The Bluths have got it. It being embezzled money. Which as of lately has been more than enough to feed their lavish needs. Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, on the other hand is discordant and seemingly looks to be the all around good guy, which just so happens to be the case. Micheal’s been a loyal worker in his fathers company for more than ten years. He’s a loving father to his young son George-Michael Bluth (Michael Cera) and the attic resident of his father George Bluth Sr.’s (Jeffrey Tambor) model home that still functions as the companies’ selling tool. He wants the promotion, who else could be more qualified? Poor circumstance ensues, papa Bluths been digging a little to deep in the cookie jar and now due to his fathers sudden arrested, Micheal must lead the family that he wants no part of…
As the pilot episode begins it sets us in Orange county California and Michael Bluth is standing near the railing of the boat looking out at a vast ocean smiling. Elevator music with a beach hippy feel plays in the background and the executive producer Ron Howard acts as narrator. Family members seem to either pop up and engage in conversation with Michael or he finds them, and as we soon learn having his own secret agenda in mind. All the while the narrator introduces Micheals’ family including their corresponding occupation. However, Ron hints at more than the usual name an label most folks are use to. Given that connotation the narrator not only hands us these small side notes about the actors and actresses in character but the players themselves throw bold curb balls.
Lucille Bluth is one in particular. Played by Jessica Walter, Lucille comes out of left field with the comment, “Look what the homosexuals have done to me.” Very risky but oddly enough it’s given a slick comeback played off by Michael, “You can’t just comb that out and reset it?” Sarcastic and out there mellow dramatic lines that you don’t normally hear poke fun at the norm, areas of society that are in most cases off limits become they can become offensive to different groups. The mother /socialite isn’t short when it comes to words and neither is her daughter Lindsay Bluth Fünke (Portia de Rossi) Michaels’ twin sister and activist. Her voice is raspy with a hint of old Hollywood. She’s married to Tobias Fünke (David Cross) whose presented as questionable and is no doubt made fun of. Their daughter is rebel Mae "Maeby" Fünke (Alia Shawkat) and bizarre very impossible love interest for George-Michael Bluth, maybe.
The oldest is George "Gob" Bluth II (Will Arnett). His laughs although not trying to be funny, are more serious and straight forward. Gob pronounced, “Job,” is a part-time magician. Tony Hale plays Byron "Buster" Bluth. He’s the youngest / graduate student whose frequently seen trying to give his family back massages.
The Bluth family indeed play their role, leaving little to the imagination. Thus character study is leaked rather than a guessing game. In a swift change of events Micheal Bluth’s dream of succeeding his father ends at the announcing of his mothers name. The scene was like that of someone who’d prepared a Oscar acceptance speech and didn’t touch the stage. The tough plow didn't end there as their boat was raided. The father was taken into custody for swindling money from the company. Its up to Michael to pull the family together should he accept.
In the coming episode," Top Banana" Michael is literally thrown into this massage responsibility. But he soon learns that even if failure awaits he still has his dysfunctional family to hold onto. Another thing that I discovered with this second episode was that it not only branch out to other characters but it continued to keep the focus given the weird plot. There were times when it jumped around, but as the episode progressed you could see how everything was being pulled together. Because the angle that were given are not solely Michael Bluths (even though he's a big part) but that of other relatives. I predict more changes in the characters demeanor and growing closeness of a family due to circumstance. Arrested development is witty and foreign to the reality tv show arena. But Its funny and realistic and enjoyable.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Blue Note 7
Define Jazz.
By definition it’s strong yet flexible in sound and composed of rhythmic understructure. There are basic tunes, chord patterns and a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.
With Blue Note 7s’ performance at Columbia Colleges’ Music Center Concert Hall came all this and more. This all star band features septet comprising pianist and musical director Bill Charlap, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, alto saxophonist/flutist Steve Wilson, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Lewis Nash. They came out to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Blue Note Legacy. And with these jazz musicians came a following unlike any I’ve seen. There were old folks, youngsters and most importantly college students.
As the band opened up, the audience like your typical spectator seemed anxious enough. From the quiet throughout the crowd the band knew what needed to be done. They passionately let sound loose and while their harmonies came together the audience indulged itself into the jazzy relief. As their sound increased we could hear the fierceness of what Blue Note 7 had to offer us for the night. What to be expected was no longer unknown and from the approvals shouts, whistling and oh yeahs the audience knew without a doubt that this concert hall was the place to be.
