First images from Severance

Pathé Films have just released the first batch of images from Christopher Smith's new horror flick Severance and they've just landed in my inbox via image.net so I thought I'd post them here. This is the film which my mate James wrote the script for and which I was lucky enough to see back in March. It's currently slated for a UK release on 25th August.

You can read my first impressions and movie haiku for the film here.

The shots by Nick Wall below feature the following Severance characters: Steve (Danny Dyer), Gordon (Andy Nyman), Maggie (Laura Harris), Billy (Babou Cessay), Jill (Claudie Blakley), Richard (Tim McInnerny), Harris (Toby Stephens), Olga (Juli Drajko) and Nadia (Judit Viktor).

Movie Haiku - Waiting...

www.waitingthefilm.com


Dir: Rob McKittrick


Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Luis Guzman


Flash their genitals

drop steaks on floor then serve them

tries to ape Clerks, fails


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - The Da Vinci Code

www.thedavincicode.co.uk


Dir: Ron Howard


Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan, Paul Bettany


Eh svoels lal het sceul

hes senddecs morf strichs doolb nile

tipy hes tanc cat


soulmining rating: **

Let me entertain you...

One of these girls on stage is a professional singer/entertainer. Can you guess which one?

My mate Justin sent me the above photo and caption this week and it really tickled me.

He's recently returned home after five months living in Northern Thailand and is now sorting through his 1,300 photographs... Many of his nature and scenic shots will be commercially available as cards, and he's set up a new gallery here where you can view all of his latest images.

Movie Haiku - When A Stranger Calls

www.sonypictures.com/movies


Dir: Simon West


Cast: Camilla Belle, Tommy Flanagan, Katie Cassidy, Lance Henriksen


He hides in posh house

keeps ringing babysitter

must have big phone bill


soulmining rating: **

Richard E. Grant at Brighton Festival

One of the first Brighton Festival events that I ever remember attending (long before I was involved with the festival) was back in 1997 when Richard E. Grant had just published With Nails. What I remember most is how nervous he was - he'd never done a literary discussion before and was convinced that no-one would turn up! Of course he was marvellous and the audience loved him. On Tuesday night he made a welcome return to the festival to talk about his latest book The Wah-Wah Diaries: The Making Of A Film at the Theatre Royal. Poor Kelly had to drop out at the last minute so Justin was delighted to take her place, and we met up with Polly - who had also gone with me to his earlier reading. The talk focused exclusively on the aforementioned Wah-Wah, Richard's directorial debut - and five year labour of love - a drama based on his childhood in Swaziland, interspersed with clips from the film (which opens in the UK on 2nd June). His quick witted banter continued in the Q&A with the audience, which covered many topics from Withnail & I right through to Doctor Who. Up in the bar afterwards he happily posed for photographs and signed stuff, which was particularly funny when he discovered a dedication already written in Polly's copy of By Design which he then proceeded to cross out in mock outrage. Quote of the night - "My eye sight might be going but my cock's still working fine!"

Infected & This Is The Day

Cotton was off work yesterday and texted Stevie B to say he was ill... with suspected glandular fever! Hey, don't look at me, I told him no tongues. I can't believe that someone who seemed perfectly healthy on Tuesday could suddenly be struck down with all those symptoms within a 24 hour period (I'd been feeling low for two weeks before it fully hit me), but hey, I'm not a doctor...

[ Updated - his doctor has said it's definitely not glandular fever... ]

Tonight sees the launch of this year's Big Brother. Now in its seventh year the question is will I be drawn under its evil spell once more? I'm kinda hoping I'll watch the launch show and hate all the new housemates on first sight... that's what happened to me with Celebrity Big Brother this year and I didn't miss watching that one bit. Now rumour has it that one of the housemates is going to be a tourette's sufferer called Pete from here in Brighton... although the fact that this has been leaked to the Brighton Festival Fringe office (and probably every other media outlet by now) surely blows the whole confidentiality issue and must scupper his chances of actually entering the house? Anyway, the whole circus begins tonight on Channel 4 and I'm sure will be annoying us all for the next 13 weeks...

Play It Cool in May

After recent posts bemoaning the lack of any decent new music this year I finally bought a brand new CD this month (Bic Runga's Birds)... two actually, although the new Snow Patrol album hasn't been delivered yet. Things look like they're starting to turn around at last, and with promising new releases out today from The Raconteurs and Feeder, and new albums to follow from Scritti Politti, The Upper Room and Nouvelle Vague in the coming weeks, hopefully there should be some good stuff to recommend this time next month. Anyway, here's what I've been listening to lately:

• Scritti Politti - Anomie & Bonhomie (Virgin)
• Bic Runga - Birds (Sony BMG)
• The Dissociatives - The Dissociatives (Eleven)
• The Beloved - Single File (East West)
• Sigur Ros - Takk (EMI)

Blood Sample

I finally got the results of my blood test this morning. Slightly less dramatic than the blood test scene in The Thing, my results simply revealed the presence of the Epstein Barr virus - so the good news is that I am not turning into The Thing, but the bad news is that I do indeed have glandular fever. Although I am feeling much better now. My doctor has advised me not to do too much strenuous exercise... yeah, like I did loads before I was ill.

At last, a day off... plus The Dresden Dolls at the Concorde

Yesterday was my first day off in ten days, my first day off since returning to work from suspected glandular fever... I say 'suspected' as I still haven't been given the results of my blood test. When I called the other day there was simply a message on their screen asking me to make a 'non-urgent' appointment with my doctor. Non-urgent or not, that suggests to me that they found something amiss... hmmmmm...

We received some other rather worrying news this week, in that our flat has suddenly been sold by our landlord... thankfully I spoke to our new landlord yesterday and he seems like a sound chap and reassured me that he was more than happy to keep with the same tenants (he's also bought the two flats above and below us) so it doesn't look like we're being kicked out onto the street just yet! Phew! What this does mean is that we now have to change letting agencies, and the murky practice of tenancy renewal fees has reared its ugly head once again. I've now discovered that Cambridge (our former agency) have deducted three lots of renewal fees from our deposit, when we had the understanding that we weren't going to be charged after our first tenancy renewal... typically the guy who told us this has now left the company, so it's our word against theirs. I hate tenancy renewal fees - £40 for updating their database and sending out a couple of letters? It's a f***ing disgraceful practice. My only hope is that we can work out a deal with Halls (our new agency) since their office is literally two doors down from where Steve and I both work.



Yesterday evening I met up with Andy and we checked out The Dresden Dolls at the Concorde. I was going on Courtney's recommendation but had never heard any of their music before, or really made much of an effort to read up on the band, aside from seeing them described as a mix of "punk, burlesque and cabaret"... with a name like The Dresden Dolls I kinda expected an all-girl troupe, but in fact they're actually just a duo with a female singer on piano and her fella on drums and occasional guitar. That was a bit of a surprise! Musically they were pretty interesting, starting with a solid half dozen songs including a cover of War Pigs and the sold out crowd were certainly voicing their approval - they really seem to have established a cult following over here. In the latter half of the show my attention started to wander a little, but this was mainly due to the sight of the cute merchandise girl who was stood on a chair wearing the shortest of short skirts... and who then proceeded to cup her breasts and compare them with her female colleague. Less entertaining were the loud mouthed drunks who seemed to surround us as the show went on and were really starting to piss me off by the end... grrrr! Anyway, all in all it was a good night out and it's probably just as well I didn't continue boozing afterwards as it's been a sh*tty day at work today.

Movie Haiku - Confetti

www.confettimovie.co.uk


Dir: Debbie Isitt


Cast: Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson, Stephen Mangan, Meredith MacNeill


Which themed wedding wins

musical, tennis or nude?

it's no great surprise


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - Mission: Impossible III

www.missionimpossible.com


Dir: J. J. Abrams


Cast: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan


Now it's personal

action, travel and teamwork

just like Alias


soulmining rating: ****

Passing Sentence

I nicked this from Kumquat... I'm sure I've done this one before, but it's always good fun.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Here's mine:

Maybe we're not as brainy-smart as Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, but we can tolerate some shit to make our story work.

Stories In Motion at Brighton Festival

Chuck Palahniuk spills his Guts...

...And watch the bodies hit the floor. Yes, Chuck chose to read the infamous Guts during last night's Stories In Motion performance. If you're not familiar with this extremely unpleasant short story then you can read it here but don't say that I didn't warn you... Apparently someone in the audience always faints when he reads Guts, but I'd often wondered if this was just good marketing hype, or if it genuinely happened? Now whether it was the explicit content of the story, the images of intestines which kept flashing up on the screens, the heat inside the venue, or a combination of all three... but fifteen people fainted during last night's reading. No joke - I saw two go down very close to me. One colleague out in the foyer described the scene "like a battlefield" as people were carried out and attended to. The fainting was just one part of the amazing Stories In Motion. I wondered if Chuck and Irvine (Welsh) would be trading paragraphs, making up a story as the event unfurled, but no, instead we were treated to a slightly more structured show in which Irvine read two more hilarious passages from The Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs and Chuck read the aforementioned Guts and Hot Potting from Haunted - sat on small podiums at opposing ends of the auditorium. And all the while the authors read we had C6 mixing visuals on a series of screens hanging from the ceiling, and Longrange (Phil Hartnoll & Nick Smith) providing an assortment of ambient sounds which built into much louder dance tracks in the breaks between each story - and certainly got Irvine up and dancing! During Hot Potting they were accompanied by a live violinist and at the climax of the show Kelly Mallone joined in on vocals. This improvised mix of words, sound and vision could have been a disaster... but to me it was an unqualified success. Challenging, innovative performances like this are what the Brighton Festival should be all about.

Chuck Palahniuk & Irvine Welsh at Brighton Festival

This year's Brighton Festival kicked off yesterday and I was lucky enough to have the night off so went along to the Chuck Palahniuk and Irvine Welsh literary event. Both authors read for about thirty minutes each, Chuck selecting the tale Hot Potting from his latest novel Haunted (accompanied, rather fittingly, by hundreds of meat scented air fresheners), whilst Irvine chose to read three passages from his forthcoming novel The Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs. They then discussed their writing experiences and influences, before an audience Q&A in which Chuck related some particularly dark humourous anecdotes. Afterwards both authors hung around to sign copies of their books and seemed very jovial, chatting about tomorrow's Stories In Motion event and then discussing The Brian Jonestown Massacre after Irvine spotted my t-shirt - he's seeing them play on Monday night apparently. I'll be back at the Corn Exchange again tonight to see what they come up with alongside DJs Phil Hartnoll & Nick Smith and C6.org for their improvised multi-media performance...

Lost & Found

I'm still waiting for the results of my blood test but am feeling much better so I returned to work today. To be honest it's quite a relief to have something to do after the last week spent (mainly) resting on the sofa watching DVDs!

Anyway, tonight sees the welcome return of Lost to our TV screens, with a triple bill of new episodes for those of us with E4. I've been trying to avoid all spoilers for the new season, but unfortunately stumbled across one major plot development a few months back... What makes me smile is that Channel 4 have made this revelation obvious to eagle-eyed viewers by featuring it in their recent advertising campaign! Still, despite numerous screenings, my flatmate hasn't spotted it yet...

Okay, the above photo is a pretty big clue, but hey, you'll all know this by tomorrow anyway... unless of course this comes in a later episode, in which case whoops, I'm sorry for ruining the surprise.

[ Updated 3rd May ]

Well, they did give it away in the preview for Episode 3 so my conscience is clear.

Btw, did anyone else notice the rather suspect ads that ran during last night's episodes? Further investigation revealed the following website... www.thehansofoundation.org

Movie Haiku - 16 Blocks

www.16blocks.co.uk


Dir: Richard Donner


Cast: Bruce Willis, Mos Def, David Morse, Jenna Stern


Drive witness downtown

bad cops want to shoot him dead

Mos Def bakes a cake


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - Slither

www.slithermovie.net


Dir: James Gunn


Cast: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker


Worms from outer space

don't let them get in your mouth

stay and cat gets it


soulmining rating: ****

May Live

There's loads happening in the city this month with the Brighton Festival (and Fringe) running from 6th - 28th May. We've also got a new music festival in the shape of The Great Escape, Barfly's answer to SXSW. Whatever you're into - live music, comedy, theatre, literature - there should be something for everyone. Here are my highlights for the month ahead:

03/05 - The talented members of The Libertines are back with their new band, Dirty Pretty Things, and play at the Concorde tonight.

04/05 - It's a double bill of comedy at Waterstones as Danny Wallace and Tony Hawks team up to promote their latest books. Danny will be reading from Yes Man, whilst Tony will be reading from his latest, A Piano In The Pyrenees.

06/05 - Another literary double header as the Brighton Festival kicks off with a rare opportunity to listen to Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) and Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) in conversation at the Corn Exchange.

07/05 - Following on from their talk yesterday, Chuck Palahniuk and Irvine Welsh return to the Corn Exchange for Stories In Motion, a multi-media happening with music from Phil Hartnoll (Orbital) and Nick Smith and visuals from various VJs.

08/05 - Brighton veterans The Levellers play a rare hometown gig at the Spiegeltent.

