tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14494121358428251772024-03-13T10:06:49.283+00:00Mass Produced Secretsthischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-74820424129498612492012-01-30T09:39:00.001+00:002012-01-30T09:39:10.434+00:00Shame, and the immediacy of modern culture<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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So last week I went to see Steve McQueen's new movie, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame_%282011_film%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Shame (2011 film)">Shame</a>. I enjoyed it. In as much as one can enjoy such a bleak portrait of modern life. As a piece of cinema, it is truly visually arresting. You feel close to the action (almost uncomfortably so at times), but also constantly aware of the vast expanse of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York" rel="wikipedia" title="New York">New York</a> that encloses the protagonists. The <a href="http://open.spotify.com/album/1KrWX2n1AEWB1px9KmdeT1" target="_blank">soundtrack</a> is also worth a mention, pulling you in and focusing your attention - even when you feel like pulling your eyes away from the screen.<br />
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In amongst this appreciation for the cinematic qualities of the movie, I felt a little lost when it came to crystallising my opinions about what the movie, and Steve McQueen, was saying with this tale of one man's painful addiction.<br />
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I then read an <a href="http://www.esquire.co.uk/2012/01/the-long-read-inside-shame/">excellent piece</a> in this month's <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.esquire.com/" rel="homepage" title="Esquire (magazine)">Esquire</a>, by <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/AlexBilmesEsq">Alex Bilmes</a>, which helped put my thoughts in order. Being Esquire, it obviously focuses on the exploration of masculinity in the movie, but the point about holding up a mirror to modern society is spot on.<br />
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Everything we want is at our fingertips. Music to download, movies to stream, books to read. Information, education, self-improvement. Gambling, violence, and pornography. Instant gratification for any urge. It's got to have affected us in some way or other. Steve McQueen and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/michael_fassbender" rel="rottentomatoes" title="Michael Fassbender">Michael Fassbender</a> give us one extreme example of how addiction becomes nearly impossible to kick when temptation is always close at hand.<br />
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As <a class="zem_slink" href="http://arcadefire.com/" rel="homepage" title="Arcade Fire">Arcade Fire</a> sang last year, we used to wait. We used to wait for things to arrive, for things to be released, for things to take hold. Now, when everything is at hand, how do we control ourselves to stop just reaching out and grabbing it, even when they might be deeply inappropriate? Our co-workers, perhaps, take on a different light - we see them every day, they're within reach, why are they any different to TV on demand? Is it any surprise that TV stars and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI" rel="youtube" title="Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe - Reality TV Editing">reality TV</a> stars become like real people to their devoted audience, when they're so close at hand, so inescapable. Shame brings all of this to life, taking a the spirit of the age, and revealing its uglier side by analysing a part in microcosm.<br />
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What do we about this inescapable immediacy? Withdraw from it, and become puritans punishing ourselves by refuting technology and its benefits? Seems extreme. More sensible would be to take it as a warning. Fassbender's character could be you. Don't rely too much on the instant, as it could leave you begging for more.<br />
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Related articles</h6>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/jan/08/steve-mcqueen-shame-sex-addiction-interview&a=69916031&rid=ce931cd9-d90c-48e0-a203-24047b679b95&e=332a1d0960e7cf4974c8e155c7209458">Q&A Steve McQueen</a> (guardian.co.uk)</li>
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=ce931cd9-d90c-48e0-a203-24047b679b95" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-68774534731681059572011-12-10T21:48:00.001+00:002011-12-11T20:59:55.878+00:00Mark's Top Ten Albums of 2011Right, it's that time again. Mark's top ten albums of the year. Actually thought 2011 was a pretty good year for albums, if not particularly for new bands. Here we go:<br />
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<li>The Vaccines - 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?'</li>
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The Vaccines album wasn't the most original or groundbreaking album of the year. But it probably was my favourite, if only by virtue of being the one that I've listened to the most. Fun, frenetic, and full of great hooks and choruses. 'Wetsuit' is probably the standout track, especially if you take into account the rather excellent user generated video (I blogged about it before)
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<li><a class="zem_slink" href="http://arcticmonkeys.com/" rel="homepage" title="Arctic Monkeys">Arctic Monkeys</a> - 'Suck It And See'</li>
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'Suck It And See' was a welcome return to full album form by the Monkeys. '<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favourite_Worst_Nightmare" rel="wikipedia" title="Favourite Worst Nightmare">Favourite Worst Nightmare</a>' was an almost good album (if you trim it from 12 tracks to nine). 'Humbug' was a bit of an experimental mess, but it did contain a bonafide classic in 'Cornerstone' (plus also '<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Right_Hand" rel="wikipedia" title="Red Right Hand">Red Right Hand</a>' if you had an import version). 'Suck It And See' was more focused, more playful and as a result all the more enjoyable. Snatches of psychedelia, a pinch of QOTSA guitars, all topped off with Alex Turner's trademark way with words
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<li>Elbow - 'Build A Rocket Boys' </li>
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Shaking off the curse of the Mercury (part one): Elbow's 'Build A Rocket Boys' took a few listens to get into, but rewarded the patience by revealing itself to be a deep and many-faceted album. The opening triptych of 'The Birds', 'Lippy Kids' and 'With Love' kick you off in style, before 'Open Arms' lifts you right off your feet as you canter towards the close. A band who are happy with they are, but not afraid to add touches of bravado and experimentation.
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<li>PJ Harvey - 'Let England Shake'</li>
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Shaking off the curse of the Mercury (part two): Actually, I personally think that PJ Harvey's haunting 2007 release 'White Chalk' was a real return to form after the patchy 'Uh Huh Her'. What I like about both that and this year's 'Let England Shake' is the singular focus of each. But, where 'White Chalk' was stark piano and haunting vocals', 'Let England Shake' rattled along at a terrific pace. Distinctive, progressive, intelligent - everything you want from PJ Harvey, but still sounding as fresh as anything from 'Dry'. Can't wait to see where she'll go next.
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<li><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jayz" rel="rottentomatoes" title="Jay-Z">Jay-Z</a> and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/kanye_west" rel="rottentomatoes" title="Kanye West">Kanye West</a> - 'Watch The Throne'</li>
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Jay-Z and Kanye West are making an album together? Uh oh. Fear the worst. Actually though, it was all really rather excellent. Not exactly groundbreaking or surprising, but the blend of each rapper's trademark delivery backed up by typically OTT production made for some fresh beats and engaging rhymes. 'N***as In Paris' and 'Gotta Have It' are the standouts, but they both need to get over their obsession with Mr Hudson. He isn't, and wasn't ever, any good.
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<li><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/" rel="homepage" title="Death Cab for Cutie">Death Cab For Cutie</a> - 'Codes And Keys'</li>
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Ah, Death Cab. Always a good year when there's a new Death Cab For Cutie album. 'Codes And Keys' isn't anything new or groundbreaking, but it is more overtly commercial than its predecessor, and more upbeat. It doesn't match the heights of the peerless 'Transatlanticism', but 'Stay Young, Go Dancing' and 'You Are A Tourist' aren't that far off.<br />
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<li><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.ryan-adams.com/" rel="homepage" title="Ryan Adams">Ryan Adams</a> - 'Ashes and Fire'</li>
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I haven't really paid a lot of attention to Ryan Adams recently; we kind of fell out of love after the majesty that is 'Love Is Hell' (pts 1 and 2). I didn't really get the whole Cardinals thing. I didn't even know he'd married Mandy Moore. Anyway, what a pleasant listen 'Ashes & Fire' is. It feels very personal - like it's you and Ryan sharing a drink, a tale and some tunes. 'Dirty Rain' and 'Lucky Now' stand out. <br />
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<li>The Decemberists - 'The King Is Dead'</li>
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Another album that rekindled my love for a band that, whilst I hadn't fallen out of live with, I hadn't been particularly enamoured with their recent work. 'The King Is Dead' showcases the best of The Decemberists - the dextrous lyricism, the natural storytelling, the casual knack of tunes - whilst also featuring a little brevity, which was definitely refreshing.Opener 'Don't Carry It All' went STRAIGHT onto my best of The Decemberists playlist, and 'Down By The Water' wasn't far behind.<br />
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<li><a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.boniver.org//" rel="homepage" title="Bon Iver">Bon Iver</a> - 'Bon Iver'</li>
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I was a little bit late on the Bon Iver bandwagon (not exactly new for me), but I really liked this album. Sparse, pastoral and incredibly atmospheric - rewarded multiple listens and concentration. Here's to plenty more Kanye West samples in the future.
