The Event - Issue 174

Event the

23rd Februaury 2005

Issue: 123

Hoping for Oscar Glory

Will Marty finally get the Oscar?

The Life Aquatic

Joanna Trollope

Black Velvets

Director Wes Anderson talks fish before the release of his new movie

The acclaimed novelist on the burdens of producing her latest book

Re-introducing the world to good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll

Contents 03

Contents The Life Aquatic: Join The Event on a deep-sea dive into the new film from Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums director,Wes Anderson............................................4 Black Velvets: A bunch of true rock ‘n’ roll stars, the Black Velvets tell us why they are the only band around worth listening to.........................................................5 Joanna Trollope:

Pete Doherty: To say that his reputation precedes him would be quite an understatement, but what does the future hold for the ex-Libertine?......................................7 The Complete and Utter History of Britain:

First broadcast in the 1960s,

Michael Palin and Terry Jones’ pre-Python show has just been recovered and restored....8 You can tell a lot about a country from its national cinema and

Czechoslovakia, with its troubled political and social history, is no exception...............9

Oscars Special: Not every deserving movie-maker gets to stand on stage with a shiny award come Oscar season. The Event salutes the forgotten heroes of the movies....10-11 Albums: A long-awaited release from Doves, plus the new album from The Kills.......12 Singles: New singles from Hell is for Heroes and Rufus Wainwright.....................13 Cinema: Films at the flicks this fortnight, including In Good Company and Kinsey.....14 DVDs: Saved and Cop on a Mission head up a selection of DVDs to rent and buy........15 Arts: Reviews of The Nutcracker and Orpheus, plus new books out this week............16 TV/Digital: A critical look at Chris Morris’s new sitcom Nathan Barley.................17 Creative Writing: A selection of poetry and prose from the writers of UEA..........18 Listings and Competitions: Things to win and things to do........................19

Editorial

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concrete.event@uea.ac.uk Editor: Tim Barker concrete.eventeditorial@uea.ac.uk Editor: Sarah Edwardes

She’s the novelist all novelists would secretly like to be. Joanna

Trollope talks about writing her latest book, Brother and Sister...............................6

Czech Cinema:

IS: concrete.editor@uea.ac.uk Editor-in Chief: Philip Sainty

he pinnacle of the party season has finally arrived. We’re talking fancy frocks, hideously expensive (and often plain hideous) jewellery, rampant egos and raw emotions. Yes, it’s Oscar time again. But while we’re revelling in the vicarious glory of the red carpet, let’s spare a thought for poor old Martin Scorsese; so many nominations without even the hint of a win. It would be nice this year if life could mirror so many mediocre movies and see the monobrowed underdog triumph at last.

Continuing the movie theme, this issue also takes a sneaky peek at the lengthily tilted The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which promises to be worth seeing - if only for the unlikely image of Bill Murray in a skin-tight wetsuit. And if that doesn’t take your fancy, find yourself a world away from the glitz and glam of Hollywood with our introductin to Czech cinema.

Elsewhere, the primal spirit of rock has overcome The Event, with not one but two dazzling features on the bands of the moment. With Pete Doherty’s drug and music-related antics plastered all over the press, we ask why the Babyshambles singer has made such popular tabloid-fodder. Plus, The Black Velvets talk about how their show at the LCR was one more tantalising step along the path to stardom.

Packed within these pages you’ll also find an in-depth interview with writer Joanna Trollope, and a trip down memory lane to watch a long-forgotten TV show involving some rather famous ex-Pythons. All in all it’s a busy issue, so enjoy - and keep your fingers crossed for Marty for us, won’t you?

The Editor

concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk Editor: Luke Roberts Assistant Editors: Niki Brown & Roanna Bond Writers: Daisy Bowie-Sell, Katharine Clemow, Mark Dishman, Simon Jackson, Kate Wilkinson concrete.film@uea.ac.uk Editor: Dean Bowman Writers: Kate Bryant, Henrietta Burgess, Simon Griffiths, Tom Housley, Anthony Jackson, Sebastian Manley, David McNaught, Mollye Miller, Dan Peters, Daniel Richards, Priya Shah, Stephen Sharrock, Mark Simpson, Paul Stevens concrete.music@uea.ac.uk Editors: James Banks & Ben Patashnik Writers: Nicholas Brookes, Hayley Chappell, Sophie Driscoll, Joe Dunthorne, Laurence Guymer, Victoria Holland, Chris Hyde, Rosalind Knight, Kat Paterson, Steph Rawles, Suzanne Rickenback, Charles Rumsey, Tom Souter concrete.tv/digital@uea.ac.uk Editor: Kate Bryant Writers: Martha Hammond, Jassim Happa, Kim Howe, Chris Hyde, Stephen Sharrock Creative Writing Editor: Merinne Whitton Writers: Jack Robson, Wendy Cope, Ben Bransfield, Chris Farnell, Karan Park, Andrea Tallarita, James Taylor, Alan Ashton-Smith, Kate Wilkinson, Matt Wees, James Conway Design Consultant Nathan ‘Design Consultant’ Hamilton The Event is published fortnightly by Concrete: Post: PO Box 410, Norwich, NR4 7TB Tel: 01603 250558 Fax: 01603 50682 E-mail: concrete.event@uea.ac.uk Printed by: Archant

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04 Feature

All at Sea with Bill Murray Daniel Richards pulls on his Team Zissou bobble hat and sets off to explore Wes Anderson’s latest gem.

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e s Anderson is an enthusiast.

He smiles a lot, as he speaks with a boyish excitement about the intricacies of his new and most ambitious film to date, of the problems encountered whilst filming at sea, the incorporation of stop-frame animation, his love of David Bowie and disappointment at not meeting the man personally. Listening to this softly spoken American hold forth, it is easy to see where the trademark warm, rambling, organic narratives of his films originate.

And The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou definitely bears all the marks of Anderson, pushing human interaction and family life and their incumbent awkwardness to the fore. The Life Aquatic is very much kin to The Royal Tenenbaums in these respects, although the addition of sea battles, sharks and Iggy Pop shift the momentum up a gear or two.

The Life Aquatic follows down at heel oceanographer Zissou, played by a truly brilliant Bill Murray. He is an American Jacques Cousteau with more hair but less popularity, who attempts to both resurrect his flagging career and seek and destroy the mythic and deadly Jaguar shark that killed his great friend and partner, Esteban, during his last documentary. So Zissou gathers his team for what might just be his last stab at regaining the credibility and verve of his early career.

Enter Ned Plimpton, a softly spoken Owen Wilson, who may or may not be Zissou’s estranged son, and Jane WinslettRichardson (a snooty Cate Blanchett), a reporter charged with covering the expedition, who is as mysterious and haughty as she is pregnant.

They both come aboard the Belafonte, Zissou’s aging but beloved boat, the crew of which includes German engineer Klaus Daimler, a brilliantly cast Willem Dafoe who sulks and pouts his way through the film, as doting as he is inept. Zissou’s brilliant wife Eleanor – the brains of Team Zissou – is played by a stony Anjelica Huston, who, though clearly once in love with Zissou, has found his fall from grace and the changes that it wrought in him disillusioning. She now chooses to spend much of her time in the

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The intrepid Steve Zissou sets off with his erstwhile crew in search of fame, glory and a giant shark. company of Zissou’s nemesis and fellow oceanographer Oseary Drakoulias, a slimy Jeff Goldblum. The rest of Zissou’s crew all constitute varying degrees of

ly sincere and winningly deadpan, stealing scenes with a sideways glance.

His presence onscreen is enormous. As Anderson explained: “Bill could be standing at the back of this room, he could have just walked in and be leaning against the doorframe, but you’d know he was there. And once you’re aware of that you’d stop listening to me because he can scratch his nose and have you in stitches. He’s mesmerising and that’s a wonderful thing to have in a film.”

There are some people who believe that actors make up their own lines.

These people are usually the same ones who talk earnestly about Big Brother and listen to Maroon 5. They are usually prats. Keanu Reeves couldn’t make up a bed, let alone a witticism.

But, for all that, there are some films that are so loose, seem so spontaneous, drift so near the point of nonsensical noreturn that the idea that somebody sat down and scripted such warped interludes seems just as unlikely as any other option. The dialogue fairly zips and zings in The Life Aquatic with Murray in particular throwing away lines with deft, careless ease.

“Not only is Bill one of my favourite actors, but I know from experience that he is someone who allows you to do

In this situation-led film the casting of Murray, a man whose personal and professional renaissance over the last five years has been a joy to watch, is a master stoke. oddness, from the perennially topless script-girl, Anne-Marie Sakowitz, to the physicist and composer of the synthesiser soundtracks to Zissou’s documentaries, Noah Taylor. The star of the Belafonte’s other crew, however, is Brazilian safety expert and Bowie obsessive Pelé dos Santos, played by Seu Jorge, who readers may remember from his role in City Of God. It is this ensemble cast that drives Anderson’s epic along. It may boast more set-piece action than all his previous work put together but The Life Aquatic is more concerned with the pleasures to be had from a sly injoke, a nod to a Bond film or a raised eyebrow from Murray than it is action and effects. The best parts of this film are the scenes when nothing appears to be happening at all; the excruciating silence which follows Zissou’s attempt to

k i s s WinslettRichardson in a balloon or the crew’s discussion of mutiny: Sakowitz: “We’re being led on a suicide mission by a selfish maniac.”

Dafoe: “I see your point… but no.”

In this situation-led film the casting of Murray, a man whose personal and professional renaissance over the last five years has been a joy to watch, is a master stoke.

The Royal Tenenbaums and Lost In Translation showcased his unrivalled ability to appear at once total-

things differently,” explained Anderson.“He’s somebody who has the advantage of being totally uninhibited and at the same time can get everybody around him caught up in his mood. I knew it would be really interesting to see Bill throw himself into playing somebody who was not only energetic and funny but also tormented, angry and very agitated.”

And there is no doubt that the film pivots on Murray’s performance, brilliantly realising the quiet anger of Zissou, a man of action and adventure, a renegade film-maker, a hero suddenly powerless in the face of the awful fact that his best years are p ro b a bly behind h i m .

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moments of revelation in the film are the moments when Zissou breaks free of the malaise of his ‘lost decade’ of treading water and becomes the adventurer that those around him know he can be.

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igger in scope than any of Anderson’s previous offerings, both in terms of budget and sheer scale, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou boasts panoramic camera work, minutely detailed sets and wonderfully evocative settings on the Italian coast.

Zissou’s ship, The Belafonte, all but becomes another cast member; so integral is she to the story. A testament to Zissou’s refusal to grow out of his selfmythologized status as a “Boy’s Own” hero – see also: Zissou-moniker Adidas trainers, Man From Uncle style walkie talkies and pistols for all crew members – The Belafonte is packed with ‘cool’ technology that is in reality hideously outmoded and prone to disintegration.

Wonderfully elaborate attention to detail in both scene and production add to the sense that Zissou and his crew exist in a world untouched by the homogenisation and cynicism of modern life. This is a world of pirates and James Bond and it is mesmerising to watch Zissou come alive in the action scenes, shooting yet never getting shot, punching but never being punched, supernaturally protected by the fact that he is a born hero and a leader of men. Yet for all this, Zissou is unable to emotionally connect with anybody for much of the film because of his crippling, ludicrous ego. It is in this context, all at sea and out of touch, that modern day Ahab Zissou, probably in the middle of a midlife crisis, must attempt to keep crew and kin together and make sense of Ned’s appearance – all whilst somewhat stoned, to a soundtrack of David Bowie… in Portuguese.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a charming, funny, painfully sad film that takes its audience on a voyage into the unknown. At first glance it seems a terrible risk for a director whose bread and butter seems worlds away from a life on the o c e a n w a v e s .

Lucky it’s so damn good then, really.

Feature 05

Are you Ready to Rock?

The Black Velvets... and Bigfoot?

The Black Velvets graced the stage at the LCR’s Brighton Rocks night and proceeded to wow the crowd with their dirty rock‘n’roll. The Event sent Tom Souter to find out just who they really are.

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he Black Velvets are yet to achieve mainstream fame (the four men from Liverpool arrive to the UEA in a modest minibus and van) but trust me, these guys are destined for much bigger things. For those who don’t know, the Black Velvets are a four-piece rock n roll outfit who were signed to the prestigious Vertigo label Sanctuary late last year.

Their debut single, released as a limited edition last November, was Get On Your Life, and as the band proudly boast, shipped in a real black velvet sleeve, making them the first band in history to sell a single in black velvet.

The Event is quickly introduced to the drummer Nick, and we set off in search of the dressing room, and the rest of the band. A few minutes, and much confusion, later and we’re all there. The Velvets are dressed like they’re ready to rock, and they just got off an all day minibus trip from Glasgow: that’s dedication for you. But it immediately brings to attention the most striking thing about this band. They are for real. They didn’t dress like this to impress me, or to impress the fans when they go out. This is what they like and feel comfortable in.

They’re the least pretentious band The Event has ever met, and when asked what sort of music will be on the new album (due out in May) they reply: “What sort of music do you think we play?”

They’re not going for any particular sound or style, and they’re not following fashions because it’ll sell records. “We play what we play, like, what we like listening to,” says singer Paul. There seems to be an absence of bands like this who have come together because of a love of music, and rather than assigning one band member as the lyricist, and one as

the composer, prefer just to listen to each other, and go for it. They don’t have any worries about what the fans want to hear, or what might be expected of them, and it shows in their music. It’s heavy hitting, “guitars turned up to ten all the way through” rock, but it’s not dumbed down; it’s catchy, but it’s not

It’s heavy-hitting, “guitars turned up to ten all the way through” rock, but it’s not manufactured: it’s everything proper rock‘n’roll should be. manufactured. TI’s everything proper rock n roll should be.

