INQUISITIVE ELKS Punk, Rock, Metal, Movies, Kvlt, Life.

SON, DO YOU LIKE GLADIATOR MOVIES...

2012-01-25T00:29:00.000+01:00

This was an advert for the new "Gladiators" TV show in Sweden. What? Was it only me that noticed?

I'd also be scared of the size of his right arm compared to the left one...

Elk out!

THE FUN POLICE!

2012-01-23T19:45:00.000+01:00

SEEKING DIY LABELS

2012-01-22T23:25:00.000+01:00

My own little crusty-grind project CRYPT OF THE ZOMBILORD is seeking DIY labels to help us put out a 7". The plan is of course to split the costs with a few labels and then share the product/profits just making it cool for everyone!

Anyone interested get in touch with us - cryptofthezombilord@gmail.com

You can hear and/or download our debut mini album HERE.

JINX AND THE SOFA

2012-01-21T16:51:00.000+01:00

Scenes from a Saturday.

MR ZIPPY - THE LOST VIDEOS

2012-01-20T15:15:00.001+01:00

As some of you know, between 1998 and 2003 I was in this band in the UK that put out a few records and did a few tours, that kind of thing.

Now, if you know the band or you've read my book you'll know that we actually took a stand against making music videos - but, that was then. Before "then" we did actually make a couple of cheap videos. We had a friend, Tim who was studying that sort of thing under the careful eye of Julien Temple (Fith & The Fury etc).

So here they are converted from VHS.

WHITE COLLAR LIFESTYLE circa 1998 - this is from the 1st album. I'm the dude at the front with the brown (later red) guitar - funnily enough Daryl the bassist is still in the band here, the guy that later ended up in AMPUTATED - and wearing an IMMORTAL shirt to boot, awesome!

Next up is PICKY from the 2nd demo around 97/98, before I was in the band, although I am in the video as the green-haired bully!

Enjoy in all it's 90s-skate-punkyness!

JUST 4 LULZ

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000+01:00

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011) MY TAKE...

2012-01-19T18:24:00.000+01:00

Have you seen that film Rec? And they made this shot-for-shot remake with Dexter's wife just, English speaking right? Useless, and why? Thought I.

Ever since the likes of GODZILLA in the 50s, good ol' USA has decided that other countries can't make proper films (or can't read subtitles) and have decided to make their own versions. Often a pale and useless shadow of the original. Some however have been totally OK, such as THE RING, that was totally alright.

Being a fan of "Millennium" books and (original) films I have actually been following this remake of the Swedish modern classic since I first heard about it a few years ago.

So, David Fincher was on board for the remake....hold on, the maker of Se7en and Fight Club? Ok, this can not be bad!

So I waited and now I have seen it....¤voice of Catherine Tate's "Nan"...¤ - What a load of old shit!

A few minutes in and I notice that everyone is speaking with these really bad pretend Swedish accents, or what they think a Swedish accent should sound like anyway - it ends up sounding Irish at times. All apart from our main man James Bond who does it for the first two minutes then gives up.

It's filmed in Sweden and as a result all the road and shop signs are in Swedish, the magazine Millennium is in Swedish yet in the film everyone speaks and writes in English, apart from the old Poirot habbit of putting in the odd Swedish word (except he did it in French, you know what I mean!)....in fact this just get confusing.

Rooney Mara as Salander is horrible.

She seems to have stripped the original idea of all it's charm and is just very...un-Salander like! She is even NICE to James Bond sometimes! When Noomi Rapace played Salander she was stern and bitter but filled with charisma, Mara just left that bit at home and brought her terrible fake Swedish accent instead.

Salander doesn't even go to Kvarnen! She does however like to leave her ICA shopping bags lying about in a handy place to see with the logo all displayed for all to see....like you do. Pretty sure Wayne's Coffee had a hand in a bit of sponsorship too.

They throw in some plot bits that are not plot bits and are unneeded and rush the whole thing along so that it makes no sense (and I have seen the films and read the books...I know what's going on!) In the end (SPOILER ALERT!) - when all is revealed, there was no build up and you're left thinking...what was that all about?

A lot of good bits missed out, a lot of pointless bits throw in, it feels like a rushed through botch job. Personally I would of preferred to see a "re-imagining" than an attempt at getting it done Swedish-style.

It did have one redeeming feature....you know when you see an actor (or in this case actress) and you know that you know them from somewhere but can't think where? Well that was me with this woman...

Who plays Cecilia Vanger....where did I know her from? Ah yeah, that's right. Bitty woman.

ELK'S FASHION TIPS FOR THE LADIES.

2012-01-18T18:08:00.001+01:00

Went back to school today, and noticed a strange trend among the girls there....the hair bun!

Now, practical maybe yes, but fashion? OK, ladies, here is my tips, you think it looks like this:

But it looks like this:

Lets compare some of the below pics:

With these:

The last picture breaks three of the "things girls think is nice looking but in no way is" rules.

1 - hair bun
2 - bright red lipstick
3 - being Gwen Stefani

I HAVE SPOKEN!

