Word The Cat

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opening sequence: Carla in bed sleeping. a beam of sunlight across her closed eyes. she screws up her face then opens up her eyes. shot of a chandelier above the bed – the light from the bulb begins to fade as sunlight overtakes the room. shot of the window, curtains tugging in the breeze. Carla levers herself out of bed and leaves the room. In the corridor a tiredness comes upon her. she puts one hand to the wall to steady herself and opens her mouth to speak.

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opening credits (in silence):

a slow pan along a table covered in chiffon scarves. the figures on the price tags get progressively smaller as the camera pans along. pan up from the shop floor to the large glass storefront. the glass is tinted with images of male models smartly dressed each wearing a chiffon scarf variously around their head, around their neck or over their nose and mouth. a brick suddenly flies through the window towards the camera. the brick is tied to a live chicken. the trajectory of the brick brings it into contact with something revealed to be a tripod as the camera buckles and falls from its perch. with the camera now lying prone on the ground, the chicken hops around in front of shot as the remains of the store front snap and peel behind.

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Exterior, Daytime. a static shot of a golf course. we hear speech off camera. it gets louder as Nicolas enters shot. he is shirtless, wearing an LAPD baseball cap and deck shorts. he is accompanied by his son Jean, full of zeal. Jean wears a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up over pierre cardin suit trousers. The conversation comes into focus:

Nicolas: “… you see it really is a remarkable place – they call it the manhattan of the south, the jewel in Surrey’s crown”
Jean: “I see”
Nicolas: “The model may be imperfect, but I’m imperfect myself”
Jean: “… [phone rings] wait, I have a call”

A helicopter passes overhead, masking the sound of the conversation. Jean hangs up.

Jean: “Sorry papa, you were saying…”

they wander to the right, out of shot. the image left behind begins to be erased with pixels of the golf course being replaced by absent black space. first the grass disappears then the sky begins to darken.

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sharp cut to Carla in her record company’s office. gold discs hang on the wall. the view from the window looks directly into another building which contains the same office with the same meeting taking place. Carla’s head rests at a disturbingly sharp 90 degree angle, her neck bent completely to one side. a bead of oil rund from her upturned ear down her neck and onto her chest. the CEO is talking. out of his mouth comes not his voice, but the audio track from Carla’s appearance on Later with Jools Holland… he speaks in Jools’ voice, then Carla’s. at the sound of her own voice Carla twitches. meanwhile, in the building opposite, the blinds are slowly lowering. when they have finished and the window is completely covered the blinds in this office (the office containing the camera) also begin to drop. as the same time as they are falling, the black pixellated absence begins to climb the window of the building opposite. it spreads horizontally. as the blinds in this office reach the halfway point of their descent the absence meets them and begins to spread to this window, moving upwards to the rail at the top of the window.

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commercial break.
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spam. there is an end in sight. is it a depression? no BailOut for WallStreet. recession proof. the future looks bleak. most trusted brand gives strong recovery. the light at the end of the tunnel may well be an oncoming train. (30 seconds)

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in favour of reality: a political message against fantasy and empire (this message brought to you by “Russian Brides” and “Meet Military Singles”) (60 seconds)
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new series of minder (5 metres)

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return to programming
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close up of nicolas and carla’s unnamed son. he opens his mouth. image flickers. fast montage:

screeninafieldlonggrassabirdshitsonthescreen.
fuzz.
overheadviewofcandlescamerashiftsinfocusaratintheforeground.s
acredheartbacklitlikeapictureofawaterfallinanindianrestaurant.alin
ediagramoraflowchartoriginatingverticallyfromasinglebox.davidbec
khamontopofablownopenlondonbusatthebeijingolympics.exteriorsh
otcameraswingsthroughtheairtoalightona10thfloorbalconyanunsee
nhandtakesdownthewhitecurtainsandreversesthemtoblack.interior
awoodensteamshackunderpaintedauroraceilingastuffedwolfturnssl
owlymouldyontheroof.redantsswellingonaforestfloor.darkinteriorac
reakofafloorboardapalefigureinfrontofshotturnsanxiously.twohands
holdingeachotheronabluecushion.calmoceanscapeundercloud.ther
earewarningsofgalesinsouthutsire.

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closing credits:

thank you for watching. there will be no second series.
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actual credits to follow

i find the idea that things can make sense by not making sense quite annoying. annoying both because it’s true and because it makes it harder to make things that don’t make sense.

