| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8126 Registered: 05-2005 |
I started watching The People Versus OJ Simpson last night. I wish I'd seen it before I'd seen the superb ESPN documentary on the Simpson case, but this is still very good. I like the occasional light relief in it, such as Robert Kardashian telling his teenage daughter Kim that fame without purpose was meaningless. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 541 Registered: 01-2007 |
Newsnight with the ongoing disaster that is Trump and the NHS crisis | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 399 Registered: 08-2005 |
Sheesh! I have the worrying feeling that Trump's car crash presidency may be a short affair, for one of any number of reasons. If either a fraction of the recent allegations have any veracity, surely even Trump can't recover from that. Post Newsnight I'm now watching a David Bowie documentary. I'm not a huge fan - the only album of his I own is Hunky Dory (fave song Andy Warhol) - but you can't deny his influence. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8128 Registered: 05-2005 |
I don't believe a jot of that report on Trump. I do, however, find it amusing that he's now complaining about "fake news". What goes around comes around. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1132 Registered: 04-2005 |
Frank ! Trump is responsible for the NHS crisis as well ? You just don't what to believe anymore...the Guardian had an article on the ex-MI6 man responsible for the report saying he was a very experienced individual and highly regarded in his field. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 401 Registered: 08-2005 |
What I'm NOT watching: Trump's inauguration. I don't want to get so angry that I kick in my own TV! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8157 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw a preview of Trainspotting 2 today (it's not opening in Australia till next week). It's magnificent, and powerful, and poignant, and hilarious. The scene in the loyalist/Rangers club was worth waiting 21 years for. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1137 Registered: 04-2005 |
Pádraig That scene doesn't feature Ballboy's classic "The Sash My Father Wore" by any chance ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqSY3iQM 56g Sing along "You're a big fat bigoted...." I've been on an American cinema binge in last few weeks Manchester By The Sea Paterson La La Land and lastly "Gimme Danger" Jarmusch's excellent documentary on the Stooges. ...and Ewen Bremner (from "Trainspotting") funded the demo tape of the first band I was in. Nice guy. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8158 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew, I know and love that song. But, no, not the one used. I'm itching to tell you what is used, but it would spoil it. I had no idea it was coming so it made it all the funnier. Tell us more about the demo and Ewen Bremner. Are you Jim Kerr in disguise? | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1138 Registered: 04-2005 |
No, Jim's my brother. No that's not true, but apparently Jim has a brother who is a drummer and lives in Paris. I was in a band called Irah Hayes and our singer/songwriter Lucy was a friend of Ewen's. At some point in the late 80s I remember Lucy getting a parcel from the States and it was a pair of Converse baseball boots from Ewen. And a letter saying that he had made lots of money from a film and would fund a band recording. PS We added the 'h' to Ira as we figured putting Ira on posters in sectarian parts of Scotland could prove dangerous ! Due to a Chinese Whispers type mix-up we were once billed as "Hairy Ears" when we supported Trashcan Sinatras. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8159 Registered: 05-2005 |
What a great story, Andrew. I can understand why you added the h. Asking for trouble, otherwise. I was shocked on a drive from Glasgow to West Kilbride in 2001 at how much loyalist graffiti I saw. I would have been equally shocked to see republican graffiti, but didn't see any. I thought, it's bad enough this shit happens in Ireland, why do you want it in Scotland too? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8166 Registered: 05-2005 |
Billions, season two. The review in the Guardian raved about it, but so far I don't think it's as good as the first series. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1144 Registered: 04-2005 |
The first Velvets album is 50 years old. John Cale and Lou Doillon - Femme Fatale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=609kGjgq zek | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8200 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Price Of The American Dream, a French documentary on the working poor in the US. It explained, thanks to the voice over, a very smart union official and the articulate people featured, the desperate and disgraceful situation. I don't know if you will be able to watch it outside Australia, but details are here http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8202 Registered: 05-2005 |
