Posts by Chris Bell

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  • Hard News: Revival,

    The Julien Temple film about Paul Weller, 'Find The Torch', was on the Documentary Channel the other night, featuring interviews and his band playing songs from 'Wake Up The Nation'.

    It was worth watching, good television and Weller came across as a modest, no-nonsense diamond geezer, as I expected him to. The sort of grumpy old man any male might aspire to be, assuming he was the Modfather.

    I lost touch with Weller's music after 'Stanley Road', so it's heartening to see him still aiming to be different with his music, even if he has kept roughly the same haircut.

    I was a fan of The Jam's singles and loved The Style Council's 'Cafe Bleu'. A short time before that was released I saw him walking along Oxford Street in the direction of Marble Arch in the late 1970s, with tourists and passers-by oblivious. For no apparent reason that memory has stuck with me.

    I've started buying songs from 'Wake Up The Nation'.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Southerly: Everybody Needs Good Neighbours,

    The "x, of course y" formula is priceless and could transform many a substandard story - especially any where the plot doesn't quite hang together (i.e. any written by me) - after all, y needn't result in death, creating infinite possibilities.

    In fact, foresee a novel based on it...

    OK, thanks. See you much later.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Southerly: The Secret Poetry of Economists,

    I was mildly disappointed you didn't manage to work in a reference to quantitative easing (too obvious?), but I'm otherwise impressed.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: All this and more,

    Ha, ha. This is going to seem like self-promotion, but Wishart's 'Colombians bump into Lennon in Hell' story rather puts me in mind of something else.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: High Times,

    Tom wrote:

    The theory goes that that the bowl will absorb more of the MDMA

    Hmm, let's see: So all I need is a bowl, some shelving (MDF should do it...or was that MDMA?) and a tampon, and I'm good to go.

    I think I'll stick to single malt: who needs all that DIY.

    (Um, I have led a cloistered, ascetic life. What the f*ck is a Tootsie Roll...?)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Te Qaeda and the God Squad,

    As always, I have to admire the restraint that has largely being shown here and Russ's admirable efforts to both summarise the facts and predict the likely outcomes. After reading through all the comments and just want to say something that might seem obvious to the rest of you but which I feel could use re-stating:

    Whatever the aims of those who are being held, and whatever they may or may not be charged with, what we do not need is more legislation.

    If terror activities were planned or carried out by anyone; threats were made against specific or unspecified persons; or people were found to be bearing arms they do not have a right to carry, there are more than enough laws already in existence to deal with those circumstances, laws that have been argued over and massaged into legal English by more convoluted minds than our own.

    New prevention of terrorism legislation does not stand a chance of preventing terrorism any more than stopping passengers taking liquids onto planes will stop it. All it does is make it more difficult for law-abiding people to go about their business.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Radiation: Medium blog whisperer,

    Graeme wrote:

    A few years back, One News reported that Jonah Lomu had resigned [from the All Blacks]. Actually, he'd re--signed.

    Surely not even a One News reader would have been so word-blind. You "resign from" a position you're giving up and "re-sign with" something you're continuing.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Radiation: It had a dog,

    Craig Ranapia wrote:

    Jeez... is there some law that James McAvoy has to be in everything?

    He's not in the second season so much; which is good, as he wasn't very good in the first, putting on an unconvincing Laa-ndan accent. Much better in Early Doors, which is also being shown again on UKTV currently.

    Did anyone else think Andy Serkis was brilliant as Vincent van Gogh in the Simon Schama art documtary on TV One on Sunday night, which Fiona also referenced?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Radiation: It had a dog,

    It's a bit late to get into this show now but if you haven't already done so, it's worth trying to catch Shameless on UKTV on Wednesday night.

    The Channel Four microsite for it is here

    David Threlfall (a former onstage Riddley Walker, incidentally) is superbly awful as Frank Gallagher, and this family is guaranteed to make anyone feel better about being dysfunctional.

    The newish Documentary Channel has some reasonable programming, but is anyone else getting thoroughly sick of many of the Sky channels' self-serving promotion? You might as well suffer the regular ads. At least the repeat-cycle is longer.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

  • Random Play: Music to my ears,

    Nick Howells wrote:

    Unfortunately I already have tinnitus but better late than never.

    Yeah, me too. And I played in a poncey 1980s band. I really feel for Pete Townshend!

    It's when I see that the musicians in the band are wearing earplugs (and I'm not talking about in-ear monitors) that I start to worry. I mean, nowadays, if the backline is so loud that you need earplugs onstage, you have a seriously fkced up sound and I don't see why you should be inflicting it on an audience.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report Reply

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