Top 10+ Music, Movies, and Visual Art of the Week (2023) - Music Diaries

DelBocaVista

AfterHours wrote:

Maybe a live albums is more realistic but even that is pretty low on my priorities...

But again, maybe someone else could give it a go? DelBoca?

Scaruffi made one but it's in its early stages. The Doors' live album ranks higher than the one by Phish (#4 v #13) despite a lower rating (7 v 8 ). Clearly Kick Out The Jams is #1. Would have to decide whether to only include live albums which are substitutes for studio (such as KOTJ or Live/Dead) or ones made of great versions.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

DelBocaVista wrote:

AfterHours wrote:

Maybe a live albums is more realistic but even that is pretty low on my priorities...

But again, maybe someone else could give it a go? DelBoca?

Scaruffi made one but it's in its early stages. The Doors' live album ranks higher than the one by Phish (#4 v #13) despite a lower rating (7 v 8 ). Clearly Kick Out The Jams is #1. Would have to decide whether to only include live albums which are substitutes for studio (such as KOTJ or Live/Dead) or ones made of great versions.

Good point. As is often the case with early versions of his lists, the ranking order is pretty out of whack compared to what it would seem to be now.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

In addition to revised ratings of several paintings (see current Top 10+ list), I've recently added the following to my "Greatest Paintings" list:

Misc Notes for future analysis for...

The Night Watch - Rembrandt
*The Kiss - Klimt
Beethoven Frieze - Klimt
Transfiguration - Raphael
*Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - Picasso
*Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - Seurat
*Wheat Field With Cypresses - Van Gogh
*Christina's World - Wyeth
*Nighthawks - Hopper

Those with asterisks (above) are simply copy and pasted from recent replies on this thread to TiggaTrigga. Those without an asterisk above are new and solely featured on my "Greatest Paintings" list.

I do want to stress that these are all "notes for future analysis" not finalized. They are not "official" or polished up or complete (yet), though all of them contain (usually several) essential points of analysis to unraveling these works.

Re: Classical updates...

I also made a number of Classical (minor) downgrades above 8.8+ (again see changes on latest Top 10+). This was not because these truly dropped in any significant way but more because in looking back over the 9.3+ works that I downgraded, I wasn't ready to assuredly keep them in the higher ratings because it is so impossible for a work to get there and I was especially hesitant with works I still need to revisit to be more sure of (as with those with asterisks) to keep above 9 and especially keeping above 9.3. Although Wagner's Tristan remained above 9.3, I did drop The Ring cycle just below. Again, it might yet return, but I'm just not ready at this time to claim Wagner is the only artist ever to accomplish the doubly impossible of having two works above 9.3, especially since I need to revisit his works and become more certain of them. Note: if anyone could do it, it would be the likes of a Wagner, or a Beethoven (Missa Solemnis remains a possibility), or a Bach ... Michelangelo has a strong argument if I were to rate Last Judgment and Sistine Ceiling separately ... Shakespeare? Dante? Think

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TiggaTrigga

So...thoughts on Fight Club? I don't care about spoilers. I've already seen it.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

TiggaTrigga wrote:

So...thoughts on Fight Club? I don't care about spoilers. I've already seen it.

The film has been analyzed to death by fanboyz. I don't have anything new or particularly revelatory to add except maybe that there are multiple momentary flashes or "sightings" of Durden before he more properly "meets" him on the plane (which, interestingly, takes place right after an imagined death scene of the plane crash). Though I really doubt that's "new" -- just a point that may be less noticed. The style of the film too, while probably a little bit too exposition-laden than it needs to be, is itself schizophrenic, paralleling Norton/Durden's personality split/crisis. Stylistically (including how voice over is handled combined with its editing) seems influenced by films like Goodfellas (and Scorsese in general), and Trainspotting.
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TiggaTrigga

AfterHours wrote:

The film has been analyzed to death by fanboyz. I don't have anything new or particularly revelatory to add except maybe that there are multiple momentary flashes or "sightings" of Durden before he more properly "meets" him on the plane (which, interestingly, takes place right after an imagined death scene of the plane crash). Though I really doubt that's "new" -- just a point that may be less noticed. The style of the film too, while probably a little bit too exposition-laden than it needs to be, is itself schizophrenic, paralleling Norton/Durden's personality split/crisis. Stylistically (including how voice over is handled combined with its editing) seems influenced by films like Goodfellas (and Scorsese in general), and Trainspotting.

