I saw Inception for the second time today. I think it is a very very good film. However there is one tiny detail which (if I didn't persist in flat out ignoring it) would make it in my opinion if not a bad film, then an extremely poorly constructed one.
Yes, I'm talking about that ending. If you haven't watched the film and you are still reading, this is your cue to leave the building.
My argument is this: I cannot see any way in which the great 'will it, won't it' spinning top ending benefits the film. In my eyes it is a cynical, lazy thing to do. Of course we will spend our days debating 'what would have happened next', human nature being what it is, and we all enjoy the aura of mystery and inclusiveness we gain from muttering in hushed tones while our companions (not so lucky as to have seen Inception with us) look on in jealousy. Naturally I am sure this has persuaded many to see the film to figure out what the fuss is about. And everyone enjoys having a pet theory.
But if you're going to make your film end on an ambiguous note, there is one key thing you have to do. BOTH outcomes must be plausible. In my opinion, it is impossible to find a way through the plot and world of Inception that would allow Cobb's presence in a dream world in that final shot, unless (and this is key), Christopher Nolan's notions of plausibility and world building are radically different from those of a normal human being. So either the top falls over just after the cut to black, or Christopher Nolan is very stupid. Either explanation is pretty unsatisfying
and therefore I think leaving the final 20 seconds in the film is a mistake.
Any attempt to create a situation whereby Cobb remains asleep runs up against problems. If we decide that he has in fact been in a dream for the entire film, then this dream breaks all the rules of dreaming introduced in the film, making them worthless. Totems would have to be an idea completely created within the dreamworld (or at least an idea that existed in the hypothetical real world but didn't work) because otherwise Cobb would not be able to spin the top and see it fall on two (possibly three?) occasions in the early part of the film.
If it is assumed Cobb begins the film awake, we have to choose a point at which he transitions to dreaming. This has to be after the two episodes of top-spinning, or we run into the same argument as above. My candidate would be the cut/transition to Mombasa where Cobb meets Eames, assuming that about 15 minutes later when Cobb gets out of the first brief drug induced sleep and attempts to spin the top in a panic in the bathroom, he does not succeed. But there are unanswered questions, the most important one being WHY? Nobody in the film is set up as having the slightest reason or ability to accomplish this feat. I can postulate any number of my own reasons (therapy? stupidly expensive counter espionage?) but these are complications that add to the complexity of the plot without in any way improving it, and none of them is more valid than any other. If in order to understand or extract a message from the film we have to invent things that have absolutely no signposts in the plot whatsoever, if we can generate an almost infinite number of explanatory scenarios using the information given us, then I say the film has failed.
The most defensible way to have Cobb still asleep at the dénouement is to assume everything is as played in the film and Cobb simply hasn't woken up from limbo. I question what this achieves, it's not a very satisfying ending although I guess it does have a nice dollop of poignancy. Furthermore, I didn't see anything in the film which implied that Cobb or anybody was able to create a world that detailed and realistic. Granted, Moll and Cobb can create an entire city, which they fail to people, and Saito does manage some people. (But he appears to have no independant thinking, as-they-were-in-real-life companions.) Maybe Cobb's powerful catharsis after concluding the whole Moll chapter of his life allowed him to create this world for himself? This final scenario is the one that requires a choice. It does fit the facts if you stretch them quite a bit, and your judgement of whether it is impossible and/or a downright rubbish way to end the film or not will dictate what you think. I personally think that it isn't a great explanation. It also leaves itself open to the same occam's razor like criticism as before, if I have to come up with that many apologies to make the whole ending work, is it a good ending?
So there you have it, my three cents on why the top definitely falls over... What annoys me is that I should have to deduce it. The film should either have not adressed the question or made the choice more ambiguous. One thing that bugs me and seems to indicate a last minute attempt to make the ending ambiguous without changing the rest of the tightly knit rules of play, is the fact that the kids are wearing the same outfits as their dream selves. I have to choose to ignore this as a coincidence, as I have been left no way to connect this piece of evidence to a coherent series of events that I can explain without recourse to hours of theorising outside the boundaries if the film I saw.
To conclude, Inception is fantastic and wonderful and great, but that spinning top ending is cheap, manipulative and pointless.
PS I am a terrible contrarian, and I can already feel myself start to generate counter arguments at myself, so I must stop now before I attempt to refute everything I just said.
PPS I promise actual real world things in my next post!
Der Tom
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Monday, 16 August 2010
In Search of the Beast of Bodmin
This summer, in marked contrast to last year, I have absolutely nothing I have to be doing. This pleasant fact means that should I so wish, I can go visit places. I had always been curious to see the house and surroundings of my good friend and coursemate Peter, as he lives in a tiny hamlet-ette on the Northwest coast of Cornwall. I and my colleagues had in fact got remarkably close two years before when we visited the nearby town of Bude on a geology field trip, therefore you can see that he was clearly located in a prime visiting area. Add to this the fact that instead of tolerating geological incursions Peter would actually instigate them, and you have all the ingredients for a trip to England's distant southern pointy bit.
I was not disappointed. Schloss Peter is a tasty haven of homemade lemon curd and honey, plus also homemade pottery. I even got a whole guest bedroom/ caravan to myself! This holiday was a chance to do some tourism in my own country for once. After all, the scenery in the Alps and Vienna is very impressive, but how can I appreciate that if I ignore my country in the meantime? Basically we spent the four days I was there wandering around the area, strolling up and down the (excessively in my opinion) rolling hills and valleys that lie above the precipitous and very geologically impressive cliffs, or wandering along the many long beaches. That's not something you get to do if you visit a friend in a more urban environment, and makes a pleasant change.
My dad recommended we check out the village of Morwenstow, only a few miles away from the house. There you can find the smallest National Trust owned property in the country, Hawker's Hut. This tiny wooden construction facing out to sea was the favoured sitting place of the eccentric but fascinating Reverend Hawker of Morwenstow, parish priest, supposed inventor of the harvest festival, poet and determined burier of washed up mariners, among other fascinating things. The remains of over 40 unknown sailors lie buried under a figurehead in the churchyard.
Another day I got sunburnt exploring Bodmin Moor. This is basically like a mini Dartmoor or Exmoor, identical in feel and appearance due to the fact that all 3 are located on exposed lumps of basically the same vast mass of rock that underlies the Cornish peninsula, most of the reason why it even sticks up out of the sea in the first place. It was a beautiful day, as I hope my pictures can convey slightly. Lots of the abandoned remnants of past inhabitants and complex granite block scenery that make the high granite moors such fascinating places.
On my last day, after marvelling at the tortured structures in the rocks around Bude harbour, I was able to squeeze in a delicious pasty before making the arduous journey home. I remember we once tried to explain what a pasty was to someone who had never seen one. Our best shot was to describe it as 'like a sort of folded in half pie'. So yeah, if you've not eaten a pasty/pastie, you should do! It's way better than my feeble attempts at description might lead you to believe.
Der Tom
I was not disappointed. Schloss Peter is a tasty haven of homemade lemon curd and honey, plus also homemade pottery. I even got a whole guest bedroom/ caravan to myself! This holiday was a chance to do some tourism in my own country for once. After all, the scenery in the Alps and Vienna is very impressive, but how can I appreciate that if I ignore my country in the meantime? Basically we spent the four days I was there wandering around the area, strolling up and down the (excessively in my opinion) rolling hills and valleys that lie above the precipitous and very geologically impressive cliffs, or wandering along the many long beaches. That's not something you get to do if you visit a friend in a more urban environment, and makes a pleasant change.
My dad recommended we check out the village of Morwenstow, only a few miles away from the house. There you can find the smallest National Trust owned property in the country, Hawker's Hut. This tiny wooden construction facing out to sea was the favoured sitting place of the eccentric but fascinating Reverend Hawker of Morwenstow, parish priest, supposed inventor of the harvest festival, poet and determined burier of washed up mariners, among other fascinating things. The remains of over 40 unknown sailors lie buried under a figurehead in the churchyard.
Another day I got sunburnt exploring Bodmin Moor. This is basically like a mini Dartmoor or Exmoor, identical in feel and appearance due to the fact that all 3 are located on exposed lumps of basically the same vast mass of rock that underlies the Cornish peninsula, most of the reason why it even sticks up out of the sea in the first place. It was a beautiful day, as I hope my pictures can convey slightly. Lots of the abandoned remnants of past inhabitants and complex granite block scenery that make the high granite moors such fascinating places.
On my last day, after marvelling at the tortured structures in the rocks around Bude harbour, I was able to squeeze in a delicious pasty before making the arduous journey home. I remember we once tried to explain what a pasty was to someone who had never seen one. Our best shot was to describe it as 'like a sort of folded in half pie'. So yeah, if you've not eaten a pasty/pastie, you should do! It's way better than my feeble attempts at description might lead you to believe.
Der Tom
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Ostalpenquerschnitt
And so we come to my last weeks in Austria. Not much to write home about really, just the usual horrible rush to say goodbye to people and feelings of time slipping away without the ability to see EVERY art gallery/ Wuerstelstand etc etc. I really feel like I only just properly got into the swing of things, with friends, routines, knowledge, language skills, everything. But people say that about leaving anywhere, right? That seems to imply we are always 'getting better' at living wherever we live, which is pretty cool really. I don't think I'm going to do a summary post of the whole year though, because what would I say? This whole blog is the shortest summary there's going to be. It's a year for goodness sake!
Oh , before I left I did get to go to the Donauinselfest (massive FREE festival on the Donauinsel) and see Wheatus play live, which wasn't exactly on my list of life goals, but was pretty cool anyway.