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<li>Widowspeak - 'Widowspeak'</li>
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Alright, I confess I haven't <b>actually</b> listened to Widowspeak <b>that</b> that much this year, but I did mightily enjoy it (plus nothing else stood out from the also-rans. Piccadilly Records said: "Widowspeak have created an intimate soundscape that's as uneasy and eerie as it is pure feel good indie-pop." So there. Check it out.</ol>
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thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-15666523317822022372011-12-07T21:52:00.001+00:002011-12-10T21:33:40.071+00:00California Road Trip - Part TwoSo my attempts at being a travel blogger didn't go so well. However, in the interests of closing the loop (to coin a phrase) I will finish my road trip diary of two weeks in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.0,-120.0&spn=10.0,10.0&q=37.0,-120.0%20(California)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="California">California</a>. I will attempt to do this in one post.<br />
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Santa Cruz:<br />
Following <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.sfgov.org/" rel="homepage" title="San Francisco">San Francisco</a>, we picked up our car and headed out onto the road proper (not before taking a drive over a decidedly foggy Golden Gate bridge). Our road down to Santa Cruz included a detour to <a href="http://www.bigbasin.org/" style="-webkit-transition-delay: initial; -webkit-transition-duration: 0.3s; -webkit-transition-property: color; -webkit-transition-timing-function: initial; background-color: #fafafa; color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">Big Basin Redwoods State Park</a>. It was (to coin a Beatles lyric) a long and winding road, and quite the introduction to driving in the USA. Big trees though. Mightily impressive.<br />
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Santa Cruz itself was a weird hybrid of surfer town, university town and seaside town. As it was post-Labor day, the pier was quiet as was the beach. Nice place though - great hotel. The Sea and Sand Inn - room with a sea view, home made popcorn, WiFi - the nicest hotel of the trip!<br />
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Monterey:<br />
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It was grey in Monterey. All the live long day. Nice little fishing town (city?) - lots of history, not many shops. A great cafe for lunch (family run, closed after lunch). Went to the cinema in the evening - movie: Contagion (or should that be Outbreak), I thought it started well but quickly spiralled into ridiculousness. American cinemas are plush though. Plus, had butter on my popcorn for the first time. Extremely greasy and sickly, but I just could not stop myself going back for more.<br />
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<a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.1483333333,-120.648055556&spn=0.1,0.1&q=35.1483333333,-120.648055556%20(Pismo%20Beach%2C%20California)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Pismo Beach, California">Pismo Beach</a>:<br />
Long old drive from Monterey to Pismo down the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.1075,-121.625833333&spn=0.01,0.01&q=36.1075,-121.625833333%20(Big%20Sur)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Big Sur">Big Sur coast</a>. Probably my fave drive of the trip though - a mix of windy mountain roads followed up with some straight clear highways. Crank up the tunes and put your foot on the accelerator. There's not a lot going in Pismo Beach to be honest - shopping, surfing, that's about it. It's nice though - feels very real, if that's not too trite a description. It was all about the Big Sur drive during the day.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlAOpecEaV8/TuPNXU-UxlI/AAAAAAAAALA/8OkoZbZBYnQ/s1600/070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UlAOpecEaV8/TuPNXU-UxlI/AAAAAAAAALA/8OkoZbZBYnQ/s200/070.JPG" width="200" /></a>Santa Barbara:<br />
My first taste of the stereotypical California I've been yearning for ever since I listened to my first Guns 'n' Roses record. Spanish influenced architecture. Women with tiny dogs. A health-food conscious cafe/collective. Frozen yoghurt stores up and down the main shopping strip. And some sunshine! It was all I wanted and more - the perfect warm up for LA. In all seriousness though, I really liked Santa Barbara. The town courthouse is well worth the trip.<br />
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Los Angeles (Santa Monica):<br />
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I've always wanted to go to LA. The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.05,-118.25&spn=0.1,0.1&q=34.05,-118.25%20(Los%20Angeles)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Los Angeles">City of Angels</a>. Home of great bands, great music, great icons, great TV, great movies. A place (or so my dad told me) where the sun shines every day. You drive everywhere. I'm pleased to say the LA experience lived up to my (admittedly very high) expectations. I had a tear in my eye as we cruised along Highway One with The Decemberists' 'Los Angeles I'm Yours' cranked up. "I'm home!".<br />
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I loved Santa Monica, and would move there in a heartbeat. We drove all around the city - including up <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulholland_Drive_%28film%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Mulholland Drive (film)">Mulholland Drive</a> (my very own version of REM's 'Electrolite'). We made a pilgrimage to the spot where Elliott Smith was photographed for the cover of 'Figure 8' - now an homage to the great man. We went to the Getty Center, which is an absolutely fantastic space; verdant and full of colour.<br />
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I even enjoyed the driving (which I'd been dreading). It was no worse than London.<br />
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I could have stayed forever, but that's not really the point of a roadtrip, so we did Universal Studios, drove to Anaheim, did <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.8077777778,-117.919166667&spn=0.01,0.01&q=33.8077777778,-117.919166667%20(Disney%20California%20Adventure%20Park)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Disney California Adventure Park">Disney California Adventure</a> (both of them unabashed fun - The Simpsons and Toy Story rides especially) before bombing on down the cost to...<br />
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Laguna Beach:<br />
It was just like in the TV show! Not really. It's pretty well-to-do though. Nice mexican restaurant (although the first choice had a long wait). Multiple Starbucks. Our hotel had a pool, but I had my worst night of sleep for the whole trip. Could have been an innate sadness from leaving Los Angeles, but more likely the excessively noisy room, proximity to a loud lift, and the traffic. Oh well. Next stop...<br />
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San Diego:<br />
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When I told one of my clients that I was finishing my California road trip in San Diego, he huffed and told me that it was boring, and really 'conservative' (with a deliberately small 'c'). I quite liked it. We were on Shelter Island, which had amazing views out over the ocean, and also afforded us couple of military jet fly-bys, which was cool even for a pacifist like me. San Diego is like LA, in that it has a number of distinct areas (we went to the COOLEST burger place in the surfer part of town. Yes, I had a veggie burger. It was ACE.) But it's also like San Francisco, in that it's not massively huge so you probably could get around on public transport. San Diego zoo is massive; well worth a visit. We spent our last night with a meal and drinks at the W Hotel - its bar has a beach with real sand. Very cool way to end an amazing adventure.<br />
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Next thing you know we're on a plane, then in Toronto airport, then back in London - all feeling very surreal. We've got the memories. And the California playlist.<br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=5a620f23-a702-46af-b585-b192edee73ef" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-20223475779402990282011-10-02T14:48:00.013+01:002011-10-02T19:32:03.658+01:00California Road Trip - Part OneI've been away, which isn't an excuse to not have updated my blog for a number of months, but is a reason to write a series of posts to tell you what I got up to. In California, on a road trip for two weeks. It was tremendous fun. Here you go.<br /><br /><b>Day one: </b><br /><br />Flight from London Heathrow direct to San Francisco, all good apart from taking off over an hour late due to some kind of "fuelling issue".<br /><br /><b>Food:</b> good<br /><b>Movies: </b>Super 8 (already seen and enjoyed) and X Men: First Class (enjoyed, two lead characters v good)<br /><b>Sleep:</b> intermittent and difficult to come by<br /><b>Neighbours:</b> not an issue<br /><br />Took the BART from SFO into the city, then wandered up to our hotel, the King George, past some of the city's many bums. The customs official at SFO had asked me if it was ironic to be staying at the King George when we were in the USA. I guess it was, kinda.<br /><br />This first hotel was nice, anyway, if a little unremarkable, and after grilled sandwiches in the diner next door, it was time to hit the hay after a long day and flight.<br /><br /><b>Day two:</b><br /><br />Sunday in San Francisco. Breakfast in a 50s style American diner, featuring jukeboxes on the table and old school arcade machines.<div><br /><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-09AdciG3NPs/Toiqj_vu2JI/AAAAAAAAAJs/jAhLJQfIR_s/s200/IMG_0190.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658960467174807698" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " />Then a wander down to the very peaceful and very beautiful <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_Buena_Gardens" title="Yerba Buena Gardens" rel="wikipedia">Yerba Buena gardens</a> - including a waterfall and tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Perfect Sunday morning setting.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Then went for a trip into the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art" title="San Francisco Museum of Modern Art" rel="wikipedia">San Francisco Museum of Modern Art</a> - a great space with a great collection of artworks. Well worth the entrance fee if you're ever in town.</div><div><br /></div><div>The afternoon was a stroll through Chinatown (there was a festival on, so the place was packed and buzzing) and up to the top of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coit_Tower" title="Coit Tower" rel="wikipedia">Coit Tower</a>. Some fantastic views, and a nice breeze to break up the hot September sun. The walk down was an unexpected delight - a small stone stairway takes you through local residents' splendidly lovely back gardens. a real find.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BomjKL44lLc/ToisZpwI0xI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/JS8o2c9qzQg/s200/IMG_0195.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658962488495493906" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px; " />A little ride on the trolley took us over to the Castro district of town - as wonderfully colourful and gay as all reports (and the movie Milk) suggest. There's a general lack of</div><div>brands around the area (apart from Starbucks), but the independ</div><div>ence of live is wholly vibrant. The cinema shows classics on a Sunday (Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade), everyone has a dog, it's fun.