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Things I did recently
Apr. 11th, 2012 02:14 pmHm, at the moment, I seem to be very critical when it comes to talking about cultural events I have attended.
It started with the 32nd anniversary party of Einstürzende Neubauten last week at the .hbc. To be fair, it's the second event have attended at that venue and more and more I feel like it will have been the last. The idea of the party was okay. There was a sort of alibi exhibition of pictures/photos spanning the whole 32 years but truth be told, it was rather minimal and repetitive. Certainly, there were at best three pictures I didn't know yet.
The rest of the programme included some piano music (which sadly I missed), Max Dax reading from "Nur was nicht ist ist möglich" (not the best of readers), an opportunity to dance to all kinds of Neubauten tracks you don't normally hear in discos (Playlist here) and .... Neubauten karaoke.
Yes.
Sadly there were only about five tracks ("Seele brennt", "Sabrina", "Let's do it a Dada", "Installation #1" and one I can't remember), some of which didn't really lend themselves to Karaoke very well but I made a valiant effort tackling all of them repeatedly and those three people who actually saw me liked it. So that's a sucess, I think.
What really bothered me was the fact that about 90% of the people there made the impression that they had never really heard of EN and were only there because the hbc is such a hip place and to celebrate (and photograph) themselves. There was a small contingent of old punks but mostly it was Mitte-people, all flailing cigarettes and egos at the ready.
I hope the 33rd birthday party will involve the band again. Or a more extensive karaoke.
Then there was Laibach live in concert. Which was good, for what it was. They have become completely techno-pop now, discarding any pretenses of once having carried a political message or being associated with punk. It's not that it was bad, it was just very prectictable and empty. The "keyboard babe" got to sing a few songs and the singer did what he always does. No paradigmns were shifted and no expectations disappointed. In essence they are now a DAF-cover band. I am very happy to have seen them but I will be in no hurry to see them again or buy their latest album.
A similar case could be made for "Iron Sky" (featuring Laibach's music). Yes, I had been quite excited about seeing it and how can you not be? Moon Nazis! Making fun of American policy! Udo Kier! Surely this cannot fail!
Well.... no. It did exactly what the trailer promised but nothing more than that. The Nazis return, the scenery is cool and Sarah Palin is mocked. Udo Kier is on a diet in regards to scenery-chewing, though. He does appear but gets to do very little besides.... well, appearing.
You do get the idea that the whole film was mainly created by the scriptwriters making a list of things they think would be cool to do in a film, but without the patience to actually do anything proper with any of these things. Towards the end, the end even hints at deciding to add a more serious note (with a message!) but just as quickly as it pops up, it's gone again.
So yes, it's watchable but left me feeling like it could have been so much more.
In all fairness, though, many of my friends really enjoyed the film and I am fairly difficult to please when it comes to films about Nazis, religion and the Apocalypse. Plus, I still have this idea for something that Udo Kier really should do. ;-)
Current 93 were good, though. I enjoyed their concert much more than the one last year. They even played a thunderous version of "Lucifer over London" as an encore.
It started with the 32nd anniversary party of Einstürzende Neubauten last week at the .hbc. To be fair, it's the second event have attended at that venue and more and more I feel like it will have been the last. The idea of the party was okay. There was a sort of alibi exhibition of pictures/photos spanning the whole 32 years but truth be told, it was rather minimal and repetitive. Certainly, there were at best three pictures I didn't know yet.
The rest of the programme included some piano music (which sadly I missed), Max Dax reading from "Nur was nicht ist ist möglich" (not the best of readers), an opportunity to dance to all kinds of Neubauten tracks you don't normally hear in discos (Playlist here) and .... Neubauten karaoke.
Yes.
Sadly there were only about five tracks ("Seele brennt", "Sabrina", "Let's do it a Dada", "Installation #1" and one I can't remember), some of which didn't really lend themselves to Karaoke very well but I made a valiant effort tackling all of them repeatedly and those three people who actually saw me liked it. So that's a sucess, I think.
What really bothered me was the fact that about 90% of the people there made the impression that they had never really heard of EN and were only there because the hbc is such a hip place and to celebrate (and photograph) themselves. There was a small contingent of old punks but mostly it was Mitte-people, all flailing cigarettes and egos at the ready.
I hope the 33rd birthday party will involve the band again. Or a more extensive karaoke.
Then there was Laibach live in concert. Which was good, for what it was. They have become completely techno-pop now, discarding any pretenses of once having carried a political message or being associated with punk. It's not that it was bad, it was just very prectictable and empty. The "keyboard babe" got to sing a few songs and the singer did what he always does. No paradigmns were shifted and no expectations disappointed. In essence they are now a DAF-cover band. I am very happy to have seen them but I will be in no hurry to see them again or buy their latest album.
A similar case could be made for "Iron Sky" (featuring Laibach's music). Yes, I had been quite excited about seeing it and how can you not be? Moon Nazis! Making fun of American policy! Udo Kier! Surely this cannot fail!
Well.... no. It did exactly what the trailer promised but nothing more than that. The Nazis return, the scenery is cool and Sarah Palin is mocked. Udo Kier is on a diet in regards to scenery-chewing, though. He does appear but gets to do very little besides.... well, appearing.
You do get the idea that the whole film was mainly created by the scriptwriters making a list of things they think would be cool to do in a film, but without the patience to actually do anything proper with any of these things. Towards the end, the end even hints at deciding to add a more serious note (with a message!) but just as quickly as it pops up, it's gone again.
So yes, it's watchable but left me feeling like it could have been so much more.
In all fairness, though, many of my friends really enjoyed the film and I am fairly difficult to please when it comes to films about Nazis, religion and the Apocalypse. Plus, I still have this idea for something that Udo Kier really should do. ;-)
Current 93 were good, though. I enjoyed their concert much more than the one last year. They even played a thunderous version of "Lucifer over London" as an encore.
