I've never really been able to keep track of this Chino Moreno side project, but I guess that's because it kind of gets lost amidst Deftones, Palms, Team Sleep and probably at least one other project I'm blanking on. Good thing I'm subscribed to their youtube feed - this popped up and I LOVE it. Not sure if there's a forthcoming album, but hopefully there will be something substantial because I think another reason I drop the ball on these guys is the only other 'full length' is a comp of singles - I think.
Watch:
I watched a bunch of flicks over the holiday, but the two I'd like to briefly discuss now are the new Paul Thomas Anderson film Licorice Pizza and Park Chan-Wook's seminal revenge classic Old Boy.
Licorice Pizza is another beautiful film by PTA, and being as it serves as Cooper Hoffman's first film, the introduction of someone I think we'll be seeing a lot more of in the coming years.
There's a lot of talk that this film is racist because of a certain pair of scenes featuring an obnoxious restauranteur who speaks to his Japanese wives in a culturally insensitive manner. Calling this film racist because of that is like calling Schindler's List a pro-Nazi film - complete snowflake lunacy. Both scenes are funny, that's the point, but there's no one slighted here, so sorry. They are ridiculous, funny, and ultimately not going to hurt anyone's feelings that aren't looking to have their feelings hurt. Saying this is offensive would be like me saying I find State of Grace's portrayal of the Irish stereotypical and offensive. The point is, the character is based on an actual person, and the character is a dildo. Did I laugh? Yes. Do I feel bad? No. We're going to need tougher hides to get through the coming years, folks. I think we all know racism when we see it - this isn't that.
Aside from that, all the hype around Bradley Cooper's portrayal of Jon Peters is well-deserved. This is also comical, and perhaps some will see it as a slight against the hyper-masculine? There's an under-represented group amidst the SJWs, so if you're looking to cause a ruckus, have at.
Also, SO great to see Tom Waits again, in any capacity. His recent years of radio silence in all mediums had me concerned, but he's just as spry as he always has been in terms of performance, and with Sean Penn in his scene, the two are a sheer pleasure to watch.
Next, it'd been well over a decade since the last time I watched Old Boy. Long enough, in fact, for its effect to have waned in my memory. Well, this re-watch brought the film back up to the prestige it held with me upon my first viewing; this is an EPIC! The camera work is fantastic and the fight choreography is stunning. I'm pretty much betting the 'hammer' fight scene was the inspiration behind the now legendary "Hallway" fight scene in the first episode of Netflix's Daredevil show, and probably a hundred other fight scenes I'm unaware of or simply unable to conjure at the moment.
Playlist:
Miami Horror - Illumination
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane - Eponymous
Great Falls - The Fever Shed
Old Time Relijun - Musicking
Nun Gun - Mondo Decay
Algiers - Eponymous
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon
Huey Lewis and the News - Sports
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
The Police - Synchronicity
The Afghan Whigs - 1965
Fleet Foxes - A Very Lonely Solstice
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# ∞
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy
Blut Aus Nord - 777 Sect(s)
Burzum - Filosofem
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