Builders

There are builders outside my window laying new paving. My thought: Why must most pop music be so terminally average?

Angels and Demons... and Lancia.

The other night I watched Angels and Demons on DVD. It was quite a pleasant surprise after The Da Vinci Code. Whereas its predecessor was an overcomplicated, leaden affair only really worth watching for Ian McKellan's excellent villain, the newer film is a simpler, more straightforward, thriller and all the better for it.



Much of the film is spent with the protagonists chasing across Rome in a sleek black Italian car, racing to get to the next plot point on time. The sleek black car in question being Lancia's rather lovely new Delta model:



This car features very heavily in the film (succesful and presumably expensive product placement by Lancia) and was of interest to me because, while I'm less interested in cars than I was when I was younger, I'm still a big fan of the Lancia marque - despite its dismal history in recent decades.

In the first half of the 20th century, Lancia was an ultra-luxury brand that competed with few others to build the best motor cars possible, irrespective of cost. In the 1950s they combined pioneering technology (including the world's first V6 engine) with beautiful, innovative styling in the Aurelia B20 coupe, to create an entirely new class of car - the Grand Tourer:



If I had to pick one car as my all-time favourite, this half-century old coupe would be it. It has everything: A great history, competition succes, innovative mechanicals and one of the most beautiful shapes of any car - with room for four adults inside. The Aurelia B20 was astronomically expensive when new; it was what you bought when you wanted the best and cost was no object. I can't think of any other car I'd like to have more.

Later on, in the 60s and 70s, Lancia (now owned by Fiat) moved downmarket and built cheaper, more mainstream cars. At first, this was a succes - producing compact gems like the Fulvia, the coupe version of which is car number 2 in my dream garage. In the longer term, however, the rot set in. Despite the odd exceptional product like the famous Delta Integrale (one of the most succesful rally cars in history) in the 1980s, Lancia had fallen from making the finest cars on the planet to making badly-built, boxily-styled rebodied Fiats like the Dedra and Thema (though the latter was not entirely without charm). In export markets, Lancia's sales plummeted. Right-hand drive versions for markets like Britain were cancelled entirely. In recent years, Lancia have only sold well in Italy.

The new Delta pictured above is Lancia's attempt at a real comeback. It's being marketed heavily and they're even being reintroduced to international markets long since abandoned, like Britain. Though mechanically related to a model from parent company Fiat, the Delta is a quite different beast - longer, sleeker, roomier, better finished and equipped. All petrol models are turbo-charged and even the most basic version sprints to 100km/h in less than 10 seconds. The initial road tests of the car are positive and it bristles with interesting details like the elegant LED lighting. Far more importantly however, having seen examples of this car driving around several times now, I can confirm: It looks like a Lancia.

Musical serendipity

While in Madrid, I bought this CD on a whim - wanting to sample something 'local'. I had never heard of the group Vetusta Morla or this, what turned out to be their debut, abum En dia en el mundo ('A day in the world'), but just picked it up as it was in the Spanish top 5 and had a cool cover. Occasionally, such randomness can make for a nice surprise, but more often than not it leads to disappointment.

In this case, I needn't have worried: This CD is a delight. If you ever wondered what really good Spanish indie music sounded like, this is it. Particular gems are the subdued and lovely tracks Copenhangue and Al Respira. Very strongly recommended.

2010

Random DVD choice from the archives this evening: Though overshadowed by it's predecesor, this is a good film with a fine cast; and it's great to see HAL return.

Nespresso - the truth

I have been the happy owner of a Nespresso coffee machine for almost a year now. It was bought partly on the strength of a recommendation from a coffee expert who told me that, because the coffee grounds are sealed into the little capsules shortly after roasting and grinding, they retain their freshness and so the quality of the resulting coffee is both high and very consistent.

I had certainly found the above to be the case and was delighted with the machine... until today a colleague casually dropped a bombshell by telling me he'd heard the capsules do not contain fresh ground coffee at all, but liquid coffee extract as used in some coffee machines in offices. Naturally I didn't believe him, but that didn't stop me wanting proof:



So there you have it: Nespresso OK!

The International

On Friday I watched the thriller The International on DVD. I meant to see this in the Cinema but didn't get round to it in time. It's a solidly entertaining film (though, goodness, it'd be nice to see Clive Owen playing something other than an incredibly scruffy-looking hero type) and has some very good performances indeed from the supporting cast. The use of architecture as another 'character' in the film is thouroughly succesfull and the gunfight in the Guggenheim is every bit as impressive as the reviews suggest, but the film seems to lose its way slightly after this, rather incredible, interlude. Though entertaining, The International isn't quite sure whether it wants to be an action thriller or something grittier, more realistic and morally ambiguous. As a result, elegant ending aside, it isn't quite succesful as either.

Madrid

Back from my second trip to Madrid. Fantastic city.

Dance is not for wimps

Just in case there's any doubt about this in your mind: Should anyone tell you dance is for wimps, they're full of shit.

Yesterday morning, I attended a jazz dance class for the first time in my life. Today, I have muscle pain in places I didn't even know I had muscles. Though the lesson was very fast-paced and quite difficult, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be going back. :)

Satyricon

This week went to see Fellini's 1969 film Satyricon. Googling the film will bring up terms like 'classic', 'visually inventive' and 'spectacular'. I'll grant the 'visually inventive', maybe even 'spectacular'... but in the way filming a bad LSD trip might be considered spectacular and visually inventive. We walked out after about 20 minutes.

Avoid.

La Roux

Little else has been in my CD player since this arrived. I don't think you can read it in the above photo, but there's a label on the CD cover with a quote from the NME review of this album: "The final word in the synth-pop generation".

Quite difficult to add anything to that.