Sigur Ros - Heim (DVD)

If you even remotely like their music, there's no better visuals to them. Pensive, meditative and an extensive travelogue, the shots of them in concert at home in Iceland are a great accompaniment to their moody tunes. The best songs here are from "Takk" although the acoustic version of "Staralfur" (the electric version is on "Agaetis Byrjyn") is fantastic as well. Disc 1 is a trip through Iceland with bits of the performed songs, whilst Disc 2 has the entire performances. This DVD got me so worked up that I am gathering their back catalogue. 2 thumbs up.

I eat books:-

Scar Tissue - Anthony Kiedis

I shot coke, I shot heroin, I smoked weed, I shagged girls. Reminds me of university days but do I feel the urge to write a book about it? Just like those Maggi Mee (instant noodles) I eat some times - enjoyable at some doses but I'll hurl if I eat too much.

A Crack in Space - Philip K. Dick

Ye olde parallel Earth story. Although a black president is really quite relevant now. Jus like the sushi I eat every week - satisying and a very familiar taste.

Invisible Man - H.G. Wells

Goes down well as a good Steak and Kidney pie. Nothing like a good ole English yarn about a concept still far ahead of its time.

Rough Guide to Reggae

This is the equivalent of Ganja Curry Fish Head. It's spicy and you get high as well (Until they stopped selling it about fifteen years ago). Very exhaustive, sure, but how the hell am I gonna find any of the records besides the website SOIDBOT'M recommended? (I am paranoid about using my credit card online)

Commedia - Dante

It's the vindaloo with extra chillies then a cool mint schwappes later. Nice cautionary tale about sin, and redemption.

Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux

This one is like candy floss. A candid tabloid-style tale for its time. The musical is so much better, anyway. Goes down better if you have the original cast recording playing at the back.

Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt - Anne Rice

Unleavened bread ahoy. Pretty interesting exploration of Christ as a child and young man, although it's hardly canonical (it draws heavily from the Gospel of Thomas, where, inter alia, young Jesus turned his playmates into goats). Hard to swallow but tastes fine.

Velvet Underground - Velvet Redux 1993

Hated this the first few times I heard it. Usually as background music before some art film in the cinema in Cardiff, Wales. Lou Reed completely foregoes the original melodies in favour of some laconic lazy singing. On the fourth time listening, though, it's not that bad. If u really want the original melodies, u might as well listen to the old records. Lou jus shifts certain notes and slurs some of the high notes. Highlights include the three-quarters instrumental "Hey Mr. Rain" although the Beefheart-style dissonance tends to grate after 10 mins. The Maureen Tucker-sung "I'm Sticking With You" has none of the girlish exuberance of the original as, let's face it, she's a granny now. My fave is the ultra-monotonal "I'm Waiting for My Man", sung by John Cale.

Rammstein - Live Aus Berlin

Had the CD for years but visually, it's a lot more exciting. Whether it's the spotlights converging on the stage, fireworks coming out of Til's boot, or the epileptic dance by Flake during the middle of "Heirate Mich", this never fails to impress. And they are all songs from the first two albums, so the self-plagiarism never sets in. Lots of pyrotechnics, I'm surprised the front row don't just past out from heat as the flamethrower shoots fire above them. Again, more guffaws as Til comes out in Terminator garb. Spectacular Aryan heavy metal, highly recommended to anyone who wants an introduction to them.

Radiohead - In Rainbows

I really got a bone to pick with pugeye (guy from SF on the meesage board I go to) now. He hated "The Eraser" upon my recommendation and I really disliked this. If anything, it just comes off as a very pleasant album, with none of the innovation usually attributed to them. Most of the chord structures are trite Radiohead, and there is hardly any new ground explored. Really uninspired, mang! I'm still gonna go on praising "The Eraser". Even worse than "Hail to the Thief" which had some pretty good singles and two awesome songs -"Myxomatosis" and "A Bitter Punch-Up At the Wedding". Only good thing about this is that it helps me sleep.

