December 2009

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Projects

December 30, 2009 in Projects by Stephen | No comments

I am close to being done with several projects.

All the words are in on my manuscript The Last Unicorns on Earth. I just need to edit it. Then the real fun begins.

All that needs to be done on my album How We Lived is mail out the link to the free album online, burn the discs for the 20 hard copies I hand-crafted, and distribute said lovingly made pieces.

“Getting caught up” is a nebulous concept when it comes to Independent Clauses, but I’m going to do my darndest to not take submissions until my current stack is below seven CDs. This does mean working like a banshee (to mix your metaphors). But I really want to get there.

Other than that, I’m just adjusting to life not as a college student. You know, the usual.

A Discography of sorts

December 20, 2009 in Music, Personal by Stephen | No comments

I’m impressing myself with my prolific songwriting abilities. As I’m on the verge of releasing How We Lived (December 26, get ready!), I notice that I’ve already written eight full songs and about a dozen song fragments for my next Stephen Carradini and the Midnight Sons album. I decided to go back and look at my songwriting by the numbers.

41 full songs

8 releases

5 albums (as Jacksonism: Image is Nothing, Living is Everything. With Tragic Landscape: Jessica Brown Was Here, Job. As Stephen Carradini and the Midnight Sons: How We Lived, Unnamed future album)

2 EPs (Jacksonism: The Sea In Us Will Ever Breathe. Tragic Landscape: The Great War.)

1 Single (Jacksonism: Tell Your Kids.)

11 people played/sang on my songs

7 years

That’s a lot of songs.

THE END

December 16, 2009 in Personal, Projects by Stephen | No comments

I finished my last final today. This is unnecessary information for anyone but those intimately acquainted with the disdain I feel towards most homework. And maybe those who feel like donating to the “Stephen Carradini is poor” fund.

Twilight on My Own Terms, Part 4: James is the most evil being ever?

December 12, 2009 in Twilight by Stephen | No comments

I am a bit behind in my writing; I finished reading Twilight last week. As I have already had the book reclaimed from me (literally – she snuck into my house without my knowledge, leaving nothing but gifts and Christmas cheer in her wake), I will be blogging from memory.

There are two major things I remember from chapters 16-20 that aren’t the usual fawning and creepiness: baseball and James. Vampire baseball was described in an incredibly intriguing manner. I think she left out the part where Vampire Weekend plays “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as the seventh inning stretch, but that’s okay. The rest of the game entertained me, as well as the description of how and why they needed to hide their game. This did bring up some interesting questions, though: does the vampire venom count as a performance-enhancing drug? Should Edward Cullen be playing in the sunless Metrodome for the Minnesota Twins? Is Mark McGwire actually a vampire? How do vampires feel about a designated hitter?

These thoughts were immediately pushed aside as THE MOST EVIL CREATURE IN THE WORLD EMERGED FROM THE FOREST WITHOUT ANY PRIOR WARNING. I am not exaggerating the abrupt qualities of his entrance. In one page, he does not exist; two pages later, all the main characters are running for their lives (literally and metaphorically). Talk about making an entrance. Neither am I exaggerating the depravity of James’ character: we are supposed to believe that James is evil to the core. The only explanation for why he’s evil? “That’s how he is.” I’ll give you an extra line to let that sink in.

wow.

I would be okay with the most evil character in the world appearing if there had been some foreshadowing before. I do not agree that the first two pages are foreshadowing; they tell us the end of the story, not drop clues. They’re meant to hook, not enlighten. There are no clues dropped whatsoever about the lurking presence of the blackest of black souls. Alice’s continued weirdness does not count, because seriously, she could be freaking out over seeing World War III. Who knows what she’s freaking out about. Doesn’t count as foreshadowing.

After James lands in a meteoric crash, Twilight pt. 2 starts. Part One was all about romance or something. Part two is about a cross-country chase. The parts have the same characters, but almost nothing to do with each other, in that the things that Bella does in part two (self-sacrifice, most notably) have almost no correlation with her sensational self-absorption in pt 1. If this had happened gradually, it would be called character development. In the Meyer context, it’s a bit over-the-top (as Bella/Ms. Meyer tends to be). Regardless, the plot moves quickly, the action is interesting, and the dynamics of the characters are put in the forefront (stress tends to do that). As such, chapters 16-20 were the best chapters thus far, mostly because something happened. Even if it did happen illogically.

Conclusion: her editors told her she needed more fight scenes right about this point in the book.

