February 26, 2009
OUT OF FOCUS GROUP C NEWS!
BOOK NOW FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 13th @ BFI SOUTHBANK!
In between trying to write the ultimate 80’s song for next week’s Song Wars I’m preparing frantically for the third Out Of Focus Group at the BFI Southbank. If you haven’t been to one of these before it’s basically an excuse for me to show some old and new video morcels I’ve made in between live performances from myself and other more talented actors, comedians and musicians. Finalising the running order is always a fairly last minute thing because foolishly I ‘organise’ these shows myself and never really get to grips with the logistics so I can’t say exactly who’ll be appearing, but it’s always a good night, one way or another.
The show starts at 6.50pm on Friday 13th, March and should be over by 8.30pm. Let’s have a drink at the Benugo bar at the BFI after the show! Lovely. I wonder if any of you reading this are the kinds of people who refuse to go out if it’s a Friday 13th because you’re so superstitious. If you are, I wonder if you’re also an atheist. If that’s the case you’re my kind of totally irrational fuckwit and all I can say is it’s a great shame you won’t be able to make it to the show because I think you’d like it.
You can book you tickets for Out Of Focus Group C here
Here’s the kind of thing I’ll be showing at the BFI. It’s another Signing For The Deaf thing from my BBC3 pilot, MeeBOX, but this is a longer edit than the piece that was actually broadcast. The twatty annotations feature on You Tube is actually quite brills for these as it means that you can enjoy them (or not) if you are actually deaf. I had a few complaints from deaf people that the last one of these I put up didn’t have subs and they felt that to be playing about with deaf signing while not even letting deaf people in on the joke was a bit much, so I’m glad to be able to fix that here. By the way, don’t forget you can always turn the subs off. I’ve been thinking about doing some more signing bits but I may not get it together for the 13th, especially with Song Wars. Wish Phil Oakey or someone from New Musik or Landscape would get in touch with a backing track, then I’d be sorted. It’s possible they have better things to do, but you never know! Hope to see you on the 13th March!
I notice that when playing the vid in HD it’s got all lines and shit innit. Field dominance issues. These are exactly the kind of issues that I hoped Obama would address when he came to power but so far, nothing. It’s all very well saying you want to help the Odds (lower?) AND the Evens (higher?!) but sometimes they just have to remain de-interlaced. Either that or you drop a field, but who wants the responsibility of making that kind of decision? Not I.
November 7, 2008
NEW PRESIDENT NEWS!
THE ROAD TO OBAMA
What a week! I finally read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. For those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure, it’s a rollicking post apocalyptic father & son trek, which is now being made into what is sure to be a fun movie with exciting cannibals and Charlize Theron. The only slightly disappointing thing is that they’ve cast Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee in the leads, and I was very much hoping Harrison Ford & Shia LaBeouf would team up again and reprise their winning father/son chemistry from Indiana Jones and The Incredibly Crap Alien Skull. Don’t these Hollywood twats know anything?
If you have read The Road however then you’ll know that upon finishing the book one is badly in need of something outrageously positive to refit all the bits of you that have been shaken loose so waking up on Tuesday morning to see Obama’s victory speech on the news was like a giant gift box of sweet smelling salve. He’s even more comfortingly charismatic than Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact! And he’s real!! Now do us all a favour Barack and stear clear of blowjobs and pathetic conflicts, unless they’re with your wife.
I couldn’t help fantasising about what earlier drafts of his speech might have been like though. Or what a less gracious man might have said…
October 15, 2008
MVA NEWS & GIDEON
MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS VID
Last night I hosted the very first UK Music Video Awards at The Odeon Leicester Square. It was mainly an industry thing but there was a great crowd of some of the music video world’s top directors, producers, commissioners etc. Everyone seemed to have a good time and although I’m still no Stephen Fry when it comes to award hosting, I felt like I did OK. I’ve posted the video I made for the occasion below. I had to put it together quite quickly so it’s a little raggedy (a shot of Capitol Hill was as close as I could get to the White House), but it got a good enough response on the night despite a lame Amy Winehouse joke (which should all be consigned to the bin along with Michael Jackson jokes really) and a mystifying Fuck Buttons joke. Hey ho.
