Saturday, October 29, 2005

Too Lazy to Write Substantially

Movies: I've seen a few movies in theaters again. Yoshida Yoshishige's A Story Written with Water is ever-so-slightly overwrought in what I've come to believe is true Japanese New Wave fashion (I suspect it's a fine, painstaking craft, maybe like blackening meat perfectly in a dish). It's not bad, my shorthand description is that Oshima "does" Ozu here. Naruse's Floating Clouds gets a thumbs-up because it demands that you take it on its own terms, not your own. The pace seems almost deliberately anti-dramatic (which is not to say that it's static or "nothing happens" or "nothing changes"). The characters, while well-formed, are neither very sympathetic nor charismatic. The force of the melodrama (and this is definitely melodrama) creeps up quietly. First time in recent memory that I had an unobstructed view of the screen at Film Forum.

CDs: Not only films in theaters, I've also bought some music lately! Recent purchases are Yusef Lateef's Psychicemotus (Impulse, 1965), Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, Art Ensemble of Chicago's Fanfare for the Warriors (Koch Jazz, 1973?), and Tim Buckley's Happy/Sad. I've been listening to a lot of Tim Buckley lately--"Once I Was" and "Morning Glory" from Goodbye and Hello have been Top 10 Hits in my mind's ear lately. The real find of late was Lateef's album, though. Reissued only last month, I knew nothing of Lateef's work and decided to take a chance on this CD (which was on sale for eight bucks) because the description sounded interesting. He plays several wind instruments and has a soulful rendition of Satie's "First Gymnopedie."

Do Hipsters Exist? Last weekend I helped a friend move to a new apartment in Greenpoint. I don't go to Brooklyn often and especially try to avoid Williamsburg and surrounding areas like the plague. The moving-in friend is the one person in my social circle who lives out there. At any rate, I had thought that maybe hipsters as such were fading out, not least because nobody ever admits to being one. But jesus christ were there some hipsters out there. I felt like I was the only one who wasn't either Polish or part of the early 20-something Interpol-Kanye-and-Fiery-Furnaces Fan Club. (No disrespect intended to these specific musical artists.) I get creeped out, uncomfortable really, when I'm around a lot of hipsters. (The same happens with frat and business school types.) There's this ridiculous, boring code of affectations that I feel I have no access to and want no part of. So while I was content to retire 'hipsters' as a whipping boy, I feel like I should keep it around a little while longer. The movement is alive and well in parts of Brooklyn. (Reason #412 why Queens is better.)

Food: New Yorkers have a chance, from 7-10pm on November 10th (@ 27 East 4th Street) to go to the 'Vendys,' a street vendor competition between four people chosen. It costs a pretty penny but it's for a good cause. I might go. One of the competitors is my man Thiru Kumar, who makes the delicious South Indian fast food I've raved about here before. Today when I was running errands in the Village I had a 'jaffna lunch,' four of his out-of-this-world jaffna dosas (which he says are unavailable at any other restaurant in NYC, and not officially on Thiru's menu) and a samosa. I cannot stress how much I love this guy's food. The American owner/chef (?) of a trendy dosa restaurant in Madrid actually came into the city to watch and swap secrets with this saintly street cook today.

4 comments:

Jaime said...

"The movement is alive and well in parts of Brooklyn. (Reason #412 why Queens is better.)"

Not sure I understand this. Why does this make Queens better and what else you got?

ZC said...

Jaime, I'm just reppin' my borough. It's all talk. But I try to pump it up when I can, especially since a lot of my friends have a tacit, irrational negative opinion towards Queens (even if their experience in the borough is negligible at best).

"I represent Queens, she was raised out in Brooklyn" -- LL Cool J

Eric Henderson said...

"Minneapolis!" -- Janet Jackson, "Escapade"

Anonymous said...

You are pretentious and boring. You are verbally masturbating, and blogs are your ejaculation. Does it make you feel good, this senseless crap? Have you contributed your element of change to society with this self-gratifying garbage?

Enjoy the hollow feeling that you are accomplishing something with this, this stupid public diary for a world where words are losing value as a result of publications exactly like this.