Announcing their next song, Blue Note 7’s sound shifted suddenly. It came off lighter as they gave tribute to the late Jackie Mclean, playing, “A Ballad for doll,” a song he wrote for his wife Dollie. You could feel the romance within this song. It spoke even with the lack of words. Their sheet music spat variation and with their next piece “Mosaic,” came the more in depth jazz feel. Solos and ensemble improvisations were spot on. The musicians were covert in their approach at first then broke out into intense instrumental scores that intermingled with the crowd. Each band member stood out. The trumpeter, bassist and drummer really did it of me here. They were intense and bold taking full advantage of their solo pieces. Rehearsed or improvised they pleased.
The crowd roared for more as the band thanked everyone then exited stage left. Cheering continued and to our surprise the band came back out all too eager. They played Party time, and shook the concert hall.
Blue Note 7 will be traveling the world throughout 2009 during their 70th Anniversary Tour
By definition it’s strong yet flexible in sound and composed of rhythmic understructure. There are basic tunes, chord patterns and a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.
With Blue Note 7s’ performance at Columbia Colleges’ Music Center Concert Hall came all this and more. This all star band features septet comprising pianist and musical director Bill Charlap, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, alto saxophonist/flutist Steve Wilson, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Lewis Nash. They came out to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Blue Note Legacy. And with these jazz musicians came a following unlike any I’ve seen. There were old folks, youngsters and most importantly college students.
As the band opened up, the audience like your typical spectator seemed anxious enough. From the quiet throughout the crowd the band knew what needed to be done. They passionately let sound loose and while their harmonies came together the audience indulged itself into the jazzy relief. As their sound increased we could hear the fierceness of what Blue Note 7 had to offer us for the night. What to be expected was no longer unknown and from the approvals shouts, whistling and oh yeahs the audience knew without a doubt that this concert hall was the place to be.
Announcing their next song, Blue Note 7’s sound shifted suddenly. It came off lighter as they gave tribute to the late Jackie Mclean, playing, “A Ballad for doll,” a song he wrote for his wife Dollie. You could feel the romance within this song. It spoke even with the lack of words. Their sheet music spat variation and with their next piece “Mosaic,” came the more in depth jazz feel. Solos and ensemble improvisations were spot on. The musicians were covert in their approach at first then broke out into intense instrumental scores that intermingled with the crowd. Each band member stood out. The trumpeter, bassist and drummer really did it of me here. They were intense and bold taking full advantage of their solo pieces. Rehearsed or improvised they pleased.
The crowd roared for more as the band thanked everyone then exited stage left. Cheering continued and to our surprise the band came back out all too eager. They played Party time, and shook the concert hall.
Blue Note 7 will be traveling the world throughout 2009 during their 70th Anniversary Tour
Monday, March 9, 2009
Distorted Signal
To say Larry Gallaghers’, “Can I Go Now?” is conventional is a bold understatement. Its brazen, awkward and beyond the holy sh*t, “I’m deep,” innuendo. There’s depth to his lyrical miscommunication that tosses the listener like a salad. And instead of holding the ghastly onion or adding a pinch of ground pepper, Larry offers audiences a new flavor; one of congested harmony, ill subject matter, and candid vocal structure.
Where has this fellow been?
Once a magazine journalist, turned Zen Buddhist monk, now a solo artist Larry’s definitely been busy…And is by no means new to the music biz. His first CD, “An Endless Chain of Accidents,” got his artistic expression underway. Unfortunately he’s not your typical music man. His corky sound seems to have been lost amongst the massive mainstream tidal waves that hog airtime on local radio stations. But it’s perfectly understandable given his bizarre and wayyyyy off the wall topics in Can I go Now i.e. Try not to think of bugs, Little Martian Girl or the always distracting Horny teen sluts.
Can I go Now’s song selection is strange and otherworldly in atmosphere. In, “Try not to think of bugs,” it opens with a combination of instruments, flute, oboe, tenor saxophone and even the bassoon. Listening to the symphony behind Larry’s voice is far more compelling than squirming in your seat at disturbing lines that constantly kick off, think of bugs. The “Tarantulas live only in the south, And they’re much too big To climb inside your mouth,” line is perhaps every arachnophobes nightmare. Tarantulas do that? They seriously climb in the victims mouths? This song fuels every bug loathing icky sound. Clammy hands and weak stomached alike will be haunted by the earwigs marching and the fly’s tongue magnified. I must admit Larry’s got quite a bit of dark humor in his lyrical flow which isn’t necessarily geared to entertain but possibly added for shock value.
Take the song “Horny teen sluts,” for instance who writes that? Larry does. And needless to say he does it with little regard to the listeners taste. He slaps in the piano opening in a classical tone, slow and blah. Then all of sudden, we’re thrown into a explosive B-3 instrumental take over and explicit lyrics procreated to sound playful yet alluring.
With Little Martian Girl and Tired of Me, we get a softer side to this eccentric artist. There just like any other love song. We hear the time consuming longing, the need for someone, and wanting something that’s no longer there. It’s the redundant love after heartbreak song. Larry uses this pitch to create the eerie plane that spooks audiences in Little Martian girl, but pierces our hearts in Tired of me. Each makes good solemn stories and unlike his other songs is suppler in background music. In Little Martian girl he uses the Theremin, Clavinet, Wulitzer, B-3 and the Prophet. The sound is not as bluesy as Tired of Me (which uses the reed organ) but it definitely has a few ounces of it given the spacey theme.
Other tracks, “I am better than your God, You look so good in clothes and I’m sorry for what my people did to your people,” are questionable. They very well could be intentional given his weird tone throughout the CD. But as far as subject matter goes these selections are very much skip button material. Give or take, “You look so good in clothes,” because it has a jazzy feel that might appeal to some, minus the lyrics.
Poetic in undertone, wordy and very much detailed, Larry Gallagher is a writer by trade. He’s a man of many instruments, and of many friends. Being modest his singing isn’t the best. He’s highly different from the Beyonces’ or the Jared Letos’ of the world. His work is unpredictable in nature and mixes yet rarely matches. Thus his works are seen as distortions of his bigger mental picture. Some might find this CD pointless, a jumble of random words, instruments and a gaggle of suggestive material, which only leads into the, “he shouldn’t have said that,” arena. While others may spot a fresh perspective.
Either way it’s worth a listen whether on the actual CD or a sneak peek on Rhapsody. Larry’s work has the ability to stick with you regardless of it being good or bad. It’s guaranteed that audiences will go away remembering a certain line, or a strange instrument amongst the commotion that is, his music madness.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Immobile Subjects
Photography as an art is often times misunderstood. It may not jump out of the frame like a painting does. But it definitely has its perks.At Columbias' Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), Bettina Hoffmann and Florian Slotawa show that perk, can be compelling, thought provoking even eerie.
In Hoffmanns' piece, "La Ronde," a 12 minute dvd, the audience is exposed to a variety of scenes depicting real life through staged scenarios. Scenes like the Breakfast scene showcase a believable family portrait. We see the family sitting at the table, each looking to have their own role, the father, mother, first son, the second oldest daughter, third son then the youngest son. The room is naturally lit and instead of Hoffmann filming the family engaging with each other or even eating, she instead breaks the scene down into a series of stills, like one big rotating photograph. As the artist puts it, the camera circles around the periphery of people traveling through space, and the surrounding objects within a photograph.
With the first scenario being the breakfast scene, we get a glimpse of this normal looking family. Their lives are up for public scrutiny even the environment they’re housed. How come there’s little food on the table? Or how come the daughter has a look of distain on her face, as she holds the pen in her hand? Her face is anxious about something. The youngest child is literally passed out on the table. We see someone in deep thought. The mother, with semi-dark shadows under her eyes and the guy at the end of the table with his hands folded midair under his chin. Why is the son sitting beside the father starring at him with unease? However the fathers’ look is stoic. Going around the table at first glance it looks like your average family breakfast.
The audience no doubt takes on the roll of director or peeping tom, as the camera navigates through a scenery of objects and even human subjects that are frozen in time. Hoffmann calls her human subjects static objects. Because they are living beings within the piece, unnaturally imitating the always motionless objects that are so to speak, "just there." They take on the likeness of objects and formulate a sort of disconnectiveness to the supposed structured family and it fits. What should the modern family look like? Hoffmann raises questions, about her subject matter and through her stills.
As the camera slowly rotates from left to right, it not only takes the viewers focus off of one person to another but it in fact opens up the space, so that we are allowed to see more than just the static objects. We see their environment, thus things like what they drink or what look they have on their faces become even more intriguing. The rotation process in its own mind is a bit redundant, but it gets Hoffmanns' job done, giving the piece a narrative appeal. The low almost ambient sounds accompanying each piece within the video, gives it a dramatic maybe even a slight theatrical undertone. It's no wonder she used film to showcase her photography then just take snapshots. She changes our way of seeing.
