A month ago now the 4 oldies at ditto had the absolute pleasure of heading off to the Tate Modern for the opening night of Kraftwerk’s eight-day residency. Similar residencies have happened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York at the end of 2012 and at Kunstsammlung in Düsseldorf in January. Upcoming residencies at Tokyo’s Alaska Blitz and the Sydney Opera House along with appearance at Europe’s summer festivals as Kraftwerk milk their heritage for all they can.

I first saw Kraftwerk back in 1998 at the Sonar Festival when they were headlining the Saturday night. Although it was an absolute thrill to see their full stage show, robots and all, in front of 30,000 screaming fans, I thought afterwards that they were a parody of themselves. Despite really enjoying myself I did feel that I was watching a Kraftwerk tribute band. All the hits, all the performing robots, the 3 acts within the 1 show – it was Mama Mia without the ‘storyline’. But it was fantastic.

15 years have past and I have an unhealthy fascination towards old music (not being made by the kids) and a worse attitude towards young music (being made by kids). It is definitely influenced by my use of Spotify rather than buying music from record shops (please see my previous blog). So when Kraftwerk announced their MoMA gigs and soon after the Tate Modern it got me very excited. I tried to get out to New York but it was turning out to be too expensive. The ‘joy’ of going to Düsseldorf meant that everything was poised for the London gigs. As the BBC reported, the demand for Kraftwerk tickets broke the Tate’s website, but to our rescue came a friend who went and queued for nearly 5 hours (and moaned about it afterwards!) to get tickets for the opening night featuring Autobahn, Kraftwerk’s first album.

Early Kraftwerk gigs routinely took place in art galleries, emphasising the band’s conceptual distance from American rock music in 1970s. 40 years later, Kraftwerk find themselves in one of the world’s pre-eminent art galleries, one which used to be a power station, which is what Kraftwerk means in German. Could it get better?

I was so excited, I was amazed I didn’t pee myself! Tate created an auditorium in the top, sloped area of the Turbine Hall with a large stage and screen and lots of black cushions to sit on. The space held around 1,000 people, most of whom were of a kind – middle aged (with matching physiques) folically challenged and all fanatical followers – we knew why we were here and just how important Kraftwerk have been to mankind!!! Not only that but tonight’s performance was in 3D. Kraftwerk are as much about their presentation as they are about there music. Ever album cover is a great piece of considered design. Order and straight lines are everywhere and the quality of both live and projected imagery is immaculate and of the highest quality.

There has been loads of coverage of the concerts through out the press and social channels – it was very strange hearing Today, Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme talk at length about the significant of Kraftwerk and the residency alongside miles of previews and reviews and the expected meltdown that 6Music went into. YouTube has lots of footage from the all 8 gigs with my favourites including this one, and this one.

What did I think of the gig – they were brilliant. It could have been I am 14 years older or the fact we have played their catalogue to death in the studio. I did note that none of the young ones shared our passion in the week running up tot gig, in fact I am positive they thought most of what were constantly playing was rubbish and a million miles away from their latest beat combo. The 3D projections were the best I have ever seen – better than Life of Pi. They played all the good tracks from Autobahn and then a good hour of their greatest hits – nothing was missed out. It was amazing and left me in an eBay buying frenzy and going up to my wife singing an out of tune ‘we are the robots’. Best of all, look at my new top!!!

Ben Affleck’s latest film, Argo, which he directed, produced and starred in, has captured the film world by storm, scooping up numerous Best Film awards at the Golden Globes, BAFTA’s and Oscars.

The film tells the story of CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) who’s tasked with bringing home the six US embassy staff who slipped past the Iranian military in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis. By taking refuge at the Canadian ambassadors’ home after the escape, they hide there until being introduced to Tony Mendez, who provides them with fake identities and Canadian passports.

Mendez recruits two Hollywood hot shots, make-up genius John Chambers (John Goodman) and veteran producer Lester Seigel (Alan Arkin), and they begin to wade through hundreds of scripts, finally coming across Argo. Their escape plan is to pretend that they are a Canadian film crew scouting for locations for a science fiction film! You would think this kind of plot could only come from the movies, however this is a story based on true events. Keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout, there are several moments where you let yourself think that there’s a chance they won’t make it out alive.

