I went to see The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion recently, or is it just the Blues Explosion these days? I forget.
Now this isn't a review of gig ( average - I wasn't in the mood for their greatest hits, one verse once chorus, move straight onto the next 'song' set and left before they finished), no ... this is just some musing.
In the gap (close to an hour - too long) between the support band finishing and Jon Spencer, Judah Bauer and Russell Simins deciding to take to the stage the venue, as you'd expect, played some music. As an aside, does this music have a name? I know that the some bands have their own intro music, but how long that extends, I'm not sure.
Generally the music seems to fit in with the general genre of music that the live bands are playing, although in the past I have heard some that don't fit at all. I wonder if venues have a pre-set 'mix' or playlist for broad genre's - I expect some do.
The venue, or most probably promoter, tonight must have had a DJ somewhere - considering the length of the time between the bands. And, on the whole, as you'd expect, the tracks that he played fitted in pretty well with the atmosphere of the night.
This post is about one song that cropped up in particular. As it started my girlfriend became very animated and, leaned over to me (I leaned down - she is a lot shorter than me) and said 'I know all the words to this!'
She then sang along. In Hindi (I think), which isn't that surprising as she's Indian. What was surprising is that fact that the music is from a Bollywood film from what looks like the 1950s (I can't be bothered to look it up) and that it fitted perfectly.
Thinking about it, the DJ probably found it from a recent bank ad (where a washing machine salesman goes to India to find his machines being used to make lassi). Nevertheless making the mental leap from a 20 second clip of music on an add, to tracking it down, to playing it at a garage rock night is impressive.
And I just worked out what this post is about : my admiration of a DJ.
Here's the track (it's worth watching, as it's bonkers):
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Japanese Whisky Night
Deepa came up trumps again and discovered a food and whisky tasting event last night.
Japanese food and Japanese whisky.
I'm not a great whisky fan, I do like some milder ones, but I like the idea of Japanese whisky. Plus it was a chance to meet up with a friend who does really like whisky.
We arrived at the venue, Tsuru, picked our seats and settled in. We started with a Mizuwari (whisky and water), then moved through a series of stronger flavoured whiskies, each accompanied by food. There was a slight change in the order of the whiskies, we had :
I was looking forward to having a chat with my friends, but our host Neil from Cask Strength had different ideas. He clearly knew his stuff, and was keen to make sure we knew his stuff too. Fair play, some people there were probably really interested, but the stuff I heard was whisky 101 : all it's flavour from the wooden casks, that sort of thing.
Good food, good whisky, good company.
Japanese food and Japanese whisky.
I'm not a great whisky fan, I do like some milder ones, but I like the idea of Japanese whisky. Plus it was a chance to meet up with a friend who does really like whisky.
We arrived at the venue, Tsuru, picked our seats and settled in. We started with a Mizuwari (whisky and water), then moved through a series of stronger flavoured whiskies, each accompanied by food. There was a slight change in the order of the whiskies, we had :
- Yamazaki 10 year old (in the Mizuwari).
- Hakushu 10 yo.
- Hibiki 12 yo - my favourite.
- Nikka from the barrel (the only whisky here not from Suntory)
- Yamazaki 18 yo.
I was looking forward to having a chat with my friends, but our host Neil from Cask Strength had different ideas. He clearly knew his stuff, and was keen to make sure we knew his stuff too. Fair play, some people there were probably really interested, but the stuff I heard was whisky 101 : all it's flavour from the wooden casks, that sort of thing.
Good food, good whisky, good company.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Secret Cinema
On Sunday I went to the latest Secret Cinema event.
If you haven't heard of Secret Cinema, they organise screenings of classic films in unusual venues that fit the film in some way. On top of that they use actors to create an atmosphere in keeping with the film, by maybe taking on the roles of specific characters, and interacting with the audience. Finally, on top of that, you don;t know what you're going to see when you buy the tickets. They release clues which means you can have a pretty fair idea, but you can't be certain.
So, what did clues did we have to go on? Well, the event was announced with a youtube link to 'The Sound of Silence'. Immediate thoughts were of 'The Graduate'. Later, we were asked to arrive with a dressing gown, slippers, toothbrush. This had me thinking 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Glaxay' (as Arthur Dent is in his dressing gown throughout the story), but let's face facts, they didn't make a very good film out of it, did they? But the buzz among my friends going was that it was a hospital or asylum based film: probably 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' or maybe 'The Road to Wellville'. These opinions were enforced when we were sent an email from 'The New Well Being Foundation' that asked us to fill in questionaires before the event.
