Diggin

Music: Some wonderful music flowing through me in the past few weeks (these posts will become weekly soon) and much of it is rediscovered or old stuff-discovered rather than my own blog-surfing ability to find new tuneage. The best rediscovery stands as Bikini Kill, a band that made songs which were incredibly simple to the point of dumbness and committed so much to the conviction of this view that they end up being total genius. ‘Rebel Girl’ is the key text, a song with lyrics that could be written by a fourteen-year-old punk chick but a will to find a way and a brilliant, insistent riff. The album Pussy Whipped is though, for all the lack of sophistication, something of a minor masterpiece.
I’ve also become semi-obsessed with indie or leftfield hip-hop from the past few years, notably beginning to worship J Dilla and Madlib. Madvillain and the self-titled album which came of this experiment is something of a stone-cold masterpiece, as is Dilla’s Donuts, an elegiac sketch record of beats and mini-tunes. Also on the playlist for this is their collaboration, Jaylib, which, as you might guess, I flipping love. Also worth looking at are Why?, Cadence Weapon, Peanut Butter Wolf and Aesop Rock.
There’s been a number of great songs and albums mixing in to my last few weeks but gosh darn it, The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive is yet another brilliant rock and roll record and my hands-down favourite album of the year so far.

Film/TV: Again, much to report. I got to see Rashomon on the big screen last week, a truly wonderful experience, and will be seeing Ikiru also to further enhance my Kurosawa knowledge. I’ve recently re-taken in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a truly nostalgic experience for some but for me, a comedy without good gags and nearly two hours of suffering the stupefying lack of talent exhibited by Steve Martin, the most overrated comic ever. As a side, if you find this funny, you’ll likely love it.
My birthday occurred last week and my wonderful girlfriend treated me to a few Criterion DVDs of some of my favourite movies. I’ve yet to see Noah Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming but its on this week’s list but I also received David Gordon Green’s low-key debut masterpiece George Washington and Dazed and Confused, still my favourite Linklater.
On this week’s agenda are two LoveFilm rentals I’ve left back through utter laziness, Night and the City, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and . Also up this week is Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, In Bruges, Gummo, An Evening with Kevin Smith and finally, some TV on the schedule. I’ll be catching up on Generation Kill this evening (probably writing about it also) and Mad Men returns tonight, a welcome addition to the schedules for a show I fell totally in love with last year. I am of the wide belief that it is indeed the best show on TV right now.

Books: I finally began my journey into Sandman, something I’m likely to chronicle on the site, and I’m quite enjoying the first book. More on that soon. Also I’m on Clockers, Richard Price’s mesmerising account of New York drug trading and the police who deal with the fallout. The book is basically The Wire (on which Price was a co-writer) even down to a couple of scenes being nearly lifted wholesale in the show and the character of Stringer Bell seeing strong echoes from one of the drug dealers in the book.

Other: Other is becoming the Podcast section but I really am loving two new ones to my schedule. Watching Theology is a spin-off and now main show of the Watching the Directors series and is pretty decent. The discussion on Lars and the Real Girl was very interesting indeed and the title may be misleading, this isn’t some sort of religious indoctrination show where everything is about Jesus. Also great is SMODcast, the podcast of Kevin Smith and his regular producer Scott Mosier. It’s very hit and miss but they are always engaging and occasionally very funny indeed, even if the self-indulgence that sometimes mars Smith’s films is given full-flight here.

DVDs This Week

Pick of the Week

I’m Not There – A polarising, hugely imaginative biopic of Bob Dylan in which the great man is played at various stages by six separate actors, including a young African American kid and Cate Blanchett. The latter gives an amazing performance and the whole film is brimming with wit and overflowing with imagination.

Also out

Batman Cartoons – The Dark Knight Chronicles and Gotham Knight, both decent adaptations of the Batman comics and worth a watch in the build up to The Dark Knight.
Step Up 2 The Streets – More dancing and other stuff from the Disney stable. Haven’t seen it and likely won’t.
The Spiderwick Chronicles – Really effective little kids horror movie that probably won’t do anything for adults but will provide a good evening’s entertainment for the little ones.
Love in the Time of Cholera – Haven’t seen but a pretty much universally disliked adaptation of Marquez’s classic.
Margot at the Wedding – Mean-spirited and misguided difficult third film from Noah Baumbach.
You, The Living – Adored Swedish black comedy. I will be seeing soon based on the pitch of Bergman meets Monty Python
The Cottage – Terrible follow-up to London to Brighton from Paul Andrew Williams which is a horror comedy and isn’t scary and isn’t funny.
Wrong Move/The American Friend/Kings of the Road – Three more from Wim Wenders. You can read my reviews of the first two here and here. The third incidentally is a freaking masterpiece.
Things We Lost in the Fire – Big time downer but truly a great performance from Benicio del Toro.

