dorknation

moved, officially

2006-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Kids, the party is at http://dorknation.wordpress.com now.

Ooo! Scary! The MARK of the beast. ha.

2006-06-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MY REIGN IS UPON US! KNEEL BEFORE ME, PUNY HUMANS!

Yes, my birthday carries the mark of the beast. So does that of many millions of others. Still, people recoil in fear when they see my I.D (and not from the photo . . . I think.)

On this day of the beast, it is appropriate to address some blasphemy about horror films from some puny human, Brittney.

Most of them, let's be honest, are waste of celluloid.

No, really, let’s be honest. Waste? Where’s Mr. Pink when you need him? Back me up, cuzzin! (actually he’s probably working like I should be)

What about movies like:

The 70’s era post Vietnam, post Watergate national paranoia zeitgeist-ers like:
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (orig)
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
DAWN OF THE DEAD (orig)
THE SHINING
THE EXORCIST
ROSEMARY’S BABY
DEAD ZONE (and SCANNERS and all the other Cronenbergs from this period)
ALIEN
THE THING (a remake that was as good as the original)
THE OMEN
WICKER MAN
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

The 80’s brought Regan era hedonism backlash slasher flicks:
FRIDAY the 13th
HALLOWEEN
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
APRIL FOOLS DAY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
THE STEPFATHER
HELLRAISER

The Mavericks:
EVIL DEAD
SUSPIRIA
PHENOMENA
PHANTASM
CANDYMAN
SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW

Camp Camp:
AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
SCREAM
EVIL DEAD 2
NIGHT OF THE CREEPS
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM
FRIGHT NIGHT
THE GREEN SLIME

Meta:
DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN’S DIARY

To the East, Blackwards
RINGU
UZUMAKI
AUDITION
GOZU
KWAIDAN
CURE
MEMENTO MORI (Korea)
VITAL
EVIL DEAD TRAP
TETSUO
TAIL OF TWO SISTERS
GOJIRA
THE UNTOLD STORY

The classics:
Do I really need to list them?

In this new century, more than ever the Wu-Tang’s C.R.E.A.M. doctrine applies to Hollywoof. So, we get remakes and sequels and the remakes get their own sequels. Even the most inventive, like Wong’s FINAL DESTINATION or Roth’s HOSTEL are based on tried and true formulas slightly updated to showcase the “talents” of the UPN actors that populate horror flicks. Victor Salva, turning his personal demons into decent films, could continue to create interesting work.

Happy Birthday Dear Gandalf, Happy Birthday to meeeeee

2006-06-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

HAHA! Tomorrow’s my birthday! I turn . . . OLD. It is a milestone, though I will be celebrating most likely by watching TV or something. However, if you want to make a dork happy, here are some birthday present suggestions:

Adidas originals old school Japan soccer team jersey. Number 7 or 10.

Matching track jacket would be nice . . .

Okay, don’t want to spend dollars on Nip-pon? How about this snazzy retro Netherlands world cup t?

Of course, Tar Heels Represent!

Wow, this DVD box set of Japanese classic films looks damn good. Maybe you can get one for yourself, too! That is, if you have a region free DVD player. I’m pretty happy with mine, however, I could always use a new player . . . especially if someone got me a new TV!

Okay, those are pipe dreams, mostly. Not even Santy Claus brought me a new TV. But I will need something to eat in front of my plain old tiny little miserable flat tube. I like popcorn. I really like caramel corn even though my dentist made me swear off it. Maybe this kettle corn would be a good substitute? Or really, ANY kettle corn that is not from Pop Secret or Orville Reddenbloogledongle. Anything you don’t have to microwave.

I tend to get music free. So CDs are kinda out, unless you have a pipeline to Japan and can shuttle me over, oh, this, or this, or maybe that. Ooh, or this! However, I do need a place to keep my 500 plus and growing collection, not to mention all the DVDs I have. Somehow a huge box of VHS cassettes got lost when I moved a couple of years ago.

Actually, the best birthday present would be for someone to come over to my place and empty all the boxes in my new apartment . . . . talk about a pipe dream . . .

Steroids Schmeroids

2006-05-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

It was always a guessing game as to who was on steroids when I was in college. The testing policy was just around the corner in those days, and IIRC it was nothing like the one in place today when it was implemented. I can remember the huge brows and bloated heads of those we suspected, and the girl friend punching rage of those who were easy guesses. I’m fairly sure that the guy ahead of me in my position was juiced. I sucked, so it didn’t really matter. But you know what? I don’t care.

I don’t care about players taking ‘roids. If they want to risk having testicles the size of chick peas when they get old, if they want to walk around looking like Lurch’s broke ass cousin, if the ladies wish to develop a jaw line like the dude who played the bounty hunter on the X-Files, that’s fine with me. A bout with cancer is apparently a decent trade for a shot at immortality (Lyle Alzado).

What I don’t get is all the hemming and hawing over Bonds (and lets not forget McGuire, if we believe everything we read then we should be all over him, too) by netnerds who have never played a down, taken a swing, shot on goal, thrown a body check, broken the tape. What possible concern is it of yours? Oh, he’s cheating! Christ, it isn’t like the Babe was a model citizen. It isn’t like there weren’t things like shine balls, bat tar, cocaine abuse, alcoholism, and all manner of ills during sports in the days before the miracles of modern science. Were major league ball integrated during the 30’s, we’d be talking about Josh Gibson, not Babe Ruth, anyway. I don’ t know if there’s enough steroids in the world to catch Gibson. Integrity of the game? HA! Double HA! Did ANYONE see Eight Men Out?

I saw an interesting interview with my grandad’s namesake, Willie Mays, a few weeks ago. Mays admitted that if ‘roids had been around in those days, he might have tried it. Mays, arguably the greatest, most gifted baseball player of all time, might have juiced. If someone so obviously better than 95% of the players in the game during his day thought he might need it, what about some hungry, ambitious kid looking one day to be a poster on some other kid’s wall?

Maybe Bonds, who was already heading for Hall of Fame numbers, didn’t need juice (if he in fact did take something illegal). Perhaps he did need it if he wanted to catch our attention and respect. Ever listen to talk sports radio call in shows? All these experts, all these second string high school quarterbacks coming in with their wisdom and knowledge about the game. If someone like Bonds (or let us say the dirty word, Pacman) doesn’t perform to our standards, they’re a pariah. We’re all over them. We sports fans don’t give a shit about good. Sometimes we don’t really care about great. Show us the best, break all the records, be a winner. Then we might care. Then Jim Rome might shut up about you for five minutes and start riding your jock.

What do we always hear? It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. You might think I’m going to say we don’t believe that, but we do – in context. It is how you play the game, meaning, if you play the game the way it is supposed to be played, you should win/excel.

If you played, you understand what I’m saying, even if like me you were terrible. If you didn’t play, you can continue to stand on the side throwing stones at that glass stadium your tax dollars built and support. Athletes (usually) want to be the best, and also, they want to be recognized as the best. It isn’t about egotism. Everyone has some of that, don’t kid yourself. It’s the one thing everyone has in common with Trump and Spielberg. Sometimes, being great just isn’t good enough.

So, athletes cheat, like high school kids on an algebra test. Wow. I’m saving my bitterness and complaints for Bush and Cheney and Rummy. You?

Fun with the Aryan Nation!

2006-05-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

My man Chris Wage got linked to by Stormfront, of all sites, and with great trepidation I followed that link to some inconsequential rantings of the type of racists almost everyone hates. Then out of train wreck curiosity, I perused the site more and found this discussion on how the “media” (that’s me!) brainwashes white girls. The commentary here is priceless. I don’t think I have ever seen a greater collection of the proof of the decline of education in America than I have seen here. Perhaps it dovetails nicely with AC’s thoughts on prison rape . . .

This guy believes in himself to a fault:

I've spent most of my youth missing out on opportunities to develop relationships with beautiful white girls, and I blame my above average intelligence.

Oh, it’s probably that you keep having skid marks on your white sheet. However, he does seem to think he has areas where he needs work.

But if I treat women like crap and make use of status symbols, I might become more competitive.

So, any woman seeing a fat guy in a pointy white hood driving an Escalade and wearing an Iceberg sweater . . . RUN!

Well . . . er . . . uh . . .

The message to white girls is simple: "Black guys are studs. White guys are losers."

I wonder if the programming he watches is part of some Gannett organization? ;)

But lets be honest here.... is it really accurate to have Mr.Blacky appearing as a main character in EVERY SHOW on T.V.? When in some neighborhoods in the U.S. theres only just a very few number of African-Americans. This is a conspiracy to me...I await an all-Aryan Heaven

And, who is this Mr. Blacky? Does he mean Mr. Belvedere?

Of course, ultimately, the fault is THE JEWS:

Yes, the add agencies are certainly heavily Jewish, maybe even more than most media companies. Ever notice how many hooked noses the actors have? And a lot of Jewish actors are selected out for not looking Jewish. . . . Hopefully the Jews are starting to ridicule white women (why for??) and then we can start pointing out to the gals how the've been doing it to us guys for years.

Finally, one member thought this article was important to the story. Apparently, you all, listening to the jungle dance music, have been lowered to the level of the nigra:

“When so-called rap and hip-hop began to be marketed to White adolescents in the early 1990s, Heather thought it was "cute." She imagined that she saw a harmless rebelliousness and innovation in her daughters' generation -- a reflection of her own generation's rebellion. She let Lauren and Diana watch all the "cool" TV shows with Black heroes and miscegenating stars, she let them "groove" to MTV videos glorifying non-Whites and racial mixing, and when many of the "boys" who started to become interested in them as they grew up turned out to be Black, well -- she showed how "good" she was by "accepting" them as no different from White boys, by treating them as "equals" and as legitimate suitors for Lauren and Diana's affections.”

Okay.

Even Japanophiles and American otaku aren’t immune to the pull of white supremacism (something I’ve known for some time, actually). Check out this post from “Aryan Ballerina:”

Later, she claims:

“Well, my shoes are made in Japan, ha! I guess it shouldn't be that big of a deal, I'm more of a National Socialist anyways, the Japanese of course aren't a problem in my book.”

The rationalizations she must go through on a daily basis just to keep up her interest in the spikey haired, androgynous, male Japanese pop singer and her love for all things Nazi. Or maybe she thinks it’s 1941.

And another rocket scientist posts:

“Some east asians are obsessed with work. Some (if not all japanese) will not date outside there race.”

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ahem. Sorry. Asians: The other white meat.

Yes, why not! Because the asians like japanese, koreans and chinese do have a high average IQ about 103. Compared with our 100 in IQ scale for the average white there should be no problem with mixing in limited scale with them. . . .

Unlike many White Nationalists, I can accept Oriental/White mixing in small numbers.

This dude is hilarious. He is ASIAN.
I'll be Frank i am Asian.. (looks like no more trolling around on these boards no more oh well..) however I've been browsing SF for a while now.. and have learnt quite alot about the Jews..

With his other comments he was reluctantly accepted by the Stormfront types. However, segregation is as segregation does. The moderator replied in part:

However, you have to stay in General Rants from now on. Forum rules.

Damn.

urban music post fixed . . . albeit elsewhere

2006-05-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

I finally fixed the You Tube issues I was having with my post about urban music in Japan. I’m too busy to mess with it on the blogspot spot. Just go on over to the word press version of dork nation and check ‘em.

Picture louder than words and whatnot

2006-05-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

A Prom photo. Thanks to BG for da tip.

Equal Rights and Justice?

2006-05-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

I missed the book signing that prompted this discussion (and this one and this) on felony disenfranchisement for a couple of reasons, one being that the headlight on my car went dead and my attempts to fix it were for naught. I’m interested enough in the topic to keep the discussion among local bloggers going, however.

Liz Garrigan has no compassion for ex-cons who are not allowed to vote. Cool. You don’t have to have compassion for them to believe they should have their rights to vote restored. However if passion must color your sense of justice, let’s look at it from an historical perspective.

Chris Wage inserted the spectre of institutional discrimination into the discussion, and was of course attacked by the typical cast of characters. (You can count on it, if someone on the political left brings up racism, they will be there, protesting too much, like Queen Gertrude said). For this, he’s branded a wacko conspiracy theorist, and told, like a child, that this is not 1966. Thing is, Wage is right on point.

Ya see kids, in this country, disenfranchisement has roots not in criminal jurisprudence, but in good old fashioned stop the darkies racial hatred. Sure, the practice has been around for eons, the idea being that the most egregious criminals should be banned from society. And smart racists know a good idea when they see one. After the freed slaves (men only) were allowed to vote, Southern heads commiserated on all sorts of ideas on how to turn back the clock. In many states, disenfranchisement laws were specifically tailored to catch Negroes, and if possible, exclude whites*. Call me a wacko conspiracy theorist, but to me it sounds a little suspicious.

