Monthly Archives: July 2010

Edinburgh Comedy Preview – Part 1 {Blake Connelly}

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It’s nearly that time again, when half of London converges on Edinburgh while the residents move away for a month and rent out their rooms for extortionate prices. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe started as an unofficial offshoot of the Edinburgh International Festival but over the years has grown to be the much larger of the two. While it is home to all forms of performance art, from theatre to dance, over the last 20 years or so comedy has started to take over, to the displeasure of some.

Being the incredibly lazy person I am, I couldn’t be bothered to go all the way to Scotland, so instead have caught some stand-ups as they preview their shows down here in London. If you’re in the capital, it’s an excellent way to see some great comedy at some amazingly good prices and it means that I’ll be able to let you know about some of the shows to look out for during the festival. Please bear in mind that because I’ve been watching previews, the shows aren’t yet the finished articles, with the performers often working from notes and testing out routines to see what does and doesn’t work with audiences.

Here’s the first batch of previews, there’ll be some more next week:

Richard Herring: Christ on a Bike – The Second Coming
£10, Assembly @ George Street, 21:45

If you’re familiar with Herring’s work, either solo or with Stewart Lee, you’ll know that Biblical stories are a recurring theme. Christ on a Bike was his first solo show back in 2000, as the 33-year old Richard Herring pondered whether he had achieved as much as Jesus after reaching the age he was when he died. Ten years later, he’s resurrected (sorry) the show, taking the best of the original and adding new material. It’s a very strong hour or so of stand-up, looking at the inconsistencies in the New Testament, the way the Church has developed over the two thousand years since and, perhaps most importantly, the messianic ponderings of a teenage boy from Cheddar.

We discover a possible explanation for the Turin Shroud, and contemplate such ecumenical matters as “How much bread and wine would you have to consume in Roman Catholic Communion before you have eaten a whole Jesus?” and “Why did Jesus call Simon ‘Peter’? Is it like the way Trigger was always calling Rodney ‘Dave’?” He also rather impressively recites the entire first page of the Gospel of St Matthew – and, if you’re lucky, he’ll show you how he did it.

Like last year’s incredible Hitler Moustache, Herring’s comedy is often puerile and adolescent but carries a thought-provoking message. It’s a really funny show that makes some interesting points. But, he’s not saying he’s Jesus. That’s for other people to say.

Josie Long: Be Honourable!
£9, Just The Tonic at the Caves, 19:40

Josie’s show is described as “a ramshackle call to arms”, which sums it up nicely. A stream-of-consciousness that takes us from learning all about breakfast (“It’s a whole other meal that you’re allowed to have!”) to a seemingly random account of overheard and “overseen” conversations that build up to a picture of what it means to be good and to do good. She ends by talking about what it means to be in your late twenties and left wing, a rallying cry for those of us who believe strongly in certain principles but are left confused by the last Labour government and surrounded by political apathy.

If that last part sounds too heavy, the bit about breakfast is really good, and what makes the show so enjoyable is Long’s infectious optimism. The show genuinely motivates you to want to try to make more of a positive impact in the world, or at the very least makes you want to put a little more thought about what to put in your porridge each morning. Do catch it if you can.

Kevin Eldon: Titting About
£8, The Stand Comedy Club, Times vary

You probably know the name, but if you’ve been watching any British comedy series over the last couple of decades, you’ll definitely know the face. From Fist of Fun to Nighty Night and I’m Alan Partridge to Spaced, Kevin Eldon has been a regular on our screens and also a regular visitor to the Fringe, so it’s a surprise to learn that this is the comic actor’s first ever solo show at the festival.

Introduced by his pretentious poet alter-ego Paul Hamilton, a brilliant character he’s been occasionally performing for almost 20 years, the show explores the different ideas he’s had for his show, taking in a variety of characters along the way. These include a version of Hitler from a parallel universe and a “fictional northerner”, whose breathless monologue contains a string of hilarious absurdities which go by in a flash. Eldon has also proved himself to be able to perform those rarest of things – comedy songs which are extremely funny and not at all cringeworthy. Even in the work-in-progress form I saw it, it’s an excellent show and definitely one to go and see.

