Sunday, January 1, 2012

Possession: The Movie


 Disclaimer: I fully understand that movies aren't books and movies have to make money and I will try to limit any 'but the book was better' stuff.

While I did enjoy watching the movie as its own thing, I stand by my opinion that Gwynneth and Eckhart were badly cast, him more so than her. Part of why I think she was badly cast is probably my personal dislike for her, and that's not entirely fair, but I do think it would be better to have cast someone actually English. Even though Lena Headey was a great Blanche I think she could have also been a spot on Maude. I'm really glad that with the casting on Eckhart they made the character American although I think my ideal casting would have been Ben Chaplin. He's who I pictured when I was reading the book.

The Victorian half of the plot was done really well. Like I said I thought Blanche was well-cast and I think this was my introduction to Jennifer Ehle, who was fantastic as Christabel. I really need to get on top of watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice. Also I could basically just stare at Jeremy Northam in period costumes all day and be perfectly happy. He was perhaps a little better looking and warmer than I had pictured Ash being but I think that's an ok concession for the movie version to make; worth noting but not worth complaining about.

read on

Saturday, December 31, 2011

My Year in Reading

Here is a little picture of the books I read this year and how I rated them on Goodreads:



For more specifics you can click here and see a more detailed list.

I ended the year by reading three absolutely amazing novels that are completely different from one another; Possession, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and A Storm of Swords. Possession was extremely literary but also accessible and human. I have the film on my DVR currently but Aaron Eckhart and Gwynneth Paltrow seem like pretty terrible casting choices for Roland and Maud so I'm not expecting it to live up to the book. I am excited to see Lena "Cersei Lannister" Headey as Blanche Glover though. And speaking of George R. R. Martin properties A Storm of Swords has been my favorite of the series so far. Even though by being on Tumblr I had some major plot points spoiled there were still so many other things that came at me from nowhere. It was exciting, I started to like characters I had hated and think twice about characters that I loved and it makes me really happy that such a popular novel does things like that.

I ended the year with my first Murakami and loved it. It's the kind of novel that would have made me feel so cool to read in High School or college but I feel now I can just really enjoy it on its own merits as a thoughtful and ambiguous experience. I feel like I didn't really read enough books that left a lot unexplained and this kind of made up for it. It managed to be exciting, existential, sad, wacky, and very real all at the same time. I listened to the version of Danny Boy from Straight to Hell, Like a Rolling Stone, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again, and Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands on repeat through the last few chapters and it enhanced the experience.

I had challenged myself to read 50 books this year and managed to surpass that once I decided to branch out into YA territory and realized it was faster for me to read 3 books concurrently than reading one-at-a-time. I wasn't sure if I'd make it because I started the year with the long and dense 2666 and even though it seemed like a bad idea at the time it was a great way to start the year off.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Doppelgängland

Mick Jones and Stephen Mangan.



When I was watching the first episode of Free Agents and when I was watching an episode of Would I Lie To You?, my new panel show obsession (whatever, David Mitchell is awesome, ok?), that Stephen Mangan was on I would get weirded out regularly because it was like Mick Jones took a time machine at the height of The Clash's fame, when they weren't so stringent about hair length, traveled to the future and decided to do some comic acting and panel show appearances..

For an example of how they're not alike I was going to say that Mangan didn't seem like the type to (sometimes) front a band but apparently he was in a band. BUT that band was apparently a progressive rock band. So yeah, being in The Clash and being in a prog rock band assures that they fulfill the criteria of looking alike but being different. Although I think Mick Jones would be a lovely Would I Lie to You? guest. Imagine all the true stories he could tell.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Friday Random 10: Shuffle vs. Genius

I haven't done this in like 100 million years and I figure that while I'm on a posting roll I might as well keep on going. I don't know why, but I suddenly feel the urge to resurrect my blog and I know I've made promises like this before but I really am going to start blogging here more often. I really want to and I'm going to make it stick this time. (If you couldn't tell I'm trying to convince myself more than anyone else). This is the first time I'm going to post a random ten on my new computer so it's going to look a little different since I have much easier screen capping abilities and I won't have to use the ridiculous and counter intuitive method I've used in t he past to post the song lists. Also, I don't really have all my music on my iTunes yet so keep that in mind. Anyway, here are the lists:

Starting Song: Rancid - Maxwell Murder





























Track by track comparisons after the jump.

read on

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Long Tennis Post 1: A New Era and the Streak

Until I do two things: 1. Decide what to name my future tennis blog and 2. Decide whether I want to use Blogger or Tumblr, I'm going to post this and any other tennis posts here. This will be the first post on that hypothetical tennis blog since it’s the first thing that I've written with that express purpose.

