I came across Jane whilst strolling through some residential neighbourhoods in Berlin. She was everywhere – on mailboxes, street lamps, and abandoned buildings. As I’ve always had a thing for her, I couldn’t resist taking this photo.

Berlin has undergone a metamorphosis since I was last there, three months before The Wall came tumbling down.

Daniel Libeskind’s The Jewish Museum, Berlin, Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Norman Foster’s amazing revamp of the Reichstag, Stephan Braunfels’ elegant German Parliament office building complex, Frank Gehry’s DZ Bank, and my favourite, the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) by von Gerkan, Marg und Partner.

So …

… if you like starchitecture, you’ll love the new Berlin. Some truly spectacular and amazing buildings have risen in the historical core of Germany.

Potzdamer Platz, 1945 | Berlin Wall by Kerry | BLOG: Thierry Noir | “Berlin Wall — Nov 09, 2009″ by Google Doodle artist, Dennis Hwang

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Here’s a look at a few things in the environment that I found interesting:

The Best of Berlin Slide Show

But the best “find” was finding Jane everywhere I walked in the new Berlin.

JANE FONDA IN CLEVELAND

Jane’s 1970 mug shot following an arrest in Cleveland

JANE FONDA IN KLUTE

As I was writing that last post about “K”, the most beautiful track popped on my iTunes, Klute’s “Hell Hath No Fury” has to be one of my favorite tunes by Klute, he just has soooo many fuckin awesome songs…. I know it’s not brand new, but the tune is TIMELESS…Got it on vinyl and on the “Emperors New Clothes CD” Just figured I’d share this jem of a track with everyone… If you like what you hear, go buy the CD if you don’t have it already.

Click Link Below to Download VIA Mediafire:
Klute – Hell Hath No Fury

I am gonna be over on the island for a few days and will head into London on Friday evening. If your in the area and into deep DnB then you would be crazy to miss this one. All info over at www.abunchofcuts.com

I am still amazed by how busy I am for being an unemployed person.  I guess I always imagined unemployment to be a period of time where you didn’t do anything but sit on the couch and watch telly.  I guess it really is what you make of it.  Today is chockablock full for me.  If you are in Chi go see Klute at Lava tonight.  Lots of buddies playing, Lamebrane, Stunna, Submorphics and Subverb.  Should be a good night.  Also listen to that Zero T Fabric Live Promo mix, it’s dope.

Tunes:
Alix Perez feat. Foreign Beggars – The Cut Deepens
This track is diiiirrrrty.  Love it.  I’m actually digging Alix’s whole 1984 LP, cd and vinyl.  Nice one.

Today’s Oldie:
The Streets – It’s too Late (High Contrast Remix) – Bootleg 2004
One of my favourite Streets songs.  Love this remix.

Dj Presha – Samurai Music Radio Bassdrive 09/21/09

Tracklist

??? – no answers – ???
alix perez – 1984 – shogun audio
consequence – 11 circles – exit
tokyo prose – bankrobber dub – ??
??- ??
alix perez feat spectrasoul & peven everett – forsaken – shogun audio
marcus intalex – airbourne – soul:r
tokyo prose – all you want – samurai red seal
eveson – hear no evil
calibre feat lariman – tru beat – critical
alix perez – fade away – shogun audio
alix perez – contradictions – shogun audio
total science – trespass – cia
survival – ?? – dispatch
sabre – leaf – critical
s.p.y. – dark age – c.i.a.
soul intent – cowboy town – ??
spectrasoul – adoration vip – ??
eveson – numbers – ??
alix perez – myriads – shogun audio
fortran – the end part 2 – 31records
s.p.y. feat riya – loneliness – c.i.a.
digital & outrage – sensor – function
alix perez & zero t – suffer in silence – shogun audio
?? – ??
spectrasoul – 4 points – metalheadz
noisia & phace – floating zero – vision
lenzman feat jo s – no coincidence – metalheadz
trei – innuendo – samurai music
alix perez feat foreign beggars – the cut deepens – shogun audio

Wait… there’s no brown leaves on my street.  LOL.  Fall is here.  I kinda miss having a back garden sometimes.  It’s nice to witness that part of the change of the seasons.  I definitely don’t miss having to rake them up though.

This weekend was definitely the rowdiest I’ve gotten in a while… and when I say rowdy I don’t mean I got wasted and out of control cuz i don’t do that anymore.  I just stayed out real late and danced.  Geez, I’m obviously a geriatric when staying out late and dancing equals rowdiness.    The Skream show was really fun.  Murderbot’s set was ridiculously awesome.  I really enjoyed it.

Klute is this week.  I always look forward to a Klute set.  He is just a really good dj.  Can’t ask for more than that.

Tunes:
A Sides – Butterflies MJ Tribute (track is in player)
This track is lovely.  So pretty.  Perfect tribute track.  Nice one A Sides!

Today’s Oldie:
Dkay – Serenade – Brigand Music 2005
Not that old, but still a dope tune.

Zero T is another person where I just like listening to his mixes.  Haven’t listened to this one yet but I’m sure it won’t disappoint.  I’m downloading it now.
Zero T – Fabric Live Promo Mix

Tracklist

01. Zero T – Cheap Intro (CIA)
02. Rasheed – Charade [Grooverider Remix] (White)
03. Alix Perez v Zero T – The Ladders (White)
04. Calibre + ST:Files – Devil Inside (White)
05. Ulterior Motive – Glued (White)
06. Spectrasoul – Guardian (Metalheadz Dub)
07. All Thieves – Stars [Zero T Remix] (White)
08. Rockwell v Zero T – Bone Structure (White)
09. Slam – Positive Education [Zero T Remix] (White)
10. Alix Perez – Myriads (Shogun Dub)
11. Halogenix – 5 By-Dub (White)
12. Shanie – What Way To Turn [Dillinja Remix] (Cyba)
13. Zero T + Bailey – Wasp Factory (White)
14. Spectrasoul – Mimic (Subtitles Dub)
15. Raiden + Khanage – King Stays King (Offkey Dub)
16. Optical – Slip Thru (Virus)
17. Derrick May – Strings Of Life [Remix] (White)
18. Dwele – I Think I Love You [Remix] (White)
19. Goldie – True Strings (Metalheadz)
20. Floating Points – K+G Beat (White)
21. Sabre + Alix Perez – Have It Your Way (Critica Dub)
22. Unit Souled – Missing Time ‘jam session’ (White)

One of cinema’s most traveled tales are about a guy who was either hired to find a girl, or who has to use a girl as his contact to solve a mystery and then the plot twists to reveal the killer, or the hero goes to the darkest place they never thought possible. It goes from CITIZEN KANE, with the journalist trying to figure out the life of Charles Foster Kane up to both versions of INSOMNIA – one starring Al Pacino and the Norwegian original starring Stellan Skarsgard – where a detective with a questionable past is brought to a small, isolated town where guilt overwhelms him in multiple forms, whether it’s the never-ending sunlight, or the taunting by an actual killer who saw our hero make a mistake. 

So, making a small detour from how I usually write these things, I’m going to kind of do a list-like thing of some movies that follow in this tradition and that I would recommend. This is all because I had watched a movie – that I’ll start the list with – and when thinking of other movies to recommend; there were just too many! And I kind of felt like I needed to expound a little more on each of them. 

So first of, is a movie by a master of 70’s suspense-thrillers; Alan J. Pakula. With movies like THE PARALLAX VIEW, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN and of course THE PELICAN BRIEF; KLUTE is kind of a standout movie, being that it is a detective story, but even more-so it’s a character study of a woman who is trying to better herself, by acting or modeling but always tends to find herself pulling tricks to make her money. This woman of course, Bree Daniels – as played by Jane Fonda (in an Oscar winning performance) – is eventually teamed up with hired investigator John Klute. Klute, as played by Donald Sutherland, is a very stoic character. He starts off as all business, he’s kind of built up as being a little unexperienced in working on “missing persons” cases. 

The interesting and wonderful thing about this movie is that its named after one of the main character, but we spend most of our time with the other. We follow Bree as she goes to modeling try-outs, pulls tricks, speaks to her therapist; and every now and then we cut away to Klute in the background, watching her. Slowly they build a relationship beyond just subject and detective; with a number of scenes where she in a move  to try and defend herself from falling for Klute tries to sabotage their building relationship. She’s cruel, she’s frantic and of course manipulative. But, in the end she does wind up in his arms. 

