When I first heard that Devo was going to release their first album in twenty years, I went a little nuts.  I headed straight for my bedroom closet and threw myself into the Nostalgia Vortex.  Why?  Well, with Devo back in action, I simply had to have my old fire engine red energy dome, the kind shaped like a stepped pyramid.

But alas!  With a new album came new energy domes--blue energy domes.  So when I sat down to paint my old energy dome blue, I listened to "Something For Everybody".  The first single, "Fresh", leads in to the feeling of the entire opus--it's refreshing.

Maybe this is your mother's Devo.  The band's enduring hit "Whip It" struck in 1980.  "Something For Everybody" seems to both go back to the roots in cynical synth/pop and reinvent the band as relevant in 2010.  With all the Dizzy Channel "bands" and American Idle castoffs, it's kind of nice to meet this bunch of guys once again.

This is the rare album I can listen to all the way through.  The beat never lets up and yes, you can most certainly dance to it. 

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I'm not talking about Nicolas Cage's latest bid for movie immortality as the sorcerer who gets together with a cookie cutter twenty-ish student with the intent to train said cookie as an apprentice.  Trailers and commercials might lead you to believe that the true origins of this tale lie in the 1940 film "Fantasia".  Mickey Mouse dons his sorcerer-master's hat and causes all kinds of mischief involving walking brooms and lots of water to the music of Paul Dukas' symphonic poem.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice as a master-pupil story and as a cautionary tale is a good deal older than either of these film interpretations.  Before Dukas was inspired by the story in 1897, Johann Wolfgang Goethe wrote  Der Zauberlehrling a century earlier, channeling generations of the story as it was told throughout the German-speaking world.

Leaving his apprentice with a list of chores as long as the Rhine River itself, the sorcerer departs his workshop.  One of these chores is to refill the castle's water supply by trudging up and down a set of steep stone steps to the Rhine, carrying river water back in a bucket.  The apprentice is sick to death of carrying water and decides to implement the magic in which he is not yet fully trained.  He animates a broom and after a crash course in the river relay, he sends the broom to do his work.  One thing leads to another, and by the time the apprentice wakes from a nap, the broom is flooding the castle with no sign of stopping.  In a frenzy, the apprentice grabs an ax and smashes the broom to pieces--only each individual piece becomes an enchanted broom and the cycle begins again.  Finally, the sorcerer returns and breaks the spell.  Instead of kicking the apprentice out of the castle, the sorcerer imparts the lesson that this magic should only be worked by a fully trained sorcerer, and the apprentice sees he has much work ahead of him.

This story in a basic form is found throughout European folklore.  The powers that be at Disney (which at that time would have included Walt Disney himself) did not simply pull the tale out of thin air.  Medieval hausfraus and Renaissance child care are responsible for the story enduring through the centuries to the point where we can try and spot the threads of the original tale through the summer blockbuster morass.

Taking folklore and twisting it into a spell of a movie--now that would be real magic! 

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I joined this site as a book/movie nerd and I maintain very deep roots there still.  But who says a person has to confine themselves to one particular world of geekdom?  The following is an essay I wrote for a class which I would like to offer up as a preliminary introduction to the newest love in my life.  I hope that something of my own passion for the subject will interest you my readers just a little bit.

             Dancing, as it turns out, is an activity intimately connected to one’s feet.  Which is not to say that it is limited to the feet exclusively, of course.  On the contrary, dancing—good dancing that is—engages the entire body.  But the feet especially.  We will perhaps address those other aspects of dancing some time, but just now I cannot think of anywhere better to start, in acquainting a person with dancing, than the feet.  This is where the groundwork is laid, you see, for the rest of it.  My particular area of expertise lies in swing dancing, the Lindy Hop in particular, so I would ask my reader’s indulgence to contain my references to that genre.  That being established let us consider a swing dancer’s feet. 

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Today I wanted to shine the light on one of music's most hypnotic group in the late 60's that  could be called the first Alternative/hard rock band. Their rhythm is narcotic and lead singer "Joe Yamanaka"s  voice just wraps you into a whirlwind  of ecstasy. 