Inspired by Sunday’s eventsI want to begin my tennis blogging by summarizing my take on the current atmosphere in men’s tennis. For the past few years that I've been paying attention (as well as several years prior), tennis was dominated by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and now it isn't. Sunday Novak Djokovic earned his second win of the year against Nadal on clay (which, coincidentally, is his second win against Nadal on clay ever) and his fourth win in a row against him this year which brings his record against Nadal from 7-16 to 11-16. The moment Djokovic won yesterday’s final in Rome I realized, with complete certainty, that men’s tennis is in the midst of a new era. Of course, the moment one recognizes the existence of a new era is not necessarily the moment the era started.

Even though at the beginning of the year Djokovic was just as undefeated as he is now, it didn't mean as much. Nadal not winning hard court tournaments against Djokovic isn't exactly surprising, Djokovic had already won a major so his winning the Australian Open wasn’t that surprising either, and neither Federer nor Andy Murray were playing their best tennis. Also, even though Djokovic beat Nadal in Madrid on clay, which was surprising, Madrid is at a higher altitude allowing for faster play. It was definitely a majorly important accomplishment for Djokovic but I don't think it was as important a win as Rome.

That's not to say that he wasn't playing impressively or even excellently, he definitely was, but Sunday when he beat Nadal a second time on clay, in a tournament that Nadal has won 5 times in the past 7 years, I became utterly convinced that tennis is in the middle of a new era. Although, I think that in the future the exact point this new era began will be recognized as either Djokovic's win over Federer at the US Open semi-finals in 2010 or when Robin Söderling ended Federer’s epic Grand Slam semi-final streak at last year’s French Open, depending on how dominating a force Djokovic is in the future.

Right now he’s invincible. In the past Djokovic, while always a threat, had the occasional tendency to choke, exit tournaments early, and double fault often. It's like Failvak Chokeavic (a nickname endearingly used on tennis forums by frustrated fans) has been eliminated completely. It’s as if Djokovic, to use a reference to True Blood, went to Miss Jeanette and stabbed a flawed version of himself in some hallucinatory ceremony and all that's left is an unbeatable player who makes few, if any mistakes and double faults rarely. Or, to use a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference, it's as if Toth used his separation ray on Djokovic and the half with the concentrated strengths is keeping the weak half chained in Giles' book cage, always far enough away so that none of its weakness rubs off. Less interestingly, in reality it probably has more to do with better conditioning, mental toughness and maybe even a gluten free diet.

I think there are only three ways Djokovic’s winning streak will end; either by injury, which would be terrible, and, sad, and unfitting, or defeat by either a 100% on-form Nadal who has gotten over any streak-related intimidation, or someone like Thomaz Bellucci, who has less to lose and doesn't feel much pressure. If this streak had happened at this time last year I would have added a long match on a hot day to the list of steak ending scenarios but I don't think that's a possibility anymore.

Elaborating on the 'someone with no pressure and nothing to lose' theory; unlike Nadal, or Murray, there was no expectation for Bellucci to beat Djokovic in Madrid. If he hadn't injured himself he might have won that match. It'll be interesting to see Djokovic's draw going into the French. Someone like Bellucci or Jürgen Melzer, who have so much ability but virtually no pressure could potentially pull off the elusive win over Djokovic.

Finally, I want to clarify that by saying that Djokovic's win in Rome is, basically, the final nail in the coffin of the Fedal era, I don't mean that whatever new era we're in is going to be a strictly Rafole era. Djokovic's streak has lasted 5 months which is ridiculous and awesome and lots of other superlatives but it is nothing compared to the length of the Fedal era.

