Wired up

Tonight sees BBC2 show the final episode of series 4 of The Wire.
That means there will only be one more series of the so-called 'greatest show on earth'.

I'm enjoying it, i've managed to keep up with the previous episodes and series but would have to admit that it just hasn't stood up to it's billing. Perhaps it's just been overhyped for too long - it first came to the small screen in 2002 and the last series finaled in March 2008. I wanted to really like it but alas it's all left me feeling a bit cold. I don't think that the marathon viewing schedule that BBC2 has imposed helped matters but I guess they felt it was the best way to maintain momentum.

Cons: Impenetrable, slow, overly reliant on vague details.
Pros: Range of interesting characters, use of local lingo - both in terms of institutions and geography. Nice mixture of stereotyping and surprise.

UPDATE: I've abandoned watching season 5 in real time. I plan to borrow a DVD at some point and get done in one shot. maybe. If i can summon the motivation.

Elbow at Roundhouse, Camden

A great gig, a great night. Why? In no particular order...

1. Music - 4 albums of diverse, intelligent and powerful songs, 2008 mercury Prize winners. Enough said.
2. Venue - Modern without being soul-less, History without being overbearing, technology without the gizmos, intimate without lacking presence. I think the Roundhouse is the best venue in London not least because you can get very, very close to the stage without having to push through the throngs.
3. Personality - Guy Garvey is a very charming man. Charming in a good bloke way as opposed to charming in a smarmy, lawyer/car salesman way. Engaged the audience in equal part with witty and touching deliveries between numbers, he is very much the spokesman for the band.
4. Anticipation - I brought these tickets five months ago. I didn't know what i'd be doing in October and I didn't know who i'd be going with. I just knew that it wouldn't be a problem on either count. I was correct.

A great gig, a great night.

Gone baby gone

A tense, crime thriller directed by Ben Affleck shows that his talents are equally noteworthy for behind the camera efforts. Showed his writing promise and acting talent in 'Good Will Hunting', yet this time around allows his younger Brother Casey to play the lead in 'Gone baby gone'.

Nice use of language and dialogue between strong cast memebers, nicely paced so that as the intrigue increases you are drawn in. What let's the story down though is the ending, it's just a bit unbelievable and far fetched. Good to see a movie set somewhere other than LA or New York, the rough Boston Neighbourhood Dorchester is shown warts and all. And maybe cinema sound systems are getting better but the gunshots in this film were fantastic, very loud and sharp.

scores on the board? 7.5 out of 10

Batman - The Dark Knight

Not bad, not bad at all. In fact very, very good. I really enjoyed the latest installment in the Batman story for several reasons:

Pace. This movie doesn’t stop. It pumps up the adrenalin from the very beginning and rarely slows for the next two hours. At first I didn’t appreciate this but quickly adapted. It felt like a trailer at times, ie high octane, energy fueled scenes full of soundbites.

Darkness. Have yet to see the first Batman movie Christopher Nolan made but I’m assured that it is just as dark. And by darkness I mean tone as much as lighting. Compared to Burton and Schumacer’s earlier batman films this latest offering avoids any campness or cabaretesque moments. And this feels right, much more believable. Very few scenes are shown in the daylight hours but when they are, blinding white sunlight bleaches out colours and offers an environment just as stark as the nocturnal stage.

Locations. Chicago, New York, Battersea Power Station stood in for Gotham city. It shows you’re a big budget movie when you can afford to take over a couple of Staten Island ferries, have a cast of hundreds of extras in major US cities and then start blowing up Battersea Power Station.

Cast. Heath Ledger left this life with a fitting epitaph presumably ensuring he achieves James Dean status. His Joker is a scheming, Machiavellian evil lunatic and the manner in which he lisps and sucks his lines achieves a suitable amount of distaste from the audience. Christian Bale is also a lot more believable as Batman than previous incumbents – a driven, ruthless man teetering on the edge between good and evil. Great supporting actors as well: Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gylenhall.

Latitude Festival 2008

Back in the land of hot running water and bed linen after a long weekend in the Suffolk countryside. The Henham Estate was host to Latitude Festival 2008 and much fun was had by all. Latitude is a great festival - the right size both in terms of people and area and full to bursting of great acts to see.

