Catholic Guilt and Grenadine

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

2007-07-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

So I just finished listening to the audiobook of Big Sur. Wunderbar! Superb. Like it even, dare I say, better than On The Road, which I read just about a year ago this month. I can't recall at the moment the specifics of the audio version at the moment, consider them *to be added at a later date*, because I liked it and feel that it should be mentioned. I dug this book I think more than On The Road I think because I like the vulnerability expressed in it. Weakness and strength, and death and life. He really gets into I think what it means to be alive, I guess, that it always requires your participation if you want it to truely be your own, though it nevertheless happens and this is out of your control. Jack slips into an alcoholic haze of inner chaos, beginning at Big Sur on the beach in the dark and ending at Big Sur in the daylight. He is tortured by the necessity of death, which is something that I appriceated because I often feel the same, in the way he describes it, about the inevitable tragedy of everything in the end. Like, for example, his sorrow over his cat (something I went through after a I misinterpreted a photo that was sent to me in 2005 from home when I was in Denmark, when I thought my little Nicky was gone forever and I couldn't be there to say goodbye. (I was wrong then, but alas, Nicky died the summer I returned home from Europe anyways.) The pain he feels when he sees death is the same that I feel when I see a little squirrel on the side of the road, a victim of mismanaged nature, or when my cat Lilu brings in mice from around the neighborhood and leaves them on the porch to spend their last moments. This, of course, is the most natural of things, but it still saddens me and is one of the many reasons I am a vegitarian. Beyond that I feel that he successfully captures the reality of withdrawl. Of the madness of it. There are things you can take for pain, but the madness can't be avoided. And it is maddening indeed. Where On The Road is the classic Kerouac style beat-adventure, Big Sur pulls back the curtain to reveal the absolut un-glamour of the beat lifestyle, reveals a kind of tragic maturity or wisdom, that however fascinating and beautiful the human condition is in all of it's romance and tragedy and comedy, just the fact that is IS beautiful doesn't mean that is is easy, and the sweetness of death or of pain or of anything utterly thought to be scary and bad does not compare to the sweetness of a sun-ripened peach or a can of soda, but is more the aweful sweetness of that moment of clarity where you finally understand what you've been doing wrong, for example, or of a lesson learned. I guess that still doesn't explain it really, but if you understand it then you understand it and if you don't then you will eventually, when it happens to you. The sweetness of somehing sucking so hard but you still get through it anyways and you can never get rid of it. Okay I will stop now, can you tell I have nothing else to do at the moment? So I guess what I was trying to say is that the book os good. And you should read it. Period.

Frankfurt!

2007-06-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Pj

2007-06-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

a.k.a. Too cool for school

Simon Summer 07

2007-06-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Haha what a goof.

more self destructive than the letter N

2005-06-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

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Kids Show. I know I linked this to my other blog a while ago, but I watched it again just recently and was inspired to keep spreading the word. This is a warped kids show, full of dark humor that features theories on creation, informative street interviews, sin and a trip to the hot dog factory. It's a good sample of the better things accomplished by those with active imaginations and too much time on their hands. I would recommend it to fans of 'Rejected' and other such works.
If you're having trouble finding quick online entertainment that's not geared towards frat boys, here's something to hold you over. If you choose to check it out, you should tell me what you think. Also, if you know of any clips, sites or other media along the these lines, do share! I promised your name will be immortalised on my site if you come up with a good one. Or maybe I'll hook you up with a vitrual high-five if that's what you would prefer.
Thanks for stopping by ya'll and take care.

