Category Archives: Uncategorized

Someone has uploaded one of my favorite movies onto YouTube, Takashi Miike’s brilliant and shocking Visitor Q. The movie is something to experience. I guarantee you will be shocked, disgusted, confused, and then left oddly touched at the end. Here is the link to the YouTube account that has uploaded it, watch it before it gets taken down!

If you’d like to know a tiny bit more about what you will be getting yourself into, check out the enigmatic trailer:

The Illinois Department of Transportation has apparently been reading some J.G. Ballard:

Spin my lovely! Spin on your pepperoni axis!

via Synthtopia

The more he can do to equate McCain and Bush, the better. I think we’ll start seeing Obama’s political chops now that we are (effectively) past the primary stage. Now that he can debate someone with whom he has significant policy differences, I think we’ll get more in terms of specifics. Hopefully Hillary will have toughened him up a bit as well.

The war puts McCain in a very sticky position, rightfully, because he has wholeheartedly supported it during every step of the way. He can use Rumsfeld as a safe and convenient punching bag all he wants, it won’t change the fact that he has not admitted that it was a mistake, or a deception. And he won’t. Bush has one of the lowest approval ratings in history, McCain needs to distinguish himself from Bush, not equate. Although, I can’t say that I mind the hole he is digging for himself.

For what it is worth, I will say that this general election is going to be between two people for whom I have some respect. This is definitely a first in my lifetime. As much as I disagree with McCain in terms of policy, I can’t say that these measures would be unwelcome:

“My administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability. I will hold weekly press conferences. When we make errors, I will confess them readily and explain what we intend to do to correct them.”

Turning to a prime ministerial ordeal greatly admired by the US political class, Senator McCain said: “I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions and address criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons.”

But aside from the many policy differences I have with McCain, I don’t think I could find it in my heart to vote for someone who supported the war, hence my comparable disdain for Hillary Clinton.

And while I’m at it, I should mention that there are plenty of things that annoy me about Obama. As Andrew Sullivan points out, his support for Civil Unions rather than Gay Marriage is cowardice, plain and simple. You cannot hold that position without believing that Civil Unions is a second-class citizen institution. I also believe his Iraq withdrawal proposal is reactionary. Ironically, I find myself more in line with McCain’s 100 year position, not because I want the U.S. to be there for 100 years, but because we committed to this dumbass war, and we should have to pay whatever exorbitant financial and human cost necessary to clean up our mess. Overall Obama is also a bit too much of a paternalist for my taste. He wants to help us, guide us, pull us out of our sad little lives into a bright new future. Yeah, that sounds… ok, but many of us don’t think that the government should get too deep into the morality game, whether it is Christian or altruist.

But I’ll vote for him, for one reason: he seems to be both intelligent and not evil. That’s sure as hell a first for a presidential candidate, at least in my lifetime.

When God Dips His Love in My Heart:

Walking down Dahill Ave in Brooklyn yesterday I came across a Garage Sale (or yard/tag/stoop sale, depending on your locale). Now most garage sales, especially in my neighborhood, aren’t really much to cheer about – my best Kensington find is a framed Coffy poster, which is hanging in my room right now. Every once in a while though you come across a goldmine, the kind where just a glance has you sprinting towards the nearest ATM.

A little background:

I come from a family of hunters, hagglers, and hoarders. My brother is the best/worst. He has a sixth sense for finding amazing deals and rare finds. So much so that he often owns more stuff than he has space for. Take one look at my bedroom and you’ll see what I have in common with my bro. I’m learning to read the subtle signs of the garage sale/thrift store/antique store that I pass by: to know in a glance whether it is worth a peak inside, a walk-through, or an afternoon; to know from the proprietor’s demeanor whether they would inch down a price or hold firm; to know if the seller of the items is the original owner or a third party – a hint: a third party is best, a lack of emotional connection to the goods and often ignorance to their worth. Still, I’m a novice compared to my brother but I’m getting better. Every time I’m home we go out and he delivers a few nuggets of wisdom.

Well, back to the Brooklyn garage sale. Walking down the street I noticed the sale and saw a good sign from afar: three uniform boxes underneath a table. This means a few things: either books, VHSs, records, tapes, or CDs are in those boxes (it’s never DVDs) and whomever owns them cares enough to keep them in similar boxes and out of the sunlight. Lucky for me they were chock-full of VHSs!

“What? Who cares about VHS? It’s a digital world now!”

That’s enough Voices In My Head! VHS rocks. Here’s why:

1. Some movies are still scarce on DVD (I’m looking at you The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover and, until very recently, Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom). Old movies in particular can be hard to find, it beats waiting years for the eventual Criterion release.

2. You can view movies pre their obligatory 90s digital remastering. You get to see them as people saw them when they came out. Yes, I know Barry Lyndon looks like liquid Jesus on DVD, but Kubrick didn’t make it to look like that. You can also find the un-fucked-with versions of movies such as Star Wars and E.T., where Jabba is not made of corny late-90s CGI and that FBI dude is still holding the gun.

3. Holy fuck they are cheap.

Case in point:

As I hunched over the boxes at the sale the man who was running it (who was not the owner, score) brought out three more boxes of tapes. Now, this was one of those collections… I could have bought 40 movies I really liked, but I kept it lean.

I left with:

Alien

Chinatown

Seven

Rocky

Taxi Driver

Teen Wolf

A Fistful of Dollars

Airplane

Dirty Harry

The Deer Hunter

The Exorcist

Weird Science

Creepshow

Dances with Wolves

and an original Hey Mickey 12 inch single in English AND Spanish

for 13 bucks.

He quoted me a buck each, but he and I both knew he would throw in a couple extra if I bought a bunch. I could have bought more but, as I said before, I’m not exactly luxuriating on space here.

I am somewhat embarrassed to say, but I have never seen Dirty Harry, A Fistful of Dollars, The Exorcist, and (until last night) Alien.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m sure there are a few of you out there who just gasped “The Exorcist??”.

I know, I’m terrible. But I’m on the right track! Viva la VHS!

Great news for anyone who places any value on personal freedom. Prouda my home-state.

K, a few miscellany from the last few days.

– saw Iron Man: a little over-hyped, but still pretty badass for a superhero movie.

– saw Speed Racer: a little under-hyped, but still some annoying sap amidst the glorious visuals

– saw a bum crap in the subway: a New York first for me; I was more saddened than disgusted, interesting.

– found an online petition to clean up my block, literally.

– tried out a Novation Remote SL (salivate….)

– discovered GMailThis!, and thought, “Where the fuck have you been all my life??”

Ah, the zany thrill ride that is my life…

A teacher in (where else?) Brooklyn teaches his kids to make and modify their own guitars and other electronics such as oscillators and amps. God I wish I had a class like this when I was a kid!

Try not to mind the odd noise-gate on the voice.