Red Hour Orgy:Just
about everything by Alan Moore gets reviewed here. We have to. It's the law. Plus science
fiction stuff by the likes of Rudy Rucker and Walter Mosley.
Art Show:Nothing but boring computer rendered art of semi nude women. Ho
Hum.
I haven't seen the new Batman film yet.
Looks like it borrows from
Batman Year
One. Give me a couple of days or so.
David
Mazzucchelli doesn't appear to have a website.
I haven't seen
Sin City yet, but I've heard the reviews have been sen-sational. Update:
Let
me add my praises.
Sin City rocked.
It's just a gorgeous film. I can't say I was that impressed with the
writing--it really felt like Pulp Fiction two in its narrative vibe and
Tarantino even directs a scene. I also know Frank Miller is capable of
better writing. In fact, for the record, I think Ronin, Martha Liberty, all
of his Batman books and his stunning Electra (Why didn't the people who were
doing that awful Electra film just follow his adaptation?) were more
interesting than his Sin City books.
On the other hand, it was visually
stunning. You just haven't seen anything like this before. Hookers with uzis
and swords are cool. And I don't mean stunning but cold like that World of
Tomorrow movie, but a tech that felt organic and stylized, even warm. In
fact, because the scenes were so drained of color, every hint of
baby blue or bloody red
felt special and rewarding. And, of course, unlike those inept people who
have ruined the Electra franchise, these producers were smart enough not
only to bring in Frank Miller, but to let him co-direct as well. And they
didn't radically rewrite his hard boiled strip. They felt no need to add Tom
Sawyer apparently. Smart. Now, if we could just get Alan Moore to go to
Hollywood. Give him an Ozymandius-style Big Wall of tv screens to direct
from Northampton.
And famous pulp fiction painter James Avati,
whose work and style you've seen even if you never knew his name (like me),
passed away recently. So, whenever an artist shucks off this mortal coil I
will honor him here by showing his work. I'm sure someone will do the same
for me. ("Ack! Phil's resistance cell has been blow'd up! So, check out
Phil's computer art pieces here.....")
Both books by my
Cyborg Democracy pals are recommended by Scientific American. How's that
Morrisey tune go...Don't you hate it when your friends become successful?
And out of a jealous raging spite, I'm permalinking
Ramez Naam. His book is called
"More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement." Not to
be confused with this excellent Theodore Sturgeon graphic novel, which I
used to own, until I gave it away like an idiot...
Invincible,
the comic, is being made into a movie. And unlike a lot of properties being
made into movies this makes sense. It features kind of a father and son
supermen, but, good lord, there's a shocking twist. Let's put it this way:
You wouldn't like it if Krypton decided to "liberate" you. You wouldn't like
it. Trust me.
This is a band
called Kudu. I found them over at
Velour records. Here's a list of what I think are the best online sounds
I've been able to find.
Best Online Music Sites
Adrian Belew
(prog rock)
He has the right attitude. All
of his personal vids are available for download. My fave is the duet
with David Bowie. Pretty Pink Rose.
And You Will
Know Us By Our Trail of Dead (alt rock)
Actually, I don't like all of
their tunes, but I think "Relative Ways" and "Early Morning Stoner" are
some of the best rock vids I've seen over the last 10 years. I also like
what I 've heard of their new album. www.trailofdead.com/media/
Broadcast
(alt trip hoppy acidy jazzie)
I can't get enough of this band.
If you're a fan of
Portishead or Esthero, then you'll probably like Broadcast. I also
highly recommend City in Progress, Come Let's Go, and the World
Backwards, when you buy them legally at your fave online music
downloader, or from Emule, which would be wrong, probably....
She has one vid online and it'a a good one. I first saw this on BEt on
Jazz. Catch her great screaming at the end of the tune...
www.patriciabarber.com/av/index.html
Buckyball
records (jazz rock)
The only place on line that I've
seen actual real life jazz rock music. Buckyball seems to be made up of
the remnants of the great Brit fusion band Brand X, most notably sinewy
Jaco-like bassist Percy Jones and flashy guitarist John Goodsall.
Looks like they're putting all
of her first album out there for free at her first label. You can't
download it. But you could tape and then record it as an Mp3, if you had
the proper equipment and hated America I guess..
