Update, book reviews, movies, music, blah, blah blah
It's a busy week with New Year's coming up. I'm working but will be off by 9:30-ish. I've got a party I could go to but I'm not sure if I will. I'll try to post more in depth this week. Got a few issues to muddle through but all is well and, as always, I'm just glad Xmas is over.
Music Reviews
Found a new love - Amos Lee. I've been having trouble pin-pointing his style but I found a description in an online review that labels it as "a unique brand of folk-soul music" that is pretty much spot-on... although I would add a healthy dose of blues. The reviewer hears Stevie Wonder in his voice and while I agree, the one that came to my mind was Marvin Gaye. I had the thought that he was a kind of male Norah Jones in terms of voice quality, and it turns out that not only is she a fan of his music but also duets with him on "Colors". I also wasn't surprised to read that he is a big fan of James Taylor. Perhaps he would be the result of Gaye and Taylor having a baby ;-) His songs sound timeless. I keep thinking I've heard them before, although I'm sure I haven't - they have a quality about them, a weight that makes them sound like soul classics from 50 years ago. His voice is gentle but indeed raw and I love the imperfectness of his tracks... kind of scratchy like old vinyl. His ballad "Arms of a Woman" is shockingly beautiful and I've had it on constant repeat for the last few days. If you only download one song this year - legally, naturelment - then let it be this one.
I also picked up the new INXS CD, "Switch". New frontman, J.D. Fortune completely suits the band and fits right in like he's always been there. I saw some of the tv show where he was chosen and he sings the INXS catalogue amazingly well but he's also a good fit for the new songs. The album is typically INXS, which is a good thing for the first one post-Hutchence I think. I'm liking the songs much more than I expected and I'll be interested in future CDs to see how they grow together. Might be good... might not. But so far, so good. This one is competing with Amos Lee for my attention.
Book Reviews
Life of Pi by Yann Martel. You know, I really wanted to love this book. I tried. Really, I did. And I did like it. The story is exceptional. The characters fully fleshed, likeable and endearing. It is (almost) perfectly well crafted. And I love the genre of magical realism - remember how I went on and on about One Hundred Years of Solitude? But, but, but. I just couldn't get into it. I found the constant descriptions of the minutiae of bait, the boat, the eating habits of tigers, etc. tedious in the extreme. Once I could handle; several times, not. And I was horrified at the post script where Martel offers up the explanation of his allegory. I had come to really like the book near the end, but once I read that I was totally put off. It's clever, for sure, but it's as though Martel couldn't resist showing everyone just how clever. Bad on the editors for allowing it. I think I may have liked the book more if hadn't come saddled with so much hype but I'll never know for sure.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince... ah, you know who wrote it. Another great HP book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not much to say except that if you liked the others, you'll like this one too. And I now have a guess at a possible plot twist for the final book.
Christ the Lord by Anne Rice. Rice has totally abandoned her vampire and witch series for her new found Catholic faith. Or, I guess I should say her re-conversion. I heard an interview with her, where she praises Mel Gibson's Passion movie... yes, you read that right. Bleh. I already had the book from the library or otherwise I probably wouldn't have read it. I'm glad that I did... or more correctly, that I am because I'm not yet finished. The book tells the life, oddly enough ;-), of Christ through his own eyes. It picks the story up when he's roughly 8 years old and about to leave Egypt to return to the Holy Land. She portrays him as a child who doesn't understand he's the son of God, trying to make sense of his powers and confused at the reactions of the adults around him. Most of the book is taken up with him trying to pump the adults for information. Why did they leave Bethlehem? and why can't they go back? What did Herod do? Why does he need to be hidden? Why does the Rabbi hesitate over his parentage? etc. It's an interesting perspective and as always, Rice is able to vivdly imagine a world of ancient time and place. But the plot seems to be on repeat and if I read one more passage about soldiers fighting, how they prayed and sang psalms or how many cousins he has, I'm going to hurl. Seriously girlfriend, how about a story? I'm assuming the book will end with the story of Jesus getting left behind at the temple but we'll see.
Of course, I don't believe in an historical Jesus but I still found myself debating her interpretations - such as Mary's continued virginity and she explains away Jesus' siblings as cousins who lost their mother that she takes in and raises as her own... oy vey - I guess old habits die hard ;-)
Worth a read but not in my top 50.