All in all it was a fun night tempered by the fact that many people there were still reeling from the news that someone many of them knew well had died tragically just a few days before.
GIDEON BAWS
I find that a really great music video for a fantastic song is one of the most inspiring things I can see. It brings a bit of warmth and even meaning to a world that is all too often cold, meaningless and random and it doesn’t get much more random and meaningless than the accidental death last weekend of Gideon Baws, one of the founder members of Shynola, whose work so often communicates that warmth and meaning. He was only 33.
The Shynola video for Is A Woman by Lambchop, which follows the journey of a single leaf downstream until it finds some friends and starts grooving, is one of those bits of art that makes you feel like crying, (in fact to be honest, the first time I saw it I did) not just because it’s so poignant but because it’s so beautifully done and infused with so much love: for the music, for the animation, for leaves, for grooving and for pretty much everything that’s worth anything. If Gideon had never been involved with anything else in his life, his work on that video alone would have made his time on the planet more than worthwhile in my book. I would bump into him at gigs from time to time and it was always good to see him. Witheringly critical opinions would be underpinned with such real sweetness and enthusiasm one couldn’t fail to be charmed.
Hmmm. It’s always the people you want to hang out with most that leave the party earliest isn’t it? It’s very selfish and it ruins it for everyone left behind. I hope Gideon’s buddies at Shynola, his girlfriend, friends and family can find some comfort in seeing how well he was loved.
June 11, 2008
MeeBOX TRANSMISSION NEWS!
WATCH MeeBOX ON BBC3, SUNDAY 22nd JUNE 2008, 11.45PM
MeeBOX, the pilot I made for BBC3 last year is finally being transmitted on the night of Sunday 22nd at 11.45pm. I showed a few clips from the show when I was MCing at the 100 Club last weekend (thanks for making it a very enjoyable night if you were there) and they all went down very well so I’m hoping the massive audience I’m bound to get in this incredible slot will respond with similar enthusiasm. It was made for very little money but I had a very happy time putting it together and I’m deeply grateful to all the many people who helped. When the show goes out I’ll say more about the production and give some proper credit for anyone who’s interested. As far as the future of MeeBOX goes, I have a meeting at the BBC next week so I hope I’ll be able to tell you soon if I’ll be making any more for TV.
In the meantime, here’s the first of a few clips to whet your appetite and maybe encourage others to tune in. This is a video for a song called Sausages that I made with Garth Jennings. It pretty much speaks for itself I think. It’s nice and short so I hope you’ll send it around to all the Sausage lovers and haters out there. Lord knows, everybody’s one or the other!
love Adam. 12th June, 2008
June 3, 2008
JIGSAW RE-POST NEWS!
THE BAD SIDE OF YOU TUBE
The video that I made with Garth Jennings for Jigsaw Falling Into Place was recently removed by the good folks at You Tube for so called ‘copyright violation’. As I know very well that the band and the record company were happy with me posting the thing I’m sticking it back up again. It won’t be new to you if you’re a regular here and it’s available elsewhere on You Tube of course, but as I put the fricken thing together I don’t see why I can’t have it on my channel too (you can read more about how it came to be made here).
You Tube are maddeningly hard to reach in these situations. It would be nice to think they had people who would respond to complaints when videos are wrongly removed but that hasn’t been the case in my experience. If anyone out there has a contact for a You Tube human, do get in touch, I’d appreciate it, especially as You Tube continues to be a valuable and mostly enjoyable way for me to post bits and pieces from time to time marred only by twatty vandals and Andrew Marr. And Johnny Marr. That was a joke based on the word ‘marr’ by the way. I love Andrew and Johnny as much as anyone. I have to point these things out for the avoidance of pro-Marr troll fury.
By the way, just saw this great Jigsaw Falling Into Place cover complete with helmet cam! Nice one yo!