It's exciting that the state of men’s tennis is in flux. The era is defining itself as tournaments go by and players distinguish themselves. Anything can happen. Federer could return to form, Murray could finally win a slam, Söderling could win the French after losing the last two finals, Juan Martin Del Potro could overcome his injuries, win a few more slams, and reclaim a spot in the top five, Milos Raonic could continue to live up to his potential and consistently be a major threat. It's all happening now. Bring on the French.

read on

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Dinner Time Outrage

So, I was watching Real Housewives of Orange County during dinner because it is Sunday and there wasn't anything else on. It was the episode when one of the thin blonde women who isn't Vicki (I know this isn't that helpful but I really can't tell any of the others apart yet) got celebrity chef Susan Feniger to cook for her upcoming dinner party.

Her husband felt that Latin food wasn't good enough for his pool party. He had planned to serve steakhouse type food. If you're going to, presumably, spend a ton of money on a chef it's probably a good idea to actually know what kind of food she specializes in and then to not ask her to cook something completely different. Like maybe Google her or something. This is the actual first line of her Wikipedia page (emphasis, other than her name, mine): Susan Feniger is an award-winning American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality considered to be a leading authority on Latin cuisine in the United States."

But no, they obviously just wanted someone with a 'name' and figured that if they paid her enough money she'd cook whatever food they wanted. Then, with no sense of irony, the husband asked her to make deep fried Oreos for dessert. Latin food for the main course, no way! Carnival food for dessert, awesome! There's obviously some implied, or even outright, racism there. Also I wonder if he would have had the same crappy, condescending reaction if Rick Bayless, a man, proposed to serve Mexican food at his pool party. If I had to guess I'd probably say no.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Heavy Handed But Enjoyable

I finally got around to watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona last night*. I was kind of disappointed with it even though I did enjoy watching it.

I mostly didn't like the heavy handed exposition in both the narration and the dialogue and the false dichotomy that was set up between 'artistic people' and 'sensible people'. I don't mind narration in general, and at times I even like it (Pushing Daisies was one such instance), but just about everything the narrator said was repeated by the characters at least twice in dialogue. We did not need to hear that Juan Antonio just went through a tumultuous divorce three times, once is more than enough.

Also, I felt like the differences in character between Vicky and Cristina and Juan Antonio and Vicky's husband were, in addition to being overly explained, oversimplified. I much preferred how Woody Allen showed in Melinda and Melinda the differences of character of one person in two different situations. In that film it seemed like it would be much easier to make a black and white contrast between the comedy Melinda and the tragedy Melinda but it was much subtler than the passionate artist/pragmatic student setup in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It also kind of annoyed me that the guy who played Vicky's husband (aka Claire's hot republican boyfriend from Six Feet Under) is continually being typecast as a wet blanket, square (see also Julie and Julia).

Additionally, it was distracting that Catalan culture played a major part in the film but it seemed like everyone was speaking Castilian.

Overall though, despite its flaws, the performances are what really saved the film; specifically Javier and Penelope's**.

Also, I still really want to go to Spain.

*I did not watch this last night but I had watched it the night before I wrote this. According to the time stamp I watched it on July 14th which is still long after the movie actually came out anyway. Better late then never.

**When I watched the film I hadn't seen Rebecca Hall in anything before. Although I don't think her performance in this film stood up to Javier and Penelope's respective performances I did see her in Wide Sargasso Sea and she was absolutely incredible in that.

Project Runway; Why We're Done*

Disclaimer: Ok, this is a super old post but it's the end of the year and I haven't posted much here (at all) since I got tumblr (but I hope to change that soon now that I'm FINALLY getting a new laptop and won't have to use a communal computer) so I decided to post two drafts in a kind of bare-bones, what I have written already, form. This one is basically just bullet points I was going to post in the heat of the moment that now border on irrelevancy. Anyway, here we go.

So basically I, like every other right-minded person who watched Project Runway (including Jack Black who I recently heard voice this opinion making me feel slightly less irrelevant), think Mondo was robbed. He deserved to win, he is awesome and I was really pissed when he didn't. I decided that I wasn't going to watch Project Runway anymore; not just because of this outrage but also because it really hasn't been as good since its move to Lifetime. The challenges are uninspired and I just feel like I've seen it all before.

