Athens66: 3/1/08

Athenian night beat 30/3/08

This weekend's bar-crawling report from metropolitan Athens:

Friday the 28th: After an extravagantly hectic working day, I've been invited to devour a few drinks at MG, Mavilis square. Hey, considering my weak mood, it was quite a surprise: wooden surroundings maintaining balance between modern and retro, pretty nice rock-ish soundtrack, some cool obscure greek rock album covers on the wall, and decent cocktails as well! Mojitos were great according to the team; even though I spilled most of it on Maria's shirt -a purely accidental act!- I found real pleasure in the rest of my martini dry coctail...

Saturday, 29th: Found that I could steal an hour for a quick drink at Kafekouti, Exarhia-Solonos. They did a fine job revamping the whole place last year- it is now double the size it was before. Atmosphere: cool, drinks: ok, crowd: fine, music: easily forgetable funk mixes. It's lost a little of it's former coziness though and seems that the owners are focusing on the locals as a primary target group.

Sunday, 30th: It's Sunday and we all need to relax. Let's have another quickie closer to home grounds, at one of the VERY few decent north suburban (or Vou-Pou, if you may) rock bars, Petrogaz @Melissia. Drinks are not that good, we knew that already, so beer is the best option here. Music is great, especially after midnight, and perfectly suits the dark atmosphere. The owner said they will be redecorating for the whole April. I hope they don't change the attitude of this place! we don't have much options up here...

Do You Like Rock Music?

Mix brit pop with a dash of arcade fire-like choruses and a pinch of unintelligible dadaism and you got Rock Music, that is at least what British Sea Power like to proclaim. Welcome to these guys' third attempt to show off their charisma in creating incredible pop hooks with mildly dark overtones out of thought-provoking themes as well as somewhat irrelevant and often incoherent material.

Although the protagonists of their newest album are among other things Polish plumbers, vintage bicycles and subatomic physics, this shouldn't deter you from enjoying their grand composures, lush tunes, heavy guitar outbursts, and of course their trademark bittersweet croonings. Their sound is definitely not consistent from track to track and in this aspect there is small resemblance to their previous work, but it's this low-grade diversity in musical expression that makes their lyrics stand out as a characteristic monument of BSP's intellectual madness.

In the end, you can say what you want about those brits, but one thing you can't deny is that they will fool you into singing along their lunatic poetry. Isn't that what Rock music is about anyway?

Interview with Rodrigo Pla Part II

-We see that the inspector tries to help , to offer solutions , but he is lead to provide what this society demands. Even though he is a man with honor the system fails him..
- This cop is indeed a special case. When he arrives for the first time he really wants to help , but they try to bribe him, they fear him . He is proud, he may not have what they have, but he is really proud of his work. The members of this society though do not see it like that. They only see "police" so they try to pay him off to make him leave and he reacts, he is not a guy who can be bought " You cannot bribe me ".

-Your movie is a symbolic one? Does it carry some characteristics from your home? Is something similar happening in Mexico?
- Yes , in Mexico , in Brazil , in Argentina. Yes , they have walls not only between country boarders , but also in between neighborhoods. They are afraid of violence so they live near streets , creating small societies , building walls ..

-We observe people living there inside walls only pretending to be happy but in reality to live in fear , pretending to be safe but having guns in their houses.
-Even with walls this society is supposed to offer safety , but people do not feel like it , they live in fear of something happening that will threaten the things they have gained , and that is why everybody has a gun.

-Another aspect of safety nowadays , as also seen in your movie , is having cameras in the city , in the streets watching everybody everywhere. What do you believe ?
- Everybody reaches a point to spy on everybody. They loose their privacy , they think with walls , cameras and guns they will have a better life. The latter , however , cannot be achieved by means like walls and cameras..

- You movie has been awarded in festivals in Toronto , Venice and Athens. What were your expectations when you were filming it ?
- It will be screened in Mexico , and I am really anxious to see the reactions. I did not know , I just wanted my movie to be screened , people to have the chance to see it everywhere. I was not even sure if I would manage to complete it , it is very difficult you know making movies ...

