Hubble's successor could devour NASA's budget

One of the most challenging things about working at a newspaper was the gloomy predictions of its future. If you're going to take a group of cynics, put them in a room and let them dwell on the contracting print industry, make sure you bring plenty of alcohol.

Somehow, I have to imagine the mood among NASA's scientists is plunging, too. They're two different industries facing hardships for two different reasons, but the news continues to be bleak for both.

Scientific American caught my eye with an article about the increasingly tenuous future of the James Webb Space Telescope, the proposed successor to the Hubble. I have an interest in space exploration and the general idea of human progress, so it's disheartening to read about the stuttering momentum of NASA. The telescope is facing an uphill battle in Congress and already has a projected cost of $8 billion that would let it finally see space sometime in 2018 ($1.5 billion and three years more than expected). The proposed solution? Scrape an extra billion from NASA's science budget. It would be interesting to ask what everyone working in that division think of the plan.

It sounds like a worthy project, but it's hard watching an institution like NASA struggle with the financial realities of the day. Understandably, this is why people are looking to private space exploration to continue the mission that NASA started in the U.S. We'll have to see how that evolves on its own. As for the evolution of NASA, its scientists will probably have to adopt the same stoicism that a lot of journalists are employing: Keep your head down, try to adapt to the times and always, always work on preserving optimism.

Do the Shy Tuna: The B-52s rocked hard when they were young

I've always loved The B-52s. For all the snarling rebellion it represents, rock and roll can take itself pretty seriously. The B-52s took the stuffing out of rock, dedicating themselves to ridiculous lyrics, ridiculous dancing and having a damn good time. More than anything, they were silly, which more people should try practicing in life. It's kind of a shame they get tossed off as a novelty band - though even as novelty, do you know anyone who hates "Rock Lobster?"

The sad thing is people don't bother exploring their earlier records, which are pretty solid. Their first two albums in particular - a self-titled debut and a follow-up called Wild Planet - deserve to be in any record collection (or at least on your hard drive).

"I'll give you fish / I'll give you can-dy." Lyrics like these made me fall in love with this band. Cindy and Kate's presence didn't hurt - ah, hell, and Fred, too. The guy knows how play a tambourine for sure.

The band has some incredible music besides their hits. "Dance This Mess Around" is definitely a favorite, and looks awesome in the live show up above. But what I really wanted to post is this video from 1978, when the band was lighting up the Athens, GA scene. It's muddy as hell, the performance doesn't gel as perfectly as on the album, and the band is clearly still getting used to the stage. Still, they sound awesome, and you can't help but wonder what it was like to be in a dingy rock club back then, watching these college kids doing the shy tuna onstage. As Cindy wailed back then, they weren't no Limburger.

Thee Oh Sees' Castlemania makes for a thoroughly weird status quo

Ever buy an album solely for its cover art? It's usually not a great idea - much like buying a pulpy paperback novel based on the cover illustration, or renting what looks like an awesome '80s horror flick, only to get home and realize they blew the entire budget on the clamshell box art.

Once in a while, though, things do work out, and you end up with a record that looks as awesome as it sounds. I feel like most Thee Oh Sees albums are like that - their artwork always manages to be playful, and even a little childish, while conveying a menacing undercurrent. I loved the cover for Castlemania as soon as I saw it, and the songs didn't let me down, either.

Treblezine has my review of the record, which, I have to be honest, isn't all that different from the rest of the band's output. That said, there's nothing wrong with being consistent, especially when you're this good (and this weird). The band's scuzzy garage-punk is the perfect way to get your summer started right.

Watch the video for "I Need See" below:

Lobisomem - Onze Pedras review at Verbicide

Looks can be deceiving. Just because an album cover features a woman throwing Gozerian-style bolts from her eyes doesn't mean the music matches the image. In the case of Lobisomem's new record, in fact, it's quite the opposite.

