Thursday 29 July 2010

Happy Birthday OAP Wonder

Robin's first appearance in Detective Comics issue 38
Last year Batman celebrated his 70th year in publication, this year Batman's first partner in crime Dick Grayson (aka Robin, Nightwing and now Batman) celebrates his 70th year in publication, not too shabby for a former Boy Wonder or should I say OAP Wonder.

In April 1940 just eleven months after the emergence of Batman, creators Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson gave the caped crusader a moral compass in the guise of Dick Grayson aka Robin. In an origin that somewhat mirrored Batman’s own, the young Dick Grayson witnessed his acrobatic parents death at the hand of crime boss Tony Zucco who arranged for the trapeze wires his parents were using to snap. Batman as Bruce Wayne also witnesses the Grayson’s death and takes Dick in as both ward and sidekick eventually bringing Zucco to justice.

Batman and Robin shared many adventures in the comics and even on TV most notably the live action television series where Robin was portrayed by actor Burt Ward who often exclaimed 'Holy [insert word] Batman' like “Holy haberdashery, Batman!”there is a full archive of Burt Ward's sayings here. he was a prominent character in the Batman comic up until the late sixties when the current writer Denny O’Neil felt Batman had to be a much darker character which meant the light hearted Robin was written out of Batman’s life and sent to college though features in a backup feature in Detective comics.

It was also during the sixties where Robin met fellow sidekicks Aqualad (Aquaman’s sidekick) and Kid Flash (Flash’s sidekick) they teamed up to battle a villain called Mr Twister before adding Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy and Wonder Woman’s sidekick Wonder Girl to the ranks becoming the Teen Titans. Robin became the defacto leader of the team which soon expanded its ranks including Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven and Dick’s on and off girlfriend the alien Starfire. Dick’s leadership skills have also seen him lead a substitute Justice League of America when the main team was incapacitated and also the Outsiders.

Robin's progression into Nightwing
Depending on what version you read, Robin’s graduation into the costumed identity either came out of being weary of being Batman’s young sidekick or he was fired from being Robin after a nasty encounter with Two Face. Though despite the conflicting origins (one being pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths and the other was post-Crisis on Infinite Earths) the inspiration for the name Nightwing came from a story Superman told him about a hero from the Kryptonian city of Kandor.

Distancing himself from Batman, Grayson moved to Gotham’s neighbouring city Blüdhaven a corrupt city where the cops were as bad as the villains that operated in it. Dick joined the police force there in an attempt to help the city in the day as well as the night. During the Knightfall saga Dick was called in by the third Robin (Tim Drake) after Batman had his back broken by Bane and had asked the unstable Jean Paul Valley (Azrael) to take over the mantle of the bat, though Robin brought Nightwing in to help out after Jean Paul shunned the current boy wonder’s help. After Jean Paul was brought down by a recovered Bruce Wayne, Bruce asked Dick to take over the mantle of the bat until he had fully recovered Dick reluctantly agrees but asks why he didn’t ask in the first place which Bruce states he thought Dick wouldn’t want to do it as he was his own person now though Dick reveals he would have done it if asked.

The rift between Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne mended over time as Grayson helped out during Gotham’s period of being classed as a No Man’s Land after a giant earthquake wrecked through it as well as helping out during a gangland war instigated by Batman’s fourth Robin Stephanie Brown. During Infinite Crisis Batman told Nightwing that he did something Batman never could, keeping up relationships within the superhero community while Batman neglected them.

Dick becomes Batman
After the Crisis and healing from a near fatal wound from Alexander Luthor (which at the time was going to be fatal as DC at the time had planned to kill Nightwing off) Dick Grayson found himself in New York trying to rebuild his life after Blüdhaven was destroyed. however this didn’t last very long as Batman was thought killed by the evil New God Darkseid (In reality Batman was time displaced) at first Dick was hesitant to allow the Batman legacy to continue however when a recently returned Jason Todd (the second Robin who was killed by The Joker) took up the mantle of Batman and began using aggressive tactics which went against Bruce’s no guns and no killing policy, Dick fought Jason and beat him, before picking up the mantle of Batman Dick chose the illegitimate love child of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, Damian to be his new Robin so that he could keep an eye on him. In the process he angered Tim Drake who was already feeling sidelined by the emergence of Damian after only just being adopted as Bruce Wayne’s son. Dick explained that Tim would always been an equal to him, never a sidekick.

