The Next Big Thing

So that’s it. The game’s a bogey. It’s all over and I even made it back to the bunker while it was still light today. But let’s back up a little, to yesterday (Saturday). "Trader’s Dreams" is a documentary about people who trade on Ebay and it’s fairly depressing. The footage of those Ebay Live events is downright scary with their belief bordering nay bleeding into religious fervour. I imagine there are chapters of Ebayers Anonymous sprouting up here and there. And if there isn’t there will be. It’s a strange world, as anybody who takes part in it will know. I’m not sure what I expected this to be. A portal into something a little more positive maybe but what I actually got was visual proof that it’s a morass. The aspect of China and the setting up of a company there to choke the growth of Ebay there was decidedly the stuff of war strategy. The wee guy who looked like Feargal Sharkey at alibaba.com means business and they’ve got a big market right there at home to snare as well as harbouring ambitions to roll over the US business model. Also, elsewhere some Mexican people are putting together their own direct selling tool via Ebay to cut out the guy who currently does a roaring trade in their wares. It all comes down to the mighty buck in the end.

Time to kill and en route to the chippy, Abi Titmuss (I think it was her) walked past and never even said hello. Bisom.

"2 Days In Paris" is the actual title of the movie despite what it sez on the ticket. Julie Delpy introduced the screening and boy can she light up a room. She directed and starred in it with here real parents, who were also at the event. The only review I’d read prior was on Little Fugitive. It’s a great little film with plenty of heart that you should see, preferably on the big screen to get the benefit of Paris, but it’d play out fine on dvd too I guess. Not one of those pirated suckers though mind. The song that plays out over the end credits by Ms Delpy and Nouvelle Vague is really something. In any right thinking dimension it’d be a smash hit of CSS proportions.

The downside of being in Edinburgh yesterday was having to travel home in a train full of pissed up rugby fans. But you have to suffer for your art sometimes…

"What Would Jesus Buy?" is a Louis Theroux type piece about a guy called Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping. He’s something of a cross between Peter Zaremba and Jay Leno with a little Robert Tilton thrown into the mix. It’s pretty funny and should be played on heavy rotation from October. Maybe it’d kick some sense into the conned-sumer fraternity. The attention to detail and the obvious drive beneath the message has my unequivocal support. Right down to the Disney font they use. I read a couple of reviews to the tune that this falls short but I disagree and wish I’d made it to the screening where Reverend Billy and his crew were in attendance. That must have been a hoot.

Only one to go then… swung by the book festival area and made my way back up Lothian Road. Just sitting on a bollard watching the big screen thing, I looked across toward The Sheraton Grand Hotel and there, coming directly toward me was Julie Delpy, her mother and father. Being a bit flummoxed, I felt however that I should acknowledge the fact that I’d seen her film and she smiled and thanked me. Her mother nodded in agreement and they walked on. Presumably headed for the In Person session at bloody Cineworld while I was going to my final movie of the semester “In Search of A Midnight Kiss” just up the road.

I hit up this one on a tip from Mr Kirk Elder Esq., he’d caught it and had been suitably charmed. It’s a real find and somewhat seasonal too. WWJB? dealt with the run-up to Christmas and this covered the dilemma of he onset of New Years. All that was missing was Amy Allison’s “New Years Eve” in the soundtrack. Shot is exquisite monochrome, the stock makes the LA location look very East Coast. It is a real find that’ll hopefully find it’s way into theatres across the world soon. So there you have it, all done and dusted. I’ll do a quick resume with links, etc., maybe tomorrow or something. There’s two weeks of other stuff and a backlog of music to get stuck into. Eventually.