Ah, good ol' Christmas... again.
This year, I got three 'big' presents as opposed to the usual 1. These were my guitar which I got a bit early and have already mentioned, a snapshotty digital camera which should come in handy and a new iPod (very handy as my old one decided to stop working about a week and a half ago).
I also got Calvin's hat from Top Shop that he never takes off (ugh, I put a false smile on for that one) and some stuff which will be fun when I'm back in Leeds: a slinky and a space-hopper.
It's the first time I've had a Christmas without giving my mum a 'list' prior and in spite of the lack of games and DVDs, it wasn't a bad turn-out at all.
My Christmas was kick-started with some texts to a dear friend of mine, which put me in a good mood to begin with.
I then won £13 and a bit on a daily free-to-play game on this gambling website (designed to get you on their site to spend money).
I went to my cousins and aunt and uncle's house as is per the usual, but today it was just for a bit in the morning. My younger cousin got Band Hero for Christmas and I traded my Guitar Hero 5 product code for her Band Hero and Guitar Hero: World Tour codes meaning I can import music from those games and end up with one game with the most amazing set list of all time -including:
All Along the Watchtower -Bob Dylan
Blue Orchid -The White Stripes
Bring the Noise 20xx -Public Enemy ft. Zakk Wylde
Fame -David Bowie
Feel Good Inc. -Gorillaz
Gamma Ray -Beck
Hungry Like the Wolf -Duran Duran
Play that Funky Music -Wild Cherry
Plug in Baby -Muse
Ring of Fire -Johnny Cash
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting -Elton John
Smells Like Teen Spirit -Nivana
Song 2 -Blur
Superstition -Stevie Wonder
Under Pressure -Queen & David Bowie
I Was Made for Lovin' You -Kiss
The Joker -Steve Miller Band
Livin' on a Prayer -Bon Jovi
One Way or Another -Blondie
Sweet Home Alabama (Live) -Lynyrd Skynyrd
Black Betty -Ram Jam
Jet -Wings
We are the Champions -Queen
Dueling Banjos -Steve Ouimette
ABC -The Jackson 5
Let's Dance -David Bowie
Oh Pretty Woman -Roy Orbison
Rio -Duran Duran
Whip It! -Devo
Y.M.C.A. -Village People
That's 31 songs I 'actively' like as opposed to the usual 7 or so I used to get on these games. It's basically like getting 2 Guitar Hero games for (nearly) free. And THREE of them are by David Bowie.
Talking of David Bowie, I was also given a David Bowie song book full of chords for guitaring. When I can play the book in full, my training will be complete. I will be happy with my level of guitar skills.
Christmas dinner was great as it usually is. Christmas TV was crap this year but I don't really care about TV on Christmas. I'm now kicking back, blogging on Christmas because I suck, with some decent TV, my heater on and a nice glass of Vimto-coke -all content with having chatted to a lovely lady who means a lot to me before she went off to bed. In many ways it's been my worst Christmas ever, but in many ways it's been the best.
The End
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Monday, 21 December 2009
Weekly Film Round-Up #52
Me and Orson Welles
Adequate. Poorly written dialogue and fairly cliched storyline, but all carried off with reasonable panache. Zac Efron proves that he is a shite actor, through and through. Christian McKay is great as Orson Welles, albeit it somewhat hammy. His role doesn't really show any depth beyond being a spot-on impression. It was impossible for me to suspend disbelief with Orson Welles being happy with Zac Efron's character's acting because it was Zac Efron-standard (ie. awful).
Mediocrity made a bit better due to a good performance -that's basically this film in a nutshell.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Where the Wild Things Are
A bit 'obvious' really, but pulled off reasonably well. Some amazing special effects and a great albeit small performance from Catherine O'Hara are present, but the rest of the film amasses to be pretty much about nothing and without saying very much either. It's about growing up, it's a fairly nice metaphor, but one that would have worked much better in about 10 minutes (or a children's picture book) than a feature-film.
