Sunday 28 February 2010

Video Links

Below are links to short webisode entertainment/documentaries that have been created on the subject of the August 2009 broadcast and uploaded on youtube. These are the first of many and shall begin to appear on the run-up to the new broadcast.

The first webisodes is for that of our Chairman/Station Manager, The Wullie Jamison Show, which was our daily mid-morning slot. This show had interviews, competitions and local history spotlighted.

Part 1 is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr44HgaY-kg

Part 2 is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0kxTgVewk


Linked to this is footage of the first ever broadcast of Irvine Beat FM, hosted by Wullie. A few teething problems but it soon got up to speed. Link is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWw0Qzk7k7M


Next is the daily weekday opening morning slot, the Sandy Clark show, which brought Irvine at new start to the day during August 2009, with news, sports, obscure information and a wide range of music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATEjurykDsk


Next to look at is the Danielle McLaughlan show, called the Youth Zone, which went out nightly between 6 - 8 pm on weekdays. It's a mix of interviews, very modern music, local bands spotlighted and some silliness.

Part 1 is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dHZqyJ0xFc


Part 2 is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W87T4vdLzss


Then there is The Alan Wallace Show, aka The Beat Man. Alan had a few different shows from Fridays to Sundays, with dance music and an interest in older music, which he explains at the below link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VanIzd0IIOM


We developed certain shows as the first broadcast went on, as volunteers got to know one another.  Below links are for a two host conversation show with Drew Hanvey and Danielle MacLaughlan.

Part 1 is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyRrGeK4KCA


Part 2 is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UouAnFLlQZQ


For the local area information, Irvine Beat provided Look North, hosted by Jim McHarg, which gave Irvine residents information on services in the area that could potentially be of great use to them, and which we wish to expand upon in upcoming broadcasts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXj67N9ZNjA


From Garnock Valley area we have the Ben Harrison/Norrie Barr shows. While having their own slots in the afternoon, these two would team up at times so it seemed best to show them as a pair.

Part 1 is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE_OTcZUMy0


Part 2 is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4XYzRMjKM

Part 3 is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho-gwQqj0gY


Next we have The Louis Blair Show, which was a daily slot during the month's weekdays. Louis is the station manager at 3TFM and helped with our initial broadcast with both general advice in the lead-up and through his experience during the broadcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcYF1DvRZuo



Friday 12 February 2010

The Wolfman

I saw The Wolfman. Its nothing like those terrible trailers that have been on tv. The studio look ashamed of the film they made in those trailers.

Its loads of fun. really, made for people who watch hammer and old universal movies. Anyone who doesn't like these will not like this. The film is moody and odd like those films, loves its eccentric accents, stupid villagers and people not saying anything while walking through villages/forests/old houses. Basically its shot like a black and white movie with a few colours shown ( red blood and yellow lights. The rest are shadows). Its also a werewolf movie and only that. It doesn't try and be post-modern, witty in a smug way. We're in the old world and they stick to old rules, which may annoy some but is great if you're a little sick of those "clever" modern films. Its guy gets bitten by wolf, guy turns into wolf, wolf kills lots of people, manwolf is killed by his love. That basic romantic gothic story is all it is. a terrific peice of horror hokum. That's not an insult. Its great for that reason.

All the cast are in on the fun. They know what movie they're in. Anthony Hopkins is a riot. Its the most fun he's been in years, being basically an awful man the entire film, who kills his wife, sends a young Del Toro into the looney bin, lusts after the fiancee of, then kills his other son brutally, then he turns into a wolf. (The entire film is all his fault basically. He even looks wolf-like and quotes hamlet in an astonishly OTT bit, Hamlet in a werewolf film. and it works in that b-movie cheeky way). You're kind of amazed he was never in a late era Hammer film. Emily Blunt is basically a lust object whose men keep getting killed, so she looks haunted a lot, which she does well. Its one of those tricky have to be interesting without the back-up of much writing and dialogue. But she does it very well, gets into the older style of acting.

For their wolfman, they know that casting Benecio Del Toro is enough (not since Oliver Reed in Curse Of The Werewolf has a man been so aptly found to be a man who should turn into a wolf). You don't need much dialogue. Give him a candle, let him be tortured, let the cameraman go wild for ten minutes at a time, let him sniff Emily Blunt once in a while. That's enough. Then he turns into a wolf and kills everyone. Basically what I'm saying is roll on Frankenstein Versus The Wolfman remake, which won't happen. This film will not make enough money. Its too old fashioned. Del Toro should be doing these movies mixed with films like Che.

The wolf attacks are great. A wolf attack is very fast and kills most people before they know they are being attacked. Its very brutal. People are slshed, burned, slashed again. Policemen are decapitated, killed and further mocked for being useless. The wolfman attacks a london tram and no-one gets out alive. Everything you could want from a wolfman attack. The CGI is not too obtrustive, has some great sound effects.

The film came out astonishingly well, which is surprising as it lost its director not long before it began shooting. Joe Johnstone (who directed two early gems Honey I Shrunk The Kids and The Rocketeer before falling away) took over and did a great job of it. The film is very confident and focused, knows what its about. Its paced a little too fast in early stages but these are minor defects. It still very much works.

Sunday 7 February 2010