Fifa 2005

Any male in possession of a games console must own a football game - it's the law! I have played several versions of this obligatory franchise over the years, as it has evolved from a barely playable novelty to the cutting edge of sports simulation. There are always problems with football sims - no one can ever agree on the best gameplay controls, and there have been many gimmicks adopted to try and spice things up. In this version it is the off the ball control and first touch moves that are the selling point. Both work fine, the latter being something that should be kept for future evolutions (including Fifa 2006 just released). I don't know how many hours it took me to complete the main challenge of this game, which is a 15 season role as manager and player (about 750 games!), but it has been over 2 months of regular play. A lot of those games were simulated, with the option to intervene at any point (another good addition to gameplay). Of course I had the best team the world has ever seen from about season 7, culminating in an unbeaten 14th season where a reincarnated Thierry Henry scored 56 goals! There are 2 more difficulty levels above "professional", which I played for the majority, but to be honest it's more fun to master the moves and then really kick ass - there is nothing more satisfying than a 7-0 win over AC Milan... Oh, and the best feature of this game: create your own player - #73 in the red of the Boro was a faithfully reproduced model of myself, but with the silky skills of a soccer god - fantasy and vanity all fulfilled. Goooooaaall. 8/10 Kx

No Direction Home

Martin Scorsese's docu-film No Direction Home, celebrating, commemorating and reminiscing on almost 50 years in the music business for Bob Dylan showed over two nights on BBC, accompanied by a handful of other shorter films about the legend that refused to be labeled. Blood On The Tracks and Blonde On Blonde have been favourites of mine (and millions of others) since I first started appreciating music, but I never knew half the history of the man before this week! Telling of the early days and a move from Minnesota to Greenwich Village in 1961, we learn about his heroes and motivations, with comments from the man himself, who speaks very lucidly about events as if they were yesterday. The film flits between the years superbly showing the highs and the lows in equal measure - with some priceless footage of Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and a host of other pioneers from folk, to blues, to rock and roll. Not to mention a heap of stuff, familiar and not so, of Mr Zimmerman himself - including footage of nights in Northern British towns playing to hundreds of booing "fans". And then, of course, you have the wealth of beautiful black and white photography that helped create an icon (a lot of which were taken by Andy Warhol). Everything about the guy in the 60s screamed of intelligence and effortless cool, and there is a good argument here that he was as important as John Lennon and Elvis, if not more so, in changing the world with music. He never wanted to be called a Folk singer and he never wanted to be called a Protest singer, he just wanted to be Bob Dylan, and thank God. The best moment for me in the 3 hour plus film was beat poet Allan Ginsberg chocking back the tears when remembering the first time he heard A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall. He led a generation back then, whether he intended to or not, just a shame there is nothing that remotely comes close to his genius in our own. Great stuff. Kx

Sin City

Another of the early Summer's hits, but this time one I missed, much to my regret, at the cinema. What was I thinking not going to check this out? The trailer was superb, the cast a knockout and the concept right up my deserted, rain soaked alley... Maybe I was thinking that I didn't want to be let down - there was so much hype around at the time and a lot of other stuff to see, and I think I was waiting for enough good reviews, until I'd left it too late. A shame because visually it was designed for the big screen and I'm sure I would have got a big visceral buzz from it - at home, well, with the volume up loud, it was easy to get immersed in the seedy world of Frank Miller that Robert Rodriguez has so faithfully reproduced. The idea of anti-heroes and a city of permanant night appeals to my dark side as much as any of the graphic novels' many fans, and in this context the ultra-violent (and they are!) scenes are tinted with a certain peotry that lies in the black parts of everyone's soul. It has a lot to live up to and for about two thirds of the way it does it in spades - to look at it is as stunning as anything you'll see and a brief glimpse into what will be possible with real actors and full CG when it becomes cheaper any easier to harness the technology for independant film-makers; acting wise, well it's stylistic and some pull it off better than others - Mickey Rouke's Marv, as reported, is the stand-out, I could have watched a whole movie of him. As a director, Rodriguez is in familiar territory that he obviously loves and garnishes with a minute attention to detail, but sometimes his vision lacks the very soul it is trying to bring to life - it just doesn't have that certain something that would make it an absolute classic, it falls short by an indefinable hair. Maybe it's the sterility of a big Weinstein Hollywood production that weighs it down, I don't know. The genre will leave many cold and do little to convert those who found the idea juvenile, but, for me, it is still a terrific film with lots to admire - if in the right mood then this is the one you reach for; turn off your brain, turn down your conscience and enjoy... 8/10 Kx

The Hitch Hikers Guide...

...To The Galaxy! I saw this at the cinema just at the start of the period when I stopped blogging, so seeing it again on DVD gives me the chance to tell you what I thought about it... Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by how bold the film-makers had been and couldn't stop comparing it to the 80s TV series - there was a lot I did like but overall felt a bit, I don't know, cheated by it. Second time around: it's a Sunday afternoon, everyone's relaxed, there are no expectations... and I bloody loved it! Thought it was great! Couldn't wait to actually buy a copy and watch it again, again! I think it was the casting that threw me the first time - Martin Freeman, OK, was brilliant in The Office, but a bit of a one trick pony; Mos Def? (who I've since seen more of in The Woodsman) what was he doing playing Ford Prefect? Zooey Deschannel, I'd vaguely heard of but had no great opinion for; in fact, the only one that seemed right was Sam Rockwell, as Zaphod, a part he was surely born to play. On seeing it all again I had no such concerns: Freeman was spot on, Mos Def was actually very funny and Zooey Deschannel is both beautiful and totally believable as the only girl in the Universe worth caring about... The whole thing is fun and you have to go with it, that's the point. John Malkovich and Bill Nighy give great supporting performances to flesh out a terrifically well produced whole that more than lives up to the spirit of the book, the radio play, the TV series and, above all, the intentions of Douglas Adams. I had a hardback anthology of Hitch Hikers that rarely left my side when I was a teenager, and although the book will always be the best medium for the story, this is now in my mind the definitive adaptation, and I never thought I'd say that a few months ago - I must have been in a rotten mood or something. 9/10 Kx

QI

QI stands for Quite Interesting. It is one of those quiz shows that it doesn't really matter who wins as long as it is entertaining - and it is. It is also one of those shows that you never fully intend to watch - I mean you don't plan it or put everything else on hold to watch it, but whenever you turn the telly on there it is! It's hosted by the fount of all wisdom, wit and most things English, Stephen Fry, who asks a panel of 2 teams of two, including regular guest Alan Davies, bizarre questions about obscure things in the hope they can expound some intersting info on the subject, or at least something ludicrously funny or cras. In recent shows I've learnt that a kangaroo has 3 vaginas; the earth has 4 moons (but only one of them is big enough to see); and that the first Olympic games only had one event, which was won by a totally naked chef! Other guests such as the brilliantly droll Rich Hall and British stand up die-hards Jimmy Carr, Bill Bailey and Rob Brydon ensure it is never taken too seriously, but you can't help coming away from it a bit more educated and hoping that no one else watched it so you can show off how clever you are the next day... The format is one that has evolved from shows like Never Mind the Buzzcocks and They Think It's All Over, in that, as I say, it doesn't matter a hoot who wins as long as someone is made to look like an idiot and everyone has a laugh. The show has a great website too (click title above, as usual) with many a fact and more info about the show - which is destined to run for a good few years I think, well, it was even imitated on Richard and Judy the other day, so it's definitely made it... Kx

My Summer of Love

Limited theatrical release didn't stop this BBC production becoming a reasonably sized hit in Europe last Autumn, culminating in a bunch of Independent Award nominations for all involved - including five nods at the increasingly high profile British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), for best film, best director (Pawel Pawlikowski), best actress (Natalie Press), best newcomer (Emily Blunt) and best supporting actor (Paddy Considine). Pawlikowski and Considine had worked together before on the 2000 film The Last Resort and both men have terrific influence on this wonderful little film, but it is to the two young leads that the praise must go - for relative newcomers they are both electric on screen - and together fuse with tangible chemistry to create a sensual whole that drives the narrative into something very special. Pawlikowski has an eye for simplicity and almost ethereal beauty, making the film reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides, Morvern Callar or even Picnic At Hanging Rock - and it certainly stands up in such brilliant company. He is ultimately a realist in style, so it is interesting that this deals with the ideas of fantasy, romantiscism and escapism. At just over 80 minutes long it never has a chance to become tedious and this is another skill lesser directors should take note of; an atmosphere evocative of Summer days that last forever, daydreams and first love ooze out of the screen and sit happily side by side with the harsher realities of Mona's life, and almost before you know it you are watching the credits roll feeling quite different than you did an hour and a half ago... One of the best DVDs I've seen this year! 9/10 Kx

Radio Days

Radio: Broadband internet and DAB digital has led to a revival of the medium in a lot of people's lives. The working person has always relied on it to relieve the boredom of days, as has the long distance driver - but now it belongs to everyone again, with a wider range of stations available than ever before. As I have found myself glued to my Xbox controller over the last few weeks I have often chosen to turn the sound down and put the radio on in the background. I have done some experimenting up and down "the dial", but mostly it has been about 2 stations - BBC's Five Live, for their excellent sports coverage and match commentaries; and Virgin FM, for some decent playlists and the musings of my old pal Vic Reeves as a newly christened DJ. Listening to Vic tonight was especially amusing as he hadn't heard of half of the bands being requested and kept going on about the best ever sandwich (his being beetroot and mayo!). I've also been trying to get my head around Podcasts on iTunes, a free subscription based service where anyone with an iPod can transmit their own station. Larger stations use the facility too, it seems, to broadcast shows and highlights of shows that folk might have missed and can pick up on the move... Or something - I don't have an iPod so just listened to a few really dodgy ones on my PC... Talk about a waste of time! But it could become huge when it becomes more user friendly and the quality shows are filtered out. All a long way from huddling around a big wooden box in the corner of the room waiting for the king's speech of a Christmas morning. Or maybe not so much... Kx

Tsotsi Preview

Every now and again a film emerges that everyone agrees upon. Gigli was one example, but for all the wrong reasons - and UK / South African production Tsotsi (which roughly translates as "thug" or "gangster") seems to be another, for all the right ones! Last month it won both the audience and critics awards at the Edinburgh film festival (a very rare double), and last week walked off with the audience award at the Toronto film festival to boot! The latter is normally a good indication of intent for nominations in the Best Foreign Language category at the Oscars, and with The Sea Inside getting so much attention last year these "minority" films are no longer essentially small business. People are queuing more than ever before to see films about real lives, real places and real issues - and I for one will be looking forward to its return to Scottish Screens in the near future. The official website (click title above) has some great info on the production, including a ten minute making-of film that makes it pointless for me to summarize the plot here. Go and see for yourselves... Kx

Da Vinci Again

The hype to next years biggest box office hit (nothing is so certain) is tangibly building all the time. The Da Vinci Code started filming in July in Paris, and as I was there and became convinced the road behind our hotel was being used as a repository for the productions many police cars (including Bezu Fache's Citroen), my interest was piqued anew. Rarely is a film shrouded in such secrecy, but with something this huge a closed set is essential. A trip to Paris also inspired me to pick up the book again, so that I could put real images to the many locations around the city of light. It did become more vivid, but the downside was that with all the secrets revealed after the first read it becomes clear that literarily speaking it is little more than pulp fiction - a page turner still, for sure, but no classic; how they all don't figure it out much sooner is the biggest mystery of all! Ron Howard, too, concerns me - will he over-egg the romantic symbolism that surrounds the sacred feminine and will the relationship between Tom Hank's Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou's Sophie Neveu be presented in too sugary a way? Undoubtedly he will instill it with pace and excitement, but it is the general tone that bothers me, from a director far too keen on the sentimental side of life. Still around 9 months to find out. I'll have to fill the time with a few anagram puzzles or something. Kx

Friday Night with Ross

Back for a ninth series - funnier and more entertaining than Parkinson and more intelligent than the rest - Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, the only "chat show" worth watching... His guest lists are always impressive, this 2nd show including Gerrard Depardieu, Kanye West, Franz Ferdinand and the charming Alan Whicker, legend of British broadcasting. The Frenchman in particular was priceless, not understanding at least half of Ross' quickfire quips, sparking up an illicit fag halfway through, only to stub it out on the carpet when prompted to put it out, and explaining the best way to cook a hedgehog (you have to put a bicycle pump up its arse apparently)! The format is as fresh as it was in series one - Edinburgh Festival visitors Four Poofs and a Piano still provide camp musical links for each guest, much to the bemusement of many overseas visitors, Ross still interjects a bit of scripted comedy and observation between each main course, and the night always ends with a live performance to rival any you'll see. But it is the interviews that really matter - often incisive, sometimes embarrassing and confrontational, but more often good natured irresistibly funny. I can think of no one better at revealing the true character of their guests than JR and I look forward to the rest of the series enormously. Top Telly. Kx

Forza Motorsport

Halo 2 was my first completed game on Xbox, and I still can't believe it ended on a cliffhanger...! Next up was Forza Motorsport, which competes with the plethora of other racing games on the selling point of being able to "pimp" any one of over 200 production cars to almost any specs you can think of - tweak the engine, stick a massive spoiler on it, some top of the range tyres, some gold wheel trims and finish it all off with a really gaudy paint-job. This is real testosterone territory, and I love it! Not only do you get the fun of complete makeovers on some serious machinery, but you get to race them too - cars are rated in six classes with over 100 different races to choose from, ranging from amateur to professional to controller wrenching endurance races. Take a Ferrari Enzo around the mammoth 20km long Nurburgring at 200mph and you'll be hooked! As I have been... Over 90 hours of racing logged since I began (that's almost 4 whole days in a little over a month, gulp), over 8000 miles of track covered and over 10 million credits won. I have been into racing games since the golden days of Outrun in the 80s and this is definitely the best simulation I've ever played... Ironic really, since I've never so much as backed out of a driveway in a real car. It seems I must satisfy my need for speed in a virtual world where it's all much safer, most of the time. There is an Xbox live option on this too, which I explored briefly at the beginning, before realising the community was populated by fanatical Americans who took their racing really seriously, thus destroying the fun for the casual player. I may revisit just to teach them a trick or two now I'm more experienced behind the wheel, but something tells me it's time to move on to new pastures and get into something that requires a few more brain cells. Forza: Fun around every corner - 10/10 Kx

Werner & Klaus

This week saw BBC4 (Auntie's arts channel) deliver a brief but very welcome season focusing on the work of German director Werner Herzog. First up was one of my favourite European films of all time: the inimitable Aguirre, Wrath of God, with Klaus Kinski in the role of the solipsistic nobleman in search of El Dorado at any cost. Herzog and Kinski were both mad as fish by all accounts, threatening to kill each other on a regular basis and often storming off the set at any given moment not to return for days, sometimes weeks. But they always did return (until irreconcilable differences were reached towards the end of production on Cobra Verde in 1987) and thank Gott for us, because we have been left with a series of some of the most original, daring and stunning films ever made. Both men were blessed with genius, there can be no doubt - but it is Kinski who took himself more seriously, often stating he was the second coming of Christ, his ego was so big! Perfect then for roles such as Aguirre and, perhaps more famously, Fitzcarraldo, the musician who ordered an entire steamboat to be lifted over an Amazonian waterfall (a feat which Herzog insisted was replicated on the shoot!!!). Then you have Nosferatu, of course, the late 70s remake of the spine-tingling horror classic, and several others of note. They made six films together in all (a miracle, if ever there was one), five of which are available in a collective box-set, together with a documentary by WH called My Best Friend, made after the death of Kinski in 1999 - must have stuff and the top of my wish list. I was happy to be reminded by the BBC that my suspicions that Herzog was also dead were very wrong, as they also aired two recent documentaries The White Diamond (2004) and The Wild Blue Yonder (2005). In fact he's still a young man at 62! Just shows how potent he was in his prime to have had such a career so young. Must find a biography of him some time. Kx

Champions League

It's Back! The one thing that keeps me going through many an Autumn and Winter's evening - Champion's League Football... Last year Chelsea and Liverpool met in the Semi final, of course, with Liverpool going on to be champions after one of the greatest games in the modern era in the final. And guess what? They've been drawn in the same group this year! Both will probably go through to the next stage but before then we can look forward to two thrilling if very tactical affairs between the two teams. Mourinho will be playing cat and mouse, as always, and Benitez will play it cool. Top drama... But there are Man Utd and Arsenal in there too - Man Utd look strong in the early part of the season, with the London team perhaps less potent than in recent years (although they have never done well in this competition). Last year all four English teams reached the last 8 and that could very well happen again, with Real Madrid's golden age seemingly coming to an end and only a handful of European teams that could really teach the English clubs a lesson at their full strength. AC Milan, Barcelona, Juventus and dark horse Lyon may be on that list, but there are many weeks of fun and tactics to unfold before we know the elite of the elite. Bookmakers make Chelsea a skinny 5/1 favourite to lift the trophy in 2006, but as long as it stays on this island I don't really care who does it. Kx

The Ashes

Cricket? Normally couldn't give a full toss - it's slow, it takes days, literally, and may well end in a draw! The Ashes, however, is a tradition that goes back to 1882 when Australia overcame tremendous odds to beat the much more professional English (who after all invented the ruddy game), prompting The Times to declare cricket dead, saying the body would be cremated and the "ashes" sent down under - so if you absolutely have to watch it then this quaint and fiercely contested event is the one. It only happens once every four years and this time battle would commence on English soil - 8 weeks, 5 tests, 5 days each, five different venues. Now I have to admit that for the first few tests I only kept half of one eye on it, but by the end of the tenth day of play it was obvious it was going to get interesting, and pundits and aficionados everywhere started saying it was the best series ever! That was largely down to two men, the charismatic and relative new boy for England, Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, who was taking wickets left right and centre and not doing too badly with a bat either; and the old warhorse, Shane Warne, one of the greatest bowlers of all time and a constant thorn in England's side. Things were all square after 3 tests, but England had missed out on the lead by only 2 runs and momentum was definitely swinging in the Pommie's favour. The fourth, sure enough, went to England, leaving them needing only a draw to retain The Ashes for the first time in 16 years... London's Oval was to be the final ground, and rain (as it does in Britain) played a big part in delaying an Aussie comeback. By the final morning England only had to bat out the day to lift the tiniest trophy in sport - but Warne had a lot to say about it, taking 4 more wickets (he finished with 40 for the entire series!!) before lunch, leaving England nerve's jangling. A few sarnies and a cuppa later, though, and South African born, adopted Englishman Kevin Pietersen started whacking some sixes and by tea it was more or less over - he finished up on 158 to be England's top batsman for the series and the hero of the day. But it was a team victory ultimately, over 25 days of effort and much doubt. Hurray! As a sidenote, Richie Bennaud, the Australian who has been the voice of cricket commentary since I was born, retired today to standing ovations all round - a sad goodbye, but a fitting event to go out on. Now, every Englishman is going mad in celebration: on the TV, radio and anywhere else they can be heard. In a year without a football or rugby world cup, or an Olympics, this is being called the great sporting event of the Summer and it certainly is a good excuse to shout. Also kind of sweet that (on a global scale) such a minority sport can create such a fuss. I wish in a way I could get more excited about it - but my thoughts are already turning to the Champions League, kicking off tomorrow night. It's all a load of balls really! Kx

Hotel Rwanda

Following Crash and the terrific impression left on me by Don Cheadle, thought it was about time to check out his Oscar nominated performance in "true story" Hotel Rwanda. Genocide has to be one of the ugliest words and ideas in existence, and as with all works of art that have dealt with the holocaust it is incredibly important that events are recorded accurately and that the world is urged to learn from its history. There was no doubt that this movie, being based on the real events of 1994 in Rwanda, was going to be unbearably sad - but would it be any good? Well, not really, unfortunately. Writer and director of Some Mother's Son, Terry George delivers an episodic script, that also jars in its editing, making it very staccato in mood and difficult to connect with - he seems to have made, not necessarily bad choices, just unimaginative ones. In an attempt to capture all the events we lose something of the drama inherent. Neither over-sentimental nor melodramatic, nevertheless, the absence of filmic savvy makes each subsequent scene blend into mediocrity and tempts the audience not to care, despite the subject. Compare it to something like The Killing Fields and you will see what I mean. Mr Cheadle does hold it together, however, with a fine portrayal of the hotel manager torn between his roles as husband and father and his responsibility as leader of the last refuge on earth for the "cockroaches" targeted for extermination by the Hutus. The thought that occurs, which is highlighted well, is how this could have been allowed to happen and allowed to continue for so long by the rest of the world! Just a shame that apart from DC many roles are miscast, including UN General Nick Nolte, who seems out of place in every scene, and Belgian hotel entrepreneur Jean Reno, who looks equally uncomfortable. Worthy of a mention, though, is Joaquin Phoenix as an American journalist: he was as different and as watchable as ever in a small, but important role - but he was gone after half an hour and much missed. A bit of a let down in all and deserving only of an average 6/10, I'm afraid. Kx

Friday Night Lights

Any great sports movie needs just a few simple ingredients: exciting action scenes that actually resemble the sport being played, strong characters with points to prove, an underdog with a mountain to climb, and, perhaps most importantly, those magic words "Based on a true story". There is enough drama in real sport to render fictitious scripts in the genre redundant, and this movie digs up a wonderful story from the archives of pre-college American football in the 1980's Texas town Odessa. Billy Bob Thornton is the only real name on the list, and he does his job well enough as the under-pressure coach, including the ubiquitous half time speech in the final game - but it is the supporting ensemble of young actors under the helmets and under the expectations of the whole town that really shine. Included in the line-up is one Lucas Black, who appeared in Thornton's labour of love, the brilliant Slingblade, almost a decade ago, and now seems ready to break through into the A-league judging on this subtle and convincing portrayal of troubled quarterback Mike Witchell. You may remember him best as the freaky kid from cult TV show American Gothic - but he is 23 now, and with credits such as Cold Mountain, Friday Night Lights and the upcoming Jarhead under his belt, I'm going to tip him right now as one of the next big things. He steals the film, and quite rightly the plot focuses our affections on him in the "will they, won't they?" climax and beyond. I liked this a lot, and believe that even those who loathe sports films will be sucked in to the human story running through its heart. In slight criticism, the MTV style editing in the action sequences was a little overplayed - but otherwise, for what it is, it works on every level and comes highly recommended as a good popcorn fix. 8.5/10 Kx

Crash

Paul Haggis, the writer of Million Dollar Baby, attempts one of the most ambitious directorial debuts in recent memory with the critically acclaimed Crash. I had thought it only looked OK from the trailer, but I thought that about 21 Grams (to which this is not entirely dissimilar) and that turned out to be one of the best films of 2004! The weight of recommendations had become too much, and so I went along this morning to see what all the fuss is about. One thing is certain - it is one hell of a movie... but it will cause differences of opinion. In scope and style it seems to owe a lot to both Magnolia and Traffic - the former for its fascination with co-incidence and the holistic effect of human action and interaction, and the latter for its boldness in tackling a potentially incendiary subject with the aid of an ensemble cast and grainy film-stock. As a fan of both films I was always going to like this, although there are problems: the situations and dialogue are at times stretched beyond the reasonable limits of believability, and, considering the incredibly difficult task of marrying so many different threads into a coherent whole, it is oddly paced and edited in snatches. However, for a first time director it is an awesome achievement - the cast are very strong, notably the ever reliable Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, in a perfectly cast role, Sandra Bullock (although it is little more than a cameo) and Ryan Phillippe, as Dillon's conflicted partner; the mood is sustained with nail-biting tension, culminating in two or three unforgettable moments as the characters "crash" together in different, but always life-changing ways; and, above all, there is a soul underneath it that propels the whole into the near-reaches of an absolute classic. Racism is a difficult subject - there are many arguments and not too many solutions, but here almost all of the key issues are dealt with, leaving you with questions, realizations and revelations aplenty without ever being trite or trying to be definitive - so much so that I feel like I need to see it again immediately! And it would be a pleasure: its ultimate success is not that it is a great piece of art or a great political statement, but that it is a great, watchable, movie with an indispensable human message. If this isn't at least nominated for a whole bunch of Oscars then I'll eat my shoes!! If you haven't already done so - See It... 9/10 Kx

Mercury Prize 2005

The Mercury Music Prize (properly know this year as The Nationwide Mercury Prize) is one of the more worthwhile awards events, as it doesn't pander to popularity alone, giving real artists of any level and any genre the recognition they deserve. Of the twelve shortlisted albums that Mercury celebrated this year - as the event acknowledges studio albums, not artists or individual songs - there were some familiar faces from the current indie rock/pop crowd: Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Maximo Park and the highest of high profiles in Coldplay (who didn't actually appear, no, no, far too big for that!), but there was a majority of lesser known talents, including new jazz band Polar Bears and indie/folk fiddler Seth Lakeman from Dartmoor. In the middle ground there was my tip for greatness early in the year, Miss K. T. Tunstall from Fife, whose reproduction of the Later With Jools Holland performance of her single Black Horse and the Cherry Tree is still one of the most electric things I've seen for years. But the whole show bristled with raw energy and stupid amounts of talent - every single act was great live, endorsing their worthiness even more. And nothing could be truer when talking about the "winner", the weird and perhaps wonderful Antony and the Johnsons - you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium as Antony himself played the piano and warbled his way through a soulful ballad in his own radically unique style. I have to admit he is relatively new to me, but once you hear him you can't forget it - it is a haunting style that jars an ear tuned to mundanity at first, but then beguiles it in a frighteningly resonant way. And that is why he got a standing ovation from the knowing crowd, and that is why he walked off with the gong, so that our awareness of this exceptionally individual talent is heightened as it should be, love it or hate it. I'm undecided but I will certainly give the album - Now I Am A Bird a very serious listen. Kx

The Red Lion Roars

As of today all previous Boro match reports from last season have been deleted to keep in line with everything The Wasteland should represent - they were just too boring for general viewing on a Pop-Culture level, and so are no more... That is not to say that more general sport items won't appear here, because they will, it is just that my fanaticism for my team deserves a blog of its own. And so for anyone who needs an MFC fix just click on the title link and away you go. Kx

