How do you see the world?

Food may not be the answer to every problem.

2007-05-11T00:40:00.000+02:00

The Sopranos, going in their final episodes, still very much relevant.

Out there.

2007-04-26T05:30:00.000+02:00

From stormy New York last week to sunny Provence tomorrow, we sure are busy travelling at the moment and staying away from the computer. Hope all you kids are doing good as well and don't forget: "Remember When..." is the lowest form of conversation. Go out and holy thou road.

Sleepless Long Nights

2007-04-13T22:56:00.000+02:00

We already declared our eternal love in 2004 to Leslie Feist upon watching her doing the slickest moves with Richie 'Buck 65' Terfry...

But now Leslie is coming out with a new album and by golly gosh, what a brilliant suprise it is again. The first single & music video "1234" is putting me in such a good mood I would almost break a leg while grooving along. Improving on their previous collaboration, director Patrick Daughters may be somewhere inspired by Gondry and Björk but is still very much able to stand out on his own. More eternal Feist Loving!

Intelligent doesn't mean lack of clarity.

2007-04-13T01:16:00.000+02:00

Shorten your words, shorten your meanings, make it snap, make it count. Genius is doing something brilliant with simple things.

Here's to Daniel Johnston's magnificent Devil Town lyrics (and the pretty awesome Bright Eyes interpration).

I was living in a Devil Town
Didn't know it was a Devil Town
Oh Lord it really brings me down
About the Devil Town

And all my friend were vampires
Didn't know they were vampires
Turns out I was a vampire myself
In the Devil Town

I was living in a Devil Town
Didn't know it was a Devil Town
Oh Lord it really brings me down
About the Devil Town.

Kill For Peace

2007-04-05T01:02:00.000+02:00

Great music video for the song "Kill For Peace (& Peace Will Die)" by The BlackBox Revelation, directed by Jonas Govaerts.

People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad.

2007-03-31T21:58:00.000+02:00

What Kept Grandpa Up

2007-03-21T18:38:00.000+01:00

Great new video from anticon's The Bomarr Monk:

The Best Trial Movies

2007-03-19T16:20:00.000+01:00

The following list is by Patric M. Verrone, in an article from the ABA journal/November 1989.

THE 12 BEST TRIAL MOVIES

1 The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
2 "M" (1931)
3 Twelve Angry Men (1957)
4 The Wrong Man (1957)
5 Paths of Glory (1958)
6 Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
7 Inherit the Wind (1960)
8 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
9 The Trial (1962)
10 To Kill a Mockingbird (1963)
11 A Man For All Seasons (1966)
12 The Verdict (1982)

Very interesting list; I tend to agree, although I haven't seen all yet (Wrong man, Anatomy of a murder, Inherit the wind & A man for all seasons).

The one I would include as well though would be Adam's Rib. A light trial comedy but definitely top 5 material.

Lots of love to Jason Schwartzman's genes

2007-03-11T10:44:00.000+01:00

Jason Schwartzman is a little genius in the making.

Not only is the 26-year old a fabulous actor, he also co-wrote the upcoming Wes Anderson pic The Darjeeling Limited with Wes himself and Schwartzman's cousin Roman Coppola (yeah, son & brother of). These pics were taken in India where they have just wrapped up filming the movie. Hopefully it will hit the theatres before the year is over.

But to make things even worse, I also discovered Jason's myspace page which features probably one of most fun & poppy songs of the year so far: West Coast.

So the boy can sing as well? Damn you Jason, damn you!

R.I.P. Jean Baudrillard

2007-03-07T02:51:00.000+01:00

Deep down, no one really believes they have a right to live. But this death sentence generally stays tucked away, hidden beneath the difficulty of living. If that difficulty is removed from time to time, death is suddenly there, unintelligibly.

Thus perhaps at stake has always been the murderous capacity of images: murderers of the real; murderers of their own model as the Byzantine icons could murder the divine identity. To this murderous capacity is opposed the dialectical capacit of represenations as a visible and intelligible mediation of the real. All of Western faith and good faith was engaged in this wager on represenation: that a sign could refer to the depth of meaning, that a sign could exchange for meaning and that something could guarantee this excahnge--God, of course. But what if God himself can be simulated, that is to say, reduced to the signs which atttest his existence? Then the whole system becomes weighteless; it is no longer anything but a gigantic simulacrum: not unreal, but a simulacrum, never again exchanging for what is real, but exchanging in itself, in an uninterrupted circuit without reference or circumference.

At male strip shows, it is still the women that we watch, the audience of women and their eager faces. They are more obscene than if they were dancing naked themselves.

How To Re-Interpret Old Forgotten Instruments.

2007-03-06T22:15:00.000+01:00

Watch this enchanting palindrome performance by Dutch lute player Jozef Van Wissem and check his albums at the BVhaast online store.

Soul.

2007-03-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

The first essential, the life and soul of Tragedy, is the plot; and then the characters come second. Compare the parallel in painting, where the most beautiful colours laid on without order (unity) will not give one the same pleasure as a simple black-and-white sketch of a portrait.

-- Aristotle

Scottish Can Be Sexy Too

2007-02-27T18:20:00.000+01:00

And she has been holding on for too long.
And where will she go?
But don’t worry cuz I am leaving
And don’t worry
And your thoughts aren’t clear
And I’m thinking about you
And your brother won’t be found
And you’ve stopped
And you’ve stopped
And you’ve stopped killing

The Glasgow-based band The Twilight Sad are great guys to hang with and their self-titled EP is slowly becoming one of my most played records of the year sofar.

In a few weeks time (march 19th) Fat Cat will release their debut album called "That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy".

I'm not sure if the album has the same songs as the EP, but hopefully this amazing song Three Seconds of Dead Air is on it.

Oscars recap

2007-02-27T15:01:00.000+01:00

Well thanks to the amazing TVU player we were still able to see the Oscar show and let me first say that for the best night out you should bring friends, a bottle of champagne, ben & jerrys icecream and all have a bet. It truly makes things fun and even the more tedious categories interesting since each wrong prediction could mean a defeat or a win (in our case the prize was a bottle of champagne and for the record: I won)

As far as the fashion police goes: I truly missed the real cute women this year (natalie portman?), so I have to say the elder women looked sometimes better than the younger generation. Helen Mirren is still looking strong at 60. Dress awards go imho to Nicole Kidman (although I woulda cut that neck noose), Helen Mirren and Reese Witherspoon. Worst choices this year would definitely be Kate Winslet, Jennifer Lopez & Jessica Biel.

And now then, I'd never say I'd say this but bring back Jon Stewart!! Jeezes H, Ellen Degeneres was dreadfully unfunny. Ughhhh. I only smiled once when she did that picture thing with Clint and Spielberg.

Funniest skit of the evening: Jack Black and Will Ferrell vs John C. Reilly

First pleasant upset of the evening was Alan Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor. I was so glad he did, although I had bet my money on the wrong horse (Eddie). But amazingly, Alan took it home. I can't believe he only comes under the big audience's radar now, what a fine actor and a great stoic speech:

Overall, it was great to see Dreamgirls lose almost everything! And the other results were really heartwearming as well, EXCEPT FOR Best Cinematography. I cannot believe Children of Men lost to Pan's Labyrinth!!!! Emannuel Lubezki did the most amazing job, TRUE SHAME!

It was great to see Michael Arndt on stage, even with a weird little cold voice. Little Miss Sunshine did better than expected I think, winning Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. There are no clips of this on youtube, neither of Bill Monahan's speech. I guess screenwriters aren't that popular huh. So here's a short clip of Arndt on the WGA awards. Also note to the academy: I loved your presentation of the screenwriting nominees, reading a piece of the script and then showing the clip. Please do this again, next year.

Meanwhile I loved Ennio Morricone's Italian on stage. I had never seen that. Eastwood didn't understand a word he said either I think but it was truly great to see such a legend get honoured.

Second upset of the night: Guillermo Del Toro losing to Das Leben der Anderen! Wowww didn't see that coming. I can't say whether it's for the better, Pan's Labyrinth is an okay movie but not the masterpiece they make of it and I havent seen Das Leben der Anderen. But good for Germany again, they're making the most interesting European movies anyway lately.

Also good to see old Road Warrior George Miller take a surprising win over Cars. I loved the first hour of Happy Feet way better over them silly race cars. Cameron Diaz however is one big dumb cow.

I almost forgot Robert Altman died during this year's In Memoriam montage. Love you Bob.

It was as expected but nonetheless I'm so happy for Helen Mirren & Forrest Whitaker. Whitaker should have taken it countless movies before, but although his speech was brilliant at times and honest, a little less God I could do with.

And then Scorsese off course. What a victory and what a wonderful trio to present. My highlight of the evening. I thought he was almost gonna cry when Schoonmaker thanked him and he seemed really nervous when the almighty trio were announcing the nominees but yeah, this wasn't going to escape him. Great on you. We were giving you a standing ovation here too Marty!

How To Watch The Oscars 2007 Broadcast Online!

2007-02-25T19:38:00.000+01:00

Thank God for the internet again. Everyone who won't be able to see the oscars tonight through their local or national television, do not panic! You can see the whole show easily and for free through the p2pTV application TVU player.

STEPS

1. Download the TVU player here. (i'm using the latest beta)
2. Save it to your hard disk, open the zip, run the setup and install.
3. Connect to the TVU channel 38474 which says "2007 Academy Awards" (EDIT: as of now, the channel is 51222, they are directly broadcasting from ABC!!)
4. Follow up any questions you might have on the andromeda forum
5. The schedule is as following:

17:00 (GMT): Countdown to the Red Carpet: The 2007 Academy Awards (E!)
23:00 (GMT): Live from the Red Carpet: The 2007 Academy Awards (E!)
01:30 (GMT): The 2007 Academy Awards

EDIT2: people are chiming in from everywhere it seems, if this doesn't work, you also might try next link: http://cache.club.ppstream.com/topic/10803/314488/1.html

HAPPY VIEWING and go Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed & Babel.

Still Very Essential.

2007-02-24T01:05:00.000+01:00

You're still here? It's over. Go home.

Kurt D'Haeseleer

2007-02-18T21:23:00.000+01:00

Kurt D´Haeseleer does some amazing visuals for the new Tuk music video on the belgian (K-RAA-K)³ label.

Watch it here:
lo-res (16mb)
hi-res (61Mb)

Tasting the stars.

2007-02-17T20:00:00.000+01:00

There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.
-- Bette Davis.

Les anges débilles de Reims vous salue bien.

2007-02-17T19:47:00.000+01:00

There are only so many good ideas in the world.

2007-02-13T10:13:00.000+01:00

Another amazing CS podcast, this time with Jonathan Nolan, the little and 40 pounds heavier brother of director Chris Nolan. Jonah came up with the idea of Memento, worked as a creative consultant on Batman Begins, co-wrote The Prestige with his brother and is now writing the second Batman installment.

I pitched him this short story I was writing called Memento Mori about a guy who has memory loss and needs to use the tattoos on his body as a roadmap and I said to him: ‘I think this is more of a cinematic thing, why don’t you see what you can do with it’. And then I went back to school and after three months he called me up and he’s all excited and said: ‘I finally figured it out, I’m going to tell the screenplay backwards.’ And I said: ‘that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.’

The way Chris and I work together, we don’t write drafts together. We tried that one time and it was not pretty. We tend to write sequential drafts and sort of bounce them back and forth. But we talk a lot before getting started.

Chris wanted the film itself to work like a magic trick. And I made all that “the pledge, the turn, the prestige” stuff up. There’s no magic history there.

The interwoven three act structure is something Chris did in his first feature ‘The Following’. You got snippets of each act, right from the beginning, and they were delineated to you, so you could tell where you were by the lead actor’s haircut and the amount of bruises on his face, which is kind of a nice device. The same thing to a certain degree happens in Memento with the black and white stock and the colour. In this one, we thought let’s try to have some fun with it. Narrative structure is I think for a segment of the audience. You can’t make everybody happy. Some people don’t want that from a movie and say ‘a movie shouldn’t be hard work’. Fair enough. But I think there’s an audience for it.

But Batman then kind of got in the way of making The Prestige. So we set the script aside for a couple of years, which is actually great. Because you come back and you have a real perspective on it. You’re always able to give it a cold read. So Chris came back to it and said; ‘what if we do this and do that’. The biggest shortcoming in my draft was the female characters. Every rewrite after Batman concentrated on really developing those characters and instead of using them as plot devices, a real flesh and bone quality, which hopefully is there in the final product.

Notoriously on Memento, we took it to the Venice film festival, and the Italians they make everything very fancy, you really feel intimidated the moment you get there with your crazy backwards movie. The Venice festival is well known to be a frank audience, if they don’t like the movie, they stick around to boo you and throw things at you. My dad and I were seated down in the middle of the main section watching the movie and we get to the end - Memento ends fairly abruptly – and the credits start rolling and we sit there for 30 seconds and there’s no applause of any kind and I turn to my dad and say: ‘lets get out of here’. And then people start clapping and luckily, it was a really well received film. And then we go to the press tent and Chris starts to spill the beans about what the movie means and what actually happened in the story. And when he finished answering questions, I sort of walked up to him as we were getting dinner, and I said: ‘you know, lets not do that again, let’s leave it up to the audience’. Because as soon as he gives out his interpretation, it becomes the definitive one. And later, we were sitting together with the producers and a bunch of other people and we were all having a massive argument about what the movie we just made meant. And nobody could agree with each other, which is quite fun. It’s either really bad or really good.

For years, I didn’t understand the concept of writer’s block. I was like ‘what’s that?’. And then I realized a few months ago ‘oh that’s every day.’ My thing about writing is that it’s like a lot of the best things in life: ‘if it’s not hard work, you’re not doing it right’. And I find writing to be a lot of the times agony. I’m lucky if I can get five good hours of work in a day. It often takes 10 hours of wandering around and yelling at people and eating candy bars and talking to yourself and babbling, that kind of stuff.

Christopher Priest’s book The Prestige itself invites you to mess around with time a little bit. But I think any time I work with Chris I know there’s an invitation to do that every time.

You also realize and I have done this enough now at this point with Chris to realize that a lot of the non-linear narrative structure is going to be changed in the editing room. There are a lot of things that you can do on the script and you can get the broad strokes in there but you are not going to be able to solve the problems that the director and the editor have got to figure out in the editing suite. So you have to build a kind of flexibility into it. The final cut of The Prestige versus the shooting script, there are substantial differences. Not in content but in structuring.

The audience is remarkably flexible in what they can absorb, in what they can process, in what they can put together. And there’s a fun in there as well, if it’s handled right.

There are only so many good ideas in the world.

My brother told me when I was first moving out here in 1999: ‘don’t come because everyone out here writes about the same stuff’. And that’s kind of true. But you just have to got with it.

To a certain degree the phenomenon that I have figured out is that when I’m working on a idea and I’m really excited about it and then you go to a movie theatre and you watch a trailer and it’s like ‘oh no’ and you get that awful feeling. What I figured out at this point is that pretty much anything that’s remotely similar to your thing elicits that feeling if you’re in the wrong mood. And then you need someone else to help you step back and say ‘dude what are you talking about, they are completely different things’. So you kind of have to fight that feeling.

Michael Arndt

2007-02-12T13:06:00.000+01:00

Great podcast with Michael Arndt, on writing and going through development hell with Little Miss Sunshine:

I was writing scripts where everybody got killed and nobody wants to see that stuff. People don’t go to the movies to get depressed. I really feel happy endings are underrated because they are usually done badly and they are not earned.

People say I really put my characters through hell in Little Miss Sunshine. But I really feel that’s important. It’s not like they are all happy at the end and they’re all going to get along with each other. But they have gone through a real life-changing experience. Not in a way they have swerved 180 degrees but I really feel you do want your character to turn like 10 degrees and take one step forward. And that’s enough of a change for your characters to go through.

Little Miss Sunshine is the first script I wrote where the characters came first. That was a real lesson for me. One of the earlier mistakes I made was that I was doing plots that were too complicated and it doesn’t leave you a lot of room for character development. With Little Miss Sunshine, I decided earlier on I was going to do the simplest plot in the world and I mean it’s embarrassing how simple the story is and it is such traditional storytelling that it kinda makes me cringe but it leaves open a lot of space for character development and that’s where you get emotional identification with your characters.

So I think: don’t overcomplicate your stories. Simplify, simplify. Nietzsche has a quote: “it’s easy to make things that are big, noisy and complicated and it’s hard to make things that are small, simple and quiet.” So if you can, keep things simple.

I’m a big believer in outlines. I outline until I know what every scene in the movie is.

I spent my days with way too much bitchin'

2007-02-05T04:37:00.000+01:00

But the thing that has always distinguished Cahiers du Cinéma from the rest is our principe of laudatory criticism: if you like a film, you write about it; if you don't like it, don't bother with tearing it to pieces. One need only stick to this principle.

-- JL Godard.

Dolores updates his site

2007-02-02T20:58:00.000+01:00

http://www.dailydolores.com/ Loves You And Thinks Of You When You Give Him Work.

Both... But Maybe Sunset fans may find their fix here as well.

What is in-between

2007-01-30T23:28:00.000+01:00

"The cinema is the only art which, as Cocteau says, 'films death at work'. Whoever one films is growing older and will die. So one is filming a moment of death at work. Painting is static: the cinema is interesting because it seizes life and the mortal side of life."

-- JL Godard

The dull bits cut out.

2007-01-30T23:04:00.000+01:00

"I don't want to film a "slice of life" because people can get that at home. They don't have to pay money to see a slice of life. And I avoid out-and-out fantasy because people should be able to identify with the characters.

Making a film means to tell a story. It must be dramatic and human. Drama is life with the dull bits cut out."

-- Alfred Hitchcock

Fucking in a convent cell is the closest to Heaven I'll ever be.

2007-01-30T23:01:00.000+01:00

You Don't Make Heroes Out of Warlocks!

2007-01-27T00:23:00.000+01:00

I wasn't that convinced by the Jesus Camp documentary, feeling it was a bit too much of a freakshow trying to shock us into politically correctness. But nonetheless, the subject is relevant and confronting and an interesting look into tragic fun:

On such a winter's day

2007-01-20T12:06:00.000+01:00

RIP Denny

New Dolores

2007-01-20T10:52:00.000+01:00

Dolores does another Milow music video, choose your version here:

Quicktime (large)
Quicktime (ipod)
Windowsmedia Player

Directed by Isaac E. Gozin
D.O.P. Rik Zang
Produced by Jonathan Vandenbroeck
Editing by Stijn Deconinck
Picture by statik

Put Your Money On For A Sexy Time.

2007-01-11T07:12:00.000+01:00

YouBeautiful Memories

2007-01-10T20:31:00.000+01:00

Igor's & Hemdjes Music List

2007-01-04T02:56:00.000+01:00

Senor Igor does the album listing as well:

0. FM3 - Buddha Machine

1. Amen Ra - Mass III
2. Shora - Malval
3. Aidan Baker - The Sea Swells a Bit
4. The Ocean - Aeolian
5. Manyfingers - Our Worn Shadow
6. Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet
7. Om - Conference of the Birds
8. Ignatz - s/t
9. Kanding Ray - Stabil
10. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Old Ghosts, New Ghosts, All Ghosts
11. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
12. Isis - In the Absence of Truth
13. Ocean - Here Where Nothing Grows
14. Cat Power - The Greatest
15. Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon
16. Ellen Alien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
17. Amute - The Seahorse Limbo
18. The Goslings - Between the Dead
19. Sickoakes - Seawards
20. Max Richter - Songs From Before

And baldie oldtimer Hemd adds:

Shora - Malval
Om - Conference of the Birds
Amen Ra - Mass III
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon
Kanding Ray - Stabil
Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet
Isis - In the Absence of Truth
Twin Zero - the tomb to every hope
Paavoharju - tuote akatemia unien savonlinna
Year of no light - Nord

PS: also don't forget to check the glitchpunkyouth & elefanten style.

Best Albums of 2006!

2007-01-03T16:16:00.000+01:00

I finally made my mind up about the 2006 top ten list. It has actually been really difficult to choose and define a list that represents this past year fully. I truly hated excluding some records but also at the same time felt the spectrum wasn't as broad as it has been in my record player, which is why the songs list serves as the perfect sidedish. You will also notice there's a lot of Swedish music on my list and that two 2005 albums (Ignatz & Devendra) made the final roll call but I just had to include these. Expect the same thing in 2007 btw, I have still this whole 2006 list waiting to check out.

As far as the online critics list goes, I'm truly appalled at the omission of certain albums (Current 93 being the most obvious here), plus surprised at the popularity of certain other albums (Tv on the Radio?). But I must also admit it's good to see The Knife, Joanne Newsom and Cat Power get some props. So if you'd like to check the critics, here's a few links to their lists:
Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, Dusted, Boomkat, Popmatters and Stylus.

My heart goes out to all these amazing Swedish musicians that I just couldn't fit in this year (mainly Tsukimono, Jonas Lindgren, Viktor Sjöberg & Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words), keep your spirits high and I'm sure a beautiful future is awaiting.

Other favorites that I had to exclude and get my warmest sympathies: Tom Waits, Cat Power, Wixel, Helios, aMute, Isis, Sickoakes, Kanding Ray, Shora, Xiu Xiu, Joanne Newsom, Ghostface Killah, Spankrock, Machinefabriek, Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice and Gnarls Barkley.

But now on to the big list. See all you readers again next year. This is the final list that will be posted.

YOUR 2006 TV-WALHALLA.

2006-12-30T13:55:00.000+01:00

If 2005 was a sign of what was to come, 2006 truly marked the year of the television. Thinking we saw most of the good stuff last year was, to say the least, a slight error of judgement. Strangily enough it is still hard to convince some people to watch a television series because the old adagio of television being some random entertainment still rings true in some ears. And ignorance is definitely not bliss here.

In fact, I can't stress enough how most of the geniuses are writing in television these days. Putting in these countless hours behind the telly has just been this amazing, intoxicating and inspiring ride I could recommend to all. Hopefully this list can help the uninitiated.

For this top 10, I selected ten series that are still on the air. Next to this list, there are also five cancelled or wrapped up shows which I only caught up with this year. You should relativily easy find most of these series on dvd.

The big problem with making a top 10 is the vast quality difference between different seasons. There's a huge difference between Prison Break Season 1 for example and Season 2. I'll address this problem shortly in each comment but sometimes (and this is where it gets rather irritating for the new viewer) a series only excels after like 5 seasons. So you have the choice either of sitting through 4 seasons of not-so-good-material or just start with the good-season but risking the fact you miss a certain backstory.

Shoutouts to series that didn't make it, go to Desperate Housewives S1, Big Love, Day Break, Heroes, Sleeper Cell, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, 24 S5, Lost S3 and My Name is Earl.

And now on to the happy few. Also provided is a youtube clip which contains hardly any spoilers but is more intended to get a grasp of what the series is all about. Enjoy.

The biggest surprise and find of the year. Amazing Amazing televison, all very much thanks to Dennis Leary who truly holds this show together. SEASON 2 is what you chould check out here, although all three seasons are very good in their own way, with S1 being the least maybe. But you can't do much wrong here, just watch it all!

Also in last year's list but featured here again because it's just so bloody awesome. There's not much around to beat Al Swearengen or Richardson. Unfortunetaly this magnicifent piece of drama has also been cancelled this year but the reason it's still on the list is because there will be made two more telefilms. Keep checking http://savedeadwood.net/. The beginning of SEASON 1, the end of SEASON 2 and the middle of SEASON 3 is what makes my heart tick. I had quite some problems with S3 but in the end, Deadwood is that extraordinary, it should hold a top position on every list.

SEASON 4 of The Wire is what made the difference here. I was a fan but SEASON 4 totally blew me away. Maybe the best piece of television this year. Incredible tight writing, fabulous acting. Take your time to see this, it moves rather slow sometimes but the reward is at the end. Can't wait for S5.

Forget what you heard about this show. Forget all the hype or whatever and just watch SEASON 1. It is absolutely great action writing and the fastest, most thrilling show on here. And yea unfortunetaly they pulled a Lost and S2 declines greatly.

