But what of the album? I’ve listened to it 3 times in a row now, and I really cannot fault a single, achingly beautiful note. Reminiscent of Kid A (which I believed was the best ‘complete’ album I’ve ever heard, by anyone) with a touch of OK Computer and a smattering of orchestral grandeur, In Rainbows is quite simply sublime. I know for a fact that I cannot do this album justice by trying to describe it, so just take my word for it – essential.

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Newcomer Thomas Turgoose plays Shaun, a boy whose father was killed in combat in the Falklands. Whilst Shaun’s mum does her level best to bring him up with manners and respect, the gaping void left by his father’s death leaves Shaun without the authority figure he craves. He’s bullied at school for the way he dresses, and is a social outcast devoid of any friends.

A chance encounter with a group of skinheads soon changes his life. Led by Woody (Joseph Gilgun), the gang are clearly worlds away from the stereotypical fascist skinheads the media made monsters of in that era. These guys just wanna have fun, listen to good music and get stoned. There’s even a black member of the gang, just to prove that they are all inclusive.

The gang soon take Shaun under its wing, turning him into a mini-skin replete with shaven head and Ben Sherman shirt. Shaun takes to this new ego like a mallard to wet stuff, and sees in Woody the father figure he longs for.

All is well, until Woody’s old mate Combo (Stephen Graham) comes back onto the scene after a stint in lock up. With a huge mate in tow, Combo is accepted (reluctantly) into the group again. It’s not long, however, before Combo’s fascist ideals infect the group, effectively breaking it apart. Shaun is taken in by Combo’s ramblings about the Falkland’s conflict and how Britain is being overrun by immigrants, and becomes Combo’s new blank canvas. What follows is an ugly, violent and ultimately tragic story with naive Shaun caught in the middle.

Stylistically, This Is England shares a stable with Meadows’ previous work on ‘A Room For Romeo Brass’ and the brilliant ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’, and follows similar themes of isolation and redemption. The lighter moments are handled with subtlety and made me smile more than once, as Shaun’s friendship with Woody’s gang is cemented. When Combo comes onto the scene, however, the mood shifts drastically, and the final two acts slowly bubble with menace until the violent finale, thanks in no small part to Graham’s stunning performance – at times likeable and charasmatic, but mostly absolutely bloody terrifying.

Turgoose is excellent as Shaun, able to handle the varying degrees of emotion that Meadows wrings from him, drawing pity and admiration from the audience in equal measure. Who knows what he’ll go on to do, but if this is his swan song, it’s not a bad swan song to have. Meadows likes his acting improvised, and whilst this works in general, some scenes could have done with tighter scripting. On the whole, however, this semi-autobiographical tale (Shaun’s surname is Fields, geddit) is an affecting and rewarding film.

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I’m not getting into the ins and outs of the interface, because I don’t have one to play with. But, essentially, it uses the same touchscreen technology as the much vaunted iPhone (to be released in the UK later this year). The iPod Touch also shares the menu and operating system of the iPhone – it’s basically an iPhone that can’t make calls.

Which is not a bad thing. Apple innovated when it created the scroll wheel for the original iPod, and again it has set the bar to a new level. The iPod also supports WiFi, so you can search for and download tracks in any area that has a WiFi connection.

All in all, it’s no surprise that this iPod has been released. As soon as the iPhone heralded the touchscreen technology and menu system, analysts were predicting that a similar iPod would follow. And here it is. And it looks fantastic. I’ve ordered (yes, ordered) my better half to get me the Blade Runner Ultimate Edition for Christmas – I wonder if her budget will stretch to a new iPhone Touch also? Doubt it.

One small problem, though. The biggest memory size you can get is a piddly 16Gb. My left shoe has more memory capacity. Who knows if this will deter people from buying, but it could be a big turn off for a lot of people used to 5 times that amount.

Also released are new iPod Classic, Nano and Shuffle. You can see more at www.apple.com.

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The Bourne Ultimatum begins with Jason Bourne (or is he?) on the run from agents in Moscow, and remains an engrossing, thrilling chase movie for the length of the film.

The action takes place over many cities, as Bourne desperately tries to piece together fragments of his life. Moscow gets a look in, as does Berlin, London, Spain, Morocco and New York.  Whilst dealing with the ever increasing realisation that his life  hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses recently, Bourne is continually tracked by both a dogged CIA agent bent on terminating him, and a resilient female CIA agent determined to bring him in alive in a bid to learn the secret of the mysterious ‘Treadstone’ project, to which Bourne seems to be inextricably linked.

