Sketchy Details

State of the Blog Address: 20 February 2010

Thank you for joining me today. There are a few issues that need to be addressed as to the state of Sketchy Details.

First and foremost, I would like to extend a sincere apology for my inconsistent posting these past few weeks. I am being pulled in many directions right now in the real world and have struggled to find the time to consistently produce new content.

You see, there are many things falling together all at once. For starters, I've been tasked with producing a website for my family's charity fund that has been a great struggle. I have asked for months for a list of necessities--such as a mission statement, or proper title--to be provided so I can begin preliminary designs; I received them last night. This is a matter of immediate family communication as my parents have insisted for months I never gave them a document (dated November on the computer) before the last time we discuss it. The organization is on edge about gaining a web presence. I'm honored to be able to use my skills to honor my cousin's memory, but it's frustrating to work with less-than-web-savvy people on this kind of project. Someone suggested just setting up a Google Site and being done with it; the group deserves better and I can easily provide it.

Second is the apex of a three year battle with my current employing school over my salary. The first year, I was hired and promised almost three times as much as I wound up being paid; the director of the drama department supplemented my income in a great way that helped pay off the debts I accumulated bringing their equipment up to date for modern educational theater. The second year, I was promised a substantial pay increase from the Board of Education, only to have most of the paycheck stolen in the chaos surrounding the director's untimely passing right before the show. Pay I was promised for working on their musical, theater festival, Thespian Society induction ceremony, and cabaret fund-raiser was slashed or completely denied. This year, I was promised the position of music director by the principal, vice principal, and numerous Board of Education officials. However, the principal worked behind my back over the summer to hire new people to fill my position and attempted to string me along to assist in transitioning to a new director without pay. Instead, the new director, who wanted me as the music director, has been forced to hire me as a rehearsal accompanist. I was promised the same pay I received last year, but the Board of Education just approved a motion to pay me less than $4/hour for showing up every day and basically acting as the music director. I'm still teaching all the leads their songs, working out new arrangements for the chorus and orchestra, figuring out all the cuts, and collaborating with the director on what music she wants where. I am currently working on finding out how the communication fell out to see an 60% pay cut from last year. Everyone, from the director to the Board of Education officials who will speak to me, insist that I will be paid what I was promised; they just all have a different idea as to what that amount is. I have turned down other work because I feel an obligation to my students who are still struggling with the tragedy of losing their beloved director last year. If it was not for that, I would have been working a much better job. It's a total mess, a constant stress, and it has made me ill.

Third, a corollary: that production is still happening in less than a month and I have to go to rehearsal. If nothing else, the show will be a key part of my resume as I pursue music direction work elsewhere as it's the first time in five years I've been able to get my fingers into a standard, rather than rock/pop/jukebox, show.

Fourth, I'm being given the runaround by a lot of different people and organizations as I attempt to find my next job. If you follow my Twitter, you're well-versed in the Rent non-communication drama. What you don't know are the five summer camps, three educational theater groups, four music schools, and nine local theater/music groups that are promising to get back to me or calling me in for second, third, or fourth interviews about upcoming work. I swear it would be easier to hook on the streets for a few weeks and start my own theater company.

That's not even accounting for school, major family drama, my usual vocal coaching/arranging/transposing work, last minute fill-in gigs, and my non-blog web/writing obligations.

What it comes down to is this: by March, I should be able to return to a six day a week blog posting schedule. Until then, please keep in mind that I have not abandoned this blog and am sincerely sorry for being so inconsistent with maintenance.

Thank you for your understanding.

Watch: Chita Rivera, "Kiss of the Spider Woman," 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

You do not understand how long I have been trying to find a clip of this performance from the 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

For one thing, I'm convinced this singular Chita Rivera performance is why I became so heavily involved in theater and horror. It's beautifully done with just enough of a menacing approach to make it totally inappropriate for the occasion.

Whoever greenlit a musical about political prisoners in South America escaping into a fantasy world of a silver-screen femme fatale to take their minds off the horrible torture they are undergoing to perform for a big family event was completely out of their mind. Yes, Kiss of the Spider Woman is a wonderful novel that beget a wonderful film that beget a wonderful stageshow, but it doesn't exactly scream nationally-televised parade. Unlike most other Broadway performances, this was clearly filmed in a studio with the oval of Chita Rivera filmed in front of a blue screen (or the '93 equivalent, I'm pretty sure it was blue screen) superimposed on a clipart-quality black and white spiderweb.