Am I arguing that felony disenfranchisement is some plot to keep people of color out of the voting booths? No, but it was. Now it is just left to hang, as useless as an appendix (that is, unless you are a Republican). And, like most issues with baggage from slavery and racism, it has residual effects.

It is very un-ironic that felony disenfranchisement affects mostly men of color today, but then again that’s what The Man wanted. Nowadays, with our labyrinth of criminal laws and sentencing guidelines and war on drugs, some people get caught in the crossfire, like some 18 year old first time felony drug offender who pleas out to avoid jail time then finds he can’t vote. He could be white. He could be your cousin, your brother. Can you work up a couple of tears for that?

There have been considerable efforts to abolish felony disenfranchisement. They are all likely to fail. What politician, especially in these times, wants to be seen as having sympathy for Mr. Felon? They’d never vote for a bill containing such a provision. Not even Jr., not even Obama (though they might speak platitudes to this in front of the proper audience).Were I in my old job, I’d likely advise them to do just that. What their party would stand to gain in votes would be minimal; being honest, it isn’t likely that a significant number of former felons would actually vote. Doesn’t mean they should have their right to vote kept from them.

Additionally:
Coble sez: “What makes felonies less criminal (to my mind) is the degree of external violence they cause. How much external violence is caused by felony posession [sic] of narcotics?”

Legalize it, don’t criticize it. (when in doubt, always quote Peter Tosh)

*Alabama lawmakers are on record, there is a paper trail on what I’m saying, look it up.

Asked but not Answered: Multiculti debate continues ft. Sarcastro

2006-05-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is getting to be like rap answer records. I wonder who is the Roxanne Shante’ in all of this? Sarcastro responded to me in his blog. I provide excerpts for clarification (Fair Use in E-F-F-E-C-T boyee)

The whole idea of labelling people based on their ethnicity is divisive and dangerous.

Just repeating yourself, mate. We’re asking, why is this so? How have you arrived at this conclusion? Dangerous to whom? Did you get a paper cut?

Multiculturalism is moral relevancy. The definition of multiculturalism stresses tolerance and mutual respect for cultural differences within a country's borders.

Bollocks! How does a tolerance and mutual respect for cultural differences require that we accept practices such as clitorectomies? Hey, don’t you watch Star Trek? How many times did the various captains have to deal with the Prime Directive vis a vis morality? This one’s pretty simple. Some culture specific conduct, such as eating sushi, is low in relation to matters of morality. Some conduct, such as stoning, is high. As the relation to matters of morality increases, the more difficult it is to simply “accept.” We aren’t in the Federation. We don’t have to worry about the Prime Directive. We don’t have to accept clitorectomies.

America accepts the death penalty as a legitimate form of punishment for its society. (Something we apparently share culturally with Jihadists). If another culture is opposed to it, would you call their acceptance of the death penalty moral relevance?

Here's the deal. If you create a label for your ethnic group, no matter what it is, and define yourself according to that hyphenated label, you make your group an easy target for those with pejorative intent to slander your ethnicity as a group.

This is silly. This is why you oppose hyphenated labels? Because you have “our” best interest at heart? Oh, well, thanks. I didn’t know you cared. How about doing me a favor and ask those with pejorative intent NOT TO FREAKIN SLANDER these groups? Seems a lot easier than arguing that a group should not be able to recognize their origins.

Let's start in on the African-Americans. How do you take a continent with numerous ethnic groups, cultures, and differing experiences and lump them all in as a lazy way out to describe skin color without being offensive.

Schooling. The descendents of African slaves in this country chose the broader “African” American because most do not know the sending country/region, having had that knowledge taken away by the kindly slave masters. Moreover, so many today have said masters as ancestors. So, since Charlize Theron knows she’s from the Republic of South Africa, she can call herself a South African American if she chooses (if she is indeed a citizen). I’m guessing she’s just fine with being “white” though. You may be trying (hard) to suggest it’s simply political and not “scientific.” Well, the notion of race is itself a political construct based on faulty science. Don’t blame the victims.

*”Black,” a nomenclature which had a slight militant tone in the 60’s, a reclamation of “negro,” fails to adequately describe what unifies people who are descendents of African slaves. It isn’t about being lazy.*

As for immigrants from African nations, many I know don’t use hyphens. However, they don’t use “American” either. Maybe the 2nd generation kids do. I know someone pretty well for whom nationality is a life or death matter. This person is likely to refer to herself as Japanese until she keels over, no matter how long she lives here or whether she becomes a citizen.

Why do people always bring up Tiger Woods with me? (It’s a joke, you’ll get it if you get it).

After all this back and forth, Sarcastro, neither you nor those who agree with you have ever explained how it is “divisive” for ethnicities to use a hyphenated term to describe themselves. You’ve done a fine job of telling us why you don’t like it. You haven’t explained why they shouldn’t do it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: legendary anime

2006-05-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

For many, Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shin Seiki Evangelion) is one of the favorite and most controversial series in Japanese animation. Back in 1995 when it debuted, it was groundbreaking in story, where character development got just as much play as robot battles. Its plotlines caused audiences to grasp for secrets the way fans of Lost do today. The show was also groundbreaking in the way “anime” was marketed. Since then, many have tried to mimic the series success, seeing as how the show continues to rack up sales worldwide. Problem is, almost none of the copycats have ever figured out how to do what really made the show popular – create a quality product. Here’s a link to an interesting interview with the producer of the series (in English).

Though I’m not as rabid as many, I am a big fan, and consider this series one of the genre’s milestones. You gotta love any animated action series that ends its run with a musing on existentialism.

music review: Snow Patrol - Eyes Open

2006-05-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Snow Patrol -- Eyes Open (A&M)

Snow Patrol’s last album Final Straw spawned some singles that got heavy rotation on various TV dramas and reality shows whenever they needed to insert some false drama. The songs that didn’t get a lot of play were gems, like “Spitting Games.” Consequently, the follow up kept the middling melancholy and left out the cleverness. Still, songs like “You Could be Happy,” built on a rhythm of tinkling chimes, is unique in sound if not form. This time around, their songwriting has the worst instincts of Coldplay at their most anthemic, sound and fury signifying nothing. However, I expect you’ll hear a lot of this music during the most whiny moments on The Real World. Or something.

One nation under a groove

2006-05-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Debate brews over at Volunteer Voter, a show down between Sarcastro and Aunt B over a comment by right wing gabber and master of the slippery slope Steve Gill about the dangers, evils, and divisiveness of multiculturalism. I break from my blogging respite to jump in.

Gill, Sarcastro, and other "I hate hyphens" folks still have not, and CANNOT refute Aunt B.'s point, that simply calling on people not to note their ethnicity in nomenclature is not going to divide what is already divided.

AC sez: “I don't have a problem with taking up with my tribe, if that's how it's gonna be, but I would much prefer that we get back to the idea of unhyphenated Americanism.”

I'm not really sure when this period of unhyphenated Americanism existed. Oh wait, that was when people were called wops, spics, kikes, pollacks, etc with impunity. Yeah, no hyphens needed then! What a great time of unity!

Sarcastro seems to confuse multiculturalism with moral relevancy. He suggests that multiculturalism will allow us to embrace things like clitorectomies.

Bringing up things like clitorectomies is irrelevant. For one thing, many Somalies came here to ESCAPE the kind of life that allows such practices, yet, funny, they don't shy away from being Somalian, even though American on paper. It's an extreme example that doesn't prove much of anything except that Sarcastro is up on current affairs (and down the slippery slope).

Multiculturalism (which means so many different things to different people) is certainly not about the "supremacy of ethnic identity" over being an American. Multiculturalism does not (and in all likelihood, NEVER will) lead to the Balkanization of the US. People living here just have too much invested in each other. How would young white boys get along without having Allen Iverson and E-40 to emulate (forget about where AC would get taglines for his posts)? Who would watch the toddlers in the Upper West side of Manhattan? WHO TELL ME WHO? Seeit?

Our similarities sneak up on us without us knowing, so fast we come up with cute names for them after they're ingrained in our culture (whigger). Our similarities, like a love for gas guzzling vehicles, a slavish devotion to Best Buy, and water cooler chat around a show about (gasp) hyphenated American criminal enterprise, are always there. Some, like Gill, just need a whipping boy for the "what's wrong with our country" question. They hate looking in the mirror, I think.

Lastly, wtf do yakuza have to do with it?

Blogosphere: Now officially the Hobbsosphere

2006-04-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Jeez. A guy can’t drink a protein shake in piece? The din over the Bill Hobbs thing STILL goes on -- Kleinhelder, Saracstro, some guy named Eric, et al. The more bloggers continue to post about this story the more Liz Garrigan appears prescient (and Spragens for that matter).

You know, if Hobbs had been a Democrat, the sound of silence in the blogosphere would be DEAFENING. I’m sure some of you will claim that you would still fight (Coble probably would). Some of you will be lying. Can’t you envision it? “The lib moonbat lefty zombie pinko commies are getting a taste of their own PC medicine!!! ARRGGHH!”

Speaking of Kleinhelder, I’m still wondering what this faux ebonics headline is about. Would you have used it for a headline about, say, Bob Corker, or is this another example of your “ironic” use of rap lyrics as headlines?

lost Voice

2006-04-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was not really sure what the Voice was thinking when they hired Pitchfork dork Tom Breihan to blog (mostly about hip hop). I had given Pitchfork a cursory glance in the past, and never connected either with their musical taste nor criticism. It quickly became apparent to me that they have someone blogging about rap music who didn’t know all that much about the genre, certainly not more so than your average rap fan born in the 80’s who probably blogs and blogs as well as Breihan. There was solace in that they did not hire Byron Crawford. I have become increasingly dismayed every time I check a Breihan column, however, as he realizes how little he knows about rap music history he’s constantly offering up apologies about that fact. Though the kid is welcome to his opinions (like the one he shares with just about every 20-something rap fan, TUPAC AND BIGGEE ARE AWESOME) if he’s going to speak with authority on the music he should at least sound like he knows what the hell he is talking about. Where is Greg Tate when you need him?

Please please no more Hobbs

2006-04-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Oh God. “Hit Piece?” Conspiracy theories? Bredesen wanted to get Bill Hobbs? BILL F’ING HOBBS? Are you people drunk? Insane? WTF?!?!?!? Jesus H MF Christ. Hobbs is feeling the hot lash of karma. EOS. Right wingers (and free speech loving right leaning libertarian law professors who gave me a good grade in ConLaw) trying to make him into a martyr are just wasting their time. Then again, that’s what some people around me think of blogs . . .

Michelle Malkin likes the Ace of Spades

2006-04-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

I wish I had more time to post about this issue with Michelle Malkin’s reprinting of private information over the Internet which lead to death threats to some left leaning college students, and the subsequent racial epithets hurled at Malkin. Malkin is, like many right wing pundits, is a shameless hypocrite. Of course, I have very serious problems with the use of racial epithets, doesn’t matter who is the subject. However, Malkin claims that the students who received DEATH THREATS should stop crying, grow up, and take responsibility for their actions. Well, if these students have to suffer death threats, then Malkin needs to suffer her own indignities Stop crying about what these morons wrote about you, Michelle.

This is her modus operandi. When attacked on something she’s said or done, pull out some Email from a wacko that uses foul language or calls her a racist name. When a conservative, like Ann Coulter, is attacked for making some racist comment, find some weak example of a “liberal” doing something that would be considered racist (BTW, Malkin is far from a saint when it comes to issues of race. She’s just the type who doesn’t like dirty words). The absolute worst example of which is when she offered a defense of infamous white separatist lolitas, Prussian Blue, by claiming that a 7 year old black girl spewed racist poetry. Malkin is one of those people who likes the phrase “playing the race card.” That’s because for her, racism is not a problem to be confronted but a pawn in her battle against liberals, or rather, her fight to be recognized as important..

Malkin wants to be Ann Coulter. She writes these ridiculous, poorly researched books that reach silly conclusions. She uses terms like “unhinged” and “moonbats” to describe liberals, she constantly misrepresents the press or “liberal” commentary, for instance, calling John Spragen’s now famous commentary on Bill Hobbs’ blogging proclivities a “smear.” She wants us to believe she wants to be Colin Powell, that person of color that people of color will fall in love with and then fall for the Republican party. No one buys her act, so no one really cares to come to her defense.

