Monday, December 04, 2006
Ultra rare Velvet Underground and Nico LP un-earthed
So after doing a bit of research it turns out that the record is extremely rare. It was created with a record cutter in the scepter studios where VU record their first record in 1966. It turns out this is a copy that Andy Warhol used to shop around record labels looking for a deal, also this is how he intended to record to be released.
The record has completely different versions and mixes of 9 of the songs that would appear on "The Velvet Underground & Nico". This is pretty amazing, VU are definitely one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time.
The record is on ebay so if you have more than $110,000 lying around you can grab it.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Really Bad Tattoos Part 5
I wonder what Freud would say about this image. Woman on top, Sausage on the bottom. Transsexual desires?
One thing is for sure. A tattoo will definitely make you more BAD ASS!
A couple of monster chest pieces. I dont really get the deal with the zombie James Brown (from his mugshot pic) and the butterfly/moth, is it really necessary to make it 20 times actual size?
Tattoos directly on your face seem to always work out really well. It looks like "the Dude's" was done by a first time tattoo artist, probably his buddy. I think its funny to imagine that his buddy had done D-U-D and then refused to do the E.
Why?
You know, I always thought that the tazmanian devil/looney toons tattoos were really over done but its nice to see someone put a fresh spin on the whole idea.
Check out:
Really Bad Tattoos Part 1
Really Bad Tattoos Part 2
REally Bad Tattoos Part 3
Really Bad Tattoos Part 4
Really Bad Tattoos Part 6
Really Bad Tattoos Part 7
Really Bad Tattoos Part 8
Monday, November 13, 2006
unblock my ear (to the tune of "unbreak my heart")
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Chocolate Lucky Charms with Chocolate Milk
Oh yeah the Leprachaun may be in the running as the "Cereal Serial Killer" I mean maybe he "took care of" the count to get his chocolate recipe.
I should add that I'm 20 years too old to be eating shit like this and I always feel ill by injesting this amount of sugar, but I kinda promised myself when I was 8 years old that when I was an adult and had money to do these ridiculous things that I actually would. Its too bad that younger version of me doesn't know the toll this stuff has on my system. Oh well a deals a deal and I really should honor my end of the bargain.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Hot item up on eBay
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Ketchup Chips
The strangest thing about it is to imagine how far away the potato chip ketchup seasoning is from a tomato growing in a field (or on a vine??? I don't know how the hell it grows (which kinda proves my point about how disconnected we are from our food)). Its not even close. Ketchup doesn't taste anything like a tomato and ketchup chips barely taste like ketchup.
Why all this talk about ketchup chips? Well I recently started eating them again after spending 8 years avoiding them. Why avoid them? You may ask (despite the fairly obviousl reason I mentioned earlier)
let me tell the tale:
The year was 1998 and I worked a job that ended at 11pm, naturally I would stay up all night and sleep all day. One average day at about 2am I was hungry so I went to the 24hr supermarket to buy food. I bought 1 bag of ketchup chips, 1 bottle of cherry coke and most important 1 sub sandwich from the deli counter fridge that had been reduced to clear because it had reached its expiry date. When I say it reached its expiry date I don't mean that at the stroke of midnight (2 hours earlier) it had expired I mean that it had past its prime the day earlier at probably 8am, which is also most likely when it was slapped with the reduced to clear sticker. I figured what the fuck I save $1 (I was 20 at the time and a lot more hapless, nowadays I'm pretty fucking neurotic about food probably due in large part to experiences like this one). Anyway I went home to eat my food. The sub had reached the point where the bread was really soggy from the moisture of the lettuce and tomato and mayo and all the flavors of the thing had sort of melded into one another so each individual item of the sandwich tasted exactly the same and generally had the exact same texture. Seriously, I probably would have failed a blind taste test trying to guess what was a tomato, an onion or a slice of ham. But I ate it anyway along with the ketchup chips and cherry coke. It didn't take too long before I realized that it wasn't sitting well and so it all came back out. Now if you think that those food items seem like a disgusting combination to eat just imagine what they're like on the return voyage.
Why quit eating ketchup chips for so long because of this? I believe that we have some inherent instinct in us to avoid foods that make us sick. I often think about the thousands of years of trial and error that we (as a race) must have gone through discovering what could and couldn't be eaten. Fuck we even know down to which herbs and spices are edible so obviously there was a hell of a lot of experimentation going on. Even if you don't believe in evolution I don't think you can deny this. Its not as if God held a banquet and laid out all the plants on earth and said "these one's are edible and these ones are poisonous". Well in Genesis he first says "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;" (minus the knowledge one of course) but then when we (mankind) get banished from Eden he says "cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field." Maybe by the thorns and thistles he was saying that some of the shit out there will make you sick. Who knows. Anyway we obviously developed defenses over time to protect ourselves from the things we ingested. When we smell something that is rancid or rotten we instinctively know that it is bad its not as though we have been taught that. I don't remember the class in school when they taught us that a rose is a good scent and rotting meat is bad.
