Daily Archives: June 2, 2007

Big Screen: Paris, Je T’Aime.

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According to the poster, 18 vignettes (the picture grid at the beginning & end was 4×4 so suggested 16. Felt more like 30). All set in different Paris neighborhoods, some concerned with Paris, some not. Some realistic and true, some purely fantastical and nutso. Some I liked, some I hated, but all short enough that just hold out for a few minutes and you’re on to a new one. A couple random shots at the end linking some of the stories to each other, but not all. Lots of famous faces popping up, some in unexpected ways. Overall = enjoyable. But quite wacky.

And tell me the Elijah Wood segment did not totally steal all its coloration ideas from Sin City (which he was also in). I cannot tell him or Tobey Maguire apart and they both kinda creep me out.

History: “Killing Pablo” by Mark Bowden

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I am becoming quite the Mark Bowden groupie, eh?

This book reveals the secrets of US government/military involvement in the hunt for and eventual murder of Pablo Escobar, former head of the Colombian cocaine cartel, and quite the terrorist. Bowden manages to take all these people’s memories and turn them into quite a page turner, it feels like you’re reading a story of what happened rather than a journalist’s report.

Good. Intriguing. But I would recommend both Black Hawk Down (love that book) and Guests of the Ayatollah over this one. This one feels a little stiff in comparison.

In Concert: Dinosaur Jr.

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Either we missed Lou Barlow doing a solo set at the beginning of the night…or he decided not to when he came back on stage after Dinosaur and everyone started Booing because it wasn’t the encore they were looking for? (Jackhats!)

Great sounds. Really rocking out. The hair on the lead singer is like less-coiffed leftovers from a Ratt video. And it drove me nuts all night to try to figure out what was on his t-shirt. Dinosaur? Diamond? DeeWayne?

Fiction: “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Michael Chabon

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One of those detective stories where the detective is such a slack-ass drunken messed-up dude that you spend half the time worrying about him rather than the mystery (think John Rebus/Ian Rankin).

Takes place in an alternate US where the Jewish refugees from WWII were all settled in Alaska but the district is about to revert to Alaskan control and they will be homeless.

There’s rabbi-led Jewish mobsters, chess games, long-standing friendships and broken-up relationships, and bad fathers, and unhappy sons. It’s a detective novel with a philosophical treatise buried in the heart of it. Once I got past the first chapter, I really couldn’t put it down.

If you loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (and how could you not? That’s a GREAT book!), you will surely find this book wonderful as well.

Ponder your responses well.

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…”I’m not like her, am I?”

This question is like the cowboy in Mulholland Drive, who you see again one time if you do good and two times if you do bad. Answer the question wisely, and you won’t have to hear it again for another year. Try to give a clever answer, and you have bigger immediate problems than the humidity index.

–from “Love Is a Mix Tape” by Rob Sheffield.

No pain, no gain?

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It’s the same with people who say, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Even people who say this must realize that the exact opposite is true. What doesn’t kill you maims you, cripples you, leaves you weak, makes you whiny and full of yourself at the same time. The more pain, the more pompous you get. Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you incredibly annoying.

–from “Love Is a Mix Tape” by Rob Sheffield

Music/Memoir: “Love Is a Mix Tape” by Rob Sheffield

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This book sounded so much up my alley that I was wary of it at first. Then I read this review and I KNEW I didn’t have to worry about being disappointed.

An elegy to his dead wife. An elegy to the music they discovered and loved together. A tribute to so many bands, some disbanded, some moved on. A foundation for his future. A hopeful look ahead.

The writing is lovely, the music discussions are wonderful. I’m now obsessed with checking out bands I never listened to at the time (Big Star, Pavement), and revisiting ones I did listen to but haven’t in ages. I’m replaying mix tapes from high school and college and thinking about old friends and breakup songs and drinking songs and roadtrip songs….

I loved it. LOVED it.

This joins “High Fidelity” by Nick Hornby and “The Wishbones” by Tom Perrotta as my favorite music books.

In Concert: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

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Wow. I really had no idea what to expect going in. The first time I listened to these guys was last year when a few of their songs kept popping up on shows I watch (one of them made my favorites list last year). I remember reading reviews that said those songs were really a departure from their former harder-rock style. Their new album came out and the reviews said it was trying to be a mix of their old & new styles (and not necessarily succeeding). I got it. I like it.

So, on to seeing them live: OK I go to a lot of concerts, but not necessarily that many rock concerts. More singer/songwriter, acoustic, indie, alternative. This concert? ROCKED. Total hypnotic oral assault = awesome. Freakish torturous visual assault (light show) = surely dangerous to any epileptics in the audience! Music sounded great. They’re better musicians than I would have guessed from the albums. Good stage banter, great lyrics, nice acoustic touch in the middle. Loved it.

I am officially bonkers about this band.

Big Screen: Waitress

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Disappointing. Some great performances, Keri Russell in particular. But I thought the plot, the characters, their motivations, and the general “story” were all convoluted. I’m all for adultery in the movies, but in this movie it was the only fun and/or meaningful thing in any of these characters’ lives but for only one or two characters did we actually know or get any clue about the motivation behind it.

Very disappointed. Did not live up to the hype.