Author Archives: Jon

Honoured for HTML

On this day…

2006: Resolution
2005: The Incredibles
2005: Shaun Of The Dead
2004: Unexpected Movie Gems
2004: 2003 In Summary
2003: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003: Mirror Picture

On this day…

2006: Resolution
2005: The Incredibles
2005: Shaun Of The Dead
2004: Unexpected Movie Gems
2004: 2003 In Summary
2003: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003: Mirror Picture

Unexpected Movie Gems

There was something of an 80s flashback over the Christmas period which set me thinking about my teenage years – although I am not suggesting you should now read my regurgitated teenage angst. The flashbacks came in the form of three films on free-to-air television that I caught by accident (by which I mean I didn’t know there were on until I flicked past them).

Firstly, we had the excellent Footloose (Kevin Bacon, dancing) which is a film I must have seen several hundred times and never get bored. It’s those standing up for you rights and proving your responsibility moments that resonated with people of a certain age when it was released. It’s helped by the fact that the 80s electro-pop soundtrack was pretty good (for the time) and Kevin Bacon is moody and supports a tight fitting vest at one point!

Then, on New Years Day, we had another teen angst film in the shape of The Breakfast Club. From the John Hughes stable (he made one of my all time favourite movies, Some Kind of Wonderful) this was a teen film with a difference. The film is – almost entirely – dialogue driven and there is very limited action. It’s set in the detention room on a Saturday where a small group of students (of all the stereotypes) must spend the day together as punishment for various misdemeanours.

Again, we are treated to the teen isolation, the misfits and the stupidity of the adult world. And, it also features a soundtrack that instantly brings to mind the mid-Eighties including Don’t You by Simple Minds – which is possibly the only Simple Minds track that I can listen to again and again.

Sandwiched in between Footloose and The Breakfast Club and shown sometime in that almost-dead period between Christmas and New Year was the first Back To The Future movie (which again has a soundtrack of it’s time featuring Huey Lewis and The News, Eric Clapton and Lindsey Buckingham). What struck me about it (apart from the now dated effects) was how good a film it really was. There are some superb performances in it (Christopher Lloyd and Crispin Glover) and it was a real combination of teen and sci-fi movies. It was also the first film I can recall going to the cinema more than once to see – it must really have inspired me as a 15 year-old. Superb stuff.

So, despite the fact that you can be critical of television over this past Christmas period, I really think that it served me some unexpected movie gems. And for that, I am grateful.

On this day…

2006: Resolution
2005: The Incredibles
2005: Shaun Of The Dead
2004: Honoured for HTML
2004: 2003 In Summary
2003: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003: Mirror Picture

On this day…

2006: Resolution
2005: The Incredibles
2005: Shaun Of The Dead
2004: Honoured for HTML
2004: 2003 In Summary
2003: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003: Mirror Picture

2003 In Summary

If I can be allowed to be more self-centred – or inward looking – than usual, I have found the process of re-reading the year’s worth of entries to be very interesting. Not only have I surprised myself with some of the pieces that I have written but, when viewing them all together, it seems that the site is a lot more coherent than I imagined. There are some key groupings of themes which have emerged – it’s clear I have a fascination with transport – and there are considerably fewer trivial pieces.

Many of the words I have written are, of course, about my life and might be considered to be trivial to some but I feel I have gained an insight into myself with some of the longer pieces. And it is those longer pieces which have most startled me on the re-reading: I must make a conscious effort to write more discussion works. Perhaps I should open the comments on the main body of the site to stimulate further thinking.

Of all the other sites I have read across the year, I still come back to my old faithfuls. So, this is the point where I should wish Tom, Jase, Jason, Bart, Meg, Phil, Eric, Chris, Bravo, Nick and Luke a very Happy New Year. Oh, and those are just the top listed ones in my bloglines subscriptions.

Bloglines is to be nominated my tool of the year for 2003, it’s made the whole business of reading other sites so much easier (if only Blogger users would provide nice RSS feeds). Of course I shouldn’t forget Six Apart who, via Movable Type, make all this possible.

Writing Listen to Musak is one of the few creative outlets I really have and I am happy to have it as a hobby – it seems more useful than making a model of St Paul’s Cathedral from matchsticks.

Best wishes for 2004 to all who come across this page.

On this day…

2006: Resolution
2005: The Incredibles
2005: Shaun Of The Dead
2004: Honoured for HTML
2004: Unexpected Movie Gems
2003: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003: Mirror Picture

On this day…

2006: Resolution
2005: The Incredibles
2005: Shaun Of The Dead
2004: Honoured for HTML
2004: Unexpected Movie Gems
2003: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2003: Mirror Picture

Love Actually

Love Actually is not the film I imagined it to be. I guess you can call it a romantic comedy and it seemed like a sensible film to watch on New Year’s Day. The cinema was packed which suggests we wen’t the only ones with that idea.
I should say from the beginning, it’s sentimental and feel-good. If those words put you off then you shouldn’t really see this film. I do think, however, that if you have ever (even once) got a little lovey-dovey then could go and see this movie and get something out of it.

