Everywhere YouGo: Black CatsLately, there's been a surfeit of black swans in the media, but the black cat is timeless (I have a 16-year-old named Sterling). Here-with, in honor of Halloween, are a few of my favorites. Incidentally,while I realize that they appear in countless books, movies, and thelike, I chose examples where the phrase also appears in the title. Trailer for 1941's The Black Cat with Basil Rathbone and AlanLadd (one among several US films to operate under that title).Kaneto Shindo's Kuroneko plays NYC's Film Forum 10/22-28. Serbian director Emir Kusturica's 1998 Black Cat, White Cat(click here for my review of his Palme d'Or-winning

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Gentle on My MindThe retro taster for theupcoming JenniferGentle album (due 2011)is a song called "LittleCarol," which appears inthe Italian film Una VitaTranquilla starring ToniServillo (The Girl by theLake). Check it out here.Here's an excerpt from my Tablet review of Jennifer Gentle's2005 release Valende (Sub Pop), "I can't say I've ever heard any-thing like Jennifer Gentle before. On their third full-length, theItalian duo sound like an unholy alliance between T-Rex, AnimalCollective, Pianosaurus...and Ornette Coleman. While Marco andAlessio favor offbeat instrumentation, like harmonium, glocken-spiel, and kazoo, they can also crank up the volume,

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Everywhere YouGo: Black SwansBooks, theories, movies, etc. Here's one song (there may be others).Click here for clips from Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly. His roto-scope version of Philip K. Dick's book makes brilliant use of the number.Mike Whybark, Siffblog webmaster, also recommends Bruce Sterling's2009 story "Black Swan." When I asked him about a possible connec-tion between the story and the song, he pointed me to this link about The Black Swan Theory. That entry, in turn, leads to Nassim Nich-olas Taleb's 2007 book The Black Swan: The Impact of the High-ly Improbable. I tell you: black swans are everywhere these days!P.S. One more. Click

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Retro FlairBlack Angels, Phosphene Dream, Blue HorizonLong story short: I love this record. Who could've seen that com-ing? I mean, I fell hard for the Austin outfit's Passover, but follow-up Directions to See a Ghost felt rushed. The group's psych-rocksound was in full effect, but the songs weren't there. I need songs.So, while I'm sad to see that they've left local label Light in the At-tic, the switch to Blue Horizon, the new imprint from Sire's Sey-mour Stein and ex-Strangelove Richard Gottehrer--and produc-er of the Dum Dum Girls debut--has done them a world of good.The change may have nothing to do with it, but they appear tohave spent more time

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Movie ofthe Month:Part 21I recentlyreviewedthe follow-ing filmfor Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.THE WAY WE GET BY [***1/2](Aron Gaudet, US, 2009, 84 mins.)It may not have the name recognition of Chicago's O'Hare orNew York's JFK, but Maine's Bangor International Airport re-ceives pride of place in Aron Gaudet's film, since troops leav-ing for and returning from Iran and Afghanistan often passthrough its doors (the documentary aired as part of P.O.V.).Since 2003, 87-year-old Navy veteran Bill Knight has made it hislife's work to thank over 900,000 men and women for their ser-vice. "Our troops need our support," he explains

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October ReviewsThese are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.Amazon DVDs: Sherlock - Season One [two-disc set], House - Criterion Collection (click here for my Siffblog review), Centur-ion (with Michael Fassbender and Dominic West), and SpikeLee's If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise (sequel toWhen the Levees Broke - A Requiem in Four Acts) .Amazon Theatricals: Waiting for Superman(from An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim)and Hereafter (Clint Eastwood directs Matt Damon).Still playing (or yet to open): The American, Eat Pray Love, Get Low, Inception, Inside Job, The Kids Are All Right, Never Let Me Go, The Town.Siffblog: S

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