The Flower Travellin' Band formed in the late 60's by Yuya Uchida who sought to bring a new age of music to his homeland. The band's original name was  the Yuya Uchida and the Flowers, but that quickly changed. Uchida recruited  Chiba Hiroshi and Remi Aso  who were the vocals for his band, but they soon departed the group after the first album to move overseas. This left Uchida to reorganize the foundation. 

 Thus Uchida  brought in Joe Yamanaka from 491, an artist he knew that would be the perfect element to explore a new musical direction.  The group soon  released  one of the best albums that should be placed on the top 5 of the music industry list " SATORI "

I heard this band for the first time when I was 18 and they just blew my mind away and they still do to this day. Today I wanted to pay homage to the Flower Travellin' Band, one that is overdue. It's a band like this that keeps rock truly alive in one's heart.

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I can't begin to explain it, but I'm just fascinated by choreographed dancing.  I will watch and re-watch Bring It On just to see the cheer sequences.

MTV rarely has anything remotely resembling television on anymore, but they do have America's Best Dance Crew...which managed to succeed where America's Next Top Model failed as far as catching my attention.

I only want to see the last fifteen minutes of America's Next Top Model.  I want to see how the pretty pictures turned out.  I don't care about who may or may not be anorexic or whose boyfriend is mad or Tyra's latest story about herself or...whatever else happens on that show. 

America's Best Dance Crew has the stuff I want throughout the show.  Sure, judges say things, but it doesn't last too long, and it happens in between each group's performance, so I don't have time to get annoyed enough to change the channel.  After all, the "Oooh!  Shiny!" kicks in as soon as the next dancers come out.

I don't generally care about the dance crews or whatever beyond the show, but these guys just entertain the hell out of me.  They're called Poreotics (also spelled Poreotix).  And they're a bunch of hilarious Asian dudes in weird sunglasses.  And they just....see for yourself:

 

 

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Naturally, many of us here at GeekaChicas appreciate online purveyors of Geek  accoutrements such as ThinkGeek. They have all kinds of cool stuff, and I love ogling their catalog (when I can pry it out of the hands of my offspring and Beloved).

Even so, every now and then something comes along that surpasses the usual level of Geek interest, and here's one them:

That's right! This was done entirely with cool, Geeky objects and apparel available at Think Geek.

Now if only I could find a cool excuse to buy Cthluhlu in Love perfume.

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Obviously, it's the viral videos. It all started about four years ago, when the made their first YouTube music video in the back yard. The song is called A Million Ways:

Of course, they didn't really go viral until the utterly famous treadmill dance for Here it Goes Again:

What made that the one that got everyone talking and sharing the video? Well, it was something we hadn't seen before, obviously done on the cheap, but still very impressive. It was a real conversation piece. I got this video sent to me from maiden aunts I didn't even know had computers. It got the word out, in a big way. This was not what made them beloved of Geeks, though.

See, Geeks appreciate flash and all that, but what we love more than anything is seeing someone do something amazing with something ordinary. We love the 3D virtual goggles made from Wii controllers, we love Diet Coke/Mentos rockets and we love seeing regular guys do unusual things well, and with great confidence. Perhaps it is also that their bland expressions and concentration remind of us of how we would look doing such things. I mean, we can't all be Adam Lambert or Lady Gaga.  It's proof that folks who look like engineers can still be cool.

In the wake of their amazing internet success, they have made many videos. None have really gone way viral like Here it Goes Again, but mostly we were paying attention. Then came This Too Shall Pass. Their first go was a hoot:

 

 There is much to love in this. The catchy song, the high levels of visual interest and complexity. The scope and spectacle. But this isn't the one that went viral (that being a relative term).

Still, for some reason they made another video for the same song. A video of such Geektastic destructive complexity that the internet has once again exploded. I have seen this video in no less than twelve places in the last 24 hours, not including the half a dozen posts by personal friends and emails from maiden aunts.

