Mitchell

Blue
$11.98
The first Joni Mitchell song I ever listened to was the poetic, voyeuristic "River", when I had just turned thirteen. Frankly, I was stunned. It was so icy and confessional lyrically, and so longing and wishful and raw vocally - I was blown away. Joni throws herself out in the open, pining: "I wish I had a river / to skate away on.../I wish I had a river so long / I would teach my feet to fly". The aching vulnerability of this song is both breathtaking and familiar. I knew at once that I had to purchase her entire album, "Blue", and I was in no way disappointed.

The album opens with the simulataneously lovesick and hopeful "All I Want". Joni's birdlike trill brings her poetry to life and is carried by the beautiful melody woven by her skillful fingers. In all of these songs, Joni's lyrics have a very distinct vulnerability - not only featured in "River", but throughout the album - that I can connect with. In 1979, Joni reflected on Blue, saying she had "no personal defenses in her life" at the time and felt like "a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes". These feelings she was experiencing during the composition and recording of Blue are very apparent throughout, and endeared me to her.

Following "All I Want" are some other brillant tracks: "My Old Man", a song describing the joys and sorrows of a live-in romantic relationship; "Little Green", the beautiful, sensitive ode to Joni's relinquished daughter, Kelly Green, tinged with regret, and filled with wishes for a good life to her child; the rollicking "Carey", describing Joni's time spent with a "mean old daddy" or "bright red devil" on a Grecian isle who is also referenced in "California"; the piercingly honest "Blue", a zeitgeist of the times; the wonderful "California", in which Joni beseeches the object of her affections: "Will you take me as I am? / Will you take me as I am? Will you?" and again speaks of the "red, red rogue" or "redneck", Carey, "who gave her back her smile" but "kept her camera to sell"; the pensive, anxious "This Flight Tonight"; the lovely, ethereal "River", opening with an interpolation from "Jingle Bells" setting the Christmas-y tone; "A Case of You" about a deterioriating romantic relationship, and in which Joni compares a lover to "holy wine" that tastes "so bitter" but "so sweet". The album closes with the personal "The Last Time I Saw Richard" in which Joni is told by Richard that "all romantics meet the same fate / someday cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe" and proceeds to say, "You laugh, he said / you think you're immune / go look at your eyes, they're full of moon / you like roses and kisses / and pretty men to tell you all those pretty lies..."

After having listened to "Blue" countless times through after purchasing, I soon discovered that Joni and I share the same birthday, which I find inordinately exciting. Soon after I had found out, I was telling one of my friends, "Oh my gosh! I almost forgot to tell you! I have the same birthday as Joni Mitchell!" To which she responded, "Who's Joni Mitchell?" and I think something inside of me might have actually died in that moment. It is so important for my generation to hear her music - it's not dated at all. Every word still rings as true as they did the day they were written. So, if you're a teenager like me, please don't be put off by the fact that this is "old" music. I assure you that her lyrics are just as applicable to your life as they were to someone our age when the album was originally released.

"Blue" came to me in a time when I needed it most. I'm almost fifteen now and I will keep "Blue" close to my heart as I cross over the threshold between childhood and adulthood. I know that Joni's words will comfort me in times of need. "Blue" is a treasure, plain and simple - a true gift from the heart of Joni Mitchell. I beg you to buy this. You will not regret it.

Mitchell
$9.95
This is one of the better films spoofed by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Now don't get me wrong, this is not a great film by any means... its just not as bad as some people might think. The version on MST3K is a 5 star masterpiece, but they also cheat a bit, the version you see there is a chopped up version edited for content and laughs that has plot holes the size of The Grand Canyon. My only problem is that I can never watch the regular version without thinking of the spoofed version. The geniuses from MST3K have forever ruined my my my my mitchell.

Black Swan Green: A Novel
$15.00
Initially, I had a hard time getting into this book. Perhaps it was all the British slang and references to life in England in the early 1980s. Once I got past that, however, I found myself engaged in the story and having a hard time not starting the next chapter once I finished the one I was on.

Calling David Mitchell's "Black Swan Green" a coming of age story is accurate enough. Yet, that label is thrown around a lot, generally covering many topics, so don't roll your eyes. This particular story is narrated by young Jason Taylor, a 13-year-old boy living in the English countryside, dealing with the every day torture of trying to fit in. The book covers a year in Jason's life, where we get to see him deal with all sorts of things - some that almost everyone can identify with (a first crush, or the growing pains of seeing your family more clearly and realizing how dysfunctional they are) - and other things rather unique in nature (stumbling upon a group of gypsies camped out on the outskirts of town, and hearing their perspective as all the townies freak out by their mere presence, or having secret meetings with an elderly woman interested in your poetry).

The best thing about the story is how much I liked Jason as a character/narrator. Watching him grow from the stuttering (and bullied) boy to someone wiser and more comfortable in his own skin was a joy.

David Mitchell also has a very particular writing style that I imagine is recognizable throughout all his work. The way he plays with words and images is quite unique and colorful.

Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology
$18.00
Mitchell brings a kind of consensus approach within literary criticism to bear on the criticism of visual imagery; the criticism of an image as if it were a text. A lot of this has been done, without any discipline or care for consistency or clarity, by an army of post-structuralist French critics, with uneven results. Not that Agamben, Derrida and so on aren't quite worth reading, but I'd guess that reading them would be a lot more rewarding for someone who had read this little book first.