I Love a Bunch of Genres

Space

Slow Motion Reign

Slow Motion Reign

When I started this month, I was afraid I would run out of good space music. This has proven itself a ridiculously unfounded fear. Like the universe itself, the pool of incredible space music is ever expanding.

See you next month for something alienating and self-indulgent.

Theme from Captain Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace

You loved the show; now check out the funky-fresh Flash game* that can take care of it!

*Not to be confused with the funky-fresh arcade game or the funky-fresh NES game. Not that you would confuse them.

Transatlanticism

Death Cab for Cutie

Transatlanticism

One of my charming and adorable qualities that isn’t annoying to the people around me at all is my need to correct those who say humans aren’t animals. We are. I can understand why it’s practical to have a single word that describes all animals other than humans; I don’t mind that. We are animals, though. Don’t be ashamed.

Likewise, it’s handy to talk about space as “everything but here,” but, nope, Earth is a just another planet. It’s a totally rad planet and I’m happy to be here, but it’s a planet all the same, in a solar system, in a galaxy, in the universe. That doesn’t mean it’s not great and special.

And from my perspective the rest of the world seems no closer, no more related, than Jupiter.

Mean Green Mother from Outerspace

From Little Shop of Horrors

Space month is almost over and I don’t think I’ve posted any alien songs, so here you go.

I’ve never seen this movie, and, somehow, not even this swear-y, singing alien puppet that wants to kill Rick Moranis is managing to convince me that I’m missing anything important, but people tell me it’s good. If nothing else, I do enjoy making “Feed me, Seymour!” references, even if I don’t understand them, and I could probably convince myself to watch anything directed by Frank Oz, not because I think he’s the greatest director, but because he’s Fozzie Bear, and that has to count for something.

Man on the Moon

R.E.M.

Automatic for the People

A few months ago I wrote a very short script which I could connect to this song in a very tangential way. The trouble is, if I tell you what the connection is, it might spoil the script for you, so, instead, I will submit the script for your consideration, saying nothing more about it, trusting that you’re all clever enough to figure it out. It’s seriously tangential, though.

Actually, I’ll say one more thing about it - I wrote this as a first draft. I wanted to quickly get the rough form in place before concerning myself with perfecting the details. No need to bore you with the full, complicated story, but it never got past that first draft. I hope you’ll find it amusing, all the same.

Read the script!

Intergalactic

Beastie Boys

Hello Nasty

Question!

It seems all of the Beastie Boys’ best lines are derived from other rap songs. For example:

I don’t mean to brag / I don’t mean to boast / But I’m intercontinental when I eat French toast

 - The Move, Beastie Boys

I don’t mean to brag / I don’t mean to boast / But we like hot butter on our breakfast toast

 - Rapper’s Delight, Sugarhill Gang

Or…

Well I’m the king of Boggle / There is none higher / I gets eleven points off the word ‘quagmire’

 - Putting Shame in Your Game, Beastie Boys

I’m the King of Rock / There is none higher / Sucker MCs / should call me ‘Sire’

 - King of Rock, Run DMC

Which brings me to…

I like my sugar with coffee and cream

  - Intergalactic, Beastie Boys

…which I humbly submit as my nominee for best Beastie Boys line.

So here’s the question: Is this a fully original lyric, or am I missing a reference?

Fly Me to the Moon

Frank Sinatra and Count Basie

It Might As Well Be Swing

I’ve been a huge fan of this song for years, but somehow I never knew until moments ago that the legendary Frank Sinatra was accompanied on this track by the great Count Basie, and if that wasn’t enough, it was produced by the famed Quincy Jones. What a tremendous concentration of talent. I might not have known the specific contributors to this song, but their brilliance definitely shows through.

I LOOOOOOOOVE this one.

I don’t love terrible CG, though.

Mars, the Bringer of War

Gustav Holst

The Planets, Op. 32

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is in stores now (in North America, at least), and it is a game that you want. Yes, you do.

To be honest, I didn’t much care for the first Super Mario Galaxy, a game that many people were quick to call the best game on Wii, the best Mario game, or even the best game, period. I found it good, and not much more. Far from the best of anything, I declared it the worst Mario game in the main series. Which, it turns out, is still better than a lot of other games.

Anyway, what I’ve played of Galaxy 2 - and I’ve played quite a bit - is great and worthy of recommendation. It’s the game I wish the first one had been. Maybe not worth all of the hyperbole critics have thrown in it’s direction, but I’ve been having a hard time pulling myself away from it, and that’s definitely a good sign. The creativity on display is staggering, and if you like video games even a little, you should make an effort to play it at some point.

So, after all that, you’d probably expect today’s music to have some direct connection to Super Mario Galaxy, but nope. Rather, we have a piece that “inspired” the Airship Theme from the reigning king of the Mario series, Super Mario Bros. 3. Seriously, check it out:

Oh, fine, here’s the updated theme as it appears in Galaxy 2.

Meboli

Balkan Beat Box

Balkan Beat Box

Space music.

It says so.

Also sprach Zarathustra

Richard Strauss

2001: A Space Odyssey - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

What a tragedy the overuse of this piece is.

We’ve all been exposed to it though countless brain-dead parodies, but if you haven’t heard it in the context of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” find a copy of the movie now. You’d think a billion terrible spoofs would lessen it’s impact, but, nope, it remains a remarkable triumph of movie-making.

I’m thinking of making it a summer goal to see the every Stanley Kubrick movie I have not already seen. The man was an absolute genius. I think I can safely call him my favourite director. Here’s how I’d rank the movies I have seen.

4. The Shining

3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

1. A Clockwork Orange

I just saw “The Shining” for the first time this weekend, and, as you can see, it’s at the bottom of my list. Incidentally, on my last birthday, I decided to start keeping a running list of each movie I see during the age of 22. In that time, I’ve watched 23 movies, and “The Shining” is currently ranked number 1.

In other words, the worst Kubrick move I’ve seen is better than any other movie I’ve watched during this year of my life. I might have to go through with this plan…