10/05 - Brighton hopefuls The Upper Room play at the Pressure Point to celebrate the launch of their great new single Black & White. Over at the Duke Of York's cinema there's a Q&A with Nick Broomfield following a screening of his latest documentary His Big White Self.

11/05 - After endless recommendations from Courtney I'm finally gonna check out The Dresden Dolls who will be performing their punk cabaret at the Concorde. Meanwhile Richard Herring is performing his excellent Someone Likes Yoghurt show at the Gardner Arts Centre - with any luck he might do his new routine about 'sky potatoes' too!

16/05 - Always an entertaining speaker, actor Richard E. Grant will be appearing at the Theatre Royal to talk about his career and his directorial debut, Wah-Wah.

18/05 - The Great Escape festival starts today - three nights, 15 venues, 150 bands, one wristband... but will you get in to see the bands that you want to see? Tonight's highlights include The Morning After Girls at the Concorde, The Feeling at the Komedia, The Bees at the Pressure Point, Tina Dico at Redroaster, The Like and The Upper Room both at the Spiegeltent, and probably best of all, British Sea Power and The Tenderfoot at the Zap Club.

19/05 - The Great Escape continues... tonight's highlights include Metric (another of Courtney's tips) at the Beach, The Pipettes at the Spiegeltent, Guillemots and Duels at the Komedia, and Richard Hawley at the Hanbury Ballroom.

20/05 - The final night of The Great Escape... tonight's highlights include The Futureheads and the amazing Serena Maneesh at the Beach, Kubb at the Komedia, The Kooks at the Spiegeltent, British Sea Power ( playing an acoustic set) at the Hanbury Ballroom, and Brakes at the Zap Club. Phew!

23/05 - Another gig at the Spiegeltent as Turin Brakes pitch up for a one-off performance.

26/05 - It doesn't seem long ago (that's bacasue it wasn't) that Hard-Fi were playing at the Concorde, but like James Blunt and the Kaiser Chiefs before them, they've moved up to the arena circuit within the space of twelve months, and now return for a date at the Brighton Centre.

27/05 - Fans of female singer/songwriters are spoilt for choice today. Bic Runga is playing at the Spiegeltent to promote her new album Birds, whilst Nerina Pallot is playing at St. Georges Church, Kemptown - she'll also be performing a short set in Borders, Churchill Square at 2pm.

28/05 - Nicolas Roeg, director of Performance, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell To Earth will be in conversation at the Duke Of York's cinema to discuss his life in movies.

Movie Haiku - Brick

www.empireonline.com/brick


Dir: Rian Johnson


Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin


They scrape junk from Pin

Em copped the brick but gummed it

or was she a scape?


soulmining rating: ****

Movie Haiku - Silent Hill

www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill


Dir: Christophe Gans


Cast: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger


Girl lost in ghost town

it looks visually stunning

at expense of plot


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - American Dreamz

www.yahoo.co.uk/americandreamz


Dir: Paul Weitz


Cast: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe


Dumb Pres guests on show

will Arab singer use bomb?

tasteless and misjudged


soulmining rating: *

Movie Haiku - Scary Movie 4

www.scarymovie.com


Dir: David Zucker


Cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman


Why sit through this sh*t?

all jokes were in the trailer

f*ck, I must be sick!


soulmining rating: *

Strictly Glandular Fever

I'm now off work with suspected glandular fever. Yesterday I finally got to see my doctor who took a blood test to determine if that's the case, but he thinks it's likely. So here's lots of info on what I've got courtesy of www.homehealth-uk.com

What is glandular fever?

Glandular fever, also called infectious mononucleosis, is a viral infection caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. The Epstein-Barr virus is part of the herpes group of viruses and is very common, however, like the other herpes viruses you may be infected but never show any symptoms. The vast majority of people with glandular fever will make a full recovery and it is extremely rare to develop it again. Glandular fever can affect anyone but it is most common in young adults and teenagers.

How can I catch glandular fever?

The infection is transferred from one person to another in saliva. This is why kissing is one of the most common ways of catching the disease and why glandular fever is often referred to as the ‘kissing disease’. Coughing and sneezing can also pass on glandular fever. The incubation period for glandular fever is usually 4-6 weeks.

What are the symptoms of glandular fever?

Glandular fever produces one or more of the following symptoms:

Sore throat and swollen tonsils - glandular fever often has similar symptoms as tonsillitis.
A rash - as doctors can occasionally mistake glandular fever for tonsillitis, they prescribe antibiotics, which may bring you out in a rash.
Enlarged and sore lymph glands - this is very common, particularly in the neck but there can also be swelling in the armpits and groin.
Flu symptoms - glandular fever is a virus and like other viruses it can cause high temperatures, aches and pains, loss of appetite and headaches.
Fatigue - an intense feeling of tiredness often accompanies glandular fever.
Swollen Eyes - a small number of people experience puffy and swollen eyes. This symptom usually disappears quite quickly.

How is glandular fever diagnosed?

Your doctor will probably be able to diagnose glandular fever from your symptoms alone, however, a blood test will usually be carried out to confirm the diagnosis. If the blood test is positive it will show abnormal cells called monocytes, this is why in America the infection is commonly known as 'mono'. Your doctor may also take a throat swab to rule out any throat infections.

What treatment is available for glandular fever?

Most people with glandular fever will require no specific treatment. Antibiotics do not help this type of infection as it is a virus. Your doctor will only prescribe antibiotics if you have another infection present e.g. tonsillitis. Most people will make a complete recovery in 2-4 weeks. However, because of the extreme fatigue it may be several months before you feel perfectly fit. Complete rest is the best treatment for glandular fever, though some symptoms can be relieved with the following:

Paracetamol - taking paracetamol to the maximum dose (as directed by a doctor/pharmacist) can help relieve the sore throat and bring the temperature down.
Fluids - it is vital to drink plenty of fluids such as water and fruit juices.
Aspirin gargles - for people over 12, soluble aspirin dissolved in water and then gargled for a few minutes often relieves sore throats (follow the instructions indicated on the packet or as directed by a doctor / pharmacist).
Steroids - it is unlikely that steroids will be prescribed, but if they are, it is usually to help reduce severe inflammation of the throat so avoiding any difficulties in breathing or swallowing.

The Cardigans at Shepherds Bush Empire

Okay, I probably shouldn't have been gigging around London in my condition, but not even the deadly space virus (suspected glandular fever) was going to stop me seeing The Cardigans this time. Support came from the eccentric Florian Horwath who walked amongst the audience clapping loudly to himself before ambling on stage. With a couple of backing musicians either side (who he introduced as "Mum and Dad"!), he launched into his slo-fi melodies / guitar rock-outs with some fine melodica playing to accompany him. In short, it was like watching Dom's band, Good Morning Captain... if they were Swedish. The Cardigans were much more businesslike, giving a polished 90 minute set which included two encores. Much of the set comprised songs from Super Extra Gravity and Long Gone Before Daylight as expected, plus a handful of tracks from Gran Turismo. There was no room for the likes of Lovefool, but to be honest it wasn't missed - the harder, rockier sound suits the band much better these days and their most recent albums are definitely their strongest work. A good solid gig - I just wish I'd felt like getting into the crowd a bit more, rather than staying back by the mixing desk all evening.

The Cardigans set list in full:

• Drip Drop Teardrop
• You're The Storm
• Little Black Cloud
• Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)
• For What It's Worth
• Live And Learn
• A Good Horse
• And Then You Kissed Me
• And Then You Kissed Me II
• Paralyzed
• Erase/Rewind
• Hanging Around
• Holy Love
• I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer
• Good Morning Joan
• Losing A Friend
• Godspell
• My Favourite Game
• Communication

Pimp My Snack

Behold, it's the Burberry Curly Wurly!

There's loads more of these monsters on the Pimp My Snack website... www.pimpmysnack.com

José González at the Dome

Last night I was working on the José González show, so I managed to catch the end of his performance and he sounded pretty good actually, bearing in mind I've only ever heard that single before. It was the first night of his UK tour and there was a quiet, respectful atmosphere inside the Dome as José went to work with his acoustic guitar, accompanied solely by a couple of mates on percussion duties. For the encore he covered Kylie's Hand On My Heart and Massive Attack's Teardrop before the inevitable solo finale of Heartbeats.

