Well, where to begin? I'm going to start by making my feelings on this movie clear. "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" is truly the most awful film in the history of cinema. Seriously this offends me more than Nazi Propaganda film "The Triumph of the Will." At least that had some interesting camera angles and what-not.
There were several things that annoyed the hell out of me with this film. First was the utter lack of any kind of humour at all, despite the fact that this is a "comedy" film. All the "characters" (that are taken straight from "The Big Book of Cool Teen cliche", but more on that later) think they're being funny by standing around referencing video-games and saying "awesome" a lot.
Next on the list was the way in which the movie was obviously cynically concieved to appeal to what 40 year old marketing execs think of as the "Trendy, late teens/early 20s" market. "Ooh, we play video games, we have funky haircuts, we are all 'nerdy', we have entire outfits from 'hot topic', we all play in indie bands that are self-referential in a totally ironic way!!! AWESOME!!!" And before you call me a miserly old geezer, I am an 18 year old, rock and metal loving, nerd. The "geek-chic" references are THAT irritating and obvious...
Another thing that irritated me about this movie was the fact that Michael Cera, a fine comic actor, has lent his name to this hard-hearted, cynical attempt to squeeze yet more money from the oh-so-ironic indie kid generation.
To summarise, I highly recommend that you don't see this film! For the price of the movie ticket, you could have a couple of pints with mates. This was the first film I have ever walked out of and I went to see Valkyrie!!!
Monday 30 August 2010
Thursday 26 August 2010
Deutschland, ich liebe dich!
Been studying German a fair bit lately. I really love Europe and European language and culture but German is just... I dunno, just seems to be such a wonderful culutre and the language is very beautiful I think. I was actually thinking that if, for whatever reason, I can't pursue a degree in history, it'd be really cool to do a German degree! What could be better than learning about my favourite language and culture! I know it seems strange to say so having never been there (indeed, having never actually been abroad!) but I feel an affinity with Germany very deeply!
I'd actually love so much to end up emigrating to Germany, especially Berlin. There's so much to love about that city: The history, the art, the great melting pot of cultutres, the lingering dfferences between East and West. Also, Berlin seems to be a centre for a modern, liberal zeitgeist. The Paris of central Europe.
The best part is, emigrating to Germany doesn't seem too expensive! A decent sized flat in Berlin only costs about £25,000 to BUY! That's mental!
I really do wish people would stop attatching all these cartoonish stereotypes to Germany: a nation of sausage-eating, beer-drinkng Nazis. From what little I have learned of German culure, it is a vibrant, modern, wonderrful one, easily capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with any other country. Give Germany a chance and you may fall in love with it just as I have!
I'd actually love so much to end up emigrating to Germany, especially Berlin. There's so much to love about that city: The history, the art, the great melting pot of cultutres, the lingering dfferences between East and West. Also, Berlin seems to be a centre for a modern, liberal zeitgeist. The Paris of central Europe.
The best part is, emigrating to Germany doesn't seem too expensive! A decent sized flat in Berlin only costs about £25,000 to BUY! That's mental!
I really do wish people would stop attatching all these cartoonish stereotypes to Germany: a nation of sausage-eating, beer-drinkng Nazis. From what little I have learned of German culure, it is a vibrant, modern, wonderrful one, easily capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with any other country. Give Germany a chance and you may fall in love with it just as I have!
Saturday 21 August 2010
"I'm a personality-ness, moronic leech! LOL!!!"
So I watched "Young, Dumb and living off mum" yesterday... That was a fun experience! For any of you who don't know, the premise of the show is to take a bunch of idiotic, spoiled cunts, sorry, precious little darlings, and take them away from Mummy and Daddy, making them live off the dole like many unemployed 20-something's and setting them a bunch of challenges to try and teach them to be adults.
The premise, I have no problem with, sounds alright innit? But the people... Christ I'm actually shuddering in horror at the mere thought... As I caught on quite late there are only a few left (one is sent home every week) and they are, honestly, the most disgusting, vile creatures I've ever seen. Like, I'd actually rather be fucked by a gorilla then hang out with Hitler than talk to these people. One of them, Levi (my personal least favourite), actually still gets baths from is mother at age 20. Yes. I'll allow you to absorb that information for a minute... Done? Good. Another one, Iman, daughter of a rich businessman, pretended to her parents tat she was going to college for 5 months (she failed her all her exams) just to get the train fares off her dad so she could have nights out with it.
