Complicated Viking's Top Five Films of 2010

1. The Kids Are Alright

A perfect title for a perfect film: truly heartbreaking and heartwarming. Also, hilarious.

2. Toy Story 3

Again: generation-defining, animated prison breakout movie with babydoll Leatherface.

3. The Social Network

Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher, Jesse Eisenberg: the dream team, the dream movie.

4. The King's Speech (please ignore clip if seeing film in the next month)

An extremely-likable film of personal triumph: never bores, always entertains.

5. 127 Hours

An instantly enthralling movie that works the material like a high-class commercial.

And that's all folks. Here's to another great year.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Smith Westerns - Imagine, Pt. 3)

Wavves on the Best Coast: Cali-fuse Couple

Wavves and Best Coast are dating, or maybe I should say Bethany Cosentino and Nathan Williams are dating, but really, they're the leaders of their bands, right? So, Best Coast and Wavves are dating and did a Christmas song together. Good gracious, it's just kind of adorable, kind of like, Snacks, Cosentino's cat, who has a fucking twitter.


There's a whole star-crossed, Californian lovers angle to all this. Both Cosentino and Williams are from Cali, they both toke up, they both had albums come out last year and both those albums had cats on them, and both their albums got an 8.4 on Pitchfork. God, I hope they don't die in each other's arms, or at least not for, like, fifty years.

Bethany Cosentino stealthily rose to be one of my favorite people of 2010. First, I was all, "whoa, super cool, lovelorn beach music." Then, I was all, "oh gee, she's got a raw-ass, hilarious twitter and she likes iCarly." Then I finally listened to Wavves, and was like, "dude's on point." Then I found Williams's twitter which is just as, if not more, amusing.

Bethany Cosentino is the female Kanye West of Twitter. She's raw ("Oh I hate Katy Perry so much, you do not represent California girls, bitch."), slightly vulnerable ("Watching icarly, missing @wavveswavves"), and almost always entertaining ("Nevermind I found my sweater! And I will never drink four loko again! Recipe for disaster!"). And so is Nathan Williams. I would say he's the white, weedy, version of Kanye, but now it's feels somewhat belittling constantly comparing one person to another. They're all relentless entertaining individuals, pitching their thoughts strait with no filters. Williams, also has got me really wanting to play Fifa 2011 (the soccer game).

SNACKS WILL DEVOUR KITTY PURRY

Another example, take Williams, who was arrested in Germany a couple months back. This was his press release:

"We got stopped at a roadside check and I had six bags in the car and they only found one-- the fucking dogs never work. I bet it's high from all the fumes. Anyways, they put me in a cell which was a little nerve-wracking. More so because I was an American in a German jail and not because I have long gay hair. I did wrestle for four years in high school, so I could have fucked somebody up. So yeah, then I gave em €200 and walked out... not a terrible deal. And now I'm getting high again."

See, totally raw, hilarious entertainment.

There's this secret, evil-side to me though, that secretly hopes that they get blissfully married in a year or so and release a joint album of awesome, weed positivity, but then, one ugly year after that, they get bitterly divorced and then they'll both make super-depressing break-up albums. And, as some know, depression fuels some of the best bands/albums ever i.e. Joy Division, The Smiths, etc. It'd be amazing, right? I'm seeking help.
 
Back to entertainment aspect of all this though, how engaging would a reality series on those two be? Just let the cameras follow them around. Like, Wavves / Best Coast just had a four day stint in Vegas. They were gambling, ordering room service, yelling at each other for winning. Reality TV could actually be good. MTV PAY ATTENTION TO THIS: there's the actual the possibliltity to create reality programming that has entertaining, music involvement. Though, there is the whole Wavves and Best Coast actually agreeing to participate in this programming, which seems slim, but one can hope, right? Maybe a mini-series at least? On PBS? I can and will dream about this.

Anyway, Best Coast & Wavves, they rip it up. PLEASE COME BACK TO STL GUYS.

You can find Nathan Williams aka Wavves at @wavveswavves.



You can find Bethony Costello aka Best Coast at @bestycoastyy.



Joel Samson Berntsen (King of the Beach - Wavves)

Daniel Radcliffe and the Burgeoning Career

My sole experience with Harry Potter is the Harry Potter movies, and I’m totally ok with that as long as there are still Harry Potter movies coming out. I mean, I’d rather watch the films subjectively as films rather than having to compare them to the books. The problem with this is that I find that my liking of the movies pretty much depends on how much specific characters show up.  I love the Harry Potter for the three following reasons.

