I was listening to one of the tracks from the new Alec Empire album “The Golden Foretaste of Heaven” the other day. I was loving it but it seemed a bit familiar. The relentless pounding beat; the hypnotic, discordant basslines; the snarled vocals; the overall claustrophobic intensity of the thing. Alec Empire is a German with an English-sounding name, but his music reminds me of an English group with a German-sounding name. Nitzer Ebb were big(gish) in the ’80s but I only really got into them a bit later. I seem to own all of their albums and quite a number of singles, so I must like them. They released a career retrospective compilation (Body of Work) a couple of years ago; I thought that marked the end of the band, but apparently it just marked the beginning of their comeback.

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Ben Kemp looks like a rugby player, but he has the most delicate falsetto voice and a rather poetic songwriting touch. His band, Uminari, are tight and very cool in a quirky Japanese way, especially the drummer who is so cool he doesn’t need drumsticks. We saw these guys at the Classic Comedy Bar and they put on a great show. But they were supported by local singer-songwriter Anna Coddington, and I liked her set even more.

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Politics, cyberpunk (pseudo)science, philosophy, big explosions and scantily-clad nubile young women. Sure it’s only a comic, but it still left me as breathless as a frenetic action film.

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Rainbows make me smile. Joanne has designed the beautiful “Smilebow” T-shirt, and if enough people vote for it at threadless.com then they just might pick it up and manufacture a print run. Then we’ll be able to wear a Smilebow every day!

Just click the Smilebow picture to go to the website. Register, vote, and be associated with the birth of a T-shirting legend. Also you can look at a lot af very fun shirt designs, and even buy some shirts if you want to buy some shirts.

This French comedy, about a man who doesn’t want to get married (don’t read any further if you don’t want to find out what happens) but does anyway, was really quite good. It had a happy ending; it was hilarious, warm, and… French.

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Now this was an excellent adaptation of an unusual novel. Very cinematic and dark and not at all blockbustery. It was about 6 years ago that I read Patrick Suskind’s novel, but I still remember it quite well and the film captured its tone nicely.

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“The Matsugane Potshot Affair” is your classic Festival film: amusing, but also with many uneasy moments. Weird. A bit pervy. Very non-mainstream; even more so than its very different predecessor “Linda Linda Linda” (directed by the same gentleman).

This film is a funny mockumentary about competing Australian children’s dance schools. “Mr Jonathan” the main character, was hilarious in an Alan Partridge sort of way. The whole cast including the kids were good and the tone was mostly pretty convincing. And there was even some pretty good dancing.

This was both inspirational and nostalgic, inasmuch as one can be nostalgic for things that never happened. Such clever and learned teachers and classmates would have made school much more stimulating. I’d like to read the script of the movie sometime.

Yoga is such a pleasant and healthy way to pass an hour or so. (If only pleasant and healthy went together more often.) It’s good for everyone — especially busy people, such as mothers of small babies. But what can mothers do with their babies when going to yoga? Well, they can take them along! Yoga is good for everyone, and that includes even tiny babies.

I’ve put up a web page for a Mother and Baby Yoga class near me because I think it’s such a great idea and I’d like it to catch on. It helps the baby to socialise as well as learn to use its body, and it’s also good for the mothers to have a fun play with their babies and have some relaxing exercise for themselves. I’m hoping that one day I will be able to go…