Dalek Extermination

Dalek still sound as relentless, claustrophobic and completely cohesive as I remember them back at the old Camber Sands ATP, sometime in 2005. Dalek seem to realise this too, as they shout out to ATP at the close of the show. The noise is metallic, harsh, but also nebulous- as if a fog of industrial material is gusting from the awkwardly gyrating geezers behind their laptops and scratching software. The rapping is a demonstrative but not hectoring delight of righteous self-respect bleak reportage. After a sequence of London concerts marred by truly vile audiences and self-defeating promoters, this was a properly revitalising heartbeat of a show.

Funny Ha Ha

It's very rare for me to walk out of a film, literally or metaphorically in the case of a DVD by simply ejecting it; by the time one of the smirking, insolent home invaders has turned to the camera and mugged a grin, I was overcome with the nasty-taste-in-the-mouth feeling I was being manipulated, and only in the service of Haneke's need to hector his audience about how dreadful their influence on movies is. A powerful "What Have I Done?" moment (such as the famous long shot at the end of Taxi Driver) takes an entire film to be in the service of, and crucially requires the audience to follow Travis because they care about him, not because they are tied up with telephone wire and lashed to him. The two anti-heroes in this film are ciphers, punchable at that, and no more watchable or dramatically compelling than animated juvenile crime statistics.