Monthly Archives: February 2006
Movie Review: Night Watch (NOCHNOI DOZOR)
Brief plotline: Vampires meet the Matrix in Moscow.
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Moments to Live For (Week 1)
I’m going to be posting a series of Logan-like posts the next couple weeks. Each day I’ll post a song that has a particular moment that just kills me, for whatever reason (and I’ll update the original week’s post each day). A lot of my favorite songs have those kind of moments in them–moments I live for. Sometimes it’s something the singer does vocally, sometimes it’s a harmonized vocal part, sometimes it’s something going on musically (usually a crescendo).
Obviously, I know these songs backwards and forwards, and many of them are in my list of all-time favorite songs. But don’t worry if you don’t like ‘em, I won’t take it personally. (Mostly you’ll just be getting a glimpse into what makes me love a song, I guess.)
And I’m starting out with…
And speaking of Oscars….REMINDER
….Rebecca has set-up a Kulturblog Oscar predictathon: http://predict.oscar.go.com/predict/frontpage (group: Kulturblog; password: movies).
Playlist Thunderdome, Week 38 – UPDATED
Hey gang, who knew you were such Justin Timberlake fans! The Frames’ cover of “Cry Me A River handily won the T-dome. This week: Alt-Country.
update: I’ve been informed by multiple Gregs that the Mountain Goats aren’t alt-country. So, Whiskeytown’s “Waiting to Derail” has replaced the MG’s song. Votes have been reset, so vote again! Read the rest of this entry
Classical Music
Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to expand my music collection to include classical music, but I don’t really know where to start since I am hardly an aficianado when it comes to this genre. I generally know which composers I really like (Debussy, Chopin, Mozart). The problem is choosing from among the zillions of different performances of [insert your favorite composer here]. I really don’t know quality when it comes to buying classical.
So, I am selfishly asking a little help from anyone here who knows his or her way around classical music recordings. Do I buy based on the performer rather than the composer – for example, if I like Bach, how much difference does getting a Bach CD with Glenn Gould make? I’m sure there’s tons of Bach recordings out there – how do I tell what’s quality without having to do a ton of research? Or do I have to do a ton of research?
I guess the another factor with classical music recordings may be the production value of the recording. I dunno. Please help me out! I am especially interested in Debussy and Chopin simply because my piano teacher made me play a lot of that on the piano growing up. Thanks!
Playlist Thunderdome, Week 37
Close call this past week in the Battle of the Cool TV Show Theme Songs, with House’s theme, “Teardrop” by Massive Attack, winning over Veronica Mars’ theme, “We Used to be Friends” by the Dandy Warhols. Good stuff. Read the rest of this entry
“House”: Can a show jump the shark, but still be good?
I’m a big fan of the TV show “House.” (Winner, indirectly, of last week’s Thuderdome.) It’s one of the four shows that I make a point of recording and watching regularly. Hugh Laurie is arguably the best actor on television–usually way better than he needs to be. “House” is also quite a bit more edgy than the average TV drama.  For one, the protagonist often acts in ways that are morally reprehensible, sometimes with pragmatic justifications for doing so, but often without. For another, the show relishes it’s (usually well-produced and effective) cringe-worthy moments.
This week’s episode, however, was more than just edgy; it was clearly over the edge.
Guilty Pleasures
Allison asked over in Rusty’s thread if we could start a guilty pleasure thread, about bands we shouldn’t like but do anyway.
I find this topic perplexing, as I’m not embarrassed about anything, and I’m totally with D. when he said, “Just like what you like, and leave the rest, and don’t feel guilty about it.”
Should I be embarrased for liking doom metal? Leo Sayer and Air Supply? Why?
From Elisabeth to Ricky in 4 moves
This tickled our very own UK Office groupie, ECS. How do you get from Elisabeth to Ricky Gervais in four moves:
1. Elisabeth knows Mrs. Ronan (Rebecca)
2. Rebecca knows Lucy Davis’s sister
3. Lucy Davis plays Dawn on The Office
4. Lucy knows Ricky
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