Annie Dillard, For The Time Being:

There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been: a people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful, and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive, and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death. It is a weakening and discoloring idea, that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time—or even knew selflessness or courage or literature—but that it is too late for us. In fact, the absolute is available to everyone in every age. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less. There is no less holiness at this time—as you are reading this—than there was the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Chebar, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of God… In any instant the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture. Purity’s time is always now.

Via and via.

I find that I often have to keep thoughts like these in mind, being the natural pessimist and cynic that I am. And that’s even truer now that I have a child of my own.

My pastor once said that having children is an act of hope, and a defiant one at that, I might add. It is an act that says you believe this world, against all odds, has enough going for it that you’re willing to bring some new helpless life into it, and that their life will be better than yours in the long run.

Yes, they’ll experience bumps along the way, but in any case, life, hope, faith, and love eventually triumph. Cyclones and juntas and earthquakes and rising oil prices and corrupt politicians and terrorists and torturers alike may do their best to tear it all down, but their time is passing and soon, they’ll be little more than a faint memory of a bad dream.

Earlier today, it was announced that a British company named Velvet Octopus is producing a film entitled S. Darko, which will be a sequel to the cult film Donnie Darko. Because we all know that Donnie Darko needed a sequel. Here’s a brief synopsis:

The story picks up seven years after the first film (and Donnie’s death) when little sister Samantha Darko (Editor’s Note: Daveigh Chase will reprising her role of Samantha from the first film) and her best friend Corey are now 18 and on a roadtrip to Los Angeles when they are plagued by bizarre visions.

In a world that is dominated by pointless sequels and franchises, this one seems especially pointless. Donnie Darko, while not flawless, was such a perfectly realized film, with such a unique little world all its own, that there’s absolutely no need for any sort of continuation of its storyline. The folks behind S. Darko, including director Chris Fisher, can claim all they want that they’re admirers of Richard Kelly’s film, but I don’t see any admiration here—just the desire to cash in on an imaginative film because apparently, they can’t think of anything creative on their own.

It’s worth nothing that Richard Kelly is not associated with the sequel in any way. One can only hope that S. Darko will be a direct-to-video affair that occupies the slightest amount of shelf-space at your local Blockbuster, and for only a week or two at that.

Nebraska is notorious for lengthy winters. We’re two weeks into May and we’re just now coming out from under the grey pallor cast over us way back in October of last year. And that can be a bit much, even for someone like me who is naturally inclined towards the drearier end of the climate spectrum. So I’m enjoying the recent bout of warmer, sunnier weather, and as is often the case, I do so with the help of a pair of headphones and a good soundtrack.

And right now, that soundtrack is courtesy of New York’s This Is Ivy League. While the Big Apple has recently been known for a resurgence in gritty post-punk and garage rock, This Is Ivy League comes from a completely different headspace.

On songs like “The Richest Kids” or “London Bridges”, Ryland Blackinton and Alex Suarez blend their effortless vocal harmonies with shimmering guitar melodies so crisp you could shave with them, and in the process, channel the sunny sounds of groups ranging from The Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel to Belle & Sebastian and Ivy.

It’s the kind of music that your parents might have listened to as lovelorn and starry-eyed teenagers given a modern retro twist—and no, that’s not creepy at all. Rather, it’s perfect for relaxing on a warm and breezy May afternoon, welcoming the first rays of summery sun whilst shaking off the chill from the last 6 months or so.

Stream This Is Ivy League’s self-titled full-length or download their cover of Arcade Fire’s “Crown Of Love”.

There’s an ever-growing list of movies that I’ve seen and intend to review here on Opus, and right near the top of that list is 2002’s Ping Pong, which was written by Kankurô Kudô. Kudô also wrote the fabulous Go, which I have reviewed, and Takashi Miike’s Zebraman, which follows the adventures of a superhero who has all the powers of a… zebra.

With titles like those under his belt, you know I’m going to be intrigued by anything else the man does. However, I can safely say that I never expected anything like his latest project, a play entitled Metal Macbeth.

It is, as you might have guessed, a remake of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. However, it’s set during the heavy metal heydays of 1980 and also in the year 2206 (more info here and here). It has folks decked out in heavy metal leather and chains and sporting big hair, there’s at least one dance number, and it features samurai sword duels.

