Plundering the Internet so you don't have to
Props or Flops
Reviews in a shorter form for those with short attention spans, like me.
Les Lye Dies at 84
0914 days
On July, 21st 2009 someone very near and dear to my heart died. Les Lye, a great comedic actor from Canada died at the age of 84.
He started out doing radio shows back in the early 50′s on Canadian radio. Later he would join Bill Luxton in the in the mid 60′s as the kids comedy team of “Uncle Willy and Floyd” which ran for some 20+ years. Until he was tapped to do a children’s show on Nickelodeon. That show would go on to run 143 episodes and span 3 decades. All of which Lye was a part of, and played nearly every adult character.
Go ask your mother...
I can remember watching that show as a little kid and just laughing and having the best time. My parents even used to watch it with my sister and I when it was on. My mother to this day still will tell my sister and I, “Don’t encourage your father.” Memories of that show will out last most any television or movie quotes I have filed away in my brain.
Recently I was able to find on the internet a collection of the entire series of You Can’t Do That On Television, on DVD. The rights to the show have been fought over for years and years, some say Lye has the rights others say Nickelodeon does, maybe even some Canadian television station has them. It doesn’t matter, the set that I have could be called bootleg I guess. They are copies of the shows that were obviously recorded on a VCR then transferred to DVD. The quality is pretty poor, but again it doesn’t matter. I can still watch them, hear them, and in some cases recite the lines word for word. Now that Les is dead they may finally decide on who really owns the show and maybe even make a “real” DVD set. If that is true, then I will be first in line to pick it up.
Most remembered TV face of the 80's
You Can’t Do That on Television spawned several things that were influential on nickelodeon and in some cases television in general. For one, the green slime that is used on other shows came from YCDTOTV. Just the simple phrase “I don’t know” was enough to bring down a bucket of the green gooey stuff on your head. You could also just as easily get doused with a bucket of water but uttering “water” on set. It was simple and childish, but hell, it WAS a kids show. I think I even remember the Family Guy using that bit at some point. YCDTOTV also was a jumping off point for a lot of child actors. They would get their start on the show do a couple seasons then move on to bigger and better things. Just look at the IMDB listing for that show. Granted the names aren’t very familiar but those kids have all pretty much been busy playing roles here and there on TV ever since. The most glaring example of that was Alanis Morrisett. Personally I always liked the episodes/seasons with Moose, Lisa, Alasdair and Kevin Kubusheskie. They will always be the best group of kids on that show.
Les Lye 1924-2009
Anyway, it’s just a shame that Les Lye dies and no one (including myself admittedly) knows about it, at least here in the states. Also, in 2003, Lye and Luxton were honored with lifetime achievement awards from the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, for their work onWilly & Floyd. Lye continued to work as an active member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and was writing a book of his memoirs at the time of his death.
I saw a post somewhere about this that made me laugh, it said something to the effect of: I can no longer make a snarky comment about a cheese burger with out thinking that some how, some where, Les heard that.
Oneechanbara Beauty (DVD Review)
0922 days
Chanbara Beauty or as it is sometimes known Oneechanbara, is the next in the seemingly long line of Japanese Gore flix that I made myself suffer through. At least for my sake the movie was much better than the game.
Someone has issues with Japanese School girls.
In a world gone mad, zombies have overrun the Earth; not in that happy fun way like in Fido, either. Actually, the way the zombies looked and moved reminded me a lot of the game series “Siren.” The zombie outbreak apparently was started by the “D3 Corporation” (which is a gratuitous plug for the game publishers of the same name). They began inexplicably raising the dead back to life. Naturally once this happened they started attacking the living and thus creating more reanimated corpses for the zombie hordes. “Madness has swallowed up the whole world.” The story follows Aya the bikini-clad zombie slayer on her quest to kill the evil Dr. Sugita, who is the one responsible for creating the zombie “virus” and thus pushing the world to the edge of total destruction. Dr. Sugita is also responsible for turning Aya’s own sister, Saki, into some sort of hybrid human-zombie killing machine of evil. Aya is a master swords-woman and the only living descendant of the Imichi Clan. Why that makes any difference in the story, I am not sure, but the Doc sure does talk about it a lot.
