Top films of 2006

So - films that were actually released in 2006. I have to admit that I haven't seen that many. I've been alone most of the year and even though you don't talk and concentrate on the film, going to the cinema alone just feels wrong. As such there are several big films from this year that probably should be on this list. These include Cars, Little Miss Sunshine, Casino Royale, The Last Kiss and Munich. So without further sob stories onto the list of films I did see.

Syriana

Penned by Stephen Gaghan, writer of Traffic, comes the film that Got George Clooney his Oscar. Like his previous film based around the world of drugs, Syriana investigates the world around the black gold: oil. In 4 connected, interdependent stories we see the consequences of international demand for oil. The film begins with US oil firm Connex loosing a large contract in the Middle East after the country's Prince Nasir grants natural gas rights to a Chinese firm. As a result Connex lays off it's large immigrant workforce leaving them jobless and penniless in a foreign country. They attend an Islamic school in order to learn Arabic to improve their prospects where they are approached by a friendly cleric. Back in the US Connex merges with small oil firm Killen who have acquired rights to a Kazakh oilfield. The Dept of Justice suspects all is not as it seems. Jeffrey Wright's lawyer character is sent to investigate the deal and make sure the DoJ find no issues. In Europe, energy analyst Matt Damon is appointed as Prince Nasir's economic advisor to assist with Nasir's plan to reform his country and break free from dependence on the US. Concerned at the prospect of loosing their hold over the oil in the Middle East, the CIA appoint Georgy Clooney's character to assassinate Nasir, but when the mission fails they scapegoat him and start planning to rectify their mistake. Lots of people criticised the film as they found it hard to concentrate on the intertwining stories. It's a film that shows you the ugly reality of the west's dependence on oil and the strangle-hold they've got over the Middle East. Matt Damon tells Nasir: "You know what the business community thinks of you? They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other's heads off and that's where you'll be in another hundred years, so on behalf of my firm I accept your offer." Syriana shows that although terrorism is ideologically fuelled by hatred of the west's Middle East policies that suck the area's resources away, it finds its foot soldiers amongst poverty and desperation. The lack of a central character frustrated some, but it is the essence of the issue - there isn't really anyone "in charge" of the oil. The US government is interested in protecting its oil companies rather than the interests of the Middle East, allegiances are forged and betrayed. Up at the sharp end of the large corporations corruption is rife, but who watches the watchers? The film has a downbeat ending that, although tie up all the characters in the film, does nothing to change the situation.

Miami Vice

Now here's a film that split people right down the middle. Some loved it, some hated it. A lot of people were expecting Bad Boys 3 which this certainly isn't. I've never seen the original TV series, but I suspect it's nothing like this. Michael Mann has given this film a certain style - visually he sticks with shooting on digital video giving the film a distinct look - a non-film look and night scenes covered with grain. Story wise we drop in on the lives of a group of vice police headed by Rico and Tubbs. The film begins in the middle of a sting operation and we have no idea what's going on. Indeed, as the film goes on there is absolutely no character progression which have lead some to label this film as being "the death of cinematic narrative". But so what? This film simply covers one of the squads investigations - they are already bonded. Rico and Tubbs already know how each other will react so there's no Lethal Weapon-style unexpected behaviour. The plot involves the pair going undercover to flush out a mole who caused the death of two undercover FBI agents. To accomplish this they set themselves up as drug traffickers and begin to work their way up the drugs food chain. The action is sporadic, but retains the infamous Mann characteristics of realistic sound effects and shootouts. The violence isn't glamorised - there are no slow motion bodies flying through the air - just the realtime results of being shot. The film slowly builds up to the two big action set pieces at the end of the film. The middle of the film is perhaps a bit slow, but it's so beautifully shot and scored that it kept my attention easily. Perhaps one for the thriller market rather than the action market.

The Prestige

Plot twists. Some people spend their entire time whilst watching films trying to work out the plot twist. Personally, unless it's an obvious one I don't bother and just enjoy the film. If it's a good twist that fits the story then I'm impressed, but if it's merely a twist added for the sake of adding a twist then I'm glad I haven't bothered trying to work it out. Whilst watching the Prestige, it seems like the twist is revealed at about the halfway point but - as with the film's content - all is not what it seems. In Victorian London, two magicians perform a good magic act. Performer Angier (Hugh Jackman), his wife and assistant, audience plant Borden (Christian Bale) and the man who makes the tricks a reality - Cutter (Michael Caine). After the on-stage death of Angier's wife in a water-torture trick Angier blames Borden for tying a different knot. The magicians go their separate ways but harbour a rivalry that leads to them sabotaging each others acts leading to Borden loosing half a finger. Borden meets Sarah and they get married. After a while Borden opens a new show with a trick in which he appears to teleport across the stage. Angier and Cutter attempt to copy his act, but can't work out how he does it - it can't simply be a double as both the man going into the "send" box and the man who leaves the "receive" box are missing the same half-finger. Eventually Angier and Cutter hire Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) and copy the trick using a double. As Angier walks through the on stage door, a trap door opens and a lift propels his double behind the other door. As time goes on Angier grows angry that it's his double who takes "the prestige" (the audiences applause) every night whilst he himself is hidden below the stage. After more sabotaging from Borden incapacitates Angier he sends Olivia to spy on Borden and she successfully manages to obtain Borden's diary - which contains the details of his tricks. and states that a machine obtained from Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) makes the teleportation possible. In response, Angier sets out for America to seek out Tesla and aquire a machine of his own. Most of the story is told in flashback - the film opens with Borden sneaking behind the stage to see how Angier's new improved teleporting man trick works. Instead he sees Angier fall through the stage trapdoor into a waterbath and drown. Convicted of murder, Borden is sent to prison to await hanging, but once again - is everything what it seems? As I mentioned earlier, the twist about how the machine works is fairly obvious, but the other twists aren't so clear cut. After they are revealed you immediately see how they were set up. As Cutter comments "Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it because you're not really looking. You don't really want to know the secret... You want to be fooled." and so it is with the film. You want the twist to surprise you. The film takes great delight in showing how tricks were carried out. For example if you want to teleport a bird out of a cage, it's easier to kill the caged bird with a spring-loaded roof and use another one for the prestige. Chis Nolan is quickly becoming a director that can be relied upon to deliver. Whilst other newcomers such as Daron Aranofsky, Zach Braff and Jarod Hess are herelded as the next big thing, Nolan has already directed 4 amazing films - Memento, Insomnia and Batman Begins. Again, there are some spoilers so if you haven't seen the film, please don't read the following!

