Alright so though I don’t have an independent movie to write about just yet, I just thought maybe I’d write about my other, and maybe more intense, passion. That, of course, is music. I’ve been obsessed for as long as I can possibly remember, and it has always been my mission to just find as many new and interesting sounds that I had not encountered previously. It’s only been within the past year that I’ve really gotten into the whole blog music scene, which further lead me to the ongoing buzz surrounding indie music. In other words, people are writing about music that is supposedly much more sophisticated with anything you’ll find on B96. And my music snobbery fit right into the scene.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of finally going to the Pitchfork Music Festival (I was having surgery during last years…darn). I only could afford to go to one day, but that’s okay because the one day I picked (Friday) was a super good time.

I started off the day getting picked up by my friend and her two friends I’d never really met before, but awkwardness never arose which is pretty good I feel. By the time the train gets to Union Park, which is actually just a park district park with its own swimming pool, we are getting drenched in the incessant downfall of rain. But having forgot any time of wetness resistance, I remained tough and bared the weather. We started just walking around just because we had no one of importance to see yet, and we had to make a gameplan for how we’ll shift between stages. Finally, we went to go see Caribou and then Fleet Foxes. I was kinda excited to see Caribou because I like one song of theirs. Maybe I should have listened to more of the album because they were pretty good, and I always enjoy bands more if I recognize some of the songs. I need to get over that. But Fleet Foxes I actually do listen to and love. Their harmonious harmonies of four of their members brought beauty to a really dreery day. They are comparable to a mix of My Morning Jacket, The Shins, and a little bit of the Beach Boys. In other words, they’re pretty awesome and were probably my favorite to see.

Throughout the day I caught Vampire Weekend (a band that pretty much blew up out of nowhere probably with help from the very critical Pitchfork website), The Hold Steady (one of my recently favorite reasons to rock out while no one’s around), and finally the ever so weird Animal Collective. I was most excited for Animal Collective, but by the time they came on I felt like an old man. My feet were killing me and my back was about to give out. They put on one of the weirdest shows I’d ever seen or heard, but it’s hard to enjoy something too much when you realize you are in fact flat footed. Damn I should have found out sooner.

Despite my pains I learned several things about music festivals such as this one. Indie bands are pretty popular which sorta takes the “indie”ness away from them. If so many people know all the words to “Oxford Comma” by Vampire Weekend, does this mean that I can’t no longer be snobby about how their sound is one of the best things to come out of a band of preps? The answer is no. I can be snobby about anything I like. I’ll get back to movies eventually

Tonight I watched a movie that I would have regretted never seeing in my life. On nights where I just feel like doing absolutely nothing, I depend on my number one companion: my Comcast ondemand menu. It’s like having a video store in your own home! So, with stuff gloomy weather going on outside, I decided tonight was one of those nights to just relax and watch a movie I’d never seen. It’s hard to pick one when there’s so many choices, many of them being worthless titles I’ve never heard of, but thankfully I landed on the one I was meant to watch: Woody Allen’s Alice.

Woody Allen is notorious for his nerdy looks and his brilliant comedic writing. His films are always expected to be smart and extremely witty. I’d only seen several of his films, but nothing stood out to me as much as his Oscar winning film Annie Hall. I thought it was one of the funniest movies I’d ever seen and I knew, at the young age I watched it, that the material was very was portrayed. I expected nothing less from the film Alice. This film, starring Woody Allen’s ex-wife Mia Farrow, follows Alice Tate, a shy woman married to a wealthy man with two young children. Alice one day begins to start imagining herself with another man that she had seen at her childrens’ daycare. Her impulsions lead her to a Chinese doctor who uses special herbs that have magical effects.

What’s great about this film is the fact that it takes the cliched story of a woman who falls for a guy other than her husband, and instead adds a fantasy element in order to make it more interesting. And it succeeds. With the Chinese doctors herbal medicines, Alice experiences a total personality change, the ability to be invisible, and even the sixth sense in order to see her ol’ dead boyfriend played by Bill Pulman. The material is both hysterical and endearing. We really have to like and empathize for the neglected housewife, and root for her in getting anything she wants, with or without the magic.