This guy, Dosh, has an album out that I've been listening to quite a bit. It's called The Lost Take, and it's a pretty cool basement electronic set. Laid back stuff, with horns and pianos and occasional very low-mixed vocals. He's playing in Salt Lake in February at Kilby.
Last night a very few of us watched Fellini's La Strada. I think everyone enjoyed it. I did, but I don't really have much to say about it. I know it's a classic and all humans are supposed to love it. I just liked it. I love some Fellini movies. La Strada is very sad. Hmm..., you'll just have to watch it yourself. Shame for missing movie night.
That is a pretty cute little old lady Fellini likes to put in his movies.
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I'm a pretty big fan of both Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, so I expected to like this album. I didn't expect it to be as good as any of their solo albums. It is. I read that this album pretty much made Newman's name, and Nilsson had really struggled to this point (1970). I don't think it was a hit, but something of a step forward for both men. It's a really pretty album, with ten songs chosen by Nilsson. Newman is the pianist, and for the most part, it's just piano and layers of voice. The whole thing is very subdued, very minimal, and, even for these two, pretty strange. For such a well produced album, it's especially weird how much studio chatter was allowed to remain on the tracks. You can hear Newman complaining about his ending on one. It's not annoying though; it actually adds to the live, in your living room, sound of the album. I like this album a lot. I think it is just as good as anything else the two were involved in, and that's saying a lot. It might take a few listens to get into, though, especially if you're not familiar with Nilsson or Newman.
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I forgot to mention K.'s made the inevitable move to wordpress. Mac N Dos looks pretty neat now, and she promises to post more frequently.
I hope everyone had a good day. I got some good stuff. K. got me a subscription to the McSweeney's book club. Her dad gave me a bottle of tequila. My folks, camping gear. My dog ate lots of things, got tired and passed out. Umm..., that's all guys, except to remind you to check out the new digs on FESPN, by clicking the link------------------------------->
No new posts, but soon.
Not the biggest movie night group, but a good one. Everyone quietly watched The Conformist, a movie that I'm pretty sure ranks among the best I've seen. It's about politics, a topic thats beginning to fascinate and depress me (I know I'm a little late coming to this discovery). The director, Bertolucci, obviously feels a little bitter about politics too. But it's not all bitter, you see; if it were, I'm not sure it would mean as much to me. There is a spirit in the people surrounding the conformist, the character, that seems capable of rising above the oppressive political atmosphere. Sometimes I feel hopeless and powerless. The Conformist has a weird way of confirming that I'm not alone in that feeling. I can't think of any other movie I've seen that better shows the potential danger, and potential joy, of devoting yourself to a community, or movement, or whatever. Everyone should see The Conformist. It's on dvd for the first time. Queue it up, or borrow it from Gavin. Warning: Your girlfriend may not like it. Unless she's bisexual. (That's an inappropriate joke that's really a jab at my girlfriend, who thought the movie was boring. Your girlfriends sexuality has nothing to do with it.)
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I realize that title is a bit sensational, but seriously, that site will make you feel sick about being a mormon, or white, or from utah. Read the comments section to any article. Who are they? I don't know them. My parents are as middle class and mormon as it gets, and they aren't like that. Ugh. Makes me want to learn about politics and history and people and become a good anarchist or communist. Fucking ignorant, hateful, ordinary people.
It's time to make lists. To most people my age, my friends at least, this is a hateful time of year. For sure, it is, but I always look forward to everyone's stupid lists. So WeWillDie's got some lists too. Why? It's fun. That's all. Even this year.
Albums today.
1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
She's cute.
2. Destroyer - Rubies
He's smart.
3. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Not as good as the previous two (Love and Theft is one of my favorites). Still damn good.
4. Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
I like 'em, but they need to work on their live show.
5. TV on the Radio - Cookie Mountain
I get the feeling this will be near the top on lots of lists. It's pretty good.
6. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid
First half is great.
7. Belle and Sebastien - Life Pursuit
One friend told me he liked "the old, gayer stuff". What? It just doesn't get much gayer than this, buddy.
8. Danielson - Ships
This was a good show. Way better than his previous albums.
9. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
These guys have grown on me. I'm pretty excited to see 'em in a couple months.
10. Sufjan Stevens - Avalanche
More cargo.
Also: Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon, Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet
I like fuzzy ambient when I'm reading or studying. These are the best of that kind I heard this year.
I'm probably missing something great.
Nah, that's it.
25 was my goal this year. I finished about half that. Failure.
I was on pace until I started my new job. Since then I've really not finished a single book. This is sad and something I will have to figure out.
