Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Quick Movie Writeup: Keoma (1977) w/ Franco Nero




I wanted to do a quick write up of this classic spaghetti western "Keoma" starring Franco Nero as a half breed gunfighter who returns to his hometown after the civil war to find things in complete dissaray. His 3 brothers who picked on him as a kid are now hired goons under the wing of a Mr. Caldwell who has pretty much taken over the town. There is a plague going around and Keoma ends up coming to the aid of those afflicted by scheming up a way to get the needed medicine into a town under the stranglehold of corruption. In the process he kicks the shit out of lots of people and is quick to pull out his gun and blast on someone. I should note that the theme music is horribly annoying with shrill "singing" if you can call it that, that seems to drone on and on. One thing I found funny is that every single actor had a perfect american accent, except Franco Nero who sounds overwhelmingly Italian. This is especially funny as his family all talk "normally" which makes Franco's voice stand out like a sore thumb. Another aspect I found hilarious is that throughout the movie the background music will come on and then Nero's voice (italian accent included) chimes in and "sings" the storyline....like "Herrrrreeeee I ammmmm surrounded by meeeeennnnnn with gunnnnnssssssss". Haha.

While the acting and dialogue is pretty over the top in a lot of places, the casting was done very well, especially for Keoma's slightly dandified, sadistic brothers who play their part very well. Nero himself is always entertaining and doesn't fail here. The Italians were looking for a Clint Eastwood type actor and they seem to have find it in Franco Nero....who definitely has a certain amount of charisma and appeal as an actor, even if he notoriously over-acts. I found this movie to be a standout of the genre and is definitely worth a watch if you're into Western movies or Franco Nero the actor. A good example of the spaghetti western genre, even though it may be a big more polished than early Clint Eastwood material. Worth a watch for sure. Sorry I know this writeup is kind of all over the place, my attention span is really small right now, I probably shouldn't be writing this right now, I just felt like doing something different than just posting a music video, or other random video.




Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Cinemageddon.net

So I'm back on this torrent site which specializes in obscure horror/gore/exploitation/70's genre films. I've been getting back into a lot of Italian films, especially euro-crime, spaghetti western and giallo flicks. I hope to do some somewhat brief film reviews here, so that if you're a fellow genre film buff I can point you in the right direction of some cool flicks. I'm not sure if the cinemageddon site is invite only now, if it is, get in touch with me and I'll work on getting you an invite. I'm assuming I'd have the capability of inviting at least a couple people because I've uploaded way more than I've downloaded and maintain a pretty killer ratio.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Last Night

Hit up the M.I.A. drum n bass party "Danger Danger" to see Danny Tha Wildchild....one of my favorite DJ's of all time. The party ended pretty early, but I was up moving around for the majority of the time so I was pretty beat by the end of it. Next time I'd like to see them do it bigger with a larger venue and more people.....I'm sure if midwestern junglists can pack the metro for LTJ Bukem, M.I.A. could get a pretty good draw with some UK talent, or some other big names in DnB from the U.S.A. Their next event is their monthly Subfix party at SmartBar, first Thursday of every month. The next one will be February 2nd and starts around 10. Come out and say what's up to me in person....just look for the perma-grin haha. More extensive update tommorow........

Friday, January 20, 2012

Jodorowsky's El Topo


This film has been very accurately described as being a western film on acid. To me it's pure art. A personal favorite. You can watch it here subtitled in English, but I'd recommend buying on DVD for the better quality it offers.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Ganja Guys Update

I posted some comments about this dude's youtube channel called ganja guys a few months back. Apparently he deleted his youtube account and all his videos. I like to think my post had some part in that decision...here's the post:

So this 15 year old kid has a youtube channel featuring videos of him smoking weed using various methods. These are so unintentionally awkward and hilarious. I'm sort of transfixed by this video in the same way I would be if I were watching a midget tossing contest or something. Here's a few points of the video I've analyzed.


-Showing off his shitty acrylic bongs he probably bought at the gas station for 10 bucks apiece.

-His awkward friend who looks like he'd rather be anywhere but there....and the weird banter between the two.

-The sound he makes right before he hits the gasmask bong for the first time makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

- All the music in his videos consist of horrible played out top 40 countdown rap songs from 6 months ago. Apparently he has a huge crush on Lil Wayne.

- Waving around a quarter of schwag like it's dipped in gold or something.

-The best part of the whole video: His dad walks in while they're fumigating the room with schwag smoke and yells at him for not doing his chores.....he acts like a complete little fucking brat, calls his dad a nigger and starts talking shit to his dad in front of his friend. Your dad lets your 15 year old Mitch Kramer lookin' ass sit in your room and rip tubes all day and you have the nerve to act like that? What a choad.


I like to think I acted a bit cooler than this kid when I was his age, but I'm sure I was a fuckin' asshole too, I refuse to believe I was half as bad as this little buttfuck though. In a couple years he's definitely gonna wish he never made these videos.



Friday, January 13, 2012

"Terra Firma" by Francis Berry

This mixed media drawing by Francis Berry is entitled "Terra Firma". I really like his style and the colors he uses. Mr. Berry has a lot more interesting art on his homepage http://www.FrancisBerry.com



Thursday, January 12, 2012

4-ACO-DMT Trip Report

Yesterday, I took advatntage of the beautiful weather right before the first major winter storm of the season, to ingest a capsule of roughly 20 mg's of 4-ACO-DMT a chemical compound that is supposed to be very close to a psilocybin experience. Here's a full unedited trip report I composed while under the influence of this interesting stuff. Some of it is kind of all over the place, but I think that lends credence to my altered state of consciousness.

