Sunday, February 28, 2010

"Pretty Deep"




Pretty Deep (1997) Tanya Donelly

Pretty Deep was the first single from Lovesongs for Underdogs. I could've done without the EP B-sides, "Spaghetti" and "Morna", but I really like the single B-side "Vanilla".

It looks like these photos were taken on some racing flats and I wonder if that has anything to do with the Lovesongs album track "Landspeed Song".

Friday, February 26, 2010

What to do, what to do

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I'd like to do for a job.

I don't know.

Ideally, I would have a 30-35 hour a week job with medical & dental and then do side projects for fun and extra money.

Right now I've got the job (w/out benefits), just not a side project, other than RJ Battles.

I keep having ideas for small things to do or make:

Grab Bags: $5 for different themed grab bags, each featuring a 5 by 7 framed watercolor

Childrens book: I could write and illustrate

A Lifetime movie: I've got an idea for a thriller/ horror movie Hand That Rocks the Cradle-type movie, I'm just bad at dialogue

A play that I and my friends could stage here in town; again, I've got a story but I'm bad at dialogue.

A internet radio show: different features; I don't know, maybe I write some short stories and read them aloud

A cartoon or comic book: That's my new idea but I don't like cartoons and I never read comic books

I hate collaboration but I think I need a creative partner- someone who is more action-oriented. These days I just do sketches, never the finished painting.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Cute



I was looking for chihuahua photos online (see "I think my friend will like this") and I found this picture at Bestweekever.com- it's supposed to be what's-his-name from No Country for Old Men. I just think it's cute.

Already moving in a new direction

I said I was gonna shift the focus here at RJ Battles from record sleeves to more of a grab bag of different subjects. Usually I just say I'm going to do something and then I don't do it. But for the past week and a half I've been right on track.

Plus, it's only February 24- look how many posts I've put up this month. I'm like a machine.

15 minute dinner for under $5

RJ's Buttery Biscuits


I make this one a week because it's quick, cheap, and very delicious. Here's what you need:

A roll of buttermilk biscuits

4 onz of shredded cheese- cheddar or a pizza blend- doesn't really matter

1/3 - 1/2 stick of butter

a little olive oil (optional)

some diced garlic (optional)

Half of the time that the biscuits are in the oven they'll be by themselves; the other half of the time they'll have the topping.

In a small saucepan melt the butter and add a little olive oil. Throwing some diced garlic and let the flavor come out for a moment. Then add the shredded cheese and stir.

Once the cheese is melted pour everything over the biscuits- use a wooden spoon to add some cheese to each biscuit. What really meakes this meal good is when the cheese drip off the biscuit onto the cooking sheet- it'll get brown and crispy. You can even spoon some of the cheese directly onto the cookie sheet. Pour the remaining butter over the biscuits, then put them back in the oven. Take them out once the biscuits and cheese are golden brown.

Quick, easy, cheap, delicious.

Monday, February 22, 2010

I think my friend will like this




My buddy-we'll call him "Todd"- used to be friends with this kid Bucky. They were friends for about a year. During this time Bucky ripped him off for a lot of money, borrowing money without paying it back and flat-out stealing. Right before Todd ended the friendship Bucky stole Todd's cousin's Playstation memory card.

Bucky doesn't have a job but he has his own apartment and his mother pays the rent and buys dog food for the dog he bought this year, a chihuahua.

Todd and I were talking about how much he hates Bucky and then he mentioned the chihuahua.

"I love that dog. She loves me too. Bucky doesn't deserve to have her", Todd said. He was really angry, but it was cool cause I could tell he really cared about the dog.

"You should take her away. You know he's not taking good care of her. He's probably putting her out on a street corner to make some money", I said. It cheered him up and I was relieved when he smiled at the idea.

Bucky does a lot of drugs. I found these pictures and I'm thinking of printing them out on a sheet for Todd, showing the chihuahua before and after being around Bucky. I think he'll like that.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Two reviews coming up

I'm going to watch and review The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Can't wait.

Also, I'll be participating in the Final Girl Film Club again (see Amityville II: The Possession and Black Sabbath). Again, can't wait.

Stay tuned.

These are pretty cool, right?




I didn't know that they had cassette singles in 1985/ 1986. And the alternate cover for You Can Dance is kind of neat.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Spotlight on my friends' pets




Dusty
I lived with Dusty for a year and we got along great. She was very well-behaved and very sweet. Just happy and affectionate. In this picture it looks like she's smiling.