You want a funny sitcom? Well then, go and shove this up thou buttocks, Sex and The City. Weeds is where the real fun is at. Both SEASON 1 and SEASON 2 have its equal great moments, so just go out and watch it. Hot stuff.

The only NEW series on the list. And I must say I have quite some critique about certain actors or certain B-storylines but in the end, Dexter is very clever written and it must be the first show ever with a Serial Killer protagonist. For that many props and also a big thank you to Michael C. Hall for tilting this show towards that little extra.

Oh Hugh Laurie, where have you been all my life? is the best way to describe my House experience. Yes, it is classic doctor's drama. Yes, it is classic tv without any seasonal arcs. Yes, it can be boring. Yes, there's some CSI in it. Yes it is the biggest hit on television. Yes Yes Yes to your comments but fuck it. It is Hugh Laurie in there, it is great fun, it is exciting, it is sad and it is classic tv. Do not sleep. SEASON 1 is probably the best way to begin.

The biggest problem on this list because I must admit I don't really like The Shield S1-S4 that much. I mean I can watch it and there's some good stuff there but it is not that edgy enough. Could be better produced. Is a little too much constructed, too much cops trying to be tough but the actors are not bringing that Wire or Deadwood edginess. UNTIL one man brought down the fort in SEASON 5: my most beloved Forest Whitaker does a tour de force I have seldom seen. He solely brings The Shield on a level you would have never imagined. And which is the reason The Shield should be on this list. I wish I could give out three oscars this year to Dennis Leary, Hugh Laurie and Forest Whitaker. They outshine every acting performance this year, televison or film. This is your Holy Trinity.

There are a few minor spoilers in this clip but if you really want to see why Forest Whitaker is that good, go and click that play button now.

Another great and funny sitcom thanks to Johnny Drama, Ari Gold and Turtle. Not everything is that good and SEASON 2 would be your main choice. But heck, while you're at it, watch S3 too, it is still great entertainment.

I wasn't that much into Battlestar Galactica at first. I still think the production value could be a whole lotta beter, that the CGI stinks and that several actors are sort of B-rated. But the writing is excellent at times. Very clever dialogue for a scifi series and a very political plot which I love. SEASON 3 is truly the best so far. The first episodes were outstanding good and terrifying close as far as theme goes. A must see for Scifi fans.

Your Older TV-Gods.

2006-12-30T13:31:00.000+01:00

Only a few words: Most Genuine and Heartwarming TV-Show ever, see it for yourselves before you die.

Alias is like James Bond at its worst in a way. It is silly and meaningless spy action, which doesn't make for very interesting tv. The big BUT however here is that Season 1 weaves in absolutely great family drama and this is so tightly written it makes my jaw drop. Forget all the other Alias Seasons for it is utter crap but go and see the first one. The original family premise is brilliant.

I made the bad call of watching Serenity before seeing Firefly. And it was only after I saw the series that I could get a real grasp of the world. Firefly is sometimes kind of trashy and over-the-top but don't be mistaken by some of its minor flaws (the actors, the cgi, the silly humour, etc). Whedon deconstructs the western and scifi genre in a very clever way and makes one heck of an interesting new hybrid. The Whore becomes the Courtesane, The Refugee becomes The Hero, The Preacher becomes The Enigma, and so forth. Well done.

Great entertainment for the whole family. This is not tv at its best but just one for a great lazy sunday afternoon. There's good stuff in there, boring and bad stuff but mainly the whole afterlife concept and the Ellen Muth irony is wonderful.

The Prisoner is a hard case to review. It doesn't really make the transition well between the sixties and the here-and-now. From a modern point of view the pace is totally out, the acting too comical and the suspense totally ridiculous. But it is a great show nonetheless as far as concepts go and a show a young writer should study. This is one for the incrowd. Find out where Lost got its mustard.

2006 and Best Movies

2006-12-25T16:07:00.000+01:00

So here it is. The top 10 of most appreciated movies in 2006. Again due to different releases in Europe, sometimes even only on dvd, the list contains a few 'technically 2005' films but anyone nitpicking about that can mail me and get a date.

The number 10 spot is quite populated because a) these movies excel in their craft, but b) they are all majorly flawed one way or the other, which I could try and summarize a little something like this:

- Most Awesome Visual Achievement with a dull story: Children of Men
- Most Thrilling Reckoning with the worst ending : Munich
- Most Fun in The Age of Irony: Snakes on A Plane
- Most Mutilated Masterpiece by Producers and Studio: Syriana

All in all, I must say 2006 was a far better year than 2005. Quite some movies totally disappointed though (The New World, Miami Vice, Mission Impossible III, A Scanner Darkly, Pirates of the Caribbean II, Where The Truth Lies, Brokeback Mountain, Superman Returns), others exceeded expectations but not good enough to make it (Brick, The Break-Up, Walk The Line, V for Vendetta, Pan's Labyrinth) and others haven't been seen yet (Casino Royale, Babel, The Queen, The Departed, The Prestige, The Proposition, Hills Have Eyes,...).

Final observations are a) that I haven't really seen very good horror movies this year and b) that there's not one single foreign movie in my list. I'm either consequently focusing myself too much on the American market or 2006 wasn't that good of a year for foreign films. It's probably a combination of the both, so if anyone has any good recommendations to check out, let me know. And no, Almodovar ain't my god. The upcoming best tv list is.

A SELECTION OF 2006 SONGS

2006-12-23T13:47:00.000+01:00

Alright so the lab presents its first end-of-the-year list and unlike last time, we start with the songs. Disclaimer here should be that I haven't included any songs from my top albums. The true intention of this list is to recognize the artists who didn't make it in the top albums list but did produce great material. So these are not necessarily the best songs but they do reflect my 2006 favorites.

1. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
2. Isis & Aerogramme – Low Tide
3. Helios – Bless This Morning Year
4. Cat Power - The Greatest
5. Akron & Family - Before and Again
6. Spankrock – Bump
7. Devendra Banhart - Inaniel
8. Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice - Dread Effigy
9. Royskopp – What Else Is There
10. Lupe Fiasco – Kick Push II

11. Joanna Newsom - Emily
12. DJ Shadow feat. David Banner – Seein Thangs
13. Beirut - Mount Wroclai
14. Cat Power - Hate
15. Wixel - Your Home is My Last Resort
16. Nelly Furtado – Promiscuous Girl
17. aMute - Hit My Country
18. Our Brother The Native - Apodiformes
19. Immune – Headfirst
20. Gnarls Barkley – Smiley Faces

21. Esmerine - Why She Swallows Bullets And Stones
22. Bonnie Prince Billy - Strange Form of Life
23. Cat Power - Lived in bars
24. Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano
25. Rihanna – SOS
26. Erik De Vahl - Friendly Fire
27. Tim Hecker - Chimeras
28. Sparklehorse - Shade and Honey
29. Chamillionaire – Ridin’ Dirty
30. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks

31. Lilly Allen – Smile
32. Uffie – Ready To Uff
33. Gregor Samsa – Young and Old
34. Tsukimono - Gloomy Sunday
35. Black Ox Orkestar - Bukharian
36. Jason Molina - It's Easier Now
37. Wir Sind Helden – Wenn es Passiert
38. Three 6 Mafia – It is Hard Out There For A Pimp
39. Mogwai - Auto Rock
40. Justin Timberlake – My Love

SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS to
K-Fed with 'Popozao'
Coup De Boule with 'Zidane il a frappé'
Basshunter with 'Boten Anna'

Five Virgins on an Island.

2006-12-21T10:34:00.000+01:00

First-time movie director Joe Wright summarizes his brilliant adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice best when he comments on the final almost-kiss scene. Truly a director to remember and surprisingly, a must see movie.

I battle with this scene. I battle with myself over this scene because it's probably a bit over the top and over-romantic and slushy, but if we haven't earned it by now, then we never will have.

One of the make-up artists stood beside me while we were shooting this. And she whispered very quietly: "I wish that was my life." And I think wish fulfilment is... wish fulfilment serves a purpose. A lot of people consider it a cop out or a... or a cynical act, but I think wish fulfilment is really important in drama. And it's important for the people who watch it and the people who make it. We need to have something to reach for. Not to settle for less.

Silent Shout.

2006-12-19T17:13:00.000+01:00

If anyone is making 2006 lists, music- movie or underwearwise, feel free to send them in or drop a link, it will be posted later on. I'm still compiling mine.

The New Animation Ensemble.

2006-12-09T07:23:00.000+01:00

And since we're still on the Swedish tip, it's really wonderful to see a familiar name pop up on all the blogs and become the new YouTube hype: Kristofer Ström, who records his solo music under the Ljudbilden & Piloten moniker and who is also a member of Kalligrammofon's hottest quintet Alina, made a great animation music video this summer for Minilogue and well let's just say the number of views would even outrank a bloody U2 concert. Also check Kristofer's other work on YouTube, it's all truly cheery & great.

That pop-i-ness

2006-12-09T06:15:00.000+01:00

Is it still the ABBA effect that's shaking up the world of blogging or is it that good old pop quality which yields the number of blogs specialising in Swedish music only: I already knew It's A Trap, Swedesplease or Catchy Tunes of Sweden but I also just received a nice letter from a new contender: the Absolut Noise blog covers our friends up north in both french and english, so go and check it out.

Tsukimono - Née

2006-12-08T18:41:00.000+01:00

Unfortunetaly, true to my procrastinating self, I have only been checking properly Tsukimono's first full length album "Née" these past few days. And what shame I brought again upon myself. As the second release of the mighty Kalligrammofon label, Née strikes such a beautifully sad and melancholic note that I mostly desperately seek in laptop-based music. Such a perfect and amazing companion for these winter writing hours and a true candidate for the top material of the year (which will be filled with too much swedish music this year btw, I wonder why :).

Sarcasm is the refuge of losers.

2006-12-07T01:40:00.000+01:00

Such a corny litte cute sweet and sour movie, made for kids and grandpas to enjoy but so nicely done. What Before Sunset did for the romcom genre, Little Miss Sunshine does for the family movie genre. Go out and See.

Thanx So Much For All The Goodies Again!

2006-12-03T13:02:00.000+01:00

Missing The Life Fest.

2006-12-01T12:20:00.000+01:00

Daddy, Will Jesus Touch Me In His Special Way again tonight?

2006-11-27T10:06:00.000+01:00

Thx Goatpuss!

Best Movie of the Year so far.

2006-11-24T07:54:00.000+01:00

It had already been praised and pimped by dolorians and igorians but damn, what I just saw, easily exceeded all expectations. The boys were far too modest. I probably won't see a finer movie this year than The Squid and The Whale.

And Noah Baumbach is slowly becoming one of the best contemporary screenwriters around. I had somewhat anticipated that he was probably a crucial factor behind the greatness of The Life Aquatic, the first Wes Anderson I truly adored and also, not coincidentally obviously, the first collaboration between Anderson and Baumbach.

And I guess The Squid and The Whale proves this point. The scenes in itself, the writing and the dialogue are of such grandeur, that one can only be amazed that it doesn't stop there. The acting (Daniels and the two kids my god!) and Baumbauch's directions are impeccable as well. This film feels like a postmodern The Graduate or something, there is such a nostalghic seventies quality feeling to it (obviously the music contributes here majorly) that it feels as if the film got released in the wrong era. And that's meant as a big compliment.

Anyway I was watching the extras on the dvd and I would normally try and shoot the writer pouting these words but with this film, it is just true. So go and rent it as soon as you can and me, I should asap check out Kicking & Screaming.

While writing the movie I was wondering from the beginning: Is this a movie really? Because this is something that’s more been done as a novel, or – is it memoirs? Would this be something I can get made? Is it a practical thing? Itr was more just sort of an anxiety I had about it. And I think getting past that point and then just pushing further and then getting more confidence about it, that's what really made me the difference for me.

I got more confidence to really find these scenes in some less obvious ways. I was trying to figure out how how to make a movie that is more of an experience in some ways rather than a kind of, you know, plot driven, or sort of traditional three acts.

And it was about having confidence in those moments. That those moments, if truly drawn, would carry a movie.