Good but not great.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Adequate. Poorly written dialogue and fairly cliched storyline, but all carried off with reasonable panache. Zac Efron proves that he is a shite actor, through and through. Christian McKay is great as Orson Welles, albeit it somewhat hammy. His role doesn't really show any depth beyond being a spot-on impression. It was impossible for me to suspend disbelief with Orson Welles being happy with Zac Efron's character's acting because it was Zac Efron-standard (ie. awful).
Mediocrity made a bit better due to a good performance -that's basically this film in a nutshell.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Where the Wild Things Are
A bit 'obvious' really, but pulled off reasonably well. Some amazing special effects and a great albeit small performance from Catherine O'Hara are present, but the rest of the film amasses to be pretty much about nothing and without saying very much either. It's about growing up, it's a fairly nice metaphor, but one that would have worked much better in about 10 minutes (or a children's picture book) than a feature-film.
Good but not great.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Friday, 18 December 2009
If I Were Gay...
This will most likely serve as a fascinating insight into my psyche and the mental issues I most likely have. I stole the idea from my friend Alex, just to give her some credit.
10.(A Young) Malcolm McDowell
A recurring theme in this list is going to be that I'm drawn to talent. It's the same with a lot of the women I find myself attracted to. It makes sense here because when I say a young Malcolm McDowell I really mean Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, ie. the greatest performance of all time.
Look at his eyes, they're ridiculously blue. I could get lost in those for days.
9.Malcolm Tucker
They're not all Malcolms, just so you know. And yes, I do mean the fictional character.
Malcolm Tucker genuinely scares me. He's really frightening. Just look at this:
Imagine that anger and passion transferred into the bedroom.
8.Alan Rickman
This is purely for his voice. Imagine sweet nothings being whispered into your ear by his velvet voice-box. Oh, and the dirty talk.
7.George Clooney
Like you wouldn't. He's a silver fox.
6.Ash Williams
Specifically Ash from Army of Darkness, when he became a full-blown bad-ass. He's smart (Phd in some science I forget), wise-cracking and buff. Plus he has a chainsaw for a hand. I think I might be looking at this from too much of a male perspective.
5.David Bowie
Not only is he my favourite musician and HUGELY talented, but he's so hypnotic. He just oozes charisma, and I think that's what it is. The strange way he can keep me transfixed like a rabbit in the headlights when he chooses to 'turn it on'. Also, I love his voice -both speaking and singing.
4.Derren Brown
And who's more hypnotic than Bowie? Derren Brown obviously. He's the only one I could see myself sustaining a relationship with if I were one with the gays. Plus he's gay himself which would make things easier.
Although the inevitable and constant manipulation would probably get annoying unless he could make sure I was unaware of it forever.
3.Calvin Dyson
I love Calvin, he's my personal project.
The biggest reason to sleep with Calvin would be to see the look on his face the morning after. It'd be hilarious.
2.Angelina Jolie after a sex-change to turn her into a man
Oh Angelina, you lovely piece of woman you. If I have to be gay, I'm taking you with me.
1.Myself
Again: like you wouldn't.
10.(A Young) Malcolm McDowell
A recurring theme in this list is going to be that I'm drawn to talent. It's the same with a lot of the women I find myself attracted to. It makes sense here because when I say a young Malcolm McDowell I really mean Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, ie. the greatest performance of all time.
Look at his eyes, they're ridiculously blue. I could get lost in those for days.
9.Malcolm Tucker
They're not all Malcolms, just so you know. And yes, I do mean the fictional character.
Malcolm Tucker genuinely scares me. He's really frightening. Just look at this:
Imagine that anger and passion transferred into the bedroom.
8.Alan Rickman
This is purely for his voice. Imagine sweet nothings being whispered into your ear by his velvet voice-box. Oh, and the dirty talk.
7.George Clooney
Like you wouldn't. He's a silver fox.
6.Ash Williams
Specifically Ash from Army of Darkness, when he became a full-blown bad-ass. He's smart (Phd in some science I forget), wise-cracking and buff. Plus he has a chainsaw for a hand. I think I might be looking at this from too much of a male perspective.
