Hexed Resolution: Spacey, Moody, Heavy.

- Mastodon is a heavy metal band from Atlanta who’s latest album taps into the Ruskie legendary mystic Ratsputin and his rebirth/reincarnation as an omnibus force of the Universe.  Jonah Hex is a DC on-going comic book which tackles the American West/the American Civil War with eyes of cynical disdain stained blood-red.  Unlikely mash-up?  Perhaps.  But I’ve just read that Mastodon will be creating an original soundtrack (OST) for the film adaptation of the comic starring Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex.  Bassist Troy Sanders describes the new material for the film:

“Some of it was heavy, some of it was very moody, a lot of it was spacey.  Melvins B-sides, Pink Floyd-like, surreal outer space, like Neil Young’s Dead Man. Swirling, nausea music.”

Yikes.  Sounds like I’ll be buying another film adaptation’s soundtrack in addition to Nick Cave & Warren Ellis‘ The Road soundtrack.  Too bad Megan Fox is in the movie (Hex, that is).

-  One of the most badass responses to an honest business letter I’ve ever read.  Wizard Entertainment is a toy/comic/gaming magazine publisher, one which regularly holds conventions of said industries.  Scott Kurtz writes a web-comic called PvP (Player vs. Player); this is a part of how he responded to the company asking him to appear at one of their events in 2010.  Jeeezzus:

“Your conventions are total horseshit, so it’s wise to stop branding them with the name Wizard. But no amount of polishing is going to make me want to attended any of the 5 turds your company is going to crap out in 2010, especially when you schedule them against other shows in some bullshit dick measuring contests that serves no other purpose but to fracture an already dying industry that I have nostalgic ties to.”

-  The OTHER Warren Ellis’s (the writer, the wacko, the futurist, the bearded one) cool-as-hell animated version of GI Joe — it’s called GI JOE: Resolute — is finally available on DVD.  The whole thing debuted on the Internet at first, then [Adult Swim] showcased all the episodes back to back, as they were meant to be seen.  This is the opening episode:

-Sonny

Loss of Words: A Serious Man.

I saw the Coen’s A Serious Man just hours ago and… well.  I’m not quite sure what to say about it at this point.  I think I’d probably need to give another viewing — or maybe several more viewings — to really formulate a true opinion on the movie.  I know I LIKED it.  I’m just not really sure how I feel about it, or maybe how to put that into words.  This isn’t a jab at it either.  No.  In fact it’s the complete opposite.  This film digs so very deeply — with a gigantic amount of subtlety, mind you — into the roots of spirituality and existentialism, it’s easy to feel a specific way about it, but it’s hard to vocalize or even know you’re own true thoughts about it.  It was very inspiring to me personally (in terms of ideas and writing and concepts).  Hopefully I’ll be coming back to the film on this site soon.  Or at least, again at all.

It’s really amazing how many people hate the film.  Well, maybe it isn’t.  I honestly think a lot of people didn’t like No Country For Old Men as much as they claimed they did.  Especially after seeing that in the theater and hearing the hordes of grumbles in reaction to the ending, even in an “intellectual” part of town.  Over on IMDB right now there are several topics just spewing with hate on the boards.  Interesting that a lot of people who liked the film are saying that the point of the movie is it has no point.  I discussed this with Her on the way home, originally finding this to be true; but the more I think about the movie, the more I think otherwise.  On the contrary, this movie is about a whole boatload of things which brings my mind back to Arthur’s notebook full of incomprehensible scribbles.  A Serious Man is in fact so jammed full of “points”, it’s hard to pick one out to go with.  It’s about consequences, God, modern suburbia, karma, infidelity, growing up, existence, mathematics, ALL OF IT.  It’s simultaneously about everything and about nothing.

Wow, so I said I wasn’t going to talk about it, and now I’m talking about it.  Jeez.  I need some sleep.

-Sonny

David Derr.

I just discovered David Derr via the Art Database and wow am I impressed.  He says he’s all about “layers of imagery” leading to “creator and viewers creative thoughts are set free to explore unexpected paths”.  He’s good.  Here’s some of his work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Derr’s Homepage

David Derr Art for sale @ Art Database

David Derr Bio

More David Derr for sale

-Sonny

The Influence of Chimerica.

I watched Charlie Rose for the first time in a long time last night.  I just love the “no frills”, as Comcast calls it, approach of the dude.   Visit his website, it’s just as “no frills” as his television show is.  Ironic that I had just posted, that very same day, my latest piece of flash-fiction involving the blooming Chinese economy.  The second guest, on an economy based episode, was Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson.  Ferguson specializes on the American/Chinese economic relationship, which he calls “Chimerica” (a relationship resembling a broken house-hold drowning in debt and the credit card company taking them on).  His interview with Charlie proved a eye-widening wake up call even for me (I’m fairly pessimistic about America’s future as a super-power).  Apparently at this rate, by a mere 2027 the Chinese economy will overtake the US economy; not in terms of GDP, just in plain old terms of “who’s got more cash?”.  I believe he said the Chinese economy right now grows annually by about 10%, which is absolutely massive.  Consider this: a depression-like US economy grew 3% this fiscal year, and we’re calling that a victory.  In a more historical and political context though, what does that 2027 date mean exactly?  Ferguson says there are two options for America, just as there were two options for post-War England:

1. Accept the Inevitable.  Accept the fact that the Chinese is the next super-power, succumb to that fact, and make fast friends with them just as England did with America going into the 50’s.
2. Or, Resist and Make New Friends.  The US could however, very easily considering the political environment and Chinese communism, become rivals with China and befriend neighboring emerging economies (India, the obvious example) just as England did with Germany.

It’s a dangerous time for heroics and nationalism.  And if it isn’t yet, it will be in 20 years.  THIS very concept (in addition to many other things like bail-outs and government censorship) is what drove me to write such a story involving a massive contract from the world’s largest corporation with a Totalitarian system, and what becomes of such BIG business.  I know, I’m a shitty writer.

-Sonny

The PRC Modernization Project.

The PRC Modernization Project was to take upwards of six years to complete originally. With one of Earth’s largest corporate conglomerates, the Chinese government reached deep into its mainland with reflective silver technetronic fingers. Nothing could stop it. Even the remnants of Qing were all but lost. Department stores spread deeper inland. Western civilization’s own McDonald’s and Walmart laid waste to The Battle of Muye and Five Dynasties/Ten Kingdoms. The sacred Temple of Wuwei surrendered to an outdoor sprinkler system, private contractors from the coast for renovations, digital wall displays set to a Confucius quote loop, and several SmartSoft P-PATs (private personal access terminals). The idea wasn’t really to “modernize” China’s storied mainland, nor was it to make life easier or faster for the billion-some people carrying water on their backs up the cilffs of Dulan. No, the idea was control. With all of communist China’s people and places wired to one central hub, giant sized automatons beeping and buzzing in a protected vault in China’s Ministry of National Security, control became only natural.

“Give access to your citizens, that way at least you can control content,” pleaded then SmartSoft CEO Vince Lyons back in 2032 in a very private meeting with government officials. Children were given bootleg Cinderella DVDs and recycled copies of God of War in villages. Images from western media embedded into flash drives for PCD consumption sold and sold again. The Chinese government needed to muzzle its people into comfortable submission.

The Earth had become increasingly smaller since SmartSoft’s inception out of a single-car garage in Arkon, Ohio. Third and fourth world countries weren’t even immune. A mother posted a now infamous video of her son slain with a machete in Lubutu, Congo; the killers were all identified, but never caught or charged. A cartel from Guyana’s network manager and accountant was bought off by the International DEA; he relinquished all information and passwords for a fortune and a life in global witness protection. He was shot and killed in his Munich home, the program had been hacked and the contracts were flying off the shelves.

