WE SEE, HEAR, READ AND PLAY THINGS. IT'S OUR DUTY TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT WE'VE ENJOYED. SO HERE'S A NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF WHAT INTOXICATED US.
THIS PAGE IS AND WILL REMAIN A JUKEBOX OF IMAGES AND SOUND. EVEN IF THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE, IT WILL FULFILL THIS MISSION.
OF COURSE, THERE'S RICHARD DONNER, JAMES L BROOKS AND SIDNEY LUMET TO NAME BUT NONE OF THEM CAN MATCH WOODY'S TALENT. WOODY IS ALMOST 20 YEARS AT THE VERY TOP LEVEL AND ANOTHER 30 YEARS OF HACKNEYED WORK, DESPITE A CONSTANT DESIRE FOR REINVENTION. EVEN IF THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE BEEN A BIT LEADEN. BUT BEFORE THAT, THERE WERE SO MANY FLIGHTS OF FANCY THAT IT WOULD BE DISHONEST NOT TO GIVE WOODY THE STATUS OF AN INSPIRED MAN. AND THE NEAR CLIMAX OF THIS WHOLE SALVO OF ANNUAL FILMS, EACH AS BRILLIANT AS THE NEXT IN BOTH CONTENT AND FORM, IS HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. BECAUSE IT'S AS TENDER AS MY BOTTOM, AND BRILLIANTLY DIALOGUED. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WOODY IS ALL ABOUT, A PEN THAT IMPETUOUSLY SKETCHES CHARACTERS WITH ELITE MASTERY. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS IS THE FILM THAT ANY SCREENWRITER WOULD DREAM OF WRITING IF HE DIDN'T HAVE WHITE SAUCE FOR BRAINS.
ONE EVENING, STRETCHED OUT ON MY NEW BED, I ZONED IN FRONT OF MY TELEVISION IN SEARCH OF A PROGRAM THAT WOULD ALLOW ME TO FALL ASLEEP SERENELY. I STUMBLED ACROSS A PARIS PREMIÈRE CINÉ-CLUB EVENING, BACK IN THE DAYS WHEN THIS CHANNEL HAD A PROGRAM DIRECTOR WITH A BRAIN. THE FOLLOWING FILM IS FAR FROM BEING A RARITY, AN UNKNOWN OR AN INVISIBLE. I DON'T PRETEND TO TEACH YOU ANYTHING, AS I CONSIDER YOU ALL TO HAVE, AT THE VERY LEAST, A BACCALAUREATE+12, AS WELL AS A QE WORTHY OF DICKENS. BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, THEN STOP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING AND DISCOVER BEING THERE. BEING THERE IS QUITE SIMPLY PETER SELLERS' BEST FILM AND THAT OF HIS DIRECTOR HAL ASHBY. YET SELLERS SHOT WITH BLAKE EDWARDS AND LIT UP OUR CHILDHOOD. HE PLAYED WITH KUBRICK (NOT STANLEY'S BEST IDEA, BY THE WAY), BUT NOTHING COMES CLOSE TO THE PERFECTION OF THIS STORY, WHICH FOLLOWS ITS IDEA TO THE END. AND IT'S SO RARE TO FIND WORKS THAT TAKE AN IDEA, MAKE IT BLOSSOM AND SEE IT THROUGH TO ITS LOGICAL CONCLUSION. BEING THERE IS ONE OF THE RARE FILMS TO DO JUST THAT, AND TO SUCCEED. THAT'S WHY YOU NEED TO SEE IT, OR SEE IT AGAIN.
ALL THOSE MICHRONICS AND STILL NO SIGN OF A LITTLE STONE. IT'S JUST THAT THERE'S SO MUCH TALENT SCATTERED AROUND THE WORLD, AND SO MANY PLACES RACKED UP BY AMERICAN RACKETEERS, THAT IT'S EASY TO FORGET YOUR FAVORITE CLASSICS. SPEAKING OF RACKETEERING, THE STONES, LIKE THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN LIVERPOOL, HAVE DRAWN HEAVILY ON THE BLUES TO DO THEIR SHOPPING AND PLUNDER THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE ON WHICH THEY'VE MADE THEIR BERTOLUCCIAN BUTTER. REAL LITTLE BASTARDS, OF COURSE, BUT WITH A CERTAIN TALENT FOR SPOLIATION. HERE'S ONE OF THEIR BEST SONGS. A SUNNY LITTLE GEM TO BE INCLUDED IN EVERY NOT-TOO-DUMB PLAYLIST. THANK YOU :)
Il y a des comètes dans le monde de la musique qu'il est toujours honorable de rappeler à la mémoire des plus amnésiques. Et grâce à Brian de Palma et son joyau Carlito's Way, George McRae fait très régulièrement twerker mes oreilles. Non seulement c'est l'amour à la plage, mais aussi sur le strip de Vegas, dans ta baignoire, et sous une couette bien douillette. Ce morceau, c'est comme un baiser déposé du bout des lèvres qui se diffuse avec la lenteur de l'éclosion d'un coquelicot multico.
Clique sur l'image et laisse toi enivrer par la douceur de sa soul peinturlurée.
Jean Douchet a dit: " Donnez-moi un stylo et je vous ferai la critique de la terre entière". Jean Douchet ne fut jamais mon professeur et je ne sais pas vraiment pourquoi je le cite ici. Peut-être en hommage à Topor qui me filait les glandes avec son Téléchat. En tout état de cause il faut reconnaître qu'aujourd'hui il faut se coltiner les héritiers de la Nouvelle Vague et de Pialat, sans cesse. Comme si le cinéma français n'arrivait pas à se remettre de ce fardeau qu'il s'est lui-même harnaché. Au milieu de tout ce fatras, de cette guerre de succession, a surnagé un auteur qui, une fois a passé le seuil de la porte de la boutique Patricia Blanchet. Avant d'être cinéaste, il fut, entre autres, cadreur à question pour un champion, époque Julien Lepers. Les golden years. Ce gars c'est Erick Zonca. Un cinéaste assez écossais dans son approche de la nervosité, autant que dans celle de la pilosité. J'ai découvert son premier long le jour de mon anniversaire. Autant vous. dire que cela vous forge une plume. Ensuite il fait Le Petit Voleur, sublime film tout en tension testostéronée. Et ensuite il y a décrochage. Il décide de mettre Tilda Swinton dans sa filmo et de partir aux US mais ça manque de chair et de prise alors ça se prend les pieds dans le tapis et ça se casse les dents. Pourtant il faut essayer dans la vie, aller au contact de ce qui semble moins évident et échouer. Car lorsqu'on échoue on a les boules. Et avoir les boules permet d'aller pleurnicher et faire sa victime. Ce qui ne nous arrive jamais chez Patricia Blanchet. Bordel à uk !
Who is the greatest pop musician of the 70s ? It's an uphill battle, as I'm always tempted to put Alice Cooper on the top step of unreason. But this post isn't about polishing his tassel. Nope. Today's number one battle is between two voices as powerful as a plate of spaghetti with merguez and an elderberry spritz. You'll have understood by now that I want to evoke the quiet strength of the musical genius of my spritzritual father, Barry White, distant cousin of the Blanchet clan. Barry, apart from his 3-4 endless hits that are played over and over again on Nostalgie and Europe 2, founded a band whose name says it all: The Love Unlimited Orchestra. Their catalog is a bit of a whirlwind, but it's bursting with a solar cyprine that I urge you to listen to, with a Sunrise Tequila in your hand or down your throat.
P.S.: the other voice was that of Bobby Womack. I'll be back in due course about this other genius of Vietnamese soul.
