Paperjam

Every so often we pop over to Digbeth to have our retinas boiled by the boys and girls from 7 inch cinema showing odd films from the archives and crazy new shorts.

It's always blummin good fun, and we'd hug them all drunkenly if we weren't so uptight and damned heterosexual.

Last time we were treated to a performance by classic British eccentrics the ZX Spectrum Orchestra, whose "Red Square" animation apparently took one of the Clives 9 months to complete ("You could've had a baby" piped up someone in the crowd at the Rainbow). Have a gander at all that sort of thing over at Youtube.

With that in mind, we can fully recommend popping to see them at the ICA in Larrhndahhhhn on the 8th January, where ZX Spectrum Orchestra and evil noisy types Black Galaxy will also be caning the eardrums of you soft southerners. We're just hoping that they all don't fuck off to London permanently.

Next up for us provincial Midland types, the Flatpack festival runs between 1st - 4th Feb next year, across arts venues in Birmingham, with lots of films and happenings. Hope there's nothing good on in the Sunflower Lounge, we're not allowed in there for some reason, probably 'cos we're too nice.

Also, in the final thing to be pinched from their newsletter - we can fully recommend the inaugural 7 inch DVD, full of fun stuff, including the hardcore 8-bit action of "Red Square" and the painfully great "Butterface": that's a still from it above. Makes us well up just thinking about it.

Update: Tuesday 8th Jan

Whups : 7 inch cinema is actually Ian and Pip, rather than just a bunch of sweaty blokes. There's some photos of the event, including ZX Spectrum Orchestra pushing buttons and one out of Black Galaxy skilfully relaxing by the bar over at Flickr.

There was precisely fuck-all special about most of the Christmas telly schedule, but my frightening and vengeful God, we were looking forward to political satire-thing The Thick Of It.

Brutal. It's the only word for it really. It's possibly the only programme on telly (apart from Channel 5's "The Girl's Guide to Sex", which would merely be revision, anyway) that makes paper-jam Jim wish that the aerial socket in his flat wasn't just connected to a pigeon's arse on the roof.

If you haven't seen the two, oddly short series 1 and 2 (3 episodes each, both out on DVD this spring) - it's from the twisted mind of Armando Iannucci, who has described it as "Yes Minister meets Goodfellas". Which is spot on. Except there's more swearing-per-square second than "Goodfellas", or almost anything. And it's quality swearing.

Don't let anyone, including my parents, tell you that there is too much swearing in it. That's titwank.

Chris Langham who plays/played the slightly rubbish junior minister is, ahem, away on gardening leave while they work out what exactly he's been up to in his spare time with those photographs and some children.

This episode was meant to focus more on the opposition, but as ever, it's all about the brilliant, scheming evil Malcolm Tucker, played by Peter Capaldi. Tucker won't use one swearword where twelve will do, and he relishes every single one of them.

In this episode it's actually Jamie, his Scots assistant, that's even more harsh, asking Peter Mannion (Roger Allam, on form) "were you the forced abortion, or the lovechild? Or the guy that asphixiated himself with a kiwi?". He also excels himself with a particularly graphic description of the unusually forceful method he would use to play a colleagues' iPod.

Everyone is either a colossal shit or twisted out of shape by the bullying and general brutality. There's a surprise ending, and hopefully it'll lead to a quick full third series (um, with 6 episodes this time, please?) including the opposition, especially Roger Allam, who plays a wonderfully confused shadow minister.

It's repeated Wednesday 10th Jan at 10pm on BBC4, and Late Review presenter person Mark Lawson interviews Iannucci afterwards.

More info over at ye old BBC, and some naughty (shh) clips of previous series over at Youtube.

"Cousin D’Alsace"

"The Lazy Turkish Bathers"

"Our Franc"

"Polish Friend On The Payroll"

"Irish Blood, English Heart, Italian Boyfriend"

"The French National Front Discotheque"

Trailer for the new Danny Boyle/Alex Garland/Cillian Murphy collaboration has appeared on the internet somehow, via a russian web site or something. You can check it out here. The music is from Clint Mansell's soundtrack for Requiem For A Dream, I think so anyway.

Seeing as it is about the sun dying I didn't think it was going to be a knockabout comedy and the trailer seems to support my suspicions. The shockingly lazy generalisation that I am going for is : 2001 meets Event Horizon meets The Towering Inferno. Still 28 Days Later was really good so hopefully this will be too.

There's a web site with shedloads of info at www.sunshinedna.com.