In Bruges
March 27, 2008
We went to see a preview of In Bruges last night as part of the CinematICA season at the ICA.
It is a brilliantly dark comedy of two disillusioned hit men holed up in Belgium. Lurking somewhere between the incompetence of a Snatch villain and the naivety of Father Ted with an acknowledged nod towards Nicholas Roeg and Don't Look Now [it's the dwarf and the canals I suppose] in a coke fuelled "Bruegellian" nightmare!
Brendan Gleason and Colin Farrell work well together in a kind of Ted and Dougal way and with Martin McDonagh's dialogue it isn't any wonder. It's sharp from the off and, even though he doesn't appear until late on, Ralph Fiennes is hysterically sinister as the hitmen's boss, Harry.
Carter Burwell's score/soundtrack is a fine accompaniment. Gliding effortlessly from Irish folk to Death Metal and any other genre you care to mention whenever the need arises. It's a nice travelogue of Bruges as well - As we sadly spotted all the places we had visited a couple of years back.
Go see. It's on general release either next Friday [April 4th] or on the 18th... depending on what sources you trust!
Went to see Russell Brand supposedly warm up for his forthcoming Hollywood Boulevard gig on Monday as well. At the ever lovable Pleasance Theatre it was more like an hilarious 2 hour demonstration of extreme procrastination. Nothing among his current verbal peregrinations seems suitable to entertain any American audience without offending most of them. But then, that seems reason enough to do anything in my book. Good luck with that then!
Categories: Music, Art, Travel, Film
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Theatricality
March 21, 2008
 I'm not great at watching films these days as its too much sitting about with little interaction from me apart from the viewing bit, but we're off to see In Bruges at the ICA on Wednesday... and I quite like the look/sound of the latest Harmony Korine movie, Mister Lonely, with it's Jason Pierce soundtrack.
In a tenuously [musician wise] related vein, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis are responsible for the musical accompaniment to the Vesturport production of Kafka's Metamorphosis at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. From 25th March to 5th April 2008. Also, theatrically, I anticipate the latest RSC History Plays at the Roundhouse to be a bit special too. Which one to choose though?
I'm giving the Fuck Buttons the time of day at the moment and not sure who is winning. I like the concept of the FB's but I've heard it done before and better. The effected vocal stuff is the same on every track it appears on too... The Foals are still doing it for me big time, as are Rolo Tomassi, even if I am a bit late... I love Film Noir! Also The Computers, who former band mate Tony, with his Small Mercies outfit, is supporting on April 1st the Windmill in Brixton.
I have to say that I am quite interested in this Gisteq Phototracker Pro. Which might be the answer to my geo-tagging prayers. I think the Pro version is a slightly cooler black colour compared to this yellow Lite version! And will tag RAW files.
Right... Good luck with the weather this weekend if you live in the UK... I'm off to Warwick. And why not????
Categories: Music, Photography, London, Film, Theatre
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Art, Light, London
March 15, 2008
 We dragged Kev along to the the Affordable Art Fair on Thursday and went to town on the free wine. It seemed a little more international" than previous events.
For example Art Vitam are a gallery from Miami Beach exhibiting the vinyl on plexiglass works of Juliette Clovis. Urban Art regular Martin Grover was represented by Wills Art Warehouse. We had a nice little chat with photographer Barry Cawston on the Drugstore Gallery stand.
The David Lilford gallery were generously handing out little books of Elizabeth Akehurst's work. The Art Movement had some nice long exposure photos by Dominic Harris. Also liked Pete McKee's "mod art", Feona Ness' abstracts and Chuck Elliot's Kinetic [both at Transistor] - Francis Elliot's Cheshire Cat, Trajectory [above], pic was also on show there.
Best of the bunch though was Sam Burford's work on the Fiumano Fine Art stand, which I though Kev was going to get talked into buying for a moment. Sam's work is known as Transient Crystallisation. "Using proprietary light collection techniques onto 35mm film, the work crystallizes selected transient material and information - generating a form of simultaneous cinema, where you can see everything at once, as a static entirety - revealing hidden structures and temporal patternings. The work ultimately attempts to bring together the forms of modern cinema, notions of memory and the tradition of painting".
The Ballardian Home Movie competition is over and I never got round to entering. Check the site out and see the winner. If you're in London before Easter have a squint at the Gerry Hofstetter's Lindt Light Show on the Shell Building. Make a donation to Childline and you may blag yourself a Lindt chocolate bunny. The Lindt Light Show is on every evening from 11-24 March, 6.30-8.30pm and you can see the show from Waterloo Bridge, Southbank, and the Northbank.
Underground: London's Hidden Infrastructure at New London Architecture looks worth a peek as well... Doubt there will be chocolate at that though.
Penguin's Digital Fiction is up and running next Tuesday, same day as the ICA Fundamentals Of Digital Art event.
Categories: Art, London, Photography, Books
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Quick March
March 10, 2008
That's the run of party-ing over for a bit and I'm all behind with stuff as usual.
Trev's party was followed by a relatively mediocre Underworld performance at the Roundhouse on Thursday 28th. Too much jamming on new ideas for my liking... and for plenty of others too if the 5 deep queues at the bar and the queues for the gents were anything to go by. No Rez, Cowgirl or Moaner either. Bah! Better be an improvement before Wireless in Hyde Park in July.
Still, I had a good time and the rest of the night was pretty good. Partying on [without "birthday boy" Kev, who went to bed] until... well, when he got up again. We then went into Brixton had more beer and went back to his to see how Karol and Sam were faring. It's a blur after that. I woke up at 8.30, Friday evening, on Kev and Karol's floor, woke Sam on the sofa and walked home for a bit of proper shut-eye before Fulham v Man Utd with Jake on Saturday afternoon... followed by Karol's birthday event!
Dinner at Anthony Worrall Thompson's Kew Grill. A real meat fest! Will definitely be going there again, or maybe the Barnes or Notting Hill branches. This was preceded and followed by popping into The Botanist pub across the road, which was very nice but surprisingly quiet for a Saurday night. Then a cab back to Karol &Kev's once more. Just for a Mighty Boosh marathon this time though and come 4.00am we were beginning to think we had spent more time at theirs than our own house this week. Sunday was a bit of a lie in followed by a roast down the Railway and the realisation it was March already!
Last weekend K&K had the pleasure of our company yet again. This time Karol cooked for us and and Sam's folks. Most excellent it was too and if we hadn't had lunch at Mayfair's marvellous Only Running Footman that afternoon we might have been able to get even more in. Weirdly, we were sat next to David Gest and Jason Donovan at lunch. I never thought those two names would get mentioned here! Still it's the closest I'll come to Liza Minelli... I was going to say Kylie as well but I sold her a Marilyn Monroe book many moons ago in the Kings Road.
In case I'm slack and don't post anything for a bit again, here's a couple of things coming up that I'm hoping we make it to. The Harder They Come and Instructions For Modern Living, both at the Barbican. Oh, and we're off to the Affordable Art Fair on Thursday night.
Currently listening to Rolo Tomassi, Foals and of course Duffy
Categories: Music, Art, Food & Drink, Theatre,
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