The Soundtrack of 2009

Although the number of books I've read and films I've watched has gone up this year compared to 2008, the number of songs added to my iTunes library released this year hasn't. Sure, there are 84 songs in my library with a 2009 release date but a) this includes five albums, which don't really count because they are unrepresentative of the way I listen to music and because they contain too many songs about which I am meh, and b) it also includes compilations and soundtracks containing songs that were originally released before this year (it would be unfair to call There Is a Light That Never Goes Out as a top song of 2009, for example, just because it appeared on the [500] Days of Summer soundtrack).

Despite this, I have managed to come up with a top five, proving that either a) I'm down with the kids or b) my knowledge of contemporary pop music comes entirely from Gossip Girl and Radio Paradise. That being said, I really liked all of last year's top five (especially my top three) and regularly listen to them all; this year, on the other hand, I can't see any of them other than the number one song being a regular feature of my future "current" playlists:

1. Wait It Out — Imogen Heap [preferably the Live at TED version]
2. Runaway — Yeah Yeah Yeahs [GG entry #1]
3. Laughing With — Regina Spektor
4. Bad Romance —  Lady Gaga [GG entry #2]
5. Whatcha Say —  Jason Derulo [GG entry #3 — also, I only really like it for the Imogen Heap song, Hide and Seek, that is being sampled, which was used in another Josh Schwartz show, The O.C.]

I added 189 new songs (released any year) to iTunes this year but although there are a few good ones (Lewis & Clarke's cover of my favourite Cure song, Disintegration, Embrace's I Can't Come Down and All Along the Watch Tower, for example) and I don't think it's worth my doing a top five. If iTunes let me search for my most played choons within a particular time period, that would be interesting but, of course, it doesn't...

Naturally, choosing my top five books and films of the year is going to be harder because there are more to choose from so they are going to have to wait until tomorrow.

Christmas Wouldn't Be Christmas...

...without any crazy swimming in/leaping into the freezing cold Mediterranean. The parents cheated somewhat by wearing wetsuits but inspired by the warm, bright sunshine, I decided to forego even the fingerless gloves of Christmases past and leaped straight on into the sea in my bikini. 

"Vous êtes anglais ou écossais, évidemment," said a French lady walking past with her dog. Clearly only Brits would be mad enough to actually swim in the sea on Christmas Day. Wrapped in towels, afterwards, we sipped from a mini bottle of Champagne and ate some fresh baguette.

Now we're preparing a very nice côte de bœuf for dinner, which will be preceded by some freshly caught oysters and prawns — another advantage of being in France for Christmas is that there is not a single turkey in sight. Or, on this occasion, a mince pie or Christmas pudding — foods of which I am not in the least bit fond.

3D's a Crowd — Avatar Review

I had my first full-length, 3D movie experience this evening. We went to see Avatar in downtown Cannes. As it was raining comme une vache qui pisse, as the French so eloquently put it, the cinema was packed and we picked up our 3D glasses and took a seat. I'm not sure whether we had to pay extra for the glasses but it only cost 21 euros for the three of us and after London prices, this was a veritable bargain.

I wasn't sure I was going to like Avatar, not least because it is well over my two-hour length limit. I was somewhat thrown because as soon as the lights went down, we were immersed into the film — no trailers, no anti-piracy warnings, no BBFC certification (or the French equivalent), no credits (not even for any of the production companies), no nothing. The 3D effect was quite cool, although there was probably a novelty value involved. 

As I was watching a version with French subtitles, the subtitles themselves appeared almost 3D; this probably wasn't intentional and it was also a little distracting. It took a little while to get used to the fact that occasionally, characters would appear to walk "in front of" the screen and you would initially want to tell off a fellow audience member for standing up in the middle of the movie. Parts of the film were visually very stunning though with all sorts of floating jellyfish-like creatures, flying dragon-like creatures and all sorts of other 3D charismatic megafauna, which would regularly slide, soar or leap out towards you.