The other interesting thing about this movie is how it’s score works. For the most part the only music  we hear is source (meaning that the music is actually being played in the scene, like in a dance club) and the only time we really get some of the amazing music by Michael Small – who has also provided the soundtrack to THE MARATHON MAN, THE STAR CHAMBER and THE STEPFORD WIVES – is when our mysterious villain is shown or during the ending. And it actually made me jump in a couple of instances, because the lack of music really kind of draws you in, making you listen to the characters, looking at their faces. And unlike movies that just keep the score poring in, to try and make you feel a certain way, this movie works with that absence.

So, the movie that KLUTE made me initially think of was THE CONVERSATION, the Gene Hackman starring, movie about Harry Caul; written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (I’m not listing his other movies…You should know who he is!). Harry Caul is a surveillance expert who at the beginning of the movie had been hired to follow a woman whose husband believes she’s cheating on him. And in the opening scene, we are giving the basis that the title of the movie comes from, and the one object that will continuously played over and over and each time given a new and different meaning. This trope has been used many, many times in movies – from Michaelangelo Antoniotti’s BLOW UP; the similarly themed BLOW OUT by Brian De Palma and starring John Travolta and even in the recent movie DUPLICITY, where a certain speech is repeated a number of times. 

Of course, throughout the movie Harry is put through a number of scenarios that lead him to believe that he’s being unwilling dragged into a plot and that he is being spied upon. Leading to him secluding himself from his friends and in the end – in really one of the most sad and traumatic scenes – him ripping his apartment apart, looking for a “bug” that we’re left wondering is there or not. 

But, the movie is great for it’s use – and kind of meant to show off the sound editing skills of Walter Murch, the father of modern sound design. With the repeated playing of the conversation, we get new clarity with each repetition and it plays with our senses on whether we’re – in the viewer’s reality – just reading something new from it, or if we’re actually hearing a different reading of the lines meant to manipulate us.

Next is a more of a super-natural noir thriller, ANGEL HEART, written and directed by Alan Parker – having made a diverse amount of movies but all have an impactful story at it’s heart, like MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, THE COMMITTMENTS and undervalued THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE – and starring a still fairly young Mickey Rourke as Private Investigator Harry Angel. Of course, you can’t mention this movie without talking about the mysterious character Louis Cyphre (say it outloud…you’ll get it) played wonderfully, and totally aloof, by Robert DeNiro. 

But, the story is of Angel being hired by Lucifer…er I mean, Louis to find a missing musician named Johnny Favourite. In his search he meets a young creole girl named Epiphany, played by Lisa Bonet – who after this went on to do THE COSBY SHOW. There’s murder, there’s beautiful set design and the deliberate showcasing of fans and just seeing how sweltering hot it is. 

The ending of this movie is pretty jaw-dropping and I know a couple of people that have different interpretations on how this movie reads. But, during the final credits we have a wonderful moment with Rourke’s character getting on an elevator going down…and down, and down. To well, you can imagine where.

Sort of in the same vein – and look – to ANGEL HEART is CHINATOWN, starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Roman Polanski. The story of Jake Gittes, Nicholson’s character, who is hired by a wife to find out whether her husband is cheating on her, soon finds himself in the middle of a political struggle for the city of Los Angeles, as well as a family drama, that really gives us one of the most shocking endings in movie history. 

Polanski’s movies all have the thriller kind of feeling to them. Mostly in how, like Stanley Kubrick, his movies tend to have an emotional separation from the characters that we’re watching. You feel for the characters, but you’re kind of struggling for it. There’s also a slow and steadiness that also helps to draw us into the movies – sort of like with KLUTE, but he does use music.

The movie also has a great, great performance from Nicholson. His character is a slime-ball but definitely seems competent and the movie really rests on his curiosity and kind of being pissed about being used and drawn into the story. A reluctant, anti-hero, really. Then there’s the performances of the supporting characters, including a seductive and mysterious Faye Dunaway and John Huston as the wealthy and villainous Noah Cross – and Dunaway’s father in the movie. And it’s their few minutes on screen together, at the end, along with the revelation to Gittes by Dunaway’s character that is just heart-breaking and leaves you sitting, watching the screen. 

To go even further back to a classic in this genre, THE BIG SLEEP, stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Bogart plays Philip Marlowe, a detective who is hired by a rich family to keep an eye on the youngest daughter, and soon falls for the older sibling – played by Bacall (which had lead to a real-life romance between the two in a previous movie.) 

