Ben Folds Five, “The Sound of The Life of The Mind” (ImaVeePee Records, 2012)

    From 1993 to 2000, at a time that was dominated by heavy-riffing guitars and rapping, Ben Folds Five took to the music scene with a different kind of sound. Releasing three albums during their time together, pianist-vocalist Ben Folds, bassist Robert Sledge, and drummer Darren Jessee introduced us to a sound that featured jazzy piano licks, heavily distorted bass riffs, cool drum fills, three vocal harmonies, and humorous, and occasionally serious and angst, lyrics. The band called it quits in 2000 and each member went on to successful solo careers, but now they are back and they sound better than ever on their first album since 1999, “The Sound of The Life of The Mind.”
    Before this, the band had reunited only once since their break-up when they were asked to do a concert for Myspace’s “Front to Back” series where they played their last album, “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner,” in it’s entirety. However, in 2011, Folds was recording a couple new songs for a greatest hits album he was doing and he decided to call Sledge and Jessee up to see if they would want to play on the new songs. They did and the session went so well that they decided to record a whole new album.
    The album starts off with “Erase Me.” It has everything that you would ask for in the classic BF5 sound, jazzy piano licks, heavily distorted bass, cool drum licks, and the three vocal harmonies. The sound of the bass on this song makes it sound very much like if it were something Danny Elfman had written. It’s heavy and it’s also very catchy. The second track on the album is “Michael Praytor, Five Years Later,” which is a very strong song and shows how tight every member is playing together almost as if they never broke up. The lyrics tell the story of a man named Michael Praytor, who would be seen every five years and his life is going downhill with his wife kicking him out and Folds sings to him at the end of the song, “Guess I’ll see you around.” “Sky High,” with lyrics written by Jessee, is the slow song about a man who is dealing with pain, but it features a beautiful piano melody. The title track of the album, with lyrics by Nick Hornby, who also wrote lyrics for Folds’s 2010 solo album “Lonely Avenue,” is a very strong song as well with lyrics telling the story of a girl who is interested in reading books about history and science while her friends are out acting like crazy teenagers.
    The next track “On Being Frank” is a lovely song with a sweet piano melody and is wonderful lyrics by Folds. The following track, “Draw A Crowd” is a catchy, upbeat song with an awesome piano lick, almost very similar to “Jackson Cannery” from their 1995 debut “Ben Folds Five,” and a humorous chorus where they sing, “If you’re feeling small, and you can’t draw a crowd, draw dicks on the wall.” It’s probably the funniest lyric in a Ben Folds Five song since “The Song For The Dumped” from their 1997 album “Whatever & Ever Amen.” “Do It Anyway,” which is the single for the album, is next with it’s country sounding vibe and all of the band members are completely in sync with each other. This one is pretty memorable. “Hold That Thought” is sort of the same level as “On Being Frank,” but it is also a very great song. “Away When You Were Here” follows afterward and it is a very beautiful song with Folds’s beautiful lyrics and piano melodies, as well as a string section which accompanies the song. The lyrics tell the story of a father who died young and the son is trying to be what he never was, which was a true father. The final track on the album is “Thank You For Breaking My Heart,” which is probably the saddest song on the entire album. However, it shows off Folds’s classical-like piano skills. In a way, this song relates to “Brick” from “Whatever & Ever Amen” because that song also had sad lyrics.
    “The Sound of The Life of The Mind” is a great return for Ben Folds Five. The entire album features the awesome rocking songs and humorous lyrics that everyone remembers them for, including their emotional, quieter songs. Folds, Sledge, and Jessee sound totally in complete sync together as if they never broke up. Yes, they broke up a long time ago, but that’s all in the past. Everyone grows up and changes, but on this album, it sounds like all members of the band have matured both lyrically and musically. In the end, “The Sound of The Life of The Mind” is a great album and let’s hope they continue to make more great music together.

There Will Be Blood (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

    Greed and corruption can destroy human beings. We all have our ambitions in what we want in life and we can try very hard to get them. But when you put a hunger for money or power in the equation, then it is not a good combination. Many great people have lost everything in their lives because of greed and corruption. If you want a film that involved greed and corruption, then “There Will Be Blood” is your movie.
    Based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!,” the film takes place in California at the beginning of the 20th century where gold miner Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) discovers oil and starts a small business. Joined by his adopted son, who is also his business partner, they discover a piece of land in Little Boston that holds huge amounts of oil, which is owned by the family of Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a pastor at the Church of the Third Revelation. As he begins to drill for oil, Eli tells Daniel that he wants money for agreeing to let him oil on his family’s land. While Daniel knows this, he wants everything for himself, both the oil and the money. His pursuit for power goes out of control and he is willing to stop anyone who gets in his way.
    The performance that rules “There Will Be Blood” is Daniel Day-Lewis. Day-Lewis is known for his intense acting style, who digs so deep to the point where he literally becomes the character physically, vocally, mentally, and emotionally. If you watch his performances in “My Left Foot,” “In The Name of The Father,” and “Gangs of New York,” he vanishes so deep inside his roles that it’s almost like we are seeing him for the very first time. His performances as Daniel Plainview is so powerful that he destroys everything in his path as he tries to get what he wants. However, when get get everything he wants, the price that he pays is that he left all alone and has nothing, but money and his lust for power. Day-Lewis’s emotional power is strong as he is able to turn so angry that his entire face turns red and all of his veins begin to stick out of his face. It makes you think that he is going to explode, which is what makes him so terrifying in this role. This performance is definitely one of the best of Daniel Day-Lewis’s career.
    Another acting performance that stood out was Paul Dano as Eli Sunday. While we know him for his performance in “Little Miss Sunshine,” he is able to handle his own power with this role. Eli is also corrupt and greedy. He wants money so he can fund his own church. While he is corrupt and all, he does have his own flaws, just like Daniel. HE claims himself a “servant of God” throughout the whole movie, but by the end he admits that he is alone and a sinner. While Dano’s Eli may be corrupt and greedy, Daniel is the real monster.
    For his first film since 2003’s “Punch-Drunk Love,” Paul Thomas Anderson has really shaped up to become one of the finest filmmakers working today. He writes all of his own screenplays and takes his time with them all so that they are very something that is easy to interpret from the screen. He knew that there was a story somewhere in Upton Sinclair’s novel and he puts it onto the screen in a very convincing way. It’s convincing to the point where he is is almost making a political statement about corruption in the government. If there was any one who could do this film, no one could have done it better than Anderson.
    The score, written by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood, works very well with the film. It adds to the dramatic effect from Daniel’s struggles for power and his success in getting what he wants. The cinematography is amazing from all angles of the film and it gives us a wide angle of where we are in the area. The cinematography makes you feel like you are in the setting with these characters.
    “There Will Be Blood” has a very specific subject: corruption and what it does to people. There are many things that we can draw on when people can get destroyed by their own ambitions for money and power, and Anderson paints that picture very well showing that no matter how corrupt you are, you will always lose everyone one in your life except the things that you’ve wanted. If Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece is “Raging Bull” and Quentin Tarantino’s is “Pulp Fiction,” then “There Will Be Blood” is Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece.