Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

"Annihilator" no vidusskolas gadiem man palikuši atmiņā ar savu nosaukumu un albūma tituldziesmu, kura visvairāk izklausas pēc kādas Motorhead kompozīcijas - tas pats pamatīgais temps, tas pats vienkāršais un neambiciozais ritms, tā pati Lemija balss (lai arī šis dziedātājs, protams, nav Lemijs), lai arī tagad, ja tā padomā, tad, iespējams, te ir arī šis tas no "Judas Priest". Taču ir skaidrs, ka Annihilator nav ne vienas, ne otras augstāk pieminētās grupas klons - iedomāties dzelžos tērpto Robu Halfordu dziedot easy listening balādi "Hell is a war" (stulbs nosaukums, ne?) es vismaz nevaru, pat Metallica kaut ko tādu nespēlētu, tas jau drīzāk ir "Extreme" vai "Crowded House" repertuāra skaņdarbs. Nemaz nerunāsim par 45 sekundes īso instrumentālo "Bliss", kas ir tik viegls kā spalviņa. "Second to none" savukārt ir vēl viena Judas Priest stila kompozīcija, kurā Anihilatori sevi apliecina kā veiklu pirkstu īpašniekus, to turpinot arī ne tik ļoti veiksmīgajā "Annihilator" (kas jau sāk vilkt uz "Manowar" pašparodiskumu). Vispār rodas sajūta, ka Annihilator ir divas grupas - viena spēlē dusmīgo "21", bet otra - balādisko "In the Blood". Es zinu, ka arī Black Sabbath spēlēja balādes, bet tās bija metāla balādes, nevis tādas dziesmas, kuras pat "Creed" atzītu par pārāk popsīgām. Nē, Creed varbūt tās tomēr izpildītu, bet Creed tomēr ir mēsls. Vispār Annihilatora balādes ir patiešām nožēlojamas un ja "King of the Kill" būtu mini albūms ar tikai roķīgajiem trekiem, tādiem kā "Speed", tad tas būtu lielisks EP, bet kā albūms ar kādām 5 bezjēdzīgām balādēm tas mani īpaši nepārliecina.

A man with amnesia awakes in a hospital where untraditional methods to help people to remember are being used. He finds out that the hospital is really in his mind and so are the perversions. Although I consider myself a fan of modern literature this piece here is a bit too pornographic to me. To summarise everything in one sentence - Mr. Fowles is trying to show your humble servant that writing a novel is the same as having sex (or something like that). There are some quite interesting dialogues between Miles and Eratho but between all the crap it still doesn`t make a good point. I`d never think that a man who wrote `The Collector` could create something like that. It`s not even disgusting - it`s just plainly bad and pretends to be a porn book at some stages, without being really sarcastic.

At last something great! Amazing! It feels like heaven. The story of the Nose. The man who knew everything about aromas but nothing about anything else and was a one of a kind criminal. I don`t want to tell you the plot, because it would make no sense doing so. Also I would like to mention that it was the first book I read in German in the last few years, but even despite the problems with the language which very disturbing at first, I certainly felt what a great master of words Sueskind is. An absolute must for every fan of modern literature, although there`s nothing crazy about the book that you could discuss among `the cool people`. It just strikes you like a thunderbolt and there`s nothing more to it.

Wouldn`t you know - it took me quite a lot of time to prepare to watch the most succesful part of the "Three Colours" trilogy. What was the reason for that? I enjoyed the first two ones, thus having no reason not to watch the third one. Nevermind the reasons, this film is totally great. It kinda sums up the previous parts tying everything together. Valentine is lonely for her beloved is in another country and he doesn`t treat her the way he should. Her life is changed when she hits a dog while driving a car. The dog turns out able to live and she returns it to its owner - a strange old man who spends his days listening on the radio to other people`s private conversations. Valentine tells him (btw., he`s played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) to stop doing that, for the people are good, and he obeys him. In the film it turns out that Valentine and le Juge (the old man, a former judge) live in parallel worlds - she`s his lover whom he never had from the days of his youth. And there`s Auguste - the judge of the modern age, who is the new le Juge - the man Valentine has to meet. Of course, it`s clear from the beginning that one day she and he should meet, but it`s not shock and unexpected twists we away from this movie. A great movie, without doubt - the highest peak in dialogue, acting and images Kieslowsky ever achieved.

You know what? I had nothing better to do, since I was in no mood for intellectual masterpieces, so I watched another of those "Bridget Jones" films. The first part it was. So, let`s go into details. Bridget Jones is a woman in her early thirties, a bit overweight, a bit too much drinking and smoking, absolutely stupid (ok, not absolutely but pretty far from intellectual for sure), and single. But that`s bound to change. How strange it might seem (knowing that she never had a real boyfriend of her own) there are whole two seekers of her body and soul. One of them is Colin Firth who happens to go around under the name of Mark Darcy. The other one is Hugh Grant, who also has a name for his character. Mark is a lawyer, and a not very interesting person. Hugh, on the other hand, is a very cool guy although he`s a bit sex obsessed. And only one of them can come out the winner. Although Mark stays with Bridget in the end, I guess Hugh shouldn`t be unhappy about - he had his share of love-making and he doesn`t have to stay with a smoking girlfriend. Although he strangely doesn`t feel happy at all. Comparing this film with the sequel, I found the first part a bit better. Why? I`ve absolutely no idea.

It`s one of those boring books in German. By the way, I`ve noticed that most Austrian writers are even worse than classical Germans themselves. With the exception of Kafka surely. God, what makes people like Broch waste paper to write about characters I have very little interest for? So, he writes about a man who`s a mathematician and a physicist. That`s cool. But the way he writes! It just drives me mad! Broch seems to be the German Joyce yet I can`t find anything experimental in his work it`s basically just depressingly uninspiring. The most interesting thing about this book wasn`t its contents for sure. When I was on the tram on my way home from work two days ago I intended to go on with reading "The Unknown Value" but I found it missing from my bag. "I`ve forgotten it on my table at work," was the first reaction. Despite that I checked at home whether the book was there (although I had read it on the way to work the very same day therefore it couldn`t be at home by definition). Yesterday when I came to work first thing I wanted to do was to put the book in the bag so I won`t forget it once again. But I couldn`t find it anywhere. Now that got me worried. I never like losing books from libraries and this seemed to be just the case. Luckily a colleague of mine with whom I also study together claimed to have noticed a book in German on a table in the University a day ago. So we went to our English class and after the class I went to the doorkeeper to ask whether anybody had brought in my lost book. But before I could ask him I already noticed the book on his table. How huge was my relief!