5.David Bowie
Not only is he my favourite musician and HUGELY talented, but he's so hypnotic. He just oozes charisma, and I think that's what it is. The strange way he can keep me transfixed like a rabbit in the headlights when he chooses to 'turn it on'. Also, I love his voice -both speaking and singing.
4.Derren Brown
And who's more hypnotic than Bowie? Derren Brown obviously. He's the only one I could see myself sustaining a relationship with if I were one with the gays. Plus he's gay himself which would make things easier.
Although the inevitable and constant manipulation would probably get annoying unless he could make sure I was unaware of it forever.
3.Calvin Dyson
I love Calvin, he's my personal project.
The biggest reason to sleep with Calvin would be to see the look on his face the morning after. It'd be hilarious.
2.Angelina Jolie after a sex-change to turn her into a man
Oh Angelina, you lovely piece of woman you. If I have to be gay, I'm taking you with me.
1.Myself
Again: like you wouldn't.
I'm the only person on this list that I'd do right here, right now given the chance. And I'd want a relationship. Call it narcissistic if you wish, I don't care. If they ever invent a time-machine, this is what I'm using it for.
I'm Not Usually One to Copy & Paste Song Lyrics into a Blog Entry
...but the lyrics to Bite Me by Electric Six really are so good, I don't think I can resist. It's just a long list of euphemisms for sex-acts. I know I bang on a lot about Electric Six in this blog, but they're so non-existent in the rest of the world's media, I'm basically just re-addressing the balance. I've taken the liberty of bolding my favourite bits.
Are you ready for my sucky-sucky?
Are you ready to be set free?
Are you ready to syphon gasoline?
Are you ready for the number 3?
Are you ready for big, big savings?
Are you ready for the master's hand?
Are you ready for my bloody-bloody?
Are you ready to?
Sing are you ready to bite me?
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
Bite me!
Are you ready for the Devil's daughter?
Are you ready for the Soylent Green?
Are you ready for unholy water?
Are you ready for my fuckin' machine?
Are you ready for American Strike-Force?
Are you ready for the Mystery Meat?
Are you ready for my crazy-crazy?
Are you ready to?
Sing are you ready to bite me?
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
Bite me!
Go!
People heading for a dirty future...
People lining up a party ball...
People sucking on their computer...
They have accountants pay for it all...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
And we were ready to bite me!
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
Bite me!
Come on and bite me!
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
I wish guitar chords of this song existed somewhere on the internet because I'd love to learn it. That and Randy's Hot Tonight.
Are you ready for my sucky-sucky?
Are you ready to be set free?
Are you ready to syphon gasoline?
Are you ready for the number 3?
Are you ready for big, big savings?
Are you ready for the master's hand?
Are you ready for my bloody-bloody?
Are you ready to?
Sing are you ready to bite me?
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
Bite me!
Are you ready for the Devil's daughter?
Are you ready for the Soylent Green?
Are you ready for unholy water?
Are you ready for my fuckin' machine?
Are you ready for American Strike-Force?
Are you ready for the Mystery Meat?
Are you ready for my crazy-crazy?
Are you ready to?
Sing are you ready to bite me?
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
Bite me!
Go!
People heading for a dirty future...
People lining up a party ball...
People sucking on their computer...
They have accountants pay for it all...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
We were so in love...
And we were ready to bite me!
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
Bite me!
Come on and bite me!
Delight me!
I'll pay handsomely for you to excite me,
Your body is something I might not survive,
So bite me!
I wish guitar chords of this song existed somewhere on the internet because I'd love to learn it. That and Randy's Hot Tonight.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Weekly Film Round-Up #51
Dead Air
This film is at very least: above average for a zombie film. That isn't saying much at all (being the die-hard zombie fan that I am, even I have to admit that most zombie films are terrible), but it's genuinely quite enjoyable despite its constant shortcomings.
If you have the option, watch 'Pontypool' instead. No question about it. However, if you love zombie films, you could do a lot worse. As cliched as it is, it does actually put a tiny bit of originality into the zombie premise with the racial motivation of certain characters.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 4/10
Extract
This really reminded me like A Serious Man. It was a lot less dark, but it was certainly funnier. However, at least there was an intended point behind A Serious Man; this film just sort of meanders and burns out. Watchable but not brilliant -certainly not up to par with Mike Judge's usual work.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
I thought this film looked terrible so I was surprised by it being quite alright. Not great by any means, but passable. A few good jokes, some good character animation (despite character designs being bland and horrible).
The plot brings nothing new to the table despite being quite odd. It deals with daddy issues and a love interest and so on. There's an impressive cast on display though -the kind of thing I'd have put together for a dream film at the age of 14. Mr. T and Bruce Campbell! Plus Bill Hader and Andy Samberg doing terrific jobs and Anna Faris doing a standard female 'name' actress job. It was obviously designed to be seen in 3D though due to how some action sequences were put together, but they still looked very cool in 2D.
It's passable, especially if you like saturday morning cartoon calibur movies.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
The Box
A fantastic (and oh, so Richard Matheson) premise is completely wasted here. I'm going out on a limb, but I bet the original short story is great because Matheson is a sign of quality. That's why it's such a shame that this film is terrible. Absolutely dire.
It's a huge swirling mess where nothing is good other than Richard Matheson's original premise. I suppose Frank Langella doesn't do anything wrong either, but come on. Richard Kelly tries his hardest to turn this into Donnie Darko 2, and whilst I haven't seen S. Darko, I imagine it's actually better than The Box, at least on some levels.
There are bizarre visuals that don't seem to represent anything metaphorical whatsoever and as such serve to turn an examination of the human condition into laughable sci-fi fodder. The examination itself is ridiculous as well as it implies that anyone would push a button that causes someone random who you don't know to die in exchange for 1 million dollars. Whilst I know a lot of people would, a lot of people (including me) wouldn't.
And going back to things being in the film with no actual justification for their presence, why the hell is it set in the 70s? If it's just because that explains why Cameron Diaz couldn't get a skin-graft then, that's pretty poor.
It's a big, bloated, pretentious mess.
Personal enjoyment: 3/10
Actual quality as a film: 3/10
Citizen Kane
Not the greatest film of all time. Let's nip that in the (rose)bud.
It was obviously ridiculously ahead of its time when it came out though. Its non-linear narrative, its quick-paced editing and some of the shots for instance.
It's a testament to the film that it still entertained me as much as it did in this day and age. It hasn't aged too badly, really, but it's certainly a film that I respect more than I enjoy. It obviously did a lot for cinema, but films since have built on that and done a better job with it.
A pivotal film in the history of cinema? Yes. Greatest film of all time? Definately not.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 9/10
This film is at very least: above average for a zombie film. That isn't saying much at all (being the die-hard zombie fan that I am, even I have to admit that most zombie films are terrible), but it's genuinely quite enjoyable despite its constant shortcomings.
If you have the option, watch 'Pontypool' instead. No question about it. However, if you love zombie films, you could do a lot worse. As cliched as it is, it does actually put a tiny bit of originality into the zombie premise with the racial motivation of certain characters.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 4/10
Extract
This really reminded me like A Serious Man. It was a lot less dark, but it was certainly funnier. However, at least there was an intended point behind A Serious Man; this film just sort of meanders and burns out. Watchable but not brilliant -certainly not up to par with Mike Judge's usual work.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
I thought this film looked terrible so I was surprised by it being quite alright. Not great by any means, but passable. A few good jokes, some good character animation (despite character designs being bland and horrible).
The plot brings nothing new to the table despite being quite odd. It deals with daddy issues and a love interest and so on. There's an impressive cast on display though -the kind of thing I'd have put together for a dream film at the age of 14. Mr. T and Bruce Campbell! Plus Bill Hader and Andy Samberg doing terrific jobs and Anna Faris doing a standard female 'name' actress job. It was obviously designed to be seen in 3D though due to how some action sequences were put together, but they still looked very cool in 2D.
