What Poppa Tomato said to Baby Tomato

I'm not even sure if I enjoy this blogging business anymore. What's the point? All this crap you can find out on your own. You don't need me to tell you that a dvd for a Japanese tv show starring manequins as Americans called The Fuccons is arriving on the 20th.










Do you even need to know about the Grabowski Shuffle? Will it make you happy? Click here to find out. Thanks, Scott.

You probably already know Eugene Mirman has his own blog thing going on at the Village Voice website where he sometimes makes funny comments and posts his always funny phone conversations. (He also pointed out Steven Seagal's offical website for it's unabashed awesomeness. Free mp3s!)

Is it my job to tell you about the Law & Order Coloring Book?

I don't know -- when is New Yorkish coming back? Ever? That was a good blog. It didn't pretend to be anything more than what it was -- a collection of funny links, nicely organized and displayed. I recently went clicking through five or six connected blogs that all had the same damn links to the same damn stories -- it seemed to me like these people felt the need, the imperative, to update their blogs just for the sake of updating. Do we need 1 million bored people's opinion of the daily celebrity news?

Ah, fuck it. I'm just being pissy. Maybe I'm just realizing I have nothing to really offer this blogiverse. Three sentence netflix reviews and the same old music recomendations you can find at any annoying hipster music site out there. Hell, I don't even have time to update the sidebar but once every few months. Maybe I'll finish remodeling in here and feel better about it all. Maybe.

Here's something you won't find everywhere -- my grumpy old man email to the guy that runs Roger Ebert's website:

Hi -- First off, I'd like to say that I enjoy the blog and the discussions that have been going on within but felt the need to respond to what I found to be a bit of a continuity error.

I enjoyed the post "Misreading Spielberg (& Hollywood)" dated Nov 28 where you pointed out the numerous errors in a NY Times article about Spielberg and his relationship with the Hollywood studios. I went on to read the previous post "Can movies live up to TV?" and my jaw promptly struck my keyboard.

You mention about halfway through that "Alessandra Stanley, the TV critic for the New York Times and one of the few television reviewers I really enjoy reading..." Wuzza wuzza? Not one week later you'd be devoting a well meaning post on the flaws of The New York Times fact-checkers, or lack thereof, and ill-informed writers and here you are recommending possibly the least correct writer on their staff.

And there's been a lot of research done to back up the fact that she is the one of the more error prone reporters. The website Gawker even has an Alessandra Stanley Watch that pops up rather frequently to inform us of the most recent ones.

This might have been what lead John Cook, a former TV writer for The Chicago Tribune to go ahead and collect her mistakes on his blog. That's a lot of mistakes -- 23 mistakes in 2004 alone. Sure some of those mistakes could be blamed on typos or getting nit-picky -- but her actual reviews offer very little in the way of making it seem she knows what she's writing about. Take this example:

""American Dad" has amusing moments and engaging characters, but it is to "The Simpsons" what Japanese anime is to Disney's "Fantasia": fashionable, but crude and cheaply drawn in comparison."

I think anyone reading this blog knows that Japanese anime has offered some of the best animation ever put on film. One could assume she's talking about the children's cartoons like Sailor Moon or perhaps Speed Racer, but part of being a writer is making your point clear, no?

Or this statement in her review of the show "Over There":

"During World War II, many war movies were made long before its outcome was known: "Mrs. Miniver," "Casablanca" and "In Which We Serve" were released in 1942. Back then, wartime films focused on survivors and civilians struggling on the home front ; neither Hollywood nor the War Department wanted to demoralize audiences with too graphic a depiction of what their servicemen were likely to endure. "

If you look at the films involving the war made in 1942 -- it's clear that the majority of films did not focus on the home front. She seems to be skewing the facts to fit her review. Not something a good reporter/reviewer should do.

The last example (I could go on to find many others) is what bothers me the most about her reviews, this is in regards to the TV show Supernatural:

"The first half-hour of the pilot is quite effective: the camera angles, spooky music and jumpy sequences (whenever a character appears, it is sudden and startling) are as frightening as those found in any horror movie, with an added twist of suspense."

Effective spooky television is having every character appear in a sudden and startling manner? With dutch angles and spooky music, of course. And she never mentions what this added twist of suspense is... She reviews two shows in this column (Bones and Supernatural) and yet manages to properly review neither, I really couldn't tell if she was recommending either show or not. Instead she offers up vague descriptions and numerous comparisons to well known shows and movies.

Argh, I'm sorry, this was a rant that's been building up and your seemingly contradictory posts forced it out of me. I apologize for going on and on but someone had to do it.

Many thanks,
Sean

Brilliant! What can you say to that?

Dear Sean --

Yikes! I admit I like Stanley's writing style, but I guess I don't have the TV background to recognize her factual errors. (Well, I also tend to read her stuff in the morning before I've had my coffee, so unless I go back and look at it again later I must confess I'm a bit fuzzy.)

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll try to keep a more critical eye on her stuff...

Thanks gain for writing,

Jim Emerson
Editor, RogerEbert.com

Hmm... Not very satisfying, but I'll take it as an admission of something or other in the way of guilt.

Yes, let's leave on a lame sort of high note here.

We Now Resume to Comcasticness

I've always been first in line to give Comcast a grievance but always welcome it back in to my heart when reunited. And it feels so good. Gotta give a week or so to break in this dvr and make sure no parts fall off. Initial signs point to some possible gremlins in the gears but I won't rush to judgment.

The new tv stand entertainment center shelving unit thing and the cable and the ps2 back from the dead all make me want to save up for a new tv. And then I realized, why tv? Why not go all the way and save up for the proper visual sensory imput device.



This is what you real need to receive true Comcastafied bliss. Plus, you can take your military aptitude tests that you'll probably be taking one way or another shortly enough anyway. Go ahead and photoshop your head on that picture and tell me you don't feel delighted already.

New England Beer Festival 2005

Okay, so here are my belated notes on the beer fest form a few weeks back. Oct ‘9th to be exact. I’m simply going to write exactly what I jotted down in the book – no editing going on here.



12:10 – Inside the Cyclorama. Get glass & 15 beer tix & food vouchers. Slide into swag line.

12:15 – Get swag bag (t-shirt, bottle opener, stickers, coupons)

12:18 – Newport Porter – nice start, smooth, light not heavy porter, tasty

12:20 – Cambridge Brewing Co. Olde English Porter – too light, too smooth, airy, hollow, not bad tasting, not good

12:30 – Ipswich Winter Ale – Nice smell, coffee, tastes good, like it, toffee & biscuit

12:38 – Watch City Boston Bruin – refreshingly bubbly after the porters, bit of an aftertaste but not too bad [sip of Allagash Interlude had at this time – weird fruity apricot taste to it, will not try again]

12:53 – John Harvard’s Instigator – very nice, equal parts bite and drinkability, 7.8% is felt but not overwhelming… supposedly found after 2.5 years in basement… caramel? intimidating smell…

1:05 – Sam Adams Colonial 375 – smells exactly like beer should, nice foggy unfiltered, "dirty", beer supposedly made as colonials would, earthy, beer tastes exactly as beer should in some instinctual way

1:25 – Cambridge Brewing Co. Colonial Beer – supposedly the same idea going on here as 375 but quite different in look, smell, but taste is somewhat similar, darker heavier taste… not as good

1:35 – Pittsfield Brew Works Smoked Porter – A bit like the CBC’s light porter but much better, nice toasted taste, not bad at all

2:00 – Milly’s Tavern Hopnoxious – Excellent IPA type beer, snaps in flavor, refreshing, powerful [had sip of Millie’s Manchester IPA – like the Hop’s small cousin, more drinkable but not as crisp]

2:30 – After a bit of a line have some actual good food from Sunset, a place I haven’t had much luck from food wise but chalk it up to the fact that they opened a new location, the Cantina. Had chili with a cheese filled pretzel – excellent.



2:45 – Shed Restaurant & Brewery’s Saison de Shed – recommended from 3 dudes asking for our own recommendation, not really in the mood for a Belgian white type but good nonetheless, more enjoyable towards end of glass… recommended the Sam Colonial, Pittsfield smoked, and Newport to the dudes.

2:50 – Offshore Brewing Co. Inkwell – 10% going on here, not very drinkable at all, similar to a stout but chalkier and thicker than it should, bad pour as well so I got it for free, not ticket, so not that bad.

3:00 – Harpoon Munich Dark – an excellent beer, glad to be drinking a good beer again, unexpected from Harpoon.



3:20 – Berkshire Brewing Co. Coffeehouse Porter – even better than the Harpoon, loving the wintery beers going on here, chocolate and coffee…

3:50 – Stone Coast Brewing Co. 420 IPA – good, straightforward and tasty [was pretty drunk here]

4:00 – Smuttynose Winter – Last beer of the fest and one of the best – everything you'd want in a winter brew – halfway between an IPA and an ale, warming, excellent, love Smuttynose...

Last entry – had waffles, so damn good, so damn tasty

There's Calm in Your Eye

Still working on the background thing. Might tweak a couple of other things. In the meantime...

So who knew Wiley Wiggins had a kick ass blog? The News of the Dead has many fine things to be had. Like fun animated film on the dangers of inhalants, cool, if flawed, classic movie desktops, what’s up with Roland Topor?, Abraham Lincoln Land, and so much more – hours can be spent looking through the little treasures in his archive.

McSweeney’s has set up a new store, and in it is a rather exciting new DVD quarterly magazine thing called Wholphin. What you’d call a cross between a whale and a dolphin from what I gather. The material on the debut – Miguel Arteta's and Miranda July's short movie with Mike White and John C. Reilly, Spike Jonze’s covering Al Gore, Patton Oswalt… Yes please.

Scott pointed me to the #1 Colbert Report fansite, and yes, the fan fiction is pretty awesome. I’ve been able to download and watch the first week of the show resulting in much happiness. Comparisons to how much more quality the Daily Show and Colbert deliver than the past couple years of SNL aren’t too crazy to me.

Under Construction

Changes... Patience... No more robots allowed.

Belated Halowe'en Flick Follow-Up

Okay folks, sorry for the massive delay, I know you were all sitting by your computers waiting with baited breath this follow up post on English as a first language Holloween movies. Or rather, those computers sitting by their humans waiting for this post -- whichever the case may be. So without further ado...

Night of the Lepus – Yes that movie with the rabbits is finally available on DVD. Okay, some might not want to see Janet Leigh and DeForest Kelley running from giant fluffy bunny rabbits, but those are people without a campy funny bone in their body. Not the scariest movie by far – possibly horrifyingly bad, but a classic in it’s own right nonetheless. You'll laugh, maybe cry... A perfect double feature with…

Day of the Triffids – These movies came out on DVD a week apart from each other, coincidence? Much much better in the way of filmmaking with this one – not nearly as campy but still, rather than cuddly bunnies we have some nasty looking rubber plant life attacking us. Well, London anyway. And this has one heck of an opening sequence where we start right of the bat with nearly all of our population going blind and a possibly fairly realistic look at what would happen in the aftermath. Funny that this and 28 Days Later are both British movies, definitely some parallels. Many laughs to be had here but also some good fun.

The Changeling – Okay, enough of the campy crap and the gory Italian shit, gimme something I haven’t seen that might actually give me some scares! All right, buddy, check this shit out. We have George C. Scott in prime fashion, Peter Medak directing at the peak of his powers and one hell of a fucked up haunted house. You think The Sixth Sense was a brilliantly original movie? Um, watch this and tell me if you still think so. Think The Sixth Sense was a piece of crap – reinforce your beliefs with this fine movie. Not many horror movies actually stick with you and get under your skin – this one will do just that. No big special effects, no zombies or monsters – just creepy through and through, wonderful performances, eerie as hell music and sound (this is a movie that will excel with the best stereo system you’ve got), and a great story. Should be on your best of list with The Exorcist and An American Werewolf in London as the top of the crop.

My Bloody Valentine - Yeah, so is this a better valentine movie or halloween flick – not sure. But I do know it’s better than most of the 80’s slasher flicks. The set-up is pretty much pure cheese, I know, but the stuff in the middle is pretty meaty as far as this type of shit goes. Canada came out with a good assortment of this fare in the 80’s, you know those played to death Friday the 13th movies and Mr. Cronenberg’s terrific offerings, but this one’s top shelf as well.


Society – So I want to go to bed, trying to think up one more movie to put on this list… Then it hits me. I’ve talked up Re-Animator and it’s sub-par sequels. Those sequels were done by a guy by the name of Brian Yuzna. This guy never really reached the knowing sly touch that the original Re-Animator’s Stuart Gordon brings to his movies (even with his fighting robot movie Robot Jox that just came out on DVD). But Society came pretty damn close. There’s a funny subversive slant to the plot of what goes on behind the doors of the well-to-do that is rather enjoyable. And it has one of those stories that I loved most when I was growing up. The kid who senses something strange is going on in his town and through some sleuthing of his own finds out it’s worse than he thought and gets in over his head [see: Blue Velvet, Fright Night, some others I can’t think of right now].

Others to be noted in this wrap-up: Society beat out Wes Craven's last good scary movie The Serpent and the Rainbow and Stuart Gordon’s Dagon. And speaking of Gordon and his love of H.P. Lovecraft (which is some good shit to read if your thinking of warping you mind with some horror reading this Halloween) there’s this movie you may find interesting… click the pic for more info, thanks boingboing.

An Italian Hallowe'en

So All Hallow's Eve is one week away, and perhaps you're hosting a party of some sort, as is half the population of 18-34 year olds. And perhaps I can maybe point you in the right directions so you're not playing Evil Dead 2 for the hundred billionth fucking time... Perhaps...



Last year I was touting the good ‘ol Dario Argento. Not the most original of suggestions but the guy still gets over looked in some circles. So, in keeping with the Italian angle, these guys did know their horror, how about Mario Bava, “Maestro of the Macabre”? Like Argento, he does have his big ups and his decent share of big downs. So to cut to the cream of the crop, check out Blood and Black Lace. Like Argento’s Suspira, it’s one of the originators of the whole slasher flick genre. For one, it’ll look great on your TV – the guy’s movies are rather stunning in just their composition, lighting, and so forth. And for two, the guys will dig the numerous hot Italian babes that end up going under the knife at one point or another.

Black Sabbath and Black Sunday are his two other classics. Black Sunday was his first breakthrough film. Even though it was made in 1960, years after the Universal horror classics like Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula and the such, it ranks right up there with them. And Barbara Steele, va-va-va-voom… A great opening scene in this one, and a lot of fun to be had. Black Sabbath – I mean, the name alone… Well, this one’s in color for those of you who shy away from the awesomeness of the B&W, but it still looks great, as does all his early work. It’s a trilogy (It’s aka Three faces of Fear) and hosted by Mr. Boris Karloff himself. It’s the foundation of what he was good at – placing young women in suspenseful situations, watching them scream and cringe and probably die a bloody death. Yes, it’s the foundation of the horror movie itself – and this was another of the modern age of horror’s originators.

Now at most Halloween parties there’s a movie on in the background and a group of people milling around chatting, flirting, getting drunk, maybe all three at once. These Bava movies are good movies to have on in the background because they look great (especially if you have a good TV), have great looking ladies in them, and if you have any film geeks at your party they’ll probably be a bit impressed. But say the subtleties of these movies aren’t really what you’re looking for at your party. You want some fucked up shit – heads rolling, people getting eaten, chainsaws, limbs being lost, etc.

Okay…




To complete the Italian trifecta we must touch on Lucio Fulci. The one that even the critics will point to as being a high water mark was The Beyond. This movie has it all – demons, zombies, dismemberment, eye gouging, hey, this guy’s got the moniker “Godfather of Gore” – but like his Italian brethren he does it with a certain panache (also, he was once a med student, that’s really hilarious once you see a couple of this guy’s movies). He also makes his movies look like a million bucks. Some nice cinematography goes a long way to harshening the blow of getting your intestines ripped out. And that happens in a couple of his movies.

