Andy Soukal's Cultural Influences, via Twitter

Andy Soukal Cultural Influences, via Twitter

As of 5/24/10, updated Saturday nights, EST. No substantive updates recorded for 1/02-30/10, or 2/14-3/05/10.
List closed: 5/24/10

( list underneath here )

Listmaking notes and observations, extended TYV edition, 12/29/09

Ryan: Had a sudden burst of chatter with Alex Greenwald on a variety of topics, including the delusions of grandeur of Bono and Chris Martin; had a fire in his fireplace; shared a link to some truly hilarious professional fishing bloopers; watched Home Alone 2, at least one episode of Jersey Shore, a SNL skit, and Avatar; as previously mentioned, was horrified by a baby in Ed Hardy gear; discovered that only strip clubs and liquor stores are open in LA at Christmas; interrupted Greenwald's most tiresome Twitter stunt yet (a retweet war with another friend) to tell him to STFU; went to a dinner party, possibly a Michael Runion show and possibly also an actual Phoenix afterparty; and referenced music by Adam Sandler, Scott Walker and Will Smith; expressed a desire for two vaguely terrifying parody items by Tim & Eric; and finally, some dude at a Fatburger told him he looked like the guy from Freecreditreport.com.

Jon: Changed his icon twice (once to a 4 portrait collage colorwashed Andy Warhol-style, once to a distorted fun-house image of his face); unfollowed Zack, Brendon and Spencer; went to Medieval Times; shared several pictures of his pets in his bed and in the snow; watched a truly epic (and exhausting, for the listkeeper) number of Christmas movies and/or specials, including the White House one; played some Scrabble; shared and/or referenced some Silverchair, Sam Cooke, Fleetwood Mac and Bill Evans (jazz piano); had mimosas and cookies for breakfast then went to a cookie party; watched some silly YouTube videos; thought Jim Carrey's tweets were weird; and wished a fan a happy birthday. (Seriously, JWalk + Christmas specials = Out. Of. Control. That is WAY too much Christmas in a small space. Or else my heart, like the Grinch's, is three sizes too small.)

Nick: Added his blog URL to his profile (http://nickmurray.tumblr.com/) and removed previous band affiliations; had a bunch of exchanges with fans (evidently he's joining the ranks of chatty drummers); mentioned 14 songs, including works by Beach House, George Harrison, Elvis Presley, The Who, Roy Tyson, The Horrors, Grizzly Bear, and Crooked Cowboy and the Freshwater Indians; noted the occurance of the Winter Solstice and the passing of Brittany Murphy; attended shows by Black Apples and Foreign Born; watched a meteor shower and encountered a grilled cheese truck (not at the same time); shared a video comprised solely of blue skies over Illinois; watched The Cove, quoted Woody Allen, and also mentioned he (Nick) was the music supervisor on an award-winning film. There were also some neat pictures of the LA skyline; there's more located in (on?) his blog. He seems to like to take pictures of skylines, treelines, and his feet. There are some other pictures that may or may not be his, I really can't tell.

Andy: Wasn't very talkative; sparked up to link a fan to the Republic of Lights website, agree that Silverchair is excellent, link to a violin cover of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley (it is AMAZING) and also link a recording of David Lee Roth doing "Runnin' with the Devil" acapella.

Final note: I am, as of right now, taking Ryan and Jon's Twitter announcement about Nick and Andy as a formal announcement of new band members. They haven't updated the band's MySpace since early-mid November (!) and Twitter seems to be their main form of "official" communication. Also Nick (and possibly Andy) is referring to his other bands as "old" bands, which I am taking to mean he is not with them anymore.

