Stay Positive Sunday - Don't Lay Me Down

Yes, I've posted this song twice in a row.  Yes, it only came out on Friday.  I don't care.  It's been ringing in my head nonstop since I first listened to it, and since then it's been the only song on my weekend playlist.  I find myself humming it as I walk around the city, singing tiny snatches of the lyrics.  It's possessed me, in the best possible way.  And frankly, I wanted to take a week to write about it.  Baroness is, if not my favorite band of all time, tied for first, and their story is brilliant and rich and complicated - far bigger than one of these little weekly posts.  But a wiser man than me once said something to the effect of 'If you think about something three times a week, you should write about it'.  I've thought about this song three times a day since it came out.

In Spite of the Winter, There's Ways to Keep Warm

Suffice to say I have a lot more to say about this, but in summary -

HOLY CRAP NEW BARONESS ALBUM 

PURPLE

December 18th

Let's Make Books Cool Again

So if you've spent any time on various corners of the nerd internet - and let's be honest, you're reading a blog: you have - you've probably seen the above quote, delivered by the inimitable John Waters.  It's funny, right?!  Books are sort of nerdy, but if we make them sexy they'll be cool again!  Sex and books guys!  Great combo!  We're gonna make books cool!

Yeah, I didn't think so.  It's a fun image and a witty line, but frankly if that's all your interested in Tumblr isn't that hard to navigate.  The fact of the matter is making books cool is gonna require slightly more effort than being selective about who you sleep with.  It's going to require you to read, and then talk enthusiastically about, books.  And that's significantly harder than browsing the internet.

Stay Positive Sunday - Oh, Internet, of Course!

Live music, I think, is one of life's great pleasures.  I've touched on this idea before, in a previous SPS, talking about Joe Satriani's excellent 'Crowd Chant'.  The music connects on a visceral level that you can't find anywhere else, and there's obviously something deeply hard-wired in our brains that lights up when we're a part of a crowd.  Having said all that, let's talk about a band I've never actually seen live: Opeth.  Wikipedia calls them a Swedish Progressive Death Metal band, and without delving too deeply into the obscure and esoteric world of heavy metal nomenclature, that's pretty accurate, though they've been trending more towards the Progressive than the Death in the last few years.  They're incredibly inventive and utterly brilliant, and the above song, an acoustic version of 'Demon the Fall', might be the best example of that.

Re: The Fantastic Four, In Light of The Recent Film

I mean, obviously they can't really adapt Hickman's run.  But a multiversal council of Reeds wielding Infinity Gauntlets to literally 'Solve Everything', at the cost of everything, is the kind of high-octane, super comic-booky stuff the movies will never do.  And that's a shame.

Stay Positive Sunday: Your Engine's Alive

If you've ever had the misfortune of reading my early fiction, you've probably figured out that I have certain quirks, both in terms of style and plot.  I'm honestly not too ashamed of this; most writers have quirks, it's just that once you reach a certain level of success they start calling them 'marks of your distinct voice'.  Certain things just click with you, and end up sticking in your brain far longer than anyone expects.  Just by way of example, I have always been fascinated by the story of the hero Ulysses, better known as the Greek epic The Odyssey.  It's an idea that many people keep coming back to, and each iteration fascinates me - James Joyce's doorstopper novel, the Coen's O Brother Where Art Thou, even Symphony X's 23-minute epic metal track.   There's just something about the core concept, built around this deep-seated longing to return home, that speaks to me on a deep, emotional level.  It should come as no surprise, then, that Franz Ferdinand's 2009 album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, is in my mind the band's single greatest achievement.

The Black Rabite & Seiken Densetsu 3

Duran, Angela, and Lise finally slay the dark beast

It's apparently nostalgia week here at That American Sadness - I'm revisiting a number of my old favorites.  Nonetheless, I couldn't NOT post this - though very few people will get it.  That 16-bit image up there is a screenshot from the little-seen and less-played 1995 Japanese RPG Seiken Densetsu 3, aka Secret of Mana 3 (or 2, depending on how you count.  Don't ask, it's weird).  Moreover, it's a screenshot of me defeating the Black Rabite, a bonus boss and the single most challenging battle in the game.  In short, it's me finally accomplishing everything there is to accomplish in SD3.  And yet right after that screen I immediately rebooted the emulator on my phone and started up another game.  Why, you ask?  That's simple.  It's probably my favorite game of all time.

Stay Positive Sunday - Painfully Earnest

As I've previously alluded to, I was a massive nerd in high school.  Exhibit A?  Power metal.

Re: The Doctor Strange Movie

Don't screw this up, Marvel.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be an off-brand Harry potter.

Scientist, Explorer, Pragmatist, and Father: Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four

Deep within the recesses of this blog is an article from over a year ago, discussing the then-upcoming Fantastic Four movie.  Frankly, I wasn’t all that excited about it.  I haven’t necessarily come around, but I can say that I plan on seeing it this weekend, and while my hopes aren’t high I’m at least open to being pleasantly surprised.  If nothing else, it seems like they’re taking a lot of cues from the Ultimate Fantastic Four series, penned by such notable names as Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, and Mike Carey.  Good source material, to say the least.  And above all else, despite all my complaints, I truly want this film to be good.  Because Reed Richards is, hands down, my favorite character in all of comics.

The Biopic That Wasn't: 'The End of the Tour' Review

The End of the Tour

Stay Positive Sunday - The Thrill of the Crowd