Coffee/Album/Film of the Week

Coffee of the Week:
Three Region Blend - Starbucks

While you should be wary of most Starbucks coffee, on occasion they'll offer an exclusive that gets it just about right.  Casi Celo was such a find, and now comes the Three Region Blend.   Sampling from the three coffee growing regions of the world, the blend is a little passive at worst, elegant at best.  A medium-bodied expedition, it's easy going down but provides enough cocoa/floral notes to make you feel like you've been somewhere.  The herbal touches are appropriately underplayed but do enough to counterbalance the more heavily Latin America-leaning characteristics.  Perfect late afternoon coffee.

Album of the Week:
Gotan Project - Tango 3.0

Advanced word on the latest release from the tango/downtempo trio was that it didn't go far enough in mixing up the formula.  Granted, 2006's Lunatico, with its emphasis on organic textures, rootsier arrangements, and a handful of hair-raising moments (the breakdown in "Diferente" constituting an instant classic) is a tough act to follow.


Tango 3.0 finds the trio in more eclectic territory, appropriating a wider array of genres and styles over the more coherent thesis of Lunatico.  The result is a mischievous little record with some fascinating detours; these include the ska-inflected "Desilusion" and, in the album's most surprising turn, "Rayuela," which features a children's choir, Ennio Moricone horns, and a spoken-word non sequitur.

Of course, none of this means that Gotan Project are able to avoid kitsch entirely (see the misguided "Panamericana" ), but more often than not Tango 3.0 sounds thoroughly playful... and modern.

Film of the Week:
Primal Fear (1996)

Ed Norton's performance as Aaron Stampler, a guy who may or may not suffer from a multiple personality disorder and who may or may not have killed an archbishop, is justly lauded.  It's peculiar because he's neither fully convincing as the polite, stuttering Aaron, nor as the leering sociopath "Roy" that is his other persona.  Which amounts to being wholly convincing as both, really.  And as it turns out, that is precisely the point.  The big reveal at the end may not be all that shocking, but as usual, it's the process of the getting there that matters.