As for the plot, it was pretty cheese-tastic: paraplegic US marine gets signed onto a project exploring the planet Pandora, which is a resource of the incredibly useful substance unobtanium and which hosts the Na'vi, a species of nine-foot-tall, blue-skinned humanoids with tails and carbon-reinforced bones. 

Except, when he goes on his reccies, he has to climb into a pod that allows him to be connected up to his Na'vi avatar. Jake, the marine, is supposed to get friendly with the Na'vi so that he can find out if they can be persuaded to move from their sacred lands (which is where the unobtanium happens to be found), allowing the humans to put up some huge oil rig like structure. 

But of course Jake falls in love and life gets oh-so-complicated when he has to choose between his new girl and friends, and his own race. Ironically for a 3D film, the characters were all pretty one-dimensional: the disadvantaged goodie, the baddie, the brave heroine, the love rival for the heroine who is mean for most of the film but dies valiantly, and so on.

The film has a lot in common with Titanic, besides the same basic character types: a James Horner soundtrack, the dramatic shots of people falling and meeting their end when hitting a hard object, the meeting of two cultures, two worlds. In fact, when Jake's Na'vi gal is trying to save him by giving him an oxygen mask, I almost thought she was going to say, "there's a mask, Jake" (à la "there's a boat, Jack") and when Jake learns to fly one of the dragon-like creatures, he so nearly said, "I'm the king of the world."

But it did look very good and the story was just about engaging enough (even if the tautness of the plot was sacrificed in favour of creating some really cool-looking shots) to keep me going for the whole 2h40. My nose was killing from the heavy 3D glasses by the end, though, or, as one of the two women from Northern England in the audience put it, "oh nerrr; I've bruised me conk."

Waterloo Sunshine

When I got up at about 8:30, the mercury on my iPhone was indicating minus five degrees. As the iPhone, like its mistress, tends to be a bit of a hypochondriac about the cold, I also checked a few other weather websites and the consensus seemed to be that it was about minus three. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and sunny and I saw no reason not go ahead with my original plan to catch the Tube down to Waterloo and then do a circular route along both banks of the Thames.

The South Bank was busy, even for 9:30 on a freezing cold morning in December. Also, because I haven't done a proper run along the river since I got my iPhone, I kept stopping to take photos, which meant my iPedometer probably wasn't very accurate.

I ran along the South Bank to Tower Bridge before crossing over — Tower Bridge isn't exactly Brooklyn Bridge, but on a bright, winter morning it's a fairly striking sight. I then ran all the way back along the North Bank, past Somerset House, St Stephen's Tower and Westminster Abbey, to Vauxhall Bridge. Finally, I crossed back over and completed the circuit by running up to the Jubilee Bridge.

By that point, it was after 10:30 and the tourist hoards had made a beeline for the London Eye, the Aquarium, the Christmas markets and the other range of excitements on offer on the South Bank. I, meanwhile, could walk smugly back to the Tube station before jumping into a scalding hot shower in an attempt to regain some feeling in my feet. I have definitely earned my bacon sandwich today!

Fifteen Squared

It's a historic day for another reason: for the first time ever (or maybe just the first time in absolutely yonks), I finished the Saturday Grauniad crossword, after many weeks of incompetence and/or lacking inspiration. I had just one clue remaining last night (seven down) but I knew the answer, just not the logic, and then finally I got it this morning. Also, there were two words that I needed to look up in the dictionary after I'd worked them out to check that they were actually real words that meant approximately what I thought they did. 

And yes, I know that for many people this wouldn't be much of an achievement but you have to remember that for many years, I only ever knew the bunny slopes that are the Torygraph crossword.

It is perhaps obvious that I am ill at the moment, which has forced me to forego most running (other than a gentle, five-miler this morning) and which has therefore meant I have more time to spend solving crosswords and writing blog posts.

NB: This post was written on Sunday, December 6, but lest the Grauniad send their crossword lawyers to tell me off for giving away the answers before the closing date of the competition and lest I give other people the opportunity to enter the prize draw to win a Collins English Dictionary (I'd rather have the OED myself), the post will only be pushed live after the competition closes on Friday.

