Film Rants – but not from me….
I’ve been steadily working through Mark Kermode’s film reviews which can be found here – he’s certainly one of the funniest and knowledgable critics in the UK, and whilst I don’t always agree with him (anyone with such a high regard of Ron Howard and dislike of John Boorman must be treated with suspicion) he is always entertaining. Besides, it would be boring if you agreed with everyone’s opinions wouldn’t it? Kinda defeats the point. I strongly urge you to check out his unscripted, from the hoof rant about the atrocity that was Pirates of the Caribbean II. Unfortunately it’s not archived and I’ve had a quick unsuccessful search for it but it’s worth tracking down.
I’ve been getting into my movie podcasts recently, Mondo Movie is great and Cinema Slave is OK, worth a listen.
Peter Greenaway speaks. It’s shame his rant is cut into different files, but you gotta admire his passion. I’m not sure I agree with some of his comments – I’m biased on Scorsese and I see nothing wrong with a film-maker being fascinated with the same subjects and themes (catholic guilt, violence in society, alienation etc.) but it’s a fact that his last few pictures have been enormous disappointments – The Departed included.
As it’s Halloween – enjoy some hilarious trailers.
Finally, I’ve just heard on the radio that the new category on the UK TV Awards is ‘Most Liked Reality TV Personality’. The cultural apocalypse clock has just ticked another second – be afraid.
Tate Modern
Popped over to the Tate Modern on Saturday afternoon to check out the new installation in the impressive Turbine Hall – more on a friends wish to see it than any personal interest, but anything that keeps you out of the pub for a an hour or so should be welcomed eh?
I think the phrase is underwhelming. A few slides strung rogether, some of which do run from the fourth floor down to the ground level, but they just seems a bit…….well……pointless really. Most of the awesome space isn’t used which I think is a waste, it’s just all a bit dull and redundant. This was far more affecting, and I think this is interesting (although I didn’t see it) unlike this effort. Now, granted that installations like Eliasson’s are far more dramatic and atmospheric – but for me that is a far more effective and ultimately memorable use of the enourmous space that the artists can play with. I recall stumbling out of the Sun Exhibit feeling that I’d been immersed in a hallucinatory agent orange drenched environment – and that has stayed with me. Other than attracting a horde of screaming, disruptive mini-droogs to shout and scream whilst their middle class parents smiled appreciatively at their precious little treasures – I fail to see any merit whatsoever. Was Alton Towers closed this weekend?
As a consolation and being on site I did make the effort to check out one of my favourite pictures:
Don’t ask me why I like this, it’s nothing I can nail down – I just do. The fact that Ernst apparently based it on the insane ravings of paranoic mental patient of Freud doesn’t bode well, but hey – it beats pointless kiddie slides in my book.
Yes, finally…a Kubrick post.
Well, that didn’t take long did it? Friends and neighbours of the Mint will no doubt be quietly surprised that I haven’t yet posted anything on Stan the Man, but this can’t escape comment.
I smell a fake, but it is a fact that SK did invite video auditions for Full Metal Jacket. R Lee Emery famously (well, famous to Kubrick nerds anyway) sent in a 10 minute, one take, unedited audition of him in full drill instructor ranting mode, performing without pause or repetition, whilst stagehands hurled tennis balls at him. That got him the part. What a shame this Brian Atene genius never got cast eh?
Given that Kubrick’s long time assistant Leon Vitali (he was Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon, and less obviously the masked concierge in Eyes Wide Shut) BURNED all the out takes and associated film archive of all SK’s UK productions I strongly doubt that Emery’s audition will ever surface.
As you’d expect, the debate still rages on concerning this act of ‘cultural vandalism’ (although it was at Kubrick’s instruction) amongst the on-line community. I think it’s a shame but that was his choice – the films still stand, and thank god there’s no opportunity for the absurd, pointless re-dux type activity that for me has marred classics like Apocalypse Now – if it ain’t broke, don’t fucking fix it.
One day I will make a pilmigrage to Beckton Gas Works where much of FMJ was shot, as well as Thamesmead South and Wandsworth, where the opening third of Clockwork Orange was shot. Jeez, ain’t I the life and soul of the party….
Illuminating interview with his missus here, I could go on and on and on but I won’t…..
Praise Be…..
Found this today, and whilst Christian Film criticism is nothing new on the web, this entry and the associated comments brought a smile to my jaded lips.
The South Park and Sin City ‘reviews’ are my favourites….
Oh, and this bears a quick look. Before the insults begin, I was directed to the Daily Mail website by a cool website thank you very much. Although I must be getting old, because I actually kind of agree with them. This does NOT bode well….
Challenge…
In the interests of making this blog more interactive – and actually get some comments – I throw down the gauntlet and present to you an amusing challenge – a six word story.
For my money, Alan Moore’s is the best I’ve read thus far, although ‘Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back’ runs a close second. Think you can beat that? C’mon, prove it. Some of these may ignite your competitive spirit. First prize wins a pint…..
I am preparing another Tokyo post, bear with me…
Bush uses the Internets to use ‘The Google’
This has been doing the rounds in the internets today – heartwarming to see that the world’s most powerful man (TM) has a full grasp of technology, and is evidently pining for another vacation. What made me laugh was a comment from the link – which I re-produce for your comfort dear reader – about the subjects that perhaps Bush should consider reviewing the next time he’s chilling out in Camp David:
1. U.S. Constitution
2. Bill of Rights
3. Separation of church and state
4. Honesty
5. Resignation from Presidency
6. Retirement Options in Iraq
7. MapQuest to Oblivion
8. English as a Second Language
The last one made me LOL. As you’d expect, it didn’t take long for links to this poor, misunderstood millionaire delusional alcoholic psychopath’s ranch to be circulated. Foolishly, some would think he had access to the ultimate state of the art, advanced satelite system in existence. Evidently not. Still, at least unlike Gore he has never claimed to have invented the web.
On a side note, Richard ‘Personal Hero’ Dawkins delivered a speech a few days ago (not sure where) as part of the press launch of his new book ‘The God Delusion’ – BBC interview on the subject here, and a good print article in the reliable Salon here.
Louis and the Nazis + The Shield & Deadwood
Found this last night, whilst bored and looking for entertainment. Perhaps not the most appropriate way to start a rainy, drizzling week but these charming examples of the human race have to be seen to be believed.
I finally got Season 5 of The Shield and Season 3 of Deadwood from an ebay contact, so that’s this week’s TV sorted. These are both among the best TV series of the past five years, and arguably some of the best ever made. I know, I know – repeatedly linking to Wikipedia articles is lazy but I’m too tired to go hunting down fan sites. I’ll try and post some reviews later in the week….
Yeah..but…
So, earlier this week, I caught the entertaining ‘Grindhouse’ movie trailer. Cool.
Well, now that YouTube has been enveloped by ‘the man’ it’s hardly suprising that copyright material is being stripped out – I understand that a Japanese conglomerate has already forced 30,000 links to be removed – so no more freebies. I could rant on the way that the alleged new frontier has already been compromised but at 23:25 on a friday night I can’t be fucked. So here’s a link to the upcoming Grindhouse flick by Rodriguez / Tarantino which looks like fantastic fun – catch it now before this gets removed for copy right reasons.
Miscellaneous
Addictive? You bet. Why is it that even with never ending, multi-faceted neverending MMORGS out on the market (whose sole purpose is to suck out your limited hours on the planet) I can’t tear myself away from simple games like this? 18.27 seconds is my record, for the record.
This is quite funny. Just don’t read it after a hearty lunch.
And here’s my bid to totally destroy Scally’s weekend.
YouTube Weekly Round-Up
Here are some things that have caught my eye from the tube of you…
First up, some experimental animation madness – good fun for film nerds to spot the films that some of the animation has been culled from. It gets cracking about two minutes in, so bear with it.
A very well edited Terminator / RoboCop mash up.
Alex Cox’s opening introductons to the superb 1980’s film series Moviedrome. Whatever happened to showing good films on TV eh? Now it’s all fucking mainstream Hollywood wank – apart from the rare art film on BBC4 I don’t think you have the opportunity to track down anything of merit without a on-line DVD membership. Superb to see someone has uploaded them from their own collection – and considering the age they are great quality as I would think they must be video transfers. A full list of the moviedrome seasons can be found here.
Minority Report?
Fantastic – give it 5 years I reckon.
Who says the Americans don’t appreciate Irony?
Book about banning books receives call to be banned during book banning week.
Am I the only person who finds the idea of having organised, structured book banning programmes, y’know, just a little fucking scary? Of course not.
Bradbury responds. This dude was one of my favourite authors whilst growing up, and I still have a soft spot for him although I confess I haven’t read any of his stories for some years now. He is, alas, a huge Bush fan but the guy is 86 years old. Actually, that’s not really much of an excuse is it? Oh well….
Glitch – Touch Records 25th Anniversary
On Tuesday night I attended Touch Records 25th anniversary gig in the charming venue of the Bedford Pub in deepest Saarf Laandaan, or Balham to be more precise. Very entertaining it was too.
What’s Glitch I hear you cry? Well, that’s a good question. A quick, facile explanation would be that it rests in the more experimental category of electronica, where artists
produce etheral soundscapes using a variety of instruments – both traditional and esoteric. Lyrics, percussion, and the repitation of chords or rhythms are forsaken in the interests of developing a quite hypnotic collection of discordant elements- the sum being more than the individual. Intelligent ambient for the 21st century – hopefully you catch my drift.
I took some quite bad photos of one of the support acts, namely Jacob Kirkegaard, who was producing some quite hypnotic pieces via what looked like a mini mixing desk linked to a couple of ancient fisher price 45rpm players – if any muso boffins can eleborate on this then feel free….
In between sets we were treated to an amusing rant by Jon Wozencroft whom I assume is a key figure in the development of the genre – and very funny he was too. A well delivered treatise on the cultural void that passes for modern music will always go down well in my book, and I and the audience enjoyed his comments. Coincidentally, Wozencroft pointed out that the venue was used by Aleister Crowley for some of his public incantations and rituals back in the 1920’s – I read a very illuminating and amusing biography of Crowley whilst on holiday in Japan – oooo… spooky…..
Next up was Christian Fennez – one of the leading trailblazers of the scene – at least to the best of my limited knowledge. This was my second exposure to his music and he quite frankly blew the others of the stage – whilst some of the other pieces felt 30 minutes long, Fennez’s set – one track – really did take you somewhere else even in the midst of a reasonably packed venue. Or maybe that was the five pints of lager. More on Fennez here
Quite entertainingly my mate Nick (who follows the scene) brought a CD by some artist who decided to prowl around the ruins of Chernobyl, recording the ambient sound whilst in possession of gieger counter. I await with baited breath it’s storming entry into the top ten. You hipsters can catch some far more illuminating photos here – friends and neighbours will spot Nick and half of me in photo 11…
Plenty to Post…
There’s a fair bit to get through so let’s crack on…
Firstly, call me obvious but I thought it appropriate to add a YouTube Category where I can post some of the more entertaining links I’ve stumbled across recently, some comedy, some anime, all and sundry will be included here to ensure hours of vaguely entertaining browsing – I thought I’d start as we mean to go on and begin with a particulalrly hilarious but definitely NSFW link to a out-take from the excellent ‘The Aristocrats‘, a strong documentary that details the history of one of the most classic backstage gags ever told.
I’ve not been aware of Doug Stanhope before – I assume he is a comedian who hasn’t built an audience in the UK, but anyway here is his truly revolting delivery of the classic gag – the look on his son’s face is priceless.
MPD Psycho
Unusual start to this one -I’m reviewing a TV series, directed by a well established Japanese film director – the incredible Miike Takashi – and what a treat this was.
The plot concerns Detectives Amamiya and Sasayama who are on the trail of a psychotic personality called Nishizono Shinji. Nishizono can inhabit and possess the bodies of victims using mobile phones or computers (or by touch) which makes him harder to track, forcing our heroes to trawl the world of underground, state of the art snuff peddlers – but it seems that the entity wants to be caught, and has a disturbing connection to the childhood of the schizophrenic Sasayama. This is all established in the first 30 minutes of episode 1…out of six (roughly) one hour episodes.
