Valentine's Day Movie Guide

Valentine's Day seems like a divisive holiday.  Some people go all out for it, and for other people it just reminds them of how lonely they are, or how much they hate watching Nicholas Sparks movies with their significant other.  Personally, I'm pretty indifferent towards the day, but it doesn't stop me from participating in it.  I like to celebrate with a nice bottle of red wine, some chocolate, and a fun, romantic movie.  Below are some film suggestions for celebrating Valentine's Day, whether you love or hate it:

If you are in love with someone you can't have:  Brief Encounter.  This short but sweet 1945 British melodrama centers on the forbidden romance between housewife Laura (Celia Johnson) and doctor Alec (Trevor Howard) who meet a train station cafe.  Both are married and have children, but they soon get sweep up in an intense emotional affair.  Brief Encounter definitely shows the hardship of loving someone you can't be with.

Also recommended: Lets be honest, forbidden love is way more romantic than boring old requited love, so you have lots of good options here:  In the Mood for Love, Roman Holiday, Brokeback Mountain, The Royal Tenenbaums, and so on. 

If your significant other is a film snob:  The Before Trilogy:  Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight.  This super talky series follows American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and French Celine (Julie Delpy), who fall in love after meeting on a train to Vienna.  The films manage to be both funny and heartfelt, plus there's lots of great European scenery (Vienna, Paris, Greece).  My favorite of the bunch is the second one, Before Sunset. 

If your significant other loves The Notebook, but you CAN'T GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN THIS YEAR!:  Awww...congratulations, you've got yourself a hopeless romantic!  Titanic would probably work, but really, do you want to have to watch that?  Instead, I recommend ruining The Notebook for them by choosing one of Gosling's less appealing roles.  Perhaps, Only God Forgives or Blue Valentine (balding Gosling with a mustache, ouch). 

If you just recently broke up with someone:  Annie Hall. This classic Woody Allen movie follows the sweet, but mismatched relationship between Alvy Singer (Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). 

Also recommended:  High Fidelity, 500 Days of Summer.

If you are happily single: Bridget Jones Diary.  Seriously is there any harder decision than choosing between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant?  This movie is a super cute update on Pride and Prejudice.  And if you're single, pat yourself on the back, because you don't have to listen to your boyfriend whine throughout the entire movie!

Also recommended:  13 Going on 30.

If your girlfriend is a librarian:Nothing says romance to a librarian like a little Jane Austen, so I highly recommend the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice.  But pretty much any Austen will do.  My favorite is the Ang Lee classic Sense and Sensibility.  

If you are in an on-again, off-again relationship: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Joel Barish (Jim Carey) is heartbroken when his ex-girlfriend Clementine undergoes a procedure to erase their relationship from her memory.  Bitter, he decides to have him memories of her erased as well.  However, during the process of having his mind wiped, Joel realizes that he is still in love with Clementine and fights to keep her in his memories.

If you are unhappily in a relationship: Sleep Walk With Me.  On top of dealing with a struggling comedy career and a recently diagnosed sleepwalking disorder, Mike Pandamiglo (Mike Birbiglia) begins to have some doubts about his long-time girlfriend Abby (Lauren Ambrose).

If you're in a long distance relationship: Like Crazy.  Anna (Felcity Jones) is a British student who attended college in the United States.  While there, she fell for her T.A. Jacob (Anton Yelchin).  After graduation, Anna decides to spend the summer with Jacob, overstaying her visa.  After she returns home to England for a family engagement, Anna is shocked when she is denied reentry to the United States and deported to England.  The two lovers then try to keep their relationship together in spite of being an ocean apart. 

If you want wallow in misery, because you'll never find anyone ever:  Probably the best bet here is to play the Smiths on repeat and wash down your sorrows with some whiskey.  However, if you don't quite want to be THAT miserable on Valentine's Day, I recommend checking out a Michelango Antonioni film and watch really, really good looking people (or Jack Nicholson) suffer from loneliness and alienation in beautiful locales.  Check out his alienation trilogy: L'Avventura, L'Eclisse, and La Notte.

Also recommended:  Anything by Ingmar Bergman or any film adaptations of Kazuo Ishiguro novels.

If you're in love with a friend, but you don't know how to tell them:  Tootsie.  Talk about awkward situations, Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is in love with his beautiful coworker Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange).  However, she only knows him as his female alter-ego Dorothy Michaels.   This movie is probably my all time favorite romantic comedy and features my ultra crush, young Bill Murray, as Dustin Hoffman's roommate.

Also Recommended:  My Best Friend's Wedding, Pretty in Pink.

