mediarecs0803

CD	album	high points
steve vai	real illusion: reflections	vai's new concept album! really varied and truly wonderful.
david byrne	grown backwards	lazy / glad & the rest of it!
eels	blinking lights	bit of a cheat, not even out yet, but the clips sound wonderful.
modest mouse	good news for people who love bad news	the world at large
mull historical society	this is hope	peculiar / how 'bout i love you more
grandaddy	sumday	standby
primus	sailing the seas of cheese	jerry was a race car driver / fish on
damien rice	o	not a bad song on it
goldfrapp	black cherry	black cherry / strict machine
spock's beard	day for night	day for night / skin
spock's beard	feel euphoria	onomatopoeia / east of eden
audioslave	audioslave	cochise
everclear	slow motion daydream	how to win friends / volvo driving soccer moms
evanescence	fallen	going under / tourniquet
less than jake	anthem	the science of selling yourself short
the polyphonic spree	the beginning stages of...	light & day / pretty much the whole album
the polyphonic spree	together we're heavy	hold me now / 2000 places
delerium	chimera	whole album again
suzanne vega	retrospective	nice to have all the well known tracks in one place!!!
rush	rush in rio	the whole thing but alex's little surreal monologue during 'villa strangiato' is one of the finest moments in rock for me!
berlioz	symphonie fantastique	sabbat danse is wonderful - back to my early roots when berlioz, bruckner and smetana ruled my vinyl & tape collections!
sarah mclachlan	afterglow	fallen
bobby mcferrin	circlesongs	all of it! yes it IS the bloke who did "don't worry - be happy" but forget that and this musical festival of improvised chant-song will astonish you. perfect late night listening
rasputina	thanks for the ether	transylvanian concubine
nitin sawhney	human	promise / the river
divine comedy	absent friends	come home billy bird
the rasmus	dead letters	in the shadows
scissor sisters	scissor sisters	laura / comfortably numb (!)
franz ferdinand		take me out
maroon 5	songs about jane	harder to breathe
alice cooper	hey stoopid	wind-up toy / feed my frankenstein
tortoise		all of it!
air	moon safari	all of it!
zero7	when it falls	somersault
feeder	comfort in sound	just the way i'm feeling
thomas newman	a series of unfortunate events OST	drive away
the flaming lips	yoshimi battles the robots	great and unexpected album

DVD
the corpse bride	what can i say? you either get the truly macabre humour of tim burton or it leaves you cold. i've always loved it - tim burton is why we have halloween! though i am a big fan of his fantastical tales like Charlie, and Big Fish; it is tales like this and Nightmare Before Christmas where Burton shines. the corpse bride is wonderful, and no plot synopsis would help sell it - just rent or buy it!
thumbsucker	one of those films to cherish for its independence! thumbsucker tells the story of a deeply disenfranchised teen who finds comfort in just sucking his thumb. it sounds like an appalling premise for a movie, but there's just something that keeps you watching. the performances are all excellent including some surprises from vincent d'onofrio, tilda swinton and a frankly delightful performance from keanu reeves! but it's newcomer lou pucci who keeps your attention throughout as mike mill's hero, justin. there's also a stunning score by the polyphonic spree which is an added bonus!
serenity	the film of josh whedon's much maligned 'firefly' series. i was a huge fan of the series and thought fox's treatment of it (from mis-scheduling to delaying the pilot to halfway thru the season!) was a travesty. the film was unique in giving fans of the series answers and not making them feel spoon-fed, whilst also not making newcomers feel isolated. the performances were all crackling and the film beautifully shot. congrats joss!
black books seasons 1-3	dylan moran's sharply written dark sitcom centred around the exploits of Bernard Black, disgruntled human being and bookshop owner. The writing and the cast make these series a joy to watch again and again. solid comic support from Bill Bailey and Tamsin Grieg.
amelie	jean jeunot's engaging tale about a young girl who decides to right all the wrongs in her small but delightful world. beautifully surreal and sumptuously photographed, this film is one of the most enjoyable 2 hours you could spend in front of the telly. jeunot (delicatessen & city of lost children) went on to direct the deeply misunderstood and under-rated alien resurrection.
pleasantville	gary ross' redemption as far as i'm concerned after 'big' and 'dave'. amazing film about division and the blossoming of creativity. fantastic visual spectacle which uses some very subtle but refined special effects integrated so beautifully into the plot. great film - tobey 'future spiderman' maguire is brilliant as is joan allen.
will & grace season two	i raved about season 1 but season 2 just gets better - watch it though as the uk distributors have done the dirty and you only get half the number of eps on each dvd for s2 than for s1!!!
