Hello Kitty's Top 'Five'

Unfortunately, I cannot contribute properly to Lady V’s TOP FIVE 2007, since my last year was overshadowed by a more worldly (in the sense of mundane though still very real) concern of handing in my f**king thesis, an ordeal which made me a prisoner not only of my own thoughts (i.e. solipsism), but also to my study/desk (i.e. a variant form of the couch-potato syndrome) – all of which severely estranged me from the exciting literary, musical and cinematic activities of the world I so love… sigh.

So, because I know you won’t want to be bogged down by all the amazing academic articles and publications on Mallarmé and Rilke which shook my 2007, I have decided that I will contribute but one offering to each category (please forgive me, Lady V). Here goes:

My top 1 book:

Finally, finally I was able to read Daniel Kehlmann’s novel, ‘Die Vermessung der Welt’, the German bestseller from 2005. And oh what a pleasure – sometimes hype IS justified!! The novel has been translated into English as ‘Measuring the World’ and, judging by the critiques, the translation seems to be o.k. This is a wonderfully imaginative narrative set in and before 1828 in which the mathematician C.F. Gauss and the scientist Alexander von Humboldt meet in an unlikely way… around such serious and pretentious Enlightenment figures, Kehlmann weaves a whimsically light, easy and, above all, humorous story, disclosing two different ways of taking the world’s measure. Admittedly, this is a smack in the face of authenticity and historicity, but that is why I love Art – an inventive piece of fiction like none I have ever come across. Please, please read!

My top 1 song:

I have chosen the tranquil electro-ballad ‘Primitive’ by Róisín Murphy from her recent album ‘Overpowered’. Sublime. Murphy’s sensual voice goes under my skin, the refrain keeps coming back to haunt me (in a good sense) and the whole song simply radiates a sense of cool eroticism. Very Moloko. And good lyrics, too.

P.S. I could also have mentioned Kylie Minogue’s ‘Speakerphone’ (from X), which I love. A cheap, tinny and wholly irresistible song – yes, pop at its best and I still don’t quite understand why I love it so, but I do. Perhaps, however, I should have chosen Yael Naim’s version of Britney’s ‘Toxic’ – which I know Lady V adores, too! ;)

My top 1 album:

My current (depressing) financial state has hindered me from purchasing many albums this past year, as I mostly had to resort to downloading songs hither and thither. (Woe unto me – although 2008 can only get better, right??) However, the one album which I absolutely adored, in its entirety, was Belleruche’s ‘Turntable Soul Music’. A jewel. And also, esp. if you are into the contemporary (post K&D) electronica scene in Vienna – think Parov Stelar, the God, ya hear me! – then it will have to Waldeck’s album, ‘Ballroom Stories’… sooo very cool. It will stun your party guests, honest.

My top 1 film:

Without thinking twice, it’s Fatih Akin’s ‘Auf der anderen Seite’, which will soon come out internationally under the English title ‘The Edge of Heaven’. Won’t say anything to spoil your excitement except for: GO SEE IT AS SOON AS IT COMES TO A CINEMA NEAR YOU! I am so proud to have Germans making good, intelligent art like this…

For some reason, and I have little justification to claim this apart from my flippant intuition, it seems to me that Fatih Akin makes films the way Marcel Proust might have done so (and I mean this solely on a stylistic and not semantic level; anyway, Proust famously thought very little of cinéma) – had someone been able to lure the great French writer out of his corked kingdom of books, ink, paper and endless manuscripts, sat him into ‘Film 101’ and thrust a movie camera into his hands. There is something about the controlled, ‘epic’ nature of Akin’s camera movement that somehow enacts the soul-searching spirit and leitmotival character development akin to Proustian prose. The way in which time, memory and the tragic intertwine. Anyway, c’est moi going off on a tangent… ;) my apologies.

Happy Christmas and all the best for the New Year!

Love, Hello Kitty. Miau.