pop*eye...Air - love2 (2009)

"It's the perfect time for Air to drop
a new album.
And that's exactly what they're doing."



-the portastylistic
~

Air - love2 (2009)

“It seems strange for such seasoned veterans of the studio, but Love 2, Air's fifth album, is the first that they produced entirely on their own. That could be because it's the first album that they recorded in their own state-of-the-art Atlas Studio in Paris. They also supply all of the vocal parts, and included longtime collaborator Joey Waronker on drum duty. Judging by the first single, "Do the Joy," Love 2 is based on the same meticulous arrangements and air-light (sorry) synths that the duo is known for.”

"We're going away from electronic music, We're a band now."

Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin

more on...air

.........................................................................................

All about
AIR

Air is two musicians (Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin) who are typically French yet altogether worldly. Many of France’s best musicians have something of this, simultaneously from yet not of France. It’s an argument that could be levelled at, say, Jean-Pierre Massiera, one of France’s misunderstood geniuses, or Saintly Serge, adored and occasionally reviled, Jacques Dutronc, who in the ‘60s had a tiger (and several other wild animals) in his guitar or Marc Moulin who was so French he was actually Belgian.

But back to the World of worldy Air and their latest album, Love 2, with its grand tales of Armageddon and, more importantly, love. Sly sang, “Sing a simple song” and these boys know how to load them meaning. Take their lyrics. You can read what you like into them (and darn it there’s no more fun than doing so) but the truth is the voices are as much about textures and sounds as they are meaning. Just listen to Love on their latest (best?) album Love 2, in which the single word lyric (“love”, natch) is used primarily as a brass stab and keyboard motif as much as it is an actual word. As the Tom Tom Club once sang, “Words are stupid, words are fun, words can put you on the run”; or as Nicolas quips, “We can’t do complicated sentences because otherwise we make mistakes all the time.”

So what’s new in the world of Air? Well, the big news this album is they’ve dispensed with producers and, moreover, built their own studio – it’s almost entirely constructed out of analogue keyboards, as if you couldn’t tell. The results are stunning. It’s the most homogenous album they’ve made since the criminally underloved 10,000khz. Ever the conceptualists, Air wax lyrical about their new lair. “So many different aspects of the studio can suggest different things to you, the doors, the walls, the windows, the street, the architecture.”

They’ve spent most of the past year locked in their newly furbished studio with drummer Joey Waronker, the first time they’ve written an album in such a ‘jam’ style, something that’s evident on rockers like Be a Bee or Do The Joy, in stark contrast to Pocket Symphony’s minimalist meditations on which drums were barely evident

After the last album’s speculative approach – dabbling with the delicately ornamental sounds of the east; it was inspired by Japan (the country and band) – Love 2 feels like a cleansing of the palate. “The album,” says Nicolas, “is much more energetic, live and loose.” JB adds, “Well we think it sounds fresh and we wanted everything to be fresh. We didn’t try and take a conscious direction, we just tried to produce something that was alive and had energy.”

Where Love 2 is at its most strident is in the vocal tracks. This time they’ve eschewed guests and stuck to JB’s beguiling reflections and his simple but effective lyricism dealing as it perennially does with the wonderment of woman. “We always see women in a romantic and idealised way”, laughs JB.

So Light Is Her Footfall is the perfect embodiment of this, as the woman in question, “an angel” receives the rapt attention of Air. The song’s title was lifted from Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost and, say the duo, is their vision of England (it’s an England few English people would recognise but is all the greater for it). Sing Sang Sung, a tune so preposterously catchy it could start a pandemic, also has echoes of England in its alliterative title (based on English grammar lessons you may not be surprised to learn).

In Heaven’s Light they have produced the nearest thing to a sure-fire hit (it screams Radio 2 playlist) for years, driven by a snare-heavy attack, its chiming keyboards take you dangerously near to the sun. Unlike poor Icarus, however, we pull away just in time to save the song and, indeed, love itself. “We wanted to get the feeling of climbing higher and higher into the light but with this sort of melancholy,” asserts JB. Who would disagree?

