Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Kur tie gadi, kad es H-blokus uzskatīju par vienu no aktuālākajām grupām Eiropā? Tālu pagājuši, tas noteikti. Protams, šaubos, ka viņu mūzika mani jebkad būtu ieinteresējusi, ja ne tie traki jokainie un prikolīgie videoklipi, kas bija viņu pirmā albūma singliem (vai citādi es būtu Vācijā iegādājies legālu "Time to move" eksemplāru - kas to lai zina).

The Purples are still rolling. Their lineup changes between almost any two albums yet the sound remains the same. Concerning "Rapture of the deep" this sound is pretty much the same as it was on "Bananas". And who would wonder about it - Ian Gillan`s pipes aren`t as powerful as they used to be and he can`t pull off some "Fireball"-like stuff. But he can be an angry granddad if nothing more - his angry growlings about "MTV" and how old bands can`t get their new songs on TV or on the radio. In terms of lyrics this album is straightforward as an arrow - it seems to me a bit that Gillan has for once thought that he may have a little statement on the latest record. But I don`t like "Deep Purple" for the message. I love "Deep Purple" for the loud guitars and for Gillan`s voice. I`d probably say that "Money Talks" is the best song on the album but I still can`t say that it`s particulary great. Maybe there`s little difference between this and the previous album but "Bananas" was a much more relaxed and uplifting record. It was funny while here "Deep Purple" sometimes sound like "Brutal Planet"-era Alice Cooper. And that`s not a good sign for a band that once did "Highway Star" and the "Speed King".

Tā nu ir sanācis, ka aizvadītās diennakts laikā HIM debijas albumu noklausījos vairāk nekā desmit reizes un pa nakti man iemigt traucēja galvā visu laiku skanošais "(Don`t Fear) the Reaper" kavers.

Oficiāli šis skaitās pēdējais Iron Maiden zelta ēras ieraksts, kas iezīmēja atvadas no šīs lieliskās smagā roka blices slavas gadiem (ko pastiprināja grupas ģitārista Džonsona aiziešana pēc "Septītā dēla septītā dēla" ierakstīšanas). Taču šajā ierakstā Dzelzs Jaunava vēl rāda sevi labākajā gaismā. Pazīstamākā šī ieraksta kompozīcija ir visnotaļ astoņdesmitajiem raksturīgā un tomēr ļoti spēcīgā kompozīcija par prāta zaudēšanas tēmu - Can I play with Madness (video zemāk).

This is a memory from the joyful days of childhood. Everybody loves Roger Rabbit, when he`s little. And not without a reason - this film is a perfect example of usage of mixed animation and live actors. There are toons in this world, there are people, there are those, that follow Mohammed (no, don`t think about the latter category). So, the owner of the Acme company is murdered by a toon and Roger Rabbit is blamed for that for that guy played pattycakes with his wife. A toon hating cop tries to solve the case. The plot isn`t very smart, and that`s not a problem, it`s a movie for children, for christsake! But what counts is that it features cartoon characters from both Warner Brothers and Disney production - you can actually see Duffy Duck and Donald Duck sharing the same stage. But the humor isn`t particulary great. Except for a few funny sexual references most jokes fall flat for me. No, I must admit that it sounds funny "Is that a rabbit in your coat or are you just happy to see me?" - I don`t know how this was admitted in a family movie, or: "I have the lust of a fifty year old but a dinky of a three year old". That`s - if you`re in for animation, watch it; otherwise - beat it.

Whoopie! We`we entered the marvelous world of comic books! Ok, this film isn`t really based on a "Batman" or something like that but it does show what the comics world looks like. The actors department is more impressive than you can probably imagine - Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Gambon, Lawrence Olivier (that`s a totally cool thing to use a dead man to play a dead man), Angelina Jolie - that is certainly more than enough for a really good film. Visually it`s also stunning - clearly imitating what future was projected to be in the first part of the 20th century - but with the advantage of technologies year 2004 provided. The film has very little colour and most of everything is done with the CGI - although at some stages this CGI looks a bit flat (especially with Paltrow in NYC). What`s the story about? A mad scientist has some weird plan of destroying the earth and starting a new civilization. In the process of bringing his plan to life he himself has died. But Sky Captain who`s happened to be called Joe thinks that the world can not end this way, and Polly - his former girlfriend - comes along. By the way, it somehow resembles to me "Broken Sword 2" - the computer game, there was also flying and there was a former girlfriend of the hero, whom he at least partly got back. Anyhow, this film is fun to watch but not particulary memorable.

I remember having said this already at least once on this factoid but repetition is the mother of all knowledge, so here it goes: "Guys with puppets get chicks." I`m not really sure about that but cartoons with puppets get high rating points. Of course, "Corpse Bride" is one more indication of my obsession with Johnny Depp. I may turn into a stalker one of these days if I won`t stop raving for every bit of film where he`s on. Ok, I probably won`t watch the Elm street movies just because he appeared on them... but such an idea came to my mind something like a minute ago. No, I`m not that obsessed! There`s no way I`m going to watch this Freddy Krueger fellow just in order to see J.D. for 10 seconds. Anyhow, Corpse Bride is one gothic fairytale about a shy young man marrying a dead woman by accident. Victor and Victoria would have been a perfect couple if Victor hadn`t put his wedding ring on the finger of the deceased Corpse Bride. What`s good about the cartoon is the aura, the atmosphere and the animation. Here you won`t see neither the crappy Disney-style drawings that I can`t really stand nor the computerised animation which also rarely works perfeclty well. Although stop-motion animation isn`t quite the hottest trend nowadays in "Corpse bride" it`s done so perfectly that even I can`t complain (although you probably know that I do complain a lot). The story itself is quite nice and the difference between the grey and gloomy world of the living and the colourful mess of the dead is amazing indeed. The only thing I didn`t really like was Victor not staying together with Corpse Bride in the end - she was a much more interesting person than that Victoria for sure. But you can`t always get what you want, they say. Still the perfect combination would be achieved if the whole three of them had stayed together. Nah, that sort of relationships wouldn`t be tollerated in a PG cartoon.

Nesaprotu, kā tas atgadījās, ka manā faktoīdā trūkst ieraksta šim Verbēra romānam, tagad šo situāciju ņemos labot.

Luiss Ārmstrongs! Kopā ar Ellu Fitcdžeraldu! Izpilda Džordža Geršvina "Porgiju un Besu"! Fenomenāli! Vai ne?

When I went to my favourite "Goethe" library I took 3 books with me to read at home, like I always do. What I didn`t know then was that more than 50% of those books were written by Jews, about Jews and about Holocaust. If it were not the case I`d probably choose a subject more merry than this one. By the way, I haven`t even looked at the third book yet, so theoretically a chance exists that it`s also about Holocaust. I hope it isn`t. But to be sure I`ll check it just now. Hoorray! No Jews mentioned! Now that`s a good thing. Still "The Boxer" ain`t no half-bad book. Jurek Becker is surely one of the most interesting personalities among the German speaking writers whom I`ve discovered by going to this library. This is a story of a guy named Aron Blank who`s family hasn`t survived the holocaust, but he has. After the war he finds one of his children who happens to be also alive, although after years in a concentration camp he doesn`t know anything about anything. Still Aron manages to put his life back on the trail and to survive in the modern world. I can`t say that I liked this book because of the content, for there was little likeable in it, but Becker`s writing style is such that you just can`t dislike it. Even when writing about the most grieve subject he never ever goes overboard and stays normal - which is a rare case for subjects like the Holocaust.