tried to watch a scanner darkly yesterday. this is a movie that in theory really appeals to me - sci-fi, based on a novel by philip k dick, really interesting theoretical plot, directed by linklater, starring both rory cochrane (the only reason i still don't hate csi miami), woody harrelson and winona ryder - but after nearly an hour i was bored to hell! and still couldn't make out what the fuck this movie was about. and it definitely didn't pass the bechdel rule. no two women were ever even in the same frame.
so instead we watched emmet's mark, which was ok, no more no less. incidentally; it starred khandi alexander, also in csi miami. i wonder if someone's trying to tell me something. (i stopped watching it in its 5th season cos it just got worse and worse and more and more stupid stereotypic and horrible. otherwise i'm a fan of the csi series.) come to think of it, this movie was a lot like a really long episode of a police/crime tv series. anyway, the movie didn't pass the rule either, if not one no-name woman saying "hi, how's it going" to another counts as a conversation. didn't think so.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
a.m. notes
i baked. a tried a new recipe. hybrid rye and wheat buns. they turned out great, and delicious! especially with cheese and marmalade. so i had my midnight snack and was supposed to go to bed after that, but, well. here we are.
read about the bechdel rule today, on bitch ph.d. it goes like this;
i did see one film that passes the rule this weekend, the hours. i don't know why i haven't seen it before, i've even had the dvd sitting on my shelf for at least six months, but no. however, it was awesome! i loved it. beautiful, depressing - i mean in a good way, actually taking depression and being suicidal seriously - great characters. i haven't read enough of virginia woolf, i should really do that. also, nicole kidman's acting is awesome, i mean the acting over all in this film is great, but nicole's is just mind-blowing. she's SO good.
i got a package of ordered cds today, from the swedish a west side fabrication label. a great indie label! last week when i got into a nostalgic mood after buying and listening to this compilation from the label, i realized i was in love with backfish and so i ordered what the label had by them. good idea, cos all of it was really good! and i also have a crush on the label's mail-order now cos besides being quick and not expensive they sent me 5 singles extra, for free! all 5 was by other small bands from the same period as what i had ordered, so rather than just sending promotional stuff by their new bands (which i guess some label do) they must have thought "she seems to like the 90s, let's give her more 90s and maybe she'll like it too and order more!". and what do you know, i think it worked. i will definitely order more from them.
give it a listen! here's backfish's video fashion mania, not one of their better songs from what i think. there're also a few listenable pieces here.
now i'm waiting for the other packages to arrive, with even more new music. at least for my ears. i can't wait! i want it now!
read about the bechdel rule today, on bitch ph.d. it goes like this;
The rule is that movies should have 1) at least two women, 2) who talk to each other, 3) about something other than a man.sounds like a good useful instrument to make gender stereotyping and the practice to marginalize women clearer. cos you think, hey, of course a lot of movies will pass this rule. yeah, well, try it and you'll see. really, it's ridiculous. we're in the 21st century and it's not a given that two women in a movie actually talk to each other about something other than men.
i did see one film that passes the rule this weekend, the hours. i don't know why i haven't seen it before, i've even had the dvd sitting on my shelf for at least six months, but no. however, it was awesome! i loved it. beautiful, depressing - i mean in a good way, actually taking depression and being suicidal seriously - great characters. i haven't read enough of virginia woolf, i should really do that. also, nicole kidman's acting is awesome, i mean the acting over all in this film is great, but nicole's is just mind-blowing. she's SO good.
i got a package of ordered cds today, from the swedish a west side fabrication label. a great indie label! last week when i got into a nostalgic mood after buying and listening to this compilation from the label, i realized i was in love with backfish and so i ordered what the label had by them. good idea, cos all of it was really good! and i also have a crush on the label's mail-order now cos besides being quick and not expensive they sent me 5 singles extra, for free! all 5 was by other small bands from the same period as what i had ordered, so rather than just sending promotional stuff by their new bands (which i guess some label do) they must have thought "she seems to like the 90s, let's give her more 90s and maybe she'll like it too and order more!". and what do you know, i think it worked. i will definitely order more from them.
give it a listen! here's backfish's video fashion mania, not one of their better songs from what i think. there're also a few listenable pieces here.
now i'm waiting for the other packages to arrive, with even more new music. at least for my ears. i can't wait! i want it now!