Secret Cinema ask you to 'Tell No One', so avoiding finding out what the film actually was wasn't difficult. So when we all met a the tube station at noon on Sunday we were still non the wiser. We arrived with our dressing gowns in our bags, but a few brave souls turned up wearing theirs. After a little while there was one of those strange, unsaid group decisions and we were all donning our gowns. Just in time, as down the street we saw a group of three guys in started white shirts with black bow ties coming towards us, accompanied by a man in a blue lab coat with a clip board.
These gentlemen rounded us up and led us in a crocodile up the street. It was about a ten minute walk to the destination, from time to time we'd spot another 'Doctor' in a lab coat on the other side of the street, making notes on their clip board. After a little while we stopped and were told that the patients we still sleeping, so we had to be quiet from here on in. We rounded a corner and stood in line outside the locked gates of an old building. One of the bow tie guys picked up a few pebbles and threw them, one by one, at the building until one rattled against a window. After a little while the door slowly opened and a figure poked his head out of the door, took a look around and came out to unlock the gates.
Then a stern, figure appeared : a nurse with a startched uniform and almost as starched hairstyle. At last we knew for certain : Nurse Ratched from 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. Following Nurse Ratched, in V formation, were more doctors and nurses. The party stopped some distance from the gate, Nurse Ratched briefly inspected us, nodded, turned on her heals marched back into the building. The rest of her party filed out to meet us.
They worked their way along the rows, delivering a warning from the New Well Being Foundation about any treatments that we were about to receive and ticking us off the ticket list. We then entered the gates, got a wrist band (there were four colours, which we later discovered determined which screen you saw the film on - white: upstairs, first room), got a patients gown and were allowed entry to the building.
It was an old hospital. Nurses, Doctors and orderlies (the guys in white shirts and bow ties) in the corridors or behind desks. As the building filled up we explored the ground floor, finding quite a few gruesome installations. We also discovered some sleeping patients, safely locked up, somewhere to buy 'medication' (alcohol), but only if you had a prescription (which you bought elsewhere). After a while, I guess when everyone was inside, the PA announced that it was wake up time, and the patients appeared.
So we had the whole cast, which you could interact with as the mood took you. More and more areas of the hospital gradually became open to us : we discovered a 'morgue', an ECT room, a brain dissection room (complete with edible jelly brain), the recreation rooms with music therapy, painting or yoga session. While we took a break in a side (bath)room, set up with a monopoly board, a doctor approached us and gave us a few pills (candy). I quite enjoyed the banter with the actors, but it took me a while to warm to the idea of it. I think at the back of my mind I was remembering 'live action role playing' and shying away from that. I wonder how many of the people happily pretending to be a patient in a mental hospital would mock who pretended to be a mighty warrior in the woods every weekend. I know that I probably would.
Finally the film was screened. I can't remember the last time I sat and watched 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' all the way through. I remembered the main parts, but had forgotten others. For example, I remembered the bus being stolen, but not that they went fishing after that. The ECT scene was just as harrowing as ever.
Overall I was very impressed with the production values, the attention to detail and the fun of Secret Cinema. I think the more you put in, the more you;d get out and if I go again I'm going to make an effort to engage the actors more. And it's a terrible shame that I didn't discover it a year ago as they put on 'Blade Runner', one of my favourite films.
If you haven't heard of Secret Cinema, they organise screenings of classic films in unusual venues that fit the film in some way. On top of that they use actors to create an atmosphere in keeping with the film, by maybe taking on the roles of specific characters, and interacting with the audience. Finally, on top of that, you don;t know what you're going to see when you buy the tickets. They release clues which means you can have a pretty fair idea, but you can't be certain.
So, what did clues did we have to go on? Well, the event was announced with a youtube link to 'The Sound of Silence'. Immediate thoughts were of 'The Graduate'. Later, we were asked to arrive with a dressing gown, slippers, toothbrush. This had me thinking 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Glaxay' (as Arthur Dent is in his dressing gown throughout the story), but let's face facts, they didn't make a very good film out of it, did they? But the buzz among my friends going was that it was a hospital or asylum based film: probably 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' or maybe 'The Road to Wellville'. These opinions were enforced when we were sent an email from 'The New Well Being Foundation' that asked us to fill in questionaires before the event.
