arthur tarratus's profile

Denomination: Presbyterian Church in America
Church Involvement: Member

some I like a lot ...

bob dylan, x, astor piazzola, estrella morente, kurt weill, cachao, sixteen horsepower, pj harvey, nick cave, tom waits, gillian welch, fleetwood mac, the pogues, the pixies, public enemy, led zeppelin, the pretenders, radiohead, alejandro sanz, la macanita, el chocolate, diana krall, emmylou harris, mark knopfler, amy mann, thelonioius monk (crepuscule for nellie, round midnight, oh my!), chet baker, ella fitzgerald, billie holiday, diego del gastor, camaron, woody guthrie ... i've been thinking heavily of "little country giants" recently .... woops, forgot jimi hendrix, the clash ...

reminded just now that i love the standards: irving berlin, george gershwin, cole porter, johnny mercer ...

reminded today about jesus lizard/cows doubleheaders at the 40Watt: not for the faint of heart.

some I like a lot...

If I had to pick one Tarkovsky (but why should I?) it would probably be Ivan's Childhood
Bullitt for the car chase with a special place for the original Gone in 60 Seconds
Most Almodovar, but Flower of My Secret smells great, and I actually really like Volver.
Land and Freedom (Ken Loach dir.)
Barefoot Contessa (Ava Gardner - actually she gets her own category, like Night of the Iguana directed by John Huston co-starring Richard Burton with cinematography by the mesmerizingly astounding Gabriel Figueroa - see reference under Maria Candelaria below)
I Am Cuba
Spirit of the Beehive
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Kieslowsky's Colors, but mostly Blue, Dekalog
Charlie Chaplin (the artist not the movie, any and all of it, shorts, two-reels, my fave might be The Gold Rush or Modern TImes)
Documentaries: Don't Look Back, Hands on a Hardbody, Dust to Glory, On Any Sunday, Dogtown and Z-Boys ...
David Lean's films
Noir: Criss Cross underrated, The Big Sleep's dialogue
French Diabolique has a great tone
Maria Candelaria; Enamorada (Two films by the great, great Mexican director Emilio Fernandez and his astounding, mesmerizing cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa)
enough for now I guess

Channels: Speed, and TCM
Nada modern ... Don't really watch TV, mostly the DVD collections of BBC's The Office, AbFab, Faulty Towers ...
Sid Caesar Show of Shows
The Great One Jackie Gleason, wish I could find DVD's of his variety hour, but the Honeymooners will do just fine.
I cannot believe I would like the American "The Office" as much as the British original, but it's true. They are different in significant ways, and maybe that's why I like them both. Still don't watch it on TV, just rent the DVDs.

Larry Woiwode ... Beyond the Bedroom Wall. and his poetry Even Tide
Walker Percy, Flannery, Don Quixote, Salinger, most Hemingway, Walt Kelly's Pogo, Mafalda, I like the dark Russians Dostoevsky's and Tolstoy's short work, Eduardo Galeano's Book of Embraces is pretty amazing, St. Teresa de Avila, trying to finally read Modern Times by Paul Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, in college Faulkner had me going, The Cypresses Believe in God by Jose Maria Gironella that is a hearwrenching account of life in Girona Spain leading up to the Spanish Civil War ...