Once by John Carney

A movie review, I only wrote one of those and it was about Annie Hall, one of my favorite comedy.

Once is a 2006 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney, it won an academy award in 2008 (Best Original Song),  in those last few weeks I realized that most of my friends haven’t seen it (and they are living in Dublin where the movie is set) so I thought I would write a post about it:

Here it’s an unpretentious  comedy about two struggling musicians, a beautiful love story among kindred spirits that filled my  heart with tenderness.

Poetic, exquisite, a perfect example that what really makes a movie work is a combination  of screenplay, dialogues, pictures, songs, details rather than popular over paid actors.

An irish  guy (Glen Hansard, real life frontman of The Frames) and a czech girl (Marketa Irglova) meet in Grafton Street in Dublin, he earns a living as a street musician, she sells magazines titled “issues”.

He lives with his dad, she lives with her son. He just broke up with her girlfriend, she is a in long-distance relationships with her husband but their marriage is falling apart.

They become a musical duo, they build a songbook and together start a new phase of their life.

This movie features one of the best original soundtrack  I ever came across to,  Once by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova which is now one of my favorite songs:

It’ sentimental but it would be unfair to simply define this as “romantic comedy”, above everything else is about two people who find the courage to seek out their dreams.

Magic, simply enchanting.

My grade: 5/5

Em

I Just Can’t Get Enough of Megan Whalen Turner

It’s been a busy week that it’s about to culminate with a wedding ceremony (this afternoon) and a traditional irish music festival (tomorrow and sunday) .

It doesn’t help that every single night I’ve been up until 1 am reading Megan Whalen Turner.

I finished The Queen of Attolia (it deserves a 5 star review) and I am now reading The King of Attolia, this series is so good and so unputdownable, maybe it’s a good thing that I wasn’t aware of A Conspiracy of Kings, I need some sleep.

I just can’t get enough of Eugenides, I loved him in The Thief but he stole my heart in The Queen of Attolia.

I will post a proper review next week, for now I want to share this amazing video , I used to love this french band, it’s such a beautiful song (regardless of what happened) :

I’ve been listening to Noir Desir all week ( no I don’t speak french but I am used to listening to songs in english and not understanding most of the words) , I think Le Vent Nous Portera is perfect for The Thief.

Happy Weekend

Em

Friday I am in love

In less than one month I will celebrate my first wedding anniversary. All my friends will tell you that I am everything but romantic (it’s false, I am an hopeless romantic but I do it in my own way) , on the surface my husband is even worse, we are both really lazy when it comes to cooking, buying each other presents, dressing up …  he didn’t propose with a grand gesture  and I never wanted an engagement ring so I don’t have one (I am not pretending because I don’t have one, I really don’t care).

One thing I do on a weekly basis (or at least I used to) is coming up with “love playlists”, here it’s one  that I constantly play on my iPod:

The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice (no I don’t think it’s overrated and yes I love Damien Rice)

There is too much love by  Belle and Sebastian

Better Together by Jack Johnson (perfect album on a sunday morning)

If I ever feel better by The Phoenix (this is an old one by The Phoenix  but still a favorite of mine)

You Will You Will (Bright Eyes Cover) by Snow Patrol (I feel like crying)

Dreaming of you by The Coral

Fix You by The Coldplay

All I need by The Radiohead (call it addiction, as depressing as it sounds I am addicted to their music)

Slow Show by The National (currently my favorite band so I have to add one of their songs)

Falling Slowly by The Frames (if you haven’t seen the movie Once I highly recommend it)

Better by Regina Spektor

Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap

Hope you like it, feel free to recommend some more

Em

2-Tone inspirations

Something great happened this weekend: I WENT TO SEE THE SPECIALS!

I love ska music, I love  the sound, the energy and there is nothing like a ska live performance to make me realize that  being part of a jumping crowd is all I need to charge my batteries.

For those of you who are not really into ska music let me introduce The Specials aka british ska legends.

The Specials were part of the late 70’s ska revival but the music they made  was also  influenced by punk (they shared The Clash’s management, and Strummer was a big fan). They only reformed in 2009 after two decades apart, here it’s the New York Times’ article about their reunion.

Listen this song,  “A message to Rudy”, and tell me if you can stay still:

There are so many covers that we don’t even realize how much their music is in the air and I love them all:

here it’s the one from my favorite cover band Nouvelle Vague “Friday Night, Saturday Morning” (I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning/I like to venture into town/I like to get a few drinks down/The floor gets packed the bar gets full I don’t like life when things get dull):

and also we have:

Amy Winehouse ,  “Hey Little Rich Girl”

Kasabian, “Too much too young”

No Doubt, “Guns of Navarone”

Lily Allen, “Blank expressions”

The Prodigy, “Ghost Town”

Reel Big Fish, “Monkey Man”

Hope you like them

Em

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Yesterday I attended the gay pride in Dublin, Oh Boy It was great fun, a huge party!