With the nation’s major music press seeming to follow bands with a certain gimmicky style, or this ideal of a preset “rock lifestyle” it’s refreshing to hear a band who play this music because they love it, and don’t let their personal lives get in the way. They don’t want people to hear about them because of drugfuelled binges, or fights with other stars, and they don’t want people to get into them because of the image they present.

They want people to listen to the music, and make their own minds up. That’s not to say these guys are boring, but they’re not the sort of people who think rock‘n’roll is the sex and drugs that are associated with it: “Rock‘n’roll is having a good time”, and this is what we want to hear. Rock‘n’roll should always be about the music first and foremost, and the personalities afterwards. It’s something we seem to have lost track of recently, with the swarms of ultra-stylish, but inevitably shallow bands topping the charts, finally we have a band that’s down to earth, talented, and ambitious enough to get to the top on the strength of their music alone.

As they say: “If you’re just following a fad, then as soon as the fad finishes, you’re just gonna fall on your arse.”

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hat’s why this band are here to stay, and ambitious they certainly are.

They’re getting ready to storm all the major festivals this summer, and they’re itching to get out and play to as many people as possible. “I just don’t understand why it’s cool not to be heard to some bands, y’know, who would want to be playing in some club to 50 people every night. I want to be heard by as many people as possible, we all do.”

Festivals and arenas will suit them well, and The Event is sure you’ll be hearing a lot more from this band after August. With plans to tour Europe already set out, if they make it, they’re going to be huge.

The obvious question was, what about America? Many bands

have tried, and failed in America, but these guys are going to do it properly. “We don’t want to tour here, then tour Europe, then play like LA, Chicago, and New York, because by the time we get back here, people will be looking for new bands, we need to get noticed then move on.” They’ve got it all worked out. You can see the ambition in their eyes yes, but they’re not hoping to get big. They know they’ll get big: it’s just a matter of time. Because they know they have something so many other bands don’t have, the true spirit of rock‘n’roll. This music is their life, it’s what they’re good at, and it’s all that they do. They have nothing to cover up, and they’re not pretending to be anything they’re not, so it’s simple for them. They’re talented, they rock, and they’re going to succeed where so many others fail, because they are the real deal.

The real rock’n’roll. www.theblackvelvets.tv Is anyone scared yet?

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06 Feature

Photos: Luke Roberts

Joanna Trollope on Form Niki Brown speaks to Joanna Trollope about families and adoption in her lastest novel

Brother and Sister.

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he first speaker at the Spring Literary Festival at UEA last Wednesday was Joanna Trollope, the best-selling author of twelve novels, Brother and Sister being the latest. She has previously focused upon intricate themes such as the complicated web of the stepfamily, divorce, and adultery. In her newest novel Trollope delves into the complex ambiguity of adoption and the emotional turmoil of the journey to finding the biological parents who essentially gave their children away.

Trollope has constantly challenged stereotypes with humanity and imagination in her exploration of the minefield that is family life.

Trollope was born in Gloucestershire, where she grew up in her grandfather’s rectory. She has two daughters, two stepsons, three grandchildren and two step grandchildren, “the eldest of which is six and they are a great source of joy to me.” Her time is divided between her London flat and a cottage in the Cotswolds. She has been married twice but is now happily single and lives alone with her labrador, (which is apparently the size of a sofa,) which she describes as the most fantastic freedom.

“I spend most of my time writing and all the things associated with writing which are enormous, and take up a great deal of time. There are also quite a lot of extra things attached to work, for example the Adult Literacy Campaign

for World Book Day. This year World Book day is for the tsunami benefit but next year it is for adult literacy. My novel is aimed towards women in their 40s with a reading age of 9-10 year olds.

Obviously their emotions are normal, they just lack the necessary reading skills, and it is not just to persuade them that reading is reachable but that reading can be a very enjoyable and enriching experience.”

Trollope was educated in Surrey and went on to read English at the University of Oxford, which she “absolutely adored. It was the first time that teaching was a matter of discussion, not purely instruction which was very enjoyable, and of course some very quick friendships formed”

“It’s more to do with being knocked about more – I think the odd blow is very good for fiction writers.”

Her writing career began during childhood where she grew up with stories and no television. “I wrote my first complete novel when I was 14, all about myself of course, which nobody has ever seen and nobody will until I’m dead – we’ll leave it ‘til then. The first one that was actually published was when I was in my late 30s. So in a way I started quite late. I think fiction writers improve after 35, because they have lived quite a lot of life by then. It’s not so much life experience, it’s more to do with being knocked about more – I think the odd blow is very Joanna Trollope: A matter of family

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good for fiction writers.”

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rollope maintains that she does not draw too much on her own experiences because: “it wouldn’t be fair, as what I’ve gone through, usually somebody else has gone through it with me and will have a completely different and entirely valid version.

It’s not fair just because I’ve got the public platform. On the other hand, there is absolutely no question that the more you’ve experienced, the more that enriches what’s written.”

“Some people are influenced by music but for me it’s definitely words. It is instinct. We are people who, when looking at a cartoon, always read the caption before we look at the picture. I grew up in a world of words and they are my tool.”

The Rector’s Wife was written in 1991 when there was a “great pre-occupation about how much women should dutifully follow their husbands. Trollope’s grandmother was a rector’s wife and “there was always the expectation that a rector’s wife would be very charitable and there was the feeling of suppressed energy, so I suppose the seeds for this book were sown when I was a child, and suddenly there was something in modern society that pressed the button, but I think it was just instinct. Anna, the main character in The Rector’s Wife was a modern woman who was able to exercise her position in life but she was, in a way, in the same situation. In the course of my research I interviewed five or six modern rector’s wives and those researches went straight into the book. I didn’t invent any single thing that happened to Anna, not even her lover.”

Other People’s Children was written when national statistics pronounced that by the year 2010 there would be more step families in the UK than birth families. “I think that we’ve got to the point where we are almost equal and we are only five years away from that.

Stepfamilies began a long time ago, when women commonly died in childbirth, and the man married

again. It is different now of course.

Divorce is doing the same thing that death used to do and that makes for greater complications as the ex-partner may only live three streets away.” There are many characters in Other People’s Children, “but the thing is, that is the way things now are – and I wouldn’t be reflecting reality if I tidied up the cast to six or eight people.”

Brother and Sister, Trollope’s latest novel focuses on adoption.

Nathalie and David, an adopted brother and sister decide to begin the journey together to find their birth parents. “During research I found that adoption is not exactly a stigma but people are still very reluctant to openly admit it. I started with an adoption search agent and she was as anxious as I was that I got the psychology of it as right as I possibly could. She put me in touch with clients that she had helped who were Nathalie and David’s ages, and I must have talked to eight or ten of them and then they in turn introduced me to their birth mothers, to their adoptive parents, and partners.

“I think I ended up talking to more people that I’ve ever talked to for any novel, and it’s extraordinary but I found that most wanted to talk at tremendous length. I don’t wish to disparage in any way, but most have been damaged by being given up - the abandoned baby lives within the adopted person all of his or her life and many are still dealing with issues of broken trust. I decided to focus on adoption when the question of adoption legislation was hovering about in the press, I was also still wondering about the question of identity, how we identify ourselves and that we do need the very basic answers, we need to know where we come from.”

Trollope has plans for the immediate future – “I have just delivered a new novel which will be out probably in the New Year. It is called Second Honeymoon and it’s about the modern empty nest. I also have the Adult Literacy Campaign.” So although she is ahead of schedule, Joanna Trollope will not be resting on her laurels just yet.

Feature 07

What Became of the Likely Lad? Pete Doherty has gone from underground hero to the front page of The Sun. James Banks and Laurence Guymer ask why The Libertines and Babyshambles frontman is such hot news.

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s for me, I’ve chosen; I will be on the side of crime. And I’ll help children not to gain entrance into your families, your factories, your laws or holy sacrament, but to violate them,” declared Jean Genet.

Such a declaration has been sworn on myriad occassions by rock stars over the years, and parents and the establishment fear it. In the sixties it was Mick and Keith; in the seventies it was Sid; in the eighties it was the gladioli-swinging Morrissey; in the nineties Liam and Noel, and now in the new millennium our beautiful criminal in pop, our latest cause celebre, is the ubiquitous Peter Doherty.

Until recently his name would have

Three across: “flightless bird”

only raised a smile amongst those who recognised his genius. But that all changed when the tabloid (and the broadsheet) obsession with sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll went full steam ahead to convict Pete by the worse case of British justice… the trial by tabloid. Those who were familiar with Babyshambles, or the Libertines, all knew about Pete’s drug addiction. The letters page of the NME had been filled for months with the fans’ concern about his narcotics abuse. So when the Mirror found a picture of Pete high on drugs they decided to place the cockney rebel on the front page and almost overnight turned the underground anti-hero into a national rock icon. Since then Doherty has not been out of the papers, and he has not disappointed either: there was a relationship with

Someone give this man a hug

supermodel Kate Moss, year-old photos of him ‘chasing the dragon’, rock, assault, attitude and a prison sentence.

Doherty offers himself as a fascinating fuck up, atoning for all our neuroses.

His disciples hang on his every word, they admire his candour and stoicism and continue to fund his drug habit, pay-

make himself the greatest frontman of our generation. The songs are immediate, fresh, pure, depraved, and poignant.

They smack of a shambolic urgency and are poorly produced, but, it is this that adds to them an innocent energy and romance. Mixing the anarchic Fuck Forever with the heart-stopping Music

“The rats of Great Britain follow this pied piper because he justifies the hopeless attention acclaimed to him by the press at this very moment” ing for concerts their messiah often fails to attend. For many their first encounter with Doherty, be it as a Libertine or a Babyshambler, is a dizzying and intoxicating experience.“What a waster” he is and is certainly guilty of aberration; an emaciated heroin addict, untrustworthy, a liar and a brigand, but with his voice, musical genius and swagger he captivates his audience and shakes their common sense and logic as to make their heart rule out the issue of right and wrong. He is the man your elders warn you about; the man who steals children from their destiny, their schoolbooks, and morally-enriched franchised pop.

Only in December, Doherty languished on the Top of the Pops stage and brawled with an audience member. Scenes like that have inspired those that thought that the sprit of rock‘n’roll had died with the advent of the plastic pop generation.

Hence the reason the tabloids have been so quick to pick up on him, especially when Liam Gallagher looks as if he has gone soft.

Doherty’s music is indebted to Marr, Jones and Strummer, and the words echo Ray Davis, Pete Townshend and evoke Dickens, yet the feel and attitude of those components appeals only to those who feel unloved and unlovable, who revel in a narcotic satisfaction from the knowledge and belief that these words are being sung to them only. The poet Doherty is mixed with the unpredictability of rock’s greatest icons, like Moon and Gallagher, but in his own way he has made himself stand out from the rest to

When the Lights Go Out, the music of Doherty is appreciated by all those that hear it. It is a shame that Pete is currently known for his needle strumming instead of his ability as a guitarist and a lyricist. The media obsession will probably never go away, so let’s hope that the media-fuelled trial does not send Pete over the edge to become another lost icon.

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he rats of Great Britain follow this pied piper because he justifies the hopeless attention acclaimed to him by the press at the very moment. Popular music has descended into pointless Pop Idol style crap. Liam Gallagher’s Oasis tribute act seem to have emerged as dad-rock, and the music industry is now full of comeback kings and Iggy Pop copyists.

As independent music’s anti-hero flirts with porridge, supermodels and Fleet Street, we must remember George Orwell’s words:“Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.” For the sake of British music, let us hope that Doherty does not fall prey to the fate of so many talents that simply burnt out instead of fading away.

Doherty has a choice: he can die young and make a beautiful corpse, cementing his place in that long list of musical legends gone before their time, or he can attend rehab and sort out his life, hoping one day to play the half time slot at the Superbowl. Only the poet inside can decide that one.

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08 Feature

Complete and Utter Python A piece of Python and television history has been found on VHS, so Stephen Sharrock reveals why we should be taping everything...

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ander into any high s t re e t entertainm e n t store and you can be guaranteed to come across a wide range of DVDs from the near and distant past of British television.You can happily relive cult childhood classics like Postman Pat (got), Bagpuss (got), and King Rolo (getting!). If you’re interested in comedy, it wouldn’t take you too long to find anything involving Monty Python, from the Flying Circus boxset through to the likes of Fawlty Towers. Indeed, the Python crew have benefited immensely from DVDs, and from the boxset culture. All their films are in one boxset, as well as all their best known TV series. You can even buy, in an £80 extravaganza, all of Palin’s travels around the globe. But the Python team have been around for such a long time, and have formed such a big part of our TV heritage, that they actually existed in the days before DVD, nay, even in those dark and distant days before video recorders were commercially available.What happened to their shows then? What else have we missed out on, that should now rightfully be in a boxset?

One such programme that has only recently come to light is The Complete and Utter History of Britain. The show, which was originally shown on LWT in early 1969, forms part of the early preVHS history of Python. Never mind that it is brilliant, shocking, amazing and very funny viewing (although we’ve all come to expect nothing less) and never mind that it forms an important part of British comedy.

Never mind all that – it was unceremoniously wiped by LWT. The channel was poor at the time, and re-using the film stock was conside r e d more

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important than preserving Terry Jones and Michael Palin’s first major TV series. The mind boggles at what they may have recorded over it, but it can’t have been half as funny as the show that was advertised as having a “distinctly hysterical view of historical fact”.

The series itself was written and also performed by Palin and Jones, and was made up of six episodes. Each episode was half an hour long, and had titles like From Edward the First to Richard the Last and James the Mcfirst to Oliver Cromwell. The idea for the series had originated from a sketch Terry Jones had written previously, and revolved around one very funny innovation: namely that they should look at all the major events from British history as if television had been around at the time. The first episode featured a sports reporter interviewing the vital characters in the dressing-room after the Battle of Hastings, with the players coming out with the usual post-match cliches: “Harold ‘appened to be looking up at the time, there it was, back of the eye… you know we’re not crowing over it, that’s the thing that ‘appens.” Later on, in what seems a remarkably relevant satire, we see Samuel Pepys present a TV-chat show, attempting a round table discussion between warring spouses. We also witness an estate agent trying to sell Stonehenge to a young couple looking for their first home – as part of his sales pitch, the agent utters the immortal words: “It’s got character, charm and a slab in the middle.”

