Actually, the full, original title of this auspicious, nearly 30yr old track (from 1982, if you can believe that) is "Da da da, ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha," the German portion meaning "I don't love you, you don't love me." But of course, no one's going to call the radio station and request that mouthful, so "Da Da Da" will simply have to suffice.
Why the hell am I bringing to memory something that was created long before I was even a glimmer in my parents' eyes? It's simple, really. Like most random tunes that pass through our ear canals into our brains to trigger thought patterns, "Da Da Da" is a song that, once you've heard it the first time, will inevitably sink into your brain and cement itself firmly for all eternity. All it takes is hearing that beat on the old Casio keyboard just once and you are instantly brought back to the revival period of the song's fame, notably from a Volkswagon/Internet commercial featuring software super duo Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer that came out in the mid 90's. You know the one.
I was perusing my music collection and I'd completely forgotten that I had the song. It's memory triggers are so powerful, that simply reading the title of the file immediately zipped through my eyes, into my brain and down the information super highway until it pulled over at an old rest stop off of Memory Lane where a little girl with a Casio keyboard used to be such a huge fan of that damn two-tone beat demo button.
I used to love that Volkswagon commercial because I was so jazzed that the song in the commercial featured the exact demo tune that was on my keyboard that was given to me as a shipped-from-Thailand travel gift from a friend of my mother's when I was maybe 2 or 3.
The funny thing is, until just today, I never realized that the song did not in fact originate from the commercial, or even the 90's. It was on T.V. that I first heard it, and due to the success of the catchy, repetitive-as-all-get-out beat heard in the commercial, I remember the song being played frequently on radio stations.
My bottom line to this post is that I suddenly felt inclined to see if there might be a music video attached to this oh-so-kitchy tune. And to my fortune, there is a video.
A giant shoulder-padded blazer suit, suspenders, an umbrella, oblique, 80's expressionist European backdrop, and the totally awesome mini keyboard are all featured in this seemingly washed out, confused music video. The vocalist stares blankly off-center from the camera at times, as though he could be reading cue cards. He also keeps pointing with his middle finger while he "sort of" does a bit of a dance, the drummer looks like what a robot might look like if it understood the human concept of boredom, and the guitarist is...wearing a lampshade on his head.
Oh, the 80's.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Source Code: Patriotic *and* Rebellious!
Source Code, starring a gruff, much more manly-looking (read: adult) Jake Gyllenhaal and an ever-sweet and perky Michelle Monaghan, spreads out the story of a soldier who is part of a project to jump "back" through a shadow of time to stop a terrorist. It gently but interestingly mixes science fiction with that dramatic flair that patriotic films like to have and overall is quite balanced in its biases.
On one end, it's made very apparent that the military is doing everything it can to make the country a safer place, even at extreme measures of testing scientific realms that are still very much just theory and opinion right now--at least to the rest of the Average Joe Schmoe's out there.
On the other end, it explores issues surrounding the harnessing of those scientific realms in a very ethical sense. We get to know Gyllenhaall's character pretty well from the git-go, we sympathize with his tension and confusion and his sense of urgency and curiosity. Getting close to him, we see his side more intimately than the military's, and as an audience, it makes us see that those extreme measures the military takes to save millions can not only be questionable, but can also be unnerving.
One thing I particularly liked about this film was that it wasn't completely just about finding out "who done it," but it was about the main characters experience through this ordeal he is forced to repeat over and over again. It adds to the film's depth, and in doing so, makes it overall more entertaining to follow the story.
Sadly, this film will probably be overlooked, because while there is the science fiction draw, it's made readily apparent that the military is not who you're rooting for, which turns lots ofred-blooded Americans average moviegoers away. On top of that, it's got a big fat red sign on it that screams "SCIENCE" which also tends to be a bit more intimidating than taking your toddler to go see a cartoon where you can mentally tune out while the kid's attention span is finally not fixated on you, food, or some other random object or person that requires you to be ever-mindful, even though you just got done working and still need to worry about grabbing that one thing you're out of that you need tonight or dinner will suck.
Point in short: Entertaining, thought-provoking, well-written, and blended with a few crazy explosions! Yay!
On one end, it's made very apparent that the military is doing everything it can to make the country a safer place, even at extreme measures of testing scientific realms that are still very much just theory and opinion right now--at least to the rest of the Average Joe Schmoe's out there.
On the other end, it explores issues surrounding the harnessing of those scientific realms in a very ethical sense. We get to know Gyllenhaall's character pretty well from the git-go, we sympathize with his tension and confusion and his sense of urgency and curiosity. Getting close to him, we see his side more intimately than the military's, and as an audience, it makes us see that those extreme measures the military takes to save millions can not only be questionable, but can also be unnerving.
