Clearly, MGMT have made quite an impression on Britpop artits! I found two more covers of their songs while searching for the previous video on YouTube. The first is a live cover of 'Time to Pretend' by the Kaiser Chiefs.
The second one is the Kooks singing 'Kids'. (This one isn't really a video, just a recording playing over some pics.)
I've been hooked on MGMT ever since I discovered them last spring. In case you've never heard of them, they're a two-guy band from Brooklyn known for songs such as 'Kids', 'Time to Pretend' or 'Electric Feel'. (Incidentally, the latter was featured in John Galliano's Summer '08 collection for Dior). This is a version of 'Time to Pretend' by Little Boots. I found it on a music blog, and I think it gives the song a softer, more naive edge. Enjoy!
I took some shots of the September marygolds that just bloomed in my garden. I believe there is a poem by Keats called 'September is marygold', but I haven't been able to find it. If any of you (very few) readers knows anything about it, please let me know!
Weekend lover's anthem: 'I Don't Like Mondays', by the Boomtown Rats
Now that the weekend is drawing to its usually painful end, I have decided to weigh in on the little pleasures that make it everyone's favourite time of the week. Here go my top 5 favourite weekend things:
1. Going Out On Friday Night I love the excitement of getting dressed and putting on makeup, and calling up all my friends to see what their plans are. And of course, there's dancing at clubs and driving/riding cabs along deserted streets. 2. Staying Up Late / Sleeping In This is pretty obvious, but that doesn't make it any less great. Isn't it fantastic when nobody wakes you up and you sleep till two in the afternoon? 3. Sunday Morning Workout I just can't go without it. I work out on weekdays as well, and sometimes on Saturday mornings, but Sundays are just fantastic. Getting to the gym, boosting your endorphines and feeling great for the rest of the day! 4. The Financial Times Weekend Edition The best newspaper you can get. The FT is quite good on weekdays, but of course it's got a lot of info on markets and companies, which isn't half as enjoyable as the Arts&Culture and House&Garden sections. Besides, the contributors are just brilliant, especially Tyler Brulée, Susie Boyt and Mrs Moneypenny. My favourite sections apart from their columns would be The Expat Lives, Dinner with the FT and the film and literature section. Oh, and How To Spend It. I'm not its target reader (I didn't make it into the Forbes wealth list), but I love it anyway.
5. Getting Ready for Monday on Sunday Night You reach this stage after finally coming to terms with the fact that the weekend does have an end after all, and that the end is now. And even though it is a depressing moment, I kind of like the feeling of order and slipping back into routine. Well, maybe I don't. But you see, I need something to trick myself into getting out of bed on Monday morning.
Today I went shopping for groceries at my neighbourhood market. The market is kind of funny, because it's become very posh, with high prices, tens of delicatessen stalls and costumers that consider it a social scene in its own right. Luckily, not all of it has undergone this upgrading, so shopping there can still be a very pleasant experience. Perhaps my favourite part of it would be the flower stall on the sidewalk just outside of the market. It's run by an elderly lady and her mother, and it consists of an assortment of plastic buckets full of flowers, over which a threadbare parasol casts a protective shadow. There are also two plastic chairs placed in front of the stall, from which the mistresses run the bussiness and survey the passers-by. Today I decided I'd buy some flowers, so I paid the flower ladies a little visit. As I was standing there, I saw something that I found very pretty; a father, carrying his toddler daughter, stopped by and bought her a beautiful red rose. And I think there was some telepathic exchange between the mistress and myself, because just as I was giving her the money and about to head for the car, she smiled and slipped another red rose into my bouquet.
PS I know this probably makes me sound like a freak, but I really am still sad about Paul Newman...
Paul Newman died on Friday after a long fight against lung cancer. At 83, he was a living legend who had changed more lives than most of us ever will, as an actor, philantropist and family man. I didn't know much about him until I read Vanity Fair's 2008 Style Issue, which features a piece on him by Patricia Bosworth. The article covers all of his life, from his beginnings at the Actor's Studio to the famous Newman's Own line of products, which he created on condition that all the profits go to charity. Bosworth unveils an unknown side of Newman's, as a fame-wary family man who founded a camp for children with life-threatening diseases that he visited personally once or twice a year. For space reasons I cannot post the entire article. However, I'm enclosing a description of Newman by himself:
"Paul Newman (known as ol’ PL to both friends and enemies): The “L” stands for “Leonard” or “Lunkhead.” He answers to both. He is probably best known for his spectacularly successful food conglomerate. In addition to giving the profits to charity, he also ran Frank Sinatra out of the spaghetti-sauce business. On the downside, the spaghetti sauce is outgrossing his films. He did graduate from Kenyon College magna cum lager and in the process begat a laundry business, which was the only student-run enterprise on Main Street. Yale University later awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for unknown reasons. He has won four Sports Car Club of America National Championships and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest driver (70) to win a professionally sanctioned race (24 Hours of Daytona, 1995). He is married to the best actress on the planet, was number 19 on Nixon’s enemies list, and purely by accident has fifty-one films and four Broadway plays to his credit. He is generally considered by professionals to be the worst fisherman on the East Coast."
