Andrew Speaks/Types

I don’t think this looks very much like the Cloverfield monster, honestly.

Today was a fun day, because today is the day that me and my friend Travis made our own recording studio in a very small bathroom and actually wrote and recorded some decent songs.

The first song was all me, and it was called “Witch Doctor.” Technically, this song wasn’t recorded in Washroom Studios because I wasn’t exactly in the bathroom when I recorded it, but it was before we had the idea. But still, I wrote and recorded the song all sitting in one place, holding a guitar, having a keyboard in front of me, and a laptop to the side. (And relatively close to the bathroom) The song has a exotic sounding piano part going on in the background that’s all focused around one chord with some variations here and there, then some conga-esque drums kick in to give the song some rhythm. The solos that are over this background part are flute, keyboard-clav, and wah-wah guitar. (Everything but the guitar was made from the keyboard) It was only like a minute and a half, maybe two minutes, but it was fun to make and fun to play. Though I probably couldn’t play it again if I tried. These are always spur of the moment type of things.

Then, Travis came up with the “let’s make a recording studio in the bathroom” idea, so we got excited. The next song was supposed to be an all-Travis song, but we ended up collabo-ing because he needed some help and I wanted in on it. We decided to call the song “Faucetto” because of the environment we we’re in and because of some of the instruments we used. First, we made a drum loop and played that for about a minute and recorded it. This probably wasn’t a good idea because it was hard to work with anything else after recording the drums first. (In my opinion, you should record drums WHILE recording the main instrument, like I did with “Witch Doctor.” I recorded the piano and the drums at the same time.) Travis wanted to put some weird vocals like I did with my ambient Ben-collabo song (you’ll hear about this later), “Distended Tendencies.” So we were trying to make the wierdest vocal effects ever and found some amazing effects on his pedal board that made his beat-boxing sound like a nuclear bomb. It was awesome, so we ran with it. We ended up using tongue clicks over the drums and it sounded like a mad dripping faucet or something. We used the same effects on a running faucet in Travis’ bathtub to increase the effect; it sounded amazing. The coolest thing we recorded, though, was when Travis put effects on the microphone and rubbed the mic against his jeans and it sounded like a turntable scratch. Awesome. The, one thing remained: actual music. The first half of the song was all piano over all those effects that I told you about. Then, after all the effects ended, there was a keyboard rhythm part that went on for a bit by itself, and then guitar and drums kicked in and made a great coda to end the song with. Pretty sweet.

You can listen to “Witch Doctor” and “Faucetto” at my myspace music page, along with some old songs I made called “Real Grace,” “Retrogressive,” and a remake of a The Mars Volta song, which was once called “Cicatriz E.S.P.,” that I renamed as my own to “Cicatrix. Check them all out here:

http://www.myspace.com/andrewinlatin

Good night.

P.S.: I just watched Cloverfield again, and I stand by my score of 3.8 out of 4. Awesome movie.

1/18/08 5:21 P.M. Central Time

Currently, I am fantabulously stoked to go see Cloverfield in 2 hours. When I get back, I’m gonna write a review of it, because I seriously don’t know what to think of this movie other than I’m really excited. So, here goes.
[INSERT CLOVERFIELD REVIEW BELOW]

1/18/08  9:56 P.M. Central Time

I saw Cloverfield, and my impression is this. I loved it. I think Cloverfield is one of the most original and exciting and insane movies I have ever seen, and possibly one of my new favorites.

Think back to when you saw Transformers in the theatre and saw the primere of the “1_18_08″ trailer that didn’t give Cloverfield a name. When you saw that trailer, did you say “Oh my goodness I think I just wet myself” or did you say “What a gay movie! They didn’t even give me a name!”? If you answered yes to the first question, you are going to love Cloverfield just as much as you were hoping you were. It will live up to every expectation you have. If you answered yes to the second question, you’re probably too close-minded about the film already to like it.

For those of you who answered no to both of those questions and didn’t know what to think, I don’t think I can convince you one way or the other. This is a movie that I think you truly have to go to the theatre and watch it for yourself, on the big screen, surround sound, and knowing nothing about it, to decide for yourself whether or not you’re a fan. For those of you know who want to know what I think personally, here’s my spoiler-free review of the movie.

