Clint Mansell - "Sahara" (2005)

"Mosque" brings back memories of that heart-stopping sequence in "The Cell".

"Hold Tight" is fast-moving, with James Bond-ish horns.

Blonde Redhead

uh?

what about it?

Not publishing a post but just saving it, doesn't really help when it's quite a while ago I heard the music...

Noord Nederlands Toneel - "La Divina Commedia"

Wow, intens, om het voorzichtig uit te drukken.

In de zaal zat ook een middelbare schoolklas, en vantevoren was ik bang dat deze wel eens roet in het eten zouden gooien, maar niets daarvan.

Vanaf het moment dat het doek opgaat, grijpen de acteurs (en de trapeze-artieste) het publiek bij de keel. Dat in eerste instantie de zaal direct werd toegesproken en werd betrokken ("hier zitten de overspeligen, daar zitten de godslasteraars"). Het aloude verhaal wordt gecombineerd met "maatschappelijke" thema's, een term waar ik normaliter tegenop hik, maar nu met diep respect naar terugzie.

Vluchtelingen, ontreddering, xenofobie, Wilders, PVV, al dit en veel meer wordt op een bijzonder aangrijpende, en bij tijd en wijle humoristische, manier over je uitgestort, met daarbij nog eens een overdonderend visueel spektakel.

Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck - "IRM" (2009)

Soft, though with some rougher edges. Melodious.

"Heaven Can Wait", a duet with her producer, is ok, but doesn't stand out from the rest of the album. Was I thinking too much of "Heaven Is Inside You"?

"Me And Jane Doe" is very much like Moldy Peaches, and that is something positive in my opinion. Bit tiresome.

"Vanities" is much quieter, though not yet "girly moan pop". "Dandelion" is a wonderful loopy-eyed tune.

All in all it seems it is a nice but not spectacular album.

2010-01-14 (should I create another entry?)

"Master's Hands", the openingstrack, is nice.

"Le chat du café des artistes", a slow, softly melancholic song, with haunting strings.

Yozakura Shijuusou (Yozakura Quartet)

I'm stealing here from Fub: "There's this circle of cherry trees that was used as a gate between the youkai and human world. In modern times, a city has sprung up, and youkai and humans coexist there. Of course, not every youkai wants to keep to the rules, and it's up to a team of four youkai and a single human to keep the peace. Akina is the last of the 'tuners', who can possess the youkai and send them through the gate."

Quite enjoyable. Well-drawn, interesting characters and a fastmoving pace.

Tin Man (2007)

Saw a trailer when watching a Doctor Who episode on Sci-Fi channel.

A grown-up version of the Wizard of Oz story, basically telling the story of what happened to the land of Oz years after.

It just didn't do it. Zooey Deschanel, though ok as Trillian in tHHGttG, performs as a mere puppet in this series. The acting in general is bad, the actors' lines are abominable and the plot twists and jumps.

I am not sure whether the whole series is overdone or given not enough attention. The repeating shot of the evil sister baring her heaving bossom to let the devil-tattoos fly away, is too much.

I couldn't care for the characters, and hardly any more for the story itself.

5

Chris Corner - "Heaven Is Inside You - I Monster"

(OST "Les Chevaliers Du Ciel")

Heaven knows I'm not a fan of vocoders, but for this song I make an exception.

It gives the music and words an Air-ish feeling, evocative... eerie, ethereal would be words that spring to mind.

Cambodian Room (part of IDFA's "Paradoc 4")

A magnum photographer seeking the place "without morality, so all is pure reality", or something like that.

It showed some interesting moments, and definitely increased the idea (I wouldn't say "understanding") behind his pictures, but in a way this was about the photographer, not about Phnom Penh (basically my main reason for watching)

It wasn't bad, it wasn't staggering good.

Enemies of the People

Gripping account of a man who seeks the faceless killers of the Khmer Rouge, and tries to understand them, asks them to tell their story.

