As useless as tits on a boar.
-from a Mel Bochner “piece of art”
Destruction is easier than harmony, but not more powerful.
-source unknown? This is what happens when I watch TV sometimes…
Author Archives: Duff
Cable: Underworld Evolution
OK I only caught the last who knows how long of this (hour?), but I turned the TV on right in the middle of a wordless, very sexy, very NUDE (nuder than most!) sex scene between Scott Speedman and Kate Beckinsale. Woah. For a minute, I thought maybe it was post midnight and the TV had accidentally been left on Cinemax; it’s always so disconcerting to come home to that!
I’ll have to try to watch it from the beginning sometime; I know neither of them are “Great Films” but I did enjoy the first Underworld. Vampires, leather, gloom: sometimes it’s just what you’re looking for in a flick.
Fiction: “The Zero” by Jess Walter
“A Novel of September 12” (per the dust jacket). Good to know, going in.
Paranoia. Distrust. Confusion. Gaps in time, in meaning, in understanding, and between people.
Maybe every couple lived in the gaps between conversations, unable to say the important things for fear they had already been said, or couldn’t be said; maybe every relationship started over every time two people came together.
Not really sure how I felt about it. Sometimes I was as confused as Remy. Other times I felt the answer was obvious.
Big Screen: The Painted Veil.
Serene and slow…and very, very sad.
The emotions run the gamut during this one: from mean and horrible to tender and distressed. You can know someone for a long time…without knowing them. Can’t you?
We both liked it.
Best of…2006
Best CDs: I already posted an extensive list of my favorite tunes from 2006. My top 3 albums were Gnarls Barkley “St. Elsewhere”, Gomez “How We Operate” and Golden Smog “Another Fine Day.”
Best Gigs: I saw a lot of great shows in 2006, including Lollapalooza. Trying (desperately) to narrow it down, I’d say the two tied for “funnest” were Gnarls Barkley and Beck (hello, puppets!). The best was Joan Baez. And runner-up was The Raconteurs on December 30. Sadly I did not keep a list just by 2006, but you can see a (supposedly) comprehensive list of what I’ve seen live here.
Best Books: [Limiting myself MOSTLY to books published and read this year, as opposed to all the books I read this year.] The best NON fiction books I read this year were “Guests of the Ayatollah” by Mark Bowden and “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion. The best novels I read were “Black Swan Green” by David Mitchell, “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn and “Towing Jehovah” by James Morrow [that one was not pub this year]. The best short stories I read were “In Persuasian Nation” by George Saunders and “When the Messenger Is Hot” by Elizabeth Crane (not from this year either). The best poetry was “Strong Is Your Hold” by Galway Kinnell. You can view the entire list of what I read here and you can read my last mini-reviews here (reviews will be posted to Snip from now on).
Best Films: By far, the best film I saw this year was “The Departed”. For drama, I also highly recommend “Inside Man” “The Queen” and I personally loved “Marie Antoinette”. For a smaller film “Come Early Morning” was very well done. For comedy “Scoop” and “Clerks 2” were both quite funny, in their own ways. “Casino Royale” was the Best Bond, perhaps ever. And “The Prestige” was a good movie about just how horrifically awful human beings can be. So you’d have to keep that in mind, should you choose to see it. There were other movies I liked also.
I’m pretty good at not going to movies I can tell I’m not going to like, in my old age. I’d have to say “Last Kiss” (yuck) and “Match Point” (“Scoop” is so much better!) were my least favorite movies in the theater this year and “The DaVinci Code” was about how I expected: not good, but not as bad as I had heard. Average. Middling.
For Keanu lovers like myself, there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with “The Lakehouse.” You can see the whole list of what I saw here or you can view Snip by category “Flicks”; although I oddly forgot to write up a LOT of the concerts I saw, I pretty consistently reported back on movies.
And I’ve already seen my first movie of 2007 although I haven’t written it up yet. Soon! 🙂
Concert: The Hold Steady
New Year’s Eve show, band all in tuxes. Some technical difficulties at the beginning created large breaks between songs / they must have changed the wire to Craig Finn’s guitar several times. But once that was fixed, it was a great show, probably the best I’ve seen them play (this was third time I’d seen them).
Odd concert in that it was one of the very few concerts I’ve been to where it appeared that the boys in the audience knew the lyrics better than the girls. Definitely a crowd pleaser, lots of singing along, pumping of fists, etc.
Pretty rockin’ show.
*The small downstairs stage at the House of Blues.
Concert: The Raconteurs
Really intensely rocking out. Raucous. Riotous. Very, very awesome. But occasional dips into jam-band territory (if your songs have words, I prefer those parts).
However insane Jack White is, or wants to be thought of as, he’s a consummate musician and clearly surrounded himself with other very talented guys. I could feel my pulse throbbing along to the beat and the bass, but it was a damn good concert.
Cable: Without Limits
I missed the first 45 minutes or so as I was busy putting pictures of my ass up on the Internet (I know, I wish I was joking too).
One of (several) Prefontaine movies. Wow, I loved this. Billy Crudup is yummy even with the scary ’70s hair and the Prefontaine ego, and look at those muscles. Was it this way in real life: were all the other runners so much skinnier than Pre and more “the normal skinny shape for long distance runners” or is that just how it looks in this film? Donald Sutherland is great, although so emaciated you can almost see his bones coming through his skin. Now who is…oooo it’s Jeremy Sisto playing one of the other runners! I never liked him until I started watching Kidnapped this year, but now I am a fan.
Oh and creepy “Ethan” from “Lost” plays “Bob” (which is always said in a very creepy tone), Pre’s sometimes roommate.
Loved it. Totally cried at the end! Poor Mary! Despite lack of first 45 minutes. Maybe someday…
Just started Season 2 of House.
Love Cameron’s new hair! Really liking Chase so far this season. Weird, he’s usually my least favorite. Love watching old episodes of shows and seeing the guest appearances you didn’t expect: Ron Livingston in episode 4 as a “mission” doctor, totally hitting on Cameron.
Big Screen: The Good Shepherd.
OK. Better than The Good German. But not great, not what it’s trying to be.
Felt this was a very PHYSICAL acting role on Matt Damon’s part, similar to what Heath Ledger did in Brokeback. It wasn’t just in the way he talked, but in the way he walked with his shoulders hunched, the way he stared, the way he always seemed to have one eye looking over his shoulder. You constantly felt the burdens he was under.
Robert DeNiro was great, think he may have underused himself here. Alec Baldwin continues in his string of recent very welldone supporting roles. Angelina did a good job decaying of unhappiness. William Hurt was just as icky and creepy as you can imagine, and honestly he might need to do a “good guy” role sometime again soon or I might not be able to watch him on screen much more!
Movie covers a LOT of ground, about a 25- to 30-year time period, with flashbacks and jumping back to present. I liked the transitions / B&W slowly into color. Thought there were a couple of twists done wrong / i.e., when there’s a big “reveal” of a bad guy: it has to be someone you care about. Otherwise it’s thrown away.
Didn’t love it. But did make you ponder some things. Like how the fucko rich boys in skull&bones have fucked the shit out of our country and aren’t they still continuing to do so. But that’s really a different topic isn’t it?
Long and slow. A lot to take in.