Fusion Man

Just when you though that Bendy Buses were "crazy" enough...

...this rudeboy goes and crosses the Channel with his jetpack...

I'm never walking anywhere again

Geronimo

Free The BBC Two

I'd like to publicly declare my support for this pair of charlies:

PEOPLE OF BRITAIN HAVE YOU GOT NOTHING BETTER TO COMPLAIN ABOUT?

Over 18,000 complaints have pushed this key issue (!) so far up the national agenda that Gordo has had to wade in, declaring the BBC must take "appropriate action". Thanks Gords, as revolutionary as ever.

On the same day that it was reported the banking system might be beyond recovery, and the very planet we live on is headed for an "eco crunch", 18,000 people decided the most decisive way of making the world a better place, was to scold two court jesters, just doing their best to make the sun shine for a few brief moments.

Yes it was by no means erudite, deeply sophisticated humour BUT it was funny. And I'm afraid in the business of comedy that is all that matters. My problem with Bernard Manning wasn't that he was a racist, only that I didn't find him particularly amusing. 

Of course not everyone will be fans of every comedian in the land. But the idea that it should be left to every Tom, Dick and Marjory to go about censoring comics is totally preposterous, and always will be. 

LET THEM DO THEIR JOBS

Make your own mind up, here is the the radio "prank":

Part1:

                         

Part2:

                        

And for all 18,000 Daily Mail Readers who complained, you're an embarrassment to the human race.

Onward, onward

Michael J.Funk

 

Still Bluffing

While I'm shamelessly wading through all things nostalgic...

Dr. Snuggles and The Bluffers were two of my favourite shows on TV as a yoot..Both dealt with "environmental" issues in surreal cartoon fashion. There was a huge vogue for this kind of thing at the time. Shows like these eventually lead to animated films with environmental messages like Fern Gully, Once Upon a Forest.

Dr.Snuggles was written by Galaxy Hitchiker-Douglas Adams and John Lloyd (Not the Nine O'Clock News)  and stars the voice of Peter Ustinov. This goes some way to explain why it totes amazing. The Bluffers was of slightly patchier overall quality, but almost more enjoyable because of this fact. 

Peddling messages to "the kids" about the dangers of hurting our environment from shows that started in 1979 - ahead of their time?... 

...Well I would say that wouldn't I!

                               

                               

Mmm..grainy

Fjallraven Kanken

I think these might become a bit of a cult item in the next six months, or perhaps they have already been a cult item for the last six months? I can never tell...

But I picked up a pair for the missus and I a couple of weeks ago, and I'm definitely smitten. Small but perfectly formed, like any great accessory these knapsacks are functional, but not over-designed. Harking back-to-school satchel vibes complete with the name tag inside! 

Since we're talking "old-school" I think it's time for the second monthly installment of Through the Dragon's Eye:

                       

                       

Young Heezy

CMJokes

I'm back in NY to cover music industry wankfest CMJ for Platform. I'm only one night in but so far, so GREAT.

Last night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg; a venue that actually suffers because it's acoustics are too good (bring earplugs), I saw the superlative Passion Pit.
 
                        

I interviewed Michael Angelakos, Jeff and Ian afterwards but despite my insistence they failed to see any similarity between their breakout single "Sleepyhead" and Chris De Burgh's legendary supernatural-space-Jesus-Christmas song "A Spaceman Came Travelling". I know it might seem like the height of tactlessness to accuse a band of plagiarism, minutes into an interview?! But I redeemed myself by being genuinely glowing about their fantastic gig/music.

                        

Is it just me?

Crisp de Burgh

REVIEW: The Fall

Last week on recommendation of my cousin Frederick  (him of Blog-Royale fame) I went to see The Fall:

    
                       


12 years in the making The Fall is a sleeping giant of a film. A masterpiece that may well be out of the cinemas by the time you read this (apologies, it's been a busy week). Having been released unsuccessfully once in America already in 2006, and now finally in the UK, the lack of fanfare twice in a row seems beyond belief.

A film as potentially mind-boggling as this, thrives only by marrying the epic with the very simple. It's a grand, eye-achingly visual feast, about nothing more than what it really means to tell a story. Yet the ravishing visuals of the fantasy narrative  never smother the "real" world of Los Angeles in the 1920's, thus the tangible simplicity of the plot survives intact. Thanks largely to the measured performances of young Catinca Untaru and Lee Pace.

It's nothing new to have a story about telling stories. But in creating such a knowingly fantastical universe director Tarsem has found a masterful device. Each of us sometimes feels that our earthly trials would better befit a masked hero epically battling the forces of evil. And it is seeing this translation of real world events to the fantasy world take shape, (and in such stunning style to boot) that makes this such an engaging and touching experience. 

