Crash Love

by Courtney Hilden

Although I might be later embarrassed to admit this, I am an A.F.I. fan. I first became aware of them when they were mostly a punk band, and I liked the supernatural melodrama of their album The Art of Drowning, which struck me as a perfect soundtrack to shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Later on, when they released their Sing the Sorrow, I was impressed by the breath of influences (80s neoromantics, metal, punk, goth, pop) and their lyrical content, which focused on the same apocalyptic themes but with more imagery. In songwriting, it is so easy to tell listeners; it is so much harder to show them. Then Decemberunderground came out, and I was so disappointed by the B-side-esque quality of the most of the music, I was simply to afraid to try their next album, Crash Love. If it was bad, it would break my heart, because then it meant that A.F.I. was no longer the band I had loved. So I put off listening to it, even though I purchased it in late 2009.
What a mistake putting that off was.
Crash Love is not a perfect album, but it would be hard for anyone to beat out Sing the Sorrow. Crash Love is still wonderful, and breaks new ground lyrically for A.F.I. The album's lyrics are mostly centered around a souring relationship, which, considering the focus of some of their earlier work, is both new ground for them and old hat for most bands, which usually focus their work of this exact subject. What makes A.F.I.'s take on the subject interesting is how unrelentingly and unembarrassingly messed up and melodramatic this whole unraveling relationship is. Several of the songs, like "Beautiful Thieves" talk about committing crimes together, in a way that strangely conjures up Bonnie and Clyde, if they were modern criminals who shopped at Hot Topic. Many of the songs discuss pretending within the relationship, like in "Veronica Sawyer Smokes" mentions "feigning falling" and "Okay I Feel Better Now" where the singer admits "faking for you." The song "Too Shy to Scream" prophetically works through the breakup, noting that the other person will not even pause their life after ending a relationship, just simply move on. Hughes films are even referenced in "Veronica Sawyer Smokes."
The song that is actually the most interesting (and perhaps the most lyrically impressive) is "Sacrilege." It is the only song that is not obviously about a deteriorating relationship. Instead, it appears to be a critique of religion from an atheist point of view. It brings up multiple aspects of religion, calling it obsolete, filled with "hysteric fairy tales" and "one big joke." It twists and flips religious imagery and phrases in clever ways. "Say your prayers, they're the final punchline./I don't see the love/below or above," Havok sings. "Please believe I'm doing just fine." Given that so much of A.F.I.'s previous music has referenced apocalypses and religious imagery, this song is particularly interesting and sheds a new light on their older work.
The album is a perfect distillation of the power punk pop that A.F.I. is so famous for. There is something invigorating about the overall sound of the album, and unlike most pop out there, the songs deal in uncommon ways with love, and in the case of one song, critiques religion in an impressively passionate way.

"He May be Blood, but He Ain't Family"

A review of "I Have a Right to Sing the Blues"
by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: Some of the surprises at in this episode of True Blood are given away or eluded to.



In the latest episode of True Blood, Jason continued to woo Crystal, only to discover that she is engaged to another man (who also looks like he is perpetually in a bar fight.)  Crystal is bringing out the sweetest and gentlest aspects of Jason and will hopefully this will distract him from his desire to become a cop without doing anything to earn being a cop.  Lafayette spent a day and evening with Jesus, only to have it ruined by a bunch of rednecks who beat up on Lafayette's new car with a baseball bat.  Tara was able to con Franklin into letting her out of her chains, and attempted to save herself and Sookie. Sam discovered what was really happening to his little brother, and went out to try and save him.  And the King of Mississippi discussed how much he hates normal humans. 

Lafayette and his new beau, Jesus, deserve the award for cutest couple on the show.  I'm terrified that Jesus is going to turn out to be a bad guy, as so many of the romantic potentials on this show turn out to be exactly that, especially when he got going on his religious beliefs over the Gods that Lafayette has in his house.  It was heartbreaking to watch a group of homophobes take down Lafayette's car, because it lead to Jesus realizing he didn't want to be around them.  
Erik's desire for his father's crown looks like it's going to be his motivation for the rest of the season.  It's a pity, since Erik is usually so much more interesting and complex than this.  The only good thing that has come of this storyline so far is that it has allowed the audience to see a man using sex to get what he wants, instead of just the female characters on this show. 

The costume people deserve points for their great work with Lafayette's costumes alone, but this show also had a great moment in women's costumes, when a customer at Merlotte's was wearing curlers in her hair.  What a hilarious costume.  Sophie-Ann, meanwhile, is also rocking out a great queenly look crossed with a business power suit crossed with the 1920s.  All the blood on the Lorena's costume in the second half of the episode was also perfect.  It's a little sad to see such pretty clothes being destroyed, but it also looks great and goes well with the horror tone of the show.  Melinda's nice blouse and combed hair was also a nice change for her, who has always looked liked she was rolling around in mud.  
It's also a relief to see Tara attempting to gain some control over her situation with Franklin.  It's good to see she is smart enough to realize how to get to Franklin and how to manipulate him, hopefully to her gain.  It's also a pleasure to see Tara and Sookie planning to save each other.  So many shows have men saving a damsel in distress, or, if the audience is lucky, a woman saving the day.  It is a nice change of pace to see a woman attempting to save herself and another woman.
The season seems to have a lot of people trying to save each other, or save themselves.  In Sam's case, he's trying to save his family, which are doing things he has only started to glimpse.  His own mother's belief that he isn't truly family is heart-breaking, given how much he does want to save them.  
In the not-so-good department, Sookie and the King's question and answer game was one of the longest, drawn-out and boring scenes, which is sad because it's suppose to be one of the most terrifying moments on the show.  The entire storyline involving Bill's time in Mississippi is long and boring.  The more characters it brings in, even the great ones, do not help the situation.  The only good thing that has come out of this storyline is Bill's small speech to Lorena about how much he wished he could have seen her before she turned.  It was the beginning to the great break moment between Lorena and Bill.