ArkhamGlobe

Yesterday I rented these: Bronco Billy - kind of an interesting companion piece to The Outlaw Josey Wales, even though it's certainly not as great. On a plot level it's pretty predictable, conventional stuff, but then again, the plot is not the point, it's the characters and their interaction, and Eastwood succeeds spendidly in making those compelling. And HOLY SHIT, Sondra Locke wasn't horrible in this! That must be some kind of record. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle - this was pretty interesting, as it felt less like a conventional written movie, and more like a loosely knit improvisation centred around art and artifice. Don't know if it was any good or not, but it was an interesting, and rather enjoyable, experience. Black Widow - this was enjoyable and competent, but also rather obvious.

I hope they at least throw something at Before Sunset, as that was probably my favourite movie of last year, though admittedly there's alot of stuff I haven't seen yet since it hasn't been released here (Million Dollar Baby, Sideways and so forth).

A swedish internet store had a three for the price of two sale so I just ordered Boxcar Bertha, The Fury and The Long Goodbye. I also ordered The Pope of Greenwhich Village, as it was so ridiculously cheap.

No show on my birthday, so I'll settle for the day before: WWF @ Rochester, NY - War Memorial - December 14, 1981 Hans Schroeder fought Tony Altimore to a draw The Executioner defeated Fred Marzino Mr. Saito defeated SD Jones Ivan Putski defeated Mr. Fuji Rick Martel & Tony Garea defeated Johnny Rodz & Jose Estrada Pat Patterson defeated Angelo Mosca Greg Valentine defeated Curt Hennig WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeated Don Muraco

The Four Tops - Still Water

John Cale - Zen

The "Some of my favourite scenes" edition: 1. Singing and dancing in the woods in Pierrot le fou. I could probably make an entire list of just scenes from Godard movies, but I'll refrain from doing that at the moment. As for this scene, it encapsulates what I love about Pierrot le fou, the wild spontaneity and vibrant sense of life belying a sense of incredible anguish and sadness. The two characters, in their search of liberty and life manage to find it briefly in a simple song in the woods. The moment soars. 2. Odile's song in Band of Outsiders. Another Godard movie, but I'll pick something else next time. This scene is pretty similiar to the scene from Pierrot le fou, except this instead of expressing a sense of liberty found for a moment, expresses a deep yearning for it. The Liberté sign appearing always gives me chills. 3. Annabelle Lee rejecting Johnnie Gray in The General. I can't really explain why I like this scene so much, except that it manages to be both very funny and surprisingly moving at the same time, particularly the moment when Johnnie doesn't notice that the train is carrying him away. 4. Bruno Ganz becoming human in Wings of Desire. I've always felt this was nicely understated and so Ganz' sense of wonder becomes incredibly moving. Also the following tracking shot as Ganz walks through the city somehow managed to infuse me with a similiar sense of wonder. 5. The ending to Mississippi Mermaid. I don't want to spoil this, so I can't speak that much of it, but I'll say that Belmondo is amazing here and the scene reaches a kind of understated poignancy I can't really recall seeing anywhere else. And the closing shot is pretty tremendous too.

The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset The Clash - Train in Vain Pink Floyd - Jugband Blues The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again Popol Vuh - Einsjäger und Siebenjäger Prince - Purple Rain Bob Dylan - Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands The Beatles - A Day in the Life Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

I echo Superstar's sentiments. Anyway, yesterday I rented the following: Dark Eyes - I'm not quite sure how I feel about this, as there are some really good->great scenes in the film, and Mastroianni is really good in it, but for a film that deals with stuff that should be very painful (adultery, loss and so forth) it never seems willing to confront the issues anymore than in passing. I much preferred the director's later Burnt by the Sun. Our Lady of the Assassins - this was pretty depressing stuff, though intentionally so. Whereas the previously mentioned film seemed hesitant to truly deal with the pain lying beneath the images, this plunges into it head on. There are flaws to the film, it's a bit too melodramatic at times for me, and there's some stuff about the main character that bothered me, but overall it's powerful stuff. That Obscure Object of Desire - I'd already seen this previously, but why would you object to rewatching a Buñuel movie? This is no different from the other Buñuel films I've seen, it's totally and utterly awesome and I can't wait till I get to watch it again (I should look into buying the DVD).

Igor Stranvinsky - The Rites of Spring/Petrushka (I actually only listnened to Petrushka, this was the closest I could find) Blondie - Plastic Letters Tom Waits - Heartattack and Vine

Some off the top of my head: Roxy Music - Do the Strand The Beatles - Come Together The Byrds - So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star The Kinks - Victoria Pink Floyd - One of These Days Talking Heads - Born Under Punches The Who - Baba O'Riley The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner I'll think of more later.

I went to one of my favourite local used records store and found a double CD with Blondie's first two albums and then I found The Rolling Stones' Let it Bleed on vinyl, cheap as hell. I rejoiced.

Melt Banana - Section Eight

It only took me one film as well to get into Godard, and incidentally, it was Alphaville. Granted, I probably didn't get what Godard was doing in the film, I loved it anyway because it looked and felt so fucking cool.

Curved Air - Vivaldi With Cannons

Over the last couple of days I've seen the following: The Phantom of the Opera - this just about worked as a spectacle, though it was nothing to write home about. The music was also pretty ill-integrated into the film at times. Ocean's Twelve - very amusing nonsense. 2046 - visually gorgeous, naturally, and with some interesting and very engrossing stuff in it, but it seemed dramatically uneven, and not a patch on In the Mood for Love (though I didn't expect it to be). It did however seem like the kind of film that could really grow on me with repeated viewings, so I'll hold off final judgement for now. The Punisher - wildly uneven in tone and rather flatly directed, this was pretty underwhelming. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - this was anything but uneven in tone. Fantastically grim and brooding, this really reinforced my fandom of director Mike Hodges. Bloody marvellous.

Sounds like Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard, which is really awesome.

I don't have that one. What's notable on it? I've so far only had the chance to listen through it once, but so far my impression is that it's pretty fun and good stuff throughout, though the only track that really stood out for me on first listen was the title track. As for recent purchases, today I picked up Elvis Costello's Trust and Miles Davis' Facets used on vinyl.

My christmas eve was somewhat underwhelming in that I barely got any sleep the night before, which resulted in me falling asleep around 9 PM while watching something on tv and waking up at 2 AM. Beyond that I had a pretty nice time though. Gifts recieved: Shirt and pants Miles Davis' Bitches Brew A 3-disc set with Django Reinhardt Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis Some free passes for a local movie theater A DVD set with Un Chien Andalou and L'Age d'Or (RAWK~!)

I picked up the following at a used VHS-tape sale: Best Seller Company Business Into the Night Rocketeer A Terra-Cotta Warrior

A local store had a three for the price of two sale so I ended up buying the following: Popol Vuh - Seligpreisung Tangerine Dream - Alpha Centauri Frank Zappa - Chunga's Revenge

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We're Floating in Space Sly & the Family Stone - There's a Riot Going On

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Festival Overture

Tom Waits - Blue Valentine