pop culture, reviewed

The news of Heath Ledger’s untimely death makes me feel physically sick and unbearably sad.   Of course one’s first thought must be for his small daughter, who will probably never remember her father.  How awful for his family and friends. 

I had just been thinking about him this morning because of the Oscar nominations.  Nothing this year or last year moved me or impressed me even a quarter as much as Heath Ledger’s Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain.  For all the accolades about Daniel Day-Lewis this year (and his was an excellent performance too, to be sure), I still can’t think of a performance in recent years that was as magnificent as Heath’s Ennis.  He could have been one of the greatest of all time.

Hi!  I’m alive!  Jake did not take over the blog (though wasn’t it nice to have him finally writing on here?  Of course it was!).

 So.  What have we been doing?  I haven’t written in so long that I forget where to start.  I’ll just go by category.

 What We’ve Been Watching on the Big Screen:  Awards season is gearing up and I already have several picks for Oscar nominations (not that I have a vote, of course).  Since last I wrote, I’ve seen: 

1. The Jane Austen Book Club.  It was delightful and better than the book, which was mediocre and forgettable.  It’s the kind of movie that, if you are a girl, you should probably go see with your mom or your girlfriend.  (Also, Claire Danes, I totally get what you see in Hugh Dancy.  He was actually really good in the movie — somehow he managed to be believable as a dork even though he is crazy handsome.)

 2. Michael Clayton.  Some of the legal bits were quite authentic, especially one scene when George Clooney’s character talks some associates after a disastrous deposition, which was spot-on.  Tom Wilkinson was outstanding as usual, and Tilda Swinton was phenomenal.  She has one of my Best Supporting Actress nominations this year (so far).

3. Martian Child.  I went to see this one by myself because, like every woman of my age bracket, I believe that John Cusack is actually Lloyd Dobler and I will go see just about anything he is in.  Martian Child might as well have been a made-for-TV movie, except that it had the Cusacks in it.  It worked, though.  John is appealing enough that he made it into a worthwhile big screen movie.  I’m not nominating this one for any awards, but if you want to go see a matinee while your husband watches football one Saturday (like I did), you could do a lot worse. 

4. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.  My love for Ethan Hawke is well-documented, I believe, and he was excellent in this, even compared to the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman, who can do just about damn anything.  Perfectly cast and really well-directed.  (You see a lot of Marisa Tomei in this one, too, for better or for worse.  It’s worth mentioning because seriously, you see a LOT of her.)

5. Gone Baby Gone.  We had both read the book and both liked the movie — if possible, the movie streamlined the book in some really effective ways and made it more believable (and certainly easier to follow).  It didn’t dumb it down; it just made it less convoluted.  Good job, Ben Affleck.  (Also, hi, Casey Affleck.  How YOU doin’?)

Next up:  No Country for Old Men.  I read the book this weekend and had to take an emotional breather before I saw the movie right away.  I am pretty stoked to see it soon, though. 

What We’ve Been Watching on the Little Screen:

1.  Gossip Girl.  I sure do love shows where beautiful teenagers talk like grown-up writers and wear pretty clothes.  That’s one of my favorite genres, so I am enjoying this show immensely.

2.  Friday Night Lights.  We finally caught up.  I still cry in pretty much every episode so it’s still good as ever, in my humble opinion. 

3.  30 Rock and The Office.  Obviously, I mean, please.  Unless you hate fun, you watch these, and we love fun in our house, so there you go. 

4.  Grey’s Anatomy.  Yes, we finally started watching it.  We watched them all on DVD until this season, and now we record them and watch Thursday’s episode on Sunday.  I still hate Meredith and stupid McDreamy, but I like the rest of the cast.  Right now I am kind of digging Dr. Hahn, because, let’s face it, we all have a soft spot for her seeing as how we all remember when she had to put the lotion in the basket.  You know?

5.  The Wire.  This is our current TV-on-DVD project, finally.  We’re only, what, four years behind?  Whatever. 

6.  House.  Always and forever.  I love some of the new peeps, but I hard-core miss Cameron and Foreman and especially precious, precious Chase.  We need more of them, Chase especially.  I need more Cuddy and Wilson too, for that matter. 

What We’ve Been Listening To:

1. Josh Ritter.  His show at the 9:30 Club in October was, simply put, incredible.  He is a joy.  The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is currently in the lead for my favorite album of the year so far.  You too can experience how awesome his show was at NPR.org, or you can download that particular All Songs Considered podcast (for free!) off iTunes.

2. The New Pornographers.  Saw them for the third time two weeks ago, and it was really fun.  I really, really like the new record, more than I did upon first listen.  I even like the Dan Bejar songs. 

3. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.  We saw him the day before Halloween at DAR Constitution Hall, which is my least favorite venue in the greater D.C. area.  It was a good show, but as Ryan shows go, it was just… fine.  The highlight for me was “The Sun Also Sets,” which is my favorite song off of Easy Tiger.  I was really hoping to hear the Cardinals’ cover of Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole,” which is so freaking good that it is worth buying his new EP, Follow the Lights, just for that song.  (The other standout on the EP is the song he wrote for Willie last year, “Blue Hotel,” which is gorgeous and sad and perfect like all the best Ryan songs are.) 

4.  Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.  Saw the Boss tonight at the Verizon Center and it was everything you think a Bruce show is going to be and he played “Thunder Road” and I cried.  I am such a baby. 