Fastest shotgun in the world.
Aya is aided in her quest by Katsuji, the dim-witted, comedy relief fat guy, and Reiko, a gun-wielding, motorcycle-riding, leather-clad badass. Reiko is not just badass because she kills zombies, but because of her preferred method of dispatching them. She carries what can only be described as the world’s ONLY sawed-off, double-barrel shotgun of its type. Not only does it have the ability to fire countless rounds of ammo without reloading, but it also fired bullets instead of shotgun shells. This chick would give Ash (of evil dead fame) a run for his money with this gun. Anyway, Reiko is hunting Dr. Saguita because, as said before, he created the zombie outbreak and thus caused Reiko to have to kill her daughter when she became a zombie.
The action in the movie is very, very fast. Aya swings a sword made of what appears to be pure light energy most of the time. The zombies usually show up in packs of about 30 at a time and Aya and Reiko usually burn through them in a matter of minutes. The zombies themselves don’t really look all that great. Like I said, they remind me of the ones from Siren: they are just basically painted faces and expressions that make them look evil. The bulk of the budget was spent on special effects. Death scenes are played out wonderfully, with fountains of blood and severed limbs. Where money was not spent, however, was in lighting. This movie is just plain dark, and not just because it takes place mostly at night, or in dark warehouses.
What just happened? I can't see!
The end fight scene between Aya and Saki is like something out of a Dragonball Z cartoon. The fight’s special effects are way over the top and it only adds to the visual splendor that this movie has already delivered. Saki and Aya also sound very similar to Venus and Serena Williams in a heated tennis match, each yelling and grunting at top volume. The end was a little disappointing, but I guess I wasn’t really expecting it to be much more.
This movie is all about being over the top. Everything in this movie is done to the maximum: the special effects (where they existed), the script, even the acting. I was actually caught off guard during one scene, though. Katsuji has to confront his sister that was changed into a zombie, and ends up having to kill her. This particular scene was pulled off rather well compared to the rest of the film. The emotion came across well, and it wasn’t campy or played up too much.
There apparently is already a sequel to this flick called Oneechanbara Vortex. In which it seems that Aya and Saki AND Reiko all team up to fight zombies. This is quite strange given the fact that not only do Aya and Reiko want to kill Saki in the first film, but both Reiko and Saki DIE at the end of it. I guess it really doesn’t matter, given the source material. Who cares, honestly, when you have a film about Japanese chicks in bikinis killing zombies?
One final thing… is it just me or does Aya look a lot like Tina Sanchez from 1up?
I felt the same way at the end of this movie, lady.
Tokyo Gore Police (DVD Review)
1955 days
One of he strangest movies I have ever seen in my life, and that is seriously saying A LOT!
First off, let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of cheesy gore driven movies. It doesn’t have to have much plot or dialogue as long as the visuals can draw me in, or make me laugh. This is horribly apparent if you have ever seen my DVD collection. Which contains such nuggets as, the entire collection of Friday the 13th/Jason movies, all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Also the Sleepaway Camp movies, Evil Deads, and all manner of off the wall schlocky B movies. I am a fan, and am very proud to admit it.
This is what happens to "cutters" in hell.
That all being said, I was in no way prepared for what Tokyo Gore Police was about to hand me. Another film from “Tokyo Shock” that I rather enjoy is “Riki-Oh: The story of Riki.” Your average everyday person probably doesn’t know it by name, but it gained a little bit of notoriety when the original Daily Show with Craig Kilborn used to do the “4 Questions” segment. The guy smashing the other guys head into paste was from that movie. Anyway, the entire movie was pretty bloody. In fact it was one of the first to get a category 3 rating in Hong Kong (basically NC-17 in America) that wasn’t some form of erotic/porn movie. If Tokyo Gore Police is anything, it’s truth in advertising. It takes place in Tokyo, there are a lot of police involved, and there is a MASSIVE amount of gore. The first ten minuets of the film make Riki-Oh look like a Disney-Pixar colab. I let a friend see just one scene from the movie (grated it was pretty graphic) and all he could say was, “What the hell is wrong with Japanese people?” Very true.