[ Sorry for the lack of posts recently but I've been hit by a particularly vicious strain of 'space virus' (© James Moran) which has been busy eating away my throat, pounding my skull and generally giving me sleepless nights. Abnormal service will resume shortly, I hope... ]

Movie Haiku - The Dark

www.whatisannwyn.co.uk


Dir: John Fawcett


Cast: Sean Bean, Mario Bello, Maurice Roeves, Sophie Stuckey


Sheep jump over cliff

daughter is trapped in annwyn

last five mins spoil it


soulmining rating: ***

Movie Haiku - An American Haunting

www.anamericanhauntingonline.com


Dir: Courtney Solomon


Cast: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy, Rachel Hurd-Wood


Haunted by own ghost

cos daddy did the dirty

that's a poor plot twist


soulmining rating: **

Play It Cool in April

It's been a slightly weird start to 2006 musically for me as for some reason I really seem to be struggling to discover any new music that grabs me... I've hardly bought any CDs this year, and the ones that I have purchased have generally been on release for a while and I've only picked them up as they're on special offer - Fopp and Music Zone are doing some great deals week in, week out since establishing themselves in Brighton. So here's what I've been playing this past month... maybe there'll be some new music to celebrate next month?

• Longview - Mercury (14th Floor)
• Serena Maneesh - Serena-Maneesh (Honeymilk)
• Feeder - Pushing The Senses (Echo)
• Frou Frou - Details (Island)
• Brakes - Give Blood (Rough Trade)

Dazed And Confused gets the Criterion treatment!

What's your favourite film? I hate that question... I've always got a rolling list of films that I love and can watch time and time again, but if I had to choose just one movie then I'd probably pick Dazed And Confused. So I'm delighted to read that it's due to get a DVD release from Criterion in June. Unlike last year's rather disappointing Universal edition, this brand new 2 disc set is mooted to include a decent array of special features, such as a commentary track from Richard Linklater, a 50 minute 'making of' documentary, original interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and coverage of the 10th anniversary cast reunion. With The Criterion Collection setting the benchmark of DVD quality, this is simply an essential purchase.

On a related note, I've discovered that Wiley Wiggins - Mitch in Dazed And Confused - has his own blog entitled News of the Dead, so I've added that to my links and you can read it here.

Movie Haiku - Alien Autopsy

www.alien-autopsy.com


Dir: Jonny Campbell


Cast: Ant McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, Bill Pullman, Harry Dean Stanton


London not Roswell

can't believe they fooled the world

eat my haggis brains


soulmining rating: ***

Jim's Big Night Out

Cocktails in Valentinos to celebrate Jim's last week working in our office... I unwittingly end up ordering the campest drink on the menu! Until Morgan arrives that is...


Afterwards we move on to the casino for some roulette and then go back to Holly's flat for more booze and the opportunity for Dom to show off his breakdancing skills...

The Grand National - Feed The Pony's Tips

Yes, it's that day of the year where I put my reputation on the line and try and pick the winners of The Grand National, taking place at Aintree this afternoon at 4:15pm. Traditionally I've been pretty lucky on this race and indeed last year I picked Hedgehunter to win and came up trumps, so I'm feeling over-confident with my selections today - perhaps not a good omen as I was on a losing streak at the casino last night! Anyway, these are my three tips for today:

• Garvivonnian 16-1
• Lord Of Illusion 25-1
• Le Duc 40-1

I've got a £2.50 Each Way bet on all three horses, plus a straight £10 to win on Garvivonnian, making a total stake of £25. I've also drawn Ballycassidy in our winner-takes-all office sweepstake. Check back later to see if I'm celebrating or cursing...

[ Updated 4:40pm ]

So here's the winning horses:

• Numbersixvalverde 11-1
• Hedgehunter 5-1
• Clan Royal 5-1
• Nil Desperandum 33-1

Gambling then - it's a mugs game. Unless you're Dom that is. B*ll*cks! Right, I'm counting on my free bet on tonight's Irish lottery now...

Imogen Heap at the Komedia

Wednesday night found me, Rich and Kelly downstairs at the Komedia to see Imogen Heap on the Brighton date of her first UK tour for eight years. I'd been waiting to see her play live for ages and she didn't disappoint - this turned out to be an early contender for gig of the year in my opinion. What was particularly cool was that the audience directly in front of the stage remained seated on the floor throughout, which allowed those stood at the back and sides to see clearly - always a problem downstairs as the stage is only a foot high! Immi was joined by cellist (and support artist) Zoe Keating for a couple of songs, but otherwise did everything herself, with her bank of keyboards, samplers and laptop. Her amazing strong voice carried each song perfectly, sending shivers down my spine during Hide And Seek, and I was surprised at how well the tracks translated live. Her setlist was dominated by songs off Speak For Yourself but she also played one track from the Frou Frou and I Megaphone albums, her song from the Chronicles Of Narnia soundtrack, plus the new b-side from her forthcoming Goodnight And Go single. A fantastic evening!

