Posts by Matthew Littlewood
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I think a lot of the success of the UK Skins was actually down to the parents in the show, rather than the kids. Whoever was in charge of casting them knew exactly what they were doing: it was almost a cruel joke to see former leading lights of British TV comedy Harry Enfield, Neil Morrissey, Josie Lawrence, David Baddiel and Paul Whitehouse et al cast as out-of-touch middle-aged saddos. It was one of the many elements of the show which suggested the makers were quite aware what they were skewering, but it also helped that many of the adults-- Enfield especially, who apparently has directed and even co-written some of the episodes-- were absolutely in on the joke but actually gave their caractitures something resembling humanity.
Also, there was a giddy irreverence that cursed throughout it, especially in the first two seasons: it genuinely let the audience revel in the decadence and hyper-reality of it, but it was refreshingly free or moralising, and- it has to be said- production placement. I think, deep down, it knew how overwrought it was, and so went out to puncture this at every given opportunity. Moreover, there were at least two superb performances in it: Nicolas Hoult as the charismatic menace Tony, and Kaya Scodelario, as the beautiful, enigmatic Effy.
It was flawed, sure, but it had chutzpah, and I wonder whether the MTV series will have even half its nerve.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Sacha,
Paul Krugman has his own take on the political divide in the US House and Senate:
One side of American politics considers the modern welfare state — a private-enterprise economy, but one in which society’s winners are taxed to pay for a social safety net — morally superior to the capitalism red in tooth and claw we had before the New Deal. It’s only right, this side believes, for the affluent to help the less fortunate.
The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.
There’s no middle ground between these views. One side saw health reform, with its subsidized extension of coverage to the uninsured, as fulfilling a moral imperative: wealthy nations, it believed, have an obligation to provide all their citizens with essential care. The other side saw the same reform as a moral outrage, an assault on the right of Americans to spend their money as they choose.
This deep divide in American political morality — for that’s what it amounts to — is a relatively recent development. Commentators who pine for the days of civility and bipartisanship are, whether they realize it or not, pining for the days when the Republican Party accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state, and was even willing to contemplate expanding it. As many analysts have noted, the Obama health reform — whose passage was met with vandalism and death threats against members of Congress — was modeled on Republican plans from the 1990s.
But that was then. Today’s G.O.P. sees much of what the modern federal government does as illegitimate; today’s Democratic Party does not. When people talk about partisan differences, they often seem to be implying that these differences are petty, matters that could be resolved with a bit of good will. But what we’re talking about here is a fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government.
It's worth pointing out that in the current climate, a candidate with the socio-economic worldview of say, Eisenhower, or even Nixon (!), wouldn't stand a chance of winning the GOP nomination now.
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Jon Stewart, for once, seems lost for words about it all, before surmising "it would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn’t actually represent how we talk to one another on TV."
Interesting viewing and ends on a nice, almost life-affirming note, too.
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Hard News: A very roundabout review of…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Which begs the most interesting question about Avatar -- did anyone in the largest media corporation on Earth actually read the parts of the script where the entire human race has become a genocidal military-industrial complex? (Or Titanic come to that -- where a rapacious corporation racks up a pretty impressive body count in the class war.)
Wall-E (released by Disney's better, smarter subsidary, Pixar) is another case in point, although knowing the writers and creators involved, it would be entirely intentional. I mean, they depict modern society as little more than pods which are slave to the basest, laziest impulses- who are destined to a life ruled by corporations and machines. And the only way humanity can seemingly overcome this is by banding together against the machine...albeit with the help of some pretty sympathetic ones...and learn to conserve and preserve what's left.
Or maybe it was less about social commentary and more about the makers goofing off on references to 2001, Silent Running, Dark Star et al- that period of sci-fi films which were decidedly, er, hippie and counter-cultural. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but credit to the makers of Wall-E that it feels entirely like its own creation, not just the sum of its admittedly illustrious parts.
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Great thread, guys. It’s been a bit of a messy year for me culturally speaking in that I haven’t been able to see as many new films or listen to as much new music as I’d like but I’ll pick stuff from both that would stick out.
Music.
Joanna Newsom- Have One on Me
I thought Ys was overwrought and lacked the almost childlike naivite and sense of weird wonder of the Milk Eyed Mender, and oddly, this record, despite being a triple, no less, recaptured much of that. Her voice has never been more charming, and there’s a strange beauty and simplicity to much of the arrangements which belies her “difficult” reputation. And her concert in Christchurch was simply spellbinding, she’s a strangely arresting figure, she’ll go into a trance every song and then “snap” out of it at the end, almost surprised she could create such music. Also- one can’t help but notice- she is astonishingly beautiful.
Sleigh Bells- Treats
Yeah, they’re so “right now” it hurst to look at ’em, but by the same token, they do everything they set out to do absolutely right. Loud, forceful, funny, overwhelming and at 28 minutes, never outstaying its welcome, this NY duo’s debut, compressed a whole lot of sounds and influences into a curled ball and then released them. Best played loud.
