So it's been a crazy month of March for your fair Brickthrower. I have succeeded in obtaining a bit of a promotion within my "day job" office environ and starting March 24th I will be working full time in NYC.
And no, Goddard and I do not plan to move to NYC just yet.
We did however, set a date - SEPTEMBER 22nd, 2009 - VEGAS - more details to come. YOU ARE INVITED. =)
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So I think it was perhaps Goddard's friend/co-worker/awesome chick Danielle that put the boy on a
Takeshi Miike kick. I couldn't mind; I've been a worshipper of the altar of ASIAN CULT FILM since my first jaunt with
JU-ON THE GRUDGE that fateful night at pal Jaime Irate's humble abode.
While we have a few more films to go I would like to propose some quick little tidbits about the films we have seen so far: QUICK
MIIKE REVIEWS:
AUDITION - awesome. Brutally graphic. The way she says "deeper deeper deeper" in Japanese is TEH sex. A man gets set up on a blind date that he will never be able to forget. The use of wire in th
is film is enough to make any man cringe. And proclaimed by comic book/
HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS - a musical, and f'ing brilliant in that CANNIBAL THE MUSICAL sort of way. I lurved it. A family renovates a "guest house" (read: bed and breakfast) named "White Lovers Guest House" or something equally weird. They then find their pleasant inn attracts the most unpleasant kinds of circumstances. The songs break out at the most inappropriate times and that is the beauty of this film.
VISITOR Q - so fucking strange. But so very intriguing and interesting. Goddard relates to me that this film was made as a semi-promotional item for digital cameras. I can't imagine anyone in Japan showing this film at a Electronics Expo or something. Incest, umbrellas, and bullies are highlighted in this flick. I wasn't dull for one moment.
IZO - Eh - I didn't like this one very much. The plot was connected in a rather hapless sort of way.
ICHII THE KILLER - This is one of the first of the "Asian Cult" films I ever saw, courtesy of my horror mentor
Thee Irate One, and I still hold it dear to this day. Ultraviolence, Yakuza, awesome. Masochists and suspension artists alike will surely dig on this movie.
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So
Trent Reznor as
NINE INCH NAILS went back into the studio and quietly released
GHOSTS, a 2 CD set full of instrumentals. A rather telling title, this album is marked by its haunting feeling, as if you have heard these songs hacked up into bits and pieces and sampled on some other
NIN project. My first impression was the similarity between this and
APHEX TWIN’s 26 MIXES FOR CASH - an easy concept to put together and g
et out for the fans to purchase.
NIN offered many options for buying this - from the free download of the first 9 songs, to the $5 download onto your computer, and upwards into limited edition sets and whatnot. I opted for the $5 download. I am happy to say that in some way, shape or form I have purchased the last 5 albums and multiple singles instead of resorting to my usual methods of music saturation.
I do not find this album very entertaining, just as I skip over the instrumentals on
THE FRAGILE. I find the combination of
Reznor’s industrial/piano/loud/soft electronic sound and his angst-ridden lyrics a perfect match. To lose the lyrics is to lose half of my attention. This is not a bad album. It is a great background CD as my ’married boyfriend’ Matt said; while you’re working or busy putting together
IKEA furniture or something then this is a great album to pop in. Just don’t expect some deep revelation in this album, although maybe we can credit Reznor’s recent prolific output to his new-found sobriety. Props for that.
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DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION is helping me lose weight. It’s not just for little Asian kids and Salt n Pepa anymore!!!
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If we wish hard enough, Goddard may put together some "one sentence reviews" on his most recent comic book reads. You can wish...can’t you?
~Till Next Time Kittlings.
