Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Tāpat kā Nazareth, arī Manfrēds Manns manos agrīnajos diskos parādās relatīvi bieži, kamēr vēlāk par tāda eksistenci pavisam aizmirsīšu. Kāpēc tā?

This documentary provides a lot of insight on to the material behind the "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. It features interviews with some of the writers who inspired Brown for his bestselling thriller and it makes much more clear that there ain`t too much substance in Brown`s theories. Basically the main ingredient of everything seems to have been "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" - a bestseller from 1980s, one of the books that also inspired Eco for "Foucault`s Pendulum" - only he didn`t take "HBHG" too serious. Then there were some books on templars and some other books about Mary Magdalene. The film itself is done quite conventionally, without any narration, just some 5-6 people talking. Among the talkers you should see Dan Brown himself yet since my version of film unexpectedly ended after something like 95 minutes (instead of 135) I didn`t get to that part. Of all the talkers only the author of "Holy Blood Holy Grail" seemed to be an interesting person to me - he didn`t appear to be one of the crazy maniacs willing to change the world. Quote from him: "Any document proves only that it has been written and nothing more. Everything else is speculation." (ok, that`s not a direct quote, he used some other word and not speculation but I don`t remember it). What I found particulary amusing the way those posessed people mess with material using only fragments which they like. For instance, a lady mentioned a non-canonic early Christian writing called "The Gospel of Thomas" which supposedly was much more in Mary Magdalene`s favour than the canonic ones. She quoted a sentence from this gospel: "Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females don`t deserve life."" By this she meant to show how jealous Peter was of Mary and Jesus` attitude towards her. From this fragment the reader/viewer might conclude that in reality there were HUGE reasons for Peter not to like Mary. Yet I wasn`t too lazy and found the whole text on the Internet. And what do you think was Jesus` reply to the accusation? "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven." That sounds particulary feministic to me, doesn`t it? Usually that`s quite similar to what one would say about his beloved wife whom one wants to give his reign over? Still I`m not going to rate this thing upon whether I believe it or not. It`s quite a decent documentary, perhaps not too deep but quite interesting.

Grupas Green Day trešais lielās ierakstu kompānijas paspārnē izdotais albūms lielākoties netiek dēvēts par grupas karjeras virsotni, lai arī viens būtisks pluss tam noteikti ir - tajā Green Day pirmo reizi sāk eksperimentēt un spēlēt kaut ko mazliet savādāku nekā savas tradicionālās un praktiski identiskās trīs akordu dziesmas.

"Big Nothing" nav no tām filmām, par kurām runā visur un visi - programmētāji-Unreal tournament cienītāji tavā darbavietā, sievietes ar pundursuņiem spa salonā, Tautas partijas deputāti Saeimā, Kristaps Kaupe kārtējā NSS sanāksmē par tēmu "ebrejpediņi ir kaitīgi mūsu sabiedrībai, likvidēsim tos", pat tantiņas tramvajā nekad viena otrai nejautā: "Vai tu redzēji to melno komēdiju ar Saimonu Pegu un Deividu Švimmeru?"

Do you like films about cops? If you like them you`ll probably decide that you can watch this film. Starsky & Hutch originally was a 70`s TV series about two stupid but totally good looking cops. And now we have a full time feature film about these two characters. Starsky is played by Ben Stiller while Owen Wilson is Hutch. These two guys already worked together in "Zoolander" and in "Meet the Parents". And here we go again. The film actually pretty much reminds of the "Zoolander" but this time it isn`t very good. What about the plot? Some drug dealer has found a way to make cocain impossible to find by dogs, and he wants to sell a huge amount of this cocain to resellers. And here do the heroes step in. And they do it with style - killing a pony, showing their pretty body to a pervert sitting in the jail, participating in disco dancing competitions - you got it. What I don`t like is the fact that disco music sucks, that the film is stupid, uninspired, boring and not funny. Apart from that - there`s nothing that can save this film from being an atrociuos piece of garbage.

Andrew Largeman returns to the place of his birth for the his mother`s funeral. In the small town everybody thinks that he`s a Hollywood actor, but in fact he`s just a waiter at some Vietnamese restaurant. When visiting a doctor he encounters Sam (Natalie Portman) - a weird and quite funny girl. A romance starts between them that`s bound to change Andrew`s life which has been a bit of problematic ever since he injured his mother when still being little. In some ways the film is similar to "Eternal Sunshine" with the difference that this one doesn`t have erasing memories and cool morphing. It`s somewhat romantic, and it`s somewhat funny, but I still wouldn`t call that a romantic comedy, because it`s more than that. Music in the film is awesome. So are some of the dialogues, and the characters as well. Was there something I didn`t like? Probably on that Ian Holm (Biblo Baggins) didn`t have furry feet and never mentioned the Ring. But that`s not really a complaint.

If there`s one thing which I don`t understand conserning Steven Spielberg then it is why he is considered to be a great director. If you hear the name "Steven Spielberg" in connection with any film project you automatically start drooling expecting something miraculous. Well I have to admit I don`t! Ok, he may not be a bad director but most of his stuff is typical Hollywood blockbusters not intending to be something like high art. "The Schindler`s List"? I haven`t seen it and don`t intend to, I know enough about the Holocaust already. "Sawing private Ryan"? Had it been "Sewing private Ryan" I`d probably be interested. But war movies bore me. Indiana Jones? Yeah, sure this is the most elaborate kind of filmmaking ever, Orson Welles and Ingmar Bergman can`t offer anything to match the glory of Indy.

Šī bija tā pati filma, kuru iesākām skatīties pagājušo sestdien pie Bū, bet kuru no manis neatkarīgu iemeslu dēļ man nācās "piebeigt" vienatnē.

Ar šo albūmu Green Day nu jau pilnīgi atvadījās no sava vecā panku imidža un kļuva par tipiski/netipisku poproka grupu. Salīdzinoši ar "Dookie", kas man pirmajā klausīšanās reizē pie sirds īpaši negāja (jo tolaik par pankiem biju apmēram tādās pat domās kā šobrīd par nacionālboļševikiem), tad par "Warning" neko tamldzīgu teikt nevarētu (lai gan, protams, šo albūmu arī izdzirdēju manāmi vēlāk). Jau pirmā albūma dziesma - "Warning" ir pavisam draudzīga akustiska popdziesma, kurai bija diezgan smieklīgs videoklips. Tomēr arī panciskajās dziesmās Green Day ir sākuši jau izklausīties mazliet pieaugušāki un daudzveidīgāki kā iepriekš, piemēram, "Blood, Sex and Booze" neizklausās pēc trīsdesmit iepriekšējām šīs grupas dziesmām, jo atklājas, ka patiesībā Green Day nav nekādi raupjie puiši, bet ka viņiem ir tīri labas spējas atrast vienkāršas un tomēr klausāmas melodijas. Turklāt arī dziesmu tematika sākusi kļūt interesantāka, manuprāt, ļoti jauka dziesma ir "Church on Sunday", kuru es varu iztēloties kā saundtreku vasaras dienai un kurā Bilijs Džo solās meitenei ar viņu kopā iet svētdien uz baznīcu, ja viņa ar viņu vakarā ies dejot. "Fashion Victim" varētu raksturot kā Green Day versiju par Kinks "She`s bought a hat like princess Marina`s", lai gan, protams, ne melodija, ne teksts līdz Reja Deivisa līmenim šeit nepavelk. Mana mīļākā dziesma šajā albūmā tomēr ir cita - tā ir kabarē stila veidotā "Misery", kuras teksta daļa man savukārt rada asociācijas ar "Take a walk on the wild side" iz Lū Rīda repertuāra. "Hold On" mutes ermoņikas atsauc prātā kaut kādu no "Bītlu" dziesmām, lai gan patiesībā visas šīs dziesmas visvairāk izklausās pēc soļošanas melodijām. Tu saulainā vasaras dienā ej pa ceļu un tavās ausīs skan šis Green Day albūms - ļoti jauka idille. Jā, akustiskās gičas šeit skan vai katrā dziesmā un, manuprāt, tas ir tīri forši, jo savā vecajā stilā nekur tālāk "Green Day" vairs aiziet nevarēja, bet ar "Warning" viņi beidzot ir pacēlušies vismaz pāris pakāpienus augstāk. Labs ir arī albūma nobeigums. Vispirms ar "Minority" Green Day apliecina, ka arī kā poprokeri viņi joprojām vienlaicīgi ir arī panki un ka viņi nevēlas saplūst ar pūli (atkal viena soļojamā dziesma), bet "Macy Day Parade" - kas, manuprāt, jau tuvojas grupas sekojošajam albūmam "American Idiot". Zināmu neizpratni rada "Waiting", kas ir ar citu tekstu apveltīta klasiskā sešdesmito gadu dziesma "Downtown", kāda tam ir doma, man skaidrs nav, bet vispār jāatzīst, ka man ļoti labi iet pie sirds Bilija Džo balss un Tre Kūla bungas. Protams, Green Day nav pasaules labākā grupa un, protams, viņi ir vairāk parodija par pankiem nekā īsti panki, bet toties viņi ir labi songwriters.

Canada once already appologised to the USA for Bryan Adams - it`s a fact everyone who has watched Southpark knows. But it didn`t stop me from listening to one of his supposedly better records. The disc starts off with a typical mid-eighties song "One Night Affair" which sounds like a minor song from a Dire Straits album (musically not vocally) and like a different take on "Run To You", which can also be found on this album. The album is mostly famous for having 6 hit singles on it, "Run To You" and "Summer of `69" being the most famous ones. By the way did you know that the latter is about oral sex and not about the year of "Abbey Road" after all? It`s not too surprising, considering that Bryan was 9 in 69. And he most likely didn`t do 69 in 69. Other tracks are basically just supporting songs for the highlights, and they don`t support them too good. "It`s only love", a duet with Tina Turner, is one of them. How could this fellow become such a legend if all his songs sound the same, if they`re generic and formulaic? "Heaven" is a song which he later reshaped a bit and made "Please forgive me", it also sounds a lot like "Heaven is a place on earth" (a slowed down version of that song as a matter of fact), or no... that song by Bonnie Tyler. Heck, who cares? It`s Bryan Adams after all, and not some strange Frank Zappa. Music for your school discoteque is the best purpose for music like this.