Also noteworthy is how it appears Chita Rivera was actually recorded singing this song live since the performance is different from the cast recording of the show. Stranger still is how the cast recording was released before this performance. Meaning, at some point, the song was made less horrifying. On the cast recording, the "s" is "kiss" and "mist" is almost always held as a hissing sound before the chorus (but in a different way than the telecast, more subtle), and the song's verses are almost whispered in a threatening manner. Listen for yourself. 

The orchestration is great. I really am obsessed with the triplets before the verses--they're so much fun to play--and the idea of a waltz inspired by a black widow film. The timpani roll is breathtaking right before the chorus.

This bizarre black, white, and ball-gowned performance of the titular song of a very not-for-children show has been a lifelong obsession. I perform this song at gigs and have even auditioned with it on the strength of this performance (neither situation tends to go well, but it always feels like a good idea at the time). Just imagine an eight year old coming off of his first theatrical performance watching this on a 16" television set with a VCR over and over until the tape broke. It explains a whole lot.

Video after the jump.

Listen: "21 Guns" performed by the cast of American Idiot

To borrow from Nathaniel over at The Film Experience, click the play button to have the soundtrack to this post.

I'll admit that I'm not keen on the idea of the Broadway-bound American Idiot musical. I have a pretty good feeling that this will flop in a spectacular, Lestat-like fashion when it opens 20 April.

For one thing, it's an adapted rock musical about young people caught up in the Iraq war (allegedly, they don't specify) and drug abuse. American Idiot was a very good album that would need lots of expansion and tweaking to be a full length musical. Which of course means it's a one act sung-through show with video screens and rock ensemble on stage.

To be less cynical for a moment, there is an ample amount of music in the show (it just happens to all have not been written for a musical*: American Idiot + B tracks and 21st Century Breakdown). I'm just thinking there was a big surge of one-acts on Broadway a few years ago and only The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee lasted much longer than a year. The convention is two acts, even if the story is better told in one. People need the intermission partly to stop them from getting lost in the non-stop assault of kind of similar sounding music. It's a service to the audience and a benefit for the cast, crew, and creators of the show.

But I digress. I still don't have hopes for the show to succeed on Broadway. The whole thing screams Off-Broadway with possible limited-run Broadway transfer after building a popular following in the area. Then again, if Spring Awakening can have a healthy run and be that out of step with modern Broadway style (from staging to subject matter to style of rock, it was out there), why not American Idiot? Except for, you know, the really bad title. We're not talking Urinetown ridiculous titles here, but it's close. More like Fat Pig or Wishful Drinking.

Though the cast recording of "21 Guns" (Tony song, obviously) hasn't raised my expectations, I do have to give credit where credit is do. This is a wonderful arrangement for a big ensemble number. Three featured soloists, smaller ensembles, and full cast all get featured in a big, exciting, bang-out-the-key-change way that makes me love theater. The ample use of strings in the beginning before full-tilt rock mode is lovely. If you ignore Billie Joe Armstrong not even being close to as strong a singer as the cast of the show, it's really well recorded. When a cast recording is released, I think John Gallagher, Jr. (Tony winner, Spring Awakening) gets to take that verse, though it might be Michael Esper or Stark Sands (there's no "[song] [character]" listing readily available yet and everything is always subject to change during previews).

Wow. This turned out a lot more negative than I intended. Please listen to the track. The presence of Green Day (wrongly credited as the main attraction) might mean radio play for a theater song, or what's become a theater song. That's rare on CHR/Top 40 stations. I approve. Then again, I see no reason why "I'm Alive" from Next to Normal or "Brooklyn in the Blood" from Brooklyn couldn't have received similar airplay.

 

*I'm aware that both albums were constructed as rock operas. That alone does not make them musicals. It's all going to be in interpretation and presentation which I can't judge yet. I hated the idea of Jersey Boys and fell in love with it when I saw it.

Midnight Rec: Exte: Hair Extensions (2007)

Do you like weird films?

No really, this is a serious question. Can you handle a really strange film? Like, just shy of two hours of "I abandoned my child/I drink your milkshake" strange? Little Miss Sunshine toss grandpa in the trunk and compete in the pageant strange? The Wicker Man late night orgy strange?

