Week of 2006-12-30 17:00 to 2007-01-06 16:59

I’ll admit it: I am a sucker for bombastic rock ‘n’ roll. Give me a “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Cherub Rock” or “November Rain” any day, and the goosebumps will start cascading up and down my arms while I lift them triumphantly in the air during the loud parts.

Ahem.

I am also a sucker for the pseudo-historical trappings of Steampunk and Goth, whether thought-provoking literature, simple style, movies, or music.

Not that I wander around in a top hat and waistcoat muttering about the economic situation on the Subcontinent, much less sit in the dark burning black candles, but I think it’s a cool subculture.

Taking those two pieces of information about me, you can probably guess what I think of the song and video for “The Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance.

One of my resolutions this year is to follow through on the writerly exhortations from Ray Bradbury et al. to, if I wish to be a writer, Read and Write every day.

Speaking of Ray Bradbury, an episode of the Twilight Zone that he wrote (“I sing the body electric”) appeared in the midst of the overnight TZ marathon on SciFi (of which we watched a bunch; so cool). Based on his short story of the same name, naturally, and even if I hadn’t seen the credits at the beginning, I suspect I would have figured out the connection soon enough — it had all the trappings, and finding the soul in the machine as its main focus.

The actress who played the younger Anne was Veronica Cartwright, who went on to a long career (still going), including a roles in The Birds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the original Alien. Bit more trivia: Cartwright was originally brought on to play Ellen Ripley, but Ridley Scott switched her with Sigourney Weaver.

Last night, Denyse thought it was the girl who played the daughter on Lost In Space, but that was actually Veronica’s sister, Angela Cartwright, who was also in Sound of Music.

Small world all around. :)

Oh, and Angela has a blog: Said & Done. She mentions having done an interview last month along with Bill Mumy (the boy on Lost in Space) about being on television in the black and white years. She also links to Mumy’s website in her sidebar.

Mumy has been in a ton of television shows over the years, a lot of them in the SF vein. And on his bio page, near the bottom, he mentions that he “has recently completed co-writing a fantasy novel with Angela Cartwright.”

So the post comes full circle: Read and Write. Repeat.

“The Tyranny of Matter” by Scribe Machine, from their 2004 album Isolation Loop.

This is an artist I first heard about in the heyday of MP3.com, circa 1999 or 2000. The first song of theirs I remember hearing was “Monolith - Daisy in Space Dub” — a slow techno jam with samples from 2001, which naturally endeared me to them immediately.

“The Tyranny of Matter”, along with a few other songs of that era (remixed or reconstituted) are on Isolation Loop — original title, I believe, “The Tyranny of Matter-Science”. And it looks as if they’ve had a couple of albums out in the interim, so I’d highly recommend giving them a listen if you’re of the techno persuasion.

• Scribe Machine official site

Now here’s a protest movement I would unreservedly endorse:

BBC: “French marchers say ‘non’ to 2007”

Hundreds of protesters in France have rung in the New Year by holding a light-hearted march against it.

Parodying the French readiness to say “non”, the demonstrators in the western city of Nantes waved banners reading: “No to 2007” and “Now is better!”

The marchers called on governments and the UN to stop time’s “mad race” and declare a moratorium on the future.

It’s about time someone stood up to the timeists and watchistas!

According to iTunes, the last song I listened to in 2006 was “More Bounce To The Ounce” by Zapp and Roger, a big hit from 1980 co-produced by Bootsy Collins.

Zapp was founded by four brothers — Larry, Lester, Roger, and Terry Troutman — and a collection of other musicians. Roger, the lead singer, also recorded as a solo musician under his first name and was a master of the electronic Talk Box, lending a distinctive robotic sound. The band’s unique mix of funk, R&B, dance, and electronica was widely sampled in later years by numerous hip hop and rap musicians.

In April 1999, Larry Troutman reportedly fatally shot Roger, then killed himself, due to a long-running dispute over finances and other issues. A tragic end to an influential partnership.

• Zapp and Roger Troutman articles on Wikipedia
• SF Weekly story on the deaths of the two brothers