What does your car say about you?

A Review of Mr. Nice

Released in selected cinemas on 8th October 2010

Enveloped in a thick white blanket of smoke trails, Rhys Ifans stars as the infamous hashish baron Howard Marks in the new cinema adaption of the autobiography Mr Nice (pronounced like the French city Nice), directed by Bernard Rose. The film title is derived from Howard's pseudonym, a name he overhears in a pub and uses it to forge a new identity. He then goes on to scheme, plot, and blatantly disregard laws under the guises of the IRA, CIA and the MI6 to import hashish to make enough cash to make bankers blush.

Despite protests from his loyal and understanding girlfriend/wife Judy, played by Chloe Sevigny, Howard goes on to try crack America by concealing hash blocks in a band's speakers. One speaker is mistakenly left behind and after an inspection by vigilant US cops, it is traced back to him and results in a seven year spell in prison in 1988, although he was sentenced to twenty-five. This passing of time is marked by the eventual loss of his youth, his maddening loneliness, the loss of his teeth and his children growing up into adulthood - one that he momentarily mistakes for Judy during a prison visit.

The attention to detail is this film is on point. Visually, it is a gourmet feast for the eyes for anyone who appreciates stunning cinematography and photographic shots. The cars, clothes, props, hairstyles and settings looked like they were straight out of the 70s and 80s, not copies or outrageous exaggerations, but the real deal. Vintage footage of traffic-lodged and bustling Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street have been successfully married with the present day actors to create a time-travelling sensation. Howard, an Oxford graduate, experiments with LSD at the beginning of the film whilst he was still at university. Hallucinations were presented through close up shots of enormous cartoon-like bubbles in the toilet and hazy dream-like states of mind.

The film is essentially about the legalisation of marijuana. Howard obviously disagrees with the fact that is illegal and asks, I paraphrase, that how can a plant that inspires and heals someone be illegal? However, marijuana being illegal is the reason why he becomes infamous and rich. It is also the reason why he was locked up. This demonstrates that drug barons have the best and worst of both worlds - luxury, whilst living on a knife's edge of fear.


He was released from prison the same day as Mike Tyson. "I had," he was quoted to say, "been continuously in prison for the last six-and-a-half years for transporting beneficial herbs from one place to another, while he had done three years for rape." 




"Fellow dopeheads and fans of terrorism may cheer him on, but this struck me as an empty-headed movie with a very obviously broken moral compass" -  Daily Mail article by Christopher Tookey

If one does not wish to see a film that has a "broken moral compass" then surely a film about a drug baron's life is not ideal. It's on par with stating that a film based around Jack the Ripper is too gory and disturbing - what is expected otherwise? 

Major Lazer - Percumajor [VIDEO]

After their absolutely amazing debut album dropped earlier this year, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, Major Lazer (made up of DJs Diplo and Switch) have recently released "Percumajor". It's slightly more toned down than their bass-ridden album of dancehall-electronic mashup tracks that feature a whole array of guest artists. The animated video for "Percumajor" is incredible even on it's own. As well as their music, Major Lazer are known for their surreal animated artwork and videos, which are a heady fusion of 80s Miami Vice, comic book horror, action hero cartoons, and neon rave.

Apparently, Major Lazer is a fictional Jamaican cartoon character who fought as a commando who lost his forearm in a secret war in 1984 against zombies, and now has a laser machine gun to replace the lost part of his limb. He parties hard, obviously after a hard days work killing vampires and monsters, and owns an electric hoverboard that the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Marty McFly would squabble over...


Their video pays homage to many aspects that Generation X and Y would recognise, including one of the best 80s films: Back to the Future. Special appearances include Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Malcom X, Gizmo the Gremlin, Stephen Hawkin, Darth Vader and Obama... amongst others. 


In an industry saturated with carbon copies and repetitive styles, Major Lazer have most definitely carved themselves a hypnotising niche.

Defaced

There has always been an air of discontent surrounding governments, monarchy and their associates and there is no better place to target that critical energy but the money that they control us with. Seen by many eyes, passed through many hands, changed, swapped for goods, cashed in, cashed out and consistently in use; money is the best medium of conveying a message for practically the whole world to see... until it is withdrawn from the public eyes due to indecency. Unfortunately these are not my own findings but I have tracked down the best photos of defaced money on the net.