Saturday, 17 April 2010

Zero Tolerance

The Reality
The Lie






Current things getting on my nerves

Call Centres
Waiting for Deliveries
Pedestrians
The phrase “Like?”
Kids on Mobile phones
Teenagers on mobile phones
Salespeople on the street
Litter
People that don’t close my front gate
Lateness
Rubbish Beer
Dog Pooh
Slow Service
Pointless e-mails

Friday, 16 April 2010

Tribute to The Barron Knights



An inspirational record cover from the BKs
Pul, Arctic Monkeys take note

Consisting of Duke D'Mond, Barron Anthony, Butch Baker, Peter Langford and
Dave Ballinger The Barron Knights have had one of the longest careers of any British band spanning the swinging sixties up to the present day (although only Langford remains active)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD-LAX0DxL4
They formed in Leyton Buzzard and started out as a straight pop group, in 1959, they then went to Hamburg, in 1963 on the request of Brian Epstein., they toured with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, had a hit single written by Pete Townshend, had a number 7 UK hit in the punk year of 1977 and they still tour to this day.
Fame first came in 1964 with "Call Up the Groups". Overcoming copyright restrictions through parodies of The Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Dave Clark Five, The Bachelors, The Rolling Stones, and The Beatles.
On Pop Goes the Workers! High vocals from D’Mond mimicked the female singers the Supremes, and Sandie Shaw.Comic parodies then became their staple for the next 4 decades. They had a number of successful singles, including a billboard hit in the US and toured non stop over the years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdONReB1hKw
Their many parodies/targets have included Leo Sayer, Brotherhood of Man, Tom Jones, David Bowie, Boney M, The Small Faces, The Smurfs, Supertramp and even Barbara Woodhouse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H_HKHcGmK4
The Barron Knights reflect a bygone age when popular music was fun and carefree. All hail the kings of pop parody

Thursday, 15 April 2010

QT

"When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films." Quentin Tarantino


































Quentin Tarantino praised and criticised in equal measure, plagiarist and auteur. Tarantino is probably the only main stream director who's releases have a must see appeal.Like Scorsese in his heyday each new movie is a much anticipated event. It is easy to see Tarantino as a copyist but which director isn't influenced by what went before. From Hitchcock to Speilberg one of the great things about movies is the key scene. Arguably Tarantino has been responsible for some of the most memorable scenes and memorable dialogue of the last two decades. In this alone his work should be appreciated. His movies have entered popular consciousness. Example;



Lou telling the other cops about his trip to Shelbyville.
Dialogue:
Lou: You know, I went to the McDonald's in Shelbyville on Friday night.
Wiggum: The McWhat?
Lou: Uh, the McDonald's restaurant. I've never heard of it either, but they have over 2,000 locations in this state alone. Eddie: Must've sprung up overnight.
Lou: You know, the funniest thing though, it's the little differences.
Wiggum: Example.
Lou: Well, at McDonald's you can buy a Krusty Burger with cheese, right? But they don't call it a Krusty Burger with cheese.
Wiggum: Get out! Well, what do they call it?
Lou: A Quarter Pounder with cheese.
Wiggum: Quarter Pounder with cheese? Well, I can picture the cheese, but, uh, do they have Krusty partially gelatinated non-dairy gum-based beverages?
Lou: Mm-hm. They call 'em, "shakes."
Eddie: Huh, shakes. You don't know what you're gettin'



He lists his top ten films as Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (1966) (aka "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Leone), Rio Bravo (1959) (Hawks), Taxi Driver (1976) (Scorsese), His Girl Friday (1940) (Hawks), Rolling Thunder (1977) (Flynn), They All Laughed (1981) (Bogdanovich), The Great Escape (1963) (J. Sturges), Carrie (1976) (De Palma), Coffy (1973) (Hill), Dazed and Confused (1993) (Linklater), _Tian xia di yi quan (1973)_ (aka "Five Fingers of Death," Chang) and Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) (Stone).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePWBNcugf8

memorable dialogue from Jules
Those influences can be seen in his work which has included TV episodes of CSI and ER, cameos and full blown performances in movies, script writing duties on joint work along with guest directing.His choice of music in his movies echoes Scorsese's fine ear and brings another dimension to his movies. He is also not shy to play the celebrity game but is happy to appear in American Idol and Friends as well as documentaries about serious art and yes he has made some mistakes, notably his segment in Four rooms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmBnQ4skXQQ
QT on AI

Quentin has also been able to cast his movies with great ensembles and has relaunched careers. Controversy kicked off his directing career with Reservoir dogs which has instant classic scenes and cracking dialogue, it also paved the way for the masterpiece that is Pulp fiction.His latest Inglorious Basterds has the same classic scenes and snappy dialogue and when looking back on some of the moments in his movies they are both quotable and highly memorable.He showed that he could also do a slower character study with the under rated Jackie Brown.
Above all Tarantino should be classed as one of the great directors, his talent as a writer is beyond question. Even in the hands of another director his strength on the page is clear for all to see. Example;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXjcf47y-zk


Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken True Romance


"If I wasn't a film-maker, I'd be a film critic. It's the only thing I'd be qualified to do." Quentin Tarantino

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Robotic Mayhem

Following on from Yesterdays double dose of Sci Fi I got to thinking about Robots (as you do) and heres a selection of good ones. This is not a geek heavy overview of realism and amount of technical accuracy involved but rather Robots that i think are cool and Robotatious.
Come on doesn't every one like Robots?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2tBhaVEWGM
We have Ash from Alien, a corporate tool. The Fembots from Austin Powers, comic book guys all over the world rejoiced. ED 209 'You have ten seconds to comply'.Huey and Dewey from Silent running, R2D2s cousins. The Terminator, who absolutely will not stop. Gort from The day the earth stood still, an imovable object. Bender from the underappreciated Futurama an alcoholic New Yorker.The Maschinenmensch from Metropolis the mother of all other Screen Robots. The ludicrous RoMan from Robot Monster, just goes to show what you can do with a Gorilla suit and a diving helmet. And probably the most credible of all HAL from 2001 a space odyssey, his death is cold yet moving. Robots eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm00l5N8Jao

THICK AS A PRANK

The other day I was sitting in the car on a hot day, minding my own business near the Emirates stadium, home of the Arsenal. The window was ...

WELLYOULIKEDTHAT