It's passable, especially if you like saturday morning cartoon calibur movies.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
The Box
A fantastic (and oh, so Richard Matheson) premise is completely wasted here. I'm going out on a limb, but I bet the original short story is great because Matheson is a sign of quality. That's why it's such a shame that this film is terrible. Absolutely dire.
It's a huge swirling mess where nothing is good other than Richard Matheson's original premise. I suppose Frank Langella doesn't do anything wrong either, but come on. Richard Kelly tries his hardest to turn this into Donnie Darko 2, and whilst I haven't seen S. Darko, I imagine it's actually better than The Box, at least on some levels.
There are bizarre visuals that don't seem to represent anything metaphorical whatsoever and as such serve to turn an examination of the human condition into laughable sci-fi fodder. The examination itself is ridiculous as well as it implies that anyone would push a button that causes someone random who you don't know to die in exchange for 1 million dollars. Whilst I know a lot of people would, a lot of people (including me) wouldn't.
And going back to things being in the film with no actual justification for their presence, why the hell is it set in the 70s? If it's just because that explains why Cameron Diaz couldn't get a skin-graft then, that's pretty poor.
It's a big, bloated, pretentious mess.
Personal enjoyment: 3/10
Actual quality as a film: 3/10
Citizen Kane
Not the greatest film of all time. Let's nip that in the (rose)bud.
It was obviously ridiculously ahead of its time when it came out though. Its non-linear narrative, its quick-paced editing and some of the shots for instance.
It's a testament to the film that it still entertained me as much as it did in this day and age. It hasn't aged too badly, really, but it's certainly a film that I respect more than I enjoy. It obviously did a lot for cinema, but films since have built on that and done a better job with it.
A pivotal film in the history of cinema? Yes. Greatest film of all time? Definately not.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 9/10
Friday, 11 December 2009
It's Official, Electric Six are Awesome
The other night, I went to see Electric Six for the first time (something which was long overdue).
The gig was incredible (spare for some dicks in the crowd).
I was relatively close to the front, due to nobody being there from the start and slowly wormed myself closer until I was up against the barrier, pretty much in front of the lead singer. He did 'shooty fingers' at me.
To begin with, there was half an hour of a shite support act -but hey, only half an hour. I believe they were called Regards.
Then there was half an hour of a second support act: Eureka Machines. From Leeds. These guys were above and beyond what you'd expect from a support act. Their music wasn't exactly incredible, but they get 10/10 for showmanship. The lead singer clearly fancied himself as a bit of a stand up, and to be fair he was funny. They worked as a throwback to punk bands of the 70s. They did some amazing harmonising and a great, albeit very Ramones-esque cover of What a Wonderful World.
This is a picture of the lead singer (prior to growing his mohawk). See, he's lifted straight out of the 70s.
Then out came the real show.
A weird extended introduction to Body Shot began to play and Dick Valentine walked out wearing a hooded cloak with 'KILL' written on the back. It was reminiscent of the sort of outfits wrestlers wear to enter the ring. He ended the song with an epic bit of drumming.
Seems Dick is getting into his drums as there was an extra drum-kit set up for him to use intermittently throughout the show.
Here's a very bad picture I took of Dick in his cloak. I wasn't focused on getting pictures for you see, my phone was busy recording audio of the gig. I expected it to run out of space after 3 or 4 songs, but nope, I got the entire gig.
We were then treated to Waste of Time and Money, a song designed to follow Body Shot on the album, KILL, so this went nicely. Dick's "SOLO!" was loud and clear, live.
Following that, we got Down at McDonnelzzz and Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother), both great songs. Then Egyptian Cowboy, one of my least-favourite of all of Electric Six's catalogue, but my God does it work well live.
Following that was Improper Dancing, a brilliant song. In the studio version, Dick shouts "STOP!" towards the end of the song and there are a few seconds of silence before he shouts "CONTINUE!" and the song carries on.
When he shouted "STOP!" live, everyone thought the song was over as people who aren't familiar with the band beyond Gay Bar tend to do. Instead of coming in with "CONTINUE!", the band launched into a (very good) cover of Never Tear Us Apart by INXS and then gave us a "CONTINUE!" before carrying on exactly where they'd left Improper Dancing. Epic.