I could go into why this is The One, but I think it's pretty obvious. Even though you've probably seen this by now, here it is. (And yes, I know I'm a sheep. Baaaa!)

The visual 

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I know. I'm totally behind the curve on this, but I love them.  I've been culling through the dregs of YouTube enjoying the wonderful things that happen when you arm the populace with video cameras and digital editing software. I've ranted before about how awesome it is to put  the power to tell visual stories in almost everyone's hands. Even when the product is little more than audio-visual collage, I still believe this is a Very Good Thing.

One thing I had failed to come across until now, is the miracle of Literal Video. These are videos produced by the marriage of over-the-top music videos and comic ingenuity. People with varying degrees of wit and ability add their own versions of the lyrics (with helpful subtitles) that describe, in an amusingly literal way, exactly what is happening on the screen in the original music videos. As with every category on YouTube, some of them kind of suck. Okay, MANY of them have issues (from failing at being adequately literal to microphone crackles on plosives, and bad singing). 

The best ones, however, take the absolute most wacked-out videos, and describe the action to the tune of the original song. (It is a tactical mistake to use a visually bland video such as James Blunt's You're Beautiful, no matter how much I personally love to see anyone give him a bit of piss over that song.)

So, my sister geeks, having done some leg work, I must say that the following is my favorite. I have a great pre-emo affection for the song itself, but holy cow, what a video.

 Watch out for The Glee Club of the Damned (hee!)

 

_

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Some of you may have heard about Jude Law's upcoming movie Repo Men (or as it may have originally been titled, Repossession Mambo).  For those who haven't, here's the deal:

A company can replace your organs if they're failing.  And they'll do it on a payment plan.  However, if you stop making payments, the organ(s) can be repossessed.

Neat film for sci-fi/horror geeks, right?

Yeah, it'd be even better if it wasn't a blatant ripoff of an extremely good musical film which sadly went almost straight to video.  

I understand that original ideas are hard to come by and all that, but nothing irritates me more when a better-quality original is overlooked because the "new" product is more well-known.  Even worse, there are plenty of instances in which the original is later seen as the rip-off.  For a good example from the music industry, see also:  Mushroomhead vs. Slipknot, which is quite the beehive to poke with a stick and an extremely polarizing subject among fans.

Consider this a public service announcement, folks:  Repo Men is just a big-budget version of Repo!  The Genetic Opera.  Repo! is fantastic.  It's been described as "a Rocky Horror meets Blade Runner rock opera/movie musical."  Now, I personally hate Rocky Horror, but I adore the Genetic Opera.  It also has the same amazing vocalist as the 5th Element, where she made her brief appearance as a blue opera singer.  I don't want to give away the plot because this film is definitely one you should go see for yourself, but "Repo man goes around killing people and taking organs" doesn't begin to describe what's going on.

Other facts about Repo!

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Happy Holidays, everyone! Here are some fun little things to give you a smile.

First, from the Rebel Viral Team, we have Jack Bauer interrogating Santa Claus:

Now, torture is no laughing matter, but outrage hasn't worked all that well to combat it, so I figure satire is the next best thing. 

Next, here's a video that does its best to bring the funny as a Geek's Guide to Surviving Christmas. However, it gets triple Grinch-marks from me for assuming that "girls" don't want DVDs or video games, which is lame. Ovaries and Geek cred are NOT mutually exclusive, bozo! But I put it up anyway, because it says "Happy Christmas" in binary at the end, and that's just cool.

 

This time of year, it becomes very difficult to express the sentiments of the season without references to our personal religious practices. On that note, I'd like to share the following video, from my heart. It features God singing a lovely Christmas medley with Bing Crosby.

 

Did I mention that David Bowie is my god? No? Oops. But seriously, the next one is truly lovely, whatever your opinion of The Monkees.

Last, but not least, a special one from our own Fluffy Bunny:

 

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Aside from the Rifftrax guys' ubiquitous Christmas carol version of "Pokerface," there is an entire album you must purchase for great lulz this holiday season.

Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas

My rating?

Okay, I love Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but even if you don't (and there are plenty of people who don't), there's a good chance you'll find this album hilarious.  Especially those who've had just a little too much stress to handle.  They have some pretty fantastic, if not family-friendly lyrics.

The tracks and my favorite lines are as follows (be warned that by clicking "Read more," you will likely be amused, scandalized, and/or insulted):

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In this time of good cheer and crazy stress, I takes my LOLs where I can get them. Here's a little gem that had me giggling beverages out my nose:

And if you ever had any doubt what a lovely* language German is, then you must be unacquainted with Rammstein. Just check this out:

 

*Written English really needs a form of punctuation to denote sarcasm. I lived in Germany as a child, and I promise that these lovely fellows exhibit somewhat atypical diction. But I couldn't pass up the joke potential. Rrrrawrrrr!

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This article was written in late November, but due to issues around the holiday was not able to be published before the end of the month.Darth Sweetums emerged victorious from NaNoWriMo, and we are proud of her and of all our Chicas who completed that mammoth task. ~ The Management

I am taking a break from my life-consuming NaNoWriMo because I feel it is necessary for this information to be sent out as far as it can reach, so we can get a good mix of opinions on it, and let those with the power know what we, the fans, want.  I also happen to be on my lunch break at work where I cannot work on my NaNo, so there you go.

Generally, I would like to think that I’ve attended many nerdy/geeky things.  I’ve been to the midnight release of the seventh Harry Potter novel wearing a Gryffindor scarf, my HP glasses, and a lightning shaped scar drawn on my forehead.  I’ve been to an Orson Scott Card book signing. (Seriously, the man is simply a brilliant teddy bear.)   On the more extreme side of things, I came from the north west of the United States over to Stratford upon Avon in England to see David Tennant and Patrick Stewart perform Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  (You talk to me, I tell you about it some time. *grin*)

I’ve also gone up to Seattle Washington to see Howard Shore conduct his music (badly) from The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.  Most recently as a birthday present for me, my sister and two friends took me to Star Wars In Concert when they were in Portland last month.  (I LOVE you Anthony Daniels!)  I kept trying to count the lightsabers in the audience.  There were quite a few. 

A couple of weeks ago, I got to talking with Beatrice Blythe about what other franchises should hold a touring concert with music from the movies, the television show, or whatever.  They’ve even done it with Doctor Who in Cardiff a couple of years ago.  So what are we missing?  Hm? 

Star Trek!  That’s what we’re missing!  It dawned on me during my conversation with B.B. that of course, the producers of Star Trek should put on a concert featuring the themes and music from the shows and the films!  I honestly would weep because I was basically brought up on ST, especially The Next Generation.  I’ve seen all the movies, I’ve learned to play some of the themes on the piano, and I wouldn’t even question stalking Brent Spiner if the opportunity presented itself!

A week or so after talking with B.B. about this, she sent me an e-mail with a link saying that someone had apparently read my mind. 

A Star Trek Concert Tour @ Roddenberry.com

The post discusses whether or not a Trek concert tour would attract an audience as the Star Wars concert did, and it is very much on the positive side.  Yes, a concert tour from the Trek universe would definitely attract a large audience!  The themes from the films are so diverse, and unique to the stories –

If you read the article you can see where and why it lost me.  Yes, the films are important.  In some instances the music is the only good thing in a Star Trek film. (Yes, I’m a huge fan, but I’m not delusional.  Oh, Star Trek V!  Why didst thou forsake me?) But I could not believe the author of this article did not even think that the themes from the original television shows should be addressed at such a concert.

Yes, I’d probably be happy with a concert featuring the themes from the films, but what makes Star Trek different is that it started on television first and foremost.  That is where the long time Trekkers came from in the first place.  Who would have understood the full story to The Wrath of Khan or First Contact without the television episodes that spawned those original characters and plot lines?   I rest my case.

