Recently in culchah Category

As promised, our killer RAGBRAI mix. Sorry I don't have them streaming - I was going to upload them to muxtape before they started having a problem with the RIAA....

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones
You Wreck Me - Tom Petty
Accelerate - R.E.M.
The Distance - Cake
Stronger - Kanye West
Pork and Beans - Weezer
Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
Freelove Freeway - David Brent (from "The Office")
Last Night - The Strokes
Come On Home - Franz Ferdinand
Viva la Vida - Coldplay (yes, that's right, Coldplay made the list!)

And the setlist from the Radiohead concert last week:

1. Reckoner
2. Optimistic
3. There There
4. 15 Step
5. Kid A
6. Nude (someone said this is the anthem Chris Martin has been trying to write
for a decade)
7. All I Need
8. The Gloaming
9. National Anthem
10. Videotape
11. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
12. The Bends
13. Faust Arp
14. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. Exit Music (for a film)
17. Bodysnatchers

Encore #1
18. House of Cards
19. I Might Be Wrong
20. Paranoid Android
21. Wolf at the Door
22. How To Disappear Completely

Encore #2
23. Cymbal Rush
24. Karma Police
25. Idioteque

I'm pretty sure "I Might Be Wrong" is in the wrong place (oh the irony). I think it was somewhere in the middle of the first set. But anyway, lotta highlights in there. Loved it when Thom Yorke said, "This one's for the people in the back" and they broke into "Jigsaw Falling Into Place." Also loved it that they almost never talked and thus managed to play 25 whole songs. I'm pretty sure that when I saw Styx in Ames they played about 10 songs with about an hour of talking and long guitar solos mixed in. Surprising highlights for me: numbers 10, 13, 21, 23. Oh, and "Optimistic" is my new favorite Radiohead song, not least because "dinosaurs roaming the earth" is one of the lyrics. Have I ever mentioned how much I love dinosaurs?

Can I just take this moment to praise MIT's website?

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

This theme dominated the discussion last night at our Oscar party. People were flinging snarky remarks about people's makeup and jewelry at the television. "Nicole Kidman's dress makes her look like a Christmas present." "Why do the winners always thank their mothers but not their fathers?" "Jack Nicholson does not look good bald." Perhaps this is gossip. But isn't that the fun of watching the Oscars? I don't really care that much who wins, although I was rooting for Little Miss Sunshine, and it was pretty cool to see Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas give Scorcese his first Oscar. Oh, and Ellen's, Seinfeld's, Al Gore's, and Ferrell/Black/Reilly's performances were worth watching and laughing at. But the true fun of watching the Oscars has always been making fun of the silly things that happen, like the shot of Borat muttering to himself when Ellen mentioned movies with subtitles, or the uninterested/dissatisfied look on Ennio Morricone's face as he was being honored by Clint Eastwood. I don't see any problem in laughing at people who are totally asking for it.

In other news, we went to see Amazing Grace this weekend. I highly recommend it. It's a film in the spirit of Chariots of Fire, except without the stirring musical score or breathtaking scenery. But that's not necessarily a shortcoming. It's full of British witticisms, Parliamentary debates and maneuverings, a passion for social justice, a lot of my favorite BBC British-novel-to-film actors, and a little bit of Albert Finney. The perfect combination, in my opinion.

After you see the movie, go to www.theamazingchange.com and sign the petition.

I heard about Fox Faith Movies sometime last week, but only just today looked at their website. Fox Faith is a "new branded distribution label" of Twentieth Century Fox that will acquire and distribute movies that target a Christian audience. Of course, it's a great marketing strategy, especially in light of what happened with The Passion of the Christ. But why do the trailers for all the movies on this website have to be so epic and full of overblown, sweeping music that induces only one kind of emotional response? I don't see any range or breadth of feeling in those trailers. Why does a movie with "overt Christian content" have to be a drama/epic? Where is the Christian comedy, or the Christian social commentary, or the Christian mind-bender? Anyway, a new movie about Queen Esther is coming out soon, and the trailer for it looks like it could be for "Troy." 'Nuff said.

Speaking of films, I thought I might want to go see "The Departed" because it got rave reviews and was filmed in Boston. But then I read that it has brutal mob violence, of which I have had enough after watching the first four episodes of season one of The Sopranos recently. About which, by the way, I have a question: Why has Tony Soprano cried in every episode so far? Andrew?

P.S. Anna is in Brussels. Read her blog.