Ink

As the light fades and the city goes to sleep, two forces emerge. They are invisible to us except for the power they exert over us in our sleep. These two groups battle for our souls through our dreams. One force supports our hopes and gives us strength through good dreams. The other force leads us towards desperation through our nightmares.
~~ taken from the Double Edge Films website.

Ink is a wonderful, fresh, sincere entry into the Modern Fantasy canon. It's well~crafted, well thought~out, self~contained, self~realized, and while it can be a bit cliché, it's rather intelligent and never insults the audience by talking down to them or overexplaining the situation. The characters wholeheartedly believe in their world and it's subsequent mythology. The viewer is simply along for the ride.

As with any low budget film, this one is not without its flaws (the fight scenes seemed a bit too ambitious: attempting Zac Snyder on a Roger Corman budget), but it succeeds on far more levels than it stumbles. The acting, the costumes, the visuals, the world where it all takes place....so much of it comes together to an astonshing degree that you can easily overlook whatever may not work.


This one's in very limited release/distribution right now, but if you get a chance to see this one (either in a theatrical setting or later on DVD), I highly recommend it. Unless you don't enjoy films that have slightly more heart and imagination than they do budget.

well, read

B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth
This coming Saturday morning, I'm attending my first graphic novel reading group (read "book club") meeting; Hollow Earth is the book for discussion this time 'round.
Not knowing much about the Hellboy universe (in which this is set -- centering around Abe Sapian, Liz Sherman, Johann Krauss, and Roger the Homunculus) beyond that set forth with the movie adaptations, I occasionally felt that I was missing things throughout the main story arc. But, all in all, it was enjoyable and a quick read. I don't know if I'll return to the series after this book, but it could happen.





The Bradleys -- Peter Bagge

A collection of Bagge's 1980s work in Neat Stuff that introduced the Bradley family, from which he would supplant eldest child Buddy into 1990s Seattle for Bagge's seminal comic Hate. If nothing else, Bagge's work serves as a wonderful time capsule for each of his respective eras.





City Boy -- Edmund White
This one doesn't hit stores until September, but I just finished an advance proof of the book. And as usual, White knocks one out of the ballpark. Labelled a "memoir," White's latest focuses least of all on White himself, instead placing the spotlight(s) on the number of celebrities and personalities that White knew while living in NYC during the 1960s and 70s. John Ashbery, James Merrill, Christopher Isherwood, Vladimir Nabokov, Thom Gunn, Susan Sontag, and many, many others -- White offers wonderful insight and shares wonderful anecdotes about all of them.





Our Man in Havana -- Graham Greene
Yet another read for yet another book club (my therapist wants me to get out and meet some more/new people, so this is my attempt) -- this one focusing more on "classic" literature.
This is my first time reading Greene, and so far so good. He reminds me a lot of Waugh. And I like Waugh a lot. A whole lot.

of Ramrods and Pimpsticks

Tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 7:45pm, the Portland Grindhouse people are screening the infamous Vice Squad at the Hollywood Theatre. If I wasn't working (and since Tuesday is my night for the author events, I shouldn't really call out), I'd definitely be there. I saw this one a few months ago in Seattle, and it's not to be missed by the grindhouse set.
And seeing as how a couple of douchebags from Austin, TX won't be in the audience to give the stinkeye to anyone who tried to have fun with the movie (as they were in Seattle), it should be a fun time for all.

Blue Skies and a Clean Getaway

This past Friday evening, I went out to Fern Hill Park, over in NE, to catch a free, outdoors double set by the wonderful Valiant Arms. Laid out on the grass under a beautiful blue sky was a great way to experience this band. But then, so was crammed into the bassist's basement during a party earlier this year. They're a pretty versatile band that way.
I took my cameras with me in hopes of getting in a few concert shots, but given the way the whole thing was laid out, it wasn't really condusive to the kinds of shots I would have wanted to get. However, I did break out the digital cam for a few shots.



playing with the fisheye lens




sound checkin'


























trying to be "arty" with a wasted shot

a few Holga shots

X-pro, pt. 2

walking around the SE Industrial area






































all photos taken with a Diana+

x-pro, pt. 1

I recently took 5 rolls of film in to be developed -- 1 roll of black & white, 2 rolls of color, and 2 rolls of color slide film to be cross-processed as regular color film. I tried the cross-processing...um, process once before, but I wasn't too thrilled with the results. My second attempt at it, however, yielded much nicer results that I'm very pleased with.


a few leftover shots from my trip to the coast with Jay















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killing time (and shots) around town






















all photos taken with a Diana+

I (still) wanna dip my balls in it!

After checking out one Best Buy and three Fred Meyers, I was beginning to think that The State DVD set didn't exist. Considering that this was Paramount's third or fourth promise to release the show, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for them to pull it the day before release.
But, before giving up, I decided to check a few more places. At the Jantzen Beach Target, I found two copies remaining on the shelves, so I grabbed one while I had the chance.
It does, indeed, exist.




The first item out of the box was this note -- explaining to those that hadn't been paying attention to the build-up that it was near-impossible to license most of the songs used for the original soundtrack. So, to make up for it, they worked with original series composer Craig Wedren to try and match the feel of the original tunes. And it merges pretty seemlessly; the only place where it's really noticeable is during the Barry & Levon skits where, in addition to replacing the original Marvin Gaye song heard in the background, they also redubbed Thomas Lennon's dialogue -- and, while mixing, seem to have shoved ALL of the dialogue into the background so that it's drowned out by the new music as well as by the audience. But, that could also just be a consequence of the system I'm watching the DVDs on.




