DullDullDull

 

So, tomorrow night is the Brit Awards. I almost forgot. Which isn’t good. I’m a music journalist after all. If I don’t care, and I’m paid to, who the hell will? Still, it’s hardly surprising that The Brits 2009 is a contender for the most irrelevant two hours on television. Just look at the nominations for Best Male Solo Artist.

Ian Brown – with the best will in the world, love him, Best Male? Hardly George Michael is he?

James Morrison – music’s answer to woodchip.

Paul Weller – how long can you trade on your backcat? Next they’ll be nominating Sir Two Thumbs Up McCartney for Best New Artist.

Streets – Mike Skinner must surely be the only viable winner, and even then, probably belongs in another category.

Will Young – see Ian Brown.

Compare that to the best International Male category – Beck, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Neil Diamond, Seasick Steve – and British music doesn’t exactly look like a hot bed of creativity, glamour or even memorable music.

With Duffy, Adele and Coldplay confirming 2008 as being one of the least exciting years for music in living memory, it’s no wonder the music industry is tanking. The always overblown U2 are opening the show, the ever stylish Pet Shop Boys are closing, but there’s a good hour and a half in the middle there that won’t have anyone on the edge of their seat.

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HipsterFromTheBookStore

Une Fille Comme Les Autres from Jalouse blog on Vimeo.

Fantastic viral ad for French fashion mag, Jalouse. Bam, hipster from the book store.

It’sNotWhatYouGotIt’sWhatYouDoWithIt

Tony Schwartz: The Myths of the Overworked Creative from 99% on Vimeo.

Great talk from ‘renowned media guru’ Tony Schwartz (no, me neither) about how it’s not how much time you have, but what you do with it that counts. The obvious is stated repeatedly – it’s not multitasking, it’s spreading yourself too thin; giving your full attention to one thing results in better work than giving a little bit to everything; email is evil, but addictive; working instead of sleeping will not make you more productive – but all of it is worth hearing again, especially Tony’s suggestion that our ability to work follows the same 90 minute cycle format as our sleep. Basically, everything he said explained my current struggle to get my head into anything like a creative space, so in future I’ll be sleeping more and turning the internet off.

SoundOf2012Cont.

So, having complained that there are in fact bugger all ‘ones to watch 2012′, I have been pointed in the direction of Red Kite. They release first single Montreal as a very limited edition on Dec 5, and if it’s anything to go by, a large part of 2012 might well be theirs.

VideoGames


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KillsAndKills


Current favourite song, Breaker by Low. Can’t stop playing it. Had it on constant loop for hours. Be warned though, the video will put you off cake forever.

LivingForTheCity


Trailer for Gary Hustwit’s new film, Urbanized. The Barbican have a week of screenings, 16-23 December 2011, tickets and info here. Big fan of Gary’s work and this looks amazing. Can’t wait.

BarbicanBeauty

Great short from the The Avant/Garde Diaries series, with blogger Peter Henderson talking about The Barbican, one of my favourite places in London.

CanIGetAJetPackWithThat

Excellent short film about the internet and how we’re all going to be nodes on a big super connected network of exciting shit in the future. Can’t wait. Can I get a jetpack with that.

TheBirds

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Amazing video of a Murumuration, which apparently is what starlings are when they get together.

SaulBassBook

Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design from Laurence King Publishing on Vimeo.

Short film about the new Saul Bass book from Laurence King Press. You don’t get to see much of the book, but what you do see looks amazing, as do the spreads from it at the bottom of the info page.

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