through a glass, brightly

dream diary

2010-03-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

what do £36 brogues, bagels, cadbury's eclairs, charity shops, £30 cash, a handsome perfumier in a pinstripe suit and his hippy girlfriend who are looking for a flatshare have in common???

Run, Forrest, Run!

2010-03-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r8zr8/Eddie_Izzard_Marathon_Man_Episode_1/

GET A LIFE

2010-03-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

what next?

Capitalism : A Love Story

2010-02-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

Nice one to the Curzon cinema for making us laugh for 30 mins by introducing a film about Capitalism with a montage of advertisements diametrically opposed to the message of the film. Hegemony Rules!!

American Werewolf in London (1981)

2010-02-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

Dir. John Landis

Won the Saturn Best Horror award and Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. According to Wiki,

The film was one of three high-profile wolf-themed horror films released in 1981, alongside The Howling and Wolfen.

Those will be next on the list :)

Particularily awesome version of 'Blue Moon' in the sound-track, by Bobby Vinton.

Funny to see Rik Mayall as 'second chess player' in the 'Slaughtered Lamb' pub in East Proctor.

Frank Oz stars as the annoying American Embassy rep, and later, Ms Piggy in the Muppets, which is showing on TV during a horror nightmare sequence.

Nice continuity error in the scene shot in Tottenham Court Rd underground station, where the clock above the escalator reads 13.01, despite the fact that it is the full moon after midnight, so the tube station would either be shut or full of people trying to get home before the last train.

Nice to see footage of London in the 80's: the most striking thing about Picadilly Circus is the lack of cyclists.

The wiki also tells us 'In June 2009, it was announced that Dimension Films was working with producers Sean and Bryan Furst on a remake of the film'

One to watch out for.

CHRONIC CITY

2010-02-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

Pinarello Lungavita 2010

2010-02-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

We have got this beauty in the window at our shop in Victoria. It is the only one in the country, and I am itching to take it out on a test ride. This 6061 aluminum fixed-gear machine retails at £799, and would suit the suited and booted. The components are not great, and rather than completing the look, they ruin it........but the frame and forks are a winner! I hope to see one of these, with some nice brown leather bar tape and a sexy Brooks saddle at the second Annual Tweed Run in London this April.......

Last Woman Standing?

2010-02-12T06:38:00.000-08:00

I had the misfortune of coming across this programme last night when I could not get to sleep.

Five female athletes take on the women of the Kamaiura tribe in the Amazonian basin of Brazil.
'Our girls' demonstrated their complete lack of self-awareness and cultural sensitivity throughout the show, with comments like 'there's loads of 'em! I've never seem this many naked people in my life!' to their decision to remain in their bikini tops throughout the show, despite their bid to take on the Kamairua women on their own terms. As well as the classic framing of the 'troubled' Geordie lass who only found discipline and direction through fitness, the 'tough black London lady' who made it out of a directionless life through sport, what most irritated me was the fact that each 'girl' was a cookie-cutter version of the other. The only non-white 'girl' still adhered to the norms our media so loves: Long straight hair, light skin.......

I am probably being influenced by the excellent writing of Susan Bordo, whose book 'Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and The Body' I am reading at present. So i'll let you make your own mind up, but this show has left me wondering what epoch we are actually living in?

Quote of the show:

The male domination in this part of the world may be hard for our girls to put up with, but that's all about to change.

through a glass, darkly

2010-02-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

rest in peace

i heart heartless

2010-02-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

I went to see 'Heartless' at the BFI, as previously recommended in an older post.

The film was a dark mess of magical suffering, exploring the theme of 'random violence in the 21st century' as the demon of our age. Jim Sturgess shone as the troubled 25-year-old 'Jamie', a young photographer with a heart-shaped birthmark across his face, who begins to battle with visions of lizardesque hooded demons in the urban labyrinth of East London. The plot gets more tangled between myth, imagination and reality, as it twists through the slum side-winding streets off Cambridge Heath Road. The tensions between the psychological and the spiritual are tangible throughout. There is some captivating night imagery in the film, and this was Ridley's first venture into the world of HD.

There was one moment where Tia, a love interest of Jamie's, is running down the stairs. He says 'my father always said you only regret the things you don't do, so don't go away'. This means if she doesn't go away, she will regret it. I wondered if this was a forgivable script error, or a very clever clue to what is to come.

