Caught in the Net

http://www.indierockcafe.com/

A Timely Tune-in for All-ternative Fans

In this age of hipster pretensions, where the new and individual are growing as common as ironic moustaches, it’s crucial for would-be cool kids to discover and share new musical talent. Instead of relying on word of mouth or scouring the tomes of entertainment media, though, savants need proceed to Indie Rock Café (IRC) – a comprehensive guide to the latest and otherwise noteworthy indie bands.

Admittedly, this reviewer rarely leaves the site’s homepage. This is only because it contains such consistently original and intriguing content all on its own. Available upon visit is an impressive lineup of musicians correlating with background editorial, photos and most importantly of all, songs. To learn about new music while actually hearing it in tandem is about as helpful a resource as can be. Better still, exhuming choice titles from IRC may well earn one a leg in the skinny pants of lyrically-minded circles.

Navigating this hub is grounded in seamlessly solid web technology. A virtual mp3 mix tape is constantly at users’ disposal – or rather absorption – via a surprisingly effective Yahoo! app. Flanking sidebars make use of online social saturation and provide other compact features such as CD release dates, record label listings and even assembled playlists.

Whether taking in IRC’s music videos or weekly ‘Top 10,’ exploring is a one-click process. The e-space is most unique this way in its unfettered streaming. Its instantaneous nature is as welcoming to digital crowds as cozy caffeine oases are to laptop nesters. Certainly a resource to be thankful for, the Rock Café performs a public service custom tailored to today’s eclectic contemporaries. Exchanging conjecture for enjoyment, it’s preternaturally informed so you don’t have to be.

Dishing on Television

30 Days

Created by Morgan Spurlock

FX (2005)

A-

An experiment with much the same spirit as Supersize Me (2004), 30 Days confronts modern social issues enigmatic enough to make its host a twenty-first century Spurlock Holmes. What’s discovered each episode – with themes like ‘Muslims and America,’ ‘Straight Man in a Gay World’ and ‘Off the Grid’ – is that the overarching concept of otherness separates Americans more than any race, religion or lifestyle. Spurlock and other volunteers expose these manmade contrivances and also gain newfound acceptance or respect for that previously foreign to them in their own home country.

The first season opens with Spurlock committing himself and his surely beleaguered Watson – his vegan fiancé also seen in Supersize – to live for a month on minimum wage. The situation itself is carefully composed to best suit the challenge – surviving at or even below the poverty line as many in America do. Spurlock selects Columbus, Ohio’s capitol and one of the hardest hit in terms of job losses over recent years. The couple quickly finds that as part of the working poor, day to day life is as disciplined as it is uncertain. Their relationship is challenged by meager living conditions and ever-debilitating monetary constraints. Unexpected health concerns and the temporary inheritance of children nearly break the bank – a tin can more or less vacant in the Spurlock household.

The two persevere in the end at least in principle, managing to keep their love intact. More so, uneasy truths are exhumed co concerning stagnant wage legislation and the unmistakably divisive issue of health care reform. Imparted above all else though is that this was not a life lived but an experience had. There are thousands for whom this quality of life is not just a walk in someone else’s shoes without strings attached but the truth they have to live each day.

As somber as things may seem, Spurlock injects knowledge and humor into each of his and others’ thirty days that juxtapose a seriousness American TV audiences may find off-putting. Culture shock also has surprising entertainment value as each pairing breeds jovial awkwardness or micro-calamity. All this is delivered in a kind of enlightened layman’s terms, appealing to any of a vast audience willing to listen, enjoy and ultimately learn.

All in all, this is reality programming audiences should want on their TV. 30 Days calls into question assumptions that mainstream America has about subcultures they may in fact know nothing about or take for granted without a second thought. Discussions shared are far more than simply coherent – they have a logistic and emotional impact that likewise furthers understanding in those either televised or tele-viewing. Imagine if each U.S. household could become its own address on Baker Street – sheltering careful consideration for all things, however subjectively bizarre.

Sizing up Architecture

The Aqua

225 North Columbus Drive

Gang assembles an altogether amazing abstraction

As one walks toward Lakeshore East, things begin to take a bizarre turn for the better. There among many typically boxy high-rise buildings sits a creation near-extraterrestrial in comparison. Eighty-two stories of shining glass seem to have sprouted modish plumes that ripple precociously about their frame. Humbly taking things in at street level, it’s as if a forest giant has been sterilized and transplanted into the city, complete with its airy hangers-on.

After such visual elation, the name – bestowed by East’s developers – becomes a bit passé but still retains a lovely feel on the tongue. Likewise charming is the woman behind it all. Architect Jeanne Gang has in her very first skyscraping project, combined several unique elements into Aqua and also continued to prove a la the Oscars that there is nothing stopping women from excelling and challenging the norms of any male-dominated profession. This complex residential building was deemed the 2009 Skyscraper of the Year, earning her, the rest of Studio Gang and even Chicago some serious credentials.

Aside from pure aesthetics, certainly what assists Aqua in garnering attention are its ecologically-minded features. The site and PETA boast windows less likely to harm birds for one. The same wavy cement balconies that so draw the eye are specifically designed to soften possible incoming avian collisions and help shade residents from the sun as well. Systems are also in place to both collect and process rainwater and reduce urban heat-island (UHI) tendencies. And to top it all off, there’s a veritable secret garden at the base of the tower – or rather a private terrace. The 80,000-some square feet here include gardens, swimming facilities and jogging tracks. With all this, it’s almost no surprise that this area is to be the largest green roof in the city to date.

A pupil of venerable Dutch architect and Harvard professor Rem Koolhaas, Gang has clearly mastered one aspect of her science and craft – that form follows function. It does so seamlessly in this case, as anyone looking at Aqua would be astonished to discover that there’s even more beyond its must-have-a-picture quality. A diamond present in rough commercial enterprise, Aqua promises that things can be more than the sum of their parts – that wondrous beauty can also sometimes conceal a greater purpose still.

That said, it’s only a shame that this subtle message goes considerably unheard by the public. Stifled by the conventions of surrounding structures, the building’s potential is needlessly squandered, especially on those who would appreciate it most – not the affluence pouring in and out of its lobby doors but the people who would get some joy or inspiration out of witnessing an urban colossus that sways in familiar breezes.