Secret Cinema ask you to 'Tell No One', so avoiding finding out what the film actually was wasn't difficult. So when we all met a the tube station at noon on Sunday we were still non the wiser. We arrived with our dressing gowns in our bags, but a few brave souls turned up wearing theirs. After a little while there was one of those strange, unsaid group decisions and we were all donning our gowns. Just in time, as down the street we saw a group of three guys in started white shirts with black bow ties coming towards us, accompanied by a man in a blue lab coat with a clip board.
These gentlemen rounded us up and led us in a crocodile up the street. It was about a ten minute walk to the destination, from time to time we'd spot another 'Doctor' in a lab coat on the other side of the street, making notes on their clip board. After a little while we stopped and were told that the patients we still sleeping, so we had to be quiet from here on in. We rounded a corner and stood in line outside the locked gates of an old building. One of the bow tie guys picked up a few pebbles and threw them, one by one, at the building until one rattled against a window. After a little while the door slowly opened and a figure poked his head out of the door, took a look around and came out to unlock the gates.
Then a stern, figure appeared : a nurse with a startched uniform and almost as starched hairstyle. At last we knew for certain : Nurse Ratched from 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. Following Nurse Ratched, in V formation, were more doctors and nurses. The party stopped some distance from the gate, Nurse Ratched briefly inspected us, nodded, turned on her heals marched back into the building. The rest of her party filed out to meet us.
They worked their way along the rows, delivering a warning from the New Well Being Foundation about any treatments that we were about to receive and ticking us off the ticket list. We then entered the gates, got a wrist band (there were four colours, which we later discovered determined which screen you saw the film on - white: upstairs, first room), got a patients gown and were allowed entry to the building.
It was an old hospital. Nurses, Doctors and orderlies (the guys in white shirts and bow ties) in the corridors or behind desks. As the building filled up we explored the ground floor, finding quite a few gruesome installations. We also discovered some sleeping patients, safely locked up, somewhere to buy 'medication' (alcohol), but only if you had a prescription (which you bought elsewhere). After a while, I guess when everyone was inside, the PA announced that it was wake up time, and the patients appeared.
So we had the whole cast, which you could interact with as the mood took you. More and more areas of the hospital gradually became open to us : we discovered a 'morgue', an ECT room, a brain dissection room (complete with edible jelly brain), the recreation rooms with music therapy, painting or yoga session. While we took a break in a side (bath)room, set up with a monopoly board, a doctor approached us and gave us a few pills (candy). I quite enjoyed the banter with the actors, but it took me a while to warm to the idea of it. I think at the back of my mind I was remembering 'live action role playing' and shying away from that. I wonder how many of the people happily pretending to be a patient in a mental hospital would mock who pretended to be a mighty warrior in the woods every weekend. I know that I probably would.
Finally the film was screened. I can't remember the last time I sat and watched 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' all the way through. I remembered the main parts, but had forgotten others. For example, I remembered the bus being stolen, but not that they went fishing after that. The ECT scene was just as harrowing as ever.
Overall I was very impressed with the production values, the attention to detail and the fun of Secret Cinema. I think the more you put in, the more you;d get out and if I go again I'm going to make an effort to engage the actors more. And it's a terrible shame that I didn't discover it a year ago as they put on 'Blade Runner', one of my favourite films.
 |
| Nurse Ratchet photo by Richard Skidmore |
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| 'Morgue' |
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| Medication |
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| A representative of the New Wellbeing Foundation |
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| Prescription Charges |
Friday, 5 November 2010
Geek Girl London : Western Digital
A year without attending a Girl Geek event and then two come along at once.
This week's event was in the the sumptuous surroundings of the Town Hall Hotel, Bethnal Green. We were greeted with a glass of wine, which was refilled regularly throughout the evening, and treated to a seemingly endless supply of gourmet tasty tit bits from the hotel restaurant.
Top of the range treatment doesn't come cheap, and this week's sponsor was a top of the range company: Western Digital.
As we settled in at the back of the room, it became clear that I was the only male guest : there was a few guys who were clearly from the company (businessmen casual wear - they kind of stuff you'd see down the golf club), the first time that this had happened to me at a GGD.
Western Digital had set up a few pieces of their new kit, and we were guided through them by one of their staff. She had quite a strong French accent, and didn't seem to hold the crowds attention as quite a few of them seemed to be chatting throughout.