I...I...UMM....

2012-01-18T00:19:00.000+01:00

NO!

THIS ONE TIME, AT BAND CAMP

2012-01-17T18:37:00.000+01:00

Go here: http://cryptofthezombilord.bandcamp.com

Listen, download, like, spread.

That is all.

ALL ABOOT METAL

2012-01-16T22:33:00.000+01:00

Canadian philanthropist turned film-maker Sam Dunn (pictured below) is at it again with METAL EVOLUTION, the TV show.

A series of mini documentaries charting "metal" and it's evolution through time. He's covered a lot of bases already good on 'im, starting with "pre metal" and going through to NWOBHM, US metal, UK metal and (yuck) glam rock. Latest episode (for me to see so far) is all about THRASH - pretty much the best episode yet, possibly just because it's all about the shit I love!

Gary Holt wearing a Might Boosh t-shirt was worth it alone! Why is he suddenly the voice of Exodus? Must be his "star" moment with Slayer. I never appreciated Exodus much back in the day, which is why right now I am obtaining their back catalogue just to start again.

Very interesting to see how many bands that in my youth I considered the very apex of underground and alternative were actually just in fact about as major label as you could get, I mean all this became very obvious later in life when Metallica knocked out "Smell The Glove", Lars Ulrich sits there defending it, Testament and Exodus sit there and say "ooo it was wonderful" only Slayer's Dave Lombardo stands up to say "I threw that fucking album down the stairs".

"Slayer! Urrrrrrrrrrrrgh!"

Dave, a mate of mine took a fire-axe and smashed it up, you pussy. Slayer were kind of the only band that didn't wuss out during that whole time when Metallica turned into U2 and so therefore every other band had to follow suit or get dropped, and of course when every single thrash fan bar none in the world deiced that the genre was no any good and then suddenly grunge popped up. Slayer. Urrghhhh!

Mind you, I've said it before - Metallica's "Smell The Glove" album, a lot of people were bashing the ballad. C'mon, think about it, their two albums previous had ballads on them....the ballad was not the sell out point, a lot of "heavy" bands were whacking in ballads here and there, god knows why, it was the only thing the CD was ever good for "SKIP!".

Even Testament had made a ballad! This was from '89, two years before Metallica went there.

There was a Youtube comment on this video "What do Jews and metalheads have in common? They both like the Old Testament better"...lolz.

But...Chuck Billy as a sex object? Should see him now, looks like his face is shrinking.

Good little program anyway, we also got a visit over to Sweden to chat with Tompa about At The Gates and so on, he comes up with the great vision of that they really wanted to take what was there on the early thrash albums and transpose that. Blimey Tompa! You'll get thrown out of Sweden if you start parading that sort of free thought and ingenuity round these parts! Sit down, shut up, fit in. If you want to like metal you can only like the government approved ones, you know that.

Then Sam Dunn chats to IN FLAMES. Why?

Mind you, he does go a bit into the newer thrash bands coming out, most of which bore the shit out if me, they totally lack the anger and energy, it's just riffs and production, give me Acid Reign any day. But then you've got Lamb Of God who are totally ok in my books - one of them is even sporting an AMEBIX t-shirt, good man!

Anyway, next up is the episodes "Grunge" and "Nu Metal" but I am hoping that there will be some grindcore or death metal episodes too!

Watch episodes of METAL EVOLUTION by going here:

http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Metal-Evolution_29797/

SHIT RECORD NERDS SAY

2012-01-16T04:13:00.000+01:00

Ok his one has been done to death among my punk rock peers on "that" social network - but in case you've missed it, your ol' uncle Elk is here to help.

BOTL7D 12/01/12 - BAALBERITH

2012-01-12T18:35:00.000+01:00

My BAND OF THE LAST SEVEN DAYS that rocked me the most are BAALBERITH from the UK.

Just look at that logo and artwork, what's not to like about that! Baalberith formed in 1999 and since then have had more members going in and out than a Dutch porno. Now seeming in a state of solidity are rocking big time.

Brutal Black Metal that although is a TRVE KVLT as you like and doesn't need to deviate from the standard patterns yet is by no means generic and thankfully stands heads above a lot of the "big" names of the genre in heart, soul and 'tude.

Go check them out, listen, turn up and worship santa!

http://www.facebook.com/Baalberithuk
http://www.myspace.com/baalberithuk
http://www.reverbnation.com/baalberith666

SICK TEES!

2012-01-10T17:51:00.000+01:00

Myspace profile picture?

By Crom no! Just showing off my new sick (sic) SICKENER tee that I got from the boysh. They've already been BOTL7D here on The Elks and there will soon be a split tape out with Indonesian grindsters DESIRE on my own fledgling label.

Go see the BOTL7D post for links and go listen to SICKENER! Or else!

http://inquisitiveelks.blogspot.com/2011/09/sickener.html

LOOKING THROUGH HYBORIAN EYES

2012-01-10T15:26:00.000+01:00

Big thanks to 138 and his journalistic blagging skills over at the "you must read it if you can read Swedish" blog I JUST CAN'T HATE ENOUGH - http://canthateenough.blogspot.com/ for the prize of this awesome CONAN DVD (book and Arnie-original not included) for my wonderful poem, or possibly being one of the only 3 people that actually wanted the new Conan film on DVD.

