A List, Mostly Music Edition

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Another list, another Woody Allen movie and another Coen brother’s movie.

We used our new HDTV to watch:

  • Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Woody sure knows how to tell a story, with minimal means and effects, that brilliantly captures the human condition.
  • Burn after reading is no Hudsucker Proxy, but I wasn’t bored for a second, which is a feat in itself. A great gallery of utter morons.
  • Tim Burton’s Sweeny Todd. I saw the musical on PBS in the 80’s and loved it. I’m a great admirer of Steven Sondheim’s craft. The movie is gorgeous, as is Helena Bonham-Carter. It also has some incredibly violent imagery. Not for the kiddies.

On the virtual turntable, I listened to:

  • Espèce de Bonobo, by Richard Gotainer (iTunes link). Non stop. I recently blogged about him here (includes a video). His first album in about 10 years, mostly about sex. Still some of the best. pop. music. ever.
  • Music Hole by Camille (iTunes links). I like the fact that experimental musicians can be huge at the box office in France. Her previous album, Le Fil, was built around a single note (a B if I recall) that ran the length of the album. This one is built on human voices/noises/body percussions (plus one piano). It has a few exceptionally good songs on it like Cats and Dogs and Money Note.
  • Grand Pianola Music by John Adams. Of all the so-called minimalists, he’s always been my favorite. I love his opera Nixon in China.
  • Harps and Angels, by Randy Newman (iTunes links). His singing sometimes annoys the hell out of me (blow your nose, Randy), but his composing can be sublime. Worth it for the Kurt Weil-ish A Piece of the Pie.
  • My son turned me on to Funky Beats by Big Soul (iTunes link). Every time I’d walk into his room and he’d be playing it, I’d stop in my tracks and ask him what it was. A good sign, since I suffer from this cognitive affliction whereby most music is indistinguishable from background noise to me.

The only notable book I read since last time was:

  • Deaf Sentence, by David Lodge. I love David Lodge, and while I enjoyed the book, I came away slightly disappointed. Can’t really say why. I loved the form/structure, but it seems to me that the story didn’t go as far as it could have. Maybe that’s a good thing. I’m not sure. Still digesting…

Closing question: isn’t it totally stupid to have a one-item list?

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