Wednesday, April 30
Sigur Ros' ( ) is fantastic. I just bought it through Apple's brand-new online music service. And it's about fucking time that someone would come out with a service like this, by the way. I guess it took someone like Steve Jobs--big ego and all--to get it through the morons in the music industry that there's money to be had on the Internet. Perhaps it was because Jobs' own ego equalled the size of the record company executives' egos that he was able to sway their narrow minds. In any event, the service certainly is promising. Of course, it only has commercial music by the big five record companies, so not much REALLY good music (read: stuff I review at 25) is available yet. But I suspect that deals will soon be struck to change this. After all, what does it take to add a dozen or so Warp and Force Inc. labels onto an already monstrous catalog?
Anyways, Sigur Ros. Fantastic music, much more interesting to me than Radiohead or Wilco, if only because the music is so subtle, so hypnotic, so beautiful. I hadn't bought it before now simply because I bought their first album and wasn't all that interested in it, so I initially skipped the second one. I guess I just wasn't ready for it, the way I wasn't ready for Taylor Deupree's music when I first heard it, the way I wasn't ready for Jimi Hendrix when I first heard Are You Experienced? back when I was about 16. Sometimes, time must pass, your life must move forward to a certain point before you are capable of listening--LISTENING--to something with fresh ears, ears that pick up on the subtle things in an excellent composition, ears that are receptive to certain types of sounds and certain types of songs. I guess my ears are perfectly tuned to Sigur Ros now, but they weren't a year ago. Go figure.
Oh, and I should add--to be fair--that I lived in Iceland for two months in 1984, and my appreciation for Sigur Ros today has a lot to do with the fact that I hear in their music the amazing things I experienced while on that wonderful island: the fire and ice, the green mountains and delicate fjords. Why didn't I hear this "Icelandness" the first time I listened to Sigur Ros? I don't know. Perhaps I was just too into listening to Pan Sonic to hear anything else.
Yes, musical taste is a funny thing.
Anyways, Sigur Ros. Fantastic music, much more interesting to me than Radiohead or Wilco, if only because the music is so subtle, so hypnotic, so beautiful. I hadn't bought it before now simply because I bought their first album and wasn't all that interested in it, so I initially skipped the second one. I guess I just wasn't ready for it, the way I wasn't ready for Taylor Deupree's music when I first heard it, the way I wasn't ready for Jimi Hendrix when I first heard Are You Experienced? back when I was about 16. Sometimes, time must pass, your life must move forward to a certain point before you are capable of listening--LISTENING--to something with fresh ears, ears that pick up on the subtle things in an excellent composition, ears that are receptive to certain types of sounds and certain types of songs. I guess my ears are perfectly tuned to Sigur Ros now, but they weren't a year ago. Go figure.
Oh, and I should add--to be fair--that I lived in Iceland for two months in 1984, and my appreciation for Sigur Ros today has a lot to do with the fact that I hear in their music the amazing things I experienced while on that wonderful island: the fire and ice, the green mountains and delicate fjords. Why didn't I hear this "Icelandness" the first time I listened to Sigur Ros? I don't know. Perhaps I was just too into listening to Pan Sonic to hear anything else.
Yes, musical taste is a funny thing.
Wednesday, April 16
Most of the great Japanese anime director's catalogue is now available in the US on DVD. That includes such classics as Laputa (which Disney renamed "Castle in the Sky" because "la puta" is, I believe, Spanish for "pussy"), Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away (the 2003 Academy Award), along with Grave of the Fireflies, which was made at Miyazaki's studio, Studio Ghibli, and directed by Miyazaki's colleague, Isao Takahata. Fireflies has been called one of the great war movies of all time, and that's pretty accurate (though it IS perhaps the most depressing thing I've ever seen). Miyazaki's first classic, Nausicaa, isn't out yet, though I'm sure it will be out soon. Actually, Spirited Away is still in theaters in the US, so you might want to check it out on the big screen.
I've owned copies of all these movies for a few years (via Hong Kong bootlegs). I even own Miyazaki movies that no one has heard of outside Japan (and Comicon), like Whisper of the Heart, Porco Rosso, and this one weird film about raccoons and their testicles (I think it's called Heisei Tanuki's War). All of Miyazaki's work is of the highest calibre, and, unlike just about all other anime, Miyazaki places primary importance on storytelling, character development, and everyday life (even if, as in the case of Laputa, that everyday life involves flying cities). His stories are wonderfully human, in the sense that each character is well-rounded, complex, with ideals and fears and aspirations and clumsiness and everything else that makes human beings human. He is truly one of the great filmmakers of all time, and anyone who doubts this should pick up a copy of My Neighbor Totoro and watch the quiet scenes early in the film as the two girls and their father move into their new house next to a giant forest. There is more pleasure, more beauty, and more joy in those few scenes than in just about every other film you'll ever see. I'm serious here--this is brilliance, and the fact that it is animated should not in any way detract from this achievement, for the same filmmaking rules apply in animation that apply in traditional filmmaking.
So anyone who hasn't seen any of these films is in for a treat. Don't rent these things--BUY them. If you do this, your friends and family will thank you for the rest of your life.
I've owned copies of all these movies for a few years (via Hong Kong bootlegs). I even own Miyazaki movies that no one has heard of outside Japan (and Comicon), like Whisper of the Heart, Porco Rosso, and this one weird film about raccoons and their testicles (I think it's called Heisei Tanuki's War). All of Miyazaki's work is of the highest calibre, and, unlike just about all other anime, Miyazaki places primary importance on storytelling, character development, and everyday life (even if, as in the case of Laputa, that everyday life involves flying cities). His stories are wonderfully human, in the sense that each character is well-rounded, complex, with ideals and fears and aspirations and clumsiness and everything else that makes human beings human. He is truly one of the great filmmakers of all time, and anyone who doubts this should pick up a copy of My Neighbor Totoro and watch the quiet scenes early in the film as the two girls and their father move into their new house next to a giant forest. There is more pleasure, more beauty, and more joy in those few scenes than in just about every other film you'll ever see. I'm serious here--this is brilliance, and the fact that it is animated should not in any way detract from this achievement, for the same filmmaking rules apply in animation that apply in traditional filmmaking.
So anyone who hasn't seen any of these films is in for a treat. Don't rent these things--BUY them. If you do this, your friends and family will thank you for the rest of your life.