Anyway, from what I could gather their new items included:
This week's event was in the the sumptuous surroundings of the Town Hall Hotel, Bethnal Green. We were greeted with a glass of wine, which was refilled regularly throughout the evening, and treated to a seemingly endless supply of gourmet tasty tit bits from the hotel restaurant.
Top of the range treatment doesn't come cheap, and this week's sponsor was a top of the range company: Western Digital.
As we settled in at the back of the room, it became clear that I was the only male guest : there was a few guys who were clearly from the company (businessmen casual wear - they kind of stuff you'd see down the golf club), the first time that this had happened to me at a GGD.
Western Digital had set up a few pieces of their new kit, and we were guided through them by one of their staff. She had quite a strong French accent, and didn't seem to hold the crowds attention as quite a few of them seemed to be chatting throughout.
Anyway, from what I could gather their new items included:
- An external hard drive that came with software for easy sharing over the internet : so you can look at files on it wherever you are in the world .
- A solution for creating a home ethernet network from your electricity cables ("Livewire").
- A Home Theatre PC system, similar to Apple TV / Google TV / Boxee / etc.
The speaker spent most of her time pushing the TV system (WDTV), which seemed to do the usual streaming your content to the TV kind of thing. Interestingly, this seemed like a new idea to the audience. Or at least it took a long time for someone to ask about similar products. The WD spokes person slapped down Apple TV by saying WDTV was less expensive and supported more formats. She didn't really mention Google TV, and didn't mention Boxee at all (I guess it's only because I read the usual American based Geek blogs that I know about it)?
When someone asked about compatibility with the BBCs iPlayer "We're working on it, Europe is a fragmented market" was the best that WD had to offer. I wonder if anyone at WD has even heard of Youview?
I must admit that I've fancied a PC / TV combo for a couple of years, but the fact is that I'm not a very obedient consumer. I'm very unlikely to replace my fully functioning 15 year old television with the latest set with all newest bells and whistles. I doubt any of the home theatre systems will work with a TV with one scart socket and no HDMI, although I haven't checked so I could be wrong.
I also remember wanting to turn my houses electricity cables into a high speed ethernet network, but that was about 8 years ago and these days I'm perfectly content with my wi-fi. Sure, this wouldn't be any good to stream HD video around a big house, but that's not what I've got.
I think I am likely to get on of there large, external, NAS hard drives. I got Deepa one of the hard discs for her Mac last year, and since then I've lusted after it. I think it would be handy to have all my media files accessible from my desktop or my macbook or a new device that I happen to buy.
At the end of the night my gender finally counted against me, and I was singled out to draw the raffle. Western Digital were generously giving away an external drive, a 'passport' portable drives and a Livewire system. I carefully shuffled the paper in the bowl and picked numbers 3, then 4, and then 11. Luckily 3 & 4 weren't sitting next to each other and although someone did shout out 'fix' I managed to avoid a beating.
Hopefully I won't have to wait another 9 months for a Geek Girl dinner, as they're interesting nights out.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Girl Geek London
Yesterday I went to a talk on tech journalism organized by the London branch of Geek Girl Dinners. I say 'went', I was allowed to go by my girlfriend as she's the girl geek and guy geeks are only allowed as guests of a girl.
This involved an after work scoot into the centre of London on the rush hour tube, which is never fun, but we were rewarded with some promotional hot pepper sauce as we left the station.
The talk turned out to be in the corner of a normal office and there were people sitting at their desk looking a bit fed up at having their space invaded. Stopping only to grab a few nibbles and a drink we made ourselves comfortable for the talks.
First of all we had a talk from Angela Saini, a freelance journalist who gave us her tips on becoming a tech journalist.
Next Connie St Louis told us about the journalism courses that she runs at City University.
Finally the most interesting talk by Ramaa Sharma. Ramaa is a trainer at the BBC and told us about a recent initiative to provide reporters with small portable, consumer video cameras. She told us the relative merits of the Flip and the Kodak Z series (she prefers the Kodak as it can take an external mic, although you can't monitor the sound levels). She went on to show us other kit (tripods and microphones), a video she uses to train journalist, and a short report made in Afganistan using just those methods. I was particularly impressed by the BBC's College of Journalism website, clearly an internal resource but not behind a firewall and very useful for anyone interested in journalism as a career.
