Morbid Tales

Finally, the long awaited follow up to Mark Rudolph's awesome book about Mercyful Fate: Satan is Alive. Here we have a tribute to the incredible life and works of Tom G. Warrior and Celtic Frost.

I loved the first book. And now Mark's curated a new installment. A BETTER installment. The premise of the first one was to interpret lyrics in comic book form. really cool idea. But Morbid Tales is looser. It's more about interpreting Tom's life in comic form. Anything goes. It's fucking bad ass.

Mark teamed up with Corpseflower Records to put this one out, and he's upped the ante by compiling a 12" vinyl tribute to Celtic Frost, too. That's not out yet, but it's on its way. All the songs are recorded and it's just a matter of getting it mastered and then pressed. It's got the likes of Evoken, Acid Witch, Municipal Waste, Phil Anselmo with Childbite, Scott Kelly and more. Mark even asked Temple of Void to be on the record and we jumped at it! We recorded "Os Abysmi Vel Daath" and can't wait to hear that on wax alongside the other great covers.

But I digress. This post is about the book at hand. The format is the same. Similar paper stock, size, binding, etc. All top class. A lot of the contributors are carryovers from the first book, plus some new ones. I like the stories and comments by 'famous' metalheads that punctuate the comic. It flows really well. It's relatable. It's imaginative. It's a good read. I don't have any gripes with this, man. Seriously. I actually think it tops Satan is Alive, which is a hard thing to do. But I think the artists' imaginations really took flight in this book in a way they couldn't have with the first one because they were interpreting songs. This time they got to go wild and put their own spins on things.

The opening story with Crowley, Venom, and Conan on his throne...fucking brilliant. Worth the price of the book alone. Rudolph's contributions are my personal favorites. Shagrat's is my second favorite. Detroit really represents well with cool drawings by Mike Erdody, Shawn Knight, Slasher Dave, Kelly Larson, and Jason Outcast.

Needless to say I really dug this book and look forward to the third installment, whenever that may come...

Essential purchase.

Hell's Bloody Devils

Watch this trailer. Seriously. I'll wait...



Now tell me what kind of movie this is. A biker flick, you say? Ohhhhh no. That's a cunning ruse to suck you in. Quite literally all of the biker action is in the three minute trailer. There isn't a roar of a bike anywhere else in this whole film. They just marketed it as such. We kicked off this season's Motorcycle Movie Night with this flick and the Flying Skülls were pissed! Well, it was actually pretty freakin entertaining regardless of the lack of bikers. But this is a biker movie night, not a generic grindhouse night. There are standards that need to be upheld!

Needless to say I was quite disappointed that this wasn't actually a biker flick. And if you removed the bikers from the film it would have actually made a little more sense. What kind of flick is it? It's fucking confused. Part James Bond, part cop movie, part gangster movie, and part pseudo-biker. It's all very strange and none of it is woven together with any inkling of skill.

We had a hard time figuring out who was who or what was honestly going on. There are neo-Nazis counterfeiting money, Israeli spies out to get the Nazis, undercover cops, gangsters and lots of hot chicks. I'll give it that. Lots of hot mommas.

Oh yeah, and lots of Fords. They seemed to have struck up a deal with Ford for gratuitous product placement. Cool shit.

The thing that made most people's night was the fact that there's a cameo by the real deal Colonel Sanders from KFC. It happens for no reason whatsoever. Again, keen marketing ploy I assume.

I'm bashing this film cuz it's totally misleading. BUT we've definitely seen worse biker flicks. So where it lacks in bikers, it makes up in good ol' fashioned entertainment.

Hitchhiking must have been so fucking awesome in the 60's and 70s. 

The Black Gestapo

I ended up with a copy of the Black Gestapo because it was a double feature on a grindhouse disc I bought with the Black Six. I picked it up for the latter, which is a film I'll screen this season for Motorcycle Movie Night.

What can I say about the Black Gestapo? It's from 75, the cars are awesome, the score is filled with wah-pedals, and there's a really hot chick in it. The production and acting are terrible, lighting and sound are crap, it's just a shit movie. But I was somewhat entertained by it all nonetheless. I could never recommend that anyone spend time to watch it...but I was alright with it. I'm sitting at home waiting to go to the hospital for a procedure, so I needed to kill some time.

