Evenin'

I said that the credits in Dawn of the Dead were something special; well this fascinating story in Wired goes someway to explaining why. The credits were "done" by a specialist called Kyle Cooper who was responsible for other 2 minute masterpieces such as Se7en.



Out

Afternoon

Watched Torque last night. Much motorcycle hy-jinks ensued and some (though not enough) leather biker gear wearing by fit birds also. Nonsense movie, of course and Ice Cube in his most wooden role to date (quite a feat) but entertaining in a 2-stroke whiny kind of way.

Just picked up Knights of the Old Republic and Far Cry. Will report once fully tested...

I have been waiting on a project offer for the last couple of months that came through yesterday. A project for Hermes in Korea; an interesting job with the distinct advantage of being run out of Hong Kong. Am currently trying to press my advantage to see if I can squeeze some cash out of the rocks I work for. Should have concrete news on Monday.

So far on the album front;

Crystal Method: Legion of Boom. TOP
The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free. Highly lauded but I don't think it hangs together as well as the first album, which is a fave of mine. Still good, though.
Libertines: Up The Bracket. TOP
Alanis. Somewhat whiny and Sphincter like, but could be a grower
Pepe Delux. Good

Planning on getting mullahed tonight, which is only 4 hours away. Yipee.

Out (for the count)

Well I must say that was a waste of 40 grand...

Had the last mock-up unspection last night and they're canning the whole concept. This is bizzare because the concept was already approved; the mock-up was intended only to test that it worked at full scale. The mock-up proves that the concept works (a sort of on-off visual effect caused by layers of pattern), apparantly to the extent that they don't want it any more. The french said it looked like a cheap trick and the architect looked like he had had his ego fatally spiked. It's their money but I don't get it; surely an architect / designer's job is to visualise the final result and decide whether or not they like it BEFORE they build the thing.

In retrospect, it was obvious that something was up; the big nobs all flew in from Paris in a private jet for the inspection. I know this is an important store but it is a functional mock-up that could have been effectively inspected by minions. The CEO of the group turned up (it's his p[rivate jet...)

The PM told me that they had certainly killed the concept before the mock-up; so why pay 40 grand to have the thing built? Beats me.

A lot of sweat for a rejection.

This also raises the ugly possibility of a long wait while the Parisians toss around deciding what they want to do instead. As one guy put it, "and then there's August" which for those of us who work for a living might recognise as the month that everything in mainland Europe shuts down. No decision by late July then might aswell pencil in October. Then we'll all have to rush like bastards to get the store open on time.

Too knackered for this nonsense.

Bomber out

Well I'm buggered.

Been working on a roof for the last 2 days setting up this sodding mock-up. The temp is somewhere in the 30s and the humidity about a billion percent, or something. I have lost 20 pounds in weight and am about as hydrated as a bag of crisps. I used to do this 6 days a week for God's sake.

Managed the Big HMV Shop on Sunday. Canned a couple of the buys and added a few in (including the new Gomez album that I am listeneing to at the moment; really quite good) will post a list for your nauseation when I stop sweating.

Seen several movies over the last few days;

Irreversible; The movie that Dave warned was nearly banned everywhere; well it should have been. Not for being too harsh (although it is) but for doing it gratuitously and for having no real content at all.

SPOILER COMING

Can be summarised as; Girl and 2 guys (1 boy friend, 1 admirer) go to a party. Girl gets pissed off and starts home alone. Gets raped and beaten into a coma in a subway (not pleasent) BF and A go in pursuit of rapist and track him down to a very seedy gay club. BF gets arm broken by rapist. A beats rapist to death with fire canister thingy. Edit scenes to show backwards. Claim art movie status. Wank.

The version we saw was definitely cut, but assuming that the cuts were the harsher shagging / rape scenes and not actual content then it just goes to cement my opinion of this piece of sputum further.

Blow up; very good 70's London movie about conceited pro photographer and his exploration of one of his photographs. Main dissapointment is (young) Venessa Redgrave getting her tits out but conspicuously NOT letting the camera have a full view of her Jublies. Stiff upper lip brit conservatism exonerated by later by later beaver shot of young model hopeful types that our hero is "interviewing" so one can only blame VR's agent / prudish nature.

Les Triplettes De Bellville; Top animation, although too short (1 hour 10 mins) Stylistically excellent in ways that only the French seem to be capable of. Almost no dialogue at all. Good, cause it's in french. LOTS of frog eating and dogs barking at trains. Watch if you value life.

Spiderman; Still excellent. Version 1 suit scene still one of the most amusing cinematic moments of all time.

That's all for now, I have to go and shower the salt off my bones and get back to site for the night time inspection (they do this to torture me.)

Bomber out