Not sure if it’s the band’s best album, but for me personally one of my favorites. RED brings the equal parts progressive Metal (before it existed) and experimental/free Jazz together, which is both stunning and shocking but surprisingly smooth on the ear holes. Course, a whole bucket full of ingredients are sprinkled in — it wouldn’t be King Crimson without that bucket — but to a lesser extent than the Jazz/Metal elements (mainly Electronica; there’s definitely synths on RED, but they’re only adding color, not driving the approach).
- Rolling Stone has the new BRONX record streaming in full. It’s just called “IV”. It’s definitely a blast to listen to, and you’ll want to jump around… but the pure, unadulterated rage of their first few albums isn’t quite there. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it depends on your perspective I suppose. Plus, you’ve gotta look at where they’re coming from: they’re a bit older, some of them probably have kids, etc. But running through it, you do get the feeling that there will not be a track titled “Shitty Future”. Still great to hear a new Bronx record though.
- I’m more than a bit disappointed that Duncan Jones got the Warcraft directing gig and not some other, more prized, pop cultural property [cough... EP SEVEN... cough, cough]. Still though, I am very happy for the guy. He’s got chops, and it’s nice to see a bit more of a subtle filmmaker get a big gig rather than an over the top, every camera trick in the bag, in your face style filmmaker. And who knows, maybe he’ll create a really cool, other-worldly but oddly real adaptation of the world WoW exists in?
- I am firmly on the side of New Avengers over Hickman’s regular Avengers title. A bunch of people spoke of how boring the second issue was because it was a bunch of guys sitting around a table talking. That may be true, but when the “bunch of guys” are the some of the best minds on the planet and they’re discussing how to approach a problem even they can only vaguely begin to comprehend — and it’s written really, really well — that sounds mighty interesting to me.
- Speaking of, I should probably do some comic reviews one of these days.
- Newest Game Of Thrones video blog thingy (from Iceland):
- Chris and Matt over at WarRocketAjax have included some of my award categories in this year’s “Gordie Awards”. WarRocketAjax is a pop cultural podcast wherein two really, down to the bone, unequivocally nerdy dudes talk about comics, video games, BBQ, music, movies, TV, net stuff, etc. But mostly comics. The categories they took from me were “Best High Concept”, “Best Rap Verse”, and “Best Last Page (of a comic)”. To which I would have to answer (in order): the entirety of Hickman’s “Manhattan Projects”, Sadistik on “Wild West” (off Kristoff Krane’s “fanfaronade”), and I’ll have to come back to the last page thing.
Here’s that track (and verse):
And while I’m on the subject, Sadistik has a new record coming out soonish. February 19th. Here’s the announcement on his page, along with the track listing and album info/artwork/all that jazz.
- The BAFTA nominations have been announced. Not many surprises here. One flick I was really excited for that didn’t get raving reviews was the crime/screenwriting/Shih Tzu kidnapping comedy “Seven Psychopaths“. It was nominated for “Best British Film”. Glad to see Michael Haneke’s new film getting some attention. Somewhere. I haven’t seen “Amour” but I’m sure it’s probably challenging as are all of his movies. “Original Screenplay” is an interesting category, as I could see almost any one of the guys win. But c’mon, “Zero Dark Thirty” isn’t really an “original” script. I mean, it is in a sense that there wasn’t a fictional account of those events prior to it existing… but it’s a journalistic take on what happened. It’s just telling a real story. And if there’s evidence of that, it’s that the State Department is taking quite an interest in investigating where Boal and Bigelow got their information for the movie.
- Good Lord. More people having more issues over Django. Along with an ultra-conservative co-worker (who’s mad because the movie’s “just about white people getting murdered”) here comes Al Sharpton who’s saying there shouldn’t be figures of the characters in the movies because he says these toys are for kids. Which they clearly aren’t. I mean, any kid would be bored out of his mind with an action figure that vaguely looks like Leo DiCaprio in a Hugh Hefner-esque robe with a cigarette holder dangling out of its mouth. And I’m doubting action figures of characters from Tarentino movies sell all that well. I think they’re probably geared towards hardcore fans who collect things of this nature, and they’re not widely available. “”I don’t see any dolls representing Hitler that came from Tarantino’s (Holocaust movie ‘Inglourious Basterds’)…”, Sharpton says. No, you don’t. But who gives a shit if there was?
When I have kids I’m not going to let them have a fucking Hitler doll from a Tarentino movie, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t allow such a thing to exist.
