On the Thursday after the Living Music festival I found myself once more back in the Concert Hall for some performances by the Ulster Orchestra. Our northern friends started off with a performance of Tchaikovsky's The Tempest. This was grand, but it did not scale the heights of some of his other well-known works. They followed this with Lizst's first and second piano concerto. The second of these was dubbed "The Triangle Concerto" by some disgruntled critic, angered by the excessive use of that instrument. And you can see his point, in that it does at times seem a bit 'Don't Fear The Reaper' (only with triangle), which would really grind your nads if you had some kind of fear of triangular instruments. I am, fortunately, free of such an affliction.
The star of the evening was the last piece, Stravinsky's 1919 iteration of the concert suite of The Firebird. You probably know this, as it is a stunning piece of music, building and turning initially and then exploding into insane rhythm. "Will I recognise the bit the ORCH5 sample is taken from?" said my beloved. "Yes," I replied, and she did.
I would love to see the ballet version of this. In my mind's eye as the music accelerates I can imagine frenzied figures dancing and leaping to Stravinsky's Scythian rhythms. It would be nice to see them in real life as well.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
I've had enough
Is it time to start chopping hands off people who spend their time at concerts taking pictures on their cameras and mobile phones?What would Panda do?
More Comics
I would also like to read more about comics. A lot of people I know read comics - why do so few of them write about them on their blogs? Get to it!image source
Comics Roundup 31/5/2008
I want to write more about comics, so I will try to be more disciplined with reporting back on each week's crop of new floppies. Here's what I got this week.
berlin #14, by Jason Lutes
This is the issue before last of Lutes' long running tale of Berlin in the inter-war years. I have bought occasional issues of this mainly through interest in German history and politics, and in Berlin as a place. I've never really read enough of this to get the overall story or to see how the characters relate to each other and stuff, but the political context can be interesting. This one is fascinating for that kind of thing. It is early 1930, the Great Depression is beginning. The story begins with a pimp and petty thug being hassled for the rent by his landlady; it ends with his funeral. The dead man was member of the Nazi party, his murderers Communist comrades of his landlady, so the Berlin Nazis have turned him into a martyr. The issue ends with Goebbels talking prophetically of how soon endless marching columns would sing the song that the dead Horst Wessel had been composing.
As noted elsewhere by Katherine Farmar, the art has an endearingly European clear-line style, for all Lutes' North American origins. On a second reading, I was struck by his frequent willingness to not bother drawing backgrounds.
Final Crisis #1, by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones
Grant Morrison writes a lot of interesting comics, and is someone who can engage well with the mythic qualities of the superhero genre. This, however, is a load of formulaic DC crossover crap, made worse by it being a kind of sequel to the dreadful nonsense that was Crisis on Infinite Earths. I did, however, like the scene where Lex Luthor was addressing a meeting of villains, one of whom was an un-named gorilla. Maybe some of my readers with more in-depth knowledge of the DC Universe can advise on just who this fellow is.
All Star Superman #11, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
The penultimate episode! The premise of this title is that in episode 1 Lex Luthor pulled a fast one and exposed Superman to so much funny radiation that he started dying. Oh noes! In this one, Superman is getting very poorly indeed, but he manages to save the world one more time, before apparently dying. Lex Luthor, meanwhile, has temporarily developed superpowers and busted out of jail, and looks like he is about to go on an unstoppable rampage.
Eh, I appreciate that this makes this sound like the kind of formulaic superhero crap dismissed in the previous entry, but in All Star Superman Morrison manages to use the genre's tropes for good rather than evil. The incredibly beautiful art (by Quitely, with assistance from Jamie Grant and computers) is a help.
Batman #677, by Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel, and Sandu Florea
The various Batman titles are running some kind of crossover thing called Batman R.I.P., which may be an indicator that Batman is shortly going to die for a bit. In this story, Batman is sulky about some lot called The Black Glove, who have been menacing him for the last while, but he is also getting some action with a hawt lady called Jezebel Jet. Ms Jet isn't just a looker, she has worked out that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same. She also asks Bruce whether all this masked superhero stuff might not be an indication that he is a bit mental.
|'ve been enjoying the Grant Morrison Batman stuff, it is endearingly strange and off-kilter with what you expect from a Bat-title, even if it is a bit discontinuous from issue to issue.
Dan Dare #6, by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine
This is Garth Ennis having a crack at recreating Britain's favourite comics character of the 1950s and 1960s. It has an enjoyably up and at them quality, though the usual Ennis macho bullshit creeps into this. I know his Dare is an older man than he was in the original comics, but I reckon Ennis has made the character a lot more hard-edged than the original; I can't really see Frank Hampson's Dare being as gratuitously tough as the character here.