James Brown - Live at the Apollo Parts 1 and 2

This, peeps, however is just transcendental. There is hardly any kind of popular music that puts me on a spiritual plane and this is one of the rare occasions. The Lose Yourself medley is a masterpiece of early funk and has the most irresistable nastiest groove I have ever heard. Pretty cool audience participation as well, which transcends merely singing along, you can join in on the constipated "nggh!"s as well. Part 2 is a soul masterpiece, with electronic-ish mantra of the backup singing in "Prisoner of Love" and the strangely eerie "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" which is also captured so brilliantly by the Residents' cover. THIS IS THE SHIT!

Thelonoius Monk - Alone in San Francisco

His second "solo piano" album. The first thing you notice about this is the lack of a warm sound from the piano, it might as well be a Casio keyboard. The second is he's merely pumping the bassline on his chordal hand. Although the lead lines are interesting, I suppose there's just not a lot going on with the playing to make it all that much interesting. For the record, I really prefer Marcus Roberts' reinterpretations of Monk more than anyting else. This is really just too basic to be genius. Genius? What genius?

Charles Mingus - The Very Best Of

The compositions are very good - with just about the right tension and harmonic balance. Not much on dissonance although the backgrounds can be a little too busy. My first introduction to "soul jazz" although I would say it's a mix of show tunes-style playing, some modal jazz and freebop. I did wish he would solo on the double bass more as the basslines are extremely engaging. So am I becoming a jazzbo? I sure hope not.

Was on a spending spree for DVDs yesterday:-

Walk Hard - A can-do parody of Walk the Line and Ray although some of the jokes are really obvious. Even if they are, I can't help laughing, especially the kid Dewey playing and singing the blues so adeptly. Jack White's turn as Elvis is half-reverential and off-beat, although I wished it would come out as a cynical caricature. The Dylan parodies are spot-on though, when you really look at it, that "Mailman" song doesn't really differ that much from "Visions of Johanna". The Beatles parody is affectionate rather than sardonic and I wished Apatow had written something crueller, but something has to be said for messing with institutions. My fave bit is Eddie Vedder likening the rock echelon to Biblical prophets.

Rammstein - Lightspielhaus

Collection of music videos until the Mutter album and concert highlights. For me, I just loved the first two albums. Mutter onwards just regurgitates the same basic ideas. The original "Du Riechst So Gut" is interesting, a live action version of the Herzeleid cover where they look so much like Aryan supermen. Otherwise, the ideas aren't really that good, except maybe for the CGI ants in "Links 2-3-4" or the Snow White theme in "Sonne". "Engel", though a good song, uses that wine drinking off the foot scene from "From Dusk Til Dawn" and is a downright bore. The concerts are of varying quality, although there are some guffaws from the audience when Til Lindeman comes on in Terminator get-up.

Hendrix - Live at Monterrey

A historic concert although I have to admit the playing isn't all that great, as they sound a lot like the studio versions. The other "bonus" tracks are also hardly that great, "Killing Floor" and "Rock Me Baby" being rote blues workouts and his version of "Like A Rolling Stone" sounding a bit sparse and has none of the pith of the original. My only thrill is the showmanship during "Wild Thing", where he fucks the speaker and burns his guitar. Obviously not as exciting as "Woodstock" even if others might beg to differ.

Radiohead - The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time

Four episodes of Radiohead Television, music set to fan videos, ranging from incredibly boring (negative shots of the sun, strobing night lights) to disturbing (clay figures shooting dope, skeletal professors experimenting on a dog carcass) to relevant (animation showing a man going to work, going to bed repetitively then dying). Has some unreleased Radiohead, some Thom fiddling about in the studio, some interviews. Actually, a very good way to unwind before hitting the sack. I slept so well after watching this.

The Pretenders - Greatest Hits

Mainly got this on a whim and really liked it. The early songs are really ace -"Brass in Pocket" and "Stop Your Sobbing". The later songs, though fitting in the easy listening category are also quite good. Maybe I'm just in my middle age and appreciating these kinda stuff more. Hardly anything challenging here, even if Chrissie Hynde has a brilliant voice. Contains some throwaway UB40 colloborations, both of which sound like their reworking of "Cherry Oh Baby".

Speed Racer movie:-

Just one sentence:-

Why am I merely watching a videogame, instead of playing it?

Lennon : Legend

Just an accompaniment to my McCartney DVD. There's been a lot of twiddling with the music videos, as some of them aren't the original. "Borrowed Time" has been tweaked to include a Lennon flashing scene (Yucks!) and "Love" has some XXX sequences (pretty nice actually). As for the songs, it's still the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine songs that are truly resonant. The other albums I didn't like the singles that much preferring the other tracks, such as "Going Down On Love" from "Wall & Bridges", "I'm Stepping Out" and "I Don't Wanna Face It" from "Milk & Honey". Also, all the singles from "Double Fantasy" are pretty much easy-listening pap. There's a performance of "Slippin' & Slidin'" in the Extras, but no "Bony Moronie". Also quite like that "Working Class Hero" bit from Anthology with the "Two Virgins" cover, one that pugeye (a friend on the music message board I frequent) and I enjoy masturbating to.

John Coltrane : Live '60, '61 & '65

All vintage black and white performances. Mainly got this cos the set list is about the same as "Live in Stockholm 1961", which is my favourite live jazz album. The '60 performance is pretty standard, with mostly modal jazz in the vein of Miles' Kind of Blue. It's when Trane introduces some element of dissonance that things get interesting - in the two versions of "My Favourite Things" especially. Also, has some great shots of a drummer on fire (steam actually) in the '65 portion, showing the amount of stamina needed for these kind of things. The piano solos are unimpressive, only with chordal vamps really being that much interesting, despite Oscar Petersen playing in the '60 portion. Now where can I get "A Love Supreme" live?

Gf not around so was on a DVD-watching spree:-

Diary of the Dead - Surprisingly, such a quick follow-up to Land of the Dead, even though Romero is known to drag his heels in between the sequels. This is easily the "Blair Zombie Project". Is it a return to form? Not really. It is slightly better than Land but doesn't hold up much to Dawn or Night or even Day. The gore, however, is top-notch and hilarious at parts (or maybe they're just funny to sick old me). The splatter is more inventive than Land and more up-front rather than being part of the scenery. The commentary on alternative mass media (the Web) and objective reporting is a new angle although hardly ground-breaking. The juddery hand-held shots also takes some getting used to. And the narrative is merely Romero mind-masturbating, pensive and meditative it may be. Next!

Ginger Snaps Back : The Beginning - Had high hopes for this, as the first movie was snazzy and replete with sharp witticisms in the repartees between the two sisters. However, this is just serviceable. It transports the story back to Puritan times. More upfront is the preacher and God-bashing. I totally dislike the Native American mumbo-jumbo and mysticism but otherwise, not such a bad watch. The sets also look remarkable, like something from a Stephen Bissette (Swamp Thing comics artist) drawing.

Le Cercle Rouge - Just to complete my Melville collection. Hardly as stylish as Le Samourai or as engaging as Le Doulous, this one does have an elaborate heist sequence which is quite a spectacle. At the very least, the story moves at a fair pace and Alain Delon is a marvel to watch, where he shows some race morphing abilities, looking Chinese in certain scenes and Indian in others. Ha ha ha. Otherwise, the story hardly befits the esoteric quote in the beginning, unlike Le Samourai.

Nosferatu (1922) - This one is awesome. A rather belated watch. Everytime I see its title somewhere, it's like "heck! it's Herzog not Murnau". Very nice to see where it all began, the first vampire movie. This one has everything going for it. The murky fear pervades throughout the movie and it has a non-Hollywoodian ending to boot. The intertitle text is also marginally better than Bram Stoker's novel and would have made a much better book, thanks to Henrik Gallen. Disc 2 has a revisiting of all the famous locations, which are, surprisingly, still there in various parts of Germany and Austria. Disc 2 also examines the occultist background of the movie, which is very new to me. A true classic!