While the plot of the movie(s) is a bit more highbrow than most summer action blockbusters, it isn’t exactly Bergman. But that is inconsequential, as director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy; United 93) has created some of the most visceral, exciting action set pieces I’ve seen yet. In The Bourne Supremacy, Greengrass hinted at just what he could do in terms of pacing and editing action sequences. In Ultimatum, he ups the ante and displays an unequaled grasp of shooting and splicing together sequences that centre the viewer smack bang in the middle of it all. This isn’t the cartoon histrionics of John Woo’s Hard Boiled (a film containing stunning action that took Hollywood by surprise); in that movie we simply stand back and marvel at the amazing setups. In Ultimatum, Greengrass makes us feel every punch, throw, kick and crunch as if he actually threw the camera into the melee and let us fend for ourselves.

There are some great sequences. A surveillance sequence in London’s Waterloo station involves an exciting hide and seek game between Bourne, journalist Simon Ross (Paddy Considine), who is investigating the mysterious ‘Blackbriar’, and the CIA and one of their numerous ‘assets’ (assassins).

A rooftop cat and mouse in Tangier, Morocco sees Bourne (whose just survived a car bombing) attempt to save Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) as she’s tracked by an asset intent on killing her. During the sequence, Bourne traverses rooftops and buildings in a bid to catch up with Parsons and her nemesis. When he does, the ensuing hand-to-hand fight is bloody and brutal and brilliantly filmed, and contains the most ingenious use of a book (yes, a book) you’re likely to see in a fight.

The required car chase is kept for the streets of New York, and again Greengrass adds a new spin to a potentially tired set piece. Every bang and crunch is felt as Bourne desperately tries to evade another CIA asset.

Bourne finally learns the truth about ‘Treadstone’ (and his life) when he corners the man responsible for the project. This gives his character a certain amount of release, but it’s tinged with despair when we learn that Bourne volunteered to become part of ‘Treadstone’ and was given every opportunity to leave. I’ll not spoil the ending, needless to say it’s satisfying and leaves the door wide open for a fourth installment (presumably centred around a new adventure for Bourne).

I only had one problem with the film. Paddy Considine is woefully underused, and his character is pitifully insipid to say the least. But it’s a minor problem and doesn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the movie. Matt Damon is, again, superb as the antihero beset with problems, ultimately, we learn, of his own making. Joan Allen is fantastic as CIA agent Pamela Landy, and David Straitham is great as CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen, a man with an innate need to kill Bourne before he exposes ‘Treadstone’. Mix these brilliantly rounded characters with assured and exciting direction from Greengrass, and some of the best action sequences you’re likely to see for a long time, and you have a film that rounds off a brilliant trilogy magnificently. Go see it.

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The iMac comes in 20″ and 24″ versions, both of which are absolutely gorgeous. I currently own an iMac G5 (and have done for over 2 years now) and still think it’s wondrous in terms of aesthetic beauty and usage, but I now want the new one. The shape of the new iMac isn’t a kick in the arse off the old shape, but I guarantee seeing the new one in the flesh will highlight just how different it looks and feels. Damn you Apple for making me salivate over your products so much! I’d like to consider myself immune to hype and babble, but Apple just keep bringing out new products that I simply desire! It helps that OS X is a superb operating system, but the packaging adds significantly to the appeal, and Apple excel in that department.

The new iMac was unveiled by Steve Jobs at a special press conference about an hour ago. He also introduced improved versions of the iLife software range, and iWork (including a new spreadsheet package, Numbers).

A questions and answers session then ensued, with Jobs stating at one point, ““Our goal is to make the best personal computers in the world and make products we are proud to sell and recommend to our family and friends. We want to do that at the lowest prices we can. But there’s some stuff in our industry that we wouldn’t be proud to ship. And we just can’t do it. We can’t ship junk.” No matter what you think of Apple or sycophantic mac addicts, you’d have to say he’s kinda right.

Anyway, I want a new iMac. Now.

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The Silversun Pickups’ track managed to drag me out of the brain-freeze I was in, and I listened intently. I was intrigued enough to check out their website, but not intrigued enough (or too tired) to check out any of their other recordings. Then, today, Silversun Pickups sprang back into my head and I resolved to buy their album from iTunes.

And am I glad I did. ‘Well Thought Out Twinkles’, upon further listening, glistens with beautifully layered guitar bolstered by a thumping rock foundation and a f**king good tune behind it. Similarly ‘Common Reactor’ and ‘Future Foe Scenarios’ utilise dirty guitar noise to create a haze over deceptively jaunty (possibly not the right word) compositions.

