November 23rd: A Fight To The Death

November promises to be the most musically heavy and aurally pleasing month of the year. With new albums by industry heavyweights such as John Mayer, Norah Jones, Leona Lewis, OneRepublic, Janet Jackson, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Bon Jovi, The Killers, Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, and Tori Amos, it seems as though every major record label will be handing out bonus checks with all the money they’ll be making. While most of these records are spread out across various release dates throughout the month, there is one date where the most likely front runners of who will be crowned the Billboard chart champion of 2009 will all be releasing their heavily anticipated new releases: November 23^rd.

Earlier this year, we saw a race to the finish when divas Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Madonna all released new albums in September. Reminiscent to the infamous Kanye West/50 Cent album release day battle of a few years ago, fans everywhere held their breaths to see which of these three female powerhouses would reign above the other two on the charts. Well, apparently this marketing gimmick is one the music industry is trying to explore further, as on November 23^rd, an even more intense battle will be fought. With new releases by pop icons Britney Spears, Lady GaGa, Rihanna, and Shakira, and the debut album of crowd pleasing pop star/glam rocker Adam Lambert, who will reign the new victor of the mainstream charts?

Britney Spears, The Singles Collection

In the past decade, Britney Spears has become the definitive symbol of the word “superstar.” Her music redefined what pop music was, and still to this day, her successors cite her as a major influence they aspire to be ranked on par with. After Britney’s personal life took a major downfall and she became more known for her tabloid worthy antics than her controversial performances and sexy lyrics, she pulled herself back together and had one of the greatest comebacks in music history with her 2008 release Circus.

Not many other artists can say that they’ve had five albums debut at the #1 spot of the Billboard Top 100 albums chart, had twenty-three Top 40 hits, sold out stadium arena concerts and sold over 63 million albums worldwide. Now, celebrating her 10 year anniversary as the name and voice behind a pop dynasty, Britney is releasing The Singles Collection, a collection of her greatest and legendary hits, including her brand new #1 single, “3.”

With all of the tracks digitally re-mastered for the crispest quality sound, fans will be able to play all of Britney’s chart topping hits back to back. Ranging from the opening lines of “… Baby One More Time” to the sultry dance number “Toxic,” to the deliciously addictive chorus of “Womanizer,” this collection of songs not only is a catalog of the best of Britney’s career, but is a culmination of tracks that show the evolution of pop music in the past decade. Starting with bubble gum cheeriness and ending with techno infused dance numbers, the songs Spears provides us are a primary source of how our tastes, as a music consuming society, have morphed from one end of the pop spectrum to the other. If history really does repeat itself, nobody has a chance against the phenomenon that is Britney Spears.

Lady GaGa, The Fame Monster

After the release of her debut album The Fame, Lady GaGa skyrocketed from a new up-and-coming New York singer to one of the biggest names in the industry. In the past year, GaGa has made Billboard chart history by being the only artist to ever have four consecutive #1 singles from their debut album.

The Fame Monster is a re-release of her epic pop extravaganza debut, but featuring eight new and additional tracks. With the lead single “Bad Romance” debuting at #9 on the charts and making it her fifth Top 10 track, it is safe to predict that another #1 song is in the very near future for our favorite fashionista pop-star. After hearing the Latin-infused “Alejandro” and dark-electronica track “Dance In The Dark,” two newly leaked songs from the album, it is clear that in the past year GaGa has evolved her already signature sound and is quickly growing into “the Madonna of our generation,” as Kanye West labeled her.

Rihanna, Rated R

At only 21-years-old, Barbados native Rihanna returns with her first new studio release since her 2007 smash Good Girl Gone Bad, which contained the chart topping, Grammy Award winning hit “Umbrella,” as well as #1 singles “Take A Bow,” “Disturbia,” and Top 10 hits “Shut Up And Drive,” “Hate That I Love You,” and “Don’t Stop The Music.” According to her label, the album “spent 98 total weeks on the Soundscan chart, and earned cumulative sales of more than 36-times platinum in at least 20 territories around the world.”

With an album like that, one would think a follow up would be a bonafide shoe-in for success. However, everything leading up to the release of Rated R is signaling it to be very meek in comparison to its predecessor. Lead single “Russian Roulette” was panned by critics, with most citing it as dull, boring, forgettable, and not worthy of triggering a comeback. In response, it is rumored that Rihanna’s label was responsible for leaking two other tracks from the album, “Wait Your Turn” and “Hard.” Both tracks were cited by bloggers and message boards as superior to “Russian Roulette,” yet still incredibly lackluster in comparison to anything off of Good Girl Gone Bad. Therefore, despite heavy promotion and a loyal fan base, the lukewarm reception of her new material seems to ensure that although she’ll secure a spot in the top five, she will not be polishing her trophy amongst the competition facing the release of Rated R.

Shakira, She Wolf

While one cannot argue that Shakira is not an incredibly talented performer with jaw-dropping dance skill, she has never seemed to be much of a vocalist. Despite the fact that her singing sounds like the slaughtering of a constipated goat, for some reason, Forbes Magazine has declared her the 4^th richest woman in the music industry – behind Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Celine Dion.

After being crowned the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time by having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, Shakira’s newest release She Wolf does not have the same driving force behind it as have her older efforts. While previous songs like “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Whenever, Wherever,” and “La Tortura” remained on the top of the charts gaining hype for their respective albums, lead single “She Wolf” has failed to have much impact. Currently, it holds the #46 spot on the iTunes Top 100 charts, proving the track does not have much gusto to support it.

When She Wolf was released in the U.K. last month, it failed to bode well in comparison to her last albums. Debuting at #4, it is apparent that the rest of the world is beginning to realize that even though she can put on a good show, Shakira does not have the capability to produce good music.

The American release of the album will feature a song not included on the U.K. release. The Timbaland produced track, “Give It Up To Me” features rapper Lil’ Wayne, and is a boring, repetitive upbeat “dance” song that sounds like it was scrapped from Timbaland’s first compilation album, Shock Value. Also on the American release will be the Kid Cudi remix of second single “Did It Again.” While this remix takes a bland song and makes it remotely listenable, it still doesn’t exude enough caliber or force to have Shakira reclaim her spot at the top of the charts. While for some reason this woman still has fans which will ensure her a successful first week of release, there is no plausible way that She Wolf will eat up its competition.

Adam Lambert, For Your Entertainment

Although he was only the runner-up of this past season of American Idol, Adam Lambert has one of the most devoted fan bases since the creation of the show. Just because he didn’t win the show, doesn’t mean he won’t win in long term revenue sales. Take the mega successful former losing contestants Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, and Clay Aiken, for instance. Does anybody even remember who won the seasons they were on? Better yet, does anyone even care?