More than a music festival, Latitude caters for a whole range of tastes with comedy, cabaret, movie and poetry tents packing out alongside the various music stages. This doesn't mean the music gets neglected; far from it with each night's lineups providing wholesome entertainment. Lots of highlights but here are some I was able to capture on film.

Seasick Steve played the main stage on Saturday afternoon. He blew the crowd away with his Mississippi blues played on homemade or customised guitars and his engagement with the crowd was fantastic, he certainly knew how to work the crowd. Not bad for an bearded old timer in dungarees.



Elbow followed Steve and were the band that I wanted to see the most having totally overplayed all of their albums and fallen head over heels for the latest offering 'seldom seen kid'. Again crowd engagement was particularly strong - headline acts please take note! Mostly their newest material but a few oldies slipped in. Stunning, definetly lived up to anticipation.



The Breeders were a cult band at art college and I remember borrowing a tape from a friend and becoming hypnotised by the haunting bassline of 'cannonball'. To hear it played/wailed live only reinforced the strength of those memories. Good to see the band themselves, none of whom are spring chickens, belting out the songs and full of American chutzpah and conversational banter particularly between the Deal sisters. Couldn't figure out what Cheryl was meant to be doing there though....



Don't know who this bloke was but he was the last act in the poetry tent on the Sunday. A very funny man.



In between stages and dotted in and around the woods were various art projects. Not sure about the pink sheep myself but thought this light projection was mesmerizing. Once darkness had descended a fine mist of water was fountained from the lake, upon which an animated light was projected. Far out.



Lykke Li could well be my new calender girl. This pint sized Sweedish songstress bounced around the stage and wowed the small crowd in the sunrise arena. Here she is covering the classic Tribe Called Quest song 'Can I kick it?'. One to listen out for, she does great videos as well. And speaking of pin-ups, my university heart throb Beth Orton was on stage on friday. Very good to see her back after a long absence.

Everything we need to know, we can learn from Batman

"The greatest enemy you face is yourself – Stare into the abyss long enough, and the abyss stares right back. The Joker? The Penguin? Two-Face? Catwoman? The horrors of the outside world can never hurt you as much as you can hurt yourself; a pain that can lead to self-destruction if you let it. Cultivate an inner-strength."

Read more bat-osophies here

The search for inner peace

Thanks to Phil C for this approach to better karma:

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me, and we all could probably use more calm in our lives. Some doctor on tele this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.

So I looked Around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies, tha mainder of bot Prozic and Valum scriptins, the res Of the Chesescke an a box a chocolets.

Yu haf no idr who fkin gud I fel.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss

An endearing film about two lost souls looking for companionship on the loneliest night of the year - New Years Eve. Lots of sharp, witty dialogue between the two main characters as they push and probe each other and slowly draw closer together. Nicely paced story which although set over one afternnon and evening feels neither rushed or drawn out. Lovely, slightly poignant ending that perhaps could have been a bit more ambiguous and less rounded off.

Obvious connections to other great American Indie films such as Clerks, Before Sunset/Sunrise and Swingers, ISOAMK injects a bit of 21st century zeitgeist into the Rom-Com genre - this is the first film I can think of that name checks facebook, myspace and the movie's main prop - Craig's List.

Shot in downtown LA on what I imagine was a miniscule budget, the film looks stunning. The west coast sunlight and shadows emphasised in the stark black and white cinematography, a distinct contrast to the warm pastel hues of Micheal Mann's LA based films.

Good things to do in London - part 1

1. Walk from hampsted heath to primrose hill. take in the view, then go for sunday lunch here. Drink Adnams or Deuchars if they have it on draught. Alternatively walk along the south bank, the bar beside the Hayward Gallery is quirky and does a wide selection of pickles if you like this type of thing.

2. Watch obscure films. The curzon soho is an obvious choice but it's sibling the curzon mayfair is quieter and it's less hassle to get a ticket, but admittedly less choice than it's bigger brasher relation. For a touch of glamour go to the Electric on portobello road, which isn't so expensive but does have exceptional seating to sink into. And a good local cinema? I'm a fan of the ritzy in Brixton, it has a decent bar and avoids the mega-chain feel of it's West end rivals. I saw 'Happy go Lucky' here which incidentally is a very good (london) film.

