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Details Of The War
Sep. 11th, 2006 09:59 pmFilm 4 is showing Mike Figgis's "Timecode" tonight. a film for which I have been keeping an eye out for some time. Actually, it's a film you need to keep four eyes out for, since it runs four frames in "simultaneous" action. I admit that I'm a sucker for experimental films such as this. Better to try and fail than not to try at all. Many of the things that we take for granted today in the language of film only came about because of 10 other attempts and failures. Film 4, needless to say, has parked it away at 1.45am, leaving the main fare of the evening to LA Confidential and Educating Rita. Fine films, the pair of them, but surely everyone has seen both of them at least once?
Figgis is one of those curious directors for me, in that his reputation (for me) rests solely on one move, that being "Leaving Las Vegas" -- easily the best filmic analysis of alcoholism that I have seen. Others have praised "Stormy Monday", but I vaguely recall being bored shitless by it. I may have seen "Liebestraum" (he says, checking the filmography on IMDB) and liked it a lot. Does it start with a broken record playing?
+++++++++++
I watched The Who Live In Boston tonight, it having been sitting on the DVD for months. I'd finally patched over five DVDs worth of Reading and Leeds (and still managed to miss many of the more interesting sets), although I haven't seen a third of it yet. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were in the NME Tent (whence 90% of the interesting material emanated) and I managed to get that full set. Klaxons seemed to be interesting. Only caught one track of Broken Social Scene, whom I've been looking to see for some time.
Anyway, back to "The Who". This was horribly sad. Daltrey and Townshend really should have jacked it in when Entwistle died. I say this despite the fact that my admiration for Zak Starkey as a drummer grows. He actually seems to get the essence of Keith Moon's style without going over the top, as was Moon's wont. The intersting thing about The Who (although I was of course completely unaware of this at the time) was that Keith Moon kept following the lead singer, which isn't too good if you are a drummer. This meant that Entwistle's bass line had to act as drummer in loco parentis. The knock on effect was to give Townshend's lead guitar rather more rhythm style, and thus the Who sound was born. All thanks to the fact that Keith Moon couldn't drum "properly" (but he was still THE NUTS).
But, well, here you have a couple of sixty-year olds playing to a packed house in Boston, when the US has its own young bands unable to get played on the radio. God bless the Internet and illegal downloading, because that's just about the only way that some of these bands are going to break through. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are but one example of this - inventive, great self-penned tunes, and not locked up in either the 1960s or 1970s.
I have nothing against the older musicians, provided they can still hack some decent stuff. Hell, even Dylan has come out with a half-way decent new album (actually, a VERY GOOD new album, which surprises me no end), and with Dylan I make an exception because seeing him do old stuff has an almost historical interest. Similarly, Neil Young is still bashing out new material. But do we really want to go and see David Gilmour and/or Roger Waters do a full set of "The Wall" or "Dark Side of the Moon"? To be honest, I don't. What next, Queen without Freddie Mercury? The Undertones without Feargal Sharkey?
Oh, yes, that last one is true. Gawd 'elp us.
+++++++++++++
I was going to write something on Game Theory, but mnaybe I'll save that for tomorrow afternoon.
Figgis is one of those curious directors for me, in that his reputation (for me) rests solely on one move, that being "Leaving Las Vegas" -- easily the best filmic analysis of alcoholism that I have seen. Others have praised "Stormy Monday", but I vaguely recall being bored shitless by it. I may have seen "Liebestraum" (he says, checking the filmography on IMDB) and liked it a lot. Does it start with a broken record playing?
+++++++++++
I watched The Who Live In Boston tonight, it having been sitting on the DVD for months. I'd finally patched over five DVDs worth of Reading and Leeds (and still managed to miss many of the more interesting sets), although I haven't seen a third of it yet. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were in the NME Tent (whence 90% of the interesting material emanated) and I managed to get that full set. Klaxons seemed to be interesting. Only caught one track of Broken Social Scene, whom I've been looking to see for some time.
Anyway, back to "The Who". This was horribly sad. Daltrey and Townshend really should have jacked it in when Entwistle died. I say this despite the fact that my admiration for Zak Starkey as a drummer grows. He actually seems to get the essence of Keith Moon's style without going over the top, as was Moon's wont. The intersting thing about The Who (although I was of course completely unaware of this at the time) was that Keith Moon kept following the lead singer, which isn't too good if you are a drummer. This meant that Entwistle's bass line had to act as drummer in loco parentis. The knock on effect was to give Townshend's lead guitar rather more rhythm style, and thus the Who sound was born. All thanks to the fact that Keith Moon couldn't drum "properly" (but he was still THE NUTS).
But, well, here you have a couple of sixty-year olds playing to a packed house in Boston, when the US has its own young bands unable to get played on the radio. God bless the Internet and illegal downloading, because that's just about the only way that some of these bands are going to break through. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are but one example of this - inventive, great self-penned tunes, and not locked up in either the 1960s or 1970s.
I have nothing against the older musicians, provided they can still hack some decent stuff. Hell, even Dylan has come out with a half-way decent new album (actually, a VERY GOOD new album, which surprises me no end), and with Dylan I make an exception because seeing him do old stuff has an almost historical interest. Similarly, Neil Young is still bashing out new material. But do we really want to go and see David Gilmour and/or Roger Waters do a full set of "The Wall" or "Dark Side of the Moon"? To be honest, I don't. What next, Queen without Freddie Mercury? The Undertones without Feargal Sharkey?
Oh, yes, that last one is true. Gawd 'elp us.
+++++++++++++
I was going to write something on Game Theory, but mnaybe I'll save that for tomorrow afternoon.