So that's the deal and now I'm sitting here eating ketchup chips with a glass of coke (not cherry coke, I wont touch that shit).
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Severance - Toronto International Film Festival
This film mixes the comedy and horror pefectly (unlike black sheep which I saw earlier). Both elements are balanced nicely without one over shadowing the other. The film also purposely goes in the opposite direction of every horror cliche without blatantly speaking about it (like in Scream). Good movie.
The Fountain - Toronto International Film Festival
As with all of Aronofsky's films this one really makes you think about life and the larger issues facing us. I always said that Requiem for a Dream was a great movie but that I would never watch it again because it was so intense that afterwards I was in a very strange mental state.
Although one of this films main themes is death it is dealt with in a very positive manner. The visual effects are amazing and Hugh Jackman's performance is stellar. Check it out.
American Hardcore - Toronto International Film Festival
There are a few interesting interview moments and some decent Bad Brains footage but as a film this movie was very poorly put together (which is surprising because the director said they had been working on it for 5 years). It almost felt like they just took a bunch of clips and just randomly threw them together. Someone else described it well when they said that the order of the clips could have run completely in reverse and it wouldnt have made a difference. For a film about a genre of music that is generally fast, tight, very structured with a definative political message, this film seems to lack any sort of cohesive stucture or point (it was hard to see what they were trying to say with it). This could have been done much better especially seeing as the film makers said they had hundreds of hours of interview material. Die hard fans only.
Trapped Ashes - Toronto International Film Festival
The problem is that the whole thing was pretty weak. None of the stories were very engaging. For a horror film that was supposed to have humorous moments it was neither scary nor funny (not even in an ironic sense). The effects were so poorly done (it looked like a cheap episode of the outer limits). I don't even think big fans of the directors will be a fan of this one.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
This is England - Toronto International Film Festival
Director Shane Meadows does a brilliant job of illustrating the atmosphere and social status of this slice of England in 1983. The characters are well defined and even Combo who could have easily been portrayed as a monster is shown to have many layers beneath his anger and emotional problems. First time actor Thomas Turgoose proves himself as a true natural in the role of Shaun (who in fact is based largely on director Meadows.) The film also touches on the history of skinheads instead of painting them all with a stereotypically negative brush. The soundtrack is great and the shots and locations are perfect. Worth checking out.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
The Abandoned - Toronto International Film Festival
from the official website:
An American film producer named Marie returns to her homeland,
, where her Mothers dead body has been found under bizarre circumstances. She never knew her, having been adopted and brought to Russia as a baby. The only clue to what might have happened is an isolated, abandoned farm in the mountains that supposedly belonged to her natural parents. America Being the only next of kin, she inherits the place, but no one will take her there as local superstitions state that the area is... DAMNED. Only one man will embark on such a dangerous and long journey... A stranger that oddly seems to know quite a bit about her history... But once arrived, the guide mysteriously disappears, forcing Marie to explore the derelict location alone.
She discovers someone else on the property... A man named Nikolai, who claims to have been lured there exactly in the same manner, so he could discover the truth behind his unknown past as well.
They become stranded in the immense compound, plagued by terrifying, ghostly visions The problem is that the ghosts that wander around are THEIR OWN. Dead versions of themselves marauder between the buildings in the night
Time begins to move in reverse as history re-lives itself in front of their very eyes. While both their ghosts, illustrating exactly how they will die, patiently await their living counterparts to expire. A cycle of horror comes to fruition, as they are revealed the reason they have been summoned for this perverse reunion And the brutal secret behind their family.
I'm not really up to date with modern horror movies, but this movie was pretty damn freaky. The sound effects, soundtrack and audio atmospheres were very well made to create an exteremely distrubing film experience (it was probably enhanced by the fact that the sound at this particular showing was really really loud... and I'm sure they did this on purpose to enhance the effect). Considering this is Cerda's first feature it was well done.
STRIKE - Toronto International Film Festival
Black Sheep - Toronto International Film Festival
All in all the film was average, although it was great to see a movie made with no CGI and actual puppets etc ( I much prefer this method as I despise CGI) it still fell flat in many areas.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Toronto International Film Festival
It seemed like there was no chance that we would see this movie until it came out in wide release (Which is Nov. 3rd so its not that bad)
Huge cash was being paid for any tickets people were willing to part with (one American fellow paid $400) .