Good. I'm glad.

Equally important: can you accept a film that requires camp and utter sincerity to be effective?

You can? Great.

Find a copy of Exte: Hair Extensions. You will not be disappointed.

Sion Sono has made some of the most bizarre and riveting horror films of the 2000's. In Suicide Club, a wave of mass suicides has hit Japan and no one can explain why. Schoolgirls jump in front of subway cars, comedians incorporate actual death into their acts, and mothers slice off their own limbs. What is the cause? And why does Japan have such amazing pop music like Dessert (no fair, they were made up for the film) while we get Justin Beiber? It's just not fair, I tell you. I'd take "Mail Me" any day over "Lonely Girl."

Then there's the follow-up (but not really) film Noriko's Dinner Table. This is the story of a family during the same period as Suicide Club that is designed to elucidate some of the events of the first film while completely destroying the interpretation of others. A web community exists that sometimes encourages teenage girls to leave home and join up with a quasi-prostitution ring, wherein young escorts take on the role of a daughter, a friend, a mother, or other female relation for very lonely men with no one else. It's actually stranger than Suicide Club. Only far, far less bloody. Except, of course, where scenes from the original film are recreated or reedited for inclusion in Noriko's Dinner Table. Then it flows like Kill Bill: fast, hard, and all over the place. Clean-up must be half the budget for your average Sion Sono production.

It would be irresponsible not to mention Strange Circus, as the title is very apt. There is a minor trend in modern Japanese horror involving authors writing horrific stories, recreating horrific events through fiction, or altering the world with fiction. Sono's attempt is unique, disturbing, and challenging. Picture Flowers in the Attic, only less hopeful and with more characters.

As a director, Sono seems to believe in allowing the audience to figure out what is going on rather than spell everything out. That's probably why his films, rather than his own reputation, is what gets international attention. Modern horror doesn't really try to challenge the viewer. If there's a struggle, it's because of a poorly written screenplay or inconceivable twist. Sono's craft is in opening up what could be a strange but straightforward narrative into something far more open to interpretation and discussion.

In a way, Exte: Hair Extensions is a departure from that. There is a definitive answer to what's happening in the film and it's a doozy. The twist at the end (well, one of them: Sono always has twist upon twist upon twist in his films, mostly to their benefit) is genuinely surprising. And confusing. And perfectly rational in the context of the film. But no less easy to watch.

There are two divergent plot strands in the film. First, killer hair extensions. As in, hair extensions that kill. This is handled with a very interesting balance of high camp and high suspense; they are not mutually exclusive. There will be scenes where you are laughing and groaning one second, covering your eyes the next, then rolling them to the top of your head before shuddering in terror and shedding a tear.

Second, child abuse. I was not expecting this plot element in the film (kind of gets overshadowed by the promise of killer hair extensions in recommendations) but it is handled with such sensitivity and skill by Sono and the cast that I wish more people paid attention to it. Basically, the main character's sister is a crazy party girl (too old to be partying) who abandons her child at the main character's house so she can do more partying. The main character and her roommate discover bruises and cuts. They witness first hand the horrors the mother is subjecting her child to and do everything they can to bring some sense of normalcy to the young girl's life. Even here, there is a blend of camp and suspense that is unpredictable. Well, ok: the results are utterly predictable as a story arc, but the events themselves are shocking and brutal.

If you are in the mood for a fresh horror film that requires you to be engaged in the narrative, give Exte: Hair Extensions a try. I don't think you'll regret it.

I'm not embedding the trailer because it has way too many spoilers. I doubt I would have enjoyed the film nearly as much if I saw that. Literally every death and scare is telegraphed in the trailer.

So, here's another tactic: Did you like Kill Bill Vol. 1? Do you remember the Crazy 88 school girl with the fantastic fight against The Bride? Or the track star character in Battle Royale with the ultimate rape/revenge fantasy? Yeah, she's the lead in this film, playing a totally different character from either film, and she's amazing.

Full review later today.

Cannonball Read 2: Book 11: Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts by Mark Twain

I'm obsessed with unfinished manuscripts. It's true. I take comfort in knowing that many writers (my guess is all of them except Stephen King) have writing they just never get around to finishing for one reason or another. For some, it's death. For others, it's the inability to find the right tone. And for others, it's utter craziness on the part of trying to recapture their childhood memories through a quasi-religious exploration of the nature of angels and the corruption of Catholicism. 

