Fast Times on the Upper West Side

2012

2012-01-03T00:49:00.001+01:00

giggling all the way

merciless

2011-12-07T03:01:00.002+01:00

heart-renching unrelenting bleak brilliant. left a pit in my stomach.

just want i seek out from an afternoon at the pictures. contender for film of the year.

Madama Butterfly

2011-12-06T17:52:00.002+01:00

Went with S and D to see the superlative relaunch of Minghella's seminal 2006 take on a timeless classic and a FKJ fixture. Placido Domingo conducting. We could not have been further back and while it would have been great to see the amazing production design up-close-and-personal the whole experience was pretty breathtaking regardless. Boasting an awful cold, i reined in my sniffles as best I could.
It's bloody hard though. and I failed, honking snot as the orchestra thundered to a close.

ah yes, revisiting it all.

O a me, sceso dal trono
dell'alto Paradiso,
guarda ben fiso, fiso di tua madre la faccia
che ten resti una traccia, guarda ben!
Amore, addio! addio! piccolo amor!
(con voce fioca)
Va, gioca, gioca!

yup. lost it again.

amazing santana

2011-11-10T19:44:00.003+01:00

I would have dropped Glee about two seasons ago if it hadn't been for
my favourite cheerio. Here she is KILLING it in 'Someone like you' in
an Adele mash-up.

I swear, I wept.

Now go punch Finn's lights out.

drawn to the cult leader

2011-10-28T20:41:00.001+02:00

camping ain't so bad

2011-10-11T06:47:00.002+02:00

a couple of ticks and a cold night's sleep but i was with my two favourite girls in the throes of an indian summer in connecticut

change!

2011-09-29T14:50:00.001+02:00

here is how the palestinians feel about you screwing them over.

melancholia

2011-09-26T04:02:00.002+02:00

cannot, repeat cannot wait
and love seeing my boy kiefer

tomorrow is another day

2011-09-23T04:32:00.002+02:00

butch ciucci and the sundance niblet do nantuckey

2011-09-18T17:35:00.003+02:00

a much-needed and much-appreciated break to a stunning corner of the earth for my first and only swim of a dimming summer. maude of course had a blast, until she ingested lots of sand, got quite ill, worried both her mommies silly and cost us a mild fortune in emergency vet care.

"maggots in my scrotum"

2011-09-09T01:06:00.003+02:00

tiz and i laughed and laughed at this irreverent religious satire. anything was game and nothing was sacred.

she better be worth it!

2011-08-27T19:47:00.002+02:00

armed with carlo gesualdo, the three-colours trilogy and the decalogue, a couple bottles of good white and a small stash of cigarettes (hell if it's the end of the world i might as well enjoy a final puff!), we are all set to spend the next 48 plus hours holed up at home.
a hurricane is just what i needed to inflict much needed rest. now, onto the first of a stack of novels.

i know i am settling in

2011-08-13T21:49:00.005+02:00

when i can devote a good 50% of my weekend to watching films. am squeezing plenty in this weekend but the highlight so far is, unsurprisingly, a couple of classics in black and white. always had a huge soft spot for nicholas ray (ahem "Johnny Guitar") and though he is better known as the director of "rebel without a cause," his contributions to the film noir genres are what make him a stand-out in my eyes.

'pornsicles'

2011-08-10T03:46:00.006+02:00

after an envigorating meal in K town, what better option to refresh the palate than red bean/green tea popsicles nextdoor. buoyed by the general merriment of the occasion -- our mic turning 28 -- we displayed some skills at licking, sucking and you get the jest. some of us were better at this than others. judge for yourself. ahem.
(photo credit to RT)

next up was: best asian
we had some naturals and then some were just rubbish. ahem

better times

2011-07-23T23:14:00.003+02:00

love is a losing game

pre-fame

say what you

2011-07-23T18:30:00.000+02:00

will about the band. but this is a stunning song.

musical indulgences

2011-07-22T03:08:00.002+02:00

the national are the band i just cannot get out of my mind. been listening to this album on and off for a year now and the one before that compulsively. just not getting tired of them. not been this obsessed since radiohead.