(The following is information I have gathered from other festival goers)
The night of the screening (Thursday 11:59) Borat showed up to the red carpet on a wagon pulled by four peasant women with his horse beside him giving air "high fives" to the crowd (see pic above). He then proceeded to give interviews to the press. Also speaking to the press was Michael Moore who was there to see the movie. Eventually everyone proceeded into the theatre.
At the festival they have what's called a "rush line" this is a line that you can stand in to get the tickets of anyone that didn't show up, so after they let in all the ticket holders they go around and count how many extra seats are left and then let that many from the rush line in. Even though the 1,260 seater was completely sold out the rush line had hundreds of people in it and the one's at the front had been waiting for about 8 hours. At final count they let 4 people from the rush line in.
After all that anticipation the film started and the projector broke down after about 10 minutes. They scrambled around trying to fix it (even Michael Moore who used to be a projectionist took a crack at trying to get it going). Borat, director Larry Charles and even Moore stood on stage and answered questions from the audience. As time went on it became clear that they were not going to get the projector fixed . The screening was moved to Friday night at the Elgin Theatre. Bad news for some, but great news for us. The Elgin is a bigger theatre so more tickets were available and we got tickets to the show.
The basic story of the film is that the Kazakhi government has sent Borat to the US (specifically New York City) to learn from American culture to better Kazakhstan, but when Borat sees Pamela Anderson's character C.J. on a re-run of Baywatch he falls in love and decides he must travel to California so he can marry her. Really though the story isn't important, its just an excuse for Borat to travel the country and interview unsuspecting people in his trademark style. I think the brilliance of the character is that you never question the character of Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen has the character so well refined that it doesn't seem like you're watching him play Borat, its just Borat. The film is easily one of the funniest and most offensive I've seen in years, well only offensive if you take any of it seriously. Cohen also has a great ability of making people expose their most ridiculous prejudices candidly on film with no remorse. In fact he describes the film as a "dramatic demonstration of how racism feeds on dumb conformity, as much as rabid bigotry." Happy Time!
* During the Q an A on opening night some asked Moore if he had seen "Team America"? He said "not yet, but I hear I get blown up"
** Michael Moore was also at the re-screening on Friday night as well as Dustin Hoffman
Saturday, September 02, 2006
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Anyone that knows anything about Johnston knows that he has battled mental illness for some time and there are stories that seem almost too bizarre to be true surrounding his life and career. When I heard that they were making a documentary about him I couldn't wait to see it. Well....... I finally saw it and I have to say it doesn't disappoint. The story is tragic in many ways but beautiful in many ways too. I really don't want to say too much about the film but I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan or a fan of a good documentary. Watch the trailer if you need more convincing.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Don't tip the delivery boy
Unrelated to that today I was eating some leftover pizza which had been ordered a few days earlier and had been in the fridge and three quarters into the second slice I noticed something strange. The slice had 2 separate clusters of little white things on it. It looked strange so I looked at the remaining slices to see if it was some kind of spice that had been put on the whole pizza but it only appeared on the slice I had in my hand. Upon closer inspection the clusters where little bunches of maggots. HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess when the pizza had been sitting out after it had been ordered a fly had laid some eggs on it. TOTAL FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to food cleanliness and such so I hate shit like that, especially not knowing if I had actually eaten a bunch of them without knowing.
My Mom told me that in the native American world that when animals appear in your life they are there to teach you something and that each one symbolizes something that is supposed to be a lesson, well I looked up the skunk and the bat to find out what they were supposed to mean but I cant for the life of me find out what a fucking maggot teaches you when you (most likely) ingest it. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Fuck Mel Gibson
The guy is full of shit instead of making a film depicting all the good things that Jesus did he chose to ultimately make one about Jesus final hours of suffering and death. Hmmm I wonder why, could it be that that's what would sell and make him shitloads of money. Now I know that the crucifixion is an important part in the story of Jesus but if that's all you show the question is What are you trying to say with this film?
It would sort of be like if a film maker went up to the studio and said:
film maker: I want to make a movie about Elvis
studio: So do you want to portray Elvis' rise to fame and how he made music that many people loved and identified with?
film maker: Oh no not at all. I want to make a movie about Elvis' last hours when he was fucked up on pills and then show him dying on a toilet.
