This is the first "piece" I wrote for Inspire eSports, recounting Week 1 of our team's performance in the League of Legends EU Challenger Series. This is the first taste of what's to come from my interim with Inspire. It's definitely more on the journalism/informative side, rather than the creative side. Enjoy! And for you Reddit aficionados, please comment and upvote!
Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/4311f6/spoilers_eucs_week_1_ie_vs_mou_article_by_inspire/
EUCS Week 1: “Jeepers Sweepers”
What a way to kick off Week 1 of the EU Challenger Series! So far, it has been a Split of no splits as today’s winners rack up the 2-0 match win over their opponents. This year’s Challenger Spring Split is a mix of old dogs and fresh blood, with LCS veterans Copenhagen Wolves, SK Gaming, and Inspire eSports (rebranded from Denial eSports) looking to reclaim their spots at the top, while upstart teams Mousesports, Millenium, and Huma aim to make their first mark on the EU scene after besting the Challenger qualifiers to rise up.
Inspire eSports and Mousesports kicked off Week 1 with the first match of the day. Former top laner Wickd’s departure from Denial to CW was the latest spark of skepticism for Inspire, due to the roster’s history of numerous team swaps. Mousesports, on the other hand, was projected as a strong contender for top 3, due to star players such as Dan and Beansu. This was the time to put up or shut up for both teams, with Inspire looking put on a strong show in the face of doubt, and Mouz seeking to live up the hype as they coast in on their waves of success following their Summer Split performance.
Analysis:
Inspire eSports vs. Mousesports
GAME 1
Early triple ADC picks from Inspire (mid Corki, jungle Graves, Ezreal) inspired doubt from the casters, especially in the face of Mouz’s solid engage comp (Malphite plus Kalista-Alistar). Satorius’ off-meta pick of top lane Gragas in the draft raised a few eyebrows as well. All doubt was silenced immediately as fast pushing from Inspire along with Gragas-fueled siege resulted in a 15-minute inhibitor and a 4k gold lead at 18 minutes. Several sloppy team fights nearly evened the odds for Mouz, but a catch from Inspire into a base chase followed by Baron sealed the game for Inspire.
Scores:
IE Satorius 4/0/5 - MOU Beansu 1/4/4
IE Maxlore 1/2/7 - MOU Dan 1/3/4
IE CozQ 4/2/4 - MOU Sebecks 1/1/4
IE Woolite 5/1/5 - MOU Tarik 3/2/1
IE Wendelbo 0/1/8 - MOU Rhuckz 0/4/5
Game 1 VOD
GAME 2
The strats appeared to have flipped in the second draft. Inspire picks up a similar engage comp to Mouz’s in Game 1 with Kalista-Alistar and Malphite, while Mouz opt for a more defensive disengage comp of Shen, Rek’Sai, Janna. Champion and tower kills stayed fairly even early on, until several Malphite/Alistar knock-up engages etched out the lead for Inspire. A couple botched Baron attempts by Inspire swing control back to Mouz with an inhibitor kill and several tower sieges. However, a messy teamfight following Baron attempt #3 ends with two members of Inspire surviving with the Baron buff to push in mid after team respawns to secure the 2-0.
Scores:
IE Satorius 4/3/12 - MOU Beansu 1/6/7
IE Maxlore 6/2/12 - MOU Dan 2/5/4
IE CozQ 3/2/12 - MOU Sebecks 7/3/3
IE Woolite 6/3/12 - MOU Tarik 3/3/5
IE Wendelbo 0/3/16 - MOU Rhuckz 0/2/10
Game 2 VOD
RESULTS: Inspire 2-0, Mouz 0-2
It has been a great first week in the EUCS for us and we look forward to the competition next week as we take on Copenhagen Wolves! To stay up to date with all news Inspire follow us on Twitter!
Monday, February 1, 2016
Monday, June 15, 2015
ARTICLE - CSUN Writers Make Their Voices Heard at Lit Crawl LA: NoHo
During my time at CSUN, I had the opportunity to meet a plethora of talented and vivacious writers, all of whom had a profound effect on my development as a writer. I was fortunate enough to able to celebrate our wonderful literary family's achievements last year at Lit Crawl LA: North Hollywood, where I played host to CSUN's showcase event "Voices from the Valley." In addition to emcee-ing the event, the CSUN College of Humanities also asked me to write an article on the event, a publication that I only managed to discover now. Well, better late than never! Here is the article.
