Doomed! You're all doomed!

Friday the 13th is considered unlucky due to the the associations both Friday and the 13th have (Friday being Jesus's apparent day of Crucifixion, and 13 being seen as an unlucky number).

For most of us though Friday is the last day of the working week (which is a lucky thing) and 13 is just another two digit number.

However you take it, I'll take any excuse to watch some good horror and tonight I plan to see the classic Friday the 13th.

The charm of this film is its mawkishness. Teen counsellors find themselves in trouble-danger when they go camping at a "cursed" lake. Enter Jason, enter slaughter, roll film credits.

It's nothing new now but it is fun to watch a film which spawned a franchise and still manages to sprout sequels in cinemas (see Jason Vs Freddy 2: The Rematch), even if they are complete crap.

My friends and I also decided to watch Friday the 13th because it's on a free movie channel we have at the moment. Otherwise I would probably choose to revisit some of the following, which I highly recommend:

Scream



Nothing beats the humour and fun that goes along with this film. When it was first released in the cinemas (and even later, when it was released on vhs) we'd all pull out our Scream masks and Talkboys (see Home Alone) and scare the b-grade crap out of one another.

Not only do we get to see people killed by garage door and vocal chord puncture, but we're privy to bad play-on-word one-liners like "Liv-er alone!"

Poltergeist



Don't let the PG rating scare you off; this film is loaded with witty dialogue, creative imagery and disturbing themes.

Sure it's set in a quiet suburban town, and no one really dies but there's something deeply unsettling about the parents hearing their daughter's cries for help and knowing that they really can't do anything about it. Also, the people-eating tree and clown will make you shart yourself a little.

Night of the Living Dead



This film didn't scare me too much but I found it highly engaging and smart.

Perhaps the scariest moment in this film is at the beginning, and the most disturbing part of the film comes closer to the end (and I'm sure those who have seen the film can pinpoint which moments these are from two words: cemetary and girl).

What makes this film work is its pace: A somewhat slow initial progression builds as aggressively as the increase in zombie quota. Any director of a good zombie film will probably tell you that in order to scare the audience they need to feel more and more harrassed to get the general notion of the world coming to an end at the mercy of the undead. NOTLD definitely achieves this, without getting lost in it (notice the themes of gender, race and family hacked at throughout).

Which brings me to...

28 Days/Weeks Later



Althought slightly convoluted these were the first films to really properly explore the idea of a zombie EPIDEMIC.
Rather than simply a kill-and-come-back approach, survivors fleeing from some now monstrous humans have to be careful not to get any of the blood (which, of course oozes from every possible body part and orifice) in their system, otherwise they too will become vile, unreachable rage-ers.

Add to that the fact that the zombies are alert enough to run (rather than waddle), and angry (rather than hungry for human flesh), and it really makes for some harrassing viewing.

Danny Boyle's films always set out to confront the viewer (see, The Beach and Sunshine) and Juan Carlos is true to Boyle's vision in the second installment.

Alien/Aliens/Alien Resurrection



In space no one can hear you scream.

So goes the tag which kicks off this quadrilogy.

I hesitated seeing the first film for a long time because I thought that, as an alien film it wouldn't be too true to home (literally and figuratively, ha!). Generally I find boogeyman films and films where humans are the evil, to be much scarier than creature features.

But once I started watching I quickly learnt that these are films about human evils. The aliens merely enable this.
Without boring you with too much analytical detail, it seems to me that the scariest thing in all of these films (with the exception, perhaps, of the third film: what's with the alien dog?) is that the characters are never who they seem to be. Some of them surprise us by betraying another crew member, but some of them surprise themselves by selfishly trying to save their own skin without considering the safety of their friends.
This is all perfectly illustrated in the famous scene where an alien interrupts a friendly dinner by birthing out of someone's chest.

Further viewing:

The Exorcist

Halloween

The Birds

The Blair Witch Project

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Evil Dead 1 and 3

The Shining

Too scared to sacrifice a choice chosen for me

Work by Barnaby Furnas taken from here.

