the hub of the multiverse

5/22: THE NEEDY VISIONS (LP Release) w./ TULSA, MMOSS, LIFE PARTNERS, MAINE COONS

2010-05-21T13:22:00.000-04:00

THE NEEDY VISIONS

THE NEEDY VISIONS' debut album, released tomorrow through Bodies of Water Arts and Crafts, is a buoyant and quirky collection of retro-psych-pop-punk, handily ensconcing Dan Shea's inimitably loveable Weymouth mumble within full singalong harmonies, ragged guitar fuzz and a propulsive, bouncy rhythm section.

This shit is sure to be great summer BBQ fuel, so don't miss your chance to grab the vinyl tomorrow night @ the Temple in Jamaica Plain, where the band will be celebrating the record's release with MMOSS (whose new full-length is my other favorite psych jam outta New England this spring), TULSA, LIFE PARTNERS and THE MAINE COONS.

MMOSS

Saturday, May 22nd 2010 @ 8pm:

THE NEEDY VISIONS
TULSA
MMOSS
LIFE PARTNERS
THE MAINE COONS

@ the Temple, 670 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, MA.
This is an all-ages event!!!

5/27 - "A Boston Tribute To Guru" @ The Middle East Downstairs

2010-05-17T22:36:00.000-04:00

GURU

Big Shug, Akro, Termanology and about a dozen more of Boston's heaviest-hitting MCs unite to pay tribute to Roxbury, MA's all-time greatest, Keith "Guru" Elam of Gang Starr.

Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Middle East Downstairs
Leedz Edutainment presents "A Boston Tribute To Guru"

featuring:
Big Shug
Krumbsnatcha
Reks
Termanology
Akrobatik
Blak Madeen
Blackargo & Raw Spillage
Singapore Kane
JDO & Speak
plus special invited guests
and more
Music by Statik Selektah
Hosted by D-Tension

18+ $12adv/$15dos
8PM Doors

the middle east online

3/15: Asha and I remake the Plough as the black clinic!!!

2010-03-11T01:01:00.001-05:00

the black clinic on facebook

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-03-11T00:36:00.000-05:00

Love at Absolute Zero?

Micmacs a tire-larigot...

2010-03-07T23:28:00.000-05:00

Out in the US on March 13th. I can promise I will be seeing it immediately.

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-03-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

Dead Media?

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-02-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

Consumer Material?

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-02-27T13:11:00.000-05:00

God Don't Like It?

My Saturday night plans...

2010-02-26T02:15:00.000-05:00

Supriya's last show in Thousands and my first chance to see Bookkeeper plus the New Dumb = enough to make me go to Allston and pay money to watch indie bands. SPD GVNR from Columbus, Ohio rounds the bill out.

See this beast called Thousands, because once their EP finally drops after its Chinese Democracy-esque buildup period you'll be hearing about them a lot!!!

Why George Romero’s "The Crazies" is Still Relevant and a Damn Fine Film to Boot

2010-02-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

...a fine piece of film crit I read over at All Things Horror. CHECK IT!

SSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW

2010-02-23T01:07:00.001-05:00

SSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW

DJ DIE SLOW
CORALSLOWLA
+
SLOWEOKE
SING SLOW

BRING CODEINE
NO COVER
21+
9PM
ENORMOUS ROOM
569 MASS AVE
SLOWBRIDGE

Eli Reed and Eli Keszler are: One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand!

2010-02-22T20:14:00.000-05:00

Two Brookline-to-Brooklyn transplants with musical resumes most of my readers would probably commit genocide for are reuniting for a new project!

ELI KESZLER is a conservatory-trained percussionist who has performed with everyone from cult recluse Jandek to 1960s Jamaican rocksteady innovator Lynn Taitt, as well as recording solo and with Ashley Paul, Mass. Hysteria, Lip Service (his duo with American Idol metaprankster Andrew Fenlon) and Red Horse.

