28 September 2006
Star Wars shortened
Part One. Part Two. The whole saga cut down to 20 minutes. Moments of utter genius here.
Typewriters and carbon copies
Interesting article by Robert Silverberg on the difficulties of writing in the pre-computer era.
27 September 2006
lonelygirl15
I first came across the lonelygirl15 phenomenon just as the 'is she / isn't she?' rumours where breaking. I had quick look but did not really give it any attention until the 'it's fake' stories spread over the media a couple of weeks ago. That's when I went back to see what was happening.
To those who are uninitiated Bree is a home-schooled 16 year old girl with strict religious parents who started putting out a series of video blogs on YouTube as lonelygirl15. She talks about her life, her religion, her friendship with 'Danielbeast' and performs occasional humorous skits where she 'proves science wrong'.
Except she isn't - lonelygirl15 is actually an actress several years older than Bree supposedly is and what she says have been written by a trio of three aspiring male screenwriters.
I'm fairly sure I would not have been taken in by it, and with hindsight it looks pretty obviously not real. The actress playing Bree looks much older than 16 and seems to be far too well groomed (look just how well-shaped her eyebrows are) for the science-loving geeky introvert that she is supposed to be. A couple of the videos that take place outside of her bedroom - a hike and a swimming trip - look far too professionally filmed, coming over like pop promos.
There is also a definite plot developing. Bree's parents do not approve of her budding relationship with Daniel so she has to sneak out to see him. Also he does not agree with her religion. Bree is currently busy preparing for a big ceremony in which she will take a leading role. Daniel often argues with her about this, leading to an on-off relationship.
Bree's religion appears to be a sinister nature. If you pay attention you can see in the background of her room a picture of Aleister Crowley that seems to form part of a shrine. Also in a recent episode the 'dead language' she is learning for the ceremony is shown to be Enochian, which Crowley used in his magic. And number of other questions are throw up for the viewer: What are the mysterious pills Bree is seen taking? Why does she have a ball of cotton-wool taped to her arm in one scene? Is it after an injection? What injection?
Unfortunately lonelygirl15 gets let down at time with some duff writing and the young inexperience actors are not really up to the challenge of their roles. Whilst they are good at doing geeky stuff when emotions are high and during their arguments the acting hits a wrong note.
It seems fairly obvious that Bree is going to be sacrificed in her coming ceremony. In asides it is mentioned that someone that Bree and Daniel knew has already disappeared and her parents disapprove of their relationship because it makes her 'impure'. Hopefully Daniel will still be around to rescue her when the time comes.
I'm not watching any soaps at the moment (well aside from the sublime and frankly bonkers Neighbours) and Bree's travails (despite the odd bit of bad acting) make a good replacement.
There are a number of parodies of lonelygirl15 on YouTube. I'd recommend Lisa Nova's as it's hilarious ('Remember she's lonely!' 'I wanted her tied up!').
Her other videos are great too especially Teenie Weenie ones
and the recent Sopranos sketch.
26 September 2006
Stalker
Review of Stalker now in Reviews.
23 September 2006
The physics of superheros
Some fun stuff here... a physics professor points out some of the scientific shortcomings in some classic superhero comics:
Death of Gwen Stacy - Spidey should have used more stretchy webbing
Electro and Magneto
Superman's Blooper
The Atom's Blooper
Hitler sings...
... on the toilet and to his dog, in the bath. Here's the English translation of the lyrics. Not surprisingly this has gathered a certain amount of controversy in Germany.
20 September 2006
Eyeballs
There's weird, really weird and totally freak-out uber-weird. Then there's The Residents.
They were once super-obscure, but with the magic of the internet the obscure now becomes accessible. Something may be lost in the ease you can now track down the once difficult to find, but at least you can now find out why this band have become legends.
So The Residents - genius or madness? Well now you can decide. Here's some faves but there's plenty more out there.
This is from their 'bubblegum pop from Mars' stage.
Or fancy a picnic?
Constantinople.
One minute movies.
Here's an interview.
See also something on the KLF I wrote a while back to get some idea of the influence of The Residents.
Meanwhile I found SunnO)))
from this article in the Guardian. They seem to be not so much a band as a sonic weapon. 'Sludge Metal' apparently though the minutia of the sub-divisions of the metal world - Grindcore, Industrial Metal, Groove Metal, Metalcore etc, escapes me. Anyway, turn it up loud and feel your brain vibrating out of your ears.
19 September 2006
We have the technology...
I loved the Six Million Dollar Man as a kid.
I mean really loved it. Well expect for the Bigfoot episode which scared me to death.
I'm sure like many I spent school dinner times running across the playground in
slow motion and having equally slow fights making those 'ke ke ke ke' sounds. I even had a Steve Austin hair cut! Of course it now looks like a
load of old campy nonsense. I had a red tracksuit like this... thought not the hairy chest to go with it.
Though I would not have been seen dead in a pink suit, now or then. And I love how the fight just happens to be a room
full of cardboard boxes.
Gun and guitar
I could see one of these appearing in Robert Rodriguez's next film.
18 September 2006
Chad Vader - Episode 3
Now the night manager. Not quite as good as the first two eps but still worth watching. "I searched my feelings... all of the them!"
The greatest televsion show evah!
Walker Texas Ranger!
Especially when the clips are being introduced by Conan O'Brian.
The world's ugliest car
I've never been much of a petrol head but this is an insult to a fine look automobile... it's like spray painting over the Venus de Milo! And check out the interior... how can you drive in that? I think the inevitable migraine would see me crash inside five minutes.
01 September 2006
JPop
Most of it is pretty trashy and as mass-produced, if not more so, than the west ... or even disturbingly cultish like Morning Musume for example. But every now and again you can find some true wonders if you delve into the world of JPop.
There's Judy and Mary for start... here's one of my favourite songs - 'Motto'
and here's great bit of live footage of another great song 'Sobakasu'
They broke up a few years ago but the lead singer Yuki now performs as a solo artist. 'Joy' is well, just a joy and the video is fantastic
Of course it could be argued whether Judy and Mary are actually pop at all... Stance Punks are certainly not, but they are equally marvellous. 'No boy, no Cry' has a cracking video.
And here's some metal (well several different sub-flavours all in one go) with Maximum the Hormone.
With a girl drummer no less. She's not a bad singer either as you can see here in 'Minoreba Rock'
Then there is the utterly brilliant Polysics with 'I My Me Mine', one of my favourite videos of all time.
Here's another version with just Strong Machine 2.
And here they are live.
Her dad, Strong Machine 1 naturally, is also a dancer - here they are perfoming together.
And finally here's an ad.
Of course it's possible to trashy and mass-produced and still be pretty wonderful like the hi-energy Shanadoo. Or this bunch... though I think the bloke could do with a slightly longer t-shirt.
"This is Jim Rockford..."
I loved the Rockford Files as a kid. Then I saw it again recently and the years have not been kind (like Starsky and Hutch). Still someone has gone to the trouble of listing every single answering machine message they used in the show.
