quote:Originally posted by Roy: He's forgiven you.
That reminds me of a humorous story. When I was a child, I wanted nothing more for Christmas than a shiny new red bicycle. I prayed to God each and every night for one. I figured it was in the bag. Chiristmas day comes, and no new bicycle. I was so upset. Then the light shone down upon me. It was all so clear. That night, I went out an stole a shiny new red bicycle from someone in the neighborhood, went home, and prayed for forgiveness.
I don't do God, Roy. Keep your God to yourself, GodBoy.
posted
Film Joint Security Area, or JSA at it's often referred to, directed by Chan Wook Park, and like all of Park's films utterly engrossing. The film is set during the Korean War, an concerns two guardhouses, either side of a bridge which forms a border crossing between North and South Korea. Park prortrays the friendship which develops between the guards in the two guardhouses, and the dawning realisation that they have more in common with each other than with many of their own comrades. I can't describe adequately how brilliant this film is.
Book The Hitchhikers Guide To The galaxy, the 4 books in one volume version, cheating a bit I know, but I read this through from start to finish earlier this year and it really is one of the best books I've ever read.
Album One pretty much none of you will have heard of, 'Are You dead yet?' by the Children Of Bodom, black-metallers extraordinare, I love this album so much it's barely left my CD player since I bought it.
My Year Not bad at all, I've started playing more sports and thus got myself into slightly better shape, I've had more brilliant nights out than anyone has a right to, been to the Oktoberfest and had a brilliant time, and most recently had quite possibly the most enjoyable weekend away yet, enjoying the company of some utterly lovely friends and consuming untold quantities of beer.
Posts: 2337
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by ralph: Do you think it's conversations like this one that have given us the reputation of being lame, Roy?
Roy?
What's bafflingly and tediously missing from your "schtick" is any fucking remnant of a joke. Could you please write some material or get some inspiration before wiping your arse on this forum again. It is not a bib for your dribble.
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: books and comics aren't the same things, gang!
Comics are better than books. Plus, hairsplitting, I know... but, you nominated essays, chapters, stories, those aren't the same things as books, are they?
I just read the first issue of the Morrison 7 Soldiers Frankenstein story. I liked it.
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: What's bafflingly and tediously missing from your "schtick" is any fucking remnant of a joke. Could you please write some material or get some inspiration before wiping your arse on this forum again. It is not a bib for your dribble.
I hope that this is aimed at me as well, because it's unfair that ralph gets all the blame for our babble.
Anyway, you are right. I'm going to shut up now. Apols Vogon. This is a good thread.
Posts: 2434
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Roy: I hope that this is aimed at me as well, because it's unfair that ralph gets all the blame for our babble.
Way to stand up and take it like a man, Roy. Well done.
kovacs has a valid point of course. You and I have a tendency to drift off a few times a week, not really contributing much to the boards, even if we do find our conversations amusing. Tell you what kovacs, I'll give this thread some consideration during my ride into the office tomorrow morning, and actually make an attempt at composing a half decent reply. But be forewarned -- if I decide to recap my own 2005 events, prepare to weep. I've had a most unfortunate year.
Without a doubt, Der Untergang - probably the most honest retelling of this all too often repeated tale. It wasn't so much the Hitler character for me, but the peripheral players - in particular the Waffen-SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke, on whom I wrote a series of papers in the late 1990s. I am sure the directors found some of my scribblings on him somewhere; it was probably the most accurate portrayal of a man who was nothing more than an honest soldier - sarky comments by the likes of David Cesarani notwithstanding.
Outside of my 'study field' the best cinemeatic offering this year had to be Serenity. I had been persuaded to go by Mrs N, who is a fan of Joss Whedon - and I was most impressed. It proved that a decent, well-written story is worth a lot more than assembling an array of household million-dollar names.
Boke
As usual I went through about a dozen works of non-fiction; it's pretty hard to pick a winner but the podium places went to Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth by Brigitte Hamann; The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence by Martin Meredith and Stasiland by Anna Funder, an excellently-written work that I got as part of a '3 for £10' deal.
Music
Much of the stuff I like is, erm, old - and there was nothing particularly notable this year. Most played CD in the car was probably one of Wagner's Siegfried (highlights), Dido's Life for Rent or disc one from the two-disc The Very Best of Elvis Costello.
Game
I don't play games any more. Unless you count my occasion digging out of Red Alert or Silent Hunter II. Or Monopoly, on a traditional board.