Francis
If I get too close to Francis he tries to bite me and one time he did sink his beak into my arm and I bled. His squawking gets annoying when my friend and I are tring to talk but I still love Francis.

Milan
I haven't met Milan and hopefully I never will. Snakes- all snakes- freak me out. My friend used to have a ball python named Pontius and one night I let him wrap himself around my arm while i drank and watched my friends play beer pong (it's something I'd never do normally but it was the night before Easter and I was drunk and extra high so it was alright somehow).
Anyway, I just like this picture- it's disturbing but very funny too, especially since I know that playground and have been going there my whole life. I snagged this photo from my friend's facebook page. One of his female friends commented, "That picture is just wrong" and my friend wrote "Hey Milan needs to play too".

Dusty has recovered



A couple weeks ago I heard that my ex-roommate's dog, Dusty, was not doing well and was near death. I found out today that Dusty has made a full recovery.

Wheat-back



My friend collects wheat-backs and she has a couple tins on her dresser heavy with them. I'm in the resturant biz and come across at least one- two in a good week.

I've been her supplier for years and I keep thinking I should start saving them for myself. She's gotten at least 100 from me over the past 3 years. I could have my own heavy tin right now.

Whenever I spot one I get a little thrill. The other day a customer spotted me taking a WB from the register and replacing it with a penny from the 'take a penny' jar. She didn't know what I was doing so she asked what was so special so I told her about it.

I always thought that they were worthless, or worth one cent, but I was just looking at the Wikipedia Wheat-back page, or skimming it, and supposedly the ones from 1909 are worth something. I'll have to go back and check it out.

On painting

In Stephen King's book On Writing he says that if you want to be a writer you need to "read a lot and write a lot"- he says that if you can't or won't take the time to do these two things then you can't expect to write well. I'd say that's true.

As someone who draws and paints (though not as much as they used to) I'd also say that the same applies to drawing and painting: you've got to sketch and paint and you've got to look at other painting, past and current, so you know what else is out there.

I always made pictures, but it wasn't until high school that I spent any time studying art history and even then, not a lot of time. Production dropped off a great deal after high school, for reasons that I didn't notice at the time.

Looking back I can see why. I spent too much time thinking about pictures- what would make the perfect picture, what would make a picture "timeless" and not "dated", Ayn Rand's theory of art (I became very nervous that the paintings I made would not meet that standard and were not good enough), and lastly, and probably most importantly, I'd lost my audience. In high school, I got a lot of support from the other kids and a lot of attention. If I drew a picture one night after school, within two days a lot of people would've seen it and said something.

I read Kristin Hersh say that music isn't meant to be performed in a closet, it needs to be heard and it has to go out into the world. After high school I'd still make paintings but they'd go straight to my closet, and then when my closet was full they'd go to my parents' attic.

After a while you don't want to paint. What's the point?

I've always made pictures for my own enjoyment. I like making them and I love looking at them afterward. But I have to admit, I enjoyed having other people look at them. I like the idea that they were out there, walking around, living a life of their own.

So lately I've been trying to get back into painting. Many times over the past few years I've re-started. First I do some sketches that come out horrible and I want to stop and watch TV instead. I keep going and the sketches get better. Then I do a watercolor that comes out really well and it goes into an oaktag folder along with other watercolors that I did and I have another vacation.

I know now I've got to make some brand new paintings, both watercolor and oil, with the intention of exhibiting them somewhere. I live in a town with a big art scene (which I know nothing about as of yet) and there are plenty of galleries. Plus there are thousands of things to do on the internet; I just need to be creative and think a little.

There's just one other problem. It's another of the main reasons that I don't make as many pictures. I'm discouraged by a lot of the art I do see.

My pictures have always been realistic- recognizable images, people and places made to look the way I want them to look. So many of the paintings I see in art books and magazines are just shapes and colors. Here's where I sound like an old lady writing to Miss Manners- "I must be hopelessly out-of-date, but is this the way things are done now?"

I know it isn't cool to make representational art. "It's boring. I've seen this already. It's already been done." is what certain people say. And I don't mind going against the current views on artwork but I have to say, it really is discouraging to look at what the art world is holding up as "real art" these days. I don't se how people can be impressed by, say, Jackson Pollack, or what's-his-name with the paintings that are just one blue square with a little white around the edge. When I read people praising that in art history books I can't believe it. They can't really be being genuine- how can they talk about it as if it is anything related to art? How are they impressed by it? Are they, really?

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly




Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly (2005)

I read somewhere that Tanya Donelly considers Sweet Ride to be Belly's third and final album on account of all the B-sides, live tracks, alternate versions, and the inclusion of the unreleased track "Lilith".