ELI "PAPERBOY" REED honed his chops after high school by playing blues guitar in Clarksdale, Mississippi, playing gospel organ in the south side of Chicago and flying to the UK to record with Holly Golightly. His band the True Loves has released two critically-acclaimed albums, had Beyonce's little sister sing backup vocals, and opened for the Dave Matthews Band at Giants' Stadium for fuck's sake!

Though both were in the earliest of True Loves incarnations, they have not worked together since... UNTIL NOW!!!

One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand are playing at Union Hall in Brooklyn on March 3rd. Don't miss it!!!

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-02-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

The Great American Teenage Suicide Rebellion?

3/15: Asha and I remake the Plough as the black clinic!!!

2010-02-21T18:30:00.001-05:00

the black clinic on facebook

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-02-20T17:19:00.001-05:00

The Hot Rock?

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-02-20T01:19:00.000-05:00

Plays Pretty for Baby?

Hey remember constantly listening to...

2010-02-19T21:27:00.000-05:00

Operation Heavenly?

The Year in Film, by your friend and mine, Generoso Fierro.

2009-12-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

GENEROSO FIERRO'S BEST FILM OF 2009!

Hello:

Pulled from every theater I went to in Boston, NY, Los Angeles and Honolulu! Thanks to the BUFF the IFFB for their individual line-ups that help stock some of the lists. Probably the best year for US cinema in many years. Feel free to comment on this list and to hear some of your picks. Curious as to what you think and no, I think Inglorious Basterds was vastly overrated and not on any of these lists. The top ten is in order.

XO Generoso

TOP TEN OF 2009

1) Tulpan DIR: Sergei Dvortsevoy/ Kazakhstan

Documentary filmmaker Sergei Dvortsevoy's first narrative feature is nothing short of an astonishing masterpiece. A sailor, Asa ( Askhat Kuchencherekov) has come to the Hunger Steppe region of Kazakhstan to become a sheepherder but must marry in order to fulfill this role so he sets his sights on the only maiden in the area, the title character Tulpan who is brilliantly kept off screen for most of the film. Asa's performance in the film is remarkable as are the performances of the other actors but it's their work in conjunction with the work of the animals in the film that makes this experience miraculous in it's execution.

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2) A Serious Man DIR: Joel and Ethan Coen/USA

The Coen Brothers decided to walk away from heaving just simple misery onto their characters, here they adapt the Job of the Old Testament into a middle class, mid western Physics professor named Larry Gopnik. Larry is given all of the misery one man can handle from his brutally terse wife to his irreverent children, to his best friend who is sleeping with his wife. Larry is not whiny or pitiful but trying his best to amend these situations with attorneys, conversation and spiritual guidance from his rabbis which fail him in a multitude of brutally comic methods. Needless to say, this film is dark and funny but not the Lebowski-esque laugh out loud funny. No, this is the kind of funny that make you gasp, cower and deeply breathe again before laughter can be created. Is Larry's punishment on this Earth and act of God? And act of man? Or just is he just Schrodinger's cat? Whatever, it's the kind of darkness we all need to see more of in comedy.

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3) Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys) DIR: Nuri Bilge Ceylan/Turkey

Ceylan may be the best director to utilize and blend environment, location and character since the late great Michaelangelo Antonioni. A large part of this credit goes to his daring cinematographer, Gokhan Tiryaki who has been does more with tone and framing than some of the most experienced cameramen using 35MM. The story, sparingly written by Nuri Bilge and Ebru Ceylan as well as newcomer Ercan Kesal is moral tale where all of the indiscretions occur off camera leaving you to determine their severity. A family (father, mother and son) have all been affected by the loss of the youngest in the family, who eerily invade their conscience. How they approach life and those who wrong them is what makes this film Ceylan's best yet.

