Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
I love to watch John C. Reily on screen. One of my favorite modern actors. Some of the jokes are pretty funny, particularly anything with nudity or the Beatles. Though a lot of this is merely "pleasant." If JCR wasn't in every scene, it would be approaching "waste of time."
Hard Candy
Anti-pedophile movie where the underage vengemaster acts "clever." Imagine "clever" as the most overeager, fakemature theater geek from your high school...so yeah, kinda grating. But then torture and mind games kick in. Sort of uncomfortable how the 14 year old (played by a 17 year old) is shot in a lush, big doe eyed, sexualized way. Also weird how she looks a lot like an old flame. And yeah, actually old: late 20's. Regardless, I can appreciate most movies that put audiences through the ringer, and "deal frankly with controvertial issues."
Watched two movies with the word "hard" in the title.
Why am I writing this?
Why am I watching "Saved by the Bell: the College Years' at 7:30 AM?
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Fangsgiving
Anyhow, I went on the youtube to try and find that Stop and Shop commercial that used to play every year 'round this time where the li'l boy comes upon his families thanksgiving dinner and reads a poem about what he is thankful for. His family looks on in heartwarmthed adoration and Stop and Shop wishes us a happy holiday. I couldn't find it, but I always think about it this time of year and how it inspired me one year. I was probably 8 or 9, around the same age as the commercial kid is supposed to be, saw the commercial for the umpteenth time, decided that I was gonna say my own poem (I was gonna wing it) and hope for similar love from my elders. Got up my courage, tried to quiet the holiday chatter...unsuccessfully. My dad: "Dan! Sit down and be quiet and just eat." And I did, red in the face. I knew then that they all loved me a lot, quietly. My family had always been quiet, till little Lizzy developped that sass mouth. I guess I'm still quiet, less so now that I'll have a couple of beers with the family.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Can it really be true!?
Big movie news for giallo/Argento fans!
According to www.dvddrive-in.com Four Flies on Grey Velvet is coming out on DVD on Febuary 24th!!!!! That's the ultra-elusive, never released on US video giallo immediately following Cat O' Nine Tails...it's also not one of those grey market releases that has ubiqitous either, I've actually never seen it cuz I've been holding out for a complete print with a good transfer. Anyone who saw the American version of Deep Red knows why I would choose to wait. Dario's films lose A LOT when the mise en scene is compromised at all, and they are illogical enough already that if anything is cut out at all then the plot is rendered totally useless.
Man, I'll tell ya, it's only things like this release that I'm willing to buy new out of store as opposed to waiting around for it to turn up used. Yee haw! Nerd-based economy!
According to www.dvddrive-in.com Four Flies on Grey Velvet is coming out on DVD on Febuary 24th!!!!! That's the ultra-elusive, never released on US video giallo immediately following Cat O' Nine Tails...it's also not one of those grey market releases that has ubiqitous either, I've actually never seen it cuz I've been holding out for a complete print with a good transfer. Anyone who saw the American version of Deep Red knows why I would choose to wait. Dario's films lose A LOT when the mise en scene is compromised at all, and they are illogical enough already that if anything is cut out at all then the plot is rendered totally useless.
Man, I'll tell ya, it's only things like this release that I'm willing to buy new out of store as opposed to waiting around for it to turn up used. Yee haw! Nerd-based economy!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I can make up any excuse to celebrate!
Hey y'all,
work has been crazy and life has been crazy, so I'm a little brainfried.
So in lieu of a void, here's a little quick mention of an important birthday.
Tommorow marks the ten year anniversary of the release (in Japan) of what I consider to be the greatest videogame of all time...The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
I don't know what to say about the game, except that everytime I think about my time with it, it gives me the warm feeling of love. If you know me, it's saying a lot that I would toprank a game from the era when videogaming turned to shit, but this game, Mario 64 and Starfox 64 shined through the darkness. And yes, I know that I'm Nintendo biased, but I think it's smart to be loyal to a company that creates the greatest things ever...nawmean?
Quick Recap:
Metroid
Zelda
Mario
Donkey Kong
Kid Icarus
Probably not planning on getting/playing a Gamecube or Wii anytime soon though.
work has been crazy and life has been crazy, so I'm a little brainfried.
So in lieu of a void, here's a little quick mention of an important birthday.
