Current Favorites

I wrote a couple of music reviews that Fidel Castro said are the shizzinit. So why not put them on Current Favorites since they won't be seen anywhere else.

Music

Dolorean You Can't Win

Are you wearing out your Wilco albums? Have you always preferred your Neil Young “Helpless”? Then Portland, OR band Dolorean want to be your drinking buddy. On their third proper album, You Can’t Win, lead singer and songwriter Al James explores just that idea, “You can’t win”, to a resigned and heartbreaking end.

While their sound isn’t terribly original, it has a haunting quality. It’s heavily indebted to the aforementioned Neil Young and Wilco. James’ voice lacks a lot of the dynamism of a Young or Tweedy however, and it never moves away from their most melancholy elements.
That’s not to say that You Can’t Win is a bad album. On the contrary. Opening with the title track, a keyboard drone slowly moves to the forefront as James repeats “You can’t win” like a mantra. From here, Dolorean doesn’t stray far from a folksy feel. Piano on “We Winter Wrens” conjures up a countrified Counting Crows and shows a brief glimpse of whimsical melody. However, James’ voice never goes above a disheartened mumble, tempering the track’s attempts at building momentum.

This often suits James, such as on the standout track “Beachcomber Blues”, which aches with each refrain. But just as often, James sounds like he’s about to fall asleep at the mic. James doesn’t have an optimistic bone in his body. Whereas similar acts like Jason Collett are defined by an undaunted optimism, Dolorean leave no room for that sort of thing. You Can’t Win has no rousing rockers.

This could hurt the disc a lot more, except that You Can’t Win creates perfect atmosphere. And in this atmosphere, the lyrics come to the forefront. James is a talented writer, and nowhere is it more apparent than on “What a Bottle Can Do”. While sticking to a familiar theme of drinking to forgot a lost love, the song avoids cliché. It celebrates getting rid of thought, be it through drinking or less destructive means.

In the end, the album feels like a quiet walk on brisk autumn day. As James sings in “What a Bottle Can Do”, “I’ve grown quite fond of what one bottle can do.” In a sense, the album replicates that feeling well. It’s a numb feeling that doesn’t feel bad or good. But it can be beautiful. You Can’t Win makes itself a perfect companion for a melancholy day when winning seems just out of reach.

7/10

Suggested Tracks: “Beachcomber Blues”, “Buffalo Gal”, “What One Bottle Can Do”

Nurse & Soldier Marginalia

Boasting a band name that sounds like a kinky game played by bored couples, “Nurse & Soldier” drop Marginalia. A band with this name should conjure up some Harlequin scene with some romantic, pre-WWI type of connotation to it. However, “kinky” is a more apt description of what Marginalia isn’t.

Strange, then, that much of Marginalia music reminds the listener of Tricky’s classic Maxinquaye, which is hyper-sexed in a so wrong it’s right sort of way. Beyond sharing a romantically linked man-woman duo (Oneida front man Bobby Matador and Erica Fletcher are the Soldier and Nurse respectively), the two albums are so divorced from a grounded reality that it leads the listener to start thinking in new ways.

To say they hold much more in common, would be stretching things farther than they should really go. First of all, Maxinquaye is a much better album, and to suggest that Marginalia plays in its league would be far too generous. However, while I’m selling Nurse & Soldier’s effort short, I don’t mean to. It’s still an interesting album.

Most interesting is the album’s notable lack of percussion. This functions to create the aforementioned schism from grounded reality, notably on tracks like “Green Tea” and “North of Baltimore”. Both employ an organ drone, but “North of Baltimore” gets better results, letting Fletcher’s vocals float over the proceedings. While the drums find their way into some songs, it’s to add a dose of conventionality, such as in “Lies and Alterations”, which, while serviceable on their own, function to bring down the atmosphere of the overall album.

When Nurse & Soldier remain atmospheric they stay strong. However, only with very rare occasion do they create something coherent. “Green Tea” is notable for being interesting but never actually going anywhere, ultimately frustrating. Only on “In the Dark” and “North of Baltimore” do Nurse & Soldier really bring it all together. In most cases, like “Imaginary Friend”, they’re content to just let distorted guitar wash over the listener. It’s effective, if not completely compelling.

