I am in the middle of grading my first batch of papers for ENG 101.
Without continuing the weeping and gnashing of teeth that has been my major mode of communication for the last 24 hours and bringing my lamentations to you (or those of you who have luckily been spared my tirades on "generation stupid"), I will simply summarize by saying...life holds few surprises. First impressions are usually right, and if a group of individuals sound and act dumb...they probably are.
How funny is it then that my faith in my ability to be surprised was revived by the fuckery that is the Twilight franchise?
The "Twilight: New Moon" Soundtrack was released today, and I can testify first hand that it does not suck (this and all subsequent vampire puns are embarrassingly unintentional). No really. It's really, really good. I mean...look at the artist list:
Girzzly Bear
St. Vincent
Bon Iver
Thom York
Lupe Fiasco
Muse
Sea Wolf
Death Cab
Anya Marina
Lykke Li
The Killers
Ok Go
Band of Skulls
and more....
No shit. Like I said, I'm surprised too. And they're new songs...some even written specifically for the movie. That's right...Thom York and the hippest of the hipsters wrote, sang, and recorded ballads to Edward and his angst ridden, sparkling member.
For those of you who mock the young adult market, let this be a lesson. Never ever underestimate the economic power of the 12-18 year old female demographic. When united by a common bond, they can topple civilizations.
Now fans just have to hope that the film is a shadowy reflection of the music.
In movie news, the full length trailer for "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" was released this week. I dunno how I feel about this. Scratch that...I do.
It's kitsch on arrival. College freshman (male and female) will be ripping down their "Fight Club" posters and slapping this one up in its place. Why? Well, it's the perfect "let's get stoned and go trip out on this crazy movie" movie. And also because, you know, Johnny Depp is, like, soooo hot and dude, Heath Ledger's awesome.
I know, it's a preemptive judgement. But after today, I'll be surprised if I'm ever surprised again.
They had some pretty good people on the first soundtrack too. I don't know how you feel about them, but Muse is one of my favorite bands, right up there with Queen. What was mysteriously missing from the first movie's released soundtrack but introduced the credits was Radiohead's "15 Step." It was a pretty badass moment...Victoria's plot of revenge formulating in her face as she strolls down the stairs. And yet, not on the soundtrack. So, in a way, Thom Yorke has already done the Twilight thing, albeit way more discretely.
ReplyDeleteMan, I just put on that song now and it gives me chills.
Lastly, a guilty confession: I don't know how many times I've watched Twilight now. I don't have the money to buy the books. They're always checked out at the library. I'm fully prepared for the poor writing. Just give me more of that sparklefuck.