Then we got When I Get to the Green Building, Formula 409 and Steal Your Bones.
Gay Bar started and the crowd went mental. Fittingly enough, this was followed directly by Gay Bar, Part 2.
Future is in the Future was next and they made it last about 10 minutes instead of the usual 3 or so -this was mostly due to the song devolving into a weird backing track type thing using elements of Sexy Trash, another E6 song, whilst Dick talked about where the band were from, politics and just general band-banter. Throughout the show, he'd been claiming that members of the band came from places in England, so when he claimed their support act, the Eureka Machines were from Leeds, California, I was rather amused. Dick also talked about the first support act, how he didn't see them and how he didn't even know their name, but he was sure that they were fantastic all the same. They weren't, but good on Dick for being polite.
They then rounded things off with Future is in the Future and I Buy the Drugs.
Obviously this wasn't the real end of the show however, and just the obligatory break before the encore which consisted of You're Bored and then what Dick called The Dance Trilogy (made up of Dance Pattern, Dance Epidemic and Dance Commander).
As if that wasn't enough, it was Smorgasboard (the bassist)'s birthday so we got an extra song: Happy Birthday. This seems to be a weird sort of thing that happens to me every time I go to a gig because the other week I went to see Gary Numan and he introduced the encore by with a round of Happy Birthday to his guitarist.
Unfortunately, I'd been hoping and praying that they'd play a personal favourite of mine, Randy's Hot Tonight. They didn't. BUT, I'm seeing them again in less than a week, so here's hoping for then.
All in all, a good night.
The gig was incredible (spare for some dicks in the crowd).
I was relatively close to the front, due to nobody being there from the start and slowly wormed myself closer until I was up against the barrier, pretty much in front of the lead singer. He did 'shooty fingers' at me.
To begin with, there was half an hour of a shite support act -but hey, only half an hour. I believe they were called Regards.
Then there was half an hour of a second support act: Eureka Machines. From Leeds. These guys were above and beyond what you'd expect from a support act. Their music wasn't exactly incredible, but they get 10/10 for showmanship. The lead singer clearly fancied himself as a bit of a stand up, and to be fair he was funny. They worked as a throwback to punk bands of the 70s. They did some amazing harmonising and a great, albeit very Ramones-esque cover of What a Wonderful World.
This is a picture of the lead singer (prior to growing his mohawk). See, he's lifted straight out of the 70s.
Then out came the real show.
A weird extended introduction to Body Shot began to play and Dick Valentine walked out wearing a hooded cloak with 'KILL' written on the back. It was reminiscent of the sort of outfits wrestlers wear to enter the ring. He ended the song with an epic bit of drumming.
Seems Dick is getting into his drums as there was an extra drum-kit set up for him to use intermittently throughout the show.
Here's a very bad picture I took of Dick in his cloak. I wasn't focused on getting pictures for you see, my phone was busy recording audio of the gig. I expected it to run out of space after 3 or 4 songs, but nope, I got the entire gig.
We were then treated to Waste of Time and Money, a song designed to follow Body Shot on the album, KILL, so this went nicely. Dick's "SOLO!" was loud and clear, live.
Following that, we got Down at McDonnelzzz and Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother), both great songs. Then Egyptian Cowboy, one of my least-favourite of all of Electric Six's catalogue, but my God does it work well live.
Following that was Improper Dancing, a brilliant song. In the studio version, Dick shouts "STOP!" towards the end of the song and there are a few seconds of silence before he shouts "CONTINUE!" and the song carries on.
When he shouted "STOP!" live, everyone thought the song was over as people who aren't familiar with the band beyond Gay Bar tend to do. Instead of coming in with "CONTINUE!", the band launched into a (very good) cover of Never Tear Us Apart by INXS and then gave us a "CONTINUE!" before carrying on exactly where they'd left Improper Dancing. Epic.
Then we got When I Get to the Green Building, Formula 409 and Steal Your Bones.
Gay Bar started and the crowd went mental. Fittingly enough, this was followed directly by Gay Bar, Part 2.