Don’t believe me? You can see for yourself in the trailer. Frankly, I don’t think I’ve been this excited by dudes in leather choppin’ it up with samurai swords since Wild Zero. Where was this in my 9th grade honors English class?!?

Thanks to the mighty Kaiju Shakedown for the new.

A few years ago, a bunch of crazy Finnish folks released Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning, one of the most famous and successful sci-fi parodies of all time. And now they’re back with Iron Sky, and they’ve brought a bunch of space Nazis with them.

Here’s the basic premise: in 1945, the Nazis—having mastered anti-gravity—send a fleet of spaceships to establish a base on the dark side of the Moon. There, they continue to develop their technology, with plans to return to Earth and conquer it when the time is right. Which just so happens to be 2018 (more info on the story here).

A teaser trailer for the film has just been released, and it looks pretty dang cool.

Watch a higher quality version of the trailer, courtesy of Twitch.

I love the retro-futuristic look that’s going on here; it reminds me of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Crimson Skies, Commando Cody, and any number of classic pulp comic books. You can get a better sense of that in these press photos.

The film is being billed as a pitch-black science fiction comedy that holds nothing sacred, and you can get a sense of that in the teaser’s final seconds. And did I mention that the Nazis’ grand plan for conquering Earth involves assassinating the President of the United States, Jenna Bush?

Iron Sky is still in development—and you can help the war effort. In order to raise finances for the film, the filmmakers are selling “war bonds” at $75(US) each. You can also get involved in the filmmaking process by joining Wreck A Movie, a collaborative filmmaking website.

In a word, brilliant.

Sweden’s Labrador continues their streak of being the world’s finest pop label with “Freddie and the Trojan Horse”, the latest single from The Radio Dept.

Musically, it’s got everything you’ve come to know and love from the band: namely, plenty of 80’s sonic nostalgia thanks to gauzy vocals, drum machines, and evocative synth melodies. However, the song’s a little edgier and darker than the material on Pet Grief, which makes sense when you know that the band is singing, not about long-lost loves and youthful wistfulness, but rather about “...the untruthfulness of the Swedish right-wing government and how the leading party seized power by portraying itself as supportive of the workers.”

The Freddie and the Trojan Horse single will be released on June 4, and the band’s next full-length, Clinging To A Scheme, will be released on September 10.

One of the highlights of 2007 for me was attending and participating in the Flickerings program at last year’s Cornerstone Festival. The topic was “J-Pop!” and the program featured a number of great films and anime—Train Man: Densha Otoko, Linda, Linda, Linda, Haibane Renmei, Only Yesterday—that were all within the context of discussing otaku and Japanese pop culture. It was a fantastic time of cinema and discussion.

The man behind Flickerings—Mike Hertenstein—has just announced the line-up for this year’s Flickerings, and not surprisingly, it looks great. This year’s theme is “Balkanization: Reconciliation and Other Borderline Insanity”:

Violent fragmentation along ethnic lines has been called “Balkanization”—for good reason. The cinema of the Balkans expresses deep divisions and woundedness, often with a dark humor and psycho-punk gypsy energy. Yet giving in to the temptation to view the seemingly irreconcilable differences of the Balkans as utterly alien to ourselves requires forgetting nearly identical conflicts across the planet and throughout history. The possibility of reconciliation (as seen, for example, in South Africa) seems an urgent matter for all of us who must live with Otherness.

And the film line-up looks absolutely stellar, including:

• Pretty Village, Pretty Flame - The Apocalypse Now of the Bosnian war: childhood friends end on opposite sides in a kaleidoscopic nightmare vision of ethnic conflict.
• Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days - Cannes-winning controversial “abortion film” but much more than that, a classic exemplar of ongoing Romanian New Wave.
• Underground - Felliniesque lunatic-tragic fever-dream history of Yugoslavia from WWII to recent Balkan wars, with frenetic psycho-punk gypsy-brass soundtrack.
• Once - Dublin busker-boy meets pretty Czech immigrant girl and together they make beautiful music: rock-n-roll romance, a very different kind of musical.
• Long Night’s Journey into Day - Documentary on work of South Africa’s post-Apartheid “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”.
• The Power of Forgiveness - From Ground Zero to Northern Ireland to the Amish Countryside, this film explores the transformative power of forgiveness.
• Persepolis - Coming-of-age story of precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl during Islamic Revolution. Animation based on graphic novel.