Like Zombie... There really isn’t much more to say – these Fulci movies (along with Gates of Hell – which unfortunately isn’t on dvd) are the cream of the gorehound’s crop. Besides Romero’s Dead movies these are as good as it gets. Great shots, great music, great make-up, top notch, and some would say better than the genre deserves.

Well, that’s the top of the Italian stuff – but after all that I feel like mentioning a guy at the bottom. Now this is for the freaks only – but Umberto Lenzi is the master of the, yes, cannibal movie.





He carved out a little niche for himself and while I’m sure he’d of rather gotten some more chances at the finer things in life – it’s what paid the bills and he could film a scene of some unholy natives chowing down on some poor dude like no other. You want to fuck up some people’s minds at your party – put on the movie that was banned in 31 countries, Cannibal Ferox, or as it’s hilariously subtitled, Make Them Die Slowly. And serve up some bloody marys while your at it – good lord I’ll promise you at least one person will loose their candy. Or perhaps take the insanity down to a 9 and put on Eaten Alive! Now Mr. Lenzi doesn’t really play by the classing it up game that Fulci and Argento do – this man’s out to fuck you up with as much gore, nudity, and gruesomeness as possible, so this shit will definitely offend someone if you have more than 10 people at your party. Not to say that all his movies are like that – you could look at Spasmo that despite it’s American name is pretty tame in comparison with some of his 80’s stuff, and also quite better – can actually be compared with some of his Italian brothers stuff. Except more fucked up.

I'll come back tomorrow, hopefully, to chime in with some of the lesser known American horror movies if you dare not risk the greatness of these fine gentlemen.

Jens Katamari

Jens Lekman put on a brief but damn fine gig at the PA’s Lounge the other night. I recommend catching the guy and his troubadour show. A couple of songs at the beginning were a bit like being at the ol’ sock hop at the community rec center via 1959, but after singing his break-up song mid-way through it turned a bit more dramatic and, well, better. I still don’t quite know how he got his trumpet player, sit down bassist, keyboardist, and violinist to fit in the tiny place but they were all amazing together. The opening act of Nedelle – well, you take your own chances there…

This article on the PA’s Lounge performance from a year ago is a good read and strangely enough is nearly the exact thing that happened on Monday and has plenty good pics and mp3s (the PA's site still has some mp3s on it as well). Except there was no cool Boston By Starlight cover to cap things off. This is the rest of the tour…

Nov 19 - Athens, Greece - Small Music Theatre (soloshow)
Nov 5 - Toronto, Canada - The Music Gallery @ St. George the Martyr Church
Oct 29 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
Oct 28 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
Oct 25 - Austin, TX - Emo's
Oct 24 - Houston, TX - Walter's
Oct 22 - Richmond, IN - The Earlham College Comtock Room
Oct 21 - Bloomington, IN - Second Story

In other stories of music recommendations I’ll tell you to go get your ears on some of Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary… and an Elliott Smith demos comp from his Basement on the Hill sessions you can find here… and Cage’s Hell’s Winter is downright brilliant…

Katamari

I have to thank m’lady for this one. Being the Japanophile she is, once she heard/saw of the PS2 game Katamari Damacy we went out and bought it the next weekend. At first I thought well, this sounds fun enough – you roll a ball around and pick up random objects – the bigger the ball gets picking up things the bigger objects you pick up… Sure.

Um, sweet sassy molassy, this game is like video crack. And I’m jut talkin’ about Damacy – you may well know that We Love Katamari is on the shelves now – or was, since it was sold out from Target and Best Buy last we checked… Anyway, so, yeah, I haven’t tackled that one yet but I’m still working my thumb blister on the Damacy.

There’s a funny thing that happens playing these games. You’re building your ball for your father, the King of the Cosmos. And very rarely do you get his praise – ok you met your given goal for the round but the reply is, well you met you goal but c’mon you’re the prince, you can do better, if I was rolling that ball I’d do much better! Okay, onto your next round, pathetic prince. And so on. Do you think I’m impressed, no! So there's this guilt and need to do better that actually does make you want to be back to these round and do better. I've beaten this thing a couple times over now but I still want to find those gifts and get his praise...

There’s also much Japanese weirdness – the intro and segues are very trippy. Every other round you can build a constellation [sorry, the point of Damacy is to roll up enough things on your ball to recreate the stars in the sky since your dad fucked up one day and lost them all] and when you do this Japanese girl turns around and says, “I can it… I can feel the Cosmos!” Or something like that. It is indeed awesome.

So I’m trying to get this t-shirt… Either I have it being shipped to be or either it's unavailable -- click on the pick to possibly understand this.

What Ever Happened to SARS?

Recently watched the 6 episodes Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant's new series Extras. Hilarity. Not quite as crippling as The Office but a damn fine piece of work. Stephen Merchant's part as Ricky's agent is brilliant. The show is infinitely better than anything that came out on American TV this season. Well, I guess they're showing it on HBO... But you know what I mean.

This is pretty sad... Right now as I write this Takashi Miike's Izo is playing practically down the street from me. Only I just found this out 10 minutes ago. Curses! Also, that trailer's dissapeared... But all that is practically meaningless anyway as it seems this one's come out on dvd at some point over the past couple weeks anyway. That certainly snuck up on me.

What's also sad is that the theater it's playing at, The Brattle, is finding it hard to make ends meet these days and may go under. Nasty bit of news, that is. It's a great place to find movies that don't find a distribution deal in the US. As well as new prints of onld movies and well, everything in between. They used to, still do?, have a yearly thing of showing Brazil and Blade Runner as a double feature. For a better ode to the Brattle check this article for a practical eulogy. I can't help but think how at this moment there's people across the nation looking for donations to help rebuild their towns and cities, schools and libraries, and a independant movie theater must seem like the last thing worthy of their spare cash right now. But it certainly would be a shame to see it go.

Didja See Me? Huh, Didja See Me?

Good bye. There I was. Hell, don't think that dipshit back there a few posts ago trying to eat some kinda hot sandwich was me... My old lady likes to post some pictures... Me, up there in the right corner like I said all along is me, and waving my hat in this embarrasing photo, yeah... Most times I got my beard under control... Eh, whatever, let's see the White Sox win one, no? I kinda like that slogan they got going -- from red to white. They're even worse off -- last big win is 1917? Well, best of luck, and I think you have a good shot at it. Though m'lady used to be familiar with St. Louis... So let's see what happens...

5 Fingers of Death

If you're at all a fan of the kung-fu movie, well, you may have already seen this movie. Me, I just got done watching this and couldn't contain myself – had to come on here and rejoice.

I’ve already admitted that I’m not too up on my Shaw Bros. So I started off with the 5 Deadly Venoms… Man, I guess you could say it’s good or bad that I picked that one but 5 Fingers of Death may well be the best kung-fu movie I’ve witnessed (that I can remember).

Okay, the acting is pretty top-notch as far as this shit goes. The main guy (Lo Leih) – you totally root for him the whole way, the guy can act and... and I’m sounding like a complete geek right now but hold on… The movie starts off with a brilliant fight scene between an old guy and a dastardly group of ne’er do wells and the old guy kicks a good amount of ass. This scene, with the old guy swapping kicks and jumping around completely wraps you into the movie – something Venoms failed to do…

Now I’d love some people to come on here and tell me what Shaw Bros. movies I’m missing out on, but I can’t imagine a better one than this. It hooks you in right at the start, the dubbing is decent, the acting is pretty damn good, and the last half hour kicks complete ass backwards and forwards. And in between that there’s great fight scenes and scenes that actually make you care about this main guy (Lo Leih – who is brilliant in his acting and fighting, what happened to this guy?)

And lastly, yes, this is the movie that Quentin got the Bride’s fight sound from. That alarm that went off when Uma was about to start some shit – that’s the sound that goes off when Lo’s about to lay the Iron Fist down on some sad bastard. Though it is indeed tweeked a bit in Quentin’s world and has an added ending that is extra special.

If you like your kung-fu, go rent this movie. Head, I know you had Venoms on your list – look, I admit I have some flats on my queue, this one is infinitely better than Venoms, my promise to you and to everyone else.

