Movies: The Nines

Movies: If you want to see a wonderfully (and surprisingly little known of), well-written, well-acted and unusual film, you should rent The Nines (2007), written by the imaginative John August (Go, Big Fish, etc.). It is filmed in L.A. (and briefly New York) and based on the lives of people in the entertainment industry: writers, actors, publicists, a videogame designer, and it's sadly inevitable volatile relationships with side commentaries about how painfully imaged based Hollywood is).  It also explores concepts of God, creation, and control. Featuring the memorably handsome Ryan Reynolds (please forgive him for Van Wilder, it really does not represent him well as an actor) and the amazing, lovely, talented and extremely funny Melissa McCarthy, who I first saw in Los Angeles, performing at The Groundlings (the school famous for casting about half of SNL's ever changing  cast, alumni include Will Farrell). It also includes the charming Hope Davis and another The Groundlings alumni I have had the pleasure to see perform live in L.A.: Ben Falcone (who is also Melissa's real life husband). Don't watch this film however if you are mostly into big budget/typical  formula Hollywood films, as it will not tie together in a neat little package in the end for you. Watch this film if you like art to be out of the box and enjoy something a bit different. This film has three different plots that thread characters together as completely different people. Sound confusing? Perhaps it is, but the film is so well done, it does it in such a way that it remains enjoyable. It begs the question that has little been explored, which is that of simultaneous existences/parallel universes or alternately, perhaps it is asking us all to question who we would be had we taken different paths at any given moment our lives. It's weird and original as well as thought-provoking and entertaining. It's also slightly scary, very mysterious, and somewhat silly. Though Ryan and Melissa may be best know for their comedy, and there are many funny parts, here they shine as dramatic actors. And the soundtrack has some cool music by Persephone's Bees, Liars, and Snow Patrol.

Creepy Czech movie: A retelling the classic story Alice In Wonderland

Movies:

So Netflix recommended this movie to me,  I guess because I am a big David Lynch fan. It's simply called Alice, though it comes with an unusual short called Darkness Light Darkness as well and both titles appear together on the DVD, a bit confusing, but anyway...Netflix described it as "warped" and "bizarre" and "surreal" with "a world of gothic props" and I thought heck yes! Awesome! I was also interested in the fact that it had stop -motion animation (I'm a big fan of the old Rankin/Bass movies) mixed with real people and puppets and I guess I did not take the "dead animals" part very seriously. Cuz, um, it really had dead animals as some of the main stars of the film. If you are at all interested in taxidermy, this might really be a fascinating element to you. I personally found the whole movie rather creepy. When the cute little blonde girl drinks the shrinking potion, she turns into a scary little old doll with matted hair. And when she is big, her interactions with the "dead animals" can be rather freaky. There is a stuffed frog baby sitting a crying pig and a stuffed rat who takes refuge on normal-sized Alice's head after she cried a sea of tears that flooded the odd world. The rat builds a fire on her head after driving a stake into it. Yikes! Even this was too much for Alice, as she exclaimed that that was going too far and ducked under the water/tears to put out the fire and drown the rat. The Cheshire Cat and Caterpillar were always favorite characters of mine, here they were, uh, yes, weird. One was represented as a sock who bore holes into the floor and lived with many other sock animals, even inspiring Alice's own socks to join them as well. The animals were kind of gross, but overall, it was an interesting interpretation and I'd probably watch another film but this director, Jan Svankmajer. And if you are a fan of Terry Gilliam's weirdo movie called Tideland, I think you'd pretty safely like this movie. 

The Decemberists at The Warfield

Music:

