- Mood:
sore - Music:chrisette michelle: work it out
- Mood:
calm - Music:chrisette michelle: another one
- Mood:
nostalgic - Music:basement jaxx with santigold: saga
Any Penelope Cruz fan who wants to see her in a good movie with a director who knows how to capture her talent should run to the new Pedro Almodovar movie instead of the horror show of Nine. The trust between the two of them is palpable in every frame, and she's not even the main character.
- Mood:
cheerful - Music:chrisette michele: mr. radio
Instead, we went to this on my birthday, and it was a lot of fun:

Don't be fooled by the ads that make it look like a CGI cousin to the hideous League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's Guy Ritchie, so it's much more about shirtless boxing, actually, especially while insulting your opponent in his native French. The female roles are developed as well, with a wise fiance for Watson and McAdams as a wiley Catwoman type to Sherlock's Batman. In a good way.
It made $65 mil, so I'm guessing the sequel is imminent. They didn't even telegraph it in the story: they basically flat out said, hey, now we've got .... The End? Which is fine if the movie's good, laughable if it's not. But Ritchie is all about steel balls, anyway.
- Mood:
bemused - Music:gnarls barkley: crazy
Worst Movie of the Year:
NINE

Proof that not-even Judi Dench can save a tone-deaf, miscast, horribly unimaginative staging of a remake of an adaptation of a stylish but self-indulgent autobiography from forty-five years ago, and that Daniel Day Lewis is no Marcello Mastroianni.
But youtube the Kate Hudson number in a few days, "Cinema Italiano," staged like a 60s variety show. It's the only good 5 minutes in the film, nobody was as stunned as me. Girl can sing and dance!
and Nicole. Oh, oh, oh .... Nicole? She's supposed to be the embodiment of Venus for all Italian men, but ....

Just ... no, Nicole, it's too late. Performance, fine, but what a travesty to force Kidman to channel Bardot, or Cardinale, or Eckberg ... let's just say it's a stretch at this point.
I made sculptures out of my candy wrappings waiting for this one to end.
- Mood:
aggravated - Music:anything featuring a professional singer
- Mood:
thankful - Music:fleetwood mac: gold dust woman
This is a hot picture. Joss falls in love with all his stars.

- Mood:
bored - Music:david bowie: art decade
- Mood:
cheerful - Music:lady gaga: speechless
"Now will this cover the whole purchase, sir?" No, it wouldn't. Exasperated sigh. "But you'll be doing the rest on a card, right," since I was already over there and so potentially wasting his time.
"Of course," I said, and he smiled. Officially not his 100th problem of the day. Happy Christmas!
- Mood:
amused - Music:beyonce: sweet dreams
Top 5 Singles according to my iTunes playcount (sort of) of 2009
| Pangaea by the Church Digging around for new cds by old bands on the net, I started seeing great reviews for the latest by the Church, their Untitled #23. Which I guess is really their 23rd studio album. This was my favorite song, but the whole album is as shimmery and enveloping as their earliest stuff from the 1980s. | |
| Lucid Dreams by Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand is tricky. Their first album reminded me of Scotland after our trip there. Their second one I bought as an annoying dual disc that is basically unplayable. And their third one iTunes pressured me to download in advance (for cheap). But this song, which starts off rock but ends up disco (and disco maxi-single at that!) is great fun. I want to be at a party where they're the band! | |
| Paranoid by Kanye West The only other Kanye music I have in iTunes are songs he produced for others. And Gold Digger got on my last nerve with its epic sexism. But this song had Rihanna in the video, and was from his album about having a broken heart. Literally in the top 5 play count of my ipod for the year. | |
| Lisztomania by Phoenix
I caught these guys on a Saturday Night Live that only partially recorded, and I ended up saving it for months just to play their two songs (sorry, Seth Rogan). It took me months to realize I already knew them, as | |
| Hysteric by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz is my favorite new album of the year, easily eclipsing slight disappointments like Mew and Silversun Pickups. Karen's performances of "Heads Will Roll" all over the latenight talkshow landscape were stellar and cool, and I keep fixating on a different song from the album as my favorite. But this is apparently the one I played the most. | |
| The Fear by Lily Allen Honorable Mention to Lily Allen: this song didn't tempt me to buy the album (as all the above tracks did, except I'm still thinking about the Kanye), and she has a lot of competition on the "crazy girl diva" front from Rihanna, Beyonce, La Gaga, and Shakira. But she wins, maybe just for the line "I look in the Sun and I look in the Mirror, 'cuz everyone knows that's how you get famous" which is UK-specific humor and much more witty than "Feeling abused like a coffee machine in an office." | |
| Hello It's Me by Joe Pernice Best Cover Song: I've actually never heard a bad cover of this song, there are several amazing R&B versions (who knew Todd Rundgren was a soul all-star?), but just the charm of Joe Pernice of the Pernice Bros. recording a "soundtrack" to a book he wrote about his life in music is pretty great, and this cover is as sensitive and heart-tugging as you'd demand. Still need to read the book and hear the rest of the soundtrack, but we buy singles again, don't we? |
- Mood:
satisfied - Music:kanye: stronger
The moon pours down at night in waves,
And a flood tide overflows
The silent horizon."
My affection for early 20th century Expressionist music is exploding this December for some reason. I'm fascinated by Bluebeard's Castle, by Wozzek, and adding Naxos CDs like crazy to my wishlist.
Would that I could afford this party at the Gardner Museum; they're playing Pierrot Lunaire on New Year's Eve for the full moon! Pricy, though.
http://connect.gardnermuseum.org/site/Pa
Hey, wow, and it looks like Björk performed it back in the 1990s?! WTF?
http://lostsongs.bjorkish.net/pierrotlun