Tommorow marks the ten year anniversary of the release (in Japan) of what I consider to be the greatest videogame of all time...The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
I don't know what to say about the game, except that everytime I think about my time with it, it gives me the warm feeling of love. If you know me, it's saying a lot that I would toprank a game from the era when videogaming turned to shit, but this game, Mario 64 and Starfox 64 shined through the darkness. And yes, I know that I'm Nintendo biased, but I think it's smart to be loyal to a company that creates the greatest things ever...nawmean?
Quick Recap:
Metroid
Zelda
Mario
Donkey Kong
Kid Icarus
Probably not planning on getting/playing a Gamecube or Wii anytime soon though.
Friday, November 14, 2008
more drugs, 'diculous
Long Version of "Suzie"
Short Version of "Ballerina"
I don't remember this one, but man, it is insane
I find it interesting that these are the only things on youtube where I actually enjoy reading the comments....seems I'm not the only one who these "got to," so it ain't all "LOL."
Short Version of "Ballerina"
I don't remember this one, but man, it is insane
I find it interesting that these are the only things on youtube where I actually enjoy reading the comments....seems I'm not the only one who these "got to," so it ain't all "LOL."
Old Music Zine Depression
Just scored 3 Issues of Forced Exposure (late 80's era) from Mystery train at a good price and I've been wholesale swallowing (mostly) good-bile style in big foamy shots for a few days now. I can even feel it's wordy influence weaving through me right now, and hey, why resist? Just stop me if I use the word pud or dizz. Anyhow, mostly psyched on the Big Black tour diary and anything Albini related, cuz, damn man, that's one of the men who I've always liked best. So along with that Big Black high comes the general goodnessvibes of saving some totems of underground journalism from oblivion. These "zines" of yore (made of paper, rotting, tearing) are getting harder and harder to find and the good ones were hard to find when they were hot off the presses (in the 90s at least, when I was buying these things). Forced Exposure and Bananafish especially were pretty annoying in the "artistic" review policy, but made up for with some of the best interviews with some of the best men and women in any realm EVER. And even searching on ebay for anything but the last couple of issues(and I'd much rather read an interview with the Birthday Party than Chris Knox, guys) is likely to yield little. So, you just keep on looking and building a library right? right. That's what I do. And yeah, it was good to walk by the newstand recently and see a new issue of Chunklet. That's a good one. The rest that still exist seem to fall into the overly glossy slicky who gives a fucky category.
Oh, so here's the depression session: even at it's most disagreeable to me, I've been able to respect the thoughts and reccomendations of Mr. Coley (Byron, one of the main guys on the page). He's obviously a duder who knows his shit thoroughly, and though I've never met the other editor Jimmy, he also seems to slide in that ilk. Despite THIS, these issues are a cascade of hundreds of reviews of bands and records that have come and gone, and even with positive props, I'm sure they've slipped out of the memory of the most encyclopedic of record hoarders. In addition we have adverts layed on top of this. So since FE really scrapes hard at giving the reader a heave of the far reaches of the underground, we the modern reader gets a window into the nondreams of hundreds of alsoran nomatter bands. Depressing. How many band members who at the time were getting good highs of promise and dressing in black jeans are now dead, stupid or boring? or sad?
I've gotten a very similar vibe when buying rekkids at college radio sales. I bring home some LPs by bands that were "names" back in the day, and they are pretty good, but it feels kind of like a slice of pizza in outerspace. Nice Strong Arm and Breaking Circus and Riflesport albums are like slices of pizza in space. They have all the right ingredients and are good by any human standard but when they are floating in blackness, what do they have to offer us? And if you go to the WOZQ record fair in 2002 and buy them back from outer space, they are just "okay" slices of pizza.
OH THE FUTILITY!
Oh, so here's the depression session: even at it's most disagreeable to me, I've been able to respect the thoughts and reccomendations of Mr. Coley (Byron, one of the main guys on the page). He's obviously a duder who knows his shit thoroughly, and though I've never met the other editor Jimmy, he also seems to slide in that ilk. Despite THIS, these issues are a cascade of hundreds of reviews of bands and records that have come and gone, and even with positive props, I'm sure they've slipped out of the memory of the most encyclopedic of record hoarders. In addition we have adverts layed on top of this. So since FE really scrapes hard at giving the reader a heave of the far reaches of the underground, we the modern reader gets a window into the nondreams of hundreds of alsoran nomatter bands. Depressing. How many band members who at the time were getting good highs of promise and dressing in black jeans are now dead, stupid or boring? or sad?
I've gotten a very similar vibe when buying rekkids at college radio sales. I bring home some LPs by bands that were "names" back in the day, and they are pretty good, but it feels kind of like a slice of pizza in outerspace. Nice Strong Arm and Breaking Circus and Riflesport albums are like slices of pizza in space. They have all the right ingredients and are good by any human standard but when they are floating in blackness, what do they have to offer us? And if you go to the WOZQ record fair in 2002 and buy them back from outer space, they are just "okay" slices of pizza.
OH THE FUTILITY!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Spare Parts review 2
as I was saying....
This is where things a take a little turn for the unusual in horror movie land. Most notably there isn't that much of a conflict in getting Bill, the truck driver to believe the story of the ambulance kidnapping and kooky-innkeeper corroboration. Usually, this is the whole damn crux of the protagonist and potential savior dynamic, but here it just takes an appearance of the ambulance driver, with an excuse that does not check out, but still makes sense. Bill (played by Wolf Roth, what a name) and his trucker pals box in the ambulance, kill one of them in self defense (sort of) and throw the other in the freezer-trailer in order to get him to "talk." For you man-bush fanatics, you get some unwelcome German pubes on display when they strip the ambulance driver before throwing him in the cold. Okay, so they found out the scoop; forced organ donations, go to the "clinic" or whatever and stumble upon the "evil doctor" in charge. Before that, they stay in a motel room and develop friendship built on trust, as Bill protectively puts his arm around Monika on the bed. It's quiet moments like here in the motel room that give it a depth that you wouldn't expect to see.
Here's another nice oddity; the evil doctor seems like a normal and nice person, y'know without the evil beneath. I kinda liked that until it turned out that the nice antagonist is only stealing people cuz of blackmail....boring. Then there is a bad car chase scene, the second death of the movie (neither is horrific) and then the end. Luckily, the viewer is engaged enough with Monika and Bill to feel some suspense and investment in what's happening, even if those events fall into the TV movie kinda realm.
Okay, Monika (appealingly played by Judda Speidel) and Bill are good characters to see, The visuals of the southwest motel strips are nice to see, along with some nice sunny/hazy photography, and it's kinda offbeat.......
but really not that much to recommend it.
OH shit, wait...the 70s shmaltz theme song being performed by the kidnappee's band in the beginning: "How much does someone cost?" is hysterically bad, and I love it and I'm into the Tangerine Dreamy score...okay, that's it.
This is where things a take a little turn for the unusual in horror movie land. Most notably there isn't that much of a conflict in getting Bill, the truck driver to believe the story of the ambulance kidnapping and kooky-innkeeper corroboration. Usually, this is the whole damn crux of the protagonist and potential savior dynamic, but here it just takes an appearance of the ambulance driver, with an excuse that does not check out, but still makes sense. Bill (played by Wolf Roth, what a name) and his trucker pals box in the ambulance, kill one of them in self defense (sort of) and throw the other in the freezer-trailer in order to get him to "talk." For you man-bush fanatics, you get some unwelcome German pubes on display when they strip the ambulance driver before throwing him in the cold. Okay, so they found out the scoop; forced organ donations, go to the "clinic" or whatever and stumble upon the "evil doctor" in charge. Before that, they stay in a motel room and develop friendship built on trust, as Bill protectively puts his arm around Monika on the bed. It's quiet moments like here in the motel room that give it a depth that you wouldn't expect to see.
Here's another nice oddity; the evil doctor seems like a normal and nice person, y'know without the evil beneath. I kinda liked that until it turned out that the nice antagonist is only stealing people cuz of blackmail....boring. Then there is a bad car chase scene, the second death of the movie (neither is horrific) and then the end. Luckily, the viewer is engaged enough with Monika and Bill to feel some suspense and investment in what's happening, even if those events fall into the TV movie kinda realm.
Okay, Monika (appealingly played by Judda Speidel) and Bill are good characters to see, The visuals of the southwest motel strips are nice to see, along with some nice sunny/hazy photography, and it's kinda offbeat.......
but really not that much to recommend it.
OH shit, wait...the 70s shmaltz theme song being performed by the kidnappee's band in the beginning: "How much does someone cost?" is hysterically bad, and I love it and I'm into the Tangerine Dreamy score...okay, that's it.
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