I’m Here: Giving an arm and a leg

I’m here is the latest work of Spike Jonze, a 30 minute short about robots sponsored by Absolut Vodka. The film is still viewable online, where if Facebook is granted access, the viewer adopts the persona of a cinema goer attending one of the film’s initial screenings.

I’m here is the tale of  lonely librarian robot Sheldon (Andrew Garfield) whose perceived redundancy leaves him watching a  world he wishes to interact with pass him by. Seemingly set in an alternate present, many of the walking robots resemble bulkier machines circa the 1990′s. The plot of the short centres around a blossoming relationship between Sheldon and the more ‘free spirited’ fembot Francesca (Sienna Guillory) who shows him that robots are more than capable of enjoying the more human aspects of everyday life. There are still complications in the consequences of their actions, which ultimately leads to several instances of loss and direct sacrifice in what amounts to be a fairly one-sided relationship.

There is a childlike quality to the robots in this short, childlike in their wide-eyed appearance but also in their behaviour. There is also a definite sense of naivety in both of the lead characters. Francesca desires to experience the human aspects of the world, while Sheldon, in awe of her, conforms to her every whim. Unfortunatly, it is this naivety in exploring the fringes of human impulsion that they find themselves damaged by the fleshier variety of individual.

We can sympathise with Sheldon’s complete over reliance on Francesca and her initiatives –  in that the life he led before meeting her was not much of a life at all. It is hard not to grow tiresome of Francesca’s apparent disregard for her own being and lack of respect for the sacrifices that have been made for her. In any case though, sacrifices are made so naturally that they are less affecting than they should be. Despite this though, the emotion conveyed by both characters seems genuine enough within the confines of the alternate world that a sense of empathy is evoked in their continued attempts to ‘live’ creatively together despite their limitations.

In short, this is a fairly traditional tale of an introverted man-robot falling for an extroverted fembot with some downplayed but substantial sacrifices made in the name of (blind) love. Nevertheless, it’s pleasant and affecting enough to warrant a viewing.

Spotify: advantages and disadvantages

Why I like Spotify…

and why I could like it more.

For a long while now I’ve been a Spotify convert, trading in my library and the consistent foobar2000. Here are the main reasons that i like Spotify and some that make life harder.

1. Free Music

Technically the music isn’t free, either the user subscribes and receives access to certain features or the visual and audio advertisements pay for the music. However, the immediate access to millions of tracks makes this seem like a small price to pay. In a sense Spotify has revolutionised the music industry, reducing the need for ownership – if you are of the inclination that owning digital versions of songs equates to physically owning them. Playlists provide the functionality of the service allowing users to save their favourite streamed tracks for ease of access.

The ‘fairness’ of this business model has been questioned, with it being claimed that Spotify favours major and ‘bigger indie’ labels as they possess equity in the company. Some smaller labels receive ‘no minimum per stream’ and only get a 50% share of ad revenue on a pro-rata basis’ (read the article from last year here)

2. Everything’s in one place.

One of the key problems that Spotify encountered is that in the initial stages where large amounts of music were still being added (as they are to this day) users would have to skip between Spotify and their favourite media players in order to listen to what they wanted to. Now, Spotify functions like a typical – yet simple and stylish – media player and allows users to add their music libraries. There is even a tagging service available to help organise added material.

3. Social Networking

Since Spotify made it possible to import Facebook friends Spotify has become not just a media player but a tool used for sharing and discovery (and it’s legal!). Users can view each other’s listening habits, view/subscribe to each other’s playlists and even recommend music to friends via the ‘inbox’ feature, which also allows attached messages to be added for context. I do think the next step though, is to enable two way messages for the inbox feature. It is often annoying that I can’t reply directly to someone when they take the time to recommend music to me.

4. Last.fm Intergration

While Last.fm offers many of the features that Spotify does, it is nowhere near as convenient in terms of availability of music. However, Last.fm’s all inclusive and user-generated nature means that as soon as a certain piece of music is listened to, it is registered – providing the same people fix the tags and information. This has grand implications for the service Last.fm provides in terms of recommendations, an area which as yet, Spotify has failed to equal. It could be argued though, that with Last.fm intergration, anything beyond the basic recommendations provided by Spotify is just a form fill away.

