Staff Picks Audience: Adults

The We and The I [DVD]

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Director Michel Gondry is mostly know for his heady, comedic films with cunning in-camera effects such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind &The Science of Sleep and innovative music videos from Björk, Beck and the White Stripes. In The We and the I, Gondry scales back and tells a story via a bus ride through the Bronx. The French director workshopped this script with a group of teens over the course of three years and the result is this wonderful film.

We see the complex dynamics of high school relationships as we join a group of students after their last day of classes. There’s bullying, gossip, swagger, flirting, fighting, some genuinely funny conversations and many heartfelt moments, too. Throughout, the dialog is natural; we almost feel as though we’re watching a a documentary at times.

Despite this austere approach to filmmaking, Gondry’s presence is still felt with the occasional use of non-digital effects. A small boombox shaped bus rides around town at the intro. Later, we see an interesting scene where he superimposes a pizza shop directly through the window of the city bus. These moments perfectly interject surrealism and introduce lightness into this very realistic movie.

Made In California by The Beach Boys [Music CD]

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Wow.

New paragraph: this Beach Boys box is something to behold. Set up like a high school yearbook with large glossy photographs, interviews, articles and fake advertisements, Made In California is a thing of beauty. We flip to the last page and we see six cds filled to the max with hits, album cuts, rarities, outtakes and live versions. The set commemorates 50 years of Beach Boysdom from Brian’s “Surfin’” demo right up to their 2012 single “That’s Why God Made the Radio”.

Made In California has enough newly unearthed material for completests, music scholars and other varying degrees of nerd. It is also consistent in high standards so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming for someone who is just discovering that this group isn’t a band that only sings about surfing and cars. You need not have to comb through sub-par tracks.

Obviously, the genius Brian Wilson is at the forefront of the productions here. We truly realize how special the body of work he had produced and see the heights of creative genius and musical innovation. Wilson can safely be put alongside Gershwin, Copland and Ellington in the Hall of Great American Composers (this building does not exist). His baby brothers shine as well; Dennis, the drummer/rebellious middle child, is represented with a multitude of brilliant heart-aching ballads (mostly unreleased until now) and Carl, the finest singer of the lot, is clearly the soul of the Beach Boys. The latter comment becomes evident as you make your way through the recordings… trust me on this.

If you’re familiar with their catalog, look out these newly issued gems “Sail Plane Song”, “Sound of Free”, “California Feelin’”, “You’re Still A Mystery” and “Where Is She?”. For those unfamiliar to the Beach Boys, how I envy you to be able to experience hearing this wonderful music for the first time.

Hombre [Book]

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In this hardboiled Western, Elmore Leonard writes a short, gritty tale where a group travels via stagecoach through the Arizona desert. Our trusty narrator, who is conversational with the reader and serves as a moral compass, is under the employ of the stagecoach/horses owner. Bickering begins at the outset and when the stagecoach comes under attack by a group of outlaws, these early differences of opinion result in chaos. A mysterious Apache, John Russell, is their only hope in making it out of the desert alive.

Simon & Garkfunkel: The Columbia Studio Recordings 1964-1970 by Simon & Garfunkel [Music CD]

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Simon & Garfunkel never felt like a singles band to me. Sure, there’s the massive, mega-hits: “Mrs. Robinson”, “The Sound of Silence”, “The Boxer”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, “Cecelia”, etc., but Paul Simon’s songwriting abilities were never simply tunnel visioned to the radio dial. All five of Paul & Artie’s studio albums are classics that are meant to be heard front to back and then back to front again. With the Columbia Studio Recordings boxed set, we can hear every song, every angelic harmony, every sweet acoustic guitar move and every perfect arrangement.

Six or seven years is not a whole lot time in the grand scheme of things, but Simon & Garfunkel made it count with their prolific run as Columbia Records recording artists.

The Golem and the Jinni [Book]

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The book begins with two separate plot lines… The Golem, though a fully formed woman, comes to life in the hull of a ship headed towards America and soon finds herself masterless in a world that she doesn’t understand. The Jinni on the other hand, awakes on the floor of a tinsmith shop in little Syria after a thousand years trapped in a bottle. As the novel continues the stories of the characters become entwined and, in a beautiful example of storytelling, all of the pieces of Wecker’s mythical world fall into place, leaving the reader satisfied yet sad to reach the end.

This genre bending novel has elements of historical fiction and fantasy. Wecker has clearly done a lot of research and paints a vivid picture of New York’s little Syria and Bowery neighborhoods during the turn of the century. Lovers of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and The Night Circus will enjoy the rich detail and intricate plot line.

The Third Eye Centre by Belle & Sebastian [Music CD]

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The Scottish pop group Belle & Sebastian are rather prolific. Along with releasing several albums over the course of their nearly two decade career, the band has also put out several ep’s (i.e. short albums) and non-album track singles. The compilation The Third Eye Centre gathers up interesting ep tracks and b-sides spanning 2003 to 2010.

In this collection, we see the wide range of influence and also the musical versatility Belle & Sebastian possesses. They bounce from perfect pop song to ballad to Bossa Nova to disco to country & western and then back to perfect pop song again.