E v e n from a brief description, it becomes obvious that the series forms an important part of Python history – it is very reminiscent o f

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and is important to British television history. Despite all this, it was wiped. How then, have we been able to view it? For this, Monty Python, and their many fans, should thank the private collectors and TV aficionados that exist out there.

Fortunately, there were a number of plucky collectors during the 1960s who taped programmes privately, using bulky expensive video recorders, and quietly kept the tapes for a number of years. The reason for the hush-hush

The first episode features a sports reporter interviewing the vital characters in the dressing-room after the Battle of Hastings hoarding of these tapes was that the very act of using a video recorder to tape television programmes was illegal in the UK up until 1989. No surprise, then, that during the early years of broadcast television, these collectors were keen to keep quiet.

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hey form part of a large unofficial network of private collectors, both in this country and abroad, that barter and trade for copies of programmes like these. Though there has been understandable suspicion about giving priceless and long-held tapes away to others, and fears they may be ‘wiped’ yet again, the world-wide web has encouraged some openness, with the likes of e-bay and specialised collector online organisations like Kaleidoscope (www.kaleidoscope.org .uk) helping to foster a sense of community.

Archivists from the National Film and Television Archive have also been keen to reassure private collectors their intentions are honourable, and are increasingly tapping into this gigantic network of television tapers. It is in this way that a few surviving episodes of The Complete and Utter History of Britain were found, via a private collector in Africa, and shown recently at the National Film Theatre. These episodes hadn’t been seen by Palin and Jones since they performed it.

In spite of this recent, much heralded victory for the Python team, and the rest of us (it’s soon to be shown on BBC4), there still remains something of a wish list for collectors out there.

Episodes of Dr Who, Dad’s Army, and Hancock’s Half Hour remain missing. More recently, Bob Dylan fans have initiated a search for a copy of an hour long play Madhouse on Castle Street, broadcast on BBC1 in 1963, in which he played the lead role. There still also remains some missing Python material, notably some episodes of a show called Do Not Adjust Your Set, which again featured Jones, Palin and alongside them a small urchin who played a character called Captain Fantastic every week. You might have heard of him on television since, better known by the name David Jason.

Looking beyond this network of private collectors and their wish list of programmes to tape, there is plenty of evidence of a wider collecting culture, with a few celebrities openly admitting to some seriously compulsive taping. It is well known that Stanley Kubrick recorded television commercials, with tapes and tapes full of coffee commercials forming a large part of his own personal archive; the great man had often spoken of studying the way adverts manage to tell a story very quickly. Northern comic Peter Kay has also admitted to a semi-serious sideline in taping intros to shows – he has a tape with 160 introductions to TV shows on it. You might mock this, but as he recently said himself: “People laugh when I tell ‘em, but put it on at a party and everyone goes mental.” This type of behaviour already goes on with music collections, but we somehow don’t seem to regard TV as important enough.

So then, what could possibly be learnt from all this, especially now we’ve all got DVDs? Well, taping is a fun, yet serious business. We don’t have to be boring to tape things and keep them, and we should be encouraged to tape the supposedly “boring” things. All sorts of programmes are relevant – adverts, intros, and even Trisha.

This is evidenced by what is happening at the British Film Institute and the National Film Archive. Both are taping as much television as possible; but even they openly admit to only taping from terrestrial channels, and only between Monday and Friday! As this and the Monty Python example shows, we can’t completely depend on the archives, DVDs and television channels to cover everything that comes on television.

Private collectors, and indeed any general fans of television, should keep on taping and preserving our rich television heritage. Who knows, the Trisha of today could be worth a lot of money to the next generation.

Czech it Out

Feature 09

Cinefile

no. 53

The Tesseract

Mollye Miller charts the obscure but worthy water of Czech cinema.

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Jiri Menzel’s masterpiece: Closely Watched Trains

hroughout the Czech Republic’s history of occupation, invasion, absolutism and censorship, Czech directors and cinematographers have tested the electric waters of filmmaking.

Artists are always responsible for their country’s image in history. But Czech filmmakers added another challenge.

They made and continue to make their films about their history. In this courageous task, Czech filmmakers furiously untie the knot that once bound Czech imaginations.

On the morning of the 21st of August, 1968, Jan Nemec, a distinguished director and cinematographer, set out to shoot an experimental documentary of the Czech’s new independence from the Nazi occupation. Nemec filmed parts of the city until he started to document something odd. Tanks clat-

tastes this ingredient secretly because of censorship.

Vera Chytilova, a female revolutionary director, writes and directs her films from a more psychological perspective.

Her experimental feminist film Daisies (1966) was immediately banned for it its thought-riddled and dissident content.

The film, spiced with brilliant colors and innovative scene-splits, follows the life of two parasitical girls to represent consumerism and thinkers on the brink of extinction. The girls love to eat, ravage fancy rooms, and engage in dialogues about how they hate each other.

Throughout the film, the girls keep meeting rich men who take them out to dinner. They gobble all the food and then race to leave them at the train station. The comical and existential undertones are what drove the Soviets to ban the film “forever” in the 1960’s. Although Daisies was re-released sometime after the 1989 Velvet Revolution because of

Now, after all the repression, occupation and invasions, each film reel is a national treasure, a sparkling relic plucked from a dark sea. tered into the centre of Prague, Wenceslas Square. The Soviet tanks crawled the streets. The people slowly stirred to combat them, rubbing their eyes at this unprecedented sight. And suddenly Nemec was filming the entire Soviet occupation, another slow sinking for the Czechs. Nemec’s film, Oratorio for Prague (1968), has become a national gem, the only account of the termination of “Prague Spring”, the stunted Czech decade of independence.

Nemec always films with a creative, modern slant. Another earlier Nemec film, Diamonds of the Night (1964), based on a short story by Arnost Lustig, follows the story of two boys escaping the holocaust to get back to Prague. The opening shot moves in and out of the boys’ tattered clothes as they race up a hill. This technique is characteristic of Nemec, who markedly uses handheld camerawork to personalize his characters. Later in the film, the boys collapse in the woods by a muddy pool of water.

The warm camera work pulls the audience to feel as close to the fugitive boys as they do to each other: we breathe together like animals. This intimate sincerity is unfamiliar in other historical accounts. Nemec, and all Czech directors, include a sense of punished Prague in all their films. From live action/animation films on clay cannibalists to provocative feminist experimental films, from gothic animation, to meditative handheld memoirs, Czech films are subtly and mysteriously caped in a skin of Czech history. But the viewer only

this initial censure, the film has become a surviving relic, a treasure.

Another of Vera’s films, Apple Game (1976) explores and satirizes the woman’s role in relationships (the female part is played by Dasha Blahova). But even this unassuming storyline confronted controversial issues of the time, such as women’s rights and freedom of speech. Because of the risky filmmaking and excitement invigorated by censorship, the real theme of the film leaps onto the viewer. This is the phenomenon of Czech cinema: you will not forget these films.

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ecause the Nazis, and later the Soviets, knew the implicit power of directors (and the tiny roaring messages they could embed in a film), some Czech filmmakers were forced to make propagandist films. However, one eccentric Czech director hammered out the same strange types of films throughout the Czech’s slow birth. Starting as a theatre director and continuing with live action animation, Jan Svankmajer has been producing delicious films for the past twenty years. He started making short films in 1964 and kept on producing even though many of his drawings, collages and “tactile sculptures” used in his films were banned from film in the mid 1970s by Czech authorities.

Despite these ropes, Spankmajer eventually achieved his dream, a feature length film based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (Neco z Alenky) in

1988. An example of one of his shortshorts, Flora (1989), displays a woman made completely of vegetables and fruits strapped to a bed and left to rot because she cannot reach a glass of water on the bedside table. Another short Jidlo (Food) (1992) is a live action claymation film. The audience watches two men devour each other limb by limb for dinner at a fine restaurant. It may be difficult to think of Svankmajer’s film and artwork as contributing to the Czech story. But his films expose the Czech’s fevered creativity always breathing behind closed doors.

An example of a recent Czech film is Vaterland (2002), written and directed by newcomer David Jarab and shot by cinematographer Marek Jicha. The film permeates with odd angles, false colors, and the textured smell of disease. An early scene opens with four middle-aged men gathered in a hot, sick-yellow kitchen discussing an upcoming ‘’hunt’.’ Flies as loud as engines buzz around the room and sizzle in a nearby fly-zapper. The audience knows nothing about these men gathered at the table, where they are or where they are planning to go. But what is left especially vague is what exactly they are going to hunt.Throughout the film, the men watch old 40s films about this particularly archaic hunting technique. The captured beast thrashes in a black bag.

The men beat it to silence with antique weapons. The men slowly begin to construct a strange relationship with the past and assume the role of the men in the films. Vaterland becomes a ‘’thriller’’ the way old Victorian novels develop ghosts: the viewer is always aware that something isn’t right but little is revealed even to the main character until the climax.

Throughout this film, the audience is always looking for that one character to trust, to leave the place before it gets any worse. Vaterland is a modern film in its cinematography and interpretive content. But, deep down, it is a classic Czech film. Suffused with warlike images and sensations, it applies the essential snap to a past we know little about.

Vera Chytilova’s comment on film and art may express the general Czech sentiment: “Lying in art should be outlawed.

What more could we lose as artists, if we lost the truth.” So from all of the changes, the Czech artists have been planted and uprooted, torn apart and planted as new fiery seeds. From Jiri Menzel’s portrayal of the impossibility of manhood in war in Closely Watched Trains (1966), through to Milos Foreman’s prized, classic film on Mozart, Amadeus (1984), to the frightening true account of the Slovak Nazi invasion in Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos’s The Shop on Main Street (1965) all these Czech films share something. Every film is a breath, a loosened buckle, an open blue eye.

Now, after all the repression, occupation and invasions, each film reel is a national treasure, a sparkling relic plucked from a dark sea.

The Tesseract - an adaptation of the book by Alex Garland?

Yes - but the film doesn’t attempt to follow the intricacies of the novel; even the location has been changed from Manilla to Bangkok. This is in some ways a relief, as the novel is an extremely detailed work and would not necessarily translate well to film. The writer and director, Oxide Pang, has succeeded in providing a slick, well made interpretation of Alex Garland’s original idea, whilst still managing to remain true to the image of the tesseract.

So in what way is the tesseract relevant?

Not in any mathematical, looking beyond the three dimensional world sense - the concern is that it stands as a metaphor for the main characters’ inability to visualise the causes behind the events unfolding in front of them - they can only see within the boundaries of the superficial world they inhabit. The film is very much an attempt to examine the way in which we view reality, the nature of fate and the lack of control humankind has over their lives.

Sounds interesting - how does that fit within the plot?

The action centers around a rundown hotel in one of the poorer areas of Bangkok, where Sean (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) waits for a delivery of opium from some Thai gangsters. Amongst the other residents are a psychologist (Saskia Reeves) doing research in to the dreams of prepubescent boys, a female assassin and a thirteen year old Thai boy who is employed as the general skivvy and has a penchant for stealing from hotel rooms.

Hmm - the plot direction seems a little selfevident.

That’s true - the plot is predictable at times, but the way in which the four main characters’ lives interrelate and encircle one another is dealt with in an extremely deft way.

A film to see if you like Bangkok?

So long as you’re more interested in the seedier areas - this is the Bangkok of prostitutes and drug smuggling, pointless murder and child molestation. Oxide Pang reveals the seedy, menacing side of the city with great dexterity the scenes of every day life for a poor Thai man or woman are extremely affecting.

Oxide Pang - didn’t he direct Bangkok Dangerous?

Yes. And this film is certainly similar in some ways. The camera angles are constantly shifting - there is a sense that the director really wanted to experiment with the medium and much of the action takes place in a succession of extremely quick cuts.

Doesn’t that get a bit distracting?

At the start of the film, it’s fair to say that the technique somewhat overpowers the storyline, but once the action begins to unravel, it becomes a joy, rather than an eyesore. The pace of the film is such that the swift cuts add a sense of urgency and indeed paranoia to the unfolding events.

Henrietta Burgess

23.02.05

10 Feature

Feature 11

O OSCAR, WHERE ART THOU? The Event takes a close look at some other famous Academy Award losers, which poses the question: Can we take the Oscars seriously?

The one that got away often reveals more about the Oscars than the winners. With this in mind David McNaught pays homage to an American auteur.

Martin Scorsese

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he Hollywood awards season has been in full swing for a couple of months now, but of course it has all been building up to one event. On the 27th February the fine people of Hollywood gather to give themselves a well deserved pat on the back at the 77th Academy Awards. Last year it was all about The Return of the King as Peter Jackson and his band of men, hobbits, wizards, elves and orcs took the Oscars by storm, walking away with a well deserved eleven wins from eleven nominations.

This year The Aviator, Martin Scorsese’s biopic of billionaire Howard Hughes, leads the way with eleven nominations. Finding Neverland, starring Johnny Depp as author J.M. Barrie and Clint Eastwood’s boxing drama Million Dollar Baby each have seven nominations. Ray Charles biopic Ray has six nominations and Alexander Payne’s wine-tasting comedy Sideways has five. Confirming the current taste for biopics, these five films will be contesting the Best Picture category, and it looks set to be a close fight between The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby.

The contest at this year’s awards drawing the most attention however is the race for Best Director. Nominated are Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Taylor Hackford, Mike Leigh and Alexander Payne. A strong line up, but as with the Best Picture category it looks like it’s going to b e

between Eastwood, hoping to pick up his second win after 1992’s Unforgiven, and Scorsese, incredibly still looking for his first Oscar.

