This Winki'sThis Winki'sPedram Mobedi's personal music, movies, book reviews as well as his favorite lists Articles
Manic Street Preachers - Send Away the Tigers: Rendition! Rendition! I Neve
2008-02-09 07:41:00 I had discussed some bands with some friends before to be defined as “full bands”; we barely found two or three among contemporaries, with a focus on rock. First I thought the Red Hot Chili Peppers deserve such an overwhelming title, and I still believe the quartet are truly best at what they do, but one thing I forgot about them: The lyrics. I forgot to think about RHCP lyrics as the lowest point in their long career, and lyrics being an undeniable element of good music. RHCP lyrics were simply nonsense (with all due respect) but the rest is utterly perfect and that’s why they are standing where they stand today. So I thought about R.E.M, I couldn’t find no Achilles’ heels in R.E.M, everything about them is perfect, so I could easily add them to the list. Then I thought about the Manic Street Preachers . Without a doubt, the Manics are the best rock band alive and they have remained my long time favorite. Maybe we can attach a little “too political” label to their ly... More About: Tigers , Send , Rendition
Simon Del Desierto (Simon of the Desert) by Luis Bunuel
2008-02-06 21:00:00 Luis Bunuel had very sharp eyesight over some philosophical and religious facts. In “Simon of the Desert (Simon Del Desierto) 1965” a 45 minute fantastic film by Bunuel, he depicts Simon, a post-Christ prophet who apparently has nothing to do but worshiping God, so he climbs up a very tall column and continues his worship. The village people including the priests and church workers are so glad that they have a prophet like Simon who solves their problems by praying to God. They bring him food but he barely accepts it. In three different periods Satan appears near him in the form of a pretty girl to seduce him from worshiping God and come down with her, but every time Simon realizes her identity and Satan has to go away. Except for the 3rd and final time, which obviously Simon has no other way! Satan sneaks near him in a grave and takes him by an airplane (in a very surprising scene) to an American dance club, where Simon is drinking while watching boys and girls dance. The entir...
The National - Boxer: We're Half Awake In Our Fake Empire
2008-02-05 19:22:00 The National returns with a soulful follow up to "Alligator" and making Alligator fans a bit disappointed, not because of its lack of musical textures, but because of the shift in the sound. Boxer is a down-beat record with pianos, horns and strings instead of the loud sound of guitars and noises and lush arrangements. Matt Berninger offers a pleasing Cohen-ish baritone voice making the album an easy listening experience. To me “The Boxer” looks like a friendly Interpol and it grew on me. It never surprises the listener with a bang or major change. It’s well polished. However just like anything in the form of a music album, it has its ups and downs. I almost listen to this every day. The first track “Fake Empire ” gives a quick guide to the whole disk and is the best thing on “The Boxer”. My favorite tracks on this alongside “Fake Empire” are “Gospel”, “Slow Show” and “Racing Like A Pro”. Time played a key role in my interest towards this album. It’s g... More About: Half
Poll Closed: Which One Do You Prefer?
2008-02-04 07:49:00 It was exactly the first day I started this blog (with a very haunting layout) and decided to put a polling question for the viewers to choose from. I got a total 30 votes in the end, most of them are people who I personally asked them go and make their votes. The question was “Which One Do You Prefer?” and I put 3 different situations as multiple choices: Walking In Sleep (Your Apartment Has a Balcony);Having Nightmares Regularly;Being stuck in an Elevator in an old apartment;And as you can see I didn’t know the spelling of Balcony (Balkoni), pity! And these are the vote’s results! 13 people out of 30 preferred to walk in sleep knowing that their apartment has a balcony. So there is the possibility of falling down and bid farewell to the beautiful world. 12 people out of 3 decided to be stuck in an old apartment. What if the apartment is abandoned? And old apartment elevators are not so easy to fix these days, and how many days can a human being go without water? So, aga... More About: Poll , Closed
The Good, The Bad and The Queen: Friday Night In The Kingdom of Doom, All O
2008-02-02 16:58:00 The side project disease! Everyone close to Damon Albarn abandon his vicinity immediately. The guy just cannot get enough of making new bands. First it was only Blur, then The Gorillaz, then that Africa 70 thing and now The Good , The Bad & The Queen . Personally I was never a fan of Gorillaz, it was just too commercial for me to take, and only selected songs by Blur could satisfy me (“Song 2”, “Coffee & TV”, “Country Sad Ballad Man”, “Beetlebum”,”Out of Time” and a few others). But then came this marvelous CD. It takes probably more than two or three listens to let it grow on you, but again the simple sound and the cold easy voice of Damon Albarn caused me to immediately fell in love with this album from the start to the end. “Lost In London” was a short phrase I read somewhere that best explains the atmosphere running the disk. The Good The Bad & The Queen, despite its simple sound and easy listening tunes happens to be quite a supergroup: Damon A... More About: Kingdom , Night , Friday
Elliott Smith And The Big Nothing - By Benjamin Nugent
2008-02-02 08:35:00 Elliott Smith remains the most underestimated songwriter of the 90s. His diverse talent in cross-genre songwriting, his exceptional heart breaking melancholic lyrics, his warm flexible hushing voice together with his capability of managing and performing almost full DIY jobs with a little help from his multi-instrumentalist genius inside represent Smith as a timeless artist among his 90s contemporaries. Many compared him to Nick Drake. I can accept his lifestyle was similar to Drake and his down-beat lullaby tunes are a reminder for him but probably in a very larger scale. His lyrics mostly concern failed romance, addiction, depressing situations and suicide. But all these negative energies were used by this musical craftsperson to produce unreachable melodies and memory resident songs such as “Waltz #2”, “Between the Bars”, “Miss Misery” and “Son of Sam” among many others. I first came upon Elliott Smith through a live concert photo gallery on mtv.com. That was act... More About: Benjamin
Burial - Untrue
2008-02-01 16:31:00 Post 6:30 pm time, the room window slightly open: This is the only time and situation where I can listen to this dubstep work! Burial is the name of an urban artist/band from UK with unknown identity. This is one of those ones. So you don’t know who’s behind all these. Untrue is the 2007 sophomore from Burial, the guy has proclaimed himself as the “rubbish super-hero”. One admirable thing about this idea of hides and seeks, beside its noble way of advertising and curiosity rising method, is probably in its independent musical offering. The record is in the hands of the audience without any further explanations on how and why and where. So all the listener actually owns is pure music and its nothing about propaganda, celebrity, names, glamor and faces. I’m not really familiar with dubstep and its roots in urban music. I only enjoy the dark urban atmosphere used in the disk. It feels like walking in an abandoned street on 2:30 am and going through your near past, the night y...
The Battles - Mirrored: Turing Machine Filtered Through A Wormhole
2008-02-01 08:53:00 I wish you don't mix The Battles , with The Beatles. They just live in another galaxy! This album is a very sophisticated combination of drum 'n bass, dance, percussive themes and odd textures all in one as something called "math rock". Unlike many other bands around, The Battles is not a one-man-band like The Prodigy; they are heirs of a brave collection of talents. They have the Helmet drummer who creates this wizardly odd drum loops that alongside the excitement and fun in the album you can familiarize yourself with its experimental innovations. I just became aware of this very unusual style of vocals used in Mirrored like “Ddiamondd” in which a story is told in an impossible way for uttering something. This is probably like no other thing you’ve ever heard. My favorite track is “Tonto” for its diverse shifts and rhythmic 70s drum and the tempo descending ending. Putting vocals on such a thing is definitely a tough job. “Atlas” is the first hit and has been chosen ... More About: Machine
My Family Consumes 8 Tonnes CO2 Per Year
2008-01-31 21:56:00 Last week on BBC Click I heard about a carbon footprint calculator. Everyone can calculate his/her carbon footprint. The lower the calculated number is, the better earth resident you are. It was sort of interesting for me. This winter a lot of Iranians died because of gas and the spreading of carbon monoxide inside their house while they were sleep. The stupid thing that government tried to hide inside this tragic story is that every time you hear the news of one or more people dying because of this. Someone so-called professional comes on TV and explains how you should keep your gas heaters in a safe condition and you should definitely check the lid of the heating pipes on the roof. A month ago some students dies in a school in the class. The heating system of the school had a standard sign on it. So why the fuck should a product with standard sign cause this mass murder? Again the professional explained: “These standards are not suitable standards for this. There better standar... More About: Family , My Family , Year
El Angel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel): A Surrealist Metaphoric Fi
2008-01-31 12:45:00 Luis Bunuel is among those defining directors who was so ahead of his contemporaries, his most famous work is his 1930 L’age D’or (A.K.A The Golden Age) which is an astonishing collaboration with Salvador Dali and is among the weirdest films in the cinema history (alongside David Lynch’s Eraserhead). But this is the first film I’ve watched out of his many works and is considered as the strongest one. The Exterminating Angel (originally titled as El Angel Exterminador) is a metaphoric surrealistic story of a group consisted of mostly upper class people who come together in a dinner party somewhere in Italy but strangely find themselves unable to leave. So they are locked inside the house but the viewer won’t see any barrier in their way out during the film. As days and months go by the guests strike with hunger, thirst and they have conflicts with each other and the police outside the house is afraid of breaking and entering. There are only guards watching the house through...
