Quack Spout

Captain Neon: Episode 7 and Outtakes

2012-01-08T23:12:00.002Z

Yes, it's been a while, almost nine months in fact, but I've been busy, well, generally busy, a bit distracted at times, but I've done it now, the seventh episode of Captain Neon is complete and I'm happy with it and have a renewed sense of energy to urge me to hurry up and finish the next episode... though it's probably one of the most ambitious and technically complex ones so far, ah well...

You can watch Episode 7 below:

Additionally, in order to apologise for the delay, I've uploaded some outtakes to the Captain Neon facebook page, I'll be adding more things to it between episodes, so please head on over and give it a like!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Captain-Neon/185373288165187

The Dumbest Concept In Dating

2011-12-05T23:37:00.006Z

Firstly, I joined a dating website, out of boredom at work I registered for a free account, curious to see what type of person haunts the halls of online dating malarkey. I figured, if I'm looking at this website then someone with a similar outlook to me might be looking at it too.

Furthermore, I've never quite understood the whole tawdry reputation afforded to any organised means of meeting other people. Because, of course, the whole process of getting drunk, going to a bar and pulling one of an assortment of, say, 50 strangers, is far more noble and romantic, just like how Shakespeare wrote it.

But this leads me neatly onto my key point, which is to do with the dumbest concept in the dating world, and that is: the 'spark'.

This 'spark' is bothering me at the moment because I went on a date last night, it was somewhat hastily arranged, we'd exchanged messages online, we didn't seem to offend one another, besides it's always best to meet up and banter in person to really understand if you get along. So, we did that, after a bit of a wait in the cold she arrived, we walked to a bar, we had a drink, we had a chat.

Like many first dates (arranged by friends or online) it was a collection of awkward moments, chatty epochs, brief summaries of complex aspects of your life, efforts to advertise your own personally preferred qualities and mask the less reputable ones, it was, by my reckoning, an ok first date. Nothing special, but it was pleasant.

However, I sent a message to her the following day suggesting a possible event for a second date, and in return received a message that said thus:

"Thanks Owain. It was really nice to meet you too. I like your job and your brilliant free tickets and plus ones. :) I'm afraid though that I didn't feel the spark between us last night, and I hope that's ok..."

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm Captain Charming and no woman can resist my advances, I know I'm a socially awkward, waffling, rambly fool with a slightly wayward and confused sense of humour, but I'm sure I have some good qualities too... I mean, people have said nice things about me, some of them even let me kiss them and hold their hand for a few months. I, of course, get that maybe she just used the catch all concept of 'sparks' as an excuse for some other reasoning as to why she might not want to meet me again, but, what would that be? Am I a deeply repellent individual? Surely, regardless of whether 'sparks' was the exact concept what she is, in some way or another, referring to must broadly be described as 'chemistry', and, as far as I can fathom, 'chemistry' and 'sparks' are very close relatives, it's about that initial catalyst that would suggest two people get along.

Yes, I admit, maybe we didn't get along, but I don't think I'd be blinkered enough to not notice, I felt foolishly optimistic on my way home from the date, I didn't think it had been a roaring success but that's because it was a first date, they're awkward and strange for the most part. It's two people finding their way around one another, trying to figure each other out, maybe you won't hit it out of the park on that first date, but unless you utterly despise one another should you discount a second date because there weren't any 'sparks'? Is life really too short to not give someone a second chance?

Maybe you've felt the 'spark', I've certainly felt the 'spark' in the past, but for the most part, as best I can remember, when I felt that first 'spark' I was drunk. Besides it's probably bad form to arrive to a first date already pissed. Though maybe that is the solution? Arrange a date, both get absolutely rat arsed beforehand, then you meet in some bar somewhere, it's closer to how it's 'supposed' to happen then.

I'm not saying this girl was definitely, undoubtedly going to be the love of my life (that's another blog topic right there) but I think there was enough between to us to at the very least warrant a second date, in fact, I think all arranged dates should come with an in-built second date, the first date, if anything, is the prologue and the second date is actually Chapter One. You've got the ground rules and geography and family history established, then it's time to really get into the meat and potatoes of it and see if you have that 'spark'.

A date is different to meeting someone by chance, this is something that I don't quite think people understand, and I also think it's where this bizarre grotty image of 'dating sites' comes from. For the most part, for some insane reason, in much the same way as millions of people think an invisible bearded man built the Earth in a Gregorian calendar week, people seem to view love as something that happens by magic, by chance and will bind two people together in a fairytale fantasy, well, that's all bullshit to be honest, and this isn't some mean, jaded cynical side, I genuinely think I'm a pretty romantically minded optimistic fool (though I'm pretty sure my ex-girlfriends will say otherwise), and though I've been in love I've never thought "there's only one for me", because I've been in love more than once and in different ways. You don't discredit an ex you said you loved because you're not together anymore, or you love somebody new, that's not how it works, though opinions can change over time those moments when you were in 'love' were, whether you now regret it or not, moments when you were in 'love' and perspective won't change that. I don't think because my parents are now divorced and in new relationships that they wish they'd never met, and not just because of the lovely children they had as a result of 'love' and 'fate' and all that nonsense.

Anyway, I'm veering off topic, and would gladly blather on trying to disect every aspect of people's perceptions of romance, love, happiness, sadness and the like for pages and pages, but I don't think now is the time or the place.

In summary, people have a warped perspective of what meeting someone and 'falling' for them is supposed to be like, the world is changing, it is more intricately connected than ever before and the opportunities to meet a diverse range of people are more accessible than they have ever been, why not take advantage of this if you are in a position to meet new people. I did not join a dating website to 'meet the love of my life', I joined it to 'meet new people', which, I hasten to add, is something I also manage to do in my non-internet based life. Maybe other people don't see things that way with the dating world, which is naive on their part, additionally I find anyone who starts making specific demands in the 'What I'm looking for...' section to be awfully suspect, but, well, waffling again...

Maybe this is why people don't want a second date, they don't think I'll ever shut up!

My good friend, the esteemed Ellen Waddell, has written a response to this piece, you can read it here: CLICKY

Why Christmas Trees Are A Lot Like Relationships...

2011-11-22T13:08:00.006Z

Walking past a florist on my lunch break earlier I saw a lone, squat little Christmas tree for sale on the pavement. I suddenly thought to myself; "I'm going to buy that tree, take it back to the flat, decorate it and make everything there a bit more festive this year." Before quickly realising that I wasn't going to do any of this, I was merely momentarily enchanted by the idea of having a Christmas tree and the warm, cosy associations it has for me, and, probably, many of us.

As nights get colder, darker and lonelier I'm noticing them more and more, Christmas trees everywhere. Each window I walk by on my grey trek to and from the office is starting to become punctuated by the garish twinkle of fairylights entwined with tinsel and bright, brilliant baubles proudly hanging from ever more droopy branches.

Oh, it makes me yearn for a Christmas tree of my own.

Look, there they are, hundreds of them now, all gathered together waiting, their eager little limbs huddled around them in the cold winter air. It's best to hurry because by the time Christmas is almost upon us all those trees will be gone and you'll be hard pushed to find one at the last minute, and buying a plastic ones' a little sordid.

If you are lucky enough to have a Christmas tree then you've probably spent some time trying to find just the right one for you, but, you've also got to compromise depending on your front room situation. Once you get the tree home there's a lot of excitement and anticipation, sure, you've seen it bundled up outside, but once you've got the wrapping off it's a whole different thing, proud and green and perky, it's the best tree ever! Some people like to let it sit, teasingly, in its natural state for a few days before 'trimming' it, others can't wait, but ultimately you express your admiration for this tree by covering it in tinsel, lights, trinkets, chocolates, candy canes and - depending on your preference - you'll sit a star or a fairy on its head.

As time wears on you deal, routinely, with the pine needles it sheds all over your floor or the occasional broken bauble that fell off when one of the branches got a bit too droopy under the gaudy weight. Still, you love it, and you start to pile up presents underneath it, little wrapped boxes of hopes and dreams, who knows what they'll contain...

Of course, come Christmas day you unwrap these presents and it's either things you asked for, things you don't want or - occasionally - some lovely little surprise gifts that probably find themselves forgotten at the back of a drawer in a few weeks. The things that endure will ultimately be the 'blandest', some socks or a jumper.

Now all the presents are gone, their tempting wrap has been quickly bundled up into a big black bin liner, you gorge yourself and sit contentedly staring at the tree, it looks a little bedraggled, I mean its been carrying all those dreams around for a few weeks now and it's starting to take its toll, some of its branches look a little bare, maybe you should try and tend to it. You start to think; "Hey, after Christmas I could plant the tree and nurture it and use the same one next year and the next, this could be MY tree!"

But you don't, soon Christmas is over and the tree looks more and more out of place in your lounge, New Year comes and goes, maybe you find that one last chocolate hidden amongst the now bald limbs and for a moment you have a sweet memory of why you loved that Christmas tree. Though you know all too well, in the back of your mind, that you're going to have to dispose of this once joyful, ironically named evergreen very soon.

Maybe you take it to the tip, maybe you stuff it into a skip or chuck it by the roadside its ever withering carcass slowly dying outside your window, but it's over, the Christmas tree has served its purpose for another year. It'll take a while but in about 10 or 11 months you'll start to see other Christmas trees hanging around and you'll get that festive itch and the whole sorry process will begin again.

The other way in which Christmas trees are like relationships is that I don't have one and there's not much chance of me getting one before the year is out.

10 Reasons Why Books Are Better Than Kindles

2011-10-27T15:56:00.002+01:00

1. If you hit a book really hard with a hammer it usually survives.

2. When reading a book in public you may look cool/a twat depending on the book's cover, with a Kindle you always look like a twat.

3. If you're stuck with nothing to wipe your bottom with you can always tear one of the blank pages out from the back of a book. Wiping your bum with a Kindle, whilst a fine use for it, is quite cumbersome.