“The concept of ‘affect’ in contrast, works from a different foundation, where the alterity of the non-human (including film), is irreducible to human experience. Therefore the mode of enquiry into the affectual relation between human and non-human is charactertised by a search for connection, points of fleeting attachment that allow an imprint of a different order. Affect describes a very different marking to effect, in that it defies the distinction between bodily emotional response and rational comprehension, or in the demarcation of conscious and unconscious processes. The affectual as a sensory apprehension, however is not only a feature belonging to the arts, but can also be located in the illogical operations of a rampant image-based multinational capitalism…” (Harbord, The Evolution of Film 2007: 120-121). link.

william gibson on the appeal of transcendence, america and obama:

“Transcendence is part of the American cultural experience and I wouldn’t expect it to go away. It hasn’t been popular for a long time. It takes a particular kind of darkness to bring it out. It tends to emerge in times of major generational shift.” from.

here’s some american music. affectual abstraction as accumulated humming.

Windy & Carl – when we were 15mb

“…For affect is at once an in intensely experienced state, and a fleeting trance. Thus it both pulls us into a deeply felt resonant state, but fails to provide that as an enduring potential. The affectual phrased in this way, operates by capitalism’s rule, as a desirable state that is in need of constant renewal.” (ibid: 122)

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jordi colomer – anarchitekton osaka g (edit)

‘useful’ is an underused word.

“So I shall, instead, keep this review extremely short and state simply that RADIANCE OF SHADOWS contains some of the most shattering and emotionally exhausting music ever laid down, and that its incredible usefulness lies in the fact that – however tiring your day was – listening properly to music of such extraordinary intensity brings to their knees those listeners who are still standing upright, turns those who are seated into ritually slaughtered and slouching bogmen, and delivers those already recumbent straight to the Land of Nod.” said Julian Cope.

It came from canada and sounds like a big metal bird humming teutonic plates into granular motion. I realise that lots of other things sound like that too, but this one has tinnitus hiding behind your ears with the dirt in the quiet times and, as Mr. Cope notes, can also paralyse.

Nadja – Radiance of Shadows 55mb web // buy

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Snaefell, Iceland, May 2005

I always feel a bit strange about posting things people send to MY inbox – it means admitting people send ME things, which means admitting I have more access to some things than other people do. fortunately not that many people send ME things. werk sent ME the new zomby record. I’M talking about it cos I like werk, I like early 90s hardcore and it makes ME feel important when things I would want to hear anyway get sent to ME unsolicited. although these are all very bad reasons to talk about something because I also need to spend a paragraph justifying MY relationship to the music – which is very boring for everyone who isn’t ME.

anyway, the implicit courtesy required in an arrangement where ME is considered important prevents anything being posted except the track below, but does allow it ME to effectively write a press release for the rest of the record (which I have heard but you probably haven’t) saying something along the lines of it being an accelerated heartbeat of a release which throws the brick of contemporary London club sound through the bank window of history. bringing the classic vibe of 92 hardcore to a new audience who will never remember the cold war. so dust off your spliffy jeans and let your mind go dancing through a more elegant time. Where were you in ‘92?

Zomby – Float

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this mix is from ‘98. but the tracks are left in for so long it feels like ‘92.

ak1200 – sub base mix 160k 89mb

M&M Featuring Rachel Wallace – I Feel This Way (The Beefed Up Mix) (4:25)
Timebase – Unity (4:29)
Mad Ragga Jon – So Good (3:34)
Rachel Wallace – Tell Me Why (Full Vocal Mix) (4:20)
Q Bass – Hardcore Will Never Die (Telepathic Mix) (4:07)
Krome & Time – This Sound Is For The Underground (3:42)
Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – Far Out (4:31)
Phuture Assasins – Future Sound (2 Bad Mice Remix) (5:27)
D’Cruze Featuring Rachel Wallace – Life (Hands To Heaven) (Remix) (4:48)
Krome & Time – The Slammer (5:51)
Q Bass – Funky Hardcore (DJ Hype Remix) (4:27)
DJ Hype – Weird Energy (Hell’s Bells Mix) (6:46)
Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – Bust Dat Groove
Austin – Unity In Dub (Stop-Go Mix) (4:50)
Q Bass – Deepa (NRG Remix) (4:34)
D’Cruze – Want You Now (DJ SS & EQ Remix) (4:39)