Paperjam

Sorry to hear this, from Coventry bar Tin Angel's website:

> ...the loss of our entertainment licence at the Tin Angel in the summer has brought the situation to the brink of failure for both venues...

I can't understand why they've lost their licence - ye olde Medieval Spon Street might once have been reasonably quiet and old-fashioned, but that changed forever when the council approved the Skydome, which has brought hundreds of lager-vomiting kids bowling down the road to cheesy superclub-styled Diva, or whatever the fuck it's called this week.

Stopping the Tin putting on a never-ending selection of fey strumming singer-songwriter types ain't going to help the local residents a jot.

Anyway, the gents behind the Tin Angel (and the sister venue Taylor John's over in the Canal Basin) are thinking creatively and looking at re-organising to become a non-profit organisation to access arts and council grants.

Personally I feel a pang of guilt because I've never actually been to Taylor John's, but it's in a difficult spot which has never really taken off previously, just outside the ring road in the Canal Basin, and they lean heavily towards acoustic-y Americana, lots of country and folk, and that's really not my thing. Really, really not my thing.

I really hope they get it sorted, however they do it. And we'll be popping down to the Tin more often in future...

To kind-of paraphrase Kevin Spacey at the end of Se7en, “Only in a world this sick could you say that 2007 has been a good year for films”. There has been the occasional gem here and there, I enjoyed Sunshine, laughed at The Simpsons, German stasi drama The Lives Of Others was rather good and The Family Friend was exceptional.

Generally it’s been a load of old tat; The big summer films were mostly dull with Spiderman 3 deserving special mention for being particularly awful. There have also been a few real disappointments like Knocked Up, which was just really dull and Hot Fuzz which despite having a few good bits paled badly in comparison to Shaun Of The Dead. Then there have been the real dogs like Superbad (left the cinema with about 20 minutes left), Rocky Balboa (just shit in virtually every way) and The Kingdom (dreary, corny and a terribly simplistic attempt at some kind of political message).

Still things might be looking up over the next few months as this lot wings its promising way to UK (well, London) cinema screens:

No Country For Old Men First up, the latest film from the Coen brothers, probably the film I am most eager to go and see. Looks to be harking back to their brutal early classic Blood Simple. A hunter absconds with a load of money left at the scene of a drug deal gone very bad and is hunted by a completely psycho Javier Bardem who decides on whether to kill by flipping coins. Looks Ace. Trailer plus there are also some more clips

The Darjeeling Limited The new Wes Anderson film. It is being previewed at the London Film Festival. I would probably sleep with (or alternatively promise not to sleep with) anyone who can get me a ticket. Looks to be as quirky and slightly un-real as usual. Trailer

Thirty Days Of Night Vampire, survivalist nastiness including that bird who used to be in Home and Away. Looks a bit on the visceral side. Trailer

The Last Winter More snowbound horror with this Thing-esque thriller. Does look quite unsettling. Trailer

Be Kind, Rewind Jack Black and Mos Def have to make zero-budget versions of famous films when they blank all the tapes at the video rental store where they work. Latest from Gallic genius Michel Gondry. Trailer

Southland Tales Second film from the bloke who made Donnie Darko, got slated in a really long version at Cannes and is reported to be as mad as a box of frogs. Bit apocalyptic, again. Is that the Joy Zipper cover of the Pixies in the trailer? Trailer

Margot At The Wedding Have you seen The Squid And The Whale? if not you should do. This has the same sense of cynicism about people and how they relate to each other. Jack Black turns up again but seems fairly restrained. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh are in charge. Trailer

I’m Not There Got very little idea about this but it seems to be getting a lot of coverage at film festivals, a whole bunch of actors play Bob Dylan in different eras. Apparently the best one is Cate Blanchette. Trailer

There Will Be Blood Historical oil rights drama from PT Anderson and starring a brooding and bitter Daniel Day Lewis. Cutting to the chase: Looks fucking intense. Trailer

Black Box Recorder seemed to have packed things up as far as I could tell, Luke Haines has put out a suitably misanthropic solo record fairly recently. While Sarah Nixey has also been making a solo go of it, cue a bundle of reviews and articles with the inevitable strict headmistress fantasy overtones.

