Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Nē, nupat man metāls ir jau patiešām pilnīgi piegriezies. Un ko citu var gaidīt, ja tu diendienā to vien dari, kā to klausies? "Macbeth" ir kārtējā gotiskā metāla grupa, kas, kā jau ierasts, pārstāv rokmūzikas ziņā apšaubāmu zemi - Itāliju.

Having already said it once, I shall repeat myself: Roald Dahl is one hell of a creator of horrific and very masterful stories. There`s 11 stories in here. And not one of them is a stinker or a filler. So I guess I`ll spend a whole sentence for every single one of them. "The Landlady" is a sad yet funny story about a woman that specialises in taxydermy of her loved ones. "William and Mary" is a tribute to "Professor Dovel`s Head" - a soviet sci-fi - where a woman finds out that her husbands brain is artificially kept alive after his death and she at last has a chance to repay to him everything she didn`t like about him. "The Way up to Heaven" is about a woman who was always afraid of getting anywhere too late and how her husband took advantage from that, but in the end it was him who died in the elevator. "Parson`s Pleasure" is a funny story about a guy who buys antiques for peanuts and sells them for zillions - he accidentally finds a buffet done by Thomas Chipendale but he`s too miserly and he fails badly. "Mrs Bixby and the Colonels Coat" - I read this at school some years ago - is about a woman that gets a precious coat as a gift from her lover and comes up with a plan to keep the coat without receiving questions from her husband about the coat (you can guess that she also fails). "Royal Jelly" is somewhat of a horror tale where a man feeds to his newborn daughter bee jelly thus turning her and himself into bees. "Genesis and Catastrophe" is a weird tale about how Adolf Hitler was born. "Edward the Conqueror" tells us how composer Liszt was reincarnated as a cat and how he died. "Pig" is a very tragical story about a man who becomes meat. And finally there`s "The Champion of the world" - an optimistic (slightly) tale about steeling pheanants. Overall: this will make you laugh, this will make you shiver, and you won`t feel no sympathy for the poor unlucky people. Dahl is for your joy not for making you feel miserable.

I had read this collection of stories before. But if can write about films that I don`t watch for the first time why couldn`t it be the same with books? Only I`d probably prefer re-reading stuff that strikes me as brilliant. Chapek`s stories don`t really achieve that. I considered him to be a very funny writer indeed when I was much younger (oh, it`s the old me talking right now) but nowadays I don`t find him particulary amusing. Basically he`s just a second-rate Jerome K. Jerome - not too daring and not too funny. His humour does work well on some occasions but on others his jokes fall completely flat. His writing style doesn`t impress me either. The rating is mostly given for the memories of reading it for the first time and not for the actual impression I have now.

Nu, beidzot, līdz ar "Empyrium" beidzas mana trakā iepazīšanās ar doom/goth/death metāla žanriem (vismaz uz kādu laiku)... un labi, ka tā. Protams, Empyrium nav sliktākā grupa, kādu man jebkad ir nācies dzirdēt, bet īpašas simpātijas pret viņu spēlēto daļēji simfonisko doom metālu manī nav radušās. Un vispār man darbā ir šausmīgi smagas austiņas, kas nospiež galvu, vajadzēs nākamnedēļ pāriet atkal pie vieglākā austiņu modeļa, kas tik lielas ciešanas nesagādā. Nekā, ko par šo albūmu teikt, man gan nav :)

Šogad, atšķirībā no iepriekšējām reizēm, Eirovīziju skatījos gandrīz kā profesionālis - kā nekā vairākus mēnešus diezgan intensīvi nodarbojos ar šī pasākuma rezultātu pētīšanu un analizēšanu maģistra darba izstrādes ietvaros. Līdz ar to arī manas izjūtas pirms kārtējā konkursa bija dalītas - no vienas puses gribējās, lai kaimiņu balsojumi šogad izšķirtu konkursa iznākumu un man būtu aizstāvēšanā spēcīgi argumenti. No otras puses cerēju, ka pārmaiņas pēc rezultāti nebūs prognozējami bez mazākās piepūles un ka šis pasākums spēs kaut cik izrauties no farsa apkampieniem.

I was through with something like a quarter of this book when I suddenly realised that I knew what was going to happen next. And it wasn`t because the story was so predictable. It was just that I knew of the story. It goes like this - a doctor is called to a hospital but ends up with a prostitute mainly because he has some trouble with his wife (both of them admit to have had way too much interest in other people). Then he meets a friend of his whom he hasn`t seen in quite a while who happens to be playing the piano in some secret events where he needs to wear an eyepatch. So Friedolin (that`s the hero) asks the friend to let him go to the place of the secret meetings. I was on a tram where I was reading the book when it occured to me that this was a trivial story and that I had seen this on film. Then I came to the conclusion that Tom Cruise was involved in the film as Friedolin (only with a different name ). "Eyes wide shut" is the title "Traumnovelle" is nowadays known for. The book itself doesn`t tale place in America as you`d probably guess but in the Vienna on the edge of 19-20th centuries. The story itself is quite similar to what Stanley Kubrick made in the film. Even the parts with the sexual orgies are there. I won`t say this is the greatest story I`ve ever read but it was quite interesting for sure.

Nu es vairs kaut ko nesaprotu. Kā tas gadījās, ka līdz pat nesenai pagātnei es uzskatīju Cinderella par vienas kategorijas grupu ar riktīgajiem metālistiem, kas mitinās manas kolekcijas pirmajos diskos? Patiešām nesaprotu.

Vakars vakar pie NxN izvērtās ļoti jauks un to nebūtu bijis prātīgi sabojāt, skatoties kādu smagnēju "gruzilu", līdz ar to izvēlējāmies labi zināmu vārdu - Robinu Viljamsu, kas vislabāk zināms kā muļķīgu un ne pārāk kvalitatīvu komēdiju varonis (protams, ir arī izņēmumi viņa biogrāfijā - piem., "Dead Poets Society"). Filma gan neizrādījās gluži komēdija, bet sagruzīties no tās skatīšanās vismaz es arī nevarēju.

Do I need to remind you who John Cleese is once again? I don`t think so. But what can I tell you is that is a truly unique film - it features three members of the Monty Python`s Flying Circus before they joined up to create the probably greatest comedy show ever. John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Michael Palin all can be seen in this film which shows us the possibilities, how a person can irritate other people. Some of these sketches don`t work particulary well, while others are truly classic. For example, the sketch about airplane pilots that keep telling through loudspeakers to the travellers that everything is ok with the plane, and that there`s no reason to panic (they do it just to have fun). So is the sketch that eventually ended up in the Circus series about the job interview and the ways to make fun of the poor guy trying to get a job. But, for example, old women with bad hearing aren`t extremely funny, if may dare to say that. It`s clear that all these guys were only on their way to becoming what we love them for, but some potential they had already then.

I`m a nasty pervert, my dears ones, and I`m not ashamed. Why should I be? Who are you to judge me? I watched this film about prostitution in 1920s and I`m not ashamed at all. And this film even features nudity from a 13-year-old Bruke Shields. And I don`t give a damn about this. What`s the story about? Violet is growing up in a whorehouse and her time to start making money arrives just now. Her mother wants to leave the damned place, but Violet has nothing against it - it`s a living after all. She`s a bit perverted for sure - but what else can you expect if you grow up in a place like this? There`s another important character in the film - it`s Bellocq - a photographer, who`s by the way a historical person - who made a lot of pictures of prostitutes of Storyville (that`s in in New Orleans). He develops some weird passion for Violet, but she`s not ready for him, of course, and not the physical part is the problem - she`s perfectly capable of that but her imagination of what life is about is a bit... so to say... uncharacteristic for a person like me. What`s wrong with this film? It doesn`t actually tell you that prostitution is bad, that child prostitution is bad (I may think that it is but it doesn`t matter) - and that`s ok with me, for the last thing I need is somebody moralising like he was J.C. in a McDonald`s cap.