I'll be honest, I don't know who fanboyz is.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

TiggaTrigga wrote:

I'll be honest, I don't know who fanboyz is.

Neither do I Laughing

I didn't mean a particular reviewer like Fantano, etc...

I just meant "fan boys" in reference to someone that is obsessed with the film and how acclaimed it is among this generation of internet film geeks. The "z" replaced the "s" for reasons I can't explain but it just felt right haha

I was kind of making fun of it even though I think it's a very good film. I think it was one of the key formative films for a certain percentage of this generation of film geeks. It could have been for me as it was released right at that time, but I'd already seen many earlier film masterpieces beforehand (such as those of Scorsese, Welles, Bergman, Kubrick...), including those it seems most indebted to (like Trainspotting, Goodfellas, perhaps some of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, and the nihilism and ultra-violence of films like Natural Born Killers and Clockwork Orange, and Tarantino) so although I've always liked FC a lot, it didn't seem as revolutionary to me as it might to someone else that was on an earlier film viewing trajectory.

Despite the above, fwiw, I have considered upgrading it to 7.3 or so, but 7.2 seems correct to me at this time.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

For my criteria page, go here: http://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/vi...hp?t=15503

To visit my Main lists, go here:
Greatest Classical Music Works: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15098
Greatest Albums (Rock & Jazz): https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15276
Greatest Films: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15558
Greatest Paintings: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=15560
Greatest Works of Art: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...hp?t=16117

Bold = Newly added
Bold + Italics = Was already listed but recently upgraded/downgraded

Top 10+ Music, Movies, and Visual Art of the Week(s): 11-8-21 - 12-5-2021
The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci (1497) ...Currently re-studying this incredible masterpiece. Been reading through roughly 300 pages of art analysis (combined, from various historians), comparing notes, looking over the work (both the original and various reproductions). Some of this is partially new, most of it is review (in most cases, insights I am already familiar with taken from slightly varied angles, which can help form a more comprehensive view). This is with the intention of helping to bring my analysis to fruition in written form, or at least towards posting "notes in preparation" for it.
Sistine Chapel (Ceiling & The Last Judgment) - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1512; 1541)
Guernica - Pablo Picasso (1937)
Disappeared - Spring Heel Jack (2000)
Mona Lisa - Leonardo Da Vinci (1505)
Tootsie - Sydney Pollack (1982)
Conversion of Saul / Crucifixion of St Peter - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1550) ...Being evaluated as a combined work, though I have yet to make a final decision on whether they should be ranked/rated as such...
Spirit of Eden - Talk Talk (1988)
Sticky Fingers - Rolling Stones (1971)
Beggar's Banquet - Rolling Stones (1968)
Doni Tondo - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1504)
If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian (1996)
Violin Concertos Nos. 1-4, "The Four Seasons" - Antonio Vivaldi (1723)
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin (1971)
Led Zeppelin I - Led Zeppelin (1969)
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen (1975)

