Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

The Beatles play at the "Shea" stadium in the States. Overall their performance seems to have been quite a good one - and they don`t do only the popular numbers anymore, the recording quality certainly could have been much better, but it isn`t so there`s nothing that can be done about it. John goes a bit wild on there - stars playing the piano with his elbows and acting like he was crazy. Then the Beatles meet Elvis (although there`s no footage of that visit). But there`s one thing I didn`t know - that Elvis was actually supporting the idea of banning the Beatles in the States, so they wouldn`t spoil the american youth - and there even was an ugly photo of Elvis shaking Richard Nixon`s hand. "Norvegian Wood" introduces the sitar to popular music - that song isn`t performed live, but it`s still that big of a classic that I simply must mention it. The Beatles stop doing TV performances and start recording promo videos of their singles - as a matter of fact in this way they started the concept of music videos - cool. We reach "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" - thus coming very close to the best (imho) period of their carreer. They go to Japan and it turns out that they don`t sound too good - because the audience isn`t that loud therefore their mistakes can be heard.

Most likely you won`t agree if somebody`ll tell you that "The Bloodhound Gang" is a genuinely intellectual band. And neither will I, although I must admit that they must be less stupid than their music premises it to be. They rock not to suck but to make you laugh. Frank Zappa already gave you the answer to the question whether humor belongs in music. But it`s not only good news. Musically the new round piece of plactic the bloodhounds have put out is purely bad. For instance, the opening "Balls out" is an endless repetition of the same note. It may be hard rockin` but it ain`t too good. The first single "F.U.C.K." contains more than ten different innuendo ways of saying "sex" and it somehow reminds the best cuts from their previous albums and is the only real highlight on the record. But overall it`s too much ear-bashing synthesizer sounds that don`t really work too well. "Ralph Wiggum" (the son of Springfield`s police chef Wiggum) is an okayish song but a bit boring. Without a doubt the most disturbing song on the record is the dance music piece "Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss". If the melodies weren`t that lousy and unlistenable I`d probably call this a so-so record. But I won`t do it. Instead I`ll say it`s plain bad.

Esmu gatavs tikt nodēvēts par stagnējošu bezhumora perdeli, bet šajā filmā nebija nekā īpaša. Vismaz ne vairāk īpaša kā bija filmā "Jumanji".

Reti kuram mūsdienu literatūras darbam ir tik liela vēsturiskā nozīme kā Džeimsa Džoisa "Ulisam": tas kļuva par tik daudzu literatūras elementu pionieri, ka visu uzskaitīt laikam gan nav pat iespējams (it īpaši man, kas neesmu īpašs šīs tēmas eksperts). Grūti iedomāties literāru darbu, par kuru būtu uzrakstīts tik daudz pētījumu (vienīgās divas grāmatas, kas to šajā jomā noteikti pārspēj, ir Bībele un Šekspīra "Hamlets"). Grūti iedomāties grāmatu, kura ir tik prasīga pret lasītāju un kurā ir tik daudz elementu, kurus ierindas lasītājs nespēj uztvert (Umberto Eko, kā teikt, "can`t hold a candle" Džoisam). Ne velti standartā grāmatai līdzi nāk tāda apjoma komentāri, kas reizēm pārsniedz paša teksta apjomu (ievērojot to, ka arī romāns pats par sevi ir milzīgs). Un vienlaicīgi - grūti iedomāties grāmatu, kuras loma kā vēsturiskam darbam tik radikāli pārspēj tās pašas vērtību.