The presence of Borden's brother is hinted at many times throughtout the film. Does Borden not remember what knot he tied on Angier's wife because it was his brother doing it? We see Borden comment on how magic must be your life to be a good magician after they see the Chinese magician who pretends to be crippled. The repeated question "Do you love me?" from Borden's wife that is met with different answers depending on which brother is "playing" Borden that day is a playful way of suggesting the truth. The nature of Angier's final teleporting man trick makes you think about the nature of conciousness. Every night Angier effectively drowns himself and trusts that the clone that is created will be him. Not someone who has his appearance and memories, but actually him. I used to think about jumping into someone's mind and knowing everything they knew but forgetting everything you new. Would you still be you or would you be them? Would you even know anything had happened? I try not to think about it for too long as it makes my head hurt.

The Departed

I've already mentioned Infernal Affairs as one of the best non-2006 films I've seen this year and here is the US remake. Directed by Martin Scorsese and moved from Hong Kong to Boston, the story retells the tale of the race by moles on opposite sides of the law to uncover each other whilst adding some elements from the HK prequel IA2. Essentially the same story, with mob-man Sullivan (Matt Damon) infiltrating the police force, whilst the son of a crime associate, Costigan (Leo DiCaprio) joins the police force and is assigned to the undercover department run by Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Dignam (Mark Wahlburg) and sent undercover into the gang of Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). The story plays out with scenes from IA ported over to the a US setting. Extra characters are introduced and a lot more of the backstory of the two moles is explored resulting in an extra hour of run time. It's a fine retelling with some twists not in the original film. Scorsese doesn't mess around with the violence which is a lot more brutal than the original. Perhaps it was needed to keep the western audiences interested. The violence is knocked up a notch compared to the original. Where as in IA we hear a shot and then see a slow-motion replay of the shooting, here we get, with no warning a shot that immediately blows the character's brains onto the wall behind him. At the same time though another character's death is shocking and almost un-expected in IA (the body lands on a car roof with no warning) - here we see the character being thrown off the roof and falling. Nicholson brings a more obvious mean, crazy streak to mob-boss Costello where as the original's Sam is much more calm - a businessman rather than a thug. There is one strange difference between the two versions. More spoilers I'm afraid.

In the original, The mob-mole in the police force decides to go straight and sees killing Sam as a way of accomplishing this - he chooses to be "good". In a way he is "rewarded" by getting away with it (until part 3). In The Departed the reason Sullivan kills Costello is because he finds out that Costello was an FBI informant. His character had no redemption - no decision to be good. However, he doesn't get away with it. The character of Dignam seems to have been created purely to swear a lot and then turn up at the end to kill Sullivan.