Friday, July 18, 2008
i was saved by music
i struck gold! when searching for old swedish indie band suredo, that i remember having a really great song by on an old mixed tape i got from a guy i was acquainted with in high school*, i found this place; i was saved by music. it has a lot of downloads, amongst them suredo's two album and an ep by them, and lots of compilations. all in all, lots of great music! shoegazer, power pop, indie. you really need to check it out.
*this guy, martin, actually made something of himself; he's boy omega and he's not half bad :)
*this guy, martin, actually made something of himself; he's boy omega and he's not half bad :)
bargains!
what's up with placing bargain bin on the floor? a sale at one of the local record stores (not the same as last time) had me crawling on the floor again, but like the cheap bastard i am, i'm happy to. especially when finding prizes like jason loewenstein, the organ and puffin, and magazine and label compilations with great songs (i especially like this one). all in all 15 cds for 215 kr. that's like a cd and a half regular price. good work.
i hadn't heard jason loewenstein's record before (at sixes and sevens) but as you know i love sebadoh so how bad could it be? it wasn't, it turned out, in fact it's really good! you can totally hear that he's in sebadoh, but i wouldn't say his solo stuff is just like sebadoh, but familiar enough to make you feel at home and cosy.
i hadn't heard jason loewenstein's record before (at sixes and sevens) but as you know i love sebadoh so how bad could it be? it wasn't, it turned out, in fact it's really good! you can totally hear that he's in sebadoh, but i wouldn't say his solo stuff is just like sebadoh, but familiar enough to make you feel at home and cosy.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
acid test
here's yet another reason to why i love 4AD so much. (as if throwing muses, belly, pixies, the amps, red house painters, birthday party, lush, lisa germano, breeders, kristin hersh, mountain goats, that dog and tanya donnelly weren't enough!) emma pollock - of the delgados for the ones who remember. the song is acid test, and i just ordered her album, she's awesome!
man, i love the 90s.
man, i love the 90s.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
the france post
ok, so france was nice. and by nice i mean warm, still, relaxing and a whole lot of non-s; non-home, non-stress, non-.. well, you get the picture.
i've uploaded a bunch of the photos i took onto my flickr page if you want graphics.
we didn't really do much. we were mostly just hanging out. we did visit the city of narbonne one day and had a look at their 700 year old cathedral, which was no match for st peter's in rome, but still pretty awesome, and older. for that matter, there isn't much on this planet that IS a match for st peter's - it's fucking huge! that would be the pyramids in egypt or something in their league. i'm so not religious, but there's something really awesome about cathedrals that i can't help but be pulled into totally. i saw st peter's 3 years ago and i still haven't quite grasped its awesomeness - and by awesome i mean the original meaning of the word, not the hot dog.
i read a lot, since i wasn't interrupted by the gizmos of the modern world. i especially loved two of the novels i read, this book will save your life by a.m. homes, and garnethill by denise mina. two very different novels but oh so good. read them!
the former takes you to the world of richard novac, a retired stock market person (what the fuck do i know about that?), who finds himself being cut off of the world in his fancy los angeles house only seeing his housekeeper, his personal trainer and dietist, and he's in pain, excruciating pain. was it there before and he didn't notice or did it just come? he can't tell, he doesn't know, but he feels an enormous urge to connect. so he does, in his own way. the novel is full of odd characters and a lot of warmth, but also harsh reality, though seen through richard's eyes. homes' use of language is captivating in a simple way and her characters, though odd, feels very real. i really loved this one.
the latter is actually a crime novel, oddly enough, cos generally i don't care for crime novels, but garnethill i found extraordinary. for once the protagonist isn't a middle aged alcoholic divorcee ex-cop man, but a young woman with a strike of bad luck. and it is gender aware!
maureen's an incest "surviver" with a fucked-up family; dad gone, mom alcoholic and in denial about the abuse, brother a drug-dealer, one sister pretending they're a happy family and one sister escaped to london. she's also been a patient at a psychiatric hospital a couple of years back. taking place in glasgow, scotland (which, i guess, is part of its appeal to me since i've been there) it starts with maureen, one morning after coming home late drunk and passing out the night before, finding her married therapist boyfriend dead in her livingroom with his throat cut. the police seems interested in pinning it on her and.. damn, i'm really bad at making whodunnit-stories sound interesting. here's what someone else has written;
ok, so you really have to read these ones. promise!