I'm writing, of course, about Mark Twain's No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger: Being an Ancient Tale Found in a Jug and Freely Translated from the Jug. Or is it Mark Twain's The Chronicle of Young Satan? Or is it Mark Twain's Schoolhouse Hill?

The answer is all three.

Mark Twain began work on his unfinished novel/story/novel/fragment around 1890, and continually churned out new chapters/versions/settings and burned large middle passages for twenty years. His obsession was only stopped by death. After his death, a well-meaning editor, Albert Bigelow Paine, published The Mysterious Stranger, A Romance with substantial edits and a new ending he swore he found in Twain's manuscripts. He didn't. It was a fraud and the entire effort was to protect Twain from accusations of sacrilege against Catholicism and other organized face. He also thought the tone was way out of sync with the rest of the canon and merged the humorous events from two manuscripts into the more serious plot of another to produce his edition. I have also read this version knowing it wasn't entirely real and still enjoyed it.

The basic conceit is fascinating and probably accounts for how I can't stop reading all the supposed true versions of the manuscripts. A group of young boys in a small village--sometimes in Austria, sometimes in America--stumble upon a mysterious stranger in a park. The stranger can produce many magical feats, such as providing food and bringing life to clay, and eventually introduces himself as Satan. No, not the prince of darkness; this is Satan's nephew, practically a child himself in the slow growth of angels. He is without sin, as only his uncle was foolish enough to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, fight God, and be banished to eternal damnation. Young Satan lives by a literal code of mercy, where the only answer to end sustained suffering is preemptive death. Seeing as he can (or can't, or kind of can) see into the future, this turns into a major issue in (some of) the manuscripts.

Why so much background information? Because I finished plowing through a critical examination of the three principle manuscripts, the major fragments, and many other sources on this unfinished work of Mark Twain in Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts from the UCLA Berkeley Press. It's the only printed edition of this kind available and a fascinating read.

The version most people are familiar with, if they're familiar with it, is The Chronicle of Young Satan. Three young boys in Austria are torn between the influence of the new priest, the legacy and struggle of the old priest, and the kind young angel with a friendly face and sweet disposition capable of producing miracles. Against the advice of the new priest, the boys continue to see young Satan in an effort to improve their lives. They ask that he take care of the old priest and his daughter who can barely afford a loaf of bread and that he change the future to spare their good friend from a life of unending suffering worse than anything they could imagine. Young Satan, with his pure form of mercy, considers only the clearest method for each request. He provides the old priest with a cat that can produce food an money whenever they need it, leading to accusations from the town of witchcraft and ill-gotten gains. He spares the friend's suffering by arranging it so that he will die by the end of the week while he is happy. The young boys become increasingly horrified with the destructive consequences of Satan's mercy. Unfortunately, this version ends right smack in the middle of the next series of actions, often leading me to assume a wonderful speech from Satan after the mercy killing is the proper end of the book rather than all the unfinished nonsense in India. If you've seen the infamous "banned children's cartoon"from The Adventures of Mark Twain, you've seen my favorite scene (the clay) and this speech in gorgeous claymation. Be aware that the cartoon went with menacing, when Satan's is supposed to be nothing but charm and likability even when getting all stabby.

The second version, Schoolhouse Hill, is the shortest and the biggest departure from the other two editions. Instead of three boys in Austria, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn discover young Satan and go on a series of adventures. This version is fine, but is more about a few cheap jokes than exploring the nature of faith and mercy. Perhaps more than the other true manuscripts, Schoolhouse Hill causes the most discussion solely because it introduces the notion of Satan being called No. 44. The actual written manuscripts and notes show a wide variety of numbers in series of numbers used to express the identity of Satan, from 404 to 96, eventually leading to 44. The obsession? Trying to figure out why it's that number and not any other. 