You are falling fast for someone:  Weekend.  Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New), meet at club in Nottingham.  The two go home together and begin an intense relationship.  However, Glen is soon to be leaving the country for an art course in America.

Also recommended: Once, Lost in Translation, Out of Sight.

Dreamy Men of Masterpiece Theater

There are lots of good reasons to check out Masterpiece Theater.  It has quality shows, helps you pretend to have read classic novels like Great Expectations or Tess D'Ubervilles, and there really isn't too much else on Sunday nights (when Breaking Bad and Mad Men are off season). But best of all, it has handsome British men in period dress!  Who could ask for more?

Below we* list our favorite men of Masterpiece Theater.  Since PBS has created a  Men of Austen website, so you can rank which Austen hero is the most eligible bachelor (surprise, surprise: Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is winning), I'm leaving them out of the running (though, Rupert Perry-Jones as  Captain Wentworth would have been my pick). 

Matthew Crawley
Found On: Downton Abbey
Played by Dan Stevens
Why we love Matthew:  Those blue eyes.  And he's the least terrible of Lady Mary's many suitors.
The down side: Matthew can be a little bit stubborn.   

Also worth mentioning from Downtown Abbey:

William Mason (Thomas Howes) looks like a younger, blonder, old-timey sibling of John Krasinski.  William is also a sweetheart and can play the piano. 

Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier) is terrible.  But he's gorgeous and he seems to have curtailed his bad behavior a little bit in Season 2. 

Sherlock Holmes:
Found On: Sherlock.
Played by:  Benedict Cumberbatch
Why we love Sherlock:  He's brilliant, has a great head of hair, and looks equally great in a suit or a towel. 
The down side:  His personality is a lot to tolerate on a daily (or even hourly) basis.

Also worth mentioning from Sherlock:

Martin Freeman makes an adorable Dr. Watson.  He's definitely the more marriageable one of the duo.

Magnus Martnisson:
Found On: Wallander (seasons 1 and 2).
Played by:  Tom Hiddleston.
Why we love Magnus:  He's dashingly handsome, but his longish curly hair makes him look nerdy enough to be attainable.
The down side:  Martinsson saves the day on at least one occasion, but some of the time he can be a little bit incompetent. 

Also worth mentioning from Wallander:

Kenneth Branagh is a little bit too mature to be my type, but his character Kurt Wallander seems to have a way with the ladies on show, in spite of his near constant dourness.

*All "we"s are meant in the royal sense. 

My Music Year: Trapped in 2007

Following in the footsteps of fellow Media Corner Blogger Jason and the AV Club before him, I highlight one of my favorite years in music.

There is a certain type of people who seem trapped in a period of their life—for instance, people who relieve their high school glory days well into adulthood.  Similarly, I think some people have a musical peak; they get fixated on a particular period in music and never quite move on.  Their musical taste slowly atrophies into unhipness.  I had a neighbor in college who seemingly only listened to music which was popular circa 1996.  This would have been less annoying, if say he was really into Weezer’s Pinkerton or Belle and Sebastian’s If Your Feeling Sinister.  Instead, I had to wake up every morning to sounds of the Cranberries’ “Salvation” and Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” blaring from his dorm room.  The kid must have musically peaked at the age of 12.  How sad, I thought, be in your very early 20s and already nostalgic.

However, when I was attempting to compile my best of the 00's album list (a task I still haven't finished), I realized a disconcerting trend.  Save for Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001) and Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006), all of my favorite albums were from 2007.  I wondered if this was my own musical heyday…soon I’d be the annoying neighbor blaring LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends” and saying stuff like, “2007, that was when music was music!  Not like the rubbish kids listen to these days.”

Thankfully, my music geekery is insatiable, so it's hard for me to get stuck in one year for too long.  Even if I’m still really obsessed with Person Pitch and Jens Lekman. 

My Top Five of 2007:

5).  Cryptograms- Deerhunter
Find it in the catalog!
It took me a while to discover this album.  Deerhunter had kind of a notorious reputation at the time, thanks in part to front man Bradford Cox's sometimes erratic behavior and provocative blog posting.  The first time I heard most of the songs off of Cryptograms was when I saw the band live in 2008.  The eerie moodiness of the album, as well as the spare psychedelia make Cryptograms a classic.

Stand-Out Tracks: Spring Hall Convert, Strange Lights, Heatherwood

4).  Night Falls Over Kortedala- Jens Lekman
Find it in the catalog!
Though he had garnered some fame for his singles "You are the Light" and "Maple Leaves," I somehow missed Lekman until 2007. I saw him described on a music blog as being a combination of Jonathan Richman and Frank Sinatra.  As a big Jonathan Richman, I immediately checked out his single "Postcard to Nina" and I was hooked.  Night Falls Over Kortedala is a funny, quirky, but sincere effort.

