Culture Shock Report: March/April 2008

Last month, I had a lovely March culture shock report all typed up and then Typepad balled it up and threw it out the window. I didn't have the energy to go at it again. So this is a double issue.

Television:
The Riches
Men in Trees
The Office
30 Rock
Greys Anatomy
Real Time with Bill Maher

Film:
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story- I really, really want to like anything that comes from the Apatow gang... but this film was self indulgent, a total lift of big chunks of material, tasteless, mean spirited and in big chunks simply unfunny. What a let down.

Gone Baby Gone- I missed seeing this Oscar buzzy picture before the awards show. It kept me up the night I saw it. Not just a procedural cop drama, this film poses tough moral questions in an even tougher Boston neighborhood. I give kudos to any film that utilized Morgan Freeman and decided not to have him do a voice over. Thank you, Ben Affleck.

Lars and the Real Girl - I liked this. This is the type of film that can quickly turn to a heavy splash of quirk or uncomely humor. Lars did not go that route, choosing to play it straight. I chose to go with it, accept Lars' delusion and appreciate the fine performances by the ensemble cast including Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson and Emily Mortimer.

Smart People (in theater)- I saw Sarah Jessica Parker on The View and I was swayed to go see her in this small film. The cast was great, Thomas Hayden Church, Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page (who filmed this before Juno). Unfortunately, the story was thinly drawn and it felt like a bit of borrowing was done from Wonder Boys and The Savages, which I would wholeheartedly implore you to see both if you have not. Smart People isn't special like these other two.

Listening:
So much music came into the house in the last two months. In March, I special ordered from Amazon UK discs by Adele and Operator Please.

There have been repeat listenings of recent acquisitions, Vampire Weekend, Lima Finn and Kate Nash. Spring leads me to places on my ipod that have been neglected for a while- The Clash, The Old 97's, The Stone Roses, The Shout Out Louds, the Futureheads.  I think this season is looking to be particularly full of music you can dance to which suits me just fine. It feels good to bust a move.

Other incoming records worth mentioning include:
The Kills- Midnight Boom
MGMT- Oracular Spectacular (loving the track, "Electric Feel")
The Raconteurs- Consolers of the Lonely
Erykah Badu- New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War)

Live Shows:
The Raveonettes, Black Acid- 3/30/08 at Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ
Kate Nash, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players- 4/19/08 at the Trocadero, Philadelphia

Reading:
Magazines: Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appetit, Fortune, Elle Decor, New York, Entertainment Weekly, Body + Soul, Budget Travel, Girfriend Getaways (came bundled with my Budget Travel), Everyday Food

Comments

[Shannon the Movie Moxie]

I've been on the fence about seeing Lars and the Real Girl for ages now but it sounds like you enjoyed it so maybe I'll give it a go!

Gone Baby Gone was a tough film in so many ways. I ended up spending way more time than I would have thought thinking about it afterwards. I'm sorry to hear it kept you up!

[Rachel]

Keep posting! I like your article