Madcap

Il Sorpasso (1962) [The Criterion Collection #707]
A film by Dino Risi
2xDVD9 | Untouched | ISO+MDS | NTSC 1.85:1 720x480 VBR | 105 mn | 14.78 GB
Audio: Italian AC-3 Mono @ 192 kbps 48.0 khz | Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama, Comedy | Country: Italy

The ultimate Italian road comedy, Il sorpasso stars the unlikely pair of Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant as, respectively, a waggish, freewheeling bachelor and the straitlaced law student he takes on a madcap trip from Rome to Tuscany. An unpredictable journey that careers from slapstick to tragedy, this film, directed by Dino Risi, is a wildly entertaining commentary on the pleasures and consequences of the good life. A holy grail of commedia all’italiana, Il sorpasso is so fresh and exciting that one can easily see why it has long been adored in Italy.

Fred Hess - Single Moment (2008) {Alison SR 115}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 346 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Alison / FHMusic | SR 115
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Saxophone

Tenor saxophonist Fred Hess blew off on a free tangent in 2002 with Exposed (CIMP Records), employing an Ornette Coleman style quartet containing two horns, bass and drums. He followed up on that approach with three excellent Tapestry Records discs, Extended Family (2003), The Long and Short of It (2004), and Crossed Paths (2005), with the latter pair cementing the Ken Filiano (bass), Ron Miles (trumpet) and Matt Wilson (drums) line-up that has carried over to Hess' more recent quintet albums, How 'Bout Now (Tapestry, 2006) and In the Grotto (Alison Records, 2007).

Aside from his legendary Ballet mécanique, which still gets played as a kind of souvenir of the madcap 1920s, George Antheil's concert music has mostly fallen into obscurity. In spite of his reputation as an enfant terrible who hobnobbed with the leading lights of the avant-garde, his works attract less attention than the details of his life. Yet this state of affairs might be reversed if this delightful release from CPO gets proper distribution, for the pieces presented here are worth hearing in their own right, …….

Blair Sanderson @ AllMusic

Possibly one of the most well known female manga artists, Rumiko Takahashi is the author of multiple acclaimed works. Among her most popular include Ranma ½, Inu-Yasha, Urusei Yatsura, and Maison Ikkoku. When one thinks of Takahashi's works though, the first things that often come to mind are quirky characters and slapstick comedy. Perhaps that's the reason why her romance story, Maison Ikkoku seems so radically different from all her other works. Although the odd characterization and wacky humor are still there, the story flows much more smoothly and can be highly emotional at times. Ikkoku Maison is a bitter-sweet comedic romance involving a group of madcap people who live in a boarding house in 1980s Tokyo. The story focuses primarily on the blossoming relationship between Yusaku Godai, a poor student down on his luck, and Kyoko Otonashi, the young, recently-widowed boarding house manager

Angela Hewitt presents a fourth volume in her acclaimed series of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, which has delighted her fans worldwide. The little-known Sonata in B flat major, Op 22, the last of Beethoven’s ‘early’ sonatas, is recorded alongside Op 31 No 3 (sometimes known as ‘La chasse’, or ‘The Hunt’, because of its tumultuous Presto con fuoco finale). The album is concluded with Op 101, of which the journalist for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in Leipzig wrote: ‘Truly, here in his 101st composition admiration and renewed respect take hold of us, when we wander along strange, never trodden paths with the great painter of the soul’, going on to enthuse about the most beautiful colours and pictures in Beethoven’s new Piano Sonata.