Friday 19 December 2014

Songs of the year 2014

It is the end of the year and time for those of a certain disposition to put together meaningless lists. I am of that disposition and this is my list of ten of the songs I have had on repeat in 2014, in no particular order.

Chromeo – Jealous (I Ain’t With It)

I can only take too much Chromeo, but when he is good he is making the sort of 80s hit singles that were never made. This is one of them. 


I only just discovered Angel Olson this year and really enjoyed her album, Burn You Fire For No Witness. This is my favourite track, probably because it sounds like early Leonard Cohen. Her cover of Richard and Linda Thompson’s Withered and Died (with Marissa Nadler) is also worth listening to.


I could have picked any track from Real Estate’s album Atlas, but this is the first one I heard so is the one I’m picking.


My friend Mischa put me onto Pup. He said their album was like Weezer’s Blue Album so I took note. Reservoir is probably my favourite track from the album and Mischa’s brief review of the album can be read here.


I haven’t enjoyed anything by Pains of Being Pure at Heart as much as their eponymous record. Kelly was certainly the stand-out track from Days of Abandon and I’ve listened to this song more than the album. This is one of those songs that give you a sad feeling of nostalgia for something you probably don’t remember.


I was lucky enough to catch St Vincent at The Roundhouse this year. Again, I could have picked any song of her
eponymous album this year, but this is the one I come back to most often. I also enjoyed the Hood Internet mash-up as well.


It may be tokenistic to include The Men given that I felt that Tomorrow’s Hits was not quite as good as the fantastic New Moon from last year. Different Days has appeared on loads of my mixtapes this year, so it’s staying in the top ten.

Avi Buffalo – Memories of You
More nostalgia. I loved the new Avi Buffalo record. It makes me sad and happy at the same time and Memories of You is the best example of this.


This may be my favourite track of all. This year The War on Drugs released the album my Dad played in the car on summer holidays growing up. Obviously Lost in the Dream wasn’t the exact same album, but it sounded a lot like it. Burning is a particularly good track to turn up load in the car. Sometimes when it is on, I imagine I am running down the motorway.


I hadn’t realized how nostalgic my music taste had become. I enjoyed enjoying Ryan Adams again this year, after a long time of turning my nose up. This track contains the best things about Tom Petty’s Refugee and Bryan Adams’ Run To You. A goo year for cars songs. A bad year for concentration.



Thursday 18 December 2014

Re-view 1: The Holiday


In 2006, Nancy Meyer wrote and directed one of the worst movies committed to celluloid, featuring good actors (apart from Jude Law) giving the worst performances of their careers. I’m not going to pull any punches: The Holiday is shit.

Yet it is a movie I have seen more times than many others. I have only seen Taxi Driver once. I have only seen The Deer Hunter once. I have only seen Dr. Strangelove once. I have seen The Holiday at least once a year since it came out. Watching The Holiday has become my worst Christmas tradition.

I know more about the innate shitness of the Holiday than most people. I can count my knowledge of the The Holiday’s crapness as one of the few things in which I have expertise. I could add it to my CV. It would be my Master Mind special subject.

The Holiday is the theme of this blog post. Because it is nearly Christmas, I have decided to offer up my minute-by-minute, shit-bit-by-shit-bit breakdown of the entire of The Holiday, based on my 2014 viewing. Here goes…

0.00.04. Before we see anything on screen, the saccharine music begins. It is not only actors in this movie who are having a bad day. Hans Zimmer scored Gladiator, Inception and 12 Year a Slave, but he also scored The Holiday; his insipid first choice of notes sets the tone.

0.00.26. The first thing we see is a screen kiss. An irritating screen kiss between two people from the 1990s. This is a Nancy Meyers movie; it will always be the 1990s.
  
0.00.41. The camera pulls back to show that the smooching couple aren’t in the movie we’re watching, but in a movie that Jack Black is scoring. This is the first of many bits where the movie has a clumsy fondle with dramatic irony; it is constantly cracking in-jokes as if anyone cares. It is a conceited movie that thinks it is saying something about the movie business. It is not.

0.01.03. Nancy Meyers loves an inconsistent voiceover in her movies (see also What Women Want). The first thing we hear is an earnest Kate Winslet: “I have found almost everything ever written about love to be true.” Well, that's clearly bollocks.

