Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in modernache's LiveJournal:

Thursday, March 26th, 2009
7:35 pm	Tour in the works! Hey all. My new music project (which I've actually been doing for years, but only recently started promoting and all) is a solo project called, you guessed it, The Modern Ache. You can check out some demos right now here: www.myspace.com/modernache In any case, I am going on a short tour this summer following my CD Release Party (woo!) May 16th at the Comet here in the 'Nati. So, I'll be playing Chicago hopefully the weekend of June 19th, then Minneapolis on June 23rd, Madison on June 24th, and Milwaukee on June 25th. It will hopefully be a lot of awesome, and the new album should be pretty good as well. That is the plan, at least. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
11:56 am	It's summer and I've been spending at lot of time at the movies. And because all of you care SO much, I thought I'd let you know what I thought about some of the flicks. Iron Man - 8 out of 10 Lightning Bolts Iron Man is, in fact, a kick-ass summer movie. It's an action movie that's not dumb, a super hero movie that's sort of plausible, an American movie that makes you feel sort of good about America, and it even hold up on multiple viewings. I know this because I have seen it three times, though not entirely on purpose. Robert Downey Jr. is remarkably suave as Tony Stark, weapons designer/manufacturer extraordinaire, who somehow seems to develop a heart of gold after being held hostage in the middle of the desert by crazy terrorists. I thought he was great, actually, by far the highlight of the movie, which is good because he basically is the movie. Terrance Howard doesn't really get much of a role as Stark's buddy in the military, but he has enough good moments to guarantee his part in the sequel. Jeff Bridges is remarkably creepy as the business partner who is secretly an evil psychopath, and even manages to look nothing like himself most of the time. And then there's Gwyneth Paltrow, who almost manages to be a girl in a super hero movie without being lame at all. As Tony's assistant and general manager of his life she actually comes across as smart and competent and totally in control of everything, and she maintains that throughout almost the entire movie. Almost. Her reverting into typical girl sidekick in action movie cliche mode during the big fight scene is even more disappointing because of how non-lame she is in the rest of the film, but she manages to recover by the end of the film. For the most part. Overall: Good stuff if you want mostly mindless entertainment which will leave you feeling good about America's ability to at least make movies about kicking ass and keeping the world safe, even if they are mostly fiction. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 7 out of 10 Lightning Bolts I grew up as an Indiana Jones fan. I had all of the movies taped off of TV, I had some promotional poster to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in my room for years, the song "Anything Goes" will for me forever be associated with some random Asian language and gongs, and I still periodically have an urge to say "fortune and glory, Dr. Jones." So I was curious, to say the least, about this new addition to the franchise. Perhaps the best bit of casting in the movie is bringing back Karen Allen to reprise her role as Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark, a.k.a. the only competent, non-evil girl in an Indiana Jones flick. Her character in this movie was a bit less competent than she used to be, and the scenes between her and Indy were a bit more cutesy and lovey-dovey than they really had any right to be given the back-story we get, but it was still a nice touch. Shia LeBeouf was actually quite good and amusing as the young sidekick, though I'm not quite sure why he had to make his entrance looking exactly like an extra from The Wild One. Maybe I just missed that, though, and it was justified somehow. His hair, on the other hand, is pretty amazing. As are his motorcycle boots. The plot is outlandish and ridiculous, but fun, and Cate Blanchett is somewhat terrifying as the evil Soviet military person. The action scenes totally defy logic (for instance all of the cars in the chase scene kept driving and never lost speed, no matter who shot at them, what happened to the driver, whether or not people were standing on them and fencing between cars, or what) but were enjoyable, and overall it seemed like an exercise in good old-fashioned mindless entertainment. Not quite as good as Iron Man, but definitely good enough. Overall: Ridiculous campy fun, if you can handle the fact that the leads are old and the plot inconsistencies are blatant enough that even I noticed them. The Incredible Hulk - 5 out of 10 Lightning Bolts   The only reason this movie is even getting 5 out of 10 