Author: jon

Jon Curnow writes on curnow.org about things that interest him. The site has been around for many years in various forms and he always wants to write much more here than he does.

The Hottest State

As a reader you will observe William but you will not become emotionally attached.

Ethan Hawke’s Hottest State is a tale of obsessive love set in New York (and Paris) when William (’20 sexy, confident’) meets Sarah and they embark on a relationship which really is roller-coaster-like. Through it we explore William’s relationship with his mother, absent father, and with himself. It’s clever yet not distant, sensitive but not sentimental, but, ironically given the title, left this reader a little cold.The Hottest State is entertaining and well-written, but capturing that painful, gut-wrenching emotion that is obsessive first love must be hard for any novelist, and Hawke doesn’t quite pull the reader in. As a reader, you will observe William, but you will not become emotionally attached, and Sarah’s quirkiness – which initially seems endearing – eventually distances you from her, leaving William’s obsessive feelings a mystery. Despite those reservations, Ethan Hawke’s first novel suggests a promising career as a novelist.

Get Yer Kit Off …

Gary Lucy in football gear – on TV no less.

gary lucy in football kit

I don’t watch much reality television, but Digital Spy is telling me that Gary Lucy has signed up for The Match, an upcoming reality show which is set to start on Sky One in October. What fun. I will be tuning in – it makes owning a Sky dish all the more worthwhile. Maybe I should make Gary a future Man of the Moment.

Camp

Fun DVD with a cute hunk as lead.

daniel letterle in camp

To be honest, the reason I put Camp on the DVD list from LoveFilm is that Jase’s review last year sent me to the official site, which made me think it looked cool. It was, I guess, a typical teenage rites of passage movie with an interesting twist, as it is set at a summer camp based on mescal theatre. It’s fun and interesting – some great performances and some fantastic singing. It’ll not blow you away, but it will make you laugh (and it may make you cry). Daniel Letterle as Vlad is, of course, the heartthrob that we’d all love.

Oh, just go watch it. Laugh and sign then order the soundtrack (I just did!)

Technology Gets The Better Of Me

Maybe it’s all too much!

So at Waterloo station an hour ago I got a call from my boss – there was a client on the telephone who needs an urgent email – can you help them tonight? On the train, I used my Treo to check locations of wifi spots. Starbucks in Wimbledon is where I am sitting writing emails to customers. It’s tacky and yet cool at the same time. It’s great and also an example of how technology takes over our lives. And it looks like it is about to rain!

Celebrity Justice?

Is it right to have celebrities on a panel of jurors in a courtroom when a man is charged with murder?

Is it right to have celebrities on a panel of jurors in a courtroom when a man is charged with murder? Oprah Winfrey thought she was too opinionated to serve on the jury, but the lawyers said it was fine for her to serve. I wonder if anybody has looked at the psychological impact on the other jurors. Oprah is not just a jobbing actor you might have seen in the background on EastEnders. She’s a global star with a massive following, highly regarded in her field, and her opinions are reported worldwide. Surely, this means that people will listen to her. Does that make others on the jury more easily swayed? I am sure most of them would say ‘no’. I would say that her presence wouldn’t affect me – but I don’t think I’d be telling the truth.

Madonna

I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

my ticket to see madonna at earl's court

Madonna, Earl’s Court, 2004

So I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

That statement does not make me a huge Madonna fan – although I am partial to many of her hits and, unlike some of my friends, I think American Life is a great album (then again, I also like some of Blue’s material so who am I to judge musical tastes?) and she is most certainly a performer.

So, when commenting on a Madonna concert, what should you say? Earls Court is a huge venue. For those of you who haven’t been, you should be aware that it’s very stadium-like. We sat in the back left corner, so it was like she was at the opposite goalpost. And it’s in that context that you will understand why I didn’t think it was that good.

Madonna can put on a show. She is the undisputed queen of showmanship. And therein lies the problem. She performs a West End show of the variety you need to see. And she performs them at West End prices but to stadium-sized audiences. The audio is show-like, and you doubt that she’s singing live the whole time – although I suspect a lot of it is live. It’s just very well produced and sounds like her CDs and, for me, that isn’t the point of going to see live music: somehow you need to believe that they are performing live. Add to that the fact that you can’t see the spectacular, and you have a fun but ultimately disappointing evening.

