Have been listening to the Cure's 'Disintegration' special edition quite a bit, in another very nice package as shown below (trying the new Blogger Amazon functionality). The album is really great, just epic and grand and great guitars and keyboards, and some of Robert Smith's finest lyrical performances, and I just don't remember it being so good at the time. Several songs are really making a new impression all over again, but in particular 'Plainsong' just has an epic quality which is like the entire oeuvre (!?) of Sigur Ros foreshadowed:
Of the albums I mentioned downloading last week, I am quite liking Stornoway, more than I expected; although it is a little folkie twee, there is a nice quality running through it. I will show a good version of 'Zorbing' here:
I am also enjoying the unusual sound of the McAlmont and Nyman album, and the combination of that voice and those classical-sounding strings is really cool. My favourite by a long shot is 'City of Turin' but I could only find a clip of 'Underneath the hessian bags':
The last video I will show this week is for Josh Ritter's 'The curse' and was made by his drummer, showing an unexpected flair for puppetry:
Finally, I read a really interesting and mysterious article in the Irish Times by Brian Boyd here about an incredible new album the identity of which cannot be revealed. Had a poke around on-line and no clues but wondering based on it being someone really big of maybe David Bowie?
Movies
My only movie news this week is that I was very disappointed to hear that Guillermo Del Toro has pulled out of directing 'The hobbit'; I found an interview with him below and think he would have brought a very interesting vision to the project:
Other than that, I have started watching 'Drag me to hell', which I recorded a while ago from Sky Movies - interestingly yuck so far and lots of cringing and squirming going on.....
Books
I finished 'My brain on music' and really liked and would recommend it, a great mix of music theory for the uninitiated and great anecdote, reference and scientific background. It certainly has made me think about music and my reaction to it in a very different way.
I have since started reading 'The storm of war', shown below, which seems a fresh and highly readable new history of WWII. It is very readable and has sprung quite a few unknown facts on me, like realising how much inconvenience Ireland's bloody-mindedness regarding its neutrality and allowing Britain to use its ports caused for the allied navies.
Other bits
There was a really interesting New scientist article on language here, with some great examples of bizarre phrases from other languages. My favourite of these is 'Rawa-Dawa' from the Indian dialect Mundari, which apparently means:
This is clearly a massive gap in the English language - why do we not have a word for this, if for no other reason than to encourage people to think like this??the sensation of suddenly realising you can do something reprehensible, and no one is there to witness it
I also heard that the iPhone 4 will be announced on Monday, which I am excited about, and definetely plan to retire my trusty N95 for assuming (a) memory at least 64 gB and (b) better camera than on previous iPhones; I quite like the idea of replacing two gadgets (and possibly three if I count my Blackberry) for one most of the time.
I also listened to some more Emo Phillips and my favourite sketch by far is the following:
Once, when I was in New York City, I went to the library. I said, "I'd like a book on the Heimlich anti-choking maneuver," and the guy said, "Look at the card catalog. I'm busy." So I go to the card catalog. I look under Heimlich and choking and maneuver. It's not any of those places. And I see this first aid book with the section and I take it and that guy said, "It's a reference book. You can't take it out; you have to Xerox it." I said, "Do you have change for a dollar?" He said, "It's not a bank, it's a library." So I go to this souvenir stand and I said, "Do you have change for a dollar?" They said, "It's not a bank, it's a souvenir stand." So I go to this bank, and they said, "Yes, this is a bank." And they give me the change and I go back to the libary. By this time there's a line of students Xeroxing their books and whatever and I -- finally get to Xerox the Heimlich. As I go back the guy says, "Put it back, now that you've used it." So I put it back. And as I leave, he says, "Thank you." I said, "Well, thank you! I'm never coming to this barn again." And I went back to my car. Now by this time, my sister's almost purple from the chicken bone...
Finally, after getting uncomfortably hooked on the damn show for the last few weeks, was delighted that Spelbound won Britain's got talent.
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