1.       Alan Rickman

2.       Gary Oldman

3.       Emma Watson

But mostly just the first two reasons: I will never be satisfied with the amount of screen-time Snape or Sirius Black gets, especially now that Sirius up and got murdered by his bitch cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, which, on a related note, I should say I don't really care if Voldemort is defeated in the final movie; I just want to see Bellatrix wiped off the face of the fucking earth in the bloodiest way possible. Watson I mostly just like cause she looks cute and has smart costume design. 

So, what about Harry Potter? Y’know, the title character of the entire series? Well, he’s alright. I like him enough that I’m interested in what’s happening, but Radcliffe is far more interesting to me as a future actor than as Harry. I can’t wait for his next batch of movies because he’s proven time and time again that he’s not afraid to try new things. Example number one: Extras

Example two: He did horse porn. And by horse porn I mean he posed naked with horses. Stemming from an acclaimed role as a stable boy in Equus in which he briefly appeared naked with horses, Radcliffe agreed to pose for an Anne Liebovitz book named Nude. Did this have a negative impact on his career? Not at all. He’s Harry freaking Potter and he posed stark naked with a horse for the sake of art? Somebody give that man a medal. He had the audacity to risk public disgrace and ridicule for art. That takes some balls (no pun intended). What other cards does Radcliffe have up his sleeve? For all we know, he could be the next Dennis Hopper just waiting for the next David Lynch to cast him as that deranged, pimp monster with mommy issues.  

Werewolves ain't got shit on Radcliffe.

Example three: as mentioned earlier, he’s appeared on stage, but I didn't mention that one of those plays was The Play That I Wrote directed by the almost always wonderful Kenneth Branagh (one of the better things my parents introduced me to). I’m impressed by anyone who can do stage work, but  the fact that he went on to take on more challenging roles (i.e. horse obsessed stable boy) makes Radcliffe even more impressive. Plus, a play directed by Branagh? That’s gold for just about anyone.

The list goes on and on… He spent sixth months working on an Australian accent for a movie he joined specifically because he wanted just a supporting role in a movie. For sweet’s sake, his favorite band is The Hold Steady, a band that played mostly drunk in Columbia, Missouri just a couple of weeks ago. Prepare yourself, world, Harry's gonna take over, and it's hopefully going to be awesome, or at least moderately entertaining and enlightening.    

Joel Samson Berntsen (Kim & Jesse - M83)

The Year in Review: A Complicated Viking Tale...'s 2010 Music Lists of Lisztomania

Top 10 Albums of the 2010 (according to me)

10. The New Pornographers - Together
9. Vampire Weekend - Contra
8. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 
7. Robyn – Body Talk
6. Best Coast – Crazy For You
5. Sleigh Bells – Treats
4. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is It  
2. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Noted albums I have not listened to: Drake - Thank Me Later, Joanna Newson - Have One On Me, Girls - Broken Dreams Club EP, Wavves - King Of The Beach The Walkman - Lisbon, or Deerhunter - Halycon Digest. Forgive Me.

My 30 Favorite Songs of 2010

I'm New Here: also the winner of Best Album Design.

I'm going to try to add more as the week goes on as to why I've picked these songs, but for now I'm just trying to get my official list out there before before music juggernaut Pitchfork publishes their best songs of 2010 list. Here's mine...

30. Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons
29.  Need You Know - Lady Antebellum

28. Bottled In Cork - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

27. Written In Reverse - Spoon  

26. Dancing On My Own - Robyn
25. I Feel Better - Hot Chip

24. Zebra - Beach House    

23. Beverly Kills - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti  

22. U Should Know Better - Robyn (Feat. Snoop Dogg)

21. Not In Love - Crystal Castles (Feat. Robert Smith)
20. Cousins - Vampire Weekend
19. Janelle Monáe (Feat. Big Boi) – “Tightrope”
18. Only Girl (In The World) - Rihanna

17. Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem

16. DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again - Usher
15. In The Sun - She & Him
14. Fever Dreaming - No Age
13. Weekend - Smith Westerns 

12. We Used To Wait - Arcade Fire  

11. Afraid of Everyone - The National  

10. Hell Of A Life - Kanye West

There's a weird moment when hearing a track for the first time when there's an "oh maaaaann this is amazing" moment, and then the chorus comes in with "no more drugs for me / pussy and religion is all I need" and then Hell Of A Life becames one of the top songs of the year. And it just gets better with each listen. The beat, the song, Kanye West... I think I just fell in love with a Superstar.

