Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Pēdējā laikā daudz esmu lasījis šī autora darbus, bet gribētos sasniegt kādu pabeigtības sajūtu - un šādā nolūkā plānoju izlasīt pilnīgi visus viņa romānus. Tiesa, ar tik produktīvu autoru, kāds bija Grīns, tas nemaz nebūs tik viegli. No vienas puses, pareizāk laikam būtu definēt, ka gribu izlasīt visas viņa uzrakstītās grāmatas, bet tur ietilpst arī dzeja, grāmatas bērniem, lugas, kino scenāriji, tā ka labāk neaizraušos. Līdz ar to lasīšu tikai:

I gotta say that I had already seen this film before, there`s nothing to deny. But since it was some time ago, and I didn`t have a factoid back then, let`s pretend I never saw this film before. Two ordinary Soviet guys (of the mid 1980s) accidentally land on a distant planet in the galaxy of Kin-dza-dza. The planet is quite weird. It`s run by a race called "Chetlanye" while the other people are considered as "Pacaki" on the basis of some stupid light thingy that doesn`t really say nothing. To get home they need to use a "gravicapa" but to run that thing they need matches. Being not careful enough they lose their matches and have to find an alternate method to get home. I`m not really quite sure whether I can write the story here because it`s too obscure on paper. But on screen it looks just fine. Of course, the alien planet looks very much like the earth, of course it`s basically social satyre, but I don`t really care for that for what it is - is a really fun comedy, a good entertainment, and it`s what I ask from a film like this. The jokes are usually funny, most of them seem original, and the acting is also good. T`is a heck of a comedy!

The Bonzo Dog Band made its name having one of its singles produced by Paul McCartney. Later on one of its most important members - Neil Innes joined up with Eric Idle from "Monty Python" and they did the Beatles mockumentary "The Rutles". On this record you can see one great example of combining music and comedy (much more than on the Rutles album which was more about the music and less about the comedy). The opening track "Hunting tigers out in Africa" is my favourite, yet the hit single "I`m the urban spaceman" ain`t no worse as a matter of fact - with it`s uplifting melody the spaceman song sounds like an outtake from a Beatles recording session. The best way to describe this is to imagine that this band consisted of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Idle and, say, Michael Palin. The missing link between the Beatles and "Monty Python`s flying Circus" has at last been found, and it does a groovy song about "Ali Baba" that sounds just as if it came from a Soviet comedy, weird as it is. High art it ain`t, pretentious it ain`t, it`s just your fun record.

Dīvaini, es sevi jau ilgstoši uzskatu par tādu pasīvu Elisa Kūpera fanu, bet īpaši nekad neesmu klausījies gandrīz nevienu viņa albūmu (izņemot pavisam agrīno "Pretties for You", populāros "Billion Dollar Babies" un "Welcome to My Nightmare", kā arī pēdējos dažus ierakstus, labi, tas nemaz nav tik maz, bet zinot, ka viņam to albūmu ir savi 25 vismaz, tas nav arī daudz). "Love it to Death" ir pirmais "ļaunā" Elisa albūms, taču tas ir pirms viņa aizraušanās ar balagāniem un vodeviļu, bet gan drīzāk smagā (nosacīti) roka ieraksts. Protams, pati pazīstamākā šī diska dziesma ir epohālais "I`m Eighteen", kas gan, protams, ir melots, nebija viņam tolaik nekādi 18, bet arī man, kad bija 18, šī bija viena no mīļākajām dziesmām un tagad, lai arī man vairs 18 nav, šīs dziesmas "iekačājiens" man nav kļuvis mazāk tuvs. Tomēr tolaik Kūpers bija spējīgs vienā albūmā iedabūt vairāk nekā 1-2 atmiņā paliekošas dziesmas, līdz ar to "Love it to Death" kopumā ir diezgan vienmērīgas kvalitātes albūms, kurš turklāt ir arī pietiekami muzikāli komplicēts, piemēram, tāds gabals kā 9 minūtes ilgais "Black JuJu" arī Deep Purple ierakstā iederētos neslikti, varbūt tikai ne ar šādu nosaukumu. Tikām popsīgais "Hallowed Be My Name" ar progrezējošo skaņu pirms refraina ir vispār dievīgs, cik nu šādu vārdu var attiecināt uz Elisu Kūperu, tusmas princi. Un vēl dievīgāks ir tam sekojošais "Second Coming" - skaists un smags klavieru pops par Jēzus second coming. "It would be nice to walk upon the water, talk again to angels by my side", protams, klavieres ātri pazūd un dziesma kļūst stipri skarbāka. Arī "Ballad of Dwight Fry" ir viena klasīga kompozīcija un tāpat noslēdzošais "Sun Arise". Kopumā: ļoti kvalitatīvs un mazliet tumšs ieraksts. Patiesībā gan jāatzīstas, ka vismaz kaut kādu daļu no tā es esmu iepriekš klausījies, vismaz "Second Coming" manā atmiņā ir palicis.

