I have exhibited in France a few times since I moved here but I kind of wanted to distance myself a little from the process of painting so that I could see more clearly where I wanted to go with it next. So I had a little break (about 6 months) which turned out to be a good call because when I went back to it, I had tonnes of new ideas and a fresh direction.

Where is my Mind (2011)

On a personal level, these new works are definitely influenced by the 3 times I’ve lived in Berlin…the street art is wonderful. I have to say that the experience of moving to France (where I have struggled with language and cultural mores very different from my own) has seeped into my work as well. These difficulties have been humbling – at times I have felt isolated and yet somehow the distance has made me feel more universally connected to the human experience. Living in the country side has also been quite a change for me. I do love the city and I will always return there because I feel at home where there is lots of movement and change, but having so much space and time has afforded me the opportunity to see things more clearly, to take distance from distractions and to focus on what I am really about.

Princess for a day, bitch for a life time (2011)

On a more global level…There is ultra-consumerism and what feels like the slow demise of capitalism. Our polar caps are melting, man is constantly trying to control and over-power nature and those with power and money do everything to distract us from questioning the way things are. Organised religions and ingrained social values can be more about manipulation and control. The internet and new technologies  create the possiblity of a great paradox – to be personally distant from the world while still being totally emerged within it, devouring culture at an ever-increasing pace.

Ice world corporation (2011)

For this series of mixed media works, I have taken away the personal (there are no faces in these new paintings apart from the animals in ‘Strange Gods’) to make way for the universal and soulful in the hope that the viewer can project his or herself into the artwork to find their own connection and meaning.

Strange Gods; bunny, fox (2011)

These works are not answers, but rather the exploration of some of the questions that I find surfacing in my consciousness at this point in time.

To see the full exhibition, visit the Machine is my Heart website in a little while…

Above all, I think a film is lost without a well-crafted script based on a good idea. Interesting direction is also a must (acting and shots), beautiful cinematography, stylish production and costume design, good acting, clever and efficient editing and a well integrated sound track (that adds to the vibe/mood & story) are all the signs of a great film.

I’ve decided to share a list of films (in alphabetical order) that I think for various reasons are excellent – most of these are now considered classics. Some tick all of the boxes and then there are a few films that fall short somewhere but I still really like them and think they should be watched. They’ve all got something special…weird humour, other worldliness, unique vision, unusual beauty, intelligence…

I have most certainly missed more than a few…I am always on the look-out for a really well made, inspiring film so if I’ve left something off – please let me know!!! I may or may not agree with you! I’m finding it more and more difficult to sift through the masses to find a gem.

Alien

Battle Royale (Batoru rowaiaru)

Blade Runner

Buffalo 66

Carrie

Dark City

Delicatessen

District 9

Donnie Darko

Eraserhead

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Gerry

Gummo

Halloween

Julien Donkey Boy

Labyrinth

Legend

Lost Highway

Mad Max

Metropolis (1927)

Moon

Mulholland Drive

Nosferatu (1922)

Paranoid Park

Psycho

Rec

Rec 2

Rosemary’s baby

Sisters (1973)

Solaris (1972)

Stalker (1979)

Sunshine

Taxi Driver

The Blaire Witch Project

The City of Lost Children (La Cité des enfants perdus)

The Dark Crystal

The Descent

The Evil Dead

The Innocents (1961)

The Matrix

The Night of the Hunter

The Ring (Ringu)

The Shining

The Terminator

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Thing

The Woman in Black (1989)

THX 1138

28 Days Later

2001 A Space Odyssey

And just to expand because I know that was a pretty slack excuse for a blog post…

El Chicho is a strange mixed bag of a venue. Not far from the gorgeous Basilica of St.Michel and it’s bell tower (which by the way has the most exqisite bell chime every evening (can’t say what time though)…it’s super gothic melancholia. It really does set an amazing mood as the sun goes down over the place).

I do digress! So, El Chicho from the street view doesn’t look like much is going on. It’s all about Mojitos and South Amercian finger food (both of these I highly recommend), but down a very, very tight spiral staircase is the cave where we played. The vibe really was another world apart.  It’s supposed to be THE underground (excuse the pun) place to be at the moment in Bordeaux.

John and the Volta were something in the vein of a mellower Coldplay, complete with Chris Martin/Thom Yorkesque falsetto vocals. I know that comparisons are yucky things and never really do justice, but what am I to do?! Not super-suprising music, but some lush harmonies and good tunes. And the band are all very nice fellows.

Caves are funny places to play in…haha. Not much air flow, the condensation of the spectators collects on the ceiling and drips down, down, down. A little bit grotty, a little bit difficult to keep my fingers from slipping and sliding all over my fretboard (but good training non-the-less), but the sound wasn’t too bad.

It was a good gig and all the better with that Mojito. And not my turn to drive home…

; )

The night was a palette of indie-folk, choral-pop, dream-pop and rock electro – all up-and-coming indie bands of the French scene. My pick of the night was YAA (rock electro, Toulouse…..I think?!), they had good energy and the guitarist sang a little like Robert Smith (who’s voice I love).

I found a live video of ‘Machine est mon Coeur’ playing ‘Trainwreck’ at the festival on youtube if you feel like watching it, you can find it here;

http://youtu.be/Vc0Y2uWkNeM

Overall it was a cool night and a good chance to discover some new French music…

For the most part, lately we’ve just been recording and writing material towards our album (as well as adding the final touches to our first film clip - ‘Thimble of Wisdom’), but we’ve decided to take a brief pause from that process and try out some new stuff on the stage. So we’ll be playing at the ‘Off Garorock’ festival in Marmande, France next month.

The details are on the flyer above…and some more information is available here.

Maybe see you there!

This new interview with ‘Machine est mon coeur’ was recently been posted on the ‘Blog Francais d’Etsy’… it is in French though (sorry if you don’t speak/read French!).

It talks about how the band was formed, inspirations (musical and other), being an independent band and more…

Just click this link and it’ll take you to the full interview. I hope you enjoy it…

We gathered up a stack of ‘Machine is my heart’ goodies – t-shirts (some new colours!), badges (new designs!), bags, patches etc. and set up shop for the 3 days next to the main stage that hosted some pretty cool acts.

Jónsi was the highlight of Friday evening with his georgeous universe of fragile atmospheres, which at times seared to mountains of layered textures within his dynamic and energetic songs. The Sigor Ros’s front-man was at play with his band, treating the crowd to tunes from his debut solo album. All of this was accompanied by a very beautiful visual display (atmopheric lighting and some very special animation).

On Saturday, Blood red shoes stole the stage with their minimal grunge-rock-pop. They are a duo from the UK (guitar, drums, vocals) with a pretty good live show. No tricky lights or visuals, just good old fashioned song writing and a big sound (love those harmonies). These guys rock!

On Sunday I was waiting for Goldfrapp…but I’ve got to say that I wasn’t that blown away. She’s on a total 80′s timewarp trip and to be honest, the road they’ve taken is just not that original or interesting! Alison Goldfrapp has a gorgeous voice and I loved the first album and afew of the singles since then, but they just didn’t play anything old – only newer stuff (and I at least wanted to hear ‘Happiness’).

The other big act that night was ‘Massive Attack’ in full band mode. I didn’t get to see much of them, but they sounded pretty good. I’m not sure what they’re up to…if they are still making records…?

Anyway, it was a great weekend. Thanks to all of our new friends in Germany. x

If you click on the picture below you’ll head over to youtube.com where you can watch the video.

Sound Engineer – Loïc Berthoumieux
Sound assistant/Lighting – Benjamin Delong

Copyright © B.Calandra/G.Lopez, 2010.

While I was zipping around town (looking for afew store to sell the ‘Machine is my heart’ range) it was a pleasure, as always to take in the street art. There is a definate free-flow of ideas splashed across the canvas that is the Berlin cityscape. I’ve never seen anything like it in any other city and so it’s always refeshing to experience it. The artistic quality, boldness, range of styles and clarity of concepts I’ve seen in Berlin are, in general, top. One artist to keep a look out for is ‘Chin chin’, she’s great.

So when I did get back to business, I found some great stores for Machine is my heart;

You can find t-shirts and badges  at ‘Kaufhaus der Berliner’ Krossener str 18, Friedrichshain and ‘O3-Berlin’ Oderbergerstraße 3, Prenzlauer berg

And you can find badges and the colouring-in book at ‘Luxus International’ Kastanienallee 101, Prenzlauer berg

The newest addition to the online stores are art badges. There are also our funky t-shirts, the ‘colour me in’ colourin-in book and afew original pieces (small mixed media paintings on wood) available too.

All designed, printed, pressed and bound etc. by yours truly.

These badges are a teaser for what’s to come. I’m just finishing up a whole new series of badges (limited edition prints of illustrations I’ve made specifically for the badge format). They’ll be available early next year.

So for some xmas shopping visit either;
Machine is my Heart on ETSY – for prices in USD$
Machine is my Heart on DAWANDA (version Fr or Eng) For prices in EURO.

aNd HaPpY hOliDaY sEAsoN to yOu aLL!

www.machineismyheart.com