Thursday, June 10, 2010

Tags of the week - June 9, 2010

As with everything else around here, it's been over a week since I last posted some tags, but it's been a little hectic around these parts lately.  There are so many songs tagged in my phone right now, it was like narrowing it all down and weeding out the most relevant this time around.  I'm not sure I'll ever be short on tags to post.  Now that May and my 30 day challenge is over, it's like I forgot how fun it was to blog (almost) every day.  Anyway, without further ado, here's five songs that are hitting me this week, and why.

1) Fanfarlo - Harold T. Wilkins, or How to Wait for a Very Long Time.

I love this song. Part of why this made the list this week is because Fanfarlo is playing a free outdoor show in Providence this Friday evening. Waterplace Park, 7:30 pm. I'll be there, will you?

2) The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Okay, I confess that I didn't actually tag this song, but I love it, and my friend M just sent me a text about it, so it's fresh in my head. You can thank M if you're into the tune.

3) Against Me! - I was a Teenage Anarchist

This should have been in the last round of tags, it's been in my phone for so long, and it's been tagged more than twice. It has just the right mix of fun and angst. I love it.

4) Coheed & Cambria - Here We Are Juggernaut

Love. I know C&C aren't anyone new, and I don't know how new this song is, but I'm really into it. It's a little more harsh than some of the other stuff I've been listening to lately, but awesome nonetheless. We were stupid we got caught . . .

5) Bushwalla - I Raise Up

OMG. BW is playing house shows on the east coast this month, and I can't afford to get him at my house. Nor can I count on enough people coming through to chip in to be able to afford to front the money myself. And he's available when I am and everything; I already checked. I could totally do it if I could only justify the cash outlay. BUMMA. B-U-M-M-A. I absolutely hate that I have this opportunity, and can't take advantage. I love his style and his music SO much, and I really and truly want to introduce him to more people that I know would feel the same way. He's also playing a show in MA (an hour and a half away) at the end of the month, and I need to go to that. Seriously, you guys, he's so awesome. New album came out this week, and even though it's not on the radio and capable of being tagged, this is the first single. I couldn't not promote my boy. Check. Him. OUT!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Atonement - the movie

I was SO pleasantly surprised with this movie!  When I posted before about how amazing the book was, I commented about how I didn't this it would translate well to film, but wow.  And it's honestly not just because I love both actors, but the longer I watched, the more and more perfect James McAvoy and Kiera Knightly became for the roles of Robbie and Cecelia.  Even the unknowns who played Briony as a 13 year old and a 17 year old were both perfect, and the longer I watched, the more perfect they became.  The film was obviously missing a lot of the beautiful inner turmoil and misunderstanding, but the important parts of that were very well done with music and quick, fleeting shots to really convey the feeling.  Robbie and Cecelia's love scene in the library was brilliantly done, as was Briony's discovery of them.  The ending was slightly different than I remember, with Briony being interviewed about her final book for a television talk show (I remember the ending being her exiting the Imperial War Museum before attending a birthday party at her old home, etc.), but with the same ultimate conclusion regarding Cee and Robbie.  The end of the film was as captivating as the end of the book, though, even as it was played out through Briony's discussion of it, rather than in her head.  I missed some of the detail that was included in the second part of the book, between Briony's nurses' training and Robbie's war stories, but both were conveyed efficiently and accurately, despite the missing details, which were mostly internal.  J hated the movie and quit on it after about 20 minutes.  I think that if he had sat and watched the whole thing, he'd have gotten something out of it, but to each his own.  I was impressed, at any rate, and I stand corrected about McEwan's work making for a good movie.  The film was true to the book, was well-scripted, well-acted, well-directed, and overall just very well done.  I enjoyed it immensely.