The movie is famous for an ending that gets so convoluted that not even the writers and director are sure what happens! Scripted by William Faulkner – you may have heard of him, Leigh Brackett – who was one of the writer’s on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and wrote RIO BRAVO, and directed by Howard Hawks, who has directed a multitude of classic westerns, that’s kind of crazy that that they lost track of their own movie. Of course, the story goes, that not even Raymond Chandler – the author of the original novel – after looking through the book, couldn’t even tell what happened to certain characters.

Moving on from that, but keeping in tradition with the femme fatale that maybe – just maybe – has to do with whatever crime our “hero” is looking into. (You may not get what the connection is to THE BIG SLEEP, but like I said it gets so convoluted that I’m not even going into it – okay, Marlowe sets up a meet, gets there early in order to ambush the “bad guy”, Bacall’s character says maybe she “did it” and Marlowe dismisses it. He shoots bad guy, bad guy runs outside, gets shot by his own man, police come and Bogart and Bacall hide in the woods. Does that work?) So, in BODY HEAT also starring a raspy – yet sexy – voiced actress in the form of Kathleen Turner, we have William Hurt playing a small town lawyer Ned Racine who meets and develops a relationship with Turner’s Matty Walker. Sort of in the vein of Double Indemnity, she eventually convinces him to murder her husband in order to get his money. Her husband, of course is played by Richard Crenna. 

The movie, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan – who has created classics (loved or hated) like THE BIG CHILL, SILVERADO and of course wrote the screenplays for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.  - made his directorial debut with this movie, and it’s become sort of, I think, and underrated modern(-ish) film-noir. It’s also similar to ANGEL HEART in a couple of ways: one in that it uses heat as a large theme through the movie, and secondly we actually get a few minutes of Mickey Rourke. And the ending to this movie is great in that one character goes to prison for the murder of another that in the final moment we see is still alive and living the life of luxury.

And then in the first of the most modern movies on the list – in 1999, Joel Schumacher did his best to redeem himself after the catastrophe that was BATMAN & ROBIN with a movie called 8MM, starring Nicolas Cage as private investigator Tom Welles who is hired by a widow of a rich man that found a film reel of a purported snuff film. And she wants to know whether the film is authentic or who the girl is that seems to have been killed. This movie that ventures into some very dark material, and in the end drives Cage’s character to the brink of madness when he is confronted by porn makers that have threatened to kill his wife (played by Katherine Keener) and his young child, if he doesn’t back off. As our bad guys we get three great performers; Peter Stormare, James Gandolfini and the lesser known character actor Chris Bauer (TRUE BLOOD the HBO series), all of which are fantastic and horrible in each of their roles. 

The movie is written by someone who is sort of a guarantee of messed up stuff and bleak darkness, Andrew Kevin Walker (also wrote SEVEN, Tim Burton’s SLEEPY HOLLOW and  the upcoming Benicio del Toro’s THE WOLFMAN) and in 8MM he delivers again. This movie, which is fairly disliked a lot because of it’s extremely dark subject matter, is I believe a fantastic representation of modern noir. We also, I have to mention, get a great supporting role by Joaquin Phoenix as a porn shop clerk that sort of becomes Tom’s sidekick and guide through the underworld of esoteric pornography. 

But, there is one scene that is really fantastic and tense – almost in line with the scene from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS where Clarice is in the dark stalking after Buffalo Blue – where Tom Welles is in the house of the masked man that stars and perpetrates the crime in the snuff film, called Machine. And there’s this loud music, and Tom is slowly moving through the house and in the end the character of Machine is unmasked and made to be so pitiful and is sort of what today could be a metaphor of the sort of culture of anonymity that the internet has allowed us, but in it’s time period…well, just kind of stands for the same thing, minus the internet.

And lastly, not quite as dark, but just as good and possibly one of my favorite movies on this list is ZERO EFFECT. The movie written and directed by Jake Kasdan – the son of BODY HEAT’s writer/director – and starring Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller. This movie which is sort of a modern day Sherlock Holmes story, is about prolific, and reclusive private investigator Daryl Zero (Pullman). And in the story we follow him on in this movie, he’s hired by a man who is being black mailed for something he might have done – but is very secretive about – long ago in his past. The victim in this case is played by Ryan O’Neal (currently showing up every now and then on BONES).

