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Soccer fever has reached the remote corners of the globe. Follow the adventures of a family of Mongolian nomads, a camel caravan of Tuareg in the Sahara, and a group of Indios in the Amazon as they stop at nothing to watch the World Cup on television. I was laughing hysterically through the whole movie. In Kazajo dialect (Mongolia), Tamashek (Niger) and Tupi (Brazil), with optional English subtitles.
Tagged: Feature film, Foreign film, Soccer
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Following World War II, British author, Juliet Ashton is looking for inspiration for her next book. She begins corresponding with a man from Guernsey who was part of a book club, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, during the war while the island was occupied by the Germans. The club acted as an alibi to protect the residents from arrest. She begins corresponding with other members of the club and draws inspiration from their story of courage and preservation. The book is told through the correspondence and is a touching read.
Tagged: Europe, Fiction, Historical fiction
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Two young women, an Orthodox Jewish and a Muslim, meet as first year teachers a public school in Brooklyn. They become friends as they share their troubles in finding suitable matches for arranged marriages. Arranged is a satisfying, warm, and at times, amusing independent film.
Tagged: Brooklyn, Drama, Feature film
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Three siblings’ memories of the past and aspirations for the future collide when confronted with their shared inheritance of an exceptional 19th century art collection and the family’s country house in Oliver Assayas’ 2008 feature film. Left to negotiate the future of the collection and the country house in which it has been kept, Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), a successful New York designer, Frédéric (Charles Berling), an economist and university professor in Paris, and Jérémie (Jérémie Renier), a dynamic businessman in China, confront the end of childhood, their shared memories and backgrounds, and unique visions of the future. The film is a complex spin on the traditional pastoral country house film and poses questions about the power of objects and their connection to the sentimental allure of the past in an age of globalization. One of two feature films that developed out of a proposed series of shorts that would have been produced to celebrate the Musée D’Orsay’s twentieth anniversary (the other film, The Flight of the Red Balloon, also starred Binoche). Despite these heady themes and what sounds like a relatively mundane plot, the film remains focused and often riveting due to its great casting and exceptional cinematography. French Language, with subtitles.
Tagged: Drama, Feature film, Foreign film, French language
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The 2004 debut album from the criminally overlooked UK singer with a lavishly soulful voice and sass to match. While British singers such as Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Estelle, Joss Stone and Lily Allen have sold millions, Alice has remained relatively unknown in the United States. With production fusing Latin, Girl Group, Hip-Hop, house, drum & bass, funk, gospel, jazz, rock and classic R&B sounds , Alice’s voice remains the core of her first release, which was largely a compilation of singles, remixes and collaborations. Known for her numerous side projects including Bah Samba, the Here Lies Love project with David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, the Bamboos, Quantic Soul Orchestra, her tours with diverse artists like De La Soul, Roy Ayers, the Roots and Lonnie Liston Smith and her collaborations with producer and co-writer TM Juke, the blue eyed, blonde haired lass from Brighton makes every song she performs unique and joyful.
Tagged: Pop music, Soul music
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Our friends at Wax Poetics Magazine have released a book which compiles the craziest album covers one can possibly imagine. After the introductory pages by David Hollander, we say goodbye to commentary and are left only with high quality images of curated wacky lp covers. This is one of those books where one can flip through endlessly. Some of the images are truly original, inspired works of art, whereas others are just plain and unbridled insanity. Colorful and psychedelic explosions sit along side grinning, mustachioed men on roller skates and “Music For Your Plants”… Better yet, the artwork for the record “Music To Massage Your Mate By” could leave just about anyone in stitches.
Thanks has to go to all of the contributors who collect these treasures at various flea markets, record shops and thrift stores. Weirdos!
Tagged: Art, Humor, Music, Non-fiction
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David Sedaris, our favorite expatriate, quirky, self-deprecating funny man, has penned a new collection of short stories. The issues and tone are certainly classic Sedaris, but this time his subjects are animals! For instance, a baboon hairdresser is having difficulty finding a common gossip angle with a cat who is at the salon for an appointment… also, a self righteous lab rat wishes diseases on those who aren’t kind to her. Readers who enjoy dark, observational humor will enjoy this wonderful collection.
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This refreshing biography about the pioneer country rock outfit unearths plenty of new insight. Author John Eirarson leaves behind previously scattered, sensational headlines for contemporary accounts of the group’s living members (including extensive interviews with founding member/ex- Byrd Chris Hillman). Where as most biographies of the Burritos tend to lean on the “tortured soul” angle of the late Gram Parsons, “Hot Burritos” discusses the collective innovation and follies of this seminal group.
Tagged: Biography, Country music, Music, Non-fiction
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“Ram on give your heart to somebody…soon right away, right away,” McCartney laments on the ukulele driven “Ram On”. Ram, the sole album credited to Paul & Linda McCartney, is truly a family affair with half of the songs credited to the couple. Despite several tunes with surreal, nonsensical lyrics, Ram seems to give us a window into a simpler life. There’s numbers about dogs, the desire to live in the country and young love.
While retaining an element of the homemade sound McCartney crafted on his debut record, the pair also delve into Beach Boys arrangements and harmony as well as exploring something I’d like to call easy-listening/avante garde (see “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” or “Long Haired Lady”). Other highlights include the rocker “Eat at Home” and the false ending with futuristic tag on “The Back Seat of My Car”.
Ram gives us the impression that these are people who are doing it their own way… just have a look at the back cover to see the cryptic message Paul has left about his feelings toward his old group.
Tagged: Beatles, Music, Rock music
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Aimée Leduc is a tough private detective who specializes in computer security investigations. She is hired by a rabbi to work with an encrypted photograph. Needing money to pay back taxes, she takes on this anomalous investigation which takes us through richly-drawn Paris in the Marais district, November 1993 and during the occupation, including politics, past and present, Nazis and neo-Nazis, and has Aimée running for her life.
The first in the Aimée Leduc Investigations series, which explores a different area of Paris in each novel.
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The head of Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, Mnookin offers guidance on how to make a wise decision about engaging with an untrustworthy adversary. He identifies traps to avoid, strategies and tools for analyzing challenging situations. Case studies from the lives of business and political leaders (including Churchill and Mandela) as well as ordinary citizens illustrate the principles and are fascinating stories in their own right.
Tagged: Negotiation, Non-fiction
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Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O’Connor play with ideas drawn from traditional American fiddle tunes on this album; the results are great fun. The traditional tunes on this album are often played at a slower tempo than that which you may be accustomed to hearing, but this fantastically talented trio fills the resulting space well, using harmonies and polyphonic lines that give the music an almost classical feel.
Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Edgar Meyer, bass; Mark O’Connor, violin. James Taylor and Alison Krauss join the trio for a song and a tune each.
Tagged: Folk music