Nightmare Before Christmas 2007, Sunday: Lucky Luke

(Pavillion (sic) Stage)

Fingers in your ears, here come the folkies! Lucky Luke are from Glasgow or Scotland or somewhere like that. There are loads of them, with some of them being boys and some girls, inviting easy B&S comparisons. Their folky music was easy on the ear, so I sat in front of the stage thinking about how much fun festivals are, but how much more fun they would be if you could spark the hooter while folkie bands were playing without being hassled by The Man. Other people thought Lucky Luke were a bit meh, but I was impressed enough to mark them down as a band to watch out for the next time I am at a festival they are playing.

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Clever Dog Does Tricks

At coffee break some of my colleagues were venturing into somewhat unsavoury territory (about how people from certain countries are taking over Ireland and playing the race card whenever their sinister endeavours are challenged etc.). I managed to save the day by recounting a story heard on the radio news, about a good dog who saved its owner's life by realising he had gone into a diabetic coma and barking furiously (the wife thought he had just fallen asleep). The owner is now out of hospital, but the dog (a Cavalier King Charles) keeps licking his hands and ankles to check his blood sugar levels.

Sadly, this important news story seems to exist only in the what-the-papers-say section of the radio news. I will therefore have to leave you with the enclosed picture of another Cavalier King Charles. This one is called Cindy, and the BBC reports that she has been astonishing her owners and neighbours by her ability to lie on her back and balance objects on all four paws simultanaeously.

Would you like to know more? Dog's tricks are 'better than TV'

Forthcoming Events

Here are some things I am definitely going to. You could come to if you want to be cool like me.

The Fall, 16th March, Crawdaddy

The Fall have been brilliant every time I have seen them. Don't believe the rumours!

Ladytron, 16th May, Tripod

I'm surprised they are playing somewhere so big, as I always assumed from my friends' dislike of them that no one here likes the Tron's electropop goodness. But then my friends are often not exactly in tune with what the kids are into these days.

One thing I might go to:

Love Is All, 1st March, The Button Factory

OK so I only know one song by Love Is All, but it is G*R*A*T*E in a frenetic sax driven shouty vocals kind of way. The problem with this, though, is that they are actually playing support to some other Swedish band who, from photos, look like a bunch of lovely ladies. I've nothing against attractive women, but I don't know if I could face a gig by the Swedish Fluffy. On the other hand, attractiveness and the associations this condition generates seems to be a particular curse of the Swedes and may have no negative connotations for their music. Nevertheless, I can see myself staying at home this night unless I am strongly persuaded otherwise, which is unlikely.

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Film: The Darjeeling Limited

Let me take a break from my incredibly fascinating recounting of things seen at the Nightmare Before Christmas, to instead let you know what I think about this well-known film. As you know, it is about three brothers with problematic inter-relationships who are on a holiday together in India, travelling on a train to Darjeeling. It was made by that Wes Anderson fellow who has made many other popular films. Since his Rushmore, I have derived decreasing utility from his works, but this one really affected me, with the film managing to be both funny and poignant. I suppose Anderson is helped by the three excellent actors (Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson) he has playing the brothers, and the astonishing backdrop of India and the superposh end of its train system does not hurt either. But I reckon the best thing about this film is probably the cinematography and the art direction… it just all looks so beautiful. And Anderson's ability to marry images to music remains very impressive; using so many songs by the Kinks in a film about feuding brothers is maybe a bit obvious, but it works well in the context. I also liked the film's lack of comedy Indian characters, though I was a bit underwhelmed by the unlikely brief romance by the Jason Schwartzman character and the lady conductor.

One amusing thing about the film is that it is preceded by a short called The Hotel Chevalier, which gets its own certificate from the censor up on the screen. This led to some "Where's the fucking shark?*" reactions from the audience, before it became obvious that the short links into the main feature that follows it.

The short on its own was delightful. There is a wonderful piece of cinematic formalism in it when the character in it sets whiny classic 'Where Do You Go To My Lovely?' playing, and then the camera pans around the room alighting on things that are mentioned in the lyrics. Crazy, man, crazy.

