Ƭ̵̬̊ RIP
Just logged into twitter, saw the prompt ‘What’s happening?’ in the search field. Twenty seconds later I muttered ‘god-damn right, what the fuck is happening?’;
1st Anniversary…
No particular reason for the picture, just thought it was funny. He is allegedly building an underground bunker to protect against an alien invasion. What does he know that we don’t eh? What do you mean – it’s on the internet so it must be true….
Anyway, yup, that’s right – I am One. Hard to believe a year has passed since I braved this project. I have to say I am vaguely proud of myself for keeping it up, and also proud about keeping the blog going. Ha ha I am funny. I was quietly hoping to break the 3,650 hits barrier as it’s a nice round figure of ten hits a day (thanks Mum, ha ha I am really funny), OK so it’s not quite a huge percentage of the 600 trillion people or whatever who log on everyday but hey, it’s a start. I’m actually writing this thing more for myself than an audience anyway as it’s the only ‘creative’ thing I do – more so than writing risk assessments, summaries of 4,000 page authority contracts, procedure manuals or reading central government environmental assessment reports. Yawn….
It’s been a reasonably successful year – I’ve had holidays in Los Angeles, Tokyo (well, just over a year ago) and it’s looking like an upcoming Christmas break in Stockholm is on the cards. My career has certainly progressed with my current assignment, I’ve seen a few gigs, caught a few movies, finally tracked down a few films by the likes of Carl Dreyer and Fassbinder and am firming up plans to move into a new place in the heart of London early next year. Not bad. So let’s have a party themed entry today shall we?
First of all, let’s try something new – just like Woody Allen said ‘I’ll try anything once, except incest…. or line dancing’. Rather than direct you to youtube interfaces of songs or movie clips, how about I actually embed them in the site itself and save you, dear reader, from repetitive strain injury from clicking on all those fascinating links I collate. Let’s give it a whirl with a few tracks that have been knocking around on the ipod recently;
The mighty Devo, ‘Gut Feeling’
Success !! Next up, a bit of Krautrock;
That was a cover version of ‘Mother Sky’ by Can as I can’t find any footage of the original. Anyway, just to prove I’m ‘down’ with the Richmond ‘homies’;
A nice vintage slice of NWA. And a bit of Mondays to finish off:
Whilst on the subject of music, here are some links to some great blogs for all you techno and house fans out there. I strongly recommend Sasha’s set at Amnesia back in August.
Just to get a little serious for a moment – Get Your War On – I had totally forgot about this, a US political satire comic panel site that focuses on world affairs through the prism of some weird corporate training manual comic book. It was launched in the wake of 9/11, its status rose with the beginning of the Iraq war then alas its popularity dwindled although they are evidently still going. Judging by some of the recent posts, it’s as funny and vicious as ever. On a slight tangent, here is a brilliant ‘re-imagining’ of the Man of Steel’s origins and his ally in the fight against crime, ‘Dusk-Man‘.
Also on a serious tip – you simply must read ‘The Road‘ by Cormac McCarthy. It’s the best book I’ve read in years. It’s immensely depressing and has an ending that will have you in tears – I of course didn’t cry…I…um…had something in my eye. As I have previously mentioned I’m an addict for dystopian elements in any kind of story and the world McCarthy takes us through is a fascinating, real, harrowing hell on earth. I thought Tolkien nailed the description of a land poisoned, corrupted, bereft of life or hope when he took us along with Sam and Frodo’s slog through Mordor – McCarthy aces him hands down with his sparse, stripped down language and remarkable imagery. It’s an instant classic.
Finally, we must have a movie party scene eh?
That’s my kind of party. I selected this scene as it may whet your appetite for the upcoming ‘There Will be Blood’, PT Anderson’s eagerly awaited epic on the birth of the oil industry. It has been getting universal praise on the preview circuit in the states, with his upcoming film being compared to the majesty of Terrence Malick and older classics such as ‘Giant‘. The trailer looks intriguing, alas we still have to wait for the New Year until it reaches Europe.
Minty's Menagerie 
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