While winner Kris Allen’s first single “Live Like We’re Dying” has gone rather unnoticed, Lambert’s debut “For Your Entertainment” has slowly but steadily been creating quite an impact since its release last week. After unveiling the ultra campy cover art for his album and appearing in controversial photo shoots that landed him on the covers of Details and Rolling Stone magazines, Lambert has gained far more press than Allen. Additionally, he will be sharing the stage with Lady GaGa and fellow Idol alums Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, and Carrie Underwood, when he performs at the American Music Awards on November 22^nd.

The production team behind Lambert’s debut has all the makings of a smash success. The Sam Sparro-inspired noir electronica fused mashing of pop and glam-rock is certainly not the typical type of release one would initially expect from the debut of an Idol contestant. Enlisting the help of various titans of the industry, Lambert’s debut promises to be thoroughly satisfying. Amongst many of the album credits, Lady GaGa penned the track “Fever,” Christina Aguilera’s hit-making songwriter Linda Perry wrote “A Loaded Smile,” rock band Muse contributed the track “Soaked,” and Pink wrote “Whataya Want From Me” with Max Martin, the man behind Britney Spears’ #1 hits. In addition, Ryan Tedder, the lead singer of OneRepublic who is also responsible for writing huge hits for Leona Lewis (“Bleeding Love”), Beyonce (“Halo”), and Kelly Clarkson (“Already Gone,”), contributes the track “Sleepwalker.” With a team of experienced and profitable producers and songwriters like this, Lambert’s album is one of the most hotly anticipated albums of the year, strongly threatening his competing musical veterans for the chance for his debut to hit #1.

So which of these five musical superstars will come out on top? Will nostalgia of a decade of pop hits give Britney her sixth #1 album? Or will GaGa prove that she is indeed dethroning Britney as the princess of pop? Will the success of Rihanna’s previous efforts cover up the critical backlash of her new material to give her another chart topper? Will the allure of Shakira’s mind blowing performances mask the fact that she doesn’t have anything else going for her? Or will the boy from American Idol trump over all of his female competition and reign as the victor? Only time will tell.

Personally? My money’s on GaGa. While Britney should gain the coveted #1 spot as an homage to everything she has done for pop music, the lack of new material on her release won’t have people rushing to CD stores to purchase music they most likely already own. Instead, the appeal lies with GaGa, whose consistent dominance of the charts since her arrival on the scene last year secure her as the most likely winning candidate. However, despite who receives the highest honor in this battle to the top, one thing is for sure: the intense desire for entertainment and music never dies – even in a crumbling economy.

by.Alex.Nagorski.

The Rebirth And Contemporary Significance Of The Smiths

“Of all the ways in which music changed over the course of the twentieth century, the most fundamental was the shift from being something played to something they consumed,” music historian Elijah Wald writes in the opening to his book How The Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘N’ Roll. This idea of music evolving from a leisurely pastime into a set of guidelines of how to deal with human existence propelled the careers of an uncountable number of artists and musicians who made their livings presenting themselves as the personal messiahs to the everyday person. This person looks for answers to questions he cannot understand, and finds solace in lyrics that assures him that he is not alone in what he is experiencing. Whether it is the voice of hope that Leonard Cohen provided during the Cold War, the message of peace that Simon and Garfunkel spread, or the promise of a light at the end of the tunnel that The Smiths offered, music can have a profound impact on its listeners – an impact that can influence their entire being.

But why does music that perpetuates this type of hope and acceptance have such a universal influence? It is because even in the greatest state of loneliness, one can listen to a meaningful record that shows them that somebody out there understands how they feel.

Although they were only a band from 1982 until 1987, The Smiths managed to record in a half a decade’s material that conveys a message of understanding adolescence that even today, twenty-two years after the band’s demise, still inspires and guides the band’s fans. But why, all of a sudden, have The Smiths emerged from the vault of ‘80s treasures and slowly crept their way back into mainstream pop culture? With more pressing desires (and larger contracts) than ever for the band to reunite, more and more appearances on contemporary film soundtracks, and more musicians citing Morrissey and Co. as their biggest influences and musical heroes, The Smiths are gradually morphing from a subversive underground movement into icons and musical therapists for a brand new generation.

Contemporary culture is embracing the world of independent art more than ever before. The number of independent films gaining box office recognition and dominating over Hollywood blockbusters at the Academy Awards, for instance, has skyrocketed in the past decade. Audiences are beginning to appreciate the intelligence and beautiful artistry of films such as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Garden State, and Little Miss Sunshine in ways that mainstream culture previously had not. Quotes from these films have made their way into the everyday American’s lingos, and memorabilia (such as the “hamburger phone” made famous in Juno) have become recognized materialized manifestations of today’s pop culture. When indie heroes Death Cab For Cutie penned the title track to the new Twilight movie, it was clear that the division between the underground and the mainstream is a much thinner, blurrier line than it has been in the past. In other words, the unknown has become the most recognized, the underground is the popular, the small is large, and the underappreciated is the most appreciated. Our subculture of hipsters and tortured artists has suddenly risen to the forefront of the mainstream media, creating a world where independent art is cherished by more than a select few—in fact, it’s embraced by the masses.

On top of unmasking the underground movement, contemporary music has also backtracked to the 1980s for inspiration. Many of today’s biggest pop artists, ranging from Lady GaGa to Britney Spears, are reverting back to the 1980s to create their modern sounds. This homage to the past is not only present in club music, but also heavily in indie rock. Therefore, it only makes sense that The Smiths are making their way back onto the mainstream radar. They opened up the gates to teenage freedom, giving their listeners a chance to rebel against the mainstream and feel however they pleased. As author and musician Joe Pernice writes in his novella Meat Is Murder (based on The Smiths’ album of the same name), The Smiths’ music “was so raw, so vivid and so melodic that you could cling to it like a lifeboat in a storm.”

Even though their sound was not particularly original or innovative (although it was undeniably breathtaking), it was The Smiths’ lyrics that have captivated their fans since 1982. They gave hope to those who had none. Those who listened to their music felt inspired and understood in a world of misunderstanding. Their music gave chances to those who couldn’t find chances elsewhere. Whether you were the most popular kid or biggest outcast in school, The Smiths had a way of making you relate to them. They took the basic principles of rock and roll, and turned them inside out and made it their own by using their music as aural diaries – places where they could divulge their inner most thoughts, feelings, and views about the world.

“If you compare The Smiths with previous Great White Hopes of preceding eras, it’s clear that the rebellion of the Stones, Who, Pistols, Jam, was based in some kind of activism or at least action, an optimism about the potential of collective or individual agency. But The Smiths’ rebellion was always more like resistance through withdrawal, through subsiding into enervation … The Smiths, hooked on the glamour of the misfit, could only occupy an impossible position, attempt to create a rock music where aggression was replaced by vulnerability, hedonism by asceticism,” author Simon Reynolds writes in his book of essays on underground music, Blissed Out. “Why were The Smiths ‘important’? Because of their misery. Never forget it,” he adds. “And The Smiths were important because of their extremism, their unbalanced view of the world, their partiality … Morrissey is ‘half a person,’ his very being constituted around lack, maladjustment – this is the vantage point from which he launches his impossible demands on life, his denial of the reality principle. Satisfaction and adjustment could never enter The Smiths’ picture, for this would breach their identity,” Reynolds concludes.

