My brand new album, The House We Built, is available for pre-order at CDBaby.com. You can purchase it now, and it will ship to you on Tuesday.
You can also hear clips of every song on the new album at mikeschmid.com! Just click on the MEDIA tab.
I am very excited about this incredibly personal project and I would love your support!
Ryan Newman has begun work on the album art and I couldn't be more elated. Did he just get more brain cells than the rest of us?
We returned from our Highway Girl shoot in Vegas earlier this week. Got lots of great footage. While we were there, I wrote the final song for the album on my laptop in my hotel room. I do love technology! When we got home, I just dumped it to my home computer, recorded some vocals and VOILA -- done.
The last two days we've been shooting interviews with some really amazing artists I won't name here (that will be a surprise for when the show launches). Trust me, you like.
More shooting today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and then I'm off to simultaneously edit the show and master my album. Juggling is fun.
I flew in a couple hours ago from New York City (and boy are my arms tired! -- *groan*). Report soon, but for now I leave you with this incredible wall-painted animation discovered by my friend, Aya. Disturbing in parts, but absolutely mind-blowing.
Just like every day, I got ready for the night's show, got all my stuff packed up and left my hotel room for the lobby. I turned in my keycard, and the woman at the front desk said, "I don't think you're checking out today."
Oh.
"And I think a bunch of people in your group just went out to a movie."
Double oh. No show today? Somebody forgot to check his itinerary. Somebody has become hypnotized by the schedule. This is our very first day off. How exciting!
So I moved everything back into my hotel room and decided to explore downtown Omaha. I put on my iPod, and walked the Old Market District to the sounds of Sufjan Stevens (I needed a gentle voice). On the street, I stumbled on the dancers and Charlie (the road manager), and mentioned that I was thinking of checking out a movie. They said they were going to see "30 Days of Night" and said I should join them. They said to meet back up with them in two hours. I said sure, and headed out looking for food.
Now, I knew there was very little chance of us finding each other randomly in downtown Omaha before the movie, but it was fun to pretend. Anyway, I always love a good zombie movie, but I was really feeling the need for intellectual stimulation and, once again, gentleness. So a zombie movie didn't really sound so good anyway.
After eating at a cool spaghetti joint, I called a cab and went to Iowa. Yes. I left the state. But it wasn't that far. I found a multiplex that was entirely empty, apart from the staff, and saw the movie "Michael Clayton," which was fantastic. I needed an art infusion, and this was definitely that. Remarkable performances, a razor-sharp script and tight direction. It's a character movie masquerading as a plot movie. Delicious. I highly recommend it.
Ahhh. It was nice to have a day to myself to relax and remember who I am again.
Today we filmed Buddy's interview and performance for SMtv. I've already mentioned how amazing and soul-stirring his music is, but the wonderful news is he and his manager are both extremely kind and genuine people. I love when that happens. Please check out his music right now. You can thank me later.
Also, an update on the Bioshock and Toys R' Us situation: TRU is being fined $5,000 per copy sold, and they sold many many copies. This is very bad news for them.
Nothing but good news for 2K games right now, as the reviews are coming in all over, and it hasn't received under a 9.4 out of 10 from anyone yet, which is pretty much unprecedented. These are not good reviews, they're absolutely glowing. Check these out:
"This game is a beacon. It's one of those monumental experiences you'll never forget, and the benchmark against which games for years to come will, and indeed must, be measured. There is art here." - IGN
"Bioshock doesn't just meet your expectations, but completely redefines them forever in ways you never even expected. A story that exists and unfolds inside the most convincing, elaborate and artistic game world ever conceived." - Eurogamer
"By the time it ends, you'll likely feel quite different about how you interact with games, and more importantly, how they interact with you. An experience that's richly and utterly complete, and one that engages the player in a constant dialogue." - 1up
"Overwhelmingly original and so mind-blowingly brilliant. Every single aspect of [this] game has been creatively conceived, meticulously crafted and lovingly produced. A one-of-a-kind masterpiece." - GamesRadar
"An unparalleled achievement. No other game comes even remotely close to it in terms of raw emotional connection." - Gamespy
"Bioshock Bioshock Bioshock!!!!" - me
What is Bioshock, you might ask? It's an Xbox360 game. But that's not all, it's an amazingly creative and original work of art that I've been tracking for over a year. Also, it's the "spiritual successor" to System Shock, one of the most incredible and acclaimed games of the 90's.
It takes place in Rapture, a utopian underwater city, built in the 1950's by a genius named Andrew Ryan. He created it as a home to a select group of artists, scientists and industrialists, who could work in peace in a totally idealistic society. He calls it "a city where the artist would not fear the censor; where the great would not be constrained by the small; where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality."
