Chinese Democracy – Guns n’ Roses

More like a Chinese fire drill, I’m not impressed. Thirteen years, countless line-up changes, and this is what you have to show for it, Axl? It’s not all bad; there are several songs worth taking a listen to. However, most of the album sounds like 80’s hair music. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong here, but didn’t G’n’R despise that particular style? By the way; the 80’s were two decades ago. Most of your listening audience is past that period – even the 80’s fashion return is on its’ way out.

I’ve read this review from the A.V. Club. Perhaps Mr. Klosterman has been drinking the G’n’R Kool Aid for far too long.

If it is true that Axl tried to jam every element of G’n’R into each song he didn’t succeed, and that is such a contrived thing to do in relation to being a musician. In an effort to make this record sound different from their earlier material Rose manages to create nothing more than a montage of cheesy sound. A couple examples of successful changeovers he may want to look at are The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” and The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” albums.

Delving into details, we have some guitar solos that do not seem fit with anything in particular, and Rose’s voice is unrecognizable until the 4th or 5th song. He wails and howls, but it doesn’t have the same conviction as earlier G’n’R offerings.

Too long between records caused too much hype. I’m just glad that I didn’t pay for this album.

Oh Em… Ee?

In case you haven’t heard……….. there’s this whole “TWILIGHT INSANITY”. Apparently Robert Pattinson is the man of the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s very nice to look at, but he is an actor. An actor! You remember Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies? Yeah. That guy. He’s not a vampire. Just an actor.

This all reminds me …I wonder how good ol’ Vampire Don is doing these days? Ahh. Remember this guy? He was nice to me whenever we ran into each other (back in the Sabbat-at-Shooterz days), though we never had the chance to hang out one-on-one. For those of you who don’t know him (or kinda remember sorta), here’s a myspace link, blog link, and a Wiki entry. It’s got videos of him and Tyra. Tyra! Geeeeez.

I also think Don may have been friends with this guy, who was around at numerous goth/industrial events, and was quite polite the few times we spoke.

Anyway… tangent. Let’s start taking bets on how long it is before (Pattinson) wakes up one midnight to find some crazy rabid-ass fangirl that has squee’d her way into his house and is sitting there, staring at him, covered in the blood she’s somehow bitten from his neck.

Sheesh! I’m all for vampires and vamp-related things and even the warm fuzzies that the Twilight books made me remember (I have had [and still maintain] some pretty intense crushes), but this shit is starting to get weird! Swarming the Hot Topics? Pandemonium and utter chaos? Scratching gashes into their necks to show them that “it’s for him”??

Okay, y’all are going to need to take a big collective breath and just think about what you’re doing. In the meantime, the following section from this article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27788655/) made me LOL.

—

“And every lust-bursting Twilighter and a sizeable contingent of their mothers have decided that every tousled hair on his head is NOM-NOM-NOM-DELICIOUS.
That expression “OMG?” It’s been replaced by “OME,” as in “Oh, my Edward.” So good luck, man. Hope the house you buy with this money has a very tall gate and 24/7 security staff.”

Digital or by hand?

Just wanted to share this quick tidbit:

By Hand? Really?

 

BY HAND.  Yes, really.

Saw that a bit ago, browsing through an illustration (click photo for link) and was quite impressed.  I’d like to think he free-handed it, first sketching lightly, eraser crumbs everywhere.  After a general outline, a sharpie would have been used to embolden all the arcs, and perhaps a Micron would be the tool for final touches.  

Non-digital art, especially art that follows repetitive patterns, is simulatenously challenging and soothing. I have to wonder how many of the ‘new’ artists out there have ever touched a protractor or compass, how many have ever been frustrated at the point sliding off into space while you accidentally rip the paper.  How many of us remember dueling with T-squares?  

Ahh the old days.  A blessing and a curse.  Though digital works are much easier (and faster) to produce, there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of a perfectly hand-drawn circle.
Check out some of these pre-digital tools…
http://www.daube.ch/docu/glossary/drawingtools.html

R. Crumb Exhibition – Get your art on

R. Crumb exhibition at University of Pennsylvania in Philly.

After watching “American Splendor”, I am saddened that visitation to this event will not happen. However if you are in the neighborhood you should go in my place.

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