Broadchurch, series three. Two episodes in and it's already better than the second series. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1148 Registered: 04-2005 |
RIP Jonathan Demme. “Something Wild” is a favourite film of mine. His video for New Order’s « The Perfect Kiss » is a beautiful clip. Simply the group playing the song live in a studio, the cinematographer was Henri Alekan (who was well into his 70s at that point) who had worked with Marcel Carné, René Clément, Jean Cocteau and Wim Wenders. Wonder what he made of those frog noises. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XW6NLI Lqo | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 49 Registered: 03-2015 |
Jonathan Demme: His career was all over the place and I say that in a good way from working with Roger Corman to making big Hollywood movies. But the films I enjoyed were the offbeat ones like Something Wild, Rachel Getting Married, Who Am I This Time?, or Married to the Mob, and his fine documentaries like Stop Making Sense (my favorite concert film), Swimming to Cambodia, or Storefront Hitchcock. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8231 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew and Fred, thank you for reminding me of some of Jonathan Demme's work I'd forgotten about or didn't even know about. I had never seen that New Order video before. It's brilliant (in both the Irish/UK and US meanings of that word). | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 50 Registered: 03-2015 |
Spring Rain is not on the soundtrack album, but I believe it is heard in his film Something Wild. The Feelies appear in the film as The Willies during the high school reunion scene performing David Bowie's Fame and their song Loveless Love. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8233 Registered: 05-2005 |
An Irish film called Young Offenders. I felt mild shame when I found it hard to understand the accents at first. The film is great. Very funny and poignant. | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 331 Registered: 06-2005 |
The Stag - Peter McDonald is pretty brilliant in this despite the Yoof ending. He co-wrote it and is just hilarious. Check out the Smiths' inspired "Handsome Devil" for co writer|director John Butler's latest film. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1202 Registered: 08-2004 |
Fargo season three. Halfway through and shaping up beautifully. Also the footy league division 2 playoff semis. Both games finished 6-5 with 94th and 95th minute winning goals. Great entertainment. heartbreak and despair. All in the pursuit of money. Which is the real thriller? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8255 Registered: 05-2005 |
No spoilers on Fargo, Jerry. Only the first episode has been shown so far in Australia. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8259 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just watched the first new episode of Twin Peaks in more than a quarter century. Wow, what a head trip it is. There are three more episodes streaming too. | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 164 Registered: 09-2004 |
The folks behind the LoMax record label that put out the reformed GB's records have released their great new documentary on American music - American Epic. I'm really enjoying it and learning a lot that I didn't know about the birth of recorded regional American music. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/american-epic/ | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 436 Registered: 08-2005 |
The BBC news - I may last about 12 seconds before I kick in my own TV, such is my anger at the present political situation (nope, managed less than a whole sentence before I had to change channels). I'd had a really, really bad day anyway, so Theresa May's robotic lies were more than I could take. I don't normally swear much - occasionally playing football at my usual lack of skill - but my language over the last few weeks (May, Trump - covfefe an'all) has left me close to boiling-point anger!!!! | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 440 Registered: 08-2005 |
Oops. Wacthing the BBC news again as Britain seems determined to tear itself apart one miserable piece at a time. Brexit; Tory/DUP non-coalition that will end in disaster. There's absolutely no way this will end except in total disaster for most of the country. Good work Murdoch, Dacre, Cameron, Osborne, May, Gove, Johnson and the rest of the self-serving s h i t s who got us here. May their selfish souls burn in hell. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3769 Registered: 03-2005 |
Simon, I have a room dedicated to listening to music. There is a chair facing an overqualified stereo pointed right at the chair. I've linked up an iPod with a constantly re-culled library of 14,000 songs on it. After I've taken care of after-work domestic needs I go there and sit and listen. While doing this I can forget about Trump and all the other troglodytes that Rupert Murdoch has enabled and endorsed here in our territory. I recommend it to you. In short, turn on and tune out. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 441 Registered: 08-2005 |
