Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Never judge a book by its cover! And never take to read a book without inspecting what are you going to read. I have been lately wise and foreseeing enough to check whether I am not taking a book of poetry but this time this method wasn`t enough. First, Adelbert von Chamisso is basically a poet. But that`s not the main issue. I`d probably have very little problem with this book being poetry for I`d just decide not to read it then. But "The Prussian from France" is a biography. Hell, why didn`t I notice that A.von Ch. wasn`t the author but some obscure P.Lahnstein was! So I thought - why shouldn`t I read the biography of some strange writer who seems to have lived a long time ago and who I don`t know a thing about? After reading the book I know the answer. And it is: because I don`t care. So, this Adelbert was some sort of a biologist who travelled for 3 years and did some scientific work and apart from that he also wrote poetry. He was a Frenchman by blood but his family (an aristocratic one) fled from the Revolution so they ended up in Prussia. What else is there to say? Not much, that Lahnstein fellow seems to be a rabid fan of Chamisso`s and the way he describes his hero is sometimes funny but the book as a whole is probably worthy for people interested in Adelbert von Chamisso but it`s a waste of time for someone like me.

Šo veidojumu savā kompī es ielādēju pirms dažiem gadiem, bet nekādi nevarēju saņemties to izlasīt. Vispār es jau neesmu nekāds dižais e-grāmatu cienītājs, drīzāk otrādi.

Domājams, ne tikai man agrīnais Eliss Kūpers asociējas tieši ar šī albūma tituldziesmu. Un tāpat domājams ne tikai man skolas gados šī dziesma īpaši labi gāja pie sirds. Taču ne tikai antiizglītojošais tās teksts, bet arī primitīvi lipīgais rifs, kas ideāli piemērots galvas kratīšanai, pofigoniskā attieksme un riktīgi pārtijojošais piedziedājumus padarīja "Schools Out" par vienu no izcilākājām Kūpera grupas rokdziesmām.

If there is one thing in myself I particulary dislike (apart from spots on the face and my general nerdiness) it`s my perfect ability to disagree with every opinion. You just have to say "black!" and I`ll instantely reply "white!". And if you`ll say "white!" I`ll be left with no other option but to say "black!" The most typical case is following: someone highly praises some thing that I should read/watch/hear and I come to the inner conclusion that I must dislike it. Lately I`ve been trying to battle this sort of "being original" inside me but it doesn`t always work. After this introduction I must say that I was informed that "A Wild Sheep Chase" is a very good novel. Having already been acquainted with some other Murakami`s works I wasn`t particulary sure whether to believe it or not. There were some books of his I liked and others I didn`t. But this one about sheep proved to be the best one I`ve read this far. The story is about a man who seems to be an average Japanese fellow with his 30th birthday fast approaching. His wife has left him and he isn`t particulary fond of his job although it`s not bad at all. But everything changes for him when he meets a woman with ears of a perfect form. Still it`s not about the ears but about a sheep that`s using men for its goals. And the hero of the novel has to find this sheep within a month or bad things will happen. The only clue he has is a photo sent to him by a friend of his called the Rat (who I am already familiar with from some other Murakami`s early novels). In the end the story proves to be about what one can take and what he can`t and the ending is quite an emotional one. This is one of the few books with a very high "wov!" factor. I don`t know whether everyone would love it but I certainly do.

Turpinot pēdējā laika tradīcijas, ķērāmies pie kārtējā angļu seriāla. Šoreiz vārds "angļu", iespējams, jāraksta ar visiem lielajiem burtiem, jo Džīvsa un Vūstera piedzīvojumi, manuprāt, ir gandrīz angliskuma esence.

Universālajā U2 albūmu hierarhijā "Achtung Baby" laikam gan ieņem godpilno otro vietu aiz "The Joshua Tree" . Tā 1998. gadā žurnāla "Q" lasītāji to iebalsoja par 15. izcilāko visu laiku albūmu, bet citā reizē tas pats "Q" dziesmu "One" no šī ieraksta nodēvēja par vispār visos laikos labāko dziesmu. Vispārīgais atzinums līdz ar to ir tāds, ka vismaz visu laiku labāko albūmu simtniekā "Achtung Baby" ir obligāti jāatrodas.

