Even Kanye wonders. In his song "Stronger" Kanye asks "do anybody make real shit anymore?" Kanye's question might seem a bit hypocritical coming from a guy who in this very song is sampling from Daft Punk. But I'm not so sure what Kanye, and the "Kanye hands video" (below) that sampled from the "Daft Punk hands video," (also below) are creating isn't "real."

During the Academy Awards this past Sunday, after winning the Oscar for Best Song (along with Marketa Irglova) Glen Hansard made a couple quick thank yous as he accepted the award, then ended his brief speech with the call to "make art, make art." This caught me off guard, and I found it to be one of the most beautiful moments of this year's Academy Awards.

I was recently asked if there were any early indications of what my "spring break jam" for this year might be. I thought maybe it was going to be Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," since nothing says spring break like the sentiment of Winehouse's catchy little tune: "I know what's good for me and I just don't give a crap." But then I heard Adam Bianchi's song "Calling You Out." I think this song might have just taken the lead. In the song Bianchi calls out his old boss, the world and even death. Now that is some serious spring break sentiment.

The video for this song (below), directed by Glenn Harris , is as subtle and quiet as the song. There's something so freeing about the sentiment of this song; calling out those things that have held us prisoners. Bianchi strolls confidently through the scenes of this video while everyone else sits quietly in their place. He's free of the constraints that seem to be keeping everyone else in their place (the office workers working and the mourners in their pews). But the video ends, after Bianchi calls out death, with a hand hold and a "rewinding" that leave Bianchi alone with a/his own empty coffin. These images are fairly cryptic, but something about them seems to give me the impression of dependence in opposition to aloneness and all of that somehow related to the freedom Bianchi has found in "calling out" different entities.

The makeup of jazz/electronic ensemble "The Cinematic Orchestra" is somewhat of a puzzle to figure out. Much like fellow British acts Massive Attack and U.N.K.L.E., the players tend to fluctuate. Their sound echoes that of a multi-piece symphony but eventually finding their origination in founder/leader Jason Swinscoe.

The name? Well, the name might be the most appropriate and intriguing aspect of the conglomerate.

The majority of Swinscoe (and company)'s work finds its inspiration in the visual arts... say the "cinema." In fact, you could say that "soundtracks" are their bread and butter. Though an appropriate label for this pseudo-genre, it is slightly misleading as "scoring" a soundtrack almost always comes post- (film) production... post-narrative. In other words, it needs a film. And in TCO's case, composition takes place minus the film....

Well... sort of.

"So it's basically the New Zeeland version of Napoleon Dynamite?" If you haven't seen Eagle Vs. Shark that's what you're thinking. There are plenty of laughs like in Napoleon Dynamite, but you know that scene at the end of the movie where Napoleon sticks his neck out for Pedro and his awkwardness becomes more than just funny, it becomes grace in some sort of odd way? Well, in Eagle Vs. Shark that isn't just the finale, that's really the center of the film.

The trailer is a bit misleading in how it portrays this film. From the trailer one would assume that Jarrod (Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords ) is the main character and awkwardly endearing. Well, as it turns out Lily (Loren Horsley) might be better called the main character and it is her awkwardness that is both endearing and is her (and Jarrod's) saving grace. All the while Jarrod is a bit of a self-absorbed ass.