Obscure Gems: The Boy Least Likely To - Best Party Ever

I wish I had been there when instrumentalist Pete Hobbs and lyricist Jof Owen got together and started making music as the Boy Least Likely To. First, just to see all of the different instruments Hobbs uses, and second to see if they really tried for the sound they came up with for "Best Party Ever".
I had a friend listen to this 2005 album just recently and after the first song she said, "This is the perfect happy sound." And it is. Hobbs uses washboards, banjos,triangles and a slew of other percussion instruments that you don't normally hear in an album. The result is the sound of walking through a park on the first day of summer while a friendly blue bird lands softly on your shoulder and starts bobbing its head with you to the music.

After a listen I was really ready to dismiss the album as a novelty, but I gave it another chance and found the music combined with the lyrics to provide many different layers.
The lyrics are dark, contrasting with the happy-go-lucky washboard driven instrumentals. They combine to make an album not about being a child (the music) and not about being an adult (the lyrics) but about being an adult and watching your inner child be crushed to death.
Take "Monsters" for instance:

And the thing that really frightens me
Is that the people I used to love

Are turning into monsters
Getting married having babies
Telling me how great their life is
And how happy I would be if I could
Just be more like them

Adult are monsters, get it? Leading crazy lives that involve marriage (stupid!). Owen also sings about a boy and his imaginary friend, a tiger, growing apart:
"It's hard sometimes to be friends with something/that eats butterflies and pencil sharpeners"
in such a way that you feel like a jack ass for not being seven.

Lyrically the album consistently and playfully tells you life sucks, but in the end you can't worry about the little things. The album is catchy and poppy as hell, I dare you to listen to Warm Panda Cola a couple times and not randomly have it pop into your head.

Of course, I do, like most albums, have a nostalgic attachment to this album. I was introduced to it while I was in Wales and it, along with a few other key albums which will probably get some airing on PtP soon, served as a delightful soundtrack for my travels.

And I, like Anthony, take an obscure gem to be an album most people probably haven't heard of. I know Pitchfork named this one of the best albums of 2005, but fucking deal with it.

So check out Boy Least Likely To, it's the best party ever!

-Dabs



*Insert something demeaning towards Anthony here*

Pixels to Polys Hall of Fame - Week 10

In a rebellious and direct slap in the face to my fellow Pixels to Polys writers I actively procrastinated in the writing and posting of this week’s Hall of Fame.  I was bored all weekend, and even wanted to write it on Friday, but resisted the urge in order to twist the knife of my most hated friends; Pat, Matt and Intern.

This week Dabs inducts a libraries worth of books in a single week, Pat spams scoped pistol, and Matt wraps a flannel around his waste and broods his way through whispered verses and screamed choruses.  I’ll bring it all home with a movie that will have sex with your mind.

The Book: The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King

So my first induction of a book into the hall of fame is not one book, but seven. 

Stephen King is considered by most critics to be a pulp writer, with not much talent for writing literature, but rather scary novels that people like to buy in airports. I can buy into that. Some of his stuff offers no more than cheap thrills.

The Dark Tower series is a complete departure from King's usual horror shtick. In fact, one of the main reasons this series stuck out to me as a HoF candidate for this site is that it is truly a compilation of popular culture and existential adventure.

The story begins with The Gunslinger, which introduces readers to the series hero, Roland of Gilead. Roland is Clint Eastwood from the Outlaw Josey Wales or High Plane Drifter or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, take your pick. He is a gristeled cowboy from a forgotten time that is chasing a man he truly doesn't understand or really even know. Roland is mysterious and a fucking bad ass. He is a Gunslinger, a true and trained killer that could blow any specific part of your body off at any given time (Anthony, this might not hold true for you. Some things are just too small.) 

Roland's story overflows through time and space and through the next six books we are introduced to the group of people - a twelve year old boy from the fifties, a coke fiend from the eighties and a schizophrenic amputee from the sixties - that will assist Roland in saving not only our universe, but all universes connected to it.

The journey is intense. King mixes up every book with a new style and focus. The second installment, The Drawing of the Three, almost plays like an action movie, you can see the bullets being fired and taste the Pepsi that Roland drinks for the first time. The fourth book, Wizard and Glass, puts the whole story on hold and brings the reader back to Roland's childhood in his first official case as an ancient Gunslinger.

I won't describe every book because it would just take too long. 

King takes advantage of his detailed writing style and introduces a universe that connects Indiana Jones, the Good the Bad and the Ugly, Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey all in one. Any lover of modern American film culture will appreciate many of the references King has in this series and will enjoy the originality this book brings to the usual book "series" formula. Any lover of Stephen King will appreciate how he included nearly his entire repertoire (He wrote the Gunslinger in the late seventies, finished the final book "The Dark Tower" in 2003) in this series, tying almost all of his works together in a very neat knot.

So take the time to read this series. All the books are listed below and almost every library in Maine has fifty five copies of every Stephen King book ever written, so no excuses. Get to it.

The Gunslinger

The Drawing of the Three

The Waste Lands

Wizard and Glass

Wolves of the Callah

Song for Susannah

The Dark Tower

-Dabs

The Game: Halo: Combat Evolved

I really expected this game to be one of the first things on the HoF but then I realized that Matt really isn’t a first person shooter, Anthony is hit or miss when it comes to that type of game and well Dabs, I got nothing to compare to.

If you haven’t played Halo the only excuse I can assume one would use is that they are trying to avoid “consumerism” or “the crowd”. Sounds like another pitiful excuse I have heard for such triumphs of media, such as say, Star Wars. But that is an entirely different post. Halo, on the other hand was a massive launch game that at the time was to be one of the big titles for the launch as the Xbox was Microsoft’s first foray into the gaming console arena. I have to say; the crew at Bungie might have single handedly assured the survival of that first generation of consoles. 

Halo was a new type of game in that we didn’t really have much of any understanding of what the games true meaning was. Halo? What the heck does this have to do with a bunch of aliens and a kick-ass robot Spartan? The game gave you just enough to think you knew that this was the basic routine of humanity vs. bad alien guys. That story line most likely would have been a game killer, had it not been for the immense scale, multiplayer, and operatic cut-scenes and music which made the game so amazing when you first stepped into the world of Halo.

