The Null Device
2004/1/20
Local live-music-scenester site mono.net is shutting down its forums permanently, after an infestation of trolls (or "coolsie chats" as they call them, for some odd reason).
Also on Rocknerd: a good review of Apple's Garageband music-making tool for OSX. It comes off looking quite decent; apparently it can use arbitrary AudioUnits (and presumably VST plugins with the AudioUnit wrapper). However, it appears very CPU-intensive, and requires a DVD drive to install. (I wonder if it'd install off an IDE DVD-ROM in a FireWire enclosure.)
I ended up seeing Dogville tonight; it was partly by accident, as we had missed out on tickets for The Spanish Apartment. It was much the sort of thing the press has said it was; Lars von Trier exploring the potential for evil in human nature, and putting his leading lady through hell. In this case, it concerns a young woman fleeing from gangsters and hiding in a small town in the Rocky Mountains; and the locals first being suspicious of her, then welcoming her, and then, one by one, ruthlessly taking advantage of her position of vulnerability, like the contemptible parasites human beings are, at least in von Trier's films.
The most unusual thing about the film was the sets; rather than recreating small-town America in Denmark or Sweden or Britain or somewhere, von Trier settled for a minimalistic stage representing a scale model of the town, with outlines for the houses and the odd façade here and there. It's a spartan and minimalistic approach, not unlike a stage play or perhaps a music video, though it is not in keeping with the Dogme95 Vow of Chastity (which, among other things, forbids artificial lighting, period films, and montage).
Anyway, this film had the feel of a Nick Cave ballad, or possibly one of those deeply disturbing dreams that leaves you feeling unsettled through half of the following day. I didn't like it as much as Goodbye Lenin!, though it was OK. I rather preferred Dancer in the Dark as far as von Trier films go, but that's probably because of Björk. Though I pity the people going to see it because they read in mX/the Herald-Sun that Our Nicole was the star.