Scottish indie greats the Delgados play Aberdeen's Lemon Tree, 4 February 2005.]]>
The article is about how a supplier for the US military is trying to create a computer interface based on the one Tom Cruise uses in Minority Report, 'yknow with the gloves and the white lights.
I'm going to spend the rest of tonight marvelling at my own paranoia.
]]>Doctor Who is back on TV now. This is old news, I know, but with one thing and another I haven't managed to see an episode until today. It's good - it's appropriately shiny for the 21st century, the acting's good and it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's just like I remember Doctor Who being.
Being a child of the mid-80s, I don't actually remember Doctor Who that well. I gained a measure of cultural consciousness just as the Sylvester McCoy incarnation was coming to an end. I don't remember any specific episodes, just a middle-aged man in a scarf wondering around a quarry. I haven't really seen any of the previous series - I caught a couple of John Pertwee episodes here and there, the Peter Cushing movies, but mostly I only ever saw clips on shows were people go on about how great Doctor Who was.
Maybe that's why this version seems so right, for want of a better word. I remember Doctor Who being good but not why that was. This Doctor Who, for me, seems alright for its own reasons. But because of that, it's also reclaiming its past, reinforming my past experience of it. Time, it is said, is not a straight line.
]]>There is, however, a nice poem about the Hilton Campus Union which closes at the end of term and a whole page dedicated to meeting the ladies who staff the General Office at AUSA HQ (who are, it should be noted, wonderful people though this is conveyed better by meeting them in person than by email).
Essentially, the first problem is that the newsletter doesn't contain any news that is particularly relevant to those AUSA hope will read it. The second problem is the way the information is being presented.
Through the year (Years, in fact. Communication between AUSA and the student body has never been what you might call good.) meaningful communication between AUSA and the students it represents has been minimal. It is not as if nothing has been happening during the academic year. Besides the lack of a Rector, student radio or an NUS referendum, AUSA has announced plans to refurbish the Central Refectory as well as the adoption of a new three-year strategic plan. Yet these fairly important developments have not been publicised. It's unfair to say that the information has been obscured or hidden, because it's readily available. What is unfair is the sheer amount of work it takes to find anything out.
And now, all of a sudden, AUSA has decided that it has all these really important things that all students must know. The newsletter is going to be one huge, indigestible lump of information that is going to be uniformly ignored. Confronted by an unsolicited email with an attachment, most students are going to question how much of value they've heard from AUSA this year and weigh it against the chances of this email containing any vitally important info. Then they'll hit delete.
The one-shot email newsletter is a hopelessly inefficient method of communication. It contains too much information and too little of real value. Some of it is interesting, but unnecessary. If AUSA wants an email newsletter that works, they need to revise how it is conceived and distributed.
"I hate doing this," he [Prince Charles] muttered under his breath and, "Bloody people," as he smiled wryly, apparently blissfully unaware that microphones on the ground in front of him were picking up every murmur.
But the prince's ire seemed mostly directed at the normally inoffensive BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell, a man once known to his colleagues as the bionic carrot and hitherto most famous for sitting on a studio-invading lesbian demonstrator while he carried on reading the Six O'Clock News.
"I can't bear that man anyway. He's so awful, he really is. I hate these people," Charles added as a not so sotto voce running commentary to his sons when Mr Witchell ruthlessly probed the prince's feelings about his forthcoming wedding. For public consumption, he merely said: "I am glad you have heard of it." [Source.]
Curiously enough, the only TV report on this I've seen was logged by one Nicholas Witchell, who must be feeling valued right now.
]]>From my chair."
(From here.)
]]>Chow (Tony Leung) used to be a newspaper man. Now he writes stories about 2046, where people go to reclaim memories. 2046 tells the interweaving stories of the women in Chow’s life in mid-late 60s Hong Kong; Zhang Ziyi’s good-time girl who lives across the hall, the hotelier’s daughter (Faye Wong), showgirl Carina Lau and a mysterious professional gambler (Gong-Li). In 2046, the past, present and future collide in the corridors of boarding houses, the Oriental Hotel and the trains forever heading towards 2046.
]]> 2046 reunites director Wong Kar-Wai with cinematographer Christopher Doyle and star Leung for the follow-up to 2000’s In The Mood For Love. The film is entirely related to its predecessor and yet, at the same time, it isn’t. While In The Mood… was a study of repressed desire, 2046 shows desire let off its leash: the spark for Chow’s new, libertine lifestyle comes from meeting a woman with same name as his earlier, forbidden love. For all his physical intimacy, Chow always seems emotionally distant from his lovers and it’s almost impossible to view this without reference to the tender relationship between him and Li Su-Zhen (Maggie Cheung). But it is possible not to refer to the earlier work, but without that reference it becomes hard to sympathize with Chow at all.Visually, 2046 is another tour de force from Wong and Doyle. Each frame is suffused with detail and beauty. One of the major points of interest is the essential difference between the ‘realist’ sections and the visits to Chow’s 2046; with both areas featuring (mostly) the same actors the demarcation is hugely important. Here, it’s both obvious and unforced. 2046 is a luxury for the eyes.
