Jim's Current Addictions
Submitted by jim on Thu, 04/17/2003 - 11:26
Tags:
- 16 Horsepower, Sackcloth 'n Ashes (Album)
- Murder One, Season One (TV)
- The Office, Series Two (TV)
- Ultimate Frisbee (Sport)
- Grilled candied pineapple slices (Food)
- Homemade ciabatta bread (Food)
Cloned From:
Jim, I'm suprised to see Hero make this list. I didn't think you cared for it all that much.
I thought my review was quite positive, actually! But I just re-read it and I did focus on my concerns more than my admirations, didn't I? I should re-review it anyway, as I've watched it again since, and I like it even better. While I think you could watch the movie as an "it's okay to assimilate Tibet and Taiwan" propaganda movie, I think that would be a mistake. It's a kung fu movie that glorifies (and embellishes (and distorts)) a fundamental story in Chinese history. It's kinda like watching a colonial American story that isn't told from the Indian perspective - not necessarily fair, but not necessarily bad because of it. And when I get past whatever lingering misgivings I may have on that front, I loved it. It's an interesting progression for Zhang, having started with lavishly costumed and colored historical dreams of China, moved to more realistic modern stories (perhaps in response to criticism from China's "Sixth Generation" filmmakers, I've read), and now back to his old self (but with lots more fightin' :-). While I've enjoyed all his movies, I certainly prefer his classics, and Hero is more in their mold, it seems to me.
Hey, it just occurred to me what while you gave Hero an 8, you never actually posted a review. Are you game? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Yes. :-)
Hey, where's my review?! :-)
"Er, good question," he says sheepishly.
<homer> Mmmm, carrot cake.... </homer>
Great list. I'm assuming that the book is a computer manual that would leave techno semi-literates like myself walking on our paws again...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
he I had homer on and off tags around the carrot cake quote, but I guess Listology took them as html codes from an idiot, and hence, they ain't here.
Not that the site is wrong, mind you... ;)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
:-) I fixed that for ya. The problem is that the browser thinks those are HTML tags, but it doesn't know what to do with them, so it just doesn't display 'em (although it would be great if the browser were smart enough to read the enclosed text using Homer's voice). The solution is to "escape" the first "<" in each tag using the character entity for "less than", which is <. So you'd type this instead of what you had:
<homer> Mmmm... </homer>
Which will display like so:
<homer> Mmmm... </homer>
You don't want to know what I had to do to escape the first example above so that it wouldn't display the "<" as "<". That gets into a whole 'nother level of escapetitude. :-)
:-) Daily Bread makes SUCH good carrot cake. Probably the best I've ever had. I'll treat you to a piece if you ever find yourself in Western MA again.
It is a tech book. The GIMP is an open source Photoshop, essentially. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program (and GNU is a recursive acronym that stand's for GNU's Not Unix). It's fantastic. Unfortunately the Windows port can be quite unstable depending on your system configuration, and apparently I got one of the bad ones. So I just ordered a CD from CheapBytes.com of the Knoppix Linux distribution (which includes the GIMP). The beauty of that distribution is that you don't have to install Linux! You just pop in the CD, it boots to Linux (if you have a bootable CD drive - otherwise you can create a boot floppy), you can play, take out the CD, and then when you restart you're right back in your untouched Windows environment. In theory. :-) I haven't tried it yet.
Oh, by the way, thanks for pioneering the "current addictions" lists. They're a ton of fun!
Nice, glad you like the Futurama. I just started watching it again on Cartoon Network. One episode I saw the other night was simply brilliant: "Roswell That Ends Well" (and it won an Emmy). Sorry, guess you'll have to wait for the 4th season to come out on DVD to catch that one!
I'll see if I buy more sets after this one. I'm enjoying it, but it's hard for me to judge how much since I watch them as I slave away on the exercise bike. I'm sure I'd love 'em if I were watching them on my comfy couch with a bag of chips at hand.
