Nan’s brother’s band’s latest incarnation. Formerly Caviar, formerly Figdish. It’s quite amazing to watch the transformation of Mike and Blake’s music together as the years go by. I started going to Figdish concerts…let’s see…1995 maybe? Figdish was pure rock. Caviar added in a little bit of sampling, a little bit of electronica, more pop than rock. Prairie Cartel is solid rock with a big dose of electronica. Like Beck and The Glimmer Twins thrown into a blender together with a little dash of Snow Patrol on top. Anthemic choruses.
Whether you like these guys’ music that much (as much as me) or not, they’ve been playing together for so many years, they KNOW how to put on a show. Compared to the three or four 12-teen bands that went on before them, the contrast was remarkable. You might not become their biggest fan, but you’re not going to walk away from the Prairie Cartel without feeling that these guys played their hearts out and completely harmonically so.
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Big Screen: Dreamgirls.
More a real “musical” than, say, Walk the Line or Ray, both of which featured singing but only when the actors were on stage. Whereas this has those random “I’m talking to you but wait, now I’m singing to you!” moments.
Eddie Murphy was GREAT. Not a character you really LIKED but he did a great job and he was one of the most humorous parts of the movie, which in some ways I felt was missing some humor. One song that went on way too long, and when I checked afterward, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way… Jennifer Hudson was pretty impressive and the movie only affirms the fact that Beyonce sings about as well as…J Lo. Or me. Or you. Anybody can sound “good” mixed correctly; only some people can sound “great” and neither one of them falls into that category; Jennifer does.
Really hated Jamie Foxx in this, and not all because of who he was playing. Seemed to have a really sullen sticking-out-his-bottom-lip, barely-moving-his-mouth thing going on.
Overall, good performances, good singing. Seems like a bunch of real-world stories (Supremes, Jacksons, etc.) all sort of thrown into one fictional story. Ddn’t realize it was a stage play first. Interesting.
Big Screen: Pan’s Labyrinth
Contrary to what ALL of the reviews I read said: I did NOT find this to be a horror film. I did find some of it GROSS. And some of it BRUTALLY VIOLENT. But NONE of it caused me any undue horror. I was fully prepared to be screaming, shaking, grabbing the arms of people next to me, having nightmares later and perhaps being unable to sleep. None of which ensued.
It was really good. Really compelling. A mix between the reality of the adult world fighting a war against fascism (led by sadists) and the child world of trying to find a place where you feel safe and loved. Reality mixed with faery (to use their sp) tale mixed with little girl’s (mis)perceptions. Intriguing.
The captain/stepdad is truly brutally sadistic and some of those scenes were hard to watch (I had my hands strategically over my eyes to block out all but the subtitles). And one of the faery sequences is soooooo gross. But still: not that scary and certainly not as scary as the reviews had led me to believe.
The little girl is just lovely and beautiful and expressive and I hope she grows up to be a rich and famous actress one day. I imagine this is what Audrey Tatou looked like as a little girl.
Nonfiction: “They Call Me Naughty Lolita”
The London Review of Books Personal Ads, edited by David Rose
Hilarious. Totally hilarious. The opposite of the traditional “i’m pretty, i’m sensitive, you want to date me” ads. Rather, things like this: Bald, fat and ugly seeks modelesque beauty to save him from living at home with mother.
Laughed so hard at some points I had tears rolling down my face. Definitely a “read out loud to friends” book.
Making Plans / Buying Tickets
First half:
Jan 19 – Prairie Cartel (nan’s brother’s latest band) @ Schuba’s
Jan 21 – Peter Mulvey (amanda’s crush) @ Schuba’s
Mar 3 – Pete Yorn / Aqualung @ Riviera
Mar 10 – Crooked Still @ Old Town
Apr 13 – Low @ Metro
Apr 14 – Josh Rouse @ Old Town
February feels a little sad. We’ll have to work on that.
Second half:
Aug 3-5 – Lollapalooza, baby.
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Just a binding away from finishing the first Strippers of the Orient quilt (finished ALL the free motion quilting on Sunday. woot!). And maybe 20-30 stitch in the ditch quilting seams away from finishing a baby Log Cabin I made ALL IN ONE (mon)DAY thanks to Eleanor Burns’ Log Cabin in a Day book (I would have finished it entirely had I not gone out to dinner). Also have 8 of 21 pieces sewn together on another Dear Jane block.
Reading: “Beasts of No Nation” by Uzodinma Iweala. It was a Christmas gift.
Watching: Rewatched (or listened to and occasionally looked up at) entire fourth season of Everwood during the Sunday/Monday quilting extravaganzas. Waiting not very patiently for the next new episode of Friday Night Lights which I think isn’t on until next week (you are KILLING ME, NBC). Watched the last half hour of the Globes. Booooring. And hello has Warren Beatty completely lost his mind?
Listening: The Long Blondes, picked up in London. LOVE IT. Paolo Nuttini’s full length. Also UK. Also love it. (It’s even better than the EP I told you about before.) Jim Noir “Tower of Love”. He might be TOO HAPPY for me.
Lyrics of the Day.
And some have said that true love is something we are sure of.
But my only hope lies in your being confused.
-“Vote” from the Submarines “Declare a New State”
Jen recommended this album to me ages ago; I bought it, liked it, but (for who knows what reason) didn’t wind up listening to it that much at the time. I am really digging it these days.
Paste Culture Club 12/19 Edition.
This is a great introduction to Joseph Arthur, if you’re not already on his bandwagon (I am). Really good live performances of a bunch of songs, including a new one not even on the most recent album. Pretty funny guy and does not seem nearly as religious as some of his lyrics make you wonder. (As opposed to say, Josh Ritter, who talked a LOT about “spirituality” when he appeared on the show.)
Also a pretty interesting conversation with the guy/girl that make up the Weepies. But oddly no performance / just a song (or maybe two? can’t remember?) played off the last album. So interesting, but not as satisfying as the Arthur segment.
Big Screen: Children of Men.
Freaky. Frightening.
Has the same feel as other post-apocalyptic London movies like “V for Vendetta” and “28 Days Later.”
Very scary, and with just enough toeholds in reality that you have to think that if things got really (even more) fucked up, something like this COULD happen…
Thought they copped out a little on the ending though.
Clive Owen is great. Julianne Moore looks oddly clean, compared to the rest of the movie. A beacon of porcelain whiteness. Weird.
Cable: In Her Shoes
Wow, I must have been really tired because this not-great chick flick totally made me cry!! Convoluted, messed up family relationships just get to ya sometimes I guess.
Really liked the sweet way the romance between Rose and Simon (played by one of those actors you’ve seen in a million things) evolved.
Cameron Diaz seemed to have a lot more going on up top than normal. Is it just me or was she considerably more boobalicious in this movie than in any of the, say, 5000 pictures of her in bikinis they’ve shown in US Weekly, People, etc.? Temporary implants? Creative use of masking tape?