January 5, 2009
Happy New Year to all, from the land of 99-cent stores and donut shops! Turns out they have movie theaters, radio stations, bookstores, and even internet hookups down here, so I can continue sharing with you my favorite cultural products encountered in the past year. As always, let me know what I've missed! And best wishes for a great year.
Aaron Caplan
Andy Griffith plays a huckster perfectly situated to bridge the gap from radio to television to politics: part Elvis Presley, part Rush Limbaugh, part Karl Rove and part Uncle Don Carney, the radio personality who, legend had it, should have made sure the microphones were turned off. After Griffith gets the whole U.S. of A. to buy an overpriced and under-nourishing vitalizing tablet (today they bottle them as "energy drinks" and charge a lot more), why can't he get them to sign off on his favorite politicians? One can hope the movie won't have as much resonance for the upcoming presidency, but it was uncomfortably prophetic regarding the last one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Documentary about the performance artist who walked a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (except for acrophobes).
Lawyers behaving badly.
There must have been some lawyers behaving badly for Paul Muni to get railroaded for a crime he didn't commit. Fortunately he escapes, so that he can deliver the best closing line of all time.
One of the little robots that kept Bruce Dern company in Silent Running gets a starring role, and just like last time, he goes into space on a botany project.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Hancock (2008)
Once (2006)
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Battle In Seattle (2008)Tragically, my role seems to have been left on the cutting room floor. Maybe I didn't behave badly enough for it to be cinematic.
Lomax's famous a capella field recordings from the American South, with instrumental backing. As this review indicates, it is far more successful than one has any right to expect. "John Henry's Blues" is the standout.
Combines new songs that deal one way or another with life in New Orleans after Katrina with old songs that somehow manage to deal with it too. Recommendations include "On Your Way Down" and "Freedom For The Stallion."
I never knew "eight to the bar" was also a phrase in Portuguese until I heard it performed by the Brasilian Bombshell. Live and learn. Here's a portion as seen in the film Springtime In The Rockies:
Subtitled "The Power of the New Digital Disorder," Weinberger's book explains how throwing everything into a big pile that everyone can search according to their own criteria can sometimes be a better way of storing information than trying to force it into categories at the outset. At last my housekeeping methods are being appreciated. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Do you know where your food has been?
Hear a song on the radio and don't know what it is? Hold your iPhone up to the speaker and Shazam will figure out what it is.Know the name of a song or artist and want to hear what it sounds like? Seeqpod.com crawls the web to find it for you. Try it: