DVDs This Week

Pick of the Week:

Mad Men: Season 1 – One of the very finest US import shows of the past few years, Mad Men stands as a beacon, as the final moment of American television greatness in the Sopranos/Wire-era. It concerns itself with Madison Avenue ad men in the early 1960s, hungover with the sexism and other societal issues that plagued the previous decade are beginning to fall. It’s about manhood being brought back and a host of other lofty explorations of archetype. Mostly though, it’s about great acting, beautiful writing and a perfect sense of place. Wonderful.

Also out:

Futurama: Beast with a Billion Backs – See the review on Screenjabber for more info but my take; Bender is too funny and overawes everyone else. Thankfully, he’s so funny that it’s still great.
Other Boleyn Girl – Haven’t seen it and don’t really want to. Portman and Johannson may be pretty but they never really deliver the goods when the part truly demands. Well, Portman sometimes.
The Bank Job – Again not seen but probably will as it has Jason Statham and our household has a truly unhealthy obsession with his craft.
Diary of the Dead – Tom’s verdict: Worst movie he’s seen this year.
Oz Season 5 – Still a brutal, bleak masterwork of American television, rarely bettered.
Taxi to the Dark Side – An oppressively bleak and angering work that’s absolutely essential viewing.
Be Kind Rewind – Very enjoyable little comedy with a slight loss of tone occasionally but a big beating heart at its core.
Picnic at Hanging Rock – Peter Weir’s lyrical, hypnotic cult classic.
Garage – Anne Marie Duff is in it so there’s a solid reason to watch. Maybe the most underrated actress in England.
L’Avventura – Antonioni’s masterpiece and the Sight & Sound reader’s second favourite film ever.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – A great book becomes a brilliantly acted piece of drama.

Diggin

Music: The Hold Steady are taking over my mind yet again after dominating my stereo last year. Stay Positive is less immediate than Boys and Girls in America but that same manifesto of making people understand the live-saving power of great rock ‘n’ roll music. The lyrics are more oblique but they still work and my early prediction is that his is likely to become my number uno albumo over the year.
I’ve been trying to find more good music for writing this week and this seems to have split down two avenues. One is high-quality, beat-driven indie-hip hop, notably J Dilla’s Donuts and The Bake Sale EP by The Cool Kids. The former is sketches of genius from a sadly-missed producer while the latter is just a really great piece of summer driving music.
The other avenue the choices went down is somewhere around the drone/shoe gazing area. My Bloody Valentine EPs have filled the spaces between the neo-classical pieces of Eluvium and the dreaming drones of Stars of the Lid, the true sound of dreaming.

Films: It’s actually been relatively quiet week, mostly because I’m absolutely knackered and can’t seem to pull up enough energy or time to sit and watch a movie.
I do have a number on the list that I will be getting too in the coming, quieter week, including In America and Shock Corridor while Tom and I, on his return from the USA, will take in the Kinski-goes-crazy trip of Woyzeck in a continuation of our Herzog exploration.
The best thing I did manage to see this week was the pretty wonderful Imagine documentary on Annie Liebovitz, Beth and my favourite photographer. Watching her at work was nothing less than awe-inspiring but the scene when she breaks down when talking about her late lover/muse, Susan Sontag, brought me to tears too. A pretty great piece of documentary filmmaking from the ever-improving BBC institution, always better when Yentob just stays out of the way.

Books: I started The Rabbit Omnibus by John Updike, among my favourite short-story authors around, but couldn’t seem to get into it, likely because of a dual issue with the intimidating stature of the author and the busyness of my week. I needed something lighter and Muscle for the Wing by Daniel Woodrell covered that base nicely. A well-told neo-pulp novel concerning a group of interweaving storylines and troubled pasts, it canters along really nicely to a wonderfully bleak ending that seems entirely in keeping with the down ‘n’ dirty action of the rest of the novel. Highly recommended.

Other: I have to say that beer has proved a key component of my past week. I’ll likely need a dry week now to let my body recover but overall, it has cooled and calmed when needed and spurred and driven when I partied on a barge in Battersea. Right now though, the thing I think I love the most, is my bed.

Political Weekend

UK

Racial discrimation in the police force rears its ugly head once more

Wendy Alexander, an ally of Brown, has quit.

The Guardian has a piece on Henley and the now dominant Tories in the area.

Donors are turning on Brown too.

Tony Benn puts in his support for David Davis.

US

So Obama and Clinton have publicly made friends this week.

McCain and Obama are courting Latin American voters.

Obama is planning to hit the road.

Jeff Greenfield discusses how Obama can lessen the impact of the Republicans.

Could he get the endorsement of Colin Powell? The ‘Obamacons’ pose a serious threat to McCain.

Rock You Like A Linkicane!!

Dennis has been taken out of the Big Brother house for spitting. Ewww… no grace in that one.

Here’s a primer on Pixar, if there is anyone who is still a novice.

An an interview with Andrew Stanton.

The Girl Talk album is liked.

Air France’s new EP is loved.

Fans as band PR. A good idea, no?

Anthony Lane talks through Wanted and The Happening.

A sequel to 300…

It’s Tarsem Singh versus Louis Leterrier.

The Emmy finalists have been announced.

Peter Travers has reviewed The Dark Knight.

Here’s an interview with the creator of Emily The Strange.

El Paso has given Tom Waits the key to the city.

Political cola. Surely the wave of the future.

Michel Gondry has picked his top twenty-five music videos of all-time.

Here are some highpoints in gay cinema.

Here’s an interview with Zack and Debbie Snyder.

The trailer for RocknRolla is doing the rounds.