Directly after that I embarked on my last gasp Austria tour/ field trip for my regional geology course. One whole week spent exclusively trying to speak Austrian while hanging out with native speakers was a big challenge, but I return armed with bucketloads of handy slang. In some ways that was the best part of the whole trip actually. Alpine scenery is of course stunning, but as we were travelling in a (mercifully air conditioned considering the 30+ degree heat) small coach we didn't spend much time hiking around up at the treeline or whatever. Drive by geology trips run the risk of being 70% driving, which can depress the enthusiasm of even the most seasoned geologist by turfing them out of a coach just after they've finally got comfortable enough to sleep. That said of course there were also some super cool rocks (just don't mention marl to me in the near future, ugh) and a drive along Austria's highest road (up to 2500m!) the Grossglocknerstrasse. Pictures are as always readily available by clicking some green looking words. I have tried to make the rock pictures interesting even for you non-rocky types by explaining them a little bit.
Several people have asked what I will do with this blog thing now. I'm not sure, I am inclined to keep adding to it but I don't see much value in just listing stuff which has happened to me that almost everyone reading it already knows about. Mostly the motivation to continue stems from not wanting this to be another of the hundreds of dead blog relics you can find by clicking that endlessly fascinating 'next blog' button at the top left. I will probably put my accounts of live music up here if/when I start doing them again, and write about trips I make. Coming up soon is a brief sprint to visit Peter in Cornwall, then a trip to Islay and finally a return to Austria to check out Vorarlberg in September. Fingers crossed for the weather!
As for the title, I'm keeping it, though once I've come up with something witty enough I'll change the description bar. A quick pronounciation note though, Wien = 'Veen' NOT 'Vee-en', as apparently some people (*cough* Tim *cough*) have been reading it wrong all year in their heads. Naturally this is the end of the world.
Bis Bald,
der Tom.
Oh , before I left I did get to go to the Donauinselfest (massive FREE festival on the Donauinsel) and see Wheatus play live, which wasn't exactly on my list of life goals, but was pretty cool anyway.
Directly after that I embarked on my last gasp Austria tour/ field trip for my regional geology course. One whole week spent exclusively trying to speak Austrian while hanging out with native speakers was a big challenge, but I return armed with bucketloads of handy slang. In some ways that was the best part of the whole trip actually. Alpine scenery is of course stunning, but as we were travelling in a (mercifully air conditioned considering the 30+ degree heat) small coach we didn't spend much time hiking around up at the treeline or whatever. Drive by geology trips run the risk of being 70% driving, which can depress the enthusiasm of even the most seasoned geologist by turfing them out of a coach just after they've finally got comfortable enough to sleep. That said of course there were also some super cool rocks (just don't mention marl to me in the near future, ugh) and a drive along Austria's highest road (up to 2500m!) the Grossglocknerstrasse. Pictures are as always readily available by clicking some green looking words. I have tried to make the rock pictures interesting even for you non-rocky types by explaining them a little bit.
Several people have asked what I will do with this blog thing now. I'm not sure, I am inclined to keep adding to it but I don't see much value in just listing stuff which has happened to me that almost everyone reading it already knows about. Mostly the motivation to continue stems from not wanting this to be another of the hundreds of dead blog relics you can find by clicking that endlessly fascinating 'next blog' button at the top left. I will probably put my accounts of live music up here if/when I start doing them again, and write about trips I make. Coming up soon is a brief sprint to visit Peter in Cornwall, then a trip to Islay and finally a return to Austria to check out Vorarlberg in September. Fingers crossed for the weather!
As for the title, I'm keeping it, though once I've come up with something witty enough I'll change the description bar. A quick pronounciation note though, Wien = 'Veen' NOT 'Vee-en', as apparently some people (*cough* Tim *cough*) have been reading it wrong all year in their heads. Naturally this is the end of the world.
Bis Bald,
der Tom.
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Invasion of the space people
Right well things happened. It's relentless this linear progression of time, isn't it?
So what have I been doing? The majority of my time for the past few weeks was taken up by alternately doing exams, preparing for the doing of said exams, watching large storms happening, or watching 22 tiny people in coloured shirts run around with a ball. Thankfully all the exams are finally over now so that leaves more time for frivolous pursuits, and also more watching of 'feet ball' as I believe it is called. Oh yeah and then I have occasionally been spluttering dumbfoundedly at the sheer quality if the recent Doctor Who output.
But more interesting to write about is my foray into the besuited world of the european space think tank, courtesy of flatmate, german, friend and European Space Policy Institute intern Andreas. The occasion was the opening of an art exhibition in the ESPI offices by a one Gerald Martineo, an Austrian-Romanian artist who makes paintings by pouring colourful plastics onto canvasses. His art is apparently quite science and technology focussed, and his latest series of work consists of colourless resin poured over huge canvasses, studded with used radiation sensors from various satellites and then themselves irradiated at Austria's only reactor to discolour them slightly. It was pretty good actually, though I was more immediately attracted to the coloured stuff. As I remarked at the time it is interesting that to look at one of his newer pieces you have to know a lot of background about it, without which none of the point of the work is evident. I've always thought that whether or not your art has an amazing message it should also look really cool on your wall, but this is just an opinion.