Batman Vs Robin
And so the new Dynamic Duo set out fighting foes such as Professor Pyg, The Flamingo and Jason Todd in his identity as The Red Hood (an identity he had held before) as well as fighting against one another (though it was revealled that the villain Deathstroke was controlling Damian). Dick also faced off against Two Face once again, this time as Batman and managed to convince Two Face that he was fighting the actual Batman. 

The new dynamic duo is different from previous incarnations as there is now a Batman who is more light hearted while the new Robin is much like his father, however Damian has since grown to respect Dick as Batman as they search for clues to bring the time displaced Batman back while facing The Joker and Dr Hurt who may be Bruce Wayne’s father. But with Bruce Wayne returning in the autumn where does that leave the former Boy Wonder? Only time will tell.

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Beard's Asian Tour 28/7/10

Rain ft Tablo- I'm Coming (Korea)
Outsider ft Simon Dominic- Hyper Soar (Korea)
Hitomi Takahashi- Bokutachi No Yukue (Japan)
Skunkrice- Freedom Of Choice (Japan)
Sugar Donut- Loser (Korea)
Artist Spotlight: HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Good Bye (Japan)
T.M. Revolution- HOT LIMIT (UNDER:COVER Mix) (Japan)
Vanilla Unity- Hero (Korea)
G Dragon ft Flo Rida- heartbreaker (Korea/USA)
Lillies and Remains- a life as something transient (Japan)
Polysics- Catch On Everywhere (Japan)

Perception of Inception

Dom (DiCaprio) with totem
 Dreams are the focal point of this original and thought provoking tale in which Extractors take an idea, considered most valuable and resilient thing in the world from the one place where humans are most vulnerable, their dreams. The most skilled Extractor Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is coerced by a businessman, Saito played by Ken Watanabe in planting an idea into the mind of a rival businessman’s heir (Cillian Murphy). Should Cobb succeed in this impossible task of inception then his own dream can come true, something which he can’t achieve in reality and so along with his fellow Extractor Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) assembles a team comprising of an Architect (Ellen Page), a forger (Tom Hardy) and a chemist (Dileep Rao).

Writer, Director and Producer Christopher Nolan has created an intriguing and entertaining story filled with questions of what is real and what is a dream and that’s reinforced through clever narrative. It’s this various narrative structures that leaves audiences to question what narrative they’re seeing at several points in the film (whether it is dream or reality). It comes into question more as Cobb explains the nature of dreams to his new dream architect Ariadne. While there are one or two instances (which I still haven’t really figured out even after seeing the film twice) where dream and reality seems blurred, Nolan gives the audience plenty of cues to help them along but still leaving plenty of ambiguity in order to allow the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Like Nolan’s last film The Dark Knight, Inception’s action scenes are surprisingly light on CG elements instead relying on physical effects to achieve a similar effect. One the most visually stunning effects is the hotel sequence which see’s Arthur literally undertaking a gravity defying mission to help the team to wake up.

Inception is a really engaging film, it challenges audiences who at this time of year tend to check their brains in at the door to watch films to pick them up again and pay attention.

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Beard's Asian Tour (Japanese and Gackt special) playlist 21/7/10

Gackt- U+K


Vidoll- Cryptic Tokyo


Electric Eel Shock- Metal Man


Ayumi Hamasaki- 1 Love


Gackt- Redemption


Artist Spotlight- HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR


HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Hot Limit


Chihiro Onitsuka- Infection


Gackt- Flower


Hikaru Utada- Sanctuary


Two-Mix- Rhythm Emotion


Gackt- Uncontrol Kyoki Ranbu edit. (Live)

Thursday 15 July 2010

Beard's Asian Tour 14/7/10

Natccu- Apple Z (Japan)
G Dragon- Heartbreaker (Korea)
Leon Lai- Later it is Bigger the Chance (China)
An Cafe- Ryusei Rocket (Japan)
Nell- Stay (Korea)
Artist Spotlight- HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Ichirin No Hana (Japan)
My Aunt Mary- Night Blue (Korea)
T.M. Revolution- Vestige (Japan)
Trilogy of Tracks- East Meets West
Himuro Kyosuke ft Gerard Way- Safe and Sound (Japan)
BoA ft Sean Garret- I Did It For Love (Korea)
Koda Kumi ft Fergie- That Ain’t Cool (Japan)
KOTOKO- Lament (Japan)
Gackt- Papa Lapped A Pap Lopped (Live)(Japan)

Friday 9 July 2010

Beard's Asian Tour 7/7/10

X-Japan- Rusty Nail (Japan)
Kara- Lupin (Korea)
MC Sniper- For You (Korea)
Shin Tae Kwon ft Outsider- Happy Ending (Korea)
Day After Tomorrow- Starry Heaven (Japan)
Artist Spotlight- HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Pride (Japan)
The TRAX- Over The Rainbow (Korea)
Exist+Trace- Rouge (Japan)
Trilogy of Tracks- Former Artist Spotlights
Rain- Escaping The Sun (Korea)
Fact- Slip Of The Lip (Japan)
Polysics- Electric Surfin’ Go Go (Japan)
MC Mong- Chun Ha Moo Juk (Invincible) (Korea)
Lillies and Remains- Grind (Japan)

Artist Spotlight: June- Outsider

Welcome to my Artist Spotlight, every month on my Asian Tour show (Wednesday's 3-4pm KCC Live) I select an musician or band and play tracks from their discography, and on this blog I'll be writing about the artist or band in question. This month's Artist Spotlight is Outsider from South Korea.

Outsider is perhaps one of the fastest rapper’s in the world his rapping speed is an astonishing 17 syllables per second (the current record held by Rebel X is 20 syllables per second). While rapping at a ridiculous speed, Outsider is unlike many speed rappers as he is able to pronounce each word he raps with clarity, something which he practices regularly and it is something his fans have commended though it does mean that he can’t afford to make many mistakes while rapping live.

Discovered by underground hip hop artist MC Sniper and signed to MC Sniper’s own label Sniper Sound, MC Sniper acts as Outsider’s manager. Outsider has currently released two E.Ps and two full albums Come Outside E.P (2004) Soliloquist (2007) MAESTRO (2009) and 주변인: The Outsider (2010).

The majority of the tracks are piano led with latter singles Alone from MAESTRO and Acquaintance from주변인: The Outsider features the inclusion of strings something uncommon from many hip hop tracks though some tracks do feature regular hip hop beats. The majority of tracks from Outsider’s records feature some of Korea’s best hip hop and RnB artists including Gil Me, Bizniz, K-Proud and MC Sniper. Outsider also collaborated with K-Pop artist K Will who also sang Alone with Outsider on one live appearance, managing to keep up with Outsider’s speed rapping.


Outsider's latest E.P.
Outsider’s most successful single to date is Alone which stayed in Korea’s charts for an astonishing 50 weeks, the song was an examination of the concept of being an outsider in reality, a theme carried over into Acquaintance.

Not only has Outsider recorded his own tracks but he has also featured on others including tracks from MC Sniper (Better Than Yesterday), Shin Tae Kwon (Happy Ending) and Gil Me (Love Is War). He also took part in the One Nation album from a sort of rap super group led by MC Sniper called Sniper Sound featuring some of the artists from the same record label as well as Kraziee Bone from American rap group Bone Thugs N Harmony, a group Outsider has wished to collaborate for some time.

Outsider is currently trying to improve his speed by increasing his lung capacity through jogging.

Thursday 1 July 2010

Beard's Asian Tour 30/6/10

Ayumi Hamasaki- Sparkle (Japan)
Kou Chou Ching- Black Heart (Taiwan)
Rain- Sad Tango (Korea)
Utada Hikaru- This Is Love (Japan)
Carsick Sars- Zhong Nan Hai (China)
Artist Spotlight- Outsider
Outsider –Acquaintance (Korea)
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR- Rosier (Japan)
Luna Sea- STORM (Japan)
Trilogy of Tracks- Kamen Rider
Gackt- Journey Through The Decade (Japan)
Aya Kamiki ft Takuya- W-B-X~W Boiled Extreme (Japan)
Defspiral- Dive Into The Mirror (Japan)
Capsule- Starry Sky (Japan)