Here are some reasons why I thought the finale was a travesty of epic proportions:

-the ugliness of Gretchen's clothes
-the fact that her aesthetic was so trendy and therefore ephemeral
-the unfounded criticism of Mondo, I don't think his looks were unoriginal which seemed to be a major point of the judges
-bad for business? Christian Siriano and Chris March have been the only ProjRun names on the red carpet giving the show credibility. They were more avant garde like Mondo who is more likely to have his clothes show up on red carpets (Heidi wore his dress sans-sleeves to the Black Swan premiere)
-even from a 'producer wanting a happy ending' standpoint Mondo is much more likable

*I probably will still watch it next year. Especially now that tons of time has passed.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tumblr And Books

I started a tumblr. It seems pretty fun so far but I haven't done too much with it yet. I need a better theme too but the infinite scrolling thing kind of overloads this computer. Here is the link (which should be obvious): http://ambivalentalumna.tumblr.com/

Also I decided that I'm going to start writing about my progress going through Jezebel's list of 75 Books Every Woman Should Read. When I joined the library, finally, I figured it was a good way to have a ready-made list of books to go to if I was feeling particularly stumped about what I wanted to read next. I'd only read like 6 of the books on the list before I came across it and now I'm about one third of the way through. I already wrote specifically about The House Of The Spirits but I'll probably write a little more about it in a separate post later. So my first Jez Book List post should be coming pretty soon (as soon as I decided what I want the inaugural book to be).

I'm currently reading 100 Years Of Solitude which isn't on the list but I already read Love In The Time Of Cholera which is.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Redemption and Esteban Trueba


This is my first post about a book and I'm actually a bit nervous to write it. It's silly but it kind of feels strange to write about a book, especially a book that I don't have in front of me, in this informal, electronic kind of space. I'm going to keep it pretty loose and free form.


I've been reading a lot recently and the book that I got the most emotionally invested in was Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits. If pressed, and if I had the book in front of me, there are tons of different things that I could write about it but the one idea that provoked the most thought for me, was whether or not Esteban Trueba found redemption.

I don't think that there's always a clear distinction between being redeemable and irredeemable and different people probably have different and valid opinions on whether or not a character can find redemption.

What makes one irredeemable; that no amount of good can make up for the bad? Is there a tipping point when it comes to redemption, is there some point when your good deeds outweigh your bad ones, that when reached brings you redemption? Or, is at the moment that you realize that you have done a lot that you need to make up for and you start doing good that you have been redeemed? Do you need to continue to do good for as long as you can once you make that realization?

Is it what, and how much good you do, or is it the fact that your intentions have changed that makes you redeemable?

Various thoughts and spoilers for those who haven't read the book after the jump.

read on

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Early Morning Outrage Pt. 2

Ok, I know she would dismiss me as one of those do-nothing bloggers, but Whoopi Goldberg seriously needs to stop using, "But she didn't go to the police," as a criticism of Mel Gibson's significant other. SHE DID GO TO THE POLICE. She got a restraining order before the tapes were released. (Also, I don't know that any woman should be criticized for not going to the police in an abuse case, but it's factually wrong to say she didn't).

Whoopi also needs to stop giving the benefit of the doubt to Mel as to the veracity of the tapes if she isn't also going to give it to Oksana as to whether she leaked them. Whoopi assumes that Oksana is the one who leaked the tapes without any proof. Maybe she did leak the tapes but it's wrong to hold people to different burdens of proof. It's not surprising that Oksana (the side-piece, as Whoopi calls her) is held to higher burden of proof than Mel.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

NY Times Clutches Pearls Over Body Hair

I've read about the fact that Mo'Nique's doesn't shave her legs on a lot of blogs. The first time I read about it was a while ago. It was definitely pre-Precious because when her leg hair was being talked about in an awards show context I was already aware of the fact. The New York Times, perennially behind the times, just decided to tackle the issue of body hair on the red carpet yesterday. It's a silly piece with a gossip blog tone.