Turquoise Is COTY 2010

It's that -OTY time of year again: today, it's Pantone's Color of  the Year for 2010, which has been unveiled. They have chosen turquoise, which is my favourite colour and so I am pleased that wearing it next year will mean I am fashionable (not that I ever lose any sleep over this kind of thing). According to the press release:

Whether envisioned as a tranquil ocean surrounding a tropical island or a protective stone warding off evil spirits, Turquoise is a color that most people respond to positively. It is universally flattering, has appeal for men and women, and translates easily to fashion and interiors.

Universally flattering as it may be, as a bright spring with light blue eyes, turquoise is also one of my best colours and although I'm not interested in its anti-evil properties, the thought of warm, crystal clear, turquoise oceans and a land far, far away, as modelled by Monsieur E on our holiday to Cuba, is definitely an appealing one. Of course, even the gorgeous blue waters of Cayo Levisa, in which I swam, scuba dived and drank milk from coconuts, had their flaws but then jamais n'est parfait.

Island Fling — Cracks Review

I've been wanting to see the film Cracks ever since it was shown at the London Film Festival at the same time as the disappointment that was the Secret Film. Afterwards, I wished I'd gone to see Cracks instead but I hadn't heard anything about it, and obviously hadn't read its entry in the LoFiFest programme because a film set in a girls' boarding school in the 1930s with Eva Green as the unconventional teacher sounds right up my street.

The film went on general release this weekend and although I was somewhat discouraged by the one-star rating from Time Out (I try not to read any reviews before I see a film in case it puts me off or biases me; if Mark Kermode reviewed it this week, I'm sure he hated it), I convinced my South-of-the-River friend to join me in Haymarket, lest my cold be worsened by the Balham air.

The girls' boarding school in question is set on a remote island which is, by turns, splendid and sinister. Eva Green plays Miss G, a glamorous teacher and a former pupil of the school, who has a special group of favourite pupils who form the diving team (a team that has never competed in any competitions), all of whom display their special status by wearing red sashes. Di Radfield is team captain, Miss G's favourite and all-around queen bee. Her dives are the best and the other girls in the team suck up to her and give in to her bitchy demands. She also has a crush on Miss G and will do anything to please her teacher — woe betide anyone who tries to steal Miss G's attention from her.

Enter Fiamma, a Spanish princess, who has been exiled by her father because she fell in love with a commoner. Error. Fiamma doesn't care that she doesn't fit in and that the girls bully her mercilessly because knows she will only be at the school for a term — but then, most of the other girls thought that too and they are still there, years later. She is also beautiful and generous and does the most stunning dives the team or Miss G have ever seen. Miss G is entranced and Di furious with jealousy. Fiamma has destroyed the balance and hierarchy that existed among the girls and shifted the tentative balance of power.

As the film develops, girls will, it seems, be girls, which on this occasion means that they will be bitchy and selfish and cruel, but as they get to know Fiamma, Miss G herself begins to unravel and Di slowly begins to realise that her beloved teacher may not be the perfect, worldly woman she once thought.

By highlighting the island setting, director Jordan Scott (Ridley Scott Jr.) adds a slightly unsettling sense of isolation as well as an almost fairy-tale-like, other-worldly mood and much is made of the contrasts between the the dark, dramatic woods in winter and the glorious summer mornings when the diving team leap from the diving board into the shimmering lake (sea?), their twisting, somersaulting bodies captured in slow-motion. 

The relationships between the girls and between the girls and their teacher are intriguing and Green does do a good job of playing the beautiful, glamorous teacher with hints of a troubled past and a troubled mind. Juno Temple (Di Radfield) plays an older version of her character in Atonement and a younger version of her character from Glorious 39 so it's no surprise that she has got the attention-seeking bossy-boots character down to a T. Yet, this little island fling didn't quite come together enough for me; it wasn't Kingdom of Heaven, but it certainly wasn't Blade Runner either.