Posted on Saturday, 31 May 2008 by Longman Oz
For countless millions across many generations, California has been the perceived ideal of a better life. For a sleepy remote Romanian village, a rare opportunity to get anywhere near such a life presents itself in 1999 when an officious stationmaster prevents a train load of American soldiers bound for Kosovo from travelling further until they [...]
Filed under: Cinema, Films, Movies | Tagged: California Dreamin', Cristian Nemescu, Armand Assante, Maria Dinulescu, Razvan Vasilescu | No Comments »
Posted on Friday, 30 May 2008 by Longman Oz
It has been an interesting and difficult work week for me, that is for sure! However, it may have settled down again now. So, hopefully, I can resume a bit more regular “original content” blogging next week.
Anyway, this week’s selection for That Friday Feeling are Tapes ‘n Tapes, as they look to get over that [...]
Filed under: Music, Videos | Tagged: Tapes 'n Tapes, That Friday Feeling | No Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, 28 May 2008 by Longman Oz
The more astute visitors to No Ordinary Fool may have noticed that I have not been doing much proper blogging for a week or so. The reason simply is work, which has been and continues to be a horrendous absorber of my time. Indeed, it has been really quite frustrating, as I have missed live performances by [...]
Filed under: Music, Videos | Tagged: most serene republic | 2 Comments »
Posted on Monday, 26 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Ladies and gentlemen, you have just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, nerve-breaking, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary… E-STREET BAND!
As far as statements of the blindingly obvious typically go, Bruce Springsteen’s traditional hyperbolic conclusion to each show always seems so unnecessary. However, his normally impeccable timing on stage was a little off last night, as the [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Bruce Springsteen | 7 Comments »
Posted on Saturday, 24 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Dear Brian:
I hope you can help me here. The other day I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn’t gone more than a mile down the road when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get [...]
Filed under: Humour | 4 Comments »
Posted on Friday, 23 May 2008 by Longman Oz
What? Is it Friday again already? But we were all having so much fun in work!
This week’s artist in the spotlight is Basia Bulat. Basia comes from London. London, Ontario, that is! While her debut album came out last year, this is a brand new song called In The Night.
As always, have fun this weekend! [...]
Filed under: Music, Videos | Tagged: Basia Bulat, That Friday Feeling | 2 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, 22 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Poor old John Terry. It is never easy having to fill in at the last minute for someone else. However, with Didier Drogba having been sent off, the brave Chelsea captain stepped up to take his place and win the Champions’ League trophy for his club. it is a shame though that no one told him that [...]
Filed under: Humour, Sport | Tagged: John Terry | No Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, 21 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Some bands need to take chemistry in order to put on a great show. Others just ooze it effortlessly. The founding members of Broken Social Scene are now in their tenth year together. Yet, last night, Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning were still like a pair of eager, naive kids on their first backpacking tour of [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Happiness Project, Pavement | 8 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, 20 May 2008 by Longman Oz
The question that I came away from this film debating was whether this film was too clever for its own good or simply a case of the Emperor’s new clothes? Either way, I was not leaning towards a ringing endorsement of it!
The movie is set in a French subsidiary of a German industrial group. It [...]
Filed under: Cinema, Films, Movies | Tagged: Heartbeat Detector | No Comments »
Posted on Monday, 19 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Born Ruffians are a young folk-rock three piece from Toronto, Canada. Despite their ragamuffin name, though, they actually came across as being quite an earnest and polite young band last night. Mixing easily between their 2006 EP (well worth a listen) and their debut full-length release Red, Yellow & Blue (getting there on it), the [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Miracle Fortress, Born Ruffians, Caribou, Andrew Bird | No Comments »
Posted on Saturday, 17 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Last Thursday was my first time to see the song-of-last-year band Battles play live. The show stated off with the entire stage being cleared following the earlier performances of Chrome Hoof and Redneck Manifesto and then being mostly set up from scratch by the band themselves. Pride of place went to the iconic small drum [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Battles | 9 Comments »
Posted on Saturday, 17 May 2008 by Longman Oz
When a band cites a combination of Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, and Slayer as influences, you know that it will be a complex cacophonic cocktail of a show. However, just in case we needed further convincing that this will not be a conventional performance, seven of the band came on stage last Thursday night dressed in [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Chrome Hoof | 3 Comments »
Posted on Friday, 16 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Okay, a time-out is needed around here from all of these gig reviews (at least until I get around to writing about Chrome Hoof and Battles later on today!). An arguably much better known band being showcased this week, but I really like this song a lot, so tant pis!
Anyway, for anyone who does not [...]
Filed under: Music, Videos | Tagged: That Friday Feeling, The Kills | No Comments »
Posted on Thursday, 15 May 2008 by Longman Oz
When The National played the Olympia last year, I left with an incredible feeling of euphoria. It was simply “one of those nights”. Accordingly, I was trying to keep my expectations in check last night. This proved a shrewd move, for it was a enjoyable show, but that same feeling of just wanting to be [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: The National | 12 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, 14 May 2008 by Longman Oz
Every now and again, a chilled-out gig is good for the soul. While there was an overabundance of raucous alternatives on tonight, it was this lady and her fantastic voice that I wanted to hear. (Besides, I had just come from the mayhem that had taken place around the corner!)
Indeed, I was pleasantly surprised to [...]
Filed under: Gigs, Music | Tagged: Ane Brun | No Comments »
