Well, a very hectic weekend at Fantasycon. Some fascinating panels; some wonderful speeches; some great bookshoppping; and, most importantly, meeting lots of fascinating people and having increasingly *merry* conversations into the night. As a result, last night when I got home I was so tired I could hardly sleep – a combination of complete physicalContinue reading “After the party”
Category Archives: Film
Becoming Norma Desmond
Out and about on Wednesday night (at an event run by the estimable Poet in the City, which everyone should know about – they do fantastic poetry events round the City of London), and, as it does in pubs, the conversation turned to fantasy and sf. As it also does when you’re around people-whose-genre-is-literary, someoneContinue reading “Becoming Norma Desmond”
‘50% Homme. 50% Dieu. 100% Sauveur.’
This week’s conversations about Gnosticism made me remember a slightly, erm, punchier take on the Messiah. So, from the early 90s, here’s the continental take on it all. Stallone stars in ‘Jesus II – The Return’, from French comedy heroes ‘Les Inconnus’. Oh, and this version is subtitled…
Tiger city
Well, a short one today as I was dining at the conference last night (in the Stationer’s Hall, with some Ethiopian diplomats and the bloke who’s job it is to make sure that Parma Ham is really Parma Ham – fascinating evening after a fascinating day!) and now have an early start to get toContinue reading “Tiger city”
Gnosis, meatware, cinema and the Cathars
Well, I’m off to a conference today and tomorrow about branding nations – should be fascinating, might well post about it – so an early morning post, written on Sunday. It’s today for me, yesterday for you, so one or other of us is travelling in time. Whoah… Anyone, I was pottering round the flatContinue reading “Gnosis, meatware, cinema and the Cathars”
The butcher’s apprentice
I’m at home, watching trailers for upcoming movies on Five. Guns, fisticuffs – combat as a fundamental dramatic component. It’s so all-pervasive, you don’t notice it any more. And I’m sick of it. Sick of the reduction of the subtle emotional conflicts inherent in drama to meatheaded literal battles; sick of the constant presentation ofContinue reading “The butcher’s apprentice”
La Planete Sauvage
Well, as promised here’s part 1 of ‘La Planete Sauvage’ from Youtube. Alas, it’s not subtitled or dubbed – but then again, who needs language when you have such trippy music and visuals? Oh, and the rest of it’s linked to from the Youtube page.
Coal sculptures
Last Friday night’s excursion was a trip to see compellingly strange French SF animation ‘La Planete Sauvage’, plus a pre-film performance of some groovy improvised music from The Stargazer’s Assistant. The film was fantastic; the music was marvellous; but what really made the evening for me were David Smith’s coal sculptures, forming his exhibition ‘TheContinue reading “Coal sculptures”
Matrices old and new
I’ve been pondering The Matrix movies lately. Key pieces of plot and character information were offered in animes, computer games, and so on. Back in the day, I thought this was lazy and exploitative. Now, I think I was wrong. Narrative is getting old school. For thousands of years, the great public stories were builtContinue reading “Matrices old and new”
The Archers and their target
‘A Matter of Life and Death’ shows us two broken utopias. The most obvious one is heaven; a perfect machine that cares for all who enter it. Stress and shock are balmed on entry. Enmities are forgotten. Grief seems not to exist. There’s even cricket on the radio. But it’s a fragile utopia; it canContinue reading “The Archers and their target”