The Beginning of Another Beautiful Post Season

Ahhh, wasn’t that a nice 14-2 loss to start things off? What Red Sox fan could ask for more? Everyone knows that sweep of the Angels last season was frightfully dull and without the requisite panic and drama that we sox fans need. Yes, this was a good start. Seriously.

Silver Jews Breakfast Pizza

May everyone in America go watch Serenity this weekend. And go home, drink good beer, listen to Tanglewood Numbers, and have great sex. This is my wish unto every one of you. You may replace Serenity with History of Violence and I will not be displeased.

And when you wake up...

Thumbsucker: The Review

I figured with the amount of jibber-jabbing I've been giving the book and the impending movie I’d chime in with my two half-pennies on the results. It’s not that I really think that anyone reading this went out and picked up the book and read the thing and is now wondering about the movie – but hey, what’s life without fantasies and bookends.

The movies pretty good actually. It’s a skipping stone to the book though. As I predicted we don’t get the pot baby or the job at the gas station. We also don’t get the Mormons, which is probably the most missed, and we don’t get the majority of the dad’s story arc (his cry for help family hike and the lost weekend on the island with Justin). Now yes, this is all sorely missed – but I know just as well as anyone that making a good book into a good movie is a Sophie’s Choice struggle. And for the most part they’ve succeeded.

The good/bad is that Keanu and Vince (Vaughn) almost steal the movie from the central family – that’s not to say that Tilda or the other Vince (D'Onofrio) do a bad job. Not at all, Tilda especially brings her Mom part to life, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that she looks and Vince gives his main scenes that deep well of substance that he always offers up (this time not as creepy as most) as the Dad. If they’d given 15 minutes of touching on his hunting obsession I’d definitely be more pleased, but it seems they wanted to clock in at the 90 minute area so we’re given a small firecracker version of the book.

What really makes the movie good is that you know that Mike Mills (the writer/director) loves these characters. And that’s not just because I’ve read his interviews. That love is up there on the screen and it’s infectious.

HOT KUNG-FU JOHN WOO JEAN-LUC GODARD ACTION

It's that time again...

Five Deadly Venoms -- My familiarity with The Shaws Bros kung-fu flicks of the 70's is sorely lacking. So this seemed like a good place to start. It starts off OK. Then it slides a bit downhill with a rather unlikable main protagonist. The last student of a dying kung-fu master is sent to track down and keep tabs on his previous five students, the 5 deadly venoms of the title, each one the master of a certain reptilian technique. The plot set-up is rather ridiculous, the dying master seems to have an uncanny ability to know just when the shit's about to hit the fan, thought the only reason he seem to be telling his young annoying apprentice is because he's dying... But hey, we're not renting this movie for its plot structure.

So the 5 Venoms always wore masks so the dude doesn’t know who they are, only that they're probably going to be going after the money that the master has left his friend in this small town with a horrendous judiciary system. Yeah, I told you it’s ridiculous, but just stick with me. Once two of the Venoms are revealed to be the evil ones and the guy with the money is killed the movie starts to pick up – at this point it goes from 2 stars to 3.

The kid from the beginning that we think is the main character thankfully stays in the background and some pretty cool set pieces happen when 4 of the 5 Venoms figure out who each other are and a couple of them get arrested and have to deal with some pretty severe forms of questioning.

The last half of the movie is far superior to the first and there’s some pretty gruesome death scenes and a damn fine finale. Starts off at 2 stars and ends up squeezing out a 4 out of 5.

A Better Tomorrow II – This is a movie I’d seen way back in ’95 or ’96. Alls I remembered is that the last half hour of this movie blew me away. I’m not the biggest John Woo fan. The only classic I think he’s created is Hard Boiled. Which appropriately enough was the last movie he directed for China. I liked The Killer and A Better Tomorrow well enough but can’t quite get into the soap opera melodrama, though I won’t deny that these elements are what him the first guy to turn his gun battles into opera.

But this movie’s definitely one of his poorer efforts. (Though you can read elsewhere that this was a very troubled production, one of the biggest budgeted films of Hong Kong at that point since it did film in New York and the producer Tsui Hark was starting to get his own directing ideas. Tsui’s become a better director if you ask me but sadly hasn’t been given a second chance or even a decent opportunity in the US – which may or may not be a good thing.) The shit subtitles and crappy transfer on this DVD certainly don’t help – I’m not sure what it takes or what it costs to put new subtitles on a movie, but damn, this one’s one of the worst I’ve seen. Practically every other sentence has a misspelled or otherwise fucked up sentence – some of it engrish-ized. “Yes, hats a very good pran.”

We won’t mention that Chow Yun-Fat died in the first one and comes back as Ken’s twin brother Mark is a pretty cheesy thing, because hey, Chow Yun-Fat is always a good thing in a John Woo movie regardless. There’s so much over-acting in this movie it pretty much becomes painful, especially with the whole Uncle Lung business losing his mind and repeatedly getting force-fed over and over again.

But! Besides all this, we’re treated to possibly one of the finest staged and choreographed acts of insane bloodshed ever put on film. You could pretty much put this DVD on at the 1 hour 13 minute point of the film and go crazy. The amount of perfectly exploded blood packs and squibs and the ingenious use of introducing a samurai sword in the middle of an automatic gun fight… And the second or third to last shot on the men resting together in the aftermath. Yes, this is why 10 years ago I thought this movie was the shit. 2.5 out of 5.


Alphaville – French new-wave sci-fi. If that sounds interesting to you, you’ll love this. Jean Luc-Godard’s version of 1985 pretty much. You have a mostly highly enjoyable adventure with Lemmy Caution, a Sam Spade type who arrives in Alphaville with an unknown agenda. You can’t say too much more without giving the whole thing away. The city’s evolved into a fascist state through the calculations of a computer program, and Lemmy’s shaking things up with the help of an always obsession worthy Anna Karina. It’s a fun mix of noir and sci-fi long before Blade Runner, though the subject matter does get a bit repetitive at times.

There’s so much going on and trying to be said in here but there’s a good amount of playfulness that keeps it entertaining. For 1965 it’s pretty cool to see Godard play with these genres and the idea of a fascist future created through computer programming. A lot of elements of Fahrenheit 451 also in here as well. Well worth watching – 4 out of 5.

Old Man Goes To Concerts

September 8th, 2005, 5:30pm -- We meet up at Redbones for some food before the show. The show is Sufjan Stevens. The app was Catfish Fingers, the meal chosen is Beef Jerk Sandwich with a side of Mac & Cheese. Now, I hold a small amount of pride for having a pretty damn high tolerance towards hot/spicy foods. That "hot" salsa you hand my way, spicy ketchup. But this shit was insane. Tears were pretty much constantly pouring from my eyes, sweat beeding on the brow. The only reason I was able to eat between 1/4 or 1/3 of this sandwich was the mac & cheese. I know that the worst thing to do in this situation is to drink water. Milk is the best hot sauce antidote, and the beer and macheese got me through a dozen or so small bites and then I had to throw in the towel and order a second helping of our app -- the kickass Catfish Fingers. I felt a beaten man with a possibly troubled digestive system.

The line was wrapped around the venue but we got excellent seats. The old man was able to sit. Laura Veirs opened up, and the entire time I could not get over her bass player and his suspendered linen pants and braided hair. It was an OK set -- I definitely enjoyed the songs more on the ipod though.

The drummer came out first for Sufjan’s set. From where I was sitting this was the only member I didn’t have a good seat for. M’lady reassured me that he was dressed in the cheerleader outfit that I’d been told was the attire of this tour (though later on when he came to sit in on xylophone it was revealed that they ran out of cheerleading outfit material and sadly he, the drummer, was the one to end up with shorts, much to the funny of the audience). He started up a drum-roll and the rest of the band came out in the requisite cheerleading formation. They preformed a cheer for the audience and launched into the 50 states song.

The whole set that proceeded was a joyous occasion. Sufjan is one hell of a confident performer. They did a version of the Star Spangled Banner that had even the most cynical guy in the house cheering afterward. God knows I'm no Christian, but I even dig the songs where he'll slyly bring in his faith, for some reason I find it endearing. To me it’s the same as listening to the American Folk Anthology – your listening to someone who believes it and it’s powerful -- a good song's a good song.

