Music on the Playlist
Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard
Featured in one of my favorite movies, The Royal Tenenbaums, this song is unbelievably catchy. Dude, the minute the guitars start strumming, I"m singin along (like I always am) and bumpin to the beats. All I need is a piece of straw in my mouth to suck on, a tin of chew in my pocket, and one of those old rustbuckets to drive (put-put) down the Oklahoma Dust Bowl highways. And this kid named Julio. I'd be proud to have this song written about and including me - it's a paean to juvenile (perfection) delinquency.
Jamiroquai - Cosmic Girl
The perfect acid jazz-disco mix. The beat has such a cool vibe that I picture some pimp bopping sideways and tapping his cane on the curb, while his fro' bounces all over this motherfucker. Anyway, when he's not singing about this hot girl that's all over this galaxy like some alien mama-jama, Jay Kay is moving his feet and bouncing that large hat up and about. Some day, I want to put this on and start a dance battle, a la Starsky and Hutch. Some hard-core breaking, MJ slides, Timberlake smoothness and the phat moves of my man Usher.
Pink Martini - Sympathique
This is the perfect song to go along with coffee and cigarettes some hangoverish morning. I don't want to work, she croons, I don't want to get breakfast. I just want to forget... and afterwards, a cigarette. All this sentimental crud about lost love... well, sung in French and in the Django Reinhardt school of cafe music (and piano as a key instrument!), there's no way I can't bounce along to this Parisian (actually, the group is from Oregon or some place like that) gem.
Beach Boys - God Only Knows
This is also from a movie. Saved! with bimbo Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin and Jena Malone (who really is kinda cute, but not hot - just to get that straight). It's such a good song, even though half of it is Brian Wilson lala-ing over and over again "God Only Knows." The chording is really strange, but effective nevertheless. You never know with these guys. They take the usual poppy progressions (I-IV-V-I) and then insert some subtle colorings, making the beach bum song into a higher art form. Some taint of bitterness comes into some of their songs (including God Only Knows) that depicts a humanness that doesn't exist in the usual perfection.
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1
There's something so unassuming about the Flaming Lips. The guitars are simple, the drums are simple, there's some wooden block action, some xylophones, simple words, simple electronic grunts... but there's something so beautiful about this song. The chorus is plaintive: "Oh, Yoshimi! They don't believe me... but you won't let those robots defeat me?" It's so forlorn, almost like a "come-back-to-me" song.
Kanye West - All Falls Down
"The concept of school seems so sec-errr..." Sounds familiar. I'm dealing with issues I can't believe - and I'm loving the hook. Syleena, whoever she is (probably one of his Chi-town peeps_, makes me want to sing along all the time, "and it all falls down! o-o-o-o-ohhhh..." But even if Kanye isn't the best rapper, there's something really earnest about his rap. He changes his voice to match the words too, something that a lot of rappers don't do. They got the vibe, but it sounds like dead dog meat. You can't be real about white society stickin it to us when you sound totally uninterested.
Gino Paoli - Senza Fine
This light waltz, in Italian, is so pretty that I want to dance every time I hear it. It's not like hearing the Blue Danube and being like, dude, that's your grandma's music. It's not like hearing Hey Ya and jumpin up and down like you got an itch that you just gotta scratch. It's such a romantic song even if I don't really know what the words mean (beyond never end) and without being sappy. There's the accordion and strings, at just the right level so it's not hokey Paris cafe music. It's music from the age of Dean Martin and early Frankie without the machismo and aged Sinatra voice that can grate on the nerves after a while.
Young Gunz and Juelz Santana - Rich Girlz
"Yeah, you're a rich girl... but bitch, I'm a pimp..." OK, fine, I'm not really supporting everything they sing, but they use such a good hook, from Billy Joel no less. Even most of the lyrics are pretty cool; not all of it is about bitch this, bitch that. There's the typical heavy brass that signifies a Young Gunz song, at least so far in their career anyway. The main hook is this clav bounce that slides underneath Billy singing, "you're a rich girl but you've gone too far cuz you know it don't matter anyway..." Gotta love it.