Best robot love stories.

Finally, just as I had predicted, Wall-E is apparently a masterpiece. Check here, here and here.

My Bloody Valentine @ The Roundhouse

Five years ago, witnessing the wonders of the bands of my formative historical lessons in music live in concert seemed a dream on par with shaking Jimi Hendrix’s hand or slapping Sting square in the face. But these days, with the money flying and the revivalism at a cyclical zenith, you can’t move for bands reuniting and reminding that the young pretenders of today are indeed, just pretending. The Pixies booted their supporting Futureheads off the stage, Sebadoh lo-fi rocked the shit out of the KOKO and Sonic Youth, well, they didn’t reunite but them, playing Daydream Nation, ain’t no young’ns getting close to that.

Rock n Roll Hoochie Link

I’ve been at My Bloody Valentine (I’ll report back post-haste) so sorry about the lack of post yesterday. In honour of my having to go and see The Rocker tomorrow, it’s time to revitalise the hair metal punnage.

Cinema’s great one-scene wonders.

David Morse. No, the great David Morse, talks through his film roles.

Gareth McLean asks a question I’d love to know the answer to, why is Top Gear so popular?

Pedro Almodovar says you can’t blame him for the alleged dearth of Spanish cinema in the UK.

Konami says compatability is the key when it comes to these musical video games.

All hail Exile in Guyville.

Pizza from a vending machine?

Graphic novels and Hollywood.

Gas prices are hitting the indie rockers too, you know…

Josh Brolin as Snake Plissken? I can dig it.

Keep up with Ricky Gervais’ movie blog here.

School of Rock 2 is looking likely.

New fiction from Alice Munro!

Here’s an interview with agit-punk genius Saul Williams.

PopMatters reviews Primavera.

The first ever song on NME Radio was Muse… only one way to go now I guess.

The new Massive Attack record is coming soon. Hands up if you’re ‘meh’.

Why do bands give themselves unprintable names?

Finally, a Soviet Winnie the Pooh, anyone?

DVDs This Week – June 23

Pick of the Week

Pixar Short Film Collection – The genius of Pixar is well-known by this point but their true wonders come in their peerless shorts. The utter, beguiling, cosmic brilliance of this collection will have you either rushing to rewatch their multiple feature masterpieces or frantically drawing cartoons on the road to a new career in animation. Actual, real-life genius.

Also Out

Pushing Daisies: Season 1 – A fest of quirk to be sure but hugely enjoyable in the right dosage and featuring a truly charming performance from Anna Friel. The rest of the cast is also very good and, given the shocking lack of comedy around on US TV right now, it’s up among the funniest things you can see.
Penelope – Christina Ricci as the girl with a snout who ensnares the lovable James McAvoy who loves her for who she is. Not seen it yet but it’s on the list.
Satyajit Ray Collection – Regarded widely as the most important director in Indian movie history, I’ve seen nothing of his work but the acclaim he attracts is enough to have me interested.
Rambo – Over-violent and lacking in any winking charm, this is a pretty awful piece of brutal ‘heroic’ violence. Any political comment gets lost in the bruising battles.
My Blueberry Nights – Wong Kar Wai, the genius behind Chungking Express, works in the English language for the first time. Avoided by me due to the presence of Jude Law, my absolute filmic nemesis.
The Boss of it All – Lars Von Trier goes for an office-based comedy and, again, I’ve not seen it. But I am intruiged to see what the mischievous git will do.
Syndromes and a Century – Slow but breathtakingly beautiful Thai story with two gracefully intertwined stories. Not for all, but a really rewarding experience.

Political Weekend

UK

Our new key political enemy in the UK? The Grey Squirrel.

Gordon Brown is pleading for help from oil-rich nations on nuclear energy in the UK.

29% of secondary schools in the UK have sexual health clinics.

Labour is careering towards financial disaster.

Apparently we are also leading the world in arms sales.

MPs want money for second homes.

Brown’s plans for eco-housing are being attacked as just hot air.

The Anglican church is divided over the recent marriage of two gay priests and leading bishops will boycott the Lambeth conference

Could the intense criticism of Brown from the Conservatives backfire?

Stagflation in our economy will not be like it was in the 1970s.

World

Unicef say children have been targeted in the war in Haiti.

155 people have died in a typhoon in the Philippines. A ferry, carrying 700, has been hit by the disaster.

Brazil, and the mystery of the not-so-undiscovered tribe.

Violence in Zimbabwe continues and seems to have been meticulously planned.

White Link, I Wanna Link

Mercury Rev will return with two new records.

Josh Modell finally takes in Raging Bull.

Is Chinese Democracy finally upon us?

Wired has a piece on the Metallica reviews scandal.

Cody Chessnutt could be returning – inspired by Obama.

Chuck Bass in short-shorts.

Weezer adding more to the Rock Band party.

Is bottled water on the way out?

Here’s Jim DeRogatis’ top ten records of the year so far.

In Treatment has been renewed.

Inglorious Bastards may be split in two.

Link Rose

Slate reviews Michelle Obama’s appearance on The View.

Best songs of the year so far, according to The AV Club.

The Boondock Saints gets its tribute as a cult gem.

10 screenwriters to watch.

Kiss no like Radiohead.

The next addition to the Spears clan has arrived.

PopMatters has a feature on George Melies.

Which TV catchphrase has entered your lexicon?

Lethal Bizzle talks about his Download experience.

Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III tops a first week million.

Madchen Amick is joining Gossip Girl.

Man Man provide a Guest List.

A red band for The Wackness is up.

Cool Ghostbusters tee!

Mercury Rev’s next record will be a free download.