NO amount of "protection" will save you
The “story” of TGP is that of a girl that is raised to be a “hunter” of the genetic freaks that are the “Engineers.” Engineers are psychotic criminals that can genetically alter their bodies. In the first scene one such engineer has his arm blown off in a gun fight. Not to worry though because it grows back… with a chainsaw attached to it. Yup, that’s the kind of crazy shit that happens the entire way through the movie. Anyway, Riko works for the Tokyo Police, and its her job to kill all these freaks they come across. Well as you might have guessed, things go to hell in a hand basket, and quickly. Not before we are introduced to an entire cast of regular humans that have not so human traits, or have been altered in some way. I don’t want to really get into the description of most but I will just give you a peek. There is the “Meat Chair”, the “Man-Eating Vagina” not to be out done there is also the “Giant-Penis-That-Shoots-Bullets” and so many more.
I sat through most of this with my mouth agape in wide-eyed wonderment that this movie was even made. Half the time I was appalled and the other half I was intrigued. This movie is really beyond all description. If you like your horror movies to have buckets and buckets of blood, and topped with the most insane creatures ever put to film, then this is right up your alley. Seriously. It will fit in nicely with my collection of other over the top films like it. I just don’t know if there is enough in there for regular film watchers to even rent it.
Really, I mean there is a guy that uses his own blood shooting from his legs as a sort of make shift propulsion system to fly him around in a fight. No joke!
To "Protect and Serve" my ass...
Whatcha been listening to?
0991 days
Over the past several months I have been doing my best to try and find new music to listen to. With the help of friends in real life and my new found Twitter friends, I have been able to find several new bands that are note worthy. Also there are several bands that I have been listening to for a while now that should be mentioned as well just so that I can spread the “New Music” love around.
Hayes Carll
First of all thanks to Bill (@DangerTom on Twitter) I was introduced to a man by the name of Hayes Carll. The interesting thing about him is, he is a country singer. Now for those of you that don’t know me very well, I would rather wipe my ass with a country cd than listen to it. That is to say, most country music that comes out now is complete and utter CRAP. Yes I am from “The South” but this is not the country music I was raised on, no sir. I was raised on the musical stylings of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Wayland Jennings, and of course Hank Williams. I guess they would fall into the category of “Outlaw Country” if you had to label them. Not this shitty “Alt-Country” or what ever you want to call about 80% of the new artists today.
That being said, Hayes Carll falls more to the old style of country music than the current crop. He has a very mellow sound to most of his songs. I also like the fact that his material is the things that you always hear the jokes on country music are about. Losing the love of his life, losing his job, trying to make money, or hitchin’ across the country, and yes… jail time. One of my favorite songs that he does is called “Live Free or Die”, in which he talks about being in jail and having to press licence plates for New Hampshire corrections. The irony of course being that he is in JAIL pressing plates that have the motto live FREE or die on them. His songs are very well written and performed, and I can’t figure out if it’s a shame he isn’t more widely known or if that is the blessing here.
Metric Fantasies
Next up on the new music scene is a band that I heard about from Patrick Klepek (@exxy on Twitter) called Metric. Now after finding out more about them, I realize that they aren’t really a new band sure, but they are new to me. They are labeled as “Post-Punk” which honestly makes no sense to me. I hear the word punk and think of the sex pistols or black label or minor threat… they don’t sound anything at all like that. I don’t know what I would label them as, but the lead singer and sound of their songs is more akin to The Breeders or Luscious Jackson. Female singer with a great set of pipes backed up by a great band. Oddly enough Bill also randomly recommended them to me after I just heard about them, so I guess great minds do think alike.