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth - John F. Kennedy

Portishead - Machine Gun

Lupe Fiasco - Little Weapon [buy]

The National - Fake Empire [buy]

Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning

What is your childhood trauma?

One TV series I've really become addicted to this year is Skins.
I remember over a year ago when I was in London I saw all these posters for it and there was this general buzz about it being controversial (which always hightens my interest).

And it is pretty controversial, actually! All these attractive 17-year-olds are running around doing lots of adult things in adult places.
But this is not why the show is worth watching. It's a lot of fun but the characters are likeable, and the storylines are deeply engaging.
I think one of its strongest (and in others' opinions maybe weakest) points is that the writers only feed us a little snippet of what each character is going through in each episode. This is a result of the episodes usually revolving around one or two characters each week. By the time the focus returns to each character (having rotated through a number of them) a lot seems to have changed along the way.
This is pretty appealing to me because often series can be overwrought and lengthy as they knuckle out why everything happens.

With Skins you are forced to connect the dots; to allow for the idea that a lot can happen offscreen, and still know just what has hapened.

For example, in a Season One episode, "Michelle", we get a glimpse into Michelle's family life. Her mother has just married some dropkick and part of the episode involves Michelle's acceptance of him as a step-father: nice.
In Season Two, however, when we once again see what Michelle's neglectful mother has been up to we discover that she has married a different guy again, making Michelle's ealier attempts seem somewhat futile...

It might seem like this could throw the audience off the course, but it doesn't. The benign interchanging reality of life is woven through subtley amongst the teeny drama.
Despite this "interreality," the main drama (like the ongoing love triangle between Sid, Michelle and Tony) doesn't play out in leaps, skips and bounds. This is perhaps a result of the fact that each of these main characters will share a crossover point in their stories.

Another appealing aspect of this show is that the characters are the age they play (roughly). They have pimples, braces, glasses and a mess of teenage insecurities they bring to the characters.
It has been said before that America is prone to selecting adults well into their mid-twenties and older to play teenagers. I don't think this really affects the quality of the series (see Buffy), however it often just seems unnecessary. With so many talented young actors floating about, why ignore the fact that these characters can really look the age they play?

One American series which trumps the idea of adults as teens is Freaks and Geeks. In particular, the geeks were played by young actors. This means when school bullies pick on them for not having armpit hair you know it isn't because the actor is "maintaining" by waxing themselves each month.

Like Skins the series is apt at presenting itself as a thoughtful and emotional drama series, with wisps of witty one-liners embedded throughout.
This is probably why it was axed (because network execs seem to have a lot of difficulty figuring out the difference between their arse and holes in the ground, much less how engaging a series might be: particularly if, in the case of Freaks and Geeks, it wins Emmy awards for its writing).

Fortunately Skins is a British series and looks like it will continue on at least up until a third season is produced.

Freaks and Geeks sadly never saw even a second season so it is refreshing to see that at least one of these engaging teenage series is still developing.

As usual a good series calls for good music. Freaks and Geeks took its cue from the 70's (as it was set in 1980).
Skins involves a miriad of music from the 60s to present. I include two songs for your listening pleasure. The first, by Adam and the Ants, is played when Chris floats about his house party enjoying the madness.
The second is just in general an awesome song everyone should have and is played in the first episode of Season Two while Tony is riding the bus with Maxxie.

Adam and the Ants - Prince Charming [buy]

Grizzly Bear - The Knife [buy]

Fall-ing

I am still recovering from the Lorne, Vic, Falls Festival. For those who don't know, the Falls Festival is an annual music camping event held for 3 nights over the New Year. Since it involves some 10 to 15 000 people camping side-by-side, with plenty of music (predominantly of the folk variety), and... errr... "stuff" to keep you dancing and grooving and talking to strangers into the wee hours of the morn, it's pretty much a modern Woodstock. Oh, and did I mention the love? Not the "free love/make love" love (though I'm sure some cars accomodate for that) but the "look after each other" love. Feeling the warm and fuzzies?
If not, perhaps it's because you haven't attended.

So how do I sum up three days of that? Three days of great music, getting to know some new friends, getting to know complete strangers who I wouldn't see again and forming stronger bonds with good friends, all while moving overzealously to a range of music? I'll break it down roughly and unevenly and hopefully the music I've put up for you to listen to will retain some seminance of patience.

First I'm going to mention the one thing that I didn't like about the festival. It's probably unnecessary but I feel it's a good preparation point for those who are interested in going but haven't yet been.
The toilet facilities are poor. I expected this but the cisterns overflowed and crap and wee went everywhere (next to the food stands).

On the last day the temperatures soared up to 40 Degrees Celcius. Getting to common water (for showering in, cooling off, or drinking) for the most part meant a one hour que in the sun. It pushed me (and others) to breaking point. I almost fainted; I was physically and emotionally exhausted and at one point when I went looking for my friends I ended up lying down in the middle of nowhere in particular for ages.
Next time I go I'll remember to take some spray bottles full of water and some umbrellas for shade.

Now the highlights.

The bands were amazing. Most of the sets (apart from the headlining acts) were quite short but this just kept the pace moving.
I like Operator Please a lot more now. Once you see them live... the violinist especially was amazing live (just seeing her hand movements: my eyes couldn't follow, she was that fast).

Operator Please - 6/8 [buy]

Angus and Julia Stone were great too. One of my friends was sold on them from their performance. They closed beautifully with Mango Tree. I only saw the tail end of it because I wanted to see The Panics, who were also pretty amazing.

Angus and Julia Stone - Mango Tree [buy]

The Panics - Cash [buy]

A lot of people seemed disappointed with The Go! Team but I loved them. The front woman, Ninja, was very dancey and kept us all going. At one point she yelled "If I see you dancing I'm going to dance like you!" and mimicked the moves of a few people from the crowd. Mostly, the reason these guys are good live is because their music is designed for the crowd.

The Go! Team - Keys to the City [buy]

And for the first time ever I finally understood why people like Paul Kelly. There was something about hearing everyone (including myself, who used to hate the song) singing "From little things big things grow" that really makes you feel like you're part of something bigger. Probably because (as a member of a crowd) you are!

It was nice to see the crowd grow while watching Built to Spill. They were rockin' live!

Girl Talk was the perfect pre-New Year's performance. The guy knows how to mix! His eclectic range of music got people whooping with excitement as they recognised songs only they knew, songs from their childhood, and mainstream pop they usually cringed at. He got involved enough to take off his shirt while dancing and get some of the crowd on stage to boogey with him.

Suprisingly, Kings of Leon were the perfect act to take us into the New Year. You could almost feel the crowd bonding over the passionate indie sounds. It was a lot of fun to hear them play Charmer and it was beautiful to hear everyone singing "whooaaaa---oooo---ohhhhh---aaaoooohhhh" midway through Knocked Up. In particular that song will always remind me of the Falls Festival. You always feel that you've received music the best way possible when the studio version reminds you of the event.
It was during this song that I started feeling sad about the fact that the whole thing felt over. The New Year had been called (or was about to be: I'm not sure at what point the song was played) and the next morning we'd be returning to the fuss of our lives.

Kings of Leon - Knocked Up [buy]

Before doing that though my friends and I wandered into the Village. I went because over the course of the few days there my curiosity about it leapt. So many people kept saying how "weird" and "creepy" it was, I couldn't resist.
And yeah, it's creepy and weird. I'm not even sure I can explain what went on there (or if I want to).
All I'll say is a hoe-down version of Mad World was being played by some dodgy band as we walked in and that pretty much sums it up.

This was my first Falls Festival and it went off with a bang! Between all of the above things we also met some interesting people.
We met someone who demolished one of our tents accidentally, a guy who had managed to sneak in without a ticket and many random people who seemed either aggressive or good natured along a continuous scale.

I had plans to go overseas over the next summer period but now that I understand what the Falls fuss is all about it's going to be hard to turn it down in future.

Weekend Winddown 5

The end of the year is near! I'm hoping to get a christmas mix up sometime soon, just to fall in line with every other blogger. I don't know of many artists that do christmas songs as well as Sufjan Stevens though so it could just be a bunch of his finest.

Looks like 2008 has a lot to offer. For those who don't know the "other" preferred political party in Australia has made it in to governance! Labor has booted the Libs out for the count and the timing couldn't be better. With interest rates on the rise, despite who would end up running the country, it's about time we turn to the environment as we deal with the monetary and general costs of global warming. Drought and petrol prices have sent the price of goods and services soaring. Fruit and Veg has never seemed to cost so much!

But I digress. Whether or not you support the Libs the Labs or neither it's nice to see some neglected areas being addressed. That much some of us can agree on... maybe... I say this in as politically correct a way as possible (assuming there's a general consensus on what is the "correct" thing).

I offer another round of relaxed tunes for the hopefully stress-free weekend. Nothing beats lying in bed semi-awake on a Sunday morning and listening to some good music.

Alela Diane - Pieces of String [buy]

Alela Diane was a risk buy for me. I was traipsing through one of my favourite indie music shops, Landspeed Records, and noticed the reviews on the front of this woman's album. The comparison to Joanna Newsom sold me (or rather, sold the album TO me). I can see what the reviewer meant when they mentioned this contemporary of Diane's (whose music I adore). However Diane's voice is perhaps more approachable. It doesn't demand your attention as immediately as Newsom's. At first you don't notice the music; it seems like background music. But suddenly a harmony from out of nowhere will grab you by the heart and you find yourself hooked to simple soft songs.

Angus and Julia Stone - The Beast [buy]

This Sydney brother-sister duo, Angus and Julia Stone have taken their time growing on me. It's not that they don't sound lovely together. It's just that they're tempted into writing what I call "lacklustre songs for the sleepy surfer." This is the same category where you'll find my seldom-listened-to albums by Jack Johnson, Xavior Rudd etc. It's just not my thing; I need a melody not just some pissin about on a guitar.
In the case of AJ Stone, however, they do surprise me time and time again. They've challenged themselves a lot more on their debut release, and the first song off it "The Beast" reveals their nuanced angle. I'd be interested to see if they will continue their musical walk in this direction, or even if they take another turn altogether!


I'm From Barcelona - Chicken Pox [buy]

Swedish band, I'm From Barcelona, have warranted comparisons to The Polyphonic Spree. This is probably because their band's number of musicians total 29. But that's as far as the comparison goes, as far as I can tell.
These guys write much more radio friendly structured pop songs than The Polyphonic Spree will ever feel humble enough to attempt.
IFB carry a flurry of instrumentsm, including clarinets, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, banjos, accordions, kazoos, guitars, drums, and keyboards among others. However, they don't use them unnecessarily; rather, they use them in a complementary way. Their method is: if it works, throw it in, if not someone can wait by the sidelines and do some backing vocals for a bridge. It's much more palatable than TPS's mad dash to include every single instrument known to man in every single song they write.

As a result, you wouldn't know that 29 members crowded this band when listening to their songs. Hell, the album cover would suggest there are only 4 of them! You only find out when you recognise the variation between each track just how much is involved.

Kat Frankie - Treading Water [buy]

Apparently Kat Frankie is from Sydney! I didn't know this when I first heard her. I downloaded a song "The Tops" from the radio stationJJJ's official website. And recently bought the album before reading an interview that revealed a bit of her background.

This woman would easily fit in a mix cd (or tape, or blog mix, if you prefer) including Cat Power, Katie Noonan, Missy Higgins, Beth Gibbons and Basia Bulat. Taking time out to go live in Berlin seems to have paid off for Frankie! Not only has Frankie got a remarkable talent for writing beautiful melodies, she also includes the right instruments to build on or break down each song at the right time, avoiding any possibility of monotony. In "Treading Water" the piano is worked in perfectly.

