Rocker's Trinity

I was listening to Arcade Fire's Neon Bible last night. I am just blown away by that album. After their flawless album Funeral, I was expecting a downturn. The type you anticipate after a really mind blowingly awesome album. Like the Dears or the Scissor Sisters... The band either tries too hard to be different or to preserve their sound and the album is a flop.

So then I came up with a theory that am still feeling out. I think what it takes to have a legendary band is three consecutively awesome albums. Third album is the death of a hyped up band that does not have the genuine stroke of genius. And after leaving that bad taste in their fans mouths, the band either disintegrates (significantly better way to keep dignity) or releases their forth album, a.k.a. the joke album, that destroys what is left of their reputation and makes them an ultimate target for chuckles. Subjectively, after Strokes, Cold Play and Interpol released their above categorized "trying too hard" second album, they were slowly approaching their inevitable death and the third and failed album sealed the coffin for them. Whereas The Decemberists after releasing the Picaresque went over the 3rd album hump. Or Wilco and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album... Or Blonde Redhead and Misery is Butterfly... Or Elbow and Leaders of the Free World... Ahhh thinking about these albums just makes me happy.

The bar is set up really high after the second awesome album release. To overcome that and deliver a third hit is the sign of a musical genius. And that's why I love the Decemberists!!!

Good luck Arcade Fire. I am looking forward to the next one because I am soaking this one up.

What's going on with South Park and Family Guy?

It is sad to admit that my ten year high school reunion is coming up... As a high school senior, I thought that by my tenth high school reunion, I would be pretty old. Well, now I feel like I was pretty young back then. So perspectives change as we get older right? Don't know really...

Well you might wonder why the title of my post is South Park and here I am blabbering about my tenth high school reunion. So, I was watching the latest South Park: Night of the Living Homeless, after a year long break due to my crappy no brand TV exploding and my refusing to replace it. My facial impressions while watching the show were waivering between a grimace and a faint smile. And I could not help but think why I was not laughing my @ss off. South Park, especially during college (+/- 2 years) has been my absolute favorite TV past time (along with Family Guy). So then I caught a new episode of Family Guy as well and yeah, same thing. I was just not laughing!

Oh my god, I thought to myself. Am I too old to appreciate South Park and Family Guy? Yikes! Then of course I had to consult with my BF on the ramifications of not finding these shows funny. BF and I both agree that our sense of humor is still impeccable. It is South Park and Family Guy that has just gotten mainstream and mundane. They just lost their edge. South Park, although as gory as before, does not tickle you with its caustic sense of humor. And with Family Guy, I am dissapointed by the writers' replacing political and cultural satire by Peter Griffin's sex life.

Then I thought again... I remembered my conversations with dad as a teenager listening to Nirvana. He, as an avid fan of Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin etc, was talking about how modern rock just was not worth listening. He called it mundane and mainstream. (Do you see the striking resemblance between my reaction to new Southpark to his reaction to new rock????) So am I getting too old to appreciate South Park or is South Park coming close to its jubile but refusing to admit? Oh chicken and egg problem...

Tsotsi and the Oscar

So not all my posts are going to be about the most recent releases. With some super hyped up movies (e.g. Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed), I just have a hard time making myself see them in the movie theater because I think I will be extremely disappointed. Then they win an Oscar, everyone is talking about them and I say "ok, I really do have to surrender and rent them." So Tsotsi was one of those movies. And finally after a year and a half after its release in the US, I decided to rent it from Netflix.

So the jist of the story is Tsotsi is a thug who mugs people for money and lives in the slums of South Africa. One day he shoots a woman and steals her car. As he drives off, he finds a baby in the back of the car. And for some reason decides not to be ruthless and take the baby with him after he leaves the car. And again for some mysterious reason he gets super attached to this baby.

Since I am not writing an official review about the movie, I don't feel like being objective like Roger Ebert and will not rank this on a one/two thumb(s) up/down scale. I am going to be even less scientific and will give it an arbitrary 7.9 out of 10. It is quite arbitrary but not completely random. I just feel that 7.9/10 is very fair for this movie.

