This is so cool. It’s the kind of thing that, had I any musical talent, and had any kind of success with that talent, I’d like to think I would want to do. At least, in the indie music word, Sigur Rós were pretty huge in 2006. To put on free concerts like this, in …
Category: 2007
Long Way Down (2007)
The sequel to Long Way Round is another excellent adventure travel documentary series featuring the same lovable cast of characters (i.e. a movie star, his far less famous friend, a Swiss camera man and some producers). This time they head from the top of Scotland to South Africa. There are similarities to the two series, …
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Cristian Mungiu)
This is an extraordinarily bleak film. You probably know it as the “Romanian abortion movie”. It’s a pretty extraordinary film despite its bleakness and is very close to being a masterpiece, in my opinion. If you haven’t seen it yet – it took me nearly 14 years for some reason – I would recommend it …
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007)
Why has nobody turned this into a movie yet? Seriously.(Apparently the Coens were supposed to it! But didn’t. Alas…)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984, 1994, 2007) by Robert Cialdini
When this book was published in 1984, it was probably one-of-a-kind, and an absolute must-read. A pop psychology treatment on how businesses (and con men) manipulate us into buying things we don’t want, there was probably not much else out there like it. It’s a landmark and it was likely essential reading pre-internet.
The Golden Compass (2007, Chris Weitz)
This is a pretty-looking but witless family fantasy film which fails to function as anything more than a pale Chronicles of Narnia imitation and the ending of which truly shows how ill-conceived this whole thing was.
Chop Shop (2007, Ramin Bahrani)
This is a pretty excellent, neo-realist slice-of-life about two latino teens struggling to survive in the “Iron Triangle” in Willets Point, Queens.
The Darjeeling Limited (2007, Wes Anderson)
This movie came out when I was still pretty in love with Wes Anderson but, for some reason, I didn’t watch at the time. And then a decade passed and I watched it on a plane three weeks ago.
Chicago 10 (2007, Brett Morgan)
The trial of 10 people after the demonstrations outside the 1968 Democratic Convention is certainly a notable trial in the history of civil liberties abuses in the United States. And it is a story that deserves to be told. But I’m not sure if this ADD movie is the right vehicle for it. Moreover, it …
Cassandra’s Dream (2007, Woody Allen)
Obligatory mention: This movie was written and directed by Woody Allen. Woody Allen married his step-daughter (who was adopted by his then wife). Woody Allen has been accused by his adopted daughter of child abuse. For too long fans and critics have ignored or dismissed these aspects of Allen’s life when discussing his films. On …
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007, Yves Simoneau)
My country was founded in genocide, as was our neighbour to the south. This is a fact that we still haven’t dealt with as evidenced by how many Canadians and Americans would find my initial statement controversial – even offensive – despite its truth. I was born in the last fifth of the 20th century …
Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste (2007, 2013 Expanded Edition)
Note: I am reviewing the reissue. This is an engaging, thought-provoking and highly readable discussion about taste, what it is, and the philosophical and practical issues inherent in taste.
Augusta Read Thomas: Selected Works for Orchestra (2014) by Various Artists
This is a compilation of performances of some of Thomas’ writing for orchestra. I got this from the library by accident but decided to listen to it anyway.
A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) by Khaled Hosseini
This is, for the most part, a compelling, affecting and, at times, devastating novel of what it was like to live as a woman in Afghanistan for the last quarter century or so of the 20th century. It is particularly effective of giving insight into the men who hate women – into an entire society …
Khachaturian: Spartacus (1979, 2007) by The Bolshoi National Orchestra
As far as I can tell, this is the orchestral music from a 1979 performance of Khachaturian’s Spartacus. It is the complete four suites, I believe (or, rather, all the music). I definitely prefer listening to it all at once, instead of hearing one suite or something like that.
Younger Next Year (2007) by Chris Crowley, Henry S. Lodge
This is a book about exercise, nutrition and mental health, geared towards retired American men. I did not actually finish the book; I read it until it was due back at the library. I made it most of the way through, though, and I don’t fee like I missed much.
Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks (2007) by Christopher Brookmyre
This is not only a well-done mystery but it is also a fine indictment of a certain kind of chicanery, one that drives me particularly crazy. SPOILERS
Mad Men (2007)
I watched Mad Men over an even longer period than most of you, so my memory of the individual episodes is not perfect. I know there were some weaker ones in there, and there even parts of seasons – perhaps even whole seasons – that I didn’t enjoy on the level of the best parts …
Epitaph by Charles Mingus, conducted by Gunther Schuller, Live at Walt Disney Concert Hall, May 16, 2007
What the hell do we do with Epitaph?
The Alchemy Index: Volume III and Volume IV – Air and Earth (2007) by Thrice
Unfortunately “Volume III” takes the brief moments of Volume II that alluded to a sort of Post Grunge / “Modern” rock style and takes them to the logical conclusion. I guess some people would consider these songs “stronger” – they’re certainly catchier – but why neuter what your band does well? At least the rhythm …
Concerto funebre; Sonatas and Suites for Solo Violin (2007) by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, peformed by Alina Ibragimova
This is an excellent collection of Hartmann’s violin music.
Sir Edward Elgar Conducts Elgar: Falstaffl Cello Concerto; Nursery Suite (2007)
Though the sound isn’t ideal – though it certainly is better than I expected – this is the most interesting Elgar I have heard so far. Fastaff is fantastic; it feels like half of the first wave of film score composers adored it. And unlike so much programmic music, it actually sounds out the action, …
Elgar: Enigma Variations; In the South; Serenade (2007) by Andrew Davis, Philharmonia Orchestra
The so-called “Enigma Variations” are disappointing if only because one thinks that maybe they will be weird (or at least mysterious). They are not weird. They are tuneful and crowd-pleasing. “In the South” is one of those weird things that composers write where it feels like there should have been more (and they acknowledge that …
Children’s Corner: Debussy Orchestrations (2007 Atma) by Claude Debussy, performed by Orchestre symphonique de Quebec conducted by Yoav Talmi
The more I listen to so-called “classical” / “high art” music the more of a snob I become about it. And I guess that’s not surprising, after all I am a gigantic music snob (though I would argue that I am much less of a music snob – having let hooks into my life at …
The Best Movies of the Aughts (2000s)
Now that we’re through the Aughts, here are my picks for best movies of the decade. The ones that make the initial list are movies that I rated a 10/10. The runners up are 9/10s, and the honourable mentions are 8/10s. Many of these movies I have seen only once, and remember that in 2000 …
Throw in the towel on the 07-08 Season
I pretty much believe this all the time, so coming from me, this doesn’t really mean anything. But, personally, I think it’s time to call it a season and start over. Now, I wouldn’t have made the signings they did for this seasons (or previous ones) anyway, but they might as well give up. As …
The Pagan Christ (2007, directed by Cynthia Banks)
I just watched a brief news-magazine / “documentary” program about a book called The Pagan Christ by Tom Harpur. This book seems to put forward a new version of a fairly well-known (if not well-accepted) claim, that Christian beliefs have their antecedents in various pagan cults and religions. He also suggests that Jesus didn’t exist …
The Culture of Fear
This culture of fear is ridiculous. On Thursday, I was on my home, and at the James-Main intersection. I wanted to cross it a particular way because, on Thursday, the new View comes out. It is located in a box on the southeast corner. So I want to go to that corner, rather than the …
Student throws korans into toilets
Okay, so a student at Pace University has been arrested because he apparently threw some books in toilets back in the fall. As far as I know, he was not charged with stealing the books, and he has not been punished by the university for obstructing the septic system. (I don’t know if there is …
Reunion
So I didn’t write about this last week, I guess because I didn’t have much time on le net. I went to an, ‘ancestral’ lets call it, cottage on Bob’s Lake – that’s near Sharbot Lake, that’s 40 min or so north of Kingston – last weekend. We used to spend a fair amount of …