I’m not going in the briar patch. Sticking with my principles, I have to argue that no one deserves to have those things said about them. But some people just bring things on themselves.

My 35 Most Influential Albums

2006-04-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

List the 10, 20 or 30 albums that had the greatest influence on YOU. Tell me why, if you want. Props to Jay for the meme.

http://www.hotfreelayouts.com/music.php

1) Prince - 1999. He's the artist that probably had more influence on me personally AND musically. After I heard Dirty Mind, I was never the same. Moreover, I didn't feel quite so strange anymore. Of all his works, 1999 had the most impact on me personally.
2) Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy. Ever start listening to a band because of a girl or boy you liked? This was one of those records for me. I'd thought Zep was corny, "Stairway to Heaven" was like "Freebird" to me, until I heard "The Rain Song."
3) Bad Brains - I Against I. Again, another band that confirmed I wasn't the only black person in the world who loved punk and rock. See also Fishbone, below.
4) Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions . . . I realized the potential power of rap and encouraged my participation in politics.
5) De La Soul - Three Feet High and Rising. Until this record (and P.E.) rap was like a set up/like a game/ a lotta suckas with colorful names/I'm so and so, I'm this I'm that/But ya all just wick wick wack
6) Elvis Costello - The Best of. . .. I think this record helped make me a more thoughtful person.
7) ACO - The Other Side of Absolute Ego. The first Japanese artist whose music I connected with beyond curiosity. Blows the myth of the Japanese as copycats out of the water (even though she loves to cover US pop and R&B songs). This a remix, however I highly recommend both versions of this record.
8) Star Wars Ep. IV soundtrack. Expanded the horizons of a young lad.
9) Fishbone - Fishbone. See Bad Brains above. Was my favorite band for 10 years running.
10) Portishead - Portishead. A lot of people like Dummy better, however this was the first Portishead music I heard. It was like nothing else I'd heard before, and kick started my interest in electronica.
11) Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland. I'm sure I heard Hendrix before my pre-teen years on my brother's record player, yet he didn't impact me until later. Made me want to pick up a guitar.
12) Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life. I really could have picked any record from this cat, however this one probably had more impact on me. I heard his music in the house when I was a tyke. We played "Sir Duke" in a 5th grade band concert.
13) Run DMC - Rock Box. The first real rap LP, kind of a milestone in the genre.
14) Final Fantasy VII Soundtrack. Huh? Video game soundtrack? I listened to this while writing my second screenplay. The composer, Uematsu, is a hidden gem.
15) The Clash - Combat Rock. Some are with you rather than against you.
16) Bob Marley - Kaya. I listened to this a lot during the year my brother's health took a final turn for the worse. Also, have you seen my hair?
17) Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. Another band which I could have really picked any number of records. This might have been the first Beatles record I bought that wasn't a comp.
18) Funkadelic - Uncle Jam's Army. Something about the music got into my pants.
19) Dj Shadow - Entroducing. Helped to reinvigorate my interest in rap during a time when I had given up on the genre as turning into a blackface version of hair metal.
20) Curtis Mayfield - Superfly. Made a very young boy think about the dangers of street life. Music can sometimes still give me chills.
21) Elton John - Greatest Hits. My brother loved this record, so then did I. What happened to this Elton? Sad.
22) Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits. Never not in the mood for some Sly.
23) Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club. After this, I wanted to see what this band Talking Heads was all about.
24) English Beat - Greatest Hits. I never owned the record, they just didn't have a cover for the Beat record I did have. At any rate, I backed my way into reggae from listening to ska and two-tone like this.
25) Miles Davis - Kind of Blue. Until this record, my idea of jazz was David Sanborn.
26) Sugarhill Gang - Sugarhill Gang. Really, just for "Rapper's Delight." The first rap record I could get my friends to like, and for a lot of people their first rap song.
27) Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstacy. There was a period, believe it or not, when I was all about this Lilith Fair type of stuff. This record led me to those estrogen powered records of the early 90's.
28) Jackson 5 - Greatest Hits. Another case of them not having proper covers. I had mostly singles of Jackson 5 songs anyway. The first concert I ever attended was a Jackson 5 show, with the Commodores opening.
29) Rage Against the Machine - RATM. Saw them at Lollapalooza and bought the record as soon as I got home. Gave me hope for humanity, or something.
30) Cure - The Head on the Door. Another horizon broadening experience.
31) R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction. One of my long time friends hipped me to this band. My Fishbone loving Chapel Hill friends thought I was insane for listening to this band.
32) Soul II Soul - Keep On Movin'. I probably had not listened to an R&B record for 10 years before this one. Gave me hope for the genre, and would help spark both the Neo-Soul and "downtempo" movement.
33) The Police - Reggatta de Blanc. First song I learned to play on guitar is a Police song.
34) Badfinger - No Dice. No matter where you are/I will always be with you
35) Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders. Part of the Native Tongue movement with the likes of De La Soul, their first record affected me in a similar way to Three Feet High and Rising, however, the crew didn't produce anything with a profound effect on me until Midnight Marauders.
I coulda done 40, but I was staying up way too late as it was.

movie review: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

2006-04-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (The Kind Hearted Mrs Geum-ja)
Tartan Films
Dir: Park Chan Woo
Lee Yeong-ae
Choi Min-sik

Park’s last crimson art-house marvel, Oldboy, Cannes runner-up, sparked an ill-conceived attack on the film’s fans from New York Times critic Manohla Dargis, whose opinions on the movie (hated it) ran secondary of importance to sticking it to some bloodlusting cult of juvenile fanboys who get wood at the sight of a splatter pack exploding on screen. Though I didn’t find her issues compelling evidence for a dismissal of Oldboy (loved it), I agreed with what was implicit in her diatribe, that those fanboys who giggle at beheadings and such are annoying. Apparently, they annoy Park as well. He believes a viewing of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance to be penance for those who loved Oldboy only for the more outré elements. Certainly those who rush towards celluloid violence with dick in hand will find the new film a buzz rape.

The kind hearted Ms Geum-ja (Lee Yeong-ae) begins the film on lock down, on her last day, back story presenting her as the unjustly imprisoned patron saint of women convicts. However, when she hits the street we learn Ms Geum-ja ain’t nuttin’ ta fuck wit as she delivers a pimp slap to her devoted fans. Geum-ja is less kind hearted, exchanging favors for good will, than she is an embittered ex-con, conniving to get payback on Baek (Choi Min-sik of Oldboy), the man responsible for her being up in the bing. As she sets about her plan, her true nature unfolds and Park really challenges the audience to continue sympathizing with cold hearted woman.

Park’s strong formalistic bent, his aesthete’s eye for beauty, his humanist’s desire for transcendence are the winning parts of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The dank atmosphere he creates is often undercut by vivid swaths of red at night and intense sun lit moments, suggesting the pulsing light within the broken black coal of Geum-ja’s heart.

Though neither as visually stunning as Oldboy or viscerally shocking as Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Lady Vengeance is actually more risky than the predecessors. Park could have easily had Lee swinging blades and popping caps left and right, striking with great vengeance and furious anger, one upping Uma Thurman’s Bride and satisfying fanboy desires. Park clearly wants to challenge our predilection for sympathizing with protagonists who go about the act of revenge of the violent sort. However, by presenting Geum-ja as the not-that-innocent victim who is really "teh bitch," he ironically ends up increasing the identification of her character with those who he wanted to challenge. Still, with the cinematography and direction in service of theme and not the converse, Park proves Dargis wrong about him, he’s much more thoughtful a director than he’s given credit for.

Lee and Choi, performances are pitch perfect. Lee never goes through any obvious transformation as we uncover her character’s truths, she remains as distant and melancholy at the beginning as at the end, and her work is all the more effective for maintaining the strangely beguiling distance. Despite Park’s prowess, it is on your engagement with Geum-ja the work lives or dies. If you find her simply either the victim or sadist, meaning is lost. Choi, who is little seen until act three, is so matter-of-fact nasty it’s scary. Assault is just something you do before breakfast.

If there’s anything lacking with Lady Vengeance, it’s Park’s desire to serve us with a summons for being so enamored with his other revenge flicks. The conclusion seems a forced into the plot, though it certainly fits thematically. Park, I’ve been with you all the way, I knew you weren’t all about mayhem for mayhem’s sake, and yeah, eye for an eye leaves us all blind. So in the end, I started to feel like I sat through a boring lecture I’d heard before even though I thought the subject needed to be heard. That said, I loved the path to the lecture hall, one I’d gladly take again.

Record Review: Murray's Revenge

2006-04-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

Murs and 9th Wonder
Murray’s Revenge (Record Collection)

Murs hooks up with 9th Wonder for a record that sounds a whole lot like Little Brother’s latest, The Minstrel Show. There’s even a Joe Scudder guest shot. One could call Murray’s Revenge Murs 3:17. It’s an entirely serviceable chill out rap record. 9th Wonder’s predilection string music and R&B samples and early 90’s West Coast beats give the record a hazy, weeded out ambiance, which the track “L.A.” exemplifies. Murs spits clever phrases about love (“Love and Affection”), racial identity (“Dark Skinned White Girls”), and sneakers (“Barbershop”). The team works best on “Yesterday & Today” and “L.A.”

With the exception of “Lovin” It,” Little Brother’s works have been middling records. 9th Wonder and Murs work together so well, perhaps each should abandon their respective teams and form a permanent bond.

DWB

2006-04-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hey, Belle Meade cops, I’m on to you, finally. When I was young and naive, I drove through your SUBDIVISION late in the evening towards Blockbuster, in a bit of a hurry to beat the late fee. At 50mph, I was unconcerned about you sitting on the opposite side of the road, less concerned that you pulled up next to me, running parallel for a moment, then dropping back to light me up. Oh golly jeepers officer I was just on the way to return some movies. 50 in a 40? Well, it seemed like some other cars were going at that speed, but oh well. No, there’s no drugs or guns in my car. Search the messy hatchback if you like, there’s only smelly gym socks, a football and soccer ball.

Now I know. I know about the negro alarm that goes off when darkies dare to travel through your fine SUBDIVISION. I know what you were doing, sitting there doing nothing until you saw a brown skinned man in an Infiniti and you pulled up along side me, parallel again, careful not to pass. What did you find when you slowed down and dropped back? Tags? Check. Seatbelt? Check. No probable cause? Check. Move along, Johnny Law, there’s nothing to see here.

Do sheep dream of acoustic androids?

2006-04-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Brittney of Nashville is Talking posted about her strange cat turd dream. I’ve been thinking about outing my own strange recurring dreams. One overarching theme appears in my dreams (and/or nightmares) -- alien invasion. Maybe it’s because I fall asleep watching X-Files reruns and Galaxy Express 999. These dreams are usually apocalyptic; it isn’t as if I’m dreaming about ET or Vulcans. Aliens = doom. The last time, I dreamed I was a producer on The Daily Show, however it was a hard news show rather than satire. On the eve of the invasion, we were in the building that housed the show, and I’m hanging out with Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore (I find them both really annoying now, however we were best buds in the dream.) My family was away somewhere safe. The building was on some coast, and as the invasion started the ocean water rose. We had to run for the broadcast room, though I wonder why that saved us from a flood. Did I mention Jon Stewart was in a wheel chair in the dream? Did I mention that when the building started to flood, he got out of the chair and ran? My mother was with me. I couldn’t save her.

What gives?

I dreamed last night. Something to do with a rabid dog. I don’t remember much else.

The experiment

2006-03-30T23:45:00.000-08:00

Blogger for word sucks. Or just Word sucks. Anyway, a lost post. Thing is, I really like the utilities of wordpress, and even though I can’t use this nifty layout or ads with it, I think I’m going to make that the main blog for dork nation and keep this one as a mirror. So whenever you click on old Gandalf (or PITW visitors, on my name), you’ll go to the new site. For now, check it out and see how you like it. If enough people tell me wordpress is lame, I’ll dump it. Maybe. Besides, adsense is worthless. I may as well be standing around with a sign reading “will blog for food.”

The old new dork nation.

rap show photos

2006-03-30T23:20:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago at City Hall in Nashville, TN. The dread, that would be Fatlip, The blue shirted cat is Gift of Gab, and there's also Jumbo of Lifesavas, Pigeon John, and my man Count Bass D.

just a few from Japan

2006-03-30T23:18:00.000-08:00

Feast fit for an emperor

2006-03-30T23:09:00.000-08:00

I got flickr, why don't I use it?

a favorite from last year

2006-03-30T23:01:00.000-08:00

The lad gets his first kiss

2006-03-30T22:50:00.000-08:00

Post-fatigue

2006-03-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Not that I haven’t had things to say, just little time or energy to do them. Between PITW blogging, Scene writing, Belcourt stuff, my day job, and the lad, I’m spent. Just to show how much of a masochist I am, I’m considering a music oriented podcast. These would either replace or supplement the music reviews I do.