We are swiftly engulfed in a phantasmagoria of a 70’s rock star turned terrorist, a otaku assistant who reveals in his meticulous models of the myriad gruesome murders, and a suspicious female observer who evidently knows more than she reveals….
What I love about stuff like this is that simply you won’t get images, ideas and execution of story like this in the West – at least not in something that has been commissioned for TV for fuck’s sake. Miike drenches the screen with constant rain, but never explains why – sometimes it is evidently radioactive but this is never commented upon, nor explained – and simply adds to the surreal elements of this unique series.
Characters drift in from scene to scene without explanation or obvious narrative purpose – many of them unsurprisingly don’t make it to the final reel. Some of the more distasteful (and by association) disturbing elements of the image within some of the violent scenes have been distorted, one assumes to get past the censors and secure a TV rating – Cracker, Holby City, Casualty – you ain’t in the same league. But for me there is a purpose. This is not just to shock, to titillate – there is a rhyme and reason which becomes apparent as the series unfolds.
Finally, and for the me the most memorable element of this series (yes, even more memorable than the massacre in the Japanese girls finishing school at the start of episode 3) is the absurdist ’70’s feel to the soundtrack, I guess in part to reference the 70’s incubation of the narrative. One track has haunted me ever since – it’s reminiscent of
Stan “Rumblefish” Ridgeway – you’ll understand – I hope – if you get round to renting this.
Oh, and Chiaki Kuriyama makes a brief appearance – the cute assassin of Kill Bill I – and you can see some MPD footage here – enjoy…..
Film
Yes, friends of the mint will be unsurprised to see that a movie specific page will be included – I feel unusual if I fail to watch more than ten films in a week. Most of these viewings are on DVD, but I aim to include a movie review from everything I see on the big screen – let’s see how it goes….
TV
OK, here is where you’ll get MY OPINION (sorry, private joke) on TV I have seen recently, my musings on TV shows and seasons past and present, and anything else that takes my fancy.
He’s the man….
Good old Bill, 56 years old and checking out parties populated by nubile young scandanavian chicks. I wonder what his wife makes of this ‘exclusive’…
OK, still on the Japan theme…
I have a wealth of links and web madness to link to on this fledgling site – and you will be fascinated, educated and inspired by them all (honest) but just for the moment while I continue my experiments here is a link to a wealth of Godzilla links – enjoy….
OK, more where that came from…
I admit defeat. I was trying to get the image larger than just a thumbnail and couldn’t be bothered – evidently my graphic design skills need some, err, development. I’m sure I have to simply re-size the picture in iphoto but that’s too much like hard work – although I did try. So, anyway, here’s some more snaps….
Alas, you won’t get the stunning scale of things here, due to my puny camera – but we are talking Mega City One (or should I say Nip-Cit) breathtaking holy fucking good lord look at the scale of that, urban conurbation as far as the eye can see, several million people living in a futurist megalopolis – and that makes me smile. I’m sure it’s hugely more dramatic at night when the neon strips of Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi and others burst into life – but it was still impressive to me. Shame that you can’t see Mount Fuji as it was a fairly muggy day. Still, this is a start….
More here, true believers:
Let’s begin….
Well, given that the purpose of this blog is to publish my fascinating and unique insights into Japanese culture after a mere two week holiday I guess I should crack on and post some pictures. Lets tackle one of the more memorable, for me, photos taken from the apex of the Government District Buildings, just west of Shinjuku station – more on this unique place later. Anyway, being a total luddite when it comes to these things, let’s try one upload and see what happens…
Hello world!
Howdy strangers, friends and foes. This blog is primarily to post and share my thoughts, reflections and observations of my recent trip to the land of the rising sun. Along the way, I expect I’ll be posting film, TV and books reviews, some of my ill-informed musings on the current sorry state of the world we live in, and links to wonderful, intriguing and exciting things that tickle this correspondents fancy.
I hope you enjoy the ride.
Minty's Menagerie 
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