<div><br /></div><div>The trolley took us back into the centre of town, a little wander around the shops then back to our hotel. We went back to Chinatown for dinner, which was nice, with good views of the festival parade.<br /><br /><b>Day three: </b><div><br /></div><div>Up bright and early to jump on the trolley and head down to the pier for a lovely boat ride to Alcatraz. Beautiful weather again in San Francisco - considering I'd heard that <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco" title="San Francisco" rel="wikipedia">San Fran</a> weather could be could and grey, it was a pleasure for that to turn out to be untrue. Alcatraz was a real highlight of the trip - stepping off the boat you almost felt like you were really on a prison island. The authenticity of the place is ratcheted up even further when you begin the audio tour of the cell. The tour is narrated by a selection of former inmates and guards who spent time on 'The Rock' when it was an active Federal prison.</div><div><br /></div><div>You are directed to walk around the cells and other areas whilst stories of the island are relayed in all of their gory detail, including the pointing out of bullet scars on the floor and the tunnel dug during the most unlikely of successful escape attempts from the island (the two escapees are still technically wanted by the FBI). It's a strikingly illuminating trip. It's also a pleasure to see the island blooming into its new life as an untouched nature reserve. The flies in September are a little difficult to tolerate, but then I suppose all life needs to be nurtured. </div><div><br /></div><div>After some more Mexican food for lunch when back on the mainland, a short bus ride took us out towards the Presidio district of San Francisco, into the Palace Of Fine Arts. Knowing nothing about the place before I visit, I had blithely assumed that this would be an actual art gallery. However, it was in fact a piece of art in and of itself. A large, classically inspired selection of buildings, gardens, rivers and walkways, its is pretty breathtaking. It is one of the only surviving structures from the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama%E2%80%93Pacific_International_Exposition" title="Panama–Pacific International Exposition" rel="wikipedia">1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition</a>, and has been lovingly restored following a series of privately and publicly backed campaigns. </div><div><br /></div><div>Back into town, crepes for dinner before some pre-leaving San Francisco drinks in the upper levels bar of the Grand Hyatt on Stockton Street (carefully avoiding the noisy, but surprisingly tuneful protestors outside). </div><div><br /></div><div>And with that San Francisco, was pretty much done. Day four meant picking up the car and properly setting off on our road trip. California, here we come...</div> <div class="zemanta-pixie" style="margin-top:10px;height:15px"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=f048fa9f-2f85-4adc-9397-54ee74381dc9" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" style="border:none;float:right" /></a></div></div></div></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-5267955597766925092011-06-27T09:02:00.005+01:002011-06-27T09:16:19.052+01:00Super 8 Review: a modern retro feelI have to confess that I hadn't done my due diligence of researching Super 8 before I went to see it. All I had to go on were some cool looking posters on Tumblr, the fact that it is a JJ Abrams/Steven <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/steven_spielberg" title="Steven Spielberg" rel="rottentomatoes">Spielberg</a> co-creation, and a short review from an American friend on Twitter. She called it "ET meets <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/goonies" title="The Goonies" rel="rottentomatoes">The Goonies</a>". Interest level: piqued<div><br /><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XXfPvFIofag/Tgg60n8T0vI/AAAAAAAAAHE/esmnxlRPimg/s200/tumblr_lnflm0heXs1qgi4ijo1_250.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 136px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622808810521613042" /><br /><div><br /></div><div>Super 8 centres around the story of a group of young friends who are obsessed with making movies on their (yep) Super 8 camera. Set in an indeterminate modern past America (70s/80s), the teens are mainly focused on having fun, making zombies and blowing stuff up...Until a monumentous train crash sets a disturbing chain of events in motion that threatens their little town.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTMB2CyZzGE/Tgg7G7gVEcI/AAAAAAAAAHM/8meVYJjDkD0/s200/tumblr_lndxvx4p1J1qa8bt5o1_500.png" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 135px; height: 200px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622809125010608578" />There's a gripping <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.myspace.com/everything/the-x-files-tvshow" title="The X-Files" rel="myspace">X Files</a> style suspense to the whole post-crash sequence, as the army rolls in and refuses answer any questions about the strange happenings passing through the town. Then people start disappearing, and everything gets a lot more <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650062/">Monsters</a> and spooky.</div><div><br />For me the movie then becomes a little bit too traditional, and, well, Spielberg-ian. The brave young hero tries to save the beautiful love object against all the odds with the help of his intrepid band of troubadours. That's not too say it wasn't enjoyable, but it didn't live up the promise of the dark, disturbing first hour.<br /><br />The Spielberg/Abrams combination is an interesting one; Abrams is obviously harking to the days of his youth, days of making movies on a shoestring and having fun. With Spielberg, one feels almost as if he is getting nostalgic about his own golden age. It's as if working with Abrams makes him feel like he is back on the sets of Jaws, ET or Close Encounters.<br /><br />It's a fun movie, and well worth seeing in August, as an antidote to tue endless summer sequels. But a quick note to Abrams, Spielberg, and anyone going to see the movie: the past is like a foreign country. It's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.<br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br /><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="margin-top:10px;height:15px"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=71817841-5f17-4203-b739-ae4ece1ad5d0" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" style="border:none;float:right" /></a></div></div></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-32309183328421952352011-06-01T13:41:00.001+01:002011-06-01T13:43:15.938+01:00Me talking about Belle and SebastianI went to see Belle & Sebastian on Sunday night at the Roundhouse. I was collared by a young chap with a Flip video camera interviewing me for a site called winkball.com. Don't really get the site, but if you want to see what I said, the video is below. <div><br /></div><div><iframe src="http://www.winkball.com/video-embed-web/?guid=e38af3d9-47b3-4d32-ab22-8f1fd2ac1bf4" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="448" height="336"></iframe></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-51264839771238045792011-04-06T13:13:00.009+01:002011-04-06T14:23:20.695+01:00Music Diary Project - Day TwoDay two, and I'm heading back to the office. I walk to work most mornings, which is ace, not only because the sun has been out lately, but because I get some time with some tunes.<br /><br />I couldn't decide what to listen to yesterday. My brain was a bit fidgety, shuffling through my whole iPod at random, not lingering on much. I did listen to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.blocparty.com/" title="Bloc Party" rel="homepage">Bloc Party</a>'s 'Ion Square' again, which I love. It's the lyrics that get me: almost coruscatingly honest and heartfelt. Kele doesn't hold anything back, which often doesn't work, but Bloc Party (mostly) pull it off.<br /><br />Also lingered on the live version of 'Train In Vain' from 'From Here To Eternity'. I've found myself listening to a lot more live albums lately, maybe cos I don't go to many gigs anymore. I generally prefer whole concert sets to the pick 'n' mix approach of this record, but it gives you an idea of the force of The Clash live.<br /><br />Working in a laid-back office like mine affords a lot of music listening opportunities. There's only ten of us, so my friend @Rupinjapan and I share office DJ-ing duties. I got in first, so kicked off with Idlewild's 'The Remote Part'. It didn't quite hit the spot. Not sure it has aged that well. I loved it at the time though.<br /><br />Then I noticed on Twitter that it was the anniversary of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/kurt_cobain" title="Kurt Cobain" rel="rottentomatoes">Kurt Cobain</a>'s death, 17 years ago (Christ, I'm old), so ran through pretty much all of my Nirvana best of playlist from my iPod. Everyone likes Nirvana right? I have two diehard fans on my pod, so at least they were happy.<br /><br />I shared <a href="http://massproducedsecrets.tumblr.com/post/4362847524/marks-top-five-nirvana-songs">my top five tracks on Tumblr</a>, then to continue the theme, @issawolfe showed me a YouTube clip of Nirvana covering 'Seasons In The Sun', with Kurt on vocals -<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kO4BF67pvsc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="425"></iframe><br /><br />Nirvana still sound as fresh to me now as they did when I was a hormonal 13 year old in search of something with a bit more depth than my G'n'R/Metallica obsession had given up til that point. I love the elliptical natures of Kurt's lyrics, poetic in a completely different way to Bloc Party, but even more effective. Maybe that's the real reason I always come back to them - there's almost always something new to find.<br /><br />After that I got to wondering if I listened to Nirvana on this day last year. Turns out I didn't, at least not according to my last played list in iTunes. However, I noticed that I hadn't listened to the relaxed, understated charms of the second Yeah Yeah Yeahs album in over a year, so gave that a spin. Love that record. Lovely ebb and flow, a real feeling to it - a consistency of tone and outlook. Standout tracks: 'Way Out', 'Cheated Hearts' and 'Warrior'.<br /><br />After lunch I gave one of my Spotify playlists a spin. It's called <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/thischarmingmark/playlist/5PbFuFY5nEF066G2xAmxpV">'Hummer (or songs I'm probably a bit old to listen to these days)'</a>. It's a mix of young indie bands like Friendly Fires, The Wombats, The Cribs, Good Shoes, Foals etc. I like it to pick me up after lunch. Top tracks yesterday: 'I'm a Realist', 'Tell Me What It's Worth' and 'Good Weekend'.<br /><br />Er, it all goes a bit hazy after that for the rest of the afternoon. Although I did listen to New Order last thing before leaving. <a href="http://massproducedsecrets.tumblr.com/post/4367661728/i-will-do-my-first-two-music-diary-posts-proper">More on that on Tumblr.</a><br /><br />On my way home I span some tracks from <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/thischarmingmark">my starred list</a> on Spotify - 'The Only Exception', 'Waiting In Vain', 'Wake Up And Make Love With Me' and 'Islands'. These tracks have been played a lot since I got my Spotify premium subscription.<br /><br />Watched some football, played Scott Pilgrim and Arkham Asylum, then listened to -<br />Nirvana '<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Wants_Me_for_a_Sunbeam" title="Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" rel="wikipedia">Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam</a>'<br />I Am Kloot 'Proof' (demo version)<br />Reindeer Section 'Deviance'.<br /><br />I'll try and include something random tomorrow, it's all been my choices so far!