There is a moment in a human being's life when he or she discovers what is essential. An essential that will follow him throughout his existence. And existence needs to be paved with good intentions. Intentions that beat up the world and break the codes of the cultural routine imposed by Americans who are never tired of force-feeding us. I can definitely date those founding moments when the world seemed a little sad and conventional to me: the discovery of Hong Kon Fou Fou, LL Cool J, Peau Douce and also John Waters. Waters is the banal story of an outsider to the system who was swallowed up by success, because he wanted it, and who, after Hairspray, had to cut corners in order to get the money from a major label. So Waters was fine until 1981 and the arrival of socialism on the French scene. After that, it becomes professionalized, the dialogues and screenplay make sense, and it becomes boring. It becomes standardized and boring, even if there are still some brilliant moments in Serial Mother or Pecker, which I urge you to see again before the legislative elections.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
What's so great about Lou Reed, apart from having the same initials as The Republicans? He had David Bowie as a buddy/prod, was worshipped by Brian Eno and a whole bunch of rock gods including me. He played in Brooklyn Boogie and Smoke, where he was the best segment of the diptych. He also had an immense talent for being a real jerk to journalists who asked him pointless questions. And as we all know, this class of interviewer is widely represented in the biz, where guys are paid to come up with the dumbest questions possible. Tons of magazines have been founded on this principle.
But back to Lou Reed, our nerve center for the day, our creative energy, our father to us all. I'm attaching this beautiful ride that makes you want to slide off a toboggan from the top of the Chrysler Building and fly down it over Central Park. Here's an example.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I'M LOYAL TO WHAT I LIKE. IN GENERAL. AND THAT INCLUDES PHIL COLLINS. BUT TODAY WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT LITTLE DRUNKEN SUCKER, BUT ABOUT THE CANADIAN GIPSY KINGS, MONTREAL'S BASILE BAND. YES, THEY WERE THE ONES WHO PUT ON A CRAZY SHOW ON STAGE WITH BOWIE ON WAKE UP. ARCADE FIRE IS THE STORY OF A BAND WITH A DESIRE TO PAINT SOUNDS AS LIGHT AS RUM BABA. DESPITE THIS 2.0 CHOIR FEEL AND THE CONSTANT NEED TO UNITE/REUNITE, I SOMETIMES GET CAUGHT UP IN THE UNDENIABLE TALENT OF THE COLLECTIVE'S SONGWRITER. WHEN I'M RUNNING, AND I OFTEN AM, THIS TRACK FALLS INTO MY EARS AND MAKES ME STRETCH MY LEGS. IT'S BEAUTIFUL, IT'S PLAYFUL, IT'S BRIGHT AND DESPERATE. LIKE ME.
WHILE THE PUBLIC, EXCITED BY A BRITISH PRESS MADE UP OF MORONS, WAS TRYING TO DECIDE WHO WAS THE GREATEST BRIT POP BAND OF THE 90S, BETWEEN OASIS AND BLUR - WHEN IT WAS MORRISSEY, A LITTLE TRIO AS NICE AS A LEFFE AFTER AN HOUR'S RUN WAS MAKING ITS MARK AT JACQUES BECKER. THIS TRIO FROM OXFORD IS SUPERGRASS. THEY WERE YOUNG, FRESH, MADE YOU WANT TO POGO NON-STOP, AND TOOK AN ENERGETIC, BOUNCY APPROACH TO ROCK. YET AFTER TWO PERFECT ALBUMS, THEY SEEMED TO HAVE USED UP ALL THEIR CREATIVE ENERGY. WHAT FOLLOWED WAS A SLOW SLIDE DOWNHILL, LITTERED WITH POINTLESS REPETITION. IT'S A SHAME, BECAUSE THEY HAD A UNIQUE AND INTELLIGENT ENERGY. FRONTMAN GAZ COOMBES PURSUED AN HONEST SOLO CAREER WITHOUT EVER RECAPTURING THE GRASSHOPPER SPARK. FUN FACT: AT THE TIME OF THEIR FIRST ALBUM, STEVEN SPIELBERG WANTED TO PRODUCE A SERIES ABOUT THE BAND. NEVER DONE.
Moi aussi j'aurais bien aimé avoir un frère pour qu'il me défende et me permette de pouvoir faire de la musique avec lui. Moi aussi j'aimerais avoir fait mes études à UCLA et que Leos Carax mette en scène ma comédie musicale( j'en ai écrite une sur le vie de Jean Tiberi). Moi aussi j'aurais adoré que Giorgio Moroder se penche sur ma production musicale pour lui donner un coup de pied au cul. Ca fait tellement de bien ce sang qui circule et remet les idées en place. Mais les gens ne connaissent plus la valeur des gestes qui sauvent.