Most of the songs were the sad stories that wrapped you up and tucked you in. And in between were choreographed cheers about midwest cities. They were good songs… I’m still more of a Michigan fan but Illinois is growing on me.

September 11th, 2005 -- The Hold Steady at T.T. The Bear’s. The old man had to stand but it was obvious The Hold Steady kicked the ass of every living being in the place. Was it worth being 90% useless on Monday? Looking back, I say, yes. They throw out a great amount of energy that you can't help but be affected by. I enjoy their 2 albums -- the first one a bit more, but they do pale more than a bit in comparison with the live show.

I apologize if I cut The Hold Steady stuff short – trust me, go see them – but I want to add a bit in here about The Staircase.

Ya like Law & Order, right? Who the hell doesn’t? This is pretty much Law & Order Super Sized. Fuck that convenient wrap-it-up-in-an-hour NYC shit, let’s see what really happens in the average American courtroom. Right? Wowzers. It's been over a couple weeks now since I saw the 8 one-hour episodes that comprise this two-disc set and it's still sticking with me. The mother of an affluent family is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in a pool of her own blood. Despite a frantic call to 911 the husband is charged with 1st degree murder.

I can't give too much more away -- every episode packs what in legaleese is refered to as a whammy, or a, hey-oh! The filmakers get unprecedented access to every part of the defense team as they try to build their case. We find out in the bonus interviews with them that they tried to get similar access with the prosecution team but were denied only a minor amount. But after watching the entire story unfold and seeing the prosecution's case -- you're not complaining. If you've ever had a passing interest in true-crime or the insanity of the legal system then this is for you, and everyone else too. Shit -- 5 out of 5.

Back That Thing Up

Netflix, what say ye? So the streak of multiple disc TV shows has ended and we've gotten some movies in these past couple weeks. First and most recently:

Seconds -- I was a bit disappointed by this one. It'd been on the queue for ages along with another Frankenheimer flick Seven Days in May. I guess from what I'd read I was expecting a bit more of a mind fuck than what was delivered. The pitch is basically a feature length Twilight Zone episode where through a shady business deal an old guy gets to become young again and have a second shot at an ideal life doing whatever it is he really wanted to do with his life before he gave up on it all. Of course this is going to come back and bite him in the ass with regret and an evil twist at the end. There are good performances all around but Frankenheimer gets a little too experimental for his own good throughout much of it. It was interesting to see Spike Lee's actor-cam being used -- as far as I know it may be the first feature to use it (you know, where the camera is attached to the actor while he walks around leaving the guy in place and everything else in motion). There's also this laughable hippy freak-out scene in the middle that's like dates it rather badly -- but is mostly forgivable as the majority of the movie gives you this feeling that it's going to be a fun ride watching the second half of this guy's decent into what should be a disturbing end. But alas, the disturbing end isn't much more than a yeah, well, that sucks. But I still give it a 3 out of 5 for the performances and the effort and enthusiasm.

Errol Morris' First Person -- Okay, now you talk about your disturbing – some of these episodes that comprise Errol Morris’ short lived Bravo series are downright spooky. And all they basically are, as anyone familiar with Morris’ work, are interviews. You may remember Mr. Morris from such films as Mr. Death, The Thin Blue Line, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, Fog of War, Vernon, Florida, Gates of Heaven, and A Brief History of Time (which sadly has yet to come to DVD). Now these individual 17 interviews are a bit spotty – there are a couple early on that fall a bit flat, but taken as a whole there are interesting themes that get woven from one subject to another. These are people that have nothing at all in common with each other and yet… do. Some of the standouts are: the woman who came home to find her son-in-law had killed himself in his bedroom and decided to become a professional crime scene cleaner, the man with the highest documented IQ (who happens to be a bar bouncer), the pen pal of the Unabomber, the seemingly insane lady who falls in love with a death row serial killer, and the pilot who got on the wrong plane home and helped “land” that DC-10 in Ohio. This is a great collection and a brilliant example (as all his films are) of how to make an interview interesting on film. Check this shit out. 5 out of 5

Battle Royal -- Now this is one that’d been on the queue for a long while, had heard much hype about, and did not fail to deliver the goods. Long story short, it’s Lord of the Flies on an amphetamine overdose. In Japan. Each year they take the rottenest group of high schoolers, send them to an island with a small bomb strapped to their necks, give each one of them a different weapon and treat the last one standing like the winner of American Idol. Meanwhile the disgruntled teacher (in this case the always watchable “Beat” Takeshi) cheers them on over an intercom in the island’s control center. We watch as friendships are tested, cliques get splintered apart, and bottled-up revenge is had with or without consequences. High school’s a bitch. 4 out of 5

Slaughterhouse 5 -- Another somewhat disappointment. Though this one didn’t have too much expectations going into it. I swear I’d watched this movie 7 or 8 years ago as I remember pulling it from the shelf of the Pleasant Street Video in Northampton, but I think I was completely stoned at the time of viewing so I couldn’t remember a single scene from the thing. And Filmbrain had recently posted about it’s values and I hadn’t been steered wrong by him yet so… I’m not saying it’s a bad movie by any means – just not a wholly enjoyable one. I’m not too up on my Kurt Vonnegut, I’ve only read two of his books, but I did enjoy those two. And I have to agree with both sides on this one – Slaughterhouse 5 is a bad book to try to make a movie and the movie that was made is as good an adaptation as there’s ever going to be. Michael Sacks does an award worthy performance in this as the main character Billy Pilgrim who lives his life constantly shuttling back (“unstuck in time” as it were) and forth from being a WWII POW and dealing with his unrewarding family life afterward, his institutionalized life in between and a somewhat parellel existence being observed in a bubble on a distant planet. Now, like I said, Sacks inhabits this role perfectly and George Roy Hill (coming into this after Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and The Sting) films it beautifully… but at the same time you wish it was something else. It’s a movie where you know the book is much more enjoyable – and during the whole thing you’re only able to watch the characters and never really get to understand them at all so you feel that you’re being held at a distance that prevents you from getting involved in what’s going on. 3 out of 5

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Oh, and in case for some ungodly reason you haven't seen it --
40 Year Old Virgin -- Go now. See this movie, and cry the tears of joy I cried. The trailers and commercials are simply unable, through cetains laws that are in place in our society, to show you the greatness that lies with in this movie. I'm unable right now to even recall a movie that I've seen recently that has as much hilarity as this. [Oh yeah, and watch Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared while you're at it.]

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Thumbsucker

Okay, I know I've been pushing the book for the last couple months but now I know the website for the damn thing's out there. There's a different preview on the apple quicktime trailer thing -- as well as another one when you go into the Thumbsucker site. I'm sorry I'm a bit pissy but the Patriots just blew a gimme game -- I know it's preseason but what the hell? Anyway, the trailers are making me believe they might turn this beautiful book into a half decent movie. After watching these, I'm thinking the pot baby is going to be left out (I really never thought that such a disturbing thing would make it in anyway) as well as the gas station job, but I have a fondness for these actors and I'm liking the way the marketing is going -- it's not trying to turn it into somthing it's not (like that goddamn line that appears on imdb calling it the "next napoleon dynamite" -- I swear I'd give that person such a pinch). And I think these trailers give you enough to show you THIS HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. Fuck, that took the rest of me out. So check out that first link -- the site is pretty cool and again, go read the book.

I Spent $300 on Curtains

It was a damn fine weekend for movies this year. Well, that's strictly speaking for Boston that is. We got The Aristocrats, Last Days, and Grizzly Man (Broken Flowers came out the week before). Though, of course, none of these movies even made a dent in the top 10 B.O. results, what with Duke's driving around and Mark Wahlberg taking no prisoners...

I managed to see two of them -- Broken Flowers and The Aristocrats.

I'll just say that I found myself crying with laughter more then a couple times during The Aristocrats. That doesn't happen very often. I will say it's the funniest movie that I've seen this year, but it's also a bit exhausting – as you may guess from a 90 minute movie about a joke. But in a larger sense it’s more about the art of comedy itself and I’m sure any budding comics out there will treat this like a tutorial.

Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried pretty much come off as the stars of the film and Saget does indeed kill the audience in this with by far the best version of the joke. He’s the most creatively obscene and that’s really what the success of this joke hinges upon – the most relentless and imaginatively degrading and filthy is the stuff that wins. Or else you find a creative alternate way to tell the joke like the card trick guy or the mime – both winners as well.

I recommend the movie – but it might go by a bit more smoothly if you’ve had a few before hand and aren’t going in with impossible expectations like I did.

For something completely different Broken Flowers is a superb Jim Jarmusch film. Bill Murray is pitch perfect and gives a beautifully subtle and muted performance that easily stands out and differentiates itself from his recent work in Rushmore, Translation and Zissou. But Jeffrey Wright nearly steals the show as Murray’s neighbor and instigator. I’ll still sit and watch Basquiat whenever it’s on and think his performance in that is amazing.

And to wrap this up I’ll mention a few things about 2046, Wong Kar Wai’s sequel to In the Mood For Love, which I was able to get a free pass to tonight. Now I won’t by any means say I was disappointed – it’s just that it’s kind of impossible to not to compare it to the first. Now, I’m not sure if I’d mentioned it here before but I only saw In the Mood For Love around February or so and was pretty much floored by it. I’d seen Wong’s Chungking Express and have much love for that one, but In the Mood is another kind of movie all together. The look, fetishistic eye for details is pretty breathtaking.

Anyway, 2041 keeps all of these elements going and is for the most part enjoyable. But you find youself enjoying the bits and parts of it moe than the story itself. The beauty of the shots and the art direction, the music, the acting – all top notch and worth the price of admission. But the story itself isn’t quite as engaging as it’s predecessor’s. Really though, the more I think of it, it may just be that it just doesn’t quite have the same impact the second time around. Not to say that this is just a retread of the first movie – it’s definitely it’s own thing, but just not quite as affecting this time. But again, it’s a damn fine film that’ll probably grow on me the next couple days, and I’m going to see what I can do about getting my hands on the soundtracks to the both of these movies…

Subtractions, Additions, Retractions...

Those ads, yeah, I figure if I can get 10 bucks a year -- hey, that'll be worth the ten minutes it took me to put them up there... Also, I find it funny seeing what parts of the blog the ads decide to focus upon to gear themselves towards. Anyway, the subtractions took place on my Netflix queue so that I could get that little sidebar feature back up and going again. There's a couple places there where you can click and see what 400+ movies made the cut and you can click on any of the movies to get their repective official page. And if you have a Netflix account feel free to send me an email if you want to do that whole Netflix Friends thing.

As far as retractions go, I must say I'm smelling bad things coming from Brothers Grimm. I'd been pretty psyched about this movie for a long time -- I mean, shit, it's a new Gilliam movie -- cause enough for celebration. But now more and more word is leaking out that this is a strictly for the $$$ endeavour on Terry's part and the Weinsteins have taken most of his personal touches off the thing. Criminy...

But you see the flip side to this thing is that now matter how sub-par the movie is I still want to see the thing do boffo box office. For if this happens it could bring about the things that should have happened years ago -- Terry can get together enough money to buy back the rights to the Don Quixote project, get Good Omens back on it's feet -- and maybe even enough good will in Hollywood to direct a Harry Potter movie like he always should have (though I hear the latter books are more his material anyway) which is sure way to get some of his personal projects off the ground.

So hear's hoping your oppertunity to cash in is successfull Terry -- even if it's not the movie you wanted to make in the first place -- so that you may be able to make the movies you 've always wanted to make in the first place.

Comedians of Comedy

So, of course, in my discourse of the past week, I completely omitted probably the best thing -- The Comedians of Comedy show at the Paradise.



I was going there to see Patton Oswalt, who has a brilliant CD out, but was staying to see the rest of the bunch -- Zach Galafianakis, Brian Poshen, Maria Bramford, and special guest Todd Barry. I was excited to see Todd Barry announced, his web site (that receipt museum kills me) and a Comedy Central show I’d downloaded as an mp3 a year or so ago has brought many laughs.

Patton opened up the show as a sort of warm up and reinforced my belief that he’s clearly the king of this road show. But then Zach Galifianakis came on (the guy on piano in the pic) and fucking killed. He is like a combo of Steven Wright and that comedian that played piano and Mitch Hedberg – because he has that a bit stoned feeling about him – and yet definitely has his own thing... oozing confidence. He did have his own talk show on VH1 for about half a season--I may be the only person who remembers that. He got the crowd to buy him a shot and played to the cameras more than anyone else. Anyway, if you ever see him playing in your town, catch him, he puts on a great show -- not just your regular stand up shit.

The entire show was being filmed for Comedy Central. Many jokes were made at their expense. Not just this show but part of the compiled 6 northeast shows making up this tour. They played Atlantic City before Boston and every one of them made a point of how abysmal that crowd was. We were up at the top of the stairs and right behind the sax player that showed up at the end of Zach’s set. So hey, I may be on basic cable tv.

Brian Poshen & Maria Bramford kept the crowd going (they were good, but I'm moving on). And Patton came on afterward to put the thing to bed. Obviously they’ve set him up as the star of the show – but he definitely proves it. He took requests (Robert Evans! Tom Carvel!) and pretty much made sure everyone went home happy. They whole lot of them gave signatures at the merch booth and I bought a t-shirt and Patton’s 222 album. (If anyone knows where my Mr. Show tour t-shirt is, let me know.)

Todd Barry was a bit off – maybe the whole special guest thing wasn’t working for the crowd. I was a bit jealous myself for NYC getting Eugene Mirman but like I said, I dig the guy’s material. He didn’t bomb by any means, but the crowd, I think, was pretty eager to get Patton back on the stage.

Anyway, I’ve gone on much too long and in too dry a way – so since the fucking tour thing’s over with already, go catch it censored up the fucking ass on Comedy Central and wish you were there.

I recommend buying Patton’s 222 album – I don’t give a shit if you’ve never heard of him before or whathaveyou – they don’t make comedy albums like this anymore and they most likely never will. I swear it’s a classic to have, and every person who ever liked a stand-up act not conducted by a southern gimmick or a prop-wielding idiot will love and cherish it. Goodnight.

What the Hell Have You Been Doing?

Good question... Let's play catch up. We'll start July 15th when the Dinosaur Jr. renuion tour drove into town. (thank you ttam elbanak for the photos)



Yes, that's Gandalf on guitar. A blur of swirling white hair and Lou Barlow created their trademarked wall of sound and for the first 20 minutes of this show I was blown away. I think they pretty much played Living All Over Me in it's entirety (with bits of Bug and their first album). I must say Lou is amazing. I'd seen Dinosouar Jr. in '95 or so and it's strange to think how different their playing styles are. Maybe I'm just ill informed but I've never seen a bass player strum his guitar and created as full a sound as Lou does. And J, well the man's a guitar god, there's no doubt about it. I know of know other 3 piece band that sound like a 6 member assault like these guys.

But as I said, after 20 or 30 minutes the old man in me says, where's the seats and/or when the hell will I be able to get back to my couch. I'm sorry, but I'm having many issues with going to shows these days. I was pleased to see the smashed college dude yelling, "Mascis for president!!" after every song -- I mean, you can't get that experience watching the DVD.

So then, if we're going in order we have the The Penguin Movie aka The March of the Penguins. Short story -- go see it. But, see it at the later showing. We made the mistake of seeing at the matinee and yes, this is a G rated movie, so there was plenty of restless youngsters at the show. But for the most part they were behaved and the best part was listening to them get all scared and worried and want to go home when the whole nature vs. baby penguins stuff starts happening. Like Winthrop says, there's cute and then there's super cute and then there's baby penguins.

But that documentary has nothing on Murderball.
This movie is a true kick in the ass and a well, it's really a treasure -- in that it feels like something you never would have watched but afterward you feel like a better person that's learned something. Do you know the real definition of a quadriplegic? I didn't -- shit, these guys are more active and better well adjusted then I am. Why? Because of wheelchair rugby -- once known as Murderball. But as the spokesman says -- it's hard to sell a sport known as Murderball. If for some reason you're wondering about what documentary to see -- no, nevermind, see this movie -- regardless of the cute penguins, this one will stick with you long after the cuteness and the trials of the penguins. Let me quote a bit from CHUD: "Mark Urman, head of the theatrical division of THINKFilm, who released the movie, says, "The only explanation is that people don't want to see something about handicapped people. There is some resistance."

