27.9.08

Ghost in the Shell (1996)

Em Português

This is one of those movies that I want to see more than three times. The narrative is well built, although difficult to understand at first.



The Japanese manga style is renovated, with a Bladerunner-esque dark environment, instead of the cheesy Pokémon style. It's worth to note that Ghost in the Shell was made before The Matrix, so most of the philosophical aspect of "GITS" was pretty new to the mainstream.

The main question in "Ghost in the Shell" is the separation man/machine, and the proper definition of Life. Since the movie is set in the near future, the humans have started to implant cybernetics into their bodies and brains. Both main characters are vestiges of humanity, authentic robots.

The following questions are posed:
- How do we define Life? Is it having a conscience? Can a machine be self-conscious? Maybe organic cell counts have something to do with it.

- What are the rights of a Living Being? Can we give them to a machine?

- In the future, when we have a direct connection from our brains to the internet, how will we defend ourselves against hackers? Will a hacker be able to change/create/erase our memories, in effect plunging us into an alternate reality?

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Minotaur Shock - Maritime (2005)

Minotaur Shock will enter your life, and never leave. This album portrays perfectly some of the possible combinations between acoustic and electronic music. At first I couldn't believe that what I was hearing was electronic.


The composition is done mostly with drum machines with recorded woodwinds and guitar. The recorded acoustic tracks are then remixed and sychronized with the electronic components, resulting in a soothing easy-to-listen meditative sound.

I think the greatest appeal of this album is the way both electronic apologists and acoustic-lovers can retain interesting aspects from the composition. For example, some of the beats are a bit more complicated than the usual 4 by 4 rhythms used in similar styles, while the sound quality of the woodwinds is preserved impeccably.

"Muesli" is the kind of song you can listen to for hours. Of course I believe firmly the artist intended the album to be heard from beginning to end, as there is a sense of progression throughout.

Some songs to check out are "Hilly", and "(She's in) Drydock Now", if you like those three I mentioned, it's worth a buy.

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Jamie Lidell - Multiply (2005)

When Multiply was released I believe something must have exploded supernova-like in outer space due to some cause and effect phenomena. This was my first experience listening to Jamie Lidell, though I had seen his name on the Warp website for sometime. I tried to listen to his other albums afterwards, but to be honest, I was quite disappointed!


Here Jamie has shook the ground with an attempt to recreate the early funk soul groove of the 70's and 80's. With tracks like "You got me up" and "When I come back Around" I felt like I was being taken back in time to the era of funk. I can imagine Otis Redding, Michael Jackson and James Brown trembling.

While it's by far the best album I've heard in years, in comparison to his earlier work, there's absolutely nothing in common. Anybody can listen to "Multiply" easily, but other Jamie Lidell albums are to be handled with care. Ultimately, this is a great buy, but not something to judge the artist entirely upon. Give a listen, you'll probably enjoy.

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