An obscure subject of desire, and an explicit object

Boarding Gate is the most distinctive movie I've seen all year. It's also excellent.

Lars and the Real Girl is distinctive in a shallower way, but I still liked it.

Funny ha ha

Bringing Up Baby is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Music and Lyrics is quite alright.

Adam's Rib is closer in quality to Music and Lyrics than Bringing Up Baby.

***

40 favourite songs of the Nineties, #22: Tricky, "Aftermath"

Talkin' World War III blues. By 1994, all the fun had gone out of the apocalypse, which is all the more reason to pole dance.

(Seriously, that's by far the best of the YouTube "Aftermath" videos.)

Nothing funny about a quagmire, and that goes double for Family Guy

My review of Ghost Rider is reasonably hilarious.

My review of No End in Sight is not.

Making old jokes offensive again

Conversation in Hollywood, 1997:

Ryan Phillippe: So I had sex with this actress Reese last night.
Friend of Ryan: Witherspoon?
Ryan Phillippe: No, with my penis, you sick fuck!

Here's my Stylus feature on the 'Spoon. If you don't need the pictures, here's a better revision I didn't send in on time.

***

40 favourite songs of the Nineties, #24: Fatboy Slim, "Praise You"

It's obvious, isn't it?

Don't worry kids, we've nearly got through all my electrodance picks.

Rush Hour 3: Forget it Jackie, it's Chinatown

Yes, I know I'm over my limit for variations of that Chinatown line.

***

40 favourite songs of the Nineties, #25: Technotronic, "Move This"

Yeah, it was first released in 1989, but it was a hit in the Nineties. I don't know of a song that better expresses the joy of teaching. So patient, so encouraging, and yet with a hint of slyness.

The Godfather of Disco: West End boys

Review.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: Hark, the herald angel surfs

Review.

40 favourite songs of the Nineties, #31: Geto Boys, "Mind Playing Tricks on Me"

The paranoia is drug-induced, sure, but it's also created by the Boys having to front all the time. It's hard to be hard, why not just take candy from babies? It's like Safe for the ghetto male: just scary, scary, scary.

Surf's Up: Bird is the word

Review.

***

40 favourite songs of the Nineties, #34: David Murray, "Shakill's Warrior"

Don't have a digital copy of this out-of-print soul jazz classic, in fact I have to go to the library and check out the decaying cassette of the album of the same name (and find my decaying Walkman) every time I want to listen to it. This is a crowd-pleaser, with Don Pullen's organ sauntering and Murray only going nuts at the very end.

Colossal Youth: Big boys don't cry; and other stuff

(the title song, not the quoted one)

Movie review.

***

Part of the reason of the reason I haven't into movies lately is because DVD playback on my old Dell is unwatchable. Got a newfangled HP Pavilion 6500t in the mail today. First thing I pulled out to watch: a random disc from my puroresu collection.

***

Gave in and went to the Chez Panisse Cafe for lunch today. Quite good. Full report TK.

***

40 favourite songs of the Nineties, #39: The Magnetic Fields, "Papa Was a Rodeo" (download)
Imagine some alternate universe where George Jones had the worst voice in Christendom. And where at the point where things looked bleakest, instead of twisting the knife even more, he instead segued to the most beautifully hopeful ending imaginable.

The Old, Weird America: Now 50% less weird

Stylus review.

The East Bakery Project: Bunning the bun

- When we first got funding to put on seminars a couple of years back, I proposed we blow our budget on a ninety dollar rum cake from Crixa. I've still yet to try that cake, but I finally managed to get Crixa into the department, bringing a bunch of pastries to the last meeting of the class I'm helping to teach. The Fatima's Thighs ("tender, flaky pastry filled with almonds, currants, rose and orange-blossom water") were pretty good. But the revelation was the bulochki. It seems so simple -- after all, it's just a bun -- but it was SO FLUFFY~! SO MILKY~! The kids took all the rugelach before I got to it, so I need to go back. Bonus points: the cashier complimented on my Sleater-Kinney t-shirt. The first time that occurred in the U.S. was on my orientation day in 2003, and I then thought it would happen all the time. Crixa was the second time.

- Thanks to a couple of people's successful advancement to Ph.D. candidacy, I've had more of Masse's pastries. They're beautiful creamy things, and they do taste good, but I think I get a bigger kick out of more robust flavours (like Crixa's).

- Freshness matters: picked up a loaf of Acme levain at Andronico's. Not quite as good as the kalamata straight from La Farine. Will visit Acme HQ soon. I also tried a loaf of Vital Vittles 9-grain from the farmers' market. It's not in the same league tastewise, but it might have the best tastiness-healthiness product I've ever encounters: it's whole wheat, organic, even kosher, and it actually tastes like bread.

***

In Stylus's Non-Definitive Guide to Character Actors, I get a blurb on my current man-crush, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

The TV Set: Channel Zero

Stylus review.

Avenue Montaigne: Your extra time, and your kiss

My review of Avenue Montaigne is up at Stylus.