He may well be right, and that's just tragic. See, Murderball's not interesting because it's about cripples, and it's not great because it's uplifting. It's interesting because it's about this weird, exciting sport you never heard, played by strange and awesome and fascinating people. And it's uplifting, if it is, because the people it's about are real people, not because they're in wheelchairs.

" Well put.

So then, today that is, I got to go to my first Fenway Park game. The things I learned today: the Fenway Franks are pretty gross -- go for the footlong. They play Sweet Caroline in the middle of the 8th inning, everyone sings along, it's kinda fun. Standing room only tickets aren't too bad at all. Don't try to start a chant when the pitching coach is on the mound. And the grandstand seats in the shade are a good place to be.

V and The D

So The Watchmen feature film seems to be in what the folks like to call Development Hell [I'll take down that link to the site that even had a message board which is non-existant now I guess?]. And of course that's a shame indeed. These next two years -- with all these bottom tier comic characters getting their movies -- would be a perfect time to cut to the real point of what the whole superhero mythos is all about and shed the metaphors and put some real substantial issues out there. But in the meantime we do have a different Alan Moore book coming out to the move screens in V For Vendetta.

You may have heard about this movie recently with the London terrorist bombings as this is indeed a book that takes place in London and has "terrorist" bombings as the crux of the plot. I must say I'm proud that the WB hasn't pussied out on this movie and is going forward with the release date of November 4th. This story does take place in a completely alternate reality -- in the book it takes place in the 1990's in a what-if-the-fascists-had-gained-power-England. I don't remember the book actually referencing the Nazis but that's the impression you get. It's a very much Orwell Big Brother society where subversives (homosexuals, most music/movies, literature, theater, etc.) are banished/exterminated and the powerfull are a type a hierarchy and rule unchecked.

It's a pretty great read, but the recently released trailer for the movie does not do much for me. The book was affecting in its artwork as presenting this quasi future of England as being a bit grimy and ugly. But it seems this movie has quite the glossy coating. The screenplay was written by the Wachowski Bros of Matrix and Bound fame and they were reportedly the second unit directors and it seems they and their former second unit director -- who's the actual director of this movie -- are unable to film a frame of realistic settings. I mean, remember how Zion, or whatever their "real" world was, looked in those Matrix movies? It was like the cleanest raggety clothing and most pristine underworld put on film...

Yes, in most of your mainstream, well known comics you're given a brightly colored, sharp lined, and clean universe in those tiles. V For Vendetta is not one of those books. DC Comics are known for getting darker and getting mort dirt under the nails of their characters -- especially those on their sister imprints like Vertigo. Which is why I always liked DC more than Marvel when I was a kid. This is the reason why I'll again say Batman Begins is a truly great adaptation. Even though the Batman character has gone full spectrum in that regard -- from cheesy to dark and brooding -- in both movies and comics unfortunatley enough....

Anyway, I also wanted to mention the release of a, well I guess you could call it a teaser, for the Tenacious D movie -- The Pick of Destiny. The interview at least in rather entertaining. I think of it I guess as a guilty pleasure with these guys. I fell in love with them when I unwittingly witnessed their HBO episodes back in '99, and was rediculously hppy when they released those episodes on DVD last year. But I was initially let down with their CD release in 2001. But since then it has indeed grown on me and I'm looking forward to the new album/movie soundtrack. Good goddamn am I looking forward to it... You can read an interview with the funny fuckers here.

P.S. - Back to the previous points, I should say that I thought Constantine was a pretty decent movie. This also being an adaptation of a Vertigo comic that Alan Moore had a hand in at it's incubation. Reeves does a good job with the role without being a blond haired Brit -- and I really don't think that whole issue makes a difference. It's a bit wattered down, but he does get Constantine's essence to make the movie work. I'd love to see a sequel to this one -- just as I'd like to see a sequel to another unfairly maligned adaptation, Hulk. Hulk, to me, was the closest film has ever gotten to capturing the experience of reading a comic book. Now, this isn't necessarily a great thing for casual goers -- or even faithful Hulk fans -- but Ang Lee's use of paneling and framing is about as good as it gets in that regard.

Holy Shit Did The Island Suck!

No joke, the thing has steam coming off it -- look out. I wasn't even expecting much from the movie. I'd seen the usual ad on my way to work to send an email off for a free pass -- ok. Can't be that bad, and I doubt I'd pay money to see it in the theater anyway, so why not. It'll be in a nice air conditioned room on a hot Wednesday... Wrong and wrong. First off the theater's cooling system seemed to be keeping the room at a thick 80 degrees or -- maybe a little less than that... And after all was said and done the movie itself offered about 10 minutes of decent entertainment. People were walking out of the place right before the 15 minute "climax".

Now I'd bitched about War of the Worlds being a bit of a letdown but by comparison -- well let's just say WOW is a dutch oven and The Island is a Cleveland steamer. So far this summer's been a crap fest for movies. I've heard Land of the Dead was a fun time, and I can vouch for Batman Begins an Me and You and Everyone We Know, but besides that... nada.

Not much to report from the Netflix front either. Pretty much been enjoying the Freaks and Geeks and Wonderfalls sets. Though most of you have probably already caught those... maybe not Wonderfalls, it's a pretty good show that I'd describe as a cross between Joan of Arcadia and Northern Exposure... but better than that sounds...

Anyway, I did catch up on some Kurosawa with a nice Yojimbo and Sanjuro double feature. And revisited some classics like Flirting and The Station Agent (yes I already consider that one a classic). But there's also been a few duds like The Yes Men and Harold & Kumar... And the rest of them fall in the middle and aren't even worth mentioning really. Time for sleep.

Geek Reflex

Every year I see these photos from the San Diego Comic-Con and every year I laugh at the foolish geeks that get their picture taken next to sweaty storm troopers and whatnot -- and then wish to god, satan, Ellis, Clowes, Moore, etc. that one day I too will be able to be counted among the elite of geekness. [For the best/most hilarious coverage of this perennial event I turn you to this.]

I’ve always been firm in my belief that there’s a broad line between The Nerd and The Geek. Most often these two are considered interchangeable in uses. I really don’t feel like getting into it now but I’ll try to simply graze the issue…

Let’s take an icon like the Comic Book Store Guy from The Simpsons… Yes, clearly a Geek. The nerds were the ones that helped Homer in that Animal House episode… Okay, maybe further clarification is necessary. Let’s break it down to its simplest level: Nerds – good grades. Geeks – good swag. Would a Nerd be a high school dropout with a collection of every issue of Big Ass Comics? Or a copy of every Bruce Campbell movie on VHS…

Do you see the difference? Good.

One of these days I will be there, as satan as my witness. But it's second on my list after the SXSW fest. I mean, they do show some movies at the Comic-Con and have panels for upcoming the much-anticipated sci-fi summer flicks but compared to SXSW it’s all strictly bonus material.

Stop Me If...

I posted about this probably more than a year ago on a different blog. But now that the movie is finally gaining some steam I feel compelled to make another note of it.

I like David Fincher. Even his sorta crappy movies (Alien 3, Panic Room) have an appeal to me -- not sure why. I think I have a weakness for directors, or autuers if you will, who even though they've created something uneven, flawed, and frustrating -- they're still trying out new techniques, pushing some boundaries, and well, being interesting.

Mr. Fincher's been keeping it low-key for more than a few years now, mostly collecting producer credits. But he's got a couple of director efforts in the works now and the one I'm a bit intersted in is an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Click that link to read it yourself. It's a cool little story you can take care of during a lunch break. It's a bit sci-fi -- the story of a man born 80 or so years old and grows backwards. A bit like that Seinfeld joke of the similarities between being elderly and an infant -- but more profound... It's already collected Brad Pitt as Benjamin and Cate Blanchet as his wife. The three of these people together, I'm pretty confident it'll be a nice piece of work.