Link at the Devil

Screenjabber has the first review of the new Futurama movie.

The Observer interviews Chuck D prior to Public Enemy’s Don’t Look Back for It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

Charlie Brooker kneels at the altar of Gladiators.

John Cusack is going to war… with films about Iraq despite box-offices.

Death Cab are casting themselves as a career rock band.

Woody is banking on his beauties for a career revival in Cannes.

Lykke Li is coming for us, UK!

Jason Pierce talks to The Times about his songs and his health.

Sasha Frere-Jones talks American Idol.

PopMatters has an interview with Peter Gallagher.

Is the new show from the Arrested Development folks going to be any good?

I’m sure many of you have already indulged in this lunacy. What a couple!

Harp profiles desert-rockin’ champs Howlin’ Rain.

Mark Ruffalo and Amy Adams will be in the next Noah Baumbach film.

Speaking of Ruffalo, here’s a Cannes review of Blindness.

Diggin’

Music: Well, I’ve not got my iPod back although upgrading is in the works when money stops being a barrier, so music has been back in this week. I’m actually really loving Jukebox by Cat Power after being a little unsure on the first couple of goes round. ‘Silver Stallion’ is magnifique. I’m really enjoying ‘Falling Slowly’ from Once in the run up to the Oscars and supremely hope it can take the gong. Lil Wayne is great, Atlas Sound too, and new Mountain Goats songs are living up to previous form. John Darnielle must be closing in on finally receiving the acclaim he deserves.

Film: I watched Margot at the Wedding this week and, to be honest, didn’t really enjoy it too much. It had moments of barbed cynicism to enjoy, but mostly everyone was too unlikable to identify or empathise with and you were left with no one to cling to.

TV: Battlestar remains great and heating up towards the climax of its second season. We’ve been re-living Indecision 2004 from The Daily Show with its dream team; Stewart, Corddry, Bee, Carell, Helms and Colbert. Also America’s Next Top Model, the greatest reality TV show of all time, is back! Partnering it on our UK watching night is My Dad is Better than your Dad, the most ridiculous prime-time thing I’ve seen for a good long time. American children are unstoppably either horrific or lovely. No middle-ground.

Books/Comics: I finished The Looming Tower this week which was all kinds of fascinating in recollecting the formation of Al Qaeda and the lead-up to 9/11. I’ve also recently received the ninth volume of Powers which was a nightmare to get hold of in this country. Bendis is a fine comic-book dialoguist but Powers’ strenght is in the storytelling. I’ve also been loving Achewood even more as I become accustomed to the characters.

Other stuff: It’s been a podcast week and my favourites right now are The Economist’s socio-political discussion, Slate’s election coverage, New Yorker fiction and Pop Candy comic book writer interviews. The other thing is cookies from Waitrose, their choc-chip biccys are just astonishingly lovely, melt-in-your-mouth kind of lovely.

Silence Of The Links

In honour of everyone’s favourite winker, we’re dedicating our linking puns to Anthony Hopkins this week. Oh the possibilities…

The man, the legend – Rhydian put in another stonking, touching performance in this week’s X Factor – taking it back to basics.

Future. Movie. Of The Year. – Not a clue what it’s about, but the Hopkins makes it… Second time of linking, but it doesn’t get old.

Quarterlife – the new show from the makers of My So Called Life and thirtysomething has begun online. Watch the first webisodes here!

Find out why Malcolm McLaren quit I’m A Celeb, and why Janice hasn’t enjoyed her intro into camp at ITV. And don’t forget to tune in to see last year’s King Of The Jungle Matt Willis presenting on ITV2’s …Get Me Out Of Here Now!

Craig ‘Craig Daavid’ David is back, currently meeting ‘her’, and is profile on The Independent.

Barack Obama got in the ring in Iowa and threw some ‘hurtin’ bombs’ at Hillary.

PopMatters undertakes some misguided revisionism and praises Lou Reed’s abominable Metal Machine Music.

It’s I’m A Celeb night. The Guardian wonders whether we’ll watch.

The New York Times profiles another awkward, gallows comedy from Noah Baumbach.