I watched Question Time on BBC 1 last night. The programme was showcasing the unpleasant racist politician Nick Griffin in his capacity as the leader of the BNP. He came across as a shifty, unusual man.
Griffin has tried to improve the public image of the BNP and unfortunately he has been elected as an MEP. This accidental election has occured because of public apathy. The only people that were keen to vote (in the face of the MP expences row and the recession) were bigots with chips on their shoulders. Small minded idiots.
Griffin has unpleasant views on homosexuality. He said that he was 'creeped out' to watch men kissing. I am sure that they would be 'creeped out' if they knew Nick Griffin was watching them. He has unpleasnt views on Islam. He maintains international links with the Klu Klux Klan. His understanding of the history of the British Isles is bizzare and tainted by racism. Winston Churchill would have put him in prison. He is a bad person.
Question Time may have given the BNP some publicity but hopefully the British public is intelligent enough to realise that the BNP are evil. Some misguided souls may feel sorry for Griffin but most of us are just hoping he will fuck off for good.
For sensible opinion see
http://www.rockagainstracism.info/
For mainstream politics - please vote for anyone who is not a racist
http://www.libdems.org.uk/
http://www.labour.org.uk/
http://www.conservatives.com/
http://www.snp.org/
For other stuff
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/
Friday, October 23, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The Longcut live at King Tuts, Glasgow.
Just before my boss went on holiday he sent me an email advising me to go and see the Longcut playing at King Tuts. I went to their website and downloaded one of their eps. It was fairly good, inventive and fresh sounding. The tickets for the gig were only 6 quid so I thought fuck it and went along to see them.
They were on top of a 4 band bill, supported by three local bands. The local bands were rather boring so I sat downstairs drinking until the Longcut came on. The Longcut are a three piece who mix loud guitars with interesting electronics. The singer also plays keyboards and drums, moving quickly between instruments within the course of a song. The guitarist makes a lot of Sonic Youth moves with drumsticks, etc.
During the set they sounded like Daft Punk, The Rapture, Joy Division, Sonic Youth and Air. They has a bass station keyboard that I fell in love with. The vocals were a bit muffled by King Tuts PA system but the show was generally exciting.
Worth investigating.
http://www.thelongcut.com/
They were on top of a 4 band bill, supported by three local bands. The local bands were rather boring so I sat downstairs drinking until the Longcut came on. The Longcut are a three piece who mix loud guitars with interesting electronics. The singer also plays keyboards and drums, moving quickly between instruments within the course of a song. The guitarist makes a lot of Sonic Youth moves with drumsticks, etc.
During the set they sounded like Daft Punk, The Rapture, Joy Division, Sonic Youth and Air. They has a bass station keyboard that I fell in love with. The vocals were a bit muffled by King Tuts PA system but the show was generally exciting.
Worth investigating.
http://www.thelongcut.com/
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Dead Snow - DVD review
When I learned of Dead Snow, a Norwegian Zombie Nazis film, I had to see it. I wasn't disappointed. Dead Snow is funny and at times it seemed like a remake of Evil Dead. Everything that you would expect in a film about Nazi Zombies is there. If this was an English language film, I probably wouldn't like it as much, but the Norwegian soundtrack and the snow makes it a bit different.
Dead Snow - putting new life in the Zombie genre.
Dead Snow - putting new life in the Zombie genre.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Kevin Smith Spoken Word Show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Kevin Smith did his Q&A spoken word show at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow last night. He initially seemed a bit upset because the show was not sold out.
The first question that I would have like to ask him would be along the lines of 'Do you know that £45, the cost of one of the better seats tonight, is a bit more than $70? Also, at £35 the cheapest seats cost more than $55 and we're in the middle of a fucking recession so nobody has any money?' I'm a doctor and I had to think long and hard about a cheap seat at the show. What about the poor fuckers out there who aren't overpaid in the same way that I am?
Anyway the show was not sold out and there were a few empty seats. The advertising before the show was of a secretive fashion. In the face of such adversity, it was still an interesting night.
The Q&A format lets Smith loose and triggers interesting talk in a way that other stand-up comedians don't achieve. I guess Smith is more of a spoken word performer and an interesting person in his own right like Henry Rollins. He has a bit more to say than Frankie Boyle (although I do love Frankie Boyle).
So in 3 hours of chat from Kevin Smith we learned exactly how he takes a shit. He described it in great detail, twice. We also learned that he smokes cannabis more now than he used to. We also learned a fair bit about the greatest hockey player who ever lived, Wayne Gretsky, and how this hockey player can teach us all to be better people.
We learned a bit about working with Bruce Willis and we learned that Smith has decided to cast childish things aside and make new movies. I love Kevin Smith films and I but them all on DVD but if he decides to go for some new themes, that's cool. I hope he makes his horror film sometime.
He did well with impenetrable accents last night. One guy, apparently from Peterhead, had such a thick accent that I could barely understand any of it. There were a couple of odd questions. The most unsettling question of the night was the final one, where some idiot asked if Roman Polanski should escape charges for child molestation because he's a great movie director. Thankfully, Smith said that Polanski should be punished because his crime is unforgivable. It's nice to see that Smith has some fairly strong morals.
The show was long but lots of people didn't get a chance to ask a question. I would probably have liked to ask Smith two questions. The first would be, who, other than Prince, is the strangest famous person you have met? The second would be a nerdy question about the comic book that Smith would most want to write next if he could write anything? Maybe I'll get a chance again.
I hope Kevin Smith enjoyed his visit to Glasgow. I hope he comes back sometime. I hope the tickets are a bit cheaper next time. We'll see what happens.
To find out more about Kevin Smith, Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy and his other movies go to
http://www.viewaskew.com/
To read his stuff on twitter go to
http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith
Snoochies
The first question that I would have like to ask him would be along the lines of 'Do you know that £45, the cost of one of the better seats tonight, is a bit more than $70? Also, at £35 the cheapest seats cost more than $55 and we're in the middle of a fucking recession so nobody has any money?' I'm a doctor and I had to think long and hard about a cheap seat at the show. What about the poor fuckers out there who aren't overpaid in the same way that I am?
Anyway the show was not sold out and there were a few empty seats. The advertising before the show was of a secretive fashion. In the face of such adversity, it was still an interesting night.
The Q&A format lets Smith loose and triggers interesting talk in a way that other stand-up comedians don't achieve. I guess Smith is more of a spoken word performer and an interesting person in his own right like Henry Rollins. He has a bit more to say than Frankie Boyle (although I do love Frankie Boyle).
So in 3 hours of chat from Kevin Smith we learned exactly how he takes a shit. He described it in great detail, twice. We also learned that he smokes cannabis more now than he used to. We also learned a fair bit about the greatest hockey player who ever lived, Wayne Gretsky, and how this hockey player can teach us all to be better people.
We learned a bit about working with Bruce Willis and we learned that Smith has decided to cast childish things aside and make new movies. I love Kevin Smith films and I but them all on DVD but if he decides to go for some new themes, that's cool. I hope he makes his horror film sometime.
He did well with impenetrable accents last night. One guy, apparently from Peterhead, had such a thick accent that I could barely understand any of it. There were a couple of odd questions. The most unsettling question of the night was the final one, where some idiot asked if Roman Polanski should escape charges for child molestation because he's a great movie director. Thankfully, Smith said that Polanski should be punished because his crime is unforgivable. It's nice to see that Smith has some fairly strong morals.
The show was long but lots of people didn't get a chance to ask a question. I would probably have liked to ask Smith two questions. The first would be, who, other than Prince, is the strangest famous person you have met? The second would be a nerdy question about the comic book that Smith would most want to write next if he could write anything? Maybe I'll get a chance again.
I hope Kevin Smith enjoyed his visit to Glasgow. I hope he comes back sometime. I hope the tickets are a bit cheaper next time. We'll see what happens.
To find out more about Kevin Smith, Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy and his other movies go to
http://www.viewaskew.com/
To read his stuff on twitter go to
http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith
Snoochies
Monday, October 05, 2009
Pixies live at Glasgow SECC
The SECC was the site of a notorious Pixies gig in 1991 when the stage collapsed after 3 songs. This was their first show at the venue since then. I saw the Pixies at their reunion show during the 2004 T in the Park festival. I also had tickets to see them in Edinburgh in 2005 but I was unable to swap my on-call shift at work so I had to give the tickets away.
On this tour the Pixies are playing all of Doolittle and appropriate B-sides. The support band was Sons & Daughters who have put out a couple of good albums. I missed a bit of their set although I liked what I heard.
The Pixies came on to some old cinema footage. I think it was part of Un chien andalou, an old French surrealist film that Salvador Dali contributed to (confirmed by checking wikipedia and recognising the images). They started with Manta Ray and Weird at my school before playing other B-sides that I didn't recognise.
In the 5 years since the T in the Park show the live force of the Pixies has improved. They were much tighter and the sound was great (unusual for the SECC). They played Doolittle in order (I think) before giving us an encore of the UK surf version of Wave of Mutilation and Into the White.
It might have ended there but Glasgow has enthusiastic crowds. They came back and played another 7 songs with the hall lights up. This second encore was loud and energetic and included Nimrods son, Broken Face and Where is my mind? It was very good and it made me very happy.
The full setlist is below
Dancing The Manta Ray
Bailey's Walk
Weird At My School
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave Of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr Greives
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away
Encore:
Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into The White
Encore 2:
The Holiday Song
Nimrod's Son
Caribou
Broken Face
Something Against You
Vamos
Isla De Encanta
Where Is My Mind?
I found the setlist at
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pixies/2009/secc-glasgow-scotland-3d7f95b.html#
Addendum
After a comment I did a search to find out who supported the Pixies in 1991 when the stage collapsed and it seems to have been Teenage Fanclub and Cud
On this tour the Pixies are playing all of Doolittle and appropriate B-sides. The support band was Sons & Daughters who have put out a couple of good albums. I missed a bit of their set although I liked what I heard.
The Pixies came on to some old cinema footage. I think it was part of Un chien andalou, an old French surrealist film that Salvador Dali contributed to (confirmed by checking wikipedia and recognising the images). They started with Manta Ray and Weird at my school before playing other B-sides that I didn't recognise.
In the 5 years since the T in the Park show the live force of the Pixies has improved. They were much tighter and the sound was great (unusual for the SECC). They played Doolittle in order (I think) before giving us an encore of the UK surf version of Wave of Mutilation and Into the White.
It might have ended there but Glasgow has enthusiastic crowds. They came back and played another 7 songs with the hall lights up. This second encore was loud and energetic and included Nimrods son, Broken Face and Where is my mind? It was very good and it made me very happy.
The full setlist is below
Dancing The Manta Ray
Bailey's Walk
Weird At My School
Manta Ray
Debaser
Tame
Wave Of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr Greives
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away
Encore:
Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Into The White
Encore 2:
The Holiday Song
Nimrod's Son
Caribou
Broken Face
Something Against You
Vamos
Isla De Encanta
Where Is My Mind?
I found the setlist at
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pixies/2009/secc-glasgow-scotland-3d7f95b.html#
Addendum
After a comment I did a search to find out who supported the Pixies in 1991 when the stage collapsed and it seems to have been Teenage Fanclub and Cud
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