I guess the point is that redemption doesn’t depend on survival.
-James Marsters
Author Archives: Duff
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Still working on the Friendship Star quilts, finishing the binding on the mini leftovers quilt, and have a stack of fabric pulled out to wash since AmandaJean brainwashed me into joining her quilt-a-long.
Reading: Subtly violent short stories “Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work” by Jason Brown. Just three more to go. And obsessing over book blogs and all the “reading challenges” people are involved in.
Watching: As much fall TV as I can stuff into my head before it all comes to a horrific grinding halt. Had secret plans to go to a movie every night this week, but that plan quickly fell apart one day in.
Listening: David Gray‘s new covers album (available only on his site I believe); the Natalie Portman-produced Big Change: Songs for FINCA compilation; and an album and an EP by Great Northern, which I think I just randomly found on iTunes, not sure what caught my eye but they’re good.
Best of October
The best movie I saw in October was Control, the Ian Curtis/Joy Division biopic that I actually went to twice. Beautifully filmed, powerfully acted, with great tunes.
The best book I read in October was … a three-way tie? Hmmmm, OK the one I’ve thought about the most since reading it is “In the Woods” by Tana French. But I thought both the new Haven Kimmel and Jonathan Coe were really, really good as well.
The best gig I went to in October was Rogue Wave. Really compelling and the lead singer has such a distinctive voice.
My favorite tunes in October were the latest albums by Band of Horses, Mr. Hudson & The Library, Joe Purdy, and singles from Nada Surf “See These Bones” (via Fuel/Friends) and folksinger Tom Paxton “George W Told the Nation.”
Random personal highlights: Brunch with MaryKay!; Chicago Film Festival.
Lowlights? White Stripes concert cancelled, thank you Meg’s stupid internet sex tape; Steph’s visit cancelled, thank you stupid airlines.
Seems like a slow month, doesn’t it? But October is very busy at work for me, so there you go. Stupid work.
Sometimes the inner DJ makes bad choices.
Running through my head the entire day:
I love you, baby,
And if it’s quite alright,
I need you, baby,
To warm a lonely night.
I love you, baby.
Trust in me when I say:
Oh, pretty baby,
Don’t bring me down, I pray.
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay
And let me love you, baby.
Let me love you.
Small blessings: at least the inner DJ chose to play the Michelle Pfeiffer version from The Fabulous Baker Boys. It could be worse.
Big Screen: American Gangster
I had high expectations for this movie and I was glad to not be disappointed. That said, the first 20 minutes or so (out of almost three hours) were not really what I was expecting. Story had some unusual twists.
Denzel and Russell were both really strong, although both looked crappier physically than I’ve seen them look in a while. There was one scene in which Denzel looked so bloated and slackjawed and I thought “oh are they going to make his character go all crazy and loose cannon now? To match how he’s falling apart physically?” But he seemed to recover a bit from that. There are TONS of other “oh oh I know that guy, what’s he been in?” actors in this. The police chief (?) from Monk. Josh Brolin (Man, I can’t stand that guy. And fortunately, in this movie, he plays someone to hate so my natural feelings weren’t fighting the storyline). “Stringer Bell” (yay!). This scrawny dude who was, I believe, the male lead in that movie everyone on earth loved (EXCEPT ME!!) “Me and You and Everyone We Know”. A dude who recently was on an episode of K-Ville. A small role knocked out of the park by Cuba Gooding Jr. and an even smaller part played by Common.
It was long and sprawling and really followed two distinct storylines (led by their respective stars) that ran parallel but didn’t truly overlap until about the last five minutes. It was violent and scrappy and sometimes offensive (in the spirit of its time). And I really (really) liked it.
Mystery/Fiction: “He Kills Coppers” by Jake Arnott
Loosely a follow-up to The Long Firm, although the connection is more tenuous than in your average “series”.
Again follows a variety of characters with many different narrators, different motivations. All warped or twisted, all involved in something unsavory despite their best intentions. There’s a little trick at the end I really liked.
The scenes with Billy in the forest, digging out a bunker, meeting up with the gypsy-types, really really reminded me of another book I dug — I know it’s one of the John Madden mysteries by Rennie Airth although I’m not sure which one.
The previous book was a lot more “social commentary” and “criminal biography” in feel. This one’s focus is slightly different, feels more like a combination of “police procedural” and “investigative reporting”.
One more to go (in this trilogy)! Glad I decided to rescue these off the TBR shelf. Enjoying them.
In Concert: Athlete
Wow. Great, great show. Empty Bottle is kind of my own personal version of Hell, the most smoke-filled, cram-packed, claustrophobic, basement-like concert venue on earth. (I want to burn the clothes I wore. I took a 40-minute shower when I got home, trying to scrub the smoke out of my skin.) For you New Yorker, it makes the Mercury Lounge feel like Madison Square Garden.
But the low ceiling and the packed crowd and the proximity of the stage can make it a very intimate show if the band has the skills to take advantage of it: Athlete certainly does.
Lead singer really connected with the audience. Band sounded great. Anthemic and emotional and heart pounding and connected. Solid rock. Not quirky and not pop-y and not sparse. But deep, thick, rich.
Who would I compare them to if you don’t know them? Hmm.. If you like Snow Patrol, you should be listening to Athlete. If you were an Oasis fan back, back in the day, you should be listening to Athlete. Love them, love their latest album, loved their previous albums, loved this show.
But damn, motherfuckers, when the headliner doesn’t start until around 11:30, we’re talking a seriously sleepy Carolyn on the way home. Destroyed by a concert. I’m so fucking old.
Nonfiction: “A Field Guide to Getting Lost” by Rebecca Solnit.
Hard to know how to classify this book. Not really ‘travel’ although she does go a few places. Not really ‘memoir’ although there are memories discussed Maybe: Philosophical musings from a personal viewpoint?
Regardless, I loved it. Completely engaging. Calm, yet intense underneath. Asking tough questions. Pondering, considering, studying.
The important thing is not that Elijah might show up someday. The important thing is that the doors are left open to the dark every year.
Not a book about religion, although that quote uses it. But certainly a book about personal belief, personal musings. I really don’t lead this kind of contemplative life. But it was an inspiring read.
The chapter “Abandon” about her friend Marine really reminded me of “Truth and Beauty” by Ann Patchett, a memoir about Patchett’s friend Lucy, another soul in trouble.
Don’t be surprised to see me reading a LOT more Solnit in the days ahead.
In Concert: Stars
I have wanted to see these guys for a WHILE having missed their Lollapalooza appearance the one year because I was down at the other field.
The music sounded great, sonically it was a very awesome show. Visually it was a bit bizarre. One of those bands where everyone seems to have their own thing going on. Some dudes very engaging with the audience, others just playing their part and not interacting with anyone, on stage or off.
And the female of the two leads seemed a bit of a train wreck, falling all over and a little…shall we say, argumentative at times But maybe that’s just her on-stage persona. Did think her boob was about to make a great escape from her off-shoulder top during the first couple songs…suddenly later there was a strap showing – seems she went and put on a bra on during one of her random disappearances from the stage! 🙂
But as Bill commented, it’s rare you see a girl just shredding it up like that on guitar. Very impressive skillz. (His review here.)
Also thought it was a bit funny how the male lead kept saying “We’re Stars of Montreal.” Ok? Yeah, not the Stars of New York, or the other ones from…wherever…
YA/Fantasy: “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer
As a teenager, I think I would have LOVED these books. All fate and destiny and romance and ever burning passion and undying love. Isn’t that always the dream of a 17-year-old romantic. To be declaring “I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.”
As an adult, they were still very entertaining, although there are many facile aspects to them. They look big but the print is HUGE and the margins are WIDE and really you can just whip right through these on a crazy emotional rollercoaster.
Which is my way of saying, yes, I then read the follow-ups New Moon and Eclipse to round out that weekend.
Stephanie and I had a long chat about these. She’s right, there are so many things wrong with the 2nd and 3rd installments, including BAD BAD messages to send to teens and what is likely a bowing to the weight of the author’s fellow mormons’ critiques.
On the other hand, if you just give in and go with Bella’s emotions, they seem to “make sense” emotionally, if that sentence itself makes any sense. Basically: the things they do WRONG didn’t make them unreadable to me.
As a child, I was often obsessed with books that my mom just did NOT like the overall messages underneath the themes that were what pulled me in. (Elsie Dinsmore, case in point. Talk about a restrictive horrible view of religion. Not that I want anything to do with even the nonrestrictive kind but that’s another story. I also had an obsession with books about cults and books about people being “debriefed” after they had been rescued from a cult. Too funny, to me now.) But I think she got comfortable with the fact that I was able to really feel the emotional pull of something without necessarily having it change my rational mind.
However, again, Steph is right, you can’t count on a young reader necessarily being able to do that. I found these entertaining in a whirlwind romance, vampire love, perfect soulmate kind of way. But they weren’t great literature. They were an escape.
It kinda cracks me up how every “new” installment to vampire lore needs to put their own tweak on the legends. Oh no, no, it’s not that we burn up and die in the sun, it’s that when we’re in the sun, we’re just SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. Oh, OK. Sure. 🙂