I'm just about to get my old CD-based system set up in our new (second) living room. And I'm going to get a Brennan B2 for our dining room music system, which will have my music on it (Go-Betweens, Chills, Indie, psychedelic, cool jazz, Glenn Gould) and my wife's very different music (The Jacksons, disco etc), which is why we need two music systems! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3771 Registered: 03-2005 |
Perfect, Simon. Of course always be sure to vote even if it seems like the elections are never-ending, but in between save yourself the grief. Does your wife very often actually sit down and listen? | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 442 Registered: 08-2005 |
(Yes, my wife does actually sit down and listen, and last night she was doing something I do - trawling Youtube for new/rediscovered music) Now I'm off to a friend's to watch the All Blacks play the British and Irish Lions at rugby union. It's only on pay tv in the UK and we don't have such luxuries! But as it's an 08.35 kick-off UK time it'll be tea/orange juice rather than booze to accompany the viewing! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3775 Registered: 03-2005 |
And that's exactly what I get for my musical snobbery, Simon. I was betting that she doesn't sit down and listen, so a good richly-deserved lesson for me! As a gay guy who reached legal drinking age in 1977 I had to find a way to endure disco. It's not something I can imagine sitting down to listen to. 1977 was when I was excited about "Never Mind the Bollocks" and Radio Birdman and all those cool little 7 inch records by people like the Weirdos and Xray Spex. Disco was hard cheese. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 443 Registered: 08-2005 |
Out musical tastes rarely coincide - she has seen and enjoyed the Go-Betweens/Belle & Sebastian with me - and we'll both listen to the Monkees, Abba and Blondie. But I'm f***ed if I'll listen to the Osmonds, Beegees, Donna Summer etc!!!! (He says snobbishly!) | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1374 Registered: 10-2006 |
My investigation of a new girlfriend’s music collection was always a critical moment at that early stage in the relationship. Most of these moments were acutely depressing and agonising – (“Wow, really, I never knew Chris de Burgh had made so many albums, you know?”) – though not, of course, ever enough to make me give up the possibility of sex. When I managed to get a look at my future wife’s shelves, I was shocked at how few CDs she had – “my ex-boyfriend’s got all the rest, bastard never gave them back” – but there were six Smiths albums and Viva Hate. Whew. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 408 Registered: 05-2005 |
Simon, you're lucky. Seven years ago, my girlfriend, 45, hadn't even heard of the Beatles... | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 444 Registered: 08-2005 |
Tour de France live on TV. It's a so-so stage but I'm a cycling journo so this is work!!! | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 410 Registered: 05-2005 |
Saw it live in my hometown on the road to Spoon. Sagan wasn't yet out. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1164 Registered: 04-2005 |
Agnès Varda and JR's documentary "Visages Villages" at the cinema. The Guardian review sums it up beautifully. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/ma y/19/visages-villages-review-agnes-varda -jr-documentary-cannes-2017 I'll just add that it is what art should be about for me...creating links between us all. Varda is an inspiration. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1207 Registered: 08-2004 |
Reginald D Hunter's Songs Of The South. pt 3 Another worthwhile doc from BBC 4. This episode focuses on Alabama & Georgia. Very good if you can find it. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1395 Registered: 10-2006 |
Four “small” films I’ve had stored up on TV for a while… Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados Spanish Beatles-crazy teacher motors across Franco’s Spain in the hope of meeting up with John Lennon, shooting How I won the war in Almeria and writing Strawberry Fields. Picks up the gorgeous Natalia de Molina on the way, the kind of young actress who turned my head in adolescence and convinced me that Continental film, and indeed the Continent, was the way to go. Maryland Slowburning thriller as an eerily traumitised French soldier plays bodyguard to rich guy’s beautiful young wife. Something is going to happen but who’s going to cause it? L'Hermine French judge finds woman he was once infatuated with on jury. One of those films that just drops you into the middle of someone’s life for no apparent reason and yet engrosses you the whole time. Nice little song by Claire Denamur threaded through it. The Lady in the van Three Alan Bennets for the price of one, plus a barnstorming Maggie Smith. “Yeah. English. Very English” as the slightly thuggish young actor says while Bennet hankers discreetly after him. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3814 Registered: 03-2005 |
