First off, I know that a lot of people are hype about Valentine's Day. Which is on a Tuesday this year. That's a weird day for anything. I mean, there's Monday, the day everyone despises, then there's Wednesday, the middle of the week where people get hyped for Friday, a level of anticipation that only rises on Thursday. But what is Tuesday? That period of, "Eh....well..." At least now, there's something interesting about it for one day.
But enough about Valentine's day. It's not for another week and a half, and by then I'll have my V-Day special post. I'm bursting, right now, with this news.
It's been out for a few months now, but I just found out about it. Clips of D'angelo performing in Europe are on the internet.
I'm going to die.
You see, D'angelo is one of my have neo-soul artists, and he hasn't put anything out since 2000's "Voodoo." For those of y'all who are unlucky enough not to know about him, He came onto the musical scene in '95 with "Brown Sugar," an album of epic epicness, that had singles like the title track and "Lady." Five years later came "Voodoo," which is considered by many critics to be his masterpiece. After a tour in Europe promoting the album, we never heard much of him again.
Until now.
And those are just the classics he's performing. Watch him performing some of his new stuff:(Kudos to the uploader of all these videos, we all appreciate it)
You know, it's not such a far cry from how his Voodoo tour was; the ingenuity of his live performances, the creativity of his renditions--it's all there now. Same as it was when he sang "Lady" back in 2000.
Someone on the internet said it best: 2012 will be the year of D'angelo's brilliant comeback, Rhodes and all. In the meantime, I'd love it if someone could lend me tickets to his next show. :)
In other news, I got to go to the movies earlier on today and see "Chronicle," a new movie starring Michael B. Jordan, Dane DeHaan, and Michael Kelly as the three high school friends who come across a strange "thing" (because no one knows what it is) and suddenly have amazing powers, like the ability to fly and move things with their minds. Even stranger is the fact that they get stronger, and whenever the other is in trouble, their noses bleed as a signal.
One of them, the bullied introvert Andrew, films the entire process from lucky children to victims of a power they don't know how to handle properly.
Here's the trailer for a visual.
Now, I have to say, this movie is really, really good. Not only are the actors natural, the compilation of different cameras filming the events in realtime makes everything seem more real and not staged. Did you notice Michael B. Jordan is in this movie? From Red Tails? Oh, yeah, that's the one. I completely forgot about that role when I saw this one, because he's so good at making us forget everything else in the world of reality and focusing on this Steve character, the popular dude who hangs out with the bullying victim and his cousin despite what others think. And of course, other two actors, especially Dane DeHaan, who plays Andrew. Andrew's complicated life and almost antisocial attitude seem not only believable, but relatable. To anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by life or picked on by everyone, they will see this character and connect to him on some level, though hopefully not on the same level as he is on (watch the movie and you'll understand.)
What this movie does is not just deliver action and supernatural fantasies. It also delivers the human error that is constantly shown around the world to us on a daily basis: when a scarred person is given unlimited power, the world is in danger. I really can't go into more without giving everything away, as the plot is still fresh in my mind, but I'm telling you, I walked out of the theater not ooh-ing over the effects or laughing at the funny parts of the film. I left that theater wondering darkly how many people would end up like Steve, Matt, and Andrew in this world if there were such a thing as supernatural power.
Thanks for tuning in, I'm Cookie Manson tuning out to lounge music before bedtime. See ya next week for more delicious treats from the Art world!
-CDM
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