You have to scroll around.
She moved up to the big label Sony of course and she now has a video,
which you can actually see on vh1 megahits between the mostly garbage
that they play... (I'm never going to purchase anything from the
Killers. Not gonna happen.)
You can get her new vid plus live performances at the above URL.
Kudu (acid
jazz)
I was sniffing around Kaki's old
label and I ran into this incredibly acid jazzy band called Kudu. Nice
stuff. I'm an acid jazz junkie. I don't do the drugs but I sure love the
drug music. Bitches Brew forever....Neo soul at its finest. I don't
think I'll be hearing this on WAMO anytime soon.
The European artist
Zdzislaw Beksinski who I had never
heard of and whose first name I can't pronounce, (although he reminds me of
Jacek Yerka), was found
murdered in his home. I like his dark style. I wonder if he would have
preferred his gruesome demise...? (Probably not...)
The Sin City
Trailer looks good. It feels like the comic and Rourke as Marv (below)
is an inspired bit of casting. He's played ugly men before. I still think
that Ronin or Martha Liberty or even his Batman books would have been better
as films but I can see the gritty appeal that Sin City would offer. If I
remember the bespectacled character correctly, then Elijah Wood plays a very
cool corporate assassin.
For those of us who
long for another Portishead record or keep on wondering what happened to
that gorgeous vocalist who headed Esthero (Update: Esthero
just put out a new album and the
first song is here. Kinda of a rockin' tune where she says Britney and
rapists of little girls (R. Kelly I think but that seemed consensual, urine
notwithstanding...) get way too much vid time. Mentions MTV mediocrity by
name. I guess I won't be seeing her video too soon..), Ilya might just fill
your need for cinematic grooves and beautiful soulful lyrics. If you don't
believe me, then watch the incredible video for
Bellissomo. It's stunning. Trust me. You can watch it either here at
Soundgenerator (A great online site for videos by the way in case you're
sick of MTV. They do this relational thing where they point out that if you
like Portishead, you might like Ilya. And they were right.) or at the
band's site. And here's
an interview with the band. The new album, blaring in my personal
background, is called They Died for Beauty.
If you're looking
for more of this kind of music, I
highly recommend Soma online, which actually plays about several
different brands of Acid Jazz. I usually have the Secret Agent stuff in the
background...
All Hail the Return of the King:
And speaking of stunning artists you won't be seeing on the MTV countdown
anytime soon--or anywhere on MTV for that matter--Kaki King
has a new album out. You might remember I declared Kaki the best female
guitarist that I had ever seen, just narrowly beating out Joe Pass Protege
Mimi Fox, also incredibly gifted. At her website, she has about three
video downloads where you can check out her incredible Stanley Jordanesque
tapping style. You can also find a
Kaki King NPR interview, which features another video and four of her
tunes.
Her compositions are
just as mind-blowing as her technique. You're watching a living legend, once
in a generation kind of artist. Now, if they would only play her on the
radio. All Hail the King.
November 4th
Obviously, I'm disappointed about
the election results. I'm also genuinely frightened for the future of my
country and I'm starting to be a little frightened by at least a slight
majority of half the people in my country.
I am, however, proud of the fact
that I worked hard at ACT. ACT and MoveOn and ACORN and others in the
America Votes coalition did a great job of winning states that Kerry
probably would have lost without us, such as Wisconsin, Michigan and
Pennsylvania. IN fact, Pittsburgh was thinking about closing up shop
on the 15th. I hope they reconsider. I'd certainly be happy to stay on
board.
And yes I really wanted to take
down that upside flag in the lefthand corner of the site. I guess I should
just make it bigger.
Here's the two best Post Mortems I
read that speak for me. Here's one from Eric Alterman:
Let’s face it. It’s not Kerry’s fault. It’s not Nader’s
fault (this time). It’s not the media’s fault (though they do bear a
heavy responsibility for much of what ails our political system). It’s not
“our” fault either. The problem is just this: Slightly more than half of
the citizens of this country simply do not care about what those of us in
the “reality-based community” say or believe about anything.