It’s weaves a whole stack of separate stories together about people in love or finding love (and even out of love) with the backdrop of Christmas in London. Richard Curtis (of Four Weddings And A Funeral fame) makes his directorial debut and provides a very well-shot image of 21st Century London at Christmas. There are some really well-done sequences around the city which gives somebody like me – who thinks he’s seen all he wants to of London – something to smile at.

Having said it’s well-shot it is not without problems. Too many stories are intertwined leaving too many questions unanswered. When you leave a cinema questioning some of your understanding about who was who and where things were set you know that at some point this film failed. Why have the whole Wisconsin sequence, for example? And what happened to the Laura Linney parts – I suspect there is something on a cutting room floor that explains all that somewhere.

But don’t let that put you off. Liam Neeson’s storyline is great (even if it stretched believability a little), Emma Thompson is superb (and you will feel for her as she opens a Christmas present) as Alan Rickman‘s wife (he too stands out with a great, typical Rickman performance). Even Hugh Grant is believable as a Prime Minister who falls for his tea lady (Martine McCutcheon).

What I liked, although I have no idea if they will translate to the US, are the really British touches. Ant and Dec are the kid’s TV presenters; Jo Wiley is a DJ and Wes Butters does the chart run down for the Christmas Number One. And there wasn’t an over abundance of red London busses – which must be a first for British films.

This is really an inoffensive, somewhat amusing, light-hearted, feel-good British comedy and I hope it does well. If you read the message boards over at the Internet Movie Database you’ll read about people walking out in shock and disgust – which, if you’ve seen the film, is just as amusing.

On this day…

2006: Here We Go
2005: 2004 In Review
2005: Bruce Almighty
2004: Review of 2003: December
2004: Review of 2003: November
2002: Why Do You Do It?

On this day…

2006: Here We Go
2005: 2004 In Review
2005: Bruce Almighty
2004: Review of 2003: December
2004: Review of 2003: November
2002: Why Do You Do It?

Review of 2003: December

Well, I have finally managed to read all the entries from the year and I have reached December – the month for Christmas preparations and planning. Instead of planning for the big day, I was (again) talking about spam in my in-box or spending the week before Christmas in the United States instead of buying gifts for friends and family.

I spent Christmas Day in London and then went to visit family in the north. Returning home allowed me to return to one of my key topics of the year, transportation.

I ended the year lamenting the blogs that are disappearing. I am sure 2004 will bring new reading pleasures and, hopefully, I provide some pleasure for some people.

The full December archive can be found here.

On this day…

2006: Here We Go
2005: 2004 In Review
2005: Bruce Almighty
2004: Love Actually
2004: Review of 2003: November
2002: Why Do You Do It?

On this day…

2006: Here We Go
2005: 2004 In Review
2005: Bruce Almighty
2004: Love Actually
2004: Review of 2003: November
2002: Why Do You Do It?

Review of 2003: November

November was the second busiest month in terms of entries across Listen to Musak and the month in which the second of the soaps I remember from my childhood, Brookside, ended. I also seemed to be continuing my quest for the perfect ‘phone/pda combination

I visited one of my favourite areas of London to see The Weather Project at the Tate, a fascinating experience and one that showed me that there really is art that interests me. And once again I was back in Finland which caused me to contemplate flying for the second time in the year and also, for a short time, back in Oslo. Interestingly for a period when I did a considerable amount of site-writing, I concluded that I was quite time poor.

Of course being November there were fireworks and, for the first time in my life, I learned the origins of Guy Fawkes can be traced back to Elizabeth I. Elizabeth II, meanwhile, was playing host to the US President and I learned more about state visits.

The full November archive can be found here.

On this day…

2006: Here We Go
2005: 2004 In Review
2005: Bruce Almighty
2004: Love Actually
2004: Review of 2003: December
2002: Why Do You Do It?

On this day…

2006: Here We Go
2005: 2004 In Review
2005: Bruce Almighty
2004: Love Actually
2004: Review of 2003: December
2002: Why Do You Do It?

Review of 2003: September and October

September seems to have been a quiet month for me and there wasn’t a great deal on the site – only 14 entries for the entire month. Still, some things didn’t change. Again, there was some nonsense about gay marruage and some shocking news about a gay teenager who comitted suicide when the police threatened to expose him to his parents. In travels, I was back in Helsinki but, I think the highlight, was the trip to see the inside of Bush House. September’s highlighted sites included Dooce and Toweroad.

The full September archive can be found here.