4. One of the best things about reading any book, regardless of whether it's any good or not, is the sound of a page turning.*

5. There's no greater feeling than knowing you've crossed the half-way point in a book by looking at how many pages are left/feeling the shift in weight. No matter how far into a book you are on your Kindle you've always got the same weight of book left to go.

6. The only fonts a paperback can't display are ones that don't exist.

7. The Kindle's terms of use forbid transferring Amazon e-books to another user or a different type of device. I can transfer my paperback to anyone and they can read it with any type of eyes.

8. All pop-up books lose their impact on Kindle. (See also; Scratch and Sniff)

9. You only need to carry 1,000,000 books with you at once if you are (a) delivering a truckload of books to a bookshop or (b) Johnny-5, the robot from Short Circuit, and can read books at light-speed. Otherwise one at a time seems to do most people just fine.

10. A full bookshelf looks sexier than a full Kindle.

*Anyone who tells me that the Kindles have a 'page-turn-sound' you can activiate or download only further contributes to the argument that Kindles lose.

P-ARGH!

2011-10-05T14:46:00.008+01:00

Hello there,

I've written a piece about some strange PR I got emailed to me recently, you can now read it over at God is in the TV:

http://godisinthetvzine.co.uk/index.php/2011/10/06/p-argh-a-press-release-too-far/

Ta ta,

Owain

Uncredited Rewrites

2011-08-18T16:24:00.002+01:00

Howdy,

I've been a little frustrated by a fair fews 'big' films recently, a lot of them seem to miss out on certain story strands or dramatic twists that I, personally, think would really improve the impact of the films. In a lot of cases the filmmakers wouldn't have needed to completely overhaul the film, just certain aspects in order to really give the audience an emotional wallop.

Anyway, in order to vent my frustration and go into some detail on what I feel should have been altered about these films I've set up another blog:

http://uncreditedrewrites.blogspot.com/

As it deals with the structure of a lot of new films I must stress that it is quite SPOILER heavy, so if you haven't seen any of the films covered it's best not to read the rewrite if you don't want to know what happens!

Hopefully I'll keep up with this blog, well, at least as long as Hollywood keeps disappointing me!

Owain

Clone Alone

2011-07-11T14:40:00.003+01:00

I entered a film into this year's Virgin Media Shorts contest, it looks like this:

Clone Alone - Virgin Media Shorts

Here's a little ramble about the 'Making Of...' Clone Alone.

My mum had encouraged me to enter Virgin Media Shorts a few years ago, a friend of hers had entered a film I think, but I never got around to it. This year I was procrastinating at work and stumbled upon the 2011 competition, thinking; 'I really should enter this.'

Over the next few days I was pondering over an idea for a short, but nothing was coming to me that I felt was worthwhile and could be delivered to fit the 2:20 running time limit. I did keep coming back to the idea of clones in my head, as it's something I seem to be obsessed with...

It wasn't until a couple of days later, on the 3rd of July that I acutally thought I might have had enough of an idea to warrant turning a camera on, so that Sunday morning I wrote a script and asked my resting actor housemate Sean if he would be interested in playing the lead? He, hungover and slumped in the front room, said yes and asked when I was planning on filming it. I said, 'In about ten minutes.'

We filmed between 11am and 4pm as I had to go to an 'all day' gig that afternoon. Sean captured the footage onto a memory stick and I edited the film whenever I could find the time around my 9 to 5 job on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the deadline for the competition.

I literally finished the film and pressed upload at 11am on Thursday with one hour to go before entries closed. So, whilst there's so much about the film I'm unhappy with - though I don't think I'll ever be happy with any of my creative endeavours being a terrible perfectionist and all - I'm really proud of the film we made considering the haste with which the whole thing was cobbled together.

Now, all I need to do is finish the next episode of Captain Neon, which should be on its way, soonish...

INTERVIEW: Misty's Big Adventure

2011-05-16T15:31:00.003+01:00

Hello,

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Grandmaster Gareth from Misty's Big Adventure, you can hear the resulting chit-chat here:

http://godisinthetvzine.co.uk/index.php/2011/05/16/interview-mistys-big-adventure/

Ta ta,

O.

Captain Neon: Episode 6

2011-04-25T10:21:00.000+01:00

BAANEEX at the Lock Tavern

2011-03-29T12:22:00.001+01:00

Here's a video of my band BAANEEX performing at the Lock Tavern:

Our next gig is at The Wilmington Arms on April 15th.

BLAHNEEX

2011-03-14T11:21:00.002Z

Hello there,

My band BAANEEX have got a fair few gigs coming up, click on the link to read all about them:

Blahneex - BAANEEX

Will be posting a silly short film in a few days!

Owain

Captain Neon: Episode 5

2011-02-10T17:00:00.001Z

BAANEEX: Football Round Up

2010-12-22T15:51:00.002Z

Merry Christmas all, here's a video I made for my band BAANEEX and our song 'Football Round Up', hope you like it!

Quack Spout: December 2010

2010-12-04T16:29:00.003Z

2010 draws towards a close, and just as I think I've figured out my favourite records of the year, more great music drops through my letterbox...

QUACK SPOUT - DECEMBER mp3

Playlist:

Birdeatsbaby - Gone!
Ursine Vulpine - Raijin
The Other Dances - City Of Heaven
Sister Mantos - SHPESHFTR
Chris Brokaw - Criminals
Standard Planets - Squeky
Jakokoyak - Dada Love
H.Hawkline - Gelly (Lleuad II)

Captain Neon: Episode 4

2010-11-29T10:23:00.002Z

Bits and Bobs...

2010-11-24T12:11:00.003Z

Fear not there is another Captain Neon on the way, it's all been shot and is just waiting for the pain-staking green process that I severely under-estimated on the most recent shoot. But expect the introduction of a new character who isn't (shock horror!) played me/a puppet...

Explaining this lack of Neon is the fact that I've been very busy with my band BAANEEX, we've been in the studio a couple of times (at More or Less Mono in Bow) and we've got an EP coming out in January (on Odd Box records) that houses all the tracks from the first of those two sessions.

We've also been gigging a fair bit, and have a show TONIGHT (!) at the Victoria in Dalston and shows on the 10th of December (Bird's Nest, Deptford) and the 12th of December (The Social, Little Portland Street) but you can find out more at http://www.baaneex.com

Quack Spout: November 2010

2010-11-07T16:33:00.005Z

Ever so slightly belated due to the fact that I've had a vicious cold and the sound of snot being drawn up through my nostrils (or blasted out, depending on circumstances) probably wouldn't make great listening.

QUACK SPOUT - NOVEMBER mp3

Playlist:

Johnny 5th Wheel & The Cowards - Little Red Hen
Islet - Obtaining
Tiger Shadow - Inner City
Kostoglotov - Freakshow On Rollerblades
Black Gardenias - Norma Jean
Tough Troubles - Onset Of Schizophrenia
The Tumbledryer Babies - WWF
The Graceful Slicks - Show's Over
Cheapskate - Get Up Early
Alex Dingley - Lovely Day

Captain Neon: Episode 3

2010-10-12T00:23:00.000+01:00

Watch me kick my own ass...

Quack Spout: October 2010

2010-10-04T22:42:00.005+01:00

This month's podcast seems over-run by solo artists making lots of noise, though there's a few bands in there and a desperate plug for an impending gig... Enjoy!

QUACK SPOUT OCTOBER -MP3

Playlist:

Fuzzystar - Mathematics
Ambeson - A Window To Look Through
Autoportrait - Awaken
The Sound of the Ladies - Every Single One
Man Is Slapped - ...exgirlfriend
The Silent Committee - Lullabye
Heights - From Sea To Sky
Bearsuit - Please Don't Take Him Back

Come and see the likes of Bearsuit and Smallgang and BAANEEX (my band) and many more at World International John Peel Day: CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.

Captain Neon: Episode 2

2010-10-01T10:09:00.002+01:00

Part two of the thrilling space adventure where our hero is still in hot pursuit of the evil Squirrel Man...

Captain Neon

2010-09-13T15:26:00.003+01:00

What I did with my Sunday:

Quack Spout: September 2010

2010-08-31T16:52:00.005+01:00

It's back... again... I should stop setting deadlines for these, until I can afford to make music/film/writing/etc. my full-time job then people can expect these two crop up online randomly at best. Sigh.

QUACK SPOUT - SEPTEMBER 2010 mp3

Playlist:

Smallgang - Cockpit
Human Wave Attack - Big Empty Sky
The Waxing Captors - Jaywalkin' Out Your Heart
Sweet Baboo - I'm A Dancer 2
Second Head - Starglow
Sister Mantos - No God
Mickey Gloss - Jesus Don't Want Me Anymore
Connan Mockasin - Egon Hosford

Green Man 2010

2010-08-24T11:18:00.003+01:00

My review of Green Man 2010 can be read online here:

http://godisinthetvzine.co.uk/content/content_detail.php?id=4617&type=Features

BAANEEX

2010-06-06T21:40:00.003+01:00

In lieu of May's podcast I'm going to witter on, somewhat selfishly, about myself. Well, not about myself, but about myself and three other people who all make musical noises at the same time.

When I was living in Cardiff I started writing for the website God Is In The TV (still do, I'm sub-editor there) and in early 2009, maybe late 2008, a CD came my way by a London based band called Muarena Helena. I reviewed it on the 15th January 2009 and said nice things about it. As is usually the case I befriended the band via my MySpace profile and also through my own musical MySpace profile, which didn't previously admit to any 'human' presence.

To my surprise, Muarena Helena - more specifically singer and lead guitarist - Joel began sending my musical profile messages via MySpace, and we can began a dialogue that ultimately lead to me sending him a CD of my some songs. In return he sent me a cover version of one of these songs (Song to Self) and eventually suggested we collaborate on something...

So, it began by him e-mailing me some musical ideas, I'd put stuff on top, e-mail it back, and the whole relay would continue until we felt we had something. We ultimately came up with 7 tracks and put them up on MySpace under the name Neuschwanstein.

