Edit; blog; edit; blog; edit

Congratulations to Slumdog Millionaire, which we saw at the end of last year and were blown away by. Absolutely brilliant film. I do feel though that it is being misadvertised at the moment as the ‘feel-good film of the year’, with a glitzy rubbish poster on most London buses. I understand that it’s for the maximum exposure and it’s really breaking through, but still, a film about poverty, extreme conditions, broken love and the harsh reality of life- I guess it’s your classic triumph over adversity story, I just think the post for it is awful and would put me off seeing it if I hadn’t already.

Uncongratulations to Prince Harry for his steady slip into Philipdom. I don’t care if those videos were taken out of context, he has had enough brushes with the PC brigade to know that those words sting and hurt and sometimes kill and his using them is as deadly as his rifle-wielding.

Salutations to Chris Ware, whose ‘Jimmy Corrigan’ book I recently re-read. It’s still one of the best pieces of fiction ever written. The piece where Jimmy finds a father-figure in his friend’s gentle Italian toymaker who helps him make a horse before his own father storms in and pulls him away; only for the horse to emerge from the kiln broken and rubbish causing him to suffer the derision and bullying of his classmates is heartbreaking.

Excitations about Bat for Lashes’ upcoming new album and tour in April. It sounds even more magical that ‘Fur and Gold.’From EMI: “ A very ambitious record, both musically and conceptually, Two Suns delves into the philosophy of the self and duality. Metaphysical ideas about the connectedness of existence are also close to the album’s heart. From the dustbowl psyche-rock of ‘Travelling Woman’ to the twisted Las Vegas wedding organ on the dark love song ‘Good Love’, Natasha has taken influence from disparate places. Written and recorded around the world, from the stark landscape of Big Sur and the Joshua Tree desert in California to the city sprawls of New York and London, it is kinetic and immediate, yet so intriguing sonically and lyrically that it demands time to be properly absorbed. Two Suns sees Natasha exploring her creative personas and the world around her in a very different way. Envisioning herself as two separate yet ultimately attached beings, we discover her inner character Pearl, the destructive blonde femme fatale that represents one extreme of her personality. Pearl’s troubled obsession with childlike escapism and self-absorption opposes the wild and mystical desert being who represents Natasha’s more spiritual self. Through the songs on the album, Natasha and Pearl take us on a journey as they intertwine and overflow into each other’s realms, struggling to reconcile with each other, love and the forces of the outside world. Natasha is joined on several tracks by Brooklyn’s finest psychedelic experimentalists Yeasayer, who provide bass and beat programming. The legendary Scott Walker also performs a duet with Natasha for the heart-wrenching torch song and album closer ‘The Big Sleep’. As with Fur And Gold, Natasha chose to co-produce Two Suns with David Kosten (AKA Faultline).” I can’t wait for this. The only time I really got starstruck and breathless was when sat with a friend about to go see Jeffrey Lewis and Josie Long in concert together (indie geek heaven) when she swanned into the ICA looking the personification of magic.
I’m dressing up my boring weekend of editing that went like this: edit; Japanese restaurant; busy Camden pub; unbusy Camden pub; edit; bike ride; edit; Mad Men; edit; pizza and Mad Men; edit; edit; edit; jam on guitar and violin; edit; Mad Men; edit; lunch with father; Paris Motel is played in pub; shop; edit; edit; edit; eat too much dim sum; edit. Etc.