A Record a Week: Buddy Holly - A Rock and Roll Collection

SIDE 1.
RAVE ON
TELL ME HOW
PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED
SLIPPIN' AND SLIDIN'
OH BOY!
NOT FADE AWAY

SIDE 2.
BO DIDDLEY
WHAT TO DO
HEARTBEAT
WELL ALL RIGHT
WORDS OF LOVE
LOVE'S MADE A FOOL OF YOU

SIDE 3.
REMINISCING
LONESOME TEARS
LISTEN TO ME
MAYBE BABY
DOWN THE LINE
THAT'LL BE THE DAY

SIDE 4.
PEGGY SUE
BROWN EYED HANDSOME MAN
YOU'RE SO SQUARE
CRYING, WAITING, HOPING
READY TEDDY
IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE

Boy, I should really get an autochanger. Back-to-back weeks of having to switch records four times to hear them in sequential order (big problems, I know).

This record has a good deal of the songs recorded in Holly's very short career. The most amazing thing to me is that the quality of the recordings seem to vary greatly, despite the fact that they must have taken place in a relatively short span. These recordings, among others, retain everything that he would record prior to the fateful plane crash killing him and other musicians. Throught the record it's easy to see his influences, as well as those he influenced. His sound is not unlike Elvis, with his own flair thrown in. It's clear that he came out afterward, but is certainly not a clone at all.

It's amazing to imagine a time when 'black music' and 'white music' were something that needed bridging (though hip-hop in the '80s and '90s was largely considered such.) In that time, though, there were many discriminations by race that we've only really begun to overcome. Holly was part of that movement to bring that style to a larger white audience (though one might argue that has only minimally increased the exposure of african-american musicians when compared to the positive effect it's had on white rock musicians.)

It's always really interesting to listen to the foundation of the music I've listened to my whole life. Over time, I plan to chip away at the building blocks of modern music until I end up back in the wax cylinder days.

Random Movie Review: Otis

Otis (2008)
Starring: Bostin Christopher, Ashley Johnson, Daniel Stern

















Otis is a disturbed man who lives acts out fantasies taken from actual events in his brother's life. To do this, though, he kidnaps and locks up girls in a special room under his garage and forces them to live out a prom night fantasy. However, Otis keeps screwing it up and not getting to the prom. When he kidnaps Riley Lawson and contacts her family, they decide to conduct their own justice. Much confusion is met, however, when it turns out that Otis' brother is the one who enters the house.

Watching this movie was a bit confusing; it felt like it was trying to be too many things at once. It looked like it might be trying to be the 'pretty girl slasher', but by casting Ashley Johnson (who probably has a no-nudity clause) as Riley, they removed the chance of having it be a film like Turistas. Then it felt like by casting Daniel Stern and Ilieana Douglas, they might be going for the silly horror (a la Shaun of the Dead), but then it wasn't well-written enough to pull that off. Lastly, they had just a shred of trying to be a thriller or horror film, which luckily they weren't trying too hard for, because it just was not going to work. Some of the actors were trying to be a bit silly (Stern and Douglas, Kevin Pollak was trying to be his serious self and Bostin Christopher was just not a good actor (as shown by his imdb list).

The heart of this movie was in the right place, I just think that the genre was too spread out and the direction wasn't all in the same place. I'll give it a 5/10.

Random Movie Review: The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Starring: Geraldine McEwan, Anne-Marie Duff, Nora-Jane Noone
















The Magdalene Sisters revolves around three young women who are sent to what amounts to a religious rehabilitation centre. Each from different families, Rose had a child out of wedlock, Margaret was raped and Bernadette, well she just like flirting with the boys. Each of their families decide they need to pray their way back into gods graces and are sent to the Magdalene Asylum. While there, they witness and endure many acts of humiliation and abuse. Many of the women at the asylum have given in to the situation, mostly due to having no other options. The three girls, however, never give up hope and eventually do get away.

This is a gripping tale of the feminist movement within the catholic church. There are a few scenes in particular that are very effective. In one scene, one of the staff has the entire group of ladies strip naked and points out various humiliating things about them (such as who has the most pubic hair, biggest/smallest boobs, fattest, etc.) In another scene, a girl who has slept with a priest and gets a poison ivy rash from a practical joke played on him repeats 'you are not a man of god' over and over again, going from strange to uncomfortable and eventually you just can't look away.  She gets sent to a mental institution to hush her up, where it is explained she eventually dies of anorexia.

I will leave out my stance on religion and simply say that this points out a situation that has in some form surely happened. NOT that it is the norm for religious families to send their family to places like this, nor am I certain whether you could find a place like this in today's world (this is set in 1960's Ireland). I also have never been to Ireland, so I suppose I can't comment on anything there, religious or otherwise. But I digress, this movie was enjoyable. I was pulled in and began rooting for 2/3 of the main three and had a mild fondness for the third. I will give this movie a 7.75/10. Not quite an 8, but it was pretty good and my enjoyment for it grows stronger as time goes on.