While this is interesting, it would be nice if Nurse & Soldier grounded themselves with something. Maxinquaye had sex to connect it to the ground. Nurse & Soldier, like idle thoughts that flit from the minds attention before proper time can be given to them, comes and goes before they have much of an impact. It’s fun listening for awhile, but nothing will hook you in for later.

7/10

Suggested Track: "North of Baltimore", "In Yr Corner", "Lies and Alterations"

Movies

I was happy to see Martin Scorcese win an Oscar. Well, I didn't see it, I heard about it. But, hey the guy deserves it, and The Departed was a hell of a film to win it for.

Some movies I saw recently.

Chinatown - While I almost fell asleep during it, this is more of an idictment of my job than of the movie. Highly recommended. 8/10

Marie Antoinette - A good movie. It humanizes the French royals to an extent that is very impressive. The use of modern music was a good move. Bonus points for using The Strokes' "What Ever Happened" in the movie. One of my favorite songs ever. The girlfriend seemed extremely conflicted and was apparently having some sort of existential crisis. I on the other hand was not nearly so affected. 7/10

Books

Natsume Soseki Kokoro - I had to read this for my East Asia class. It's a quick read and deceptively simple. But there's a wealth of stuff in their. According to the experts, its about loneliness. I guess I get that, but I thought it had a Goodbye to All That, "The Times They Are A' Changin'" type of vibe to it. It's the best book I've read in awhile. 8/10

Current Favorites

Music:

So it's been alluded at, but now it's time...I've finally found a new band to talk about (at least in my world, they've been around for a while now). And that's The Fiery Furnaces. What happened here was that I was looking through my Windows Media Player at old songs I downloaded in my file sharing days but never really listened to. And I came across three Fiery Furnaces songs, "Straight Street", "Paw Paw Tree" and "Tropical Iceland". I listened the first time, and it was enough to get me to listen a second time...then by the third time I was hooked. So hooked I dove into the muck of mp3 blogs to try and find some more. I've got about seven Fiery Furnaces songs now, and I'm itching for more. I'm itching to add some songs to my collection...this is very exciting. For most of Saturday and Sunday, I didn't listen to much of anything else (except for some Odelay to get in the mood to write my Top Ten Albums yesterday). I love the long tracks that change but then come back to a theme. Makes me thinks of one my favorite Who songs, "A Quick One (While He's Away)". The Fiery Furnaces, sort of like their name, exude controlled energy. Now I'm hooked, and there might be a couple CD purchases in my near future. Needless to say, I'm extactic about this development.

Movies:

Miami Vice: Well, this one didn't take long to make it to the dollar theatre, so I'm nothing but happy about that. It was an enjoyable movie, and I found myself not really wanting it to end. This is normally a good sign that the atmosphere is working. I fell into the world the movie with ease. However, the movie has serious shortcoming in regards to character development. First of all, the movie focuses on Colin Farrell, who is a terrible actor, rather than Jamie Foxx, who is a good actor. But overall, the movie is satisfying enough, but not as great as it could be...7/10

The Usual Suspects: Ann wanted to see this movie, and I wouldn't pass up another opportunity to see it. And she actually liked this one, so I feel better after the Rocky debacle. 10/10

Books:

AHHH, Life on the Mississippi is so long...or I'm just not in a reading mood. Who knows...but I guarentee I'll have a review by next week.

Current Favorites

Seems Current Favorites has been making the Latin American rounds. My inbox is full of requests from leaders hoping to get in on ZT's opinions on music, movies and books. Normally I just can't grant these requests. This is Fidel's space. But this is an extra special week, because Castro told me specifically to let someone else into the game. And that someone is Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Once the formality of Mr. Chavez signing a statement affirming that I'm his numba one blogga was out of the way, he couldn't stop calling me up and asking about the damn thing. So enjoy a special Venezuelan edition of Current Favorites.

Music:

As I've said far too many times, I haven't been unearthing anything I like. Now, this probably has to do with the fact that I haven't been digging. Or it could just be that music sucks lately. The former is probably true. So what does that leave for you? Reviews of really old albums. Nice!