Now on to the music that I have been listening to for a while now and either got back into it, or just got a new album. Starting first with cKy and their new release Carver City. One of the very few perks for living on the East Coast is that sometimes (not often) you get to hear about bands BEFORE the west coast does. I found out about cKy years ago back when they just started to get their stuff out there with Jackass (via Bam Margera). At that point they were still kind of the up and coming underground local kinda band that not a lot of people knew about. I loved the first cd I got of theirs (Vol. 1) and played it to death. They had the sound that fell somewhere between Metal and I guess what you would just call Rock (i dunno). If they wanted to they could get pretty loud and in your face but also had a more mellow melodic sound too.
cKy - Carver City
Over the years they have released several albums for several different labels. Most recently with their release of Carver City, they “hit the big time” I guess you could say. Carver City was released under RoadRunner Records. Any big metal fan should automatically recognize that name immediately. Probably one of the larger American record labels in the Metal genre. The extra money from the label is very apparent in this album. Given the fact that Chad is kind of a perfectionist and likes to mix all their own stuff, it’s little wonder that the album took a while to come out. That extra time in the oven was also well spent. Each track was worked on and finished separately from the rest, the true definition of slow and steady wins the race.
The Eagles of Death Metal
Another band that I kind of stumbled upon through another band (Queens of the Stone Age) is The Eagles of Deathmetal. This band headed up by Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes is definitely an acquired taste. Be that the eclectic sound of the music itself, or the falsetto signing style of vocals takes a while to get used to. But how could you not like a band that was formed as a mix of, according to Homme, “The Eagles and Death Metal.” Listening to the latest album “Heart-On” is just fun. You can just tell that the guys playing in the band currently (like QotSA they rotate supporting band mates around a lot) are just really into what they are doing and love to make music together.
Deadsy
Finally there is a band that I consider to be a bit of a guilty pleasure, Deadsy. They only have two albums out now “The Commencement” and “Phantasmagore”. With a sound that is straight out of the 80′s synth phase mixed with a heaping helping of DOT (Dark Ominous Tones) they create a sound that is pretty much all their own. It really isn’t for everyone, I am sure of that one, but it really does appeal to me. When ever I am just in a mood to relax and just kind of zone out, they are one of the first bands that I will put on. Check em out if you want, but it may not be your particular cup of tea.
So that is what I have been playing through my iPod recently. I don’t expect you all to go out there and purchase/download all these groups, however you could give them a listen, just to see if maybe it might be something you like as well. I am sure there will be more artists that I will list here as time goes on, in fact I already have a few in mind. Check back probably about once a week and I will throw out some more suggestions.
Valkyrie Profile DS
01041 days
The unfortunate thing about not reading game reviews before you do your own is that sometimes you are unprepared for what you are about to play. In the case of Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, I had played the PS1 version of the game and really enjoyed it. So naturally when i heard it was coming to the DS i was excited to again be able to play.
I got the game Monday and popped it into my DS that night. I was expecting the kind of game that i had played back in the day, since i hadn’t read anything about the game so as not to spoil my first impressions. Well when i started playing it i discovered it was more of a tactical action RPG than i wanted. I was hoping to have a kinda RPG platformer like back on the first game. Not what i got.
I can’t give this game a full review since i have only played a very very small amount of it. I will say that if you are expecting a game like the first Valkyrie Profile, you will be disappointed, like me. It will be going back in the mail today. Once again so very happy to have a Game Fly subscription…
Role Models
01041 days
For what this movie is (dumb comedy) it was worth seeing it. Sean William Scott and Paul Rudd, have pretty good on screen chemistry. The kids are the real draw, they steal the scene nine times out of ten. Wasn’t a fan of the character played by Jane Lynch this time, her acting is pretty much all the same, her “Ricky Bobby’s mother” has been the best she has done. Final verdict, I would say I give it a rent. It was worth seeing.
*Foot note* The movie poster makes no sense as far as Paul Rudd’s character. He uses the restroom once, and really doesn’t make the movie funnier. Interesting choice for poster… Also the “Tag Line” sucks… someone (Comic Book Guy) should be fired for that one.