And of course I can't resist the Mellotrone used in a few of the songs. What a beautiful and unnoticed instrument it is. It just draws in a gorgeous line of melancholy. "Treading Water" doesn't have any Mellotrone in it but the songs that do are perfect for your lonely days. For those who have heard The Notwist, their song "Pick up the Phone" is a good example of a Mellotrone used well and I highly recommend you check these guys out.

Machine Translations - Love Won't Wait [buy]

I'm still testing the waters with Machine Translations. He's a bit hit and miss for me. When he does hit the mark though he gets the bullseye.
Comparisons to Beck are fair but he's a bit more relaxed in his style. Good laid-back tunes, and potential for strong songs.

The National - Cherry Tree [buy]

The National continue to impress me in many different ways. It's now at a point where if a certain song by them comes on I have no choice but to listen to it there and then, all the way through. I like a lot of artists but few are privy to grabbing me like that. I now understand why there's such a strong underground following... and why they've so quickly crawled to the number one most-listened-to artist on my Lastfm profile page!
Just listen.

The Panics - Don't Fight It [buy]

Ahhh The Panics... If only the lead singer had a sweeter voice... but isn't that the point? There's something in the drawl-tone style of Jae Laffer's voice that feels sentimental and oddly colonial. I know that's a vague way of explaining it but that's the best I can come up with.
I don't know why but for the most part I like The Panics...
Some songs fall flat, mind you. But this album introduces an instrumental element that delivers the songs with much more bravado; and it works perfectly!

Either way, they've just won the J Award so they're doing something right.


Before I sign off though I must direct your attention to Grizzly Bear member Daniel Rossen's cover of a song called "Too Little Too Late." "What song," you ask? Exactly! I'd never heard the apparently bad Jo-Jo original but it's performed so well by Rossen. It's a nice 60's style track with great vocals. Click on the song and download it from Stereogum's website.

Road Rage

A good long while ago I remember seeing a poster for a new (or, as it is, old) concept wherein two films are shown for the price of one (a double bill feature release). Better yet, two of the hippest directors around (Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez) were set to pen this (at least these days) uniquely marketed film prospect.

It's been months since I first heard this idea and, thanks to an extremely poor response at the box office, the two films have now been organised for individual release in Australia (and in other parts of the world). Sufficed to say I was pissed off. My friends and I had anticipated a night reminiscient of our high school days, when we'd have horror/thriller nights devoted to popcorn and limited, squashed seating in our homes. Of course we could still do that now but it's just not practical or necessary.

Which is, from what I gather, exactly what the audience has been thinking about this Grindhouse idea. Why struggle to stay awake through two films, than see them both for what they are individually, with the appropriate rest periods?

Even so, I thought the idea was cool and being a cheapskate, the two-for-the-price-of-one thing still appealed. I was going to see it at the closest Drive-In movie complex (of which there are very few left). We figured they'd show the Tarantino and Rodriguez upon the release of the second film (in this case Rodriguez's Terror Planet)). Alas I've now heard that as of 31st October 2007 Bass Hill Drive-In has closed down.

It's strangely poetic and telling of this generation's response to the idea of a fun night out, watching films of degenerate quality in terms of sound but elite quality in terms of storyline, direction, acting and screenplay.
Tarantino might have been disappointed (perhaps clinging to the idea that we're missing out on something special the public had in the 70's) but Rodriguez says he understands the response completely (according to an interview found in last month's issue of Empire. As much as I hate to admit it I tend to agree with Rodriguez. Come to think of it, very few of my friends were actually keen to see the double bill. A lot of my friends are either not horror/thriller people or find themselves too busy to stay up past their bedtime to watch two films which they could have savoured better on two separate occassions.

