Terribly sad, incredibly sexy cowboy hustler who loses everything. I know all eyes are supposed to be on Paul Newman, but the Bannons' middle-aged housekeeper, Alma Brown, steals the show for me. She's a fashion icon to be admired. Moreover, I love her role, her attitude, her relationship with the youngest—and that accent!
If you don't know what the movie is about, I might spoil it for you. I don't know why, but I half expected a happy ending... Similar to the Thomas Crown Affair (with equally sexy Steve McQueen)—and I blame mostly the remake for the false assumption of an ending—I really expected love and sunsets into the distance. Hud is like that in that, when the credits began to roll, I hollered, "That's it?!" Though my heart breaks, I'd watch it again just to see Paul pout once more.
Many years ago on a "Hail Mary" trip to Chicago, Sean and I beared the winter winds of Lake Michigan to see Raun. Between gawking at just about everything (the stores, the parks, the lake, the architecture, food, people...), we found ourselves in a record store of epic proportions and variety. It's not uncommon to find a shelf of "employee favs," or something like that, and I took a chance purchasing an album from it. And thus began my affair with a very unique genre, with said purchase of Siamese Soul: Thai Pop Spectacular.
From an online review: "Siam/Thailand has never been colonized by Western nations. But in the 20th century, it was a crossroads of cold war activity. So modern mor lam and luk thung genres of Thai music retain old traditions such as soaring vocals with pronounced vibrato and subject matter of village life and personal relationships from the point of view of rural people. At the same time, local musicians have heard the music American military personnel favored and imitated this, providing entertainment for the Americans far from home and new waves of tourists to follow."
Purely from a melodic standpoint, the songs are funky and exotic, but when I dug deeper into the lyrics I felt a disconnect, a mostly comical one. The first track, "Bong Ja Bong," literally translates to "Bong, Oh Bong": a sort of love song to relaxation and the singer's dear water pipe. "E-Saew Tam Punha Huajai (Advice Column for Love Troubles)," offers advice to a woman who has fallen for an 80-year-old man ... his son ... and his nephew. An interesting topic for pop music in America, but maybe not in Siam.
If Siamese Soul doesn't wet your whistle, then check out มนต์รักเพลงไทย for more.
Man, I just love this guy. He gives me so much hope, and I love nice people that make good things. He's got a different sensibility about design that's uncommon in the work that gets praised all the time. First introduced to him with America is F*cked—Graphically, and so how could you not fall in love with him? To stand-up and say: "No, other designer, the world deserves better than this—it's our responsibility..." Got to give it up.
These are the places dreams are made of. Coney Islands and canned beer. A biker bar in the flat lands with an identity crisis. Wood paneling, stucco, neon highlights in baby blue. Rules like "NO FIGHTING: All disputes will be settled by bartender." Just a Nicholas Cage role away from being a David Lynch film.
I'm in love with Matt Blodgett's photoblog Ride Me Down Easy. The majority of the photographs were taken with those crappy Kodak Funsavers, which just goes to show that good photography isn't just a nice camera. There's something about them, where I feel like there'll all shot in Kansas City or surrounding areas. I know they're not, but whatever—says something. I'm smitten.
I never thought I'd say it, but driving through Kansas on the way home was lax and calming. When you're equipped with the right music, any situation which is normally unbearable can be tolerated—like separating yourself from reality and living in a music video or art film. Samantha Crain was on the track list and this song is pretty fantastic for a variety of reasons: her, thoughts of Santa Fe, Frontier Ruckus, a subtle banjo... It fits the bill for lengthy road trip, to say the least. It's an unforgettable thing to witness the dry, yucca- and tumbleweed-scattered hills of Colorado turn into Kansas's bewildering flat farmland, and moreover into the hills and lush cliffs of Missouri.
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