Clear Blue and a touch of Pantha Du Prince

Blue Monday really has made way for a pretty delightful tuesday morning. Sat in a cab to work on the m3 watching the pylons roll by, eyes heavy. Let music be my caffeine. Everyone who has an ear for a tune has sounds for every situation. Music for mornings, for sunshine, rain and snow, to ease a hangover etc.

For me, a clear blue morning like this is one for Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise. Doesn't sound the most jovial I know! Vast and minimal electrism that still seems to command huge concentrated interest. Like looking at a mountain range.

Still going to have coffee when I get in though.


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Location:United Kingdom

Baths - Cerulean (Albums of 2010)

An absolute breath of fresh air. The days were apparently getting shorter when I discovered it, not that I noticed! This album captivated me with it's twisted, blissful beats. Everything just felt that little bit brighter. With the exception of the likes of Matthew Dear the concept of singer/songwriter rarely applies to electronic music and even when it does there is usually an imbalance one way or the other. Not in this instance. Musically, Ceruleans has an air of Flying Lotus with it's constantly shifting beats. Have a listen to Hall as a cracking example. Will Weisenfield also mucks in with some pretty impressive vocal turns. It kills me that it came out in August and I missed being able to enjoy it in the summertime. Well at least it's making the nights seem a little brighter for the time being. Roll on the solstice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJhgsrqTzSk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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BWFC in 2011/12

A lot of debate has been going on regarding a certain Mr Cahill's future at the Reebok, and until his recent dry run the same was being said of Elmander. Could go against the general consensus but I think we may be better off cashing in on Cahill in the summer, and losing Elmanders hefty wages at the same time. As good as Cahill has been since we got him, and Elmander this season I can't help thinking that we desperately need funds to push on, and the only way to generate them is to reduce the wage bill and cash in on our assets.

We are more than deserving of our position in the league this year, but worries of a slide down the table are well founded as injuries are making us look more and more like a skeleton crew. My other worry is that Coyle will get frustrated, as Allardyce did, with a lack of boardroom interest in pushing the club forward. He's done a great job and is clearly a very ambitious bloke, so regardless of his past ties with the club he surely wouldn't want to hang around too long if it ceases to be challenging.

There are some good young players at the Reebok these days, and it's nice for possibly the first time there are no audible grumbles when a players name is read out on matchday (Poor old John O'Kane!). We like our players....there just isn't enough of them!

As we all well know, everything negative in this blog is totally and utterly #megsonsfault

P.S: R.I.P to Nat Lofthouse. He is, was and always will be Bolton Wanderers Football Club

The Incredible Bad Film

You just can’t beat a good-bad film can you. The kind that makes you want to simultaneously turn it off and turn it up. The warped beauty that someone, somewhere at some point of post-production must have said something along the lines of, “brilliant, we’ve nailed it!” Bad direction, dreadful writing, wooden acting, the kind of editing that could make a critic go into convulsions, but my god when done properly, they can be bloody entertaining! For me, the thing that separates the good-bad and the plain terrible is budget. If the budget is high then you simply can’t forgive them for making such a hash of a film i.e. Battlefield Earth (2000). An estimated $73,000,000 went into making what is essentially a set of curtains opening every few minutes to  reveal several actors doing their utmost to ruin their careers. The screen wipe worked in Star Wars, but in this it just adds to the feeling that you are being sucked further and further into a cinematic cesspool.

So whilst Battlefield Earth makes a little bit of sick come up in my mouth, coming in with a budget probably much closer to $73 is The Incredible Melting Man (1977). With a script that would be more at home etched into the back of a public toilet door, and acting that makes Keanu Reeves look comfortable on screen, absolutely everything points to the fact that this should be utterly unwatchable, but it isn’t.

Let me run you through the tale. Steve West is an astronaut. On a deep space mission he is exposed to a blinding light, which kills all crew bar him. Dissolve back to Earth, where he is fully bound in bandages. In a hospital that looks more like a derelict warehouse. We learn from none other than Dr. Ted Nelson that he is melting due to some garbled radiation based nonsense. When Steve awakes he is understandably upset, and after tearing away his bandages to reveal the horror beneath, his vanity pushes him to decide that the best course of action is to break free and go on a killing spree. “He’s going to need human cells to live on.” Dr. Nelson informs us. Cue a slue of innocent deaths. A nurse in the most horribly ill-fitting outfit, a fisherman, an amorous old couple all fall at the mercy of Steve. “He seems to be getting stronger as he melts,” muses Dr. Ted in brilliantly illogical fashion. I would take you through the entire story, but I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you, as I am sure you will now be clamouring for a copy. Still have doubts? You need look no further than quotes on the VHS cover:

"One of my all-time faves."

by none other than Michael Lee?????

This film will run and run....A good old fashioned monster movie."

Allan Bryce, Video World.....isn't that the video shop around the corner that closed down 10 years back? Oh and is that Allan Bryce who now works in Asda?