The twist in Halo was one of my favorite of any modern game, not at all what I expected, especially since I was up like a 2am in the dark and all of a sudden this music gets much more eerie and I avoid horror games like the plague. (even in daylight I need at least a body count of 2 or more to brave one) The sheer scale and amazing operatic music that was put into the game really paid off to the whole experience, taking what we thought was going to be the next Golden-Eye and really giving it not only the multiplayer but a stunning campaign as well. I still think the best campaign was in Halo 2 but again that’s another post. 

So if your still a hold out on some game (or movie) cause you think it shows that you have some discipline or maybe even a little more character than the average flunkey; get over yourself and your consumer celibacy. Go play it on your little brothers/sisters console like you know you’ve always secretly wanted to, we won’t taunt you because of it… too much.

- Pat

The Album: Doolittle by Pixies

Statement: we could sit here all day and argue which Pixie’s album I should have inducted today. Statement: that argument would be futile because all Pixies albums are great, even the ones critics say aren’t so good (looking at you Trompe le Monde). So how did I decide to induct Doolittle and not their other albums? Well, because I liked Doolittle just a hair better than Surfer Rosa and Bossanova…nothing real scientific there. For me, Doolittle gave the greatest bang for my buck. Tracks like Debaser, Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone to Heaven, and Hey are staples of alternative rock…and like vitamins should be received daily. I can’t stress enough that Pixies should be in every music lovers collection...quite possibly one of the few things I can praise from the 80’s. The whether it be the obscure lyrics, the “loudQUIETloud” dynamics, or the sheer fact that Black Francis can scream like a monkey with a car battery wired to its balls, Pixies are a phenomenal and influential band the reeks of Hall of Fame…and Doolittle…well, listening to Doolittle is comparable to huffing turpentine and seeing Jesus. Sure you’ll get a headache eventually, but damn was the spectacle worth it.

Matt

The Movie: Adaptation

Film’s most fascinating active screenwriter Chalie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovitch) piles on the layers in this mind bending comedy-drama-thriller.  Try and keep up, because I’m likely to get lost myself, and start weeping openly from trying to explain it.  Kaufman writes himself into the script as the star, an artsy screenwriter struggling to write a movie adaptation on a non-fiction nature-study buck called “The White Oleander.”  The book is real, as was Kaufman’s original attempt to write that movie.  Charlie Kaufman’s goofy and funny counterpart is his twin brother, Donald.  Both are played by Nick Cage, but Donald, the person, doesn’t actually exist outside the movie, but is given real credit as co-screenwriter for Adaptation (and he is the only fake person to win a real Academy Award when the film won for best screenwriting).  In “Being John Malkovitch,” another instant classic, Kaufman somehow got the actor John Malkovitch to play himself in a risky role that could have easily turned out terrible in the wrong hands.  Here he gets nature author, Susan Orlean, to allow herself to be portrayed in a negative light on film (played by Meryl Streep) as her interaction with Charlie moves far past his meager efforts to adapt her novel to film.  The movie could have simply been an exercise in cinematic flexing, as Kaufman turns the script inside out in almost indecipherable layers.  However, the writer never loses sense of action and humor, and the movie remains entertaining throughout.  He uses narration, and the semblance of reality, to be critical of the act of screenwriting, his own idiosyncrasies, and the idea that his attempts at an art-house-film all somehow build to a totally sell-out climax in the film.  If you understand anything that I just wrote, you’re a step ahead of me.  

- Anthony

Collect Call from: Darth Vader

So this is nothing new, but amazing none-the-less. Thought it deserved some Pixels to Polys action.
Anthony you probably won't get any of the references (So I threw the Senate at him!) but that is okay.
For the record I love Robot Chicken. I know most people don't, and I can totally understand why, but I think it is an amazing show. Maybe it is just because I like action figures. Or I have a short attention span.

Oh I almost forgot. Anthony can suck it.

-Dabs

Airing of Grievances

It’s a new Pixels to Polys tradition.  If it’s good enough for Festivus then it’s good enough for us.  Hey fellow contributors, I’ve got a lot of problems with you guys, and you’re going to hear about it.

Pat - Hey Pat, when I say that we should do a group chat for the blog, “Sorry, the new episode of 24 is on," is not an acceptable answer.

a.) I don’t care if Coppola filmed Godfather part 4 and they are airing it once, and only once, before destroying the recording and threatening everyone who sees it to a vow of silence, you better be in that chat room when I say when.

b.) It’s friggen’ 24.  Let me make this easy for you.  Jack is either wanted, inflicted with a terminal illness, or both.  Someone will inexplicably turn into a heel, or turn out to be a good guy, for no reason but the surprise.  There will be a mind-numbing number of twists until you just don’t care anymore.

Dabs - You backstabbin’ sonna’ b.  I let you into my house (blog) and you dedicate at least a line in each paragraph to shiv me in the back, then another sentence to twist it.  I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m still disappointed.  Then you go and do some research to support your opinions in your post on the transition to digital television... if you ever actually read the blog then you would know that we don’t do research for our posts.  If you have a point to make the only acceptable way to strengthen it is to demean any opposing points and call into question the sexual preferences of anyone who would dare to disagree.  It’s a formula, and it works, how dare you try to alter it?

Matt - I’m saving this one for last.  Matt, for the most part you are like a son to me... so much so that I don’t know why I haven’t abandoned you yet.  I was molding you to be just like me (only not quite as good), but you had to go and carve out your own niche as a nasty old curmudgeon with a penchant for the rant.  I can’t say I’m not a little jealous, and then you have the nerve to pontificate on the idea of me as a female, calling it “suspiciously appealing.”  You sir, are a scumbag (but I like your style).

Anthony - I have no grievances with myself, just some advice.

a.) Don’t let the other three writers off the hook... ever.

b.) Keep writing blogs that are mostly self-promoting, with little or no insight into anything but yourself.

c.) Keep carrying this blog like a backpack, and dominating lives (like when you took all those cheap shots at the deaf people in the Dabs Intro)

d.) You really knocked those Tom Brady, Gary Allan, and Maine posts out of the park

Thanks me.

-Anthony

And now, for a Pixels to Polys AIM chatroom moment: starring Anthony, Dabs, and Matt

Tuesday night, 11:25 pm, April 21, 2009

Dabs: yeah it won't let me upload the banner for some reason?

Dabs: its only 61 kb

Matt: i wonder if its because its too long

Anthony: lets upload a pic of my dick instead

Dabs: that'll be short enough

Anthony: lol

Dabs: yeah it must be

Anthony: it wont look short after i get a sick michael mann low angle shot of it

Dabs: hahaha

Matt: camera trickery!

