Top 5: Heard, Seen, Read

1) “Be Still” (2006), The Alarm
“Be Still”, a stadium-friendly monster ballad with brilliantly simple lyrics, drips with Welshman Mike Peters' passionately heartfelt vocals wrung dry with the emotions and experiences of a man whose life has endured its fair share of highs and lows. The pulsating guitar motif repeats and builds throughout the song, slowing only for the quiet, almost touching beauty of the bridge- “someday you’ll be over here, and I’ll be over there. Be still, be calm, be peaceful.” There's three decades of career experiences at work here and understandably everything from 70s punk and 80s stadium rock to 90s grunge-lite and post-punk pop are all thrown into the mix and given a refreshingly modern makeover. A great song can be played repeatedly, each time revealing different aspects to enjoy and admire. I’ve had this song on repeat, and it has the ability to reflect and then heighten my current state of mind.

2) Towelhead (2008), Alan Ball
Ball’s largely faithful film adaptation of Alicia Erian’s semi autobiographical novel “Towelhead” consciously, mercilessly prods audiences to react, for better and for worse. The film offers a veritable smorgasbord of unpleasantness: statutory rape, pedophilia, child abuse, masturbation, menstruation, male fingers drenched in hymeneal blood, a bloody tampon, racism, bullying, and even a dead kitten. What’s not to like there?
Jasira (Summer Bishil) is the daughter of a slatternly Anglo mother, Gail (Maria Bello) and a Lebanese immigrant father, Rifat (Peter Macdissi). The marriage is long since over, and Jasira lives with Mom and her sleazy boyfriend in Syracuse, NY. When Gail catches the boyfriend helping the pubescent Jasira shave her pubic hair, she naturally hits the roof, and throws the rascal out. No, not that rascal. She blames her well-developed daughter, and packs her off to Houston to live with the father, who is an engineer with NASA. He also seems threatened by Jasira’s budding sexuality and its implications. When she comes to breakfast scantily clad, he slaps her, and he forbids her from using makeup or tampons (there’s a welcome to the dollhouse atmosphere for the first 30 minutes of the movie).
One of her neighbors is Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart), a bigoted Army Reservist with a cookie-cutter blonde wife and an obnoxious young son for whom Jasira babysits. One afternoon Mr. Vuoso comes home unexpectedly and finds his son and the babysitter looking at his girlie magazines. He scolds Jasira. "You're too young to be reading that stuff", he tells her. And then, intrigued, he asks "How old are you?" "Ummmm… thirteen", she replies. That, apparently, is old enough. Gravid with menace and predatory lust, the scenes that depict her subsequent lurid relationship with Mr. Vuoso feel like child pornography. But like the rest of the film, they’re played with an unflinching intensity and a directness that feels courageous, though not for the squeamish. Whether being sexualized, victimized or both, Bishil handles both sides of being provocative with equal ability. As with the rest of “Towelhead,” it’s uncomfortable to keep watching her, whether she’s in pain or pleasure. But it’s impossible to look away.


3) Assassination Vacation (2006), Sarah Vowell
The novel Assassination Vacation is Sarah Vowell's pilgrimage into an often-neglected sector of the American landscape: that of assassination buffs. Vowell's people and the monuments they guard are the jumping off point for her strange, compelling look into the interconnectedness of U.S. history through its most famous killers and wannabe killers. The assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley are the book's core, but it is the twists of fate, the historical trash, and the characters she meets that make this book enjoyable and unique.
Vowell's considerable research and lust for her subject have wrought a book that is part history lesson, part personal digest, part murder-mystery, and part social critique. With each assassination explanation she puts together a delectable travelogue/history that reveals brilliant synchronicities between people and their eras. With Lincoln, for instance, she visits historical sites and pieces together John Wilkes Booth's murder plan. The plan weaves its way to an intriguing conclusion in Dry Tortugas Park where one of Booth's co-conspirators was imprisoned. In discussing Garfield, Vowell moves from New York state taxation politics, to Garfield's daily life, and onto the life of his unstable murderer, Charles Guiteau. On McKinley, we read about his empirical presidency, the AC/DC currency debate, and about the misunderstood anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who would eventually take McKinley's life.
These scraps of American history are glued together in Vowell's wry voice, both jovial and attuned to coincidence. Her attention to detail puts her in the front ranks of populist non-fiction writers. Digression and anecdote are her bread and butter, and her observations are sharp, ironic commentaries on today's world as seen through the prism of history.


4) Frito-Lay “Made for Each Other” Commercials (2008)
This campaign is about promoting the bond between chips & dips, which leads to the “Made for each Other” name. There is some great animation, illustration and 3D work in these five television commercials, as well as quirky characters whose comical, touching attempts to find their soulmates provide the content of each spot. The commercials have different animators and directors, so there’s quite a range stylistically, from computer animation to woodcut-esque to children’s book illustration.
Appealing to humanity’s basic need to form bonds, these commercials are surprisingly moving (not to mention adorable), whether it’s little Boris the lightbulb looking for his perfect socket, a set of eyes needing just the right glasses, or two magnets looking to connect. Even their names are sweet- Love & Sockets, Little Bright Eyes, etc. The music of these simple spots is their highlight. Love & Sockets has a lovely electronic song, "Flacana 16" by Melodium, and “The Magnet” has a sweet litte ditty by Katie Herzig, "Two Hearts are Better Than One". Some serious thought was put into these commercials, and it shows.


5) Kings (2009)
Credit Michael Green, the creator of the television program "Kings", with a bold stroke- recognizing that the biblical tale of King David, recast in modern dress, contains enough lust, violence and political intrigue to provide the underpinnings for a primetime soap. Frankly, given the wanton godlessness in Hollywood, some might assume NBC bought the show without knowing the Bible connection to David and Saul, not for a lack of clues.
Set in the mythical kingdom of Gilboa, the series features "Eragon's" Chris Egan as David Shepherd (get it?), a young soldier fighting against neighboring Gath. In an act of courage and desperation, David boldly rescues the king's son, Jack (Sebastian Stan), here by slaying a Goliath tank with the help of a rocket-launcher.
The grateful King Silas (McShane) whisks David back to Gilboa's capital, Shiloh. Meant to be exploited for public-relations purposes, the war hero quickly finds a place in the king's employ. At first it all feels a trifle clunky, from the king's seat of power being modeled after a corporate board room (seriously, would more ambitious costume and production design have broken the bank?) to the underlying plot of one honorable soldier tempted by power and corruption.
The two-hour premiere, however, ends with a whiff of prophecy, and the third hour ratchets up the drama with a fine guest appearance by Brian Cox, parallels to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a growing role for Silas' steely queen (Susanna Thompson), and rising tensions involving the king's grasp on his throne, as he's pushed and pulled at by a religious leader (Eamonn Walker) and his brother-in-law (Dylan Baker). "Kings" thus assumes a life of its own, beyond the cutesiness of simply identifying whatever biblical references one can recall from napping through religious school.