Gitarrmongot

2006-11-23T09:17:00.000+01:00

A little tiny Swedish gem movie I picked up after a very gentle recommendation and I must say some of the scenes really took me by suprise. It's a very minimalistic, lowbudget movie, pieced together like a mosaic, with a static camera the whole time. Somewhere between Jackass and a Roy Andersson movie, although it is only along the lines of the latter as far as rythm and approach goes. It lacks the surrealistic visual greatness of a Songs from the Second Floor, nor are all the scenes intrinsically on to par with each other.

And that's exactly where Gitarrmongot fails in my opinion: you could have easily deleted quite a few scenes without anyone ever noticing it. Especially the second act drags on from time to time and you have no clue where the story is going to. Also it's such a pity they filmed most on DV because the aesthetic qualities of the movie are quite poor at times (although some shots are really good and seem to have been shot on film, i guess this was due to financial reasons).

Still, despite the more negative things one could say about it, this movie has a genuine heart and there are such fabulously written scenes who rank among the best I have seen this year, that I'd recommend anyone to check it out. The bikers, the lion sleeps tonight, the spinning car, the bikes, the russian roulette, you'll be soon laughing it up as well. Utterly great, tack Gustav!

Of Fallen Angels and Living Dead

2006-11-22T04:23:00.000+01:00

Beloved CrissCrass is once again awing us with his Asian explorations. Quickly hop over there to read and see the beauty of it all.

Owwshit. Bless You Dear Robert. May You Rest in Peace.

2006-11-22T04:08:00.000+01:00

All that road going & all the people dreaming in the immensity of it

2006-11-20T01:38:00.000+01:00

All the stories I wrote were true 'cause I believed in what I saw. I was travelling west one time at the junction of the state line of Colorado - its arid western one, and the state line of poor Utah. I saw in the clouds huge and massed above the fearing golden desert of even fall - the Great Image of God with four fingers pointed straight at me. Through halos and rolls and gold foals that were like the existence of the gleaming spear in His right hand which sayeth c'mon boy, go thou across the ground. Go moan for man. Go moan. Go groan. Go groan alone. Go roll your bones. Alone. Go thou and be little beneath my sight. Go thou and be minutest seed in the pod. Go thou go thou - die hence, and if this world report you well and truly.
-- J. Kerouac

"Come Alive! Give yourself to living every inch of the way! This is the life!"

2006-11-06T19:42:00.000+01:00

And so begins the most interesting sexual book ever and so came the most wonderful week of the year to an end. What began on a cloudy monday afternoon with a shot of Talisker and the voice of good old Sal Paradise wishing us holy luck, quickly poured down our veins and spirits through the blessful lands of Fyn and Copenhagen where the ladies on the graffiti wall sang and where the mtv awards gave our pockets a headache but through snow and minus-celsius-degrees with sturm and drang we arrived at our little walhalla for the week where the most amazing happiness and laughter and discussions and sexylanguage and wine and champagne welcomed us and still the mighty good gods had to create their music and blow us away with their enthusiasm and high spirits, leaving us completely overwhelmed that morning at 8am in the beautiful sunny deserted gothenburg streets when we had to leave it all behind again. The road gives you life and the people gave us love. It was such a humbling, such a joyful and sincere experience that we can only thank all these amazing people we met and that most special doggyperson: tack tack tack. You all keep blowing the music like them popheads of time, never tolerate and you all come and visit whenever you like. Oh thou lovely Scandinavia: do not go away, do not keep your sensual life in your bedroom, we will be there again. Until the white sommarlight!

Ik Dvil Oew Tiepel Suiken.

2006-10-29T11:30:00.000+01:00

So that most pleasant time of the year has come and we bid our most faithful readers farewell for a week. We leave tomorrow for the most sexy sounding lands of Europe. Please come and talk to us if you're in the Danish or Swedish area. We are still looking for a desperate porn & gonorrhea fix, so if you're Cliff Richards or speak any scandinavian, try to look for a car filled with two hot men partying on chocolates, beer, champagne, good music & wine.

Also if our Belgian friends need any knäckebröd, smorgäsbord, Akvavit, the new Jens Lekman or just royal family postal cards, now is a good time to say so.

Adieu & we will try to update with some travelogue pictures of us getting roadhumped and dogeaten by scary gothenburgian bigguns. Be jealous, be very jealous!

Up North

2006-10-24T02:24:00.000+02:00

The noctos Lovetrain is preparing their trip for Denmark & Sweden next week. Do we have any Danish visitors here with suggestions about which cool places to visit around the Odense area? Historicial sites, cultural places, movie thingies, musical endeavours, wine tastings, strip clubs, danish pimps, anything really?

We're going by car, so further south or west of Odense is also fine. Point us in the good direction and we would be very much obliged.

More YouTube Love Handlin'!

2006-10-19T04:16:00.000+02:00

Because We Like To Waste Our Life with Ugly Men.

Best of YouTube Today

2006-10-04T23:22:00.000+02:00

Thanks also to DD for contributions. Waste your life on the internet kids.

A Twentysomething Love!

2006-10-03T18:06:00.000+02:00

Following up on last night's post, we'd like to wish our very dear friend a happy dreadful twentysmth birthday! May that love & beauty shine and don't let the dirt get ya. Free drinks & presents in november!

Where You Take It To.

2006-10-02T02:02:00.000+02:00

Once again, these words and sounds and images have all your answers. Luckily some people and blogs have important things to say unlike others raving about snaky shapes.

Dirt does not equal authenticity, just as authenticity doesn’t have a value in itself.

i ♥ sommarljus

But with a little sex in it.

2006-10-02T01:50:00.000+02:00

I should write and stop being lazy and lavishly praise and analyse and produce reviews and convince each & all of you how this is one of the finest and most important dvd boxes ever released.

But all I can mumble at this point after being squashed away by genius is: go out and see and play.

There is a little sex in everything.

The Age of Irony

2006-09-17T03:12:00.000+02:00

So we finally went ahead and saw S.O.A.P as the internet phenomenon has been abbreviated. I'm not really going to try to explain the whole joke: there are people who get it, others who don't. And I do realize the real fun and novelty of it all is over, I mean we've been sticking with the same jokes for over 10 months now and I'm sure people are getting tired of it. But one must always try to close a charade in STYLE. So we did. And I had just such a blast.

Anyone observing this whole soap opera should realize it's all about your personal experience at the movie theater. Because the movie obviously STINKS. It's of no use asking about the quality of the movie. No reason to get into the story or the characters or the cg or the snakes. The filmmakers think they bring joy and laughter but their jokes are bad, the action is stupid and the acting really really sucks. But all of that don't matter. It is you who is having fun because you are PERFORMING the title. The story is your performance of the title. It's a celebration of one of the worst high concept movies ever, put together in 4 magical words: SNAKES ON A PLANE and one helluva ballsy oneliner: "Enough is Enough. I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane".

So you must really understand: there is only one way to enjoy and like this movie. Do not just sit. Do not just watch. This is a comedy you have to perform yourself: gather your friends, put on your SOAP tshirts, bring these great plastic snakes into the theater, scare people with it during the movie, HISSSSS whenever you can, laugh, sing, shout & yell when the man says the line, clap your hands during the end credits and take pictures while you're at it.

I'll assure you: people in the audience will love their moviegoing so much more. At least people around us really seemed to get the joke as well. So hell yeah, this has been a landmark for me in all these years of moviegoing but to be fair as well: this kind of joke must end too. So thanks so much to everyone involved. And now then: Enough is Enough!

A succession of many empires that rise and fall

2006-09-12T21:52:00.000+02:00

Extremely massive and wonderful essential reading with David Tibet by Pitchfork. I'm reprinting it completely here, copyright and stuff by Brandon Stosuy:

Pitchfork: Black Ships Ate the Sky took quite some time to complete. That, along with the number of collaborators, gives it the air of a magnum opus. Did you intend to for it be the biggest statement of your career?

David Tibet: Well, no I didn't. It was a really important album for me, and like a lot of Current 93 albums, it starts off with a conceptual idea, which is sometimes just a phrase. So with this album the phrase came to me, “Black Ships Ate the Sky”, then I started having a lot of very intense dreams and a lot of text would come in. It's difficult to explain-- it sort of falls into my head. I get the sensation that a hole, or like a slit, opens in the top of my skull, and colors and words started falling in. It happened before with other records or sometimes paintings, but this time it was particularly intense, and it just kept on pouring in with just so much material. The whole idea, it was revealed to me.

I don't mean that in a religious or pseudo-religious sense. If I say it came to me in a vision it sounds like I'm being really pompous-- I don't want it to sound like that. Bill Fay said to me, "Do you mean stream of consciousness?" Perhaps it's that, but it was very visual. I saw colors. Sometimes I get really bad migraines with big hallucinatory patterns, so there's that as well. It was a personal experience. What I mean is I got the phrase and I didn't quite understand its significance-- the explanations came afterwards.

This particular song "Idumæa" was really haunting me-- it had been for several years-- and I just woke up and I thought, "I'm going to start asking the people who I most admire, who are artists and singers and friends of mine, I'm going to ask them to be on this and to interpret this song because this song is one of the keys to Black Ships." I wasn't really sure why or how that was the case, but I just knew that it was. So I just asked everyone-- just really all my friends. The only person I asked who couldn't do it was Bill Fay. He's only just got back into being involved with music and he's got a lot on and he's got things in his own personal life that take time up.

Black Ships could've just been me. It could've just been me with one other person and it would've been as important to me. It would've been the same conceptual statement. But on this one it just happened that I invited all my friends and it got bigger and bigger. At the moment it's the definitive statement of Current 93, but the next album will also be another definitive statement.

Pitchfork: Did you direct the participants how to sing "Idumæa" or did just give them the lyrics and tell them to go crazy with it?

DT: Well, it was written by Charles Wesley. His brother, John, helped found Methodism. I went into the studio with Michael Cashmore. He had the melody; he adapted the melody onto guitar. Then we went in with Marc Almond. That was the first one we did-- so Marc did a couple takes. Then what we did, was, we sent all the artists that we wanted to do it a recording of either just Michael doing it with a copy of the words, or if they said, "Well, could you give us more of an idea of how it's sung, how you see it being sung," we might send them the version Marc did.

But there were no instructions whatsoever. I just said, please interpret this as you feel it should be interpreted. When I got the CD back from them, or the files, that was the first time I heard it, and the first time I knew what it would be like.

The interesting thing about them all is that, you know, it's not their words-- and it may be words that they agree or disagree with or have no feeling about, but everyone's version really sounds as if they sat down and thought, "I'd really like to cover that." There's no sense that they all sound the same.

Pitchfork: Did your split 10" with Om come from this same period?

DT: Yes, the track that's on the split with Om, Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder), is part of the sessions of Black Ships. When Steve Stapleton and I finished mixing the album-- on the finished album there're 21 tracks and if you include the Om track that's 22, although it's not on the album-- but we had about 90 separate mixes of all the pieces. There are a few that are just huge. There are lots of tracks we didn't include-- more material by Antony that didn't end up on the final album, other stuff by me singing with music by Michael Cashmore, music by Ben Chasny.

I was talking to Ben about the music that we both liked-- so we were talking about metal or rock, hard rock, heavy rock, and so on. I was talking about a lot of the groups that are popular now like Meshuggah and Nile; I was saying I really love the music, but I find this style of singing-- which I guess is originally from black metal, you know [Tibet does a black metal voice] -- I can understand why they do it and I appreciate it, but I don't like it because I can't hear the words and to me it seems just a generic style of singing. I guess people can say that about the way Robert Plant and Ronnie James Dio sing, except that I really like that style, and I can hear the lyrics.

I was talking about how I really like long, repetitive, hypnotic, building pieces and then I started talking about metal with Ben and about the group Yes, who I've always loved, and Ben said, "Whoa, do you know this group, Om?" And I said, "No, I've not heard of them." He said, "Well, I think you'd like them." He told me they were connected to this band Sleep and asked if I'd heard of them. I went, "Well, I know the name, but you know, I don't know the music." So I went out in San Francisco and I bought the Om first album. I looked at the first track -- 21 minutes -- and after one minute I had this sense of huge disappointment that the track was only 21 minutes long. I just thought, "This is so stunning, so amazing.”

Pitchfork: Speaking of your connection to younger musicians: In your Durtro updates you've championed Six Organs, Will Oldham, and Joanna Newsom. How did you first get connected to freak folk and the doom and psych stuff? You and Ben seem to have an especially strong alliance.

DT: Well, Om, I've told you about-- that was absolutely thanks to Ben. That's also how I got connected with Stephen O'Malley from Sunn 0))-- we're working together. Oddly enough, when Ben started many years ago, he sent me an acetate of his first record. I think he did 10, and he sent one to me. It never got to me, so I didn't hear it for several years. He was a big Current 93 fan-- I think he mentioned that in an interview on Pitchfork with you. We got in touch, just got on really well, and I asked him if he'd want to start playing in Current and doing stuff together-- and he did that.

Pitchfork: When I interviewed Ben he mentioned that you sent him a bottle of Current 93. Do you own a distillery?

DT: [Laughs] There's an absinthe company in Germany and the guy who runs it used to be a big Current 93 fan. He wrote to me and asked if I'd be interested in designing a label for his new range of absinthe. I said, yeah, I'd really like to, why don't we do a special edition of, say, 93 or 100 copies with a CD with an unreleased track done especially for it. That developed into a box with a bottle of absinthe and with my label, which was signed by me. There were two absinthe glasses and an absinthe spoon and the CD. So there were 93 of those, and Ben got sent one of those. There's a charity I work with called the John Bradburne Memorial Society, a leprosy mission in Zimbabwe. I said I'd do it for the absinthe company if they made a donation-- my payment-- to the society and also put in some blurb about the society. So they did.

Pitchfork: [Laughs] Okay, back to the record. Lyrically, there's a lot of talk of Caesar, Rome, judgment, dissolution, destroyers/destruction, sinking boats, and ships. Certain parts make me think of George Bush and U.S colonialism. Is the record a critique of top-heavy modern society? Or is it some sort of internal Armageddon?

DT: It's absolutely nothing to do with George Bush. George Bush is a Caesar and a Pharaoh [but] all leaders are. We're all Pharaohs in our hearts as well. It's not a comment on American politics, which seems to obsess so many people now. And it's not a comment on U.S. colonialism. U.S. colonialism is just one in a succession of many empires that rise and fall. I don't know that's it's any worse or any better than any other empire. I just don't find America that important. I like America a lot and I like Americans a lot and I really enjoy being there and I love San Francisco, but Black Ships Ate the Skies is nothing to do with that.

Black Ships Ate the Skies is a reflection of my belief that we're living in the end times. "Black ships eat the sky”: These are the signs of the rising of Anti-Christ, as black ships enter our horizon-- literally and metaphorically.

The constant repetition of "Idumæa" is a reminder that after this period we're going through, there will be judgment. It's a catalogue of my own obsessions, just as Current's always been: My own questioning, my fears, my doubts, my hopes.

I'm aware that a lot of people will see it, perhaps, as something else, but all I know about is myself, and I don't even know very much about that. This is just how I see things. I'm not trying to evangelize. I don't really care what people think of it, whether they think my view of things is correct or insane or heretical, this is just how I see things and that's how it is.

Pitchfork: The album moves toward a really harrowing finale. I'm thinking of "Black Ships Were Sinking/Idumæa" and onward. The title track is almost industrial metal. How carefully did you organize this? Was it intentional?

DT: I'm always aware of the order the songs go in. I mean, with some of the "Idumæa" we needed to think of how that would work in terms of placement. The title track was always the end track, because that's when the ships are there, they're basically in your garden or over your garden-- they've come over the church. Specifically, it's the church where Jhonn Balance is buried-- although, actually, he was cremated, but the way I see it he has been buried in that church.

Pitchfork: Did the death of Jhonn Balance influence Black Ships?

DT: Not in any conscious way. There's that line that refers to him in the title track: "I would have never buried my friends/ And prayed for their souls/ In reddening churches." That's about Balance.

I really do miss him, and I think about him a lot. The sadness of his death and the sadness of the phone call we got saying he was dead was a real shock to us all, but was not a surprise to any of us. He had gotten worse and worse; his alcoholism was incredibly extreme. The times when he was lucid and when you could speak to him or meet up with him became very few and far between. We didn't see each other much, we didn't speak much, you know, sometimes you'd get e-mails, which make no sense because...he was drunk. And then you'd get e-mails that make a lot of sense because he was sobering up and trying to work out where he was and who he was but you know, he just couldn't. The last time I spoke to him on the phone I said, “Please, please stop, you are going to kill yourself. You'll be dead soon.”

He was talented and lovely and just a really dear friend and a great person in any way I can think of, but he had no confidence. He would say, “Well, if I'm not drinking, you'll find me boring,” and of course it wasn't true. It was a tragedy just as anyone's death in those circumstances is a tragedy. When I got the phone call-- it was on my mobile-- and I looked at the name of who was ringing and I just knew what it was. It was a friend and he said, “Oh, David,” and I said, “Is Balance dead?,” and he said, “Yeah, yeah.”

Pitchfork: There's a moment on Black Ships-- "Christ made a dance/ Which turned into a trance." Did you convert to Christianity?

DT: Well, I was always interested in religion. My main interest was initially Christianity, but I was also interested in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism because that's what I was growing up around [in Malaysia]. I used to spend a lot of time going to Hindu temples and Chinese temples, but from a very early age I was interested in the Bible and in New Testament apocrypha, and also in eschatological and apocalyptic writings. I studied Buddhism for a long time but, yeah, if people ask me what I am now, I'm Christian.

I was talking to a good friend of mine who's a professor of theology. She's Christian as well. I think she's on discussion groups and somebody said, "Wow, it's really strange some of the things Tibet says live, they sound really Christian." And I said to her, I don't understand that-- everything from Thunder Perfect Mind has been pretty overtly Christian to me. I mean sometimes the references are obscure, but nonetheless, they seem to be obviously Christian. And she said, "People think you're being ironic." They think I'm being ironic for 13 years? That would exhaust even the world’s greatest ironist.

Pitchfork: There are these moments of waking up on Black Ships-- As if what we're getting is dream language. It made me think of Finnegans Wake.

DT: Have you ever read Finnegans Wake?

Pitchfork: Yes, though I've read it in parts-- I'll read 25 pages and then put it down and pick it up later and read 25 more....

DT: That's what I did. I really love the idea of it, but I just think it's absolutely unreadable...just seems such a waste really. I like space. I like linear simple things with lots of spaces, so then I feel like I can breathe. I feel very claustrophobic when I'm surrounded by anything that is taking up all the space, maybe that's eating all the sky.

I really admire James Joyce as a person, though to be honest, I've never found his work as interesting as I'd hoped it would be. Same with Ulysses. I just found it very difficult and boring, though I love the end soliloquy, the Molly Bloom...

Pitchfork: The whole "yes I said yes I will yes..."

DT: Yes, yes. I've read that many times-- I'd be much happier if Ulysses was just that.

Pitchfork: So with Ghost Story Press then, are you more or less releasing the books you like to read?

DT: Yeah-- they were books... or in some cases they were books that I would liked to have read, but they were so rare, that I couldn't find a copy. So I thought, well, perhaps there are other people who will be in the same situation. That's how it started. I think that, again, like the music, and like everything, it just comes becomes I'm an enthusiast. I'm really passionate and also very focused and will expend a great deal of energy to make that connection very powerful.

Pitchfork: I've heard that you're learning Coptic. What led you to that?

DT: Well, I was doing New Testament Greek and-- I was always very fond of the Gospel of Thomas, which was written originally in the Greek, but the Greek original has more or less disappeared apart from a few fragments. The Gospel of Thomas is in Coptic, and I loved it so much that I decided I would start to learn Coptic, so I could read it in the original. All the Nag Hammadi material’s in Coptic, too, so there's a huge amount there. I spend a lot of time doing Coptic. Before I go to bed I'll do Coptic and I'll do it in the morning and whenever I've got any spare time.

Pitchfork: On Black Ships, your vocal phrasing strikes me as especially assured. Do you think you've refined your approach? There are certainly more pregnant pauses.

DT: I guess it has purely by the fact that I've carried on doing it-- it’s not a conscious thing. From my perspective, I'm singing. Some people would say, “Oh, you're reciting poetry,” and I understand what they're saying, but to me I'm singing. I'm aware I've got a fairly-- not so much a limited vocal range, because I've actually got a wide vocal range, but I can't shift between them easily. From the beginning, when I was aware that I wanted to start singing or whatever we'll call it, I was aware of the limitations of my voice and I developed a way to make myself at ease with it, to make me feel like it was a powerful instrument by doing other things that people tend not to do. I don't know if I'm more comfortable with my voice now, but I am more confident in what I want to say.

Pitchfork: For a while you were no longer going by David Tibet-- you were suddenly David Michael. Why?

DT: Michael is my middle name. That was a strange period. I started getting letters from people saying, "Tibet says this," or "Tibet says you are this or you are that" and I got-- not sick of these comments, but sick of the way we think we know someone else [when] we don't even know ourselves. We're all absolutely unknowable. The name itself is a mask.

I woke up and thought: I'm sick of people seeing this continuity between what I am now and what I did then. I wanted to make the point, to myself more than anybody else, that continuity is correctible and often invalid. There is something that remains the same-- maybe that's the soul-- but the idea that it's the same actor all the time is useful only if we remember that actors wear masks. The Tibet who made one record isn't necessarily the Tibet that is writing this [new] record or talking to you on the phone. I got sick of being pigeonholed, perhaps by myself, perhaps by my history.

It really felt great to take off that mask and write about oneself more objectively, as objective as one can ever be about as something as subjective as oneself.

Pitchfork: Do you feel that you have particularly intense fans?

DT: I do feel that. I like that. As I've told you before, I myself am one of those people. I used to joke with Shirley Collins that, "Oh, it's your stalker." [Laughs] I get along really well with Shirley, but I'm really passionate about things and I find it touching that people are passionate about my work.

At the same time, I always find it a little strange that they are passionate, because the references in my songs or words are so personal and relating to things that really only I know about and really a very close circle of people who have known me for a long time, so I sort of think, “How can anyone else know what I'm going on about, where's their link to it?” But then my wife point out, I feel the same about other artists, where the work is so personal but nonetheless I feel that I'm getting an insight into their world. So, I do relate to them.

Pitchfork: Yeah, I know you adore Shirley Collins. What's it like to have her contributing to your productions?

DT: I was introduced to her music by Edwin Pouncey, Savage Pencil, a longtime friend of mine. I fell in love straightaway. She's one of the great geniuses of song. She's overwhelmingly genuine, there's no artifice in her, she's absolutely-- just a completely pure person.

It’s strange to meet to someone, who, of course, I idolized so much, who is so down to earth and human. She's really enriched my life with her honesty and her friendship.

I think there's a feeling that I'm a big folk fan, which I'm really not-- I don't really like folk music very much at all. Shirley Collins I absolutely idolize, Ann Briggs is a great artist, and Mellow Candle were amazing, but folk rock often feels very generic. Shirley, to me, transcends folk.

I [also] love Arthur Doyle and I love the idea of Albert Ayler and John Coltrane, but I really don't like jazz. I tried really hard to like jazz -- you know, I bought lots of all the classic jazz albums-- but it just drives me insane. A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, I listened to it over and over again and the only bit I liked on it was when he sings "a love supreme, a love supreme." With Ayler, the only albums I really like are the really late ones where he has his wife singing, which Ayler fans tend to not to like. And I'm not liking them to be an anti-hip snob, it's purely because I think her singing is tempering the unbearable jazz squawking-- I really don't get it. It’s just so abrasive.

Pitchfork: Finally, I have a question a friend of mine supplied. Someone at her college had a radio show called “Songs of the Apocalypse”, and she was curious what would be on your show, if you put together something called “Songs of the Apocalypse”.

DT: Funny, instead of the obvious choices, the song that immediately comes to mind is "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes; that and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” by the Shangri La's. I love girl groups-- I particularly love Ronnie Spector-- and the idea of apocalypse, the original Greek word meaning, “unveiling,” is where everything is revealed. Now, of course, it has the sense of Armageddon and total destruction, but I still look at it as a total unveiling, the taking off of all masks, and the return, perhaps after the Armageddon, to that state of pristine purity and innocence and love, which is the natural human condition.

