20 is pretty old. I've sort of entered a strange, ethereal state since my birthday on Saturday where everything seems somewhat surreal and time passes really slowly. Maybe it's cos I've just not slept properly for weeks, or it might even be my dire lack of vegetables. Either way it's been an interesting few days.
On Friday it was Detonate at my local awesome club Plug, where Andy C and London Elektricity were playing. I'd like to state this was the first of many consecutive nights where my memory is particularly shady, namely due to excessive alcohol consumption. On the night however I did conceive one of my best puns to date - 'Dubstich'. The act of dancing so fucking hard to music in a club that your body physically aches and groans like a pensioner. Needless to say, a good night.
Saturday the 4th of December was my actual birthday and I crawled out of bed at about 2pm, literally feeling like I'd been battered by the cast of Stomp the night before. I met with some friends and braced my liver for another evening of horrific battery and ended up going out to somewhere I don't recall. I literally felt like an amnesiac the next day, moping around my flat like a depressed housewife. At one point I had to look through photos of the night before just so someone could prove to me that they were actually there. Horrendous. Memory loss aside, I had fun and it was nice of those who were around to come out or say happy birthday. The combined efforts of many may well have prevented my inevitable suicide due to excessive life span.
Sunday held a visit to Leeds with my good friends Emma and Fred to see my future wife and her brother play at a lovely venue called The Wardrobe. The ever wonderful Angus and Julia Stone played an awesome set, during which I pretty much wept at the beauty of the what may be some of my favourite songs from the best looking siblings I know. I swear there was a point during their performance where Julia stared me straight in the eyes for a good ten seconds and I literally felt my heart stop. If you open the picture at the bottom of this blog and squint real hard you just about make out my head in amongst the crowd of the show. If you want a good starting point, this is maybe my favourite song of theirs, although they have loads of consistently pleasant tunes. If you do already know them, then you should know that Julia's got a new solo LP out called 'The Memory Machine'. I've only had a chance to listen to through once, but from what I gathered, it's more delicious folky goodness.
On Monday things were calm so I took time to relax and look some stuff over. Unfortunately for me, this meant I fell into a deep hole, filled with a Smörgåsbord of emotional turmoil, worry and fear, all concerning that at the age of twenty, I should have done more with my life. I took a mortifying test which told me I'd only been to 8% of the world and that "I've got a lot to do!", I almost started tying a noose I swear. However, I resolved to make a list of things that I'd like to achieve, see or do at some point in my life. There's the simple ones - learn a new language fluently, live in New York, make love to Rachel McAdams. But then there's also a couple more outlandish ones - go to space, be a millionaire, win an Oscar etc. It's growing longer by the day, and I'm never guna have time to do them all but I think it's nice to have plans, even if they're ridiculous. It was Publius Vergilius Maro, a Greek poet, who wrote "Audaces fortuna iuvat" meaning "fortune favours the brave". I suppose I have to push the boat out at some point. Here's hoping I make it to 21.
I've said before that I don't really claim to know much about art or photography, but if you want something to look at go on Rankin's website. He's been making creative, inventive images for years now so if you're after something to inspire you or just like looking at pictures, he's worth a gander.
Buy his books, find out what he's done, watch his films. WIKIPEDIA KNOWS EVERYTHING.
It was always going to be a difficult subject. It's too contemporary, it's glamourising the life of fame, the subject matter's not strong enough, no one gives a shit. Unfortunately 'The Social Network' has turned out to possibly be film of the year (with 'Inception' nipping at it's heels). It is what it says on the cover - the story of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and how everyone he knows tried to get money out of him. That's two hours condensed into a sentence, but it is worth your own time to watch the full movie.
David Fincher (director of 'Fight Club' and ridiculously named 'Se7en'), has done an amazing job of making every character in the film instantly interesting and complex. Jesse are-you-sure-I'm-not-Michael-Cera Eisenberg puts in a stellar performance as the website's founder, making him relatable but at the same time, come across as a snark asshole. Andrew Garfield (soon to be the new improved Spiderman) plays the part of scorned best friend excellently. There's not much else I can say other than go and watch it. The scripting is some of the best seen for fucking ages, the cinematography is consistently good and it's incredibly easy to watch. Time magazine said that "The rewards for paying attention are mammoth and exhilarating. This is a high-IQ movie that gives viewers an IQ high" but you don't have to be a genius to know this film's good.
