mrph | Recent Entries

A week or two back, the Observer music magazine did a story on the "smart, literate" bands who being tagged with the "new eccentric" label - and two they really focused on were These New Puritans and Lightspeed Champion. In passing, they mentioned that TNP's Jack Barnett is "as much a fan of Wu-Tang Clang as German noise experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten"... which certainly caught my attention...

And, well, you know me. I'm a curious soul. So I now have These New Puritans: Beat Pyramid and Lightspeed Champion: Falling off the Lavender Bridge.

Haven't had a chance to listen to 'em properly yet (although the first couple of TNP songs were pretty striking). I suspect I'll post some comments when I do.

January has, on the whole, been a bit grim.

The weather's been unpredictable, cold and nasty, but then I expect that. Work has been stupidly busy and stupidly stressful. I've mostly just been stupid and stressed. Work may have been a major contributing factor but, as ever, it was mostly self-inflicted.

Good things that happened in January? Well, some people had birthdays, and much fun was had. I disposed of the kitchen carpet - and anyone who ever saw my kitchen carpet will happily confirm that this was long overdue. I've started seriously clearing Stuff out of the house. The bathroom ceiling tiles are being slowly (and painfully) removed, revealing a relatively intact ceiling. And there have been a few genuinely lovely moments, hidden away in there somewhere.

The rest of it wasn't so good.

Just three and a half hours to February.

Current Mood: impatient

Very mild spoilers for "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"...

( Is it just me, or... )

Torchwood 2.1

"Torchwood? Oh dear."

Actually... really rather good. Pacing, action, humour, a decent antagonist... and a better soundtrack, for that matter.

...and, yes, ok, those people who thought that season one was sometimes a little too close to slash fiction are probably going to dislike this episode for the same reasons. There's smut and suggestive dialogue. There's hot man-on-man action. Oh yes indeed. And there's a moment with Ianto and his stopwatch...

...and it all holds together rather well. Now, let's see them do just as well next week. But this time, without James Marsters and half of Adam Ant's wardrobe...

Current Mood: amused

George MacDonald Fraser has died.

Books read this year - excluding graphic novels, comics etc.

( Read more... )

This year I have a plan...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Stoke, Coventry, West Midlands, England

Heroes to Torchwood

This amused me. Short and doesn't really contain any spoilers, although if you've not seen any Heroes episodes then it might reveal a little bit...

[Proper Christmas post later]

Well, I really enjoyed the Doctor Who Christmas story. Great characterisation, a twist I half-expected but still enjoyed, good writing and just the right length. Another glimpse at the Doctor's human side, in a way that really worked.

...oh, hang on, you thought I meant that Christmas story? The TV special? Er, not so fond of that one. I was thinking of Paul Cornell's The Hopes and Fears of All the Years.

Ah well. One out of two isn't so bad, hmm?

...new classical music. Opinions?

I skimmed an interesting piece in the latest Gramophone magazine, which commented that there's no 'hook' that can be used to get new work into the mainstream - I think they namechecked the Turner Prize as an equivalent hook for modern art, but I don't have the relevant piece to hand.

There's a bit of my brain that thinks the sort of people who appreciated, say, Tarmvred (to pick a not-so random interesting experimental electronic act) at Infest, are also vaguely likely to appreciate a modern classical composer like Tüür... but I'm not sure that's actually true. Hmm.

May need to think on this a little more, but comments are welcome...

Edit: Well, ok, John Adams is on MySpace. That was a pleasant surprise.

Edit2: ...and so are the Kronos Quartet, among others (...and I hadn't realised they'd been busy remixing NIN. I guess that's a decent hook, hmm? :)

Quoted from Karen Armstrong's The Bible: The Biography...

It was said that one day a pagan had approached Hillel and promised to convert to Judaism if he could summarize the entire Torah while he stood on one leg. Standing on one leg, Hillel replied: 'What is hateful to yourself, do not to your fellow man. That is the whole of the Torah and the remainder is but commentary. Go study it.'

Not a message that's unique to Judaism or Hillel, of course. But one that's worth quoting now and again. If only for the "on one leg" bit.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Meme time. First line of first post of each month in 2007. Some of which may have been private or filtered, I guess...

"How did I end up with the lobster and the kitchen roll...?!"
It's been one of those weeks. It's definitely been one of those days.
Aviemore Gothic Weekend (6th - 8th July 2007)
It's been a very good weekend.
Best. Whitby. Ever.
See some of you there.
I finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, much wallpaper was removed and (part of) the new spare bed got delivered.
Comics joy from scans_daily...
Thank you for sending me an email informing me that Barclaycard Onepulse has now launched and you're accepting applications for it.
Sunday wasn't quite Michaelmas, but then nothing's perfect...
Police guilty over Menezes case
From the Times, spotted via Warren Ellis...

Questionable Content strikes again.

Current Mood: amused

I'm sure almost everyone who cares will already have seen this, but...

http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/

"Any country that can produce David Bowie and Kenny Everett isn't going to be shocked by a man wearing suspenders" - David Baldwin, reviewing Marilyn Manson.

It may be several weeks before I can think of Marilyn Manson without my brain immediately jumping to Kenny's Cupid Stunt. Something in my brain may have snapped...

I've just found some confirmation that the new John Adams opera Doctor Atomic arrives in London in Feb 2009.

A little closer to the here and now, the recent Philip Glass opera Waiting For The Barbarians is in London next June. Should make an effort to see that, although I'm not sure there's a weekend performance.

I've just discovered that Manu Katché, the drummer with the Jan Garbarek Group, is also one of the regular judges on France's version of Pop Idol. I'm amused.

I don't know what he's like as a reality TV judge ("feared", if you believe Wikipedia...) but he's certainly a damn good drummer...

From the Times, spotted via Warren Ellis...

AMERICA has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.

A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.

As chosen by The Guardian

So, what's the verdict? Worthwhile choices?

David Hare's new play The Vertical Hour is at the Royal Court from 17 Jan t 1 Mar 2008. The US run had Bill Nighy, but I'm not sure if we get him as well...
'The Age of Enchantment' exhibition is at Dulwich Picture Gallery from Nov 28th to Feb 17th. Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen and Charles Robinson...
The collected works of Thomas Middleton (Jacobean playwright and occasional collaborator of Shakespeare) are due to be published next week. With luck, someone might even stage one of the plays...
...and there's an exhibition of Japanese prints at Birmingham's Ikon gallery, although I seem to have misplaced the details.

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mrph

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Unintelligent Design

Recent Entries

February's new ('eccentric') music...

Too much time standing in doorways

Torchwood revisited - er, hang on a sec...

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

(no subject)

The 2007 booklist

The 2007 cookery log

BBC2 gets into the crossover business...

Doctor Who (no spoilers)

So, classical music...

(no subject)

The First of the First of 2007

Not the Freemasons

[comics] Watchmen

Sometimes 'The Metro' justifies its existence....

Opera

(no subject)

Kidnapping. A fine legal tradition.

1000 albums to hear before you die

More cultural stuff...

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March 2020

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