"The Imitation Game" - mostly fiction, but good entertainment

"The Imitation Game" (2014) is a blockbuster film that tries to portray the life of British mathematician Alan Turing. It has been nominated for a ton of awards, even winning some of them.

The Norwegian director Morten Tyldum has been heavily critized for taking huge liberties with factual accuracy when it comes to relaying Turing's life story, and I thought I would gather some links to highlight what the film gets wrong - and also right.

And personally I might not see it because I don't like this type of historical revisionism, much like what David Fincher did in "The Social Network".


THE CRITICS:
* Hypable: Nine facts The Imitation Game got wrong about Alan Turing
* Aperiodical: An Alan Turing expert answers your The Imitation Game questions
* Tech Republic: Why you should watch The Imitation Game and why you might want to skip it
* History vs Hollywood: Questioning the story of The Imitation Game


THE DEFENDERS:
* Time: The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum explains why the movie didn’t stick to history
* Wired: 9 secrets about The Imitation Game, straight from its screenwriter Graham Moore

RIP Edgar Froese (founder of Tangerine Dream)

On 20 January 2015 the legendary Edgar Froese died from pulmonary embolism, 70 years young.

He was the founder of German pioneering electronic music group Tangerine Dream, and was responsible for over 100 albums of records and soundtracks, either with TD or solo.

His death came as a tragic surprise to a lot of fans, especially those of us who never got to see the magic of Tangerine Dream live.


1) Here are just a few links to help you listen to and understand his music, solo and with TD:

* Wikipedia - Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream
* a thorough 1989 article by Record Collector legend Steve Roberts (RIP)
* listen to many of his albums on Deezer - solo and with Tangerine Dream
* fellow electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss links to some of his favourite Froese compositions

Personally my favourite period of his is from 1974 to 1984, but apparantly he made some great music all the way up until his death. (Not unlike Oskar Sala, actually.)


2) Some eulogies:

* Prog
* Echoes
* Pitchfork
* Echoes And Dust
* New York Times
* Director Michael Mann in Billboard
* Plus an interview with director William Friedkin in VICE


3) Electronica shoegazer Ulrich Schnauss writes about his friend and mentor:

"It's very hard to find words in such an unbearably painful and sad time.
Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream) has died on tuesday.

I will remember Edgar as a person
who's been caring and empathetic in dark times,  

who was never afraid to give either encouraging or critical feedback wherever necessary, who's been incredibly inspirational on a philosophical level (far beyond just plain musical concerns) and had a profound impact on my thinking.

I guess i've often struggled to recognize authority figures - however, it's never been like that with Edgar: even when we disagreed, i always respected his input and more than once had to acknowledge that he was right in hindsight. 

Essentially, in many ways Edgar had the qualities of the kind of father most of us would like to, but few are actually lucky enough to have. 

I'm eternally grateful for the advice and wisdom Edgar has shared - and i will treasure it for the rest of my life. 

Finally, the world of electronic music has lost one of its most unique talents - and an artist who constantly managed to challenge and re-invent himself. rather than one of the classics from the 70s or 80s i'm therefore posting a video for a recent work by Edgar below - one of my favourite pieces of the last ten years.

The dream will never be the same."

4) Here's my (probably) favourite album of Tangerine Dream, "Hyperborea" (1983):




5) And finally, here are some live recordings to give you an impression of how revolutionary a lot of Froese and Tangerine Dream's work was at its time - and also how much equipment they brought on stage:

A compilation of clips from 1969 to 1982:

Live in Poland (1983):



Live in Lisbon (2010):

 


Live in Melbourne performing "Sorcerer" in November 2014 - maybe their last show ever: