Cheers To Me

cheers to me by NEW FRIENDS

A Visit From the Goon Squad

 

I picked up the book in the bookstore, because I noticed few words in the back cover that quickly aroused my curiosity, like "punk rocker", "self-destruction", "funny" and so on. As I have just finished reading it, I sort of like it, a very interesting structure and concept for novel. But that's it, the story floats on daily life's surface, past, present, future (prediction), all broken down to pieces and patched together as a novel called "a visit from the goon squad". 

In one page, Egan wrote: "The problem was precision, perfection; the problem was digitization, which sucked the life out of everything that got smeared through its microscopic mesh. Film, photography, music: dead. An aesthetic holocaust!" I like the term she coined, aesthetic holocaust, it could be applied to so many other cultural/art things, books for example.

逛逛唱片行

就像成名在望裡面，凱特哈德森說的，唱片行就像你的老朋友，當你寂寞的時候就可以去找找他。儘管，這是我第一次踏進哥德堡的唱片行，可是感覺卻好像回到了一個我很熟悉的環境。來到瑞典已經一個多月了，我發覺我還是在不斷地在適應這裡的環境。或許是因為我還不懂瑞典文吧，也不是很懂真正的瑞典文化，所以儘管小心翼翼，但對於那些對我來說還是未知的文化差異，有時候還是會碰壁。但在唱片行，完全沒有這樣的問題。我愛逛多久就逛多久，我想要慢慢把所有唱片都翻過一遍，也沒人會管我。我想說的重點就是音樂是一項極私人且universal的一件事。那天我逛了哥德堡的 Stigbergstorget區，那邊應該算是音樂重地吧，因為我要介紹的兩家唱片行都在那一區附近。走路路程十五分鐘內能找的到不少唱片行，樂器行，音響店，感覺還蠻集中的，只差表演的場所不知道有沒有在附近（因為沒找到特別想看的演唱會，索性就沒去了）。

Dogville

Director/Writer: Lars von Trier
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Chloë Sevigny and Lauren Bacall
Year: 2003 (Denmark)
IMDB

My Rating: 8.5/10

I wouldn't call this film original. If there's anything different about this film, it is the striped-down stage used entirely throughout the film. But then von Trier didn't invent that, he's just got the balls to do it. What's really fascinating about this film is the complex human drama, which is charged with powerful emotions and  philosophical re-examinations of human being. The plot isn't new either, but is carefully put together and well paced. The superb cast are the souls of this film, without them I don't think audiences would be able to sit through this three hour film.

Burial

從我認真開始聽音樂到現在已經有七八年了，而這段時間裡，經過了很多不一樣的時期。喜歡的音樂類型也隨著而改變。從英搖，獨立搖滾，獨立花草，慢慢地回頭聽，去尋找那些不屬於我過去的音樂。同時，也不斷地在吸收每年發行的新音樂。但最近這幾年，我對過去喜歡的那些音樂類型漸漸失去了熱情。反而是新一代的嘻哈樂和電子樂，留住了我對音樂仍懷有的好奇和興致。但老實說，最近這一年來，我聽比較多的是沒有人聲的這兩個音樂曲風。簡單說，就是聽著重複的拍子，潛伏在暗處的強勁貝斯，再加上許多其他詭異的聲音效果。不知為何，但我覺得時下這種新品種音樂很適合現在的我，和很多其他現代人。其實，我沒有打算介紹這些音樂種類（像是 dub-step, post-dubstep, 2-step...)，因為我這類的音樂聽得也沒有那麼多，也不想要以偏概全，在這裡我只想介紹一下 Burial。

Stop Making Sense

Talking Heads in this movie are what I'd call "in the zone". They are ecstatic at playing music and enjoying themselves. I really appreciate that. Sometimes, I think musicians are whores, they repeat themselves just to earn more money and keep customers happy. But, not for Talking Heads, they play because they really enjoy it. Rarely, I see a performance like this, recorded and edited so well. It is quite incredible. No doubt, Byrne is a genius at performing, but what really hooked me up is his genius of songwriting. And Tina? So adorable when she dances ♥! For rock documentary, this is kind of perfect for me, you don't get much better than this.

In a Lonely Place

Director: Nicholas Ray
Writers: Andrew Solt (screenplay) and Dorothy B. Hughes (story)
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame and Frank Lovejoy
Year:1950
IMDB

My Rating: 8/10

"I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me."

 It reminds me of another film from the same year, Sunset Blvd.

Lisbon Story

Director/Writer: Wim Wenders
Stars: Rüdiger Vogler, Patrick Bauchau and Vasco Sequeira
Music: Madredeus
Year: 1994 (Germany)
IMDB

My Rating: 10/10

How should I begin? Probably from the movie itself... It's a very enjoyable movie, even if you don't know Pessoa and Lisbon, don't know anything about films, and don't know anything about Wim Wenders. Let's put it this way, this is a human and humorous film that I believe most people would enjoy. I mean, just look at how the sounds were made back in those days without digital sound system is pretty awesome already.

The Mirror

Director: Andrey Tarkovsky
Writers: Andrey Tarkovsky, Aleksandr Misharin, and Arseni Tarkovsky
Stars: Margarita Terekhova, Filipp Yankovsky and Ignat Daniltsev
Year: 1975 (Soviet Union)
IMDB

My Rating: 10/10

This is a perfect marriage of poetry and poetic imagery. I don't know how to say what I feel, it's so profound. I wonder if there's any better way to tell the inner life story of a man who have lived forty years who have so much memories, pain and dreams, no, not in the way Tarkovsky has done it in this film.

Just something that came through my mind when I was watching the film, now, I live in a small town in Sweden. My house is literally beside Sweden's second largest lake, Våttern. I went out for a long walk yesterday along the lake. Passing through wide empty frozen field, bare forests, small icy river streams, red country barns/houses, with sunshine on my back, I felt happy. The whole undiscovered beauty of nature was at my disposal. It reminds me of a lot of Bergman's films, particularly Wild Strawberries. Then, I see this film, it captured the kind of nature that's just outside my window. I promised myself if I don't have class in the afternoon, I would spend 2~3 hours just out walking aimlessly, and immense myself in the brace of mother nature. Truthfully, I want to hibernate.