These wankers, sorry, sweet ickle babies, have had every whim indulged for so long they have literally no sense of how the world works. Democracy, something people have fought and died for, proved a bit much for Iman who shrugged and said "I dunno what democracy is, yeah?" Also, when showed a pictures of the house of commons she asked "Is this where the pope goes?" They have no sense of duty or pride and no sense of work. One baby faced little pile of arse gravy moaned after one day's work "but why do people wanna work?" I nearly cried... Your personality is shaped through experience of the world and through work and adversity, meaning these people have zero personality beyond consumption. One should have a catch-phrase; "I'm a personality-less, moronic leech! LOL!!!" Catchy, isn't it?
The parents though are the worst of the bunch. Obviously it's their fault their kids are like this as they just kept indulging them, like Britain indulges America (Ooh, satirical. Yeeeah...). When showed videos of their kids, instead of all agreeing that every single child is horrible, they often just argue that their child was the best and the other ones were the bad ones. They're all just as bad as each other!!! They're all so afraid to treat their kids like adults and not babies. I expect that when they go home (the parents), they build a little shrine to their child and start rubbing their kid's baby clothes all over themselves moaning "Ah, fuck yeah..."
Don't quote me on that though...
Anyway, this show is fairly entertaining, yeah, but if you're a cynical bastard like me, you'll watch it and be quietly weeping on the sofa at the obviously doomed future of our world and at the way society is now that it could create such evil freaks in the first place.
PS. Good idea for spin off show: we follow the kids 60 years in the future and call the show "Old, incontinent and living off the kids."
The premise, I have no problem with, sounds alright innit? But the people... Christ I'm actually shuddering in horror at the mere thought... As I caught on quite late there are only a few left (one is sent home every week) and they are, honestly, the most disgusting, vile creatures I've ever seen. Like, I'd actually rather be fucked by a gorilla then hang out with Hitler than talk to these people. One of them, Levi (my personal least favourite), actually still gets baths from is mother at age 20. Yes. I'll allow you to absorb that information for a minute... Done? Good. Another one, Iman, daughter of a rich businessman, pretended to her parents tat she was going to college for 5 months (she failed her all her exams) just to get the train fares off her dad so she could have nights out with it.
These wankers, sorry, sweet ickle babies, have had every whim indulged for so long they have literally no sense of how the world works. Democracy, something people have fought and died for, proved a bit much for Iman who shrugged and said "I dunno what democracy is, yeah?" Also, when showed a pictures of the house of commons she asked "Is this where the pope goes?" They have no sense of duty or pride and no sense of work. One baby faced little pile of arse gravy moaned after one day's work "but why do people wanna work?" I nearly cried... Your personality is shaped through experience of the world and through work and adversity, meaning these people have zero personality beyond consumption. One should have a catch-phrase; "I'm a personality-less, moronic leech! LOL!!!" Catchy, isn't it?
The parents though are the worst of the bunch. Obviously it's their fault their kids are like this as they just kept indulging them, like Britain indulges America (Ooh, satirical. Yeeeah...). When showed videos of their kids, instead of all agreeing that every single child is horrible, they often just argue that their child was the best and the other ones were the bad ones. They're all just as bad as each other!!! They're all so afraid to treat their kids like adults and not babies. I expect that when they go home (the parents), they build a little shrine to their child and start rubbing their kid's baby clothes all over themselves moaning "Ah, fuck yeah..."
Don't quote me on that though...
Anyway, this show is fairly entertaining, yeah, but if you're a cynical bastard like me, you'll watch it and be quietly weeping on the sofa at the obviously doomed future of our world and at the way society is now that it could create such evil freaks in the first place.
PS. Good idea for spin off show: we follow the kids 60 years in the future and call the show "Old, incontinent and living off the kids."
Saturday 14 August 2010
Words From The Exit Wound... (Democracy?)
Been thinking a lot about politics (and becoming increasingly pissed off with the state of politics in Britain). There are many things about British politics that need to be questioned. To me, the biggest of these problems is the lack of a proper voting system. We still use an archaic system from a time period where the main political power resided with the un-elected house of Lords, namely, First Past the Post (FPP).