When I listen to "Be My Baby" I hear such yearnings and such love and such beauty-- that absolutely simple, uncynical love that can and should exist between people-- it makes me think of everything [being] stripped away. It's an absolutely naked, heartbreaking plea for love.

“Walking in the Sand”, of course, has a darker sense to it; that sense of finality and ending which is also apocalyptic-- although, again, in contemporary culture there's this confusion between apocalypse and Armageddon. But if we're referring to the unveiling of all the masks and lies and deceits and clothes that the soul has covered itself with, it has to be "Be My Baby".

Philosophers Think of Death.Beautiful Women of Love.

2006-09-12T02:56:00.000+02:00

"But what a marvellous destiny:
To love no one, To be alone.
To be loved by no one, To be free!"

"Ah you've smiled at me. Don't say no. You smiled. Life is beautiful and so are you. So beautiful too, so beautiful."

Custer was a cunt... The End.

2006-09-12T02:28:00.000+02:00

"Every day takes figuring out all over again how to fucking live."

Find out what's playing online

2006-09-04T22:51:00.000+02:00

I recently stumbled upon http://www.ticklebooth.com, which is a blog dedicated to "finding the best and maybe even the worst (when it can’t be helped) of all that can be played online".

And indeed , there's so much good stuff on there, that you should immediately hop on over and adjust your bookmarks. Find out which commercial UNKLE exactly sampled, or how Dylan channeled his crush on Scarlett or what trailer mashups exactly are.

And when you're on your way out, one of the contributors Dek also has his own blog, which is very worth your while.

Alright.

KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD BABYLON

2006-08-30T17:20:00.000+02:00

Honestly, I don't get The Daily Show. I really don't. Everyone is applauding the show for being the most hilarious thing on television and maybe this is just me but I don't find all that fake news to be that interesting, let alone be funny. I love a good imitation of the human condition but these fake newsreports, they're just so constructed and far-fetched. You can't spook a person if he knows he's going to be spooked, you know?

That said, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert did something amazing last week. Just watch the YouTube movie: it is probably the most funny presenting speech I have ever seen. And you know why? Because it was not a fake. They just told the truth in an outrageous manner. Now that is funny.

UPDATE: Gloggy Glog's rebuttal.

Songs For Now

2006-08-26T23:13:00.000+02:00

OMGOD, I hereby bring you the best news of the month: Max Richter has a new album coming out in October called "Songs From Before" but sources just tell me it has already leaked (many thanks to a certain fortress!). So far I have managed to find a blog which features three amazing new songs but smart internet people can probably find the whole album somewhere else. So please enjoy the album for now and support Max in October because he just made 2006 a year to never forget (along with David Tibet!). Cheers folks.

We heart Dolores

2006-08-25T12:19:00.000+02:00

Holy Smokes, this blog is slowly turning into a DLY DLRS promo machine but hey it's good to see the boy being busy and that other sweet mama Igor played his part too, so let's show some love and appreciation (and we're not exactly through with the promo, expect more sweet candy in the near future).

So here it is: Dolores' new video clip for Belgian artist Milow and despite the fact that we do have soms crits of our own, we encourage you to check it out and leave some comments on YouTube. Spread the word.

Music by Milow
Directed by Isaac E. Gozin
Director Of Photography: Nicolas Karakatsanis
Camera Assistent: Rik Zang
Production by Malin-Sarah Gozin @ TV de Wereld
Edited by Bert Jacobs & Maarten Janssens @ 2Frame
Post Production by Bert Jacobs @ 2Frame
Film developed by Studio Equipe
Setphotography by Pieter Jelle De Brue & Pieter Baert
Filmed at and many thanx to The Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren.

"Two Thumbs Up"

2006-08-21T10:11:00.000+02:00

This is a nice surprise: Dolores goes YouTube and offers us and the world his short film "Dear Julia", based on the Brian Biggs comic.

So come on and venture forth to YouTube, we know you got 12 minutes of your triumphant lives to spare. After all, Dolores' luscious buttocks are so much sweeter than the hey-gals. Oh yess, we have touched his be-hind and so can you. Just leave him a note.

The Anvil or The Hammer?

2006-08-13T02:06:00.000+02:00

Anyone feeling a little masochistic should definitely read Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's infamous Venus in Furs. It's very different than you would suspect, leaning much more towards suspense and brooding atmosphere, combined with quite some interesting philosophical insights and poignant observations; even for not so submissive folks, yess i'm talking about myself dolores, quite the read. And the ending is very much the turnaround. So in light of its theme, let me already spoil it, ya feelin the pleasure already?

The moral is that woman, as Nature has created her and as man up to now has found her attractive, is man’s enemy; she can be his slave or his mistress, but never his companion. This she can only be when she has the same rights as he and is his equal in education and work. For the time being there is only one alternative: to be the hammer or the anvil. I was fool enough to let a woman make a slave of me, do you understand? Hence the moral of the tale: whoever allows himself to be whipped deserves to be whipped. But as you see, I have taken the blows well; the rosy mist of supersensuality has lifted, and no one will ever make me believe that the sacred wenches of Benares (1) or Plato’s rooster (2) are the images of God.

[1] One of Schopenhauer's designations for women.

[2] Diogenes threw a plucked rooster into Plato's school and exclaimed: "Here is Plato's man."

Both... But Maybe Sunset

2006-08-09T20:01:00.000+02:00

It is time to decide and tune in or out. Make it shine.

A Cat Power History in YouTube Pictures

2006-07-30T05:26:00.000+02:00

There's a reason YouTube is so damn popular these days: it just never fails to deliver the most awe-inspiring videos. You click this one vid and then there's a next and a next and all of a sudden right in front of that screen you have seen someone's whole career, how they changed, how they used to be, when they were happy, when they were sad and just like that, hours of your life have passed too, and you have been feeling bad for her and you've been smiling and dancing along. Boy, these videos are some true miracle workers, but the true goddess has off course been this once-shy fragile girl with the most amazing voice who has made the most beautiful music over the years and has now become some really happy pill doing the most lovely moves. So ladies and gents, take your time, sit down in that chair, face that screen and sing and jump along, here are some Chan Marshall aka Cat Power videos:

1996 - one of the best and most intense Nude as the News versions ever, Live on French TV from the What Would The Community Think? album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HawbtsYP_2o

1998 - the Cat got more humor than you Cross Bones video from the Moon Pix album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXWvjkX446A

1999 - The thank you Bill Callahan TV-Interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS1W4mF2vbk

2002(?) - the Chan ring me up and we'll do more drunk Slim Shady Karaoke sing-a-longs (badly out-of-sync unfortunately but the material's too good to pass up)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb7XV6G_-U

2002(?) - Cat and the Flaming Lips cover Black Sabbath: more gore, more blood, more nudity please

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTvZs-icyd8

2003 - Maybe Not live on Letterman proves why You are Free is just one of my all time favorite albums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vj_tR4p184

2006 - Performing on the Jools Holland show from the new The Greatest album: I Don't Blame You, Lived in Bars and The Greatest. I find the music a little less but it has grown on me and I don't think she's ever looked any sexier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9x3Ix1T9-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuXTBKVos_M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItHkO-giOdE

2006 - the Lived in Bars video or as one some YouTube user said: I've never seen her happier, I'm so glad for her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6hm60sd7o

2006 - and finally the cherry on the cake: the most funky and funny Living Proof dance you'll ever see, Live on Letterman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iNOpxFeYio

Never force it, but be popular.

2006-07-24T16:59:00.000+02:00

"The most important part of the process is to find something that appeals to the theatergoer. The idea is to find something popular into which you can inject humor and life at the highest level. Never force it, but be popular."
-- Billy Wilder

GODisLOVE!

2006-07-23T17:21:00.000+02:00

Beware Of New Jazz Quartets

2006-07-10T16:38:00.000+02:00

Gothenburg has entered the best promo pics competition.

Most Underrated Comedian of All Time

2006-07-09T18:31:00.000+02:00

The Fallacies of The Young!

2006-07-06T00:32:00.000+02:00

1. Plots are old-fashioned. A story with a plot is contrived, artifical and boring.

2. When you start writing a script, just begin at the beginning without trying to plan how it will end. Planning isn’t necessary. It’s much better to be spontaneous. Improvise as you go along.

3. The most boring thing of all is to be obvious. It’s much more interesting to be ambiguous. Leave it to the audience to work out what you mean. Why does everything have to be explained?

4. Ideas and issues are what interest me. That’s where I like to start: from an idea. I don’t really care much about the characters so much.

5. I think the most interesting theme nowadays is alienation. That’s what true to life because everybody is alienated nowadays. A character that wants to do things, or who has something he wants to achieve is somehow phoney, or corny.

6. I like symbolism. I don’t see the point of characters that are realistic. It’s much more interesting when they’re abstract.

7. I like to play with scenes of fantasy rather than reality. I like dream sequences and flashbacks. It’s more interesting when you play around with time.

Remarks like this are very common from students, though they are often expressed in very much more complicated language. Let me say that all these comments make sense to me. I really do understand and respect the points of view being expressed here... But they are not compatible with the subject I teach here... The truth is I cannot help you explore what is often called Modernism. The craft of storytelling is rather un-Modernist.
-- Alexander Mackendrick on Film-Making

put that snake on me

2006-07-01T07:41:00.000+02:00

ooooh i'm slacking, the first official Snakes on a Plane (teaser) trailer is online, yeeey fo'snakes, yeeey fo'planes!

PS Apparently director David Ellis has said that there will be no official full length trailer. Instead there will be a series of five short trailers that will be released every week or two. If you'd like to stay updated, better check snakesonablog.

Obey Your Gnarls!

2006-06-08T16:28:00.000+02:00

[ed. note: the information gathered here is the first joined effort between the noctos crew and the sexy Daily Dolores]

Our Gnarls Barkley admiration is growing stronger every day. Not only do we agree with everyone going wild over Crazy being the single of the year, we have even made it a priority to track down everything that's going round on the internet about mr Cee-Lo and mr Danger Mouse.

So first off, discover the Crazy covers that are floating around: we got Nelly Furtado going crazy, The Twilight Singers too, not to mention The Kooks, a certain Terri Walker and Ray LaMontagne.

So far Ms Furtado gets most props but maybe most credit should go the Gnarls fellas themselves because they have done a much better job than anyone out there of covering their own song: youtube provides us with the magnificent Top of the Pops version, the interesting Conan O' Brien version and there's also a great Jools Holland version.

[Edit1: listen to the original crazy sample, it's from a song called Nel Cimitero Di Tucson by Gianfranco and Gianpiero Reverberi from the spaghetti western Preparati la bara, all hail Ennio!]

[Edit2: the first virals begin to pop as well, here's the first good one, thanks Allison for the heads up, and to the dancing kid we just want to say: do not worry, the world loves you and poobear, and I now know what moves I will be breaking at the next wedding party, so stay pretty and cool]

However, the most interesting results of our whole Gnarls research are by far their dress up photos. Because let's face it, dressing up as your favorite movie characters, what could be more fun?

So we are here to show you just how magnificent their costumes really are. And tonight (Thursday, June 8th), there's another highlight because the boys will be performing in Star Wars outfit at this years MTV Movie Awards. The show starts at 9PM EST/PST and I'm sure videos of the performance will be up shortly afterwards.

[edit: the show has surfaced and can now be watched over at youtube, it's even better than I expected, I mean it's chewie on the drumzzz!]

So without further ado let me give you all the photo material we've been able to gather on the internet and let's first start with a peek of the MTV Star Wars costumes:

Gnarls Barkley @ MTV Movie Awards, June 8th

Gnarls Barkley as The Wizard of OZ @ Coachella, (c) Sarah-Cuda

Gnarls Barkley as A Clockwork Orange

Gnarls Barkley as Freddy vs Jason

Gnarls Barkley as The Big Lebowski

Gnarls Barkley as Napoleon Dynamite

Gnarls Barkley as Wayne's World

Gnarls Barkley as Superman

Gnarls Barkley as Cheech and Gong

Gnarls Barkley as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Sleepy Belgians

2006-05-28T13:48:00.000+02:00

Sweet, what are the odds of discovering two lovely Belgian musicians in one month. People have sort of heard us complain in the past about the belgian scene but with all this lurking talent, it was really us who were to blame. So first we were sleeping on Ignatz and now there's Wixel with his beautiful album Heart. The music is sort of in between Manyfingers, The Boats, Explosions in the Sky or Múm, to namedrop just a few other bands going in the same direction. But it obviously stands on his own, so go check some tracks at Wixel's Myspace or get the album via paypal.

