Archive for the ‘video’ Category

How To Kill Godzilla

Friday, May 16th, 2014

Via Ace of Spades, comes War is Boring’s primer on how to kill Godzilla.

The basic plan is:

  • Blind it with multiple gunships unloading white phosphorous into its eyes.
  • Hit it with a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a “30,000-pound, precision-guided bunker-buster…filled with a deadly RDX explosive mix and designed to slice through solid rock.”
  • That would probably work in real life (where the square/cube law pretty much precludes 10-story monsters, much less ones breathing atomic fire). But in the world of the just released Godzilla movie (which, alas, I have not seen yet), given that our fire-breathing friend is reported to have survived Castle Bravo, America’s first dry-fuel thermonuclear bomb test on Bikini Atoll, well, color me skeptical that 30,000 pound JDAMs would do the trick…

    Shoegazer Sunday: Jesus on Heroine’s “Jesus on Heroin”

    Sunday, May 11th, 2014

    Honestly, the only thing I know about Jesus on Heroine is that they have a Facebook page. Here’s the slightly differently spelled “Jesus on Heroin.” It’s probably best I didn’t play this on easter Sunday…

    Mousetrap Madness

    Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

    Back in the dim mists of time, they used to demonstrate the speed of atomic chain reactions with arrays of mousetraps. Now someone has done the same experiment, with the added benefit of a high speed camera:

    Shoegazer Sunday: Mercury Rev’s “You’re My Queen”

    Sunday, April 27th, 2014

    Mercury Rev is an American ban that got dubbed Shoegaze early on, then evolved in a more pop direction. “You’re My Queen” is actually one of their more pop numbers, but I think it fits nicely into the shoegaze category somewhere between Black Tambourine and Polyphonic Spree.

    William Friedkin’s Sorcerer Finally Out on Blu Ray

    Saturday, April 26th, 2014

    In the 1970s, director William Friedkin made three great movies, one after the other. The first, The French Connection won the Academy Award for best picture. The second, The Exorcist, was not only one of the greatest horror films of all time, but one of the highest grossing films ever.

    However, his third film, Sorcerer, a remake of the French film The Wages of Fear, sank like a stone at the box office, despite having one of tensest action sequences ever filmed:

    It also doesn’t help that the film was later butchered for the international market.

    The film has long been champion by many (including Roger Ebert) as a lost classic. But the film was never released on Blu-Ray.

    Until now:

    The Blu-Ray version is the full film, restored and remastered with Friedkin’s oversight, and is reportedly “stunning”.

    I’ll definitely pick this up, because even on VHS (kids, ask your parents what a VHS was), it was an extremely well-made and gripping film (and one I prefer to the original Wages of Fear).

    Warning: Don’t pick up the DVD released the same day as the Blu-Ray, which is reportedly a “botched” full-screen transfer, as the restored version of the DVD isn’t available yet.

    Mr. Irish Bastard

    Friday, April 25th, 2014

    While I was poking around iTunes listening to covers of “Road to Nowhere,” I stumbled across this:

    If you like Flogging Molly or The Dropkick Murphys, you’ll recognize the Celtic folk punk sound of Mr. Irish Bastard.

    Would you believe they hail from Münster, Germany?

    Like other bands of their ilk, drinking seems to play a big role in their music:

    I should really put up one video that’s an actual video:


    I liked the sound so much that I picked up their first album, St. Mary’s School of Drinking for a mere $4.83 off iTunes.

    They’ve also done a complete album cover of Never Mind the Bollocks, but I think I prefer their original work.

    Obviously, I should have put this up for St. Patrick’s Day…

    Shoegazer Sunday: Spokraket’s “Just Go Spit Out Another Lie”

    Sunday, April 20th, 2014

    Danish band Spokraket offers garage band psychedelic surf rock married to Here Come the Warm Jets-era Brain Eno, offering plenty of distorted guitars and end up sounding like a low-fi version of Black Tambourine. “Just Go Spit Out Another Lie” is pretty much a steady state Shoegaze song: Like the riff and groove? Just wait around and there will be plenty more of it coming down the pike…

    And here’s an earlier live version of it, when it was called “(Drifting Away In) Solitary Dreams”

    Another Insane Lego Ball Machine

    Friday, April 18th, 2014

    A while back I featured this Lego ball machine from Japan.

    Well, this one (also from Japan) is twice as insane.

    It may even be from the same guy.

    (Hat tip: Lou Anders‘ Facebook page.)

    Trailer for Cold in July

    Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

    Here’s the official trailer for Cold in July, the film based on the Joe R. Lansdale novel starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnston.

    I hear Joe himself is pleased with it, and his daughter Kasey has a song on the soundtrack.

    Pretty promising.

    Shoegazer Sunday: Lights That Change’s “Beautiful Soul”

    Sunday, April 13th, 2014

    Lights That Change is a neo-Shoegaze band out of the UK. With “Beautiful Soul” they offer up a bright, gauzy, floating slab of prettiness with some great female vocals.

    Sadly, it seems that vocalist Lisa VonH has already split with the band.