FYE: Seu Jorge - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Soundtrack)

 If you haven't seen the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (directed by Wes Anderson, starring Bill Murray, 2004) then you should see it at least for the film's soundtrack. The main tracks are performed by Brazilian-born Seu Jorge; they're all popular David Bowie songs sung in Brazilian Portuguese and accompanied by an acoustic guitar. WHAT? Sounds like it would be incredible, right? WELL IT IS. He gives each song a completely different feeling than Bowie originally intended. They're mostly sung in Jorge's low, soothing voice as he gently strums on his guitar. You can tell immediately which songs he's covering, but it's the new style that makes you feel like Jorge is making sweet, gentle love to each song, and it's a match made in heaven.

You can also catch Seu Jorge acting in the film as Pelé dos Santos. He's been in a couple other films, the most notable being City of God as Mané Galinha. He also has a couple of albums out of his original music: Samba Esporte Fino (2001, or "Carolina", 2003), Cru ("Raw", 2005).


Below are just a few of the songs from the soundtrack. Check it.

Life On Mars

Changes

Lady Stardust

 
Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

Vinyl Wednesday: Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980)

I can't get enough '80s lately, so here's some more... let's party! Adam Ant knows where the party is at, and he's saved you a slice, it's called Kings of the Wild Frontier. Aside from their outrageously amazing style, the music is just full to the motherfucking brim with anthem after anthem for the young, angry, ready-to-party, fruitful individuals. Mostly every song starts with a solid beat from what I would assume is a seriously fit drummer considering every moment of this album has a hard thump, but it keeps the energy up and flowing fast. God, I love New Wave Punk.

Adam Ant is one of the best frontmen I've laid ears on: teeming with energy, style, passion, fury... it's exactly what you need to front a band like this in the late 70s/early-mid 80s. He's got a voice that sings every lyric with so much conviction, and you really just cant help but get carried away with the whole band as they party away with heavy guitars and big beats.

I first fell in love with Kings of the Wild Frontier (the first track on Side II) when I was just out of high school; it's got enough beat to keep you up and rebelling for days, just gives us kids something to kick ass to (ha ha). The rest of the album has mostly up-beat songs, a couple are a bit slower, but they're no Simon and Garfunkel slow... still have enough to beat the shit out of your ears. Get ready to rock.

Track Listing:
(Side 1)
Dog Eat Dog
'Ant Music'
Lost Rancheros
Feed Me to the Lions
Press Darlings
Ants Invasion

(Side II)
Kings of the Wild Frontier
The Magnificent Five
Don't Be Square (Be There)
Jolly Roger
Physical (You're So)
The Human Beings

Wrath: Washroom Graffiti Part II

I found this video online somewhere, and couldn't help but think of the washroom graffiti I had posted about during the summer (also keep your eye out for a Part III on the subject: MONTREAL).

Laugh your guts out with this ad.

Lust: Walken on Sunshine

To distract you from the cold...

Christopher Walken

Gluttony: Open-Your-Face Sandwich

I love avocado... can you tell? This tasty delight is an open-faced sandwich made with a baguette. I always buy a baguette and it gets so hard by the time I get around to eating the whole thing. SOLUTION: microwave pieces with a bowl of hot water. The steam from the water will add moisture to the bread and it's back to its old self.

Open-Your-Face Sandwich:

• Baguette
• Dijon Mustard (with seeds)
• Cucumber, thinly sliced
• Tomato, sliced
• Avocado, sliced
• Old Cheddar (I used some that was aged one year, but I like it a bit bolder usually), sliced

BROIL THAT SHIT FOR 5 MINUTES. And try not to burn yourself like I did. Remember to chew.

Gluttony: FRESH - Buddha Bowl

The Buddha Rice Noodle Bowl from Fresh is just incredible every time I visit the restaurant. Fresh is a Toronto-based vegetarian eatery with a few locations now open. They serve fresh (duh), delicious, healthy meals and the owner has published a couple of recipe books that showcase their regular and their juice menus. I've recently picked up ReFresh, the second edition of the original menu - DIVINE. It lists all of their dishes with instructions, sauces, veggie burgers, juices, marinades... you name it, they have it, and you'll be drooling the moment you get past the first couple of pages. Tonight, Irene and I made the Buddha Rice Bowl, but I substituted the rice for Soba noodles. It's their most basic Bowl dish in terms of flavours and spices, using a peanut sauce for the main kick.

Start layering the bowl with noodles and then the marinated tofu in the middle and pour over top some of the peanut sauce (OHH SO GOOD). Add bean sprouts and cilantro, then some tomato and cucumber. DONE. How easy was that? Just waiting for the tofu to marinate was the hardest part because I was so hungry...

Gluttony: Happy Chanukah with Challah!

So I just made my first two loaves of bread!! I was researching Chanukah this time around (I celebrated it last year, but we didn't really know all of the traditions behind it so we played with a dreidel and ate some sweets), and found some recipes for tonight's dinner. So far on the menu we have potato latkes, roasted chicken and cherry cheese blintzes. Among these was a recipe for Challah, of which I had never heard of before. Turns out I've eaten this bread many times (now that I've tasted my own!) and I was determined to make it even though I've never baked bread before on my own. Here are a couple of photos from my adventure:

This is the recipe I used: Miriam's Not-So-Secret Challah from allrecipes.com
Awesome... Happy Chanukah!