In late August I moved from Brighton, where I'd been living since February, and so it was somewhat inevitable that Joel and I would meet face to face. We had a drink and he suggested we meet up and jam somewhere, potentially with Andy who had been playing bass in Muarena Helena. After I met Andy in late October this was all confirmed and we had a three piece session on November 12th. What was ultimately decided was the need for a drummer.

Sometime in late 2009 Joel and Andy got Rosie to drum, but I didn't return to the fold until a rehearsal on February 12th 2010! At this point they'd got three songs together (Magic Square, Saskatchwen and The Punk Song) and I did my best to slot my keyboard playing in here and there. Over the following sessions we came up with another five songs (Weird Dance, Football Round-Up, Hoovering Concrete, Jumpin' Chinese Restaurant and Weird Dance II) and started discussing playing live sometime in the Summer.

And so, on Wednesday 2nd June 2010, we had our first gig - and my first ever gig - as BAANEEX at the Buffalo Bar in Highbury & Islington. We wound up head-lining and eventually went on stage around 11pm, it was very nice to see that people had stayed on till the end of the evening, so we got to play to a full room who were very receptive towards our songs. I can't really judge how it went, but - currently - you can hear some recordings taken from the Buffalo Bar gig on our MySpace.

We've got another gig booked for late July, so check the MySpace regularly to find out the details as and when and we'll hopefully be playing some more dates and going on a little tour before the year is out...

Delays...

2010-05-26T23:17:00.000+01:00

I'm really sorry there hasn't been an update in over a month. There is a new Quack Spout ready to go, it's been ready for a while, but I'm having trouble with my usual file hosting site, I've tried alternative means, but haven't had any success as of yet. I finally have a day off from work tomorrow, and will try to plonk something online before the day is done.

Hope all's well with you. x

Showreel 2010

2010-04-25T05:39:00.004+01:00

Here's my film-making show-reel for this year, comprising clips of music videos for Attack + Defend, Los Campesinos! and Threatmantics, along with films screened by the BBC Film Network and Radio Cymru, ITV, Channel 4 and the Swn festival.

Quack Spout MkII: Number Five

2010-04-21T09:53:00.003+01:00

Borderline May's podcast, this is, in fact, April's, and May's will be along probably in October!? Fingers crossed, ay...

QUACK SPOUT 2.5 - MP3

Playlist

Mademoiselle Caro & Franck Garcia - Fly
The Black Acid Band - Wunji the Destroyer
Chris Brokaw & Geoff Farina - In The Evening
The Exhibition - Bright New Worlds
Jouis - Miss Monroe
Cheapskate - Trees
Air To Achilles - If My Heart Stops Beating
Lasse Brawn - Itch
Gus Garcia - Colleagues
Pope Joan - Mattias
Phantom Theory - Trancedog
Olympians - North Sea

Fast Forward

2010-03-17T08:25:00.004Z

Here's a rarity, a post about my actual life... (Though, saying that, any activity on this blog is a rarity!)

I was feeling incredibly optimistic on Monday, I suddenly got a wave of e-mails through for job interviews, and not for awful food service or retail jobs, no, for jobs within areas I actually care about. One inparticular had me excited, I'd sent a speculative e-mail to a film production company, as their website has a section encouraging 'creative' people to send them their C.V. to a random jobs@ address.

So I did, I wrote a covering letter introducing myself and sent a C.V. that highlighted my film-making experiences.

Lo and behold, almost a month later, on Monday, I got an e-mail from them with the heading 'Interview' and an invite to meet their Head of Production.

The following day I woke up, went to the North Side of Soho, and dawdled about, my eyes brimming with the hopes and possibilities of this part of town. I stared into delicious looking cafes and cake shops, day-dreamed about where I'd go for lunch and then looked into a music shop window, imagining saving up my regular wage and maybe treating myself one day in the far flung future...

11am came and I went to the office, the receptionist called up to the Head of Production and after a short wait she came down the stairs. There was something peculiar about her attitude from the off, as if I had arrived out of my own insistence. She said she was going to make a tea as I was five minutes early, I could take a seat in the interview room. When she came in eventually she said that this would be an informal chat, prior to a proper hour long interview in the future. Which was fair enough, but her questions didn't feel informal or chatty, instead she seemed to be regarding everything I said with an air of quiet suspicion and harsh judgment. I felt like, rather than talking about my work history, I was giving an alibi to a lawyer who was just waiting for me to admit I was guilty.

It was excruciating, and this continued for ten minutes, until finally she asked;

'So, what made you apply for the role of promo producer?'

I had to stop, sometimes I perhaps would have tried to pretend things weren't awry and would've seen what would happen if I continued trying to lie my way around a baffling statement like this. But, I wasn't enjoying the interview enough to attempt that. So, I just asked out right;

'Sorry, what position?'

'Promo producer. What position did you apply for?'

I didn't want to be rude and say something along the lines of 'I didn't apply for any position, I sent you a speculative e-mail like your website suggests.' Instead I sort of chewed some words and shrugged a bit until she finally added;

'Because you're under-experienced for that role.'

'YES!' I wanted to say loudly and dryly, 'I know I am, I didn't apply for that role!'

She continued. thumbing idly through the papers she'd been scribbling notes on, she mentioned something about there being some confusion and something written down somewhere that was perhaps the apparent root of this mess. But, never did she apologise for their mistake, nor did she take the misunderstanding with even an ounce of good humour, because my first reaction was just to accept that they'd got things wrong, shake my head and smile. Her reaction was to skirt around acknowledging the mistake, seemingly attempt to make me feel like I'd made the error, before acting in a snide, belittling fashion; ultimately showing me to the door, which she opened, turning her entire body away from me, barely saying 'Goodbye' and limply letting it close quickly behind me.

What most rankled me was that this was like re-living my entire first attempt at living in London all over again, in fast-forward. The optimism decline, coupled with the awful mentality that some people in the Soho area have succumbed to, was all too familiar. I had, naively, hoped that things had changed, that I had changed, that they had changed; but it was like going to a school reunion where the bully still beats you up, the girl you fancied still wants nothing to do with you, and you still can't grow a proper moustache.

Anyway, rant over... It's been almost a week since this interview and I've only thought about it sporadically, unfortunately there is a peculiar hierarchy with certain people in the industry, and an inquisition-like way of phrasing questions that I think belies their own insecurities more than anything. I, perhaps, think that it's my self-deprecating nature that causes certain bouts of paranoia and discomfort when having to deal with these egos, and the knowledge that one day, if I make something of myself, that they'll be dancing around kissing more arse than Billy Bottomlips Champion Rump Smoocher of Arseington, New Buttock, on National Bum Snogging Day.

Ta ta. x

Quack Spout MkII: Number Four

2010-03-07T11:27:00.003Z

Back with a vengence:

QUACK SPOUT 2.4 - MP3

Playlist

Islet - Sign For Home
Don't Tread On Spiders - Like A Cloud
Bygone - The Salt Mine Mules of Wieliczka
Tiger Shadow - I Knew You'd Be Alright
Wes Finch - Oh My Days!
Destroy Nate Allen - Steady
Kissing Kalina - Ellie Rd.
Cats and Cats and Cats - Cut Your Hair
Afrirampo - Suuto Breakor 3
Houdini Dax - Struggling in the Sand
James Erswell - Shine Bright
Vienna Ditto - Long Way Down
Zygmunt Day - Edward Brown
Sparklehorse - Gold Day

Promises, Promises...

2010-01-19T23:32:00.003Z

Morninfternoovening all,

There will be a new Quack Spout, I am working on it, but I am also moving house which is making things tricksy... expect something in February!

All the best,

Owain. x

2009: The Things I Did

2010-01-06T23:14:00.002Z

At the start of the year I rather dramatically sold about 400 DVDs, I thought this would be a tough decision, but it was surprisingly easy. In short shift thereafter I gave notice on my job as a baker and my flatshare in Cardiff so I could move to Brighton. This was an unexpectedly sudden move on my part, though I had been accepted onto a MA at Sussex University it wasn't due to start until September and I thought I'd move later in the year. However, I found a house that appealed and took a risk...

So, on the 24th January I moved to Brighton, and on my second night there got extremely drunk and fell asleep in the pub. Drunkeness would be a large part of my time in Brighton. In the first week of living there I got a job in a coffee shop, started going to the University's creative writing society, began assisting at after school writing classes for primary school children and saw a gig by the excellent Cardiff based band Threatmantics; bumped into then guitarist Ceri whilst walking back from buying some shoes and thus went straight to a pub and I had to spend the evening with a pair of shoes tied to my belt. It was a good look.

The following week it snowed a lot, and me and some housemates had a snowball fight inside and outside the house. I got very drunk as well. I went to my first poetry night (Hammer & Tongue) and saw the film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, which resulted in me having a school-boy crush on Kat Dennings. I nipped back to Cardiff to bare witness to Attack + Defend's one and only gig of the year and do some goodbyes.

On the day before Valentine's Day I had my first ever piano lesson (I only had nine in total due to financial issues), the following day I attended a very hippy-ish poetry and music night at the wonderful raw food cafe Manna. It was a nice evening but I felt quite out of place and very self-conscious when we all had to hold hands and make a group poem...

I felt a bit more shamefully self-conscious after a house party I went to the next Saturday, as I don't have a complete memory of the evening, but I have a memory from the party that I may have dreampt, and if it's true I apologise! I blame the vodka jelly. With very little hangover I went to Brighton Zinefest the next morning with some copies of my ill-fated film-zine Seat 13, we sold out at the fest and I can't remember if I collected the money, which may explain why the magazine didn't get a second issue!

March 10th, I had an interview with Jean-Paul de Claite Rosse, who offered me the role of a bartender who finds himself homeless and alone in a short film he was directing. I also met with Gary Mepsted who was directing a play celebrating the works of Alan Bennet and then on the 5th April, two days before Jean-Paul's film began shooting, I had an audition for Henry Scriven's zombie-comedy To Let and discovered that Henry was to be the A.D. on Jean-Paul's film. Later it transpired that Gary Mepsted's house was used as one of the film's locations.

