This morning I was flipping through the cable channels and came across Wings of Desire on IFC. What an amazing movie. I hadn't seen it in years, and I've been meaning to get it on DVD but haven't found it available in that format. I think it's one of Wim Wender's finest works. It's my favorite, at least, more so than Until the End of the World, although that film has an incredible soundtrack. Wings of Desire is the tale of two angels who come to Earth in Berlin, before the wall came down. Unfortunately most American audiences have probably seen the reputedly horrible remake with Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage, City of Angels. (I never saw it, not being a Meg Ryan fan.) In the original, an angel (played by Bruno Ganz) falls in love with a carnival trapeze artist and decides to quite literally "take the plunge" by becoming mortal so that he may pursue her. Peter Falk plays an actor who was also once an angel. In one scene, the angel, now human, follows the object of his affections to a Nick Cave concert. (Nick sings The Carny and From Her to Eternity, appropriately enough.) While the film is subtitled and proceeds at a snail's pace by American movie standards, it's a moving and spiritual story of the little things in our everyday lives that make life what it is, good and bad. I highly recommend it.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are playing in New York in October. I saw him recently on his solo tour but haven't see him with the Bad Seeds, so I'm looking forward to the October show.

Now I'm watching a documentary on firework stands in Austin, Texas. I've seen this one before, too, but it's worth watching again. It makes me homesick, watching all these people buying explosives and drinking "ahce tay." (That's iced tea to you non-natives.)