Scientific Break Through

Stop Press! This morning it suddenly came to my attention that a rare, genius of a man has managed to bend and possibly break the laws of physics. Unbeknownst to many, he has created a device that allows him to travel through time. Unfortunately he seems to have decided that rather than using this huge scientific achievement to help humanity to reach a better existence and reverse its past mistakes, he is going to use it to peddle bland 2003 based rap music to us.

I just finished watching the video for Flo Ridas apparently number one song. Regardless of the paper thin wood that makes up the bottom of the originality barrel he has been scraping, my main problem with the whole affair are what he is visually presenting to us. The only thing that I can think of that would be more plain and pointless than the video would be if the company that makes Smiths Salt and Shake crisps decided to make a spin off snack sans the vital condiment, called Smiths Just Shake. Plus, what is he wearing? Big jeans and gaudily logoed t-shirts are a hip hop cliche regularly on show in this type of thing, but he looks like he's been dressed at Wellesbourne Market. Plus he's wearing a leather Gilet. I'm going to stop there, that is all that needs to be said.

Drawing

Nicole asked me if I could do some simple, quirky drawings for a project shes working on at the moment, and that they had to be New York themed. So I tried to draw the most unadulterated New York image I could think up. Ill give a print (not of this monstrosity) to the first person who can work out what it is depicting. Needless to say, she decided that my drawings wont be running in Topshop's inhouse magazine.

This is Simon, who likes to do these poses whilst I do test shots for lighting. I think its like some kind of brilliant Happy Mondays baggy dance, like something Bez might do at the start of a gig. I never really notice until I get home and have a look at my raw files.

Lauren

pic of my little sister at campion hills

Twilight: True Blood before its balls dropped.

I also got round to watching Twilight this weekend, a disaffected teen highschool vampire emo love story (phew). Having never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I can't state for a fact that all these themes have been covered already, but i'd be willing to bet a high collared wool coat and a set of pale but interesting good looks on it.

Visually its quite nice, all misty and sombre, and the styling tries to subvert the usual sartorial choices of modern vampire/teen films, but it never quite manages to tear itself away from that ubiquitous U.S look. The producers probably think the actors are all dressed like a dreamy version of Joy Division, but in fact they look more like My Chemical Romance doing a Gap Advert.

You could write the plot out on the back of a Fall Out Boy album before the film has even started, and rather than examining any of the few interesting ideas it throws up, it prefers to persist with dull flatulent 'girl in danger' plotlines.

The film is essentially a neutered version of True Blood, a series with gore, violence, lots of sex and style, and the pop sensibilities to make it fun. Like Twilight it is based on a popular modern vampire novel, except its set in the deep south, in a world where Vampires have 'come out of the closet' and live side by side with humans. It has the courage to explore ideas, never takes itself too seriously, and while it can sometimes get a bit schmaltzy, its well worth a watch. It also has the best title sequence ever - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z64wSWfoDQ8

The Fall

Do you remember watching the trailers for House of Flying Daggers, and Hero, and thinking "that looks amazing", and then realising that they were, in fact, absolute dogshit?

Well last night I watched a film that I would probably consider the joint most beautiful film I have ever watched, and it is genuinely entertaining and original, without ever taking itself too seriously, charges that certainly cant be leveled at the aforementioned. Its called The Fall, and is directed by Tarsem Singh, who was responsible for the Cell, and recently worked on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I'm not sure if its been out in Britain at the cinema, or even on DVD yet, I have never seen any trailers or promo for it before, but IMDB has it down as being out in 2006.

The intro scene is incredible, resembling the photography of O.Winston Link, and things just get more visually lavish from there. It does (very occasionally) look like a nineties building society advert, but in a good way. I won't bang on about the story too much, its nothing that will blow your mind, but it cracks along at a pace, and there are some really nice naturalistic bits of acting from the films leads, Lee Pace and the young Catinca Untaru. Overall, the film was extremely entertaining, and if you like the films of Wes Anderson, then this will be right up your alley.

New Adventures

New Adventures are a London based band I shot for a week or so ago. They needed some images for new promotional material, and wanted a look that fitted the faded grandeur of their sound. The shots below were taken in Annies Bar in Kentish town, and the second part of the shoot (which ill be featuring on my main site) were shot at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush. For those shots the band donned a dorian gray/country gent type look, and we arranged for a dog to be bought to the shoot to create a pack of hounds lounging at the bands feet.