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bah homburg
just in case you've been wondering what geoffrey rush was wearing on his head in his various films, here's a very handy site to help…
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the cinematic hats of geoffrey rush
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14th Feb 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Bob Dylan
Brixton Academy, London
It was a tough call seeing this or Jeff Tweedy tonight. One, a bonifide legend who might not be back, the other a mini-legend, who will almost certainly be back - with and without Wilco. That made the decision easier, and the huge queue snaking all the way round the Brixton Academy at 7.30 certainly added to the excitement.
Everyone got in pretty quickly, and at about 7.40 the lights went down for an ice hockey style introduction for the "legend of the 60's counter culture, duke of spook... etc". The crowd went crazy when Dylan shuffled on, and kicked things off with Maggie's Farm. We also got Positively 4th Street, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine), Girl Of The North Country and Highway 61 Revisited. The Band (I wish) were certainly good, but no one really moved off piste without a nod from the commandant, and certainly no one broke into a sweat. Dylan himself was captivating to watch, but mainly due to the fact that you were in the presence of a living legend... rather than what he was doing (not playing the guitar, occasionally playing the harmonica. The older geeks in the crowd (some with binoculars, many taking notes) seemed determined to like every single move or shuffle, and every song started with a race to be the first to recognize it.
The band shuffled off after a brief bow, but nothing was said to the crowd. They predictably shuffled back on for an encore with Like A Rolling Stone, which was the first time the crowd actually had a chance to sing along. As the chorus came up the crowd swelled up - but then after one line, Dylan's different delivery (Like a ROLL-ing stONE!) just caught everyone off guard and put an end to it.
All Along The Watchtower wasn't bad, but all in all it was a bit like seeing a really good jazz band (or even Steely Dan) on a Cross Channel Ferry doing Dylan covers. In the club style.
Should have seen Tweedy.
23rd Nov 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 2.5 star reviewshelp end a debate
Please help end a debate...
Do you think Councillor Eileen Kinnear is wearing glasses? Follow the link below, scroll down and let us know what you think…
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25th Oct 2005 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Spoon
Koko, Camden
Spoon are one of those bands who seem to have surfaced recently... but a bit of detective work reveals they've been around for years and years, quietly plugging away, doing their own thing.
After the utterly useless support band "Amusement Parks on Fire" shuffle their tedious, angst ridden, Kurt Cobain cardigan-wearing, trauma-feedback nonsense into the wings, Spoon hit the stage and straight away it's clear that they're a band with a lot of live experience. They're super tight and work the crowd well, with Richie Cunningham/Gary Busey (c. Big Wednesday) lookalike singer Britt Daniel exuding personality with his chat and semi-moonwalking sliding dances. They march through a lot of their latest album Gimme Fiction, with great drumming and Ice Hockey style keyboards (from a Vincent Gallo lookalike)... sounding a lot like an American 1960's band in the style of a British Invasion rock. Right at home on Nuggets in fact.
It's all over too fast, with a rousing encore finale of Ice Hockey Rock (TM) classic Small Stakes. Check the surveillance section for a clip.
13th Oct 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviewsNotes From The Frontline
Reporting live from Paris fashion week today... and the bad news is: those cork shoes all your girlfriends are wearing are well out of fashion. Plat Du Jour on the decks though (go Beyonce!) and Converse All-Stars are still back. Again.
Looking forward to the 1996 revival.
UPDATE: Tailored Shorts.
7th Oct 2005 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
(dir. Shane Black)
always been a sucker for films with good opening credits. the kind of opening where they've actually bothered to think about it, do some fun stuff with graphics, play around a bit before the film gets going - you know, saul bass, pink panther etc. add in a snappy plot, a film where they get away with smart-ass narration AND find something good for robert downey jr, and pack in as many raymond chandler references as they can, and you've got a small-scale winner.
plotwise, we follow low-level new york burglar RDJ as he bumbles his way into a screen test, gets packed off to LA, hooks up with gay PI/movie consultant val kilmer (probably the first time i've ever actually enjoyed one of his films) and then falls into a chandler-style murder thriller, that follows the general pomo big sleep noir conventions - double crossing, little sisters, sassy dames, mucho confusion and lots of great lines. it's written by shane black, who churned out much of the lethal weapon franchise, but it feels more like watching something like midnight run - 80s, but smart. and it also gets away with lots of "hey let's stop the movie to look at what just happened there" moments without being annoying. actually better than the trailer makes it out to be, for once.
26th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviews
The Barbican Funhouse
Sounds like The Stooges' recent Funhouse gig at the Barbican was a riot - almost literally....
"The moshpit was NUTS! And there must've been about 50 people onstage during 'No Fun'! Beer flying everywhere, underwear, cigarettes.. I saw at least two cups of beer hit Iggy directly (and one black bra).."
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Iggy Forum
ES
Asheton, Asheton, Mascis + Watt
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2nd Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
More Maps
Now Amazon's secret weapon A9 is jumping on the local search/mapping bandwagon, with a photo breakdown of US cities, using streetlevel snaps.