Times They Are A Changin'

2005-06-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

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Well, I suppose they are for me...Why, you ask?
I have been able to wake up earlier and earlier and this is not normal. I've been up on an average of 10am these days---even when I DON'T HAVE TO BE! normally, even with an alarm and obligations, the EARLIEST I would be up is noon. Much later if I had no obligations. Of course, the fact that it is getting lighter and lighter earlier helps. What really started it was the chaotic chirping birds right outside my window each dawn, but they must be taking a break...I haven't heard them in few days. Perhaps they've gone on tour? So, in place of their frenetic melodies, I have chosen to start drinking coffee - another big change for me. I'm a tea person. I figure gettting used to it now will help me keep up this sleep schedule and allow for a more productive summer.
So, in light of the fact that I'm not a big fan of plain old coffee, and that I like to mess around, I did a little flavor experiment and it turned out quite delectably.
Try this:

Get some nice organic shade-grown French or Italian blend coffee (or whatever blend you particularly prefer) from one of your local food markets, some dryed rose hips, lavender, organic honey and brown sugar and some soy creamer. With the amount of coffee used for an 8 cup pot, add about a half a teaspoon of both the lavender and the rose hips to the grounds (don't grind them with the coffee, though). I put a little less than a teaspoon of both the honey and the brown sugar in the pot so it would be dissolved by the time the coffee was done percolating, it seems to work. Then add as much creamer as you like to your cup. It makes for a beverage with a nice smooth flavor that's not artificial tasting or overbearingly sweet with a subtle floral aroma. Nice and springy, indeed. It would probably be good iced as well.
I'm pleased with my creation, which is easy enough to put together, and if you decide to try it you should tell me what you think...
Otherwise, thanks for stopping by and take care!

If you care to, you may also check out One The Balcony, the online musings inspired by the existential crisis I call my life. It also has more photos. Mmm.

Tracks I can't get enough of at the moment:

2005-06-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

Aimee Mann ~ "Save me", "Wise Up"; Magnolia Soundtrack (1999) WB
Of Montreal ~ "Vegan in Furs"; Satanic Panic in the Attic (2004), Polyvinyl
"Tim I Wish You Were Born a Girl"; Cherry Peel (1997), bar/none
Joanna Newsom ~ "The Book of Right-On", "This Side of the Blue", "Inflammatory Writ";
The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004), Drag City
Yo La Tengo ~ "Autumn Sweater"; "Autunm Sweater" EP (2003), Matador
Neva Dinova ~ "Meetings For Surrender", "At least the Pain is Real", Neva Dinova:
Self Titled CD (2003), Crank!
The Faint ~ "Take Me to the Hospital"; Saddle Creek 50 (2003), Saddle Creek
Immortal Technique ~ "Dance with the Devil"; Revolutionary vol. 2 (2003), Viper
"No Mercy"; Revolutionary vol. 1 (2002), Viper

...and of course the usual. Now you know, and you should check them out yourself. Take care.

Ichi the Killer - Film

2005-03-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

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Why is Takeshi Miike so utterly fantastic. What we have here is a yakuza/action film turned cult. I can't say too much about the plot because I'm no spoiler, so I will only say this much:

In the quiet little gangster neighborhood of Shinjuku, yakuza Boss Anjo goes missing, and the gangsters of the powerful Anjo group (many Miike regulars) must find him, sparing no life or expense. Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano), of the Anjo group, is determined to find his boss (and S&M partner...) using his expertise in torture and masochism to get his information. This guy is nuts, and he has done some interesting thing with his, well, face. Dig it. So, anyways, while Kakihara and his comrades are terrorizing the city...and many-a-yakuza...a young boy (Nao Omori) and his mentor Jijii (Shinya Tsukamoto) might be causing some trouble of their own. Lot's of competitive torture, unlucky prostitutes, vengance, tragedy, blood, guts, searing hot oil, shoes with razors, obsessions, delusions, illusions, morals, uncomfortably pointy objects, chains, running, fighting, sex, sex bi-products, suits and sequined shirts, you name it...Miike delivers! The most bizaare, and usually most f@#!ed up thing that could possibly happen in each situation, in each scene, DOES. Oh yes. It almost can come off as predictable, but in the most gratifying way, if you like the rather shocking sort of stuff. By the way, you MUST watch the unrated version to get the full effect, otherwise you are being cheated.
I reccomend this one. Very much. It's very cool. Check it out.

"America" - Allen Ginsberg - Poem

2005-02-18T16:52:00.000-08:00

America I've given you all and now I'm nothing.
America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956.
I can't stand my own mind.
America when will we end the human war?
Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb
I don't feel good don't bother me.
I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind.
America when will you be angelic?
When will you take off your clothes?
When will you look at yourself through the grave?
When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?
America why are your libraries full of tears?
America when will you send your eggs to India?
I'm sick of your insane demands.
When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks?
America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world.
Your machinery is too much for me.
You made me want to be a saint.
There must be some other way to settle this argument.
Burroughs is in Tangiers I don't think he'll come back it's sinister.
Are you being sinister or is this some form of practical joke?
I'm trying to come to the point.
I refuse to give up my obsession.
America stop pushing I know what I'm doing.
America the plum blossoms are falling.
I haven't read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for murder.
America I feel sentimental about the Wobblies.
America I used to be a communist when I was a kid and I'm not sorry.
I smoke marijuana every chance I get.
I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet.
When I go to Chinatown I get drunk and never get laid.
My mind is made up there's going to be trouble.
You should have seen me reading Marx.
My psychoanalyst thinks I'm perfectly right.
I won't say the Lord's Prayer.
I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations.
America I still haven't told you what you did to Uncle Max after he came over from Russia.

I'm addressing you.
Are you going to let our emotional life be run by Time Magazine?
I'm obsessed by Time Magazine.
I read it every week.
Its cover stares at me every time I slink past the corner candystore.
I read it in the basement of the Berkeley Public Library.
It's always telling me about responsibility. Businessmen are serious. Movie
producers are serious. Everybody's serious but me.
It occurs to me that I am America.
I am talking to myself again.

Asia is rising against me.
I haven't got a chinaman's chance.
I'd better consider my national resources.
My national resources consist of two joints of marijuana millions of genitals
an unpublishable private literature that goes 1400 miles and hour and
twentyfivethousand mental institutions.
I say nothing about my prisons nor the millions of underpriviliged who live in
my flowerpots under the light of five hundred suns.
I have abolished the whorehouses of France, Tangiers is the next to go.
My ambition is to be President despite the fact that I'm a Catholic.

America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood?
I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his
automobiles more so they're all different sexes
America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 down on your old strophe
America free Tom Mooney
America save the Spanish Loyalists
America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die
America I am the Scottsboro boys.
America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they
sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the
speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the
workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party
was in 1935 Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch
Mother Bloor made me cry I once saw Israel Amter plain. Everybody
must have been a spy.
America you don're really want to go to war.
America it's them bad Russians.
Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians.
The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia's power mad. She wants to take
our cars from out our garages.
Her wants to grab Chicago. Her needs a Red Reader's Digest. her wants our
auto plants in Siberia. Him big bureaucracy running our fillingstations.
That no good. Ugh. Him makes Indians learn read. Him need big black niggers.
Hah. Her make us all work sixteen hours a day. Help.
America this is quite serious.
America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set.
America is this correct?
I'd better get right down to the job.
It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes in precision parts
factories, I'm nearsighted and psychopathic anyway.
America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

FACTOTUM - Charles Bukowski - Book

2005-02-09T23:25:00.000-08:00

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This novel was written by Bukowski in 1975, it was his second and the first I have read of his works. Factotum is an excerpt from the life of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's autobiographical character, through the days and long nights he spends drinking cheap whiskey (one of my personal favorites) and port wine...moving from town to town, job to job, woman to woman, drunkenly saturated with dark humor and existential observation of the events of a life lived by a man with no need for a purpose or a denomination. The simplicity of this account is sincere and gives a character to the indolent nature of it's affairs, while not boring the reader with any redundant details one all to often finds in less unique imitations of such novels.
Given the book's autobiographical nature and insomniaic (I may or may not have just made up that word) temperament, it is essentailly pieced together with no central plot enveloping its events, as in real life, so there isn't much more I can convey to you except that it should be read. It serves more as an example, as different perspective on the way the hours pass and how people and investments come and go and should be part of the collection or repertoire of anyone who appriceates contemporary american literature.

