Music
This is going to be a condensed version of this week's best music, hopefully. It is very likely that I'll get carried away.
Hjaltalín is a very difficult band to write about. Eh, that's not necessarily true, but it is very difficult to label genre-wise. Last.fm has attempted to tackle this challenge by stating that, "the band is certainly hard to categorize with influences ranging from modern indie rock to 60’s pop music to classical music." Sufficient enough. They come from Iceland, but all of the songs with lyrics are in English. Very clear English, I might add. It's very peaceful to me and I suggest you listen to the full tracks that are streamed on last.fm to get a better feel for the band. Sleepdrunk Seasons is the only album that I have, and it may be their only one. No wiki article, so I'm as clueless as you are.
When I think of guilty pleasures, two musicians immediately come to mind: Basshunter and Yelle. French electro-pop taken to the extremes with subject matter ranging from boy problems to porn. If it's trashy, it's mentioned in one of the tracks on her latest, and only, album entitled POP-UP. Since I don't trust you enough to check out the catchy music that everyone should hate, but for some reason they just can't stop listening to... I will figure out how to embed videos.
If that works...then super. And that is very condensed! I'm impressed. Next topic!
Film
Now this one is fun. I will try to stay consistent with my two of each and stick with two of the best movies I've seen recently.
I'm not a big fan of the Asian movies with the fighting and all that, but House of Flying Daggers was simply amazing. I mean that in the original sense of the word, not the watered-down high schooler way. It follows a younger Chinese dancer who's a member of a radical group against the new government. If you're a fan of action, you won't be disappointed. If you're a fan of semi-romantic plot lines with breathtaking cinematography, you'll be blown away. Zhang ZiYi is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses.
And keeping with the foreign theme of this week's favorites:
I should thank Blue every day for forcing me to watch this movie. Jeux d'enfants is a story of a quirky childhood game turned obsession in a complex and beautiful love story. I laughed, I cried, I stared at Blue for a minimum of 5 minutes at the end, jaw to the floor. It's full of twists, turns, and the best of French humor and production that exhibits how ahead of their time the French filmmakers continue to be. One of my top 10 favorite movies of all time without a doubt. Trailers will be embedded...
And the opposite of kudos to whoever chose the English title...
Literature
I've been reading quite a lot lately. I think I should limit myself to one this week since I'm getting really tired and I have many more categories to cover. This one is great though and it is another one of my instant favorites.
I think that everyone in the entire world should read this book. It's about everything that everyone goes through during their lives. It's incredibly real. The book follows a written letter format to an anonymous character and it details the life of Charlie, a freshman near-genius with such a diverse group of acquaintances; punk rockers, homosexuals, jocks, cheerleaders...everyone. It's easy to identify with someone in the book. It's also not all that happy all the time and it conveys all sort of messages. It's full of usable advice, tattered friendships, confused relationships, awkward encounters, and even the obligatory belligerent, racist grandfather. Buy it or borrow it from someone.
TO BE CONTINUED! I can't keep my eyes open.
If you've read all of this so far, I'm so proud of your attention span.
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