People The Oracle is no more. Gloria Foster, whose performance made 'The Matrix' has died at the age of 64. She had a destinguished career throughout television and film. This is a jinxed movie series.
Music Nadya Labi of Time magazine writes that the Taliban are hot headed because of their attitude to music, which is almost totally banned throughout Afganistan as a mortal sin. Some pop music can be heard, but only via pirated tapes and never when the authorities are around. "It insists that there is a hadith (a record of the Prophet's sayings) warning people not to listen to music lest molten lead be poured into their ears on Judgment Day." Personally, I'd take that chance. "Until then, the Taliban police are wreaking their own violence—against musical instruments and anyone who dares enjoy their use." Good to see the cliches of all major anti-freedom regimes are being upheld. They'll be burning books next...
Blog! The Ultimate Insult is Zen in its simplicity. Drop off a link, get out. For once, here is someone who just wants to entertain.
Photography Life magazine offers classics from their archive, proving there is often more sense in the still black and white photo than in an entire television news programme. The first picture is the much parodied yet still affecting shot of a sailor kissing his sweetheart in the centre of a city.
Real Life Interviews 50 Cents is the work of Alex Chadwick, who sets up a card table in a place and asks every day Americans about their lives. Brings perspective to celebrity chatshows, which always strike me as bringing human truths about a very small group of the total population. When was the last time you really heard a pop star say something constructive of 'David Letterman' or 'This Morning'?
Film The Fast and the Furious is as you would expect, a showcase for stunt driving, with added flash and flesh. It's actually very good, for it's type. The cast, especially Van Diesal and Jordana Brewster have a plenty of charisma and the action sequences are very well mounted. Yes, you leave the cinema with a slightly empty feeling but this is a criticism of the genre not this particular movie. And anyone considering the lifestyle will no doubt be living it anyway by now. 'Point Break' with cars. ***
Fine Art 'Up to' $100m art lost in attacks The hyperthetical debate about which is more important, the only surviving copy of Shakespeare and a human life has happened now -- and they cancelled each other out, because neither could be saved.
TV Off The Telly begins a series of articles about Youth TV with a look at the BBC2 strand, DEF II, which spawned the classic 'Rough Guide To...' travel programmes. Glancing through this article it becomes clear actually how much of modern television grew from here: "Jane Hewland (one of the producers) always insisted: “A youth programme has to be hated to work. So if the press are slagging you off, well that’s absolutely terrific.” But the mixed press response entertained some pertinent criticisms: poor management, an absence of imagination, and a preponderance of hyperbole." Yes, but they did have Degrassi Junior High for a while ...
Blog! Did you know there is an Italian Metafilter, Veramanent? Trying to cross the cultural divide, I became a member and posted. It's about a girl who's parents are suing her school because she received low grades in Latin. I made the point that in my school you could choose to do woodwork instead. My Italian is, well, non-existent so I used the translator at Alta Vista, assuming what I was posting was garbage, but hoping that it made at least some kind of sense. Sure enough the only follow up smelt my rat and called me. A quick filter of FraSta's post through the Babel Fish produces: "Pardon me Sir?... but you six autotradotto with Altavista? "avrebbe had the choice... " would be: she' d better off as to carpenter? Sin, because on yours blog inexhaustible and esilarante source is one
- very british, anyway - of all." Which probably means something like "Excuse me? Did you use Alta Vista? Are you saying she'd be better of as a Carpenter? That's a very British source. Oh and some comments about your weblog." Good to see that this particular Babel Fish is in no danger of proving the non-existence of God any time soon...
- very british, anyway - of all." Which probably means something like "Excuse me? Did you use Alta Vista? Are you saying she'd be better of as a Carpenter? That's a very British source. Oh and some comments about your weblog." Good to see that this particular Babel Fish is in no danger of proving the non-existence of God any time soon...
History From: Diary. 22 May 1994. "It's happened to everyone. You're sitting on a train (I'm returning to University - but I don't think that matters), opposite someone who you would love to be friends with. And you find yourself thinking up how to break the ice -- the questions you want to ask. What is your name? Where are you from? Are you a student to? If so, what course are you doing?
This unwritten questionaire spins through your mind, as find yourself desparately trying not to stare, but finding yourself transfixed. Your eyes begin to trace them, like a pencil. The way they sit -- what they're wearing -- you take a photograph and place it on the walls of your memory.
Out of the window, the scenery glides past. Should you comment? After all, it is beautiful. What is it about them in particular, that draws you in so? Is it the unknowning? The Mystery? That you find yourself imagining what they are like -- how they talk, their personality, their life?
You feel inadequate -- in another place and time you feel like could chat to them -- become friends. But it is as though, here and now, sitting on this train, thinking these thoughts, that the table upon which your coke cans clang together, is a barrier between a possibility and a fleeting thought.
This unwritten questionaire spins through your mind, as find yourself desparately trying not to stare, but finding yourself transfixed. Your eyes begin to trace them, like a pencil. The way they sit -- what they're wearing -- you take a photograph and place it on the walls of your memory.
Out of the window, the scenery glides past. Should you comment? After all, it is beautiful. What is it about them in particular, that draws you in so? Is it the unknowning? The Mystery? That you find yourself imagining what they are like -- how they talk, their personality, their life?
You feel inadequate -- in another place and time you feel like could chat to them -- become friends. But it is as though, here and now, sitting on this train, thinking these thoughts, that the table upon which your coke cans clang together, is a barrier between a possibility and a fleeting thought.
Blog! I've always wanted to visit Coventry, but never found the time. Luckily, I now have Louise's World to follow each day, at least to give me a flavour. She's just become a student nurse at the local University and this in the minutae of her life. It'll be interesting to read over the next few months as she copes with student life. Good luck, Louise!
PS I actually came home yesterday to find Happy (one of Snow White's dwarfs) standing in our hallway ... someone had brought it home from work as a joke ... there is something deeply sinister about those eyes ...
PS I actually came home yesterday to find Happy (one of Snow White's dwarfs) standing in our hallway ... someone had brought it home from work as a joke ... there is something deeply sinister about those eyes ...
Fatigue Finished watching 'The Simpsons'. Learnt that I still don't love the show. More joy in the one episode of 'Buffy' tonight than all the thirteen episodes in that box-set ... am I missing something?
Verse It's National Poetry Day in the UK. I've done my bit by posting a thread at Metafilter for people to drop off their favourite poem (assuming it's not deleted). Drop in there and offer your support.
TV The Trincoll Journal looks at the state of the US sitcom and 'Friends' comes out on top: "Friends, the standard Thursday night fare (NBC, 8 pm), is one of the older sitcoms that still has bite. The characters that you know and love are merely more so, and it doesn't recycle tired plot lines and jokes."
Fatigue I hired out The Simpsons Season One DVD Boxset on overnight rental, a bargain at £2. Except it's a logistical nightmare and I fear I won't finish watching them. I once sat with a friend and watched 'Friends' for nine hours. I've watched twelve episodes of Star Trek in a row before. This seems to be taking much longer and this is only thirteen twenty minute episodes -- the show wasn't that funny back then ... by now I've stopped watching the episodes first and now I'm just listening to the commentaries, which, being Season One are actually a bit more entertaining...
Blog! I thought Amelia was quite a rare name until I discovered the zootgirl. OK -- so including the new film and this blogger, that makes two. Today's post reminds me of working at the college library all those years ago and watching my fellow students leave their belongings at their desk whilst they go off and photocopy and take a break before returning and creating merry hell because their wallet had been pinched. You really can't trust anyone -- although I know I should take more care myself when I pop to the loo on trains. The design of this site is particularly good with a post per day -- which is tidier than this thing at least.
Film Yes, it's A.I. again. It seems Foocha! didn't like the film much either, in their spoiler filled review: "(The third act features) the most nauseating, arse-squirming shite you are ever likely to see at your nearest multiplex." Looking over my review from yesterday, I may have been a bit harsh. After all, the performance are generally very good, especially Francis O'Conner as the boy's surrogate mother, who like Laura Fraser should be a star already. And as I said the opening act is great. The final act is also quite lovely, although the boy's realisation that he isn't unique was foreshadowed and done much more touchingly in Toy Story 2. There must have been something in there to make me cry. But it's the heavy handed voice over. And it's the middle act. That bloody middle act. Ok -- I'm turning into that drunk in the bar who can't stop talking about the war...I'll stop it.
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