Flash Floods

I never really knew what a flash flood was until Wikipedia told me.

While trying to find a medal count for the Olympics for my last post, I also followed some links on Wikipedia to their current affairs section, where I came upon an interesting item about flash flooding relating to the floods in Cornwall. The advice “Turn Around Don’t Drown” is something we should all take on board.

Email At Work

Why do I appear on email lists a few days after meeting somebody from a new company?

If you read any of what I write, you will be aware that I don’t talk about work a great deal. This is supposed to be an outlet separate from anything to do with my working life, but today I wanted to solicit your opinion on a trend I am seeing emerging at work.

Like all companies, we deal almost daily with new customers, prospects, or organisations related to our business. Often we will have meetings and presentations and start to build – what we hope will be – a good business relationship. Like most people who meet others in their sphere of work, I hand out business cards to new contacts.

Three or four times in the past month, I have found that a few days after meeting somebody new, my email address will be subscribed to their company mailshot/newsletter, etc. I know this is a reaction to the new UK spam rules, where there has to be some kind of business relationship before you can receive arbitrary messages from a company, but I don’t like the trend. When you’re on the lookout for new business, it’s a little hard to say ‘stop this’. Perhaps we should start doing something similar.

Kill Bill (Volume 1)

I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I loved it.

Kill Bill Volume 1

When you finally start to understand the plot of Kill Bill (Volume I), you will see that Uma Thurman wakes from a coma and is determined to seek revenge on those (namely Bill and his crew) who put her there. For me, Quentin Tarantino usually means more violence than I am prepared to stomach, but inKill Bill (Volume I) it’s almost comic book (the blood spewing from the severed arms will – sadly – amuse me for quite a while). The acting is excellent (Uma is brilliant and Lucy Liu is, too). The staging of the fight sequences is unlike anything I have ever seen before and, although I am still trying to figure some of it out, I am pleased I rented it and not a little disappointed that I didn’t see it in the cinema.

I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I loved it.

Digital Download Chart

Is the new digital download chart a good thing?

A year ago, I wrote about ringtones and the large amounts of money to be made from them (as well as one of the current boyband stars of the time) and asked when we would see the first ringtone-only hit? Well, maybe not ringtones, but the music download industry in the UK is taking a step towards producing download-only hits when Radio 1 introduces the download chart from the start of next month. I think this is fantastic news and I will be interested to see how the record companies react.

Also about a year ago, I wrote about my first experiences with downloading music from the MSN Music Club. Well, I can tell you that a year on, I have bought, perhaps, ten tracks – mainly the odd chart hit jumps out at me. I’ve tried several services and find them all a little frustrating in one way or another.

Many download services don’t let you have the latest singles from an artist until they are falling down the regular charts. I assume this is to ensure that those fans who want the track will actually buy it and contribute to a chart position before the downloads (which don’t contribute to a proper chart position). So, although I do think this chart is a superb step forward, digital music will only be legitimised when it’s included with the full chart.

Maybe in twelve months I’ll be writing about that.

Save A Pop Idol

What now for Gareth Gates?

Poor Gareth Gates. It seems his career is on the rocks and his record company is trying to rebrand him. Perhaps something good has come out of all the Pop Idol shows. It was widely thought that Gareth was the industry’s preference for the Pop Idol when the public voted for Will Young. Will is still having hit records. I am not sure what it says about the Pop Idol phenomenon. In this instance, the public got it right, but where are now Hear’say, One True Voice, Michelle …

Open House 2004

This year’s London Open House weekend is in September.

Last September I visited Bush House, the home of the BBC World Service. It was part of the London Open House weekend, an annual event that allows visitors behind the doors of buildings not usually open to the public. This year it’s the weekend of September 18th and 19th. The brochure can be ordered from the official site. If you’re in London that weekend, I would encourage you to find something to visit!