Tom Allen Toughens Up!
£9, Gilded Balloon Teviot, 19:30

As the title suggests, the show is all about Allen’s attempts to get stronger, both physically and – after some disastrous first dates – emotionally. When hearing his tales of growing up in a “rough” family and school to find himself not only being gay but also having a tremendously posh accent, it’s easy to see why he’d want to toughen himself up, but you leave the show wanting him to stay just as he is. A charming storyteller, he enchants the crowd with his anecdotes, generating a real warmth between performer and audience. Tom Allen’s star has been rising for some time now and he’s currently making regular appearances on Big Brother’s Big Mouth. One to look out for.

Patrick Monahan: I Walked, I Danced, Iran
£10.50, Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21:00

Irish/Iranian Geordie Patrick Monahan has a reputation for his ability to engage with his audience, and it’s something he does really well. While his routines about fears of geese are entertaining enough, his quick-witted ad-libbed banter with the crowd is the highlight and is what takes up most of the show. Indeed, he spent so much time conversing with the patrons when I saw him that he didn’t have time for the “funked up version of the Iranian National Anthem” promised in the show’s publicity. One thing’s for sure, every performance will be very different to the last.

Alexis Dubus: A Surprisingly Tasteful Show About Nudity
£5, Downstairs at the Tron, 17:00

Fresh from last year’s show exploring the use of swear words and obscene language, this year Dubus is looking at society’s attitudes to the naked body. Prudes need not worry as the title is correct; the show is surprisingly tasteful and very insightful. He’s certainly done lots of research into the subject and the show comes across more as a lecture with jokes than a stand-up set. Still, at a fiver you can’t go wrong, and Dubus is a very likeable comic who is worth a look.

Next week: Stewart Lee, Chris Addison, Daniel Kitson and more…

Wikileak in Afghanistan {Carl Packman}

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Julian Assange won’t find himself on any leaked document, but he should be under no illusion: he is enemy number 1 now. The owner of Wikileaks may have just tickled a ball too many with his latest release; 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict in Afghanistan.

Homeless Assange, whose profile on the Guardian notes him as confessing a genetic disposition to rebel, has spent the last 24 hours justifying his acts, in light of fierce criticism from the White House, who have said the leaks – probably the result of hacking (their assumption) – which contains classified and sensitive information could put the war effort in jeopardy.

The twitter hashtag #warlogs has had discussions ranging from whether to see Wikileaks forever more as a champion of free speech, or as a danger, more intent on causing naive damage and anarchy rather than any grown up appeal to classical liberal motifs.

Having seen a sample of the records myself I can conclude one thing for the nice readers at Frost Magazine: we are at war.

If you want to find out anymore, say if you want to see what Osama Bin Laden told intelligence in his poetic, tyrannical phraseology, or perhaps you’d like to see how much carnage the Taliban have caused with roadside bombings, go and see the files for yourself.

Though when you see them remember one of the main reasons why this stuff isn’t on public display (other than the issue of a national threat, or sensitivity to families): war is rubbish, people die, and it is often better to put it to the back of one’s mind, for otherwise the emotional proximity to what is really going on can have deleterious effects on a reasonable and rational opinion of the war effort in Afghanistan.

I call this the problem of overproximity, and I first spoke about it last year with regard to the camps in Calais that were home to many migrants. Photojournalist Jason Parkinson, a good guy, was frustrated by then immigration Minister Phil Woolas’ response to the camp. He wrote in the Guardian:

It is easy for Woolas, back in London, to arrogantly state these men don’t deserve asylum in the UK. But in doing so he exposes his distance from the issue. If he had bothered to go to the camps and squats around Calais and talk to these people, hear their stories first hand – perhaps then he would remember they are human beings and not just a statistic or price tag on a government spreadsheet.

It is my contention that it didn’t matter where Woolas made the decision if it involved taking a look at what the UK could do, but certainly visiting the camp was not going to help, only other than putting Woolas in a situation where his proximity to the problem would influence his reponse (we all know his stomach for pressure, just see Joanna Lumley take him down).

The leaked documents have the potential to change people’s mind in the wrong way, it will remind people that death is common to war, and that strategy has not always been good in Afghanistan.

The shock of the reality has the potential to delete from our emotional minds the cost of not challenging the Taliban – this network of extremists will not stop until every son of every scared parent in Afghanistan has forcefully been signed up to fight in their fascist wars.

