Scattered updates
Nothing that warrants a full post to itself, so a few things gathered together.
Music:
BellX1 in Trinity Rooms last Thursday. TR is a surprisingly decent venue. BellX1 rocked, although I'm not sure about their new material (sounds like they're going for a Franz Ferdinand vibe...definitely not a good thing. I just don't understand this obsession everyone has with FF.). Even more surprising than the venue was the support act, Life After Modelling. A support act with charisma, decent tunes and a soundcheck. Say it ain't so!
The Frames in UCH a few weeks ago. Meh. I realise this may be shocking to those who know me, but I do possess some objectivity when it comes to the Frames. And this was a distinctly underwhelming gig. The first half of the set was predominantly new songs, which didn't really go across all that well...with the crowd talking through most of it. Hardly surprising, since they hadn't gotten the album yet, and catchy it ain't. About halfway through, the band kicked into Setlist mode and played familiar stuff. The crowd of mainly 18 year old girls went nuts, and clapped and cheered every note played (literally) and head movement Glen made. They wouldn't shut up, cheering and clapping through stuff like What Happens... and Star Star. The drummer was clearly getting pissed off as this continued through every single song. The band played for 65 minutes (having showed up late), a far cry from the glory days. They also didn't try and engage the crowd, playing song after song with barely a word. Not that anyone wants a return to the dog stories of old, but a bit of charm or levity wouldn't have gone amiss. The Frames on a bad day are still worth seeing...but, meh.
New Redneck Manifesto album. Incredible. Cron, you want?
Josh Ritter's albums (Golden Age and Hello Starling) are seriously growing on me. Cohen, Dylan, Neil Young and Ryan Adams all mixed up without sounding horribly derivative. I actually prefer Golden Age (probably cos I've had it longer) despite the fact that Hello Starling got all the rave reviews. It's definitely music that grows on you.
New Strokes album. Same old, same old. New Green Day album. Great if you like that sort of thing (and I do). Blink182 obsession ongoing, which is slightly disturbing. New Sigur Ros album (() - is the title) is interesting.
Movies:
Michael Cooke (fellow IDC-er) has the Herzog/Kinski boxset. Lucky bastard. Went out to his place today and watched Voyzcek and My Best Fiend. Voyzcek is another strange mood piece. It reminds me a lot of Nosferatu, slowly building to a fairly obvious conclusion. Kinski plays a man who is exploited by everyone around him...slowly losing it. The entire film is yet another descent into madness (like Aguirre), although interestingly, judging by the way Kinski is presented in the documentary My Best Fiend, he was holding back his own madness for most of the movie. I sometimes suspected that his infamous rants and erratic behaviour were an act that he used to create mystique. But no. The guy was practically certifiable, and thoroughly unpleasant to work with. Herzog, I'm less sure of. There's something slightly unsettling about the way he seeks out actors with fairly glaring mental problems and then exploits them in the name of "art". Herzog seems quite sane, but then again...he did plot to kill Kinski on a number of occasions (not that I blame him).
Books:
Why is it when I'm busy at work/thesis that books seek me out and demand to be read. The System of the World, the final part of Neal Stephenson's epic Baroque trilogy is being released shortly. I've already gotten 2200 pages into this, so the finale had better be worth it. Apparently, according to early reviews, the ending is standard Stephenson...ie, there is none. The book just stops. Ah well.
Oonagh has just torn through Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon and is highly impressed. I'm toying with the idea of offering her Quicksilver...but I fear for her sanity.
We've also got a beautiful hardback copy of Jonathan Strange and Dr. Morrell, which has gotten rave reviews and shocked everyone by not making the Booker shortlist. It's unusual for something that is essentially a fantasy novel to get such acclaim, but apparently it's a very unusual book. Oonagh is currently hacking her way through it's 1000 plus pages and likes it so far.
I keep flirting with the idea of picking up Umberto Eco's Baudolino...but sanity keeps intervening.
I remind myself that I simply won't have time to read any of these books, since we have a project deliverable in 5 weeks (in Naples, wheeee!) and I'm trying to get a draft of my thesis out by Xmas, with a few months to follow for corrections and rewrites. But it's nice to dream.
What else? Well, Shane's birthday is coming up in two weeks, and he's coming to Limerick to celebrate. The Divine Comedy are playing in Dolan's that Friday night. There are unsubstantiated rumours that Cron is planning a visitation in the same period. Are the rumours true?
Oh, Ticktockman has been reclaimed by Brendan. Which sucks. We'll miss you, Ticktockman. I expect to hear of Brendan and Dave's house burning to the ground any day now.
Shane has been fitted with a new Gmail account and has been invited to this blog as a contributor. We await his acceptance with bated breath.