If this is the racket that Air make unbounded by outside influences, secreted away in their exclusive Parisian studio lair, then we can’t wait to hear further dispatches from Air central. “We’ve moved all of our stuff into Atlas [their studio] so now we can make the sound that we really want to make,” enthuses JB. “It’s like our starship and we are the captains of the starship and we can take it wherever we want to.” Permission to take off.

.........................................................................................

“Good Music Like A Fresh Air, For The Time Breathing
Good again!”


-the portastylistic

Porta's Eyes..."what is ‘Twitt-ah?’”

Bliss of a Twitter-free moment

By Tyler Brûlé

Published: September 25 2009 21:32 | Last updated: September 25 2009 21:32

When was the last time you had one of those conversations where a single sentence restored your faith in humanity? Was it roughly 20 years ago when you encountered someone from eastern Europe whose words of sacrifice and perseverance behind the Iron Curtain made your western ways seem bloated and empty? Was it more recently, when a former banker told you a harrowing tale of how he lost everything (the smart townhouse in Brussels, the two Audis, the leggy Latvian girl) and found happiness living a slimmed-down life in a tiny flat and working as a bartender in Antwerp? Or was it with a niece or nephew who abandoned their Playstation and asked you, their dear auntie or uncle, to tuck them in with a good old-fashioned bedtime story?

I didn’t expect to be particularly moved when I sat down for drinks with professional acquaintances in Tokyo last week – but halfway through a second round of drinks, while discussing topics from why young Japanese aren’t travelling so much anymore (“the outside world is too much of a challenge when life is so convenient back home”) to the chances for Yukio Hatoyama’s new government (“he’ll be thwarted by the bureaucracy every step of the way”), the most beautiful and innocent question I’ve ever heard suddenly tumbled across the table. While chatting about the role that new media channels played in the recent election, I asked if there was a lot of guff about Twitter in the national newspapers or on Japan’s main television networks. After a few moments of grunting, groaning, chin-stroking, head-wagging, group consultation and more grunts, one of the group blurted: “Tyrer-san, what is ‘Twitt-ah?’”

I can’t recall if I got hot chills or teary eyes first, but in an instant I was covered in goose-bumps and filled with this extraordinary sense of joy. My mouth moved from a weak grin to a beaming smile to a chuckle of disbelief.

“What’s so funny, Tyrer-san?”

“You’re serious?” I asked. “You really don’t know what Twitter is?”

“No, I promise,” replied the young-ish gentleman.

“You really, really, really have no idea?” I inquired one more time.

“No idea, Tyrer-san.”

“Then you should count yourself lucky and consider yourself truly blessed,” I replied.

Shortly after, I settled the bill, hailed a cab and headed back to my hotel. I could have chosen this epic moment to celebrate with a round of pin dom (Japanese slang for pink Dom Perignon) but chose to reflect quietly in search of the greater meaning of this moment.

As I silently repeated those four syllables (“what is ‘Twitt-ah’”?), I felt a wave of envy. How wonderful to live in a highly evolved digital society and not have been tainted by yet another media fad, I thought.

Soon after, those pangs of envy shifted to cold resentment. How lucky to not have your e-mail inbox crammed with random mindless publicists, acquaintances and even friends inviting you to join them or follow them on Twitter. It was bad enough having the world invite you to be “LinkedIn”, but the daily dilemma of what to do with these unwanted invitations is far too stressful. Do I ignore it? Is there a limit to how many times they can try to reach me? What if I actually rather like this person but I don’t want to follow them? Do I send an e-mail of apology? Does it demand a handwritten letter?

Little surprise that this resentment of my blissfully unaware Japanese friends made me angry. How has it come to be that adults in mature settings can bring themselves to say things like: “I just made a tweet about my walk to work”?