0.01.23. Kate continues: “I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I’m constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives.” This glib nonsense is there to establish character, right? I’m meant to think that the Kate Winslett character is an annoying twat? Please don’t tell me I should be rooting for this character!

0.01.40: Enter Cameron Diaz looking sad in a car with Ed Burns. Cameron’s first appearance coincides with the main theme music kicking in. It sounds like the soundtrack to someone running through fields. This may be important later.

0.02.27. Enter Jude Law. God, I hate Jude Law. He seems to be eye fucking someone.

0.03.19: Yes, Kate is a twat in this movie. Kate is in love with Rufus Sewell and Rufus Sewell doesn’t love her back but this hasn’t stopped her mooning over him for years. “New Years Eves bought in by tears and valium,” she says, still in voiceover. Blimey.

0.03.40. The Rufus Sewell character is called Jasper! He came first in his class in Cad Studies at the University of Ruffians and Bounders. I’m rooting for him.

0.03.51. Kate has a brief conversation with her friend at the office party. The friend doesn’t appear for the rest of the movie, but that doesn’t seem to matter too much. Thankfully, their conversation fills in some important backstory vis a vis. Jasper (my favourite character so far). “Oh yes, I remember. And then you found out he (Jasper) was shagging that drip from circulation,” the friend says. No one has used the term drip since 1989.

0.04.04. “He cheated on you but you stayed friends” Kate’s friend tells her as if Kate has no idea. The ‘friend’ character is coming to the end of its usefulness in its brief life.

0.04.11. Kate in tears. This won’t be the last time, this movie.

0.05.04: “You know, I never realised how pathetic you are,” the friend tells Kate. Wow. If even the exposition hates you Kate, you’ve got no chance of winning me back round. The only way you’ll be able to win me round now is my getting drunk, snogging the short beardy guy on the dance floor and making photocopies of your arse.

0.06.00: Oh no, this isn’t any office party: they’re all journos at the Telegraph. What horrible product placement.

0.06.32: Kate and “Jasper” have a conversation. Although Jasper is clearly a scoundrel, Kate can’t help but compliment him. “Your column today was fantastic,” she says. “God, l loved that line: ''The onrushing stripping of dignity and thought from British lives.'' Great writing.” No, not great writing.

0.07.22: “You stinker,” says Jasper. Maybe Kate has just farted.

0.07.32: She hasn’t farted. She has bought Jasper a rare book for Christmas, “buried in that place in Covent Garden.” Buried? Because Covent Garden is such an obscure, out-the-way place!

08.55: Kate in tears again. “Jasper” is marrying someone else (the rotter).

0.09.12: She is still crying.

0.09.21: On the Southbank crying.

0.09.30: On the train crying.

0.09.44: Walking home crying.

0.10.04: Walking to her front door crying.

0.10.20: Kate gets back to her massive fuck-off cottage in the Surrey countryside and breaks down sobbing, waking up the entire neighbourhood.

0.10.28: Scene fades to black with Kate still crying her eyes out.

0.10.30: Cut to California. Ed Burns is defending himself about cheating from Cameron Diaz, who throws shoes at him.

0.11.59: I like Ed Burns. He was great in Sideways of New York and Friends with Kids. I suspect that his character in The Holiday is not going to be as rounded as some of the other characters he has played. He seems to be doing little more than filling in the back-story for Cameron Diaz.

0.13.21: The most interesting thing about Diaz’s character is that she can’t cry. I wonder whether she may have learned to cry by the time the movie has finished. No, that’s just crazy talk!

0.15.07: Diaz punches Ed right in the face. Twice. THIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY GOOD PARTS OF THE MOVIE.

0.15.24: Look, it’s Kathryn Hahn in an early role.

0.15.40: Diaz runs a movie advertising company. She is editing a movie trailer in this scene which stars Lindsay Lohan and James Franco. It is kind of embarrassing and another clumsy and unnecessary in-joke. This is not a movie about movies like Maps to the Stars or The Player, but it seems to think it is.

0.16.00. It’s John Krasinski, from the US version of the Office!

0.16.49. Diaz goes on some misguided rant to her employees about needing a holiday. She says she wants to read a “real book”, “wants to eat real carbs without wanting to kill myself” and then goes on about being stressed and then blown up by a terrorist  and– I’m not sure, I tuned out.  Diaz is your classic Nancy Meyers character (see also Julia Roberts in I Love Trouble, Diane Keaton in Baby Boom, Helen Hunt in What Women Want): a woman successful in her career, but entirely neurotic and unable to form a lasting relationship. These characters always find the answer to their ‘problem’ in an entirely uninteresting man! When oh when will the trope of women being punished for their careers be eradicated from movies!

0.17.56. Some product placement on how to use the advance search features of Google. Advance search was a big deal in 2006. Most people didn’t know how to do it, so we needed the movies to show us how.

0.18.11. This is the scene where Diaz tries to make herself cry. To recap: we have one character who can’t cry and another character who can’t stop crying. Crazy parallels!

0.19.00. Diaz tries to find a holiday let in the Cotswolds. Underneath her search, cottages in Cotswolds, is cottages in Coventry. Sending Diaz to Coventry would be a much better movie.

0.19.08. New search: under cottages in Surrey is cottages in Sunderland. Again, I would love to see Diaz head over to the north-east. She could get together with Jimmy Nail instead of Jude Law and they could eat stottie cake together under a Whitley Bay sunset.

0.19.30. Cut back to Kate. She is still crying her eyes out.

0.19.40. Kate owns a cat. What are the chances!

0.20.09: Kate contemplates suicide, Sylvia Plath-style. This could be interesting.

0.20.14. No dice.

0.20.59: Kate and Diaz start chatting over some bespoke version of Instant Messenger.

0.21.39. Kate begins to describe herself to Diaz. When she gets to ‘single’, she starts crying again. Pull yourself together, Kate!

0.22.40. Is it really this easy to organise a house swap? Wouldn’t you want to check reference, maybe get to know each other a bit more? One of them could be an axe murderer! Let’s face it, Kate probably is one, anyway. A crying axe murderer.

0.23.23. On the plane to LA, Kate starts chatting with a attractive man, only to discover that he already has a girlfriend. Kate is then joined by some old biddies. Ha ha!

0.24.40. Kate tears up again, writing a heartfelt message to “Jasper” on a Blackberry that would look old fashioned to your Nan.

0.25.00 Diaz’s on-flight reading matter includes The Kite Runner, Atonement, Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, Team of Rivals, Runaway, The Corrections and a shit load of self-help! More shortcuts in character development, signifying nothing apart from, well, perhaps confusion.

0.25.58. If Kate is not crying in this movie, then she is getting emotional in other ways. On the taxi ride out from LAX to Diaz’s house, she sticks her head out of the window (like a dog), closes her eyes and simpers like no other mortal has simpered before, but not since. Believe me, Kate will simper again before the movie is out, and maybe even more so.

0.28.47. Kate arrives at Diaz’s LA mansion to be confronted with more consumer products than she has clapped eyes on in her sheltered British life. We watch her gawk in wonder at white Ikea furniture, a designer kitchen, a gigantic TV and DVD collection, an indoor gymnasium and a massive fuck off swimming pool. Ah, consumerism! It’s not like that back in Surrey.

0.29.35. It certainly isn’t. Diaz is having a mare! You have to feel sorry for her, really. She definitely drew the short straw staying in this recently renovated idyllic country crash pad, last seen snapped up by some revolting London yuppies on Phil and Kirsty. The designer bathroom is pretty small I suppose, as is the Laura Ashley wardrobe.

0.30.16. In another hilarious scene, Diaz nearly gets cleared up by another car because she is driving on the wrong side of the road. It’s funny because Britain and America are different.

0.30.40: Diaz isn’t able to drive in Britain because it is so goddamn small! This movie is hilarious. An LA movie executive? Driving a mini? Through the tiny British countryside? On the wrong side of the road? It’ll never work! It’s funny because Britain and America are different.

0.30.49. After a fun near death experience, Diaz says she needs a drink. At this point, so do I!

0.31.08. Cut to Diaz boozing at a mini-supermarket, buying up chocolate, tapas and more booze. “Someone’s having a party tonight,” says the shop assistant: a rotund, west country-accented, Pam Ferris-channelling, extra from Tess of the D'Urbervilles in Surrey.

0.32.30: All the truly worst parts of Nancy Meyers movies involve cast members singing or dancing. The Holiday features shit loads of both. Half an hour in and we hit the first bit involving Diaz and the Killers. I’m lost for words really, just watch it.

0.34.04. Back in LA, Kate pulls out Punch Drunk Love from the DVD collection but then gets bamboozled by the DVD player. Because she is British, she has no clue how to operate such things. It’s funny because Britain and America are different.

0.35.03. We first meet Jack Black for real, simpering to Ennio Morricone in his sports car. There is zero chemistry between him and Kate.

0.35.26. Jack get something from Kate’s eye and he puts it down to the Santa Ana winds. “Legend has it, when the Santa Anas blow all bets are off,” he says. “Anything can happen.” This is the worst example of flirting I have ever seen. Maybe later he will remember that he and Kate actually had zero chemistry and he will not try and bother her again. Plus, he is already going out with that one from The Rules of Attraction, so clearly batting way above his average anyway.

0.36.31: “Don’t blow away,” Jack says to Kate as he leaves. I think the writers may be trying to set up some clumsy imagery here. Maybe it is because Kate is really windy. After all, Jasper did call her a stinker before.

0.36.49. Kate sees Eli Wallach (Calvera from The Magnificent Seven) walking past her gate, thus introducing the creepiest character in the entire movie.

0.37.09. “Anything can happen,” Kate says wistfully to herself, like a complete loon. OK, we get it now.

0.37.37. Kate discovers the black-out blinds in her bedroom and starts simpering again.

0.38.10. This is the scene where a drunk Jude Law turns up at Diaz’s cottage. “Open the door,” he says, “or I swear I’m going to take a leak.” This script was clearly written by an American because no self-respecting English gentleman has ever uttered the phrase ‘take a leak.’ Not that Jude Law is a self-respecting English gentleman, mind.

0.40.58. THIS IS THE BEST BIT OF THE HOLIDAY. Jude Law says: “I think there’s some brandy over there. Fancy a glass.” I can’t really describe why I love this bit so much, but I have watched it more times than most other movie scenes. Maybe it is the way Jude Law exaggerates his point to the drinks cabinet. Maybe it is the casual toss of his hand on the word ‘fancy.’ Maybe it is his ever-so-slight sneer, as if he is saying: “A glass of brandy! What the fuck!” I have not been able to find a clip of this brilliant moment from the career of Jude Law, but if you fast forward to just before the three minute mark on this link, you will see the line dubbed into Spanish. For me, this is even funnier than the original and probably the best thing I have found on the internet in 2014 or maybe ever. 

0.42.43. The true horror of the first kiss between Diaz and Jude Law has to be seen to be believed. Apparently I may be alone in finding this scene completely cringy, judging by the amount of videos there are on Youtube just of this bit. My favourite is called ‘cameron diez hotkisses’.

0.42.55. “Do you think you could… Would you mind trying that again.” Oh God, I can’t watch.

0.43.17: “Weird, kissing a total stranger.” Oh please get on with it. This is getting painful.

0.43.47. “Maybe if I closed by eyes.” Close them. Do whatever. Fade to black. Fade to black.

0.43.46. Jude Law pushes back Diaz’s hair in the creepiest way possible, before kissing her eye, them her other eye and then her lips. Please, please, please make it stop.

0.44.17. “I’m thinking – we should have sex.” Cut to the next day. Cut to the next day.

0.44.46. “You are definitely unexpected.” At least cut to the post-coital cigarette, for the love of God.

0.45.37. “How do you feel about foreplay.” I’m just glad I’m not watching this with my Mum.

0.45.48. “You are quickly becoming one of the most interesting girls I have ever met,” says Jude Law. Well, thanks for that, Jude Law.

0.46.03: “Look at you,” says Jude Law. “You’re already better than you think.” Remember, this is a Nancy Meyers film. Women can be successful, confident and independent; they can earn big bucks and enjoy sex, but they must always have the approval of a man!

0.46.25. The next morning, Jude Law puts on his glasses. It is another cracking bit of acting and must be seen to be believed.

0.48.48. “Well, like l said,” says Jude Law. “Most Interesting Girl Award.” Most patronizing bastard award, more like! I wish Kathryn Hahn was still in this movie. She was great in Afternoon Delight. 
0.51.11. Another horrible part of the movie also features dancing and involves Kate boogying (and I use that word after some consideration) out of bed to Jet’s Are You Going to Be My Girl. If ever a band is going to age a film indefinitely in the most mediocre way possible it has to be Jet (see also Spiderman 2). As for Kate’s dancing, well I just feel sorry for her kids.

 0.54.01. Out for a drive around the area, Kate finds Calvera lost on the street and takes him home.

0.54.44: “What part of England are you from,” Calvera asks Kate. “Surrey,” says Kate, smugly.

0.55.10. “That was some meet cute” Calvera says and then goes on to explain what a meet cute is. Again, the movie fondles dramatic irony only to come out looking silly. Are we to think that the old man is Kate’s hot love interest? And what about Jack Black? Kate certainly has more chemistry with Calvera. Maybe she'll shack up with the creepy old bloke instead. This is a Nancy Meyers movie. God forbid a woman ends a movie without a man on her arm.

0.59.04. Kate ask Calvera out to dinner, only to find herself in tears again after he has asked one to many questions about why she is so alone!

0.59.23. This is the bit where Calvera explains women and solves all of Kate’s problems. “In the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend,” he says. “You, l can tell, are a leading lady. But for some reason, you're behaving like the best friend.” And of course the movies mirror real life exactly because there are only two sorts of women in the world, aren’t there? Good advice, dick!

0.59.37. Kate seems to have bought it. “I've been going to a therapist for three years. And she's never explained anything to me that well.” Sounds like you’ve been ripped off, mate.

1.01.17. Cut back to Diaz and Jude Law. “From the moment I met you,” says Jude Law, “it has been a adventure.” Yeah, a really boring adventure.

1.04.34. Jude Law and Diaz are now on a date and start opening up to each other. Jude Law is a book editor, coming from a family of book people. His Dad is a writer of historical fiction and his Mum is “an important editor at Random House.” Diaz opens up about the company she owns because “now that l know you were raised by such a strong working mom, l can say it, and maybe you won't be intimidated.” Actually, Jude Law still is a little intimidated. And why? Again, this is a Nancy Meyers movie. This mean that female strength is demonstrated by their earning power but really they just need the love of a good man.

1.04.50. Diaz explains a bit about her past: “My parents broke up when l was 15. I'm an only child, and l… l didn't see it coming. You know, we were really close. We used to call ourselves ''The Three Musketeers.'' Jude Law smiles – perhaps this will become significant later on.

1.05.56. “I cry all the time… more than any women you ever met.” Jude Law admits to be being prone to a good cry (this is code for being sensitive, in case you weren’t sure) and as we know Diaz is unable to cry. They must be the perfect match, right? This movie is so fucking clever!

10.08.58. Jack Black turns up at Kate’s house. Zero chemistry.

1.10.20. Jack may have to put his pulling plans to one side however because Kate has turned Diaz’s LA mansion into a nursing home. She is entertaining Calvera and a couple of other old blokes. Calvera is talking about his late wife. “She had real gumption,” he says. “She was the girl I always wrote.” I guess we’re meant to think that quite a sweet thing to say. Wrong! It is quite creepy! I can only imagine what Calvera’s marriage was like. I imagine him in his office, writing on typewriter Jack Nicolson-style, getting irate with his wife for not conforming to what he has on the page. “Why can’t you be like the women in my head” Creepy bastard.

1.11.18. By the end of the night, Jack Black has made a new friend: “Okay Norman, you are calling me for pinochle.” I wasn’t sure of the reference to the card game and had to look it up. I thought Jack had said pee-nuckle which, according to the Urban dictionary, is the drunken act of trying not to urinate on your hand while trying to pee and keep your balance.

1.11.28. Jack Black: “This was an amazing night." No it wasn’t.

1.12.37. Jack kind of asks Kate out, but not quite. There is zero chemistry. After some awkward cheek kissing, he finally leaves and it is blowing a gale outside. “Don’t blow away,” Kate says, which is what Jack had said to Kate at the start of the movie. Didn’t I say that this movie was so clever!

1.16.37. Back in England, it transpires that Jude Law is actually a widower with two kids, which according to the laws of insipid movies means that he has to be a nice guy after all.

1.17.38. Jude Law does Mr Napkin Head, in which he puts a napkin on his head and his glasses over the top. This is the other best bit of the movie and even includes an inexplicable anti-smoking message, possibly to get past the US censors.

1.19.48. It turns out that Jude Law and his two kids call themselves The Three Musketeers, which is what Diaz and her parents used to call themselves too. This is the sort of bond the marriages are built on. If one of the family units had called themselves The Three Stooges, it never would have worked.

1.21.07. “We never have grown ups here that are girls,” says one of Jude Law’s daughters. In case we are in any doubt, Jude Law is definitely a nice guy. This means that he has two kids, a good job, a dead wife and that he never has sex – EVER! What about that girl he was eye fucking at the start of the movie. I wish Ed Burns was still in this movie. He was great in Saving Private Ryan. 

1.22.19. Small detail: there is a first edition of John Irving’s The Hotel New Hampshire on his bookshelf. It is a novel about incestuous siblings. Does this mean that he may be shagging Kate on the side? Am I reading too much into it?

1.23.19: Jude Law explains his predicament and why he kept the existence of his children secret from Diaz: “It's way too complicated to be who l really am. I'm a full-time dad. I'm a working parent. I'm a mother and a father. I'm a guy who reads parenting books and cookbooks before l go to sleep. l spend my weekends buying tutus. I'm learning to sew. I'm Mr. Napkin Head! I'm on some kind of constant overload and it helps to compartmentalise my life.” This doesn’t convince me. I guess the real reason he kept it secret is because Nancy Meyers wanted to keep the reveal until towards the end of the movie.

1.23.56. “I'm a book editor from London. You're a beautiful movie trailer-maker from L.A.” Do you think this was part of the initial pitch? “OK guys, a book editor from London, England meets a beautiful movie trailer-maker from LA. But get this: she’s on holiday. It’ll never work, right? Guys? Guys, I’m talking here!”

1.25.37. Calvera has had Kate watching a load of old movie to inspire her. “I love Irene Dunne,” she says. “Gumption!” says Calvera. If only all women were all a bit more like women in the movies! I’ll bet Calvera is constantly disappointed with real life.

1.27.09. A montage of Kate trying to get Calvera into shape, where she nearly drowns him in a swimming pool.

1.30.40. One of the worst scenes in the movie involves Kate and Jack in a video store, with Jack doing impressions of famous movie scores, including Gone With the Wind, Chariots of Fire, The Mission and Jaws. Driving Miss Daisy even gets a look in, but this is probably another annoying in-joke because it was done by Hans Zimmer, who also scored The Holiday. Jack Black calls him Hans, as if they’re colleagues. This scene is so unfunny, Kate Winslet finds it hard to act.

1.31.40. Unnecessary Dustin Hoffman cameo.

1.32.34. It turns out that the one off The Rules of Attraction has been cheating on Jack Black. “Why do I always fall for the bad girl?” Dude, seriously. You were the only one not to see this coming. She has probably gone off to get flower fucked by Josh Hartnett or something.

1.33.33. Kate consoles Jack. She can only just about bear to put a hand on his shoulder, in support. Zero chemistry.

1.34.50. Kate opens up to Jack Black about her doomed affair with Jasper and how the emotional pain “can actually ache in places you didn’t know you had inside you.” By this point of the movie, I know exactly what she means.

1.35.08. Oh god, Kate’s off on one again.

1.35.30. She’s probably going to start crying again.

1.35.39. “And little pieces of your soul will finally come back.” She’s completely lost it now!

1.38.53. Another musical interlude and another horrible part of the movieJack has written a tune for Calvera.

1.39.16. He has also written a tune for Kate, using “only the good notes.” It is bland, insipid and cringe-worthy, so probably a fitting tribute. Kate simpers.

1.39.53. And now they’re both singing. Kate is clearly tone deaf.

1.42.20. Jude Law: “You’re seriously the most depressing girl I have ever met.” Stop calling her a girl! And do Mr Napkin-Head again.