So you like Uncut, eh? Expensive, but usually worth it. I'm thrilled you gave it a shot. I love it.
Now if only they needed a writer in Tulsa, Oklahoma...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I really do, thanks so much for the recommendation! I picked up the November "REM" issue and pretty much read it cover-to-cover. I enjoyed both the style and the content, and it exposed me to many albums and movies I hadn't heard of previously, which doesn't often happen (at least on the movie front)
I also *really* liked the CD (the mix compiled by REM). Not every track, but most of them, some quite a bit. It's funny: I didn't realize how much I was missing new and interesting music, kinda like you don't always know how hungry you are until you sit down to eat, only to discover you're starving. Since college my music collection (not all that extensive in the first place) has slowly stagnated. For music purchasing, my money has gradually gone elsewhere. For listening, radio is pretty mediocre. I do have one decent station here that favors bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes along with a slew of more conventional "alternative" bands, but even their rotation gets stale pretty quickly (and the only place I can get reception is in the car, and unless I'm driving alone the car is Raffi territory).
I did think it was expensive when I checked out the subscription price ($90 at Amazon), but at $8 cover price that got me a CD I like and a magazine chock-full of good stuff, so this issue was a bargain. I'm hooked, and I'm subscribing. It's cheaper to subscribe using one of their insert cards (I think they're running an X-mas special): $79 for a year, which comes out to about $6.60/issue. If they're all as good as this, I'll come out thinking it was a steal.
Thanks again!
Oh, one more thing, I noticed Chris Roberts' review of XX/XY included the line, "as shorn of cliche as Hal Hartley in his heyday." No wonder you like that guy. :-)
Oh, another "one more thing", you could write for those guys, and I don't see why you couldn't do it from Tulsa. You'd have to convince *them* of that, of course, but you're talented enough and it's certainly logistically possible, especially in this, the information age.
Terrific. I adore Uncut.
I don't know if you noticed, but that free disc includes In the Sun, the opening song from the album I still think is the best of the decade so far, Joseph Arthur's Come to Where I'm From.
Chris Roberts is quite the Hartley fan, although sadly enough, he is fond of calling Amateur Hal's worst film and a sell-out. If that's a sell-out...
I'm listening to the Sandy Bull track off the free disc as I type, and I love it.
Thanks for the kind words. Oddly enough, even though I am out of work, I have been incredibly busy as of late, hence my lack of posts here lately. What will I do when I start working 8-5 again? Alas...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
After going to uncut.com and finding a porn site, I went to uncut.net and looked up some of the articles in the current and back issues. They sounded really interesting. I think I'll have to pick up a copy as well. Is it pretty hard to find, or can you get the latest issue in pretty much any bookstore or newsstand?
Here in the outlands, Tulsa, Oklahoma, both the Barnes and Noble and Border stores carry copies, although usually several weeks behind the UK and, oddly enough, often for only two weeks each month.
I bet you can scare up a copy there in Maryland...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Sounds currently emanating from my computer: Hey, ho, let's go! Hey, ho, let's go!
Let it not be said that I am not a man of action. :-)
:-) So was it worth hunting down?
Well, if you call walking into a Barnes and Noble, heading to the magazine section, and finding Uncut "hunting it down", then yes, it was worth hunting down. :-)
Truth be told, though, I've been extremely busy lately with homework and play rehearsal lately, so I haven't had the chance to read much of it. I did read many of the movie / DVD reviews, I listened to the CD, and I'm in the middle of the REM article now (which I'm mostly loving - although I was a bit disappointed at how little page area the section on the awesome "Nightswimming" was allotted - and they only printed comments from Peter Buck, unlike every other song review where they interviewed 2-3 people! But other than that, it's a great article). I'm probably not going to read the magazine cover to cover, however, if only for the 20 pages of reviews of new albums, 99% of which I've never even heard of. I tend to feel pretty lost / bored reading reviews of art I've never heard of. But this CD sampler alone is worth the price, and I am enjoying the magazine quite a bit too, from what I've read.
