Happy Face

Have you seen Iron Monkey? More wire work in it, but it's a classic.

The French Connection and Serpico A New York cop double bill. I did like French Connection but Serpico was vastly superior. Only made 2 years later it doesn't have half of the action, the violence or the tension but it has a level of realism French Connection only claims to have. Looking up what each film won it's no surprise to see that FC cleared up at the oscars while Serpico won nothing. Both portray cops in a bad light, but while FC ends bleakly it still says they get the job done, that cops are essentially good people who move hell and high water to get the job done at a massive cost to their own lives. Serpico ends on a more positive note but is far more scathing of the entire force throughout the whole film. It's a far more depressing notion that the force is thoroughly corrupt. Hackman won the oscar as an officer using dubious methods to get the job done. He's excellent at it. His inner struggle with mistakes of the past and his determination not to repeat the mistakes, to prove his worth. The pain masked by indulgence in drink and women. It's all pitched perfectly. But Pacino's Serpico is a cut above. It's probably an easier role to play with a far more clearly defined arc. He starts as a rookie and goes through years of frustration which he fights at the cost of long term relationships. He has time to become more and more disillusioned. But saying that, Pacino hits every note spot on. Squeaky Al was always better than shouty Al.

Scorsese's having a go at remaking it so we'll see.

The Birds - If there's a better film about the female orgasm, I'm yet to see it. Princess Raccoon - Quite possibly the worst film about the forbidden love between a man and a raccoon that I've ever seen.

Hovering and hovering and hovering on Hovering and hovering and hovering on I'm a hovering and hovering and hovering on Hovering and hovering and hovering on Good man!

Class. First cd single I bought.

Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening. The new one. It's very good. I like it. I like it a lot. I'm only up to track 2 like.

i can remember going to the local shop when i was a wee nipper and buying a 5p mixup. you'd get 10 sweeties! 162592[/snapback] Only really pertinent if you got 25 sweeties though.

I had this old bag in front of me at B&Q the other night who was buying a single 2 inch screw. 32p it was, so she rummages around in her purse for the right money until about 5 minutes later it dawns on her that as a pensioner she's got a discount card. Cue 5 more minutes of her hunting that out. For the sake of a 10% reduction on 30p, 3 fucking pence!! I was going fucking mental behind her. In the end I said I'd treat the old dear and told her to spend the money on a packet of werthers originals.

I always thought it was to force the person serving you to ring it through the till to get change. Otherwise they could pocket a round number. People rarely have the exact amount when it's £x.99 Might be wrong like.