3. eat Asian food - Cheng's at the bottom of Wardour street does a mighty fine selection of dim sum, Green Papaya in Hackney does melt in the mouth belly pork and half way along brick lane is a yellow fronted Bangladeshi restaurant. This has proved to be a superb place to soak up beer, unfortunately I can't seem to remember the name. The best I can do is approximate that it's between Hanbury and Princelet street. Screw your eyes up, stagger around a bit and you should find it. For a decent and authentic and surprisingly cheap Thai meal try Charlie Wright's International Bar in old street. A bit intimidating and sometimes has a few characters in but that is part of it's charm.

4. drink beer. lots of it.
Here are some good locations
Clerkenwell: The 3 Kings*, Sekforde Arms
Islington: The Crown, Island Queen, The kings head

For cocktails go to Freuds which considering is in the west end is actually quite nice generally because of the euro-boho-arty crowd that congregate there (thanks i think because of the proximity to Central St Martins?)

* The 3 kings demonstrates why London is rocking in the summer - that glorious friday evening sight of throngs of people spilling out on to the pavement drinking away as dusk descends in the balmy air.

5. After beer comes a kebab and the best kebab in london comes from here. Bodrum wins because of the quality of it's bread, the turkish bread is thick enough to soak up meat juice and chilli sauce before it dribbles down one's front. I eat a lot kebabs and am disapointed by the number of establishments that insist on sticking to flaky pita bread - shameful.

Enjoy!

Sunday night is BBC2 night

If sunday morning's are all about the radio, the melancholy moods of sunday evening are dispelled thanks to a bit of escapism on the goggle-box.

BBC2 is surpassing itself at the moment. Following a slap up feed and few beers of fruity charm (tonight = salmon, roast pots and greens with Green King IPA) I relax on my bean bag and enjoy a visual feast.

Ray Mears starts preceedings, and although he can be a bit preachy and a bit of a hippy I do admire his holistic approach and envy the places he tramps to. He can keep the grub canapes and ant medicines though. Tonight he wandered through Northern Queensland with the Bush Tucker Man.

Wild China follows directly afterwards and the sumptuous landscapes bring back my happy travels through that amazing country. It's a good mix of ideas - ecology, anthropology, and nature are effectvley bundled together.

The night is rounded off by Jonathan Dimbleby travelling through Russia. One of the better moments tonight? Chucking back Vodka as he orders trout in the dining car of a siberian express train. The man is pure class, if only there were more broadcasters of his calibre on our airwaves, his silken vowels and twinkley-eyed engagement with hairy russians is as intoxicating as the booze.

Impressive TV advert

That's entertainment – The first UK live television ad played out last night on Channel 4. It was a three-minute advert for Honda, featuring a team of sky jumpers spelling out the brand’s name to promote the ‘difficult is worth doing’ philosophy.

I am the music maker

What a great idea this is - make your own online version of a mixtape. Sweet!

I grew up making my own compilation tapes by recording favourite songs off the radio, late night under the bed clothes activity resulted in A-ha, Fleetwood mac and Genesis rubbing shoulders with Guns n' Roses, Pearl Jam and Nirvana. The local library's cassette section was also plundered mercilessly, choice musical morsels being devoured on sight.

With the arrival of the digital age came MP3s and i-tunes. A once laborious process now entered light speed and I entered a new era of compilation creation. Bespoke CDs soon flooded the market, which in turn led to one-off Album cover artwork. Girlfriends seemed to appreciate them which was nice but in truth the geeky archivist inside of me was the foremost person whose passion was being sated.

And so now we have muxtape. Interesting to see how they have linked each uploaded track to a 'buy' button (via amazon). It's a great little setup, very simple and very user friendly. Only accepts MP3s so my latterly ripped more obscure MP4s wil have to remain in limited circulation - which might not be a bad thing.

Here is my initial offering, more an exercise in beginning the process than a considered collection of music. I have assembled this from my playlists that one might best describe as 'Angry and up for it' indie disco music.

