Good-Bye Niku-Udon

It sucks when a favorite restaurant closes. Maybe it is just my sentimental side shining through, but I always associate good restaurants with more than just the delicious food they serve. Sometimes, I link the establishment to the music and podcasts I listened to on my iPod while eating there, or to the movies I watched before, or after, a pleasant meal, or even to the thoughts that were birthed at the table during a fine meal. Sometimes, a good eatery just adds a sense of comfort to a hectic day - a place to escape the office for a relaxing and delicious hour.

Today I decided to go have some Japanese food at Tokagetsu, a wonderfully decorated Japanese restaurant within walking distance from my office. It was while I was being seated that the old Japanese hostess dropped the bomb, "Today is our last day," she told me in broken English. I suddenly felt sad. Sad because I would never be able to eat their great chicken-katsu or niku-udon again. Sad for the old ladies that worked so hard there. Sad because it is the only Japanese restaurant within walking distance, and sad because the place had so much charm and character.

And so, begrudgingly, I ate my last bowl of niku-udon served by the outwardly grumpy old Japanese woman with a heart of gold. I never knew her name, the name of the owners, or anything about them, and I will never see any of them again. While paying my bill, I learned that their lease had not been renewed, and so they are probably being driven out of business by some money hungry bastard wanting to turn their building into over-priced urban condos for ex-hippy sellouts, recovering from their fourth divorce, moving back to downtown to try, again, for that hip, over-priced lifestyle they've always dreamed of. Or whatever.

My First Hate Mail!

It was bound to happen, and I am surprised it took this long. Someone finally sent me some hate mail. I decided to post it here, as a memento. I've heard that getting hate male is a sign of "making it," although, what I've made is a complete and utter mystery!

EDIT - I just listened to the Halloween 3 episode of Mondomovie, and I wasn't on it. I didn't think I was. So I guess, some of this hate mail isn't even really directed at me. Darnit all.


D Davis....

I have listened to a bunch of your podcasts... Compared to the two guys from Mondo Movie, you sound like an inarticulate kinder-gardener..(you actually ruined their show about Halloween 3...it was the first Mondo Movie that I scanned over because it was like listening to a father talk movies with his teenage son).

However, you have brought a few great mentions to the table. I actually appreciate the review of "The Boxer's Omen." I'm glad I saw it and probably wouldn't have for quite some time if you had not mentioned it.

However, you blew it when you made the blasphemous comment about liking the Dawn of the Dead remake over the original. I'm not going to explain the endless reasons why the original is a superior film. I will say that you have lost the little respect I had left for you.

[name removed by me]

I seriously think you should address this on your show because I'm sure you've turned off a large number of listeners with that comment.



Another EDIT - The writer of this email just apologized to me. Dangit. I guess this means it's not hate mail, which means I haven't made squat! Drat. :)

Mushishi

In a week or so, I'll be seeing Katsuhiro Otomo's (Akira, Steamboy) new live action feature, Mushishi. After getting my ticket and doing a little research on the film, I found that the story is taken from a popular manga and anime. It sounded fascinating to me, and so I went ahead and ordered a bootleg set of the series off of Ebay. I watched the first episode last night, and it is pretty good, and quite a bit different than a lot of the anime I have seen.



The set I got came with the soundtrack, and I listened to it yesterday at work. It is full of that “introspective anime piano music,” those of you familiar with the medium will know exactly what I am talking about. However, the opening theme song is unique. It is a soft little acoustic song, sung in English, and does a wonderful job of setting up the tone and atmosphere of the show.

Check out the intro on youtube:





Mushishi is basically about this wondering spiritualist who solves people's problems with the Mushi, or forest spirits. In many ways, it's kind of like the old Kung Fu television show, as the main character walks around from village to village trying to help people by doing good things. Each episode is a stand alone story, and from what I have read there are no narrative threads that run throughout the 26 episodes.

The first episode finds the hero helping a young boy who lives by himself in a huge rundown house. The boy has a mysterious power, and is able to bring drawings to life - he can actually create. He is being haunted by the young spirit of his grandmother who watched over him when she was living. The tone of this episode was a bit creepy, and it is totally atmospheric. The amazing sound design helps to strengthen the atmosphere, and the use of lighting and the shot selection do wonders to create an eerie feel. The episode is also, however, peaceful, and tranquil. It is deliberately paced, and directed with a maturity I don't often find in television cartoons.





So far, I am intrigued by Mushishi's universe, and I look forward to seeing, reading, and learning more. It is also a breath of fresh air, and is unique in a medium populated by giant robots, over sexed teens, harem shows, science-fiction, and violence. While I can see some people thinking the show is boring, I can also see fans of anime like Boogiepop Phantom, LAIN, and Angel's Egg totally digging it.

New Tsui Hark Film on the Way

I found this exciting news this morning. It looks like we will have two new Tsui Hark films to look forward to in the near future. I knew about The Eye 3 (can't say I am too terribly excited for this one), but I had not heard of, Missing. It sounds intriguing.

Variety Asia

Written by Vicki Rothrock
   Wednesday, 09 May 2007
Story Categories: China, Film, Hong Kong, Japan,


HONG KONG — Mandarin Films Distribution has found itself with new Tsui Hark film "Missing." The romantic thriller will be in part filmed underwater off Yonaguni Island off Japan where there are ancient ruins. The $8 million pic is about a man who hides an engagement ring in the ruins, then disappears during the dive with his girlfriend to retrieve it.

Pic stars Lee Sinje ("The Eye",) Isabella Leong ("Spider Lilies"), Chang Chen ("Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon") and China’s Guo Xiao Dong ("Love Undercover 2").

Currently in pre-production, pic is scheduled to start shooting later this month and should hit theaters by either November or March/April, said Virginia Leung, senior manager for distribution at Mandarin, which will handle international sales.

Pic, which is fully financed, is a Film Workshop production and produced by Mandarin and China’s Dong Tian Motion Picture Investment, Enlight Pictures and Beijing Polybona Film Distribution. Polybona will handle distribution in China. Executive producers are "Infernal Affairs" producer Nansun Shi, Raymond Wong, Wang Chang Tian and Yu Dong.

"Legends speak of an amazing lost city that sank into the sea 10,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age," Tsui said. "These ancient underwater ruins serve as a perfect backdrop…it’s beyond our imagination."

Tsui, crew and cast have all completed a three-week intensive diving course in preparation for the shoot, which will cover Hong Kong, Shanghai, Yonaguni Island and Taiwan.

Mandarin will also be screening a promo view of Wilson-Yip helmed "Flash Point" at Cannes.

Last Updated ( Friday, 11 May 2007 )  

I Miss E3...and Other Gaming Stuff

I miss E3. Normally, right now, I would be salivating over all of the new gaming goodness coming our way in the near future. I would be downloading Sony's, Microsoft's, and Nintendo's press conferences, and watching with great anticipation, curious as to what the next year of gaming would promise. I always used to look forward to this week, and even though I never entertained the idea of actually going to the event (way too crowded), there was always enough great live and recorded coverage on 1UP, Gamspot, and IGN, that I felt as if I were there...

But in better news, only about 2 more weeks until Tomb Raider Anniversary is released. I've been chronicling my excitement here since the day it was announced, and now that it is almost here, it seems too good to be true. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the first Tomb Raider is my all time favorite game. No other game before it, or after it, has been able to capture the essence of exploration and adventure the same way TR1 does for me.

Part of the reason why I love the game so much has more to do with the nostalgia surrounding it than anything else. It was just one of those perfect games that fit perfectly with the times. I had just received my PS1 from my parents for Christmas, and TR1 was the first game I bought. I was living with my bandmates at the time, and my friends Mark and Paul were always hanging out playing ping-pong and video games with us. Video games had always been a big part of our lives, and Paul and I spent countless hours during countless summers at arcades or in front of the television with the NES and SNES.

The night I got home with TR1 was really cool. No one had really heard much about this game. I fired up the PS1, and Mark, Paul, Collin, my sister, and I were pretty stunned when it came on. I started playing, and everyone just sat there watching. When things started getting intense, we all reacted as if we were watching a cool action flick. People were “ooohing,” and “ahhing,” telling me to “watch out!” and helping me navigate the twisted labyrinths of the tombs and caverns.

We all stayed up until almost 4 a.m., but in all reality, no one really wanted to go to sleep. We all just wanted to see what would happen next in the game. After a few hours of shut eye, we were all awake again, sitting in front of the television watching Lara Croft dazzle us with her amazing, for the time, acrobatic, spelunking prowess. This video game kinship continued for the following week. Every night, after we all got off work, we would all convene at my place and get lost in the tombs together. We had as much fun hanging out and shooting the shit as we did playing the game.

Most of my favorite video game moments are tied up in the milieu surrounding the game, just as much, if not more, than the game itself. Sometimes, the friends a game is played with, or the place and time a game is played in, can make a game infinitely better and more enjoyable. I am not disparaging the actual game play of Tomb Raider 1 - I think it still holds up, and it is a great game - but there are many non-gaming factors that go into my sheer enjoyment of it. Tomb Raider 1 has the top spot in my list of gaming goodness, and is in the company of games like the original Zelda and Metroid games, Final Fantasy 1, Dragon Warrior, Out of this World, Mystical Ninja Brothers, Wild Arms, Final Fantasy VII, and others. It is a game that I love because of the game itself, and because of the great times and friends I had surrounding it.

Ugh...

Smokin' Aces is...

A terrible mess. Tell, tell, tell, tell, tell...this movie told everything, and didn't show a dang thing. The entire narrative was told through endless exposition. The characters were nothing more than poorly written, and, what's worse, uninteresting, cliche, while the overbearing score sought to elicit emotions from me about about characters and situations I had nothing invested in. It's hard to cry about a cardboard character dying, and doubly so when the cardboard used is stinky, moldy, and not worth a damn.

If you thought Boondock Saints was the last late-entry into the 1990s throwback, wannabe-Pulp Fiction sub-genre, think again. What I thought was a corpse is actually still breathing, barely, and that's too bad, it's time for this sub-genre to be put to rest. After seeing the trailers for this film, I thought, “Okay, looks like a good Big Hit,” well, actually, The Big Hit is a good Smokin' Aces - ouch, now that hurts to write.

I haven't even mentioned the worse part yet - the total incompetence of the so called "FBI agents." In one particularly wretched sequence, a handcuffed suspect escapes, from a room full of dozens of agents, and no chase at all is given...uhm...okay. The next scene shows all of the agents leaving, they totally gave up. But wait, there's more! The "twist ending" actually renders the worthless plot beforehand, even more worthless! Oh my, how grand.

I was watching a film that I didn't care about, with characters so insipidly written not even their fictitious mothers would love them, and then the writer/director decides to mix things up and render everything that happened totally moot. Wow. Wretched. I am actually mad I watched this. And that damn, four-eyed, freakazoid, karate kid. What. The. Hell? Holy crap. This film was one baffling, poorly written, heinously plotted sequence after another. No point, no purpose, no fun - nothing.

Planet Hong Kong: Part 2

The same impulse governs the reliance on conventions, unkindly called formulas and cliché – all those laughable, taken-for-granted devices that communicate instantly. …

Hong Kong action films are rich in such artifice. Even the harmless looking citizen knows kung fu. A half-frozen man can suddenly recover and somersault over a car. Immediately after a stinging blow, the victim bruises horribly. If someone has a pistol, somebody else with become a hostage with that pistol point to his or her head. During a gunfight, someone is sure to run out of ammunition at a crucial moment. A cop wounded in a firefight will show up later with a bit of gauze taped to his forehead. A man can have an arm hacked off and still fight, and win. During a kung fu fight, if blood trickles from the character’s mouth, death is usually at hand…(page 11)

The above listed idiosyncrasies are either words of praise, or words of harsh criticism, depending on the viewer’s general attitude towards Hong Kong cinema. As a long time fan of the region’s films, I can think of dozens of examples of many of these HK cinematic contrivances. And many of these scenes, sequences, and narratives that come to mind, are among my most favorite cinematic moments.

Yes, HK cinema is full of cliché, and instantly recognizable iconography, archetypes, and tropes. However, I don’t think the filmmakers use these devices out of laziness. On the contrary, they do so because their craft demands it. HK cinema is fast paced – even their romantic comedies speed by with frantic editing, cutting, and narratives with the fat, and some of the meat, trimmed away. HK cinema is reductive in nature – it relies on concrete cinematic language, and stories told with brevity. Often times the concise nature of these films can be a narrative hindrance, because the filmmakers leave crucial plot points and characterizations up to the audience’s discretion.

In another region’s cinema, montage is used to tell a condescend portion of the story, briefly, but in Hong Kong sometimes it feels as if entire films are made of one long montage after another. This is not to say that they don’t tell cohesive stories, because they do, but these films require the audience to strap in, and go with it. Hong Kong filmmakers don’t wait around for their audiences to “get it.” Hong Kong films will often lack periods of reflection, and moments where the narrative allows the characters, and the audience, a chance to breathe. This is in direct opposition to many of the films made in Japan, films that are brimming with long, languid sequences of reflection, the mono no aware.

Sometimes, Hong Kong films make me tired. I have learned to read fast, and conjure sense and meaning from cryptic phrases made of bad “Engrish” syntax. I have learned to make superhuman leaps in film logic, and to construct missing portions of foreign narratives in my mind. Watching, and getting, a typical Hong Kong film is rewarding to me, because I feel a sense of participation, and I feel that the filmmakers respect my ability to suspend my disbelief, and to be captivated by their imaginative creations.

Planet Hong Kong

I just started reading David Bordwell's book, Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment. Bordwell's book is considered a definitive look at populist cinema from an industry that, at one time, produced some of the most outlandish and entertaining genre cinema found anywhere in the world. Chances are if you read another book, or essay, on the subject of Hong Kong cinema, Bordwell's name will appear in the bibliography. While I have read excerpts from this book before, along with independent essays and blog posts, I have not yet read the entire book from start to finish. This is about to change. As I read through the book, for research and for entertainment, I am going to respond to some of Bordwell's key phrases. This will give me an opportunity to put into words some of my own thoughts on HK cinema, while at the same time I will be able to engage in a one-sided dialog with an author I admire.

Hong Kong cinema can be sentimental, joyous, rip-roaring, silly, bloody, and bizarre. Their audacity, their slickness, and their unabashed appeal to emotion have won them audiences throughout the world (page 2).

I love Bordwell's introduction to Hong Kong cinema. It exemplifies many of the reasons I like so many Hong Kong films. I prefer to watch films with my heart, and not with my head. This does not mean that I don't like to think about what I am watching, its cultural and social impact, or of how the film is made, however, for me to truly enjoy a film, it must engage me on an emotional level (this is a topic I spent a great deal of time on during the Pan's Labyrinth podcast). I need to feel something regarding the characters, their conflicts, and the narrative presented. I believe a well made film will effortlessly engage me, it will draw me into its milieu without me having to think about things such as the characters' motivations, the geography of the setting, or of all the little details and nuances of the story.

If a film effortlessly engages me, I am more apt to suspend my disbelief, and to forgive other shortcomings. I can accept outlandish acts of gravity defying acrobatics, strange weapons that defy the laws of physics, broad, vulgar, physical comedy, and all manner of things, if I am emotionally invested in the characters and the story. I can also forgive plot holes, forgotten details, and incredible leaps of logic if a film manages to engage me.

Many Hong Kong films have all of the above listed traits - the good and the bad - however, HK cinema engages me like no other, all because of how it appeals to my emotions. I get a sense of pure joy when I watch HK cinema. It feels as if the filmmakers are truly having a great time creating their films, and this joyous experience oozes from the screen. It feels as if HK filmmakers want nothing more than to show their audiences sights they have never seen before, accompanied by sounds from another world. Almost everything about the way they make their films engages me on an emotional level, and it is because of this effortless engagement that I am so enthralled by HK cinema.

My Man Tsui

Tsui Hark is quickly approaching 60 years old, and after reading an amazing interview with him last night, I became suddenly aware that there will come a time when there will be no more Tsui, and no more new Tsui films to look forward to. I've been reading and studying a great deal about my favorite director lately, and I've been thinking a lot about his major films. As much as I like many of them, I still don't think Tsui has unearthed his true masterpiece yet.

Even though he is not nearly as prolific or as consistent now as he was during the ferociously creative '80s and early '90s, I still think Tsui has his finger on the pulse of something great. I just hope he is able to find the main artery of pure cinematic brilliance before he gets too old and no longer has the physical strength to keep up with the creative energy of his mind. I know this subject is a bit morbid, and Tsui is still relatively young, but as I get older I start to realize that everything I like also gets older. It is a strange thing.

The book I am reading now, A Swordsman and His Jiang Hu: The Films of Tsui Hark, is brilliant. Although some of the essays suffer from less than stellar translation (it was original written in Chinese), most of them are great, and the essence is still present throughout. What I appreciate most about this book is what it is not: it is not a 200-page fan gushing, shoveling endless amounts of unwavering praise at Tsui. Sure, there is a level of respect and admiration throughout, but there is also some staunch criticism.

The book is comprised of essays written by Chinese filmmakers who have worked with Tsui, and so it offers a grassroots perspective on the director. There are essays written by long time collaborators including screenwriters, composers, cinematographers, and business partners, and all of them have insightful things to say - some bad, some good. What seems to be the overall theme of the essays is how much his contemporaries respect him for how much he has given to Chinese cinema, even though they don’t always like working with him. Tsui is very demanding of his co-workers, and constantly pushes them to try new things and to think differently.

Being in the west, I think it is hard to realize the massive impact Tsui has had on the entire HK film industry, but after reading this book it is all becoming clearer. I don’t think we have anyone to compare to Tsui Hark here in the west, we don’t have a single filmmaker who has created as many landmark and groundbreaking genre-trends. I am not saying that we don’t have filmmakers who are as good, because we do, heck we have filmmakers who are technically better, but I do not think there is anyone in Hollywood today whose fingerprint can be seen and felt in such a drastic way . Whether the genre is action, martial arts, horror, comedy, or drama, Tsui has touched it, shaped it, and changed it.

Check this out...Tekkon Kinkreet

As most of you are aware, the Japanese animated film Mind Game has totally blown my, uhm, mind. I think it is one of the most stunning films I have ever seen, ranking along side such prestigious flicks as Once Upon a Time in the West, Boxer From Shantung, and Mulholland Dr.

The same studio responsible for this minor miracle of cinema, Four Degrees Celsius, has released a new film - Tekkon Kinkreet. It looks fantastic. This is a very special Japanese animated feature, it is the first to be directed by a Westerner. I do not know much about the story, but it looks amazing. The Museum of Modern Art in New York recently held a screening of the film, and it looks like Sony will be distributing it around the globe. Check out the trailer and the official website below.

Trailer
Pops in WM

Official Site

The Weng Weng Rap

Joe R. Lansdale

I just got Joe R. Lansdale's newest collection of short stories, The Shadows, Kith and Kin. It's a small press hardback, and signed! It's got 9 stories, 7 of which are stand alone, and the other 2 are the further adventures of Reverend Rains, the character from Lansdale's zombie western, Dead in the West. Should be cool. Lansdale is a modern master of short fiction, one that should be read more.

The title story is based off of the true life events of the Austin school shootings commited by Charles Whitman, although the story itself is fiction. Lansdale went to school at U of T a few years after these tragic events, and has been haunted by them ever since. The story is told from the POV of the killer, and what he was thinking before, during, and after the events.

It has been said before that Lansdale's stories start where others stop - he goes all the way, and touches upon things most authors avoid altogether, things that most authors are far too afraid to touch.

A good Lansdale story will slap you upside the head, beat your ass as you fall to the ground, and then kick your gut as you lay there moaning. And then, when it's done, you beg for more.

Listen Up!

Okay music fans, here are a couple of new albums for you to check out:

Ennio Morricone in Lounge – Ennio Morricone



I never knew that Morricone wrote pop music, and now that I do, I am trying to get my hands on as much of it as possible. In Lounge is a wonderful collection of groovy, slinky, sexy, and sensuous songs straight outta’ coolsville. Some of tracks like Intermezzino Pop, La Moda, and Allegretto Per Signora, are pure funky fun, and would totally fit in on an old Russ Meyer film. Some of the other tracks like Alla Serenita, Belinda May, and the totally gorgeous and sexy Veruschka slink along with a cool bossa nova rhythm, luscious string arrangements, and beautiful vocals. If you are at all a fan of Morricone’s soundtrack work (and if you’re not, you should be) check this album out. The CD is available from Amazon, but only as an expensive import. I suggest grabbing it at iTunes – it’s cheaper, and instantaneous!



Sensuous – Cornelius



Cornelius’s third US release just hit the shelves yesterday, and I’ve already listened to it a handful of times. It is really good, and while not as groundbreaking or amazing as Fantasma, I do like it better than Point. The opening track, Sensuous, is a simple, elegant and minimal acoustic guitar song. It forms a solid foundation for the rest of the album to build on. The next two tracks, Fit Song and Breezin’ add in more rhythm and synth work, as well as vocals. Wataridori, the fifth song on the CD, is my favorite. It has a great build up to an awesome groove complete with bass, guitar, synths, and an ingectious rhythm. It reminds me of some of the work a lot of indie game developers are doing for their game soundtracks, especially the music for the game Gate 88.

As a whole, Sensuous is far subtler than both Point and Fantasma. It sounds as if the artist is maturing, and entering into a new musical phase. Once again, like all of Cornelius’s albums, Sensuous should be listened to on headphones. One thing that Cornelius excels at is mixing his music to take full advantage of the stereo-field. Point was re-released a few years ago mixed in 5.1, and from what I have heard, this is the only way to listen to the album. I hope that Sensuous gets a 5.1 remix, because I have a feeling this will add even more life to this already brilliant sounding album.

Hot Fuzz

It was pretty cool. A really solid parody of Michael Bay. As the only big fan of Bay around, well, anywhere really, I got a kick out of how much the film lifted from him. I thought it was cool - they were poking fun of Bay while at the same time giving him props for making such absurd and entertaining action films. I like how the film took the edited-by-blender approach of Bay and made it ever faster and more jumbled, and far more chaotic, it was pretty funny. Although it did lack Bay's knack for making everything look totally awesome.

I also like how they didn't really parody Hong Kong action, it was far more 'western,' which was a good thing since the new school Hong Kong action has in fact become a parody of itself as of late. Hot Fuzz is to Michael Bay and American action cinema, as Kung Fu Hustle is to Chang Cheh and the old school kung fu film, although I like KFH quite a bit more.

I liked the film, but I didn't love it. I think Shaun is a much more accomplished film that carries its weight better as a real film, and not just a send up to genre conventions. I think there is more sincere emotion in Shaun, and the parody didn't feel as on the nose or forced as it did in Hot Fuzz. Both are good films, and I will definitely be seeing Hot Fuzz again, I just don't think it's “the best ever,” or anything even close to that. It was a totally solid action-parody, and dang entertaining, if a little long.

I should add that Timothy Dalton was freaking awesome.

Just a thought...

D.S.'s blog entry yesterday on violence, and the emotional impact of the VT shootings is great. And he is right - there is no way anything can prepare anyone for a real-life tragedy such as this. There is no way any sane person can ever understand the mental state of the killer - we cannot even fathom how his brain must have been wired and working. We can also not understand the fear of those he was stalking and shooting at. This is real. Reality can sometimes be a total bitch.

I was talking with my wife yesterday, and she mentioned how, due to her busy day, she has felt disconnected from the tragedy, a feeling I agree with. We are in Seattle, this massacre happened "way over there." Tragedy continues to happen "way over there" in Iraq as well. We talked at length about how it is probably healthy to take a few moments out of every day to reflect on these events, and to offer up our prayers and thoughts to all involved.

I am not saying we need to become overrun with guilt or depression, but it is good to acknowledge that bad stuff happens, I think this helps us be good and kind. I think this is a healthy thing to do. In our technologically connected modern lives, we are often totally disconnected from actual human beings. Why talk to someone in person when I can talk to them on a forum? Why talk to anyone at lunch when I can listen to my podcasts? I don't mean to disparage these things, because they are important to me and many others, and I do think that things such as films, books, and podcasts are important and can be a healthy creative outlet. Tragedy like this tends to put things into perspective, and this is a good thing, because sometimes our priorities get really out of whack.

A quick word about magic...

...if you're going to make a movie about magic, make sure you have some.

I just wasted over two hours of a perfectly good Friday night watching The Prestige. This was one of the most fan acclaimed films of last year? My, my, my, that bat guy and his mediocre beginning sure have a lot of power. For a movie about magic, The Prestige has very, very little up its sleeve (hoe, hoe, hoe, what a joke!). Boring, pedestrian direction, by the numbers characterizations, a “trick” ending, and, for a film dealing in the fantastique, it has some of the most boring production design I have ever seen. It felt like I was watching a really long episode of Tales From the Dark Side, only not as good. Wow...I should have watched some thing good.

Random Thought...

In The Game of Death, Bruce Lee wore a track suit colored yellow with a black stripe up the side of the legs, torso, and arms. He did so for a number of reasons. First, the suit was practical: it was comfortable and allowed him to move. Secondly, the stark yellow color stood out against the dark background of the pagoda used during the final sequence. Third, the black stripe allowed for his “shapes” to be more defined and for his movement to be tracked better by the viewer - it accentuated the skeletal, “stick man,” form.

The footage Lee shot for GOD is arguably some of the best martial arts footage ever captured on film. Now, I am not talking about what you see in the terribly edited, hacked to shreds, Frankenstein of a film normally seen. I am talking about the 30+/- minutes of footage found in the documentary, Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Because this footage is so highly admired by kung fu fans, Bruce Lee's black-striped, yellow track suit has become an iconic representation of “real” martial arts and expertly choreographed cinematic action. When the suit is seen, one instantly recognizes that some good kung fu is about to about to drop. The iconic symbolism the suit represents was not birthed from some well constructed stroke of genius-marketing from Lee - it was birthed out of the culture of martial arts cinema and from the admiration of fans through the decades.



In Kill Bill V.1, Tarantino dresses the Bride in a similar suit and he does so for all of the reasons listed above, and then some. He does so because he admires Bruce Lee and admires what Lee did for Asian cinema. He does so because the suit accentuates Uma's already lanky figure making her look even longer. He does so because it is practical - it lets her move with freedom. He also does so because of the meta-textual layer of what the suit symbolizes. He knew that by putting her in such an iconic “mask,” fans would instantly recognize that something awesome was about to happen. This was not just some lazy decision on Tarantino's part, or a simple and flippant lift from another film. This was a conscious choice to pay homage to a great actor, and more importantly, a nod to great martial arts cinema. Tarantino knows what the suit represents, he knows what the suit means to fans of martial arts, and he uses it to tap into this knowledge to let us know that the action we are about to see is totally going to rock.

This guy is so awesome it hurts my brain...

One List to Rule them All

People like lists. I mean, really, really like them. Especially when the lists show up on the interweb. Lists give people a chance to storm various discussion forums and declare that so-and-so left such-and-such off the list of the Top 10 Widgets for 2006, or that Mr. Blogger wouldn't know a Top 25 Dongle if it smacked upside the head with an acoustic modem.

I will also admit to enjoying the occasional list - both reading and creating. And so, it has come to this: I have decided to put together a list of my Top 100 films. Now, I am not declaring that these films are "the best ever," but I am simply saying that, on a personal level, I think these 100 films totally rock. That on any given day, or night, I could throw on any one of these movies and be thoroughly entertained and happy with my decision is the point of said list.

It has taken me about a month to put the list together, and it is almost ready for consumption. I have chosen the 100 films, but I am still working out the order. The top 10-20, or so, are easy, as are the bottom 10. However, the middle portion is hard. Does it really matter that number 32 is better than 33, or that 78 is better than 77? I don't think so, and yet still I struggle to get things "right."

My list is also different because, unlike a lot of top whatever-lists, I am sure you have heard of most of these films! This is not some esoteric list compiled to make my tastes seem more sophisticated, or more elite than the common film fan's. No - my list really is a celebration of populism. One of the most important criteria in choosing the films for the list was "rewatchability." These are films that I simply love to watch, for any number of reasons.

So anyhow, I will be discussing this list a bit more in the near future, and as I write reviews for each of the films, I will begin to post them in special updates. I know...the anticipation must be killing you!

Welcome Back Kitamura

Love Death - now this film has me excited. It looks like Kitamura is back in a major way, and it looks as if he has taken some cues from Miike. The trailor for the film is located within the website, and I highly suggest you check it out. It's a good trailer, and it feels like a trailer for a Kitamura film - it builds slowly and creates a rising tension until **BANG** an eruption of chaos. Very, very cool.

Love Death Website

Also, speaking of Kitamura, I should be getting my super-duper 3-disc version of ULTIMATE VERSUS any day now. I can't wait to see this new cut, and watch all the groovy footage and extras. I feel like Kitamura has been gone for a while, so it's nice to have him back!

HAVE SOME FUN!

Dennis Dyack is...Too Human

I don't know how many of you who read this are really into video games, but if you are, you need to check out EGM's podcast from last week. It is one of the most interesting podcasts I have ever heard. If you've been following video games at all for the last 10 years, then I am sure you are familiar with a little game being made by Silicon Knights called Too Human. Too Human's development cycle started on the N64, and it will now be an epic trilogy on the XBOX 360. Some of you also might remember E3 from 2006 - at this even, a build of Too Human was shown, one that got ripped to shreds by the gaming press. The frame rate was choppy, the camera sucked, and it looked bland.

Well, on EGM's podcast posted on 3/12/07, Mr. Silicon Knight himself, Dennis Dyack, appeared as a special guest. Mr. Dyack talks freely about the E3 disastor, and his opinions on the industry and how things should change. He rips into the gaming press as well as the publishers and developers. While it gets more than a little uncomfortable around the 50-minute mark, things settle down and the ending segment of the show is fascinating. It is so rare to hear a developer such as Dyack speak so frankly about things, and he was not under the control of a PR handler. This particular podast really does offer a verticle slice of the games industry, and should be listened to by all who might care.

Get the 3/12/07 EGM Podcast here

An Epic Game...

Can something be "really epic?" Is "epic," like "unique," a word that shouldn't be modified? I don't know, and I don't care, because God of War II is really damn epic. Really. The sheer size of the world and the conflict in this game actually makes me feel small. Even during the first few hours, there were numerous times when I just put the controller down and stared at the screen, my eye wide with astonishment. Just wait until the first time you see the Steeds of Time (a group of GIANT stone horses that is simply stunning) or the first time you take to the air on the back of the Pegasus. The game is grand, and on a scale that few others are.

It also looks amazing. Some of the cut scenes actually look like they use HD textures and there are moments when I could easily mistake this game for a 360 title. This game just further proves what an amazing system the PS2 is. The frame rate is totally solid, I don't think I've seen it dip once even when fighting a GIANT titan-esque statue, although there is a bit of vertical tearing, but this is a minor complaint. The basic gameplay is identical to part one, which is a good thing, but it seems as if everything has been amped up a notch or two. The first time you perform a finishing move on one of the airborne enemies will surely elicit a roar of approval, and the more intense and frequent use of the quick time events makes for an even more exciting experience. I find it odd that more games have not incorporated these Shenmue-style QTEs, but I am glad to see them in God of War, and in the Tomb Raider Legends.

Speaking of Tomb Raider, I read on IGN that May 29 will be the day my world stands still. I will be requesting this day off from work, and I will be picking up the new and improved remake of my favorite all time game - Tomb Raider. I can't believe that one of my video game wishes is actually coming true. I just hope that Crystal Dynamics does a good job on the redux, and that the face lift given to this classic adventure title makes it even better - as if that's even possible.

A 2D Side Scroller....for the PC?

I am very excited for Aquaria, an upcoming PC game that recently won some awards at the Independent Games Festival held at this year's GDC in San Francisco. It look like an underwater version of Super Metroid - and this is a very, very cool thing. It is rare these days to see a hand drawn 2D side scroller, and even rarer still to see one on the PC. Check out the developer's website and the trailer below for more details. I think this is one that fans of "cool stuff" should get behind and support!

Bit-Blot's website

Me and You and...BARF!

So Nicole, my wife, and I watched half of a terrible, terrible film last night - Me and You and Everyone We Know. What an absolutely wretched piece of garbage this film is. I think Nicole summed it up best when she said, “It's artsy-fartsy crap without the artsy-fartsy.” God I love her. This is exactly the kind of film that turns me off of American “indie” cinema. The film is like a parody of bad American-indie film conventions. You've got the lead character, a quirky socially inept artist struggling with her art and romantic life (oh how grand!), and her love interest, the funky-looking, socially inept loser with a quirky middle-America job - a shoe salesmen (what a strange little man!). Oh yeah, he also spouts wise words of wisdom at random.

Then there is the funny little 8-year old girl with an 80-year old woman's passion for kitchen appliances (ha ha ha, how bizarre!), a young boy who talks nonchalantly about pooping from his butt hole into the butt hole of someone else (hee hee hee), his aloof cool older brother, and two young girls who compete to see who gives the better blow job! And, what's more, the film makes light of pedophilia! Oh wow, what a delightful film - comedy genius! It's got a super-uber-quirky soundtrack, and enough random non sequiturs to choke Daniel Clowes. As a matter of fact, it was a bad parody of Daniel Clowes, Harmony Korine and Larry Clark set in Napoleon Dynamite land, but lacking the stuff from these things that some might find worth watching. We turned it off after it was half-over. I haven't done this in a long time.

I rarely rant any more, so here it goes...

So I used to visit this forum, mhvf.net because they have an Asian discussion forum where some pretty cool and knowledgeable people post (this was a long time ago, one of the first forums I ever posted at).  However, after awhile it became apparent that I did not fit in.  This all came to a head when some women, I'll call her Mrs. F  accused me of being a cultural imperialist (re: racist) because I preferred to watch SOME old school kung fu dubbed in Black Belt Theatre English.  We got in an argument, and I was banned from the site.  Sometimes I still lurk there because there are a few posters who post some cool stuff (like Linn Haynes and Brian Camp).  However, today when I went there, I saw that Mrs. F was up to her same old crap.  Some guy posted a link to a blog he writes called the Hong Kong DVD Blog or something.  On his blog he has information about all kinds of HK and Asian DVDs - some of them include Ninjas.  In the description of his blog he mentions kung fu.  Now, Mrs. F, in all of her pompous buffoonery decided to tell the guy that ninjas are from Japan, not Hong Kong, and that he may want to change the name of his blog to the Asian DVD Blog...she wrote:

2) Ninjas are not part of kung fu (cf. the martial arts discussion in HEROES OF THE EAST (a.k.a. SHAOLIN VS NINJA)!). And although I see one ninja movie from Hong Kong being featured on your blog, I'd anticipate that most others are going to be from Japan. So either you should change the name of your blog or limit the scope of your (planned) coverage...

So I guess Chang Cheh's Shaw Brothers film Chinese Super Ninjas doesn't count.  Neither do the other metric ton of HK and Taiwanese "kung fu" movies with ninjas in them.  Damn.

But it gets worse.  It seems that the forum posters are also all up in arms against Red Sun/Pan Media DVD, a company who bootlegs kung fu flicks in the US.  I don't mind them, and I have a bunch of their discs.  Big deal. I also own a bunch of legit DVDs and VCDs.  It seems that some stores like FYE and Suncoast have started stocking these DVDs on their shelves (HKFlix.com carries them as well), and the mhvf-crew is pissed because this is taking shelf space away from legit distributors like Dragon Dynasty.  Guess who owns Dragon Dynasty?  The Weinstein's.  Hmmm...so I was accused of being a cultural imperialist and banned from the site, and now they support a DVD imprint with one of the most derogatory names ever.  Not only this, but if you remember correctly, when the Weinsteins were at Miramax they pissed all over Hero (they sat on it for 2 years, and sued any retailer who tried to sell legit imports), edited and dubbed Shaolin Soccer, and through their own Dimension DVD imprint, they edited, re-scored, retitled, and dubbed a bunch of Jet Li films.  So, these people are defending a company who, in my opinion, is an enemy of Asian cinema, one that uses their dirty Hollywood money to push people around as well.

Man...they suck.

Look, I'm going to tell you right now how to send the proper message to DVD distributors. Pick a kung fu film you want to see that is not out on a legit R1 DVD. Let's say Avenging Eagle for example. If you wanted to buy this DVD, a legit copy to play on a R1 DVD player, well, too bad, you can't, such a DVD doesn't exist. So here is what you do. Find the Pan Media version, go to FYE, Suncoast, Fryes, or HKFlix, and get it. Next, make a photocopy of your receipt, take a picture of you holding the DVD, and send these to as many DVD distributors as you can with this message attached:

Dear Mr. Fart Bag

I wanted to buy this movie on a legit R1 DVD. I wanted to spend my money on this movie, and I did. However, since you guys are taking your sweet ass time making the films I want to see readily available, I had to resort to purchasing a bootleg copy. Maybe all this stupid region coding business should be destroyed, and maybe you should all start to treat the world like the global market it is, and start to give me, the customer, what I want, when I want it.

Sincerely, A guy with money to spend on DVDs that aren't legally available

You see, these DVD and movie companies, all they care about is money. If they see that we are willing to buy stuff then maybe they will give us what we want to buy. For us kung fu fans, it's not about getting stuff for free - it's about getting it AT ALL. For decades, much of this cinema has been totally unavailable on ANY kind of legitimate format, and if it wasn't for bootleggers, a lot of this old school kung fu would be totally lost and totally out of the minds and off the maps of the fans. It also wouldn't be in the hands of any new fans, because there wouldn't be any except through the bootlegs (my oh my, I've fallen into a loophole of logic!).

Bootlegging is exactly what has kept this genre in the zeitgeist. Yes - I would rather buy legit copies of these films. I prefer nice transfers, and quality subs. However, the vast majority of the films I want to buy are not available on R1 DVD. Now, I do buy a ton of DVDs from other regions (thank you Celestial/IVL), but I know that people like me are the exception. People like us know how to make our DVD players region free, and we know where to buy or rent these discs. We WORK at our hobby, but most people do not. These companies need to make stuff easier for the vast majority of people to buy and/or rent. Pan Media makes it easy, and they give the consumers what they want. It's plain and simple.

When Dimension was releasing their crappy versions of the Jet Li movies on DVD, they weren't giving me what I wanted. I didn't want a copy of the great flick Tai Chi Master retitled Twin Dragons. First of all, there are no twins in the film, and to suggest that all Asians look the same is disgusting, and secondly, there are no dragons in the film. And yet the good people at mhvf.net are now defending the Weinsteins, and fighting for shelf space for the Dragon Dynasty imprint. Dragon Dynasty, get it? Asians, they like dragons, and dynasties? My, how clever! Why didn't they just call it Hot and Spicy Cinema. Wow.

The Legendary Pink Dots

After re-discovering my favorite Slowdive record on iTunes a few days ago, I decided to look for some other old bands that I used to really like. I was recently involved in a little discussion about "goth" music, and the 4AD record label, and so I remembered a band that I have been meaning to listen to again - The Legendary Pink Dots. Much to my surprise, the iTunes store carries 28 of their albums - not bad - and I purchased The Maria Dimension, an album considered by many Pink Dot-heads to be among their very best, a sentiment I share. If you are not familiar with this band, well, be prepared to have your musical foundation shook up a bit. These guys are out there.



The Pink Dots write beautiful, creepy, scary, and strange music - often all at the same time. They are led by Edward Ka-Spel who just might be one of the best lyricists around. His vocal style is bizarre, unique, and haunting. He kind of sings/talks in a strange wizard-like voice about dark fairy tales peppered with religious mumbo-jumbo and esoteric flim-flam, while creating these thick tapestries of dense poetic imagery. I actually stopped listening to these guys when I was in high school because some of their songs gave me nightmares. The other members are: keyboardist, The Silverman, horn player, Niels van Hoornblower, Martijn de Kleer, and Raymond Steeg, among other instrumentalists who come and go with each subsequent album. Their music is made up of a hodgepodge of genres; it's like a stew of psychedelic, folk, rock, ambient, noise filtered through early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, 1980s new wave, goth and industrial. However, it is also wholly original and unique, and sounds like nothing else I have ever heard. To keep it simple: The Pink Dots sound like The Pink Dots, and that's it.



The band has been writing and recording since 1981, and during the last 20-plus years they have released over 40 albums while also relentlessly touring. Although I have never seen them live, I have seen some videos of their concerts, and they seem like eclectic, frightening affairs. To call the band genrebusters would be an understatement, and this is exactly why I find them so fascinating. While I rarely like every song on a particular album (I usually end up only loving about half of them), every song is interesting, and offers something worth listening to. I tend to gravitate towards their more structured, melodic, traditional compositions, and often find myself skipping past their more noise-based experimentations. However, I know other fans who are just the opposite.

If you ever find yourself bored with more mundane music, and want to stretch your musical boundaries a bit, pick up an album or two by these pioneers. Here is a little advice: you can tell a lot about each album by the first two songs. Their albums are usually built around a theme or a concept, so even the cover art can give clues as to what kind of musical treasure lies hidden within. Take a chance, but just be prepared for a strange and interesting journey.

Stuff...

Did you know that Nolan Bushnell originally wanted to call his company Syzygy, but the name was taken by a hippie commune that made candles. So, he then turned to the Japanese game "Go," and decided to call his company, Atari.

Did you know that Atari grew from a $500 start up investment to a 2 billion dollar a year company in only 10 years, making it the fastest growing company in United States history?

Did you know that Bill Gates was the only kid at a co-op in Seattle that could regularly crash the computers Steve Russell was testing, and that Steve Russell is considered the founding father of video games, with his creation Space War?

These are just three little factoids I have learned from this amazing book:



I just got it today and I have read through the first 40 pages, each one is simply brimming with great information, fun little tidbits, quotes, and facts. The book is written by Steven L. Kent, one of the first video game journalists. Ken writes for the LA Times, MSNBC, Wired, USA Today and a host of other respected publications and newspapers. I recently learned about this book from the guys over at the Twitch Asylum podcast, and I can't thank them enough. It really is a fascinating read. The book covers the time from the pinball explosion, through the Golden Age of the late 1970s, through the first crash, the rise of Nintendo, and up until the last generation. If you have any interest in video games, check this massive tome out. At just over 600 pages, the thing is like a text book - but one that is actually fun to read, and it only costs $20!

Also...

I decided to take a quick look at iTunes today and I noticed that Slowdive's groundbreaking, and totally underappreciated album, Pygmalion was recently re-issued. I cannot recommend this album enough - it is amazing. If you are a fan of Radiohead's album Kid A, give Pygmalion a listen to hear where the revolution really started :)



Known mainly as a shoegazer band, sounding like a slower, calmer mix of My Bloody Valentine and Ride, on Pygmalion, Slowdive took a drastic new direction. The album is full of sparse soundscapes, strange and haunting electronic bleeps and blurps, and ghost-like vocals more concerned with atmosphere than lyrics. The album is truly an anomaly, and doesn't really sound like anything else out there. I wish the band had continued in this direction for a bit longer, but as fate would have it, they would move to Santa Monica, California, and would become surfers and become the alt-country mopers, Mojave 5. Anyhow, check it out, if you are feeling adventurous at all, I think this album will quench the thirst.

Glass Harp

You just haven't heard truly amazing guitar playing until you've heard Phil Keaggy play live - and this is a fact. I've seen some pretty amazing guitar players play live: Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, David Gilmore, J Mascis, Richard Lloyd, Mathew Sweet, Joey Santiago, and more, but nothing could have prepared me for last week, when my dad and I saw Mr. Keaggy perform at a small church here in Seattle.

He performed solo, and he single handedly blew away any guitarist I have ever heard, with any band - period. He tends to play acoustic guitar now, although he uses a lot of effects, and a Jam Man, a device that lets a guitar player record, sample, and play back their own guitar on the fly. Keaggy built up dozens of tracks using the Jam Man: he played percussion on the body of his guitar, sang into the pick up, and built layers of noise and rhythm, and then he continued to solo and play over all of this live-sampling. Truly a stunning performer, on par with anyone. Now, don't rush out to iTunes or something to listen to the songs on his studio albums - he is just not a studio performer. His solo albums, frankly, stink, and it's too bad he is not able to capture his live ability in the studio.

However, DO, I mean this, do pick up two CDs by his first band, Glass Harp. Glass Harp is considered one of the first real Christian rock bands, and at the height of their popularity they were opening for bands like The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and Chicago. Legend has it that Glass Harp had a tendency to blow the headliners off the stage, and one listen to LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL is all you will need to believe such a legend. This is a recording of one of their biggest shows, and it is absolutely stunning. The recording quality is amazing, and the three performers are unstoppable. Although there are only 5 tracks, the album clocks in at just under an hour - so yeah, they jam, and damn do they rock.

The highlights of the live album are the opening and closing tracks, both from Glass Harp's first studio album. The first track is called Look in the Sky, and it clocks in at just over 10 minutes. It opens with a huge guitar riff, and then progresses into an amazingly groovy classic rock feel. Although Glass Harp is clearly "classic rock" the tone of their songs and their structure could be seen as laying an early foundation for the more experimental, post-rock sub genre. You might think of them as a mix between Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. And, although they were a Christian rock band, their lyrics are not preachy, but they do offer a positive message of spirituality.

The final track, my favorite Glass Harp song, is called Can You See, and it runs almost 30 minutes in length. It truly is an epic jam. After the first part, the song breaks down, and each member takes a prolonged solo. Phil Keaggy's guitar solo is skillful and tasteful, during which he breaks into an entirely different song before bringing it all back together. Keaggy is a master at volume controlled swells, and playing with the tone of his guitar on the fly. The bass player performs a flute solo that is really freaking good, and the drum solo is also awesome - and not too long (I am not a huge fan of drum solos). This track reminds me of Pink Floyd's Echoes, in its structure and execution.

I can't suggest this album enough. The songs are amazing, the performance is stunning, and the recording perfectly captures the ability this rock-trio possessed. If you have ever wondered if there was a Christian rock band worth checking out, Glass Harp is your answer, and the answer is a resounding "yes!" Both the live album, and their self titled first album were recently re-issued and remastered, and both are available from Amazon.

The Real Deal

It was made in Hong Kong, not Japan...

A New Cinematic Window

This may sound a little strange to some of you, especially to those who are more casual in your movie watching endeavors. As I thought about this last night, it even sounded bizarre to me, but it is true none the less. I recently purchased a new DVD player, and yesterday it arrived via FedEx. I got home and started setting it up, and I was filled with excitement. But why? I mean, it is just another DVD player right? Doesn't it play the media I stick in to it like any DVD player should? Beyond a few extra and new features, what is the big deal about a new or different player?

Well, here's the thing: a DVD player is like my own magical window, open to an ever shifting and changing universe. As I gaze through this window I can see things that are exciting, scary, action packed, romantic, and humorous. Because I spend so much time watching DVDs, I do care about the window I am looking through - I like it clean, free of blemishes and streaks, and clear. For me, a DVD player is far more than just technology - it is the way through which I experience the majority of the cinema I watch.

I can safely say that I am extremely happy with my new cinematic window; the picture looks stunning and the audio is crisp. I am still getting used to the differences though. It will be a while before I can trace the buttons on the remote in the dark, or know exactly how the audio and video settings should be configured to attain the optimal performance. But this is all part of the fun. It's like learning the nuances of a machine that transports my mind to other places, and each new discovery is a good one.

For those of you interested in this DVD player, it is the Oppo DV-970HD, and it rocks. It up converts SD to HD, converts PAL to NTSC, it is region free, has HDMI out, plays DivX and Xvid, mpegs, AVIs, reads memory sticks and has a USB input for new firmware updates. All for only $150. Awesome. Head on over to us HKLIX to grab yours!

Oppo DV-970HD at HKFlix

From a SEED grows a CLOVER

Clover is back - thank God. I just knew the powers that be could not keep one of the most creative and talented teams of game designers down. And they are back - as SEEDS. Although no games have been announced yet, I am simply ecstatic to see what the future holds for these amazing developers.

Official Site

IGN story

Hope you enjoy the shows...

The next time you are at the video store, or updated your Netflix queue, consider these:

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekend

Whenever I am at Scarecrow video, it is a habit of mine to check out the BBC Television section - there is almost always something interesting to discover there. Last weekend I was looking through the shelves and I found this, the first volume in a documentary series. From the looks of the cover, and the pictures on the back, I thought it was going to be a tongue in cheek, pandering, scathing expose of American culture, ala The Daily Show, except with a British host. Sounded pretty cool. However, what I got was something vastly different, and better than what I was hoping for.

Louis Theroux is a journalist who comes from a family with a background in writing and television - you could say he is the real deal. On each of his Weird Weekend, Mr. Theroux spends time with a different group of people involved with various American subcultures. On the discs I rented, he goes into the dirty south with Master P to see what it takes to get into gangster rap, he goes to New Mexico and Nevada to investigate the UFO culture, he embeds himself in a survivalist group, and he examines the porn industry. I thought Mr. Theroux would approach these topics with a sarcastic tone, or in a condescending way, however, such is not the case. He is genuinely sincere and interested in his topics, and he treats his subjects, no matter how subversive and whacked out, with a great deal of respect. Once again, even when it comes to entertaining journalism, the BBC shows the rest of the world how it should be done.

Carl Sagan's Cosmos

Cosmos is such an amazing show, and we are so lucky now to have it available, remastered, on DVD. Although it was made in the early 1980s, complete with not-so-special effects, it is still a totally engaging, informative, and entertaining trip through the mid of one of the greatest thinkers who ever lived. Cosmos begins with Sagan taking us aboard the spaceship of his imagination to the out regions of the Universe. We then travel back, millions of light years, to the Milky Way, and finally to Earth, where our journey began. Once back on Earth, Sagan takes us through history lessons concerning the Library of Alexandria, ancient mathematicians and scientists, biology, evolution and anthropology. Each topic is equally as interesting because of Sagan's superhuman, tangible passion to share his vast knowledge.

On each subsequent episode, Sagan takes us through the Cosmos - or the order of things - and shows us how everything out there has a very real impact on everything right here. What struck me most while rewatching the first episode, was how much more we now know, only a couple decades after this show was created. While some of the pictures of space, and some of the terminology, used on Cosmos are now totally out dated, this fact does not become a hindrance to the immense power of the series. The music is wonderfully composed and perfectly sets the epic and mysterious tone, and Sagan's own voice is captivating - for a “nerdy scientist,” the guy sure did have some charisma! I can't wait to further explore the Cosmos on DVD, I am sure the entire trip will be quite amazing.

Starship Sofa

Are there any science fictions out there? Heh heh, that’s pretty obvious – of course there are! Well, I recently started listing to a podcast, one that I have been meaning to check out for some time, called Starship Sofa – and it is brilliant! The Starship Sofa is a podcast totally devoted to great science fiction literature and authors. They treat the genre with respect, and they have fun talking in tangential circles around, through, over, and under their chosen topics. They’ve covered such amazing authors as Philip K. Dick, Alfred Bester, le Guin, Ian Banks, Delany, Zelanzy, and many, many more. Head on over to their website, and check out their show.

Blast off, with the Starship Sofa

31+1

Well I recently celebrated my birthday, and everything went off without a hitch. I successfully gained another year to my age, a feat that I am most proud of. I am now 32, and I think this is a very strange age. 32 is the first age that I remember my dad being. When I was a young a kid, I thought 32 was SO old, and it seemed like my dad really had is stuff together. I wonder if kids look at me in the same way? I doubt it. It seems like my generation is the generation that refuses to really grow up. Sure, I am married, with a house, 2 dogs, a car payment and a steady job, but I still spend a lot of my time playing games, watching movies, and trying to have as much fun as possible. I think this is a good thing, mostly, but part of longs to be a real adult. Well, not really, I honestly can't complain about anything - I am more than content, I am genuinely happy.

And now for something completely different...

I have been pimping Beyond Dream's Door everywhere I can as of late. Perhaps you read my recent review (if you haven't yet, hold off, I am working on a much better version) and I have recently been in contact with the film's director Jay Woelfel. He pointed out a few factual errors in my write up, and also offered up a wealth of fantastic information. Mr. Woelfel seems like a very decent guy. I recently ordered two more of his films, the two films he considers his best: Ghost Lake and Iron Thunder. As soon as I get these, and watch them, I will be conducting an in-depth interview with Mr. Woelfel. I am really looking forward to doing this. I feel as if it is my cinematic duty to champion Beyond Dream's Door this year - it is just a really interesting and fascinating, if somewhat flawed, film. I totally appreciate it for the strides it took in offering up something different. If you haven't yet, please check it out.

That's all for now, have a good one.

Agalloch - Track by Track, part 1

Agalloch hails from the desolate and diabolical oblivion known as Portland, Oregon. They have survived the snow-filed crags of the Demon Mountains, and the sun-drenched plains of the Devil's Desert to deliver three of the most jaw dropping neo-folk-gray-metal-post-rock albums ever recorded. It is almost frightening how amazing this band is, so thoughtful, so talented, so atmospheric, and damn do they ever rock. However, unlike a lot of black/gray/post metal, Agalloch never loses site of melody - their songs are full of it, and so in this regard I would compare them more to bands like Envy, Mono, and Mogwai, if these bands had grown up playing Warhammer 40K and reading the Elric saga or the Cthulhu mythos. However you split genre-hairs, or whoever you compare this band to, one thing becomes abundantly clear - there is no comparison, and this band adheres to no strict genre-conventions. They just are.



Pale Folk Lore - Agalloch's first album, and my least favorite of the three. While I think the songs are strong, it suffers from poor production quality. It is a true indie metal record, and the production just doesn't match the epic nature of the album. I think this album would be really amazing if it was remade by the band, with a little more money thrown at it. The snare drum in particular sounds really thin and small, and the reverb as a whole sounds cheap. However, based purely on the strength of the songs, it is quite good.

She Painted Fire Across the Skyline, Pt. 1

This epic gets kicked off like all should - a slow build-up to chaos, and then an eruption of bombastic guitar and drums, a blast into the rock n' roll stratosphere. After the initial heavy moments, the song quiets down and settles into a nice mid-tempo groove, accompanied by creepy whispers and scary spoken vocals. The lyrics paint a perfect picture of epic fantasy metal - they are just cheesy enough to be fun, but cool enough to not elicit laughter. Agalloch strikes this kind of balance throughout. There is also a really cool, and super corny, keyboard riff used during this part - a choir-patch that sounds like it was ripped from some epic fantasy soundtrack recorded in the '80s - and yes, this is a good thing.

She Painted Fire Across the Skyline, Pt. 2

Part 2 quickly builds from the quietness at the end of part 1. During a nice little 2-chord jam, reminiscent of Goo-era Sonic Youth except with Gollum on lead vox, the band dives headfirst into their epic fantasy atmosphere. And then we get our first wailing guitar solo. It perfectly adds to the epic tone, and carries the song away from the post-rock genre into true metal. Listening to this track makes me want to ride on a snow-white stallion through the green fields of a strange and distant land.

She Painted Fire Across the Skyline, Pt. 3

This is my favorite part of the three-part epic. This track just totally rocks. It starts off with hard-driving energy and some amazing guitar tone - we're talking Boris-like here, really heavy, thick, and textured. And then, out of nowhere, the music stops to give way to some spoken word poetry! When I first heard it I had to laugh because it is so dramatic, but now, I just love it. After the brief vocal interlude, the song once again kicks into high gear, and for the remaining 5-minutes, the guitars just continue to get more and more heavy, accompanied by some nice double bass drum work, and some looming bell sounds. The heaviness fades, and gives way to a small piano part that closes the epic with a somber tone. During this track, I can totally imagine Elric walking slowly away from the crumbling Melnibone, with his hand, dripping with blood, clutching the doom sword, Stormbringer.

The Misshapen Steed

This track is a mini-epic, and I can clearly picture this being used towards the end of a climatic battle in a new Conan film. The track is almost entirely made up of keyboard and piano, with choirs, flutes, and other woodwinds and string instruments being used to conjure the proper atmosphere. It is a little sad, but also kind of uplifting, and offers a nice quiet moment after the loudness of the first three tracks. It is also the calm before the perfect-storm of the next four tracks - it is a great middle track, and clearly shows that the band thinks about the album as a whole.

Hallways of the Enchanted Ebony

Playing off of the quiet mood set in the previous track, Hallways begins with a great acoustic guitar riff that continues to play throughout much of the track. This is probably the most straightforward rock song on the album - it has a great groove, the bass and drums really lock in on this one. There are also some great guitar riffs, although there is nothing too heavy. The vocals continue to be growled - this song reminds me of a rock ballad an orc might sing in memory of a fallen comrade while riding his trusty battle-armored steed across the burnt wastelands of the Flarg.

Dead Winter Days

Damn - this track explodes right out of the gate with some awesome and heavy guitar tone. The way the drums and the rhythm guitar work together on this track makes it a real standout moment on the album. Again, this is a mini-epic, and the song is clearly separated into distinct movements. After the intro, the band again moves into Sonic Youth territory, one might even think that Lee Renaldo stopped by to record a riff, but the angry snarling vocals that come in soon extinguish this notion. I like to say that Agalloch is a perfect mix between Mogwai and Opeth, and this song clearly demonstrates this. The rhythmic stutterings towards the end of the track are quite good, and the ending solo adds the necessary punch a song like this needs. I think post-rock bands like Mono and Envy, and most others really, could learn a thing or two about the importance of a ripping and shredding guitar solo. While listening to this track, I can clearly picture a lone warrior who has just raided a treasure room in a deep and dark dungeon escaping to the light of the surface while being pursued by a small army of nasty creatures.

As Embers Dress the Sky

This track makes me want a dragon. One that can fly and breath fire, and one that has a huge sound system strapped to its tail. I want to listen to this song at a window shattering volume while flying around downtown Seattle as my dragon blasts all the yuppies with her flames. This would be awesome. And when the gothic opera singing comes in at the end I will destroy the Space Needle in slow motion. Damn, it is going to be totally rad.

The Melancholy Spirit

An epic ending to an epic album. Again, this track opens with a nice little acoustic guitar rift bathed in chorus and reverb, while the ominous sounds of a brewing storm linger in the background. This song kind of feels like a reprise of the whole album - that is, it perfectly captures the spirit and tone of all the previous tracks. It reminds you of how awesome everything you have already listened to is. After the build-up and the rock out, the noise and chaos fades away and only the soft and haunting melody of a piano is left to bring everything to a close. The hero has won his battle against the evil mind destroying demons, but in the process, he has also lost his loved ones and his home. He is returning, victorious over evil, but as an empty shell of his former self. With nothing but his horse and sword to remind him of his old ways, he rides off into the murky fog to search for inner peace.

It's in the Bones...

Some predictions for 2007:

1. Sales of the Nintendo Wii will come to a grinding halt once the novelty has worn off.
2. The Nintendo Wii will have the lowest per game attach rate of any console ever because most of the people buying it will only want the Wii Sports, Wario Ware type party games.
3. Sony's PS3 will have a rough year, but by the Holiday season, we will see some exclusive games that will move units.
4. The 360 will continue to go strong, and will continue to draw in new exclusive titles and developers.
5. Microsoft will get a stronger foothold in Japan.
6. The cinematic sights and sounds of 2006 (Highlander XX), will be postponed until this year, and be released straight to DVD.
7. Stephen King will have a new novel out - proving that he is more prolific when retired.
8. The release of the 4th edition of the Talisman board game will cause nerds around the world to miss work for days on end.
9. Nintendo will announce a new Wii with HD support.
10. No new 360 will be released.
11. Tsui Hark, Johnny To, Chan Wook Park, and Miike will each release an amazing film.
12. Astronomers will find proof of extraterrestrial, intelligent life.
13. Wonka candy will introduce a new flavor of Gobstoppers.
14. Harry Potter will die.
15. The Genrebusters Podcast will break the top 10 film/media podcasts at www.podcastalley.com

Weaveworld

So I finished Clive Barker's Weaveworld the other day, and damn was it good. Really good. This is only the second book by Barker that I have read (not including a few short stories), and I see myself reading a lot of his stuff this year. I read The Great and Secret Show around 15 years ago, and some of its passages still haunt me - I think I will be able to say the same about Weaveworld.

It is not a perfect book by any means, and yes it does duffer from some questionable pacing decisions. The book is clearly broken up into two parts, however, they are in the wrong order. Had the first part been the second part, it would have made for a much more climatic finish. I hear this complaint registered against Barker often, but it is not something detrimental to the stories he tells.

What I like most about Barker is that he is an adult writing fantasy-fiction for adults. He does not try to disguise his work as fairytales for all ages - no. Barker embraces the fantastic, the dark, the sexual, and the disgusting, and shows the duality and the beauty that all of these aspects encompass. I also like that his brand of fantasy does not include elves, dwarves, and wizards. He is not from the D&D school of fantasy design - his worlds are unique, and imaginative; Weaveworld is dense and illustrious, scary and peaceful, haunting and comforting.

There is so much detail in the world Barker has created: some of the passages I will never forget, and characters such as The Rake, the by-blows, the three sisters, the Scourge, and detective Hobart will never leave my mind. Barker's description is concise and memorable. I also like that Weaveworld is not the first book of a series - it is a stand alone volume, and in it, Barker says as much about his fantasy world as many authors do in an entire series.

Upon finishing Weaveworld, I instantly picked up Barker's Imajica, and while it is a slower read, I am finding it captivating. I have been craving adult-fantasy on par with King's Dark Tower series, and it looks like Barker is filling this void.

So white and nerdy...

So I just got back from a vacation - my wife and I went down to California to visit some family. We stayed at a house on Pismo beach - which I have since dubbed “Shell City” because of all the little stores that sell crap made out of shells to longing tourists. It was fun, and the weather was amazing - sunny and warm, like winter was some imaginary fairytale.

Lately, I have been getting back into gaming. No, not video gaming, but REAL gaming - that is, board gaming. I have been told before that board gaming and role playing is like the Mafia: you can never truly get out, and try as you might, you eventually get drawn back in. Some of the best times of my youth were spent playing fantasy or science fiction games with my friends, and I am starting to have fun doing this again.

The first game I recently bought is called Arkham Horror - it is a board game based off of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. It is quite complicated, and I don't know if it is a good game yet, although I have been told it is. My wife and I have played it once, and we played it wrong, and didn't have the best time. I am waiting to get in a few more sessions with some more people before I pass a final judgment. It is a grand and epic game, complete with hundreds of little tokens, a well designed board, and borderline role playing. I think once we “get it” and get into it, it will prove to be a fun time.

I then bought a cool little card game called Dungeoneer - a dungeon cralwer you can fit in your pocket. Imagine Diablo played with cards and dice. The game is really fun, easy to learn, and expandable. It is not a collectible card game, like Magic: The Gathering, so the cost is relatively low. You can buy different sets that can be combined together to make the game longer and more complex. I bought a Heroic set and an Epic set, of the same dungeon, which basically doubles the length by adding a second level to the dungeon. This last weekend I played a couple of games with my nephew, who enjoyed it quite a bit, and we played our first 4 player game - and had a blast.

I also ordered what I consider to be the holy grail of board gaming - Games Workshop's Talisman. Man, I wasted a lot of time playing Talisman in high school. Imagine Monopoly, or Life, mixed with Dungeons & Dragons. It is a simple game where you move your pawn around the board fighting monsters, collecting treasure, and gaining power. We used to play the second edition, which sells on Ebay now for over $200 - I bought the cheaper 3rd Edition, which still cost me $100, and both are now out of print. There is a good chance that Talisman will be re-released this year as a 4th Edition set - this has many gamers very excited. It has not arrived in the mail yet, but when it does, I am hoping to get a group of people together from an all-night session of Talisman playing, beer drinking, and chip eating.

Board gaming is a lot of fun, and it is also social. It is weird how there is still a stigma associated with board gaming and pen and paper role playing - it's still for “nerds.” While video gaming is uber-popular, and computer RPGs like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy are huge sellers whose fans are old and young, rich and poor, hipster and nerd alike, traditional gaming is still seen as “geeky,” or simply something lame families do on a boring Friday night. Well, screw that, because I am having fun. As a matter of fact, I am looking for some people to start a little gaming group here in Seattle (if you want to get involved, email me), and I plan on heading over to Uncle's Games in Redmond this Friday night for their open gaming time. I think this will prove to be a fun time. Traditional gaming is a great way to meet other people, and have a fun time doing it - it is also a great way to build friendships, something that my wife and I find difficult to do here as we get older. While we could shut ourselves in the darkness of our living room and play video games and have a fun time, I am more excited to see what this newly rediscovered hobby will bring our way.

My Number 1 Gamecube Game

Sorry, I thought I posted this already...guess I didn't!

Gamecube



1. Resident Evil 4 - Wow, would you look at this? A game I like that actually sold well, really well even! I guess my adoration isn't a total jinx after all. So yeah, RE4 - what a damn awesome game, and I am no fan of the RE series. I enjoyed part 2, and Code Veronica alright, but I never got the appeal - and this is coming from a huge zombie fan! I always hated the control scheme, and the whole “survival” part was really lame - especially given the fact they your characters were supposed to be members of a top secret, ultra-baddass squad of baddasses. Why would these badasses go into a precarious situation armed with pea-shooters? Why do these badasses have such terrible time aiming their weapons? Why does a key take as much inventory space as a hand gun? Haven't these geniuses ever heard of a key ring they could just snap onto their belts? There were so many problems with the logic of the games, that even with my fandom for zombies I had a hard time mustering the excitement for the RE franchise.



Well, RE4 changed all of this - every single problem I had with the RE franchise was remedied in this game. Finally, my character could actually aim! Finally, where I aimed actually damaged the right part of the victim's body! My character could finally move like a person trained in combat! Finally, the knife was actually a smart alternative! There was actually enough ammunition around to have fun in the game! I didn't have to run from everything - I could actually stand my ground and take some fools out. The puzzles were more logical to the game world. The game was actually in true 3D, and didn't limit where and how I could look around. The bosses were actually challenging - but the challenge didn't come from fighting poor play-mechanics! The game features escort missions that don't totally suck! And, most of all, Resident Evil 4 was actually damn fun and super exciting.



Resident Evil 4 is simply the most fun and intense time I have had playing a video game in years and years - since the first Tomb Raider (my all time favorite game - and Legends is in my Top 10 of this last gen). When I was at work, or away from RE4, my thoughts turned to it. I craved the game. All I wanted to do was play it. I actually beat it without switching to another game at any point due to boredom. I have actually played through it at least 5 times - and it never gets old.



Resident Evil 4 is an example of a game where everything comes together to form a flawless and fun experience. The reward system for collecting treasure is tangible, and really feels like a reward. Each new weapon, and weapon upgrade, impacts the game, and makes your character look and feel more powerful. The context sensitive control scheme is easy to master, but it is not dumbed down - it is intuitive and makes the game more fun. The narrative is also amazing, and it really does feel like a big budget action-horror title. The enemies are frightening and formidable, and the quest is exciting. The game also looks freaking amazing. The textures are finely detailed, the world is large, the character-models lifelike, and the environments are just teeming with life.

There really isn't anything more that needs to be said about RE4. I love this game. Capcom frequently impresses me - they may be the most consistent and reliable developer ever: they create genres - and they refine play mechanics. And, with RE4, they crafted a game that represents the pinnacle of modern game design.

RIP: RAW

Robert Anton Wilson: January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007


We have lost one of the true geniuses of our time. His work in general semantics alone was enough to wow me, but of course he did so much more. Mr. Wilson was a man whose brilliance could not be denied, even if you totally disagreed with what he was saying. I found almost everything he said to be utterly fascinating. Well, now RAW is tackling that last great conspiracy, he is diving into life's final, and most baffling, mystery - what happens when we die?

My Number 1 PS2 Game

1. Rez



"Old games, like maybe 20 years ago, were like this - vector scan and wireframes. But Rez isn't being nostalgic. The look is a conscious choice. Current games are a little too real now - there's no room for interpretation. But I think Rez is an experience, so I didn't want to put lifelike graphics in it."

- Tetsuya Mizuguchi



Rez is an experience, as much as it is a game, and like all experiences, the more one puts into it, the more one gets out of it. That is, I believe that Rez must be played a certain way in order to experience everything it has to offer. Here is my recipe for a Rez session:

1. It must be played in the darkest room you can find.
2. It must be played on the biggest monitor you have.
3. You must sit very close to this monitor, so that the game is all you can see.
4. The high-fi must be cranked up to 11, or you must be wearing headphones.
5. You must not be distracted by anything else while playing Rez. Rez must be the only thing on your mind.



Under these circumstances, Rez truly does become much more than a mere game. More so than any other game I have ever played, given the right set of circumstances, Rez totally envelopes my senses. At its core, Rez is a fairly standard on-rails shooter. You don't control the on screen avatar, but you do control its targeting reticle. The path your avatar flies is predetermined and unchanging, as are the waves of enemies and enemy fire-power. The first difference that sets Rez apart from other shooters is the use of music - it is almost like playing a techno sequencer while playing an on-rails shooter. Pressing the lock-on and fire-button will create a hand clap sound, and each enemy that is destroyed plays a different tone that coincides with the audio-track of the level. Also, as combos are strung together, the destroyed enemies create melodies that add to the audio-track. As your avatar evolves by collecting power-ups, the sounds and melodies produced by its fire-power also change and become more complex.