I have to agree, and I think they did a good job choosing the songs. I like the fact that they used remixes of the hits and some of their best cover versions. There are a couple songs I would've liked to have seen included: "Sexy S" & "King" would've been nice. I also think they could've dumped "Super-connected". But overall it's as close to perfect as it was gonna get.

The sleeve design was hit & miss though I like the back cover a great deal.

Trompe Le Monde





Trompe Le Monde (1991)

Trompe Le Monde is the last Pixies album (so far); I like to think of it as the latest Pixies album.

As I've said before, I'll probably never listen to Doolittle again- I just know it too well, I've listened to it a million times. I've played TLM a million times too but if someone put a gun to my head and said I'd have to pick Pixies album and listen to it I'd think that was really wierd. Why would someone do that? But I'd pick Trompe. I think it has the most mystery to it.

And I love the sleeve design. Not the Pixies logo that they use on this record; what I really like is the eyeballs with the curtain- I think it's neat and the lettering is like an old horror movie poster- maybe a Vincent Price-Roger Corman "Poe Picture", as Stephen King calls them.

diVINYLS





diVINYLS (1990)

I can't believe it's been 20 years.

Summer had just started andf I was camping in New Hampshire with my dad's side of the family. I was the only kid so mid-afternoon I took off on a bike and rode around for 4 hours with diVINYLS in my walkman.

It's an awesome record and not long after I got it went out and found all their other albums. All were a mix of very good and very bad- Desperate (1983), What a Life! (1985), & Temperamental (1988)- but they were from the 80s so that explains it.

It was all new to me and I didn't realize till later that Divinyls songs were featured in a lot of the movies I had seen:

"Ring Me Up" was in 16 Candles.

The Legend of Billie Jean had two Divinyls songs: "Boys In Town" over the opening credits and "Heart Telegraph" during the beach scene towards the end.

"Back to the Wall" was in Nightmare on Elm Street 4-The Dream Child.

Anyway, diVINYLS is my favorite of their records- it's got "Make Out Alright", "If Love Was A Gun", and the best-"I Touch Myself".

Jaws 3-D






Jaws 3-D (1983)

I got to see Jaws 3-D at the movies and was very excited by the 3-D. I remember lifting the glasses up from time to time and looking at all the lines across the screen (That's what I remember, though it doesn't make sense- the screen should've looked like the pictures above; it probably did and I'm just remembering things wrong).

Anyway, people say Jaws 3-D is a shitty movie but I caught it on AMC not too long ago and it really isn't bad. The leads are fun and charming and actually very believable. You watch and you believe that that Dennis Quaid and Bess Armstrong work at Sea World and are in love. They're very good in this movie.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

My Friday night, Saturday

Friday night (and all of Saturday) was so strange- I never would've thought this would happen or that it would happen this way. You'd think I was making it up or changing the facts around or leaving things out. I wish you were there.

I want to put it all here, at RJ Battles, but I can't yet. There are a lot of reasons, but mostly, because there's someone else involved, and also, it may not be over just yet.

But I am writing it all down. Every word and action is worth recording and someone reading it all 100 years now will find a lot in it.

Monday, February 8, 2010

"King Kong"

King Kong (2005) directed by Peter Jackson

A couple nights ago a friend invited me over to watch King Kong; he said it was one of his favorites and that he'd seen it a dozen times.

I'd only seen a few moments of the 1933 and 1976 versions but I knew the story and wasn't very interested in seeing the 2005 version. It just didn't seem like my kind of movie- all the special effects, they just don't interest me.

I think a good way to judge a movie is to look at it without the special effects. Are the story, characters, and dialogue good enough that they would stand up without the special effects. Would people still like Jurassic Park if there were never dinosaurs on screen? Not really.

The perfect example is Jaws. There aren't a lot of scenes featuring the shark and if someone went to the kitchen a few times and missed the shark it wouldn't matter. Jaws could've been done almost entirely as a play: scenes at the police station & town hall, the chief's house & the beach, above & below the deck on the Orca.

Jackson's King Kong wouldn't work as a play- the charcters and diologue are better suited to a slasher movie. More than half the actors are there just to be attcked by natives and eaten by giant bugs.

Still though, I was impressed by the Empire State Building scenes. I felt dizzy from views from the building and the airplanes. That was all very well done.

I have to admit, I nodded out during the scenes where the natives were attacking. I wasn't bored, just very tired.