Having been snubbed at the Oscars for Best Director, Argo did win Affleck Best Director at the Golden Globes and the BAFTA’s, and it has gained him a newfound respect in the industry.

Argo is an exciting real-life thriller worthy of a place in anyone’s DVD collection.

Or I will be in July! (cos my lovely girlfriend has got me tickets)

For those who haven’t heard, ‘The Book of Mormon (The Musical)’ is the first foray onto the live stage by Matt Parker & Trey Stone, those not-afraid-to-be-a-tad-controversial creators of ‘South Park’ & ‘Team America’.

Co-created with Robert Lopez (who co-wrote the 2003 success ‘Avenue Q’ with Jeff Marx), ‘The Book of Mormon’ opened on Broadway on the 24^th March 2011 and became, as they say, a smash hit. With sold out performances (counterfeit tickets were in circulation less than a month after the opening) and rave reviews, it garnered nine Tonys (Broadway’s Oscars) including Best Musical and a Grammy (American music industry’s Oscars) for Best Musical Theatre Album after achieving the #3 spot in the Billboard charts, the highest for a Broadway cast album in over 40 years.

For the back-story, the original Book of Mormon is the Holy Scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, whose members are known as Mormons. After a series of visions where an angel called Moroni brought ancient scripts which God gave him the power to translate (The Book of Mormon), Joseph Smith (who they revere as a prophet) founded the Church on the 6^th April 1830 in New York State.

Mormons preach from the Christian Bible as well, but believe that their Church is as Jesus had intended and that other forms of Christianity have lost their way. More left-field, they believe that Jesus Christ rose and visited the Americas and that this is where the New Jerusalem (Zion) will be built (hey – I believe Newcastle United will one day win something, it doesn’t get madder than that!). Mormons have a great passion for spreading their word, their sunny and passive dispositions being of great help for their Missionaries in dealing with the many rebuttals as they go doorstepping in smartly dressed pairs. And this is where Parker, Stone & Lopez step in…

An unashamedly razzle-dazzle song-and-dance spectacle, filled with subversiveness, vulgarity and wonderfully inappropriate humour, ‘The Book of Mormon’ has been hailed as “Shrewd, profane, remarkably well-crafted and wholly hilarious” (Chicago Tribune), “Fearlessly offensive and smart as hell” (The Guardian) and “Unafraid of just about anything. The perfect musical” (Entertainment Weekly). So you know what to expect – don’t take the kids! (can you imagine the questions…)

A tale of two well-meaning but naïve Mormon missionaries who travel to Uganda to spread the word to the natives, but who are surprised to find that the locals consider poverty, famine, war and AIDS slightly more pressing concerns, this extravaganza is indiscriminate in its lampooning. Mormons, American culture, African culture, organized religion and traditional musicals in general plus more I’ve most certainly missed, are all sprayed with their cynicism to produce “the ultimate feel-good musical” (The Philadelphia Enquirer).

So now you know, lets all get singing:

“You all know the bible

Is made of Testaments old and new

You been told it’s just those two parts

Or only one if you’re a Jew…”

The Book of Mormon, at The Prince of Wales Theatre, Coventry Street, London W1D 6AS

http://www.bookofmormonlondon.com/home.php

Paulo Di Canio is an excellent communicator. An impressive feat considering I can’t fathom half of what comes out of his mouth. Through his vexed strains of spouting in a foreign tongue, he ejects words at an ever-increasing rate, like a Gatling gun chewing up ammunition.

But with this charismatic Italian, the words aren’t all that necessary – you know what is being said. His post-match interviews are operatic – vast open hand movements with a burning face, and eyes gleaming with an unyielding intensity. “We were stupid and donkey” and “he was the crappy player even against Stoke” are just some of the choice criticisms of his players.