Cloverfield is the single movie that has made me turn to my pal in the theatre and say “holy crap” more times than any movie I have ever seen. Going into the theatre with a few ideas on what I think the monster could be, this movie just slapped me in the face so many times. It’s frightening, it’s exhilarating,  it’s interesting, it’s intense. The entire stretch of the movie, you will be racing around in your head trying to get a grasp on what you think is really happening and what you think will happen next.

That’s kind of the effect that the combination of going to see it in the theatre and the home-video camera filming brings to the table. When you’re in that theatre and all you see is a huge screen with sound all around you making noises that are happening literally all around you, while all the time watching through the lens of someone’s home-video camera while they stumble, hide, and run for their lives,  it’s a very vicarious feeling. You really feel like you are there, and everything that happens is happening to you.

Because of this effect, the movie has a lot of freak-out moments. For example, [light spoiler ahead] there’s a part of the movie where the camera-holder is getting rescued from New York, and gets in a military helicopter to escape. While flying away, he turns to look out the window, and sees the monster (no, I won’t tell you what it is) walking through New York, destroying things and doing things that monsters do, when a military missile flies through the air and creates a huge bowl of smoke, blocking all view of anything on screen. People in the helicopter cheer and curse with happiness while the camera shakes from clapping. Then, all of a sudden (you knew it wasn’t dead) the monster jumps out of the smoke and grazes the helicopter, sending it spinning down fast into the earth. This is really like 30 seconds of a roller coaster during this moment. You feel like you’re there. It’s amazing.

The downside of this is the fact that there are a few parts of the movie where the frantic-ness of the camera-holder can give you a headache or a stomachache, depending. With me, it wasn’t a big problem, but if you get motion sickness easily or if 3D movies hurt your eyes, you might want to be prepared. (Cloverfield is not in 3D, don’t worry. Just giving an example.)

[Spoilers are over, open your eyes] The story of the movie isn’t much to talk about, and the more interesting parts are shrouded in mystery to let you think about for yourself. Still, with all the excitement going on, you really don’t mind very much. Basically, [no spoilers here, don't worry] this guy named Rob is moving to Japan for a job offer he got, and his best friend Hudson (or Hud, as he’s called) is documenting his going away party and interviewing people about things they’d like to say to Rob before he leaves. Long story short, there’s some kind of freakish earthquake, the power goes in and out, everyone goes outside and sees things going crazy, fire falling from the sky, and things exploding.

The statue of liberty’s head gets knocked off and goes soaring into the middle of a street, and a huge monster starts rampaging over the city and giving birth to smaller creatures to completely annihilate New York for unknown reasons. Rob has to go save his best friend whom he hooked up with recently from a building on the other side of town, where she’s injured, to tell her how he feels about her before he leaves for Japan. And that’s the main premise of the movie. Simple, but the way it’s done is genius.

My only complaints about the movie are three things.

1: There were still lots of unanswered questions at the end of the movie. [spoilers below]

In pure J.J. Abrhams “LOST” style, at the end of the movie, you were satisfied, but then after you get in the car and drive away from the theatre, you think to yourself “oh wait, where did the smoke come from?” “why was the monster attacking in the first place?” and other questions

[spoilers over]

2: Watching the movie at home, on a  DVD/Blu Ray/Whateveryouhave, the movie isn’t going to be near as good.

Cloverfield was amazing and shocking in a huge theatre sized screen where you were completely isolated from the rest of the world, and completely living the story of Cloverfield. The same can be said for almost any movie, but I think that home viewing will really detract from the amazing factor of Cloverfield.

3: I loved the ending. But most of the people in the theatre with me did NOT, and I heard quite a few choice words when it ended.

You’re either going to hate the ending or love it. Enough said.

My final thoughts are this: You must go see Cloverfield in the theatre while it’s still there. It’s quite the trip, and you feel like you’re very involved because of the filming technique.

Final word
Rating: 3.8 out of 4 or 9.5 out of 10