Archive for May, 2008

BUG-tastic


Went off to BUG 07 this evening at the BFI for another evening’s revelatory music video malarky punctuated by Adam Buxton’s ranting and the reading of various expletive laden missives from deranged YouTube viewers for whom the concept of constructive criticism is utterly alien.

As usual the mix was pretty funny, more for the pre/post match analysis than the actual videos themselves. The videos weren’t aided by a frankly shite sound system, which was conveniently blamed on Frank Sinatra for some vaguely logical reason that currently escapes me but made perfect sense at the time and served to explain all the circumstances behind Frank’s death a few years ago.

BUG logo

My picks were Interpol‘s Rest My Chemistry, which is what all MP3 visualisation tools dream of becoming when they grow up, super trippy shit; Flight Of The ConchordsLadies Of The World, which was every movie Will Farrell has ever tried to make distilled to 4 minutes 51 seconds; and Josh Raskin‘s animation of 14-year old Jerry Levitan‘s interview with John Lennon in 1969, I Met The Walrus. The sound quality on this may be really shit, but in this case we can’t blame Frank Sinatra, as it sounds like it was shit in the first place. Doesn’t stop the animation being fantastic though.

However, my personal favourite was the video for Aussie Rules post-rock group Pivot‘s In The Blood. As usual it confirms one of the key Rules of BUG (aside from Rule 1 ‘Don’t mention BUG as the tickets sell out fast enough as it is and we don’t want any more competition for places thank you very much’), namely the best video stories are all reserved for obscure guitar/metal/thrash monkeys and that no matter how hard you try you can’t ignore the fact that there is always room for creative stupidity. This video starts where Spielberg‘s JAWS and Todd HaynesSuperstar: The Karen Carpenter Story leave off, so it’s crazy dolls v plastic sharks with lashings of claret.

Quality moment was during the interview with director Dougal Wilson. Now Dougal may be creative and all his videos have at least one interesting idea in them even if they are someone else’s, and yes Bat For LashesWhat’s A Girl To Do is pretty fucking neat in a ‘I’m ripping off Donnie Darko‘ sort of way, but those Goldfrapp videos are bloody terrible. Either that or the new Goldfrapp album is simply godawful cokebaiting eartrash. Anyway, Dougal is relating his many curious run-ins with people recently and culminates in a story of how in BUG 06 he has a run-in with someone who dared to accuse him of actually making money out of the music video racket. Both Buxton and Dougal are about to vent spleen on the hapless malcontent, when up stands friend of the Palace, Charles, saying, ‘It’s a fair cop guv, it was me’. At this point they can’t simply howl him down as he is embracing the moment and have to invite him onstage to universal acclaim. Fortunately Charles’ moment won’t go away as it was being filmed, probably for future use in one of Dougal’s videos.


Archive for May, 2008

I tell you I was forced to do it


The other day I was forced – forced you understand, absolutely compelled – to get my hands on a PSP. If only so I could play with it and determine what options were available in terms of web access and communications for a small project I’m involved in.

It’s not a bad piece of kit, great for watching super-compressed movies, but there aren’t a whole load of great games for it. Obviously there’s Wipeout, which is just great whatever platform it’s on, and I’m well on my way to becoming a right bastard in God of War, but aside from this there’s not a lot that’s setting my world on fire. Additionally, Sony seem to have given no thought to any kind of integration with Macs. So I had to also get my hands on The Missing Sync, which lets me totally synchronise my PSP with my Mac. A black PSP

As far as using the web goes, it’s not bad. It’s wifi enabled and beats the crap out of any mobile bar the iPhone, but its screen size and lack of a keyboard are problematic. It takes the length of a bible to input any kind of text, and good passwords that combine a load of letters and numbers can take forever to put in. However, I’m keen to get my hands on the Go! camera and try using Skype.

As the project I’m working on proceeds we’re probably going to be developing an interface for the PSP (and ultimately for more gaming platforms). I’ll let you know how it goes.



Archive for May, 2008

And where does that leave The Wire?


Just endured the worst productivity blackout of the year as I rampaged my way through the entire fourth series of The Wire. And even at a relatively well paced 3 episodes a day, it puts an end to all kinds of normal social activities.

I was fortunate that I’d already got through a lot of The Shield when I was introduced to The Wire. If only because for a short time I’d deluded myself that The Shield was as good as the police series was going to get. You certainly couldn’t do it the other way round. The Shield, for all its good points (and Vic Mackie rolling about in millions of dollars of stolen gang money is pretty good), is still a ‘crime-o-the-week’ copshow, with a relatively simple beginning, middle and end to each episode. It’s still great, but it’s a light snack once you’ve dined out on The Wire.

Where's the love McNulty?

The Wire has plot coming out of its arse. It’s so slow burn that it takes most of the first series to get the initial wiretap up at all. It’s the most English American TV show out there, a real series that demands total attention, not so much because you’ll miss a key plot moment, but because every character is just so well brought out. Even the minor characters are fully rounded, so that when Ray, the most useless, can’t solve a case detective dies of a tragic stairmaster injury, you’re actually left feeling sorry for the poor sunovabitch.

The Wire‘s not just about the crime, the most interesting parts happen when you follow the money as it escalates from crack corners to political lobbyists and beyond and you see that the machinations of the drug gangs are ultimately no different from those of the top politicians. Only The Wire could leagalise drugs in a major American city for nearly an entire series and almost get away with it.

Now I’ve done with series 4, I’m left waiting for series 5 on DVD and that, I’m told, isn’t until September and is the end of it. Cut us off just when we’ve become addicted? That’s as cold as it gets. Where’s the love McNulty?


Archive for May, 2008

Is Powers the best comic out there?


Developed around the same time as Alan Moore’s Top Ten and inspired by the book behind Homicide Life On the Street, Powers is simply the most exciting comic book I’ve found for ages. At first, I was a bit wary of its relatively cartoonish art style by Michael Avon Oeming, but by the time I got through the first chapter, I was totally seduced. Powers TPB1 Cover

The world behind Powers is beautifully described and detailed by both Oeming and writing superstar Brian Michael Bendis, it’s a pastiche of ’40s film noir and the kind of TV police procedural that has found its peak in The Wire.

It’s also a world inhabited by superheroes – the Powers of the title. Detective Christian Walker and his new partner, the fantastically blunt and foul mouthed Deena Pilgrim, investigate powers related homicides. So far, so humdrum, but this is just the jumping off point for a series of stories that cover celebrity, music, fashion, the media and, inevitably, the ‘reality’ of superhero life.

And, while in the first volume, we’re simply dealing with the death of a world famous superhero, Retro Girl, by the 11th volume we’ve seen hero teams come and go like supergroups, one superhero die through sexual excess and one decide to solve the world’s problems by burning the pope, nuking Utah and incinerating the Gaza Strip. Oh and Pilgrim has become infected with what appears to be a vampire superhero disease, while Walker has become a tripped out intergalactic guardian of the planet.

Bendis’ trick is that he makes all of this seem not only utterly plausible, but downright enjoyable. His dialogue is so snappy it stings. It reaches its peak in the verbal abuse between Pilgrim and Kutter, which looked like it was going to be a staple of the series until Kutter went and got his head ripped off by an apparently dead body. Still it appears Deena’s got herself a new sparring partner, so the vitriol will continue to flow.

Unlike many comics that can barely sustain an issue, let alone a paperback, Powers looks like it’s just got started. I’m just pissed that I’m going to have to wait another 6 months for volume 12.