Friday, February 23, 2007
I've thought for a while about which type of dog I would have, if I could have a dog.
I've decided I'd like a tramp's dog.
Where do tramps get their dogs from? They always have good dogs.
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I've decided I'd like a tramp's dog.
Where do tramps get their dogs from? They always have good dogs.
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I never did finish my round up of last year, did I? *
Quickly, then.
Best TV programme of the year: The Wire. I can't imagine anyone not liking it.
Surprise of the year: Battlestar Galactica - not perfect, takes itself quite seriously, but after getting through a lot of plot in the mini series, the first season lets its characters breathe; you know my favourite, of course.
Trojan horse of the year: Friday Night Lights - it's not just about football and necking you know. I could argue that it's about class, and race, and ambition, and dead-end life, but who would want to watch that? It is about those things, but it hasn't forgotten character. It also looks beautiful.
My favourite TV experience of 2006 will get its own post.
* Don't even mention logos.
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Quickly, then.
Best TV programme of the year: The Wire. I can't imagine anyone not liking it.
Surprise of the year: Battlestar Galactica - not perfect, takes itself quite seriously, but after getting through a lot of plot in the mini series, the first season lets its characters breathe; you know my favourite, of course.
Trojan horse of the year: Friday Night Lights - it's not just about football and necking you know. I could argue that it's about class, and race, and ambition, and dead-end life, but who would want to watch that? It is about those things, but it hasn't forgotten character. It also looks beautiful.
My favourite TV experience of 2006 will get its own post.
* Don't even mention logos.
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I've just realised that I haven't seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind. What the hell am I playing at?
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John Patterson is fast becoming my Guardian worst. I'm unconvinced he exists: I may be entering into dialogue with a spambot. Surely a real person wouldn't be paid for this selection of undergraduate received wisdom?
"1976 was... a year with a stunning line-up for the best picture nod. It seemed for once as if geriatric Hollywood (ie, the fools who vote) had recognised the new breed and finally understood."
Yawn. Banging on about '70s films is so 1999.
Look at those nominees: Alan J Pakula's one masterpiece, All the President's Men, which changed America's political language forever; Network, which predicted, almost to the letter, the very media-industrial complex now strangling America's national discourse; Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory, a proper leftie movie from a major studio; and Taxi Driver, the most shocking and kinetic movie of the decade, by its greatest new film-maker. And what actually won? Rocky, of course.
Yes, Rocky. The best choice, and a brave one. Rocky is a much more personal and satisfying piece of work than Taxi Driver (was there ever a worse "great film" than Taxi Driver? Oh yeah, the Godfather), or Network. It doesn't make up for picking One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest instead of Jaws in '75, but still, well done Academy.
Also:
That Dances with Wolves, eh? Who'd believe that won an Oscar!!!11!1!
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"1976 was... a year with a stunning line-up for the best picture nod. It seemed for once as if geriatric Hollywood (ie, the fools who vote) had recognised the new breed and finally understood."
Yawn. Banging on about '70s films is so 1999.
Look at those nominees: Alan J Pakula's one masterpiece, All the President's Men, which changed America's political language forever; Network, which predicted, almost to the letter, the very media-industrial complex now strangling America's national discourse; Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory, a proper leftie movie from a major studio; and Taxi Driver, the most shocking and kinetic movie of the decade, by its greatest new film-maker. And what actually won? Rocky, of course.
Yes, Rocky. The best choice, and a brave one. Rocky is a much more personal and satisfying piece of work than Taxi Driver (was there ever a worse "great film" than Taxi Driver? Oh yeah, the Godfather), or Network. It doesn't make up for picking One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest instead of Jaws in '75, but still, well done Academy.
Also:
That Dances with Wolves, eh? Who'd believe that won an Oscar!!!11!1!
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Thursday, February 22, 2007
For a supposedly forgotten anniversary, I don't think W. H. Auden did too badly on his centenary.
The Guardian leader ended with, "Whatever else you do today, read some Auden."
Why not today too?
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The Guardian leader ended with, "Whatever else you do today, read some Auden."
Why not today too?
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Surely any surprise that Kurt Cobain would have been 40 today is more about how old you're getting than anything else?
Looking forward to the 20th anniversary of Ride on Time in *two years*.
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Looking forward to the 20th anniversary of Ride on Time in *two years*.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Always good to read a Noel Gallagher interview.
"Thom Yorke sat at a piano singing, 'This is fucked up' for half an hour. We all know that, Mr Yorke. Who wants to sing the news? No matter how much you sit there twiddling, going, 'We're all doomed', at the end of the day people will always want to hear you play Creep. Get over it."
"It's the same with U2. Play One, shut the fuck up about Africa."
(expletives inserted)
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"Thom Yorke sat at a piano singing, 'This is fucked up' for half an hour. We all know that, Mr Yorke. Who wants to sing the news? No matter how much you sit there twiddling, going, 'We're all doomed', at the end of the day people will always want to hear you play Creep. Get over it."
"It's the same with U2. Play One, shut the fuck up about Africa."
(expletives inserted)
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Wednesday, February 07, 2007
British papers getting you down?
I get all the news that matters from the Mainichi Daily News.
Shrinking pantyhose market clings to 'f*ing Motesto' for survival
Companies and cops lumbered with bubble-era buffoons
Stripper's blazing performance makes fans shout 'fire' in a crowded theater
Japan: they're way ahead over there.
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I get all the news that matters from the Mainichi Daily News.
Shrinking pantyhose market clings to 'f*ing Motesto' for survival
Companies and cops lumbered with bubble-era buffoons
Stripper's blazing performance makes fans shout 'fire' in a crowded theater
Japan: they're way ahead over there.
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