The coalition government talk (incessantly) of the "new politics" they are bringing to Britain (something that seems to happen every election) yet they are reluctant to bring about a full-scale shift from the centuries-old voting system to a modern Proportionally representative system, instead opting to (possibly) change it to the Alternative vote system, which would actually make near enough no change to election results! Because of our unwillingness to follow our European comrades and adopt a more modern way of doing things, we are essentially stuck with a 3 party system that favours two parties over all. The worst part is, these parties are increasingly adopting the same views on all issues (a shameless attempt to increase votes by basically adopting the views of the Sun readership). Because of this, many views in the country are not represented (such as my personal Social-Democratic views.)
People say this is good, we will have no extremist politicians and a more stable government. I say, look at germany (or any other modern european democracy). Despite still having extremist voters, none of these are represented in parliament, while a wide range of views are still taken on board (from socialist to liberal to conservative and several inbetween) and very stable government.
What I'm getting at is that we need to push for Proportional Representation if only to allow ourselves to continue to be called a democracy! Surely it is better for everyone to have a say in the country rather than the 35% - odds who vote for winning parties currently being the leaders of the 65%?
The coalition government talk (incessantly) of the "new politics" they are bringing to Britain (something that seems to happen every election) yet they are reluctant to bring about a full-scale shift from the centuries-old voting system to a modern Proportionally representative system, instead opting to (possibly) change it to the Alternative vote system, which would actually make near enough no change to election results! Because of our unwillingness to follow our European comrades and adopt a more modern way of doing things, we are essentially stuck with a 3 party system that favours two parties over all. The worst part is, these parties are increasingly adopting the same views on all issues (a shameless attempt to increase votes by basically adopting the views of the Sun readership). Because of this, many views in the country are not represented (such as my personal Social-Democratic views.)
People say this is good, we will have no extremist politicians and a more stable government. I say, look at germany (or any other modern european democracy). Despite still having extremist voters, none of these are represented in parliament, while a wide range of views are still taken on board (from socialist to liberal to conservative and several inbetween) and very stable government.
What I'm getting at is that we need to push for Proportional Representation if only to allow ourselves to continue to be called a democracy! Surely it is better for everyone to have a say in the country rather than the 35% - odds who vote for winning parties currently being the leaders of the 65%?
Thursday 12 August 2010
There's no such things as religions...
I read an interesting article in which Richard Dawkins attacks faith schools as "child abuse" and it got me thinking about my own attitude towards religion. It must be noted that I used to dislike Dawkins for his zealous, evangelical atheism and adopted a "live-and-let-live" view towards religion but in the past few years, I have placed myself squarely in the camp of actively deriding religion and attacking it (through verbal action, of course. I wouldn't be a very good pacifist if I physically assaulted religious people!).
There were always two major problems for me: The lack of any evidence whatsoever to suggest any kind of divine existence (and the way that people say that "faith is all about believing against all odds. Sounds a lot like self-inflicted ignorance to me!) and the utter hypocrisy of religion. A good example I always use of religious hypocrisy is the story of Judas. Judas is presented as a villain for his role in the death of Christ. However, if God planned the death of Jesus all along, surely Judas should be revered as an instrument of God's will and responsible for bringing his plan to fruition? This can be set in a wider Biblical context too: The church and religious-affiliated schools always place emphasis on the idea that we humans were created with free will and that God cannot influence our thoughts and emotions. However, God is also said to be omnipotent and have a "plan" for us all. How can it fit together that we have control over our own lives yet God has already planned the route of our destinies before we were born? The idea that humans have free will from God was probably just invented to explain away why some perfectly agreeable people chose not to follow the Christian faith.
On the subject of faith schools, I have nothing positive to say about them. Having gone to Catholic school myself, it scared and confused me as a young child, learning that if we sinned we would be terribly punished yet God was supposedly benevolent? I tried desperately, in the wake of my own realisation of religion's absurdity, to cling onto the beliefs drilled into me at school right up until age 12. It was through fear that I did this. Fear that I would go to hell for not believing. Faith schools propagate terror to children.
As well as this, they actively promote ignorance if it aids their religious cause. When we learned about the creation of the world in primary school, we were taught that God made everything and that the world was "designed" by his hand. When a student said they had been told that the world was made by a "Big Bang," the teacher dismissively said "well God did that."
I guess this point of this post comes down to this. Do we want to live in a world where science, reason and tolerance are buried underneath mysticism, propaganda and ignorance in the minds of the religious? Or do we want to live in a world where the shackles are torn from their minds and we all think for ourselves?