Zero quickly solves the main crux of the case – O’Neal’s character believes that his blackmailer has stolen his keys, to which he as a key to his safe-deposit box – and the rest of the movie is about figuring out exactly what this crime was that he might have committed that would be blackmail worthy. In a great subplot – which manages to work it’s way back into the main plot – we get a female companion to Daryl Zero, played by Kim Dickens (she’s been on LOST, DEADWOOD as Joanie Stubbs). Along with these two plots, we have Stiller’s character who is Zero’s assistant – and kind of face to the public – who has to deal with Daryl’s personality quirks (the thing is that on his own Daryl Zero is a social-misfit and completely unable to connect to anyone; meanwhile when he’s working he’s smooth and charming) as well as having  to continually meet with O’Neal’s Gregory Stark, questioning him and confronting him.

The hosts are joined by a new traveller whose expertise in all things Hardy aids a note on the most violent of Britain’s inmates. The three then sail away into a land of three dimensions, lament the public service broadcasting blighty offers and wonder when gay is too gay for distributors the other side of the pond. Further discourse follows on hell houses and ordinary people, on paranoid klutes and naked kisses before, at last, the three come to rest and make sure the one they let in is the right one.

Download Episode 11

‘Whiney’ in My Cousin Vinny is Mitchell Whitfield.

Trailers for: Year One, Away We Go, Drag Me To Hell, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Observe and Report.

Trailer for Let The Right One In.

Christopher Tookey’s reactionary review to Bronson.

Remember to follow us on Twitter and email at movieoverdose@googlemail.com.

I’m definitely going to have to take some sort of warm holiday every winter now.  It revamps your attitude about the winter for sure.  I’m feeling pretty good, had a nice 3 day weekend.  Looking forward to some events this week.  Should be fun.

Tunes:
Dj Clart – Brick City (track is in player)

Klute – 174 BPM (track is in player)
Lovin this one!!

Today’s Oldie:
Tekniq – A New Dawn – Formation Records 1994
Some serious oldie business!  Dope.

Marcus Intalex – Soulution Radio Feb. 2009

Tracklist

BOP – Song About My Dog – Med School
Atom – Robot Fight – Dub
Lynx – The Semitones – Soulr
ST Files – Crackden – Soulr
Nymfo – Surface Scan – CIA
Spectrasoul – Organiser – Critical
Jynx – Form Is Emptyness – Dub
Heist – Doberman – Dub
Spirit – Spark – Dub
S.P.Y. – Rebirth – Dub
Subterra – Celestial – Dub
Random Movement – Waterlogged – Innerground
Lynx and Kemo Interview & Album Feature:
Lynx and Kemo – Deez Breaks – Soul:R
Lynx and Kemo – The Real Thing ft. Vaceo & Tali – Soul:R
Lynx and Kemo – The Raw Truth – Soul:R
Lynx and Kemo – Dangerous ft. Alix Perez – Soul:R
End Of Interview

Calibre & DRS – Loves Too Tight – Signature
Spectrasoul – Alibi Breal Remix – Critical
Alix Perez & Icicle – Caution – Subtitiles
Blocks & Escher – Miller – Dub
The Upbeats – Bury Your Head – Soulr
Commix – Untitled – Dub
EQD 002 B – Untitled – Equalized

Retrend – Liquid, Dubby Drumfunk

Retrend – Liquid, Dubby Drumfunk alternate download

Lynx – Randy

Lil Louis – French Kiss (DnB rmx)

Alix Perez – Crooklyn

Ryme Tyme – Lock

Alix Perez – Inferno

Justice vs Simian – We Are Your Friends (DnB rmx)

Fanu – Defunct Drums

Mav and Twister – The Tubes

Drumsound and Bassline Smith – Body Pump

Klute – unknown

Im sure there is more tracks than that, but thats the TL I have saved.

I have an obsessive personality, nothing too serious.. i just get a little crazy over items that inspire me and that i feel that i need to aquire, be it clothes, decoration or furniture, i can not for the life of me get them out of my head until i find the right one.

Right now i’m on the hunt. Perfecting my home is the mission and noone will get in my way. The  subject of my current obsession is the wonderful peacock chair. It became most famous in the 1960s, it has a slatted back rest fanning out to evoke the bird’s plume and is usually made of rattan. It makes anyone sitting in it look cool.(i rest my case ).

See here some examples of this lovely stylish invention..

