Thursday, August 31, 2006

Morning act.6


Playlist 31/8/2006 07.10π.μ
1. Love Unlimited - Under the influence of Love
2. Diana Ross - My hero is gun
3. Lyn Collins - Put it on the line
4. Bobby Caldwell - My Flame
5. Mighty Tom Cats - Soul Makossa
6. Linda Crowford - Never gonna stop
7. Al Green - Love & Happiness
8. Bill Conti - Going the distance
9. Vicki Anderson - Message from the soul sisters
10. Stevie Wonder - Too High
11. Sylvester - Was it something i said

Criterion Masterpieces.4


I have heard many people's opinions on how they think that compared to Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet Olivier's is too brooding, quiet and humourless. I would like to tell everyone now that Olivier's style of acting is a unique style, one that in roles such as Hamlet is entirely intricate. I would like to now give the non-biased comparisons between Olivier and Brannagh's Hamlet. Olivier's silences hold you captivated. Brannagh's silences do not, because he never stops talking. Olivier's words are poignantly spoken and beautifully placed. Brannagh's words are spoken sometimes indifferently, and other times with so much gusto its overacting.

For those who've never read the play or have seen it or studied in school, Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark. He's Hamlet Junior. His father Hamlet Senior was the king and the king has died. But at the beginning of the play, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father and the father tells him he was murdered by his brother Claudius. Claudius took the title and married Hamlet's mother Gertrude. All this was done while Hamlet was away at school in Wittemberg.

The film is moodily photographed in black and white. Olivier wanted to use color, but J. Arthur Rank wouldn't spring for it. So he made due with black and white and the lights and shadows of Elsinore castle as shown almost make this version a kind of Shakespeare noir.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Morning Act.5


Playlist 30/8/2006 06.56π.μ

1.Ben Folds - Gracie
2. Athlete - Wires
3.Feist - Mushaboom
4. The Constantines - Soon Enough
5. The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle with me
6. Jose Gonzales - Heartbeat
7. I'm from Barcelona - We are from Barcelona
8. The White Stripes - We are going to be friends
9. Oasis - Let there be love
10. Spiritualized - Stop your cryin'
11. Supper Furry Animals - Hello Sunshine
12. Belle & Sebastian - You're just a baby
13. Massive Attack - Safe from Harm
14. Stars - Sleep tonight
15. Bee Gees - First of May
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Criterion Masterpieces.3

Ozu's ''Early Summer'' is a delightful movie to watch, pleasant and light in its story, yet thoughtfull and sensitive in a good many respects. Its is also a triumph for Ozu's simple-looking but carefully conceived style of film-making, and the material in the story parallels the style in a natural but satisfying manner.

So many of Ozu's movies portray the distinctive characteristics of the Japan of his day, and yet do so in a way that make the characters and their situations seem almost universal. By focusing so much of the running time on repeated daily routines, even the habits and customs uniques to its own society becomes points of identification, since routines are routines, regardless of how the might differ from one time and place to another.

Here, the family relationships among the central characters are fleshed out carefully, so as to create many possibilites in the interactions between the various generations. There is a significant screne time given to many different characters, and all of them are worh getting to know. Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is the main character, in that she ties together her family with the characters outside of it, and as the movie proceeds, it is her life that gradually becomes the main focus. Ozu's presentation of the preoccupation that the other characthers have with the Noriko's unmarried status is both believeable and perceptive. Hara is a very endearing in the role, and she does very well in portraying her relationships with her reactions to the other characthers.

Given that Ozu deliberately makes very sparing use of camera movement and similar techniques, in favor of simple but carefully composed settings that emphasize the characthers themselves, there is a nice parallel in the way that the story proceeds and the main questions are selolved.

Its enjoyable to watch, and an admirable dispaly of cinematic skill.
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Criterion Masterpieces.2


Cocteau was a poet. Make no mistake. First and foremost. Not only in history's mind, but in his own as well. We are truly blessed that he was a filmmaker as well, and a brilliant one at that, marvelously weaving together a tapestry that mystically incorporated both words and sounds with the beautiful visions that lay captured in his mind.

Cocteau's vision of "Beauty and the Beast" is a visual marvel. To explain these marvels for you would be to ruin the experience. And it is an experience. But it is one of the poet: borne of symbolism and mythology. This is a fairy tale that a child could appreciate for its romance and beauty, and a parent for its intelligence and use of symbolism and metaphor. I recommend this film unreservedly. If you like classics and consider yourself a serious filmgoer, Cocteau's film is essential to your education.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Criterion Masterpieces.1


I love Francois Truffaut and this film unabashedly. I've never once disliked anything that man has had a hand in creating. I even enjoy L'Infant Sauvage. With his debut film, Truffaut created one of the greatest paeans to childhood and Paris committed to celluloid. The camera and director are absolutely punch-drunk in love with everything they lay their eyes on. It's an incredible experience. Truffaut would go on to make more competent films (this is very much the work of a young man) but none would ever match the energy and unbridled joy here.

There would be moments when he came close, but nothing would top this film. There's so much to shout about--Antoine Doinel smoking, the schoolboys sneaking off as they are led through the streets of Paris, Antoine stealing milk, Antoine talking to the psychologist, and, of course, the closing shot as Antoine faces the sea. It's a superbly brilliant closing moment and the perfect finale for this film.

I really cannot say a single negative thing about 400 Blows. It's magnificent. I also cannot say a single negative thing about its director. Truffaut is my personal favorite of all the directors that developed out of Cahiers du Cinema. By far. He has a humanity that Godard lacks, and he's simply a more interesting filmmaker than Rohmer or Bresson or Melville. He's wonderful and so is this movie--a Romantic ode to childhood that steers clear of the sentimentality that often bogs down American films dealing with a similar subject. It's simply brilliant.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

In Love ....

On 29th of August release Madeleine Peyroux's new album...

'Half the Perfect World' showcases Madeleine Peyroux's uncanny gift for exploring the emotional core of song by other singer and songwriters and also displays her talents as a writer.

Produced by Larry Klein, the 12-track album finds Peyroux lending her sublime vocals to songs by artists she has cherished thoughtout her lifetime, such as Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Fred Neil and Joni Mitchell (sing the''River'' duo with K.d Lang)

Great voice but if she release one more album on the same style she becomes boring as hell ! Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 25, 2006

Smile !

Μπορεί το καινούργιο album των Outkast - Idlewild να μην ακουμπάει καν στα Aquemini και Stankonia, αλλά παρόλα αυτά περιλαμβάνει ένα απο τα πιο χαρούμενα και πιασάρικα κομμάτια. Το Call the Law με τα φωνητικά της οχι για πολύ άγνωστης Janelle Monae θα μπορούσε να περιέχεται ακόμα και στο soundtrack του ''Tρίο της Μπελβίλ'' !

Ακούστε το και το χαμόγελο θα αρχίζει να σκάει σιγά σιγά !
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Thursday, August 24, 2006

Free

Spiritual Soul Jazz both old and new - a collection that really gets past the obvious sides of the genre, and brings together a range of unusual work from 70's onward.

Για αυτό ας ξεχάσουμε για λίγο την Impulse και την Blue Note, υπάρχουν και άλλες εξαιρετικές συλλογές. Posted by Picasa

B.a.c.k

Επιστροφή δυναμική.
Καλώς σας βρήκα Posted by Picasa