Who Killed The Electric Cuomo?

Joker, Wild Things Hit Web
Jonze ventures out Kaufmann-less with Where The Wild Things Are, an adaptation of that book you loved as a child or you have no soul. Pictures.

Heath Ledger meanwhile officially kicks ass as the Joker in The Dark Knight, with a bootlegged trailer doing the rounds over the last couple of days. I'd be wary of his dialogue if it weren't for the fact that Chris Nolan made this movie. Jokes combined with Batman bring back too vivid memories of Arnie as Freeze, though perhaps if it works here (and it will) it'll erase those memories for good. You'll have to search for it yourself as any link I post will be taken down by the Warner Nazis by the time you click on it. Otherwise, an official version should be up soon if it isn't already.

Another Reason To Hate Rolling Stone
Not that you need one to keep hating this inexplicably reputable publication and its bandwagon pandering.

Today's reason is Rivers Cuomo. Weezer used to be one of the best rock bands in the world about a dozen years ago, with Radiohead and the Smashing Pumpkins competing for honours (those were the days... no wait, I was 8 and oblivious). Then Weezer made Pinkerton, taking a risk in discarding the cheery bubble-grunge sound of their successful eponymous debut with a tortured choir of feedback screaming along with the pain of frontman Cuomo's soul-baring lyrics. Good old Rolling Stone led the charge labelling it the worst album of the year and, with an ensuing absence of critical support coupling with the album's failure to produce a mainstream hit single, Pinkerton crashed and burned critically and commercially. For Cuomo it wasn't quite Nick Drake bad (tortured and awesome and totally ignored altogether... three times) so rather than take Drake's way out he simply painted a room black and hid in it for a year. And ever since the emotional pen's been running dry, seemingly unwilling to tap into that once fruitful mine of biographical geekiness for fear of rejection, instead allowing Weezer to become a plastic characature mimicking the most-accessible surface elements of their first record without a moment of inspiration to be found on their last three releases. In a way, Weezer's like Family Guy. Pure genius that lost its audience, went away, was rediscovered in its absence and become more popular than ever... only to return, back by popular demand, a shadow of its former self largely devoid of the greatness that led to such popularity. Weezer, like Family Guy, has become a copycat exercise designed to cheaply tap into its former glory often enough to keep the casual fans, most of them, happy, and leave those of us first exposed to it at its peak shaking our heads (but of course still keeping tabs 'just in case'). For another cartoon comparison, because I like cartoons, New Weezer's like New Simpsons. And "Hash Pipe" was the Armen Tanzarian episode.

All of this has come back to mind in the last few days with the release of a compilation of Cuomo's home recordings. I haven't yet heard it all, but with the first official release of 1995's "Blast Off!" and "Superfriend" from the abandoned Songs From The Black Hole (which to Weezer fans is Chinese Democracy, due but never released between the "Blue Album" and Pinkerton) I found myself once again pining for the Weezer of old, and revisiting some old b-sides of the era have furthered this feeling of frustration. Yesterday I compiled 11 such outtakes into a record which kicks the ass - from start to finish - of any similar combination of actual album tracks from the past three Weezer records. Yes, "Island In The Sun" is 'nice,' but "Jamie" and the Pixies-esque "Paperface" are inspired. And you can't go wrong with "Superfriend" and it's opening lines "What the hell am I doing/thinking with my willy" To an 'original Weezer' fan, such a Cuomoism could only be the intro to an inevitable Weezer classic. And yet the song's life has stretched no further than a retread in the form of 2005's "Perfect Situation," firmly highlighting in the contrast between the two tracks not only a musical gap between Weezer noe and the Weezer of old but more notably the shift from genuine, heartfelt lyrical expressions of emotion, albeit geeky emotion, and generic crap about generic girls who a generic idea of Cuomo pretends to be generically in love with for 3 minutes at a time. The saddest part is that Cuomo considers "Beverly Hills", the second-worst thing Weezer's done (behind "We Are All On Drugs"...), one of his greatest achievements. It basically just rips off "I Love Rock And Roll" and his own '95 outtake "Blast Off!" and becomes annoying quickly. "Falling For You" was great. "El Scorcho" was great. "Say It Ain't So" might well be a contender for single of the century. When you used to put out stuff like that and nowadays marvel that you can still pump out trash like "Beverly Hills" it doesn't give fans much optimism for a revival in the future. I really wish Cuomo would come out and declare Make Believe a piece of shit, to acknowledge it was designed to return Weezer to MTV or something. I don't want to believe one of the most talented songwriters of the 90s can't see something's terribly wrong with his band right now. But with Make Believe's sales (of course) topping the million-mark, firmly re-establishing the band as a popular act, I guess it might be easy for someone in his position to skim over such criticisms. Pinkerton clearly hurt, and perhaps Cuomo just wants an audience. Even if they're buying while they pick up the new Fall Out Boy CD.

Bangers & Mash

The In Rainbows B-Sides disc leaked today. Listening first time through now, inevitably searching for that "should have been on the album instead of House Of Cards" track. So far Last Flowers is that track.

Spent the last three and a bit days feeling on the verge of a flu without the damn thing just kicking in and getting itself over with. Tiredness in every muscle. Lack of concentration. Getting up early to drop off sound gear yesterday didn't help. Been editing the film responsible for this sickness (three near-sleepness nights leading up to the shoot thinking/worrying about everything from shots to equipment failure) and things are coming along slowly but, as of this morning, with some encouraging signs. Pretty much finished with the Tony-Velouria bit which has surprised me in actually working about as well as I'd hoped, with the exception being where some guy stops when he sees the camera. A few concerns elsewhere but mostly the types of things which some careful cutting has already ironed out in places, so optimism remains. I can say without a doubt that no amount of theory can compare with what you learn actually going out and shooting stuff. Made a lot of mistakes, underestimated a lot of things and feel a lot more confident about my next shoot for it. Will certainly write something reflecting on all the stuff I've learned on this project soon, but right now I'm going to use whatever remaining hours of lucidity this semi-flu's allowing me today to continue chopping up the movie.