Woody Allen to play in Montreal jazz festival

Film director and clarinetist Woody Allen is to appear at the Montreal International Jazz Festival for the first time this June.

He will appear June 30 with his New Orleans Jazz Band, a traditional jazz septet. Tickets for the show at Montreal’s Place des Arts go on sale on Saturday.

Woody Allen plays the clarinet during a January concert in Spain with his New Orleans Jazz Band.
(Albert Olive/Associated Press)

Allen, 72, plays every Monday night at New York’s Café Carlyle with the same group, and they were featured in the 1998 documentary Wild Man Blues.

Allen has been invited several times to the Montreal jazz festival, but this is the first time he did not have a conflict with a movie in production.

The director of Annie Hall and Match Point is working on post-production on Vicky Cristina Barcelona, shot in Spain.

Allen plays mainly traditional New Orleans jazz of the 1920s to 1940s.

“Allen’s love for jazz is all over his movies,” André Ménard, the jazz festival’s artistic director, told the Montreal Gazette.

“He’s a true believer in the music — and he’s one of the great artistic personalities of the second half of the 20th century.”

Allen has been a clarinetist since age 15, and although he dismisses himself as a “motivated amateur,” he and his band have a reputation for giving an accomplished show that draws a crowd to the Carlyle every Monday night.

Courtesy : CBC News ( www.cbc.ca)

I invite all my blog readers who live in east coast or are planning to be near Montreal around 30th June to come and enjoy the famous Montreal Jazz festival with Woody Allen.

The Coen Brothers

It was ‘No Country For Old Men‘ which stunned me into revering Coen Brothers. I watched the movie three months ago (after it was nominated for the Oscars) & was completely taken over by the movie for weeks after that, something which hasnt happened with me in the recent past; It was then that I promised myself to devour all the work of these magnificent Director duo. Before this, I had only watched ‘O Brother where art thou’ from this director duo.

Since the past few weeks, it’s been an amazing journey watching their cinema; It has given me an entirely new perspective on the art of filmmaking.

Little synopsis of Coen Brothers (common knowledge about them):

1. The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing

2. Their Films (especially dark thrillers) often center around or include a botched crime.

3. Most of their movies are set during a specific time period in the past; Films often include characters or places with the stereotypes of the regions they take place in.

4. Men often explicitly suffer bizarre and bloody deaths or indignities in their films, but women are typically harmed off-screen

5. Owing a heavy debt to film noir and other film styles of the past, the Coen brothers’ films combine dry humor with sharp irony and shocking visuals.

6. Coen Brothers’  have won 4 Oscars & have been nominated eight times for achievements in Directing, Producing, Writing and Editing.

My personal take on their movies:

1. Some of their dark movies might seem very pessimistic and extremely violent to some, but, for me, that interpretation is very superficial. I dont think they make these movies to make us feel bad about life & to make us sympathize with their characters. They just make amazing movies and tell the stories in most profound & interesting manner possible. Yes, extremely bad things happen to some of their characters, but, interestingly, you dont get sentimental or feel crap. Such is Coen Brothers’ genius that they ensure very subtly that you never connect emotionally with these doomed characters. These characters, even though sometimes existing in the heart of the story, remain very peripheral on your emotional radar.

2. They take utmost pain in ensuring that the period in which their stories take place (most of their movies are set in early periods) is depicted as realistically as possible; The clothes, accents, slangs, cars, buildings, social & political mores and everything else is derived from that particular period. For instance, The Big Lebowski was made in 1998 and the story is set in 1990-91..not much of a period difference. Still, little/subtle differences in that period -vis a vis 1998- were shown and highlighted wherever necessary.

3. Coen Brothers’ cinema is a combination of excellent story telling, thrill, profoundity, first rate performances, dark humor, technical brilliance & lessons in history, culture and human nature.

Ok, I have liked all their movies (have seen 70% of them by now), but if I was forced to name my most favorite ones ..here are those: (I think anybody with even some interest in watching movies, should watch the ones below)

1. Fargo/ No Country for Old men (You have to see these two !!!!!!)

2. The Big Lebowski (Nothing can be more profoundly funny!)

3. O Brother where art thou (Really ‘cool’ movie with excellent music)

4. The Man who wasnt there

Treat yourself with this excellent music video from ‘o brother where art thou’

Missed Connections

Couple of weeks ago, I came across ‘ Missed Connections ‘ ads under personals in craigstlist website. I find the whole concept very amusing. It’s true that everyday there are so many missed connections for people around the world…

A cute girl sits opposite you in the metro and you both talk with eyes till she leaves..you wonder if there was something more to it but you have no way to know that..

Or let’s say you are a girl & there is this nice guy in your office with whom you talk occasionally & whom you find cute ..he also looks at you in a different way sometimes… you wonder if he likes you too & is probably too shy to express that..

What a Lunch guys!!!!…. Deepika Padukone!!!!

I cannot believe it..Guys, I just cannot believe it!!!! Exactly two hours ago, I was sitting opposite Deepika Padukone and talking with her looking into her eyes!!

Yes, folks..Yes..Deepika Padukone, the very gorgeous actress from Bollywood. Here is what happened exactly:

Stroke of Insight

Just read this on Shekhar’s blog..Please watch the video if you can…Very interesting!

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229