What I really need is a vacation.

Ann Coulter; Too Black, Too Strong

2006-03-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

Well, Ann Coulter is nothing if not brave. But you know what they say about bravery. At any rate, she was invited to speak at Philander Smith College, a small, HBCU in Little Rock. I thought at first that this school must have the dumbest President in HBCU history. Then I read he compared Coulter to Lil’ Kim. It was no longer just a thought. Coulter found the comparison flattering. Then she went on to “joke” that Justice Stevens should be poisoned.

Tarheels 8 men out; Lady Heels in Nashville

2006-03-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

Damn, knocked out in the second round. Talk about ignominy. Well, it was not particularly surprising; a team that plays four freshman primarily, three of whom were not highly recruited superstars, can be expected to crumble under the intense pressure of the NCAA tournament.

However, it wasn’t the pressure that got to the Heels. It was overconfidence. I suppose that is a plague that could affect kids who ended their season with a pretty impressive win streak and a climb from the bottom 20 to the top ten in the rankings. The Heels weren’t overrated. When they play well they can play with anyone, including the best in the nation. They weren’t, as we all know, last year’s star studded team. They weren’t good enough to take it easy, especially against hungry teams looking to prove themselves. All Tarheel basketball players have to remember that people aren’t just playing against you, they are playing against the Carolina blue and white. A win against a UNC team is not just a win, it is the defeat of a mystique, a legend, a perennial powerhouse.

George Mason was making those noises all week, talking about being Kryptonite to UNC’s Supermen. They’d come off an upset and were looking to make a run. They were also one of the best defensive teams in the country this year.

Meanwhile, tonight the Lady Tarheels roll into my city to play Vanderbilt on their home floor. This is surely a detriment to our chances, yet the Heels are far and away the better team. The tournament atmosphere and home town juice might help Vandy to make it a close game . . . maybe.

ooooo sh*t!

2006-03-17T16:09:00.000-08:00

Silent Hill

What? Another video game movie? I'm not so sure this one will suck. This game scared me more than the original ALIEN movie. I haven't been frightened by a horror movie in years. I'm hoping this one will do the trick, despite me knowing every plot twist already.

movie review: Why We Fight

2006-03-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

Why We Fight
Dir: Eugene Jarecki

Seems like ages since I saw a movie in a theater with greasy popcorn and a Gigantor sized jug of soda. With a rare moment to spare, I caught Why We Fight, a documentary spun on President Eisenhower’s parting shot at the military-industrial complex. Why We Fight takes the chronological approach, looking at the evolution of a bifurcated beast to a fire breathing hydra. That growth is shown running parallel to the angst of a nation regarding the Iraq War as seen through the eyes of a father who lost his son on 9/11.

The film should be enlightening to those who assiduously avoid weekly news mags and chat show blather, though the director (Eugene Jarecki) does well to tighten up loose ends in our theories about why we fight. We fight, the film argues, in large part because people with vested interest in profiting from the art of war tell us too. The arms industry seduces our politicians into buying big ticket items that would just go to waste if they lay there unused. The think tanks spend all their time trying to make themselves relevant, creating new strategies for our global domination. We catch kids with little hope for the future and promise them a new life in the armed forces.

That explains, in part of course, why we’re fighting now. That theory weakens once you take the Middle East out of the picture. The think tank discussed in the film, the neo-cons Project for the New American Century infiltrated the Bush administration. Their focus, their reason to exist, seems to be foreign policy in the Middle East. They don’t have a vision for how we handle North Korea and China, as we see now. Perhaps that’s because they didn’t study East Asian history at their Ivy League schools, perhaps it’s because they don’t feel the US benefits from an Asian hegemony, take your pick. Were we in North Korea (if we were, I would probably not here, I’d be in Tokyo helping to clean up the devastation ) we probably wouldn’t be talking about The Project for the New American Century. Nevertheless, Jarecki’s film makes a strong argument, as Eisenhower did, that we must be forever vigilant against the forces of capitalism usurping the forces of democracy. I mean, it’s right there in the word; freedom should be free.

New Japanese film site

2006-03-15T14:18:00.000-08:00

Surely most fans of Japanese film know about Midnight Eye. A similar, mostly informational blog has popped up, Japan Film News. I figure most cineastes would not be interested in the “dead” Japanese film industry. For the rest of us, it’s a good resource as to what is going on in the mainstream industry one hears little about in the West, for example, the Japanese cast of Clint Eastwood’s up coming film on the Battle of Iwo Jima. Takashi Miike cultists who don’t already read Japanese may enjoy the translations of his blog.

Most interesting so far: Takashii owes a debt to Tobe Hooper.

lunch time rap

2006-03-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

Heard abt this new cat via Miss Info named Chan. Voice sounds like Large Professor, a little. His DJ is deadly, though. Worth a listen.

It’s lunch time. Wonder if there are any taquieras nearby.

obligatory Nicole Kidman post, Brad Aboutyou free!

2006-03-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

Do this many people really care where Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were while in Nashville? I shouldn’t be surprised yet I am. How does having this knowledge enrich your lives? Okay, I’ll give in if you’re a devoted fan of each. If I heard Prince was in Nashville I’d probably google that shite, too, just out of curiosity. I suppose I’m just missing something . . .

OTOH, I do wonder what, if anything, Nicole Kidman setting up in Nashville would do for the city’s film industry. Probably not much, as I don’t recall her being terribly interested in the behind the camera side of making movies. It’d be nice if she threw her weight around . . . bad metaphor, seeing as she prolly weighs 88 pounds. It’s be nice if she threw Nashville a bone (-y elbow) the way Sandra Bullock tossed one at Austin.

We playin' bah-skit-balll (in March) we love that bah-skit-balll

2006-03-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I had nothing to say about Carolina’s loss to BC in the ACC tournament last weekend. A young team is going to play that kind of game. Not to disparage BC, however we did give away a ton of opportunities. What I am pissed off about, is that #3 seed in the NCAA. Y’all know we earned that #2. We’ll just have to prove it by making it to the final four.

Now, Pat Summitt is pissed about her Lady Vols getting a #2 seed, with no reason to be. Her team didn’t play that well this year, lost a lot of games they should have won (as opposed to the Heels, who won more games this year than anyone expected). She doesn’t have to worry, they will be favorites if they make it deep into the tournament . . . that is unless they play the NUMBER ONE SEEDED LADY TARHEELS. Sorry moms, bwahahahah. Snoogins.

Great! Memphis and Belmont and some other team from Tennessee made it to the “big dance!” Woop dee doo. Not to disparage your teams, Tennesseans, but I really don’t care. Good luck.

review: two flicks from Hong Kong

2006-03-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

Koma
Angelica Lee
Karena Lam

Home Sweet Home
Shu Qi
Karena Lam

Actresses working in Hong Kong cinema haven’t received the international props of their mainland China counterparts, not for lack of talent or beauty, they generally don’t get the chance to perform in the kind of art house fare that makes film fest devotees drool. Shu Qi has been able to break through by virtue of her appearances in Hsiao-hsien Hou films (the international notoriety got her a role as fetish bait in The Transporter, hmph). Others, like Angelica Lee (Sin-je) and Karena Lam (Ka Yan) toil away valiantly in genre flicks like The Eye, the moderately interesting horror film that was snapped up for a Hollywood remake during the great rush of Asian horror of a few years ago.

Lee and Lam hooked up for the glitzy, cheesy thriller Koma last year. It was so successful a sequel was planned, though Lee fell out of the project, to be replaced by Shu Oi (who, coincidentally replaced Lee in The Eye 2). That sequel, Home Sweet Home, ended up having nothing to do with plot wise Koma, though it was easily as bad as it’s ersatz predecessor.

In Koma, Lee plays Ching, a neurotic waif with renal failure, attached to her doctor boyfriend (Andy Hui) at the hip. Lam is Ling, a self-assured mystery girl, who in service of a overcooked plot is the boyfriend’s other woman. The two women cross paths at a wedding reception when Lee’s character discovers a victim of an organ theft ring (you know the urban legend of people waking up with missing kidneys). Then the thriller machinations begin immediately; is Ling an organ thief or just obsessed with the hunky doctor, is Ching a potential victim or paranoid? In Home Sweet Home, Qi takes over the nutty wife role, however Lam’s other woman has morphed into a Frankenstein’s monster, a baby stealing troll living in the bowels of a high priced, high rise in Hong Kong.

Lam is really great in both films, though it gets hard to take her grotesque phantom seriously in Home Sweet Home, though the filmmakers pile on the idea that we are supposed to sympathize with her (done mostly through clumsy flashbacks, one of which contains a really great moment with Lam). She’s mostly slithering around in full on Lon Chaney Jr make-up, saying few words, trying to appear matronly and menacing all at once. In Koma, she’s a introverted love sick woman seething at her station in life and equally as determined to free herself. Lee’s very good, taking this really annoying character on her shoulders, and doesn’t need the filmmaker’s help to create any sympathy. Qi has the worst job of the three, having to be the whiny wife in a corny melodrama/thriller and really it is just out of her hands.

Both films portend to delve into class divisions, the dangers of urban living and how these forces make these woman enemies than the natural allies they should be. Hou might have made a meal of this, these directors really aren’t up to it. Of the two, Home Sweet Home has the most potential on the page, the idea of melding together Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, and “Desperate Housewives,” thematically and aesthetically, sounds kind of interesting. However the filmmakers are more focused on getting that glossy look, the racing from plot point to plot point, melodrama and the scares . . . . which is suppose what you’re probably wondering about if you’ve made it this far. These movies are not frightening. They’re billed as horror movies only in that it fits the current marketing trend of Asian films. Don’t, for the love of god, expect RINGU or run about crying how these movies suck because they aren’t scary. They suck because they’re bad.

Don’t blame the women, though. Lam was nominated for a Hong Kong award for her roll in Home Sweet Home. Two films that should have given these actresses a wide notoriety will probably damn them as far as the art house market over here is concerned. Too bad.

review: Nightmares on Wax - In a Space Outta Sound

2006-03-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

Nightmares on Wax – In a Space Outta Sound (Warp Records)

It’s been awhile since I listened to anything from DJ Ease. I really caught on to NOW late, around 2000, when they were already established as part of the “trip-hop” sound coming out of Northern England. I dug a few singles here and there, yet I never took to them as I did Portishead, Tricky, and Massive Attack. NOW’s music was too dance oriented. However, while I’ve warmed a bit to danceable electronica, NOW has moved on. In a Space Outta Sound is hardly as lounge-y as the title suggests. The soul and reggae music that Ease claims as his greatest influence is a greater presence on the new record. Though record stores insistence on dividing our choices by genre will cause this disc to fall in the “electronica” bin, this is primarily a soul (dare I say “nu-soul? Lol) record with heavy hip-hop elements. If anything, Ease is more like a modern Barry White (without the singing and basso profundo) than he is like Shadow or the other turntablists making solo records.

The cut “Damn” stands a good chance to be in the running for my top ten song list. It takes a Bhangra riff made popular by recent Ease collaborators De La Soul (from “Ego Trippin”), attaches a melting alto female vocal and whips it into a silky soul song that might scare Prince, were he the type. I almost didn’t listen to the rest of the record for constantly playing this tune.

Hip-Hop heads can just skip to “Pudpots,” a stripped down instrumental with nothing but a drum machine and hot horn samples, that is until after the bridge when the dub kicks in. Underground MCs will be practicing their flows over this shit.

There’s plenty of material for late night scotch and/or weed or cigars, whatever gets you through those chill out moments. Too bad there’s no spot like that around Nashville. Coolout, I’m talking to you!

What to listen to when you have to stay up late working on articles for next week

2006-03-11T02:40:00.000-08:00

Tom Freund – Copper Moon
Robin Thicke – Oh Shooter
Wu Tang Clan – Uzi
Final Fantasy X2 SDT – Zanarkand Ruins
Xenogears SDT – June Mermaid
MF Doom – Special Herbs instrumentals
Elvis Costello – Accidents Will Happen
Prince – Computer Blue
Talking Heads – Stay Up Late (of course)

Racist of the Year! Nominate your candidate today!

