The XX

So loads of media types had The XX as their top album of last year and I thought they were just hyping these guys up as the next best thing but then I actually listened to the album, its really good…I mean really good! Check it out.

What do we call the last decade?

Here are a few words by Noble Prize winning economist on why we should call the decade that is about to end ‘The Big Zero’.

I agree wholeheartedly with him from an economics perspective…though on a technological front the last ten years have been awesome..iphone, ipod, even faster and better computers, phones that can do practically anything..the wii, nintendo ds, ps3…LCD TV in 1080P!!! Hopefully in the coming years we can focus on green tech and make leaps and bounds in this area…..we shall see!

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry David: ‘Do you respect wood?’
Jerry Seinfeld: ‘Yeah but this is cheap low grade wood!’
Larry David: ‘So you discriminate amongst wood?’

Brilliant Finale!

In Bruges

People have been on at me for ages to watch this movie, I was always put off by it because of Colin Farrell who I just can’t stand to watch.Finally I succumbed after much persuasion and I have to say this film is amazing. I have to say its close to perfect in terms of a movie something that I’ve only ever said about 2 or 3 other movies. Its dark and funny. Ralph Fiennes and Brendon Gleeson deliver great performances and for once Farrell doesn’t get on my nerves. I’ve read a few things about the ending being a bit weak but if you think about it its actually darkly funny and perfect. Go and watch this now!

Sorcerer

Absolutely amazing movie. This is in my list of favourite movies of all time, so dark and that Tangerine Dream score! William Friedkin really is firing on all the guns in this one.

A Serious Man

Another film I saw at the London Film Festival and another where I have mixed feelings about it. It is a brilliant movie, I loved Roger Deakins’ cinematography and some of the scenes were great ( particularly when the young son was having his Bar Mitzvah ). However like most of the Coen brothers’ recent films it left me feeling a little cold. I couldn’t really emphasise with the characters and the ending as always infuriated me. Still definitely worth seeing if only for the discussions raised by the Coen’s mediation on God and life in a Jewish Middle class environment.

Extract

Saw the new movie from Mike Judge and I have to say that I enjoyed it. There were a few laugh out load moments and the movie was consistently funny. Jason Bateman made a good lead and I have to say Ben Affleck was really funny, I think he is much better when he is a side character rather then the main lead.

Up in the Air

Just saw this new George Clooney film at the London Film Festival and I have to say it was pretty good. It had some funny lines and Clooney turned in a solid performance. However I do think that the script was a bit undeveloped. The funny lines when they came were real zingers and the situation was smart and pithy; Clooney plays a consultant who is hired to do the firing when companies need to fire people and the managers don’t have the backbone to do it themselves. Certainly apt given the current climate. However it does peter out towards the end and I wasn’t too keen on the ending..it was based on a book which I haven’t read and most of the times books seem to handle these things better. I think the script needed more shape and could have done with a rewrite or two. Although not with the jokes or the situation, it just needed more shape and could do with being a bit more tighter. Also I think they should have made more of Clooney’s relationship with the new employee that he has to train rather then concentrating on the romance with another women. That relationship seemed more true to life and without spoiling the ending, the way the romance ends is just a bit weird, you don’t see it coming and it makes some of the conversations that happen in the previous scenes a bit redundant even though they aren’t…anyway you will only understand it once you see it which I recommend you do.

Wii Vs PS3

I’ve been meaning to talk about both of these consoles and their relative merits and now that I have had a decent play of each I going to weigh in with my thoughts .

First off they are both great consoles, however they offer a different slant on the future of gaming. The PS3 has the most amazing graphics that I have ever seen, and its multi-media capabilities are fantastic. I use it as a PVR, to watch trailers and all the other online junk when I can’t be arsed to boot up my laptop. However on the gaming front the story is a little different. Don’t get me wrong the games some of the games are truly beautiful. What bothers me is the game play and plot/story. I can understand how the wii has captured the casual market because its so easy to just pick up the remote and play. The PS3 on the other hand is not so eay. Recent I have been playing Mirror’s Edge and although it is a great looking game one of the things that annoys me about it is its infuriating control system. I just can’t be arsed to learn what each of the 8 buttons do and which combination I have to press them in to perform a move. Its so much simpler on the wii, you just have essentially 2 maybe 3 buttons that do all the work. The rest is all gesture based. Also I have yet to find a plat-forming game on the PS3 that matches the sheer enjoyment I had when I played Super Mario Galaxy.

I know I’m going to upset hardcore gamers but quite frankly the shooting games on PS3 are staring to grate. It also explains why the wii has captured the market. Appealing to hardcore gamers is all well and good, but the general public don’t want complicated, visually realistic games. They want games like tetris and pac man, simple, and fun.

Well thats what I think anyway

DJ Z-Trip@matter

Z-trip was off the hook! I can understand now why he was voted America’s Top DJ because quite simply he was stunning. Every track was delivered with a slickness that other DJs spend their whole lives trying to chase down and master. He knew his crowd and he knew what tracks to drop to get them going. I’m so glad to have caught this master at work.

Oh and on a side note matter’s sound system…it literally made the hairs on my body stand on end…no I’m not joking it did…the base on that sound system was just fom another world…You have to go to that club if only to hear that sound system and be amazed.