The brilliance behind Morrissey’s lyrics is that they can apply to anyone at any time. While, yes, much of what he wrote was inspired in response to what he believed was England’s desire to become more “American-ized,” the anguish he feels in terms of change and unwanted transitions apply to any generation. An example of one particular group of people that connected to Morrissey’s lyrics was the homosexual community. Morrissey’s own sexuality has been speculated about since the start of his career, largely due to the fact that his lyrics were often interpreted as being veiled with references to homosexuality and the homosexual identities of many of his biggest idols, including Oscar Wilde, James Dean, Klaus Nomi and The New York Dolls.

The Smiths’ song “How Soon Is Now” became an anthem of the 1980s gay rights movement, as it signified that love is a universal human need. “How can you say I go about things the wrong way? I am human and I need to be loved just like everybody else does,” he passionately sings on (ironically) one of the most upbeat records The Smiths ever put out. This example perfectly demonstrates the passion and acceptance in Morrissey’s lyrics that caused so many to find solace in his words. “The Smiths dealt with gay themes in a realistic and thought-provoking manner. A review in Rolling Stone Yearbook 1984 described their first album as follows: ‘Lead singer Morrissey’s memories of heterosexual rejection and subsequent homosexual isolation were bracing in their candor, and Johnny Marr’s delicately chiming guitar provided a surprisingly warm, and sympathetic setting,’” note scholars Michelle Wolf and Alfred Kielwasser in their textbook Gay People, Sex, and The Media.

The need for the type of voice of hope that The Smiths provided is as strong now as it was in the 1980s. While countless musicians have cited the band as their greatest influence, few have managed to live up to their inspirational and timeless status, and even fewer have secured themselves a place in the rock and roll hall of fame under the same umbrella of being able to capture and understand adolescence and misery.

In 2009, Morrissey had his most successful year as a solo artist since his debut in 1988. His newest studio album, “Year Of Refusal,” produced his highest U.S. chart debut on the Billboard 200, he is currently finishing a sold out stadium world tour, and he has re-released upgraded and re-mastered versions of two of his best albums from the 90s. Furthermore, he will be releasing an 18-track collection of B-sides entitled “Swords,” which chronicles his entire career as a solo artist, on November 3^rd. “Morrissey's god-like status has relatively little to do with those sporadic moments in history when the release of a new album or globe-trotting tour spawn an avalanche of commercially-driven media attention. The fuss Morrissey has been generating lately is little more than a peak in the hype cycle that spins around any pop singer, model or movie star lucky enough to have a career that lasts longer than one chart-topping album or blockbuster film. Rather, it is his obsession and affiliation with the margins of culture and society — all that is unpopular, ugly and damned — that fuels this uncommonly extreme devotion of his fans,” writes music critic Chloe Veltman.

Perhaps this overwhelming demand for Morrissey is simply a result of his being the closest thing to a contemporary Smiths album or tour. For years, rumors have been circulating about a possible Smiths reunion, none of which have yet to see the light of day. When Morrissey was offered five million dollars to reunite for a single performance with the band at the 2005 Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival, he turned it down by explaining that money was not a factor. It was later reported in 2007 that Morrissey had turned down a forty-million pound contract to reunite with Johnny Marr and tour under The Smiths name for a world tour in 2008-2009. This insistence on the return of the band, however, did not go unnoticed by its members. Although unwilling to reunite, the band did issue a hand-picked greatest hits album entitled “The Sound Of The Smiths” in late 2008, and re-issued digitally re-mastered and restored versions of all of their albums on vinyl in September of 2009.

The Smith’s influence on contemporary music is undeniable. L.A. Times music critic Scott Timberg wrote in April 2009 that Morrissey “patented the template for modern indie rock.” That belief is shared by Philadelphia Weekly music critic Steven Wells, who in December of 2007 wrote an article that stated Morrissey was “the man who more or less invented indie,” and was an artist “who more than anybody else personifies indie culture.” Morrissey has sat firmly on the throne of the indie kingdom since the early 1980s, but it is only now when we as a culture are beginning to embrace the underground art movement that he is being recognized by a new generation of musicians and fans alike as the voice of not just a generation, but a century. He is to us what John Lennon was to the baby boom generation, and in fact is the only candidate who rivals his brilliance as both a songwriter and a musician. While we may never see The Smiths together live in concert or hear another album from them ever again, their messages of acceptance, peace, rebellion, and dealing with misery will forever serve as the inspirational hymns for fans all over the world and continue to influence future generations of musicians. You can’t have a much better legacy than that.

Works Cited

• Kielwasser, Alfred and Wolf, Michelle. Gay People, Sex, And The Media. London: Routledge, 1991.
• Pernice, Joe. Meat Is Murder. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2007.
• Reynolds, Simon. Blissed Out. London: Serpent’s Tail, 1990.
• Timberg, Scott. "Coachella: Morrissey and the Smiths’ influence is apparent". LA Times. 13 April 2009.
• Veltman, Chloe. “The Passion Of The Morrissey.” The Believer. August 2004: Online Exclusive.
• Wald, Elijah. How The Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘N’ Roll: An Alternative History Of American Popular Music. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2009.
• Wells, Steven. “Big Mouth Strikes Again.” Philadelphia Weekly. 12 December 2007.

by.Alex.Nagorski.

"Funny Games" Film Review

Horror movies. You either love them or you hate them. The purpose of a horror film is to ignite some sort of fear in its audience. In the past decade, horror films have taken a sharp turn from the psychologically challenging and mind bending genre it used to be (exhibit A: “The Shining”) and have morphed into a display case for obscure and creatively vulgar ways of showcasing massacred human carnage (exhibit B: the ever expanding, ever annoying “Saw” franchise). Whether you’re rooting for Drew Barrymore to run away from being carved like a jack o’ lantern in the beginning of “Scream” or you’re sitting as far away from your TV as possible while watching “The Ring” in case Samara walks out to get you, we can all agree that the starting point of a horror film is that we, as an audience, like to be scared.

But what does that say about us? Doesn’t fear have a negative connotation to it? As a horror movie buff myself, I’ve often been asked why I like to feel scared, when in the real world, that’s a feeling most people try to avoid. I get a deep concerned look with condescending eyes drilling holes through my skull while being asked what kind of sick things I’m personally into if I enjoy these films, along with a side dish of snide comments about how perhaps I should be seeking counseling. Because, yes, clearly since I enjoy “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” I too have fantasies about butchering oversexed teenagers and using their skin for my own personal face masks.