Here is a list of some of my favorites among the books I read this year:
James Joyce - Richard Ellmann
Big bio of Joyce made me want to visit all of Europe. But not Dublin.
Consider the Lobster - David Foster Wallace
Funny essays about all kinds of stuff. Serious Lit, mainly about tennis.
Candide - Voltaire
Funniest book I've ever read. Human misery is a riot in "Candide". I think there is an opera based on this, and that cracks me up. The cover art on the one I bought is awesome.
Europe Central - William Vollmann
You should try something by Vollmann. Maybe not this one, but something. They're all kinda huge.
Orson Welles - Simon Callow
Orson is my new hero. I'm about half way through Vol. 1 of this big bio and Orson is only 20! I'm really loving this one and will probably be reading it deep into next year. (By the way, I watched his 1963 movie "The Trial" last night. Holy Shit. More on that later.)
I may post another Books article tomorrow about all of the books published this year that I'd like to read. There are lots.
---Movie Night 12-6-06---
Last night a pretty good crew met for movie night. Watched one called "Unfaithfully Yours" by Preston Sturges. Funny, orchestrated slapstick. Easily one of the best movie night's yet. Everyone that actually sat and watched was cracking up. Everyone that didn't was on laughing gas. HAHAHA. Looking forward to watching more by Sturges, for sure.
---Liquor---
I want to gift myself a good bottle of liquor this holiday season, but I don't know what to get. I want to get something fairly high end, something tasty, with a name to impress my borderline alcoholic amigos. If you have some suggestions, please make them.
---Lists---
People are starting to put out their "LISTS" already. I've been disappointed with pretty much everything this year. My albums list might number 5; my movies, 3; seems like a pretty kick ass year for books (Roth, Pynchon, Powers, Eggers, McCarthy, etc.), but I read too slow and haven't gotten to any of them. Luckily, there's so much good stuff available, it doesn't really matter that all the new stuff stinks. I saw so many good movies this year. I got Remain in Light this year! Anyway, I know it's nerdy, but I like making lists, so I probably will be posting them pretty soon. Sorry. Oh, if anyone else feels like making a list, it'd be cool if you posted it here.
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Gregary wrote me an IM yesterday that LOL'd me completely. Andrei Kirilenko has recently come to like dill, he wrote. And then the hotlink, http://www.kirilenko.ru/?lang=eng.
The best Siberian basketball player on the Utah Jazz has his own blog!!! It's pretty good too. Check out the section "Masha". Funny.
So I searched for the best Turkish Jazzman Mehmet Okur. He has a blog also!!! http://www.memo13.com/index.asp His wife is a babe as well. They all have pretty hot wives, actually, as you can see if you click on the "birthday party for Jarron" link.
Blogs are so funny.
So this dude Adam really likes Reggae music. He knows lots bout it, and he told me about a guy named Lee "Scratch" Perry and loaned me this period retrospective set called "Arkology".
I'm pretty familiar with a lot of different styles of music, but somehow reggae never really interested me. I have one Bob Marley album "Catch A Fire". I like, but thats the limit of my knowledge of real reggae. As a style it seems like it has co-opted into something really lame. Lee Perry is freaking not lame.
He's famous for eating money, worshiping bananas, and referring to himself as "The King of Mess". Much of his most well known work was done with a group called The Upsetters. Also, especially, he was an important figure in the creation of "dub" music. I'd heard of dub, but didn't really know what it was. It's basically what we've come to know as remixing. Making small changes to the basic tracks of a recording and doing different things over these tracks. Perry was pretty successful with this style, and had lots of dub hits, not just in Jamaica but in the UK as well. "Arkology" seems to be set up as a sort of introduction to dub, which is an annoying framework for a "Lee Perry anthology". I.E., one of the most famous tracks here, Police & Thieves, is presented first in its original form and then followed by four (!) dub versions, all using the same backing track, barely, if at all, modified. One has some dude soloing on sax over it. This is a good way to illustrate what dub is, but it's not Lee Perry at his best. As far as I can tell, this is the format for
the entire collection: one track in the form of its popular release followed by a dub version. This dude is the inspiration for rap singles where Side B contains two remixes of Side A. That's not a dismissal of Arkology though, cuz it has lots of really cool stuff on it; even the haters could admit that the best tracks on these discs are well produced and original sounding lofi recordings. All of them were recorded in his 4-Track backyard studio called Black Ark, which he claimed to've burnt to the ground. If you're interested in hearing Lee Perry, and you know me, drop a comment. I'm gonna try to acquire a few of his albums, because, as is usually the case, I'm betting you can learn more from the originals than from compilation.