That Jack Black is a really nice fellow - watching a comedy featuring him doesn`t mean that you will spend something like two hours of your worthy (or less worthy) life watching jokes of the banana peel slipping category. I gotta admit that I tend to like films about rock music, even the most stupid ones (like `Little Nicky` where the heavy metal business saved the day for me). And this one ain`t that bad, it`s certainly not even in the quality of `High Fidelity` but it`s still pretty good, and those children that actually play their instruments - now they are really awesome.

This was the very last film I watched before my hard disk crushed. And that isn`t a thing to joke about. Pedro Almadovar is already a familiar face to me - his latest film "Bad Education" is still quite fresh in my memory. But this film is better than the movie about gays. Not that "AAMM" lacks in contraversy - there are two crossdressing prostitutes in this film as well, there are lesbian actresses, a pregnant nun that has the HIV who`s pregnant from the same person that was the father of the guy who started to write an essay "All About My Mother" before he died hit by a car. But in this film at least the leading woman character Manuela is particulary normal, and she does her best overcoming the loss of her only child. The nun is played by Penelope Cruz and she`s absolutely gorgeous. What amazes me in this film is that there is absolutely no nudity on the screen, quite unlike what could be seen in "Bad Education". And what does it make me think of - while straight directors show naked women, homosexual directors show only naked men, and since there aren`t any homosexuals around this time from the aestethical point of view this movie is purist. The film is full of positive energy despite the fact that it can drive you to tears.

Mystery, mystery. And thriller, of course. John Klein (I`d prefer Calvin, but there`s nothing I can do about it) is a successful media man - man, is there a lot of films about successful media men! He has a beautiful wife to whom he makes love in a closet of a house they just bought. But when they drive somewhere John`s life collapses as his wife sees a mothman and crashes the car dying afterwards in the hospital. His grief is too strong and in 2 years he hasn`t really recovered from that. But when he in a strange way finds himself in a place called Point Pleasant John starts really freaking out. And in that Point Pleasant weird things come to peoples eyes, ears and dreams. Mostly they are around a certain mothman - a weirdo looking like an ugly batman. The mothman is some sort of an ancient creature higher than man who can see almost everything, and he`s very good at predicting catastrophes. But what`s the problem - is to find out where the catastrophe is going to happen. John meets a good looking police officer named Connie (so he wouldn`t be alone) and a man going crazy named Gordon. What`s crazy about the film is that it says based on true events. Ok, I`m probably not open minded enough but I still believe that things like this are rarely based on something true (unless the base isn`t used at all). But the film ain`t even half bad, although it looks visually a bit B-movie`ish.

Šo ierakstu Furnjē kungs ierakstīja, būdams totālā pālī. To vēlāk viņš pats atzina, ka savus septiņdesmito gadu vidus-beigu albūmus viņš pats īsti neapzinās esam ierakstījis. Un šajā albūmā viņš to arī godīgi pasaka - dziesmā "I never wrote these songs" neko citu viņš arī neapgalvo. Protams, uz šo laiku viņš no šokrokera bija pārvērties par diezgan izteiktu Brodvejas mūziķi un tikai pirmās trīs šī ieraksta dziesmas atgādina, ka viņš savulaik asociējās ar smago roku. "It`s Hot Tonight" droši vien ir labākā no šīm trim dziesmām, bet arī "Lace and Whiskey" un "Road Rats" (it īpaši otrā no tām) nav zemē metamas. Taču tad roks kaut kur pēkšņi pazūd - "Damned if you do" sāk jau tuvoties Eltona Džona repertuāram, "You and Me" ir kārtējā no Kūpera liriskajām balādēm, kas nez kāpēc kļuva par hītu, lai gan tā ne tuvu nav albūma interesantākā kompozīcija. "King of the Silver Screen" izklausās pēc Endrjū Loida Vebbera kompozīcijas, nezinu tikai no kura mūzikla, piedziedājums patiesībā tai gan ir labs. Visdīvainākā dziesma šajā albūmā noteikti ir "Ubangi Stomp", kas ir kaut kāds veltījums Čakam Berijam un Little Richard, vismaz tā tas izklausās, ka tas būtu tapis piecdesmito vidū. Un uz beigām Kūpers atkal iekrīt liriskajā režīmā (tiesa, ne tik banālā vairs kā "You and Me"), "Love at your convenience" pat paša Kūpera klātbūtne nav īsti jūtama, par "I Never wrote these songs" jāsaka, ka melodijas tur varētu būt vairāk, ideja jau laba, tikai šķiet, ka par dziesmu rakstīšanu Kūpers īsti padomāt tolaik tomēr nespēja.