evade the noise™
May 2010
13 posts
Robin Hood: From the Ground Up
Universal
2010
The long told saga of Robin Hood is one that can be told for generations. And the latest screen portrayal is certainly the most realistic to date. However, when I say realistic, I don’t really know what I mean by that. How much reality do we know about this fellow anyway? Or was there even a fellow named Robin of the Hood at all? It’s not like there’s a classic novel which all the pop culture appearances are loosely based on. It’s more of a medieval legend based on actions and feelings held by Englishmen at a certain point in history all summed up into one character. But I suppose legends are legendary for a reason. Maybe that is why I always find it interesting. I do know there’s a little truth in the mix somewhere, and maybe that’s what makes it fun. Even if it’s just folklore, it’s such a powerful standard of heroism that I can’t help but believe.
This time around, it’s hard to say “hero” in the sense of Robin and his Merry Men. It’s more of a “war hero” bent on believing in his country which doesn’t believe in itself. Maybe when I said realistic, I meant serious. I can see a small reflection of our own country today exemplified here. Robin Hood encourages the quality of servant leadership (clip below) - a quality that is desperately needed in a good leader. It’s a bit of an underdog story encouraging us to stand up and fight for what we believe in. It may not be as jovial and kid friendly as before, but I think that’s okay.
I can’t talk about Robin Hood without mentioning some of the previous movies about the character. I think I’ve pretty much enjoyed almost all of the Robin Hood movies made prior to this one. There’s the old Errol Flynn one, the Disney one, and yes, even the Kevin Costner one (to which filmmakers referred to “like a Bon Jovi video clip - all the mullet hairdos”), and several others. It all feels very recognizable to the traditional stories told before on screen even if it’s with a Braveheart type persona. In fact, I think that this film’s toughest hurdle is its own familiarity. We have all seen the character before and we have seen it done in several ways. But here, as you get involved in the story and you quickly notice things are slightly different than what you’ve seen before in the familiar Robin Hood story. That’s because the story is actually a prequel to the tale you’ve been told before so most of the clichés like splitting arrows are gone. However, what’s fun is that it still captures the same attitude of a swashbuckling adventure. I must admit, you feel content when a familiar character like Little John or Friar Tuck shows up. Like all of a sudden, now it’s Robin Hood.
And I think that’s the same reason many critics haven’t enjoyed the film. It’s different. Roger Ebert said, “Little by little, title by title, innocence and joy is being drained out of the movies” when reviewing this movie. I can agree we’ve run out of originality, but I think more likely, little by little the innocence and joy have been drained out of Roger Ebert. But that’s how different this film felt. It’s much more about the character archetype of Robin Hood than his own adventure. For instance, it focuses more about the economic reasons why someone might steal from the rich and give to the poor than there is actual stealing from the rich and giving to the poor in the film. That’s the type of subject that may have lacked deeper meaning in films prior. I recommend seeing this film purely out of interest in the timeless legend alone. Well, that and because longbows are awesome.
Pep-talk moment.
Free Mix From Starbucks
Starbucks has been on a roll lately with their latest summer Frappuccino promotions. First with their “happy hour” which gave us half off blended goodness from 3-5pm, and now their giving away free music! Starbucks has always been fans of music and it’s definitely a big part of the “Starbucks experience”. The new mix is completely free and I was actually shocked how simple it was to download. You actually only have to click one button and it auto loads iTunes and begins to download…shocking really.
Here’s the track listing:
Frightened Rabbit - Nothing Like You
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Wintersleep - New Inheritors
Goldfrapp - Rocket
The Bamboos (featuring Kylie Auldist) - On The Sly
Macy Gray - Kissed It
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Bad Blood
Yoav - Greed
Shout Out Louds - Walls
Wye Oak - My Creator
Click here for the download page. And I guess if you want you can upload to your iPod and go grab yourself a Starbucks Frappuccino for good measure—a vanilla bean Frappuccino with an add shot is excellent.
