Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Salon with Spoon, Tom Waits, Asian-American hip-hop, Grokster, Gap drops SJP, 2046, Radiohead, Weezer, Eros, Schiavo

Salon: Spoon interview excerpt
Is the Beatles' influence as huge in your music as it seems to be?
It's huge. I'm a huge fan. There was a period when we were working on this record where [the Beatles'] "Revolver" was the thing I was listening to over and over again, and I would go to sleep with headphones on listening to "Revolver," But then there was a period where [Prince's] "1999" was the record I was listening to over and over again, and then the soundtrack to [Steven Soderbergh's 2002 film] "Solaris." People in the band didn't really get that one.

Do you always get so obsessed with records?
I do go through periods of obsession with certain records.

Recently?
I just got out of a period of obsession with [Prince's] "Around the World in a Day." And the Arcade Fire record, ["Funeral"]. It's a classic.
The Observer: Tom Waits' Top 20 albums
Boing Boing: Crosscultural Asian/American hip-hop
Boing Boing: Technologies that will be criminal if we lose Grokster: email, blogs, Xerox machines
Crossing our fingers that the Supreme Court won't curtail our digital rights.
Gap drops Sarah Jessica Parker
Sony picks up U.S. distribution rights to 2046
My review of the film posted at the end of last year:
2046 - This was the film I was most eagerly anticipating this year. It's Wong Kar-Wai's follow-up to 'In the Mood For Love', which was one of my favorite movies this decade. According to Wong, the idea for 2046 comes from the promise the Chinese government gave to the Hong Kong people: 50 years of no change in its political and economic systems after the 1997 handover by Great Britain. Chow (Tony Leung) is a writer whose novel describes a mysterious train that leaves for the year 2046, a year/place where people are said to revisit the past and recapture lost memories. This is mere speculation since no one has returned from 2046. Chow stays at the Oriental Hotel. He is a womanizer who relives his past affairs with his old neighbor's wife, Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung, playing the character from In the Mood for Love), a card shark by the same name (Gong Li), and a high class madam, Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi). His current neighbor, Jingwen (Faye Wong), is the daughter of the hotel's owner and she encourages him to write the novel. If you're confused, so was I. This film was rushed to Cannes, did not receive any awards, and was panned by many critics. I think there are some good ideas here but not enough for a coherent full-length feature film.
Radiohead start work on new album
Pitchfork: Weezer Set Release Date and U.S. Tour For Make Believe
Eros trailer
Featuring contributions from Steven Soderbergh, Michael Antonioni, and Wong Kar-Wai. I didn't even know Antonioni was still directing. Do short film collaborations like this ever work?
Denied
Salon: "This has nothing to do with the sanctity of life"

Don't forget the Salon bypass to get by their forced ad.

DJMonsterMo | 7:36 AM |

Comments:

Salon: Spoon interview excerpt
Is the Beatles' influence as huge in your music as it seems to be?
It's huge. I'm a huge fan. There was a period when we were working on this record where [the Beatles'] "Revolver" was the thing I was listening to over and over again, and I would go to sleep with headphones on listening to "Revolver," But then there was a period where [Prince's] "1999" was the record I was listening to over and over again, and then the soundtrack to [Steven Soderbergh's 2002 film] "Solaris." People in the band didn't really get that one.

Do you always get so obsessed with records?
I do go through periods of obsession with certain records.

Recently?
I just got out of a period of obsession with [Prince's] "Around the World in a Day." And the Arcade Fire record, ["Funeral"]. It's a classic.
The Observer: Tom Waits' Top 20 albums
Boing Boing: Crosscultural Asian/American hip-hop
Boing Boing: Technologies that will be criminal if we lose Grokster: email, blogs, Xerox machines
Crossing our fingers that the Supreme Court won't curtail our digital rights.
Gap drops Sarah Jessica Parker
Sony picks up U.S. distribution rights to 2046
My review of the film posted at the end of last year:
2046 - This was the film I was most eagerly anticipating this year. It's Wong Kar-Wai's follow-up to 'In the Mood For Love', which was one of my favorite movies this decade. According to Wong, the idea for 2046 comes from the promise the Chinese government gave to the Hong Kong people: 50 years of no change in its political and economic systems after the 1997 handover by Great Britain. Chow (Tony Leung) is a writer whose novel describes a mysterious train that leaves for the year 2046, a year/place where people are said to revisit the past and recapture lost memories. This is mere speculation since no one has returned from 2046. Chow stays at the Oriental Hotel. He is a womanizer who relives his past affairs with his old neighbor's wife, Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung, playing the character from In the Mood for Love), a card shark by the same name (Gong Li), and a high class madam, Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi). His current neighbor, Jingwen (Faye Wong), is the daughter of the hotel's owner and she encourages him to write the novel. If you're confused, so was I. This film was rushed to Cannes, did not receive any awards, and was panned by many critics. I think there are some good ideas here but not enough for a coherent full-length feature film.
Radiohead start work on new album
Pitchfork: Weezer Set Release Date and U.S. Tour For Make Believe
Eros trailer
Featuring contributions from Steven Soderbergh, Michael Antonioni, and Wong Kar-Wai. I didn't even know Antonioni was still directing. Do short film collaborations like this ever work?
Denied
Salon: "This has nothing to do with the sanctity of life"

Don't forget the Salon bypass to get by their forced ad.