Even though it was 187 minutes I'd like to watch it again and see everything. It's just too bad that the movie doesn't match up with its special effects.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

"Like A Prayer" Part Three





Keep It Together (1990) Madonna

Keep It Together was the 5th and final single from Like A Prayer. It came out around this time of year and I like the sleeve art as it has a winter/February/Valentine's Day look to it.


Note: "Vogue" was originally supposed to be the B-side (the Keep It Together instrumental was used instead) until Sire heard it and decided it was too good and should be released on its own.

"Like A Prayer" Part Two





Oh Father (1989) Madonna

Oh Father was the 4th single from Like A Prayer. I read reviewers say it sounds like Simon & Garfunkel but I don't get that. It's a nice song though. It does have a wintertime feel to it so it makes sense that the video features a lot of snowy scenes.

The video, shot in black & white, was directed by David Fincher, who had also directed "Express Yourself", and is probably one of Madonna's best. I especially like the scene towards the end where she's just walking in the snow.

Fincher, of course, went on to direct Alien 3, and then Seven and Fight Club.


Note: the cassingle lists the B-side as "Pray For Spanish Eyes" but it's actually just the album track "Spanish Eyes".

"Like A Prayer" Part One




Like A Prayer (1989) Madonna

Madonna's Like A Prayer album came out on the first day of spring in 1989. Plans were made that after dinner my dad would drive my brother and me to the record store to get it.

When I'd gotten out of school that day I stopped at Brooks Drugs and while looking through the magazines I came across a small notice about the album. I read it quickly and misunderstood it. I thought the album contianed a song called "Express Yourself" which was a duet with Prince and about the death of her mother. Somehow I missed all the commas- the album has a song called "Express Yourself", a duet with Prince ("Love Song"), and a song about the death of her mother ("Promise to Try").

I listened to it right away when I got home. Then I listened to it a few more times with headphones in bed. By the time I left for school the next day I knew almost all the words.


Note: I love the top picture (by Herb Ritts)- the colors are awesome. The whole thing is like a beautiful painting (another image from the same photo session was used for the back cover of Like A Prayer).

"Open Your Heart"





Open Your Heart (1986) Madonna

One night my brother and I were at Strawberries Records & tapes. Even though our parents gave us shit for it and said we'd save money by only buying albums, we were really into buying 45s. We liked the sleeves, but especially we liked the B-sides (even though it was usually lesser album tracks or instrumentals).

Anyway, I was looking through a rack of albums and came across the 12" single section. Holy shit, there was Open Your Heart, only it was the size of a record album. I looked it over and saw that it had a version of Open Your Heart that was over ten minutes long. That was the night I discovered 12" remix singles. Over the next few weeks and months we found "La Isla Bonita", "Like A Virgin", and one of my favorites, "True Blue".

An RJ Battles night

After work I went on the computer and made plans with a friend. Before she came I took a 1/2 hour nap. Just when I was on the verge of falling into a deep sleep I got up and had a shower and a coffee.

The two of us went to McDonalds for snack wraps & fries and then went to another friend's house. He invited me on a freezing cold walk to the supermarket and then a 3rd friend joined us for a drive. We got back to my friend's house and me and friend #1 headed back to my place so she could leave for a date*, but before we left my friend's house I snagged a Friendly's Reeses Pieces sundae cup and a caramel Drumstick for the ride- he even let me take one of his spoons.

Now I'm watching TV and having popcorn with 1/2 a stick of butter. It's bitter cold outside but I'm nice & warm in my around-the-house clothes. It's a great RJ Battles night.


*My friend is very active in her church. I got an idea while we were driving: she should, little by little, pad her stomach. Time will go by and her belly will grow and nobody will say anything- but they'll ask questions; "So...how are things going?", "So, are you seeing anyone? We thought you were single"

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

"Debaser", ect.






Debaser demo, studio (1997) and
Monkey Gone to Heaven (1997) from Death to the Pixies, and
Complete B-sides (2001)

2010: Things to look forward to


2010

We're already into the second month of 2010 and while it might not seem so great so far it is winter and that always sucks. The future holds a lot of good things though, such as:

Amy Sedaris has been working on a craft book, a follow-up to I Like You.

Throwing Muses will be working on new songs (KH's demo of the first, "Sunray Venus" is up at Cash Music now).

The Pixies are still together- there's always the chance they'll put out a new song or two- maybe even a new album.

Piranha 3-D.

Shutter Island.

Plus there'll be new features here at RJ Battles. I'm going to make some terrariums and you can watch them grow.

If there's anything I forgot to mention, let me know. I'd like to hear from you.

Clem photo by Matthew Battles