As with any utopian society, it couldn't last. The city was destroyed by the very people chosen to populate it. And the game begins in 1960, with our protagonist on a routine plane flight that crashes into the middle of the ocean. Swimming from the wreckage, he finds himself at the entrance of the now ruined City of Rapture, knowing that going in is the only way out.
The game forces the player to make many moral choices. For instance, there are Little Sisters (not quite real little girls, more like little zombies) who harvest Atom, the city's energy force, from corpses they find. They are protected by Big Daddies, who are huge and have drills for hands (you don't wanna mess with those)! Do you try to take the Atom that the Little Sisters have harvested, and fend for yourself when the Big Daddy comes after you? Do you protect the Little Sister when somebody else tries to steal her Atom? Or do you just leave it all alone to the natural balance of Rapture?
In the words of Andrew Ryan, "If your life were the prize, would you kill the innocent? Would you sacrifice your humanity? We all make our choices, but in the end, our choices make us."
The game finally comes out a week from today! And yes, I'm going to have to take the day off to explore.
2K Games stated that there would be no demo for this game, much to everyone's chagrin. Well, two days ago they surprised everyone by unceremoniously dropping a demo on Xbox Live. And once the news media found out, people all over the country nearly crashed the servers by downloading in droves.
And the demo. Oh, the demo. It is so good. It begins where the game will begin, in the plane crash. The first thing to notice is that it's absolutely gorgeous. The water textures nearly popped my eyes out. I just stared at the ocean for awhile. Second, I noticed that it controls like butter.
Exploring Rapture for myself, for the first time, brought me a sense of wonderment I haven't felt since I was a kid. Water pours in all the cracks, as if the city could wash away at any moment. Old jazz music still plays in the lobby, tattered "Happy New Year 1959" posters are barely hanging from the ceiling. And then it all gets creepy.
I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I'm going to play through the (woefully short - 45 minutes-ish) demo a few more times before release day next week, simply because I want to revisit this amazing world again and again.
See the awesome trailer here.
I can't wait till next Tuesday.
In addition to Sleuth, Michael Haneke is remaking his own film, "Funny Games." The original is a tense classic that makes a very powerful statement. It still holds up extremely well, as it only came out only ten years ago. Now, granted his filmmaking has changed quite a bit in those ten years and I'm sure this version will be different, perhaps better. Also, the last one didn't feature any names, and this one features Naomi Watts, Michael Pitt and Tim Roth.
But I can't imagine, in ten years, completely retreading the entirety of my "High Cost of Living" album. I've already made that statement. It's out there for anyone who wants to hear it. Isn't it time for me to make a new statement?
Why would Michael Haneke, an incredible filmmaker, duplicate his own film? I mean, they're even using a blueprint of the original set to make sure the new one has identical dimensions! The producers have stated they're remaking it shot for shot. (That worked so well when Gus Van Sant did it with Psycho -- booooo). Haneke says, "Localization is required to fully understand the Funny Games experience." Heaven forbid we be exposed to another culture, or get to know some new actors. Why do this? Oh right, money.
I get it, it's the American remake. That wonderful new tradition. Are people really so stupid that they can't watch a ten year old movie from Germany? Read a few subtitles? Oh really, they are? Could they watch an English dub, then? Do we really have to reshoot the entire thing just for these idiots? Oh really, we do? Fantastic.
Why don't we remake Paris Je T'aime already then? And it can take place in Chicago. And the segments will be directed by Brett Ratner and Michael Bay. And no one with an IQ over 15 can get into the theater.
Let's just have a moment of silence for all the terrible American remakes of great foreign films, with watered-down themes and missing subtext:
Open Your Eyes - Vanilla Sky
Spoorloos - The Vanishing
Les Diaboliques - Diabolique
Ringu - The Ring
Shall We Dance
Mostly Martha - No Reservations
Godzilla
Honoguarai Mizu No Soko Kara - Dark Water
Insomnia
Ju-On - The Grudge
And there are so many more. Let us mourn.
They're remaking "Sleuth." Michael Caine is starring in it again, but this time with Jude Law. And this time Michael is playing the older role previously played by Lawrence Olivier. (A strange aside: this is the second Michael Caine film to be remade, the first being "Alfie," with Jude Law in the original Michael Caine role). Harold Pinter's adapting the screenplay and Kenneth Branaugh's directing.
Sounds like a great lineup. But the question remains: why do this? The original was wonderful. And wasn't there already a remake? And wasn't it called "Deathtrap?" And didn't it kinda suck?
These are all people capable of great things, so why not get together and make a great original thing?
All that said, I'll probably go see it. So I guess that answers that.