You can read the whole article at http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/09/newman200809?currentPage=1
Click on the video for the poker game scene from The Sting (1973)
This is the video for 'Carmensita', a Devendra Banhart song that features in his 'Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon' album. As you can see, it's a kind of Bollywood short starring Natalie Portman.
The news is that Devendra and Natalie were together and have just split, which will probably boost the video's viewcount, and diminish Devendra's appearances on PerezHilton. Anyway, if you like this song, you should try Little Yellow Spider and At The Hop, also by DB. Enjoy!
Dick and Nicole Diver, or Dicole, are the main characters from Tender is the Night, the 1934 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Dr Dick Diver is a young and successful American psychiatrist, working in Europe, who falls in love and marries one of his patients, Nicole Warren. Dick takes on the double role of husband and doctor, watching over Nicole's bursts of schizophrenia. The couple engage in a life of travel and socializing across Europe, fueled by Nicole's money. Then one summer, in the Riviera, they meet young actress Rosemary Hoyt, with whom Dick falls in love. From then on, their relationship begins to deteriorate, and all the conflicts and grudges accumulated during their time together begin to surface, as Dick begins slowly to slide into degradation. I can only say that I think this book is amazing. I love it because it captures perfectly the dazzling years of the Jazz Age, and because, at the same time, he adds a sense of tragedy and an in-depth knowldge of human nature. I have read a few of his novels and loved each and every one of them. His writing is so poetic and suggesting! This book is one of my all-time favourites. Definitely unforgettable.
I just went to see Woody Allen's latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and I don't really know if I like it. It's got an amazing cast and setting, and yet it fails to enthuse . The thing is, I have mixed feelings towards Allen's filmography, probably because of its irregularity -some films are just great, while others are unbearable. And then there is a third cathegory, where I would place works such as Cassandra's Dream or VCB, that consists of Woody Allen films one doesn't know what to make of. To me, the main problem would be that the storyline in VCB doesn't really make sense. The twists in the plot are often implausible, and the relationships between the characters are absurdly cliché-ridden: hot-blooded Spaniards, red-wine fueled bursts of passion, even attempted murder (obviously caused by jealousy). I expected Woody Allen to see through these lieus communs and into the real Spain, Catalunya and, ultimately, Barcelona, and I felt disappointed. This said, the film does have its perks. The atmosphere there develops is, albeit unreal, irresistibly appealing: the funny lines, the painter's studio, Javier Bardem's boldfaced seduction of the girls... But the two things that make it wortht the price of the ticket are Barcelona and Penélope Cruz. The city is portrayed beautifully, and it makes for a very charming setting. And Penélope's character, the violent Maria Elena, totally steals the show with her authenticity and irrationality, as well as with her bitchy comments in Spanish, mostly for the benefit of Bardem. To sum it up, this is not the best film you'll ever see, nor the best film Woody Allen has ever made. However, if you feel like taking in a light comedy with a bonus trip around Barcelona, then don't hesitate to see it.
I took this shot last week, as part of my testing my new camera. Although at the time it seemed like a very obvious scene, I have come to regard it as an announcement of the end of summer -perhaps because sunset took place at about eight. Anyway, I just love all the shades the clouds have gathered.
La Casa Azul is the best that can happen to you on a dull Friday night, or a gray Monday morning, or a workout you cannot bring yourself to complete. This retro-futuristic (and oxymoron-challenging) band from Barcelona is all about Guille Milikyway, the brains, singing and song-writing behind the project. Androids Virginia, Clara, Sergio, David and Oscar, who appear solely on videoclips or onstage projection screens, would be the rest of the band. LCA have achieved the perfect mix between clean, catchy pop melodies and funny lyrics descriptive of everyday life situations. Milkyway sings about being dumped for someone cooler, eating cookies or clubbing, to a beat reminiscent of the sounds of the Beach Boys, Abba and J-Pop bands. The songs are instant mood busters you can't stop singing and dancing to. Really, this has been one of my best recent discoveries. I hope you'll like it too. I'm enclosing some videos of my favourite songs. Enjoy!
Welcome! Seeing as there are over 70 million blogs, I can hardly expect my contribution to be an original or interesting one. However, I am willing to give it a try. Feel free to drop by and share/love/loathe my purposeless ramblings and/or badly-framed pics. Thanks!
PS I realise this is probably the most typical blog presentation, but I guess it's as good as it gets here at Light Unexpected!