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*this is a complicated reference to the time Accent Monkey's dad went to see Barry Lyndon in the cinema, and some guy came in before the film started and fell asleep during the trailers. Later on, some loud noise woke him and he was confused to discover that the cinema was not showing Jaws

Update Your Blog!

I will shortly be deleting my links to inactive blogs.

Be afraid.

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Nightmare Before Christmas 2007, Sunday: Little Dieter Wants To Fly

On Sunday morning, ATP TV were showing this documentary by Werner Herzog, about some German guy called Dieter who joined the US Navy air force during the Vietnam War. He was eventually shot down over enemy territory, and locked up in one of those scary prisoner of war camps you see in films. After a bit he busted loose with some other guy and they tried to escape to freedom. Dieter made it, the other guy didn't. What is funny about the film is that Dieter – who spends a lot of the film talking to camera, often in the places where unpleasant things happened to him – seems like an incredibly chirpy and well-adjusted fellow, even while describing the grimmest of events. "Watching my friend being killed in front of me, it was terrible. I wanted to die too… but here I am, let's party burr burr burr" seemed to be his attitude. Herzog wasn't really having it, so all his narration was all "The pointlessness of human existence is revealed yet again by Dieter's desperate attempts to put a happy face on his travails etc.". I reckon these two would make a great comedy double act.

Herzog recently made a drama film about Dieter's story, with crazy man Christian Bale playing the German pilot. I suppose I have given away a lot of the plot in the last paragraph. Ho ho ho.

One odd thing about this film is that it got me wondering if Herzog has a bit of a thing for bears. You are familiar of course with his Grizzly Man film, about that guy who made friends with grizzly bears and was then eaten by one. And recently I saw a film showing of his Kaspar Hauser, which features a circus and a performing bear. In Little Dieter Wants To Fly, Dieter talks about how when he was lost in the jungle and all alone, a bear started following him around. He began to see the bear as his friend, as it was the only living thing with which he was having any interaction. Then he realised that the bear was just waiting for him to die, so that he could eat him. "But I didn't mind, he was still my friend," says Dieter.

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A Riot of Pandas

Pandas are famously not that interested in mating and reproduction. Each gender only gets to hankering for a couple of days a year. Even showing Pandas videos of other Pandas getting it on seems not to arouse their interest in things carnal.

However, somehow or other the Pandas of Wolong Nature Reserve have managed to produce eighteen cubs, who have recently been given names now that they have passed the seven month mark. For more pictures, click here: In pictures: Panda cub playground

Shameless plug for my other boring blog

IF you are interested in the ramifications of Kosova's independence for the Eurovision Song Contest, click here: EUROVISION IN CRISIS

Afrika Bambataa's 'Planet Rock' and the most famous sample ever

You know, this is a classic of hippity hop, recently acquired by me in a vinyl reissue. Melle Mel and some other guy rap in a most engaging manner to an ORCH5 heavy musical accompaniment. It is hard not to dance to this record, with the rapping being what carries you along as much as the music. Deadly stuff.

I'm going to a performance of Stravinsky's Firebird later this week; it will be interesting to hear the source of the ORCH5 sample. Hip hop don't stop! And wow, small world... it seems like the guy who made the ORCH5 sample is in fact yer man David Vorhaus, who was in The White Noise with Delia Derbyshire & Brian Hodgson. Sadly, the White Noise are not actually as brilliant as you might expect, though they have one really good song. It is called... 'Firebird'.

There is a nice picture of David Vorhaus here: Fairlight Week: Pt 4: The most famous preset ever

Nightmare Before Christmas 2007, Saturday: The Aphex Twin

(Centre Stage)

The Cornwall sensation was headlining saturday night, playing music from laptops. To make it a bit more visually interesting there was something of a light show, and for the ladies two neds came out and danced onstage while an attractive lady filmed them with a camcorder. Mr Twin's set started off as something very straightforwardly dancey (eh, this is a good thing, given that dancing is fun). After a bit the beats got a bit fractured, making the music much harder to dance to. This was handy for those of us feeling a bit tired. In fact, so tired was I by this stage that I went to the back and sat in a comfy chair and dozed to the relaxing sounds of the Aphex Twin. Best festival ever!