Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

This film was quite big when it came out, but I didn`t watch it back then for I was some 11 years old and I didn`t like films with the word "funeral" in the title. You see, I automatically assumed that such a film would be too depressive for my taste. And I may have been right. But now I`m not 11 anymore, actually I have doubled my age since 1994, so my preferences in a film have also changed. I don`t mind a film if it revolves around four weddings (and a funeral). I don`t mind Hugh Grant`s looks. In fact I`m not so sure anymore about the reasons for me not to like him. So, he is a sugary-sweet good-looking nice guy but why would that bother me? Will I come over as being gay for liking films with good looking actors? If that`s the case I`ll probably only watch Latvian films till the end of my days, just to be sure that no one thinks that I`m gay.

Nu tas ir sāvies. Tuvākajās nedēļās tu bieži dzirdesi mani žēlojamies, ka man ne visai patīk "The Cure" un ka manā kolekcijā ir pārāk daudz viņu ierakstu. Droši vien, tas nebija gudrs lēmums, balstoties uz divām man zināmajām dziesmām - "Boys Don`t Cry" un "Friday, I`m in Love", iegādāties kādus desmit šīs grupas albūmus.

Te nu man jāsaka, ka Frenks Zappa ir droši vien unikālākais cilvēks rokmūzikā. No vienas puses - inteliģents līdz riebumam un gudrs kā es nezinu kas, no otras - reizēm nolaižas līdz zemākā līmeņa vulgaritātēm. No vienas puses - daudzveidīgāks par daudzveidīgu, spēlē visu sākot ar klasisko mūziku un beidzot ar metālu. No otras puses, tu vienmēr atpazīsi, ka tā ir Zappas mūzika - tātad par īpaši daudzveidīgu to nosaukt nevar. No vienas puses - bezgala alternatīvs, no otras puses - popsīgs. Nelietoja narkotikas un aizliedza tās arī saviem grupas biedriem. Ņem tu un saproti šādu cilvēku.

Ok, I am a bit of a fan of Russian (or Eastern European) movies, but I never try to be particulary generous while rating them. This "Mars" film isn`t gonna be big in the West of course, and I`m not really sure whether it was big in the East - although it has Gosha Kutsenko - a famous russian toughguy playing a boxer who`s run away from his sport. He lands in an obscure little town named Marx (which is spelled Marks in Russian) but it`s more like Mars to him than anything else. All people in this town work in a factory that produces stuffed toys and they don`t get money for their work - but fluffy money instead. He meets a girl working in a library and a young man who wants to marry her. Boris (that`s the boxer) doesn`t have to do anything to steal the woman away. But when he leaves she commits suicide. Overall this film isn`t particulary deep and it isn`t particulary interesting. It has its moments though. But at the beginning some of the actors seem to have been prepared for at theatre performance and not a film. But it`s not bad. And I keep contradicting myself. Ok, let`s add the rating and end this discussion for good.

When you take a book from a library just by looking at the cover and the size of the book you can never know whether it`s gonna be any good. On one hand you can accidentally jump into some novel that even Joyce would have considered a masterpiece but you can also find yourself in posession of a complete waste of your time. Jakob Arjouni luckily or luck-killy if you like it better that way proved to be a decent writer. He doesn`t aim too high - what he gives the reader in his novel is just some days in the life of a schoolteacher who had some great plans for the weekend but in the end he must face his son in coma, his daughter suspecting him for being a pervert, his wife has been in a mental hospital for quite a while already but now he`s also very close to losing his job. Oh, his car is crashed, his face is damaged after his son attacked him, a middle age woman called him a stinky anti-semite on the phone and he`s found out that he`s gay. No, the last thing isn`t really true. I just made it up so it would be even prettier than it already was. Anyhow, the book starts with a lesson at school where Joachim Linde (that`s the hero) asks his students to utter how the deeds of nazi-Germany affect the Germany of today. The discussion goes extremely wrong when a girl starts naming some boy`s parents nazis and the boy utters how sad it is that the girls grandparents hadn`t been gased in a concentration camp. And after that everything that hadn`t gone wrong already goes wrong after all. What this book lacked in my opinion was a bit of uncertainity - I would like to have my doubts about how clear Linde`s conscience was, but the author didn`t provide enough of that. A good book still.