There were always two major problems for me: The lack of any evidence whatsoever to suggest any kind of divine existence (and the way that people say that "faith is all about believing against all odds. Sounds a lot like self-inflicted ignorance to me!) and the utter hypocrisy of religion. A good example I always use of religious hypocrisy is the story of Judas. Judas is presented as a villain for his role in the death of Christ. However, if God planned the death of Jesus all along, surely Judas should be revered as an instrument of God's will and responsible for bringing his plan to fruition? This can be set in a wider Biblical context too: The church and religious-affiliated schools always place emphasis on the idea that we humans were created with free will and that God cannot influence our thoughts and emotions. However, God is also said to be omnipotent and have a "plan" for us all. How can it fit together that we have control over our own lives yet God has already planned the route of our destinies before we were born? The idea that humans have free will from God was probably just invented to explain away why some perfectly agreeable people chose not to follow the Christian faith.
On the subject of faith schools, I have nothing positive to say about them. Having gone to Catholic school myself, it scared and confused me as a young child, learning that if we sinned we would be terribly punished yet God was supposedly benevolent? I tried desperately, in the wake of my own realisation of religion's absurdity, to cling onto the beliefs drilled into me at school right up until age 12. It was through fear that I did this. Fear that I would go to hell for not believing. Faith schools propagate terror to children.
As well as this, they actively promote ignorance if it aids their religious cause. When we learned about the creation of the world in primary school, we were taught that God made everything and that the world was "designed" by his hand. When a student said they had been told that the world was made by a "Big Bang," the teacher dismissively said "well God did that."
I guess this point of this post comes down to this. Do we want to live in a world where science, reason and tolerance are buried underneath mysticism, propaganda and ignorance in the minds of the religious? Or do we want to live in a world where the shackles are torn from their minds and we all think for ourselves?
Wednesday 11 August 2010
List-y pHUnZ00rS lmao!!!
Probably my 10 favourite albums ever, whaddya think:
Rammstein: Reise, Reise
I'm sorry but this album is just the most genius thing to come from my favourite band ever. How can anyone not listen to the opening title track and not be transported to storm-blasted fishing boat in violent seas. It's mind bogglingly epic! And Stein Um Stein feels, to me, like some violent catharsis (musically that is, the lyrics are pretty creepy but hardly cathartic).
Best Track: "Stein Um Stein"
My Dying Bride: A Line Of Deathless Kings
Love this album so much... It's so gloomy and melancholy and it just ozzes darkness. You can practically smell the wine and warm summer air during "L'amour detruit..."
Best Track: "Thy Raven Wings"
Opeth: Blackwater Park
Got to have Opeth in here. Mikael Akerfeldt is a genius. Like, properly. Listen to it. LISTEN TO IIIIT!!!
Best track: "The Leper Affinity"
Metallica: Metallica
I know a lot of people think this is too "commercial" but this album is soooo heavy! "The God That Failed" has the most brutish riffing of anything recorded by the Big 4 and "The Unforgiven" is an awesome slice of mellow, spaghetti western influenced prog.
Best Track: Hard to choose but... "The Unforgiven"
Slipknot: Iowa
Ah, the album that got me into extreme metal. Mock Slipknot all you will but they were pretty damned extreme considering most kids were listening to Blink 182 and shit. Before I heard this I only listened to Metallica and Guns 'N' Roses! The whole album has this weird, unhinged, bug-eyed intensity that I love!
Best Track: "Left Behind"
Katatonia: The Great Cold Distance
Katatonia are really cool. Dunno if you would even describe them as "metal..." More "Dark Rock." They really create this atmosphere of frailty, despair and futility which I love in music! That's why I love doom metal so much! The lyrics on this album are awesome and worth the price alone...
Best Track: "In the White"
Enslaved: RUUN
Enslaved are a really special band. They move beyond black metal's irritating, pouting and cartoonish "Nihilism" or "Satanism" and create music that transcends genre and becomes an almost spiritual experience. RUUN has amazing examples of this such as "Essence" and "Entroper."
Best Track: "Essence"
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Texas Flood
The Blues is easily one of my favourite styles of music. SRV is my favourite blues guitarist ever, took what Buddy Guy had done and just went crazy with it. SRV was the first music I ever remember hearing and watching his videotapes is my first memory!