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=3e0b2ac1-ba30-4c5a-abeb-23b8de17fea8" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-16352969966885221082011-04-05T19:56:00.006+01:002011-04-05T20:48:36.879+01:00Music Diary Project - Day One<span style="font-size:100%;">I''ve been looking forward to this project for ages. I listen to a lot of music, but most of it is of my own choosing, and mostly old stuff I listen to all the time. I'm looking forward to noting down some of the other tracks that I hear in passing, so that when I look back in one/two/three years time, I can get a real feel for what was going on in my life. I've been using a service called Twitshift over the past month or so, and it posts your tweets from the corresponding day last year. I'm kind of narcissitic, but I've found it very enjoyable.<br /><br />Having said all that, I worked from home on Monday, so I didn't hear anything random at all. But I did listen to a lot of music, most of it all chosen to celebrate a lovely bright spring day -<br /><br />I started the day with three albums from my 'Summer Albums' playlist:<br />Common's 'Be'<br />Queens Of The Stone Age 'Rated R'<br />Belle and Sebastian 'The Life Pursuit'<br /><br />'Be' is one of my favourite albums; I don't claim to be anything even close to an expert about hip hop, but I love this record. I went to a pre-release playback of it back in 2005, and Common was there, introducing each track and even rapping one verse live that wasn't finished on the record. He was ace. He even made me and the assorted journalists tell him which were our two favourite tracks on the album.<br /><br />'The Life Pursuit' wasn't quite as good as I remember it being in 2006, but has some cool tracks - 'White Collar Boy' and 'Another Sunny Day' being two of the best.<br /><br />Next I mixed up old and new:<br /><br />The Doors 'Greatest Hits'<br />The Vaccines 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?'<br />Beady Eye 'Different Gear, Still Speeding'<br />Bloc Party 'Intimacy'<br /><br />The Doors are The Doors. A nice broad mix of sounds, emotions and vibes. 'Love Me Two Times', 'Peace Frog' and 'The End'. 'The End'. What a tune.<br /><br />I blogged about The Vaccines last week, and I still like it. It's still nothing earth shattering, but it's fun. Especially when it's sunny.<br /><br />Beady Eye is a whole another issue. I'm a little embarassed to say I like it. It's Oasis, but without the bombastic over-production and lack of focus and identity. I always thought the fact people like the NME tried to make Oasis 'relevant' to the 'kids' made them suffer from a lack of identity. Beady Eye don't bother with that. They're old school revivalists. But they do it well, and the album is quite fun. 'Bring The Light' is a tune. It's a bit long, but chop some tracks off your playlist, and you're there.<br /><br />That was that for my 'work' day. I listened to a few tracks from 'Neon Bible' to and from football (we lost 6-2, but it was against the top team so no-one minded, if you're interested) - 'Keep The Car Running' and 'Intervention'. Good positive vibes.<br /><br />I finished the day with a bit of Hot Fuzz. Great movie, perfectly chosen soundtrack. 'Goody Two Shoes', 'Village Green Preservation Society' and 'Caught By The Fuzz', all genius and perfectly placed selections for what I think is a fantastically hilarious movie. <br /><br />Maybe tomorrow will be a bit more random.<br /><br />For more on the #musicdiaryproject, visit http://sickmouthy.com/<br /></span>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-9500103211827833612011-04-03T17:43:00.002+01:002011-04-05T08:31:07.115+01:00The Man has got it in for you (Source Code / The Adjustment Bureau)Another movie-tastic weekend. Two at <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.5147222222,-0.124722222222&spn=0.01,0.01&q=51.5147222222,-0.124722222222%20%28The%20Hospital%20%28club%29%29&t=h" title="The Hospital (club)" rel="geolocation">The Hospital Club</a>, both visions of a near-future where shadowy organisations seek to control and influence people by controlling and influencing the future. Freedom of choice being eroded by The Man. Dsytopia. It was quite fun actually.<br /><br />Source Code tells the story of soldier <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jake_gyllenhaal" title="Jake Gyllenhaal" rel="rottentomatoes">Jake Gyllenhall</a>'s attempts to solve how an explosion took place on a train to Chicago, so that the shady, army/government people he's working for (or is that being held hostage by) can prevent further terrorist attacks. The catch is he only has eight minutes to do it, but can keep going back, retaining what he learns.<br /><br />I can't tell you much more without giving the whole plot away.<br /><br />It is, like director <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Jones" title="Duncan Jones" rel="wikipedia">Duncan Jones</a>'s previous movie Moon, clever, artfully directed with a strong central performance from Gyllenhall. For me it lost it's way ever so slightly towards the end (I would have preferred it to be more open) but it's enjoyable.<br /><br />The shadowy, unsettling authority figures in Source Code have nothing on <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/adjustment_bureau" title="The Adjustment Bureau" rel="rottentomatoes">The Adjustment Bureau</a>. These guys (all male, natch) have got your whole life planned out for you. They know what you're gonna do, and if you deviate from that path too esoterically, they'll put you back on it. Without you knowing.<br /><br />Except if you're <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/matt_damon" title="Matt Damon" rel="rottentomatoes">Matt Damon</a>. He finds out about these dudes (headed initially by the awesome Roger from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/" title="Mad Men" rel="hulu">Mad Men</a>) when they attempt to stop him from seeing <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/1163951-emily_blunt" title="Emily Blunt" rel="rottentomatoes">Emily Blunt</a>. He acquiesces to their wishes, until love is too much, then the fight is ON.<br /><br />It's fun, if it is a bit silly. The premise behind the Adjustment Bureau is thought through and revealed slowly and intriguingly. The movie is fast-paced, well-acted but has some unnessceray slower moments which make it sag in the middle. As with Source Code, the ending left me personally a little cold.<br /><br />The 'man' in both films always claims to have humanity's best interests at heart. But these interests are often at the expense of personal relationships - and the movies ask you the question: what is more important?<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=337cb804-0611-4b2c-b281-8af0b77d177f" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-71845521875691707872011-03-30T12:43:00.004+01:002011-03-30T12:49:14.230+01:00Sing it with me, 'Social music is the future'<p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I've been reading a lot</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> (and trying out) some new and exciting music applications over the past week or so, with people starting to explore hitherto uncharted territory. Everyone and their dog are launching cloud based music streaming services (Amazon have joined <a class="zem_slink" title="Sony" rel="homepage" href="http://www.sony.com/">Sony</a> in making theirs live, leaving <a class="zem_slink" title="Apple" rel="homepage" href="http://www.apple.com/">Apple</a> and <a class="zem_slink" title="Google" rel="homepage" href="http://google.com/">Google</a> behind), but the really interesting ideas are all stemming from the different ways that we share music and the situations in which we listen to it.</span></p> <p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It all started last year when <a class="zem_slink" title="Spotify" rel="homepage" href="http://www.spotify.com/">Spotify</a> added in social elements to its service. We all had fun nosing at other people's playlists and their</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> most played tracks. We thought carefully about what we would share and who should share it with and made collaborative playlists with people we've never even met in</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> real life (IRL.)</span></p><p style="font-family:arial;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-spY_nanWG14/TZMYWMZOvGI/AAAAAAAAAF4/_xaudLs4-jQ/s1600/Soundtracking5-200x300.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-spY_nanWG14/TZMYWMZOvGI/AAAAAAAAAF4/_xaudLs4-jQ/s200/Soundtracking5-200x300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589838332060154978" border="0" /></a></p> <p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Then at the back end of 2010, <a href="http://www.shazam.com/">Shazam</a> followed up by announcing Spotify integration in its smart phone apps. If you never Shazam-ed, it's a music recognition service which helps you find out what that song is you can hear when in a shop/Starbucks/pub. Last week, Shazam took another big step in increasing its social music service by adding <a title="Shazam Friends on CNET" href="http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/shazam-friends-helps-you-see-mates-music-tastes-on-iphone-and-android-50003247/">Shazam Friends</a>. It's a tab on its smart phone app which is integrated with Facebook and allows you to see which songs your friends have tagged recently.</span></p> <p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It's the fact that Shazam Friends recognises the different ways we consume music in the 21st century that's so interesting. It's not just about picking a song to play, it's being aware of the music that surrounds us all the time and taking an active interest rather than letting it wash over us. That's where my new favourite app, <a href="http://soundtracking.com/">Soundtracking</a>, takes its lead. It's a way of tracking music across your entire day and sharing it with your friends. In a similar way to foursquare, you have Soundtracking friends, but you can also automatically share your updates with Facebook/Twitter/foursquare. You have three options in the app - the song you're playing on your iPhone/Touch, tag a song you can hear (like Shazam) or just update manually. When you use the app and stop and think about, we hear a lot of music every day, jogging our memories and playing with our emotions.</span></p> <p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">If you're not interested in sharing your musical loves and hates with all and sundry, than maybe <a class="zem_slink" title="Moodagent" rel="homepage" href="http://www.moodagent.com/">Moodagent</a> is for you. Services like <a class="zem_slink" title="Last.fm" rel="homepage" href="http://last.fm/">Last FM</a> and <a href="http://www.stereomood.com/">Stereomood</a> allow you to pick tunes based on your state of mind when streaming through your PC, but Moodagent goes one step further, scanning your library on your music playing device and grouping your tracks according to its index of songs. <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/03/23/moodagent/">This Mashable article</a> has the full details, but it shows the next level of music consumption, and the sophistication that listening to music on an internet-enabled device.</span></p> <p face="arial"><span style="font-size:100%;">Does it mean the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mp3s/the-death-of-the-ipod-20110322-1c4lw.html">death of the classic iPod</a>? Not just yet, but Soundtracking has made this iPod Classic devotee think long and hard about switching to an iPod Touch.</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px; font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" title="Enhanced by Zemanta" href="http://www.zemanta.com/"><img class="zemanta-pixie-img" style="border: medium none; float: right;" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=c9302e72-105b-42f1-8bbe-ecb91febe84c" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"></span></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-16320698534083170832011-03-26T21:18:00.006+00:002011-03-26T21:31:03.814+00:00In which the author considers the future of indie in relation to The Vaccines debut album<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I've been listening to <a href="http://www.thevaccines.co.uk/gb/home/">The Vaccines</a> album quite a bit over the past week or so. It's called 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?'