lightning bolts is because it stars Edward Norton, and Edward Norton, as everyone knows, is amazing. Other than that, though, the movie was sort of lame. The way that they found Edward Norton down in the jungles of Brazil (contaminated soda? drunk by someone in Milwaukee? because old white guys in Wisconsin drink soda from Brazil?) was lame. The way that the brilliant scientist (Norton) turned into a combination of King Kong and Tarzan (in other words, huge, stupid, and essentially incapable of speech) when he turned into the Hulk was lame. The fact that the other brilliant scientist (Liv Tyler) showed no trace at all of being brilliant and was essentially just one stupid, annoying, smitten, pretty girlfriend/sidekick with no real part and no real point was definitely lame. The movie was entertaining enough, I suppose, and the effects were ok, but I couldn't help waiting for the movie to get to the point and stop being so damn LAME. Overall: Eh. I've seen worse, but I've certainly seen better. Much, much better. If not for Edward Norton, this movie would have no point at all. Speed Racer - 7 out of 10 Lightning Bolts Why did everyone pan this movie? I thought it was great. It was pretty, it was fun, the cast was surprisingly talented (John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Speed's parents, Christina Ricci as the girl, and the fabulous Emil Hirsch as Speed), the effects were pretty awesome, and it didn't try to be anything it didn't need to be. Emil Hirsh, especially, does a fabulous job being serious and driven while managing to look totally...dreamy. Oh man, his hair was amazing. And, I mean, the racing scenes were great, there was actual emotion and conflict in the plot (and there was a plot), the cars were sweet... And the girl isn't even annoying or superfluous! Thanks, Christina Ricci! This was a great piece of trippy action movie fare, and it should have done way better than it did.  I wouldn't be surprised if it got a second life on DVD. Overall: So, so fun. And, dear god, I hope somewhere out there there are teen magazine photos of Emil Hirsch in that film. Between the tight clothes and the amazing hair... that boy will be famous someday. Really, really famous. The Chronicles of Narnaia: Prince Caspian - 3 out of 10 Lightning Bolts I don't know how I got tricked into actually wanting to see this movie. It somehow looked like it might be a quality piece of teenage medieval fighting, or something. It wasn't. The characters were basically all annoying, the plot wasn't so great (sorry to all of you who loved the books, I was never really a fan), the religious imagery was WAY heavy-handed, the "romance" felt about as exciting as a ton of bricks, and pretty much I couldn't wait for it to be over. Actually right after I saw this I saw Iron Man for the third time, and that was still FAR more exciting than seeing this one once. Overall: Some people said they liked it, and I wondered if we saw the same movie. So there you go, kids. I'll try to keep you all updated as my summer of spending too much time at the movies continues! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
9:55 pm	Mates of State @ Southgate, 6/17/08 Mates of State / Headlights     Last night I went and saw Mates of State and Headlights at the Southgate House, without having heard much of either band ahead of time. Actually, I hadn't heard Headlights at all, but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. Headlights seemed to have a bunch of fans there just for them, at least judging from the kids standing next to me in line to get tickets. I think the band said they were from Urbana, but I might have made that up. In any case, they played with rampant enthusiasm and a plethora of guitar pedals, ending up with a sound somewhere between Death Cab For Cutie (the boy singer) and Camera Obscura (the girl singer), but on some sort of really good uppers. I've been told that Mates of State usually play as a two piece, just the married couple with him playing drums and her playing organ and them both singing. Well, there was plenty of that, but the disturbingly cute duo was joined for several songs by two boys who looked even younger than the opening band (who, did I mention, looked like college kids) and played, respectively, violin/guitar and cello/trombone. It's sort of hard to comprehend the amount of energy that came out of those two bands. Not to mention that they both had really amazing drummers, and girls who sang and played some sort of keyboard. It was a veritable celebration of happiness, upbeat-ness, and summer fun. I would say love, but I have no idea what most of the songs were about and I would hate to write that only to find out that actually all of the songs were about, like, washing cars or something. They might have been, but that was some damn happy car washing, let me tell you. Ok, I realize this review is not really helpful, but the whole thing was sort of a blur of major chords and complicated drum beats and co-ed singing in harmony. And tambourines. Lots of tambourines. So if you're into that sort of thing you should totally, you know, check them out. (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
