Sunday, February 29, 2004
MAKING LISTS, CHECKING TWICE, ETC.
Cleaning house.
currently in the mix on my "gym trax1" ipod playlist
"Problems" - Wiley
"Rock Your Body Rock" - Ferry Corsten
"Untitled 1" - Ratatat
This Is Your Life (Fight Club)" - Dust Brothers *
"Never Enough (Chocolate Puma Mix) - Boris Dlugosch and Roisin Murphy
"My L.A. Ex" - Rachel Stevens *
"C'mon, C'mon" - The VanBondies *
"Dust Your Shoulders Off" - JayZ *
"Lights, Camera, Action" - Mr. Cheeks *
"My Week Beats Your Year" - Telefon Tel Aviv
"Elektrobank" - Chemical Brothers *
"Coin Operated Boy (Live)" - The Dresden Dolls
"Ne Ver Ne Bojsia" - TATU *
"Science City Zeoro" - Bit Shifter
"Party Ain't a Party" - Queen Pen
"Runnin' (MP Vocal Mix)" - Basstoy
"Jesus Walks" - Kanye West
"Head In Advance" - Juvenile *
"The Greatest Hit" - Annie
"Can't Get Enough" - Raghav
"Lucky Star" - Bassment Ja## w/Dizz@@ Rascal *
"17 Years" - Ratatat
"Klouny" - TATU*
"Get Low (Merengue Mix)" - Lil' Jon
"Dead Dogs Two (Boards of Canada Remix)" - Clouddead
"Bring Me To Life (Frozen Remix)" - Evanescence
"Get It, Get It" - Scissor Sisters
"The Seed 2.0" - The Roots w/Cody Chestnutt
"She Moves She" - Four Tet
"Someone In My Bed" - Sugababes
"Gay Bar" - Electric Six * (yes, STILL)
"Electromagnetic" - Freeform 5
"Me and Giuliani..." - !!! *
"Thru the Wire" - Kanye West
"Dog Days" - Matthew Dear *
"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - Jet *
"Stuck (Superpitcher Remix)" - Contriva
"My Mouth" - International Pony
"Compulsion" - Joe Crow
"Like Glue" - Sean Paul *
"Moment of Clarity" - JayZ
*=for extra adrenaline lift
Astute readers will note that a great deal of these songs hail from the sidebar "Daily Music Fix" clicky.
This should last me the week before it needs re-tweaking, I hope. The thing is on shuffle, so there's a great deal of "oh, not that one right now" and more than a few songs that I only listen to specific parts of (I'm not sure I've EVER heard the end of "Elektrobank").
Can't really say as I care to defend or not defend any of these tracks as I hardly know anything about most of the bands or their catalog.
Probably a few of these will flare out and prove unlistenable in a few weeks. However, if you want heavy BPM running and lifting music, you could do worse than startin' out with these little fellas.
=================================================================
movies i've seen in 2004 not previously discussed on this blog
These'll be super tiny reviews attached, hardly anything interesting other than a brief "I did/didn't like it".
The Great Dictator: Excellent and moving, Chaplin's a great director. Somewhat dated though.
Ichi The Killer: Spectacular. Live action manga. Miike is my hero. One of the best films this year thus far.
Earth: I liked Aamir Khan since "Lagaan". Music and story are good; the ending is a bombshell. Perhaps a little simplistic, but very interesting.
The Animatrix: Everything that the second movie was missing. Somewhat uneven quality doesn't detract from the whole.
Dogtown and Z Boys: Gorgeous and inspiring. Great doc.
Gandhi: At three hours, it felt brief. Kingsley is unbelievable. Made me want to learn more.
Bad Santa: Not as bad as I had feared, but Zwigoff is still slumming. Thornton is clearly having a lot of fun.
Night and Fog: Engrossing dark poetry. The link has a complete script synopsis; worth reading. Visceral and difficult to stomach, but moving and important.
Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD: Dumb as a brick but loads of fun. Cushing gives good Doctor.
One, Two, Three: The epitaph for screwball comedy. Dreadfully dated, unfunny and draggy. Not one of Wilder's finer moments and justly unknown.
Mystic River: Predictable and poorly laid out with one of the best casts in recent memory. Needs an editor, stat. Too much sturm and drang, not enough meat for me. Eastwood overplays his hand again.