Miranda July -- am a lover not a hater

2011-07-20T15:36:00.002+02:00

she has her detractors, who find her twee, cloying, annoying, contrived. you name it, they say it with a certain relish.

i disagree. All i have seen of her work (and the exposure has been limited so maybe that helps) seems effortless, spontaneous and original without trying too hard. Plus she has great style.

Regardless it's been six years since her last film and i am looking forward to her new one, since the theme touches me and my generation personally:

"It’s kind of about letting go of that feeling of my 20s, that feeling that I will do absolutely everything, I will have sex with everyone, I will go to every country,” she says. “In your 30s, it’s obvious that a finite amount of things will happen.” @NYT

cannot wait

2011-07-18T07:05:00.002+02:00

"Melancholia è prima di tutto una pellicola dolorosa e angosciosa, quello che, per sadismo e assoluta mancanza di speranza, si potrebbe definire il film definitivo di Von Trier."

simply marvellous

2011-07-17T08:02:00.000+02:00

and kind of in love with rob

cover thursday

2011-07-15T00:42:00.001+02:00

caro emerald does gaga's finest hour, bad romance

love it

dismayed. horrified. outraged

2011-07-12T03:44:00.002+02:00

oh the Horror, the horror

so seems that Spike flipping lee is remaking OLDBOY, one of the best films of the 2000s and nothing short of a staggering masterpiece (drool. gush. dribble. sigh)

blogs are alive with the same ringing question: is he right person for the job?
rather, why not ask the rather more obvious question of why they are bothering remaking it all. a classic is a classic. leave it be! don't touch! hands off! fuk off!

i am just so bloody angry at this. it's a tale as old as time of course, the butchering of foreign-language films at the hands of hollywood. about 95% of the time it's always revealed itself a terrible idea and a money-losing proposition to boot so why they keep doing it over and over is frankly baffling.

no good can come of this particularly misguided enterprise. add to that my personal antipathy for spike lee (i will grudgingly grant him kudos for the exceptional 25th Hour) and it's enough to ruin week. uff, i feel sick.

not to keep banging on, but the most disturbing aspect of all this is that OLDBOY is so steeped in Korea culture, obsessions and perversions i am not even sure how you can take it of that context and hope to salvage something.

let me relive the magic for a second before it gets tainted

ah just beautiful.

italian pool party time

2011-07-10T18:05:00.005+02:00

last week i was caught unawares when i realized i certain small asian niblet had run off to cambodia with my swimming costume, leaving me in the somewhat difficult position of having to borrow my lovely host's wife's bikini when i rocked up to a pool party on a sunday. deciding that my shameless borrowing habits had hit new unacceptable lows, i went out with turd this morning, under the blazing washington sun, to see what the capital had to offer in terms of bathing wear. see above
so am off to the italian pool party where the men cook up feasts and i get to do handstands in the water and go a light shade of lobster red.

nough said

2011-07-09T01:50:00.003+02:00

hottest couple ever

works for me

2011-07-06T21:48:00.001+02:00

best actress of her generation

2011-07-03T03:19:00.001+02:00

remembrances

2011-07-02T04:17:00.003+02:00

well chaps, it's been more than three years. my longest relationship. and very happy years they have been. here is a splattering of them, courtesy of my shorter and better half. i miss her terribly since she has buggered off to cambodia doing lord knows what, leaving me on hound duty for a month. when she returns we're settling into NYC.

2011-06-18T20:57:00.000+02:00

ayrton

2011-06-11T01:52:00.003+02:00

if it was up solely to me i would name our first born ayrton.
how i loved the man, let me count the ways.
not only was he staggeringly sexy, charismatic, intense, talented, not-of-this world. he was proud. and petulant. simply put, i remember swathes of my semi-unhappy adolescence crouched in hardwick, cambridge watching this man race. i was never interested in formula one before nor have i been interested since. he elevated it to an art form and his rivalry with alain proust is up there with the bjorg/McEnroe dance of foes.