You can view the original article here http://www.csun.edu/humanities/humanities-newsletter-volume-9-issue-1/lit-crawl-la-noho.
CSUN Writers Make Their Voices Heard at Lit Crawl LA: NoHo
Submitted by Justin La Torre “All you voices of the valley, let’s hear you roar!” With those words, English professor Martin Pousson kicked off one of the opening events of Lit Crawl LA: NoHo to the clamorous chorus congregated in Gallery 800 at the historic Lankershim Arts Center. Though the Los Angeles–based word-centric extravaganza was only in its second year of celebration, support and attendance for Lit Crawl LA was already proving to be formidable, as a crowded house filled up to standing room only to lend an ear to a selection of California State University, Northridge’s elite writers in a reading session titled “Voices from the Valley.” Focusing exclusively on established and emerging creative writers from CSUN’s undergraduate and graduate programs, Voices from the Valley boasted an impressive cast of wordsmiths. As a graduate of CSUN and emcee for the night, I was certainly no slouch myself, having been recently published in Westwind at UCLA and the last two issues of The Northridge Review. That being said, the presenters have had their work featured in publications such as Cargoes literary journal, Glimmer Train, and Los Angeles Review, and their crafts spanned the gamut from poetry to short story and even semi-biographical long fiction. In short, Voices from the Valley wasn’t just going to commence the night; it was going to rock- et right out of the gate Presenters from the night included: Brandon Krause, CSUN graduate whose poem “Seven Grand” was a winning piece in Hollins University’s 2014 National Undergraduate Poetry Competition and has been featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Cargoes literary journal. His short story “Coldline” was published in the Fall 2014 issue of The Northridge Review. Karlee Johnson, CSUN alumna and co-author of the ’zine series Doggone Sentiment, and whose work has been featured in The Northridge Review and Uno Kudo magazine. Johnson and Krause each received honorable mentions from Glimmer Train Press, and they are both currently pursuing MAs in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. Cody Dietz, master’s candidate at CSUN who has been published in Ellipsis, Chaparral, and The Northridge Review. His chapbook placed in the finals of Split Lip’s Uppercut Chapbook Awards, and he is currently working on a full-length collection of poetry. Gina Srmabekian, graduate student and teaching associate at CSUN who was a recent finalist of the Glimmer Train New Voices Awards. She has work published in several literary journals including Chaparral, and is described by her students as “young and pretty…and kind of mean.” Kim Young, creative writing professor at CSUN, author of the 2011 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize–winning piece “Night Radio,” and founding editor of the Southern California–based online poetry journal Chaparral. Her work has appeared in Los Angeles Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, No Tell Motel, and POOL poetry journal. Joseph Mattson, author of story collection Eat Hell and SCIBA Fiction Award finalist novel Empty the Sun, and editor of The Speed Chronicles and Two Letters: Collection of Art and Writing Vol. 2. His work has appeared in Slake: Los Angeles-A City and Its Stories, The Rattling Wall, Ambit, Pearl, and The Fix. From the moment the first presenter took the mic, it was clear that a vibrant spark had ignited the air. The colors and rich- ness that mark the writing culture of Los Angeles seemed to congeal and condense within the small swanky mecca of Gallery 800 as the eyes and ears of nearly a hundred captivated audience members drank in the words of CSUN’s literary best. From the quiet yet cutting honesty of Krause’s “Seven Grand” to Mattson’s sardonic and scorning sketch of his story’s antihero “Lenny Kablinski,” there was no slowing down the rhythm or the poignancy of the night’s tone, which rang with a satisfying mixture of profoundness and profanity. My personal favorites were Dietz’s beautifully tragic family- inspired pieces “Treehouses” and “Ritual,” as well as Johnson’s rendition of “Truth Ingest,” which had me silently mouthing “whoa” to myself every few lines. When all was said and done, Voices from the Valley proved to be a re- sounding victory not just for CSUN and its writers, but for the whole of the L.A. writing scene. With such a warm and receptive response to fresh and upcoming literary talent, there is no question that the future of stories as art burns as bright and as hot as the spirits and sparks of these young voices. “Voices from the Valley was a true testament to the potency and variety of the work coming out of CSUN’s creative writing program,” Dietz proudly proclaims. “I am honored to have read with such a talented bunch of writers and poets, and we really couldn’t ask for a more supportive community.” “It was an honor to be a part of Lit Crawl. I loved seeing the city open up to words, and hope that it continues to grow each year,” Johnson adds. Professor Martin Pousson, former instructor of and adviser to many of these talented individuals, says he couldn’t be more proud. “The CSUN Voices from the Valley team generated loud buzz by flashing bold colors,” Pousson says. “Their range, their poise, and the infinite variety in their creative writing form the hallmark of our students’ success. They dare to defy convention, to cross boundaries, to blur borders. We should all expect to hear a great deal more from these writers.” Justin La Torre ’13 (Creative Writing) has been published in CSUN’s Northridge Review and UCLA’s Westwind. He has received an Honorable Mention from Glimmer Train Press and was a finalist in Cargoes’ Fiction Competition for New Writers. He regularly contributes to HalfAChicken.com and The Wordsmith’s Foundry.