Next year is getting off to an eerie start already!
- Mood:
punk rock - Music:wire: kidney bingos
Also, Lady Gaga keeps making me buy her new singles. Those shoes would make Kelly murder someone!
- Mood:
Friday - Music:bob seger: ramblin' gamblin' man
There's so many different recipes as to how to do them; people use mayonnaise, potatoes, lemon juice, Cream of Mushroom soup mix, panko ... you basically need some fresh, sharp flavors; something oily; some crunch. My grandmom used to use oats, as she would for meatloaf. Here's mine:
1 can salmon (seperate the filets, remove the bones, reserve the liquid)
2 slices your preferred bread, pulsed to crumbs (don't toast, you need the moisture)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup instant potato flakes (or leftover instant or mashed potatoes)
dry seasonings (garlic, onion powder, paprika, parsley, dill, your own preference)
Mix up all of the above with a fork. Include the can liquid, or add lemon juice or mayo (a tbl or 2). You want a soft but not goopy texture.
Form into patties (I use a large wooden spoon to shape), and press onto a sizzling (not smoking) frying pan (I use half butter/crisco, dollops of each). You'll need to replinish the oil as you fry, but you don't need even more than 1/4 inch coating the pan at any one time.
I turn mine over twice, so they get 4 minutes per side, eventually.
Makes about 7 or 8, and I ate most of them myself over the course of the day.
Serve with fake Thousand Island Dressing (equal parts Mayo, mustard, ketchup and worcestershire sauce) or your favorite creamy seafood dip.
- Mood:
happy - Music:groove theory: hello it's me

Gotta love that eighties synth-line. And the back-up singers are straight from disco records. Did he hire the Pointer Sisters or something?
Of course, I also bought this again, so now I have a backup copy I guess?
But at least I realized I already have this and took it off my Amazon wish list. I've gone senile when it comes to Grandpa's Favorite Albums!
Help Grandpa, kids!

Man, remember Prince in the 1980s, touring the South, like this?:

And you wonder why we loved him?
- Mood:
thoughtful - Music:leonard cohen: everybody knows
You might have thought that the Pussycat Dolls were destroying the power of "Jai Ho" when they mangled it into a bubblegum hiphop song, but as
The eyeliner line is sort of interesting. Sounds like forbidden flirting! The Oscar performance was one of the most sincerely exuberant moments I ever remember seeing since I started watching them in the 1970s.(NIGHT AFTER NIGHT I TRULY DIED..)
(IT ROCKS!,IT ROCKS!,IT ROCKS!,OH IT ROCKS!)
(COME ON MY LIFE, JOIN ME UNDER THE BIG ROOF)
(COME JOIN ME UNDER THE GLITTERING BLUE SKY)
(IT ROCKS..OH IT ROCKS!)(SPENT THE NIGHTS DANCING ON HOT COALS..)
(I BLEW AWAY THE SLEEP IN MY EYES..)
(I BURNT MY FINGERS TRYING TO TOUCH THE STARS..)
(COME ON MY LIFE, JOIN ME UNDER THE BIG ROOF)
(COME JOIN ME UNDER THE GLITTERING BLUE SKY)
(IT ROCKS..OH IT ROCKS!)
(Dance! Dance!)(TASTE IT, O TASTE IT, THE NIGHT IS HONEY, TASTE IT)
(KEEP MY HEART, IT IS THE LAST LIMIT, YEAH KEEP IT)
(DARK, THIS EYELINER OF YOURS, IS LIKE A MAGICAL SPELL)
It comes up a lot on the Soundtrack Genre in my nano. I never saw the movie.
- Mood:
sore
Shakira on Saturday Night Live
I'm going to end up buying this album, aren't I? She's like a hot mess, and she's not apologizing for it!
- Mood:
fierce! - Music:shakira: did it again
"If you don't like this, try Hips Don't Lie!"
The braces are super-adorable.
- Music:beyonce: crazy in love

Apparently it's not one of those laundry balls that you throw in and it makes suds.
- Music:meredith monk: gotham lullaby