Umberto D: Understated, touching, beautiful. If I get a dog, I'm naming it Flike.
In America: A tetch underdeveloped, but with strong acting (the kids in particular are amazing), sweet and engaging with a solid script and situations you'd have to be a meanie not to get a little teary with. Impressive.
You're Telling Me: Not bad, but better the first time around; most of the best gags are lifted from his earlier films in the "6 by Fields" Criterion disc.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: Annoying at first, but finds it's way once the pieces are in place. Worth a peek.
The Pianist: Astonishing. Brodie is great and Polanski directs with passion and flair without ever intruding into the picture; he is invisible and masterful. As good as any war film I've ever seen.
The Princess Blade: So-so Japanese sword porn with a distinct girl manga edge. Not especially remarkable.
Holiday: Years ahead of its time in every way. It trusts the audience to be intelligent and trusts its actors to show us the way. Wonderful and funny and unabashedly recommended to anyone.
El Che: Investigating a Legend: Informative, but a bit dry. The man lived an unbelievable life.
Monster: Not sure how I feel about the glorification of a serial killer, but everything you heard about Theron is true: this is incredible stunt acting. Also features the best use of a Journey song ever.
NEWS FLASH: Theron is set to play Aeon Flux in the new movie. Neat.
American Splendor: Excellent in every way. One of the better films I've ever seen. I love Pekar.
21 Grams: "Mystic River" with cinema verite. Uninteresting characters being given all too much life by the actors. Moodiness does not necessarily equal depth. No need for the non-linear editing fashion either.
Elf: Much better than I would've presumed, but self-destructs twenty minutes from the end. Ed Asner and Bob Newhart are particularly good. Zooey Deschanel is hot.
Decalogue I: The "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" episode. I should really buckle down and watch all these; the few I've seen are engrossing and beautiful. This one was a downer, but really something to see.
Capturing the Friedmans: The antidote for you if you think YOUR family is fucked up. These people are utterly insane. Sad and wondrous and amazing and a hell of a documentary.
The Last Round: Chuvalo vs. Ali: Two rare things: A film about Ali that isn't a hagiography and a film about a man whose losses are more intriguing and amazing than his wins. George Chuvalo fought for twenty seven years and was never knocked down. He's an interesting guy to get to know. The vintage Ali footage is a lot of fun, to boot.
Cleaning house.
currently in the mix on my "gym trax1" ipod playlist
"Problems" - Wiley
"Rock Your Body Rock" - Ferry Corsten
"Untitled 1" - Ratatat
"Never Enough (Chocolate Puma Mix) - Boris Dlugosch and Roisin Murphy
"My L.A. Ex" - Rachel Stevens *
"C'mon, C'mon" - The VanBondies *
"Dust Your Shoulders Off" - JayZ *
"Lights, Camera, Action" - Mr. Cheeks *
"My Week Beats Your Year" - Telefon Tel Aviv
"Elektrobank" - Chemical Brothers *
"Coin Operated Boy (Live)" - The Dresden Dolls
"Ne Ver Ne Bojsia" - TATU *
"Science City Zeoro" - Bit Shifter
"Party Ain't a Party" - Queen Pen
"Runnin' (MP Vocal Mix)" - Basstoy
"Jesus Walks" - Kanye West
"Head In Advance" - Juvenile *
"The Greatest Hit" - Annie
"Can't Get Enough" - Raghav
"17 Years" - Ratatat
"Klouny" - TATU*
"Get Low (Merengue Mix)" - Lil' Jon
"Dead Dogs Two (Boards of Canada Remix)" - Clouddead
"Bring Me To Life (Frozen Remix)" - Evanescence
"Get It, Get It" - Scissor Sisters
"The Seed 2.0" - The Roots w/Cody Chestnutt
"She Moves She" - Four Tet
"Someone In My Bed" - Sugababes
"Gay Bar" - Electric Six * (yes, STILL)
"Electromagnetic" - Freeform 5
"Me and Giuliani..." - !!! *
"Thru the Wire" - Kanye West
"Dog Days" - Matthew Dear *
"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - Jet *
"Stuck (Superpitcher Remix)" - Contriva
"My Mouth" - International Pony
"Compulsion" - Joe Crow
"Like Glue" - Sean Paul *
"Moment of Clarity" - JayZ
*=for extra adrenaline lift
Astute readers will note that a great deal of these songs hail from the sidebar "Daily Music Fix" clicky.