Many thought that his appointment as a novice manager at Swindon Town, a struggling minnow in the 4^th tier of English football, would be a car crash. A firebrand with Mussolini tattoos and a reputation of treating referees as dominoes. Naturally, they won the league in his first season, attendances soared, and they are in contention for automatic promotion once more. Paulo knows how to make the football train run on time.

However, despite Swindon flying high, all is not well with the former AC Milan and Celtic forward. Broken promises from the board, a lack of players (he could only name a 13 man squad in their last match and has offered £30,000 of his own money for player loans) and selling their best player when they’re on the cusp of promotion has left Paulo publically reeling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21329885#asset

However, despite all of the distractions, I still bet on Swindon being in the Championship next season. When they got promoted last season, it was as if the force of his will alone was propelling them up the table. Paulo could have retired a rich man, sipping red wine from his private vineyard overlooking the glowing Sicilian dusk. But he rejected that. He left his much beloved family to manage a club that makes Hartlepool FC look like a hotbed of glamour. When asked why he had returned to football, he replied, “You cannot keep the lion in the cage.”

I was about to finish this blog, when this morning I awoke to the news that Di Canio had resigned from Swindon Town. He stated:

“It is with great regret that I find myself having to make this further statement. There have been a number of broken promises made by the club over the time that I have been manager.”

“Despite these problems, I have delivered everything and more that was asked of me, by achieving promotion last year as champions and competing this season for promotion to the Championship a year earlier than expected.

“I entered into a temporary arrangement with the proposed new owners to continue in my role as manager but all this was agreed subject to Football League approval for the purchase of the club being granted by 5pm on Monday.”

A quick glimpse on the football message-boards showed Swindon Town’s fans in lamentation, promotion rivals in celebration and clubs in the drop zone clamouring for his services. Personally, I give it 18 months before he’s repeating heroics for West Ham at Old Trafford, and sharing a glass of Bordeaux with a not so smug Sir Alex Ferguson.

Thom Yorke’s ‘Atoms for Peace’ will release their debut album on the 25^th February entitled AMOK. The band is made up of Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) on bass, Radiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich on guitar, keyboard and synth, and Joey Waronker (of Beck & REM fame) on drums with instrumentalist Mauro Refosco on percussion.

As a Radiohead fan I’m looking forward to the release of this album, but it is the artwork by Stanley Donwood that really caught my attention. It depicts an apocalyptic view of LA with meteors showering down on a flooded landscape, upturned cars and buildings being washed away. As a stark black and white lino-print it reminds me of ancient woodcut printings depicting prophecies of doom, it’s a really eye catching piece.

The album will be available in 4 different physical formats, 2 of which will be using a silver foil blocked and embossed technique on a 12-panel concertina board. I have only seen the pictures so far, but the packaging looks amazing – a thing of real beauty. It was expertly created by Think Tank Media and is a testament to their skill in print techniques.

Stanley has been a long time collaborator with Radiohead, producing the artwork for most of their albums since ‘The Bends’. In 2002, Donwood and Yorke won a Grammy Award for the Special Edition of the Radiohead album ‘Amnesiac’, so their unique collaboration on album artwork is obviously one that works well. When faced with the option to buy a collectible piece of art rather than download a digital file, I know which one I would choose.

To pre-order your copy of AMOK visit www.store.atomsforpeace.info

To view more of Stanley Donwood’s work, visit his site www.slowlydownward.com

Over the Christmas holidays I decided to treat myself (well Santa wasn’t going to so I had to be proactive). I went on Amazon.co.uk and purchased XCOM: Enemy Unknown for the PlayStation 3.

It is a turn-based strategy game and a remake of the XCOM: UFO Defence series released over 20 years ago. I never played the original, but the general consensus is that it’s a much-adored classic. It’s the usual aliens invade earth plot and you and your squad of bazooka toting commandos are the welcoming committee. However, much like a Martin Amis novel, video games are not bought for their intricate storylines. I just wanted something half-way decent to whittle away a few hours from the dire Christmas TV.

But XCOM did not whittle away a few hours. It whittled away days and weeks. When I first started playing it was 7:00pm, the next thing I knew it was 1:00am – and I saw no reason to stop. I became consumed by micromanaging my campaign to repel the invading hoards. It was always the case of ‘just one more mission’.

