There's a gaming blog post on The Age website today about the way Sony revolutionised video game advertising.
Moving away from game footage, Sony successfully delivered the message that PlayStation was an experience that shouldn't be missed. With brilliant campaigns like Double Life and Fun, Anyone?, their ads stirred emotion and showed that games were part of a cool lifestyle.
It goes on to describe the David Lynch Third Place campaign as a misstep but (as a self confessed Lynch fan) I think it's brilliant.
David Lynch hates talking about his work (he never does commentary tracks on his dvds) and prefers to let the work do the talking, so it's fair to say that no-one entirely knows what it's all about but there's nothing wrong with that.
The way I see it, he's a proud standard bearer of Surrealism, mixed up with stylish dollop of 50s Americana. It's very much about a dreamlike place, which crosses over often enough into reality to demand your attention but which at the same time is like nothing on earth.
In this ad, being necessarily shorter, he just dives right on in and dishes up a true surreal experience. We are the man in the suit, navigating an unfamiliar place that just gets stranger and stranger. This represents the trip into the unexplored depths of your mind that the PS2 offers, letting you see and experience things that you never have before.
Walking after midnightCowboy Junkies 6:02 The trinity sessions
Languid bluesy cover of a great Patsy Cline song
Spaceball RicochetMarc Bolan 4:42 Acoustic Warrior
Better known for his glam-rock with T.Rex in the early 70s, Marc Bolan put out a great album of acoustic tracks
World On A String Neil Young 2:25 Tonight's The Night
A lesser-known Neil Young track from one of his sadder, more personal albums.
Central Reservation (Spiritual Life - Ibadan Edit)Beth Orton 4:04 Central Reservation
A lively remix that doesn't overwhelm the beauty of the original song
Promise What You WillIron & Wine 2:24 The Creek Drank The Cradle
Moving back to something a little more low-key, sweet gentle voices work well with slightly rough-hewn guitar
Woman Of IrelandWeddings Parties Anything 2:47 Trophy Night
A good Weddos party song, with a pacey beat, rockin' accordion (now that's something you don't get to say often) and Michael Thomas' passionate vocals
I'll Fly AwayAlison Krauss & Gillian Welch 3:57 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Old-time bluegrass gospel sung by a couple of angels
Labour Of LoveFrente! 3:10 Whirled
One of my favourite lo-fi acoustic songs of the 90s, I remember playing this over and over at times. Check the recorder solo.
LiarRandall Blair And The Wedded Bliss 4:57 Tattoos And Taillights
The more I hear from this local outfit, the more hopeful I become about the Canberra music scene - can't really compare them to anyone but listen and enjoy.
No Reason To CryThe Go-Betweens 3:53 Oceans Apart
One of the best Oz bands ever, everything in this song (from their last proper album) just works - I noticed there is a tribute album to the Go-Betweens out now (Write your adventures down) which I will chase up.
You turn me on I'm a radioJoni Mitchell 2:39 Hits
One for the Pussycat but it's quickly becoming a personal fave as well. Joni's sassy and smooth :)
AmnesiaMachine Translations 3:33 Happy
It's a mystery how Machine Translations has flown below the radar for so long, everything they do is so special and unique. (J Walker has played with a band in recent years after doing the whole thing solo for a long time)
Martha vents a few issues and everyone gets to enjoy it.
Warren's WaltzDirty Three 7:06 Sad & Dangerous
Another fantastic but under-rated Oz outfit, the Dirty 3 play some amazingly emotional tunes with just a violin, guitar and drums. Here's an early one.
Harry Was A Bad BuggerTex, Don & Charlie 5:19 All Is Forgiven
Fantastic story telling in a nearly spoken song from some music greats, playing together because they enjoy it.
Just TwistedPenelope Swales 5:57 Justifying Your Longings To The Doctor
Bouncy, acoustic tunes from a strong woman with a bunch of talent.
Casimir Pulaski Day Sufjan Stevens 5:53 Illinois
This guy just writes some amazing songs - he's working on a project apparently to write an album about each American state, this is from the second - Illinois. (Michigan was first)
Helplessk.d. lang 4:15 Hymns Of The 49th Parallel
One Canuck pays tribute to another - kd lang sings Neil Young and it sounds great.
ThirteenElliott Smith 2:43 New Moon
Another great cover from a sorely missed acoustic maestro - this time of a Big Star track.
There's something about the way Phillip Adams writes that often rubs me up the wrong way - he's clearly highly intelligent but possibly just a little self-satisfied. (My friend Buj assures me he is a fantastic presenter and interviewer on the radio though.)
On occasion though, he absolutely drills it and his piece in The Australian (a generally repugnant right wing Murdoch rag in which he plays token lefty) on the weekend was an absolute pearler.
It beautifully makes light of the increasingly shrill and desperate smear and fear campaign that John Howard is bringing forth about the possibility of a Rudd Labor Government by dramatically exposing Kevin Rudd's secret plans for the country.
Here it is in it's full glory:
"We're facing annihilation," John Howard told his weekly meeting with Coalition MPs, referring to his Government. As a consequence, so are we. We being us - 20 million Australians. For make no mistake: if Howard goes, we're all stuffed.
A secret report, prepared in the Prime Minister’s office, has been leaked to trusted journalists. But I got one anyway.