5. Mobile Use

As is the case for most services now, there are now Spotify app’s for portable devices. This means that users can play music on demand and on the go. Unfortunately, in order to use Spotify on their phones users must be premium subscribers, which I would assume is a put off for many but for those who are willing to pay the potential convenience is unrivaled.

And now for the aspects I don’t like..

1. The advertising

While advertising is the reason this service exists in the model that it does it is also one of its biggest drawbacks and often cited ‘turn offs’ for non users. Specifically, it is the radio type advertisements that I refer to, which given a certain listening scenario, have the potential to be extremely annoying. Imagine you are listening to a concept album, the sudden shift in mood is likely to disrupt the experience. For those simply listening to randomly assembled playlists however, this isn’t likely to be an issue. It is of course a necessary evil for those wishing to avoid subscription fees.

2. Availability of music

While Spotify continues to upload thousands of songs weekly, there are some artists who’s back catalogs are not adequately represented or represented at all for that matter. In order to stream music, licenses must be acquired and for some bands this has not been the case. For some, it is a case of only new material being available but in others if it weren’t for the considerations of licenses in the background, the availability of music would sometimes seem quite arbitrary. On occasion, artists are only represented by entries in compilations that Spotify has acquired the rights to but often, these compilations seem to cease to be available which can be annoying if you’ve added any of the included tracks to playlists.

3. Podcasts

A major drawback for individuals who subscribe to podcasts on a regular basis is Spotify’s inability to download, store and play them. While this remains a key feature of Itunes, Spotify have made it clear that their primary goal at present is to continue to expand their library of music (check out their FAQ) – which in fairness is the core of the service. Spotify users wishing to subscribe to podcasts will have to continue to use external services. There is a similar problem for users wishing to display automated lyrics via Spotify. However, if typing the name of the song into google is too much of a hardship, a 3rd party tool called ‘List DJ’ (semi) adequately displays lyrics and it looks as though it’s part of Spotify.

4. Search ambiguity

While the title of this section says ‘ambiguity’ the Spotify search is not hard to refine. It is however, annoying that instead of being presented with a drop down menu or check box, to search for a specific artist, album or song, the terms must be used as prefix’s (e.g. artist:dinosaur jr.)  if accurate results are to be found. Until recently I had just searched the term and trawled through the host of results until I came to the relevant one. While this is a small issue, one of Spotify’s plusses is its minimalist design and ease of use. I can’t help but think a small option for an advanced search, showing users their options and allowing them to filter music would be well received, instead of having to combine search syntax (the list of possible syntax can be found here).

5. Tags

While this is another small grievance, another of Spotify’s annoying tendencies is incorrectly tagged  tracks. This seems to be apparent mainly for tracks which include some form of collaboration between artists. (For example, there are various ‘Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip’ tags). The problem here for people who like to scrobble their music is that they can’t edit the tags of spotify hosted songs. This is why I have a  number of plays by ‘The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt‘, a band that don’t exist without an added exclamation mark on the end of their name. In this example though, the incorrectly tagged listing has more listeners than the correct one. I’m guessing that Spotify is the reason. Maybe tighter collaboration between Spotify and Last.fm is needed, they really do compliment each other.

There it is, if anyone has anything to contribute please do so.

Hellboy fantasy soundtrack

As you may see I like making these. Here is an attempted Hellboy playlist.

Click Here for the Spotify Playlist

1. Screaming Trees – Halo of Ashes

2. Swervedriver – Last Train to Satansville

3. Pixies – Broken Face

4. Soul Coughing – Monster Man

5. The Cure – World War

6. Mogwai – Hunted By A Freak

7. Soundgarden – Rusty Cage

8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tatoo

9. Serge Gainsbourg – Nazi Rock

List: Top 10 zombie movies

Like many people of late, I am a fan of the zombie genre. Here are my 10 favourite movies, with trailers and because it was hard for me to choose, there are also three ‘honourable mentions’. Lets face it, most of these lists are the same, probably because there’s a large divide between the good and the bad that very easy to make out.

#10 -  Pontypool

Viewers don’t observe the zombie outbreak in Pontypool, they hear it. Set almost entirely inside a radio station, we witness a town brought to its knees via the airwaves. The zombies are the result of a super virus that seems to attach itself to the ways in which we process words. This means that even inside the radio station, the characters aren’t safe.

#9 – Braindead

Braindead is one of Peter Jackson pre Lord of The Rings directorial features and is thought by some as the most (comically) violent film ever made. It’s extremely gory and at times pretty darn non sequitur (yes, the kung-fu priest).

#8 – Let Sleeping corpses Lie (AKA The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue)

Lesser known, this film makes use of all things English, while being an Italian/Spanish production. It’s a restrained take on the zombie film and doesn’t suffer for it. Set in the comically quaint British countryside and very ’70′s’.

#7 – Zombieland

Rule heavy zombie comedy and Twinkie hunting road movie that is more about laughs than gore. It features a perfectly jittery Jessie Eisenberg an entertaining Woody Harrelson and a genuinely funny cameo from a certain B.M.

#6 – 28 Days Later

For some this movie changed zombies forever, for some these infected individuals aren’t zombies at all. Either way this movie doesn’t simply dwell on the infected, it asks questions as to how the outbreak changes people and how long morality can last out in dire times.

#5 – Reanimator

Equally smart, funny and disturbing, the film sees Herbert West and the events set in motion by his successful attempts to give the dead life. Again, the classification of this movie as a zombie film is questioned and while I would argue that it is, it’s a classic regardless of classification.

#4 – [REC]

Rec follows a groups of TV Reporters and fireman as they investigate a quarantined apartment building. Shot entirely in first person point of view, this film is as tense and claustrophobic as any found footage film is likely to be.

#3 Shaun of the Dead

One big homage to the Romero zombie movies of old, from the writer and director of Spaced. Like Spaced, this movie mixes the extraordinary with the banality of everyday life and as a result became one of the best horror comedies ever made.

#2 Night of The living Dead

Night of the Living Dead is the original zombie movie. It’s responsible for making zombies what they are today. Survivors attempt to hold out through the night as waves of the undead attempt to break into the  farmhouse where they have taken refuge. This film delivers to this day and remains a staple in the genre of horror.

#1 Dawn of the Dead.

Romero’s follow-up to NOTLD abandoned black and white, and any remaining restraint, leaving his characters to hold of the zombie apocalypse from within the walls of the Monroeville shopping mall. Solidifying the ‘rules’ of the zombie movie; this film is as much a critique of consumer culture as it is a straight zombie film, whose message is still relevant to this day (as shown to a less effective degree in Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake).

Honorable mention

*- Wild Zero

Wild Zero sees the dead rising as a result of space aliens invading earth. The film features Ace, a wannabe Rock Star and devoted Guitar Wolfe fan (A japanese garage punk band playing themselves). Zombies are almost an afterthought in this complete excess of style.

* – Dellamorte Dellamore

Follows Rupert Everett’s cemetary man, left with the task of returning the undead to their rightful place. The film is frequently funny, equally surreal and at at times existentialist in nature as Francesco Dellamorte deals with the undead and his lusting after a beautiful widow who returns in different incarnations throughout the film.

* – Day of the Dead

The third installment of Romero’s classic zombie trilogy, features a small group of military forces and scientists attempting to stay alive in an underground bunker. This movie toys with issues of humanity as the first small portion of hope for zombies is realised in the ‘character’ of ‘Bub’. While rightly overshadowed by its forbearers, the film is still considered to be part of Romero’s ‘golden age’ and is well worth checking out.

Well there it is. If I have left any out please let me know.

Chasing Amy fantasy soundtrack

Despite featuring a host of 90′s tracks, Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy never had an official soundtrack. Some 13 years later, just for fun I considered what music I would use. Some of the songs are clearly post- Chasing Amy but I tried to capture the essence of the film.

Click Here for Spotify Playlist

1. Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene

2. Eleventh Dream Day – Between Here and There

3. Weezer – Pink Triangle

4. Guided by Voices – Chasing Heather Crazy

5. Ash - Girl From Mars

6. The Kills – Kissy Kissy

7. Camper Van Beethoven – One Of These Days

8. Frank Black – Headache

9. Built to Spill – Strange

10. Violent Femmes – Good Feeling

11. Afghan Whigs – Crazy