So the recent news about Gibson getting pulled over drunk and spouting anti-Semitic remarks further solidifies the case that the guy is full of shit. Being drunk is no excuse, you don't say things when you're drunk unless you actually believe them. I mean when I'm drunk I'm not going to start yelling I hate Nickelback If I really don't (I really do). So Gibson isn't going to be making anti-Semitic remarks when he's drunk unless he is in fact a anti-Semite. Now you may be asking "Hey wasn't Jesus Jewish? How can Mel Gibson be an anti-Semite?". If I can re-iterate a point: MEL GIBSON IS FULL OF SHIT. From what I've heard Jesus is a pretty forgiving guy and I guess you'd have to be if you're so called followers are shit bags like Gibson.
Conversation between Jesus and Mel Gibson I would like to see:
Jesus: So I saw that movie you made about me getting beaten tortured and then crucified
Gibson: What did you think?
Jesus: Too much whipping not enough leper healing I was hoping to maybe see some scenes where I helped people, you know loving people was really the message I was trying to get across.
Gibson: Well I made a lot of money with that movie. I even started selling official "passion of the Christ" crucifixion nails
Jesus: Do you remember when I found people selling things in the temple I was rather upset and I even tossed over the vendors tables. Have you ever even read the bible?
Gibson: Well ummm....
Jesus: Mel?
Gibson: I read some of it...
Jesus: And what did you learn from it?
Gibson: That is would make a big blockbuster movie
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Hostage Situation
Speaking of Kidnapping, you know how in movies a common theme (where kidnapping is concerned) is someone is kidnapped and then held for a large ransom only to have the whole plan eventually foiled. My question is: Has there ever been a successful ransom kidnapping in the history of the world? If movies have taught us anything it's that it never works yet people try it all the time. The scenarios even get more and more complex yet the bad guys are always foiled.
The only Ransom kidnapping that I can actually recall is when Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, but she ended up joining them so it may have been inside job (although there is a claim that she had the Stockholm Syndrome).
Side note: the SLA has a bad-ass logo which I think would look cool on a t-shirt apart from the fact that they are considered a terrorist organization and I they're into some pretty dodgy stuff
Monday, July 03, 2006
Really Bad Tattoos Part 4
Sulu really seems to be forcing a smile for this one. This tat looks like it was made with ink
from a crayola marker (I've never seen a tat so faded).
Here's a couple of dolphin related numbers. In the second one it looks like they're stomping grapes to make wine.
These two come from the "special needs" Tiger collection.
I truly don't get it.
This last one just may be the perfect match for the guy with the dragon dick tattoo.
Really Bad Tattoos Part 1
Really Bad Tattoos Part 2
Really Bad Tattoos Part 3
Really Bad Tattoos Part 5
Really Bad Tattoos Part 6
Really Bad Tattoos Part 7
Really Bad Tattoos Part 8
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Thoughts
- 2 of the greatest 1980's punk records ever are Operation Ivy: Energy & Hectic and Minor Threat: Complete Discography. Both are each bands complete discography. LEGENDARY!
- Rosemary is an interesting herb, I haven't really decided if I love it or not, it works on some things but I just had it on a foccacia pizza type thing and I'm not sure.
- I saw an episode to Iron Chef America the other day and the secret ingredient was bison. Several times it was referred to as having a "gamey" taste to it. I don't really know what "gamey" meat tastes like but I find the whole concept hilarious.
- "Date Movie" is insulting to the human race and I'll even go as far as to say that it (and things like it) make us devolve as a society. (When I say its insulting to the human race I don't mean its insulting in the way that "Wonder Showzen" is subversive yet clever, and hilarious.)
-The other day I ordered a decaf coffee and the girl gave me a regular coffee (I saw her pour it from the regular pot, I don't think they had any decaf brewed) She knew she gave me regular and I knew she gave me regular but I don't think she knew I knew. So anyway I went back a few days later and ordered another decaf from the same girl and looked her straight in the eye and said make sure its decaf, I have a heart condition and I just got out of the hospital... again. The look on her face was priceless.
-You know you can't get Count Chocula here anymore, the least healthy shit you can get is Lucky Charms and that's hardly even that bad. When I was a kid they had that cereal that was just mini chocolate cookies... Cookie Crisp I think.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Who is Mr. Cool Ice?
His hometown is Mainz, he is 33 years old and has gone by Mr. Cool Ice for the last 13 years. He basically states that's just who he is period.
They do a tour of his apartment and we discover that he is a clean freak. Everything has to be spotless and in the right place.
The 2 girls on the talk show are basically making an ass out of him and a direct translation from the girl sitting closest to him is "You look like Shit".
He has spent over 4,000 euro's to get his tattoos which is about 6, 000 USD.
Well there you have it a little light into the world of Mr. Cool Ice. If anyone has any more info keep it coming
I should also point out for those of you who haven't seen the video that "Ice Ice Baby" plays throughout and its likely that that is where he got his name from.