as i teared up on air force two en route to zambia to the preoccupied bemusement of the hostess ("are you ok?") i thought to myself, well when did the 90s and my youth feel so dated. i felt mildly prehistoric in remembering recent history, so fresh in my mind, given the retrospective treatment. ayrton will always be 34. incidentally my age.

opposite ends of the globe

2011-05-27T11:54:00.007+02:00

while i was travelling from a refugee camp north of Khartoum to a Dinka village in southern sudan, Jasmine was having the roadtrip to end all roadtrips toward east Oregon and beyond. a few of the pictures we sent each other.

in an endless layover in london, and my tots are not even around to visit

HIGH-LARIOUS

2011-05-16T23:02:00.004+02:00

good lord, i have not laughed this much in yonks. i might have even wet myself in the progress. kristen wiig is a comic goddess.

s and m

2011-05-09T03:56:00.001+02:00

i may be bad but i am perfectly good.

track of the fuking year

2011-05-09T03:29:00.004+02:00

black keys and their brothers all the way,

need a lebanese t-shirt

2011-04-27T04:02:00.003+02:00

...and thanks to oatsy and the wonders of the digital age. i have one!

yes

2011-04-27T02:56:00.001+02:00

of god and men

two letters, one truth

2011-04-27T02:55:00.001+02:00

just beautiful.

heading here

2011-04-12T22:57:00.002+02:00

for a record-breaking 5-hour stay.

crossing 4 continents in a week.

EXHAUSTED

Tre Topi

2011-04-10T22:21:00.002+02:00

I am starting to do double-chin massages.

sunday listening

2011-04-03T20:13:00.000+02:00

loving agnes obel. brings out a twinge of amsterdam.

getting my stevie nicks on

2011-03-18T14:52:00.003+01:00

Well, I've been afraid of changing
Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
I'm getting older too

PINKIE.
BRITTANA

hymn to ungrateful daughters

2011-03-02T15:59:00.000+01:00

bound to be in an INSTANT classic

LOVE

2011-02-18T20:31:00.001+01:00

2011 is already special. we have a new radiohead album. and thom yorke is sexy

britbit lovefest

2011-01-21T02:51:00.003+01:00

my love for Britney has been steadfast and unwavering. through thick and thin. from the distant 1998 original school-girl revelation, through to the head-shaving lows, to today's more mature monster hits. my white-trash girl can do no wrong. no one comes close to her. madonna retire. lady gaga. take a topple on those wonky high heels.
my top ten favourite britbrit moments.

1. ...baby one more time

decade-defining: "hit me"

2. oops i did it again

"I am not that innocent."

3. I'm slave 4 U

"gimme, gimme."

4. Me Against the Music

"are you ready?"

5. Stronger

pulling off flared trousers: "my loneliness ain't killing me no more.°

6. Piece of Me

Miss American Dream Since 17

7. Toxic

fasten your seatbelts, thanks for flying on toxic air

8. If you seek amy

"love me, hate me, say what you want about me..."

9. Radar

On my gaydar

10. Womanizer
womanizer

is that all there is?

2011-01-19T02:48:00.000+01:00

oh ganzy

what i am looking forward to the most in 2011

2010-12-26T23:47:00.002+01:00

todd solondz is a genius

2010-12-23T03:30:00.004+01:00

12 years ago he made one of the best films of the 90s. if the quasi-sequel to happiness does not pack quite the same punch, it is regardless confirmation of the fact that few people make me laugh out loud, gasp in horror, shrink in embarrassment and cry in sadness pretty much all at the same time. enjoyable? questionable. necessary? most certainly.

and charlotte rampling is in it.

and a great soundtrack

devendra and beck. what is not to like?

you know who you are!

2010-12-20T01:55:00.002+01:00

90s revival! makes me tear up. love shania.

i don't want to hear any errrs.

yes, she can still move her face

2010-12-18T22:51:00.002+01:00

Rabbit Hole

Well, Saturday is all about watching good drama. and this fits the bill. A young couple coming to terms with the death of their 4-year-old. Moving, obviously. But also good lashings on humour. For such heavy subject matter, one walks away feeling, well, optimistic.

best film of the year?

