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Ad Nauseum: Prawns
The land of advertising is a dangerous business. Post-meerkat, a high-concept ad campaign is likely to fall flat on it's face, but drafting in Sgt Elias AKA Willem Dafoe is one way to seal the deal.
Newsflash chimps: Prawns.
8th Nov 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
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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.
26th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Skate or die: More Mark Gonzales
Following a successful art career, legendary skater Mark Gonzales can be seen out and about again more and more.... Here's a nice little day-in-the-life from 2009.
21st 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."
21st Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Hot Sauce Committee 2, Part 1
The Beastie Boys' new album Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 was delayed last year, due to MCA's illness, but to keep us on our toes they'll be releasing Part 2 in the spring ....to tide us over until Part 1 is ready....
Via Beastieboys.com:
18th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Back To The Future Merch
$15k auto-lacing Nike's too steep for you? You might have to settle for a copy of Oh La La.
Via Uncrate.
18th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Social Network
(dir. David Fincher)
Relativity Media
You may wonder where the drama is in a story following the rise of Facebook - and it's a legitimate question. Maestro director David Fincher put this film into quick production and with a script from The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin there was plenty of promise. The script is masterfully done and with some great performances from Rodger Dodger's Jesse Eisenberg and soon-to-be Peter Parker Andrew Garfield there's much to admire.
Like most biopics however, there's both an inevitability and a lack of tension to the narrative. At least with Titanic the inevitable conclusion involved the world's biggest ship hitting an iceberg and sinking. Unfortunately there's no iceberg here. Yawn.
18th Oct 2010 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 2.5 star reviewsPromo 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
15th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Skate or die: Guy Mariano
Nice little video series over at VBS.tv following the career of Guy Mariano, who made his name as a kid in Ban This and Video Days, then as a teenager in Mouse - before disappearing until a come back in 2007's Fully Flared from Lakai. Look out for some extra footage from skate-classic Video Dayz with a young Jason Lee doing his thing.
14th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: The Way Back
Un-HD trailer up for Peter Weir's latest movie - The Way Back. Not the most inspiring trailer I've ever seen, but only a mug would overlook Weir's outstanding Star Status ...and Oscar buzz is already building ....according to a Colin Farrell fansite.
11th Oct 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Loose, White Denim
They're still working on their new album, but while we wait - here's a free new album from White Denim.
"This record is something we made as a little summer retreat from our ongoing work on the third full length. Many of these tunes have been bouncing around since the formation of the band back in 06. We were super pumped to utilize a few fresh and casual musical approaches on this record."
11th Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
The War On Twitter
"Just noticed Twitter keeps prompting me to "Add a location to your tweets". Not falling for that one."
I'm loving the official Al Qaeda Twitter page (unverified).
2nd Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP Stephen J Cannell
RIP 80's TV uber-producer Stephen J. Cannell, who has just passed away - most likely after seeing the big screen adaptation of his show the A-Team. His production company logo is a staple of childhood TV.
Via AICN
2nd Oct 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
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.
28th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Everyday Is Like Sunday
Morrissey's classic single Everyday Is Like Sunday is back on the digital record shelves today, in support of the upcoming Bona Drag re-issue. So, here's the classic video that accompanies the track - featuring a literal depiction of nearly every line in the song, with added walkman-sporting-moody-teenager and freeze frame ending. Love it.
27th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Wilco
Royal Festival Hall, London
Another sparkling performance from always-on-tour chimp favourites Wilco. I won't bore you with too many details - see here and here for some context.
Despite their repetitive schedule, the band are always in high spirits and tonight's show was littered with theatrics - from comedy introductions and explosive drum sections, to a bizarre, unexplained 80's keyboard cameo, to Jeff Tweedy's comparison between the Festival Hall and Star Wars' Galactic Senate.
The 40s+ post-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot haters were in force at the sit down venue, hanging out for Heavy Metal Drummer or a chance to hug their girlfriends when Jesus Etc was played ... which must put a strain on any band trying to move forward, but they were well satisfied with the YHF-heavy set. Personally, I wanted more from A Ghost Is Born....
15th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviews
Black Mountain
Wilderness Heart
With album number three, Vancouver's Black Mountain may be threatening to hit the mainstream ...and with an output history this solid and thrilling, they deserve nothing less.
While 2008's In The Future was a decade highlight for me, Wilderness Heart proves to be something of a departure from it's predecessor - eschewing that early 70's monolithic rock sound for something a little more modern. Circa 1978. Synths and keyboards litter the sound with hidden flourishes, while Amber Webber gets more time in the lime light on these concise, deceptively simple tracks.