Tennessee Thomas in 10magazine

domino mag

the goddess Erin Fetherston

the home of Pearl Lowe – Grazia magazine

Jean Shrimpton and Cecil Beaton

Zooey Deschanel – flaunt magazine shoot

Kirsten Davis InStyle magazine

stills from Klute(1971)

When I was in film school we were bombarded with movies. Everything from Nanook of the North to Klute to the baby carriage careening down the steps in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potempkin. We watched documentaries by the brothers Maysles featuring Big and Little Edie, Mick Jagger and Bulgarian artist Christo who wrapped a 24 1/2 mile long white nylon fence over the California hills and into the Pacific Ocean. We studied John Wayne in The Searchers and for the first time I “got” why he was considered one of America’s greatest Western action figures. We deconstructed Apocalypse Now, discussed the violent hooligans who raced through Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and couldn’t stop talking about the long camera takes in Citizen Kane.

But of all the films I watched at school, there is one that still haunts me, that continues to echo through the crevice in my heart on certain black and white days when the only company I keep is my own.

The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner, based on a book of the same name by writer Alan Sillitoe, was filmmed in 1962 in the gritty and grimy world of the British Working class. The film was directed by Tony Richardson and stars a young Tom Courtenay as Colin Smith, a rebellious teenager sent to reform school for robbing a bakery. Michael Redgrave plays the privileged Governor of the school who cares less about Colin’s re-entry into society and more about his talent as a long-distance runner who can win a prestigious title for the school.

My professor said the film was part of the “Kitchen Sink School” of British filmmaking which focused on “social realism” by presenting realistic portraits of working class British life. He explained that the term “Kitchen Sink” was coined because every film had a scene set in a kitchen where inevitably there would be an overflowing, dish-filled sink somewhere in the frame.

I was taken by the term and the idea behind it. A kitchen sink is such a catch-all for everything you want off the counter of your kitchen or the counter of your life. A place where a pile of black and stark white British films can sit stacked and draining after a good scrubbing by film critics, professors and grad students.

So why does this film linger when others have faded to black? Is it the gaunt, haunted face of Colin running over the wild and windy woodlands of Claygate, Surrey or is it the lovely stream of allteration of words like “loneliness” and “long” strung together by the letter “L?”

I am not a runner but I am envious of anyone who can run a mile or a marathon. My body was not designed to be squeezed into a track suit, a pair of Nike Air Pegasus running shoes and a sports bra so tight that my breasts become permanently smashed into one giant boob. My lungs were not created for taking big breaths of air; I have asthma, I wheeze and gasp like a Grouper fish whenever my legs attempt to break into a trot let alone a full-on run.

I am not a runner, but I am fascinated by anyone who is.

Tom Courtenay as Colin Smith

And as Colin races towards the finish line hoping to prove himself worthy to the headmaster, his family and his mates, he is overtaken with jump-cut images from his past that set him wondering if pleasing the crowd is a win or a loss.

And that’s when Colin becomes universal. And I realize that whether we can run or walk, swim or sink, we often push ourselves to go faster, be better, smarter, richer, noticed, accepted and applauded for winning whatever race we have chosen to run. In our lonely rush to reach the finish line we end up running towards the future without even being aware of the present. So busy with going to something we forget where we are right now and miss the extraordinary beauty of daily moments – a baby’s tiny fist wrapping itself around the end of an index finger, the time just before dawn when the sky is hazy and azure blue and the morning star shines down for anyone who is up and awake to see it, or the split second you take that first bite of the best chocolate mousse you’ve ever tasted at the tiny bistro in Paris’s 13th arrondisement.

In our race, we lose the moments and the more moments we lose, the emptier our lives become.

We can learn a thing or two from The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner for as Colin nears the end of the race he suddenly stops, letting another slower runner get by him to win. Colin has decided that the only person worth pleasing is himself and although he is no longer the Governor’s pet and has lost all his special privileges at school, he has found a peace within himself and on his own terms.

Maybe next time we find ourselves sprinting through our lives, we may want to slow down or even stop and consider what we get versus what we are giving up, because ultimately we are all long distance runners and it’s up to us whether or not we want to stay in the race.

Do you need something fresh to listen to? Here’s a link to a streaming mix by Klute that I just came across. Klute is jungle producer Tom Withers, who makes great drum’n'bass music that’s accessible to everyone. Stream this mix of upbeat tunes for a pre-party soundtrack or an evening in, either way, it’s really good and sure to make your ears happy!

Experience

Nach zwei eher mittelmäßigen Basswerk-Sessions wurde am Jahrestag des Sturms auf die Bastille und am Tag des großen Kölner Feuerwerkes “Kölner Lichter” im G9 ein fulminantes Tanzvergnügen zelebriert. DJ J-Cut leitete den Angriff auf die Tanzbeine dabei mit eher wenig inspirierenden Cuts ein. Dazu waberte die Nebelmaschine und blendete die sehr helle Videoprojektion.