First of all, under a Rudd government, homosexuality will be compulsory. The confetti from gay marriages will blow blizzard-like through our churches and fall like heavy snow on the footpaths outside registry offices. Subsuming all other festivals, the Mardi Gras will shove Anzac Day aside, forcing veterans to march in the side streets. The traditional Aussie salute, employed to brush away the blowies, will become limp-wristed and Kevin Rudd will stack the High Court with drag queens who’ll also take over as weather girls, nuns, nurses and Qantas hosties.
From coast to coast, deviance and decadence will destroy the last skerricks of decency. Family values will be irrevocably trashed. Unprotected by Howard and his ministers, the bathrooms of the nation will cease to play a role in personal hygiene and will be used instead to produce hydroponic marijuana. The lounge rooms of Australia will reek from reefers. You’ll have to protect your pets from outbreaks of bestiality.
Cannibalistic trade unionists will eat employers. Others will prowl places of business, forcing workers into socialist slavery. Entrepreneurs, merchant bankers and other producers of wealth will be dragged through the streets in ACTU tumbrels to the guillotines erected in Frank Lowy’s shopping malls. The decapitated noggins of Macbank millionaires will be displayed on pikes in Sydney’s Martin Place. The stock market will collapse and real estate values will follow family values down the toilet. Hyperinflation will force families to sell their children into prostitution or for medical experiments. Within weeks it will cost millions for a loaf of bread and shoppers will use their trolleys to lug devalued currency to the checkouts.
As Rudd’s megalomania grows he’ll become the Robert Mugabe of the South Pacific; Opposition politicians will be subject to the Pacific Solution, with Philip Ruddock spending future Christmases on Christmas Island. Even worse, the English will refuse to play cricket with us.
Robert Manne will become Australia’s first President. Ric Birch, the Busby Berkeley of great public occasions, will synchronise vast crowds in North Korean-style celebrations of Kev Il-Sung, our glorious leader. The ABC, chaired by Phillip Adams with Bob Ellis as managing director, will be simulcast on all radio stations and TV channels. The erstwhile commercial networks will still be used for mind-control experiments, but the emphasis will change from US and corporate propaganda to ACTU/ALP indoctrination, previously limited to the ABC.
The “coalition of the willing” will be abandoned, our alliance with the US immediately cancelled and Movie World closed on the Gold Coast. Posh private schools will be bulldozed. All right wings will be removed from Qantas aircraft, as will millions of magnets from Australian fridges. Terrorism will be actively encouraged via grants from the Australia Council.
In a radical attempt to control global warming, all exports of coal will be rounded up for return to Australia and reburial in the Hunter Valley, but not until the harbourfront mansions of Liberal-voting billionaires have drowned beneath rising sea levels. Only Kirribilli will be saved for Kev Il-Sung, our glorious leader.
The show trials of Howard, Costello, Downer and Abbott, judged guilty in advance, will be screened by the ABC. Robbed of the object of their passionate detestation, Howard Haters will be given grief counselling. Covered by Medicare.
Private patients will be dragged from their hospital beds, Advance Australia Fair replaced by The Internationale, lobotomies performed on Quadrant readers and anyone who cannot recite at least half the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Abu Ghraib experts imported to extract confessions from Liberal voters, electoral laws modified (one unionist, two votes), ASIO replaced by the Fabian Society, and Gough Whitlam’s self-beatification officially endorsed by the new head of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal Keating.
Millions of Muslim refugees will arrive on luxury liners run by government-subsidised people smugglers, to be granted immediate vacant possession of Liberal-owned homes. Aborigines will make land claims on your barbecue area. In line with Kev Il-Sung’s language preferences, Mandarin will be mandatory in kindergartens.
Well, that’s the first chapter in the leaked document, prepared by ASIO, ASIS and the ONA. The PM’s office has denied there’ll be a fear campaign in the run-up to the federal election.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen is a new project for Damon (Blur, Gorillaz) Albarn, Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti).
As a new sound, this takes a little more listening to than some. It's very multilayered, a bit like swimming in a sea of sounds and ideas - the more I listen to the more I'm reminded of the spirit of OK Computer - which isn't to say that it's derivative, more like a worthy successor.
As a whole, it could be seen as something of a snapshot of modern unease in the West in the wake of the Bush years and a shift to darker times but it still manages to hold on to a sense of hope at the end that we can drag ourselves out of this mess.
A very rich sound that will take a number of listens to explore and each one will be worthwhile. Not necessarily an easy one to process though and the bleak vibe suggests picking your time/mood to listen to it.
82%
History Song (3.06) - Interesting opener - looped acoustic guitar riffs beneath bouncy beats, organ and an almost Radioheadlike downbeat vocal. Hints of reggae in there as well as a bit of noodling away on piano
'80's life (3.28) - Bit like a 50s rock ballad underwater with a pounding piano (I think) and plenty of ooooohs, counterpointed by a Britpop vocal style.