-------------------- "You ate the baby Jesus and his mother Mary!" "I thought they were animal cookies..." Posts: 4130
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Samuelnorton: Without a doubt, Der Untergang
I concur, actually. I saw this last week and it's hauntingly good. The increasing sense of claustrophobia and hysteria is conveyed beautifully. The filming feels dispassionate, almost documentary-style but it does draw you in and leads you to the entirely queasy position of sympathy and empathy for Hitler and Goebbels. Brilliantly acted and with just enough of the horrific about it. I watched in tandem with reading Anthony Beevor's rather excellent Berlin, which helped, lots. Honourable mention on the film front to Goodbye Lenin, a completely different kettle of cod. Hilarious and unique and an excellent antidote and accompaniment to Downfall.
Book I've been quite disappointed this year with the alleged heavyweights. I waityed in breath baited anticipation for Ian McEwan's Saturday, which needed a good editor and read more like an experiment in form than a novel. Sebastian Faulk's Human Traces has some of his usually excellent prose but was a struggle. Not disappointing, though, was Lunar Park, Breat Easton Ellis' return to form and a cracking horror story with lashings of extra satire thrown in. Currently enjoying China Mieville's short stories.
Music Not sure if it's this year but I was recently introduced to the Editors and have developed an addiction to The Back Room. It's gorgeous. Fall is a perfect winter track, all sort of maudlin and soaring simultaneously. I love this line: "These dark pubs, we drink in somehow light up when I'm with you." Honourable mention: the already Kovacs mentioned Arcade Fire. Like a melancholy Pixies with strings.
Comics Having done a screeching U-Turn from my previous indefensible comics are for rubbish people position, thanks in part to certain TMOers, I started reading this stuff only this year. Favourite favourite favourite is Transmetropolitan which kept me utterly engrossed, made me laugh out loud like a loon on the train and gave me Spider Jerusalem to fall in love with. I am considering putting 100 Bullets on my Christmas list.
Games I don't *do* games but I'm horribly tempted to see if World of Warcraft can kill me where drugs and fags and alcohol have failed. I think that would be funny.
Posts: 142
| IP: Logged
H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
posted
Downfall is on the television next week, fact fans. It's on More4 on Monday night at 9pm.
posted
FIlm - Serinity was pure joy, I ennoyed it enough to get the series out soon after.
Book - The second book in the Historic Illuminatus Chronicles, by Robert Anton Wilson, is one of the best books I have ever read - it is such a shame that the first book is just okay and the third is one of the biggest let downs, making me reluctant to recommend. I'm really enjoying Sven Hassel's first book a lot.
Music - Goldfrapp's new album.
Comics - the fun of the DC comics Infintity Crisis has been enjoyable so far - plus the X-Men collected black and white books 5 and 6 have been excellent.
Games - Urban Dead is about the only game I've played. I tried out Football Manager 2006 demo, but that only lasted for half a season, and my team in 2005 are just too good.
-------------------- If Chuck Norris is late, time better slow the fuck down Posts: 2740
| IP: Logged
posted
Fillum Another (shaky parkinsons-style) thumbs up. In fact one of the few films I saw at the cinema this year (Walthamstow doesn't have a cinema! Can you believe it!), it was a masterpiece of claustrophobia and tension. I hope it was nervous tension that made the man behind me bark with laughter when Frau Goebbels slumped on the floor having just poisoned her kinder. Even though you knew the end, it was a white-knuckle number. Unlike Titanic.
Book Shamefully few books read this year. Everything Is Illuminated was v good, though read over such a long period of time I got a bit lost. Also enjoyed Pussy: For cat who should know better, the unusual phenomenon of a novelty Christmas book that is actually funny.
Album I listen to less and less music these days, though this year have enjoyed Anthony and his Johnson, Arcade Fire, and, shamefully, Keane.
ETA: Games Recently reloaded Sim City on to mac. Still rules. Any other gaming opportunities would cause my life to entirely grind to a halt, and my RSI to cripple me. Though I do pay the odd visit to gamehouse.
Year in brief Domestic sitch on the up - new house, intention for family; professional sitch on the slide - menial tasks for idiots.
I can’t compete with Thorn’s spoiler-free review from the time of it’s release, but suffice to say that like Oldboy last year, History of Violence is a master class in intelligent adult entertainment. Compelling, woozily bizarre, pitch-black funny, and beautifully acted (particularly by Viggo, Ed Harris, and William Hurt) and directed. Brilliant from the off-kilter foreboding of it's opening to the tantalisingly clipped end. Classic Cronenberg, in other words. Note: Honorable mention to Joss Whedon for managing to get a film of the brilliant Firefly “‘verse” made in the form of Serenity, and for having the balls to challenge his existing fan base whilst attempting to expand it.
