Ryan Beckemeyer

Ryan Beckemeyer is an artist, friend, and neighbor based in Los Angeles. He is also an incredible chef- a dinner invitation from him is one you never want to pass up. If you're lucky, you can catch him Thursday nights at Banquette singing La Vie En Rosé with a certain special redhead. You should definitely check out his awesome blog, Love Letters, and his website.

Here is Ryan's list, including his thoughts about it.

I haven't put much thought into all time top ten before now. Top ten of the moment, sure, never more than that. All time is an end to things. Though, inevitable. No order, please. Also, this isn't completely "all time" for me. I just have trouble with the phrasing.

RYAN'S FAVORITES

LIE: The Love and Terror Cult - CHARLES MANSON
Self Titled - DO MAKE SAY THINK
Self Titled - ELLIOTT SMITH
Self Titled - FLYING SAUCER ATTACK
White Light/White Heat - THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
Different Trains - STEVE REICH
Blue - JONI MITCHELL
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, And Thyme - SIMON & GARFUNKEL
Help!/Let It Be/Beatles For Sale–Fuck, everything. - THE BEATLES
Glider/Loveless - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
Antithesis - KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN
To Be You And Me - BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
What I Mean To Say Is Goodbye - TOM BROUSSEAU
Falls - SPARROW HOUSE
Song Cycle - VAN DYKE PARKS
Astral Weeks - VAN MORRISON
Being There/Summerteeth - WILCO

I'm sorry, I can't stop. This is a terrible list. I've cut it in half twice and now I give up. I am sure I've skipped my typically favorite albums and most listened to and whatever other importance. Fuck it.

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Year Zero

YEAR ZERO

Access Granted

ACCESS GRANTED

Halfway through 2010, it has already been a really beautiful and unique year for music and film releases.
Here are the top 15 of each so far.






















TOP 15 DVD & BLU-RAY:

1. Red Desert - MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
2. Close-Up - ABBAS KIAROSTAMI
3. Contempt - JEAN-LUC GODARD
4. Chantal Akerman In The Seventies - CHANTAL AKERMAN
5. 8 1/2 - FEDERICO FELLINI
6. Lola Montès - MAX OPHÜLS
7. Vivre Sa Vie - JEAN-LUC GODARD
8. Days Of Heaven - TERRENCE MALICK
9. Tetro - FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
10. The Beaches Of Agnès - AGNÈS VARDA
11. Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors - SERGEI PARADJANOV
12. Katalin Varga - PETER STRICKLAND
13. A Star Is Born - GEORGE CUKOR
14. Une Femme Mariée - JEAN-LUC GODARD
15. World On A Wire - RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER























TOP 15 MUSIC:

1. Nº 3 - JJ
2. Stridulum - ZOLA JESUS
3. Rhizomes - EFFI BRIEST
4. Thank Me Later - DRAKE
5. Have One On Me - JOANNA NEWSOM
6. Clinging To A Scheme - THE RADIO DEPT
7. Does It Look Like I'm Here? - EMERALDS
8. New Amerykah Part Two - ERYKAH BADU
9. Heligoland - MASSIVE ATTACK
10. Teen Dream - BEACH HOUSE
11. High Places Vs. Mankind - HIGH PLACES
12. Cosmogramma - FLYING LOTUS
13. Nothing Else - LORN
14. Things Fall Apart - MARK MCGUIRE
15. Love And Its Opposite - TRACEY THORN

Three

THREE

Third

THIRD

John A Dolio

John Dolio is the founder of the LA-centric lifestyle blog Man-Front and has represented up-and-coming designers Franc Fernandez and Olima. John is a native Angeleno that knows these streets better than anyone. He is an expert in palm trees, catching the breeze, and in the written works of E.M. Forster and Bret Easton Ellis.

JOHN'S FAVORITES

1. Moon Safari - AIR
2. Heaven Or Las Vegas - COCTEAU TWINS
3. Living With Yourself - MARK MCGUIRE
4. Temperamental - EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL
5. Quiet Is The New Loud - KINGS OF CONVENIENCE
6. Ministry Of Sound Ibiza Chillout Session - VARIOUS
7. Pretty Hate Machine - NINE INCH NAILS
8. Souvlaki - SLOWDIVE
9. Café Bleu - THE STYLE COUNCIL
10. In The Mood For Love - SOUNDTRACK

The Auteurs

THE AUTEURS

Of the countless great directors this world has seen, these are quite simply the greatest. Without them, our world and my life would not be the same.























MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI






















JEAN-LUC GODARD

ABBAS KIAROSTAMI


















CARL TH. DREYER

















FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT

Somewhere

SOMEWHERE

More details of Sofia Coppola's fourth film, Somewhere, were announced recently- including the poster and trailer. The US release is set for December 22 (my birthday!). The trailer is gorgeous, showing Chateau Marmont in that beautiful hazy summer light in a way that only Sofia can. The music is by Phoenix and The Strokes. It goes without saying just how major this film is going to be.