...If my comments on this book have prompted your desire to read it (which they should have), all I ask is that you DON'T purchase it at some franchised/corporate bookstore. Show some love to the locals, it's fantastic karma if you're into that sort of thing. Thanks.

Nói (Nói albínói) - Movie

2005-02-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

This film is what I would define as a more sophisticated, realistic version of a romantic drama/comedy. It is one of those movies that, I think, would be far more effective as a book. I must say though, I did like it.
The story follows Nói, a jaded seventeen year-old living in the remote small town of Bolungarvík in western Iceland, through the trials and tribulations of a life being lived in the middle of nowhere. Although he is established as an individual of exceptional intelligence, his ambition is handicapped by boredom and routine. If he is not alone in the tiny cellar under his grandmothers house smoking cigarettes and listening to music, he is skipping class and spending his time buying malts (bought with the money made from a rigged slot machine) at the local coffee shop/gas station.
Then, the monotonous course of a passing day takes a turn for the better with the introduction of a beautiful city-girl named Iris, the newest employee at the station and Nói's newest romantic conquest. Despite being threatened by the owner of the local bookestore (Iris's father) to leave her alone, Nói can't help himself nor find a genuine reason not to persue her. This girl has seemed to awaken something in Nói, enkindling his until-then latent desire for more than his dreary hometown has to offer. This subsequently leads to aspirations of leaving it altogether, and of course taking his new jewel with him, causing a series of ups and downs, romantic and comedic situations which are as witty as they are remarkable.
Personally, I appriceated not only the insight of this film, regarding what life may have been like if one were born into such a situation, but also its aesthetically pleasing quality. The beauty of the rural icelandic landscapes depicted were of the calibur of the vistas one might see in such a film as Baraka, which a mere postacard could hardly do justice to.
With the relatively un-alluded-to closure of the film, the story as a whole served (to me) as an example of how trifiling things in life truely are, whether you choose to concern yourself with them or not. The frustrating reality of the conclusion may even manifest itself as a lesson to the hesitant or to those who allow thier attachments to arrest what they intuitively desire. I would recommend Nói to anyone who is looking for something that will play on thier appriceation of cleverly comic situations, which at times is honestly romantic yet not over-saturated with such circumstances, and that also stimulates an array of funamentally different emotions and sentiment.

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On a scale of 1-10*...7.

For a more info on Nói, check this out.

*The rating system is purely based on The Alyssa Standard.

Not till tomorrow what I have today (for you)

2005-01-24T21:33:00.004-08:00

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Today was a very good day for my music collection. Unfortunately, I must give credit to the fact that, if one of my very favorite music stores (Face the Music on 13th) was not currently going out of business, I would not have had such luck. This afternoon I purchased at very modest prices Rilo Kiley's 'More Adventurous', Pavement's 'Crooked Rain, Crooked rain', Neutral Milk Hotel's 'Aeroplane Over the Sea' and (the icing that makes the cake too precious to eat) BRIGHT EYE's two newest studio releases 'I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning' and 'Digital Ash in a Digital Urn'. **Please note: these albums are not to be released until tomorrow!** Yeah, like an early Christmas or Birthday present that renders the actual date of the event incidental. Indeed.
I was orgininally going to review the two albums in this post, but after listening to the releases over a few times, I anticipate it may take me another day to truely determine from which direction I should consider them. They are both of course very good, yet somewhat deviant from the trend which Conor has developed through prior Bright Eyes releases; hence meriting a more thorough deliberation.
I am also very excited about the Rilo Kiley album...recently I haven't been able to keep their Saddle Creek release 'The Execution of All Things' out of my CD player. This is one of the first groups of the indie persuasion which successfully indulges in the dexterity of a female lead that I have been honestly adament about. Well, besides Tilly and the Wall of course (whose fine quality I strongly attribute to Conor's ingenuity).
Neutral Milk Hotel and Pavement are two surefire hits in my book and I can't wait to delve into, more deeply than I have been able to before, what they have to offer.

