Check out this excellent short film featuring two of those Penny Dreadful boys...

I can think of no greater tribute to the Gloved One than Episode 5 of my beloved Yacht Rock. See the embed below, which will make no sense out of context of the whole series. Then go back and watch the rest, either on Channel 101 or at JD Ryznar's YouTube channel...



Rest in Peace, Michael.

If you, like me, are fond of browsing in record shops and DVD shops, and are also fond of the films of Wes Anderson, here's a handy little YouTube video that combines them both. It's Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman browsing in Borders. I find it oddly relaxing.







* This was really the best pun I could come up with. Sorry.

Like short films?

Live in Palm Springs? (lucky)

Then why not go to see a short film with me in it (very briefly) at the Palm Springs 2009 Shortfest in glittering Palm Springs?

Palm Springs! Amazing!

The director Geraldine Geraghty writes to say that her film "Me, Me, Me" is screening as part of Singular Pursuits at the Camelot Theatres on June 27th at 4pm. That's a Saturday!

I, unfortunately, cannot be there. I'm busy. And there's another, more financially-based reason as well.

I've written about the film before here, and it's now all on IMDB as well, so check it out!

I had a lovely gig last night at a fundraiser for St Stephen's C.E. School in Twickenham. It was in the school canteen (brilliant), and featured lovely comedians Suzy Bennett, Girl & Dean, Rowena Haley and Darren Ruddell. Awesome!

Even better was the whiteboard at the back of the canteen that read "What do you think of lunch today?" and below it, in smaller, sterner letters, "You must sign any comments". They had clearly had some problems with noms de plumes in the past.

There were some excellent comments, especially about the potatoes and Bakewell Tart. I was pleased to see these hardy perennials of canteen food still appreciated by students today. Unfortunately, one student was only able to offer the comment "The food was adequate", which proves that in Middlesex, there is a particularly strong seam of restaurant critics just waiting to be let loose upon the newspresses of Britain. Hooray, say I!

Further gigs coming soon, especially the Hen & Chickens shows on the 3rd and 10th of July, with brilliant Girl & Dean, and mystery special guest (equally brilliant).

In other news... I went to see "Drag Me To Hell" the other night (splendid fun), and then came home and watched a bit of "The Devil's Advocate", a film that I really dislike. I really hate the title as well. Punsome in a really bad way. I briefly considered writing a bitingly satirical parody of the film called "Pro Bono", in which a sports lawyer has to help the lead singer of U2 become a cricket player and then turn professional, but that's a Penny Dreadfuls plot, isn't it?

Anyway, if you'd like to watch something far more edifying, why not check out this lovely video?

Surprisingly, my review of Casino Royale has been picked up by a couple of websites interested in the fact that I was claiming to be an EON employee, and that I, well, didn't think much of Daniel Craig. I referred to him looking like Ray Stubbs. And Bongo, the bouncer from the Ink & Paint Club in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

So, to clear this up for the delightful people at alternative007 and danielcraigisnotbond.com, I only worked at EON for a fortnight, in a warehouse full of James Bond props, and it was really very cool. I got to see the suitcase from From Russia With Love. They were also chucking out a gold tie that Mr Chang wore in Die Another Day, and a pair of Adidas shelltoes that, I dunno, Toby Stephens wore at some point. Probably.*

I wore the Gold Tie in The Slush Pile, and then lost it somewhere. The Shelltoes I occasionally wear when I need a comfortable shoe.

I thought Casino Royale was mainly rubbish, apart from the parkour sequence, and still haven't seen Quantum of Solace, as I've heard it's cobblers.

I'm quite happy for Daniel Craig to be James Bond. Keeps him from making The Invasion II, eh, chums? Ho ho.



* I can't prove that Toby Stephens wore the shelltoes.

If you were going to choose a money-making business plan, it probably wouldn't involve publishing poetry, but I'm particularly thankful that Salt Publishing continues to take the risk, as it means we get to read poetry by Pegabovine alum and bona fide genius Luke Kennard.

The financial crisis means that Salt is in a little difficulty. I here republish a note by Chris on how you can help. It's pretty straightforward.

JUST ONE BOOK

1. Please buy just one book, right now.

We don't mind from where, you can buy it from us or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you'll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. We need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to our online store (UK and International or USA) and help us keep going.

2. Share this note on your Facebook and MySpace profile.

Tell your friends. If we can spread the word about our cash crisis, we can hopefully find more sales and save our literary publishing. Remember it's just one book, that's all it takes to save us. Please do it now.

With my best wishes to everyone,
Chris Hamilton-Emery


I'd obviously recommend buying Luke's books. There are three:-

The Solex Brothers (Redux)
The Harbour Beyond The Movie
and the new one: The Migraine Hotel

Also, why not try Chris McCabe's Zeppelins or Melanie Challenger's Galatea?