Best Track: "Dirty Pool"
Alice In chains: Black Gives Way To Blue
This was actually the first AIC album I bought, which was good as I had no Layne Staley-influenced prejudice towards William Duval and Jerry Cantrell (who actually does lead vocals for most of the album). Anyone who lets that prejudice overcome them is missing out on an album of classy, emotionally powerful hard rock.
Best Track: "Black Gives Way To Blue"
Anathema: Judgement
Actually only got this recently! But even in the short time I've owned it, this album has really moved me and made me just fall in love with it (and Anathema generally). This album still carries a metallic edge and is full of heart-breakingly emotive vocals and deep, brooding and surprisingly blues-y guitars. Stunning...
Best Track: "Deep"
I'm sorry but this album is just the most genius thing to come from my favourite band ever. How can anyone not listen to the opening title track and not be transported to storm-blasted fishing boat in violent seas. It's mind bogglingly epic! And Stein Um Stein feels, to me, like some violent catharsis (musically that is, the lyrics are pretty creepy but hardly cathartic).
Best Track: "Stein Um Stein"
Love this album so much... It's so gloomy and melancholy and it just ozzes darkness. You can practically smell the wine and warm summer air during "L'amour detruit..."
Best Track: "Thy Raven Wings"
Got to have Opeth in here. Mikael Akerfeldt is a genius. Like, properly. Listen to it. LISTEN TO IIIIT!!!
Best track: "The Leper Affinity"
I know a lot of people think this is too "commercial" but this album is soooo heavy! "The God That Failed" has the most brutish riffing of anything recorded by the Big 4 and "The Unforgiven" is an awesome slice of mellow, spaghetti western influenced prog.
Best Track: Hard to choose but... "The Unforgiven"
Ah, the album that got me into extreme metal. Mock Slipknot all you will but they were pretty damned extreme considering most kids were listening to Blink 182 and shit. Before I heard this I only listened to Metallica and Guns 'N' Roses! The whole album has this weird, unhinged, bug-eyed intensity that I love!
Best Track: "Left Behind"
Katatonia are really cool. Dunno if you would even describe them as "metal..." More "Dark Rock." They really create this atmosphere of frailty, despair and futility which I love in music! That's why I love doom metal so much! The lyrics on this album are awesome and worth the price alone...
Best Track: "In the White"
Enslaved are a really special band. They move beyond black metal's irritating, pouting and cartoonish "Nihilism" or "Satanism" and create music that transcends genre and becomes an almost spiritual experience. RUUN has amazing examples of this such as "Essence" and "Entroper."
Best Track: "Essence"
The Blues is easily one of my favourite styles of music. SRV is my favourite blues guitarist ever, took what Buddy Guy had done and just went crazy with it. SRV was the first music I ever remember hearing and watching his videotapes is my first memory!
Best Track: "Dirty Pool"
This was actually the first AIC album I bought, which was good as I had no Layne Staley-influenced prejudice towards William Duval and Jerry Cantrell (who actually does lead vocals for most of the album). Anyone who lets that prejudice overcome them is missing out on an album of classy, emotionally powerful hard rock.
Best Track: "Black Gives Way To Blue"
Actually only got this recently! But even in the short time I've owned it, this album has really moved me and made me just fall in love with it (and Anathema generally). This album still carries a metallic edge and is full of heart-breakingly emotive vocals and deep, brooding and surprisingly blues-y guitars. Stunning...
Best Track: "Deep"
Musings...
Well, my first post! Ain't this cool!?! Been playing looots of bass lately (well, compared to the hour every day I usually do, I'm not one of those weird obsessive people who practice for like 28 hours a day. God I envy them...) But I seem to be slowly un-learning the instrument as I practice. Trying to play "A Forest" by The Cure, a super easy song and it's like GRRRUNNNCCCHHKKSSCHAAALZZZ.... I blame my bass... To be fair though, while it is my fault, my bass (a Seymour Duncan 5-string) is shiiiit. If I get into college this year (for a Social Sciences HNC) I'm just gonna blow my loan on THIIIIIISSSS:
It shall have Grimm tone!!! (See, wee word-play! Pfnaaar...)
Not written any lyrics in a while but the last ones I wrote were pretty good so that makes up for it!
Well gna wrap up this post now... Been fun, ain't it!
Not written any lyrics in a while but the last ones I wrote were pretty good so that makes up for it!
Well gna wrap up this post now... Been fun, ain't it!
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