Outkast Aquemini Funny story...this is probably the first album I ever recommended to someone. It was my sophomore year in high school in my rather tight-knit French class. Anyway, there was this girl, I think her name was Kim, she'd been with me in French class since 7th grade. She was talking about some rap music and asked if I'd heard it. I said no, but that she should listen to Aquemini. Then about a week or so later on a bus trip to Festival of Nations in St. Paul, MN, she turned to me and pointed to her CD player and said, "I'm listening to that Outkast, it kicks ass." Another story about this album. I used to play intramural basketball. Now I'm terrible at basketball, but it was fun. Anyway, one night before gametime, I was trying to get pumped up the way I normally did, with some music. What I needed was some hip hop. Owing to the fact that I only owned about three hip hop albums, I turned to Aquemini and the opening track, "Return of tha G". I went on to have a career game (6 points). It became a bit of a tradition for me to listen to "Return of tha G" all the way to the gym before intramural games. So Outkast is on the very short list of songs that remind me of being active. Other than that, it's Outkast's best album. Don't even bring Stankonia to my attention. I know all about Stankonia. And Aquemini is better. 10/10

Movies:

John Tucker Must Die This might be the lowest rating I've given something on this site. I'm not sure, I'll have to check again. You may wonder why on earth I thought this could be good. And the thing is, I didn't. But first, Ann thought it might, on a good day and if the theatre was being pumped with nitrous oxide, be funny...and second, a dollar theater was prominently involved. There's always the possibility that one of the movies I go see at the dollar theater entirely because it's at a dollar theater will turn out well. This happened with RV and Sahara. John Tucker Must Die wasn't the most awful movie I've ever seen. There were a couple moments where I did laugh. So it gets some points for that. However, it loses points for the cringe-worthy acting. It also loses points for taking a concept that could potentially have been fantastic...you know if the title was taken a bit more literally. 4/10

Rocky I rewatched this movie because I felt like Ann should see it, and I hadn't seen it in about ten years. Well, I'll just confirm yet again that it's a fantastic movie. However, Ann didn't find it nearly as good. It wasn't as bad as when she said that George Bailey should have just killed himself in It's A Wonderful Life (Merry Christmas!!!), but it was close. I don't even want to talk about it anymore...9/10

Books:

So Life on the Mississippi is over 400 pages, and I'm reading it as fast as I can so I can write a review for it. I'll just say that the first half of the book is a 10/10...oh the expectation. So instead, I'll say what books I've been thinking about reading once I finish Life on the Mississippi.

1) The World is Flat Thomas Friedman
2) Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol
3) The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn Mark Twain
4) Some more Hemingway short stories
5) The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty Buster Olney

Of course, I always like to get some recommendations. So go ahead, tell me what I should read! To be honest, I'm kind of looking for something written in the last half century. So there's your guidelines. Recommend away!

Current Favorites

Monsieur Castro is busy installing his new refridgerator, but he sends his regards, and a vote of making fun of me for the amount of Jane Austin movies I've seen recently...I'm way behind on movies I suppose. I've seen quite a few lately, but I haven't talked about them. As far as music is concerned, I'm in a new music discovery drought. To be honest, the last new album I've listened to in its entirety is Jason Collet's Idols of Exiles. I think that was released in February. Yikes! My year end list is looking pretty parched right now...

But these things are just encumbering my enthusiasm...and that's worse than anything...so I'm breaking out with a current favorites.

Music

Like I said, it's a desert right now. What have I been listening to? Erm...this and that. Most of it is Neutral Milk Hotel or Broken Social Scene. Oh, and the Beastie Boys kick is still in full effect. But I did get on the internet long enough to download a couple tracks by Oakley Hall. They can be found here. The highlight there is "All the Way Down", which has one of those irresistable riffs that always gets me. The other songs are above average.

One advantage of not being able to listen to new music very often is that it allows a little more digging in my library. One horrible victim of neglect has been Outkast, but that's being rectified a little. If you have't done it in awhile, dig out Aquemini. Listen to "Return of tha G", get that head bobbing then wrap yourself around "Spottiottiedogalicious". I had sort of forgotten how brilliant that whole album is.

Also on the headbobbing front, I've been groovin' DJ Shadows Preemptive Strike. The beat on "Organ Donor" just blows me away. It's ridiculous.

And finally, a headbobbing rennaissance would not be complete without a mention of Tricky's Maxinquaye. Many a neck has been sprained listening to "Hell is Round the Corner". Count your humble narrator lucky, as he has no insurance if he grooves too hard...