The book that it’s on my mind right now it’s Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, this novel was originally  published in 1989 and it’s the first in the Dangerous Angels series (there are four more books in this series).

Weetzie Bat describes gay marriage, children out of wedlock, abortion, common-law marriage and the AIDS epidemic, the story is set in an almost dream-like version of Los Angeles, referred to as Shangri-L.A., in an indefinite time period.

Weetzie is a bleach blonde punk pixie who is looking for love, she becomes BFF with Dirk and sort of falls in love with him, Dirk is gay, owns a black mohawk and a sweet red 55 Pontiac named Jimmy.

When Dirk’s grandma dies leaving him her bungalow in Hollywood , Weetzie and Dirk start living together while they keep looking for their perfect ducks until they find them. Weetzie falls in love with a movie maker,My Secret Agent Lover Man, Dirk falls in love with Duck.
“Any love that is love is right” A new family is born.

The story is all funky details and pop culture, it’s glamorous and surreal, it’s an urban fairytale that made me smile and gave me a mild headache, interesting because of its very peculiar style and also because it deals with controversial  issues:

* deception & forgiveness: Weetzie wants a baby but  My Secret Agent Lover Man doesn’t want one, I must admit that the way Weetzie deceits her lover really bothered me and I found her character less likeable precisely because of her behaviour on the matter;

* definition of family: Weetzie’s traditional family is broken, her parents’ divorce caused her pain and unhappiness, above everything else Weetzie is looking for happiness and you can only be happy if you are surrounded by love, when Weetzie’s time comes she creates a “non conventional” family that proves to work better than her traditional one;

* homosexuality;

* death and disease (aids);

* drugs and substance abuse;

As charming as this short, fast-paced story is I would put a “handle with care” disclaimer on the cover, what I mean is that it requires some post-debate because it deals with a crucial concept such as the definition of family itself.

Family it’s not only about personal choices but it’s about making choices that will necessarily affect other people life, either wholeheartedly agree or wholeheartedly disagree with Weetzie Bat would be wrong from a reader’s prospective, you might reach a full agreement or disagreement but stop and THINK ABOUT IT.

The Soundtrack (chosen by Francesca Lia Block):

X – Los Angeles
Ladies of the Canyon – Joni Mitchell
Iggy Pop – Lust for Life
Winter – Tori Amos
Wild World – Cat Stevens
Dancing Barefoot – Patti Smith
Free Falling – Tom Petty
Electricity – OMD
Wild Thing – The Troggs
Real Wild One – Iggy Pop
Secret Agent Man – Agent Orange
I want your hands on me – Sinead O Connor
Emperor’s New Clothes – sinead O’ Connor
Thank you – Alanis Morisette
Breathe me – Sia
Think pink – the fabulous poodles

My grade: 4/5

Em

The Beatles in my life aka crash course in happiness

Yesterday I won a wonderful contest on the Book Binge : a Copy of The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (see review and contest here).

What was this contest about? The Beatles !

What’s so great about this contest? Comments that bloggers came up with:

http://jmartinlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/win-a-copy-of-the-lonely-hearts-club-by-elizabeth-eulberg/

I love the Beatles (and I would like to post a picture of me in Abbey Road here but I can’t find it) and the way their lyrics influenced our culture, this is one of my favorite reference because it’s so true (and Levithan is a genius):

“First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That’s what everyone wants. Not 24-7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche or a blow job or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can’t hide. Every single successful love song of the past fifty years can be traced back to ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding. Trust me. I’ve thought a lot about this”

About “I wanna hold your hand” by The Beatles” — David Levithan (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist)

Can you think of other great Beatles’ references or books somehow influenced by their music?

The thing about this band is that their songs put me in a good mood, some lyrics might be cheesy but they make me feel happy.

The Beatles in my life aka crash course in happiness:

All you need is love: All you need is love, love/ Love is all you need

I want to hold your hand: And when I touch you i feel happy, inside/It´s such a feeling/That my love/I can’t hide

Let it be: Let it be, let it be/Let it be, yeah, let it be/Whisper words of wisdom/Let it be/

A little help from my friends: No, I get by with a little help from my friends/Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends/Mm,Gonna try with a little help from my friends

We can work it out: Life is very short, and there’s no time/For fussing and fighting, my friend./I have always thought that it’s a crime,/So I will ask you once again.

Hey Jude: And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,/Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders./
For well you know that it’s a fool who plays it cool/By making his world a little colder.

Em

Soundtrack Saturday – A certain slant of light

Every saturday Alita of alita.reads. shares a song that fits on the soundtrack for the book she is currently reading, you can check all her “soundtrack saturdays” here, I love those posts and there are some great songs I’ve never heard of so I thought I would do something similar here in  my own way.

This week I am staying with my family in Milan, it means that I am sleeping in my old single bed, beside my bed there is my bookshelf (the one that’s been there untouched for ten years now) and yesterday before falling asleep I saw Lezioni Americane (six memos for the new millennium) by Italo Calvino and started reading “lightness” which sounded very appropriate considering I had just written the review of A certain slant of light.

When it comes to italian literature I am not a big fan of Italo Calvino but those essays are pure genius and I can’t recommend them highly enough:

From Six Memos for the Next Millennium Chapter 1: Lightness.

I will devote my first lecture to the opposition between lightness and weight, and will uphold the values of lightness. This does not mean that I consider the virtues of weight any less compelling, but simply that I have more to say about lightness.

After forty years of writing fiction, after exploring various roads and making diverse experiments, the time has come for me to look for an overall definition of my work. I would suggest this: my working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language.

In this talk I shall try to explain -both to myself and to you- why I have come to consider lightness a value rather than a defect; to indicate the works of the past in which I recognize my ideal of lightness; and to show where I situate this value in the present and how I project it into the future.

I will start with the last point. When I began my career, the categorical imperative of every young writer was to represent his own time. Full of good intentions, I tried to identify myself with the ruthless energies propelling the events of our century, both collective and individual. I tried to find some harmony between the adventurous, picaresque inner rhythm that prompted me to write and the frantic spectacle of the world, sometimes dramatic and sometimes grotesque. Soon I became aware that between the facts of life that should have been my raw materials and the quick light touch I wanted for my writing, there was a gulf that cost me increasing effort to cross. Maybe I was only then becoming aware of the weight, the inertia, the opacity of the world -qualities that stick to writing from the start, unless one finds some way of evading them.

This paragraph says a lot about what I like most when it comes to books, somehow I believe Whitcomb achieves such an outcome with her ya novel.

The soundtrack that I am choosing for A certain slant of light is Chopin who explores depths while sounding simple :

Chopin ballade no 4 opus 52 (Rubinstein)

Chopin, Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 ( Martha Argerich)

Chopin Ballade No.4 in F minor Op.52 (Vladimir Ashkenazy)

and here it’s a picture that conveys my emotions this morning, it’s called “Misty Fog” (credits to Stefano):

Em

I wanna be your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert

Two months ago I started reading I wanna be your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert, I couldn’t really get into it so  I left it after a few pages (my heart wasn’t into this kind of story).

I picked it up again on the ferry in Greece and I simply couldn’t put it down, even now I can’t stop thinking about my visceral reaction to this gripping  story that shouldn’t be labelled as “ya” .  I suppose the Irving Welsh’s note on the cover should have given me a better idea of what to expect.

I wanna be your Joey Ramone it’s a coming of age story that revolves around Emily Blake’s family, rock n’ roll and a place called home.

Narration is mainly told from Emily’s prospective in a first person narration but some chapters are about Louisa’s story (Emily’s mother) in a third person narration.

“You’re sixteen years lost and I’m sixteen years found. You couldn’t teach me how to live but I figured out how. I figured out how!”

Nothing is superficial about this novel: the friendship between Emily and her best friend Reagan, the relationship between Emily and her father Michael, the lure of the big city when you are born into a small town, the mixture of pain and regret Louisa condemned herself to.

Each and single character feels real, the intensity of their emotions overwhelming, I believe it’s called empathy… my favorite character would be Michael, Kuehnert gives  a poignant portrait of a father and of a man.

Life can sometimes complicate itself, this novel doesn’t simplify leaving space for laughter, love and ultimately hope.

Emily is one of the best female heroine I came across to in a really long time: an angry feminist, a slut, a punk rock musician, she finds the way to channel her inner emotions into music and save herself in the process.

Characters are important and sometimes they make a novel but I wanna be your Joey Ramone is also about places and music.

Places have a symbolical value in this story (as I believe they have in real life): River’s edge (a warehouse in Carlisle where local bands play their angry punk), small farming town Carlisle, Chicago, downtown and the suburbs.

“Punk never became the mainstream in Carlisle. People wore flannel but it was no fashion statement. The jocks that ruled our school called Kurt Cobain a fag because he wore a dress in a music video. Carlisle was stagnant but at River’s Edge the air felt electric and full of promise”

Often when we are born into a small town there is a phase of life in which a surrounding close minded mentality feels like a prison becoming a trigger for rebellion.

I think many readers will relate to Emily but I like the way this novel  goes beyond the obvious  and  hints at the other side of the story, what happens when people find themselves estranged in a big city.

