It’s the sort of reporting that makes you feel better. Jason Booth’s almost poetic comentary on a recent trip to Puerto Rico inspired by Hunter S Thompson’s novel The Rum Diaries soothes over you, an effect due as much to its delivery as its content.
Retracing the steps of the fleeing Gonzo journalist, Booth escapes the media hubbub of New York for the white beaches of San Juan but finds that paradise isn’t as perfect as first impressions may seem.
The sense of a need to escape and the desire for adventure seems to have convinced Johnny Depp that the story was worth adapting for the silver screen.
Great title for a film all about a man who wants to assasinate Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi.
Unsurprisingly the Italian centre-right is up in arms about the network premiere of the film on Sky (Italy) tonight. It has been denounced as a “bad taste” and even worse as “incitement to violence against the premier”.
Check out the preview above and tell me what you think.
A big shout out to my cousin Steve McQueen who, last night at the Bafta awards, scooped The Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement for Hunger, based on IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, which has already won numerous awards.
This memorable, ground-breaking film has kind of been eclipsed by the hype surrounding Slumdog Millionare but I’m so glad his talent has been acknowledged.
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, do go and check it out. It’s far from easy viewing but it’s an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Steve said in his acceptance speech: “I just want to say to my mum you were right, you have to work twice as hard.”
The online campaign for Burn After Reading is very hip (as the microsite). check out the shit hot video player in the middle of the Guardian Unlimited homepage. Loving the crystal clear images!
The international microsite is for the latest film from the Oscar-winners Joel and Ethan Coen was created by Redberry Digital. Hats off to you guys.
Now I just need to go and check out the actual film.
The word dubstep first came to my attention at an artistic salon I went to at the Bethnal Green Men’s Working Club back in 2006.
It was, admittedly, an unlikely setting.Chatting about writing for Rolling Stone Italy to a Dutch DJ sharing my table, I mentioned that I was on the look out for hot new bands and new musical trends.
He was appalled when I admitted that I had never hear of dubstep, a sound which originated in deepest, darkest Croydon but which had spread to Holland, Brazil and even Japan.
Imagining that I had come across this hot new genre, the next I whacked the term into Google to see how much had already been written.
To my dismay, the Telegraph had got there first (has anyone else noticed how, despite having the reputation for being the paper of choice for right-wing wrinklies, the Torygraph has a pretty avant-garde culture coverage.)
In the years that have followed, I’ve always been tempted by the idea of a night of dubstep. To date the closest I’ve come is listening to Annie Nightingale’s show on the BBC iPlayer, which I don’t think really counts.
Plastic People, one of my favourite clubs in London seems like the perfect venue – small, dark, underground and with a wicked sound system.
But the idea of spending the night with a load of moody teenage boys wearing sportswear has never really appealed.
Now it seems like I may have the perfect excuse to dig a little deeper into the scene.
My weekly journey (round the corner into the graphics suite) for creative inspiration has come up with a little gem.
Where the magic happens - ITV News graphics suite
The Whitechapel Gallery, which is round the corner from my gaff is hosting the UK premiere of Bassweight, the first documentary about dubstep.
The Hip + The Square 