Excuse me. You did what on your way to work? Did anybody see you doing it? Do you know there are laws against that sort of thing? You’re lucky you didn’t get arrested for whatever it was you were doing in public because it’s offensive and it pollutes the environment. On second thought, perhaps you should have been arrested for invading the privacy of others, for making your “tweets” all over the place and fouling up an already overburdened media and social networking landscape.

For the past few months I’ve been thinking about lobbying the IT department of this newspaper’s parent company to erect high walls, deep trenches and develop the digital equivalent of cauldrons of boiling oil to pour on all messages that look remotely as if they’re inviting me to a world I have neither the time nor interest in signing up to. Donning the appropriate protective attire, I’d rush to the top of the battlements and push my boot against the lever releasing a cascade of scalding oil on the correspondence below. “Ha! Ha!’” I’d thunder. “See how all your links and tweets stand up to that!”

The only reason I haven’t bothered contacting the IT team about building a razor-sharp ring of steel around this newspaper’s network of inboxes is that I’m quite confident that this whole movement will soon take up residence with that other great digital venture and live happily ever after in Second Life.

Tyler Brûlé is editor-in-chief of Monocle
tyler.brule@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/brule

Portastudio Playlist...Friday Nights Live Weekly*3

FRIDAY NIGHTS
+Live WEEKLY
EDITION 3

portastudio

.........................................................................................


Continuing their stay in Raining Bangkok, The Friday Night
+Live Weekly, who play us their unique blend of Pop Cover Version
tracks to shine a light on global cities and culture. we're also
delighted to welcome songstress talent who performs her jazz-tempo,
Europop, R&B, sweet voice chinese from around the world for
quiet friday nights, who perform their sunny and sweet tunes for
our panel which also includes selected by the Portastylistic
every Friday afternoon. (maybe)


ARTISTS

THIS WEEK IN PLAYLIST

Julien Dore & Coeur De Pirate | Faye Wong | The Magic Numbers
Umbrella | You're Happy, So I'm Happy | Crazy In Love

Helene | Alice Russell | Ebony Alleyne
I Can't Get You Out Of My Head | Hurry On Home | Second Look

Diane Birch | Norah Jones | Danni Carlos
Photograph | Somewhere Over The Rainbow | I Was Born To Love You

.........................................................................................

“ EVERYDAY HAS A SOUNDTRACK! ”

-the portastylistic

Hot and Covered...Fantastic Man Launch New Website

Chat your brains out with fellow fantastic men.
“ Exciting! ”

-the portastylistic

Our favourite mens mag, Fantastic Man, have just relaunched their website. It used to be a holding page – industry shorthand for ‘go out and buy the magazine’ – but now they’ve relaunched as a full on interactive website, albeit one with a decidedly irreverent approach. The forum consists of commentable reader questions, daily recommendations and a monthly outfit post entitled ‘the look’. While it’s extremely early days (the site only launched yesterday) it looks like it’ll be the perfect compliment to the print magazine.

....................................................................................................

“...I don’t think you should speak to the reader. I mean, you’re a magazine because you speak to the reader, but you don’t have to literally speak to the reader. If I say, “You’ll want a Dolce & Gabbana bag this season,” maybe you say, “Well, actually the only thing I’m not looking for right now is a bag, so why do you say that to me?” If you eliminate those choices, then you immediately fall into a certain formality. But also we wanted it to be a very language-driven magazine…”

~

FANTASTIC INTERVIEW

Fantastic MAN

By Glenn O'Brien
Photography Scott Schuman

Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom are the creators of Fantastic Man, one of the most remarkable magazines of this era. It is an avant-garde throwback—a remarkably formal and philosophical men’s fashion magazine that positions itself above the commercial fray with a singular tone and elegant design. Before launching this title in 2005, these two gentlemen published a very funny little magazine called Butt, which was printed on pink paper and brought a refreshingly candid and humorous perspective to gay magazines. Butt was sort of the very best out-of-the-closet magazine in the world. Fantastic Man is sort of the very best back-in-the-closet magazine in the world. And Gert and Jop are the best of both worlds. I interviewed them in Paris, where they were launching the Fantastic Man fragrance, over lunch at the Meurice Hotel, and at just the right moment, Mr. Jefferson Hack, publisher and editor of Dazed & Confused, Another Magazine, and Another Man, happened by.