I was very glad to see that Chris Roberts likes "The Fisher King." (see p. 154) I like that movie a lot. I don't LOVE it (I put it in my second tier), but it's quite a polarizing movie, so I was glad to read he was on my side.
I tend to feel pretty lost / bored reading reviews of art I've never heard of.
I know what you mean with regards to music, but I could read reviews of movies I've never heard of all day. Such reviews help me find movies I'm likely to enjoy, but interestingly music reviews are much trickier in that regard. Come to think of it, for me, music criticism is a black art; it completely astounds me. To quantify and describe in words what makes music bad or good is beyond me, and I admire those that can do it.
I'm with you on music criticism astounding me; thus, my "Albums Reviewed" series that will tell you which songs and lyrics I like but touches very little on why I like them. I do love reading well-written reviews of music I've heard, probably because, as you said, those who can articulately describe what makes music good are worthy of admiration.
As for movie reviews, I have gotten into the habit of depending on the Rotten Tomatoes percentages (along with plot summaries) rather than reading reviews. Come to think of it, I'm a little disappointed in myself for using such an objective system for deciding which movies to see. Although, I dunno about these Uncut reviews; some of them are European films that may never see American release. And on p. 146, it says that "Spirited Away" is still on release in theaters. Hmm...
I got mine at a pretty well-stocked Barnes and Noble. I did call first though, and the guy was like "they just came in so we're got a bunch!" I read enthusiasm into his tone, and also assumed he was referring to them selling out pretty quickly.
I like In The Sun quite a bit; it's perhaps in my top 5 from that mix (I hadn't made the Joseph Arthur connection, thanks for pointing that out!). Funny you should mention the Sandy Bull track, as it's my favorite (with Ya Ya Ya by The Detroit Cobras coming in second, I think).
Of course, the bittersweet thing is that as much as I'm enjoying this sampling, what I'd really like is to buy albums from probably a third or more of the bands on that mix, but alas my money is still mostly going elsewhere.
I love, love the Bull song, and that Detroit Cobras tune is impossible to get out of one's head after a single listen. Luckily, in this case, that's a good thing.
In the Sun was the first, perhaps only, single from Come to Where I'm From. It is a very good song, and one that grows on you, but there's even better stuff where that came from.
As for buying the discs, I sadly know exactly what you are talking about. Ah well, my Amazon wish list is full, so here's hoping!
Again, I'm glad you are enjoying the sampler. Uncut usually does a pretty good job with those. At least one, Sounds of the New West, an alt-country collection, is a masterpiece.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I can't find "Sounds of the New West" anywhere (basically just tried Google), but I'd definitely like to hear it. Hey, what do you think of this idea: you loan it to me, and I'll loan you my Hero DVD (or something else, but I doubt anything in my woefully stagnant music collection would entice you)? No pressure, of course...
You're on. Check out your mailbox.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
So now there are two people on the site who have heard Joseph Arthur's album. Whoo-hoo!
I don't know about you, but I find The Real You and History to be incredible songs, and they are not alone.
Have you received your disc yet? I hope to watch Hero this weekend!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I was wondering how long it would take you to find this! About five minutes, it turns out. :-)
I've bought two albums I'd never heard of prior to your recommendation: Adam Again's Dig, and Joseph Arthur's Come to Where I'm From and they've both worked out great for me. One thing I've found interesting is that neither particularly grabbed me on first listen, but both grew on me significantly with subsequent exposure. I've had the Adam Again album for quite awhile, and it continues to work its way back into my rotation. No small feat - the vast majority of the albums I own have been gathering dust for a long time. My general pattern is that I listen to 'em to death, and then never come back to them. I suspect Arthur's album will achieve similar longevity for me. It look maybe five listens, but I've come to love it.
As for specific songs, I do like the songs you mentioned quite a bit, and are among the ones that continue to grow on me. The ones I liked right off the bat are "In the Sun" (it enjoys the advantage of familiarity, since I first heard it on that Uncut/REM mix) and "Exhausted."
I haven't received the disc yet; maybe it will come today, but I'm happy to hear Hero arrived safe and sound. I hope you like it, but I'm looking forward to your review regardless! :-)
Both those albums are favorites of mine, and a large part of the reason is that I like them both more each time I hear them.
I'm really glad you enjoy Dig; I liked it the first time I heard it, but it tooks a few years for me to realize how much I love it. I should have sent you my copy of Adam Again's Perfecta. I bet you'd really like it. Perhaps we'll have to try for a sequel if this swap works well...
In the Sun and Exhausted are both great song. Exhausted is something like an audio nightmare, but I guess it isn't the only song on the album I could say that about. Produced by T Bone Burnett (now of the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou? fame; I think he may be one of the very best producers in popular music ever) and on Peter Gabriel's label (did you notice?), Come to Where I'm From is a lost classic.
I hope you enjoy the disc, but as you mention, I hope to hear your opinion either way. You're getting two of my favorite unknown singles along with other great songs (The Handsome Family's strange but moving Weightless Again and Red Star Belgrade's oddly entrancing, addictive, and tragic Saddest Girl).
Again, I'mm really glad you are enjoying it. You've no idea how thrilled that makes me.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'd love to hear Perfecta, and I'd certainly be game for a sequel swap! Heck, we could just do the next swap in the same mailers we use to return our respective property. Let's touch base when you're done with Hero and when I'm done with the Uncut country mix (which I really really hope arrives tomorrow so I don't have to wait through the holiday!).
Oh, I did notice it was Peter Gabriel's label, which I thought was cool. I didn't realized T Bone Burnett produced it though. I really should pay more attention to the producer, shouldn't I? It seems to be a position that matters much more in music than in movies.
Ah, the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book! I've looked at several books with such claims, but IMHO, this is perhaps the first one to do the title proud. Great book!
In fact, I love everything on your list right now!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
:-) I'm really happy with my current crop as well. I'm LOVING season 2 of 24 - it's really powering me through my workouts. I believe I prefer it to season 1.
Of course I picked up the 1,001 Movies book on your mention elsewhere on this site, and I'm glad I did, thanks! They manage to cram a broad range of titles in there, they run the low-brow/high-brow gamut nicely, give all the years good representation, and the mix is nicely international.
You're right about that dust jacket though - it's the first ever that I've thrown away.
I just re-read your Secretary review, and I think our thoughts matched on that one. I put the DVD in at 10:30 PM on a school night thinking I'd only watch the trailer, but then it looked way too interesting to pass up, and ended up staying up too late watching it. Well worth the fatigue the next day though.
Um, you just had to bring up chocolate, didn't you!!! MMMmm and Cadbury Eggs at THAT! I love the creme-filled eggs the best. That is my Easter addiction every year. I eat them so much in one season that I tire of them until the next.
Oh but I don't mean the creme-filled ones. I mean the little milk chocolate ones with the crunchy candy coating. When an M&M dreams, it dreams it's a Cadbury Mini-Egg. Heaven! If those were available year-round I bet I could double my weight.
I really dig the creme-filled ones, and I also enjoy the seasonal Dove Truffles.
Well, I don't enjoy them too much. Don't want to have to buy some new jeans any time soon...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Would you believe I have a co-worker who doesn't like chocolate? She's never tried any in her whole life because she says it smells funny! Sometimes I wish I was like that so I wouldn't have to watch my weight, but alas it was not meant to be!
Yeah, I don't know if I should envy her or pity her. Let me think... Pity, definitely pity. I'd hate to miss out on something so good.
I've been wanting to see Following, since I'm a big fan of Christopher Nolan, but I haven't gotten around to it. Obviously, it's worth getting around to?
Yup!
I second that.
Yeah, those Cadbury Eggs are pretty damn good. So much better than those &@#% Peeps...
Johnny Waco
&@#% Peeps indeed! Have you seen they're selling those suckers now encased in a chocolate egg?
No I haven't seen them, but as far as I'm concerned, the Peeps company should just shut down; what is it they make that stuff out of anyway? I have a sneaking suspicion it's at least as carcinogenic as asbestos...
When it comes to Cadbury though: do you like the cream-filled ones too? I might like the fake yolk as much as the mini-eggs.
Johnny Waco
Peeps might be one of the strongest proofs for the existence of the devil I have ever ran into. Man, those are nasty.
Ah, creme-filled Cadbury eggs. I discovered one in my jacket pocket today (from last week, not last Easter!), and I am now savoring the idea of eating it when I get home.
The caramel-filled ones ain't bad either!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Fortunately, I never really warmed to the Cadbury creme eggs. Unfortunately, it's just about one of the only sweets I don't crave.
Peeps are not carcinogenic. They are sugar-coated marshmallows.
You will be hearing from the Just Born Corporation's lawyers very shortly.
Do you think they would be willing to settle out of court?
Johnny Waco (whose Peeps eating is still in remission!)
Possibly, but you'd best back off from the peeps libel, or you might have to contend with something worse than a lawyer: a fearsomely enlarged peep.
Actually, this research has made me feel more sympathy for the Peeps species. They are obviously non-agressive creatures whose only defense is to fool predators into believing they are more fearsome than they really are.I have determined to start up a Peeps rehabilitation center for wounded and/or abandoned Peeps whom the world has decided to ignore. After long care and attention, perhaps they can be released back into the wild to live the innocent, happy lives they were created for...
Johnny Waco
Peeps is actually the name for the genus. The species are subdivided into bunnies and baby chicks.
But don't you have a dissertation to be working on? Does your advisor know you spend this much time on the psychology of Peeps?
Thank you, but my advisor and I hashed out a new plan for my dissertation that will have me examining possible allusions to Easter candy in nineteenth-century literature. The chapter on Peeps, as now envisioned, will bring the work to a rousing close. Dickens, Twain, and Eliot all had well-known sweet tooths that manifested themselves subconsciously in their works, and I believe a recently discovered unpublished mock-epic by Lord Byron revolves around Lake District bunnies and baby chicks doing battle with lake dragons; the smaller, gentler creatures only win the battle by tracking down the large brown eggs of the dragons, and emptying them of their creme-like filling. My argument will be that Byron was anticipating the future Easter-candy marketplace struggles between Peeps and Cadbury eggs. (Although the dragon's eggs could also be the pretentiously turgid poetry of Wordsworth...)
Johnny Waco
Yeah, I can see how Dickens’ saccharine sentimentality might be a metaphorical expression of an underlying sweet-tooth. Twain, by contrast, sought refuge in humor that was a jejune attempt to avoid sentiment, later falling into bitter misanthropy in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson in a blatant denial of the inspirational role that sweets played in his work. We should also note the varieties of consumption so conspicuous in Dickens’ novels (and so absent in Twain's), from the tubercular death of Little Nell, to the pitiful feast at the Cratchitt’s Christmas table, to the wretched excess of the ancien regime in A Tale of Two Cities – each a marker of preoccupation with consuming sweets that contrasts sharply with Victorian moralists' warnings against them.
By the way, can anyone remember if there are any chickens in Dickens?
Excellent points, all, my learned colleague. Regarding Twain, can we not look at the title of the very work you cited, PUDD'Nhead Wilson? If that is not a perfect support for your thesis, I have no idea what would be.
I will certainly acknowledge you when my academic study of Peeps is completed...
Johnny Waco
The writings of Samuel Pepys might prove to be rich source material. His diary documents such events as the Great Plague of Peeps (1665), the Great Peeps Fire of London (1666) and the subsequent Decarmelization of St. Paul's (1667).
Peeps in Pepys? I think we have the beginning of a conference paper title. But Odysseus, I am a little uneasy about your allusion to the story (long considered apocryphal) that Peeps started the legendary Great Fire – or indeed, were anywhere near it. Peeps are far too easily melted themselves to be capable of arson. I suspect you are on sturdier ground with the Decaramelization, although you will have to prove that Peeps had an interest in religion.
Sweet.
Records from that time remain spotty... or sooty. But I believe that countless Peeps sacrificed themselves for the good of the city until the Great Fire was finally extinguished. It brings a lump to my throat whenever I think of the countless, senseless meltings. Confusion probably arises from the inscription under the small gilded statue of the Golden Peep of Pye Corner attributing the Fire of London to the Sin of Gluttony. As if Peeps were to blame for their sweet and noble nature.
Even after the 16th century reformation led by Saint Theresa of Avila and Saint John of the Hot Cross Bun, the sticky remnants of Caramelized Peeps were driven out of Protestant London by the introduction of cocoa. That theistic struggle continues to this day.
Thank you for the acknowledgement Johnny! I look forward to reading it. I'll be sure and let you know if I hear of any upcoming conferences on Peeps, the semiotics of holiday-themed candy, or sweets and the marketplace.
I believe MLA is devoting an entire panel to the topic this year; unfortunately, it will be heavily theoretical, leaning towards "Queer Theory." Those poor Peeps; they won't even know what hit them...
Johnny Waco
That doesn’t sound so bad. I wonder if MLA would accept a study (or panel) on Peeps in the works of Oscar Wilde, which, like Dorian’s decadent bible, Against the Grain, can be had in a rainbow of colors? Odysseus, I don’t know if you have any background in this area, but you are obviously a Peeps scholar and can write your way around history and literature. Why don’t you contact me if you have any ideas?
Oscar Wilde played a prominent role in the aesthetic movement whose basic tenet was "Peeps for Peeps' sake." Aesthetics believed that a life led should be a thing of beauty, colourful and filled with sweetness. It is this celebration of art without concern for morality that led Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to consider using the motto "peepus gratia peepus" to accompany its famous lion. Peeps can be viewed as the physical incarnation of Wilde's life of decadence and they had a huge influence upon his writing.
Peeps, or more accurately, the lack of them, provide the motivation that drives most of Oscar Wilde's characters. As such, Peeps inform many of the motifs found in Wilde's greater works. In The Importance of Being Earnest the bright, cheery facade of Victorian England is depicted as hiding only so much fluff. Morés and platitudes are pulled apart and quickly become stiff and worthless in the English countryside that provides the setting for the play's later acts.
The Picture of Dorian Gray offers up a central character tormented by the absence of Peeps. Dorian Gray remains forever bright and beauteous, eternally tempting in his transparent packaging. The wide spectrum of colours which made up the library of his life only serve to highlight an amoral life led without Peeps. When Gray attacks his own portrait, literally and figuratively opening himself up, he quickly perishes. He lived his life while beguiling those around him with his beautiful, alluring appearance. Those caught up in his wake were left with self-remonstrations, regret and disastrous results.
Finally, in "The Selfish Giant" (my favourite of Wilde's works) the titular giant is tormented by the lack of Peeps in his garden. Without their presence spring never comes, Easter never arrives and joy is absent from his heart. He is trapped in an endless, colourless winter. In spite of the fact that there is no mention of Peeps it is a short story well worth reading.
Peeps provide the basis for many of the themes found in the work of Oscar Wilde. His use of Peeps is both sophisticated and subtle which may explain why it has heretofore received little attention within the critical literature. It is hoped that this oversight will be corrected soon.
Why read the KJV?
It was recommended to me for the language, and as the best work of literature of the lot.
Fair enough. Just beware that it is by far the least accurate translation.
Of course, you know what they say about translations? They're like mistresses: The beautiful ones are never faithful, and the faithful ones are never beautiful...
Ha! That's great.
How much of the KJV did you end up reading through, or are you still at it though it's been removed from the list?
Oh yes, still reading, having barely scratched the surface. I just didn't want to leave it on the list for the next three years. :-)
Just Season 4 of the simpsons? are you talking about the DVD?
Yup.