ok, so i really have to sleep now.
i've uploaded a bunch of the photos i took onto my flickr page if you want graphics.
we didn't really do much. we were mostly just hanging out. we did visit the city of narbonne one day and had a look at their 700 year old cathedral, which was no match for st peter's in rome, but still pretty awesome, and older. for that matter, there isn't much on this planet that IS a match for st peter's - it's fucking huge! that would be the pyramids in egypt or something in their league. i'm so not religious, but there's something really awesome about cathedrals that i can't help but be pulled into totally. i saw st peter's 3 years ago and i still haven't quite grasped its awesomeness - and by awesome i mean the original meaning of the word, not the hot dog.
i read a lot, since i wasn't interrupted by the gizmos of the modern world. i especially loved two of the novels i read, this book will save your life by a.m. homes, and garnethill by denise mina. two very different novels but oh so good. read them!
the former takes you to the world of richard novac, a retired stock market person (what the fuck do i know about that?), who finds himself being cut off of the world in his fancy los angeles house only seeing his housekeeper, his personal trainer and dietist, and he's in pain, excruciating pain. was it there before and he didn't notice or did it just come? he can't tell, he doesn't know, but he feels an enormous urge to connect. so he does, in his own way. the novel is full of odd characters and a lot of warmth, but also harsh reality, though seen through richard's eyes. homes' use of language is captivating in a simple way and her characters, though odd, feels very real. i really loved this one.
the latter is actually a crime novel, oddly enough, cos generally i don't care for crime novels, but garnethill i found extraordinary. for once the protagonist isn't a middle aged alcoholic divorcee ex-cop man, but a young woman with a strike of bad luck. and it is gender aware!
maureen's an incest "surviver" with a fucked-up family; dad gone, mom alcoholic and in denial about the abuse, brother a drug-dealer, one sister pretending they're a happy family and one sister escaped to london. she's also been a patient at a psychiatric hospital a couple of years back. taking place in glasgow, scotland (which, i guess, is part of its appeal to me since i've been there) it starts with maureen, one morning after coming home late drunk and passing out the night before, finding her married therapist boyfriend dead in her livingroom with his throat cut. the police seems interested in pinning it on her and.. damn, i'm really bad at making whodunnit-stories sound interesting. here's what someone else has written;
Viewed in turn by the police as a suspect and as an uncooperative, unstable witness, Maureen is even suspected by her alcoholic mother and self-serving sisters of being involved. Worse than that, the police won't tell her anything about Douglas's death.
Panic-stricken and feeling betrayed by friends and family, Maureen begins to doubt her own version of events. She retraces Douglas's desperate last days and picks up a horrifying trail of rape, deception...and suppressed scandal at a local psychiatric hospital where she had been an inmate. But the patients won't talk and the staff are afraid, and when a second brutalized corpse is discovered, Maureen realises that unless she gets to the killer first, her life is in danger.
ok, so you really have to read these ones. promise!
ok, so i really have to sleep now.
Friday, July 11, 2008
anniversary
i didn't realize, but thanks to sergio for pointing it out; today is the one year anniversary of this blog! yay! for the coming year i want more inspiration and more comments. there. you can all congratulate me now.
as for myself, i'm off to wrap the gifts for my sister who i'll be celebrating tomorrow on her 25th birthday.
as for myself, i'm off to wrap the gifts for my sister who i'll be celebrating tomorrow on her 25th birthday.
more non-france
i want the new issue of mojo. not because i'm a regular mojo-reader but because it's about nirvana and sub pop, two decades later, and that it comes with a sub pop compilation cd. why else?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
b&j
ben & jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream is soo. damn. good! too bad it costs a fortune over here. half a liter is about 50 kr (that's roughly 17 oz. and $8) and that seriously sucks. why is everything so expensive here? is it because we're suckers and actually pay for it? (yes, yes, i know you can explain some prices with higher taxes and better paid personnel, but 100 kr/l ice cream is NOT one of them.)
i'm cranky cos i had to walk home in the rain earlier and it was still hot so i got all sticky everywhere. i hate sticky. wet i can deal with, but sticky, no. arg!
i'm cranky cos i had to walk home in the rain earlier and it was still hot so i got all sticky everywhere. i hate sticky. wet i can deal with, but sticky, no. arg!
foreign slippers
thanks to jocelyn over at pretending to be japanese, foreign slippers was brought to my attention; the song put on her myspace page, packed the car, is added to the collection indiecater volume 1 (jocelyn's review), and it's an awesome song! sort of a roadmovie song. a bit sad but a bit hopeful.
she's signed to izumi records and is to release her debut ep oh, death in the end of july. on the label's site there's another song you can listen to, i wish i was a fisherman, a bit of a piano ballad. she makes awfully pretty music and her voice is strong and sad.
i can't help thinking about the first time i heard ane brun (whose debut album spending time with morgan is so so good) when i listen to this, but i haven't listened to ane for a while so i'm not really sure if the comparison is fair or not. however, i really like what she seems to have going for her so i pre-ordered the ep, and we'll just have to see.
she's signed to izumi records and is to release her debut ep oh, death in the end of july. on the label's site there's another song you can listen to, i wish i was a fisherman, a bit of a piano ballad. she makes awfully pretty music and her voice is strong and sad.
i can't help thinking about the first time i heard ane brun (whose debut album spending time with morgan is so so good) when i listen to this, but i haven't listened to ane for a while so i'm not really sure if the comparison is fair or not. however, i really like what she seems to have going for her so i pre-ordered the ep, and we'll just have to see.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
hello rain
i'm back from beautiful france, rested and happier. also with a crappy stomach; seriously, how do they survive eating all that white bread and french cheese? i do love it, baguettes with brie or camembert, but when i got back my stomach was like, fibers! fibers! dark bread! oatmeal! i can't object.
it's amazing how much catch up one has to do after just two weeks. it takes forever too. possible cos i'm slower post-france than pre-france.
anyway. this is not the france-post, i'm too tired, this is the i made it home safe-post. a few notes:
i almost broke my pinkie when i was doing post-vacation laundry yesterday (incidental; i tripped on the stairs and tried to brace myself and hit my finger), however it survived a bit swollen but intact.
there was a postcard from armenia for me when i got back, from my awesome american friend dave, who's totally enabling all my obsessions and always helps me further my collections. he's also awesome enough to send the symbiosis (that's me, my lover and my sister) shoes, since they cost a fortune in this country. we love dave, he is our favorite enabler in the whole world.
while i've been gone, there has been a sort of video competition going on over at pretending to be japanese. it's sad to only be here for the aftermaths.
i saw cat power live yesterday! yay! she was awesome, so totally different from the other two times i've been her. sober (that helps), happy - like she was actually enjoying being on stage. it's a good change.
cat power at folkets park malmö june 7.
i've also read two novels that i'm dying to tell you about!
but now i really need to sleep.
oh! i almost forgot. you can pre-order juliana hatfields new album (due mid-august) now on her website, and there's a limited edition demo cd and some posters too. all the cool kids are doing it.
it's amazing how much catch up one has to do after just two weeks. it takes forever too. possible cos i'm slower post-france than pre-france.
anyway. this is not the france-post, i'm too tired, this is the i made it home safe-post. a few notes:
i almost broke my pinkie when i was doing post-vacation laundry yesterday (incidental; i tripped on the stairs and tried to brace myself and hit my finger), however it survived a bit swollen but intact.
there was a postcard from armenia for me when i got back, from my awesome american friend dave, who's totally enabling all my obsessions and always helps me further my collections. he's also awesome enough to send the symbiosis (that's me, my lover and my sister) shoes, since they cost a fortune in this country. we love dave, he is our favorite enabler in the whole world.
while i've been gone, there has been a sort of video competition going on over at pretending to be japanese. it's sad to only be here for the aftermaths.
i saw cat power live yesterday! yay! she was awesome, so totally different from the other two times i've been her. sober (that helps), happy - like she was actually enjoying being on stage. it's a good change.
cat power at folkets park malmö june 7.i've also read two novels that i'm dying to tell you about!
but now i really need to sleep.
oh! i almost forgot. you can pre-order juliana hatfields new album (due mid-august) now on her website, and there's a limited edition demo cd and some posters too. all the cool kids are doing it.
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