Yesterday, Roger Ebert died. It would be remiss of me to write a post without mentioning how lucky we were to have him.
Easily the clearest, most insightful, sharpest, funniest and direct movie critic, his brilliant reviews drove me to try and be a better writer.
I’ll never reach the dizzying simplicity of his writing, but reading his words always filled my sails with the bluster of enthusiasm. If you’ve never read his writing, put half a day aside, and treat yourself. The world is so much poorer without a man of his wit and understanding.
Now, talking of movies – did you know that Status Quo, a rock band who have assumed the status (indeed) of post-irony without even trying, have released one? And did you know that it’s a crime caper set in Fiji, starring Rick ‘n’ Francis themselves, called Bula Quo?
SEGUE ALERT: Doprah also have a song called Whatever You Want, although if it is a cover of The Quo’s classic, the band have gone off-road somewhat simply by including a third chord.
This song creeps. It shouldn’t work. It has autotuned vox, a trip-hop drumbeat from 1998 and Terry Hall whispers. It works: with élan, with consummate ease, with polish and poise.
I have a lot of time for New Zealander bands, simply because of the existence of The Chills. Doprah are the first NZ band in a long time that I have really, really liked; and the first that have left me in that brilliant state of confusion where my head says I shouldn’t like certain elements of their music, and meanwhile, my heart just does backflips. Lovely, silvery, wet pop music.