My unedited 4-ACO-DMT trip report:

T: 12:00 in the afternoon

Ingested small gelcap approx 20 mg's

T:12:30- Feel lighter, typing fingers hitting the keys feels "different" watching Technical Itch, the rukus video. bout to go smoke a cir, no visuals yet.

"get Loose" Matt Cox

T: 1:11 Definitely tripping now, not too intense. Very light body load, almost no visuals. Very mushroom-like, can't feel the DMT aspect, or don't know what to look for. smoking a blunt of ergs right now listening to bass-heavy music in my room, planning on going outdoors for the peak, for now im gonna finish this blunt, charge my ipod, and watch the itunes visualizer while playing some EDM.
Depreciation Guild sounds spectacular "Heavy Eyes". Visualizer not. working for some reason.

DPG "Nautilus to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJqo90lNYLs&feature=related

at same time, absolutely amazing! Like Pink Floyd DSOTM and Wizard of Oz syncs up almost perfectly timed and everything.

T: 1:36

Very euphoric now, weird bodily sensations, balance is off, funny thoughts etc. Like mushrooms but very calm and relaxing. Very little visuals, felt in the body without there being a large body load if that makes sense. Listening to DJ Rap "Spritual Aura" classic jungle track. Watching the video for Gold Panda-Marraige (Star Slinger Remix) with the volume muted and blasting the Innovation Mix.
'
T: 1:50

Effects getting stronger now, had to turn off the thousand hand boddisatva because it was freaking me out haha.

T: 1:56

Dude this is fucking awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgy1S8qymx0&feature=socblog_th
ReactAble Trance live performance submit studios
Duuuuuuude1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltjQJz2uz2E&feature=relmfu

T: 2:03

Seem to be peaking. Watching Reactable performances on youtube is unbelievable. This is the future of EDM…..and maybe music in general.

T: 2:27
.
Minor OEV's heavier load now in the face huh that sounds funny. Looked in the mirror and you couldn't even tell that I'm tripping. Pupils normal size and everything. Still going though.

T: 5:00

Wow, what I thought was the peak was nowhere near the peak. I just got back from a walk that seemed like an epic trek. One of the most notable things about this trip is the feeling in my limbs, almost as if they belong to someone else. My coordination is all over the place. I can tell that my pupils were probably huge earlier, but are going down now. Some parts of the trip seemed quite intense, several times I stopped and sat on a bench to gather my thoughts and center myself. Audio hallucinations were very pronounced, sounds blending together to become different variants of the same noise. I walked into town and marveled at how weird it felt to be around people going about their day, oblivious to my state of mind and how they looked from my point of view. I took a route that is filled with memories for me so I just kind of reveled in the nostalgia of the walk, especially going by my old elementary school. I noticed that this isn't a very social drug, and I found myself getting mildly paranoid in a few instances, in each case I talked myself down though (i.e. think rationally etc.). Now I'm going to seek out some food, and probably hop in the shower once I come down a little more.

T: 6:00

Back to Baseline. Went and got some KFC, just finished eating…I feel good. Altogether I feel I had a successful session, and looking forward to trying this in more of a social atmosphere with friends.
----------

This is one of the videos I watched when I was coming up. I turned the volume off and listened to the song "Nautilus" by The Depreciation Guild. The song seemed to sync up perfectly with what was happening in the video, kind of like watching The Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon album.



Tuesday, January 10, 2012

More Bongs of Yore



Waterpipes with silver finish, the ultimate in post modern smoking accessories.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Toys For The Mind '78

From a vintage issue of High Times, this ad features pipes with built in lighters and rotatable bowls along with places to stash things in the pipe itself. It's interesting to see how smoking technology has changed over the years.


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Vintage High Times Content: "I Remember Punk" by Legs McNeil

In the late 70's, High Times magazine began to cover the burgeoning punk rock scene here in the U.S. and abroad. Most notably, they hired Legs McNeil, a writer for the New York based Punk magazine as a semi-regular columnist. In this article Legs reminisces over the early days of Punk magazine and the punk scene at large. He has a unique and enjoyable writing style which is easy to get absorbed in, and his New York-centric viewpoint always makes for entertaining subject matter.











Wednesday, January 4, 2012

"Deal For Real" an article by Timothy Leary reprinted for High Times Magazine April '78

This is a nice little scan from the April 1978 issue of High Times. In the article, Mr. Leary espouses the philosophy of the "Righteous Dealer". I don't know how applicable this would be to today's black/grey market economy for illicit drugs and chemicals, but it certainly makes for an interesting read.




Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Belated Birthday Artwork




I was going to post this on December 1st when i turned 27 but for some reason forgot. This was drawn by an old friend of mine and sent from jail where he was in for bashing someone over the head with a lock tied to a bandanna. He's an extremely talented artists as you can tell, ironically some of his violent tendencies seem to come out through the drawing, though this is one of my favorite birthday gifts I've ever received. Hopefully he's found a job as a comic book illustrator by now. Dan Tomczak, wherever you are now, thanks bro.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Really Weird/Really Cool



A toy wresting belt that has had it's circuits bent, now "Are you ready to wrestle the champ?"

The Biters are still my favorite current punk band...




A cool little interview with some live footage dispersed throughout....produced for Comcast On Demand Music of all places.