Ian Shaw - A Life Less Ordinary

April 21st, 2008 · 2 comments or link to (permalink)

A touching documentary about Ian Shaw, whose daughter died on the Swiss Air flight 111 from New York to Geneva in 1998. Shaw, a very successful Geneva business man, moved on his own to the site of the crash in Novia Scotia, where he bought a diner.

My wife, who is from near Geneva, had a friend who died on this flight, on his way home after a year traveling.

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Born Rich

March 23rd, 2008 · comment or link to (permalink)

A refreshingly candid and fascinating view into what its like to be born rich, most specifically, to be born rich in America.
1 hr 7 min 49 sec Oct 25, 2006
“Born Rich”

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Shane MacGowan: The Great Hunger

March 6th, 2008 · 4 comments or link to (permalink)

bbc
59 min 54 sec Mar 1, 2008 myspace.com

I’ll just repeat what I said about MacGowan in the Nick Cave post:

“The Pogues front man, although Irish, is a once preppy schoolboy from one of the most exclusive private schools in England, who created a fake persona of an Irish drunk, in the name of authenticity - to the point where it actually became real. MacGowan is, no doubt, both a genuinely troubled genius and self-indulgent, racist, self-parody of an Irishman.”

And that’s about someone I really like.

BBC Documentary Shane MacGowan

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Biography of Nick Cave

February 28th, 2008 · comment or link to (permalink)

On the one hand, I have always liked Nick Cave, as one of the more cerebral pop stars, on the other I can’t help thinking that he fits the mould of self inflicted misery that is ultimately a pose.

In broad strokes, but not in the details, Nick Cave shares something with Shane MacGowan. The Pogues front man, although Irish, is a once preppy schoolboy from one of the most exclusive private schools in England, who created a fake persona of an Irish drunk, in the name of authenticity - to the point where it actually became real. MacGowan is, no doubt, both a genuinely troubled genius and self-indulgent, racist, self-parody of an Irishman. Cave’s heroin raddled persona, epitomized by his cameo as the bohemian Berlin singer in Wings of Desire is similarly caught between gritty realism and pretentious poncery. I’m not sure which is real, but the music is nonetheless decent, proving, ironically, that neither image nor integrity is everything.

47 min 32 sec Feb 19, 2008

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Tristram Cary - Pioneering Electronic Composer

February 13th, 2008 · 2 comments or link to (permalink)

A Smashing viewer suggested this great documentary about seminal electronic music composer, Tristram Cary.

Cary was involved in the design of a pre-Moog synth, created the distinctive Hammer House of Horror sound and composed music running the gamut of the UK film and TV industry from Ealing Comedies to Dr Who.

part 2 here

and part 3 here

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