My girlfriend is into her craft stuff and found these cool Star Wars mini amigurumi created by Lucy Ravenscar who can be found at: http://lucyravenscar.blogspot.com/ Excellent work Lucy!

The less you know about this film the more you’ll enjoy it, I think – so I won’t be saying anything about the actual plot – but having finally seen this the other night I enjoyed it so much I felt the need to write about it briefly here. The story is great, taking parts from other great sci-fi films but still bringing something new to the genre. It’s clearly low budget compared to your average sci-fi blockbuster, but the lo-fi effects work very, very well.

The fact that it’s directed by Bowie’s son seems to have done it no harm in the media but doesn’t particularly interest me, apart from the fact he’s obviously done a great job. Sam Rockwell, (who was also in Galaxy Quest!) is utterly brilliant. I won’t say any more about why as I want to steer clear of all spoilers – just go see it.

Finally, the soundtrack is incredible – Clint Mansell, formerly of Pop Will Eat Itself, who also scored a trilogy of films by Darren Aronofsky, the unremittingly depressing Requiem for a Dream, the slightly less depressing The Wrestler, and the apparently absurd The Fountain (not seen that one yet). All his scores are amazing, and even though Lux Aeterna has been a bit overused for dramatising the crushed dreams of x-factor contestants and other TV gameshow rubbish, it still makes the hairs rise on the back of my neck when I sit and listen to it by choice.

Welcome to Lunar Industries – Clint Mansell (Moon OST)

Lux Aeterna – Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream OST)

I’m delighted to say that Playing with the Past is back in Edinburgh for a second night on August 22nd. This combination of film and live music was my highlight of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (ok I only saw one other film, what of it?) bringing together three of my favourite Edinburgh bands eagleowl, Meursault and Found, to provide original soundtracks to some bloody ancient, but fascinating pieces of footage.

The picture above is from the film Granton Trawler, for which eagelowl provided a lovely instrumental sea-shanty, complete with a brilliant replication of a creaking boat, which Bart somehow created merely by twisting his guitar strap (via an effects pedal). Living in the vicinity of Granton Harbour, it was great to see this genuine slice of life from over 70 years ago, and although the fisherman’s life looked very tough indeed, it’s hard not to romanticise their seafaring ways just a little bit when you’re stuck on the number 8 bus due to endless roadworks. Notice I didn’t mention the word ‘salty’ once. The ‘owl also provided a fast and furious accompaniment to a strange little animated film from Canada called Begone Dull Care which let us see the other, less laid back side of the band.

Meursault were up next, for Stan and Ollie, a bizarre piece of newsreel about Laurel and Hardy’s visit to Edinburgh, back in the day when there were those old-fashioned trams.. (cough). Their accompaniment to this piece was quite subtle, with their main contribution to the event an epic twenty minute piece de resistance to the 1936 short Night Mail, about the postal train from England to Scotland.

This was a bit of a blast from the past as I was shown this film as part of my degree many moons ago. Like Granton Trawler it made by the GPO film unit, which was a pioneer of British documentary, if I remember rightly.

I’ve included a very brief extract from the Meursault track below, to give you a sneak preview if you weren’t there, and am hoping that the band won’t mind (if they do though, it will be removed sharpish..) Cheers to Chris Bathgate for his recording expertise.

Finally it was Found (who I’ve seen live so often recently they must think I’m stalking them). They had a particularly tricky piece called Camera Makes Whoopee, which included montages of various instruments, making it difficult for them to deviate from the footage, but the band cleverly brought in samples and beats to match what was on screen.

What I enjoyed about this was the creative, and different approach taken by each band, and the genuine enthusiasm of the crowd. I’d like to see some contemporary local film-makers teaming up with the city’s musical talent more often, but I can see that it would take a lot of work to come up with something like this completely from scratch.

Anyway, it’s great that there’s another night in the offing making this an almost unique, two-night only event that you’ll not want to miss the second time around.

  Meursault – Night Mail (extract from Playing with the Past live performance)

Playing with the Past is on at the Filmhouse, Edinburgh on August 22nd: more info here.

On Thursday Mel and I are heading New York City for the first time ever for five days. To say we’re excited is something of an understatement. We’ve both discussed going there many times since the day we got together – and we’ll be celebrating 11 years since that fateful day while we’re there (yes I am bloody old)- so I’m hoping some of the romance from the above picture will rub off on us (after all I don’t need to be in Manhattan for the Woody-esque morbid neuroses and unintentional slapstick comedy to commence).

I also have a personal link to NYC as my grandparents on my Dad’s side emigrated there from Ireland many years ago, and went through the whole Ellis Island process when they arrived. My cousin Rory lives there now and I’m hoping we can hook up with him when we get there.

I guess the trip could be a let-down given the expectations built up over the years through the iconic imagery of countless classic films, and through reading about all the amazing musical history that’s taken place there, not least the emergence of Bob Dylan, one of my all-time heroes. Of course, things aren’t the same as they were in the 60′s but I’m guessing that there’s so much going on there I won’t have time to be disappointed. 

I’ve also managed to get myself into another fine mess by declaring that I am going to take part in the notorious open mic night at the Sidewalk Cafe on Monday night, which the likes of Beck, Jeffrey Lewis, The Moldy Peaches and Regina Spektor have previously performed at. It could be a tough crowd, but I have one friend there, a man who calls himself Antifolk Chameleon (after the venue that Lach used before the Sidewalk) who has already offered me the loan of his guitar. And as he has been very supportive in the past of both my Tantrum Man and Swivel Chair musical projects, I can’t very well let the man down. 

So please wish us luck, let me know if you’ve been and if so what you recommend doing. Oh, and send me good vibes on Monday night!

The documentary Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson about the is an enjoyable, if uneven take on the life of the much-loved gonzo figurehead and “walking monument to misbehaviour” and is both an inspirational and cautionary tale.

Disclaimer: What follows is less a review than the thoughts it provoked about the life and work of one of my writing heroes.

This film persuaded me/reminded me that being a writer can be very worthwhile and have a positive impact, and fired me up to try to make more of my own writing talent, even if I will never come close to Hunter at his best. But it also showed, once again, that drink and drugs and the whole rock n roll myth can be very destructive. Thompson invented a persona which made him famous, but he became a slave to that one dimensional image and the fame that went with it.

He struggled with demons as do a lot of creative people, in particular an anger and rage that was at times uncontrollable – which no doubt drove him to write in the first place but was ultimately self-destructive in nature. What really stood out for me was his bravery in the early days – riding with the hell’s angels must have took some guts, and he certainly wasn’t scared of being blacklisted by the Washington big-wigs when he covered the 72 US election campaign.

What he showed was that truly great writing isn’t just about being able to string a few sentences together, it’s about taking a stand, taking a risk, going out on the edge, and being a visionary.

He was, of course, renowned for his ability to ingest truckloads of booze and drugs with barely noticeable effects – and as with his sometimes wholly fictional Gonzo journalism, he exaggerated the extent of this for effect, particularly in order to appall “the squares”. But when he failed to cover the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974, opting instead to drink whisky in his hotel swimming pool (he fully expected Mohammad Ali to lose), it marked the turning point where he was no longer in control of his ‘medicine’ because it was now in charge of him.

The film had a lot of interesting footage from Hunter’s attempt to run for sheriff of Aspen and how what started out as a prank became a real possibility, though ultimately ended in (genuine) disappointment. Also his backing of the underdog democrat candidate McGovern (Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72) may have helped him get nominated – though a very bad choice (with eerie echoes of Sarah Palin) of unnaturally sweaty man Thomas Eagleton as vice-presidential candidate, who was forced to resign after it was revealed he had undergone shock therapy 3 times, would put paid to his bid. Instead of electing a man who would have ended the Vietnam War immediately and brought through other social reforms, the US public elected the morally vacuous and bizarrely-faced Richard Nixon, and the iconic plastic mask of him that has almost replaced his real face in popular iconography is used in the film as a recurring motif to represent Hunter’s own dark side.

Again, parallels were drawn with recent events, with Nixon and Bush shown as interchangeable figures. Thompson was devastated by the result then of course, and later when George W was elected he sunk into a depression which can only have strengthened his long-standing decision to take his own life. In fact the film opens with Hunter’s reaction to 9/11, one of the few events that got him fired up enough to summon his old talent in his later years. It’s an extraordinarily lucid and prescient piece of writing. Though to many his shotgun suicide was a heroic way to go befitting of the way he lived life, the film’s message, through the words of his closest friends and his own family, was that this was in fact a cop-out by a man whose talent could have continued to have a positive impact on the world – but then as he himself was aware, he had ceased being a great writer many years earlier when the drugs and drink took their hold.

Herbie Mann – Battle Hymn of the Republic

as chosen by Hunter S. Thompson for the compilation ‘Where Were You When The Fun Stopped?’