Submitted by Justin La Torre “All you voices of the valley, let’s hear you roar!” With those words, English professor Martin Pousson kicked off one of the opening events of Lit Crawl LA: NoHo to the clamorous chorus congregated in Gallery 800 at the historic Lankershim Arts Center. Though the Los Angeles–based word-centric extravaganza was only in its second year of celebration, support and attendance for Lit Crawl LA was already proving to be formidable, as a crowded house filled up to standing room only to lend an ear to a selection of California State University, Northridge’s elite writers in a reading session titled “Voices from the Valley.” Focusing exclusively on established and emerging creative writers from CSUN’s undergraduate and graduate programs, Voices from the Valley boasted an impressive cast of wordsmiths. As a graduate of CSUN and emcee for the night, I was certainly no slouch myself, having been recently published in Westwind at UCLA and the last two issues of The Northridge Review. That being said, the presenters have had their work featured in publications such as Cargoes literary journal, Glimmer Train, and Los Angeles Review, and their crafts spanned the gamut from poetry to short story and even semi-biographical long fiction. In short, Voices from the Valley wasn’t just going to commence the night; it was going to rock- et right out of the gate Presenters from the night included: Brandon Krause, CSUN graduate whose poem “Seven Grand” was a winning piece in Hollins University’s 2014 National Undergraduate Poetry Competition and has been featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Cargoes literary journal. His short story “Coldline” was published in the Fall 2014 issue of The Northridge Review. Karlee Johnson, CSUN alumna and co-author of the ’zine series Doggone Sentiment, and whose work has been featured in The Northridge Review and Uno Kudo magazine. Johnson and Krause each received honorable mentions from Glimmer Train Press, and they are both currently pursuing MAs in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. Cody Dietz, master’s candidate at CSUN who has been published in Ellipsis, Chaparral, and The Northridge Review. His chapbook placed in the finals of Split Lip’s Uppercut Chapbook Awards, and he is currently working on a full-length collection of poetry. Gina Srmabekian, graduate student and teaching associate at CSUN who was a recent finalist of the Glimmer Train New Voices Awards. She has work published in several literary journals including Chaparral, and is described by her students as “young and pretty…and kind of mean.” Kim Young, creative writing professor at CSUN, author of the 2011 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize–winning piece “Night Radio,” and founding editor of the Southern California–based online poetry journal Chaparral. Her work has appeared in Los Angeles Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, No Tell Motel, and POOL poetry journal. Joseph Mattson, author of story collection Eat Hell and SCIBA Fiction Award finalist novel Empty the Sun, and editor of The Speed Chronicles and Two Letters: Collection of Art and Writing Vol. 2. His work has appeared in Slake: Los Angeles-A City and Its Stories, The Rattling Wall, Ambit, Pearl, and The Fix. From the moment the first presenter took the mic, it was clear that a vibrant spark had ignited the air. The colors and rich- ness that mark the writing culture of Los Angeles seemed to congeal and condense within the small swanky mecca of Gallery 800 as the eyes and ears of nearly a hundred captivated audience members drank in the words of CSUN’s literary best. From the quiet yet cutting honesty of Krause’s “Seven Grand” to Mattson’s sardonic and scorning sketch of his story’s antihero “Lenny Kablinski,” there was no slowing down the rhythm or the poignancy of the night’s tone, which rang with a satisfying mixture of profoundness and profanity. My personal favorites were Dietz’s beautifully tragic family- inspired pieces “Treehouses” and “Ritual,” as well as Johnson’s rendition of “Truth Ingest,” which had me silently mouthing “whoa” to myself every few lines. When all was said and done, Voices from the Valley proved to be a re- sounding victory not just for CSUN and