February Brings the Rain

MUSICAL DISCOVERIES
Beautiful Small Machines: This band is a favorite of one of my best friends, so when they happened to be playing in the basement of Webster Hall after the La Roux show this month, I couldn't pass up a chance to check them out in the flesh.  My friends generally have good taste in all things pop-culture, and this was no exception.  BSM plays fun, quirky, punky, twangy, unique music with clever lyrics on top of it all.  Also, the band was very gracious after the show and I could tell they genuinely love what they do and value their fans, among whose number I now officially count myself.
The Temper Trap: My song of the month is definitely "Fader."  I originally put the Temper Trap on my radar last year, but finally got around to checking them out this month, spurred on by getting a ticket to their upcoming April show at MHOW.  As soon as I heard "Fader," I was totally hooked and knew that this was most certainly a band for me.  It's a bit reminiscent of French Horn Rebellion's "Up All Night" (another new favorite), but much easier to connect to and lose myself in, especially when I've got my headphones on.
The Antlers:  Another recommendation from a friend, plus they were the openers for the Editors show to which I won tix.  I only got to hear about two of their songs at the show, but I totally dug those, so I checked out some of their other stuff, and lo-and-behold, another band I definitely need to dive into.  At times they remind of Jeff Buckley in vocal stylings and orchestration/arrangement.
Joshua Radin: I had seen Joshua Radin's name around in various places, but figured he was just another singer/songwriter not worth my time.  However, his song "What If You" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Catch & Release, and I totally fell in love with it (and the film... and Timothy Olyphant, who is such an underrated actor -- can't wait to check out his new FX series, Justified, next month). While most of Radin's songs would be most at home on the Garden State soundtrack, they are none-the-less beautiful, with haunting harmonies and thoughtful lyrics.

MINI MIX
"Rocket" -- Goldfrapp
"Fader" -- The Temper Trap
"Up All Night" -- French Horn Rebellion
"Pull My Heart Away" -- Jack Peñate
"Limits" -- Calvin Harris
"Robots In Love" -- Beautiful Small Machines
"Ever After" -- Bonnie Bailey
"There Goes The Fear" -- Doves
"What If You"-- Joshua Radin

FILMS
Edge of Darkness
Red Riding 1974
Red Riding 1980
Red Riding 1983
The Last Station
Troop Beverly Hills: The Experience
The Ghost Writer
Shutter Island  
 
NETFLIX QUEUE
Poseidon
Cloverfield
Catch and Release
Mad Men: Season 2
Fletch
Withnail & I
Starman
Splash
The Darjeeling Limited
Letters from Iwo Jima

COOKING
Black bean & veggie chili
Spaghetti Carbonara
Asian marinated steak
Mustard-dressed broccoli slaw

BOOKS
Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann
I enjoyed the motif of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the world trade center towers that connected the various story-lines and character studies in this book, which manage to reflect both 1974 and the present through its thoughtful, caring prose.  The overall take-away I got from this book was that each and every character is well-loved by the author.  Also, the six-degrees-of-separation web that links everybody together is clever without feeling affected or forced. Not the masterpiece I was expecting it to be, but a pleasant, understated narrative.
Drood, Dan Simmons
In the interest of saving you the time it will take you to read all 771 pages of this book, I am just going to say: don't.  Unless you have great patience for an unreliable, unlikable narrator who repeats basic information, such as characters' nicknames, over and over (did Simmons take lessons from Dan Brown?).  Also, the Gothic motif was overdone, and the narrator often took us away from the somewhat interesting story to give us dry literary history lessons that had no bearing on anything and did not serve to fortify the fictional narrative.  I started out hoping that everything would come together in the end, because for the first two-thirds of the book, it seemed like it could be that kind of story, where the reader will be rewarded at the end for following and navigating all these varying threads, but in the end nothing is resolved, and I felt rather cheated.
Winner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, and the Race to Own Las Vegas, Christina Binkley
I hadn't read a book about Vegas since grad school, when I first fell in love with Steve Wynn and his genius, and this book served to renew my admiration for the man and my fascination with Las Vegas.  For me, casino resorts represent the ultimate in branding and marketing.  Casinos create aspirational lifestyles that are sold through brilliant marketing manipulation.  If Las Vegas weren't in the middle of the desert, I would move there in a heartbeat to be part of the casino industry.  Binkley creates a great portrait of Wynn while tracking the rise of Las Vegas both in the eyes of consumers and in the eyes of Wall Street.  An engrossing read that has me pumped for my first trip ever to Vegas at this time next month.
The Snapper, Roddy Doyle
Doyle is another author who truly cares for his characters.  While the plot of this story did not grab me as much as that of The Commitments, being invited into the Rabbitte family home is always a treat.  Doyle's dialog driven writing style helps kinetically move the reader through the story, and makes for a quick, entertaining read.