I Am Black Ship

2006-05-16T17:04:00.000+02:00

Despite being one of my most anticipated records of the year, Current 93's Black Ships Ate The Sky even exceeds expectations. It is gorgeous, sublime and haunting. And on top of that all, David Tibet is touring and I'll be seeing them live on friday.

So check out a few reviews and go get that record: Time Out, Dusted & Brainwashed.

Edit: also listen to this lenghty radio interview on WFMU with David Tibet (they also play tracks from the new album, as well as other tracks by Tibet's favorite artists, including Don Bradshaw-Leather, Jan Dukes de Grey, Cyndi Lauper, Little Annie and OM)

Amaani Lyle: You Dried Up Pussy!

2006-05-09T19:40:00.000+02:00

Wow, seems like the Friends writers are much funnier in the writing room than in their scripts. Check this story out and especially read Ms Lyle's testimonials. These writers are genius: realizing David Schwimmer is gay and wanting to assfuck Jennifer Aniston. Ooh did I just say the f-word?

I just can't believe a court would even accept such ludicrous accusations. But luckily this means I don't have to put away my 'You blow schlong, David Schwimmer!' t-shirt.

The Neon Light

2006-05-06T22:29:00.000+02:00

We've been witnessing and hearing about the heavy workload a certain video clip demanded for the past 3 months but now, the result has finally surfaced on the internet.

And I must admit I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw it a few hours ago. I'm hardly a fan of this type of music, I have got comments and crits here and there about editing, camera, human textures and kitsch but overall it's a job very well done, showing great potential in the big bad world of 3D.

So please follow the link and check out the first 3D animation music video by Abzinth aka Ive Peeters for the song "Pick-up truck" by the Belgian wondergroup Praga Khan (file is in mp4 format - 9mb).

[edit] Bandwidth exceeded already but here's a Gloggy Mirror for the video.

one should jump on some bandwagons sooner than later

2006-05-03T19:26:00.000+02:00

I've been sleeping. I've been sleeping for way too long on this gem. It's been out there for maybe almost a year and I've consistenly heard great things about it but it has sunken in only just now. Arguably one of the best belgian records in a long long while. Now, don't you sleep too long. Out on the lovely (K-RAA-K)³.

More goodies!

2006-04-29T15:05:00.000+02:00

Steve Allen interview keeps fascinating.

The Full Movie!

2006-04-29T14:55:00.000+02:00

Thank you YouTube!

(smart people can also download the film through here)

A List of Movies

2006-04-09T21:01:00.000+02:00

A list of movies I'd like to check out after reading Billy Dolores' hipster Lodown magazine. Thought I'd share. Some are unbeknown to me, some had already been recommended by folks, some are classics and others are from well-known directors but not necessarily their most famous work. If you've seen one of these films, by all means feel free to recommend or dismiss because I have a feeling I might not like a few titles, so opinions are more than welcome.

Bleeder by Nicolas Winding Refn - 1999

Kyua (Cure) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa - 1997

Swingers by Doug Liman - 1996

Der Totmacher by Romuald Karmakar - 1995

Clean, Shaven by Lodge H. Kerrigan - 1994

Metal Skin by Geoffrey Wright - 1994

Laws of Gravity by Nick Gomez - 1992

Léolo by Jean-Claude Lauzon - 1992

Begotten by E. Elias Merhige - 1991

The People Under the Stairs by Wes Craven - 1991

The Reflecting Skin by Philip Ridley - 1990

Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo by Uli Edel - 1981

Prince of the City by Sidney Lumet - 1981

Southern Comfort by Walter Hill - 1981

Animal House by John Landis - 1978

The Last House on the Left by Wes Craven - 1972

Hellzapoppin by H.C. Potter - 1941

The Line-Painter Dilemma

2006-04-02T16:31:00.000+02:00

Screenwriter Parables by J.A.:
The Line-Painter Dilemma

A guy is hired to paint the yellow line down the middle of a country road. The first day, he paints five miles. His supervisor is impressed. The second day, he only paints two miles. His supervisor thinks, “Well, maybe he had a bad day.” But the third day, the guy only paints half a mile. The supervisor asks the guy what’s wrong — why is he getting so much less done?

“Well,” the guy says, “I have to keep walking back to the paint can.”

The screenwriting equivalent, of course, is that at the start of each day’s work, one’s instinct is to go back to page one and read-slash-revise up to where you left off. Which is a very counter-productive habit.

UNFUCKED SWEDISH PUSSYS!

2006-03-30T19:09:00.000+02:00

The guiltiest pleasure of the year has already arrived: The Knife's Silent Shout album is extremely addictive. This album just makes me want to dive in with the X crowd and party all night long on some remote island. And as encore, we'd like to order some Royksopp What Else is There.

Karin Dreijer and Olof Dreijer, you made a rare thing happen, all the best to you and please keep up making these best promo shots ever:

See This Show. Period.

2006-03-25T06:39:00.000+01:00

Arent't you one of those guys who's always running in here yelling "disco sucks?" What's the matter, cat got your bong, man? Is that how you learned to communicate? Running in here and yelling stuff? Is that what your precious "rock and roll" teaches you?
-- No, it teaches me that DISCO SUCKS!

Profilic things are happening elsewhere

2006-03-15T18:01:00.000+01:00

Yes we're still alive and haven't forgotten about this place. It's just that the good things are happening somewhere not so near. I'm sort of stuck with making money and doing shitty promo vids. But fear not, the light will strike again.

In the meantime, check out this amazing clip from the Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble concert and read all about it here & here.

It really sounds amazing guys. (it's kind of chaveau-esque too, right? and i mean that in big compliment kind of way) Feeling quite sad now I wasn't up north. But I do hope some recording is flying around?

And if you thought that was only it, check out yet another good thing: Famous for 15mb. Dogs can be cute, although I still wouldn't let them bite me.

So anyhow that's what I call inspiring. Now we better go back to our desk and come up with something equally strong.

Stay good everyone.

In the port of Amsterdam

2006-02-18T15:12:00.000+01:00

I stumbled upon a great Jacques Brel cover: Port of Amsterdam on David Bowie's Pin Ups album. Bowie actually sounds like Current 93 avant la lettre. I can't find an internet link to the song, so hunt down the song and make sure you get the Ryko edition or another release which features the bonus tracks because the regular Pin Ups edition doesn't have the bonus tracks.

And off course don't forget to check out the amazing original Brel version. As a matter of fact, you can see him performing Amsterdam on youtube. (it's a little bit outofsync though).

Brel's version & performance is probably untouchable but still Bowie's version is great, do not sleep.

The link between Jose Gonzalez and John Ford

2006-02-09T18:43:00.000+01:00

Six Degrees of Separation:

Tom Joad, the main character from the John Steinbeck novel & John Ford movie The Grapes of Wrath, has apparently even inspired through Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen & Rage against the Machine the new Jose Gonzalez band Junip. The fifth song of their first EP is called The Ghost of Tom Joad (orginally a Springsteen song) and let's see if Junip will equal the success of Jose Gonzalez' solo material, which is literally everywhere these days.

Why filmmaking is so different these days (for better or for worse?)

2006-02-09T17:00:00.000+01:00

When shooting Catch 22 in Mexico, it took six months to complete the shoot because cinematographer David Watkin would only film between 2pm to 3pm to get the same lighting.

Get Cancer or how Mark Brazill really came up with the idea of That '80s Show

2006-02-06T02:13:00.000+01:00

From an exchange of emails in fall 2001 between Judd Apatow, the creator of the sitcoms Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and a successful writer of Hollywood screenplays, and Mark Brazill, the creator of That '70s Show. Topher Grace is one of the stars of That '70s Show.

(c) Originally from Harper's Magazine, March 2002:

Mark,

I am writing you because I left a message but did not hear back. I understand that you were upset about me not calling you to ask if Topher could do our show. Since Fox executives were talking to Topher about it, I thought it was cool with you. Also, since I hadn't written it yet, I wasn't at the point of asking if it was possible to have him do it. I would have called your show then. I didn't realize it would create a problem. I never wished to offend you. If there is some protocol for people on Fox doing guest shots on other Fox shows, I didn't know what it was. Regardless, I'm sorry that this resulted in such a mess. If you are mad at me about this or something else from our past, please tell me. I only remember us having fun in the early nineties and it troubles me that it seems like you have a beef with me.

Best regards,

Judd Apatow

* * *

Judd,

Yeah, we were friends in the early nineties. And if you don't recall what happened, I'll remind you. I had a pilot at MTV called "Yard Dogs" about a rock band living in Hollywood. I told you about it and you proceeded to completely rip it off, storyline and all, for the Ben Stiller show. You called it "Grungies." MTV and UTA [United Talent Agency] were working on an overall deal (MTV's idea) with me, based on that pilot. When it turned up on your show everything went away overnight. I had just had my son Jack and I had no job, no money, nothing. There's a saying, "I forgive but I don't forget. And I don't forgive." So, now you know. Although I kind of think that you already did.

Mark

* * *

Mark,

I truly don't remember anything you are talking about. Jeff Kahn wrote "The Grungies" sketch, a parody where we did Seattle bands as The Monkees. I don't remember you ever calling me after that saying you were mad. Ben and I would get fifty sketches a week from the writers and then we'd pick the ones that we thought were funny. I never connected the two. Even now they don't seem similar. Ours was a goofy over-the-top parody, not a situation comedy about musicians in L.A. Nobody watched our show so I don't see how that could be the reason your pilot died. I am sorry you are upset. I am not a thief of ideas. I'm sorry you believe differently.

Judd Apatow

* * *

Judd,

The show I wrote was also over-the-top and it let down the fourth wall. Since it's registered at the WGA [Writers Guild of America], you could compare the two. And as an Exec Producer, we both know you have input into every sketch. As for no one seeing the show, everyone knows everything in Hollywood. There are no secrets. Personally, I feel you've made a career out of being a sycophant to Carrey or Shandling or Roseanne, and when you weren't kissing ass you were stealing from lesser-known comics or leeching off other people's ideas ("Celtic Pride," "Cable Guy"). I noticed how outraged you were to not get a writing credit on "Cable Guy" until it came out and was panned. You dropped that cause like the showbiz weasel you are. You may not think you're a thief, but most comics know otherwise. And again, you know that too. Have you ever read "What Makes Sammy Run"? I think you'd like it. Get cancer.

Love,

Mark

* * *

Mark,

Come on, we all wrote for comics at the beginning of our careers. I wrote for Roseanne, you wrote for Dennis Miller. If that makes me a sycophant, then I guess I am. And so are the writers for "Caesar's Hour." I dropped my "Cable Guy" lawsuit not because the film got bad reviews but because I spent eighty grand on it and my lawyer told me I was going to lose. You would be upset if you rewrote the vast majority of a script and received no credit. I wish you had called me about this years ago. I'm sure we could have worked it out. Try not to be so angry. Not everyone is as bad as you think. You should call Jeff Kahn and ask him how that sketch originated. If it turned out that I didn't steal your idea would you still want me to get cancer? I swear to God that I didn't know you were mad about this. Until six weeks ago I was still referring to you as an old friend. Maybe one day I'll be able to say that again.

Judd Apatow

* * *

Mark,

It's come to my attention that you are upset with Judd Apatow about the sketch "The Grungies." I completely understand why you would have been pissed off about seeing something similar to what you were working on at the time. However, the idea for "The Grungies" and all the initial writing and rewriting came from me. I also cast it, acted in it, and edited it. I was and still am influenced by pop music, and I thought it would be funny to satirize the seriousness of the Seattle grunge music scene with the ridiculous superficiality of "The Monkees" 1960s show. I hope that this clears up any misunderstanding. By the way, I am a huge fan of "That '70s Show." Congratulations on its well-deserved success. I also think it's cool you set it in Wisconsin. I went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison and loved it. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to email me.

Jeff Kahn

* * *

Mark,

I have no interest in talking with you on the phone anymore. I know you are very successful and think that gives you the right to judge people and berate them regardless of the facts, but I have had enough of you for one day. I know it's hard to believe that your rock band TV idea, which every writer in this town has thought of at one point, was not on my mind half a year after you told it to me. Yes, you thought of breaking the fourth wall. Groucho and George Burns stole it from you. Why don't you sue the guys who have that new show "How to Be a Rock Star" on the WB? I must have told them your idea. Nobody has ever goofed on rock bands, not "Spinal Tap" or The Rutles or 800 "Saturday Night Live" sketches. I should have told everyone on the show, no rock band sketches, that's Brazill's area. So hold on to your hate and rage, even though it makes no sense. I'll go back to my life of thievery and leeching. As for the cancer, I'll wait till you get it and then steal it from you. By the way, that joke was one of my writers', Rodney Rothman (see, I credited him). See, I have no original thoughts. Sorry I bothered to figure this out.

Judd

* * *

Judd,

How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me. I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want. Everyone knows you're a hack. Also, everyone knows how you fucked over Paul Feig on the new show. All your press mentions "your" brilliant "Freaks and Geeks," as if Feig didn't even do the series. It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy. Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers? Tell her I know how she feels. The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email. I respect you zero. See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that. Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood. (Is that too angry?)

Love,

Brazill

* * *

Mark,

I hope your anger is a joke, because if it isn't . . . wow. Here's a line by line reply. I have starred (*) the replies if you are confused by my format.

>How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me.

***That was the joke. How interesting that you couldn't understand that. You would think someone with the lineage of "Yard Dogs" would have the intellectual acumen to pick up on that. I feel for the writers that have to pitch to you. Never doubt how much they hate you.

>I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want.

***How could I hear your idea, steal it, and then have it air two weeks later? It was a filmed sketch show. Sketches were written months before they aired. They were filmed six weeks before they aired. I thought you were a producer. Shouldn't you understand how these shows are made? Do you start writing episodes two weeks before they air? Maybe you stole "Yard Dogs" from me.

>Everyone knows you're a hack.

***That's why I kiss the ass. Let me know who thinks I am a hack so I can kiss their ass as well. I also suck dick lately. That's how I got my Dreamworks deal.

>It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy.

***I'm sure it's hard for you to believe, but I do not control the national media. That is only true in your paranoid mind. If I create a show they often mention the last show. When they write about "That '80s Show" I am sure they won't ever mention "That '70s Show." I wrote an entire article in the "L.A. Times," a cover story in the calendar, that credited Paul for his work. He went from a struggling actor to an established writer/producer over the course of a year. He is still my friend and I am very happy that he was nominated for two Emmys. He deserved it. I wasn't upset about his Emmy nominations, I already have enough. The certificates are so big you can only hang so many before it starts looking tacky.

>Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers?

***Yes.

>Tell her I know how she feels.

***I'm on it.

>The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email.

***The funniest part of these emails is how bad your sense of humor is. You neither get nor can tell a joke. After you said "get cancer" did you really think I was looking to heal our relationship? Usually the cancer insult is a closer. I'm sure everyone who has suffered with that appreciates your sharp wit.

>I respect you zero.

***Oh no.

>See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that.

***If you think cancellation hurts me at this point, you haven't been following my career as closely as I thought. I guess you are too busy tracking my real estate problems.

>Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood.

***That's a Sam Kinison line, you stupid fuck!!!! Hypocrite!!!! J'accuse!!!!

>(Is that too angry?)

>Love, Brazill

***Mark, I have enjoyed this. It's good to see the tragedies of the past few months haven't watered down your passion. I guess if Mark Brazill doesn't go insane over stuff that makes no sense, the terrorists win. Good luck with "That '80s Show." And I look forward to "That '90s Show."

Judd Apatow

::Followup::
Recent SuicideGirls Interview:

DRE: Did you and Mark Brazill ever make up?

JA: Yes everyone’s all made up.

DRE: Are you serious?

JA: Everything is nice in the world. There’s bigger problems on earth than that.

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

2006-02-02T03:45:00.000+01:00

In revenge there is something that satisfies one’s sense of justice. Our sense of revenge is as exact as as our mathematical faculty and until both terms of the equation are satisfied we cannot get over the sense of something left undone.

(c) Inazo Nitobe

Ecoutez le show Sonores

2006-02-01T04:23:00.000+01:00

Okay buddies friends and lovers, time to let you in on the new internet hype..

GO & GET the following three-song EP which is available as a free download on the IAT.MP3 netlabel:

01. 16th of June
02. Elefanten
03. Jonathan

The dark and dreamy pop music is brought to you by Sonores, the swedish trio who will be your answer to healthy and kinky.

Enjoy & check out all other info at the IAT site.

Best Performance Easily

2006-01-26T18:36:00.000+01:00

Ow damn, RIP Chris Penn. This was quite the unpleasant surprise. I actually really liked his performances, much more than that other Penn kid. But forget about all the Tarantino movies though, Abel Ferrara's The Funeral is where it's really at!

Would love to provide you all with that song he performed "Tonight will be the night" but I cannot find it anywhere. So if anyone has a link or whatever, let me know.

And watch The Funeral.
It's so appropriate in alot of ways.
Here's to Chris.

edit: chris penn interview here

"I've certainly made a lot of hokey movies, but I always had my reasons and very rarely have I regretted any of them. I mean, I'm proud of 'Beethoven's 2nd.' My nieces and nephews saw that and liked it. That makes me proud."

"I just look for good characters, number one, then director, the overall movie, and of course money ... This was all the right reasons. Except money."

White Lake

2006-01-22T02:18:00.000+01:00

The Lake
by Edgar Allan Poe

In spring of youth it was my lot
To haunt of the wide world a spot
The which I could not love the less-
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that towered around.

But when the Night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot, as upon all,
And the mystic wind went by
Murmuring in melody-
Then–ah then I would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.

Yet that terror was not fright,
But a tremulous delight-
A feeling not the jewelled mine
Could teach or bribe me to define-
Nor Love–although the Love were thine.

Death was in that poisonous wave,
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who thence could solace bring
To his lone imagining-
Whose solitary soul could make
An Eden of that dim lake.

The Deaf Center song White Lake is extremely addictive. Mindblowing composition. The rest of the album is great but White Lake is miles ahead.

Submission #5: Jonas Lindgren's In Retrospect

2006-01-18T18:06:00.000+01:00

I should be Sacher-Masoch slapped for not checking the Glitch Punk Youth aka the Jonas Lindgren blog so often. I even missed out on his great end of the year list. And I mean everyone who has Why? in their list needs to get credit on this blog. So with all the full apologies to Jonas, let me copy his post after all.

And also as the lovely missus folly just reported, there's a new Jonas Lindgren mp3 ep out, go check it out as I am about to do after finishing this post.

(and pssst igor, this is not jonas sonores odhner, they make alot of jonas babies up north)

(c) the original post:

Growing - His Return
You can keep your Sunn0)))’s and Khanate’s, when I’m in the mood for Post/Drone Metal only Growing will do. Even though this is a rather short album by their standards it is by far their best, and also the best new album I’ve heard this year.

Why? - Elephant Eyelash
In 2005 even alternative rock can be hip-hop.

Porn Sword Tobacco - Explains Freedom
In 2005 even Vangelis can be electronica.

Greg Davis & Sebastien Roux - Paquet Surprise
This was one of the typical albums for 2005, you knew it would be great before you heard it and it didn’t disapoint you. In a way it’s been a boring year in that way since there hasn’t been any surprises, but on the other hand tracks like “I Never Met Here” makes up for that.

Odd Nosdam - Burner
In 2005 even shoegazing can be hip-hop.

The Roaring - The Famous Solo
I think this is the album I’ve been most excited over in the whole year. This has been the soundtrack of my autumn 2005.

Sawako - Hum
One of the few surprises this year is this debut on 12k by this japanese New Yorker. Subtle fieldrecordings and gentle drones. Maybe nothing new, but very wellcrafted and soothing.

Deaf Center - Pale Ravine
In 2005 Brain Eno and Harold Budd moved to Norway and recorded their best album since The Pearl.

The Boats - We Made It For You
Dreamy, drifting and warm - of course “We Made It For You” made it into my list for 2005.

Tape - Rideau
I had my doubts, but of course Tape delivered in the end. I couldn’t decide if I should put this or their Mort Aux Vaches release on the list, but it seems I’m listening more to “Rideau” and I guess that means something.

Birchville Cat Motel - Chi Vampires
He managed to make one of the best albums and played one of the best shows I’ve seen in the whole year, and if that wasn’t enough Birchville Cat Motel inspired me to listen to Iron Maiden again.

Other:
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Fall, Fall, Falling
The best album of 2007.

Jonas Lindgren - Saltholmen
It deserves to be on a best-this-year list, even if I have to do it myself.

Viktor Sjöberg - Youthful Follies
This is a collection of tracks, old releases etc, but really, it is one of the best albums this year. Viktor is also on the list of best persons 2005.

In Retrospect pt. II
Things I should have put on my the-best-albums-released-2005-list but forgot:

Marsen Jules - Herbstlaub
Orchestrated ambiance.

William Basinski - The Garden of Brokenness
Ambient orchestrations

AND YOUR 2005 PEE ON MY FOOT LOVED TV and OLD MOVIES BEST.

2006-01-08T21:46:00.000+01:00

This was a difficult list to make, not because 2005 was full of good films but because 2005 was just one hell of a shitty year at the movie theatres. I actually can't list ten good 2005 films. As always, the reason could be my ignorance. I have yet to see some titles but still I don't believe it would have made that big of a difference. My guess is just that the talent has moved on. And namely to the HBO TV Drama department.

That's right. Television came completely out of the noctos closet this year and credit goes almost entirely to the wonderful aforementioned cable company. I know alot of the TV shows I caught up with this year are far from 2005 material, so it would be a bit wrong to regard 2005 as the great TV year but on a personal level it definitely was though. As of now, I caught up with almost every HBO show and it's just blowing my mind how amazing the quantity is. Not one single show (except for the horrible Sex in The City maybe) has let me down.

Next to that, I can't really say it was a sad movie year though. I do have seen amazing movies. And by amazing, I really mean life-changing films. The only thing is most of these movies are already quite old, and either I'm becoming a real nostalgic or else they just don't make this kind of quality anymore. I'm leaning towards the latter off course but hey, you fine readers make up your own minds.

Ironically, the two genres that stood out this year are the sort of movies they hardly make in recent days. But boy how they brought me joy. Here's to Screwball Comedies and Westerns, may your renaissance be upon thee soon!

So here come the lists. Again notice how I had to trim the 2005 list from ten to seven (I can hardly believe I had to do this). Also some might argue I even had to include 2004 films but please remember the European and American release dates might differ, so that's why those movies are still eligible for this 2005 list (except maybe Der Untergang but yeah was a bit late with that one). So hope you all enjoy the lists and if you haven't caught up with one of the older movies or the TV-shows, let us hope you will soon!

[note: I might write up some descriptions in the near future, but for now I'll just present the lists. and to all who are making their own lists, the same goes here as with the music lists, send 'em to me and it will get posted, thx]

BEST FILMS SEEN IN 2005

1. The Road Warrior

2. It Happened One Night

3. The Manchurian Candidate (1962 original!)

4. Winchester '73

5. The Lady Eve

6. High Plains Drifter

7. The Awful Truth

8. McCabe & Mrs. Miller

9. My Man Godfrey

10. Two-Lane Blacktop

BEST TELEVISION SEEN IN 2005

1. The Sopranos - Season 5

2. Lost - Season 1

3. Deadwood - Season 1

4. The Wire - Season 2

5. Six Feet Under - Season 5

6. Carnivale - Season 2

7. Rome

8. Unscripted

9. Extras

10. 24 - Season 4

BEST 2005 FILMS:

1. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

3. Sideways

4. Mr. & Mrs. Smith

5. Broken Flowers

6. Serenity

7. Der Untergang (Downfall)

WORST 2005 FILMS:

1. Sin City
2. I Heart Huckabees
3. War Of The Worlds
4. The Brothers Grimm
5. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
6. What The Bleep Do We Know?
7. Catwoman