A simply brilliantly edited trailer to a scarily perfect song choice. My interest in seeing Oliver Stone’s W. just spiked massively. Will be very interested to hear the U.S. criticial response before it’s unconfirmed Australian opening before the end of the year.
Even in the short glimpses of the trailer, how good does Brolin look?
The aforementioned very mellow reinvention of The Church’s ‘Under The Milky Way’ by Bobby Flynn. It’s a shame I couldn’t find a live version on YT, because that slinky seductive bridge is a joy to watch performed.
Bit late to post on this, but I saw Bobby Flynn last Tuesday night at one of Sydney’s best live music venues, The Basement. He’s touring to promote his new album, ‘Out Front’. I don’t have the album yet, but it’s definitely on my next-to-buy list, particularly after the great show he put on for the crowded yet still intimate Basement.
I can’t post a set list due to my unfamiliarity with his newer songs, but a few highlights of the night included his cover of ‘Under The Milky Way’ (today’s Song of the Day) and his original ‘The Boy Had Trouble’. Bobby has such a fearless and passionate way of delivering of his songs, and his inventive arrangement of material adds new depth to familiar favourites. His backing band, The Omega Three (consisting of five members, which I love) were also excellent, colouring the set with jazz-tinged percussion and instrumental flourishes.
I still think he’s the best thing to emerge from Australian Idol so far, and hope that his fan base will expand beyond people who know him as “that guy on Idol”. He deserves it.
This is just brilliant…. I never realised that one of my all time favourite viral vids, the black guy who attempts the backflip with nunchucks, was only one of many apparently auditioning for action movie glory. My second favourite in this collection is the guy with the prop apple who doesn’t quite deliver on his promise of a mind-blowing move.
And boy, these guys are cut, huh? If a good martial artist treats his body as a temple, I think most of these guys are treating theirs like a dumpster.
Very, very excited about this…. what is the August Magnificent you ask? Keep an eye on this page in the coming weeks to unravel the mystery:
Time to launch a new category of posts I’m calling Grizzly Adam, where I can rant about something that is driving me nuts…. my first topic has been on the boil for a long time: Concert Photography.
I think it’s time we established new rules at concert venues: each person can use their camera or cameraphone for a maximum duration of 30 seconds, at which time they need to holster that sucker for at least ten minutes. This needs to be done to address the mindless camera zombies who stand for an entire concert with their arm stretched over their head in order to snap 300 horrible photos, 1 semi-decent photo, and hours of blurry, jittery footage that is going straight onto Youtube for no-one but themselves to look at (I know if I’m searching for Youtube footage I immediately skip over all the preview frames that look like the Zapruder footage).
We’ve become a society so obsessed with capturing the moment in grainy glory that we are forgetting to appreciate it while it is happening. I blame the digital age. Now that digital memory is so cheap, people think nothing of shooting 500 photos in a night (and if only 5 of them turn out to be good, well, who cares!). Do you think there’s many people shooting film at these concerts?
Yes, I understand the irony of this photo….
Now I know in the past I’ve been just as guilty as those whom I am pointing the finger at. But I’ve changed. I now consciously try to limit my photography to less than a dozen pics during the concert. I know I’m not going to get photos anywhere near as good as Daniel Boud, so I don’t try. Plus, I paid good money to go see a concert, I really should be present for it and not worrying about whether or not I am on the right low light setting or if my close up is going to be in focus.
I’m also not talking about the semi-pro photographers / bloggers (like my lovely wife or Wayne @ Oceansneverlisten.blogspot.com). These people have pro quality cameras, try to keep out the other concert-goers way, are generally pretty considerate about taking their photos, and are using their photos to tell a story about the gig. I’m talking about the cretins who have to have the camera running when their favourite song is being played, even if they spend most of the time with one eye on the glowing LCD screen; the same LCD screen that joins with all the others to form a see of LCD candles that, unlike the atmospheric, candle-like cigarette lighters of old, only serves to detract people’s eyes from the stage.
I don’t know how I am going to convince these camera zombies to follow my lead though. As I said earlier, it’s not about NOT taking photos. I like to capture a few frames of the concert for the day when my memory has been totally erased by alcohol. But to stand through the whole concert with your arm up in front of the person behind you is just bloody rude.
From his underappreciated solo album ‘Some Devil’, Dave Matthews with ‘Oh’:
Dave is one of my favourite artists to watch perform. He really makes his guitar talk and his vocal range stretches from blistering jams to tender, intimate ballads like the one above.
Love that simile in ‘Oh’, “like a kid loves candy and fresh snow.” Sometimes love is just that simple and sweet.
Ever wanted to get to know Will Ferrell better?? Here’s your chance, as he answers the tough questions from his online fans:
Just finished watching Fleetwood Mac: The Dance DVD for the first time. This song was a surprise stand-out, featuring the same classically inspired guitar that makes the live Buckingham version of ‘Big Love’ so amazing.
Wow. Long live the Mac.
This one made me laugh out loud….. the accompanying picture looks scarily like my work space (kidding!).
While we’re on The Onion, here’s an example of the fantastic journalism done by the hard hitters at the Onion News Network, now available on Youtube.