This ends with a huge-o space battle just beginning, Dare leading the heavily out-numbered British space navy into battle against the evil Mekon. I was amused that Ennis has Dare basically adopt the same tactics Nelson used at Trafalgar; to ram the point home, Dare's flagship is the Trafalgar, and his second in command is a Ms Christian. That should be enough to tell you how the next issue will end.
bat-panda image source
berlin #14, by Jason Lutes
This is the issue before last of Lutes' long running tale of Berlin in the inter-war years. I have bought occasional issues of this mainly through interest in German history and politics, and in Berlin as a place. I've never really read enough of this to get the overall story or to see how the characters relate to each other and stuff, but the political context can be interesting. This one is fascinating for that kind of thing. It is early 1930, the Great Depression is beginning. The story begins with a pimp and petty thug being hassled for the rent by his landlady; it ends with his funeral. The dead man was member of the Nazi party, his murderers Communist comrades of his landlady, so the Berlin Nazis have turned him into a martyr. The issue ends with Goebbels talking prophetically of how soon endless marching columns would sing the song that the dead Horst Wessel had been composing.
As noted elsewhere by Katherine Farmar, the art has an endearingly European clear-line style, for all Lutes' North American origins. On a second reading, I was struck by his frequent willingness to not bother drawing backgrounds.
Final Crisis #1, by Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones
Grant Morrison writes a lot of interesting comics, and is someone who can engage well with the mythic qualities of the superhero genre. This, however, is a load of formulaic DC crossover crap, made worse by it being a kind of sequel to the dreadful nonsense that was Crisis on Infinite Earths. I did, however, like the scene where Lex Luthor was addressing a meeting of villains, one of whom was an un-named gorilla. Maybe some of my readers with more in-depth knowledge of the DC Universe can advise on just who this fellow is.
All Star Superman #11, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
The penultimate episode! The premise of this title is that in episode 1 Lex Luthor pulled a fast one and exposed Superman to so much funny radiation that he started dying. Oh noes! In this one, Superman is getting very poorly indeed, but he manages to save the world one more time, before apparently dying. Lex Luthor, meanwhile, has temporarily developed superpowers and busted out of jail, and looks like he is about to go on an unstoppable rampage.
Eh, I appreciate that this makes this sound like the kind of formulaic superhero crap dismissed in the previous entry, but in All Star Superman Morrison manages to use the genre's tropes for good rather than evil. The incredibly beautiful art (by Quitely, with assistance from Jamie Grant and computers) is a help.
Batman #677, by Grant Morrison, Tony Daniel, and Sandu Florea
The various Batman titles are running some kind of crossover thing called Batman R.I.P., which may be an indicator that Batman is shortly going to die for a bit. In this story, Batman is sulky about some lot called The Black Glove, who have been menacing him for the last while, but he is also getting some action with a hawt lady called Jezebel Jet. Ms Jet isn't just a looker, she has worked out that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same. She also asks Bruce whether all this masked superhero stuff might not be an indication that he is a bit mental. |'ve been enjoying the Grant Morrison Batman stuff, it is endearingly strange and off-kilter with what you expect from a Bat-title, even if it is a bit discontinuous from issue to issue.
Dan Dare #6, by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine
This is Garth Ennis having a crack at recreating Britain's favourite comics character of the 1950s and 1960s. It has an enjoyably up and at them quality, though the usual Ennis macho bullshit creeps into this. I know his Dare is an older man than he was in the original comics, but I reckon Ennis has made the character a lot more hard-edged than the original; I can't really see Frank Hampson's Dare being as gratuitously tough as the character here.
This ends with a huge-o space battle just beginning, Dare leading the heavily out-numbered British space navy into battle against the evil Mekon. I was amused that Ennis has Dare basically adopt the same tactics Nelson used at Trafalgar; to ram the point home, Dare's flagship is the Trafalgar, and his second in command is a Ms Christian. That should be enough to tell you how the next issue will end.
bat-panda image source
Cedric, the fiercest Tasmanian Devil of them all
Cedric is a Tasmanian Devil. He appears to be immune to the mysterious cancerous growths that have been decimating the ranks of his fellows, and has produced antibodies against the repulsive tumourous growths that have spread through other Tasmanian Devils. Cedric's brother Clinky has also been exposed to the cancers, and has not produced antibodies, but he also appears to be immune to this plague.Scientists hope that Cedric and Clinky hold the key to a cure or vaccine that will save Tasmanian Devils from extinction.
More.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Rare But Fierce Rhinoceros Dislikes Cameras
There are believed to be only sixty to seventy remaining Javan Rhinoceroses. One of them made the news this week when she attacked and destroyed a motion-triggered camera.More
The Greatest Comic of All Time
If you've still not read THE ULTIMATE FUTURE SHOCK then click on the link.
Nightclubbing
Back in February, I went to the Amsterdam Beat Club, just round the corner from Panda Mansions. This featured a local band called The Revellions who were endearingly yeow!, but I thought maybe that the event as a whole was a bit tired and unexciting. Or maybe it was me who was tired? What a novel turn up for the books that would be.
The other club event I was at was a B-Music night in Rí Rá, an event that featured people like Andy Votel, Dom Thomas, Chris Geddes, and Mark Winkelmann DJing. The event started in The Globe pub before expanding into the neighbouring nightclub, and if you got down into the pub early enough you got into the club for free. But for one feature, this would have been a distinctly false economy, as The Globe on a Saturday night is like a vision of hell, being noisy, devoid of free seats, unbearably hot, and full of trend people with nice haircuts. The one saving grace was getting to interesting local band Twinkranes play a concert there. This three-piece comprises a Jimmy Saville look-alike on drums and vocals, one of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers on keyboards, and another guy on guitar. Their music is somewhat experimental, being influenced vaguely by Krautrock and the more musical end of Post-Punk but without the band obviously disappearing up their arses. This is the second time I have seen them, and I recommend them highly. I think they are playing Benicassim or Primaverasound or one of those fellows, so you might get your chance yet.
Another good thing that happened in the Globe was a (brief) conversation with Chris Geddes, meaning I now have talked to an actual member of Belle & Sebastian (having previously danced with Stuart Murdoch and Stevie Jackson, possibly without them noticing). Rock. I carefully avoided coming across like a fan boy or asking if their next album will be a return to form, or indeed mentioning B&S at all.
The various DJs played loads of ker-azzzy psych and suchlike sounds. At one point we heard what might even have been some Khmer Pop, which was very exciting. It was like listening to one CD of music from the land of Pol Pot has been enough to train us in recognising the sound of the Cambodian language.
And so on.
The other club event I was at was a B-Music night in Rí Rá, an event that featured people like Andy Votel, Dom Thomas, Chris Geddes, and Mark Winkelmann DJing. The event started in The Globe pub before expanding into the neighbouring nightclub, and if you got down into the pub early enough you got into the club for free. But for one feature, this would have been a distinctly false economy, as The Globe on a Saturday night is like a vision of hell, being noisy, devoid of free seats, unbearably hot, and full of trend people with nice haircuts. The one saving grace was getting to interesting local band Twinkranes play a concert there. This three-piece comprises a Jimmy Saville look-alike on drums and vocals, one of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers on keyboards, and another guy on guitar. Their music is somewhat experimental, being influenced vaguely by Krautrock and the more musical end of Post-Punk but without the band obviously disappearing up their arses. This is the second time I have seen them, and I recommend them highly. I think they are playing Benicassim or Primaverasound or one of those fellows, so you might get your chance yet.
Another good thing that happened in the Globe was a (brief) conversation with Chris Geddes, meaning I now have talked to an actual member of Belle & Sebastian (having previously danced with Stuart Murdoch and Stevie Jackson, possibly without them noticing). Rock. I carefully avoided coming across like a fan boy or asking if their next album will be a return to form, or indeed mentioning B&S at all.
The various DJs played loads of ker-azzzy psych and suchlike sounds. At one point we heard what might even have been some Khmer Pop, which was very exciting. It was like listening to one CD of music from the land of Pol Pot has been enough to train us in recognising the sound of the Cambodian language.
And so on.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Crazy Sounds of Finders Keepers
v/a Welsh Rare Beat Vol.2, v/a B-Music Cross Continental Record Raid Road Trip
These are both compilations of weirdo music on the Finders Keepers records label. The first is a collection of olde psych-folk music, from the Dyfed Triangle in Wales, all with Welsh language lyrics. This Dyfed Triangle area is one where people smoke lots of dope and eat lots of wild mushrooms; it is also well known as a location for visits by UFOs and interplanetary craft. The other record is to be grab-bag of crazy tunes from around the world. I particularly like the tune where the foreign guy goes on about "Heepees!" The first record was compiled by Andy Votel, Dom Thomas, and Gruff Rhys; in compiling the second, those three seem to have been joined by every psych scenesters in these islands. All of this music is great.
Do you know who Henry Darger is?
Well, do you? If you were reading a book (about comics, say), and the author were to throw in a reference to someone (Dave Sim, 
say) being a bit like Henry Darger, would you know what they were getting at? That's if they said nothing to explain who Darger was, I mean.
By chance, I do actually know who Henry Darger is, but I had thought he was a very obscure figure, and not someone you could mention and expect people to understand what you were talking about. Maybe he is a household name in that America.
image source
say) being a bit like Henry Darger, would you know what they were getting at? That's if they said nothing to explain who Darger was, I mean.By chance, I do actually know who Henry Darger is, but I had thought he was a very obscure figure, and not someone you could mention and expect people to understand what you were talking about. Maybe he is a household name in that America.
image source
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