Top 5 Reasons Ventriloquists Suck

I was going to write a completely different Top 5 list, but Jeff Dunham was on Letterman last night and it made me realize I absolutely hate ventriloquism as a comedy form.

So here they are, the top 5 reasons ventriloquists suck:

1. Their faces - I hate looking at them. And it is absolutely obvious that the person standing up is doing the talking, not the damn puppet. Not moving your lips doesn't mean you can straight your neck so it looks like you are taking a massive dump. The whole allure of ventriloquism, I thought, was to actually throw your voice.

2. Their jokes - for some reason ventriloquists get away with the worst jokes ever. Essentially they are doing schizophrenic stand up with themselves, but double a person with bad jokes and you just get twice as many bad jokes. Their little dummies always seem to use stupid, red neck, bathroom joke book humor that at most can you make you smile a little bit but that is usually only moments before you start vomiting. Example: "What kind of terrorist are you?...A terrifying....terrorist."...Really, I think I read that on a Popsicle stick when I was seven.

3. Their puppets - They are creepy.

4. The fact that they get comedy hours - these wastes of valuable human embryos belong at old people's homes or five year old's birthday parties - not taking up my valuable time on comedy central or as the final event in a late night show.

5. Their jokes - sorry I really need to focus on how bad their jokes are. If these idiots weren't walking around while raping a puppet with their hand they would have no chance as a true stand up comic.

So if you are aspiring to a ventriloquist, just stop. Your dream is stupid. Ventriloquists are completely useless, and in a zombie invasion would be completely screwed. Everyone would throw them out of their shelters after seven seconds.

Pixels to Polys Hall of Fame - Week 9

(Official Seal to change soon)

Wow, we're getting sloppy with the Hall of Fames guys, real fucking sloppy! I'm disappointed in all of you, and its a good thing Dan doesn't have internet right now or he'd rip right into you lethargic Teds...don't ever make me wait like that again! Now that I've berated my fellow writers for my own failures, (taking responsibility for your actions is lame) its time to get down to business. This week: Anthony, like a delicate songbird, sings the praises of arcade style basketball at its finest; Dabs goes on to induct a collaboration between my two favorite actors, and in the process makes me want to steal things; Pat touches base on the fine line between listening to an album 1000 times and going insane; and examine the Bible of panicked government hating crazies in our first ever book inductee. Sick week guys! And for the record, Blogger lets me change time and retroactively post (I like to think of myself as Doc Brown right about now). So looking at the publishing date, we were in a sense on time...just don’t make me do that ever again...

The Game: NBA Hang Time

Hook up your multitap, find 3 friends with a SNES controller each to their name, and you will have a hard time beating this for pure gaming bliss. NBA Jam revolutionized sports-arcade gaming by tuning up the excess that makes sports great, while cutting off the technical fat (fouls, free throws, out of bounds... uh, you know, the rules) that often gives the games a big barrier of entry for less enthusiastic fans. The less popular, but far superior, Hangtime follow-up may have missed the NBA Jam trend, but it perfected the formula. The create-a-player option lets you ball as some real freaks, and the record holders provide some real bragging rights, which are at the hart and soul of the experience. It takes a timeless game to make the PtP halls, and Hang Time is as fun today as it was more than a decade ago. My palms are sweating just thinking about it.

-Anthony

The Movie: Heat

You can tell when watching this movie that Michael Mann was really running on all 8 cylinders. It didn't hurt that he had an all star cast - including DeNiro, Pacino, Kilmer, Sizemore and Ashley Judd to name a few - to bring his screenplay alive.
This movie has, in my opinion, the best bank heist scene ever. It makes M-16's look freaking awesome (which they are) and the music, sound and action all swing together like some apocalyptic symphony of death. Watching DeNiro and Kilmer just rattle off rounds that blow through cops and their cars while running around the streets of LA with millions of dollars strapped to their backs definitely gets the adrenaline pumping.
But what makes this Michael Man film memorable - like all great films - is the small things. The plot, acting and big action is obviously key, but the seemingly insignificant details that Mann included flush out some already great characters. Take for instance Al Pacino's character, Det. Vincent Hannah. For just a moment, after an argument with his wife, he makes a move to go and console her, then sits back down and turns on the tv and pours some whiskey. First off, what a man move. But this is probably a half a second part in the movie and pretty easily missed, especially if you are looking down for some popcorn or a raisinet. However, that small action describes so much regarding Hannah's relationship with his wife and his past two marriages. It is this type of character nuance and detail that separates a great movie from a good one. Every character has moments like this during Heat and all the actors have their chance to shine.
The plot may be a bit predictable, but Mann adds his own style to make an interwoven series of events that is required in a true "crime saga", as the movie was promoted.
If you haven't seen it, rent it or Netflix it. It's worth the investment. And you can see DeNiro deliver some ominous dialogue. My favorite:

DeNiro: What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone.
William Fitchner: I don't understand.
DeNiro: 'Cause there is a dead man on the other end of this fuckin' line.
*click*

-Dabs

The Album: Meteora by Linkin Park

You know those days where you just want to say to hell with the world or that there is something you want to work out in your mind but need some good tunes but at the same time maybe a little anger/self reliance thrown in there, then Meteora is your ticket.
Back in the day I wasn’t really one to care much about Linkin Park, but then this album came around and I must have listened to the whole thing at least 1,000 times. It has a flow to the songs that makes it an easy progression throughout the entire performance and it has its re-occurring themes of “screw you, I’m doing this for myself, and self discovery”. Granted I think if you listen to it too much you could fall into a state of self-loathing so listener beware. But if you need a little angry music with an interesting pissed off motivational tinge, then this just might do the trick.
Just trying on “Breaking the Habit” or “Somewhere I Belong” for size and end the ensemble with a little dash of “Numb” and you’ll feel like you’re ready to tear down some fools or at least look like a tough guy for a minute before you step back into reality. If that happens just tune into “It’s Easier to Run” and rinse, wash, and repeat.