What I find the most terrifying in a film, however, is realism. Something like being trapped in a house full of rabid zombies doesn’t really make me scared because I don’t believe that I’ll ever be in that situation. It’s when movies depict real people in a seemingly ordinary setting facing some sort of life-or-death conflict that my blood starts to pulse. Recently, a group of my friends and I decided to rent the 2007 film “Funny Games,” written and directed by German filmmaker Michael Haneke. What ensued was a group of ten people quietly gathered around a television set, none of us uttering a word or even moving a muscle, unless it was to put a hand over our open, stunned, gaping mouths.

Warning: this article will contain major plot spoilers, so if you don’t want to know what happens, don’t read any further. You’ve been warned. “Funny Games” tells the story of husband and wife Ann (Naomi Watts) and George (Tim Roth) and their son Georgie (Devon Farver) as they go on a vacation to their country house, only to be taken hostage in their own home by two psychotic young men named Peter and Paul (played equally chillingly by Michael Pitt and Brady Cobert). After breaking George’s leg with a golf club, they make a bet with the family that they won’t survive the night and that the whole family will be dead by 9:30 the following morning.

The movie is a brilliant commentary on both film making and its audience. What I love most about it is that it causes its audience to forget what they know and toss all expectations about film out the window. As movie watchers, we are used to certain conventions coming into play and specific “conflict before resolution” formulas so that by the time we leave the movie theater, our sense of morality is restored and we can go on with our day without feeling profoundly disturbed. We’re used to perfectly packaged stories that adhere to a specific moral code and keep up our faith in a world where good triumphs over evil. With this film, Haneke takes these rules and expected comfort levels and turns them inside out.

When we watch movies, we don’t expect the fourth wall to be broken. We watch movies knowing that we as the audience are not directly involved in the conversations the characters are having, nor do our feelings about the film impact the end result. In “Funny Games,” one of the home invaders turns to the audience and begins to speak to them, questioning what we are thinking: “I bet you’re on their side, right?” he asks in a moment that not only terrifies viewers, but makes us feel like we are inside of Peter and Paul’s sick and twisted psychological torture chamber, being played just like Ann and George are. This further scares the audience by raising the question: what’s fact and what’s fiction? If we’re somehow involved in this film, does it make it more real? Are we then, by default, more susceptible to this type of terror?

Another way this movie breaks conventions is by not giving any real motive for the antagonist’s actions. While in most films that involve murderers there is a drawn out purpose behind their evil ways, “Funny Games” doesn’t give any specified reason for why Peter and Paul do what they do. The world is full of evil and often there is no crazy twist at the end of a murder case that explains the exact reason that caused someone to lash out the way they did. In the real world, evil exists and sometimes the point is not the attack against a single person but rather the need to make evil happen. Peter and Paul perform the same stunts on three families in this film. (there’s a strong indication that they attacked two other families). Why were these families chosen? They were there and Peter and Paul had the power to attack them. That’s all. Some audience members find that frustrating and a cop-out, but I find that chilling to the bone due to its unfortunate accuracy.

In films like these, there’s always the “survivor girl” (a term I learned from the campy and deliciously hysterical horror-comedy “Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon”), or at least one main character who survives to tell the tale. While innocent people are killed off throughout the film, one expects there to be at least one person left over. This gives the audience a sense of hope that they’ll be able to report the gruesome events that happened to them and make sure that the bad guy is caught … again, restoring our moral values and making us feel better about the film. In “Funny Games,” however, there are no survivors. Peter and Paul were right: nobody in the family does survive. Georgie, the little boy, is shot in the head. While we do not see this happening, we hear the gun being shot and the both tear evoking and horrified reaction that Ann and George have about their dead son. Now if brutally killing innocent children doesn’t go against the mold of the typical Hollywood blockbuster, then I don’t know what does.

Furthermore, Ann’s death happens so nonchalantly that, if you blink, you may miss it. While tied up with rope and duct tape around her mouth, Peter and Paul take her out on a boat in broad daylight. All of a sudden, they realize it’s 9:30 and she’s still alive, so they simply push her off the boat, letting her sink to her grave. Up until this point, I expected her to survive and get revenge – to be given one last chance to fight back or at least even curse her captors out. Instead, there was no dramatic hero music playing in the background and zero chances for her to break free. In real life, there is no moment like this. There is no miraculous plot twist that saves your life. Often times those that are captured like Ann don’t live to tell the story, despite what previous films have taught us.

The film’s thesis, it seems, was how we as an audience are numb to violence. While this is a horribly disturbing movie, most of the violence actually happens off screen. In the scene where Georgie is shot, we see Paul making himself a sandwich in the kitchen and all we hear is Peter pulling the trigger and the shot going off in the other room. I found myself frustrated to be watching this seemingly mundane task of spreading peanut butter on bread when I felt like I should be watching the little boy save himself and turn the gun around on the bad guy in the last second. Haneke deliberately lets these traumatic events happen outside of the audience’s range of vision because he wants them to have the reaction I did. Like Paul making the sandwich, we as an audience are hungry – we’re hungry for violence. We’re so used to seeing violence that when we know it’s going on, even though it may be sick and disgusting, we expect and sometimes want to see it. He teases this notion by showing us what happens before and after violence occurs, but never the violence actually happening. By the time Ann is about to be killed off, we’re so numb to what’s happened to her that we’re already anxious about the boat heading over to the next family that will be terrorized, making us care less about Ann and more about the people who are about to be targeted next. Our lack of devoted sympathy to Ann proves Heneke’s point that we are too consumed by violence to even really be effected by it anymore.

In movies, we also expect that once events have occurred, there is no going back and erasing them to start over. That’s why everyone I was with gasped in confusion and horror when, after Ann shoots Paul, the film looks like it’s being rewound to right before she picks up the gun, and instead Paul survives and points the gun at Ann. Why not rewind and do a second take on something that’s already happened? As a film maker, Haneke had every right to do so. It’s again challenging the conventions we expect versus the reality of what would most likely happen in a situation like this. It would be unrealistic to give Ann the chance to be the heroine all of a sudden, as Peter and Paul’s tactics are too carefully and skillfully devised to employ that kind of gambit. Therefore, the audience is temporarily satisfied by having their expectations filled, but Haneke quickly strips them of that and instead serves them a heavy dose of what would really happen rather than what would happen in Hollywood.

While “Funny Games” is not a film for the weak of heart, it is also certainly not a film for those who don’t like to be mentally challenged. It starts out as a seemingly typical thriller, but then all of a sudden presents its audience with horrifying issues: they range from what it must feel like to be completely incapable of helping your family in a time of despair to dealing with the aftermath of a psycopath’s bloody spree whose sole purpose was the sheer pleasure of the power thrill that it produced. If you can walk away from all that with your sense of a moral order intact, you’re doing a lot better than I did.

by.Alex.Nagorski.