9. Shutterbugg - Big Boi
8. O.N.E. - Yeasayer

7. Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells

6. Boyfriend - Best Coast

5. Hang With Me (acoustic) - Robyn
4. Round and Round - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
3. Dance Yrself Clean - LCD Soundsystem
2. Runaway - Kanye West 

Without a doubt I believe that Runwaway is the most important song of 2010, and on top of it being the most important it's also totally fucking awesome. It's an anthem of redemption, and it's an anthem for anyone who's ever fucked up. The fact that the full version is nine minutes long doesn't even bother me. It's one of those songs that applies to pretty much everyone, but still feels deeply personal every time it pops on.

1. I'm New Here - Gil Scott Heron

Never in my life have I had such a personal reaction to song. It's my favorite song of 2010 because it's the most personal song of 2010, at least to me it is. It's not the "applies to almost everyone song" that like Runwaway; it's a song that feels like it was written to me. The first time I listened the it I almost cried. The second time I did cry. It's that rare instance when a song gathers so much meaning over your life that it's scary, and in three minutes and thirty-three freaking seconds. What more can I say? I cried. The End. 

Joel Samson Berntsen (Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Smiths)

Guitarist Johnny Marr Repudiates British Prime Minister's Right To Enjoy The Smiths

British Prime Minister David Cameron apparently loves The Smiths, and Modest Mouse, and Johnny Marr. From the various heated responses to this news it seems like it's something similar to if Glenn Beck said he liked Radiohead.

Hopefully, he's better than Beck, but I have no head for politics, so I'm not even going to head in that direction. 

But it does seem like Cameron has decent taste, at least according to this brief anecdote from Neil McCormick (via The Telegraph): "When I ran into David Cameron at the BBC once, I asked him what was the last CD he bought. Without a moment’s hesitation, he named a new album from an obscure American band called Modest Mouse, who had been working with Morrissey’s old Smiths’ collaborator Johnny Marr (who played every date on Red Wedge’s original tour). I am not sure what credibility it gives him to tackle global economic meltdown, but he is certainly the hippest party leader."

As Jack Torrance would say "Heeere's Johnny!"

I don't know what's weirder, a musically hip politician or the fact that Modest Mouse is "an obscure American band". 

Johnny Marr's reacted on his twitter saying "David Cameron, stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don't. I forbid you to like it." Hilarious.

Cameron said at an earlier date, in response to the news of his Smiths love  “I’m sure when Morrissey finds that he’s getting an endorsement from the leader of the Conservative Party, he will think ‘Heaven knows I’m miserable now’. But I’m a big fan, I’m afraid. Sorry about that.”

Well, no real conclusions from this except I really enjoy British music, my parents really enjoy British Television, and David Cameron really enjoys Johhny Marr, as does composer Hans Zimmer who tapped Marr to play guitar for the Inception soundtrack. Actually, real conclusion: Johnny Marr is the secret ingredient that helps ignite moments of creative genius i.e. The Queen is Dead, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, and The Inception Soundtrack. Cheers, Johnny.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Objects Of My Affection - Peter Bjorn & John)

Glee-fully Oblivious: The Bad Riddle of Glee

Glee. It's getting hard to ignore.

It seems I might be late for the topic, or at least the party, but really I was the first one there. I just realized my driver took me to the wrong address.

Preferences aside, the show's been making some big waves lately, and it's kinda confusing. On one hand, the show's been generating a lot of  "positive" press around the episode "Never Been Kissed" and it's confrontation of Bullies. On the other hand, the show's been generating a lot of "negative" press around the "photo scandal" in the last issue of GQ.

It's polarizing, but helps illustrates the enigma of Glee. Glee has undeniably awesome moments: some of the dance numbers, Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), and just little quirky movements like when we're told that macho, jock Puck eats TV dinner with his single mom and watches Schindler's List every Wednesday night. But the rest of the show, in my opinion, is a muck of uninspiring storylines, stereotypes, and gimmicks.

I want to peg the show as a safe, moral heavy programming preaching the values of diversity to the teens of America, but I can't. I can't because there is too much random, "inappropriate" crap thrown at the viewer: pot-laced brownies, premature ejaculation, scissoring references, and how internet porn changed how women view guys.

