The return of topbeagle.blogspot.com

Boston
After a couple of months of being away, topbeagle is back!!!!

Here is a pic from Boston -August 2008

Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s Revue, July 12th 2008 – Lincoln Center

There are few times that I can say that I was at the best show in the city, which in someway might be the best show in the country; at least for one night. Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. in Lincoln Center, I saw Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s Revue. This was the show to be at. It was not sold out. It was not widely advertised, but the right people were there. David Bryne from the Talking Heads sat three rows in front of me. Much of the New York music Industry came in there casual yet cool (but not hipster) clothes into the sometimes stuffy air of the Avery Fisher auditorium to see a show of mostly African Music; of musicians who most of whom have never left Mali, according the guy who arranged the travel. He was sitting right behind me.

Of course, Damon Albarn is the lead singer of Blur, The Glorillaz, and The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. Honest Jon is a music label from England where all the performers belonged to.

I feel more unqualified than usual to review this. I have never heard African music before; not like this anyway. I loved it. It was a joy. It was unpretentious. Everyone was just having fun.

To his credit, Albarn would hide when he felt that too many people were looking at him, and not playing proper attention to the musicians.

The music arranged to very traditional music to a great brass section to some Senegalese dudes rockin’ out in French. Totally kicked ass!

Albarn played the last song. It was a happy performance, and I was glad I didn’t need to be rushed to hospital afterwards, because I was very sick that night. I was ready to see the show and go to the hospital right afterwards. Oye Vey!

I wonder if Radiohead can beat this.

Abba is the Greatest Band in the Entire Universe, Ever

What I liked the most about "Mamma Mia" is its deft characterizations and the way in which the score draws from a wide palette of emotions to evoke a subtext for each scene....Ha ha, just kidding. The plot is transparent, character development is pretty much nonexistent and the movie is all about the singing and dancing. Which is what's so great about it.

"Mamma Mia," based on the stage play of the same name, is basically a giant revue of Abba songs. The plot centers around Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who is getting married at her mother's hole-in-the-wall hotel on a Greek island. The problem: she wants to be given away by her father, but she doesn't know who her father is. It turns out she was conceived in a one-night stand sometime in the swinging days of 1988 (hey, I'm only following the movie's chronology) and there are no less than three possible fathers: Stellan Starsgard, Pierce Brosnan, and Harry Firth. Undaunted, Sophie invites all three to the wedding. Hilarity ensues, and so does music, as the characters sing (and generally also dance) an Abba number in each scene.

The musical numbers were all good, and several were great. Meryl Streep (as Sophie's mom Donna) writhing in sexual frustration on a rooftop while singing "Mamma Mia" is hilarious. So is the sight of a singing, dancing chorus of men clad in swimsuits and flippers. Some of the actors, ahem, sing better than others, and some of the dance numbers were more crisply performed than others, but nobody seemed to mind, on the screen or in the theatre. The acting is exactly what the movie needed: hammy, with a lot of slapstick.

The best aspect of the movie was definitely the chemistry the actors seemed to have with each other. Everybody looked like they were having fun, and Meryl Streep was having the most fun of them all. So even though the plot isn't much and some of the singing and dancing isn't exactly spot-on, I was carried away by the sheer ebullience coming off the screen. It's a bunch of people doing Abba songs. What's not to like?
REVIEW BY JAN DE BAKKER

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)

Totally not familiar with the Dolls series or book series that this comes from. I went into this with the knowledge of a cute trailer and a basset hound on the cover. I was sold.

I am happy to report that this is a wonderful kid’s film. I am a little surprised. It is generally a smart movie.

Decorated with a great cast of supporting characters, it stars Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin.

There are a lot things that make this a really good movie. There is a vast world of Kit Kittredge which goes from Roaring 20’s to the beginning of the depression. There are the usual things which are right out of the Little Rascals series, such as a tree house, a dog companion to fast talking news paper men. There are so many well developed characters that there is little to no wasted space. Most of the supporting characters have been stars of films at some point and actors such as Stanley Tucci bring great characterization where ever they go.

The story is actually pretty good. It goes from a depression era hardship story to a “Little women” narrative to a good ole fashioned mysterious to a slap stick let’s get the silly bad guys.

As far as I can tell from my stories from my grandfather, who was basically a kid when this movie is set, is that the details of the story are correct. The little facts, the mood, and events seem quite accurate. I asked him about it after I saw it and he confirmed what I asked, but he had never heard of a hobo writing style.

I didn’t this to be a girl movie per se despite the title. I have seen movies like Princess Diaries, which I thought was a good movie but I thought was definitely for girls. I did feel that about this one.

This is a fun little movie. It as about as G rated as it can be. This is a very clean movie. Overall, I thinks its great.

The Wackness (2008)

OMFG! They have already made a 90’s nostalgia movie. This is a film about a teenager in the summer of 1994 in New York City. I was a teenager in 1994 in New York City. Dude, do I feel old!

The Wackness is a historical period piece centered on a teenage boy circa 1994. It is another coming of age film. There has to be, like, ten a year, but unlike Rushmore, Napoleon Dynamite, and Juno, which are basically the same movie, where the audience sees a quirky and somehow brilliant lead character , and how the world reacts to him or her, this one is pre-Wes Anderson, Old Skool, where the teenage character is the only sane person in a sea or crazy or shallow people around them.

This is not a happy drug film a la Harold and Kumar. Instead this is a moody and sometimes dark feature where the character has some seriously instabilities in his life. His parents are losing their apartment and he might have to live with his grandparents in New Jersey. He has graduated High School and had gotten into his safety college. The only support he has is Hip-hop, which provides a false persona that he has control of his life, which is really has no control over anything at all. The only personal support he has is a therapist whom is pays in drugs. He tries to take care of his family by trying to sell enough drugs to save his home.

Our hero’s name is Luke.

A social outcast and loner, people his age, who are mostly lost, bored, and wealthy kids (like from the movie Kids) are only interested in him for the drugs. He does meet one girl, Stephanie; Juno’s honest-to-blog friend played by Olivia Thirlby. Stephanie is uses Luke mainly because she is bored and Luke is a distraction.

In the end, everything falls apart for Luke, but somehow like every teenage films, he will survive. I guess, such films are a solute the resiliency to an age group that knows much drama real or imaginary.

A tribute to the nineties, The Wackness drops as much nineties references that it can per second of screen time. Whether it be a Zima, biggie Smalls, or having Mary-Kate Olsen who seems like a living relic under 30 years old, the film never lets you forget the time period. Sadly in the pre-9/11 movie the CGI World Trade Center towers they get wrong. Maybe the outsourced the work. The towers don’t look right. They look shorter and fatter than the original structures looked.

Overall, the movie is rather depressing. The characters, all of them, are lost. Despite the fact that these types of people are plentiful in New York City, they are not the majority; nor do represent life and vivaciousness of the time, especially in the nineties.

Obama New York City

Hello Kitty New York City

Hello Kitty New York City

Ugly Americans: The true story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided Asians Markets by Ben Mezrich

This is my favorite book that I have so read this year. It is a delightful read. It is very male book with elements of chasing girls, mentors, finance, motor cycles, and risk. I wonder if a woman would get so much enjoyment out this book.

This is another Ben Mezrich true story where he takes someone’s story and makes a thriller out of it. These are truly American stories. They have many American ideals, such as Rags to Riches with smarts and hard work, and the idea that anything is beatable.

Ben Mezrich is best known for his books about M.I.T. students who beat Vegas in blackjack. This work he ups the ante by taking the story out of Las Vegas where the one day winnings are in the thousands to the world Financial markets where a the one day winning are up in the hundred of Millions.

The story takes place in the roaring nineties, and it is a story that can only happen in that time for two reasons. The Asian financial markets were being born in a modern sense, hence being raided as well and the computer age was coming into fruition.

Mezrich calls our hero John Malcolm (we don’t know is real name). We meet Malcolm on a plane with Ivy League football stars on a plane to Japan to play an exhibition game there. He is going to Princeton University, and he has at Princeton on a football scholarship.

While in Japan his crew meets up with some arbitrage traders in Tokyo. They handout business cards and a job offer of sorts.

He does try out for the professional football. He doesn’t make it and it beat up more than anyone because the others don’t like boys from Ivy League colleges.

As Malcolm struggles to find a job at graduation, he gives one the traders a call, and the next week he is on a plane to Osaka Japan to start a job which he does not understand.

Completely clueless Malcolm enters a world that he could have never imagined. I don’t want to give away too much of the story.

The book is interesting because for a lot reasons. One, it gives a fairly realistic culture of the world of finance and of Japan; especially being an American in Japan. I can tell you from my own experience that it is realistic. At the time of the book Westerns mainly Americans and the British were taking the Asia for all they could. There was a lot of money involved and things that usually go along with that. The Yakuza, which is the Japanese mafia, were after Malcolm and his cohorts. He even got involved in Neil Lesson, who is the trader who brought down Barring of London; Britton’s oldest and most prestigious bank ( “Rogue Trader” with Ewan McGregor is a good movie about that bit). Lastly,sex is a part of that much money. The ubiquitous sex industry run by the Yakuza is in every part of business in Japan. The testosterone is pumping everywhere and fast cars and motorbikes lead to Malcolm taking stupid risks that the Yakuza eventually take advantage of.

While everyone else is corrupting themselves Malcolm finds love with a Japanese girl who is very much off limits.

Malcolm who grew up poor in New Jersey to a single mother becomes on the verge of making 500 million dollars.

There is never a dull moment in here. There is also no wasted space. There is going on and much to keep track of. It is really one of those stories where it ends of far from where it starts that only a true story can be that fantastic.

Wanted (2008)

This is not a stupid action film. This is a great action film. One of the best. Story, well, lets not be concerned with that so much. Let’s just say there is enough there to keep your interest up, but if you think about it for a second allusions to Fight Club ,Star Wars: A New Hope, and The Matrix are more than obvious.

It stars my main man James McAvoy; who has the distinction that nothing I have seen him in as been in even remotely mediocre. The Last King of Scotland, Atonement, Ten for Starters,Penelope have all been great. He even had a small part in the T.V. series of Band of Brothers. Wanted was no disappointment. It was great.

The movie is gripping or probably unintentionally funny at all times. There is not one dull moment. The styled violence gets better and better. It is surely something that I have not seen on the screen before.

The movie is set in Chicago, and makes Chicago like an amazingly cool city. I was just there last year, and I surely didn’t think so.

It also starts Angelina Jolie in a role somewhat similar to her husbands role in Fight Club, which gets less interesting the more you think about it. She looks really good in a dress, but I guess she is a sex symbol for men and lesbians alike. That f#$ked-up girl role really fits her.

The actors carry the film and the non-stop action is full of an endless supply of cool moves. I don’t want to give too much away but there is a good twist in there to look forward to. Also, like the movie Speed the climax of the film is in the middle, and then the movie picks up again.

The dialogue is surprising good. There are some biting phrases, which are sometimes aimed at the audience.

There’s not too much more to say about it, except that Danny Elfman did the music. It is not too long, and it surely one of the best movies to come out this year. I have been see one too many hero movie. One more comic book movie would surely drive to me to library, but this one is an exception.

I highly recommend Wanted, because it is one great ride.

Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House (2007) by Valerie Plame Wilson

This is a book written two parts. The first part is written by Wilson with much of it redacted with blacked out sections shown on the page, and the second part is an afterword written by Laura Rozen. The afterword is written from the public record that is meant to fill in much of the pieces that was redacted by the C.I.A. So, the book is really all over the place.
The book is not that well written. Even taking the redactions into consideration the author loses focus and writes about three different books in one. She is not a professional writer and her emotions seems to be shot from the traumatic events in her and her families lives due to the well documented outing of her C.I.A. agent status and the right wings war against her family.
I wanted to read this book because I wanted know about a woman’s experience being in the C.I.A. It is a perceptive that I have never heard before. I do get that buried in somewhere within the emotional life of Ms. Wilson, which not a criticism. The woman is learning how to feel. She is getting her life organized her brain and is obvious when reading this.
What is surprising is just how likable the author is. She is very girly girl. She tries to tries to write the book with a tough bravado. She does this with her chapters on her C.I.A. special agent training on “The Farm.” However due to the redactions and the fact that it just didn’t seem like her, it doesn’t last for very long.
Next.
Probably the most fun you have with this book is the time she is a working as mother with two small children and as a C.I.A. agent. She is totally a mom, and she has working mother concerns all while having this super risky important spy job.
Then comes the dark side. While working for a part of the C.I.A. that was looking into nuclear proliferations in the outside world, a request from the Vice-President Office came in to have a lead that the Iraqi government was looking to buy Yellow Cake Uranium from Nigeria. Plame writes that it was suggested to her ask her husband former ambassador Joe Wilson to look into it. She would have been derelict of her duties if she did not follow through with that. It was common practice that people outside the agency, such as business people or former government officials to carry out some important matters such as this. Joe Wilson went pro-bono ( meaning that only expenses were paid) . He found nothing, wrote his report and they went on with their lives until the President, she writes, used a few words citing Yellow Cake Uranium and Iraq to sell the war on Iraq. Wilson wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, debunking those words in the Presidents speech. After that everything fell apart.

The right wing declared war on the Wilson’s. Most egregious from the office of the Vice President and Carl Rove leaked Valeria Plame Wilson’s name to the press. Supposedly Carl Rove who is member of the Wilson’s church said that Valerie Wilson was “Fair Game” in retaliation to Joe Wilson. The so-called liberal press printed her name and protected their sources; hence exposed her status putting her and her contact lives in jeopardy. It was a political retaliation for crossing the administration.

She goes on and tells about how the war on the Wilson’s went as far as death threats, lack of protection from the C.I.A., tax audits, and more. Right wing donators threatened Universities and High Wealth individuals to make sure that Joe Wilson’s consulting business would go bust and that he would not get any speaking engagements. Plame speculates that these tactics were a dry run on the swift boat attacks on John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Campaign.

Although, some justice eventually came her way in the form of “Scouter” Libby being prosecuted for the leak by the federal government. The toll taken on her family and her career was more than most people could take.

Towards the end of her she is pouring facts and unbelievable stories from her experience. It is upsetting, and it is clear that it is probably not over.

It was hard to read, because it was really upsetting. What was good about it is that is a first hand account of a family being hunted by the right wing for saying anything that contradicted it.