-Pat

The Book: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Wow! Our first book inductee into the Hall of Fame...and quite possibly the reason why last weeks post was delayed until now...sorry guys. At any rate, I struggled to find a book to induct, mainly because whatever I wrote would in someway detract from Anthony's ability to vomit poetic majesty about literature later on. All the while fighting my demons, Pat was consistently bitching at me. Telling me to hurry up, telling me to get to work, trying to get in my head, trying to control my thoughts... totalitarian prick! And that’s when it hit me...Nineteen Eighty-Four. I am living Nineteen Eighty-Four...taking some liberties of course: Pat is definitely Big Brother, Dabs can be the Outer Party, and Anthony, well I was hoping he’d be my beautiful red-sashed Julia...That disturbing statement aside, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a truly powerful novel that makes us question the very nature of government, language, censorship, and sexual repression. George Orwell's dystopic masterpiece is at the very core, a warning against excessive control...something gives my bombastic political side an arousing groin rub. That’s not to say I'm one of those crazies who thinks I'm being bugged...hell if I was PtP would have more hits and we'd all be better off, but it is a cautionary tale for ages if one can actually discuss it would attracting anarchist dingbats. Every government-hating-conspiracy-theorist-lunatic out there has at some point looked to Nineteen Eighty-Four for guidance. It is without question their Book of Revelation. A battle chant, a podium to stand on, a language to converse, a shoulder to cry on, a book that understands their fears and like a cheap hooker to a wealthy John says “use me honey, use me til’ I’m dry". I’ll give the nut jobs credit, good taste in books guys, double plus good!

On a side note, the idea of Anthony as a girl is suspiciously appealing...

-Matt

Babymaking Nation Vol. 4

Get it on.  Get it on.

In = inseminating women.  

Out = not inseminating women.

In

The Dream’s album Love vs. Money - If Marvin Gaye and Usher, the past and present authorities on babymaking music, combined their chops to design the perfect sexing music it would sound exactly like Love vs. Money.  Like all great babymaking music it is completely gay for you to listen to it unless your dick is inside a chick while it is playing.  That being said, I had it blasting in my car with the windows down (I made a baby or two the night before in the back seat) and I accidentally had sex with 3 random women on the way home from work.  Dream makes potent music.  Key lyric: “Imma Take her home to my momma, Home to my momma, Take her home to my momma Yeah! Her Titties like Oh Oh OOHH, Her Booty Like Oh Oh OOHH.”  off the track Take Her Home 2 My Mama

Stanky Leg - This limp legged dance is all the rage with kids these days.  A man able to execute it will bed any woman in the club, and for women it is a mating call that says “Please plant your love seed in my tummy.”

Out

Garlic - It’s only recommended that you eat garlic if you have recently found that it is a little too easy to make a baby each night.  The effects on your breath acts as a repellent to women.  It is also an acceptable method to handicap yourself when going out with a friend who is having less luck in pregging women than you are.

Being Nice - “Hello prospective mother of my child, here are my balls.”  If you think that turning yourself into a walking mat for the opposite sex is the way to start making kids with her you couldn’t be wrong.  She will look for someone who is man enough to raise a child (i.e. a dude willin’ to belt a misbehaving child).  If you start with this giving flowers, babytalking, hand holding, saying anything other then “Let’s sex,” and allowing her to walk anywhere other than a few steps behind you then she will start to worry that you are just some dude with a vagina looking to scissor her.  Do yourself a favor and grow a pair so she will think you’re suitable to make her stomach a baby carriage.

Love,

Anthony

The Rant: Lost in Transition

On June 12 Americans will have the first major change in broadcast television since the color TV was invented. They will go digital. Now watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune before that new episode of Lost will all be in crisp digital deliciousness. You'll probably try to reach out and spin that wheel yourself.
But you just might end up on bankrupt.
The digital transition program has been eating up millions of tax dollars for the past two years, and it doesn't look any more promising in the short term. FCC Chairman Dennis Martin said that additional funding simply for education would be 20 to 30 million dollars, just over the next few months. This doesn't include the increased cost in the federal "coupons" that transition candidates can apply for to purchase converter boxes.
These coupons are also misleading. First, they only cover a portion of the cost to purchase a converter box. There is still fifteen bucks that someone has to lay down of their hard earned on top of the $40 coupon in order to purchase the box. Additionally, especially in rural Maine, most people will need digital antennas which cost around $50. Some will even need external antennas on top of their house in order to receive signal, which can be very pricey. Now, I think the types of people who watch only broadcast television can be separated into three general categories:
First is the person who just doesn't want to pay for television. Maybe they don't watch it that often and only need it for the news or to fall asleep to Letterman, they just don't find the need for cable or satellite TV. Second is the person who can't afford the monthly cost of cable or satellite. They watch their local channels because it is cheap, they have a TV from the mid 90's (it might not even have audio/video inputs, which means he'd have to use an RF adapter to play games...pssshhh) and can't afford to upgrade. The third is my catch all category. These are people who are against TV, watching it from a black and white on a shopping cart in some alley (probably Anthony in five years), or move around too much to have a residence and pay a monthly cable bill.
So these three types of people now have to drop 75 bucks, on top of what they have already been paying in tax money to fund the digital transition program, to watch most of the same TV they watched before, but now in crystal clear digital. I don't think any of these people really care about the quality of their picture and, chances are, if they had a choice to have a free-sometimes-static-filled picture or a one time fee of 75 dollars for a really nice one, they would still choose the free option. I know I would, and have so far.

This problem is going to hit Maine harder than most other states, I realize. We have many people that get one or two stations up in the County or in the Lakes Region who will effectively lose their television watching capabilities. Their are disclaimers on all of the digital transition alerts that people living in valleys who receive transmission now most likely will not after the transition. That is great for us, you know, living in the foothills of the Appalachian valley and all.
Ultimately, the digital transition is being rushed. There are too many people, especially in today's horrible economy, who can't afford it. Out of all the problems and goals this country has before it, I think making everyone's TV digital is last on the list.
The solution is to slow down the process. Digital TV is a good thing, if it is done right. Leaving even a handful of people in the dark when they could normally get the news and public programming for free is not permissible in this circumstance. Stretch the program out and require the transition from within television companies. Figure out the most cost effective way to send the signal, even to those rural areas that won't receive it, and if you are going to provide a subsidy or coupon, do one that is meaningful and not just a drop in the bucket. If the FCC is going to spend my tax money on digital transition, they might as well spend it right.

Dabs.

Stream This: 200 Seconds of The Best Movie Lines

A few of these movie lines are outmatched or out of place, but this 200 seconds made me want to re-watch a ton of old flicks.

