CULTURE UPDATE December

LIVE MUSIC
with the best bits underlined.

Punaniska: Sister Flo

Nosturi: Samae Koskinen, Mark Kozelek

So, Mark Kozelek. Unprofessional and cocky. This was definitely one of those times when it would've been more important to hold on to the idea of Mark Kozelek you have in your head than to see him perform live. His attitude was unbelievable: he was complaning the audience was too quiet, he was complaning that Finland was too cold, he was complaning about the fact that he had to sit on a plane and a taxi to get there, he was complaning that his hands were sore etc. He actually said at one point that "this is the kind of place that you come to once". And then he'd tune. Before and in the middle of songs. It's great that he cares and all but in the middle of songs? And everybody there had so much respect for him, you could tell. He asked which songs we wanted to hear and then when this one guy requested something he laughed and corrected his pronounciation. Wow. Then during his encore (which he did a capella because he couldn't be bothered to play anymore) some people in the front started clapping in rhythm. What does Mr. Kozelek do? The guy who wanted more audience participation? He stops and says: "If I need a percussion section I'll tell you."

Yo-talo: [Lucy Was Driving,] Laurila, Tigerbombs, [Nemo]

MOVIES

Laurence Dunmore: The Libertine (2004)
( • • • • ) - 17th century English with no subtitles can be a bit too much at times but I still really liked the movie. I guess I'm a fan of decandence.
Lars von Trier: Manderlay (2005)
( • • • • • ) - Excellent, way better than Dogville. Just... excellent.
David Cronengerg: A History of Violence (2005)
( • • • ) - Kinda crappy at times, bad acting in some scenes but overall an okay film. A lot of violence but some of it was really comedic.
Peter Jackson: King Kong (2005)
( • • ) - Mikko dragged me to this one. I think I got the idea of these kinds of movies for the first time. They are made to look good and entertain and maybe even touch you if you manage to see past... well, the movie. I never got that before - I just thought they were bad movies. Now that I get it I can say I don't like the genre.

DVD

Woody Allen: Melinda & Melinda (2004)
Ki-duk Kim: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2004)
- one of my favorite movies in the world!
Shainee Gabel: A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
David Cronenberg: Spider (2002)
Jared Hess: Napoleon Dynamite (2004)