Fantastic Mr. Fox

a film by Wes Anderson

By some reason, we did not go to see Fantastic Mr. Fox when it was in the movies. Now kids have borrowed the DVD from the library and I got to watch it with them. I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I think Roald Dahl would also approve of it. Somehow, stop-motion animation seems to be the ideal medium for the story. And the dialogue is great.

Mrs. Fox: Why is he wearing that bandit hat?
Mr. Fox: His ears were cold — he’s not with us — go back to bed!

A quick opinion poll has revealed that Kylie the opossum (voiced by Wallace Wolodarsky) is my and kids’ favourite character. Yes I know there are no opossums in the book, or in England, for that matter. So what? Maybe he is a skilled migrant.

Brother of the More Famous Jack

by Barbara Trapido

Years ago, and quite by accident, I read the first paragraph of Juggling by Barbara Trapido. I could not put it down.

The same number of years later, and now quite deliberately, I picked Trapido’s first novel in the library. To the same effect, I have to add, except that I liked it even more than Juggling. Starting with the title, and then its first chapter, and so on and so forth, it is brilliant throughout, till the very end. Which is a happy one, so really, there is no single reason not to read this book.

The art of dressing myself, without guilt, in fantastic clothes came back to me; of hanging jewels in my ears and of blowing a week’s earnings upon sea green crêpe without being answerable to Roger Goldman for the excess. On the rebound from Roger’s puritanism, I had a lot of men. I do not much like voyeurism among other people’s heavy breathing, so I will only tell you that with not one of them did I descend to the floor of a bike shed and that nearly all of them were married. Unmarried men in southern Europe have mothers. Strong, frank matriarchs, who nose one out as a subversive within minutes, who make perfectly clear the reality that their sons will not make injudicious, long-term attachments with bookish, unconventional, Protestant women: women who have no reputable dowry and insufficient deference for the art of home-made fettuccine.

SBB Anthology 1974—2004

by SBB

I don’t think there ever will be such thing as “complete SBB recordings on CD”, for the legendary Polish prog-rock band was truly a prolific one. Even so, this fabulous box set is the most comprehensive account of the first 30 years of SBB’s recording history one can get. And luckily, I’ve got it as a birthday gift: #346 of a limited edition of 1000 hand-numbered copies. Contrary to the Amazon description^*, there are not one but twenty-two CDs, plus a booklet containing brief history of SBB by Józef Skrzek and Michał Wilczyński (in Polish and English). Here’s the complete CD list:

SBB Nowy Horyzont Pamięć Ze słowem biegnę do Ciebie Wołanie o brzęk szkła Jerzyk Follow My Dream Amiga Album Welcome Memento z banalnym tryptykiem Live 1993 Live in America ’94 Absolutely Live ’98 W filharmonii: Akt 1 W filharmonii: Akt 2 Goodbye/The Golden Harp Karlstad — Live ’75 Budai Ifjusagi Park — Live ’77 Nastroje Göttingen, Alte Ziegelei ’77 Sikorki Wicher w polu dmie

The CDs are in cute cardboard sleeves, most of which look almost exactly as the original vinyl sleeves. The difference is, there is quite a lot of bonus material. For instance, Wołanie o brzęk szkła LP (the only SBB vinyl I ever owned) contained two 20-minute tracks, each taking a side; CD5 has almost 40 minutes of extra music. The last two CDs, Sikorki and Wicher w polu dmie, never existed as LPs and contain previously unreleased tracks recorded in 1973—1975, with guest appearances of Tomasz Stańko (trumpet), Tomasz Szukalski (soprano and tenor saxes), Jan Błędowski (violin) and Andrzej Przybielski (trumpet). Highly recommended.

*	Since corrected (January 2024) but alas, the box set is not available.

Rio ne répond plus

a film by Michel Hazanavicius

A marvellous spoof spy movie featuring France’s best agent, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, aka OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin).

It’s 1967 (I love that year) and de la Bath is sent to Brazil where he is about to meet a former Nazi, Professor Von Zimmel (Rüdiger Vogler). In Rio, our good-looking but clueless hero is assailed, in turn, by Chinese communists, perpetually laughing CIA man Bill Trumendous (Ken Samuels), Mossad agents and assorted Nazi henchmen. The movie masterfully piles cliché upon cliché and its glorious “on location” cinematography is straight from 1960s.

If this was an English-language film, we’d hear everyone speaking English with outrageous French accents. As it happens, the movie is already French, so we are treated to The Girl from Ipanema sung with German accent instead. The other highlights include a hilariously slow hospital chase and the final showdown involving Christ the Redeemer. Not particularly high-brow but good entertainment all the same.

The Death of Bunny Munro

by Nick Cave

As much as I respect Nick Cave’s music and poetry, I can’t honestly say this book was worth reading. It is not badly written, simply I couldn’t care less about Bunny Munro, that’s all. He is neither a hero nor an anti-hero; just a “sad, ridiculous little man” obsessed with celebrity pussies. And don’t be fooled by raving reviews. True, The Death of Bunny Munro has “explicit themes and language”, but surprising, profound or funny it ain’t.

Le premier jour du reste de ta vie

a film by Rémi Bezançon

When it was last time that I watched an English-language film as heartwarming as this one? A long time ago, that’s when.

Le premier jour du reste de ta vie consists of five episodes (which actually cover more than five days) from the life of a French family; each family member leads an episode. That more or less summarises the plot. I won’t tell you anything else except: this is an excellent film. Watch it!

The picture quality of this DVD is outstanding — ironically, this discovery was thanks to a bad scratch on a (borrowed) disc which caused it to freeze a couple of times.

Ernie Ball Titanium Reinforced Slinky

by Ernie Ball

Finally! A little less than a year since I’ve bought them, I’ve put these “titanium reinforced” strings on my electric guitar and... so far I’m very pleased with the feel and sound.