I've seen a few films that made me feel sick in my time. That bit in 'The Pianist' where the Nazis chuck that old man off a balcony, that was pretty nasty. In 'Trainspotting' when they find that dead baby, also mega nasty. That bit in 'Misery' where that fat bitch Kathy Bates goes to town on James Caan's foot, that was pretty bad. HOWEVER. None of that stuff means shit until you've seen Gasper Noe's 'Enter the Void'. I might be exaggerating, it might just be my awful sense of balance, but that film literally fucked me over like a steam roller. I don't know what it was specifically. Maybe it was the shot from inside a vagina of a penis cumming on the screen? Maybe the POV shot as a character walks down about 40 flights of stairs? Oh I know, it might have been the 10 minutes of panic inducing, epileptic fit style credits at the beginning of the film? I'm not saying it's bad. Quite the opposite in fact. The whole thing's beautiful. Set in Tokyo, it tells the story of a drug dealer who gets killed and afterwards, comes back as a ghost to watch over his sister. It sounds simple, but the story's intertwined with a load of other tales and events. There are flashbacks and flashforwards and dream sequences and drug sequences and shots from below and shots from above. There's less structure to this fucking film than there is to a jenga tower. Yet, in spite of everything, it still manages to be instantly captivating. The film bombards you visually with colours and constant on-screen action. The sounds and story keep you constantly glued. At two and a half hours long it's not exactly a walk in the park, but there's so much shit happening all the time you don't really notice. It won't be for everyone, in fact it won't be for most, But for those who do persevere, they'll be rewarded with one of the most aesthetically pleasing and interesting films for an extremely long time. You can find a link for where to watch the film here, but don't fucking tell your mum I sent you there. If you can be bothered to get it on DVD, or if you've got a projector watch the film on that, the bigger it is the more likely you are to feel like you're mental afterwards. Thanks to Ashley Rommelrath and others for letting me know about the film.
To begin, an apology. I've had a shit-load of stuff to do recently and I've been mega busy trying to make friends and enemies. For those of you who care, I'm having a sweet time at uni, I have no money and no food but the company's good and I've made at least three friends.
Things I've done since being here that make me a student -
- Not paid more than £5 for any single item.
- Thrown up in the street.
- Woken up at half 5 in the afternoon.
- Become synonymous with obscene traits (namely, asking questions and being my flat's allocated drunkard.)
- Had a friend cut my hair into an obscure shape.
- Watched more 'Judge Judy' than any one man should ever do.
- Picked up a couple of new hobbies - Drawing, dancing like a prick and drinking copious amounts of wine to name but a few.
The list could go on for a while but those are the real humdingers.
My course has been nothing but exciting so far. It's weird how if you put a bunch of teenagers together and give them the same concept that they can run with it and come up with stuff that's completely individual and at the same time similar to everyone else's. We went on a trip to this place called Gradbach Mill to shoot some short films. We were given a brief to make a film about 'the land'. It sounds a bit pretentious but there were genuinely awesome pieces made, the best of which you can find here. We've been on a couple of course nights out as well which have been consistently amusing; somehow everything we do ends up like an episode of Hollyoaks. Alcohol apparently turns everyone into hormonal, randy kids; it is literally mad.
We got given a brief for another piece as well. The gist of it was that person A is doing something, get contacted by person B and then goes to meet them. Person A resolves Person B's problem then returns to the task they were fulfilling beforehand. It sounds a bit strange, but the brief gave us a chance for quite a broad creative scope. I ended up doing a film on mimes. Lord knows how I came to that conclusion but I think it worked out. You can watch the finished piece on my Youtube page here. Let me know if you like it or if you think it's shit, either way I'd like your opinion.
I've got a load of other stuff coming up, so you keep your eyes peeled.
P.s This is a picture of my hair. My flatmate Jen and I don't know how to cut it so we just keep on shaving the shit out of the sides.
For far too long British and American films have ruled the box office. The problem is with the sheer number of films being produced and pushed in our faces every month it's getting hard to differentiate between what's the grade A crack and what's the back alley smack. You only have to have to take a look at listings for a local Odeon to see the generic drivel that I'm referring to. 'Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore' anyone? What about 'When in Rome', starring Kristen 'face-of-a-thirty-year-old-body-of-a-toddler' Bell? Of course there are good films, but unfortunately they're greatly outweighed by the average.
I've been lucky enough to have a lot of spare time on my hands of late and during that time I've tried to broaden my tastes somewhat. As a result, I have found myself pleasantly surprised. French cinema has been remarkably consistent over the years, with director and writer Luc Besson being a personal favourite of mine. I recently watched 'Angel-A', a surreal romance which is essentially a love letter from Besson to Paris. If you haven't seen it, I can't recommend it enough. You may or may not find the link here, but don't tell anyone I sent you there.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro is gaining reputation as one of the most inventive and creative minds in cinema, with his films often featuring amazing narratives and some of the best cinematography in recent years. In case you haven't seen it already 'Pan's Labyrinth' is mega awesome and most definitely worth the money. So buy it or borrow it off me, I'm generous like that. Also noteworthy is 'El Orfanato', super creepy thriller. It's got kids in masks in it, that's all you need to know about it really.
If you're looking for something a little more serious, you should try 'City of God', the story of two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The whole thing's made up of loads of different stories, it's beautifully shot and gives an amazing portrayal of what life is like in the favelas of Brazil. The film was originally a novel by Paulo Lins, who grew up in the favelas himself; it's really interesting to see how that translates to film.
So go home, don't watch 'Die Hard' again and have a look what else is on. You never know, you might like it.
P.s Much love goes out to Coco Williams, who recommended and showed me 'Angel-A' in the first place.