Atom Heart Mother ir tas pats albūms ar govi, nu tas Pink Floyd ieraksts, kuram uz vāka ir govs. Patiesībā tas ir galvenais, ko par šo ierakstu var teikt. Satura ziņā tas ir viens visai kreizī ieraksts, kaut kas līdzīgs Echoes, tikai vaina tāda, ka tajā ir tikai viena baudāma kompozīcija, kura gan ir vairāk nekā 23 minūtes gara un aizņēma platē veselu pusi - tā ir pati tituldziesma, kura gan ir lielā mērā ar orķestri realizēta un ne pašu Pink Floidu izpildīta. Tiesa, viņi paši izpilda patīkami skaisto "If" un es nežēlotos arī par "Summer `68", par ko man arī nekādu iebildumu nav. Un īstenībā arī "Fat old sun" ir gana skaista, nē, vienīgā nekam nederīgā kompozīcija ir "Alans Psychedelic Breakfast", kurā nekas nenotiek un kas ilgst 9 minūtes, tas ir diezgan padaudz šādam totālam atonālam sviestam. Un vispār - šajā ierakstā diezgan maz ir lipīgu atmiņā paliekošo melodiju, lipīgs jau nu šis ieraksts token nav, bet citādi tam nav ne vainas, vismaz par "A momentary lapse of reason" stabili labāks.

You may know the name of Carlos Santana, the leader of this band. He`s the fellow you must have seen on MTV on the videos for famous songs "Maria" and "Smooth". But surely this Santana ain`t the Santana of late nineties. Yet this isn`t exactly the early Santana that performed at Woodstock, this still is a real latino sound but the power of the Woodstock days has long gone. Yes, Carlos for sure knows how to play his guitar and some of the melodies on this album are quite interesting but not that interesting as you`d want. Singing doesn`t really appear much on this album, that`s not that bad probably but man are those latinos sleep inducing. Ok, I may be in a sleepy mood today but even if I weren`t I doubt that I`d call this record something for uber-activity.

Šis ir ieraksts no Elisa trakās dzeršanas ēras, kad viņš domāja tikai par vienu - par to, kā labāk pieliet mūli, lai nākamajā dienā, neatcerētos, ko viņš vakar ierakstījis. Droši vien tieši alkohola ietekmē viņš piemirsa par savu aizraušanos ar skaļiem šoviem un šausmu filmu elementiem, bet pievērsās kaut kādai New Wave un Talking Heads meets Avantegarde un Frank Zappa. Šis ieraksts muzikāli nav smags, bet tas nav arī gluži vodeveļisks vai brodvejisks, kā to no Kūpera bieži var sagaidīt. Ievadošais "Zorro`s Accent" ar pirmajām rindiņām "Zorro lies dying