Future is in the Future was next and they made it last about 10 minutes instead of the usual 3 or so -this was mostly due to the song devolving into a weird backing track type thing using elements of Sexy Trash, another E6 song, whilst Dick talked about where the band were from, politics and just general band-banter. Throughout the show, he'd been claiming that members of the band came from places in England, so when he claimed their support act, the Eureka Machines were from Leeds, California, I was rather amused. Dick also talked about the first support act, how he didn't see them and how he didn't even know their name, but he was sure that they were fantastic all the same. They weren't, but good on Dick for being polite.
They then rounded things off with Future is in the Future and I Buy the Drugs.
Obviously this wasn't the real end of the show however, and just the obligatory break before the encore which consisted of You're Bored and then what Dick called The Dance Trilogy (made up of Dance Pattern, Dance Epidemic and Dance Commander).
As if that wasn't enough, it was Smorgasboard (the bassist)'s birthday so we got an extra song: Happy Birthday. This seems to be a weird sort of thing that happens to me every time I go to a gig because the other week I went to see Gary Numan and he introduced the encore by with a round of Happy Birthday to his guitarist.
Unfortunately, I'd been hoping and praying that they'd play a personal favourite of mine, Randy's Hot Tonight. They didn't. BUT, I'm seeing them again in less than a week, so here's hoping for then.
All in all, a good night.
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Guitar Somemore
The first song I've learnt properly (ie, I can sing it as I play and I know both the verse and chorus) is now officially 'Hungry Like the Wolf' by Duran Duran.
I can play the majority of 'Gay Bar' but I can't sing along to it yet. The same goes for 'Gamma Ray' by Beck.
I've also learnt the Tetris theme tune.
Guitaring is coming along nicely. If only I could find tabs for 'Randy's Hot Tonight' by Electric Six.
My fingers really hurt.
I can play the majority of 'Gay Bar' but I can't sing along to it yet. The same goes for 'Gamma Ray' by Beck.
I've also learnt the Tetris theme tune.
Guitaring is coming along nicely. If only I could find tabs for 'Randy's Hot Tonight' by Electric Six.
My fingers really hurt.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
My Top 10 Music Videos
My personal top 10 which is a mixture of the usual 'greatest videos' and videos I find really funny.
10.Buddy Holly
Weezer (directed by Spike Jonze)
If you love 'Happy Days' in a weird sort of ironic way like I do, then you're bound to love this video. It's probably the most seemless superimposing of two different bits of footage I've ever seen. And it has the Fonz in it! What more could you want? Mr. T? Now you're just being greedy.
9.19/2000
Gorillaz (directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland)
Funny and doesn't get boring for a second. There's some nice little references to old horror films as well, maintaining a lot of what Gorillaz are known for.
8.Reno
The Billy Nayer Show (directed by Cory McAbee)
There's something about this band that's incredibly endearing but I can't put my finger on it. Anyhoo, it's a great little video which makes good use of fairly basic special effects.
7.Here it Goes Again
OK Go (directed by Trish Sie)
A good example of why keeping it simple is often the best thing to do.
6.Lucas With the Lid Off
Lucas (directed by Michel Gondry)
I'm not a huge fan of Michel Gondry as a feature film director; but in smaller projects like this, he really excels.
5.Body Shot
Electric Six (directed by Nabil Elderkin)
I love that Electric Six have reached a point where they know they're not going to get any TV play anymore, so they're not holding back in the slightest in terms of how sexual their videos are. This video is hilarious.
Ignore the first 30 seconds or so before the video really gets going. I should point out that this is fairly NSFW material. This is the third time I've posted this on my Blog.
4.Gay Bar
Electric Six (directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire)
This is why most people know Electric Six, and they rarely know anything beyond it. It was actually really controversial in America due to you know, mocking one of their beloved figureheads so outright. As far as censor-y edits go, the ones in this video are quite cool -although why they had to censor "Let's start a war" and not "I've got something to put in you" is beyond me.
3.Move Your Feet
Junior Senior (directed by Shynola)
Very funny, visually interesting and fairly original. Fits the tone of the song perfectly.
2.Coffee and TV
Blur (directed by Garth Jennings)
I thought I'd seen this music video for ages without actually having seen it. I was just aware of it I suppose. Recently, I actually watched it and it's brilliant. It's like a short film first and a music video second.
1.Take on Me
a-ha (directed by Steve Barron)
I'd be amazed if you haven't seen this before. This is my 'Thriller'. A brilliant concept carried out to perfection. Pretty much epitomises what a music video should be in my opinion.
10.Buddy Holly
Weezer (directed by Spike Jonze)
If you love 'Happy Days' in a weird sort of ironic way like I do, then you're bound to love this video. It's probably the most seemless superimposing of two different bits of footage I've ever seen. And it has the Fonz in it! What more could you want? Mr. T? Now you're just being greedy.
9.19/2000
Gorillaz (directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland)
Funny and doesn't get boring for a second. There's some nice little references to old horror films as well, maintaining a lot of what Gorillaz are known for.
8.Reno
The Billy Nayer Show (directed by Cory McAbee)
There's something about this band that's incredibly endearing but I can't put my finger on it. Anyhoo, it's a great little video which makes good use of fairly basic special effects.
7.Here it Goes Again
OK Go (directed by Trish Sie)
A good example of why keeping it simple is often the best thing to do.
6.Lucas With the Lid Off
Lucas (directed by Michel Gondry)
I'm not a huge fan of Michel Gondry as a feature film director; but in smaller projects like this, he really excels.
5.Body Shot
Electric Six (directed by Nabil Elderkin)
I love that Electric Six have reached a point where they know they're not going to get any TV play anymore, so they're not holding back in the slightest in terms of how sexual their videos are. This video is hilarious.
Ignore the first 30 seconds or so before the video really gets going. I should point out that this is fairly NSFW material. This is the third time I've posted this on my Blog.
4.Gay Bar
Electric Six (directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire)
This is why most people know Electric Six, and they rarely know anything beyond it. It was actually really controversial in America due to you know, mocking one of their beloved figureheads so outright. As far as censor-y edits go, the ones in this video are quite cool -although why they had to censor "Let's start a war" and not "I've got something to put in you" is beyond me.
3.Move Your Feet
Junior Senior (directed by Shynola)
Very funny, visually interesting and fairly original. Fits the tone of the song perfectly.
2.Coffee and TV
Blur (directed by Garth Jennings)
I thought I'd seen this music video for ages without actually having seen it. I was just aware of it I suppose. Recently, I actually watched it and it's brilliant. It's like a short film first and a music video second.
1.Take on Me
a-ha (directed by Steve Barron)
I'd be amazed if you haven't seen this before. This is my 'Thriller'. A brilliant concept carried out to perfection. Pretty much epitomises what a music video should be in my opinion.
Weekly Film Round-Up #50
Following on from last week, it's just 1 film and again, it's a demon-themed horror movie.
Night of the Demon (1957)
This film really reminded me of the great Universal horror films of the 30s and 40s, but with a lot more punch. It's pretty much the original version of 'Drag Me to Hell', except a lot more atmospheric and it doesn't play any of it for laughs. It's one of the best pre-70s horror films that I've seen.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10
Night of the Demon (1957)
This film really reminded me of the great Universal horror films of the 30s and 40s, but with a lot more punch. It's pretty much the original version of 'Drag Me to Hell', except a lot more atmospheric and it doesn't play any of it for laughs. It's one of the best pre-70s horror films that I've seen.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10
Silly Cracked.com
I just looked through some Cracked.com photoshop contests and the funniest entries (by miles) never seem to win.
This entry for "Movie Plots That Could Have Been Solved in Minutes" for instance. This floored me with laughter, maybe it's just too nerdy for the masses?
(Click the picture to see it all big like at its original source).
This entry for "Movie Plots That Could Have Been Solved in Minutes" for instance. This floored me with laughter, maybe it's just too nerdy for the masses?
(Click the picture to see it all big like at its original source).
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