Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen: new songs
Great video and the best thing I’ve heard from Young in ages. If this is typical of the cd, its a go. Brilliant cover of Oh Susannah. anybody else here shades of Shocking Blue’s Venus in this? And then Bruce. Maybe not my favourite Springsteen song but what struck me right off the bat was [...]
Cellphones in movie theatres?
Many years ago I attended the Toronto Film Festival and what amazed me almost as much as the films was that the moment the curtain went up and the credits started the audience was utterly silent. They were actually paying attention. Wow! Though my theatre experience varies quite a bit from noise all the way [...]
I am Cuba
My Videodrome muse alerted me to this film. I had heard the recent murmurings from the Criterion blog on Letter Never Sent (same director and cinematographer) and had just noticed it on their just in shelf. She rhapsodized on the camera work in both movies and it took little persuasion to rent them both. So [...]
Golden Age of Crime Television?
I think it all started with Homicide: Life on the Street. This show, based on David Simon‘s book about a drawn out and unsuccessful murder investigation, was the first that I remember that seemed to both explore the metaphysics of being a detective and that seemed to actually focus on the victim. Most shows, if [...]
David Nutt lecture: drug use, policy and prohibition
I don’t agree with everything he says but overall this is brilliant for anyone interested in the issue of drug use and prohibition, and particularly the varying legal and media responses to drugs. What I find a little uneven is his quasi-prohibitionism regarding alcohol while being much more open minded about illegal drugs. Part of [...]