In the form of the PRC Modernization Project, globalized connectivity aimed next at the mountain towns of the far East. The contract made SmartSoft the most powerful corporation on Earth and the 8^th richest entity in the world, nations and government bodies included. In addition to the hundreds of billions of dollars for implementation alone, SmartSoft demanded all of China switch over to their service for a predetermined number of years/amount of profit (whichever came first), effectively monopolizing the market of the largest and richest nation on the planet.  It was win/win.

Until over 4 years into the project a seasoned SmartSoft employee of 16 years, the number 2 man on the 4^th tier Board of Directors (team “Tethys”) refused to come back from a tiny village on the south end of the Tsaidam Basin. “What the hell am I looking at?”, asked Lyons. There floated a blob of infinite blue pulses, hundreds of tiny icons, and millions of IP addresses on a cubicle MDM with big wigs huddled around in office light. The shot was from space. One of SmartSoft’s many multi-purpose satellites picked up the radio-frequency identification tags immediately, but the watcher originally thought nothing of it. A simple glitch on the scope. He continued watching as it grew to metropolitan tag levels. Great Wall of China, RFIDs from the Tsaidam Basin, seen without zoom from 16 thousand miles outward. Polar orbit. The 1^st Board of Directors, Lyons’ men, panicked. He immediately ordered the termination of that region’s network, to no avail. The corrupt agent placed a block onto the administrative options. He used a 18 character, mostly numbered, encrypted key which was changed by a hired hand every other hour.

The news quickly broke through the global media machine, the news networks were all but extinct, and pressure mounted on SmartSoft and Lyons to make a decision. With no other available options, SmartSoft was forced to pull the plug on the PRC feed to trinket number 2 man’s damage. Turns out he was logging in mass amounts of villagers to the SmartSoft corporate accounts — under tents, hidden from the eyes in space — via unsecured login names he’d create on an individual basis. A digital sweat shop of sorts. They were paid very poorly to skim money off the top, into an international account. Decimals at a time, everyday over and over again until the feed was sliced. Since his name wasn’t literally attached to any of the transactions, according to PRC laws he could not be charged. Unlike the massive amount of villagers, who almost all faced jail time at a Republic work camp. As for SmartSoft, owner of nearly 14% of the world? The deal threw them into chapter eleven, but global private industry simply could not afford such an entity to collapse, so they split the loan to prop the company back onto its feet. It was win/win.

-Sonny

The Exchange of Music Is Now.

Bram Gieben — Texture — is probably the closest thing I have to friend across the pond.  He runs Weaponizer, but he’s also a musician, journalist, and a poet.  In today’s episode of the FEED he takes digital distribution to the max with an examination of said means, specifically within the music industry, and the webtastic debut of he and his mates’ new online/digital record label Black Lantern Music.  The goal of Black Lantern is to offer “DRM-free, high quality mp3s completely free of charge. As independent musicians, we are beholden to nobody – we make and release exactly the kinds of music we want to hear”.  Sound like a waste of time?  Hardly.  Texture delves into the debate on his website, stating exactly what “free music” means in this increasingly changing world we live in:

“What it comes down to is this – by giving away what was traditionally thought of as the ‘core product,’ you can potentially reach a much larger audience, who are all grateful for getting a free album / EP / whatever. These people are then more likely to become ‘true fans’ who will come and see you at a show, or will perhaps buy the limited edition, custom designed items you sell in small numbers, but at a higher price.”

Visit Black Lantern Music for quality, FREE tunes.

A band called Hoots and Hellmouth, from Philly, approaches music in a similarly charming way.  Their MySpace page “About” exemplifies what is best about music, and what it means to people:

“The exchange of music is a bond, a way to build community, an environment in which to share an experience. Sing with us! Dance with us! Lay your weary burden down and get lifted for a spell. Let’s break away from the traditional roles of performer and audience.