Northern Whale (3.54) - Farty and clangy electro beats that hark back to Gorillaz a little, again the tapping piano, there's something about the vocal that makes you wonder what the song might be like sung by someone else but which at the same time works well with the sounds to create a distinct almost slightly wistful mood
Kingdom of Doom (2.42) - Back to a more conventional intro with a plainly strummed guitar and wanting to be heard bassline - shifts to piano from the chorus and the sound gets progressively thicker. Another less than chirpy song - I get the feeling Damon isn't too happy about the state of the world
Herculean (3.59) - Driving piano and a working mishmash of beats and sounds underscore some distant vocals (that at times sound sung down the phone line) - sense of a dischordant society (again)
Behind the sun (2.38) - Sounds like a cold, wet night in a lonely city - sirens howl in the background as Albarn sings of bleak existence but suddenly lifts to a sense of hope which brightens the song no end
The Bunting Song (3.47) - A persistent yet gentle and sometimes happy tune underlined with a sadness in the background, more Brit-bleakness in the lyrics, which feel political without being explicitly so
Nature Springs (3.10) - Gentler and more hopeful in sound but still low-key - nice acoustic guitar work (including the squeaks and squeals from changing chords), some blips and bleeps, again with the fragmentary echoes of OK Computer (a compliment, don't get me wrong). Oh and whistling - who doesn't love a bit of whistling in a tune. A soldiers tale (2.30) - Another lighter song, gentle guitar and strings underneath happier sounding vocals, again with the OK Computeresque lyrics which are slightly crytic but feel meaningful. More whistling.
Three changes (4.15) - A more passionate and energetic track, slightly downbeat vocals, layers and layers of sounds giving it a Gorillaz vibe, catchy buzzy hook, slightly dystopic view of England in the 21st century, interesting shift at the end to a slightly reggae beat. In my top two for this album.
Green Fields (2.26) - A gentle acoustic reflection on the changes in life in the last few years, which picks up the pace to bring it home
The Good, The Bad and The Queen (7.00) - Bit of a rocking epic, quickly dispensing with the more hopeful lyrical part of the song and launching into a buzzing, rushing, relentless emotional frenzy of clashing drums, grungy guitar and almost whistling synth and slowly fading out.
(Well, two posts today - I think I'm going quite mad :)
The annual Film and Television (FAT) awards for CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology) are on tonight at the National Museum in Canberra.
Roll up for a night of diverse short films by CIT media production students.
I haven't seen any of them yet but I'd like to make a few predictions (having made and been to my fair share of student film screenings)
Some will be dark and showcase the extraordinary inner angst through a series of moody images of people gazing sadly into the distance and walking slowly.
Some will be great stories well told.
Some will completely abuse the digital tools available in the editing software and apply filters and transitions all over the shop.
At least one character will die for every two films (and possibly more).
There will be at least two fairly funny Tropfest style one joke films.
Some of the films will appear to have been much more fun to make than to watch.
Some will be far more fun to watch than they were to make.
Small pockets of the audience will cheer, laugh and applaud disproportionately when certain films begin (and at key points within the film)
Hopefully all the film makers (I was going to quibble about whether digital video counts as film but given it's widespread use in the industry, meh, whatever) will:
A) Get a massive buzz from seeing their work with an audience B) Learn something from their work and that of their colleagues which makes the next one even better.
Going to see short films is always something of a raffle but it's generally always worth it.
Soaring, varied, I like it but there's a bit of a sense that nothing much has happened in the world of music in the last 15 years and you're not listening to a contemporary album. Does this matter when it's done so well? You could argue that this is like saying Mozart would be better with some drum loops - maybe it's just irrelevant and I should enjoy it for what it is.
My knowledge of Dinosaur Jr is a little superficial but I saw Mascis (solo) supporting Sonic Youth a couple of years ago and he mopped the floor with them.
Nice article in The Age yesterday if you'd like to be brought up to speed
Update: Ok so I've been giving this album a good third listen while installing Firewire cards in a bunch of our lab machines and I think the penny dropped or something clicked but this really is a great album. I was a little concerned that a few of the tracks sounded the same as a few others but when you dig down and find the differences (and the increasingly impressive guitar solo noodling), it just gets better and better.
85%
Track by track:
Almost Ready (3.08) - Lively starter, wall of guitar, it's either as though we slipped back to the early 90s or Dinosaur Jr never went away
Crumble (4.04) - Reminds me of "Out There" from Where you been. A more low key song than the others and leaving a vague sense of beautiful sadness
Pick me up (6.32) - Returns to more conventional DJr ground but brings in some outthere whistly synth at points (I think) to keep the freshness up. Loving the guitar in this one, it's gold and has put the song up into my top 2 for this album.
Back to your heart (4.31) - The sound that a hundred mediocre commercial rock bands strive for and just fall short of - nothing wrong with it, just drags a little for my taste - although the solos lift it up a rung or two
This is all I came to do (5.21) - Lighter slightly poppier rock track, still great but perhaps a bit samey.
Been there all the time (3.40) - There's just something about J Mascis' voice that works, it seems like it was made to complement soaring, buzzing electric guitars
It's me (5.14) - Back to their old-skool electric sound - possibly a tiny bit buzzier than before - great solid DJr rock, best track so far on the album to my mind
We're not alone (4.35) - Another sad one, with a relative pop-rock jangle and another great soaring solo which puts this into my top 3 for the album
I got lost (4.37) - Shift to moody acoustic - what was I saying about Mascis' voice complementing electric guitars? I think I meant guitar in general (and evidently cello). Thinner sounding song but kept from starlet anorexia by a well balanced mix of sounds
Lightning bulb (3.45) - Moody, crashing rocker with a real sense of something looming over you and some eery/haunting guitar in the middle. I like it
What if I knew (4.01) - Ooh, moody - might have a new favourite track on this album, song of confused romantic angst and regret. Loving that guitar and the underlying riff.
Made to be listened to Loud with a capital L, Icky Thump is a welcome addition to the White Stripes body of work. It mostly sticks to their winning formula but adds a few shifts in pace and style to keep it interesting.