2010-12-18T19:40:00.002+01:00

quite possibly. tipped off by oats.
jacki weaver. give the woman an oscar. NOW

ANIMAL KINGDOM

relished it

2010-12-05T22:58:00.000+01:00

home is rome

2010-11-19T04:16:00.006+01:00

specifically..

on via gino capponi, seventy one.

after three months, i can honestly say i cannot get back fast enough. go straight to my local market. taste what a real tomato should taste like. have a decent coffee. hop on my scooter and roam aimlessly in the most beautiful city in the world.

eccomi! arrivo!

Another reporter: Which of the cities visited did Your Highness enjoy the most?
General Provno: [prompting] Each, in its own way...
Princess Ann: Each, in its own way, was unforgettable. It would be difficult to - Rome! By all means, Rome. I will cherish my visit
here in memory as long as I live.

"does this tampon make me look fat?"

2010-11-15T03:54:00.002+01:00

Not sure i could have take more than 84 minutes of it, but for that time i was very entertained and well, god bless joan. if she did not exist, you would have to invent her.

deposed

2010-10-29T02:03:00.003+02:00

well, after 10 years of unbrindled loyalty to kate moss, I've moved on.
it's all about freja. and named after the norse myth's goddess of war and love (the vikings didn't differentiate...). what's not to like?

(Dossier Journal, Copyright)

the hunt is over

2010-10-27T23:30:00.002+02:00

i have searched for el nido (1980) for a good ten years! out of print. out of favour. out of luck. well, i found it! an old VHS copy that will somehow have to be converted into 21st century viewing technology. but hell, i could not be happier.

i like to think of it as a valuable accompanying piece to harold and maude. the touching story of an eccentric widower and the precocious 12-year-old Goyita. To a sountrack of Haydn. what's not to like?

tiesto ft emily haines

2010-10-27T06:23:00.001+02:00

operatic highs

2010-10-14T18:45:00.002+02:00

it's been YEARS marjorie, since i went to the opera (tristan and isolde, Royal Opera House, circa late 1990s). finally, am about to stage a triumphant return and will make my debut at the metropolitan to see boris godunov, hands down my favourite opera. 4 1/2 hours and in russian. what's not to like! giddy, i tell you. giddy.

New York, New York, UN, UN

2010-09-27T02:03:00.002+02:00

UN, PHD, Waldord Astoria, Last minute peace talks, room service, late night dashes to the village, early morning wake-ups, lurking in corridors, harrassing officials. sweating profusely, panicking, romancing, more loitering, waiting and waiting. one week, two weekends spent running a high blood pressure.

brit brit gleeful

2010-09-23T05:52:00.001+02:00

i simply CANNOT BEAR IT. the LEG, BRITNEY, will be on glee. the best of..
toxic, hit me baby, the works.
moved to tears.
next week.

Tipping

2010-09-17T16:39:00.001+02:00

never let me go

2010-09-16T03:39:00.003+02:00

seeing it sunday.

"I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart. That's how it is with us. It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever."

usually do not like remakes

2010-09-15T01:15:00.002+02:00

but when they star kate winslet and evan rachel wood. i can make an exception.

Mildred
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fit for society

2010-09-15T01:02:00.004+02:00

the headstrong, yet entirely lovable, hound is in training. so that she can be fit to be seen and not heard in people's homes. not attacking children. so she and J are attending doggy bootcamp. it's all about positive reinforcements, apparently. and the results so far have been truly astonishing.

those fanning sisters

2010-09-13T18:41:00.001+02:00

somewhere. coppola. can hardly wait.

goodbyes hurt

2010-09-13T03:49:00.001+02:00

babies! the movie

2010-09-11T15:27:00.001+02:00

birthday fish

2010-09-11T02:01:00.002+02:00

The East Coast's Only Sustainable Sushi, which includes an INVASIVE SPECIES menu

This is where J is taking me for my birthday

The owner appears to be a complete kook, by the looks of the Web Site. But the place is packing every night. cannot wait.

mean girl is back

2010-09-03T20:28:00.000+02:00

Robert Fisk on Tony B

2010-09-03T18:34:00.001+02:00

Robert Fisk: Blair should take responsibility for Iraq. But he won't. He can't (Independent, Sept. 3)