En attendant, les frères Sparks c'est le Dom Perignon de la musique transatlantique. Ils me donnent envie de pétiller comme du popcorn et de danser sur les tables de mes souvenirs. Ecoutez ça et n'ayez plus jamais à sniffer le moindre rail ni à avaler la moindre lichette de colle Cleopatra.
Having given a clear and unequivocal answer to who is the best Beatles, I'm now going to tell you what the band's best song is. Obviously, it's on Abbey Road. The band's penultimate album and its best, almost on a par with the White Album, Abbey Road was released on September 26, my birthday. The album is packed with so many masterpieces that it's hard to pick out one without burning your conscience for not having chosen another. But since I'm the epitome of temerity, it's time for deliberation. My favorite Beatles song is I Want You. Don't ask me why. I'm no Lester Bangs, and thankfully so. Just know that it makes me sweaty and damp. This choice has value only on this day. The rest of the time I prefer songs sung by Ringo Starr, because I'm an absolute fan of his naivety and cheerfulness.
Who's above God if not his upstairs neighbor Larry David ?
Larry's first job was on Saturday Night Live, where he wrote, but mostly vegetated, as few of his sketches were bought by the show. Then he co-created and wrote seven seasons of Seinfeld. It's the kind of adventure that forges a writer, profoundly altering the sitcom genre and taking it to the heights of excellence. But that wasn't enough to satisfy his ambition to exist and show off his talent. So he created Curb Your Enthusiasm, a vehicle for the glory of bad faith. There are twelve seasons of this UFO. Each character reminds us that we live surrounded by cowardly, selfish human beings, but that if we look at them with the necessary tenderness, they turn into pathetic, selfish cowards. A great humanist lesson, then, which has just come to a close, and which is already plunging me into a gaping nostalgia that only MD will be able to fill.
Just so you know, if you click on the image opposite this text, you'll be listening to one of the best French songs written since Manset's Revivre.
But what on earth is Arnaud Fleuret Didier up to, not releasing anything for years now? What right does he have to deprive us of his sensibility? Who does the Truffaut of Parc Monceau pop think he is? It's rare to find melancholy so sharp, so well supported by a harmonic ensemble so precisely aligned. Has Arnaud already said it all, only to say nothing more? His silence is long, but we'll know how to wait as we listen to this stomach-churning song over and over again.
A BIT OF CINEMA HAD TO POP UP ON THIS PAGE AT SOME POINT. AND NO, I HAVEN'T SET MYSELF THE MISSION OF BEING THE NEO LA TIMES, JUST TO INFORM YOU WITH DIGNITY AND MAKE YOU WANT TO GET YOUR ASSES INTO THEATERS AT 17 BUCKS A SEAT IF YOU DON'T HAVE CARDS OR FRAUDULENT DISCOUNTS.
MEMORY SO. ON THE ONE HAND, THE ONE WE WISH WE'D NEVER HAD, BECAUSE IT REHASHES THE UNSPEAKABLE, AND ON THE OTHER, THE ONE THAT'S FALLING APART AND THAT WE'D LIKE TO HOLD ON TO, LEST WE BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN AN EMPTY BODY. THE FILM IS HARD, BEGINS IN WINTER AND ENDS IN THE PROMISE OF SPRING. A STORY OF HOPE.
AT FIRST RETICENT ABOUT THIS LUSH, MESSY POP, I'VE LEARNED TO TUNE MY EARS TO THE MELANCHOLY VIBES OF THIS FRATERNAL DUO, BARELY 20 YEARS OLD. A CRAZY MATURITY FOR KIDS WHO STARTED THEIR CAREER BY TAKING PART IN DISNEY SHOWS. THIS TRACK IS A PANTAGRUELIC DEMONSTRATION OF THEIR EXTRAORDINARY TALENT, WHICH, HOWEVER, SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN DILUTED BY THE REST OF THEIR DISCOGRAPHY, WHICH IS NOW FAR LESS EXCITING, DESPITE SOME PEAKS OF GREAT QUALITY. THE WHOLE ALBUM IS INSANE AND DESERVES TO BE IN THE SKY INSTEAD OF PLUTO.