There are shades of ‘Delaware’ era Drop Nineteens (themselves massively influenced by the likes of My Bloody Valentine), although that’s not to say Silversun Pickups are shoegazers. Guitarist-singer Brian Aubert’s voice can do hush (and at times is reminiscent of Ian Brown a la Stone Roses). But he can scream with the best of them, lifting certain tracks, like ‘Waste It On’ out of morose pretentions. The experimental song structure shenanigans of Pond also get a revisit.

The bass intro for ‘Waste It On’ starts alarmingly like that on ‘Crush’ by Smashing Pumpkins. Indeed, the similarities between the Pumpkins’ ‘Gish’ and this album are clear, although Aubert’s vocals don’t have that, at times, annoying shrill that Billy Corgan can sometimes have.* ‘Carnavas’ has a more ‘earthy’ texture than ‘Gish’, sounding like the mikes used for recording the album were covered in honey and hosiery before the record button was pressed.

Altogether, ‘Carnavas’ is a cracking album, worthy of repeat listens, especially through headphones, where new layers pop up in the weirdest of places. Buy it and enjoy it.

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*By the way, I love Smashing Pumpkins, so don’t take that comment to be a criticism.

2-disc
Disc 1 – Blade Runner: Final Cut – Ridley Scott’s all new final version of the movie
Disc 2 – Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner – Feature-length documentary about the making of Blade Runner.

4-disc
All of the above, plus 3 other versions of the movie on Disc 3: 1982 Theatrical Version, 1982 International Version and 1992 Director’s Cut, and on Disc 4, Enhancement Archive, containing a whole plethora of bonus material.

All very well, but the one we all want is:

5-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition
All of the above, plus on Disc 5, the ultra-rare Workprint Version, a radically different take on the structure and narrative of the movie. PLUS, goodies too numerous to mention. I haven’t tingled like this since, well, forever! And to top it all off, this edition is presented in a metallic briefcase, just like Deckard’s.

All of the above will also be available on HD-DVD and Blu-ray, but the (not so) common-or-garden 5-disc set will have a reported $78 price tag. Not bad considering. Let’s hope when it lands on these here shores the price is equally as easy to swallow. And, who cares what the other two versions will cost. You know you want the 5-disc set!

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With Michael Bay’s action credentials it wouldn’t be unfair to expect that, at the very least, Transformers is going to crackle along at a fairly decent rate. Whatever you think about Pearl Harbor or Armageddon or The Island, Bay showcased his talents for ‘keeping things moving amidst a barrage of explosions and car chases’ in the Bad Boys movies. And formidable talents they are. In Transformers, he gets to really unleash his fury, and act out on screen what every 80′s boy had to use a 6″ toy and a modicum of imagination to achieve: total metal carnage with a bunch of cool, shape-shifting robots.

However, Steven Spielberg produced this movie, so the audience is treated (briefly) to the kind of subtle, character-driven drama/comedy that has graced his previous classics (E.T., Close Encounters).

The first act of Transformers is clearly Spielberg’s, as we get to know and care for geek Shia LaBeouf (who is fantastic throughout) and his longing for a car that lessens his geek credentials. Of course, he requires a pretty lady to accommodate the passenger seat of said car and, as in real life, he only really has eyes for the most gorgeous, seemingly unattainable girl around. I wonder if they’ll hit it off by the end of the movie?

Against this pleasantly fulfilling backdrop, Bay’s clunky storytelling fights for attention. He has cool robots to introduce, after all, and all this schmultzy character building is getting in the way. I swear, you could almost pick out the frame where Spielberg has had enough and hands over the reins to Bay:

Spielberg: “Well, I’ve done my bit. I’ve introduced characters the audience may care for, even though they are stereotypical. My unique gift for drawing out sympathetic qualities from even the most threadbare of characters once again shines through. You are now free to bring the robots to the fore in this story.”

Bay: “Thank f**k for that; I’m itchin’ to blow shit up and stuff. Your cheque’s in the post.”

And this is where it all falls apart. The middle act is useless, and only serves to attempt to give some credence to the whole scenario. Which is exactly what kids and adults don’t need in a movie like this: they’re here to see robots beat seven shades of shit out of each other, and this damn convoluted ‘plot’ exposition (with a terrible John Turturro and ‘just show me my money’ John Voigt) is getting in the way. And, if we’re in any doubt that this movie only exists to sell toys and merchandise, there’s a scene in the second act in which Turturro and company drool over a Nokia phone in the most cynical piece of product placement you could possibly imagine.

