Turned To Steel

griph — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:40:11 +0000

I was recently turned on to ArcAttack's latest video. For those unaware of ArcAttack's electric glory, they are an Austin-based “high-tech musical collaborative” who play a number of instruments, with the Singing Tesla Coil – invented by the group – at the forefront. They've even been featured on television, getting to the fifth season semifinals of America's Got Talent. Their latest video is either a reprise or practice performance of their final song on the show, but there's something very different about it. Rather than on a stage complete with audience, polished effects, &c, it's more much more intimate. It feels like the equivalent of MTV's old “Unplugged” series. Anyway, here it is:

Now compare that to one of their first videos, from February of last year:

Here's hoping they only get better.

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griph — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 01:14:18 +0000

I saw Iron Man 2 this weekend and enjoyed the hell out of it. It had pretty much everything missing from the first film: a superpowered villain from the get-go, alcoholism, Sam Rockwell … I could go on. Now, it wasn't a ground-breaking film that redefined how we look at crazy men in costumes and all such jazz I'd like to pretend people expect out of these films. No. It was explosions and witty dialogue and a drunk billionaire urinating in a giant metal suit to please a crowd. My expectations were met and, at the exact moment when Mickey Rourke (in a delightfully dead-on Russian accent) says the phrase “this software is sheet,” exceeded.

So, I got home and decided to read some Iron Man comics. It was suggested I start during Warren Ellis' “Extremis” arc. Right in issue one, something caught my eye. If you're not familiar with his craft, you should know that Ellis has worn his cultural interests on his sleeve throughout his entire career – Transmetropolitan's Spider Jerusalem, for instance, would repeatedly (and sloppily) quote the Pixies' lyrics as dialogue. The scene below, occuring at a Stark International complex in “Coney Island, NY” (my relationship to which I've written about earlier,) was a bit more unexpected:

If you're a fan of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, you'll recognize that as a rephrased version of the monologue which opens “Sleep” on Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven:

Again, considering this is Warren Ellis, I'm wasn't too surprised, but it was nice to see a wink-wink-nudge-nudge sort of reference. As opposed to, in the next issue or two, having a character parrot out a brief summary of the works of Terence McKenna's. There's something to be said for both subtlety and pleasing the pretension of your audience.

Come On, Let's Go. » iron man

Turned To Steel

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