That song was called "I'm Still Here" and it's a good third of the reasons I love tom waits. This next one is called "Hold On" and along with Martha, I Hope that I Don't Fall In Love With You, The Heart of Saturday Night, and Time (none of which had satisfactory versions on Youtube), is my favourite Tom Waits ballad.
Wait. found "Time"
He also does wacky strange amazing interesting stuff like this. Without ever using a synth in any of his music ever. "Hoist that Rag"
(this one, if you listen to the words, is absolutely hilarious. Cemetery Polka)
though rough, his voice is surprisingly musical -- it fits his arrangements and atmospheres perfectly every time. plus, the lyrics are, to a song, beautiful and interesting and the most poetic songwriting I've read except Leonard Cohen.
You don't have to, but I like him.
(also listen to him tell a story. he's an awesome engaging performer, to boot. Song: Cold Cold Ground)
However, what you DO have to see, and will almost certainly like, is Ratatouille.
The people over at Pixar have made yet another wonder of a movie. This one's about a rat that wants to be a chef in Paris. He meets a sad-sack kid who needs a boost, and they collaborate to try and get Chef Gusteau's old restaurant back on its feet.
It contains two of my three favourite Pixar moments of all time. 1. when the food critic takes a bite of the ratatouille, the way they show the impact food can have on a person is perfect, perfect, perfect. Worth the entire hour and a half leading up to that point. 2. when they use sound and colour and shape to describe the way tastes mix together, two or three times in the film. It's pure genius, and a bang-on representation of how tastes are unique, and create something new when they mix.
(The other favourite Pixar moment, and one of my favourite moments in all of film, is the last five seconds of Monsters Inc. So understated, but again, perfect.) I'm not putting up clips. You have to see the movies. The clips wouldn't mean as much without the movies around them, anyway.
(one more of tom: can't resist: "I don't want to grow up")
2 comments:
Dear Rob - I like to read people's blogs to learn about their life. Recently all I am learning is that you spend a lot of time looking on the internet for movie / music clips.
And the crazy thing is I like you more than any movie or music clip the internet has to offer!!
Not true. The you learned:
1. an observation I made about korean pop music, and its inherent silliness.
2. i like tom waits, and here are some of his best songs for you (without me even downloading them onto your computer)
3. I like juggling, and this is impressive
4. I like kim kwang seok, and this is what he's like. . .
I've had some Korean friends complain my blog is too text-heavy (some of them skip through the text and just watch videos/look at pictures); I'm kinda tossing them a bone, and also showing some stuff that makes me happy, and I'd rather put up links and video clips than go three weeks between posts, I suppose.
I love you too, deb. this stuff makes me happy.
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