General Discussion

Hatfield - Indie songstress for hire

2010-05-20T01:57:10Z

Did anyone else read about Juliana Hatfield's recent offer to write and record a personalized song for $1,000? "For the price of $1,000, I will write an original song tailor-made just for you, to you and about you, and I will record it in the mostly acoustic style of my newest album, 'Peace and Love,'" http://www.spinner.com/2010/05/04/juliana-hatfield-personalized-songs-1000/ I've never been much of a fan, but it's kinda sad.

Roger Waters is building that wall...

2010-05-07T21:15:40Z

...That wall in between himself and his fans that think that 250 dollars to see ANY show is too damn much. I would love to see the Wall performed live and all, but that's a bit much to me. I think I'm about done with going to shows at venues that are too damn big anyways. Give me a rock band(the Twilight Singers) in a club(9:30 or the Norva) over a coliseum or amphitheater any day of the week.

whats up with this website

2010-04-19T17:26:49Z

Not meaning to be rude, but whats up with this sucky site? Where is the news, the tour info, shop, latest updates etc etc. All we got is forums.... boring schmoring. Are twilights no longer? I hope not, but it looks like it from the state of this site.

RIP Alex Chilton

2010-03-19T03:22:28Z

Bram Stoker's Dracula rescored by Philip Glass

2010-03-13T18:43:41Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXLRzQcpYTs I'm not entirely sure why, but this seemed like something the majority of TS fans might be interested in. At the very start of the movie, the new score seems a little intrusive, but it blends really well eventually, and of course it's Philip Glass so the score is top notch. It really does add to the film, especially since the original lacked a score. What do you guys think? I'm all for THIS kind of "special edition" movie.

Your first?

2010-03-04T03:47:41Z

Thought it would be fun to post our musical histories here. Some will go back further than others, I'm sure.

New TS site - Start pictures.

2010-02-09T12:04:01Z

I wonder how beautiful pics are? Who is this genius picture artist?

Message Board suggestions

2010-02-04T02:13:04Z

A few profile items that might be missing are - - Signature Always a good place to get creative - Location - M/F - Birthday *These could be optional if anyone is concerned about privacy. What you guys think?

Movies

2010-01-30T21:29:45Z

The Ugly Truth was terrible. Obvious. Obnoxious. I'm rewatching 8mm later this weekend since Scott mentioned his wife is in the snuff film featured in the film. As I recall, it's one of the last Nic Cage movies where he isn't an absolute douchebag and the plot was compelling. Avatar in 3D really IS the visual orgasm you've heard it is and is a must-see while it's in theaters. Just don't expect to have your movie snobbery pandered to for this one - enjoy it for what it is, graphic eye candy. I'm also not sure it's the grand political statement it may think it is. Regardless, it's worth getting to a 3D location to watch. Vicky Cristina Barcelona didn't hold up for me past two viewings.

Wordless expression thread...

2010-01-30T14:16:09Z

Express how you're feeling or what you're thinking with a sound, image, video, or link...

On location in...

2010-01-30T13:56:25Z

A thread for sharing about where you live, are from, or have been... Set the scene for us. What is the place like? The landscape? The people? The atmosphere? What are some interesting stories, traditions, or spots to visit? How does the place affect or change the people who live there?

* * *

Right now I live in Jersey City, New Jersey. I moved here for school and work and it took me a LONG time to get used to this place. The dirty, cracked pavement seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions in a landscape devoid of comfort or reassurance.

When you walk and use public transportation, you get calluses on the bottom of your feet and get used to being too close for comfort with total strangers on the train. You pick up interesting stories and moments in lives you otherwise know nothing about, some joyful and some tragic. Just like in New York, you become immured to sights that might in the past have shocked or moved you. There's just no way to maintain the energy to respond fully to every sick, hungry, lost, or haunted person you encounter, so part of you learns to shut down, to build a wall, and you actively have to work against it to stay open.

Take the PATH to Newark to enter a landscape so bleak, especially as you take the bus down to the industrial area where the prisons are, that it seems like something out of a postapocalyptic movie. The cycles of chronic poverty, violence, and crime do nothing to lighten the mood, nor does the sight of black, polluted waterways on the train ride home. But yet, the lights shimmer on the surface of the water here too, and a mystic clarity can sometimes arise in the absence of comforting illusions.

Take the PATH to lower Manhattan and be awed by the nonstop energy and strange beauty of yet another concrete landscape, this one with more the feel of a wonderland than a waste... but even so, in a place with the sheen of opulent wealth, there are despairing sights of human suffering that cannot be turned away from by even those who can afford to insulate themselves from much of life's hardships. You are reminded constantly of the less fortunate, the way they suffer, how close any of us are to the same fate... just one turn of fortune's wheel is all it takes.

A car opens up the area a little bit, to places worth visiting again and places one would never visit again. I've never been in more of a hell-hole than Passaic, New Jersey, and I have no doubt if I died and went to hell, it would look a hell of a lot like Passaic.

But as I've started working in Staten Island, I've grown to love that strange island so often derided by New Yorkers from the other boroughs... It is a fascinating mix of cultures and is where some of "old New York" has fled as rents have gone up in Brooklyn and hipsters have invaded. The northern part of the island is more racially and culturally diverse, while the southern part, where I work, is predominantly Italian.

Many share stories of how they or their families moved themselves and/or their businesses from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Homemade mozzarella and specialty Italian foods just weren't selling the way they used to in Brooklyn, where many now flock to organic and health food stores. The Mafia remains a powerful cultural myth, not a 'myth' because it is not real, but in how it takes root in people's minds. Stories of gangsters and wannabe gangsters fill the pages of the local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, as do complaints of traffic and endless potholes.

Living in this area has forever changed me. I've been weathered through nights of despair, but have also found tremendous strength and clarity. I now understand why my stepfather, who now lives in my hometown, can so readily say that he has no desire to return to New York, even after having grown to love the place in many years of living there. I too have grown to love this place, and the sight of the Jersey City and Manhattan skylines rising into view as I drive home on the Turnpike extension at night, all the lights of the city sparkling like gems in a velvet black nightscape,still thrills me every time, but part of me knows that the burden of life would feel so much lighter somewhere else...