Monday, November 13, 2006
Grit your teeth
Sitting in a train stuck outside Basingjoke opposite a dimwit listening to high-BPM moronic dance music which leaks from his headphones like a swarm of hi-hat-obsessed insects is not a recipe for good mental health late on a Sunday evening.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Vinyl acquistions
The observant among you may have noticed that, as well as changing the template of my blog, I've also added a LastFM 'recently played' graphic under my links list (bottom right). Well, obviously this only reflects my mp3/AAC listening on the computer (and misses out the iPod, though I may work on a hack for that), but I just thought I'd blog a list of some of the awesome records I've acquired recently or are about to drop through my door in the next few days.
'Of Course' by Make Believe (12"). This arrived today. Can't wait to hear more of this mentaloid intelligent indie rock.
'Orchestrated and Conducted by' Clikitat Ikatowi (12"). This also arrived today. If it's anything like their other music it'll be chaotic hardcore. I'm also eager to get my ears around it.
UPDATE - I'm delighted to say that I also picked up these vinyl gems during November (some of which I already had on CD)
The Wow / Querelle - Split 12"
This Aint Vegas - The Black Lung Captain 12"
This Aint Vegas - The Night Don Benito Saved My Life 12"
Itch - Well, Well, Well, Three Holes In The Ground 12" (had these last 3 on CD, but wanted vinyl versions as well)
Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies / Redjetson - split 12"
Bullet Union - s/t 7"
Candy Sniper - s/t 7"
Chillerton - s/t 7"
Kill Yourself - Euro tour 7"
The Oedipus / Reynolds - Split 7"
Foals - Try This on Your Piano 7"
Tired Irie - Like Gentle Men 7"
'Of Course' by Make Believe (12"). This arrived today. Can't wait to hear more of this mentaloid intelligent indie rock.
'Orchestrated and Conducted by' Clikitat Ikatowi (12"). This also arrived today. If it's anything like their other music it'll be chaotic hardcore. I'm also eager to get my ears around it.
UPDATE - I'm delighted to say that I also picked up these vinyl gems during November (some of which I already had on CD)
The Wow / Querelle - Split 12"
This Aint Vegas - The Black Lung Captain 12"
This Aint Vegas - The Night Don Benito Saved My Life 12"
Itch - Well, Well, Well, Three Holes In The Ground 12" (had these last 3 on CD, but wanted vinyl versions as well)
Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies / Redjetson - split 12"
Bullet Union - s/t 7"
Candy Sniper - s/t 7"
Chillerton - s/t 7"
Kill Yourself - Euro tour 7"
The Oedipus / Reynolds - Split 7"
Foals - Try This on Your Piano 7"
Tired Irie - Like Gentle Men 7"
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Comedy, welcome home! pt II
Naomi has recently revealed to me that she doesn't find my conversational obsession with British TV comedy to be all that interesting. Undeterred by this ingratitude, I thought I'd share with you some thoughts about some of my favourite comedies over the last few years. In some cases they're shows that I have grown to love by virtue of having watched them along with my two brothers - and I can certainly think of a few other friends who I've discussed this with who have also got into a given comedy by laughing at them with their siblings. I'm sure that as I write this someone is doing a postgraduate degree in the application of functional anthropology to televised comedy in the British family. Probably at a world reknowned establishment such as Staffordshire University.
Anyway, here's my run-down (in no particular order) of the comedies I've really enjoyed over the last few years. If you aren't familiar with them, maybe I can suggest that you head over to UK Nova, where you'd be able to download those that don't exist as commercial DVDs.
1. The creations of Chris Morris - Jam, Nathan Barley, Brass Eye. These are essential. I prefer Brass Eye to his other Newsnight-style series, The Day Today. Jam felt like it was pushing a lot of boundaries of taste when it aired, so is certainly for the more open-minded, and if you're really loving his style of comedy, you should also seek out the DVD of his 'My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117' short film, which is quite good.
2. Where would we be without Steve Coogan? Alan Partridge was pure gold (particularly series one of I'm Alan Partridge). Possibly my number one comedy series ever. Other less-well-known things you really should seek out if you like AP would include Cruise of the Gods, a really funny film he did for the BBC with Rob Brydon and David Walliams before either of them had really hit the limelight. You can get this on BBC DVD and I'd recommend that you do so. In addition, the Steve Coogan Live DVD (called 'The Man Who Thinks He's It') was way ahead of its time and has some fantastic content of other Coogan creations such as Paul Calf.
3. Armando Ianucci. Massively influential on most of the comedy in the list here, and as you know, I'm a huge fan of Time Trumpet, his most recent series. Watching Time Trumpet made me seek out The Thick of It - filmed in a similar way (ad-libbed then edited)to I'm Alan Partridge this is like a wonderful modern-day take on Yes Minister, where you watch the main character stumble from one political faux pas to another, through no fault of his own. The presence of a horrible spin doctor creates some fantastic moments in this. Apparently the BBC had fronted up funding for a further 10 episodes, but unfortunately Chris Langham has been the focus of recent court cases which means that there's going to be a significant change of tack if the series is to carry on. See The Thick Of It on Wikipedia for more info. It would be a great shame if there wasn't more of this series. If you like TTOI and TT you may also wish to check out the Armando Ianucci show. You can probably still get these on UK Nova.