In amongst attending a few gigs, rehearsals and filming days I had a short story published in an anthology and went to London to be part of the audience for Q.I. (the episode airs in March, I think?!). I then had a press pass for the Great Escape festival in May, which coincided with an auditon for Boot Camp theatre's production of A Few Good Men. Then out of the blue on June 17th I accidentally discovered I had a ticket to Glastonbury, so had to make some desperate last minute lift blagging and - squeezing in rehearsals, a day of filming on Broken, a house warming in Canterbury, the filming of To Let and an ultimately life-changing interview for a position at the Job Centre - went to the festival and got to see an incredible array of bands I dearly love live.

On the way back I was asked to come back to Cardiff and shoot a music video for Los Campesinos!'s new single, which I then edited the following day. Finally on the 8th July we did the last day of filming on Jean-Paul's Broken.

August was a quiet month until performances of A Few Good Men on the 20th, 21st and 22nd; after which I went to London for my birthday and to see my friend Kirsty for the first time in a year or so. In the middle of this birthday treat week, on my actual birthday no less, I had to dash back (thanks to my good friend Carl driving) to Brighton to find out the status of my dormant job at the Job Centre, which I had got and been CRB checked for, but had not yet received a start date. After milling around for three or four hours I was told that the Head of the Job Centre, that very morning, had decided not to take on any new staff. This suddenly put my personal financial and housing situation in to no small degree of turmoil, and meant I had to make some snap decisions. So, on the 31st August I gave notice at the house in Brighton and three days later moved to East Dulwich where I had a nice comfy sofa to squat on.

A couple of weeks into my time in London I went down to Dorset to the magnificent End of the Road festival, and in the following weeks got to see a few plays such as Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Title of the Drama About Ante is Written Here... and Kurt & Sid. I also had the most bizarre job interview request of my life when a franchised donut company (that shall remain nameless) based in a well known London department store in Knightsbridge asked me to provide a stool sample. Fortunately two weeks later I began work in the retail department of the Natural History Museum and didn't have to give anyone my poo poo (thought I've kept the collection kit for a potential Christmas gift).

At the start of October I met up with Joel, formerly of the band Muarena Helena, who I had begun talking to via Myspace under my 'band' guise. Whilst I was in Brighton, Joel and I had collaborated through e-mail on seven songs and he'd given me some degree of confidence in the 'music' I was making, this eventually led to me, Joel and bass player Andy even having a jam session; which is something I never imagined I'd have the guts to do at this point.

I also had a press pass to the Times BFI London Film Festival, and though work commitments stopped me from seeing as much as I would've liked, I did get to see advance screenings of Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Men Who Stare At Goats, A Single Man and The Road.

Once again Los Campesinos! drafted me in to come down, to Oxford this time, and film a live performance for them, I also provided some photo montages for their album artwork ('Romance is Boring' out in February).

In all I reviewed 139 demos and records over the year, saw 53 films at the cinema. The 10 best of each are as follows:

Best Records of 2009.

1. Monster Island - The Anchor
2. Untied States - Instant Everything, Constant Nothing
3. Animals + War - Self-Titled
4. Them Squirrels - Them Scribbles
5. Cate Le Bon - Me Oh My
6. Das Wanderlust - Horses For Courses
7. Attack + Defend - Theme
8. The Keys - Years Are Made Of Seconds
9. The Victorian English Gentlemens Club - Love On An Oil Rig
10. Colourmusic - Yes!

Best Films of 2009.

1. Up
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. District 9
4. Star Trek
5. Moon
6. Pirate For The Sea
7. Coraline
8. Fanastic Mr. Fox
9. Where The Wild Things Are
10. Knowing

To be totally honest 2009 has been an odd year, and a turbulent one in a mild, buffeting kind of way; not like a full on seastorm, but it hasn't been smooth sailing. Saying that, my year ended on a positive note, well, a positive ellipsis.

The first Quack Spout of the year will be online very soon. But until then I hope you've had a great end to 2009 and a wonderful start to 2010...

Quack Spout MkII: Number Three

2009-12-11T00:51:00.008Z

Well, not quite as 'bang on' December as I thought, though this podcast has been 'in the can' for a few days... this is the last podcast of the year until the climatic 'Best Of...' one that should hit just before or just after New Year's.

QUACK SPOUT 2.3 - MP3

Playlist:

Battle For Prague - I See A Ghost
Common Deflection Problems - Reharse My Soul
Ursine Vulpine - The Man From The Sleepy Village Town
Haunted Stereo - To Be Good
Houka Monks - Strange Things
Richie Syrett - Mondays Always Come
Air To Achilles - Holy Ghost
The Carletones - Release Me
Dam Mantle (Animals + War) - Veils
Charlotte Gainsbourg (feat. Beck) - Heaven Can Wait
Napoleon IIIrd - The Strong Nuclear Force
Like Wow (feat. Thomas Truax) - Old Man Santa

Also Check Out:

Maps Christmas Calendar.
Das Wanderlust's Charity Xmas Single.

Quack Spout MkII: Number Two

2009-11-14T00:48:00.006Z

Despite my personal belief that I would finally be able to get things 'on track' and be more timely with this podcast (and my backlog of demo reviews) it's taken me half of November to finally get this month's show together. But, by way of compensation, it's a really great roster of bands this month, so it's well worth the wait!

QUACK SPOUT 2.2 - Mp3

Playlist:

The Darlingtons - Rainbows
Relation - Way Outside
Ellis James - I Found What I Lost When I Died
Django Spears - Genie In A Bottle
Video Nasties - Old Flowers
Colourmusic - Spring Song
Kick To Kill - Cut Me
The Hornblower Brothers - Middle Class Hero
Mr. Cricket - Lithorians
Motorcycle Display Team - Beneath The Flowerbeds
Nosferatu D2 - 2 People 0 Superpowers
Tearjerker - Scream
Little My - Panic At The Museum
The Echo Session - Tell Me
Untied States - Wrestling With Entropy In The Rehabbed Factory

Also check out:

Respond (Again!)
Sore Thumb Records

Quack Spout MkII: Number One

2009-10-05T15:20:00.016+01:00

After time off to sort many, many things out (still sorting mind) I have managed to record a brand spanking new Quack Spout. Not much else to say about it, other than it's full of great music, and it's a very eclectic line-up this month. Enjoy!

QUACK SPOUT 2.1 - MP3

Playlist:

Stylusboy - Stopclock
Mlini - Monkey Say Monkey Do
Lowstar - Waves
Gindrinker - Gorsedd
The Honey De n - Beyond That Way
Glitches - 13th Labour
Pocket Promise - Deja Vu
Los Salvadores - No Heroes
Haunted Stereo - Cross The Sea
Arabella - Overdose
The Grizzly Owls - I Am A Shootist
Los Campesinos! - The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
The Low Anthem - To Ohio
Euros Childs - How Do You Do

Also check out:

Respond
Amnesty Brighton
Los Campesinos! Video

An Explanation...

2009-09-06T11:44:00.003+01:00

Obviously Quack Spout has been absent from podcastage for a few weeks now, and I've also been rather behind on my demo reviews for God is in the TV, and this is due a general state of rather busy-ness and some 'life altering' occurences that have, er, occured. Basically and broadly, I've moved from Brighton to a sofa in London...

But, fear not, Quack Spout is not an ex-parrot. No, m'am. Instead I've re-evaluated it and figured that if it were a once monthly podcast then I can make sure I'm bringing you the very best new, unsigned, independent music amassed from four weeks worth of demo reviews as opposed to really trying to cobble together 12/13 tracks every single week.

So, I'm going to take September off in an effort to adjust to sofa life and Quack Spout will be back, bright eyed and bushy tailed in October.

See you soon! x

Quack Spout #14

2009-08-11T17:06:00.006+01:00

A bit of a hastily muttered Spout with some damn fine tunes.

QUACK SPOUT #14 - MP3

Playlist:

Jaydiohead - 99 Anthems
Steve Halliday - The Trees
Draw Me Stories - The You & Me Theatre
Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill
Apologies, I Have None - Bent Strings
Neuschwanstein - The Whole Sorry Mess
k-os - I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman
Aidan Smith - Words Waltz Like Flies
The Polyphonic Spree - Blurry
Chickenhawk - I Hate This, Do You Like It?
Scott Warren - Laugh Through The Pain
The Mountain Goats - Genesis 3:23

Quack Spout #13

2009-08-04T03:36:00.004+01:00

Download it, listen to it, smell it, whatever you like, it's a free country:

QUACK SPOUT #13 - MP3

Playlist:

Tiger Shadow - W'happen
I Remember Tapes - All I Know
Revengine - F(r)iend
M - Le Bapteme
Sullem Voe - California
Silence At Sea - Tell It To The King
The Cess Allan Band - Stanford
Unfinished Drawings - Currents
Campo-Formio - El Joke
Half-Handed Cloud - Feed Your Sheep a Burning Lamp
Monster Island - Getting Warmer
Coeur de Pirate - Comme Des Enfants

Quack Spout #12

2009-07-26T08:40:00.004+01:00

Good morning! I haven't been sleeping much of late, which means this Sunday's Quack Spout can be online nice and early to accompany hangovers and Sunday Roasts.

QUACK SPOUT #12 - MP3

Playlist:

Striking Minors - This Offer Excludes Northern Ireland
Blacklisters - Swords
Alex Valentine - Ghost
Connan and the Mockasins - Starlett Johansson
The Ascension - Temperament
Venus Mischiefs - Russian Bar
Toby Wainwright Johns - Pressed Flowers
Blue Wall - Efforts To Change Somebody
Lion O'Brien - This Is Our Time
Bowerbirds - Northern Lights
Loz Jones - Idiot Room
Son Capson - Vertical India
Rivulets - Win or Lose

Quack Spout #11

2009-07-16T01:43:00.006+01:00

Well, it's been a busy few weeks for me post-Glastonbury and at long last I have had some spare time to record another podcast with plenty of fantastic music, have a listen:

QUACK SPOUT #11 - MP3

Playlist:

Street Chant feat MC Stormtroopa - Black or White
Pocket Promise - Talkovertalking
The Little Darlings - Time and Chance
YouNoGoDie - Last Night a DJ Saved My Wife
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club - Parrot
Kelley Polar - Magic Dance
The Carletons - On To A Winner
Oxygen Thief - Too Many Trees
Pilots - Alarms
Science Bastard - Nail
Monster Island - The Blues Empire
Stornoway - Zorbing

Download the entire Michael Jackson tribute 'Moonlight, Good Times & Boogie' (featuring 1995, Golden Axe, Connan Mockasin and many more) at Cheese On Toast: HERE!

Moviedrone: Stallone

2009-07-13T23:12:00.003+01:00

Howdy,

Sorry about the lack of Quack Spout Podcastage of late, been surprisingly incredibly busy! After Glastonbury had to go to Cardiff and after Cardiff went to London and since I've been back there's been filming and rehearsals and all sorts of shenanigans. I'm currently catching up on the demos sat in my room and will get another podcast ready as soon as. In the meantime here's another project that will hopefully become a series (whether you like it or not!):

Quack Spout #10

2009-06-19T02:53:00.002+01:00

Well, this is a little out of the ordinary...

Firstly this Quack Spout is 2 days early. Secondly I had previously announced that this weekend's Spout would be late. Thirdly it means that there won't be a Quack Spout next weekend.

Find out the answers to all these bafflements by listening to this:

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER 10 - MP3

No Playlist This Week To Maintain Mystery!

Quack Spout #9

2009-06-14T16:49:00.005+01:00

Next week's Quackage will be a tad delayed as I'll be in Canterbury for the weekend, I hope everyone can cope! Fear not though, this week's online hoot is here now:

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER 9 - MP3

Playlist:

Ninjah - I Bless The Day I Found You
Oxygen Thief - Camerashy
These United States - West Won
Arrows Of Love - Burn This Town
Ohbijou - Tenderbones
Fol Chen - The Idiot
We Stole Cairo - 10.24
The Silent Committee - Regret
Green Go - Brains For Breakfast
Fashoda Crisis - Martin Luther King Zombie
Draw Me Stories - Comes & Smiles & Leaves
City Wolf - Where Is My Mind?

Side Salad...

2009-06-09T01:13:00.003+01:00

Just wanted to point your peepers in the direction of this:

HEDLUV

You can order Hedluv's amazing debut LP 'Cosmic Sounds' from his website for only 99p. That's 99p for one of the best independent recordings of 2008, a magical, nostalgic, barmy and memorable collection of quirky Casio-rap tunes on subjects such as cars, parties, Goldeneye on the N64 and sitting in the garden.

Read my review/interview (reviewterview?) with Hedluv here: GIITTV.

And do buy the record, it's fantastic!

Quack Spout #8

2009-06-07T16:44:00.005+01:00

After waking up very late in the afternoon, thanks to staying up watching 'The Plan 9 Companion', I wolfed down some scrambled eggs on toast, knocked back a coffee and proudly present...

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER 8 - MP3

Playlist:

Mikky Ekko - I Love You (I Always Have)
Teenagers - Starlett Johansson
Experimental Dental School - Earthquake
Here We Go Magic - Only Pieces
8bitbitchslap - Seizure
Don't Tread On Spiders - Together Again
Hi-Def T.V. - River's Gold
Mike Bones - What I Have Left
Madame Pamita - Willie the Chimney Sweeper
Foxes! - Who Killed Rob?
Colin MacIntyre - Calgary Bay
Land of Talk - Speak To Me Bones

You can keep up with all my happenings, as mundane and thrilling as those listed at the start of this blog, at my Twitter (Click here).

Side Notes...

2009-06-02T09:34:00.002+01:00

Found out that the wonderful band Bear Driver will be playing at this September's End of the Road festival; an event I was already planning on attending. Really looking forward to the festival anyway, it was fantastic last year, and it'll be great to hear Bear Driver live, I've had their Paws and Claws EP on heavy rotation at Duckpond Studios, and, of course, playing its lead track 'No Time To Speak' on Quack Spout #3.

Also thought I'd take this opportunity to make a plug for Them Squirrels, who I played on #6, their EP 'Them Scribbles' came out a couple of weeks ago and can be ordered by clicking HERE! They've also just played their first few live dates, hopefully they'll be travelling further afield soon as I'm really curious to see how JT's sound translates to a live performance.

Saw Sam Raimi's new flick 'Drag Me To Hell' and was compelled to review it over at Battle Royale With Cheese, and I've written up a review of Animals + War's self-titled demo LP over at God is in the TV, so read that as well, please!

Have a good one.

Owain. x

Quack Spout #7

2009-05-31T13:06:00.005+01:00

"It's so hot. Milk was a bad choice."

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER 7 - MP3

Playlist:

Hush the Many (Heed the Few) - Revolve
Shake My Hand - Invincible
The Mega Games Two - The Excitement of David Bowie
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club - Dress (Second Hand with Broken Zip and Oily Smudges)
Those Gay Hippies - Benjamin
Jape - Floating
Beat Radio - Teenage Anthem for the Drunken Boat
Labasheeda - Free Lunch
Safetyword - Flamin' Hoop
Dicks - Kill From The Heart
Animals + War - In a Play Park
Das Wanderlust - We're All Doomed

Also look at... In Transit: Das Wanderlust

Quack Spout #6

2009-05-24T22:08:00.007+01:00

You know the drill... What drill? The drill with the power. What power? The power of voodoo! Who do? You do? Do what? You know the drill...

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER SIX - MP3

Playlist:

Haunted Stereo - Childhood's End
Kotki Dwa - Idiot
Mahavira - Warhorse
Wish You Well - Ice Man
Pagan Wanderer Lu - The Tree of Knowledge
Them Squirrels - Behind Those Walls
The Chalets - Theme From Chalets
PJ & Gaby - A Collection of Thoughts
Suturee - Afraid of Hands
Arkells - The Ballad of Hugo Chavez
Threatmantics - Sali Mali
Midlake - Roscoe

Quack Spout #5

2009-05-18T01:04:00.005+01:00

Slightly past Sunday (my own personal deadline) but that's due to (a) being out at the Great Escape in order to find some of the fantastic bands contained with this MP3 and (b) performing in a play. Anyway, here's the latest:

QUACK SPOUT - NUMBER FIVE

Playlist:

Stretching Journey - 060
Supreme Vagabond Craftsman - Forest Punk
The Lovely Eggs - I Collect Snails
Liam Finn - I Will Explode
Ultimate Power Duo - Jack the Space/Time Continuum Ripper
Dan Mangan - Robots
Micachu and the Shapes - Golden Phone
The Voluntary Butler Scheme - Tabasco Sole
The Veils - Killed By The Boom
(Attack + Defend - Website Menu Music)
Cate Le Bon - Disappear
We Were Promised Jetpacks - It's Thunder and It's Lightning
James Yorkston - Temptation
Mull Historical Society (aka Colin MacIntyre) - Peculiar

Correction

2009-05-16T08:43:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately last week's podcast seemed to have somehow ended up short by about four and a half songs, the link has now been corrected in the post, or you can download the full length podcast from here:

QUACK SPOUT 4- MP3

(I've been using some different software to put the Spout together and thusly had a few quirks to iron out.)

Cheers.

Quack Spout #4

2009-05-10T23:48:00.008+01:00

Due to using new software to better 'mix' the tunes and my blah-blah-blah this one took a bit longer to process today, thought I'd get it under the wire, but I was wrong... Also my microphone is making a lot of noise, which hopefully isn't too frustrating and just reinforces the wonky, homemade nature of my hoots...

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER FOUR - MP3

Playlist:

Future of the Left - The Hope That House Built
Connan Mockasin - Sneaky Sneaky Dogfriend
Screaming Maldini - Secret Sounds
Evils - The End of the World
Julian Carax - Under the Sun
The Mae Shi - Run to Your Grave
Samsa - Sweet Disease
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You
The Twilight Sad - That Summer At Home, I Became the Invisible Boy
Emma Forman - Too Late
Misty's Big Adventure - The Kids Are Radioactive
Ben Kweller - Ice, Ice Baby
Holy Fuck - Casio Bossa Nova

Watch the In Transit sessions here: http://www.youtube.com/user/videogesicht

Quack Spout #3

2009-05-06T13:53:00.007+01:00

Back with a vengeance, or, at least, some great independent music:

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER THREE - MP3

Here's the playlist for what will be filling your lucky ears:

Ruby Suns - There Are Birds
The Inevitable Backlash - Silence Comes
Thomas Truax - Escape From The Orphanage
Bear Driver - No Time To Speak
Charlie Barnes - Oradour
Julian Carax - Stay Away (ETMX version)
Alex Dingley - Cotton Wool
Jack Rundell - The Bare-Ass Type
Laura Hocking - Loving Kills
Django Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time

Watch the In Transit sessions here: http://www.youtube.com/user/videogesicht

Also, here's a widget promoting the new EP Russian Roulette by Ed Harcourt:

Scooby Doo...

2009-05-05T20:54:00.002+01:00

Hi there,

I know you've all been having sleepless nights, but, fear not, Quack Spout and the Podcast still exist, I've just been sans internet for almost a month! But, today I got it back and there'll be a Podcast online tomorrow to compensate for the dearth of ramblings and fantastic unsigned music over these past four weeks, and then things should start getting back to (if two podcasts count as...) normal.

Hope all's well with you!

Owain.x

Quack Spout #2

2009-04-05T00:59:00.008+01:00

As of yet nothing has occured to discourage my delusions, so I can proudly (or near enough) present to you:

QUACK SPOUT NUMBER TWO - MP3

This edition features a few more Brighton based event previews, alongside random jabberings and some great music.