Children of men

One thing I love are films that don't pander to the lowest common denominator. Films that don't stop every few minutes to recap the plot for the audience. With Children of men we are thrown into Britain in the near future. Society has crumbled, the government has declared all immigrants illegal and they are being rounded up by the army and police. Society has largely broken down into lawlessness. The film opens with a BBC news report of the death of the world's youngest person - a South American 18 year old. We start to pick up that at some point humans suddenly became infertile. Why, what happened in the immediate aftermath and how society and other countries crumbled isn't explained - we are left to gather what clues we can from the scattered newspapers, government propaganda bulletins and news reports. If anyone has played Half Life 2, then the feeling is very similar to the opening third of that game where you arrive in City 17 not really knowing what is going on wit the population under the control of "civil protection". The plot centres around Theo Farren, a man who, like most people has a nothing life. He's on the verge of alcoholism and like most of the population he has lost hope. One day he is contacted by his ex wife, Julian who is the leader of the Fishes - a pseudo-terrorist group fighting for the rights of immigrants or "fujis". She asks him to use his family contacts to acquire transport papers to allow the young immigrant Kee to reach the Brighton coast. All Theo can acquire are papers allowing Kee to travel along with himself. So Theo, Kee, Julian and fishes Luke and Miriam set out from London. After the group are ambushed, they seek shelter at a fish safe house where Theo discovers Kee's secret: she's pregnant. As the fishes argue over how to use Kee's situation to their advantage Theo, Kee and Miriam escape and try to get Kee to Brighton where, supposedly, a boat from the Human Project - a collection of scientists trying to unravel the mystery of humans' infertility - awaits. Clive Owen is not noted for his his charisma. This worked to his advantage in things like the pulp fiction Sin City and the BMW shorts and so it does again here. Theo isn't a hero - he's just a guy who has lost just about everything in a world where the government distribute anti-depressants and suicide kits. He doesn't have to be the larger than life front man. The supporting actors are used sparingly and as a result shine in their time on screen. Director Alfonso Cuaron is on fine form and his style screams through. The colour palette is muted and the frequent violence is dealt with, like Miami vice in a very realistic matter-of-fact way. Early on we see a terrorist bomb explode in a cafe. As the dust clears we see the survivors staggering around missing limbs, we hear the falling of glass and car alarms blaring and we hear a high pitched ringing. The ringing continues through the title screen and follows us as Theo arrives at work, mimicking the real world effect of being close to a loud noise. The effect is repeated throughout the film. Characters who are fairly major die at the back or far sides of the screen with no almost no attention pad to them. The first scene also sets up the most impressive (and probably most overlooked) aspect of the camera direction: the long takes. Throughout the film there are 3 or 4 long scenes where the camera doesn't cut. We see the characters in the car talking, with the camera panning between all 5 occupants thanks to a specially designed camera rig, before - in the same shot - the car is attacked by a gang and the ensuing panic, escape and encounter with the police are shown without moving to a different camera. In the eightieth minute a group of characters exit from an archway and explore their surroundings before being ambushed and threatened with execution. A firefight erupts between the the ambushers and the army as Theo dives for cover where ever he can find it and chases after Kee. He runs down the street, through a bus after he is attacked from where he witnesses the army lay siege to a building with tanks before running into the building past the plethora of rpgs launched from inside, through the building searching for Kee. When he finally finds her on the 2nd floor, eight intense minutes have passed and the camera has not cut since they emerged from the archway. It's almost unbelievable - not only did they have to get the lines and acting performances right for 8 minutes, but a lot of stunts, pyrotechnics and movement had to happen. In addition, several characters from the start of the scene had to get to their positions for the end of the scene and be in the right place at the right time. Unbelievable stuff. The film had almost no hype because we got in the UK 4 months before the US, so the Hollywood hype machine hadn't started rolling. To back this up, the UK DVD is completely barebones. Boo.

We can guess Theo's fate as it adhears to the "if the hero's love interest dies, they will die after reaching their goal" that was defined in Gladiator. It would have been nice to show Theo finally finding some hope at the end of the film, but nevermind

Top non-2006 films of 2006

As last year, I've prepared a list of my pick of the films from 2005 and before that I saw for the first time in 2006.

Whisper of the heart and The cat returns

You may think I'm cheating by bundling these two films together but they are truly companion pieces. Taking Mimi wo Sumaseba (Whisper of the heart) first, this film was a first for Ghibli in several ways. It was Ghibli's idea to bring to the fore a new young director who would one day take over from Miyazaki-san and Takahata-san who weren't getting any younger. It was decided that Yoshifumi Kondō - an animation director from earlier Ghibli films - would be the man to bring Aoi Hiiragi's manga to the big screen. As a new director, he brought with him a different feel to the film more akin to the films of Takahata than Miyazaki. From the opening rendition of Take me home, country roads there is a very different score than we have previously heard. The film is based around 14 year old schoolgirl Shizuku Tsukishima who is approaching her high school entrance exams. This probably means nothing to most British people, but it's the next step on the Japanese education conveyor of pressure. Good results lead to a good high school which in turn nearly guarantees a place at one of the prestigious universities which leads to many pointless jobs as サラリーマン (Salarymen). It reminds me of my school entrance exams - which would lead (in theory) to a place at Oxbridge and end with the most gifted, intelligent people in the land taking up the very un-useful positions of lawyers, bankers and accountants. However, Shizuku's mind isn't on her exams. A keen reader, Shizuku has started noticing that all the books she checks out of the library have been read by a Seiji Amasawa. She wonders who it is, but goes about her hobby of translating Western song lyrics into Japanese for her friends. One day on her way across Tokyo to deliver lunch to her father at the library, Shizuku notices a large cat riding the train with her. Excited that the cat gets off at her stop, she follows it into a small shop on a quiet back street. Here she meets the kind owner, Nishi-san, who shows her the treasures within. Of these, she is drawn to a small figurine of a cat called The Baron who's eyes appear to instil life into it. She eventually meets Seiji and after some brief, uncomfortable encounters they begin to get closer. Seiji's dream is to become a violin maker. Shizuku is amazed at his talent, but Seiji plays down his ability. He longs to travel to Italy where he can pursue his dream. He is accepted onto a two-month apprenticeship in Italy that will asses whether he has the skills to succeed in the long course. When he leaves, Shizuku is ashamed that she doesn't have any dreams and, inspired by Seiji, decides to write a book about The Baron. She starts to let her studies slide as she struggles to get the story written before Seiji returns so she can prove herself not only to him, but to herself too.