Graciousness AND Cred

2005-01-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

A list of ways to help and subsequent discussion:

Saddle Creek WebBoard thread on the worst natural disaster in modern history.
Check it out.

For more ways to help I have put many links on my other blog on the balcony or check out the TsunamiHelp blog in the links section here.

Every dollar, every drop of blood...yeah, it counts. So much.

Question of the Day

2004-12-29T02:11:00.000-08:00

Question of the Day: "Is baggage a word?" ~ Anthony Colistro

Answer: Yes...yes, baggage is, in fact, a word.

For additional information on this topic, see The Dictionary.
If you have any questions of your own, please feel free to ask and I will gladly give you a taste of the fountain of knowledge I like to refer to as my 'conscious self'. Take care.

Goodbye Lenin! - Movie

2004-12-23T01:20:00.000-08:00

David Bruhl in Goodbye Lenin!...

Okay, this is a good one. Goodbye Lenin! is a German film which, upon it's release there, was one of the biggest box-office attraction of the year in the country. It's one of those movies that makes you laugh, choke up a little and *gasp* think.
The story goes a little like this:
It opens with a short narrated introduction to the early years of the lead character Alex's (Daniel Bruhl) life, focusing on his fascination with space flight, his father leaving and his mother's subsequent problems. After the few hard years after his father leaves, Alex's mom becomes an avid East German Socialist and "replaces the love she had (for her husband) for her love and devotion to the Party".
Then the narrative ends and Alex is now a young man. A socialist demonstration that he is participating in quickly turns into a chaotic mess of civil unrest and he is arrested. As he is being beaten and dragged towards the truck in which he will be confined, he catches sight of his mother standing on the corner with tears in her eyes. He calls out to her as she suddenly collapses to the pavement and remains lying there until he can no longer see her. Alex is released from prison upon hearing that his mother has suffered from a heart attack.
She lies comatose in a hospital bed for 8 months. Alex visits her regularly, becoming quite fond of one of the nurses, Lara. The state of things in Germany is rapidly changing; with the Fall of the Wall, East and West are united and capitalism is slowly embraced (which is depicted by massive Coca-Cola logos littering trucks and buildings *gag* along with the introduction of large billboards and even blimps made for advertising), slowly westernizing Alex's mother's beloved socialist Western Germany as she lay silent with her son by her side.
She unexpectedly awakens, innocent and unaware, and Alex must protect her from knowing the state of things; a truth that, in her condition, will undoubtably kill her. Thus begins a rediculously implausable and entertaining sharade in which Alex seems to turn back the hands of time, recreating a world which yeilds to his mothers frail state of being and inextinguished political state of heart.
This includes reconstructing their home exactly as it was, desparately hunting for the old east German products no longer carried in the newly introduced grocery supermarket chains, an even getting a friend to help him put together fake news programs to show his mother that everything is going well in her proletarian paradise. Alex gets carried away as he tries to recreate a past for his mother, and it becomes slowly evident that he is doing all this for himself as well. He is attempting to maintain, through nostalgic indulgence, a past in which he enjoyed financial and emotional security of life in his socialist family. A past of which, in reality, is slowly being shredded apart with each new billboard and bought-out boutique.
The film is made and directed well, is visually pleasing and the characters are as charming as the story's sentiment. We won't see any American political-comedy box office films of this calibur for a very long time, if ever, and that in itself is a good reason to check it out.
PS~ this site takes long to load unless you have a fast connection, but it is VERY cool.

