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gordonzolaBest Things Entertainment-Wise:
Best Movie No One Saw "Martin" (scroll down a little). I saw it at the Jewish Film Festival and it’s not quite feature length so that kind of event might be your best bet. Incredibly smart film looking at the way official memories of The Holocaust are bureaucratized and museumified. Here’s what I wrote about it on 8/5/02:
" 'Martin' was the best movie I’ve seen in awhile. An Israeli goes to Dachau and meets Martin, a camp survivor who lives in the town of Dachau and visits the camp everyday talking to visitors. He’s not an official guide and he accepts money from visitors in exchange for his stories which differ from the official versions. Can he be trusted? Are his memories real, imagined, or created? Why does the film maker want to make him a hero then tear him down when he appears imperfect and human? Who is served by Holocaust tourism bureaucracy? How do versions of history become accepted? Why do people visit concentration camps and what do they expect to see/how do they expect to feel? Self-examined, smart and challenging. If you get a chance, see this movie."
Best Old Movie I Saw for the First Time "Sweet Smell of Success". The phrase "I wouldn’t want to take a bite out of you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic" has been in my head all year because of this noir classic. Witty dialogue, great acting, capitalism-makes-us-do-horrible-things plot. What more can you ask for?
Best Political Punk Song "Soon the Rest Will Fall" by The Quails. The Quails played the huge downtown squat show that marked the end of the dot com plague* so it’s only appropriate that they wrote the SF post-dot com anthem.
Summing up the last few years: "I walked out in this city / the fairest of fairy lands, / when I saw a cab of newly entitled / waving leases and money in their hands. / So I asked them who’s in charge / of this false economy, / but I could not here the answer / before they ran right over me.",
The Quails then go into a chorus that sounds better than it reads: "You’re no longer the main attraction. / Your work really didn’t matter at all. / And when people take action / soon the rest will fall." Incredibly satisfying.
*Hundreds of people showed up to this event. It made a lot of us realize that we’d kind of been hiding out, waiting to be evicted while watching friend after friend leave the city. I ran into people I hadn’t seen for years and it was like, "Wow. You’re still here too? I guess we survived."
Best Annoying Ever-present Radio Hit "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. If I have to explain it, there’s just no point. A wonderful earworm* follow up to "The Thong Song" by Sisqo.
*"Earworm is what the Germans call one of those songs you can’t get out of your head and that you find yourself singing along to despite yourself. It, like the term "partner look" is in English.
Best Big Concert X I don’t now if it reflects badly on me or the music scene that the best show I saw all year was an over-the-hill punk band. It’s probably me. The only weird thing that I didn’t mention in my journal at the time was the way Exene changed some of the lyrics. In "Nausea", "I say oh Christ, oh Jesus Christ, my head’s gonna crack like a bank" became "I say oh no, oh no, oh no, my head’s gonna crack like a bank." and in "Devil Doll", "This is no God damn country / to wander alone" became "This is no kind of country / to wander alone". Exene hasn’t found Jesus has she?
Still, they were faster, have better songs, and were more energetic than any band I’ve seen in awhile. Of course, if I’d been in town when Mission of Burma played, this might be a different story.
Band of the Year Feelings on a Grid. I know you don’t believe me, you have not seen the Grid. And you’re too late now because they broke up. But when these boys were having a good night they were one of my favorite bands ever. Both in my basement and at a queer punk fest in LA, their electronic, political, artsy punk commanded dancing, amused the alienated, and attracted followers. "I’m on a date with my feelings" indeed.
Best Movie No One Saw "Martin" (scroll down a little). I saw it at the Jewish Film Festival and it’s not quite feature length so that kind of event might be your best bet. Incredibly smart film looking at the way official memories of The Holocaust are bureaucratized and museumified. Here’s what I wrote about it on 8/5/02:
" 'Martin' was the best movie I’ve seen in awhile. An Israeli goes to Dachau and meets Martin, a camp survivor who lives in the town of Dachau and visits the camp everyday talking to visitors. He’s not an official guide and he accepts money from visitors in exchange for his stories which differ from the official versions. Can he be trusted? Are his memories real, imagined, or created? Why does the film maker want to make him a hero then tear him down when he appears imperfect and human? Who is served by Holocaust tourism bureaucracy? How do versions of history become accepted? Why do people visit concentration camps and what do they expect to see/how do they expect to feel? Self-examined, smart and challenging. If you get a chance, see this movie."
Best Old Movie I Saw for the First Time "Sweet Smell of Success". The phrase "I wouldn’t want to take a bite out of you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic" has been in my head all year because of this noir classic. Witty dialogue, great acting, capitalism-makes-us-do-horrible-things plot. What more can you ask for?
Best Political Punk Song "Soon the Rest Will Fall" by The Quails. The Quails played the huge downtown squat show that marked the end of the dot com plague* so it’s only appropriate that they wrote the SF post-dot com anthem.
Summing up the last few years: "I walked out in this city / the fairest of fairy lands, / when I saw a cab of newly entitled / waving leases and money in their hands. / So I asked them who’s in charge / of this false economy, / but I could not here the answer / before they ran right over me.",
The Quails then go into a chorus that sounds better than it reads: "You’re no longer the main attraction. / Your work really didn’t matter at all. / And when people take action / soon the rest will fall." Incredibly satisfying.
*Hundreds of people showed up to this event. It made a lot of us realize that we’d kind of been hiding out, waiting to be evicted while watching friend after friend leave the city. I ran into people I hadn’t seen for years and it was like, "Wow. You’re still here too? I guess we survived."
Best Annoying Ever-present Radio Hit "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. If I have to explain it, there’s just no point. A wonderful earworm* follow up to "The Thong Song" by Sisqo.
*"Earworm is what the Germans call one of those songs you can’t get out of your head and that you find yourself singing along to despite yourself. It, like the term "partner look" is in English.
Best Big Concert X I don’t now if it reflects badly on me or the music scene that the best show I saw all year was an over-the-hill punk band. It’s probably me. The only weird thing that I didn’t mention in my journal at the time was the way Exene changed some of the lyrics. In "Nausea", "I say oh Christ, oh Jesus Christ, my head’s gonna crack like a bank" became "I say oh no, oh no, oh no, my head’s gonna crack like a bank." and in "Devil Doll", "This is no God damn country / to wander alone" became "This is no kind of country / to wander alone". Exene hasn’t found Jesus has she?
Still, they were faster, have better songs, and were more energetic than any band I’ve seen in awhile. Of course, if I’d been in town when Mission of Burma played, this might be a different story.
Band of the Year Feelings on a Grid. I know you don’t believe me, you have not seen the Grid. And you’re too late now because they broke up. But when these boys were having a good night they were one of my favorite bands ever. Both in my basement and at a queer punk fest in LA, their electronic, political, artsy punk commanded dancing, amused the alienated, and attracted followers. "I’m on a date with my feelings" indeed.
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X & MoB
Date: 2003-01-02 10:57 am (UTC)