At points the editing pace is jumpy, particularly in the opening sequences. Occasionally something doesn't quite ring true in the relationships between the brothers, lines of dialogue feel forced and over-sincere. At other times, the border between nostalgic and downright cheesy becomes impossibly blurred, but in all this film is a terrifying treasure which rendered me both terrified and teary-eyed on many occasions. Ridley successfully harnesses myth and the absurd to explore the torment and terror of a haunted mind.

The 'demons' in the film were created with CGI, but they were first conceived by Ridley via the old-school method of paper and glue. In the kitchen of his East-End flat, he went back to basics to communicate what he mask he would make, if he were a teenager in a gang. He made a mask out of papier mache, marking two bullet-hole eyes, and a knife-slashed mouth bearing razor-sharp blade-like teeth.

Of the creative process, Ridley talks about the concept of ideas as 'an explosion in reverse' and likens himself to a magpie. If magpies can make films like this, I shall eat my bowler hat!

Jim Sturgess also performs two of the tracks in the film, and is in Tragic Toys with his girlfriend Mickie. The songs on the soundtrack were written by Philip Ridley and Nick Ingman.

I look forward to Moonfleece, which is the next theatrical offering from Philip Ridley in March/April 2010.

I believe in Miracles.....

2010-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Interesting documentary around Healing and Shamanism, presented by Jodie Kidd here.

Fascinating links between autism and Shamanism.....

Song for this thread:

Anton Chekhov : A Life In Letters

2010-02-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

Off the back of the recent fascinating programme I listened to about Anton Chekhov on BBC Radio4, I went out and bought myself this excellent, uncensored collection of the many letters written by a literary legend.

Whilst I am not as familiar with his work as I would like to be, this book has kickstarted what I am sure will be a flourishing investigation into his writing. I find myself falling in love with the man. I have no doubt he had a twinkle in his eye. He is at once humble, witty, self-effacing, egotistical, pompous, passionate, and always yearning for little more than company and conversation. Oh, and money! For someone who dislikes money and wishes to be unconcerned with it, he certainly spent a lot of time writing about his lack of it. Such is the destiny of an artist, I suppose!

In an article in the Irish Times, Eileen Battersby writes:

'ANTON CHEKHOV once told a friend that he expected to be forgotten within seven years of his death.'

Yet somehow, in reading his letters penned to companions and comrades, I get the impression that he was utterly sure of the fact that he would be remembered in centuries to come. I feel as though his letters were written with a much greater audience than their sole inheritor in mind. There is something in the tempo and tone of his playful language that suggests a display to an arena, seating the backsides of 150 years worth of followers. That, or he had far too much time on his hands, which becomes impossible to imagine when one reads of how busy he was being a doctor, a writer, and an attentive friend and correspondent to many. This is merely the impression I got from his letters, but then again, I do secretly wish he had been writing only to me. I am even willing to let some of the sexist and shallow remarks slide in this instance ;-)

I highly recommend this as a read. There are numerous works of Chekhov's available to listen to on BBC iPlayer at the moment as it was his 150th birthday on the 29th January.

Those in a romantic mood may want to tune into this.

Inverted Bookshelf!

2010-01-25T02:50:00.000-08:00

I am looking for a great and cheap bookshelf for my room in the hopes of being organised this term and getting the jenga of knowledge building in the corner to resemble a neat row of soldiers, ready for the reading.....

I came across this INVERTED BOOKSHELF on my search. Wonder if I will develop the patience to make one for my room....

Inverted Bookshelf - More DIY How To Projects

Heartless

2010-01-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

Any Philip Ridley fans out there should have a ticket to see 'Heartless', his first feature film, which is being screened at the BFI on Sunday the 7th February 2010. I have been waiting for this to come out for some time, since my friend Kat told me it was in production.

As Chekhov said, one should 'travel third-class as often as possible...why write about a man getting into a submarine and going to the north pole? All this is untrue and does not happen in reality. One must write about simple things'.

I think Philip Ridley is a fine example of someone who writes about real life. Anyone who has not read him should get hold of his work. I suggest starting with Vincent River and Leaves Of Glass.

Speaking of Chekhov - two programmes worth a listen again this week if you didn't catch them:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pxmcv/The_House_That_Chekhov_Built/

and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ps40k/Twenty_Minutes_To_Chekhovs_Memory/

Read by Ben Whishaw, friend of Philip Ridley, fan of Chekhov and actor in The Seagull and a number of works by Katie Mitchell, a genius in her own right.

The BFI are offering £5 tickets for under 25's.
For more info see www.bfi.org.uk/futurefilm

snow love

2010-01-24T17:49:00.000-08:00