my west

Cactus

2005-08-10T02:59:00.000-04:00

Certain songs, I somehow listen to them without hearing the lyrics.

I’ve listened to “Cactus” for years, but only a couple of months ago did I catch the lyrics.

Is “Cactus” taking over the spot as my favorite song by The Pixies?

I saw them perform it live; an experience I highly, highly, highly recommend.

Through Small Windows

2005-08-02T23:28:00.000-04:00

I asked the guy in the music store, what was the music playing.

He told me it was some band called Mus and that it was a burned CD that someone gave him and he didn’t know anything about the band.

He said Alsace Lorraine was similar, and good, that I should get Alsace Lorraine if I liked Mus so I picked it up.

I like it more and more with every listen.

the man

2005-07-20T02:27:00.000-04:00

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.

Leonard Cohen absolutely, hands down, writes the best song lyrics.

Better than Dylan, better than Simon.

He knew it when he put himself high above us in the Tower of Song.

don't you have someone to die for

2005-06-16T00:23:00.000-04:00

Oddly, a speed-metal fanatic turned me onto Belly with their first album, “Star.”

I’m listening to it for the first time in years.

Still good, one of the high points of that alternative thing.

And fun fun lyrics; the lyrics alone had me sold from the get-go.

“The Glands” by The Glands

2005-06-07T02:42:00.000-04:00

I pretty much guarantee this album to any fan of indie music.

Not instantly gratifying; better every time I hear it.

Favorite track: “Favorite American.”

I saw them play once; it was a good time.

"I've made a huge mistake"

2005-05-30T13:34:00.000-04:00

Is Arrested Development just about my favorite TV show ever?

Yes!

I just heard, not cancelled, picked up for another season.

Hurray!

Susie Asado

2005-05-23T10:37:00.000-04:00

I read Gertrude Stein's "Susie Asado" with delight.

Looking for more I started "Tender Buttons."

Is "Tender Buttons" good or just an interesting experiment?

I don't know; give it time.

Steve Zissou

2005-05-19T12:50:00.000-04:00

Some said this was too wacky, but I thought it worked better than Tenenbaums.

Willem Defoe.

Again, Anderson applies a wonderfully fitting music.

Off topic, I am very pleased with Star Wars

Vic Mackey

2005-05-15T23:44:00.000-04:00

I lost interest in cop shows when T.J. Hooker went off the air.

The exception: "The Shield"

The spiral of Vic Mackey and his crew is just enthralling, even mythic.

My only complaint, occasionally too graphic for my sensibilities.

Life is a State of Mind

2005-05-12T00:52:00.000-04:00

Rumor has it Peter Sellers spent years convincing the suits to back “Being There.”

How could I live 29 years without ever hearing about this movie?

Could this be one of the rare films that is better than the book?

I can’t mention Peter Sellers without remembering “The Party”: Birdie num-num!

girl with curls, 1926

2005-05-07T00:36:00.000-04:00

As a kid, I thought the melting clocks were cool.

My take as a teenager: lots of weird stuff; weird is cool.

Now, interesting to "read" but mostly not very appealing.

I keep trying him on, not because of the clocks, but the time, four years ago, I found "Girl with Curls" in the Florida museum of Dali.

All the Real Girls

2005-05-04T22:41:00.000-04:00

I’d wanted to see a movie by David Gordon Green for some time.

Watching “All the Real Girls,” I was not disappointed.

How is it that this guy gets it so right and almost everyone else gets it so wrong?

They say Strong Bad is somewhere in it.

Breathless

2005-05-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

Jean Seberg, cool, adorable, the American girl I’d want to meet were I French.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, I could look into the face of that man all day.

Because of Wong Kar Wai I watched Breathless.

Adore is not the right word, I don’t know the word for how I melt with pleasure into these movies.

pound vs eliot vs jones

2005-05-01T01:14:00.000-04:00

Disparate references, multiple languages make "The Waste Land" more jagged than interesting, much of the Cantos, too.

David Jones wrote "Anathemata" and that other one, I forget the title.

Though more arcane (if possible) the scope is tight, relatively; if you want to read something incomprehensible, go with Jones.

Set them all on fire in exchange for "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which is The modern poem.