Opener The Hair Song exudes a swaggering confidence, while Old Fangs is built around a riff worthy of AC/DC themselves. Empires are smashed, tempos are shifted and War of the Worlds-style synths rule in one of many mini epics on the album - where no tracks head far north of 5 minutes.
Rollercoaster dips before Webber's vocals soar. Let Spirits Ride takes the band on a freight train of their most thundering thrash to date, complete with electrifying guitar and keyboard solos. A calmness decends with the orchestral overtones of Buried by the Blues - but throughout the album Josh Wells' drumming is again a magnificent highlight, running in and out of the layered and intricate guitars and keyboards and providing a muscular and spine tingling backbone.
Title track Wilderness Heart is the highlight, cramming a ten minute epic into just under four minutes as all the elements magically come together perfectly: thunderous intro, duelling vocals, pneumatic waves of drumming and a soaring coda all weaving in and out of each other into a towering, all-conquering masterpiece. Thrilling.
13th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviews
Trailer park: Back to Back To The Future
Back to the Future is getting a re-releases in UK cinemas next month, in honour of its 25th Anniversary. It's a digital print, re-mastered especially for the upcoming Blu-Ray release by the sound of it - and it has been described as 'breathtaking' by writer/producer Bob Gale. Need I say more?
Via AICN
10th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Viral Exorcism
Check out this clever/creepy viral promotion for The Last Exorcism. The viral played on the potentially dirty minds of users of Chat Roulette - a webcam site that hooks you up with a random other user...
8th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Come Around Sundown
Those Kings of Leon are nothing if not productive. In between their never-ending London gigs, they still manage to record new albums. Come Around Sundown is due on October 18th, first single Radioactive should be hitting the radio waves today.
The identity crisis continues however. That's the US cover above, UK below.
8th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: The Hair Song
Black Mountain may be edging towards the mainstream with their release of new album Wilderness Heart, with their recent Jimmy Fallon appearance heading the charge.
They are now filming promos with actors and everything.... though the 'boy meets girl and watches Black Mountain in ruins vibe' is still keeping it real. Or was it all in his mind?
7th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
MosKeyTo
Check out this tiny USB drive - so small you can leave it plugged in all the time without worrying about it catching the cat's tail as it cruises by the sofa. Available in up to 16GB sizes.
7th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Steve Albini Speaks
Steve Albini is perhaps one of only a few musicians who could challenge Jeff Tweedy at an open mic night at the Stand Up Comedy Club. Great interview over at VBS.tv showcasing his many unique viewpoints on music and more.
Via Sound Theory
Also, check out two previous Albini classics:
Steve Albini Has A Problem With Music
6th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Crowdsourced Radiohead
Nice fan-made Radiohead concert up at YouTube, filmed in Prague by 50 fans armed with HD Flip pocket cameras. Radiohead liked the project so much, they donated the soundboard recording for added fidelity....
3rd Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Detective Twitter
Following her arrest for drug possession, Paris Hilton claimed that the purse with the drugs in wasn't hers - but an archived post on her own Twitter feed suggests otherwise.... Gawker has the details.
3rd Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Apple TV 2
Apple's Apple TV product is getting a re-vamp in an attempt to kick start sales of the under-appreciated device. For starters it's now only £99, but the main drive of the redesigned model is in its simplification. By dropping the hard drive, it's now essentially a simple way of streaming content from your Mac/iPad/iPhone onto your HDTV.
2nd Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Unseen Mickey Mouse
Interesting article over at AICN featuring an unfinished Mickey Mouse cartoon that was shelved for being an awkward length (6m 52), followed by an open letter from Harry to Pixar's John Lasseter with a plea to finish it - along with other hidden treasures in the Disney archive.
31st Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP Corrine Day
Sad news that photographer Corrine Day has passed away.
#CSF
#CurrentAffairs
#Photography
28th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: 127 Hours
Exciting trailer up for the new Danny Boyle movie 127 Hours, with the ever enigmatic James Franco.
25th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Cloudbusting
Stellar slice of epic 80's promo action for Kate Bush's hit Cloudbusting. Terry Gilliam conceived the clip, Julian Doyle directed and Donald Sutherland stars. I remember this one getting a screening in the cinema before a feature in 1985, which would make BTTF a contender for the feature.
19th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Various Artists
Dogs In Space OST
As a big fan of this cult Australian movie, I've been looking out for a copy of the Dogs in Space soundtrack since the early 90's - and only now, thanks to the magic of file-sharing I finally get my hands on it. And it's fan-expanded edition at that.