Inception Review. Leonardo Dicaprio shines. {Film}

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What people do when they are asleep eh? We all know what happens when people talk in their sleep. Some people that I know have had to come up with some insane excuses for explaining what they have said. And if you think that is bad I have even had the pleasure of knowing one young female that would be walking through her favourite high street store doing her shopping of all things. As a young kid I used to love watching my pet moggy sleep – and cackle with laughter I saw her legs kick as if she was chasing a squirrel up a tree.

The sleep state remains a mystery to most of us. It holds the happy times the bad times and even our darkest, deepest secrets. No wonder so many movies have been about it. What would happen if someone could come into your dream – not like the Freddy Krueger variety but a normal average man, a friend perhaps? What if they could steal your secrets? Take your ideas? Or even implant new ones? That is the exciting idea behind Inception.

Leonardo Dicaprio is Dom Cobb, a master dream thief who enters the dreams of others to obtain information that his targets for one reason or another keep hidden. His skills and abilities have cost him everything that is dear to him, but one day he is given a second chance to turn the situation to be turned around by doing one last job. However, it is not going to be easy. Typical of Christopher Nolan’s style of direction there are unforeseen enemies, critical moments where everything matters. In a world where reality and dream are the same this mind bending film not only pushes Cobb and his team of specialists to the limit but the viewer as well.

So how good or bad is the film? Well in my opinion the film is great. Dream films have been around for a while, check Nightmare on Elm Street, The Cell, even Supernatural has done it. But none so well, the dream world is truly expansive. Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures reportedly spent $160 million on this film and trust me – it shows.
Not since the Matrix have you been able to appreciate a virtual world like this.

Being a film by Chris Nolan you have all the tight camera shots and compelling characters that you would expect. The storyline according to some reviewers is that it is too mind boggling – and yes it is to some degree, sometimes it is just a bit too confusing, I would have had better luck trying to explain the offside rule to my girlfriend than trying to explain the film to her after wards, I think she had eyes for Caprio more than the movie itself, but thankfully being a matrix fanatic I found it amazingly easy to grasp.
For me though this is a no brainer, it is one of the must see films of the summer.

Go and watch it.

By Junior Smart.

Porcupine who thinks it's a puppy {Misc-uity}

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Oh it’s so super cute! It actually chases it’s tail at one point!

Tarp Surfing {Misc-uity}

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Tarp Surfing. Get a tarp (tarpaulin) pick up one end whilst someone skates underneath it and woah and behold it’s like surfing, only you don’t need to get your hair wet, or go to the coast.

MARCHIONESS BECOMES LATEST CRITIC IN THE ‘NOT SO PRIVATE LIFE OF PIGS’ FACTORY FARM PLANNING DISPUTE

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MARCHIONESS BECOMES LATEST CRITIC IN THE ‘NOT SO PRIVATE LIFE OF PIGS’ FACTORY FARM PLANNING DISPUTE.

Tonight’s edition of BBC Television’s ‘Private Life of Pigs’ with Jimmy Doherty, will almost certainly present pigs as the incredibly intelligent, social and sentient creatures that like nothing more than to root in the soil, a bit of fresh air and freedom to move.

Putting the spotlight on pigs in this way is, however, poles apart from the reality of how the majority of Britain’s pigs are reared in the nation’s factory farms. In order to compete with cheap imports, UK pig farmers have been forced to intensify production. Dark windowless sheds, where thousands of pigs are crammed into barren, concrete pens or forced to lie on straw less plastic or metal slats, is typical of the short life a British factory farmed pig experiences. Their lives are indeed private, for many factory farmers do not welcome public visits.

Not content with cramming 10,000 pigs onto a factory farm, a new US style, super sized factory farm is seeking planning permission to produce 50,000 pigs a year in South Derbyshire, which if successful will be Britain’s biggest factory pig farm.

The farm’s proposed greenfield site at Foston is adjacent to both a women’s prison and a number of residents. Whilst the prison authorities have remained tight lipped on the proposal, residents certainly haven’t and not only have they organised several local actions but, with NGO support, they have inundated the local council’s planning committee with letters of objection, successfully delaying judgement day for perhaps a few more months.

