The nights are warm and the roads are straight

A cult classic, they say. Yea, why not, it’s quite good one at that. Beautiful landscapes, engine sounds, automobiles, gas stations & diners, buddies, something like that. Tho’, had they made it happen with the first cut, clocking in three and half hours, I’d probably died of boredom.

Fat men and iron

Haven’t seen the Coens’ True Grit yet, I have read Charles Portis’s book, never liked John Wayne. The book was close to brilliant, this movie somewhere there in ok.

Quote of the day

"On January 4, 1993, the cat in this book and the books that preceded it was put to sleep in Kerrville, Texas, by Dr. W.H. Hoegemeyer and myself. Cuddles was fourteen years old, a respectable age. She was as close to me as any human being I have ever known.

Cuddles and I spent many years together, both in New York, where I first found her as a little kitten on the street in Chinatown, and later on the ranch in Texas. She was always with me, on the table, on the bed, by the fireplace, beside the typewriter, on top of my suitcase when I returned from a trip.


I dug Cuddles' grave with a silver spade, in the little garden by the stream behind the old green trailer where both of us lived in the summertime. Her burial shroud was my old New York sweatshirt and in the grave with her is a can of tuna and a cigar.


A few days ago I received a sympathy note from Bill Hoegemeyer, the veterinarian. It opened with a verse by Irving Townshend: "We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle..."


Now, as I write this, on a gray winter day by the fireside, I can almost feel her light tread, moving from my head and my heart down through my fingertips to the keys of the typewriter. People may surprise you with unexpected kindness. Dogs have a depth of loyalty that often we seem unworthy of. But the love of a cat is a blessing, a privilege in this world.


They say when you die and go to heaven all the dogs and cats you've ever had in your life come running to meet you.


Until that day, rest in peace, Cuddles"



(Kinky Friedman - Cuddles Epilogue)

Update

This week, I've mostly been listening to:

Something is rotten in the state of…

I was speechless after this - documentaries of some serious calibre make it happen.
The current Afghan War, the enormity, the complexity, it’s so difficult to comprehend, that it’s almost surreal. You’re out of words of its fucken absurdity. Armadillo doesn’t give us a big picture, it’s a bit messy, misleading perhaps if you think it that way, but it’s really a depiction of a group of enthusiastic boys turning into warmongering men in a strange new hostile world.

No-one has power over the hour of death

There is not much to write about a movie with paper-thin characters and no real substance whatsoever, is there? Sure, I could fuck about the insanely stupid lines in the script or bad acting, but I'll leave it as it is. Funniest thing is the DVD cover with Malkovich holding a piece - I don’t recall seeing a gun anywhere in this film, or maybe I just dozed off that part.

There is no hope, there never was

Quite a bit different to the original comic series, perhaps not so action-packed and surprising in turn of events, also, definitely not that bloody, but some real good TV here. Although, I must say that after the first couple of episodes the show took a nosedive of some kind.

Don't fuck with Captain Mahmoud

Started off efficiently, and almost carried it through the entire film. All in all, a well done TV movie that, I reckon, is based on factual events.

Gotta hold on to angst

Still, after 15 odd years, the best heist or crime movie there is. All them cool cats - Pacino, De Niro, Sizemore, Kilmer - in absolute fucken top form.

You are an asshole

Written version of this might be mildly interesting. The movie? Give me a fucking break.

Only in Hollywood

Don’t really bother to voice my opinion over this because I do not really have one.

Beat the Devil's Tattoo

Absolutely spot-on rock’n’roll here. BMRC is easily one of my favourite groups out there and this DVD really fucken blew my socks the fuckaway. Amazing shite.

The place of the skull has become paradise

Somehow I expected more of this, it’s the return of private eyes Patrick McKenzie and Angie Gerraro, plus, their sidekick Bubba, but the novel was surprisingly standard a thriller - nowhere near the magnitude of Lehane’s other works such as Shutter Island or Mystic River.