The film and therefore the soundtrack are set in Melbourne's 'Little Band' scene of the late 70's, with some of the acts from that era reforming briefly to play on the soundtrack - such as The Primitive Calculators and Whirlywirld. Michael Hutchence stars in the film and leads the band of the title, but also provides a couple of more punky solo tracks here, of which Golf Course is pretty fun. Hutchence was inspired by the film and his work with veteran Melboune producer Ollie Olsen and the two of them worked together in the late 80's on Max Q.
Of course the ongoing success of some of the acts highlights their contributions here. Iggy's Endless Sea (from New Values) is a highlight of the movie and the soundtrack, while Nick Cave's Boys Next Door provide a classic in Shivers. Another highlight is the Thrush & The Cunts cover of the same song. Charming name.
18th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviews
Trailer Park: Monsters
Monsters is picking up a lot of buzz recently for it's old-school shocks and clever premise - aliens arrived back on a NASA probe and have been mutating and growing for 6 years.
The movie is a firt-time directorial effort from effects man Gareth Edwards. It's not quite on the same clever-with-the-budget page as Panic Attack, 28 Days Later or Blair Witch, looking more like a low(er) budget version of Cloverfield or even the Dawn of the Dead remake, but certainly attention worhty.
Via Empire
17th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Young Neil
More Neil Young Archives are on the way, but maybe don't get your hopes up just yet as Volume 1 took years to materialise. Volume 2 promises three lost studio albums from the 70's: Homegrown and Chrome Dreams, plus Oceanside-Countryside - which I've never even heard of.
No mention of uber-classic Time Fades Away, which would certainly be covered in this period - although Wikipedia mentions Time Fades Away II, from the same period.
Details on Neilyoung.com, via Soundr.
16th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
May The $$$ Be With You
In possibly the first bit of exciting Star Wars news for 10 years, Darth Lucas has announced that the original trilogy will be released on Blu-ray in Fall 2011.
The unaltered original trilogy is now being referred to as the 'classic trilogy' by Lucas, in a not dissimilar way to how Coke back-pedalled out of their new recipe fiasco in the 80's. He has previously put them down as 'workprints' for the eventual grand-vision cartoony versions he released in the 90's and re-tweaked in the 00's.
Of course it was obvious that he would re-jig the films back to their 'classic' state at some point, so if the franchise hasn't been poisoned for you too much this may hopefully be the first time you can get the original films in any kind of decent format. Or more decent than the 90's Laserdisc box at least.
All this info is coming from the Star Wars Celebration V convention being held this weekend, which is providing all sorts of tidbits, articles, links and clips:
- Great article about producer Gary Kurtz vision for a darker Return of the Jedi
- Great Today Show footage from 1980 with Mark Hamill, plus Harrison Ford discussing how much he likes Empire.
- Revelation that Harrison Ford has only seen Empire once.
There was also a screening of one of several deleted scenes that will appear on the Blu-Ray as bonus material. The originally planned opening for ROTJ (below) shows Luke receiving bad vibes from Vadar, while building his own lightsaber and hiding it inside R2D2 - a trick that paid off later in the film. Back when kids couldn't watch the films whenever they wanted I was sure this was the opening to the film - probably as it was in the novelization of the film that I had as an 8-year-old geek. The same goes for Luke watching the space battle at the start of Star Wars through his binoculars.
Nearly all via La Times or AICN
UPDATE: Woodward & Bernstein might suggest a second source on this. AICN is talking original, original trilogy. No one else is that specific. Lucas just talks about the 'highest picture and audio quality' and how the old versions needed a lot of re-mastering, but StarWars.com doesn't actually specify if Han shoots first.... Whatever. Pick 'em up in the 2012 HMV Biggest Summer Sale Ever.
15th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: The Postal Service
Loving the love-in-the-microchip-factory vibe of this video for Such Great Heights by The Postal Service from back in 2003. Bands of this size just don't get MTV-Ready videos like this any more.
13th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Phone Sex
iPhone users get laid more. And that's a fact. Apparently.
12th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Re-Branded
Lovely video up from creative agency Johnson Banks to document their re-branding of Virgin Atlantic;s fleet. Doesn't look like the cleanest place to work, but the results are certainly shiny.
Via Brand New
11th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Hurley Burly
Weezer are out of their major-label contract and are now signed to Epitaph. Surely this means they have just been fulfilling their obligations to the label for the last 2+ albums and will now return to Pinketon-era awesomeness.
Their new album is already ready to drop on September 14th and it's called Hurley, not unlike the now-famous fat bloke off that TV show Lost. Uh oh, maybe this doesn't bode well, as the cover is that fat block from Lost, cropped from a photo of Jorge Garcia and Rivers Cuomo. Irony doesn't even abound.
10th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Devour
Devour.com is an attempt to curate YouTube, getting rids of the dancing cats and just leaving the fancy stuff. Not bad, if a little snooty.
