Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

No tiem Vonnegūta romāniem, kurus lasīju vēl skolas laikā, "Māte nakts" man atmiņā bija palicis kā viens no spožākajiem viņa darbiem. Tagad varu tikai pārliecināties, ka attiecībā uz viņu mana gaume īpaši mainījusies nav un es "Māti nakti" joprojām uzskatu par fenomenālu grāmatu.

Well, I`m not so sure what I was looking for. Nothing in particular, I suppose. You see, this was an exhibition where you could see different kinds of chicken (because it`s the year of the rooster right now), and so I went there and checked them out. Chickens are just chickens, basically. Ok, there were some ducks, pheasants and quails as well but the amount of the birds wasn`t particulary big, nor were they particulary beautiful. On the other hand - the expectations for an exhibition like this shouldn`t be very high.

The central hero in this novel has got a name quite similar to mine - he`s called Raymon. The novel revolves around two scenes in his life and concerns a weird polygone of love. Let`s start with the earliest episode. Raymon was an unsecure teenager in a family of a doctor. He wasn`t aware of his good looks and had he lived in the modern age he`d be probably called a goth for he wasn`t the most cheerful person in town. His life took an unexpected twist when he met Mary Cross on a tram. She was a woman of a very doubtful statue despised by many because of her affair with an elder man from the high classes. What Raymon wasn`t aware of was the fact that Mary was a patient of his father`s and that his father was unhopefully in love with her (she on the contrary didn`t notice his love considering him a saint). But that didn`t stop Mary from devoting a passion towards the young Raymon and almost seducing him (Raymon learned to understand that he wasn`t a freak after all but he blew everything about their possible romance by his foolish teenagers behaviour). After everything came to a logical conclusion Raymon still had a lot of bitterness towards Mary who had rejected him and planned to revenge himself by becoming a victor in the battle for many womens` hearts. He succeeded at that but when he met Mary some 15 years later he learned to know that he hadn`t come over his passion towards her (she didn`t see in him anything at all anymore) and that his father was also still mad for her. So they both - father and son who had never understood each other were tied by this woman that didn`t care for either of them. Sad, sad, sad.

Savā debijas romānā Haruki Murakami jau ir tas pats Haruki Murakami, kuru vēlāk iemīlējuši miljoni grāmatu lasītāju visapkārt pasaulei.

Patiesībā šis nav īsts "The Cure" albūms. Īstais Cure debijas ieraksts saucās "Three Imaginary Boys" un vairākas dziesmas tajā bija atšķirīgas no tā, kas ir šeit. Taču šī ir attiecīgā albūma amerikāņu versija, kurā iekļautas vairākas citas dziesmas - tai skaitā jau nosaukumā ieliktā "Boys Don`t Cry". Patiesībā "Boys Don`t Cry" ir viena no manām mīļākajām Cure dziesmām - tā ir pietiekami viegla un tik "optimistiska", cik vien šī grupa jebkad ir spējusi būt. To varētu nosaukt par viegla popa krustojumu ar septiņdesmito gadu pankmūziku.

The story is as old as the world itself. Allen, the main hero of this novel (which is written from the first persons perspective as some kind of a diary) becomes the only heir of a very big amount of land when his brother suddenly dies. Being in the age of circa 20 years and not interested in his heritage at all Allen wants to pursue a much more spiritual life than that of a rich landlord. Still he can`t escape from the immense influence his mother has over him, and he knows that one day he will marry a girl who`s just 12 now but who also will inherit lots and lots of land. His life suddenly changes when he meets a woman working at a bookstore (he`s some kind of a reading freak). Although the woman is some 10 years older than he is and much wiser they become lovers (in the spiritual form of the word) and Allen is almost ready to break free from his mother. But he fails, despite the help by the woman (who doesn`t want to become his wife knowing that because of her troubled past she will be only a burden to a man of his statue) and a six-fingered man who almost became a priest but was much closer to becoming a lost soul. When everything seems to be lost it only gets worse - Allen suddenly finds a crush in himself on the 12 year old girl after seing her bathing naked in a lake but she knowing how much he hated her before runs into the woods where she gets raped and murdered by a local farmer.

"Sestdiena, asiņainā sestdiena" reiz bija man mīļākais BS albūms. Droši vien es tolaik biju maigāka dvēsele nekā šodien. Lai gan varbūt arī nebiju, kas to lai zina. Šobrīd manā skatījumā šis ieraksts ir mazliet par vieglu. Jā, patiešām man gribētos no BS dzirdēt vairāk tādu dziesmu kā titulkompozīcija šajā albūmā (kas gan, protams, ne tuvu nav tik smaga kā, piemēram, "Sweet Leaf", bet citādi ir viens no veiksmīgākajiem Tonija Aijomi radījumiem). Arī tai sekojošā "A National Acrobat", kas ir diezgan līdzīga pirmajai dziesmai, ir gana spēcīga. Patiesībā patīkamākais šī ieraksta pārsteigums ir instrumentālā "Fluff", kurā Aijomi sevi parāda kā akustiskās ģitāras atmosfēru meistaru (par pirkstu veiklību Stīva Hova stilā te gan runāt nevajadzētu). Vispār no visiem agrīnajiem Sabatu ierakstiem šis ir vispopsīgākais - ne velti tā ierakstīšanā piedalījās arī Riks Veikmens no Yes - jā, pavisam nopietni, Riks Veikmens un Ozijs Osborns vienā grupā! Arī Metallica`s kaverētā "Sabbra Cadabra" man patīk gluži labi, lai gan īpaši metāliska tā nemaz nav.

Kādreiz man Bilijs Aidols likās ļoti labs pankdziedātājs. Taču nekad "Cyberpunk" man nešķita labs albūms. Un arī tagad nešķiet. Protams, no panka tur nav ne miņas, bet kiberiskā daļa ir tik pretīga, ka pat vārdos to izteikt grūti. Kamēr normāli es pirms to novērtēt, kādu ierakstu klausos reizes četras-piecas, "Cyberpunk" es pilnībā noklausījos tikai vienu reizi un tāpat jūtos pietiekami smagi cietis.

A famous english writer spends summer in her publisher`s house in the country (in France). She stays together with the publisher`s daughter - a young woman that mostly has sex with elder men. The ending seems to be totally bizarre, not to say any more. A good film although I can understand why Good By Lenin came out on top at the European Film awards.

Americans are fond of movies about the end of the world. I am not. In this film we see how because of the global warming the world could find itself in the middle of another ice age. A scientist unsuccessfuly tries to persuade the American government how grave the perspectives are, and then one day it begins. The temperature starts sinking, giant waves appear in the sea, killing everything encounter. The son of that scientist Sam (also known as Donnie Darko) is trapped in New York in a public library, and his dad comes to rescue him. The journey is long and complicated, but everything ends well for him. I don`t really want to go deep in the plot for it is full of stupid moments, but I guess that goes without saying for a catastrophe movie. What counts is that it is extremely politically correct: a black tramp, a black cop, an asian female scientist, a child with cancer. But talking about the content of the film - there`s only the CGI value, which I must say is good, but nothing else is important in this film. You can easily imagine the director saying "So, we spent all our money on special effects, now lets make some connection between them."