Crazy Heart. A through and through enjoyable movie. There’s no good reason not to watch it. One good reason to watch it, besides Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Robert Duvall being awesome, is to see Colin Farrell as a country star. Yes! I’ll be interested to see what else director Scott Cooper comes up with.
“Melisma has retreated, while pop, which has just wrapped up one of its best years in at least a decade, has benefited from a return to less frilly, less bombastic vocal showcases.”
Out With Mariah’s Melisma, In With Kesha’s Kick – NYTimes.com
Graph of the year – Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.
Bill James (and others) have pointed out that true racial equality in baseball came, not when superstars such as Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays started joining major league rosters, but when there was room for ordinary black players to join their equally unexceptional white colleagues on the bench.
Similarly, graphical methods have truly arrived when journalists use graphs to make ordinary, unexceptional points in a clearer way. When making a graph, and including it in an article, is easy enough that it’s done as a matter of course.
By the way, for all you bums tumbling without credit, this photo is by George H. Barker for The Tennessean (which has a lot of great Elvis photos), during the June 10, 1958 RCA studio session in Nashville. Perhaps he’s taking a break with Chet Atkins, Hank Garland, and the Jordanaires after recording I Need Your Love Tonight or A Big Hunk o’ Love? A little credit/context goes a long way.
And now back to our regularly scheduled non-cranky programming.
One of a cycle of ninety-two illustrations produced by Botticelli for a fifteen-century manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Slide Show: Treasures from the Vatican Library.
“We’re all just hustling each other.” (via)
“Honesty has its thorn.” (via)
Criticism can be instructive in the sense that it gives readers, including the author of the book, some information about the critic’s intelligence, or honesty, or both.
Good story. I’d forgotten about this one.
Good story. I’d forgotten about this one.
Criticism can be instructive in the sense that it gives readers, including the author of the book, some information about the critic’s intelligence, or honesty, or both.
A follow-up to Tim Carmody’s Film History 101 (via Netflix Watch Instantly). This one “features films that take a scientific possibility or question as their central premise”. I’ve got 11 of 15 crossed off the list.
Sci-Fi Film History 101 (via Netflix Watch Instantly) – Snarkmarket
Cross-section of Kowloon Walled City via wehr. I finally figured out what this reminded me of: Chung Chak’s photography project, The Boxes (e.g.) (which I tumbled and mis-tagged ages ago.)
Cross-section of Kowloon Walled City via wehr. I finally figured out what this reminded me of: Chung Chak’s photography project, The Boxes (e.g.) (which I tumbled and mis-tagged ages ago.)
North by Northwest isn’t a film about what happens to Cary Grant, it’s about what happens to his suit.
Ha! I thought North by Northwest was kinda boring, and I honestly did spend much of my attention on his clothing. (via)
Cary Grant’s Suit | Granta 94: On the Road Again | Granta Magazine
Black Swan. This was ultimately a bit disappointing. Great performances from Portman, Cassel, et al. Once I got used to it, I liked the use of the up-close, claustrophobic, over-the-shoulder stalker cam. A lot of the camerawork struck me as pretty impressive. Great moments in cramped interiors and the rhapsodic, choreographed dances. There’s also the nice bonus that the movie draws from a kickass soundtrack that’s long been one of my favorites.
The trouble with this movie is that once you go the fantasy/hallucination/supernatural route, it’s very, very hard to do it in a fresh way. This is how we end up repeating clichés like mysterious bleeding, reflections in the mirror moving without the character moving, painted portraits coming to life, mysterious whispers of sound, the epileptic-ecstatic flashing lights drugged-up dance club scene, sightings of people who look like certain people but actually aren’t when you get up close, etc. I loved seeing the strain of dancers seeking physical perfection; the consumptive effects of artistic striving; and the psycho-sexual power games among family, rivals, mentors. That was mostly excellent. My groans started with how these things were visually manifested on-screen–it seems like a pile-on. I think it would have been a more engaging film without the fantasy.
A thoughtful, elaborate gift guide from an enthusiast. Great ideas here. And I like this bit at the end: “There is as much snobbery in what food people won’t pay for as in what they will”. Also applies to people in general.
It’s the Annual Kitchen Gift Guide – Megan McArdle – The Atlantic
La Mantovana – Wikipedia. A tweet from David Friedman (@ironicsans)…
‘Tree of Life’ trailer: http://bit.ly/i5RnkM Smetana’s ‘Moldau’: http://bit.ly/gSgHbP Israel’s national anthem: http://bit.ly/eXEDYS
…reminded me of this old, old, old song. I love that we’re still using 400-year-old melodies.
Mark Larson 