DareDevil.

Headed out to Streatham in the wilderness last night with Iain and Nick to see Daredevil. Had a quick drink and some food before hand and then a quickmarch to the cinema to just make it on time. The movie itself was ok. Overall it was very underwhealming. There were too many characters. Elektra just didn’t fit in. They could have nicely set up the next movie with her in mind. Affleck was not great and never fully convinced me he was Matt Murdock / Daredevil. Ditto for Jennifer Garner, she came across as very wooden and completely lack in charisma. Perhaps that was spot on, but it didn’t work in the movie context. Michael Clarke Duncan was excellent. Spot on in every way. He was Kingpin with absolutely no doubt and a scary motherfucker too.

Colin Farrell however steals the movie and every single scene he is in. Completely over the top insane and fun! He kills with a peanut for fuck sake. The glass in the church is excellent and a real nice touch. That alongside the flotation tank were lovely little add ons which worked perfectly. The other thing which worked amazingly well was DD’s ‘sight’. It was really well done and conveyed his sense really well.

Overall it was too much and too little at the same time. There was no need for Elektra in the movie, and it could have lived without Bullseye too. For a kick off franchise movie, Daredevil vs Kingpin running alongside Matt Murdock vs. Wilson Fisk would have been far better. Then the next move introduce Elektra and Bullseye and build up to her death (and she better be fucking dead) in the third one. But then again what do I know? I did feel that at times there wasn’t all that much story to it, it felt kinda forced but I guess it works from the source.

One thing I have to note and praise is that every single time someone got the chance to unmask Daredevil, they DID! It was a nice change from many another movie. Overall, enjoyable and worth seeing but perhaps a lost opportunity.

I’m going to see Daredevil with Iain and Nick tonight. I had been looking forward to the movie a lot, and indeed I still am, but right now I’m just not in the mood. I could take a few guesses why but probably best not to. Just got access to the official Sigur Ros FTP where I am grabbing an entire gig from late last year. I wonder if they’ll have last nights up there at anytime. I would love to have a copy of that.

There is only one thing keeping me sane today; music. I was in a foul mood when I left work last night. I was angry and upset, really angry. All that passed when I got to the Apollo and for the rest of the night it was all out of my mind. Today I’m in work and well things are not ideal, but I’m listening to Sigur Ros and it makes everything so much better.

Today I find I have a much greater appreciation for ( ). It holds so much more meaning, power and emotion behind it. It’s beautiful and I’m sitting here listening to it and that alone makes things better.

There are times when confidence is called for. There are some things which everyone has to be confident about, they may only be small things but you know you can do them. Anyways it worked out and while it was not a piece of cake..well it pretty much was actually. Some things I know and I understand and they come to me pretty easily.

It is good to know there are things like that, it kinda helps add a little balance to the scale.

I’m reading Lucky Man, Michael J. Fox’s autobiography. I’m about 100 pages in and I’m really enjoying it. Angel continues to rock, 24 was ok, the trailer for next weeks looks better.

And lastly on the good news front deadline pressure has passed…for now.

The Spree

I realised something tonight which in hindsight was very obvious. The Polyphonic Spree are a novelty act. Don’t get me wrong, their album The Beginning Stages Of is ace and they were at times awesome tonight but at the end of the day there isn’t really much to them.
Starting at the start I was happy to find that Hope of the States was the first support act. They did well for Starsailor last week and after seeing them again I would drop some money on a cd. So they kicked off and did 30 minutes. Next up was a band that I didn’t catch the name of but they were certainly not bad. I’ll check up on the name and post some more later.

Then it was time for the Spree, before hand a group of people came out and threw 30 or so robes into the audience and it began. Frank Skinner came out to introduce the band. Lovely comment about how he loved the album lots…except track 10. This got quite a cheer from the audience. Out came the spree, all 25 of them. Straight into Have a Day and then on through Hanging Around 1 & 2 mixed right into an intro to Solidier Girl and on to La La and then Light and Day. That was awesome. The crowd were behind them 150%. The floor was just jumping, it was an amazing sight and wonderful to be in. At this stage I was going home to book a ticket to see them at their next gig over here in a few months.

