Because I am such a maven of good taste, what with the secret Bon Jovi thing (huh, not so secret anymore, is it?!) and the Ricky Martin and the Backstreet Boys and the repeated rentals of 10 Things I Hate About You, I think I will be Ms. Snotty Arts Critic today and give you some lists.
The Three Best Pieces of Art I Have Ever Seen in Person
1. Edvard Munch’s Madonna
When I was in high school, I got really into art. I guess I was pretty good at it, but mostly I loved how creating something made me feel. During my intro art class, we had a small art history unit and the teacher threw a slide of The Scream up on screen. In the years since, I’ve come to see it as among the least of his works, but at the time it captivated me, and I wanted to know more. By the time I had a chance to travel to Norway in college I was pretty well steeped in Munch lore, but nothing prepared me for how beautiful this piece is in person. There are shimmers of color there that even the best print can’t capture, and there’s something about the challenge in the woman’s stance and expression that draw me in more than the Mona Lisa ever did.
2. Michelangelo’s Pieta in St. Peter’s
I was absolutely gobsmacked by this when I first saw it. I hadn’t gotten into art at that point so I’d never seen a picture and I wasn’t expecting anything, and here is this gorgeous, gorgeous thing full of sadness and grace in front of me that was created by a person. I’ve since seen more sculptures and paintings by him in person and each one is revelatory.
3. Friedensreich Hundertwasser House
I told a German friend I was going to Vienna and she brushed off all the other art and culture treasures in the city and told me the one thing I HAD to see was this house. And she’s right. It has to be experienced, this and the museum down the street that he also designed, with the trees growing willy nilly, wacky window placement and odd little nooks and crannies. In the museum, the building itself merges with the art in the space and on the walls to become a multimedia experience. Even the entry tickets are a funky little puzzle.
Three Cool Buildings
1. The dancing building in Prague
The name says it all. You see this thing and you expect it to go whirling off to a waltz tune. In a city where the old construction is gorgeous but most of the new stuff is uninspired at best, this is my favorite exception to the rule.
2. The Chrysler Building.
I never grow tired of seeing it shining.
3. The Guggenheim Museum
It kinda looks like an ashtray, or maybe your inner ear, or maybe it really is supposed to be a nautilus. Whatever, I am charmed anew every time.
Aside From the Collected Works of Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Nick Cave, Three CDs I Recommend
1. Sinead O’Connor — The Lion and the Cobra
She was only MOSTLY crazy on this one, and that was a good place for her artistically (if not personally, perhaps). Jackie gives me chills and I can only ever play Troy in the car by myself because of the screaming it makes me do. Seriously. Not pretty.
2. Damien Rice - O
I just got 9, which would be number 2.5 on the list, but the first album is so, so lovely. I told Jim that if I met Damien in real life, I would probably have to kick him in the nuts because he totally seems like one of those New Age Player types. But his voice is consistently in the beautiful-to-stunning range, his band is top-notch (that cello!), and his co-vocalist/frequent duet partner/whatever Lisa Hannigan pushes his songs from really good to great even when she only shows up to murmur some lalalalas in the background.
3. The Killers — Sam’s Town
I’m only just discovering it, but I find it exhilerating to be listening to a new band that has actually bothered to synthesize and filter their influences instead of regurgitating them note for note (I am looking at you, The Rapture! Cure, much?). I hear U2, The Cure, Bruce, REM, and a bunch of little indie bands from the late-1980s and early 1990s, but I can’t ever pin them down exactly, and that’s VERY refreshing. Plus, this album is making me reconsider the fact that I do not own an IPOD and that I do not run, because just sitting in the car, the pace makes me antsy.
Three Movies I Think Everyone Should See, Besides An Inconvenient Truth or Who Killed the Electric Car, Which I Saw and Valued But Realize I Need to Stay Away From Because This Genre Makes Me Say Irresponsible Things About What I Would Like to Do to Our Leaders and Some of You Might Feel the Same Way So Who Am I to Inflict Such a Downer
1. Amores Perros
We rented this with some friends and they insisted we turn it off halfway through because it was so hard to watch — and it is: dogfights, personal betrayals, overall grimness. I had to go back and watch the rest, and not just because Hotty McHotness is in it. That’d be Gael Garcia Bernal, and dude, what’s up with this guy? Did he sign a pact with the devil to a. be that hot and b. be a part of that many good movies (The Crimes of Father Amaro, Y Tu Maman Tambien, that weird Pedro Almodovar cross-dressing one)? Where’s his Oscar? He should get the Oscar for hot, talented dude. What? That’s not a category? I’m boycotting the academy!! Ummmm. Maybe I DID watch it because of him. But the rest of the movie’s pretty amazing, too. I’m a sucker for that genre of films where disparate events and people who seem unconnected at first get woven together in weirdly fated ways, and this one does it especially well, both technically and in the way the plot twists suckerpunch you.
2. Infernal Affairs
I know, very pretentious to prefer the original and disparage the remake, but this Hong Kong movie is the inspiration for The Departed. Though I loved Departed and thought Leo and Matt justified every gushing word ever written about their talent with their performances in this film, I still like the original better. I can’t tell you why becaue it would reveal the plot twist at the end that differs from The Departed, but it ends up makes a really interesting point about the intersection between what we appear to be and what we are.
3. The Three Colors Trilogy
I wasn’t going to list this one because it’s also one of those “fate” things, but it’s truly a gem. Give yourself a couple of evenings to watch these three from start to finish. The cinematography alone will make you weep, and the soundtrack just slays me; I now obsessively collect Zbignieuw Preisner’s music and this is very difficult, as I have no idea how to pronounce his name. But the stories? All built around intriguing female leads, stunningly acted, and the way Red ends? Words fail.
There you have it. So: What’s your list? I’d love to get some suggestions, if only to pad our Netflix cue!