London agenda for 20 January 2011

1. Bask in the faded beauty of Wilton’s Music Hall for Will Smith from the Thick of It, surrealists Idiots of Ants and comedy magic from Pete Firman [Le Cool]

2. Subject oneself to sonic art a-go-go from this post-Throbbing Gristle rhythm ‘n’ noise three piece Maria & The Mirrors at The Others, Stoke Newington [London Gigs]

3. Gaze into Kapoor’s Turning the World Upside Down

4. Feel the spirit of Dandyism in The Dandyism of Contempt [Spoonfed]

Conviction

Conviction is a sickly and cynical bit of force-fed fluff, masquerading as serious drama as it squeezes all life out of its once-dignified story, dragging it through the shit heap of Hollywood to exploit its working-class subjects with predictable execution. Not the first, and not the last time this will happen.

Benjamin Folke Thomas

Originally from Gothenburg, Sweden but now based in London, Benjamin Folke Thomas is an interesting proposition. Still in his early twenties, he has the world and whisky-weary voice of someone twice his age: a cross between a heartbroken Irish folk wastrel and The Boss. You can download his new single ‘Thoroughly alone’ here. He plays The Lexington on January 31st, followed by ‘Betsey’s Winterlude’ at the Conway Hall, Holborn, February 19th.

Benjamin Folke Thomas – Thoroughly Alone by snipelondon

Five grammatical rules technology is destroying

This very clever post about emotions the internet has invented got Snipe thinking about other impacts the dread march of technological innovation is having on our lives. One notable example: language. Here are five grammatical or syntactical rules which could well be dead and forgotten within the next 20-50 years. We’re not condoning this evanescence, reader, oh no. We’re just saying.

Which/that
Be honest, do you know when to use which and when to use that? Restrictive clauses, that’s the key (see point 2 here). Let us read, digest, and ask whether we think the teenagers of today are going to be arsed to keep this one going. Thought not.

Speechmarks
Joyce didn’t need them, preferring to introduce speech with a hypen. You have to wonder whether his wasn’t the more efficient system after all. Of course, there’s always the chance that they might be saved in order to be used “ironically”, but the internet will have killed off sincerity by 2100 so even that won’t be enough to save them in the end.

Apostrophes of Omission
This one is obvious enough, dont you think? Snipe cant see why omitting omissive apostrophes would cause undue confusion. If youre wont to be picky about wont then fair enough, but no one uses it so youll just make yourself look silly. Possessive apostrophes are a little different, since the middle class couldnt do without them as a way of demeaning those less educated than themselves. So theyll probably survive.

Capitalised initials
Again, ask yourself whether future generations will be arsed. Our prediction: will they fuck.

Paragraphs
The ancients didn’t need paragraphs. Do we? They don’t exist in texts or tweets, and since those are likely to become the dominant modes of non-verbal discourse, what need have we of them? The disappearance of sentences may take a little longer, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see them merging into continuous streams of prose by 2250.

Any more for any more? Have a pop at us in the comments if you don’t like what you see…

London agenda for Wednesday 19 January

1. Enjoy the excellent eighty-piece Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment [Le Cool]

2. Cabaret meets Scratch Night, from light hearted to the profound, silly to sexy “ [Run Riot]

3. Hurl at Vancouver Scot punks The Real McKenzies at Borderline [London Gigs]

4. Inaugurate Covent Garden’s new Opera Tavern The Opera Tavern [Thrillist]

5. See the first UK solo show for Bangalore-based contemporary artist Sheela Gowda at Rivington Place [Spoonfed]

6. Find the Golden Boy of Pye Corner [Tired of London]

Preview: The Concave Clib at the Book Club

This Thursday (Jan 20) sees the opening night of ‘The Concave club’, at The Book Club, Leonard Street, EC2. Hosted by Horrors frontman Faris Badwan, punters are promised ‘60s beat bubblegum pop, 70s gutty (should that be gutter?) guitar punk, 80s death Disco and 90s grunge’. DJs include Badwan himself, Sammy Seven, Luke Tristram and Hollie She Set and the whole thing is being filmed for posterity, so make an effort! Doors open at 9pm; entry is a measly £3.

Blue Valentine

If you’ve happened upon any of the interviews with director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance talking about his 12-year project, Blue Valentine, you’ll notice there’s a through-line to all of them. As wearied as his two main characters become of each other, Cianfrance, in his routine exchanges with the press, generally refers to his film as a ‘duet’. Probably because that’s the perfect way to describe it.

Breton

Breton have been causing mass pant-wetting amongst certain sections of the music press for several months now. It’s easy to see why as these South-East Londoners artfully blend rock, hip-hop and electronica into something completely their own, whilst still finding the time to fit in a bit of remix action for the likes of Local Natives and Tricky. RDI is taken from December’s ‘Counter Balance’ EP, available via Hemlock Recordings. Catch them February 9th at XOYO in Shoreditch.

Breton – RDI by snipelondon

Looks like someone from Conservative Central Office has been editing Nick Griffin's Wikipedia page, says Tim Ireland

It appears that someone from Conservative Central Office took some time out of their day to British National Party chairman Nick Griffin’s wikipedia page, removing its reference to Griffin’s childhood membership.

Writer Tim Ireland, in his years-long coverage on the shortcomings of Bedford MP ‘Mad Nad’ Nadine Dorries, discovered this when he set a ‘honeytrap’ for the Central Office to prove that Central Office were aware of Ireland’s reportage. (He emailled Conservative Party Chairman Baroness Warsi , c/o the Party, a link to a very special page of his findings that was not known to the public. When the page was clicked on, he compared the clicker’s IP address with the known IP address of the Conservative Party, and the publicly-available wikipedia history page. See, smart.)

Image: Bloggerheads

Full disclosure: over ten years ago, both Tim and I worked for the same company, another.com, in bucolic Kentish Town. It was fun.

John & Jehn - Tour Film, Part One

Delectable duo John & Jehn made a series of short films whilst on tour recently. Here’s the first part – J&J and their new band leaving Paris for a sold out London show. More episodes to follow.

John and Jehn – Fear fear fear live session by facultydigital