You can find the complete line-up of films here, and the schedule of screenings and workshops here.

Hard to believe that all of this is going to be happening in a warehouse in the middle of some Illinois farmland, but it will. This year’s Cornerstone looks to be another fantastic year for cinephiles, artists, pop culture geeks, and music fans alike.

From The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:

Kids, let’s face it. Facebook is Webkinz for adults. Facebook is a Ponzi scheme. A handful of VCs have created the illusion of an actual market by funding apps companies and then doing deals with each other—passing cash back and forth among to make it look as if money is being made.

In all honesty, I have yet to really understand all of the hubbub surrounding Facebook—or MySpace, Virb, or any of the other “social networks” out there. And I certainly don’t understand why they’re worth billions of dollars. Yes, I do have accounts on several of them, but that’s due in large part to both curiosity and “brand protection”, and not for the sake of communication. When you’ve got e-mail, IM, blogs, forums, etc., just how many more lines of communication do you need before you feel like really know your friends (a.k.a., those folks who would be complete and utter strangers in any other social context)?

I just happened to check my Facebook account today, and saw that I was invited to take one of those Facebook quizzes. Which I did, just to kill some time—and oh, how I wish I had those 5 minutes back. It was a diversion, but when it started asking me to sign up other friends so that it could “process my results”, I just quit. I hate being a part of pyramid schemes in real life, and I see no reason to change that stance in my virtual life.

I always enjoy reading Khoi Vinh’s writings on design and development—they’re incredibly thoughtful and thought-provoking, whether he’s writing about the importance of grids in design, blogging, or technology in general.

His most recent post, on the topic of design agencies and studios, and the quality of their work, hits especially close to home:

When a design operation scales up the equation becomes much more diffuse. Beyond a certain point, a business of designers is no longer a studio—focusing on a specific niche of design, or devoting energies into a small number of projects at once—but rather an agency—a provider of multiple services, staffed by different kinds of specialists. Ideas must travel more complicated routes from brains to hands, and reconciling conflicting signals becomes difficult.

It’s certainly not the case that agencies are inherently staffed by inferior designers. That’s not what I’m saying, let me be clear. In fact, I’ll freely grant that designers employed at agencies are very often more talented than those employed at in-house design groups (except for those in my group, of course).

The problem is that the structures of most larger design businesses cannot effectively facilitate the the transmittal of ideas. They don’t allow good design to happen, because they are overburdened with the organizational overhead of running a business: org charts, jurisdictions, inconsistency, poor communications, etc. All the complications that large groups of humans create for one another when they work together, complications that are not about doing design.

You can read the full post here.

I say this hits close to home because one of the responsibilities of my day job is ensuring that a disparate group of people—all of them very talented—work together efficiently to create solid work without getting bogged down too much by the bureaucracies and politics—the organizational overhead of running a business, as Vinh puts it—that are unfortunately inherent to large groups of people working together.

Yes, The Cure might very well be bordering on self-parody. But every so often, glimmers of the old magic still surface in their music, as was the case with their 2004 self-titled album. And that’s enough to get my inner 10th grader excited and hopeful whenever news surfaces from Robert Smith and Co. concerning new music.

The Cure’s new, as-yet-untitled album (their thirteenth overall), is due out September 13th. And in order to whet our appetites, the band will be releasing singles from the album on the 13th of every month up until September. On May 13th, the band will release “The Only One” (with b-side “NY Trip"). More info can be found here.

You can hear a portion of “The Only One” on their homepage, and while it might not rank up with the singles of yore, it’s solid enough. Plus, it’s always fun to hear Smith throw around some sexual innuendo in that silly, precocious way of his.

I wrote about Muxtape, a new and extremely simple way to share music, about a month ago. Not surprisingly, people have taken to it like gangbusters, though the legality of many of the collections is sure to be questionable, at best.