Street Chant- Means
Like RB said, a truly exceptional debut. It’s rare for a local act to come out with this much confidence and for it to seem un-smug and totally earned, but this is one of them, and live, they’re dazzling.
LCD Soundsystem- This is Happening
It doesn’t really traverse any “new” territory, but then again, the band was never about that so much as one man’s attempt to make sense of his record collection in a way that seems emotionally honest- and danceable. Not as sparky as their debut, nor as expansive as Sound of Silver, This is Happening felt a bit like a victory lap- indeed “Drunk Girls” aside, most of the tracks stretched as long as they could, to often great effect (I love the way “present company excepted” is repeated constantly on “Dance Yourself Clean” or the BerlinBowiesque build of “All I Want”). Even at its most arch, it still felt like the right note to go out on.
Robyn- Bodytalk
Kinda like how I wanted Lady Gaga to sound- sassy without being obvious, dancey without being leaden, and knowing without being smug, the tunes were as sharp, as were her vocals (and haircut), and it carried the strange weight of experience of someone who has been in this game long enough to know when to reinvent herself when the timing’s right. Like she says, Fembots need love too.
Others that put a smile on my dial included the Phoenix Foundation’s curiously satisfying Buffalo, Die Die Die’s Form, Big Boi’s Lucious Leftfoot, Flip Grater’s While I’m Awake I’m At War …there’s probably heaps I need to catch up on.
Films.
Like I said, I haven’t seen a helluva lot this year, but the Social Network (which I posted abouthere) was Fincher’s best, if most conventional in ages, the White Ribbon was the most entralling and devestating and the first Haneke film in a long while that seemed to justify his hermetic, glacial approach to filmmaking and narrative, Waititi lived up to his potential in the wonderfully observed Boy and Four Lions was explosively funny and on-the-nose in every sense of the word- not that we could have expected much less from the most influential satirist of his generation. There are others, such as Animal Kingdom and A Prophet, that I need to catch up on.
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Not sure whether this has already been mentioned, but it looks like the retaliation hacking has begun. I get the impression that this is just the beginning for both sides, frankly. The next few days will be messy to say the least. VISA is next in line, too, I see.
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That website is quite incredible. I always suspected there was something different about Christchurch…
I think this bit is my favourite:To most Cantabrians, ‘Zenith Applied Philosophy’ (Z.A.P or Zappers) public persona, was its high profile ‘open all hours’ fast food outlets - that proliferated central Christchurch in its heyday, the late 70’s and 1980’s.
Luigi’s Pizza, The Dog House in ‘the square’, Farmer John’s Burger Bar in Papanui Road, The American Burger Bar, The Sandwich Factory, Roasters Restaurant etc.
Z.A.P members were also enthusiastic proselytisers around the streets of Christchurch at this time, approaching strangers with open-ended questions like “are you worried about communists taking over New Zealand?” or simply “do you enjoy reading?”.
How could you resist? Oh, and thanks for the clarification, Islander.
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I can’t believe we’ve got this far without mentioning Zenith Applied Philosophy, which always strikes as the ultimate in extreme cultdom, being that it actually infers on the believers a sense that they are genuinely a higher being (or at least can become one). I don’t know what it was about Christchurch in the early 80s, but from what I’ve heard, it seemed to have a surprisingly fervent (if small) group of followers, with one Dave Henderson being one of its more notable members.
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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics, in reply to Grant McDougall,
It is pretty odd that the neoliberal diehards are unhappy. National and ACT are in power and odds-on faves to hose in next year, yet they still whine ? Surely they'd be happy with how things are and take a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach ?
Much in the same way that Alliance imploded before 2002, I guess. Although that was more dramatic- they won three times the vote in 1999 than ACT (about 9 percent to ACT's 3 percent in 2008), and it seemed to be a single issue- namely the decision whether or not to support SAS involvement in Afghanistan--that finally did for them. Although the leadup to the notorious split was undoubtedly more complex than that, for sure.
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Here’s a pretty interesting comparison between the film and “real life” (warning: SPOILER ALERT), for what it’s worth. To be honest, going by that comparison, it’s no more exaggerated than, say, Bonnie & Clyde , Dog Day Afternoon or All the President’s Men. I think the filmmakers used dramatic licence when necessary. And they were right to.
Regarding Zodiac, something just didn’t feel right to me- it seemed to be an attempt to recreate the classic look and feel of those great New Hollywood films, but somehow feel oddly tentative in the process.
Maybe it’s something to do with the cinematography: no matter how hard Fincher and co tried, they couldn’t quite capture that incredible, washed-out colour scheme that so many of them had (see: the three films I mentioned above). It truly was a great “look”, one that probably came about as much through design than choice.
But we’re getting way off the subject now…