Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Wow! I wouldn`t expect something like that to have been written at the very beginning of the previous century. Although at the middle of the story a part of the mystery was clear to me the ending was really stunning. And the story is not only about anarchy (though I like the subject). As a matter of fact, I don`t really understand the ending of it. Providing some information on the plot I can tell that Gabriel Syme, a police officer, by an accident becomes member of the supreme court of anarchists. But everything turns out to be quite opposite to what he expected it to be.

No, no, no I don`t like films of this kind. From the very beginning it was clear what the ending would look like, everything that happened on the screen seemed fake as I don`t know what.

This is one hell of a scary book. First, because it is real - there`s no fiction which makes it even scarier. A book about KZ is not the most pleasant thing in the world. Not that I expected it to be. Basically it`s just a love story. But a weird one indeed. He`s a leftist fighter from Austria in the Spanish war, she`s a local radicalist. They fall in love, but have to flee from the country after Franco has won the war. They decide to go to Germany, which is a stupid choice, of course. He ends up in a concentration camp, she and her child stay outside. They can get married in the camp, which is a totally strange thing - for that camp is Auschwitz, and the wedding took place only as a PR shit. Anyway, he organises something similar to rebellion and dies as a hero. She finds a new man. That`s it. The narration of the book is quite interesting - as pieces of memories by different people who were with them - relatives and pals. In the end though it`s not too clear for the pieces ar not titled - you never know who tells what. The book is dark and depressive but not too hard to read. If I hadn`t read a lot of books on this subject already, it might have had an even better impression on me.

Of course, Joni Mitchell is a bit sissy for a fan of hardcore rap. But as a matter of fact I`m not a fan of harcore rap. Therefore singing to an acoustic guitar is no problem for me. Especially if the singer has a perfect voice, perfect melodies and perfect songs. What more can you want? A glass of warm milk.

Nu, ko - līdz ar Hot Space es pieskaros vēl vienam par mēslu izslavētam Queen albūmam no 80-tajiem, un ne jau bez pamata šis ieraksts izpelnījies daudzviet visnotaļ negatīvas atsauksmes. Kā nekā tajā ir vesela virkne pretīgu dejošanai paredzētu kompozīciju, kuras piedāvā tik maz pozitīvu emociju, ka mazāk piedāvāt ir grūti. Pirmās piecas dziesmas (jeb oriģinālā - plates pirmā puse) vispār pretendē uz Queen viszemāko punktu grupas pastāvēšanas vēsturē (neskaitot sadarību ar Robiju Viljamsu, Five un Britniju). "Staying Power", "Dancer", "Back Chat", "Body Language", "Action this Day" - jau nosaukumi paši par sevi liek apjaust, ar ko mums te ir darīšana. Visas šīs dziesmas caurstrāvo bungu mašīnas un tās patiešām ir tuvākas Maiklam Džeksonam, nekā klasiskajai Queen skaņai. Otrā diska puse ir ievērojami labāka - "Live is Real" (veltījums Lenonam) ir emocionāla balāde (kurai gan šķiet ir totāli bezjēdzīgs teksts), "Put out the Fire" ir kārtīgs rokeris, varbūt ne tik labs, kā man tas šķita pirms gadiem 5-6, bet tāpat vismaz galvastiesu pārāks par visādiem "Staying Power". "Calling All Girls" man ne visai patīk, it īpaši tajā iepītie sintiķi, bet atkal jau - tikai salīdzinājumā ar "Action this day" var novērtēt tā kvalitāti. "Las Palabras De Amor" ir skaista balāde, ko gan arī mazliet sabojā sintezatoru skaņas, taču tikai mazliet. "Cool Cat" ir vēl viens groove gabals, bez kura es labprātāk būtu izticis. Nu, un noslēgumā nāk "Under Pressure", kas varbūt ir tūkstošiem reižu atklausīta, tomēr ļoti kvalitatīva kompozīcija. Kopumā - dažas albūma dziesmas varētu ierakstīt kādā labāko Queen kompozīciju izlasē, bet visas pārējās drošāk būtu aprakt dziļi un nekad neuzmeklēt.

Although I have quite a positive attitude towards Mr Cash, I can`t call this record a particulary good one. Of course, it`s no problem to see that it was written and recorded by a man who wasn`t young and healthy anymore - in fact he died not so much later after the album came out. Therefore, for example, his cover of Nine Inch Nails "Hurt" is a great song, it`s powerful, no not really powerful, it`s a song of a dying man about hurting - you feel that Cash knows what hurt really is. But his own songs on the album aren`t that good. He also does a cover of Depeche Mode`s "Personal Jesus" which ain`t bad but ain`t that great either. And, of course, the cover of Beatles "In My Life" is much worse than the original but that`s no wonder, for it ain`t particulary easy to improve a Beatles song. From Cash`s own compositions the title track is probably the best one, but it`s not very mindblowing.