Has this wretched man learned nothing? On and on, it went during his BBC interview: "I would absolutely...","I definitely...", "I believed absolutely clearly...", "It was very, very clear that this changed everything" – "this" being 11 September 2001 – "Let me state clearly and unequivocally", "The Intelligence picture was clear...", "legal justification was quite clear", "We said completely accurately... "Because I believed strongly, then and now...", "My definitive view in the end is..." You would have thought we won the war in Iraq, that we were winning the war in Afghanistan, that we were going to win the next war in Iran. And why not, if Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara says so.

And I hereby abandon all further reference to Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara, with its unhappy reference to Britain's humiliating military defeat in 1915 Mesopotamia. He must be re-created Lord Blair of Isfahan. Having conquered Saddam, he wants to conquer Ahmadinejad. "I am saying that it is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons capability," he told poor old Andrew Marr. It was necessary for the Iranians," quoth he, "to get that message, loud and clear." Thus did our Middle East peace envoy prepare us for war with Persia. But I rather fear the Iranians got his "message" a long time ago: if you want to avoid threats from the likes of Lord Blair, you'd better buy a bomb pdq. After all, what he didn't announce was: "I am saying it is wholly unacceptable for North Korea to have nuclear capability." And we all know why.

Sometimes, Blair sounded like the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. He and his Israeli boss believe Ahmadinejad is worse than Hitler – which takes some doing – and Lord Blair, as we know, is no appeaser. Oddly, however – since he's supposed to be our peacemaker between the two sides – "Israel" and "Palestine" were two words that went totally unmentioned, even though Blair blurted out to the Chilcot inquiry that there had been "phone calls" with Israelis during his decision-making conference with Bush over Iraq. Marr missed out there. What on earth were Blair and Bush talking to the Israelis about as they prepared to take us into this catastrophe?

It was all so very schoolboyish. Yes, "people" disagreed about the war. "People always want to look for a conspiracy." And – my favourite – "this debate will go on." But it's not a bloody debate – it's a bloody, blood-soaked disaster, for which Blair should take responsibility. But he won't. He can't. So Iraq's descent into butchery was all the fault of al-Qa'ida, of "the external involvement" of al-Qa'ida and Iran.

Iraq was "destabilised by the same external forces that destabilised Afghanistan." Alas no. The men shooting and bombing and killing Brits and Americans in Iraq were largely Iraqis, the very men – and occasionally women – whom Messrs Blair and Bush thought they were liberating from Saddam. "People are driving car bombs into crowded suburbs," Lord Blair said at one point, as if this was some kind of folkloric tradition, an odd tribal habit that had nothing to do with our 2003 invasion.

"How can you not feel sorry about people who have died?" Lord Blair remarked of the victims. What we wanted to hear was "I feel sorry for the people who have been killed." Even that might have come a tad nearer an admission of guilt. "We haven't caused this," Blair said in an unguarded moment. Not my fault, Guv! I noticed, too, how Marr stuck to the minimum 100,000 figure for Iraq's dead, rather than the half million or million statistic which haunts our former prime minister. Thus Blair was able to refer to the "hundreds of thousands of people who died under Saddam". It was the old story. Blair wasn't as bad as Saddam. And Blair's nicer than Hitler, more sympathetic than Stalin, kinder than Genghis Khan. Nope. This whole mess had nothing to do with Lord Blair. "You have to have the courage to do what you think is right." But "thinking" is not good enough. I hope the air-raid sirens in Isfahan are in good working order.

doing long distance

2010-08-14T16:45:00.002+02:00

involves virtual explanations on how to pay house bills, mild irritation, a splash of confusion, a bit of silliness and blowing of kisses.

hot and hotter

2010-08-11T05:14:00.004+02:00

for slaps and

giggles (click)

gao gao

2010-07-12T13:03:00.002+02:00

in the footsteps of Mr Smith

2010-07-09T19:44:00.001+02:00

with ambitions as lofty.