Read More on..> Interview Mag

Genius! Read this interview of my magazine heros – Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom – creators of Fantastic Man and Butt Magazine! (Interview and image are both from InterviewMagazine.com)

A magazine solely dedicated towards Men’s fashion, Fantastic Man does a superb job. This latest issue has a few upgrades too. Aside from more color in the book, the magazine now has a binder and far more advertisements, which is a good thing hinting that the magazine is heading toward profit. This of course means that Fantastic Man might very well become a larger presence in the print fashion editorial world. There are some great articles in this issues: an interview with Wallpaper and Monocle magazine founder Tyler Brule, a great fashion pictorials on spectacles and general style/fashion observations. Pick up your latest copy at your favorite bookstand.

THE DAILY RECOMMENDATIONS

Helpful suggestions to make life better, updated each weekday from the world of FANTASTIC MAN and archived here. Contributions are heartily welcomed, and can be emailed to daily daily [at] fantasticman.com

THE FORUM

Please enter this realm to chat your brains out with fellow fantastic men. Exciting!

THE LOOK

A monthly series of modes of dressing sparked by mood, weather, or whatever whim is in the air. For September, FANTASTIC MAN proposes a very specific back-to-work ensemble.

THE MAGAZINE

The 10th issue of FANTASTIC MAN is graced with Mr. EWAN McGREGOR on the cover. For a digital preview of the magazine kindly click here.

FANTASTIC EVENTS

Coming Soon!

Sick of fashion magazines?

Check out Fantastic Man, a fashion mag that’s decidedly anti-fashion.

You won’t find ultra high-gloss paper, loads of ads, and vacuous content. Instead, the magazine favors uncoated paper, restrained advertising, and refreshingly quirky yet compelling articles. Oh, and most of it’s in black and white.

Fantastic Man is the brainchild of designer Jop van Bennekom and journalist Gert Jonkers. Bennekom’s also publishes the exceptionally designed Re-Magazine and Butt Magazine.

The layout is clean with Modernist influences but has enough idiosyncrasies to steer it away from sterility. Bennekom even revives Times New Roman in a way that makes me regret telling you how unfortunate a typeface it is. Combined with original photography and alternative fashion, this might be the most substantive fashion magazine ever.

Like anything cool, Fantastic Man’s hard to find. Subscribe via Amazon or directly through the publisher’s frustrating website, Bruil & van de Staaij.

The latest issue of Fantastic Man features an interview with Helmut Lang (he holds a rooster on the cover), a fashion spread on plaid, and an article about moustaches.

Here’s some photos I took of the issue:

Fantastic Man, is Fantastic! With Jop Van Bennekom’s previous experience in RE- Magazine and later BUTT, and together with Gert Jonkers, they have created the mens magazine like no other. It stands out with its Contents largely, covering the peripheral of fashion that seems obvious but yet so exciting and interesting to read. I especially love the feature on “The Perfect Man” which answers the age old question of who or what is the barometer of size 48, and yes, he’s alive. It is articles as such that drives the success of Fantastic Man.

....................................................................................................

Tuesday September 15, 2009

FANTASTIC MAN 10

The 10th issue of FANTASTIC MAN is graced with Mr. EWAN McGREGOR on the cover, who can also be found inside. Other gentlemen featured in this issue are Swedish scientist and sword swallower Dr. HANS ROSLING, the make-up artist Mr. PETER PHILIPS of CHANEL, plus the vivid and exceptional journalist Mr. HAMISH BOWLES. These insightful profiles are mixed with an array of other curiosities, with topics ranging from steaks to pickpocketing and the options in coat hangers. The fashion in this issue is full of contemporary men looking amazing in an array of surprisingly formal suits, which feels super correct for the mood of the moment. Plus: an exclusive preview of THE GENTLEWOMAN, an upcoming new title from the makers of FANTASTIC MAN.

