January 6, 2008
Happy New Year, one and all! Back despite popular demand is my list of cultural products that managed to get stuck in my head for portions of the past year. Don't forget to sign the new guestbook at the bottom of the page -- it's about time I gave you all some homework.
Beyond the items recommended below, the year had other less easily replicated high spots, of course, most prominent being the grand opening of Fremont Peak Park, that renowned eye-popper, full of art and landscape architecture. Stop by for a tour!
Aaron Caplan
Sensational Korean monster movie about a society reacting badly to a monster. While many reviewers noted the anti-colonial subtext (Seoul wouldn't have had this particular reptile problem if a certain occupying army hadn't poured all those chemicals down the drain), it also has valuable messages for the rest of us trying to sort out the many unproductive methods proposed for dealing with our own monsters. Smart, funny, sweet, visual, and scary. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (unless you don't like monster movies).
An orphan's fantasy life coincides with mopping-up operations after the Spanish Civil War. Same adjectives as above. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (only a few monsters).
David Lynch, all is forgiven. I can't remember any movie that played so adroitly with my suspension of disbelief. At least a dozen times, I thought to myself "wait...I'm just not buying this any more," but then five minutes later I was buying it, and liking it all the more for having been toyed with. It's good to be putty.
Who knew English secondary schools had such riveting faculty politics?
Thoughtful Argentine heist movie about an epileptic taxidermist who gets in over his head. If you see only one epileptic taxidermist film this year, please make it The Aura.
A Western turned up to 11.
Surrealist Czech animator. Start where I did, with Darkness, Light, Darkness.
Breach (2007)
Le Doulos (1962)
Eastern Promises (2007)
Grindhouse (2007)
Juno (2007)
The King (2005)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
Persepolis (2007)
Sunshine (2007)
Zodiac (2007)
On January 28, I marched alongside the ReBirth Brass Band, the Hot 8 Brass Band and the Free Agents Brass Band in an all-day, all-city Second Line arranged by the New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Club Task Force. Here's the route; here's an article that includes a description of the event and the crucial role of the music-lovers at the ACLU of Louisiana; and here's a video from a different occasion that gives you some idea of what it is like.
Here's the original video by Gnarls Barkley
A project that asked what it would sound like to be stuck inside of Mobile with Green Eggs and Ham again. Sadly, the project became a victim of copyright, adding yet another possible meaning to the phrase I'm Not There. I was particularly fond of this contemplative treatment of "Too Many Daves".
Fascinating biography of a Jew from Azerbaijan who became a best-selling author while posing as a Muslim prince in Weimar Germany, and a historical portrait of life between the Wars, as witnessed by a cast of refugees and pseudo-intellectuals. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Clever gadget found at a street fair, but available on line. I actually read more books now!
