Wait a minute! It's on early this month and you can't leave work in time to get there. You live miles away from London in some other proper city somewhere. You may even live in another country with Rupert Everett where fun doesn't get presented to you in such abundance.
Well, this is your lucky BUG because you can almost join in the fun by gently wandering through this overlong blog entry. Start reading at 6:30 pm and pretend that you are there!
Sadly, I don't have the wonderful Buckles script despite repeated requests. No, that was similar to one of those little lies that Joe likes to tell. I've never even thought of asking Adam or indeed David and if they are half the men I think they are, they would be much too scared to interact with this blog, so phew.
I am not insane enough to have ever attended both BUGs in one month so I don't know quite how reliable the claim is that each presentation is the same but here is a rough outline of what happened a week ago. What I do know is that the Greenwich Special Edition bunch were treated to a Buxton home-movie that we didn't get.
BUG 15: The Evolution of Music Video
Once you've settled into your computer-based seat, you're going to have to imagine a wonderful title sequence made especially for BUG by Miland Suman & Phil Tidy. Then Adam will rush onto the stage to be greeted with much excitement from his supplicants.
He'll start with an update on this week's personal injury or visit to the doctor, just to get the audience in his pocket and then he'll introduce little clusters of music video genius output.
I am going to link to bands' sites, Vimeo, MySpace and YouTube, depending upon what is easily available. If you want to make your evening more life-like and prolonged, you can check the comments left at YouTube and practice your Buxton-style delivery when reading them aloud. Don't forget that everything in capitals must be SHOUTED but then you can turn to your audience and apologise that the inclusion of said capital necessitated the harsh delivery.
First up is Cold Play's Stawberry Swing by Shynola (who reside in one of Riddle's shops, if you like silly bits of info like that). Poor old Shynola had to defend themselves from daft people earlier this week.
That was followed by this video from David Stringberg & Johan Bring.
Lucy And The Teenage Monster - Dance Steps.
Muto Masashi's made the next film.
Tiësto and Sneaky Sound System - I Will Be Here
Hmmm, this is where I am consumed with self-loathing because I can't remember at which point the lights went up for more hilarious Buckules banter but I think it was now.
If you happened to be in earshot of Edgar Wright's childishly invasive laughter, you will not have been able to catch all of Adam's comments but it's good to hear people enjoying themselves, isn't it?
Ben and Joe Dempsey's video for Just Jack started the next section, if I remember correctly.
and then we had Nir Ben Jacob's film
This section ended with a film from George Wu
Depending upon how big a music video nerd you are, the next part of the evening would either have had you dribbling, genuflecting or dashing out to fetch another beer.
Tangent Alert: this event is one of the few at the BFI (or any other cinema) where you will find people wandering in and out of the auditorium to fetch bar treats, several times in one evening. The only other time you will really witness this much disrespectful clambering around is at something like the Barbican's Tropfest winners' screening or some other shorts festivals.
I digress. Tonight's special guest was Tim Pope. Adam made various papal jokes and then kindly explained them to us before introducing the man himself onto the stage. Mr Pope is an icon that defies description from someone as silly as this blogger so scoot around, look him up and take a few moments to sit in wonder at all he has brought to you over the years. His film for Soft Cell's Sex Dwarf was the crowning glory of this set and I doubt I will see the likes anytime soon.
Another silly aside from this part of the evening is that most of Tim's output was presented to us via the Buxton Mac and once again, he treated us to an intimate view of his desktop. HOWEVER, he's got wise to the fascination the gathering might have with his private parts and made an hilarious collection of spurious folders for us to chortle at. So much so, that we were too busy looking and laughing to catch all of his warbles & he had to cover them up again. A small sample from memory.....
John Leslie's Comeback project
Barack Obama's emails/photos
Woody Allen Collaboration
Begging Letters from BBC3
Amusing Things to say at Dinner Parties (though I can imagine that Adam might ordinarily have a file with that name)
and there was one about Peter Andre. Damn my stupid memory.
When the likes of David and Phil have taken such care to present the cream of music video output to us, I feel reluctant to single out one film but this piece from Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura & Massayoshi Nakamura really is a pleasurable thing to waft in front of your eyes.
SOUR / 日々の音色 (Hibi no Neiro) MV.
If you have a bit of time, wander around the web to read a little more about this piece.Did I imply that last film was my favourite? You must have misunderstood. How could I be so selective? This was another amazing presentation from Chris Cairns for Neurosoncs Audiomedical. Click the 'FILM' link when you get to their website. I defy you to keep your head still while this you watch this.
This next film from Eric Wareheim is best viewed after you've read as many YouTube and Vimeo comments as you can endure. If you don't have time, just remember it's 'demeaning' 'offensive' and 'racist'. Yes, of course it is. What were you thinking, Eric ?
EDITED: Vimeo seems to have taken this down and YouTube has disabled embedding so it's just an age sensitive linkie.
The final film had me moving forward in my seat (because, as you probably know, being an extra seven inches closer to the screen can actually make you become part of it). This does have an 'explicit content' heading at YouTube, so there, you have been warned.
It's going to be tricky to completely transport you to the final part of the evening. Everyone drifts past concerned looking NFT Front Of House staff as they wonder if they'll ever be able to get the mess cleared up in time for the next scheduled film. You don't have far to walk because in the last few years, the BFI realised that it's movie museum was poncey and what people really wanted was a cool bar to hang out it. Fortunately, several areas of this bar will resemble your own opulent living room, so grab a beer or bottle of wine, some chips (but don't let Joe & Edgar mistake them for canapes) and chat excitedly about all you have just seen while trying not too give too many sideways glances towards all the amazingly attractive young people milling around you.
Have I hit an all time low of over-egged blog entries?
Bit of a post script here
Thanks to the wonders of Twitter, I have been reminded that we were also delighted with this from St Sanders.
Here are the programme notes.
Finally and added sometime after the fact, the BFI have uploaded a snip from BUG14 to give you a flavour of Adam's performance.
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