Ten Things We Learned from Inception (by Mike Natale and Tom Lorenzo)

{Originally appeared in The C. W. Post Pioneer}

In honor of Inception’s release on Blu-Ray and DVD, Tom Lorenzo and Mike Natale decided to compile a little list of the ten things we learned while watching Christopher Nolan’s newest flick. We hope you all enjoy:

10.)Tom Hardy should be James Bond. Right now.

9.) Joseph Gordon Levitt is totally interesting when fighting in a g*d damned spinning hallway….

8.) But he’s really boring when he’s just talking about dreamscapes and sh*t.

7.) If Michael Caine is in a movie, he owns that movie. Always. Even Jaws 4: The Revenge. But especially Inception.

6.) The dreams Christopher Nolan thinks people have are 10000000000 times cooler than the dreams we really have. Where are train cars shooting down a city street while I’m reading an essay on Kafka in my underwear? Huh? Huh?!?!?!

5.) It’s always interesting seeing Leo drop his natural Boston accent for a movie where he’s not playing a “dooly appointed federahl mahshall.” (See: Shutter Island)

4.) That guy from Platoon with the messed up face is apparently still alive! I’ll be damned!

3.) Three-Six Mafia winning an Oscar before Christopher Nolan ever has: Greatest sin of all time.

2.) I am not as smart as I think I am.

1.) You may find yourself saying “It was all a dream*”

*I used to read Word Up magazine/Salt'n'Pepa and Heavy D up in/the limousine/Hangin' pictures on my wall/Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl/I let my tape rock 'til my tape popped/Smokin' weed and bamboo, sippin' on private stock/Way back, when I had the red and black lumberjack/With the hat to match/Remember Rappin' Duke, duh-ha, duh-ha/You never thought that hip hop would take it this far

True "Joy"

{Originally published in the C.W. Post Pioneer. A review of the album Strict Joy by The Swell Season.}

I’m going to wear my bias on my sleeve with this one: I think Glen Hansard is the finest living songwriter, except maybe Leonard Cohen. To me, his (and musical partner Marketa Irglova, the songstress who shares my heart with Taylor Swift) Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly" is one of the greatest love songs ever written, and the soundtrack from which it comes is one I own on CD and on vinyl (which is autographed). I have tickets to see he and Marketa perform at Radio City this January. Hell, this summer I wrote to Hansard’s manager to get some autographed merchandise to declare my love to a girl (this failed, but I did get the aforementioned signed record out of it, so booyah!) I say this so that you understand that when I put on the new album from their band The Swell Season, Strict Joy, I was expecting a sequel to the singer-songwriter, early Elliott Smith-esque music that was on the Once soundtrack. Approaching the album with this attitude, I was disappointed.

Refusing to be let down by the only musician who hasn’t sucked yet, I remembered back to Glen’s previous work with the Irish rock band The Frames (whose albums Burn The Maps and Another Love Song are better than anything that other Irish rock band with the one-named singer have put out). Now giving Strict Joy the ears of a Frames fan, I listened hard and was…still disappointed. Then, remembering Hansard was in the film The Commitments, I re-watched that movie. This didn’t affect my opinion of Strict Joy in any way, but man, that movie kicked ass. I was very confused by the latest musical move by Hansard and Irglova. I know I harp on Hansard, but that’s simply because he’s had more time to impress me. I still think nothing is more beautiful than Marketa’s performance of "The Hill" in the movie Once. In fact, it was thinking of Irglova that I listened a third time, particularly to her tracks. It’s evident on this album that her songwriting skills and emotional intuition have grown closer to Hansard’s level the longer they work together, but it wasn’t until the lyric “Forgive me, lover, for I have sinned/ For I have done you wrong.” off of the track “I Have Loved You Wrong” that I realized what this album was. It was a musical evolution.

Like Elliott Smith from Either/Or to Figure 8 or Bob Dylan from Freewheelin’…to Blonde On Blonde, Hansard and Irglova have reconciled the pop/rock force of the Frames with the raw emotion of Once and the self-titled Swell Season release. Tracks like “Low Rising” and “In These Arms” showcase Hansard’s lyrical honesty, while Irglova’s solo track “Fantasy Man” proves she is a force to be reckoned with herself. I’m not going to bring up their relationship like every other jackass reviewer, because, frankly, they deserve better than that. Like Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks or Beck’s Sea Change, Strict Joy’s songs of false hope and heartache should be praised on the songs themselves, not the subjects that inspired them. For those unfamiliar with the Swell Season’s material, I wouldn’t recommend this as an intro. But for those who have already seen Once, and are hungry for more, keep an open mind, and pick up Strict Joy. Even if at first you’re disappointed at first, you won’t be for long.