Anyway, although the art was fun, I really came because I've never been to a european space policy intitute before and I wondered what it would be like. I like to think I got a glimpse into a way of life/ career that is very different to my own. That week was the annual meeting of the UN Comittee on the Peaceful Use of Space so there were many UN types and hangers on wandering around. Unlike me free posh food and wine at a random exhibition opening are probably more the rule than the exception, so they all looked a lot less lost than me for the beginning of the event. However I got into the swing of things after some sandwiches and a couple of interesting speeches by a physicist and the artist himself about the meeting between art and science (in short our primary reward for doing either is the fact we are doing them) and an interesting but overlong speech by the ex-astronaut head of the COPUOS. Do you think that's an ugly acronym, or is it just me? It reminds me of coprolites for some reason (it might help to point out that in conversation it is pronounced 'cop-wuss').
I get the feeling that as I am not normally exposed to such speeches I actually found it far more engaging than some of the more experienced space-people. Frankly I was excited enough that there even exists a comittee on the peaceful use of space that says things like 'guys, let's use space for peaceful awesome things!', a fact which was naturally pretty obvious to everyone else. I'd kind of put my interest in space on the back burner, not having the benefit of a large planetary science department at Uni Wien, but being in a room with all these people who deal with space all day every day, even if primarily from a political/legal viewpoint, brought it all back. I very much enjoyed being able to wander up to people and get reasoned answers to things like 'Who's going to be taking people and stuff to space in 2030?' And true to form, I also got to add my two pennies on the importance of geology in space, or rather the importance of space infrastructure to the progression of geology. I believe geologists are the only scientists who would claim that it is absolutely undebatably better to land a man on the moon rather than send a robot. But even if that doesn't happen any time soon, geologists will have to rely on the political and technological developments in the space industry for a massive amount of their future research, from planetary geology to the use of aerial measurements of the earth, so I think it's time we got more interested in this sort of thing as a science.
Aaanyway so there you go, that's my pompous way of justifying why it was good to go to a place where they gave me free food and wine.
Bye for now!
So what have I been doing? The majority of my time for the past few weeks was taken up by alternately doing exams, preparing for the doing of said exams, watching large storms happening, or watching 22 tiny people in coloured shirts run around with a ball. Thankfully all the exams are finally over now so that leaves more time for frivolous pursuits, and also more watching of 'feet ball' as I believe it is called. Oh yeah and then I have occasionally been spluttering dumbfoundedly at the sheer quality if the recent Doctor Who output.
But more interesting to write about is my foray into the besuited world of the european space think tank, courtesy of flatmate, german, friend and European Space Policy Institute intern Andreas. The occasion was the opening of an art exhibition in the ESPI offices by a one Gerald Martineo, an Austrian-Romanian artist who makes paintings by pouring colourful plastics onto canvasses. His art is apparently quite science and technology focussed, and his latest series of work consists of colourless resin poured over huge canvasses, studded with used radiation sensors from various satellites and then themselves irradiated at Austria's only reactor to discolour them slightly. It was pretty good actually, though I was more immediately attracted to the coloured stuff. As I remarked at the time it is interesting that to look at one of his newer pieces you have to know a lot of background about it, without which none of the point of the work is evident. I've always thought that whether or not your art has an amazing message it should also look really cool on your wall, but this is just an opinion.
Anyway, although the art was fun, I really came because I've never been to a european space policy intitute before and I wondered what it would be like. I like to think I got a glimpse into a way of life/ career that is very different to my own. That week was the annual meeting of the UN Comittee on the Peaceful Use of Space so there were many UN types and hangers on wandering around. Unlike me free posh food and wine at a random exhibition opening are probably more the rule than the exception, so they all looked a lot less lost than me for the beginning of the event. However I got into the swing of things after some sandwiches and a couple of interesting speeches by a physicist and the artist himself about the meeting between art and science (in short our primary reward for doing either is the fact we are doing them) and an interesting but overlong speech by the ex-astronaut head of the COPUOS. Do you think that's an ugly acronym, or is it just me? It reminds me of coprolites for some reason (it might help to point out that in conversation it is pronounced 'cop-wuss').
I get the feeling that as I am not normally exposed to such speeches I actually found it far more engaging than some of the more experienced space-people. Frankly I was excited enough that there even exists a comittee on the peaceful use of space that says things like 'guys, let's use space for peaceful awesome things!', a fact which was naturally pretty obvious to everyone else. I'd kind of put my interest in space on the back burner, not having the benefit of a large planetary science department at Uni Wien, but being in a room with all these people who deal with space all day every day, even if primarily from a political/legal viewpoint, brought it all back. I very much enjoyed being able to wander up to people and get reasoned answers to things like 'Who's going to be taking people and stuff to space in 2030?' And true to form, I also got to add my two pennies on the importance of geology in space, or rather the importance of space infrastructure to the progression of geology. I believe geologists are the only scientists who would claim that it is absolutely undebatably better to land a man on the moon rather than send a robot. But even if that doesn't happen any time soon, geologists will have to rely on the political and technological developments in the space industry for a massive amount of their future research, from planetary geology to the use of aerial measurements of the earth, so I think it's time we got more interested in this sort of thing as a science.