9:36 pm	Tegan and Sara @ Bogart's, 5/9/08 Tegan and Sara / An Horse I think that everyone who grew up as a music fan in Cincinnati in the past 30 years or so has some sort of relationship with Bogart's. Maybe it was where you first saw Sonic Youth, or where your friend's band played the high school band challenge, or where you got elbowed in the head and passed out because it was too hot, or whatever. Everyone has a story, and memories. Most people seem to have fairly negative memories due to the expensive beer and the excessively unpleasant staff, but some of us remember it fondly as the place where we saw some damn good shows and learned how to love good music. Tegan and Sara dropped by Bogart's a few days ago for a sold out all-ages show. That was the fourth time that I had seen these Canadian identical twin sisters, and it was as good a show as any I have seen them put on. The opening band was an Australian duo called An Horse that sounded sort of like if Tegan and Sara were actually Tegan (playing electric guitar) and Some Dude (who plays drums and sings).  Which is to say that they were pretty awesome and that their singer/guitarist had a truly beautiful blue Fender Mustang with racing stripes. That is a guitar, for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about. Tegan and Sara are currently on tour supporting The Con, which came out last year and is one of the best breakup albums to come out in a really long time. They played most of the album and stayed fairly faithful to the versions on the record, with the exception of a few songs that got stripped down and which Tegan and Sara played without the three other backing members of the group. They also played songs from their earlier albums, and it seemed like the crowd knew them just as well as they knew the newer material. Which is to say that they knew them really well. The fans at the show seemed like mostly high school and maybe college kids, and mostly female. But, wow, did they love the band. One girl made a huge sign encouraging people to clap over their heads (which Sara asked if she could have to take with them to future shows) and another tossed her cellphone to Sara with a message on it about how she loved them. Some of the more endearing moments of the night came when Sara and Tegan were interacting with fans, like when it took Sara a few minutes to figure out what the girl wanted her to do with the cell phone, at which point Tegan intervened and read the text, and then offered to respond to a text that the girl's dad had sent asking how she was doing. Someone else also apparently had a sign that asked Sara if she would be that person's first Sweet 16 kiss. Sara claimed that she was a bit too old to be kissing 16-year-olds but said that there was surely another (younger) Sara in the place who would be happy for a kiss. My personal favorite moment of the night came when some fans who had been at their show in Indianapolis the previous night. They sent up a huge card saying that they really wanted to hear "I Know I Know I Know" which Tegan had apparently forgotten all of the words to the previous night. So, in order to be helpful, they had made huge cue cards with all of the words to the song on them. Sara and their drummer held up the cards while Tegan tried to play the song and read the cards at the same time. Hilarity ensued. At one point she stopped playing and yelled at Sara that she was holding the wrong card and then waited until Sara found and held up the right one. Then, of course, there was the moment when Sara said it was time for their last song. She then explained that there would be an encore whether or not we clapped, but that it made her really happy when people clapped and cheered so it would be very exciting for them if we could cheer before they came out for the encore. It may not sound all that great, but it really was. In any case, Tegan and Sara are awesome, The Con is awesome, and if you ever get a chance to see them live you should totally take it. The shows would be worth it for the fans and stage banter alone, but the songs are also amazing, and it is always so nice to see a band that takes the time to interact with its fans. So, hey, Tegan and Sara, if you ever read this, could you send me your autograph or something? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