The third significant version, No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger, is the only version with an ending. It's also the version that Twain felt the most compelled to destroy while writing. Twain makes ample use of a printing press as a variety of metaphors relating to faith. Young Satan, now fully No. 44, believes in the power of the word and eventually uses the press to duplicate himself. This text introduces a castle magician, Balthazar, who is determined to eliminate No. 44 as a threat at all costs. The town begins burning duplicates at the stake, though each duplicate always returns to the print shop to continue working. The local priest sides with the original No. 44 but believes the duplicates are evil. No. 44 falls in love with his daughter and does everything he can to marry her. Eventually, when everything is falling apart in a wave of chaos, No. 44 vanishes in thin air. More than the other manuscripts, this one contemplates the nature of existence. Here, Satan is not an angel for he reveals everything and everyone is only a passing thought and will eventually disappear as he does at the end of the story.

The writing of the manuscripts is what you would expect from Twain: clean, thoughtful, and full of meaning in unexpected ways. The character of young Satan is especially compelling in all three texts, though No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger really starts to build up the townspeople as more important to the story. If I had to guess, the third version is the closest to what Twain wanted to achieve. The first goes too far into fantasy once it hits India and the second is just treading water in the universe of Tom and Huck.

If you have the time, investigating all three major manuscripts is a worthwhile endeavor for fans of Twain. If not, I would recommend giving The Chronicle of Young Satan a go as it really stands out as a beautifully rendered concept piece. The issue, unfortunately, is with titling. When I first encountered The Chronicle, it was mislabeled No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger on Project Gutenberg. There are editions of all three available that almost always take that title so finding the right one is needlessly confusing. Then, there's that Paine version still kicking around that throws everything off more. It's worth the effort to find the edition you want.

Film Review: Otto; or, Up with Dead People (2009)

Before watching provocateur Bruce LaBruce's latest film Otto; or, Up with Dead People for the first time, I proudly recounted my understanding of what the film was like, "quasi-porn foreign satirical indie semi-horror film." Technically, the description is accurate. There are light pornographic scenes. It is a foreign film. There are elements of satire. It does behave like a horror film at times. The experience of the film, however, is far greater than its separate parts.

Otto is a young man in Germany who has risen from the dead to rejoin society. He does not remember who he was or how he died. He just knows he craves raw flesh of any kind. He is discovered by Madea Yarn, a filmmaker, creating her political opus--a gay zombie revolution film. The line between reality and fantasy is blurred as it becomes impossible to tell if Otto is actually a zombie or simply playing a role in a film within the film.

Bruce LaBruce uses a variety of great visual tricks and showpieces to bring his vision to life. The film opens in black and white as Otto rises from his single-name grave to embrace the tombstones of his fallen brethren. Madea Yarn's death-obsessed girlfriend, Hella Bent, is only filmed in grainy, 1920s-style back and white. Her dialog is presented as silent film cut away cards and her ghostly appearance remains unchanged even when interacting with the colorful world around her. Otto's perspective is always cast in a bright pink hue, distorting reality into a blood-tinged fantasy of forbidden flesh and social taboo. LaBruce also makes great use of open roads, abandoned amusement park rides, public transportation, and cemeteries to continually ratchet up the tension in the film.

The controversial pornographic scenes are not nearly as explicit as I was led to believe. To start, there are only two. The first involves a pair of zombies dining on each other while one penetrates the other in an open flesh wound. Yes, nudity is shown, but it is so cartoonish and outlandish it could hardly be called pornography anymore than Heavy Metal. The second scene is the much talked about gay zombie orgy, which is no more clear in action than the much-maligned orgy at the end of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The only difference, and I assume the source of the controversy, is the the actors in both scenes are men. It's the reaction to homosexuality more so than sexual acts that is feeding into a negative perception of the film.

Some have objected to the high level of camp without the compliment of humor. To me, this is a failure of interpretation. The film is meta-theatrical, focusing on a zombie in a society where a gay subculture of zombie-players exist who happen to be recruited to star in a film about gay zombies overtaking society. I would assume the camp factor goes without question from the conceit of the film. Without camp, this film would be pure melodrama, a few stray sex scenes away from being a movie of the week. With the camp, LaBruce is able to broach a wide range of subjects in an inventive way.

Zombie films, at least the ones that are remembered, have a long tradition of exploring the failings of society. For George A Romero, rampant consumerism is the greatest ill infecting America, a theme he's reflected on from Dawn of the Dead all the way through Diary of the Dead. For Danny Boyle and Alex Garland in 28 Days Later, it's rage, violence, and isolation that hold society back. For Bruce LaBruce, it's homophobia and the failings of mental health care. More than other attempts at socially aware zombie films, LaBruce is knocking on risky territory. Showing Otto be chased by teenagers for clearly being different--gay--is one thing in a post-Matthew Shepard/Laramie Project world. Exploring how warped people can become to be pushed to make films about gay uprisings saving humanity or stumbling about in a haze of alcohol fantasizing about eating flesh is quite another. Together, it's uncomfortable. It's difficult to watch. And it's utterly compelling in the context of Otto.