Movies

Too many movies to list here right now...but I'll give some of the hightlights:

The Devil Wears Prada: I've been seeing a lot of chick movies lately, perhaps my punishment for a over a month of almost non-stop baseball in May and June...but this one was quite enjoyable. To be honest, I'm not a huge Anne Hathaway fan, maybe it's her voice...I don't know. It's not like she's a bad actress, just something about her would make me think twice about seeing a movie she's headlining. And this makes me feel guilty, because there's absolutely no reason for this, which in a way makes me like her a little less. It's a vicious cycle...but the movie's sharp writing, good pace, and typically good performance from Meryl Streep makes it quite enjoyable. Even for you fellas. 7/10

My Super Ex-Girlfriend: I had absolutely no interest in seeing this, but one, it cost a dollar, and two, Ann really wanted to see it. So, we went and saw it and it was thoroughly okay. Enough laugh out loud moments to keep it interesting, but something was lacking. I can't put my finger on what was wrong, maybe the whole premise was a bit flawed. I also spent a good deal of the movie feeling really bad for Uma Thurman's character. 6/10

A Prairie Home Companion: I grew up listening to A Prairie Home Companion, and ever so often I like to go to the website and listen to a few "Tales From Lake Wobegone". The movie was immensely satisfying for any fan of the show. And Ann, who's only heard the show once liked it quite a bit. The scenes of the actual show are fantastic, and it was cool to see running characters from the show like Guy Noir and Dusty and Lefty brought to life. The movie also maintained the show's mix of dry and silly humor. Recommended if you for some unknown reason miss cold, upper midwestern winters...8/10

Sense & Sensibility: When we started making our Netflix queue, Ann requested some sort of Jane Austin movie with Hugh Grant. I was pretty sure this fit the bill. It had everything I often like in a movie...slow development, Hugh Grant, British accents (I wish I was joking...Fidel is laughing his ass off right now). Now, I didn't like this movie as much as Ann, but it ended up being quite enjoyable. Now if it had involved a duel, it would have been a 9/10, but as it stands, it's simply a 7/10.

I think that's quite enough for now...

Books

As for the literature, I've been reading more lately, but the book I chose to read is over 400 pages long. But I did finish The Naked Olympics by Tony Perrottet which I mentioned earlier. As far as history books go, it was incredibly readable, Perrottet is a pretty good writer. I actually would have liked it if it wasn't as short and a bit more in depth. But then it might have become a bit tedious. Overall, a good overview of the ancient Olympics...7/10

Coming hopefully soon is Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. It's looking to get a good rating so far. Short chapters, witty writing, the Mississippi River...it's like this book was designed specifically for me...

Ta for now!

Current Favorites

Oh Canada!

Just got back from a Canadian adventure where I did a number of fun things. What does this mean for Current Favorites? Not only will I be reviewing music, movies, and books, but also tourist attractions! *applause*

Music

Okkervil River: I'm very much enjoying them. I missed the boat when they first came out, but then when I got into that horrific jet ski accident a few weeks back, I was actually rescued by the Okkervil River boat. As of yet, I'm still getting to know these strange creatures, but in time I hope to understand their ways.

Oakley Hall: I wrote about them earlier, but then for some reason I stopped listening to them. But I rectified that last week. Seriously, check these guys out. You can do it!

Movies

Brick The least you can say about Brick is that it's interesting. How else can you describe something that foists an old film noir story line complete with private eye dialouge onto a cast of high school kids. What I was unsure about was weather the whole thing worked. Yes, when it tried to be funny, it was funny, and when it tried to be tense, it was tense. But what I really wanted was for the whole thing to stay tense, which is where it shined. If you're looking for something fun, but also something with a bit to chew on for a little while afterward, this Brick's for you...7/10

The Break Up This movie alternated between being funny and sad, and in the end was a bit unsatisfying. This is probably the fault of the subject matter (a break up). But the movie does a good job of finding the humor in the subject. Vince Vaughn gets most of the lines, and Anniston doesn't come off as well, though she does alright. The scenes with Jon Favreau made me nostalgic for Swingers and wishing for more scenes with the two. All in all a good movie, but not great. 6/10

Books

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway Truth be told, I never really got into Hemingway, so I figured I'd read a few of his short stories. I'd only read "The Old Man and the Sea" (which I enjoyed) and "Hills Like White Elephants" (which was okay) prior to picking this up. Anyway, I'm not done with all of them, but I'm enjoying the ones I've read so far.

