The Pizza Slice: 2010

When I think of pizza in 2010 it’s my visit to New York City that stands out above everything else, so this might turn into a belated What I Did On My Holidays. It’s just on another level over there. You get a fair amount of average places, but what really amazed me was the number of crappy looking places that, upon further inspection, were churning out incredible looking pizzas from wood burning ovens. I walked down one street near where we were staying in the East Village, and there was a wood delivery truck stopping at regular spots all down the street to deliver fuel to the humble looking pizzerias.

It wasn’t wood-fired pizza that won the day however, but old king coal. Grimaldi’s was a name I’d encountered whilst googling ‘best pizza new york’ and it had also been recommended by a work colleague. A friend of friend, resident in NYC, had also heard good things about it. The ‘good things’ have made it a bit of a tourist trap, and we had to queue for roughly an hour just to get a table. Eventually we were called in (we even got to jump the queue slightly) and the 5 of us were squeezed around a tiny table. The walls were covered in Frank Sinatra memorabilia (apparently he was a big fan), the waiter asked me what my ‘secret’ was - I was the only male in our party. Best of all though were the chefs. They worked as a chain. One passed the dough to the next, who effortlessly stretched it into a base, then another would apply the toppings, give it a drizzle of sauce, and fling it into the roaring hot coal burning oven. The cooked pizzas were then brought to the tables and perched on stands. We shared 2 between the five of us. They were easily the best pizzas I have ever eaten.

The most surprisingly nice though was a slice I had in Central Park’s Summer Stage whilst waiting for Pavement to come on. Despite some great food at Green Man and Latitude festivals, my expectations for food bought at outdoor music events are still coloured by the Reading Festival, but New York again excelled itself. One stall had a car trailer which had been converted into a wood-burning oven*! I had a great big slice of margherita and it was great.

Everything pretty much pales into comparison.

* For the record, I don’t think a wood burning oven is an essential of good pizza making. I’ve had plenty of great pizzas from places with more 'modern' ovens. It’s just that a wood burner is a bit of a badge, highlighting the chef as someone who cares about the pizza they’re producing. A Pizza Hut pizza cooked in a wood burning oven is still going to be pretty crap.

The Films I Liked Most At The Pictures in 2010

I think I saw more films at the pictures this year than in any other year ever, probably thanks to getting a membership card for the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff (a bargain at £25 for me and my girlfriend). Some of them were right clunkers - especially The Ghost (which was simply preposterous) and Iron Man 2 (which struggled to shoe-horn its 'expanded universe' into anything resembling a plot). Some of them were brilliant. Here, in no particular order, is them:

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

I've not seen the original all the way through, but that apparently means I've seen more of it than Werner Herzog, who directed this remake. Out goes Catholic guilt. Out goes New York City. Out goes Harvey Keitel. In comes Nic Cage being completely insane as he tries to solve a murder in post-Katrina New Orleans. Words cannot do it justice.

The Social Network

A brilliant portrait of a young man with no social skills who revolutionises how people socialise. Director David Fincher reins in his visual style and lets the script 'do the talking' (that's a joke about Aaron Sorkin's dialogue!). Much more than just a "film about Facebook".

Four Lions

Chris Morris generates a brilliant amount of humour by (FILM STUDIES) juxtaposing the absurdities of extremism against the mundaneness of modern life.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Won my heart with its opening scenes and didn't let it go for the film's duration. I can appreciate that it's not for everyone (read some of the 1 star reviews of the DVD over on Amazon) but I thought it was great (though the ending wasn't as good as the comics).

The Albums I Listened To Most This Year.

I don't use Last.fm or anything, so this won't be based on anything other than my selective memory, but never mind. In no particular order, I give to you...

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Mostly for Ampling Alp and O.N.E I'll admit, but this album lived in my kitchen and pretty much sound-tracked all my cooking for a good few months.

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

I found this slightly underwhelming at first. The first 2 songs are great but the rest of it didn't really do anything, but for some reason I kept going back to it and now I'm completely in love with the whole album. Especially the track 'Anchorage', which starts quite slowly and then explodes into life as it progresses. Deceptively simple.

The National - High Violet

Pretty much a victory lap after Alligator and Boxer. Utterly brilliant nonetheless. Probably the best band in the world.