Il Legittimo Impedimento

2010-07-09T13:38:00.001+02:00

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

The kids are all right

2010-07-09T12:56:00.004+02:00

Well it opens today and below is a cut and paste job of the glowing NYT review.

I’m tempted to start this review by falling back on a tried-and-true movie critic formulation and saying something like “Lisa Cholodenko’s ‘Kids Are All Right’ is the best comedy about an American family since ...” Since what? Precedents and grounds for comparison seem to be lacking, so I may have to let the superlative stand unqualified for now.

Which is fine: Ms. Cholodenko’s film, which she wrote with Stuart Blumberg, is so canny in its insights and so agile in its negotiation of complex emotions that it deserves to stand on its own. It is outrageously funny without ever exaggerating for comic effect, and heartbreaking with only minimal melodramatic embellishment.

But its originality — the thrilling, vertiginous sense of never having seen anything quite like it before — also arises from the particular circumstances of the family at its heart. There is undeniable novelty to a movie about a lesbian couple whose two teenage children were conceived with the help of an anonymous sperm donor. Families like this are hardly uncommon in the real world, but Ms. Cholodenko (“Laurel Canyon,” “High Art”) and Mr. Blumberg have discovered in this very modern arrangement a way of refreshing the ancient and durable wellsprings of comedy.

“The Kids Are All Right” starts from the premise that gay marriage, an issue of ideological contention and cultural strife, is also an established social fact. Nic and Jules, a couple with two children, a Volvo and a tidy, spacious house in a pleasant suburban stretch of Southern California, are a picture of normalcy.

Which is to say that they are loving, devoted, responsible and a bit of a mess. Some of this is midlife malaise: not quite a crisis, at least not at first. Nic (Annette Bening), an OB-GYN, is the breadwinner and principal worrier. Jules (Julianne Moore), who has dabbled in various careers while taking care of the children, is restless and maybe just a little flaky. They are comfortable with each other, more or less content, but also frustrated, confused, a bit out of sorts. As I said: normal.

It is almost impossible to find the right shorthand for these women. Their speech patterns and habits certainly seem familiar. The screenwriters’ ear for the way therapeutic catchphrases and hazy insights recalled from college reading lists filter into everyday conversation is as unerring as Ms. Moore’s offbeat comic timing or Ms. Bening’s tactical use of silence. But though they are recognizable, Nic and Jules are hardly predictable; they are not types, but people, and the acid of satire is applied to them sparingly and sensitively enough to avoid corroding the essential empathy that grounds the movie.

Of course, in every family empathy has its limits. Nic and Jules don’t always communicate very well, and their children — the 18-year-old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and her 15-year-old brother, Laser (Josh Hutcherson) — have reached the stage when parents seem like alien, irrational and outmoded beings. Your parents are supposed to understand you (not that they ever can), while you have no choice but to tolerate them.

Joni, about to leave for college, is trying to figure out the terms of her fast-approaching independence, while Laser follows along behind his best friend, a bullying goofball named Clay (Eddie Hassell). Laser’s wide-eyed fascination at the sight of Clay rough-housing with his father registers curiosity and barely articulated longing. What would it be like to have a dad? To help him find out — and to shut him up — Laser’s skeptical, kindhearted sister tracks down the sperm donor, who turns out to be a restaurant owner and organic farmer named Paul.

The shorthand description of Paul is that he is played by Mark Ruffalo, with specific reference to the goodnatured, feckless brother Mr. Ruffalo played in “You Can Count on Me.” Paul is sort of like a cleaned-up, more self-confident version of that guy, with the same hesitant intonation, crooked smile (behind a graying goatee) and slightly dangerous charm. When Joni calls him, Paul, a good sport and a bit of an adventurer, gamely accepts her invitation to meet the family (“I love lesbians!”), and his relaxed manner smoothes over an awkward initial meeting.

Much more awkwardness will follow, along with some real emotional peril. Nic and Jules are not won over at first — “a bit full of himself” is their not inaccurate verdict — but he manages to connect with both Joni and Laser in ways that their moms can’t. His position as a sympathetic outsider grants him insights that the family members lack, and in turn Joni, Laser and Jules come to see him as a confidant and counselor, a special kind of friend.

But nothing is more disruptive to domestic order than an unattached heterosexual man. In mid-19th-century America, anxiety about guys more or less like Paul drove movements for social and religious reform, and Ms. Cholodenko suggests that those advocates of temperance and other remedies may have had a point. Not that Paul, an effortless seducer (of at least one co-worker and at least one lesbian mom), is exactly the villain of the movie. He starts out too good to be true and winds up causing a lot of trouble, but at the end he’s more scapegoat than demon, and the filmmakers forgive him even if the other characters cannot.

Along the way, Ms. Cholodenko somehow blends the anarchic energy of farce — fueled by coincidences and reversals, collisions and misunderstandings — with a novelistic sensitivity to the almost invisible threads that bind and entangle people. The performances are all close to perfect, which is to say that the imperfections of each character are precisely measured and honestly presented.

There is great music too, both on the soundtrack and, in one extraordinary scene, sung a cappella at the dinner table. (It’s Joni Mitchell’s “Blue,” beautifully harmonized by Nic and Paul). The title is a musical reference, of course, to a song by the Who, a good choice for all kinds of reasons. Another one might have been the name of a lovely ballad of enduring love recorded a few years ago by Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler: “This Is Us.”

NYT Top 1000 Films of All Time

2010-07-08T11:18:00.002+02:00

A hefty list indeed and one that i will devote my next hour to perusing. Am going to first tick off the ones that i have seen (assuming virtually all, and will congratulate myself on that) and then i will get my knick knocks in a twist about the strange inclusion of the likes of "about schmidt" (and that is on just the first of 20 pages). The point of this post? NYT critics have nothing up on me.

when fashion get it wrong

2010-07-07T13:00:00.003+02:00

fashion forward? more like little shop of horrors. These gladiator-style shoes are the summer rage. Not only does it make shoe purchases an impossibility, it means i also have to stomach the sight of them. There are many things to miss of ancient rome. their sandals are not one of them.

sad

2010-07-02T21:48:00.011+02:00

i have supported la selecao all my life and i doubt that will change but tonight i was ashamed. Every four years you feel different things when your team gets knocked out. It changes. In 2006, it was rage and resentment at a mediocre side outplayed by France.

This year, I saw a winning team choke and commit an ugly, pointless and suicidal foul. The Brazil i love plays beautiful (and practical) football but the players don't dive
for points and they certainly don't viciously stamp on rivals' legs when they panic.
Ronaldo posted on twitter that Melo better not think of vacationing in Brazil this year. And while I feel a collective mea culpa is in order, I can't help but give Melo the same advice. The autogol is one thing (hey, shit happens), but leaving your team one man down because you're a frustrated arsehole is another.

i can't help but feel this was Brazil's game to lose but hats off to the dutch for keeping a cool head and showing with actions that one can come from behind and win games. Brazil needs to feel less entitled. So final thoughts after one of the worst footballing harakiris i have seen. I am supporting Brazil's archrival Argentina, hoping they win fair and square without divine intervention. If God is not Brazilian, then i hope he's at least from latin america.

a cracker

2010-06-27T14:50:00.001+02:00

a sappy and crappy remake was made with al pacino. PFFFT.

two ballads

2010-06-27T14:08:00.004+02:00

for love lost and love blind. from the master. fabrizio.

now onto la buona novella and an afternoon devoted to the poet.

more crud to watch

2010-06-25T22:56:00.000+02:00

cheerleaders!

sting's daughter all grown up

2010-06-22T11:53:00.000+02:00

shout out to DJS.

BROMANCE YO

2010-06-20T13:59:00.001+02:00

an absolute wee cracker

SOOOO good

2010-06-20T13:01:00.004+02:00

and not because i have a crush the size of the pacific on the little KS. but because it's actually really rather good!

never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret

2010-06-20T12:57:00.003+02:00

yup folks. i have succumbed to another teen crudder series. warning: there is very little that is actually good about it but i just cannot stay away.

praise be

2010-06-15T19:59:00.001+02:00

if she did not exist, we would have to invent her.

a taste of greece

2010-06-07T11:10:00.003+02:00

hundreds of pictures were taken of the bride, her husband and her friends. but until i can get hold of them i thought i would put a little taster of our island break lest we forget that this time last week we were in another time and another place. photos taken by H W, my fellow trekker up to hydra's highest point.

teen crud alert!

