London agenda for Monday 11 October

London agenda for Monday 11 October

1. Become exhausted just thinking about Renditions, a dance mix of extreme physicality and intense performance[Spoonfed]
2. Free beer, free shit, and free hip hop at Akil the Emcee & Louis Logic [Le Cool]
3. Watch a play at the Orange Tree Theatre [Tired of London]
4. Watch Matt Smith Q&A the new drama Christopher & His Kind [Run Riot]

Snipe Issue #5 MPfree Mixtape (September 2010)

Here’s your monthly Snipe compilation of amazing, free, new songs by all the bands we’ve been listening to. Skál!

Snipe MPfrees – Issue #5 by snipelondon

Raindance Festival - three nominees

The 18th Raindance Festival launched with an impressive opening night of Jackboots on Whitehall and closed out this year with an affecting feature from Iraq. Already an award winner on the festival circuit, Son of Babylon is an ode to the disappeared of Iraq, about a Kurdish boy and his grandmother travelling across the country, post-Saddam in 2003, in search of the boy’s missing father, conscripted then missing since the First Gulf War. Already chosen as Iraq’s official entry for the 2011 Academy Awards, it is also a nominee for Best International Feature at this year’s Raindance.

Prinspóló

Prinspóló is an Icelandic solo artist named after a chocolate bar. Fending off the desire to make jokes about sweet teeth and such, I’ll let the man explain himself, succinctly: “the Prins writes love songs for cats and seniors on an empty stomach in a damp basement.”

Prinspolo – Skærlitað gúmmelaði by snipelondon

Robert Redford may be in talks with the O2 for a London version of the Sundance festival

Sundance film festival founder Robert Redford has been in talks with the 02 about creating a film festival, “says Deadline.com.” And that’s about it. They’re negotiating, they say.

Of course, we already have the Raindance Film Festival, stuffed with indie films and running until this Sunday.

No Fun City at the Prince Charles Tonight

It exists everywhere. In ever town, in every city. An independent, underground subculture consisting of artists and musicians who actively strike out to claim space for themselves in an environment that seems determined to keep them at the margins. Suffice to say this breads frustration, resentment and ultimately drives people take matters into their own hands. There have always been illegal venues, places that skirt the law in favour of a good time, and this is born out of necessity and exists because, like any minority – visible or not – the needs of its people are not being met. But leave it to those members of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Brotherhood to find a way to play, even when the city they live in doesn’t want them to.

To remark that a blatant disregard for authority and rock and roll go together is not a novel observation, but in the city of Vancouver, Canada, the fractious relationship between antiquated city bylaws that bizarrely restrict the mixture of drinking, dancing and live music has for a long time been an almost farcical reality. Yet just below the majestic beauty, underneath the glass lined skyline and despite the sky high cost of living there has always been a strong and determined undercurrent of those who sought to create their own fun. Home to both one of the most expensive costs of living and the country’s most impoverished postal codes, Vancouver is perhaps unique in Canada as it exemplifies the clear and difficult divide between rich and poor, the status quo and those who shirk conventional status. Wedged between this underground horde of culture makers stands a city staff that has embraced conformity and an almost obsessive inclination to “develop” the city which has brought about a decidedly aggravated clash between those who would build a homogenised “world class city” and those who want to shake its foundations.

Enter local Vancouver filmmakers Melissa James and Kate Kroll’s documentary “No Fun City”; a fluid and timely portrait that captures and explores the cultural dichotomy that has become too common place for any one who embraces the comfort of the dark and noisy world of Vancouver’s underground punk and independent music scene. It’s a dirty look into this “world class city’s” laundry bag. And the laundry stinks. Compiling interviews and plenty of underground concert footage, the film exposes the difficulties and frustrations musicians, artists, independent club owners and promoters face when trying to channel and foster their own unique artistic vision. From idealistic developers who see opportunity in creating spaces that support local creative culture to local independent icons like punk club owner Wendy13, the film follows the struggles and plights of those dedicated to keeping the dream alive, whether it’s legal or not.

And while any city’s cultural landscape is always changing and you have the right to lament the closing of a favourite haunt or when a landmark venue shuts up shop because the lease is up or the owners have decided to move on, there remains the difficult question: what are you supposed to do when as practitioners of art and music – the cultural class – you are constantly and seemingly systematically told “you can’t do that”? The answer is: You do it any way – and any way you can. At least until you run out of steam or they run you out of town.

“No Fun City” plays at the Prince Charles Cinema tonight at 8:30pm

Watch: Is Tropical

N+1 magazine comes to bury hipsters, maybe praise them just a little

Image from N+1

It’s about time that a scholarly analysis of hipsters was taken. Smart New York bi-annual magazine N+1 called together a panel of writers to investigate the rise and fall of the contemporary hipster at the New School University. This final report may possibly be the most divisive publication since the Report of the Warren Commission.

What Was The Hipster?: A Sociological Investigation will be released October 15, but it’s available now for pre-order.

Review: Life as we know it

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if two good looking, moderately successful people were suddenly made guardians of an adorable one year old and forced to live together in a gorgeous mortgage-free house, Life As We Know It is your kind of flick. Like most romantic comedies throughout the ages, this Katherine Heigl vehicle uses pretty people to tell its formulaic story while indulging contemporary fetishes such as cupcakes, property and sport.

The story, such as it is, follows straight laced caterer Holly (Heigl) and slutty ne’er do well TV sport director Messer (Josh Duhamel of Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!) who are set up on a disastrous blind date by their well meaning mutual best friends (Hayes MacArthur and “Mad Men”‘s Christina Hendricks), and as a handy plot device are also made god parents to baby Sophie, meaning viewers get to see them in a montage of wacky social situations, disliking each other in obvious ways (she hits him with her bridesmaid bouquet at the friends’ wedding, etc.). When a fatal car crash orphans Sophie, Holly and Messer are shocked to find out they have been named as legal guardians to the baby, thus turning their singleton lives upside down. As they both adore the child they move into the house and try to sort out how to look after a baby, date other people and further their careers.

During the next hour or so circumstance continues to propel the two toward each other through fighting and apologising and trying to figure out how to raise a baby. The plot’s biggest obstacle comes when Messer is offered his dream job in another city. If you’re wondering if he will choose to leave the gorgeous (did I mention mortgage-free?) house, the talented blonde caterer (free cupcakes forever, dude) and vulnerable baby girl, well, this most certainly is your kind of movie.

Life as we know it opens in wide release today

London agenda for Friday 8 October

London agenda for Friday 8 October
1. Catch the first UK solo show for rapidly emerging contemporary artist Andrew Curtis [Spoonfed]
2. Pay nothing to see Darwin Deez, Daisy Dares You and The Milk along with DJ sets from CocknBullKid, James Theaker and Emily Rawson at We Are One Festival [Le Cool]
3. Ask if London will still be a major city in 2050 [Run Riot]
4. Summer Camp, Frankie & The Heartstrings, and Big Deal at the Lex [London Gigs]
5. Step inside an 18th century debtors prison [Tired of London]