Darkon

I had trouble sleeping last night, so I went downstairs and clicked on the TV. I caught the late broadcast of the LARP documentary Darkon on the Independent Film Channel.

As I watched, I realized that Darkon was probably a lot more interesting to the film-festival crowds who weren’t familiar with LARPs. For anyone who gets what’s going on there, it’s a fairly run-of-the-mill documentary about the hobby, juxtaposing the real lives of the players with their fantasy roles in the world of Darkon.

I’ve never done the fantasy-world boffer-weapon thing — or any other LARPing, really (although some would argue that the SCA counts, and I’m not sure that I’d dispute that), but the film kinda sorta made me wish that there was a group that large in this area (Darkon has something like 2000 members). Might be kinda fun.

Anyway, the film is worth catching if you have IFC, or grab the rental DVD from Netflix once it’s released.

Music Geekery: David Arnold Interview

Stage & Screen Online has posted the first two parts of an interview with David Arnold, film score composer (the last four James Bond movies, among others).

The first part (43 minutes) is about his early work — Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla — and the second part (29 minutes) concentrates on his James Bond output, including his “Shaken & Stirred” side project (songs from which have featured on Friday Music).

The interviews are available as MP3s.