Peter Cincotti - I Changed the Rules
This is typical vocal jazz, with a tight swingy song, bass, brush drums and bouncy, crisp piano chords and riffs. Cincotti makes it work well because he makes the instrumentation sparse and relies more on the piano to fill the sound. The trumpet bobs in to put down melody, the bass holds it up some, but it feels empty and makes the piano suddenly absolutely necessary. The chords are ingenious variants off the actual chording, so there isn't a over-modern feel to the playing that sometimes scars other practictioners of the art.
Phantom Planet - Anthem
One of my favorite songs ever. I mean, how could you not like it? A typical pop song, but much more relaxed beat than usual. Kind of like 90s pop but with a lot less acoustic edge to the song. Very melodic song with deceptively simple chord structure. Ridiculously easy to sing along to (I've only been singing it to myself for an entire year now). Here are the lyrics:
I woke up today
A song was swimming in my head
And I hummed it to myself
As I got out of bed
And on the way to take a shower
It all just dawned on me
That a song like this just might go down in history
I quickly ran back to get my guitar, a pen and some paper
Cause this whole world
Needs an anthem
And I'm trying to put the words where they belong
Yeah, this whole world
Needs an anthem
And I'm hoping everyone will sing along
Well I quickly got to work
And put the song in gear
And my neighbor rang the doorbell
Said it caught his ear
I was playing it so loud
The whole neighborhood could hear
And at night from every household
It became quite clear
Everyone just singing along
The same notes the same song
Maybe I heard it wrong
Books
Rereading Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections currently. I was home this weekend, and I got to pick up a bunch of the books I've been meaning to reread. Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient - while the movie was a bunch of sap, the book is quality. It is evocative in such a way that really ethereal novels are; it's a good change from reading trashy novels. And he's from Toronto. As for good mysteries that read like high literature, Robert Wilson's The Company of Strangers is really good. It was so good, in fact, that I ended up buying A Small Death in Lisbon, his other book. Just as cleanly plotted and reminiscent of World War II espionage in the way that cigar smoke is in a room after the people have left.
Was almost going to bring back L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy. I didn't because I just saw the movie and wanted it to fade first. Ellroy is such a good true-crime writer - but only in a few of his pieces. Many of his earlier works really sucked. But many of them - The Cold Six Thousand - and others: Suicide Hill, the Big Nowhere, American Tabloid. Awesome. He knows how to corral gangsters, penpushers and the boys in blue such that you really believe l.a. (and other cities, but mainly l.a.) are still dark, passionate, and riddled with graft and corruption. Too much sun these days.
Just finished reading Atul Gawande's Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. A critique of the medical culture, it explains how medicine is not as infallible as we all think, and how doctors - as other humans - deal with the problems of stress, uncertainty and ethics when dealing with patient's lives. It's fascinating. While not the height of literature (albeit science-tinged), it's something I would aspire to writing. A summary of a science, couched in words and cases that depict the passion inherent within.
Concurrently, I finished rereading (I actually do reread a lot) Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. He lays out a huge Illumanti conspiracy (against the brainwashing of the Catholic Church) to destroy the Vatican and everything in it, which actually turns out to be a crazed priest's attempt to shw how endangered the church is by the cold heart of science. An intriguing argument, that is shown to be misguided by speeches by the more virtuous characters involved. I was looking Illuminati up online, and yes, there actually is a card and board games called Illuminati: the Conspiracy. I was reading this article online about the history and structure of secret societies in the Western tradition. The setup of the Assassins cult way back to Hasan-e Sabah was rather political and extended throughout the Middle East. The benefactors were only the organization (read: a secret, separate aristocracy of sorts) rather than the Islamic rulers and nobles who supposedly ran government in those countries where Assassin influence was rampant. Their motto was "nothing is true: everything is permitted."
The Knights Templar were perhaps just as influential, and quite possibly, much richer. They owned an entire fleet and had interest in many of the European markets. On one dark Friday the 13th, a templar-hunt found the existence of secret-society structure under some talking head named "Baphomet." Cult figure. This was the day the Priory of Sion burned their leader at the stake to learn the whereabouts of the enormous gold hoard that had come from Jerusalem during the Crusades, when the Templars had assisted in sacking the city. They were later linked to "operative masonry", which displayed their influence and protection of certain buildings and royal families by extra stone carvings and moldings placed in key areas. This was thought to have evolved into the Freemasonry movement in America and the Jacobite movement in Scotland and England, as well as France, lasting through until destroyed by the French Revolution.
For more Illuminati-related literature and movies, find the scifi Illuminatus Trilogy, watch the upcoming release of National Treasure with Nicholas Cage, and scour the paranoid websites all over the Internet. You'd be surprised at what you do find.
Voices
bmk j a c k: 151 chug. HUP. Fade to black.
marie m 117: you know, that's a good point
r u n n r 18: YO
r u n n r 18: speaking of music@!
r u n n r 18: we should make ti to a jamm session
r u n n r 18: at warmdaddys
r u n n r 18: sometime this summer
bmk j a c k: ooh, yeah, def
r u n n r 18: remember what they were sayin ?
bmk j a c k: yeah i do and that's kinda cool
bmk j a c k: i gotta brush up my blues chops
r u n n r 18: same here
yeah, i don't like my middle name
i always mistype it as fat
cause the keys are so close together
JGracieT114: my fat black cat likes Puccini and I think more of him for it
Sefulus: you'll always have a place to stay there avec moi
Sefulus: and, most likely, hot supermodels to hang out with
Sefulus: ;-)
bmk j a c k: aw suga
Movies To See
Fahrenheit 9/11
See the_polemic.
28 Days Later
Filmed with a DV camera, this ingenious living dead movie was less scare-the-bejesus-out-of-me horror movie than social commentary. Really, what would happen if suddenly everyone began to turn on each other (due to a virus, of course, to make it reasonable)? Would you start putting your life first at the expense of everything else? How far does devotion go? And in the situation that many don't actually think of, but this movie does: what happens when we begin to contemplate our future? In this movie, nine soldiers are camping out in this building and defending it on the basis that they will get women to reproduce and create a future. When these survivors get there, they are immediately kept forcibly so as to have sex partners, rape or not. Without these women, their lives have become moot, as they can't pass on their collective wisdom, love, etc. that any parent would want to pass on. Even in nature, we have individual survival decrease so reproduction can succeed. But even so, the one outsider guy makes a conscious decision that these guys are bastards for permitting rape in order to ensure their future - is it a price too high to pay? Anyway.
About A Boy
You can see Hugh Grant be taught a lesson, when his callous attitudes can actually do wrong. Unfortunately, from what I hear, that's not what happens in real life. But you can still see him here, charming and callous, and then gradually converting to charming, and caring, and getting better at it. The scenes witht he boy remind all of us of our awkward times, and we learn that devotion can make a man what he really is.
Goodfellas
Yo, I was freaking scared of Joe Pesci in this movie. I saw this, for the first time, after I had seen Home Alone 2 one night, and I was like...wow, that's a big change. The story of this non-Italin guy making it in the Mafia is kinda cool. Even though most of it is glorified, I still get a kick out of the blood and misplaced "we have honor" philosophies that they use to justifu themselves. Gangsters are some of the most religious people around. Just finihsed a book by Arturo Perez-Reverte called "The Queen of the South" and it's about a woman who lives her life as controlled by the narcos, and then eventually, her life leading the narcos. It's wonderful - and they really get across certain quirks, like how the ridiculous religion fervor in South America has all the mafioso praying to saints for help on their next hit. Mothers pray for their sons doing their first mule deliveries. Or pray to get them out of jail. Or that if they die, they at least get the bodies back. These gangsters. One day you're there, the next, you've lived a breath too long. I guess if you're earning that kind of money, the price you pay is that you either get your life cut short, or you live forever - there's no retirement once you start a life of crime.