"Rush" pamatoti vai nepamatoti uzskata par ievērojamāko otrā viļņa progroka grupu - vienu no tām blicēm, kas nāca kādus trīs-piecus gadus pēc šī mūzikas stila īstās uzziedēšanas un kuras, patiesību sakot, reti īpaši ņem par pilnu. "Rush" šajā ziņā ir izņēmums - to drīzāk pielīdzina lielajām sešdesmito beigās dzimušajām grupām - tādām kā "King Crimson" vai "Yes" un nevis to vienaudžiem - "Styx" vai "Uriah Heep", kas tipiski tiek izsmietas kā pseido progroka grupas.

Tā kā pēdējā laikā lielākā daļa ierakstu šajā faktoīdā ir bijuši izteikti negatīvi (vai vismaz salīdzinoši negatīvi), es varētu pārmaiņas pēc kaut ko paslavēt. Diemžēl šis nebūs tas gadījums - Nadīma Aslāma gramata "Zudušo mīlnieku kartes" nebūt neizrādījās tik burvīga, kā es biju cerējis.

After finishing reading the second book by this writer I`m becoming more and more convinced that this Andersch was a very good writer indeed despite the fact that he`s virtually unknown in the part of the world where I come from. "Die Rote" is mostly told through the perspective of its main hero - a woman named Franziska that has just left her husband (or was it a lover) Herbert and her lover (who most certainly wasn`t a husband) Joachim. She flees from Milan where she was last with Herbert, she doesn`t have too much money and she ends up in Venice where she tries to start a new life. That doesn`t seem simple at all since she only has a few days before the money runs out and she may be pregnant (although there`s no certainty about it). Parallel to the life of Franziska we encounter an old seaman and a middleaged Italian violion player who once participated in the Spanish civil war and doesn`t have much to dream about. Franziska`s senseless existence doesn`t last long - only until she meets O`Malley - an Irish fellow who was meant to be a British spy in Germany during WW2 but was persuaded by a certain inspector Kramer to switch sides. Now, long after the was O`Malley still is planning to have his revenge upon Kramer for he has taken the most dear thing for an Englishman - O`Malley will never be a gentleman again after he`s done what he`s done. Still Kramer doesn`t take O`Malley seriously for he doesn`t believe that the Irishman has the guts to kill him. Only when he meets Franziska, now a more grieve enemy to him, he becomes suspicious for her being able to give him away to the German police (for nazi war criminals aren`t particulary at that time). In the end O`Malley poisons Kramer and leaves Franziska on her own (which is no surprise since he`s gay), although he had promised her to take her as a companion on a long voyage on see. What happens next, is not described, and who would expect anything else from a typical postmodern novel? Stylistically the books switches all the time between direct speech and actions of the characters on one side, and their thoughts on the other. I liked it, and it only means that it`s most likely not the last book by Andersch I`ll ever read.

Diez ko regulāri es zinātnisko fantastiku nelasu, bet reizēm gadās, un šī ir viena no šīm reizēm. Roberts Hainlains tiek uzskatīts par vienu no ievērojamākajiem amerikāņu zinātņu fantastiem un vismaz vienu lielisku viņa darbu - "Durvis uz vasaru" - arī es iepriekš jau biju lasījis. Plus "Fermeris debesīs" 1951.gadā ieguva Hugo balvu kā labākais Sci-Fi romāns, un Hugo balva - tā tev nav kaka uz kociņa. Var pieminēt, ka citus gadus šo balvu ir dabūjuši Frenks Bredberijs, Aizaks Azimovs, Filips Diks, Frenks Herberts, Rodžers Želaznijs, Klifords Saimaks, Artūrs Klārks un pat J.K.Roulinga par vienu no Harija Potera daļām - īsi sakot, nav tā, ka tā būt neprestiža balva. Kurts Vonnegūts, starp citu tikai trīs reizes ticis nominēts, vinnējis nav ne reizi.

Patiesībā lidz nesenam laikam man šķita, ka tas, kas ir manā krājuma, nemaz nav īsts "Massive Attack" albūms, bet gan kaut kāds aizdomīgs singla disks. Patiesībā izrādījās, ka tas ir albūms "Protection" + singls "Karmacoma" no šī albūma ar neskaitāmām tā versijām.