Welcome to the magnificient world of Francois Ozon! The director of "Swimming Pool" and "Water Drops on Burning Rocks" has created another controversial movie. The film starts with the divorce trial of Marion and Gilles. After the trial the former couple goes to a hotel room in order to perform the good-bye sex, but it ends up as Gilles raping Marion (I`m not gonna discuss whether I find it a perfect occasion for what they do). After that the film starts going backwards showing us the most critical moments of Giles` and Marion`s relationship. We see how they argue over Giles` homosexual brother, we see how Giles falls asleep on their wedding night and how Marion meets some English speaking guy in the park and does as if he was her new husband and not Giles. Then we switch over to some place near the sea where Giles and Marion become a couple. Apparantely there`s got to be 5 major scenes in the film, but I somehow remember only 4 of those but it doesn`t really matter. In comparison with other Ozon`s movies this one doesn`t offer anything particulary new. It`s more in the direction of "Water Drops" but not quite as daring (since no Fassbinder had written the script for it). It`s a bit disturbing to the eye - especially the rape scene, but that`s a thing you`d expect from Ozon.

Turpinu ceļojumu "mana tēva mūzikā". Kraftwerk manā dzīvē ienāca ar ierakstu "Radioaktivitat" (vācu versijā), bet "Autobahn" tur parādījās tikai līdz ar konkrētā diska parādīšanos manā krājumā.

Ja nu kaut ko es nevaru saprast, tas ir kāpēc man kādreiz Jethro Tull likās "mīksti" un smieklīgi. Šo ierakstu "iegādājos", domājot, ka šī grupa pieder kategorijai "hard rock" un to izdzirdis, padomāju, ka tā ir mazām meitenēm domāta flautu mūzika. Tikai ar laiku sapratu, ka "Aqualung" mūzika nebūt nav viegla un ka tikai es nebiju spējīgs to atbilstoši uztvert 16 gadu vecumā. Varbūt tur pie vainas ir flautas un akustiskās ģitāras izmantošana, jo tolaik man bija asociācija, ka smaga mūzika ir tāda, kas balstās uz dzelzs bungām un mežonīgām elektriskām ģitārām (par smagu mūziku uzskatot, piemēram, "Manowar", kas gan tā nopietni ņemot, ir daudz popsīgāki par šo Jethro Tull albūmu).

Edward Norton is an ex-skinhead leader that wants to stop his brother from following his footsteps. The film is quite strong although I have to admit that all the black characters lack depth. Though I don`t mean to tell that the movie has a racist message, of course it doesn`t. The basketball scene is lame, but nevermind that. At one stage it seemed to me that the film might have a compelety idiotic happy ending, but it didn`t, and that`s really good (not that the actual ending was that great but at least it didn`t smell likek saccharine).

"He`s gump, he`s gump, he`s kinda square" that`s what Weird Al Yankovic had to say about the main character in this movie. You certainly know that Tom Hanks won the second Oscar in a row for his performance in this film. And deservedly so! Forrest Gump was a new kind of American hero, being far from smart he was a very warm, heartfelt person, that participated in the most important events of modern history. Elvis Presley got his hip shaking style from Forrests leg fixators. He started the unveiling of the Watergate incident by a phone call. From Vietnam he came out as a hero. He even invented the smiley. And to do that he didn`t need anything more that a very kind heart and no understaning of the world. He fell in love with a girl from a no good family, he loved her all his life, although she thought that Forrest didn`t know what love is. Anyway, you know all this already. What I must say - seing this film now I knew much more about the events shown in the film and therefore it was much funnier for me than it once was. And much sadder as well.

The sweet milk in the lives of the Beatles starts turning sour. They get booed from the Phillipines because of not going to a party of the local dictator. Thus the Beatles managed accidentally (for they didn`t go there just because they were lazy) to avoid losing their face by playing for the dictator. The Beatles decide to stop touring for nobody listens to their concerts but only screams by looking at them. The Beatles record "Sergeant Pepper" - a real milestone in modern music which showed that rock`n`roll can be much more than just music for dancing. "Penny Lane" and especially "A Day in the Life". The latter is probably the greatest song the Beatles ever did, and boy did they do many great songs. This song was also the very first one to feature the line "I`d love to turn you on." What was also cool was Paul admitting to reporters of using drugs. But it was cool - they way he did - saying that it was the reporters and not him who talked about him using drugs thus telling the youth that their idols were on drugs and supporting them taking drugs themselves.