Playlist:

Eddie Halliday - Wandering
Fredrick Stanley Star - 500 Years
Pocket Promise - I Burnt The Roller Disco
Elspeth Anne Macrae - Clumsy Hands
Health - Heaven
Das Wanderlust - Humbug
Misty's Big Adventure - Between Me and You
Ed Harcourt - Mysteriously
Muarena Helena - Fragment
The Keys - My Pulsing Compass

Quack Spout #1

2009-03-29T17:15:00.004+01:00

I'm dabbling with the world of Podcasting, I'm not sure about this, so all feedback is welcome, but this is the debut Quack Spout Podcast, enjoy! (Playlist below)

QUACK SPOUT - NUMBER ONE MP3

Playlist:

Attack + Defend - River Arrow
The Weather In Sweden - Twentysomethings
Hedluv - H30LUV
Kate Goes - Heartbeat
Duke Raoul - How Frightful
Charlot Webster - Dreamboat
Joy Of Sex - A Briefing
Colourmusic - Gospel Song
Threatmantics - Little Bird
Agnes Kain - All Time High

Other Writings...

2009-03-24T09:55:00.002Z

Morning all,

Here are some recent writings for a number of other websites I contribute to, t'would be greatly appreciated if you'd have a gander when you have some spare time:

The Celluloid President written for Battle Royale With Cheese
A look at the representation of the American president on the silver screen in recent times.

My Festival Year 2009 written for God Is In The TV
A preview of the music festivals across the country that I'll be attending.

A Look Back To The Future written for Battle Royale With Cheese
A material viewpoint on the first installment of the classic 80's time-travel comedy.

Ta ta!

Owain.x

The 'What I Had For Dinner' Project Blog - 200th Day

2009-03-09T03:48:00.002Z

Not a particularly momentous meal to mark the 200th day of the infamous 'What I Had For Dinner' project, but a tasty one nonetheless and a bottle of wine too... not intentionally however, I only realised this was the 200th day of the project (not the 200th meal due to non-dinner days) as I uploaded the photo to my computer.

So, this means there are only 165 dinners remaining, only 165 photos and only 3 more Facebook albums to create with 'hilarious' titles referencing movie sequels.

My Traditional 'Most Anticipated Films' List - Part Two (Preview)

2009-02-14T10:46:00.003Z

Well, having just moved to Brighton and being a tad full of activity and procrastination and part-time employment, there's been a slight delay getting this list out there and - as a result - I've seen some of the films I was eagerly awaiting come the end of 2008 (I shall include them and my thoughts, and I've added a couple of other flicks that have entered my interest). Anyway, without further ado and in no particular order...

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This has been on my 'most anticipated' list for a few years now, it's one of those ones that has - understandably now - been pushed back and back, it shall always be tagged as Heath Ledger's last film, but I'm hoping it's another on form Terry Gilliam movie, the concept sounds wonderful, the look of the few stills and set-snaps released so far is great and it has Tom Waits in it as the devil!

Where The Wild Things Are

Another delayed release, Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book looks to have captured the kind of magic that the Jim Henson company bottled for Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, with a bit of the fluffiness of The Neverending Story thrown in for good measure. Jonze also seems to be keenly aware that a good children's film is dark and grown-up whilst still being fantastical, and hopefully he will get to fully realise his vision and all those talks of studio worries are just hearsay.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Here's one film I have now seen, I've been keeping an eye on this project for a while and seen a few director's names attached to it, the story appealed to me generally and I thought Fincher was a fine choice of helmsman. In the end the film is a technical marvel, visually stunning but a little cold emotionally. Many have compared it to Forrest Gump, but I felt that Gump managed to push the emotional buttons a little better than Button, though I think Fincher never intended to make something as sentimental as Zemeckis' Oscar winner.

Synedoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich, returns with his directorial debut, and another film that seems - like Benjamin Button - to examine an entire life, albeit here in a more linear yet no less bizarre fashion. I'm still not entirely sure what the film is about, all I know is I can't wait.

JCVD

It's out on DVD now and hopefully I'll get around to watching it soon, but this film has been received raves recently for the film's look and - shockingly - the performance of Jean Claude Van Damme as he honestly and self-deprecatingly dismantles his own life and career in a darkly comic heist movie!?

The Box

There's something about Richard Kelly's follow-up to Donnie Darko - Southland Tales - that keeps me going back to it, it's awfully paced, ropily acted, the plot's a mess and it's way too long, but I find myself watching it more than most movies. I'm hoping he's put together a genuinely good film here, spring-boarding from a Richard Matheson short into a 70s-set thriller starring the dependable James Marsden and Cameron Diaz.

Sherlock Holmes

I'm not a Guy Ritchie fan, but I do love Robert Downey Jr. and Sherlock Holmes and foggy Victorian England romps, so hopefully this'll gel together nicely with this spin on Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective. I'm hoping this'll be a nice counterpoint to the brilliant and under-rated Young Sherlock Holmes.

The Brothers Bloom

I haven't seen Brick, I know I should. This looks like great fun and stars the always watchable Adrien Brody and the equally always watchable Mark Ruffalo as two con men, it seems to have an easy, quirky charm.

Milk

Sean Penn's performance eclipsed this film, which is - as I have seen it - a very well made biography of the first openly gay politician Harvey Milk, it has a fabulous supporting cast including Josh Brolin and James Franco, and a genuinely moving story and hopefully will pick up a few awards come Oscar season.

Kick-Ass

Matthew Vaughn directed the over-looked and magical Stardust, one of the best subversions of the fairy-tale genre since The Princess Bride and now he's turning his hand to superheroes with this graphic novel adaptation from the creator of Wanted. It looks barking mad from the few photos released and hopefully will mark the turnaround of Nic Cage's career (he has a supporting role).

The Spirit

Another one I've already seen, read my defense of it by CLICKING HERE!

Religulous

I enjoy a good documentary and this one looks like a funny investigation of how different people approach religion. It seems to be getting a bit of stick from some critics for being a bit too light, but I see this as a nice primer before having a look at some other interesting and thematically similar docs; check out Jesus Camp, it will scare you stupid!

Crank 2: High Voltage

The first Crank is (just over Taken) the finest guilty-pleasure of the 21st Century thus far, and hopefully this sequel will deliver more lunatic charm as Jason Stathan's presumed-dead hitman Chev Chelios finds his heart replaced by some kind of battery powered contraption that needs constant jolts of electricity to keep him ticking. I wasn't too sure about the recently released trailer, but I won't feel as ashamed as I probably should when I go to see this on opening day!

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Stop-motion is in good stead this year with this and the critically adored Coraline on the way, not very much is known about how this is good to look yet, I'm feeling quite certain this may end up on next year's most-anticipated list, but I really hope it comes out this year. It's being directed by Wes Anderson and, of course, is an adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's book.

Knowing

Always dangerous looking forward to a Nic Cage movie, but with this and Kick-Ass on the way I'm hoping this is a better year for Cage than having Ghost Rider, Next and The Wicker Man in quick succession! Knowing, I hope, also marks a return to form for Alex Proyas who directed the excellent The Crow and Dark City but has floundered of late with I, Robot and Garage Days.

Watchmen

Another project I've had my peepers on for a while, it was one that Terry Gilliam developed for a time and ultimately decided it should be a mini-series. Then Paul Greengrass took the helm and got very close to a version I really, really wanted to see. Now Zack Snyder has actually managed to film the thing and I'm curious but uncertain; the cast is great, the visuals look good, the marketing has been smart but I was not a fan of 300 though Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake was surprisingly effective.

The Wrestler

I was dissapointed by this, Mickey Rourke's performance is great, though his face is distracting at times, but overall the film was rather bland and Marisa Tomei is awful in her supporting role, alongside some very heavy-handed and terribly written scenes that layer on religous allegory with a trowel and Baseketball-like use of songs as Rourke drives around. I guess this is what happens when nobody goes to see a film as beautiful and heart-breaking as Aronofsky's previous effort The Fountain.

Star Trek

This looks like good fun, I don't really care about what they 'do' to Star Trek, I just hope J.J. Abrams puts together a ride as entertaining as his entry into the Mission: Impossible franchise and I'll be happily munching popcorn.

The Year One

Jack Black and Michael Cera are cave-men in this high/low-concept comedy from Harold Ramis who seems to have assembled a good cast to pull him out of the doldrums of fare like Bedazzled and Analyze That. I'm not expecting a classic here really, just a good solid laugh.

Che

I saw part one and it was pretty good; an interesting historical document but we learn next to nothing about the man the film is named after. I'm looking forward to part two, but I understand why - after it's Cannes success - this film has kind of drifted off of awards radars.

Hamlet 2

A Sundance hit last year, Steve Coogan plays a teacher who tries to revive his flagging career by putting together a brazen, brash and bonkers musical sequel to Shakespeare's most famous play.

The Princess and the Frog

Hand drawn 2D animated Walt Disney returns with this New Orleans set fairy-tale update, which looks like a throwback to the early 90s-era of Disney animation (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, etc.).

Terminator: Salvation

Charlie's Angels director McG seems to have put together a welcome continuation of the man vs. machines saga, finally taking us to see what all this Future War stuff is about. The recently released trailer looks like the action is being handled well, and the cast will hopefully lend it some gravitas and, regarding his recent outburst, though he over-reacted I'm on Mr. Bale's side.

Bruno

Sacha Baron Cohen puts his neck on the line again this time as gay TV host Bruno, he'll be exposing people's dormant prejudices once more in faux-documentary style and hopefully it'll be as successful as the surprisingly enjoyable Borat movie.

Up

Pixar's next, it looks interesting, though very little has been revealed thus far beyond a brief look at the character dynamics of the grumpy old man and the eager, wide-eyed boy scout; but it should be fun.

Coraline

Henry Selick returns to feature length stop-motion animation after mixing live-action into the pretty good James and the Giant Peach and the misguided but interesting Monkeybone. Here he adapts Neil Gaiman's spooky children's story, filming it in 3D for a film that some critics are already hailing as a classic.

