BOOK 195: HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL: CARRIE BROWNSTEIN

BOOK 195: HUNGER MAKES ME A MODERN GIRL: CARRIE BROWNSTEIN

From a leader of feminist punk music at the dawn of the riot-grrrl era, a candid and deeply personal look at life in rock and roll.

Before Carrie Brownstein codeveloped and starred in the wildly popular TV comedy Portlandia, she was already an icon to young women for her role as a musician in the feminist punk band Sleater-Kinney. The band was a key part of the early riot- grrrl and indie rock scenes in the Pacific Northwest, known for their prodigious guitar shredding and their leftist lyrics against war, traditionalism, and gender roles.

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl is the deeply personal and revealing narrative of Brownstein's life in music, from ardent fan to pioneering female guitarist to comedic performer and luminary in the independent rock world. Though Brownstein struggled against the music industry's sexist double standards, by 2006 she was the only woman to earn a spot on Rolling Stonereaders' list of the "25 Most Underrated Guitarists of All-Time." This book intimately captures what it feels like to be a young woman in a rock-and-roll band, from her days at the dawn of the underground feminist punk-rock movement that would define music and pop culture in the 1990s through today.

MY VERDICT: I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  This genre (the autobiography of women in bands or other creative careers) is one of my favourites. It’s reassuring to know that no matter what someone appears to be from the outside they’re often very much like me in a lot of ways. It’s fascinating to think that someone who confidently plays instruments and sings on stage in front of thousands of people might actually be as shy as I am.

This book was recommended to me by a friend and it didn’t disappoint. I actually came into it unfamiliar with Carrie Brownstein’s band Sleater-Kinney and only knew her from Portlandia so to see this side of her life and where she came from was interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who is the fan of the genre (that I may or may not have made up) whether you know the music or not. (I’m off to listen to the band now that I have all the context to link to the music I think I’ll appreciate it more.)

FILM 1595: BEFORE SUNSET

TRIVIA: The longest take is about 11 minutes long.

The man and woman that Celine speaks to in the courtyard of her apartment are played by Julie Delpy's real parents, Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet.

Though this movie was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, the screenplay is not based upon any existing text. However, the Academy rule book says that all sequels are adaptations.

Julie Delpy wrote and performed three songs for the soundtrack.

Since the film takes place during the mid-late afternoon, it was the only time of day director Richard Linklater would shoot the scenes in the film. He felt it added to the hyper reality of the film, and often relied on the actors to get perfect takes at the right time.

Shooting took a mere 15 days.

The film is notable for essentially taking place in real time, i.e. the time elapsed in the story is the run time of the film. In the fast-changing temperate Paris climate, this created challenges for the cinematographer Lee Daniel to match the colour and intensity of the skies and ambient light from scene to scene. The scenes were mostly shot in sequence, as they were still developing the screenplay.

In the movie, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) confesses to Celine (Julie Delpy) that he wrote a book about their meeting 9 years before, partially in the hope that she would read it, and re-establish contact with him. Like Before Sunrise (1995), this is based on events in director Richard Linklater's own life. He had once spent a night walking and talking around Philadelphia with a woman called Amy in 1989. Though they initially stayed in touch over the telephone, they lost contact eventually. In 1994, Linklater shot Before Sunrise (1995), based on his night with Amy. Like Jesse in "Before Sunset", Linklater was secretly hoping that Amy had heard of the movie, and would show up at the premiere, but she did not. When "Before Sunset" was released, she did not show up either. It wasn't until 2010, before Linklater started production on the second sequel, Before Midnight (2013), that a friend of Amy, who knew about their story, contacted Linklater to tell him that Amy had died in a motorcycle accident on May 9, 1994, at the age of 24, a few weeks before he started shooting Before Sunrise (1995).

FILM 1363: PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS

PULP find fame on the world stage in the 1990's with anthems including 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000'. 25 years (and 10 million album sales) later, they return to Sheffield for their last UK concert. Giving a career best performance exclusive to the film, the band share their thoughts on fame, love, mortality - & car maintenance. Director Florian Habicht (Love Story) weaves together the band's personal offerings with dream-like specially-staged tableaux featuring ordinary people recruited on the streets of Sheffield. PULP is a music-film like no other - by turns funny, moving, life-affirming & (occasionally) bewildering.

TRIVIA: The film won the Audience Favourite Award at In-Edit Barcelona in 2014. The worlds largest music film festival.

FILM 1321: NOWHERE BOY

TRIVIA: Although the film is about John Lennon, best known for being the founding member of The Beatles, the film doesn't mention the bands name throughout the whole film.

In the scene where John looks himself in the mirror after he asked Mimi for his birth certificate it can be seen an actual photo of John Lennon as a youngster right on the fireplace.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson consulted her friend Sir Paul McCartney about the script. McCartney told that John Lennon didn't really ride on the top of the double-decker bus like he does in the script. He also revealed that the character of Lennon's aunt, Mimi Smith, wasn't as mean and vitriolic like she was written in the script. Furthermore, the song "In Spite of All the Danger" wasn't written as an ode to Lennon's mother as the script suggests. In the end they agreed that it's a film rather than documentary so Taylor-Johnson made inferences that weren't always there.

In this film David Threlfall plays Anne-Marie Duff's brother-in-law. In the series Shameless (2004) he played her father.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson first met Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director, while shooting. In spite of the 23 years age difference the two fell in love, married and became parents to two children.

Title of the film is a reference to a famous Beatles' song "Nowhere Man"

BOOK 132: CASH: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY: JOHNNY CASH

Cash: The Autobiography is a 1997 autobiography of Johnny Cash, country musician, written twenty years after his first autobiography, Man in Black. Cash co-wrote this book with Patrick Carr. Cash's autobiographies were the basis for the award-winning biopic Walk the Line in 2005.

Saw the amazing Karen O tonight and she was as always amazing! The whole show was amazing the support were amazing too – Moses Sumney and Holly Miranda were the perfect combination!