Laugh? i nearly pissed myself

Happy Go Lucky

Endearing feel-good film (with a subtle dark undercurrent) that effectively avoids being TOO 'happy go lucky'. I really enjoyed this film, it had all the qualities that good Brit films posess - intelligent script, underplayed acting and realistic, sensitive settings. And being set in London it was fun to play the 'I know that place' game. Walked out of cinema feeling lifted and energised and fleet of foot with a spring in my step. But maybe that was the impact of the incense stall by Brixton tube?

Sterling performance from Sally Hawkins as the main protagonist and a delicously dark piece of acting by Eddie Marsan as an unhinged driving instructor.

Dutch Uncle

Yet another entertaining night hosted by teh good folk at Dutch Uncle.
This month's opening was for Petra Bonner who produces lovely work like this:

Specifically for the night, Petra had painstakingly drawn here trademark lines and swirls in chalk on the freshly paint black walls. It looked great and showed how a little imagination can transform a space. Continuing the black-and-white theme, the well stocked bar provided the packed room with white russians and guinness all night long.

Rocking, can't wait for the next one. Good work Petra, Dan, Helen, Mickey and Jo!

Great idea, shame about the play

I sat on a balcony last night and looked through the evening gloom of Hammersmith into the windows of people's lives. Not my regular saturday night pastime nor one I would repeat for this occured at the Lyric Theatre during a performance of 'Contains Violence', a play that promised much but delivered not a great deal.

Armed with binoculars and headphones we sat outside and watched and listened to the actors performing in the building opposite. It was a good begining, all very intriguing. But it quickly became apparent that the story was so garbled and fragmented that it verged dangerously close to artistic indulgence and misadventure. The cause was not helped by the weather - it was a freezing night, and by the end of the show the audience were wishing it to end.

Not a wasted night because if nothing else it was something different but just a shame that such an innovative peice of theatre was let down by an impenetrable script.

The Arsenal

Ian Wright illustration at Arsenal Museum © Miles Donovan

I wanted to write about the many and varied websites/blogs that cover all things Arsenal. I wanted to write about how match opinions are shared, transfer rumors spread and football banter exchanged. And so, following another eventful night of football I'm going to attempt to showcase a selection of sites that show the folklore, the history, the pride that Gooners have in their team.

Redaction - Interesting arrival on the scene, I like it's militant stance. Useful away game PDFs to download.

Arseblog - Highly entertaining, engaging, the number 1 Arsenal blog. And quite often the number 1 sports blog at the bloggies. Lots of banter, not afraid to cuse the C-word where appropriate, eg Ashley Cole, John Terry. Often for great comedy effect. Seems to have a thing about Gingers but hey-ho no one is perfect. Many a smile created on the religously updated daily Arseblog and a weekly chortle thanks to the imaginatively titled 'Arsecast'

Goodplaya - intelligent, balanced analysis from a seemingly intelligent, balanced gooner.

Arsenal-land - slick site, not as insightful as it used to be. Good forum, this was my introduction to the online Arsenal world.

We are the herd - Passion, commitment, community. Found this whilst reading up on the legendary Dainton Connell, king of the North Bank. Forum dealing with Arsenal's Firm, tales of battles of yesteryear.

All examples of a spirit best summed up in the final paragraphs of this post by Arseblogger: "Let’s stand behind our team. We are the Arsenal."

Seen this at T5? Awesome...

Watch the video to see the cloud in action
Created by troika

20 X 20 = pecha kucha

Went to a sweet event at the Japanese Embassy last night. Sake, sushi and plenty of Asahi kept a large audience well lubricated whilst they were entertained by the latest Pecha Kucha evening, a quickfire series of presentations from Japanese influenced guest speakers – including typographer Jonathon Barnbrook, Archeologoist Simon Kaner and product designer Emiko Oki.

Each presenter was allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This kept presentations concise and the interest level up.

Refreshing to watch ten speakers with completely different backgrounds and interests speak about their work, influences and relationship with Japan, and surprisingly the disciplined structure of the night actually seemed to loosen things up and keep the pace ticking along.

Naturally some speakers were more assured in their delivery but even the less confident, less eloquent were able to deliver an informative snapshot of their thinking. Interestingly businesses have explored how this approach might keep meetings short and relevant.