This should last me the week before it needs re-tweaking, I hope. The thing is on shuffle, so there's a great deal of "oh, not that one right now" and more than a few songs that I only listen to specific parts of (I'm not sure I've EVER heard the end of "Elektrobank").
Can't really say as I care to defend or not defend any of these tracks as I hardly know anything about most of the bands or their catalog.
Probably a few of these will flare out and prove unlistenable in a few weeks. However, if you want heavy BPM running and lifting music, you could do worse than startin' out with these little fellas.
=================================================================
movies i've seen in 2004 not previously discussed on this blog
These'll be super tiny reviews attached, hardly anything interesting other than a brief "I did/didn't like it".
The Great Dictator: Excellent and moving, Chaplin's a great director. Somewhat dated though.
Ichi The Killer: Spectacular. Live action manga. Miike is my hero. One of the best films this year thus far.
Earth: I liked Aamir Khan since "Lagaan". Music and story are good; the ending is a bombshell. Perhaps a little simplistic, but very interesting.
The Animatrix: Everything that the second movie was missing. Somewhat uneven quality doesn't detract from the whole.
Dogtown and Z Boys: Gorgeous and inspiring. Great doc.
Gandhi: At three hours, it felt brief. Kingsley is unbelievable. Made me want to learn more.
Bad Santa: Not as bad as I had feared, but Zwigoff is still slumming. Thornton is clearly having a lot of fun.
Night and Fog: Engrossing dark poetry. The link has a complete script synopsis; worth reading. Visceral and difficult to stomach, but moving and important.
Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD: Dumb as a brick but loads of fun. Cushing gives good Doctor.
One, Two, Three: The epitaph for screwball comedy. Dreadfully dated, unfunny and draggy. Not one of Wilder's finer moments and justly unknown.
Mystic River: Predictable and poorly laid out with one of the best casts in recent memory. Needs an editor, stat. Too much sturm and drang, not enough meat for me. Eastwood overplays his hand again.
Umberto D: Understated, touching, beautiful. If I get a dog, I'm naming it Flike.
In America: A tetch underdeveloped, but with strong acting (the kids in particular are amazing), sweet and engaging with a solid script and situations you'd have to be a meanie not to get a little teary with. Impressive.
You're Telling Me: Not bad, but better the first time around; most of the best gags are lifted from his earlier films in the "6 by Fields" Criterion disc.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: Annoying at first, but finds it's way once the pieces are in place. Worth a peek.
The Pianist: Astonishing. Brodie is great and Polanski directs with passion and flair without ever intruding into the picture; he is invisible and masterful. As good as any war film I've ever seen.
The Princess Blade: So-so Japanese sword porn with a distinct girl manga edge. Not especially remarkable.
Holiday: Years ahead of its time in every way. It trusts the audience to be intelligent and trusts its actors to show us the way. Wonderful and funny and unabashedly recommended to anyone.
El Che: Investigating a Legend: Informative, but a bit dry. The man lived an unbelievable life.
Monster: Not sure how I feel about the glorification of a serial killer, but everything you heard about Theron is true: this is incredible stunt acting. Also features the best use of a Journey song ever.
NEWS FLASH: Theron is set to play Aeon Flux in the new movie. Neat.
American Splendor: Excellent in every way. One of the better films I've ever seen. I love Pekar.
21 Grams: "Mystic River" with cinema verite. Uninteresting characters being given all too much life by the actors. Moodiness does not necessarily equal depth. No need for the non-linear editing fashion either.
Elf: Much better than I would've presumed, but self-destructs twenty minutes from the end. Ed Asner and Bob Newhart are particularly good. Zooey Deschanel is hot.
Decalogue I: The "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" episode. I should really buckle down and watch all these; the few I've seen are engrossing and beautiful. This one was a downer, but really something to see.
Capturing the Friedmans: The antidote for you if you think YOUR family is fucked up. These people are utterly insane. Sad and wondrous and amazing and a hell of a documentary.
The Last Round: Chuvalo vs. Ali: Two rare things: A film about Ali that isn't a hagiography and a film about a man whose losses are more intriguing and amazing than his wins. George Chuvalo fought for twenty seven years and was never knocked down. He's an interesting guy to get to know. The vintage Ali footage is a lot of fun, to boot.