TV: The Wire
This amazing HBO series continued to amaze with it’s second series, which I’d argue could now compete with the best of The Sopranos. The only major problem with it being that I suspect I’m the only person in this country except Jim Shelley who’s actually seen any of it. Note: Honorable mention for another HBO show that no one else has seen, Deadwood, particularly for having Lovejoy losing the plot and bonding with a severed head, Alfredo Garcia style. And finally to Firefly, which I got on DVD, and which features one of the most compelling, funny, and lovingly realised set of characters and universes I’ve ever seen in a show, Sci-fi or not.
LP Record: Demon Days – Gorillaz
Whilst mining a similar vein to their eponymous first album the scope of the music here has been expanded as much as the cast of performers. Richer, darker, and funkier than it’s predecessor. Note:Honorable mentions go to Supernature – Goldfrapp, Dimanche a Bamako - Amadou & Mariam, Ruby Blue - Róisín Murphy, Dangerdoom - Dangermouse & MF Doom, Funeral - Arcade Fire, and Leaders of the Free World - Elbow.
Gig: Super Furry Animals, Brixton Academy A blindingly good show by one of the most tragically underappreciated bands of recent times. The Furries are a startling good live band with a scarily expansive back catalogue of fantastic songs, a fantastically bizarre presence on stage, and breathtaking light show. It’s rare that I have left a gig so completely satisfied by the experience.
Book: Beyond Black – Hilary Mantel Part bleakly comic dissection of contemporary Britain, part truly creepy ghost story, Mantel combines both in this, along with some wicked prose, to produce a truly compelling novel. Note: 100 Bullets is on the Christmas list.
Video Game: Oddworld – Stranger’s Wrath (Xbox)
The first Abe-free Oddworld game brilliantly and beautifully welded spaghetti-western and first person shooter elements onto the fantastically creative Oddworld universe. A game in two parts, the first a bounty hunter western, the second an all out war game, this was witty, entertaining, addictive, and about the prettiest Xbox game I’ve yet seen. My only quibble would be that it was over too soon. Note: I probably still played San Andreas most this year, clocking story mode for a second time and picking off yet more of the sub missions. I haven’t played Resident Evil 4 yet, can I borrow it, Thorn/Benway?
Exhibition: Frida Kahlo - Tate Modern
Although I knew I liked Kahlo’s work I wasn’t really expecting the impact that this had on me. I was surprised by how small the majority of her work was, by how poorly the reproductions I had seen reproduced the colours of her originals, and by the sheer intensity of her gaze from the self-portraits. I left feeling alive in a way I haven’t felt on leaving an exhibition since first seeing Goya’s Black Paintings in Madrid.
As for the year as a whole, I’ll tell you when it’s over.
[ 01.12.2005, 08:25: Message edited by: Boy Racer ]
-------------------- Some people stand in the darkness, afraid to step into the light... Posts: 3770
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Boy Racer: I haven’t played Resident Evil 4 yet, can I borrow it, Thorn?
No.
So, anyway. I was going to post a 'gig of the year', but I've only been to a measley two gigs this year, making it the most barren year for live music since I started going to gigs in 1994 (Pop Will Eat Itself at the Portsmouth Guildhall, as you ask). Two gigs in a year! Rubbish. Time was I'd go to that many gigs than that in one night.
Still they were both great - the PWEI reunion, and a Ginger acoustic gig at the Barfly in Camden. Clear winner, though, is Pop Will Eat Itself which was just unstoppable, like a runaway freight train. Alongside the Slayer/ Slipknot double bill last year it made me realise how much I really loved going to gigs, a fact I celebrated by not going to any more.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
Octavia
I hate Valentine's Day. Stupid commercialised crap
posted
Film Cinematically, a close tie between Batman Begins, Mr & Mrs Smith and History of Violence. On the one hand a tightly-plotted, beautifully shot, high-class action movie populated almost exclusively with British actors, on the other hand a romantic comedy with guns (and Angelina Jolie kicking ass wearing nothing but a shirt and wellies), and on the third hand, an unbelievably intelligent analysis of human integrity.
DVD-wise, Miller's Crossing stood out for goodness, and Intolerable Cruelty for comedy. Also reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I do actually sort of like The Big Lebowski. A bit.
Book Have read mostly college-ordained books this year, but apart from that re-read all the Iain M Banks books in a two week period. They really are quite good.