2010-05-26T22:26:00.002+02:00

crud starved for years, i see promise in this. or will my hopes be hopelessly dashed?

7 girls, one lord and a hound in the country

2010-05-18T17:52:00.014+02:00

Disclaimer: all photos posted were taken by Lord Leng, armed with a Nikon and a huge motherflapping lens.

so, what to expect from the motley crew? no good could come of it obviously.

first we had the getting ready:

then some photo op:

and requisite narcissism from the usual suspects:

then we got round to matter at hand, drinking, sucking, dipping, posing:

some things done were best left unsaid:

and then there were the hangovers:

which of course didn't stop us from doing it all over again.
girls and boy, see you all for Porno!
bigger, better, more of the same!

smacking my lips

2010-05-15T11:27:00.002+02:00

dirty vod martini

2010-05-11T15:01:00.000+02:00

my new favourite drink. it's all in the brine.

celluloid crushes

2010-05-07T17:23:00.003+02:00

well, as most of you are aware my top celluloid crush is 51 (CK!) and well, my latest most persistent one has err. barely turned 20.
am keeping it chaste and saying that while i have no time for the horrific twilight franchise (after seeing the EXECRABLE second installment) i have been a huge fan of Kristen Stewart's work since i took notice with into the wild and undertow. since then i have perked up and taken notice. looks like she will now be directed by brazil's walter salles (central do brasil!) in a new movie. here's to her continuing to make smart choices and to keep looking astonishingly beguilingly beautiful.

here's hoping i didn't come across too dirty old man. but if i did, can you blame me?

my kind of loving

2010-05-03T22:55:00.002+02:00

(credit: little sarah H)

touch wood

2010-05-01T18:04:00.003+02:00

in every trip J takes overseas she invariably whips herself into a state of mild hysteria. the fears, as one would imagine, are the usual suspects that cannot be named because, you know, one cannot tempt fate. one particular favourite of mine is dengue fever. it is horrid, obviously, you contract the virus most foul from pesky mosquitoes and, winningly, it lies dormant the little fucker. therein lies the disclaimer. hard to argue with her that she she does not have it, because you know, it could snap out of dormancy any time. Anyhoooow. there is a lot of repeated touch wooding when she takes off anywhere (I have chosen path of least resistance and comply). This time to South Africa no less. In spite of seeming a bit of a scary cat she is actually a pretty brave badger and is going on a tigers-lions-and-bears-oh-my safari on her own.

unfortunate

2010-04-29T18:58:00.000+02:00

(credit: MB)

"Eminenza, con l'aria che tira in questo periodo, non sarebbe il caso di cambiare la vetrata?"

Frap Summit

2010-04-28T15:51:00.004+02:00

some inane grinning shots from the annual F-3 Summit. Delegates gravitated toward Washington this year. There were lots of issues on the agenda, ranging from global imbalances to exit strategies. I feel we got a firm grip on one and all, aided and abetted by a couple of mimosas.

volcano ashed

2010-04-19T11:16:00.001+02:00

(romolo, googly eyes, little nip, babs)

man about the house

2010-03-13T13:55:00.001+01:00

utter kak

2010-03-13T13:48:00.001+01:00

settled into the sofa with mic, a glass of wine and the turd to watch pedro's latest. was quite looking forward to it after initial trepidation (my not being a fan of cruz does make me biased). Regardless, was utterly disappointed. This is possibly his worst film. I can honestly say i enjoyed Kika more than this. big fat zero.

I love la bollox

2010-03-08T09:13:00.002+01:00

her speech was funny, gracious, and moving

and i for one, did not think her frock was that bad at all.

true blood

2010-03-03T08:22:00.002+01:00

(photo: leon)

kicking off the morning with a dose of pomegranate juice.