Bookazine Book Review: Thailights
By Poppy This is exactly what a heart warming film should be. The story is about a mysterious mental patient Prot, played by Kevin Spacey. He’s a friendly, crazy guy who claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. He gets arrested and thrown into a psycho ward and manages to make everybody feel better about themselves. Busy psychiatrist Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges) is assigned to Prot’s case in order to make him “sane” again. It turns out that Dr. Powell is the last one who should be giving life lessons, since he completely ignores his beautiful wife and daughter and no longer speaks to his son from his first marriage. He discovers that Prot is a strange individual who devours fruit and wears dark sunglasses due to light sensitivity. Then he captures the doctor’s interest with his inhuman response to drugs, his rational intelligence, and his claim to be from a planet 1,000 light years away - “K-PAX.”
This film is very funny. I was not disappointed, in the end I found myself thinking about the small things in life, and the wonder and magic of the everyday life we so often take for granted. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in something different. Whether or not the movie decides that Prot is an alien (I’m not telling), these clues linger, unanswered. Directed by Iain Softley Cast: Kevin Spacey as Prot, Jeff Bridges as Dr. Mark Powell, Mary McCormack as Rachel Powell, Alfre Woodard as Claudia Villars, David Patrick Kelly as Howie, Saul Williams (I) as Ernie, Peter Gerety as Sal, Celia Weston as Mrs. Archer, Ajay Naidu as Dr. Chakraborty, Tracy Vilar as Maria, Melanee Murray as Bess, John Toles-Bey as Russell, Kimberly Scott (I) as Joyce Trexler, Conchata Ferrell as Betty McAllister, Vincent Laresca as Navarro
Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow by Mott the Dog ***** 5 Star Rating If Jeff Beck was lucky enough to be a dog, he’d probably be a whippet: fast, intelligent, dangerous and highly strung. He came to prominence in the mid-sixties. Then, his guitar slinging capabilities were put to the test when he successfully replaced Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds. After blowing his mind (and everyone else’s) whilst on tour in America, Mrs. Beck’s Bad Boy spent the next few years searching for his musical kennel. First of all there was the blues rock of the Jeff Beck group, which sensationally contained Rod Stewert, Ronnie Wood, and Nicky Hopkins on keyboards (who turned down Led Zeppelin to join this outfit). Then there was a second edition of the band, with Cozy Powell, which went nowhere. After that he forged a union with ex-Vanilla Fudge rhythm section Tim Bogart and Carmine Appice (British Dogs & American Cats obviously don’t mix!). After which he made this all instrumental album, which was an incredible success all over the world.
Within the concept of Martin’s superb production, Jeff Beck is still let loose on such crazy workouts as “Air Blower”, “Scatter Brain” and the supersonic “Freeway Jam”, where the sound effects department are put to the test. Jeff Beck also proves that he can structure a melody and turn it into something of great beauty. “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers”, written by Stevie Wonder, is Beck’s gorgeous tribute to his own guitar hero, the sadly departed Roy Buchanan. The final track, Diamond Dust is the guitarist at the absolute peak of his powers, clocking in at nearly nine minutes. It’s guaranteed to send shivers up and down your spine. Blow By Blow was certainly Jeff Beck’s finest hour but, to get the full blown story, you should also buy the 3 CD Beckology, which will take you with Jeff Beck from 1962 - 1990. Enjoy. Track Listing 1. You Know What I Mean
Updated every Friday Updated by
Chinnaporn Sangwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk. |
Wormsley is a social anthropologist by profession, that
group of people who study people, especially customs and mores. This
examination comes across as microcosms of life; for example his
descriptions of the universal back-packers of Khao San Road,
indistinguishable in dress code but different in manner. “The Brits
always ask first for the cheapest guest house. The Americans invariably
seek the bottled water and hermetically sealed pre-packaged foods. The
Australians gravitate to the coldest beer. The Germans verbally assault
each and every vendor. The Swedes and French wander aimlessly in the all
but futile hope that their English will be understood by anyone other than
themselves.”
Prot announces that he’ll be leaving earth at exactly
5:51 a.m. on July 27, forcing Powell to solve his problem before then.
Mott’s CD review:
Supported by Max Middleton on keyboards, he also had
the fifth Beatle, George Martin, producing the whole thing. Blow By Blow
finds young Mr. Beck with a bass-drums-keyboards outfit which was
augmented by some tastefully unobtrusive string arrangement. But don’t
let that fool you, the guitar is right up there in your face throughout.
All his trademark licks, fierce attacks, thick tones, micro-tonal bending,
distortion, screaming feedback, vibrato, sustain, sonic hoodoo, and
splatter blasting are all still there.