The Walkmen - Lisbon

Unfortunately they'll probably always be "that band who did The Rat" (I think when they last played Cardiff that was even on the poster), but away from that undoubted 'indie disco' classic they've, in their own way, slowly started to equal The National for that whole 'bruised masculinity / triumph in the face of adversity' thing.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Not quite as good as Funeral (obviously) but a slight refocusing and a move away from the bombast that made Neon Bible a bit overbearing at times. I really like this album.

At The Pictures: Inception and Toy Story 3

Been putting off writing about Inception, wanted to let it sink in a bit more. I really enjoyed it, and it’s great seeing original content in Summer blockbusters. The look, pacing, sound and structure were all great. But as time goes by the effects of it are wearing off a little and I’m starting to think “was it actually that good?” – the characters were a little bit one dimensional, and there was a bit too much talky-explainy scenes. I did enjoy it though, and I’m probably going to go and see it again, but it’s not a 5 star classic. Nice clothes though, and I’m enjoying reading various people’s interpretations, which are bordering on fan-fiction, about ‘what was REALLY going on’.

Toy Story 3 was just another example of Pixar’s brilliance. You really can’t fault them. My one gripe is that I wanted loads more Mr Pricklepants. Let’s hope he gets his own spin-off. I can’t really think of anything to say. It’s not as good as Up. It might be better than The Incredibles.

At The Pictures: Greenberg

So last night I saw Greenberg, the latest film from Noah Baumbech or whatever he’s called. It stars Ben Stiller as the titular Roger Greenberg who retuns to his native LA following an exile in New York, and some kind of unspecified psychological breakdown inducing hospital stay. He hangs out with his brother’s PA, and meets up with his old band mate. All three central performances are pretty great, some of the best work I’ve seen from Stiller and Rhys Ifans. I’d not seen the girl in anything else but she was also great. Like a less hot less annoying Zoeey Deschanel. They’ve all got various issues and problems, and the plot doesn’t really go anywhere – the pet dog’s ongoing illness is the only narrative arc really, but it’s still engaging throughout and occasionally funny. I particularly enjoyed Greenberg’s ranty letters. The Mayor of New York, the airline company, a taxi firm, and Pakistan all fall foul of his poison pen. It’s not really a comedy though, just East Coast anxieties moved to sunny LA.

Books What I Done Been Reading

On the bus this morning I finally finished reading Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress Of Solitude, which I’d been given as a birthday gift back in March.

The book is essentially about New York, and Brooklyn in particular. It takes a panorama of themes equal to The Wire in scope. Race relations, gentrification, the end of hippy ideologies, music, drugs, graffiti, and some other bits and bobs are all touched upon as we follow the lives of 2 character growing up from the 70s to the present-ish day. There’s also a vein of the fantastic running through the book’s core, which intertwines with the characters’ love of comic books.

The whole thing’s pretty ambitious basically, and the writing style is a bit dense at first – it took a while for it to grip me, but I’m really glad I stuck with it.

At The Pictures: The Killer Inside Me and The Brothers Bloom

I went to the cinema twice in 2 days. Crazy.

First I saw Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, which came shrink wrapped in controversy. It wasn't that bad reeeeeeeally. The violent scenes were pretty grim, but there was no implication that the women were enjoying it - which is a criticism I've read in some reviews. The film deals with the old literary staple of The Unreliable Narrator, but to me it didn't quite work. There's also a really bad CGI scene at one point. If you don't have the budget for a decent effects shot, then don't bother. I can't decide if I actually liked it or not. File under 'hmmm, interesting' I suppose.

The Brothers Bloom is Rian Johnson's follow up the opinion splitting Brick. For some reason it's taken about 2 years for it to reach UK cinemas. I really liked it, but I can see that it's not for everyone. Like Brick, it makes no allusions to being set in the 'real' world, which grates on some for reasons I don't get. It's a bit 'indie film by numbers' at times. A little Coen Bros, a bit of Wes Anderson, etcetera etcetera, but I don't mind a bit of that. All the locations they filmed at were stunning, and the trio of central performers were great. Plot wise I don't think it quite manages to do everything it was trying to, but it's a fun ride. Hope his next film gets here sooner rather than later.