From Fantastic Man to Gentlewoman

This summer I discovered an amazing magazine called Fantastic Man. Like 10 Magazine, it has an intellectual and intelligent approach with regard to its fashion content.

Apparently Fantastic Man has been around for five years already.

It is so refreshing to read articles that review the industry's trends with a witty yet serious - and dare I say "high-brow" approach - rather than limiting itself to Top Ten Accessories lists and so on.

Fantastic Man is destined for a male audience, but now along comes The Gentlewoman, a new biannual style magazine for women, which will launch in March 2010.

I have not doubt that The Gentlewoman will focus on journalism of the highest quality, compiled with original thought in its writing, photography and design.

There's certainly nothing I like more than photographers, designers, stylists and writers who champion wonderful, stylish women.

For those who can’t wait: a preview of The Gentlewoman will appear in the Autumn/Winter 09 issue of Fantastic Man, out this month.

....................................................................................................

“ A fashion magazine for guys who hate fashion magazines.”


-the portastylistic

pop*eye...Kings of Convenience-Declaration Of Dependence (2009)

These guys write great songs too, but not at light-speed.

“ They make your SUMMER to never run out.”



-the portastylistic

Kings of Convenience - Declaration Of Dependence 2009

Riot on an Empty Street ends a long period of inactivity for Kings of Convenience. During their three-year layoff Erlend Øye could be found making solo records and DJing while Eirik Glambek Boe was finishing his psychology degree. Luckily for fans of beautiful vocals and thoughtful indie pop, they decided to get back together. What this band is all about is the sound of Boe and Øye's voices blended together in harmony. Their first album (in both incarnations) erred on the side of consistency. Here the band seems to have learned the all-important lesson of pace and variety. The arrangements are fuller too with pianos, strings, the occasional electric guitar, and lovely guest vocals on two tracks from Broken Social Scene member Leslie Feist.

You can also listen to more songs on The Whitest Boy Alive Myspace, Misread on Songza and lastly his own site Erlend Oye. There is so much on this guy it’s unbelievable I totally missed out on him.


www.myspace.com/kingsofconvenience if you want a little look. And to partake in the agonising wait for the release of this LP.

....................................................................................................

“ I love the music. ”


-the portastylistic

Portastudio Playlist...Friday Nights Live Weekly*2

FRIDAY NIGHTS
+Live WEEKLY
EDITION 2

portastudio

.........................................................................................


The Friday Night +Live Weekly touches down of too late this week
and welcomes ballad jazz pop sensation of my playlist to perform
an acoustic, orchestra set of her songs
from past and present our favourite Song. The musical talent
from around the world for quiet friday nights,
who perform their sunny and sweet tunes for our panel which also
includes selected by the Portastylistic every Friday afternoon.


ARTISTS

THIS WEEK IN PLAYLIST

Quiet Nights Orchestra | Lorraine Ellison | Adele
Fly Me To The Moon | Stay With Me Baby | Chasing Pavements

Vv Brown | Corinne Bailey Rae
Shark In The Water | Put Your Records On

Sharleen Spiteri | Mélanie Pain | (Hiro) Coco d'or
All The Times I Cried | Bruises | It's Only A Paper Moon

.........................................................................................

“ EVERYDAY HAS A SOUNDTRACK! ”

-the portastylistic

Hot and Covered...25 REASONS TO BE GLAD SUMMER'S OVER

*1 Anniversary
the Portastylistic
~

" A Sense of character that is authentic,
deliberate and perhaps
good style is simply when the outside
matches the inside. "


-the portastylistic

....................................................................................................