On paper it sounds simple - a teenage love story. The kind that were Disney to make it would be filled with comedy sidekicks and the like and actually put off everyone except teenage girls. Where this films succeeds is the idea of looking at this period of life from an adult's perspective. Miyazaki's screenplay allows director Kondō to impart onto screen the kind of subtle moments Ghibli are famous for. For example, the moment that Shizuku realises her love for Seiji - a point that would be hammered home in a Disney film, quite possibly with the aid of a song sung by talking animals - it is shown simply as Shizuku nestling her head against Seiji's back as he peddles her on his bike to watch the sunrise. Characters such as Nishi-san are fleshed out and even The Baron has a back story. Some have dismissed Whisper as a mere remake of Kiki's delivery service, but it's much more than that. It's about questioning whether what society dictates is the right path is right for you. It's about wanting to prove yourself, not just to you, but to someone else who has inspired you. Even if they are on the other side of the world. Whilst Miyazaki's films are frequently set in fantasy locations, Kondō sets Whisper firmly in the reality of mid-90s Tokyo. In fact, Shizuku lives in Tama Hills - the area being developed in Takahata's tanuki film, Pom poko. For the first time we experience a lively suburb in a Ghibli film. The animation pushes towards realism with the fantastic exception of sequences from Shizuku's story which were inspired and animated by Naohisa Inoue based on his fantasy land of Iblard. This style was revisited in the 2006 Ghibli museum short Hoshi o Katta Hi (The day I harvested a star). I strongly urge everyone to watch this film - it's beautiful and real: something that most people wouldn't believe an animated film could be. Sadly, the director Kondō passed away from a brain aneurysm three years after the film's release.

In 2005 I had the chance to go and see Neko no ongaeshi (The cat returns) at the cinema. I'm actually really glad I didn't cos I think I would have been very disappointed. Running at a mere 75 minutes, the story is a simple fantasy adventure - not the kind of thing you would expect from Studio Ghibli. However, once you have been primed by Whisper of the heart the film takes on much more significance. The story stars none other than The Baron from Nishi-san's shop so it is assumed that the story is one of Shizuku's. Thus it makes sense that it is short and simple as Shizuku is still starting out. No mention of any of the characters from Whisper beyond the cats is made to ensure that this film works as a stand alone entity for those who haven't seen the previous film. The story follows the adventures of Haru, a school girl who one day saves a cat from being run over. To her amazement, the cat rises to its hind legs and thanks her before running off. That night she is visited by a procession headed by the king of the cat kingdom. He tells her that the cat she saved was his son and the cats will thank her over the following days. As Haru is bombarded with boxes of mice and other gifts she is met by an envoy to the cat king. She is told that the cats will take her to their kingdom where she will marry the prince. Naturally Haru is a bit freaked out, but a strange soothing voice tells her to seek out the cat business centre. She is guided to a meeting with the large cat Muta (who made an appearance in Whisper) who leads her to the Baron in a hidden realm. Whilst they plan their strategy, the cats arrive and take Haru and Muta to the cat kingdom. As Haru spends more time in the kingdom she begins to resemble a cat more and more. The Baron eventually finds the cat kingdom and must plan an escape for not only Haru, but himself and Muta as well. The film was originally meant to be a 45-minute short, but ended up as a film as Miyazaki and producer Suzuki were impressed with director Hiroyuki Morita's dedication in storyboarding his ideas. As a standalone film, it's nowhere near the usual Ghibli standards - the animation isn't as smooth, the characters not as detailed and once Haru reaches the cat kingdom, the slow building pace accelerates to the film's climax. Knowing that that this is supposed to represent Shizuku's work is an extra excitement. We see how the Baron has been made into the hero and the large train-riding cat Moon has his character from Whisper transcribed here as Shizuku imagined him - a cat with more than one identity who is primarily concerned with himself. If I had one wish, it would have been that the story featured was based on the one we see Shizuku working on in Whisper that featured the land of Iblard.

Infernal affairs

I'd heard many good things about the Infernal Affairs trilogy. In fact, when I saw a trailer for US film The departed I immediately thought of the Hong Kong film. Eventually I decided to buy it and see what all the fuss was about before the Western remake hit the screens. Set in Hong Kong in first years of the 21st century Infernal affairs tells the story of the police force's struggle against the criminal gang headed up by big boss Sam. Both sides think they have the perfect weapon - a man on the inside. Sam sent several of his men to sign up to the police force and one of them, Ming, has rapidly risen through the ranks. In the meantime, undercover officer Yan has infiltrated several criminal gangs. Now he is a trusted lieutenant in Sam's. The only man who knows his true identity is Inspector Wong to help maintain his cover. Both men feed information back to their superiors keeping the situation at an uneasy stalemate. Things come to a head when the police attempt to swoop on a drug deal between Sam and some Thais. Yan conveys the progress of the deal to the waiting police force, whilst Ming is able to warn Sam that a raid is about to happen. The result is that both Wong and Sam realise they have a traitor in their midst. Sam turns to Yan and The police to Ming to try and uncover the moles. Both realise that the only way they can succeed is to unmask each other to their real bosses. The only problem is, after so long undercover do they still feel they want to keep up their double lives? This is a film that really reinforces the idea of the thriller. It's not full of violence like the HK-films of John Woo, it's all about ratcheting up the suspense until something has to give. (Spoilers follow - to read highlight the box)

Sam's idea to flush out the mole in his ranks leads to the death of Inspector Wong. The moment of his death is a complete shock and as Yan turns around to see the body, we can see him suddenly realise that he is now completely alone - noone else knows he is really a police officer and Wong's computer files are encrypted, much to Ming's annoyance.

