innocent who utters a few words after getting mortally wounded.  

The Trojan Horse episode was well-depicted despite Sinon’s botched character and Agamemnon as Darth Vader.  But due to Sinon’s reduced role and the absence of horse-doubters (Laocoon and Cassandra), the Trojans’ decision to accept the horse would seem like idiocy to those unfamiliar with the story.  As a majority of Americans can no longer tell you who won WWII, that likely would be most people.  Granted, Laocoon makes no appearance in Homer’s version, but if you’re borrowing Sinon to add coherence, why stop there?

My biggest problem with this movie involves a spoiler, so I’m mum on that.

Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend seeing it on the big screen.  Shipwrecks.  Mythical Monsters. Minimal CGI.  Yes, please.

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Syd Barrett Meets Missing Persons

Last week I noticed that I’d added this album to my streaming library around a year ago.  I had no recollection of adding it or where I’d heard about it.  Finally, I remembered that I’d seen it mentioned by the Redd Kross brothers in an episode of What’s In My Bag?  It’s perfectly decent psych-pop.  Beginning of the song above is very similar to “Baby Lemonade” by Syd Barrett.  Not exactly rabbit hole worthy, so here’s a cut & paste:

The Fancy Space People began when the unlikely duo of Germs drummer DON BOLLES and quirky solo chanteuse NO-RA KEYES started receiving communications from invisible entities claiming to be from “Fancy Space,” asking them to present their leaders’ (presumably) benevolent messages to the people of Earth, secreted within neo-classic rock tunes. Told that they were chosen not so much for any musical talent they might possess, but more because they would fit into the elaborate space outfits, Don and Nora, neither of whom had much going on at the time, readily agreed.

The aliens assured them that their proposed role didn’t involve any such unsavory or strenuous activities as cattle mutilation or crop circle construction. All they had to do, they said, was play the music and wear the outfits. Said outfits ended up looking positively stellar, indeed, and the rock songs – or “audio hieroglyphs,” as the  entities called them – turned out to be classically astute, yet surprisingly fresh and new sounding; fun, even! Soon, 6 other musical miscreants – X-Orb-X, Danny, Bri-On, Shonn, Saratonin and Paul Roessler (Screamers, Nina Hagen Band) – were recruited into the cult / band to play the other instruments and wear the remaining space suits; et voila: Fancy Space People was born.

That was 4 years ago – nowadays their often sold-out shows – the so-called Fancy Space Rituals – incorporate film, video, smoke, lights, crazy costumes and their uniquely derivative Pleiadian Power Pop to great effect, putting hundreds of bedazzled fans into ecstatic, dervish like states, complete with lots of spontaneous dancing and people singing along with their lighters in the air, at venues all over California, where the band live and record in a top-secret compound in an industrial area just south of Los Angeles. Their songs range from moody Mellotron space hymns to Glitter Rock stompers, Snow Pop to Psychedelic Prog Epics, 60s Girl Group to 70s Krautrock, and remind one of T Rex, Bowie, Abba, Sparks, and even Amon Duul II.

Already they have attracted such enthusiastic collaborators as BILLY CORGAN of the Smashing Pumpkins, MARS WILLIAMS from the Psychedelic Furs, and Belgian Synth Witch SHAZZULA NEBULA. Their eponymous debut vinyl EP was mixed and recorded by KERRY “STUDIO DOG” BROWN (Smashing Pumpkins, Kelley Deal, The Frogs) & KEVIN DIPPOLD (Smashing Pumpkins) and produced by DON BOLLES. It features the group’s theme song, “Fancy Space People,” which seems to advocate saving the Earth by eliminating the humans, “Pleiadian Youth,” a song celebrating – and also warning against – the new exoteric invisible nation, and the hauntingly ethereal “Pyramids (Shoot Golden Rays),” a song that accompanies a popular Youtube video by No-Ra that looks a bit like a new-age sci-fi Kenneth Anger film.

Can a ridiculously attired Los Angeles Glitter rock space cult, channeling cryptic messages from Fancy Space really save the Earth and usher in a new Golden Age? Maybe yes; maybe no. But whatever the case, if you think you might enjoy a bunch of heroic bubble-glam pop anthems, delivered with an ass-kicking punk rock authority and an almost Crass-like dedication to an alien agenda, then a close encounter with Fancy Space People will, at very least, help to make the remainder of our planet’s juggernaut into the abyss a whole lot more fun and entertaining for you than it otherwise might have been.

Um, ok.