Hello folks

Sorry for the lack of anything on here for sooooo long. I felt a bit bad for this so I thought I should provide some information on what’s going on.

So, we are now running two other blogs. The first, I’ve linked to before. It’s called Politalking and its all about business and politics and current affairs ‘n’ stuff. It’s also suffered a little from less posting in the last few weeks but we’re working to form a plan to be able to contribute to that and…

The Movie Overdose! Our brand new film hosting site which houses our podcast of the same name!! You can check us out on iTunes and through the site but I thoroughly recommend both, in case you misplace one of those MP3s.

So, that’s what’s going on at the moment. Please come and check both out and I’ll try to post some more stuff on here in coming weeks.

THE MOVIE OVERDOSE

THE MOVIE OVERDOSE

THE MOVIE OVERDOSE

THE MOVIE OVERDOSE

Check out our new blog Politalking, taking all politics and current affairs related news in bitesize chunks from around the internet.

GO TO POLITALKING

GO TO POLITALKING

GO TO POLITALKING

So, after months of consternation and thinking and procrastinating and other useless non-activities, its probably not too much of a surprise that Electricity and Lust is to change. It’s not ending, but it is drastically changing. The basic premise is thus: Electricity and Lust is to change into a housing facility for a new podcast that myself and my good friend and housemate Tommy will start doing in the near future. It’s not all decided as to what will occur with the podcast as yet, what it will focus on etc. At the moment, all that’s known is that Electricity and Lust will be where you will be able to get hold of it and enjoy. When it will start is also up in the air at the moment but that will come soon.

Until then, pop culture news will be put on the downlow. A new blog has been started, Politalking, which will focus on all sorts of political, current affairs, business, international issues and news and just all sorts of other bits, sometimes interspersed with some fascinating columns and comments on the world around us. It will take a slightly different focus than has been seen on here with, for the time being, a distinct lack of our aggregate posts and almost nothing on film, music, tv or any other pop culture bits. That will be rectified by the content of the upcoming podcast project however.

Anyway, please go over to Politalking and enjoy and we will see each other very soon to discuss the goings on of the day.

A report from The Hollywood Reporter suggests Ben Stiller is in (very) early talks about taking over from Spielberg on The Trial of the Chicago Seven, the biopic of those arrested for inciting rioting at the Democratic Convention in 1968. Stiller on political drama? Could be interesting. With Branagh taking on superheroes, why the flip not?

From The Guardian:

A top Iranian official has said Barack Obama is the favoured candidate of Tehran, calling him more “rational” than John McCain in remarks that could be used against the Democratic US presidential hopeful.

Well, maybe its not the best possible endorsement for Middle American nuts who still think he’s a Muslim, but doesn’t just further suggest that all this lack of foreign policy experience that McCain wants to play us is just sheer bull.

Just a quick post but I thought I should share the ridiculous infatuation I have nurtured into bloom for ‘Sax Rohmer #1′ by Mountain Goats from their Heretic Pride record. Darnielle basically sings about some sort of war/peace gathering taking place at a harbour somewhere but, as with many Mountain Goats songs, the thing I’ve latched on to is the chorus. I honestly think John Darnielle must be among the best chorus writers in the business. There are three songs on their masterpiece, The Sunset Tree, which, despite the tone of the record being resolutely depressing, are rousing and beautiful and brilliant in ways only truly great songwriters can achieve. The best of the lot, ‘This Year’, is ostensibly about Darnielle stealing his father’s car and joyriding for a day, knowing it will mean hell to pay when he returns. Despite that underlying sadness, Darnielle has a gift for inspiring adrenaline-rush moments of romanticism meaning you are taken on the car ride, experiencing all the free abandon Darnielle feels in his moment of freedom.

‘Sax Rohmer #1′ is a prime example of chorus-writing skill, a surging, beating-heart chant that I find completely thrilling. It’s going to be among my favourite tracks of the year.

Here’s the video. Enjoy and let the obsession take over.

…are to be moved permanently to our Tumblr site here. We just needed some way to make it quicker and, it looks nicer.

