warwarwaronmusic

So two war films in a row the 'gloriously-grime-blood-soaked and muddy Fury http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2713180/ – the inside of a tank with Brad Pitt – the sound is remarkable - wonderful but alongside the usual madness and futility of war it’s a little wearing. American Sniper http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 - feels on reflection initially like an advert for military action - anywhere - just let me at em! – very Gung Ho with shot after shot of heads and bodies exploding under the waving American flag but I think it’s more nuanced – leaving you with many questions and lots of grey area.

Meanwhile http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/jan/29/aphex-twin-soundcloud-dump-shock-and-delight a little late but I’m busy wading through the 100 or so tracks that Aphex Twin has downloaded to soundcloud – most excellent https://soundcloud.com/user48736353001 so far vocoder disco has caught my ear?

filmsforallespsideburns

Spoken about in the same breath as The Big Lebowski http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/ Inherent Vice http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1791528/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 is the latest potential-in-waiting-late-night-stoner-cult- film. Its laugh out loud with lots of WTF moments supported by the most excellent facial hair from Joaquin Phoenix with a special mention for Hong Chau as Jade http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001618/?ref_=tt_cl_t3  at the Pussy shack – check out the menu! The brooding A Most Violent Year http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2937898/ is a dark ‘Roth like’ slice of 80s New York.  The threatening tone is underscored by a dark and menacing soundtrack.

oldschoolnewpain

I’ve spent rather too much time recently watching/listening to old school mixing – DJ Q Bert and Mix Master Mike on the other hand Star Wars DJ Imperial March (Full Set) - Skratch Bastid is so wonderfully geekout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgpZag6xyQ but there is always DJ Juicy and her infectious 4 deck CD mixing!!!!   A film made by a bored genius – just watched Room 237 http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi930916121 a film that presents the many theories and ideas connected to the Shining – I love the idea of playing the film overlaid simultaneously forward and backwards - most excellent – after just watching 2001 I now have to re-visit The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut with an eye to post modern film criticism – looking forward to my point of view being altered by study. A reminder that what one is studying is altered by the act of that same studying. The imitation game  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/ leaves one feeling a little bereft – but glad that the world has moved on a little, although I feel that the police ‘got off’ a little lightly in theirdepiction. Benedict Cumberbatch really is a most excellent actor, able to gather together all the pain and exhaustion of what it is to be ‘different’ and hold us in the suspended state of cinema. Whiplash – OMG - brutal – you will be left exhausted. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/

trainkillerteaching

I've become slightly obsessed with Killer Mike and his old school sound.

Why is the Norwich – London train service so bad? If I hear again that the train I am on is delayed because of a slow running train ahead of us... all 4 (5 if you count the one that broke
down) trains that I travelled on Tuesday were delayed or stopped working – a great start to the years commuting. The contrast with French trains is startling.

Well – a most excellent couple of days essentially spent chairing great conversations – NUA was 2 group crits with all of year 3 focusing on the 19 weeks left and Camberwell was a midpoint review where an individual’s work is analysed without their engagement in the

conversation. Although it’s a wonderfully honest formative session it is a really brutal experience, listening and watching the group discuss your work in ways that might never of being intended. The rambling (a good thing) eclectic nature of the experience throws up all sorts of ideas as the conversation takes in the possible and the improbable alongside the impossible and the practical - which leads to sometimes poetic notes – today’s favourites are tools for contemplation, sculptural luggage, science religion magic gets you science
fiction, a hint of the municipal, relaxing pastels, dark-lite and “there’s something quite clever about how exciting it is”. My job really is the best.

seedsofimmersion

first day back after the break – a couple of good sessions with year 3 students at NUA - starting the briefing for their final unit and then the draft learning agreement workshop. there are some good ideas out there and I’m looking forward to seeing the results in 20 weeks time.

meanwhile I got to see 2001 at Aldeburgh cinema last night – quite wonderful - it was great to see the film as a form of seed – informing so much from Start Wars and obviously Moon, Interstellar and Gravity. But also people like Matthew Barney and his Cremaster cycle http://www.cremaster.net/ An oddly immersive film to see is The Congress http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821641/ some of it based on The Futurological Congress by Stanisław Lem but a lot of it from itself! – it’s a little all over the place when watching with some huge linking gaps within the plotline but the film holds your attention enough that the conversation after manages to fill in any gaps, although after reading the plot on imbd I think maybe I missed a bit!

networktrainbook

so three days in the South of France for New Year. blue skies, sun and -5 with good friends, food, and drink. Most of the time was spent hanging out at imprints new base in Crest http://www.imprints-galerie.com/ . The wonderful Euro Star and French trains in general (clean, on time, restaurant cars, plug sockets and an ice bucket in the bar) gave me the chance to catch up on a couple of books – Failure - http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/failure a fantastic manual of how to think about making work and Off the network disrupting the digital world - https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/off-the-network - its powerful stuff – it critiques how the Internet and the digital network changes users understanding of the world.