-Anthony

(Credit: found the clip on Barstool Sports)

Hall of Fame - Week 8

Easter weekend. Some may start thinking about bunnies, eggs, chocolates, maybe a little time with the fam and some Easter dinner. You might be going to your local church service, but don't forget that PtP is here for you once again to serve you up some of the best media you can find. This week Matt has adolescent fantasies of a 2D woman wearing a metal parka, Anthony listens to another album that will eventually grind you into submission, and I let Morgan Freeman serenade me with his sensual voice. Enjoy.

The Game: Super Metroid

Super Metroid, in my opinion, was the pinnacle of SNES platforming, it was also "arguably" the pinnacle of SNES gaming (Anthony and I once put each other in the hospital arguing this vs. Final Fantasy III, but for the sake of PtP I won't rip open that painful wound). Sure Mega Man X, Castlevania VI, and Super Mario World were all welcomed successors in their renowned franchises, but none provided the exponential improvements as seen in this title. I’ll be the first to admit it, the original Metroid kinda' blew. Revolutionary as it was, it sucked balls spending countless hours running through worlds that all looked the same. Seriously, If I'm gonna' battle confusion and tedium at least give me something different to look at! But Super fixed this, and then some... The game was gorgeously spooky; only in the survival horror genre has isolation been such key element of a game. It also features some of the best controls I've ever seen in a game: I wall kick like it’s my job! The original Metroid featured powerups, and you know what, Super took those upgrades and spent the whole night with them doing crack off a stripper’s ass: they got pretty redic real fast! If perfection was attainable, there would be two things in the world to achieve it: this blog and Super Metroid.

One final note: aside from kicking ass in all measurable ways, Super Metroid was one of those games that indulged your teenage hormone filled desires: allegedly if you beat the game in under so much time, you got to see the Samus naked. For the first time ever, guys were rewarded for being quick. (Not me however...Samus was such a cock tease, always got her down to her underwear but never in the buff...fucking puritan) For those not disgusted and still reading, it was epic lie; along the lines of the moon landing and the Kennedy assassination (PtP will now cater to conspiracy theorists to grow our base readers). Out of this spastic and Ritalin craving post, there are two things you should walk away with: I was a really weird kid, and playing Super Metroid was like seeing God...It’s just that good.

-Matt

The Movie: The Shawshank Redemption

Being a local and within spittin’ distance of his mansion, or should we say haunted house; you gotta love Stephen King living within a 50 mile radius. It’s seriously a requirement, I mean fail at that and you might as well get ready to see Jack Nicolson tearing down your front door with an axe, and I don’t need to tell you how that story is going to end.
While some of King’s adaptations of his books to film have been great, let’s be honest, there have been a number of duds in there too. (Ref. “Langoliers” – Sure it was made for TV but you get the point) This weeks choice was a tough one for me as I just saw another one of his flicks that I really adore but when it comes to Stephen King flicks, this truly is my first love. Shawshank Redemption.

If you haven’t seen it, stop reading and go grab it… now. I will wait.

Shawshank Redemption is possibly my favorite if not the best prison movie ever made. Chronicling the story of a man falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, only this man isn’t just some run of the mill flunky. He’s an intelligent, well educated, and very cunning individual, which begs the question; how are good honest folk like us here at PtP to understand him and his actions? Just our luck that Morgan Freeman is there to narrate us through the darkness and show us the true meaning of the character that is Andy Dufresne.
In all seriousness this is an amazing story of one man facing the loss of his entire life to rot in prison and creating so much out of the little lot that, not only for himself, but for his compatriots at the prison as well. Ultimately Andy talents are discovered and he is used to benefit the corrupt prison administration and their dirty dealings, however with Andy you find that things aren’t always what they seem.
Overall it’s a great flick and you get to hear Morgan Freeman serenade you for a good two hours so what have you got to lose?

-Pat

The Album: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

It’s a challenging indie-rock masterpiece, the caliber of your OK Computer’ and Loveless’. It could be accurately referred to as a controlled racket, but repeated listens reveal hidden melodies beneath the fuzz, strange instrumentation, and nasally-strained vocals. The opening track, King of Carrot Flowers Part 1, is also the album’s most accessible, letting you in gently to the chaos that is soon to follow. If you can survive the first listen, following trips through the album will reveal layers, and it can work its way under your skin, like a good poem. Or a knife. Thematically it is a strange combination of religion, love, and sex. Tracks fade into eachother, and the album is always moving. Holland, 1965 has a urgent drive to it, and when Jeff Magnum sings “The Earth looks better from a star, that’s right above from where you are” it doesn’t even sound corny. The lyrics have a poetic flow to them, but at times are so abstract that they feel stream of conscious. It’s an album that you hesitate to recommend. You will not like this album the first time through. But I would be surprised if you didn’t love it by the tenth listen.

-Anthony

Obscure Gems: M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us

So I hate to have two posts in a row about music, but just had to get this one out there.

M-83 is an electronic, shoe gaze, synth machine headed up by Anthony Gonzales. Before the Dawn Heals Us is the French artist’s third album and was released in 2005 and met with critical acclaim.

My friend from back home introduced M83 to me while driving to his house in the middle of a snow storm a couple years back, and I must say there was no better way to listen to Before the Dawn Heals Us. The album’s earthy tones and constant wall of music created a sound my ears had never heard before and offered a soundtrack to the blistery weather around us.

BTDHU opens with a stunning track titled Moon Child. A child’s voice is the opening note to the album, talking about singing so that the whole universe will glow. Then Gonzales makes your hair stand on end with an unbelievable drum break that gives way to a wave of sound that, when I first heard it, thought was the sound light would make if it had audio outputs.

Moon Child lays the framework for the rest of the album, something that many artists forget to do with their opening track. The album is meant to be listened to in its entirety, sort of like a Kid A or Dark Side of the Moon or any of Sigur Ros’ albums. While each track is great on its own accord, some of the magic is lost without the remainder of the album around it. The sound of the album reminds me of a cross between Sigur Ros and My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.

That comparison being made, BTDHU is stunningly original. In the song Car Chase Terror, most of the music comes from the sound of passing cars and the sobs of a woman hiding in her car with her child from someone – or something:

“He was there... His car was parked there in the same gas station,
all dressed in green, dark green.
I couldn't move my head, but I was watching him in the mirror.
Oh, it was horrible!
His face was sort of erased, but I knew he was looking at me.
Two invisible eyes, two invisible and monstrous eyes.”

Creepy.

BTDHU is an ambitious work. It is meant to overwhelm the listener, like diving into a pool of musical notes when you don’t know how to swim. The album hits my musical buttons in all the right places. It has an ambient tone that lets the listener create a backdrop and meaning to the harmonies presented. It is the philosopher’s synth music, something meant to be contemplated and not danced to.

From the sweeping melody of Moon Child to the final dying note on Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun, Gonzales creates a new universe of music with these 15 tracks. They can only be described as an experience. The album deserves full attention, not to be listened to in the background during a party or while cramming for an exam. Pop this in on a long car drive or while trying to fall asleep at night and you are taken away to a place of icy monoliths and mysticism.

You can try out the album here. Strap on the headphones and get ready for a ride.

- Dabs

Dabman Begins

So here I am. I must say that I am very excited to be writing for the award winning Pixels to Polys. I love music, movies and video games so this blog is pretty much my Bible. I’d like to thank Matt and Pat for taking me on and I hope I can bring as much as possible to this already great blog.

Anthony can suck it.

There is nothing more disappointing than watching a great band release horrible albums, except maybe realizing that band is no longer that great. I imagine it is like having a child you really like when they are younger, and then just loathe when they get older. Over recent months I’ve been thinking about Weezer and how their oldest albums are their best, and want to illustrate this as my first official post to PtP. So here goes.

Blue- What an album. I believe this is already in the PtP Hall of Fame. From track one to ten the album soars. They definitely came out of the blocks running. For more just read this hall of fame post, I think Anthony nails the album description. (That's the only thing he nails OOO zing)

Pinkerton – Arguably the band’s best album, Pinkerton’s album sales were so unsuccessful that unless you were a die hard Weezer fan at the time you probably completely missed its released. Lead singer Rivers Coumo went to college and got some new feelings and attitudes towards life – these ones a little darker than the one’s presented in Blue. The band really showed that they were willing to grow out of their teenage angst Blue album shell and possibly spread their wings into some of the best albums of all time. Blue and Pinkerton both were not only fantastic albums, but gave great hope for Weezer’s future.

Green – Ah, the precipitous drop off. Green isn’t horrible. It isn’t great either. It is just there. After Pinkerton’s album sales hung around in the gutter, it seems the band wanted to recreate the Blue album…but with a little yellow in there (cowardice anyone?). Sure there are some catchy lyrics and sunshine guitar riffs, but O Girlfriend is no Only in Dreams and Hash Pipe is no Say It Ain’t So and Island in the Sun is no Holiday. It seemed to me the band’s growth was more stunted than Craig Fournier’s. As a follow up to two of the most pop-tastic acclaimed albums of all time, Green just didn’t measure up. Kind of like Twan’s manhood when compared to mine.

Maladroit – So you can’t say they didn’t try to rebound. “Let’s make another Pinkerton,” said Rivers as he perused his black book for single Japanese girls. Maladroit was the last effort that Weezer put out. And I mean that because they obviously just didn’t try with their next two albums. At least Maladroit has Burndt Jam, which is great to just listen to and bob your head. Or be burnt to. But either way listening to this album I found myself looking around asking “What happened?” I felt like George W. Bush. Weezer used to be amazing. Now they come up with this meager offering like Tiny Tim. Get off the crutches, Rivers, start using your head.

Make Believe- I guess Weezer expected me to make believe this album was good. I tried really hard to like this album. I thought maybe I just needed to listen to it a few times. When I first listened to Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot I wasn’t too impressed, and that is one of my favorite albums of all time. But the difference is that though I wasn’t impressed with YHF, there was still some intrigue and depth that kept me interested (thank heavens how awesome is that album??). Make Believe was just Rivers Coumo trying to try something new and failing miserably. You would think with all of his songs he’s written he could come up with better lyrics than “Here’s the pitch/slow and straight/all I have to do is swing and I’m a hero/But now I’m a zero”. That’s as bad a connection between baseball and love as Jimmy Fallon’s Fever Pitch. Maybe the album should have been called “This is such a Pity”.

Red - *Throws headphones down to the floor* So, I’m seeing red. I shouldn’t even have downloaded this album. They are dressed as friggin’ cowboys on the cover. Cowboys. If Blue Albums Cuomo ran into Red Album Cuomo, he’d cry and write a song about it. What the hell happened? Pork and Beans? PORK AND BEANS??? I can’t write anymore.

The test of a great band is their ability to grow as time progresses. The Decemberists are a great example. They have probably one of the best modern string of albums, all five of their offerings showing great craftsmanship from a constantly evolving group of musicians. The Beastie Boys are another great example. Their message has changed from being frat boys singing about sharing girlfriends to rapping about Tibetan philosophy and Buddhism. Each album offers a new insight to both of these bands’ overall view of the world. Each new Weezer album just makes me think Rivers Cuomo is creepily hiding in the back of high school classrooms watching relationships and trying to write songs about them.

Do me a favor, Weezer, give me a good album or just cut your losses and break up.

Dabs out.

This Just In: Dabs Joins PtP

In case you hadn’t heard, Pixels to Polys just got one man sexier.  We hired an intern.  

Welcome Dabs.

The pay is low, but it is fantastic experience, and I will give you a fantastic recommendation when your time is done here.

Now I know what some of you are thinking... “Wait a minute.  Dabs is an intern?  But he is the most qualified one out of all of you.  He has a degree in journalism, studied English in the honors college, and has more writing experience than the rest of you combined!”

To you people I say... “Ya, so what?  Dabs, go get me a cafe latte, extra foam, hold the attitude.”

I’ve known Dabs long enough to know that he’d just as soon stab you in the back as he would shake your hand.  So why did we hire him on?

His career defining moment is also the moment that solidified his destiny as a future Pixels to Polys editor.

At the University of Maine, Dabs had the balls to write an editorial for the campus paper blasting the deaf communities resistance to cochlear implants (a device that gives a deaf person some semblance of hearing) on newborn deaf children.

Their (editors note: retarded) defense was that it deprives the deaf community, and doesn’t give the deaf child the option to choose deafness.

If they won that argument, they’d likely fight for the rights of babies with broken bones to remain untouched until they are of an age of consent where they may choose to belong to the broken bone community, or get the friggin’ problem fixed.

Either way, Dabs really gave those deafs a written beatdown, and even added in a few cheap shots to twist the knife (classic Pixels to Polys move).