Ramaa said that the idea behind the cameras was to give radio correspondents all over the world the ability to capture footage of breaking stories before the camera crews get shipped out from more central locations. She was keen to stress the skill set that a modern journalist must have: being able to shoot video, record sound and edit the final cut, as well as more traditional journalism skills. This image of a roving all in one reporter reminded me of the original Max Headroom drama, as the central character in that was a reporter with his own camera.
Looking at a clip on youtube now it's clear that the reporter character would have loved something as portable as a Flip.
Hmm... I also notice that the evil, bathridden computer genius has a very fashionable steam punk keyboard (47 seconds in). Weird.
This involved an after work scoot into the centre of London on the rush hour tube, which is never fun, but we were rewarded with some promotional hot pepper sauce as we left the station.
The talk turned out to be in the corner of a normal office and there were people sitting at their desk looking a bit fed up at having their space invaded. Stopping only to grab a few nibbles and a drink we made ourselves comfortable for the talks.
First of all we had a talk from Angela Saini, a freelance journalist who gave us her tips on becoming a tech journalist.
Next Connie St Louis told us about the journalism courses that she runs at City University.
Finally the most interesting talk by Ramaa Sharma. Ramaa is a trainer at the BBC and told us about a recent initiative to provide reporters with small portable, consumer video cameras. She told us the relative merits of the Flip and the Kodak Z series (she prefers the Kodak as it can take an external mic, although you can't monitor the sound levels). She went on to show us other kit (tripods and microphones), a video she uses to train journalist, and a short report made in Afganistan using just those methods. I was particularly impressed by the BBC's College of Journalism website, clearly an internal resource but not behind a firewall and very useful for anyone interested in journalism as a career.
Ramaa said that the idea behind the cameras was to give radio correspondents all over the world the ability to capture footage of breaking stories before the camera crews get shipped out from more central locations. She was keen to stress the skill set that a modern journalist must have: being able to shoot video, record sound and edit the final cut, as well as more traditional journalism skills. This image of a roving all in one reporter reminded me of the original Max Headroom drama, as the central character in that was a reporter with his own camera.
Looking at a clip on youtube now it's clear that the reporter character would have loved something as portable as a Flip.
Hmm... I also notice that the evil, bathridden computer genius has a very fashionable steam punk keyboard (47 seconds in). Weird.
More Zombies
A few weeks ago I read that the Walking Dead, a comic book that I had discovered last year, was being made into a TV series. In fact, it was getting shown about a month later. It looked interesting, with a cast including Egg from that awful 90s lawyer drama thing."This Life"? Never liked it, although I think it was aimed at my demographic.
I'm happy to say that's not the case for "Walking Dead". I enjoyed it. It's a decent adaptation of the comic book. The effects aren't top notch (the torso only zombie early on is clearly a bloke buried below the waist the first time we see it), but they're acceptable on the whole. I did notice the curious American habit of being totally happy with seeing graphic violence, but not happy with seeing women's boobs (or maybe American women shag with their bra on?)
The story opens very like "28 Days Later" (or even "Day of the Triffids" if you like), with the hero, a police man, waking in hospital, alone, not quite sure what's going on. In short, the perfect vehicle to tell the zompocalypse story to the audience, via a survivor who he happens across. Every hero needs a quest, and this one decides that his family has survived and he'll go to find them. Any more and I'd spoil it.
If you aren't bored of zombies yet, give it a go: you should enjoy it.
I'm happy to say that's not the case for "Walking Dead". I enjoyed it. It's a decent adaptation of the comic book. The effects aren't top notch (the torso only zombie early on is clearly a bloke buried below the waist the first time we see it), but they're acceptable on the whole. I did notice the curious American habit of being totally happy with seeing graphic violence, but not happy with seeing women's boobs (or maybe American women shag with their bra on?)
The story opens very like "28 Days Later" (or even "Day of the Triffids" if you like), with the hero, a police man, waking in hospital, alone, not quite sure what's going on. In short, the perfect vehicle to tell the zompocalypse story to the audience, via a survivor who he happens across. Every hero needs a quest, and this one decides that his family has survived and he'll go to find them. Any more and I'd spoil it.
If you aren't bored of zombies yet, give it a go: you should enjoy it.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Sci Fi Saturday Night
Sci Fi old and new over the weekend.
Thanks to my girlfriend's organizational skills we went to see the original, 30 year old Tron on Saturday. This was a special showing at the October iteration of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival (a marvellous event - you really should go).
We arrived bang on time, made our way to Screen 5, and were nearly knocked out as the doors swung outwards:
"Are you here for Tron?"
"Yes"
"Head next door for the screening of the preview, sit where you like, then head back here for the film."
Obediently, we wandered into Screen 4, being handed 3D glasses on the way in, where an impressive CGI animation was under way. It became pretty clear that this was an extended advert for something, but we were never sure quite what it was. After about 10 minutes it became clear it was for Starcraft 2 - one of the major sponsors of the event. Fair enough, just a little confusing to sit through.
Then the guy that shoo-ed us from Screen 5 wandered in with a microphone : he was the Festival Director Louis Savy I think). A very affable chap, he explained why we had to shuffle between the 2 screen : the cinema was unable to project a cutting edge 3D short and 35mm print from the same booth. Louis (if that was his name - a very half arsed search on google suggests it is) told us we were lucky to be seeing the original Tron so close to the release of Tron Legacy, and to expect the odd scratch in the print as it was 30 years old. Finally he threw a few T-shirts into the crowd and left us to it.
Following an atmospheric short called 'Breathe' from Liam Garvo (it looked nice but, as ever with a short, there's not enough time to really engage with it) we were shown the 3D trailer for Tron Legacy and then 10 minutes of the film itself. The scenes were mainly concerned with Flynn Jnr's arrival in 'cyberspace', being captured, kitted out in his games armour and taken into an arena for his first game.
Like the trailers, this preview is incredibly slick. The effects look fantastic, I'm not sure that 3D is needed but hey- it was never going to avoid it. The 'waxy' looing young Flynn Snr doesn't look out of place, and I imagine a shed load of processing power went into generating him. Things I hadn't seen before? The kitting out scene sees Flynn being dressed by 4 highly objectified women in 'Seven of Nine' figure hugging catsuits. I guess the film is being pitched at teenage boys then? I've avoided reading too much about the film, so I had no idea that Michael Sheen was in it - there was a tiny clip of him giving Daft Punk orders to get the arena crowd more excited, and I have to admit that the score was getting the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. There's certain aspects of the film seems to have been influenced by the Matrix trilogy: the costumes are the kind of thing anyone who buys Cyberdog thinks they're going to look like (you're not). Cycberspace is certainly darker and more goth than it was in the early 80s - which is fine by me.
The trailer ended (polite applause) and we headed over to Screen 5, swapping our 3D galsses for goodie bags on the way, for the main event.
I have a bit of a fond spot for Tron. As a child I had been given the choice of seeing E.T. or Tron as my Christmas break film. I picked Tron : I've no idea why and I've never regretted it. It took me years to get around to watching E.T. and it never filled me with wonder the way it did for many children. When I told my girlfriend that I was excited about seeing Tron Legacy (after seening the trailer at the local cinema) she took the initative and booked tickets for this screening - mainly so she'd have some idea of what was going on when I dragged her to see Tron Legacy later in the year.
So, what did I get out of seeing Tron for the first time in (over 20) years? The main thing is that it's now impossible to take Jeff Bridges seriously - he's The Dude. Almost every line he said was met with a chuckle from the audience. The special effects are, on the whole, very dated (what do you expect) but a few hold up well. The outfits are probably the worst offenders - paper thin helmets, white drapes and the odd blue or red glowing line.
It was odd to see how lively a video arcade was protraid . I remember them being quite a draw for my pocket money at that age, but I don't remember
It was odd to see that a few lines of dialogue had been taken verbatim from the old film into the new (the breifing of the newly arrived Flynn Jnr) and I'd never noticed the Pac Man easter egg before. Nor had I twigged that the guy from the trailer giving Flynn Jnr the nudge towards his adventure was actually Alan/Tron until I found myself what had happened to that actor. The appropriately small appearce of the bit 'character' left me wondering why it left such an impression on me as a child. Finally, the 30 year old print was charming - I did enjoy seeing a film with scratches and 'pops' on it. I guess in the same way as I enjoy the clicks in any favourite vinyl record.
I did wonder if seeing Tron at such an early age propelled me into my current job, but I doubt it. If I was working on computer games that might have some validity, but hacking away at websites isn't really the same at all is it?
So that you can have a flavour of my own Saturday night : here's the trailer for the original Tron with the one for Tron Legacy.
Thanks to my girlfriend's organizational skills we went to see the original, 30 year old Tron on Saturday. This was a special showing at the October iteration of the Sci-Fi London Film Festival (a marvellous event - you really should go).
