I didn't know Mandy Patinkin sang until I watched the Dick Tracy film and he did a duet with Madonna (What Can You Lose). After that, I was hooked.

Prior to watching Mulholland Drive, my only exposure to Naomi Watts was via Tank Girl, which I greatly enjoyed but it didn't leave me with much of an impression about her acting abilities. After watchin MD, I knew she was one of the best actors of her generation. The dinner party scene was great. Another scene that…

I LOVE everything about the film. I especially love Jessica Lange's performance as Tamora. Her line reading of "Oh cruel irreligious piety" gives me chills.

My favorite sentence in the English language:

For an interesting (and very critical) take on DFW's Infinite Jest, check out Scott Bakker's review: Alas, poor Wallace: A Review of Infinite Jest An excerpt:

Art speaks to each of us differently. How boring it would be if we all came away from a piece of art with the same interpreation.
I completely agree that it is about what you are exposed to first.

Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson) and Anne Dudek (Amber) were so aweome in that episode. One of the best episodes of the series.
And then House finally being able to recall why he was on the bus with Amber…wow.

The album The Holy Bible by The Manic Street Preachers, esp. the track 4st 7lb, the most powerful song dealing with anorexia I've ever heard.

I have heard that version before and I just re-listened to it now and I think it is very, very good. And I can understand why Lou Reed would say it was his favorite. But the Cowoby Junkies version is still at the top of my list. Mainly it's Margo Timmins voice that does it for me but it is the overall effect of how…

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #3 performed by Martha Argerich or Vladimir Horrowitz. The first time I heard this piece was thanks to the movie Shine (the bio-pic about pianist David Helfgott) and while I found the perfomance in that movie to be exciting, noboby can top Argerich for pure passion and risk taking or…

Who am I to argue with the songwriter, but to me, the Junkies version of the song is the definitive version (even better than the excellent original, IMHO).

I love Nessun Dorma, I just wish Turandot as a whole did somethign for me, but for some reason I have trouble connecting with Puccini's operas. I'm not sure why that is.
What really opened opera for me was watching a DVD of Salome featuring Maria Ewing in the title role. Holy shit, that woman could act! This…

A couple pieces of Minneapolis architecture cause me to just sit and take them in:

Every time I think about 2666 and The Part About the Crimes, I have to listen to Tori Amos' song Juarez. In the song, Tori takes perspective of the desert and it is haunting.

With 2666, the first couple books didn't really do much for me. I recognized Bollano's talent but just couldn't connect. Then I got to The Part About the Crimes and was devestated and couldn't put the book down. Wow.
Some books (or parts of books) that have left me in awe are:

The mention of Elton John just made me recall the first time I saw the video for his track "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" starring Justin Timberlake as a 70s era Elton John. It remains one of my favorite Elton John videos and was also the first time I took JT seriously.

The Club Silencio sequence in Mulholland Drive, with Rebekah Del Rio pouring all her soul into Llorando, gives me chills every time I watch the film.

I spent a year living in Milwaukee and one of the few things that I loved about the city was the Milwaukee Art Museum. My first visit there, I was wandering through galleries and I came across a couple of paintings from Josef Albers' Homage to the Square series and they stopped me in my tracks and I proably spent 30…

I believe she wrote it in English. The book I have does not credit a translator.

I'm currently reading American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Ša and it is magnificent.