One thing I particularly liked about this film was that it wasn't completely just about finding out "who done it," but it was about the main characters experience through this ordeal he is forced to repeat over and over again. It adds to the film's depth, and in doing so, makes it overall more entertaining to follow the story.
Sadly, this film will probably be overlooked, because while there is the science fiction draw, it's made readily apparent that the military is not who you're rooting for, which turns lots of
Point in short: Entertaining, thought-provoking, well-written, and blended with a few crazy explosions! Yay!
Friday, April 1, 2011
And Soon the Darkness: More Than a C+, Less Than a B-
Generally speaking, this film isn't original, or kitschy, or bad, or great, but if you have the patience, it's decent as a one-timer film to sit down with. Based upon a film made about 40 years earlier with the same title, (so we're talkin' remake...although the reason why isn't really clear. This film simply doesn't stand out), And Soon the Darkness follows the story of two young, pretty, American girls traveling through Argentina (and despite popular belief that this would never happen, having actually traveled parts of South America myself, I can say that this is totally common and I saw plenty of American pairs of women traveling). They decide to stray from a bike group and spend their last night hanging out in a small little town. It's obvious that these girls are here to have a good time, and are given the awkward, almost pensive looks they probably deserve by wearing cute shorts and tanktops and not being able to speak very good Spanish at all and laughing quite a lot.
They go to a bar, one girl is more reserved and mopey about a failed relationship, the other just can't seem to stop from keeping a giant sign on her head that says "AMERICAN GIRLS LIKE TO GET RAPED" by dancing seductively to the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself" and giving everything that looks male a wink and a smile. Of course, she's pretty trashed by this point, but from the git-go of the film, it's plain to see that she would probably do this sort of thing anyways, but maybe with a little less effort. Meanwhile her friend just keeps texting the Ex and continues to look blue. Oh yeah, and Drunk Ass actually tries to hit on one guy (an always-damn-good-looking Karl Urban) by walking in after him into the bathroom and being all like "oh, the women's bathroom was locked, oh no, tee-hee!" and tries to get a peek at him and then watches him while she pees. Nice try, bimbo.
And then the film goes where you're expecting it to go and the girls are involved in a dangerous situation that could cost them their lives, or at the very least, their dignity. Needless to say, the film got more interesting when the slut gets kidnapped, because then her screen time is significantly less and we focus on the less-dumb girl.
The acting is fine, the situation is very real and was carried out well, and the scenery alone is pleasant to see. It's a bit slow at first, but like I said, once the idiot is gone, it gets a bit better, and there is a scene that is worth looking at just for the landscape. It's an abandoned town which stands in ruins amidst a shoreline and has these really trippy twiggy skeletal trees that look like they came straight out of a "Swamp" card in a Magic the Gathering deck.
Most people seem to hate this film simply based upon its gratuitous, flat cliche storyline. To me, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't special in any way, which many take to be bad and stupid. Can't exactly blame them, but then again I'm much more generous to all cinema. As the title reads: more than a C+, less than a B-.
They go to a bar, one girl is more reserved and mopey about a failed relationship, the other just can't seem to stop from keeping a giant sign on her head that says "AMERICAN GIRLS LIKE TO GET RAPED" by dancing seductively to the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself" and giving everything that looks male a wink and a smile. Of course, she's pretty trashed by this point, but from the git-go of the film, it's plain to see that she would probably do this sort of thing anyways, but maybe with a little less effort. Meanwhile her friend just keeps texting the Ex and continues to look blue. Oh yeah, and Drunk Ass actually tries to hit on one guy (an always-damn-good-looking Karl Urban) by walking in after him into the bathroom and being all like "oh, the women's bathroom was locked, oh no, tee-hee!" and tries to get a peek at him and then watches him while she pees. Nice try, bimbo.
And then the film goes where you're expecting it to go and the girls are involved in a dangerous situation that could cost them their lives, or at the very least, their dignity. Needless to say, the film got more interesting when the slut gets kidnapped, because then her screen time is significantly less and we focus on the less-dumb girl.
The acting is fine, the situation is very real and was carried out well, and the scenery alone is pleasant to see. It's a bit slow at first, but like I said, once the idiot is gone, it gets a bit better, and there is a scene that is worth looking at just for the landscape. It's an abandoned town which stands in ruins amidst a shoreline and has these really trippy twiggy skeletal trees that look like they came straight out of a "Swamp" card in a Magic the Gathering deck.
Most people seem to hate this film simply based upon its gratuitous, flat cliche storyline. To me, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't special in any way, which many take to be bad and stupid. Can't exactly blame them, but then again I'm much more generous to all cinema. As the title reads: more than a C+, less than a B-.
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