October was another quiet month in the life of Listen To Musak but I said a little more than in September, but it was an important month in may personal life. I spent some time on holiday in Cornwall – which was fantastic but I didn’t really get to write about it a great deal. I did note the rather silly Marriage Protection Week and came back to one of my favourite topics, London Transport, although this time I was much nicer about my fellow commuters. It seems that at around this time I suffered writer’s block but not Stephen Gately – who I applauded for using his website to set the record straight about an incident outsde The Ivy.

October was also the month I started my ‘phone/pda search, which right now, remains an unresolved quest. We also met the Gay Team and I didn’t even get any trick or treaters at my door for Halloween.

The full October archive can be found here.

On this day…

2005: Dress Code
2004: Amélie & The Italian Job
2003: Review of 2003: July and August
2003: Review of 2003: May and June
2002: The Lord of The Rings
2002: Would Pepys Blog?
2002: Year in Review

On this day…

2005: Dress Code
2004: Amélie & The Italian Job
2003: Review of 2003: July and August
2003: Review of 2003: May and June
2002: The Lord of The Rings
2002: Would Pepys Blog?
2002: Year in Review

Review of 2003: July and August

Did we ever, truly, determine if the documents were sexed up or find those WMD?

In July I came back to my transportation topic from earlier in the year. Even now, six months on, little has changed. Online, Netscape died and we learned about Jason’s donut man.

I went to Paris – which was hot, sweaty and absolutely brilliant and travelled north which was great too; bought Marks Owen’s come back single and discovered I was part of a great consumer demographic. I also went to the great party in Hyde Park for that demographic! Of course, some people tried to pretend we aren’t people. In July we also learned that “The consequences of our current retreat from marriage is not a flourishing libertarian social order, but a gigantic expansion of state power and a vast increase in social disorder and human suffering”. Well, I still think that’s garbage now, just as much as I did in July.

The full July archive can be found here.

August began with a trip down memory lane when I discussed the first single I ever bought while learning that ringtones makes millions for the record industry. It was also the month when I started to buy music online via digital downloads.

The weather remained hot, which made a trip to Great Yarmouth for a stag party all the better (even the lap dancing club was interesting). The weather also allowed me to sit in the garden in the sunshine listening to the sounds of London radio.

Clause 28 was finally abolished but I only caught up with the news in August.

The full August archive can be found here.

On this day…

2005: Dress Code
2004: Amélie & The Italian Job
2003: Review of 2003: September and October
2003: Review of 2003: May and June
2002: The Lord of The Rings
2002: Would Pepys Blog?
2002: Year in Review

On this day…

Review of 2003: May and June

More good weather and a visit to Rye began the month that brought us more Big Brother and more flights in small planes (including a short holiday to Norway and a trip to a very sunny Helsinki).

I wrote about Greg Dyke and the BBC – about impartiality and the war in Iraq – which is an interesting in the light of events that came later and Lord Hutton’s investigation.

In the light of the war on terrorism, one of the reasons behind the attacks in Iraq, I read more about plans for UK ID cards.

Dr Kildare came out and I made the first entry in the gay marriages category when the Archbishop of Canterbury disappointed many and, the first of two soap operas of my childhood ended when Crossroads shut the doors for a second time (this time it was all a dream). The other was to be Brookside in November.

The full May archive can be found here.

In many ways, May and June were very similar – hot weather and Big Brother (in the guise of Dermot O’Leary and Federico).

I started to go through the motions of registering with the Government Gateway to file my tax return (a process that I would only get round to finishing in December). June was also the month I showed my bottom to a crowd of passing tourists for charity and was in the crowd for the Shrewsbury carnival.

Gay men got married in Canada; the church tried for a gay bishop; the Royal Mail closed it’s underground railway in London and Listen to Musak got the first user comments.

The full June archive can be found here.

On this day…

2005: Dress Code
2004: Amélie & The Italian Job
2003: Review of 2003: September and October
2003: Review of 2003: July and August
2002: The Lord of The Rings
2002: Would Pepys Blog?
2002: Year in Review

On this day…

Review of 2003: April

I started April ranting about trackbacks again, and I still haven’t properly implemented them on my site. April saw me visit Fortnum and Mason at the start of, what was to become, a heatwave (which makes for the best views from my house). I made the first of my visits to AFC Wimbledon and today I can still recall standing on the stands in the heat.

Listen to Musak’s design changed in April and I also made the first of many entries about SkyPlus as well as another about the state of digital music. And April was the month when Craigslist made it to London.

The full April archive can be found here.

On this day…

2004: House Of Flying Daggers
2003: Review of 2003: March
2003: Review of 2003: February
2003: Review of 2003: January
2003: Listen To Musak in Review

On this day…

2004: House Of Flying Daggers
2003: Review of 2003: March
2003: Review of 2003: February
2003: Review of 2003: January
2003: Listen To Musak in Review