- What difficulties did you have to cope with during filming ?
- Mainly to find the appropriate place for the shootings. I did not have a lot of money , had to spend too much time to convince the locals . They were not really ok with this. We had to shoot during vacations that most of them were away ..

-Your first movie was a powerful one with social messages. Do you consider yourself as such type of director , that does not just shoot movies but also has actually something to say?
- Well , I do not know .. I am now finishing another movie called " The desert within" that talks about religion. I do not want to make the same movie , I want to talk about different subjects , giving weight on the quality . This is what I want to do , pictures about different subjects , ideas aspects. Like having a conversation with myself about something ...

Quick Fixes of Music Reviews

Hot Chip – Made in the Dark

London based Hot Chip is another interesting band, which has already produced a couple of good (but not special) albums and have their unique style. They blend slow tempo songs with classic dance bits and electro (often referred to by the fabulous term “blip-blop”) tunes. In this third album, Hot Chip have managed to progress their sound and provide a number of catchy tracks (with nice bits) alongside some more mellow down tracks (like Made in the Dark and In the Privacy of Our Love). To me, the dance electro-blip tracks are those that make me come back to their record for a second (and third) listening (especially Ready for the Floor and Hold On).

The Kills – Midnight Boom

VV and Hotel are back (third time around), proving that garage and punk are still around and kicking. The duo (with obvious references from many to the White Stripes duo) have managed to break away from traditional garage tracks and produced a much more exciting sound. To me, The Kills are closer to some of PJ Harvey’s earliest work in this album as opposed to White Stripes. From the rockabilly Getting Down to the upbeat/dance Cheap and Cheerful (reminded me of Cobra Killers), from the sexy U.R.A. Fever to the pure PJ-ish Hook and Line and Tape Song (which I both loved) and to the ballads of Goodnight Bad Morning and Black Balloon, Midnight Boom really is a very well worked out album which will be frequently playing in my car audio.

States of Pain

" Driving at 70 miles per hour in the freeway , carefree , listening to music . You are free , thinking of nothing , enjoying the moment. Suddenly you loose control of the car , you hit a tree , you crash. You hit your head on the dashboard , everything goes black ...

You wake up in the hospital , your leg is in a cast , your head has stitches, you have three broken ribs. Your confidence is next to none , you question yourself , you are in pain . The painkillers do their job... "

" You are in love . You get to hug and to hold a woman that you believe is the woman of your life , you know that she is enough to make you happy. You do not even consider looking at another woman because she can fill your heart. You consider yourself a very lucky guy. You go to her you say ' I love you ' , she responds , ' I am sorry we have to seperate , I love somebody else ' ...

You feel the earth shatter into pieces undeneath your feet. Your heart aches so much as if somebody is crushing it into his hand , you feel life has no meaning anymore , you fell betrayed , you suffocate , you are in pain. Sorry , no painkillers for that ... "

Quick Fixes of Music Reviews

Be Your Own Pet –Get Awkward

Be Your Own Pet (BYOP) is a garage-punk-trendy pop band from Tennessee that first appeared in 2006 with their self-titled album. In their first album, the influences by the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeah were quite obvious but with much more raw tunes and few moderations between their tracks. In their second attempt, they exhibit a bit more diversity (I did say “a bit”) in their songs and somewhat less noise and more rhythm. Can’t say I hated it, nor did I really love it. I do find their name amusing though (if anything).

Boy Kill Boy – Stars and the Sea

Another indie Brit band? How many are there out there? Guess much more than we hoped for. Boy Kill Boy is one of those bands that are destined more for across-the-Atlantic listening (without hiding their origins). Their first album was quite a pleasant surprise, with nice reefs, pleasant lyrics and generally fun. In Stars and the Sea they manage to produce an even better sound (with the exception of a couple of cheesy tracks). Much more catchy tunes and shout out loud tracks, with Ready to Go and Pen & Ink really hitting the right spots. If only they didn’t end their album with the Morrissey-ish Two Souls. I doubt if they ever going to break into real stardom, but then again, we’ve seen worse bands on the charts. Definitely worth checking out.