Some more nights are planned for the summer, and D&AD are borrowing the format for one of their lectures. Well worth keeping an eye out for them.

The Darjeeling Limited

After bidding farewell to a fond friend soon to embark on epic journey of worldwide travel I sped across town to the glitz and unglamour of Leicester Square to watch three brother's journey of discovery in The Darjeeling Limited

I've long admired Wes Anderson's films – Rushmoor, Life Aquatic, Royal Tenambaums – so I was keen to see it before it disappeared on to DVD. Yet another quirky collection of individuals doing random and slightly odd activities played by the familiar Andersonite actors, ie Own Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray.

Full of zany gags, sharp language and stirring music I'm tempted to go out on a limb and say that this is Mr Anderson's best effort yet. I couldn't possible categorise the film, is it a road movie, a rites of passage film. I know not. But this doesn't matter, the charm of the film is the absurdity of the tale mixed with touching examinations of the human spirit all the while shot with a vibrant colourful lens. India is a perfect set for the players to operate against and for Anderson to view life through his lens, the rich warm colours that emerged in Life Aquatic were taken to a new level in the kaleidoscope of Asia.

A beautiful touching journey of discovery.

Good things to do on a sunday

1. Have a lie-in. Don't worry about waking up early and when you do wake up, go back to sleep again.
2. Take time over breakfast. Slowly let the coffee brew and take care slicing mushrooms, tomatoes and slices of bread. This weekend I used a rather tasty loaf from Borough Market's Flour power Bakery, a sourdough bloomer, which toasts up well and makes a particularly good piece of fried bread. Bacon should be crispy round the edges yet juicy in the middle and this weekend I had my eggs scrambled. I would have liked to attempt to poach them but apparently you need fresh eggs and there is little fresh about my kitchen cupboard.
3. Listen to Radio 4. At home I generally listen to 6 music except for a sunday when I enjoy 'Desert Island Discs', 'Gardener's Question Time' and 'Just a minute'. This weekend's castaway was Rory Stewart who walked 6,000 miles across Asia. hHe claimed not unsurprisingly that this was a life changing experience. A thoroughly likeable chap.
4. Fall asleep on the sofa for a quick nap. nice.

Happy Christmas! - a retrospective

I generally don't get too carried away by the christmas spirit but the one thing I have always put a lot of effort in to is making my christmas cards. I don't like the cheesey, consumerist aspect to christmas but I do really enjoy getting in touch with people I care about.

It's also a great opportunity to do something for me – no brand messages to reflect, no identity guidelines to follow. Just something visual and something fun. This year I decided to examine a long running fascination with trees and created a woody scene for Rudolph to frolick in from a series of Chinese clip art images. The texture within the shapes came from the lo-grade nature of the original artwork which became further distressed once scanned and photoshopped.

I liked the end result but in hindsight I think one less layer of trees would have meant Rudolph might stand out a bit more and produced a calmer winter scene. Nevermind, something to think about for next year.

Here are previous year's efforts, interesting to see how my own changing interests have dictated the style and approach of each card. My stencil art period followed the ideasy period which in turn developed into the screenprint approach.

Amazing movie

I was excited by this as soon as I saw the trailer. I was positively exploding when i started to read the synopsis and the reviews but when I went to the cinema and saw the movie itself I was completely blown away. Definetley lived up to my build up and was a full two and a bit hours of stunning immersion – and this was after knowing the ending prior to viewing.

Just a great, great movie. Well acted, beautifully shot and full of little brain darts that made me stop and think. And the soundtrack is Eddie Vedder's (of Pearl Jam fame) first foray into film scores. It is more than equal to the task.

One of the most resonant scenes for me was towards the end of the film when the main character has achieved his goal, reached the final destination on the journey he had been destined to make, and lay alone in the wilderness with a huge grin on his face and slowly wrote in his diary something along the lines of "we only know true happiness when it is shared". It made a lot of sense and having purposefully traveled alone for so long it really did make me pause to think.

Spent a week in New York with Paul, Phil and Max.
What a great time we had exploring Brooklyn, walking the broadwalk at Coney Island and riding the Staten Island Ferry. My Photos from the trip are here