october finds 2015 seems to be a longer list than usual. i don’t know how i managed, since i’ve been working quite a lot (as you can see, i haven’t posted in 3 weeks). anyhow, i hope no one is complaining that the list is longer!
1. i will start with montage of heck: i didn’t like it. with a soundtrack of lame ass covers and a dollop of bad original content, this incoherent documentary brings nothing new the table. if anything, it shows kurt and courtney in a series of home videos which honestly makes them look like a pair of random junkies. way to go, mr. director…
but sitting in front of a screen for what seemed like an endless 145 minutes made me take a walk down early 90’s grunge memory lane. i remember i had the first two nirvana albums on tapes. nevermind was brought from germany by a family friend. he had recorded the album on a 90 minute tape. the filler music was rage against the machine’s killing in the name of. i still remember how exciting it all was!
so, please do not waste 2 h and a half of you lives on this film. if you want to find out about nirvana and hole and about kurt and courtney, listen to their stuff. here are my favourites.
top 3 nirvana
3. breed
2. about a girl
1. territorial pissings is my absolute favourite. i love the original but also the cover done by triggerfinger with tom barman from deus: it’s kick ass!
bonus: something in the way
top 5 hole
5. jennifer’s body
4. miss world
3. doll parts
2. malibu
1. violet
2. i read just kids by patti smith after wanting to do so for quite a long time. i was half disappointed. it was interesting to get a glimpse into her making as an artist. but i did find the tone occasionally pretentious and the vocabulary often trying too hard. maybe it’s her being a poet, maybe it’s just me. anyway, it’s worth reading!
3. i went through some visual books this month. the first one is oxiseau by francesco pittau and bernadette gervais. it’s an amazing book: cool format and very informative.
and if you like it, the series includes 3 more books: axinamu, naceo and dinorauses.
i read a classic bd too: tintin le lotus bleu lotus by belgian cartoonist herge. since it was published in 1936, i enjoyed discovering bits that will have not been published today due to political incorrectness. check it!
inventaire de fruits et des legumes is by virginie aladjidi (text) and emmanuelle tchoukriel (drawings). definitely worth checking!
the series includes a few more books: inventaire illustre des animaux, inventaire illustre des insectes and inventaire illustre des merveilles du monde.
4. the bears is a disney film starring a family of real life bears. try to watch with the sound off: the narrator is so bad…
5. la tete haute by emmanuelle bercot is a tale of overcoming featuring intense performances by ron paradot as the wayward teen, catherine deneuve as the wise judge and benoit magimel as the reformed thug. wonderful!
6. deephan won this year’s palme d’or in cannes. i liked the non-actors but i loved the improbable mafia head played by vincent rottiers. i discovered jacques audiard with his unbelievable rust and bone. with deephan, his unique story telling skills are confirmed so check out his work!
7. i watched the 6 episodes of the british vogue vid series called the future of fashion. alexa chung is trying to convince us that the fashion world is not as vacuous as some of us may think. well, i’m not convinced but her bubbly personality and the well produced material make the series worth watching.
8. i discovered two girls who do comic strips online: sarah candersen and luchie. i love them both!
9. and i really liked this grass roots tumblr trying to educate the internet a little: sex ed with sarah. nice effort!
10. i have been looking forward for the release of enrique bunbury’s unplugged concert. because i have always been a fan, since his early days with heroes silencio and also because one of the tracks guest stars leon larregui from mexican band zoe. lucky me, this is exactly the track that was released early: an old heroes del silencio classic, chispa adecuada from the 1999 album avalancha.
11. this past weeks i’ve listened a thousand times to this vma medley by asap rocky with 21 pilots. exceptional energy!
12. in other news, i have stopped buying magazines altogether. goodbye, endless marketing material featuring so little real information. i promise to use the savings wisely. lol!
13. i cut my waist length hair into a short razor sharp bob. on one hand, i have started swimming on a regular basis and all that hair was too much. on the other hand, i came across a local organization recycling human hair into wigs for kids who went through chemo. so, in exchange for my pony tail, i got a free haircut. the hair stylists convinced me of their skills so i’ll be going back!
what are your news?
photo credits: copyright holders