"The Awful Sweetness of Escaping Sweat" - Poem/Song Lyrics

2004-12-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

Written by Conor Oberst, A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997

We escape from the house as the day disappears from the sky into night
We became what we wanted to be,
Like a dream
Or a ghost
I collapsed out of turn near a house
Lying still in the grass and felt the heat from the ground
Rising up to contract
And expand
Like a breath
We leave from that place soaked with sweat and the poison we drank
Fill the bathtub with ice and hope this fever will break
Like a heart,
Easily
But I do not recall all the words that were formed
On those wire lips as they greeted me
A promise was made without thought as the temperature climbed
And I started to sink like the moon tends to do if you stare at it so long
Then you blink
And it's gone,
And we crawl
To our sleep with the dawn
And isn't it the same mistake? And isn't it the same mistake?
There's not much you can escape
And isn't it the same?
We awake in the light feeling hollow and selfishly warm
Close the blinds and retreat until what's burning is gone
And its light
Is away
Then we're back in the dark chasing nothing through backyards and trees
You ripped your shirt on a fence, but it didn't get me
Yeah, it's fear,
It makes you slow
And these creatures look crooked, their shadows cut lines through my face
And the concrete is fire where my bare feet are placed
In a line
Next to yours
And I guess I'm not sure if it's fear that was born
As those awful eyes laid their claim on us
I put my hands on the fence, said your name, and I started to climb
And it must have been sweat but I drank it like wine
It was sweet, my mouth was dry
I heard your scream but I made no reply
I can still taste it now if I try

Movie - Blade: Trinity

2004-12-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Um...yeah.

A few nights ago I went out with some old friends to the theatre and caught this new flick. Hahaha. The only justification I really have for doing so was spending time with some pretty cool kids and the fact that the Blade series is one of my guilty pleasures. I watch the first Blade at least once every two months...I couldn't miss the final chapter, and I happened to have nothing else better to do that night.
The basic set up for the film is Blade (aka Wesley Snipes) getting set up by a group of Vampires to look like a psychotic serial murderer. These vampires (among them is Parker Posey (which is kind of cool) and Triple H (not cool in any way shape or form)) have awakened Dracula from hibernation with the aims to have him wipe out Blade and help them in their quest of domination over the human race. Blade teams up with a group of human vampire hunters (Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds (aka Van Wilder) and some others) to stop all this from happening and save humanity. The action was choppy but entertaining and the acting was mediocre at best; I was waiting for those badass, action movie hasta la vista, baby lines and they were never delivered. Wesley Snipes had about three lines and Ryan Reynolds just sucked it up all over the place. Sorry, boy...there is only one Jason Lee. I guess some of his lines were alright when he was punking on the vampires as they held him hostage...but nothing really worth repeating or remembering for that matter. Some of the weapons were cool and I thought the soundtrack was unusual but enjoyable. To be quite frank, it was alright as a movie, I've seen worse...but it was most definately the longest iPod commercial I have EVER seen. I suppose it's better than that U2 bs. Oh, well.
Final Synopsis: If you are a true blue fan, I suppose you should catch it while it's out in theatres...maybe wait for the showings at the local $1.50 theatre. Otherwise, save your money and your time and, oh...I don't know...read a book.

