Saturday, July 18, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Titicut Follies
I worry where I'll go crazy.....maybe go to that crazy shit from the Titticut Follies.
Which, basically, if you were even mildly mentally damaged and convicted of a crime in '60 Massachusetts, you were. This film represents the only time in history that the US government has sued for an individual's right to privacy; it's quite patently bullshit. One man shown in this film was convicted of petty robbery and sentenced to 5 years in 1912; this film was not made in 1917. This film exemplifies everything terrifying about government, and not in some malevolent way; it if gets you, it will be through systematic miscare and an abrogation of human dignity. Oy vey!
Titticut Follies
Terrence Malick
Terrence Malick is perhaps the greatest of the 1970s "New Hollywood" direction, an era which afforded time, money and resources to areas which may not have been otherwise explored in Hollywood fiction. Coppola, Scorsese, Bogdanavich and many others studied under Roger Corman. They learned the minutaie of film production, the tediousness which should be left to itself. When Hollywood was turned over to them in 1969, with Easy Riders done and Mean Streets and The Godfather to come, nothing could go wrong. It never could. William Friedkin, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese......
One of those names can make a film on his back now. Scorsese; and he's built a style and a brand. His style is important, it's what he is. But the Scorsese's "brand" is what he has. Terrence Malick is the only American film-maker of the past century with a clear vision, whose films may not be fully realised yet may be understood within the context of their viewing and the accrued appreciation of their stunning cinemotagraphy and ethereal, astounding soundtracks.
Monday, April 02, 2007
The Fountain
I haven't been blown away by many films recently. I've liked a damn lot of movies, but there's only really been two movies in the past couple of years that I could whole-heartedly "rave" about. The first would be Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, which was as beautiful a fairy-tale as I think can be made these days. The 2nd? Why, it would be Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain!!
Apparently, there was a whole load of trouble getting this thing made. Originally, it was supposed to be something like a $70m epic starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Brad decided he wanted to do Troy instead, and it seemed that the project may have been completely derailed. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz took the leads, and it's budget was put down to something like $30m. I thought I was gonna watch it, and wonder how much better it may have been with the extra money etc. etc. etc...
Didn't need to worry though. I wouldn't change a goddam thing about this film. It's stunningly beautiful, with Aronofsky's shots of Tom in the bubble hurtling through space right up there with anything from 2001. It all leads up to the final sequence, which was done without any CGI, instead using micro-photography. I was totally blown away by it; I damn got chills.
Film isn't really a sci-fi, at least to me. You could put some sort of faux "existential" slant on it, but I wouldn't. Those kinda films usually terrify me. The film is about death. Death, and love. "Death is the road to awe", as they say numerous times. Death looks like it could very well be the purpose itself...and Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz are fantastic as the husband and wife, Jackman as the scientist desperate to save Weisz's Izzy, who accepts death long before Tom does. LONG before Tom does...
Clint Mansell's soundtrack is perfect here. You notice it, and appreciate it, throughout. But it isn't until the film's climax that it's genius utterly takes hold, meshing perfectly with Aronofsky's visuals in one of the most mesmerisingly beautiful sequences in modern cinema....
Anyway, here's the track from that climas, the Kronos Quartet and Mogwai composed by Clint Mansell...
Death is the Road to Awe
Friday, December 29, 2006
NBA SuperStars
I've actually filled in a ballot right now...Elton Brand, Andrei Kirilenko (the fat man Zach Randolph nearly got on there for me), Allen Iverson (how can I NOT put him on?), Chris Paul (honestly, maybe my favorite player in the NBA at the moment, even if I have only seen 4 or so full games with him at the most) and Yao Ming.
East? Right, here I go...Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas (I love the crazy man...and I so wish he could have stayed in the Bay. Even if I have actually no idea how the specifics of Golden State's cap mismanagement/intricacies of 2nd round picks made it go down...I know Derek Fisher and Adonal Foyle are involved somewhere, though), Joe Johnson (Sage Francis woulda got my vote if he was an actual NBA player....they should fix that. Seriously, cause I nearly voted for Franchise by accident), Dwight Howard (seriously....man, is he awesome or what??).
And them's my votes. Ike Diogu gets my write-in.
And guys? My New Year's resolution is to know as much about the Warriors as I do about the 49ers....can I count on your help here? I really want to get back into the NBA as much as possible. I know the generals, because I've never stopped following. It's just the rabid, getting annoyed whenever bad things happenness that has left me in regards to the Warriors. It used to be there. I want to bring it back.
And more posts. Doesn't matter who reads....I'M GONNA MAKE AN AWESOME BLOG!!!!!
DEKLIN, HELP ME OUT HERE!!!!!!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Haphazard post; funk, Japanese pop, Youtube
*Cymande were a great funk act; "Brothers on the Slide" is such a seriously hot track. Laid-back in the coolest way possible, song will "get into your bones" after maybe 3 seconds. Also, spaceba r on m y k ey b oardis pu re fuck e d a nd t hatsen ten ce tookme 5 minutes to type. I m ay giv eup o n t h e fucking thing. Also, gonna use asterisks (I don't know how exactly to spell that) instead of numbered posts. Reason being, I didn't think to until afterward and I'm useless at blogger, and couldn't figure out how to edit them (the numbered post thing) in. Maybe I'll always use asterisks from now on.
**Second track I'll put up is one of my favorite covers of all-time. What we got is Funkadelic and Ruth Copeland doing "Gimme Shelter" from the Stones; it's a fine job.. Tag on the track will be wrong, but that's what the file should be called (also a WMA, as other tracks here are....)......
***Y'all might have heard this already, but Simian has remixed Dosed Became Invisible & Drugs, by Joy Zipper.
****Here's another good track; Eddie Gale - Song of Will (Jazzanova remix)
*****Also, I found an Utada Hikaru song tonight that's been on my computer for a while; I either never bothered listening to it, or had completely forgot about it. Anyway, I'll up it here. Apparently, she's Japan's biggest pop star, or something. Did not know that. I'm feeling some shoegaze on this track(reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins, kinda maybe); no idea what her other stuff sounds like or anything.
Utada Hikaru - Passion
****** Last thing; I'm seriously excited about Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth". Here's the Youtube link to the trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0zJxL0CHa0 . Looks terrifying, especially that fucked-up freak with eyes in his hands instead of his face. Dunno if they're gonna have it on in the cinema in LK, but I know that Queen's showing it at the end of November in the QFT.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Here's a new post!!!!!
Here's a UGK song I uploaded, so I'll put it here
Also, Black Moth Super Rainbow have some new shit out. It's an album with Octopus Project (who I don't know anything of, other than the one song I d/loaded when I heard about the collaboration). And it's a very good song, indeed.
Black Moth Super Rainbow + Octopus Project (The House of Apples and Eyeballs) - Spiracle
Also, some stuff robbed directly from Analog Giant.....it's Finnish Funk!!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
So I'm making a blog at 3:45 a.m.....
Hey, I started a blog. Dunno why, but maybe I'll keep it up. And why not? Here's a track from Grand National, anyway.
Grand National - Drink to Moving On
Great track, this.....along with Midlake's "Roscoe", probably right up there for being close to my favorite song of the year. Except I haven't really thought about that, so it might not be totally true.
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