Life in the old dog yet?

Hope is in the air, a new X-Files movie is upon us and maybe we'll finally get some answers as a kind of reward for sitting through 9 seasons of brilliant, merely good and laughable (does field trip and the last 2 seasons ring a bell?) episodes without getting closure (probable the most overused and overrated precious little word in use in the English language today).

On the other hand what purpose is served by beating dead horses (apart from parting us with our cash)? Will this movie be able to recapture some of the (dare I say it) magic that was the X-Files? Let's face it people, the nineties are long gone and there are new kids in town, Mulder and Scully aren't getting any younger (neither are we for that matter) and who cares after all these years about Scully's kid (if they decide to mention it in the plotline, that is)?

Lost fans beware: I can picture ten years from now countless blogs (or whatever they have by then) pondering the merits of the lost sequel movie and ruminating about the innocence of the '00s!

I for one, though, will gladly fork out the $15 (or whatever ridiculous amount a movie ticket costs in Sweden nowadays), if only to reclaim a happier time where the worst that could happen to me was to be abducted by aliens and rescued by sweet, redhead Scully...

Interview with Rodrigo Pla Part I

Rodrigo Pla director and scritwriter of the movie "La Zona" has given us this interview during the screening of his movie in the Greek cinema festival " Premiere Nights".

- This is your first actual film. Did you enjoy making it ?
- That is a really good question !! It is very hard to do the filming , and part of the procedure of making films I really liked it. I enjoyed it , I liked what we did, But on the other hand the deadlines, the pressure ... Anyway I am excited with the outcome !

- The script idea is really exceptional. What was your inspiration to write it ?
- The script is based upon a short story that my wife has written. My wife has written a series of short stories , we peeked one together , we both worked on it and made the script.

- My favourite scene is the one with the butterfly that flies carefree over the city , but when it attempts to fly pass the walls of the small society , dies .. What is your favourite scene ?
- I do not know . That as well .. Well I really liked the scenes is jail with the inspector , where we see people discussing on what to do , while in parallel we see the prisoners.

- We see a society that tires to cope with the issues of violence . Are indeed walls the answer ?
- No , no. I just like to talk about it . In reality the solution is exactly the opposite. People build walls to have a sence of security, but this is not the answer , we have to search we have to find the answer.

- In your movie we see people determined to do anything to maintain their way of life , the things they possess, how do you comment this ?
- Basically they do not trust the system . They do not believe that police can provide solutions , that police can protect what they have earned. They do not want to be parted from what they have gained and are prepared to do anything , even commit murder , as seen in the film.

- The kid , that actually is the leading character in the movie , having spent his life in the secure society of "La Zona" reaches a moment where understands that the price the members of this small society have to pay is really high for his standards and desides to continue his life outside the walls , not protected , but free.
- The process that leads to the young man leaving the wall protected society is very interesting. In the beggining his is one of them , but then he develops his ows way of thinking , he is the only one that sees the intruder as a person and not as an animal. Mighel is a human being , they cannot just make him dissapear , he is somebody !

Dazed in Oblivion

Every generation has its own set of classic movies. However, some of these sets are not meant to be something unique or breakthrough in cinema history, nor where they ever meant to evolve into classics. All they intended was to entertain and be forgotten as soon as the credits were over. Looking back on them, a wonderful half-decade from 1992 till 1997 provided us with a number of such films, mainly focusing on 20-something love stories and mishaps. Overlooking the Generation-X trend, here is a (chronological) listing of some of those forgotten titles that most of us saw on late night TV. I’m sure I’ve left numerous ones out, but at least it’s a start…

Singles – 1992
How U Like Me Now? – 1992
When the Party's Over – 1993
The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them – 1993
Watch It – 1993
Dazed and Confused – 1993
Three of Hearts – 1993
Bodies, Rest & Motion – 1993
Threesome – 1994
Barcelona – 1994
Reality Bites – 1994
Sleep with me – 1994
Denise Calls Up -1995
The Four Corners of Nowhere – 1995
Before Sunrise – 1995
The Pompatus of Love – 1995
Kicking and Screaming – 1995
The Brothers McMullen – 1995
Beautiful Girls – 1996
Swingers – 1996
Walking and Talking – 1996
Love and Other Catastrophes – 1996
She's the One – 1996
Chasing Amy – 1997
Hugo Pool – 1997