I'm aware that Bruce LaBruce has a reputation for making films dealing with homophobia, explicit sexual content, and an arguable anti-heterosexual mindset, though I have not seen them myself. Otto; or, Up with Dead People is a sensitive examination of a lost soul doing everything he can to find out who he is and what he should do. It's not a perfect film, and I doubt that was the point. Otto is about the messages, thoughtfully and stylishly presented, and they deserve to be heard.

Trailer embedded below the jump:

Midnight Rec: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

There are three reasons why I've chosen Night of the Living Dead as today's Midnight Rec:

1. My questionable horror film a month wall calendar commanded me to. I don't go against a sign that strong. It's why I relaunched the feature with The Brain that Wouldn't Die.
2. George A. Romero turned 70 years old two days ago (4 Feb) and I thought it would be a fitting tribute to the godfather of zombie cinema. The man's still kicking out ...of the Dead films like they're going out of style. Well, technically they are. What with the influx of fast zombies with superpowers and the ability to learn, use logic, and love.
3. It's a wonderful zombie (technically living dead, but the terms have practically become interchangeable) film. I think that's the key here. It's not just fanboy praise: it's solid filmmaking.

Night of the Living Dead is the unassuming brainchild of writer/director George A. Romero and writer John A. Russo. It sets the standard for all future living dead films. Take a ragtag group of strangers from a community, lock them up into a questionably safe locations, and watch them struggle to survive each other and the unending assault of the living dead.

While Romero would certainly add social, economic, and political subtext to his later films (he loves riffing on consumerism, hence Dawn of the Dead in a shopping mall and Land of the Dead with its towering wealthy shopping oasis), Night of the Living Dead is all about interactions in the face of a disaster. The zombies are great. That's hard to question. The character development through choices made in a chaotic situation is far greater. From the initial "They're coming to get you Barbara" to the family in the basement banding together against living and undead intruders, how the characters choose to deal with each other is the key to the film's success.

Yes, meaning was created with the casting of Duane Jones as Ben, the leader of the survivors. No, Romero did not set out to create a film exposing the dangers of unquestioning racism. He's said many times that he cast Duane Jones because he was the best actor for the part regardless of the color of his skin. Jones knew when he was cast the film would be seen in a different light, and Romero and Russo realized that soon enough.

Through a stupid loophole in copyright law that destroyed many films in this time period, the creators lost the rights to the film by omission of the (c) symbol in the final theatrical version. This means that anyone can use and manipulate the material however they want. There are rereleases with five seconds of new footage where the profit goes to the new "creators." There are unlicensed remakes, colorized editions, and redubbed recordings constantly shooting out at consumers. It's a risk to pick out any edition. Some are cropped, cut, edited, rerecorded, reorganized, or digitally manipulated without warning. Others are so low quality you can't tell what's happening on the screen. I've yet to find an edition with subtitles, probably because the economic appeal of the film for companies is a free film with a built in audience.

I've embedded the cleanest copy I could find online below. Of course, I feel any film fan should have a watchable copy in their DVD collection, though not everyone would agree.

Jump.

Game Time: Record Tripping

I like rhythm games. The genesis is surely an obsession with Mario Paint's music creation function where I would spend hours writing original songs with dog barks and car horns until my family sent me to my room to get the noise out of their heads. It grew to its peak in the late 90s when I began playing Dance Dance Revolution like it was my job at home and in the arcades. The interest hasn't faded away, even if the time available for Samba de Amigo and Amplitude has.

Record Tripping, a new game from Bell Brothers available at Newgrounds, is a different kind of rhythm game. It is not about the creation of music or playing in rhythm. Instead, the game plays tribute to the lyricism of Alice in Wonderland, combining spoken word with record scratches. You manipulate your scroll wheel like a turntable and your left click as an effect button to control movement in time. Scrolling down moves the recording backwards; up, forward. The goal changes in each of five levels, from navigating a ball through a maze to getting bunny rabbits on a train. There is a time limit and other factors of physics involved to make the game more challenging.