Until the End of the World - Merely got this cos I liked the soundtrack. A three-part HDTV broadcast directed by Wim Wenders based on a story by Solveig Gommartin, who also acts. The first chapter is a manic chase through the world and is a nice travelogue about near future Earth. The apocalyptic premise (a nuclear satellite malfunctioning), however, is hardly exploited. Chapter 2 starts to slow down and the final part is rather boring and meandering even though the "addiction to dreams" part is highly probable. My first Wim Wenders and it's not too bad.

One movie:-

Iron Man - This one turned out well. Highly faithful to the source material, from the bulky first armour, to his friend Rhodey and his arch-enemy Obadiah Stane. There is even a nod to Civil War at the end. And there's even SHIELD, without Nick Fury, though. What makes it all hang together is Robert Downey Jr.'s sterling portrayal of a man troubled by his conscience. Comedic at times also and hugely enjoyable. Spoiled by the rather mundane climactic battle which looks like Transformers and the actor playing Stane, who is irritating and annoying rather than menacing and overbearing as in the comics. I haven't enjoyed myself this much since Fantastic Four 2 or V for Vendetta.

I'm Not There

This is an interesting image and word-play on Dylan's life and music. I'll just list out the disparate personalities and tell you all how it works out. There's always a deep sense of familiarity with this movie anyway if you're anyhow knowledgeable about Big-Nosed Bob.

"Woody Guthrie" - Using a black kid to portray his troubadour years is a stroke of genius. And Marcus Carl Franklin really is an excellent actor and singer. The hyperkinetic acoustic version of "Tombstone Blues" with Ritchie Havens and the solo "When the Ship Comes In" just bristles with energy, recalling, I dunno, a young Leadbelly, perhaps.

"Arthur Rimbaud" - merely snippets of an interview for college, maybe. Nothing much here, just Bob's oft-quoted anecdotes. Works surprisingly well, though.

Jack Rollins/Pastor John - the protest perios comes off rather effete, really, due to Christian Bale's understated whimsical portrayal. Mostly seen in the eyes of the Joan Baez simulacra, Alice Fairbairn. The grizzled fire and brimstone preacher phase is stirring, though, with an excellent rendition of "Pressing On".

Robbie Clark - the actor who played Jack Rollins in a movie. Heath Ledger's character is merely to capture the more mundane aspects of Bob's life. As such, he marries a Suze Rotolo-type character and the highly documented (on Blood on the Tracks, anyway) divorce is shown in its minutest details. The reconciliation sex just before the separation is deeply moving.

Jude Quinn - this is the most familiar of them all, the popular phase of his mid-60s electric albums and as such, the best bits of the entire movie. Cate Blanchett fleshes him out pretty well although if you have any slight interest in this period, there is no new enlightenment on Bob.

"Billy the Kid" - this bit with Richard Gere leaves me perplexed, though. Is Todd Haynes trying to show Bob's self-isolation after fame? Is it another allegorical tale in the vein of John Wesley Harding's many songs? Is it an extension of the "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" movie? This part doesn't seem all that congruent to the rest of the movie and does not appear familiar at all, at least to me.

On the whole, though, I enjoyed this a whole lot and I suspect, does more to Bob's legacy than stuff like "Across the Universe" (never seen it) does to the Beatles'. Some nice surrealism as well, Woody being swallowed by a whale in the river, Jude and band firing machine guns at the audience during Newport '65 (hardly that revolutionary, don't think it's that hard to piss off folkies), Jude dancing with the Beatles, a giraffe appearing in a settler town during the "Billy the Kid" sequence. The cover versions are mostly good, except for Christian Bale's rather fey voice. Yeah, two thumbs up.