. </span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uQKjI6395iU" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="311" width="500"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It's quite an apt album title. It does everything you would want the debut album from a bunch of hotly-tipped young guitar slingers to do. It's fun. It has some obvious standout moments. It has a couple of slow so</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">ngs. It doesn't hang around too long, which leaves you wanting to go back for more. It sounds accomplished and well-rounded, like a debut should. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'm a sucker for this kind of band. Cool sounding indie guitar music you can dance to almost never fails to get me going. So what if it's not particularly new and original; like the title says, what did you expect from The Vaccines? They were never going to reinvent the wheel. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But it does worry me.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aLwe56UXtCE/TY5agMgsKwI/AAAAAAAAAFs/G1TEEIXc5_k/s1600/nme-8-january-2011.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aLwe56UXtCE/TY5agMgsKwI/AAAAAAAAAFs/G1TEEIXc5_k/s200/nme-8-january-2011.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588503696774015746" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">How long can guitar music carry on supporting this post-Strokes/Libertines/Killers standard indie disco fare? It's been a while since '<a class="zem_slink" href="http://musicbrainz.org/album/38b94527-4f9d-49d4-85d3-d449545ceea4.html" title="Is This It" rel="musicbrainz">Is This It</a>' and to my mind no-one has truly shaken the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.nme.com" title="NME" rel="homepage">NME</a> world so drastically since. Have we reached the end of re-definitions, and it's just going to be refining the sound from here on in? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It worries me. Maybe it's like the 80s in he UK, and something like indie-dance is around the corner to shake everyone up and blow all our minds. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Maybe.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone</span><br /><br /></span> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=a1b11741-56d5-47b1-be4f-1d2247e89c41" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-20035041377954963372011-03-18T21:25:00.012+00:002011-03-18T21:42:40.532+00:00Submarine<a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x_o5EhT3sFU/TYPPGd-LTwI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Urlu9mgvtsU/s1600/Submarine-Film-Poster7.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x_o5EhT3sFU/TYPPGd-LTwI/AAAAAAAAAFE/Urlu9mgvtsU/s200/Submarine-Film-Poster7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585535672901127938" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">How fondly do you remember your teenage years? A blissful idyll of lazy summers in the sun, or a tortured time full of pain and confusion. Likelihood is that the reality is somewhere between the two.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There are of course certain themes and struggles that a lot of people can relate to, and that is certainly the case with the new film from Richard 'The IT Crowd' Ayoade, called Submarine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It's the story of Oliver Tate and his self-narrated journey of first love whilst growing up in 80s Wales. The film has an extremely snappy script, with realistic dialogue that sings off the screen. This is augmented with wonderfully evocative shots of bleak landscapes, interspersed with some well-judged playful camerawork.<br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jms3hfKb-0Y/TYPPyC715BI/AAAAAAAAAFU/GJRsUR3eWv8/s1600/SubmarineStill2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jms3hfKb-0Y/TYPPyC715BI/AAAAAAAAAFU/GJRsUR3eWv8/s200/SubmarineStill2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585536421557822482" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Crowning it all is a tender, understated yet pointed sound</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">track courtesy of Alex 'Arctic Monkey's Turner, full of his unique trademark lyrics. I alread</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">y bought the six </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">track mini-album</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> (or is it an EP?)<br /><br /></span><br /><iframe style="font-family: arial;" title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W-Bysb3ceR0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="500"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It's a really striking movie and one that I wouldn't hesitate in recommending. Special mention for Paddy Considine and his hilarious turn as a new age milkweed guru. Reminded me of the Patrick Swayzee character in Donnie Darko.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Go see it, make it a hit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone</span></span><br /><br /><br />----------------<br />Now playing: <a href="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+drums/track/submarine" title="'The Drums – Submarine' - open on Yahoo! Music">The Drums – Submarine</a><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-style: italic;font-size:10px;" ></span>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-53555712750917900422010-09-23T15:34:00.000+01:002010-09-23T15:35:06.188+01:00Visit to Berlin part two - Sony at IFA<span class="zemanta-img separator" style="clear: right;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Train_station_Berlin_Potsdamer_Platz.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; display: block; float: right; clear: right;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Train_station_Berlin_Potsdamer_Platz.jpg/300px-Train_station_Berlin_Potsdamer_Platz.jpg" alt="entrance hall of the station Potsdamer Platz i..." style="font-size: 0.8em; border: medium none;" height="237" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; clear: both; float: right; width: 300px;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Train_station_Berlin_Potsdamer_Platz.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span><p>This year I finally made it to IFA! After two years of organising press trips and managing them from the office, I was allowed out to help support the <a class="zem_slink" title="Sony" rel="homepage" href="http://www.sony.com/" mce_href="http://www.sony.com">Sony</a> Europe (client) <a href="http://presscentre.sony.eu/" mce_href="http://presscentre.sony.eu/">PR team</a> with the mammoth job of co-ordinating their launch activity at this year’s event.</p> <p>I won’t go into too much detail about what was announced by Sony this year (you can check most of the products out in video form on their <a class="zem_slink" title="YouTube" rel="homepage" href="http://www.youtube.com/" mce_href="http://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a> channel), but suffice to say that 3D was very much the focus. <a href="http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1237477711352" mce_href="http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1237477711352">3D TVs</a>, <a href="http://uk.playstation.com/psn/news/articles/detail/item274349/Experience-the-3D-entertainment-revolution/" mce_href="http://uk.playstation.com/psn/news/articles/detail/item274349/Experience-the-3D-entertainment-revolution/">3D PlayStations</a>, <a href="http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1237477711352" mce_href="http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1237477711352">3D digital cameras</a>, even a 3D <a class="zem_slink" title="VAIO" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAIO" mce_href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAIO">VAIO</a> – all were on display for attendees to try out and experience.</p> <p>Sony has invested a lot in 3D technology, with the corporation covering all aspects of the process: <a href="http://twitter.com/sonyproeurope" mce_href="http://twitter.com/sonyproeurope">the cameras used for filming</a>, producing the content (movies/games/exclusive World Cup highlights) and obviously making it all available in people’s living rooms. Being able to cover the full range of 3D capabilities has put Sony much further down the 3D road than some of its competitors.</p> <p>As 3D was the main focus for everyone, there weren’t any earth-shatteringly revolutionary products unveiled, but there was still plenty for the assembled tech journalists and bloggers to write about. It’s also worth noting that Apple’s decision to host their press conference during IFA (not a week later as they usually do) didn’t noticeably take the sheen off proceedings. A new social network and a touchscreen Nano? For most people I spoke to, the verdict was a resounding ‘meh’.</p> <p>What struck me most about IFA was just how VAST it was. Unlike <a class="zem_slink" title="Consumer Electronics Show" rel="homepage" href="http://www.cesweb.org/" mce_href="http://www.cesweb.org/">CES</a> (which I also had the pleasure of visiting this year), different stands are housed in different buildings meaning you can quite easily get lost (as I did) moving between the halls. There’s even a square in the middle that was playing host to gigs by the likes of The Kooks and, er, Scooter.</p> <p>For the city, and its taxi drivers especially, it’s a massive boon. Huge billboards loom over the city for all of the major consumer electronics suppliers. This included a highly cheeky gigantic Samsung poster just across <a class="zem_slink" title="Potsdamer Platz" rel="geolocation" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.5094,13.3765&spn=0.01,0.01&q=52.5094,13.3765%20%28Potsdamer%20Platz%29&t=h" mce_href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.5094,13.3765&spn=0.01,0.01&q=52.5094,13.3765%20%28Potsdamer%20Platz%29&t=h">Potsdamer Platz</a> from the iconic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Center" mce_href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Center">Sony Centre</a> building.</p> <p>The presence of all of these major corporations does not detract from the overall vibe of Berlin. It’s a city in transition – you can still feel the history in the air, but there’s a fresh sense of purpose, a feeling of renewal.</p> <p>I know some journalists and PRs complain of IFA fatigue, but for a first-timer like me, it was an eye-opening experience. Same time next year? Yes please.</p> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=9512c568-2fcf-4883-b0f0-358c3057b7fc" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-3179689699192276142010-09-07T12:45:00.007+01:002010-09-07T14:18:17.037+01:00Visit to Berlin part one - History & Jewishness<div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div>So last week I <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/TIY5aczlCPI/AAAAAAAAAEE/xLu1QWt5ooU/s1600/Jewish+Museum+001.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 228px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/TIY5aczlCPI/AAAAAAAAAEE/xLu1QWt5ooU/s200/Jewish+Museum+001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514157920333662450" border="0" /></a>finally made it over to the IFA electronics show in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin" title="Berlin" rel="wikipedia">Berlin</a>, working with my client Sony Europe. I say finally because for the two years previous I was managing press trips to IFA from our base in Kingston. Not as much fun.