Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal

Sometimes I just want to veg-out to some heavy metal books, magazines, and movies. It happens a lot. But I've read and watched so god damn many of them I don't have many quality ones left. In my thirst for something of this nature I revisited Get Thrashed. It's a dvd I own but haven't watched since it came about about five years ago.

Rat Skates (drummer from Overkill) is the man behind the movie. He takes you on an international journey touching on many of the titans of the genre. From the Bay Area and LA scenes on the west coast all the way to Germany and Japan and right back again. He covers all the expected culprits through archival footage, never-before-seen photos, and lots of interviews conducted just for this doc. The production value is pretty damn good. It's not amazing, but it's definitely better than a kick in the nuts. It's definitely a job well done.

If you're interested in thrash (of course you are) then this is a very entertaining watch. It's purely historical. It's just talking heads pontificating and telling anecdotes about partying with Paul Baloff or  having Slayer play in your back yard. Cool shit like that.

Steven Blush is a freakin weirdo. Ian Christie is pretty cool. Katon W. DePena has a ton of energy. And Bobby Blitz is just one OG motherfucker.

You can find the whole thing up on YouTube I think. Dig it.

The Antics Roadshow

I'm sure you're all wondering why the hell I haven't posted a new book or movie in a while. It's cuz I'm currently reading three books at once. Two of them are over 900 pages long. All three can be read concurrently because they are short stories or non-fiction. I'm pecking my way through them and when they're done, they're done. As for movies, I was watching Sherlock (which is 90 minutes an episode), and I started to get into Daredevil. So that was taking up time, too.

Anyway...
The Antics Roadshow is a 47 minute documentary by Banksy. It's about artists and demonstrators subverting authority, standing up for (mostly) righteous causes, and generally causing disruption and bringing public awareness to fucked up governmental or corporate situations. They use comedy, they use subversion, sometimes they use cream pies. It's a quick watch and wholly entertaining. It's great to watch such self-empowered people standing up for what they believe in, even against ridiculous odds. Hats off to them all.

CHAMPS

One of my vast legion of loyal readers suggested I check out CHAMPS. It's a new documentary focusing on 90's boxing and starring Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Bernard Hopkins. I took Matt up on the suggestion and watched it two nights ago. Uncharacteristically of me, I put it on at 12:30am and watched the whole thing and didn't get to bed til close to 2:30. Starbucks iced coffee, man.

I was never a big boxing fan. I couldn't even call myself a boxing fan, period. I've just always been aware of it as a part of existence. Passing interest from time to time. As a youth I grew up with the personalities of the heyday like Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and good ol' Frank Bruno.

It's an alluring sport, though. And this documentary does a great job pulling back the curtain to show you a glimpse of the life pre stardom, and the pain/troubles of the life post stardom. It's pretty fucked up. Hardly any better than the backyard situation we saw with the doc' Dawg Fight. In many respects I'd say this is worse because you have a whole system of people out there pretending to support you, but really fucking you over and manipulating you for your money. You're from the ghetto, you've never had enough money to support yourself, and now you're a millionaire. You're gonna get robbed blind by pieces of shit who call themselves your friends or your team. And you can't rely on anyone to advise you otherwise. But anyway...

This is a cool doc'. Good quality. Entertaining. Watch it.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

I hate the vast majority of comic book movies. The good ones are very rare. But holy fuck, if Sin City isn't a prime exampled of how to adapt a comic to the big screen then I don't know what is. The first one blew me away. Absolutely floored me. I was/am a huge Sin City fan and the attention to detail was all there. Every frame dripped with Frank Miller's presence. He was a co-director. Wouldn't let anyone adapt his books otherwise. And quite rightly. His partnership with Rodriquez is a match made in the sweaty, sleazy, back alleys of Basin City. It's gritty. It's authentic. It's perfect.

Neither of them drop the ball on the second installation, A Dame to Kill For. It's more classic Miller tales very artfully and painstakingly recreated in live action. If you like comics you must like Sin City. If you like Sin City you must see the movies. Simple logic. Can't be argued against.

Fucking awesome.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Netflix produced a Nina Simone trailer. Sold.

This just recently came out. Very solid documentary about the high priestess of soul. Found out quite a bit about Nina's personality and her interesting life. I had no idea. If, like me, you just dug Nina's amazing voice but never knew the story behind the artist...check this out.

And Stanley Crouch is always entertaining to watch and listen to. He offers some commentary...

Dig it.

the Summit

This is a good doc on a botched K2 expedition. Eleven people died in the most deadly K2 climb in the mountain's history. This is the story of what went down. Well, as much as people can piece together. The truth is known to the mountain alone.

If you like documentaries like Touching the Void or any sort of survival tale...you'll dig this.

The Walking Dead: Volume 23 Whispers into Screams

This was an exciting issue. One of the best in recent memory. A lot of shit is going on. The cliffhanger from last TPB is resolved, and it's turned into a whooooole new thing. I'm not saying anything else. Stoked on this one.

Dawg Fight

I saw this pop up on Netflix so I added it to ye olde queue. Just watched it. Pretty decent. I really liked the main guy it profiles; DaDa 5000.

You've probably heard of Kimbo Slice. The dude is a UFC fighter and he went pro after being discovered in the backyard fighting scene of Florida. Evidently there are at least five fighters from a small backyard fight club in Miami who have made it to the pro level after being discovered on YouTube and whatnot.

This is the story of DaDa 5000, the guy who organizes the fights. He's one hell of a fighter himself, weighing in at a 260lbs. These dudes see fighting in the backyard as a way out of the ghetto. And sometimes...it works. But more importantly it bring the community together and it gives people something to strive for. And in many cases it settles beefs with fists instead of knives or guns.

It's a somewhat low budget doc, but it's not exactly a glamorous environment so it's alright. It doesn't need to be fancy. There are a lot of likable characters, some sadness, some loss, some triumph, and a whole lot of resilience...it's all there.

If you like MMA I'd suggest you watch this. No doubt.

Project A Part 2

I hadn't seen Project A Part 2 since I was probably 10 years old. I had recently watched Project A so I wanted to see the sequel. It's on Netflix and I had time to kill so I did just that. It ruled so hard, man. Great Jackie Chan flick. Golden era Golden Harvest production.

Jackie is an up and coming cop in Shanghai in what appears to be...the 20's? Earlier? In Project A he defeats some pirates. Kills their leader. In Part 2 they come back to seek revenge. On top of that there's a whole lot of police corruption going on, double-crossing, and a hefty dose of political radicals causing trouble. It makes for a relatively complicated plot. It's a bit tricky keeping track of all the subplots. But it's not rocket science either. Anyway, the movie is about action and comedy. That's what you're here for. And Project A Part 2 delivers both in spades.

If you like Jackie Chan, this is a must-see. Some classic stunts. But if you're not into 80's kung-fu then I guess you can live without it. Although I wouldn't recommend it.

Long live Jackie Chan.

Total Recall

I bought this for Pickle*, but the dude had already read it. So I figured fuck it, I'll read it myself. I was on an Ahhnold kick so what the hell.

I'm really glad I purchased it. It's an excellent read. Top class bio. Arnie charts his life growing up, through his body building career, then movie career and finally his political career. It's all there. Every rep.

The awesome part about his story is his mental fortitude. The dude is so god damn disciplined. It's a very inspiring read. You understand that Arnie wasn't a body builder who got into this or that...whether he was a body builder or not is irrelevant. The guy just had immense drive. He was going to succeed at multiple things in his life no matter what, and body building just happened to be one of the first major accomplishments. He's a scholar, an athlete, an actor and much, much more.

Arnold talks about his follies, too. It's not all glamour. He makes mistakes and he pulls back the curtain on a couple of them.

This book is highly enjoyable. But I found the final quarter less interesting because it focused on his political career...and that's obviously not as interesting to me. I prefer stories about lifting on Venice Beach or shooting Conan with John Milius. But if I'm gonna read about politics it might as well be about Arnold. So it's really a win/win. This is great.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story of grit, determination, and personal drive. Or anyone who just wants to know about Schwarzenegger. I mean, who wouldn't want to know about the Austrian Oak?