High Fidelity: Classic Or Dud?

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I like dthe film although I hated the actress who played his girlfeind

Pennysong Hanle y, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

but john cusack = CLASSIC

i've not seen the film (tho i have read the book), but i wouldn't care *what* order he put my records in. actually, having said that my boyfriend is a bit of a tidy-records freak and it can get somewhat annoying, as i am definitely of the 'make a big sloppy pile with whatever is on at the moment at the top' skool. then when my back is turned for 0.0001 seconds it gets cleared up which confuses the hell out of me.

so, er, the answer is yes i suppose.

no to the top 5s though. 'specially not at 10 in the morning.

katie, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

not bad, thouhg loses points for confusing evil dead 2 with evil dead 3 - you'd think a iflm about anal obsessives would be, but no - they fucked up.

Geoff, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Alphabetically by artist - anyone who doesn't need to organise their collection in some way simply DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH RECORDS! Far preferred the film to the book (the latter was a bit of a dud), though I also prefer Roger Moore to Sean (*spit*) Connery, so go figure.

Put simply, Cusack rocks in *everything* - how could you possibly be a doubter?

ogden, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

top 5 hat-themed records

Hats Off To Larry- Del Shannon (this is Officially The Best Song Ever Written, as well)
Some Questions About Hats- Slapp Happy
Safety Dance- Men Without Hats
My Hat- Pere Ubu
Stetson Kennedy- Billy Bragg

emil.y, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It doesnt count if the name hat is in th eband title

Pennysong Hanle y, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Pah, it's 'hat-themed records' so technically I could have included every Men Without Hats song ever.

A more fitting technicality would be that as they state categorically that they are WITHOUT hats, it's not hat-themed at all.

In that case, I substitute 'My hat it has three corners, three corners has my hat...' or 'The Sun Has Got It's Hat On'

emil.y, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

How can you leave out All Around My Hat by Steeleye Span??? Folk-Rock in down-the-toilet-forever shocker?

ogden, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Because I don't like it, that's why.

Deduct points for bad apostrophe use. 'The Sun Has Got Its Hat On', surely?

emil.y, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

'Wherever I Lay My Hat' by Marvin Gaye (not Paul Young, natch...)

'Hats Off to (Roy) Harper' by Led Zeppelin.

Second Blue Nile alb is called 'Hats'.

Andrew L, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The characters in that film were creepily similiar to this guy that worked at a record shop in Christchurch and now works at one in Wellington.

Yes of course people organise their record collection. In fact i don't know anyone who doesn't.

hamish n00nan, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Cusack lost his classic status for me after I saw "High Fidelity." I hated it. I hated all the characters, except the skater kids. Such a joyless, anal world they all lived in. If that's rockist, then no, I'm not one.

Plus it was crappy as a relationship movie. And Jack Black was so much better, so much more over the top, in Jesus' Son

But I was shocked that Catherine Zeta Jones was the best thing in the movie. She can really act!

OK-"She Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina"-Kinks

"Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat"-Dylan

"Kings Lead Hat" - E

Arthur, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Eno! Eno, dammit. Not that drip E!

Arthur, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Emily,

another Del Shannon fan here! Will wonders never cease? "Hats Off To Larry" = ROXOR (but coldly, mechanically, efficiently: as far from Little Richard as it is near to John Baker).

I'd have to include "All Around My Hat" for all kinds of arcane personal reasons most of which have little to do with ILM. It's a record I don't listen to much, and don't even think is particularly good, but conceptually and culturally it is one of Britain's greatest ever pop contrivances (and a record that could, I think, NEVER have been a hit at any other time, as inconceivable 10 years later as 10 years before). That is however not, in itself, any sort of musical recommendation.

Robin Carmody, Sunday, 9 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ah Robin, just admit it like wot I do. All around my hat is easily one of the best pop songs ever written and is rarely from my lips when pissed.

My record collection is in no order. Apart from the New Order records which are in a new order which resembles the old order in as much as there is no order.

Pete, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I hated the film because NO WAY would a struggling record store guy have an apartment like that in Wicker Park. I wish I could afford a place like that. It was huge. Plus, I've never seen kids skateboarding in the street like that. And his girlfriend in the film was a Trixie , and Lincoln Park girls just don't go out with guys like that, unless, of course, they're really John Cusack disguised as a record store guy.

Kerry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

(i wuv it when that happens: mark s has spasm of HTML related schadenfreude)

mark s, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I have at least 1000 CDs (I've never counted them). Yesterday was the first time I've attempted to put them order EVER. I discovered that about 30 of them are AWOL... BALLS!

I was happier when they were a disorganized mess. At least I didn't know what I was missing.

Dan Perry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Me and the guys have been talking, and we reckon that what you like is at least as important as what you _are_ like. Music, Films, Books: these things matter"

So QED this board must find it classic. Also for the The Beta Band scene (what was the song in the book?) and the brief fantasies of Rob Vs Ian.

A lot of people I know saw the film after reading the book, and complained that they'd niced up Rob too much. But seeing it a second time, he is a complete bastard at times in the film, it's just that he's played by John Cusack, and everyone loves John Cusack.

Andrew Farrell, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I would have liked to have seen a few more scenes of Rob standing in the rain. Three of four wasn't enough. It's a really good metaphor.

Mark S.: God, yes Affording the rent for the store alone is a stretch. Re Lincoln Park Trixies: Why do you...don't you live in the UK? (yes, the interweb thingy is international, but connotations, etc...)

That said, even though I in no way am aligning myself with the lead character it is strange seeing a film in which you are familiar with basically every public, interior location: clubs, bars, shops, restaurants, cafés.

scott p., Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

(scott p you have confused me with kerry dymaxia: i wuz merely snickering feebly at how her point had collapsed ignobly due to bludged html. she made the actual smart point)

mark s, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Oops. I made myself John Cusack's girlfriend, is what I did. Which would actually be more likely than a Trixie . It's pretty funny because someone applied on my behalf for the Trixie Society, and I got accepted.

Kerry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Wait, is that Trixie thing serious? It looked like a pisstake to me.

Richard Tunnicliffe, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ah, yes. I am a fool.

Over the weekend I saw a black Jetta double-parked in front of the posh dog grooming place and Banana Reupublic on Halsted near Armitage with a "KERRY" vanity plate and was wondering if that was yours. ;)

scott p, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The trixie site is a satire created by two gay men, but they really exist.

Kerry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Trixies really exist, that is.

Kerry, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Cracks me up too, Mark.

Unfortunately, Pete, "All Around My Hat" wasn't far from Steve Wright's lips recently when he was (presumably) far from pissed. That's enough to cheapen anything, though the production still RoXoR.

His girlfriend was a Dymaxia (not literally), Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

You could have cheated and used Men W/O Hates album Greatest Hats and filled your Safety Dance cravings. Safety Dance is never the same after you've seen the Safety Ape dance to it.

Mr Noodles, Monday, 10 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I'm a girl and I totally identified with the guy, specially the mix tape thing. John Cusack is a total honey. Classic. Oh, and Trixies? Wtf?!?!?!? Makes me glad I'm English ;)

Debs, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I'm sure I found the film mildly depressing in some way, although I can't quite remember why. Perhaps it was the tremendous sense of mediocrity dressed up as passion. Not a great film, by any strech of the imagination.

Ally C, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I think Boston had alot of Trixies too. And allot of blondes. The Charles is 50% peroxide

Pennysong Hanle y, Thursday, 13 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

seven months pass...
Yes, of course Trixies are real. Pinch us, and we'll kick back. The Society is very real. Just look at the discussion board topic debating our legitimacy at www.lptrixie.com

Regards Ashley Burke Director of Communications Lincoln Park Trixie Society

Ashley Burke, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nutty thing is we have a (male) library worker named Ashley Burke. He has been described as Supermodel Ashley Burke by some.

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

You are surely a mentalist then, Ashley.

RickyT, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pinch us, and we'll kick back.

With what......yupscum SKELETON POWER? Haha, all you chicks will look and speak like Ann Coulter in 5 years, on the stremf. Someone link to the "stickers with Calvin pissing" thread, there are some highly apposite comments there re: your men. See, stuff like this Trixie culture thing is a challenge to me, because it's tough to find a watertight diss for something that's dissworthy simply on common sense.....like wearing a band shirt of the band youre seeing that night......there's no scientific or logical or ethical explanation why it's lame, but it just is, and everyone knows it.....but there's that one kid that doesn't know any better.....he did it last week, and when people clown he will be batshit enough to try to make a stand about 'why shouldn't you wear band shirts to the band's show? are you elitists?'......it's like that with that Trixie site.....constructing a diss on grounds of corniness isnt even worth the time cuz they're yupscum-impregnable.......here's one anyway......Trixie's are the kind of people that have made this phone call: "Hello? Mitsubishi? Ad department, please.........Hello? Yes, I just saw that commercial with the young people grooving and singing along in the car. I need to know what that song is!"

