The Corner by Common and Kanye West

When I listen to music, I break into four categories:

Sucks on first listen, sucks everytime after.
Great on first listen, sucks thereafter.
Sucks on first listen, great thereafter.
Great every listen.

95% of music for me is in the first two categories.
4% in the third.
1% in the last.

"The Corner" by Common, produced by Kanye West falls into that last category. The song is about street corners, the neighborhood microcasm of struggles of the the urban environment. First, the lyrics are incredible. Most rappers are content to just report the struggle. But Common editorializes it in the world of the corner.

"The Corner.. where struggle and greed fight."
"We rap about wrong cause we can't see right."
"We look to the sky hopin it bleed light."

Not only that, his flow is impeccable. He's doesn't miss a beat and wraps within the beat rather than on top of it - something most rappers can't master like Common does in this song.

What makes the song though, is Kanye West's production. He's easily one of the best producers out there today and shows it in this song. The sped up vocals are there as is his signature melliflous mixture of samples that seem to bring out a sense of R&B type warmth from what can be a cold hip-hop beat.

I'm hooked on this song. So much so, I bought it from iTunes cause the album's not out yet. That means something.

Requiem For a Dream - Mango Rating - Ripe

Having just saw Requiem for a Dream recently (thanks TLish!) I feel it necessary to debut a new feature on my blog - the Mango Rating System. Before I delve into the intricacies of RFD, I'll explain the MRS a little.

Branched - Shouldn't have even been made, just like overly young mango shouldn't of even been harvested.
Green - Not bad, has potential - would be good with a more work.
Underripe - Good, but not perfect.
Ripe - Perfect.
Overripe - Over the top movie making basically. For example... Rocky anything beyond the first one.

So having defined the MRS, I'll dive into my first DVD Review. Of note, I'll review four things in each DVD if I can: 1. The Movie itself
2. Extras
3. Video
4. Sound

I'm doing most of this on the fly and off the top of my head, so I apologize for grammatical and spelling errors.

Requiem For A Dream

The Film
I had no idea what this movie was about before I launched into it. My only exposure to the innerworkings of its plot was basically what was on the box. I knew it had something to do with drugs, but little did I know that the movie essentially places you into the world of addiction in a way that is dizzying, terrifying, and poignant all in one.

Briefly, the story involves four characters, Sara Goldfarb (a widowed 50/60 something year old woman living on her own played by Ellen Burstyn), Harry Goldfarb (Sara's son played by Jared Leto), Marion (Harry's Girlfriend played by Jennifer Connelly), and Tyrone (Harry's friend played by Marlon Wayans). The movie starts by setting up each character's addictions - Tyrone, Marion, and Harry use all sorts of drugs and Sara lives for the TV. The high point occurs about 30 minutes into the film, when all of the characters start to rise out of their addictions and just touch the face of happiness, but only for a moment. The rest of the movie portrays the dark and spiralling fall of each character as their dreams dissolve into a horribly distressing ending. The movie is difficult to watch near the end at best.

That said, difficult to watch doesn't equate to bad filmmaking. Darren Aranofsky, the director of this and another favorite of mine Pi, puts together a stirring film that depicts what I'd imagine to be the mindset of a junkie and the junkie's fall from grace. There is no cheesiness, no moralizing, no light at the end of the tunnel. Aranofsky just tells it like it is - addiction to anything can lead to disastrous consequences and the loss of happiness.

The acting is wonderful. Especially poignant is Jared Leto and Ellen Burstyn's talk in her kitchen when it seems things are going well for everyone. Marlon Wayan's acting is very good - you completely forget he's Marlon Wayans and realize that he has the ability to act well, if well directed. And I can't say enough for Jennifer Connelly's job here. She pulls together a performance I never expected out of her, pre-Beautiful Mind.

That said, the movie does push the boundaries a little too much. Aranofsky borders on excessive in the brutality of his depiction of junkie-dom. Its necessary and graphic altogether, but it could be reigned in just a hair - but I'm reaching here.

This isn't a good movie to watch on a Sunday night. Its depressing - but in a way that provokes thought and remembrance. I haven't seen a movie this good for awhile.

Video
Actually pretty nicely transferred. Very minor edge enhancement and fairly free of grain. The color contrast is minimal given the dark and stark nature of the movie - but the few moments that there is color is rendered well.

Sound
A pleasant surprise. There are multiple examples of well placed sound effects. When Sara starts to spin in the room, the sound of the phone spins with her, so that you hear the phone go from front to left to rear left to rear to rear right to right to center with an amazing speed. Its quite impressive. Even more impressive is the end credits after the music dies down. The director puts you into Coney Island with a roller coaster on teh left, the ocean sounds in front of you and other sound and ambience cues to make it seem like you're standing right in Coney island's park. Amazing.

Summary
RFD is a great movie. Its depressing and brutally honest. The acting is wonderful and the pacing and cinmetography is first rate. The sound and video support the movie well. I highly recommend this movie, its just perfect for me - however bordering on excessive. Not enough to make it OVERRIPE, so it stays RIPE in Mango's eyes!

If you try to outrun the cops you deserve to get shot.

First off, loss of life is always sad. I don't wish upon anyone death.

That said, sometimes death is understandable in the context in which it came.

Take, for instance, a recent news event here in the Bay Area. Some guy in South SF was having a domestic dispute with his wife. He hit her. Strike One After he hit her, he then fled police on a high speed chase through a busy highway at speeds at near 100mph in a truck. Trucks don't drive well at that speed and basically become barely guided bullets looking for victims. Strike Two Then after he drove his truck into a ditch, he threatened the gun drawn officers and apparently ran at one of them with a large concrete block. Strike Three

So you figure'd that he sorta had it coming, no? Well here's what his wife had to say:

"He was one of those people who would have an argument, and would go off and cool down and then come back," Lal said. "He was just angry at the moment. Why didn't they just let him go and come get him when he cooled down?"

Cool down? The guy drove all over 101 at retarded speeds in a truck and then threatened officers and hit you, over the course of what - 2 hours? Did she want the cops to sit there until the next day?

I understand she's feeling grief and whatnot, but that doesn't excuse the cop hate that modern society seems to dish out faster than 50 cent starts beef. If something happens, blame it on the cops. If someone gets hurt, blame it on the cops.

Yet these same people that criticize the cops - they don't seem to say anything about gangster rap. I actually like some of the new gangster rap out there - The Game, 50 Cent, etc but only because of the actual musical talent of the producers. But these days, in gangster rap its okay to "pop off" because the rap "artist" needs to maintain his thug reputation. Braggin' about AK47s, Tech 9s, and Glocks when you live in upstate New York? I guess its okay. But then using your training and your weapon when you face hardened criminals daily? Apparently society thinks cops can't use guns, but the Game can.

Thats the problem in our society - we are too nice to criminals. We refuse harsh punishment for them, we coddle them, we even apologize fo rthem, and even worse, we celebrate them more than we celebrate the ones who make our lives better day in and day out.

I personally think that every rapist should get beat to death by rape victims brandishing any weapon imaginable, every murderer should be shot 10 times in nonlife threatening areas and then put to death an hour after, and carjacking theives should get dragged by horses through concrete parking lots.

Call me extremist - but I have no sympathy for violent criminals.