And I’m definitely not surprised to see labels taking advantage of Muxtape to share music as well. For one thing, it’s free (and legal, for them), and it’s a whole lot less annoying than MySpace. Take, for example, Asthmatic Kitty’s muxtape, which spotlights the most recent additions to their roster:

• DM Stith‘s gentle, piano-driven ballad and haunting voice recalls Antony & The Johnsons at their quietest;
• Ermasse has an exotic and jaunty quirkiness that would immediately sound at home on the soundtrack for that one Wes Anderson film set in the French Riviera;
• string quartet Osso offers up a driving, off-kilter orchestral rendition of Sufjan Stevens’ “Year Of The Boar”;
• Shannon Stephens—who previously fronted the band Marzuki, which featured a young Sufjan Stevens—brings to mind Amy Annelle with her hushed-yet-evocative vocals and subtle, understated song-writing;
• Welcome Wagon offers up a nice slice of skewed, Danielson-esque pop full of squiggly electric guitars, tinny banjos, and male/female harmonies courtesy of husband/wife duo Vito and Monique Aiuto;
• I Heart Lung is a collaboration between Tom Steck and Chris Schlarb (owner of the Sounds Are Active label), and not surprisingly, is a meandering exploration of jazzy drumming and electric guitar noodling.

One other addition to the label roster is illustrator Laura Park, who has just released her first minicomic (which can be ordered here).

If streaming audio isn’t your thing, you can also download all six tracks featured on the muxtape, as well as some cover art by Park, right here.

Portishead’s Third is released tomorrow, and I can honestly say that I have yet to be this excited about any other release this year. And that’s just happened within the last few weeks, as more and more from the album has surfaced on various sites and blogs. And despite having heard the entire album several times, through various sources, and having watched numerous videos and live performances of the new material, the material on Third still feels as fresh as ever.

And I’m not the only one whose stoked. Every critic I’ve read so far has been beside themselves with praise.

All Music Guide

Third is resolutely not an album to be sampled in 30-second bites or to be heard on shuffle; a quick scan through the tracks will not give a sense of what it’s all about. It demands attention, requiring effort on the part of the listener, as this defies any conventions on what constitutes art pop apart from one key tenant, one that is often attempted yet rarely achieved: it offers music that is genuinely, startlingly original.

PopMatters

So, on their third studio album, Portishead have succeeded in striking the careful balance between progressing their sound to where it should be 11 years later and retaining the esoteric creepiness that makes them tick. I don’t hear much in the way of clear, winning singles, not like the first two albums, but that seems to work in the album’s favor. Third is a complete work of art to fully immerse yourself in, listened to start to finish. It will be a little awkward initially, like Garth’s feeling towards putting on new underwear. After a while, it will become a part of you. History will eventually see it rank on par with the rest of their legendary works.

Josh Hurst

Of course, music like this often takes on an otherworldly, even impersonal feel, but that’s another of Portishead’s glorious contradictions, more vividly on display than ever on Third; there’s an undeniable humanity to their music, partially because of the presence of familiar sounds and styles, but also due to singer Beth Gibbons’ tortured vocals and confessional songwriting. The music becomes a soundtrack for Gibbons’ peculiar brand of 21st century blues, as she gives voice to all the frustrations, all the rich mystery and dark beauty, of existence. And so even when the music is bleak—which it almost always is—there’s a sense of empathy lurking just beneath the dark shroud of gloom.

Treble

Portishead have created a truly remarkable album with Third. Some people had to practically invent a new genre for Portishead in 1994, and the band has again defied classification with this collection of songs, three years in the making and eleven years in the ether. At turns it will have you humming sweet melodies and at others leave you in a complete state of unease. But, more than anything, it will be like one of those hitchhiking ghosts, tagging along, alongside you for eternity, and you’re loving every minute of it.

I’ll be getting my copy soon, and hope to post some more thoughts of my own once I’ve had time to absorb Third—and be absorbed by it—more thoroughly.

Thanks to Overstreet for this tip: you can listen to Portishead’s Third, in its entirety, courtesy of Last.fm.

Meanwhile, AngryApe has this to say about the album:

Lets cut straight to it, has ‘Third’ been worth the eleven year wait? Well, yes, just about. ‘Third’ is a great record that, like Portishead’s previous outings, takes a dozen listens before you even begin to enjoy and understand how its beauty, complexity, subtleness and dense layers combine to create the mystifying whole you’re trying to deconstruct.

I’ve think I’ve listened to the entire album about twice now, thanks to various online outlets (e.g., Last.fm, MySpace), and I have a feeling that Third will be to 2008 what Scott Walker’s The Drift was to 2006. Granted, Third is quite a bit more accessible and listenable than The Drift in just about every way, but like The Drift, I have feeling that Third will cast a shadow that looms large over everything else I hear this year.