Those sound like interesting films Stuart. Perhaps because of my day job (law) I find L'Hermine particularly interesting; it sounds like it could be an interesting study in infatuation and how it fares against time and very unromantic demands. Anyway that's the film I'd like it to be! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1397 Registered: 10-2006 |
Italian X-factor kicks off for this year, with the usual benefit that whatever nonsense happens on stage you have a jury of four intelligent people with a profound love of music who can say what they want for a couple of hours. There’s the usual bunch of manic exhibitionists capering around for a bit and then a young teenage girl trots on, Carole King hair, braces on her teeth and guitar hopelessly out of tune. The jury wave her back into the wings where she gets another guitar. She trots back and shyly says she’s going to sing Elton’s Your song, a tune I’d happily die without ever having to sit through again. She launches into it, a beautiful cool voice, plucking carefully at the guitar, a version all her own, nuanced and intense. We are all enraptured. Well, that’s our treat for the evening, I think. But, no, several turns later, another teenager shambles on, a good-looking lad, floppy hair, 16 years old, big foolish grin, guitar in tow. The jury’s rapper, tattooed to the chin and one of the most astute people in modern Italian music, carefully notes the rustle of hormones that flutters through the audience. The boy says he’s going to sing Kiss and the rapper grimaces as if he’s sealed his fate. The boy slaps funkily at the guitar, twiddles out a cool run down the strings and smacks into the riff with a soft howl. The rapper sits up straight as if he’s suddenly had electrodes whacked onto his gonads. The boy grooves brilliantly through the song, swinging the guitar like he was born with it, singing the song like he’s just written it that morning. So, two treats, at least. Noticeable this year is the lack of Mariah Carey oversingers that were all the rage five years ago and the Lorde copyists with nasal drawls and ukuleles from last year. This year it seems to be every kid for him or herself. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 471 Registered: 08-2005 |
Robert Forster being interviewed on Newsnight - surreal. I was watching an interview with Steve Kilbey on YouTube with the TV on in the background on mute and thought, I recognise that picture... | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 473 Registered: 08-2005 |
..it was the pic of Robert in a dress with Lindy and Grant... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1836 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks for alerting me to this, Simon. I think I found the right interview, which someone was nice enough to post via YouTube. I loved his response to the interviewer's question about whether Australians understood the picture of him in the dress (which he felt no one else did). The way he says "Yeah," it just contains multitudes. I appreciate that RF doesn't have a set script he sticks to in interviews about the Go-Betweens - he always offers something fresh. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3819 Registered: 03-2005 |
A long time ago somebody told me about the phenomenon of rural Aussie men cross dressing. I assumed the person who told me this was just pulling my leg. Who knows, maybe not. http://www.sbs.com.au/secretcrossdresser ssociety/ Seems more like something for Grant though. | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 167 Registered: 09-2004 |
Rob, Can you post a link to the interview video on youtube? I can't find it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8351 Registered: 05-2005 |
For those not it the UK, that Newsnight piece is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w7BfP8S fX8 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3820 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thank you for that link Padraig. It's a really nice clip. Made me weepy. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8352 Registered: 05-2005 |
No worries, Randy. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1837 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks for posting that, Padraig, and my apologies for not doing it originally. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1181 Registered: 04-2005 |