Nashville Artists Support Flood Relief
I always enjoy when good music is associated with a good cause. Noisetrade has joined forces with local independent radio station Lightning 100 (WRLT-FM) to generate relief effort through The Community Foundation’s Tennessee Emergency Response Fund. Download and Donate.
“Several local musicians donated their music to help raise money for those affected by the recent historic floods which ravaged much of Nashville and other parts of Middle Tennessee.”
Summer (Or What It Sounds Like)
The kids over at Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good have put together a great post of tracks that bring the summer in called “Summer (Or What It Sounds Like)”. I like to think of it as a rain dance for summer. And though we here at evade don’t support posting songs we don’t have the rights to, we can get behind great mixes. Go give it a listen—it’s fun and summer is here.
Times Talks Live: LOST
“Go behind the scenes of “LOST” with executive producer Carlton Cuse and co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof, moderated by New York Times entertainment editor Lorne Manly and simulcast live to select movie theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada.”
via TimesTalks Live.
This Thursday, May 20 Only. Pretty cool idea. Not that you are likely to find out any answers, but you do have the opportunity to at least submit questions. It’s fun when theaters do more than just show current films. Look forward to more Times Talks.
BBC Music Trends: What We Are Listening To
BBC Music Trends is our latest prototype and a spin-off from our previous work on people’s music taste. It showcases some of the hottest bands and artists on the web, as identified by a number of independent sources, lets you listen to short clips and shows you where you can find that music on the BBC.
via BBC - BBC Internet Blog: The BBC Music Trends prototype.
Two Door Cinema Club (As Seen on TV)
Occasionally we catch a band on TV that play exceptionally well and Two Door Cinema Club did just that on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week. I don’t know what the kids are calling this type of music, but I think of it as “club rock”. In the likeness of their French friends Phoenix, these Irishmen have the goods live and bring the up tempo club drive to the main stage. Their Jimmy Kimmel performance of “I Can Talk” from their debut Tourist History ($6.99 on Amazon) is just fun and I’m sad I couldn’t be there to see it in person. Until then, YouTube will have to do.
Follow Two Door Cinema club on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.
DJ Car Stereo (Wars) is 90s Geniusness
How could I being a child of the 90s have missed DJ Car Stero (Wars)? Chris Rose (AKA: DJ Car Stereo Wars) is a genius. What’s better than taking just about every music style and genre from the 90s, adding a beat, mashing it all up, and creating the most hilarious, outrageous, surprisingly good and very fun music? I actually think it would be impossible for me to name every artist I’ve heard in his songs, but a few are Weezer, Nirvana, Hanson, Spice Girls, and was that Queen?
Either way, this guy is already starting to make waves in the indie crowds and with the release of his new full length for free, you can pretty much guarantee he’ll be keeping the 90s alive a little longer.
This song kills me. The ending is absolutely perfect.
“Whoah Dude” by DJ Car Stereo (Wars) from the album Explains It All
[audio:http://evadethenoise.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/03-Whoah-Dude.mp3]
The Icarus Account
As a long time fan of Dashboard Confessional it make sense that I would be enjoying the acoustic power pop duo The Icarus Account. Craziest thing about these guys is that at this point their unsigned, but you can guarantee it won’t last long. When you start seeing them pop up in PureVolume’s Best Unsigned Bands of 2009 list and big time A&R sites, you know they’ll be snatched up shortly.
The Icarus Account is Ty and Trey Turner (twin brothers) and they reside in Florida. But let’s be honest—Los Angeles will be calling them soon.
Check out their latest album (in full) on PureVolume.com and click down to the track “For the Both of Us”—I can’t stop playing it.
Apple To Shut Down Lala On May 31
One of our favorite websites is no more. Here’s a little tid bit from TechCrunch.com:
Lala – where music will stop playing …
In a brief message that was just posted on the Lala.com website, Apple has announced that the service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Apple will not be accepting new users, and existing users will be able to log in only until the end of next month.
Read more via Apple To Shut Down Lala On May 31, iTunes.com Launch Impending?.