The part that bothered me most:

...Mo’Nique...lifted her floor-length dress to reveal her unshaved calves, abundant in their hairiness. This did not go over well. The New York Daily News crowned her “the least superficial actress ever.” On Web sites like TMZ.com, people posted comments like “I have to HURL now ... Disgusting is an understatement.” It would seem that a collective ewww rang out nationwide, one designed to make every ’tween girl snap to attention and realize that leg hair is not allowed.

I don't understand how being called 'the least superficial actress ever' consisitutes not going over well. Does the NYT value superficiality so much that pointing out ones lack of superficiality is an insult? Also why are comments from TMZ being used as a source? What's next, quoting bigots on YouTube in an article about race relations?

If this is an attempt from the NYT to be snarky and relevant it's worrying.

Via Roger Ebert's twitter.

Monday, April 12, 2010

M.I.A. On Gaga

I've been meaning to do a Lady Gaga post for awhile. I've felt like I'm the only person on earth that isn't totally into her schtick and I could never articulate exactly what I wanted to say about her. Recently, however, M.I.A. let me off the hook by stating my opinion of Gaga better than I could. From NME:

"People say we're similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently...but she spits it out exactly the same. None of her music's reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna but the music sounds like 20 year-old Ibiza disco. She's not progressive, but she's a good mimic."

In conclusion, and at the risk of this blog becoming "Pulp on YouTube", I'd rather be a Mis-Shape than a little monster:

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Switch

I wish this:



Had this as a soundtrack:



If it did, I think I would spontaneously combust.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Doppelgängland

Fernando Verdasco and Jason Stackhouse.


Ok, this is another jokey one and I might be totally off-base as to whether they actually look alike. But, because the Australian Open is coming up, and I'm re-watching Verdasco's semi-final, I figured I'd put it up. I'm comparing the real person (Verdasco) to the character (Stackhouse) because when I saw Fernando with his Wimbledon hair all I could think was that he looked like a dark haired Jason Stackhouse.

Another pic just for fun:

read on

Monday, November 9, 2009

Behind on Internet Memes: 25 Random Things (aka The Final Post In My Half-Assed-List-Post Trilogy)

1. I can’t stand the bottoms of my feet touching or rubbing together, I kind of get over it for yoga.2. I have really high arches in my feet.
3. I have really short fingers, like when I worked at an elementary school, 4th graders had longer fingers than me.
4. I can’t use chopsticks. I’ve tried really hard many times but I just can’t do it. I worry that when I ask for a fork people will think that I’m some assy ethnocentric person that just refuses to use them.
5. Certain loud noises really bother me; vacuum cleaners, my grandmother’s television.
6. When I’m in a closed in space (usually some form of train) and someone stinks I put on hand cream and smell my hands until I can get out of there.
7. I’m vegetarian.
8. I’m definitely one of those people who don’t know what their real hair color is. I imagine it’s darker now than it was when I started dyeing it, but I’m not entirely sure.
9. I hardly wore any makeup when I was in high school but now I LOVE it and spend way too much money on it.
10. Drinking too much too strong coffee has more of an effect on me than actual stimulant drugs.

read on

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

10 Albums I've Been Meaning To Check Out But Haven't Yet

I've been in a music rut lately. More specifically I haven't listened to anything new, as in current, in awhile. I also haven't been listening to anything new, as far as older albums go, to me. I've pretty much just been listening to a bunch of MP3s, mostly not current, that are more or less impulse downloads. I dunno why, I guess I just go from phases of being voracious about music to being more complacent about acquiring new stuff. Maybe it's because I've been extra cash poor lately. I've also been reading more often. I like the concept of the album, and as much as I love getting eclectic and obscure MP3's I also enjoy listening to music the way the artist generally intended it to be listened to. Anyway, here's a list of 10 albums (an arbitrary, but round, number) I've been meaning to check out, old and new, but haven't gotten around to (although I have heard a song or two (or more) off most).

In no particular order:

Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Richard Hawley - Coles Corner

Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts

Next 7 after the jump.

read on

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Friday Tuesday Random2 10: Shuffle vs. Genius

It's not Friday and it's been a super long time since I've done one of these but I figured the best way to get back into blogging would be to do something that was kind of like filling out a form; that I didn't have to be too creative with. Both the Genius and Shuffle lists this week are particularly good so it was extra hard to choose a winner between each song.