Stand-Out Tracks: Opposite of Hallelujah, A Postcard to Nina, Into Eternity, Kanske Ar Jag Kar i Dig

3).  Sound of Silver- LCD Soundsystem
Find it in the catalog!
Having spent much of 2006 listening to the Talking Heads, New Order, and Gang of Four (thanks Marie Antoinette), meaning I was in the perfect frame of mind to love this album. While all of James Murphy and Co.'s albums are great, Sound of Silver is probably the most consistently awesome.  Best three song stretch of the Aughts?: "North American Scum," "Someone Great" and "All My Friends."

Stand-Out Tracks: The aforementioned three, "Get Innocuous!"  and "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down." 

2).  Boxer- The National
Find it in the catalog!
Alligator, the 2005 release by the National, had been in heavy rotation in my stereo for about two years when Boxer came out.  It was one of my most hotly anticipated albums of the year and it exceeded my expectations.  Most National albums have to grow on you, but my love for Boxer was immediate.  They just do melancholy so well.  This is an album full of slowly building tension and brooding.  Lyrically, the album focuses on the theme of reluctantly growing up.  Being 23 at the time, I could definitely relate to the early adulthood ambivalence.

Stand-Out Tracks:  Fake Empire, Mistaken for Strangers, Slow Show, Apartment Story, Start a War

1).  Person Pitch- Panda Bear
Find it in the catalog!
If there was one album that was the zeitgeist of 2007, it was probably the solo album of Animal Collective member Noah Lennox aka. Panda Bear.  Person Pitch was named the best album of the year by Tiny Mix Tapes, Gorilla Vs. Bear, and Pitchfork. It has an upbeat sound and is unabashedly Beach Boys-esque. It definitely is a pick-me up record.  When I listen to it, my mood usually improves and I feel more relaxed.  Person Pitch is like a trip to Portugal for your ears!  This album is definitely recommended for fans of the Animal Collective album Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009). 

Stand-Out Tracks: Comfy in Nautica, Bros, Good Girl/ Carrots, Ponytail. 

Robyn at the Riveria Theatre, 2/14/11

This Valentine's Day, Swedish pop singer Robyn played a sold out show at Uptown's Riviera Theatre.  She was originally scheduled to perform last Friday, but the show had to be rescheduled due to an illness.  Opening for her were two performers I wasn't familiar with: Natalia Kills and Diamond Rings.

This was my first time going to the Riv and I was pleasantly surprised.  Even though it's twice Metro's capacity, it doesn't really feel all that much bigger.  It is also well staffed; no twenty minute waits for the bar here!  The sound quality seemed much better than neighboring venue the Aragon.  Although, the bathroom situation is pretty desperate.

Natalia Kills was the first up.  She is a British singer/ songwriter who has a slightly darker and arty take on pop music.  She had a strong singing voice and charisma; plus she and her dancers had pretty interesting choreography.  The audience seemed to enjoy her performance. 

Diamond Rings's set was less well received, but not because his performance was lacking.  There was a long pause between the first and second performances and the audience was more than a little antsy.  It's hard to blame them, normally you don't wait 45 minutes for an opening act.  Still, it's pretty rude to call out for a headliner during an opening act. Or spend the entire time talking over a performance.  Anyway, Diamond Rings set might have been a little on the long side, but he seemed to take much of the audience indifference in stride.  He has a new wave pop sound and a David Gahan-esque voice.  In a smaller venue and under better circumstances, he'd probably be much more enjoyable. 

The audience for the show was a mixture of hardcore fans and people just looking to party.  A couple people even came in costume, including one guy who glued pieces of a paper to his face to emulate the Body Talk, Part 3 cover.  That's some serious dedication there.  There were a lot more guys than girls in attendance, which I found a little surprising.  Most of the audience was polite (actually saying "Excuse me" when moving about!) and very excited to be there.  However, a few attendees behavior was on the obnoxious side.  And some people refused to let others pass by them, like concert trolls.  Thankfully, the stupidity pretty much died down by Robyn's set. 

Robyn finally took the stage around 9:45 PM (the concert started at 7:30 PM).  She opened with "Time Machine" and the audience quickly transformed into one big awkward dance party.  The Black Keys are known for their breakneck pace live, but Robyn could give them a run for their money.  She managed to get through almost all of the songs you can dance to on all three Body Talk albums, plus a few tracks from Robyn (including "Cobrastyle," "With Every Heart Beat," and "Konichiwa B----s"), in an hour and half long performance.