Christine Hebl

From a chance meeting on a staircase about Sofia Coppola and The Strokes all those years ago, Christine is one of the most beautiful people I know. The things I have learned from this girl are inexplicable. Lately she has become our generation's Samantha Brown: expat, world citizen, and universal nomad for the rest of us. Christine is an amazing writer and photographer, which you should see for yourself on her beautiful blogs, Un Peso Para Ti and Pinyon Pines.

CHRISTINE'S ALL-TIME TOP TEN

1. I Want You – MARVIN GAYE
2. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Zuma – NEIL YOUNG
3. The White Album, Rubber Soul – THE BEATLES
4. Future Days – CAN
5. Rumours – FLEETWOOD MAC
6. Dusty in Memphis – DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
7. Space Is The Place – NEWCLEUS
8. The Low End Theory – A TRIBE CALLED QUEST
9. Teen Dream – BEACH HOUSE
10. Murray Street - SONIC YOUTH

The Truth

THE TRUTH

Never bettered, none more pure. Alicia's voice sounds so raw and so beautiful on these songs. Years later, it still resonates. Not a second wasted, feeling spared, or word out of place. If Alicia really is the new Mary J, I couldn't think of anyone better to take it on.

Heavy Rotation

1. SPLAZSH - ACTRESS
2. THANK ME LATER - DRAKE
3. PURE MOODS - VARIOUS
4. THIRD - PORTISHEAD
5. RID OF ME - PJ HARVEY
6. YOUR LOVE - NICKI MINAJ
7. ADVENTURES IN PARADISE - MINNIE RIPERTON
8. NIXON - LAMBCHOP
9. MOTHER IS THE MILKY WAY - BROADCAST
10. BACH: TOCCATAS, VOL. 2 - GLENN GOULD
11. NEW MORALE LEADERSHIP - COLD CAVE
12. PROTECTION - MASSIVE ATTACK
13. JAY STAY PAID - J DILLA
14. VICTORIALAND - COCTEAU TWINS
15. THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM - ALICIA KEYS

Dominick Fernow

Dominick Fernow records and performs as Prurient and is a current member of Cold Cave. If you haven't already, check out Black Vase and Love Comes Close immediately- calling them modern day classics won't even suffice. Dominick also runs the incomparable Hospital Productions, a record label and shop based in New York. Today he shares with us ten of his favorite dance and industrial records.

DOMINICK'S TOP TEN DANCE & INDUSTRIAL

1. Core - STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
2. Confessions On A Dance Floor - MADONNA
3. Dome Of The Rock - MUSLIMGAUZE
4. Watermark - ENYA
5. Sheet One - PLASTIKMAN
6. Trance Nation America Vol. 3
7. Human After All - DAFT PUNK
8. This Last Night In Sodom - SOFT CELL
9. Bad - MICHAEL JACKSON
10. Lust - LORDS OF ACID

The Calm

THE CALM

Fireworks

1. Fireworks - DRAKE
2. Hearing Damage - THOM YORKE
3. Messenger - BLONDE REDHEAD
4. On Giving Up - HIGH PLACES
5. Leave Me Alone - NEW ORDER
6. And Then So Clear - BRIAN ENO
7. Losing Today - SLOWDIVE
8. Quick Canal - ATLAS SOUND
9. Un-thinkable - ALICIA KEYS
10. 4th Of July (Fireworks) - KELIS

Invocation

INVOCATION

Mom & Dad

These two top ten lists come from the best parents in the biz. My parents are the reason I have loved music my whole life (maybe it has something to do with going to a Crosby, Stills & Nash concert before I was even born?) And just when I thought I could write both of their lists myself, they threw a few surprises at me! They have always been supportive of music.. whether it was buying me Madonna's Erotica when I was 10, my dad dubbing copies of Nevermind for my 4th grade classmates, or them taking me to see Peaches when I was 17. So here are their favorites... favorites that because of them, have became favorites of mine as well.

LINDA'S TOP 10

1. Let It Bleed - THE ROLLING STONES
2. The Joshua Tree - U2
3. Hell Freezes Over - EAGLES
4. McCartney - PAUL MCCARTNEY
5. What's Going On - MARVIN GAYE
6. Let's Stay Together - AL GREEN
7. Tigerlily - NATALIE MERCHANT
8. Mirrorball - SARAH MCLACHLAN
9. Goats Head Soup - THE ROLLING STONES
10. Tapestry - CAROLE KING

BLAKE'S TOP 10

1. I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama - JANIS JOPLIN
2. III - SANTANA
3. Waiting For The Sun - THE DOORS
4. Hejira - JONI MITCHELL
5. IV - LED ZEPPELIN
6. Houses Of The Holy - LED ZEPPELIN
7. Live At Massey Hall - NEIL YOUNG
8. Dreamboat Annie - HEART
9. Ghost In The Machine - THE POLICE
10. The Joshua Tree - U2

