Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

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.

Welcome to the fantastic world of uninteresting literature. Our todays exhibit is a story (or rather a novel) by Christa Wolf - one of the most important writers of East Germany. This is a story about unhappy love of a young woman whose lover leaves the country for the West. Rita is a most typical person a socialist writer could choose for his/her hero - she`s young, ideallistic and she works on the railroad - sweet isn`t it. In the very beginning she has an accident at work and has to go to the hospital. Only later we learn to know that it was because of Manfred - a chemist who left the socialist Germany and wanted her to go with him but after a brief stay Rita returned back to the East. Of course, the book has its share of descriptions how the trains are made, what people work there - everything you could expect from a book like this. There`s also another man who loves Rita, but she doesn`t care for him. Manfred didn`t leave the country btw. only because of his ideological problems but mainly because his new design for some stupid thripe was not accepted - you know what it`s like when the old can`t accept what the young have to offer. To be frank I can say - this book is totally average, there are no high points in it and there are no lows. You read and you forget about. That`s it.

Damn, does ones attitude change with time. When I was a kid I though Pink Panther to be the coolest cartoon character ever. Now in this series of 51 minutes of Pink Panther I found only one cartoon I could fully enjoy - and it was the one I had already seen back then when I was a kid. All the rest? Uninteresting, quite similar to Tom and Jerry (which I never liked). So what was the difference between those two cartoons? I don`t remember.

Today, on January 23, 2006, I`m listening to the new Graham Coxon album, released on March 13, 2006. How can you explain that? Either I`m very close to Coxon`s record company (or G.Coxon himself for that matter) - and that`s a thing I wouldn`t mind as you can probably guess; or there are other options. I`m not sure whether Coxon is still a total drug addict like he was in his Blur days which were probably really blurred but I`m sure that he hasn`t lost the golden touch he once used to have when writing songs. His new single "State of mind" (which is coming out in February) doesn`t impress me though. As a whole the record is quite agressive and a bit punky with Coxon sounding like Johnny Rotten quite often. I like the beatlish "You & I" a lot, that`s the best song on this disc in my opinion. Maybe it`s not entirely beatlish - it`s more something like Beatles meet Lou Reed. "Gimme Some Love" sounds as if it was taken directly from "Never mind the bollocks", especially if you change its title to "EMI" or something like that. On some tracks Coxon doesn`t try to be a big punkster though and then he sounds like on "Don`t believe anything" - boring. From the sentimental songs I`d probably choose "See a better day" for my collection of Coxon`s best, it`s moody and nice but not exceptional.

Es nevarētu teikt, ka Disturbia būtu oriģinālākā filma, ko esmu savā mūžā redzējis - tās sižets pamatīgi atsauca gan klasisko Hičkoka "Rear Window", gan mazāk klasisko, bet tāpat labo multfilmu "Monster House". Tomēr tā noteikti bija oriģinālākā filma, ko noskatījos pagājušajā nedēļā, lai arī strikti ņemot nevienu citu filmu es šajā nedēļā tā arī nenoskatījos.

Svens Oge Madsens Dānijā, kā izrādās, ir viens no populārakajiem rakstniekiem. Taču šis romāns pat nav tulkots angliski. Dīvaini, kā tas sagadījies, ka man to izdevās dabūt latviešu valodā.

When I went to the cinema to see this film little did I know what it was going to be like. After having a brief look at what IMDB told about this film I thought: cool, a mystery film! So I couldn`t resist from getting a couple of free tickets for this film and so I went to see it. The strange thing thou was the fact that I took with me not only my girlfriend but also a friend of mine. Everything would be just fine, had this film less sex in it. But as it is I felt a bit embarassing, there`s probably no need to explain exactly why. The story of the film was a mystery after all - two comedians (Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth) who were very famous once split up after a dead naked girl was found in their hotel room. An another girl who`s a young and talented reporter tries to solve the mystery of the death and of the split up. It`s especially important for her to learn to know more, since she has been a fan of these comedians since her childhood. But as it proves to be, both of her heroes aren`t the kind and caring they were supposed to be after all. One of them lays her and doesn`t care for her at all on the very next day, while the one played by Colin Firth... I`d rather not even say what sort of lesbian action he induces in the film. What I found especially nice was the dual appearance of Jefferson Airplane`s "White Rabbit" in the film. The first time it was done at a play with censored lyrics, the next time it`s ok.

Motleja banda ir viena no tām grupām, par kuru cienīšanu cilvēkus slavēt nemēdz. Kā nekā viņi bija neinteliģenti lohi, kas spēlēja primitīvu rokenrolu astoņdesmitajos gados un kuru ierakstu galvenais mērķis bija izdrāzt (un es nebaidos šī vārda) pēc iespējas vairāk mazas meitenītes. Ne velti viņiem bungas klapēja Tomijs Lī, kas lielāko slavu guva kā Pamelas Andersones vīrs un kā dalībnieks tajā video, kur viņi uz laivas un vēl daudz kur citur... Vēl tur piedalījās Nikki Sixx - vēl viens slavens izvirtulis, kas šamiem spēlēja basu.