Immi's setlist in full:

• Just For Now
• Goodnight And Go
• The Walk
• Let Go
• Loose Ends
• Can't Take It In
• Clear The Area
• Headlock
• Come Here Boy
• Hide And Seek
• Have You Got It In You
• Speeding Cars
• Daylight Robbery
• The Moment You Said It

Immi and me

Yes, she really is that tall!!

You can see more photos from the Brighton gig and the rest of the tour on Immi's moblog here.

Graham Coxon at the Concorde

Having blown out his secret gig at Audio last month in favour of seeing James's Severance flick up in London, I was glad to get a second chance to catch Graham Coxon on his current live jaunt, touring his Love Travels At Illegal Speeds album. I wasn't overly impressed when I saw him at the same venue two years ago, but this time around he was much better - leaner, tighter and with a more solid vocal performance. The set list too was stronger, mainly comprising his more poppy / punky tracks from his last two albums rather than the lo-fi noodlings of his earlier material. Considering most of his songs don't last more than three minutes this was a value-for-money ninety minute set, plus he returned for a five song encore. And support band Duals also impressed.

Wanted:

Taxi for Thaksin

Fantastic news just in from The Guardian's website:

"The Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is to resign from office in the face of mass protests calling for him to depart after Sunday's disputed election."

You can read the full story here.

This is long overdue; Thaksin is an evil, dishonest, corrupt little man.

I've been tagged...

Yesterday I was tagged by Kelly, so here's my responses to her set of questions...

What were you doing 10 years ago?

[ This is where keeping old journals etc. comes in handy! ]

I’d just moved into the coldest flat in Brighton and was working as the Assistant Box Office Manager at Brighton Centre. On 4th April 1996 we had Black Grape (minus Bez) in concert and I got my It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah! CD signed by the band.

What were you doing 5 years ago?

I’d just been made redundant via email while on holiday in Thailand (nice, huh?), so I’d decided to stay out there for an extra month. On 4th April 2001 I woke up in a basic wooden house in a tiny village in Lamphun province, having met (my Thai girlfriend) Am’s parents for the first time the day before and staying the night at their place. In the morning we paid a 6000 baht (about £100) deposit on a brand new Honda Dream, then rode to the local temple to have the bike blessed by the monks. Later in the day we made the 2-3 hour ride back to Chiang Mai, then in the evening I caught up with a couple of mates in one of the local bars - both of whom were down in the dumps experiencing women trouble.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Much the same as today, on 4th April last year I was here in the Box Office selling tickets for Brighton Festival. I was logged onto MSN in the afternoon chatting with Nikita about recurring dreams, and spent the evening watching the first few episodes of series three of Millennium on DVD with my friend Steve.

5 Snacks you enjoy:

Bacon sandwiches
Belgian buns from Forfars
Doritos with a hint of lime
Hot buttered toast
Millie’s cookies

5 Songs (you think) you know by heart:

Bohemian Like You – The Dandy Warhols
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
This Is The Day – The The
West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys
Wonderwall - Oasis

5 Things you would do with a LOT of money:

Give some to my colleagues so that we could all leave work
Give some to my close friends and family
Buy a house
Become a season ticket holder at Everton FC
Travel around the world with my best friend

5 Things you would never wear:

A ‘Same Same But Different’ t-shirt
Sandals
Short shorts
Vest tops
White socks with shoes (sorry Sean)

5 Things you should have never worn:

A 70s tan leather jacket which had been handed down to my Dad by one of his friends
A Belinda Carlisle sweatshirt
Black shoes with red laces when I was a student
Glasses from the age of 10 – 17
Multi-coloured shirts which looked like an explosion in a paintbox

5 Things you enjoy doing:

Catching the morning screening of a good film, sat in the far corner of a quiet cinema, armed with a large coffee and doughnuts
Discovering new music
Flying to foreign countries
Foreplay
Writing

5 Bad habits you have:

Blogging at work
Buying DVDs that I’ll never watch more than once
Indecisiveness, I think
Interrupting friends before they’ve finished speaking
Using ‘…’ in emails and posts all the time…

5 People you would like to do this:

Adz
Courtney
GG
James
Kumquat

Movie Haiku - Firewall

www.firewallmovie.warnerbros.com


Dir: Richard Loncraine


Cast: Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Mary Lynn Rajskub


Too old for Indy

stealing cash online is dull

why hold dog hostage?


