Modest Mouse OK!

The show last night was great, but didn’t get home until almost 2 a.m. I was probably about 15 years older than most of the people there, but I tried not to let it bother me. The Shins (and thanks to Jack I got it right even before I got to the show, preventing any embarrassment. No Chins in attendance anywhere) were ok, musically good, but their singer can’t sing. He also chooses to sing at the high end of his limited range for every song. It’s too bad. They had some good songs. 764-HERO were better, their singer reminded me of Bob Mould in his Sugar days. And their drummer is this tiny beautiful woman with short hair. I just stared at her the entire set. Modest Mouse played almost two hours, not surprising for a band whose CDs regularly clock in over 70 minutes. But they did have a tendency to jam a little too long. And parts of the show were more like a sonic assault, with them playing much heavier than they sound on disc. I enjoyed it but was a bit disappointed that a lot of their subtleties and musicianship were lost under a wall of noise. I brought my friend Brent along and was hoping they’d impress him with their quietness as well as their loudness. Isaac (their singer) mentioned that the last time the band were in Toronto, only about 50 people turned up, but this show was sold out, about 500 people. All in all, a good show, but it drove me back to the CDs for reassurance.

You know what I need? I need a US address. There is just so much good stuff available online that just costs me too much to have shipped to Canada. If anyone would be willing to help out, I would reimburse them for shipping the stuff from their home to mine. And if the stuff is re-wrapped, and marked as a “gift,” I don’t have to pay any customs duty. American friends rule!!

Free The Jury

One of the ladies on the jury has a home business making custom printed ribbon and napkins, and she brought in something today to make us laugh (the caption reads “Free the Jury, The Toronto Eleven” because one of our jury was excused on the first day of the trial, for unknown reasons):

And at lunch I went out to one of my favourite little greasy spoon places on Queen Street, where I saw a mouse running along the floor under the lunch counter, and then it ran under my table and back the way it came. Several people saw it, and the waitress just said, “He wants to play.” Not sure if it’s still my favourite place…

Anyhow, off tonight to see Modest Mouse, 764-HERO, and The Chins. Tomorrow night I’m seeing Sleater-Kinney. You’d never believe I was 35 years old, at this rate…

Final Two Films

My final two films of the film festival:

  • Before Night Falls – Directed by artist Julian Schnabel (who also directed Basquiat), this tells the heartbreaking true story of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, persecuted, imprisoned, and finally allowed to leave Cuba, only to die of AIDS at the age of 47. Beautifully shot, and lovingly acted, with cameos from Sean Penn and Johnny Depp. Any biographical film that makes me want to run out and find more about the subject is a success. 8/10
  • Comédie de l’innocence – This one was creepy. A child decides one day that his mother is not his real mother, and takes her to an address where he says his real mother lives, a woman who lost her own child in a drowning accident two years earlier. Very Hitchcockian, especially the music, and left a few loose ends (or maybe I just couldn’t make the connections). Excellent underplayed performances, especially by the child, and Isabelle Huppert as his mother. 8/10

Another film festival over. Not that my life will be any less busy for a while. I have concerts on Monday and Tuesday night, a party next Saturday, and another week of jury duty and taking care of my dad’s cats.

Is Jack Saturn OK? His sites haven’t been updated since the end of August, and frankly, I miss him. If anyone knows his whereabouts, please clue me in.

The Presence of Evil

Sometimes it’s the presence of evil in the world that convinces me of God’s existence more than the presence of good. In the October issue of Vanity Fair (the one with Kate Hudson on the cover), there is a story about the conflict in Sierra Leone, accompanied by some incredibly gruesome photographs. When I first saw these images of people raping, killing, decapitating each other, I thought that these humans had been reduced to behaving like animals, and then I realized that animals don’t do this sort of thing to each other. Animals don’t torture, rape, kill. That requires some higher form of consciousness, a soul, if you will. The good here is illumined by its absence. End of rant…

By the way, I really like Vanity Fair. Beneath the celebrity cover, there are always four or five well-researched and well-written pieces, and they’re not afraid to take risks like running the above photos. Even the celebrity pieces are usually less superficial than most.

Yet More Films

Yet more films:

  • Possible Worlds – Canadian film directed by Robert Lepage, a well known theatre director. This was an awkward mixture of philosophical “arty” film and B-movie sci-fi schlock. When someone says the line, “They took his brain,” how good can it be? This rates a 6/10
  • Loners – From the Czech Republic, where everyone is gorgeous. That’s the impression I was left with. A very sharp, funny film with no particularly deep message. And according to the director, the pot smoked in the film was “mostly real”! This is a solid 7/10.
  • The King is Alive – Directed by Kristian Levring, one of the founders of the Dogme 95 movement (ie. filmed entirely on location with digital cameras), this is about a group of tourists who become stranded after their bus breaks down in the North African desert. As starvation looms, they decide to stage a performance of “King Lear.” Great ensemble cast, including Janet McTeer and Jennifer Jason Leigh, although it’s typically Scandinavian (gloomy…) This was an 8/10.

Two films left, and then it’s over for another year. The trial’s going ok, too. Hopefully we’ll be finished by the end of next week, but there’s no guarantee. In my opinion, the rest of the jury are grumbling a little too much. After all, we can go home when it’s over. The accused guys might not have that option.