its writers, but for the whole of the L.A. writing scene. With such a warm and receptive response to fresh and upcoming literary talent, there is no question that the future of stories as art burns as bright and as hot as the spirits and sparks of these young voices. “Voices from the Valley was a true testament to the potency and variety of the work coming out of CSUN’s creative writing program,” Dietz proudly proclaims. “I am honored to have read with such a talented bunch of writers and poets, and we really couldn’t ask for a more supportive community.” “It was an honor to be a part of Lit Crawl. I loved seeing the city open up to words, and hope that it continues to grow each year,” Johnson adds. Professor Martin Pousson, former instructor of and adviser to many of these talented individuals, says he couldn’t be more proud. “The CSUN Voices from the Valley team generated loud buzz by flashing bold colors,” Pousson says. “Their range, their poise, and the infinite variety in their creative writing form the hallmark of our students’ success. They dare to defy convention, to cross boundaries, to blur borders. We should all expect to hear a great deal more from these writers.” Justin La Torre ’13 (Creative Writing) has been published in CSUN’s Northridge Review and UCLA’s Westwind. He has received an Honorable Mention from Glimmer Train Press and was a finalist in Cargoes’ Fiction Competition for New Writers. He regularly contributes to HalfAChicken.com and The Wordsmith’s Foundry.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Wordsmith Foundry
I'm happy to announce that I am now a guest contributing writer to Wordsmith Foundry, a new blog about creative writing! My first article is in the link below:
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
HalfAChicken.com - 10/7/14 - “Invisible Artwork” Hoax Successfully Trolls the Art World...But Not in the Way You Expect
Originally published on 10/7/14 at HalfAChicken.com
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/106 Oh man...the headline for this juicy bit of art news hooked me right from the beginning, but actually reading through it only made it juicier.
The above image is a doctored photo of an exhibit in Milan with the actual exhibit removed, courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). This was released as part of a hoax by New York-based “artist” Lana Newstrom and radio parodists Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring of This is That, the Canadian counterpart to America’s own satirical news network The Onion. The article that first launched this hoax went live a week ago, and can be viewed here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thisisthat/blog/2014/09/23/new-york-artist-creates-art-that-is-invisible/
Now, Kelly and Oldring have an infamous penchant for passing off parody and trickery as news, but for some reason, this latest ploy, which fabricated a story of an artist’s “invisible artwork” being bought up for millions of dollars, was actually believed to be real by other news publications. That’s right, online news networks such as Wealthy Debates and Barstool Sports immediately saw through the scheme of blank walls and canvases being passed off as art, yet legitimately believed people were actually buying them up! And who can blame them? It’s such an eccentric and stupidly ridiculous move that only a pretentious self-serving art snob with an account in Aspen would actually consider doing it. How could it not be true?
What’s interesting and endlessly amusing is that while Wealthy Debates and Barstool are talking shit about these alleged rich art collectors for spending money on literally nothing, I’m over here laughing at how seriously they’re taking this hoax story within a hoax story. I mean, how the fuck can you be half-gullible that you would see through the bullshit of one part of the story but not the whole thing?
The theory held by The Guardian in their response article to this latest hilarious development is that we as a culture just hate rich fuckers who are able to throw their money at anything. This hoax story was the perfect opportunity to take jabs at the wealthy art snobs, and these sites did so with gusto and in that respect have earned my applause. (Insert golf clap here).
In the end, however, I feel that the real winners here are the brilliant blokes at This is That for not only successfully trolling the art world with their Inception-style hoax-within-a-hoax, but for educating us on a very essential aspect of human existence, and that is the endless cycle of assholes talking shit about other assholes that pervades our communal existence. For as long as we band together, we will hate on each other together, for just about any little thing.
God bless you, Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring. May your wit be always sharp, and your audiences forever oblivious.
SOURCES
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. – http://www.cbc.ca/thisisthat/blog/2014/09/23/new-york-artist-creates-art-that-is-invisible/
The Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2014/sep/30/invisible-art-hoax-lana-newstrom-cbc
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/106 Oh man...the headline for this juicy bit of art news hooked me right from the beginning, but actually reading through it only made it juicier.
Friday, October 3, 2014
HalfAChicken.com - 10/3/14 - Adventure Time show creator quits
Originally published on 10/3/14 at HalfAChicken.com
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/103
If you’ve never heard of Adventure Time before, just know that it’s the closest thing to an acid trip that the FCC will allow on a child-focused television network. It is generally described as a “surreal post-apocalyptic animated saga” as well as “the trippiest show on TV” (Strauss 2014), but really, words don’t do it justice. The bright color palettes, quirky and memorable characters, and juvenile-level antics and adventures can make you almost overlook the copious amounts of erratic and nonsensical shit that takes place. Almost.
Think of Adventure Time as a G-rated version of Ren & Stimpy…I use the term “G-rated” loosely here.
There’s really no way to properly describe Adventure Time to someone who has never seen the show. Everything from dimensional travel, parallel realities, convoluted plotlines, and the cast of characters’ deep-seated origin stories are explored the series’ 176 episodes, each of which is only 11 minutes long. It is the sort of sensory ass-kicking that needs to be experienced in order to be understood. It’s not like there’s any drugs or sex in the program, mind you. This is a show focused towards kids, after all. But with that in mind, the content can get pretty outlandish and downright disturbing at times.
…seriously, what the fuck is wrong with that bird?
In fact, the show delivers such a strong, well-written subliminal mindfuck that you would think its creator Pendleton Ward, who recently left the show, would have been forcibly checked into the nearest mental hospital due to a severe schizophrenic breakdown before he would leave (calm and collected) of his own accord.
But alas, none of that actually happened. The story is much simpler (and far less exciting) than that. Ward, who is mellow and introverted and just about the farthest thing from a psychopath as you can get, cited stress and exhaustion from trying to keep up with the growing magnitude of the show’s popularity as his cause for departure.
And who can blame him? Adventure Time is HUGE right now. “It’s a beast of a show,” Ward told Rolling Stone. “And the more popular it gets, the more the ancillary things – like the merchandise and games and everything – keeps getting bigger.” (Strauss 2014).
Sometimes merchandising can be a good thing though…=3
Tom Kenny, who voices the bubbly titular character on Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants and the misguided and narcissistic Ice King in Adventure Time, noted Ward’s weariness, which is particularly reflected in the character of the Ice King. “The way the Ice King feels [is] like he’s going mad and things are spinning out of his control,” Kenny tells Rolling Stone. “I’m sure Pen [Ward] has felt like he’s losing his grip on reality because he’s the arbiter of everything.” (Strauss 2014).
Ward himself seems to echo these sentiments. “[Like the Ice King, I have] a craving to be social and hang out with nice people and have them think I’m nice, which doesn’t make any sense to me.” (Strauss 2014).
A chest kick from Finn still doesn’t hurt as much as a chest kick from life.
However, fans of Ward’s work need not fret, for the ambitious animator still has plenty of projects up his sleeve, including writing an Adventure Time movie and creating an original video game, as well as dabbling in some cooperative projects with his friends in the form of a short called Animation Pals. Above all, though, Ward looks to do something that he will enjoy and get excited about without exceeding “the confines of what [his] brain can handle.” (Strauss 2014).
After overseeing the birth of nearly 200 episodes of kid-friendly, over-the-top mindfuckery, his brain has definitely earned a break.
This is your brain on Adventure Time. Literally.
SOURCES
Strauss, Neil. “’Adventure Time’: The Trippiest Show on Television.” 2 Oct. 2014. Rolling Stone. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/103
Thursday, October 2, 2014
HalfAChicken.com - 10/2/14 - Has Cirque du Soleil lost its touch?
