The Little Ones/French Kicks - Studio A, 9/29/06
I'll admit at the outset that I wasn't altogether lucid by the time I arrived at
Studio A last night to see The Little Ones and the French Kicks. Beforehand,
Superbee and I went to a cocktail party at
Karu & Y and I took full advantage of the open bar. This morning when I found stickers for both bands in my purse, I remembered stumbling into the venue, signing up for a couple mailing lists to get the free stickers, and then continued on into the bar.
I was afraid we had missed
The Little Ones since we didn't get there until well after 11 p.m. The crowd was sparse and apparently they held off on starting the show until more people showed up. It gave us the opportunity to chat with some extraordinarily unfriendly Midwesterners and, in my case, attempt to sober up a bit before the bands came on.
Last night, like the Mobius Band/The Editors / Stellastarr* show at Studio A, was an instance in which I was wowed by the opening band and bored by the headliner. I expected good things from The Little Ones, but they surpassed expectations. They had great energy and a great, kind of indescribable rock sound, but with tinges of the Beach Boys and The Shins.
Although I love the
French Kicks' current album, live, they just didn't have it last night. I read a review, I think in
Pitchfork, that highly recommended seeing them live. I'm going to officially disagree with that. The harmonies, which sound so clean and beautiful on the record, were sloppy and off-key live. And somehow, the fact that all of their songs sound the same doesn't bother me when I'm listening to them in the car, but nearly put me to sleep last night (or maybe it was the four variously flavored martinis I consumed before the show?). If we hadn't snuck into a vacant booth in V.I.P. section it's entirely possible I would have put my head down on the bar for a nap midway through their set.
Since I only paid $13 for the show and I was in the neighborhood anyway, I'm not going to chalk the night up as a loss. Still had a great time, but it was due to The Little Ones, Superbee, and, of course, free drinks.
"Little Children" -- Tom Perrotta
This weekend I had experienced pop culture synchronicity. The next selection for my book club is
Little Children by Tom Perrotta, which I started reading on Thursday evening. Sitting in the movie theater on Saturday night (see post below), one of the previews shown was for the film version of
Little Children. The timing was poor in that now that actors was portraying the characters in the book, Sarah became Kate Winslet and Kathy became Jennifer Connelly. Not the worst thing in the world, especially as the casting is good, but I would have preferred to finish the book with my own characters in mind instead of having them personified for me.
An aspect of
The Lovely Bones that I did not discuss in my previous post was the image of the mother as a woman who used to have a life and goals who sacrificed them for her children and the idea of what she is supposed to want as a wife and mother. That theme made up a relatively small portion of that book, but to me it was one of the most interesting segments of the book.
Little Children picks up on that idea and runs with it, exploring suburban ennui, lost dreams, and the metamorphoses of intelligent people into housewives and househusbands.
Frankly, I find this to be one of the most frightening topics imaginable. I had a stay at home mom who, granted, devoted a tremendous amount of time to volunteer causes, such that she essentially worked without getting paid. However, there was never any doubt that her children were (and remain) her top priority. Since my mother was never particularly into her career, it never struck me that she might resent giving up her life for her kids.
With a role model like that, I would feel guilty having kids if I didn't devote my life to them. But I would feel stifled and trapped if that's the choice I made. Sarah Pierce, one of the main characters in
Little Children is trapped in just such a situation -- a former feminist crusader and graduate student who married an older man, had a child, and is stuck sitting at the playground every day with women she despises and who are not her intellectual equal. In fact, the other women are incapable of discussing anything apart from their children and offer recriminating looks when Sarah forgets to pack a snack for her daughter. She sits there wondering how this ever happened to her. I can imagine feeling like that one day, myself.
Little Children could be viewed as "American Beauty" with 30-something characters, trapped in suburbia with all its accompanying boredom. There is much more to the book than this, but because this issue has been pressing on my mind lately, it's been my focus. The book is well-written and a quick and engrossing read. Can't wait to see how the film version stacks up.
"Little Miss Sunshine"
I spent a relaxing Saturday night at the movies and saw "Little Miss Sunshine". I'm pleased to report that it actually lived up to the hype.
One of my fellow movie-goers declared it was one of the best movies he's ever seen (I think it was 'ever', not just 'lately'). I wouldn't go that far, but it had some hilarious moments, good character development, and a unique take on a familiar family roadtrip story.
I won't post anything resembling a spoiler, especially with respect to the ending, as the shock of it really makes the film. I'll just say that I'll never be able to hear the song "Superfreak" without thinking of this film ever again.
Toni Collette turned in a perfect performance as a well-meaning, kind-hearted mother and wife on the brink of losing patience with her family. Greg Kinnear's portrayal of a sanctimonious, joyless wanna-be self-help guru was excellent. Steve Carrell took a page from Bill Murray's playbook in his role as a numb, suicidal scholar, with hardly a hint of his usual comic brilliance. Alan Arkin, however, was the scene-stealer of the crew and his biggest joke isn't even revealed until the end. The two child stars were great, particularly the son, Dwayne, who was reminiscent of a young John Cusack.
I can't recommend this highly enough -- it's definitely good for a laugh!
Quick Update
Because I actually received a comment requesting an online dating update, here goes:
My profile has been viewed a disturbingly high number of times (e-mail me if you want the number, I must admit that I'm shocked). I've received quite a bit of interest from members of the Latino and over-40 crowd, none of which I find particularly enticing. I have exchanged e-mails with a couple guys who seem alright. Whether or not we will actually meet is anyone's guess. I got an offer to go to the Dolphins game today from one guy but passed on it because a) I hate football and b) I don't want to spend
hours with someone I've never met doing something I hate after driving 45 minutes and sitting in traffic. No thanks.
One of two guys that I was interested in, who did not return my interest, was at Monty's on Friday for happy hour. I'm 99 percent sure it was him, or someone who uncannily resembles that guy's photo. Too bad - he was cute and
soooooooo preppy. He's probably from Connecticut originally.
Sigh.
So the update is, nothing to update. Take my advice and save the 50 bucks. Online dating in South Florida is confirming what I already knew -- there is no one worth dating here.
I'll admit at the outset that I wasn't altogether lucid by the time I arrived at Studio A last night to see The Little Ones and the French Kicks. Beforehand, Superbee and I went to a cocktail party at Karu & Y and I took full advantage of the open bar. This morning when I found stickers for both bands in my purse, I remembered stumbling into the venue, signing up for a couple mailing lists to get the free stickers, and then continued on into the bar.
