Released – 27 October 2009
Length – 36:55
Label – Sire
Producer – Chris Walla and Howard Redekopp
The best thing about Tegan and Sara is that, unlike other expectant middle-of-the-road girl pop-rock, they’re actually brilliant with the music they make.
Once again, they come from out of the blue with another consistent, infectious, fauxlectro record with their distinctive voices. And again, every track they have supplied, including all the “filler” do not fail to get you toe-tapping and humming along after two listens.
Even the droning, repetitive opening ‘Arrow’ manages an instant impression with it’s staccato, machine-like rhythmn, amalgated with vocal silk. And onto the similarly broken, yet fluid ‘Don’t Rush’ which sounds like a floor-filler at a lesbian, robot disco (wouldn’t that be something?)
‘On Direction’ begs “Go steady with me / I know it turns you off when I / I get talking like a teen” which seems like an extension of ‘Back In Your Head,’ a track on their 2007 LP, ‘The Con,’ which professed “I’m not unfaithful but I’ll stray” yet also a precursor to ‘Night Watch’ and “I’ve got grounds for divorce / I separate everybody / I need distance from your body.”
The absolute stand-out track is undoubtedly ‘Northshore,’ with is predictable guitar riffs and somewhat familiar drum beat, it still manages to invoke a positive, involuntary reaction. And of course it wouldn’t be the same without the trademark high, femme-teen warbles that instills the track into your brain. Perfect single material.
If there’s one album that can bundle up every happy, bittersweet and forlorn emotion into one, ‘Sainthood’ is the greatest since Tegan and Sara’s last album, ‘The Con’ and it is essential listening just in time for Christmas.
Released – 16th October 2009 [BFI London Film Festival]; 12th February 2010 (UK)
Directed – Tom Ford
Written – Tom Ford (screenplay), Chistopher Isherwood (novel)
Starring – Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode
Awards – (Colin Firth) Outstanding Performance Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2010; (Colin Firth) Volpi Cup, (Tom Ford) Queer Lion, Venice Film Festival 2009
Vehemently steeped in the sixties – sublimely curated by the set design team of TV’s Mad Men – Tom Ford’s directorial debut is an adaptation of the Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name. A Single Man triumphantly portrays the isolation felt by George Falconer, (Firth) a middle-aged man living alone and ambling towards his silver years, in the aftermath of his partners’ tragic death.
Ford’s perfectly executed debut swathes with not only heart-warming and comic beat, but accomplishes Falconer’s brief moments of joy and attachment with people and his surroundings amongst the anomalous, almost ‘washed up’ perception he has of his life. This is managed simply through the parity of colour saturation throughout the film; for the large part, the colour appears dreary and insipid, yet when Falconer is drawn towards the youthful beauty of his late partner, Jim (Goode) in flashbacks, or of his student Kenneth Potter (Hoult) the colour literally imbues the screen.
The way in which Falconer visualises both Jim and Kenneth – which can in an almost roles-reversed effect, be mistaken as a Laura Mulvey-coined “male gaze” – is one that tries to establish Falconer as psychologically powerful over his young objects of desire, yet it simply unearths how ardently lucid and needy he is of their attention.
Firth’s performance is stellar and undoubtedly deserving of more than just Outstanding Performance and Volpi Cup at film festivals, whilst Hoult has hung up his drug-addled life of the disaffected youth in Skins and has held up a respectable enough grasp of the American accent. Moore’s limited though comic screentime is unfortunate, but is not discerning as it feels absolutely necessary to drive the film forward.
Ford’s efforts here do not go unnoticed. In fact, one could be forgiven for expecting A Single Man to have been his own personal story, when in fact it is one that evidently struck so close to Isherwood. Whilst, in 2009, we can watch, in awe and unflinching, the frank, sympathetic and moving portrayal of a gay protagonist, one wonders how controversial the novel would have been at its publication in 1964.
Inevitably, A Single Man in an unexpected precious and thoughtful delight from the man who led Gucci to a multi-billion dollar valuation. His eye for style and perfection has been duly noted and with a limited US release this December, he will perhaps be destined to raise an Oscar next year.
In the passed nine days, my approximate eleven-year sojourn from the dentist came crashing down on me like a cavity-ridden house of Colgate cards. You always hear horror stories about people going to the dentist; You always have the pain they encountered described so intimately that you almost feel just how excruciating it was yourself.