He manages to get all the way up to Brother Number Two, Nuong Seng, which is simply amazing. Three years it took him to earn the old man's trust.

Beautiful images of the Cambodia I remember so well. Horrifying stories. Honesty. Facing the past. Gave the chills.

Mando Diao - "Gloria"

Catchy as hell!

Reminds me of the remix of Frankie Valli's "Beggin'" song, remixed into popularity again.

Those blue-eyed Swedes, who'd have thought...

Mick Harvey - [Serge Gainsbourg tunes]

Crooning, with style. There's a rancid edge. Marc Almond-ish

Monsters of Folk - "Monsters of Folk" (2009)

Nice album, though not every song is as catchy as the air-borne "Man Named Truth"

Old-fashioned tunes, friendly.

The high-pitched voice does get on your nerves though, after a while.

Jules Deelder - "Lof op Pilatus"

De rol van Pilates in het lijden van Christus
is in de loop der tijden te zwart afgeschilderd.
Dat hij wel degelijk een hart had, en meer nuance
dan zij die over hem schreven,
moge blijken uit het feit dat hij,
toen hij hoorde dat Jezus timmerman was,
deze zelf zijn kruis liet kiezen.
Dat Jezus Jelti koos, het hardste hout ter wereld,
op dat zich niet of nauwelijks laat bespijkeren
waardoor zijn kruisigin ernstige vertraging opliep,
en het lijden onnodig gerekt werd,
kon Pilates niet worden verweten.
Net zomin als dat deze zich na de confrontatie
met Jezus de handen wies, met het oog op mogelijk 
besmettingsgevaar.
Hij dient daarvoor veeleer geprezen.

Chet Baker - "The Thrill Is Gone"

this is the end
so why pritend
and let it linger on
the thrill is gone

Hoshi no koe (Voices of a distant star) (2003)

watched it again. still phenomenal.

The truth of living in a single hand.

Diary snippet

Writing (nanowrimo) went ok. Snooker didn't go well. Didn't feel like continuing.

Watched episode #5 of "Last Chance To See" with Stephen Fry. Love it. New Zealand. Ozzie accent.

Now: Tanita Tikaram, Tori Amos and most of Leonard Cohen. No (live-)TV please. No mail, God no, no facebook, twitter...

No.

The mesmerizing beauty of the 3D Mandelbrot and the last edge of Earth as photographed by the Osiris sonde fit this mood quite well.

Rudy Rucker - "As Above, So Below" (short story)

Found it alongside the stunning 3D Mandelbrot images. It's not bad, but again I was hit by what a thin line separates the good cyberpunk from the "hey I talk hacker-lingo".

Can't help but think William Gibson is so good at what he does because he hints, never tell. It's not even the film-rule "Show, don't tell", it's even more subtle. Show the edges, never the inside. Show its shadow, never its shape.

Perhaps it's the same after all.

Radiohead with Björk - "I've seen it all"

Never realised it's Radiohead that performed it... 

Is that true for the "Dancer in the Dark" version (the film that made her write to Nicole Kidman: "Don't work with Lars van Trier. He destroyed my soul") as well? Yup, "performed by Björk, Thom Yorke". Composition and the such all courtesy of the Iceland woman.

Tracy Bonham - "Give us" (album "Down Here" - 2000)

Come to our emotional desert
Come to our emotional desert
Then leave us high
Then leave us high and dry

A less aggressive sound. More classical, violins, rusty records,... 

Tracy Bonham - "The Burdens of Being Upright" (1996)

Oh I did knew "Tell it to the sky". Like so many songs, I knew it but didn't knew it.

"Kisses" has a low repeating "oh...oh..I......oh...oh...I" Like it.

A, "Sharks Can't Sleep" is also familiar. More so than "Tell it to the sky". I wonder whether her music becomes repetitive after a few albums. Skunk Anansie had the same problem, though it never became too repeating.