Matt Smith is so gloriously nerdy. I’m sure he’s quite mad, and really I love him all the more for it.
Category Archives: sexy beasts
<3 <3 <3
We had the pleasure of seeing Caetano Veloso at the Greek yesterday evening, and he was wonderful as always. There’s something very intimate about his concerts, even from the balcony the music feels very personal, it’s like he’s singing just for you, but of course it’s even more fun when you’re near.
It’s a lovely venue, nestled in the Hollywood Hills just a little way down from the Griffith Observatory. It’s an open air venue, and despite being right in the middle of Los Angeles, is surrounded by open woodland. It was wonderfully tranquil, sitting in their little cafe under the paper lanterns and fairy lights, with a view of nothing but lush evergreens, listening to the birds before the concert.
We knew we wouldn’t have time to eat beforehand, so we ordered a nice little picnic basket dinner with a bottle of chilled white zinfandel, and while it was overpriced, it was also quite delicious. After our second bottle of wine, we both agreed we’d had much worse and paid more for the pleasure. I kept a tasty lemon cookie in my pocket for later, and nommed on it throughout the show.
Cae puts on a great show, and always plays in good venues. There are a lot of brasilieros here in LA, and his fans are particularly dedicated, so most of the audience sang along with the songs. I’ve only got the vaguest idea what most of his songs are about, but I sing along as well. He’s very political, but the strange and wonderful thing about tropicalia is that it’s hopeful, uplifting. It’s a song to carry in your heart, even if the lyrics are about poverty and violence.
During the encore a lot of people left their seats, so I followed suit, and being both tiny and female, was able to squeeze right up to the stage. The stage wasn’t that high, but still, he had to reach quite a way down. Tiny girl hands with sparkly glitter polish always get touched. *sigh* He has soft, strong hands.
Everything about Caetano Veloso makes me happy. He’s the father of a whole musical genre, but he’s still humble. He’s very good to his band mates onstage, even though they’re quite young, they’re all highly skilled musicians, and he lets them shine. It seems as if generosity of spirit comes easily to him.
Speaking of generosity, his new album “zii e zie” is online for listening in its entirety. Check it out. It’s edgy and like most of his work, is solidly grounded in rock and roll, but is also soothing and melodious. I think you’ll like it.
Good Eats!
I fell in love with Jaques Pepin when he said, quite without irony, that it was alright to use canned beans in certain recipes — and then proceeded to open a tin and do just that. Great chef, more concerned with showing people how to make good, simple food, than with all the intricacies of soaking overnight and growing your own. I thought it was pretty fabulous.
…well, this evening I finally saw something to top even that. Anthony Bourdain, cracking and devouring a small mountain of shellfish, using nothing but his hands.
Now, this comes with a story. Many years ago I had a French boyfriend, and said boyfriend and I sat down to a seafood dinner with Mint. You should know that I love fresh shellfish with a passion unrivaled by any other foodstuff. After watching me hand-crack and devour my own small mountain of shellfish, my boyfriend turned to Mint, saying, “If you want to know how a woman is in bed, watch her eat.”
“Suck”
…yeah, that’s what I’d call my vampire movie too. Still. It’s got Alice Cooper, Moby, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, AND Malcolm McDowell!!!
I DESPERATELY WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE.
Chicago TARDIS – Delgado!Master
Oh no! Our heroine has been hypnotized by the Master! What will become of her? Will the Doctor arrive in time to save her? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Ah, the fickle muse.
It’s nice to know that even interesting people aren’t satisfied with their own work.
From the Guardian interview with Bill Nighy:
“I try to never watch. It takes me so long to get over it and I’m always so downcast. I find it really distressing,” he says. “Maybe when I’m very old, I’ll sit down and watch my earlier work. But it will just depress the hell out of me. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. It’s not like I’m some weirdo. You just see how far short it falls from where you might have imagined you were heading. I have a perfectly average skewed perception of myself. We often don’t know what we’re like. I hope that’s the case because otherwise I’ll kill myself.” He chuckles.
Gore Vidal! (is my hero)
The onus of interviewing him fell to the editor of the LA Times book review, and he made the mistake of trying to talk politics. I’m not sure fiction would have been much better, but only a madman argues politics with Vidal. Even with rather well-researched notes, Vidal still left him totally speechless more often than not.
The poor fellow was doomed before he even began, but all things considered I thought he held his own remarkably well — I told him so as he was making a rather hasty exit — after all, he did manage to form complete sentences throughout, which seems to be rather a laudable achievement in this particular circumstance.
It wasn’t that Vidal was particularly vicious, certainly he was mild in comparison to how he behaves with people he dislikes. It’s just that he’s absolutely impossible to argue with; he’s so well-versed in history and politics that listening to him talk is rather like being hit with an encyclopedia, his replies brook no reproach.
Not to mention that he’s effortlessly venomous, intellectually terrifying, and has that natural, imperialistic grace that reduces mere mortals to dust. Even if he’s rather tired these days, and doesn’t bother to hide the fact that he’s in a wheelchair, he’s a giant of a man. There’s a reason he got a standing ovation just for coming onstage.
