I’ve been thinking of making pancakes ever since we bought my favourite Australian eucalyptus honey a few weeks ago. So I decided to google a recipe. To my amazement, even before I reached “p”, the search suggestion number one was “how to make pancakes”. Shrove Tuesday must be approaching.
I also enjoyed going through the full list of suggestions and seeing them end with “how to get a six pack”. After the pancakes, presumably.
When George Méliès made his Le voyage dans la lune in 1902, could he imagine it would be played at film festivals worldwide more than 100 years later? Probably not. I don’t know why coloring was necessary at all and still prefer the film in black and white, although I admit the colour did make some scenes more vibrant. Still, even in black and white for 1902 this movie is a real blockbuster, something like Avatar directed and designed by Tim Burton.
Of course, more than the colouring I anticipated the soundtrack to the film because it was done by French duo Air, which was undeniably the obvious and right choice for this job. The result, as one could have predicted with Air, was a very complete-in-itself album with a typical Air sound, something between Moon Safari and Love 2. Some tracks are just amazing on their own, but still should be listened to as part of the album. Like Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, Le Voyage Dans La Lune does not want you to shuffle the tracks. You can do it, of course, but the magic won’t work as well.
Although it is Sonic Armada which is widely used in promoting the restored film and the score, the most outstanding track for me was Parade which is quite reminiscent of Eat the Beat from Love 2. Parade is preceded by the 33-second Retour sur Terre, which is just amazing and quickly carries you away to another world. I would have preferred if the whole album was like this and remained instrumental only, but a couple of tracks do include singing. Even so, Seven Stars is very versatile and dynamic and a pleasure to listen to on the whole. I think it is Who Am I Now that I am not 100% happy with and would prefer to be purely instrumental because it has a very beautiful classical-sounding beginning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDDtvcvB14&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DMIZ7qszEE&feature=related
I was a bit surprised by how the style of Love 2 became more established and solidified in Le Voyage Dans La Lune. The sound of Love 2 is still recognizably Air, but is somewhat richer and less synthetic than the sound of their early albums. It is very 70′s as well and I think Le Voyage Dans La Lune is more 70′s than 1902 too. Which is why the score and the film exist quite comfortably apart from each other. What the album definitely took from the film is its out-of-this-world, fairy-tale atmosphere which is particularly clear in Moon Fever.
Still, I am very tempted to imagine how the score would have been done by Daft Punk who previously did a great job on Tron: Legacy. Just curious. Overall, I am sure Le Voyage Dans La Lune will end up being one of my most frequently listened to albums by Air who now have a most smashing video for their music.
Le voyage dans la lune on Amazon UK
P.S. The only thing stopping me from giving this album five stars isthis parallel existence with the film. I think they intersect only in their magical atmosphere and if I forget Le voyage dans la lune is a soundtrack, it’s a proper five-star thing.
Also, after a few days of listening I can say that the most powerful part of the album is from Retour sur Terre to Moon Fever, inclusive. Moon Fever is, in fact, the most powerful track with the qualities of a good wine. Even despite its slightly fatboyslimish sound in the beginning.
Following a post by my husband about Mr Mike Davies of Organicc.co.uk and formerly of Fellowship Films Ltd, Mr Davies sent us a nasty piece of blackmail. There you go, enjoy the style:
[February 5th 2012]
Martin
I feel it is appropriate to post online my experience of Artymind and Alexandra Thompson so that prospective clients can undertake due diligence.
Alexandra Thompson has failed in two attempts to extort money from me personally with both cases being dismissed by a court and an employment tribunal. Any potential customers of Artymind / hers should be warned that they could face similar tactics. I will provide documents written by her and others which support my concerns that potential clients are at risk. Perhaps this is motivated by the financial situation in which the two of you find yourselves and which, according to documents that will be posted online to support my statements, is not good.
It may be that she has been encouraged to adopt this behaviour by you. You are linked with a long list of companies that take investments, including £250,000 of my own money, and then close down – there are 5 to my knowledge + the 3 dodgy Amarine companies that tried to take in money for a non-existent investment fund.
Alexandra is also implicated in the theft of property from Fellowship Films. You admitted in court that you were one of the people that stole the property, copied files from the company’s computers and that Alexandra took part in the planning of this a week earlier.
I have asked the guy who used to run Angel Investigations if he could trace Alexandra’s family to let them know her true situation and to ask whether it is possible that you could be manipulating her financially. She may need her family to intervene to protect her interests. Apparently it is not difficult to trace a family, even overseas.
I have not taken action to date because I felt that it was not my
responsibility to get involved but, due to your malicious and inaccurate postings about me, I feel that I now have to act. I would like to think that you will see the sense in not entering into an internet posting war, will immediately remove those postings and will not engage in further acts of this kind.
Best Regards
**MIKE DAVIES**
The above piece clearly matches the definition of blackmail in the UK and indicates a libellous intention for which Mr Davies can end up in court again. What kind of experience has he got with Artymind.com? None. With me personally? I was the only employee of Fellowship Films who took the matter of unlawful wage deductions to the Employment Tribunal, which I won against the company, but not against Davies personally (thanks to the wonderful limited liability laws).
The award hasn’t been paid, Mr Davies resigned as company director in December 2010 (with a resignation dated 13 October 2010) and his wife resigned as company secretary soon after the tribunal, thus leaving the company without a single human representative. Fellowship Films still owes me about £4,000 and all its humble assets appear to have ended up in the hands of the resigned director. What else can I add?
I think I can actually add Mr Davies’ feedback on my work before I demanded the money from him:
[August 2010]
[...]
I can say this without any doubt whatsoever. The two of you are an incredibly talented pair. I do not think you realise just how good you are. I do not know of any other pairing where two people have such complementary talents. It is a real shame that Fellowship did not have the funds to develop those talents.
I really value everything that you have both done to help try to make the company a success.
Thank you to both of you for everything. I believe that we have now probably come to the end of the road. I’m very sorry that it has come to this.
Best regards
MIKE DAVIES
And some more comments. It is very naive to think that my family are not well informed of Davies’ nature, threats and strategies, but I do not appreciate interference with my private life, which is why I am making this e-mail public. Any further threatening e-mails like this will be posted here. They explain more about the person sending them than abut me. And anyway, who needs extra posts with a reputation like this or, ahem, this?