Hooked on Ben - his older brother as well

A dear friend pointed me to this silly, lovely piece of pop; other dear people I shared this revelation with (including not-so-dear me) were left ecstatic. Feel free to check it out yourselves as well. This song is currently accompanying chewing gum commercials and it's called 'Stuttering', performed by an obscure band operating under the strange name Ben's Brother. For a full version of the song you may try a search in youtube, though apparently there is no official clip out yet. Here's the link for the commercial.

Now, the obvious question is already springing to the minds of us past-all-hope Losties:

What does chewing gum have to do with the secrets of all-mighty Ben?

Will he be recalling his long-lost older brother stealing petty stuff from the local Dharma kiosk in the next episode? Or did he just write the lyrics of the song in a desperate attempt to win the love of Juliet? We're not stupid, we KNOW it's all interconnected...

Into the Wild

Sean Penn has been one of those actors that were able to balance mainstream and independent cinema, an act not followed by most Hollywood stars (but then how many of those stars were able to survive a marriage to Madonna). In Into the Wild, Sean finds the perfect storyline to unfold his directing charisma and produce a strong emotional movie around a young activist’s (Chris McCandless) true story. The main character (played by Emile Hirsch) is a young college graduate that is repelled by society’s morals and ethics and decides to live under his own rules by tramping around America. The movie follows the trails of his journey from Nevada to Mexico, California to Oregon and from South Dakota all the way to Alaska. In between, Chris will meet and affect the lives of a number of characters he meets on the road and in the process discover the truth regarding his own journey’s motives. Sean’s directing style is a real joy, with beautiful narration, perfectly matched photography and a surprisingly pleasant soundtrack from Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. Emile’s acting (definitely inspired by Sean’s acting and directing style) is quite moving and very natural (avoiding over-dramatizing) and also Catherine Keener’s small part is worth seeing. All in all, the movie was one of the best I’ve seen from this mediocre year (2007) and will definitely be looking forward to Sean’s next directing attempt.

Needless to say we are also eager to see Penn star in the latest Gas Van Sant’s movie Milk later this year..

Love, Belle and Other Catastrophes

Love nowadays feels like a difficult subject to grasp and even more to write about. It seems like no one is looking for love anymore (not even in the wrong places) but are rather involved in a strange mix and run game. Mix some sex with alcohol and run away as soon as you can for a perfect combination of love and guilt. It is however my feeling that it has not always been like this. I do recall the times when love was like Belle’s lyrics, they come so natural and effortless and leave you with a constant feeling of joy and sweet bitterness. Summers of love that are always left shinning in our memory and bear in our hearts forever, like small trophies of catastrophic loves that seem to define our lives and how we choose to love forever. It may not be the times after all, it may just be the memories that still haunt us, and for that, I will need to put on a new track and carry on.

Random thoughts Inspired by “Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying”, which has been constantly playing in my head from the first time I’ve heard it years ago..

Compromises

It is important to maintain your unique way of thinking , of being yourself. To have your own ideas your own perspective of life. However when being in a relationship you have to do some compromises. No two people on earth are the same , most of the times the interests of men and women are different. When you normally enter a relationship , you want to be with somebody because you have feelings for him/her and you aim to share these emotions.