This is essentially Simon’s default expression, especially when his parents attempt to engage him in something “new and exciting”. Which just confirms that he is indeed his father’s son.

Photo by Mrs. Opus.

This is currently the Opus household’s favorite commercial:

And yet, even as it makes me choke up a little bit, I must confess that deep inside, I feel a twinge of guilt for enjoying it—and I blame Christian theology, or at least, a skewed version of it.

A good portion of Christians hold that this world is, at best, an inconvenience, a hurdle on our way to final glory. Sometime soon, when we least expect it, Christ is going to return, rapture all of us good believers out of the earth, and reduce this planet to little more than a cinder. Therefore, there’s little need to really care about this little blue gem of a world, and what’s done on or to it, or what happens to it in the long run. In other words, it’s not really all that “awesome” at all.

I might be exaggerating, but not by too much, I think. It’s a frightening idea, and critics of Christianity are right to throw up red flags concerning it. But what many don’t understand, be they Christian or no, is that this notion flies in the face of much that the Bible teaches. Namely, that God’s plan is redemption, not replacement, and that includes the world and the rest of creation. And what’s more, we humans are to play a pivotal role in said redemption.

Some folks look at the so-called “cultural mandate”, and take that little bit in Genesis 1:28 about “subduing” and “ruling” to mean that God has basically given us free reign over the earth, to do whatever we desire. Or, in the words of Anne Coulter, “God said, ‘Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’” (Which has to make you wonder why God—like any artist—would want a creation that He deemed “very good” to be mistreated or damaged at all.)

I would submit that words like “subdue” and “rule” are better understood within the context of stewardship rather than domination. God has placed us here to be stewards, to tend and take care of what He has created, to “harness the natural world” (to quote Nancy Pearcy). God has given us the raw materials of creation to shape as we see fit, but the guiding purpose is not our ease, comfort, and success, but rather, God’s glory.

Romans 8:18-25 has long been one of my favorite passages of Scripture because it so beautifully describes the extremes between which we humans find ourselves.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

We live between groaning and hope, between the pains and trials of our lives as they are right now, and the promise of glories to come (of which we sometimes get a foretaste). God has promised to redeem us—not remake or replace us, but to take us as we are, warts and all, and bring out of that something even better than we can imagine. And as the above passage illustrates, the same holds true for the rest of creation, which as Romans so poetically puts it, was subjected to frustration… in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

What this tells me is that God has not abandoned this “awesome” world, nor will He. Rather, His intention is to redeem this world, to redeem every facet of creation. All the way back in Genesis, He declared this world to be “very good”, which implies total satisfaction and pleasure.

As opposed to the notions that somehow seeped into my mind and soul as I grew up in Christian circles, I do not have to view this planet as a mere hindrance or hurdle, but as a home that I am meant to enjoy, understand, marvel at, beautify, and harness for the glory of God. I can call this world “awesome”, and truly mean it, because God has intended no less. Indeed, God Himself has done no less. This world, and all that is within it, is not meant for the trash heap, but for something more glorious than you or I can imagine.

And, to borrow a phrase from Tolkien, that is an encouraging thought.

Somehow, I completely missed this, but last month, Random House announced that A Dance with Dragons, the latest novel in George R. R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, will go on sale on September 30, 2008.

Here’s a brief synopsis:

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has three times three thousand enemies, and many have set out to find her. Yet, as they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

To the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge yet. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

And from all corners, bitter conflicts soon reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all…

The whopping 1,008 page novel will pick up where 2005’s A Feast for Crows left off. A Feast for Crows threw some folks for a loop because it only contained about half of the characters and plotlines that had appeared in previous novels. Missing were such notables as Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Davos, and Daenerys Targaryen.

Martin explained that, due to difficulties with the increasingly complex stories, it would’ve been too much to cram everything into a single novel, hence the split into A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons—and the three year wait.

Actually, it’ll have been about an eight month wait for me. I only started reading Martin’s series last year, when I picked up A Game Of Thrones while on vacation, and became so enraptured that I blew through the 800+ pages in about 4 days. Whatever the case, if A Dance with Dragons is anything like the previous novels, it’ll be well worth the wait.

35 minutes, 7 songs from the new album. What more do you need?

Update 4/28: Looks like the video has been taken down. However, I’m sure you can find clips on YouTube.