<br /><br />Although I was working for most of the time, I did manage to do a bit of sightseeing. As this was my first EVER trip to Berlin, I had a historical itch that I just had to scratch. First stop was the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum_Berlin" title="Jewish Museum Berlin" rel="wikipedia">Jewish Museum</a> in the southern district of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreuzberg" title="Kreuzberg" rel="wikipedia">Kreuzberg</a> (also a fave <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRjQMkOLx8g">Bloc Party song </a>of mine).<br /><br />The museum itself is hugely impressive: an old-style building forms the main entrance, where you take an underground passage that leads you through to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Libeskind" title="Daniel Libeskind" rel="wikipedia">Daniel Libeskind</a>'s inspired metallic, slanting design.<br /><br />The ground floor is made up of three intersecting axes - Axis of Continuity, Axis of Exile and Axis of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust" title="The Holocaust" rel="wikipedia">Holocaust</a>, all three obviously representing major aspects of Jewish history. The Axis of Exile leads onto the Garden of Exile: an outdoor space made up of a number of high, square pillars topped with oleaster. The floor undulates and tilts at different angles; the experience is designed to make you feel unsteady and imitate how it may feel to step off a boat/plane/train into a completely alien country. The effect is really quite striking.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I found the Axis of the Holocaust particularly moving (perhaps not too surprising really), as one side of the wall is lined with small portholes which tell a story of an individual implicated in the Holocaust, alongside an artefact relating to them. The stories are varied, but incredibly powerful. At the end of the axis is the Holocaust Tower, a tall, empty bare concrete tower has no temperature control and is lit by only a small slit in one corner. It's a strange experience. The thing that struck me the most was how quiet it was. The museum is next to a main road, but in the Tower you are alone with your thoughts (especially as I was in there alone). Libeskind purposely gives you no steer on his thinking behind the Tower; it's up to you to take your own meaning from the experience.<br /></div><span class="zemanta-img separator" style="clear: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/52638725@N00/1159105813" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; display: block; float: right; clear: right;"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1435/1159105813_edb294c2a3_m.jpg" alt="Jewish Museum Berlin 27" style="font-size: 0.8em; border: medium none;" height="224" width="176" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; clear: both; float: right; width: 180px;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/52638725@N00/1159105813">weye.org</a> via Flickr</span></span><br />After spending some time on the three axes, I almost found the two floors of Jewish history that covered nearly two thousand years a bit much. Too much information for me, but for anyone with an interest it is a goldmine - and also very interactive, audio-visual and highly immersive.<br /><br />The other statement in the museum is a purposefully inserted empty space between the lower level and level 1. Libeskind calls this a memory void and uses it to represent the lack of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Jews" title="German Jews" rel="wikipedia">Jews in Germany</a>. Currently, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menashe_Kadishman" title="Menashe Kadishman">Menashe Kadishman</a>'s <i>Shalechet</i> (<i>Fallen leaves</i>) installation fills the void with 10,000 coarse iron faces (a striking image).<br /><br />The role<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/TIY5as-efkI/AAAAAAAAAEM/WqqEWvd9ZD0/s1600/Jewish+Museum+002.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 255px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/TIY5as-efkI/AAAAAAAAAEM/WqqEWvd9ZD0/s200/Jewish+Museum+002.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514157924674338370" border="0" /></a> of memory permeates the museum to its very core: a precariously poised stack of books all have the same phrase on the spine: "Everything falls apart without memory". But how does one remember the Holocaust without apportioning blame whilst still doing justice to millions who died? The Museum gives you plenty of food for thought.<br /><br />Overall, I found the Jewish Museum a very memorable experience - the building itself is beautifully striking, and the lush gardens provide respite to realign your thoughts once you've finished walking round. It left me saddened, but determined to live my life to the full - especially inspired by those amazing people who managed to survive the horrors of the Holocaust.<br /><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles by Zemanta</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/35979/libeskind-revamp-berlin-jewish-museum">Libeskind to revamp Berlin Jewish museum</a> (thejc.com)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/07/20/2740122/berlin-jewish-museum-extension-planned">Berlin Jewish Museum plans $13 million extension</a> (jta.org)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.thejc.com/travel/holidays/36052/even-berlin-jewels-are-east">Even in Berlin, the jewels are in the East</a> (thejc.com)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/berlin-footnotes/">Berlin Footnotes</a> (runway.blogs.nytimes.com)</li></ul></div> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=d53dccda-bc9e-40a7-8bc2-8cc666bd4056" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-64884172038585974622010-08-27T18:16:00.005+01:002010-08-27T18:34:34.943+01:00Youth In Revolt vs Youth In Revolt<span style="font-family: arial;">This week I finally got around to watching the movie version of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Youth-Revolt-C-D-Payne/dp/0385476930%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0385476930" title="Youth in Revolt" rel="amazon">Youth In Revolt</a>, starring everyone's favourite geek <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0148418/" title="Michael Cera" rel="imdb">Michael Cera</a> (although he'll always be George Michael to me). I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. Part of the problem, and it's a common one, comes from the fact that the novel (or three novellas, if you're being pedantic) it's based on is one of my very favourite books.<br /><br />I discovered the book randomly one day when I was sixteen: </span><img id="ft_1282929230527" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; visibility: visible; position: absolute; z-index: 100; width: 30px; height: 20px; opacity: 0.7; padding: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-right: 7px; border: 1px solid transparent; left: 693px; top: 316px;" title="Insert current track Signatune" src="chrome://foxytunes-public/content/signatures/signature-button.png" class="foxytunes-signature-button" /><span style="font-family: arial;">Books Etc. in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.4928,-0.2229&spn=0.1,0.1&q=51.4928,-0.2229%20%28Hammersmith%29&t=h" title="Hammersmith" rel="geolocation">Hammersmith</a>, a random browse during a lunch break of my mundane shelf stacking summer job. One of the staff recommended it. It looked vaguel up my street so I bought it on a whim. Reading it on the tube home, I laughed so much the other passengers must have thought I was slightly mental.<br /><br />The book manges to find the perfect blend of teenage intellectual superciliousness and outrageous, at times completely unbelievable, anarchic shenanigans. It sums up being a tee</span><span style="font-family: arial;">nager to perfection. The film is more of a subtle, cerebral affair. Pitched as a low budget indie flick, visually it works perfectly. Cera is ideal as Nick Twisp (although they avoid the zit problem that plagues the novel's protagonist), whilst <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0234668/" title="Portia Doubleday" rel="imdb">Portia Doubleday</a> is perfect as Sheeni Saunders, mixing beauty and brains to devasting effect.<br /></span><span class="zemanta-img separator" style="clear: right;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Youth_in_revolt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; display: block; float: right; clear: right;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Youth_in_revolt.jpg" alt="Youth in Revolt (film)" style="font-size: 0.8em; border: medium none;" height="296" width="200" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; clear: both; float: right; width: 200px;">Image via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Youth_in_revolt.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The dialogue and events in the book zip along at what sometimes feels like a frantic rate; in the film, it's more sedate. I think this is the main reason I didn't enjoy it that much. Any book adaption one expects to be different in film form (facts twisted, scenes trimmed, characters omitted etc.), but keep something of the original text at its heart. Youth In Revolt missed that for me. Similar to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials" title="His Dark Materials" rel="wikipedia">His Dark Materials</a>, I thought this text would be perfect for the big screen. Maybe I was wrong. Or maybe another director would have been closer to what I'd imagined. Who really knows. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles by Zemanta</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://r.zemanta.com/?u=http%3A//www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/aug/27/hate-scott-pilgrim-michael-cera&a=23361841&rid=2fbd8fe2-d196-4344-ab4d-cf6abfeafa94&e=b59ff032e842724c62ebe2f9656e50f5">Michael Cera v the world. I'm with the world</a> (guardian.co.uk)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.rateitall.com/i-1322335-youth-in-revolt.aspx">1 reviews of Youth in Revolt</a> (rateitall.com)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-youth-in-revolt--15-2015890.html">DVD: Youth in Revolt (15)</a> (independent.co.uk)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2012117668_newdvds15.html?syndication=rss">New DVDs | 'Youth in Revolt,' 'The Book of Eli,' 'When in Rome'</a> (seattletimes.nwsource.com)</li></ul></div> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=2fbd8fe2-d196-4344-ab4d-cf6abfeafa94" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-85259827614983708152010-08-19T22:42:00.006+01:002010-08-20T09:48:29.166+01:00Arcade Fire - The Suburbs: twitching curtains, manicured lawns and a whole load of angstThe <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suburb" title="Suburb" rel="wikipedia">suburbs</a> don't usually end up being the focus of most band's imaginations; it's more common for the frustrated musician to dream of escaping their nondescript satellite sound for the bright lights of the big city. But then, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://arcadefire.com/" title="Arcade Fire" rel="homepage">Arcade Fire</a> aren't most bands.<br /><br /><span class="zemanta-img separator" style="clear: right;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WinButler.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; display: block; float: right; clear: right;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/WinButler.jpg/300px-WinButler.jpg" alt="Win Butler performing live in 2007." style="font-size: 0.8em; border: medium none;" height="232" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; clear: both; float: right;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WinButler.jpg"></a></span></span><br />Their third release, second on a major label (if anyone still cares about that) takes suburban life and puts it under the microscope. Sort of. Across a slightly unkempt 16 tracks, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Win_Butler" title="Win Butler" rel="wikipedia">Win Butler</a> and his instrument swapping compadres explore the now familiar themes of children and businessmen - the stonking 'Modern Man' and even better 'City With No Children' being two perfect cases in point. I could put in some armchair <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis" title="Psychoanalysis" rel="wikipedia">psychoanalysis</a> here about Win's motivation, but I think that's a bit crass.