"Fly on the Fall" oficiāli neskaitās viens no labākajiem AC/DC albūmiem un netiek dēvētas par jauno "Back in Black" viena gluži vienkārša iemesla dēļ - šis albūms patiešām nav nemaz tik ievērojams, lai tam dziedātu dižas slavas dziesmas. Visīsākais tā raksturojums būtu - vienkāršs AC/DC, bez nevienas izteikti izcilas kompozīcijas, ok, daži gabali ir tīri interesanti, bet ne vairāk. Diezgan būtiska ieraksta problēma ir problēmas ar Braiena Džonsona balsi, ja tu esi radis viņu dzirdēt tādu kā, piemēram, "Hell`s Bells" izpildot, tad šeit viņš tāds vairs nav, ne tuvu ne. Protams, viņš joprojām nav gluži vājš vokālists, bet viņa balss spēks ir ievērojami samazinājies un līdz ar to lielākais uzsvars šajā albūmā tiek likts uz brāļu Jangu ģitāru saspēli. Reizēm tā ir izdodas patiešām laba, kā dziesmā "Playing with girls", reizēm - ne tik ļoti. Noteikti pie albūma mīnusiem ir pieskaitāms salīdzinoši mērenais ieraksta temps, te nekas nenotiek fenomenāli ātri un pa brīžam šķiet, ka bez šī albūma es tīri labi varētu arī iztikt. Piemēram, "Hell of high water" ir tik tukša kompozīcija, ka tai veltīt vairāk nekā pāris vārdus jau ir nepamatota greznība. "Fly on the wall" ir labs ievads, rifs gan ir apmēram tāds pats kā iekš "Highway to hell", bet problēma ir tāda, ka tālāk dziesma ne par ko lielāku neattīstās un rodas sajūta, ka Džonsons ir bišķi par traku aizsmacis. Spēcīgāks gabals ir "Shake your foundations", kurā tu jūti lielāku līdzdalību brāļu Jangu pasaulē, taču atkal jau Džonsons to visu nedaudz sabojā. Vispār gribētos izteikt patiesas skumjas par to, kā viens tips varēja dažu gadu laikā tik ļoti "novājēt" - ja astoņdesmito sākumā ar viņu nevarēja sacensties neviens līdzīgu grupu dziedātājs, tad astoņdesmito gadu vidū ne viens vien viņu varēja pārspēt. Protams, rock`n`roll lifestyle tur varētu būt pie vainas. Bet man ir gluži vienalga, kāpēc Džonsona balss nerullē, ja tā nerullē.

Atzīšos, ka šobrīd nepacietīgi gaidu, kad būs garām divas lietas manā dzīvē - maģistra darba rakstīšana un 9. mp3 disks. Kamēr ar maģistra darbu viss ir skaidrs - līdz šīs nedēļas piektdienai tas ir jāpabeidz un ne vēlāk kā pirmdien jānodod, ar šo disku situācija ir mazliet bēdīgākā. Rindā aiz "Candlemass" gaida vēl tādi simpātiski izpildītāji kā "Empyrium", "Macbeth" un "Michael Schenker Group", arī otrais "Foo Fighters" albūms īpaši nesteidzas pats sevi noklausīties. Īsi sakot, es gaidu, kad beidzot būs pāri mana metāla ierakstu ēra (kurai teorētiski ar šo disku būtu arī jābeidzas).

Modern life is rubbish. That`s a quote by Blur I guess. But modern literature is rubbish as well. Especially if we`re talking modern German literature. Ok, maybe not all of it stinks but books like this one do for sure. It`s the story how a woman goes through several relationships one less interesting than the other. Eden Plaza is the place where she meets one of her men. This is a perfect example of an empty book, the bad thing about it is not that it`s not interesting but the fact that there`s absolutely nothing in it. It doesn`t stand out for anything. It`s just one more book. Some more cut trees is all that it can produce. I may be a little harsh on Mrs. Leupold but the only reason why one could read such a thing is trying to maintain his knowledge of German. Since it`s just what I`m doing it I can`t complain. Yet there are undoubtely zillions of better books than this one. Even the books that are worse are probably better than it - for some of them are at least interesting to read. If "Eden Plaza" would be found on a shelf I`d call it filler. If I read it all by itself it`s still filler without any stuff to be filler for.

"Generation P" manā uztverē neapšaubāmi ir viens no izcilākajiem Peļevina darbiem, un, tā kā es šo krievu rakstnieku vērtēju patiešām augstu, tad tas ir nopietns atzinums. Protams, kad es to lasīju iepriekšējo reizi, daudz kas no tur aprakstītā man nebija īsti skaidrs - tomēr es biju vēl pavisam zaļš vidusskolnieks ar diezgan šauru zināšanu loku. Tāpēc arī saņēmos šo grāmatu pārlasīt (vispār, kā var novērot, pēdējā laikā nodarbojos nevis ar jaunu grāmatu lasīšanu, bet veco pārlasīšanu, tāda nostādne izveidojusies).