Chimpomatic

Search

Twitter

After abortive attempts to watch "Coffin Rock" and "Youth In Revolt" I've just dived headlong into "The Baader Meinhof Complex".

3rd Mar 2011

Simulated Return From Mars

We reported on the simulated mission to Mars in April 2009 - and now after a two week simulated holiday on the red planet, our trusty simulated astronauts are heading back, for a simulated landing in November 2011.

Via Engadget (including simulation joke)

P.S. Don't miss their write up on the 100 Year Starship initiative to send ageing astronauts on a one-way mission to Mars by 2030.

#CSF
#Space
#Tech
#Travel

3rd Mar 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Twitter

RT @radiohead It's Friday. It's almost the weekend.You can download The King of Limbs now if you so wish! http://rhd.cc/jw19 \#thekingoflimbs

18th Feb 2011

Promo Promo: Radiohead - Lotus Flower

It seems to be UK only, so I haven't actually watched it here in Berlin - but I'm assuming the new Radiohead video for 'Lotus Flower' will be worth a few minutes of your time.

My copy of the new album will arrive in approximately 14 minutes. German WIFI. Bah!

#CSF
#Film
#Music
#PromoPromo

18th Feb 2011 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

New Radiohead - The King of Limbs, out Sat 19

"Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together." New Radiohead album The King Of Limbs dropping on Saturday in either £30 hardcopy w/ download or £6/£9 digital only versions.

14th Feb 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Twitter

Just pre ordered my copy of The King Of Limbs, Radiohead's new album, out for download on Saturday. The world's first Newspaper album. ?

14th Feb 2011

New Strokes cover

where Q-Bert meets Cheap Trick

12th Feb 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

#chimp71
#Film
#TrailerPark

Trailer Park: X-Men - The Mad Men Years

"Charles" and "Erik", not exactly the most badass superhero names you'll ever hear... Enjoyed Kick-Ass from director Matthew Vaughn so this might be ok; on the other hand, as Wolverine: The Wonder Years showed, there's very little peril involved in these prequels where we know who makes it to the later films.

11th Feb 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Crazy Heart

Entertainment by numbers as Jeff Bridges channels his inner dude as washed-up country singer Bad Blake.

6th Feb 2011

Twitter

RT @iancr Hungry and carsick in London, Misfits' London Dungeon in my head. Ain't no mystery...

28th Jan 2011

Twitter

#Spotted: Peggy Olson as a bumbling PA in 'Did You Hear About The Morgans?'

16th Jan 2011

Did You Hear About The Morgans?

Staggeringly unambitious, dream-team rom-com.

16th Jan 2011

Twitter

Analyzing now... RT @thecoldvein: Did Radiohead ever get sued by Simple Minds for the opening chords of Bones?

14th Jan 2011

In America

Sympathetic, heart wrenching study of a family dealing with grief as they start a new life in New York.

11th Jan 2011

The Town

Thoroughly entertaining heist movie from Ben Affleck. Deducting for so thoroughly 'homaging' Heat.

7th Jan 2011

MCA Health Update

Good news, Beastie Boy MCA is apparently in good shape after battling cancer. Hot Sauce Committee Part II will be arriving soon and alter-ego Nathanial Hornblower even has a film in the Sundance Film Festival.

#CSF
#Film
#Music

7th Jan 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Jarhead

Magnificently assembled film, unfortunately offering little more than updated 80's war movie cliches.

3rd Jan 2011

Best of 2010

CSF

Just because most of our 2010 reviews have been happening on Twitter doesn't mean quality music hasn't be coming in thick and fast this year. Here's my top 5 for 2010:

Abe Vigoda - Crush
Probably my most unexpected favourite for 2010, Crush finds LA Smell regulars Abe Vigoda moving up a notch to make their most accessible album yet. If a band like this can ever hit the mainstream, this is certainly great prep - like Interpol with more ideas and better beats.

