Film: Are you feeling "Lucky"?

To use such a terrible cliche of a pun as a heading for this post must mean that something extra-special is coming. Well, yes, I think so. It's a short film by Nash Edgerton that is breath-takingly fast and explosive (literally) for such a short project. The stunts, as well, are something to appreciate in a short film, as is the cinematography. Overall, an especially well-done little vignette...

Design/Film: Black Swan Posters (drool)

Darren Aronofsky's forthcoming release 'Black Swan', a pitch-black psychological thriller about jealousy and sexuality in the world of ballet stars Natalie Portman in the leading role. Up until now the posters for the film have shown just Portman's face, painted a ghostly white shade with thick silver eye-liner and an icy crown as it is in parts of the film. This is not hugely imaginative, even if it is somewhat striking.

Compare that though, with these new designs from British design company LaBoca that are clearly influenced by poster design from the 20s and 30s, as well as the Polish and Czech designs of the 60s, those that I have previously drooled over on this very blog.

What's interesting is that despite being similar in a thematic and symbolic sense (each poster uses a human image, as well as that of a swan, and moonlight etc), the four posters become quite different visually when you imagine what tone they convey. At times, it can even seem that they are selling entirely different films. See which one you prefer:

Is it this one? The most classical, probably, of the four images, it looks almost like a poster for a crime thriller or a murder mystery or a film noir. The ballerina is built, rather superbly, into the swan's wing as if the two were made of porcelain, and the title and the words above hark back to the regency era and Noel Coward. Spiffing:


In this next design, we are presented with a tone more akin to horror movies. The Swan's nose splitting the ballerina's head in half reminds one instantly of the classic poster for A Clockwork Orange, and the bright, blood red, angular lettering at the poster's bottom looks as though it was designed for the cover of a Stephen King:


Poster three suggests, to me, something military. The way that the swan's wings are curled around the smaller figure in the centre of the design make the viewer think of badges, of regalia, of those authoritarian stamps that are emblazoned on fascist chests in dystopian science fiction and graphic novels like V For Vendetta:


And finally, a futurist's wet dream. This poster couldn't hark back more to the iconic Metropolis poster if it wanted to. Straight lines, shaded corners and a human figure made to look almost robotic, it is flooded with recognisable imagery, but completes a set of four designs that are both closely linked but greatly different at the same time:

Film/Sport: Totally Rad Biking Video

It's not often I write about anything sporty on here (which doesn't mean I don't like sport, trust me) but I saw this rather beautiful video directed by Felix Urbauer and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Music: 2010 - Music Of The Year (and shit...)

Welcome all, to the end of 2010 Man Culture Love round up. A feast of meaningless, self-infatuated lists that serve hopefully to look back at the high points of this year and my listening to music and stuff. What's more, I've gone to the outlandish, almost Herculean effort of creating a tidy little Spotify playlist (other streaming music providers are available...I think) so that those without past experience of some of the bands or artists might be able to check them out, in a listening way, not a "ooh, yeah, nice tight trousers on the lead singer" kind of way.

These thirty albums, split into the three categories into which I invest most of my time, will hopefully reveal some low-flying albums that may have flown under your radar this year. Or over your head. Whichever untidy metaphor you want...

PLEASE NOTE: the use of over-blown, gushing praise when describing these records, the kind you'd usually find on this blog, will not be featuring in this round-up. It's 11:30, I've got work in a couple of hours, and frankly I've read enough self-important and predictable opinion blogging (*cough* Pitchfork/Quietus *cough*) already in the past week or so to have to put up with my own. Just assume that every album on this list I think is fantastic in its own way.

They are, also, in no particular order of preference. The numbers at the side represent nothing but my need to jazz things up a little. You like? It's my blog version of tinsle. Oooooooooh, looky.

ALTERNATIVE:

1. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
2. Kat Frankie - The Dance Of A Stranger Heart
3. The Black Keys - Brothers
4. Best Coast - Crazy For You
5. Darwin Deez - Darwin Deez
6. Everything Everything - Man Alive
7. Future Islands - In Evening Air
8. Sleepy Sun - Fever
9. Morning Benders - Big Echo
10. White Denim - Last Day Of Summer

AMERICANA/COUNTRY/BLUEGRASS:

1. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lonegan - Hawk
2. J. Tillman - Singing Ax
3. Pete Molinari - A Train Bound For Glory
4. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig
5. Dylan LeBlanc - Paupers Field
6. Mountain Man - Made The Harbor
7. Ida Jenshus - No Guarantees
8. Justin Townes Earle - Harlem River Blues
9. Ferraby Lionheart - The Jack Of Hearts
10. Phospherescent - Here's To Taking It Easy

FOLK:

1. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
2. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
3. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
4. First Aid Kit - The Big Black And The Blue
5. Sharon Van Etten - Epic
6. Laura Veirs - July Flame
7. Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
8. Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws
9. Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light And Trees
10. Julia Stone - Memory Machine

So there you have it, the first of this blog's yearly music round-ups. Obviously there are things I have had to leave out which I wish I didn't have to, and honourable mentions go to Violens, Maps And Atlases, Black Mountain, Johnny Flynn, Lonelady, Yeasayer, The Black Angels, Frightened Rabbit, John Grant, Sufjan Stevens, Surfer Blood, The Soft Pack, Villagers, Two Door Cinema Club, Wolf Parade, Caitlin Rose, Greg Storer, Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs, Sean Hayes, She & Him, Gorillaz, Janelle Monae, Big Boi and Peggy Sue.

And that's not all their is in Santa's deep sack (don't think about it too much, just keep going) as a Spotify playlist has been built of most of the bands in the lists. Some glaring holes are apparent (no Arcade Fire or Joanna Newsom on Spotify, I mean REALLY?), but it's a good listen, so go check it out:

Spotify Playlist: Man Culture Love Round-Up 2010

And with this aside, here's a list of TWENTY TRACKS OF THE YEAR (again, in no particular order but most of which, out of choice, are by artists that don't feature on the album lists). Click on the tracks to watch/listen on the youtube:

1. Violens - Acid Reign
2. Villagers - Becoming A Jackal
3. Janelle Monae - Tightrope
4. James Blake - Limit To Your Love
5. Major Lazer - Pon De Floor (naughty vid, be careful)
6. Skrillex - Rock 'N Roll (Will Take Your To The Mountain)
7. Mystery Jets - Dreaming Of Another World (video of the year)
8. The Soft Pack - More Or Less
9. The Drums - Let's Go Surfing
10. Yeasayer - O.N.E.
11. Kelis - Acapella
12. Vampire Weekend - Holiday
13. Sleepy Sun - Open Eyes
14. Lonelady - Intuition
15. Cee-Lo Green - Forget You (or, if you're past the watershed: Fuck You)
16. Rihanna - Rudeboy or Only Girl (In The World)
17. Beach House - Zebra
18. Foals - Blue Blood
19. Screaming Females - I Don't Mind It
20. Megafaun - Volunteers

AND NOW FOR A FEW AWARDS:

Firstly, the award for BEST LIVE ACT goes to SCREAMING FEMALES, who did the gracious thing of blowing the arsehole out of a relatively small crowd at the Luminaire in Kilburn and revealed to me my new rock and roll goddess, the pint-sized, axe-shredding, shrieking mormon banshee that is Marisa Paternoster. Left my jaw on the floor and my heart racing after a blistering set of punk/grunge fury. See them at the first opportunity, and marvel at them.

Runners up: Megafaun, Wild Beasts, Everything Everything

Then, on the flipside, the award for WORST LIVE ACT goes to THE DRUMS, those most annoying of new bands, the preening, strutting kids from California who write songs as intellectually weighty as an over-cooked sponge. Every member of the band, who were seen disgracing live music at the Kentish Town Forum, deserves a lesson in standing FUCKING up, and the lead singer flopped around onstage neglecting to actually SING, but never forgetting to sweep his fringe over and wobble his knees around like a pissed up George Michael in WHAM. Awful in every sense, and the kids love them. It boggles the mind.

Runners up: Violens, Mountain Man

For MOST UNDERRATED ACT, we give the award to SHARON VAN ETTEN, who manages to be praised by just about every band and underground music mag out there, and who writes such beautiful, haunting, heartfelt songs, but whose name you can say to almost anybody on the street and get a response similar to this: "errrrrrrrrrrrrr....no?" Fingers crossed she breaks it this year with a few festival performances and some good press. A great talent.

Runners up: J. Tillman, White Denim, Screaming Females

MOST OVERRATED ACT, one of the most hotly contested of the year, goes to HURTS, who showed that a sweepy haircut and some synthesisers can go a long way in convincing a multitude of people that your are creating music that isn't just a mindless rip off of eighties electro stalwarts. This year's La Roux, and with even shitter songs. Laters!

Runners up: Liars, Warpaint, Vampire Weekend, Ariel Pink, Marina And The Diamonds, The Drums

With BIGGEST TWAT IN MUSIC comes a chance to shine a spotlight on someone who does all they can to sour the room with their own arrogance, vanity and general twattery. And this year the decision is unanimous, and the same as last year, the year before that, almost every year since this knobber arrived in fact. It is, of course, the unstoppable twat that is KANYE WEST. A whirlwind of pompous arseholery, with a sprinkling of innocent-girl-attacking thrown in for good measure. Well deserved.

Runners up: Mark Ronson, Lady Gaga, The Drums

BEST FESTIVAL goes to Green Man. Well, it was the only one I went to, but the line up was fantastic, the venue was brilliantly laid out and not too big, and the atmosphere was one of community, fun, silliness and, most importantly, a love of music. We'll meet again. Don't where, don't know when. Well, okay, I do know where, but I don't know when. %50 right.

Runners up: didn't go to any others, and this was a massive shame...

The Peter Pan Award for REFUSING TO GROW UP, goes to WEEZER, whose album, 'Hurley' was about as a purple ronnie nappy. Utter shit, from start to finish, and only good for one thing, which is reminding us just how good the blue album was. Oh, to experience Say It Ain't So for the first time again...

The Gillian McKeith Award for MOST OVERSTAYED WELCOME has to go to KINGS OF LEON, who having pitched at tent at the back of every festival stage or sports arena this side of the bayou have finally been found out for not really being a "stadium band" after all by releasing an album of repetitive, thoughtless sing-a-longs. Hopefully now they will be escorted from the premises and told to listen to Molly's Chambers and Holly Roller Novocaine.

Right, that's it. That's all I'm doing. This is officially the longest post i've ever done. I'm exhausted. See you soon for the film round-up. I'll make that MUCH shorter.

Film: Hollywood strikes midget gold again...or does it?

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to..........

TIPTOES.

It is a beautiful medley of heart-warming romance, slapstick comedy, oh yes, LITTLE PEOPLE. Bound to throw its weight around at the top of the box office, this obviously well-judged and seemingly naturalistic portrayal of love, life and height issues stars the oscar-bait method actor Matthew McConaughey and a-lister come cinema academic Kate Beckinsale, as well as (BITING LIP) Gary Oldman.

And now. Witness the greatness of what is surely bound to be the next Annie Hall/Spinal Tap/Withnail and make its mark on comedy history:



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Fucking genius.

Film: CIAO SCOTT PILGRIM!!!

The trailer for Scott Pilgrim dubbed into Italian. Tweeted by the man himself, Mr Edgar Wright. Must be good.

For me, the little funky sound affects, the flicks and cracks, sound better when the voice following them sounds like its advertising cleaning fluid or car insurance and is rushing through the small print.

Comedy: WOOF, what do we think boys, is she funny?

In honour of the typically lightweight debate knocking about on a certain left-leaning newspaper website over the differences between male and female comedic talent (he says Morgana show isn't even that good, she says women are under-represented on panel shows, he says female comics not good enough, she says male comics not much better, he says what about Thick Of It, everyone goes mental...) I have turned to my favourite comedic song, possibly my favourite comedic performance of all time.