In the on-deck circle... Rock Varnish by Barry Kennedy. BK is a comedian (and son of actor Gordon Pinsent) who headlined recently and gave me a copy of his new book. Really nice guy with a penchant for telling stories well. I'll write a review when I'm done.
Movie Review
I recently saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I have mixed feelings about all of the HP movies. I really like them and will continue to see them but I can't help but feel they are always missing something. I realize it's hard to fit the books into movies and that they have to be careful about abbreviating or even tiny changes in the plot because the legions of young fans would cry foul. You really do have to have read the books to catch onto everything but I can't help but feel that they don't totally satisfy. For instance, I wanted to see much, much more of the other students. (We need an eventual Neville Longbottom spin-off ;-) don't you think?) I wanted to see more of student life and much more of the teachers in general and Hagrid in particular. How could you so underuse Maggie Smith?? I also wanted to see more of the other Goblet entrants doing their tasks - for instance, less of Harry fighting his dragon and something of the others doing it. I know it's a time constraint thing but still. Ahhh, c'est la vie.
I have some serious movie catching-up to do. I want to see Syriana, Brokeback Mountain and I really, really want to see Munich. I might go to see Narnia - loved the books as a kid - but the reviews have been so-so despite the hype. I only have so many movie-going-dollars and I try to spend them wisely.
More on Munich - despite being very, very young at the time, I do remember the events of the Olympic kidnappings and massacre. I had been so excited about this spectacle of people from all over the world competing together, engaging in feats that seemd to defy gravity and time. It was love at first sight. But it's also the first time I can remember being aware of a world event, of being frightened of forces "out there" and not understanding how people could do such things to each other. I remember the adults being frightened... the dread while everyone held their breath and waited to see what would happen. I remember words I didn't understand like holocaust, grenades and terrorist. It was around this time that my father discovered he was Jewish so it had even more resonance. I'm sure most of what I remember was less the events as they happened and more understandings I came to about it as I grew up. This movie, of course, is more about the events after the massacre - about the Mossad tracking down the supposed perpetrators of this ungodly event and I saw the mini-series years ago about "Avner" and his fellow agents who come to wonder what purpose revenge serves. I really want to see this.
Music Reviews
Found a new love - Amos Lee. I've been having trouble pin-pointing his style but I found a description in an online review that labels it as "a unique brand of folk-soul music" that is pretty much spot-on... although I would add a healthy dose of blues. The reviewer hears Stevie Wonder in his voice and while I agree, the one that came to my mind was Marvin Gaye. I had the thought that he was a kind of male Norah Jones in terms of voice quality, and it turns out that not only is she a fan of his music but also duets with him on "Colors". I also wasn't surprised to read that he is a big fan of James Taylor. Perhaps he would be the result of Gaye and Taylor having a baby ;-) His songs sound timeless. I keep thinking I've heard them before, although I'm sure I haven't - they have a quality about them, a weight that makes them sound like soul classics from 50 years ago. His voice is gentle but indeed raw and I love the imperfectness of his tracks... kind of scratchy like old vinyl. His ballad "Arms of a Woman" is shockingly beautiful and I've had it on constant repeat for the last few days. If you only download one song this year - legally, naturelment - then let it be this one.
I also picked up the new INXS CD, "Switch". New frontman, J.D. Fortune completely suits the band and fits right in like he's always been there. I saw some of the tv show where he was chosen and he sings the INXS catalogue amazingly well but he's also a good fit for the new songs. The album is typically INXS, which is a good thing for the first one post-Hutchence I think. I'm liking the songs much more than I expected and I'll be interested in future CDs to see how they grow together. Might be good... might not. But so far, so good. This one is competing with Amos Lee for my attention.