We’d love to provide space with our music where anyone and everyone can come and feel free to just be…free to check your job titles, family roles and “demographic buying habits” info at the door. No demands, no pressure.

We’re not trying to sell you a product or influence you in any particular way. We’re not espousing any ideology other than that which builds community on a local level. All religions, no religions, political shades all across the spectrum (including the infrareds and ultraviolets)…we welcome you! We’re bringing what we know – music – to the party. What will you bring?“

They’re touring right now.  I never knew anything about this band until I discovered I will (hopefully) be seeing them soon.  I’ll admit, I wasn’t drawn to the bill for Hoots & Hellmouth however.  No – it was that sly devil from Iowa William Whitmore who caught my eye.  Be sure to catch him before he heads to Europe.  Most likely with Hoots & Hellmouth.  As of now, cashed…

-Sonny

Some Friday BBC Links.

-  Internet Addresses Set to Include Non-Latin Domains.  People are already saying this is going to change the Internet forever.  The board of Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) voted just this week to allow inclusion of Arabic, Chinese, and other characters and scripts to the world wide web list of domain names.  Icann will start accepting new addresses on the 16 of November, claiming that the new sites would be up and running by “mid-2010″.  They’re saying the vote is steadily becoming absolutely necessary with some 1.6 billion Internet users worldwide, more than half of which use non-Latin based scripts.  This is a game changer, folks.

-  Another game changer, literally:  Video Gamers Included in LIVE Racing by… 2010?!? This is unbelievable.  A  company called “Real Time Race” is developing a system to include gamers sitting at home in live auto-racing.  The company would map out the track before the race, and stream via Internet connection a manipulation of the video/photos they’ve taken to put viewers in a car along side the actual cars and drivers of the race.  It’s hard to explain anymore than that, so I’d suggest clicking the BBC link.  Wow.

-  Is “DJ Hero” Going to Be A Bust? I’m hoping so; retailers and analysts are thinking so.

-  Sonny

The Box of Plot Holes.

My post from a while back simply titled “Donnie Darko” is one of the most commented on posts in The Sonny Wilkins Chronicle history (the other probably being “Cluttered Dark Knight Irony“).  Some jumped down my throat claiming I didn’t know anything about philosophy, some were quick to defend me, and others just altogether laughed.  Towards the end of the “review” (if you’d like to call it that) I quickly mentioned the IMDB summary of Richard Kelly’s next film “pretentiously titled” The Box.  Well the day has finally come and “The Measurement Cubed” is hitting theaters in just a week.  The film is already looking to be another Kelly blunder behind the lauded Southland Tales.  I WILL NOT see it, so I can’t say anything about it (unlike “Darko”, which I’ve given a chance 2 or 3 times).  However, I would like to share what others — critics and film goers alike — are saying about it.

Let’s start with some “User Comments” on IMDB.  I’ll be the first to admit that the IMDB Community is typically a bunch of jackasses.  But since The Box hasn’t had its nation-wide release yet, there ain’t a whole lot of reviews on it.  A few critics, and people who’ve seen the film at festivals is all.  Out of 7 total user reviews for the movie, 4 were incredibly negative, and three went from “didn’t make too big of an impression but worthwhile” to good to near genius (7,8, and 9 out of 10).  This is the way these Richard Kelly films work.  One guy who gave the film 4/10 summarizes what follows the button being pushed:

“… a conspiracy about someone who was struck by lightning, the possibility of alien life or some other Godly being influencing these situations. Scenes involving gateways opening up in public libraries, random nose bleeds and mindless drones stalking the Lewis family, become almost unintentionally comical in their absurdity.”