I have seen The Decemberists in LA twice before, once at The Fonda Music Box and once at The Hollywood Bowl. I also saw the singer, Colin Meloy, do a solo show where he was selling rare eps of him covering Morrissey songs. But this was definitely the best show I've seen them put on thus far, at San Francisco's The Warfield. And not just because the tix were free, thanks to my pal Ivory. We were in the front and center of the first row balcony, so we had a perfect view and the sound was amazing, maybe I could just never hear Colin's banter as clearly before, or maybe he was just really feeling extra politically charged, but he was on fire. The band has always been great at commanding an audience and getting them to participate in their theatrics and sing-alongs, but his night seemed exceptional. Twice he asked the audience to put an arm around the person on both sides of them and sway back and forth, and when the San Francisco immediately complied, he announced that in no other city has an audience responded so fast and so willingly. Leave it to the lovely bay area people to spread the love and joy! He had everyone chanting anti-bomb/war slogans and had everyone shout "Yes we did!" after he said "Yes we can!" several times. He mentioned Obama many times and had the whole crowd cheering.  And every time I have seen them, they perform the whale song, "Mariner's Revenge Song" where the audience screams as if they are being eaten by a whale every time the arm signal is given. At one LA show, this band even had the whole standing section of the audience lay down on the ground and be perfectly quiet as if they were dead. It was an amazing sight. Colin is so very funny and charming, he is clearly a performer who enjoys his craft and feels very comfortable singing and talking to the large crowds he commands. And being that Colin was a creative writing major in college, it makes sense that his ability to write memorable and profound lyrics is another element of the bands everlasting charm. And of course the music is catchy and infectious as well!

Another highlight of this show was when, while singing, Colin grabbed a person's cell phone from the front of the audience and searched their electronic address book (my friend joked that it would be funny if the name he searched for was "Mom") and proceeded to dial and then sing the remainder of the song directly into the phone. It's these sorts of antics and involvement that keep audiences coming back to their shows again and again, because you know you will not only enjoy the songs, but the banter will be fun, and you will always feel entertained. Colin announced that their new album is "sitting on a desk in a local hotel and it will be out in March". 

And another stand out moment was his performance during "The Perfect Crime", which looked/felt more like a passionate theatrical production than a song. I smiled during the whole show, clapped when it was requested of me, sang along when I was commanded to do so, put my arm around my friend on the right and the stranger on my left, and at the end, I felt really alive and full of joy.  This is the kind of band you feel glad to support and follow, and you feel like you are really part of something good, positive, and true. 

Deerhunter at The Great American Music Hall

Music:

I got to see the band Deerhunter last Monday night at San Francisco's GAMH. They were amazing to see live and I have really been enjoying their latest CD called "Microcastle" as much as their older CD "Cryptograms". This was a great place to see them because the GAMH is so dark and enchanting, the perfect surroundings for this music. Their sound is experimental and unusual, the singer definitely has influences of Gothicness vocally and an awkward Thom Yorke appearance. The music is dark and loud and yet at times has elements of 1960's pop sensibilities. There is a lot of ambient sounds that layer and guitar petals that distort and it appears heavily influenced by the 1990's Shoegazer movement. So, I was surprised that such a heavy mosh pit formed in the middle of the floor in front of the stage...a lot of aggression for such ambient tones, but as I said, it is loud and carries some pretty heavy beats thanks to the energetic drummer. The lead guitarist finished up the show by shaking up a beer bottle and playing it against the strings of his guitar, as he shook it up and down, it was pretty obscene and very unusual to witness, you could not take your eyes off of the spectacle. He played his guitar up close to the speaker, as did the bass player and the feedback and distortion washed over the audience like a wave of confusing and hypnotic sound. It was pretty awesome. 

Igmar Bergman

Movies:

I've been watching a lot of Ingmar Bergman movies lately. It's interesting to see the psychology of his characters develop and unfold. I recently watched Persona, and it had some very strange opening images that hardly seemed connected to the film, I was not even sure I had the right movie playing at first, after reading the Netflix description. But, no, it was correct...the odd images flashed and then it went into the movie. I realized that David Lynch must have seen this movie long ago and been quite influenced by it, either that, or the two men are kindred spirits, because the imagery was very Lynchish. I recommend Bergman films to anyone who also appreciates Lynch. The person who recommended Bergman to me was an old USC poetry professor of mine, Mark Irwin, as he was suggesting people watch films and read books that do not follow typical molds or mainstream ideals. Bergman's movies are not as overall weird as Lynch's, but the randomish imagery certainly is. 

Cool Poster

Oh, there was a really nifty poster at my friends behind the cereal boxes. Some of you might really enjoy what it says...I did.

Funny Cereal

Check out these silly cereals my friend had in Berkeley...and yes, they really had cereal inside the boxes.