Crom bless you CRJ!

You'll notice that the reviews are "Epic" and "Bombastic". Bombastic? That's a word I usually associate with this guy:

No sorry, my mistake....THIS man:

Queue this stuck in my head all day - (forward to 1.44)

BULLSHIT DETECTOR THE MOVIE

2012-01-10T05:01:00.000+01:00

For those that don't know "BULLSHIT DETECTOR" was a bunch of comp albums put out in the early 80s by CRASS and gave a lot of our now house-hold name bands such as Napalm Death, Amebix, Anthrax (UK), Chumbawamba and many more their first "break".

Hard to find now but you can probably find them floating about on the interwebz.

Anyway - some kind soul has made a short documentary on the making of these albums featuring members of the bands, Nick Bullen from ND and Stig from Amebix and more - go looky, well worth your eyes!

http://vimeo.com/channels/bullshitdetectorfilm

REFUSED ARE (NOT) FUCKING DEAD!

2012-01-10T02:42:00.000+01:00

It's all over the punk-news-web. I'll join in!

REFUSED ARE GETTING BACK TOGETHER!

Finally my chance to see the band...read this to see my previous miss in 1998:
http://inquisitiveelks.blogspot.com/2011/02/it-was-best-gignever-guess-who.html

Don't know any more details apart from that, I'm sure like me you'll wait for it to come to you.

Apart from that, so are AT THE DRIVE-IN!

My prediction of course is that this is due to all the other bands that members of the previous have started were shit.

Elk out!

2012-01-09T19:21:00.000+01:00

FROM THE MAKERS OF "THE WALKING DEAD".....

2012-01-08T15:12:00.000+01:00

PLANET OF THE APES!

THE END!

...and now!

GODZILLA!

THE END!

...yup, that just happened.

FIRST LIL' WAYNE AND NOW.....

2012-01-07T21:38:00.002+01:00

When will it end!

;)

MINUS THE DEAD GUYS

2012-01-07T16:42:00.000+01:00

Came across this today - some clever bloke has photoshoped a bunch of well known album covers and cut out the breathing-challenged members of the band.

Checky outy here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/provincialelitist/album-covers-minus-the-dead-guys

Sadly no one thought of doing Lynyrd Skynyrd...

DUBLIN NEW YEAR IN PICS

2012-01-06T12:41:00.000+01:00

Vellkom to Germany and Hildra wid zee big boobies - When in Frankfurt, do as the Frankenfurters do!

The River Liffey that runs through Dublin at night (the picture is at night, the river is there in the day too)

Huge needle thing at O'Connell Street

Temple Bar - pure tourism but a great pint!

Well done that man.

I loved this.

Statue of Phil Lynott in Dublin Centre

What a photo op.

When in Dublin - do as the Dubliners do.

Temple Bar

The Brazen Head, built in the 1100s and mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses.

The Brazen Head

The first night it was fun to hear but after a few days I figured out that every live Irish pub band plays the same thing, I think I heard Dirty Old Town, Wild Rover, Irish Rover and Whiskey In The Jar 20 times each.

Watching Wizards in Bray

Deep In The Woods 66 in Bray

I feckin' loves it!

Me and Col from Sickener ready for a night of liver and ear abuse.

The long road home.

PUNK IS NOT A CRIME "Indonesian Punx: A Tribute To Punx Around The World" Mixtape

2012-01-05T17:55:00.000+01:00

Of the many mixtapes made for the Aceh punx - you gotta check this one out, Indonesian punks covering the likes of Bad Brains, Wolfpack, Discharge, Motorhead, even The Stones!

http://katuamidruta.blogspot.com/2012/01/punk-is-not-crime-indonesian-punx.html

BOTL7D 05/01/12 - WIZARDS OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN

2012-01-05T16:22:00.000+01:00

Back with my first "band of the week" stylee thingy for 2012! This week, the band that rocked my way into the new year - WIZARDS OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN. Went to see these guys in "the best bar in the world" (according to lonely planet) The Harbour Bar in Bray, Ireland. It pretty much was the most awesome bar I have been in anyway.

WOFTM - despite their awesome name do actually command a large degree of awesome themselves - taking their earth-crushing sound direct from the likes of your Orange Goblins, Sabbath, Saint Vitus and everything furry, flared and flattening.

These Irish guys (and girl) rip it with all that stoner fury and a whole deal of punk 'tude thrown in. Apparently one of their most recent shows was to raise money to put their own record out so my advice to anyone with an once of sense and more money than I have is to go investigate and snap up before anyone else does!

Look how impressed I am!

http://www.facebook.com/wizardsoffiretopmountain

http://wizardsoffiretopmountain.bandcamp.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfYgeDrMKG4

HOME FROM CRAGGY ISLAND

2012-01-05T14:05:00.002+01:00

Had a great time - lots of this!

More soon.