The girl with the parking lot eyes...

Sometimes a line just stays with you, you know? i love Neko Case's voice, and i love her song "Hold On, Hold On", but aside from that i can't really get into much else by her. i want to, but my ears aren't having it for some reason. But in "Margaret Vs. Pauline", when she sings that line (above), it just... hits me somewhere. i guess i see truck stops, and people who are sad and/or down on their luck. There's a poignancy there.

And while we're talking about songs that i like that i don't actually like, how about "Such Great Heights"? The first time i heard it, it was a hollow, jaunty little number they were playing on the radio in the afternoon. "Ehhhhhhhh... no." i thought, and immediately switched the station. The next time i heard it it was different: it was around midnight or midnight-thirty, on the program Big Sonic Chill, which we listen to constantly to aid Nat's studying habits. The song had been stripped down and slowed down considerably. Somehow it became an entirely different song, and one that was so melancholy and heavy to listen to. Apparently the original is by the Postal Service (bleh), and the sweet sweet cover is by Iron and Wine, a name that pops up from time to time in my musical ramblings, although i know very little about them.

How did i turn into someone who listens to so much freak folk alt.country singer-songwritery business? Not that i'm complaining, believe me. It's nice to venture down different avenues. And listening to "Carcass" by Siouxsie and the Banshees or "No. 13 Baby" by the Pixies or "I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms" by Jonathan Richman still gives me a thrill. But these days i'm leaning more and more towards the quieter stuff. Perhaps this correlates with my new-found (and depressing) low tolerance for scary horror movies? People, it just hurts the psyche too much!

i just need to be soothed, it seems. Works for me.

Also, have we talked about Wings of Desire yet? My current favorite film? Nat had seen it years ago and decided we should Netflick it. So um, yeah. i love it. i can see people hating it; it's extremely slow-paced, grainy-ish black and white, full of ponderous situations and quizzical dialogue/thought-processes. Wow, could that sentence have been any more complicated? But anyway, enough with the cons, let's talk about the pros:
1) Peter Falk playing himself.
2) a beautiful soundtrack, including otherworldly angel sounds and Nick Cave songs (he's even in it!),
3) fabulous plot regarding an angel who wants to be mortal,
4) stunning cinematography/set design,
5) flawless acting from all players,
6) a common thread weaving us all together.

See it! And if you can, for sure watch the extras at the end of the film, where they talk with Wim Wenders (director) and you find out all sorts of amazing stuff re: storybooking, filming, lighting, costume, plot, etc. A great companion to the film.

oh, and p.s.) Wim Wenders made the Buena Vista Social Club. Surprised? i certainly was. But also not, considering that i love that movie too.

Bye y'all!