Before I go onto the songs I just want to mention how much I love the starting song; Pulp's Like A Friend. It's so gorgeous and so fun and so quintessentially Pulp yet also really fits the movie it was penned for (kind of like Born To Cry, although that's kind of less fun, more sad). I love how it, like most of my favorite Pulp songs, is about relationships and is like sex in the fact that it starts out slow, rises to a climax (the awesome, quasi-headbanging bridge, "You are the last drink..." etc.) and then ends in a slow comedown. It's probably the Pulp song I've played most on bar jukeboxes (along with Disco 2000 and Do You Remember the First Time).

I obviously heard it the first time I watched Cuaron's Great Expectations, which unless I'm misremembering was in my friend Matt's basement, but didn't really notice it at the time, being background music and all. Any time I think of all the times I must have heard Pulp songs but didn't notice it makes me sad I didn't get into them sooner, like Mile End in Trainspotting and I'm sure some Pulp must have been played at the ULU bar, the Duck and Dive, when I was studying abroad. Oh well, onto the lists.

Starting Song: Like A Friend - Pulp



(I used a pic with Russell even though Like A Friend is a post-Russell song because Russell is awesome)

S
huffle Playlist................................Genius Playlist
1. Like A Friend – Pulp.........................1. Like A Friend – Pulp
2. She's Gone – Tindersticks.................2. I Will Kill Again - Jarvis Cocker
3. In Many Ways – Pulp.......W.........W.3. Lazy Line Painter Jane –
..................................................................Belle & Sebastian
4. Tango Maureen – Rent Soundtrack...4. The Drowners - Suede
5. Beyond The Pale – BAD.....................5. Please, Please, Please, Let Me
.................................................................. Get What IWant - The Smiths
6. Diamonds In The Dark – Mystery......6. Laid - James
......Jets (Dusty Cabinets remix)
7. Allison – The Pixies..........................7. Wild Horses - Sundays
8. Theme From Permanent Record.......8. Bar Italia - Pulp
.....Joe Strummer
9. This – Vic Ruggiero..........................9. Heroes - The Wallflowers
10. Jezebel – Owen Gray......................10. Love Will Tear Us Apart –
...................................................................Joy Division

Track comparisons after the jump.

read on

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Off The Face Of The Internet

I'm back. It's been awhile...

I haven't been particularly busy, I guess once you start not writing it's easy to continue not writing. Also things that I maybe should have gone into further detail in I mentioned on Twitter and never followed up. Like the incongruousness of the title of the taking of Pelham 123 and the horribleness of NBC's tennis coverage. Or, speaking of tennis, the Serena incident, which I didn't even mention on Twitter but had an opinion on (team Serena all the way).
I've also kind of become a crazy cat lady since the last time I wrote so there may be cat pictures popping up from time to time but I'll try not to let them take over.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

New Noisettes!!



I sort of knew that there was a new Noisettes album kicking around but I hadn't gotten around to checking it out yet. As a result of a promotional e-mail I checked their out their performance on Jools Holland via YouTube (above).

The first song, Don't Upset The Rhythm is, surprisingly very disco. It's really catchy and very danceable. The lyrics are a bit cliché but in a way that's befitting the poppiness of the song. Also Shingai Shoniwa rocked that gold lamé jumpsuit in a way I doubt anyone else could.

The second song, Never Forget You, started off with a bass line that, along with the off-beat ska rhythm guitar, made me like it immediately. I was kind of afraid at first that it was going to be a little too Winehouse-ish but Shingai's performance makes it very much a Noisettes song. Her voice is probably the best around currently and it's a shame that this band doesn't get more attention. Also the strings on both songs are perfect. I can't wait to pick up this album.

I really love bands that can change their style convincingly. I definitely prefer it to bands that do one style really well (unless that band is the Ramones). When I heard the Horrors new single for the first time I really didn't like it (despite the NME rave). They changed their style but it seemed kind of wishy-washy to me. Maybe I need to listen to it more along with the whole album, but that kind of reinforces how I feel about the Noisettes. I only needed to listen to Don't Upset The Rhythm once to like it and appreciate how seamlessly they were able to shift into disco-ey pop.If you're going to change your sound this is how you do it.