Was alerted earlier to the following written on the Wikipedia entry for BBR:

"There are rumours that Black Box Recorder have been working on new material, prompted by the 35th anniversary of the Black September massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics"

...which, to be honest, does sound sort of feasible. A new album would be an exciting, if troubling prospect. Especially if it has anything on it approaching the genuinely unsettling nature of their cover of Uptown Top Ranking off England Made Me. Lets hope they tour so that we can all go and feel a bit err, funny again.

Also mentioned in despatches is some kind of Christmassy collaboration with the mighty Art Brut. After this and the Hank Starrs collaboration on Direct Hit I'm now fairly convinced that Eddie Argos will be summoning up the Vessel/Mr Solo, formerly of David Devant and His Spirit Wife for some kind of spectaular hat-trick. Let's hope so.

Black Box Recorder seemed to have packed things up as far as I could tell, Luke Haines has put out a suitably misanthropic solo record fairly recently. While Sarah Nixey has also been making a solo go of it, cue a bundle of reviews and articles with the inevitable strict headmistress fantasy overtones.

Was alerted earlier to the following written on the Wikipedia entry for BBR:

There are rumours that Black Box Recorder have been working on new material, prompted by the 35th anniversary of the Black September massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics

...which, to be honest, does sound sort of feasible. A new album would be an exciting, if troubling prospect. Especially if it has anything on it approaching the genuinely unsettling nature of their cover of Uptown Top Ranking off England Made Me. Lets hope they tour so that we can all go and feel a bit err, funny again.

Also mentioned in despatches is some kind of Christmassy collaboration with the mighty Art Brut. After this and the Hank Starrs collaboration on Direct Hit I'm now fairly convinced that Eddie Argos will be summoning up the Vessel/Mr Solo, formerly of David Devant and His Spirit Wife for some kind of spectaular hat-trick. Let's hope so.

The latest in the Unilever series of big art installations at the Tate Modern (which has also included the amazing - yet fucking hippy behaviour inducing Weather Project, the spooky Raw Materials and the big slides that I never got to have a go on) is Shibboleth by the Columbian artist Doris Salcedo.

It is a big crack that runs the length of the mighty turbine hall and as far as I can tell does two things:

1) Creates a imperfect and slightly disturbing flaw in what is a huge and imposing formal space. A reminder that anything no matter how big or grand is subject to physical laws of stress and decay.

2) Provides an area for kids to trip over and fall partially into, while their parents say things like "Tarquin! Wilhemina! don't do that" while making no attempt to stop them at all.

From checking up on the Tate web site the work is actually about "the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built" which you can sort of see. However it is also said to address and comment on issues of racism, which I must admit I am struggling to get my head around.

Still, it is quite interesting and worth dashing in to see if you are knocking around the south bank in the next six months. Not nearly as affecting as some of the previous entries in the series though. The dozen irish blokes who turned up with a crate of Guinness and an accordian player looked particularly confused.

Congratulations to the crew behind Taylor John's House at the Canal Basin in Coventry - winners of best live performance venue in Coventry and Warwickshire at this years' Godiva Awards.

It could be particularly timely because after the loss of the sister venue Tin Angel's entertainment licence in summer (apparently due to a noise complaint, in Spon Street of all places...), they're now in financial trouble. The current plan is to turn Taylor John's House into a non-profit community arts centre. Hopefully this award will throw some light on their situation and generate some further investment.

I think it's a real shame they couldn't run it as a profit-making business, but their focus is specialist and their audience is limited in Coventry. More info at their Save the Tin Angel and Taylor John's House campaign page.

Anyway, I'll be there at the Circus event tomorrow for the rampaging beast that is Jim and Invitation to Love.