Saturday, October 4, 2008

memories



Billie Holiday--Remember
Chet Baker--I Remember You
Marvin Gaye--Memories
Almagamated All Stars--Memories
Pixies - Leonard Cohen Cover - I Cant Forget 1.mp3
Our Way To Fall
Regina Spektor--That Time
Common--Pop's Rap
Pop's Rap 2/Fatherhood
Outkast--She's Alive
Outkast--Da Art of Storytellin'

16 comments:

nilpferd said...

Still like "our way to fall".. fits better this week, too.. Regina Spektor is great, reminds me of Aussie band Frente, for the singers voice.. and the Common raps are also v. good- love the backing.
The rap on Outkast is also fine.

We just finished watching the documentary about Robert McNamara's memories, Fog of war. Very interesting, he comes across as a highly intelligent, sensitive and honourable technocrat questioning the decisions he took, without necessarily being able to query the values of the system he worked for. Cold comfort for several hundred thousand Vietnamese. It is incredible to discover how little experience the people had who were basically running the cold war.
His 11 (+10) lessons will at least be of value, if anyone in the next administration listens to him..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War
You shudder to think of someone like Rumsfeld in comparison..

saneshane said...

Took the Spektor album to Zimbabwe as a present.. that is one of my favorite tracks by her.. it was played lots.
Don't think Pixies is a better version than Cohens but I love it.. as they are my all time best band.. always wondered why they did covers.

and I'm liking Storytellin' so far, and this is hard but I just don't get Outkast.. everyone says I'll like them but it still isn't happening. (it may be a vocal thing I think)
glad you posted them all.

our way to fall is so beautiful, but you know I think that.

Luke-sensei said...

loved the cover by Pixies and the Regina Spektor track!

Although I don't really like hearing the word "bum" said out loud....don't know why, makes me a little uncomfortable....i'm sure there's a Freudian explanation somewhere..

ejaydee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ejaydee said...

I saw this an thought of you, the song linked is quite funny.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2008/oct/03/youngeamerica.blogpost

Also, do you think A Life In The Day would qualify?

steenbeck said...

Nilpferd--I haven't seen Fog of War, but I've read a lot about it. Isn't there a scene in which they electrocute an elephant? I don't think I could watch that. It's Errol Morris, isn't it? I tried to get a job working for him in Boston, but all those damned college students will work for free. the rats.

Ejaydee--donds for A Life in the Day--they do a lot of remembering songs, don't they?

And we're talking about where to go if the unthinkable happens. Many of our friends are getting passports for their children. I just don't think anywhere in the world will be safe if these guys get in. I must say, though, in my particular town the Obama signs, hats, shirts, bumper stickers are starting to make me feel dangerously hopeful.

treefrogdemon said...

steen, my son'd just sent me a photo of one of his friends printing Obama T-shirts...not that they think he'll win Texas, but just to show they're on his side.
(Apparently he's printed me a poster!)

nilpferd said...

Fog of war is by Errol Morris, no cruelty to elephants though, most of the visuals are newsreel footage of WW2, Vietnam, and the cuban missile crisis, intercut with interview segments. Nonetheless, I have to say I always find those napalm bombing scenes or the spraying of agent Orange equally distressing. But there isn't anything particularly graphically explicit in the film.
The current round of polls look good for Obama- our hawaiian/hungarian soldier neighbour, currently training in Virginia, just emailed me to say he went down to an Obama registering center to get signed on, and was amused to find that one of the volunteers was a student from Heidelberg who was just over doing his bit. Steve (our friend) had handed out ballots in Baghdad in 2004, so the irony wasn't lost on him that Germans are doing the same in the States to try and ensure a fair election..

steenbeck said...

Oops, you're right, Nilpferd, I got my Errol MOrris films confused. It's Dr. Death with the elephant. But I regret to say I haven't seen either. We're waaaaay behind in our movie viewing. We've had Persepolis here for a month and haven't managed to watch it yet.

nilpferd said...

We loved Persepolis.. our dvd season has just opened.. "the lives of others" tonight, next week I'll need to get that Resnais film Mrwormold mentioned on CJ this week. Mara enjoyed "James and the giant peach" today.

nilpferd said...

I see CJ has closed early again.. enjoyed "the lives of others" last night, another film concerned with memories..

nilpferd said...

Oh, and I laughed ruefully (I do that quite a lot) at your comment about being undercut by students.. it's exactly the same with architects.. there's no chance of getting work with any of the well known firms, if you actually want to live from what you earn.

nilpferd said...

Oh, CJ's back online again.. looks like Phil's cleaned up in the technical dept..

steenbeck said...

Thanks, Nilpferd...I forced myself to post something last night, despite great fatigue, in case it got shut down early, but I really just got started thinking about time in film. It's such a fundamental part of film language--its what makes film film, really--well, time and movement. Anyway, I just got started thinking about it. THe Lives of Others looks good. We'll have to step up our movie viewing.

And yes--Boston was brutal for finding a job. I was looking in film or publishing, both fields in which any college student would gladly intern for free. I would have thought architecture would require more skill and knowledge.Speaking of architecture, you might find this funny...I got Mr. Steenbeck a, well, a sort of home-architectural-model kit for his birthday. It's a silly thing. But he's always drawing designs for an ideal home...going on about golden rectangles and nautilus staircases. I like what he's come up with--it's 18th c with modern greenish elements, like grass growing on the roof (Malcolm liked that idea a lot, and wanted to take the top off of our current house and put a flat roof on.) Anyway, the kit turned out to be a bit dopey. Do they even make 3D models any more? Or is it all on computer?

nilpferd said...

Skill and knowledge? Ha. you might think so.. often attitude is enough, until the shit hits the fan, at least.. In Germany you always have to provide a physical model when you take part in a competition, they all get plugged into the same base and photographed for the magazines. It forces everyone to use the same basic materials, so it is easier to compare designs. It's then also easier for non-professionals to understand what the hell you're on about.

steenbeck said...

What are the basic materials? I was thinking I could have just bought oak tag or mat(te?) board, but the kit seemed like more of a present somehow.

I was remembering some of the most remarkable architectural models I've ever seen. Must have a been over a decade ago, an exhibit at the national gallery in Washington DC--models from the renaissance, of Italian cathedrals--Michelangelo and his cronies. They were made of wood and quite detailed. Just beautiful.