"I didn't want to do a family show," said Glee creator Ryan Murphy. "I wanted to do my version of a family show. But we try to be as responsible as we can, because we know some young people watch. Some of the humor goes over their head, hopefully." Wait, what?

Glee puts on a good act of posing as the model show for American teens, it's central audience, by preaching about societal norms and stereotypes. It looks good to say, it's wrong to bully people because they're different than you. And I fully believe and support that belief, but I don't believe the show does, or at least it's audience. 

The main people I know who watch the show are: 1) girls, who like popular songs and hot guys; 2) gay men, who also like popular songs and hot guys, but who also enjoy the subtext that being gay is okay.

Most of the comments I've heard from teenage girls either revolve around the how hot a guy is, the relationships, or... the songs. But mostly just how hot the guys are. I've never heard any comments whatsoever about how the latest episode of Glee really helped change Sara's mind about the whole verbally-degrading Margret-thing. Truth be told, teenage girls are some of the most discriminating people I've ever met.

Shows have to maintain their audiences, and for Glee to keep their audience hooked (teenage girls and gay men), they have to continue catering to those specific demographics. This means more top 40 tunes, more shirtless guys, more gay. There's a reason why the first episode of bully-centered conflict themed episodes  was centered around Kurt, the central gay man from Glee Club.   

So it's a little odd when GQ, a magazine directed towards strait men, does an article called "Glee Gone Wild" and conducts a photo shoot where Lea Michele and Dianna Agron, the two main female leads of Glee, show off panties, bras, and catholic school-girl skirts. Oh, Cory Monteith is featured too, but he's dressed from head to toe. Somewhat understandably, parents and others are "enraged" by the shoot.

The Parent’s Television Council president Tim Winter responded with the following: “It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on Glee in this way. It borders on pedophilia. Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment."

It strikes me as hypocritical that Monteith is completely clothed, but when the main audience is adult men, it's hard not do focus on the target audience. Sound familiar?

Glee is a slave to their audience. GQ is a slave to their audience.We're all slaves to our "audiences".  They support us, and they love us, but they have specific image of how we need to act and what pleases them. This in itself restricts creativity. If the audience is maintained, why risk change?

This is why the main reason why Glee is stifling to me. They're doesn't seem to be any major effort to make any potentially, risky moves. It's the same storylines, the same conflicts, the same reltionships. They're just rebranded.

"I hate Rachelle now. She went back in time," said a friend of mine recently. "She's just like she was at the beginning of the first season."

I liked the photo-shoot. Lea Michelle and Diana Agron used sex appeal to promote Glee, but more importantly themselves. As Ryan Murphy responded to the photoshoot saying "That photo shoot was not about the show. It was about the individuals in the show. They were actors, off the set, being personalities."

For me, that's a huge relief. Lea Michelle was in the original Broadway Spring Awakening. She's got talent. I can't wait for her to do other work besides Glee. The same goes for Agron, especially after discovering her response to the whole photo ordeal on her tumblr.

"For GQ, they asked us to play very heightened versions of our school characters. A 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' version. At the time, it wasn't my favorite idea, but I did not walk away. I must say, I am trying to live my life with a sharpie marker approach. You can't erase the strokes you've made, but each step is much bolder and more deliberate. I'm moving forward from this one, and after today, putting it to rest. I am only myself, I can only be me."

I'm very appreciative of that last line, and that she explains her actions, but still endorses and defends her actions. Upon exploring her tumblr further, Agron gets even better: Tom Waits videos, Wayne Coyne rolling over audiences, Christoper Walken, and she regularly makes playlists like this:

1. The Whitest Boy Alive - Burning
2. Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream
3. Ray Charles - What’d I Say
4. Chairlift - Bruises
5. LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean
6. The Kooks - Naive
7. The Virgins - Rich Girls
8. The Black Keys - Tighten Up
9. Phoenix - Armistice (Yacht Remix)
10. The XX - Islands
11. Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

A girl after my own heart.

Moral of the story: I don't like Glee; it's a bad riddle of content, but I do like the people on the show and I do enjoy an occasional risque photoshoot with famous women. 

Bonus Track:  Paul_Dini on twitter: "So the GLEE kids all sing & dance flawlessly yet are supposed to be losers. What race of atomic supermen is their competition?