When the final act eventually comes, for all its build up and bluster, it’s a bit of a damp squib. Sure, the money is there on the screen for all to see, and there are some neat action giblets to be had, but it doesn’t fully satisfy, and the ending is downright disappointing – “is that it?” I found myself thinking, when bad robot gets his comeuppance.

I know, this movie is really only for kids, even though Bay tries admirably to hold adults’ (men’s) attentions with the screamingly gorgeous Megan Fox. It’s just, I got the feeling that Bay and Spielberg were trying to serve too many interests in one movie, as if they were slightly ashamed that they were spending so much money on CGI (that looks fantastic) and expecting us to shell out to watch their binary orgasm. Why else attempt to explain the origins of the Transformers in such a cack-handed fashion – JUST GET ON WITH THE BLOWING UP AND THE ROBOTS AND SHIT!

This movie will make a bucketload of cash, and another one will be foisted onto an audience that is now immune to quality. There’s one bit in the movie in which BumbleBee is taken captive, and LaBeouf tries in vain to shrug his captors’ grasps to rescue BumbleBee. It’s all played out in slow motion with earnest music playing behind it. And I thought “Is this actually happening? Am I to be expected to feel something for this robot? Does Michael Bay really think he has invested so much into BumbleBee’s character that I might actually feel pain for him?” That pretty much sums up my thoughts for the movie as a whole – utter nonsense at the end of the day.

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Why is it frightening? Simply because the proponents of ‘Intelligent Design’ seek to undo many hundreds of years of scientific research (backed up by inarguable evidence) in favour of the idea that, because the Universe is fantastically complex, there must have been an intelligent (supernatural) creator at work!

The ‘Intelligent Design’ argument has been vomited into the public domain by Scientific Creationists (can you conjur a better oxymoron?), whose real agenda seems to be shoe-horning the teaching of evidence-shy scriptures back into school curriculum. This can be the only explanation, since the idea that ‘Intelligent Design’ has any scientific grounding is at best laughable, at worst incredibly dangerous.

The very simple fact that you can’t test for ‘Intelligent Design’ by experiment shows that its lofty delusions of science-based grandeur are lamentably lacking.

The ‘Intellignet Design Nut’ (or IDN) will have you believe that there are certain aspects of the physical Universe that cannot be explained by science; ie. they show signs of an unnatural, intelligent force at work. In other words, rather than trying to explain those aspects, they’d rather be off boffing some dim-witted delusional who thinks she’ll go to Heaven if she lies back and thinks of fluffy clouds…

“We can’t say exactly what is making that thing whir around that other thing, so rather than try to find out, we’ll say it was intelligently designed by a superhuman being (God). Brilliant, now we can go and have dinner. Peter, fancy some dinner?”

“Nah, I’ll catch up with you guys. I’m going to try to measure the systems at work which are making that thing whir around the other thing and, by experimentation, quantify the systems. After that I might spend years making sure my measurements tally up to my initial assumptions until I’m left with an answer that can not only be the correct one, but can be proven to be the correct one, in the hope that the scientific community, and eventually most of the world at large, might accept that my answers are in fact true. Yuh’no, science and stuff. Can you bring me back a Mickey D’s?”

“Loser.”

What’s also frightening is how the world’s more stupid leaders seem to be embracing the concept of ‘Intelligent Design’ as a relevant teaching tool for our children. George W. Bush (the president of a nation that has, admirably, kept religion out of schools) thinks that allowing the teaching of ‘Intelligent Design’ in schools will at least show children another side of the science coin, and spark relevant debate. This is nonsense. It’s like saying “I know that all of the evidence points to this strawberry ice cream tasting fantastic, but you really should eat that shit flavoured ice cream to get a balanced view of what ice cream is, even though we all know that shit tastes rubbish.” Even Tony Blair is getting in on the act, insisting that IDNs are planted in the British schooling system to ensure that “those pesky science buffs with their evidence and answers and common sense don’t ruin our kids’ minds with the truth.” Alright, he never said that (in public).

It seems that the religious are clutching at straws (if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em) and that frustrates me because you can’t have rational debate with an opposition who blindly push their dogma (or new and improved versions of their dogma) no matter how stupid it makes them look. Granted, not all of the religious share the view that ‘Intelligent Design’ is an idea worth developing (let alone believing), but the idea is beginning to take root in the minds of the loftiest decision makers in the land.

And I’m almost choking over the thought that I assigned George W. Bush a mind in that last paragraph. But that’s a different topic!

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