The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack
The San Diego post-punkers graduate from community college with straight A's in 'chorus'. After a lot of hype and a fairly average live sighting, I was surprised to find myself so engaged with this first album proper. Side A rules.

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
The bubble may have burst as LCD Soundsystem set to disband, but there was still time for one last go-around. Not quite as ace as Sound of Silver, but with tracks like 'All I Want' and 'Home', it's still stuffed with classics.

Spoon - Transference
Harnessing all their studio 'accidents' into another masterfully produced masterpiece, Spoon yet again deliver a five star album. So consistent I almost forget about them. Some great slow burners on here.

Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
Almost forgot this one ...which is a surprise considering how bombastic it is. After the note perfect In The Future, Black Mountain had no hope of topping getting even better just yet, but the least they could do was shore up their legend. Old Fangs and the title track cruised into their best-ever playlist.

DULY NOTED: Weezer - Hurley / Pinkerton Deluxe
With their departure from a major label, it seemed certain that Weezer would put aside all the contractually-obliging crap they're been churning out and finally release a great record again. Nope. Hurley crawled back up to a 3, but luckily the time had come for a deluxe edition of 90's classic Pinkerton. A re-release shouldn't be anyone's best album in a decade, but this one is stuffed full of long-lost tracks, b-sides and oddities - plus it's getting a five star rating for being overlooked the first time round.

Monsters was a great movie. Somewhere one of the worst ever. Kings of Leon, The National and Band of Horses all disappointed. Roll on 2011.

#Music
#CSF

1st Jan 2011 - Add Comment - Tweet

Twitter

#Spotted: A very young Toby Maguire as a teenage pothead in 'SFW'.

28th Dec 2010

Captain Beefheart dies aged 69

Avant garde musician and visual artist Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, has died aged 69.

#cnrth
#Art
#Heroes
#Music

18th Dec 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Twitter

Today I'm wearing head-to-toe thermals, courtesy of Dave's New York. 5 inches of snow in London.

1st Dec 2010

Girl Talk - All Day

thanks to Marmot for the heads-up on this new Girl Talk download

30th Nov 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Twitter

Love : Lyric: "This week has been a bad massage, I need a happy ending." Kanye West - Gorgeous. I hear that...Ding Ding.

26th Nov 2010

Twitter

Love: If Stereogum's list is acurate 2011's going to be a knockout. Radiohead AND Lady Gaga, too much. http://bit.ly/ghQGnx

26th Nov 2010

Twitter

Love: Heavyweight guests, tight beats, tighter rhymes and no autotune=Kanye West is back in full effect on new record, 4 stars (but 10?)

26th Nov 2010

Twitter

Mrs CSF has a new favourite show: Married To Rock. @PerryFarrell looks so healthy it's ridiculous. He needs to get a workout DVD out. Stat!

22nd Nov 2010

Twitter

Love: Pitchfork's 10 rating for Kanye West new album. Got it but haven't heard it yet, but a 10? Really? Perfect? http://bit.ly/car7SN

22nd Nov 2010

Twitter

Love: New single from Japandroids. Heavenward Grand Prix., includes cover of PJ Harvey's Shame. This series of singles just gets better.

17th Nov 2010

Back to Back to the Future

The Back To The Future Blu-ray box has hit the shops and some of the extras are popping up on YouTube - including some rushes with Eric Stoltz in the Marty McFly role ...before he was replaced by Michael J Fox.

As a double geek-out, a recent episode of Fringe set in their parallel universe featured two of the watchers coming out a movie theatre, showing the Eric Stoltz version of the film.

#CSF
#Film

26th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Hot Sauce Update

OK just to be clear, here's what's going on with the new Beasties record (TRANSLATION: some songs you haven't heard yet are now going to be replaced by some other songs you haven't heard yet but you'll still get to hear the other lot later):

BEASTIE BOYS HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 2 TRACK LISTING REVISED, REPLACED ENTIRELY WITH SONGS ORIGINALLY RECORDED FOR HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 1

In what can only be described as a bizarre coincidence, following an exhaustive re-sequence marathon, Beastie Boys have verified that their new Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 will be comprised of the same 16 tracks originally slated for inclusion on Hot Sauce Committee Part 1. The record (part 2 that is) will be released as planned in spring 2011 on Capitol.