Another difference is how immersive Rez is compared to other border-shmups. Every visual element in the game is perfectly in tune with every audio element - it is almost as if you are seeing the sound, and hearing the graphics (ooh, psychedelic!). Rez also features the most hard-hitting vibration function you will ever feel - the controller pulses along perfectly in sync with the beat of the music. As the levels progress, there are 5 main stages in all (and a few to unlock later), all of these elements help to create a sense of total immersion and an engrossing experience unlike any other.



The game itself is also quite good, beyond merely the experience. In order to truly beat the game, 3 different sets of criteria must be met on each level. If these goals are not satisfied, you can still proceed up to the fourth area. Areas 1-4 must be cleared entirely before area 5 opens, and area 5 must be cleared completely to get the real ending. And what an ending it is! Area 5 is my favorite level from any game ever created - bar none. During this level, the narrative of the game comes into focus, and you realize exactly what it is you are doing. Talk of life and death, evolution, consciousness, and AI envelopes your avatar like tentacles of memes and ideas. The level opens up to reveal the truth behind the game, and the truth behind what its creator, Mizuguchi, is all about - tangible creative energy. I would even venture to say that Rez offers a deep emotional experience that transcends some movies and books - if it is played under the right circumstances.



The great debate wages on - are games art? I don't think games are art, yet. Games do contain artistic elements, but as a whole, they themselves are not art. However, Rez comes close to being true art, closer than any other game I have ever played, and Mizuguchi, its creator, is truly a visionary developer with something more to say than most of his peers. Rez moves me, and it reminds me of the reasons why I love video games, and why I continue to play them even as I am now in my thirties.

My Number 1 XBOX Game

1. Jet Set Radio Future - JSRF is the game I bought the XBOX for. Like most people, I was extremely skeptical of Microsoft's entry into the game-console world. Why would I need another console, weren't the PS2 and Gamecube going to be enough? The Dreamcast had recently died, and so I was not really looking forward to spending more money on another financial failure. However, my mind soon changed when I found out that SMiLEBIT would be continuing their amazing DC game on Microsoft's giant black box. So, without hesitation, the day that JSRF hit the shelves, I bought an XBOX - and I never looked back or regretted my decision.



JSRF is probably the coolest, hippest game ever designed. It just screams with ultra-trendy sensibilities: you play as the GGs, a rough-and-ready gang of roller-blading graffiti artists in modern Tokyo. Each skater you recruit has a slightly different skating style, and a different set of tags with which to canvas the city. Now, many people thought these games were going to be “extreme sports” games, like Tony Hawk or something, where the goal was just to do tricks and stuff. Well, many people were wrong, and ultimately disappointed. JSRF is not an extreme sports game - it is an action/platformer in which your heroes wear roller-blades. Sure, there are some moments where you can trick-out, and it is fun to do infinite grinds around the huge explorable levels, but the focus of the game is not on tricks. The focus is on tagging the neighborhoods and escaping and fighting the evil empire hell-bent on ridding the world of hip hop and style!



JSR for the DC was one of the first cel-shaded games - and even today it still looks awesome - and I still think that JSRF is one of the best looking games ever made. It is just gorgeous, and is a testament to design over technology. The art style is so over the top and stylized that I can't believe it is not used more often - it just sizzles off of the screen. The characters all look totally different, and have different clothing styles, and body types - they actually feel like different characters. The levels also look amazing - from the dark night-time ghettos of the Tokyo alley ways, to the ultra-high tech business districts, every visual element in the game is designed to look cool and hip.

JSRF also has the best licensed soundtrack to ever grace a game, with bands like: BS 2000, Scapegoat Wax, Cibo Matto, Hideki Naganuma, the Latch Brothers and many more. I would often find myself just wasting time within the game to listen to some of the music, with Aisle 10, by Scapegoat Wax, being my favorite track.



The design of the graphics, the technical execution, the presentation, and the music in JSRF all combine to create to a unique experience that delivers on all accounts. The game is a total blast to play, look at, and listen to. It is challenging, and offers a lengthy quest. It has a ton of replay value. And, most of all, the game just makes me happy - I always have a good time playing it. One thing does get me down though - there will never be another game in this short-lived franchise. Like most games I love, it didn't sell well, and the developer was disbanded. This should have never happened to a developer as talented as SMiLEBIT, or to a game as amazing as Jet Set Radio Future.

My Top 5 Games on Each Last-Gen System (Part 3)

XBOX

2. Beyond Good and Evil – This game represents everything that encompasses “next-gen” game design. It is technically sound, has great audio, amazing graphics, a gripping narrative, endearing characters that I actually cared about, and fun, exciting gameplay that offers up a wide variety of different play mechanics. Ubisoft freaking nailed it with BG&E, and, once again, like most of my favorite games, gamers just refused to buy it, even though it enjoyed critical success, and was praised loudly by its small, cultish following. I seem to be a “doom-factor” when it comes to games. If I love it, and think it rocks, chances are, it is not going to sell, and it will not be turned into a franchise.

BG&E plays out like a sci-fi dream come true. The story is epic, and includes political intrigue, an alien invasion, a great conspiracy, and a ton of awesome action. The world the game is set in totally feels alive and real. I spent many hours just cruising around the vast world in my little hovercraft, looking at the beautiful surroundings, watching the landscape, and taking in the amazing sights and sounds. The game features vehicle based racing and exploration, on foot action and stealth, puzzles, and item collecting, and each part is executed with great skill. The final 45 minutes of the game contains some of the most epic conflicts I have ever witnessed, and, like a grand and epic science fiction movie, it becomes emotional and exciting. If I had the money, I would buy Ubisoft and have them make the sequel just for me. I adore this game.

PS2

2. Okami – Okami out does Zelda at each and every turn. It is basically a Zelda-clone, but I feel the design is tighter, and the puzzles aren’t so esoteric. Ever since the very first Zelda game, in which you just had to burn every single bush with the damn candle to find the right secret place, and no clues were ever given, I have thought that each game in this beloved franchise suffered from the same problem. Such is not the case with Okami. It does not hold your hand, nor is it too easy, but it is just right – the risk/effort/reward system is perfectly balanced. By the time I was bored with one aspect, the game introduced something totally new, and totally awesome.

Graphically, I don’t know if games can be much cooler. Although this game does not feature uber-bloom lighting, or high poly-counts, or per-pixel shading, the art design is second to none. It looks like an Edo era Japanese wood block print come to life. The entire game looks like it was hand painted by a great artist. The narrative is steeped in Japanese mythology, and the plot is exciting. There is enough to do that one could just roam around without even worrying about the main quest and still have fun. Also, the inclusion of the Celestial Brush is yet another stroke of genius unleashed by Clover Studios. When a studio such as Clover gets shut down after creating games as brilliant as this and Viewtiful Joe, it makes me sad for the state of gaming. If I believed that games themselves were art, I might even say that disbanding Clover was a crime against art.

Gamecube

2. Eternal Darkness – Wow, Silicon Knights blew my mind with this one. And hey guess what? Another brilliant game that didn’t sell well! Rumor has it though that SK is continuing the series on the 360 – heck yeah. ED takes the survival horror genre to a whole new level, and through the very essence of space and time. With a narrative neck deep in Lovecraftian mythology, ED may be one of the most “literary” games ever made. The game actually made me want to read more Lovecraft. The timeline of the narrative is what makes it so remarkable. Each chapter of the game is told from a different POV, and takes place during a different time period. Each character you play, has a different set of desires, goals, and skills, and each feels different – these are not just simple skin switches. As the real “main” character, you find out what your true destiny is, and you soon learn the horrible fate of the world in which you live. ED is truly stunning in this regard.

The game also features a gimmick that is one of the most creative around – the insanity effects. While playing the game, depending on the mental health of your character, certain things will happen – the game becomes an example of meta-fiction. Sometimes your character’s head falls off, or the controls get reversed, or the game pretends to shut off, or it turns the volume down, and so on. These insanity effects are so much fun, that I often found myself doing poorly on purpose just so I could experience them. The action in the game is totally intense as well, and offers up a great context-sensitive combat system. The game is also creepy as hell, and I often found myself reaching over to turn on a light, or take a quick glance behind me while playing. I think the main problem with this game is the console it was released on. I just don’t think the game’s core audience was on the GC, and I truly believe that if this game had been released on the PS2, we would, right now, be playing its sequels.

My Top 5 Games on Each Last-Gen System (Part 2)

XBOX

4. Panzer Dragoon Orta – Sega had a great run as a publisher and developer on the XBOX, and this will become evident in this little list. They also made what I consider to be the biggest blunder of this generation – they disbanded PDO’s developer SMiLEBIT prematurely. However, this is all due to the gamers, not the games. Gamers just refused to buy SMiLEBIT’s games, even though they represent some of the finest games ever made and enjoyed huge critical success. PDO continued the great franchise started on the Sega Saturn, and did so with near gaming perfection. PDO is an on-rails shooter – these games limit the amount of actual movement of the on-screen avatar, but they are able to craft highly detailed and beautiful worlds in which to place the 3D shooter. By constantly keeping the focus where they want it, SMiLEBIT created one of the most beautiful looking games ever made.

The gameplay itself is simple, highly addictive, and incredibly strategic. PDO built upon the evolving dragon-mount found in Panzer Dragoon Saga, and incorporated real time shape shifting. Each shape of the dragon has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, from slow and powerful, to fast and less powerful. The levels in the game are truly epic; you would be hard-pressed to find a more epic feeling shooter experience. The later levels of the game feel like the kind of epic dogfights you might see in Star Wars or ID4. With tons of on-screen enemies, massive terrain, mysterious alien structures, and enemy firepower constantly trying to thwart your lone warrior, it is a wonder one can even survive the experience. PDO also has one of the most engaging stories ever found in a shmup – it is memorable and quite moving, and is wonderfully bolstered by an amazing score.

PS2

4. Gungrave: Overdose – GG:O is pure action at its most diabolical and frantic. The gameplay is akin to a John Woo gun-ballet, set on maximum overdrive. You can play as three different characters, each with his own set of attacks and style. The main fighter, Grave, is a lurking tank-like, one-man army, who carries his own coffin around like a Japanese Django. While the art style is unique, the graphics themselves are only serviceable – they get the job done. With so much happening on the screen, it is a wonder that the engine is able to handle as much as it does. Dozens upon dozens of baddies appear in the blink of an eye, only to be destroyed in ultra-violent gunplay.

The game is quite simple – move from point A to B, and destroy everything, and I mean everything, you see. The game incorporates an on-purpose slow-down mode that must be utilized if you want to survive at all. Playing GG:O is a Zen-like experience. As the levels progress, you often forget what you are doing and move, act, and react based solely on gaming-instincts. The game also features beautiful hand drawn cut scenes animated by the same team that made the Trigun anime. GG:O is pure action goodness – it never lets up and is frantically paced, and it is a total riot from beginning to end.

Gamecube

4. Viewtiful Joe – A yes, good old Capcom, and good old Clover Studios. However, Clover Studios fell to the same curse as Sega’s SMiLEBIT: there just doesn’t seem to be much room for creative (beyond mini-games) game design anymore. Many gamers would rather buy GTA and Halo-clones, and roster updates for sports games, than a wonderfully designed side-scrolling beat’em that reinvents a treasured genre. This makes me sad. VJ took the crazy world of Japanese live-action anime-genre and the kaiju genre, and successfully translated everything that is loved about these genres into a video game.

VJ is like a love letter written for action-film junkies. In a brilliant stroke of game design, Clover Studios gave gamers the ability to control the special effects often found in hyper-action films like the Matrix. There’s bullet-time, close-ups, and under-cranking, all at the press of a button. VJ is also really, really freaking challenging, and rewarding. When a difficult section or level is passed, it feels as if something has been accomplished – I often found myself tired after one of the many clever boss fights. Clover also employed a wonderful cel-shaded design that made the graphics pop and sizzle off of the screen. VJ is not only the best looking game on the Gamecube, but it is also one of the best playing. The control is intuitive, and the collision detection, the most important aspect in a beat’em up, is perfect.

My Top 5 Games on Each Last-Gen System (Part 1)

With the next-gen of gaming now upon us, I have decided to take a look at my favorite games found on the last-gen systems: The Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube.

XBOX

5. Chronicles of Riddick - Not only is Chronicles of Riddick the best movie-to-game adaptation ever made, it is also one of the finest examples of its genre - the first person adventure. CoR scores points in every element, and is a true testament to next-gen game design. From a technical standpoint, it was one of the first games to employ normal-mapping, making the textures look better, not blurrier, the closer you got to them. The engine for the game only rendered what was seen by the player, rather than the entirety of a level, or section, to help alleviate some of the processing power - it could transfer more processing power to the things that needed it on the fly. They did however have to trade some anti-aliasing for the normal-mapping, but I think it was a good trade. The lighting is also remarkable, and the shadowy underworld in which the game takes place bursts into life because of it.

As far as the gameplay goes, well, it is a perfect marriage to the great graphics. I have always said that graphics do matter, they are important, and I demand good graphics and great gameplay from my games - CoR delivers on both. The control is spot on, and the camera is great - the game is mostly in a first-person POV, but for key sequences and special moves, the camera pulls back into a 3rd person POV - more FPS/A games should employ this technique. The action is intense and driven by tight corridor fights, in the dark, with very little ammo, and some very good FP-POV hand-to-hand combat. The adventure elements are also amazing: having to do little jobs for the other prison inmates, like shiv a rival, or find a stash of drugs, leads to some very interesting scenarios. The script and the voice action are both A-class, as are the plotting and pacing - most other games could learn a thing or two from CoR in these regards.

PS2

5. Jak and Daxter – Jak and Daxter is one of the most enjoyable 3D platformers I have ever played. It is bright and colorful, has great control, tons memorable moments, and gorgeous art design. It is also a spot-on example of great game design. The huge, virtually seamless, world is a thing of beauty, and the way the “levels” are cleverly hidden behind context sensitive objectives is brilliant. It feels like an open-ended, explore-everywhere game, and yet it still captures the feel of old-school level design. That is, it is not bogged down by the open-ended, aimless wandering and empty feel of the GTA series, or even the subsequent games in the franchise. The graphics too are a thing of beauty – I miss bright and colorful games: as game have become more mature, and darker, and grittier, they have lost some of their appeal to me. Jak and Daxter’s world is alive with great design.

The gameplay itself is also quite good. It plays like a very typical action-platformer, and yet it also has some great exploration and combat. The design is pure, and the developers did not throw in a bunch of me-too weapons and vehicles. The levels and areas themselves are masterfully designed – the platforming is an exercise in precise timing, but it almost never becomes frustrating. The script and story and engaging, and the characters, while somewhat stereotypical to the genre, are endearing enough to care about. The voice acting is also great, and the humor actually works a lot of the time. What I appreciate most about this game is how it represents a time of game design that is quickly dying. It is not dark and gritty, there is no cussing, it is not violent, and it is simply fun and beautiful.

Gamecube

5. Luigi's Mansion – I know this game was not very well received, but I loved it. I liked how Nintendo took its long existing franchise characters, and actually made a new kind of game with them. That is, they didn’t just stick Mario and company into some other existing genre and call it a new game – a trait I call ‘Nintendo’s Plague.’ Luigi’s mansion was part adventure, part survival horror, and all fun. The vacuum mechanic is light years ahead of Mario’s water-pack in Sunshine, and the mansion itself is far more interesting than anything in Mario’s recent outings. The game managed to be fun, exciting, a bit challenging, and kind of creepy. The music is also a standout aspect in the game: the way Luigi whistles the main theme is a stroke of genius, and the Dr. Dre-like beats during some of the sequences are awesome.

Graphically, I think this is one of the best looking Nintendo-developed games, and the art style is great. It is kind of cartoony, and yet very atmospheric. Some of the ghostly beasts Luigi fights during the game and very well designed, and each room in the mansion has a ton of detail. After playing this, I really thought Nintendo was on the right track with the Gamecube, especially after my less than tepid response to the N64. But alas, I was wrong – no other first party game captured the creative energy I found in Luigi’s Mansion, and to this day, it is the only first party game I still own for the system.

2007

While I don't subscribe to the theory of "New Year's Resolutions," I do like to set goals for myself. Last year my main goal was just to continue Genrebusters throughout the entire year - and I think we did more than this! We actually expanded our content by adding podcasts, and I believe that our written content improved ten fold in terms of quality.

In 2007, my main goal is to focus on the podcasts, and make them as good as possible. I want them to be more entertaining, more informative, and more interactive with the listeners. I would like to encourage people to send us emails and voice mails, and to take an active part in how the podcasts play out. I don't know how long the whole podcast trend will continue - I hope this form of content delivery sticks around because I find it totally fascinating. I actually look forward to the podcasts I listen to more so than I do any television show. I love that podcasts have torn down the walls of broadcasting, and like digital film and music distribution, podcasts have put the power back into the hands of the people.

My other goal for this year is to see more new films. This will be a continuing goal, as I also meant to do this in 2006. I started the year off with a bang, but over the summer I just kind of stopped seeking out new films at the cinema. While I much prefer watching films at home, I really do need to make a conscious effort to go out and discover more current cinema.

I would like to thank every single one of our readers and listeners for making 2006 such an exciting year for us. I totally appreciate every click, link and download. In 2007, I would like to expand Genrebusters. We will be working on a site overhaul, hopefully updating our ancient backbone and moving into a more "Web 2.0" era, and I want to continue keeping the quality and quantity of our content high. We also might look into doing some "real world" advertising to further our cause. One thing I would ask of you, our readers, is to help us spread the word. If you know of someone who might enjoy what we do, please tell them. If you know of a website or blog that might link to us, please contact them. If you enjoy the podcasts, please vote for us on www.podcastalley.com, and give us some feed back there or at the iTunes music store. It really means a lot for us to hear that all of our hard work is appreciated.

I hope you all have a great year, and I am really looking forward to the cinematic journeys in store for us.

D_Davis

Loomer - Songs of the Wild West Island

Is it strange that I would discover my favorite album of 2006 on the very last day of the year? I can't even really tell you why I purchased this album. My friend gave me an iTunes gift card, and so I was just browsing around the store looking for something to buy. I happened to look at the new release lists for the last month, and saw a band name that reminded me of the something else. The name I saw was Loomer, and I thought it was this old trip-hop/sample/DJ guy I used to listen too. Well, this Loomer is a different beast all together. The album is called Songs of the Wild West Island - and it is mind blowing, absolutely perfect in every way.

Once the album had been purchased, and listened to, I needed to find out a bit more about this band. This is from their official website:

“Loomer limped into existence back in the spring of 99 with little fanfare and even fewer expectations. Born out of the ashes of Toronto alt country stalwarts The Saddletramps, and built around the idiosyncratic song writing skills of Scott Loomer, they released their internationally acclaimed debut album Love is a Dull Instrument in the summer of 2004.”

It was a serendipitous discovery as well, for I really wanted something new along the same lines as Grant Lee Buffalo or Mark Kozelek. Loomer provides this, and so much more. Scott Loomer's vocals are beautiful - full of passion, heart, pain, and hope, and his lyrics create memorable narratives and conjure concrete imagery, like the old songcrafters did when such things were important. The instrumentation on the album is just as remarkable as Loomer's voice and lyrics. The production is clear and crisp, and each instrument fits perfectly in the stereo field. The bass and drums work together in perfect syncopation, and the lap steal guitar and banjo strengthen the melody of the guitar, keyboards and vocals.

The highlight of the album is track 6, Burden of Proof. This song is a moving mid-tempo rock song complete with wonderful string arrangements, twangy 12-string guitar, powerful organ, and a great melody. And, clocking in at just over 3 minutes, it begs to be listened to over and over again, it is just one of those perfect little pop-songs that makes anyone who appreciates good music happy.

This album comes highly recommended, especially to any of you who are alt-country fans - or perhaps this is what real country should sound like. If you find yourself longing for more bands like Camper Van Beethoven, Wilco, Grant Lee Buffalo and Uncle Tupelo, Loomer sits perfectly within this company. However, they are much more than just a “me too” band, because they really do have something to say, and they do so with skill and artistic integrity.

Cornelius - Fantasm

Cornelius's Fantasm is a psychedelic trip through an electric and eclectic wonderland brimming with bizarre sounds, infections rhythms, memorable harmonies, sizzling samples, and masterful pop. Imagine if a cartoon version of Brian Wilson was raised by a robotic Beck, babysat by manga-DJ Shadow, and unleashed through Godzilla's monstrous roar while listening to My Bloody Valentine. Cornelius runs the full gambit here - he tackles genre after genre, each with an equal amount of skill and production. Whether its cool and laid back trip-hop (Mic Check), shoegazing noise-pop (New Music Machine, Star Fruits Surf Rider), sample-heavy pseudo-punk (Count Five or Six), 60's tinted psyche-pop (Chapter 8, and God Only Knows), or full on, balls-to-the-walls chaotic electronic-noise (Monkey, 2010), Cornelius has the ears to produce, and the skills to perform - it must be a scary and wonderful thing to witness this man behind the sound board of his recording studio.

Even though Cornelius is pulling bits and pieces from genres around the globe, he still sounds uniquely Japanese. I don't know if this is due to the pristine production values usually associated with Japanese "indie" music, or if it is impossible for the artist to escape his culture. However, Fantasm sounds as if you are actually listening to manga and anime - it encapsulates the very essence of Japanese pop-culture - as if is the soundtrack for some alternate universe where giant robots, saucer-eyed girls in sailor's uniforms, and young male heroes with remarkable powers, agility and dexterity, all live happily together and gather every night at some super-hip ultra-modern techno-disco to dance away the late hours of the evening into the twinkling morning sunrise. What's more, even though Cornelius is using the conventions of established genres and studio techniques, Fantasm still sounds fresh and new - and even today, almost 10 years after its conception, it still sounds like it is from the future, and is not dated by obvious samples, beats, or sounds.

Fantasm is a minor miracle of modern pop, and Cornelius is the man who performed it. He excels as a drummer, guitarist, deejay, sampler, mixer, producer, and arranger - it is almost unfair that the gods charged one man with so much talent and creativity. I do have to wonder though if Fantasm is the man's single miracle - because nothing I have heard before or after this landmark album comes close to capturing even a smidgen of its greatness. However, other artists would consider themselves lucky to have a "Fantasm," and if it is Cornelius's one and only "glorious" moment, he should consider his mission accomplished. Fantasm is simply a remarkable achievement, and can very well change the way you hear music.

More stuff...

So I have had a case of writer's block lately. It really sucks. It's not that I haven't watched or read anything great lately, because I have, I just can't seem to muster the enthusiasm, or the ability, to write at length about anything. Very strange indeed. Last Friday I saw CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, and loved it - it is a great, great film - too bad I can't seem to shape my thoughts into written words. Hopefully I will cure this problem soon, because I have seen a few films that deserve to be written about.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I know I sure did. We took our dogs to the snow yesterday and did some walking with them, and then Nicole and I did some awesome sledding. Playing in the snow is so great, no matter how old you are, it is always fun to race down a hill on a saucer or inner-tube, and have a snowball fight. It was a nice Christmas to be sure.

And speaking of Christmas, this morning while perusing the old Internet, I stumbled upon a great late Christmas present. It looks like Crystal Dynamics has been hard at work on the remake of the very first TOMB RAIDER - my all time favorite game. The redux will be called LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERSARY, and it looks awesome. The devs have built the entire first game using the new engine and control scheme from TOMB RAIDER LEGENDS - and this is a very good thing.

A few months ago I went back and played the original game again, and while I still love it (the level design is still top-notch) it is hard now to get past the blocky graphics, blurry textures and grid-based movement. The devs did notice that with the new control scheme, the old levels were a bit too easy and short, and so this remake will not be an exact one, but they are redesigning everything to take advantage of the new engine. It also looks amazing. The game should be coming out for the PS2 (no 360, which sucks) sometime in Spring 2007. Here are some links for further reading.

IGN

Gametrailers

The (Non-authoritative) Hong Kong Film Primer - Part 4

1998 and Beyond

(I am working on a description of this era...)

1. The Storm Riders, A Man Called Hero, and The Duel (1998, 1999, 2000) - dir. Andrew Lau - I am not including this "trilogy" because they are great films, they really aren't, but because of how they changed the landscape of modern HK action cinema. These films are not really a trilogy in a narrative-sense, but are considered such because of the new techniques employed by the filmmakers. Much like what Tsui Hark did with ZU WARRIORS in the early 1980s (although that is actually a good film), Andrew Lau upped the ante and set the standards for big budget action flicks with a ton of special effects, with The Storm Riders, and his two subsequent films - A Man Called Hero and The Duel. Andrew Lau, a cinematographer who worked with Wong Kar Wai and other directors, definitely knows how to make a movie look good - too bad he sucks at just about everything else. One might compare him to Michael Bay in this regard, although Lau did direct Infernal Affairs, so he is definitely getting much better.

Each one of these three films contains a few sequences that are quite good - and memorable. The magical attacks in Storm Riders look amazing, like live action Dragon Ball Z, A Man Called Hero has a duel on The Statue of Liberty that is quite a bit better and more exciting than the one in the X-Men film, and The Duel contains some great CGI and wire-assisted action set pieces. However, for the most part these films just aren't very good. The Duel is by far the best (and is actually a remake of an old Shaw Brothers flick called Duel of the Century) and is pretty entertaining. Even though these films are kind of mediocre, they did set the new digital/fx standards, and elevated what Hong Kong audiences expected out of special effects-heavy action cinema. These films helped to shift the paradigm of modern HK cinema just as much as the Matrix did in the United States. All three of these films have been released on R1 DVD by Tai Sing, and they are available from Netflix.

2. Biozombie (1998) - dir. Wilson Yip - Biozombie is one of my favorite horror comedies. I also think it is the best HK-horror-comedy to be made after the mid-school Hopping Vampire phase. Wilson Yip knows how to make an entertaining film, and he knows how to make them look great. There is one shot in particular in Biozombie that is one of my favorite shots in cinematic history: Yip employs a split-screen camera trick that is just amazing and adds a lot to the style of the film. Biozombie stars Jordan Chan and Sam Lee, as Woody Invincible and Crazy Bee - two deadbeat hipsters who work at a bootleg VCD shop in a mall.

The film is a comical spoof of Dawn of the Dead, and the House of the Dead video game (done much better than Uwe Boll could ever dream of), and it also contains many conventions typical to HK cinema. There is sappy melodrama, broad comedy, heroic bloodshed, and tons of pop-culture references - and the best use ever of a Gameboy Camera. Although the film is pretty light on the gore, it is still a really enjoyable zombie-romp - I actually enjoy this more than the similar Shaun of the Dead. This has been released on R1 DVD by Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock, and is available almost everywhere.

3. 2002 (2001) - dir. Wilson Yip - Another horror/action/comedy from Mr. Yip, and another entertaining film. Think of seeing the Ghostbusters in the Matrix, and you'll be on the right track. The film stars HK heart-throbs Nicholas Tse and Stephen Fung, as well as Biozombie's Sam Lee. It is about a special police force who track down angry spirits and help them - by kicking the crap out of them! There are some pretty intense and well-shot action sequences during the film, all of which rely heavily on CGI and wire-work. There is also a good deal of drama and sappy love in this one. There are a number of little side-plots that run throughout the film, and each one focuses on an aspect of Chinese superstition. I actually learned quite a bit about Chinese funerals from this film, and it sparked an interest in me to learn more. There is not a ton of action, but the film is enjoyable enough throughout. This has not been released in the US yet, but it can be found on a region free HK DVD for cheap.

4. A Hero Never Dies and Running Out of Time (1998 and 1999) - dir. Johnny To - Milky Way Productions - Milky Way Productions is to this era, as The Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest studios were to the old-school and mid-school eras. Their films represent the times, and helped shape the conventions, style, and aesthetics of the era. Picking up where John Woo left off, before his jump across the pond, Johnny To, and his partner Ka-Fai Wai, brought the cool and hip back to Hong Kong crime-actioners, but also did something different. Their approach to filmmaking is quite practical, and totally genius. As filmmakers they know that the audience-pleasing hits are needed in order to fund their more personal projects. They would often make two films per year - a rom-com, or another "mainstream-type" film, and the other would be a crime/drama, or a more personal reflection on the triad society in Hong Kong. The great thing is, is that they pour as much creative energy into all of their projects, and each film is given the artistic respect it deserves.

A Hero Never Dies and Running Out of Time created the mold for most of To's future crime/drama output. Hero stars Leon Lai and Lau Ching Wan as gunmen who work for rival triad societies. Typical to HK crime-drama, the two soon become friends and join together for a common goal. To built upon Cheng Cheh's and John Woo's ideas of "heroic bloodshed," but also toned down the violence, while stripping away the more ballet-like execution of the gunplay. While the action feels more "realistic," the film itself is highly romanticized, and To, like Woo, has often been accused of glorifying gang violence. However, with the release of Election and Election 2, among other films, To has shown that he is not glorifying the lifestyle, but is actually poking holes in the street-legends and myths, and using HK crime-archetypes just as the directors from the old school used archetypes typical to the period Kung Fu flicks.

Running Out of Time stars Andy Lau and Lau Ching Wan. Lau Ching Wan has been in many of To's films - he is a staple to the director's output, and a damn fine actor. Running Out of Time is a highly intense cat-and-mouse game about a conman/thief, who is about to die, and his last big job. The film itself does feel a little dated, especially during the final reveal which could seen as laughable to a western audience (due to some not-so-convincing make-up), but everything leading up to this sequence is quite good. To's films always push forward, and he expects the audience to pay attention and keep up. He rarely relies on needless exposition, and every scene and sequence is utilized to expand upon the narrative. This film, like many of his films, is quite simple - he thinks of an idea, and then examines the consequences of the idea. Many people consider this film to be one of the best cri-fi flicks made in HK, and, while I do not echo as much of their excitement, I do think it is pretty good. It is entertaining, the performances are great, and it did help to define a new style. I think Johnny To is the most important director working in Hong Kong today, and so it is always interesting to see where and how he established his roots. Both of these films are available on DVD, and Netflix carries them.

Consider me...stoked!

We just got our tickets for the Seattle premier (January 17, 2007) of David Lynch's mind-twisting, epic take on Hollywood, INLAND EMPIRE. Not only will it be playing on the enormous screen at the Cinerama, but Mr. Lynch will be there to introduce the film and answer questions afterwards. I have always loved his films, and whenever I hear the guy speak, I become mesmerized by his words and cadence. I've always wanted to see him in person, and now, I will finally have my chance. This should be a great evening.

Random Ramblings...

Wow, so we had some crazy farking weather up here in Seattle. Our chimney blew over, and we ended up with a bit of water in our bedroom. Not too big of a deal though - we pulled up some of our floor, and we'll get the chimney fixed, I am a very positive person, and I know we had it pretty easy. At least we didn't have trees come crashing through our house like many people did. We were also without power for almost 3 days. Luckily my parents live just a bit north of Seattle, so my wife, and dogs, and I decided to stay there for the weekend. It was really nice.

We all went to see CASINO ROYALE on Friday night, and I thought it was okay. The le parkour sequence at the beginning was amazing, and was actually filmed and framed better than most movies that feature the sport. However, the narrative for the film was really mediocre. I felt as if Bond wasn't even needed in the film. Had he not shown up, the main villain would have been killed by the terrorists he double-crossed, and absolutely nothing of great-value was at risk. The lack of an immediate danger for Bond to thwart left a bad taste in my mouth. By the time the final showdown came, I didn't know who, or why, Bond was even fighting, and, most importantly, why it even mattered in the greater scheme of things. Craig was excellent though, probably the best, and most real, Bond ever. His determined look and intensity were amazing - too bad the film's narrative was not.

I also spent some time playing my 360 this weekend. I think that the best game for the system was just released last week, on Xbox Live Arcade. The game is called ASSAULT HEROES, and damn does it rock. It's a total old-school shmup, complete with vehicles, three upgradeable weapons, tons of bullets, tons of points, and big epic boss battles. It is like a perfect cross between a top-down Contra, Jackal, Total Carnage, and Commando. It's got off line and on line co-op play, and the game is just a total blast. Graphically, the game looks as good as some of the newer Psyko/Capcom shmups, like Zero Gunner, and although the game doesn't look amazing, it gets the job done. If you have a 360, and you like old-school shmups, with a new-school twist, get this game now. We need to support this kind of original XLA game, so they give us more!

The (Non-authoritative) Hong Kong Film Primer - Part 3

The Mid-School: roughly between the years of 1981-1998 or, from Drunken Master ('78 - right before Once Upon a Time in China.

Ah yes, the mid school. Popularized by Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, the Yuen Clan, Golden Harvest and a ton of other filmmakers. For many fans, this is the era that got them into HK cinema. Many of the films from this era are easy to find in all regions on DVD, and so it is a good era from which to start a collection. During this era, there were a ton of films made in a wide variety of genres including: horror, comedy, action, cri-fi, rom-com and mixtures of all of these and more.

1. Jackie Chan's Police Force (aka Police Story) (1985) - dir. Jackie Chan - Police Force is, to use the cliché, a tour de force. Truly. This film represents what 1980s HK cinema is all about. Big, loud, chaotic, tons of awesome stunts (that would often land the filmmakers in jail for a night or two), a mix of drama, action, and broad humor, and, of course, Mr. Chan himself! The opening action sequence is the stuff of legend - the film starts where most films would end, with one of the biggest, most awesome, butt kicking, village destroying, chase and action sequences ever committed to film.

The film is full of high flying fisticuffs, chases on foot and by bus, and enough broken glass to fill a dozen construction dumpsters. However, what is most remarkable is how well the narrative is plotted and executed. The film never feels like a loose collection of stunts and action - there is a real story, with real suspense, thrills and chills. Police Force is the real deal, and deserves it's coveted spot as an often copied, but rarely duplicated, example of HK action cinema.

2. Duel to the Death (1981) - dir. Ching Siu Tung - I consider this film one of the first mid-school films. Ching Siu Tung had established himself as a fight choreographer working briefly with the Shaw Brothers, but in this film he stepped everything up a notch. He moved away from filming on cheap looking sets, as had become the norm for the Shaws in the early '80s, and made his film much more epic. He shot on location, using more outdoor environments, and crafted a narrative not confined to a back lot studio. Duel to the Death is a grand martial arts epic detailing a legendary fight between the best Chinese and Japanese fighters.

It is also totally outrageous. The film features a ton of downright awesome ninja action including ninjas that fly on kites, ninjas that explode, ninjas the join together to create a huge ninja, and great ninja magic. Ching Siu Tung was a pioneer of incredible wire-assisted action, and in Duel to the Death he's got swordsmen and martial artists flying around the screen like a bunch of Eastern super heroes. Even though the film is full of fan-pleasing combat and wacky high jinks, it also has a well-acted and scripted narrative. It details the differences between Japanese and Chinese martial arts, but, because it is a Hong Kong production, the Japanese are portrayed as evil cheaters - no surprises here. However, the main Japanese fighter denounces his cheating cohorts, and he and the Chinese fighter put their differences aside and have a duel to the death with clean hearts and minds. The final action sequence in this film is extraordinary. The two fighters battle it out with swords twirling while scaling the side of a mountain being ravaged by an angry sea and a landslide. It truly is a stunning conclusion to a great film. This film is available on R1 DVD, and Netflix carries it.

3. Mr. Vampire (1985) - dir. Ricky Lau - Mr. Vampire is the film that truly deserves the Evil Dead comparison - it is the Hong Kong Evil Dead 2, and that is not to say it is a rip-off, but that it is equal parts comedy, horror, and action, and all parts are executed with skill. The film stars one of HK's premier funny-men, Ricky Hui, and Lam Ching-Ying, who would go on to personify the Taoist-monk/wizard archetype for many, many years.

For those of you unfamiliar with Chinese Hopping Vampires, consider this film homework - you will gather a great deal of understanding about these legendary creatures, and the men who control them and fight them. Although this film came out after Sammo Hung's hopping vampire film, I think that Mr. Vampire does a better job at balancing the narrative and showcasing the various methods of Taoism. The comedy is never too broad in the film, and there are a handful of drop dead hilarious sequences that allow Ricky Hui to shine like the comic-star he is. The action is sparse, but, what is shown, is awesome. Lam Ching-Ying just looks so freaking cool, and he knows how to move - he executes some of the coolest tumbling this side of Yuen Biao. The centerpiece to this masterful film takes place in a small jail, as Ching-Ying's character is captured, and he must out smart, and escape from, a bumbling warden and an evil hopping vampire/zombie. This is available on R1 DVD, and Netflix carries it. Check it out.

4. The Buddhists Fist (1979) - dir. Yuen Wo Ping - This flick is just flat out fun. It really is hard to go wrong with an early Yuen clan production. The Yuen clan excelled at crafting highly entertaining, and outright zany, flicks full of broad, sometimes gutter-bound, humor, wild characterizations (lots of buck teeth, hairy moles, and self deprecating humor), and bucket loads of great action.

The action in Buddhists Fist is almost too choreographed. It is so precise, and so expertly shot, that it doesn't feel brutal or dangerous. However, if you just want to see some of the most complex blows exchanged, parried, and deflected, this is your flick. Although more straightforward than Taoism Drunkard, this film is still a riot from beginning to end. This film has been released by Tai Sing on R1 DVD, and I think Netflix does carry it.

5. Aces Go Places (Series) (1982-1989) - dir. Eric Tsang, Hark et al. - The Aces Go Places, or Mad Mission, series are some of the silliest, but most endearing entries in the mid-school era. These off the wall crime-caper/spy/spoof/comedy/actioners can only be compared to the outrageous films of the Zucker Brothers, if they had directed James Bond. Each film in the series consists of an all-star cast of actors, directors, and other filmmakers. The first film stars HK funny-man Sam Hui, Sylvia Chang, Karl Maka, Tsui Hark, Dean Shek and many others, and was directed by Eric Tsang, who you might remember as Sam from Infernal Affairs (or, perhaps, Popeye, in The Dragon Lives Again). Although these films have not aged well, at all, they are still a riot, and chalk full of goofy send-ups and pop-culture shenanigans. The first film swept the 2nd Annual Hong Kong film awards, and is probably the only "good" film of the entire series. However, each of the 5 films offers something worth watching. They are all frenetically paced, silly, and down right entertaining. These flicks have recently been remastered on DVD in HK, and can be found at most importers for a very decent price.

Makoto Shinkai

Makoto Shinkai is at it again. From the looks of his upcoming film, Byousoku 5cm, I am sure that lucky audiences who see this will be moved and astounded. If you are not familiar with Shinkai's work, perhaps you should be. So far his filmography is quite small, but it is a sure case of quality over quantity. He is basically a one-man animation studio as well, so his projects do take a lot of a time to complete. His first short-feature is called Voices of a Distant Star - a wonderful tale full of introspection about two young lovers separated by time, space, and war. After this, he completed his first full-length film, The Place Promised in Our Early Days - a beautifully animated story of three young dreamers on the cusp of a great scientific and personal discovery.

If there is one thing I can guarantee it is this: once you see a Shinkai-sky, full of his wonderful clouds, sunsets, and vast stretches of atmosphere, you will never forget it. I have a feeling that within a decade, Shinkai will be known as the premier animator around the world. He will truly be the next “Miyazaki,” but rather than just following in Miyazaki's Ghibli-shaped footprints, Shinkai will blaze a trail that is uniquely his.

So check out his two completed films, both are available on DVD, even Netflix has them, and also check out the links below for his upcoming film. I for one, can't wait.

Download trailer here.
Right click, save as - Trailer will play in Windows Media Player

Japanese Website

The (Non-authoritative) Hong Kong Film Primer - Part 2

Part 2

I am going to jump ahead past the new wave and mid-school eras for now, and right into the new-school. I define the new school as roughly between the years of 1991 and 1998...

or

The New-school: From Once Upon a Time in China, up until The Matrix

Now, you might think it is odd that I would include The Matrix in a Hong Kong film primer. Well, I don't. The Matrix is just as influential to the HK martial arts and action genres as any of the great films made in Hong Kong were. The Matrix set the standards for the next crop of action films, and helped to define the way post-Matrix action films were made. The new-school era of HK cinema is probably one of the most popular around the world, and is the one most film fans are familiar with. Some of these films have probably been seen by a large percentage of people reading this list, but I could not compile this list without them.

1. Once Upon a Time in China - Tsui Hark - the film that reintroduced HK fans to the wuxia genre, and the film that defined a decade's worth of new martial arts action. This film elevated the use of wire-assisted stunts and choreography to a whole new level, and also made a star out of Jet Li. Hark went all out on this film - it is highly political, incredibly intelligent and well written (although the gweillo “actors” are quite bad), the action is frantic and incredibly well framed, and the characters are far more than just the typical archetypes defined by the old-school. OUATIC is available to rent or buy just about everywhere, and the DVD released by Columbia/Tristar is great. It also has a commentary track by martial arts film “expert” Rick Meyers, of Inside Kung Fu Magazine. Meyers gets a lot of crap from the more snobby HK film fans because his Chinese pronunciation isn't that great, and sometimes his more minute details are a bit off. However, the man knows his stuff, and has played a HUGE role in getting these films seen throughout the world. Next to Bey Logan (a HK film genius) Meyers is the next-best source of information. He has actually done quite a few commentaries for the DVDs distributed by Tai Sing - the number one importer of HK cinema in the west.

2. The Killer - John Woo - although The Killer was released before OUATIC, I still consider it part of this era. Like Hark's film, Woo's film set the standards for a decade's worth of cinema, although in the crime genre. In The Killer, Woo took the heroic-bloodshed genre, started by his mentor Cheng Cheh, and updated it to more modern times. Woo calls The Killer a wuxia film with guns rather than swords - and that it is. It has the same archetypes, themes, and narrative structure found in Cheh's films, and, let's not forget, the bloody violence. The Killer is also a very personal film, and is full of subtle, and pound-you-upside-the-head religious iconography and symbolism. It also features some of the most kick ass action choreography ever captured on film, all thanks to Ching Siu Tung. Ching Siu was a MAJOR player in this new-school era, and although he had been honing his craft since his days at the Shaw Brothers, he really began to shine and set the cinematic world on fire in the early 1990s. Again, The Killer is available on DVD almost anywhere. For those DVD collectors more adventurous, there is a Taiwanese DVD available that contains much of the footage shot for the legendary director's cut. Rumor has it that, someday soon, Woo will be re-editing this film and will add back in almost 20 minutes of narrative and character development. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

3. Sex and Zen - Michael Mak - Sex and Zen is a Cat-III rated film, or a soft-core, skinemax flick, mixed up with a period drama/romance narrative. One might consider it a film Russ Meyer would have directed if he had been a Hongkie. It stars the incredibly beautiful Amy Yip, whose life story is like a movie itself. Rumor has it that she was under the tight control of the triads, who basically told her what films to be in. This practice was not all that uncommon, and many HK filmmakers had trouble with the triads. The triads even funded a portion of the films made during this time. Although Yip was in many soft-core flicks, she refused to fully show her nipples or swim-suit area - she thought leaving something to the viewers imagination was far more erotic (much to the chagrin of Asian hottie fans from arouns the globe!). Although the film is a T&A flick, it is also very well made, and contains some lovely cinematography and some inventive, uhm, choreography - if you catch my drift! The DVD is available where ever Tai Sing imports are sold (Suncoast for example) and is also available through Netflix.

4. The Untold Story aka The Untold Story: Human Meat Roast Pork Buns - Danny Lee - Danny Lee's filmography stems all the way back to the Shaw Brothers, he was a top billed second-wave star of such films as Deadly Duo, The Water Margin, and Super Infra-man. The Untold Story is another Cat-III flick, only this time it is disturbing violence and disgusting stuff that invokes the elicit rating. However, a distinction must be made between Cat-III and XXX. The Cat-III rating is more like our NC-17 rating - that is, most of these Cat-III rated films are taken seriously as cinema by audiences and critics. Sure, some of them (like the one I'll mention on the next update) are just plain old skin-flicks, but some, such as this and many others, are just darker films made with a more mature audience in mind. The Untold Story truly is a disturbing flick, and it contains within it one of the most ballsy and amazing performances committed to film by none other than Anthony Wong. Anthony Wong is one of my favorite actors working in the world today, and as messed up as he is in this totally screwed up film, this did not prevent him from winning the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor! This film is widely available on DVD - Netflix has it as well.

5. Holy Weapon - Jing Wong - Ah yes, where would a list such as this be without Jing Wong? Probably NOT in the gutter. Jing Wong is a fascinating director (another filmmaker who has had trouble with the triads), and is in a class of his own. His films are crude, cheap, and out of control - perhaps he is some messed-up love-child of the Zucker Bros., Sam Raimi, and Ed Wood. Many of his films contain juvenile sex-humor, crude language, and tons of wacky shenanigans. Holy Weapon stars Michele Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Simon Yam, and a slew of other top-billed Hong Kong actors, in an all out, no holds barred martial arts/comedy spectacular. There is a good amount of action, some not-so special effects, a ton of really broad humor, and enough personality and character to choke an elephant. The film starts with two guys jousting in the air while standing on the backs of two flying guys dressed up like birds - and just gets crazier from there. Although this film is quite hard to find (I have only been able to track down a PAL formatted, region coded DVD) it is more than worth it.

The (Non-authoritative) Hong Kong Film Primer

Getting into a foreign country's cinema can be a daunting task. Where does one start? How does one even find the films on DVD? Who are the good directors, actors, and filmmakers? What should I look for, and what should I avoid? Well, I have been asked these questions a few times, and so I am putting together a (Non-authoritative) Hong Kong film primer. Now, I am by no means an expert, or an authority on Hong Kong cinema. For every film I have seen, there are dozens that I have not. I also tend to spend most of my time dwelling in the cinematic ghettos of “genre.” I do, however, know what I like, and what I don't like - I think I have seen enough to make sound judgments. I like to consider my self a well-informed and enthusiastic fan.

Each of these films offered up in this primer is good - great even. And while you may find me leaving out an important film due to my lack of encompassing knowledge, I think you will find these lists a worthy starting point. It would be my hope that after watching each of these films, you would be compelled to search out and discover more films by the filmmakers, in the same genre, or with the same performers. I will be adding new films and new information to this list frequently, so I hope you enjoy it.

We'll start with the old school. My knowledge of the early Hong Kong films is quite limited, and I tend to mainly focus on the martial arts genre with a few popular dramas and comedies thrown in.

The Old School - 1960-1970s

1.A Touch of Zen – King Hu - A true classic. An inspiration for almost every Hong Kong genre film that came after. Helped to set the standards for martial arts cinema. This is available on DVD from almost anywhere, and can be rented from Netflix. The DVD is widescreen and in the original language with English subs.

2.Return of the One Armed Swordsman – Cheng Cheh - Another classic, and like the previous film, it defined a genre. Cheh is considered, by many, to be the grandfather of martial arts cinema, and it is easy to see from his output during the 1960s. Cheh made more than 100 films throughout his career, many of them above average, and many of those are amazing. This film is on DVD, but make sure you track down the remastered Celestial/IVL disc. Avoid the fullscreen, English dubbed versions. This can be purchased from hkflix.com, and local Chinatowns. The Celestial VCDS are also quite good, and usually cost around $5-10 from the retailers. A good choice for the budget conscious film fan.

3.Love Eterne – Li Hia Hsiang - A period, romance, musical. Lovely, and does wonders to capture the feelings of Hong Kong theatre. A widely popular drama that set the standards for subsequent dramas for decades to come. It may feel a bit “stagey” especially for western viewers, but once you get it, it is quite good. Available on Celestial DVD/VCD.

4.36th Chamber of Shaolin – Lau Kar Leung - the originator of the “training sequence.” Also known as Shaolin Master Killer, and the film to make star Gordon Liu, and director Lau Kar Leung famous. The entire film focuses on the training of a Shaolin monk, and is all wonderfully executed. The various tests and weapons popularized in this film would be used for decades to come. If Cheng Cheh set the bar with his early films, Lau Kar Leung raised it with these and his subsequent pictures. The cheaply made English dubbed DVD of this, called Master Killer, is pretty good. It is widescreen, uncut, and the picture is nice - although the sound is quiet. Yes, it features the classic Black Belt Theatre dubbing crew, and you will find some unintentional humor in the dub, but it is still a good DVD. If you can though, get the Celestial/IVL DVD.

5.Shaolin Temple – Cheng Cheh - Another Cheh film, and another worthy film. This film basically started off the entire infatuation with the Shaolin monks, their temple, and their plight. The narrative for the film is, quite loosely, based on historical fact. This film kicked off the Shaolin Cycle, a large group of films, made independently by different filmmakers, that all touched upon various characters, heroes, legends and facts based on the construction, usage, and burning of the original Shaolin Temple. Yet again available on Celestial/IVL DVD/VCD. There is a cheaply made US version, put out by Panmedia, but I cannot vouch for its quality.

Directors to watch for during this era: Cheng Cheh, Lau Kar Leung, King Hu, Chor Yuen, Suen Chung, The Hui Brothers, Ku Long (novelist whose work was made into tons of martial arts pictures)

Actors to watch for: David Chiang, Ti Leung, Gordon Liu, Cheng Pei Pei, Chen Kuan Tai, Lilly Li Li-li, Lo Lieh, Cheng Hong Yip, Lee Hoi Song

Much more to come....

DVDS - when looking for these old school films, especially those made by the Shaw Brothers, always try to get the Celestial/IVL DVDs or the VCDs. They look and sound amazing, actually better than they ever have! This company is spending millions of dollars on the Shaw Brothers catalog, and they are helping restore and protect decades worth of cinema. The DVD usually run around $15-20, and can be purchased from Chinatowns, or on line at hkflix.com. The VCDs are cheaper, but they look pretty good. The HK versions of these discs are Region coded 3. There are Tawianese versions of these Celestial/IVL discs as well. They are legit, and they are region free, and usually cost a bit less. Again, hkflix.com has them all, and you can compare. These are all in the original languages with English subs.

There is also a US Bootlegging company called Panmedia/Red Sun who puts out a bunch of these on DVD. They almost always feature fullscreen cuts, and are usually English dubbed. However, some of their prints are quite nice, and they do put out some DVDs that you just can't get any where else. These DVDs should NEVER be purchased for more than $10 - too much of a risk. I have some that are very nice, and some that are almost unwatchable. I get these versions just because I sometimes prefer to watch these old school films with the crappy English dub. Call it nostalgia, or maybe I just don't feel like reading all of the time. Sometimes I do really enjoy the old school dubs, and I think it can add a certain amount of character to some of the films. If you can research the print used on these discs, or aren't too picky, then you might find these to be the best solution.

Today Was a Mini Christmas

So I ordered a handful of movies before the Thanksgiving weekend in hopes that they would arrive in time for me to enjoy them over the long weekend. Of course, this was not to be. I arrived at work today to find 3 packages on my desk – figures. One of the films I ordered I just couldn't wait for, and so I went out on Wednesday night to buy it, and that film is BOXER'S OMEN. My mail ordered copy did arrive today, and so I have decided to give it to a very lucky someone who recently celebrated a birthday – oh lucky them (happy late birthday D.S.). The release of this film on DVD is kind of a monumental event. This is the first time the film has ever been released in its true and unedited form. The only way to experience this legendary Shaw Brothers mondo-movie, before Image and Celestial unleashed the DVD, was on shoddy VHS copies from Taiwan.

BOXER'S OMEN is a strange film to be sure. Imagine something like Jodorowsky's EL TOPO filtered through Troma studios and the Shaw Brothers. It is a film that features some truly disgusting imagery, some drop dead hilariously awful special effects, and enough gratuitous gore and nudity to please any fan of subversive cinema. I am working on a full blown write up so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, pick up the DVD – I guarantee that you never seen anything like it.

I also got MATCHING ESCORT, the sequel to the recently reviewed WOLF DEVIL WOMAN. Oh yeah – if this one is half as crazy as its predecessor, I have a feeling I am in for a treat. I can't wait to load this puppy into my DVD player - I fully expect my jaw to be dropped for 80+ minutes.

In addition to these two films, DEADEND OF BESIEGERS also arrived. What? You've never heard of this? Well, I am not shocked – I had never heard of this film either up until about a week ago. It is a Mainland China/Japanese co-production starring the lovely butt kicker, Cynthia Khan. I hear it has a wonderful mix of Chinese and Japanese martial arts styles, and when I flipped through the DVD this evening, I was amazed by how awesome it looks.

And, last but not least, THE ODD COUPLE was also waiting for me. I have never seen this mid-school classic, and from what I hear, I am in for an amazing experience. It stars Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Wing as two aging kung fu masters. Once a year these two masters meet up to see who is the best of the best. Because they are getting old, and must retire soon, they decide to each take on a student so their fighting styles can survive. In an amazing stroke of narrative genius, Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Wing take on dual roles as the students, each learning under their rival's tutelage. I am sure some ass kicking choreography ensues, especially with the presence of these two amazing fighters.

Miike + $7 million + sushi western + Django = AWESOME!

Color me excited. Color me REALLY excited. I know the color exists, it's in the new box of Crayolas. I love westerns, I love Miike, and I love Tarantino. Combine all of these together into a film that is ALREADY shooting, and then pick my jaw up off the floor. This is definitely something to keep on the radar.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/061121d.php

Miike Pulls Six-Guns For "Django"
Posted:   Monday November 20th 2006 1:28am
Source:   The Hollywood Reporter
Author:   Garth Franklin  

Japanese director Takashi Miike is making the first "sushi western" entitled "Sukiyaki Western Django" for Sony Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter. The director [a close friend of Tarantino] has talked [him] into appearing as a 'mystery man' in the $6.8 million English-language movie, a homage to the spaghetti westerns of the 1960's.

The story follows the clashes between two rival gangs in a 19th century setting that will blend US and Japanese archetypes. Hideaki Itoh, Kaori Momoi, Koji Sato and Yoshino Kimura star.

Filming began this weekend at the Syonai Movie Studio in Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan. Tarantino is scheduled to visit Japan later this month to film his scenes. The film will get released late 2007.

Robert Altman (1925-2006)

I know we don't do this kind of thing much around here, and even though I have never been the biggest fan of his films, with Robert Altman passing, we have lost a truly great and visionary director. Rest in peace Mr. Altman, and may your films live on for all of eternity.

MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15831581/

Director Robert Altman dies at 81

Legendary filmmaker was at helm of 'M-A-S-H,' 'Nashville,' 'Gosford Park'

LOS ANGELES - Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind “M-A-S-H,” “Nashville” and “The Player” who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said Tuesday. He was 81.

The director died Monday night, Joshua Astrachan, a producer at Altman’s Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York City, told The Associated Press.

The cause of death wasn’t disclosed. A news release was expected later in the day, Astrachan said.

A five-time Academy Award nominee for best director, most recently for 2001’s “Gosford Park,” he finally won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006.

“No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have,” Altman said while accepting the award. “I’m very fortunate in my career. I’ve never had to direct a film I didn’t choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition.”

Altman had one of the most distinctive styles among modern filmmakers. He often employed huge ensemble casts, encouraged improvisation and overlapping dialogue and filmed scenes in long tracking shots that would flit from character to character.

Perpetually in and out of favor with audiences and critics, Altman worked ceaselessly since his anti-war black comedy “M-A-S-H” established his reputation in 1970, but he would go for years at a time directing obscure movies before roaring back with a hit.

Big comeback with 'Gosford Park' After a string of commercial duds including “The Gingerbread Man” in 1998, “Cookie’s Fortune” in 1999 and “Dr. T & the Women” in 2000, Altman took his all-American cynicism to Britain for 2001’s “Gosford Park.”

A combination murder-mystery and class-war satire set among snobbish socialites and their servants on an English estate in the 1930s, “Gosford Park” was Altman’s biggest box-office success since “M-A-S-H.”

Besides best-director, “Gosford Park” earned six other Oscar nominations, including best picture and best supporting actress for both Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith. It won the original-screenplay Oscar, and Altman took the best-director prize at the Golden Globes for “Gosford Park.”

Altman’s other best-director Oscar nominations came for “M-A-S-H,” the country-music saga “Nashville” from 1975, the movie-business satire “The Player” from 1992 and the ensemble character study “Short Cuts” from 1993. He also earned a best-picture nomination as producer of “Nashville.”

No director ever got more best-director nominations without winning a regular Oscar, though four other men — Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Clarence Brown and King Vidor — tied with Altman at five.

In May, Altman brought out “A Prairie Home Companion,” with Garrison Keillor starring as the announcer of a folksy musical show — with the same name as Keillor’s own long-running show — about to be shut down by new owners. Among those in the cast were Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones.

“This film is about death,” Altman said at a May 3 news conference in St. Paul, Minn., also attended by Keillor and many of the movie’s stars.

Took on Hollywood genres He often took on Hollywood genres with a revisionist’s eye, de-romanticizing the Western hero in 1971’s “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” and 1976’s “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson,” the film-noir gumshoe in 1973’s “The Long Goodbye” and outlaw gangsters in “Thieves Like Us.”

“M-A-S-H” was Altman’s first big success after years of directing television, commercials, industrial films and generally unremarkable feature films. The film starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould was set during the Korean War but was Altman’s thinly veiled attack on U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

“That was my intention entirely. If you look at that film, there’s no mention of what war it is,” Altman said in an Associated Press interview in 2001, adding that the studio made him put a disclaimer at the beginning to identify the setting as Korea.

“Our mandate was bad taste. If anybody had a joke in the worst taste, it had a better chance of getting into the film, because nothing was in worse taste than that war itself,” Altman said.

The film spawned the long-running TV sitcom starring Alan Alda, a show Altman would refer to with distaste as “that series.” Unlike the social message of the film, the series was prompted by greed, Altman said.

“They made millions and millions of dollars by bringing an Asian war into Americans’ homes every Sunday night,” Altman said in 2001. “I thought that was the worst taste.”

Altman never minced words about reproaching Hollywood. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he said Hollywood served as a source of inspiration for the terrorists by making violent action movies that amounted to training films for such attacks.

“Nobody would have thought to commit an atrocity like that unless they’d seen it in a movie,” Altman said.

Altman was written off repeatedly by the Hollywood establishment, and his reputation for arrogance and hard drinking — a habit he eventually gave up — hindered his efforts to raise money for his idiosyncratic films.

While critical of studio executives, Altman held actors in the highest esteem. He joked that on “Gosford Park,” he was there mainly to turn the lights on and off for the performers.

The respect was mutual. Top-name actors would clamor for even bit parts in his films. Altman generally worked on shoestring budgets, yet he continually landed marquee performers who signed on for a fraction of their normal salaries.

After the mid-1970s, the quality of Altman’s films became increasingly erratic. His 1980 musical “Popeye,” with Robin Williams, was trashed by critics, and Altman took some time off from film.

He directed the Broadway production of “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,” following it with a movie adaptation in 1982. Altman went back and forth from TV to theatrical films over the next decade, but even when his films earned critical praise, such as 1990’s “Vincent & Theo,” they remained largely unseen.

“The Player” and “Short Cuts” re-established Altman’s reputation and commercial viability. But other 1990s films — including his fashion-industry farce “Ready to Wear” and “Kansas City,” his reverie on the 1930s jazz and gangster scene of his hometown — fell flat.

Born Feb. 20, 1925, Altman hung out in his teen years at the jazz clubs of Kansas City, Mo., where his father was an insurance salesman.

Altman was a bomber pilot in World War II and studied engineering at the University of Missouri in Columbia before taking a job making industrial films in Kansas City. He moved into feature films with “The Delinquents” in 1957, then worked largely in television through the mid 1960s, directing episodes of such series as “Bonanza” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

Altman and his wife, Kathryn, had two sons, Robert and Matthew, and he had a daughter, Christine, and two other sons, Michael and Stephen, from two previous marriages.

When he received his honorary Oscar in 2006, Altman revealed he had a heart transplant a decade earlier.

“I didn’t make a big secret out of it, but I thought nobody would hire me again,” he said after the ceremony. “You know, there’s such a stigma about heart transplants, and there’s a lot of us out there.”

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Playing Catch up...

I finally got around to watching Good Night, and Good Luck last night – wow. I am not going to do a proper write up, because I don't think I have anything else to add to D.S.'s great review, but damn, the film really got to me, and so I am just going to share some thoughts. It is such an unassuming film – the sets are minimal, and there aren't very many of them, the plot is deceptively simple, and the performances are understated while still containing gravitas and an edge. It was also wonderful to see Robert Downey Jr. and Ray Wise, two of my favorite actors – and for once, Downey didn't steal the screen away from the lead!

Most of all, the film just oozes with class. The cinematography is brilliant – the playfulness between the light and shadows does wonders to capture the immediacy of the narrative, and the camera work almost feels like that of a documentary. The music is used sparingly, and to great effect. After each evening's newscast, each sequence is closed with a wonderful jazz number that brings everything to a head. The men in the film are also classy, and it almost makes me yearn for a time when more men wore suits and ties, and combed their hair with Brylcreem. People just looked smarter back then, and there is a lot to be said about how people look. Even though I love being casual most of the time, sometimes up here in the Pacific Northwest, things can get a bit too casual. I also adored the dialog, and the complete lack of cursing – the film said so much without the need to wallow in the gutter.

What struck me most about this film is how intelligent Murrow's reporting and delivery were depicted. I mean, you just don't get that kind of intelligence on television any more. I was gobsmacked by the words he used, and the way he constructed his sentences, not to mention the subjects he chose to tackle. He spoke with such eloquence, and, most importantly, he expected his audience to pay attention and keep up – all without the aid of flashy graphics, Power Point-like presentations, and creative use of icons, slogans and music. No, back then, the news was news, and men were men, and were proud of their intelligence. Just imagine someone like Murrow on the network news today, and imagine how utterly flabbergasted and confused most of the viewers would be trying to decipher the words coming from this person's mouth. Yes, I know some, maybe much, of the dialog was fictionalized for the film, but we can, even now, go back and listen to the real Murrow's own words – and the man really did speak in such a manner.

I also loved how the film's message is so timely, and yet it was delivered without being overly preachy or obnoxiously obvious. In many ways, I was reminded of Dr. Strangelove in this regard. Clooney's film says more about modern politics than any pseudo-documentary Michael Moore could ever even dream of making – and it does so in a much more intelligent and responsible way. The film is subtle, quiet, and moves at a deliberate pace, but all the while, the narrative and the historical context clutched at every strand of my my attention, and pulled me in to this remarkable world these historical characters lived through. If you haven't seen it yet, and I imagine I may be one of the last to see this film, do so. Even if you don't think the film is your cup of tea, see it anyhow. Good Night, and Good Luck is a film I think every American has a duty to see – it is profoundly good.

Gears of War

Gears of War is really, really good - excellent even. I have not played through the entire single player campaign yet, but I have played enough to make a sound judgment. Simply put, the game play is fun, and really intense - this is the way I always wanted Halo to play. I love the stop-and-pop play mechanics and how the environments are constructed to create room for a ton of strategy; they give way for some very intense close quarters gun play. It does take a while to learn how to play the game, and the game does expect the player to play a certain way, but once it clicks, it becomes second nature. This is not a "play how you want" style game - the developers had a certain vision and really do force the players to strictly follow this design choice. Now, this is not a bad thing. All too often in modern gaming, developers try to create a game that can be played dozens of different ways with no set play mechanics or style. Sometimes this freedom is fun, but, all too often, what we end up with is a game that tries to be everything to every player, and winds up doing nothing really well.

Gears of War is not this kind of game. It attempts, and succeeds, in doing only a small number of things really well - it perfects the game play mechanics and presents the player with some of the best gun play ever seen in a game. Sure, what Gears offers isn't all that innovative (you'll count numerous references to a ton of science fiction movies and stories), but the game excels at creating small intense moments of action built around a wonderful control scheme. The very nature of the game itself forces the player to play by the rules of engagement within the game's narrative. We know that the marines in the game are trained for close-quarters combat and inner-city guerilla warfare - these are not the huge sprawling open battle fields of WWII or Halo. The environments in Gears are designed more like intricate paintball courses - they are small, and offer a ton of places to duck, hide, and flank, and the game play forces the player to take advantage of this setting. If you rund-and-gun in this one, you'll last for a scant few seconds.

I must also mention the way the game it looks - which is just freaking awesome, especially in hi-def. Now I know all the Nintendo fanboys trolling around the internets don't believe that graphics matter, but, in reality, graphics do make a huge difference. When all things are equal, why would you want to play a game that looks worse than another? If game play really is the only thing that matters, just stick to the Atari 2600. When a game already has awesome play mechanics, well designed levels, and spot on technical aspects, amazing graphics can only elevate the game even further by drawing the player into the detailed and beautiful game-world. And, once you see Gears of War running in 720p, you just won't believe how awesome HD graphics are. The scratches and knicks in the textures of the characters and environments, coupled with the crumbling architecture and overcast skies, create moments of pure visceral excitement. I think it can be safely said that Gears of War is the first console game to really offer a true HD experience - there is no way this game could have been made the same way on a current-gen console.

So yeah, if you don't already have Gears, get it - it rocks, and it might be worth buying a 360 for (not to mention Alan Wake, Mass Effect and Bio-Shock, all coming out next year). It looks great, plays great, and is a ton of fun. D.S. and I played through the first act on co-op and had a total blast. It is not overly complex, but does offer enough subtle touches that make it difficult to master. I can't wait until my next gaming session.

Video Games Yall!

It looks like two new video game consoles are about ready to launch – they are lurking just below the horizon, waiting to spring upon us and strip away our hard earned wages. Even though I am not planing on getting a Playstation 3, or a Wii, for some time, I am still excited. I always like the “launch years,” as I love to anticipate what new worlds and experiences the new consoles will bestow upon the few hours a week I am able to devote to this diminishing past time of mine. However, I can honestly say that there is not a single game announced, for either of these systems, that makes me check my bank account just to see if I COULD get one – as if they would even be available off the shelves at the local shops.

The Wii's line-up has totally left me, uhm, how should I say it...completely uninterested. I just don't see the appeal of playing games in which I will have to shake a controller around and participate in a bunch of mini-games. I hate mini-games, and I hate party games. In my blog a week or so ago, I asked if watching films is a monastic endeavor or not, and I can safely say that, for me, playing video games IS indeed a monastic endeavor. I don't play online games, and I rarely play anything co-op or multi-player (unless of course it is Champions of Norrath). I enjoy games that are built around interesting worlds, and offer adventurous experiences, games like Beyond Good and Evil, Ico, Okami, Zelda, Jet Set Radio Future, and others like these, and I also enjoy old school 2D, scrolling shoot'em ups. Yes I know the Wii is launching with the new Zelda, but I will be more than content playing it on the Gamecube a few weeks later.

As far as the PS3 is concerned, the only game that I am remotely interested in is Resistance. I think Insomniac is a wonderful developer, and this game looks like a very cool FPS. However, it's not going anywhere, and it is most assuredly not the killer app that will get my butt outside on a cold and rainy November Seattle day just to wait in line, at some ungodly hour, and plop down $600 on a system. I can wait. As for the rest of the PS3's launch line-up, I am even less excited. I am sure that, eventually, the PS3 will have some amazing games. For the last 2 generations Sony has proven to be the system to get for all of the killer 3rd party apps, AND for the sheer voluminous amounts of niche titles and B-grade games unavailable anywhere else. I see no reason why this trend will not continue, and, honestly, my heart, and money, goes out to the system with the best 3rd party support.

I guess what I am saying is this: I can wait. I'll be picking up Gears of War this week for the 360 (check out the reviews, HOLY CRAP, talk about a AAA, killer app!) and I have enough games still to get, and to beat, on the PS2, XBOX, and, surprisingly enough, the Sega Saturn (thank you Internets!). I still might go down to one of the big stores to check out the launch events, just to bask in the hype and see what people are buying. Too bad most of the freaking morons buying a PS3 are doing so to sell on Ebay, but, such is capitalism. Even though I do not set aside much time for games anymore, I am still, and probably always will be, a video game playing nerd deep down. And this is our time of year.

More Budd and Eno...

I can't stop listening to Brian Eno and Harold Budd's Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror. I mean, I try to pull away from it, but it keeps tugging back. This weekend I left my iPod's cable at work, and so I was not able to recharge its battery. On Saturday morning, I listened to this wonderful album while reading Lisey's Story, and then, on Sunday, I completely drained the battery on my iPod listening to this amazing construction of ambient music while doing yard work. It was a perfect, almost Zen-like experience - the rain softly coming down in a mist, me in my work clothes picking up leaves and landscaping, and Budd's soft piano creating a tranquil soundtrack for the moment. However, last night when I sat down to read, and I didn't have anything to listen to, it just felt wrong.

The album opens with First Light, a beautiful piece of music on par with the opening to the duo's other masterpiece, The Pearl. Budd's piano slowly fades in, playing light notes high on the register with an almost carefree sense of whimsy. Slowly, Eno's electronic treatments creep their way into the stereo-field, and then, a moment of brilliance occurs. Eno must have mathematically determined the perfect moments for each change, because when Budd hits on a deep octave, and Eno's own synth-tone carries the note away with perfect harmony, it almost feels magical - like the change could not have come a second later, or sooner, as it is a perfect and subtle moment for the ages.

The real centerpiece on the album is made up of tracks 5 and 6: An Arc of Doves and Not Yet Remembered. These compositions must be two of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. In a strange way, these tracks make me long for memories I have not had yet, they create a sense of nostalgia for the present moment. It is had to explain, and hard to put into words, but as soon as I hear the slightly compressed and altered tones of Budd's Eno-treated piano, my mind is whisked away into a state of total peace and tranquility. I wish I knew the words to convey how I really feel when I listen to these compositions, but perhaps the words do not exist.

Music can be a spiritually uplifting and healing medium, and if proof is needed, one only has to turn to this remarkable recording. The tones and melodies really do create a peaceful ambience that is utterly soothing and haunting. I believe that if more people spent more time listening to music like this, the world would really be a better place - or, at least it would be a quieter and more peaceful place.

Alfred Bester and The Disappearing Act

Alfred Bester, one of the Three B's, the masters, of speculative fiction (the other two are Ray Bradbury and J.G. Ballard), is truly a genius at crafting short fiction that hits with the impact of a triple-trailer, 18 wheeler screaming, out of control, down the back side of the Oregon mountains barreling into Washington state. Bester was born in 1913, and for a large part of his early career he worked in radio, writing scripts, he spent four years working for DC comics as an early writer for Superman (back when it was a fresh and original title) and wrote and edited for various magazines. He also spent a great deal of this time writing some of the best short science/speculative fiction ever written – no exaggeration.

If you have never read any of this master's prose, track down and purchase VIRTUAL UNREALITIES, a collection of short stories compiled in 1997. Then, open the cover and proceed to devour the first, of many, mind altering stories – The Disappearing Act. The Disappearing Act is one of those legendary stories that even non-fans of Bester have heard about. It is considered one of his best, and rightfully so. This story is just so amazingly good, that it is hard for me to imagine someone actually writing it, or that there was a time when this story didn't exist at all. It is so perfect that I cannot fathom the mind of an author that could write such a creative, fast paced, elegant, and poignant story about politics, America, and the all American Dream - "The Good Things in Life." A mind like Bester's both scares me and fascinates me.

What's more, even though The Disappearing Act was written in 1953, today, it is more poignant than ever with its commentary and satire. Much like how the film Dr. Strangelove continues to be topical and relevant (perhaps more so now than ever) Bester's amazing short story hits you in the face with relevancy and tenacious satire, humor, and beaming creativity. No, I have not yet told you anything about the story – and I won't; to spoil the treasure of this gem's narrative, and characters, should be considered a crime against the arts. But once you start to read it, trust me, it will consume you.

There is a reason that this new wave of sci-fi authors in the 1950s were called the “jazz-writers” of science fiction, and when you read The Disappearing Act, this phrase becomes crystal clear. Bester's prose bops along like Coltrane's fingers on the saxophone, and his words penetrate the mind like the notes seeping from a Miles Davis tune, punctuated with the rhythm and timing of Art Blakey on the skins. The narrative is classically good, and made all the more timeless by the theme. And, Like all GREAT music, even those who do not confine themselves to, or keep themselves away from, certain genres can appreciate it.

I often wonder what it would be like to live in the mind of someone like Alfred Bester, or Philip. K. Dick, or Bradbury, or Ballard. I wonder how Bester saw the world, and how did normal mundane minutia impact his imagination? It is a shame that authors like Bester can't live forever, but it is also a blessing that people like Bester were great writers. For although they can no longer share with the world what is going on inside those minds of theirs, their words live on forever in the books and stories they wrote.

There is something to be said about brevity

I have been reading King's latest, Lisey's Story, and so far it is pretty good. However, I can't help thinking of a phrase that is quickly becoming my motto, and that is, "there is a lot to be said for brevity in a narrative (and in a review, I know, I'm sorry, they are getting shorter!)." As much as I like King, he is a literary hero of mine, I just can't get past the fact that most of his books are way too long, and it takes forever for the narrative to really start. I do not think the Dark Tower books suffered (too much) from this problem, and Cell most definitely did not, but Lisey's Story, like Bag of Bones, does.

D.S. And I have often discussed how freaking way-too-long many modern genre books are. We have both said that if you shelved every sci-fi and fantasy book written between 1920 and 2006, you would see a noticeable change in the thickness of each volume as the years grew in number. And today, things are really out of control. Just look at Robert Jordon and Rowling for two examples in a sea of many – their individual stories need 1000s of pages to be told, why is this? Are they really saying something that can't be said in a few hundred pages, or are they really offering up that much more entertainment? I doubt it. I would love it if someone would edit the Wheel of Time and Potter stories down to an appropriate length (a trilogy, with each volume being no more than 300 pages), because I bet there is an interesting story hiding behind the blubber found in each.

I wonder whose fault this is? Is it the authors, or the publishers, pushing for these backbreaking volumes and series? Or, even more important, is it the consumer? Have books become so outrageously expensive that there is an overwhelming desire for MORE (in terms of quantity), and a perceived value in a thicker tome? I would wager that all three of these factors have led to this BIG problem.

Personally, I enjoy shorter volumes, and not because I am lazy. I think shorter books pose more of challenge to the author, as he or she has fewer pages to convey the ideas (omit needless words!), and they allow me to read more books, written by more writers. I know we've pimped the heck out of him before, but I cannot stress enough how amazing Philip K. Dick's narratives are. His longest book, an epic as far as he in concerned, comes in at less than 300 pages – The Transmigration of Timothy Archer – and it is brilliant. Or take for instance A Scanner Darkly, or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, both around 250 pages, and both totally entertaining and absurdly profound. Then, of course, there is Alfred Bester, with his The Stars My Destination, and The Demolished Man, two of the best science fiction books ever written, and both under 200 pages! The list could go on, and includes Ray Bradbury, Joe R Lansdale, Olaf Stapleton, Stanslaw Lem, Harry Harrison, and Michael Moorcock among many, many other masters.

Will there ever come a time, again, when I will be able to find a new genre book that is less than 300 pages, and says as much as the work from yesterday's masters? If a new book came out, and it was less than 300 pages, would the mass-market paperback still cost me $8.99? Ah, now there's the stinger. Maybe I answered my own series of questions. Perhaps the market is entirely responsible for this problem, because God knows I would not pay that price for a small-print mass-market edition of any book. Oh well, at least I still have used book stores, and stacks and stacks of older, shorter, more to-the-point narratives to get my hands on. Yes, there is always a silver lining.

Stephen King

I am so totally stoked right now, I've got to share. I just bought tickets to see, and hear, Stephen King speak at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle on Wednesday November 1st - yeah that's right, next week. I just can't believe I am getting the opportunity to listen to one of my literary heroes talk about his life and craft. I have heard audio of King speak before, and he is an amazingly entertaining, and informative, speaker. He is also a writer who, despite what some might say, is still at the top of his craft, and is finally receiving some real literary accolades. I also believe that we not yet seen the best that this author has to give - even if he is "retired." Yes he is adored by his fans, but literary scholars and critics are finally giving him the props he deserves, outside of the genre-ghetto. It is heart warming to know that a writer can be successful, and taken seriously, and still be alive to enjoy it. Expect a full write up of this event.

What's That Sound?

If you are ever in the mood for some of the most beautiful, relaxing, and textured ambient music you'll ever hear, I must direct you to the work of Harold Budd. I have been listening to his music almost nonstop now for a few months, and I have enjoyed his amazing music for many, many years. His music has become soundtrack of sorts for me while I read through the books written by Philip K. Dick. There is something about his amazing piano, electronic compositions, and soundscapes, that perfectly captures the otherworldly atmosphere of Dick's prose. Even when I listen to his albums without reading a Dick novel, my thoughts are instantly teleported to sequences and characters found withing the pages of these volumes.

Budd is a minimalist, but one that has not forgotten the importance of a well constructed tune and melody. Sure, there are other artists out there who work with less (more minimalism?), but I often find that they lack Budd's ability to work within the conventions of traditionally composed, and played, melodic music. Budd often works with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and together these three pioneers have shaped the very landscape of the ambient genre. It is nigh impossible to imagine electronic ambient music without these musicians.

On The Pearl, Harold Budd and Brian Eno's masterfully recorded ambient-classic, the soft notes of Budd's piano, filtered through the electronic textures of Eno's production, caries the listener away to a world of serene beauty. It has often been said that the opening fade-in on the first track, Late October, is an all time classic moment in music history – and I must agree. I don't care how many times I have heard this single tune, every time I press play, on my stereo, computer or iPod, I eagerly await, with heightened anticipation, the slow and deliberate build, as Budd's piano creeps through the soft and alien electronic haze created by Eno's technical wizardry.

The album is timeless and, even though it was recorded in 1984, it is impossible to tell when it was released. Every track on the album has so much to offer, and the listener is rewarded with subtle nuances and hidden gems of sound upon each and every listen. If you are at all into ambient music, or you want to know a good place to start, give The Pearl a chance, and then dive headfirst into this collective's extensive discography of amazing music. The Pearl will open doors, doors that lead to powerful and memorable listening moments, and doors, that once opened, will never be closed.



For those of you who pine for some more adventurous music, I implore you to check out this webiste that I recently discovered:

http://www.progarchives.com/

The Prog Rock Archives is a venerable treasure trove of musical discoveries. The site is broken down into an extensive collection of prog rock sub-genres, and within each genre, the site offers up a bevy of information on the sub-genre's bands. There are discographies, track listings, personnel information and reader submitted reviews. What's more, and best, the site offers a streaming set of music for each sub-genre. I have only been visiting the site for a few short days, but I have already found at least ten bands I want to know more about. Just as an example of the amazing bands you will stumble upon here, check out the link below, scroll down to the embedded audio player, and check out the first track called, Kinzoku No Taiji, by the Japanese band Bondage Fruit. Wow, if this track doesn't destroy your brain, nothing will!

http://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=11

The Cinematic Vow of Silence...

Is watching films a monastic endeavor? I don't know, and sometimes, depending on the film, and my mood, I enjoy films more watching them by myself, and other times I like watching them with a crowd.

Last night I rewatched a fun little Japanese horror flick called Hiruko the Goblin (review coming Thursday) all by myself. My wife had gone to bed, and our roommate was not home, so I had the living room to myself. I fired up the DLP projector, cranked up the stereo, leaned back in the recliner, and had a blast from start to finish. Although this film is one that is fun to watch with a group of film fans hooting and hollering at the screen, there is just something to be said about devouring a film and letting it sink in while you sit there alone, in the dark, with no one to disturb you. I often find that I "get" more out of a film when I watch it by myself, and, depending on the level of respect possessed by the crowd, I usually have more fun watching films alone.

However, there are times when I love watching a killer flick with others. I think certain genres lend themselves to better viewings when seen in a packed house, and some films are just a blast to watch with a group of cool friends who know how to watch a film. Perhaps this is the most important part of this equation - people KNOWING how to watch a film. Sure, there are certain times when jokes can be made, or talking can occur, but for the most part, I like silence the majority of the time. Take for instance two separate viewings of House of Flying Daggers. When I first got the Chinese DVD, my wife and I watched it alone - and we loved it, the ending left both us sad, and we relished in the mood and atmosphere. However, a few nights later I had a group of friends over, and everyone was laughing at the melodrama, and yucking it up - the film played completely different, and I must be honest and say that I enjoyed the quiet and somber viewing a whole lot more.

Pauline Kael, a critic of utmost importance and skill, once declared that watching films is indeed a monastic endeavor, and while I agree with her some of the times, there are other times when I do not. It all comes down to the film, my mood, and the crowd. I have seen films bolstered by a good crowd, and I have seen films destroyed by a lame one, just as I, while watching a particularly kick ass film alone, have wished someone was around to share in my excitement.

Captain, My Captain

Why is almost anything funny when preempted by the word “captain?”

Captain Donkey Face
Captain Obvious
Captain Fat Knocker
Captain Scrotum
Captain Dingle-Berry
Captain Roid Muncher
Captain Block Head
Captain Money Bags
Captain Ass Face
Captain Poopy Pants
Captain Midget Maker
Captain Magical Mystery Pants
Captain Choad Licker
Captain Frog Breath
Captain Mini-Bottom
Captain Funklestein
Captain Garbage Lover
Captain Newbie
Captain Geezer


Need I go on?

The Death of a Creative Lover

If only critical success could translate into financial success, if so, then we wouldn't be facing this bit of horrible news. Last week, Capcom decided to dissolve Clover Studios. Clover was started by Atashi Inaba and Shinji Mikami, the head developer for the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry franchises. They chose the name Clover as an abbreviation for Creative Lover, and if you know their games, you know they love creativity - it has been a mark on all of their games.



The problem is this: their games have received universal critical praise, and yet the gamers themselves are not buying them. I hate gamers like this. The majority of gamers these days would rather spend their money on GTA-clones, updated rosters for tired sports games, and franchises with large numbers at the end. Original IP is a rare thing in the games industry, and original IP with solid gameplay is rarer still. Clover proved themselves early on with Viewtiful Joe (one of the all time great side-scrolling platformers) and recently with Okami - simply one of the greatest achievements in video game history - and God Hand, a super gonzo throw back to the days of beat'em up-yore.



However, recently 1up.com and gamasutru.com have been reporting a silver lining to this story. It seems that the reason Capcom dissolved the studio is that the three main creative forces decided to leave and start their own, truly independent, studio. Capcom folded the rest of the studio to save face. Are these rumors true? I hope so, because Clover is the last of a dying breed. After Sega folded SMiLEBIT, my favorite developer, along with the rest of their studios within the large studio, it seems like there is little room for small indie developers. We still have TREASURE, but for how long I cannot say.

I hope, no, pray, that these truly creative developers do in fact cut their ties with their parent companies and continue to work on smart games with creative designs, great art, and even better gameplay. God knows we need an injection of creativity in the games industry. Also, with this said, I am really looking forward to Rockstar's BULLY - it sounds absolutely fascinating.

Rain, Rain...

Ah yes, the first really cold and rainy day of the year, I was actually missing the sun a bit. However, I did not let the lack of sun get me down - oh no - I proudly sat down in my reclining chair today, and watched a bevy of DVDs - and will continue to do so this evening. Last Friday night we took a trip to Scarecrow Video and loaded up on some flicks to watch for the next few days. Nicole, my wife, picked out a documentary, and a film from Hungary - the doc section at Scarecrow is scary good. The doc is about New York in the 1950s, and focuses on the jazz club scene, and the Hungarian flick is called Hukkle (imdb), of which I read that almost the entire film is devoid of dialog. It is a murder mystery, and a film that sounds more and more intersting the more I read about it.



As for myself, well, I of course took a gander through the Hong Kong section. I really need to make a list of evey HK flick I want, and still need, to see, so I can just start at the "A" section and work my way through to the end. Anyhow, I picked up three old-to-mid school martial arts flicks: Hell's Windstaff, The Clutch of Power (I misread the DVD case and thought it said The CRUTCH of power - I was hoping for a kick ass weapon made from a crutch) and an older Yuen Clan flick called Miracle Fighters. Now, if you think you know crazy, but you have not yet seen an old Yuen Clan flick, then, well, you don't know crazy. Miracle Fighters is one awesome flick, and man, is it ever balls-to-the-walls gonze, and full of inventive sequences that will, more than one time, leave you scratching your head and busting a gut in laughter. A full write up is on the way. The Yuen Clan consists of Yuen Woo Ping, Yuen Yat-Chor, Simon Yuen (the patriarch), Sunny Yuen and Brandy Yuen. The Yuen family has been involved in martial arts, and martial arts cinema for decades and generations.



So, anyhow, with the rain and gloom, today I watched three episodes of The Venture Brothers (thanks D.S., this show is a lot of fun), and Miracle Fighters, and the wife and I watched the theatrical cut of The Two Towers - and I think we are just about ready to throw on Return of the King. You've just gotta love rainy days, and how they breed laziness, and how comforting it is to crawl under a blanket, sip some hot chocolate and pass the day away in a wash of flickering images. I wish days like this would never end, as there seems to be a never ending pile of movies to watch, books to read and games to play just mocking my lack of complete and total free time.

Holy Crap

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.....



I am officially, 100%, undeniably freaking excited for GRIND HOUSE - the newest Tarantino and Rodriguez flick.

Once you see this ASS KICKING trailer, you will be too. Holy crap - This looks too good for words to even describe.

The trailer is up here, at ain't it cool news.

Man, this just blew my mind every which way it could possibly be blown.

It's About Farking Time!

This is awesome.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is another sequel that I like better than the first. Why? Simply because it is more fun. This film is a complete and total riot, an uproarious, gut busting, crunchy, juicy, hilarious film, that entertains from start to finish. This new DVD version looks awesome, and it will fill a gaping hole in any horror fan's collection.

Nubbin' - I can't wait to get my hands on this flick.

To Run or Not to Run

The zombie genre is itself made up of many different sub-genres, and each sub-genre, or niche, has its fans and detractors. When we think of a "zombie" film, most of us think of something post-Romero, or after Night of the living Dead - I know I do. But we also know that zombie films existed before this landmark film, and yes, they were quite different. Films like White Zombie and the amazing Hammer flick A Plague of Zombies, are not the gut-munching-legion-of-the-walking-dead-versus-human-survivor flicks we have grown to love. No, these older zombie films were more like mad-scientist/voodoo black magic movies sharing more in common with the Frankenstein story than with something like Brain Dead.

However, for the sake of this little essay, I am going to look at the post-Romero zombie films. Actually, I think there are two eras in this group of films. The first are those made after Night of... but before 28 Days Later, and the second group includes 28 Days Later and the films made after. Now, I know some purists do not consider 28 Days a zombie film - that's fine. I don't really think it is a zombie film, and what's more, I don't even really like it - but it did help to change the genre with one very important thing - the running undead.

In the first camp, our undead are slow moving, lumbering creatures, that stumble around and might sometimes reach out for a victim. Romero pretty much created this modern mythos. These undead can only be killed by decapitation or by a bullet to the head, or by incineration. I personally don't find these zombies to be very scary, at least in small to medium numbers. Often times, it is the non-undead characters in these kinds of films who are really the stupid ones for allowing themselves to get trapped, and turned, or eaten. Now, in large groups, these zombies do pose a threat, and can be a menacing sight on the screen. One very cool thing about these kinds of zombies is that since they do walk slowly, we get to see them in more detail - which is a good thing.

Before moving into the next era, I think we should look at an in-between era, the zombie 1.5. I am not sure where this started, but it could have been in films like Return of the Living Dead and Re-Animator. In these films, the zombies are not "whole creatures" or really an undead human. In these kinds of zombie films, the very tissue of the zombie is alive, and this aspect allows for some awesome gore! In these films, a severed hand will continue to crawl, a lopped-off arm will continue to move, and in the case of Brain Dead, a pile of intestines and guts will continue to hunt and kill! These kinds of tissue-undead zombies can infact be running or walking.

In 28 Days Later, the undead, or rage-filled attackers, are really freaking pissed, and really hungry. So pissed and hungry in fact, they run their butts off, and do so really, really fast. From this film on, most zombie flicks have included running zombies, and for one very good reason - they are freaking terrifying! I don't know about you, but an undead dude with a hole in his gut, and his eyeballs filled with rage, that can sprint like an Olympic medalist is a scary thing indeed. These zombies can run, they can jump, and they attack like ferocious beasts - I like these kinds of zombies, they create for a more tension filled and action packed horror flick. Most of these films still view the zombies as whole-undead creatures that obey the rules created by Romero, and in films like Versus (these zombies can jump AND use guns), or Dawn '04, they are a sight to behold.

If I happened to wake up one day, and find myself in a post-apocalyptic world populated with mutant zombies, I pray to God they are not the running kind - that would really suck. I would much rather take my chances with the slow moving, lumbering undead. I think I could survive so long as I, or my companions, didn't act stupid. Against the slow moving zombies, we would have a chance, or at least we could survive a bit longer. Against the running, rage-filled, tear your freaking face off zombies, well now, that's a whole different game.

Nerd Rock

Music is a lot like cinema - sometimes it is good to challenge yourself with what you watch or listen to, and sometimes you just need to make sure the bubble gum machine is full and enjoy some pop. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a brainless action fest or stupid comedy, just as there is nothing wrong with enjoying some straight up sugary sweet bubble gum pop music.

And It just doesn't get more saccharine than The Sprites' newest album Modern Gameplay.

Imagine if the Elephant 6 collective was not made up of a bunch of holier than thou, art school, music snob, self-proclaimed indie-gods, and imagine if bands like Apples in Stereo sang about horror flicks, video games, computers, and other nerdy endeavors. For a more prefect analogy, imagine if Weird Al was the front man for Scottish indie-group, Urusei Yatsura.

The Sprites work for me simply because of everything they sing about and reference, and the fact that their songs are short, and well produced little jingly-pop numbers. I chuckled more than once at more than a handful of their songs. and the entire album breezes by like piece of cotton candy. In my favorite song on the album, called George Romero, they sing about the end of the world and being trapped in a mall with zombies. The chorus is great, and super catchy:

"I learned everything from
George Romero,
Dario Argento,
maybe Tom Savini,
Stuart Gordon and Sam Raimi.
Did they plant the idea, or was it always in me?
Do you find me creepy, do I creep you out?"


Following this tune is a super-catchy little pop-number entitled, I Started a Blog Nobody Read, that includes great lines such as:

"I started a blog, which nobody read,
when I went to work, I blogged there instead.
I started a blog, and nobody came,
no issues were raised, no comments were made."


There is also a song about missing a girlfriend's birthday to stay home and overclock a CPU (Overclockers of the World), and songs called Me and the S.Y.S.O.P., and Modern Gameplay, in which the band details why they don't like new games - they are too complicated.

The music is simple, the lyrics are funny, and the whole album is just dang catchy. Yeah sure, it's vapid pop, but I don't care - it is fun. I highly suggest you check these guys out, especially if you are mildly interested in "nerd" culture, bubble-gum pop, and catchy tunes.

The Sprites @ iTunes

Animated Horrors

Animation is a wonderful medium for the horror genre. With animation, anything and everything is possible, the only limit is the imagination of the filmmakers. In live action horror, the act of applying make up and creating creature effects for monster films, can create limits as to what is possible. With a cartoon, if someone can draw it, it can be used. It is also possible to skirt some of the more strict regulations imposed by the ratings boards around the globe, because after all, cartoons are not made with real people.

One would think that with the possibilities the medium affords to genre film making, there would be more animated horror films, but sadly, such is not the case. Outside of Japan, and maybe some other Asian territories, I cannot think of a real horror film that has been animated. Sure, here in the states we have Monster House, and maybe Monsters Inc., but these are intended for younger audiences and tend to be played for laughs.

In Japan, the situation is quite different. Japanese audiences adore horror comic books, and horror cartoons - the horror genre is it's own successful market. If you haven't yet checked out some of the great horror-themed cartoons from Japan, I recommend the following:

Boogiepop Phantom



This series is amazing, and really freaking creepy. Each episode focuses on a different character or group of characters, and details how their lives changed after an anomalous event. You might think of the Boogiepop Phantom character as a kind of Sandman-like character, from the DC Comics. The two series have much in common in the way the narratives are structured. This series is one that benefits from multiple viewings, as the stories are often serpentine in nature - they twist and turn, and cross and loop around each other in a fashion that can cause some confusion. However, after each subsequent viewing, the puzzle starts to make more sense, and it is a very rewarding experience.

LAIN



Serial Experiment Lain may be more "cyberpunk" than horror, but it is still remarkably freaky none the less. The feelings of isolation and disorientation the characters experience, oozes from the screen and envelopes the viewers mind. The overall story arc is fantastic, and each episode does a wonderful job of moving the plot along. The animation possesses a quietness to it, and the sound design is masterful - some of the best I have ever heard. There are only 13 episodes to the series, so it could easily be tackled in a single weekend, and this is precisely how the show should be watched.

Doomed Megalopolis



Directed by Rin Taro, this tale of historical fiction deals with demons, war, psychic powers and the apocalypse. The animation is wonderful, and the narrative is gripping. There are a few choice moments of true terror, one in specific focuses on these shadowy ghost-like children who perform a little chant in unison. Very cool, and at only 4 episodes, you could watch it in an evening as a single film.

Legend of the Overfiend



Yeah, the original hentai, the sex-horror wunderkind of decadent excess. I first saw this mini-series cut into a 2 hour movie in Berkley in 1993 - I had never seen anything like it before. What is funny is that it seemed so extreme back then, but compared to the very few modern sex-toons I have seen, it is actually quite tame. It also features a great story though, something sorely missing from many of the "mature" cartoons coming out of Japan today, that is to say it is about much more than just sex and strange fetishes. Overfiend was not played up strictly as pornography, as the sex and violence do actually serve some purpose to the narrative, mostly...kind of...maybe. The whole thing is rather gruesome, but it is also highly entertaining. I normally wouldn't recommend something like this, as I tend to shun the modern hentai crap, but Legend of the Overfiend has stood the test of time, and is just a series like no other.

Italian Horror

I used to really like Italian horror films, or at least I had convinced myself I liked them at one time. I remember renting some back in the mid 1980s, and then when Anchor Bay started releasing titles like Zombie, Don't Torture a Duckling, Torso, Suspiria, Blood and Black Lace, City of the Dead, and others on widescreen, uncut, and remastered VHS and DVDs, I eagerly devoured these titles.

For a few years, I just couldn't get enough. I sat through hours and hours of boring narratives, bad acting, worse writing and questionable directing just to get a fix of some gore, boobs, or some nice composition. Truth be told, besides Mario Bava and some Dario Argento, I don't think an Italian horror director could direct an arrow falling from the sky to hit the ground. I know most of the films were shot in multiple languages, without synced sound, and with actors from around Europe who didn't speak each other's language, but damn, many of the performances in the films by Lucio Fulci, Argento, Bava, Lamberto Bava, and others have got to be some of the worst ever committed to film.

However, I can deal with bad performances - that's fine. What's worse though is the total lack of emotional connection and investment. I've seen sequences in some of these films, where the most outrageous nasty crap is happening right in front of someone, and they barely bat an eyelash. Case in point: in City of the Dead aka Gates of Hell (dir. Fulci), a young couple is sitting in a car. The chick starts to vomit out here organs and guts. Slowly, her innards are forced out of her mouth while her eyeballs bleed. The camera frequently cuts over to her boyfriend sitting next to her, and his expression is that of a nun learning that Hulk Hogan isn't wrestling anymore.

I've also seen sequences where eyeballs are slowly gouged out, people are eaten alive by plastic spiders, and heads are bashed against walls, all while the onlookers act hella' nonchalant, check their watches, yawn, and look mildly surprised - like they found out it was raining after the weatherman called for sun.

Sometimes, if I am in the right frame of mind, these poorly executed films can be slightly fun, but mostly, they are just boring...mostly. And this is the cardinal sin when dealing with genre cinema: boredom. I hate being bored, and unengaged by a film. I need something to latch on to. Even in a "bad" film like Jason X, there is something...something so heinously awful, so insipidly terrible, that every second of the film engages me. It assaults my face with stupidity, and for that I am grateful. Unfortunately, a lot of Italian horror puts my jackass to sleep for lack of anything resembling anything that is remotely entertaining.

Yes, there are some exceptions to this, and one exception will be following soon. Some of these Italian horror flicks are in fact classics, films that represent landmarks for the genre. And on the other side of the coin, some of these films really are so bad that they must be watched and enjoyed for their sheer stupidity. Unfortunately, at least for me, the vast majority of these films are barely mediocre, and not worth my time or money. If only I could get my time refunded somehow - they can keep my money, I can always work some overtime, but my time is most precious, there's just too many better films to watch.

Kid Scares

It’s funny to think of what used to scare me as a kid (physically speaking of course, as some might argue that I am still eating paste mentally). Horror preys upon the imagination, and no creative force that ever lived on this planet can compete with a child’s imagination. There are many things that freaked the crap out of me during my youth, and upon careful reflection, these things are actually quite silly.

For instance, The Brady Bunch. Now, I’m not talking about just any old episode of the Brady Bunch, and the one in mind does not feature the oh-so-cute cousin Oliver, at least I don’t think it does (by the way, is it just me, or did cousin Oliver grow up to be a woman and join Yo La Tengo?).



The episode that scared me contains a moment that I have never been able to forget. You know, the one where Marsha and Jan kiss...wait a minute, wrong memory.

Stay on target.

I cannot recall all of the details, but in this particular episode, the Brady kids were trying to out-scare each other or some nonsense; it must have been a very special Halloween episode. Anyhow, one of the boys, Peter I think, set up a haunted house in the attic of their house. In the attic, he rigged an old storage chest with some rope, and attached the rope to the pull-down door. When one of the girls pulled the door down, the rope made the chest open, and this ghost-like thing made of plastic wrap rose from the depths. I think he also rigged an ancient reel-to-reel tape player to come on and play creepy noises, complete with moans and groans.

I remember the strange and inexpensive looking ghost float away from the chest, while the warbled noise from the reel-to-reel pierced my head. I recall thinking that the plastic-wrapped ghost could very well be a person, trapped in a Dupont torture device, using his or her last gasps to desperately call for help.

I was totally freaked out at this. I don’t know what exactly it was about this moment, but something latched on to some part of my psyche. Maybe I have a repressed memory; maybe at some point in my early childhood, I was locked in an attic with a similar chest stowed away in some cobweb-infested corner. Who knows, but regardless, it scared me, and scared me good.

Another not so scary film that disturbed me as a youngling was Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Ah yes, good old Darby, starring a young Sean Connery. This film features a ghost-like presence that haunts a cliff-side cave. I think in the film they call it a banshee, but I call it “freaking frightening.” I recall the storm-drenched ending of this film, with a horse, and the banshee, and screaming, and galloping, and genuine terror.

I recently revisited this film, and in all honesty, it’s really not that scary. Or perhaps as an adult, the film is no longer able to tap into that part of my imagination; it is unable trigger the firing of the necessary synapses in my brain to register fear. However, as a kid I was actually terrified during this sequence, so much so that I ran out of the house and spent the rest of the afternoon outside with my grandma.

I think horror films that work on a totally fantastic nature, work better on a younger audience – they work better on an audience that is able to let their imaginations run wild. The only kind of horror that really scares me now, is the kind of horror film I hate to watch – the torture porn variety. You know, the kind of horror films that depict stuff that can actually happen, like some poor guy or woman getting kidnapped, tortured and raped or some messed up crap like that. These kinds of films do not appeal to me because I read about this kind of crap in the paper and see it on the television news.

I also find these kinds of narratives to be lazy, and they completely lack imagination. Torture, rape, kidnapping and real psychotic killers do exist, and I do not find anything about them entertaining. When it is all said and done, I enjoy being entertained more than I enjoy being scared. Give me something supernatural, or outlandish, or give me something far removed from reality – give me something that preys upon my imagination, and leave the real horrors of life to the daily news.

The Thread Born Evil, or The Night D_Davis Came Back From the Dead

This is a little plug for a thread I am starting over at Rotten Tomatoes. Come on by and join in the discussion!

Link

The horror genre is a funny thing to me: it is comprised of some of my favorite films of all time, and some of my least favorite films of all time. I do love ("good") horror films, and I consider myself a champion of some horror films, but as a whole, the genre is just too hit or miss. For every genre-great, there are a plethora of true stinkers, wretched films that deserve to be burned alive. However, the horror genre is also one that is very subjective - a film I may find awesome, or scary, someone else may find an excruciating bore. The genre is also made up of so many sub-genres, the word "horror" carries very little, if any, meaning anymore.

To me, horror films are like comedies - they are hard to execute properly, and when they fail to hit their mark, they really suck. There is nothing worse than a comedy that is supposed to be played for laughs, but every single joke falls flat. Comedy is also extremely subjective, and I often find myself panning films that many other people think are high-larious. And like the horror genre, there are a ton of sub-genres with regards to comedy, and each has created their own little niche audience.

I used to proclaim that I LOVED the horror genre, but then something happened. Even though I like many horror films, I found myself disliking far more. But not just casually disliking, I mean, many of the horror films I dislike, I really hate, they cause me physical and mental pain! So, I reevaluated my stance on the genre, and I now claim to love some horror films.

I am going to be taking a little break from my Kung Fu Corner thread for the month of October, and offer up some reviews and essays on some of my favorite horror films. This is not a "best of" list, nor is it in any order. You may be surprised at some of the entries, and some might appall you - it's all good though! So long as I explain why I think a film is good, or give good reasons why I enjoy watching a particular film, my reasoning should be clear. This list will be comprised of bona fide "horror" classics, offset with many guilty pleasures and some Z-grade schlock. Some of these write ups will be cross posts from my own website, while some will be "RT Originals."

Hope you enjoy...

Yes, Okami again

Okami – first impressions

Last night, I started playing Okami around 7. The next time I looked at the clock, it was after 11. If you have ever wondered what Zelda would be like had the franchise been created by Miyazaki, well, wonder no more – here is your answer. But cheap analogies alone cannot convey how awesome this game is, it must be experienced, and what an experience it is. The first time you restore the color and foliage to a dying land, or bring the blossoms of a dead cherry tree back to fruition, you really won’t believe your eyes. The game offers a wonderful narrative and characters, and creates a symbiotic connection between the player and the game world. I find myself actually wanting to save the world, as the gameplay mechanics and narrative compelled to finish quest after quest.

The coolest part so far has been the miracle/praise component. The wolf you play as is a god, but she has been asleep for over 100 years. When she awakens, the people no longer believe she is a real god, and they see your character as a normal white wolf. By using the Celestial Brush, and by painting on the screen, you can perform miracles to regain the people’s lost faith.

One lady needs to hang her laundry to dry but has lost her line, and so you draw a line between to poles to create one for her. She then hangs her clothes but the sun is going down, and so you redraw the sun in the sky. Many of the people in the various villages have problems that must be solved by performing miracles. When you get their praise, you can use it to strengthen your character. You can also get praise points by caring for and feeding the various wild animals throughout the land. The act of reestablishing a people’s faith is a major part of the game, and I applaud Clover Studio’s decision to offer up this kind of mechanic.

The game is just gorgeous. It plays and controls like a dream, it features a gripping narrative, wonderful characters, and the localization is flawless – I actually laughed at some of the jokes. It also looks like a dream, like a living and breathing painting. Many have said it before me, but it must be said again – there is just not another game like this anywhere, and it is simply one of the best looking and playing games you will ever play. If you like good games, of any genre, you owe it to yourself to play Okami.

Okami Day!!!

Today is Okami day - it is finally here. After two years of anticipation, I can hardly believe I will be playing this game tonight. I even have the day off on Friday to indulge my Okami urges - such a nerd. And, life is good when you are able to take a day off to play a game, or "just because."



The Tokyo Game Show starts soon, so if you are into games, make sure to check out some coverage. Microsoft has already dropped a HUGE bomb: they reported that through a software update, the 360 will be able to display games, HD-DVD and DVDs in 1080p, or "true" HD. Sony said that the HD movement began with the PS3 because it is the only console capable of 1080p. Well, sorry Sony, looks like that talking point is shot down.

Anyhow, check out gamespot's coverage of the TGS here.

Books and Music

Good Monday to you!



If you all remember, a while back D.S. and I were raving about an author named Charlie Huston, and his Vampire-P.I. novel ALREADY DEAD. Well, the second book in the series, NO DOMINION, is up for pre-order at Amazon. It is going to be released on December 26th of this year, so consider it a late Christmas present. I can't wait to curl up on a rainy winter day and devour this book. Joe Pitt is one cool character.

And in music news....

Last Friday, I "discovered" a band that has quickly become a favorite of mine. The band is called THE BATS and they are from New Zealand. These guys have been around since about 1982, and I just can't believe I have never heard of them. During the late 80s and early 90s, when I was really into music, I made a habit of researching my favorite bands and looking for the music that inspired them. However, I never once ran across anyone raving about these guys - and yet their sound definitely influenced a bunch of great bands that I enjoy.

If you like bands such as THE HOUSE MARTINS, THE SMITHS, MODEST MOUSE, THE WEDDING PRESENT, KASHMIR, GUIDED BY VOICES, STEREO LAB and others of this ilk, I highly suggest you give THE BATS a listen. I picked up their first album DADDY'S HIGHWAY (1984) and their latest album COUCHMASTER (1996) from iTunes, and I adore them both. The albums are brimming with super catchy, upbeat pop-rock teeming with melody, guitar hooks, awesome drumming and rocking bass lines.

The Bats Home Page

Also, my friend Doug recently turned me on to this Japanese band called ENVY. If you are a fan of MOGWAI, you might recall seeing them wearing shirts promoting this band. I also remember someone from MOGWAI saying that ENVY was the greatest band ever, or some such hyperbolic praise. Well, it is true, they freaking rock. Wow. Imagine a mix between EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, POISON THE WELL, CAVE IN and MONO, and then imagine all of that being louder, more atmospheric and more aggressive. Well, quit imagining and go buy ENVY's album INSOMNIAC DOZE - it is awesome.

Get it at Amazon

Wii-ta-ded

Well, it looks like I will NOT be buying a Nintendo WII at launch. The Big-N released price, release date and configurations today at a press conference, and none of it is right - for me. The console will be released on November 19th (after the PS3) and retail for $249.95! Dang, the most expensive Nintendo launch yet. It will be packaged with WII SPORTS (a glorified tech demo) and one Wii-mote and Nunchuck attachment. Oh yea, and get this, the new controllers will be sold in separate pieces. The Wii-mote will retail for $39.95, and the Nunchuck attachment will be $19.99 - that means over $60 for a complete controller. So, the company that wants us to "play together" wants us to first fork over $60 bucks to get a second controller. HA!

Yeah right - Nintendo screwed up big time. This is way too much for a slightly update Gamecube and controller.

But hey, wait a minute! The WII also comes with a web browser and news updates, and weather, and stuff. O'rly? Big deal, I have a computer, I wanted a game console.

Also, the virtual console games are way too expensive. Coming in at $5-$10. Most of the original carts can be found and purchased for this much, and if they want to combat the ROM scene (which is FREE!) they need to do much better.

Oh well, this will give me plenty of time now to focus on OKAMI, GOD HAND and all the other new PS2 games coming out, as well as a chance to play some old games I missed - on the cheap.

Check out www.gamespot and www.ign.com for more details. Oh, and one last thing, the GC version of the new ZELDA game got delayed until December - way to go Nintendo, you suck.

More Shmups!

R-TYPE DELTA - Irem (1989) - horizontal scrolling



R-TYPE DELTA may be one of the most meticulously crafted and finely tuned shmups ever made. Almost every part of every level requires skill based gameplay coupled with infallible memorization. The game is packed to the gills with strategy, and each of three ships requires the player to tackle each situation differently. The levels almost feel "puzzle-like" as they snake along and slowly scroll to reveal chasms, pipes, underwater passages, space debris, falling machine-parts, tiny tunnels and organic, fleshy environments.

The level design in the game is second to none, and each of the stages offers a new kind of challenge, in a different kind of environment:



Level 1 - Starts in a city with small waves of enemy ships attacking you, followed by a small mech. Typical R-Type to be sure. Soon though, the level lets lose with some giant screen filling battle ships, and a huge boss with a GIANT, plasma-beam weapon. The difficulty here starts easy, and gets hard pretty fast.

Level 2 - This level takes place mostly under water...mostly. And, it also features my favorite music track to be found in a shmup. What's more, the music changes in clarity depending on whether you are out of or in the water - very cool. Here, the game really starts to shine, as the difficulty ramps up quite a bit, and the safe passage ways become smaller and smaller. The enemies here are all fish-like, much like those found in the DARIUS games. The boss is also no push over, and is a kind of gross mechanical slug-like thing. This is one of my favorite levels of all time, in any game.



Level 3 - The "all boss, all the time" level. This level features a GIGANTIC walking mech, that must be flown around, under and over for the entire level. Very strategic, and very difficult. Also a total blast, as it builds tension from start to finish.

Levels 4-7 - Here the game blasts off into space, and into the enemy's territory, as the player takes the battle to the Bydo's dimension. The enemies in level 4 are mostly mechanical in nature, but from level 5 on, they start to get more and more organic and alien like. There are ghastly baby-like things surrounded by crystal shields, giant mutant slug-fish-things, and all kinds of craziness. And yes, the game gets really freaking hard.

R-TYPE games are known for their difficulty, and DELTA is no exception. Without a doubt, the R-TYPE games need to be beaten in one life, or else things get nearly impossible. In later levels, it is almost impossible to power up your ship fast enough if you die, and therefore, nearly impossible to make it through alive. The best way to beat an R-TYPE game is to play the same level over, and over, and over until you can clear it in one ship, and then go on to the next level and repeat the process.

Ships/Attacks

The POW Armor power up allows you to change your Force Orb - the little option thingy. These Forces can be attached to the front or back of your ship and can be fired off to become a controllable or heat seeking device. Each ship's Force powers up differently, and forces the player to change the way they play a level. My favorite is the R-X, and the Tentacle Force, with its yellow power up and the homing ability.



R-TYPE DELTA was the last great R-TYPE game, as R-TYPE FINAL was a total let down. They should have ended the series with DELTA - they would have left way ahead of the game, as DELTA represents the genre in top-notch fashion.

Wuxia Madness

Okay, time for a little movie news. Besides Ronny Yu and Jet Li's FEARLESS, there are two more large scale epic wuxia films to look forward to this year. One comes from Yhang Yimou, again, and stars Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li - it is called CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER and looks amazing. If you liked HERO and HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS, this looks like it will blow your socks off - AND, it is choreographed by the master himself, Ching Siu Tung. It will be out here in the US on December 22, 2006, and it is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics - so support it! It is not coming from Miramax so we will not be subjected to a bad dub, a bad cut, a re-score and a plethora of delays.

Check out Monkey Peaches for trailers

The second big wuxia film for the year is THE BANQUET directed by mainland Chinese filmmaker, Xiaogang Feng the directod of A WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES. This one stars Zhang Ziyi and Daniel Wu, and looks to be a little more fantasy-based than GOLDEN FLOWERS.

Again, check out Monkey Peaches for more info and some trailers

I am very excited for both of these films, stay tuned for more.

SMHUPS

I love shoot 'em ups - the more manic, the better. I love the SHMUP genre because to me, it represents "pure" gaming. These are games that have little to no story, but instead focus on pure skill-based action. They require precision control, timing, and some of them, God-like reflexes. They also require the gameplayer to enter a Zen-like trance of concentration.

To the uninitiated, each individual SHMUP may look like only a slight variation of the same game, and in some instances this is true. But to those "in the know," each game within the genre has its own subtleties that make it different than the others. Some, like RADIANT SILVER GUN, are vastly different, while some differences are minute, but important none the less.

So without any further hesitation, I present to you the first game on this list. This list is in no order what-so-ever.



GUWANGE - Cave/Altus (1999)

GUWANGE combines a few of my favorite things into something that totally and completely rocks:

1. Asian mythology
2. Ninjas
3. Monsters
4. Gore
5. Manic bullet dodging/shooting action



If there is a gaming heaven, I expect it to look and play like this game. The first time I laid eyes upon this spectacular example of perfect game design, I almost didn't believe it was real - it seemed too perfectly tuned for my tastes. Guwange is a totally manic shooter - that is one where there are literally hundreds of bullets on screen at once displayed in awe-inspiring and hypnotic patterns. The gameplay is simple to learn, but does take some finesse to master.



There are three modes of attack.

1. The standard tap-the-button to fire
2. Hold down the fire button to release a spirit warrior who can absorb certain bullet types and do some massive damage. This attack causes your character to slow down, and is good to use when you need precision movement.
3. The screen-clearing super bomb that is more like a super charged explosive blast

Of course there are power-ups scattered about in the shape of buckets full of what looks like blood. These power ups make your standard shot HUGE, and also make your character more powerful.



The art style in the game is gorgeous. The colors pop, and the backgrounds are insanely detailed. The character and monster sprites are amazing, and the game designers went all out. Some of the enemies look like steam punk characters, or like they were taken out of the anime series Sakura Wars. There are large wooden tanks and cannons that pack some serious fire power. The rest of the monsters are based on Japanese Oni, or demons, and include spiders, centipedes, heads in jars, and all kinds of gross little creatures.

Designer Threads

If any of you are interested in hearing game designers talk about what makes them tick - their passions, their design choices, their nostalgia for the industry, and their visions for the future, I highly recommend checking out Gamespot's podcast DESIGNER THREADS hosted by Greg Kasavin. Although there are only 2 episodes so far, both of them are totally fascinating. The first episode is an interview with Ron Gilbert, an ex-Lucas Arts designer responsible for many of the classic adventure games, and he has some very interesting things to say about the industry.

The newest episode however is super awesome - an interview with John "DOOM" Romero. Say what you will about the guy, or Daikatana (remember, this is only 1 game Romero has been a part of, out of almost 100), but his impact on the industry is second to none. The frank nature of the interview makes it feel more like a conversation, and Kasavin asks some interesting questions. It is also great to hear a guy like Romero just talk about the games he likes, the industry he loves, and his passion for games in general. So give it a listen if you haven't already done so.

The iTunes link is here: Designer Threads

Direct link here: Gamespot - Designer Threads

Okami

OKAMI is coming out soon, and I must admit – I have not been this excited for a video game for quite a while, since the last TOMB RAIDER, at least. However, I have been anticipating this game for over a year now, and from what I gather so far, the game is going to be awesome. For those of you “in the know,” the game needs no introduction, but for those of you not “in the know,” check this out:



The debate as to whether or not video games are art continues to divide the throngs of fanboys on every video game message board on the Internet. Personally, I believe that video games are constructed of artistic aspects, but as a total package they are not works of art – they are games. Is CANDY LAND a work of art? Is CONNECT FOUR a work of art? Hardly. I would even argue that CHESS is not a work of art, although the act of playing it is, as are the finely sculpted pieces of a collector’s set. The same can be said about GO.

With this said though, I must point out some of the artistic merits of OKAMI. Even at first glance it is easy to see that this game does not follow suit, and is not another GTA clone, or an FPS me-too game, nor is it a spin off or sequel to an established franchise. This is a true original IP in all of its wondrous glory. The art style is striking to say the least, and the narrative of the game is steeped in deep Japanese mythology.

Not only is the look of the game artistic, but also the act of creating art is a component in the game. The entire game looks as if it is painted on rice paper with traditional Japanese brushes and techniques, and at certain parts of the game, the player controls a brush and uses brush strokes to impact the environment. This element may in fact allow the game to rise above its genre, and by introducing a stylized approach to the aesthetics of the gameplay, the developers have injected some artistic integrity to the final product.

It is really rare these days to see a game like OKAMI – it is not overly violent, it tackles artistic themes, it is not set in thug-land, and the narrative is in fact a bit literary. I am sure that the game will review incredibly well, but unfortunately, I am also sure that the game will not sell very well. The reason why games like this are not made more frequently is because the vast majority of modern gamers would rather spend their time and money on roster updates in sub par football games, or on the juvenile male fantasies of “mature” titles, and on the ultra-violent debase nature of games like SAINTS ROW and GTA. Until we, the fans and purchasers of video games, support games that are closer to works of art, and shun the exploitive nature of the industry, videogames will continue to be vilified by their opponents, and their legitimacy in the world of art will continue to be undermined.

Stuff...

Well PAX was pretty cool, but I must be honest and say I was a little under whelmed. I am working on a couple of pieces to put up here in the next couple of days or so, so keep your eyes open. I guess for me, I wanted more of an industry presence, although what was there was pretty cool. The highlight of the even for me was seeing The Behemoth's new game CASTLE CRASHERS, which looks awesome. Take the art from ALIEN HOMINID and mix it with the game play from Treasure's GUARDIAN HEROES, and there you have it - 4 player, manic, beat 'em up action all coming on XBOX Live Arcade - it is going to be a blast.

I also met up with Chris and Woody from The Twitch Asylum Video Game Podcast, and that was way cool. We watched an industry panel together, and talked a bit about some retro gaming. Chris restores vintage arcade cabinets in Portland Oregon, and his knowledge of retro gaming is quite impressive. I am planning a trip to Portland to check out his stuff, and we also plan to go to some awesome arcade he knows about. Now this will be a blast.

On the movie front, well, actually I haven't been watching much - I guess I am just going through one of those phases. I am sure I will make up for lost cinema-time in the near future. Make sure to check out our new podcast, complete with RSS subscription - finally - as well as our RSS feed for the site updates. I got everything up and running last night.

Way to go science...

Pluto's recent demotion from planetary status will result in $23 million in changes to public school text books over the next 18 months.

Thanks guys! I could not think of any better ways to spend money on education. First, you all waste a ton of money discussing and debating this useless topic, and now your decision is actually going to cost us, the tax payers, real money. You guys are awesome.

"This is very big, not just for teachers and what it will do for education, but it's very big news for kids. They love the planets. They love stories about space."
--Rebecca Bondor, Scholastic Classroom Magazines

Big news? Ya' You betcha'! Big news for the publishers of textbooks and schoolastic materials - big news for their bank accounts that is...

And just think, here in Seattle they recently closed 10 schools due to lack of funding.

http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6109409.html

Camper Van Beethoven

Last night I FINALLY got to see one of my all time favorite bands - CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN. They "opened" for CRACKER, and since they are basically the same band, but with two decidedly different styles, the entire show was a ton of fun. I've been a fan of CAMPER since I was a freshmen in HS, but I never took the time, or had the chance to see them. Of course, they did break up after KEY LIME PIE, and David Lowery went on to form CRACKER, while some of the other members continued to perform under the title THE MONKS OF DOOM.

I have never been a big fan of CRACKER, mostly because I have always preferred CAMPER's unique style - the way they mix country, ska, surf, punk and klezmer-like sounds, to create their own signature style is truly amazing. SO, after they broke up, I just lost all hope that I would ever get to see them. However, a couple of years ago, they got back together, recorded a great "come back" album and started touring again. Due to the rise in popularity of "jam" bands, blue grass, and other such music, CAMPER's return to form was more than welcomed.

Anyhow, the show last night at The Crocodile in Seattle, was amazing. CAMPER has always been a very tight band, despite their surfer, lazy personas, and with age they have become even tighter. Lowery's voice still sounds as great as ever, and the rest of the band rocks and jams with the skill often lacking from younger acts. Jonathan Segel's violin playing is truly awesome - he plays it with a ton of effects like backwards delay, wha, and flange, and Greg Lisher's guitar playing is spot on. They played a very eclectic mix of songs, and covered at least two songs from every album. The highlights for me were: ALL OF HER FAVORITE FRUIT, AMBIGUITY SONG, TAKE THE SKINHEADS BOWLING and THE EYE OF FATIMA. It really was a great night, of great music, and I am happy to report that CAMPER is back, as strong as ever.

Kung Fu Threads

D.S. and I should be recording our next podcast this coming Friday night. We will be focusing on three Cheng Cheh films - THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG, FLYING DAGGERS, and RETURN OF THE ONE ARMED SWORSDMAN. We have already reviewed two of these for the site, but we feel there is a lot more to talk about in regards to Cheh and these three signature films. I have a feeling the 'cast will be a good one, if only because we both admire this filmmaker and his films a great deal.

I would also like to direct you to two threads over at Rottentomatoes.com. I recently started a Kung Fu thread where I am posting my reviews for discussion. It is going realy well so check that out. There is another kung fu thread as well, started by Orang Minyak, and it too is a great source for information and reviews. Check them out, and join in on the fun.

Kung Fu Corner - my thread

The Kung Fu 100 - Orang's thread

Not much else to report on, as I had a very busy weekend getting our house ready to sell. My wife and I are looking for a newer home a little ways north of Seattle, and so much of our time these days is focused on this endeavor. Also, PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) is this weekend, so stay tuned for some video game goodness.

Gremlins

I had a strange movie viewing experience this week. A few days ago I watched GREMLINS - for only the second time. The last time I saw it was in the theatre, on the day it came out. I remember liking GREMLINS, and in my mind I remember it being really kick ass and entertaining - but oh, what a cruel beast reality is.

So what of GREMLINS? I downright hated it. Holy crap, this movie is really awful. The script is heinously written, and the whole thing just feels totally amateur. The so called "rules" dealing with the Gremlin's mythology make no sense, and dang it, they made my head hurt something fierce. Okay, so you can't feed them after midnight. Great. Well then Mr. Rule Guy, when can you feed them? It's always after freaking midnight! How hard would it have been to write the rule giving a time span? For instance - Don't feed them between the hours of 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The second rule, is just as we todd ed - don't get them wet, ever. Hmmm, do Gremlins not drink? Are they not a carbon based life form? What the crap is this? The final rule - avoid bright lights - works, and is the only one that is logical.

As if these rule aren't lame enough, the reactions the characters have to breaking them is so incredibly stupid I wanted to scrape my eyeballs out with a drywall knife. Poor little Gizmo, he in all of the soft focus Barbara Walters-like glory - I am sorry your human handlers were such a bunch of raging morons. When Cory Feldman's character first spills water on the little bug-eyed fuzz ball, it looks down right painful. Gizmo start screaming in excruciating agony, like a banshee being ripped from the bowls of hell, and yet what does his lame ass owner do? He stands there like a dumbass picking his nose. There is not a single look of astonishment on the guy's face - they could have had Weng Weng play the part and it would not have mattered.

However, let me back up a bit and examine this prime example of a wooden actor in motion. When this pretard is first given the little Mogwai, a gift from his stupid dad, he looks downright bored. BORED? Holy crap - I get excited thinking about maybe one day owning a pet monkey, but if someone bought me a Mogwai I'd be jumping up and down screaming like the Nintendo 64 Kid. Show some emotion dude, you just got a freaking MOGWAI! A MOGWAI you idiot, not some box turtle or hermit crab.

And then there's the mom. Little miss home maker. After the cute little furry pops off his water-conceived offspring, and after they eat (after midnight), the newly mutated slithery lizard-like critters lay siege on the family's kitchen. The mom enters the kitchen and sees these hideous creatures, and without hardly batting an eye, she turns all Ripley on their butts and starts busting skulls. Granted, this is the coolest part of the whole film, but come on, show some emotion, show some fright, show SOMETHING! But then again, the fact that we're supposed to care about anything up to this point is a stretch of universal proportions.

After this point, I promptly ejected the DVD, and sealed back up into the Netflix envelope from whence it came, and ran, barefoot, down our long gravel driveway to the mailbox. Like some sick kind of chain letter joke, I passed this cursed film onto the next unwitting subject wanting to quench their nostalgia tinged thirst with this "blast from the past."

Indie Cinema

What is an indie film? Is it a film with a small budget, a certain look, or a film that gets its money outside of the big studio system? In many ways, the answer to all of these questions is yes. George Lucas is in fact an independent filmmaker; he funds all of his projects with his own money. But, is THE PHANTOM MENACE an “indie” film?

Some of this debate may be akin to confusing genre with setting – for instance science fiction – many people confuse Sci-Fi with a movie set in outer space or the future, one is a genre, the other a setting.

The term “indie” is by in large used to describe a movie with a certain feel, tone, charm, or production, regardless of budget. “Indie” films, or films we call “indie,” seem to have a certain look and sound. I think at one time, this term carried with it more merit – at one time Miramax was an indie production company, but can anyone call KILL BILL an indie film now?

When I think “indie,” I think of SLACKER, THE STATION AGENT, CHASING AMY, CLERKS, GRAVESEND, LIVING ON TOKYO TIME, HALLOWEEN, BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, TROMA films and others. I also tend to think of indie films in regards to acting ability and aesthetics – many of these films do in fact have a certain kind of acting, subscribe to a certain kind of writing, and look a bit cheap, at least compared to the bigger films.

Gaming Podcasts, E3, and PAX

So I started listening to a bunch of video game podcasts a couple of months ago, and I must say that I have been impressed thus far. The guys and gals from the "big sites" like GAMESPOT, 1UP and IGN offer some great podcasts, with good insight and some actual games journalism. It is a bit sad that the various gaming publications often stifle intelligent thought and real journalism in exchange for more "consumer" orientated buyer's guides. So I am grateful for this new outlet.

For the last week or so, most of the casts have dealt with the same hot topic - the death of E3 as we know it - and the consensus seems to be a mixed bag of positive and negative emotions. Most of the podcasts, and the editors, agree that this new more media-focused, invite-only, and smaller E3, will be better, although they do realize that the industry will lose the widespread media exposure of the past few years.

However, almost all of the podcasts I listen to continue to do one thing that really irks me. They constantly belittle the video game retailer employees, the small enthusiast web sites, and the fans in light of their complaints against E3. I think this presents a degree of elitism and a feeling of segregation that I find to be appalling. Just because these editors happen to make their living playing and writing about games, and working at the big publications and web sites, they feel that they are somehow more entitled to industry information and special treatment.

Okay, so I guess in many ways, they should be privy to certain perks, but the tirade is getting old. Sure, they should be allowed a certain level of "inside information," but the games industry is one that is kept alive by the enthusiast, and the fans - these are the people that buck the trends, hunt down the games that are not GTA and HALO, and continue to spread, by word of mouth, information about the games that they love. The retailers SHOULD be at E3, they are, after all, the people who have face to face contact with the public - including the enthusiast and little Timmy's mother and father. How is a more informed retailer a bad thing?

I wonder if these editors have forgotten what it was like for them before they worked their way into the positions they have now. Do these guys and gals at 1UP, GAMESPOT and IGN remember when they were the enthusiasts and the retailers? Do they remember trying anything and everything they could to get onto the E3 show floor? I sure hope they do, and I hope they remember that it is these "small guys" and the enthusiasts that continue to support the advertisers and publishers that keep the big web sites and publications afloat. Without the enthusiasts, there would be no need for games related journalism - the publications would have no readers, no subscribers, and no audience, and without any of these people the editor's probably wouldn't have the kinds of jobs that many people dream of having.

I offer up this criticism only because I really do enjoy most of what these podcasts have to offer, and I like it when they are less negative. For an example of a really great topic, check out IGN's 'cast dealing with the role of the game critic and PR in regards to games journalism. It was very insightful, the editors were all well spoken, and they detailed a lot of the same things I did in my essay on the film critic.

On a related note, I will be covering the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) as a member of the press, and I am looking forward to the experience. Although Genrebusters doesn't really focuses on games, I have done so in this blog - so look here for photos, interviews and features on the event. In many ways, I hope that PAX turns into the event that E3 became - more enthusiast and fan driven. By getting their games in the hands of the people that play for fun (not for review), I believe the developers can accomplish a great deal. One developer I am most excited to see and talk to is THE BEHEMOTH, the creators of ALIEN HOMINID and the soon to be released CASTLE CRASHERS. This event happens august 25-28 in Bellevue Washington.

Who's That?

I started a thread over on our forums entitled Who's Who and What's What. In this thread I will be writing bios for asian filmmakers - stars, directors, writers, choreographers - as well as compiling information on legendary heroes, mythology, and film reviews. So if you haven't yet signed up, or viewed our forums, please do so. They are slowly growing, and we could always use some more discussion on film and media. See you there!

Who's Who and What's What in Pan-Asian Cinema

PKD - Biopic

Wow, thanks to Steve Magnum I found out some very exciting news this morning. It looks like there is a Philip K. Dick biopic in the works, and one of my favorite actors is playing the part - Paul Giamatti. Now, I don't know if Giamatti's 'lovable-loser' persona will be able to conjure Dick's more outlandish and somewhat gonzo personality (although, at times he was definitely a lovable-loser, but he was also a prankster and a rat), but I have faith that Giamatti will rise to the occasion. Also, the fact that the filmmakers are incorporating parts from Dick's never-finished magnum opus, THE OWL IN DAYLIGHT is cause for even more excitement. I am hoping that that filmmakers turn to Emmanuel Carrere's biography I AM ALIVE AND YOU ARE DEAD for inspiration, and I encourage anyone here interested in PKD to read it. I finished the book in one sitting and was fascinated from cover to cover.

It looks like Linklater's respect for PKD, and the PKD Estate's praise for Linklater, is garnishing further exploration into my favorite author's work and life. Who knows, if this Giamatti project maintains the level of respect and excellence that A SCANNER DARKLY does, we may see more expertly made films based upon the novels birthed from the mind of a true fountain of creativity.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=37440

Support the Crap...

So, did you all go and check out THE DESCENT this weekend? You better have, we all need to support good genre cinema when we get a chance to, and I doubt there will be a better horror film released in the US this year. Although, looking at the box office returns leads me to believe that a few more people should have checked this out, and it also further proves what I said in reviews for SAW and SILENT HILL.

Support the crap, and that’s what you’ll get – This is my new motto in regards to genre cinema.

Now, I don’t mean that we can’t enjoy a good crap-a-thon, because God knows I love them. Without the B, C, and Z-grade schlock fests around, I would be truly unhappy. How can a life be complete without FRANKENSTEIN CONQUORS THE WORLD, ROBOT NINJA, THE TOXIC AVENGER, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, SARS WARS, and countless other films of this nature. However, I feel there is a difference between entertainment such as this, and films like STAY ALIVE, SILENT HILL, and the SAW franchise (my God, how this retched piece of cinematic vomit became a franchise is beyond me), and the difference is this: the first group of films actually have a ton of character and some integrity, they are also honest.

Anyhow, come this Halloween, when SAW 4 comes out, and it makes two to three times more money than THE DESCENT does, I will be very disappointed in my genre brothers and sisters. But oh well, what is one to do? I cannot sway the opinion of others, and not everyone enjoys the same kind of film I do. I can only hope to raise awareness I guess, and hope that I can win some loyalty – after all, when it comes down to it, I am selfish, and honestly, I just want to see more films in the theatre that appeal to my tastes.

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 12: 8/3/2006

Yeah, it has been a while, but the list must go on!

4. Primal Scream - Screamadelica

Primal Scream’s SCREAMADELICA is a modern masterpiece of influential music and production, and has been credited with creating and shaping more than a handful of genres. From trip hop, to acid house, to techno, to ethereal sound experiments, this album covered and broke ground in all of these genres, and did so back in 1991. They were to the European music scene what Nirvana was to the American scene, and their influence is still being felt today by bands such as Fat Boy Slim, Massive Attack (who were contemporaries) DJ Shadow, and Underworld, as well as a host of other post-rock bands interested in creating sounds and layers that groove, and haunt the listener. Primal Scream were real genre-busters, as you never knew what to expect from each release, and SCREAMEDELICA is their crowning achievement.

Originally, the band sounded like they were straight from the 1960’s, and looked the part as well. Had you seen them you might think that Syd Barrett, Brian Jones and John Lennon were back from the grave and had started a band. Upon listening to them, you wouldn’t be that far off, as it seemed to be a preoccupation for the boys to sound as much like the Rolling Stones as possible, with a healthy dose of the jingly 12-string Rickenbacker guitar sounds made popular by the Birds. But then, something happened, something that shook the very foundation of the music world. What happened? I don’t know exactly, but something awoke a level of genius in the group that had up until this point been locked away. Bobby Gillespie (ex-drummer for Jesus and Mary Chain) along with guitarists Andrew Innes and Robert Young, and musician Martin Duffy, decided to incorporate the studio wizardry of producers extraordinaire, Andrew Weatherall, and Dr. Alex Patterson and Thrash (of The Orb) on their new album. And the rest as they say, is history.

The resulting album sounds like nothing that had ever come before it, and even today it still sounds as if it is from the future. SCREAMADELICA takes its listeners on a journey, and the album is assembled in such a way that it demands to be taken in as a whole piece – songs taken out of context lose something in the translation from album to single. The album begins with its feet firmly set on the ground with Movin’ On Up, a Stones-like freak out of 1960’s psychedelia, whose lyrics foreshadow the direction the band is taking. Movin’ on up is right, as the album blasts off into the stratosphere of electronic and deep acid-house groves with Deep Inside This House and Don’t Fight It, Feel It. From here the album securely rests in the dense and mind-tripping sounds of Higher Than the Sun and Inner Flight – two tracks that are expertly composed of ambient sounds birthed from organic and synthesized instrumentation.

The centerpiece of the album is Come Together, an 8-minute mad-house track just brimming with infectious grooves that demand to be danced to. Come Together is an epic track, tingeing with hints of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, acid-house and trip hop, all wrapped up in a feel good package. When Come Together ends, the drugged out epic Loaded begins with a sample of Peter Fonda exclaiming, ““We wanna be free to do what we wanna do... and we wanna get loaded... and we wanna have a good time.” From here, as the band is fully loaded, the album begins to descend from its groovy heights, and treks along its path back from space to the surface below with Damaged and I’m Coming Down.

As the album once again reaches the surface of whatever planet it was recorded on, the listener is privy to two more tracks of musical grandeur. The first is a reprise of High Than the Sun and plays out as if to remind the listener of the fantastic places SCRREAMADELICA has taken him, and the last track, Shine Like Stars is a beautiful little number that conjures feelings of nursery rhymes and innocence, the trip is over, and it is time for bed.

The album is in fact a “drug” album – the band is clearly demonstrating their love for acid and mind-altering substances, but is trying to eschew the negativity often associated with the lifestyle. However, more importantly, the album itself (like all great music) is drug-like, in that the songs themselves becomes little capsules of mind-altering moments that carry the listener away into the uncharted regions of new-music discovery, melody and rhythm. What’s more, one does not have to be on drugs to “get it,” every nuance of the record is attainable for even the most sober of listeners – and this signifies the remarkable ability of the band. Primal Scream crafted an album about drugs, and influenced by them, and yet one does not to be on drugs to enjoy it, but rather the album itself creates the mind-altering shifts in tone and atmosphere that pulls the listener into its world, and blasts them off into outer space.

Kashmir - No Balance Palace (2005) CD Review

KASHMIR - No Balance Palace (2005)

During the late 1970s and early 1980s Factory records was a hotbed of creativity, with bands such as The Duruti Column, Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio and Felt. These bands often times mixed genres such as punk, jazz, electronic and rock, and forged new kinds of music – they were trailblazers, and would become the very foundation of post-punk as well as influencing countless other bands. I mention this time in modern music history because I can easily see Kashmir, a band of four from Copenhagen, being on Factory Records. While there are other bands recording today that incorporate the sounds of post-punk and rock, and the new new-wave sound is all the rage, Kashmir actually sounds authentic, like they should have been recording twenty or thirty years ago right along side Joy Division and A Certain Ratio.

No Balance Palace is an album that shifts between genres while it creates detailed soundscapes and toys with tone and atmosphere. Sometimes the sound is straightforward pop, almost Echo and the Bunnymen-esque (Kalifornia and Jewel Drop), while other times the songs conjure My Bloody Valentine with their walls-of-noise guitar (The Cynic and The Curse of Being a Girl). However, through it all, Kashmir does not sound like they are merely emulating these other bands, I only make reference to them as a lazy way to point out the shifting compositions.

The instrumentation on the album is outstanding, and so is the production – although this should come as no surprise seeing as how Tony Visconti worked on the project. Some might consider Visconti to be the pioneer of glam-rock, and his groundbreaking work with David Bowie (who also appears on No Balance Palace), T. Rex and Thin Lizzy might solidify this position. Visconti’s ear for sound and pristine mixing can be readily heard on No Balance, and he does wonders to make sure that every part of every song is perfectly positioned in the stereo field. Kashmir is a band that likes to play with sounds, and by incorporating tight guitar work, analog synthesizers, grooving bass lines, and infectious Neu-like drum parts, each song is a like a playground for the ears - headphone listening is a must.

On a personal note, I kind of gave up looking for new bands after my four-year stint at Tower Records came to an end a few years ago. I have enough bands to listen to, and discovering new ones takes too much time, as there is too much crap to wade through. In many ways, modern music may be dead to me, because I no longer speak the language, nor do I have the desire to learn it. I think this is why I fell in love with Kashmir almost at first listen – their music spoke my language, and it was familiar without being repetitive or simply riffing on the bands I enjoy. Kashmir has taken the sounds of the post-punk era, and twisted them and mixed them those of the shoegazers and drone-rockers, and has crafted a signature sound. No Balance Palace may not be groundbreaking or trend setting, but it is solid – the composition is fantastic, the production is marvelous, and the instrumentation is pleasing to the ears.

Legend of a Fighter

I started watching Yuen Wo Ping’s Legend of a Fighter this morning, a film that I have not seen yet for some reason or another. The film focuses on Yuan Jia, the same character that Ronny Yu’s Fearless features, and the basis for Bruce Lee’s Fists of Fury, and Jet Li’s remake of the same. Yaun Jia was a real kung fu master, and like Hung Si Kwan, Fong Sai Yuk and Wong Fei Hong, many films have been based around the legendary exploits and adventures of his life. Although I would hardly call any of these films “historically accurate,” they do give a somewhat accurate portrayal of a real kung fu master and the trials that shaped his life.

So far, thirty minutes in, I am enjoying Legend of a Fighter immensely. The acting is surprisingly good, and the dynamics between the father and his son, and the son and his teacher, are portrayed with integrity and gravitas. The scenarios feel grounded, and anchored to the “real world,” as does the kung fu. The film was made just before Wo Ping went totally gonzo with slapstick kung-foolery and wire work, and so the choreography feels more realistic – although this doesn’t mean that the combatants always follow the laws of gravity and physics!

It is easy to see why this film is considered a timeless classic of the genre, and I look forward to seeing the rest of it. Look for a full write up soon!

If you haven’t done so yet, head over to our forums – they seem to be growing a bit, and there is some lively discussion going on. So come on, join up, and join in on the fun.

Diablo 2, Anyone?

Click, click-click-click, tap-tap, click-click-tap-click. Ah yes, the music of playing Diablo II – a percussive symphony of subtle sounds performed by a virtuoso, as his or her index finger taps away at the mouse buttons and the hotkeys. With each click, a kill, and the chance of a new treasure-drop to be scavenged, equipped, sold or stored. What Blizzard developed here is nothing short of a marvelous and highly addictive digital drug. Diablo II, a game that defines the phrase, “just five more minutes,” and a game that doubtless led to many cases of carpel tunnel and sleepless nights, is truly an exemplary execution of quality game design.

Building upon the simple dungeon-hack conventions of the Ultima and Gauntlet games, as well as their own Diablo I, Blizzard honed and filed down the gameplay mechanics in Diablo II to near perfection, setting a new standard within the genre. The user-interface is elegant in its simplicity, and the easy to pick up gameplay does its best to keep accessibility a foremost priority. By streamlining the gameplaying process, Blizzard created a game that reached the holiest tier of triple-A game design: it is easy to play, difficult to master, and keeps the player coming back for hours on end by eliminating most of the frustration and barriers of the genre. Simply put, the game is downright fun.

The graphics, sound, and music all work together to form a cohesive atmosphere that pulls the player into the game world. Even today, as games push millions of pixel-shaded polygons and realistic physics, the aged look of Diablo II still captures the eye, due to the excellent artistic direction and detail of the character sprites. The original music written for the game, with all of its progressive guitar and atmospheric compositions, perfectly escalates the game’s epic scope, and does wonders to set the fantastic tone. As a total package, one would be hard pressed to find a game that offers more for the price. Diablo II is a wholly engaging experience coupled with a design that fosters entertainment and longevity.

Lagaan

Last night I wrapped up my very first exposure to Bollywood, with the film Lagaan. And holy crap, all I can say is - WOW, oh freaking WOW. This film is so marvelous, and so well made, and so totally engaging at each and every step, that I honestly can’t wait to watch it again, yes, all 226 minutes of it. Everything about this film rings with cinematic perfection, and I now feel the urge to check out many more Hindi films.

The characters in Lagaan are completely believable, and possess an abundance of personality. There were certain characters with whom I would love to hang out with if they were real, especially the bearded soothsayer Guran, who is in fact one of my all time favorite film characters now. His look is just so utterly fantastic, and his affable nature makes him out to be a big loveable guy not unlike Chewbacca (trust me, once you see him, you will understand.)!

Expect a full write up VERY soon, but I just had to share this with you all. If you haven’t seen Lagann yet, do so NOW – if you like quality cinema, this film will blow your mind. Also, if any of you are into Hindi films, please let me know on the forums or by email, and make some suggestions, because I am ready to take the plunge into Bollywood.

SARS WARS

So, I knew that the SARS virus was deadly, but damn. I watched this documentary last night called SARS WARS - it is about a strand of the virus that infected people in Thailand and turned them into zombies. Man, it was very fascinating to see the truth unfold on the camera like this. It was a good thing the Thai government invented the "stop virus bullet," and that they had Hyper Man and his crazy Bald headed friend with a battery powered sword to fight off the zombie attack.

I wonder why this was never reported on here in the states? Did they think that we would not care about SARS infected zombies because it was only in Thailand? I can't believe our government covered all of this up and censored the news so we would not know about this.

At the end of the doc, a SARS infected baby, who busted out of its mothers womb, gets discovered and bites one of the news reporters. I have a feeling they are still fighting the SARS zombies in Thailand now. And here our government is wasting time in Iraq, when the real threat is not terrorists - it's the SARS virus, and the zombies created by it.

Games are Games, They Should be Played

People often mistake video games for 'interactive movies' and this is the moniker that gaming champions like to proclaim in order to make games seem more like a valid art form. However, gaming narratives have not progressed to even a rudimentary level of character, narrative, and drama. For examples, just look back at all the games that have promised great narratives – none of these can stand up to any great book or great film, nor should they strive to. Video games are their own separate medium, and developers should not try to compete in the narrative arena with films and literature.

I am not saying games shouldn’t have stories at all, but the narrative should NOT be the selling point, or a highly touted feature. The narrative should be what drives the character/player on to the next set piece, level, situation, and so on. The player should NEVER feel that he or she is merely watching some narrative unfold – if so, then what is the point of PLAYING a game? Just watch a film or read a great novel. So long as the narrative is incorporated into the game, and the player never feels like he or she is an unwilling participant in some story, then the story aspect of the game is a success.

All too often these days, especially in the RPG genre, a huge emphasis is put on story, when in fact, having this hard edged narrative totally takes away from what an RPG should be. If there is one genre that should NOT have strict narrative path, it should the RPG. In the truest sense of the phrase, a roll playing game’s narrative should be fully controlled by the player, with only specific major plot points dictated by the designers and writers.

Gaming narratives should consist of carefully incorporated points within the game that point the player onto the next great moment of gaming – not reading, not listening, and not watching, but PLAYING. If a game relies on its pre-defined cut scenes and story to be a success, then it is not a great game and cheapens the medium by not delivering a truly interactive experience, one that is actually controlled and played by the game player and not pre-established by an author or designer.

God of War....

This week I got involved in an online discussion about the little sex mini-game in GOD OF WAR on the PS2. I would like to post my portion of the discussion here. It is one sided since I will not be posting the other forum members’ posts, but I will try to summarize their responses.

OTHER POSTERS – the sex game was no big deal….

MY REPONSE:

The fact is, this 'little sex scene' only proves what people already think of games, and gamers in general, by further strengthening the derogatory attitude they take towards women. It was totally not needed. The violence is, Kratos is the God of War, not The God of Gratuitous and Juvenile Sex Scenes.

I am not pissed at it, or prude about it, but I do take games seriously, and I hate it when the industry constantly shoots itself in the balls and sets up its own roadblocks on the path to becoming an art form that is taken seriously. It seems like the game and comic book industries are in some kind of secret competition to see who can lessen their art the most and the quickest, by pandering to juvenile male tendencies and fantasies in the guise of "mature" and "edgy" content.

OTHER POSTERS – here they say that I am overreacting…

MY RESPONSE:

Say what you will, I did not over react, I just think [the mini-game] was REALLY stupid, and lessens the merit of the game. And no offense taken, trust me!

I hate the video game and comic book industries for what they pass off as mature. I find these industries to be full of juvenile perverts who are mainly concerned with chicks with big boobs, more cussing, and ultra violence.

Just look at what makes a game rated M - none of that crap is really mature at all, but actually belongs in the boy’s locker room at some junior high school.

It gets a bit tired. If either of these two industries ever wants their products to be taken seriously as an art form, and they both desperately do, then they need to reevaluate their ideals, and how they depict the human form, and relationships. Once they establish themselves as responsible industries, ones that champion real maturity, then they can and should break the rules.

I am not saying that nudity and violence have no place in games, games can contain these aspects, but I feel like the games biz really needs to establish itself as something more than a fantasy playground for over-sexed males whose only exposure to the female form is through tentacle porn and video games.

Games can actually be mature, and have these elements - games like ICO, SotC, BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, DREAMFALL, KotoR, JADE EMPIRE, and others prove this. These are the kinds of games that prove that the industry can tackle real maturity while still focusing on their target demographic.

This is something that is very important to me because I want to see the games biz thrive and push the boundaries of what outsiders think of the medium, and how games are perceived in the zeitgeist.

OTHER POSTERS – here they ask me what the difference is between violence and sex in games, and in the other entertainment mediums…

MY RESPONSE:

The film industry has established that it can do more than offer up excursions into juvenile male dominated fantasies. So in this regard, it is allowed to break the rules because as a medium it is already taken seriously as an art form.

In regards to GoW, violence is not as much of a hot button topic to games, but sex is. Game detractors look at sex and nudity in games and only focus on this aspect. So, the responsible thing to do, would, for the time being, be to eliminate sexual content until a developer is able to introduce it in such a way that it becomes more than just gratuitous nudity. In this fashion, they will be able to slowly start winning over the naysayers, and then they will have started to establish the games biz as an industry that can create mature experiences without degrading women. Then, after this stage, they can again start to release games that are gratuitous in nature without the threat of the knee-jerk politicians and parents crying out in alarm.

As far as violence goes, yes I would prefer it if games would stop just upping the body count and gore level. They have however introduced game play mechanics and styles that actually add to the playability and does in fact offset the gratuitous nature of the violence. That is, they are not just creating more sprites for blood and guts, but they have in fact implemented different ways to accomplish these violent means, thus adding to the over all game.

They have not done this with sex or nudity yet. Perhaps the best example is INDIGO PROPHECY which really did make a great attempt at introducing a healthy relationship and sex within the game world that did not come off as some excuse to just show some naked chick.

I feel the games biz is especially accountable because game advertising is still focused mainly at younger males, even though the average age of game players is around 27. I feel that they do have a responsibility to work harder at making games a more legit art form by limiting the amount of gratuitous violence and nudity for the time being, until they can incorporate it as I detailed above. Parents also need to stop shirking their part as well.

AS far as the comic book industry goes, if I see one more lead female character with skin tight clothes and giant boobs, drawn in ridiculous sexually alluring poses, well, lets just say I need to stay far away from the comic book stores! The comics biz is better at this than the games biz because of the indie publishers who are creating real art, with mature themes that offer more than just juvenile immaturity. Creators such as Gaiman, Chester Brown, Sims and many others have proven that comics are a valid art form. Now if only the high pro-fi guys could follow suit.

What are your thoughts? Head on over to the forums and discuss! (I tried not to edit thus too much, so please pardon the scrambled-thought-like nature of the post…)

The West Memphis Three

I’ve been reading through a book called THE DEVIL’S KNOT written by Mara Leveritt that details the gross incompetence and extreme negligence of a high profile triple-murder investigation/trial in West Memphis, Arkansas. I have never been into the true crime genre, but when I heard about this case a couple of years ago, I was immediately transfixed by the idea of a modern day witch hunt. I would like to think that in this day and age, in the 21st Century, a time of great understanding, technological advancements, and social enlightenment, in a country as “modern” as America, people would have the intelligence to separate fact from fiction, hearsay from truth, and sensationalism from reality.

Unfortunately, as the details of this story prove, such is not the case. THE DEVIL’S KNOT does take the stance that the three young men accused of the brutal murder of three small boys are innocent. Every facet of the heinously conducted “investigation” and “trial” is detailed and supported with factual evidence, references and citations. Knowing that the author chose a particular position to champion, does in fact lead me to question the validity of the argument in light of the bias. However, innocent or guilty, one fact does remain, and that is this: those in charge of the police procedure, the judicial powers of the court, and the hysteria that plagued the community and media surrounding this event, were all polluted by a total disregard of facts and of proper handling of evidence, as well as a complete and utter disrespect of the rights we have as American citizens to protect us from inept and erroneous arrests and accusations.

If you do not know about this case, please take some time to research it – I feel that as responsible citizens, it is our right to find out what really happened to Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, as well as who really killed the three little boys. Jessie and Jason are currently serving life sentences in prison, and Damien is on death row. These three, who are now men, have had their lives taken from them based upon a trial and investigation full of faulty testimony, circumstantial (at best) evidence, and a desire to see someone take the fall, guilty or not, all in the name of “justice” amidst a media scare of the occult, Satanism, and heavy metal music.

Further study:

The wikipedia article
The West Memphis Three Support Group Website
Court TV Crime Library
PARADISE LOST - HBO documentary
THE DEVIL'S KNOT - Amazon.com

Hail to the Monkey King Baby!

Hope everyone had a nice vacation, I know I sure did. After my in-laws left Seattle on Sunday morning, my wife and I went up to Vancouver Canada for a few days. Man, Vancouver is such a cool city - it feels so international. It really is weird to me to think that only 2.5 hours away from Seattle is a city that really does feel like it is in another country. I don't really know how to explain it - the international feel of the city just reminds me of how simple and narrow America is, especially Seattle, a city that should be brimming with international influence and culture. Not that I dislike Seattle, it just seems so small in comparison.

Of course while in Vancouver, we went to Chinatown and I bought some DVDs. I was surprised though at how hard it was to find something I really wanted to buy! I guess I pretty much own everything I really want. With that said though, I did find a handful of flicks that looked pretty cool, although 2 that I did want they didn't have yet, two Korean films, CITY OF VIOLENCE and THE KING AND THE CLOWN.

I was really excited to pick up Johnny To's ELECTION 2, the sequel to last years ELECTION and the second part of a planned trilogy. I can't wait to watch this one, and I will tonight, so expect a write up tomorrow. I also picked up a mystery film - that is I have no idea what it is called! It stars Vincent Zhao from Tsui Hark's THE BLADE, and it looks like a made for television Chinese fantasy film, and it is from the mainland. I sampled part of the film and it looked really cool - the f/x were nicely done, and the production looks pretty cool, residing somewhere in between typical Chinese television and theatrical quality.

I also picked up a Lau Kar Leung film I have been dying to see - THE MARTIAL CLUB starring Gordon Liu. In addition to this Shaw Brothers classic I picked up another Lau Kar Leung film, THE LADY IS THE BOSS and a super-crazy Chang Cheh film called THE FANTASTIC MAGIC BABY. FMB is yet another telling of the ever popular Monkey King story. I started watching it this morning and so far I have thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of it. It is very "stagy" in that the filmmakers accentuated rather then hid the fact that it was shot on stage-like sets. The backgrounds are clearly painted, and the entire production looks like a Peking Opera. Included on the DVD is a 30-minute tribute to an original Peking Opera detailing the same story.

The film focuses on one particular part of the Journey to the West where the Tang priest is kidnapped by The Ox King and Princess Iron Fan, and Monkey and Pigsy have to rescue their teacher from the clutches of the Red Kid, who is also known as the Fantastic Magic Baby King! If you are not familiar with the story of the Monkey King, I highly suggest you check out some of the translated works available from amazon.com. The story is the basis from many films, and the mythology at work has influences dozens of other works including the Japanese cartoon DRAGON BALL, as well as many other Asian fantasy films, comic books and cartoons.

This version here, entitled MONKEY is considered one of the best in translation, although it is abridged. It is a great staring point, and the translator Arthur Waley does a fantastic job at picking out the key chapters from the original text and putting them together to tell a cohesive story. Another version found here contains the entire narrative in four separate volumes. I have not read this version yet but from what I hear, the translation is not a poetic as Waley's is, but it does contain the entire story. I will be picking this set up in the near future. If you are at all interested in mythology, folk tales, religion and fantasy, I cannot recommend this story enough.

You Can't Buy Passion

I have not seen SUPERMAN RETURNS yet so I will hold my judgment off until I do so. However, something struck me this week after I watched a flick that I consider to be the coolest film ever made, and yes SUPERMAN RETURNS will be used as a comparison. The flick in question is DEATH TRANCE (expect a full review tonight) the directorial debut from the action director of VERSUS. DEATH TRANCE rocks the freaking house, it is exciting, passionate and it looks utterly amazing. The composition, the balance, the pacing and the cinematography are all excellent - I might even say it is one of the better looking films I have ever seen. So now, here comes the comparison. From a little research I gathered on DT, the total budget, from production to world-wide marketing was just around $5 million. $5 million, yes you heard me right. This film blew my freaking mind in every way possible and it was made for less than half of what a major action sequence in a Hollywood spectacle costs.

So then, what is up with SUPERMAN RETURNS? Well, according to Box Office Mojo, the total production/marketing budget of S-MAN R, was $300 million. Holy farking crap. Now, lets say that both DT and S-MAN R are equal - they are both great films, and let's say that (even though I don't like American superhero comic book movies) S-MAN R has the same amount of impact on me that DT did. Even if I end up thinking that S-MAN R is as equally amazing as DT, the simple fact that it cost $300 million is a matter that I cannot brush aside.

As a fan of awesome genre cinema, I would love to see MORE films that are as drop dead amazing as DT, and so think about this: for the same cost as one S-MAN R, we could have had 60 DEATH TRANCE films.... 60.

HOLY CRAP. That is an enormous butt-load of awesome cinema. 60 awesome films could have been made for the same price as 1 awesome film. To this I say: WHAT IN THE NAME OF KICK BUTT CINEMA did Singer and co. spend to much freaking money on? And the answer I think is this - nothing. It does not take money to make a film that is engaging, action packed, exciting, and beautiful to look at. And in many ways, even if I adore S-MAN R, I will still be upset by this fact. All this proves is the sheer amount of ignorance possessed by Hollywood, and further proves their unwillingness to change with the times. They bitch and moan like a little spoiled brat getting worked over on XBOX live about how their films aren't bringing in massive profits, and yet they continue to throw bucket loads of money at projects that could have been made for a fraction of the price.

Will they ever learn that budget does not equal quality? Will they ever realize that money cannot buy passion? Given a great script (the cheapest part of the total picture) and a group of filmmakers with a ton of passion, genre films can be made without spending the equivalent of a small nation's GNP. That is sick, and it makes me want to puke in a bowl and chew the bile. But, like I said, I will wait to pass my judgment on the S-MAN until after I see it, and I am not (yet) ripping into the film as a film. I am simply looking at the money issue here, and I really think things need to change.

Random Thoughts...

Microsoft is totally blowing it right now. They are completely throwing away a game winning set piece, and amazing opportunity. Right now, the 360 is the ONLY next-gen system out, and it is a quality piece of hardware. But, where are the flippin' games? Hello? This entire year has been a wash so far, a complete drought of quality software. All they had to do was release one quality, AAA game each month and they could have secured the throne of the next-gen with a HUGE head start in software sales and a large user base of devoted fans. Instead though, we got a new Morrowind game, which was great, and NOTHING ELSE worth buying. They could have been in the position to take the lead away from Sony, but man, they are blowing it bad. By the time their next wave of AAA, top tier software arrives, the Wii and PS3 will be upon them, or at least right around the corner.

*****

I listened to the final version of the first podcast and it's, oh, meh? I need to release a new mix - the bumper music is WAY to loud, so sorry about that. Like I have said, this is a work in progress and a learning process, so please stand by and things will get better.

The next podcast will feature DS and I rambling about Cheng Cheh and a few of his most awesome films. It should be more fun, and hopefully with the added dialog, everything will flow more smoothly.

*****

I have read a few fan reviews for pre-screenings of SUPERMAN, and two of them, written by posters I trust, have said basically the same thing: it's okay, it could be a lot better, and they hope it will be in the sequel.

TO this I say WHY? Why hope for a sequel to a film you didn't even love? Why should you be forced to sit through a mediocre film, just so the sequel can be better?

This makes no sense to me. Only great and awesome films should have sequels, the first film should have to prove itself before hand - but, unfortunately for us who are sick and tired of the same old superhero genre film crap, SUPERMAN is going to be a raging success, and it will relaunch yet another franchise of boring stories.

Happy Tenth Anniversary Tomb Raider!

When TOMB RAIDER LEGENDS came out, and it was freaking awesome, I remember having a recurring daydream. I thought to myself that if I were really, really rich, and had millions upon millions of dollars to just throw around, I would pay the new TR developers, Crystal Dynamics, to remake the original TOMB RAIDER game with today’s technology, graphics, physics and control. The original TR is my all time favorite game, and I recently re-bought it for the PS1 – for only 99 cents!

Anyhow, rumors have been flying around lately about a remake – although only for the PSP, so that really sucks. However, yesterday online rumor control said that the tenth anniversary remake of TR would NOT be happening at all – damn.

So, imagine my surprise when this morning I should stumble upon this bit of news on IGN:

Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Still On
Lara decides to revisit her old stomping grounds, after all.
by Daemon Hatfield

June 16, 2006 - With the success enjoyed by Tomb Raider: Legend, it's not surprising that Eidos is rumored to be working on a 10th anniversary edition of Lara Croft's original adventure. Claims as to its existence seem to be confirmed and denied on an almost daily basis.

The game was originally mentioned in financial disclosure statements made by Eidos. Then a video purportedly showing the game in action was leaked to the (always reliable) realm of the internet.

But yesterday, a news release on Core's (developer of the original Tomb Raider) website said the video was real, but that the game has since been cancelled.

And now, publisher Eidos has released confirmation that the game is still on and being developed by Crystal Dynamics. Apparently, it's being prepped for release on PSP, PS2, and PC.

Eidos brand manager Larry Sparks says, "Our 10th Anniversary Edition of Tomb Raider is a one-off title to celebrate both Lara and Tomb Raider. It will appeal not only to the loyal fans of the Tomb Raider series but will also attract a totally new audience."

So, good news for Lara's admirers. Looks like we'll be re-exploring the original tombs before long.

link

Wow, oh freaking wow – not only is the remake still on, but it’s coming to the PS2!!!

I really think TR is a game that can totally benefit from a graphics update – why? Well, so much of the game is built upon atmosphere, tone, and setting. It already features great gameplay, so any added graphical elements can only make the game that much more engaging and interactive, thus creating a much grander experience. Wow, man, am I ever excited.

Talking is Hard

Wow – so recording a podcast is really hard. Well, it’s not the actual recording that’s hard; it’s the talking that’s breaking my back! Crazy, I mean, I get so nervous sitting in my little recording studio staring at my computer and talking to myself – I just don’t understand it. Here I am, a trained musician who has written and recorded over 10 albums, and performed concerts in front 200+ people, and performing a monologue by my lonesome to my computer monitor is racking my nerves something fierce!

I wanted to have a ‘cast done for last night’s update, but after a few hours, and 6 or so takes, well, it didn’t happen. At first I tried to just wing it, but damn, it takes some skill to do that. Then I tried to do a more structured show, but I think I picked too broad of a topic, and I ended up rambling for thirty minutes and not saying anything at all! Finally, late last night, I think I came up with a format that should work, and it should be easier for me to tackle.

My respect goes out to all those podcasters who create a good show every week. Man, it’s really hard work, but dammit – I want to do it! Hopefully as I fine tune the format and work my way through a few practice takes, I will become more comfortable and secure with what I am doing. So, keep your ears and eyes open, we should have a genrebusters podcast coming in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, fire up iTunes and check out these podcasts:

(Cool) Shite on the Tube – hilarious show about flicks and media from Australia
Cinemaslave – hosted by Joe Barlow
Downloadable Content – Penny Arcade’s show
Twitch Asylum – a cast on video games that focuses on retro-gaming
NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me – a weekly radio news-themed game show.

Watch For These

It’s no secret that I think Mamoru Oshii is one of the most creative directors working today in any medium. What I love about him is his inability to become comfortable, and remain still – he has never been stagnant. He kicked off his career with an amazing sci-fi comedy, BEAUTIFUL DREAMER, and then gave us the artistically brooding ANGEL’S EGG, and then he went on to giant-mechs with PATLOABOR, spirituality and A.I. with the GHOST IN THE SHELL films, and snuck in some strange live action films like AVALON and TALKING HEAD, that maintained his original signature. The man really is a maverick and an auteur.

His newest film, on the horizon for 2006, TACHIGUISHI RETSUDEN, looks like it will continue in this tradition and it looks like nothing I have ever seen. And, based on the trailer, I have no clue as to what it’s about – none – this thing looks down right freaky, strange, bizarre and infinitely interesting. The film looks animated, but it features live actors who have been superimposed onto 2D paper-like models. Imagine if Terry Gilliam had created the video game Paper Mario and you might have an idea of what I’m talking about. Or better yet, check out the trailer. I am very excited.

Trailer for TACHIGUISHI RETSUDEN

Another trailer that’s grabbed by attention something fierce, is for the new Pang Bother’s (THE EYE) film, RE-CYCLE. Wow, does this ever look incredible. It looks a bit like MIRRORMASK, only a tad darker, with some really crazy horror elements thrown in. I believe most of the film was shot on digital sets, and ever since SKY CAPTAIN and CASHHERN helped to pioneer this technique, it keeps getting better. I am really into this kind of filmmaking, and the best thing about it is that it keeps costs down. Now filmmakers can make these huge sprawling f/x-heavy films on a budget less than that of a small country’s GNP.

RE-CYCLE: Website and trailer

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 11: 6/12/2006

It looks like we are entering the TOP 5 of this list LONG in the making. I hope it is enjoyed.

5. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions (1988)



There I was – in the eight grade, a skinny little nerdy white boy. I guess in many ways I still am. Anyhow, there I was, probably wearing some skater t-shirt, board shorts, black Converse Chuck Taylor’s and a baseball cap, while riding my bike to Festival arcade. I had my headphones on and they were blaring and booming, probably helping the tinnitus in my ears along its inevitable path to a soft constant hum accompanied by periods of loud ringing present in my adult life. So yeah, my cassette Walkman’s headphones were blaring, the music was probably loud enough for a passenger in a car with the window rolled down to hear. And if someone did hear what I was listening to, while seeing how I looked, they would have probably laughed all their way to the irony farm. Allow me to drop a clue:

Flava Flave! Yeah, that’s right boyeeeeeee! HA HA!

There you go, you got it right, I was listening to none other than Public Enemy, and the album? It Takes a Nation of Millions. To tell you the truth, I can’t even recall how I first heard of Public Enemy, or how I laid hands on the tape. I do know that rap was the first genre of music I got into thanks to bands such as Run DMC, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, EPMD, De La Soul, and Sir Mix-a-lot, so it is no surprise that I should eventually stumble across the brilliant beats and amazing lyrics constructed by Chuck D, Flava Flave and Terminator X.



It Takes a Nation was so different from most of the rap I was listening to at the time, and even to this day it still stands as one of the best records ever. The group perfectly captured the street culture of urban America and injected it with lyrics brimming with intelligence and poignancy, all while remaining exciting and avoiding the bleak outlook of modern day gangsta’ artists. My generation has always been looking for our “Bob Dylan,” and have often, and erroneously, thrust this title on, at best, Kurt Cobain, and at the absolute worst Bright Eyes. I find this amusing for a number of reasons. Dylan was Dylan because of how he affected the zeitgeist of his time, and how he challenged musical conventions by rising above genre while crafting lyrics that twisted with poetic nuances, word play and social context. In this light I can easily say that our Bob Dylan is none other than Chuck D, a comparison that to me is quite obvious.

Chuck D is a man that I feel has never been given the proper widespread critical respect he deserves, and lot of this probably has to do with the color of his skin and the genre he calls home. However, D’s lyrics on It Takes a Nation both dwell in and break through the walls of rap, while the music Terminator X and the Bomb Squad crafted is as groundbreaking as any made before or sense. However, what I find even more appalling than the lack of critical respect given to PE, is that their own people have for the most part shunned them, leaving their music to be appreciated largely by a white audience. I often hear the African-American community say they are looking for an outstanding, talented, intelligent and decent role model in the music business, and, well they had one – probably the best. D spoke loud and proud about African-American culture, and was also a genius with words and a stand up guy devoid of gang trappings, drug selling and general thuggery.



It Takes a Nation of Millions is without a doubt the brightest jewel in the crown of PE’s career. It starts with a bang and never, ever lets up. The opening intro Countdown to Armageddon explodes into the incredibly rhythms of Bring The Noise, a track that instantly causes heads to bob and fists to pound, it’s infection the Nth degree. The third track, Don’t Believe the Hype is a lyrical masterpiece full of inside jokes and slams, cunning word play, twisting puns and a beat that makes you sick with the funk. When writing about this album, it is almost impossible to single out a “best” track, because they’re all so damn freaking good.

Even though this album is packed with hard hitting lyrics containing great social relevance, and the group does indeed call for Black America to rise up, it never comes across as ultra-angry or downright bleak. This is what I admire most about Chuck D and PE – they want change, they are intelligent about getting it, and can be quite forecful, and yet I never feel that they preach hate or self imposed segregation. Chuck D just says it how he sees it, and his brilliant mind shines through in every line. It is sad now, that today almost 20 years AFTER this landmark rap album, the genre is plagued with complete and utter crapola like Puffy, Fitty Cent, Brutha Lynch Hung and a God-aweful plethora of no talent gangster losers. If Chuck D were dead, he’d be rolling in his grave, but since he’s not, I have to ask – where the hell are you man? In these days, the Black community needs a man like you more than ever, and I wish you and other like minded Americans would take back the genre you helped to shape.

Emulation Nation

Emulation Nation Okay, so in a few words – I FARKING LOVE video game emulation. Wait a minute - maybe I better explain what an emulator is for those less nerd-like among you. In simple terms (the only terms I know) an emulator is a piece of software designed to trick a computer into thinking it is another kind of computer or computer-like device. For instance, with a Windows based PC, you can download an Amiga or Commodore 64 emulator that will allow you to trick your 64bit Processing, 3gig, Dual P4 Processor computer with 2gigs of RAM and a terabyte hardrive into thinking it is an ancient piece of electronic hardware with the computing prowess of a modern day calculator – AWESOME!

However, what makes emulation so freaking awesome (and some what illegal) is all the awesome gaming possibilities it allows for. With the power of programs such as MAME, Nesticle, Genxsys and others, it is possible to emulate almost any home video game console as well as almost any arcade machine, and play tons of games on one system – your computer. Now, these emulators are not illegal by themselves and are actually amazing little pieces of software. What is illegal are the ROMS. What is a ROM? Well, again in simple terms, a ROM is the downloadable game data. ROMS contain the original game in all of its original glory in perfect translation. This means, that if you were to play the ROM for an old game on the NES, and that game suffered from heinous slowdown and pixel flashing, when played on your $3000 modern PC, the game would still suffer from these awesome features!

And now onto the legality of ROMS. Many game developers and publishers are anti-ROM. It is in fact a form of bootlegging, and for games that are currently being sold at retail, or for games that companies generate revenue on, ROMS should not be made available for free download. However, for games that were sold 15+ years ago and are now gone-baby-gone, or for old arcade games that NO ONE puts quarters into anymore, or for games NEVER released in a particular region, I do (as well as the entire ROM community) see absolutely no problem with making ROMS available. I see it as a way to keep old school 2D gaming alive – emulators are like interactive video game museums, and yes, I also like playing tons of free games!

I do have one major problem with certain gaming companies who take such a strong anti-ROM stance. The problem is this: why aren’t they releasing, and charging for OFFICIAL ROMS that can be downloaded from the companies own website? Take for instance a company like Capcom. Capcom has tons of old classic arcade games, and games made for old consoles that are not sold anymore, and that many older gamers like myself would love to play – and pay for. So now with emulation, I can play these games, and play them for free. Well, most of these games I would gladly pay for – if they were made available, and if the price was right. It just boggles my mind that developers and publishers have not embraced the ROM community and worked together with these people to release official ROM packs for consumption.

Imagine a company like TREASURE, whose games often sell for criminally high prices on Ebay – games like RADIANT SILVERGUN often fetch $200+, and not a single cent of this goes to TREASURE, it all goes to the complete asshat collector taking advantage of a desperate buyer. Games are not collector’s items, and never should they be, especially ones made on CDs that can be MASS PRODUCED at the touch of a freaking button! Why doesn’t TREASURE offer the ROM for RADIANT SILVERGUN as a direct download from their website for a nominal fee? This simple act would stop the highway robbery of Ebay douche bags, and would also help to put a stop to bootlegging – they could in fact start making money again on a game that is over 7 years old and no longer available with a simple ROM release, or a print on demand service for a CD that would play in any Sega Saturn.

Sometimes I think these companies (along with movie and music companies) are run by a bunch of old bald-headed morons who couldn’t even clear the first level of Gauntlet with a constant feed of quarters to replenish their dying elf’s life force. Why is it that I see a simple solution that would generate revenue for games long considered abandon-ware, quite simply I might add, and would at the same time help to lessen the impact of bootlegging? What is stopping these developers and publishers from EMBRACING technology, and giving gamers what we really want. After all, we are a determined and crafty bunch – if you don’t give us what we demand (and a game selling for $300 dollars on Ebay proves there is a demand you farking morans) we will get it some how or another. And that is a threat and a promise.

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 10: 6/7/2006

6. Weird Al - In 3-D (1984)



In 1984 I was in third grade, and I purchased my first two cassette tapes: Duran Duran’s SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER and Weird Al’s IN 3-D, two albums that had a huge impact on my music-loving life. I think it can safely be said that my generation is in fact the Weird Al generation, screw that Gen-X or Y garbage, we’re Gen-Al and proud dammit. We grew up listening to and enjoying the heck out of the many songs he parodied, and in fact we grew up with Weird Al in general – he is way more the Lennon of our time than Kurt Cobain will ever be. Every few years we would be treated to a new album that somehow captured the pulse and zeitgeist of pop-culture for our time. Somehow, Mr. Al always knew what would be funny for each particular era, and he always picked the greatest songs to riff on, while demonstrating his comedic genius and wit.



The thing that makes Weird Al’s music so awesome is that he is not just a joke or a funny act. Sure he is dang funny, but he himself is an uber-talented musician and writer, and his long time band is brimming with masterfully trained musicians. So, while his songs may be steeped in comedy and swimming in lyrical wit, puns, double entendres, and silly phrasing, the music is overflowing with smart instrumentation, creating skillful composition and awesome production. This fact was evident even way back in 1984 on his second album, IN 3-D.



IN 3-D kicks things off with a parody of one of the most popular songs of all time, Michael Jackson’s BEAT IT. Now, rumor has it that Mr. Al (who always tries as hard as he can to get the original artist’s permission, and not just the rights, before parodying a song) was extremely nervous when he presented Jackson with the lyrics for his version called EAT IT. Apparently, Michael Jackson, long before his massive decent into wackyland, thought the new lyrics were fantastic and laughed his ass off while moon walking all the way to the bank. And how could one not laugh while reading or hearing lines such as these:

How come you’re always such a fussy young man?
Don’t want no captain crunch, don’t want no raison bran
Well, don’t you know that other kids are starving in Japan
So eat it, just eat it


Don’t want to argue, I don’t want to debate
Don’t want to hear about what kind of food you hate
You wont get no dessert till you clean off your plate
So eat it

My two favorite songs off the record are THE BRADY BUNCH, a parody of Men Without Hats’ THE SAFETY DANCE, and the Weird Al-original tune NATURE TRAIL TO HELL, a song about horror and slasher films – so what’s not to love? The original SAFETY DANCE song was actually one of my favorite songs played on the radio at the time, and to this day I still think it is pretty dang good – I also vividly remember the video being one of the first things I saw on MTV and I will never forget the little ren-fair midget prancing around the country side like a drunk Peter Pan. Al’s version took the same infectious groove while he added lyrics about everyone’s favorite 70’s T.V. family, the Bradys, and also shed light on our society’s complete fascination with television culture. The best of Weird Al’s humor always contains real social significance hidden underneath the seemingly lowbrow humor.

You can watch Mr. Rogers
You can watch Three's Company
And you can turn on Fame or The Newlywed Game
Or The Addams Family


I say, you can watch Barney Miller
And you can watch your MTV
And you can watch 'till your eyes fall out of your head
That'll be OK with me


And you can watch (TV)

You can watch Johnny Carson
You can watch Phil Donahue
And you can use TV Guide to help you decide
With capsulized review

Weird Al’s songs often fell into three different categories: parodies of popular songs, meddlies of popular songs set to polka music, and his very own original tunes. Of these three, the majority of Al’s output is in the latter category, and many of these songs have more in common with THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS than they do with DR. DEMENTO or other comedy musicians. That is they are mostly well written, possess lyrics that are funny and poignant, and are full of wit and satire to the nth degree.



NATURE TRAIL TO HELL is not a parody of any song, but is a parody of pop-culture, and the horror/slasher film craze so abundant during the 1980’s. NATURE TRAIL is a mock heavy metal song that plays out while an announcer describes what sounds like the greatest slasher film of all time in typical movie-trailer style:

Coming this Christmas to a theatre near you
The most horrifying film to hit the screen.
There's a homicidal maniac who finds a cub-scout troop
and he hacks up two or three in every scene.
Pleease don't reveal the secret ending to your friends
Don't spoil the big surprise You won't believe your eyes when you see


Nature trail to hell

Nature trail to hell

Nature trail to hell in 3-D

Nature trail to hell in 3-D

Nature trail to hell in 3-D

Nature trail to hell in 3-D See severed heads that almost fall into your lap.
See that bloody hatchet coming right at you.
No, you'll never see hideous effects like these again
Until we bring nature trail to hell part 2
So bring the kids along it's good clean family fun.
What have you got to lose if you like the 6 O'Clock news then you'll love...



Not only does Weird Al create memorable music, but his career is also complimented by the fact that he is just such a really affable guy. He is genuinely nice, funny, and downright clean cut, while still being sharp and witty and avoiding the mediocrity of other family friendly entertainers. He is such a nice guy that according to the wikipedia, when VH1 produced his episode of BEHIND THE MUSIC, the producers were pissed off because they couldn’t dig up any dirt or drama about him, except for the little spat Al had with Coolio over the parody of GANGSTER’S PARADISE, a confrontation that disappointed Al, and one that has long since been forgotten.



I was lucky enough to meet Weird Al once while working the box office for one of his concerts, and during our brief exchange I can attest to this fact – he’s just a great guy. His genuine spirit is also evident in his music – it is not pretentious and never goes for just gross out or disgusting humor like so many other comedians. He just has fun and keeps things clean without pandering or pulling punches – it’s just the way he is. His form of entertainment never feels watered down, or edited for content.

I must also add that if you ever have a chance to see this man in concert, do so – even if you’re not a huge fan you will have the time of your life. His shows are full-on productions, with tons of costume changes, props, videos and showmanship unlike any other performer.

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 9: 5/31/2006

7. Pink Floyd - Meddle (1971)



I did not get into Pink Floyd until my junior or senior year in high school. I remember people telling me how great they were, and how spacey and moody they were. However, the songs I often heard on the radio, MONEY, WISH YOU WERE HERE, and HEY YOU, led my to believe otherwise. I just didn’t understand what the appeal was: to me they sounded like any other classic rock band, an era I have never been fond of. Then one day while at a used record store in Fresno called Ragin’ Records, I came across an album by Pink Floyd called MEDDLE. Upon careful inspection, I noticed that one song took up an entire side of the record. Always being a sucker for long and epic songs (at the time I was digging through the shelves looking for TANGERINE DREAM albums), I decided to blind buy the album - and thus started my journey into the brilliant, genre-spanning career of Pink Floyd.



MEDDLE opens with ONE OF THESE DAYS, a song that would sound perfectly at home on any Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mono or any other post-rock band’s album. ONE OF... is a dark, moody and aggressive instrumental track that immediately sets the tone for the epic album. The album then segues into two of my favorite Floyd tracks of all time: the softly moving and acoustic number A PILLOW OF WINDS and the amazing mid-tempo pseudo-shoegazer track FEARLESS. FEARLESS can be seen (or heard rather) as the blueprint for the music crafted by many modern shoegazer and post-rock bands: its mid-tempo groove is simply dream-like, as the melodies and instrumentation carry the listener into a state of bliss.



The album then takes an interesting, but jarring, turn into pop-jazz-shuffle territory with the upbeat track SAN TROPEZ, a song in direct contrast to the moody atmospheric tone set by the previous songs. It then moves into a short blues number featuring a dog howling along in syncopation to the guitar with the track SEAMUS, and finally the album reaches its epic conclusion: ECHOES.



To merely call ECHOES a “song,” would be like referring to Beethoven’s great symphonies as merely “classical music.” ECHOES is in fact an epic musical composition that runs the gamut from mid-tempo space-rock, to funked out psychedelic jamming, to outer space-like chaotic noise, and back again to lusciously arranged mid-tempo rock, all while conjuring themes of mysticism with lyrics steeped in poetic nuances of sleep, dreams, flight, mortality and infinity. The first time I heard ECHOES, I finally got it – I finally recognized why Pink Floyd was considered a band that broke free of genre conventions and helped to shape the landscape of modern musical composition.

It was easy to hear that the Pink Floyd was not merely concerned with crafting great songs – no, they were concerned with crafting albums full of complex arrangements and emotional themes not grounded by trite human emotions of love and pop-culture. MEDDLE can be seen as the first real Pink Floyd album. That is, it was the album that would define the band’s reach into the cosmos and their grasp for complex music that was full of great melodies while also being full of studio experimentation. MEDDLE would set the band firmly on the road that would eventual lead to future albums such as DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, WISH YOU WERE HERE, ANIMALS and THE WALL. Some say that MEDDLE is the group’s most accomplished record, even out performing the classic DARK SIDE – with this I have to agree. MEDDLE is an album like no other – it is infinitely listenable, full of complex song structures and melodies, and represents a band able to command a listener’s attention like no other.

Am I Crazy?

I have noticed a strange thing that I have trouble understanding. There are some movies that most of my offline (real) friends really love that are hated across the Internet film forums. And conversely, there are many films praised on the forums that most people I know find to be pretentious, tedious drivel. Why is this? In the first category, offhand, I can think of: HERO, GLADIATOR and now KUNG FU HUSTLE, and in the later I can think of, well, most pretentious European art-house-coming-of-age-sexual-awakening cinema.

Is this due simply to the fact that I don't play the game and pretend or try to like films that have been deemed "important cinema" by the official members of the International Film Buff's Society? Or, is this simply due to the fact that I have schlockier tastes than most? Maybe it's just because I don't care. I know I have discernable tastes, I know what I like and why I like it, and ultimately, as much as I love cinema, the most important aspect of it to me is simply to be entertained. I strongly believe that life is too short to not have a good time, and just enjoy the films I love to enjoy.

Now, this does not mean that I confine my tastes to certain genres, or styles, or filmmakers - far from it. I just don't get most of what other critics and film fans call "great cinema," and yet I consider myself to have a varied cinematic vocabulary. I think D.S. said it best when he said we should write as if the rest of the Internet does not exist. There are trends that can be traced across the various film sites, especially those concerned with being more film-school orientated in their viewing and discussion habits. This is a good plan and a nice road to follow.

Consider Genrebusters our own little vacuum, this is our cosmos and we are not affected by what others say. I hope we can foster our own community here, one that plays by a different set of rules than other film sites, and one that is not afraid to embrace films of all kinds and is not concerned with the general consensus of others.

I'm Not Dead: 5/24/2006

Contrary to popular opinion, I am not dead – I was just sick, and it wasn’t even bird flu. Today is the first day I have even touched my computer for a long time, and it feels kind of good! Due to my illness, I have been bunked out on the couch for 3.5 days, and I have watched – in various states of consciousness and unrest – quite a few films. I re-watched the entire MATRIX TRILOGY back-to-back and for the first time I really enjoyed REVOLUTIONS. When RELOADED and REVOLUTIONS are viewed together as one long films (the way they are supposed to be) part three’s shortcomings aren’t as apparent, and the cool parts are even better. Now, RELOADED is already my all-time favorite western action film, and I loved it even more this time – it is such a well crafted kung fu/action film, that I don’t know if it will ever be topped, expect a proper write-up soon.

I also watched LOTR: RETURN OF THE KING, and once again I cried when Aragorn tells the hobbits, “You bow to no man,” and then the entire freaking kingdom bows down to them! Man, such a powerful film. After it was over I was a bit sad. I remember for three years in a row I had a great film to look forward to every November, and now, that promise does not exist. It also saddens me to think that I may never again see a trilogy of genre films made this well, with this much emotion and passion, and with so much personality ad character for the rest of my life. I just don’t know if it is possible to top these films in terms of cinematic craftsmanship. I hope I am wrong.

And of course I watched many episodes of Hark’s SEVEN SWORDSMAN OF MOUNT HEAVEN, and have both positive and negative things to report. The series is great so far, has good action, okay-for-foreign-TV special effects, good acting, characters and production values once you get used to the shot-on-video quality. Some of the melodrama is quite grating, as there is a ton of crying typical to Hong Kong television, and the story seems a bit to stretched out. The film’s narrative occupies almost ten full hours of the television series! I was surprised that it was stretched to this extent, and although it was nice to start seeing some background about the swordsmen, it just went on for far too long. Expect more to come about this series.

Let’s see, I also watched THE BOURNE SUPREMECY, which was quite good and left me to ask this question: why can’t James Bond movies be this good? That stuffy old super-spy has had his day, and he can take his boring and cheesy films with him – I’ll take Jason Bourne any old day. At some point during the last few days I also got around to watching ALIEND RESSURECTION as well as two of the supplemental discs from the ALIEN box set – now this is how to make a box set! The docu-discs are totally amazing, and offer a ton of cool and informative behind the scenes moments.

The last of my weekend watching was NATIONAL TREASURE, a film I have been meaning to see for some time. I enjoyed it, although it was a bit long. I really liked how clean it was in terms of language and violence, and I also immensely enjoyed the treasure hunt. It was basically everything the craptacular TOMB RAIDER films wish they could be but aren’t – fun, exciting, mysterious, and full of adventure. And so, I think this ends the saga of “Sick D_Davis and What He Watched,” – oh wait, I just remembered, yesterday I saw the very last episode of FRESH PRINCE OF BELL AIRE, which I had never seen before. It was moving…okay, so maybe I am still a bit sick.

Morning Movie Madness: A Chinese Tall Story part 2: 5/17/2006

A Chinese Tall Story

The second 40-minute installment was full of just as many head scratching and laugh inducing moments as the first. For a bit, the film settles down and explores the budding relationship between the “ugly” imp girl and the monk. The monk, who has recently been separated from the Monkey King, is in possession of the golden staff and decides to use this opportunity to spread his message of peace and love. However, because of his naivety, the evil ways of the world surprise him and end up beating his spirit down.

He and the imp girl use the staff’s magic to fly away into the cosmos and they enter a world of ink paintings where they meet the four heavenly kings. One of the kings falls underneath the magical power of the staff and dies, thus framing the monk for murder. He and the imp girl become fugitives and have to again escape to a new region of the world. On the beach of the world, they meet the turtle god who accidentally stabs himself with his own knife, and a group of witnesses blame the monk and the imp girl. Man, what a bad day.

Eventually the film starts getting really crazy (wtf?). The egged angel girl escapes from her cocoon, and the imp girl discovers that she too is an angel girl when she finds a magical bracelet full of alien technology. Next, a giant UFO lands dispatching these strange bug-suited cyborg warriors who help the monk fight the evil insect demons that we find are minions of the evil tree god. The imp-angel girl grabs the magical staff, and flies into the tree god’s mouth, and then transforms the staff into a giant mech decked out with no less than 8 gattling guns. A giant battle ensues, all cheesy CGI, but pretty dang cool none-the-less.

So yeah, this film is totally off the wall, and utterly entertaining. There were so many moments where I just couldn’t believe what Lau was throwing my way. At one point the monk changes into a Spiderman costume and tries to shoot webs out of his hands – for no reason what so ever! A CHINESE TALL STORY is without a doubt a film that Jeffrey Lau, and only Jeffrey Lau could have made, and left in any other hands, there is no way it would be nearly as effective.

Expect a full-fledged review for Thursday night’s update.

Morning Movie Madness: A Chinese Tall Story part 1: 5/16/2006

This morning I started watching a fun little film and I decided to chronicle my feelings in this blog. This may turn into a regular morning practice, so stay tuned.

A Chinese Tall Story



There really is no reason why I should like this film. The CGI is horrible, it is populated with pop-music stars, the gags are low brow and often make zero sense, and the narrative is a jumbled mess. However, I am honestly enjoying the film despite my better judgment. Perhaps it is the ample amounts of charm, or the pure scatter-shot way the filmmakers have assembled everything. Perhaps it is the lackluster CGI in all its cheesy glory, or how purely gonzo the entire production is. A Chinese Tall Story is most definitely an "everything and the kitchen sink" film, as it incorporates elements of adventure, horror, space opera, martial arts, romance and action films often times all in the same sequence. Tall Story is a perfect example of mo lei tau, or "anything goes, and often does, makes no sense" cinema made popular by director Jeffrey Lau and Stephen Chow.

Jeffrey Lau is no stranger to this kind of film - he helped invented it. With films such as EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES, A CHINESE ODYSSEY 1 and 2 (Starring Stephen Chow) and A CHINESE ODYSSEY 2002, Lau has proven his deep rooted love for parody and for Chinese mythology. Although TALL STORY is in fact based upon the Monkey King myth, it bears almost no resemblance to this classic narrative, perhaps even the term "loosely based" is overstating this fact. However distant form the source material this film may be, one thing is certain: it is easy to see that Lau and company had a blast making TALL STORY, and their energy radiates from the screen.

To illustrate just how over the top this film is, one needs to look no further than the first 30 minutes. So far I have been witness to: a swarm of insect-like demons who group together in the shape of a giant spider, and are dispatched of by the Monkey King's golden rod which takes the shape of a giant fly swatter; a giant demon king who looks a lot like Devil-Man who chases the Monkey King through a cavernous wasteland reminiscent of the mountainous region in Tsui Hark's ZU WARRIORS. Once the main monk becomes separated from the Monkey King and is launched through the air in a giant cocoon, he lands in a village populated by lizard people. Here he discovers an egg that contains a beautifully feathered girl inside who radiates angelic light. During an attack on the village by the insect demons, the egg is beamed into the clouds when a barrage of lasers attacks the demons. And of course, there is the blossoming love story between the main monk and an "ugly" imp girl who begrudgingly saves his life.

Wow, that sounds like enough plot and sequences to fill two whole films, and this is just the first 30 minutes! With a film like this, it is easy to stay interested. If a sequence comes along that you find boring or off-putting, don't panic, for in a minute or two Jeffrey Lau will surely usher in something complete new and totally off the wall - this is ADD filmmaking at its finest. In no way is A CHINESE TALL STORY a "good" film. It is however a film that is extremely fun to watch, and is not easily forgettable. So far I have been shocked, I have laughed, I have rolled my eyes and I have scratched my head, and I have enjoyed every minute.

The Seattle International Film Festival: 5/15/2006

With the Seattle International Film Festival quickly approaching, I am reminded of a problem that comes along with being an avid film-fan and movie collector - I have seen and own almost everything I want to see at the festival! Now I say this not to bring attention to my viewing habits, but to draw attention to the fact that genre cinema gets a punch to the groin when it comes to festival slots.

Sure there are some decent genre offerings at SIFF this year, but most of them are leftovers from the Toronto International Film Festival - 2005! I don't want Canada's sloppy seconds dangit! I guess the only thing to do is bitch and moan about it in this stupid blog, right? WRONG! I really do want to see a change, but unfortunately I do not think change is going to come from within the pre-established film fests. Film fests are hard to organize and cost a ton of money to pull of when you start getting as big as SIFF. I must commend the organizers of putting together a very popular festival that has not yet succumb to the pressures of the media and Hollywood like so many others have, but at the same time I wish there were more films for us genre lovers.

So, in all actuality, what this situation compels me to do is get off of my butt and start our own film fest. Ultimately, this is the kind of thing I want Genrebusters to do, and I think if we start small, we could eventually have ourselves a nice little genre film fest where we show the films we love, and we will foster a local community of film fans who have grown tired of the typical coming-of-age-sexual-awakening-boring-as-crap-foreign film so typical to the general festivals. I think if we started by renting a small hall and projecting DVDs onto a screen, even if only for one day, it would be a step in the right direction. I will keep you posted.

And for those of you in the Seattle/NW area, here are the films I am interested in for this year's SIFF line-up:

FIVE DEADLY VENOMS - own it
A BITTERSWEET LIFE - own it
HIDDEN BLADE - own it, have not seen it
PRINCESS RACCOON
THE PROPOSITION - the one film I MUST see
SEVEN SWORDS - own, will see it again - first Hark big screen
ISOLATION
SHINOBI

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii: 5/10/2006

Every year around this time I get really excited about videogames. I don’t know what it is. I wonder if E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the world’s largest, noisiest, craziest, most expensive-cram-all-this-crap-down-the-consumer’s-throat videogame trade show, which is going on right now, has anything to do with it – maybe. Anyhow, during this massive event, I am often glued to my computer screen checking out gamespot.com’s or ign.com’s press releases, videos, articles and interviews depicting all of the newest, hottest and most must-have games yet to be released, and I am always excited to start playing some new games.

However, a strange thing happens, usually a month or so after this mega-event. That hype that was so expertly crafted and executed, the hype that made me feel like a 10 year old on Christmas morning, the hype that made me proclaim THIS WILL BE THE GREATEST YEAR OF ALL GAMING HISTORY – well, that hype usually dissipates and I am left with an empty feeling inside. Sure, I might bounce from game to game, but often times I am left wanting more – not more quantity but more quality.



But this E3 is different (I said the same thing last year)! This is the year that gaming really gets fun again (I said the same thing last year)! This is the year I call in sick to work a few times just to play some freaking games (I have NEVER done this)! This is the year, of, oh dang it, it’s the same old thing. But not so this year – oh no! For the little company that could – but hasn’t in a long time – has sold me on their new system. I have been a very vocal opponent of this little system for quite some time, but after seeing it in action I must eat my words. So yes, this little company is Nintendo, and their new little system, the heinously titled Wii, is here in all its technological glory and it promises – no, it demands – to change the very landscape of gaming as we know it.



Yes – I am now officially excited for the Wii. I am going to Gamestop this Saturday, selling my Gamecube and pre-ordering Nintendo’s new little marvel. I want to hold the Wii-mote and nunchuk controller in my hand, I want to swing my sword in RED STEEL, I want to explore dungeons in ZELDA TWIGHLIGHT PRINCESS, I want to traverse the stars with MARIO GALAXY and I want it all now. I am sold. They did their job. Now, I just hope they don’t let me down. I really do hope that Nintendo delivers on all of its lofty promises. Someone has to pull the videogame industry out of the doldrums, and it looks like Miyamoto and crew are the ones to do it. God knows it won’t be Sony any longer with its $600 beast of a machine – at least I hope not.

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 8:5/9/2006

8. Julee Cruise (David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti) – Floating Into the Night (1989)



I was a little too young to watch Twin Peaks when it first appeared on television, but I do remember my parents watching it and I do remember EVERYONE asking, “Who killed Laura Palmer?” I also distinctly remember the dancing midget and the haunting music. Fast forward a few years to, yep, 1989 (honestly, the abundance of albums from this year was not planned) when I was in high school hanging out with my friend Vu – a Vietnamese cat who also happened to be the best illustrator in the world. We decided that one weekend we would hang out at his house and rent the VHS tapes of Twin Peaks from a local Video Park. Needless to say, Vu and I became hopelessly addicted to everything having to do with Twin Peaks, David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti and this strange women with the most soothing voice I had ever heard – Julee Cruise.



Floating into the Night, is just another example of all the facets of Lynch’s genius. Not only is he a wonderful director, sculptor, painter, and multi-media artist, he is also a musician, lyricist and composer. On Floating, he worked with his long time friend and musical partner, Angelo Badalamenti, and together they wrote and composed an album that is haunting, chilling, moving and ethereal, while also being extremely melodic and accessible. If you have never heard their music, imagine 1950’s cool Jazz fused with shoegazer-like rock, a ton of reverb, drones, and a very spacey production.



Julee Cruise’s vocals may not be powerful, especially compared to other “jazz” vocalists, but they possess a haunting quality like no other. Her voice is fragile, and sounds like a feather might, as if a single breath could whisk it away into the air. Her voice fits within the stereofield of the album as if it is just another instrument as it fades in and out and carries the listener off to some strange world where jazz is performed by a bunch of acid-freak shoegazers addicted to reverb and vibrato. Her onstage persona is just as affected, as is apparent in the stage production of this album entitled Industrial Symphony No. 1 which was also composed by Badalamenti and produced by David Lynch, as well as her appearances as the café singer on various episodes of Twin Peaks.

This album takes me way back and has a very nostalgic effect on me. It reminds me of being in Yosemite, of driving around in the rain with my friends in high school, of going to Sea World, of ex-girlfriends, and is especially powerful during the winter months. There is a quality about this record that immediately sets a mood and takes the listener away. The music coupled with Cruise’s unique vocals do wonders to create soundscapes and textures that both haunt and please.

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 7: 5/4/2006

9. The Stone Roses – Self-titled (1989)



I think I can say, without hyperbole, that the Stone Roses’ first and self-titled album may be the best debut album from any band in my lifetime. Yeah, it’s that good, and this album had a huge impact on my musical life – HUGE. This band influenced everything from the clothes I wore, to the hairstyle I had, to the music I played and to the instrument I wanted – a Rickenbacker Bass. Oh yeah, and the music on the album is truly freaking amazing, and I might go as far to say genre defining, and, at least on my part, life changing.

Story Time (embellished for dramatic effect)

It was – guess what year? – 1989, and I was – guess where? – in Sam Goody’s at the mall – I know you don’t believe me, but trust me, this place was the bee’s knees for cool music back in the day. So anyhow, I was at Goody’s, perusing the racks and talking to the super cute girl who worked there, yes I had a crush. She was tall and skinny, had a boy’s name and liked “mod” music, what I called “alternative” music back in the days of yore, you know, the ones before the Internet when we actually had to go to a store and buy a tape, LP or CD. So, she’s seen me before and she knew I was just getting into “cool” music, and I think she was wearing a Cure tee shirt on this particular day. She came up to me, little skinny freshmen me, and said, “Hey. You like European bands right?”



A bit nervously I answered, “Yeah.”

“You’ve got to check this band out, they’re really good.”

She hands me this tape, and on the cover was a picture of all this paint splattered everwhere and a lemon slice making up the second “O” in the words “Stone Roses.” I had never heard of this band, but I had no reason not to trust this cute chick – she was, after all, a bit older than me, and she was, if I remember correctly, wearing a Cure tee shirt – which of course meant she was dang cool and liked good music. Without hesitation I decided to buy it, and I told the cute-Cure-tee-shirt-wearing-clerk that I would listen to it and come back and tell her if I liked it or not. She smiled in that “Oh, what a cute little boy” smile and I left the store and got on my bike and rode home.

I got home and parked my bike in the garage and went inside. I shut the door to my room and tore the wrapping off the tape. I opened the tape, which was solid white in color, and on the tape itself was the word “Silvertone,” which I would later learn was the name of their record label. I put the tape in the deck of my boom box and cranked up the volume and listened; and I listened; and I listened, perhaps three, four or maybe five times in a row. This music was mind blowing and I had never heard anything that sounded so amazing. I was stunned, and to this day, I still think the album is unbelievable.



The Stone Roses were, before their breakup, Ian Brown (vocals), John Squire (guitar), Reni (best pop drummer ever), and Mani (bass). On the inside jacket cover of the cassette there were a handful of pictures of the band, and I remember thinking that I wanted to dress just like them, with their baggy corduroy pants, striped shirts, and cool Kangol fisherman hats covering up a mop-like bowl cut.

However, The Roses were more than just four guys with cool threads. Their music was stunning. After first hearing John Squire on the guitar, I understand how people must have thought the first time they heard The Beatles or Hendrix – Squire’s skill on this album is second to none. His licks are tasty and never showy, and his half rhythm, half lead style is truly a signature sound. From the slow build up of I Wanna Be Adored to the psychedelic noodling on Bye Bye Bad Man, and through the epic sounds of This is the One, Squire’s guitar work stays fresh and skillful and always a joy to listen to.



The rest of the band was also equally talented. The rhythm section comprised of Mani and Reni was responsible for some of the most drop-dead awesome beats and grooves you’ll ever hear, especially on the genre defining song Elephant Stone. And, Ian Brown’s vocals, while at times a bit off, perfectly fit the music, his voice melded together with instruments and elevated the songs to great levels.

There used to be a sub-genre of Britpop called “Manchester” music, named for the town where many of these old acid-house fans were from. This sub-genre often incorporated tons of wah-wah guitar, a kind of danceable and skip-like drum beat, and bass groves that when combined together created a kind of live dance music. Often these bands were known for their psychedelic drug use, their raging parties at the Hacienda (a club started by Factory Records) and their hoodlum attitudes. The song credited for really kicking off this sound is of course Elephant Stone, which to this day remains one of my favorites.



The highlights of this album though are the last two tracks, each of which runs for over seven minutes. The first of these is I Am The Resurrection and is epic to say the least. This song starts off in classic Manchester fashion with a hard four-on-the-floor drumbeat and a groovy bass line but then at one point it melds into a full on psych-jam that launches into the stratosphere of awesomeness. The last song on the album may be one of the grooviest, most acid-headed songs ever recorded – Fool’s Gold. It is a nine-minute long drone of a kick ass drum and bass loop with some wicked guitar licks that come in and out swirling and looping and playing about the stereofield. Fool’s Gold is just so dang groovy that it’s impossible to not bob your head and close your eyes and groove along to the acid infused rhythms and melodies.

So yeah – The Stone Roses’ first album – it’s freaking great. They defined the Manchester sound, lauched a thousand imitators (The Charlatans, The Wendys, The Dylans, Blur, The Five o’ Clock, Candy Flip, and so on), and went on to have their first album be named “the greatest album ever recorded” by NME in 2003, beating out The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Stones – everyone. Would I go that far in my praise? No, not at all, but I understand why some people would. Music fans today are often searching for our generation’s great band, and had The Roses stuck around and lived past their sophomore slump, they would have been it. They were poised to take over the world, they had the talent, the drive and the sound, but they also had swollen egos, drug problems and crappy attitudes, all of which paved the road for their eventual demise.

If you want to more about the Hacienda and the Manchester sound, watch the movie 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE - it is really good. Although it does not feature the Stone Roses, it does focus on another important band for the scene - THE HAPPY MONDAYS.

10. Flaming Lips - In a Priest Driven Ambulance (1990)



I will be honest here - I have not always been a Flaming Lips fan, and the song that first caught my ear was She Don't Use Jelly. I was just out of high school when MTV's 120 Minutes with Dave Kendal started playing this song OVER AND OVER - I couldn't help but fall in love with the quirk. I went out and bought the album Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, and I instantly fell in love with the band. I was ecstatic to find that they had an extensive back catalog of albums ranging from poor (Telepathic Surgery) to pretty good (Oh Gawd!), to awesome (Hit to Death in the Future Head) to totally ass kicking - In a Priest Driven Ambulance. Around this time, 1993, I also discovered a great band called Mercury Rev, and fell in love with their guitarist Jonathan Donahue and their bassist/producer Dave Fridmann. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that this album mixed all of my new found loves into one totally amazing package - In a Priest Driven Ambulance is an ear-exploding masterpiece of noise, pop and rock.

On this album, the Lip's sound started approaching what they would soon become known for - mixing loud and distorted guitars with infectious and huge drum beats along with great sing-along melodies with lyrics steeped in mystic meaning. Where before the Lips sounded more like the Stooges, or other dirty southern psych-rock bands, on this album they ventured into the noise-pop, shoegazer, experimental regions, and with great execution. Jonathan Donahue's, known on this record as "Dingus," guitar work on In a Priest...(his trademarked Harmony Rocket sound) is pure brilliance - the sheer amount of feedback and distortion and ear-piercing lead work is enough to make Kevin Shields jealous, and it probably did. However, unlike My Bloody Valentine, the Lips were far more concerned with rocking the hell out of everything while having a great time doing it - they had a sense of humor about it all, unlike the more typical moped-out, sad-core approach of the British shoegazers.



In a Priest Driven Ambulance is also a concept alum of sorts, and deals with Wayne Coyne's fascination with religion while trying to understand how religion impacts humanity - at least as seen through the eyes of the mad mastermind behind this creative band. Songs like Shine on Sweet Jesus, God Walks Among Us Now, and There You Are (making up a trilogy of Jesus Songs, parts 5,6 and 7 respectively) are all quite serious in their examination of Christianity. I do not however see these songs as mean spirited or derogatory towards faith or God - they do however question the people who claim to follow God and Jesus and in fact do not. My favorite song on the album is Unconsciously Screaming which is just a balls out, rocking, super noisy, and bombastic sing-along worthy of genius and must be listened to at an ear-destroying volume.



In A Priest Driven Ambulance is a rocking dang good album - one that must be listened to loud enough to do some damage and loud enough to piss off your friends and family. I mean, it's gotta be LOUD. The instrumentation by the band and the production by Fridmann create sounds so rich and layered, so multi-textured, and so soul-shattering distorted, I can't help by smile every time I hear it.

Birthed From My Pulsing Brain

I posted this on the matchcut forum, and thought I would also share it here. Enjoy!

Seeing as how I converse with some of you more than I do with some people I know over here in the "real" world, and based upon the discussion that has risen around SILENT HILL, I thought I might take this time, and thread, to explain to you all how and why I like what I do and hate what I hate - if anyone even really cares outside of my own personal desire to put this into words.

Ultimately I base my judgment of genre films on how well it delivers on the conventions of its genre or sub-genre and on the pedigree of the filmmakers. These two aspects allow me to raise or lower my expectations and standards accordingly. Now, by expectations I am not talking about how the trailer and media-hype for a film excites me - one would be foolish to base his or her initial expectations solely on these aspects, as they often have nothing to do with the filmmakers, and everything to do with marketing.

You might find it odd that I like some films, that are honestly quite crappy, and hate other films - but again, it all has to do the conventions of the genre/sub-genre, what these genres offer, and the pedigree of the filmmakers. For instance - I love JASON GOES TO HELL, JASON X and FREDDY VS. JASON, and you might find this strange considering that I hated SILENT HILL. First of all, I know that the F13 series is nothing but Z-grade material - I know what to expect and what not to. I know that based upon the track record of the franchise and the filmmakers that the dialog is going to suck, the acting will be bad, and the plot will probably be inane. I also expect there to be some great killings, some nudity, and some ultra-cheesy dialog and unintentional laughs. If these kinds of slasher/genre films deliver what the conventions of the genre are supposed to, then I am more prone to like the film and forgive it of its short comings.

On the other side of the this coin though, are the films that offer more than the conventions of the genre, or they in turn create new sub-genres - these are the truly creative and utterly remarkable films that stand out. Some films go above and beyond their genre, and offer everything, thus making them creative for breaking through the genre-boxes, and elevating them to the status of A-class cinema. A couple of examples: CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, THE DESCENT, HALLOWEEN, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, SNATCHED, OLDBOY, THE EXORCIST, BLADERUNNER, ALIEN and ALIENS, and so on and so on.

The filmmakers attached to SILENT HILL on the other hand, are known - at least by some - to make well written and directed films. Roger Avary is a highly respected screenwriter, and many genre fans like Christopher Gans a great deal. SILENT HILL is also based upon a video game franchise that is known for being VERY scary and atmospheric. Based upon these expectations, I expected the film to be far above average - a director who is well liked and admired, a writer who is critically acclaimed, and a franchise that should be a no brainier when it comes to horror. However, when the dialog failed to elevate itself above inane, and the narrative fell apart due to bad direction, and the film failed to scare me even once, I was quite harsh in my judgment. This film did not deliver on the conventions of the genre, nor did it deliver based on the pedigree of the filmmakers.

I wanted to point this out to curb any accusations that I might be contradicting myself, or waffling on my criticism - or to skirt any notions that I hade a vendetta against SILENT HILL or other films I pan. I base everything on the execution of the film based upon the conventions of genre and the filmmakers. Imagine if David Lynch were to direct a zombie film. You might expect a few things. First, zombie movies need to have zombies, the genre also calls for gore, feeding scenes, head shots, dismembered limbs and palpable tension. As a filmmaker David Lynch offers compelling atmosphere, strange shots, mysterious narratives, and his auteur since of aesthetic. If this hypothetical film turned out to be a visually boring, poorly written zombie film without any gore, tension or zombies, it would probable be considered a failure of the genre - it might be a good film in another genre, or by another director, but as a Lynch zombie film it fails.

When a movie that is supposed to be "horror" fails to scare or even make me jump, this is a problem. When a slasher film fails to deliver on the slash and blood, this is a problem. When a sci-fi film fails to offer any ideas dealing with science-fiction this is a problem. When a good director and a good writer fail to make a film that is above average on all accounts, this is a problem. If a porn film fails to deliver on the nudity and sex, this is a problem.

from the mind of D_Davis

Archive of the Blog: 5/1/2006

Look above, next to my name banner. Every two months I will archive what has been written.

20 Albums I Think Are Awesome Part 6: 5/1/2006

11. New Order – Technique (1989)



Wow, looking at this list so far, 1989 seems to a pivotal year for my musical endeavors. There was just so much great music being written and recorded between the years 1985 and 1995. There is a quality to the music made during this period from both sides of the pond, a quality that I feel is sorely lacking today – perhaps it is just my nostalgia speaking. The American indie scene and the British pop scene were both churning out amazingly creative and influential bands, New Order being one of the most creative and influential bands to come out of England during this time.

Birthed from the tragedy that was Ian Curtis’ suicide, the remaining members of Joy Division decided, thankfully, to continue creating music under the new name of New Order. With Bernard Sumner on lead vocals, New Order’s music took a different path than Joy Division’s, a path that was at times more dance orientated, more melodic and more infused with pop-rock. Perhaps nowhere is their sound more finely tuned than on the album Technique. Being a seminal record laying the ground for the acid house movement, Technique incorporated everything New Order had represented up until this point – great synth melodies, Peter Hook’s signature bass playing, infectious rhythms, and dark mysterious lyrics – and elevated the sounds to a new level.



Technique is an album that has a little bit of everything, and yet it still all fits together as a seamless experience. There were enough dance songs on the album to generate dozens upon dozens of 12” UK Dance remixes – Fine Time, Mr. Disco, Round and Round – and the more rock sounding songs ensured college radio play across the globe with songs such as Run, Vanishing Point, All the Way and Dream Attack. Technique is a remarkable album in that there are no throw away songs – like a great film, every part of Technique, every song, every chorus, bridge and verse, is important and needed. It really is a masterpiece of modern pop.

Technique is a very important album to me: it was the first CD I ever bought, and the CD that would pave my musical path. I still remember where I bought it, and I still have the old cardboard long box the jewel case came in. I bought the CD at a Longs Drugs back in my hometown during the summer between my 8th and 9th grade school years. I had recently met some new friends who were into “alternative” (although this term did not really exist) music who suggested I give Technique a trial run. I will be eternally grateful to these friends: Rick and Luke – you guys rock for pointing me in the direction of New Order and this great album, thank you!