Monday, 8 February 2010
Avatar
I finally went to see Avatar at the weekend (with a bellyful of Nando's and Ben n Jerry's). I must admit that I was a little sceptical at first. I was expecting the 3D stuff to be a bit gimmicky - any excuse to have something flying out of the screen, that kind of thing. However, Avatar completely confounded my expectations. Visually, it is truly stunning and an incredible achievement even on an astronomical budget. The dialogue might well be a little on the cheesy side, and the plot is certainly something we've seen before from the likes of Pocahontas, The Last Samurai, Dances With Wolves, etc. (man from western society encounters an alien culture, becomes assimilated, falls in love and winds up defending his adopted people from his own), but it is well-executed enough not to detract from the sheer beauty of the graphics. The 3D effects certainly added an extra dimension (sorry) to the cinematography, and it may be that one day this will be the default medium for Hollywood. However, at the moment, it has the feel of an optional extra: impressive, but slightly superfluous. The people behind the technology have still got some work to do if it is to become commonplace - removing the necessity for cumbersome and uncomfortable glasses would be a good place to start.
Friday, 29 January 2010
Sunday, 24 January 2010
GLARING OMISSION!!!
Can't believe I forgot to include The Knife - Pass This On in my list of tunes of 2009! It might even be the best of the lot, and the video is great too.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Book report 2009
The best of my 2009 reading list:
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
A serious contender for my favourite book ever, Lolita is pretty thought-provoking. Nabokov is possibly the only author who could make you empathise with a character like poet and pervert Humbert Humbert, who is in some respects a monster. Take away the paedophilia however, and the book can be considered a conventional love story: two people meet, fall in love and everything seems rosy until one falls out of love with the other and they end up fucking each other's lives up.
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
When I started reading this I thought "how the fuck am I supposed to read this?!" It's written in a made up futurist dialect of english peppered with slang terms based on russian words. Burgess doesn't even provide a key! But somehow this proved to be much less of an obstacle than I initially thought and I read it in a single day (it's not all that long). It's a brilliantly brutal story.
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
I haven't read many funnier books than Heller's 1961 masterpiece. It started off as a bit of a slow-burner, as the first half of the book consists of loosely interwoven stories focussing on a wide cast of caricatures, with a pretty slack adherence to chronological order. But in its latter half, the book gets darker and darker and faster and faster, and as Heller ups the pace, the reader can't help but strive to keep up with him.
Oh and a special mention goes out to Graham Greene's short story The Blue Film.
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
A serious contender for my favourite book ever, Lolita is pretty thought-provoking. Nabokov is possibly the only author who could make you empathise with a character like poet and pervert Humbert Humbert, who is in some respects a monster. Take away the paedophilia however, and the book can be considered a conventional love story: two people meet, fall in love and everything seems rosy until one falls out of love with the other and they end up fucking each other's lives up.
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
When I started reading this I thought "how the fuck am I supposed to read this?!" It's written in a made up futurist dialect of english peppered with slang terms based on russian words. Burgess doesn't even provide a key! But somehow this proved to be much less of an obstacle than I initially thought and I read it in a single day (it's not all that long). It's a brilliantly brutal story.
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
I haven't read many funnier books than Heller's 1961 masterpiece. It started off as a bit of a slow-burner, as the first half of the book consists of loosely interwoven stories focussing on a wide cast of caricatures, with a pretty slack adherence to chronological order. But in its latter half, the book gets darker and darker and faster and faster, and as Heller ups the pace, the reader can't help but strive to keep up with him.
Oh and a special mention goes out to Graham Greene's short story The Blue Film.
Friday, 15 January 2010
Monday, 11 January 2010
On and on and on and on and on and on and on...
My 10 favourite tunes of 2009 (not necessarily from 2009, that's just when I first heard them):
The Panthers - Goblin City (Holy Ghost! remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1D-vXUAX2o
Love this video, it really suits the track.
Mavado - Never Believe You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNKXZB3_Kw
Durrty Goodz - This is What They Want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOl7jsBGkKU
Koto - Visitors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOh4B7zPx70
Listened to a lot of Italo Disco last year.
Kalyanji Anandji - Dharmatma Theme Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvTgPoFdUQ4
Black Devil Disco Club - H Friend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkctUpaDng
Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSniBxXjK_8
Shyne - Bad Boyz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSniBxXjK_8
Shyne should know what he's talking about here, seeing as he's just got out of prison for shooting someone in the face. Anyway, CRANK DAT SHIT UP!!!
Asia - Only Time Will Tell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnR-uaahrbI
I love this lot's artwork, and their ridiculously overblown 80s proggyness.
Chase n Status feat. Plan B - Pieces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HXrNbqU0uE
The Panthers - Goblin City (Holy Ghost! remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1D-vXUAX2o
Love this video, it really suits the track.
Mavado - Never Believe You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNKXZB3_Kw
Durrty Goodz - This is What They Want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOl7jsBGkKU
Koto - Visitors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOh4B7zPx70
Listened to a lot of Italo Disco last year.
Kalyanji Anandji - Dharmatma Theme Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvTgPoFdUQ4
Black Devil Disco Club - H Friend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkctUpaDng
Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSniBxXjK_8
Shyne - Bad Boyz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSniBxXjK_8
Shyne should know what he's talking about here, seeing as he's just got out of prison for shooting someone in the face. Anyway, CRANK DAT SHIT UP!!!
Asia - Only Time Will Tell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnR-uaahrbI
I love this lot's artwork, and their ridiculously overblown 80s proggyness.
Chase n Status feat. Plan B - Pieces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HXrNbqU0uE
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