When interviewing Mark Edmunson on Booknotes:
LAMB: Do you have a favorite, or favorite words that you like to use when you write?
Fighting For Your Art
Nadia Reid with “Oh Canada” … she’s a Kiwi with a Chrissie Hynde sound, discovered via the Spotify algo. I dig it:
I've Had Swings
There’s a great section of this podcast (from 7:21 to 16:42) where Doug Polk and Jason Strasser talk about the advantages poker players have if they start to trade … Strasser says:
"Coming from poker to trading ... where I was way ahead was that I had lost money before. That's the thing I had. I've had swings. I know what it's like to have a downswing. I felt like I was stronger mentally."
You should listen to that whole ~nine minute section closely.
I Still Have Value
Mayaeni with “Underdog” … thought this was Rozzi the first time I heard it, but no, just someone with a similar sound. I dig it:
Movies Watched -- Cargo 200 (2007)
In Russian. 89 minute running time. Horror movie of sorts, based on “real events” that happened in 1984 in the Soviet Union… psychopathic guy who turns out to be a police chief kidnaps a teenage girl … pretty interesting to see how screwed up the place was (and is, I suppose) … rape, murder, torture, necrophilia … yeah, it’s dark… I didn’t hate it, but this is not something the average person should ever see, it’s just too horrifying.
UPDATE: Upon reflection, I really liked this. Three stars (recommended). Green-go.
Captain Zhurov
Movies Watched -- The Constant Gardener (2005)
129 minute running time …. way too long and convoluted and who cares about this murder and conspiracy when the story is this badly told? Boooorrriinnnggg. Ralph Fiennes mincing around as a wimpy British diplomat in Kenya, Rachel Weisz as his pain in the ass wife. You can give it a miss, I wish I had.
You can have me if you show me the letter [slutting for justice]
Movies Watched -- Tell No One (2006)
In French. 125 minute running time but felt like a lifetime. God, this was an awful movie. How John Farr, who is normally a RELIABLE recommender of movies, could mislead me this badly is just inexplicable. Tell No One is absolute crap, a convoluted, ridiculous story … yes, I know, it’s a French movie so a certain degree of absurdity should be expected, but this goes beyond the pale.
“Hitchcock would be mighty proud of this thrilling, fast-paced mystery.” Are you insane, John Farr? Hang on, the internet says director Guillaume Canet “is sexy and many gay men wish he was gay.” This may explain things. Do NOT see this movie and warn everyone you know NOT to see it, if they ask about it.
Planting Some New Seeds
Kee’ahn with “Better Things” … I dig it:
Movies Watched -- The Tin Drum (1980)
In German. 163 minute running time which means it’s an epic … normally I would say it’s an hour too long, but this was so wonderfully weird that it gets a pass … John Farr’s blurb is well-written and on point… the movie is bizarre and strangely mesmerizing, it’s a must-see, it’s a green-go.
You belong in the loony bin, you scumbag!
A Bossa Is Born
Ignacio María Gómez with “Napin Dya” … he’s Argentinian, but I think he’s singing some kind of invented gibberish, which I dig: