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Music & Musicals · Reviews
At last, a Cool British Film: 24 Hour Party People
Julian Upton
Dogme meets the Manchester music scene in this well-wrought biopic
British cinema has moved on in the last decade – its heritage dramas now tend to have a modernistic twist, its dour regional stories are peppered with personal triumph, and it has embraced the notion that popular films can be a little dangerous without feeling guilty about worthiness. But a lot of British movies remain steeped in the principles of "quality TV drama": there is a tacit understanding that everything can fall back on an appreciative audience of middlebrow TV supporters if things go tits up at the box office.
Even Trainspotting, an overrated film but one that nevertheless breathed new life into the notion of the British youth flick, was anchored to a middle-class, issue-aware, vegetarian sensibility. Had it not been the domestic success it became, there was always a place for it as a "hard-hitting" and "uncompromising" drama on Channel 4 – the liberal "minority" TV broadcaster that occasionally shows ground-breaking film and drama to a smallish audience of intellectuals, enabling them to feel mightily pleased with themselves for sticking with such difficult subjects. And, deep down, Trainspotting took itself too seriously to really shock those it could have shocked.
On the flip side, those British films that have tried to throw caution to the wind, alienate the middlebrow, and infuse a vulgarian ethos into the proceedings (Kevin and Perry Go Large, 2000, Ali G Indahouse, 2002, and Twin Town,1997) have largely succumbed to empty juvenilia. Either that, or they are generally too self-conscious to succeed as exploitation, or too British to be truly shocking.
Throughout this time, the one British director worth keeping an eye on was Michael Winterbottom. His own "heritage" drama, Jude (1996), was far too graphic and downbeat to be confused with the standard Merchant-Ivory fare. Butterfly Kiss (1995) stood alone as a British road movie, charting as it did an intensely deviant female friendship within an almost Ballardian world of bleak intersections and roadside cafés. And Wonderland (1999) was a small, emotionally intensive, London-based antithesis to the geo-personal tapestries of Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson. Cleverly shot on digital video, it was a restless soap opera of drifting lives and conflicting agendas.
In his latest film, 24 Hour Party People (2002), Winterbottom, with his frequent screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, has managed to fuse his fondness for experimentation, salaciousness, and unpredictability in a self-reflexive seriocomic biopic that hangs on the considerable talent of a TV-bred mimic. The result is something of a breakthrough film for British cinema.
24 Hour Party People mythologizes the story of the Manchester music scene, 1976–92, from the perspective of the delicately pretentious Tony Wilson, played by Steve Coogan. Wilson in real life is an irrepressible character, a slightly more user-friendly Malcolm McLaren, and he's been crying out for some sort of biopic treatment for years. As the owner of Factory records and the legendary Manchester nightclub the Hacienda, he discovered bands such as Joy Division, The Stone Rose, and The Happy Mondays and launched them to success and the trappings that came with it – i.e., unmanageable cash flows, drug addiction, bankruptcy, and, in some cases, death. Almost perversely, throughout these years, Wilson bankrolled his musical exploits by working as a regional TV presenter – anchoring cornball features on local issues with the required journalistic insincerity. It is a job he retains to this day. To anyone born and brought up in the northwest of England, Wilson is both dubiously enigmatic and utterly ridiculous.
The genius of 24 Hour Party People is that it colludes with this analysis, and evokes the absurd juxtaposition of Wilson the man, Wilson the presenter, and Wilson the music mogul in every frame. By having Coogan – as Wilson – as our guide, speaking directly to camera with the same cheesiness with which he would coordinate a minor TV item on pig farming or garden gnomes, the film can make corny references to its own artistic motivations without breaking the flow of the narrative or alienating audiences with more conventional tastes. Although it is arguable that Mike Myers did this years ago with Wayne's World, that film is squarely junk food modernism; its artistic targets are really on a par with those of Caddyshack. 24 Hour Party People is, by contrast, a film for adults, and its low comedy is filtered through self-consciously pretentious Brechtian ambitions, which the film transcends by openly (and mockingly) referring to them.
The authentic yet displaced and frenetic style of the film is symptomatic of Winterbottom's continued drive for innovation. Again using digital video, the film's cheaply grainy visuals almost hides a remarkable attention to detail – such is his desire to camouflage the conventions of filmmaking and establish a subversive language more in keeping with the nature of the piece. And his carefully controlled blending of unpolished, Dogme95 principles (the film is shot by Robby Muller) with a deceptively high degree of stylization is inspired. It is the near-mainstream establishment of a new, liberating form of filmmaking: cheap guerrilla techniques that free up the potential for bravura set-pieces. As such, it both pays tribute to the verité rawness of the rock documentary and serves the pyrotechnical ambitions of a vivid imagination. Surely stylized DV is the future for no-budget filmmakers with a frustrated visual flair.
But the film belongs to Steve Coogan as much as it does to Winterbottom. Coogan is a versatile comic actor who, thus far, has excelled on television with a small repertory of parochial characters that are both strikingly well observed and outlandishly larger than life (inane TV presenter Alan Partridge and bleach blond thug Paul Calfe.) And he is singularly ambitious. Branching out into TV and film production, his crack at a mainstream comedy film last year (The Parole Officer) was a patchy affair, but it almost achieved its objectives in recreating an Ealing film for the masses that relied on gentle whimsy (well, a modern interpretation of that) rather than easy targets and TV conventions for its laughs. Most significantly, perhaps, it was conspicuously regional, with an abundance of northwest England locations and a strong thread of local comedy. (Whether Coogan's long-term plan is to be seen as a kind of comic ambassador for Manchester, as Woody Allen is for New York, remains to be seen, but his initial attempts are to be applauded.) The artistic leap from The Parole Officer to 24 Hour Party People, which Coogan's company also developed, is an admittedly self-conscious one – the new film is a deliberate stab at an "artier" project, something Coogan's company hopes to return to in between mainstream successes – but it is still an unexpectedly progressive move. (And, ironically, 24 Hour … is the much more satisfying film, from any perspective.)
More significantly, for those who know or who have seen Wilson on TV, Coogan is note-perfect. It's a performance of subtle brilliance that compares with Peter Sellers at his most inspired. Each nuance of Wilson's pretentiousness, delicate self-delusion, and misguided philanthropy is captured by Coogan and skillfully lampooned, but he stops short of complete parody. Consequently, we retain some sympathy for the character, something not too many people seem to have for Wilson in real life.
But much of what makes 24 Hour Party People brilliant will also hold it back. Like a lot of Coogan's (and Winterbottom's) work, its defiantly regional stance may prevent it traveling successfully to London, let alone the U.S. And for those people who have never heard of, let alone seen, Tony Wilson, the central performance may be somewhat perplexing. But the Dogme feel does give it a bleakly northern European quality, and its form and focus mark it as a contemporary of some of the more audacious material to have emerged from Denmark, Norway, France, and Austria in recent years.
And there's always the music to sell it. Joy Division (later New Order) and The Happy Mondays were phenomenally successful bands in the UK and Europe, and their music legacy is an instant pre-sell for the film. However, to give 24 Hour Party People its due, it doesn't fall back on reconstructing band performances in the way a conventional rock biopic would. Rather, there is a jarring, stolen effect to the recreations of the sets. And although Wilson says halfway into the film that "it's not about me, it's about the music," we all know full well that he is lying.
The film also houses a streak of rebellion that has not been properly harnessed in Britain since the handful of punk movies in the '70s. When unhinged Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder is introduced in the second act, pre-fame and fortune, he and his brother are cheerfully feeding rat-poisoned bread to 3,000 pigeons from the roof of a Manchester office block, before watching them drop from the sky like feathered rocks and booting them around like footballs. Similarly, as Joy Division singer Ian Curtis thrashes around semi-consciously in another of his epileptic fits, he is frisked for cigarettes by fellow band member Peter Hook. It's not the sort of behaviour that goes down well with broccoli-munching audiences from posh parts of London, but here Winterbottom seems to be celebrating it. It's the kind of psychopathic mischief that makes singers like Shaun Ryder tick, and it's the kind of un-PC sensibility that gives the film the strength of its convictions.
24 Hour Party People is ultimately a breath of fresh pollution for British cinema. It cocks a snoop at the recent, contrived history of "cool Britannia," and bucks the trend of manufacturing cult appeal by sewing its own seam of intellectual credibility, comic mischief, and stylistic innovation. Winterbottom and Coogan are talents to watch. Each has a blunt commitment to a regional perspective that is shaped by a sophisticated modernism. Whether they work together again or not, there should be great films to come.
— Julian Upton
Julian Upton is the author of Fallen Stars (Critical Vision). He is based in the UK.
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Its peanuts, honey & salt. NO hydrogenated oils, No trans fats, and gluten free. I was making my own peanut butter after studying the labels of other popular peanut butters. My amazing friend who cooks and is also a corporate honcho… makes her own peanut butter. My boys went crazy for hers and it was just salted peanuts crushed and creamed into a perfect butter. I enjoy cooking, but my house went thru that peanut butter so fast it made me crazy. Then I found this Parker's brand. I love the addition of honey (although you can buy it without) and I also love crunchy but creamy is also available. I keep the Honey Creamy and Crunchy in my fridge at all times. Really you need to try this brand, it is worth every penny.
This product has been around since the late 1800's. When I eat this I feel like I'm back in time eating porridge from Little House on the Prairie. It's a 100% whole grain cereal and it makes the perfect breakfast. I usually serve with a teaspoon of maple syrup and blueberries. When I know I have a big day ahead and may not stop for lunch this is the breakfast that works for me. I don't feel full but it keeps you going throughout the day. Not that I am recommending skipping lunch! It's imported from Ireland… so perfect for St. Patrick's Day!
Container gardens are great accents to your home. Using pots of varying sizes and colors accenting stairs, walks and front porches can be used as instant landscaping. Spring is on the way so I can't wait to get started with cool spring bulbs, perennials, and accent greens. The container in the picture is filled with ever blooming hydrangea, a variety of ferns and lobelia. This pot can be planted in the spring and will last throughout the season in a mixed sun shade environment.
This is a dessert my mom made whenever she had a dinner party. It brings back memories of wonderful leftovers (hopefully) after all guests departed. This is where my love of any dessert with a graham cracker crust started. It is rich but still light… the perfect ending for a special evening.
• Mix graham crackers and melted butter and line the bottom of a square pan with ½ of the mixture. Save the other ½ for later.
• Mix the sugar, corn starch, and water together and cook over medium heat until thick.
• Take off heat and let cool.
• Once cooled down, add 1 cup of crushed pineapple.
• Beat the 3 egg whites, then add the pineapple mixture.
• Pour mixture into graham cracker crust. Top with the rest of the graham cracker mixture.
• Whip 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and spread on top.
Bragg Organic Apple Cider… I think it's the best cider vinegar around.
This is a staple in my pantry along with other wonderful vinegars. I think we tend to concentrate on balsamic, champagne, red wine vinegar and all the flavors, but this vinegar is amazing! I love to have a mix ready in my fridge… ¼ cider vinegar, ¼ canola, ¼ olive oil, minced garlic clove, teaspoon of Dijon mustard mix with an emulsion blender or whisk (of course a dash of kosher salt & pepper). This is the perfect marinade or dressing for slaw, a fruit salad, pork tenderloin, or any veggie. I love to revisit the classic staples we may all know but at times forget to use. Let me know what you think.
Food is my passion. My best memories are always centered around a table filled with family and friends enjoying a good meal and great times. I have been a "sous" chef for my grandma, my mother, as well as my dad, and sister. I have a wonderful group of friends who are amazing cooks that inspire me to try new things and venture out of my comfort zone. I have recently started to cook for a client weekly and also for special dinner parties. Cooking healthy and new interesting dishes on a weekly basis is what brought me to the conclusion I need to keep a diary, a book… a list at least of my best successes in the kitchen. Sometimes I am using my go to cookbooks or my favorite cooking magazines. I am usually changing things up or combining a couple of recipes that seem to suit my client. Other times I am lucky to have some family recipes and friends who love to share their food ideas. My goal is to be a source of information including easy recipes, mostly healthy with the exception of some decadent desserts, and a source for new products that make cooking a meal easier and tastier. Feasts should be what we all strive for in a meal whether it is simple or more complex… every meal should be special. Flowers are just that… I am an avid container gardener and love making interesting arrangements for my home and clients. So "Feast & Flowers" it is!
Since it is spring… I think of Lamb. What can I say, I'm Armenian, so cooking with lamb is like cooking with beef for most people. I grew up eating leg of lamb, shish kabob, lamb chops, lamb burgers, stuffed peppers with lamb, a lamb soup, and I could go on and on. Today my family requested stuffed peppers. I love to pick a medley of colored peppers red, yellow, orange, and green. I take my ground lamb and mix with the ingredients listed below. Then I stuff each pepper about ¾ full with the meat mixture. Cover with sauce and cook for approximately 45 minutes… until meat is cooked through. The best thing about this meal is you have your veggies and meat so really it's a complete meal.
• White onion sliced in wedges.
• Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out any seeds, save tops.
• Mix the next 6 ingredients and kneed with your hands. Stuff each pepper with the meat mixture about ¾ full.
• Place in a deep oven safe dish upright. Place onion slices between the peppers.
• Mix tomatoes & wine… then pour over peppers.


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Overall risk market sales down 5.9%
Sales in the risk market were down 5.9 per cent despite risk premium inflows increasing 6.2 per cent for the year ending March 2016, according to research from Plan for Life.
by Reporter - July 04, 2016 2 comments
Overall risk market sales were down 5.9 per cent, due in particular to a significant 16.7 per cent fall in new group risk sales.
"Risk market leader TAL (149.2 per cent) reported a very large jump in sales, again the increase was mainly concentrated in group business," a statement from Plan for Life said.
Only Zurich, off a lower base, and OnePath recorded higher risk sales over the year, with 6.3 and 6.2 per cent increases respectively.
"CommInsure (-42.7 per cent), Suncorp (-24.7 per cent), AMP (-22.9 per cent) and NAB/MLC (-16.5 per cent) by contrast recorded significant double digit percentage falls," the statement said.
On the risk premium inflows front, among the medium-to-larger-sized companies, TAL recorded the highest growth at 18.2 per cent.
This was followed by AIA (16.4 per cent), BT/Westpac (13 per cent), OnePath Australia (9.6 per cent) and Zurich (9.5 per cent), the statement said.
Link income protection to adviser strategy: Omniwealth
Estate planning 'easily overlooked', adviser suggests

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are thrilled to announce Jayme Markus has joined Blue Chalk as communications and production coordinator. Jayme started at Blue Chalk in October 2013 as social media intern and assumed her staff position as of June 1.
Jayme is a photographer and videographer from the Midwest where she received a degree in strategic communications from the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities.
Prior to Blue Chalk, Jayme was the brand and social media manager at A7, Inc., a Brooklyn-based camera accessory design and manufacturing company and the graphic design and marketing assistant at 100cameras, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering kids through photography. The use of storytelling for social good is near and dear to her heart and Jayme continues to volunteer as the visual designer at 100cameras.
Before coming to Brooklyn, Jayme was a mediation coordinator at the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota and co-founded Mama D's Coffee alongside her mother in Wisconsin.
Photo (above): The toes of a delicate enamel sculpture await their turn to be on display at Sherrie Gallery, in Columbus Ohio. Jayme's grandmother Ruth Markus was an acclaimed artist and enamelist and created many unique pieces made from forming glass and metal. This photo was taken before a gallery celebration of Ruth's life and body of work among family and dear friends. Photo by Jayme Markus.


Category: Logo Design, Mayo, Ireland.
Client: Calveys Of Achill, Mayo, Ireland.
Here is a logo design we completed for Calveys Of Achill in County Mayo. Calveys supply Achill and the west coast with fresh lamb and organic food, all of which are high quality and locally produced. Designwest were tasked with designing a new logo design for this truly unique Mayo based client. This identity design was was created with its use on packaging in mind so this logo design works really well on promotional materials or packaging. This logo design, created by our qualified graphic designer is a perfect example of a professional, effective brand identity which the client was delighted with.


Broadcom has introduced the Monterey Ethernet switch - BCM56670, built specifically for cellular fronthaul networks. This high capacity device meets the stringent performance demands of new Ethernet-based 5G radios and supports existing CPRI-based radios, thus consolidating all radio traffic onto a standard, Ethernet-based infrastructure. The introduction of the Monterey Ethernet switch strengthens Broadcom's position as a leader in carrier-class radio networking components.
The 5G build-out will require an increase in capacity of the mobile network by a factor of ten or more and a simultaneous tightening of key synchronization requirements by a factor of two or more. Ethernet technology is very high capacity, but in the past it has not met the strict synchronization and jitter requirements of cellular networks. The IEEE's new 802.1CM (Time-Sensitive Networking for Fronthaul) standard provides a synchronization solution that solves this problem and the cellular network can now be upgraded to an end-to-end Ethernet-based architecture that meets the cost, capacity, and performance requirements of 5G.
The Monterey Ethernet switch is the result of the careful integration of a full set of radio-centric features with a terabit-class platform based on Broadcom's widely adopted switching portfolio. High-resolution, high-accuracy synchronization compliant with IEEE 802.1CM, CPRI-to-Ethernet bridging, and nanosecond-scale jitter and delay control together with IEEE new fronthaul standard have been added to this state-of-the-art Ethernet switch to address all 5G cellular networking requirements. The Monterey Ethernet switch shares a set of common API interfaces with other Broadcom switching products via Broadcom's Software Development Kit (SDK), thus minimizing development effort and accelerating system introduction.
Monterey Ethernet switch (BCM56670) product samples and System Reference Kits are available immediately. Click here to learn more.


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The Friend of the Family è un cortometraggio muto del 1909 scritto e diretto da David W. Griffith. Prodotto e distribuito dalla Biograph Company, il film uscì nelle sale USA il 15 luglio 1909.

Trama
Robert Edmonds, che si vanta di non cedere mai al fascino femminile, cade invece preda del fascino di Estelle Morse, ospite a casa sua durante un ricevimento. L'uomo, ormai schiavo dei sensi, è talmente preso dalla passione, che progetta di lasciare la famiglia. Sua moglie cerca di dissimulare lo strazio che prova, nascondendo anche al figlioletto il suo dolore. Robert tornerà a rinsavire quando Estelle lo lascerà a favore di un altro. L'uomo, pentito, tornerà dalla moglie e dal figlio.

Produzione
Il film fu prodotto dalla Biograph Company

Distribuzione
Distribuito dalla Biograph Company, il film - un cortometraggio di 236 metri - uscì nelle sale cinematografiche statunitensi il 15 luglio 1909. Nelle proiezioni, veniva programmato con il sistema dello split reel, accorpato in un'unica bobina con un altro cortometraggio prodotto dalla Biograph e diretto da Griffith, il dramma Tender Hearts .

Note

Voci correlate
 Filmografia di David Wark Griffith
 Filmografia della Biograph Company

Collegamenti esterni

Cortometraggi drammatici
Film diretti da David Wark Griffith

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Ample sleep is what you need to enjoy a long and satisfied sexual life.
Ample sleep is what you need to enjoy a long and satisfied sexual life, suggests new research involving over 93,000 women. The study confirms association between shorter sleep durations, higher insomnia symptoms, and decreased sexual function in post-menopausal women. "Women and healthcare providers need to recognise the link between menopause symptoms and inadequate sleep and their effects on sexual satisfaction," said JoAnn Pinkerton, Executive Director, North American Menopause Society (NAMS).
Analysing data for 93,668 women aged 50 to 79 years, the researchers found that short sleep duration — defined as fewer than seven to eight hours per night — was associated with lower odds of sexual satisfaction. Of the participants, 56 per cent reported being somewhat or very satisfied with their current sexual activity, and 52 per cent reported partnered sexual activity within the last year. Older women were less likely to be sexually active if they slept fewer than seven to eight hours per night compared with younger women, said the study published in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society. In fact, women aged older than 70 years who slept fewer than five hours were 30 per cent less likely to be sexually active than women sleeping seven to eight hours.omen in the age group 30-60 worldwide are sleeping more than men — about 30 minutes more on average — while middle-aged men are getting the least sleep, often getting less than the recommended seven-eight hours, a smartphone app-based study spanning 100 countries has revealed.


The Samurai Fitness Group likes to think it is different from other children's martial art classes in the UK because it focuses solely on the development of its students.
• The Chief Instructor has academic classroom teaching experience, is a qualified martial art instructor and has over 14 years of experience in three separate martial arts.
These classes focus on two areas; 'Life Skills' (such as confidence, social interaction, self discipline and awareness of the danger of strangers) and 'Physical Skills' (including fitness, balance and coordination). The classes are based on the fundamental principles of kickboxing but are non-contact, non-aggressive and targeted towards the developmental stages of this age range.
Little Samurai classes are held throughout the year (including school holidays) across Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Please click on this 'Class Schedule' link to find a class local or convenient for you.
Standard lessons cost £8 per student per lesson. Due to a maximum limit of children per class please call before attending any lesson to check availability.


Starting a new business is an incredibly daunting task and the first things that you will have to consider is how you would want to portray your company's profile. It can be extremely tough to market your business, especially if you have an eager competitor at your heels. Promotional items are a popular and useful advertising tool and it can greatly improve your brand image and reputation, if they are used correctly. Here is a list of the best promotional products that you can use to enhance your brand identity.
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