Canadian Tourist Attractions

Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto, ON: This was probably my second favorite portion of the trip. I got to touch the Stanley Cup (and get my picture taken with it), plus they had fun games and more cool displays than you can shake a fist at. 10/10

Casa Loma, Toronto, ON: Pretty cool old castle like mansion in Toronto. I like this sort of thing, but if you don't like old houses and stuff like that I could see how it could be boring. I didn't get to see the film, so I can't really rate that. 7/10

CN Tower, Tornoto, ON: A great view, though it would have been nice to have a bit more of a museum atmosphere to part of it. Also, the 360 Restaraunt is cool, but quite pricey. 7/10

SkyDome (or as it's name has now been bastardized by a corporate entity "Rogers Center") Toronto, ON: Caught a baseball game here between the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. Unfortunately the Red Sox lost. Fortunately, the first retractable roof in the world was open. Overall, it was nice despite the artificial turf and the blah innards and outards. The crowd was great (though not appreciative of my Red Sox jersey). Just for fun, I'm going to rank baseball parks I've been to, and that should help give some idea of how I liked the SkyDome:

1) Wrigley Field (Cubs)
2) Miller Park (Brewers)
3) Milwaukee County Stadium (Brewers)
4) Minute Maid Park (Astros)
5) Old Busch Stadium (Cardinals)
6) SkyDome (Blue Jays)
7) Tropicana Field (Devil Rays)

To be fair, the SkyDome beat out Tropicana Field by a lot. Anyway, the SkyDome gets 6/10

Anyways...I'm gonna save some more of these for next week. Until then, happiness to all!

Current Favorites

One would hope, with Fidel on vacation the past two weeks in Barbados, that I'd have time to watch, listen and read enough material to have a Current Favorites upon his return. And lo and behold, I did see two movies and read a book! Super fantastic. And Fidel is nice and relaxed after his time in Barbados.

Music:

Just two songs to talk about here. No whole albums. ZT is much too busy to listen to albums these days (or just isn't allowed to...)

Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" - Alright, so I didn't scour the internet and find some obscure track you've never heard and bring it to the light of day for you. But I'm enjoying it! Happiness ensues when it comes on. Is it that bassline? Possibly...

Jason Collett "We All Lose One Another" - This is quickly becoming my favorite track on his album "Idols of Exile". I'm thinking of leaving "Pink Night" for this one...but not just because I got "We All Lose One Another" pregnant...there's real love there. But "Pink Night" has been so good to me and I still love it...oh my...I'm in a pickle...

Movies:

Mission Impossible III: Went and saw this with Jeff two Mondays ago, and it was defianately and improvement upon II or I...best one so far. Phillip Seymore Hoffman seemed to be going for a banality of evil type thing or something, not sure, but it worked. Great summer funtime action movie. We'll go 7/10

Match Point: In case anyone was wondering...no one really likes Ann. Why? She doesn't like this movie because she hates the main character. This is probably because he cheats on his wife and does some other not so nice kid things. However, for me this made for a fantastic movie (not because I want to cheat on anyone) but because it really ratcheted up the tension and made for a pretty darn suspenseful movie. Highly recommended...unless you're liable to dislike movies because of the actions of the main character. 8/10

Books:

Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Jack Whetherford: To be fair, I started this in spring 2004 before I went to Mongolia and didn't finish the last 150 pages or so until my planes, trains and automobiles adventure two weeks ago. So it's hard to give it a real rating, since I don't necessarily remember everything I read two years ago. But as far as history books go, it was very well written. The Mongols always fascinated me, so this book didn't disappoint. As far as the books crossover appeal, those not terribly interested in East Asian history or Ghengis Khan will probably not have their interest sparked by this book. For those that do enjoy that sort of thing, as I do, it's a must have. I guess that makes it a 7/10.

In his blog, Blake mentioned something about favorite literary characters, and it got me wondering what my all time top five literary characters were. So without further ado...top five literary characters:

1) Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment) - He is a character archetype that never fails to succeed in my book...the person with above average intelligence who can't figure out how to translate this into success, so he does something drastic in order to change his lot. Plus, in the end he gives a hopeful message after going through hell.

2) Bokonon (Cat's Cradle) - Like a wrench thrown into the machinery of reason, a pure jokester prophet. Bokonon is a creation that only Kurt Vonnegut could create, and is his most fully realized expression of disdain of reason.

3) Pechorin (A Hero of Our Time) - Anytime you utter the immortal line, "The mosquitos bother me more than the bullets ", you'll find yourself on this list. No one has captured an almost nihilistic apathy than Lermontov in his anti-hero Pechorin.

4) Pavel (Fathers and Sons) - Nothing better than a fiesty old guy sticking up for his stubborn ideals. He was also involved in one of the most hilarious (and second best) duel scene ever.

5) Max (Where the Wild Things Are) - When you were five years old, was there anyone cooler than Max in Where the Wild Things Are? I mean, Grover ain't nothin' compared to Max...he became the king of the Wild Things! Can that be topped? I think not!

Current Favorites

I read, I watched, I listened...and then I held opinions on these things. And Fidel thinks that's enough of an inspiration for a Current Favorites. Who am I to argue with the longest tenured leader in the history of Latin America?

Music:

I've been listening to a lot of The Streets lately. I finally got around to listening to A Grand Don't Come For Free, and, well, I love it. But the weird thing about it is that I have absolutely no idea why I like it so much. In fact, this should be annoying if you think about it. The last time I was left wondering why I liked something so much was when I started getting into the Beastie Boys many moons ago.

I read a review on The Guardian about the Dostoevskyan nature of Skinner's strories, and I like Dostoevsky a lot. In fact, I'm pretty much a sucker for Raskolnikov characters in general, and Mike Skinner (Mike Skinner is to The Streets as Connor Oberst is to Bright Eyes and Chan Marshall is to Cat Power, so I'll use the two names interchangably) is very Raskolnikovian. Apparently the microphone he used to make A Grand Don't Come For Free (a #1 album in England) was stolen from the BBC...which isn't quite a double ax murder, but it is a crime to get a start. This is all a very hoity toity explanation however...I'll just say the album is flippin' hilarious. And damned if the music isn't catchy, and good. It's like this one dish I had at a Tapas place once that consisted of raw salmon, eggs, capers, ect...the idea of which was horribly unappealing, but when I ate it, I couldn't get enough. Weird feeling really, but I can't complain.

****

Speaking of The Streets, a new album, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living is apparently going to drop stateside on April 24. It's already on the internet though, and most of the tracks can be found on The Hype Machine. It's actually quite different from AGDCFF, and has cleaner production, and (not suprising given his enormous success in recent years) doesn't talk about being broke anymore. I don't really like it as much to be honest. But I'll hold off on a full opinion as I haven't heard the whole thing yet and it might be a grow-on-you type of deal. Two tracks that really caught my attention though were "Pranging Out", which is one of your better "drugs gone awry" type of songs, and "Two Nations" which boasts some good jokes at America's expense. The only review I've seen yet is by Pitchfork, who gave it a 7.0 in this review.

Movies:

Two Men Went to War: A pretty funny comedy about two British dentists during World War II who decide, upon realizing they'll never see any action to invade Germany on their own with only a bag of grenades and a pistol each. The whole thing is pretty ludicrous and it makes for some very funny moments. The craziest thing about this movie though, is that it's a true story! I couldn't believe it! Sure it had been embellished a little I'm sure, but the point remains two British dentists invaded occupied France on their own, and not only survived but actually did some actual damage to the Germans. I'm glad the movie decided to take this whole thing in a humorous direction. An entertaining, light hearted movie when all is said and done.

7/10

Trois Coleurs: Blanc: I finally finished the "Three Colors" triology, and this was the best one of the bunch. A dark comedy about a Pole name Karol Karol who is left homeless and penniless when his wife cold heartedly drops him. He eventually finds his way back to Poland where he builds himself back up again. While this isn't strictly a comedy, there are plenty of dramatic moments, the movie remains light hearted in feel. In addiction, the character of Karol Karol is just fantastic and works perfectly in the movie. Hilarious, sad, and interesting throughout.

9/10

Books:

High Fidelity Nick Hornby: Well, it only took me three days to read, I was sad when it ended, and it made me laugh out loud. In short, what a great book. The thing is, I'd already seen the movie, but this didn't diminish anything from the book at all. The book is better than the movie, just because it can get more detailed and allows the main character to be even more of an asshole than the movie could. Here's the thing though, High Fidelity the movie is a 10/10...so I'm sure you can guess what ranking that gives this book...10/10