Also, I'm kind of sad this web site hasn't been in my life since now, but Boing Boing is one of those blogs that makes you feel rather useless if you're trying to create your own "directory of wonderful things". I could spend a few days curled up with it's archive... Anyway, a fun site.

Bogus Journey

Just spent an hour working on a post to have Firfox crash. Wicked pissah. So we sum up:

The Aristocrats. Documentary about a filthy joke. Looks like a funny movie (check out the cast). Here's a segment they got from South Park. Here's the trailer.

War Of the Worlds. Kinda sucked.

Me and You and Everyone We Know. Great. Shitty comments out there comparing it to Napoleon Dynamite are retarded. If anything it's the antithesis of that crap factory. Real characters resulting in honestly funny situations. Rather than caricatures acting funny in manufactured situations. Granted, you can say both movies are unique and original and made on small budgets but that doesn't make them at all comparable.

Well, there was a bunch more commentary on those three things but alas...

Like Pulling Teeth

Kind of what it's like to get me to update this thing. But it's also what happened to me yesterday. At 28 I figured my wisdom teeth would have bitched at me by now if they were ever going to but it seems that fun has just begun. Got the lower left one pulled while I was floating in the ethers of whatever it was they were pumping into my arm. An odd experience as I woke up as they were just finishing up with the stitches... And it seems that it's just a matter of time before the other ones start causing a ruckus. Can't wait.

Well, now I get to sit at home for the next couple days, eat soft foods and have fun with these Percocets. Though on this first day with them, I must say I prefered the Vicodins I got before the tooth was pulled, but I think that has to do with the dosage amount. But I'm not that into experimenting that I'm going to start mixing.

So I've been whiling away the day downloading music and watching cartoons. I found a pretty satisfying, albeit most likely temporary cure for having no cable. One of the things I miss the most is Adult Swim. But I found that all my favortie shows from it are to be found available to download from my file-sharing friends--bless them all. So I've managed to download the entire first season what I've easily convinced myself is the funniest damn show in production now, The Venture Bros. That along with the two regulars: Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab--being 15 minuntes a piece those are much friendlier on eating up the memory.

Also enjoyed the first episode of Stella which you can view here. Pretty decent -- they showed the dance for the apartment at their live show I caught some months back, nice to see that again... And I can also catch the best bits of The Daily Show I've been missing over there too. So for the time being I'm doing all right.

Well, I finally got around to updating the sidebar over there (books and music anyway) so for whatever that's worth... I highly recommed the book Thumbsucker. It's one of those soon to be released movies that caught my eye a while ago and decided to pick up before it comes out--and damn if it isn't easily one of the best books I've read in a while.

Oh, and I did catch the new Batman. Damn fine movie. If you've ever been a fan of the character you'll be blissed out over the thing.

Ok for now. I'll get back to you in a bit.

NPR Bloc Party

I love those commie pinko bastards at NPR. And tonight to show some love to me their going to be broadcasting their show live from DC. I caught them on Conan the other night and was quite impressed with their live chops. Should be good.

Too Hot for Blogger

[The things I do for Head...]

So here I sit in my short shorts and wifebeater, trying to drum up some things to post about while wondering how much heat this monitor is giving off -- it feels like too much; and maybe I should go back to the living room and watch a couple Mr. Shows or Stranger With Candys and call it a night. But I pour a frozen Cape Cod and go forth... What's happened?

Went to Virginia -- the first things I saw in Viginia once we made a pit stop off the highway? A military base and this:



Heady advice. And from that time since, I have indeed rocked steady. And all the while supporting the troops, natch.

Did I just type natch. Didn't think I ever would, but hey, let's move on. I needed some practice, so I rocked steady at Steve Malkmus.



No Pavement played. I'd heard he dipped into the back catalog in the past but I guess that was during his first tour when he didn't have that many Jicks songs to play. But it was still a good show. Couldn't say the same for the opening band Picque, or whatever they were called... too much heroin going on there.

And for the first time I struck out at Suffolk Downs. A shame really. I've always been able to win at least one race. Guess it's good I only go once a year. But M'lady went out on a winning note -- so all wasn't lost.

A bit of a Netflix roundup?

Trouble Every Day -- Been waiting a while for this one to get out on DVD - or maybe just for Netflix to get it. Anyway, it's basically a quietly disturbing vampire movie. I've been meaning to check out Claire Dennis' movies and wanted to start with this one. She'd been the AD on movies like Down By Law and Paris, Texas - a couple of personal favorites. And so this may not have been the best of introductions but I was entertained and not disapointed. I may be one of the dozen or so out there waiting for the DVD release of Brown Bunny and Vincent Gallo was in some fine grime method acting action in this. I swear, the man has some chops - ever seen Palookaville?

Machinist -- Wanted to take a look at this before Batman Begins comes out. I've always liked Christian Bale, ever since the underapreciated Empire of the Sun. I still think American Psycho is a great date movie, and even enjoyed the muck and mired Reign of Fire as a weekend afternoon movie to drink heavely spiked egg nog to. So much had been made of his dilapidated form in this one. I forget the actual number of pounds he dropped for this movie - I'm guessing 70 or 80. I thought one of his ribs might poke Jennifer Jason Leigh's eye out at one point (you know which point). Anyway, his dedication is not lost on this movie. Towards the end it gets a bit unhinged but it had my interest the entire time - way past my bedtime, and was thuroughly impressed with the performace... which may in fact overshadow the movie itself, but nonetheless this is a recommendation.

Ken Park -- I'm a wicked man now. I've downloaded a movie. Don't arrest me! The only reason I downloaded this movie was, well, it seems it ain't ever going to be gracing our screens here in America. It recieved one showing in Australia and was promptly banned... Looking at that poster I can't wonder why? I'm not too sure where this movie was shown otherwise [Europe] but I rather enjoyed it. I guess as I've perversely enjoyed all of Harmony Korine's movies. Or is it Larry Clark's movies? Ahh, what's become indistinguishable... There's a bit of difference I suppose in Mr. Clarke's two previous movies without Harmony - Bully and Another Day in Paradise. And Harmoy's two without Larry - Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy. But this is another joint venture between the two auteurs and it feels just like home. That is, if your home is a disturbing suburban nightmare. On display here is your usual skateboarding teens just trying to get by by alternately killing themselves, killing their legal gaurdians, killing their brain cells... Or reversely their parents doing the same thing/causing them to do the same thing... You know! The thing about these movies is that you can write pages about them and still not get the point. What is the point that I got? It's Kids on the west coast -- with parents, and even more unsavory results.

DiG! -- The story of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. Two bands I couldn't really give two shits about when I saw this. More on point it's the story of their relationship together as growing bands and the steady rise of the Warhols and the steady insanity of the BJM, or rather it's leader Anton. And this window into Anton is really the beauty of the movie. What if the leader of your band was bringing you to the cusp of greatness and notoriety was bipolar and constantly drug addled? But he's also quite charismatic and a bit of a musical prodigy... The movie seems a bit heavy handed on the side of the Warhols while your watching it. The lead singer of that outfit is playing the part of the narrator, and you get to watch their eventual success via that annoying Stones rip-off 'bohemaian' song, while all the while watching Anton drag his band into eventually quitting one by one through on-stage fights and drug frenzies until he's playing solo with his sister (and that doesn't end pleasently either). But this is a fascinating movie. [There's even seperate commentary tracks - one by the Warhols on by The BJM.] And upon listening to random songs by these two bands after watching the movie, The Brian Jonestown Massacre wins the battle hands down. And they're playing TT's in couple weeks - oh to witness a band meltdown on-stage...

So Nicole Kidman's drunk On Letterman to ease the pain of losing one of her best friends and the Kieser Chiefs are on Leno doing a decent job...

Oh... I watched DiG! (i Don'T kNoW what's up with the title either) as a double feature with End of the Century: Story of the Ramones. I can't believe that I'd be debating which would be a better documentary but it's close -- though as a genuine documentary I'd have to give it to The Ramones. It's a more focused and genuine story and rather than making a forced pick and choose perspective on it's subject, it compiles great footage and unexpected interviews to make a great closing statement on a lasting legacy.