A quick post on a movie and a couple of non-fiction books which relies on the words of others…

I only get to see a few movies at the theater each year that don’t involve talking animals or cars so it was a nice change of pace to see The Tree of Life yesterday. It’s not for everyone, as the quarter of the audience that walked out before the half-hour mark was up (OK, it was only 4 people) will indicate. While I think there are a few missteps in the film, I enjoyed it. A lot. I’ll point to a more detailed review at biblioklept and second the endorsement—if you think you’re interested in seeing it, by all means do so. And for those of us without anything resembling a home theater, I recommend seeing it on the big screen to appreciate the cinematography.

It pains me to agree with Robert Christgau’s review of See a Little Light by Bob Mould and Hüsker Dü by Andrew Earles since I was looking forward to both books. Hüsker Dü was one of my favorite groups on record and live, plus after they broke up I made it a point to see individual members in their new incarnations, whether in Sugar, Nova Mob, or solo performances. Unfortunately I feel curiously detached from these books and found neither engaging. It may be the distance of time, the addition of age, or as Christgau simply puts it “[T]he band worked the magic. And the band is gone.”