Interview with Charlotte Sometimes

(Me shopping with Charlotte Sometimes)

Jessica Poland is not your average 21-year-old singer/songwriter. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, she picked up her first guitar at the age of 14, a time when most kids her age were going to NSYNC concerts and mimicking choreography from Britney Spears videos in their mirrors. She spent her teenage years performing locally in a band she formed. Her incredibly mature songwriting, captivating voice and unique fashion sense quickly caught the eye of Geffen Records in Manhattan, who immediately signed the spunky chanteuse onto their label. She created an alter ego by the name of Charlotte Sometimes and released her critically adored debut album “Waves And The Both Of Us” in the summer of 2008.

At (clothing store) the GAP’s recent 40^th anniversary in New York, Charlotte was one of the distinguished artists to perform in the store for the highly publicized event. It was there that this charming, modest, funny and high-spirited performer and I had some fun rummaging around the store and giving each other fashion tips while shopping, and she talked to me about everything from being the only non-rocker on Warped Tour to what new material she has in store for her eager fans.

AN: How did you come up with “Charlotte Sometimes” as your stage name?

CS: Well my middle name is Charlotte, and I was into this book called Charlotte Sometimes, which is about a girl who gets trapped in time and has to be someone else. I feel like I have so many different personalities that I’m constantly trying to find my way back to the person I’m supposed to be. I just kind of thought Charlotte Sometimes would be a fun little character to play, and I would be constantly able to change her over the years. So no matter what genre of music I decide to do, I can still keep the name.

You say you switch personas when you’re in your music mode, so do you have to change your mindset to become these different versions of yourself while songwriting? Or can Charlotte Sometimes perform something that Jessica Poland has written?

Well the biggest confusion is that all these personas are still all one person. There are just different characteristics about them, but they all come from the same person – which is fine.

So it’s not like Jessica is the angel and Charlotte is the devil sitting on your shoulders.

(laughs) No. I mean there are certain sides of me that are more angelic than others, and more vindictive than others. With the whole Charlotte Sometimes thing, I can kind of be a different person everyday, but they’re all just variations of myself.

You were diagnosed with Condylar Resorption, a disease that affected your jaw joints and forced you to have jaw reconstruction surgery, having to wire it shut for several months. As a performer, what was your biggest fear when this occurred?

Oh my god! Things like “nobody’s going to be like me because I’m deformed now,” “my jaw could fracture at any moment, how am I supposed to sing?” “Will my jaw just fall off?” It started to hurt a lot singing, it was very painful for me. Then getting the surgery and having all the recovery time, I thought “will my voice change?” and anything I thought could go wrong I feared just might. But you know, I’m fine now. I still freak out if I have normal jaw pain – I start loosing my head and thinking “it’s happening all over again, I can feel it, I know it!” It bums me out a little bit still now because being in the media, everyone’s got something to say about you and it’s not fun to hear. So when I hear a lot of people saying “there’s something wrong with her face,” and they don’t know that, well, there actually was. And you know, I think that with the surgery I had they made it look the best they could and I had to accept it and I like the way I am. But yeah, there’s something a little off sometimes. People are so used to seeing the cookie cutter look and so they’re taken aback when someone is different looking. I don’t really get it too much because I live in New York and being different is cool, but when you go out to L.A., people are like “whoa, who is that?” But in New York, everything is far more embraced, so I like my little shelter where I live.

By the time you landed your record deal with Geffen, you already had written all your songs and managed to record your entire debut album in a single month. Going into the studio, what were you most excited for and what were you most nervous about with a major record label producing your material?

You know what I didn’t think too much about it, I just wanted it to happen so that I could feel like something came out of my work. Whether or not someone would like it? I didn’t know, but I just wanted it to be released, which it was and that came with a whole new set of challenges.

What was your first thought when you first saw your video for “How I Could Just Kill A Man” being so heavily featured on VH1?

You know what’s so funny? I barely got to see it. I saw it once and then I saw it once again when I was on the Warped Tour. I shared a bus with this band called Evergreen Terrace, and they are a metal band, so when the video came on it was pretty funny because they could care less, you know? But I was like “oh my god!” and I freaked out and then I never saw it again!

Really?

(laughs) Yeah, really! But everyone else had seen it so I was so jealous.

So what was it like playing (rock festival) Warped Tour with all these bands whose sounds are all so radically different from your own?

(holds up two pairs of jeans) Wait, do you think I’m a 2 or a 4, p.s.?

Definitely a 2.

Yay! Um, it was hard. I don’t know if I’d ever want to do it again, but it was a good experience. I got to meet a lot of different bands that I never thought in a million years would I ever tour with. It was like summer camp, so it was half love and half hate. You always had to be somewhere and had to be doing something, but at the same time, you also created close relationships with people … and there was always drama with things like “who was your summer sweetheart?,” but no, it was really fun.

You have a very unique fashion taste. I see it as part 1950’s housewife meets contemporary Brooklyn punk. How would you describe your style and what are some essentials you need in your closet while touring?

Well I’m working on a new record so my style is changing, but for the last tour for the last record it was very “Bewitched” 1960’s but with a tom boy approach about it. I would wear a beautiful dress with great perfect hair, but then wear sneakers. Or if I were to wear high heels, it would be all grunge-y on top, but I always had this magical “Bewitched” thing going on. This time, I’m not doing such cookie cutter stuff so my style has been evolving in this very 1960s/Melanie Safka/very gypsy-esque. I’m kind of mixing her with my 1990s Liz Phair and mixing that with the East Village because that’s where I live now. Overall it’s just more grown up and more fashion-y, but a little more laid back than the last time … and a little sexier (laughs).

So other than your new style, what can you tell me about your upcoming record?

I’m working on it now, but who knows when it will come out. The industry right now is in the middle of a “oh my god, what the fuck are we all going to do?” kind of situation. I’m just trying to ride the boat.

How has your sound evolved since the last album?

It’s a lot more organic. There are no beats so say goodbye to the dance beats, say hello to depression. This CD is a lot darker. A lot of people are going to think about a relationship but it’s actually about my relationship with business and my band mates on the last tour. It talks a lot about my relationship with myself and being in this world. It’s a lot different but you can still tell it’s me, obviously. But if you took Brandi Carlile, Fiona Apple, and mixed it with Augustana, Coldplay, and Snow Patrol, and put it all together, that’s where I’m heading. Should be interesting.

You started out as a dancer but completely ditched that to become a songwriter. What prompted this switch and why did you only want to do one? Do you ever plan on returning to your dance/musical theater roots?

Anorexia, actually. Dancing is a difficult road and not everyone can handle it and I was one of those people. I loved it so much but it took a toll on my health so I kind of went to music to cope with it and just stayed with music.

You took the refrain from the rap classic “How I Could Just Kill A Man” and turned it into your own very different song. What about that song inspired you to revamp it so much and do your own take on it?