This is Scorsese’s seventh Oscar nomination and his fifth for Best Director (his other two were for Best Adapted Screenplay for Goodfellas and The Age of Innocence). In a career spanning nearly forty years, Scorsese has established himself as one of the greatest living directors. He emerged in the 1970s as one of the movie brats along with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Inspired by the great filmmakers of the world such as Jean Luc Godard and Akira Kurosawa, the movie brats changed the face of American cinema. Scorsese has gone on to be one of the most celebrated and influential directors of the past four decades.

In addition to The Aviator, Scorsese has received Best Director nominations for Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990) and Gangs of New York (2003).

When you consider some of the films that he has not even been nominated for such as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976) and the massively underrated The King of Comedy (1983), his lack of an Oscar becomes even more astounding.

Scorsese has never been a director to shy away from controversy, particularly in his collaborations with screenwriter Paul Schrader. The two have worked together on, amongst others, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ, all of which whipped up a storm of controversy on their release.

Consider the then thirteen year-old Jodie Foster portraying the prostitute Iris in Taxi Driver. In that year it was the uplifting Rocky which triumphed at the Oscars.

The Last Temptation of Christ was branded blasphemous by some outraged critics upon its release for its attempt to portray Jesus as a mortal man.

Most of Scorsese’s f i l m s

In the Red Corner: Martin Scorsese, still after his first Oscar.

23.02.05

also feature violence prominently. A decade after Bonnie and Clyde’s violent climax shook America, Taxi Driver’s bloodbath finale raised the stakes and nearly saw it receive an X-certificate upon release. Consider also Raging Bull, the biopic of the despicable, selfloathing, misogynist boxer Jake La Motta. The film contains the most brutal, realistic fight scenes ever committed to film, but it also features several scenes of ugly domestic violence as Jake’s life falls apart. In Raging Bull Scorsese makes no attempts to make us sympathise with Jake and it is a tough film to watch. Perhaps the Academy has been turned off by the violence and controversy generated by Scorsese’s films, with their focus on lonely, tortured individuals. That said, violent films have achieved success at the Oscars (The Godfather for example) though few are as ugly or as controversial as Scorsese’s work.

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t would seem though that the most controversial of Scorsese’s losses came at the 1991 ceremony.

Scorsese was up against Kevin Costner for Best Director.

Costner’s Dances With Wolves won both Best Picture and Best Director. It was a moment that Sean Macaulay, writing in The Times, calls “the Academy’s single biggest source of shame”. That is perhaps somewhat harsh on Costner: Dances was his debut feature as a director and is a fine film, a stunning historical epic which beautifully captures the spirit of the frontier. However, Scorsese had been churning out classics for the past two decades, culminating in Goodfellas, with which he reinvented the gangster flick and proved what a true master of the medium he is.

Stanley Kubrick

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Hoorah for Hollywood! and 1991. It would also acknowledge the enormous impact Scorsese has had on subsequent filmmakers.

The Academy has a history of rewarding people not on the merits of individual films but in recognition of a series of achievements. Neither Gangs, nor The Aviator is Scorsese’s best film but his is a career that deserves recognition and the Academy, having missed previous opportunities to reward him should not waste any more.

The Aviator is one of Scorsese’s least controversial, most Oscar friendly films. It’s a biopic, which the Academy loves - recent winners have included Ron Howard’s John Nash biopic A Beautiful Mind as well as The Pianist, based on the book by Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman. Three of the films up for Best Picture this year are biopics. However, Scorsese is unfortu-

The Aviator is one of Scorsese’s least controversial, most Oscar friendly films.

It’s a fast-paced film as Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill rises through the mafia ranks before descending into drugfuelled craziness. Unfortunately for Scorsese, it seems that the historical epic was more to the Academy’s tastes than the violent, drug fuelled Goodfellas.

Scorsese’s last defeat was in 2003 when Roman Polanski won for The Pianist, ahead of Scorsese and Gangs of New York. Some saw it as an upset, and perhaps the Academy missed a c h a n c e there.

An Oscar for Scorsese then, or this year, would a c k n ow l e d ge that the Academy got it w ro n g i n 1981

And the Nominations are...

nate for having come up against Clint Eastwood and his Million Dollar Baby.

Critics have raved about the boxing drama and Eastwood has already beaten Scorsese to the Golden Globe and Director’s Guild of America awards this year. Although many feel Scorsese deserves an Oscar, he may have to wait if the Academy feels compelled to reward Eastwood, despite the fact that he has already won the award for Unforgiven.

If Scorsese doesn’t win this year then he can at least take comfort in the fact that he is in good company, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles were all overlooked when it came to the Best Director Oscar. Indeed, Marc Raymond, writing for Senses of Cinema, suggests Scorsese’s “lack of recognition from the Academy Awards actually adds to rather than detracts from his reputation”. This may be so, but Scorsese, who has contributed so much to American cinema over his career deserves the highest recognition from his peers. He will win sooner or later, but hopefully it will be the Best Director and not the Honorary Award.

The Coen Brothers

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oved, respected and revered for over two decades, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen (director and producer respectively, screenwriters collectively) have been recognized but once by the Academy for their 1996 masterpiece, Fargo. The movie was nominated for seven awards, and despite recieving gongs for Best

Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Screenplay, the Best Picture was eventually scooped by a second rate flick entitled The English Pateint, with young upstart Anthony Minghella cheating Joel out of the Best Director trophy for his work on this “epic”. Another cinematic injustice.

Simon Griffiths

Orson Welles

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rson Welles wrote, directed and starred in one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, Citizen Kane. The film was Welles’ directorial debut and was released in 1941. It is loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst but follows the life of the fictional Charles Foster Kane through loss of parents to the loss of the political power he craved. The American Film Institute ranks Citizen Kane as the best movie ever made.

However, at the 1942 Academy Awards

it received only one Oscar for best original screenplay. Although nominated for best picture and best director it lost out on both awards to John Ford’s How Green Is My Valley.Welles is regarded as a major figure in the history of cinema.

He was rewarded with an Honorary Award for motion pictures from the Academy in 1971, although many critics believe it to be a travesty that he never received an actual Oscar at the time.

Anthony Jackson

Alfred Hitchcock

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lfred Hitchcock is the mostdeserving director never to have won an Oscar. Well, according to a recent poll for TV channel Turner Classic Movies, anyway.

Hitchcock both virtually invented the thriller and became the acknowledged master of this genre. His innovations and vision have influenced several filmmakers, producers, and actors. At the same time, a scene from Hitchcock remains unmistakably Hitchcock. No one has touched the perfection of his best work.

First nominated for Rebecca in 1940, he lost out in that year to John Ford, who greedily won four Oscars in his career.

Hitchcock’s last nomination came in 1960 for Psycho, when he lost to Billy Wilder, who also beat him to the prize in 1945. His other nominations came ten years apart (in 1944 for Lifeboat and in 1954 for Rear Window). Meanwhile, Hitchcock classics such as The Birds, Vertigo and North by Northwest never even received nominations.

Dan Peters

David Lynch

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ominated for three Best Director Oscars and one for Best Screenplay yet winning none, David Lynch has seen the best fruits of his labour overlooked four times too many. However, little more critical acclaim could be showered upon Lynch’s work, Oscar or no. The fact that

n his illustrious career, the late Stanley Kubrick was nominated for the Best Director Oscar four times but did not pick up a single win. His first nomination was in 1965 for the Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove, but he lost out to George Cucker’s musical My Fair Lady which near enough swept the board. In 1969, Kubrick was nominated for science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey but lost to Carol Reed’s Oliver!.

At the 1972 Academy Awards, Kubrick’s ultra-violent A Clockwork Orange was soundly beaten by the Oscar-sweeping The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin. Kubrick’s final nomination for Best Director, 1976’s Barry Lyndon, was easily beaten by Milos Forman’s comedy One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. His last Oscar nomination was for Full Metal Jacket in 1988 for Best Adapted Screenplay but it lost out to the all conquering The Last Emperor.

The eccentric auteur was extremely unlucky with when he released his films and he normally lost out to a film that went on to win multiple Oscars. Whilst Kubrick’s cult classics received critical acclaim, they seemed to lack the mass audience support which is crucial for Oscar night success.

Mark Simpson

Robert Altman

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n The Player, Robert Altman’s 1992 Hollywood satire, Oscar success is a matter of careful studio planning and risk-assessment. There are some things a potential statuette-winner should have – tears, tragedy, racial and/or class injustice – and some things it shouldn’t – happyever-after endings, Arnold Schwarzenegger – and if the film’s executive team handles it all properly, then ‘Bingo – it’s Oscar time!’ and everyone makes a lot of money. A cynical view?

Maybe, but nobody would deny that some types of movie have a better shot at winning than others. Altman himself has never won an Oscar, despite nominations for MASH, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts and Gosford Park, some of his finest films.Those five, full of the moving star performances and specifically American backdrops (US army camp, Nashville, Hollywood) that the Academy so value, seemed well placed to come out top, even against competitors the like of Patton (1970), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), and Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992). But none of them took the prize; perhaps an Altman study of corruption and flawed humanity comes a little too close to a critique of American values to be made the ultimate representative of Hollywood filmmaking.

Best Picture The Aviator Finding Neverland Million Dollar baby Ray Sideways

Michael Mann

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he awful truth might just be that the aged academy doesn’t recognise a good thing when it sees it; what else could explain why Michael Mann has never won an Oscar for the following: Manhunter, (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001) and even Collateral (2004). Russell Crowe and De Niro rank him as their favourite director, yet his films have only been nominated five times in any categories, and never won a thing. His biggest loss occurred with The Insider at the 1999 Oscars, when Sam Mendes swiped best director and best picture, whilst The Cider House Rules won the

best adapted screenplay. That loss was a great shame; The Insider’s message of corporate corruption still resonates loudly in the wake of the Enron scandal, Super Size Me and Michael Moore’s investigations - whereas the novelty of American Beauty seems to have dated incredibly quickly. His biggest nomination this year is Jamie Foxx as best supporting actor in the excellent Collateral - failing that, he could collect a consolation prize; Best Picture for a certain other film he was a producer for, The Aviator. Either way, recognition is long overdue!

Stephen Sharrock

Quentin Tarantino

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uentin Tarantino is another surprise entry in this list of non-Oscar winners. Despite receiving massive critical acclaim for many of his movies, Tarantino has only ever won one Academy Award, way back in 1994 for what is perhaps his best known film, Pulp Fiction.

Unbelievably, Pulp Fiction’s intermingling plotlines, fast-paced action and all-star cast were only enough to win the one award (Best Original Screenplay) out of its seven category nominations at the 1994 Oscars, losing out in most categories to Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump.

P u l p Fiction did how-

ever win elsewhere, receiving a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film festival, and several awards at the National Society of Film Critics Awards, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film. Tarantino’s other movies, such as Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown and From Dusk ‘til Dawn, have similarly missed out at the Oscars, with neither of his latest movies, the Kill Bill series, even getting a nomination in 2002/3.

Let’s hope that his next project, Inglorious Bastards, brings him the recognition many feel he deserves.

Tom Housley

Best Foreign Film As it is in Heaven The Chorus Downfall The Sea Inside Yesterday Best Documentary Born Into Brothels The Story of the Weeping Camel Super Size Me Tupac: Resurrection Twist of Faith Best Animated Feature The Incredibles Shark Tale Shrek 2 Actor in a Leading Role Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland) Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator) Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) Jamie Foxx (Ray) Actress in a Leading Role Annette Bening (Being Julia) Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) Actor in a Supporting Role Alan Alda (The Aviator) Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) Jamie Foxx (Collatoral) Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) Clive Owen (Closer) Actress in a Supporting Role Cate Blanchett (The Aviator) Laura Linney (Kinsey) Virginia Madsen (Sideways) Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) Natalie Portman (Closer) Best original Screenplay The Aviator Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Hotel Rwanda The Incredibles Vera Drake Best Adapted Screenplay Before Sunset Finding Neverland Million Dollar Baby The Motorcycle Diaries Sideways Best Editing The Aviator Collatoral Finding Neverland Million Dollar Baby Ray

Sebastian Manley

the nice guy of Surrealism has never held that little gold statuette only secures most film fans’ distain for Academy Awards rather than casting any aspersions on his talent. Lynch’s quality speaks for itself.

Kate Bryant

Best Director Martin Scorcese (The Aviator) Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) Taylor Hackford (Ray) Alexander Payne (Sideways) Mike Leigh (Vera Drake)

In the Blue Corner: Clint Eastwood, up for his second Oscar.

Best Cinematography The Aviator House of Flying Daggers The Passion of the Christ The Phantom of the Opera A Very Long Engagement

23.02.05

12 Music

RIP TOTP?

Albums

As Top of The Pops is shunted

Ratings:

Sunny

Fair

Stormy

The Kills

into a non-primetime slot, The

No Wow

Event asks if anyone cares.

The album title No Wow is the first song on the album, and opens up with what sounds like an electronic heartbeat. Yes this is The Kills new album and does it move you to shout wow. In fact your heart will skip a few beats to keep up with the pace that The Kills set. They were making dirty garage rock before it came sexy, and No Wow shows exactly why the world of music has been missing The Kills. The dirty sing-along choruses, the fuzzy blues strumming guitar and the weird dialogue that fits within the spaces of each track all work together to make this album better than Keep on your Mean Side.

What really makes this album is the chemistry that is evident between VV and Hotel; whether it’s between the mesmerising guitar licks or the lust filled vocal harmonies. The best song Love is a Deserter is reminiscent of the anthem Fried my Little Brains Out without managing to sound the same. The end of the album you hear footsteps leaving the room; its just that you don’t want to leave the room when this album is on. It’s dark, sexy, dirty garageblues for the masses.