Hit it only where it hurts

Dozen of convicts go all berserk during WWII. A classic all-star buddy-movie.

Quote of the day

“’It’s like in that movie,’ she said. ‘Which?’ ‘The one with all the aliens who pop out of people’s chests, bleed acid. What was it called?’ ‘Alien,’ I said. ‘Right. They come out of your chest. But what was the movie called?’” 

(a snippet from one of Dennis Lehane's novels)

Leonidas

I've seen this something like five times  - always liked David Mamet’s writing and directing, and Val Kilmer is very underrated as an actor. Spartan isn’t necessarily their best effort, but a whole fucken lot of thrilling fun.

Río helado

A bit from the slow-moving side, but decent drama here with real good acting.

Staatssicherheit

I hope Nicolas Cage ain't doin' a remake of this recent classic.

Update

This week, I've mostly been listening to:

Heathens, bloody heathens

I watched these in a row, started with the original, ended with the remake. It’s funny how they failed with the remake, leaving out all the bits that made the original such a mystical and magical masterpiece and replacing them with wishy-washy nonsense and, quite frankly, bad acting.

Narctic

To quote Carl Hiaasen and Skinny Dip: ”What a tur’ble fucking thing, just tur’ble.” 

Quote of the day

“He glanced out the one-way window to his left. It took him a moment to understand that he knew the woman in the rear seat of the taxi that lay adjacent. She was his wife of twenty-two days, Elise Shifrin, a poet who had right of blood to the famous Shifrin banking fortune of Europe and the world. He coded a word to Torval up front. Then he stepped into the street and tapped on the taxi window. She smiled up at him, surprised. She was in her mid-twenties, with an etched delicacy of feature and large and artless eyes. Her beauty had an element of remoteness. This was intriguing but maybe not. Her head rode slightly forward on a slender length of neck. She had an unexpected laugh, a little weary and experienced, and he liked the way she put a finger to her lips when she wanted to be thoughtful. Her poetry was shit.” 

(Don DeLillo – Cosmopolis)

Boned out

What happened to once-gifted actors Adrian Brody (The Pianist, Summer Of Sam, Thin Red Line), and Forest Whitkaker (Ghost Dog, Bird, Smoke, The Crying Game)? The last few years both of them have added a remarkable amount of shitty movies in their résumés. The Experiment included.

Nanjing! Nanjing!

Based on an unbelievably fucked-up, sickening and horrifying true story. Damn impressive a movie, one of the best I’ve seen this year.

Quote of the day

“I think I'm confused, but I'm not sure!”

(Waj - Four Lions)

Squirters XXX

Don’t quite know what to make of this. Balancing somewhere between black comedy and more serious drama, it was somewhat preposterous and too off-beat at times, and on the other hand not serious enough to give a shit one way or the other.

Bono

Another gripping read to his line of full-on thrillers.

Unbroken

Not Clint Eastwood’s better efforts. In fact, it was surprisingly poorly shot - in particular, the sport sequences were lame.

Quote of the day

“If you’re going to read this, don’t bother. After a couple of pages, you won’t want to be here. So forget it. Go away. Get out while you’re still in one piece. Save yourself. There has to be something better on television. Or since you have so much time in your hands, maybe you could take a night course. Become a doctor. You could make something out of yourself. Treat yourself to a dinner. Color your hair. You’re not getting any younger.”

(Chuck Palahniuk - Choke)

Update

This week, I've mostly been listening to:

Merde

It’s amazing how downright awful movies they’re making these days. This shite of a film was the absolute lowpoint so far. Pity it wasn’t shown in the cinemas because I’d gladly walked out of it.

Quote of the day

"Then she laughed. I laughed back. What a hoot it was in there for thirty seconds or so."

