Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Grab your seat, concentrate, and for chrissakes don’t blink. You might miss one. No, not a mystery-revealing plot point, but one of the nuances or tiny events that make the movie feel like a piece of new precious metal, not immediately discernable from any common rock except for the small, delicate details. Those small details make all the difference in this movie, and in everything else I suppose.

Jim Carrey plays out of character here. Even his face plays out of character; no rubbery insanity, no bulging-eyes-and-steaming-ears slapstick stares, just a quiet and somewhat indifferent sadness, more like real life than most real life.

If you didn’t like Adaptation, you might not like this one either. But lord knows you should have liked Adaptation, so go see it again. Then go see this.

From A to B

It took forever, but my shipment finally arrived from A&B Sound, and only because I removed a Snow Patrol CD from the order. I usually don’t use them; if they take two months to send a shipment, I can’t imagine I’ll ever use them again. Luckily, the CDs that finally arrived kick ass.

  • The debut CD from The Fiery Furnaces, Gallowsbird’s Bark rocks. There’s no way to pin down what kind of music it is. It’s just interesting. Inventive. Different. Daring. Bitchin’.
  • Earthquake Glue by Guided By Voices. Thank god they switched back to Matador. I mean, I liked Isolation Drills, but…they’re better here.
  • The second Explosions In The Sky disc The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place might out-mogwai Mogwai. Well, no, they’re two different animals. But EITS just uses such cyclical song structure that it’s almost possible to tap your toes and hum along to expansive instrumental music.

Seriously, though.

Kid A is just brilliant. The disc has 3 songs on it that I skip every time, and it’s still one of the best I’ve ever heard. “Everything In It’s Right Place” is the perfect opener, and “The National Anthem” may well be their best song. Ever. It’s all just…so…good.