<br /><br />Elsewhere, these more common Arcade Fire tracts are mixed with fresher musings on the suburbs (two tracks), the sprawl of modern life (two tracks), and, er, teenagers talking in a funny way to each other (the disappointing 'Rococo').<br /><br />One of the most striking tracks is 'We Used To Wait', which is open to much interpretation but most people have read as wistfully wishing for a return to a world where instant gratification was the exception and not the norm.<br /><br /><object height="250" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CLjrQ3cwzJ4?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CLjrQ3cwzJ4?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="250" width="400"></embed></object><br /><br />I guess that's the thing I love about Arcade Fire. They do things their own way. They rail against modern business but allow a branded YouTube broadcast of one of their shows. They take their time between releases and endlessly swap instruments onstage.<br /><br />All in all, I liked The Surburbs. It's far too long though. And not as good as 'Funeral'. But then, what is?<br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br /><br />----------------<br />Now playing: <a href="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/white+lies/track/to+lose+my+life?locale=en-GB" title="'White Lies – To Lose My Life' - open on FoxyTunes Planet">White Lies – To Lose My Life</a><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-style: italic;font-size:10px;" >via <a style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" href="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/" title="FoxyTunes - Web of music at your fingertips">FoxyTunes</a></span><br /><div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles by Zemanta</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.spin.com/articles/listen-arcade-fires-suburbs">LISTEN: Arcade Fire's 'The Suburbs'</a> (spin.com)</li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/content_detail.php?id=4585&type=Albums">God Is In The TV review</a></li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="Building%20International%20Coalitions%20Through%20Beer%20and%20Pavement">Not a review</a><br /></li></ul></div> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=8f9f8154-07ad-4f34-bbe7-04d76bfd747c" alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-36862344614612054252010-05-26T17:42:00.013+01:002010-05-30T00:15:15.281+01:00Diary of a Champions League Final Virgin – part one<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/S_1cToOgPnI/AAAAAAAAADk/9fI_aV9jVXU/s1600/logoti1.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/S_1cToOgPnI/AAAAAAAAADk/9fI_aV9jVXU/s200/logoti1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475634214237912690" border="0" /></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >If anyone has been following my tweets (</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://twitter.com/markwainwright">http://twitter.com/markwainwright</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >), you’ll know that this weekend I went on a press trip to the UEFA Champions League final in Madrid. The trip was for one of our clients, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.sony-europe.com/pages/europe/sony_europe.html">Sony Europe</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >, so I’m declaring my interest now. This blog post has a definite bias, but will hopefully give you some idea of what goes on for sponsors around a big event they’re involved in.</span> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The Champions League final was played on a Saturday for the first time this year, which obviously gives brands more scope to plan press trips with a bit more freedom than if it was on a Wednesday. We flew out to Madrid on Friday afternoon, arriving at the hotel at roughly 7pm, just in time to visit the <a href="http://www.uefa.com/uefa/mediaservices/newsid=1488268.html">UEFA Champions Festival</a>, held not far from my hotel in the Parque del Retiro. The Champions Festival works as a warm up to the match itself, with branded areas for both attendees and non-attendees to soak up some Champions League atmosphere ahead of kick off.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Sony had its own section, a distinctive round building dubbed ‘El Stadio de Sony’. Inside, amongst the cushions and comfy chairs, were a series of 3D demonstration TVs, as well as a number of demonstration models of the forthcoming PlayStation Move system – all available to be tried out by visitors to the stadium. Sony also used El Stadio de Sony as the venue for the premiere of its <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/24/sony-ad-3d">brand new TV advertisement</a>, featuring the one and only Kaká. The ad is a first for Sony, as it was shot entirely in 3D using Sony 3D cameras – the overall effect is pretty stunning, as the ball flies right at your head before causing the goal frame to explode (check it on out The Guardian site). It will be in 2D on conventional TVs though, so you might have to wait a while to see it in all of its glory. People were queuing outside to get in to see it in Full HD 3D! </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Elsewhere in the park, the other sponsors had their own areas (noticeably Ford), there was plenty of merchandise for sale, as well as the imposing Museum of Champions near the entrance. Inside, there was an impressive display of memorabilia and huge murals to some of the competition’s most memorable moments and players. It certainly caught my eye, with the likes of Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Maldini all celebrated for their achievements. </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Overall, it was a fun experience: the sun was shining, the vibes were good as Bayern and Inter fans mingled with each other, and there was a general air of expectation as attendees imagined another classic final taking place on Saturday night. </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Quiz question – </span></p> <p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Six players have won the Champions League/European Cup as a player and a manager. Who are they?</span></p><p face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p face="arial" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;" class="MsoNormal"><object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K3AzLaeTmIQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K3AzLaeTmIQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="360" width="580"></embed></object><br /></p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution" ><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-77048800382227730522010-03-22T11:04:00.000+00:002010-03-22T11:05:19.971+00:00Wait, hold on – stop the SXSW interactive bandwagon! I want to get on<p class="zemanta-img" style="margin: 1em; float: right; display: block; width: 260px;"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/product/iphone-3g"><img src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0002/0169/20169v2-max-250x250.jpg" alt="Image representing iPhone 3G as depicted in Cr..." style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="250" height="108" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution">Image via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com">CrunchBase</a></span></p><p>As I far as I was concerned, <a class="zem_slink" title="SXSW" rel="homepage" href="http://sxsw.com/">SXSW</a> (South by Southwest, for those of you not familiar with the acronym) was a music event, a chance for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artists_and_repertoire">A&Rs</a>, managers and sundry other <a class="zem_slink" title="Music industry" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_industry">music industry</a> types to blow their expenses budget, get together for a good gossip and, if there was time, discover some new bands. The advantages for talent spotters are obvious – see as many bands as you can in four days, in a small-ish space so you can get around easy. It’s like In The City (Manchester) or <a class="zem_slink" title="CMJ" rel="homepage" href="http://www.cmj.com/">CMJ</a> (<a class="zem_slink" title="New York City" rel="geolocation" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.7166666667,-74.0&spn=0.1,0.1&q=40.7166666667,-74.0%20%28New%20York%20City%29&t=h">New York</a>) but with better weather and more barbecues.</p> <p>The landscape of the festival has shifted gradually over the last couple of years though, and not just because I personally have shifted from a musical space to a digital one. Last year’s conference saw a massive increase in attendees visiting the <a class="zem_slink" title="SXSW Interactive" rel="homepage" href="http://www.sxsw.com/interactive">interactive</a> sessions at the festival, and the ubiquitousness of the <a class="zem_slink" title="iPhone 3G" rel="homepage" href="http://www.apple.com/iphone">iPhone</a> put a serious strain on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_by_Southwest">mobile networks</a>. This year this process has accelerated even further – services like <a class="zem_slink" title="Foursquare" rel="homepage" href="http://www.foursquare.com/">Foursquare</a> and <a class="zem_slink" title="Gowalla" rel="homepage" href="http://gowalla.com/">Gowalla</a> have allowed people to see at a glance exactly where the hottest parties and most happening events are taking place. You can imagine the conversations can’t you? “Wow, [cool venue] has sixty people we sort of know there. It MUST be good”. In fact, the two geolocation services even threw parties on the <a href="http://news.cnet.com/2300-13577_3-10002814.html">same night</a>, fuelling the social media focus even further.</p> <p>We shouldn’t be surprised really, as passion points like music have always been the drivers for the adoption of new technologies and services, but it’s still a little bizarre that the platforms themselves have become the focus of the attention, so much so that the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.foursquare.com" title="Foursquare" rel="homepage">Foursquare</a>/<a class="zem_slink" href="http://gowalla.com" title="Gowalla" rel="homepage">Gowalla</a> parties were THE hottest events. One of the other big talking points from the festival was the <a class="zem_slink" title="Spotify" rel="homepage" href="http://www.spotify.com/">Spotify</a> keynote speech where they announced, well not a lot <a href="http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/16/sxsw-spotify-isnt-coming-to-the-u-s-just-yet/">to be honest</a>. But still, it would be nice to have some, like content, coming out of this festival. Seemingly gone are the days of a band like The White Stripes coming out of nowhere to blow everyone away. A quick browse of <a class="zem_slink" title="NME" rel="homepage" href="http://www.nme.com/">NME.com</a> and the highlights appear to be Muse and Hole. Not exactly the cutting edge in terms of new music. However, with so many bands springing to people’s attention online via blogs and social networks, and bands themselves generally eschewing traditional models to go it alone, it’s probably a natural evolution. The geeks inheriting the earth. With the ‘talent spotters’ chasing after them, desperate to not be left behind.