Well I am now the protagonist in this horror story, however, I will spare you my bicuspid torment and cut straight to the chase:
On Bank Holiday Monday (31st August) I had emergency dental treatment to place what was described as a ‘temporary sedative packing’ (temporary filling to you and I) in to one of my teeth, which instantly helped. Following my reprimand for such a long period without adequate dental treatment, I registered with a dentist promptly on Tuesday and was then on my way for the first checkup on Wednesday, when I was given the shocking news that I required no less than FIVE fillings. I am shocked, appalled and embarassed, but shall continue nonetheless.
Today, I found it necessary to cancel next Wednesday’s followup appointment and soldier on in on my day off as the pain had suddenly migrated to the other side of my mouth. I went back to the dentist, who promptly drilled in to the new problematic tooth and I was, apparently about one KitKat Chunky away from needing root canal treatment (Mrs Dr Dentist told me, having removed the decay, it was so far down that the nerve was visible).
So she put this special magic toothpastey somesuch on to the nerve before putting the filling in. She also told me that there was about a 40% chance that the nerve wouldn’t play ball (I’m paraphrasing, of course) so the necessary treatment may cost me £500.
I’m starting to understand why so many people don’t go to the dentist; though some people might be scared of needles and drills (not me) others are shit scared of what the bill is going to rack up to (me).
To date, I’ve paid a grand total of £129 and so far I’ve amassed one permanant filling, one temporary sedative filling, some x-rays (which are useless to me and appeared useless to the dentist because she kept looking and looking at them in different lights, as if it was the first time she’d ever seen teeth). Add to that the fact I need the temporary sedative filling replaced asap (for which I cannot get time off work) but I also need the other 3 fillings.
I know I’m going on a bit and that I’m totally moaning, but I am totally confused. I thought taxes and National Insurance were to cover NHS costs? I know I get free prescriptions (living in Wales), but I’ve just started a new job, I’m paying out a fair bit for what I owe and nobody made me aware that I could get all this done for free when I was on Job Seeker’s Allowance from December 2008 until last month!
Add to that the fact that NHS Direct dental team told me I’d only pay £19 for a checkup or £39 for any fillings I might need, it’s all getting me a bit annoyed and that’s not helping my pain.
I’m currently gliding between ibuprofen and Co-codamol (the rubbish 500mg/8mg ones that are easily purchased over the counter) and now that the numbness (that I appear to have found myself developing some kind of fetish for) is wearing off, I’m doing everything I possibly can to take my mind off this evil nerve.
Do you know what? You’ve got to the end of this post (or have you?) and I’m here to break the news that that is the end. There was no real point to this. I have simply used you as a temporay sedative.
It may come as no surprise to those who know me personally, but I am, by no means, a fan of Tesco.
Thanks largely to Andrew Simms’ dexterous portrayal of the tentacled, globalised troll in Tescopoly: How One Shop Came Out on Top and Why It Matters. I first read it last year and immediately ceased shopping there, but about a year later, I examine why I still occasionally find myself traipsing around a dreary, carbon copied, soul-destroying warehouse of convenience.
I recently read a post by Cardiff_Blogger which made me realise that I wasn’t alone with my concern for how deft and insidious these big supermarkets really are. The post highlighted something that has troubled me for a while: Food labelling.
It was a few years ago that I recall the Food Standards Agency’s traffic light system coming into ‘effect.’ However, it was only a guidance and not law, so behemoth retailers, Tesco, led the way in defying said guidance and subsequently came up with their own way of labelling.
A typical Tesco label
The label on the left highlights the values in each pack, however, the labels are not always this simple. More often than not, Tesco will highlight that “one sixth of the pack,” “half the pack” or even “a 35g serving” will contain the following values… regardless of the weight of the overall product.
For example, say there is a product weighing 275g and the label states 16.3g of fat for every 100g. But you want to eat the whole pack. Why should anyone, as a consumer, have to grapple with these figures just to work out their calorie, sugar, fat and salt consumption.
Not everyone who is looking to eat this 275g phantom product would be aware, upon a glance, exactly how much fat the product contains. Approximately 44.8g, if you’re wondering, but that’s besides the point: When you’re shopping, these front-of-pack labels were designed to make it EASY for consumers to make their decisions on what to buy, not baffle them!
I, like many people, love a bargain. So what could I possibly not enjoy from a feeling of oneupmanship of buy one get one frees that litter Tesco aisles? If it was the case that Tesco suffered a dip in profits simply through my purchase of a buy one get one free, I would bankrupt myself in an attempt to put them out of business. But, in fact, Tesco loses nothing when it comes to these and other offers. Suppliers are the ones losing out. They are the ones who’s prices are driven right down, by Tesco, simply because they feel they have no choice. There are so many cases where suppliers have been forced to lower their prices to pander to Tesco’s needs, else they had been threatened with repealing contracts.
Notably, there’s the case of Tyrrell’s crisps. How a lowly, local, ethical company with a turnover of just £10m, managed to force the mammoth, insidious tour de force that is Tesco (with a turnover of £39.5bn!) to back down after they started stocking their crisps without Tyrrell’s consent. Read about it here, it’s heart-warming to know that some people can raise two fingers to Tesco.
Onto more fiscal matters.
It is improtant, now more than ever in the current economic climate, that we buy locally. Not only independently owned local shops, but locally sourced produce. This is what stimulates a LOCAL economy. It’s all well and good having a Tesco Local, Tesco Metro, Tesco Express, Tesco Extra, Tesco Mammoth…. in your town or city, providing ample jobs, all of your grocery needs, endless agonising hours of annoying delivery drivers parking where they fancy, etc., but spending your money there does NOT help your local community. Instead, the money is sucked out of the community and is cirulated as corporate profit where their trading head office is based. That and the thousands of small businesses that end up going out of business because they simply can’t compete with such grotesco competition. That more than cancels out the number of shiny new jobs created by Tesco and they subsequently have to buy all of their shopping there because all of the butchers, fishmongers, green grocers and newsagents in the local area end up struggling and eventually closing.
So why am I still guilty of the occasional visit to a Tesco store?
The convenience – Like it or not, when most other stores are long closed and I am desperate to get ingredients, a late night chocolate or bottle of water when out and about, you can always rely on there being a Tesco nearby and open.
The price – Believe it or not, this is not a reason for me popping in occasionally. In fact, you can go to most ANY green grocer or market stall and pick up fruit and veg for a LOT less than you would pay in Tesco, so why do we fork out £2.99 for a punnet of strawberries, when Steve’s Fruit’n'Veg stall will sell you one for £1?
More choice – Agreed, there is so much in the way of diverse choice at, primarily, the larger Tesco stores, but I remember being a child and going shopping with my mother and it was much more fun going lots of different shops; shops with character and friendly, interpersonal shopkeepers. You would always bump in to people you know from the town. It was a huge sense of community and interaction. And with Tesco? The same old frogmarch down aisle after aisle of this, that and the other. People frantically dashing about, forgeting something back at the other end, being lulled into what they think is a good offer of ‘buy one get one free’
People WANT Tesco? I don’t believe this is the case. You need only look at the plethora of anti-Tesco web sites and news stories of protests to see that people don’t want Tesco: Recently, the people of Machynlleth fiercely opposed Tesco’s plans toinvadeconquer supply their town, despite local councillors backing their plans. So much for working in the best interests of the people that elected them!
And what with this story from *cough*The Sun*cough* stating that David Cameron “promised to run Britain like Tesco if he wins the general election,” I can only leave you with this:
Mix from my slot at the first ‘Better Than Botox’ night at Undertone@The Basement at Ten Feet Tall, Cardiff.
Running time:
56:52
Playlist:
01. Mystery Jets – Young Love (Featuring Laura Marling)
02. Phoenix – 1901
03. La Roux – In For The Kill
04. Metronomy – A Thing For Me
05. Ladyhawke – My Delirium
06. Tegan and Sara – Back In Your Head
07. Patrick Wolf – Vulture
08. Frankmusik – Three Little Words
09. Tilly and the Wall – Pot Kettle Black
10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll
11. MGMT – Kids
12. Peaches – Talk To Me
13. Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls
14. Friendly Fires – Skeleton Boy
15. Noah and the Whale – 5 Years Time
16. Bombay Bicycle Club – Always Like This
17. Noisettes – Don’t Upset The Rhythm
The answer is no. I’m 25 and I am yet to acquire any feasible form of photographic ID. Now a lot of people gasp and ask if it ever poses me a problem and while I’d like to say no, it really does.
Besides the fact that when it comes to job interviews, the main hassle I have is when purchasing alcohol. I remember my 15-year-old days when getting in to pubs, clubs and bars wasn’t exactly difficult; I was 17 and getting in to over-21s on many occasions. Years later, and you’d think buying a drink was as bad as killing a puppy in front of a Crufts audience.
The point is, why should I justify forking out for my first passport or drivers’ license when I don’t drive (and have no immediate intention of doing so) and the only time I’ve spent abroad was the most miserable 48 hours of my life, at Disneyland Paris on a school visa? There is no point. It isn’t mandatory to possess either form of identification, hence the ridiculous price of both.
Let’s skip a few more years in to the future and surmise that mandatory ID cards are in full effect. Why the hell should anyone have to justify forking out for one of them either? How ridiculous a concept. If those positing the idea think it’s neccessary, then they should figure out a decent reason why every person should have to purchase THEIR OWN identity.
Which brings me on to credit cards. I don’t regret getting a credit card one bit, though in the current financial crisis, I regret that I am only just making repayments. My credit limit is only £400, which is ideal because my plan was only to use it once, pay it off and cut it up, simply to improve my credit rating, should I need to utilise it at any point in the future. My plan failed and I now owe approximately £380.
Here’s my beef with credit cards: The idea is that you apply for one and if your credit rating is good enough, you’re supplied with one; the limit of which is set at increasing amounts dependable on how good a rating you have. I’m fully aware of how this global financial blunder has come about, but I think credit cards are largely to blame. I still am not fully aware of where that £400 limit of mine comes from. I’ve signed a contract for the card and agree that if I spend money on MY card, then I have to pay it back to the bank. But where does the money come from? If my signature is what brings the card in to existence, the money wouldn’t be there in the first place. Which begs the understanding why should I have to pay extortionate interest on the damn thing?
Call me naive, but I am also aware of the concept of overdrafts facilities and loans; both of which I still can’t pinpoint exactly how the money comes about existing, but it’s all very frazzling. Surely all this debt belongs to the bank, having aided in it’s creation to begin with? Let the bosses foot the bill and let me able to afford to shop for the essentials again.
In short, quite easily going to remain my favourite album of 2009.
A bold statement when it’s the first week of April, but I’m happy to stand by it. Having waited over two years for new material, there’s absolutely no surprise that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have shot to the top of my last.fm chart.
Where else to start than at the beginning? The first two tracks are upcoming single Zero (available April 13th in the UK) and Heads Will Roll, both of which are superlatively dancey indie-electro tracks that I’m not afraid to say have me dancing around, be it in a bar or my underwear; The perfect response to such musical delight.
Midway, Dull Life returns the album to it’s indie disco-dancing opening, as does the haunting, melodic and teasingly regal Hysteric, each standing out as markers in a record which is collectively disparate, yet perfectly executed.
True to their form, they’re unashamedly raucous and sublime through to the end; Little Shadow leaves you with the cliche need to place the album on repeat, if only to build yourself up to it’s echoing march once more, where, upon each consecutive listen, manages to knit your emotions in to it’s dreamy demise.
The ever-perfect compliments of Karen O’s kinetic, erotic and melodic voice, Brian Chase’s thundering drums and Nick Zinner’s adeptly boisterous guitars makes for a unique follow up to 2006’s Show Your Bones and 2007’s Is Is EP, yet remains distictively YYYs. Several listens down the line and not only do I seem to forget why I first loved the band six years ago, but it coaxes me in to listening to their entire back catalogue again, in a marathon session, much like Midnight Boom did to me with The Kills this time last year.
Produced once more by TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek with the great hands of Nick Launay (Arcade Fire and Nick Cave) too, It’s Blitz! is out now in the US and as didgital download, but UK and the rest of the world this Monday (April 6th). I can’t make you go out and buy it, but I will somehow find a way to make you listen to it.