You know it’s funny because I wish it was my idea to it, but it wasn’t. My CD was almost finished and my producer Sam said to me “Yo boo! You know that song “How I Could Just Kill A Man”? Go write it,” and I was like “write it? What are you talking about? I’m not a rapper,” and he goes “Make your own version of that song. I’m telling you it’s going to work.” So we went to the other room and I rewrote it in like five minutes. It’s funny because at the time I was breaking up with this guy I was dating and he said “how could you just kill me like that?” so I ended up doing the whole song about killing his soul. I’m gangster in my own way. I’m a heartbreaker (laughs). I’m just not very nice to men sometimes, so I thought why not just write about that?

What I personally loved about your first album is that it had so many different genres interwoven in it. There was no single label for it. It’s part jazz, part pop, part rock, part musical theater, and part folk, all fused together. Did you set out to create such an eclectic mixture of genres or did it kind of just happen that way?

It just kind of happened that way. I’m the same way as a person – I say that I’m a loner but I’m not really at all. I just have so many groups that a lot of times I end up alone because they don’t get along but I get along with everyone. With music tastes I’m kind of the same way. I’ve never gotten stuck in a genre. I’ve just always liked good songs. I never really got wrapped up in a single scene, which is a blessing and a curse in many ways for my own music. I’m just kind of all over the place, so the album was reflective of my actual life and what I listen to.

This is going to be a loaded question: as a musician who clearly has a very wide range of influences, what would you say the top 5 albums you could not live without would be?

Oh my goodness! Ok – Death Cab For Cutie’s “The Photo Album,” Liz Phair’s “Exile In Guyville,” Fiona Apple’s “When The Pawn Hits The Conflicts He Thinks Like A King …,” Lifehouse’s “No Name Face,” and Roy Orbison’s “Greatest Hits.”

On my campus at Muhlenberg College, one of our acapella groups, The Girls Next Door, do a cover of your song “Waves And The Both Of Us.” What is it like for you as an artist to hear other people singing your songs?

I think it’s really cool. I’m often like “you should just do it. You want to play this show?” (laughs) No. It’s really flattering and nice that people care enough to do that. Most days I’m like “why do I do this to myself?” and it’s a very stressful life. I mean I think if I did anything else it would also be stressful because I’m just crazy. But it’s so rewarding when people like your music enough to do their own thing with it. I think that’s so cool.

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Exclusive: Interview with Ingrid Michaelson

(Ingrid Michaelson, Me)

Whether it’s humming the catchy beat to Be Ok, clapping along to the quirky and romantic The Way I Am, or singing along to the unforgettable and somber Keep Breathing, people across the country have undeniably fallen head over heels for the music of Ingrid Michaelson. The Staten Island raised folk-tastic songstress has fortified quite a name for herself in the industry. Her music has been highlighted on a large variety of television shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scrubs,” and “One Tree Hill,” as well as in feature films, including Sex And The City: The Movie.

After selling out shows worldwide and having had appearances on Live With Regis And Kelly, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Good Morning America, and Last Call With Carson Daly, Ingrid won America over with her sexy librarian glasses and charmingly addictive music and lyrics. Now, nearly half a decade after the release of the album that shot her to indie stardom, the reigning queen of college radio will be releasing her third full studio album, “Everybody,” on August 25^th. While promoting the upcoming record, Ingrid took time out to talk to me about everything from the new album to her Twitter to the hot teacher she never got to take a class with in school.

AN: Your first release, “Slow The Rain” was mostly piano driven, whereas your second album, “Girls And Boys” strayed away from that for more of a folky, multi-instrument layered sound. What kind of musical evolution can your fans expect from “Everybody”?

IM: “Everybody” is more fully produced than “Girls And Boys.” I don’t really ever play songs from “Slow The Rain” because I don’t like that album very much at all. It was sort of my first attempt at making music. I went to school for musical theater and was studying how to have those kinds of vocals which I feel like was very influential in my writing - and while I enjoy musical theater, I don’t want it in my music. The second record “Girls And Boys” was really about finding what I felt comfortable with and where I felt my strongest in terms of good songwriting, but I still didn’t really know quite what I was doing. That record is about five years old now, so I’ve had a lot of time to be inspired and learn and grow. I think “Everybody” is way more thought out. There are string parts and bigger, more intricate, full band songs. There are still some small songs that have delicate and simple instruments, but I feel overall the record is just a lot more thought out and much better.

You’re quite the internet savvy girl. You constantly update your Twitter and your blog, which makes your fans feel like they’re really connected with you. You even tweeted asking for suggestions for album titles and advice on the ones you were contemplating choosing. Why do you so firmly believe in having your fans so updated and involved in your recording process and why do you think most artists choose not to include their fans on such an intimate level?

I think it just depends on your personality. If you’re a really introverted person or if you don’t really care about that type of thing and are turned off by it then you’re not going to do it. I feel like, though, since I was discovered on MySpace, I’ve had a lot of help from my fans and I owe a lot to the internet – it’s where I got my start. It’s a hard business and the people that are keeping me afloat are my fans, so obviously I don’t want to piss them off. I want them to feel thanked.

So why did you ultimately decide on “Everybody” as the title of the record?

Well there’s a song on the album called Everybody so I like that it’s taking something from the record. I’m singing about a loss of a connection between two people that still love each other, which I feel like is something that a lot of people, if not everybody, have gone through. It just kind of felt like a good way of summing up the album – it’s something that everybody can understand.

I read that this record is shaped like a story. You said it’s the tale of a relationship that consumes two people to the point that they are ripped apart. Can you talk to me a little bit about precisely how this story is structured through your music and why it is something that you feel you need to tell?

Well, they just happened to be the songs that I was writing. I didn’t sit down and think to myself “Ok this is going to be the first song, and this is going to be the next song, and so on and so forth.” When I sat down and looked at all the songs I had to choose from, it just seemed like they were a progression if I arranged them a certain way. It starts out kind of uplifting going into a new situation, and just how quickly it takes a turn and falls apart. I just arranged the songs that way because that’s the natural way things go.

Going off of that idea of telling a story - as a songwriter, what do you believe is the relationship between literature and music? Do you feel they feed off of one another or are they completely unrelated?

I think it really depends on the writer as well as the listener. I personally love Regina Spektor. I think she tells fantastical and magical stories in her music, but they’re not really stories about her at all – they’re ones she made up in her crazy, brilliant mind. And I enjoy that. But for my own personal writing, I like to write about what I know and what I know has happened. I never set out to do a concept album or anything, it was like I said - it just made sense that the songs I liked the best fit into that kind of specific category, so I don’t think it’s an imperative thing to have a songwriting story line.

The first single off the album, “Maybe” has a very Carole King/Joni Mitchell feel to it. While writing this record, what musicians and albums were you listening to the most and how much of an impact did they have on your songwriting?

That’s hard to say. In the past year, I’ve listened to the Bon Iver record a lot. I really, really like him but I don’t think it influenced my songwriting. I don’t know what influences my songwriting, but I don’t really hear other people and think “I want to write a song like that.” I hear other people and think “wow, that’s really amazing, and now, maybe I’ll make something of my own.” I definitely get inspired to up my game … but that’s kind of a tricky question.