</p> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/0faa68c2-fda8-4ae4-b39e-da815f38cc24/" title="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=0faa68c2-fda8-4ae4-b39e-da815f38cc24" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-5927454555569721742009-04-28T07:15:00.000+01:002009-04-28T07:27:13.364+01:00If I Joined A Debate On Facebook...<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">So I don't know this person very well, so I decided to refrain from getting stuck in to a debate via the medium of 'comments on Facebook status' yesterday. Maybe I should have, but seeing as I only know one person in the conversation, thought it would be poor netiquette.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Instead, I've pasted my response on my blog. Ha! That will show the world. Ahem. Or not.</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >DS Nice to see Frank showing the world once again what a fine, upstanding gentlemen he is following the game! I think the thing that really hurts him is that, deep down, he knows not only that he is, and always will be, West Ham, but also that we will never take him back. The silly sod!</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Comments:</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >JE: Ooh, such bitterness. The words 'Get', 'Over' and 'It' all spring to mind. Nice ball in from the sideline on Saturday I thought. And how kind of Robert Green to palm the ball to one of our lot. Even Kalou-less wasn't going to miss from there...</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >DS: He's the one with the problem, clearly. And congrats on beating our reserve/youth side, by the way :)</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >TW: hahahaha .............. I sure Dan he is defiantly thinking that after counting his weekly pay packet!</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >JP: What were the hammers boys singing about him and Terry that has caused such consternation?</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >JE: Good to see you taking defeat as gracefully as ever Dan!</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >DS: You brought it up! I wasn't really fussed. More or less our entire front six was out injured - can't say I was holding out too much hope of a result. 0-0 was the best we could have hoped for!</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >DS: Tony: that's exactly the point. He's got more money than he could ever want, but he's been disowned by his own people. That's why it means so much to him.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >MW: Surely the point is that he was disowned by Hammers fans before he even left, when they roundly abused him for being fat and only in the team because of his uncle and dad. They can't be seen to change their opinion and hate him even more the more successful he gets, because it shows that they were wrong (in this instance) to pillory him for being rubbish.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >PS Frank Lampard best player in the Premier League this season by a HUGE margin.</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-74127307756551796472009-04-23T22:14:00.000+01:002009-04-25T14:21:30.917+01:00Whatever Happened To...Pop Music?<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >I've been thinking about pop music a lot recently. <a href="http://bit.ly/8kBqL">This</a> article in the Observer about 'decaditis', <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/popbritannia/episodes/">Pop Britannia</a> on BBC4, various Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/tomewing/status/1545696500">debates</a> - it makes me wonder where next for an inherently ubiquitous form of communication.<br /><br />Where does pop end and rock begin? Are these labels even important in a post-iPod, shuffle it all into a mix world? Is it possible to spot a trend in music as it is happening? Does it have to been branded with some kind of stultifyingly lame music press label (<a href="http://www.everything2.net/index.pl?node_id=1241104">NAM</a>, anybody?)<br /><br />Pop Britannia was interesting - one of the talking heads said that pop music is more about aspiration than inspiration these days. Fame, fortune and Friday Night with @Wossy are the aims; longevity, respect and inspiring a new generation have all but disappeared.<br /><br />But then isn't pop inherently disposable? Pop's medium is the single. Three minutes of pure expression (sex, death, drugs, love, loss, joy, pain, wonder) that light up your life for a short time before being usurped by next week's thrills.<br /><br />Rock is the platform for grandiose statements of intent, for canonising your art into history, joining a pantheon of classics that almost everyone agrees are timelissly inspiring. The VERY best bands straddle both with ease (The Beatles, The Smiths, Blur, Nirvana); others wilfully choose to be above such base pursuits as singles (Led Zeppelin), whilst others play games and push boundaries (Radiohead).<br /><br />Britpop = plenty of great singles, few great albums, a clutch of disposable heroes. Great fun had all round. Followed in '97 by three massive statements of intent 'Ladies And Gentleman...', 'OK Computer' and 'Urban Hymns'.<br /><br />Where are we going, how we will get there, will any of these rules even be relevant as new methods of consuming music are invented. Who knows. Definitely not me.<br /></span>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-78671377326328308462009-03-26T13:38:00.000+00:002009-04-25T14:24:09.654+01:00Selective MemoriesWatching ITV's 'Clough' documentary last night got me to thinking about just how subjective history really can be. Apart from Geoff Boycott and Nigel Clough's comments about ol' big ead's battle with alchoholism towards the end of his career, this fall from grace was largely glossed over.<br /><br />Obviously it makes sense to focus on Clough's many remarkable achievements (none more so than back to back European Cup wins with Forest) rather than to dwell on the difficult times, but surely it deserves more than just a passing mention? Surely documentary makers have a duty to both themselves and their audience to be objective and create a full picture of the man as he was.<br /><br />Apparently not at ITV. It was all a bit sugar coated and glossy. I also got massively angry about the way they suggested 'The Damned United' was some kind of hatchet job by David Peace. The fact that the book is a work of fiction, which takes its inspiration from the facts but obviously plays fast and loose with them to fulfil the demands of narrative, was completely overlooked.<br /><br />Two further thoughts - seeing how Clough slumped following his split with Peter Taylor makes Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements with Manchester United all the more remarkable. He has not only survived but blossomed through a period of tumultuous change for football in the UK. Assistants have come and gone, but his hunger and drive for success have not diminished.<br /><br />Football in this country is unrecognisable from that of Clough's heyday. The footage of Nigel and Simon Clough alongside their dad on the bench at Brighton is remarkable enough, but how many players these days would threaten to go on strike if their manager was sacked as Derby's players did? Not many. And I can't imagine any manager going on MOTD as a pundit after being drubbed 6-0.<br /><br />But then there weren't many managers like Brian Clough. At least the documentary managed to get that across.thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-24394785833530843352009-03-25T14:14:00.000+00:002009-04-25T14:26:01.217+01:00Everyone Is Broken...I had a minor epiphany this morning; I turns out that I had forgotten just how AMAZING 'The Bends' is. It's my favourite hangover record, and listening to it this morning to sooth my fragile brain, it was like hearing it for the first time. 'Planet Telex' is just IMMENSE.<br /><br />It still sounds so fresh, even 13 years after its release (13.03.95 to be precise) - it's a sublime classic record. Even something like 'High And Dry' still sounds great; a template for how to make semi-acoustic mid-tempo indie that far too many have imitated poorly since. If it was released today, it would no doubt get slated as Coldplay-lite.<br /><br />'The Bends' v 'OK Computer' is an easy debate - 'OK Computer' is the better <span style="font-style: italic;">album</span>; it sounds more complete, has an almost perfect flow with nothing that could chopped out. I prefer 'The Bends' - it's best songs are better, it's peaks are higher; it has one duff track ('Sulk') but otherwise it soars above almost anything else released. Ever.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KG-adf3Z7_A&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KG-adf3Z7_A&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-64307566980005443612009-02-10T10:55:00.000+00:002009-02-10T11:17:30.308+00:00Two minutes on...the sacking of ScolariSome thoughts on the sacking of Scolari:<br /><br />1. The players may still be smarting over the loss in Moscow. As one football writer put it recently, you don't get over a loss like that easily<br />2. Jose Bosingwa really isn't as good as everyone thinks he is. Dani Alves would have been a much better recruit as he is showing at Barcelona this year<br />3. Players of the quality of Gallas, Makelele, Gudjohnsen, Bridge, Robben, Cudicini were allowed to leave without adequate replacements. Even Wright-Phillips and Duff would be better than Malouda. Easily<br />4. Surely the club could have matched Manchester City on price to sign Robinho and take some of the pressure off Joe Cole<br />5. Too many deep lying attacking midfielders - what does Ballack do? Why is he even still there?<br /><br />Chelsea are going the way of Real Madrid far too quickly.thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-3184052020309379212009-01-12T13:52:00.000+00:002009-01-12T14:21:30.077+00:00Farewell To The AstoriaI really won't be shedding any tears when the Astoria closes down. I think it is one of the worst venues in London. I have rarely seen any great, memorable gigs there. Off the top of my head, probably only The Libertines NME show in 2003 and Kings Of Leon that same year really stick out.<br /><br />Flat, dull, lifeless, smelly, overcrowded (especially upstairs where the industry dudes hang out), it's also become in recent years too much of a byword for bands thinking they've 'made it'. Selling out the Astoria doesn't mean shit and aspiring to play there as a pinnacle of your career shows a tremendous lack of ambition.<br /><br />I also object to the fact they have toilet attendents in there for gigs.<br /><br />Good riddance I say. Give me a night at Koko or SBE any day of the week.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LsHKFaeENWM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LsHKFaeENWM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449412135842825177.post-64981305368773491612009-01-08T00:06:00.000+00:002009-01-08T01:21:04.538+00:00Post-Rock Guitar Hero<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/SWVUydrLahI/AAAAAAAAAAk/cba0vXEV950/s1600-h/gg-guitarhero_guy_1_close.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NQ7lSR6N1_g/SWVUydrLahI/AAAAAAAAAAk/cba0vXEV950/s200/gg-guitarhero_guy_1_close.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288726563352439314" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hi, my name's Mark, and I'm a Guitar Hero addict.<br /><br />("Hi Mark")<br /><br />I can't get enough of it. Even though I can-kind-of-sort-of-not-really play guitar, I love throwing shapes in the living room in front of my TV. The new version even has Jimi Hendrix in. How cool is that?!?<br /><br />Maybe they could do a special Sigur Ros edition with additional cello bow peripheral? Include some Mogwai, some Godspeed You Black Emperor. There's a market there I reckon. Blokes in beards strumming contendly along to 'Gobbledigook'.thischarmingmarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12574582576500409865noreply@blogger.com0