At the same time, Ming is settling down with his girlfriend and begins to question his loyalty to Sam. The film is a brisk 101 minutes and is paced perfectly. By the end of the film both characters have decided on their futures, but they are dependent on each other - Yan needs his identity back and Ming needs to know that his status remains hidden. It comes to a head with a tense meeting on top of a building which leads to the film's big ending. The ending is a complete surprise and in fact the film required an alternative ending to be filmed to allow it to be shown in mainline China as the authorities were uncomfortable with the implications.

Oldboy

Moving east to one of the first K-films I've seen. I remember several of my friends getting excited by this film's DVD release back in 2005, but it wasn't until Film4 showed it that I got to see it. It forms the second part of Chan-wook Park's revenge trilogy. The film starts with Dae-su Oh drunk in a police station. His friend arrives to bail him out and take him home to his wife and young daughter. As he calls them to let them know Dae-su is coming home, he leaves the phone box to discover that Dae-su has simply vanished. Dae-su comes around in a small locked hotel room. He is imprisoned in this room for 15 years without seeing another human except on the TV in the room, whenever he becomes violent or suicidal he is gassed. Whilst he is imprisoned he learns that his wife has been murdered and his daughter sent to live with foster parents. Dae-su trains himself by shadow boxing and punching his prison's walls. One day, he is suddenly released with no explanation. Clothed, given a mobile phone and money he stumbles into a sushi bar and passes out in front of the young chef Mido who takes him in. He soon discovers that his kidnapper still has plans for him and he is told that by a man called Woo-jin that unless he can find the reason for his imprisonment in 5 days Mido will be killed. Despite their large age-difference they feel an attraction and Mido agrees to help Dae-su in gaining his revenge. Dae-su eventually tracks down the prison where he was being held and "extracts" information about his captor. His escape from the prison involves the infamous "corridor fight scene" - a long unbroken one-take fight scene in the prison's hallway as Dae-su is attacked by the prison guards. He and Mido follow more clues, becoming even closer and eventually sleeping together. Finally Dae-su discovers the truth behind why Woo-jin imprisoned him. He confronts Woo-jin but Woo-jin is prepared and turns the tables not only on Dae-su, but turns around the whole plot of the film. I won't spoil the ending, but I do encourage you to watch this film as an excellent example of how to script, plan and shoot a film.

Nana

Moving even further east we reach Japan and the phenomenon that has swept the country in the last few years - Nana. It's the story of two girls called Nana who meet on a train as they move to Tokyo. Nana Osaki is moving to try and make it with her band, The Black Stones and Nana Komatsu is moving to be with her boyfriend who is at college in Tokyo. They are completely opposite in character; Osaki is strong willed and determined to prove herself whilst Komatsu is heavily dependent on others. Eventually they decide to live together. The film is split into two parts - Komatsu learning to be more assertive and take control of her life after she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her. The second half focuses on Osaki's journey to face her past and her ex-boyfriend Ren who left their old band to join popular group Trapnest. The film is based on the original manga and as with many films based on long-running series, the film doesn't have a definite ending, which will lead on to plenty of sequels. Whilst the Nana phenomenon is fairly unknown outside of the East, it is constantly being touted as the next big thing that will hit the West. The two Nana's are played by Mika Nakashima - a popular Jpop artist - and Aoi Miyazaki - popular Japanese actress. There are certain films that stick with you for some reason. It's clear they're not the best film in the world, but it stays in your head. This is one of those films. I saw it about a KLM flight to Osaka on a 5" LCD panel with crap headphones. I didn't think much of it at the time, but by the time I made my return flight a few weeks later I felt the urge to watch it again. It's sort of like having the last song you heard in the morning stick in your head. The pacing of the film is pretty slow and the split between the two stories is extremely jarring, but the main song from the film (here) is extremely catchy and the OST has a pleasing mournful tone that completely fits with the film. Mika Nakashima is well known as a Jpop singer, but Nana's band is a Jrock band. Their main song is penned by L'arc en Ciel frontman Hyde and has both an edge and some nice guitar work. Strangely, the main song by the Jrock band Trapnest (here) is unbelievably pop-based. I know that for a lot of Jrock banks their bark is worse than their bite (it's all about visuals), but would even a visual-kei band play something like this?
The sequel to the film was widely anticipated, but much of the original cast (including Aoi Miyazaki) haven't returned. The theme song this time sounds a lot more pop rather than rock (judge for yourself here). Sadly, I smell a straight-to-DVD release.

Durham: a reprise

So a couple of weeks ago now I made the long journey (never take a train on Sundays) back up to Durham. Walking through town and getting back to House 3 it was as if I'd never left. Of course, Matt was out so I had to wander around in the rain for a bit but eventually I found him and got the spare key. I wandered into the bar and everything was the same - same bar staff, same students (strangely, there were hardly any 1st years around) so I sat with a couple of 4th years and caught up on what had been happening.



Over the next week I finished off my thesis, printed and bound it (a lot more fidley than it sounds. Nothing is more frustrating than having to reprint 25 pages cos there's a dash missing in the header), had a meeting with a prospective employer, went out to lunch with the girls from my group and of course, the weeks big event: Blondie's viva. He passed and is now Dr Matt Cartwright subject to completing his corrections. This of course meant that a large night out with the chemists was in the offing leading us from the New Inn to the union, Varsity, Jimmy Alan's and finally Klute.



By Friday the effect of living amongst a new generation of freshers and their dirty germs had hit me and my head felt like it was going to implode. That night was the group Christmas meal and I had managed to get myself invited.



We went across to the New Inn at 5 to start the drinking before heading to Bella Italia. Kara ended up sitting opposite Martin who is infamous for ordering lots of wine, only having a glass himself and dishing out the rest to those around him. About 10 minutes in and she was hammered. As it was an evening meal, only 4 of us made it to the pub afterwards and pretty soon we were down to me, Kara and the 4th year Laura who stayed the course until chucking out time. After two months of not drinking, two nights in a row was surprisingly doable. On the way home I chatted to Laura about the group and she told me that the group had been pretty dull until they heard I was coming back at which point they started discussing going out for lunch and to the pub. Maybe I did leave a mark and they didn't just think I was dickhead alcoholic.



Over the weekend I just chilled out with the chemists around Durham and heard about Alan's plan to get a Bengal leopard cat - even when he's settled down, he just can't be normal. Finally on Monday I submitted my thesis and headed home. I didn't have a camera on me, so the only evidence of my thesis is this really bad camera phone shot (I really need a new phone - possibly one of those N73s with 3MP Carl Zeiss lens...).



Most upsettingly I had to give back my laptop. Now this has been pissing me off for a while now. It was taking longer and longer to boot up, it no longer went into standby when you shut the lid, it occasionally couldn't find my wifi network even right next to the aerial and had the occasional issue with Endnote, but it was mine: it even made the trip to Japan with me in May meaning it's more well-travelled than half the group.



Being back in Durham was like a second nature and with all the chemists it felt like nothing had changed. However, Trevs seemed a little bit deserted. I realise that it's the people that make it special. Last year was bad enough with a load of people I didn't know, but now I'm pretty much left knowing only postgrads and 4th years amongst some token 3rd years from my bar days. Next year it could well just be the physicists that I know. It'll be the same with chemists - almost all of my friends are now 3rd years and will leave in September. Time to move on. Ironically, I could spend the next few years in the same area, but more on that later.

Also, being at Trevs but living out of a bag was very weird. For the last three years I've lived full time at Trevs, but I guess my permanent address was still in Bromsgrove along with a load of my stuff. Next year I'm going to have to face the complete move to a new permanent address. Scary.

Pandora's Box

After extolling the virtues of the personalised internet radio station Pandora, I've discovered the next step: Pandora's Box. The main failing for me of Pandora is that you need to keep a separate window or tab open to keep it going and it's al too easy to accidentally close it or find it getting in the way. Pandora's box simply opens a dedicated window that can be minimised to and controlled from the system tray. It works a treat and even better: it's free!

Get it here

Advertisments

Beyond the sight of Christmas trees starting to spring up in October, there is one easy way to feel the approach of the festive season: adverts. Thankfully, for the last 7 years I've been away during this silly season and have hardly watched any television at all, but this year I've seen it all. Last summer I set about the job of copying all our old VCR tapes to DVD and the most enjoyable part of this was seeing all the old adverts from the 80s. They really knew how to make them back then - no celebrities, bad hairstyles and simple premises. I have to say that my family are an advertiser's worst nightmare - my father doesn't understand any of the ads, my mother remembers them, but can't remember what brand they're for and I just mercilessly pick holes in them. Take the modern advert for the Vauxhaul Astra with all the cars flying all over the place - did anyone actually stop and think "this looks absolutely ridiculous!"? There's a bit in it where a chain of CGI Astras perform various choreographed manoeuvre's. Unfortunately it looks about as realistic as a Japanese Elvis. Saab on the, other hand, actually did this in real-life back in the 80s as shown below:



It's almost as if advertisers can't be bothered any more and just give their CGI people a free reign. But of course when it comes to Christmas we get the big promotional adverts. First up is the unfortunate case of Sony's PSP adverts. Sony clearly booked a lot of slots in the belief that they'd be pushing the new PS3 for all it's worth. The PS3 won't be with us for at least 3 months so Sony have had to push their PSP: after all it's being slaughtered by the Nintendo DS both here and abroad. Unfortunately they have come up with the most annoying characters known to man (the dustballs). If you haven't yet seen them (Sony have booked a LOT of slots) then play the video below.