Originally published on 10/2/14 at HalfAChicken.com
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/102 The Spell is Broken: Has Cirque du Soleil lost its touch? With its penchant for death-defying acrobatic routines, grandiose visual flair, and overall vibe of whimsy and mystery, the famed fantastical French-Canadian feature of the Vegas stage known as Cirque du Soleil is truly a unique offering. I’ve watched quite a few Cirque shows now, and each show brings its own flavor to the table, from the oriental fire-themed Ka to the sensual and sexy Zumanity. Just about every major hotel on The Strip houses its own Cirque soiree, and you can literally spend all week watching all of them and never run out of things to see.
Or you can just watch Zumanity over and over again. Your call.
HOWEVER! It is inevitable that all good things must come to an end. Sure, you probably won’t feel it at first. You’ll hit the sublime Cirque show trifecta of KA, O, and Mystere and still be giddy as a schoolgirl. Zumanity will probably continue to titillate you for a few cold nights after you see it. Heck, maybe you’ll dust off the shiny glove and black jacket and get reacquainted with Michael Jackson at ONE…in a platonic, respectable way, of course. *AHEM*
C’mon Cirque, the trial was almost 10 years ago. LET IT GO.
But like every TV show you loved and watched, eventually it starts to get stale. Sooner or later, you’ll sit down to a more recently-released Cirque show and walk out thinking to yourself, Huh, that was just…okay. It will lack the “pop” and polish of the earlier shows you’ve seen. Or worse, it will leave you with a feeling of disappointed repulsion, kind of like the sequels to The Matrix (which many people, including myself, still deny the existence of).
Yeah, watching the sequels to The Matrix kinda feels like that. Only in your balls.
Let’s take a look at the last Cirque show I saw: Michael Jackson ONE. I’ve been a fan of MJ’s career since my dad showed his music to me back in the 90’s, and I’ll admit to trying to learn how to moonwalk because it looked so cool in the videos. However, I felt that ONE was a complete miss on Cirque’s part. It’s not that the show didn’t have its moments; the neon-lit suits dancing to “Billy Jean” in the shadows and the people moonwalking up and down the walls of the theater were actually pretty cool. But overall, there was nothing really making it more defined or memorable compared to other shows, unless you count the fact that they turned the lights down every time an acrobatic or dance routine started and attempted to use strobes and special effect lighting as their sole source of illumination.
Oh hey, the lights came back–…uh, I’d like them back off please.
ONE is an example of a disappointing plague of “not trying hard enough anymore” that seems to have spread rampantly among the showrunners of Cirque. While it is true that each show still has its own theme and sense of aesthetics, there are some that are clearly more creative and thought-out than others.
When you look at shows like O or Ka, they have this “big” feeling about them. The scenes fully encompass their themes of water and fire, respectively, and everything is done on a grand scale, from the giant complex acrobatics to the clever incorporation of their elements into the outfits and settings. You can tell that the people who made those shows knew exactly what they wanted and executed it beautifully.
In contrast, the newer shows don’t feel as polished. ONE felt like a hodgepodge of MJ music video clips that attempted to cover and sum up the King of Pop’s illustrious career, but instead came off as an elementary school art collage cobbled together by people who were never in the same room at the same time as each other. Zarkana’s aesthetic of “trippy magical circus” seemed a little redundant, since just about every other Cirque show is already inherently representative of a magical carnival-esque occasion while still having their own unique themes on top of that. (Although maybe Zarkana’s lack of a real theme is a theme itself, in which case bravo to the writers for actually being clever). And when watching the classical cinema-themed Iris, one can’t help but think that they took the entirety of their special effects and acrobatic equipment budget and put it towards making costumes via cobbling vintage outfits and spare camera parts together, the results of which should never have even left the concept art stage of production.
Plus, the stage design for Iris was H.P. Lovecraft-level horrifying.
I can’t tell if I should be laughing or frightened.