With Florian Slotawas',"Hotel Europa,"on the other hand his photographic approach may seem normal at first glance, but there's a definite spin. Just as Hoffmann he opens up the two-dimensional surface, except he creates individualized compartments of livable habitat. His subject is the space itself and within that space he proves that dimension is ever present. Given the look of his pieces, it may seem odd. Because each picture looks to be the same thing (just as with Hoffmanns rotations) but with each new photograph a new aspect of what the bigger picture represents becomes clearer. Unlike Hoffmanns piece, Slotawa allows connection. It may seem redundant, look blah but it allows for us to reevaluate ourselves and these objects that create dimension to our spaces.
His sculptures look like mini houses, cubicles, cave like dwellings or even childhood fortresses. Slotawas' mini homes are created within larger spaces using furniture , personal belongs, found objects and even furniture from hotel rooms to create makeshift sculptures.
Both Hoffmann and Slotawas' pieces have a PhotoDimensional appeal, given the relationship between sculpture and photography. Within their pieces the viewers perspective is constantly challenged. One in a cinematographic way and the other more simple; but no doubt both artists truly give life to the immobile subjects within these fixed moments in time.
In Hoffmanns' piece, "La Ronde," a 12 minute dvd, the audience is exposed to a variety of scenes depicting real life through staged scenarios. Scenes like the Breakfast scene showcase a believable family portrait. We see the family sitting at the table, each looking to have their own role, the father, mother, first son, the second oldest daughter, third son then the youngest son. The room is naturally lit and instead of Hoffmann filming the family engaging with each other or even eating, she instead breaks the scene down into a series of stills, like one big rotating photograph. As the artist puts it, the camera circles around the periphery of people traveling through space, and the surrounding objects within a photograph.
With the first scenario being the breakfast scene, we get a glimpse of this normal looking family. Their lives are up for public scrutiny even the environment they’re housed. How come there’s little food on the table? Or how come the daughter has a look of distain on her face, as she holds the pen in her hand? Her face is anxious about something. The youngest child is literally passed out on the table. We see someone in deep thought. The mother, with semi-dark shadows under her eyes and the guy at the end of the table with his hands folded midair under his chin. Why is the son sitting beside the father starring at him with unease? However the fathers’ look is stoic. Going around the table at first glance it looks like your average family breakfast.
The audience no doubt takes on the roll of director or peeping tom, as the camera navigates through a scenery of objects and even human subjects that are frozen in time. Hoffmann calls her human subjects static objects. Because they are living beings within the piece, unnaturally imitating the always motionless objects that are so to speak, "just there." They take on the likeness of objects and formulate a sort of disconnectiveness to the supposed structured family and it fits. What should the modern family look like? Hoffmann raises questions, about her subject matter and through her stills.
As the camera slowly rotates from left to right, it not only takes the viewers focus off of one person to another but it in fact opens up the space, so that we are allowed to see more than just the static objects. We see their environment, thus things like what they drink or what look they have on their faces become even more intriguing. The rotation process in its own mind is a bit redundant, but it gets Hoffmanns' job done, giving the piece a narrative appeal. The low almost ambient sounds accompanying each piece within the video, gives it a dramatic maybe even a slight theatrical undertone. It's no wonder she used film to showcase her photography then just take snapshots. She changes our way of seeing.
With Florian Slotawas',"Hotel Europa,"on the other hand his photographic approach may seem normal at first glance, but there's a definite spin. Just as Hoffmann he opens up the two-dimensional surface, except he creates individualized compartments of livable habitat. His subject is the space itself and within that space he proves that dimension is ever present. Given the look of his pieces, it may seem odd. Because each picture looks to be the same thing (just as with Hoffmanns rotations) but with each new photograph a new aspect of what the bigger picture represents becomes clearer. Unlike Hoffmanns piece, Slotawa allows connection. It may seem redundant, look blah but it allows for us to reevaluate ourselves and these objects that create dimension to our spaces.
His sculptures look like mini houses, cubicles, cave like dwellings or even childhood fortresses. Slotawas' mini homes are created within larger spaces using furniture , personal belongs, found objects and even furniture from hotel rooms to create makeshift sculptures.
Both Hoffmann and Slotawas' pieces have a PhotoDimensional appeal, given the relationship between sculpture and photography. Within their pieces the viewers perspective is constantly challenged. One in a cinematographic way and the other more simple; but no doubt both artists truly give life to the immobile subjects within these fixed moments in time.
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