There is a reasonable amount of variety in the album, so if one track doesn't do it for you, the next probably will. (And the one after that)
85%
Track by track
Icky Thump (4.13)
A good rockin' teaser for the album and a great track in the White Stripes canon. (YouTube clip at the bottom)
You Don't know what love is (You just do as you're told) (3:51)
Great angsty song of love
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues 5:28
Cruel Sea vibe/riffs - very nice.
Conquest 2:48
Metal mixed with mariachi
Bone Broke 3:14
Ok rock track which any mainstream rock band would be proud to call their own but in this context it's slightly more filler than killer
Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn 3:05
Dainty rock - country fiddles, contagious melody, driving drums, some kind of bagpipe?, it's all happening here.
St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air) 1:47
Meg sings, hyperbeat, more fiddles and bagpipe, fascinated by this, a little mindblown
Little Cream Soda 3:42
More metalesque guitar but a great sound nonetheless, song of regret Rag & Bone 3:45
Great dirty southern rock song and lyricism
I'm Slowly Turning Into You 4:28
Jaggerish tint to vocals, slinky rock, layered voices,
A Martyr For My Love For You 4:16
And into a ballad - noice, stylish use of soft loud soft, Catch Hell Blues 4:14
Ry Cooder slide, another rootsy, Texas blues sound for a while, mutates into some kind of screechy butterfly
Effect & Cause 2:57
"Darlin' it hurts" (Paul Kelly) vibe in there so obviously a great song - stripped back acoustic bluesy number
Ok, so I'm moving these posts which previously lived on the Monday Sunset blog over here now - and I'll try to jazz them up a little with reasons why as often as I can (or remember :)
These are the tunes I'll be playing on Monday Sunset, my radio slot on 2XXfm (98.3) between 4 and 6pm. Tune in for the chance to win a car*)
(* Car might be imaginary)
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me Violent Femmes Why Do Birds Sing? 4:50
I love covers and this is a classic - Gordon Gano's nasal whine tones suit this perfectly
Thirteen Elliott Smith New Moon 2:43
While we're in cover land, this is a beautiful version of a Big Star song from New Moon, the new 2CD compilation of songs recorded by Elliot Smith between 94 and 97.
What If Lucinda Williams West 5:41
I'm a bit of a sucker for the sigh of a country slide guitar and the abstract poetry of Lucinda Williams lyrics in this track just put it over the top.
I've been listening to this Lucinda Williams album for a little while now (thanks to Jerry from Lost Highway)
Reckless [Australian Crawl] Paul Kelly Used And Recovered By 4:01
Oh dear - another cover, I'm going a little mad for them today :) Classic Oz song covered by another Oz legend.
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues The White Stripes Icky Thump 5:28 Effect & Cause The White Stripes Icky Thump 2:57
Two of my faves from the new White Stripes album (aside from the title track, which I've been thrashing a little in recent weeks) - the first has echoes of The Cruel Sea, the second reminds me in structure of Darlin' It Hurts (Paul Kelly) but they're both absolute gems and showcase the variety of this album (which is reviewed above)
You Gotta Move The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers 2:34
I've been a latecomer to the Stones camp - something to do with Jagger looking old and creepy perhaps at times but once you get past that, you'll see that he and Keef are rock legends.
Under the Milky Way The Church El Momento Descuidado 4:51
Low key version of an all time Church fave - this song never gets tired.
Superfish Los Capitanes No Butts! 2:14
Lively party-rock/ska/reggae from deservedly popular local funsters Los Caps.
Critical Beat Dubba Rukki Island State 3:45
Smooth funk/dub from local (to the best of my knowledge they still are) outfit with a punny name.
Revenge Of The Number Portishead The Rebirth Of Cool Phive 3:22
A Portishead song from 95 without the characteristic wail but still a great song.
Back to Your Heart Dinosaur Jr Beyond 4:31
From the new album and in fine form - coming to Canberra in early July.
Weeds The Negotiators Apples and Oranges 3:59
Good old school rock from the Yarram delta. You will believe in Weeds (and guns)
La La Love You Pixies Doolittle 2:43
Lesser known Pixies track with whistling and almost Cure like moments among the jangly guitar you expect from the Pixies
All I can say is I wished I could make an acoustic guitar sound so good (and have a fraction of this talent)
Northern Whale The Good, The Bad And The Queen The Good, The Bad And The Queen 3:54
Damon (Blur/Gorillaz) Albarn keeps the interesting treats coming
Hold On, Hold On Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings The Flood 2:46
Another recommendation from Jerry Lost Highway, it brings the twang and I'm loving that voice.
Brother Murder By Death Now Hear This! - February 2007 3:50
Yes, I read the UK music mags from time to time - the tightarse in me likes the cd selections you get with them of stuff that often hasn't been widely played here yet. Driving and clangy alt.country
Boner Grand National Kicking The National Habit 4:20
Mmmm, trumpets kicking off ska beat rocker
Love In A Trashcan The Raveonettes Pretty In Black 2:51
Sexy 50s style girl trash rock - this band always seems to get it right
I wanna sleep in your arms The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers 2:32
Johnathon Richman's vocal are like no other and the tunes are a what happened when someone had punk sensibilities but not the punk sound.
Getting a little political today - I'm looking at putting a top 50 countdown list together (maybe to run over a week) of the reasons we need a little regime change in this country.
So far I'm thinking in broad brushstrokes but want to get more specific
I'm looking at:
Toadying (to big business and Dubya)
Divisiveness
Too little too late on Climate change
Meanness of spirit
Excessive nationalism
Racism
Politicisation of public bodies - the public service in particular
Lack of vision
Anti-union fanaticism
Attacks on education
Making Australia an international embarrassment
Woeful broadband
Luck rather than skill with the economy
Bloated foreign debt
Supporting the payment of bribes to Saddam Hussein by the AWB
Driving to work this morning I came up against a situation I'd never before experienced on the roads - arriving at a roundabout at exactly the same time as cars coming from each direction.
This put me and the other drivers in the position of all having to give way to the driver on our right but also having the right of way over the drivers on our left.
I was happy to see that there was a moment where everybody waited instead of some jerk just barging through regardless and ignoring the right of way principle (which seems to be the case increasingly here I'm noticing).
After an awkward half-moment, my gaming honed twitch reflexes kicked in, I summed it up the situation and made my way through. This might seem like a minor thing perhaps but I've often been a bit backwards in asserting myself and it felt like I was making some kind of progress. So, you know, yay for me I guess :)
Here's a selection of some of the tunes that I'll be playing on Lost Highway tonight on 2XXfm (98.3) between 9.30pm and 11. (Hope you didn't miss it :)
The Rooster Moans Iron & Wine 3:24 The Creek Drank The Cradle I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow The Soggy Bottom Boys 4:17 O Brother, Where Art Thou? Up Against The Wall Redneck Mothers Cracker 4:09 Countrysides No place to fall (Townes Van Zandt) Lisa Miller 3:19 Car tape Wedding vows Sam Evans 2:53 Brown Couch Soundtrack Tale Of The Bull The Spoils 3:48 Hurtsville Trip To Kalu-Ki-Bar Louis Tillett & Charlie Owen 3:45 The Ugly Truth Dirty Water Randall Blair And The Wedded Bliss 4:46 Tattoos And Taillights One Cowboy Junkies 5:11 Early 21st Century Blues California Jay Farrar 4:46 Stone, Steel & Bright Lights Quick Way To Hell The Fuelers 3:42 Hot Dang Make it Count Barb Waters & Kim Salmon 3:35 Rosa Duets Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key Billy Bragg & Wilco 4:06 Mermaid Avenue Postcards Goldentone 4:33 Blood Red Earth Not Even Stevie Nicks... Calexico 2:43 Feast Of Wire This Is Not The Way Home The Cruel Sea 4:06 This Is Not The Way Home Talking Talking Lion Blues Mick Thomas 3:45 Under Starter's Orders - Live At The Continental I see a darkness Johnny Cash 3:42 American III : Solitary Man A Good Soundtrack (Pushin' Fear) Ed Kuepper 3:36 Death To The Howdy-Doody Brigade Roscoe Midlake 4:49 The Trials Of Van Occupanther
The second season of Twin Peaks was released on DVD a couple of months ago, smack dab in the middle of my studies (why they couldn't just ask me when to release it I'll never know) so I've only now been able to revisit one of my favourite shows of all time.
Given the mysterious lag between the release of the first season (around 2003) and this baby, it's been quite a wait but as soon as I flicked it on last night I knew that it had been worth it.
For those who came in late, Twin Peaks was a David Lynch tv series in the early 1990s which earned something of a cult following for it's style, playful reinterpretation of the soap opera genre and moments of out and out surreality.
It was set in smallish logging town in the middle of a something's-not-right forest and (initially) centred around an FBI led investigation into the killing of a local girl, Laura Palmer.
Of course, being grounded in the soap genre, this was far from all that was going on in town and a diverse cohort of locals added interwoven tales of crime, love, treachery and all the other good things you would expect in Lynch's idealised 50's looking town.
Season two kicks off with a bang, following up from a massive cliffhanger episode that saw show hero Special Agent Cooper shot, local thug Leo Johnson shot, town beauty Shelley Johnson and mill owner Catherine Martell trapped in a burning sawmill and Laura's shrink Dr Jacoby attacked in a park.
As the show centres around Cooper and this first episode back was written and directed by David Lynch himself, there is some amazingly surreal stuff with Cooper lying shot on the ground in his hotel room dealing with visitations from the worlds most oblivious and decrepit room-service waiter and then a mystical giant.
Here's a glimpse - even though the quality is no match for the beautiful film clarity of the dvd, you'll get the gist.
Everything about this dvd worked for me - the image quality and sound were spectacular, the writing and performances brilliant and my concerns that the show might have been better in memory than reality were blown away within moments.
Whether you've never seen the show before or you've seen it a dozen times, do yourself a favour and make the time to check it out.
Yep, no points for subtlety today - two of my favourite things (trivia and 2XXfm) are coming together and by golly I'm going to let you know.
Actually, most of the details are in the flyer itself - just know that 2XXfm (98.3) is a fantastic radio station that lets you hear the music, ideas and voices that you don't get anywhere else on the airwaves and we rely on your support to keep running.
If you believe in independent media (or even if you don't, I guess), come along and have some fun.
When: 7pm Friday 29th June Where: Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre, Civic Square (opposite Legislative Assembly), Civic (Canberra) How much: $25 per person (tables of 10) - ($20 for 2XXfm subscribers)
Bookings: email trivia(at)2xxfm.org.au or call 62 300 100 (10-3 Mon-Fri)
Canberra is known in Australia for the three p's - politics, porn and pyrotechnics.