12:20 am	Apparently I am a huge nerd "What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish. Here's the twist: add (*) beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend. Even if you read 'em for school in the first place." The Aeneid The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay * American Gods * Anansi Boys Angela’s Ashes : a memoir Angels & Demons Anna Karenina Atlas Shrugged Beloved The Blind Assassin Brave New World* The Brothers Karamazov The Canterbury Tales The Catcher in the Rye * Catch-22 A Clockwork Orange * Cloud Atlas Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed A Confederacy of Dunces The Confusion The Corrections The Count of Monte Cristo Crime and Punishment* Cryptonomicon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time David Copperfield Don Quixote Dracula Dubliners Dune Eats, Shoots & Leaves Emma Foucault’s Pendulum The Fountainhead * Frankenstein Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything The God of Small Things The Grapes of Wrath Gravity’s Rainbow Great Expectations Gulliver’s Travels Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius The Historian : a novel * The Hobbit The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Iliad In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences The Inferno Jane Eyre Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell The Kite Runner Les Misérables Life of Pi : a novel Lolita Love in the Time of Cholera Madame Bovary Mansfield Park Memoirs of a Geisha Middlemarch Middlesex* Mrs. Dalloway The Mists of Avalon Moby Dick Neverwhere 1984 Northanger Abbey The Odyssey Oliver Twist The Once and Future King * One Hundred Years of Solitude On the Road * One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Oryx and Crake : a novel A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present Persuasion The Picture of Dorian Gray The Poisonwood Bible : a novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Pride and Prejudice The Prince Quicksilver Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books The Satanic Verses The Scarlet Letter Sense and Sensibility A Short History of Nearly Everything The Silmarillion Slaughterhouse-five* The Sound and the Fury A Tale of Two Cities Tess of the D’Urbervilles The Time Traveler’s Wife To the Lighthouse Treasure Island The Three Musketeers The Unbearable Lightness of Being Vanity Fair War and Peace Watership Down White Teeth Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West Wuthering Heights * Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values (Comment on this)
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
3:39 pm	Vampire Weekend @ the Gypsy Hut, 2/13/08 Vampire Weekend/ Sam Rosen/  Matthew Shelton The Gypsy Hut, Northside, Cincinnati February 13, 2008  Vampire Weekend is not one of those bands I would have expected to be darlings of the indie rock scene.  For one, they take great care to cultivate their preppy, just-got-off-a-yacht image.  Not exactly rock and roll.  And then, of course, they sound like Paul Simon’s Graceland crossed with, well, someone on a yacht.  Their lyrics are about places like Cape Cod and they name drop designer brands.  They sound painfully sincere without actually making too much sense.  And yet, somehow, I think they’re pretty great. Ok, to be honest, one of the reasons I think they’re great probably has to do with the fact that they all went to my alma matter and one of them was actually in a band that played shows with one of my old bands.  So I’m biased.  But, other than that, their clean-cut preppy sound is actually sort of refreshing.  Who says that all songs have to be gloomy and deep?  Who says you can’t write songs wondering if your bed is made and your sweater is on?  Not Vampire Weekend, that’s for damn sure. That being said, the show at the Gypsy Hut was somewhat disappointing.  I’m convinced that this has very little to do with the band and a whole lot to do with the venue.  The show sold out, and the venue isn’t really set up for that many people.  The room where the bands were playing was long and narrow, with one step in the middle of it so in theory the people towards the back could see over the people in the front.  In practice, I would not be surprised if half the people in there couldn’t see at all (I know I felt lucky when I got a glance of what was happening on stage, and at no point could I see the drummer at all), and the sound was just not that good either.  And I was standing right next to the guy at the sound board.  This show was nothing compared to when Vampire Weekend rolled into the ‘Nati in the summer of 2007 and played a show at Publico, a now-defunct tiny art gallery with no air conditioning, on one of the hottest nights of the year.  That show was the stuff that builds reputations. It was full of energy and fun and sounded good enough that I have no doubt that at least 90% of the people there packed into the Gypsy Hut several months later, and that most of them also paid (or at least thought about paying) actual money for the new album.  That show was amazing. This show was what indie kids settle for because they don’t know any better. I can’t really vouch for the opening bands because the sound was so off that I couldn’t really tell what was going on.  Matthew Shelton sounded boring and droning, though I have it on good authority that he is actually quite talented.  Sam Rosen and his band sounded like they were probably enjoyable and also sort of afro-pop or something, but I still couldn’t really tell.  Vampire Weekend did the best they could under the circumstances.  They played their entire album plus one new track, and got the crowd to sing along at various points.  They played valiantly in the face of a very imperfect venue, and I heard many people saying that it was a “great show” and that they “totally kicked ass.”  Sometimes I wonder about those people, and if they have ever been to a show in a good venue.  Then I wonder if I expect too much and should just be happy to get to (sort of) see and (sort of) hear a band that I enjoy at home on my stereo.  That being said, though, it was still totally worth the ten bucks I paid to get in, and if they were playing here again tomorrow I would be there in a minute. I wish the guys in Vampire Weekend all the best.  I think they are all quite talented as musicians, that they made a very enjoyable album, and that they put on a great show when given the chance.  I only hope that as they continue along on their musical odyssey they are given better opportunities to show just how much ass they really can kick.  (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
9:14 pm	Juno, The Orphanage Oscar season is upon us, which this year seems to mean that everything out right now has a really long name (There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men) or is really depressing (Atonement, etc.).  I have not seen any of those movies.  I did see Sweeney Todd, which I thought was quite awesome, and recently I popped in at the Esquire and checked out Juno and The Orphanage. Juno - Everyone loves this movie, and with good reason.  Ellen Page is fantastic.  She's amazing.  She's totally perfect for the role, and she plays it with enough sarcasm that you actually sort of believe the storyline (16 year old girl gets knocked up by geeky boy, decides to have the baby and give it to a yuppie couple for adoption) could be plausible.  But...there's something about it that just didn't sit quite right with me.  The rest of the cast was good, the soundtrack was a little precious but still enjoyable, the setting in Minnesota made me happy, but...But the dialog contained slang and phrases that no human being, even a 16 year old from Minnesota, would ever use, and Juno (the character) is just a little too controlled, a little too with it.  I would have liked to see a bit more emotion out of her, I think.  I totally see why people love this movie, and why it's "taking the nation by storm" or whatever it is that it's doing.  It's fun and cute and sweet and non-offensive. I just don't think that it would hold up for me on multiple viewings.  The Orphanage - When you say Spanish horror movie, this isn't exactly the first thing that I think of.  Actually, I wouldn't call it a horror movie at all, it's really more creepy than all-out scary, and more of a ghost movie than a slasher flick.  I enjoyed most of the movie, and the main kid looks like a young adorable version of Fred Savage, but it got a little weepy after a while.  Not to ruin anything for you folks, but I would like to say that the end seemed sort of like a cop-out, and that if I had for some reason stopped watching the movie about halfway through I would have probably thought it was better than I do now.  But, again, that's maybe just me. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 11th, 2007
4:36 pm	Fringe Fest, Pride, Northside (part one, I'm sure) Last week I made it down to the Fringe Festival. I saw a musical piece or, well, a sound art piece. It was called "Think Fast Go Slow" and consisted of a guy with some guitars, a microphone, a hammer, a windchime, and four Simon games from the '80s. And some sort of tape loop machine, which is probably the most important part for such a thing. It was actually pretty awesome. The attendance was pretty random the night I went, there was one kid who was probably about 10, some people who seemed to be the guy's parents and maybe girlfriend, some people in their 20s, and then some people who seemed to be in their 50s. It was in a pretty small space, but it was still more people than I was expecting to pay 10 bucks for a show like that, especially since there were multiple performances of it. I enjoyed it, in any case. Pride was yesterday at Hoffner Park in Northside. There were a ton of people in that very small space, and it was good to see so many people show up. I'm sure it didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day. Or that everyone loves Northside these days. But there were vendors and sponsors and bands and the general