I know I sound like an old fart for saying all this, but the Cirque that I grew up loving had enchanted and awed me with its creativity and brilliance. Whoever is running the show nowadays has clearly tried to make things too hip, too current, too contemporary, and as a result, the Circus Under the Sun has trapped itself within a perpetual eclipse of mediocrity. Luckily for them, the solution is simple. Cirque can reclaim the magic it once had by going back to what it does best: embracing the story they’re trying to tell, doing it big, doing it epic, and never forgetting the whimsy and mystery that drew people to the show in the first place. I still hold on to the hope that my beloved Cirque will find its way once again, but until then, I’ll enjoy re-watching the 3 or 4 shows I actually do like.
Next article: the top 5 ways to keep those annoying brats off your lawn.
Sources
Zumanity image – http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/6I_rxW7iVUM/hqdefault.jpg
Matrix Revolutions image –
http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/001.jpg
Michael Jackson ONE images -
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/29/business/29jackson2/29jackson2-popup.jpg
http://lasvegas.showtickets.com/cdn/site/582x270-3.jpg Iris image - http://www.seeing-stars.com/Images/Places/Iris-Stage.jpg Clint Eastwood image – http://www.quickmeme.com/img/e4/e4e28c2873829c59f3d5f554ca7f7e3ec07018daf7fdb433d11d9a7585836590.jpg
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/102 The Spell is Broken: Has Cirque du Soleil lost its touch? With its penchant for death-defying acrobatic routines, grandiose visual flair, and overall vibe of whimsy and mystery, the famed fantastical French-Canadian feature of the Vegas stage known as Cirque du Soleil is truly a unique offering. I’ve watched quite a few Cirque shows now, and each show brings its own flavor to the table, from the oriental fire-themed Ka to the sensual and sexy Zumanity. Just about every major hotel on The Strip houses its own Cirque soiree, and you can literally spend all week watching all of them and never run out of things to see.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/29/business/29jackson2/29jackson2-popup.jpg
http://lasvegas.showtickets.com/cdn/site/582x270-3.jpg Iris image - http://www.seeing-stars.com/Images/Places/Iris-Stage.jpg Clint Eastwood image – http://www.quickmeme.com/img/e4/e4e28c2873829c59f3d5f554ca7f7e3ec07018daf7fdb433d11d9a7585836590.jpg
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
HalfAChicken.com - 10/1/14 - Kimbra at The Bootleg Theater, Silver Lake, CA
Originally published on 10/1/14 at HalfAChicken.com
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/100 Hearing the name “Kimbra” probably won’t register anything of note in your head, unless you actually paid attention to the colorful and trip-tastic video for Gotye’s (one) hit song “Somebody that I Used to Know.” She was the decidedly less-freaky-looking one in this disconcerting still art come to life.
Remember when this song was actually a thing? Yeah, neither do I.
But regardless of whether or not Kimbra makes any blips on your musical radar, one thing we can all agree on is that there’s nothing better than a free show, and having even one sort-of-familiar-sounding artist on the bill is a very welcomed bonus. I got the opportunity to see Kimbra for free at the humble and hipstery hole-in-the-wall known as The Bootleg Theater this past weekend. This show marked the end of her residency at The Bootleg, and would feature songs from her latest album, The Golden Echo, which was released back in August.
To be honest, I walked into this show completely blind. I had no prior knowledge of what Kimbra’s music sounded like, and other than my rather presumptuous hypothesis that all her stuff would emulate that one Gotye song in some way, I had no real expectations for what I would hear. Still, this is why I go to local shows. LA is a rich cornucopia of art and culture; there’s always something to discover, good or bad. Chance favors the bold, and serendipity had thus far been a very rewarding mistress to me when it came to hitting up random venues to see bands I barely knew.
Well, as it turned out, my Gotye hypothesis was partially right, in the sense that just like watching Gotye’s freaky video, watching Kimbra perform was a sensory mindfuck from beginning to end.
If your idea of décor involves Technicolor skulls and bad TV reception…you just might be an indie artist.
Kimbra’s music is generally described as “jazz-inspired electropop” with influence drawn from Imogen Heap, Prince, Rufus Wainwright, and Mike Patton, among others. A very good playlist indeed, and seemingly nothing out of the ordinary about it. One of my concert compatriots even mentioned hearing her previous album Vows and saying that it sounded like “normal music,” whatever that means.