Nick Lowe - At My Age: Country Rock at Its Best
2008-01-31 10:45:00 I got a chance to get almost all Nick Lowe albums as well as his Basher: Greatest Hits and his latest “At My Age”. But this very amalgamation of confessional, rock ‘n roll, country rock tunes is pleasant to hear from even a juvenile point of view like me. “At My Age” is capable of being covered as Lowe’s best solo album. It starts out with a self esteem breaker ballad with a Sinatra-ish “My Way” condiment “Better Man” and dives into country rock “Long Limbed Girl”. The lyrics are regretful and a bit confessional and you can feel an old man talking about his life in a very honest way. Contains three covers: “A Man In Love”, “Not Too Long Ago” which appeared in my 2007 playlist earlier in December 2007 and “Feel Again”. This album should have been nominated for a rock grammy and I really feel sorry for them. Unlike other Nick Lowe albums, the songs don’t seem to sink down when their track numbers increase. In fact, it gets better by time. The mix ... More About: Country , Rock
Top 10 Noel Gallagher Songs (Oasis Songs Performed By Noel Exclusively)
2008-01-31 09:47:00 Every time Noel Gallagher steps in, the song is definitely cool. Though, you won't hear him sing much in Oasis , it's mostly Liam. Thought the guitar is all his!Only reflects personal opinion10. Going Nowhere09. Talk Tonight08. Half the World Away07. Magic Pie06. Part Of the Queue05. Let There Be Love (featuring Liam Gallagher)04. Little By Little03. The Importance of Being Idle02. The Masterplan01. Don't Look Back In Angerand... that's TB: the PM of E, right? More About: Songs
Some Of These Days, You'll Miss Me Honey: La Nausée (Nausea) by Jean Paul
2008-01-31 08:04:00 The most disgusting part of our lives is that we exist equally and this existence is the only thing that truly matters. Antoine Roquentin lives in Bouville. Like many of us, he’s living a life of solitude. The only thing he’s certain of is that he “exists”. And it disgusts him because this is the only thing he really sure of. When he touches some “thing” like a stone or anything else, it causes him nausea! Because he finds this touching job, something mutual: “When I’m touching this stone, this stone is touching me as well.” It’s haunting for him to see him among this world consisted of “objects”. He wanders around the city of Bouville, goes to the Mably café, goes to a museum and goes to a library. He used to have a love relationship with a girl called Anny. There’s this “Self-taught man” who gains knowledge through reading the library books in the alphabetical order and claims to be a humanist. Antoine’s mind is filled with the world of objects. Th... More About: Honey , Miss , Paul , Days , Jean
Afra (or the day will pass)
2008-01-30 07:40:00 Having experienced Bahram Beizai’s “Afra” theater was one hell of a something. Today me and my friend Kourosh hit Tehran’s Vahdat Hall. We were worried about getting the tickets on time, the tickets were sold out like 3 weeks ago and without a connection, we would never be able to get tickets. It was interesting that we bought tickets with original prize of 8,000 tomans while there was black marketing starting at 20,000. “Afra” was definitely the most outrageous theater I’ve ever seen and Beizai is truly unreachable in Persian’s both cinema and theater. It was two hours of pressed back to back monologues with a multitude of comes and goes and scene changes. The acting was perfect; everyone was at his/her best. The little child acting as Afra’s younger brother Borna reminded me of Toto in Cinema Paradiso and Afra herself (Mojdeh Shamsai) was another version of Malena to me, and the script had similarities with the storyline of Malena, though it was written by Beiz... More About: Pass
Top 10 Out of Magnetic Fields "69 Love Songs"
2008-01-29 14:37:00 I found this album pretty amusing, and there's a lot of songs here = 69. So why not make another top 10 exclusively out of this. Still, only reflects personal opinion.10. Acoustic Guitar09. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side08. Come Back From San Fransisco07. I think I Need A New Heart06. A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off05. Busby Berkley Dreams04. It's A Crime03. I Don't Want To Get Over You02. Absolutely Cuckoo01. Underwear More About: Songs , Love , Fields , Love Songs , Magnetic Fields
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
2008-01-29 13:41:00 Hissing Fauna talks synth-pop on high summits. Apart from its girlfriend/boyfriend break-up and post-relationship status lyrical content, the music is mature enough to overcome something like Hellogoodbye. Unlike most indie albums which lack a hit song, Hissing Fauna has “Gronlandic Edit” and probably “A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger”. The disk is split in half with the 12-minute confessionary “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal” being grotesquely put in the hot core of the album just where the music and hits are topping. This turning point divulges a slow downfall which continues to quench the album constantly until the end of the final “We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leofling”. Now I’m not the one who judges the tracklisting, but I’m sure there are miles of synth-pop/rock fans out there who easily skip the long track placed on the peak of the album, just like they easily skipped “Pass the Hatchet I Think I’m Goodkind” on Yo La Tengo’s “I’m Not A... More About: Montreal , Destroyer
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
2008-01-29 13:25:00 The last thing that someone could imagine while listening to the music of Zack Condon, is that this could be a complete DIY job. It’s almost impossible but it’s true. I was blown away when I first heard this. Most of the sounds, instruments and vocals are done by this 21 year old boy in his home. This young multi-instrumentalist genius easily took indie music to much higher summits with introducing his DIY project Beirut . The music of Beirut in this album “The Gulag Orkestar” simulates and represents the Balkan and some traditional Greek music perhaps, but he’s Condon is American and Beirut surprisingly is a one-man-band. Now, this one-band phenomenon has released 2 LPs and an EP so far, all three luscious and succulent in their own fashion. Lon Gisland EP starts out with Elephant Gun, a massive hit with massive sound, a sort of Balkan “Exit Music” and the whole EP revolves around this magnificent hit. If I’m to compare Gulag Orkestar with The Flying Club Cup, I can ...
No Country For Music Lovers
2008-01-29 12:34:00 When I’m alone in my room listening to music and the door is closed, I’m asked to turn the volume down. When I’m driving in the car and music is being played, I should turn it down. When I try to play only two or three tracks while having breakfast in our apartment’s hall, Shshsh! People might be still asleep. When I invite three of my friends over and play music on my stereo (not for dancing, only for chilling out a bit perhaps), it’s late and people might be asleep. Almost three full months per year, nobody should hear the music out of your house, for it’s a holy day and mourning time. No music! No nothing, keep crying! When I’m in my friend’s car, he keeps the volume down every time I touch it. When I’m at my friend’s place, they have neighbors, too and they don’t want to be disturbed as well. When I’m listening to Super Furry Animals, I’m being a kid. When I’m listening to Miles Davis, I’m being pretentious because I don’t know shit about jazz and... More About: Music , Country , Lovers
I'm Indiazed
2008-01-29 10:57:00 There’s no such word as “indiazing” something. But you can indiaze the music you listen to. Well I’ve just lost track of the music albums I have on my PC. I think it exceeds a hundred and something gigabytes. There’s this routine I do when I’m working on something else in my room or on my PC and that’s opening my windows media player, push the shuffle button and play all the songs on my library. The shitty thing about it is the uncool stuff popping up in the random playlist. There is music from my past which I never listen to anymore, they suck! Or simply sometimes some crappy pop comes up which… yuck! Imagine you’re working and then “God Speed! You Black Emperor” starts out! Fuck! Or imagine listening to Nelly Furtado or Sarah McLachlan while concentrating on something. It washes your brain thoroughly and they simply suck! Don’t they? My first policy at first was to get rid of all these stuff and just remove them completely from my computer. I really hate i...
Springfield Citizen Ped
2008-01-12 19:04:00 Well, it couldn't be that bad living in Springfield! At least you get to meet Homer, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Marge! It's gonna be fun. I have imagined myself as an Springfield citizen. This is how I thought I'd look (above).And here's some other folks as Springfield citizen. I've also made some for my fellow droogies in the Olive Island Lounge. (Sorry I cannot give out its address, it's private and password protected.).. and if you like to become a citizen, paint yourself here. It's fun! More About: Citizen
Why Citizen Kane Matters?
More articles from this author:2008-01-10 15:51:00 Back to the sweet days of "The Sims" (the first version) when I used to play this game when I came back from school from 1300 to 1700 (military time) and I used to get yelled at by my dad for : "If you continue going this way you'll end up a bankrupt loser!" and I used to go on playing the Sims, I was already familiar with the word "rosebud" but I never knew what it means. In fact, I almost stopped playing The Sims when I found out about "rosebud", it was the secret code to get a 1,000$ absolutely without a hard work. From that time on, I became a rich man and I bought that big mansion on the hills. But soon I became reluctant to continue, because I already owned what I wanted.I never understood why "Citizen Kane " is a big film, until I watched it for the third time. The first try disappointed me. I watched a Persian dubbed version of the film with a very bad quality and a very fucked up sound, and about five or six times in the film the language switched from Persian to English an... More About: Matters 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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