James Banks

When in November of last year the BBC announced that it would be shunting Top Of The Pops away from its primetime Friday night slot to a more Songs Of Praise-esque Sunday evening, the public scratched its collective head and wondered how such a thing could happen. After all, it’s the BBC’s flagship music programme with an internationally-recognised brand name, continually able to attract the biggest names in pop precisely because of its reputation. Now it flounders after a hugely expensive relaunch and remains a ratings-loser, constantly behind its main rival, Coronation Street. Fingers have been pointed at the continuing falling sales of the singles market, perhaps due to the explosion in legal (and illegal) downloads over the past year. While album sales have increased, the poor old single has slipped further and further into obscurity, with consumers more ready to click a link than go into Woolworths. Single releases are less of an event nowadays, as internet leaks spoil the surprise and MTV squeezes the life out of even the most vibrant of tunes by repeating it ad nauseum.

TOTP did attempt to judge the market by introducing more pre-released songs and turning it into a magazine show of sorts, but the cringe-worthy Tim Kash must surely shoulder much of the blame. A heinous no-mark with the talent of a halfbrick, Kash embodied many of the failings of the redesigned TOTP. Good skin, but did he have a clue about anything he was saying? Smarmy and self-important, Kash’s main problem was that he appeared to the entire nation as a bit of a twat, unable to bring even the most cursory of observations to the latest performance by whatever generic pop band he was drooling over this week. What else can you say about a man that was replaced by Fearne Cotton? As soon as Kash and Cotton et al started to treat the audience like children, that was the end of TOTP. While the fact that the pop market is aimed at kids is indisputable, having patronising presenters is only going to alienate the people that have actually grown up with the programme. Even when Jo Whiley’s gravelly toned graced our airwaves it was refreshing to see someone that sounded like they actually cared about music, rather than a drama school graduate reading jokes off the back of an alcopop bottle. But maybe there is a deeper reason for the demise of what can genuinely be called an institution of entertainment. What made TOTP so vital in the Nineties was the fact that it was possible, on an almost week-to-week basis, to have bands live in the studio that would be selling thousands of records. The time that there was a pan from Blur after having played Country House across the studio to Oasis, ready to rip into Roll With It like their lives depended on it. Even the first tentative performances from Feeder and Muse – young bands with a propensity towards energetically cinematic of rock – are fondly remembered. The pop side of things was always present, but at least there would always be one decent live performance guaranteed per show.

The Sebadoh played, for Jeebus’ sake! And now we have a catwalk of NME haircut bands, with uniform ripped jeans and strange military jackets. The Libertines could have turned things around, but smack got to Doherty before Fearne Cotton did. Europop performances blend into one, and when the most exciting part of a show is watching the fat one from Keane jiggle his jowls a bit, even badger-baiting becomes attractive. Unless popular (note: not necessarily pop) music gets better, TOTP will languish, malnourished and unloved.

Like Tim Kash should.

Ben Patashnik

23.02.05

The Residents Animal Lover According to folk law The Residents formed in 1966 but of course hearsay and myth are all we have to grasp a hold of any sanity attached to this outlandish group. You could picture them in a ghostly Russian circus or as the soundtrack to a Salvador Dali slideshow but apart from that any recognition of the style will probably have to remain in your dreams. To say whether this is good or bad would be to examine what it's like to trip on acid; in fact, the similarities with reading Fear and Loathing… are uncanny.

Animal Lover would probably be great background music for a stoner session, or indeed any party where people are so mashed they can no longer sing along to Bryan Adams.

There is no doubt that this is a slice of 1960s nostalgia; very creative, very illusive and very, very bizarre.

Charles Rumsey Simple Plan Still Not Getting Any What happens when punkrock tries to grow up? The answer, if Simple Plan's new album is anything to go by, is that it gets rather boring. The basic elements that made their debut album a sucess are still there: a fast pace, strong harmonies and singer Pierre Bouvier's tales of woe and general feelings of inadequacy, yet the somewhat darker slant this record has taken means that the appealing, fun side of Simple Plan is nowhere to be seen. The target of their frustrations has shifted from parents, friends and girl-

friends to, ambitiously, the world in general, resulting not only in the loss of essential punk-rock energy but also leaving the impression that Bouvier does not believe a word of what he is singing; despite the facade of emotion in the lyrics, the sound is soulless. Aside from the astoundingly beautiful Unititled, immersed in powerful string and piano riffs, this album is largely bland and lacking in self-belief.

Sophie Driscoll

FULC Embrace and Destroy Whilst FULC have solid guitars and a strong vocalist, they don’t have a strong identifiable sound and their songs seem to be drab melancholy angst. Pedestal differs slightly to the rest as the guitars quicken, the singing turns to a hoarse growl and the drummer gets a slight kick to the ass, then we get a glimpse of what they could be if they honed their sound. They are better than the majority of the toilet circuit, but unfortunately too much of the album sounds like everything that we have already heard before and to be harsh, it’s boring - their lyrics only add more stones to the raft. They don’t inject enough diversity and whilst it is probably far from the truth, the words come out sounding like the packaged angst that the radio has pushed at us and that we know so well.

Suzanne Rickenback

Doves Some Cities Let’s face it, Doves have never been the perkiest of Mancunians, and so we would be wise to expect a degree of melancholy from their latest album Some Cities. This is not without its own charm, however, as the band have succeeded in fashioning their own brand of melancholic rock that manages to be both introspective as well as warmly uplifting. Some Cities continues Doves’ trademark creative experimentation with synths and effects, bringing in Ben Hillier (of Blur’s Think Tank) to produce.The result is an ambient blend with a sometimes psychedelic feel, which seems equally able to rock or chill out. Some Cities is essentially Doves by numbers: soothing mind-blowingly new, but more of the same moody, melodic stuff their fans know and love.

It won’t convert staunch nonfans, but there’s little to dislike – and it may just be the perfect album to ease us into the warmer months.

Kat Paterson

The Flaming Lips Late Night Tales This ongoing series of compilations does not always produce cohesive albums but it often uncovers hidden, forgotten or obscure gems. The latest Late Night Tales - tracks chosen by The Flaming Lips lives up to expectations. The Lips' eclectic selection delivers some genuine stunners.

Highlights are Bjork, Miles Davis, Aphex Twin, Nick Drake, Radiohead and a spoken word piece by David Shrigley, but the overall sense is that each listener will find their own favourites. It is hard

to imagine anyone loving The Flaming Lips' cover of Seven Nation Army, which is terrible.

They perform it as if they know they are killing it but that still doesn't make it any good.

Some tracks, by Brian Eno, 10cc and Roxy Music, were way too eighties for this reviewer’s taste, but this discerning introduction to a diverse selection of artists and their lesser known tracks is absolutely worth your time.

Joe Dunthorne

Blame It On Edd Milk The World Blame It On Edd are one of those bands I wish I'd heard earlier - they've been going for a few years now and Milk The World is the culmination of over three years of sitting unnoticed on the top of the pile. Make no mistake, this band is seriously impressive, and what's most pleasing is that there's not a shred of ego or pretension (they even slip in a bit of glockenspiel frippery on Jackboots without coming off like twats) anywhere to be found. BIOE play an interesting mix of vicious punk rock and acerbic ska, like Antimaniax playing Propagandhi covers, best showcased on Snorting Ajax and I'm an Evil Tory Bigot which are both stormingly punchy tracks, filled with both catchy riffs and sledgehammer guitars, all with an inimitable sense of personality which make this an endlessly entertaining album. The perfect antidote to MTV.

Ben Patashnik

Music 13

Singles

Live Reviews KT Tunstall Arts Centre 07/02/05

Hell Is For Heroes

Models for the Programme When you hear Hell is for Heroes play live you experience a rare fusion of driving energy and aggression with compassionate melody and serenity; all carried by the presence of a band that radiates experience. The good news is that Models for the Programme is no different; the leaps between deafening highs and emotional lows will split live venues around the country into pieces, an achievement HIFH have always fulfilled. The down side is to stick the song on your stereo and expose the recording studio truths of over quality dubbing; where the words “raw” and “unrefined” have been demoted in favour of “accuracy” and “formula”. For a band whose primary hook is their down-to-earth reality, Hell is for Heroes fail to back up their inspirational lyrics and feverish guitars with a much-needed authenticity. The single is the third from the yet to be released album Transmit Disrupt, the same album which failed to impress EMI eventually leading to the bands premature departure from the label. Models for the Programme doesn’t have the spark to make it light up your stereo but the secret ingredients are a couple of hundred dedicated followers and a low-ceiling rock club ready to be torn apart; stand back and watch it burn.

“...another 50p in the meter, please?”

Charles Rumsey

The Futureheads Hounds of Love

Fatboy Slim The Joker

Fresh from playing at UEA a few weeks ago, Sunderland four piece The Futureheads release this Kate Bush cover which means out goes the drum machines and synthesizers and in comes the brash drumming and bouncy guitars. It's a truly fantastic cover; it takes the original and manages to make it sound brand new and exciting, with the instruments and Barry Hyde's interpretation of Kate Bush's trademark wailing creating a song you can easily dance to.

The Futureheads have been hailed as the next Franz Ferdinand - with their similar style and this under their belt, this accolade may prove true!

It's been a hectic six months for Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim. Following a fantastic performance here at UEA in October, two singles (Slash Dot Dash and Wonderful Night) and the brilliant album Palookaville, here is his latest offering, a cover of Steve Miller Band's The Joker. The song layers tropical instrumentation, such as steel drums and a very funky bassline, and builds up to a great chorus with backing singers adding an extra element to the song.

It's very laidback and will get stuck in your head. With some great B-side remixes, this is definitely worth a look.

Chris Hyde

The Thrills The Irish Keep Gatecrashing

Chris Hyde

LCD Soundsystem Daft Punk is Playing at my House

Kevin Mark Trail D Thames This is an uplifting and soulful taster of Kevin Mark Trail's forthcoming album Just Living.

It is a well-written, emotional song with lyrics discussing London city life and his personal feelings, layered over some effectively evocative harmonies. He has previously collaborated with prominent urban artists such as The Streets and Nitin Sawhney.

Remixes by Estelle and MJ Cole are also included on the CD, to cater for a wider range of musical styles including hip-hop and garage. Overall, D Thames is a skilfully crafted song which may well cast Kevin Mark Trail into the mainstream.

Victoria Holland

The opening track from LCD Soundsystem's self-titled album, Daft Punk Is Playing at My House is incredibly catchy, almost to the point of being irritating. Although LCD have been described as punk-funk, this song has definite pop potential. Inspired by James Murphy's idea of a kid saving enough money to afford to have Daft Punk play in his basement, the lyrics are simple and fun. The bassline gives this track a foot-tapping, headnodding element that is inherent throughout, and on a dancefloor it should definitely get people up and moving.

Steph Rawles

Tokyo Dragons What the Hell They've got the long hair, the leather trousers, the stadium presence and the screaming guitars. They've got the skills, energy and aplomb of any hard rock legend and there not even taking the rip.

However sincere though, What the Hell couldn't sound more like Aerosmith’s Dude Looks Like a Lady without infringing on some pretty basic copyright laws. The lack of originality is nothing to be ashamed of in this case though, the crunching guitars and untamed vocals inject a passionate melodrama much needed in the dull rock‘n’roll scene. But it's still the sort of thing your dad would be far too interested in.

It’s upbeat, it’s catchy, and it’s got that proper rock ’n’ roll feel to it. Basically it’s everything I didn’t expect to hear from the Thrills after their recent singles. Don’t let the past put you off, this is a great feel-good song, and is guaranteed to brighten your day no matter how down you get. It’s easily one of the Thrills’ best singles to date, and really shows the progress they’ve made since their debut. Their sound is so alive and cheerful, the Dublin quintet have never sounded so good. I’m smiling just thinking about this song.

Tom Souter

KT Tunstall is rumoured to be the next big thing, which her sell-out gig at Norwich Arts Centre seemed to confirm. A refreshing change from the floating melodies of Dido and Katie Melua, Tunstall’s music is an eclectic mix of jazz, blues and folk, enhanced by her powerful voice - these tunes are easy listening with a kick. Her interesting arrangements include trumpets, cellos and dustbin lids, but the best part of her performance was her solo Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, created with her trademark Headrush foot pedal. This miracle of modern technology allows Tunstall to record her own backing vocals live on stage, looping them together with exciting rhythms created by banging and thumping on her guitar. She then sings and strums over the top, which makes for a truly exciting spectacle. This was a great performance so listen out for her, because this time she really could be the next big thing.

Rosalind Knight

The Black Velvets LCR - ‘Brighton Rocks’ 11/02/05 Playing on the moon is easy when you have heavy guitars.

Charles Rumsey Kaiser Chiefs Oh my God A band that can get the words “plate tectonic” in their song deserve credit of some sort.

Fresh from playing the first slot on the coveted NME Awards Tour, Kaiser Chiefs release their second single Oh My God. The frantic piano and smooth bassline open up the track into a gentle verse lilt before jumping full force into a Kaiser Chiefs chorus that’s sure to get the whole LCR bouncing. This single, preceded by I Predict A Riot, looks to promise an album that could see the Kaisers offering a repeat performance of Franz Ferdinand last year. It’s time to see how far away from Leeds the Kaiser Chiefs end up.

Hayley Chappell

Rufus Wainwright The One You Love If there were any justice in the world, singles like this would be making it into the top ten, as it is lush, emotive pop at its best. I’ve had to keep it on repeat all week, as its infectious melodies and swooning, angelic vocals won’t get out of my head - although I’ve also found that Wainwright sings it far better than I do. The song is full of little treats, like the tense piano that tinkles in the background before the chorus and the Thom Yorke style, whining vocal stretches. Like a drug you’ll be seduced by The One You Love and will keep going back for more.