A 3/10 giver ended his comment with a clever play on words:

“It happens that I saw The Box on the same night as the first night of the Michael Jackson documentary. Whereas that was called This Is It, The Box should have been called Is That It?“

And “Revival05″ tells film fans, even Donnie Darko fans ( as he is one himself) to avoid it at all costs:

“The big problem with this movie, I think, is that two worlds collide; Norma and Arthur, very ambitiously played by Diaz and James Marsden, are very likable. They are portrayed realistically.  But since this is a domestic scene worth taking seriously, all proportions get distorted when we are to believe that they are the victims of being in an overlong, mishmashy Twilight Zone-episode where nothing makes any sense and nothing is there on screen to rejoice in.“

The negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes don’t get any less harsh.  With only 9 submitted reviews from critics, the “tomato meter” rating for The Box is currently hovering around 44% “Fresh”.  Not good.  Especially not good considering that number will surely drop with more reviews to pile on in the next week, but also that it takes (I think) a 70% for a film to become “Fresh”.  A mountain far too high for any Kelly film to climb when it’s already at 44%.  Here are just a few from real-life, actual movie critics (who, I’ll also admit, can be douches sometimes):

“Regrettably, and despite a lot of effects — including those watery tentacles he seems so fond of — Kelly delivers a Big Reveal that is, frankly, boring.”

“The pic reveals the hazards of taking Twilight Zone material too far and too seriously.“

“Although an improvement on Southland Tales, Richard ‘Donnie Darko’ Kelly’s cryptic moody thriller has a far-fetched premise that is not helped by a script filled with holes.“

Even the guys who are giving the film a “favorable” review, albeit on a shoestring, are getting in on the act.  This quote comes from David Strattan, an Aussie who liked the film but admits:

“…thing about Richard Kelly’s films is that in none of them do you know exactly what’s happening…”

Now c’mon, bring on the Kelly lovers!!!  I’m ready to fuck shit up!

-Sonny

Wolverine Redesign Contest.

A website called Project Rooftop holds these annual contests where they challenge amateur artists to redesign a comic book character’s costume/appearance.  They’ve already done the likes of Batman, Iron Man, and Superman to name a few.  The latest contest was for the most popular mutant EVER, Wolverine.  To be honest, I’m not too impressed with the winner; it’s basically your everyday “what if… like, Wolverine was, like, ya know… Solid Snake.. ish??”.  It’s pretty boring, typical, predictable and lame.  So I’ll post some of my favorites (hint: all but ONE didn’t win shit).  Either I’ve got bad taste for redesign originality, or their judges do…

Out of the three I’m putting up, this is my least favorite.  But it is still awesome.  This also was the one which got ranked by the judges.  I dig the samurai style Wolvie, brings me back to the Miller/Claremont days.  I hear the sequel script is taking a trip to lovely Japan.  Nothing much could be cooler than that in a solo Logan story.  No mutant overload this time, please.  Oh yeah, the drawing.  Click onto it and zoom into his back, great detail work there.  Lose the cigar, though.

Wow.  Just wow.  This is my favorite of all the redesigns.  The “J-E-A-N” across the knuckles is a wonderful little touch.  Along with “X”s marking where dude’s claws pop.  Love the no shoes and the haircut.  But perhaps the best part of this new Wolverine is the posture.  The way he’s sitting.  One gets a sense of what kind of person this guy is, something sorely lacking in lots of mainstream comic artists’ bag-o-tricks.  If there were a Wolvie solo comic about THIS Wolvie, I’d read it for sure.

This one really impressed me quite a bit just because no one ever designs Wolverine as anything but a complete and utter badass.  I guess that’s perhaps his essence, but an X-Men fan would like to believe there’s more than that.  Here we see the outdoorsman/hippie side of Wolverine in gorgeous rendering.  And it only makes sense that Jubilee is tagging along to bitch about the bugs, the weather, the hiking.  Good characterization here again.

-Sonny

Walking Dead #68 (cover).

-  On the cover to Walking Dead #68 Abe and Rick hold what seems to be a new character at gunpoint.

- Comic Book Resources has an interview with the lord of comics himself — Alan Moore — about his latest thought experiment:  a Victorian inspired magazine called “Dodgem Logic“.  The tagline for which is:

“Colliding ideas to see what happens.”

-Sonny