The series itself is collected onto 4 DVDs, each with an entire season per disc.




And there's a 5th DVD collecting all of the unaired skits, the original pilot, and more.

So now all that's left is for CBS to release the 'Halloween Special' they did after leaving MTV.
Who knows when that'll ever see the light of day again.

weekend

Friday:

-- far too early appointment with my therapist. Recently, she's been pushing me to get out more and meet more people. There are a few things coming up in the wings that I'm looking forward to, so we'll see how things go.

-- interview for a position at the [Portland Bookstore] website warehouse -- pulling orders, packing boxes, shipping things out, etc.
I got to the area far too early (the driving directions made it sound ridiculous, but it was 2 turns off HWY 30), so was able to walk around the industrial area, finishing off the roll of film in the Holga, as well as work on the roll in the Clack.
The interview went OK, I'd say. I got a bit nervous going in, so my vocabulary failed me for most of it; lots of "ummmmmmmm"s, "errrrrrrrr"s, "weeeeeeeelllllllll"s, etc. Hopefully I'll hear the results by Monday or Tuesday.

-- lunch with Vadim.

-- got things set to start my 10-day housesitting gig at Doug & Jim's place. I need to check on the hottub to make sure: a.) it's turned on, and b.) that all the chemicals are balanced for human participation.

-- met up with Vadim, Kevin, and Mike for a $6 double feature at St. John's Pub & Theater.

-- X-men Origins: Wolverine -- quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. Boring, ridiculously convoluted, overly cliche -- and incredible mess and 2 hours that I will never get back.




Vadim and Kevin left after the first movie. They claimed the theater was a bit too warm. I think they were embarrassed to be seen with me after Wolverine. It was that bad.


-- Drag Me to Hell -- an incredibly fun, campy, grossout return for Sam Raimi that holds up pretty well upon a second viewing.


Saturday:



I picked up two Kodak Super 8 movie cameras.
I have no knowledge about these cameras, nor about Super 8 film at all. And from what little I can find out with a quick, simple google search, it seems Kodak may have discontinued any film that was compatible with either of these cameras.
But, there is a pretty big Super 8 community in Portland, so I may be able to find some support with these cameras if I snoop around enough.





I also picked up these two 35mm cameras -- a Minolta Freedom 101 and a Ricoh FF-3 AF Super.
Two more cameras I don't know anything about, but it should be fun playing around with them.


And all four of these only set me back $20.
Awesome.

wunderbar!

let's see...

Put your iPod/music unit on shuffle. Write down the first 30 songs.

Neko Case -- "The Needle has Landed"
Marvelous 3 -- "Lefty"
the Downliners Sect -- "Everything I've Got to Give"
King Diamond -- "Bye Bye Missy"
the Venus in Furs -- "Tumbling Down"
Morrissey -- "Redondo Beach"
King Diamond -- "Out from the Asylum"
Carter USM -- "G.I. Blues"
Marvelous 3 -- Vampires in Love"
Widowmaker -- "Stand by for Pain"
the Hives -- "Well Well Well"
Dimmu Borgir -- "Spellbound (by the Devil)"
Carter USM -- "A Perfect Day to Drop the Bomb"
the Cars -- "Moving in Stereo"
Necrotic Flesh -- "Postmortem Pleasures (intro)"
Cut Off Your Hands -- "It Doesn't Matter"
Morrissey -- "He Cried"
Neko Case -- "That Teenage Feeling"
the Hives -- "Black Jack"
Neko Case -- "Outro with Bees"
Mariachi el Bronx -- "I Would Die 4 U"
Mastodon -- "Hearts Alive"
the Night Marchers -- "You've Got Nerve"
the Magnetic Fields -- "Courtesans"
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton -- "The Lottery"
Hank Williams -- "Lost Highway"
Broken Social Scene (presents Kevin Drew) -- "Farewell to the Pressure Kids"
Broken Social Scene -- "Canada vs America"
Morrissey -- "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton -- "Doctor Blind"

the beautiful ones always smash the picture

In celebration of Purple Rain's 25th birthday, Spin magazine, of all things, has put together a pretty great tribute album to one of the most well-known pop albums of all time; including covers by the Twilight Singers, Craig Wedren, Sharon Jones, the Bronx Mariachi el Bronx, Of Montreal, among others.


You can grab it here, if you're interested. Though, you have to answer a trivia question (wikipedia told me that Paul Peterson was the keyboardist for the Time...) and give them an email address in order to download it. But trust me, it's worth it!

Full tracklisting:

1. "Let's Go Crazy" RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS
2. "Take Me With U" SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS
3. "The Beautiful Ones" FOL CHEN
4. "Computer Blue" OF MONTREAL
5. "Darling Nikki" CHAIRLIFT
6. "When Doves Cry" THE TWILIGHT SINGERS
7. "I Would Die 4 U" MARIACHI EL BRONX
8. "Baby I'm a Star" CRAIG WEDREN
9. "Purple Rain" LAVENDER DIAMOND

The Beautiful Ones (Mastered) - Fol Chen & Patrik-Ian