Top 10+ Albums/Movies for the Week(s) - Rated 2.8/10 to 6.7/10
Led Zeppelin II - Led Zeppelin (1969)
August and Everything After - Counting Crows (1993)
(500) Days of Summer - Marc Webb (2009)
Euphoria - Sam Levinson (2019-Present): 1st Episode only
New Girl - Elizabeth Meriwether (2011-2018): Seasons 1-3 ...I don't usually include TV shows -- also because I hardly ever watch them anyway -- but because I mysteriously spent a fairly considerable amount of free time over the last couple weeks watching the first two seasons, I'll make an exception here. Sometimes I actually need breathers from exhaustive projects like extensively analyzing Da Vinci's Last Supper and Michelangelo's art, so I turn to harmless works like this to lower my IQ, de-intensify the pressure on my brain, and to recuperate (I'm kidding. Sort of.). Moreover, a friend kept recommending this to me so I decided to finally go ahead and honor her request, plus I had an ulterior motive in that I'm a sucker for Zooey Deschanel. All in all, it's a pretty funny sitcom that manages some drama as well, but is often just a bit too stupid to sustain its comedic or dramatic tension (sporadically successful/unsuccessful). Besides Deschanel, one or all of the three main male characters usually have one or more unbearably annoying sequences or plots per episode that tends to kill whatever tension (comedic or dramatic) that was there beforehand. Taking the cake, Schmidt is among the most annoying douchebags in sitcom/TV show history and I'm not really sure why the writers wouldn't make him a bit more believable (exceptions to this are the often hilarious flashbacks; not just him but are almost always funny for all the characters). In comedy it is of course common to exaggerate reality a bit, but what usually works best (particularly when trying to also balance drama) is when that line is much more finely drawn than it is here, and Schmidt's character is just terribly written way past that point. Usually Deschanel (who is excellent more often than not) salvages the show just enough to keep things working. The best part of the show is that it keeps things lively and relatively fast moving so its flaws, even though frequented, are just as often followed by something witty or charming or comedically successful. It's a bit like an updated, more racy, more professionally shot and staged version of Friends (including the similarity of flaws, though New Girl is superior and generally more bearable). As a kind of side note (off the top of my head, without serious analysis) a pretty good album comp for this show (including degree of quality, type of emotional/conceptual content, and pace/arc/trajectory) might be something like Taylor Swift's Speak Now. However, the opening theme music for New Girl (the 20 second rendition, not the entire song), which has been stuck in my head for a week, is surely a 9.5/10, am I right?
30 - Adele (2021) ...No Rating Yet... But I can say that some of it (pleasantly) surprised me with its more personal direction. My Little Love may be the finest song of her career and even had me thinking 30 could end up being a surprise 7/10+ if ... only ... it ... could ... sustain ... this ... and ... even ... develop upon it (but unfortunately, like so many pop stars, she is overly safe). Maybe it will still get a 7 (with some revisits) but I'm not sure if such small adventures are enough to overcome the general sense with her of emotional deja vu, that we are mostly retreading the same ground besides some nuances and shake ups here and there. It's probably her least lively, most introspective album, which may or may not be a good thing. It's solid, confessional, articulate music, but a far cry from Joni Mitchell, even though the music press will probably hail it as some sort of masterpiece of our time (or already did; sorry, I hardly pay attention to this stuff). Because she is always so articulate, high class adult contemporary/pop soul, rarely transcending expectations or developing emotionally, conceptually or creatively beyond this, it can grow a bit stale, even if its hard to fault from a professionalism point of view.
Passion of the Christ - Mel Gibson (2004)

>>>>>Note to self: look into artist David Brian Smith. Interview here: https://www.studiointernational.com/ind...-interview ... ... This painting (Great Expectations - Wow), among some of his others, are intriguing and might be worthy of 6s - 6.5s or so: https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/...ion-previe w-saatchi-gallery-london-uk-29-nov-2016-7525798ac

(Note: Ratings updates in RED are not based on a revisit of the work DURING the listed week(s), but more a result of tweaks made in an overall sense, such as: a general change in the computation of the ratings scale itself, and/or comparisons to genre and/or the artist's career or alike careers. Such factors can have a sort of "domino effect" on the ratings in general, or that of a particular artist or type of artist, or that of a particular genre, etc)

FAMILIAR FILMS - RE-RATED:
Tootsie - Sydney Pollack (1982) 7.7/10 to 7.6/10

NEWLY ASSIMILATED FILMS - RATED:
(500) Days of Summer - Marc Webb (2009) 6.1/10
Passion of the Christ - Mel Gibson (2004) 5.7/10 ... I had watched a bit of this film before, but I finally got around to the whole last night. Part of the reason is that I've been studying/evaluating Leonardo's Last Supper and so many religious paintings recently that it is kind of like killing two birds with one stone -- both watching a biblical film out of cinematic interest and touching up on biblical history simultaneously. It's hard not to be impressed by Caviezel's extremely dedicated performance, and the sheer violence on display has a certain impact (especially during the flogging scene and when he is nailed to the cross, and how much the grotesque soldiers revel in inflicting it), but despite the very worthy effort, the film lacks much interest past that even though the performances are all solid beyond Caviezel's and the cinematography has some great moments as well. The film is unfortunately short on emotional/thematic and narrative development with each scene being drawn out beyond what is needed to make the point (without much development of cinematic craft to back it up and make the time spent more worthwhile or meaningful), and overall somewhat superficial even if the effort and conviction of the director and performers are made clear. There is a scene near the end where we get a God's eye view of Christ on the cross as a single drop of rain falls down to meet the scene. Though I do understand saving a view like this until that moment, it is nevertheless a glimpse at the sort of craft that the film could've used more of to make the illustration of events more profound and affecting: more emphasis on the mystical (without going overboard), but particularly a bit more on the mystery and dichotomy of Christ from both points of view simultaneously/juxtaposed (God and Man) even if it were just suggested without being explicit (for instance, the sort of art illustrated throughout Tarkovsky films, that tends to be simultaneously meaningful and mystical/inexplicable).
New Girl - Elizabeth Meriwether (2011-2018): Season 1 4.8/10
New Girl - Elizabeth Meriwether (2011-2018): Season 2 4.2/10
New Girl - Elizabeth Meriwether (2011-2018): Season 3 3.5/10

