[ Friday, June 27, 2003 ]
Strom Thurmond is dead....One of the great, evil assholes of American political history has finally shuffled off. Methinks it's probably hot where he went, don't you? At least he's got some friends there (George Wallace, Nathan Forrest etc.) to keep him company...
Although I'm not wont to celebrate anybody's death, let me just say...Fuck that racist son-of-a-bitch, who caused so many people so much pain over his endless political career. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
(By the way, I first heard about this on
Martin's blog. Once again, AbFab is on top of shit...)
Dove With Claws [9:08 AM]
I've added a new link on the left....
Move On, a great and righteous online info source.
Sorry that the comment boards are still down...hopefully this will be rectified soon. (Since I know y'all are so talkative...)
On the box right now: Beaver Nelson, LITTLE BROTHER. (Great, Austin-based rock and roll that falls somewhere in between Exile-era Stones, Blonde-era Dylan and any-era Robert Earl Keen. Good, good stuff.)
Peace...
Dove With Claws [8:42 AM]
[ Thursday, June 26, 2003 ]
I'm really diggin' the new Fountains of Wayne Album (WELCOME INTERSTATE MANAGERS). Good, fun, loud pop/rock music that is a little bit silly and about as tunefully catchy as anything I've heard in a long time.
That's about it...my life's sorta pleasingly boring right now. No big hassles at the moment, no big crises. One'll probably pop up by next week, though. I'll keep you posted...
On the box right now: Fountains of Wayne, WELCOME INTERSTATE MANAGERS.
Peace...
Dove With Claws [8:06 AM]
[ Sunday, June 22, 2003 ]
I may throw up...
Just what we need in Washington. A guy whose previous claim to fame was that argument with Kameelah, and saying "boobies and cooter" on national TV.
Dove With Claws [8:32 PM]
You know, there are certain songs that are favorites at certain times, hardcore favorites that you honestly don't feel your life would be complete without at whatever juncture. You may love them always, but it's those specific points in which intense infatuation occurs, bright and hard. I've certainly had more than a bevy of those over my few years, and imagine that I'll continue to have bevy after bevy as the years tick by...
But then there are those other favorites, the songs that may never occupy the #1 slot on your personal Hot 100 at any particular moment, but which consistently place in the Top 10. I had a realization tonight that Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" is one of those songs. What a GREAT fucking record. Great lyrics, great melody, great vocal, great arrangement, great overall vibe. What a classic...
So I broke down and rented the fully-restored version of Sergio Leone's film ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA yesterday. I liked it, but can honestly not see what all the fuss is about. Movie critics I respect (and many I don't) have been running around yipping about this film for as long as I can remember caring, evangelizing and advocating for its eventual restoration - it was originally butchered in its initial American edit, which cut it down by half - like they were early Christians, or Maoists. Maybe my expectations were too high, but the portrayals seemed one-dimensional, the plot seemed thin, and - let's face it - 227 minutes is an AWFULLY long time, particularly when a lion's share of those minutes are spent on endlessly-held close-ups and establishing shots that, even if they'd been cut down by several frames, would still go on for a pregnantly long time. I'm not a fan of short-attention-span cinema, the idiot bastard son of music videos that has turned every movie outside of the art house into a feverishly-shot, quick-cutting sensory overload. But, by the same token, emotionally effective is one thing (check out the nice silences in ABOUT SCHMIDT, for example) and indulgent is another. That being said, I still liked the film quite a bit, and think any fan of either artistic filmmaking (as this film is Leone's greatest technical statement) or gangster mythology should check it out.
Now I've gotta get back to memorizing all the countries in Africa. I've got a map quiz tomorrow. I wish I was kidding.
On the box right now: Various Artists, COMPLETE STAX-VOLT SINGLES 1959-1968, DISC 1
Peace...
Dove With Claws [8:22 PM]
