Above San Francisco

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Album of the Week

Godspeed You! Black Emperor "f# a# ∞"
There's Godspeed, then there's everyone else.

Album of the Week

Just got the CD re-issue of this doom masterpiece in the mail and have been playing it all week. It's cold, slow, and brutal. Perfect. Speaking of doom, I'm off to see OM tonight at the Independent with Lichens opening. Riff destruction begins at 9 PM.

Graves At Sea, R.I.P.

Graves played their last show at Slim's last night. They went out fighting. Everyone sounded great, and the crowd was way into it. The singer lost his voice towards the end and though he told the audience that was it, you could see he clearly didn't want to leave. They ended up playing one last song, "Reclamation", and people lost their shit. It was a great way to go out. They will be sorely missed.

sfgate ran a piece on the band on the eve of their last gig here.

Movies 2007

My personal favs of the last year. I count 2 original films (Eastern Promises and The Taste Of Tea), 2 documentaries and the rest book adaptions. Honorable mention goes to Lust, Caution, Pan's Labyrinth, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, and Paris, je t'aime. For the start of this year, I'm looking forward to checking out Persepolis and There Will Be Blood in the next couple weeks. So in no particular order:

King Of Kong - A hilarious documentary about two 40-somethings battling it out for the highest score in Donkey Kong, the popular 80s arcade game. Hands down the funniest movie I saw last year. Think "Rocky" with nerds.

Eastern Promises - Subtle, yet absorbing and intense thriller about a woman who inadvertently gets involved with the Russian mob. This is directed by David Cronenberg, so you know the blood and guts are soon to follow.

War/Dance - Heart wrenching and uplifting at the same time, this documentary follows a group of refugee children from a tribe in war torn Northern Uganda as they attempt to compete in the country's prestigious national music competition. Hard to watch at times, but I think everyone should see this inspirational film.

Stardust - A truly magical piece of work based on the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, who also penned my favorite comics series, The Sandman.

Lady Chatterley - One could easily dismiss this film as just another soft core sex romp, but in fact Pascale Ferran has directed a tender & delicate, deeply sensuous adaption of D.H. Lawrence's infamous book.

No Country For Old Men - A must see for Javier Bardem's portrayal of a chillingly stoic, cold-blooded killer.

Control - The tragic story of Ian Curtis, singer of the highly influential English rock band Joy Division. A number of well known actors had been approached for the lead, but in the end newcomer Sam Riley nails it as the ill-fated Curtis.

The Taste Of Tea - I saw this at a film festival in 2006, but it officially just got US distribution last year so I'm including it here. I can't even begin to describe what a wonderfully odd, quirky, imaginative, strange yet touching & heartfelt movie this is. Talk about something completely different.