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[jfb]

I thought about doing that other interests meme but it didn't pick ones I had much to say about. Anyway, here are notes on ten of mine:

LJ Interests meme results

1. deb talan:
   marm0t insisted that I would really like Something Burning, Deb Talan's first CD, so perversely I bought and loved her second, Sincerely, a collection of solo acoustic performances at coffeehouses and on college radio stations. Turns out I like Something Burning a lot, too.
2. gemma hayes:
   Where did I first hear of Gemma Hayes? Was it from The New York Times? In any case, I acquired it, I ripped it, I never really listened to it until "4:35 AM" utterly transfixed me one night driving around Marin County. That's a lovely acoustic song, but elsewhere on Making Waves she sounds more like My Bloody Valentine. I love every song on that album; in many ways it's the record I would most like to have made. And she's got a new one coming out....
3. italo calvino:
   Italian writer of meta- and other fiction. My favorite of his books is If on a winter's night a traveler, in which You, the Reader, pick up the new Calvino book, begin to read it, and then find yourself cut off; you work around it by acquiring another copy, which turns out to be a completely different novel; well, anyway, it's playful. I also like Invisible Cities, as well as the Invisible Cities.
4. less stuff:
   Well, you know about this one. It's not like I'm a conspicuous consumer, but over time I've accumulated a lot of stuff I thought I was going to use but didn't, or I did use but don't anymore, or, well, anyway, I'd like to have less stuff. I'm working on it.
5. minimalism:
   This makes a nice companion to "less stuff", but mostly it's here because of music, and the arts generally. I often enjoy works that are stripped down to few components. Frank Stella was my favorite painter in high school (but only his early work). Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is the only extended instrumental work that I can remember paying attention to all the way through.
6. paul o'reilly:
   I bought First Thing in the Morning on the recommendation of Miles of Music, which no longer sells it. Sometimes I say people sound like Nick Drake, but when I go listen to Nick Drake, I realize I'm wrong--Nick Drake's music is more cluttered, less clean than I remember. Paul O'Reilly sounds like I imagine Nick Drake does.
7. red house painters:
   That sad, sad voice! So sad that when he sings about joy, it's completely convincing. I like the guitars, too. I'm not really describing these, am I?
8. spike lee:
   I've missed some of his work, but I've never seen a Spike Lee movie I didn't like, and I loved He Got Game, Bamboozled, mess though it was, and 25th Hour, for all of it but especially for the look on Edward Norton's face from outside the car. And I loved Do the Right Thing, too, but I think I don't anymore.
9. the horse flies:
   Borrowed Human Fly from Doug Boyce in college and I'm not sure I ever gave it back. Fiddle tunes, '80s synths, minimalist pattern music, and "I Live Where It's Gray". How could I give that up?
10. todd haynes:
    Made two of my favorite movies, Safe and Velvet Goldmine. Far from Heaven was interesting too. I like to be interested.

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Comments

[helloreplace.livejournal.com]

Difficult Loves by Calvino is one of my all time favorite pieces of text ever. And I loved Safe as well, the whole no close ups thing was disconcerting and really made the movie eerie and powerful.

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Now I'm conspicuously consuming your stuff! Yay!