BOOK'EM
THE MOVIES, MUSIC, TV, AND ART
YOU CAN'T AFFORD
TO MISS THIS FALL

- Fall Preview -

Stanley Kubrick's "Napoleon": The Greatest Movie Never Made (September 1)

Well, the GMNM besides Step Brothers 2, that is. Tucked inside this elegant carved-out book/archaeological specimen is an exhaustive collection of location-scouting photos, costume details, and letters—plus the last draft of the screenplay Kubrick had hoped to film following 2001. And the best part is… Not up for the hefty, $700 price tag? Kubrick's actual masterpiece of old-world Europe, Barry Lyndon, is readily available on Netflix.

Photo: Courtesy of Taschen

....................................................................................................

Pancha Tantra, by Walton Ford (September 3)

The watercolorist's epic collection of Audubon-meets-Ralph Steadman animal portraits includes paintings of a sheet-covered monkey named Jack on his chaise longue deathbed and parrots simultaneously copulating and dining.
And the best part is… This is the first time Ford's work has been available in book form since 2002 (or the first to not cost $1,800, if you count an earlier limited edition of Pancha Tantra).

Photo: Courtesy of Taschen

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Os Mutantes, Haih…or Amortecedor… (September 8)

The missing link between Gilberto Gil (an early mentor) and Kurt Cobain (he petitioned them to reform in 1993), Brazil's legendary Tropic?lia/psych-rock band Os Mutantes (the Mutants) are back with their first album in 35 years.
And the best part is… Hiatus or no, they've always been incendiary live, and are about to head out for a 27-city North American tour.

Photo: Courtesy of Taschen

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Dappled Cities, Zounds (September 15)

Sydney's Dappled Cities isn't the pinnacle of grizzled manhood some might expect from the land of croc-wranglers and the Vines. What it is, frankly, is a lot more interesting: an indie pop band expertly wielding falsettos and soaring, Doves- and Arcade Fire-style arrangements.
And the best part is… The band uses a Gakken—a $40 self-assembled analog synth from Japan that must be heard to be believed—on all 12 tracks.

Photo: dappledcitiesfly.com

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Damian Ortega at the ICA in Boston (September 18)

Ortega has made a career out of every kid's favorite hobby: taking things apart and not putting them back together again (in the Mexican artist's case, things like cars, trucks, and Vespas). His first-ever museum survey includes hanging arrays of sharp objects that make Saw look like sissy work.
And the best part is… The Diller, Scofidio, and Renfro-designed Institute of Contemporary Art building, with its dramatic drop over the city's harbor, might just rival Ortega's exhibit—and somehow, it feels safer.

Photo: Courtesy of ICA Boston

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Bored to Death on HBO (September 20)

The Manhattan Murder Mystery spin-off you didn't even know you were missing. Written and produced by novelist Jonathan Ames, Bored stars Jason Schwartzman as a failed writer turned failed private investigator.
And the best part is… Say what you will about the silver-spooned Mr. Schwartzman, but he plays a fine incompetent alcoholic wiseass.

Photo: Courtesy of HBO

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Girls, Album (September 22)

The debut LP from the San Francisco two-piece composed of Christopher Owens and Chet "J.R." White is the guitar-based equivalent of an M83 album, filled with the sort of gauzy, post-Summer anthems that could rival cold beer as the primary spark of raspy sing-alongs and one-night stands.
And the best part is… Whether it has something to do with the creepy cult upbringing of singer-songwriter Christopher Owens or just the sheer quantities of drugs the band is rather frank about consuming, the duo's videos are perfect distillations of the adolescence you wish you'd had.

Photo: Courtesy of Matador Records

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Mika, The Boy Who Knew Too Much (September 22)

Mika, the Lebanese-born, London-based singer who summons Freddie Mercury in high camp mode, proves he's no one-album wonder with this sophomore studio effort. These are the sort of overly synthesized, falsetto disco hooks reminiscent of a lost nightclub diva from another time.
And the best part is… If you can't dance to "We Are Golden," you're not worthy of your sequined boots.