DJ Green Man ließ es ordnungsgemäß krachen und es wurde schnell eng auf der Tanzfläche, besonders als MC Chevy aus der Versenkung erschien und seine Raps mit Effektgerät remixete. Anschließend konnte DJ Klute (London), der nicht zum ersten Male im G9 auflegte nahtlos daran anknüpfen.

VJ Sehvermögen präsentierte sich in großartiger Form mit neuem Beamer und noch schnelleren Mixes und mit den Gästen der Party hätte man noch zwei weitere Drum’n'Bass-Events füllen können, soviel DJ’s und MC’s hüpften umher.

I came into work hella early today, 7a.m.. I just wanted to get my shit started early. Also that means I get to leave early which is definitely win.

Tunes:

Klute - Ashram

Today’s Oldie:
Jagged Edge aka Ryme Tyme & Optical – Rockbaby - V Recordings 1999 Today’s oldie goes out to Daniela. This is one of her favourite tracks. I remember when V was my go to label. This track was from their gold medal era. Hot ish.

Zero T – D&BTV Live #29

No tracklist.

I’ve been listening to this mix all day. It’s dope.

Neues Jahr, fetter Sound

DJ Colt Seavers, DJ Green Man, DJ Cheetah, DJ KLUTE (LONDON), DJ Ben Crunch, MC Chevy, VJ Sehvermögen, guter Gast VJ Benno (mit eigenem Screen).

Zur Feier des neuen Jahres und der fetten Basswerk-Session spendiert www.g9fans.de 13 Fotos im Großformat.

This from the LA Times this week, about Donald Sutherland putting in time at the Century City phone bank, calling for Obama. “Snowbirds” are Canadians who head south for the winter, usually to Arizona or Florida. They typically avoid politics like the plague, being on “vacation” for the long haul, and live in their glocal pods. They even have their own AARP-AAA-like association. Sutherland bucks this trend here by working as a “bluebird,” calling voters in swing states to tip the color scale, even though he is not a citizen (awesome).

In a familiar voice, the caller told the person at the other end of the line that he was volunteering for Barack Obama and looking for Rita.

“It’s Donald Sutherland calling from California,” he said.

…

From the Century Plaza and other call centers spread across the state, they placed more than 3 million calls to battlegrounds. There are so many of them that in some places they even have a name, “bluebirds,” people from blue states who flock to Republican strongholds and swing states to help Obama win.

Sutherland, a Canadian, could not vote or make a campaign donation vote. But he could volunteer. Careful not to speak too loudly, so as to not disturb other callers sitting nearby, he took a brief break to explain why he was making phone calls, and turned passionate.

“You have a man who has intelligence, sensitivity, judgment, intellect. You can see the heart. You can see the hope,” he said. “This is the most important election in the world.”

Can you imagine getting a call from Klute to tell you to get out the vote? In the photo above, I like to think he is using his break time to call up to Alberta. I think he is saying, “Hello, this is Donald Sutherland calling from California. Stephen Harper? No, really!! Again??? That neo-con guy ruining the economy, the guy with the arts cuts, and the most openly religious Canadian leader in eons? Really?!?”

This weekend, our dance cards are full with Halloween bashes. Tomorrow afternoon, Tiny G has been invited to his girlfriend Hazel’s for a costume party. He is going as a bumble bee. Then tomorrow night, our friends Booth and Adam are hosting a spooky soirée to which my husband and I are going as Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda, respectively, from Klute (1971). I was so inspired by a Uniqlo corduroy jacket my husband wears in heavy rotation, which, when teamed with a cashmere turtleneck, makes him look either like John Updike or Donald Sutherland. The latter seemed to give yours truly more wardrobe choices. Today I need to hunt down a cheap belt and a mullet wig to complete the look, though frankly my own ‘do is looking a little shaggy these days. I got this turtleneck mini at American Apparel, and PS, it doesn’t look QUITE like that on me:

…and will throw a Viktor & Rolf trench over the affair with some knee-high pleather boots picked up on the cheap in Paris about a decade ago. Here are some other fashionable turns from the movie, but were too much of a wardrobe investment (what? you ask, i don’t have a red leather corset with fringe kicking about in my closet?):