Of course the one thing that never fails to appear ad-infinitum around this time of year are those tossing fragrance adverts - you know the ones: get various celebrities to ponce around and deliver a catchphrase that has nothing to do with the scent at all. To be fair, it must be a challenge to sell something that is entirely based on smell via a medium that's solely interpreted by the visual and aural senses, but why do they keep showing the same ads year on year? That "I see a man; it's chance. Take it!" gets me so angry and the one with the guy running across the bollards in time with the waves has me secretly hoping he falls and gets a large bit of concrete trying to insert itself into his crotch. And to finish, they're still wheeling out that Baz Luhrman/Nicole Kidman Chanel one that cost $45m to make. Apparently in the cinema it still carries credits at the end. What always amazes me is people fall for it. Of course, if people knew that behind the fancy names like Brut, Fabergé and the like were actually companies such as Proctor and Gamble or Unilever and that the scents were designed in massive chemical factories on the New Jersey turnpike they may not be so will to splash out £50 upwards on 50 ml of organic solution.

It's not 100% bad though. I'll finish on a positive (before all those sofa/kitchen sale adverts start next week) with two adverts that I actually like. The first is another Vauxhal advert. It's the ones for the Astra/Corsa with the muppet-like characters that simply say "C'Mon!" At first it bugges the crap out of me, but I and severa others have grown to love them - especially the really gruff one who mutters things under his breath before shouting the obligatory line. Sean Paul actually suits the soundtrack (I never thought I'd say that) so have a glance below.



Secondly is the 2006 Debenhams Christmas advert. The whole theme is a modern take of Father Christmas - instead of being a fat man with a long white beard in the traditional red suit, he's portraid as a young, slim man with a grey goatee and sharp red suit who body pops his way through his "grotto" (read: stylish house) before setting out on Cristmas Eve not on a reindeer pulled sleigh, but a flying snowmobile. It's not on YouTube yet, but if for some reason you haven't seen it you can do so here and the music (a modern version of Santa Baby) can be downloaded from the same page. In a world of dull, uninspired, cynical adverts, it's nice to know at least some companies are coming up with innovative adverts. Oh, and if you're ever left wondering what the music used in adverts was, try this site.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

My last haircut was at the start of August. When it's just been cut it's too short and when it gets longer it gaves wavy and just looks like a mess. In fact when I got back to Durham I was told by at least 3 people how bad it looked.

From this...


to this...


There's always one day when I catch a glance in the mirror and actually think my hair looks good short and then the next day it's back to being bad. The same thing happens when it gets slightly longer.

Bigs cops. Small town. Moderate violence.

I'm not one to advertise upcoming films on here, but I have to mention Hot Fuzz. Brought to us by the team behind Shaun of the Dead, this promises to send up buddy cop films in the same way Shaun... sent up the Zombie genre. The full trailer has just been released and is available to view here. Go now ModemMan!

London Baby!

It's official: being at home sucks. Over the PhD years I've become adept at being self sufficient. Cooking, shopping, cleaning, managing my time. Now I've been home for 6 weeks and I don't know where the time is going - it's too easy to just sit back and let my parents go about their business. Finally last week I met up with some friends: firstly some chemists who were attending an RSC event at Birmingham and then I went down to London to see Matt and Mel.

After getting over the ridiculously low train fare (£9.90 for a return) I quickly remembered how expensive the tube is. I met up with Matt at Waterloo and we wandered along the south bank taking in the sights (including someone trying to rob one of the living statues). We were supposed to go to an anime festival, but we arrived to find it had closed. A day early. Sounds like it hadn't been so successful which is a shame.



Despite having the world's cuisine available to us we settled on Wetherspoon's beer and burger offer for lunch. There were a lot of people waiting around in Leicester Square when we went in and as we ate vans turned up and began constructing barriers. It dawned on us that it was the Bond première that night. By the time we left, most of the square had been cordoned off. We wandered of through Soho and China town before finding a quiet, cheap pub just off Picadilly Circus. Finally we went to Covent Garden to meet Mel where we were flyered with coupons offering us free drinks at a new bar. It looked pretty dodgy from the outside, but once we went in it turned out to be an American diner theme bar. And the place was full of people claiming their free drinks and then leaving. Of course we did the same - who says you don't get anything for free.

After meeting Mel we ate at Wagamama and went back to their house in Wimbledon.

The next day was spent exploring Wimbledon although for some reason we didn't go to the tennis club. Strange.



Thursday brought about a trip to the Tate Modern. After crossing the infamous Millennium Bridge (very slippery) we entered and were greeted by the giant slides of "Test site". They can say what they want about art, but this exhibit is essentially a giant helter skelter. After the sheer naffness of the exhibition I saw at the Baltic Gallery in Newcastle last year I wasn't expecting anything special. Thankfully most of the displays were pretty good (barring some bizarre audio/visual affairs). We trogged up to the 7th floor cafe (by foot - not a good idea) and sat enjoying the view across to St Paul's on the north bank.





We went downstairs to met Mozza who's just got back from two months in Australia. We found a pub in the city and settled down into the comfy leather chairs. Within the hour the place was rammed with lawyers, bankers and other assorted yuppies.



The next day, we'd agreed to meet up with Mozza at Borough Market. However, 6 or 7 pints after 6 weeks of sobriety lead to the inevitable late-start. My friend Jim lives in Borough, but I'd never been to the market. It's absolutely amazing. Wandering round there was so much variety of food on offer - from exotic cheeses, Guinness sausages, venison burgers through to teas from around the world and even shark heads.



Finally it was time to head home and once again I made the near-fatal mistake of deciding to walk up the stairs in Marylebone. The Bakerloo line is one of the deeper ones and half way up I lost feeling in my legs.

Updates

Sony...Since my rant, the battery recall has escalated. In addition Sony have been forced to cut the launch price of the PS3 in Japan. This has meant Sony's predicted profits have been cut by 53%! Income is down an amazing 94%! This is before any other manufacturers claim compensation. In addition their BluRay player has been further delayed until December, and yesterday they successfully managed to close down one of the most popular importing companies down. Despite the company in question being based in Hong Kong (so technically they aren't importing - simply selling products to people abroad) it was ruled that they were breaking the law. In revenge, they have published a list of Sony executives who imported PSPs from them last year before their UK launch. Sony's statement after the result of the case included the phrase "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera". Odd because PSPs carry CE approved power supplies from Sony that can be used all over the world. Of course, the way their laptop batteries have been going maybe there are some safety issues.

Ghibli...Reviews of their August film Gedo Senki (Tales of Earthsea) haven't been positive at all. Hasn't put me off wanting to see it though. Could be a while though as it can't be released in the US (who will produce the English dub) until 2009. In related news, Film4 has been showing further Ghibli films including the fantastic, magical Whisper of the Heart complete with its original Japanese dub.

Home...It's been over three weeks now. I'm worryingly used to it by now - it's worrying because I love being self sufficient - the cooking, shopping and cleaning but once you've spent a few weeks living with your parents again you get used to be lazy again. Thesis-wise I'm nearly done - I'm waiting on my supervisor getting back to me on the two chapters I sent him. My pet project is helping my parents tidy the house. It's absolutely unbelievable - after getting so much shit for having an untidy room when I was younger, it's amazing to look at the house. There are piles of papers everywhere, business cards from the 80s, years worth of Tesco points statements and catalogues. They are complete hoarders (getting them to buy a new kettle after finding the current one had lost most of its inside coating and sported a green filament was very hard) but I'll beat it out of them.

Comfort TV

It's been over a week now and so far I've just about managed to get my stuff sorted out. I've even managed to do a bit of work, but that starts properly tomorrow. In my prior post I mentioned the lack of decent TV. In fact, since I started my PhD I've actively avoided watching new programs - the OC, Lost, One Tree Hill, Invasion - I've managed to avoid getting hooked. I've stuck to Scrubs, Family Guy and 24; and I download those. What I have realised is that there is some stuff that I watch over and over. Thanks to C4, E4 and abc1 I've found myself watching a heavy dose of Scrubs and Friends. They are waht I class as comfort TV - things I've seen so many times before, but feel safe watching again.

E4 show 2 Friends episodes a day and get through a series every 12 days (that means they show the whole thing about 2 and a half times a year). The jokes are memorable and its still funny even after all these years. At the moment we've just got to the start of season 3 which is probably the best. To my delight it was favourite episode; "The one where no one's ready" which is very cunningly a real-time episode based around Ross' attempts to get his friends ready to attend a dinner function at the museum with the whole episode (apart from the epilogue) set in Monica's apartment. It's also the episode most quoted by my friends and I at university - chair stealers are greeted with "In the words of A. A. Milne, get out of my chair dilhole!" or "Right, give me your underwear" whilst the stealer normally replied with "you went to Spain" and cries of "drink the fat" were not uncommon. Friends is the ultimate feel-good program, the ups and down's of the characters lives are mainly played for laughs. Even though, there are some major story developments, they are all pretty cheesey with the exception of the first Ross and Rachel breakup in season 3's "The one the morning after" where the comedy is very much downplayed in the second half of the episode. These two episodes explain why season 3 is probably my favourite.

Scrubs has gained in popularity over the last few years. I started watching from the start and feel quite proud of it. The humour is very different from Friends and the best episodes are often very bittersweet. From the very first episode the young doctors are forced to deal with death, but it's the forth episode, my old lady that really shows how uplifting the episodes can be - at the start the 3 new doctors are each introduced their new patient as the narration informs us that on average 1 in 3 patients dies. There's an awful moment about 2/3 of the way through the show where you realise all the patients will die, but somehow the fact that all the doctors take something from the day fills you with hope. Inspirational use of music (as frequently mentioned before) often elevates episodes to classic standard; my philosophy features the cast performing a Colin Hay song, my sex buddy finishes with Del Amitri's "Tell her this" as JD struggles to open up to Elliot. my screw up is frequently referenced as the best Scrubs episode due to the Sixth Sense-esque plot and recent episodes such as my cabbage and my lunch in which the previously infalable Dr Cox has his confidence shaken.

Friends has now finished so we are left with 10 seasons and perpetual rumours of one-off specials and Scrubs enters its 6th and possibly last season in January (Zach Braff has stated he wants to concentrate on films). Infinitely rewatchable, comforting and it's always far too easy to watch them again thanks to their heavy rotation of the Freeview channels than it is to do work on my thesis, get back to learning Japanese, look for jobs or do any of the things that seem like hard work.