While I (reluctantly) admit that a political career is somewhat unlikely at this point (you generally have to be able to pretend to like people who suck) and my porn career is limited to applying for a job copying videos for a distributor in Fyshwick (my uni hours didn't quite suit their needs), I have at least now managed to indulge a little in the third.
Fireworks are legal in Canberra over the Queen's Birthday long weekend and this year I decided to put aside my feelings that it was all a bit juvenile or bogany/chav/white-trash or something and embrace the whole thing.
I'm really not sure what my problem was, it was great. (Possibly still slightly juvenile but what the hey.)
Step 1 was buying them - it's an odd little cottage industry that seems to spring up around Canberra at this time of year - empty shops, scout halls, pretty much any space you can think of gets rented out and there are (generally) hand-made signs all over the place advertising FIREWORKS!!!
Fyshwick is one of Canberra's industrial areas (as well as the home of porn and brothels) and the place to go for pyrotechnics.
Pussycat (who was a little dubious about the whole excursion and was heard to mutter from time to time about people blowing their hands off) came along with me and before long we found out that the leading adult shops were doing half price fireworks.
Given that everyone seemed to have sourced their gear from the same location (the packs were exactly the same everywhere you went), this seemed the logical option. (They turned out to be cheaper but I wouldn't say 50% cheaper on the whole).
Unsurprisingly, these places were crammed to the rafters - and there did seem to be a lot of the "oh well, we're here now - strictly for fireworks mind you - so we might as well browse the strap-ons, blow-ups, extenders, expanders, vibrators, mags and other things that I couldn't actually figure out."
People were walking out with armfuls of packs that would have put them out hundreds of dollars (which of course would all be used this weekend and not at any other time) and they ranged in size from suitcase-ish to the somewhat more handbag sized pack that I picked up. (It was also coloured a particularly garish and girly pink, as if to say - "no real man would be seen dead with such a small (fireworks) package").
Thriftiness (and a slight apprehension at hand-blowing-up) won out though and we exited with our pack.
Step 2 was, well basically, blowing them up. After seeing how it was done at a friend's party (hey - they were basically just tubes from what I could see) and wanting the house to share the joy, we headed out to the local park.
Here are some of the results - being the cheap pack, there were a few big bang in the sky ones but photographing those didn't quite pan out. (Although there is a pretty cool shot of one sky firework launching)
There were a few slightly scary moments - such as when the rocket type fireworks fell over half way through their burst and started shooting them horizontally instead of up into the air - and we didn't work out until half way that the stick of incense that was included was actually meant to be used as a lighter but all in all it was a bunch of good blowing stuff up fun.
No major injuries I'm happy to say although (some might say slightly ironically) the Pussycat's hand was slightly scorched by a few sparks from one of the fuses. (She's ok.)
Click on the pics for the full sized view.
(Not entirely sure what this one is but it looks kind of cool anyway)
Update: Apparently this has now been posted on The RiotACT, a Canberra news blog. G'day RiotACTers (Rioters?)
This is a short film I made in 2005 for the Lights Canberra Action film competition - it pays affectionate tribute to the Public Service culture of Canberra, Australia's capital.
The competition is set up so that you have 10 days to make a film up to 7 minutes long which incorporates 10 events and/or locations that are given to you on the first day, kind of a treasure hunt in some ways.
This was my first attempt at animation and all things considered, it came up reasonably well. (imho)
Yes, it falls out of sync a little as it goes - this I can put down as much to the difficulties of converting something from Flash to a format of video suitable for YouTube.
Many thanks once again to the stars of the show - Leonard Low as Oliver le Grad, Kate Thomas as Millie Tante, Matt Thornton for the artwork and, well, me as Syd Cardigan.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it - cheers
Tomorrow - blowing shit up - Canberra and fireworks
It's been a big week for awesome entertainment - I finally managed to watch the first season of Wilfred and just like The Host, this has found a place in my all time top 10 tv shows. (Ok, so with The Host it was movies but you know what I mean).
For those who came in late, Wilfred is a comedy based around the simple idea that Adam, Sarah's new boyfriend, can understand every word that her somewhat possessive and all too human dog Wilfred says. It appears that only Adam has this skill but rather than being amazed by it, he just takes it in his stride. He realises though that it is unusual enough not to let on about it.
Anyway, it's really not a show about the fact that Adam can understand Wilfred, that's just taken as a given. It's really all about the comings and goings in this three-way relationship.
Sarah has had a rough time with her love-life and Wilfred has been there for all of it. It's a little unclear where Wilfred's protectiveness ends and something a little odder begins but they are inseparable and it's up to Adam to work his way around this.
Wilfred himself, unsurprisingly, is the star of the show. All of the characters are well defined and have a good amount of substance but Wilfred is just perfect.
He draws on all of the qualities of dogs - loyalty, a degree of aggression/menace, a big dollop of charm and a base of stupidity and mashes them up to produce the kind of guy that you might meet at the pub on any given night. Wilfred acts like a dog - he has issues with the postman, sprays to mark his territory, loves to chase a ball (to a point - he's not a fanatic), digs holes in the backyard and he's fine with rooting the odd leg but he also loves watching dvds, eating pizza and nachos, drinking beer, smoking bongs and swearing like a trooper.
Wilfred is unequivocally Australian but I think he also embodies characteristics that are entirely universal. We all know someone like Wilfred. The relationships that exist in this world all ring true as well. Adam is lucky to be with Sarah and he knows it and the luck often extends to the interpretations Sarah manages to attach to some of Adam's actions, which can be hilariously questionable but entirely understandable given the trials Wilfred puts him through in their battle of wills.