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Bombarded by new music

December 11, 2009 in Music by Stephen | 1 comment

I’ve been in a music rut for a while. Ever since the oh-so-impressive Tuesday that dropped albums by the Mountain Goats, Avett Brothers, and Relient K on me, I’ve been leaving those on repeat. Most people would be content with albums by their three favorite bands coming out on the same day. But no, I am fickle. I have listened thoroughly, declared favorite songs, and put the highlights on mixtapes. Those albums have already found their way into “standard rotation.”

In the last few days, however, I have been bombarded with material. I’m reviewing Switchfoot’s Hello Hurricane for Robot Bomb, and I got that package on Wednesday. I received the masters of my own album How We Lived (Woohoo!) yesterday. Also yesterday, I went to Guestroom Records with a gift certificate and emerged with Bishop Allen & the Broken String, Tilly and the Wall’s O, Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm, and Warner Bros.’ 2009 sampler. I picked up the sampler for free because The Cribs and Regina Spektor are on it. Interestingly, hometown heroes Stardeath and the White Dwarfs were on the sampler too. Even more interestingly, Pitchfork-beloved hometown heroes The Evangelicals parked their tour van next to my SUV while I was in Guestroom. It was pretty metal, in the words of B. Burns.

Then last night I had the distinct privilege of seeing the Katie Tracy Band, which did covers and originals. The talented Ms. Tracy covered Ingrid Michaelson’s “Breakable,” which I’ve heard several times covered but never in its original form. So I looked that up today; the music video for it is pretty awesome. Speaking of music videos, I recently discovered a video of Robbie Williams covering The Killers’ “Human” in a rockabilly style. It’s pretty amazing.

Then today I received a mysterious e-mail telling me that one of my friends had downloaded an Andy Davis EP, and that I could do the same for free. So I did. While I was researching my friend Nathan’s e-mail address to tell him of the find (because that’s part of the deal when you dl Davis’ EP New History), I discovered from his blog I Hope Your Ears Bleed that Vanguard Records gave out a free sampler as well. Considering that Vanguard manages the incredible talents of Josh Radin, Josh Ritter, Brandi Carlisle, Greg Laswell, Joe Purdy, Brett Dennen AND Needtobreathe, I immediately jumped all over this.

Add to that mix the reviews I’m writing for Independent Clauses on Anna Madorsky’s Incantation and Mittens on Strings’ Let’s Go to Baba’s, and that’s the amount of music I’ve come into in the last three days. Wild.

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Twilight on My Own Terms, Pt 3: Bella is Oddly Accepting

December 1, 2009 in Twilight by Stephen | No comments

So I’ve been wild crazy busy lately, but I’ve found time to knock out the next five chapters of Twilight. This means that chapters 11-15 are getting the scrutiny this time.There were great things and terrible things in these chapters, as has become the trend.

1. The plotting in this book is really good. Despite all other faults, I am addicted to turning pages when I sit down to read. This is because I need to know what is going to happen. Her use of foreshadowing, tantalizing information, red herring, and more make her plot incredibly involving.

2. This is the section where the infamous “Oh, you watch me sleep? Cool.” exchange happens. I had heard about Bella’s flippancy with it before, but seriously, the creepiest plot device I’ve heard this side of a serial killer novel takes Bella less than a page to comprehend and normalize. Her only questions are “You spied on me?”, “How often?” and “Why?” I would have been significantly more freaked out. Even if it was a person I adored. There’s just something not natural about, you know, stalking a girl. But hey, he’s not natural in the first place, being a vampire and all. Free pass?

3. Ms. Meyer finally explains the backstory of her vampires; I find it to be the most engrossing part of this story so far. I wish, actually, that we had the story of the Cullens, pre-Forks. That sounds incredibly fascinating. Preying on murderers? Resisting humans? Tribes of vampires? Internal struggle? Creating Esme? This is incredibly interesting stuff. I wish there were more of it. I wouldn’t mind if that was the Twilight series.

4. Also in this section is the “Edward in the sunlight” section, which I had been looking forward to as well. Much more annoying than the actual fact that vampires became officially pansy-fied with that chapter (srsly, why? unnecessary.) was Bella’s reaction to the diamond-esque Edward. Seriously, how much fawning can a man stand? I think I would be concerned if I found a girl who fawned over me that much. “Do you have a personality, ma’am? No, I mean, your own personality. I know you think I’m great… No, you’re not understanding the question.”

5. Edward is incredibly punny. I enjoy few other aspects of his character, but the fact that he is flippant about his power is really funny to me. Also, the fact that he can play piano like a mad fool earned him some props in my book. Maybe even e-props. Xanga, anyone?