Grand and Grandiose Titles

I recently finished Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and didn't like it as much as all the hype led me to believe I would. It certainly made the recent n+1 article about hype feel relevant. From the start of the novel, we know that Oscar will not have a long life, but I actually found myself waiting with bated breath for his death, as he completes high school, college and takes on a full-time job his life feels less and less brief. Needless to say, there isn't much that can be described as wondrous about his life either. But it isn't quite ironic enough to warrant wondrous as a tongue-in-cheek title adjective. Mind you, the constant references to sci-fi genre works of the past made me feel poorly schooled, I knew nothing of the Lensmen or Watchmen; only the Tolkien and Lewis allusions were comprehensible.

But why did I not mind the equally grandiose titles A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers, or album title The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter? Both of these works walk the same line between great and small that TBWLoOW does, and yet they were more affecting and powerful although not much better. I find The Animal Years a much Better Ritter album, and both Eggers and Ritter have received the critical acclaim and word-of-mouth praise that so often ends in disappointment for me. I guess this can just be chalked up the the vagaries of taste and art.

British Sea Power

Sometimes I think I have a very stupid sixth sense, I seem to know when beloved bands put out new releases - without seeing any press or receiving fan emails. Earlier this fall I went on iTunes looking for anything by Josh Ritter, and his album the Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter had just come out.

This past Sunday I went looking to see if the Brighton-based band British Sea Power had anything new. I got their EP Krankenhaus? from the fall, only to find out that they released their newest full-length album, Do You Like Rock Music? on Monday in the UK. But it won't be in the US until February 12th. Even better than a new album is the fact that they will be in town for a concert March 27th.

I guess I will wait to hear the album, I'm very excited for the song Great Skua because of my time in Antarctica being dive-bombed by skuas.

Juno

I loved the film Juno, which has been on many best of lists for 2007. It was warm and endearing, and I can't wait to get the soundtrack. Besides having one of my favorite Belle and Sebastien songs on it, Piazza, New York Catcher, the soundtrack was produced by Kimya Dawson, of the Moldy Peaches. She includes the sweetly funny song Anyone Else But You, which is even sung by the stars in the film. (And the record label for the Moldy Peaches was Rough Trade, the label for many good acts, including British Sea Power, who are very important to me this week.)

I saw Juno with a friend who is in the second trimester of her first pregnancy, and she appreciated the movie on a whole different level. I think the sewing on of elastic waistbands to jeans was her favourite scene. What I found hilarious, was that my friend had gotten a blue raspberry Icee at the theatre and Juno proceeds to down half a dozen of the 64 ounce ones thoughout the film.

Oh yeah, I also like just about anything with Allison Janney, here Juno's stepmother.

A Silly List of What I've Read Recently

Just so you know/I remember that I got a lot of reading done recently, I have this list from the beginning of December:

1491
A Thousand Splendid Suns
State of Fear
Water for Elephants
The Dark River
Widow of the South
non-/post- His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
Bringing Down the House
Interworld

Podcasts

One of the other media I really enjoy right now is the podcast. I haven't been too adventurous, sticking primarily to podcasts from the major aural media outlets I listened to already (what a pretentious phrase!) NPR and the BBC.

I listen to The BBC Newspod and the BBC Radio 4 Best of Today which give international news and a broad liberal yet fair perspective on things that matter to me. In fact I feel quite let down when things are too much like American journalism.

For a little more fun I listen to The Naked Scientists out of Cambridge.

But I also like one of the best American programs that my local NPR station can't afford to broadcast, This American Life. I also listen to B-Side Radio.

To keep up on current music I listen to World Cafe: Words and Music and KEXP's Song of the Day.

Any recommendations? And more hours in a day to listen to it all?

Once, a musical

Tonight I watched the Irish film Once starring Glen Hansard. It was lovely, and touching, sweet and bittersweet. Here, though bittersweet should cover both those sentiments I use both since some aspects of the film are entirely sweet, while others bittersweet.

It was a movie that I shouldn't entirely have watched alone: it is romantic and deals with issues close to my heart, longing, penury and long-distance love.

Oddly enough, I had already listened to a copy of the soundtrack a few months ago when I checked it out from the library, and it had no impact upon me. Seeing now how the songs fit into the film I will have to revisit the album.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

Over the past six months I have been religiously reading books I've gotten from the library, which meant that I was neglecting some books I had 'borrowed' from friends and family over the summer. Since I travelled over the holidays, I decided I couldn't bring library books with me and I dug up a few other books to take with me, including Ian McEwan's Saturday.

The novel follows Henry Perowne, a London neurosurgeon in his late 40's, through 24 hours. Unlike other novels set in the course of one day, there are no other modernist gimmicks. There is a strong plot through the novel, and yet the action exists to push along the true strength of the novel: Perowne's introspection and evaluation of his life.

The Perowne family feel like people I already know. The y are successful, upper middle class, generally happy with a few regrets. Perowne is also the most accurate multi-dimensional literary depiction of a scientist-like individual that I have ever come across. His musing on religion, literature, politics and family all feel like thoughts that I can picture acquaintances or myself having (especially in 20 years). McEwan truly captivated me in the first pages discussing Perowne's love and desire for his wife Rosalind. I actually quoted the pertinent passages to my boyfriend explaining what I want to be said of me in 20 years.

This was the first McEwan novel I've read, and I know I need to read more. I am so sorry I allowed the book to languish on my shelves since this summer. So of course the next McEwan novel I need to read is Atonement (bah-dump da cis!).

Das Leben der Anderen

I love German film. In a way that French, Italian or Latin American/Spanish films can never replicate, German films resonate with me. (By German films, I mean those that get distribution in the US, and I still need to watch them with English subtitles.)

Perhaps it is because they are so close to being Hollywood films; they have bg budgets, great cinematography, good actors, and straightforward plotlines. And yet they are clearly not Hollywood. The actors aren't plastic and tan, the endings aren't always happy.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), which won the 2007 Best Foreign Film Oscar, was an amazing movie, which I truly loved watching.

At some later point I may add intelligent and insightful remarks about this film, but for now all I can put into print is the warm glowing feeling accompanied by a smile that the film left me with.

The Ohio State Murders by Adrienne Kennedy

Because of a review I read in the New York Times I decided to read The Alexander Plays by Adrienne Kennedy. I was most interested in one entitled "Ohio State Murders", which offers an explanation for why the plays of Kennedy's fictional stand-in, Suzanne Alexander, contain so much violence.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading plays; they are short, pointed, and full of imagery. These 'conventional' works by Kennedy also pushed me past what I read most often (works by dead white males) - as they carry the views of a living black educated woman who has lived around the world. It even prompted me to look up the life and works of Frantz Fanon.

These plays did make it very clear to me that I am a scientist and that I want the facts. Since hearing that these plays were semi-autobiographical I desperately wanted to know which aspects were taken from Kennedy's life and which were fictional. Of course, most was fictional.