extraordinary machine

James Blake on dubstep:

“I think the dubstep that has come over to the US, and certain producers– who I can’t even be bothered naming– have definitely hit upon a sort of frat-boy market where there’s this macho-ism being reflected in the sounds and the way the music makes you feel. And to me, that is a million miles away from where dubstep started. It’s a million miles away from the ethos of it. It’s been influenced so much by electro and rave, into who can make the dirtiest, filthiest bass sound, almost like a pissing competition, and that’s not really necessary. And I just think that largely that is not going to appeal to women. I find that whole side of things to be pretty frustrating, because that is a direct misrepresentation of the sound as far as I’m concerned.”

Ranked from highest to lowest.

1. Little Children (2006)

Sarah (Kate Winslet) is unhappily married to Richard, who is obsessed with a porn star on the web. Brad (Patrick Wilson) is married to Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), who seems happy on the surface, but is struggling as well, having to depend on his wife, who is a documentary film maker and also the sole breadwinner of the family. As a housewife and househusband, Sarah and Brad start spending a lot of time together taking care of each of their own children while their respective spouses are at work. In the same neighborhood, a sex offender Ronnie is released from prison, back to his mother’s house. Larry, an ex-cop, is determined to drive Ronnie away from the neighborhood, pestering Ronnie and his elderly mother even at the latest of nights. Everyone is just trying to get by, but all of their lives get intertwined in the process.

It is shot beautifully, and there is a dream-like quality to the scenes with Sarah and Brad spending the day at the pool which contrasted with the scenes with more ominous nature. The story is great, the acting is great, and it doesn’t hurt that the main casts are so beautiful. 

2. It Happened One Night (1934)

Ellie (Claudette Colbert) is a spoiled heiress that escapes from her father in order to get back to her fortune-hunting husband that she recently married to without her father’s consent. She jumps from the boat that her father forcefully boarded her in, and is en route to New York City to find her husband. On the bus ride to New York, she meets Peter (Clark Gable), a reporter that decides to help this clueless heiress out after she gets her luggage stolen and misses the bus, for a good juicy story. Ellie reluctantly sticks by him, for Peter might blow the whistle on her to turn her in to her father. 

Let me preface this one sentence review by saying that I was never an appreciator of old black and white films. I can’t tell you where my dislike for them stemmed from, but honestly, this film might have brought about a turning point for me. This movie was not only the original screwball romantic comedy, but it was the first film ever to win the “Big Five” Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Writing, a feat only achieved by two movies in the history of the Academy Awards (One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Silence of the Lambs). It was one of the cutest romantic comedy films that I’ve seen, and Clark Gable! Swoon. 

3. Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Lenny (Woody Allen) and Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) adopt a boy, and Lenny soon finds out that his adoptive son Max is a genius. Then he goes on his journey to find Max’s biological mother, who turns out to be the ditziest prostitute/porn actress, Linda Ash a.k.a. Judy Cum (Mira Sorvino). Lenny, worried that his son Max will be crushed upon finding his biological mother to be a prostitute, decides to play God and change Linda’s life for the better, so he thinks. 

This film borrows themes heavily from the Greek mythology Oedipus, and is filmed with that Woody Allen vibe, which I actually really enjoy. Mira Sorvino is really great in this film. 

4. King of Comedy (1983)

Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) is an aspiring stand-up comic, trying to find a way into the show business. He is very faithful to his “talents,” and once he meets the talk show legend Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) by chance, he starts having elaborate fantasies about Jerry and himself being close friends and friendly competitors as the top entertainers on TV. He persistently visits Jerry’s office to meet him, but is shown the door every time he makes the trip. Upon rejection after rejection, he and his psychotic Jerry Langford stalker friend, Masha, decide to do whatever it takes to get Rupert on the stage.  

I didn’t really care for this film all that much. I got the theme, I got what the film was trying to convey, but whether it was the plot or some other unknown factor, I just found the De Niro character astoundingly annoying and overall did not really enjoy it. 

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Weekly food expenditure: $260.11
(So much carb. MmMMmm delicious) 

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Weekly food expenditure: $500.07
(I don’t know what those bottles are, but they look expensive. Thus, a whopping $500 per week for a family of 4 perhaps.) 

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Weekly food expenditure: $341.98
(They eat hella unhealthy)

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca 
Weekly food expenditure: $189.09
(So many coke bottles!) 

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna 
Weekly food expenditure: $151.27 

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo 
Weekly food expenditure: $68.53 
(Look at how many people they’re feeding for less than $100)

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo 
Weekly food expenditure: $31.55  
(All veggies and grains) 

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village 
Weekly food expenditure: $5.03. 
(FIVE DOLLARS for a family of 11!!)

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp 
Weekly food expenditure: $1.23
(This is their food supply for one WEEK)

Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City 
Weekly food expenditure: $221.45.
(Most foodstuffs in this State is subsidized)

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar 
Weekly food expenditure: $40.06 

China: The Dong family of Beijing 
Weekly food expenditure: $175 

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City 
Weekly food expenditure: $317.25
(Notice the fish)