Saturday, April 09, 2011

Random Thoughts

First off... new television. I'm not sure how I got turned onto AMC's new show "The Killing". I rarely watch AMC for their butchering of classic movies with commercials. Maybe it was advertised on the last season of "Breaking Bad" I watched on DVD. Regardless, a fantastic show after just two episodes. The choice of basing its harrowing and sad tale of a pretty 17 year old girl's murder in dreary Seattle is somehow fitting and takes the atmosphere to a whole new level. Lead actress Mireille Enos perfectly portrays a female detective drawn back into the murder on her last day before retiring and starting a new life in San Francisco. The faces she makes when her new partner makes the family a promise to find the killer.... the tired way in which she questions a witness... the lackadaisical strut in which she carries herself establish the character as a new spin on old genre tropes. Set the DVR's.

New music. Two old dogs have resurfaced to make some new noise. First, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr fame just released a blistering solo album that combines melancholy acoustic numbers mixed in with his heavier trademark slurred guitar. Admittedly, Mascis really always was Dinosaur Jr. so any new work from him makes me very happy.



Unlike Dinosaur Jr, its debatable whether Thurston Moore was the singular driving force behind Sonic Youth's wall of sound. His latest solo album entitled "Demolished Thoughts", due to be released in May, knocked me over with the first song introduced last week. I can't wait for this one.





And finally, RIP to the great Sidney Lumet. I'm extremely glad I completed a retrospective of his work a few years ago. He will be missed on the cinematic landscape.

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