festival activities. I bought this awesome shirt from these fine folks. It's a transit map of Cincinnati (for optimists). It's actually hilarious if you know how horrible our public transportation really is. And, you know, sort of optimistic at the same time. I dig it. Speaking of Northside, I hit up Shake It Records (for the second time in two weeks...I should cut down on that) while I was in the neighborhood. That store is amazing. The people working there are nice, they've got a ton of used stuff, they've got about two tons of new stuff, they've got magazines and books and vinyl and somehow even manage to cram bands in there for in-store promotions on occasion. Plus, they have a boom box made out of blown glass. No, it's not actually functional. But it is awesome. And I love Shake It. I do. I also finally made it to The Comet, which is probably the best afternoon bar I've found so far in town. They've got delicious burritos, tons of beer choices (including three different brands of cider), and a kick-ass jukebox. Plus, when you get there right when it opens (or slightly before, as we did by accident), you get free plays on said awesome jukebox. Plus they have live music some nights, and apparently the Heartless Bastards (who are local and amazing and also on said awesome jukebox) have played there. What's not to love? (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
11:02 am	Park and Vine, Findlay Market I finally made it to Findlay Market yesterday to get some much needed groceries. It's a weird concept of a farmer's market, and there wasn't all that much produce, but I got what I needed and didn't have too much of a problem. It definitely wasn't very into conserving resources and not wasting bags, though. No one even asked me before they put all of my stuff into individual bags, and they were too far away for me to say anything about it (it's not a self-serve type of operation, you tell them what you want and they get it for you). All in all though it wasn't so bad. I'd go back at some point, especially if I need plants. They seemed to have a lot of plants for gardening. Not so much for indoors. I also made it to Park and Vine for a bit. It was their grand opening this weekend. It's a really cute space, part home supplies, part hipster furniture, and part random little things like coasters made out of records. The furniture made out of bike wheels was awesome, but very pricey. The cleaning supplies were nice and a fairly complete set, but only one brand of each thing. And overall the store looked kind of empty. I hope it makes it. I'll probably go back soon to get a bike map since they didn't quite have them in stock yet. Friday night I was randomly near Fountain Square and there was a band setting up, which I took to be a good sign. The renovations aren't very close to being done, it looked like, but there were some people around, and you can't complain too much about that. So, yeah. Downtown doesn't seem to be too bad. At least on Saturdays at noon and Fridays at six. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
4:55 pm	No way! The retail in the 'Nati seems to be stepping it up these days. There's a "green general store" called Park and Vine opening downtown in Over the Rhine (on Park and Vine, I presume) this weekend. It looks like a hipster/yuppie store, they sell vegan things and like bikes and have art on the walls. I'm all for it, maybe I'll even get down there this weekend to check it out. Also, I'm driving down McMillan today and what do I see but an American Apparel store! What do you know? Maybe we are moving up in the world. The Fringe Festival also starts on Friday. I'm hoping to be able to take in some of it. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 28th, 2007
11:56 am	Finland The other day I was in Wisconsin on my way back to the 'Nati. I met this girl, and we had a conversation roughly as follows: Her: Where are you moving to? Me: Cincinnati. Her: I had a friend who lived there for a few years once. Me: Oh yeah? Her: Yeah. She hated it so much she left the country. She lives in Finland now. Ouch. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
1:33 pm	Preemptive Awesomeness I'm not actually moving back to the 'Nati until the end of May, but I've been doing some research on what to do when I get there. So far I've found this awesome interactive map of awesomeness, and also something else that made me very happy. That's right, there is now a community bicycle coop in Cincinnati! Awesomeness abounds. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
7:42 pm	A slight change in format I was having trouble figuring out what to do with this blog, so I thought I'd turn it into an account of me moving back to Cincinnati, and "rediscovering" it. So, stay tuned for more adventures of me in the 'Nati, a.k.a. the 513, in case you were wondering where the new name came from. (Comment on this)