His comments didn’t fall on deaf ears, or rather they did.  The deaf community bound together, united in their hatred for this brash young journalist and his annoying use of logic and well-supported points.  They even formed message boards, and organized protests.  Eventually it was clear that war was inevitable.

Dabs gathered up group of some of his closest friends, of which I was honored to be apart of.  We mobilized our troops and launched a surprise attack on the deaf people’s hidden lair.  Suffice to say, they never heard us coming, and we killed many of them before they were even aware they were under attack.  

We did some things that night that I’m not proud of... some things that can’t be unremembered.  Dabs reasserted his dominance over the deaf community by shearing the ears off of several fallen enemies and making a necklace which he wore several times on campus.

That’s when I knew this kid was for real, and would one day be able to write incredibly offensive articles for our irreverent blogsite.

(that story was mostly true)

So we at Pixels to Polys welcome Dabs to the site.  Keep reading knuckleheads.

-Anthony

Anthony Goes Gay for Tom Brady

Bromance of the Century: I just can’t quit you T.B.

If we were to spot Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen walking down a street together, and I said, “I’m so jealous of her,” Where would that put me on the Kinsey scale of Human Sexuality... a 4?  6?

I’ve got this ongoing hetero-man-crush on the dude, but it ain’t gay if he quarterbacks your team.  I love the New England Patriots like they make movies about.  I read the books.  I’ve spent thousands on tickets and gear.  I lose sleep after each loss, and I am a real prick to everyone the following week.  When the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Giants, just missing the perfect season, it was one of the worst things that ever happened to me (and I’ve had some deaths in the family).  It was my ball between Buckner’s legs and it was the Boone home run.  I didn’t watch TV and my friends gave me concerned looks the following week, saying stuff like; “You gonna be okay man?”

It’s the irrational feeling that most sports fans go through when they care a little too much, but in a world of such apathy it’s okay to be ironically attached to something so superfluous.  

So I love T.B., and I’m not ashamed to admit it (no homo).  He’s the captain.  I’ve watched every snap that he’s ever played in the league.  When he picked up the Lombardi trophy for the first time I felt like those dudes explain when they hold their firstborn, minus the little parasite, crying, responsibility pile.

In 2007 when dude had the best season of any QB in the history of the sport I was the least surprised person around.  Guy works hard, is mad talented, bangs supermodels like they’re dregs at Barnaby’s, votes conservative, and never had half the offensive talent around him that the slack-jawed Peyton Manning had around him until recently.  When he got his receiver he took the last thing Peyton had over him... the only thing Manning is better at than T.B. is Saturday Night Live.

When Brady’s knee got injured it may have been as bad as the Superbowl loss for me... I went through all the steps of someone going through a tragedy...

Denial: “He’ll be back in the 2nd quarter... he’ll be back in Week 2... there’s no way they’ll put him on IR.”

Self Blame: “Why didn’t I wear my lucky jersey?  The Moss one hasn’t been proven to be lucky.  Should have stuck with the Brady away jersey from 2001.”

Admit that I am powerless, and seek a cure: “My arm isn’t what it used to be... I’m not in shape to walk on to the New England Patriots... Cassel is my quarterback, and he has my full support.  Don’t hassle the Cassel.”

When Brady had an infection spreading through his leg from a botched knee surgery I heard the word amputate on the radio and was inconsolably weeping for the following week (That’s a lie for effect.. I haven’t cried since that prom episode where Kelly dumped Zack on Saved by the Bell).

Now it’s been almost a month since Tom was throwing off his back foot.  About a month since the other 31 QBs in the league lost all hope and started competing for first place.  Brady is going to earn the parking spot for being the hardest working player on the roster for the 5th season since he entered the league, attending all the optional mini camps and workouts; all of this when he just married a chick that I would sacrifice limbs to get a shot at her--that is, before she became part of the family.  

It’s bad news for the rest of the league this year, because the 3-time-champion, league MVP, 2-time-Super Bowl MVP has something to prove again.

-Anthony

Babymaking Nation Vol. 3

You know the drill; in means babies are getting made, out means your manhood's in question...

In

Money – This one’s obvious, but you know what, it had to be said. People say money can’t buy you happiness, but you know what, it can definitely buy you a baby or two (everyone knows baby making = happiness). At the sight of a hefty wad of cash, ordinary women will throw out their morality, dignity, and panties with the hope of getting knocked up. They want that dough, and will endure nine months of work growing your love parasite to get it. I cannot stress this enough, if you wanna' bake some bread you better be able to buy the oven…well…at least rent the oven, and then return it the next day.

Books – This is another one of those weird quirks about women: they want to make babies with a guy who they feel will be successful someday; see also money. While being a bookworm won’t do anyone good, sprinkling a few books around the house lets them know that you could support them (lets not kid ourselves though, their pregnant ass is going home the next morning). Books let a women know that you’re smart enough to do her taxes, romantic enough to enjoy poetry, and committed enough to finish what you started. My suggestion: buy some books just to make yourself look good. Who has time to read when you’re humping chicks all day?

Out

Lizards – This is an ongoing experiment in progress, but it appears that owning a pet lizard will repel women faster than saying that you live in your parent’s basement. Women love puppies and kitties, but odorous things with scales are out. Picture this: you’re filling some smokin’ hottie up with your DNA and bam!..your lizard takes a shit right in the vicinity. It’s a preconception abortion. Fact: lizards stink, their decaying food stinks, and the idea that your critter just cockblocked you and prevented you from making a baby stinks the worst. Sell your pet and get serious about making babies.

Video Games – This one hits us right square in the balls guys. Most girls hate video games, there are exceptions, but when making babies, leave nothing up to question. Chicks that appreciate video games are so few and far between that it’s best to put away the controllers for the evening. That’s not to say hide your system, au contraire. Having a video game system to complement you home theater equipment only enhances the message that you have money. In the end however, you’re not here to play Halo, you’re here to spread your seed like dandelions, now get to work.

Up For Debate:

Alcohol - I couldn’t write a post without leaving something open for debate; after Dan threatened to boycott us I suffered an anxiety attack and have since used every technique in the book to coax him out of hiding. At any rate, what are your thoughts on alcohol? Statistically nothing gets more babies made than a lil’ liquid confidence; a lil’ liquid panty dropper; some hearty sex grease…you get the picture. At the same time however, booze can lead to rape convictions and abortions, severely hindering baby making. So what’s the deal with alcohol, in our out?

Pixels to Polys Hall of Fame - Week 7

I’ll be honest, I was tempted to post this weeks Hall of Fame tomorrow out of protest for last weeks tardiness (Anthony…), but there’s no sense in punishing our three faithful readers by making them wait an extra day just because some negligent person decided to have a life away from this blog…seriously Pixels to Polys is a lifestyle! At any rate, this week Pat explores the emergence of 3D platforming plumber-style, Anthony watches a film starring the man with the coolest voice in Hollywood, and I struggle to do a great album justice after academia brutally had its way with me for an entire week…I don’t want to talk about…Here’s this weeks Hall of Fame

The Game: Super Mario 64

Talk about not only game that was great but was a major force in changing the way we play video games. Super Mario 64 took the proven formula of the Mario franchise and evolved the game from a 2D environment into a free-roaming 3D wonderland with large areas to explore and brand spankin’ new mechanics that for the most part were really enjoyable. Miyamoto had actually developed the concept for a 3D Mario game 5 years prior with “Super Mario FX”, but due to the limitations of the then current system it wasn’t really feasible to release the game at that time. I think he made the right choice in waiting as Super Mario 64 gave Miyamoto and the rest of his development team the time to refine that to create a game with great graphics and levels that grave the user an entirely new way to explore the Mario universe. While there has been some criticism of the free camera movement of the game, and I can’t deny at some points it was a real pain in the ass, but it definitely was cool to have the ability to make the character look where you wanted him to look and also see in that direction if not all around him. This is definitely one of my favorite games and one I think I might have to go back to and try and finish completely. Could be a challenge…

-Pat

The Movie: Rear Window

Rear Window is Alfred Hitchcock’s best film. I’ll hear arguments for Vertigo, but nothing else comes close. The 1954 film takes place almost entirely in the apartment of L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart). Jefferies has just been injured, and he is confined to a wheelchair, trapped in his apartment. We are trapped with him. Our perspective is from his window, and like him, we watch the people in his apartment complex, and they become characters in a silent play as we peep into their lives. There is the lonely woman, a beautiful dancer, a tortured artist, and a mysterious man who may or may not have killed his wife. Hitchcock uses the film to comment on the voyeuristic nature of film, but the movie is exciting at it’s base level. Stewart plays Jefferies as a man obsessed, so much so that he barely notices the affection of his (sorta) girlfriend Lisa Freemont (Grace Kelly). If Grace Kelley isn’t the most beautiful woman to ever walk the Earth than she is without a doubt in the top 5. Even Pixels to Polys can respect a classic.

-Anthony

The Album: Jar of Flies by Alice in Chains

Ok here's a confession: when I judge how great a particular band is, I always look to their slow song; all bands worth listening to can craft a deeply personal slow track. Sure this is a flawed critical approach, and yeah, many will call me a depressing person for thinking this way, but there’s something uniquely transparent about a band that can successfully play an acoustic ballad: a talentless band cannot bullshit a slow song. Alice in Chains is one of those bands that screams to be inducted into any Hall of Fame. As I have said before, AIC may very well be the greatest harmonizing band to ever grace rock n’ roll. Throughout their entire discography Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell successfully showcased their ability to craft pain stricken and often eerie tracks with their signature complementing vocals. Every AIC album is a gem, but honestly, their 1994 EP Jar of Flies steals the show. Like Led Zeppelin III, my previous music inductee, Jar of Flies was distinguished for its departure from the hard rock sound to a more acoustic sound: the whole album is the bands defining “slow song” that I continually search for when listening to music. Jar of Flies can best be described as haunting, and for those that can get into it, it shows that AIC was not just another Seattle-sound group, but a band that could stand on their own two feet in the pantheon of great rock acts.

-Matt

Top 5: Songs About the End of the World

It’s no mix tape, but it will have to do.  If it was a mix tape, it would just as likely lead to a suicide as it would to you diving headfirst into 3rd base.  I’m going to partially spoil the list by telling you that I didn’t include “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith, even though it was on the soundtrack to Armageddon.  I was tempted though.  Here’s your list.

1. “Your Love” by The Outfield: “Josie’s on a vacation far away.”  Okay, so it’s not about the end of the world, but it is the greatest song ever written by humans and any Top 5 song list would be remiss to omit it.

2. “No One Would Riot for Less” by Bright Eyes: “Death may come invisible, or in the holy wall of fire.”  Connor Oberst’s angsty, minimalist, fatalist stylings are right at home in this end of the world epic ballad (using the term ballad lightly here).  It’s about a couple falling in love in the face of Armageddon.  Sad scary romantic depressing stuff.

3. “Streets on Fire” by Lupe Fiasco: “Sickness some are still in doubt of its existence, some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance.”  Lupe, a Kanye-approved cure to the oft gangsta-obsessed doldrums of hip hop, tears the verses over this haunting beat.  His end of the world comes from a spreading virus, and he captures the paranoia and finger-pointing that the apocalypse is sure to bring.

4. “Grapevine Fires” by Death Cab for Cutie: “And the firemen worked in double shifts, with prayers for rain on their lips.  And they new it was only a matter of time.” A complex little drum beat drives this track, with specks of keys punctuating the lyrics.  The song is really about California fires, but the Death Cab-y chorus’ give it the epic span of the end of days.

5. “It’s the End of the World as we Know it” by R.E.M.: “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” While the rest of the songs on this list proclaim doom (or are called “Your Love”), R.E.M. finds whimsy in the apocalypse.  The song plays on the apathy of modern man, where it’s tough to care about much, even when the world is coming to an end.

-Anthony

Song of the Week: Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler

In a new Pixels to Polys feature, we tell you want song to put on repeat for the remainder of the week.

This week I’m going all somber with you folks.  The Bruce Springsteen track The Wrestler, recorded for the soundtrack of the movie of the same title, is a sad beautiful thing.  It just makes sense.  A road-worn musician performs a song about a road-worn wrestler played by a road-worn actor.  It’s not just a concept though, it’s a great song; mostly acoustic it has the pangs of a Dylan track with a little extra Boss pop-sensibility thrown in.

So here it is, the anthem for all of us that ever felt like we don’t bring a lot to the table, like we’re limited...

-Anthony

Stream This: Raider Fan Ruins Lives

This loud voiced Raider's fan seems like he has a unique ability to ruin the lives of everyone around him simply by yelling. I've got to admit that I'm mostly just impressed by his persistence.

-Anthony

p.s. Real post coming up shortly.