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The CHIRP Blog
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: Altered Carbon
Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the Netlix series Altered Carbon.
This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.
Clarence:
In the Netflix series Altered Carbon (based on the Richard K. Morgan 2002 novel), highly trained killing specialist Takeshi Kovacs is shot to death in a hotel room for some reason. But it’s OK, because in his world, human consciousness can be downloaded and transferred between human bodies, which are lovingly referred to as “sleeves.”
Logan... pardon me, Kovacs...is revived hundreds of years after his “death” to solve a rich man’s murder, because rich people can pretty much do whatever they want to whomever they want.
Along with a motley collection of allies/cyperpunk sidekicks, Deckard... sorry, Kovacs...has to figure out who killed the rich man who’s not really dead (because science) in order to win the freedom to wander around moping about all the violence stuff he’s done in his many pasts.
theironkurtain writesMusic as Memory: KMFDM and Pig at the Ogden Street Music Club, Buffalo NY (Nov. 19 1997)
by Kurt Conley
KMFDM and Pig
November 19,1997
Ogden Street Music Club (652 S Ogden St)
Buffalo, NY
It only seems right that this new series is propelled by my memory of music. During a recent cleaning spell in our new condo, I came across an old photo album filled with the concert tickets stubs I’d kept over the years. They span an era starting in the late '90s, when I first started going to shows in earnest, all the way up to the mid 2000s.
The only reason I don’t have more parallels the advent of online, print-at-home, and now mobile tickets, which lack that tactile quality. No waiting for them to come in the mail, putting them in a safe location until the show. As convenient as it is to have your tickets on one’s phone, I’m still nostalgic for that time.
SKaiser writes@CHIRPRadio (Week of March 5)
NEW MEDIA
- CHIRP volunteer Andrew Meriwether catches up with Chicago musician, Paul Cherry.
- Mike Nikolich writes 8-bit crEEps Play New Sounds on Old Circuits
- The Final Word from Ultimate Painting by Craig Bechtel
- 15 Minutes with CHIRP's popular DJ and accomplished local musician, Ayme "Superfrye" Frye by Mike Nikolich
- Patrick McMahon writes Top Five Songs I Want Played at My Funeral
- Oscar Night Special: All 2017 Best Picture Nominees Reviewed by Kyle Sanders
TOP OF THE CHIRP CHARTS
1. Serengeti – To the Max (self-released)
2. U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited (4AD)
3. Rhye – Blood (Loma Vista)
For a full listing of the CHIRP Radio charts, click here!
KSanders writesOscar Night Special: All the 2017 Best Picture Nominees Reviewed
by Kyle Sanders
Lights, camera, Oscars! It's time for the 90th Annual Academy Awards, highlighting and celebrating the best films 2017 had to offer. This year's nominees range from basketball legend Kobe Bryant to Mother of French New Wave Agnes Varda, and feature a diverse Best Director category, a first time nomination for a woman in Best Cinematography, and a record-breaking 21st nomination for Meryl Streep, the most nominated actor in the Academy's history.
And this year's list of Best Picture nominees is no different, representing a multitude of different genres and directed by a varied group of talented filmmakers. This year, I accomplished a goal I had previously been unable to complete: seeing ALL Best Picture nominees prior to the telecast. For those of you not as awesome as me, here's a rundown of all Best Picture contenders to catch you up before the awards are handed out!
Call Me By Your Name (aka The Sensitive Film)
Like its predecessor, Call Me By Your Name draws comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, as it is a literary adaptation about a budding romance between two men that screams Oscar gold. Substituting the cold Wyoming wilderness for the sweltering summer heat of Italy, Luca Guadagnino's direction highlights the palpable attraction between teenager Emilio and grad student Oliver, beginning as a friendship that gradually builds into something much more. The chemistry between Best Actor nominee Timothee Chalamat and co-star Armie Hammer is almost as smoldering as the sun drenched Italian countryside and the subject matter never falters into tragedy. The melancholic mood is set by the dreamy soundtrack composed by Sufjan Stevens (who scored a much deserved Best Original Song nomination). Like Brokeback Mountain, the tender love story is anchored well with the lead performances, but the "ick factor" regarding the forbidden love between a man and a teenage boy could hinder the film's chances of winning.
Pat Mac writesTop Five Songs I Want Played at My Funeral
by Patrick McMahon
Death, despite all the advances of modern witchcraft and wizardry, remains undefeated. It endures as one of the few certainties in life, on par only with taxes and people getting uncomfortable when you talk to them about death. It comes for us all, so we may as well prepare accordingly.
Setting aside the fun stuff, like completing a last will and testament or picking out your pine box, make sure to prioritize the funeral playlist. Your funeral will be the last party you attend and you have full creative control on the soundtrack. Music sets the mood. Music can take an otherwise sad event and temporarily inject joy and lightness into even the heaviest and most somber room.
I've attended (too many) funerals, and without fail the music is a bummer. If you play sad music at a sad party, people are gonna cry. The goal of my festivities will be to keep tears to a minimum, and happy music seems like the best way to ensure success. The other consideration is to pick songs that attendees won't often have to hear; if your happy songs take on an unintended sad-by-association connotation, you want to avoid one that randomly pops up on the radio to ruin someone's day.
With that, the top 5 songs I want played at my funeral:
"When I'm Dead and Gone" by McGuiness Flint
The debut single from English group McGuinness Flint serves as the guiding light for this audio mood board. Mandolin and kazoo, two instruments incapable of sadness, are heavily featured. Vocalist Graham Lyle pleads that when he's dead and gone, nobody mourn beside his grave. We should all be so lucky.