They
don’t care that Iraq is turning into murderous quicksand and a killing
field for our children. They don’t care that the Bush presidency has made
us less safe by creating more terrorists, inspiring more anti-American
hatred and refusing to engage in the hard work that would be necessary to
make a meaningful dent in our myriad vulnerabilities at home. They don’t
care that he has mortgaged our children’s future to give trillions to the
wealthiest among us. They don’t care that the economy continues to
hemorrhage well-paying jobs and replace them with Wal-Mart; that the
number without health insurance is over forty million and rising. They
don’t care that Medicare premiums are rising to fund the coffers of
pharmaceutical companies. They don’t care that the air they breathe and
the water they drink is being slowly poisoned and though they call
themselves conservatives, they even don’t care that the size of the
government and its share of our national income has increased by roughly a
quarter in just four years. This is not a world of rational debate and
issue preference.
It’s one of “them” and
“us.” He’s one of “them” and not one of “us” and that’s all they care
about. True it’s an illusion. After all, Bush is a millionaire’s son who
went to Yale and Harvard and sat out Vietnam, not even bothering to show
up for his cushy National Guard duty, and succeeded only in trading on his
father’s name and connections in adult life. But somehow, they feel he
understands them. He speaks their language. Our guys don’t. And unless
they learn it, we will continue to condemn this country and those parts of
the world it affects to a regime of malign neglect at best—malignant and
malicious assault at worse.
Given the media’s talent
for pandering to their lowest common denominator, the things that have
driven us crazy about their past pathetic performance are bound to get a
lot worse. Most of us—readers and writers of this web log and
peoplelikeus-- derive an awful lot of benefit from being Americans. We
owe it to our better selves, and though it sounds horribly clichéd, to our
children-- not to walk away from this battle. I will admit, however, it’s
pretty damn hard to see through this fog just where to turn before we
And there's Tbogg quoted from Tom
Tomorrow:
TBogg is not sounding
like an optimist this morning:
Four more years of American
soldiers being used as cannon fodder.
Four more years of scientific decisions being made by
people who believe in a ghost in the clouds.
Four more years of debt that our children and
grandchildren will have to pay off.
Four more years of racists and lunatics for judicial
appointments
Four more years of looting the treasury and squandering
it on corporate cronies.
Four more years of making enemies faster than we can
kill them.
Four more years of fear and darkness and racism and
hatred and stupidity and guns and bad country music.
I look at the big map and all of the red in flyover
country and I feel like I've been locked in a room with the slow learners.
We have become the country that pulls a dry cleaning bag over its head to
play astronaut.
May 7th
This is actually what I placed on
Three River Tech Review a week ago. I probably should have put this stuff
here.
Oh what the Hell, here's a Gullacy
pinup. And no Mike Grell gravity lens guy! He's like a Neal Adams who
died. There's no emotion in his work and he never grew, unlike Kyle Baker or
Bill Sienk.
And here's a preview of the new
Catwoman movie with Halle Berry. Meow.
and more comics geek stuff. A Watchmen
movie poster.
Mel Gibson as the Comedian sounds
good. I still think that Julian Sands or Christian Bale are more Ozymandius
like. Of course, now that Moore seems to care about what happens to his film
properties: Ask Terry Gilliam to exec produce a 12 parter for HBO. Let it be
so. I'm always thought a Sopranos casting might be cool. Gandolfini as
either the Nite Owl or the Comedian...still like Hopper as Rorshack. Ed
Harris as Dr. Manhatten seems like an inspired choice though, but the
beautiful Mind guy would be good too, if he would do it...
Here's some
nice Steranko art that I
copped from that acursed Gravity Lens guy again. Boy, does
Paul Gullacy owe this guy royalties for
his style or what?
Week of February 22
Well that was a long and terrifying
sabbatical. I'm still working on that online paper and
restarting my comics reviews. In fact, I hope to review this soon:
Cool movie promos news:
The
promo for
Hellboy looks pretty good. I also think that Ron Perlman is the best
non-good looking actor around. I also thought the trailer for the
Incredibles
looked pretty good. Notice the cool ripoff of the theme from "On Her
Majesty's Secret Service".
Week of September 28th
(Sorry I haven't posted in so
long. Keep in mind that I always post at Three River and I also post stuff
at both Warblogger Watch and American Samizdat from time to time. I'm also
seriously considering starting an online Pittsburgh paper. IN fact, I'll
probably buy the domain this week..)