2006-03-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

This guy is in the running for “Racist of the Year.” In reply to a post condemning Three 6 Mafia’s Oscar win, this dunderhead had this bile to spew:

Just part of the ongoing Africanization of the pathetic remains of American culture. BTW, the estimates I've seen indicate that women do eighty per cent of the day-to-day work in Sub-Saharan Africa, the pimp lifestyle is a natural extension of the Black African male mindset.

Damn, I wish Crash was a good movie.

I still dont care about the Oscars but I still post - Indie Spirit Awards, too

2006-03-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

Uh, looks like a lot of people think Noah Baumbach wuz robbed. Well, while The Squid and the Whale had better dialogue than Crash, dialogue by itself doesn’t make a great script. Perhaps that is what the Oscar voters were thinking. Who knows (slipping back into I don’t care about the Oscars mode).

I notice not too many peeps are discussing the Independent Spirit Awards, where Oscar complainers often go to find the “real” winners. However, this year nearly all the winners at the Spirit awards in the major categories were also Oscar nominees. Makes sense, most of the “indies” are coming out of auxiliary arms of the major studios, and has been that way for several years now.

That said, there are a few nominees in the ISAs that didn’t get Oscar notice, you may want to check them out.

Gregg Araki – Mysterious Skin (best director nom)
Jeffery Wright – Broken Flowers (best supporting nom. One of the best actors in the country, period)
Tony Takitani (best foreign film)
Lackawanna Blues (best first feature, the movie was made for HBO. Features Terrence Howard)

snoogins

Weekend in sports

2006-03-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

Argh. So, I was just taking a few shots in the Downtown YMCA gym, warming up for some pick-up ball when one of my (many) errant shots came flying back at me from the rim, dislodging the pinky tip from the joint, leaving me with an “S” shaped finger. I snapped it back in and kept on playing (only able to hit layups for the rest of the day).

My Tarheels fared much better, defeating the slimeballs from Durham. The Heels really look good going into the ACC tournament, and if they keep on this route they’ll go fairly deep into the NCAA tourney. Reddick disappeared into the vapors in the second half, clanking long range threes off the iron from every side of the court. I could not have been more pleased. With the Heels now ranked #10, a good showing in the ACC tournament should yield a #2 seed, a lock if they win the tournament. No one, absolutely no one thought the kids would be in this position pre-season. BTW, apologies for dogging Bobby Frasor all year, he stepped up this weekend.

Duke, as a team, better step up. Heels fans know Reddick can’t do it by himself, despite what everyone else in sports believes. If he fades and Sheldon Williams is sitting with four fouls, someone has to be a man.

The Tarheel women dominated the ACC tournament. I don’t know anyone who can defeat them, not even the resurgent Lady Vols, who have overcome losing two starters and spotty shooting by Shanna Zolman to win the SEC tournament. I don’t know if they deserve a number one seed in the NCAA like Coach Summit believes. It’s hard to make that case with five losses. It wont matter that much as they should advance to the final 8 with little trouble, that is if they play up to their potential.

The NFL’s failure to reach an agreement gives me little pause. They’ll probably reach an agreement soon enough, and if they don’t, teams have a chance to step back and make adjustment to come in under the cap.

I usually don't care about the Oscars

2006-03-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

I need a helping hand, literally. I’m typing with two fingers on my right after having dislocated a finger on Friday (the anecdote to be filed under the weekend sports wrap to come). In my line of work that can make for a frustrating week. However, I’m still at it.

I was surprised that Crash took Best Picture, though I do remember thinking after I saw it that it could win if Hollywood wanted to congratulate itself for its mealy mouthed liberal politics. Crash, or as I like to refer to it, JOHN SAYLES’ CITY OF CRASH was a middlebrow, middle class, noir-ish take on post riot race relations in LA, oddly with barely a hair visible from the second largest minority in the city, Asian-Americans (save a brief appearance by Daniel Dae Kim). I did like Don Cheadle’s easy going upwardly mobile detective, Dillon’s (overlauded) performance as an angry white cop, and Terrence Howard’s breathing some life into the tired “I forgot where I came from” African American power broker. I didn’t like the script, where chance ties everyone together all too conveniently. Sandra Bullock’s brief performance promised to be the most interesting, and would have been a good breakout from her lame RomCom same-o same-o’s. Of all the nominees, it was perhaps the least deserving, yet, as it often happens . . . .

While I agree, shockingly, with many of the cons and neo-cons whining about liberal Hollywood this morning re: Crash, y’all need to leave Ang Lee and Three 6 Mafia out of it. Lee earned it, since David Cronenberg wasn’t in the running, and though them Memphis boys don’t get much rotation in my CD player, that was a great choice for best song. It isn’t an example of liberal Hollywood run amok so much as it is a recognition that rap music and hip-hop culture is a global force that you will not be able to hide from. Face it kids, your country singers are trying to pop Kris with rappers these days. It was only a matter of time. It’s cool that some Tennessee boys were the first with an Oscar (ironically, before they won a Grammy. Didn’t the same thing happen to Prince?)

I think it is quite amusing to see the cons getting all apoplectic about movies dealing with issues with which they clearly feel uncomfortable. Seems to me that, since most of them haven’t seen the movies they’re complaining about, they feel bad about being on the wrong side of the issues discussed. If the mainstream (don’t kid yourself, the Oscars are nothing if not mainstream), the masses, can feel comfortable with seeing dudes dry humping each other and don’t mind being confronted with questions of race or how we handle terrorism, then the conservatives are really in the minority.

In case you’re counting, I’d have voted for Munich.

Sports wrap - Heels, Duke, and the Titans draft dillema

2006-03-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

The Heels crushed UVa last night, avenging the loss in a close game earlier in the season. The domination was the latest in a string of authoritative wins, which bodes well for the Heels as they enter into the tournaments. The kids have matured, the upperclassmen decided to play like grown men (finally), and Williams, making a strong case for coach of the year honors, continues to prove a masterful motivator.

Down in Tallahassee, the Seminoles shocked everyone by holding on against Duke for the upset win. That should boost the Heels confidence as they enter into Cameron for the regular season’s last showdown. In all likelihood the two teams will meet some time in the post season, however all we really care about is Saturday night. Though our lads are playing confidently now, going into Cameron can turn the hardest men into wee girls.

Can I mention how much I cannot stand Mike Patrick? His pro-Duke bias has been so obvious over the years it’s ridiculous. However since J.J. Reddick has become a media darling, he’s just beside himself. You could hear the air rush out of his lungs when Duke lost. He wanted to go home and hug his pillow. Whenever Reddick does anything, Patrick howls like a banshee. “REDDICK, GOING TO TIE HIS SHOE! OH MY, LOOK AT THE WAY HE TIES THAT KNOT, WHAT A SENSATIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER THIS KID IS! UNBELIEVABLE!” He’s been hyperbolic over Duke players in the past, this year he’s over the rails.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, people are actually DEBATING whether or not the Titans should draft Vince Young with their first pick. They figure Leinart will be gone already (don’t be so sure). Who are fans suggesting instead of the QB on the #1 team in the nation last year? Jay Cutler. Yeah, that guy, the guy who could barely complete a pass against Middle Tennessee State University. Cutler is actually a decent QB, and will likely play in the NFL for someone, maybe even start after a year. There aren’t a whole lot of top QBs in the draft so he’ll be a late first round pick. However . . . . he is not Vince Young, I don’t care how low Young scored on the Wonderlic (I scored a 49 if you’re counting). Stupid. The Wonderlic score may indicate many things, though I don’t think it impacts defense reading abilities much. That kind of thing, like most things in football, is learned through repetition in practice. It helps if you have the cognitive skills in place already, however you have to LEARN to recognize a defense through study. I think it’s Leinart/Cutler fans who are spreading the rumors about Young’s near mentally handicapped score on the test. Time will tell.

next wave in hip-hop fashion coming from Tokyo

2006-03-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

Speaking of big in Japan, the next wave in Hip-Hop fashion (oxymoron? You decide) is coming from Bathing Ape and designer Nigo. Japanophiles, dance music fans, and toy collectors probably know Nigo already. He’s a DJ/producer, fashion designer, and member of the J-Hip-Hop group Teriyaki Boyz. Nigo opened a boutique in Manhattan at the end of last year. Just a few nights ago I saw Jay-Z sporting a BAPE hoodie on television. Rappers tend to play follow the leader when it comes to clothing, as do fans, so look to hear about BAPE clothing in the near future. You may even dare to spring $400 for a sweatshirt like HOVA.

You can see BAPE fashions in action in the video for Heartbreaker from the Teriyaki Boyz. Anyway, it’s about time y’all checked out some Japanese rappers anyway.

Teriyaki Boyz are a “supergroup” of like minded rappers, Verbal from M-FLO, Ilmari and Ryo-Z from Rip Slyme, Wise, and DJ Nigo.

review - Bahamadia - Good Rap Music

2006-03-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Bahamadia – Good Rap Music

Bahamadia is one of those rap legends few have heard of. Electronica fans have probably heard her spit on tracks from the likes of Morcheeba, and IIRC she was on a Brittney Spears remix (!). She’s been more appreciated overseas than in the states, boasting, without irony, that she really is big in Japan. However, her bona fides were made early in the 90’s in Philadelphia, just before The Roots and neo-soul broke and there was such thing as a “Philly sound.” Her latest LP is quite good, called appropriately enough Good Rap Music. As an MC she’s caught in a netherworld between hardcore fans and pop star groupies. Her songs, dense and uncompromising, appeal more to the various strains of underground cats, Okayplayers, and back packers, (a group of fans and musicians she excoriates on the title cut) than to the pop fans who support female MCs like Missy and Eve (despite the undergrounders’ enlightened stance, how many female MCs do they support?). However, those women aren’t in Bahamadia’s league as a rapper. Her only peer may be Jean Grae. Good Rap Music is filled with songs that harken back to back in the day. She takes us back to the halcyon days of neo-soul and spoken word, like with the finger snap-head wrap tune “Reign” or rocks it hard over a drum machine and two turntables like it’s the early 80’s on “Culture Cut.” Of course with her Philly roots and association with the music scene there, lyricism is going to be a major concern for the MC, her skills displayed beautifully on “Serious II,” full of vivid imagery and introspection. The best cut (a tough call to be sure) is “Thank You,” an ode to moms. Her moms did a great job.

review: Five Deez - Kommunicator

2006-03-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

Five Deez – Kommunicator
Rapster Records

Kommunicator is one of those rare rap records where adherence to true school hip-hop and defiance of rap conventions meld successfully. Categorists may have trouble where to place the LP, in their dance, lounge, rap, or electronica sections. Producer Fat Jon layers trippy synthetics and swooning female vocals over headknod-ic beats, and the Five Deez MCs flow poetically, mixing in styles from all of rap, from Native Tongue simmer to Dirty South chants. Though it is a thoroughly accessible CD, I doubt heads will be bumping it in the back of their Escalades. It’s definitely an experience to be savored with headphones on, or sitting about in a cloud of smoke.

words pressed?

2006-02-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

I can’t stand the “hat tip” phrase the kids are using these days. So I’ll just thank Jackson for pointing me to the free Word Press hosts. I’ve already sets up a site to see how it looks. I love having categories but I don’t like the themes all that much. There’s no ads (not like I’m actually making money from this), they have their own stats meter, I think it will be interesting, though, to see how little traffic my blog gets without having any links to it, heheheh.

Another baby pic

2006-02-22T13:44:00.000-08:00

flash game

2006-02-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

Take a short break. Play Ninjaman!

Who is the dork? What is dorknation?

2006-02-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

Heels continue to finish strong in tight games with players stepping up when another falls off. And think, we’re doing this without a serious point guard. Frasor? Come on. Wack.

I did post a couple of record reviews this last night/this AM, however, I really went into the weekend thinking I’d have several new movie reviews up. Technical difficulties, as they say. It is frustrating, however, I guess not only for me.

Brings me to what “dork nation” was supposed to be about, and the vision I had of the blog. I’d hoped to do Word Press with a hosted server, a site with categories, and would focus (as you can see from reading a few posts) on politics, foreign film, hip-hop, sports, and whatever else I could shoe horn in. I’d even thought of doing video/computer game reviews, but I guess that’s somewhat of a pipe dream, like I have the time for any of that.

And, an “about” page would be nice, I guess. The short bits you can get in the right sidebar are adequate, yet don’t tell the entire story, like, not only am I a Carolina alum, I was an athlete there, which kinda gives me a little knowledge about college sports, or that I worked in politics for a several years after law school, so I have a bit of a perspective on that game from the inside. How I got to be a music reviewer/film reviewer for an alt-weekly is an ass backwards story for a later date. Let’s just say I’m a not-as-yet failed screenwriter, too, and leave it thus for now.

I guess I felt obligated to give my bona fides, though, as most of us know, few people who blog on most subjects have any idea what they’re talking about. It’s a beauty contest of ideas, and bloggers are judged on the power of their link sidebar, not the content of their posts (Hey, it is Black History Month, y’all).

Why “dorknation?” Because, well, I’m a dork.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Fun

2006-02-19T00:37:00.000-08:00

Try listening to MF Doom’s Special Herbs instrumentals while checking out Margaret Cho’s My Space page. Good times. Also, peep Cho’s list of Emails she got from some conservatives after some comments she made about President Bush. Michelle Malkin, you got some ‘splain’in to do. Is Malkin really sure she wants to have a contest on which side is more racist?

review: Roots Manuva - Alternately Deep

2006-02-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

Roger Smith aka Roots Manuva has one of the most distinctive flows in hip-hop. Though being a West Indie Brit has something to do with it, he does have a staccato rapid fire vowel swallowing chant that makes him stand out among his MC peers. He often flows over minimalist beats, that if perhaps not the most listenable music, perfectly compliments his style. If his records are not always so accessible t’s because his music is on the cutting edge of rap beats, though that hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of my favorites in the game. The latest LP, Alternately Deep has Manuva returning more to his original style. After last year’s release saw him going off on some very interesting personal rants about his three year absence from the UK charts ( a Dave Chappell style disappearing act ) backed by less interesting two-step mixes. Though he’s always had a few cuts that paid due respect to London’s flourishing club scene (that manages to mix better with rap than does the American club music) an entire album of that was just annoying.

A Manuva LP will likely always be an adventure. He explores all genres here, too, like “Nobody’s Dancing,” which recalls the mid-80’s heyday of Brit dance pop ( reemphasizing the influence of Caribbean sounds on pop music in those days). The dub influence is back in full force (“Seat Yourself,” “Check It,” “Colossal Insight”) and the trippy trip-hop styles (“Pep My Game,” “Grown Man,” “Mean St.”).

This is a record for purists and those who miss Tricky. Nothing as good as “Soul Decay,” but what is, really?

review: Dilated Peoples 20/20

2006-02-18T23:35:00.000-08:00

New Dilated Peoples LP, 20/20, drops this week. Babu keeps inching the crew’s sound toward more commercial, less “underground,” though not so much as to alienate their core audience. Evidence and Rokka are on the usual suspects, Bush, weed, globe trotting, how nice he is on the mic. There’s no stand out track, no obvious guest producer (like Kanye’s joint on the last record, that for some reason didn’t get as much play as the very similar “The Corner,” then again Common’s much more the matinee idol (). That isn’t to say that the CD isn’t worth copping, there are no weak cuts, just nothing scintillating. There are a couple of bangers, like “You Can’t Hide, You Can’t Run,” “20/20,” “Alarm Clock Music,” punctuated my Babu’s horn and vocal samples. Their music hasn’t had the same impact on me since the first record, I suppose that’s because there’s so much like them out there now. Anyway, I suppose in terms of chart success their exposure to Kanye was valuable, this is probably their most accessible release so far.

On second thought

2006-02-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

"For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously, . . . ”
Vice-President Dick Cheney

Okay, perhaps he did bring it on himself.

Throw ya guns in the air, and wave em like you aren't really concerned with the outcome!

2006-02-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

As I was preparing for my lunch time work out, I caught a glance at a CNN story about how the Dick Cheney shooting incident is being played for laughs on the Internet and TV. I was struck by a moment of sympathy for both men. How would I feel if I accidentally shot my best friend in the face? Like shooting myself in the face, that’s how. I thought, kids, we’ve had our fun and games, now lets pack up our Elmer Fudd caps and go home. Leave the old dudes to their anguish, and let the Vice President get back to running the country before Bush really gets us in trouble. Besides, why would anyone want to fuck wit a nigga who shot his great friend in the grill? That’s hard core gangsta. He could send his boys to our homes, tap our telephones, and . . . oh . . . yeah.

Later, I saw this. Check it out and look at the replies. Whiny Republicans complaining about the media! The media is blowing it out of proportion! The media shot Harry Whittington! The media ate my children! The “media” is reporting a story with the kind of breathless histrionics you lot have come to demand, the same kind of piranha like fervor with which it covers White House controversies ALL THE TIME.

Moreover, the White House invited the kind of scrutiny it’s receiving over the issue by withholding key information about the incident. They weren’t waiting for relatives to be notified, they were huddled together, trying to figure out how it would play, setting up the Faux News exclusive, handling the issue just as they would any other POLITICAL controversy. Cheney may not have brought the jokes on himself. He made a horrible mistake. However, part of the blame for the media frenzy lies within the White House, and probably the VP himself.

Heels 82 Georgia Tech 75

2006-02-16T02:41:00.000-08:00

I’m up working on an article. I might as well drop some thoughts on last night’s game. When I got back from the office the Heels were down by 20. Once again, Hansborough put the team on his narrow yet durable shoulders and carried the team to victory. Tech didn’t have an answer for him, it was a great performance by the youngster. What I missed in the first half was Tech’s amazing 9 for 9 shooting for 3 pointers. Their studs went ice cold, they couldn’t hit even when left all alone. So, JJ “Fad” Reddick, the frosh finished with 40, one point shy of your year high total, and he did it without the benefit of the three pointer. So suck on it.

Btw, I found a blog that cracks me up, feels the same way about the Tarheels that I feel about Dook. Engaged to a Tarhole.

Merry Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

I get all political and stuff today over at Pith in the Wind. Now I’m gonna get all romantic and stuff. Love ya babe!

Swim over to Graffiti Bridge

2006-02-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

MTV Overdrive has a nice collection of classic Prince videos online. Reminisce about your old pair of lace gloves while eating your tuna sub.

Right Still Wrong

2006-02-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin rightly condemns the recent comments of Lithium poster girl Ann Coulter. At a recent hard right fundraiser, Coulter referred to Muslims as “Ragheads.” Malkin could have gone to bed straining herself patting herself on the back for her righteousness. However, she had to take an opportunity to blast liberals, hollowing the sincerity of her admonishments. Apparently, liberals have some house cleaning of their own to do, she claims the left is no better than Coulter. Apparently Malkin’s got hundreds of Emails from so called liberals hurling odious racial epithets at her, and then points out how liberals hate conservatives of color by pointing to cartoon parodies of Secretary Rice, Secretary Powell, and Lt Governor Steele.
In light of the ascendance of Lynn Swann, NFL Hall of Famer as the GOP’s version of Obama, it would seem that conservatives are winning games played with the race card*. After all, aren’t the Republicans placing people of color in cabinet/high ranking senate positions at a faster rate than the Democrats? Are the Republicans finally making inroads into the stranglehold the Democrats have on African-American voters? No, not really. For every one Swanny you’ve got 1,000 not so rich and famous African-Americans who wouldn’t come near voting Republican even if Oprah decided to go GOP. The pervading view of the party has, and likely always will be, is that the GOP is the party of “them” and not “us.” Bottom line is that, like Che’ said, you can’t start a revolution from the top down (If only Bush II had listened). Placing a few coloureds at the top of your pyramid scheme isn’t going to convince anyone of your sincerity. Making an easy call and condemning a dimwit like Coulter is what one expects of you, of anyone. Malkin lists all the GOP commentators that have gone online or in print to admonish Coulter. What’s most glaring to me is that the list is so short.
*I completely abhor the phrase “playing the race card.” It’s meaningless shorthand that never manages to address issues, only dismiss them.

Justin Timberlake is much harder than Scott Hamilton

2006-02-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

Here’s one for ya Tuesday Haters on a Sunday morning. Linked through Angry Asian Man via Hanzi Smatter, Justin Timberlake loves ice skating. Don’t we all? (

Japanese horror: dead and alive

2006-02-12T02:49:00.000-08:00

Kurosawa Kiyoshi participates in the film that celebrates the career of horror manga artist Umezu Kazuo. His Mushi tachi no ie (House of Bugs) seems to be the most interesting segment. Catch the trailer here. It is certainly the most adult (read: critically accessible) part, as the others include cannibalism and giant snakes. However, apparently no vengeful female ghosts. The set will be released on DVD in the US in early summer of this year.

There have been several manga based horror anthologies released in the states on DVD. The one I’ve seen was pretty poor. It was a made for TV affair, and though that doesn’t always signify wackness, (after all, the much lauded yet overrated JUON was initially a TV movie), it did in this case.

The J-horror boom of the late 90’s is pretty much dead creatively, and even if some critics are tired of the genre and it’s seemingly requisite tropes, fans aren’t, and the movies continue to be successful. Nicholas Rucka argues that the popularity of the genre has killed it, that as Hollywood sops up the rights to remake the classics from the era, studios and filmmakers make the same product over and over in a desperate attempt to attract some of that Hollywoof attention. That’s valid, though repetition and a desire to make a buck has wrested the creativity out of most genre films.

I’ll admit to being somewhat tired of J-horror, and I haven’t seen much lately, though only because of lack of time and opportunity. Still, I’m willing to give something that looks interesting a shot. Mushi tachi no ie certainly does, and the rest of the trailers reveal shorts with a certain camp quality like that of the vastly underrated Uzumaki.

PS to Mr Rucka and others; you miss the obvious reason for differences between J-horror and American films. Cremation. It’s why Japanese zombie flicks are often played for laughs. The idea of a dead body walking around is kinda funny when everyone is ashes.

Onitsuka's reclaimation: The Hipster's Bounty

2006-02-11T01:20:00.000-08:00

I love Onitsuka Tiger shoes. I rock two pairs of the retro Ultimate 81. It will be the hipster shoe of choice for the future. ASICS/Onitsuka, seeing this, seeing Lost in Translation and the many websites dedicated to "Engrish", has decided to, in the vein of recent reclaimations of terms like "nigga" and "bitch" and "queer" to use Engrish as a marketing strategy for their new retro shoes. Click below to get a taste.

Hipsters from Williamsburg to Sylvan Park will eat this up. The ad will probably kill in the UK. Outside of those spots, it will fail. Fine with me, cuz it keeps my kicks exclusive. At any rate, as a public service to hipsters and Japanophiles, I pass the love on to you.

Duke 87 UNC 83: The Aftermath

2006-02-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Well, the young bucks made a valiant effort last night, I’ll admit. Still, one has to be disappointed in the end.

Despite shooting like pee-wee leaguers in the first 5 minutes of the game (missing untold numbers of lay-ups and five footers) the Heels kept the game close, thanks to some pretty good defense on this years Duke poster boy JJ (“fad”) Reddick. I’d written us off at halftime, however. I figured Duke would make a run and pull away. And they did, sort of. The Goo Devils increased their lead to 17 points. Then, showing why he should be coach of the year and not Bruce Pearl, Roy Williams benched the starting five and excoriated them as the scrubs closed to within single digits of Duke. When Hansborough and the lads returned, Carolina managed to take a lead . . . only to revert to the kind of playing that characterized the first five minutes of the game, blown lay-ups and weak defense. Still, even though Duke’s stars managed some timely shots, they still gave us opportunities. At the end, our boys sphincters clinched tighter than a Klan member naked at a gay bar. With a few seconds to play and three points behind, suddenly they became scared to shoot the ball.

Our problems remain youth and weak play at the point guard spot. I’m still not sure how we managed to stay in the game without much of a perimeter game. I suppose we stuck close because of the emergence of Rayshawn Terry, a junior, who decided it was time for him to step it up. Hansborough, again played pretty solid in the middle. He’s got to bulk up, attack the rim with force, and develop some post moves. Noel, outside of a clutch 3 pointer, did little.

my monkey brain

2006-02-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Oddly enough, the Duke UNC game was not in the forefront of my brain today. I had more pressing matters. Now, to those who know me, that admission would have them on their back. However, those who really know me know why. To those others, I may well clue them in later.

Cuz it’s almost GAME TIME BABAAAAAYYYYY

??

2006-02-06T00:08:00.000-08:00

pics

2006-02-05T23:43:00.000-08:00

pics

2006-02-05T23:41:00.000-08:00

ready for his album cover

Apathy of Demigodz, JC Smooth

2006-02-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

Briefly, listening to Apathy’s debut, Eastern Philosphy. It’s nice. Hype should build for this cat slowly. If he gets compared to Eminem and Aesop Rock, it’s partially because he’s white, partially because some critics don’t have any other reference points, and maybe just a little of it is his own fault. The record is probably too “underground” to become a big hit, however I imagine a lot of back packers and what not will be picking this up. Will probably edit this later to add more.