Book Reviews
Life of Pi by Yann Martel. You know, I really wanted to love this book. I tried. Really, I did. And I did like it. The story is exceptional. The characters fully fleshed, likeable and endearing. It is (almost) perfectly well crafted. And I love the genre of magical realism - remember how I went on and on about One Hundred Years of Solitude? But, but, but. I just couldn't get into it. I found the constant descriptions of the minutiae of bait, the boat, the eating habits of tigers, etc. tedious in the extreme. Once I could handle; several times, not. And I was horrified at the post script where Martel offers up the explanation of his allegory. I had come to really like the book near the end, but once I read that I was totally put off. It's clever, for sure, but it's as though Martel couldn't resist showing everyone just how clever. Bad on the editors for allowing it. I think I may have liked the book more if hadn't come saddled with so much hype but I'll never know for sure.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince... ah, you know who wrote it. Another great HP book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Not much to say except that if you liked the others, you'll like this one too. And I now have a guess at a possible plot twist for the final book.
Christ the Lord by Anne Rice. Rice has totally abandoned her vampire and witch series for her new found Catholic faith. Or, I guess I should say her re-conversion. I heard an interview with her, where she praises Mel Gibson's Passion movie... yes, you read that right. Bleh. I already had the book from the library or otherwise I probably wouldn't have read it. I'm glad that I did... or more correctly, that I am because I'm not yet finished. The book tells the life, oddly enough ;-), of Christ through his own eyes. It picks the story up when he's roughly 8 years old and about to leave Egypt to return to the Holy Land. She portrays him as a child who doesn't understand he's the son of God, trying to make sense of his powers and confused at the reactions of the adults around him. Most of the book is taken up with him trying to pump the adults for information. Why did they leave Bethlehem? and why can't they go back? What did Herod do? Why does he need to be hidden? Why does the Rabbi hesitate over his parentage? etc. It's an interesting perspective and as always, Rice is able to vivdly imagine a world of ancient time and place. But the plot seems to be on repeat and if I read one more passage about soldiers fighting, how they prayed and sang psalms or how many cousins he has, I'm going to hurl. Seriously girlfriend, how about a story? I'm assuming the book will end with the story of Jesus getting left behind at the temple but we'll see.
Of course, I don't believe in an historical Jesus but I still found myself debating her interpretations - such as Mary's continued virginity and she explains away Jesus' siblings as cousins who lost their mother that she takes in and raises as her own... oy vey - I guess old habits die hard ;-)
Worth a read but not in my top 50.
In the on-deck circle... Rock Varnish by Barry Kennedy. BK is a comedian (and son of actor Gordon Pinsent) who headlined recently and gave me a copy of his new book. Really nice guy with a penchant for telling stories well. I'll write a review when I'm done.
Movie Review
I recently saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I have mixed feelings about all of the HP movies. I really like them and will continue to see them but I can't help but feel they are always missing something. I realize it's hard to fit the books into movies and that they have to be careful about abbreviating or even tiny changes in the plot because the legions of young fans would cry foul. You really do have to have read the books to catch onto everything but I can't help but feel that they don't totally satisfy. For instance, I wanted to see much, much more of the other students. (We need an eventual Neville Longbottom spin-off ;-) don't you think?) I wanted to see more of student life and much more of the teachers in general and Hagrid in particular. How could you so underuse Maggie Smith?? I also wanted to see more of the other Goblet entrants doing their tasks - for instance, less of Harry fighting his dragon and something of the others doing it. I know it's a time constraint thing but still. Ahhh, c'est la vie.
I have some serious movie catching-up to do. I want to see Syriana, Brokeback Mountain and I really, really want to see Munich. I might go to see Narnia - loved the books as a kid - but the reviews have been so-so despite the hype. I only have so many movie-going-dollars and I try to spend them wisely.
More on Munich - despite being very, very young at the time, I do remember the events of the Olympic kidnappings and massacre. I had been so excited about this spectacle of people from all over the world competing together, engaging in feats that seemd to defy gravity and time. It was love at first sight. But it's also the first time I can remember being aware of a world event, of being frightened of forces "out there" and not understanding how people could do such things to each other. I remember the adults being frightened... the dread while everyone held their breath and waited to see what would happen. I remember words I didn't understand like holocaust, grenades and terrorist. It was around this time that my father discovered he was Jewish so it had even more resonance. I'm sure most of what I remember was less the events as they happened and more understandings I came to about it as I grew up. This movie, of course, is more about the events after the massacre - about the Mossad tracking down the supposed perpetrators of this ungodly event and I saw the mini-series years ago about "Avner" and his fellow agents who come to wonder what purpose revenge serves. I really want to see this.