'Mini-moon' in Oslo.

My wife and I went to Oslo for our 'Mini-moon' this weekend, here are some pictures!

Been real busy, where to begin.... a whole month off work for the summer, back to work and then last weekend I got married to my girl! Best day of my life....
Anyway, let's talk music and film...
I saw this summer Kick Ass, Predators, Youth In Revolt, Inception, Zombieland and the Expendables... the best being Zombieland and Inception, Kick Ass was a real let down, as was the Expendables. Oh Fantastic Mr Fox was good too...
Music wise
currently listening:
Paul Hawkins and the Awkward Silences - Apologies to the Enlightenment
Biohazard - State of the World Address

And I just learnt tonight that the mighty Godspeed You! Black Emperor are coming to HKI next January, shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

plus new podcasts at theafterdinnerlounge.podomatic.com
JMS

Summer in Cornwall Pt 3

Final set of images, walking in the Cornish fog, more of St. Michael's Mount and an elderly couple admiring the view.

Summer in Cornwall Pt 2

Some more pics of the village of Polruan, the Eden Project and St Michael's Mount.

Summer in Cornwall Pt 1

Just got back to Helsinki after a week in Polruan, Cornwall, UK. In these pics you can see where we stayed and some beautiful scenery, plus my parents dog, Dusty.
More to follow....
James

Far Deafening

I made a video for Far's Deafening competition and you can watch it and vote for it here:
http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/preview/jamesprice101/123
Thanks!
Jimmy

The End of Lost

Ok, the end of Lost. There will be spoilers here if you haven't seen it yet!
So what the hell happened? I've really enjoyed this series but I'm still trying to figure out what happened two days after I saw it!
1) The island was purgatory and they all died when the plane crashed?
2) The events on the island were real and the flash-sideways story was purgatory and they all met up there and 'moved on'?
I don't know really and still so many unanswered questions after 6 seasons. Who was Widmore? Why all the Egyptian mumbo-jumbo? etc etc .
Maybe because a lot of people guessed that maybe the Island was purgatory from Season 1 the writers got annoyed because they wanted to be a step ahead of us, so played some games but went back to their original idea at the end?
Answers on a postcard in the comments box below!
Still, I'm happy with this ending. It's hard to end such a popular series and please everyone. Now watching final season of the Wire and waiting for the last series of 24!

Currently listening:
Kyuss - ...And the Circus Leaves Town
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Harvey Milk - An Act of Human Kindness

At Night We Live update

Ok Pony was a hidden track, damn!

At Night We Live

My Special Edition of the new Far record arrived today, thanks to the guys at Arctic Rodeo Recordings in Germany. As you can see it came in a cigar box with the regular cd, a bonus ep, a badge, a sticker, booklet and a t-shirt, all that for only 36e, bargain. Listening to it now, sounds pretty good, no Pony so that's a good start!

Latest listening:
Far (of course)
How To Destroy Angels
Knut - Wonder

RIP Dennis Hopper

"I mean, what are they gonna say about him, when he's gone, huh? What are they gonna say? Are they gonna say "he was a kind man"? "He was a wise man"? "He had plans"; "He had wisdom"? Bullshit, man! What are they gonna do when he's gone? What are they gonna turn to me? I mean come on, look at me! Am I gonna set them straight, NO...You."

Lanegan and other music

We went to see Mark Lanegan play an acoustic show at Nosturi here in Helsinki on Monday night, good show, Lanegan was his usual chatty self. Played some of his solo stuff, some Trees stuff and even Hanging Tree by QOTSA. Next month still got Garcia Plays Kyuss and then in July Converge and Muse!
Also saw Iron Man 2 a few weeks ago, which was good fun. No surprises but enjoyable! Still watching the last season of Lost, only 3 episodes left to go!

Currently listening:
My Own Private Alaska - Amen
Old Man Gloom - Seminar iii: Zozobra
White Zombie - Astro Creep

Isis Split!

Damn, this was disappointing, after 13 years Isis are gonna split. You can read their official statement here: http://isistheband.blogspot.com/
Thanks guys, Oceanic is one of my favourite records of all time.

So Many Things to Talk About

1) The Wire: I got the complete Wire box set for Christmas which I've been constantly plowing my way through since. I'm now on series 3, it's all great stuff I highly recommend it! Looking forward to Tremé now, which is HBO's new series by the same guys!
2) Music - Where to begin..... so many great records have come out already this year, Brant Bjork's Gods and Godesses, Daughters' self-titled, Burzum's Belus, and plus tours... wow, I'm living in the Helsinki area and I've never known so many bands to hit these shores in succession, this month alone I'm going to see Kylesa and Brant Bjork, later in the year John Garcia playing the music of Kyuss (yes Kyuss!), Mark Lanegan and then Converge and maybe Megadeth playing Rust in Peace at the Tuska Festival!! Holy shit!
3) Movies - Man, how bad was Shutter Island?! Scorcese used to make good movies right? I know he admits himself this was b-movie trash but really? This is so shit I thought I was gonna cry, the plot made no attempt to hide itself and it's 'twist' was so obvious I had it nailed in the first 25 minutes. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. Another thing is, if you want to see a Scorcese movie these days, it seems we're gonna have to put up with DiCaprio forever too! I've also seen this year Sherlock Holmes, also disappointing, Where The Wild Things Are, great, Avatar, Pocahontas in Space (so glad it lost out at the Oscars), Daybreakers, vampire nonsense, Invictus, in comparison to Gran Torino very dull, The Hurt Locker, good but no Generation Kill, Up in The Air, so-so and Sin Nombre, a great story of gangsters and immigrants in Central America! Iron Man 2 gets me excited though!

For more of my musical tastes check out my podcast at: http://theafterdinnerlounge.podomatic.com/

Cheers
James

Been Quiet!

I've been pretty lazy with this blog recently, mainly because I launched a podcast, check it out here:

http://theafterdinnerlounge.podomatic.com/

Anyway, saw Cult of Luna last month, awesome, really great, ended with Ghost Trail off the new album, fantastic!

Lined up for the rest of this year I've got tix to Kylesa, Brant Björk and Converge!
Plus waiting for new records from Red Sparowes and Crippled Black Phoenix! Come on 2010!

James

January Drone

So 2010 starts with a bang for me with Avatar, which was ok, but as it's been said was really just Pocahontas in space, 3D was nice though and then Where the Wild Things Are, which I found really good.
Last night though we saw Sunn O))) again, 3rd time for me. I'm still undecided as to whether it's some elaborate joke, a 'punk' style assault on contemporary music, pure art or just some 'Nathan Barley'-esque 'too cool for school' bollocks.
Before they come on, the venue is flooded with dry ice smoke to the backing track of chanting monks and when O'Malley and Anderson and the 3rd guy come on it's like those horse guys from Lord of the Rings (Ringwaraiths i think) with guitars!!! After ten minutes the girl in front of us passes out, whether she's stoned or drunk or just subcoming to the drone, it's hard to say! They drone on and then the Emperor from Star Wars appears and chants through the smoke. There is a quiet interlude in the middle and the Emperor disappears as the boys chug wine direct from the bottle. But then the Emperor is back, this time in a shiny cape. One of the ringwraiths puts a crown on him and now he looks like an evil Statue of Liberty, to complete the Emperor look he also has red laser pens shooting out of every finger!
As the droning and the chanting builds and all my insides are shaking, it suddenly stops and it's over!
Craziness, still undecided though!
Sunn O))) played Tavastia last night in Helsinki.
James

Gigs of the Year 2009

Lets tie up '09 then and move on to the next decade with my top 10 gigs of last year...

in no particular order:

Helmet @ Nosturi, Helsinki
Callisto @ Tavastia, Helsinki
Scott Kelly @ Tavastia, Helsinki
Neurosis @ Tuska Festival, Helsinki
Melvins @ Pitka Kuuma Kesa, Helsinki
Mogwai @ " " "
Frank Turner @ " " "
Crippled Black Phoenix @ Nosturi, Helsinki
Isis @ Nosturi, Helsinki
Mew @ Helsinki Ice Hall

Roll on 2010, Sunn 0))) and Cult of Luna already lined up and a new Silver Mt. Zion album this month, ace!!!

James