Now, I don't remember that year's nominees for the Oscar but after having seen Das Leben der Anderen (Lives of Others), the winner of 2007 Oscar in Foreign movie, I really am not sure that I can say that Tsotsi was at the same caliber as Das Leben der Anderen.

The movie starts off very strong with an amazing view of the south african slums, booming ethnic music in the background(somewhere between rap and reggaeton) and Tsotsi and his gang of thugs walking into the scene. The vibe you get from the faces of the characters is wowing, they all seem very complex and interesting. It makes you really want to get to know all of them. Can't wait to see how they get in trouble and can't wait to see South African socioeconomical divide in action.

Unfortunately the plot does not follow the energetic feeling that you get at the beginning. The characters, despite their introductory premise, do not follow through. They remain shallow and stick to the obvious stereotypes. Especially Tsotsi... I still do not understand why he kept that baby that he accidentally stole. Then he kind of fell in love with a woman but the love encounter managed to have no influence on his character. As he is facing dilemmas, he manages to stay perfectly stoic and aloof, despite conflicting forces broiling in his mind, still vivid and painful. It is just sad to see all the interesting characters of the movie, at arms reach, still feel so foreign and undermined. It just needed a little more depth, in my humble opinion more flashbacks to Tsotsi's childhood, how he met his thug crew, more conversations about their dreams or lack there of.

I do have to say though the cinematography was out of this world beautiful. South Africa is of course a great canvas to work with. The soundtrack was so complimentary. Overall, 7.9: definitely worth watching.

Shopping muse gone? Or spring 07 shopping sucks?

So here we go with my first real posting (the other one doesn't count because it was about me and this page is supposed to be about my opinions on things not on myself). And this posting will be about Spring 07 shopping.

So I am the type of person who likes going spring shopping in February. It just makes me think of sunny beautiful spring weather and forget about yucky winter while engaged in spring dress investigation. So in January I was browsing through Spring fashion snapshots in W, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar and got super psyched! The pages were flowing with beautiful spring dresses in geometric prints, ethnic fabrics and I really love the hint of 60's and 70's channeled through the cuts and designs. I am embarressed to admit that I even cut out a few of them thinking that I want to be reminded of these candy colored beauties when spring stuff hits stores.

So then, I waited patiently for spring stuff to actually come in. It is such a tease that in January, when you are sick of layering on winter clothes, magazines allure you with spring clothes but you cannot actually buy them until March. So I was ready to shop as soon as my favorite stores showed the first signs of spring shipments.

And to my disappointment, I was not able to find anything I liked, which believe me, happens very very rarely. Except for a few cute Alice and Olivia and Karen Zambos dresses, the aisles of fashion were not appealing to me. It is almost May and summer shipments are probably fast on their way from China and Italy. And here I am with a bad taste of spring fashion in my mouth. Now I don't know if it is because I was not in the mood for shopping or spring 07 really sucked.

Well I am really hopeful about summer. I really am...

I'd like to introduce me

I am a life aficionado. I almost wish that I had a degree in journalism and was writing in a cool magazine or local newspaper's art section about movies I saw, art I like and best of spring shopping or all. And as I try a glass of wine, see a really good movie or discover a new band, I really want to write about it. So here I go. I want to write about everything I like, don't like and why. I want to make it a true Zeitgeist that I share with people who want to discover new things. So this will be a little bit about good food, a little bit about wine, music, art, movies and fashion (and anything and everything in an attempt to capture the spirit of time)

So there we go...

For people who want to learn about stuff...

ps. I think if I stick to this long enough, I will go back to this original first posting and be like "wow that was sooo lame" but starting is always awkward and hard... Especially if you think you are shy. And more so if you are an engineering major and chose to be so because your humanities papers in your freshman year made you realize you really suck at writing :)