The Next Big Thing

Caught a whiff of ganja on my way into Filmhouse last night... a couple obviously limbering up for the movie.

The Upsetter is as good a summing up of Scratch’s work as could probably be achieved in a little over 90 minutes. Mostly narrated by the man in his thick, bordering on martian rather than Jamaican brogue, it's thankfully subtitled so you can get at least a scoob about what he's saying.

Best bit for me is the clip of him performing "Daniel Saw The Wheel" in his alias of Piecock Jackson (?). It's quite simply mental. The years of ingesting the weed and everything else has created quite a monster. He's in the country because he has an Edinburgh show tomorrow, why wasn't he paid whatever was necessary to bring him to the film festival? Again there was no introduction or owt. I know it was the second screening but c'mon, this is supposed to be a special event.

The closing encounter with a Canadian in a San Francisco gift shop is funny to a point. It feels like a bit of a set up - irrespective of whether it is or not.

The Upsetter is certainly worth a look and I imagine that when it comes out on dvd there'll be a ton of extras to wade through. Strange that the clip of Junior Murvin is from TOTP2 and not the original film but maybe there's some kind of presentation reason for that. Who knows. Anyway, the best way to watch this would probably be at home. Where the only person(s) rustling bags of whatever might be you and yours.

It played with a short film called "Made In Queens" about some kids in the NY borough that build huge sound systems on to their bikes. Pretty sharp.

Been feeling below par since Monday so a mixture of that and needing to deal with sundry guff has resulted in my having to make an executive decision. The all-out fun fest that was Stockholm was sure to catch up with me eventually. I'm hankering to catch this Roky/Nomads action but alas tis not to be.

So no Harlan Ellison doc, my needle is nudging empty and I can't face another schlep into Edinburgh. No. Not tonight. Catching up with Season 4 of The Wire it is then.