Rewind #11

Bats For Lashes: Fur And Gold (2007)

Natasha Khan is sexy. Her voice, her music, her sense of the world, her entity. When I first heard the song "What's A Girl To Do?", I thought to myself, this song either really sucks or it's amazing! Well, after subsequent listenings (about five hundred at this point), I've come to the conclusion that Khan is a genius. Her music is haunting and ethereal and celestial and it's within my weather, soft and brooding. I really love singers who have a deep pleasurable presence to their voices, the kind that drag me down into a morphine haze as I wallow in the thoughtless realm of my inner soul, a place where I've always felt an extreme sense of comfort. Ever since I could remember, I've found outlets that allow me to escape from the world, into fantasies that blossom in my mind. That's why I've always loved books and movies and stories and art and music. These avenues of creative input take us into otherworldly places, transcending our mundane lives in beautiful and philosophical ways. Bats For Lashes does all of this very effectively for me. I read about her album in some obscure songwriting magazine and the description made me want to go out and get it right away. There will always be rays of light that descend from on high, which are meant for your eyes and when you see them, you must take a moment to give thanks to the universe. This one is mine.



Cache/Funny Games: Michael Haneke (2005/2008)

Michael Haneke is evil. That's the thought that I had after watching the movie Funny Games (the remake with Naomi Watts and Tim Roth). But then I started to think about the the director and his whole perspective on film. Earlier in the year, we watched another Haneke film called Cache (Hidden), which is about guilt, the type of guilt that rises up from some deep bellowness place and the way that it makes you act. It was a surreal minimal film that forced the audience to think about the nature of their lives long after they left the theater. It was the type of movie that I ultimately come to appreciate for all of the underhanded subtle techniques that make it stick to your hide. I love stuff like that when it's done supremely well, and xtimu and I spent days having dialogue about it. Well, with this in mind, I began to digest what was happening in Funny Games. I realized that Haneke was making a commentary about the type of film-goer who loves to watch movies like Scream or Saw, the type of movie-watchers who need to see breasts during a rape scene, the type of people who want their movies to stay inside the theater, the type of people who want to regale you with morbidity just to see the reaction on your face. I understand these type of people because I used to seek out those types of films as well. They're people who can't escape their miserableness and unconsciously search out for more shit to make their lives even more miserable. It's a vicious cycle and we all know that there are film-makers, musicians, politicians, corporations and just people out there who will take advantage of the lower nature of human beings. Well, not Michael Haneke. He doesn't want you to feel comfortable with your lesser self. He wants you to look through that viewfinder where you've always found sick pleasure and he hopes that when you see it through his filter, there will be a big fat middle finger stuck in your face saying "Fuck You!". I highly recommend his movies.