Music:
BellX1 in Trinity Rooms last Thursday. TR is a surprisingly decent venue. BellX1 rocked, although I'm not sure about their new material (sounds like they're going for a Franz Ferdinand vibe...definitely not a good thing. I just don't understand this obsession everyone has with FF.). Even more surprising than the venue was the support act, Life After Modelling. A support act with charisma, decent tunes and a soundcheck. Say it ain't so!
The Frames in UCH a few weeks ago. Meh. I realise this may be shocking to those who know me, but I do possess some objectivity when it comes to the Frames. And this was a distinctly underwhelming gig. The first half of the set was predominantly new songs, which didn't really go across all that well...with the crowd talking through most of it. Hardly surprising, since they hadn't gotten the album yet, and catchy it ain't. About halfway through, the band kicked into Setlist mode and played familiar stuff. The crowd of mainly 18 year old girls went nuts, and clapped and cheered every note played (literally) and head movement Glen made. They wouldn't shut up, cheering and clapping through stuff like What Happens... and Star Star. The drummer was clearly getting pissed off as this continued through every single song. The band played for 65 minutes (having showed up late), a far cry from the glory days. They also didn't try and engage the crowd, playing song after song with barely a word. Not that anyone wants a return to the dog stories of old, but a bit of charm or levity wouldn't have gone amiss. The Frames on a bad day are still worth seeing...but, meh.
New Redneck Manifesto album. Incredible. Cron, you want?
Josh Ritter's albums (Golden Age and Hello Starling) are seriously growing on me. Cohen, Dylan, Neil Young and Ryan Adams all mixed up without sounding horribly derivative. I actually prefer Golden Age (probably cos I've had it longer) despite the fact that Hello Starling got all the rave reviews. It's definitely music that grows on you.
New Strokes album. Same old, same old. New Green Day album. Great if you like that sort of thing (and I do). Blink182 obsession ongoing, which is slightly disturbing. New Sigur Ros album (() - is the title) is interesting.
Movies:
Michael Cooke (fellow IDC-er) has the Herzog/Kinski boxset. Lucky bastard. Went out to his place today and watched Voyzcek and My Best Fiend. Voyzcek is another strange mood piece. It reminds me a lot of Nosferatu, slowly building to a fairly obvious conclusion. Kinski plays a man who is exploited by everyone around him...slowly losing it. The entire film is yet another descent into madness (like Aguirre), although interestingly, judging by the way Kinski is presented in the documentary My Best Fiend, he was holding back his own madness for most of the movie. I sometimes suspected that his infamous rants and erratic behaviour were an act that he used to create mystique. But no. The guy was practically certifiable, and thoroughly unpleasant to work with. Herzog, I'm less sure of. There's something slightly unsettling about the way he seeks out actors with fairly glaring mental problems and then exploits them in the name of "art". Herzog seems quite sane, but then again...he did plot to kill Kinski on a number of occasions (not that I blame him).
Books:
Why is it when I'm busy at work/thesis that books seek me out and demand to be read. The System of the World, the final part of Neal Stephenson's epic Baroque trilogy is being released shortly. I've already gotten 2200 pages into this, so the finale had better be worth it. Apparently, according to early reviews, the ending is standard Stephenson...ie, there is none. The book just stops. Ah well.
Oonagh has just torn through Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon and is highly impressed. I'm toying with the idea of offering her Quicksilver...but I fear for her sanity.
We've also got a beautiful hardback copy of Jonathan Strange and Dr. Morrell, which has gotten rave reviews and shocked everyone by not making the Booker shortlist. It's unusual for something that is essentially a fantasy novel to get such acclaim, but apparently it's a very unusual book. Oonagh is currently hacking her way through it's 1000 plus pages and likes it so far.
I keep flirting with the idea of picking up Umberto Eco's Baudolino...but sanity keeps intervening.
I remind myself that I simply won't have time to read any of these books, since we have a project deliverable in 5 weeks (in Naples, wheeee!) and I'm trying to get a draft of my thesis out by Xmas, with a few months to follow for corrections and rewrites. But it's nice to dream.
What else? Well, Shane's birthday is coming up in two weeks, and he's coming to Limerick to celebrate. The Divine Comedy are playing in Dolan's that Friday night. There are unsubstantiated rumours that Cron is planning a visitation in the same period. Are the rumours true?
Oh, Ticktockman has been reclaimed by Brendan. Which sucks. We'll miss you, Ticktockman. I expect to hear of Brendan and Dave's house burning to the ground any day now.
Shane has been fitted with a new Gmail account and has been invited to this blog as a contributor. We await his acceptance with bated breath.
posted by batgimp | 1:13 a.m.
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