Friday, September 5, 2008
Why I love Readers Recommend (sincerely)
I was watching 'High Fidelity' last night (I was, I confess, until recently a fan of the book, but not of this wonderful film - very foolish of me!) and it occured to me that it could be a candidate for THE unofficial Readers Recommend movie for the following reasons:
1) It runs the gammut of music like no other movie I can name - as RR tends to do also
2) It recognises that taste in music is important, but not that important and that sharing your enthusiasm with others is the best thing about loving music so much.
3) It has fun with itself in the process of that recognition
These are the very reasons I enjoy being part of The Spill and the RR experience.
Long may you run Amigos. Long may you run.
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29 comments:
I can't fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week and they just started showing up every day. That was four years ago...
You state the case succinctly and eloquently Sourpus. I'm convinced; I second the motion.
Your list of reasons is missing two of the compulsory five total, sourpus.
I've just bought it, having admired it for years. Top five favourite scenes from High Fidelity:
1. The Monday Morning Tape
2. The dad trying to buy 'I just called to say I love you'. "Go to the mall!"
3. Rob imagining Ray coming into the store and 'dealing with him'.
4. Jack Black's "gig" at the end.
5. The Boss getting in on the act.
I have to say it's for me the only candidate. A one horse race.
Donds from me too, because of the added bonus of us/it getting on SWells' tits!
Sorry I've missed one here. Who is SWell? Were we dissed?
Barry: Holy shite. What the fuck is that?
Dick: It's the new Belle and Sebastian...
Rob: It's a record we've been listening to and enjoying, Barry.
Barry: Well, that's unfortunate, because it sucks ass.
I love the book, but have never seen the film. I promise to rectify this as soon as possible.
Also, for me too, what's with the Swells thing? HAVE we been dissed?
FP: he was a writer with the NME in the days I used to read it, and he is now a writer for the Guardian. I always quite liked him, but he seems to get people's backs up, lets say...
@ fp - Swells is Steven Wells, an ex-NME writer and full-time arrogant wind-up merchant.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/08/listmaking_music_fans_are_1_tr.html
OK - I remember posting on that thread that nerdy anorak behaviour is NOT only a male trait. Big love to all the ladies who post on this blog. You rock, gurls.
Re: High Fidelity - you are totally allowed to fancy John Cusack. It's OK. You are NOT allowed to fancy Jack Black. But everbody does secretly. And it's totally NOT OK to fancy Tim Robbins. Under any circumstances.
And do the guys fancy Laura most..or Marie da Salle..or...Charlie Nicholson?
Sarah Kendrew!
I read the book years ago, not sure if I actually liked it that much (I think Nick Hornby is a bit too much of a male writer, you know like some women writers just write books that women like - Helen Fielding comes to mind here) but it certainly seemed to portray the way a lot of men behave, if in a bit of a cartoonish manner.
Still, Hornby is a lot more readable, in my opinion, that Tony Parsons who really annoys me, but I doubt that he has someone like me in mind as a target audience when he is writing. Interestingly though, I really cannot abide his ex first wife Julie Burchill either. She seriously annoys me.
I saw the film about three or four years ago, I was dubious about shifting it to the USA but it seemed to work well enough - and I like John Cusack and Jack Black as actors quite a lot.
My main quibble about Jack Black is the same one as I have about Jack Nicholson - Jack always just plays Jack, you know exactly what you are going to get.
She's pretty. Shame she's so screwed up when he sees her again. I like the film journalist who puts him right on a few things. His reaction is so awful - you want to slap him! "Oh it's OK! I ditched her! I remember now"
Agree with Carole on Jack and Jack. It's just that I like sooo much what you get....
Oh yeah, missed this bit.
I really rather fancied Natasha Gregson Wagner as Caroline.
Daughter of Natalie Wood - I didn't know that
Ah, just having John Cusack in it makes it for me. I adore the man. I too was dubious about the change of location but trusted Cusack not to mess it up. He's pretty much my laminated list all on his own. My longest surviving crush!
But FP, Jack Black?! Eeeuuuwww!
I'm not talking about big bum crack on show when he bends over Jack Black in High Fidelity. No. I'm talking about sun-tanned movie star giving interviews in Cannes as to why Kung Fu Panda is a work of serious cinematographic weight. THAT Jack Black. He has great charisma...
I have to say some splendid comments! I think I was just too horrified as a youth with yet another apparent attempt to shift a valuable and comforting context from UK to US sensibilities for the sake of reaching a wider audience. Times have changed however and watching it now, I get that it more than stands up on its own - and I speak not as a fan, one way or the other, of Nick Hornby, per se.
I urge any of you who dissed or ingored it at first to go back and have another gander. Its a true gem.
Definitely it should be our film.
Lisa Bonet would get my vote and much as I love John Cusack as an actor, his mouth is too small and mean to be attractive, and he's too convincing at the nasty roles (everyone seen Being John Malkovich?)
Now can anyone see a conection between Christian Bale and Jim Morrison or is this just me being fanciful?
I'm a Cusack fan, through and through, ever since I saw "The Grifters".
Ooh, he's certainly mean in that, Mnemonic. I think he's got a very sexy mouth myself. Horses for courses, innit?
Christian Bale and Jimbo have similar cheekbones, I can see that.
Let's get some flotsam and jetsam out of the way.
Can't believe they transposed the novel so well. I was sold at the first SLF reference. Since 'Grifters' I've wanted Cusack's babies, (however, where's the foetus gonna gestate - in a box?).
but......
I've got to side (sort of) with CaroleB about the whole music nerd/ male thing.
RR, and the 'Spill are remarkable for being a zone well represented by women. I don't think that 'Hi Fidelity' really reflects that, despite homing in on a few truths about the male/female relationship with music. Special mention should be made about the Sting album episode (book, not film).
My life in music and the people whose taste I have followed, have proved to me that being lost in music is a non-gender-specific thing. There may be a statistical imbalance when and where you live, but I never think of music as a blokey zone. Thank God.
I'm not very PC here. Women's football is unlikely to empty my wallet, etc.
Good though Parsons is, I await a writer who can treat obsession with music without having to tie in the whole Mars/Venus shtick.
Julie Birchill, need I say, is not that person.
Best Cusack film?
Um... Con Air. No I don't mean....
It wasn't until a friend told me to watch Con Air with irony that I got why it is such a good film, it works on more than one level, but my favourite John Cusack is 'Grosse Point Blank'. For the music, Minne Driver and because his sister is so good in it too.
Agreed Beth, totally agreed. There's such a rapport between Cusack and Driver, it makes me like him even more.
This is CaroleBristol here, but I am posting from work, so being "anonymous".
I agree about Grosse Point Blank, a brilliant film and the Cusack/Minnie Driver chemistry works so well. I do like Minnie, she is a super sexy woman and a much under-rated actor too.
Not sure about her music though ........... no, actually i am sure. She should stick to acting.
Sorry, Minnie, if you ever happen to read that.
@CaroleBristol, well Minnie can't be good at everything! Must remember to see some other films with her in them :-)
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