Bollywha?

My obsession this week is Bollywood. I'm even thinking of joining IndoFilms, the Netflix of Bollywood. This week in heavy rotation I've been listening to the Mohabbatein soundtrack non-stop, and with the help of Bollywhat I'll be singing the songs tomorrow! Incidentally, over the weekend I rented Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, which played really similarly to Mohabbatein, even casting the same two male stars in very similar roles. A short review can be found here. And the first two movies I'm planning on renting from IndoFilms? Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Devdas.

The Dinner Party Game

A new take on solitaire, this game has great play and a neat tactile look to it. Recommended! Play it here. (Courtesy coudal)

Aunt or Ant?

The Dialect Survey used a series of questions, including rhyming word pairs and vocabulary words, to explore words and sounds in the English language. While the survey itself is ended, you can still view the results here.

Chris Doyle

Ed.S pointed me to American Cinematographer, which this month shares Chris Doyle's journals from the filming of wuxia as fashion photo shoot Hero. One of my favorite cinematographers, Doyle gained reknown for his work on Wong Kar-Wai's films, and also recently shot one segment of the Thai-funded trio of short films, The Eye as well as Noyce's The Quiet American. According to the Internet Movie Database, he's back at work on WKW's 2046, though that update is a little old. You can find the AC article here.

Unicode as the new Rosetta stone?

Ben pointed me to this Times article on Michael Everson. A 40-year old typographer from Dublin, his "largest project to date - a contribution to a new version of Unicode 4.0, an international standard for computerizing text - is cementing his reputation." (n.b. subscription required)

On the issue

I might be a little late to this site, but Ben just pointed me to www.ontheissues.org. Based on the information presented there, I'm starting to like Wesley Clark. Read about his stances here. And here's a radio bit with him.

Koss PortaPro

Last night, Simone gave me a pair of these headphones. They rock. The frequency response is amazing. I found myself using them to listen to music all night (and I was the only one home). I wanted to go to sleep listening to music through them. The only drawback is that since they reproduce hi quality engineered and recorded music so well, I keep wanting to listen to slickly produced albums even though some of the music I've recently been getting into is lo-fi indie rock. What to do what to do? You can learn more about these headphones as well as the full line of Koss products here.

Runway Music

NPR aired the third part in a five part series on fashion week this morning. This one was about runway music. Probably not surprisingly, models like walking to deep house, the better to find the beat. Read more or listen to the article here.

Mandala sand painting

Sophia recently called my attention to a mandala sand painting being created at the Asia Society as a gift from the Tibetan Buddhist monks of Drepung Loseling Monestary. The mandala commemorates the events of September 11th, and honors His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who will receive the Human Rights Award from the International League for Human Rights on September 19th. You can read more about the process and the gift here. Some of the more interesting interactive features are a live webcast as well as archived images of the daily construction.

Trouble in Paradise

I finally managed to see this film. Four years ago, I first heard of Ernst Lubitsch from reading Peter Bogdonovich's Who the Devil Made it and was determined to see Trouble in Paradise. It was unavailable on video, but the New York Public Library had a 16mm version. Unfortunately, their screening room was being remodelled, and so the chance passed. In the interim, I saw Ninotchka and The Merry Widow, but I never forgot Trouble in Paradise Not too long ago, Criterion released it on DVD, and this past weekend I finally had the chance to see it. It's exquisite. It's amazing the lightness and sophistication Lubitsch brings to his films, and its great to finally see this early American effort. It's said that Lubitsch created Hollywood, and after seeing this film, I believe it. You can learn more about Lubitsch at this website, which includes a gallery of movie posters. You can read my mini-reviews of Ninotchka here, of The Merry Widow here, and of Trouble in Paradise here.

Johnny Cash

CNN posted a number of tributes to Cash culled from a compilation I have in heavy rotation today. Some of my favorites are from Bono: "Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash," and Tom Waits: "When Johnny Cash comes on the radio, no one changes the station." You can find the complete list here. Learn more about Cash here.

Twenty-four hour comix

In 1990, Scott McCloud issued a challenge. To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 contiguous hours. You can read the dare here. Rising to his own challenge, he produced A Day's Work on August 30th of that year. I can't draw myself out of a paper bag, otherwise it'd be an interesting experiment (though one person created a comic photographing Lego people, hmmm). Looking through the index of comics submitted since, one of my favorites is Chris Allan's A Life with Death. I'm amazed he produced such a great comic in such a short span of time.

Who would buy that?

O.K. I admit that I'm slightly addicted to ebay. Not that I buy all that much, but I troll through for camera equipment on a fairly regular basis. Things that I rarely come across are almost all of the items listed on this blog.

Laduree Macaroons

Simone de Bride and hubby returned yesterday from their honeymoon in Paris and brought back macaroons. But not just any macaroons, Laduree macaroons, which are the finest I've tasted (not that I've tasted many macaroons. Personal favorites would have to include the coffee and citron macaroons. Guillamette mentioned she's going back to Paris and so I've asked her to bring some more back, if she has the time. Either that or I'll have to find a cheap ticket and spend some time in Paris myself. You can learn more about macaroons, Laduree, and even sign up for their email newsletter (which promises to offer occasional recipies) here.

New Money

Coming on October 9th, new money. The interactive bill details a number of the changes, including different colors for each bill. Also, be sure to play the design you own bill game, which is one of the square block links to the right. You can read more about the bill here. (courtesy coudal)

The Japanese Paper Company

Sarah, whom I was introduced to through the Center for Book Arts, pointed me to this company, which is based in Toronto (it makes me want to head up there again). Their mission is to encourage and support creativity through the sale of quality Japanese papers and related materials. Apparently, some of the papermakers they use sign their papers and Sarah said that professional acquaintences of hers would actually request papers by the people who made them. When a number of these papermakers retired, the Paper Company flew them to Toronto to meet with some of their clients. One bookbinder was shocked to find that one person's paper he always requested was a woman. "I could have sworn she was a man," he said. Unfortunately the site is a little hard to navigate through. You can visit them here. One plus is that they'll ship internationally.

Bride and Prejudice

While reading Film Comment, I noticed a blurb indicating that Gurinder Chadha (who directed Bend it Like Beckham) is now filming a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice starring Aish Rai, who was mentioned a few posts ago in relation to her small but pivotal role in Mohabbatein.

Mirah

Last night I was talking to Abby about the new Liz Phair album and how fall short it falls when compared to Exile in Guyville. The conversation did remind me of Mirah, who is sometimes likened to Phair. I'm particularly drawn to her first album, You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This. You can learn more about her here. And the allmusic link is here.

In heavy rotation

It must be from the same part of me that likes Weezer and that Hanson "Doo bop" song, but for the past two days I can't stop listening to the All-American Rejects. (I can still remember Patty commenting, "how high school of you," when I told her I was going to see Weezer in concert a year or two ago.) And I appear to be a little late in the game as far as their popularity is concerned. Be that as it may, it's some great pop rock with some nice little harmonies. And I can almost detect a little Gloria Record in their sound. At least in the opening bars of the last song on the record. Their official site can be found here. My cousin Becca is mortified.

Mohabbatein

I've had a fascination with Bollywood films for a while now, but only recently have I been more involved with actually indulging it. The latest guilty pleasure is Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan (pictured), and Aishwarya Rai. Amitabh Bachchan's performance grounds the film, a sort of Dead Poet's Society struggle between fear and love. Shah Rukh Khan reminds me something of Howard Coale, for those who might know. You can learn more about the film from it's website. A lackluster mini-review of mine can be found here.

Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra

On the 17th of October, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra will perform their final concert. In a statement, Akiyoshi wrote, "I started my career as a pianist, and I want to devote my remaining years to composing and playing in solo and small group formats. I am artistically challenged by this decision and want to become a better pianist and for me this is the way." As part of the program, they will perform her Hiroshima: Rising from the Abyss for the first time outside of Japan. Here's a small article that aired on NPR as part of their series "Art out of the Cataclysm." Now that I have tickets it will be the first time I've seen a show at Carnegie Hall.

East of Eden

John Steinbeck kept a list of what went into the writing of this classic book, including eleven years of mental gestation, one year of uninterrupted writing, 25 dozen pencils, and approximately three dozen reams of paper. What emerged was a potrait of the Salinas valley wrapped around an allegorical story of good and evil mirroring that of the fourth book of Genesis told over three generations. It is also now, an Oprah book club selection. Fortunately, I bought my copy before the offensive cover change bearing the book club seal of approval and ugly logo. You can read more about the two versions here. You can read more about East of Eden as well as Steinbeck himself on the National Steinbeck Center's website. And on another design note, who had the grand idea of scrolling type from left to right over the images on that site? Are you supposed to read the quotations backwards?

La Strada

Criterion once again announces the release of La Strada (my favorite Fellini film) on DVD, this time in November. Last year they had announced the film, but the DVD inexplicably disappeared from its website a month before its release. I'm placing my order now. Having seen this film long before Le Notti di Cabiria I was surprised to hear Masina speak in the latter. You can read more about the release here.

The Center for Book Arts

While searching for a clamshell box, I came across the Center for Book Arts (which sent me an impressive list of bookmakers and binders in the city). Looking through their course selections, I wanted to actually take the boxmaking class they offer, but this semester I'd have to take vacation in order to do so. Which would be one thing if the course were offered in Italy, but since the center is on 27th street I think I'll wait until it's offered in the evening next semester. And unfortunately, the class still wouldn't end soon enough for me to have the box I want for a certain project I'm working on. I sent the link on to a friend, however, who is now enrolled in the Bookbinding I course. I'm currently debating whether to join him in it.

Touchez pas au Grisbi

Looking for something to do after dinner I stopped by the Film Forum and saw Touchez pas au Grisbi. A French gangster film almost concerned more with the daily existence of gangsters after their scores than with the score itself, the film proves to be a study of manners as much as of gunplay. My mini-review can be found here along with a bunch of other mini-reviews I've jotted down over the past few years. The cool poster can be purchased at the Film Forum website, where you can also find more information on the film including a review by Francois Truffaut.