If not for my friend, Paul, I would never have got back in to watching BBC News 24 for hours on end, when there’s chuff else all on. What with all news in the throes of this G20 lark, I’ve found myself spending the passed two days locked to the channel. Furthermore, I have Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, WordPress and the Channel 4 live feed open in my browser; Finger on the pulse, head in the clouds, hoping for some existential world news revelation. Suffice to say, it isn’t happening.
It never fails to impress me just how brash live news can be: What starts as breaking news, with often little or no information for an actual story, launches the presenters in to this conscripted, inventive televisiual bumph.
For example, yesterday, News 24 broke the news of the Bond-chartered helicopter that had ditched off the cost of Scotland , with 16 people onboard. And that’s more information than the presenters had. Deeply overshadowed by the rioting protesters in London, the helicopter story was aptly covered, yet was blazonly filtered if and when they grasped a nugget of further information: “We now speak to [Joe Bloggs] who is an expert from [somesuch] college of maritime safety (or other such allegorical institution), [somewhere].” They listen to what Mr Bloggs say and then try to surmise for themselves the most ludicrous depictions of what could have happened.
What is most annoying is when they quite clearly do not listen to these so-called experts and proceed to ask increasingly probing and ridiculous questions, essentially putting this innocent person who probably have no idea exactly what they’ve got themselves in to.
This reminds me of that mp3 downloading story a few years back, when News 24 mades mighty mistake by interviewing the TAXI DRIVER who was meant to pick up a technology expert, due to be interviewed! Here it is, if you have no idea what I’m talking about:
What with receiving tweets from Channel 4 news and Krishnan Guru-Murthy via Twitter, I often see how us followers are asked our opinions on which stories Channel 4 news should lead with. Not that I imagine our thoughts would be taken in to consideration, but at least Channel 4 make it clear that they’re interested to know them and, unlike News 24, are always thorough with their news coverage. I know they don’t go out live 24 hours a day, but if I ever make mistakes or get things wrong, I have been told to “get your facts right” before you make a right tit out of yourself.
Despite my misgivings, I still watch live news for hours on end, even though they cover the same recycled stories every thirty minutes. I love seeing them make mistakes and seemingly never learning from them.
Lesson number three: Alan Shearer’s new appointment at Newcastle United is not news.
Never failing to impress with his latent ‘audacious gimcrackery,’ is a secret saviour of mine, Charlie Brooker. I implore you all to watch his new programme, Newsipe, else the lord God strike you down with fabricated thunder.
What’s important to me is that you have a giant sense of humour, a total disdain at the way the medium of news never fails to dismay and a desperate need for a little potty mouth view on current affairs. Now, Charlie Brooker claims “I’m no current affairs expert” but I personally feel he pretty much knocks the proverbial nail on the rusty head. Things that need saying get said, bullshit is unravelled in Brooker’s profane manner, which makes me salivate with a constant need for more.
Good work Charlton, keep us challenged with televisual pleasure.
Catch the first two episodes on BBC iPlayer while you still can. You’re implored.
Edit: There are currently episodes being repeated on BBC4, I believe, but if you miss them or that’s not good enough, I trust you have been watching You Have Been Watching, Brooker’s new TV quiz show on Channel4?
I’ve steadily been becoming totally addicted to numerous silly iPhone games from the App Store.
It’s an obsession, for which I need help.
Airport/Airplane games, tower defence games, word games, mobster games… Far too many. I’m at a point where I have a routine every bored moment of every day; Spare 5 minutes -pick up the iPhone, check for any app updates, check TwitterFon, NetNewsWire for my RSS feeds, then launch in to one of FORTY FIVE games I have installed. WHY? I simply don’t need all of these games. I can only play one at a time, I suppose I have plenty of 5 minutes’ to spare, but it’s driving me insane.
I have probably spent upwards of £25 in th app store, since September 2008. £25 that I imagine I could have put to better use elsewhere. Like my loan or credit card, for example. Is there some kind of ‘Apple patch’ I can slap on my arm to stop myself from plunging my expenses in to ridiculous, faddish things that I use for a few days and never more?
Suffice to say, I love my iPhone and would probably die of a broken heart, should anything happen to it, but the first step of iPhonism is admitting I have a problem. And I have a problem.
Lesson number two: There’s [maybe] so much more to life than the all-singing, all-dancing iPhone.