Crystal Healing

CRYSTAL HEALING

A One And A Two

YI YI: A ONE AND A TWO...
Edward Yang
Taiwan, 2000

Of the many thoughts that have been running through my mind since re-watching this last night, the most prominent one is that of reflections. Edward Yang and cinematographer Wei-han Yang use surfaces, mirrors, windows, and reflections so beautifully here. The shot of Min-Min in the office at night is so gorgeous, but so complex that it takes you the whole scene to try to figure out everything you are seeing and how you are able to see all of these things at once. I don't think there has ever been a greater use of reflections. There are other shots like this, too. I remember one outside of a moving car's windows which reflects the buildings in such a fascinating way that you can't even tell which way you are looking at them. A shot outside of the apartment looking in through the window at Ting-Ting, framed perfectly. A shot in N.J.'s Tokyo hotel room that turns to the mirror to film him on the telephone and then slowly turns toward him directly to capture the same shot. Of course these are all technical things.. beautiful things. But I feel like there is a greater meaning to all of these shots.

These reflections in a way reflect what the characters are each going through in their lives. Reflections of thirty years ago, as in the case of N.J. and Sherry. Ting-Ting's reflections of the day her grandmother fell.. wondering if she had been the cause of it. Min-Min's reflections on her life after her realization that it only takes her a minute to tell her mother about her day. About how empty she feels her life is and always has been. Even Yang-Yang's reflections about half-truths and wondering why in life you can never get the full picture, or both sides of something.

The construction of this film is mind-blowing to me. Its length is certainly justified because it allows us to get to know the characters so well. We need this time to understand them.. to see them in different situations, to share their feelings. The way everything is tied together, the way it moves effortlessly from one scene to the next, with the sound often overlapping into the next scene. The pace of this film is so even and so measured. Never rushed, never too slow, but made from that most natural of all tempos: the rhythm of life.

Throughout the film I was reminded of two other directors who were presumably an influence on Yang: Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Yasujiro Ozu. Yi Yi especially reminded me of Hsiao-Hsien's A Time To Live And A Time To Die, which also used the structure of family saga to drag out those simple truths of life we are often too busy to notice. Both films also capture the true bittersweet nature of life.. sometimes happy, sometimes sad. Ozu pops up throughout in the form of pillow shots, but also in the general look and feel of Yi Yi. Everything is clean and uncluttered.. down to the music and the understated white font of the credits. There is a simple grace and poetic dignity to everything here and in every character, even in the face of heartbreak and death. Like Ozu's films, Yi Yi is calm, quiet, gently flowing, and steady.. always a tortoise, never a hare.

Once In A Lifetime

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

The other day I was catching up on Roger Ebert's always entertaining blog, when I came across something that I've been thinking about ever since. In the first of his Cannes updates, he wrote, "Fifty years ago, the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes was Fellini's La Dolce Vita. More every year I realize that it was the film of my lifetime."

There is something so haunting about these two sentences to me. But also something so dramatic, so stately, and so poetic. Aside from the way in which he said it, let's think for a minute about what he said. The film of my lifetime. This is what I have been thinking about off and on (a/k/a nonstop) ever since I read it.

What is the film of my lifetime? What is the film of yours?

I still don't have the answer. Maybe because there are many I haven't seen or because they haven't been made yet. Or maybe because I tend to change my mind so much about things like this (but who doesn't?). Or maybe because a lot of the films I would immediately want to list are not from my lifetime. I would want to say Last Year At Marienbad for its endless and inexplicable mysteries. Or A Time To Live And A Time To Die for being entirely flawless and showing us what life is really like. Or Fanny And Alexander because it is that one film that you want to jump straight through the screen and live inside of. Or One From The Heart (this blog's namesake), for its impossibly gigantic and unmatched neon sense of magic, romance, and big dreams. Or Red Desert for its sad factories, overt modernity, and industrial beauty. Or Ordet because there is nothing more pure in all of cinema.

But my lifetime?

There are certainly a handful of films that come to mind that excited me or changed me or made me forget about everything else. The more I think about it, I'm pretty sure Roger was not referring to his favorite film or even what he considers the greatest. I think what he means are those films that come along and leave their mark on you, that stay with you for hours, days, months.. even years after seeing them. Films on such a grand scale that do nothing short of take your breath away, make you forget who you are, or where you came from. Those that change everything: erasing the past, obscuring the present, and igniting the future. With that being said, here are ten that come to mind.. from my lifetime.

















ANTICHRIST, dir. Lars Von Trier, 2009
















สัตว์ประหลาด (TROPICAL MALADY), dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002

















WERCKMEISTER HARMÓNIÁK, dir. Béla Tarr, 2000













ÜÇ MAYMUN, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008
















SHIRIN, dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 2008















YI YI: A ONE AND A TWO, dir. Edward Yang, 2000


















LOST IN TRANSLATION, dir. Sofia Coppola, 2003




















STELLET LICHT, dir. Carlos Reygadas, 2007

















طعم گيلاس (TASTE OF CHERRY), dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1997


















花樣年華 (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), dir. Wong Kar-Wai, 2000