Photo: mikasounds.com

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Volcano Choir, Unmap (September 22)

Between Justin Vernon's Bon Iver album and a host of other beardo acts, some were ready to declare a new Walden Pond-esque era of indie rock. Vernon's new collaborative venture, thankfully, is not the earnest back-to-the-garden side project you might expect: It's marked by gorgeous off-kilter harmonies and the quick looping and blips of Collections of Colonies of Bees guitarist Chris Rosenau. And the best part is… This album was recorded three years before Bon Iver's breakthrough debut.

Photo: Courtesy of Jagjaguwar

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Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (September 22) Hard to believe: Though it's been 50 years since Robert Frank released his seminal collection of 83 cross-country road photographs, this is the first time the collection has been shown in its entirety in New York. Of course, his brand of flinty, elegiac pessimism feels more timely than ever.
And the best part is… Frank, 84, is still shooting. His latest book, Seven Stories—a cased collection of inscribed-on-the-negative Polaroids—is just out from Steidl.

Photo: Robert Frank

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The Invention of Lying (September 25)

As Ricky Gervais proved in the overlooked Ghost Town, he's possessed of a Seinfeldian ability to play the straight guy in a world madder than he. In The Invention of Lying—with Jonah Hill, John Hodgman, and Tina Fey, to name but a few of his co-stars—Gervais is now the only person alive capable of dishonesty.
And the best part is… Watching the pudgy Brit pick up hopelessly clueless women with lines like, "The world is going to end unless we have sex right now."

Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

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The Girlfriend Experience on DVD (September 29)

Despite the stunt casting of porn star Sasha Grey in the main role, Steven Soderbergh's diary of a Manhattan call girl is low on explicit sex. What you will find is something more lasting: a beautifully shot study of desensitized, moneyed New Yorkers just as the bubble was bursting.
And the best part is… Film critic Glenn Kenny's turn as the sleazy operator of an escort-review Web site.

Photo: Amazon.com

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A Serious Man (October 2)

The Coen brothers' low-key period piece follow-up to No Country for Old Men is, in their own twisted way, semiautobiographical. TV sitcom vet Richard Kind makes one hell of a bid for posterity as a freeloader slowly destroying his brother's carefully curated life (are people going to start bragging about how much they loved Spin City now?).
And the best part is… The Coens' visceral depiction of the place they grew up, Minneapolis suburb and Jewish enclave St. Louis Park.

Photo: Courtesy of Focus Features

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Anvil: The Story of Anvil on DVD (October 6)

What could have been a Spinal Tap-style roast of easy-target rockers turned out to be an earnest homage to a metal band's mettle that made hard-core mosh-pit dwellers well up like Fall Out Boy fans. (Up next: a U.K. tour later this fall and a new album, Juggernaut of Justice.)
And the best part is… They really do have an amp that goes to 11, and they really do go to Stonehenge.

Photo: anvilthemovie.com

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John Baldessari: Pure Beauty at the Tate Modern (October 13)

Comprising 130 works, the Tate's retrospective of the conceptual art pioneer known for his use of text, video, and photo collages is the most extensive Baldessari exhibition ever mounted. (If you can't make it to London, the exhibit will travel to LACMA and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2010.)
And the best part is… His Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell. Hilarious, though maybe a bit too real for right now.

Photo: Courtesy of the Tate Modern

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Corn Flakes With John Lennon, by Robert Hilburn (October 13)

As well as breakfasting with a Beatle, famed rock critic Hilburn visited Folsom Prison with Johnny Cash, spent a week on the road with the Sex Pistols, and interviewed Dylan on his 50th birthday (after Silent Bob had turned down 300 other journalists).
And the best part is… Observations like this: "I listened to 'Folsom Prison Blues' for five decades before asking myself, 'If the guy in the song shot a man in Reno, what's he doing in prison in California?' When I asked John about it, he burst out laughing. 'I never did get good grades in geography.' "

Photo: Courtesy of Rodale

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Chronic City, by Jonathan Lethem (October 13)

Lethem's characters have a tendency to be annoyingly fortunate, so his new novel—about a fading child star who stumbles from the Upper East Side party scene into a mystery set deep in less gilded Manhattan circles—is a refreshing change of pace.
And the best part is… Who can resist a book that's equal parts Philip K. Dick, Saul Bellow, and Hitchcock?