4. Lee and Herring - in quite separate comedy category were this duo who put out series such as Fist of Fun and This Morning With Richard Not Judy. Fantastic in a puerile and sarcastic way (a bit like the Mary Whitehouse Experience), I've been reliving my late teens by watching the complete Fist of Fun in the last few days. You can get an ISO of the complete Fist of Fun from UK Nova at the moment.
5. Victor Lewis-Smith - The one comedy I haven't seen for years that I'm dying to watch is TV Offal by VL-S. It's a very underrated show from the late 90s which centred around his obsessions with different aspects of TV, and it had some amazing moments (such as Assassination of the Week, The Gay Daleks, prank phone calls to Michael Winner, and clips of really bad regional television from past archives). I would really like to see this gem of a show again. Not on UK Nova though, sadly.
Anyway, that's my comedy round-up for now. I expect there'll be other things to follow, but I do hope that this will encourage you to investigate some of these shows that you haven't heard of. Oh, and if you have a video iPod or a reasonably modern computer, I've encoded quite a number of them for mp4, so do let me know if you'd like me to send you a DVD of the ones I have in that form.
Anyway, here's my run-down (in no particular order) of the comedies I've really enjoyed over the last few years. If you aren't familiar with them, maybe I can suggest that you head over to UK Nova, where you'd be able to download those that don't exist as commercial DVDs.
1. The creations of Chris Morris - Jam, Nathan Barley, Brass Eye. These are essential. I prefer Brass Eye to his other Newsnight-style series, The Day Today. Jam felt like it was pushing a lot of boundaries of taste when it aired, so is certainly for the more open-minded, and if you're really loving his style of comedy, you should also seek out the DVD of his 'My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117' short film, which is quite good.
2. Where would we be without Steve Coogan? Alan Partridge was pure gold (particularly series one of I'm Alan Partridge). Possibly my number one comedy series ever. Other less-well-known things you really should seek out if you like AP would include Cruise of the Gods, a really funny film he did for the BBC with Rob Brydon and David Walliams before either of them had really hit the limelight. You can get this on BBC DVD and I'd recommend that you do so. In addition, the Steve Coogan Live DVD (called 'The Man Who Thinks He's It') was way ahead of its time and has some fantastic content of other Coogan creations such as Paul Calf.
3. Armando Ianucci. Massively influential on most of the comedy in the list here, and as you know, I'm a huge fan of Time Trumpet, his most recent series. Watching Time Trumpet made me seek out The Thick of It - filmed in a similar way (ad-libbed then edited)to I'm Alan Partridge this is like a wonderful modern-day take on Yes Minister, where you watch the main character stumble from one political faux pas to another, through no fault of his own. The presence of a horrible spin doctor creates some fantastic moments in this. Apparently the BBC had fronted up funding for a further 10 episodes, but unfortunately Chris Langham has been the focus of recent court cases which means that there's going to be a significant change of tack if the series is to carry on. See The Thick Of It on Wikipedia for more info. It would be a great shame if there wasn't more of this series. If you like TTOI and TT you may also wish to check out the Armando Ianucci show. You can probably still get these on UK Nova.
4. Lee and Herring - in quite separate comedy category were this duo who put out series such as Fist of Fun and This Morning With Richard Not Judy. Fantastic in a puerile and sarcastic way (a bit like the Mary Whitehouse Experience), I've been reliving my late teens by watching the complete Fist of Fun in the last few days. You can get an ISO of the complete Fist of Fun from UK Nova at the moment.
5. Victor Lewis-Smith - The one comedy I haven't seen for years that I'm dying to watch is TV Offal by VL-S. It's a very underrated show from the late 90s which centred around his obsessions with different aspects of TV, and it had some amazing moments (such as Assassination of the Week, The Gay Daleks, prank phone calls to Michael Winner, and clips of really bad regional television from past archives). I would really like to see this gem of a show again. Not on UK Nova though, sadly.
Anyway, that's my comedy round-up for now. I expect there'll be other things to follow, but I do hope that this will encourage you to investigate some of these shows that you haven't heard of. Oh, and if you have a video iPod or a reasonably modern computer, I've encoded quite a number of them for mp4, so do let me know if you'd like me to send you a DVD of the ones I have in that form.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
What a waster
Last night I met up with Martin - who used to also be a Hermitage resident - at the Railway. We watched a bunch of acoustic acts of varying quality, including that Carl feller who used to be in the Libertines, and Mr Newkie Brown Ale came for a visit. I'm now really quite hung over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