Robyn has real stage presence and boundless energy, as she danced throughout the entire double encore set!   Her live backing band was a nice addition.  They really showed off their skills doing a remix/ combo of "We Dance to the Beat" and "Don't F----ing Tell Me What to Do."  Other highlights from the show include, "Dancing on My Own," "Indestructible," "Hang with Me," and "With Every Heart Beat."  She closed with probably her most well-known song stateside, mid-90's hit "Show Me Love."  It was oddly inspiring to know she still performs stuff from her teen pop star days!  And scary to discover that I somehow had the lyrics to that song lodged in my subconscious for the last fifteen years. 

Even though last Friday I was bummed to discover the show had been delayed, Robyn's many songs of heartbreak seemed especially appropriate for Valentine's Day.  It was fun and uplifting to dance and sing-a-long to unrequited love songs, like a concert and group therapy session in one!  Robyn will be opening up for Katy Perry on her next tour.  Even though I'm not really a fan of Perry, I actually dig this combination and hope it introduces Robyn to a teen audience.  Robyn may use her fairshare of profanity, but she has strong and empowering outlook in her songs that positively differentiate her from a lot of pop stars.

Check out one of Robyn's albums:

Body Talk, Part 3 (2010).
Find it in the catalog! 

Body Talk, Part 2 (2010).
Find it in the catalog! 

Body Talk, Part 1 (2010).
Find it in the catalog!

Robyn (2008).
Find it in the catalog!

Robyn is Here (1997).
Find it in the catalog!

Music Roundup: Top Shows of 2010

I was originally going to post on the top five shows of the year; but then I realized I have only been to six shows total. So rather than praising the best of the best, I'd really just be dissing one band (sorry, Beach House, you did not make the cut).  Overall this has been a really good year for live music, shows ranged from really good (Beach House) to supremely awesome (see list).  Below are the top three concerts I've been to this year:

3).  Jens Lekman and Air France at Empty Bottle (January 2, 2010). Swedish crooner Jens Lekman is a real crowd pleaser; proving himself to be even more funny and charming live than on his albums.  Jens played pretty much every song you'd want him to (i.e. "Black Cab," "Postcard to Nina," almost all of Night Falls Over Kortedala), and none of his so-so songs (in spite of one girl feverishly requesting "F-Word").  I was slightly disappointed no one yelled out requests for "Kanske är Jag Kar i Dig" (loose translation: Maybe I'm in love with you), but thankfully he played it anyway.  Jens must have boundless energy as he managed to perform three encores, ending with an intimate take on "Maple Leaves." 

2). Black Keys and the Morning Benders at Metro (August 7, 2010).  Regular Media Corner readers know that we are not shy about our affection for this duo from Akron, Ohio.  And they sound even more awesome live, even with a less than ideal closing song choice ("Sinister Child").  I have tickets to see the Keys one more time to this year, so they still have a chance to get the top spot (especially if Dan Auerbach breaks out the steel guitar and plays "The Lengths").
Read the original concert review. 

1).  LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip at the Aragon (October 25, 2010). Monday night shows are usually very low energy, but this was the exception.  LCD Soundsystem did a nice job of balancing songs from all three of their albums.  The audience was definitely the best out of all the shows I've been to this year.  And then there was the light show, which was so spectacular that they had to post a warning on the door.   Read the original concert review. 

Showman of the year:  Erlend Øye.  Dan Auerbach can play a mean guitar.  Jens Lekman can captive an audience with Scandinavian twee-dreaminess.  But only Øye would have a dance-off with audience members to Paul Simon's "You Can Me Al".

Biggest regrets:  The National at House of Blues (August 7, 2010). I've been a fan of this band since 2005, yet I haven't caught them live yet.   This year I was forced to choose between the National and the Black Keys, and I chose Keys.  Still, I hope the National plays Chicago again soon (and not just at Lollapalooza).

Just Ain't Gonna Work Out- Songs of Rejection

There are plenty of good songs out there for the recently dumped- whether they are bitterly hostile or desperate to rekindle their relationship (or both). However, it can be just as hard to let someone down gently (especially if they are the clingy type) as it is to be kicked to the curb. So here are songs written from the perspective of the dumper, not the dumpee.  Making a mix tape of these songs to give to your not-so-special someone is probably not the kindest way to break it off, but it's nicer than what Arthur Russell would do!

Side note: I found it funny that most of the songs on the list were written by adorably geeky guys (minus, of course, Robyn), so I included their pictures. Unsurprisingly, most of these dudes have also written some pretty excellent songs about being dumped too. Expect that list shortly.

Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out- Mayer Hawthorne

Mayer Hawthorne is so smooth.  Not only can he pull off a hipster Dwight Shrute look, but he made a break up song that still sounds seductive.  Some people may be put off by Hawthorne's whiteboy retro soul shtick, but his album makes for pleasant listening and is surprisingly un-ironic. Check out the video for the song, which shows that sometimes ladies can be undateable too.

Nerdy and Amazing Men of Rock

Celebrating rock's most unlikely heroes:

Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal.  Barnes is a true indie rock diva.  He has his own glam rock alter-ego, Georgie Fruit, and usually will switch outfits multiple times per performance, occasionally opting to go without any clothes.  However, he also references French literature, Wong Kar-wai films, and Greek Mythology in his lyrics.
 

David Byrne, Talking Heads/ Various and Sundry.  Byrne is a music icon, cycling advocate, artist and author. Early on in his career, Byrne stood out for his quirky vocals and wiry, spastic energy. It's hard not to be impressed by Byrne's weirdness and seemingly boundless energy during his performance in the concert film Stop Making Sense.  Nearly 30 years later, Byrne is still making interesting and enjoyable music. 

Kings of Convenience at Metro, 6/10/10

Norwegian folk duo the Kings of Convenience played at Chicago's Metro theater last Thursday. The concert was originally scheduled for last February, but had to be postponed because band member Eirik Glambek Bøe came down with swine flu.  The show was definitely worth the wait.

I'm a moderate fan of the Kings of Convenience.  I was first introduced to the band because band member Erlend Øye toured a couple years ago with my Scandinavian indie rock crush, Jens Lekman.  Erlend's awkward charisma and awesomely bad dancing intrigued me.  I am a fan of the Kings' two older albums, Riot in an Empty Street and Quiet is the New Loud.  They have a quiet, peaceful, melancholy sound that is really nice when you're in the right mood.  I also enjoyed Erlend Øye's techno side projects including the Whitest Boy Alive and his solo album Unrest.  However, I haven't really gotten around to listening to the Kings' new album, Declaration of Independence, even though it's their first record in five years and has been out for almost a year. Which is to say that I wasn't the biggest fan there or the most familiar with the material, but I was interested to see how Erlend's charms held up with material that was darker and less danceable than his solo efforts.

A Californian band called Franklin for Short opened for the group. I had not heard of them before, but they were very impressively bearded.  I half-expected them to sound like Leonard Skynyrd, but they had more of a conventional indie pop rock sound mixed with some alt-country twang.  The band is sort of a blend of twee indie (they have a song named after everyone's least favorite gift, "Electric Blanket") and neo-hippie (hence the beards).  I started out tolerating them, but their general affability, good lead guitar work, and use of the theremin won me over enough.

The audience for the show was different than I envisioned.  Somehow I didn't think that a semi-obscure, Scandinavian folk duo that sounds vaguely like Simon and Garfunkel would have a mostly male, mostly preppy fan base (polo shirts abounded).  Especially not one that loudly shouted and wooed like they were attending a sporting event.  There were times, several in fact, that the audience was louder than the band.

The Kings took the stage a little bit before 8:30 and played for over an hour and half.  Musically, the show was a little less than perfect.  Metro is a larger concert venue and was packed full of rowdy super fans; the King's delicate sound wasn't quite big enough to fill the room.  They also had some technical problems, including Øye's guitar making an irritating feedback noise.  Still, that wasn't really my draw to this show.  Bøe and Øye have known each other since they were fifteen (both are in their mid-30s now), so they had a lived-in onstage chemistry and peppered their performance with humorous stories about each other.  Gangly and bespectacled, Erlend Øye looks like one of the least likely rock stars in the world.  However, he is probably one of the most charismatic performers in indie rock.  Øye's persona definitely emphasizes his awkwardness.  However, he was able to captivate the audience with his off kilter comments and nerdy enthusiasm. At one point, he made the comment, "You are a very strange audience," prompting an audience member to yell back, "You are very strange too!"  Erlend could only nod his head in agreement.

The band played a variety of songs from their different albums, but material from their most popular album, Riot on an Empty Street, was best received by the audience.  Later during the show, Franklin for Short joined the Kings to play back up and finally gave them enough sound to fill up the room.  Additionally, it allowed Erlend to showcase some of his awkward dancing skills.  The highlight of the evening was the closer, a cover of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al."  During which, Erlend encourage the audience to form a dancing circle which he jumped off stage to join.  Along side with Dan Deacon and Greg Gillis (aka. Girl Talk), Øye is one of the few indie rockers with enough pizazz and lunacy to be a genuine rock star.