It must be an intimidating thing for a band to go from the highs of signing a record deal with one of the greatest labels,and touring England, to playing in a University event where no-one has heard of you, and where most of them aren’t even here to see you, but the Velvets didn’t show it. Storming in with their debut single, Get on Your Life, the less-thanpacked dance floor picked up on the rock‘n’roll vibe surprisingly quickly. They didn’t talk between songs; they just got up, rocked out and left, and although their set may have been brief, they played well, and it was easy to tell the crowd loved it. An expected, but nonetheless notable highlight was their new single, 3345 which is heading to be the first real catchy rock song of 2005. Definitely a band to watch out for.

Tom Souter

Nicholas Brookes

23.02.05

14 Cinema

The Other Screen

The Main Feature

Kinsey

Coach Carter

insey is a film that could split opinion straight down the middle, into those who see it as an indepth analysis of a man whose life and work is both tragic and misunderstood, and those who believe the film is a long and tedious justification of sexual immorality. In plainest terms it comes down to whether or not you see sex as purely an experience of pleasure or a romantic expression of love.

However what Kinsey really is, is a simplified drama bio-pic that continues the trend for films about “men of genius” whose ideas changed the world, which make wildly romantic generalisations about characters in history. Even if you remove the nostalgic notions of the pre-AIDS sexual practices discussed within the film, the references characterising sexual repression and religious fundamentalism are too focused to comment on the greater issues of 1950s culture.

The most obvious example of this is when Thurman Rice (Tim Curry) is lecturing a group of students on the moralistic grounds of sex and determines that “lower class black males” are unable to control their sexual urges whilst those of education should be able to easily repress such urges, the class contains one black male. The general racism of the era is referenced but then ignored for the rest of the film, as is the subject of homophobia. These issues are touched on but never truly explored, rather the dragging out of more “soft” issues of love versus sex is played out by the many relationships that Kinsey effects.

simple: basketball is a privilege, study comes first. Coach Carter brings that true story to the big screen and proves to be no ordinary sports movie, nor can it simply be boiled down to Dangerous Minds 2. The film is directed by Thomas Carter (Save the Last Dance) and stars Samuel L Jackson as Carter. Jackson is perfect for the role, bringing his tough guy persona established in numerous roles, such as hit-man Jules in Pulp Fiction, to the character. Carter, though, must do more than command the respect of the kids, he has to become a father figure to a team where only four of the members have a father living with them at home, and Jackson pulls this side of the role off superbly as well.

Indeed Carter would not be half the film it is without Jackson in the title role.

The actors who portray the team members are by and large merely adequate.

Wisely Carter keeps the focus very much on Jackson, but that means giving short change to some of the side stories. R&B star Ashanti makes her feature film debut as the pregnant girlfriend of one of the players.

Unfortunately she cannot invest the role with the depth it requires and it is left undeveloped. Indeed the film touches on issues such as the drug culture, without ever developing them (although there is one shocking moment involving the cousin of one of the kids). This hinting at issues works well at times, as Carter arrives for his first day at work we see him signing in and going through a metal detector before being allowed on the campus, but elsewhere is unsatisfactory.

What the youngsters lack as actors they make up for in basketball skills, leaving you wondering what the filmmakers’ priority was when casting the team. The basketball scenes are extremely slick, you can see how much planning went into them, and on the whole they look and feel real. Only on the occasional point do the filmmakers milk it for all its worth, slowing down

K

I

n 1997 Ken Carter took over as coach of the Richmond High Oilers basketball team. He brought a new style of coaching to the team, he got tough with the players, encouraged respect and cultivated a team ethic. He made them all sign contracts, they were to maintain a C+ average, attend all lessons and sit in the front row. If any one of them broke the agreement then the team didn’t get to play basketball. As Carter puts it: they are “student-athletes. ‘Student’ comes first.” Then in January 1999, with the Oilers undefeated, the players arrived at the gym to find it padlocked. Some of the players had failed to keep up their average and until they picked it up Carter deemed there would be no basketball.

Carter forfeited games and caused uproar in a community dreaming of the state championship. His message was

the action and cutting to seemingly everyone in the stadium before revealing whether or not the shot went in. The film also makes an interesting and admirable departure from real life with the outcome of the final game.

The film’s message, that we should look at the big picture and not get too caught up in the search for glory, is an important one in a society where we are too quick to idolise those who achieve fame and fortune, forgetting as we do that for the vast majority of us it is unachievable.

For those who do achieve this kind of success, it can be all too brief and once it is gone they need something to fall back on. The film deals with this in an honest way, staying true to the story it is based on and not descending into cliché or coming across as too preachy. It achieves a balance between sports and drama and with a superb central performance from Jackson, is well worth checking out.

Coach Carter is released on 25th February from UIP/Paramount.

David McNaught

B-Movie

In Good Company

I

The film attempts to show how Kinsey’s research and subsequent publication of his work created a revolution both in the main stream of science and society in general. This is shown through a particularly ignorable montage that makes the general push of the film seem almost pointless. The following problems Kinsey faced, including lack of finance for his subsequent works and his slow decent into illness, are mostly rushed through to keep the narrative flowing. The lustreless approach to the core of the film is very disappointing and makes the ending almost a welcomed event.

However this lack of expansion on context allows for the individual characterisations stand out all the more, especially that of Liam Neeson whose performance is truly outstanding. The physiological portfolio that is built around Kinsey through out the film is its real driving force, creating a viewing that becomes quite intense at certain moments. This (along with the strong supporting cast) is the saving grace of an otherwise quite typical historical drama that really could have done a lot more with the subject matter.

In general if you want a fully and fleshed out concept film then look else where, if you are only looking for strong character acting and a couple of dubious “artistic” scenes then maybe Kinsey is your film.

Paul Stevens

23.02.05

t is inevitable that aspects of our personal and professional lives will not remain consistent forever. We are continuously evolving and changing as people through that whirlwind cycle famously known as ‘life’. In Good Company explores the corporate culture that makes you realise people really are disposable, even at their very best. Ultimately everything comes down to one thing - that’s politics.

Dennis Quaid plays Dan Foreman, a veteran advertising executive who is a devoted, caring family man. He is in touch with the real world, where friends support each other as a network, and family values are essential. All of a sudden his world is thrown out of control when he is demoted to a ‘wingman’ by new hotshot Carter Duryea (Topher Grace - That 70’s Show, Traffic). Foreman faces the ‘ageism’ hurdle, where he is viewed as over the hill, and lives out the fear he will be ousted just when he has succeeded professionally.

An inhospitable atmosphere arises between the two men immediately.

Although 26 and with the world at his feet, Duryea is a very lonely man, who has been issued with a divorce from his wife of just seven months (Selma Blair), it turns out that he has sacrificed his

personal life in his quest to climb the corporate ladder.

Carter yearns for the ‘typical American family’ symbolised by Foreman’s, not least his daughter Alex (Scarlet Johansson) who is about to start college at NYU. Johansson knows how to

pick her film roles perfectly. She plays a very demure yet seductive love interest in this film. However the chemistry between herself and Carter, although flirtatious, is chaste and her acting talents are rarely pushed; apart from a compelling, naive seduction scene which takes place in her dorm room.

This film is misleading in terms of the genre specification of ‘romantic comedy’. It largely focuses on the generation gap between the two men, and the mentality of the corporate environment. The director Paul Weitz is undoubtedly making a name for himself within the film industry, after the success of American Pie, and About a Boy, he is likely to become hot property with this new instalment brought to us.

He has successfully brought together three of today’s most genuine actors, who interact brilliantly.

This is a typical feel good family movie with which many people who have experienced work place politics will be able to identify. Yet In Good Company remains a “romantic comedy” that is neither particularly romantic nor funny. This is a film that does not need to be seen on the big screen.

Priya Shah

DVD 15

Play Movie

Director’s Commentary

Cop On A Mission

Saved!

T

he story of a cop going undercover in the Triads, working his way to the top and then suffering a crisis of identity before shifting sides is a familiar trope in Hong Kong cinema, but few films handle the theme as deftly as Marco Mak does in Cop on a Mission.

Two cop friends, Mike (a charismatic Daniel Wu) and Chung are sent to infiltrate Hung Hing Gang, the biggest Triad organization in Hong Kong, led by Brother Tin (Eric Tsang fresh from Infernal Affairs). Tin is an old fashioned, somewhat romantic gangster who still

closely follows the code of honour.

Made impotent by an attack a number of years ago Tin has lost control of his sex starved, gambling addicted wife Sis, who predictably begins an affair with Mike.

Mike is so bewitched by his new gangster lifestyle that when it comes to betraying Chung to save his own skin he does so with no remorse. As Mike slips further into corruption, Brother Tin becomes more and more sympathetic and vulnerable in the viewer’s eyes, but finally reveals himself to be less power-

less than he seems. Like the recent Infernal Affairs trilogy, Cop on a Mission is a film in which no one is who they appear to be, loyalties are divided, and bluff and counter bluff is the order of the day.

At one point Brother Tin acknowledges that the post hand-over Hong Kong is a very different place, saying ‘Hong Kong is evolving and we must evolve too.’ This goes just as much for the Hong Kong action movie, which ceased to be the hermetic realm it once was when, as a result of reunification, it encountered the art movies of mainland China and most of the established talent fled for Hollywood. The genre had to adapt to survive and it had to capture the attention of the international audience, hence its focus on ambiguous morality, a cerebral plot structure and more restrained and effective violent set-pieces. Although it occasionally slips into a rather clumsy attempt at Wong Kar-Wai style reverie in its attempt to rejuvenate the generic conventions, Cop on a Mission is on the whole very successful and definitely worth a watch.

Cop on a Mission is released by Tai Seng Entertainment on February 21st.

W

hilst Saved! is a quirky and enjoyable teen comedy, The Event could not help but wonder how this religious satire survived in an ultra-P.C. society. Baptist-raised Mary (Jena Malone) finds out that her boyfriend Dean (Chad Faust) is gay and thinks that he will go to hell if he is not ‘saved’. In a near-death drowning experience, Mary has a vision and decides that to ‘cure’ Dean she will have to sleep with him. However, her plan fails horribly as Dean remains gay and she becomes pregnant. The film then follows her as she is slowly ostracized from her Christian high school.

Director Brian Dannelly handles this subject matter with great tenderness and manages to include both comedy and drama. While the narrative is somewhat common (teenage girl falls pregnant and learns how to cope with a little help from her friends) and the characters easily fall into stereotypes, Saved! still manages to feel different because of its use of religion. Using Christianity as a point of comedy has always been a touchy subject and the perfect example of this is Monty Python’s Life of Brian that was banned in several countries. What is interesting to note is that Life of Brian did not poke fun at religion but at religious fanatics which is what Saved! Also manages to do perfectly.

Dean Bowman

Extra Features

W

Festival Express

ay back in 1970 a number of the most famous bands of the time, including The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Band, were planning a tour of Canada. Rather than have all of the acts move from gig to gig separately, someone came up with the great idea of hiring a train to carry the bands together from one show to the next. What ensued aboard what was dubbed the “Festival Express”; five days of perhaps the most outrageous rock n’ roll partying ever seen.

The train travelled across Canada from East to west, starting with a gig in Toronto, then also stopping to perform at Winnipeg and Calgary as well as making a couple of pit-stops to restock the alcohol. One of the musicians observes that where “Woodstock was a treat for the audience, the train was a treat for the performers”, and even from this footage it is clear to see why Rolling Stone magazine nicknamed it the “million dollar bash”.

Accompanying the performers was a film crew, who recorded all of the live performances as well as all of the behind-the-scenes footage shot on the train itself that make up most of the film, but it wasn’t until 1994 that the footage was uncovered, amazingly in perfect condition. Director Bob Smeaton, who among others has also done work for the Beatles’ and Jimi Hendrix’s videos, then decided to edit the material in order to give everyone the chance to ride the Festival Express, even if only for 85 minutes.

The film is well put together with some great live performances and jamming sessions from the bands. There are also a few amusing drug-induced deep and meaningful conversations between musicians, which are combined with interviews from many of those still around today, which tie in the story with the film footage.

As a documentary for the age of rock n’ roll excess it works well, with the

bands playing the soundtrack to the era in the background, and although the substance abuse footage has been removed, the film still captures a sense of a non-stop party so wild that it would make even Fresher’s week in Waveney Terrace look dull.

However despite this, a good interest in the era and music is really important to enjoy this movie, as it’s not the sort of thing that anyone could just sit and watch. If you have that interest you are likely to enjoy a movie that captures the essence of rock n’ roll, for as one of the musicians observed,“This was not a train for sleeping, there was a couple of cars for music, a couple of cars for eating and drinking, a couple of cars for lovin’. It was a pretty wild ride; it was sex, drugs and rock n’ roll at its best!”

Festival express is released by Optimum on February 28th.

There’s also a brief – and successful – attempt at absurdist visual humour: a long shot of a busy road observes the progress of minor crook Dennis as he scurries between moving cars, all the while struggling to keep a large yellow canoe balanced on his head.

The photography overall has a decidedly uneven quality. Shot on high definition digital video (HD-DV), the picture quality often lacks the depth and colour intensity that celluloid cinematography would provide. A sustained overuse of slow-motion, red-tinting, and zany spilt-screening makes for dubious aesthetic compensation.

One Eyed King is released by Mosaic Entertainment on February 28th.

Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) is this film’s fanatic.

She is the queen bee of the school and seen as the pinnacle of Christian charity. She’s always the first to help the new students and especially those with disabilities, like Macaulay Culkin’s wheelchair-bound character Roland. Hilary also feels that it is her duty to ‘save’ Jewish rebel Cassandra (Eva Amurri) and convert her to Christianity, no matter the cost.

However, Hilary Faye is a complete bitch and only does this Good Samaritan routine in order to look good to others. Mandy Moore plays this role brilliantly and the film would not be as funny if she did not become such a manipulative and downright devious character. She also gets all the best lines, delivering her funniest as she throws a bible at Mary’s head and yells:“I am FILLED with Christ’s love! You are just jealous of my success in the Lord.” It is no wonder why she took a prominent place in the trailers.