FAMILIAR PAINTINGS/VISUAL ART - RE-RATED:
The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci (1497) 8.8/10 to 9.0/10

TOP 50 WORKS OF ART OF THE YEAR (2021)
Sistine Chapel (Ceiling & The Last Judgment) - Michelangelo Buonarroti (1512; 1541)
Have One On Me - Joanna Newsom (2010)
Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (1969)
The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci (1497)
Escalator Over The Hill - Carla Bley (1971)
Even the Sounds Shine - Myra Melford (1994)
The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1495-1505)
Irrlicht - Klaus Schulze (1972)
The Night Watch - Rembrandt van Rijn (1642)
Original Sin - Pandora's Box (1989)
Dreamtime Return - Steve Roach (1988)
Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt (1974)
Guernica - Pablo Picasso (1937)
Metamorphose de Narcisse - Salvador Dali (1937)
Touch of Evil - Orson Welles (1958)
Symphony No. 9 in C Major "The Great" - Franz Schubert (1826)
Neu! - Neu! (1971)
Spiderland - Slint (1991)
Improvisie - Paul Bley (1971)
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun - Marion Brown (1970)
The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails (1994)
Nostalghia - Andrei Tarkovsky (1983)
Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1910)
Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky (1979)
Spirit of Eden - Talk Talk (1988)
Europe After The Rain II - Max Ernst (1942)
The Kiss - Gustav Klimt (1908)
Blue - Joni Mitchell (1971)
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)
The Rite of Spring - Igor Stravinsky (1913)
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major "Eroica" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1804)
Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him - Lingua Ignota (2017)
America - John Fahey (1971)
Lorca - Tim Buckley (1969)
Down Colorful Hill - Red House Painters (1992)
Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan (1966)
Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino (1994)
St. Matthew Cycle: The Calling of St. Matthew; The Inspiration of St. Matthew; The Martyrdom of St. Matthew - Michelangelo Caravaggio (1602)
Starsailor - Tim Buckley (1970)
Happy Sad - Tim Buckley (1968)
Da Capo - Love (1966)
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (1991)
Symphony No. 2 in D Major - Johannes Brahms (1877)
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major - Franz Schubert (1828)
Chinatown - Roman Polanski (1974)
The Conversation - Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
The Doors - The Doors (1966)
Blow Out - Brian De Palma (1981)
Strange Days - The Doors (1967)
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Last edited by AfterHours on 12/29/2021 23:18; edited 14 times in total

TiggaTrigga

Thoughts on Stairway to Heaven, since you listened to Led Zeppelin IV lately?

Also this is random but Meet the Residents is easily one of the most weird, yet well-put-together albums I've ever heard. But I'm sure you felt a similar way when you listened to it the first time.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

TiggaTrigga wrote:

Thoughts on Stairway to Heaven, since you listened to Led Zeppelin IV lately?

Also this is random but Meet the Residents is easily one of the most weird, yet well-put-together albums I've ever heard. But I'm sure you felt a similar way when you listened to it the first time.

Re: Stairway...

Fusion/development of folk-rock, progressive rock, hard rock, with three major sections (and perhaps the quintessential, balanced convergence of their art).

The three sections increase in emphasis from solemnity to climax, each complimentary to the introductory section.

First section features solemn, winding/cyclic guitar that "unfolds" the lyrics like a story/legend being told delicately, with mystical "Renaissance style" undertones (via recorders) in the background.

Page's vocal performance: a prayerful solemnity and near grief in the beginning; increasingly inspired/hopeful as the guitar increases in speed and intonation/emphasis; increases in solidarity as the drums join the proceedings; finally, after the guitar solo section, breaking out into a high pitched howl that develops "out of" and in "opposition-parallel" or "counter point" to the "inward 'howl', conflicted nature" of the solo, culminating in a dual-orgasmic release, while all instruments converge and increase with it.

Each element of the song essentially goes through a mystical-progression-release (vocals and instrumentation) -- each individually and in solidarity.

Re: Meet the Residents...

Yep, agreed!
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