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Saturday, June 30, 2007

Car chase fix: Ronin

Car chase scenes in films are a convergence of two major passions of mine. The point at which cars meet films can quite often be the major set-piece, the key tension builder in the story arc and - in most cases - the most expensive element of the production budget.

The cars, the location, the speeds, the crashes, the death-defying choreography, the camera angles, the explosions, the power slides and the sound of engines red-lining to the point where you think the pistons will shoot through the bonnet. All of these elements need to be woven together like the different sections of an orchestra, slowly building in intensity and tension until that final crescendo/release at the end.

When I posted about the car chase in 'Bullitt' a few months back, I possibly gave away my two other favourites - Vanishing Point and Mad Max - a little too early, but the car chase has a rich history in film and it is a deep vein for this blog to plunder.

In this first installment of the Hairybones 'Car Chase Fix' series, I thought I'd offer up a contemporary classic - Ronin. Director John Frankenheimer has serious car chase credentials having been a racing driver himself as well as being director of the 1966 classic 'Grand Prix'. John spoils the viewer with several car chase scenes in this film. One of which features the classic 6.9 litre Mercedes 450 SL and an Audi A8. As much as I love watching these two cars battling it out against the bad guys' Renaults and Citroens, I simply can't go past the final (and lengthy) chase in Paris. It's some of the best stunt driving you'll ever see at Blues Brothers proportions (they reputedly used 150 stunt drivers for this scene). It features a Beemer 5 Series pitched against De Niro in a Renault 406 and is a modern classic with incredible head-on traffic stunt driving action.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Asobi Seksu

Barrington and I went to see the Editors a few weeks back at the Melkweg here in Amsterdam. Always ones to check the support act, we arrived early and were hit by a wall of melodic feedback from the moment we entered the main room. We looked up on stage to find that most of the noise was coming from not only a frantic lead guitar (James Hanna), but also a diminutive Japanese lead singer (Yuki Chikudate) bashing away at her synth while seductively cooing into her microphone in a mixture of Japanese and English. We lit up a spliff and sipped on our beers and let Asobi Seksu (Japanese for Sex Play) take us into their ethereal dreamscape daubed across a shoegazer canvas. It is a truly beautiful noise.

It was the first gig of their first European tour as they do the rounds to promote their excellent album 'Citrus'. Full disclosure - I am an avid shoegazer fan. But Asobi Seksu and their new album amount to more to more than just the shoegazer tag. Sure there is My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive references but there's some Stone Roses and Sonic Youth in there to spice it up - and Yuki's dreamy vocals really make their offering something else entirely. James Hanna's axe work is also incredible (check the seriously intense Red Sea for unadulterated guitar abuse).

Below is the clip to their single 'Thursday' directed by So Yong Kim & Bradley Rust Gray. Buy their album or if you can - see them live.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Antenna

My favourite design blog Drone Corp died some time back and left something of a void on my daily trawl.

So you can only imagine my excitement when they sent me some spam alerting me to its resurrection in the form of The Antenna.

It's a whole lotta design goodness

Bat For Lashes "What's a girl to do"

Check this one take wonder by Dougal Wilson for some serious Donny Darko spookiness. Dougal just keeps rolling out the genius. Whether it's commercials or video clips he's not only consistent, but oh so versatile.

I love this clip, I love this director, I love this sound and I love this girl.

There's a lot to love

Back online

After a hiatus of a few months due to stupid working hours, Hairybones is back online.

Oh and the site I shamelessly promoted below just won a Bronze Cyberlion at Cannes...so everyone is pretty stoked