(Dennis Lehane - Prayers For Rain)

Stay clean

Okay now, I bought Motörhead -wine. Fucken love the look of it, absolutely marvelous, so I didn’t mind the price.
Well, of course I minded the price, too fucken expensive, that’s just something some things go sometimes. I don’t know what it costs over there, but over here, it’s overpriced as fuck. The wine, it’s decent, yea, decent, that’s it, maybe a lil less than decent, champagne it ain’t, or cognac, or whiskey. Nevertheless, I was happy to pay the fucken price you know.
This one time at least. Love Motörhead, just listened a whole bunch of it, drank the fucken bottle.

Worse than hundred of flesh-eating fucks

There’s more, but I can’t get my claws upon the next part of the series in near future. A pity. This really is amazing.

Blame it on god

To tell you the truth, this film wasn’t much of an anything. I hoped to like it, and it was kind of sympathetic in its own right, but the former L.A. Law actor Corbin Bernsen didn’t really cut it this time around.

Quote of the day

“Alright, pigskin. But just remember you’re still suspecto numero uno. Every breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watching you. That’s police talk. Now get out.” 

(Sledge Hammer – Sledgehammer: Big Nazi on Campus)

Goddamn draculablack

Expendables is a decent action film, but let’s face it, despite people like Stallone, Statham, Rourke, Schwarzenegger, Roberts, Willis and Lundgren running all over the place (some less, some more), it’s just mildly interesting. Besides, I think it’s only Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts here who can call himself as an actor. Expendables also tries to be whole fucken funny at times, inside jokes and what-nots are aplenty, but the jokes aren’t really that funny, they should have left all the funky stuff out of the picture. Action scenes are the film’s strong suit, they’re a bit messy and too long at times, but I wasn’t expecting such brutal and well-executed material.

That's a real shite story

A Neil Jordan movie I expected a whole lot more of. It was alright, somewhat uneventful and downright boring at times, but alright.

Update

This week I've mostly been listening to:

Don't touch the frostbite

I borrowed a whole bunch of movies for the next few days. There are like a dozen newbie films I yet haven’t seen, not that I’ll suffer through them all but nevertheless I fear I’m all lined up for real crap fest. This monstrosity was the first and it was utter waste of time. I’ll leave it at that, enough time’s-a-wastin’. Shitty, awful movie. Next.

Quote of the day

“The night we recorded ‘Silver Machine’ we were all absolutely destroyed on dope. Me and Dikmik especially. When it was time to go on, the two os us were stiff as boards. They put my bass round my neck and literally pushed me on stage. I had to questions: ‘Which direction is the audience?’ and ‘How many paces away are they?’ They told me 10 paces, so I walked toward five and started playing.” 

(Lemmy Kilmister - Uncut 9/07)

Don’t trivialiaze the lake of fire, boy

Still going strong.

Sleep is for dreamers

I don’t know man. I watched this in two parts, because of its length that is, and that ain’t really the right way. Anyhow, I wasn’t into it in many ways - it’s a bit artsy for my liking, it zigzags, swings and sways, all haywire. Or maybe I’m just too fucken stupid, too fucken simple-minded to realize any better. I’m sure the Dylan-enthusiasts do their utmost to pick up the intricate details - the secrets - of the film and succumb to the heart and soul of the whole thing, but I wasn’t quite there. But the film has some good music (if you like Bob Dylan that is), nicely poetic feel and decent acting, so it wasn’t shite all the way through

Quote of the day

“But this was not an ordinary AA group. The failed, the aberrant, the doubly addicted, and the totally brainfried whose neurosis didn’t even have a name found their way to the Work the Steps or Die, Motherfucker meeting: strippers from the Quarter, psychotic street people, twenty-dollar hookers, peckerwood fundamentalists, leather-clad, born-again bikers, women who breast-fed their infants in a sea of cigarette smoke, a couple of cops who had done federal time, male prostitutes dying of AIDS, parolees with a lean, hungry look who sought only a signature on attendance slip for their P.O.’s, methheads who drank from fire extinguishers in the joint, and Vietnam vets who wore their military tattoos and black- or olive-colored 1st Cav. and airborne T-shirts and still heard throbbing of helicopter blades in their sleep.”

(James Lee Burke – Jolie Blon’s Bounce)