You’ve self released all of your albums on your own Cabin 24 records. After the critical and commercial success of “Girls And Boys,” did you ever feel pressure to completely switch over to a major label? What made you decide to stay independently releasing your material?

Well, I’m able to work with Universal/Motown now through a smaller label called Original Signal. They get me my distribution and radio and retail, so I have a lot of the muscle of a major label, but I have all artistic control over everything. It’s sort of like a hybrid of the two worlds, so I don’t really see why I would ever switch completely over. I think that what a major label can do is invest a lot of money to get you to a certain point, but I think I got to that point on my own. Now I just want to slowly work my way upward from where I am. I don’t need a million dollars to shoot myself out of a cannon to the top of the Billboards – I just want it to happen kind of slow and steady, you know?

You’ve become the official “Grey’s Anatomy” season finale theme song girl, having been heavily featured in the finales of the past 3 seasons. Do you yourself watch the show?

I occasionally do. Sometimes I buy it on iTunes, especially when my songs are on it because I want to see how they use them. But I’ve fallen so behind on almost every television show that I used to watch, so if I don’t buy them on iTunes, I usually miss them. I do like the show though.

So do you have a McDreamy in your life?

(laughs) Well, who’s my character? Am I Meredith?

Well that’s up to you!

Are they married now?

I think they’re still engaged.

Ha, well … I have a McSomeone. I’ll say that. A McSomeone Special.

Speaking of crushes and boys - all the artwork that’s been released thus far for “Everybody” portrays you as a teacher by a chalkboard. Was there ever a teacher in your school days that you had a crush on?

(laughs) Hmm … well … not really, no. I never had the hot teachers that everybody loved. There was one in my school but I never got him, unfortunately … meaning I never took his class!! (laughs) I had to clarify.

If you could only perform in only one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

I mean I pretty much do perform in one outfit. I just wear my skinny jeans tucked into boots and a t-shirt. It’s my go-to outfit. I like to be comfortable, but I still want to look decent. Sometimes I’ll wear skirts or shorts with tights, but for the most part I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.

You’ve already collaborated with a number of artists such as Joshua Radin and Sara Bareilles, so I was curious as to who you would choose to duet with if you were given the opportunity to sing with any musician, alive or dead?

Well I’ve always said I would want to sing a song with Judy Garland because I grew up watching all of her movies. The story of her life is just so interesting and sad. I have such a love for her so I would definitely pick her.

What are you most excited about and what are you most nervous for with the release of “Everybody”?

I’m excited to perform new songs and have new music for people to listen to. I feel like I’ve been performing the same songs for a while now. I’m nervous, obviously, that it won’t do well and people won’t like it.

Aw, well I’m sure it’ll do well and people will like it. You have a very loyal and dedicated fan base.

Yeah, I hope so! I always prepare for the worst so I won’t be disappointed. I hope it’ll do well but I don’t expect anything.

Like it? Buy it here

Press Release: The Willowz

The Willowz
Everyone
(Dim Mak/Downtown Records; Oct. 6, 2009)

" The Willowz are the only thing in the O.C. cooler than Walt Disney's cryogenic chamber." - Rolling Stone Magazine

Los Angeles’ The Willowz are back with their vibrant energy and vintage inspired new wave sound. The band’s new album, Everyone, is a strong statement of musical evolution. While staying true to their no-strings-attached soul infused garage rock sound, the band has incorporated stronger crafted pop hooks than ever before.

When The Willowz formed in 2002, they were just teenagers with ambitious dreams. Fast forward seven years and the band has found itself featured on the soundtracks to such award winning films such as “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” and “The Science Of Sleep,” and on numerous publications’ “best of the year” lists. Nominated for L.A. Weekly’s “Rock Band of the Year,” making Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of the Year, and coveting the O.C. Weekly’s “#1 Rock Album of the Year” for their 2007 record, Chautauqua, The Willowz are gearing up for the release of their eagerly anticipated forth album, Everyone.

Opening the record is “Break Your Back,” a track that starts out with simple percussion and colorful vocals before crescendo-ing into a massive, heavily layered song, paving the way for the remainder of this dynamic rock album. “I Know” rides the waves between garage rock vigor and an undeniably addictive, anthemic chorus. “Way It Seems” highlights lead vocalist Richie James Follin’s incredible range as his falsetto accompanies the always tempo changing song, making it stand out as an original track that can’t be qualified as either fast paced nor a ballad, but rather manages to be both.

The Willowz once again challenge the rock genre with their unique and beautifully crafted sound. Their luscious harmonies and fiercely rocking melodies make Everyone a gem in their already expansive discography.

For more information please contact:
Pam Nashel Leto @ Girlie Action (212) 989-2222 x 111 Pam@Girlie.com
Kabeer Malhotra @ Girlie Action (212) 989-2222 x 123 Kabeer@Girlie.com

** written for Girlie Action Media & Marketing by Alex Nagorski**

"500 Days Of Summer" Movie + Soundtrack Review

True life: We’re in a recession. Talk about the worst possible time to graduate. Nobody is hiring and all those years of unpaid internships that made you feel like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada mean nothing. Impressive resume … too bad it’s worthless. At this rate, it feels like you need to be a Rhodes Scholar to be one of those dog walkers with eighteen leashes wrapped around your wrists and pooper scoopers in hand in Central Park.

Yes, times are tough. Which is why when I recommend that you spend another $25, you’ll probably just laugh at me. After all, $25 is enough to buy nearly a month’s worth of Ramen noodle dinners. With meals so scarce ever since you moved to the outer boroughs to escape Manhattan’s crazy housing costs (even though you’re still paying over $700 a month and setting your quarters aside for laundry) and every swipe of your debit card triggers anxiety that you might be hit by one more of those god-awful $35 overdraw fees, penny-saving has become your only means of survival in this big bad economy.

However, if you spend $25 on anything this month, spend it on these two items: a ticket to go see Fox Searchlight’s new film 500 Days Of Summer, and its accompanying soundtrack. Reuniting indie darlings Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel (the duo previously appeared together in 2001’s Manic) and directed by newcomer Marc Webb, this unconventional love story is possibly the most honest depiction of a romantic relationship to come out of Hollywood ever. While movies such as The Notebook act as fantasy representations of the love that people long for but seldom truly experience, 500 Days Of Summer serves as a reminder of what love really is, allowing anyone who has ever had his or her heart broken to relate to it.

The film tells the story of Tom (Gordon-Levitt), an aspiring architect who put his dreams on hold to make money as a greeting cards writer. Enter Summer (Deschanel), the woman of his dreams … or so he believes. At the very start of the film, an anonymous narrator brilliantly explains the contrasting characters:

“The boy, Tom, grew up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met ‘the one.’ This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total misreading of the movie The Graduate. The girl, Summer, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parents’ marriage, she’d only loved two things: the first was her long, dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and feel nothing.”

A bit of foreshadowing about Summer’s ability to detach from loved things and loved ones easily? I think so!