It's ironic, too; Lobisomem is Portuguese for "werewolf," so you'd expect music you wouldn't want to jog to under a full moon. But Onze Pedras is actually a collection of chill, if rather bouncy, electronica. There are some surging beats and lots of clatter, akin to Caribou's work back when he was still known as Manitoba.

Read my review for the album at Verbicide.

As a little bonus in the spirit of Halloween, read on past the jump to see a few of my favorite frightening album covers.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk): More punk rock than an interrobang

Anyone who has ever been to Coachella - and this is probably applicable to all concert festivals - knows that you have to be prepared to slay the Great Beast of Afternoons. Come 3 p.m., your initial excitement over all the bands you expect to see hisses away like a shriveled balloon, slowly deflating in a hot polo field. You can taste the desert every time you swallow, a harsh reminder that, really, no human being was ever meant to live this far out from civilization. Don't be surprised if a few of the more unstable visitors start wandering toward the horizon, lost in a sunstroke-induced vision quest.

Needless to say, the first time I went to Coachella and stared down that Beast, my friends and I desperately needed a pick-me-up. We hit one of those slots in the day where we didn't recognize any of the names on the lineup and decided to pick one at random. Sticking out like a wavy mirage on the schedule was a band called !!!, which was enough to grab our attention. Surely a band called !!! has to be interesting, right?

That name could just be a gimmick, of course, but we were bored, it was hot, and hell, why not? So we dropped ourselves in front of the stage, where this wiry, wired guy named Nic Offer starts leaping, shaking, convulsing all over the place, his band playing a cross of disco and post-punk I had never heard before. An hour later, everyone was screaming for more - and the only sweaty funk they were paying attention to was what !!! was making on stage.

!!! got us through the hottest part of the day. After their set, I doubt there was a single person in the audience who didn't make a mental note to Google them as soon as they got home (which, of course, proved difficult).

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, I love this band, their albums have never let me down, and it was a pleasure interviewing Nic about their latest record, Strange Weather, Isn't It? It's up at Verbicide. Check it out.

And for those interested in the band's music, here's their latest video, for a single called "AM/FM."

Bad ponies, long cons and David Mamet's House of Games

Sometime in high school, I discovered David Mamet's House of Games. It was playing regularly on Bravo at the time, and I remember being sucked in to this dark world, where nice, smiling men wanted to take your money -- and make you want to give it to them. That was the trick. It's a good trick.

Really, it's the only trick, the one all storytellers play. It's a game, and you're the gamepiece. They move you around on a board, teasing you with fantasies, promising you the world--and then the movie's over. And at the end, you thank them for it. Why shouldn't you? You had a great time.

I don't mean to be glib about what con artists do. Obviously, at heart, these are some callous, petty, self-serving people. Some of them are more than just petty. Know them well enough, and you'll pick up the scent of brimstone and smoke in their wake. But they're just so damned interesting.

House of Games eventually led me to read The Big Con, a much drier and somewhat dubious history of con artists in America. As with all confidence men, you shouldn't believe everything the book tells you. The same principle holds true for the characters in Mamet's film, though if you decide to play along with them, you're guaranteed to be taken on a pretty good ride. Check out my review of it on The Parallax Review, a new film site that just launched.

Cockney cops in Gorky Park

 

Maybe I've contracted arthouse disease. I hope not. I've never been a multiplex man, but I like to consider myself down to earth enough that I can watch a movie without subtitles and still enjoy it. Hell, I love a big, dumb Cannon film once in a while, something you can kick back and play "count the squibs" with.

But Gorky Park, about a Soviet cop tracing a brutal murder to the top of the KGB, was a struggle for me--a trip to the gulag, if you will. It was probably the first time I ever hungered for sub-titles, and started pulling my hair out because everything was in a language I could actually understand.

Here's the problem: Not one word of Russian is spoken in this film, despite all the characters being, you know, Russian. Most of the characters are Soviets, but not one of them could be described in the least as "Putinesque" (William Hurt, who plays the lead and bears at least passing resemblance to the Russian leader, comes off as tough but kind of fey and wispy, honestly. And is he wearing eyeliner in some scenes?)