Photo: Amazon.com

....................................................................................................

Black Dynamite (October 16)

In this neo-Blaxploitation flick, Michael Jai White plays a former CIA agent tracing a heroin-planting, malt-liquor-manipulating conspiracy all the way to the Honky…er, White House. Haven't recent racial milestones done away with a need for such entertainment, you ask? Uh, no.
And the best part is… Four words: Arsenio Hall comeback vehicle.

Photo: Sony Pictures

....................................................................................................

The Road (October 16)

A semi-obscure Aussie director, John Hillcoat, filmed this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic tale in abandoned parts of Pittsburgh, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Mount St. Helens. While this is probably not your go-to date film, it's likely to be as powerful (and as polarizing) as the Pulitzer Prize-winning book.
And the best part is… As in Hillcoat's previous movie, The Proposition, a brilliant, eerie score courtesy of Nick Cave.

Photo: Dimension Films

....................................................................................................

(Untitled) (October 23)

Any movie can make fun of arty rockers or the vapid posturing of the gallery scene. (Untitled) cunningly goes after both. "I think I want what I want to say to go without saying," says one artist. Enough said.
And the best part is… Adam Goldberg's performance as an experimental musician, complete with lunatic howling and subtly metaphoric bucket-kicking.

Photo: Samuel Goldwyn Films

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Z on DVD (October 27)

The lucky few with access to revival theaters probably caught Costa-Gavras' 1969 v?rit?-style masterpiece, starring the incomparable Yves Montand, earlier this year. You three can now skip forward; everyone else should immediately run out and buy this excoriation of Greece's right-wing military junta.
And the best part is… The list of things banned by the junta, which in addition to the letter "Z" includes the Beatles, long hair on men, and writing that Socrates was gay.

Photo: Courtesy of The Criterion Collection

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Urs Fischer at the New Museum, NYC (October 28)

Fischer is the guy who suspends rotating, wax-dripping tree limbs from the ceiling—and who cut jagged holes through plaster and metal at the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Now he's the first artist to take over the entire New Museum, for what he's calling a choreographed "introspective." We wonder if he'll leave the joint standing.
And the best part is… The pressure's on Fischer to outdo his 2007 show at Gavin Brown's Enterprise, a project that involved excavating the whole of the gallery's floor.

Photo: Courtesy of the New Museum

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Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present at the Brooklyn Museum (October 30)

Curated by Gail Buckland, this show compiles many rarely seen shots, both on- and offstage, of everyone from Bill Haley to Axl Rose to Amy Winehouse—often at the anonymous outset of their careers.
And the best part is… A toss-up between Ian Dickson's Ramones-in-'77 crowd shots (left) and Ryan McGinley's Morrissey crowd shots.

Photo: Ian Dickson

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1997-2008, by Sante D'Orazio (November 1)

In the cloistered world of art books, there is sometimes a tendency to overthink one's subject. Sante D'Orazio appears unplagued by this tendency. Like A Private View, his previous book, 1997-2008 consists simply of shots of pretty girls, many of whom have forgotten to put their clothes on.
And the best part is… See left.

Photo: Courtesy of Taschen

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The Inbetweeners on BBC America ("this fall" is all they're telling us for now; stay tuned)

A cross between Superbad, Freaks and Geeks, and American Pie, The Inbetweeners follows four teens as they navigate suburban London in the hunt for female conquests. As the universe of stateside material slavishly ripping off The Office metastasizes, it's nice to see a slice of home-grown sensibility being shipped back across the pond.
And the best part is… The soundtrack features Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, the Libertines, and Mark Ronson.

—Story text by Nick Mosquera

Photo: Courtesy of BBC America

Also in the Upgrader /living

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“ food for soul, body, brain and heart. ”


-the portastylistic