Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

Oh my god - this is the sweetest noise you could ever imagine. Pain and bliss all in one delicious package. Hear it!

Portishead - Third

While not as good as their first two albums, Third by Portishead is still very very good. Especially the first track "Silence" is amazing, the rest is a little up and down. If you are a Portishead fan, this long expected album will please you, if not live up to all your expectations.

Haruki Murakami - Dance Dance Dance

It's the good old Murakami magic. An amazing cast of characters and a metaphysical awakening/noirish detective story. It takes a while to get of it's feet, but once it grips you you can't let it go. Highly recommended.

My Blueberry Nights

This is Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai's first attempt with Hollywood, and he actually pulled it of without losing any integrity. People who have seen Chungking Express and In The Mood For Love will instantly recognize the style and themes.
New York girl Norah Jones gets her heart broken, and seeks the company of café owner Jude Law. She decides to go away to get away from her pain, and in her travels south, she comes across different colourful characters, until she finally returns to New York.
That sounded pretty dull, and actually it kinda is. Norah Jones might be an amazing singer, but she sure is a drab (but cute) actress, and Jude Law is, well Jude Law. What really boosts the film is the characters that Jones meet on her travels.
In Memphis she meets David Strathairn (you know his face, not his name), who gives an excellent performance as a drunken, sad cop, and Rachel Weisz his wife, who looks more stunning than ever, and does a great job as the part of a southern femme fatale. In Nevada she meets Natalie Portman, who plays the part of a somewhat dangerous card player, she also looks gorgeous as ever.
It's a very aesthetic, sensual film, which is beautifully shot. It features a lot of Wai's trademarks, like the slow motion sequences and the erotic food analogies. Cat Power (Chan Marshall), who appears in a tiny role, supplies the beautiful music, together with Norah Jones herself.

8/10

Beach House - Devotion

I just discovered this band (me being a Pitchfork whore). It's hauntingly beautiful dream pop, that seems to grow on you on each play. It also has organs galore. Highly recommended.

Philip Roth - The Human Stain

Philip Roth, may or may not be the best living writer in USA today, I don't really know enough about American writers to cast judgement on that. What I do know, is that he certainly is one of the top writers in the world today, and that The Human Stain is a remarkable book.

It's about the college professor Coleman, who resigns after being accused of racism. The story is told by Roth's alter-ego Zuckerman.

The Human Stain works on many different levels, it's both a personal and a national story. The thing I find most interesting is the problems regarding statements, truth and knowledge. Because it is not an omniscient narrator, we can't just take every statement to be the truth. This poses some interesting questions, when for example the narrator tells us of the innermost feelings of a woman he has never met, is he just making stuff up, or what? It reminds me of Citizen Kane, in that the novel tries to do a exhaustive portrayal of a man, only to realize that it isn't possible. As the narrator Zuckerman states:

- You can't know anything. The things you know you don't know. Intention? Motive? Consequence? Meaning? All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowledge.

On top of that, the book is so well written. The prose is absolutely beautiful, and also quite difficult if English isn't your first language. At times when I read it, I felt like applauding, because language, themes, characters and story all come together, and make for one of the best contemporary novels I've read.

Cormac McCarthy - Vejen

http://www.litteraturnu.dk/univers.php?action=read&id=1114

Six Feet Under

Wow

I just finished all 3376 minutes with my surrogate family - the Fishers and friends. Finished all five seasons of the HBO series Six Feet Under, created by Alan Ball (American Beauty), and I must admit it had a profound effect on my life. Really, calling it TV is almost an insult, this is a piece of art, in that it makes us question and think about such issues as death, sickness, grief, family, homosexuality, parenting - all of these huge and frightening themes, that so rarely are dared touched by any media. And this from a TV series! It's so fucking brave and beautiful, and at the same time entertaining and funny.

I can without hesitation say that this is the best series ever to come out of TV. I'll miss you.

Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead

I realise it's about time I recommended another book. It's not that I haven't read any, it's just than I haven't read any new ones, good enough to receive my recommendation. Also, I've started reviewing book for litteraturnu.dk, which I won't also bring on my blog. But, I can confidently recommend THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by recently deceased, and literary celebrity, Norman Mailer.

The book is about a squad of soldiers, fighting the Japanese for control over an island during the second world war. Mailer himself having fought the Japanese in the war, gives - what I believe - a very accurate description of the men and how the war worked. There's absolutely no romanticism or patriotism about the antagonists feelings towards the fighting, it's more a question of getting out alive and not losing your soul in the process. The old men in the squad are all completely broken and desillusioned, and have absolutely no faith in the US Army or their superiors. The rookies are regarded as little more than a nuisance, and no one wants to get close to them, because they're usually the first to die. There's no heroics in the short confusing fire fights, everyone is afraid and some are cowards.

The main event is a patrol the squad is sent on, the reasons for which, might be for personal glory rather than military significance, and which mainly consist of long devastating marches rather than combat. It's all very dark, but also excellently written and told. It is a bit long however (700 pages), and sometimes the pacing is of. But if this theme is of any interest, I highly recommend it.

Lev Tolstoj - Anna Karenina

http://www.litteraturnu.dk/univers.php?action=read&id=1091

"Things We Lost In The Fire" (Susanne Bier)

For some reason I don't really want to like Danish director Susanne Bier. I think it's still the mass appeal of "Den Eneste Ene", that causes me to categorise her with all the other uninteresting Danish Directors. But I liked "Brødre" I must admit, and I certainly like her new film "Things We Lost In the Fire". This is her first film in Hollywood, but she pulled it of nicely. The story is an emotional one, but it never goes over the top. Benicio del Toro (whom I loved ever since he played a fat drug-using Samoan Attorney) gives an amazing performance, and Halle manages her end very nicely as well. I also like the cutting of the film, which is not chronological. So if you like dramas and great acting, I highly recommend this.

Explosions In the Sky "All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Remixes)"

The post-rock genre can get quite stale and repetitive (pun intended), and maybe it has served it's purpose already. It's easy to hear the influence of post-rock on other genres, especially it's powerfull crescendos and climaxes are widely used. I was a bit dissapointed with Explosions in the Sky's latest album All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, not that they had changed the style, rather they hadn't changed it enough. But then I heard the remix album, and was blown away. It starts of fantastic, with my new favorite song The Birth and Death Of the Day, remixed by my much beloved Jesú, and continues to on with great remixes by other artists I really love: Four Tet, The Paper Chase, Eluvium and more. It's still all instrumental, but very far from the original album. It's how it should have sounded in the first place, and breath of fresh air for the genre.

Palle Vibe - Oriuagors profeti - Bogen der dræber

http://www.litteraturnu.dk/univers.php?action=read&id=1048