The tracks originally recorded for Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 (which now are actually back on Part 1) have now apparently been bumped to make room for the former Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 material. Wait, what?

"I know it's weird and confusing, but at least we can say unequivocally that Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is coming out on time, which is more than I can say about Part 1, and really is all that matters in the end." says Adam "MCA" Yauch. "We just kept working and working on various sequences for part 2, and after a year and half of spending days on end in the sequencing room trying out every possible combination, it finally became clear that this was the only way to make it work. Strange but true, the final sequence for Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 works best with all its songs replaced by the 16 tracks we originally had lined up in pretty much the same order we had them in for Hot Sauce Committee Part 1. So we've come full circle."

Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 marks Yauch, Mike "Mike D" Diamond, and Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz's first full length effort since 2007's Grammy winning all-instrumental The Mix-Up. The new track listing of the album is now as follows:

1. Tadlock's Glasses
2. B-Boys In The Cut
3. Make Some Noise
4. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
5. OK
6. Too Many Rappers (featuring NAS)
7. Say It
8. The Bill Harper Collection
9. Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (featuring Santigold)
10. Long Burn The Fire
11. Funky Donkey
12. Lee Majors Come Again
13. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
14. Pop Your Balloon
15. Crazy Ass Shit
16. Here's A Little Something For Ya

UPDATE: The Beasties also have a new website.

25th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Jeff Beck

BIC, Bournemouth

This was the opening night of guitar maestro Jeff Beck’s UK tour, with his last date 26 October at the Royal Albert Hall. He was fronting a three-piece band of percussion, bass and keyboards. Bassist Rhonda Smith did limited vocals, but the majority of the programme was not surprisingly instrumental to allow Beck to show off his technical virtuosity. Jeff doesn’t talk much; so don’t expect introductions, except to the other members of the band.

The numbers oscillated in a balanced way between jazz funk and lyrical anthems such as Beck’s Bolero and (amazingly) Nessun Dorma. Best of all was his acclaimed grammy winning version of A Day in The Life, where he recreates the varying moods of the piece through his brilliant playing. It was a little disappointing not to hear more work from his early blues-rock era, but this has clearly been superseded by works from his more recent albums.

The support act on the show was Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue. Shorty (Troy Andrews) plays not only trombone but is equally at home on trumpet and vocals with a mixture of jazz of all types. Virtuoso solos and a brilliant rhythm section made for an excellent opening act.

#Music
#Gig
#Puskas

22nd Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Vile 7"

Kurt Vile is putting the finishing touches to his next full length album, but to tide us over he's putting out another 7" first. Tracks are In My Time (mp3 here), with 2 b-sides: Early Dawnin' and Sad Ghost.

While the MPFree format usually means filler, if Kurt Vile's recent EP is anything to go by that will not be the case here. I even bothered to buy that last free EP.

In the words of Matador themselves:

"...although you're likely to hear one of these tracks on Kurt's next album, this 7", like every other of his releases, is an item that's worthy of it's own recognition."

#CSF
#Music

21st Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Promo Promo: Titus Andronicus

OK, technically, it's not a promo - but check out this live clip of bearded-heavyweights Titus Andronicus kicking out an epic rendition of The Battle Of Hampton Roads for FORNOONE.tv

#CSF
#Music
#PromoPromo

15th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Up

Heart wrenching tale from Pixar about life's opportunities. Lovely.

10th Oct 2010

Promo Promo: Misunderstanding

Another slice of literal translation into video form, with Phil Collins having some kind of Misunderstanding in 1980's LA. It's now a nostalgia piece, featuring a bearded, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing Phil singing in the rain down a telephone, plus many sites of LA - including the demolished drive-in where DeNiro and his gang had a shootout in Heat.