SOUNDTRACK: GNARLS BARKLEY-The Odd Couple (2008).
So “Crazy” was Gnarls Barkley’s ubiquitous and fantastic single from 2006. The rest of St. Elsewhere was nowhere near as catchy, although it was all quite good. It was funny to see the backlash for this record because there was no “Crazy” on it. And yet, the rest of the album is not too different from the rest of St. Elsewhere. The same themes are there: lunacy, insecurity. And the production feels kind of claustrophobic like the first one did.
“Crazy” was a great single because Cee-Lo was able to unleash his mammoth voice. There are a couple of songs on The Odd Couple where Cee-Lo gets to unleash: “Surprise,” and “Neighbors.” But they’ve also got some great, subdued songs as well: “Blind Mary,” “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul.”
The music from Danger Mouse seems to be busier and more complex on this one, too. There’s all kinds of samples on the record, but they are hard to distinguish from the original music: a true sign of great sampling. There’s a background chorus of some sort on “Surprise” that is just fantastic, and I can’t tell if it’s the sample or not (since I’ve never heard the original).
Perhaps it’s because The Odd Couple is fresher in my mind, by I think I like it better than St. Elsewhere, even without “Crazy.”
[READ: July 1, 2008] “The Perfect Game”
As I said, I don’t usually review articles in magazines. This one, however, had special resonance. We had recently seen the documentary King of Kong. I really wanted to see it, as I was a Donkey Kong playa back in the day. Sarah wasn’t too excited about it when I brought it home. However, we both really enjoyed the film. It was such great drama.
This article is about Billy Mitchell, the focal point of King of Kong. This article talks less about Kong and more about Pac Man (and Ms Pac Man). What was interesting to me about the article is that it didn’t mention King of Kong until very near the end. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to know about Billy Mitchell and/or the film. It is later revealed that Bearman is aware of King of Kong and in fact contributed some of his video footage to that movie, but that he is basically independent of that film (there were lots of camera crews at the event in question).
The only real point to make about the article is that Billy Mitchell comes across as less of a megalomaniac in the article than he did in the film. He seems genuinely happy for anyone who may break his records, whereas in the film he came across as fighting tooth and nail.
The article also covers a newcomer to the world of classic video games: Abdner Bancroft Ashman, a Jamaican immigrant who is amazing at Ms Pac Man. The article discusses the main difference between Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man: logic. Pac Man follows the exact pattern every time. Mastering it takes time and determination, logic and strategy. Billy Mitchell was the first person to ever “beat” Pac Man: going through all of the screens that were created and getting to the “kill screen” to earn a perfect score. Ms Pac Man, however, has several variations that it could take.,making it impossible to have a “perfect score.” For instance, the bonus fruit is random, sometimes you’ll get a 50 point bonus, sometimes a 500 point bonus, so you can never have the perfect score like in Pac Man. Ashman has a great sense of “feel” for the game, and all of its inconsistencies. Mitchell studied Pac Man and learned it perfectly (an amazing feat) and even though he once held the record for Ms Pac Man, Ashman’s “feel” game seems to be better suited to it.
An interesting piece, and a nice tie in to a recent movie.
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