So, I’m in love with the Canon 7D camera. Bought it to shoot music videos and shorts on mainly (shoots HD video) but it’s obviously a killer stills camera. Took it out for a test run at the lighthouse near me, Nashpoint. As it turned out, got there at golden hour which made for some great lighting.
To the vanishing point
No Country for Old Men?
The days go on with regularity until suddenly there is a change. Time to thaw out the Contrast after a winter of disco-tense. Two months off from djing. No journal entries. Barely a twitter.
What have I been up to? Giving my ears a rest. And my twin loves of course. The new album is taking shape, many new tracks on the go. You can hear slices soon when I get back on the djing circuit in March. And I’m on the 5th draft of my film script. M. Night Shyamalan said it wasn’t until the 5th draft of The Sixth Sense that he *SPOILER* realised that Bruce Willis’ character was a ghost *SPOILER END*. I can now understand that. It’s like I’ve only just realised what I’ve been trying to say with it during the last two years of work.
The plan is to balance my time and energy between music and film more than ever before. The duality of man.
End Transmission…
After much deliberation, here’s my favourite flicks of oh nine. It’s a bizarre mix of kids films and gut-punchers; arthouse and mainstream. Full contrast ahead.
10. The Hurt Locker
Too much shaky cam but still pulls off many a tense set piece of bomb disposal and the whole thing just feels hella authentic. Review here.
9. Where The Wild Things Are
The best movie without a plot all year. Jonze and Eggars have perfectly adapted a ten page childrens book into a feature length film without artificially adding some quest for treasure or some capitalist baddie who wants to knock down the hero’s neighbourhood. They’ve miraculously managed to just enlarge the essence of what was originally there, like some fractal experiment. And created their own individual work at the same time, something Watchmen perhaps should have strived for.
Who's side are you on, son?
Ah, another banging gig at Digital, Brighton last weekend. There’s a gallery of pics from the event HERE. The first Hospitality we did there was one of my all time fave shows. This one followed up nicely and got to meet new NHS signing Netsky for the first time. And whenever I play in Brighton I stay at the Hotel Pelirocco – the hotel equivalent of Revels. Each room is themed, from reggae to fetishism. The best one I’ve stayed in is the Pin Up Parlour dedicated to Diana Dors, trashy camp with frilly lampshades and garish gold fittings. This time I stayed in the equivalent of the coffee Revel, not my favourite. It was the Magic Room as designed by Jamie Reid, of Sex Pistols design fame. I wanted to stay in the Motown room as that’s got a record deck in it but it was already booked. Had to check my latest dubplates in the second room of the club, thanks Wah Wah 45s crew!
DJing lots lately, gigs better than ever. Actually remembered to take my new camera to Prague this past weekend and took some video of when I dropped the Show Me Love booty – compare and contrast with the V Festival footage perhaps.
There’s so many hot tracks around right now I feel compelled to make a top ten to name check the good chaps behind the music.
1. Full Circle – Bloke4d : A new duo that have a bunch of great tunes, most quite techy but this one is just pure emotional dnb. When I heard it I got straight on to the Hospital head honchos and hopefully this will come out on the NHS.
This rather tasty poster for TRIANGLE is actually not getting used for the main promotion of the film, it’s just a little limited edition one (thanks Loidstar!).
Love the geometrical divisions of the poster that suggest triangles and the off-kilter angle of it all invokes the vertiginous nature of the whole film. As well as the doubling that goes on. I much prefer it to the main poster for the film, below, that’s all fine and dandy but doesn’t capture the spirit of TRIANGLE as well as the above one me thinks.
Which one grabs you the most?
I was gonna say this is the best British horror film since The Descent but making such a nationalistic categorisation is pretty hard these days. The first on screen title tells us this film is funded by the National Lottery but then we hear American accents and see Florida street signs. Edgar Wright had a similar problem in trying to write a list of his favourite British films of recent years, a lot of his first choices turned out to be more American in origin than British. But here at least we have a British writer/director using mainly British money, he’s just telling his tale with an American backdrop (actually, The Descent had that same setup too, ah go figure). Regardless of national distinctions, this is still an unusual and well made horror film. But it poses quite a challenge for the marketing team and critics as the film hinges on some major twists that make it hard to talk about the film without spoiling. I feel the trailer reveals too much for one thing and would not recommend watching it if you feel at all inclined to see this film. If you want a pithy summing up of it, think The Shining meets Primer. On a boat.
Home & A-slay
Here’s a bizarre little gem I picked up in Tokyo for a fiver – a shocking pink bust of Beethoven crossed with Alex from A Clockwork Orange, note lowered head, smirk and fake eyelash.
