Comments on: Episode 33: Oscar Predictions Across Alternate Universes

By: Matthew Belinkie

Matthew Belinkie — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:47:38 +0000

@Fenzel – Nice call, predicting Rourke would get snubbed. You didn’t predict who he’d get snubbed FOR, but still, way to buck conventional wisdom.

@Gab – I rented Vexille a while back after seeing it advertised on this blog. Not bad. Kinda neat. Not ready for another one quite yet.

By: Gab

Gab — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:08:18 +0000

Only almost, Belinkie?

By: Matthew Belinkie

Matthew Belinkie — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:21:33 +0000

I’m sure Wall-E will win for Best Animated. However, I’d just like to say that Kung Fu Panda is a great little flick. I’ve got a three-year-old, and we’re both big fans. Computer-animated martial arts is actually damn cool – it’s exaggerated and stylized, like Crouching Tiger. Watching these hyper-choreographed epic battles is almost enough to make me rent some anime.

And it gets a lot of bonus points from me for casting David Cross.

By: Equinspire

Equinspire — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:51:12 +0000

For some reason I expected one of you to mention that Isla Fisher is engaged to Sacha Baron Cohen… the future “Mrs Borat” if you will. I suppose she’s not as well known in parts of the world that don’t get Australian TV shows. Aussies just know her because she used to be on a soap opera here.

From what I’ve seen in interviews she’s smart and funny as well as being attractive, so I’m surprised her movie career hasn’t taken off more than it has. Not sure this shopaholic movie is going to improve anything for her though…

I just realised I haven’t seen a single Oscar nominated film… that’s pretty bad. I’ve been meaning to see Slumdog for a while but I’ll probably have to catch it on DVD now. Oops.

PS. Loving the podcast :)

By: lee

lee — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:38:08 +0000

“…The monstrousness of the ballad depends on the singer’s persona.”

In other words, monster ballads are sung by monstrous, hairy white guys who normally sing metal/hard rock: Winger, Guns N Roses, Aerosmith, Warrant, Poison, etc. Prince is not a monstrous, hairy white guy; he’s a svelte, stylish black dude.

Re: K-Pop, It’s interesting that you brought up K-Pop and Justin Timberlake; the reality is that Justin Timberlake can’t do K-Pop because a lot of K-Pop is derivative of Justin Timberlake and American R&B writ large. Which in turn is derivative of Stephen Colbert’s influential K-Pop styling:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21oen_korean-video-parody_people

By: stokes

stokes — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:10:42 +0000

I’m guessing Rob is right… if we looked hard enough, we’d probably find at least ONE. Probably several. But that doesn’t take away from the more basic point, which is that the monstrousness of the ballad depends on the singer’s persona. (That race plays a big part in our concept of an entertainer’s persona is unfortunate, but not particularly surprising.)

Purple Rain is the *perfect* test case. I mean, musically, it SHOULD be a monster ballad. Listen to that reverbed snare drum hit! Those synth strings. And yet, when I do the Potter Stewart on it (that’s the “I know obscenity when I see it” guy), it’s NOT a monster ballad. Would I feel the same way if I didn’t know that Prince was singing it? Impossible to tell.

There are probably some other pop music genres where an operation of this kind goes on. For instance, while it is possible to talk about the musical qualities of “J-Pop” and “K-Pop” and “Canto-Pop” and so on, I don’t know that it would be possible for Justin Timberlake to write a song in this style, unless he used lyrics in Japanese/Korean/Cantonese. We’d just experience it as an American pop song, wouldn’t we?

By: fenzel

fenzel — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:33:57 +0000

I think “Purple Rain” is the test case that really brings our point on the podcast to the fore – that the “Monster” in “Monster Ballad” is as much the monster singing it as the song itself.

If “Purple Rain” were sung by Whitesnake, it would be a ridiculous monster ballad. And it wouldn’t have to be _that_ different – although because of the persona of the singer (which is very present in these sorts of songs), there would be subtle differences in interpretation that would make it quite the Monster Ballad indeed.

But it isn’t sung by Whitesnake, it’s sung by Prince.

And, by Prince, it has a totally different character – a different “feel” to it. I wouldn’t say it’s a Monster Ballad at all. It’s a power ballad, I guess, but even that definition feels off. It’s certainly a ballad, though.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:35:47 +0000

Is it possible to have a “Monster Ballad Without Words”?
If so, then surely the archetype is Yngwie Malmsteen’s Concerto Suite in E-flat minor for Electric Guitar and Orchestra, and a close second is Metallica’s “Call of Ktulu” (more monster, but less ballad).

Meanwhile, I am sure that there must be at least one “monster ballad” written by a black artist. Between Prince and Lenny Kravitz and Darius Rucker, surely there’s at least *one* example…

By: jhc

jhc — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:52:50 +0000

dear mark,my favorite podcast moderator. you seem to be a bit pessimistic about the whole oscar thing. what’s up with that? Is it because the ben button movie gets nomination for every single category? i hear you….

but over all, i enjoyed listening to your podcast again as always. i am your faithful listener.
thanks guys.

By: MIke from LA

MIke from LA — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:45:51 +0000

In my alternate universe, the Dark Knight wins best picture.