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21st Aug 2005 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
NYTE Biscuit
Nyte Biscuit - Acid House £7
Friday 12 August , 9pm - 3am
Andrew Weatherall
Mark Broom
Kruton
Jim Clarke
The RHYTHM FACTORY
16-18 Whitechapel Rd.
London E1 1EW
9th Aug 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Patti Smith @ Meltdown 2005
Royal Festival Hall
patti smith totally rocked during her track-by-track 30th anniversary performance of Horses, from the stunning opening line "jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine…" to the blow-out ending. flea on bass and trumpet for some of the songs, tom verlaine sitting on an amp at the side (possibly making up for the shoddy television performance on monday), and lenny kaye showing how it's really done. she was totally commanding, had real presence, dealt with all the hecklers "whatever you say, you're not going to impress me…" and proved that she's really the iconic figure you always read she is.
and it's the first time i've ever seen a standing ovation from the first song onwards… not surprising when it's her stunning version of gloria (wonder what van thinks?), but still pretty impressive.
oh and she had 2 pieces of advice: look after your teeth, and never wear new shoes to an important job. so she ended up dancing barefoot…
john cale's opening set, also w flea on bass, was pretty good too, even if neither dr chimp or i recognised any of the songs (ie no velvets nostalgia this time)
26th Jun 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 5 star reviewsGoogle Expansion
Google's utter domination plans seem to be progressing nicely, with them now offering a customised homepage, with RSS news feeds, weather and more. Very snazzy moveable content.
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23rd May 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
The Sum Of All Fears
(dir. Phil Alden Robinson)
A Nazi extremist gets hold of a missing Israeli nuclear bomb and tries to use it to start war between the US and Russia. Only young CIA analyst Jack Ryan can see the truth and prevent all out war.
Unfortunatly that young CIA guy is Ben Affleck, not the Harrison Ford of previous Ryan films. Affleck is surprisingly undislikable, mainly due to the fact that this is a big film with a lot of character's - rather than a typical star-focused Hollywood blockbuster.
It's a pretty intelligent and engaging film, that holds back on the usual punch up action, and focuses instead on Nuclear armageddon. It's a weird cross of pre/post 9/11 paranoia - as the bad guys in the book were Islamic terrorists, but at the time of filming (2001) it seemed implausible that they would be able top get hold of a nuclear weapon. Things had to be re-jiggled a bit in the edit however, as things had changed...
It starts to unravel slightly towards the end, but generally it's pretty entertaining. Good cinematography too.
23rd May 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviews1st Birthday of I Swear I Was There
WOLFMAN AND THE SIDE EFFECTS, THE IDLE LOVERS, FINE LINES, TEAM B, WILLIAM, THE LOW EDGES, THE GHOSTIES, GRAND DELINQUENTS. DJ's: DIRTY SOUNDS, OLLIE GUY, CHRISTOPHER, JANE DEANE, JONNY DJ.
@ The Venue Basement Bar, and The Six String Bar.
£6 adv. Both venues. Email tickets@twentyfourrecords.com for more info.
£3 Six String on night.
£5 Venue on night.
The Venue Basement Bar, 2a Clifton Rise, New Cross // 9 pm - 2 am
Six String, New Cross Road // 6.30 pm - 11 pm
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24th Apr 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Buddyhead Best
as we like to keep our fingers on the bleeding edge here at c'omatic, we thought it was time to point you to buddyhead's best and worst of 2004, which deploys the phrase "fucking weak" in a pretty satisfying fashion
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17th Feb 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Superhols
Back from a brief world tour of Portugal. Not much to report other than nice weather and beer, plus a spot of air-rage on the way home.
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21st Jul 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
Benicio
Got pretty toasted last night in the bar, running up a $100 bill on pizza and (mainly) glacier beer. No chemicals and (less) hangover... A full on free for all on the stage was underway, with a pretty good cover band getting things started.
“Do you know any Creedence?”
“Sure, which one?”
“Lookin’ Out My Back Door?”
“All right, comin’ right up.”
Smokin.
Various psyched up crowd members then proceeded to come on stage to do vocals (Benecio Del Toro look-a-like does Mustang Sally - not bad), with some dudes even bringing their own guitars and so on for covers of Purple Haze…
We then hooked up with a multi national group of ski instructor types who were looking to ‘party’. 20 minutes of English style coarseness and swearing managed to whittle the group down to 3 (including 2 chimps) - and no beer.
13th Jan 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet
36 Degrees
Boy is it hot! But who's counting? It's 36 degrees and people are already complaining. You'd think with 11.5 months of shitty weather we'd appreciate it...
7th Aug 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Still looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction? Google might have found them. On Friday if you did a search for "Weapons of Mass Destruction" at Google, the top result took you here. It now appears however that Google has cooked the books and put some other results up top....
7th Jul 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet