4:30 AM Exorcism

It's 4:30 AM and I'm watching the Exorcist. Actually I am watching the director's commentary on the two versions of the Exorcist I own. I have the 25th Anniversary Edition and the slightly longer extended cut released a few years later. The writer Peter Blatty also has a commentary on the older version that is very interesting. The problem is that I find this film terrifying. Even the director's commentary track can give me he creeps just seeing the visuals of the film. This film scared the living bejeezus out of me when I saw it on HBO as a lad. I saw many classic films of the 70's on HBO. Cable was new when I was 10 or so, and HBO was something ofa miracle. Movies were available uncut by flipping a box on top of the TV while watching channel 3. HBO used to show burlesque and r-rated softcore european sex films along with studio films which were rated R. HBO wasn't a 24 hour channel at first. In fact, it was only on during prime time. Eventually, daytime programming was added, but no HBO mini-series or original films were on, and R films were only shown at night. I saw such bleak 70's cinema as Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Hardcore, Scanners, The Deer Hunter, Deliverance, and the Exorcist. These films don't have happy endings or corporate sponsor ideas. They, are bleak, violent, and not for 10-year olds. I have never been as scared by anything as I was by the Exorcist. Not even by Ned Beaty's anal rape in Deliverance. Some great movies were made in the 60's and 70's. Some damn scary flix. Night of the Living Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and Phantasm all scared me as a kid, and I can still enjoy them to this day. So what am I doing at 4:30 AM? Not sleeping is what. I'd call myself an insomniac, but I'm not sure if that is a proper diagnosis. I can sleep. But after 2:00 mostly. Trying to get to sleep at a decent hour to get up and sieze the day, but it doesn't happen. Tonight I tried to go to bed at 11:00, b ut at 2:00 I still wasn't asleep. I was listening to the commentary on the Exorcist on a portable DVD player via headphones. Trying to relax. I was awakened maybe a half hour later by a nightmare. It makes it hard to hold a conventional job when you can't sleep a full night. Maybe I should put on a Marx Brothers film. It might be easier to sleep after that.

All my Tex Avery

All my Tex Avery cartoons are one laserdisc box set that claims to have everytghing he ever directed for MGM. Unfortunately, you can't duplicate a laserdisc and they do "rot" with age. I also don't know how long my laserdisc player will last. It's a big, high-end one that cost $4K in the day. Now, a $100 DVD player will outperform it many times over. But, no Tex Avery on DVD yet. And maybe not ever. The French have a fancy DVD box set, b ut that won't play in our equipment over here. So, in coverting these cartoons to DVD, I have realised a few truisms. 1. I learned my fake german from old MGM and Warner Bros. cartoons. 2. Most people can describe their favorite cartoons, but not tell you the name of it. 3. The Tasmanian Devil character was the stupidest of all of the lineup. So, people who have tattoos and stickers of him are promoting out of control stupidity. Bugs was smart, and outsmarted Tas. Why people identify with him is beyond me. (Tex didn't do these by the way.) 4. Droopy used to walk on all fours. 5. I know how to give someone a "hotfoot". I've never actually this done in real life, but with the aid of old cartoons... I'm a pro. 6. When it is time for babies to be born the husband should stay outside in the lobby smoking multiple cigarattes at once until the baby arrives. 7. Cartoons are subversive. And the best ones are even more so. 8. Explosions near your face can turn you into an african. 9. Grownups stop watching cartoons and reading comics. 10. I don't want to grow up. Please sing along to "I Don't Want To Grow Up", by Tom Waits as peformed by The Ramones for the duration of your time on this blog. If you don't know the Ramones version, the Waits version will do.

Tony Jaa!

Tony Jaa is the new Jackie Chan. If by that you mean amazing fight scenes of true acrobatic skill done in long takes with no stunt man being used. Tony Jaaa does not have Jackie's comedic timing and Keaton-esque humorous physicality, but skills..... oh yea. I ust finished Ong Bak 2. This one is titled "Tom Yum Goong". Yep, that is the spicy lemon-grass soup you get at Thai restaurant. The stunts are amazing, the fights are great and it's everything you watch an old Jackie Chan film for without the humor. The films aren't ugly and brutal, just not comedies. Thai boxing is brutal. Lots of knees and elbows. The stuff Tony Jaaa uses would probably kill people in real life. I don't know how the stuntmen could take these strikes. It is the most entertaining version of a true fighting style you will see in a film. The kicks are fancy, but brutal! There is quite a bit of Thai culture mixed in that is intersting and the plot about his missing elephant makes an animal lover like me understand his need to kick ass. This film might not be out in the US for a while, but Ong-Bak is readily available. It might be listed as "Thai Warrior". This one is well worth seeking out for the amazing action you will see displayed. Forget plot and enjoy the scenery, fights and stunts. I guarantee you will be amazed at what you see. Rent the first one at least. I love Jackie, but his best days have past. Long live Tony Jaa! I also saw the Exorcism of Emily Rose. Intersting but not great. A good courtroom drama about a Exorcism. I am intersted in the subject and read about the original case. Cerainly worth a rent. I'm hoping to get to Battle Royale 2 tonight. the first one is a classic. We'll see what happens with the second. The love sequels in Hong Kong film. Sequels are nutty over there. Way beyond what you see in the states. Oh, rent or buy Sin City. It proves that if you have the original creator involved, you can make a good comic book movie. Frank Miller was very involved and the new Extended version shows this. This is a comic book movie that absolutely rocks. You can also try Hellboy, Road to Perdition, Fudoh, Lone Wolf and Cub, Spiderman, Batman Begins, Constantine and Sam Raimi's first "comic book" movie, Darkman.

Messing around

Just goofing around with potential poses for a Pulp Cover. Thankfully we can use digital cameras to help with poses. The original Pulp cover artists hired models and bought period uniforms to help them get pictures to work from for their paintings. They had the inconvence and expense of having to have film developed and hope the pictures turned out.

Scream

The Big Ape

I just saw the Big Ape. After a brutally long night on flood watch, Kim and I needed to get away and stop thinking about the wrecked house. So we spent 3 hours looking at a CGI ape going... welll... APE! Now, I grew up with King Kong. On my birthday, my parents would rent a projector (yes, I'm that old) and get some films from the library. I saw a great deal of silent pictures this way (Lon Chaney was a favorite), and I saw King Kong quite a few times. It really captured my imagination as a youth. The climb to the top of the Empire Sate and the dinosaur fight are burned into my memories. Then, I saw the seventies remake with my dad. I remember joining the film halfway and then staying through to see the beginning at the next showing. From what I've read, that used to be pretty common. Hitchcock's idea of "no one will be admitted to the theater once the program begins", actually was a big deal at the time. Imagine coming in halfway and not realising that the first half had you thinking it was a crime drama with Janet Leigh as the star. So my memory of seventies Kong is how we came in late. Oh, and how Kong never straddled both towers like he did in the movie poster. It was a bit of a letdown. Can they even show that flick now that the Trade Towers are sanitised our of our media? This new one is pretty damn good. It doesn't really feel like three hours and it certainly doesn't drag. Naomie Watts is great, the digital Kong made me cry all through the last 45 minutes, and there is some serious dinosaur fightin' going on. I firsrt saw Watts in Mulholland Drive where she blew me away with her acting. And, not just during the hot lesbian sex. If you haven't seen it, please do. You'll see why she gets so much work. I'm not really a fan of big hollywood movies, but Jackson makes some damn good ones. His films are big, long, and expensive. I usually prefer bad stop-motion to CGI, but Kong was a living, breathing character. Jackson is a talented director who has respect for his source material. I uasually dread remakes. Hollywood relies on this far too often. Good new ideas are rare and more rare in corporate hollywood. Go see Kong. You'll laugh, you cry. Really. It's got action, horror, humor and heartfelt emotion. It's the best film I've seen since Sin City.

The morning after???

It isn't over. But the water is slowly receding.

The day after???

The End Times?

Yep. The house flooded. Not even a named storm. Just a bunch of rain. How do you get help (or sympathy) when you can't even name your event? It wasn't Katrina, or Gene or Francis. Just some rain. Maybe I'll name it Sombitch. It is 5:00ish in the AM and the rain keeps on a comin'. The major cause? A bridge over the creek further downstream that runs behind our house. This is not really a bridge. It a a mud/dirt path over the water with a hole under it for some water to run through. It is made of dirt and that is it. It is far too small for the rain water passing through it and has no propper support structure. So, when it rains, it completely backs up. When we checked it at 9:00 last night the water wasn't even flowing through, it made a path around the bridge. All of this is easily preventable, but as usual, everyone just passes the buck and does nothing to solve the problem. The city of Alachua knows about the problem and let it happen. They don't care. Last time we flooded we got a cat. We named him Francis after the hurricane hat ruined our house the first time. We were half expecting him to vanish during this one. No luck. He has slept on our bed and failed to take a peek outside. Our four pet ratties are oblivious as long as they get their three hot meals a day. I expect to get sick like last time. Much of my night was spent in the rain with no coat trying to get the bridge torn down. I've always said I have lots of luck. Lots of bad, and lots of good. This past year and a half has been lots of bad. I directly relate the first flood to me having to quit my job and the weather events in Florida have again been a factor in me going into the X-Mas season with no job and water-front property. It's a very scary time of year for me right now. Maybe this is my fault. I do yell out, "God Damn it!", as my first response to a stubbed toe. Is that blasphemy? Asking God to damn something? There are no curse words in that sentence. It's not like I said, "Jesus H. Christ of Friggin' Rubber Crutches!", though I will when the situation demands. No nuns were injured. The pope still shits in the woods. Life goes on. Words are just words right? Was it the pictures? I swear, Kelly made me do it. My art would be all family Circuis and J.D. Chick tracts if I was left to m own devices. Was it the Clarence Thomas as a ventriloquist dummy? Was it giving Scalia so much grief? Was it the Atheists from Space strip? I just wanted to do something in 3-D. I wanted the brain/eyeball creatures to be god-fearing missionaries out to stop us from doing it doggie style and with people, "happy Holidays". Was it reading The da Vinci Code? I have listened to a lot of Black Sabbath this year. I think I've got a copy of the Necronomicon in the house somewhere. I draw more skeletons than angels. I have more movies about Zombies than the Rapture. I have a black cat. In fact, Karloff is awesome in The Black Cat, even though it has nothing to do with the Poe story. I sleep in on Sundays. I don't think Jesus would be a Republican. Goddamit! More rain!!!!!

Raining like the end times!

It's raining in Gainesville like the end times! So, I'm gonna sit down and wacth a movie with the family. I'm hoping for a Zombie flick or a chambara film. I actaully have a screenplay I'm working on that combines the two generes. Lotsa zombies being carved up in imaginative ways by samurai. The film will be shot in japanese with english titles for the US market. I'm hoping for an animated prequel like Van Helsing, Chronicles of Riddick, or Ichi the Killer. My house seriously flooded last year and any time it rains I get very nervous and don't sleep well. I'm hoping for the best. After the flood last year I heard dripping sounds I couldn't sleep. The sound of rain no longer relaxed me. It stresses me out! I've got serious post-flood trauma!

Just starting up!

Here is my first post. It finds a rainy god-forsaken day here in "sunny" Florida. I am working on trying to re-create a pulp-style cover painting without knowing how to paint. This should be interesting! We are starting a new style for the Is This Tomorrow? web site. Color. Whenever it seems needed, it will be there. I love B&W and don't do well in color, but I guess it is time to learn. In genre news... Things that inspire the work we do at ITT will be filed under Genre News. I saw Batman VS. Dracula recently. The animation style is a bit ugly on the Joker and a fight scene between Bats and Drac came across as comedy unintentionally. Otherwise, it’s not a bad way to kill a few hours on a cartoon. It is PG-ish and fairly kid-friendly for you parents out there. Howl's Moving Castle is a step back from the quality of storytelling in Spirited Away, but Miyazaki fans will enjoy it. It has odd characters and some nice animation, especially on the castle itself. The dub is actually quite good with Billy Crystal as a fire spirit and Christian Bale as Howl. Mindgame could quite possibly the future of anime. Please seek it out. It might not ever make it to the US as it is so very odd. I bought the Japanese DVD just to see it for myself. Dead Leaves is available domestically and worth a look as well. It is insane! The Picto-Fiction reprint set from Russ Cochran is waaaay late and I'm jonesing for this one. EC comics rule, but they only made so many. This is almost the final puzzle piece. I've been watching a lot of chambara lately (samurai cinema) and I'd like to report that the Zatoichi TV show episodes are every bit as good as the movies. I also uncovered Zatoichi 14 (Zatoichi's Pilgrimage) which is the missing Zatoichi film. It was bought by Miramax because Quentin Tarantino wanted to remake it. Now that Beat Takeshi has already made a Zatoichi remake (not bad really) he scrapped the idea. But, the film sits unrealeased. So now you know why Netflix doesn't have the whole series.