This week is the release of The Book of Eli, a post-apocalyptic film starring Denzel Washington. I haven’t heard enough about this movie to make it stand out, so I am just as happy there is an alternative selection for the week: Jackie Chan’s The Spy Next Door. The latter looks to be a variant on his Robin B Hood story format, except I don’t think Jackie sings the theme song in the new film. If you missed him singing it for the other, here you go…
Some of the things you find online take more imagination than I generally expect from people, and the Jeep Rock video is an excellent example. The second video is the trailer from the film Tucker & Dale vs Evil, a comedy horror film that will hopefully get a distributor after it appears at Sundance this year.
Sac Anime happens from the 8th to the 10th in Sacramento, CA. The musical guests include The Slants and Voltaire, and there are many more guests in many other categories.
Animé Los Angeles 6 also happens this same weekend. They have some great Guests of Honor and some good events set up for the convention.
For the weekend Media Con, there is the Twighlight Con in Miami, FL. It runs from the 8th to the 10th, and the estrogen levels should be intense.
No new film fests again this week, but if you haven’t seen it yet, let me point you to Bobby Llewellyn’s LlewTube web site. This site is where he keeps his Car Pool programs, a unique format in which he drives around with his guest and interviews them. He isn’t wearing the Kryten head gear, but his trademark humor shines through.
For those who haven’t seen Amanda Palmer’s Gaga, Palmer, Madonna, here it is… be sure to comment on YouTube, and join your voice to over a thousand others.
No film fests this week, so today a few Nerdcore tunes instead, including a couple of old favorites you have seen here before…
Weather is moving in, so I may not get to see Avatar in my local theater on opening day. But since William Gibson inspired me to post some music yesterday, I thought it might to be fun to post a bit more today, this time recommended by Wil Wheaton from his Radio Free Burrito podcast. The band Monsters from Mars may not be posting many new tracks these days, but I sure like the old ones.
I just noticed that John Scalzi posted some of his favorite music videos today as well, and there are some great tunes there.
Speaking of old audio tracks, anyone remember Lord Buckley? With his classic poems from Hipsters, Flipsters, and Finger Poppin Daddies, knock me your lobes, to The Naz, to Gods Own Drunk, and many more, he was the precursor that ushered in everyone from William Burroughs to Lenny Bruce around 1950 or so (Buckley started recording about 1940). In the process, he singlehandedly invented the language of the Beat Generation, and introduced Jack Kerouac to stream of consciousness poetry, Allen Ginsberg to free-form rhyme, and cheered on Neal Cassady as he also created a unique variation on what it was to be an American Beat. Neal never wrote anything, as near as I can remember; he was just the quiet center around which everyone else kept writing, and doing, and evolving, using him for their inspiration.