You know what Jack Burton says at a time like this? Rock on, baby!
I've been listening to John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China score, which means I'm creeping up on a rewatch sometime soon. It's been a minute.
Watch:
Holy F**K, Predator: Badlands, I. AM. INNNNN!
And yet, I feel as though I must offer a word of seasoned warning. This is Fox, so this is Disney. I love that Ell Fanning is playing a Weiland-Yutani synth, thus bringing the two franchises together again in a less on-the-nose way, but I also remember how excited I was for the Marvel MCU and the first Star Wars movie back. Both of those have been run into the ground, so let's hope lessons have been learned and that won't happen to Alien/Predator.
But are lessons ever truly learned in the strip-mining megastructure called Hollywood?
Trachtenberg's return is a calming boon - Prey is outstanding, and this looks to be a little of that, plus the "Hostile Alien World" of Predators. So I will be there opening day.
I'm not entirely certain how Joy Orbison came to mind this past Saturday morning as I sat in bed working on another new short story, but once I hit play on this track, I was immediately transported back to the dim evening light of 2009, when I spent a lot of time bumping the single that had "Hyph Mngo" on one side and "Wet Look" on the other*. I don't know exactly how long it's been since I listened to Joy Orbinson's music, let alone thought of it, but I'd wager a decade isn't too far off. A quick search of Apple Music revealed Joy's been consistently busy over the last thirteen years, and I had a wonderful morning tapping the keys and listening to everything I've missed.
* That's a misnomer - I didn't actually have the physical single, but the digital tracks.
Watch:
I watched quite a few flicks this weekend. Here's a rundown:
Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mailgirl brought in another stellar episode of The Last Drive-In this past Friday, which helped assuage my blues that Yellowjackets took the week off. First, a flick I'd never really cared for previously, Kevin Tenney's Witch Board:
I remember seeing the tv spots for this one during its original theatrical release in 1986. As a ten-year-old, those spots freaked me right the hell out, but the movie never made it onto my screen until 2011 when I bought a used copy at Amoeba Music. Needless to say, Witch Board fell extremely short of my heightened expectations, and I immediately gave that copy to a friend at work. I didn't think anything could make me enjoy this one after that, but I have to say, it's just a totally different experience watching a flick like this with the Drive-In crew. I still wouldn't profess to be a Witch Board fan, but I had a damn good time with it Friday.
The Last Drive-In's second flick was 1975's The Devil's Rain, which features Ernest Borgnine as a red-cowl-wearing Satanist. I love this flick, and it'd been a while, so even though I ended up falling asleep during it on Friday, I restarted and finished it yesterday. That ending!
Predating the Satanic Panic by just a couple years, this is the post-Hippie fallout in America in the 70s: It makes me laugh that so many people entertained the idea of large, active "Satanic Cults" operating all over the U S of A in the dark, psychic corridor following Peace, Love and Understanding. I feel like this movie spins directly out of that idea.
Saturday I received a call from my Cousin Charles, who had just watched John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness for the first time. This made me realize I hadn't sat down with some Carpenter in a while, so I planned a double feature and kicked it off with Big Trouble in Little China:
I'm not sure there's a movie I know of that is more quintessentially 'Me.' I first saw Big Trouble in 86 or 87 -whenever it first hit VHS - and that put me at 10 or 11 years old and 100% in Double Dragon, Snakes Eyes and Storm Shadow, and any stories that included underground caverns and realms. BTiLC has ALL of that, and it shaped me in a way I'm still trying to tap into in my writing.
I followed one Carpenter favorite with another, 1987's Prince of Darkness: In terms of John Carpenter's films, I always say Prince of the Darkness is my favorite, but the caveat I add is you have to just take Big Trouble out of the ranking - it's always going to win. The Thing and Halloween are both up near the top as well, but the mechanics of the story in Prince of Darkness always blow me away, as well as how effective the film is with such an obviously diminished budget from JC's better-known films.
Finally, Sunday afternoon I finally dug out my old DVD copy of Doug Limon's Go and showed it to K. Here's the trailer:
Maybe it was because I caught the tail end of K watching the Train Wreck: Woodstock 99 doc on Netflix Saturday afternoon, but I had the late 90s on the brain, as awful as they were. Anyway, this flick was introduced to me by friends after we got into a fight with a bunch of gangbangers at, where else, the Crazy Horse II in Vegas. I'm not a strip club kinda guy, but I've been to a few in my early 20s. This was by far the highlight, and not because it was a strip club, but because we literally had to run out of the club, jump a taxi line and steal someone's cab to get away in one piece. After all that, one of the friends with me remarked how much like a sequence in Go the whole thing was, and when I professed to not having seen the film, he showed me.
Playlist from 8/14:
Fugazi - 13 Songs
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Deafheaven - Sunbather
John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST
Card of the day:
And interestingly enough, the card on top of the other side of the split was the 6 of Wands Victory again. Which yes, I still need to hear.
I received my copy of Death Waltz Records' Big Trouble In Little China OST yesterday. Fantastic! I love all JC's music, but this one, both with the movie and as a stand-alone listening experience, may just be my favorite.
Playlist from yesterday:
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss
Christine - Brand New Furies EP
The Cure - Carnage Visors
The Cure - Collector's Curiosities, Vol. 2
John Carpenter/Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST
Card of the day:
Second day in a row and third in a week. Needed this.
New Half-Pint entry into our 'micro-series' where we discuss Eric Powell's The Goon, his collaboration with John Carpenter on the Big Trouble In Little China sequel book from BOOM! Studios and, er, social ills and how pouring beer on yourself can help them...?
Issue #10 of Drinking with Comics just went up! A return to basics. Of particular note is the sketch that leads things off. Had a blast doing this one!