The Ultimate Film

There has been a definite bias toward film in The Wasteland since its resurrection last month. Fitting then that the first bit of sustained telly I've managed to sit down and watch, since practically the start of Summer, is a programme about film. Channel 4's misleadingly titled The Ultimate Film showed in two 3 hour installments, further satisfying our modern-day addiction to statistics and lists of all kinds. There is some fatigue with this kind of thing now; there has been so many of them, and most of them are useless as documents as they are voted upon by so-called experts, who naturally harbour their own prejudices and favourites. This list differed in that it claimed to be based on actual bums-on-seats figures since the recorded beginning of cinema in the UK. A very, very different thing to box-office takings in hard currency, whether adjusted for inflation or not. We British are notoriously eccentric, and the films we have flocked to see more than others over the decades reflects that quite plainly - For a start about 50% of the list is comprised of British films, with films like The Full Monty statistically outranking all of the Star Wars films barring the original! 50% are also from 1965 or earlier, with a glut of films the majority of people under 40 haven't even heard of populating not only the lower reaches of the list but the top twenty as well! Historically it is easy to see how post WWII escapism was in high demand, and it is easy to imagine the appeal of the movies as a main source of entertainment before television was a regular accessory in every home. Britain's hottest stars ever? Think of ten names and you still won't get it... Dame Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding have a handful of films in the list, the highest being 1948's Spring in Park Lane at #5, which attracted 20.5 million people (half the population of the entire nation at the time)!!! It truly was a different age. Of the modern era, Titanic is the only film post 1980 to make the top ten! These and many more surprises await - take a look at the full list on channel 4's website by clicking the title above. Of the overall winner... Well, no prizes for guessing. Even my mum saw Gone With the Wind three times, and that is saying a lot. Personally I think it is boring and, frankly, couldn't give a damn about it, but you can't argue with the figures: an estimated 35 million tickets sold in the UK alone. That's not just amazing, that's staggering... Long live the movies! Kx

Madagascar

September brings about a main event in my life: my daughter's birthday. And that always means a movie... There was no way on Earth I was going to see Herbie, but even that was preferable to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl - so we saved up the only realistic choice, Madagascar, for a couple of weeks just for this occasion. I'm lucky enough, having a kid, that I can more or less see kid's movies on their level and therefore judge them on their merits. It doesn't make sense to compare these kind of things outside of their genre, and so, this being from the makers of Shrek and Shark Tale, I have to compare it to those. Now, I did write a hugely compelling commentary on the role of animation in pop-culture today, but my PC has crashed twice since then, so it's probably trying to tell me to stop being so pretentious about it and get to the point of whether it's any good or not... Well, it's better than Shark Tale and not as good as Shrek, or anything Pixar have done, for that matter. Not all that surprising - but it is a decent enough way to spend ninety minutes: there are plenty of laughs, especially from the Sasha Baron-Cohen (Ali G) voiced King of the Lemurs! He had me wetting myself, as did the penguins and the poo throwing monkeys (who weren't in it enough). Unfortunate then that the four main characters, though amiable enough, couldn't live up to the supporting cast. Ben Stiller as vain lion turned potential savage, Alex, is OK but lacks the vocal versatility to stand out, as do Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer to some extent. Only Chris Rock (who annoys the hell out of me as a real "actor") cuts the dijon as the energetic zebra, and on the whole that's not enough. Take the kids or wait for the DVD - but not enough there to count it as a classic. 7/10 Kx

Diamond Dogs

Donnie Darko was 2nd and last year's surprise hit Sideways made the top ten, but Quentin Tarantino's 1992 crime caper, the seminal Reservoir Dogs, has been deemed The greatest independent movie ever! The list, comprised by Empire Online, remembers and applauds the 50 best films that blinkered studio execs wouldn't touch with a bargepole, and, without the gods of fate smiling down on them, might never have been made at all! These days serious cinephiles are more likely to look to the likes of Sundance and the Venice film festival for their kicks, thanks in large to the tenacity, vision and genius of the many film-makers involved in these and many more "independent" films. Interesting to note the trends that developed after a lot of these films became successes in the studio output that followed - most of these great films have been copied but, arguably, never bettered. As for Dogs, well, I haven't seen it for quite a few years, but there is no denying its impact on 90s pop culture: so many memorable scenes, moments, lines of dialogue, the music, even the costumes are indisposable! Undeniably it is a five star film any day of the week and has reminded me that there is a Mr Pink size hole in my DVD collection where it should have been for years. I'm off to amend that right now. Take a look at the rest of the 50 by clicking the title above. Kx