My Life Without Me
So I didn't actually like the entire movie... like come on, I'm going to die so I'm going to do these things with my family before that happens? But that was a before I watched the movie. Sarah Polley (my fave Canadian actress since Road to Avonlea with Nana on the couch just bc she was hot) has this haunted look to her that makes me believe she can lead this desperate double life for a few days, with all the requisite guilt and misplaced love that an innocent abroad would show. Her two kids and Scott Speedman are great as her family, and so is the woman that plays her mother - life as almost trailer trash suddenly becomes so noble, even though you know they're so lost. I loved the soundtrack (any soundtrack that can use Gino Paoli and then Blossom Dearie is in my book awesome), and hated the scenes with Mark Ruffalo. They were sweet, they were tender, but I guess I was jealous or something... I felt his character didn't deserve that attention, though I'm aware she needed it desperately. This really felt like a movie with real characters: there was the emptiness in their lives that they needed to fill. Not just another hokey heart-string-puller.
The Butterfly Effect
A thriller with one-trick-pony Ashton Kutcher and a haunting story - though it has many, many plot holes - that got me on the edge of my seat for hte entire movie. There was this nervous feeling that I got while wathcing it the first time. It's a good suspense. I especially liked Amy Smart's transformation to hooker with VD, right after the sorority girl stint. That was hugel And the story really did make me feel, even though critics blasted most of the life-changing events as too over the top. As if killing babies, burning little dogs, child porn, suicide, etc. could all ever happen in one lifetime. I'm sure it has. Give me The Life of Jeffrey Dahmer and you probably have a lot of scary shit that no one will believe. I like seeing movies that explore the possibility of going back and fixing things. Or in this case, not fixing things. It's wonderful.
Dawn of the Dead
Another zombie movie, with Sarah Polley as a nurse who kicks ass when she needs to. It's different from 28 Days Later, which ended with a message of hope. This one is bleak. You're alone, kid, an you always will be. Even with a pack of 8 or 9 people who also want to live, but they got their own demons. Like the guy with the pregnant zombie wife who has a zombie kid. There goes his hope; he shoots up the lady that tries to save all of them from his "greedy" family satiation. She shoots him, of course. Being holed up in a mall ain't all it's cracked up to be. The ones that are cruel and selfish in their self-preservation are naturally the ones we all want to see dead, and they do die. The end is the most tragic though, for they find the boat and go toward a hopeful deliverance in the sunset. Then the credits come along. This was ingenious - most people left - but it was only AFTER some of the credit rolled that they showed all the rest of the footage. The people go hungry, they run out of water, of fuel, they find an island, and the only thing there (and probably the rest of the world) are zombie, zombies... cold, cold death.
Lost in Translation
Yeah, not about plot, or even a serious character development movie. It's about a mood - which made the people that didn't like it, not like it even more. Yes, it's tentatively about expatriates being lost in this vapid life abroad, but it's more about people lost in their own lives, wherever it may be. And they find out that their need for other people is stronger than they realize. It's wonderful to see the love that they share. Nothing disgusting about it. Scarlett Johanssen and Bill Murray can really pull it off.
