6 May 2004
Disappointment rarely comes straight away. It creeps, next day, until you realise the film you saw which you thought was pretty good was actually pretty rubbish. It is even worse when that film also inflicts a retro malaise upon a film you previously really liked. Of course I can only be talking about Kill Bill Vol.2.
Volume One was a gas. Both in sixties hipster slang way and it its utter fly away lack of substance. Volume Two promised the meat, it promised the plot and it also promised three more fights. In almost all areas it let me down. While Volume One seemed utterly consistent in its ragbag of styles, visually sumptuous and coreographed to the last inch, Volume Two seemed sloppy. We find out why The Bride was shot. We find out why she is so good at fighting. We find out why Darryl Hannah wears an eye-patch. And we even find out The Bride’s name.
Finding out The Bride’s name is a mistake. Not as much as the fantastically lousy reason why the Bride was shot. And whilst a fair bit of explaining goes on, a fair bit is left out. The Deadly Viper Assassin’s, so what did they do then? Why does everyone hate Bill? You cannot explain a bit and leave the rest out for mystery purposes. And in retrospect from a pacing point of view, the revelation of the final minute of Volume One completely spoils what appears to be set up as a twist in this one. The division of the film harmed the whole. Though on the other hand it at least gave us a near perfect Volume One, which, by the laws of sequels (if you see it as a sequel) Volume Two fails to live up to.
Of course KBV2 it has its moments. The Pei-Mei sequence is great fun, as is the Thurman / Hannah fight. BUt at two hours fifteen, there is much which could be snipped and the film still feels a touch unfinished. And two credit sequences?
Yeah, I guess this is called disappointment.
Pete Baran in Do You See • No Comments
He Made Their Glowing Colours – somewhat reader-hostile colour scheme disguises good pop-centric blog. Long analysis of “Air Hostess”.
Giving up ILX is good for your blogging – Dave Stelfox is back in operation with mixtapes and RECIPES!! Num num. Evidence 2: Marcello on a roll, following up his Ogun epic with a cute and very entertaining counterhistorical bit on Joe Meek.
The Case Against Rock And Pop – much WRATH on display. My favourite line – “indeed if you asked the typical pop or rock music consumer they would say that music is used as a background or as a rhythmic accompaniment against which to ‘dance’.” Oh those marvellous scare quotes.
Found via Friends Of Radio 3 – by their links ye shall know them. I do sort of think that FoR3 have a teensy good idea in that the return of more jazz and world stuff to Radio 2 might help to stem the tide of Meluas and Cullums. I get the impression at the moment that Radio 2 is the BBC’s flagship and they’re only too keen to punt any of the ‘difficult’ stuff onto 3. I’m sure a digital golden oldies channel can’t be far off and then R2 really will be wall-to-wall tastefulness (oh but Mark Lamarr knows so much about skiffle etc etc. – yes I know, I’m unreasonable.)
The redemptive power of music! It would have been a better story if he’d cracked during questioning when a Robbie Williams song was sung, mind you.
Tom in FT /New York London Paris Munich • No Comments
I knew it! Goodbye Hoof Hello Nutmeg is the ‘free football magazine’ accompanying Nike’s Euro 2004 marketing push. Readers of a route one disposition should possibly refrain from clicking.
This seems as good a time as ever to mention the Bluffer’s Guide To Fannydangle feature we thought up in the pub last night. Fannydangle, you will recall, is defined as “stylish but ineffective play”, and it turns up in more sports than football (and not just sports). What are the symptoms of fannydangle in cricket? In tiddleywinks? In blogging?* A spotter’s guide to FD is in preparation – and suggestions are very welcome.
*OK, in blogging it’s announcing features and never doing them, ahem.
Tom in TMFD • No Comments
45rpm – it’s a music blog! In Swedish! It seems to be about pop and sexism and it links to a Stock Aitken And Waterman site. Most mysterious, if any multi-lingual reader wants to attempt a summary in the comments box I’d be grateful.
Another new blog – Farmer In The City – not all about music but there’s something about the clean way he writes that I like. And you can’t say no to a Tilt reference.
Tom in FT /New York London Paris Munich • No Comments
BADFINGER IN GOODFING SHOCK!!!
What question do I get asked most? When are you going to pay your bar tab.
What question do I get asked second most often? What music do you like. There must be something. A band or a group, just one piece.
Well I don’t like any music. But I do hava soft spot for one band. There were thought of as the next big thing, the saviour of post Beatles rock. None of which are the reasons why I like them. No I like them because they were stupendously unsuccessful, signed a contract which to all intents and purposes robbed them of money, and then topped themself. If only all bands could have a trajectory like that, I would be clapping until Kingdom Come.
The band? Badfinger.
The tragedy of Badfinger is made all the more juicy in that it was pretty much all the Beatles fault. Obviously the tragedy that anyone knew them in the first place was Paul McCartney’s, and George Harrison produced their second album. But when Apple was disolved over Macca and Lennon trying to decided which country in the Union they wanted to own (Macca certain that he wanted to give Ireland to the Irish) they were left floundering, in penury, to sign a sort of reverse loalties deal. All bands should obviously be fined for selling more records in my book. Bands who have ever met, or listened to a Beatles record double.
Why did the members of Badfinger top themselves though? Surely not just over money. Or even the realisation that they were rubbish. No, it was probably due to the realisation that they had written ‘Without You’ one of the most melodramatic, overblown and – this is the key point – covered songs in history. Perhaps the members obtained a crystal ball and realised that in 1997 Mariah Carey was going to crap her larynx all over it. In order to have completed rotted by this terrible juncture they stopped breating forthwith. And therefore stand as a shining example to all other bands.
Tanya Headon in I Hate Music • No Comments
PopNose13 (1.6M) – time for a Popnose! I was alerted to the existence of this one by none other than Mark S. Standard rules apply – if you know what it is don’t tell, but please do comment. Reveal at the weekend.
Tom in FT /New York London Paris Munich • No Comments
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