Oh yeah, the poster is rad.

It's about white gangsters extorting the black citizens of Watts. So a black people's army fights back against the whites. But then the black soldiers just start extorting the black citizens even worse than the whites did. Wah-pedals, Cadillacs, guns, karate, and afros ensue. White people die. Black people die. There's a whole lot of fightin' goin' on. Yeah...

Time Zero

I came across this flick on Netflix. It's a documentary about the last year of Polaroid film. Seemed like a light flick I could check out so I did...

The doc interviews a variety of photographers and artists who are heavy Polaroid users. One of them being none other than John Waters. I don't dig his films but the dude is freakin entertaining. The whole premise of the film is that Polaroid is shutting its doors, there are people who love the film, so what the fuck are they gonna do now that it's gone?

Well, I won't tell you because that wouldn't be very sporting of me. But it's an interesting look at the corporation, the people who love the film, and what fruit is born from that love.

The doc is well done. The biggest takeaway for me on any film like this is always the passion of the artists involved. It's always profoundly powerful when people are moved to tears, to action, and sometimes to risk their lives for the sake of art and expression. Very cool, man.

Good doc.

Project A

I just read Jackie Chan's bio. It got me in the mood for some Jackie Chan action so I put in a flick I haven't seen in 25 years...Project A. And boy was it good!

At first I was buuuuuuuuumed cuz it was fucking dubbed. It was a cheap DVD and I didn't even think twice. So yeah, that kinda sucked. But once I got over the initial shock I got right back into it like I was 10 years old again.

Project A is set in late 18th century Hong Kong and it's about pirates. So right off the bat you know this isn't your run of the mill kung fu flick. By this time Jackie had gained clout and was starting to make the films HE wanted to make. This is golden era Jackie Chan: he wrote, directed and starred in it, and his co-stars were his old buddies from the Chinese Opera Theatre...Samo Hung and Yuen Biao.

It's full of physical humor ala Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Jackie does some BIG stunts and so does his incredible cast. Three quarters of the film is pretty much punching, kicking, and jumping. It's fucking amazing. The physicality of his films are unparalleled. He's a true inspiration. Mad respect.

If you like kung fu and you have a sense of humor then you can't go wrong with this. It's awesome. Even when it's dubbed.

Of Dice and Men

Chillin' in the hotel in Orange County. Beautiful weather outside. I bet it's 20 degrees in Detroit right now. I'm in a t-shirt. Just sayin'...

I started this book a little while ago and read the final two thirds on the plane ride over from Minneapolis. I had a baby shitting its pants next to me and then getting breastfed. It wasn't ideal so I immersed myself in clerics, orcs, balrogs, and polyhedral dice for the majority of the flight.

Of Dice and Men is, as the subtitle describes, "the story of dungeons & dragons and the people who play it." The author attempts to write a book that is high level enough to appeal to the uninitiated, yet peppered with enough nerdisms to give any dork a nerdgasm. I straddled the fence. I was interested in the anthropological and historical aspects of D&D, but I also have always wanted to play it.

As a youth I stared in fascination at the miniatures set up at my local Games Workshop stores. I was super into Lego as a child, read find-your-fate fantasy novels, and got into heavy metal early on, but I never made the full leap to D&D. I owned Hero Quest and Space Crusade, but I was a one man gamer. I had no idea how to play either game so I just made it up in my head (much like D&D). But I was alone. I never had that mentor or older nerd to initiate me into gaming proper. So I just hung around the periphery of the gaming scene.

Anyway, this book is about the genesis of D&D, its rise to fame, infamy, its fall, and its rise again. The tome looks at the politics involved, the relationships formed and dissolved, and the cultural legacy. It's an impressive story to say the least. Inspirational.

If you have a casual (or serious) interest in D&D then you'll enjoy this book. Hell, even if you literally don't know anything about it, this is still a good read. But I'm not gonna oversell it. It's not the greatest thing since twenty sided dice. But it's good. Check it out. Find your fate...

 

I am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action

I picked this book up for $2 at a local record store. Unexpected but very welcome find.

As a huge Jackie Chan fan since the 80's I was excited to delve into his history. Find out where he came from and how he got to be the most amazing martial artist the silver screen has ever known. The bio delivers the goods. I'd say a good fifty percent of the book is all pre-movie stuff. It's all about Jackie growing up in a Chinese Opera School. He meets the likes of Samo Hung and Yuen Biao, and develops life-long friendships and partnerships with them.

You learn about Jackie's parents, his upbringing, his first loves, his friends, and then his whole life as the biggest celebrity in Asia. The failures and successes, the Triads, Jackie's unwavering spirit and determination, and his generosity. It's all there. As well as his many injuries and hospital visits.

I love books that have super short chapters. This one is written with an average of 3 or 4 pages per chapter. It makes for a quick read. You fly through it from stunt to stunt.

I've got the Project A DVD sitting on the shelf. This has definitely motivated me to move that right up to the top of my queue. It's been a loooooong time since I've seen that. I went through a "let's see what Jackie Chan films are on Netflix" phase a couple years ago. I watched a bunch that I hadn't seen since I was 9 or 10. Some should stay hidden, and some are just straight up classics. I NEED to see Police Story again. Pronto. Pickle and I watched that movie over and over and over again as youths. Best action movie of all time. Bar none.

Design is One

Design is One is a documentary about Massimo and Lella Vignelli. You don't know them but you definitely know their art. Everything from the NY MTA wayfinding signage to the American Airlines logo to the Bloomingdale's logo. Ducati, Ford, JCPenny, United Colors of Benetton, Knoll...the list is endless. Their influence is profound. It's shocking.

They design anything and everything from clothes to furniture to buildings to logos to corporate identities to housewares to whatever.

If you saw the Helvetica documentary you were probably amused by Massimo's interviews. He's very passionate and very straightforward, but without being a dick. He's opinionated, but approachable. Funny dude. Talented as fuck.

So, this is a doc focusing on their design impact. I recommend it to anyone who cares about aesthetics. Period.

Go stream it on Netflix.

Nightbreed

I've waited 25 years for this! The Director's Cut of Nightbreed is finally here.

I pre-ordered this blu-ray as soon as I was aware of it and watched it as soon as it was delivered. Nightbreed came out in 1990 and mesmerized my ten year old brain. I loved it. I related to it. I played the video game on Commie 64. And looking at that now...man, kids today have no idea. But I digress...

The movie was based on Clive Barker's book, "Cabal." He had just directed two very successful Hellraiser flicks and this was his next movie. But this was different. This was a story that placed humanity as the devil. The humans were evil. The "monsters" were sympathetic. The "monsters" were the good guys. It flipped everything upside down. But that didn't jive with the suits in Hollywood. They "couldn't" market Clive's original artistic intent, they needed to cut the film and sell it as a slasher to make money. So they brutalized Barker's vision and fucked his film over royally. Twenty-five years later, and now the film has a proper release that's much closer to Clive's original intent. There are 40 new minutes of footage. Some major sub-plots have been reinstated that totally change the complexion and denouement of the film. It's a huge fucking difference.

As a ten year old I didn't know any of this and I loved the movie for what it was. But now it's a lot sweeter to bask in the nostalgia, but with an even BETTER version than the one I remember.

The new Director's Cut blu-ray has over an hour and a half of documentary footage on the disc plus an intro to the film by Clive.

There's actually a three disc version I just found out about. That version has even more extras including 20 more minutes of footage. Probably from the "Cabal Cut" that's floating out there. So if you're hardcore enough...track down that version.

If you like 80's horror then this is the jam.

Conan of Cimmeria: Volume 6

I picked up this original paperback from a great local bookstore on Woodward. For all the Conan I've read, it's always been in comic form and never the original short stories. So I finally started reading the stories as told by Robert E. Howard in all their black and white glory. They're great. No shock there.

Great diction. Good pace. Immersive. Very enjoyable read. I look forward to buying that big-ass anthology...