March 12th
21:56 GMT
21:56 GMT
Plan B - iLL Manors
Sssiiick! Can’t tell what’s real riot footage, what’s the music video and if any of it is from his movie.
February 5th
14:21 GMT
14:21 GMT
Black Mirror episode 2.
Charlie Brooker, putting out the best Ballardian television program since Ballard was programming television.
This episode was like a cross between Dollhouse, The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, X Factor and playing on the Wii, still somehow managing to be less bizarre than the first one. Co-written by Brooker’s wifey, ex-Xtra Factor host Konnie Huq, its slant on our desire for constant distraction and obsession with building people up to knock them down is perhaps less surprising considering Huq’s less than ceremonious axing from her first stab at said show. Described as “Cowell meets Orwell”, 15 Million Merits was a little predictable but visually very well done and had pretty great performances from Daniel Kaluuya off of Skins and Jessica Brown Findlay off of Downton Abbey. Rupert Everett overdoes it a bit in his Cowellesque role but that’s neither here nor there.
The third episode (airing Sunday) comes from Peep Show’s Jesse Armstrong and imagines what life would be like if you could Sky+ (TiVo) your life. Black Mirror is a bit of a heady mix of horror, comedy and sci-fi and has freaked me out like nothing else in recent memory. A lot of the themes are pretty obvious and delivered quite crudely in typical Brooker style but they’re relevant and I’d much rather watch a decent TV programme than read another stupid article about the digital age. Do recommend, you must watch it.
Also, can I just point out how bloody brilliant Channel 4 is? They’ve knocked out this, Top Boy (was going to do a post on this but forgot. Watch it!) and This Is England ‘88 started last night. That’s the three best mini-series I’ve seen for ages and they were on in the last couple of months. Bravo, Channel 4!
November 2nd
15:36 GMT
15:36 GMT
Out for a walk on Baildon Moor
October 12th
12:32 GMT
12:32 GMT
Dubstep and DnB artists often sample classic tracks. The new Nero tune has the chorus from The Jets track Crush On You which I only remember as Aaron Carter’s debut song when he was 9 or whatever. One should really check if a sample’s been used on something like that before remixing it into an “urban” tune.
"Sheeran’s music is like a combination of every friend-of-a-friend’s band whose pub gig you have ever witnessed, and while most of us learn, during our 20s, how to sidestep these social disasters it is less easy to avoid when wedged quite so far up Radio 1’s A-list. And it is no wonder the nation’s favourite was quite so keen to embrace Sheeran: he combines the station’s twin obsessions of authenticity (acoustic guitars!) with cool (he sometimes sort of half-raps and collaborates with urban people!)."
—
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/08/adele-new-boring-ed-sheeran
Much to enjoy in Peter Robinson’s piece, especially as he’s riled the comments box something rotten. It’s the X-Factor live finals starting tonight: I will be doing blog round-ups as per last year, but I am looking forward to it a lot less - if last year’s often ridiculous and exaggerated line-up was a post-Gaga reality pop show, this year’s may well end up grimly post-Adele.
(via tomewing)
Awesome read. Much looking forward to Tom’s X Factor round-ups!