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that the love between Tom and Summer is one- sided. Summer clearly has strong feelings for Tom as well, no matter how much she tries to use her emotional walls to shield herself from them. This is made most apparent when, after a fight, she comes over to Tom’s apartment to apologize, although she insists they’re “just friends.” Her definition of what a relationship is does not correspond to Tom’s, creating a major dilemma in whatever pending label-less relationship transaction is occurring between the two of them.

What strikes me the most about this film is that it constantly plays off huge differences. Since the characters are polar opposites of one another, they offer a fascinating contrast. The movie jumps forward and backward in time, with the scenes opening up like chapters, each one labeled according to which of the 500 days of Tom’s infatuation for Summer it was. Going back and forth from when the two are a couple to when they have broken up allows the audience to view their “happy” days through a critical lens not often put to use during a romantic film. Knowing that they break up from the very beginning, the viewer can look for signs pointing to their looming downfall that Tom was too blinded by love to see.

The aftermath of a year and a half of a love gone awry is captured beautifully and accurately as the film pans from shots contrasting when Tom was content to when he was miserable and trying to win Summer back. Each scene of pleasure is immediately followed by a scene of pain, providing us with a harshly realistic “before” and “after” portrait of a bruised man. The morning after they have sex for the first time, for example, Tom is on top of the world and even breaks out into a dance sequence to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” This campy and overly ecstatic scene sharply comes to an end when we see Tom walking out of an elevator in clothes that are clearly tattered and unwashed, with a sullen “I-haven’t-slept-in-two-weeks” look on his face.

Webb also does a fabulous job of making the viewers see Summer through Tom’s eyes. When Tom is describing her to his friends, for instance, it is not him that we see on screen, but rather the specific close-ups of Summer that display the fine details about her that his voiceover describes. A particularly memorable moment is when Tom and Summer first meet and a montage of Summer close-ups occur while Tom daydreams about her “heart shaped birthmark” and “cute laugh.” Later in the film, the same montage is shown except this time we hear Tom’s voice complaining how he hates her “cockroach shaped birthmark” and “annoying laugh.” This shows how neurologically he began to rip apart everything he loved about her in the first place. Even so, the film paints Summer in such a light that it is nearly impossible for audience members not to be in the same boat as Tom and fall in love with her too, making him an even more relatable character - because in some way, we too know what it feels like to long after this woman.

The film received a standing ovation and its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, making clear that it will not soon be forgotten. Similarly, its soundtrack sounds like someone sent in a request to TinyMixTapes.com to create a playlist of music with the ability to change your life. Webb carefully hand selected all the music for the film by what he calls “narrating through lyrics,” which results in a 16-track compilation that when listened to sequence, unfolds the entire film before your eyes.

The heaviest influence on this soundtrack is clearly The Smiths, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Although they were a band for only a very brief stint (1982 - 1987 to be exact), their influence is undeniable. My personal favorite track of theirs, “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,” is actually the song that makes Tom’s character really fall for Summer in the first place. The song is playing loudly from Tom’s headphones while he and Summer are riding in an elevator together, which prompts Summer to comment that Tom has “good taste in music” before she starts singing along. It’s that moment where if it were a cartoon, Tom’s jaw would literally drop to the floor and he’d have to force himself to physically pick it back up.

The soundtrack also features another classic from The Smiths, “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.” The song’s longing lyrics and melancholy instrumentals are sprinkled throughout the film, emphasizing this haunting tale, which is essentially the story of wanting something out of one’s reach. While the soundtrack does include the original, it also closes with a cover of this song by none other than the lead herself, Zooey Deschanel. Her band, She & Him, a two-man group with monster of folk M.Ward, released one of the most exquisite albums of 2008, so having them cover The Smiths for the film made perfect sense. What makes this new version work is that it is not a carbon copy of the original, but is instead a reworked version of the track. The instrumentals are far simpler, giving the song a raw, stripped down, organic sound to it. Zooey’s vocals have also never seemed so vulnerable, as at one point it truly sounds like she may be crying while singing. It’s an incredibly dark yet beautiful reinterpretation of a song that could easily in itself be the soundtrack to a broken heart.

The Smiths are not the only music legends featured on the album. An often overlooked Simon & Garfunkel track entitled “Bookends” sneaks into the tracklisting between stellar tracks by Regina Spektor (“Hero”) and Wolfmother (“Vagabond”). Clocking in at under one minute and twenty seconds, the song serves as a testament to the genius of this iconic duo. It manages to be both soft and incredibly powerful—and, at the same time, incredibly heart wrenching. The song is also perfectly placed in the film during a pivotal moment of the plot, and it is here that Webb’s “narrating through lyrics” belief truly comes into focus.

Australian newcomers The Temper Trap deliver the catchiest song on the record with “Sweet Disposition,” an uptempo rock track that would have fit perfectly on the soundtrack to the 90’s film Cruel Intentions alongside “Every Me, Every You” by Placebo and “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim. Carla Bruni, the model-turned-singer-turned-wife-of-the-French-president, contributes “Quelqu’un M’a Dit,” an eerie and gloomy song of despair. Although the lyrics are in French, Bruni’s emotions speak louder than words, making the song sound like you’re listening to an aural guidebook to shattered hope. Webb chose this song because since there was such a communication barrier between Tom and Summer, he believed it was only appropriate to select a song that conveyed feelings rather than understandable words. Kudos for the symbolism, my friend.

The album also contains the undoubtedly best song Regina Spektor has recorded thus far, “Us,” from her Soviet Kitsch album. In fact, the piano part in that song inspired the score for the actual film. Also featured is an acoustic cover of The Pixies’ classic “Here Comes Your Man,” performed by Canadian singer/songwriter Meaghan Smith. Her take on the song, like She & Him’s take on The Smiths, is a soothingly fresh homage to the original, again taking something old to make it new again. “Here Comes Your Man” is actually featured twice, as the first time is during a drunken karaoke scene in which Tom gets up on stage to sing in order to impress Summer. Ah, the things we do for attention sometimes.

So, what do you get when you combine a sharply witty and honest screenplay with two of Hollywood’s most gifted young actors and add a soundtrack full of musical gems that will surely land it on numerous “best of 2009” lists at the end of the year? The answer: 500 Days Of Summer. It is hands down the best film of the year – yes, I’m saying “year” because I really doubt anything else will come out in the next five months even half as intelligent and entertaining as this movie. It’s brilliantly acted, phenomenally written and stealthily directed. Once it comes out, it will definitely become a worn-out DVD in my collection from watching it far more than I probably should. The soundtrack completes the unbeatable indie movie-soundtrack trilogy, placing it alongside the Garden State and Juno soundtracks. A great film, out-of this-world music—that’s 500 Days Of Summer. You can’t ask for more bang for your $25.


by.Alex.Nagorski.
Like it? Buy the soundtrack here
500 Days Of Summer is currently in theaters