The Door in the Floor
So I haven't read John Irving's Widow For A Year, but it seems intriguing now. Maybe it's just the screenwriter doing a great job. In any case, I was extremely interested in the part of the young student that came to work with the writer, played by Jeff Bridges. While an outsider, he quickly comes to mean everything in the family relationship of the writer, his wife and his daughter. His wife believes the writer hired the kid to be his driver to his various affairs - women he would draw for his kids books which eventually turned to nude portraiture. In several funny moments, he turns from awe at his one female subject, Mrs. Vaughn, to degradation and then to shame. The pictures he draws of her nakedness he returns to her, and she then tries to kill him. It's funny to see him running down the street, but while it's funny, there's a poignancy to the pointlessness of his life. It's his method of coping with his part in the deaths of his two sons. He got drunk and didn't wipe the snow off his car or drive, making his 17-year old son drive and get into an accident, killing him and his brother. The writer's wife responds differently, and is transfixed by grief. She found her one son's leg still attached to her shoe in the car accident, and it haunts her. In their new house, with a new life and a new kid (played by Dakota Fanning's little sister), they try to heal. The writer has actually hired the kid to keep his grieving wife company, as he looks like one of the dead sons. They end up having an affair, which affects the daughter, as she is a witness to their relationship. The writer realizes this and thinks of his wife, whom he is separated from, as a bad mother. The daughter meanwhile is transfixed by the pictures in her house, a majority of which are her dead brothers. Her mom finally breaks and plans to run away, leaving everything behind. She says she'd rather be no mom than a bad mom, and takes away all the pictures, removing her daughter's memories. The kid has to deal with all of this, and the growing discomfort he feels since he is working with the writer on a daily basis while banging his wife and driving him to his screw sessions. It's really quite complicated, but the movie does a good job of making it easy to understand. I'm assuming John Irving has a lot to say about sex-related problems in the family. Because there's lots of it.
Kim Basinger: "....sex. All kids your age are interested in it, right?"
Kid: "Yeah. Before I die."
Elle Fanning: "Your penis looks funny."
Elle Fanning, on seeing kid and mother doing it doggy-style: "Aaaaah!!!!"
Kim Basinger: "It's OK. It's only us. Go back to bed."
Elle, with shrug and smile: "Okay!"
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
I saw Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle with Rachel last night, at the Riverview. Even though freaking taxis cost us $25 bucks and tickets $18 making it a very expensive $21.50 each to go see the movie - I think it was worth it. It was hilarious! Most of it was being able to identify (though you really don't have to fit either stereotype) with the anal (Asian) finance person and the (Indian) pre-med still frontin' after all these years for daddy's dollar.
There's this weed scene, right? Kumar sees a giant bag of weed. And then, a dream sequence enfolds - Kumar going on romantic dates with said bag, Kumar making out with said bag, Kumar marrying said bag, Kumar calling said bag dumb bitch, ou can't make coffee, Kumar apologizing on bended knee to said bag... um, Kumar, still in jail here?
Whatever. The Princeton scenes were funny. And Battle-shits was definitely a highlight. As was the cheetah. And Neil Patrick Harris. And all the racists getting their due. And the American Dream as parallel to the search for a White Castle. And coming home at 11 pm and wondering where the entire day went. Yeah. I sat on my couch for 10 minutes pondering that one.
In other news... Dave Chappelle renews with Comedy Central for $50 million! That means two more original seasons to look forward to! And Dave Chappelle gets fucking rich! With all that money... that shit better be as good as the first two seasons. I'm gonna be watching. You know who else loves Dave Chappelle? Wait till she hears about this. Also, Fahrenheit 9/11 becomes first documentary to top $100 million in domestic release.
Voices (2)
Brennayo: yeah, but times are a-changin, man!
"are you going to ask me to come up?"
"how far do you want to go?"
who says that!?!?!?
glitter612:you better be wearing your hot pants
bmk j a c k: well, they're pants. and they're hot.
bmk j a c k: that count?
Sefulus: don't ask me why i want to be a housewife and a terrorist simultaneously, but it passes time
lindley132: nothing
lindley132: i do nothing
bmk j a c k: waste of space, huh
Brennayo: you ain't in pgh man!
Auto response from bmk j a c k: je dors, apres beaucoup de fetes.
glitter612: i'm gonna make you a staaaa
bmk j a c k: mmm...drinkohol
JGracieT114: drinkohol?