Joel Samson Berntsen (I'll Be Your Mirror - The Velvet Underground)

We Are All Andy: Toy Story 3 & Class 2010 Plus: Animated Daycare Prison Break-outs

"Mom, can't I blog about connecting with thousands of teenagers before I clean out my room?"

Toy Story 3 marks a movie experience that will never be replicated for the people of my exact age ever again.

What I mean by people of my exact age is people who belong to the class 2010. People who graduated from high school in spring 2010 and that were entering college for the first time. The central story of Toy Story 3 is about Andy going to college for the first time, and the main majority of my peers in the class of 2010 were gearing up to do the exact same thing.

We, class 2010 millennials, were in the exact same situation as the main character of the number one animated movie of all time. We completely identified with Andy. We were all the same age. We were all going to college. We were all having to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters, clean our rooms, throw out old stuff, and dealing with gettting older.

"It's so sad" and "I cried so much" were phrases I heard from almost anybody that saw the film. Well, I heard those phrases mostly from girls, but still, regardless of gender everyone I know my age identified with the film on some level. A movie of that magnitude, one of the most anticipated sequels to the films that we grew up on, defined us as a generation, our generation: we all were the main character, we were all Andy. Really, we were. Everything fit, we all felt the same.

This will never happen in such a specific way ever again. Sure, we might identify with a father or mother figure in a movie in twenty years ago because that guy or girl is going through the same tough life issues we are, but nothing on such a universal level like this will ever happen again.

I'm so amazed I was part of something so big. It makes me want cry. It almost made me cry in theaters, but my girlfriend was there though, so, y'know, I just kept my tears in my eyes.

Let's Get All Steve McQueen in this Joint

Moving apart from the once-in-a-lifetime part of Toy Story 3, I'm going to talk very shortly about why I love the film so much: the main, physical conflict in the film is a prison-breakout story. Woody's gotta bust his pals outta da' joint. It's even got the classic character of the worn-out oldie who knows all the prison tricks, who decides to give Woody the low-down on the prison in hopes of achieving some sort of self redemption.

It's almost always awesome to see a good 'ol prison breakout, and when Pixar's crafting the details, it's better than an afternoon of old Steve McQueen movies. Who wouldn't want to see Woody stealthily slinking about a prison daycare breaking out his pals?

Also, the giant one-eyed baby doll, Big Baby, pretty much serves as the Leatherface of Pixar: it does whatever Lotso (that pink-bear, gangster overlord) wants it do, it's not the brightest toy in the bunch, it's damaged goods, and it's undeniably freaky. I've overheard moms complain about how their children were scared of that baby. That's because it's the modern incarnation of Leatherface. 

In conclusion, I love Toy Story 3. It's rad.

Joel Samson Berntsen (Aquemini - OutKast) 

Cool Guys, Cool Suits: Revisiting Inception

It's like if Alfred Hitchcock directed Inception!

I was oddly harsh on Inception the first time I watched. I liked it, but I had all these crazy expectations for the film and when it didn't fulfill all of them, I left feeling somewhat disappointed. So, it's weird when, after just watching a restyling of a trailer, that my opinion of the entire movie has changed. Sure it's just flashing all the cool parts of the film, but still, after reflecting on the highlights in retrospect, it's a pretty damn cool movie, even if Leonardo DiCaprio is in it. I'm also oddly harsh on Leo. I don't know why exactly.  I really hated Shutter Island. That may be why... I should consult Freud.

Also, everybody runs around in fancy, expensive-looking suits. Suits make just about anything look cool.Why do businessmen dress in suits? It's because they want to look cool all the time.

It's actually more of a red-brown color.

On another related note, I really like Joseph Gordon-Levitt's red leather jacket in Inception. There seems to be a reoccurring theme of me liking red clothing items lately. Maybe it's a fashion trend. And I mean fashion trend on a global level  more than a personal one. Like maybe Italian Vogue announced that this year's color was red. It could happen.

Lastly, my favorite scene from Inception! It's just like a five second scene, but when Joseph Gordon-Levitt kisses Ellen Page in the corporate lobby:  Arthur: Quick, give me a kiss! [She kisses him and then looks around] Ariadne: They're still looking at us. Arthur: Yeah, it's worth a shot. There's an intimacy to that scene. It's sweet, and it sticks in my mind.


 And I think we'll end this one with another video, on a slightly funnier note:



Joel Samson Berntsen (My Sharona - The Knacks)