shadow of the vampire	john malkovich & willem dafoe in a fantastic fantasy about the making of the 20's movie 'nosferatu', and the rather unusual employment of max shreck as the vampire by director fw murnau
about a boy	okay so it's been out for a while but nick hornby's story of the emotional awakening of a mid-30's layabout still gets flung onto the dvd time and time again. the badly drawn boy soundtrack is brilliant all on its own. highlights are the integration of a suicide note into the soundtrack lyrics - amazing piece of work and hugh grant and toni collette are glorious!
the ice storm	very cool ensemble film - delightfully tense drama which moves in that delightfully slow way that some films do without losing impetus and attention.
donnie darko	fantastically dark and brooding metaphysical study on the nature of fate and predestination. features the scariest screen bunny ever and an enigmatic ending to rival keyser sosae.
phonebooth	deeply wonderful & beautifully crafted thriller. the sense of claustrophobia ranks up there with 'the panic room' for me. colin farrell is truly exceptional as is a very quietly malevolent keifer sutherland.
animatrix	these are some beautiful pieces of cross genre anime which will hopefully give the artform a wider audience. highspots are the much praised "final flight of the osiris" and "kid's story" but the first tales of the history of the machines' rise to power are also both beautiful and deeply distressing.
rush in rio	no - no mistake, this IS appearing in the cd & dvd sections this month. though i have a certain amount of bias, i have to say this is so far the best concert video i have ever clapped eyes on - when you ally that with the technical difficulties they had to overcome during the day of filming (no soundcheck!!!) it is a remarkable achievement. the editing is slick but not annoying, the integration of the back projection has been well done, and the sheer energy of 3 guys at the top of their game is beautifully captured. it's a treat for rush fans who haven't seen their canadian buddies for nearly 10 yrs now, but also great for non-rush fans too. friend of mine who i'd played cd's to in the past and had never been overly impressed by, even commented that she would go and see them on the strength of the dvd! the rare documentary is also very cool, and nice to hear peart's thoughts in person.
toys	finally available on dvd!!! barry levinson's masterpiece of the loss of innocence to the inexorable rise of violence in the world told via the deeply engaging story of two brothers fighting for control of their father's toy factory after his death. robin williams, joan cusack and michael gambon all deliver wonderful performances. there is also a deeply underrated soundtrack by trevor horn as well, featuring some fine songs from tori amos, tom dolby, grace jones, and wendy & lisa.
shaun of the dead	simon pegg & edgar wright go for the jugular (and small intestine, leg, etc etc). this wonderfully funny low budget romzomcom (a romantic comedy with zombies!) is definitely an homage rather than pastiche. more 'evil dead' than 'scary movie'. pegg and wright show a true fondness for their forebears and actually take the comedy very seriously. often incredibly subtle and painstakingly detailed, this film also features some exceptional performances from the excellent ensemble cast; most of whom you'll recognise as the illuminati of current british classy comedy.
van helsing	sorry - but i enjoyed this movie. hugh jackman manages to shake off wolverine very capably as literature's most famous vampire hunter, here portrayed much earlier in his career than peter cushing's more dignified and cerebral portrayal. it's a glorious film to look at, stunning special fx and very faithful to the classic universal monster movies of the 30's. roxburgh manages to bring something new even now to the role of Count Dracula and avoids a re-run of Oldman's Coppola version. it's a romp, and you'll be hard pushed to reconcile the wonderful david wenham as the bumbling monastic version of bond's Q and his previously major role of Faramir in LotR.
shrek 2	a great sequel to a great movie. again, you forget in less than 30s that it's all animated and just get on with it some great opening nods to some classic movie scenes, lovingly recreated. wonderful performances from the principles who are joined for their second romp by the truly astonishing antonio banderas as 'puss', and equally glorious: john cleese, julie andrews, and jennifer saunders as the kick-ass fairy godmother. sadly, simon cowell gets a look in on the dvd!
ed wood	tim burton's off-beat biopic of possibly the worst yet most dedicated film director of the 20th century. jonny depp is glorious as the relentless wood, and a fantastic supporting cast, including martin landau as an uncanny Bela Lugosi, make this a seriously good use of 2 hours!
one hour photo	i loved this otherwise underrated film. robin williams gives both a touching and disturbing performance of the fast-foto clerk for whom reality and fantasy are just a short bus ride from each other. good supporting cast, but it's williams that really shines. excellent photography especially in the slightly hyper-real atmosphere of the supermarket.

