This is a great gift: to be able so to tell the bare truth that it seems a magnificent lie.

[alexsarll]

I find Scott Walker talking about the thinking behind his recent albums considerably more rewarding than the albums themselves. But mainly I find myself thinking, why do I still not own Nite Flights?

There is much in this world that, while undoubtedly unpleasant, is not really worthy of note or comment. For instance, one can no more be surprised that reliably loathsome Mail Grand Inquisitor Paul Dacre is ranting about the BBC "destroying media plurality in Britain and in its place imposing a liberal, leftish, mono culture that is destroying free and open debate in Britain" [free registration required] than one can be shocked to find Satanic Verses ban enthusiast and general errand-boy of the Caliphate Keith Vaz MP proposing laws against cheap booze. When Dacre says of the Max Mosley trial that "most people would consider such activities to be perverted, depraved, the very abrogation of civilised behaviour of which the law is supposed to be the safeguard. Not Justice Eady. To him such behaviour was merely "unconventional"...But what is most worrying about Justice Eady's decisions is that he is ruling that - when it comes to morality - the law in Britain is now effectively neutral, which is why I accuse him, in his judgments, of being 'amoral'" - well, one hardly expects Dacre to have the wit to recognise the distinction between crime and sin, which even a loon like Kant could spot. He's the Kommandant of the Mail, of course such niceties are beyond him.
But here's the first noteworthy bit - why is this poison being hosted on the Guardian's website? Has their moral confusion really gone that far?
And even more so, consider this passage:
"The judge found for Max Mosley because he had not engaged in a "sick Nazi orgy" as the News of the World contested, though for the life of me that seems an almost surreally pedantic logic as some of the participants were dressed in military-style uniform."
Paul Dacre appears to be saying that, as near as makes no difference, all members of any military are Nazis. I've heard that line from witless anarcho-syndicalists, but from the editor of the Mail? In the week of Remembrance Day? If ever there were something which merited national outrage, a campaign of complaints by people who've not heard the whole story and shamed resignation, I think this would be it.
On the plus side - hey, at least the old 'Hurrah For The Blackshirts' Mail finally seems to have concluded that Nazis are a bad thing.

After watching Pineapple Express, Step Brothers and Tropic Thunder on Sunday afternoon, I was musing on how glad I was of the self-indulgent state of modern American comedy, where they're increasingly happy to sideline the sappy romance elements and just make, y'know, FUNNY FILMS. My mistake was then to attempt to watch Bad Lieutenant, which was every bit as silly while being convinced that I IS SERIOUS CINEMA. Did people really get excited about this? It wasn't even gruelling, just bad pantomime.

Comments

[augstone.livejournal.com]

same here. saw a tv special with him last year and came away looking for 'nite flights' again, tho it's always so expensive.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Was that the 30 Century Man documentary? That bafflingly left half the best interviewees for the DVD extras, in favour of the more famous but less relevant types. Well, I say 'bafflingly', having just explained exactly what they were thinking.

[augstone.livejournal.com]

heh heh.

yes, i believe it was.

[cappuccino-kid.livejournal.com]

I can burn copies if anyone wants. It's essential a really brilliant EP with some not so good stuff after. Tracks 1-4 written by Scott, 5 & 6 Gary, 7-10 John- the other two ended up being plumbers or something but interestingly their songs are also in that late-Scott style.

[augstone.livejournal.com]

excellent. i would love a copy, thanks.

didn't they end up being electricians? ; )

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Or secret policemen.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

That would be very kind of you, thank you.

[electrodeserter.livejournal.com]

I was going to offer this service, until I realised this was posted two weeks ago.

The Scott songs are like the ideal bridge between Scott 4 and Climate of Hunter, to the point where you can almost see how we got from the former to the latter, and almost but not completely helping erase the memory of him doing a version of Maria Bethania in a weird patois accent and going "nyow nyow zow zwow nyyooow zing zwowwww wow" over the end of it.

The rest... I sometimes listen to "Den Haague".

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Still, I'm quite flattered to find people rather than spambots commenting on entries from that long ago.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

This is very much true. How it compares to the 'bromance' in other Apatow works I cannot say, for this is the first one I saw.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

That is between you, your conscience and your booze. But you'll probably get more sympathy on LJ, and more laughts on SB.

Dates are awful.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Hahaha those are even gay groceries.

Also TBH I am much more inclined to judge people who think they are writing SERIOUS ENGLISH but are getting it wrong than people who are clearly writing in ntrntspk in the first place.

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

There are TWO bromances, each one sooo sweet and very Apatow like. I absolutely loved Pineapple Express :D

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Not enough to watch it again, though!

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

See, I would, because I fancy Seth Rogan (you're shocked, I know). I wouldn't watch Step Brothers again, unless it was to see the first half-or-so I missed.

I wanna watch Superbad now. Best.Bromance.Ever. Except Glynnis still has my dvd.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I am still not totally grasping this 'bromance' category tbh. Does it include, say, the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost relationship in everything they've done together?

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

oh, I don't know if there is an 'official' definition, but anything where two men have a loving friendship, so yeah, Tim and Mike, and their characters in Shaun/Hot Fuzz count to me.

I would quote more of Superbad, one particular scene but I think you said you hadn't seen it and I don't want to spoiler you. Ugh, I've folded and started using that word as a verb. Fail.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

TBH I'd be more worried about the use of the standalone 'fail'. ;p

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

I folded to that internet-ism a long time ago. Plus it gives me the excuse to use this hilarious icon.

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

I have also never bought a copy of Nite Flights, though I've seen copies for about £5, but only because I already have the four tracks Scott did (several times over). They are most excellent.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I am thinking to myself, 'but the other two did good tracks as well!' - and then struggling to think of examples.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Hopefully Zack & Mimi which opens this Friday will continue the successful genre.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Kevin Smith's a weird one, though - he was John the Baptist to the whole thing with Mallrats, but then he got caught up in Issues a bit, and in Jersey Girl produced a terrible example of a com derailed by rom.