- David Lynch might be revisiting his Twin Peaks universe? That’d be something. I still haven’t seen Inland Empire, though I’ve heard bad things about it. Right now it’s hovering stable at 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve heard people argue that it makes no sense, even for a David Lynch film. I think they might be more forgiving if they knew how he made it: traveling around L.A. with the cast crew looking for aesthetically satisfying locales without a script of any kind. Think of it as a sort-of free flowing Jazz song, totally improvised, just for the sake of making Jazz. Now I need to track down a copy.
- Top Science Long Reads of the Year. 2012… that is. There are some fascinating articles here (great list, Ed Yong at NatGeo!), including one where a woman “commandeer[s] a robotic limb with her imprisoned mind” and one about bristlecone pine trees (they’re going extinct) being “repositories of time; to destroy them is to destroy an irreplaceable record of the Earth’s past. Over this past century of unprecendented deforestation, a tiny cadre of scientists has roamed the world’s remaining woodlands, searching for trees with long memories…”
- Very very sad: some 60,000 people have died in the Syria conflict in 2012. And what’s worse, as the article states, is that the rate of death is increasing as the violence drags on: it continues to escalate with both sides using heavier and heavier weapons. And I openly admit that I have no clue what the right thing to do is for the rest of the world, especially the US… but it’s hard to just stand by and watch this happen. But I guess the Western world does it with Africa all the time too, so it’s absolutely nothing new.
There may be no other South Park statement I disagree with more than when Kyle says (Season 8, Ep. 3: “The Passion of the Jew“) — very much sounding like the words are coming straight from Matt Stone’s mouth: “we watch movies to be entertained”. He’s referring to Mel Gibson’s slaughter fest about Christ, but it really does feel like that’s what Trey and him believe about all movies. That movies are entertainment, pure and simple. And once you cross over that line your movie turns to garbage. It’s this type of thinking that led to Orgazmo and Baseketball. That’s what happens when you reach no higher than entertainment alone.
I bring this up because last night I saw Lincoln, a film that somehow is caught in the middle of such a debate. A film about the political mechanizations of a two party system, and the struggle to get things done within that system. It should be boring. “Boring”. And it’s funny cause I’m reading a number of reviews that think it is boring, from “critics” and general public alike. They’re wrong, it isn’t boring. In fact, it tries really really hard not to be boring. That’s part of the problem. Why even include that opening Civil War scene? Looking back it seems grossly out of place. The film opens with an incredibly violent war scene between a “colored” regiment of The Union and a Confederate regiment in an all out brawl scene reminiscent of Gangs of New York. Bayonets are stabbed into bellies and before you can blink it’s over. This is probably included to further pad a scene late in the film when Lincoln is strolling through the remains of a battlefield before War’s end. But for the audience, it’s actually less of a shock because we’ve already seen the carnage, even if Abe hasn’t.
It may have been clever (well, I guess not that clever… more like serviceable) to bookend the movie with another horrific scene of violence in Lincoln getting assassinated. Two horrible and terrifying scenes to start and end the film, one with faceless soldiers dying in the muck, the other with the main character dying at a play in the nicest box-seats in the theater. Contrasting bookends. But that didn’t happen either, the film ends in another theater, where the Lincolns’ son Tad is watching another play, sitting in another box. And as the camera panned to the left, my wife and I both thought: “well this isn’t very historically accurate”. But it was all a red herring, and you’re left leaving the theater a little befuddled. It kinda feels like Spielberg is trying to fuck with as many different types of movie-goers as he can, and it turns into a meal someone kinda screwed up but it tastes okay so no one is too pissed but the food is really simple to begin with.
Structurally, it’s just sort of a mess. The “horror of the War” stuff is in there to make the “passage of the 13th” stuff feel secondary, and to make Lincoln seem all the more so wholly dedicated to the freedom of the slaves even to the detriment of thousands more lives. Scenes of Gordon-Levitt as Abe’s older son Robert outside a military hospital feel forced and crammed in, as do domestic scenes between Day-Lewis and Sally Field. Okay… holy crap Sally Field is really bad in this movie. Like, really really bad. And I know that Mary Todd Lincoln was probably bi-polar and suffered from migraines and had mental problems, but she doesn’t really play it that way. You don’t get the sense that those things exist really in that, 1) she doesn’t really play the character that sympathetically, and 2) you can just see it in her face that she’s of a level mind. This may have been the way she was written too, but she certainly does nothing to pull the character off the page and present a real, living, breathing tortured First Lady.
Day-Lewis is, of course, amazing as Lincoln. Everything from the way he walks, sits, writes, speaks, even the way he crawls feels like history in the flesh. Easily one of the best performances of the year. David Strathairn, who probably shares the most screen time with Abe, is almost as good as William Seward, a dedicated and brilliant Statesman from New York (who survived his own assassination attempt the night Lincoln got shot). In fact, the entirety of the cast is just brilliant. And rightfully so, as these are some of the best character actors working today. Hal Holbrook, John Hawkes, Jackie Earle Haley, David Costabile, Tim Blake Nelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and on and on and on it goes. These performances are what really elevates this movie, without them it’d be just another terribly average period piece.