Also reviewing a local R&B singer for print, with the unfortunate name of JC Smooth. That sounds like a corny 80’s rapper in a polyester two button double breasted suit and no shirt (or socks, and Bally shoes of course). The kid is not bad, though, at least as good as say Bobby Valentino. Thing is, the world needs another Bobby Valentino like I need a hole in the head. Or something.

review: Public Enemy - Rebirth of a Nation

2006-02-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

PE returns with Rebirth of a Nation, a self referential tribute to their seminal rap record, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Today the only thing holding PE back is their new producer Paris. Terminator X is back, however Hank Shocklee’s “Wall of Sound” is not. Chuck still has his revolutionary fury, refusing to be silenced by the din of the shufflin’ bucks that call themselves rappers these days. Yet, without the crushing beats from the old stuff, the music just doesn’t have that same impact.

Flava Flav takes time out from his self-promotional jaunts on TV/decent into madness to play the jester role once again, even he fails to elicit a chuckle. His personality is so big however, anything he raps over makes ya smile. “Go to Jones Beach/Get on the back of a shark,” he says in “They Call Me Flava.” Huh?

PE has the same old enemies, the CIA, bringing in drugs to the black community, complacency, wack rappers, and a Republican President. The new villain is Western beauty standards (“Plastic Nation”). I suppose when old artists make a comeback, you want them to try something new, however this record had me wishing for something old.

Stupor Bowl

2006-02-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

I got naught to say about the Super Bowl. I had no rooting interest in the teams . . . actually, considering that I’m a life long Cowboys fan, I would have loved nothing better than to see the Steelers suffer a humiliating defeat. Well, there was none of that. It was a miserable game to watch, really, fumbles and stumbles, dropped passes . . . not like it was a defensive struggle, unless you count that the defenses struggled to do anything well. Oh, and another boring Stones concert at halftime, and even more boring a stupid commercials. YAWN.

This is why I love college sports.

Meanwhile, back at the raunch

2006-02-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

I’ve started contributing to the Nashville Scene’s blog,.Pth in the Wind My first post was kinda weak, however I hope to improve. Meanwhile, I need to improve my own blog. Unfortunately, mother in law hangs out on the couch in our computer room.

Tokyo has fallen off. They’ve moved out of the top spot as the most expensive city in the world, bested by Oslo, Norway. I’ve never been to Oslo. I have no current desire to go. However, if that place is more expensive than Tokyo, woe be unto you Osloians.

Memoirs of a Gay-sha

2006-01-27T15:33:00.000-08:00

Kids, the gay movie of the year is not the Brokeback Mountain. Not even Capote, and certainly not Transamerica. It is Memoirs of a Geisha. Over the top melodrama about forbidden love, Gong Li chewing scenery like Divine on crack, a dance scene straight out of a drag show, I don’t think any film since, oh, the last John Waters film has been more dead on on the gay aesthetic (if there is such a thing). And I didn’t even know (for sure) that Rob Marshall is gay until recently. Hitting on the idea has made me rethink my previous loathing for Geisha. Rather than retreading worn stereotypes, Marshall turned the story into a personal film, speaking to his culture as much, if not moreso, than attempting to show “Japanese culture” (though according to my wife, he did a decent job of the latter).

This could be an important signpost for filmmakers of marginalized cultures and backgrounds. Black filmmakers in the post-Spike indie wave of the 90’s spent all their time laboring in the streets telling hood tales and spending untold dollars on splatter packs. What they should have been doing, perhaps, is finding stories that spoke to their issues and telling them with passion, rather than trying to jump on the hood bandwagon. Maybe people like Matty Rich would still be working, and Cheryl Dunne wouldn’t be doing crap like My Baby’s Daddy.

Of course, some stories are dying to be told. The Hughes Brother’s Menace II Society, Daughters in the Dust, the myriad of South African flicks (none made by people of color, actually), X, Eve’s Bayou, and many more, enriched the culture of film by their presence. American cinema had to have those films. However, what do you do when you keep telling the same thing over and over? No one listens anymore. You start doing “big” movies if you’re Singleton, or live of the vapors of your past if you’re Spike, or vanish into the dustbin of history.

History may not be kind to Rob Marshall, though Oscar may be. Geisha’s not a particularly enthralling piece, though it is a marvel of technical filmmaking. It’s also a very personal statement gussied up in some very expensive kimonos.

Strange visitor

2006-01-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

My mother in law is in town, staying at our place. For a month. My son, who hadn’t seen her in several months, was scared of her. He hasn’t completely warmed to her yet, though he at least allows her to pick him up, feed him, etc. I suppose when he last saw her his long term memory hadn’t developed to the point it has now.

My Japanese hasn’t developed to the point where I can have a meaningful conversation with her. I can communicate, but only on a childlike level, lol, like I can’t tell her how I’d like to throw everyone I work with (day job) off the top of a tall building. However, I suppose that’s info she can do without . . . .

We're playin' baaa-sket-baahhhhllll

2006-01-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

After about a three month layoff, I returned to ye old work out routine in earnest. However, yesterday, I wasn’t feeling it, though I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. For a change of pace I grabbed a rock and headed to the basketball court. After being there for awhile, some dude showed up and challenged me to some one on one. I was a little winded, but I agreed. To make a long one short, I got waxed by some 5’6” dude. The problem was, though I was leading most of the game, I just got tired, played some ole’ defense, and lost. I really, REALLY, need to get in shape. I’ve got a plan now, let’s see if I can stick to it. My soccer playing weight is probably a pipe dream (180 lbs), lets see if I can get down to the football playing weight (205 lbs).

Speaking of playing weight, let us look at the recent Tarheels basketball performances. We’ve been pretty sad. Freshman Tyler Hansborough has been asked to lug his comrades through some tough games, and it is apparently wearing on him, despite a 26 point performance against Boston College last night. Wes Miller gives spotty support with pretty good outside shooting (over 60% from 3 pt range). The rest of the team has just not been up to the task. It’s telling that we’re starting two former non-scholarship players (though one of them, Miller, is doing well). Coach Williams just doesn’t have the talent to compete in the conference this year. If his sideline antics mean any thing, they tell us that his players aren’t executing his game plan either, which means that not only do they not have the firepower, they don’t have the mental acuity either. I am not looking forward to the Duke game.

thinking of a master post

2006-01-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

I’m ruminating on the Sympathy for Lady Vengeance flick, and I’m thinking I may need a second viewing before writing about it, or at least clearing off my desk and clearing out my head a little bit before committing to post. I did like it as much as the talented Mr Ridley suggested I might, and certainly don’t think the Park love fest is over like Rothkopf believes. If it is, I’m calling bullshit. It will be interesting to see what he does next now that this revenge trilogy thing is done. I would think that if the next film is more revenge, the fest will be on it’s last legs.

One thing that’s interesting about Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is the similarity to Kill Bill (one, but important) after Park called QT a “great thief.” In a short interview with Park he didn’t seem to be all that impressed with the auteur to whom he is most often compared (reflexively).

sorry

2006-01-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

For a new site I've gotten a substantial number of hits, not enough repeat visitors though. I guess when you don't update a lot . . . I promise to change . . .

While I'm thinking about it, I must give props to Turner Classic for airing the Miyazaki films in 16 x9 AND with subtitles. I avoided watching because I expected them to be dubbed and in 4X3.

So people, check the TCM website for schedules. You may have already missed Naussica, my favorite, my wife's favorite, however if you have kids, mark down the times for the viewing of Totoro!

Back in the groove

2006-01-04T16:29:00.000-08:00

Been a long time/since I left you/with a blog post to step to

Took the holidays off. I'm glad I saved posting about Syriana until I saw Munich. Now I can make the think piece type of post. Ha.

BUT . . . can it wait until I view Sympathy for Lady Vengeance?!?!?!?

back to the Lazy Sunday thing

2005-12-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

See, cats like this have been doing rhymes like that Lazy Sunday thing with a straight face. I guess that's why I didn't find the skit all that funny.

Mission intolerable

2005-12-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

I will not make a habit of the "OMG, the trailer for BLADE 7: The Ressurection is up!" movie nerd type of post. However, I do feel it necessary to comment on the Mission Impossible 3 trailer. Not because there is any Crazytom action you need to be alerted to. It's because the trailer reminds me of playing Metal Gear Solid 2, minus the cool stuff.

Action video games long ago subsumed and reinterpreted the wrote structure of action movies, and the interactive elements and low cost of microwave popcorn made the video game version much more attractive to guys than going to the theatre.

So in the Bizarro world we live in, movies, genre movies, have begun to ape video games in turn. Now you have scenes like, Tom aiming a small gun. Tom Aiming a big gun. Tom aiming a missile launcher. Tom dodging guided missles. Tom outrunning a helicopter. ETC. Pan up of a hot chick. Pan up on the (soon to be) obligatory Asian chick. The Black Sidekick heartily welcoming Tom with the language he barely understands (English).

I guess there would be nothing too sad about this if the people who made this stuff remembered that WATCHING SOMEONE ELSE PLAY A VIDEO GAME IS BORING AS HELL. The thing that makes cats forgo your $300 Million action flick or video game adaption is that by making the story non-participatory, you have ripped the controller out of our hands and make us sit and watch while some crazy person has all the fun.

amusing

2005-12-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

Not often the interviewer gets interviewed. However, I was doing some last minnit Xmas shopping and was approached by a television reporter doing a story on last minute shoppers. I was just getting some wrapping paper for my parents gifts, and so answered when the reporter asked me. I knew at that moment I would probably be sitting with my parents watching the story when it aired . . .

(for Nashvillians, the spot aired on Channel 4, though looks like most of my hits come from other parts of the globe)

Y'all have a very special holiday season. Get crunk on the nog.

Let them eat cupcakes

2005-12-22T11:53:00.000-08:00

Okay people, it was cute. I saw that “Lazy Sunday” sketch on SNL, you know, the one everyone is blogging about, passing videos back and forth. Oh, isn’t it hee-hee-larious, white guys rapping about Narnia and cupcakes. Andy Samberg does a pretty good approximation of Slug, and I suppose Parnell is funny because he’s rapping and over 30, or something. Admittedly, it was one of the better things to come out of that show in awhile. However . . . come on. T-shirts? You’re selling t-shirts about this thing now? Have you people lost your minds? Anyone caught wearing this (probably back to back with their “Vote for Pedro” t-shirt) deserves a BEAT DOWN.

The saving grace about the skit and the subsequent madness is that it doesn’t really lend itself to a recurring appearance that could be parlayed into a bad movie produced by Loren Michaels.

Movie Review: Three Extremes

2005-12-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

Three Extremes

Directed by
Takashi Miike
Fruit Chan
Park Chan Wook

Three shorts from the mavericks of East Asian cinema. Takashi’s first up to, his “Box” plays like a suburban, snow capped remake of Audition. A young woman (Hasegawa Kyoko), an author, lives a waking dream, haunted by a childhood of abuse and the possibly accidental death of her father and twin sister, who reappears in the woman’s waking dreams as a child (the ubiquitous white gowned scary little girl). Takashi’s not too concerned with frightening the viewer. He focuses on the storytelling, using the lush landscapes and vivid colored interiors to amplify the tragedy of envy and grief (and bad parenting).

Chan’s consumer culture criticism plays like a top flight episode of the “Twilight Zone.” In “Dumplings” a city slicker and desperate housewife, Ching (Miriam Yeung) seeks a mythic cure for aging from Mei (Bai Ling), a country girl from the mainland. With wry, dark humor, Chan juxtaposes the anxiety of Ching’s existence as a trophy wife whose shine has tarnished and the joy of Ling’s witch doctor who achieves a life of comfort like a trophy wife without becoming one. The twist? Soylent Green is stem cells! Arrgh!

Park once again takes on revenge in an elaborate set piece, “Cut.” A movie director’s violent films come to haunt him when he and his girlfriend are taken hostage by a raving lunatic. As is often the case with Park’s work, the less said about it in advance the better, as he often relies on jolts and shocks and train wreck visuals for our rubbernecking pleasure. In his segment, Park minimizes the theme in favor of maximizing the humor and sadism. It’s too cute by half, though. He executes the short with zeal, however he forces you to consume empty calories.

Though “Dumplings” is the most accessible and “Cut” is likely to become the Internet Asiaphile’s favorite, “Box” is the most accomplished of the segments. Takashi’s foray into Kurosawa Kiyoshi style atmospherics and psychological terror lifts the short work out of the realm of trite Japanese horror tropes.