Ramosi, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh shit, now I'm going to have their 'ringer' on my ass......you know, the law-talking "smart" one that handles all their battles......okay, okay, when you get back from rollerblading and read this, I'm SORRY. LEAVE ME ALONE.

Ramosi, Saturday, 11 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

three months pass...
Jack Black is the real high point of this movie.

Ron, Sunday, 11 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

don't make me puke

electric sound of jim, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

DUD soooo so boring

ducklingmonster, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

since dribbling about JC in this thread i have seen the film and was utterly and thoroughly bored by it. blimey, never thought i'd see the day when i wanted to punch john cusack! (tho i suppose i'd like to punch all nick hornby's characters) give me grosse pointe blank any day :(

katie, Monday, 12 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

nine months pass...
REVIVE! i just saw this movie last night on tele. i have a lot of mixed feelings about it. i wanted to hate it but it was a funny caricature, and i had to recognise myself in john cusack's character a little and its good to laugh at yourself, right?

di smith (lucylurex), Monday, 12 May 2003 08:01 (twenty years ago) link

eleven months pass...
I watched this last night on BBC 3 for the first time (I vaguely remeber reading the book way back and being none too impressed) and all I kept thinking, all the way through was ILM ILM, that's so ILM. Sorry guys ;0(

smee (smee), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I really like this film I have to say.

Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Never read it or watched it. Too englishy looking...

Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Jesus I hate Jack Black so much.

Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Yay! Finally someone else who can't stand Jack Black. All my friends really like his stuff, and they don't understand why I get so annoyed with him.

jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:24 (nineteen years ago) link

He doesn't even act, does anyone doubt he's actually exactly like his "characters" in real life?

Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:25 (nineteen years ago) link

I hate this film and all associated with it except John Cusack, who gets a bye because of being in Grosse Point Blank, the best film ever.

Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Including the Beta Band, Nick?

Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion pisses all over Grosse Point Blank.

N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Ghostbusters is a classic bro

F# A# (∞), Tuesday, 7 August 2018 13:41 (five years ago) link

classic moneymaking elephantine crap

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 August 2018 13:55 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

how do you write that article and not even acknowledge that zoe kravitz’s mother was in the first screen adaptation of high fidelity

i chop up the orange and chomp on the inside of it (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 20 December 2019 23:28 (four years ago) link

I'm assuming they didn't even bother to read the Wikipedia

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 21 December 2019 00:04 (four years ago) link

The lack of anyone in the record store who looks like Moby is promising

Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Saturday, 21 December 2019 00:10 (four years ago) link

one month passes...

How she can afford to pay herself and her two employees while keeping that store open and making rent on a pretty spacious place in Crown Heights or some shit is the true magic of this show.

(•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 16:19 (four years ago) link

TV logic i spose

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 16:19 (four years ago) link

if it's Brooklyn obv she's a trust funder eg Lenny Kravitz's daughter

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 16:20 (four years ago) link

Can’t wait for the Christmas episode where he comes to visit then!

(•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link

lol at listening to vinyl in order to make you playlists on spotify

(•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 19:24 (four years ago) link

huh how's that work?

morbidly curious about this show

maffew12, Tuesday, 18 February 2020 19:56 (four years ago) link

sorry I was referring to the scene taken from the original book/movie where Rob is playing records to go on his mixtape and agonizing over the rules of song selection and sequencing but in this show everything is the same up until she just ends up making a fucking spotify playlist out of it all.

this show was a bad idea

(•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 20:45 (four years ago) link

am i imagining it that I read the store premise is that she inherited the space?

Yerac, Tuesday, 18 February 2020 20:52 (four years ago) link

i used to work in a record shop in williamsburg. It was so chill on weekdays that I usually opened and closed by myself, just listening to music and processing orders/deliveries. We would just take our pay in cash at the end of each shift. I would totally have worked there forever if the owner hadn't sucked.

Yerac, Tuesday, 18 February 2020 21:01 (four years ago) link

"this show was a bad idea"

it's completely unnecessary but I watched the whole thing and it got better as it went on and reminded me less of the original book and movie. It's passable weekend binge subscription TV fare.

akm, Tuesday, 18 February 2020 21:35 (four years ago) link

Rob's not enough of an asshole in the TV show, the writers didn't seem to recognize that the relationship was a McGuffin and it was about contronting in middle age that you're an enormous piece of shit.

Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Tuesday, 18 February 2020 23:47 (four years ago) link

really don't get the impression that the movie knows how much of a prick rob is.

frederik b. godt (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 19 February 2020 00:13 (four years ago) link

like definitely it knows he's a bit of a fucking dolt and needs to grow up, but he's still our cool hero also

frederik b. godt (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 19 February 2020 00:14 (four years ago) link

He’s definitely portrayed as sympathetic. Straw Dogs it is not

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 01:38 (four years ago) link

dolts can be heroes

eg, Bowie

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 19 February 2020 01:41 (four years ago) link

I've watched the first two episode and it's still just as cringe-worthy as the movie. Maybe I'm too old for this kind of thing.

Darin, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 01:51 (four years ago) link

looks like the book and film maaaay have touched a nerve

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 19 February 2020 01:56 (four years ago) link

i just watched the trailer for the movie and the tv show. The tv show looks must better. I haven't seen the movie since it first came out but I recall the only sympathetic thing about it was that they cast John Cusack in 2000.

Yerac, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 02:24 (four years ago) link

Jake Lacy is really making a career out of playing "a guy you date(d)".

Yerac, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 02:29 (four years ago) link

i finished the first episode. This is totally fine! it's weird that this is kind of the first thing zoe kravitz has really starred in?

Yerac, Saturday, 22 February 2020 07:29 (four years ago) link

Last two episodes were rushed and weird.

Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Saturday, 22 February 2020 09:23 (four years ago) link

I just double checked how old Rob is supposed to be in the book. 35?

Yerac, Saturday, 22 February 2020 09:33 (four years ago) link

halfway through, this is so much better than the movie (or rather my memory of the movie).

Yerac, Monday, 24 February 2020 08:35 (four years ago) link

low bar

lukas, Monday, 24 February 2020 21:18 (four years ago) link

i hope they pay homage to the ""i will now sell 5 copies of the 3 eps by the beta band" scene.

frederik b. godt (jim in vancouver), Monday, 24 February 2020 21:22 (four years ago) link

"I will now tweet about adding tracks to the store's Spotify playlist"

Οὖτις, Monday, 24 February 2020 21:23 (four years ago) link

I think there were two homages to the Beta Band thing

Greta Van Show Feets BB (milo z), Monday, 24 February 2020 23:25 (four years ago) link

!!!

frederik b. godt (jim in vancouver), Monday, 24 February 2020 23:26 (four years ago) link

Finished. This was totally good. The casting, the styling, the moments.

Yerac, Thursday, 27 February 2020 07:30 (four years ago) link

six months pass...

weird i heard this was terrible

ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Sunday, 13 September 2020 05:40 (three years ago) link

Terrible is strong but it was not good.

Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Sunday, 13 September 2020 06:48 (three years ago) link

considering the lack of acting prowess among the major players, it somehow elevated itself to adequacy.

the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Sunday, 13 September 2020 18:49 (three years ago) link

at the moment I'd be happy if Peter Bradshaw was replaced by Aimless!

calzino, Sunday, 13 September 2020 19:20 (three years ago) link

I just watched the Other Music documentary last weekend, don’t know if I can watch something like this.

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 13 September 2020 19:38 (three years ago) link

there's an Other Music doc? how was it?

(•̪●) (carne asada), Monday, 14 September 2020 16:12 (three years ago) link

Did you shop at Other Music?

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 September 2020 16:52 (three years ago) link

Yep

(•̪●) (carne asada), Monday, 14 September 2020 18:07 (three years ago) link

Then you should definitely watch it.
http://www.othermusicdocumentary.com/

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 September 2020 18:12 (three years ago) link

Best thing about it is, most of it takes place inside the store. Other good thing is that any well-known people that are interviewed were all regular customers.

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 September 2020 18:14 (three years ago) link

two months pass...

Finally saw this last night. I kinda avoided it as I too read the book and kinda tossed it down as I thought in the end the main character was a such dick. While I liked the music nods, I never checked out the movie.

The love story is still pretty much nerd fantasy land, but the scenes in the store and the nods to 90s Chicago was pretty fun. And the Cusacks are always fun to see act together.

Now that it 20 years on, I did think Tim Robbins character was really hilarious and kinda caught something in some hipsters of that era well. They should have somehow had a scene where it crawled across his shelves and you could see his CD collection. You know that dude would have some Rusted Root.

earlnash, Saturday, 5 December 2020 01:09 (three years ago) link

I haven’t seen this in several years, but seeing it as a teenager vs. seeing it mid 20’s vs. seeing it at 30 was an interesting evolution in perspective. It still remained good in my eyes but for different reasons along the course. I’m roughly the age of Cusack in the film now. Hesitant to revisit.

circa1916, Saturday, 5 December 2020 02:29 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

John Cusack was extremely well cast in this film. He is the most believable character by a long way.

everything, Saturday, 21 May 2022 01:24 (one year ago) link


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