From the forthcoming album Shapes of Midnight, out September 18th on Killer Candy Records. I'd tell you to pre-order HERE, but all formats have been sold out since about three minutes after it went on sale last month. I grabbed mine day-of release from the bezos corp.
Watch:
Either the kidney stone returned (still haven't found a "doctor" that can tell me if it passed, or my fatty liver acted up and I was couch-bound for much of the weekend. So what do you do when you're in mildly agonizing discomfort? Watch the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns, that's what!
I started Saturday with A Fistful of Dollars. I have this one on DVD, and it felt like coming home again, with the scratches on the film and an almost vinyl-like hiss on the soundtrack at times. I watched these with my Dad when I was a kid, and have revisited a few times over the years; they've always remained somewhat holy to me, but I don't often find the time to sit down and give myself over to the unique rhythms of Leone's classic trilogy.
When I reached For A Few Dollars More, I watched part on DVD, then moved downstairs and had to resort to Prime, which currently includes all of these. I will say, as much as I love the nostalgia of those old DVDs, seeing the restored picture on these... wow. There's just no comparison.
This sequel is probably my favorite of the three. Lee Van Cleef's Col. Mortimer is a fantastic addition, and Leone embraces the first film's popularity and uses the resultant bigger budget wisely. Nothing showy, but you can see the money and the fact that Leone is becoming a better filmmaker.
Now, we get to the best film of the three. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a damn masterpiece, and the only thing that gives For A Few Dollars More the upper hand in my heart is that, while it's awesome to watch Leon really up the ante on this third one (the bridge!), I feel like the late-in-the-game Union/Confederacy battle with hundreds of extras could have been cut. Again, I think it's Leone stretching his legs and settling into the role of a Hollywood filmmaker. Eli Wallach's Tuco, however, really helps keep the third movie in the series neck and neck for my favorite.
Either way, while I'm not happy about being in discomfort and getting next to nothing done all weekend, rewatching these felt like a great reset and recharge. Nothing like reconnecting with something from your deep past.
Read:
Yesterday I reread Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer and Dennis Janke's three-part Dark Knight Dark City that ran through Batman 452-454 in August and September of 1990.
Of course, all is not as it appears, but the journey to the revelation is quite the ride. This Barbatos (aka Barbathos) would reappear in Grant Morrison's epic seven-year run, which endeared me to it even more. But this dark storyline was possibly the first place I saw Batman run up against such devilish forces, and it thrilled me!
Playlist:
Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2
Zeal and Ardor - Devil Is Fine X
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The House By the Grave (single)
Blackbraid - III
Blackbraid - II
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies
Servotron - No Room For Humans
Brown Whörnet - Emena Pesticide
The Ocean - Solaris (pre-release singles)
The Ocean - Holocene
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
The Caretaker - A Stairway to the Stars
Primus - Frizzle Fry
Man Man - Life Fantastic
Card:
One from the Thoth deck:
Balance creative fire with ambition and mastery.
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