Either way I'm a fan of both directors and last Tuesday I decided to see Death Proof (which has recently been released in limited cinemas in Australia).
In short, I loved it. This is classic Tarantino. It doesn't matter what the story is, in the end the direction and the dialogue keeps me intrigued in any of his projects. I'm yet to come across a director which better provides dialogue speckled with talk about absolute crap. And it's not uninteresting crap, it's "that's so true," seemingly off-the-bat cafeteria chat.

The film plays out in two parts. It's a bit like Kill Bill in this way. The first half is serious, sexy, sensuous and strangely ambiguous. Tarantino teases us for a long time with a keenly self-aware abscence of horror. We even find the character who we know (at least from the trailers) to be the psychopathic maniac of the film quirky and likeable (even though it is Kurt Russell playing the role). He sure is smooth with the ladies (particularly in the way he manages to talk a flirtatious but nonetheless comparably shy woman into giving him a lapdance). Notably, I feel like I'm watching an old 70's-style dusty film. The jukebox spins records, the reel is old-school and jumpy, and yet they're using mobile phones and discussing the signs of the times.

The second half of the film is a lot more fun and funnier! I was almost a bit hysterical and felt I had to contain myself from whooping and laughing raucously. It takes a lot to get me in that mood so I was massively impressed and entertained. The car chase scenes were cleverly constructed, the dialogue breezy and colourful, the characters loveable and cultured.

It wasn't the perfect film (I did find myself looking at my watch sometime through the first half of the film; it certainly doesn't start with a bang). It does work its way up fast though.
My advice is don't expect this film to change the world and don't take it too seriously. Tarantino's films have often been acclaimed for their philosophy on life. For once though this guy is enjoying the genre for what it really is.

The soundtrack, as usual in a Tarantino film, is slick with relatively unknown "classics" from an earlier era.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch - Hold Tight
April March - Chick Habit [buy]

I give Death Proof 4 out of 5 stars.

You can see what Margaret and David gave this film out of 5 stars here.


In other news, director of Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly's new film has been released in the States. Thankfully it looks very different from DD (I loved DD but whenever a director tries to reclaim the feel of their first film it usually pales in comparison). And it sure looks a lot bigger in scale. Exciting and timely end-of-the-world stuff which might not go down well with the critics but is sure to please the (not so) underground fanbase. The film is called Southland Tales and is set for release in Australia sometime in January.

Catching Bullets in our Teeth

Sorry for the major lack of posting lately! I got a new job about 5 weeks ago in another state and I don't have personal internet access there yet(which I must say is driving me up the wall).

Lately I've been watching Nip/Tuck. It took me a while to get into this show and you really have to pay attention and follow closely to understand what's going on but it's got so much going on that if you do that you won't be bored of it even for a moment.
The gritty portayal of two men's plastic surgery business explores corners of the mind and body I have never even paused to consider.

Somewhere through the second season the creators introduce a new menace in Miami (the harsh glitzy city in which the series is set); the carver! As he rapes his victims and carves sickeningly broad smiles into people's faces Sean and Christian (the lead partners of the show) do their pro-bono best to repair the damage.

This of course gets under the Carver's skin and the series really starts rollercoastering from there. The clever thing, though, is that the creators are sure that the other storylines are not interrupted or postponed. Rather, they're all weaved constructively together.

I'm yet to see what happens after the first one or two episodes of season 3 and i'm hooked now; determined to watch on.

Below are a list of songs I've been listening to lately. The first up is Tunng. The theme of their latest album fits in well with Nip/Tuck actually as a lot of the lyrics concern matters of the body. They're playing at the Sydney Festival in January, along with a host of other amazing talents like Andrew Bird, The National and Joanna Newsom.

Perhaps the most exciting artist to play in Sydney though is Sufjan Stevens! Finally I'll be seeing my favourite music guy! I've also added his latest "released" song, "Ring Them Bells," a cover of Dylan from the new soundtrack I'm Not There.

Tunng - Arms [buy]

Sufjan Stevens - Ring Them Bells [buy]

Lior - Landslide [buy]

Sia - Soon We'll Be Found

Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You [buy]

Radiohead - Reckoner [buy]