Alphaville

Jean-Luc Godard's 1960s film noir style sci-fi film 'Alphaville' tells the tale of Lemmy Caution, a spy/ detective character who travels from the "outer countries" across the galaxies to a place known as Alphaville, where logic reigns and emotions are outlawed as irrational. His mode of transport across the cold infnity is a Ford Galaxy (yes, the car). Which he just plain drives on in along a lamp lit highway. Worth a watch for brilliant and bizarre moments such as these alone, it makes for a great atmospheric sci-fi, proving that no CGI spaceships are needed to make the point of this genre.

The Cat Piano

Great noirish short film from the People's Republic of Animation.
Very stylish, and I'm not sure where the idea for a cat piano came from, but reminds me of Haruki Murakami's novel 'Kafka on the Shore', in which a a character collects the souls of cats in order to fashion a mysterious 'cat flute'.
At any rate, well worth a watch. Oh, and it's narrated by Nick Cave. Nice.

The Cat Piano from PRA on Vimeo.

Nottinghill Carnival 2009

Croatia

Couple of snaps from my recent trip to Dubrovnik and surrounding islands...