The Great Yokai War Most of you will know Takashi Miike as the bloke that directed Audition or Ichi the Killer. Some will know his other great films like The Happiness of the Katakuris, The City of Lost Souls, D.O.A., The Bird People in China, Gozu, Visitor Q or Shinjiku Triad Society. All of these have a theme of violence that make them great fun to watch but very much adult only. The Great Yokai War is meant to be for kids, but to be honest, I can't see much difference between this and Gozu other than the lead character is a pre-teen. I'll go through what I can remember with and warn you now, there are spoilers. But I've seen the film and don't know what I watched so don't let that worry you. First of all there was this fresh born humanoid cow covered in blood that's VERY disturbing and it's telling the farmer about how a war is coming. Nowt to do with the rest of the film just freaks the shit out of you (and your bairns). So the main character is this young lad, ten, eleven, something like that. And he's soft as shite, gets bullied and has no mates. His mam and dad are dead and his older sister has pissed off to Tokyo for a bloke. He's been left in the care of his grandad who's senile and thinks his grandson is his dead son. Anyway this lad goes to a village festival and a dragon bites him on the head to anoint him as the chosen one. When he tells his senile granddad this, his granddad says he has to go to the mountains and retrieve the goblin sword because that's what the chosen kid does. Intercut with this is the story of some evil fella who's got a sidekick that looks like Christina Aguilera. And she’s gobbing acid all over these people that look like thundercats. When they're really pissed off and hate her guts, she hoys them in a machine full of red spunky glob and they turn into hate filled machines of carnage that are sent into Japan to wreak bloody havoc. Now the young lad starts seeing this little guinea pig or something that no-one else can see. It was the only survivor when one of the nasty machines described earlier ate a herd of guinea pigs. But it’s wounded, so the lad takes it home bandages it up and has a new mate. He spends many a happy hour walking around town with his guinea pig friend on his head. For the rest of the film, if the guinea pig is with the lad, he’s on his head, they’re that close. Only problem is his Granddad has gone missing. So he takes his new mate up the goblin mountain to find his granddad. But when he gets there he meets a woman with a stretchy neck who trips him over with her neck. He sees a door but the door turns into a load of eyes that look back at him. He manages to open the door, but outside the sky is a wifey’s head. The lad is scared shitless (as am I) and runs away, but his granddad is calling him so he conquers his fear and goes back to fight. Turns out that was just a test though. And no-one wants to fight. They just want the anointed one to help them out. He’s proved he is said individual so he’s in. Now Christina Aguilera turns up with a few of her machines. Did I mention she’s got a beehive hairdo? She grabs the guinea pig and shoves him in a microwave. The lad grabs the goblin sword and tries to fight back, but he’s canny shit. The sword gets broke and Christina and her machines bugger off with the guinea pig in the microwave. So the lad is left with the people who were testing him. They consist of a red fella who’s hair stands up when danger is close, a half man half turtle with a crap shell, a ball of flame and a damp bint who spends her time saving people that drown. This rag tag collection needs help in getting back the guinea pig so they ask all their mates. These include a wall, an umbrella, and a bloke who counts beans. The only bloke that agrees to help is the bean counter, though his only skill is counting beans. So off they go to find Christina and her evil master and the guinea pig in the microwave and the machines. To get there they hang onto the wing of a Boeing 747. This is taking too long. When they get there (wherever there is) the young un kicks seven shades of shit out of loads of the machines because his sword was reforged by a 1 legged thundercat. But there’s too many, so he leaves the turtle and the red fella to fight on. He takes the soggy bint with him and the bean counter drops his beans and has to find them all. When he finds Christina Aguilera, she’s taken his guinea pig out of the microwave and put it in the red goo. So the young lad has to slice the shit out of his guinea pig turned evil fighting machine mate. He annihilates him, but then cries on him so he comes back to life but is pissing blood all over the shop. Christina Aguilera loves her evil boss so he says to her lets both jump in the goo, be a proper evil machine and rule together, but the goo works on hate, so when she agrees he stabs her. So she hates him more than anything so he jumps in expecting to be the nastiest machine ever, but the bean counter has just found his last bean and by a massive contrivance has thrown it into the goo at EXACTLY the same time. Since the bean counter loves his bean more than anything, it has the opposite effect in the goo, rather than an evil machine, the bean of love causes a massive love explosion that sends the turtle into space. Years later the kid is at home and his granddad is dead. The guinea pig is there, but the grown up kid can’t see him anymore because he’s lost the ability. He doesn’t believe anymore you see, so the evil fella looks like he could come back. I’ve never grinned through a film so much in my whole life. Hugely entertaining and highly recommended.

Sorry to be such a nerd, but that's EXACTLY the spot from Vertigo!! Fantastic. well done.

Biology was a class song.

I like Julia Fullerton-Batten. Not a friend though.

If you liked Kid A/Amnesiac you'll love it. I wasn't too keen on them. 161282[/snapback] I see where you're coming from but I love those 2 and I'm not that keen on this one. Without Jonny Greenwood he's been able to run away with his processed beats and discard the guitar altogether.

A few from Borlin... And of the view from my jammy mates living room....

Some of you want to enter this.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4773297.stm

This year nominees are out... Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas Editors - The Back Room Guillemots - Through The Windowpane Richard Hawley - Coles Corner Hot Chip - The Warning Muse - Black Holes And Revelations Zoe Rahman - Melting Pot Lou Rhodes - Beloved One Scritti Politti - White Bread, Black Beer Sway - This Is My Demo Thom Yorke - The Eraser Isobell Campbell or Sway methinks.

But...that's not RAWK!

Still listening to this. I have to say it's class. That Night is supoib, a Can You Feel It style beat with motown style backing and a rap as smooth as velvet.

Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having

Govinda jaya jaya. gopalla jaya jaya. ramada rana haya. gopolla jaya jaya. Class.

Spot on

Do you play a lot of guitar? 159789[/snapback] Just the one. I can't hold more than that.

Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.