Songs for your iPod

Life During Wartime - Talking Heads



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Bright Orange Air – Inlets
(I doubt you’ve seen a video like this before, enjoy!)





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She Came And She Touched Me - Townes Van Zandt

(I discovered this country-folk singer on a blog I’m following Pursuitoffolk. Van Zandt has an easy-going voice. This song has amazing lyrics. His life reminds me of singer-songwriter Nick Drake, who also died too young. Both didn’t have commercial success until after their death, and both have a cult following.)

Film review: Character (1997)

You seldom hear about any films from The Netherlands, but I liked this one a lot.

Based on the best selling 1938 Dutch novel ‘Karakter’ by Ferdinand Bordewijk, and directed by Mike Van Diem, the film won the best foreign language film Oscar in 1998. I saw it with English subtitles.

The story takes place in the Netherlands of the 1920s and revolves around a complex father-son relationship. The relationships to the mother and also the secretary love interest are also fascinating.

Like the author Franz Kafka, the protagonist cannot escape his father, perhaps the son and father want to love one another, but their hateful feelings make it a struggle for them to express their love. There are no easy answers to this story. I like that the murder at the beginning is about why, not who.

The cinematography was beautiful, and the colours felt similar to the likewise Oscar winning German movie 'The Tin Drum' (1979). Some reviews also compare the film to Charles Dickens.

I recommend you see it, the story stayed with me. Unlike a lot of shallow rubbish out there, it felt similar to a novel with multi-layered characters, which demand thought from the viewer. Much is left unsaid you can interpret, for instance the title ‘Character’. Suitable for a mature audience, I think you can easily watch it again. A film to discuss afterwards with friends or family.

7.8/10 on IMDB, and 92% on RT

IMDB

Rottentomatoes

YouTube

Songs for your iPod

No fear of heights - Katie Melua

(I prefer her previous albums. I have mixed feeling towards Katie Melua’s new 2010 album 'The House'. Some tracks are typical Melua, but about half the album is unfortunately to me predictable pop. This song I like from the new album)


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The Guitar Man - Bread



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Brian Eno/Jan Wobble – Spinner

(A track from my favourite ambient album of all time! Spinner (1995) is a good album to use with headphones when reading to block out distracting noise. I’ve listened to the album over 100 times and never tire of it, the music transports me to another place)

Funny scene with Jerry Lewis

Go to 7.45 on the video for the funny scene with mr smiley-mr sweetie, and mrs stalker! Great names, ha ha! ( :



(Here's Johnny Depp's opening inner monologue, very promising, and the main theme song great, but after that the atmosphere of the film seemed to change, and I was disappointed. Some scenes felt a bit similar to Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro, a movie I also disliked. Overall, Arizona Dream was a pretty bad indie movie to me, without much story)

What are your favourite books ?

I hope we can start a comment thread about favourite reads here.

I've just complied a top 10 of my current favourite books (fiction) on the blog. But you don't have to recommend 10, 1 book is fine ( :

Over to you bloggers in blogosphere...