Singer/songwriters Stuart Murdoch, Stevie Jackson and Sarah Martin provide backstory forall of the tracks in the beautiful attached booklet with this small boxed set. It’s baffling that songs such as “Last Trip”, “Long Black Scarf” or “Blues Eyes of a Millionaire” were cast aside and not included on the band’s albums from the 2000’s. The Third Eye Centre is a really fun, diverse collection that has also enough consistency to make it work as a proper album.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III [DVD]

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Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Katherine Winnick, Patricia Arquette, Aubrey Plaza and Bill Murray star in this dark comedy about a graphic artist going through a painful breakup and life crisis. Charles Swan (played by Charlie Sheen) is a Brandy Alexander drinkin’ guy who has eggs and bacon decals on his old roadster, but also dreams up wild visions of soft shoeing at his own funeral, singing a duet in Portuguese on television and being attacked by models wearing Native American garb. He simply can’t distinguish reality from fantasy.

Roman Coppola, yes son of Francis Ford and brother of Sofia, is the writer/director. The film is a homemade affair with Coppola using his house and office as key locations. He also worked as the director of photography on the picture. A Glimpse Inside, though never stating such, seems to be set during a groovy time in 1970’s: airbrush, velvet suits, cool hair, shades, snazzy record album jackets, etc. In addition, the character of Charles Swan is loosely based on a few airbrush wizards from the L.A. art scene and fittingly, Swan’s studio features the work of several of these artists (including Charles White III).

The film blends off beat comedy, staged fantasy and drama. Also, be sure to listen for Liam Hayes’s brilliant score.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie [Book]

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This is a detailed biography of Catherine II, from her childhood as a minor princess in a small German principality to her long reign as empress and autocrat of all the Russias and one of the most powerful women in Europe. My favorite part: when Catherine donned a uniform and the led the army to arrest her husband and seize his throne! And what lover of books and libraries can resist the story of how Catherine made Denis Diderot her personal librarian? When Catherine heard that the great encyclopedist had run into financial difficulties and wished to sell his library, Catherine bought the entire collection for more than his asking price, insisted that the books stay with Diderot in Paris, and paid him a handsome salary so he could continue his work.

Catherine’s life was full of court politics, international intrigues, subtle power struggles, and secret plots, but also scholarly pursuits, intimate correspondences, lavish parties, extravagant gifts, and love affairs, secret and private. Massie pays great attention to Catherine’s personal life—the excerpts from her love letters are wonderful to read.

Massie’s approach is direct and readable, with chapters based upon subject matter more than chronology.In this book he provides an interesting slice of European and Russian history, a fascinating glimpse of 18th century politics and the influence of Enlightenment thought on a powerful monarch, and an appealing tale of personal struggle and transformation.

Paul F. Tompkins: Laboring Under Delusions [DVD]

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Paul F. Tompkins, comedian-actor-podcaster-improvisational wizard, performs a thematic stand-up set recalling his life as an employed person in Laboring Under Delusions. The long form jokes are delivered in a story setting highlighting the perils of working as a video clerk, a hat salesman (on multiple occasions, he was asked to retrieve a “king hat”) and as a minor character in the film There Will Be Blood. Tompkins is immensely charming and equally hilarious. This is very funny stuff!

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan [Book]

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What does a fire in the Bitterroots have to do with Teddy Roosevelt and the Forest Service? The Forest Service was started by Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the USFS, in 1905. However, many politicians wanted to sell off the forests to large corporations, and thought conservation was a horrible idea. That might sound familiar, but this was at the beginning of the 20th century. A huge fire in 1910 was the catalyst to prevent this new agency from being blown away. Interesting look at the politics of the time, and an adrenaline-inducing account of the front lines of the fire. This book is a coming-of-age story for the United States Forest Service.

October Mourning: a song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman [Book]

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Matthew Shepard was a gay college student who was lured out to the prairie by two young men who brutally beat him, tied him to a fence and left him to die. Using a variety of poetic forms and various perspectives including from the fence, the victim and the perpetrators, Newman has created a book of poetry that is powerful to read and works extremely well as a tool to discuss important issues surrounding Shepard’s tragic death. Excellent forward, epilogue and explanation of the poetic forms used adds to the reader’s understanding and makes this an especially valuable book to use with high school students.

Pootie Tang by Louis C.K. [DVD]

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A case for Pootie Tang, a micro-essay.

Genius comic Louis C.K. had written a script based on a character from the Chris Rock Show and brought it to the big screen in 2001. It has been well documented that the author was extremely unhappy with the final product and the experience caused him a great deal of pain. You see, the film was snatched away in the editing stages and the cut we see now is not Louie’s vision.

This much maligned film stars Lance Crouther, Chris Rock (in several roles), J.B. Smoove and Wanda Sykes and also features several cameos (I’m not going to spoil them here). We follow the life of Pootie Tang, a hero to the people with a magical belt and an unintelligible language. Things go awry when an evil corporate villain, through a series of underhanded schemes, attempts to attach Pootie’s likeness to unhealthy fast food, malt liquor and cigarette smoking.

Despite the critical wrath and lampooning from late night talk shows, Pootie Tang still delivers plenty of laughs in its crazy, surreal music video-esque style. Though many cite the film as a “so bad it’s good” romp, I enjoyed the picture in the most genuine way possible. I found myself laughing loudly throughout and having to catch my breath.

I suppose this off the wall mockumentary was a little ahead of its time at the beginning of the 2000’s. Needless to say, fans would love to one day see Louis C.K.’s director’s cut to view the real Pootie Tang.