Tonight’s Lottery Ticket

Film Review: Saturday night at the Movies

To London's busy London to celebrate with E&R&R&S..... Happy birthday E

We went to the Curzon and had a marvellous time seeing the excellent "Slumdog millionaire".

I've always liked Danny Boyle's work but I think this is his most complete cohesive film for ages. It's a modern thrilling fable set in Indian charting the childhood of 3 slum kids and is set around a miraculous gameshow appearance by the main character. I won't do the plot here as you'll have heard about it elsewhere. Just give some thoughts.

Firstly Ignore all the "feel good film of year nonsense", that is if you are expecting "My best friend's wedding" or "calendar girls" it's feel good only in the way that really good art makes you feel more alive excites you, entertains and engages. It's not feel good in the general meaning i.e. rolling skating with Dalmatians tampon ad "feel good" patronising nonsense let's kick ABBA to death way.
What to say:

• Slumdog looks great with excellent Kinetic camera work.
  
• It sounds good particular the scene on the train where they start playing the M.I.A track see below (if it seems a little 2007 I think they had problems releasing the film which is madness because it so good).
  
• The kids' acting especially the little kids is really good.
  
• Boyle credits poor people with a rich life which although hard isn't dull or meaningless but without being tedious, worthy and wholemeal about it, it's not a lecture on extreme poverty but doesn't trivialise hardship either. One thing to mention is that it does have violence in it from the start, nothing extreme but you don't get through life in ghetto without the odd black eye, bust lip or being turned over by the cops.
  
• My only complaint was that the Curzon's aircon was faulty, there must have dust or something blowing out because I got something in my eye towards eye just for a moment not for long what with my steely manly eyes mind you....
  


• So in short Slumdog Millionaire is definitely worth a trip to flicks, (it won't look as good on the small screen, India is after all a big country.)

Here's Danny Boyle playing doing magic with light!!

Here's the Clash sorry MIA paper planes

Viva bobby Joe

Singles of the Week

It must be about time for some of my latest crate digging

(well gaffer taped shoe box) finds:

The Equals “Viva Bobby Joe” President 1969




The first one this week I bought because as a general rule I buy singles if they have a “the” band on the label that I’ve not heard of. So it was with this one “The Equals”. I’m afraid I didn’t know anything about them other than “Viva Bobby Joe” sounded a good title. It turns out they where relatively famous in 60’s for “Baby Come Back” and because their founder member was Eddy Grant who went on to have pop/reggae hits in the 80’s.

I quite like it; it’s very Mersey Beaty with a proto glam stomp at the start. Also the Bobby Joe of the title (I’ve just thought you don’t think it’s a rude code do you!) makes a quiet comically short triumphal tour all the way from “Blackburn to Liverpool”

A couple of Eddy Grant related things:
Apparently Eddy built his first guitar in woodwork which sounds rather romantic until you remember Brian May did exactly the same thing!

Also I was fan of Eddy’s work in the 80’s but was a little let down when I finally “went down to” the real “Electric Avenue”.

I don’t know quite what I expected I suppose I thought it was shack lined road in Jamaica full of Juke joints leading down to a balmy beach not a side road off Brixton high st strewn with cabbage leaves, first left after Iceland.

Just imagine how pissed off I was when I found that Amen corner is a bend in the road next to kebab shop in bloody Tooting!

For the fuller skinny on The Equals
Next up are :

Los Brincos “Mejor” novola 1966

This was one of the many hits from the “Spanish Beatles”. I like its Byrdsy 12 stringy feel and the Yankee Doodle fade out. I also like it being in Spanish it gives it a parallel 60’s feel as , the seemingly familiar is shot through a prism.

Sadly I will have to track down more of their stuff next time I’m in Spain as Amazon hasn’t been any use and even the nice people Exotica only had a 4 track ep which was a little pricey.

I haven’t found the lyrics to translate yet I’m afraid however Mejor which I think means “better” in Spanish as in “Best” rather than “recovered”

Friday Lucky Bag vol 7

Film of the week
Sunshine.
Do yourself a big favour and go and see Sunshine. We went in the week and it is great and frankly you need to see it on big screen to get the full effect it will look crap on your TV.
It was one of the best times I’ve had in the cinema in long while.
It does have a thriller/horror element but visually it is not too graphic. Danny Boyle does that good thing of blurring the horror (so most of it’s in your mind) and therefore making it scarier. It was so involving I almost hid behind me shirt at one point.
It’s got great visuals (in a 2001 style but pacier), good acting, spooky sound, overall a great film and a really great cinema experience.
Me and P left the cinema buzzing and had to have a few “settlers” to calm down.
Ps. I had omen about this film having seen (I think) Cillian Murphy out shopping the other day, oh those cheek bones.
In tribute to Sunshine go here for sun facts
Or here for sundials




Single of the week

I wrote in a previous blog (At great length) about Los Marshalls a Spanish pop band for 1960’s and their cracking single “Flamenco”. Well with my new file hosting site I can let you have a listen. It’s unlikely, but if anyone associated with the band wants me to take the file down I will, it was put up as a celebration. I would normally send you to site to buy the record but as I tunes doesn’t have an obscure vinyl section yet I can’t! Oh and it’s a bit crackly.



Oh so that's what she does of the week
A foot note at the bottom of the BBC coverage of Hugh Grant throwing his sarnie box at a pap explains all about his ex
“He (grant) recently split from Unicef ambassador Jemima Khan" which looks better on your CV than hangs around with rich blokes and gets in and out of cars.




Seeds of success.

I planted my window sill garden this week. Hopefully I should have some tomatoes, basil, radishes and various cress and sprouting seed things soon.
When I say soon the radish came up in about 27 hours hurrah! Am attempting to have one meal I've grown myself.
One little aside aren't seed packets fantastically designed things totally evocative and essentially cheery. Like hardware shops they seemed filled with potential and positive attitude. A big display of them seems to all whisper "grow me..."



Solipsism of the week
The god of fire (I’d like to think it’s Vulcan but it’s more likely to be Roy Wood) has being trailing me this week. First there was a big fire near to my flat in Deptford/Newcross and then I woke and had 3 secs of bliss when it sounded like my office had burnt down. Un/fortunately it was a few doors down. Clearly the two aren’t related, however much I might like the idea that some bearded deity is throwing thunderbolts at me (even if he’s doing it with a brummie accent) it sadly just chance…


Major life events of the week
I finally started to manage someone old enough to be my daughter. Not in a knocked someone up when I was 16 way but in the got married in my middle twenties had kids in an unhurried sort of way.
Another thing that happened this week was I started to fancy the (potential) French president!




Any Dream will do
Lastly it is only a matter of time until my blog mentioned a dream I've had; all blogs seem to in the end!
I woke from a dream that involved a pub with a carvery (fat bloke dreams what can you do) with a question playing on my mind,
If human flesh tastes like pork what's the crackling like?






Sweet of week
The good old lion Bar yes I know it's by Nestle (always said to rhyme with wrestles) but they are deliciously chewy and to mind always taste of French service stations.


Cliché of the week
Spotted in the IT section of my new office, signs of old skool geekery: on two separate desks copies of Terry Pratchett novels plus large pictures of Buffy and Xena.