Though it does not take longer than five minutes to play, the clever controls and storybook-styled illustrations make Record Trippinga game with a good amount of replayability. The time based leader board doesn't hurt, either. You can also tweet your score. This may not seem like a big feature but it still amazes me that more online games aren't trying to use this feature as a publicity tool.

If you need a quick break from your work, Record Tripping is a fun diversion through Wonderland.

Best Original Song Lives! A Round-Up of the Oscar Nominees

I'm so excited to see that the music branch of the Academy Awards got their act together this year with their new rules and actually found five nominees. It really seemed like the category was going to disappear as the nominees dwindled each year and new rules were written to fix it. They've pulled out of their tailspin and found five nominees. They aren't necessarily the songs I'd pick, but I can't complain about their choices.

All five nominees below the jump.

Grammy/Oscar Round-Up

Grammys: The awards split in ways I didn't expect, with the exception of Gaga. I nailed NARAS viewing her only as a dance artist with a breakout hit. Swift takes Album because Kanye West is a braying ass; Beyonce takes Song because even NARAS doesn't understand that award recognizes the songwriting, not the finished product; Kings of Leon take Record because they sure weren't going to give Dave Matthews Band Album of the Year and something rock needed to be in. Sadly, with the exception of Beyonce, I see every other nominee's career on the decline in the very near future. Country cross-overs have  a very short life span, dance acts are replaced by the next new sound, and older rock acts get nominated just because enough people remember they exist.

Zac Brown Band took Best New Artist, probably because the country branch could band together and win over the smaller R&B branch while everyone else scratched their heads over who MGMT, Silversun Pickups, and The Ting Tings were.

Eminem won every rap award he was up for. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs lost Alternative Album. A musical comedy album beat stand-up comedy albums. A revival won Theatrical Album category over new shows. And the sky is still blue.

And now for less cynicism.

Oscars: Tomorrow morning, we will know who is nominated for the Academy Awards. This will be a momentous occasion for many possible reasons.

For one thing, we'll see how the return to 10 Best Picture nominees plays out. It seems certain for Avatar, Precious, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Up in the Air to be nominated, but what else? Will we see populist choices like Star Trek or The Hangover? Acting vehicles like Julie & Julia or Nine? Animated films like Up? Foreign films? Documentaries? Wait, scratch that last one. That'll never happen. 

Another possible change is the Best Original Song category. It's not obligatory any longer. If the shortlisted songs didn't score high enough at the music branch's required screening, there will be no Best Original Song category. So there could be 0, 2, 3, or 5 nominees tomorrow.

Then there are the acting categories. Every single one seems to have one spot up for grabs, at least. Best Supporting Actress is the least clear, as everyone and their kindergarten teacher has given the award to Mo'Nique. Will we see multiple Up in the Air's or Inglourious Basterds or Nines to fill out the category? Will they be selected by performance quality or their ability to sit politely with a genuine smile on their face when Mo'Nique wins the Oscar?

Speaking of the muddy acting categories, could Avatar's massive green screen acting campaign pay off with a nomination for Sigourney Weaver in Supporting Actress? The campaign is smartly showing stills of Weaver in her human form in the film, in the green suit, and the corresponding animated shot showing how much of her performance transferred to the CGI of the film. A similar campaign is brewing for Zoe Saldana, tough Weaver has the edge in being a two-time previous nominee who is also the only woman ever nominated for a sci-fi film. If the Academy remembers how much they used to love Weaver, we could really be making history.

Most important of all is Best Director. Why? Katherine Bigelow is the favorite to win Director at this point. If the domination of precursors didn't push her that way, the DGA did. As Roger Ebert tweeted enthusiastically, 57 of the 60 DGA winners went on to win Best Director; 58 of 60 went on to win Best Picture. Unless the Academy really votes for the creation of new jobs in the industry (it happens), Bigelow will most likely win if nominated.

Of course, this could all be moot tomorrow when Clint Eastwood and Rob Marshall receive Best Director nominations over Bieglow and Lee Daniels, Nine, Invictus, An Education, The Last Station, and A Serious Man fill out Best Picture out of familiarity, and Best Song is announced with five nominees coming from Disney, an adapted musical, a foreign film, a music-influenced character piece, and another animated film. But a guy can dream.