6th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Expendable
Sly Stallone's certainly pulling out all the stops on the PR machine for The Expendables. Check out their amusing custom YouTube page.
Here's the trailer again. In classic 80's style I'll be renting the VHS of this one.
4th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
H.B.O.V.A.
Forget watching any HBO shows legally in the UK unless you've got satellite. Sky has snapped up all of HBO's current and past output, which will become exclusive to the pay-TV channel as current deals expire - for the next 5 years at least.
Scorsese's upcoming Boardwalk Empire looks like a future highlight for the channel, as well as the return of Curb and Bored to Death, but with ITV failing to renew their deal on Entourage and Treme failing to be picked up by anyone yet, Sky is going to be the place you have to go.
With Sky also rolling out their video-on-demand system this looks like a Monopoly-power-play move to add more value to their offering, as they push past the 10,000,000 subscriber mark.
29th Jul 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Superchunk
Arch indie slackers Superchunk are back in business after a near 10-year hiatus. Not that thye've been sitting around - Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan are the honchos of @Merge Records
"Majesty Shredding telescopes two decades into 41 indelible, action-packed minutes. It is the sound of youthful exuberance fine-tuned with grown-up confidence."
Sold. As long as they play Slack Motherfucker on tour.
Pre-order here. Majesty Shredding is out October 4th.
28th Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
BBC Apps
The BBC has finally got the nod from its Trust to release its highly praised iPad/iPhone Apps. The BBC News app has been available in the US for a while, but had not been available in the UK. That's in the App Store now. BBC iPlayer and Sport apps to follow...
Via BBC (who else?)
23rd Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
This Is England '86
Interesting sequel concept from Shane Meadows - a TV series follow-up to his excellent movie This Is England, set a few years later with the same actors reprising their roles. No big deal maybe, except that star-of-the-show Thomas Turgoose was only 13 in the original and now he's 17. See Channel 4's site for more info.
Although that's got nothing on Richard Linklater's forthcoming movie, which has been 12 years in the making....
23rd Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jerk With A Bomb
Death To False Metal
Last week's Black Mountain gig sent me into a completist spin of Black-Mountain-Army-MP3-domination and as a result I dug up this previously overlooked, very early Jerk With A Bomb album. Before Pink Mountaintops and before Black Mountain it was just One Easy Skag and the Silo - AKA Stephen McBean and Joshua Wells.
While later JWAB efforts - 2001's The Old Noise and 2003's Pyrokenesis - have their moments (Pyrokenisis in particular with stellar stand-outs Fine Health Is At Home and the sublime To The Graves), both could be considered relatively patchy affairs. Death To False Metal on the other hand aims a little lower but maintains a solid, consistent level of entertainment - as well as a healthy live feel. You could imagine these two turning up at your BBQ and wowing the camp fire crowd with this whole album.
That's not to say it's all at one note - and This Broken Heart, New Wave Is Dead and particularly Half Mast provide some momentous highlights. Sure, it's still a lo-fi affair, but the passion and fury unleashed on some of the tracks is astounding and the record serves as a welcome early warning of Stephen McBean's deep reservoir of song-writing talent, not to mention Joshua Wells' epic drumming.
Listen in full over at CBC Radio 3 (Track 5 onwards is this album, the first 4 are from the 2 later albums).
23rd Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviews
Film A Day In Your Life
Ridley Scott is flexing his advertainment muscles again, this time with the help of Kevin MacDonald for an LG-Sponsored project with YouTube: LIFE IN A DAY.
It's a pretty neat and simple concept - film your day and the 'most compelling and distinctive footage' will be assembled into a film documenting 24 hours on Earth, which is slated to be screened at The Sundance Film Festival. Not bad.
The only problem is what to do during your day in order to make it into this crowd-sourced Koyaanisqatsi. I had a day in front of the TV pencilled in, but that isn't going to impress anybody. I just might have to fake doing something interesting.
Some FAQs here.
#CSF
#AdNauseum
#CurrentAffairs
#Film
22nd Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Taliban Chimp
According to various news sources, the Taliban have been 'training' monkeys to defend Afghanistan against the Infidel invaders.
Via New York Times
"No invader has ever conquered Afghanistan, and now we know why. The monkeys will not allow it."
20th Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: The Town
Looking forward to the Don Draper vs Ben Affleck crime drama The Town, directed by Affleck himself.
16th Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Major Minority Report News
Trials have begun in Tokyo of digital billboards that use facial recognition to target specific adverts at passers-by.... Wonder what I'm in need of buying?
#CSF
#AdNauseum
#CurrentAffairs
#Tech
16th Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet