Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Kurtu Vonnegūtu es "iemīlēju" kaut kad ģimnāzijas laikos - precīzi vairs neatceros, vai tas bija 11. vai 12. klasē. Taču zinu, ka tas sākās ar "Kaķa šūpuļa" izlasīšanu un ka pēc tam mana lielākā interese bija dabūt savā īpašumā "Lopkautuvi Nr.5". Un liels bija mans pārsteigums, kad es atklāju, ka šī grāmata angliskajā oriģinālā ir atrodama manā grāmatu plauktā. Es to, protams, izlasīju un biju sajūsmā. Un, kad man skolā vajadzēja rakstīt referātu par kādu 20.gadsimta ārzemju literatūras darbu, mana izvēle krita tieši uz šo Vonnegūta romānu. Šo referātu, kas gan, protams, nav nekāda grāmatas kritika vai kas tamlīdzīgs, bet skolnieka "pārdomas", es šeit arī zemāk iekopēšu.

I`ll probably never know why I downloaded this film. It just accidentally happened that I saw its title in some users share in a P2P hub, and I thought: Hey, that`s one famous film, it`s certainly in the IMDB 250 greatest films of all time. Only later on I realized that it wasn`t there. I was mistaken and that was a bit of a surprise. Logically the most common reaction upon that would be deleting the film from my computer`s hard disk since after all it`s an illegal action to store films of illegitime source on your computer but I decided to watch it despite it not being as highly rated as I thought it would be. Hey, I never wrote that last sentence! Nor did I write the beginning! I never, I repeat never download films from the Internet! I saw this film on TV one Sunday morning, since it`s one of those films that Latvian television tends to repeat and repeat once again. So this is a story about an Arabian king who`s turned into a blind man by an evil wizard and he`ll remain that way until the wizard lays arms upon that fellows fiancee (if you can call her that since their relationship wasn`t exactly like that). And the wizard has also turned a thieving little boy into a dog who`s now the only friend of the blind king. The film is intended for children of course, therefore apart from the quite discussable the girls agreement to let the wizard lay his hands around her (which probably meant that a lot more was involved but this is 1940 and not the porn era after all). As a film for children "The thief of Bagdad" is quite good and even the special effects seem to be quite decent for its age. Nowadays you`ll still most likely watch this film just as a historical curiosity because advancements in the field of technology have been beyond imagination in those 65 years therefore the film has undoubtely lost some of its original attractions. Still - not bad at all. Just to give some names - June Duprez is the princess (quite good looking knowing how much tastes for beauty have changed over time), John Justin is the leading man (I`d probably like him if I was a woman or a gay man) and Alexander Korda is the producer of this film. The latter seems to be quite a legendary figure, for even I had heard his name somewhere. Still I have absolutely no idea - where.

Oficiāli "Images and Words" skaitās Dream Theater labākais albūms, taču man te gribētos īsti nepiekrist. Protams, manai nepiekrišanai pamatā varētu būt pārmērīgā gan DT, gan citu metāla grupu klausīšanās, ko esmu piekopis pēdējos mēnešos, tomēr tikai uz to vien es vainu nenoveltu.

"Guano Apes" debija Vācijā un tās reģiona zemēs sacēla diezgan pamatīgu furoru un līdz ar to šīs grupas reputācija mūsu reģionā allaž ir bijusi diezgan laba. Kā nekā pat es uz viņu koncertu Rīgā esmu bijis.

Of course, I had seen this film before. But why can`t I tell what I think about it now? I`m not weird enough to add this to the date when I first saw the film - it was quite a long time ago and I`ve wouldn`t remember it that good, had I written only based on the first watching. So, Amelie is a waitress in a cafe in Paris but her life changes one day when she finds a "treasure box" a boy hid in her suite some fourty years ago. And she decides to find the owner of childrens stuff she has found. And from that day everything goes in another way than it did before. The film is directed by the same Mr. Jeunet that created "The city of lost children" and "Delicatessen". "Amelie" also has a weird world in it but it`s not dark and dreary anymore - it`s just weird, every person has his little funny hobbies which don`t do other people no harm. The message of the film is a positive one, and it`s not sad and funny, it`s just funny without being primitive at all. Probably one of the best films I`ve ever seen. And it gave Audrey Tautou international fame - which she certainly deserved. It was nominated for five Oscars but didn`t receive a single one - and I don`t even wonder why.

I`ve never quite understand what lies behind my choice of films. It seems quite unreasonable to consider it a strategy, a much better description for it will probably be the word "random". For example, although "Blood of a poet" is considered a classic I am absolutely convinced that it`s almost impossible to enjoy a silent film nowadays. But no, I still decided to watch this film. As if I cared about how influential Jean Cocteau is. No, I don`t. Anyhow this film is somewhat crazy, of course, just like most films of surrealism are. The only similar film to it which I`ve seen so far is "The Andalusian dog". Blood of a poet is considered to be a perfect description of the way an artists mind works. Which is just another proof that I stand absolutely no chance of ever becoming a true artist. To me it was just visually interesting (especially considering the year the film was made and how little special effects were available at the time) but in terms of content empty film. The film starts off with a man drawing a face on paper when suddenly the mouth on the face becomes alive, as the "poet" wants to close the mouth with his hand the mouth moves on to his palm. The last place where the mouth stays its location is on a sculpture which also comes alive. Then the poet smashes the sculpture. Apart from that you`ll see buildings collapsing, a woman being connected to wall and lots of other senseless stuff.

Sākot skatīties "The Office", es pieļāvu vienu būtisku kļūdu. Es biju pārliecināts, ka šis seriāls ir kaut kas līdzīgs kā "The IT Crowd" un gaidīju, ka joki man birs virsū kā čiekuri un man atliks tikai sargāt galvu no lielākajiem no tiem.

Es laikam tomēr esmu bijis Metallicas cienītājs - kā izskatās manā kolekcijā ir diezgan daudz šīs grupas albūmu un vēl joprojām daudzas šī albūma dziesmas pēc skaņas man izklausās zināmas.

Special author note: I`ve changed my mind and now I`m ready to accept this as a really fine record. I`m not sure why I gave it such a very low rating in the first place and I`m too lazy to re-read what I`ve written here, so take my word - "One way ticket" is a real fine record after all. Still, since it probably depicts some of the feelings for the record I had something like 50 days ago, I won`t delete everything written below. Why would I? "Girlfriend" still has a ZZ-Top riff though.

"Hot Fuzz" savā ziņā var uzskatīt par filmas "Shaun of the Dead" turpināju - tas pats režisors, tie paši aktieri (Saimons Pegs un Niks Frosts), tas pats žanrs - parodija. Parodējamais žanrs gan ir mazliet cits - šoreiz varoņi nokļūst nevis zombiju šausmenē, bet policistu action filmā.