Hello -

A couple of weeks ago, I played the Noostar Comedy Night. The video of this performance has just gone up on the site - click here to see it.

The performance was hampered by two things. Initially, by my microphone not being on. You'll be pleased to know that this makes it into the video. More generally, though, by a creeping sense of illness that encroached on me throughout the evening. Hopefully, that won't be so noticeable.

I was glad to discover some people who had seen Saxon live in concert, though. Not technically German heavy metal, but when you're dealing with the mighty Saxon, it seems rude to split hairs.

File this under: Stuff you might have heard before. Tom Wateracre leads you by the hand through the complete recorded output of the Unoriginal Gangsta, encompassing his reworkings of Change Clothes by Jay-Z, Drop It Like It's Hot by Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams, and Shot Down by 50 Cent and DMX, before rounding things off with his own (Theme From) Unoriginal Gangsta. It's a thestival of thievery!





Direct download (right click, save target as):- http://wateracre.jellycast.com/files/audio/TOMCAST3.mp3
Raw feed:- http://wateracre.jellycast.com/podcast/feed/2

Labels: audio

The alarm bells started ringing when Noisettes' second album was trumpeted as their discovery of synths and dancey pop froth, and discarding the odd fuzz-guitar soul-punk skronk that made me love their first album so much. Then the first single from it soundtracked a car advert. Oh God. It's going to be bland and forgettable and over-produced and will junk all the things that made Shingai Shoniwa and cohorts so odd and thrilling.

Thankfully, they've sidestepped that. True, on first listen, the fuzz has been held back, and Shoniwa's voice is occasionally multi-tracked over lush strings. There are more of the quieter, almost old-fashioned nylon-strung ballady songs that peppered the second half of the first album (the opener "Sometimes", and the odd, "To Kill A Mockingbird"-quoting "Atticus"), but also Winehouse-Motown parodies ("Never Forget You"), peppy New Wave pop (the title track), as well as the anticipated synth monsters. The single "Don't Upset The Rhythm" packs a big singalong chorus, tinkly little triangle lines, and fun meta-textual touches ("Kick, snare, hat, ride!" sings Shoniwa). The other song with its eye firmly on a dancefloor is a punchy lady-anthem called "Saturday Night", again with a poppy chorus and bwoooooomy synth swells and glockenspiels and a pigging cowbell solo. Shoniwa is still in sterling voice, her vocal melodies always interesting, not always expected, more controlled, a little more measured.

So, a more confident, less scrappy, more cohesive album, with some of the more interesting musical corners knocked off. Then, the lyrics come through. My.

The first album was slightly nondescript, lyrically speaking. Yes, it was exciting when Shoniwa sung things like "We compliment each other like Satan and Christ", and "Tell your ASBO friend to sling his hook", and we get a bit of that here ("Can't get home? / You can use my dog and bone"), but there were also long songs about travelling on a Tube ("Mind The Gap") which are thankfully not repeated here. And what exactly was "Bridge To Canada" about?

Here, however, the real shocker is that almost every song has at its heart a really, really upset woman. For this is surreptitiously a breakup album (or possibly the rarer form - a break-up-with-someone-who-isn't-my-partner album), and it's only on closer listens that you peel back the sometimes jaunty, sometimes pleasant music to find lines like "Taking lovers just might keep my tears at bay / But the dam will break at any hour" from "Sometimes". Or "Just tell them / We could be building / Something out of our despair" from "So Complicated". Hell, even the song that optimistically begins "There's a boy I like south of the river" has Shoniwa impatiently demanding "Let it start! Let it start!" and depicts her standing in the rain without a coat.

Like one of my other favourite breakup albums, "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer" by Of Montreal, here the highs are manic highs - frantic and urgent ("Go, baby, go!" yells Shoniwa, and - later - "Cheap kicks are alright!") and the lows are self-lacerating (In "Every Now & Then", she hopes against hope for "Someone to tear the curtains down / And let the light back into this empty room"; in "24 Hours": "Hey lover, I'm in limbo"; in the title track "Tell me when will we learn? / We love it and we leave it and we watch it burn").

It's not a constant bummer (like "Sea Change" by Beck - an album I can't get through without a quart of glycerin and a Jolt cola) because the music is varied and fun, although occasionally just minor-key enough to prompt a little soul-searching. In fact, despite the lack of a huge kickass single like "Sister Rosetta" or "Don't Give Up", it's a more promising album than the first, as it doesn't tail off as dramatically as "What's The Time Mr Wolf?", and an album as barmy, and British, and intelligent, and emotional, and old-fashioned-and-yet-modern, should be purchased and reacted to. So do that.

But seriously, please, someone give that girl a hug.

Labels: review