https://vimeo.com/135694839 A BBC Scotland documentary made in 2014 about the Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan called « Life After Death ». Well worth an hour of your time, even if you haven’t read any of his novels. A very interesting man with a strong sense of humanity and his battle against the loggers in Tasmania is inspiring. There is a lovely moment when the presenter Alan Yentob asks a question about how Flanagan managed to get into the head of an invented character. He just laughs and says “You make it up Alan”. Wonderfully unpretentious. The programme was made just after his novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” had won the Booker prize. The novel, based on his father’s stories of having worked as a POW under the Japanese on the Burmese “death railway” is one of the hardest things I have ever read in my life. For Flanagan it was 12 years of work and 5 completed manuscripts destroyed. The day that he posted the final version to his editor his father died. At the end of the programme he wonders if with each book an author has a little less to give ? | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1182 Registered: 04-2005 |
Lots of films at the cinema recently… “Happy End” with the film-maker Michael Haneke present. Always a fascinating man to hear speak. The film maybe not one of his best ? “Un beau soleil intérieur » by Claire Denis. Wasn’t that taken by the film, but a brief cameo by Depardieu at the end reminds you what a great actor he can be, even if as a human being he is an absolute idiot ! “Wind River” Definitely the one to recommend. Directed by Taylor Sheridan that wrote “last year’s “Hell or High Water” that I found less than convincing. Tale of murder on an Indian reservation. Music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. “Redoutable” The Jean-Luc Godard biopic. I should have watched some more of the maestro’s films instead I guess. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 483 Registered: 08-2005 |
London Grammar - Wicked Game A very classy cover | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1209 Registered: 08-2004 |
Mindhunter, a Netflix original mini series. The good thing about Netflix own shows is the fact that each episode doesn't have to fit with other programme schedules. You can have a 2 hour episode followed by a 30 minute episode. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8393 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm just back from seeing The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Oh, my God, what a freaky film. Quite brilliant though. I'm not sure if it was meant to be funny, but I was laughing out loud at many parts, as were some others in the cinema (most weren't laughing though). | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1215 Registered: 08-2004 |
Alan Partridge: Why, When, Where, How & Whom? A documentary on the Partridge phenomenen. Ahead of his return to the BBC. For fans really. A compilation of best bits, outtakes and talking head bits as is the norm. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8412 Registered: 05-2005 |
Toast of London. I watched all three seasons over a few days. Loved it. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 493 Registered: 08-2005 |
Just been to the cinema to see the "Best Film Ever" TM. Oh yes, the sublime, wonderful and often very strange A Matter of Life and Death. Never seen it? Then do so. You will not regret it, unless you've got no soul. And the highlight of this year's Christmas TV in the UK was The League of Gentlemen. Grim, dark and laugh-out-loud funny in equal measure. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1184 Registered: 04-2005 |
With you on that one Simon ! Powell and Pressburger were geniuses and that is maybe their finest film. Don't know if you saw the recent article in the Guardian ? https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/de c/05/thelma-schoonmaker-a-matter-of-life -and-death-scorsese-powell-and-pressburg er It is rare on the Guardian site to see almost 100% positive comments about a subject. Excuse the self indulgence but I posted the following : "Simply a work of great genius. And like an commentator beneath, I’m unable to make it through the scene between Niven and Hunter without tears, however many times I've watched it. I had the luck to see the film on the big screen, when Schoonmaker toured in promotion of the second part of Powell’s autobiography. I was bowled over by its warmth, wit, humanity and intelligence. I also had the luck to see Powell himself talk about the first book and we saw “Gone to Earth” that night on the big screen. What a character and raconteur. In this current political climate, it is sad to think of Anton Walbrook’s moving monologue, as an refugee, in “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp” and what this country stands for in his eyes. I’m glad that Powell and Pressburger are not here to see the mess that we are in." | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8416 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks Simon and Andrew for the recommendation. I've added it to my Amazon list. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1186 Registered: 04-2005 |
The Go-Betweens - The Clarke Sisters Live - Roskilde Festival 1987 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXeJSTmh 5TU Anyone got any idea if there is anymore footage of this gig ? RF seems pretty wired in this performance ! |