(valoda: angļu/krievu, atkarībā no sērijas). Pagāja diezgan daudz laika, kamēr mēs noskatījāmies kārtējas 22 sērijas, tā vēl izskatās, ka nepaspēsim tikt galā ar šo seriālu līdz manai braukšanai uz Ženēvu (tiesa, nav zināms, kad tā īsti notiks). Salīdzinoši ar pirmo sezonu paliek mazāk skaidrs, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Nezinu atkal neko par salīdzinājumu ar Alias, ko neesmu skatījies. Joprojām neapgalvoju, ka šī seriāla dēļ vai traks palieku, skatīties principā ir ok, bet mans galvenais mērķis tomēr it noskatīties līdz galam iespējami ātrāk, lai varētu ķerties pie citām lietām, piemēram, pie "Verdzenes Izauras". Nē, Izauru mēs neskatīsimies, tas tikai tāds sarkastisks joks. Nezinu īsti, kā lai komentē veselu seriāla sezonu, kas turklāt nav pirmā, turklāt esmu pilnīgi aizmirsis, ko rakstīju par pirmo sezonu. Datorefekti ir uzlabojušies salīdzinoši ar iepriekšējo gadu, tas tiesa, personāži kļuvuši skaidrāki, brīžam parādās arī ļoti interesanti epizodiskie varoņi, vienīgi to likteni paredzēt parasti var ļoti vienkārši. Vispār jāsaka, kā šajā seriālā pietrūkst, tas ir pārsteiguma un negaidītuma efekts, ja salīdzina ar to pašu "Lost" (tiesa, atkal te domāju vairāk Lost pirmo un zināmā mērā arī otro sezonu, nevis to diezgan prognozējamo notikumu virkni, kas mums tiek pasniegta trešajā sezonā).

Aki Kaurasemaki is the most respected Finnish film director. Does that say a much? What do you know about Finland? Have you heard the song "Finland, Finland, Finland - the country where I want to be"? Probably you have, and that`s a good thing. But apart from being Finnish Mr. Kaurasemaki is one hell of a director. In this cinematic masterpiece (I dare to say that!) he shows us the story of M - a middleaged guy who has just come to Helsinki when some crazy young assholes hit him in the head and steal everything he ownes. When he returns from his wounds to the real world M has lost the entire memory of himself. Everything else seems to be in order with him. He gets picked up by some poor people who try to help him get back on his feet, which he does. He gets a job at the Salvation Army and even falls in love with a woman working there. There`s quite an interesting part of the movie when M is in the bank and its robbed by a man who wants to get his money back from it to be able to repay his workers, for which he later hires M. And there`s also a man who has a vicious dog named Hannibal, but it turns out that the dog isn`t a slightest bit vicious, and it`s a female dog bearing the most masculine name. The film is positive, despite it showing the lowest parts of Helsinki. At least I enjoyed it a lot, and so would you, if you knew the finnish language or at least like I didn`t mind watching the film with subtitles.

It took me some time to watch this concert, although it`s really good. I don`t really know what stopped me from finishing watching this when I started it. Let`s start with a statement: by 1972 Deep Purple had recorded most of their classic material and after that have never managed to outplay themselves again. When we have this statement it`s clear how a concert from that time can be totally great. The song selection is superb - and I guess it`s a good thing that there`s no "Smoke on the Water" in sight. But what we do get kinda kicks the roof off: "Highway Star", "Strange Kind of Woman", "Fireball", "Child in Time" and "Black Night", "Space Truckin`". Plus there`s three more songs which I don`t find that good but they are no bad either. Ian Gillan`s vocal power is amazing, so is Blackmore`s guitar playing. Of course, the songs tend to be very long, with a lot of jamming going on, but that`s a good thing. And who cares that this video got no colors? The Beatles rarely were in color but did that make them worse that say "Nirvana"? I don`t think so. And this concert is surely not a great masterpiece in terms of camera work, but it`s a great masterpiece in terms of music. And what more can you ask for?