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"He had a theory that musicians are incredibly complex, and know far less than other artists what they want and what they are; that they puzzle themselves as well as their friends; that their psychology is a modern development, and has not yet been understood." – E. M. Forster

Archive for December, 2003


Sunday, 21 December 2003

Two extra helpings of WBE

Just a note that Anne Litt will be sitting in for Nic Harcourt on Morning Becomes Eclectic tomorrow and the day after tomorrow (i.e. Monday, 22 Dec. and Tuesday, 23 Dec.)! I don’t know if the shows will be archived, but this is a great chance to catch more of Litt’s playlists, especially if you’re not a regular Weekend Becomes Eclectic listener but do tune in to Harcourt. MBE airs 9 a.m. to noon, Pacific time. Check publicradiofan’s listing for the show for more details.


Saturday, 20 December 2003

Anne Litt = best DJ ever

IMO, of course. It’s no secret that I love KCRW’s Weekend Becomes Eclectic, but during the holidays it’s can’t-miss. Today Anne Litt played (in no particular order):

  • Nat King Cole, "These Foolish Things"
  • Peggy Lee, "Happy Holidays"
  • Tom Jones, "It’s Not Unusual"
  • Louis Armstrong
  • Sarah Vaughan, "Whatever Lola Wants" remix
  • Charlie Parker, "White Christmas"
  • Chet Baker
  • Patrick Park
  • Alison Krauss, "The Scarlet Tide" from the Cold Mountain soundtrack (Sting’s song was nominated for a Globe over this? Incomprehensible, but of course I haven’t heard his song yet)
  • Ryan Adams
  • Aimee Mann
  • Talking Heads
  • …and a good mix of bluegrass, rock and even some Yiddish music! Also some songs I’d love to hear again (but I missed their IDs, so I’ll have to wait until she does play them again or I look for them on the show’s official playlist).

And this is just one day! I hope I’ll be here to listen tomorrow.

BTW, KCRW has amazing music hosts, don’t get me wrong. Nic Harcourt, Gary Calamar and Chris Douridas are great, as are Liza Richardson and Tom Schnabel and the list just goes on…but Litt plays a very eclectic selection, from varied time periods, not just styles, and they match my own musical foundation, and I would hope quite a few other people’s. I really don’t understand why her show is not archived at KCRW’s site.


Friday, 19 December 2003

Happy Christmas from Wallace and Gromit

Just in time for the holidays…it’s a new, free short short episode from the Aardman Animations series, Wallace & Gromit’s Crackling Contraptions! The latest episode is "A Christmas Cardomatic" (requires Flash/Shockwave).

If you’ve never heard of or seen Wallace & Gromit, where’ve you been? Too busy herding sheep? Check out the above, as well as the other Aardman shorts on tap at Atom Films. If you don’t know where to start, at least see Creature Comforts! I first saw it on laserdisc back in 1992 (or was it 1993?); it was one of the movies we watched at a party held at my English teacher’s house. Oddly, I can’t remember the other movie we saw. In any case, it’s definitely worth watching again if you haven’t seen it lately. It’s definitely worth the 5+ minutes. It’s worth buying, too.

Anyway, the new Christmas episode is really short, but The Wrong Trousers is another can’t-miss holiday treat, and it’s a longer film as well. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Robbie the Reindeer yet but I hope to, soon.

Posted at 2:34 am | Filed under Film |  

Thursday, 4 December 2003

Waiting for Foyle

Back in February I talked a bit about Foyle’s War, which was featured on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. The series was/is filmed on location in the historic locale of Hastings in Sussex, England, and tonight I happened to revisit the city’s official site to see if there was any news about the second season of the show (or "series" as they say over yonder). To my delight, there’s an update saying that the Foyle’s War folks shot the second batch of episodes over the summer.

I really enjoyed the first series: the stories were filled with drama, history, mystery, humor and good constructs of pathos, logos and ethos (or as Brian Stonehill, one of my professors, used to say: heart, smarts and sparkle), not to mention beautiful cinematography and talented acting. I’ve been keeping a watch out for the next series for a while now. Perhaps the quality of the current television season has been so awful that I’m overly craving a good drama, but after seeing a photo of the clapper slate for Foyle’s War II — I can’t wait to see the new episodes. (Yes, I’m such a media geek.) Although the second series is airing in Britain now, those of us Stateside will have to be patient; PBS probably won’t air them until next year — and I’m not even sure if it will make this season, which is the final one sponsored by ExxonMobil. But I definitely am looking forward to Michael Kitchen and Co. in series II.

Posted at 1:05 am | Filed under Television |  

Tuesday, 2 December 2003

‘To do’ list

This sort of ties in to my Dreams/Wishes List from a few weeks ago. Here’s a list of things I’ve wanted to do for ever so long but still haven’t gotten around to yet (I’ll probably keep adding items as I think of more):

  • Write a letter to James Ivory
  • Write a letter to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
  • Write a letter to Ismail Merchant (see a pattern?)
  • Write a letter to my high school freshman English teacher
  • Write a letter to Anne Litt
  • Write a letter to Gordon Korman

Yeah, yeah. They’re all about writing letters so far. I’d be sending them out too. Too bad I can’t send one to E. M. Forster.

Posted at 9:05 pm | Filed under Favorite posts, Musings & everything else |