soulmining rating: *

Movie Haiku - Basic Instinct 2

www.sonypictures.com/movies/basicinstinct2


Dir: Michael Caton-Jones


Cast: Sharon Stone, David Morrissey, Charlotte Rampling, David Thewlis


What a dirty mouth

I don't care if she's guilty

put some clothes on, luv


soulmining rating: *

Corinne Bailey Rae at the Concorde

Summer arrived early yesterday as I strolled down to the Concorde in the late afternoon sunshine for Corinne Bailey Rae's first live appearance in Brighton. Which was somewhat appropriate as the music on offer was well suited to those long Summer evenings. James Morrison got the crowd going with a lively set of pop songs and ballads - hardly my kind of thing, but he did it well and I won't be at all surprised to see his name in the charts later in the year. Corinne too had the talent to back up her recent chart success; after a rather hesitant beginning she soon found her rhythm and by four or five songs in she had the crowd in the palm of her hand. Her set comprised, perhaps unsurprisingly, largely of tracks from her debut album, but she also sang an inspired cover of Led Zeppelin's Since I've Been Loving You. Of course, the most popular tracks were Like A Star which she'd performed on Later last year, and current single Put Your Records On. It's just a pity there's no Glastonbury Festival this year as she'd be an ideal choice for the main stage on the Saturday afternoon, but with other festival appearances lined up this Summer I'm sure they'll help cement her growing reputation. A confident, assured debut and on this evidence we'll be hearing a lot more from Corinne Bailey Rae in 2006.

April Live

Blimey, we're into April already so maybe things will start warming up a bit and we can say goodbye to that horrible wintery weather we've been having. Right, onto this month's live bits and pieces...

01/04 - Tonight we've got the hotly tipped Corinne Bailey Rae taking the stage at the Concorde. I've only heard Put Your Records On, but her debut album has already hit the top of the charts so this will probably be a rare chance to see her in such an initimate venue.

03/04 - One of the few 'pop' bands it's okay to like, The Sugababes, are playing at Brighton Centre - although quite how good they'll be now that there's only the one original member remaining is open to debate! Otherwise you could see Oom playing an acoustic set at The Globe on Middle Street.

04/04 - Graham Coxon makes a swift return to Brighton after his 'secret' gig at Audio last month. This time he's back at the Concorde touring his new Love Travels At Illegal Speeds album.

05/04 - Gig of the month for me I reckon is Imogen Heap at the Komedia. I fell in love with her voice after hearing the Frou Frou album a few years ago and her solo album Speak For Yourself made my top ten of 2005. Meanwhile over at Brighton Centre, Little Britain return for three more nights of their sold out live show which I saw back in December.

09/04 - After two sell out shows at the Dome in February, The Mighty Boosh move to the bigger Brighton Centre for two further live performances of their cult television show.

10/04 - Fresh from their support slot on Rufus Wainwright's autumn tour, The Guillemots are back in the city for a gig at Audio.

12/04 - Rescheduled after he had a sore throat (or something equally lame), comedian Paddy McGuinness finally takes to the stage at the Dome. He better be bloody funny now after all the hassle he's caused us!

20/04 - Jose Gonzalez makes a quick return to Brighton, still cashing in on the success of his single Heartbeats. Is he a one hit wonder or not? Judge for yourself at the Dome.

21/04 - I'm going to be in London seeing The Cardigans at Shepherds Bush Empire, having missed them last time they played in the capital. Meanwhile back at the Dome it's the turn of The Ordinary Boys, enjoying a bit of a revival since Preston's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother.

23/04 - If you fancy a bit of comedy this month you could do a lot worse than check out Will Smith at the Komedia. He's doing his Misplaced Childhood show, centred around his love of the band Marillion which he performed at last year's Paramount Comedy Festival.

25/04 - One year on from their gig at the Concorde The Kaiser Chiefs have now moved into the big league and are now headlining at Brighton Centre.

26/04 - At the risk of opening myself up for ridicule I'll admit that I really liked Hilary Duff's debut album Metamorphosis. With her second album Most Wanted on release she's now doing her first UK tour stopping off at Brighton Centre. Don't worry, I'm not planning on going... well, not unless someone offers me a free ticket!

Movie Haiku - 13 (Tzameti)

www.13themovie.com


Dir: Gela Babluani


Cast: George Babluani, Pascal Bongard, Aurelien Recoing, Fred Ulysse


Overdose in bath

takes his place in deadly game

unlucky number?


soulmining rating: ****