It’s not quite as enjoyable for the mind. It is hard to sympathize with Chow, and the episodic narrative often frustrates with its refusal to provide resolution to its various parts, though this defiant lack of conclusion is a refreshing change. Overall, the various narrative deficiencies of the film are overcome by outstanding performances from Leung and Zhang Ziyi along with the sheer exquisite beauty of the thing.
It is said in 2046, nothing ever changed. The irony is that in 2046, Hong Kong will be enjoying its final year of political and economic freedom from mainland China. In 2047, everything will change.
Yes, all of them. The bastards.
]]>We're getting through loads more of the latter since the Free Tea & Coffee Bonanza and, no, they can't be recycled. But, apparently, they contain "no CFCs" and "Unfortunately, to use paper cups would be more costly and
One service provider happy to use paper cups is, of course, Pow Wow, who supply the water coolers. Those paper cups can be recycled: squash 'em into the recycling bins. Obviously, ensure they're empty.
Those of you who worry about such things can debate whether that balances Pow Wow being owned by Nestle. The rest of you can carry on eating Nestle's Kit-Kats and microwaving kittens and whatever else it is that you do."
Email of internal minutes of the BBC Worldwide staff Site Users meeting, or, possibly the funniest memo on really boring things ever.
Note the disclaimer: "As usual, this has been filtered through me and, especially since I dozed off during a 17-hour discussion about smoking in the Bistro, it must not be taken as gospel or as BBC policy."
]]>This is not to say that the album is without merit. Tunstall’s songs are, almost without exception, excellent and more than worthy of the praise heaped on them in the national press. Her voice is variable enough to cover by-the-numbers pop thrash (‘Another Place To Fall’), Beth Orton-esque alt. folkery (‘Suddenly I See’) and smoky balladeering (‘False Alarm’). Standout tracks come when Tunstall takes elements of the rock, jazz and pop influences that pervade her work and mixes them with a little something extra; the hint of blues on bonus track ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ or the chunky guitar riff and chanted backing vocals on ‘Stoppin’ The Love’. Throughout, this album surprises and delights.
It’s like when you get to nearer the bottom of a cappuccino. If you can get past the froth, you’ll find there’s definitely something in there and, if you’re not expecting it, it can knock you sideways.
]]>Hold on a second. “More of the same, only more so”? Try making some sense.
The fact of the matter is that Tourist exhibits a whole new bag of musical tricks that Vehicles lacked. Somewhere between then and now, Athlete gained a more epic sound. You mean they added strings. Well, yes, but the orchestrations are well judged…
And entirely predictable, too. So predictable, in fact, that you could have orchestrated the album. You did, didn’t you? “Hmm, about time for a swelling crescendo, methinks…”
I think you’re being a little harsh. Some of the tracks are remarkable, musically speaking: ‘Modern Mafia’ and ‘Half Light’ for example.
I’ll give you the music, but indie is all about words and music, and the lyrics don’t live up to the accompaniment. ‘Half Light’ is all Flaming Lips guitars, tinged with a flute-led middle eight, all of which is let down by stereotypical whinging. Meanwhile, “Modern Mafia’ – for all its post-hip hop posturing – is as lyrically interesting as a phone directory. In fact, the closest Tourist gets to being anywhere near as good as Vehicles is ‘Wires’.
Are you done?
‘Wires’ is Tourist’s trick up its sleeve. For once, the strings don’t do what you expect them to, and the chiming guitars on the chorus seem nearer A Silver Mt. Zion than Coldplay. Lyrically, it constructs its story in fragments of detail: “you’ve got wires going/ you’ve got wires coming out of your skin”, “I see hope is here/ in a plastic box”. The tension is palpable in the chorus (“down corridors/through automatic doors”) as the narrator races to see his newborn child. ‘Wires’ cannot help but be affecting. It is an exquisitely crafted pop song that transcends the shortcomings of its companions.
So, you’re saying “just buy the single,” right?
Don’t cheapen the moment.
Authentic bags with personality and a story.Soyuz bags feature a authenticated piece of the 2004 ISS Soyuz TMA-3 or MIR TM-8 landing parachute. A Certificate of Authenticity signed by the flight engineer is enclosed with every bag.Mt Everest bags feature a piece of tents from Camp 2 on Mt. Everest."
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Not in any way. No.
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