Note: On my DVD, the order of viewing is up to the viewer, I went with “Box” first, though in the theatrical release “Box” is last.

Like the Jefferson's show

2005-12-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

Seems that in spite of the attempts of some folks to present his candidacy as a loser in progress, Harold Ford Jr is looking like a winner, or at least a tie-er. One supporter who blogs about Jr has collected the pertinent data here.

Before I go on, a disclosure. My father taught Ford Sr and Ford uncle when he was a college professor. I'm aquainted with Jr from my days working Clinton/Gore.

Now, these numbers aren't all that surprising. With Ford Jr's name recognition, connections, and national stature (Don Imus' favorite black man, apparently) fund raising was going to be a cake walk for him, especially with no other serious (sorry Kurita kids) primary competition. He's as centrist as any Tennessee Democrat with hopes of winning a statewide election should be. He has the kind of diction that makes white people call him "well spoken." He's got nice hair. Were he working for say, Bass, Berry and Sims, there's probably a few conservatives in this state who wouldn't mind (too much) if he took their daughter on a date.

All that to say all things being equal, with weak, divided (at the moment) and scared Republicans lining up on the other side, he should be planning his victory celebration allready.

Two words: Harvey Gantt. Y'all good liberals remember him, right? He ran against Jesse Helms for Senate, twice. The last time, Gantt was LEADING going into the last week in every poll. He ended up losing by 10%. Need I say more? Well, one more thing, Helms team ran an ad that last week about Affirmative Action. Perhaps it wasn't a scale tipper, just a subtle reminder.

This doesn't mean that Democrats go running out to find a "winner." No. It means when Ford wins the nomination from the party, Dems and Independants who vote for him should work that much harder during the general election. Don't just assume he's going to lose because of his race. Keep that subtle reminder in your head. Remember Harvey Gantt.

Movie review: IZO

2005-12-21T01:42:00.000-08:00

IZO

Kazuya Nakayama
Dir. Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike has often sworn off any attempts to glean subtext from his pulpy genre films, even though he often tugs at the edges of commenting on Japanese society. He’s taken on the paid dating phenomena in Visitor Q, the dissolution of the extended family in Happiness of the Katukuris, racism several times, and some say Audition is a feminist empowerment story. He’s treated each subject with such distance and brutality it’s easy to accept his claim that his movies are all about sensation and less about intellect. That will be harder to do with Izo, a wildly ambitious film stuffed with Monty Python like violence, coal black humor, and bizarre experimental touches.

The Izo character is very loosely based on the legendary Tokugawa era assassin Izo Okada. He was instructed by Hanpeida to kill everyone who supported the shogun over the Emperor, and put to death by the Emperor after his capture. In life, Izo was a pawn. In death, the Buddhist version, he roams through time as a force of nature, of death. He’s confronted in the afterworld by all his enemies, and he slashes through everyone of them in Miike’s over the top comic fashion, acts which take up 70% of the movie. The gods are aware of Izo’s Thanatos quest and set out their minions to stop him.

They can’t, of course. Izo is an idea, and you can’t kill an idea. Izo is as close as we may see to an onscreen personification of the director. He is an arm of revolution, a cinematic revolution in Takashi’s case, and as Hanpeida says in the film, like Pol Pot believed, the tool of revolution is to kill. Izo aims to kill all orthodoxy, the orthodoxy of Japanese society, academics, business, government, crime (represented by the ultimate smooth criminal, Kitano Takeshi) . . . but not creativity – that god seems to be on Izo’s side.

Perhaps it’s Takeshi’s insistence on denying subtext that makes this attempt at explicit meaning so problematic. He thinks everything has to be explained, so in between thrashings, nipple peeks, archival footage and star cameos, the maniacal action stops for some exposition. Also, do we really have to see everyone one of Izo’s victims go down in a pool of ketchup? It’s the same problem I had with Kill Bill, so you killed all 88, couldn’t you just show 44? I know, there’s some meta-ness going on there, action is meaning, etc. Still, an hour and a half in, it just becomes tiresome.

There’s a lot to like in Izo, like the tribute Takashi pays to his heroes (Suzuki Seijun is all over the movie, and there’s a neat homage to Bruce Lee’s Game of Death that doesn’t delve into cinematic larceny, take notes QT). Some of his exteriors are Ozu gorgeous and he even manages to portray a woman And a romantic relationship sympathetically, rather than pathetically. This isn’t a case of Takashi’s reach exceeding his grasp, it’s a case of his grasp on the AVID controls being stronger than that of an editor. There’s a lot that could have been trimmed from the film, though I’m sure he believes that in this Every thing Has Meaning picture nothing could be cut. That is, except many limbs.

sashin

2005-12-21T01:22:00.000-08:00

a couple more
at the fair
and the beach (in Japan. What, you thought there was a beach in Tennessee?)

better half

2005-12-21T01:21:00.000-08:00

Don't hate

2005-12-21T01:19:00.000-08:00

testing the blogger picture upload. Well, I got server space of my own . . .

Ghost of Hoover

2005-12-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

NY Times reports that the FBI has been spying on . . . er I mean monitoring several DOMESTIC organizations, including PETA, Greenpeace, and the Catholic Workers organzation. The bureau found that groups like PETA, who likes to put celebrities in fake fur and Greenpeace, whose members like to ride in little rowboats, are associated with other organzations that the FBI describes as "extremist special interest groups" and a "a serious domestic terrorist threat." Granted, bored college kids have on occasion set fire to construction sites, costing large corporations HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS in damage. Are they really a serious domestic terrorist threat?

So, perhaps PETA's placing Pamela Anderson on billboards can be considered terrorist. What's really troubling is that now it seems ANY social activism can be considered enough to warrant the FBI tappin' my telephone, like Chuck D said (somebody call Tony Rome). This is exactly the kind of thing people who opposed the Patriot Act were concerned about. Yeah, I know, I said this kind of thing has probably been going on prior to 9/11. But now you know, so act like you know.

I'll be curious to see if any right wing organizations are on the list that the ACLU plans to release tomorrow.

Heels hoops

2005-12-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

I started this season with no hope of the Heels doing anything much in the post season. However, they've been quite a surprise. They should do well in the post-season tournaments this year.

UNC 76, Santa Clara 58

Miyazaki's son

2005-12-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

Getting chills yet?

SharonCobb: Political Bloggers Lunch

2005-12-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

SharonCobb: Political Bloggers Lunch

coming up

2005-12-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

I’ve just joined the Belcourt Film Committee. We help the theater publicize upcoming films. There’s tons of great cinema coming your way this winter, what with the Scene picks ( the films picked by Scene critics as the best of the year) and whatnot. Though I’m not a huge fan of the samurai jidai-geki, I’m psyched about the samurai film festival that’s coming at the end of January, especially the weekend of Kurosawa joints. I’ll edit the post later to show the full list of films being shown.

Also, kids, Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Pulse is coming up as well. I’ll do a short review from memory later.

Coming up, thoughts on Syriana. Hey, is Nashville not getting a Geisha screening?

Briefly

2005-12-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

Things are getting mad hectic with me at home and work. I’ve got a backlog of reviews and updates to post. One thing I’m really interested in talking about, though, is this kind of thing, the push to take on Iran. Not only is this kind of drum beating among the populace alarming, it is as if the new leadership in Iran was installed by Wolfowitz. I mean, this new President should just draw a big ass red target around his palace. I remember in the early stages of Iraq II, even before the “Axis of Evil,” some on the left were predicting Iraq was just a jumping off point. Were we wrong?

Meanwhile, back at home, the NSA is up to some dirty tricks, all in the name of the war on terr’. I’m neither surprised nor shook up at the story, frankly, though I’m glad it’s finally surfaced in the Times after a year. It’s likely that this kind of thing has been going on for years, though. I’ll prolly get redflagged for linking to Xinhua in this post instead of a domestic rag, well, they don’t require visitors to register.

Change

2005-12-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

Had to revert to a standard template.

Not quite top ten enough

2005-12-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

This year I made up a little top ten urban/electronica music list for the Nashville Scene. The introductory paragraph written by the editors pretty much sums up my feelings about such lists. It was harder than I thought, though, especially coalescing into a few words how I felt about the #1 pick, Edan’s The Beauty and the Beat. There were several other LPs that were borderline, worthy of mention, so now, the also rans . . .

Micatone – Nomad Songs (Sonar Kollektiv) Electronica, nu-jazz, whatever label you want to stick on it, it’s great late night, U-Street bar, apple martini sipping music. I probably played this more than anything else this past year that wasn’t a mix CD. Bomb ass track: Mars

Kanye West – Late Registration. I can’t deny the beat skills West flashes on the LP. Too many holes in the playlist, though. I’m sure the disc will find itself on many a critic’s top 3. West is an underrated MC if ya axe me, that semi-serious exaggerated twang and often bizarre tangents provide a humorous counterpoint to his sometimes biting social commentary.

M-Flo – Beat Space Nine. More quirky dance remixes from one of Japan’s preeminent hip-hop crews. They do for old school pop star Akiko Wada what did for Elvis’ Little More Action. If that song was released here there would be 5,000 commercials and sports shows using it for a theme song.

Alicia Keys – Unplugged. Much of it is tedious American Idol style gliss and bad cover versions. However Ms Keys does have a great set of pipes that can make up for some corny songwriting. Bomb ass track: Unbreakable.

Nitin Sawhney – Philtre, It was tough to decide between this one and The Cosmic Game. I actually would have chosen his last LP Human as the top choice of them all last year. Since he backed away from the politics this year and included more house, he dropped out of the top ten completely.

Little Brother – The Minstrel Show. It’s one of the new trends in rap, indie-hop bands trying to stake a claim as the anti-indie-hop band. The CD’s title suggests a concept, a commentary on contemporary commercial rap music, however these North Carolina kids never follow through on the promise. Perhaps if they’d have mentioned Chapel Hill a little more . . . .

Cage – Hell’s Winter – An engrossing personal statement set to thundering beats. It wasn’t as charming as The Loneliest Punk nor as impressive as Edan’s meta-personal statement.

Normally I’d have waiting a list stocked with alt rock picks, too. Outside of a few acts who actually got a lot more press than I thought they would (Louis XIV, The Bravery, Trail of the Dead) I haven’t listened to a lot of new rock this year.

Spock out.

The look

2005-12-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

I like the option of having my own picture as a header, however there's something not quite right about this template. This is look is similar to that which I've planned for my hosted site, though, so I'm loathe to get rid of it. What to do . . .

woaaa

2005-12-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

At some point I'm getting a host and putting up a Wordpress type of blog. This thing should do for now. All though there's mostly movie reviews up right now, and recent releases at that, that's not likely to be the focus here (and at the new site). I'll talk about older films, mostly foreign, also forgotten films that deal with the African-American experience, some music reviews (most of my published writing these days concerns music, rap, electronica, turntablists), and politics. Lots of politics.

a find

2005-12-11T01:13:00.000-08:00

All American Otaku prolly bow down to this cat, or at least you should. I'm often interested in the view of Japan from a person of color (an American ethnic minority). Check him out.

http://www.patrickmacias.blogs.com/

Movie Review: Kamikaze Girls

2005-12-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma Monogatari)

Fukada Kyoko
Tsuchiya Anna
Dir. Nakashima Tetsuya

Kamikaze Girls is rare in that it is a Japanese import that does not involve Takashi Miike or Kitano Takeshi, though it does include some yakuza and a brief, but funny parody of Fukasaku’s yakuza flicks. Momoko (Fukada Kyoko) is a baroque fashion obsessed girl from a small town somewhere in the Kansai region, who spends her father’s Yen on billowy petticoats and freakishly gaudy period costumes (based in part on the outre’ dressed art students in Tokyo’s Harajuku district). Once her pops stops forking over the cash, she begins a scheme to bilk the local yokels out of money by selling fake Versace goods and attracts the attention of a foul mouthed biker gang girl Ichiko (Tsuchiya Anna). Over the course of the inevitable wacky road adventures, the two girls who at first mix like Bush and Kerry of course become friends, each willing to put her life on the line for the other.

The film keeps the broad comic tone throughout, even the brief moments of violence are thinned out with slapstick or animation. The two leads, pop music and TV starlets in Japan , surprise with their slapstick talent and comic timing and good chemistry. The style, the jokes, the humor, really has more to do with Japanese TV than with cinema, though it does have a polished look and rather vivid hues (in keeping with Momoko’s obsessions, likely). Still, even the uninitiated into Japanese pop culture may well find the film an amusing distraction. This look at two young contemporary Japanese women will make an interesting counterpoint to Memoirs of a Geisha.