Saved! is a funny film without being insulting to religion. The film shows that being religious can be a wonderful thing but that it is also crucial to respect other people’s opinions and beliefs. The jokes in this film are not at the expense of Christianity but at the characters. The young cast perform well and manage to remain straight-faced throughout the comedy.

Patrick Fugit effortlessly plays cool skater/rock kid Patrick and Culkin shows the same charisma that won over audiences in the early ‘90s. Jena Malone continues to develop her acting skills after her tremendous turn in cult classic Donnie Darko. However, the film belongs to Mandy Moore, as she plays against type and gains the biggest laughs in her attempts to ‘save’ people. The only real let down of this film is the overly-sentimental ending after the dramatic Prom scenes, but this should not put you off from watching this funny and touching teen comedy.

Saved! is released by MGM on February 28th.

Sebastian Manley

Mark Simpson

Tom Housley

One Eyed King

O

ne Eyed King tells a tale as studiously derivative as it is clumsy and stilted: we follow gangster Frank’s search for ‘the truth’ behind a friend’s death, but thanks to some instructive flashbacks and the insistently expositional voiceover, Frank’s investigation does little more than confirm obvious plot details until the time comes for the obvious conclusion.

Neither actors nor script characterisations do much to hold interest along the way. Aside from mob-boss Holly (played with a mean-eyed severity by Armand Assante, who did Rico in Judge Dredd) none of the characters have the presence to convince as desperate gangsters, however much they talk about people getting ‘whacked’, or killers doling out ‘hot shots’. It’s unfor-

tunate that many of the main cast-members invite such obvious comparisons with various characters from The Godfather and Scorsese’s crime epics; placed next to DeNiro and Kietel in Mean Streets, or Ray Liotta in Goodfellas, William Baldwin et al. almost inevitably come across as lacking some star power.

As a character-driven piece where there are few reasons to care about the characters, One Eyed King is pretty much fatally flawed, but on a more formal level the film does occasionally flicker into life. The pop jukebox soundtrack (another Scorsese appropriation) turns over an agreeable mix of swinging soul and rock n roll, and works quite well to enhance the atmosphere of smoky indulgence in the bar scenes.

23.02.05

16 Arts

Theatre Previews My Long Journey Home Norwich Playhouse 08/03/05, 7.30pm

M

y Long Journey Home is inspired by the true story of Andras Tomas, a young Hungarian who joined the army and was lost in a Russian mental hospital for 53 years. He returned to his home village in 1999 to a heroes’ welcome. Using this story as a starting point, New International Encounter blend styles, traditions and a confusion of languages to create a performance that is at times comic, tragic, touching and ridiculous. The show incorporates live music, singing, clowning, mime and animation in a performance that has been described as “total theatre”.

The show has been performed 300 times in 11 different countries and was one of the smash hits of the 2004 Edinburgh Festival, picking up numerous five star reviews and a nomination for Best Ensemble in The Stage Awards. The Herald described it as “the kind of show which gives the Fringe its good name worldwide… see this crazy, divine show”, and a reviewer of the Edinburgh Festival gave equally enthusiastic praise: ‘This is a vibrant play which tells a tragic story with gusto and consummate theatricality.”

Orpheus Norwich Playhouse 10/03/05 7.30pm

O

rpheus is the most recent work from Toaca, formed by highly acclaimed Romanian theatre director/writer Nona Ciobanu in 1996. The new play looks at the relationship between Orpheus and the gods Apollo and Dionysus and the creation of the many mysteries surrounding it – a timeless story about love, death and beauty, showing how the ancient myth is still relevant to contemporary issues. It also focuses on the unrevealed power of the human being and the eternal desire to understand the essence of human existence and transcend physical life.

This is a visually stunning show, which uses songs and movement with minimal text to create a unique and powerful drama. The Times has described the play as “a wonderful show of discipline, adventure and technique… an extremely enjoyable evening”. Other reviews of Ciobanu have praised her ability to “combine eye-pleasing tricks with improvisational clowning, movement, music, storytelling and topical jokes to transport us to a new world, both naïve and sophisticated, silly and wise.” (Experimental Tradition) Simon Jackson

23.02.05

Book Reviews Adiós Hemingway

A

diós Hemingway fuses fiction and truth within an intense, poignant and mesmerizing plot.

Conde, a retired cop turned writer, must perform a final investigation when they find a skeleton on the land where, up until his death forty years previously, Ernest Hemingway lived. Moving smoothly between fact and fiction, Leonardo Fuentes creates a portrait of Hemingway through the use of imagination based upon the facts of his last years. Fuelled by a plot that intertwines the fates of the retired policeman and Hemingway, love, honour, friendship and decay are all addressed in this biography-come detective drama which beautifully recreates a complicated and interesting man.

Beyond All Pity

O

Europe By Train

A

n its first publication in 1960 Beyond All Pity became the best-selling Brazilian book in history. It was written from the depths of the dirtiest, most poverty ridden slums on earth. Carolina Maria de Jesus lived in a shanty town when she began writing the diary, which documented the plight of the poor in Brazil in a terrifyingly vivid and moving way.

The book describes her daily struggle to survive. The main character however, is not De Jesus herself, but hunger. It pervades every action and word that takes place. The diary exposes the hopeless wretchedness of these people’s lives and sadly, fifty years on, it remains just as relevant.

t a hefty 742 pages you get a lot for your £12.99 but Europe by Train is no rival to the The Lonely Planet or Rough Guide and is too heavy to take with you. It’s specifically designed for the Inter-railer and has some interesting lists of places which give discounts with the card but it would have been more useful exploring each country’s climate and culture and providing detailed maps of city centres than listing transport museums. For practical information the introduction is far better than the sections on each country, but it’s comprehensive and will help prospective train travellers plan. It is best read along with other guide books as a further point of reference.

Daisy Bowie-Sell

Roanna Bond

Katharine Clemow

Adiós Hemingway is published by Canongate from £5.19 online

Beyond All Pity is published by Souvenir Press from £9.99

Europe by Train is published by Robson Books from £12.99

Poetry Review: Penny Broadhurst’s Blue Bank, by Mark Dishman

M

odern poets are facing perhaps their most difficult times since quills first met paper. Confronted with relatively new competition from well-promoted cinema, music and television, gaining an audience and a reputation has rarely been as difficult. Spoken word poetry in particular is by nature difficult to document, and it is against this backdrop that former UEA student Penny Broadhurst is attempting to reach the masses, with her first album of poetry, Blue Bank. That’s right, album.

Blue Bank consists of fifteen poems mostly set to music, ranging from acoustic guitar to simple background noise, to the epic hip-hop setting for the closing track, Rhythm Rebel. Broadhurst begins with a statement of intent:

In 8 Mile High, she declares inspiration from Eminem and Dolly Parton, before launching into a critique of artists afraid of communication. Broadhurst is chiefly occupied with the frustrations of modern life, and her poems are bursting with information, ideas, and arguments. New Mills deals with “the call centre rut,” and issues such as class, illness, pop culture and the confusing modern city are subsequently charcterised both wittily and irately. Most enjoyable perhaps is Bus Park, in which “little knobhead chavs” are firmly dispatched. Broadhurst’s delivery is well pitched. Her voice is fragile, yet she is unafraid to shout, breathe, make funny noises, and even belt out a rendition of Onward Christian Soldiers.

There’s also the mournful and affecting duo Hands and Ustitled. Performed without backing, they disarm the listener and remind you that behind the excitable Northern woman you’ve been trying to keep up with, there’s a “proper”, more traditional poet

lurking beneath, more than capable of stringing together a simile or two.

The musical backing is (perhaps surprisingly) successful, although it is occasionally simplistic. However, the Eminem-like Rhythm Rebel does sound strange with an English accent behind it. Whilst themes of frustration are far from new, and hardly unexpected from a 21st century poet, Broadhurst’s success is that she is able to charm her listener into taking her side.

There is the odd flawed rhyming pattern, and you wonder how long some of the pop culture references will remain relevant, but perhaps it’s the honesty in the words that makes Blue Bank so listenable. As Broadhurst herself says: “It’s not like songs or fiction or whatever. I’m kind of laying my life on the line here.”

Blue Bank is available on the Killer Question label. For more information visit www.pennybroadhurst.com

Ballet Review

G

Kate Wilkinson reviews Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker

awdy Christmas scenery, hair glued back to within an inch of its life, memorable pieces of music liberally borrowed by Fantasia, and the dance of the sugar plum fairy: it could only be The Nutcracker. Performed by the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, with their own orchestra, it was a mixed success.

The Nutcracker, arguably Tchaikovsky’s finest score, is set at Christmas time, where Clara, a young girl, is given a nutcracker as a present. During the night rats attack her and the nutcracker comes to life to save her. He reveals himself to be a handsome prince and takes her to his magical home where they enjoy the sugar plum fairy dance and other entertainments. Clara then wakes up at home, not knowing if it has all been a dream.

The up-and-coming Prima Dona Irina Kolesnikova was dazzling and graceful as Clara, and the sugar plum fairy, and though a bit wobbly at first, soon found her feet.

However, Kolesnikova and the nutcracker’s superb technical skill was slightly offset by their lack of chemistry. During many of the dances, extras hung about at the back of the stage looking bored, and it was confusing as to why they were needed there as many hardly danced at all.

The sadder ending was cut: instead the entertainment seemed prolonged, and it ended with her waking up still wearing his crown, seemingly sure that what she experienced was real and not a dream. The rats were the most fun, which is why it was such a shame that their section was so short. The two intervals seemed a little excessive, considering many elements of the story had been cut. Saying that, the dramatic costumes were beautiful and the scenery was very fine.

The Theatre Royal was full of excited little girls in tiaras, which gave it a friendly, family atmosphere, proving that ballet doesn’t have to be “high-brow” to be enjoyable.

The twirling Clara

TV/Digital 17

TV Preview: Nathan Barley

TV DVD: CSI: Miami

Fridays, 10pm, Channel 4 the animator of Trashbat. Barley is an embarrassment to watch throughout, being a hideous combination of Alan Partridge and David Brent. He peppers his speech with lyrics from 80s pop songs. He rides his BMX to a bus stop, then takes it on the bus, then pedals into cafés and shops on it. He plasters stickers advertising his website on people.

He uses his phone (with its camera and mp3 decks) as a means of feeling superior to others. He is, in short, repulsive.

The programme doesn’t provoke much laughter from the characters’ situation, with one particularly offensive attempt at humour being the new logo of SugarApe having emphasis placed on the last four letters. The programme is designed to be more subtle than laugh-out-loud funny, but this isn’t achieved either. What little plot there is consists of Barley cycling around, introducing the characters to the audience, in the first half and Dan leaving SugarApe for a Sunday paper out of contempt and then returning to it in the

Nathan, technical junkie second half, which means that Barley (supposedly the main character) is shoved aside completely to let the plot develop and then return to where it started.

The main problem is that it is unclear whether Morris and collaborator Charlie Brooker are lampooning this culture or acknowledging and embracing it. Is it a satirical sitcom or a mockumentary a la The Office? The audience is left sympathising with Dan; loathing the culture, yet unsure what to make of it.

Chris Hyde

Soap News: Hollyoaks and Neighbours Izzy is busy this fortnight trying to keep the wool over Karl’s eyes, whilst Hollyoaks’ residents suffer a bout of ill health...

E

veryone has something to hide in Neighbours over the next few weeks. Izzy should know better than anyone that deception is not the answer but it would seem that she cannot completely break her old habits.

Instead of telling Karl that she is having her doubts about becoming the second Mrs. Kennedy she keeps it to herself, pretending that she is delighted at the prospect of marrying Dr. Dimwit. She also has to hide the real reason that she is so scared of Darcy possibly waking from his coma. Actor Alan Fletcher confesses: “Susan [the woman formerly known as Kennedy] is an unfortunate casualty in all this. When he’s at his unhappiest, it’s actually her he is most likely to turn to first.” Neighbours fans are going to have to wait and see

whether Karl will realise that Izzy is just too well dressed to be his life-long partner.

Boyd just cannot seem to keep his hands off the Bishop family. Splitting up with Sky left him depressed and alone but this week we see him lock lips with another Bishop family belle. No, much as we would like it to be Harold, it is in fact Serena with whom Boyd shares the steamy clinch. Lyn’s father arrives to greet his daughter but it would seem that he too has something that he desperately wants to hide. When will the Neighbours crew learn? If they keep telling lies they are going to end up like Svetlanka – exiled to Perth.

The Hollyoaks team have their own secrets but it seems that they are a little more upfront than the Australians. Lisa is shocked to learn that she has chlamy-

CSI: Miami 1.2 £39.99 Released: 21st Feb

dia and confides in Zara who is disgusted when she realises that they have both slept with Zak. Lisa refuses to be ashamed and sets about telling her recent conquests, and of course the last two men that she has been entangled with were both in long term relationships. Both James and Jake are going to have some explaining to do. Russ finds a worrying lump and is quick to seek support from Danni and brother Sam, but it would seem that Sam finds it difficult to deal with the prospect of a sick brother. The students begin an investigation into a mysterious stomach bug that is plaguing the college – for the first time the excuse “I’m not hung over.

It must have been something I ate” could actually be true!

F

(c) MMII and MMIII CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Alliance Atlantis Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (c) 2004 Momentum Pictures, All Rights Reserved.

W

ith Nathan Barley, Chris Morris finally returns to our screens after a hiatus of five years.

Morris is renowned for his hilarious satires (The Day Today, Brass Eye), warped sense of humour and loathing of celebrities.

Nathan Barley has been in development for years, with the character first appearing in the online listings parody TVGoHome in 1999 under the guise of C**t. Barley is a 26 year old webmaster – his site, trashbat.co.ck, is a subtle send-up of various fashionable websites, such as b3ta – as well as being a screenwriter and DJ. He perceives himself as being the ultimate in urban cool, yet is secretly terrified he isn’t.

