A day in the life, Sep 12, objet trouvé
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Urban Legend (1998)
A college student suspects a series of bizarre deaths are connected to certain urban legends.
A standard slasher movie with hardly any surprises.
Halliwell (no star): "A horror movie that begins with a clever concept, though otherwise it offers the usual mix of multiple murders and shocks."
Maltin**: "Clever premise is undercut by standard presentation and a truly rotten ending. Just another SCREAM clone, but a bit more entertaining than most."
Guan Yun Chang (2011)
The story of legendary Guan Yu crossing five passes & slaying six generals playing a major role in the civil war that led to the collapse of Han Dynasty & the establishment of Shu Han of the 3 Kingdoms, making Liu Bei its first emperor.
The plot is similarly complex as the synopsis implies, but the movie is made with now almost standard quality for Chinese movies concerning cinematography, martial arts scenes and casting.
Rarely Heard: No Trend - Teen Love
No Trend were a experimental hardcore punk band from Maryland in the mid 80s with a militantly anti-punk attitude - they hated to be associated with punk or hardcore and druing concerts had violent hassles with their punk audience. Lydia Lunch contributed voacls to their second LP, and due to their controversial attitudes the othwise quite tolerant Touch and Go label refused to issue the band's 1987 effort More which effectively put an end to the band. Guitarist and original member Frank Price committed suicide after the band's demise.
Friday, September 12, 2014
New York
3000 men who helped build the 810ft high Chase Manhattan Bank in NYC stand in the window spaces of the building, 1964
First Lines: Beppe Fenoglio - Johnny the Partisan
Johnny was looking at his town from the window of the little hillside house his family had rushed to rent for him in order to hide him away after his unexpected, unhoped-for return from distant, tragic Rome, through the sevenfold meshes of the German net.
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Rarely Heard: R. Stevie Moore - Little Man
R. Stevie Moore is a lo-fi legend having self-released thousands of songs on cassette and distributing them via his own mailorder since the mid 70s. His music is a quirky mixture of poppy and psychedelic songs and experimentalism revealing impressive talent and craftmanship. The many more regular album releases are mostly compilations of his previous releases. Needless to say that he's as prolific as ever, and you can pruchase his work via www.rsteviemoore.com.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
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Sleeping Beauty (2011)
A haunting portrait of a young university student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of unspoken desires.
Although it is tries very hard to be artsy, the movie has nothing but the beauty of its main character and some style to offer, otherwise the result is very sleazy.
Maltin*1/2: "...this kinky dirge is depressing and pointless beyond endurance...That this exploitative, demeaning material was written and directed by a woman is a real head-scratcher."
First Lines: Leonardo Sciascia - The Day of the Owl
The bus was just about to leave, amid rumbles and sudden hiccups and rattles.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Rarely Heard: Larsen - Radial
I have been a fan of Larsen for a while, and last year I finally got to see them perform with Little Annie as support for the Swans. It was wonderful concert. Here's the story how their first album got recorded: "This Italian quartet initiated a courtship with Young God's Michael Gira by sending him bizarrely packaged CDRs with varying contents, thus enabling Gira to acquaint himself with the band's sound and range. For what purpose was unknown to him at the time. Following a series of these discs, Gira received a final package that included a round-trip flight to Italy and a sum of money -- the producer was invited to work on the band's record. Curiosity aroused, Gira obliged. For three weeks he recorded the band and edited the results without actually seeing the band; the band, a pair of engineers, and the producer communicated through a translator as a screen divided them. " (allmusic.com)
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