Movie: V for Vendetta

In some ways, this is a movie with some very serious points, examining the effects of slowly giving away civil liberties in exchange for security. In this futuristic world, 1984 has come about because the public voted it in, scared by the prospects of terrorism. In many ways this new world is a lot like Nazi Germany, with a high chancellor (played briliantly by John Hurt), segragating people because of their sexuality and their religion. It is also a movie that briefly explores the issues concerning genetic engineering, and the masked hero V (played by Hugo Weaving of Mr Smith in the Matrix fame, and unlike other masked heroes, he never actually reveals his face) is a product of genetic engineering.

On the other hand, it is also an action movie, but the action never really dominates the movie, and neither does the special effects. Most people will go to watch the movie because it is an action movie, but the serious plot is the bedrock to the movie and it is rare to see a movie that can merge the action and the serious so flawlessly.

CocaCola Massive Mix

I first posted about the massive rock concert here. Since then, Metallica were added to the mix, the golden circle ticket price went up by R100, and it all took place on Saturday. It was by far the longest single music event I have been to (the Levi's AIDS concert series last year and Obs Fest were around 9 hours while 46664 was about 6 hours) and, in my opinion, featured the best lineup between the lot!

Of the locally based South African bands (i.e. excluding Seether), I found The Finkelstiens to be the best. Their performance was really bad while supporting Offspring, but Saturday brought back memories of their awesome performance at a beach festival in Durban about 3 years back. It is ironic, but looking back, I think their type of performance really works well with smaller crowds - mainly because of their on stage antics. Arno Carsten and Nude Porn were good, but it is nothing like their Springbok Nude Girls days. As for Seether, their songs were brilliant, but their stage presence was not really what I expected - rather lethargic to be honest. But that did not really detract from the actual music.

Of the international acts, Simple Plan were really awesome. Of the bands on show, they were the only band that I did not really know too much about; but their on stage performance, their interaction with the crowd were top notch. They also seem to have huge "teenage girls" fanclub considering the screaming going on. The Rasmus were also great, but sadly most of the crowd were not too familiar with their music, and as Sarai commented - we need to watch them in Europe to really appreciate their performance. Collective Soul were also great, but to be honest, I think most people were trying to regain their energy after Seether and preparing for Metallica.

Metallica started late by about 15 minutes, but the wait was worth it. Even a power problem minutes into their act (which brought down all the insturments) did not dampen any spirits and in fact every one just rocked harder. Their energy on the stage (I have never seen such an energetic bass guitarists ... Rob Trujillo puts most performers to shame on that front) was amazing, and they played for over two hours, mostly from their older albums, including a number of songs from Kill 'Em All.

It was a great night (and day), spoiled (only a bit) by some really rough moshers (if you can really call them that) and lazy assholes who wanted to try squeeze into the front because they couldn't be bothered to pitch up earlier. The organisation was awesome and the music was great - I hope 5FM (and others) can organise a similar concert next year! A special mention also to Quintin Cloud, a friend I made through the Paddock Club at AtlasF1, and eventually met on Saturday [yes those things actually happen ;)]