But hey at least I have new material when someone proposes that Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all-time… from now on I’m just going to say, “eternal-flame dissolve cut”. Equal bad marks should probably go to Tony Kushner — who’s strength is definitely dialogue (probably why he’s such a good playwright) — showing both a lack of creativity and screen-writing class working knowledge when it comes to structure. In the end, this movie might know what it is, but I hardly do.
- Any news headline that features ‘Russian Arms Deal’ sounds like it’s either from the Cold War era or a bad spy film. Nevertheless, I opened my browser this morning to BBC News and there it was staring me down like a blast from the past: Iraq Cancels $4.2 Billion Russian Arms Deal Over ‘Corruption’. The new Iraqi Prime Minister apparently believes there is corruption within his own team (most likely there is), and Russia is suggesting the United States has pressured him to reject the deal (which also could have some truth to it). Whatever the case is, billion dollar arms deals from whoever to whoever frighten me. Mass quantities of technology to kill people always do.
- Everyone is mentioning the most obvious, and worst, ideas for directors when it comes to who should do Episode VII. I’ve heard Christopher Nolan, which is of course just dumb. No. Sorry, but no. Let Nolan go back to making psychological thrillers, please. Leave the guy alone… these big action movies he’s doing now are when he’s at his worst. I’ve heard Spielberg which… oh God, if Indiana Jones and the Flying Saucer was any indication, let’s keep Spielberg to historical character films please… not action movies. I’ve even heard Tarentino. What are you, nuts?? Can’t have Mr. Fuckin Reservoir Dogs directing Han and Leia’s kids! Two people that came to my mind, that I believe (of course “you believe” you’re writing it you jackass) are capable, unknown enough but have the experience and chops: Duncan Jones and Rian Johnson. But hey, what do I know?
Within a few years of Fear and Desire’s release, Stanley Kubrick would begin the process of becoming Stanley Kubrick. In 1958, when Kubrick was fresh off his first hit, Paths of Glory, he cut a familiar figure in the New York Times Magazine, which described him as a “lank-haired, slightly elusive, seemingly diffident young man who talks little, wears dark suits in the bright sunshine on Canon Drive, and makes astonishing movies.” He reportedly burned the negative of Fear and Desire shortly after it came and went at the box office, though he could never completely write the film out of his personal history.
- Holy shit this is an awesome Gus from Breaking Bad poster:
- Really insightful post from my guy PEESHE (over in Australia) about using the MPC for live shows. Specifically the MPC2000XL. Number 5 is something I always try to remind myself of. This is where he blogs now, mostly. What an excellent collective site. Dang. Beautiful design.
- And speaking of collectives, the new Minneapolis/St. Paul collective F.I.X. (“F to the I to the X”) is giving away three free albums in one nifty package until their debut collective show Friday the 17th: No Bird Sing’s “Theft of Commons”, Kill The Vultures’ “Ecce Beast”, and Kristoff Krane’s “Hunting For Father”. The last I’ve spoke of on here before. Probably multiple times. It’s an awesome album. The other two are as well. And hey, the shit is FREE. Here’s the Bandcamp stream:
- Hey, independent comics retailers/press… wanna know a good way to not sell your shit? By ripping on any of Warren Ellis’ friends in the public net-square. This includes blogs, Facebook, in this case Twitter. His wrath will be swift and severe. And I’m betting his site gets more views than yours. Not to mention that is just being an asshole. Saying that shit on Twitter.
The social, cultural, and political turbulence chronicled by such off-radar newspapers as Rat Subterranean News, Screw, San Francisco Oracle, East Village Other, Black Mask, and Los Angeles Free Press, to name only a few, is commonly overlooked in mainstream histories. As a result, what often remains is the same scattershot of familiar imagery from the late 1960s/early 1970s that’s lingered in the nation’s collective memory: hippies dancing with flowers in their hair at the Monterey Pop Festival during the Summer of Love; Timothy Leary at the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park in 1967, urging the Haight-Ashbury crowds to “Turn on, tune in, drop out”; U.S. military tanks on city streets during the race riots in Detroit and Newark; the rise of the Hell’s Angels as the new American outlaws; and the Kent State University shootings and Mary Ann Vecchio’s haunting scream.
- Great news for Warren Ellis! His upcoming novel — Gun Machine — will be adapted to television by 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment. Ellis himself will oversee the show, serving as Executive Producer, and Trauma creator/writer Dario Scardapane will be the head writer. I’m so happy for Internet Jesus… he’s been an awesome writer for so long, he deserves some mainstream success. (Not that I don’t wish he’d write comics again.)