5.  White Rabbits.  We missed them when they were at the Rock and Roll Hotel last week, but their album Fort Nightly is super fun and you should totally get it.

6.  Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.  You guys, 100 Days, 100 Nights is a new record!  You might hear it and think, “Who is this old-fashioned soul singer from the 60’s and why have I never heard of her before?”  But no!  This album came out last month; it’s just so awesome that it sounds like that.

7.  Dan Wilson.  Jake was not kidding, the song “All Kinds” off of his new album Free Life is really good, but my favorite on the record is “Breathless.”  I really like the whole thing, though.  These are just really nice, pretty, sweet pop songs, and they make you feel good.  They make me feel good, anyway, so I think y’all should try them out too, if you are in the market for nice and sweet and pretty.

What else:  Well, although I do not think that I have posted a single entry about books this year (how did it get to be November?), I do still read and I’ll work on a book entry soon.  Oh!  And I turned thirty last month.  How about that?  I’m a thirty-something now.  We celebrated by going to see the Beatles Love show in Las Vegas.  I don’t talk about the Beatles that much on this site, but I was pretty much a total Beatles freak for most of my late childhood/early adolescence, and that is something that will stay with me forever.  Basically, from the time I was about eleven until, I don’t know, I was through with college, I used to get Beatles books for every holiday, I wore (and still wear) black every December 8, the first trip I took when I lived in England was a pilgrimage to Liverpool, and as a result of all those things, I have a longstanding and deep emotional connection to all things Beatle.  Therefore, Jake was not surprised when, on our first day in Vegas, I cried as soon as we walked into the Beatles gift shop.  There was just so much Beatles stuff, I couldn’t handle it!  I also cried through the first half of the Love show, and in the middle, and then again at the end.  Also, I kept going back to the Beatles store every day to buy something else and wound up coming home with the following: two souvenir plastic cups, a mug, two magnets, a pair of Rubber Soul socks, and a Sgt. Pepper’s sweatshirt.  Y’all, I don’t even wear sweatshirts.  I am a total freak. I’m going to stop typing about what a freak I am now before I tell y’all that I was also obsessed with The Brady Bunch, though not in the same way.

Anyway, it was a happy birthday, and now I’m 30 plus one month.  Happy late birthday to me and happy Tuesday to you all!

Last Thursday we went to see Rilo Kiley at the 9:30 Club and heck if Jenny Lewis didn’t break out the cowbell.  As my friend Sarah emailed me after she saw the same show in Asheville, “You mentioned cowbell.  I had no idea she was going to try to bring sexy back using the cowbell.”  But try she did and for all I know, maybe she succeeded.  Jake seemed to think she did.  It was a good show, even though Winona Ryder was apparently in attendance and we did not see her.  Brandi Carlile was also good the following night, although the crowd was a little too chatty at the beginning.  She performed two of the covers that so captivated me when I saw her in April, “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hallelujah,” but also sang “Madman Across the Water” and a better-than-the-original version of “Raining in Baltimore.”  (August and Everything After, by the way, is 14 years old, and if that doesn’t make you feel old, maybe the fact that Automatic for the People is celebrating its 15th birthday will do the trick.)

What else?  We saw Into the Wild this weekend, because I love the book.  I liked the movie pretty well, too.  Some of Sean Penn’s techniques bothered me (namely the excessive voiceovers, distracting writing on screen in weird fonts, superfluous “chapter” headings, and unnecessary family movie flashbacks), but the acting and the story were so strong that they saved the film.  I’m developing quite the crush on Emile Hirsch, and Hal Holbrook gave a magnificent performance as an elderly man befriended by Chris McCandless.  (Holbrook and Ben Foster in “3:10 to Yuma” are my two Best Supporting Actor nominees so far this year.)

 Oh, and not related to pop culture, but the American Planning Association just named  our neighborhood one of the ten best in the country for this year.  They are right — our little corner of Capitol Hill is a great place to live.  I miss South Carolina, but there is plenty to miss about our current location if we ever move away from here, too. 

…to go see the best movie of the year, Once. I cannot overemphasize how great it is. 

Also, get the soundtrack.  

…what was your favorite part?  Of Knocked Up, that is.  I know you all saw it, right?  My favorite part was, um, the whole thing, except for the end, because I didn’t want it to be over.

Jake laughed so hard his mouth hurt.  I can’t wait to see it again!  A+.

Incidentally, we also saw Waitress this weekend, which I would give a B+.  It was too schmaltzy and overblown, but it mostly worked because Keri Russell was so great in it, and because I love Jeremy Sisto (and Andy Griffith!).  I have said it before, but Keri Russell is the prettiest person that I have ever seen in real life.  Did you see her when she was on Scrubs recently?  Normally Sarah Chalke looks fairly pretty, right?  She’s attractive?  Well, in every scene where she had to sit next to Keri Russell, she looked downright jacked up.  No kidding!  Put her next to Keri Russell and she looked fugly.  Such is the power of Felicity’s beauty.  (Jeremy Sisto is also beautiful, in a different way.  Well, okay, maybe ‘beautiful’ is the wrong word.  I wish I didn’t like him so much, though, because it interfered with the movie for me.  He plays an awful character, but because I love him — way more than the poor man’s Jason Bateman who played the doctor in the movie — I kept thinking, “Maybe they could work things out.”)