Battle Royale - Movie

2004-12-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

BR

Last night I rented and watched another Japanese film called Battle Royale. Now this is an intense film. I'm not sure what you could categoize it under, probably action, but it is considered the sister film to the movie Suicide Club. The plots to the two movies really don't have that much in common except maybe sharing actors and the idea of out-of-control youth.
The plot, basically, opens explaining how, at the beginning of the new millenium country started falling apart. Unemployment was high (10 million were out of work) and over 800, 000 kids were boycotting school...so the adults passed an act, the BR Act, in hopes of retaining some control over the dissolving order of their nation. It was explained in the movie that this BR Act was excersized once every year (I guess in the book it was carried out 50 times a year) and this is what it entailed:
One 9th grade class is randomly selected and thrown on a bus, told they are going on a class trip. They are then drugged and taken to a deserted island where, once they wake up, they find themsleves sprawled all over a room with their bags, and what appears to be some odd design of Nike watch, wrapped around their neck. Most are completely confused. A group of soldiers enters the room and shows them a video explaining that they have been chosen for the Battle Royal. It gives all the details; everyone in the class will be given a bag of supplies, a map and a weapon, each person gets a different weapon (to eliminate natural advantages). It is explained that the nature of this battle is "last man standing wins", and it will last for three days. The bands around each persons neck is a monitor and control device which reveals each students location and whether they still have a pulse. Also, if the band is tampered with or the person wearing it is causing trouble, it will explode.
The island is gridded out into many different sectors and every few hours a new 'danger zone' is announced in which, if you find yourself there, you probably won't last long. Along with these announcements will be a list of those who have been eliminated.
After three days, if there is no winner, all the remaining contestants' neck bands will explode.
...Just the process of explanation leaves two dead, and they are all sent out onto the island to commence the battle. Friends are betrayed, truths are told and revenge is sought. Utter hysterics (in the crazy way, not the funny one). There is also some touching parts, people discover who their real friends are through sacrifice and honesty.
As each character is revealed, you get sucked deeper and deeper into the story. The simple revelation of each persons weapon is intriguing; they range from guns to knives, GPS's to binoculars, pot lids to fans. Some of the deaths are brutal...but that becomes incidental with each passing moment as there is a consant foreshadowing of each persons fate, tactics and motives. The tables are constantly turning.
I definately recommend this film to anyone who doesn't mind a little gore and subtitles. The direction was good and the cast is great (I think the psycho mace girl from Kill Bill is in it, as well as many actors that seem to appear in every japanese movie ever made)
What really intrigued me about it was the whole idea of being placed in that situation. Who do you think you could really rely on in a last man staning situation? Would you try to find a way out or eliminate anyone who crosses your path? Would you hunt or hide? Would you eliminate yourself? Nobody can really answer that for sure, considering the fact that those whom would be your enemies may be people you've known and gone to school with for years, they may be your best friends, they may be your lovers.
You can check out more about the film here.

Read Music, Speak Spanish...and completely forget what you're doing.

2004-12-10T11:06:00.005-08:00

Desa

Well, I was compiling a 'feel good' indie mix in light of the ending of a hellish term, until I came around to my Desaparecidos tracks and got all depressed again. There's nothing like bitter commentary about modern, corporate, mainstream America to get you down. The music is great and unfortunately effective, I'm such a sucker for that boy's work. Anyways, when the spirit finds me again and I finish that mix, I'll be sure and post it. Maybe I'll put up my brief X-Mas list so you all can remind me of everything I forgot. It's Friday!

Uzumaki - Movie

2004-12-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

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This past Thanksgiving break, I rented a Japanese film entitled Uzumaki. It was so interesing I think I may have to rent it again over winter break. The general outline of the plot is this: it takes place in a small Japanese town where everything seems to go as it should. Slowly, things begin to change, people begin to change...subtle foreshadowings that stand ominous but vague. Then a potter gets a request for a piece designed with spiral patterns, the girls in school wear their hair curled instead of straight, teachers scribblings become series of circling penmarks. Clouds begin to swirl, people begin to consume water as consistently as they breath air and they no longer eat but fixate on the spiraling patterns in thier soup, students only come to school when it rains. A man videotapes his suicide, filming a washing machine going round and round, stopping it, climbing inside and spinning to his death. His wife then assumes a spiral phobia, cutting off the skin on her fingertips to rid herself of the pattern of her fingerprints. What is going on? Towards the end, some evidence unfolds suggesting the possessions and fixation stem from writings uncovering the inherent meaning of this obscure symbiology. Spirals, snailshells, serpents...a lake? The plot is as spiraling as its subject and ends as chaoticly and crypitcly as most of these pictures tend to do. It's even seasoned with a little tragic romance amongst the twists and turns. Highly recomended. Check it out here.

2004-12-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

"I, and a few others, know what must be done, if not to reduce evil, at least not to add to it. Perhaps we cannot prevent this world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children."
~Camus

What this is all about

2004-12-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

So this is going to be the compliment, or sister, blog to my other site On The Balcony. I'll mostly be using this site less for musing and more for talking about music and books and movies and anything else along those lines that have my attention at the time. It will be like a links and interests page...or something like that. Of course there will be commentary and the like, I can't get by without running my mouth off every once and a while...you would know that if you read my other site. Anyways...thats all for know...I'll start building on it soon. Until then, take it easy.