Конечно, смотреть фильмы в виде скринеров на русском - это не самое стильное, что можно делать. Однако случилось так, что данный фильм я скачал именно в этом, отнюдь не хорошем стандарте, вот и пришлось нам с Лиене смотреть людей-Х в таком режиме. Если еще более честно, то первые два фильма я не видел, поэтому с главными героями я не был знаком, однако любой фильм по комиксам обычно можно понять и без знания контекста, и люди-Х тут не стали никаким исключением из правил. Сюжет фильма состоит из двух составляющих - людям удалось создать средство лечения от мутации, а у мутантов ожила Джин Грей - наисильнейшая из мутантов, да вот вернулась она не как хорошая, а как плохая. Пакостный старикан Магнито и его соратники решают уничтожить средство лечения, дабы не потерять свою мутантскую силу. Ну а добрые мутанты - Оборотень, Шторм и компания становятся опять на сторону добра и воюют с этим самым Магнито. Фильм этот, конечно, в основном предназначен для аудитории тинейджеров (кстати, очень смешно выглядит, когда Оборотень борется с Джин и она каким-то излучением срывает с него одежду и даже кожу, но трусы на нем все остаются - лишь бы фильм не стал слишком неприличным для маленьких детей). В общем, главное в таком фильме - это спецефекты и демонстрация возможностей разных мутантов. Посмотреть, конечно, можно, но такие фильмы очень быстро забываются.

"Zahrada" jeb "Dārzs" ir viena no ievērojamākajām neatkarīgās Slovākijas kino filmām. Par tās galveno plusu var nosaukt savdabīgo stāstījuma manieri un visai simbolisko sižetu, bet ir arī viens mīnuss - attēla kvalitāte, kas laikam ir saistīta ar to, ka man pieejamās filmas versijas izcelsme šķiet ar televizoru un nevis DVD saistīta. Tās galvenais varonis ir Jēkabs, kas ir sava tēva dārza sargs (vairāk vai mazāk). Tiesa, viņa tēvs principā nav vis Dievs, bet gan šuvējs. Jēkaba dzīvē ir arī divas sievietes - precētā un vecākā par viņu Terēza, kas to vien domā, kā pārgulēt ar Jēkabu, un visai jaunā un skaistā Helēna, kurai ir raksturīgas kaut kādas dīvainības. Vēl filmā parādās tādi personāži kā filosofs Žans-Žaks Ruso, kas pārliecina Jēkabu, ka dzīvē nav nozīmes materiālām lietām (un pie reizes konfiscē Jēkabam viņa mašīnu, iedodot pretī savu pusizjukušo "vaboli"), kā arī kāds aitu gans, kurš izlēmis kļūt par svēto. Filma, gluži kā tas raksturīgs grāmatām, ir sadalīta nodaļās, kuru sākumā tiek paziņots, kas šajā nodaļā notiks. Lielākoties gan paziņotais un reāli pieredzētais ievērojami atšķiras, vai - precīzāk - pieredzētais ir paziņotā mazāk prognozējamā versija. Kā lai arī nebūtu, šī filma ir kārtējais "nepieradinātā" kino paraugs un, ja vien tās ieraksta kvalitāte būtu labāka, es būtu to labprāt noskatījies vēl kādu reizi.

"Night fever - night fever!" No, it`s not the film where you could hit the dance floor like a maniac to the sound of the Bee Gees. But it`s a film where you can see a young John Travolta. He`s a sound engineer for porn movies, but his life plays out an unexpected twist when he saves the life of a girl who was trapped in a car that fell into a river where a dude going to be elected for senator died. And what`s the coolest - Jack (that`s Travolta) was recording some sounds for a film and recorded how the car fell into the river and found out that it was an assassination and not an accident. So he wants to find out from Sally (that`s the chick) what happened. She acts as if she was a hooker but she was indeed just a silly little girl working at creating pictures for blackmail. But there`s a maniac on the loose - the guy who shot the car and who starts killing young women. What I liked about the film was that he did kill Sally in the end - at least there was no happy ending, this stupid chick wasn`t a particulary lovable character anyway. Oh, I almost forgot - this film was directed by Brian da Palma. Who`s the cat? - you`ll ask. I have no idea - I`ll answer, but he seems to be a really cool director that hasn`t made any really good films.

The film "Almost Famous" is probably responsible for me ever listening to this record. Yet I don`t really get why it`s supposed to be as good as it`s supposed to be. Ok, there are some brilliant songs on the record - tracks like "America" and "Mrs Robinson" are just top level. "A hazy shade of winter" is very good as well, I also like "Fakin` It" and, maybe, "At the zoo" as well. But some of the tracks make so little sense that it`s hard to make less sense than they do. For instance who would care to listen to "Voice of old people" - a track on which you hear... voices of old people. Man is it amazing to listen to some old farts! The record may have its positive aspects but some songs on it would never allow it to be an instant classic.