X-Box	Comments
quantum redshift	bit old now but still the most wonderful racing game for the XBox. hugely exciting, deeply addictive and immense fun in multi-player mode. i also want one of the hover ships for real - they are truly astounding. i would buy an XBox just for this game!
rallysport challenge & rallysport challenge 2	again older but still knocks the stuffing out of colin mcrae 3 - plus it has multiplayer, and to be honest there is no more entertaining sight than selecting the ice circuit and a couple of ludicrously overpowered vehicles and go pelting round at full tilt. your entire relationship with your friends will change when you see them pirouette off a cliff or pile straight into a snow bank. huge fun - again v addictive. RSC2 has just come out and it is a fantastic worthy successor to the first game. the only slight downside is a modified replay system that doesn't allow viewing of car 1+2 simultaneously. very good career mode which allows unlocks even if your times would have been quicker on a pushbike.
project zero	don't mind telling you that this game scares the willies out of me!! it has a feel of the original version of The Ring, not much seems to happen, but then in the darkness - did i - no - is it - aaaargh!!! first played this at 2am in a very quiet house - believe me - not a wise move!! excellent game, very scary, good longevity.
colin mcrae rally 04	i'd waited for this game with bated breath, and for the most part it delivers - highly tunable cars, great scenery, fantastic car handling, great courses and a very intelligent championship system. however (yes..) there's areas where i still prefer rallysport challenge to be honest. the multiplayer is so much more fun in RSC as you actually get the image of the other car, whereas here, you just get a little red ghost car type image of your opponent in your part of the split-screen, which is okay, but just not as much a feeling of 'big-race-fun'. my regular racing nemesis and i played and though it's challenging and hard work, we did just get to the end of the race and just sit there rather than be in stitches as we would have been during RSC. if you are on your own though, it's a fantastic rally sim!
project gotham racing 2	ooooh - so waiting to get hold of this - i have played episode 1 to death and am sooooo hugely over-excited by the new version - oh come on... the ability to play other folk from around the world on their home circuits and with their current weather conditions at their local time????? come on guys - what more do you want from a racing sim??? i was jazzed enough by the idea of being able to whizz round waterloo a stupid-mph in a vw beetle - oh i'm so pathetically easy to please.
myst 3: exile	i loved the original pc version of the myst trilogy but this porting to x-box is every bit as compelling though a few short cuts have been taken. the graphics are stunning, seamlessly combining cgi and live action (including brad dourif!). still the same level of deeply enigmatic and unfathomable gameplay but the beauty of myst is that even if you are completely stuck, you could happily look at the scenery for hours! ridiculously i just picked it up for a tenner!
grabbed by the ghoulies	truly the silliest game i have ever played. not mine, but am spending a lot of time pestering my games nemesis to play her copy! full of ninja imps, dancing skeletons; super-soaker sensitive flatulent zombies; haunted tvs - this game has it all. fantastically stupid and very addictive.

Books	Comments
the eyre affair lost in a good book well of lost plots something rotten all by jasper fforde	very very silly but intelligently written fantasy mystery. full of ludicrous literary in-jokes which will have you diving for all those old o-level texts. like pullman, the universe is similar to our own, but just different to our own to unnerve you. shares a lot of humour with pratchett and should appeal to fans of discworld. great characters and ludicrous scenarios.
'rat scabies & the holy grail' christopher dawes	if ever there was a time for an antidote to Dan Brown it's now! this book starts off seeming like a romp sprung from the crazed mind of the Damned's drummer, but rapidly turns into a massively enjoyable and touching travelogue. dawes is scabies' unfortunate next door neighbour who gets dragged across europe on a mission to find nothing less than the holy grail itself. in the meantime, he meets ghostly horses, mysterious book dealers, human moles and all with scabies still in his slippers. a really well written addition to the rennes le chateau lore.
'picklehead' rohan candappa	yes, that rohan candappa - author of all those wonderfully silly bathroom books! candappa has turned his attention to a full length novel based on his epiphany over a jar of curry sauce in sainsburys. candappa charts the story of his own family from the staunchy catholic pre-war india and burma through their arrival in 50's london to his seemingly normal present day suburban life. an entertaining and often heart-wrenching read that will frequently have you needing to fix a snack with all the references to delicious sounding food.
*lemony snicket's* 'a series of unfortunate events'	glad to say was reading the series weeeelll before the film, however, i wasn't disappointed in the film - i loved what they did with the characters, and actually rather liked carrey as olaf! the books are wonderful, vivid, dark and deply depressing - read something else. still great up to book 12!