Listmaking notes and observations, extended Panic! edition, 12/29/09

Brendon: Verified his Twitter account; came to New York for terrible tequila & Steve Aoki, and also to hang out with Pete Wentz and the dudes from fun.; got into a scuffle or a near-scuffle in the Meatpacking District but emerged unscathed; may have watched attended a performance of Wicked; traded lines to a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony song with Keith Buckley and quoted line from "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah"; watched a bunch of movies, including Mission: Impossible, My Fair Lady and part of Dreamscape; wondered how Tyler Perry has successful movies and tv shows; may have had breakfast at swingers (LA restaurant); as previously noted was a nerdy hotsauce in his new glasses in front of a Wes Anderson Tribute Wall (as determined by untappedbeauty, whose eyes are much sharper than mine); desired a painting of Jack Nicholson by Sebastian Kruger (he misspelled it as "Krueger"); wished everyone a happy Chrismukkah and Festivus; and reacted, somewhat obliquely, to the passing of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan of Avenged Sevenfold, in the sense that he responded to an anxious fan's request that he not die by promising not to die. I think he may also be playing a running game of Circles/Floaters with Zack and they keep trading opportunities to punch each other.

Spencer: Appeared in at least one of Brendon's pictures from New York, and verified his own Twitter account, but appears to still be on Twitter-vacation. Hopefully he will come back to us after the holidays.

Listmaking notes and observations, slightly tardy extended Travie edition, 12/30/09

Came back to NYC briefly and attempted to take in a Cage show; shared some pictures of clothing/stickers from lines made by his friends (Rebel 8 and Boot Camp); shared another picture of himself plus Nappy Boy labelmates in their Nappy Boy bling (he + one other dude have small!bling, the others have massive!bling, because he's not into gaudy (he said "gawky"?) necklaces); an artist called Matty Undead gave his "big brother" Stress a painting/artwork that may or may not be a depiction of Travie himself; he mentioned an MTV Unbeaten Track Times Square promotion; was kind of freaked out by an old picture of Eazy-E taken by Ricky Powell (there was a "tombstone" notice for Dr. Dre in the photo); had a great first solo show in Brooklyn; spent some quality time with puppies while wearing a Snuggie (I dare y'all to find a MORE adorable picture than Travie with a lapful of dogs, wearing a gigantic pink blanket) and watched some probably terrible TV (Steven Seagal: Lawman, or as he called it, Steven Seagal Deputy of the Law); mentioned that his blog/life is under construction, and finished off with an exchange with a fan about "mean mugging" them in an airport.

(no subject)

A few more from the primary source heap:

1. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley: I probably went through it a little fast; it's not a big book, but the language is dense, and evidently I've lost my tolerance for that heavy kind of prose. Also, you guys, for all of the jacket and preface fluttering about "mounting horror" and whatever, I really just thought it was kind of full of LULZ. I mean, the doctor makes this Terrible Monster (out of corpse parts, lets us not mess around, that's what he's doing) and then brings it to life and it is SCARY and then he runs away and has a fit, and when he comes back, the monster is magically gone! His response: *\o/*. He doesn't seem to grasp that he has any kind of responsibility towards the monster at all, or that having a reanimated corpse on the loose might be a PROBLEM of any kind. Which I guess is the point of the story, but the more I read, the more I was like, WTF is WRONG with you, dumbass? Also, what is this with all of the crying? Seriously, tears gushing everywhere. (See also: my reduced tolerance for that kind of gothic novel.) If anything I wanted more of the ship's captain's story. Less weeping, more sailing adventures!

Aside from all of that, though, it was interesting in the context of larger themes, namely monsters and monstrousness and the making of monsters, which, if I were in a paper-writing mood, might be interesting to try and map onto pop-cultural concepts like Lady Gaga's "Fame Monster". Is fame, and the act of being famous, akin to the creation of Frankenstein's monster? Something that will chase you forever and/or kill all of your friends and relationships?

But of course there is more than one kind of monster, which brings me to:

2. Lie Down in Darkness, William Styron: I'm actually not finished with this one yet. Styron's prose is also dense and heavy, but differently so than Shelley's; I find it restful, in a way, somehow soothing. I guess Southern Gothic I can deal with, Original Gothic, not so much. Here we're back to stories about alcoholic philanderers (a theme found also in The Ginger Man; these books are close together in the timeline, both towards the beginning) but there's an element of monstrousness and monster-creation here, as well. Mainly to do with Peyton, a deceased character who dominates the narrative with her absence. She's repeatedly referred to as being spoiled, and I found myself wondering if she qualified as a monster, created, carelessly, by her father. I'll let you know what I think when I finish.