The latest opponent to voice her opposition to the proposal is the Marchioness of Worcester – aristocrat, filmmaker, supporter of sustainable farming and fierce critic of factory farming.

Better known as Tracy Worcester, she produced the film Pig Business, which exposed the damaging consequences factory pig farming can have on the world.

Following several trips to Poland and the USA she is an eye witness to the horrors of factory pig farming on the pigs themselves and on local people. Whilst there she visited several small communities, just like Foston, which have been dwarfed by huge, new pig factory farm developments. In these communities she concluded that these super-sized farms were bad for small-scale farmers, polluting to the environment, harmful to human health and detrimental to animal welfare. The net result was people, animals and the planet suffering from this style of industrial farming.

Tracy and the team at Pig Business believe the Foston application is a factory farm too far and are opposing the application. Whilst the plans have incorporated some new improvements for animal welfare and the environment, overall the proposal remains a factory farm, where thousands of pigs will spend their entire lives in an indoor, artificial environment.

Of most concern for Pig Business, is what this project could mean for human health and local farmers.

Having that number of pigs housed on one place, will increase the level of disease on the holding and, over time, is likely to pose a threat to the local community at the very least. While it may be true that the diseases found would not themselves spread through the air, it has been shown that antibiotic resistant bacteria from intensive farms can be spread from ventilator outlets by air currents to people living several hundred meters away. They can also pass to people in cars (even with the windows shut) when they have to travel behind lorries transporting such animals to other farms or to abattoirs, along both country roads and motorways. Antibiotic diseases, like the pig strain of MRSA, is a growing problem in countries that have these vast pig factories. So far, only 4 cases have been reported in the UK.

The fact that such a large farm could replace a significant number of cheap imported pork products, could be a red herring. It’s probable that a farm of this size (supported by both direct and indirect subsidies) will simply have a competitive advantage over most existing UK pig farms. As opposed to outcompeting Dutch, Danish, Polish or German producers, this system will create a fresh round of bankruptcies amongst pig farms, which just a few years ago would have themselves been considered large.

This would then create a situation where UK pig farmers will have to find a way of upgrading their farms to at least as big and mechanized as the one proposed in Foston.

Pig Business believes it’s vital these smaller farmers should be retained in the industry because some of them have the potential to change to free-range labour intensive systems, whereas enterprises of this scale never could.

The Marchioness of Worcester says,“Britain’s livestock farmers must resist the government, banks, supermarket and other corporate lobby’s rhetoric of green wash to super size their farms to US style operations. These aren’t farms, they are factories and whilst they can bring cheap food at the supermarket till, the costs of producing food in this manner are externalized on to the broader community, namely; the health of local farmers, residents and beyond, poor animal welfare, economic viability of small-scale farmers and local economies and a degraded environment.. Now the private lives of pigs have become public knowledge, so too must the plans for super sized pig factory farms”.

Gluey Game {Misc-uity}

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I think I’m addicted to this game that’s sort of like bejewelled but with cute gluey creatures instead. Or maybe they’re bacteria… Try it, but beware, it’s highly addictive.

[swfobj src=”http://frostmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/gluey.swf” alt=”Please upgrade to the latest version of flash” width=”450″ height=”375″ align=”center”]

[king.com]

Alex Kingston to star in new supernatural drama 'The Oaks' {TV}

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Alex Kingston and Jodie Whittaker are to lead the cast of ITV Studios’ brand new supernatural drama The Oaks (working title).

The Oaks is the gripping story of three different families living in the same house in the 1960’s, 1980’s and present day. The families are linked by the spirit of a young girl – the 1960’s family’s daughter who died in mysterious circumstances.

Filming has begun in London on the program which will be broadcast as a five part drama.

A creative collaboration between ITV Studios and Fox, the series is written for ITV by Stephen Greenhorn (Glasgow Kiss, Doctor Who) and is based on an original US pilot from David Schulner.

“The Oaks is a really original concept that blends relationship drama with an atmospheric ghost story,” said Laura Mackie from the commissioning team. “Stephen’s scripts are compellingly written and this is a very distinctive drama to add to our slate.”

“This is a strongly authored, ambitious piece and we’re thrilled to have such an exciting and talented cast on board,” said Kate Lewis, Executive Producer.