there are more important days in February.
* RECS OF THE MONTH *
* RECS OF THE MONTH *
FEBRUARY
CONTRA VAMPIRE WEEKEND
2010
It’s a collage of sound and Ivy League fury; frenetic, youthful, frenetic, but with a twinge of newfound wisdom. In their second run, coming off the high of their debut, VW managed to sew together something beautiful and kaleidoscopic and melancholy, kicking off the 2010s indie wave of throwing quirky shit at the wall hoping it’ll stick.
And while I commend all members for their efforts and contributions, this album really comes together in Rostam’s hands, and yeah I’ll say it, it’s his masterwork, done at the ripe age of 26.
White Sky (literally) feels good, a stereoscopic massage with all the right grooves and the most positive attitude. Taxi Cab struts along, the classiest hungover thoughts, sung like Ezra is quietly trying to act like somebody who isn’t horrifically privileged. Diplomat’s Son is party time all the time, and I’m not going to explain that, it makes sense OK, buzz off dork.
And then we arrive at I Think Ur a Contra, which not only closes the record perfectly, but carries the entirety of this album. Honestly it might be the main reason I chose this album. It’s a track that means a lot to me. It has equal measures of desperation and acceptance, carrying a sense of finality, while the samples loop indefinitely, before an abrupt crescendo into gorgeously arranged strings, like the sound of thousands of hearts breaking.
I never chose a side, but we might all have to be somebody’s contra.
dir. David Fincher THE SOCIAL NETWORK
2010
Rumor has it, in Facebook’s infancy, Mark Zuckerburg had David Fincher listed as his favorite director, removing him not long after the release of The Social Network. That’s the thing about myths, isn’t it? Little embellishments that snowball into stories too large to discredit, to ignore. Thanks to the equally godlike Aaron Sorkin, everybody speaks with such wit that keeping up with the dialogue produces the same whiplash of watching two Wimbledon winners trying to best one another. Eisenberg absolutely understands the misanthropic, weasel-esque nature it takes to be somebody like Zuckerburg, and Garfield plays a perfect foil, turning an otherwise run-of-the-mill, trust fund asshole and making us sympathize with his eventual turn against the aforementioned (alleged, imo) sociopath.
Okay, maybe that’s not fair. The film does try to evoke a certain level of, I don’t know, pity? Many a viewer seem to see him the same way his ex did; We’re certain there’s more, underneath all the bravado of his “genius” (really he just exploited men’s desire to judge women anonymously and had just enough technical skill to act on an opportunity) but if there really is somebody worthy of love in there, would that part of them really last in such an inhospitable person? But hey, in an age where follower counts carry a certain level of prestige, what’s wrong with accepting another friend request?
Maybe there’s somebody on the other side mindlessly refreshing, waiting for you to let them in.