Ain't no-bod-y dope as me

Last day of my "holiday." Tomorrow it's high time I got on with some serious work, and the various enjoyments of reading what I like, watching films and playing Minecraft will have to be limited once again. In my short time off I managed to get through the end of For Whom the Bell Tolls, Steppenwolf and the first two parts of Barefoot Gen, and I've started Crime and Punishment: probably not a good thing to start when time is running short, but it's been fantastic so far. I've also watched Three Colours Red:



Throne of Blood:



and My Neighbour Totoro:



in the last couple of days, all of which were pretty excellent. The Totoro trailer makes it look a bit stupid, but it was actually rather good; a bit more on the side of an out and out kids film than Spirited Away was, but heartwarming fun nonetheless. Throne of Blood is extremely atmospheric and spooky; whereas some of Kurosawa's other historical dramas are pretty straightforward realism/with elements of myth, this one is pretty supernatural. Interestingly, Washizu, the stand-in for Macbeth, is brought down more by paranoia than ambition, due mostly to Asaji (Lady Macbeth), his wife, and her manipulation of his fear of betrayal; he seems to betray to avoid being betrayed, rather than because he really wants to become the ruler of "Cobweb Castle." Best character in it is the witch, the scenes with her are pretty dang freaky. Three Colours Red was great too, although I think my favourite in the series has been Three Colours White.

My other recent time consumer, other than applying for jobs, has been Minecraft. I'm not really sure what to say about it; Heather assures me that it's very boring to watch me play it, and a lot of it just seems to be endless digging through walls, but I love it. My heart leaps whenever I come across an underground cavern, diamonds, or (I discovered my first one today!) a dungeon with a chest. I can't wait until the complete game comes out. The only problem is that it's very difficult to think of things that no one else has built; some of the videos on Youtube of people's creations are insane, and whenever I think of something that might be cool I look it up, and inevitably it's already been thought of. Still, I have built a very nice windmill with a red roof. Video unrelated:

Can't Stop Us Now

I love looking out the the source of samples; it's nice to retrace the steps of producers, and it puts you onto great music via the people who have reused it. This is a particularly good source:



Here's some examples of this song's use as a sample, in order of how well I think it was used; it's interesting that, in different ways, each of these subsequent producers have kind of gone with the same theme and attitude of defiance as the original song, as well as borrowing that distinctive riff:



 



 



Nas's usage is probably the most well known, although in my opinion it's probably the least effective; although that may because I love the Geedorah track and I have a soft spot for anything the RZA does.

Quite unfit for women!

I recently ran across BFI's youtube channel. There's some pretty amazing stuff on there; old newsreels, early films, trailers from rare old movies... Here's a few of my favourite clips:

Topical Budget newsreel:



Footage of Scott's trip to the South Pole:



Jack Cardiff - Temples of India:



It's been a while since I've updated this blog, and last time I updated it was the first time in a long time; but I have a month free of part time job responsibilities, and I've given myself at least a week off from uni work (although I have to get on with applying to jobs), so I'm going to at least try and get a few entries in before my time is completely eaten up again.

Since last time I posted I've taken up the position editor of the newly created creative section over at Durham student magazine The Bubble. It's fairly exciting, if time consuming, and there's been some really good submissions so far; I'd post some here, but I don't want to show any favouritism (not that anyone is even aware that I have this blog), so go and peruse at will.

OFWGKTA: