Peter Krause
I’ve recently had an unscheduled marathon of Peter Krause. I’m most of the way through the first season of Six Feet Under, just finished watching the Sci-Fi miniseries The Lost Room, and have been enjoying the new NBC series Parenthood.
I came to Parenthood first, so it was kind of interesting to see the different contexts that he’s worked in. In SFU, he plays a charming, but rootless young man who (at the beginning of the series) isn’t really sure what he wants to do with his adulthood. In both Parenthood and Lost Room, he plays a charming family man who is primarily motivated by his family.
What’s interesting to me is that Krause’s upbeat charisma is a constant through all his roles. In this, he reminds me of George Clooney. They may be in different roles, but their personal identity is so strong that it always comes across as well. I think this is a little different from one note, Michael Cera-ish acting. With bad actors, they don’t have the skill to understand, or create, the personality and identity of the character they’re playing. Good actors, even when they are bringing a lot of themselves to the role, allow their personality to become a part of the character, not overwhelm it. George Clooney is good at this, as is Meryl Streep, Geoffrey Rush and John Goodman.
LOST: Michael Giacchino
There’s a nice profile by Alex Ross of Michael Giacchino, the composer for “LOST” in this week’s New Yorker (I’m not going to bother linking to it because it’s behind a paywall). I’ve never been a big fan of the music on LOST. Even though, as I learned from the article, all of the music is recorded with live musicians, the arrangements can feel a little cheap. Furthermore, his themes are weak. I can name innumerable times where a dramatic moment in the show has been undercut by a heavy-handed theme that turns drama into melodrama. He relies too often on a couple of cliches of choice, see the trademark trombone glissando; tinkly, New Age-y piano noodling; and directionless string pads.
I did reconsider my position a bit after reading the profile. I did realize that the meat-and-potatoes, drama-inducing music cues usually work for me–the 98% of the score that wouldn’t make it onto a soundtrack CD. I have a lot of respect for Giacchino’s working methods and the way that he supports studio musicians. It’s clear that, by virtue of the successful films that he’s scored, he has a tremendous amount of power in the filmmaking hierarchy. I should also mention that I’ve liked certain others of Giacchino’s scores; his Academy Award-winning score for Up didn’t make a great impression on me, but his score for The Incredibles is one of my favorite movie scores ever.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead
This movie looks ridikulus, but I love puns so much I’m probably going to see it. Also, a Tom Stoppard fan.
B.o.B. The Adventures of Bobby Ray
- B.o.B B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray Atlantic Records, April 27, 2010
- This album is for: People who like the Kanye dominated style of pop/hip-hop/rap. People at a party looking to have a good time. People who want unobtrusive upbeat anthems for driving around with. Christian youth group leaders who want to show that they listen to cool music too (clean version only).
- This album is not for: People who dislike rap and hip-hop’s assimilation into the pop machine. People looking for more challenging music than a feel-good sing-along. Anybody who hates any of the numerous guest stars on the album.
- Key tracks: “Airplanes” “The Kids”
Ignore the album cover, ignore the guest producers, ignore the guest artists. This is a big, shiny pop record. There’s still a big studio sound that marks big budget productions, and it’s here in abundance. This is an album built of hooks, and all of them are catchy as fuck.
I’m not saying any of this as if it’s a bad thing. There’s a place for these albums: upbeat, polished, and scientifically engineered to make you have a good time listening to it.
hammer & jack 