1.43.17. Jude Law: “My package, perhaps, in the light of day is not all that wonderful.” OK, I’m a child, but this is the funniest line in the whole movie.

1.44.58. Kate meets Jack in a restaurant and tells him that Calvera still had her on a strict diet of all movies. “Every movie he has told me to see has this powerhouse woman in it,” Kate says. “Perhaps he’s trying to tell you something,” says Jack. I know exactly what he is trying to tell her! He’s trying to get Kate to behave like one of his characters again. She has some all the way over from the UK, only to spend her time watching old films. She could have stayed in Surrey for that, plus she wouldn’t have had Jack Black sex pesting around her.

1.47.00. Kate is left in the restaurant alone. Looks like she might start crying again.

1.52.30. This is the scene where dastardly Jasper gate crashes Kate’s lovely holiday in search of a saucy post-Christmas weekend in LA even though he is still getting married and Kate finally tells him to bugger off. “I’ve got my life to start living,” she says, but given we are still in a Nancy Meyers movie this doesn’t mean that she can move on man-free. Oh no, she still has to have a man. Calvera or Jack Black; it has to be one of them!

1.53.08. The first thing that Kate does in her new lease of life is take an old bloke to an awards ceremony. It’s hardly Thelma and Louise!

1.54.04. Kate takes Calvera’s creepy corsage. She likes it. “I like corny,” she says. “I’m looking for corny in my life.” “That’s a nice line,” Calvera says. “It’s all those movies,” she says. The brainwashing is complete. Ugh! It is like he is writing her! Calvera is like some strange puppeteer, collecting young people whom he can train into becoming relics of a Hollywood screwball comedy past. Later, Kate will be committed after being plagued by the delusion that she is living in His Girl Friday.

1.57.31. Kate and Jack Black meet at the awards chemistry and share a chaste, passionless kiss. Kate simpers beyond belief and Jack pumps his fist, like an eight year old who has just won a bet with a friend on whose fart smells the worst.

2.00.00. Two hours! Christ, this is a long film! Diaz hasn’t even cried yet.

2.00.12. Oh, there she goes. I didn’t see that coming.

2.01.13. Remember that triumphant music at the start that sounded like someone running through fields. Well, Diaz is now running through fields back to find Jude Law. It must be love.

2.02.05. After nearly a full minute of triumphant running through fields, Diaz gets back to Kate’s house to find Jude Law crying his eyes out. He said he was a weeper, didn’t he!

2.03.12. We suddenly cut to a party at Jude Law’s house where all the characters (apart from Calvera) get together for a New Years Eve party. I hope they don’t start dancing.

2.03.36. Ooooh shit. Kate has just boogied into the living room. Stop boogying about!

2.03.47. Aaagh. Jude Law and Diaz have also boogied into the living room. Guys, you look like real dicks.

2.04.14. And they’re all dancing. It's horrible. In better hands, there is something Shakespearian in bringing the full cast together for a dance at the end of the movie. This is not that movie. Thanks God it’s over, though I know I’ll be back for another viewing next year.

You should probably know that I have been questioning myself while writing this blog post. How the hell have I got to nearly 5000 words, just on The Holiday. Well, at least I’m not the guy who has edited a Youtube video of the ‘best bits’ of The Holiday, backed by a song from a band called Lifehouse! What a knob!


















































Thursday 23 October 2014

My Running Route 2



A couple of weeks ago I was staying in the Netherlands for work. While away, I managed a run through the shopping precinct in Tilburg and three around the canals of the Jordaan near where I was staying in Amsterdam...


I decide to re-walk one of the Amsterdam routes and stick to the brief of noticing things that interest me.


There are a few things I notice but choose not to photograph too often. Firstly bikes because they are everywhere. Secondly, knick-knacks in flat windows because they are creepy. And thirdly shop windows because I always see myself in the reflection.


There is something a little disturbing about a man wandering around with a camera looking into windows. I am the sort of person who cannot help but notice people inside their houses as I pass them in the street, mainly because I am curious. So gentrified, self-conscious and designed is the Jordaan that I often confuse Dutch living rooms with shops or offices. I walk past rooms that seem to spill into the street and peer in to see the people within living their gentrified, self-conscious and designed lives. I wonder whether these people may like others to marvel at their perfect kitchens and immaculate furniture. I cannot take their photographs though. There may be laws against it.


I turn onto Lindengracht, approaching the fruit and vegetable market and ask the proprietor if I can take her photograph. She is happy for me to do so and I am pleased that she is happy. I have not yet decided on what the point of my walk is and what the subject of my blog post should be. 


By the time I get as far as Café Thiyssen I am mired in an ethical dilemma. I take photos of a man on the corner, minding his own business and having a coffee. I take some photos using my zoom and some from a distance. The man reads his paper. What am I doing? I guess I am trying to capture something of undisturbed Amsterdam life, but what right do I have without the permission of my subject, particularly if I am sharing the photos online.


I have not worked through this dilemma by the time I reach the Lekkeresluis bridge and take photographs of some people conversing outside of Café Papeneiland. I snap three photos but am unhappy with all of them. They don’t look right. I need to relax. I am guilty of having the idea of what I am looking for before I have found it. No more taking photos of strangers without their permission, I tell myself.


At the top of Noordermarkt, I find a happy compromise and snap a street scene that captures a few people within it but dispenses of the creepy close ups. I pop into CiTea on Prinsengracht (t
he cafes and pubs of Amsterdam love a mezzanine level) and take a photo of the proprietor and his customer with their permission. 



“You from the New York Times,” the customer asks me.

“No.”

“Oh, English. The Guardian, maybe?”

“No.”

“Well, why the fuck you want our photo then?”

It’s a good question. I tell him about the blog and about how I am re-walking my running routes. He does not look convinced.

“Enjoy Amsterdam!” he says. I smile and leave. I am a tourist and he knows it! Better that than a business traveller, perhaps!


Part of me feels I should maybe have a little card that I can give to people that tells them about the blog. Part of me feels that I don't need to have a clear plan in mind and should just follow my instincts. After all, I’m only writing this for a giggle.


I take some photos of a group of youths smoking by the side of a canal. I am a long way away and I am pushing my zoom to its edge. I still feel unhappy with the photos and this is possibly because I am uncomfortable playing the paparazzo. No more taking photos of strangers without their permission, I tell myself again.


At ‘t Goede Soet I take a photograph of the owner and her incredible selection of chocolates. She is happy for me to do so and gives me a card.


I ask a man with a fetching beard if he would mind me taking his photo outside his shop of trendy garments. He is happy for me to take a photo of the shop but he will not appear in the photo. The shop front is not that interesting but the fetching beard is. We reach an impasse and I slope off.


I ask myself again: what am I doing? Am I only interested in shops? I hoped that through the walk I would capture something of the environment and of Amsterdam life, but I have only managed a handful of tourist snaps and a selection of hyperlinks. I am not doing very well.  It is hard to see Amsterdam through anything but a tourist’s eye.


Crossing a bridge at Leleigracht, I discover a legitimate and guilt-free way of introducing strangers into my photographs. Taking photos of people with their permission feels tame and without feels unethical. But what about those who enter your photo without permission? Surely those lads are fair game?

 




This well dressed man with a green bag walks into three of my photos.


He seems to be going my direction at first, but after a while I realise I am following him, willing him to enter my fourth photo. At the point I take a hold of myself. I snap five photos looking down Eerste Egelantiersdwarsstraat and I am invisible to the chatting couple approaching. This is brilliant.







(I live in a city filled with tourists and students. When I first moved to Oxford, I was very respectful of those taking photos. On my way into town, I would dance up the High Street like Michael Jackson in the Billie Jean video, dodging the tourists taking photos of everything they could see from Magdalen up to Carfax. I soon stopped caring about the photos I ruined and nowadays make my way up the High Street more like Max Cady leaving prison. I am not alone. Most people who live in a tourist town would be able to find themselves in holiday snaps from around the world. One could easily find pieces of the ‘real life’ of a town in the photos that everyone else is taking. For every ruined tourist photo there is a golden nugget.)


My last few photos are those of a tourist, but that is fine because it is what I am. I am unsatisfied by my walk and with my photos. Tourists take photos to remember rather than to understand. Maybe I should have taken more photos of the canals. Maybe I should have stopped for a coffee and a piece of apfelkuchen. I am a long way from home.