It's well worth making the effort to track down this series on dvd - I've seen it in JB Hifi and I'm sure it's around other places. See what happens when Wilfred gets out, when Sarah's ex and his tougher dog come to visit, when Adam calls in a TV vet to help with Wilfred's behaviour and much more.
The performances are all spot on, the writing is superb and it's beautifully made. This is gold.
It all came about from a shortfilm for Tropfest in 2002 as well - which I loved when I first saw it and I'm glad that it got picked up from there. Well done guys.
The Host is an exciting, funny, intelligent, subversive and at times scary Korean monster movie. I sat in awe at some points and happily place it somewhere in my all-time personal top 10. (Which I really keep meaning to get around putting together). I'm pretty keen now to check out other work from its director Joon-ho Bong as well.
It embraces its role as a monster flick, acknowledging the rules of the game and playing by them most of the time but bending or outright flouting them at others. It also crosses genres with such grace that calling it a monster movie seems to diminish it unfairly. (Would you call Jaws a monster movie for example?)(The direct translation from Korean is apparently The Monster as well, which I think works just fine as a title)
I'm quite loathe to reveal too much of the story as there are elements that keep you hanging on in suspense to the very end and I personally hate to go to a film knowing too much about what is going to happen.
In short, a big T-Rex sized razor toothed mutated fish/eel/axolotl looking beasty is spawned in the Han River in Seoul as a result of a U.S military scientist ordering his Korean underling to pour hundreds of bottles of old formaldehyde down the drain.
This part - not the monster obviously, well as far as we know - is based on a true story from 2000 which outraged South Korea, particularly given that the US never gave the guy up for trial.
The action revolves around a slightly slow witted but decent man Gang-du, who runs a food stand on the banks of the river with his daughter Hyun-seo and father Hie-bong. Rounding out the Park family are national archery champion Nam-joo and drunken unemployed grad Nam-il.
Naturally enough, the monster first appears not far from the Park family food stand and Gang-du is soon in the thick of it as the monster rampages through the picturesque riverside area gobbling down locals left right and centre. Well, some get gobbled down and some are carried off to the monsters lair for later. No surprises that this sets up the motivation of the Park family for the rest of the film.
This scene for me really highlighted that we were getting into something special. The opening scenes were stylish and moved well but this is where things really got moving, for a few reasons.
You see the whole monster, in broad daylight, early in the film. There's no lurking in the dark, only revealing a shadow here, a scary extreme closeup of a fanged mouth there, trying to build the horror of a beast that ultimately isn't that flash anyway. There are no disposable individuals getting picked off one by one while an innocent town moseys along in blissful ignorance. Right from the outset, it's on.
Now there are any number of reasons why monster movies have conventionally taken this approach but at the top of the list, you always suspect that it's because the monsters just don't look that impressive. This one though, brought to life by the good folks at Peter Jackson's Weta, is the goods. It looks credible and seems to actually exist in its environment, it seems to have weight.
From here the story moves on, still paying respect to the genre but maintaining its own approach. You get the military taking over the area, the plucky family on the run from the government, the whole "I know something really important but noone believes me" thing, a little trapped in hospital by the man horror, it's all there and it's all gold.
The film maker also has a clear appreciation of these conventions - there's a couple of beautiful moments in the mass memorial service / evacuation hall that sum this up. (And incidentally, how often do you see the whole grieving mourners thing when a monster rampages through a city?). A bio-hazard suited official enters the hall and is met with a hail of demands to know what is going on. He says that rather than tell them, he's sure there is a report on the tv news which will explain everything (a hallmark of lazy story telling in movies) and flicks it on. Nothing, it's all just standard programming. Oh, I guess the news isn't on yet is his response.
The dynamics of the family are what really make this film work - it just feels real and right and this strong emotional core props up the rest of the story. Everyone seems to act credibly as well - there are no "why would you do that" moments at all.
I guess it's hard to judge the acting when something is in another language - although they say that only 7% of communication is verbal anyway but again it all seemed strong and I felt connected with all of the main characters.
I took a quick squiz at some of the posts on IMDB about this film afterwards and it was interesting to see that some people felt that it got "all Michael Moore" and political. Sure, the Americans (and to an extent the Korean government as well) were the bad guys to some extent (concocting a virus/contagion threat to cover up for the formaldehyde thing) but I didn't see anything different in this to that which film makers in this genre have been doing for the last 30 years or more.
Perhaps it's taken more personally when it's not American film makers using the US Government as the bad guy.
Anyway, I'll spare you my fanboy-esque ranting for now and just urge you to get out and see it if you're not averse to this kind of thing. As far as gore goes, there's nothing overly confronting - a fantastic scene involving lots of bones and some surgical ickyness but there's almost no blood and/or guts in this at all when I think about it.
I should just mention the dynamism of this film as well - it has any number of moments that take you from genuine hilarity to biting social comment to worrying about the characters and back again in the space of moments, all happeningly seamlessly.
Here's the trailer - it's the U.K version and I don't think it does it justice and it's interesting that they spin it so heavily for it's scary/horror elements when it is a much more well-rounded thing. Focus groups I guess.
Here's the Korean one by way of comparison - it lacks subtitles but really does seem to capture the spirit and drama of the film much better
I read this story on Gaming News site Gamasutra the other day and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how a game movie based on The Sims might all play out. (Damn it, hoist by my own pedantic petard, thanks for the tip Shane)
According to a new report, Electronic Arts' best-selling franchise The Sims will be getting a live action film treatment from 20th Century Fox, with Eragon and Norbit producer John Davis at the helm.
Variety's website is reporting that the Fox has picked up the feature rights to Will Wright's massive hit franchise, and will be producing the live action film under producer Davis and screenwriter Brian Lynch.
Lynch has previously scripted his own feature length film, Big Helium Dog, which has yet to see release, and was the writer for the Spike:Asylum series of comic books based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff TV series Angel.
Electronic Arts' Sims studio head Rod Humble is said to be managing the conversion. He told Variety, " The Sims has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it. Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional story telling."
Nothing further of the film has yet been announced, including plot details or any proposed cast.
Given that there is no story to The Sims - beyond that of living, consuming, breeding and dying - how exactly is this going to work. It doesn't worry me that the scriptwriter has worked on comic books primarily, they offer some of the most sophisticated forms of story telling around at the moment although these at least had some kind of character history and language to go on. The writer also wrote Scary Movie 3 (I'm not sure what that means but at least they are taking the project seriously)
I have thought that it might make an interesting story to look at life from the perspective of a character in a game - particularly if they aren't the player character but someone incidental - and their relationship with the game controller so that might be an angle they will take here.
I can see this possibly working as some kind of quirky comedy (or perhaps, given the irresistable urge this game seems to spark at one point or another to "torture" your characters by putting them in rooms without toilets or doors and getting a little Gitmo (Guantanamo) on their arses it could be a horror film)
Or apparently you could just drop a whole bunch of satellites on the characters all at once. (You really can find everything on YouTube)
It's World Environment Day today (I feel a little bad now that I overslept and decided it was too cold without gloves to ride to work) so I thought it might be good to take a quick squiz at a couple of rather cool options for transport.
I'll spare you my rants and sprays about the obstinancy of the climate change deniers - or realists/pragmatists as our glorious Prime Miniature would term it - and their insistence that a 10000:1 level of acceptance of this issue requires lengthy debate (a.k.a stalling). If you've never read Andrew Bolt's thoughts on this and feel like getting riled up, check him out here.
Ok, so option one is a very cool tool that has been added to a handful of the maps in Google Maps, a little something called Street View.
(Click for full sized view)
The Google team has taken 360 degree photos at what seems to be about 10m intervals on every street in large chunks of major U.S cities including San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, and Denver. The detail isn't crystal clear but good enough and it has raised some issues around privacy but all in all, it's a pretty amazing thing. I just spent a good 20 mins wandering around New York City, which looks much more samey in terms of architecture than I was expecting.
This video explains the whole thing fairly well - the orange superhero suit is a little disturbing though.
Your second option, if you find you actually need to go places in a physical sense, is to offset your person carbon emissions through an organsation like Greenfleet.
For $40 they will plant 17 native trees, which should be enough to absorb the 4.3 tonnes of CO2 emitted by a standard family car in a year.
Now I realise that it's easy to feel that this is such a trivial drop in the ocean that it's barely worth doing but it's as much about taking a degree of personal responsibility and picking a side. It's about having a positive attitude that by using our collective numbers we can form a groundswell that a government in the thrall of its megacorporate mates can't ignore. (Try as they might)
I submitted my final assignment for the semester (or "session" as they somewhat strangely call them) at 11.58pm on Friday night (which registered on their system as 0.03am Saturday, damn it). It was a website with a list of annotated references to articles and papers about using games in education. Check it out here if you like. (It's basic but there are a few interesting papers)
It's been a fairly intense couple of weeks - all my own fault, can't start working without a looming deadline, you know the drill - and so the sense of not having a stack of work to do on Saturday was entirely welcome.
I've crammed so much reading and so many ideas, all of a relatively serious nature, into my brain in the last few weeks that I decided to try an off-line (no computer) day on Saturday. I had a nice bike ride to brekky at a vego cafe (beautiful black rice porridge), made a massive pot of soup, cleaned up a little around the house and played a little guitar (my poor neglected guitar).
It was only when I got into the guitar that I succumbed and powered the Black Beast up, so that I could record my playing. (Yes, I truly am that awesome that my every note - including an extended time tuning up - should be saved for posterity. Well it sounded cool at the time and in that particular state of mind. Honest. I did also have the thought that even though much of it could well suck, it might be handy for sampling and remixing.) Recording through the microphone of a $10 headset wasn't as bad as I'd thought/hoped. Moved the computer off the desk as well after realising that it really is quite noisy and am now loving the extra space.
We had a bunch of people over for dinner and I rounded up the night watching the first 4 episodes of Wilfred (more on this later but it's one of the best comedies I have EVERRR seen).
More chilling on Sunday - reading the papers, getting ever closer to 100% completion on GTA: Vice City Stories (2 unique stunts and 1 rampage to go) and a little more pottering on the 'puter and then had a little much delayed quality time with the Pussycat, who'd been off surveying birds for work.
Wrapped it all up picking tunes for the radio show today, one of which will unfortunately not be Nina Gordon's snaggarific take on Straight Outta Compton (language issues) but tune in to Lost Highway (take 2) this Thursday and you might hear it. (Hip new Gippsland band The Negotiators have made the playlist however with the track Weeds)
It's so nice to have time to get stuck into all my left by the roadside projects.
