V for Venn Diagram, M for Mediocre

V
I saw the movie V for Eddie Vedder the other night, and at times I found it unsettling in a way I hadn’t felt since the opening minute of Fahrenheit 911, with it's blank screen and audio recording from that Tuesday morning. All in all, I loved V. Of course, the oppressive government was portrayed too much like a caricature. Maybe some people are drawn to evil archetypes, but the reality is that evil doesn’t always shroud itself in black and take on Nazi-like symbolism. Plus the HUGE CCTV screen of Chancellor Palpatine (or what's-his-name) was too much. Too much 1984. Go see it, if only to see Natalie Portman dressed as a… (I won’t spoil it).

M
Last night we took in the M's at Pianos, and while I had been looking forward to this show since I got their album, they failed to impress. Future Women is speckled with four or five brilliant songs, and the rest are listenable if mostly unmemorable. Performed, those lesser songs are even more bland and I would have been seriously bored if it wasn’t for the drummer. The man on kit was full of energy, wailing on the toms twice as much as the snare, and for much of the set he was the glue that held the band together. The show got progressively better, and they finally strung three or four interesting tunes (a couple older songs, Plan of the Man, and Shownee Dupree), but it wasn’t enough in the end.

Did they even play “Going Over It,” easily their best song? I’m almost certain they didn’t. Then again, I did just come off a weekend of superb shows.