Thursday, September 30, 2010

FILLMORE DISCOS 54 - '70s RARITIES 5

Candy, 1968 (**)
bonkers sex satire based upon Voltaire's Candide with a ridiculously stellar cast ranging from the anthologically lame (Ringo Starr) to the impressive (Marlon Brando and James Coburn)

The Legend Of Hell House, 1971 (***)
although it's soon frustratingly noticeable that the original book's explicit sex and perversion backstory is missing from this film adaptation, it's still pretty creepy (as supernatural movies go) and we see an impressively early example of the now-familiar pseudo-documentary diary format

Daughters Of Darkness, 1971 (*)
a no-budget euro-vampire cult movie with unimaginative camera work and low production values and, despite the beguiling presence of Andrea Rau, amateurish acting by the cast who are made to deliver some excruciatingly corny dialogues - Daughters Of Darkness simply doesn't live up to its glitzy reputation; especially when compared to the Italian masters' work, like that of Mario Bava, or even some of the better Hammer films

Don't Deliver Us From Evil, 1971 (**)
two young convent schoolgirls turn to evil and Satan for no obvious reason other than as a lame exercise in polarity response and a chance for the director Séria to have a pop at Catholicism at the expense of some pathetic bird cruelty and cheap laughs along the way - Séria attempts to conflate nascent female sexuality with all manner of transgression and it ends up as a stupid exercise in male wishful thinking and fantasy; Heavenly Creatures, also loosely based on the same case, is far superior

Montenegro, 1981 (*)
this, much like Shirley Valentine, represents the female equivalent of Embarrassing Dad Syndrome - a bored housewife is rescued from her stupor by running off with some bohemian lusty Montenegrans; I call bullshit to this dishonesty - firstly, these guys are just as boring, staid, and conservative as anyone else; and secondly, even if they weren't, they would have no interest in a piece of middle-aged bunny-boiler gash like 'Marilyn Jordan' turning up to get herself shagged

Roar, 1981 (*****)
this is a truly remarkable film about a group of humans surrounded and chased about by real lions, tigers, and other delightfully rampant big cats - narratively speaking, it makes no sense whatsoever, and yet is insanely compelling from beginning to end; check out some of Roar's astounding production details to come to terms with the toll (on the humans) it exacted during its decade in making

FILLMORE DISCOS 53
FILLMORE DISCOS 52 - CHRISTINA LINDBERG SPECIAL
FILLMORE DISCOS 51 - GIALLO SPECIAL 4

Friday, September 24, 2010

ACQUISITIONS 12

reading
Xaviera Meets Marilyn Chambers - Xaviera Hollander
My Story - Marilyn Chambers
Life And Death - Andrea Dworkin
Our Blood - Andrea Dworkin

listening
Inside-A-Sekt - Kreepa
Katendrecht Spaceport - LYSN
Demo Tracks - LYSN

viewing
WSOP 2010
The Trouble With Pirates - BBC
Madness In The Fast Lane - BBC

technology
Playstation Move

ACQUISITIONS 11
ACQUISITIONS 10
ACQUISITIONS 9

Monday, September 20, 2010

SHORT BREATHS 9

Extralinguistic Sequencing
here currently working on a re-adaptation of the originally two-hour experiment in creepy dark mass hypnosis for Tate Britain that may, just might, translate to a personal listening experience context

Zeitkratzer CD
I haven't been given the full information regarding the Zeitkratzer Whitehouse CD yet, nor have I received any copies yet - according to this month's Wire it's said to be released on October 22nd; hopefully, it'll sound much better than the cover disappointingly doesn't promise

Pope hailed
can you believe TC Ratzinger had the audacity to drive past my front door in his Merc just as I was on my way out to the barber's? as he leered at the heathens and mortals from behind a semi-smoked glass window, special attention was paid to the crisply uniformed schoolkids who'd been let out for an afternoon skive to 'greet' his holiless in a surge of puerile antipathy evidenced by universally healthy disdain, and anagram jokes

SHORT BREATHS 8
SHORT BREATHS 7
SHORT BREATHS 6

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

CROSSBONES 10

Despite its being by the BBC, this Somali pirate documentary is worth seeing.

You get Auntie's overbearingly earnest trademark voice-over and a patronising simplification of the issues. A well-spoken European-based Somali expat gets to go over, at no doubt enormous expense, to have a few minutes of pointless conversation with some locals. There is no real new footage to enjoy, and nothing isn't said that will surprise anyone (much like myself) with but a basic grasp of what's happening.

Yet well worth seeing because this modern-day piracy story is just so compelling. Whether they be the numpty English negotiator on the phone from London, the public schoolboy Navy officer twit, or the impotent European patrol ships, all the westerners only succeed in making the T-shirted pirates buzzing around in their puny skiffs seem all the more badass.

CROSSBONES 9
CROSSBONES 8
CROSSBONES 7