Are You Experienced?

A few random Thursday things...

I watched Control, the Ian Curtis biopic the other night. I've never been a huge Joy Division fan, though I do think 'Atmosphere' is a gorgeous song. I was impressed for a number of reasons, chiefly that there was no attempt to mythologise the band, or Curtis himself, as sometimes happens in this sort of film. They were just a bunch of lads who formed a band and made a few cool records until unpleasant external circumstances brought tragedy into their lives.

As Curtis, Sam Riley was excellent. Samantha Morton seemed wasted as Debbie Curtis though. She's one of the best actresses we have, and this seemed something of a thankless role for her. Interesting that the script was based on Deborah Curtis' autobiography - I'd have expected that, and Morton's performance, to make her a more sympathetic character. Yeah, you felt bad that she was left at home with the baby while Ian was running around with the Belgian chick, but... I don't know, I just expected more. Still, it's fair to say that 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' was a gift to this movie. Great support from the actors playing Peter Hook, Joy Division manager Rob Gretton, and Anthony H. Wilson (doing an even better job than Steve Coogan in 24 Hour Party People), giving us an occasional, much-needed chuckle - it'd have been way too grim without them.



Went out yesterday to see a client and found the following note pinned to their fridge:

The food in this fridge belongs to people. If it doesn't belong to you, leave it alone.

Oh, so that's not the fridge you keep the giraffe's food in then?

Received a brief this morning which contained the following information:

Experienced staff with many years experience.

Presumably so Jimi Hendrix doesn't have to enquire.




And finally - a question... Why isn't every song ever recorded available to buy / download on mp3? Really, there's no excuse for it not to be - surely the record companies are losing money by not making things available that people might want to buy? I could understand back when there were hard costs involved with making back catalogue material available (i.e. manufacturing the record), but what does it cost to make a track available on iTunes or its equivalent? Yes, yes, there are licensing issues and people still squabbling over rights etc. but it just seems insane that there's so much old material you can't legitimately get your mouse on.

And I'm not just talking about the smaller, more obscure artists. Take for example Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. Louise has been trying to track down their version of 'Ease On Down The Road' from the soundtrack to The Wiz, but it's not available anywhere. The only way you can buy it on iTunes is by downloading a 4 disc Michael Jackson Greatest Hits compilation. But when you own most of those tracks anyway, why would you do that? Record company greed, record company stupidity. And then they wonder why so many people end up on the illegal download sites...