What we heard at this show, however, was a total “fuck-it-all” to any notions of radio-friendly commercial normalcy, delving into a realm of aural oddities and ambient white noise that threw us for a complete loop. For those looking for a crash course into the musical direction Kimbra took in The Golden Echo, the best way I can describe it is to imagine a vinyl player churning out psychedelic(er) remixes of Bjork songs down an empty sewer tunnel, with a cat providing accompaniment by blindly pawing at the keys of a broken grand piano. That’s sort of what it sounded like while Kimbra was playing. I don’t know if that was intentional or if the sound guy was mixing it badly or what. All I know is that whether it was out of mesmerized curiosity or flabbergasted confusion, Kimbra held my attention, which was probably the point anyways.
Actually, seeing this at the show would have been a huge improvement.
That’s not to say that it was completely unbearable to listen to. Actually, I found it to be quite the opposite; the layering of all the different sounds made for an interesting and developed “sound world” that really filled up the meager space of The Bootleg’s “Space Jam” theater, and Kimbra’s scatty and yipping vocalizations matched the playful energy she radiated as she skipped and danced around the stage. The crazy visual projections you see in the pictures above really helped to pull the performance together as well, turning the stage into a “living music video” of sorts, where the audience was not only witness to the experience, but a central part of the experience as well. All in all, it was surprisingly entertaining for what it was.
Looking back at it, the real crux of the concert’s shortcomings fell mainly upon our musical palettes. Most of the people in the audience were used to these sort of off-beat noise experiments, indicative of an underground scene that was known and enjoyed by only a select few. For them, this music was pure magic, filling them up with a strange primal energy that, combined with a little alcohol- and cannabis-induced inspiration, moved them to sway and dance and clap and get lost in Kimbra’s freeform, unstructured ambience.
These folks should start a club.
However, to us, the decidedly “mainstream-adjusted” listeners, this music was a little too “out there.” The lack of typical song elements such as structure and refrain made it hard to really attach ourselves to any particular moment in the set, and everything blended together into a continuous cacophony of unintelligible sound. The seemingly random noisemaking coming from Kimbra and her backing instrumentals hovered somewhere between sonically interesting and utterly pointless at times, and were it not for her physicality on stage, it would have been a very monotonous affair to sit through after your eyes adjusted to the LSD-like effect of the stage’s aesthetics.
Hey, illusory dragons have feelings too…
Overall, I would say that Kimbra’s performance was a triumph in regards to being original and making something that expressed nothing less than her own creativity, passion, and joy. After all, that is the essence of what makes an artist successful, and Kimbra succeeds flawlessly at this. I will caution anyone who is stepping into Kimbra’s world for the first time that she definitely not for everyone, and that her brief appearance in Gotye’s song does not do justice to the unique sound and experience that is her art. Neophytes would do well to enter this with a very open mind and forget everything they thought they knew about music. If you can get over the quirky and unconventional nuances of her sound and dig into the “experience” that is a Kimbra show, you’ll no doubt be tuned into one of the most promising and remarkable artists present in today’s underground music scene, a true diamond in the rough.
For the rest of us, we’ll content ourselves with that overplayed Gotye song. At least there’s a chorus we can sing along with.
Pop culture overload? Definitely. Funny? Debatable.
SOURCES
Gotye video pic – http://www.lucillezimmerman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Gotye-Somebody-That-I-Used-to-Know-660x469_png_630x469_q85.jpg
Kimbra live show photos courtesy of Justin La Torre
Piano cat meme – https://catmacros.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/piano_cat.jpg
iTunes pic – http://cdn.someecards.com/someecards/filestorage/feel-profound-connection-workplace-ecard-someecards.jpg
LSD cat meme – http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/no-i-havent-seen-your-lsd.jpg
Gotye Kanye meme – http://cdn1.smosh.com/sites/default/files/bloguploads/gotye-funny-kanye-cut-off.jpg
https://halfachicken.com/justinavalon/article/100 Hearing the name “Kimbra” probably won’t register anything of note in your head, unless you actually paid attention to the colorful and trip-tastic video for Gotye’s (one) hit song “Somebody that I Used to Know.” She was the decidedly less-freaky-looking one in this disconcerting still art come to life.
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