Nailed

I am always interested in David O'Russell's work, I've enjoyed every film he's done so far, with each new release out-doing the one before; I don't think he can top I Heart Huckabees in my opinion, but I look forward to see what he's come up with.

Extract

The new Mike Judge film after the unfairly treated cult-classic Idiocracy, the man really knows how to put together a sharp, wry and strange comedy so this should be worth a gander.

Moon

David Bowie's son directs two Sam Rockwells in this wonderfully mad sounding sci-fi that seems to be picking up the mantle where the 70s left off and delivering something truly different.

My Traditional 'Most Anticipated Films' List - Part One (Review)

2009-01-19T20:23:00.001Z

On my old blog I used to (I may have done it about two or three years running) always write up a list of films I was looking forward to over the coming year, and then review the previous year's list of most anticipated films and see if they lived up to my own, personal hype. I'm going to continue that centuries old tradition here for the sake of clinging onto the past. But I shall divvy it up into two posts, the first will review my 'Most Anticipated Films of 2008' and the second shall be my all new list of films. So, without furtherado let's jump in the way back machine and see what I was looking forward to at the end of 2007...

1. Blindness (dir. Fernando Meirelles)

My most anticipated film ended up being the last film I saw at the cinema in 2008, and though it was a well made, brilliantly acted film that stuck very closely to Jose Saramago's masterwork of a novel, it just lacked enough of an impact to really make it feel essential; and where many people spoke of it being too bleak I didn't feel it was quite bleak enough! It sits in the same category as 'Children of Men' but has nowhere near the wallop of that masterpiece.

2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (dir. Steven Spielberg)

A huge dissapointment. I do want to give it one last spin on DVD before putting the final nail on my opinion; this was the first Indy film I saw at the cinema and was a garish, poorly plotted, muddled and CG-saturated affair that had a tiny handful of good bits, but was generally quite embarassing.

3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (dir. Julian Schnabel)

An incredible, visceral, beautiful, emotive film that keeps growing in my conciousness as a truly special movie that I want to point other people towards and Mathieu Almaric deserved much more recognition than he got for an amazing performance; amazing in how much he conveys doing so little.

4. There Will Be Blood (dir. P.T. Anderson)

Anderson evolved as a director with this, I am curious as to his next move; but this is a film that shall last.

5. Persepolis (dir. Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi)

This got nudged aside at the last minute by Waltz With Bashir for the 'coveted' title of best animated film of the year, but it's still a fascinating, individual and personal tale brilliantly told and drawn.

6. The Dark Knight (dir. Christopher Nolan)

Highly enjoyable with some great performance, but really I felt like this was a strange mash-up of 'Batman Returns' and 'Heat' and whilst that seemed to be what many people wanted, it wasn't quite the mind-blowing experience many others thought it to be.

7. Teeth (dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein)

I've been harping on about this being 'the modern Heathers', it's a exploitational tale told in a smart, restrained and often surreal way. It's blackly comic, bold and confrontational, with scenes shifting style at will. It sparked a small whimper of debate, but I think it will have legs on DVD.

8. Be Kind Rewind (dir. Michel Gondry)

A very uneven film, yet highly watchable thanks to Mos Def's charismatic leading turn and Gondry's lo-fi visual kinetics. A bit of fluff inbetween, I expect, better work from Gondry.

9. Son of Rambow (dir. Garth Jennings)

Absolutely charming love-letter to the 80s, cinema, childhood and the power of the imagination with some of the best child performances in a while and some delightfully barmy sequences; Will Proudfoot's first bonkers imagining post-Rambo always makes me grin like a loon. Garth Jennings really captured the flighty, crazy logic of a young boy's imagination.

10. No Country For Old Men / Burn After Reading (dir. The Coen Brothers)

No Country... was a great, stark thriller very similar to the Coen's earliest film, Blood Simple. Burn After Reading was a messy, misjudged, awkward, starry 'comedy' more akin to recent dissapointments like Intolerable Cruelty.

11. Tropic Thunder (dir. Ben Stiller)

A bit of a mess, only Downey Jr. really seemed to get a hook on his character and the film ran with that in the marketting department. Otherwise it has moments, but isn't as inspired overall as Zoolander.

12. Jumper (dir. Doug Liman)

Much like the first X-Men film this feels very incomplete, I wouldn't object to a sequel as there was a story just starting to take shape here. Hayden Christensen wasn't unbearable, but the film was stolen by Jamie Bell's far superior co-jumper.

13. Wall-E (dir. Andrew Stanton)

A great film, but not quite the incendiary re-shaping of the way we perceive animation that I was expecting... the satire, similar in ways to Mike Judge's Idiocracy was a nice, dark touch in a surprisingly sweet film.

14. Synedoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman)

Released in 2009.

15. The Happening (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

My word, this was a terrible film. I look forward to renting this with some friends, drinking a lot, eating pizzas and hopefully laughing our heads off. Because watching this in the cinema was a painful, baffling experience.

16. Inkheart (dir. Iain Softley)

A very book bound movie, adapted, as it was, from a novel; this doesn't managed to reshape its source material into a compelling film, but does have a good share of ideas and a really great performance by Paul Bettany.

17. Where the Wild Things Are (dir. Spike Jonze)

Released in 2009 (hopefully)!

18. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (dir. Guillermo Del Toro)

Upped the monster quota and had some grander, better set-pieces that the first film, this kind of fudged it in the emotional and story stakes with some real gaping plot-holes and some awkward character arcs.

19. Dante 01 (dir. Marc Caro)

This went straight to video and I still haven't got around to watching it...

20. Coraline (dir. Henry Selick)

Released in 2009.

Seat 13 - Issue One

2009-01-17T23:08:00.004Z

Back in October I started thinking, very seriously, about putting together a film magazine. I e-mailed some people I thought might write for it, I also spoke to a gallery about getting cover art from one of their artists, and the response I got from everyone was so positive that the magazine move forward at quite a rapid pace.

Things got a little delayed, which, in the end, turned out to be beneficial. I found a couple of additional contributions that I really like, and started e-mailing a couple of printers. The cost of doing a professional print-run though seemed a little steep, so I thought about tackling all the printing myself. After printing out two and a bit issues I realised that I'd be spending a small fortune on ink so went to my local photocopiers and got twenty issues (bar the cover which I am still printing myself) done there. It was around this time that I started to think; I hope I can sell some advertising space in issue two!

I'm really proud of the magazine, I love how its all turned out, I'm really pleased with the quality of the articles and contributions, I am so thankful to everyone who has contributed to this first issue and I look forward to collaborating with them again on future issues. But, there's that whole tricky business of trying to sell something that is home-made and the cynicism that you can face as a result. My instinct was to charge £2 an issue, but, after a friend had a look at a draft copy we agreed that £1 was probably more realistic in a way... though, from a recouping costs point if view, not so!

What I hope with this first issue is that I can get a small audience that will want to read the next issue, this first issue is special in that I don't think issue two will be advert free, I don't think issue two will have the same paper for the cover and maybe I will go to a printers for the whole affair. This has been a real learning experience, I wish I had the resources to keep producing the magazine to a similar level, but I know now I've got to find that middle-ground between ambition and finances.

If anyone reading this would like to buy a copy you can order it by clicking HERE.

You can also join the Facebook group HERE.

Records Of The Year 2008

2009-01-06T21:43:00.006Z

Following on from my favourite films of 2008, I now present to you my favourite records of the year, this time in alphabetical order by artist (with links to my original reviews where appropriate):

Beck - Modern Guilt

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Colourmusic - f, monday, orange, february, venus, lunatic, 1 or 13

Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles

Alex Dingley - I Lost My Honey In The Grass

Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords

Fredrick Stanley Star - Heaviside Layer

Hedluv - Cosmic Sounds

Joan As Police Woman - To Survive

Kate Goes - Happy Dancing EP

Elspeth Anne Macrae - Wood Closet Songs EP

Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash

Rivulets - You Are My Home

Shearwater - Rook

Threatmantics - Upbeat Love

The Voluntary Butler Scheme - Tomatoes, Pepper, Garlic + Mushrooms EP

The Weather In Sweden - I Break The Ice, I Broke Your Heart

James Yorkston - When The Haar Rolls In

Films of the Year 2008

2009-01-01T15:16:00.006Z

Well, 2008 is now done and dusted, and so I shall be posting my 'Best Of' lists. I'm going to start with my favourite films that I saw at the cinema over the past 365 days, feel free to comment, complain or compliment my choices!

1. The Fall

The second feature from music video and commercials director Tarsem, after the visually stunning yet in-all-other-aspects flawed 'The Cell', is an absolutely amazing film that completely surprised me in its spectacle and heart. It is a story about storytelling in much the same way as 'The Princess Bride' yet the story being told is an escape for both characters; a little girl (best child performance I have ever seen) with a broken arm and a stunt-man suffering serious depression. In its fantasy sequences it is a work of art, pushing its visuals as far as it pushes the emotions, and in its reality sequences it is tender, dark and heart-breaking stuff. I truly hope this film finds an audience on DVD because it is one of the best films I have ever seen.

2. Die Welle

Critics seem to be giving 'Die Welle' a hard time in a similar way to 'The Fall', for all its effect this film has been criticised for the archetypes it presents, but, for me, I found that to be a huge part of its power. The impetus for this film is a real experiment conducted by a teacher in his class asking the question about whether another dictatorship could arise in modern Germany, and his class seem sure that it couldn't and he goes farther than he expected in proving them wrong. The use of highly identifiable, almost American teen movie, archetypes here is what made the film so affecting, in some ways this is a John Hughes movie gone very, very wrong! But, more seriously, it is a troubling and provactive drama brilliantly acted by a great ensemble.

3. The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly

Another true story, this one tells of Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffered a stroke and had to live with an almost totally paralyzed body at the age of 43. Thanks to a nurse he managed to dictate his story, his thoughts and feelings, by the blinking of one eyelid and what he produced, and what director Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, another over-looked masterwork) has adapted here is a truly human, beautiful and uplifting story.