Aaanyway so there you go, that's my pompous way of justifying why it was good to go to a place where they gave me free food and wine.
Bye for now!
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Yt anthr blg ntry
Well I got carried away posting videos of Austrian pop bands last post so now I'll bring things a little bit more up to date. Apart from some more of the seemingly neverending exams (I'm even starting to see the benefit of having an exam term, things must be bad!) the most important thing that happened between then o'clock and now p.m. was my first field trip with the university here. I guess I was sort of apprehensive at the start what with not having a clue what was going to happen, but it turns out that the field trip experience in Geology is one that is relatively constant across language and cultural barriers.
Basically when you group geologists together they are suddenly surrounded by other people who will not only listen to but positively encourage discussion about rocks. Combine this with the fact you are being shown tonnes of new exciting rocks by an expert in the field, you're in the countryside, and in the evenings plenty of whatever the local food and beverages are is to be had, and you have a rather pleasant holiday. On this trip there wasn't even the pressure of marks to spoil the enjoyment!
Due to the differences in geology between the UK and Austria, almost every rock I saw in the 3 day trip was one I had never seen outside of a hand specimen. Whole cliffs stuffed with lovely minerals I never saw more than one of in the lab... Anyway what it all amounts to in not so rock speak is that I had fun. Especially cool is that the people leading the trip were working on research of the area, and so half the time we'd stumble upon something interesting and cool for them too, sometimes even something they couldn't identify at all! At which point we would usually have to break out the sledgehammers, because even normal geological hammers wouldn't make much of a dent in any of the rocks we saw...
It was also a pleasant change to have a full three day immersive german course too. No escape! Well, I could have escaped by speaking english but I really tried not to do that even though everyone is always really keen to show you they can, because (as good old WRN put it much better than me), if you start talking to an Austrian in english you've immediately ruled them out as a potential speaking-german-together person... It's weird how when you start out in one language, there's a sort of language inertia even though you're both pretty good at either. The countryside along the banks of the Donau near Melk and Krems is beautiful, (even with the Donau filled to overflowing the roads at some points due to the recent spate of rain), as are the small and very Austrian villages of the Waldviertel. Something that really does improve on the UK experience were the Gasthoefe we stayed at along the way, simple countryside hotels (maybe inns is a better word??) where the food is always tasty and pig and dumpling related. I tried some Schnapps made from what I reckon (translation problems aside) were Rowan berries. Actually pretty tasty, even though the original berries are supposed to be poisonous...
So yeah, lovely.
Time is really getting tight now, I'm wracking my brains and trying to make sure I don't accidentally sleep away my last few weeks here, which would be easy to do in the current 32 degree heat! Also I still have YET MORE pesky exams which I also need to learn for without letting said learning take over my life. I had an hour and a half long oral exam on Thursday. Granted half of it was basically being lectured at rather than asked questions of but still, phew! A far cry from the good old (mind numbingly terrifying for no discernible reason) 10 minute oral exams at school!
Der Tommington
Basically when you group geologists together they are suddenly surrounded by other people who will not only listen to but positively encourage discussion about rocks. Combine this with the fact you are being shown tonnes of new exciting rocks by an expert in the field, you're in the countryside, and in the evenings plenty of whatever the local food and beverages are is to be had, and you have a rather pleasant holiday. On this trip there wasn't even the pressure of marks to spoil the enjoyment!
Due to the differences in geology between the UK and Austria, almost every rock I saw in the 3 day trip was one I had never seen outside of a hand specimen. Whole cliffs stuffed with lovely minerals I never saw more than one of in the lab... Anyway what it all amounts to in not so rock speak is that I had fun. Especially cool is that the people leading the trip were working on research of the area, and so half the time we'd stumble upon something interesting and cool for them too, sometimes even something they couldn't identify at all! At which point we would usually have to break out the sledgehammers, because even normal geological hammers wouldn't make much of a dent in any of the rocks we saw...
It was also a pleasant change to have a full three day immersive german course too. No escape! Well, I could have escaped by speaking english but I really tried not to do that even though everyone is always really keen to show you they can, because (as good old WRN put it much better than me), if you start talking to an Austrian in english you've immediately ruled them out as a potential speaking-german-together person... It's weird how when you start out in one language, there's a sort of language inertia even though you're both pretty good at either. The countryside along the banks of the Donau near Melk and Krems is beautiful, (even with the Donau filled to overflowing the roads at some points due to the recent spate of rain), as are the small and very Austrian villages of the Waldviertel. Something that really does improve on the UK experience were the Gasthoefe we stayed at along the way, simple countryside hotels (maybe inns is a better word??) where the food is always tasty and pig and dumpling related. I tried some Schnapps made from what I reckon (translation problems aside) were Rowan berries. Actually pretty tasty, even though the original berries are supposed to be poisonous...
So yeah, lovely.Time is really getting tight now, I'm wracking my brains and trying to make sure I don't accidentally sleep away my last few weeks here, which would be easy to do in the current 32 degree heat! Also I still have YET MORE pesky exams which I also need to learn for without letting said learning take over my life. I had an hour and a half long oral exam on Thursday. Granted half of it was basically being lectured at rather than asked questions of but still, phew! A far cry from the good old (mind numbingly terrifying for no discernible reason) 10 minute oral exams at school!
Der Tommington
Monday, 7 June 2010
Writing on the internet about things that have occurred to me.
Quite a full agenda this week. Let's press on, shall we?
Last weekend was the Vienna Stadtfest. I didn't realise at first how much of a big deal it was going to be, but walking through the city centre the day before I noticed the massive crowds and the many many stages sprinkled liberally about the place. I started out watching a Balkan brass orchester, the Orchestr Marijan Krstic. If you don't know what Balkan brass music sounds like already, you should probably just go listen to some. It's basic premise is to make you happy and cause you to dance by the masterful combination of many many brass instruments, all played with incredible skill and at high speed. These guys were masters of their art, and the dancing really got going when all 9 descended from the stage in the Heldenplatz and wandered about in the crowd, blasting full on trumpet solos into the faces of occasionally exstatic and occasionally just confused looking Viennese...
By this time my flatmate Joseph/Giuseppe had turned up, and we proceeded to wander towards the other stages. On the way we saw a VERY large number of tourists, lots of living statues and a man walking on a tightrope while juggling flaming torches. Arriving at the Radio Wien stage we stopped to observe the antics of several, I assume extremely cool, stunt bike rider type people. It is always faintly embarrassing hearing German speakers using english words while trying to be cool, and the music was deafening and a bit rubish, but I have never seen anyone do a backflip on a bike befoe, so i was pretty happy. All through the DJ set a band were slowly setting up with a drum kit, a violinist and a tuba player. I got that familiar feeling of excitement when you can;t figure out what the next band are going to sound like, and persuaded Joseph to stay and see the band. As it turns out, this was a highly excellent decision.
Binder and Kriegelstein is the name of the band, they consist of one man on vocals, drums and laptop, one man on trombone and occasionally tuba, a man on violin and a small, smiling ridiculously clothed frontwoman. The attire is an integral part of the group's appeal, and I think shows up an important point about them, namely that they are in no way at all serious about what they are doing. Each member was dressed for a completely different band, the violinist with a solemn face, trousers and a leather waistcoat like he was some traditional austrian session musician. The trombonist in a full on ska-esque suit, the lead singer in a weird combination of traditional austrian dress and cape with an electric pink wig, and the drummer in a scruffy T-Shirt.
The music was a genius mix of ska-pop, rap, pure sugary pop goodness and honest-to-goodness folk music, with hefty doses of silliness in behaviour and lyrics. The main aim of the band is to entertain you, and entertain us they did, with an aptitude for the ridiculous which was more suited to a band taking part in the Brainlove festival, incidentally happening at the same time back in London. The mighty crushing together of genres is a powerful mix, and it fills me with happiness that such a band are popular enough here to find a number 2 spot on the biggest stage at the Stadtfest.
After the end of the set we escaped to the haven of the classical music stage, where some waltzes were the perfect background to some delicious Kaesespaetzle (basically thin gnocchi like stuff with heaps of melted chesse and the odd bit of onion and pepper. Unhealthy and tasty, as all street food must be). On the move again we quickly escaped the pedestrian rock of some beloved Austrian band of yesteryear to find ouselves in the more unusual company of 'Angelas Wean Herrn Band'. These guys combined tradition Viennese songs with Jazz, with some success I feel. The Jazz kept on the right side of utterly insane, so I was able to deal with it and enjoy the songs and solos, rather than just stand there and wander why the heck everyone was tapping their knees in time, as I have been known to do when exposed to Jazz in the past...
All in all a successful day.
I shall leave you with a couple of musical gifts from Binder and Kriegelstein, to brighten up your day. First a crazed video:
And now a pop hit:
And to finish, the live experience:
Last weekend was the Vienna Stadtfest. I didn't realise at first how much of a big deal it was going to be, but walking through the city centre the day before I noticed the massive crowds and the many many stages sprinkled liberally about the place. I started out watching a Balkan brass orchester, the Orchestr Marijan Krstic. If you don't know what Balkan brass music sounds like already, you should probably just go listen to some. It's basic premise is to make you happy and cause you to dance by the masterful combination of many many brass instruments, all played with incredible skill and at high speed. These guys were masters of their art, and the dancing really got going when all 9 descended from the stage in the Heldenplatz and wandered about in the crowd, blasting full on trumpet solos into the faces of occasionally exstatic and occasionally just confused looking Viennese...
By this time my flatmate Joseph/Giuseppe had turned up, and we proceeded to wander towards the other stages. On the way we saw a VERY large number of tourists, lots of living statues and a man walking on a tightrope while juggling flaming torches. Arriving at the Radio Wien stage we stopped to observe the antics of several, I assume extremely cool, stunt bike rider type people. It is always faintly embarrassing hearing German speakers using english words while trying to be cool, and the music was deafening and a bit rubish, but I have never seen anyone do a backflip on a bike befoe, so i was pretty happy. All through the DJ set a band were slowly setting up with a drum kit, a violinist and a tuba player. I got that familiar feeling of excitement when you can;t figure out what the next band are going to sound like, and persuaded Joseph to stay and see the band. As it turns out, this was a highly excellent decision.
Binder and Kriegelstein is the name of the band, they consist of one man on vocals, drums and laptop, one man on trombone and occasionally tuba, a man on violin and a small, smiling ridiculously clothed frontwoman. The attire is an integral part of the group's appeal, and I think shows up an important point about them, namely that they are in no way at all serious about what they are doing. Each member was dressed for a completely different band, the violinist with a solemn face, trousers and a leather waistcoat like he was some traditional austrian session musician. The trombonist in a full on ska-esque suit, the lead singer in a weird combination of traditional austrian dress and cape with an electric pink wig, and the drummer in a scruffy T-Shirt.
The music was a genius mix of ska-pop, rap, pure sugary pop goodness and honest-to-goodness folk music, with hefty doses of silliness in behaviour and lyrics. The main aim of the band is to entertain you, and entertain us they did, with an aptitude for the ridiculous which was more suited to a band taking part in the Brainlove festival, incidentally happening at the same time back in London. The mighty crushing together of genres is a powerful mix, and it fills me with happiness that such a band are popular enough here to find a number 2 spot on the biggest stage at the Stadtfest.
After the end of the set we escaped to the haven of the classical music stage, where some waltzes were the perfect background to some delicious Kaesespaetzle (basically thin gnocchi like stuff with heaps of melted chesse and the odd bit of onion and pepper. Unhealthy and tasty, as all street food must be). On the move again we quickly escaped the pedestrian rock of some beloved Austrian band of yesteryear to find ouselves in the more unusual company of 'Angelas Wean Herrn Band'. These guys combined tradition Viennese songs with Jazz, with some success I feel. The Jazz kept on the right side of utterly insane, so I was able to deal with it and enjoy the songs and solos, rather than just stand there and wander why the heck everyone was tapping their knees in time, as I have been known to do when exposed to Jazz in the past...
All in all a successful day.
I shall leave you with a couple of musical gifts from Binder and Kriegelstein, to brighten up your day. First a crazed video:
And now a pop hit:
And to finish, the live experience:
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Some things what I have been doing.
Well I guess I owe you all another blog nugget, or blogget. Despite the almost comically miserable weather, things are going rather well at the moment. I feel like I've really finally managed to completely settle in here. One month before I leave, naturally.
One of the many things that makes Austria a fine place to live is its position as the country with the second most national holidays in the world. This means that in May not only do we get Thursday off for the ascension of Christ, we also get a holiday for Pentecost too, only a week and a half later, and then a week and a half after that we get another Thursday off for a reason which I am not currently sure of. I think of it as 'Holy Thursday The Return' or something like that. My two day pentecost holiday combined with the department policy of not having lectures on fridays led to a sort of mini half term break last week. I spent a lot of time creating colourful A3 depictions of the regional geology of Austria, and I can I think happily say that I sort of understand the formation of 1/3 of the Alps. Which is a start. Inbetween the regional geology funtimes, I found a couple of opportunities to leave the house (during breaks in the incessant surprise thunderstorms).
The one and only WRN (currently firing lasers between space telescopes above the clouds on top of a volcano in the canaries, dammit) had informed me that right down the bottom of the Prater was a sort of reed filled nature reserve place, so I resolved to find it. I was very excited when I found the place, some old cut off arms of the Danube from before it was coralled into the rather dreary straight line channel that it occupies today. The place was FULL of wildlife. I was surprised by a Black Woodpecker hacking away at rotting wood only a few metres away, then minutes later I spotted my first of two probable water voles, and listened to a chorus of absurdly loud frogs. Oh and admired some mandarin ducks sitting calmly on the fallen logs. It was a beautiful spring evening, warm but not hot, smelling strongly of the flowers from the chestnut trees... I decided to extend my walk out of the Prater, however I took a wrong turn and ended up walking around in the outskirts of Vienna proper, past a huge power station. But this is Vienna and I was walking along a pleasant road with trees along each side in the sun, so I didn't mind so much. I eventually realised my mistake and made it back home, generating many delicious pictures.
That extended weekend also brought yet another trip to the Albertina, excellent as always, and a much needed but very boring shopping trip. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long until interesting things started happening again, on Thursday I had to go look around a flat for Ash. The owner was apologetic and said actually we couldn't go see the house today, but then invited me into his amazing first district appartment for a drink. He was an old ex dancer who had danced for 25 years at the Staatsoper, as well as many other places. He had even danced the Viennese waltz with the Princess of Kent, after which she tripped over and fell on him, meaning he got in ALL the papers, many on the front page. I mean I know this must have been in the 70s or so but still surely there was other stuff happening?? I sat round a table at which he had entertained Robert Redford and Meryl Streep of all people. Fascinating conversation, once I got over the initial confusion of someone being so nice to me.
