Idris Elba has just won Best Actor for a miniseries at the 2012 Golden Globes, and coincidentally, we started watching the series on Netflix just the day before. Watch it – even if cop series aren’t your thing, you will enjoy this!
It’s addictive, and even though it delves into the darkest side of human behavior (blood-sucking murderers, creepy cabbies, marital affairs – you get the idea); Luther strangely enough, is the first thing to make me miss London since leaving there. Props to the three cinematographers – Julian Court, Giulio Biccari, and Tim Fleming (credited on IMDB). It makes the city look positively wonderful.
The Simpsons much anticipated episode featuring New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo Flight Of The Conchords has just screened in America. “Elementary School Musical” had The Simpsons writers channeling their scathing satirical genius toward musical tv shows – and appropriately had Bret and Jemaine take the piss out of their own musical-comedy schtick, as well as the cast of Glee on hand to get the message across. Lisa goes to Art Camp…
Aloe Blacc intros what has to be probably the best part of this new HBO series, the soundtrack, with what might just be his finest tune yet, I Need a Dollar. With that and Mayer Hawthorne, the guys at Stones Throw must be feeling pretty good these days!
How to Make it in America is a new comedy offering from the producers of Entourage (which I LOVE). This one is set in Manhattan (and other bits probably in Williamsburg) with a couple of man-boys trying to make it in the world of premium denim/street wear. They’re hustlers, hopeless, but kind of endearing. There’s also the token nerd-guy and tough Hispanic uncle just out of prison. I’m only 4 episodes into the first season, it’s full of hipster parties, skating and street art – but it’s entertaining.
It’s no Entourage, but the soundtrack (Phoenix, Broken Bells, Otis Redding, Sharon Jones, Talib Kweli etc etc…) I have to say is brilliant!
It’s a good time for producer-types in Australia. The ABC are looking for multimedia producers to work on an exciting new project that aims to engage audiences across regional Australia over all platforms: tv, radio, online and mobile. Read more about it and apply here. Deadline is the 5th March.
I’ve been in Sydney all week and a lot of this time has been spent hanging out with my 8 year old nephew, Alvin J. At the moment he’s right into these skate movies from the 80s – the Bones Brigade series. Created by the legendary (in skate circles, at least) Powell-Peralta, these films feature an all star skater lineup – Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill & Lance Mountain.
I haven’t really watched skate movies since I was a teenager trying to mooch in on my brother and his mates, but watching these movies now is hilarious – great skating, brilliant soundtrack, silly acting & plotlines but it’s all so much more laid back and less commercial than the skate movies (and games) out there today.
Watch the entire Bones Brigade: Search for Animal Chin online here
I recently watched the Ramones documentary ‘End of the Century’ and it’s brilliant. The band has had more lives than I realised – from their early days as awkward angsty Queens boys playing at CBGBs they went on to record 5 albums, toured relentlessly around the world for over 20 years, made THAT rock & roll high school movie & then their last album was produced by the infamous nutty producer, Phil Spector.
After watching the film, it’s also very clear just how different each of the members of the band were, and what the dynamic of the band was. I get it that Johnny and Joey had different political views (I always liked Joey the best) but add bipolar disordered Dee Dee to the mix and the mayhem is totally understandable now! Dee Dee might just be my favorite now – especially since he diverged into rap for a brief, hilarious moment as Dee Dee King.
I read in the papers on the weekend that Microsoft were teaming up with Family Guy to create a one-off “Almost Live Comedy Show” special to promote the new Windows 7. It’s now Tuesday and I’ve just read on Variety that the deal is off over ‘content concerns’; content that included typical “Family Guy”-style jokes, including riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.
“We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of ‘Family Guy,’ but after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand,” said a Microsoft spokeswoman.
Umm.. just what exactly were they expecting in the first place??
bloody hell. i’d just come back to london from a week (holidaying?) in russia and sat down at my desk at work and thought “how the hell do I do this work thing again?!”. I’d arrived late, forgotten the password to my pc, realised i’d left heaps unfinished before i’d gone and somewhere in there was a bit of jetlag.
but, i got a great big cup of coffee, said hello and gave the headlines of my trip to the people closest to me, then settled in with my giant headphones on and opened up safari to find something to listen to on the BBC iPlayer while i got stuck into doing some work. I came across a Gilles Peterson show featuring a special Floating Points live session, recorded at the BBC studios in Maida Vale.
Oh. My. Gosh. it is brilliant. You can hear some bits of it on his myspace page, but I seriously hope this gets a proper release as it’s just about the best thing i’ve heard all year. dude is a genius.
and I had a moment of real pride for where I work.