Who's the best Beatle? Does this nagging question wake you up every morning at 3 a.m.? It's hard to come up with a definitive answer to this thorny debate, which I've been indulging in ever since discovering the White Album given to me by a friend who gave me my cherry for good. Between the workaholic, the talent without forcing, the impeded, and the nothing to shake, it's hard to decide. As far as I'm concerned, it has to do with periods. McCartney currently holds the rope, despite his visceral need to be better loved, better considered, and to make a big deal of it so that the world finally understands that the Beatles are him, the real powerful rock voice is him, the genius bass and the ideas for arrangements are still him. But the James Dean of the band, the Bruce Lee of the quartet, is John. John and this slightly provocative track pulverizes all of Macca's disco. Listen and you'll discover the best pop sax, tied with Careless Whisper.
Somewhere between Air, Pink Floyd, Charlie Oleg and my desire to roll shovels like a Texas drill, here comes the Time of M83 and its rhythmic plastic hit, Wait. I don't normally talk about people from Antibes or the Alpes Maritimes, where I spent a few idle months at a time when Canal Jimmy, Bottom, Dream On and Seinfeld were the only things that mattered. So M83 is the French success story of a duo turned solo act who went to California to make music for a Tom Cruise film. I'm certainly fed up with US soft power, but better than that of fuel-supplying countries. In the meantime, lie down on the person of your choice (except the one suffering from borborygms) and listen to this thick little masterpiece.
There are many Morrissey songs that deserve to be featured here. It was time to choose. So, to prove Jonah Hill right, who used it in 90's, here's this melancholy track that makes you want to rock in a hammock over the Grand Caynon.
Belle and Sebastian sont enfin passés à Paris après l'annulation de l'année passée au Casino de Paris. Malheureusement à Pleyel, endroit désincarné au possible. En sortant je faisais ce constant constat, seuls leurs titres passés avaient fait bouger la foule. Rien à foutre de leurs nouvelles compos - qui, par ailleurs, étaient plutôt inconsistantes. Alors à quoi bon sortir de nouveaux albums s'ils savent que le public s'en cogne ? Cela n'entraine-t-il un profond sentiment de déprime de ne plus être considéré pour ce qui émane d'eux à présent ? Je ne suis Stuart Murdoch bien entendu mais je me suis posé la question à les écouter enchaîner leur set-list qui en disait long sur l'état de leur pop actuelle. Bref, je vous laisse sur ce morceau qui en dit long sut mon état mental.
Belle and Sebastian finally came to Paris after last year's cancellation at the Casino de Paris. Unfortunately, it was at Pleyel, a disembodied venue. On my way out, I made the constant observation that only their past tracks had got the crowd moving. I couldn't give a damn about their new material - which, incidentally, was rather inconsistent. So what's the point of releasing new albums if they know that the public doesn't give a damn? Doesn't it make you feel deeply depressed that they're no longer considered for what they're about now? I'm no Stuart Murdoch, of course, but I wondered as I listened to their set-list, which spoke volumes about the state of their current pop. Anyway, I'll leave you with this track, which says a lot about my mental state.
Could I make an initial recommendation without mentioning George Harrison? The answer is in the question. If you click on the Fab Four image, a wonderful world of sound opens up. Something tender that will take you in its arms and snog you as if it were your first.
Are Mondays assholes ? Maybe they are. As the first working day of the week, it has to be said that the little bugger does nothing to endear himself to us. Fortunately, there are some essential pieces to help us swallow the pill. I invite you to click serenely on Tyler to add a little cuteness to your life.
This native of Campton, where I passed on my way to Disneyland, has written a slew of great songs. But if I have to single out one from his raclette-rich discography, it's this one. At once sweet as Mariah Carey and brutal as a Bud Spencer slap. This track is as monumental as the breed I'll be wearing tonight.
I love Frank Ocean because he speaks to me. Not symbolically, no. Sometimes in the evening, we FaceTime and he confides in me. It's like I'm his big sister,” he says. Of course, being a friend in the friendzone isn't always comfortable, but I respect his orientation as the CPE of good taste. Anyway, I love this track because it's brilliant and very much in line with Elton John and Bernie Taupin's Benny and the Jets.