XCOM is not Doom. There is no charge and shoot. It is like chess, you have to out-think and out-manoeuvre the adversary. Each squad member has different abilities (e.g. sniper, support, and assault) and you have to decide who takes cover, who offers back-up and who goes in for the kill. Each time an enemy comes into view, you are given a percentage chance of hitting the opponent. For example, you have a 58% chance of successfully shooting the alien crouched behind a wall. If you miss the squaddie is as good as dead. Do you take the shot? Do you retreat? Do you hunker down? Do you let off a smoke grenade? The choice is yours.

And did I mention it is really hard? When your men die, they really die. All the battle-hardening skills they accumulated are gone, wasted. I still mourn my veteran Scottish heavy who gallantly perished in a hailstorm of plasma from the turrets of a mechanised giant, all because my cross-eyed French sniper missed her 81% shot.

And when panic sets in across the globe and the aliens decide to send in the mind control extra-terrestrials, it doesn’t get any prettier. The death toll goes through the roof. Having to shoot your own men before they shoot you is particularly traumatising (except for the French sniper, I’d gladly toss a grenade in her direction).

Eventually, I completed the game. As soon as the credits rolled, I swiftly asked my girlfriend to hide the disc and I haven’t played it since. I’ve now been clean and off XCOM for almost 2 months and have my life back – cue supporting audience applause.

Historically ditto have been loved up with all things Apple, so I’m rather happy to buck the trend and blog about a competitor. We know the current power and reach video has in the digital age, but with Microsoft revealing its brand new interactive video production studio in L.A., they are shining a light on what’s to come in the form of ‘new content’ (in addition to traditional broadcasting and gaming.)

With the rumour mill circling around the next gen Xbox console – equipped with Siri like voice recognition as well as the much loved Kinect – a new and more immersive way of consuming content will be possible. Instead of the traditional one stream of video with one direction for viewing – the consumer will be presented with a more proactive experience in which participation gives the freedom to choose viewing angles and proximity to the subject matter alongside oral interactivity.

The development of real time interactive multi-view video opens up huge possibilities in the video arena – with exceptional opportunities in the realm of advertising. Of the 75 million Xbox consoles sold worldwide so far – Xbox Live has more than 46 million subscribers, users of which spend a monthly average of 87 hours consuming material – with the majority of this being non-gaming content, and with the new console looming, these figures are set to increase.

 The younger demographic will also play a key factor in this new era of video – kids who have grown up with interactivity available over many platforms will embrace the opportunity straight away. The monetisation opportunities attached to this demographic will be huge – hopefully providing some really smart, high-end content for all areas of video consumption.

How do you imagine death? We all know that it will happen but our imaginative efforts to understand something we don’t know become difficult, whether the attempt is cultural, religious or scientific.

More than once I’ve found myself curious about the dilemma of body and soul brought about by death. And more than that, I’ve always felt a kind weird fascination with death and the art surrounding it.

After few months starring at the tube posters I could not avoid feeling intrigued by Richard’s Harris collection of objects related to death at the Wellcome Collection.

Last Saturday I headed to the museum, to find an unusual mixture of medical artifacts and original artworks exploring ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art.

The current exhibition, Death: a Self-Portrait displays an inspirational collection of skulls, paintings, artifacts, murals and photographs that were even creeper than I expected.

There are works from popular names in art history — such as Rembrandt, Dürer, Goya and Jacques Callots.  They give an insight of death through the many diverse facets of living and humanity – love, war, science, art, dance, and even black humour. What a paradox to make reference to death through our life’s issues.

“Tampoco (Not this time either)” from Los Desastres de la Guerra (Disasters of war) by Francisco Goya, 1863

Amongst the most powerful works on show are Otto Dix’s War etchings. The German expressionist painter presents a huge collection of prints depicting the horrors of World War I trench warfare.

Despite the fact that some works were hard to look at, I appreciated that this ‘self portrait’ of death provided an historical approach to the theme of death in art, offering perspectives of how humans have adopted concepts and ideas of their own mortality.

Stormtroopers Advancing Under Gas by Otto Dix, 1924

In the last part of the exhibition, it is impressive how the geographical diversity of objects on show represents the contradictory attitudes different cultures have towards death.

 ’When Shall We Meet Again?’, c.1900

For me the best way to live with it is by following Gandhi’s popular quote:

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Death: A Self Portrait at the Wellcome Collection, London, until 24 February 2013. Admission is free.

Carpe Diem

The art of sculpting paper has certainly come a long way since origami.

The art of Eric Standley caught my eye this week. His vector work is inspired by the infinite nature of lines employed in gothic and Islamic architecture, but instead of rendering his work in a medium as solid and permanent as stone he uses paper.

Taking advantage of modern laser cutting technology he is able to layer the paper build up incredibly intricately detailed, and breathtaking, sculptural forms.

Buried deep within the layers are drawings which can only be seen from certain perspectives. The pieces are comprised of hundreds of layers of paper and the laser cutting alone can take up to 30 hours.

Seeing Standley’s work prompted me to revisit some other rather impressive paper sculpture I’d seen recently.

The work of Jen Stark plays more with colour and texture and although she creates some very solid structures she also incorporates individual sheets which she peels and bends away from the main structure to create amazing fragile forms. I had previously assumed all the intricate and mind-bogglingly accurate cutting work had been done using lasers, but on closer inspection I discovered that all the paper is hand cut!

Jen Stark’s work is truly amazing and such an explosion of colour that it can’t fail to brighten up your day.

Check out Jen Stark’s work here : http://www.jenstark.com/index.php

And the work of Eric Standley here:  http:/ericstandley.30art.com 

The Laffer Curve. There’s not a lot I remember from the university economics lectures I attended, but Arthur Laffer and his inverted u-shaped curve has for some reason remained.

The Laffer Curve is about tax. Namely, how there exists an optimal ‘Goldilocks’ tax rate. Tax too little and government fails to collect enough tax. However, tax too much and tax revenues will decline by creating tax exiles and suffocating entrepreneurism. Therefore, if a government wants to maximise tax revenue, it must find the rate that is ‘just right’. In this case, T* marks the spot.

In the past month or two the sensitive question of taxation and its effects was brought to the fore by none other than Gérard Depardieu – my favourite Gaelic thespian and high-flying urinating aficionado. He and his belly neatly anthropomorphise this rotund economic theory.

Gérard Depardieu’s public spat with the French government over the new supertax spawned global headlines, with him threatening to leave for Belgium. France is known for its high tax rates and this was one tax hike too far for Monsieur Depardieu. This high profile, but not uncommon, case of tax exiles has stirred emotions on both sides of the political divide. For the left it is yet another example of the rich not paying their fair share in a time of economic hardship. Further accusations can be made that Depardieu actually owes his success to the French state. Without its massive subsidises for the French film industry, Depardieu mightn’t even have had an acting career.

But for the right, it is the inevitable backfiring consequence of François Hollande’s 75% supertax on earnings above €1m. The revenues generated from this tax would go a mighty 0.1% towards settling the €1 trillion deficit and the bill has actually been rejected by the French Supreme Court after being deemed unconstitutional.

Either way, there is nothing new in the wealthy migrating to Monaco or businesses residing in the Cayman Islands, but what is, is the fallout. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Depardieu’s actions “pathetic”. Depardieu responded with a letter published in Le Journal du Dimanche.

“I am leaving because you consider success, creativity, talent, anything different are grounds for sanction.” He added, “I don’t expect to be pitied or praised but I reject the word pathetic.”

Then when it seemed the argument died down, in stepped Russian premier Vladimir Putin, offering the larger-than-life star Russian citizenship. Maybe he’s a fan of the Laffer Curve too? Whether you think Depardieu or the French government is wrong over their attitudes to tax, I just thought it was a shame that most media outlets stuck to their own narratives, rather than display some thinking, and maybe even a graph that might help inform a few opinions.