The general consensus among Democrats over the past few weeks has been that Obama needs to go on the offensive, the counter the Republican attack machine and prevent himself from being saturated by overblown scandal and downright lies which sway the dumb voter and give the White House to the Republicans. I’ve always felt a better idea, and perhaps the one he has been using, is to allow them to just destroy themselves, give McCain and Palin the space to make their ridiculous comments and make their unsubstantiated attacks on him and just let the water flow clean under the bridge.

Today, that plan of attack appears to have had some credibility as Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was found to have abused her power as Alaskan governor by a State Legislature panel. The case relates to her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, pressured by Palin and her husband, Todd, to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper who had been involved in a custody battle with Palin’s sister. Palin had maintained he has been fired due to a budgetary dispute.

The Republicans had gone on the attack with the report from the start, saying the investigation was politically motivated and brought around by supporters of Obama looking to discredit the then-very popular Palin. Whether that’s the case or not, this is an explosive story likely to have the entire weekend’s coverage to itself plus the holiday in the US on Monday as people put the market crash on Friday to the back of their minds. Having said that, the danger remains that Paulson and Co will crush the story coming out of the weekend with a new rescue plan for financial markets. The Republicans will attack hard but I can see this providing a major problems for the McCain-Palin ticket and it again gives a strong reason as to why you shouldn’t hire someone after meeting them once. Would you choose a vice presidential candidate who was in the midst of a corruption case?

Check out the story on The Huffington Post, Fox News, BBC News and CNN with the full report here.

Here’s some early comment from Richard Lister (BBC) and I’ll try and provide some more on it tomorrow.

The Slate Culture Gabfest, the culturally-motivated podcast from the good people at Slate, this week had a segment on the Nobel Prize and its place amongst awards including the Oscars and Grammy’s, where the winner is often chosen through political, economic and diplomatic motivations rather than the quality of the work. They highlighted an excellent website, Great Books Guide, in which Ted Gioia lists all the Nobel Prize winners since the inception of the prize and an alternative list of all the possible winners snubbed over the years.

The lack of parity between the two lists – very few concur across both actual and deserving winner – is pretty shocking and also enlightening given the quality of the choices made by Gioia. He constantly picks works that are far more deserving of a grand and visible literary prize. Often the award seems to be given to writers well past their peak (Pinter) and, particularly in modern times, anywhere but to the US. The past two winners were Doris Lessing and this year, Jean-Marie Gustav Le Clezio. The latter I don’t know at all but Lessing is certainly something of a deserving winner although, as previously suggested, well past her best.

As you go down the list, specifically in the past twenty-five years, the number of fantastic authors to have been snubbed becomes startling. The most notable, as called out on the Gabfest, is Philip Roth. An incredible, provocative force of literature, Roth is still working at some pace and with some quality. His finest work, American Pastoral, came over two decades from his debut and his books from the last couple of years maintain the level of quality and brutal, comic skill that characterise his finest pieces. Continue back and you find Don DeLillo, John Updike, Haruki Murakami, Tom Stoppard, Bob Dylan and Hunter S Thompson, all thoroughly deserving of the prize and all with the ability to create great work even in their latter years. 

It seems the Nobel has finally been inducted into this pantheon of awards that no longer have any power or meaning. Winning an Oscar means nothing as much as it used to while winning a Grammy means only another doorstop for west wing extension. The Pulitzer still works but can only give out anything to books from that year and can’t quite provide the sense of tradition and history that the Nobel Prize does. The question is why the prize is needed outside of finance. Is there anything that these great writers get from being told by the Nobel committee that they are great in their eyes. They’re already great. Perhaps its the certificate on the wall. Maybe it is just the money. Whatever it is, the prestige has fallen away.

Sixteen amazing sports movie feats. Including Karate Kid. Awesome.

Interview: Greg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) on his sample-crazy mix stuff.

Kevin Bacon is producing a John Wilkes Booth series for Showtime.

Polaroids by Warhol. I suppose, by default, these are cooler than your polaroids.

$30m for Beverly Hills Chihuahua… here’s a review.

The top ten Wired.com photos.

Polyamory is moving mainstream.

Thirty nude scenes never to forget.

Who has the best moustache of the year?

Here’s a preview of Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt.

Oasis were beaten out for the number one spot by Pink.

The Cottage’s Paul Andrew Williams may direct 28 Months Later.

Jupiter. From Earth. Cool.

Listening to Creedence is good.

Interview: Philip Seymour Hoffman.