Then yesterday it was the Lange Nacht der Kirchen, when most of the churches in Austria are open late till 12:00, with services, cakes/ other food, displays etc. The Stephansdom was lit up by an honest to goodness LASER DISPLAY shining through the incense smoke, backed up by a choir. Seriously, wow! I maintain that lasers are not inappropriate for the modern church, if people had been able to make heavenly laser displays back in the 16th Century there is no way they would have left them out! We went down into the crypt to gaze at the huge piles of bones and skulls, ossuary style but a little less artfully arranged. Plague victims, cardinals, it;s all down there. Apparently Mozart was probably in one of those piles, a far cry from his lovely and fake gravestone in the Zentralfriedhof. After that little memento mori we headed off to see the inside of the Orthodox Cathedral (amazing paintings, not a bit of wall blank) and passed through (somewhat surreally) an Anglican church where they were singing a mass in English. We then proceeded to the Museumsquartier for beer, just to balance out all the holiness. An excellent evening!
The city is still really busy as today and tomorrow are the Stadtfest, with stages and events happening all over the place. I'm off soon to check out some Balkan brass band in the Heldenplatz! I just hope it doesn't rain again....
Bis Bald, der Tom
One of the many things that makes Austria a fine place to live is its position as the country with the second most national holidays in the world. This means that in May not only do we get Thursday off for the ascension of Christ, we also get a holiday for Pentecost too, only a week and a half later, and then a week and a half after that we get another Thursday off for a reason which I am not currently sure of. I think of it as 'Holy Thursday The Return' or something like that. My two day pentecost holiday combined with the department policy of not having lectures on fridays led to a sort of mini half term break last week. I spent a lot of time creating colourful A3 depictions of the regional geology of Austria, and I can I think happily say that I sort of understand the formation of 1/3 of the Alps. Which is a start. Inbetween the regional geology funtimes, I found a couple of opportunities to leave the house (during breaks in the incessant surprise thunderstorms).
The one and only WRN (currently firing lasers between space telescopes above the clouds on top of a volcano in the canaries, dammit) had informed me that right down the bottom of the Prater was a sort of reed filled nature reserve place, so I resolved to find it. I was very excited when I found the place, some old cut off arms of the Danube from before it was coralled into the rather dreary straight line channel that it occupies today. The place was FULL of wildlife. I was surprised by a Black Woodpecker hacking away at rotting wood only a few metres away, then minutes later I spotted my first of two probable water voles, and listened to a chorus of absurdly loud frogs. Oh and admired some mandarin ducks sitting calmly on the fallen logs. It was a beautiful spring evening, warm but not hot, smelling strongly of the flowers from the chestnut trees... I decided to extend my walk out of the Prater, however I took a wrong turn and ended up walking around in the outskirts of Vienna proper, past a huge power station. But this is Vienna and I was walking along a pleasant road with trees along each side in the sun, so I didn't mind so much. I eventually realised my mistake and made it back home, generating many delicious pictures.
That extended weekend also brought yet another trip to the Albertina, excellent as always, and a much needed but very boring shopping trip. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long until interesting things started happening again, on Thursday I had to go look around a flat for Ash. The owner was apologetic and said actually we couldn't go see the house today, but then invited me into his amazing first district appartment for a drink. He was an old ex dancer who had danced for 25 years at the Staatsoper, as well as many other places. He had even danced the Viennese waltz with the Princess of Kent, after which she tripped over and fell on him, meaning he got in ALL the papers, many on the front page. I mean I know this must have been in the 70s or so but still surely there was other stuff happening?? I sat round a table at which he had entertained Robert Redford and Meryl Streep of all people. Fascinating conversation, once I got over the initial confusion of someone being so nice to me.
Then yesterday it was the Lange Nacht der Kirchen, when most of the churches in Austria are open late till 12:00, with services, cakes/ other food, displays etc. The Stephansdom was lit up by an honest to goodness LASER DISPLAY shining through the incense smoke, backed up by a choir. Seriously, wow! I maintain that lasers are not inappropriate for the modern church, if people had been able to make heavenly laser displays back in the 16th Century there is no way they would have left them out! We went down into the crypt to gaze at the huge piles of bones and skulls, ossuary style but a little less artfully arranged. Plague victims, cardinals, it;s all down there. Apparently Mozart was probably in one of those piles, a far cry from his lovely and fake gravestone in the Zentralfriedhof. After that little memento mori we headed off to see the inside of the Orthodox Cathedral (amazing paintings, not a bit of wall blank) and passed through (somewhat surreally) an Anglican church where they were singing a mass in English. We then proceeded to the Museumsquartier for beer, just to balance out all the holiness. An excellent evening!
The city is still really busy as today and tomorrow are the Stadtfest, with stages and events happening all over the place. I'm off soon to check out some Balkan brass band in the Heldenplatz! I just hope it doesn't rain again....
Bis Bald, der Tom
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