But think about it, as soon as they have done that, its over. Those are the album tracks gone, out of the window. We are left only with new stuff and b-sides. That kinda killed off the crowd participation a lot if not completely. The new stuff was pretty much the same as the current stuff, light fluffy bouncy tunes without much to them. This went on for another 30 minutes or so and then they took a quick break and showed their appearance tonight on Graham Norton. Then back on stage for a few cover versions (only one of real note was Bowie’s Five Years and an impressive ending with a lot of noise behind it.

So did I enjoy myself? Hell yes, they were certainly worth seeing, excellent live versions of the good songs (although disappointingly a not so great live Solider Girl). I wonder if I shall in fact pick up their next album. I think they may have captured something magical on this one and it will be lightning in a bottle. I hope they prove me wrong, I won’t rule out going to see them again, but I’m not going to go off and book a ticket now.

I stand behind everything I have said about them over the past few weeks, the album is still well worth getting and I am very glad I saw them. They remain however, a novelty act.

Always and Forever.

The post arrived this morning. There was a letter addressed only to Dave B. Our postman figured I was the only Dave B and brought it to me. I am very glad he did. It’s a 3 track, 15 minute live cd from JJ72 that I signed up for a long time ago. It’s not got any of their best stuff on it, but it has got some good tracks sung live. It did remind me that their new single is out which I would have picked up anyway but that it also includes a cover of The Wicked Game which is an excellent track.

This was a good way to start the day, and indeed the week.

a tale from a prior life

In 1998 I went to London with some friends. It was my first time away from home on my own. It was over a July weekend and we were there for a sci-fi Convention. The con was to be my first in London, it would not be my last. It was Wolf 359: The Alliance. At the time duty free was still available in the UK and there was about 10 of us travelling from Dublin. It is safe to see that we used our duty free allowance. I had some vodka and some rum I believe. We were in quite a posh hotel in Heathrow where the convention was on. The Friday night we got quite drunk. Let me tell you how drunk. We all got into one room to do the drinking (as you do) and we did just that. I have a few memories of that night. I remember one person’s first experience with tequila. I remember drinking an entire bottle of vodka and I think I had an entire bottle of rum. I also had some of that tequila.

I remember us running down the corridors late at night very drunk with a bottle of tequila knocking on lots of doors. I remember we slowed to a walk as we saw the con organiser walking towards us and walked past him with a chorus of ‘Hi Bryan’. The morning after he would comment that one thing he really liked about us was that we were polite drunks. As soon as he was gone we of course continued with the running. Among other things which occurred that night was so much ringing of room doorbells and prank calls that the power was taken out on one floor. I do remember that despite being blamed for much of this, I made no prank calls and knocked on no doors that night. There was also a fire alarm which I also take no responsibility for. I did not set it off.

So there we were running down corridors swigging tequila. Well, give or take a couple of very vague flashes my next memory getting off a plane in Dublin airport three days later. I have a few very rough memories and I didn’t for quite a while. They only came back to me talking to someone about this a while ago. Anything else I just have to shrug at.

It was an awesome weekend.

—
I’m now reading A Clockwork Orange. The nedstat speak is getting to me and slowing my reading down a lot. It’s only 140 pages and 90 minutes total on the bus today should have gotten me through at least 100 of that. It was more like 40, but I guess I wasn’t trying all that hard.

Instant live CDs of a concert?
About time. I would have paid for something like this for many concerts I have been to.

Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality

—
Last night I saw Punch-Drunk Love. It was most definatly a P.T. Anderson movie and anyone going in expecting an Adam Sandler comedy was very disapointed. I have no idea what I thought of it, I am hard pressed to even decide if I liked it. It was at times a chore to watch and the film did seem pointless, that might however be the point. I don’t think I would watch it again, but I’m glad I saw it.

Heading out to the cinema again in a few minutes. Will make some changes here later tonight.

I have this great need to watch The Prisoner again. I have a busy week ahead, but perhaps I can squeeze some viewing in.