The first episode meanders around, following Barley as he lurches from one encounter to another. Other characters are introduced, including journalist for SugarApe (the urban magazine that everyone who’s anyone reads) Dan Ashcroft, Dan’s sister Sarah and Pingu,

ollowing a painfully talented team of CSI agents, led by one fiery haired Horatio Cain (David Caruso), CSI:Miami is an escapist paradise of dramatic pauses, hunches and dead bodies. You’ll either love the sun-drenched world of the show, or loathe it for its obvious plotlines and corny acting. It is no surprise at the end of each episode that Caruso gets his criminal, dons his sunnies and strikes an emtionally burdened pose of quiet contemplation. The show may suffer from being slightly too formulaic, yet it benefits no end from resisting the temptation to delve too deeply into the lives of its various characters. This is a rare but worthwhile accomplishment, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in each case rather than tiresome ongoing romances and such.

The DVD covers the second 12 episodes of the first series of the show, with a host of special features. A devoted fan may find their thirst for insight less than quenched but there is more than enough to make the DVD feel like a complete package. The most obvious gap is cast comments, an odd omission considering most DVDs are saturated with thoughts from the cast and lacking in feedback from those behind the scenes. Despite minor drawbacks, CSI:Miami fans will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of this DVD and they will not be disappointed.

Kate Bryant

Martha Hammond and Kim Howe

Digital Stuff: The StikAx The Ministry of Sound StikAx is a hold-in-your-hand take on the world of mixing...

T

he StikAx from The Ministry of Sound is the latest music device from one of Europe’s most successful independent record companies. The package contains a stick bearing the same name with no less than 10 buttons, mixing software called TrackAx and a CD propped with mixing samples. At first glance this product appears to be much like E-Jay mixing software with a twist. However, surprisingly, that description does not fit this product at all. The StikAx is a very weird piece of equipment that despite being rather odd is nonetheless fascinating.

TrackAx allows the user to mix

pieces of music in real time by either using the StikAx, or by the standard edit, click, hold and drag system found in most music editing software. The control system is not as intuitive as the package claims it to be, so expect a few hours of tweaking and experimenting to properly get to grips with things.

Also, for the first few sessions after installation, the software demonstrates one or two problems with stability. The program is prone to crashing, which is not an unknown problem in the world of editing audio, but still is slightly irritating. However, after these minor teething problems things get a lot more reliable.

Ergonomically, the StikAx is a clumsy disaster. The Ministry of Sound should probably have spent a few more hours on the drawing board and made the StikAx suit the hand slightly more comfortably. While this is only a small factor in terms of the StikAx’s usability, it can be a continual annoyance.

However, it does have a certain charm to it, making it both unique and interesting. This is probably the main reason to persevere with the product.

Sampling wise, they have put effort into making a lot of quality samples into the package. Containing no less than 450 music samples, there are plenty of music beats and other melody

samples to go around. Sadly, most of the samples are aimed at a rock and techno audience, excluding hip-hop, pop and other genres. It has to be said though that the real fun does not lie in editing the pre-recorded samples, but by adding self-made beats and patterns.

Despite in foibles, the StikAx is still fun. Now if they only could have done something to that price tag as well. £90 for what is essentially a gimmick is a bit too much for any student’s taste. The product may embody the tasty charm that appeals to us all, but not quite enough to get us saving our pennies.

Jassim Happa

23.02.05

Sexy...very sexy!

18 Creative Writing

Creative Writing In Association with d i t t o / Send contributions to: m.whitton@uea.ac.uk

Firefly Oh my friend how could you bestow Upon my heart such joy and yet such woe.

For within your hallowed home, I chance, To spy an angel, god had given leave to dance.

To punch I'd turned, that fateful January night, To wash thought of a deceitful essay clean away, But pausing from my plastic cup I caught a sight.

And a moment, in which I'd gladly stay.

To describe her beauty I am, I fear unable.

Though her joy and vibrance did my soul embolden.

Her slender waist and skin must turn to fable, I'll simply say her hair was sunshine golden.

with a swish and a swoosh.

A hung-over deity

If you want you can have my fresh veg and all of my fresh fruit Take my pot noodles…

Please, take my pot noodles!

that retches its lazy rhythm to the cry of seagulls, sloshing around, waiting

I need my bacon, it's a little taste of home Where there's a warm fireplace, arm chairs A wide screen TV and free use of the phone Would you take that from me?

Could you be so uncompassionate Just because that bacon is crying out to be ate?

I bet you could you bastards!

metallic slivers, dodging string nets and licking the breeze.

These waves pulse. Churn.

Return.

- Ben Bransfield Save My Bacon

I wished to tell her of my love.

My passion and desire to place on show.

So romantic in my mind, but all I could say, was 'What's your favourite Tarantino?'

With rivals I jousted for my love's affection, I scoured my romantic soul but came up short, Not with sonnets did I mirror her perfection, But talked of beasts and astronauts.

With love and beauty my heart was afire, But shyness and stupidity became my blight.

And so gentle host, your pity I require As I let slip the firefly of the night.

- Jack Robson Loss The day he moved out was terrible That evening she went through hell.

His absence wasn't a problem But the corkscrew had gone as well.

- Wendy Cope

Can you see this bacon?

Can you read this sign?

No, it doesn't say "Eat me" It says "Mine!"

Please don't. Take my sweetcorn instead My naan, pita or garlic bread Take my coffee, take my sugar, then my milk Take my hot chocolate or anything of that ilk You can down my ravioli, if it would please Or maybe this fat lump of mature cheddar cheese My mayo, my curry paste, my tortilla wrap You're welcome to any or all of that crap

Nature’s hidden depths are hinting back at something by the curling tide. Tea leaf dregs.

The salt silt sinks below foams of surfboards and a sprinkle of legs, sprawling, flapping.

These waves of white, green, aubergine, that dribble gold in the evening and silver at night, dance slick amongst seaweed

23.02.05

He had no horse or riding beast, And therefore was he forced to walk.

It took him years or months at least To reach the cave of stone and chalk.

He learned to hunt and pluck and fish, In order not to die in the way.

Yes he thinned, but had his dish Of food to cling to every day.

- Andrea ‘arrr Jim lad’ Tallarita Graffiti On the obsidian side of the post of the Door to Hell (by the hand of one damned) One phrase is written: Volo Praetervolere, sed animus meus ardet.

Yes, I know it looks tempting, succulent and sweet I know it would go well with a bit of lightly fried bread and some ketchup To make a sarny you would kill to eat,

But please While there's any mercy left in your soul Please, please, please, Save… My… Bacon!

- James Taylor Orion’s Belt

While blinkered by the stars, we try to change Orion’s Belt’s position in the sky, - Chris ‘Vetinari’ Farnell But really we can never rearrange The state of things, no matter how we try.

It's all I know how to cook…

That's why I bought it.

I'm not being stingy and I'm not being mean You're welcome to my ketchup, salt, pepper or baked beans And if I don't lock-up my butter or my sliced bread I can accept that I should write them off as missing assumed dead My cooking oil's plentiful, eggs are easy to replace And if I had any seafood you could eat my cod or… my plaice…

They Put You In The Ground Today The belt of burning stars may realign, But when it does it will not change its shape: Orion’s Belt has three stars in a line, And from that line those stars cannot escape.

They put you in the ground today, I wasn’t there.

I’m sorry but I couldn’t bear To see your light extinguished, Devoured by the dark, dank earth.

I saw a rabbit by the side of the road, Mangled.

Waves I give you the waves. Cue applause: The clapping whirlpool of seals in their pondlike stalls.

He told no one, he told none, As he packed all that he owned.

Soon to be wind-free and gone, The path to follow he'd been shown.

He thinned during this time and starved, And oft was driven to despair.

But feather'd words in his heart carved, Resigning thoughts he'd spare.

ButSave my bacon!

Save my bacon!

braced for the wind or a stiff fix.

A wet glimmer of scales have littered the surface;

Ye Tragical History of Kenny Part 4

But please, Save my bacon!

Save my bacon!

Was that how you looked when they pulled you from the wreckage?

How long did you fight my friend?

How long before you disappeared?

It's not that hard to resist For seconds now you've managed To allow my pig meat to exist So no, it's not my fault for putting it in the fridge.

That's what you do with meat.

So don't say that if it's in there it's bound to get eat(en) I know that nicking food is all part of the game But not when it's my bacon…

That's just inhumane.

Please, take my potatoes, my spinach or my pasta I've got so many of the twisty ones I couldn't get rid of them faster Take my alphabeti spaghetti, my teabags, my cup-a-soup

Although the constellations may we taunt us, Never changing, always holding fast While smaller, weaker fires so often char, We would do well to never let them daunt us: We should never try to change what’s past When blinded by the light of falling stars.

- Alan ‘drank a gallon’ Ashton-Smith

- Karan Park

Put the kettle on, Have the fox-hunting debate.

When finished, move on.

haikus...

- Jim ‘look at him’ Conway

I will drink tonight Although I know tomorrow Brings a fuzzy head - Kate Wilkinson

Pain. The boiling hate, That makes creatures war and bleed.

Who ate the pasty?

- Matt Wees

Haikus are easy Five-seven-five syllables give me limericks!

- Merinne Whitton

Send your LIMERICKS to m.whitton@uea.ac.uk for the next edition of CONCRETE!

Listings 19

Listings Music

Arts

Movies

GoldieLookinChain Wednesday 23rd February, LCR

Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer Mon 21st- Sat 26th Feb, Maddermarket

Cinema City

Juliet Turner + Duke Special Wednesday 23rd Feb, Norwich Arts Centre

Bob Dylan and the Poetry of the Blues Wednesday 2nd March, Maddermarket

Mose Fan Fan Thursday 24th Feb, Norwich Arts Centre

The Glass Menagerie Friday 4th March, Maddermarket

Twisted Folk: Hem + Martha Tilston Monday 28th Feb, Norwich Arts Centre

Salome by Oscar Wilde Saturday 5th March, Norwich Playhouse

Sideways Wednesday 23rd/Thursday 24th February A Very Long Engagement Wednesday 23rd/Thursday 24th February 2046 Sunday 27th/Monday 28th February Riding Giants Sunday 27th/Monday 28th February

Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival Friday 25th-Sunday 27th Feb, www.ivfdf2005.org

On General Release

John Otway’s Big Band Tuesday 3rd March, Norwich Arts Centre

From Friday 25th February: Hide and Seek The Life Aquatic Spanglish Coach Carter

The Dropkick Murphys Monday 7th March, LCR The Wedding Present Monday 7th March, Norwich Arts Centre

From Friday 4th March: Flight of the Phoenix Hitch Kinsey

Surf movie Riding Giants can be seen at Cinema City this week

Athlete Tuesday 8th March, LCR

Competitions

Pro Plus

the chance of winning the ultimate 24-hour entertainment kit, with everything you need to keep you on your feet.

The special goodie bag includes a PlayStation 2 Game, camera, CD and more.To win, simply answer the following question:

Dellacasa

How many hours are spent on art?

SUBJECT Economics Business Studies Politics Drama History Philosophy Event Management Biology English Psychology Art Chemistry Media Production Law Music Dentistry Medicine

NUMBER OF HOURS SPENT PER WEEK 2 5 8 10 10 10 12 15 15 20 32 32 35 38 38 40 40

Despite most courses recommending an average of 40 hours of study time each week, some are clearly far more demanding than others. So if you are a medic and can not understand why your economist flatmate is able to cope much better with the study-party lifestyle, this may give you some idea. Whilst you are swotting in the library your mate is likely to be snoozing in bed! Keep up by taking two tablets of Pro Plus containing 100mg of caffeine. This will increase your alertness, allowing you to work through the day and dance all night.

To take your mind off studying altogether, give yourself

Dellacasa have another meal to give away to one hungry student this issue.To enter, just answer the following question: What type of cheese is traditionally used on pizzas?

Send your answer, plus name and contact number, to concrete.event@uea.ac.uk

Momentum Pictures, All Rights Reserved

Estimated hours spent on study:

CSI: Miami Atlantis Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (c) 2004

When time spent on study outside of lectures was investigated, it was discovered that economics students spend only 2 hours a week where as medics spend 40! Other courses that feature highly on the slackers list are business studies and politics, and unsurprisingly dentists work as hard as their medic counterparts. The shock subject is music where students spend 38 hours practising a week - only 2 less than a trainee doctor!

Send your answer, along with a name and contact number, to concrete.event@uea.ac.uk

(c) MMII and MMIII CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Alliance

It’s official - medics work the hardest and economists are the slackers - according to research carried out by the makers of Pro Plus.

Cop on a Mission

CSI: Miami 1.2 is now available to buy on DVD in a shiny three-disc digipack for the RRP of £39.99, and to celebrate, Momentum Pictures have provided us with a copy to give away.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the following question: Name the character played by David Caruso in CSI: Miami.

Send your answer to the usual address, concrete.event@uea.ac.uk

Dropkick Murphys Velocity PR have provided us with a Dropkick Murphys DVD and a copy of their new album Blackout to give away.

To win the prizes just answer this simple question: Who is the singer with Dropkick Murphys?

If you think you know, send concrete.event@uea.ac.uk.

your

answer

to:

Tai Seng Entertainment have given us three DVD copies of Cop on a Mission (Release date: 21st February) to give away. If you would like a copy, just send us your answer to the following question at the usual address, concrete.event@uea.ac.uk.

Who directed Cop on a Mission?

One Eyed King The good people at Mosaic Entertainment have provided us with three DVD copies of One Eyed King (Released on 28th February), which you could be in with a chance of winning. To get your hands on a copy, answer the following simple question: Which member of the Baldwin family appears in One Eyed King?

All winners are chosen at random from the correct entries.

23.02.05