Monday 2 July 2007
Protection by Michel Gondry
Tom recently brought to my attention the new Massive attack video (although it turns out it's actually more than six months old?!) which sees a young woman drink herself into oblivion in her home over the course of an evening. This theme echoes one that I have become interested in over the last year because of my proximity to Stokes Croft in Bristol - an area that, despite undergoing significant regeneration in recent months, is still something of a melting pot of alcohol and drug addiction.
I described my personal experience of this rather earnestly in a blog I wrote last year when I first moved to the area which I called Beggars can't be choosers. Despite the fact that there's been quite a lot of water under the bridge since then, I'm still very much enamoured to the culture and personality of the area, in particular it's seemingly paradoxical warmth and friendliness. Of course, upon closer inspection, you realise there is no paradox and this is something which I'm looking forward in due course to discussing here in The Bettany Blog.
The Massive Attack video in question can be viewed here on YouTube. I decided not to embed it into this blog because I found another Massive Attack video which explores the similar theme of urban disaffection, which I prefer greatly, both because the song is one of my favourites and the video was directed with great artistry and skill by Michel Gondry, who, along with Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham is one of the best music video directors of his generation.
I guess I decided to publish this blog and this video because I'm hoping to use The Bettany Blog as a means to further explore the problems that exist in inner city areas like Stokes Croft - as examined in Massive Attack's song and Michel Gondry's video - and this hopefully provides an interesting avenue into a subject which is close to my heart.
As for Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham, who can forget The Beastie Boys' Sabotage and Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy?! A warning though before you click on that last link: Come to Daddy is violent and disturbing - aurally as well as visually!
I described my personal experience of this rather earnestly in a blog I wrote last year when I first moved to the area which I called Beggars can't be choosers. Despite the fact that there's been quite a lot of water under the bridge since then, I'm still very much enamoured to the culture and personality of the area, in particular it's seemingly paradoxical warmth and friendliness. Of course, upon closer inspection, you realise there is no paradox and this is something which I'm looking forward in due course to discussing here in The Bettany Blog.
The Massive Attack video in question can be viewed here on YouTube. I decided not to embed it into this blog because I found another Massive Attack video which explores the similar theme of urban disaffection, which I prefer greatly, both because the song is one of my favourites and the video was directed with great artistry and skill by Michel Gondry, who, along with Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham is one of the best music video directors of his generation.
I guess I decided to publish this blog and this video because I'm hoping to use The Bettany Blog as a means to further explore the problems that exist in inner city areas like Stokes Croft - as examined in Massive Attack's song and Michel Gondry's video - and this hopefully provides an interesting avenue into a subject which is close to my heart.
As for Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham, who can forget The Beastie Boys' Sabotage and Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy?! A warning though before you click on that last link: Come to Daddy is violent and disturbing - aurally as well as visually!
Burma: Peripheral to Westerners' vision?
While the war in Iraq captured everyone’s energy and indignation, right on our doorstep exhausted, terrified Burmese and ethnic peoples face an age old conflict which roars and screams unabated. This war had its roots in British Colonial authorities forming alliances to divide and rule Burma. For some 60 years the people of Burma have witnessed and experienced conflict...
One for Dad, I think.
Sunday 1 July 2007
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