We arrived bang on time, made our way to Screen 5, and were nearly knocked out as the doors swung outwards:
"Are you here for Tron?"
"Yes"
"Head next door for the screening of the preview, sit where you like, then head back here for the film."
Obediently, we wandered into Screen 4, being handed 3D glasses on the way in, where an impressive CGI animation was under way. It became pretty clear that this was an extended advert for something, but we were never sure quite what it was. After about 10 minutes it became clear it was for Starcraft 2 - one of the major sponsors of the event. Fair enough, just a little confusing to sit through.
Then the guy that shoo-ed us from Screen 5 wandered in with a microphone : he was the Festival Director Louis Savy I think). A very affable chap, he explained why we had to shuffle between the 2 screen : the cinema was unable to project a cutting edge 3D short and 35mm print from the same booth. Louis (if that was his name - a very half arsed search on google suggests it is) told us we were lucky to be seeing the original Tron so close to the release of Tron Legacy, and to expect the odd scratch in the print as it was 30 years old. Finally he threw a few T-shirts into the crowd and left us to it.
Following an atmospheric short called 'Breathe' from Liam Garvo (it looked nice but, as ever with a short, there's not enough time to really engage with it) we were shown the 3D trailer for Tron Legacy and then 10 minutes of the film itself. The scenes were mainly concerned with Flynn Jnr's arrival in 'cyberspace', being captured, kitted out in his games armour and taken into an arena for his first game.
Like the trailers, this preview is incredibly slick. The effects look fantastic, I'm not sure that 3D is needed but hey- it was never going to avoid it. The 'waxy' looing young Flynn Snr doesn't look out of place, and I imagine a shed load of processing power went into generating him. Things I hadn't seen before? The kitting out scene sees Flynn being dressed by 4 highly objectified women in 'Seven of Nine' figure hugging catsuits. I guess the film is being pitched at teenage boys then? I've avoided reading too much about the film, so I had no idea that Michael Sheen was in it - there was a tiny clip of him giving Daft Punk orders to get the arena crowd more excited, and I have to admit that the score was getting the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. There's certain aspects of the film seems to have been influenced by the Matrix trilogy: the costumes are the kind of thing anyone who buys Cyberdog thinks they're going to look like (you're not). Cycberspace is certainly darker and more goth than it was in the early 80s - which is fine by me.
The trailer ended (polite applause) and we headed over to Screen 5, swapping our 3D galsses for goodie bags on the way, for the main event.
I have a bit of a fond spot for Tron. As a child I had been given the choice of seeing E.T. or Tron as my Christmas break film. I picked Tron : I've no idea why and I've never regretted it. It took me years to get around to watching E.T. and it never filled me with wonder the way it did for many children. When I told my girlfriend that I was excited about seeing Tron Legacy (after seening the trailer at the local cinema) she took the initative and booked tickets for this screening - mainly so she'd have some idea of what was going on when I dragged her to see Tron Legacy later in the year.
So, what did I get out of seeing Tron for the first time in (over 20) years? The main thing is that it's now impossible to take Jeff Bridges seriously - he's The Dude. Almost every line he said was met with a chuckle from the audience. The special effects are, on the whole, very dated (what do you expect) but a few hold up well. The outfits are probably the worst offenders - paper thin helmets, white drapes and the odd blue or red glowing line.
It was odd to see how lively a video arcade was protraid . I remember them being quite a draw for my pocket money at that age, but I don't remember
It was odd to see that a few lines of dialogue had been taken verbatim from the old film into the new (the breifing of the newly arrived Flynn Jnr) and I'd never noticed the Pac Man easter egg before. Nor had I twigged that the guy from the trailer giving Flynn Jnr the nudge towards his adventure was actually Alan/Tron until I found myself what had happened to that actor. The appropriately small appearce of the bit 'character' left me wondering why it left such an impression on me as a child. Finally, the 30 year old print was charming - I did enjoy seeing a film with scratches and 'pops' on it. I guess in the same way as I enjoy the clicks in any favourite vinyl record.
Pac Man 'easter egg'
I did wonder if seeing Tron at such an early age propelled me into my current job, but I doubt it. If I was working on computer games that might have some validity, but hacking away at websites isn't really the same at all is it?
So that you can have a flavour of my own Saturday night : here's the trailer for the original Tron with the one for Tron Legacy.
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