I ticked the wrong box

Ah, the Japanese. Great electronics, crazy english translation, even crazier movies – well, that’s not usually true, but Battle Royale is certainly one of the crazier Japanese movies I’ve seen. It has more blood that Zatoichi, and it certainly more Japanese (although that’s an odd comment, given Zatoichi was about a Samurai – hmmm), Anyway, I enjoyed this movie – it’s certainly action packed. The only part which annoyed me a bit is some of the dialogue – it’s very stereotypical of what I would expect Japanese early teen conversation to be – but I guess the movie is about Japanese teens. Maybe I was expecting too much in the dialogue front – or perhaps it was a case of engrish on the translation. Anyway, I liked it.

And now there’s only 46 left on the list.

…It’s new to me. Given the recent hype because of the movie, and the fact that a couple of my friends are really into him, I thought I should check out Johnny Cash. In my usual style, I’ve gone way overboard. I’ve got hold of the following albums.

American 3
American 4
American Recordings
At Folsom Prison
At San Quentin
Love, God, Murder [2cd]
Man In Black (54-58) [5cd]
Man In Black (59-62) [5cd]
Unchained
Unearthed [5cd]

So, I’m going to be all cashed out at the end of this I suspect. I’ve listened to American 3 so far. I give it a 3/5. One and Won’t Back Down are the best tracks there IMHO.

I used to be a massive fan of Concord Dawn. The hard, industrial feeling dnb that they used to churn out. This album is not to my tastes. It’s alright, but it’s not great. My favourite track is Say Your Words (and only the 2nd half of it – that’s the hard type of dnb I like). I give the rest of the album a “so so” rating. Apart from Say Your Words, the other tracks I thought were OK were Breathe, Broken Eyes, Blow, Never Give Up On Love and Don’t Have To Run.

So, I’d say if you’re a fan of the older Concord Dawn, I wouldn’t recommend this album to you. If you like Shapeshifter, or that general friendlier dnb – smoother, more rolling – then I’d say give it a listen.

Good movie. Yet again, I got to go to a preview before official release in New Zealand through a guy at work (his partner is the Marketing Manager [or something] for Village Roadshow – so I often get free tix to sneak previews). I really did enjoy this. It’s got some cool special effects, I like the concept of the story (deep down I’m sure there’s a conspiracy theorist/activist in me somewhere), and of course, it’s got Natalie Portman in it.

I watched Last Days and The Dinner Game (aka Le Dîner de cons).

Last Days was the most boring movie I’ve ever watched. Most boring EVER. Boring. I was so bored.

The Dinner Game was much better. I watched the french with english subtitles version. It was a bit of a cheesy comedy, but clever cheesy. I really enjoyed it actually.

Jenna claims that she didn’t add Last Days to the list, that it was an addition from me. Perhaps that’s right. I can’t blame her for wasting 97 minutes of my life.

Very clever movie. I enjoyed it, but only for the concept of the movie, and the cleverness that was used in unfolding what the movie was actually about.

This is a fantastic album. If you are a fan of postal service, then it’s highly likely you will love this too. I think I have a new addition to my favourite bands.

Good stuff on this vinyl. The reason why I got a set of Dntel is because the guy collaborated with another guy for “The Postal Service”, whom I absolutely love. I think the story goes that the Dntel guy did the tracks, and the other guy did the vocals – or perhaps the other way around. Anyway, Vynalogica 1 is pretty good. The 2nd track features vocals, the 3rd is relatively experimental – but very good. It reminds me a bit of Mum or Boards of Canada in places, and the vocal track is quite Postal Service.

Recommended.

This vinyl is essentially the single track “Love Generation”. It fantastic. I haven’t rated this 5 because of the relatively boring b-side remix of Love Generation by Mugwump. Not so impressive. But get this just for the a-side. Top.

…only 3 stars from me. The album just didn’t gel with me like I expected it to. I haven’t listened to any of Isobel Campbell’s music outside of B&S, and I guess I was perhaps expecting something different.

The music coupled with Mark Lanegans vocals struck me as very Nick Cave-esque. It could have just been because they have similar voices.

Anyway, I didn’t find anything particularly exciting about this album. I’m going to listen to it a couple more time though, to give it a fair go. I really do want to enjoy Isobels music.