A Star Trek concert tour would be phenomenal.  I would be one of the first people in line at the box office.  But, performing the music of Star Trek without the television show themes in there would be a mistake in my opinion.

First, let us hope that there will be a concert tour in the near future.  Hopefully, the thought that the original television show themes being present in the concert’s program will have entered the brains of said producers, because it is such an obvious thing.  Wouldn’t you agree?

Peace and Long Life my fellow fan friends.

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I feel for those of you who know me in real life.  If you've been following my thoughts during the past month, all you've heard about is Muse.  Muse Muse Muse!  You know that they're my favorite band.  You know that they released a new album this week.  (The Resistance) You know that I've been hugely looking forward to it.  You've been privy to a play-by-play account of every single one of my early listens, thoughts, and fangirl outbursts on the topic.  You thought that this week might grant you a reprieve.

Sorry.  Today is not the day for a reprieve.

I know you'll forgive me though, especially if you get yourself over to Muse's official website to listen to clips of songs on the album.  (If you register, you can stream the entire album for free!!)

But wait, let me back up.  Those of you who don't know me may be asking: Who in the heck is Muse?  Well, I'm only too delighted to tell you.  Muse is, quite simply, the best thing to come out of the UK since ... well, that other band.  And Cadbury chocolate.  

Muse consists of a trio of extremely talented musicians who happened to meet in community college back in the 90s.  They formed a band, signed a deal after a few years, and started releasing albums in Europe.  We didn't get to enjoy them completely in the US until 2001 when Absolution, their third studio album, hit our retail outlets.  The album did well here and since then Muse has been over here many times on multiple tours.  I was lucky enough to see them live in 2007 and, I just have to say, there's a reason that they snatch every 'Best Live Act' award they've been nominated for in the past 10 years.  They are phenomenal.

It must be admitted that Muse owes a chunk of their US fan base to Stephanie Meyer of all people.  Meyer mentioned Muse in the acknowledgments of all four of the Twilight  novels and cites them as a huge source of inspiration for her while she was writing the books.  Muse agreed to join the list of bands who appeared on the Twilight soundtrack and, though it pains those of us who were fans FIRST (dang it!), Muse's album sales enjoyed a healthy boost.  'Uprising' from The Resistance is their first single to hit #1 on any chart in the US, and I'm sure part of that is owed to the Twi-hards.  While I love to remind people that Muse existed before Edward Cullen, I have to be grateful for the publicity the band ultimately received because of Twilight.  It can only help them and I am a selfless fan at heart.

And, selfless fan that I am, my job here is to convince you to give them a listen.  I love their music because it's music.  Matt Bellamy - front man, brilliant pianist, and main song writer for the group - is heavily influenced by classical music and it shows.  When I hear strains of the Romantic period throughout Muse's various albums I have to admit that it tickles the trained musician in me.  When I can say 'Holy crap!  Listen to that modulation!' or 'Wow.  He just resolved the 6th scale degree down to a 5th.  What a rebel!' it makes me happy in a very nerdy way.  This new album's ode to music history is even more marked than usual.  'United States of Eurasia' ends with Bellamy playing an entire Chopin nocturne, while 'I Belong to You' steals a huge chunk of the romantic aria from Saint-Saëns' 19th century opera, Samson and Delilah (sung by Bellamy...in French).   

However, please don't for a minute think that Muse's brilliant musicality takes away from the fun of their style.  They are still, and always will be, a rock band.  The Resistance is a great addition to their discography and showcases elements of glam rock, prog rock, 80s synth pop-rock, and plenty of the kind of rock that sends you screaming down the freeway feeling like you could take over the planet.   I have to say that as I've listened to this album (over and over and over again) I really can't decide which is my favorite song.  I have to just beg you to have a listen for yourself.  Then you can listen to all of their older stuff (Black Holes and Revelations is my favorite) and join me in the box where they keep the rabid fans.  I'll see you there.

Muse experienced their US television debut when they performed 'Uprising' from the new album at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night.  Take a look:

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