 The haze of pollution over London viewed from Primrose Hill |
|
| January
2008 Saturday 26th January 2008 What I thought was a particularly interesting london sky captured with help of a 15mm super-wide heliar. Friday 25th January 2008 If you can only go to one festival next summer, Castlefest is worth considering as something out of the ordinary. The music is by Omnia from their album "Alive!". Wednesday 23rd January 2008 Saturday 19th January 2008 The
genius of Chris Cunningham. Friday 18th January 2008
This is like something off The Day Today. "You don't sound very sorry".... "Take off your glasses and apologise to us.." lol. Thursday 17th January 2008 A sadist, a masochist, a murderer, a necrophile, a zoophile and a pyromaniac are all sitting on a bench in a mental institution. "Let's have sex with a cat?" asked the
zoophile. There was silence, and then the masochist said: "Meow." Sunday 13th January 2008 Lajos Koltai's harrowing film Fateless (Sorstalanság) is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same title by the Nobel Prize winning author Imre Kertész, who also wrote the screenplay. It is set in 1944, as Hitler's Final Solution becomes policy throughout Europe.
The film follows the fate of 14 year-old György Köves from Budapest, who finds himself swept up by cataclysmic events beyond his comprehension; experiencing first Auschwitz, followed by Buchenwald and Zeitz concentration camps before returning to a very different home from the one he left behind. Fateless cleverly explores the contrasts of the unity and brotherhood that developed between inmates of the camps with the sense of alienation that many experienced upon returning home when the war was over. The film features many poignant scenes that, for me, sets it apart from other Holocaust films. One hypnotic example is a grueling roll call that has the prisoners stood outside for hours on end. Lajos Koltai: “Kertesz has a phrase in the book about them standing there ‘like wind blowing through a forest’. I wanted these scenes because the difficult thing in the camp was not being beaten up or physically tortured, but the time spent in this place. I had to realise this by using effects of music [by Ennio Morricone] and movement. I met a Hungarian dancer who specialises in showing the movements of the suffering or dying and I prepared a kind of realistic choreography with him. Morricone composed an ‘anthem of solitude’ for the sequence.” Inevitably perhaps, the film has been compared to Schindler's List, but in its favour, it lacks the melodrama. It also lacks the sentimental Hollywood schmaltz of Life is Beautiful. Indeed, it is its un-sentimentality that sets it apart, and for me, makes the film so powerful. The other strength of the film is that as the viewer is drawn into the narrative, Koltai manages to turn the traditional Holocaust movie ethos on its head by asking not how we react to scenes of such horror, but instead, what it must be like to get so accustomed to such an environment that it becomes what its participants would regard as 'ordinary'. The acting throughout is excellent, notably that of Marcell Nagy who plays the lead role of György, who, despite maintaining the stoic belief that 'there's nothing too unimaginable to endure', seems to physically waste away as the film progresses.
The cinematography is also faultless, and Ennio Morricone's score adds another dimension to an already amazing film. But don't take my word for it: "exquisitely modulated and superbly mounted,"-
Variety Saturday 12th January 2008 Back in November I spent the morning taking pictures of international concert pianist Reiko Fujisawa, for whom I'm designing a website. I've borrowed some of Reiko's amazing performances
to make a classical music player. To hear Reiko in action, simply
click the icon ( Friday 11th January 2008 Apologies for the lack of recent updates, but my flat's a building site and most of my possessions are in boxes. It turns out this emigrating lark isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I must get that carpet cleaned too. Sondre's doing his stuff. Here are the tracks My Hands are Shaking and Hell No from from the recent soundtrack to Dan in Real Life. Friday 4th January 2008
Like many happy Apple fans, I'm the proud owner of an iPod touch, which is without doubt, the fanciest piece of kit I've ever owned. It's so good I want to buy a spare on the off-chance that mine develops a fault. With the help of some downloadable software, you can easily transfer any of your favourite films or TV shows to be watched (full-screen) while on the move. Knowing I had plenty of cult TV to catch up on, I opted for the 16GB version which I knew would accommodate a fair few. And sure enough, mine currently holds five feature films, the entire first two seasons of both Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Sopranos - this is in addition to a good 6GB worth of music and photos. With it's own browser and wi-fi, it's a great little device, and the only criticism I have is that, in colder temperatures, the touch sensitive screen has a tendency to not pick up fervent finger jabs. But, as you see from the below, some clever people have even come up with a way to solve the problem. I look forward to plenty of admiring glances when I, dressed in my new Phone Fingers, next surf the web in my local Starbucks.
Thursday 3rd January 2008 THE HOLDMAN CHRISTMAS DISPLAY 2007 tUESDAY 1ST January 2008
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|