Each of us has won and lost the girl, been both the hero and the villain. But simply seeing this echoed on a larger scale satisfies something elemental. It justifies our own pain to see it writ large, and as far as blowing up human emotion to epic proportions, you can't get much bigger or bolder than The Fall.

 

The Fall - 8/10

P.S Hello Future My Old Friend

As if last week's discovery of ipod sized DJ decks wasn't mad enough, twice this week I was flabbergasted to find people busting these:

That's right real people, in the world, not in a movie, or a comicbook. Both wearing a watch that's a phone, a phone that's a watch! Two people talking into their wrist as if being Dick Tracy was STANDARD. Acting like they weren't bringing science fiction to life in front of my very eyes!

My flying car arrives next week.

My lightsaber is in the post.

Hoverboard for Christmas.

Dan Dare

Hello Future My Old Friend

In 1995 I was ten years old when I accidentally stumbled across a record that would change my life. I was illicitly gatecrashing a teenage disco in West London when Josh Wink's "Higher State of Consciousness" dropped the world of dance music on my head like a cartoon anvil. A baptism of high-pitched bleeping fire, I remember being truly stunned that there were people capable of making music that sounded like that. Music that might not observe the rules of tempo or even genre. That was why dance music excited me, it felt like music without boundaries, it felt like the future.

Thirteen years later, the lustre of electronic music has faded and dulled. The boundaries have become too specific, genre warfare over what constitutes a "breakbeat", "techno" or "drum and bass" choon seem divisive and rigid. Too many sub-genres have appeared, and a territorial attitude has taken away the experimental frontier spirit that excited me so much in the first place. Since the early 2000's despite UK Garage's best efforts, the only place you see "dance music" is on fatuous compilation albums selling the best of what has already come before. The inventors have given up, or changed lanes. This was the way I felt...

until two weeks ago....

Sinden, Sinden, Sinden, So impressive I named him thrice has acted as the catalyst  to wake me up and believe in all the best elements of electronic music once again. The dance music wilderness years (as they shall now be known) did bare some electronic fruit:

1. The eclecticism and wit of the Freelance Hellraiser, bootleg/mash-up scene championed by the likes of Eddy Temple-Morris


2. The Baltimore hip-hop house that Diplo subliminated overground via MIA.


3. The atmospheric, woofer-crunching Burial/Dubstep/Bassline stuff

It was the seamless blending of all of the above that blew my head clean off it's hinges in the sweaty basement of Love on the 20th of September. As each song traversed  a new genre, I was reminded of the malleability of the DJing oeuvre. Sinden has worked on remixes for everyone from Bjork to Toddla T, and is currently M.I.A's tour DJ. He also is behind the infectious "Beeper". 

"But he's also just a DJ", I told myself. 

"He plays records in a booth and people are dance, what's new?"

I think I've only just remembered how important and elemental that really is.

The drop, the bassline, the frenzy of excitement at the recognition of a tune. It all came flooding back..

And within 24 hours, my revelatory musical experience was compounded by my discovery of the Pacemaker. A pocketsize piece of kit that allows the user to mix digital music on the go. Where once the best a DJ could aspire to was a hulking pair of Technics 1210s, he now can potentially turn any hifi with an Aux socket into an instant jumpoff. All this using a black sliver of plastic not much bigger than a PSP!! I've yet to try it out. Maybe the interface is clunky or the battery life crap? But that's beside the point. It's the direction this technology points that is what's important. Versatility, compatability, and my favourite -ility: MAKEAPARTYANYWHEREABILITY!!

If the creation of gizmos like this coincides with increased accessibility to world's best music thanks to the ever flourishing blogosphere, the potential for musical fireworks is colossal. For the first time in a long time I feel imbued  with a sense of boundless possibility...

Dance Music, it's been ages..

we've got a lot of catching up to do...

Ebeneezer Good

Not a Minute Too Soon

...and throw away the key

Worst Blog Post Ever

Re: Wake Up and Smell The Glass Half Full

An APOLOGY

I was in New York when I wrote this toast to a rosy economic future. Unfortunately along with the majority of Wall Street I mistakenly believed that the bill was going to sail through congress thus saving everyone's arses!

"..we have come past the very worst of the financial storm of the last 6 months.."

Never was there more ill-timed two cents worth of "comment" published in the history of the interweb. Sometimes words just end up in the wrong place, at the wrong time!


Much like the smoker who lights up at the bus stop in order to "trick" the bus into coming. Since discovering my talent for reversing the polarity of the news, I will henceforth promise to only use my powers for good...


Starting now:

• The last few days of wind and rain has been delightful. I do hope it continues.
• This season QPR will definitely not get promoted to The Premier League
  
• Obama will definitely not win November's election
• I hope Gary Glitter does not make a surprise comeback to the charts with a cover of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap's paedo classic Young Girl

The last one is the only one I truly mean.




Paedo Pan