Some people claim that people with different interests should not be together.. Who can really support such an argument ? You choose a woman because you like her , you feel attraction towards her and not for their interest in cinema or belief in football. For sure being with somebody requires a level of compromise, so the only valid question can be " Do I care for her, do I want to be with her ? What am I willing to do to give up for her ? "

Paranoid Park

Paranoid Park is the latest (2007) movie by legendary (to some) director Gus Van Sant. Following the same cinematographic path introduced in his experimental film Gerry back in 2002, Gus is continouing to explore the habits and mentality of today's youth. The film revolves around a teenage skater and his misadventours on a Saturday night-out in skateboard heaven. Paranoid Park blends different elements of modern-life and classical ancient drama (actions and consequences, remorse and atonement) through a slow-tempo narrative approach, filled with beautiful scenes, brightfull photography, super-8 style sequences and amateur actors.
To those familiar with Gus' previous work, Paranoid Park offers a much more solid storyline, less experimental yet not too conventional directing style and a pleasant viewing in general. For newcomers, while much more accessable than previous films such as Elephant (2003), it will still not be as appealing as most maintsream movies out there.

Kate is no Anna..

Sexy film star Kate Beckinsale tries to boogie like Anna Karina in the 1967 made for TV cult musical "Anna" with music by Serge Gainsbourg for a photo shoot for Mean magazine.

Good enough effort but what's for next issue? Johansson as Genevieve Emery? Orlando Bloom as Antoine Doinel?

Parking / No Parking

It's the early days of spring. You've just come home from a tiring day at work. Time for relaxing a bit, contemplating on today's lessons in life; you'd wish. The phone rings, you're told you have to be somewhere else...There's no escape.

So, you go,
do what you have to do,
and now it's late in the night
you're driving home really tired...
traffic lights are blinking yellow...
one more turn...
You've reached your street. You are there...

Turning your head around doesn't help.
Disappointment.
No bloody parking space.
You drive around the block,
and round and round, muttering,
cursing your luck...
As you move to the next block
you see an empty spot!

Alas...

Wrenched and helpless you stand and watch that white Toyota surging in from the corner; flashing the alarm lights; stealing tonight's last hope of rest and comfort.

Time passes... Even though the car clock is digital, you can actually feel the ticks and the tacks violently breaking into your brain cells, squashing every bit of your soul to an ugly pulp. It's so darn annoying being the only stressed living thing in the calm of the neighborhood...

Now, a nervous wreck, your mind races through all the choices you've made today. I should have taken a bloody cab... What if I'd gone faster... gone past a few reds? Why did I say YES? What if I'd been prudent and hadn't answered the phone?

Minutes go by...the questions are becoming harder and harder to answer...

Why don't I ride a bike? or even better buy a Smart - 4 wheels are usually better than 2... I should have rented my own private parking space... Heck, why did I choose to live here in the first place? ...

Where's my big country house with the garage? The wife? The dog?

The Endless Urban Madness! I should probably leave it there, let fate decide if I am to sleep peacefully tonight... let's just work harder tomorrow and not go out after - maybe this will earn me the right for that wife and that dog ;)

-A true story with not-so-subtle references to Alain Resnais' rather mediocre movie Smoking/No smoking, 1993.

Understanding Women

Women are claimed to be the mature party in a relationship. Always it was the case that women know their needs, know themselves, know what they want in a relationship. Men are not focused, less in touch with their emotions, unsure about their feelings. Women entering in a relationship want men to understand what they are thinking instantly, they want to fulfill their needs, to reassure by declaring their emotions for them. This always leads to increase the pressure within the couple, creating an unnecessary bad emotional state. Expressing feelings, emotions, needs apply not only to one sex but to both. Taking for granted that maturity belongs to women can lead to a dead end, to self-destructing situations. Just Say what You want, what You think, what do You expect from us , do not wait for us to understand you from the very beggining, this will come naturally, in due time, you cannot force us to do so …

Arab Strap

It's now been more than a year since Aidan and Malcolm decided to split up and although their absence has gone unnoticed by most people, I kind of miss their depressive sound. It was the constant smell of alcohol in all their songs that actually drew me to their music and for that I would like to pay my late respects. Besides, any band self-described as "musical duo renowned for being miserable" is ok in my book. If only they could remember their lyrics on stage…but then again…who cared?

Anthony Minghella no more..

Oscar winning director Anthony Minghella best known for such cinematic fluff such as the English Patient,The Talented Mr.Ripley and Breaking and Entering could not take directing another Jude Law vehicle and passed away at the young age of 54.Our thoughts are with his family, friends and co-workers.