Music Discovering Tommy on vinyl. Man alive they knew how to make music forty years ago.
Bar QI in the QI building. Dark red walls, intelligently chatty staff, bartenders straight out of the forties school of glamour-drinking who mix stunning cocktails without ever measuring any of the ingredients.
Year A gode one. New house, new job, new qualification, new friends, new stuff-that-isn't-work. Less mountains, though.
quote:Originally posted by Boy Racer: Man that's cold. Is that because you still play it or are you just being a mean spirited bastard, or maybe both?
I haven't finished it yet, plus it's at Octavia's place in Oxford where I can play it and avoid having to talk to her. But I thought it was funnier to say 'No' without explanation.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
posted
It's a fun challenge to scroll up the page from the last post, and guess who chose what before you reach their name.
For instance, I correctly identified Boy Racer based on this line:
quote:Originally posted by Boy Racer: Richer, darker, and funkier than it’s predecessor.
After learning that the two extremes of beauty and beastliness, VP and SN, both admired 100 Bullets (or maybe I read wrong... but what I just said was funny anyway lol), I began reading it (a chapter about prisoners) in Waterstones at lunchtime. And returned to work 10 minutes later than I planned! So I revise my opinion -- it could be called a "book with pictures", even a "fat comic" -- and may have to buy another couple of volumes myself. Thanks tmo.
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: ...it could be called a "book with pictures", even a "phat comic" -- and may have to buy another couple of volumes myself. Thanks tmo.
Man, you've been playing GTA: San Andreas too long.
Posts: 2434
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Roy: Man, you've been playing GTA: San Andreas too long.
Could you please write some material or get some inspiration before wiping your arse on this forum again. It is not a bib for your dribble.
Posts: 7436
| IP: Logged
quote: Cinematically, a close tie between Batman Begins, Mr & Mrs Smith and History of Violence.
This is an actual joke right? I mean, I know I haven't written any reviews of my own, but JesusThis is a contender for The Worst Film Ever! and The Most Disappointing Film Ever. It probably wouldn't win either of those, but it would be on the shortlist.
quote:Originally posted by Abby: Jesus[/i]This is a contender for The Worst Film Ever! and The Most Disappointing Film Ever. It probably wouldn't win either of those, but it would be on the shortlist.
Mr and Mrs Smith is good fun in a light-hearted mega-buster kind of way. I can't really see how it's 'the worst film ever' - it's an extremely efficient action comedy. About the most accurate criticism you can make is that it's all extremely Hollywood, but that hardly makes it a contender for 'Worst Film ever'. The action's really really well delivered, especially the car chase in the people carrier, and most of the jokes hit their mark. There's also a great dig at Grosse Point Blank, when Angelina gets handed the baby at the party and instead of looking at it and suddenly finding meaning in her life, she just holds it at arm's length and sneers in disgust. Also suprising and remarkable is the pasting that John dishes out to Jane at the halfway point. It's a shocking allegory of the bitterness that's built up over the five or six years they've been married, and the frankness of it lends some weight to an otherwise featherlight confection.
As for 'most disappointing film', well that's completely subjective - with no idea what you were expecting, no-one can possibly comment on this. If you were looking for something in the line of March of the Penguins, then yeah, I guess it would be really disappointing. It's a pretty stupid comment, though, because it's less to do with the movie, and more to do with what your own preconceptions. In terms of delivering a slick schlockbuster, the film doesn't really falter.
posted
I found the action tedious and failed to spot any 'chemistry', the plot had potential and the whole thing had been hyped up, then it failed to deliver anything remotely interesting or unexpected. But I think the main problem was that several people had told me it was ‘better than you expect it to be’ which got my hopes up, then it turned out to be worse than I would have expected it to be, even if nobody had told me it was going to be better! I made it to the end only because we had ordered too much pizza and there was still some left. I don’t like seeing pizza go to waste.
But you have a point. ‘Troy’ would be more likely to win Worst Film Ever.
Posts: 2793
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Abby: ‘Troy’ would be more likely to win Worst Film Ever.
I haven't seen Troy yet, but it couldn't possibly compete with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starring Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, and Jim Nabors. It was the only film I've walked out on in my life.
posted
B-but that was gr9! It featured a pair of pants fastened with velcro, ripped off his nethers with gusto by Burt, and Dolly's vastly superior version of I Will Always Love You.
posted
Don't do it Ralph. It is bad, real bad. And long....so long. You get that angry frustrated I want that part of my life back! feeling afterwards.
Posts: 2793
| IP: Logged
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
"
Printer-friendly view of this topic