Music…well read it and you’ll understand what I mean, Kuehnert’s passion for music it’s all in there.

Emily sings and plays guitar, her band is called “She laughs” and here it goes my playlist for this story (inspired by the book):

Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash

Train in vain by Clash

Don’t take me for granted by Social Distortion

Ask the angels by Patty Smith

Lust for life by Iggy Pop

Rape me by Nirvana

I wanna be your Joey Ramone by Sleater-Kinney

for a second opinion I recommend Lit Snit.

My grade: 5/5

Em

Catching Fire – The Playlist

I am currently reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and very much into it.

In the great Peeta vs Gale debate I find my heartbeat accelerating when Gale enters the scene, it must be love. Today I found this debate on an awesome blog (lots of swooning material) and I ended up saying that Gale is in between Robin Hood and Steve McQueen, I got a bit carried away… the reality is I don’t really know Gale, he hasn’t done much yet .

Right now I am focusing on Katniss and the story , today while  cycling home inspiration struck me on the way, the perfect playlist for The Hunger Games plus Catching Fire materialized in my mind, here it is:

Rage Against The Machine, Freedom

Paintings of rebellion
Drawn up by the thoughts I think
Yeah!
Come on!
The militant poet in once again, check it

Rage Against The Machine, Killing in the name of

And now you do what they told ya

Muse, New Born

Destroy the spineless
Show me it’s real
Wasting our last chance
To come away
Just break the silence
’cause I’m drifting away
Away from you

Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings exposed
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold

The Clash, Guns of Brixton

You can crush us
You can bruise us
But you’ll have to answer to

Nirvana, Rape me

Hate me
Do it and do it again
Waste me
Rape me, my friend

Radiohead, All I need

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

Florence and The Machine, You0ve got the love

When food is gone you are my daily meal
When friends are gone I know my saviour’s love is real
Your love is real

Depeche Mode, Personal Jesus

Reach out touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who’s there

The Smashing Pumpkins, Bullet with Butterfly Wings

despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
someone will say what is lost can never be saved
despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage

The Doors, The End

Lost in a Roman…wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

It’s intense but it’s how I feel reading this series. I like the idea of associating books and playlists, it’s something I have seen on other blogs and I especially like “alita.reads“.

Em

31 Dream Street by Lisa Jewell (Roommates Wanted: A Novel)

If you are on those who recently picked up a chick-lit but the story has failed to hold  interest, if you are getting  bored of the genre as a whole ,   if you are not ready to face a reality without light-hearted romance I highly recommend Lisa Jewell.

Lisa will restore your faith in the genre, when it comes to chick lit she is one of my favorite writers  and a book that really impressed me is 31 Dream Street ( it’s called Roommates Wanted: A Novel in US).

It’s in between fiction and chick lit, it’s light with substance, it’s heart warming without being obvious.

From amazon:

Leah and Toby have lived across the street from one another for years without meeting … and Leah has been itching to peek behind the front door of Toby’s eccentric house, always packed to the rafters with weird and wonderful tenants. When fate finally lets her in, Leah finds that Toby needs her as much as she is surprised to realize she might need him. Sometimes life needs a helping hand and with a sprinkle of romance and their own special magic, Toby and Leah’s dreams show the glimmer of a chance of coming true. 31 Dream Street is a wonderfully warm and insightful novel that will capture the imagination and soothe the soul.

Toby and Leah are realistic well developed characters, almost forty years old Toby  is a shy poet  who enjoys  being nice to people who are struggling in life (mostly his tenants) , he is  stuck in his big house and the lifestyle he made himself comfortable in. Toby is lonely and not very happy, a change could be good  but he is not the kind of person that embraces change easily, neither are his housemates.

Leah is an attractive, efficient, 35 years old girl who finds herself intrigued by dilapidated Victorian mansion next door and his owner.

This is a story full of tenderness and humor (do not expect an overwhelming sexual tension), is a touching  tale about friendship, second chances and the power of love, there are lots of amusing characters (each tenant has a story) and it’s beautifully written:

“Real love, it doesn’t just pop up when it’s convenient, you know? It doesn’t just turn up and fit in with everything. Real love is a pain in the arse. You have to make compromises for it.”

“I know. Pathetic, isn’t it? I’m sure life wasn’t supposed to be like this. I’m sure the idea was that you met someone and you knew, that it was one thing or another, that it was black or white. But life – it’s so stupidly grey half the time , isn’t it? So vague and so silly and…nothing.”

While writing this review I am listening to the soundtrack of Across The Universe , “With a Little Help from My friends”  it’s the perfect match for this novel (also one of my favorite song) and If there was a movie made from this book I  could actually picture Joe Anderson as Toby.

My Grade: 4.5/5

Em