From time to time, I am fortunate enough to be part of a test audience for an unfinished feature film. I've seen some pretty amazing movies, like "About Schmidt" and "Stranger Than Fiction," and some clunkers, like "Darkness Falls" and "Slither." But if I get to see a movie for free, a year before it comes out, I don't care if it's good or not.
Last night, Samantha Murphy and I went to see an upcoming film called Juno. It stars the ridiculously talented Ellen Page (who caught everyone's attention with her shocking performance in "Hard Candy" last year). She's even better in this, as a high school junior with an unexpected pregnancy. It also stars the hysterical Jason Bateman and Michael Cera (both of Arrested Development), Jennifer Garner, Allison Janney and Rainn Wilson (who's oddly in just one scene). It was directed by Jason Reitman, who also made "Thank You For Smoking," which was one of my favorites last year.
There's no release date set, but it's being released by Fox Searchlight, and you MUST go see it. It's a miracle of a movie. It's like a hug. I enjoyed every single second of it. The tone was special. It reminded me a bit of "Little Miss Sunshine," the combination of edgy dark humor and sweetness, but it was a true original, from the first frame. I can't wait for this film's release, cause I wanna see it again! Keep your eyes open.
Also, next month marks the release of "Superbad." Nic and I saw it back in March and it's hilarious. The trailers make it look mildly amusing but I promise you it's a riot from start to finish. It (just like Juno) features the impossibly funny Michael Cera. It's even better than "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle." Go see it.
Thus ends the movie raving and excess linkage.
I have to admit I'm impressed. My new Mac does everything it said it would, and it hasn't slowed down or so much as hiccupped even once.
Last night, Nicole and I had some fun with the Photo Booth application. Here are some samples.
Trust me, there are a lot more. I thought I'd spare you.
Last night, I went with my dear friends Jen, Rob and Patrick to see David Lynch's "Inland Empire." I'm a huge Lynch fan, and I love every one of his movies. So it didn't really bother me that this one was almost 4 hours, shot on video, and probably didn't make much sense to most people. However, it also didn't make much sense to ME, which is new for a David Lynch film. "Mulholland Drive," while many people wrote it off, I thought was fantastic, extremely coherent, and I absolutely loved it. This? Not so much.
Anyway, that's not the point. I was sitting alone, with six empty seats to my right, when some guy asked if he could sit near me. I said that my friends were going to sit there. He challenged back, "how many seats?" I said "all of them." I knew at least three people were coming, but didn't know how many people they were bringing with them (they usually bring a few friends too). So I figured I should save them all. There were plenty of seats available in the rows in front of me. But he went further back in the theater. It was then brought to my attention (by everyone around me) that the man I just told to go away, was none other than some villain guy on "Lost." Now, I don't watch "Lost," so I don't really care, and I definitely don't think I should have to let him sit near me just cause he's semi-famous.
I think celebrity, in and of itself, is a silly thing to get excited about. One time, I saw Jeremy Piven and Johnny Knoxville at the 101 Cafe, and they just looked like some people who should've showered that morning. If I ever encounter Cameron Diaz, I won't even blink.
However, when I see someone who's art inspires me, someone I respect...I totally geek out. Nicole totally does it too. This happened the time I saw Jon Brion outside Tribune. The two times she saw Aimee Mann outside Starbucks. When she saw Helena Bonham Carter in Venice. And when she saw Mark Ruffalo at The Coffee Bean. We've had some good ones. And in those moments, we become blathering idiots.
Cut to: 10 minutes later. My friends have arrived. They're all seated, (all three of them -- I felt bad, cause Mr. Lost Villain could plainly see from his seat a few rows back that he could've sat in our row), and I have a little celebrity sighting of my own. The geek-out kind. Across the way, I see one of my favorite actresses working today: Tina Holmes.
I whisper/shriek to everyone, "Tina Holmes! Tina Holmes!"
And they're all like, "Who?!"
I say "Over there! You know, Maggie from Six Feet Under?"
"We don't really watch Six Feet Under."
I prod, "She was amazing in Keane? You know?"
Blank stares.
The guy in front of me says, "She was in Half Nelson."
Everybody goes, "Oh, her."
Anyway, she's totally pregnant, and she looks amazing, and she's with her man. And they're advocating that I go up and talk to her.
Here's where I slam on the brakes. I don't accost celebrities. I'm already totally geeking out, like a blathering idiot, and the last thing this poor pregnant woman and her man, who are just waiting to sit in the dark and watch a weird David Lynch home movie, need to experience.
What would I say anyway? "Hi Tina, you don't know me, but I just love your work...blah blah blah, cliche cliche, I just wanted to waste a little of your time, and make you hate going out in public even more! How'd I do?"
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