- Well this is excellent news too: Joss Whedon is returning to directAvengers 2. Not only that, but he’ll also be the creator and executive producer (and probably do some writing too) of a Marvel movie-verse TV show for ABC tied to his films. I figured he wouldn’t want to do the Avengers sequel, considering a project that massive doesn’t allow for much side work. I suppose the C-141′s full of money can’t help (was gonna go with “truckload”… but didn’t think that sufficed). This is awesome though, because ever since the end of Avengers I’ve wondered where Whedon would take the sequel… what with sequels being the darkest of three movies and all (typically) due to dramatic structure.
Coincidentally, Whedon was/is working on a sort-of Internet-show with Warren Ellis. I hope that sees the light of day considering how busy their lives are about to get.
- David Cronenberg has a son who is now directing. And it’s looking like his movie’s will be as grotesquely creepy as his father’s. Antiviral is his first full-length and is I believe out in select cities/theaters. It stars the kid who played Banshee in X-Men: First Class. Caleb Jones. I think he’ll probably become a household name in the next 5 to 10 years. Also, apparently he plays drums and sings in a band called Robert Jones.
- In other movie news, Francis Ford Coppola looks like he’s bitten off a lot more than he can chew with his new film idea. The Edgar Allen Poe masks with 3D eye-holes are one thing, but having to put it on and take it off constantly? Not to mention he has “devised an interface between himself and the film so he could alter it in real time, adjusting the flow of the narrative as he read the audience’s reactions. This interface was built as an iPad app.“ Obviously the rebuttal here is… so he’s going to be present at EVERY ONE of his screenings…? The Bleeding Cool writer called this “several bad ideas crashing into one another”. He should know, he was at the Comic-Con screening.
- More reasons Texas is kinda batshit crazy. Or… at least has their priorities in a bunch. This HIGH SCHOOL football stadium costs $60 million. That’s American bucks. And before we go all “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE… HOW IMPORTANT HS FOOTBALL IS DOWN HERE”. I do not. But, I hail from Minnesota, where High School hockey is super important. Where professional players, who have played and won the Stanley Cup (and in some cases Gold Medal games in the Olympics) have said that playing in the MN High School final was a more memorable experience. Hell, I bet we have a higher percentage of NHL players than Texas has NFL players. But you know what they do up North? They fucking play outside. In a rink that probably costs a couple grand to manufacture. But hockey is life up there. Really explains both the differences between BOTH hockey and football, and MN and Texas. Down to Earth love-of-the-game shit vs. massive spectacle.
- Francsesco Francavilla has been doing minimalist Breaking Bad posters for each episode throughout July. I’m hoping he’ll eventually do the entire series. Here’s an example:
- Economist Dambiso Moyo explains how to close the resources gap with China, and how they’re quietly and very successfully buying up land all over the world to extract exotic minerals and other natural resources:
“Even if all nations were to engage in multilateral discussions about resources, the world would still face the core problem–too little supply for too much demand. Aggressive government meddling in commodity markets (such as banning commodity speculators) has, on balance, tended to do more harm than good. Policies aiming to curb demand, such as higher taxes on consumption, are possible but remain politically unpalatable in a world dedicated to possessing ever-more material goods and a higher standard of living. A few supply-side policies show more promise. These include eliminating inefficient food subsidies and discouraging food waste, encouraging the recycling of metals, and investing in research and development for alternatives or solutions to resource scarcity.”
- Yesterday between working on my shit I made a quick remix for Texture’s next release, a trilogy of EP’s as one and a slew of remixes and rarities. Which will be a treat, seeing all three of those together. I was telling him that I wanted it to come across as a little more haunting than it does, but I think it still gets the job done. Had a lot of fun tweaking with his line “nothing is sacred” by adding a whole ass load of modulation, pitch shift, and delay to provide some nice backing vocals for the refrain. The guitar could be tweaked a bit more, but I kinda like keeping guitars (for the most part) effect free. Really liking the tone of the new telecaster on this one. Check it out:
Be sure to look out for NEUROLEPTICA. I’ll likely be posting here as well.
- This is old. BUT, if Game Of Thrones was a 2-D fighting game (probably made by Capcom):
- Jazz For Metalheadsmixtape. Free. Created and posted by the main writer behind the Invisible Oranges metal blog. Interesting mix, which he explains as Jazz coming from his own sensibilities… the free form Jazz that expanded the genre, and music in general, in the 50′s and 60′s. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD.
- That post pointed me in the direction of an awesome Jazz and Metal blog called Cosmic Hearse.
- It’s Mad Menseason. So here’s an 8-bit video game version:
