The Oscars: quick critique

1. Jon Stewart was OK. Steve Carell would have been better.

2. The show only ran 17 minutes over time.

3. Who invited Jessica Alba? Was is the same person who invited Miley Cyrus? Probably.

4. Diablo Cody is irritating and awkward. I kept praying the huge slit in her dress would reveal some embarrasing pubic hair.

5. I am overjoyed that Dario Marianelli won for best original score (Atonement).

6. Best speech: Javier Bardem, who loves his mother and dedicates his Oscar to the entire country of Spain.

7. Daniel Day Lewis is far too talented. And Tilda Swinton. And Marion Cotillard (my little french underdog). Love all around.

8. I actually enjoyed the constant use of montages.

9. Lots of people were snubbed. (see 10)

10. I was crossing my fingers hoping James McAvoy and Josh Brolin would slip each other a little tongue while presenting.

11. Jack Nicholson has still got "it". Continues to wear sunglasses inside.

12. Was anyone else worried that someone was going to seriously slip on the slick spot right in front of the main microphone? (see no. 3)

good intentions, bad result

Watched Across the Universe today. I regret ever saying I couldn't wait to see it. It was awful, trite, and offended me on multiple levels. The movie had the audacity to ruin all of my favorite Beatles songs and turn the 1960's into an 2 hour episode of Degrassi. I don't know what was worse: the spoon-fed literalness of everything or the PG-13 clean cut approach to one of the most influential decades 0f the 20th century?

Go rent Hair (1979) and Moulin Rouge (2001) because they are worthy of love and admiration. Both are examples of inovative movie musicals. Hair accurately portrays the anti-war movement and pushes the envelope. Moulin Rouge uses popular music in just the right way (examples include the music of T.Rex, David Bowie, Elton John, Madonna, Queen, Nirvana, and U2). I never thought I would say this but, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees was more inventive and fun to watch. Also, I want to scold Bono and Joe Cocker for making cameos in Across the Universe. Bad Bono...bad.

Side Note: My parents grew up in the 60's. They were part of the sexual revolution, experimented with drugs, and were impacted by civil rights. My mother had long hippie-like hair and smoked joints during lunchtime. My father served in Vietnam from '64-'65. So, I sort of know what I'm talking about as far as integrity is concerned.

The writer and director had a good idea: use beautiful life changing music as a basis to describe a certain era. But they failed. Horribly. I'm sure their hearts were in the right place but they should have Let It Be.

conceptual

I stumbled on a preview for Les Chansons d'Amour (Love Songs) last night. Exactly two thoughts ran through my head: intriguing and bothersome. It is "a musical about love, life and death starring Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier and Chiara Mastroianni". Sounds like a good film: exceptional cast (I have a big lesbian crush on Ludivine), they have great singing voices, but there is one huge problem. I am in the early stages of writing a novella about idealistic polygamists. Seeing a movie released last year, with a similar premise, reminds me how difficult it is have an original idea. OK, so my story is not a musical and probably has many differences. Also, mine isn't a threesome. It's a foursome. However, I was planning to base one of my male characters on Louis Garrel. I might have to forget that idea.

Hey, wow, Louis Garrel really seems to like threesomes (also starring in the The Dreamers). I'm definitely going to have to see the film right away. Maybe it will be :: fingers crossed :: greatly different and I will end up adding it to my list of loved films.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/lovesongs/trailer/

week in music (Feb. 10-16)

Stats
# of CD's purchased: 0
# of albums on heavy rotation: 8
# of concerts attended (this week): 1
# of concerts attended (this year): 5

Friday night, I went with Stephanie to see Ingrid Michaelson at Webster Hall. The entire atmosphere of the show was contradictory. Her songs are mostly about love lost, but there were lip-locking couples everywhere. Similar to the abundance of cockroaches in the urban area. Hmm...in most cases, I'm assuming women dragged their boyfriends to the concert. The thought of miserable boyfriends being forced to listen to "breakup pop" is worthy payback.

I have to admit that Ingrid's voice is beautiful and intensely better live than recorded. She also has this intimate personality which allows her to connect to all of her fans. Ingrid Michaelson is the kind of girl you want to be best friends with or make your girlfriend. On top of all of that she is hilariously funny, sometimes verging on sassy. For the encore of the show, she played the theme songs of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "The Golden Girls", and "The Facts of Life"(Ingrid is known for playing covers songs spontaneously). I was hoping for a little "Charles in Charge" but you can't always get what you want.

related links:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=U4ffgCe9njg

(new song "the Chain" debut at webster hall)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7GfehFAcf1g&feature=related

(Rihanna's "Umbrella" cover)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KhCyxCKlCew

(Radiohead's "Creep" cover)

simple thursday

I've been attempting to make this day as normal as possible. That includes angrily shouting at Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romcoms playing on television and binging on chocolate (that secretly was left in front of my bedroom door..hmm.). And it's just 10am. I will only acknowledge once that it is Valentine's Day --- that was it. This is a statement obviously coming from a single female, but hey, you don't celebrate mother's day unless you have a mother or are one yourself. Am I right?


Speaking of mothers, I saw Persepolis with mine last night. It centered around the coming of age of Marjane, an Iranian girl during the Islamic Revolution. I liked everything about it. Now, that's hard to do. The progression of story was cohesive and enjoyable. I particulary liked the use of 70's, 80's, and early 90's music and movie references. Marjane liked to rock out to Iron Maiden, thought the Bee Gees were for nerds, and sometimes danced to techno at forbidden house parties. (And I'm pretty sure her boyfriend was watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day on the tv)



The other day, I walked by another gigantic billboard advertising the DVD release of Across the Universe. Sometime soon I will rent it.

Movies to see: In Bruges, Funny Games (the 1998 and 2008 versions), Caramel (pictured)

In real world news, I've been looking on craigslist for a general idea of what my future brooklyn 2-bedroom apartment is going to cost. My sister insists that "If the apartment is cheap, it's probably in a bad area. Go visit them at night as well as in the day." OK fine, that's good enough advice.

Finding a decent apartment will not come down to planning or research but to blind luck. I bet Luck has a wifi connection on its laptop. Well Luck, you have my home phone number, cell phone number, e-mail address, links my blog, and facebook...please, do your best.

winter whites

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refresing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such things as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." -John Ruskin

My evening French class was canceled due to the snow fall. Snow is such a fascinating concept. It's cold, wet, and can make the body feel uncomfortable; yet at the same time it's clean, comforting, and ethereal.

coming soon to a theater near you...

I've been waiting anxiously for Chuck Palahniuk's 2001 novel-turned-big-screen-movie Choke to finally be released. To quote directly from the book, "The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it's only intangibles, ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die." That sums up exactly how I feel about the film. Am I going to be let down by a good idea that doesn't translate cinematically? Maybe. Probably. It's going to hard to live up to the success of Fight Club.

Choke is the story of "a sex-addicted con-man pays for his mother's hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who rescue him from choking to death." The cast seems like a decent fit. Sam Rockwell in the lead. Angelica Houston playing his mother. Both actors who rarely dissapoint. It's first time director Clark Gregg, husband of Jennifer "nobody puts baby in a corner" Grey, that worries me. First time directors tend to make a lot of mistakes. In addition to directing, he has also adapted the screenplay.

I'm going to calm down and wait until it (the movie) actually comes out to bitch and moan. Leaving with this: "It's pathetic how we can't live with the things we can't understand. How we need everything labeled and explained and deconstructed." Truth.

His books are so quotable and twistedly conceptual. Fact.

http://www.worstpreviews.com/trailer.php?id=1088&item=0

(Choke Sneak Preview)

week in music (Feb. 3-9)

Stats

# of CD's purchased: 4

# of albums on heavy rotation: 5

# of concerts attended (this week): 2

# of concerts attended (this year): 4

Thursday night led to an adventure over the Williamsburg bridge to well....the Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Nada Surf. Their 5th ablum entitled "Lucky" was released on Tuesday.

Stephanie (my right hand man) and I shared savory sweet and slightly spicy Thai food for < $20. We met up with Tova (my left hand man) and took in the gentrification/hipsterdom of a local coffee shop.

It was a great night to share one of my favorite bands with my best friends. Although, I was tempted to buy a $3 soda and throw it on the obnoxiously drunk people below us who kept shouting "AMATEUR!" between songs. Matthew Caws at one point calmly replied by saying "Yeah sorry, I don't think we're going to play that one (song) tonight." Frances, with their whispy exurberance and violins to match, were the opening band.

Friday night I went sans friends, to their show at Bowery Ballroom. Thier Bowery performance was a lot more upbeat compared to the initimate show from the previous night. Most likely because they are a Brooklyn based band and 2/3 of the group live only a block from the venue. Lianne Smith, who sings on the "Lucky" track The Film Did Not Go 'Round, was an opener. The band Illinois, who are actually from Pennsylvania, were the following act. The lead singer of Illinois strangely resembles a young Peter Krause of Six Feet Under.

I started a dialogue with the girl standing next to me and it turned out she was also at the other show. We bonded over favorite songs and anecdotes of past concert antics. We then made a pact to jump on stage during the finale. Lead singer Matthew Caws proclaimed "This is our last song. All you have to do is sing along." Bassist/Dreadlock maniac Daniel Lorca added "Also, dancing is required. ON STAGE." The next 15 seconds were a blur. I don't know how but I was magically hoisted onto the stage and spent the next 3 minutes dancing with my favorite boys.

They were amazingly down to earth and willing to do anything for fans. They are uknowingly my life long friends.

Photos courtesy of: Autumn de Wilde, Peter Ellenby, Mark Davidson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXyrT9F2SJQ

(Sound quality isn't great but you see me dancing in the striped shirt every so often.)