Men, women, dogs, cats, whatever, I don't care what my comedy's got between its legs, all I care about's the laughs, and they don't thicker and faster than when watching the goddess Victoria Wood:

TV/Comedy: GRANDAD!!! The Morgana Show

It's 10:25 in the morning and I'm in bed watching TV (suck on that nine-to-fivers, ha!). I've not watched much TV recently, so I decide to catch up on some things I've missed. Then I see The Morgana Show. I remember the adverts. I remember giggling at the adverts. Then I remember thinking that well, the adverts are probably just all the best bits and it'll probably be a let down. Then I think, alright, what the heck, it doesn't cost anything, I'll give it a crack. All this remembering and thinking takes about five minutes.

Thirty minutes later, and I feel like the scales have fallen from my eyes. I have a new hero. Her name is Morgana Robinson.

This program is without doubt one of the most refreshing things to hit the box in some time. Not necessarily because it does anything different, because lots would argue that it doesn't, but because a comedian (and a female one at that, eh Germaine? RIGHT ON) is performing a perfectly judged mix of silliness and satire with a skill and talent and energy that has been seriously lacking in TV sketch comedy for some time.

Celebrities are lampooned (Cheryl Cole and Danni Minogue are justifiably speared, Lady Gaga is rightly mocked, Fearne takes a satisfying beating...literally), outlandish and vile creations (such as a bitter Hollywood dame and an ignorant perma-tanned Newsreader) are free to tear up the screen with aplomb, and then British culture, small and so close to home, is put under the microscope with a loving heart which enjoys the silly idiosyncracies of everyday "plebs". My favourite character, BY FAR, is Gilbert, who has his Grandad behind the home video camera as he tries to make his own show. It is, and I will say this again and again, comedy GOLD:



Episode 1 was a blistering start, and I look forward to the remaining series. On the back of its success, The Guardian has started a debate about female comedians getting more air time, and though The Morgana Show could, if you REALLY want to, be chalked up as a win for the girls, woohoo, it would be better to recognise that there are a host of rather rubbish female comedians out there (Miranda, for one, and the often lazilly vile Lucy Porter for another) who prove that it is not her being a woman that makes her show satisfying, it is the pure delightful funniness of it all.

More clips:





Her Fearne Cotton is UNCANNY. MUMFORD AND SONS!!!! Skills.

Music: Videos videos videos (WARNING: one of them contains nipples...female nipples)

The music video, once the toast of town, remember? The most important marketing tool to any band hoping to tickle open the doors of success, it strutted its stuff on MTV through the nineties, was poked fun at by Beavis and Butthead, was religiously recorded by innocent fans/victims and springboarded famous movie directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry into the bigtime.

Well now the world has changed, and MTV cares more about the shameful self-infatuation of a team of Hollywood airheads (The Hills, The Osbournes, The Kardashanianisnaaisns, take your pick). YouTube rules, and bloggers feed on internet scraps to see who can find the most unheard-of act in the industry (tip: he's under a bush on Hampstead Heath, he bangs conkers together, apparently he's fusing West Indian jazz with a new brand of Japanese dubstep and it sounds b-anging...), but the music video lives, just, and there is still an audience for well-made, interesting images to accompany the hottest new sounds.

Pitchfork, that coolest of cool websites, the lovers of somewhat bland indie bands, your Deerhunters and Animal Collectives, but with a predictable soft-spot for electronica, has not let the music video down, and in its endless compiling of lists that come with every new year, they have begun with a collection of their favourite music videos from the past year.

Find...it...HERE

And for those of you with neither the time nor the inclination to visit the other website, here are a few of my favourites:

PLEASE NOTE - these videos have been selected because I like the VIDEOS, not necessarily the music. Although most of that is good too. ALSO NOTE: that the first video contains shots of partial female nudity. Not my fault, but a bonus.

El Guincho - "Bombay"



The Books - "I Didn't Know That"



Janelle Monae (Feat. Big Boi) - "Tightrope"



AND, because we're praising the humble music video, I thought I'd post a few videos that have remained with me over the years...quality, all of them...

White Stripes - "Fell In Love With A Girl"



Radiohead - "Street Spirit"



Korn - "Freak On A Leash"