This is a collection of all six of Haydn’s “Paris” symphonies and is probably as close as one can get to a definitive collection of Haydn’s music on two discs, as he wrote so many damn symphonies (104 I believe). The first symphony, No. 82 (aka “The Bear”), was apparently written last. And that seems …
Month: March 2015
The Best of James (1998)
I’m not going to go into how I got my hands on this, but let’s just say it wasn’t a deliberate decision; it literally fell into my lap.
Symphonies Nos. 44, 88 and 104 (1989) by Joseph Haydn, performed by Capella Istropolitana conducted by Barry Wordsworth
This is a pretty arbitrary collection of three of Haydn’s symphonies, one from the middle period, and two from the end of his career, including his famous final symphony, the “London.” I have heard both 88 and 104 before. The performances are fine. The “Trauer” is pretty good. The first movement doesn’t really fit the …
Noah (2014, Darren Aronofsky)
I have long been a fan of Aronofsky’s, even of his misses – though I have yet to see The Fountain – because he has always made me think. His films provoke thought and discussion, and are also usually full of inventive direction and cinematography. I am not sure I can think of another example …
Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley Amis
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis is a laugh-out-loud novel about what it’s like to feel like a fraud teaching at a university – something I can sort of relate to – while you hate your (sort of) girlfriend, hate your boss, hate your subject matter and generally hate your life – and that hate manifests …
Dirk Nowitzki Changed Basketball
As you may know, the other day Dirk Nowitzki became the only player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points, 10,000 boards, 1,000 blocks and 1,000 made 3-pointers. As others have noted, there have been good-shooting bigs before, but since the 3-point line was introduced, there has never been a player to combine size, scoring, …
Symphonies Nos. 45, 46, 47 (1994) by Joseph Haydn, performed by Tafelmusik conducted by Bruno Weill
This disc collects three of Haydn’s “middle” symphonies, at a time when Haydn was getting more and “romantic” for lack of a better word. Like all Tafelmusik recordings, they are played on period instruments.
20 Feet from Stardom (2013, Morgan Neville)
This is an interesting and affecting, if oddly structured, documentary about what it’s like to be a backup singer. I say oddly structured because it starts out seemingly to be a history of the backing vocalist in rock music, but then it turns out to be the personal stories of a few of the pioneering …
The Universe: Cosmology Quest (2004, Randall Meyers)
Full disclosure: I never once took physics in high school and I certainly never took physics after that. My math background is so far in my past that I cannot rely on it. So you have to take everything I have to say about the physics of this film with a giant grain of salt. …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Casey Bailey
The Leafs are continuing to sign amateur / international pro prospects to dry and find a diamond in the rough.
Does Steve Nash belong in the Basketball Hall of Fame?
Obviously the title of this post is redundant, as they often are when discussing the legacy of star players. Anyway, what do you say about the greatest Canadian basketball player of all time?
Symphonies Nos. 104, 88, 101 by Joseph Haydn (2011) performed by Philharmonia Baroque conducted by Nicholas McGegan
The so-called “London” symphony starts off with such a modern opening I almost thought I was listening to the wrong work – it’s practically Romantic. But the music soon settles in to what we would expect. Still, as first experiences with “The Father of the Symphony” go, it was quite shocking. Otherwise I guess it’s …
An Affair to Remember (1957, Leo McCarey)
This is one of those “classic” bantery Hollywood romantic comedies with a Cary Grant-type – this time played by Cary Grant, here paired with one of his regular sparring partners, Deborah Kerr. It’s one of those movies where two unbelievably rich and self-assured people throw witticisms at each other – with a little tiny bit …
The Creature from Jekyll Island (1994) by G. Edward Griffin
A necessary critique utterly ruined by conspiratorial nonsense. I have finished nearly every book I have ever started but I will not be finishing this one. I apologize for the slipshod nature of the review that follows. This has been a trying experience for me.
Green Zone (2010, Paul Greengrass)
This movie means well, I think. It’s trying to make the the giant fuck up with the second (third?) Gulf War into an entertaining conspiracy/action movie starring everyone’s favourite Action Hero of the Moment, Matt Damon. The rest of this review contains mild SPOILERS!
Spring Breakers (2012, Harmony Korine)
This is the first Korine-directed film I have gotten around to, which is probably the worst way to introduce myself to his oeuvre. I have of course seen Kids, though I was rather young at the time – and rather underwhelmed too. [Note: This is not true. I had actually seen one Korine-directed film before …
Frank (2014, Lenny Abrahamson)
Frank has a premise like so many other recent indie dramedies: the premise is just a touch too wacky for belief and everyone is just a touch too eccentric to exist in reality. There has been a rash of these films in the last 15 years or so, and I have to say I’m getting …
The Interview (2014, Ethan Goldberg, Seth Rogen)
I always have the same experience with bombs: when I see them I always wonder why everyone hated the movie so much. This happened to me with Gigli, with John Carter, and with numerous other movies. I think hype, both positive and negative, feeds back on itself. And people get carried away.
L’affaire Farewell (2009, Christian Carion)
This is an interesting attempt at making a “real” spy movie, one where the spies behave like real spies, without car chases, without shoot-outs, without super-intense interrogation scenes.
End of Watch (2012, David Ayer)
This is a found footage film mixed with a cop drama that is regularly ready to abandon its found-footage conceit – a good thing and a bad thing in these types of movies – and which appears to treat serving in the LA PD as serving in the military. (Gyllenhaal appears to be playing a …
House of Cards (2013)
The following review contains major SPOILERS!!! Do not read it if you haven’t finished Season 3.
Adoration (2008, Atom Egoyan)
Oh, Egoyan’s attempts to understand the past through contrivances and meta-narratives! Gotta love’em. Whereas with Ararat, Egoyan tried to get us to understand the Armenian genocide through making a movie about making a movie about it (yeesh), here he tries to get us to understand suicide bombing and terrorism, and the resulting prejudice, by making …
Rid of Me (1993) by PJ Harvey
I have read about Harvey a lot, her albums are often in year-end best of lists and she’s been around long enough that everything that she releases gets a lot of coverage. But I’ve taken a really long time to listen to her.
The Adjuster (1991, Atom Egoyan)
Full disclosure: I have never been a fan of Atom Egoyan. I have only ever thought one of his movies that I have seen good; that was The Sweet Hereafter and that was years ago, and I have no idea what I’d think of it now. I found at least one of his other films …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Trade Deadline 2015
The Leafs didn’t make any major moves today – I for one am disappointed to see Bozak and Lupul still on this team – but they did make a couple.