Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Although this album was released in midsummer I never heard anything about the band. Come on, do I have to know of every single band with a stupid name? It seems, that I should have heard about this one. For this album is really good, certainly better than most new British or American bands can come up with. It`s a bit sad, of course, and a bit optimistic, of course. When I was completing the list of the best songs of 2004 I had a hard time deciding which of the songs from this album I should choose. Just because most of them are really good. The album has solid and interesting melodies. What about the lyrics? I haven`t really though about the meaning of the songs yet, for there`s no need to. What are the highlights? First, it`s "Paul Newman`s Eyes" - which reminds me of something like "Madness" - a very nice and optimistic little thing. Then there`s the pop/punkish "Pasttimes and Lifestyles" - with that bit of britishness that makes it sound fresh despite being quite a simple song in terms of melody. And, of course, there`s the romantic "Somewhat off the way". The least interesting songs are "Modern woman" and "Apples and Oranges", but they`re still ok. This is one of my guesses for the best album of the year.

Can you imagine Mel Gibson playing Hamlet? I certainly couldn`t until I watched this film. Though I`m not really sure even now, whether he can play Hamlet. What`s weird is that this counts as an American film, althought it was filmed in the UK, has mainly British actors, and has nothing reminding me of this being an American film. I tried really hard to like this film, but I didn`t succeed at that. You see, it`s a very honest version of Hamlet - you don`t have nothing unexpected happening in the film - it goes just like Shakespears play, but I don`t find a film particulary interesting if it mainly has the leading actor speaking monologues. Of course, I know that good ol` Willie wrote it this way, but it`s not perfectly interesting on film. And what else is there to say? I`m not mad enough to quote the film, or to tell what happens there - if you can read then you must be familiar with the plot of Hamlet. So from such a film you can`t await too much - some good acting, and that`s probably it. Although I can imagine that a better film can be made from this play which stills is one of the heights of drama. But for me "Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are dead" still is a much better film than this quite orthodox interpretation.

Hurrah! I have watched one of the endless row of big-screen epics about a hero from the days of old! And this film not only got bad reviews, but it failed to score at the box office and was presumably a piece of trash. Which was a surpise to many, since it had Oliver Stone as the director and Anthony Hopkins on the cast (although not playing Alexander, which would be a silly thing knowing that he died at the age of 32). Still, this film shows almost the entire life of Alexander the Great. What is the biggest controversy is his love to his male-friend Hefastion, although the film has no bed scenes between those two characters. What it does have is two quite solid fights, a beautiful city of Babylon, and something to think about. Alexander`s father Phillip (played brilliantly by Val Kilmer) is an agressive and quite rude man but he isn`t really a negative character, and that`s a good thing that there are no real villains in this film, just as there are no real heroes. Angelina Jolie looks certainly funny as Alexander`s mother being at the same age as her son - Colin Farrell. This film isn`t certainly the best thing that could be made from the life of Alexander the Great, but it`s pretty solid and I certainly found it to be much better than the average rating it`s supposed to get.

I don`t know how it happened but this is the first record in my Factoid concerning the Down Under. Still, you must admit that the title for the film seems quite intriguing. Of course, it also gives you the idea that the film is going to be a comedy. And to no surprise it turns out really to be a comedy. What a wonder, you`ll say! So, there`s Mr. Myers, who`s an ordinary fisherman (not a very good one though), and when his boat gets struck by lightning and the insurance company states that what has happened was a `force majeur` or `and act of God` mr. Myers has no better idea than to sue God to get the money for his boat back. Together with God he sues all the main churches of Australia as his representatives. The idea as such is brilliant - both in terms of law and in terms of film. About how it`s performed I can say that the film ain`t no masterpiece - first, it has too much silly comedy stuff going on; and second, it has too much silly romantic stuff going on between Myers and Anna, a journalist that helps his with his work. What I do like I Myers` speeches in the courtroom (he actually is a lawyer who gave up everything to become a fisherman) where he speaks how corrupt the churches are, being owners of the insurance companies and not caring about the blasphemy in the `act of God`. And what`s best - the churches can only really win the case if they prove that God doesn`t exist. Judging the film - great idea, stupid parts of scenario, a solid leading actor, a tollerable leading actress. What does it make? A film that has its moments but certainly could have been much more than it is.

This came together with the play about the donkey, but since the quality of the plays isn`t particulary similar, I write about this one separately. Hercules, as we all know did quite a lot of heroic stuff, among witch he cleaned a kings stable in one hour. But Duerenmatt provides us the real story - a dirty little town where everyone theoretically is against garbaging but still does nothing against it invites Hercules to clean. Since he`s out of money, Hercules takes the job. But upon arrival he finds out that he has come to a place of great burreaucracy, where to clean the garbage you must get hundreds of permissions from different commitees that do nothing. Meanwhile his wife flirts with the kings (or actually - the president`s) son, but that doesn`t really bother Hercules. In the end he not only doesn`t clean anything up but he starts working at a circus just to get some money, for example, boxes with mammoths in it. But he leaves the town broken and unhappy. The idea behind the play is, of course, positive, but the way Duerenmatt presents the whole situation isn`t particulary interesting - I found his version of the play for the radio much better than the real - stage version. But I still think that among modern playwriters Duerenmatt had a very good ranking.

I guess I had never listened to a whole Elton John album that came out later than in mid 1970s. For it`s known to most people that he`s nothing more than an old fart who records piano ballads. But somehow I got the news that this album here is a fairly good one, so I said to myself - why not give it a try? The album starts off with a typical Elton John ballad "Porch Swing in Tupelo", which clearly showcases all the pros and contras of this album. What`s good is that Elton doesn`t try to be hip and record something cool-sounding, he just sticks to his known winning formula. And the contras? He sticks to his bloody formula. While the songs may be not bad as such - on the contrary they`re moody and beautifully sounding but they are absolute rip-offs from John`s older stuff (especially "Your Song" and "Candle in the Wind" come to mind). Sometimes he records a bit more rocky tracks - like "They Call Her the Cat" - which reminds me of something from his early recordings. Of course, his old songs are good, therefore the new ones don`t come out bad as well. But listening to this record you can`t be sure that you haven`t heard everything on it sometimes before.

Why am I so rarely satisfied with what I read, watch or hear? I`m not really sure about that. Probably, my standards for the world are plainly too high, otherwise I may be an ego-obsessed maniac. Still I can`t find force within me to say that this album is particulary good. Barenaked Ladies is a fun pop/rock act that got popular (at least I got to know about it) with the titles "One Week" and "Alcohol". And since they are keen on recording goofy songs, so is this Christmas album full of goofieness. And it`s all right with me, for I wouldn`t give up my life for blasphemy upon hearing a funny version of "Jingle Bells". Which by the way, is one of the best songs on the entire disc - switching to a sappy and sad beginning into a funny ending with silly lyrics. Then comes "Green Christmas" - an original composition of the Ladies and it`s also quite good. Everyone says it`s cool that they used Casio sintesators in some songs, but I say - it`s ok. Still, all the songs about Hannukah are lame (and not because of the context but because of the music and singing). And if I needed to compare this album to "Warten auf das Christkind" by `Die Toten Hosen` which also is a parody X-mas album, I`d say the Germans come out on top. There`s simply not enough diverse songs on this album here. (but while relistening to it right now I decided that it actually isn`t as bad as I thought it was)

It took me some time to watch this concert, although it`s really good. I don`t really know what stopped me from finishing watching this when I started it. Let`s start with a statement: by 1972 Deep Purple had recorded most of their classic material and after that have never managed to outplay themselves again. When we have this statement it`s clear how a concert from that time can be totally great. The song selection is superb - and I guess it`s a good thing that there`s no "Smoke on the Water" in sight. But what we do get kinda kicks the roof off: "Highway Star", "Strange Kind of Woman", "Fireball", "Child in Time" and "Black Night", "Space Truckin`". Plus there`s three more songs which I don`t find that good but they are no bad either. Ian Gillan`s vocal power is amazing, so is Blackmore`s guitar playing. Of course, the songs tend to be very long, with a lot of jamming going on, but that`s a good thing. And who cares that this video got no colors? The Beatles rarely were in color but did that make them worse that say "Nirvana"? I don`t think so. And this concert is surely not a great masterpiece in terms of camera work, but it`s a great masterpiece in terms of music. And what more can you ask for?

I gotta say that I had already seen this film before, there`s nothing to deny. But since it was some time ago, and I didn`t have a factoid back then, let`s pretend I never saw this film before. Two ordinary Soviet guys (of the mid 1980s) accidentally land on a distant planet in the galaxy of Kin-dza-dza. The planet is quite weird. It`s run by a race called "Chetlanye" while the other people are considered as "Pacaki" on the basis of some stupid light thingy that doesn`t really say nothing. To get home they need to use a "gravicapa" but to run that thing they need matches. Being not careful enough they lose their matches and have to find an alternate method to get home. I`m not really quite sure whether I can write the story here because it`s too obscure on paper. But on screen it looks just fine. Of course, the alien planet looks very much like the earth, of course it`s basically social satyre, but I don`t really care for that for what it is - is a really fun comedy, a good entertainment, and it`s what I ask from a film like this. The jokes are usually funny, most of them seem original, and the acting is also good. T`is a heck of a comedy!

Why do I always watch them films about music? I don`t really know the answer to that. And this was certainly a bad choice what to watch. The film is somewhat between a real motion picture and a documentary - most of the stuff really did happen but in a bit different manner. What really bother`s me is the style of music you get in this film. I`m not a particular goer for the "Joy Division", "Happy Mondays" sound but it`s what you basically get. The centre piece of the film is a TV guy named Tony Wilson, a man who owned the label that recorded Joy Division and Happy Mondays. Later he also founded the Hacienda - the most notorious nightclub in Manchester. But what`s bad is that it`s the place where rave was born. And you can guess - to I like rave? No, I don`t. And I`m not particulary interested in Mr. Wilson`s life (although Steve Coogan is a good actor). So, we get this drugs issue, and Wilson`s private life. And nothing else? Oh, yeah, we get a mess of a movie - with disturbing music, no point being made, actually - with nothing. The only positive thing I can find here is the first ten minutes - before we switch to new-wave. Punk was pretty good, I liked the way the first Sex Pistols concert was shown, but after that everything went slowly downwards. Unless you can identify yourself with this kind of music I don`t think you should watch this.