4. In Bruges

I never would have thought a 'gangster' movie would have made my top 5, but this is not another bog-standard Guy Ritchie clone. Taking the dark comedy to wonderful, sweary, violent and offensive heights this is the surprisingly touching, and laugh-out-loud hilarious tale of two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, both excellent) sent to the quiet Belgian town of Bruges to lay low, they don't quite succeed.

5. There Will Be Blood

There's probably not much more I can say about this film than has been said already, such was the awards frenzy around it and, in particular, Daniel Day Lewis's monumental performance. But this film truly marked Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) as a truly great and incredibly versatile director, Lord knows how he's going to follow this!?

6. Wanted

A Matrix-lite action movie starring James MacAvoy and Angelina Jolie from the director of Nightwatch? Here's another film I never expected to make my top 10, but 'Wanted' did what so few action movies of current times have done; be fun. A great throwback to 80s action cinema but with 21st century flourishes, this is unashamedly over-the-top, violent and often funny with a charismatic lead turn from MacAvoy and great support, especially from Morgan Freeman. It's not going to change the world, but it's one of the best beer and pizza films in ages.

7. Waltz With Bashir

Visually stunning, this animated documentary seemed to be just a curiosity, but it is one of the best examinations of the effect of war on a soldier and the existential crisis that can follow since the work of Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller.

8. Teeth

Even moreso than 'Wanted' I would say this film is not going to be for everyone! This tale of the vagina dentata seems to switch genre with every scene and is held together by the wonderful performance of Jess Weixler. But this film is one of the finest and edgiest dark teen comedies since 'Heathers'.

9. Son Of Rambow

A great family movie which is both a love-letter to the 80s as it is a celebration of the kind of family-movies the British Children's Film Workshop used to produce on an almost weekly basis! With two wonderful child performances (with this, The Fall, Eden Lake, Somer's Town, I think 2008 may have been an amazing year for young actors) and so much warmth, wit and heart this film will hopefully live a long life as a film for all generations, or at least, all those who fondly remember Rambo!

10. The Orphanage

Another great child performance here from Simon Princep, as the son who goes missing and causes a truly spooky and chilling journey to take place in this throwback to good old haunted house horrors, but with an intelligence often missing from similar efforts. Beyond all of that though 'The Orphanage' makes this top ten by being really, really, really scary and not just relying on cheap shocks - well, there is one scene that will make you jump, laugh it off and then really jump!

11. Man On Wire

Another documentary that is a brilliant study of artistic passion and ambition, building towards a dazzling, vertigo-inducing and magical piece of performance art on a tiny wire stretched between the World Trade Centre towers. An excellently told story that paints a funny, stunning and occasionally sad portrait of obsession.

12. The Mist

Another film I think will grow and grow on home cinema formats. This is the first time that Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) has adapted a Stephen King horror story and he does so in uncompromising fashion, making the key choice that in all 'scary' situations it's other people you have to fear the most rather than whatever supernatural creature may be trying to eat you! With an excellent cast and a dark heart this is a modern horror classic akin to John Carpenter's 'The Thing'.

13. Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle genres hops again, after sci-fi (Sunshine) and zombies (28 Days Later), by going Bollywood with this touching, heart-warming, funny, sad and beautiful tale of a young man who finds himself going from India's slums to the last question on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'. He is interrogated by the police as to how he's 'cheated' his way into this position and he relates his life story to them, explaining how each question has had some relevance in his journey.

14. Persepolis

Adaptation of the graphic novel about an outspoken young girl growing up during the Islamic revolution, similar to Art Spiegelman's graphic novel 'Maus', this features Marjane Satrapi's family telling a range of tales about survival and support, and Marjane relating her own up-rooted sense of self in a strange time to be a young girl and a teenager. Beautifully animated and respectfully told, this is a truly unique film.

15. Wall-E

Not quite the incredible experience I was expecting, nevertheless, Pixar manage to make another dazzling animated feature that surprises by managing to be one of the year's finest romances (between two robots) and a very dark satire on the future of the human-race. Above all this is funny and heart-warming, though I personally still wished that the entire film was a silent movie and that they had used live-action actors for the humans all the way through.

The 'What I Had For Dinner' Project Blog - Tuesday 14th October 2008

2008-10-14T00:00:00.008+01:00

Well, I'm back from Germany and it was a rather confusing week with regards to the 'WIH4D' project (as the cool kids are calling it). I had rather a few late lunches that meant dinner was either non-existent and/or alcohol based, once it was nibbles and once there was a post-drinking snack (called a Tasche I believe, from Efe's in Gottingen, bloomin' lovely it was too), but generally I became a tad bewildered by when I was actually dinnering and when I eventually had a dinner at the usual dinner time on Saturday night I completely forgot to take a photo of it; so we have had the first ever 'Artist's Impression' entry into the project.

But I'm back in Cardiff now and things are in their usual state, starting with a humongous portion of vegetable rissotto accompanied by a sizable tear-n-share tomato bread that I tore but not, er, shore.

I am now probably going to stay up all night even though I start work in six hours, I have to shave my face (stupid work's no stubble policy) and iron my clothes (stupid work's no creases policy) and then work for seven hours (stupid work's no not going to work because you don't feel like it policy).

Ah well, another day another dinner, folks! Watch this plate.

Owain. x

The 'What I Had For Dinner' Project Blog - Sunday 5th October 2008

2008-10-05T16:45:00.006+01:00

It's day 46 of the project and we're about to reach another interesting week as I'm off to Germany on Tuesday morning and we shall have - when I return - a collection of intercontinental photographs. It's a quite unexpected, exciting and nerve-wracking trip and it will be the first time I have been on a plane since I was 3 years old. (All my other European trips have been by ferry or train.)

We've had a couple of other 'landmarks' over the past week, including the first evening so far where I had nothing for dinner and the first ever guest photographer on the project; JT from the band Attack + Defend.

So, hopefully when I return from Germany there will be an interesting array of new meals to upload (I tried to buy more memory for my camera but it's too old to cope with the now-standard 2GB cards!).

Hope you're all eating well.

Owain. x

The 'What I Had For Dinner' Project Blog - Friday 19th September 2008

2008-09-19T17:27:00.004+01:00

aka. Dark (Dinner) Times

There have been some good meals of late, I've perfected my rissotto technique a little (knocking up a very nice white wine flavour with chef-like ignorance), I had a fantastic vegetarian breakfast one evening (though the scrambled eggs were a bit runnier than usual) and I was very proud of the cold homemade pizza I took away with me.

We've had a few repeat appearances - which was inevitable, the question now is 'What will be my most repeated meal?' - and we've had one slight slip-up when I was too preoccupied to photograph one dinner and ultimately took a photo of my midnight snack. Well, I took a photo of a midnight pitta bread and salad, took one bite and then spat it into my bin. (I was camping at the End of the Road Festival and this salad and been prepared before I left, it had not aged well!) So, eventually that dinner entry was a bag of crisps I ate in my tent at midnight. I feel quite bad about this because what I had for dinner that night was very nice, it was a bourek from a regular festival-based eatery called Moorish Feast. Only the 'Rocket Special' pizza from the weekend trip made it onto the project, as most of my fancy food was purchased at lunchtime. Still, there will be an opportunity come next year's festival season to make up for these oversights!

The following week is going to be a very interesting (if worrying) one for this project as I have no money and won't be getting paid until the end of next week, so, expect some meals scraped from the bottom of the barrel!

Hope all's well with you.

Owain. x

The 'What I Had For Dinner' Project Blog - Sunday 7th September 2008

2008-09-07T17:28:00.005+01:00

Afternoon all,

Those of you who are my Facebook friends may be aware of a photo gallery I have been updating daily called 'The 'What I Had For Dinner' Project'; it is, quite simply, a photo journal of what I have for dinner (aka. the post-afternoon meal) each day. I have the grand intention of keeping this food diary for one whole year, well, just over so I can end on the day I started, except in 2009, because otherwise I'd have time-travelled and, cool though that may be, it would just be odd and inconvenient and would mean I'd only been documenting my dinner for one day, yet I would have 366 photos... so it'd be exactly like the end of the film 'Contact'. Except with photos of my dinner. Other than that, EXACTLY like the end of the film 'Contact'.

I've decided to include this blog entry to try and lure outside people into the seedy world of my food photography (the gallery should be accessible to all by clicking on these words) and to give perhaps a little more 'insight' into my fears and paranoias relating to this foodblog, or flog, or waste of time (delete as appropriate).

I was recently told that the new issue of the New Scientist (the New New Scientist) featured an article about photographing ones meals, and I was both dismayed that someone had ripped me off but pleased that this kind of strange behavior was newsworthy in a positive sense. Anyway, for those who care the article can be read HERE. There are a number of differences between the food diaries reported about in the article and my own project, but it is true that I have become very conscious of what I am eating (but only at dinner time, I had two Double Deckers at lunch) and I am not looking forward to the moment when I eat something that I've already had before, it feels like a bit of a defeat and I fear that defeat may happen tonight. I am also aware that I've been a tad frivilous with my money and my budget for the following weeks pre-payday is going to be a lot stricter, and thus the repetition in my meals may increase as a result of laziness. This dramatic downsizing occurs because of a weekend trip that's eating up (no pun intended, but now accepted) my food budget.

Tonight marks 'Dee Suvun-teeen'* (as the Big Brother voiceover man would say) of the project and it is strange to look back at yesterday's photograph and think; 'That wasn't yesterday? Surely? That seems like forever ago! Yet where did today go?'

Right, I've got a few things to do before I embark upon the grand mission of dinner, hope you're well whatever you may be up to.

Owain. x

*Day Seventeen

Hello

2008-08-21T15:12:00.004+01:00

Here you will find anything I feel like writing about, it will most likely be related to 'culture' in general, and hopefully towards anything being worked on at Duckpond Studios.

This is the first post and I don't have anything to say just yet, but stay tuned... something will happen soon.

King of the Ducks. x