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4) The Hurt Locker DIR: Kathryn Bigelow/USA

Bigelow has indeed created her best film here. Rarely is the focus of a war film so exceptionally centered around a single man, bomb technician Sgt. William James (played to perfection by Jeremy Renner), every aspect of this character is flushed out via a multitude of nail biting defusing and hostile situations. We know he is excellent at what he does and unfortunately we know there is no limit to the amount of adrenaline he needs pumping through his body on a daily basis. Both men under his command are forced to deal with his thirst for pushing the limits and they are not happy about this but this is Sgt. James' world. A film that achieves this level of tension and such meticulous understanding of a character is rare.

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5) Must Read After My Death DIR: Morgan Dews/USA

The struggle of a suburban American family is documented in hundreds of hours of audio recordings, letters done by the family themselves. Their infidelities, hatreds and failures are all there to be seen. Credit to Dews for the construction of these materials, as he is family, his personal knowledge of what went on allowed him to create a truly heartbreaking portrait. In some ways this is similar to the documentary "Tarnation" which was released back in 2004 except that the declarations made by the people seem even more natural and at the same time so horribly wrong.

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6) Bakjwi (Thirst) DIR: Park Chan-wook/Korea

In these days of bloodless vampire films you almost begin to fantasize too much when faced with a potential genre jolt from the always inventive and potentially hazardous direction of Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengence). His new film "Thirst" is exactly what we needed here. Park's creation of Sang-hyeon (superbly done by Kang-ho Song), a Roman Catholic priest who is the purest of souls provides an excellent source for the conversion to evil, in fact this conversion is due to blood he receives after being a guinea pig for an experimental drug that could cure a deadly virus, giving him the noblest of intent. Once Sang-hyeon becomes a vampire he does not automatically turn to evil suggesting more of a choice that he tries for himself. What Park does so well here is creating the connection between a priest's repression of carnal desire and the need to feed from unwilling people. His eventual obsession for the wife of a childhood friend who is currently being victimized herself provides the catalyst for his eventual evils. Dynamically shot as all of Park's films and with sensational performances as well, this is equal to the director's finest work.

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7) Bronson DIR: Nicolas Winging Refn /UK

A sensational, stylistic biopic of England's most notorious criminal, Michael Peterson (aka Charles Bronson)..Well, maybe not most notorious...One can draw amazing parallels between Charles Bronson and another very notorious English gangster, the late Reggie Kray. As depicted in "The Krays" Peter Medak's highly underrated 80s films about vicious nightclub owner/gangster brothers, Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the latter brother Reggie too is near and dear to his mother (read: momma's boy), is oddly sensitive to homosexuals, and tries to maintain some sort of "normal" life while committing acts of ruthless violence. Most importantly though, unlike Reggie's need for cash is "Bronson's" usual motive for violence... fame. For this fame Bronson attaches a desire for grand spectacle in each beating to add to his notoriety and "empire' and these beating are as brilliant as one can depict on screen. We understand his background and it is not a labored process, no apologies here from director Nicolas Winding Refn on behalf of Bronson, it's all about the grand spectacle. Tom Hardy's performance is something rare, vicious and charming and so compelling. One can only imagine what the real Bronson thinks of this film and if anyone will "pay" for a misstep.

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8) Julia DIR: Erick Zonca/USA/France

Erick Zonca has not made a narrative film since 1999's "Dreamlife of Angels"...His new film "Julia" feels like a film that compiles ten years of his best ideas which in this case is a very good thing. Much can and should be said about Tilda Swinton's performance in the title role, she is nasty, desperate and like Zonca, Swinton seems to have been waiting a long time to deliver a performance as varied and as powerful as the one given here. Think of this film as an exaggerated version of the Dardenne Brother's noir effort from earlier this year, "Lorna Silence" a tale of a desperate woman willing to commit crime to survive, . Both films contain astute performances from the title character but so much about "Lorna's Silence" is the small gestures, emotions and choices that one makes with their back against the wall. Now apply the urban ethic of Cassavettes "Gloria" and you have "Julia". A rough, vulgar and all so rewarding film that hits you with a sledgehammer. This had a too short run here in Boston, see it quickly wherever you are.

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9) 35 Rhums (35 Shots of Rum) DIR: Claire Denis/France

Denis' newest can been seen as an homage to Ozu with it's so loving portrayal of a father and a daughter's relationship. Here Denis sets her non-dysfunctional family in a Parisian apartment complex where the pieces of the family's past take shape in the form of current residents. Denis allows the story to progress at a smooth pace never forcing the drama and in turn allows you to see all of the character's motives behind their decisions. Easily the best film Denis has done since 2002's "Friday Night".

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10) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans DIR: Werner Herzog/USA

A hooker, coke and heroin infused post Katrina New Orleans crime freak show with Nicolas Cage embodying the spirit of Abel Ferrera's classic tale of a corrupt cop trying to make it all better through the vices that own his life. Here Werner Herzog (?) has let it all go, structure, plot, decency and gave the run of the joint to Cage who is at his best as a man without sense or even a remote idea of normal behavior for a police officer. So very entertaining is Cage's performance I had to remind myself if there were any other actors in this film, there are kind of... Eva Mendes plays a very attractive prostitute who is an even match for Cage in the vice department and Val Kilmer kind of shows up in a couple of scenes to have no real motivation at all. Stereotype abound and this makes N.O. look as close to hell on earth as anyplace could. Does this sound like a mess? It is, but it reminds me of how uptight most crime dramas are these days and if you stop being upright for a minute, how one diseased overacting cop can change it all!

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SUPPLEMENTAL LIST: (NOT TOP TEN BUT QUITE CLOSE)

We Live in Public – DIR: Ondi Timoner/USA
An almost too slick documentary bio on internet pioneer, Josh Harris, the visionary founder of the internet television station, Pseudo, and creator of "Quiet", an Orwellian style art project in which 100 people were sequestered in pods in a Manhattan building only to be interrogated and around the clock filmed. "Quiet" was created in 1999 and we are to gather that director Ondi Timoner was either an inmate or a director during the 30 days of the project's existence. Due to this we assume, director Timoner has a personal relationship of some sort with Harris which allowed her access to his life in a very intimate way. Regardless of this relationship, this is an amazing story which is told through a myriad of eye candy techniques that seem a bit unnecessary but do not overtake the essential ideas. What remains is a portrait of man who grew up relating only to technology and his subsequent need to funnel life through the technology that he created.

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Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna's Silence) DIR: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne/BELGIUM
The Dardenne brothers have created a neo film noir that uses many of the elements of their trademark realist style to push a classic noir plot into a direction that so few films in that genre are able to do. Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) is in way over her head both physically and emotionally by agreeing to marry a hapless junkie named Claudy (well played by Dardenne Brother regular Jeremie Renier) to get her Belgian citizenship only to then divorce and marry a Russian for the same reason, all of this funded by desperate low level mobsters. The Dardennes do not create Lorna as the classic femme fatale, she has emotions and although early on her resolve is to do whatever is necessary, this resolve breaks down and creates an amazing character who is never allowed to let her guard down for even a second. She is constantly being put upon throughout the film and it's this pressure that allows us to see Lorna for who she really is.

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An Education DIR: Lone Scherfig/UK
Let's get this out of the way...Carey Muligan is a brilliant young talent. She is this film's central strength and does the most with her role. The casting in fact is also noteworthy, from Peter Sarsgaard's as the unscrupulous David, to Alfred Molina's overbearing father, to Emma Thomspon as the head mistress of the school. "An Education' is an acting showcase. The story is cliche in some ways but from a female perspective and social context it is a story that is so missed in the films today. Carey Mulligan's "Jenny" is faced with short options that in 1960s England were dim to say the least for a woman and the script bears out that struggle well. The style of the film is a bit on the flash which is odd coming from Lone Scherfig, part of the Danish Dogma movement (Italian For Beginners) . The editing method is a bit on the quick side which kills the emotion in a few key scenes but that is a small dent in an otherwise impressive collection of actors.

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Beeswax DIR: Andrew Bujalski/USA
Another small gem from Boston director Andrew Bujalski, who seems to be in a small minority of contemporary filmmakers who understand how the people of this current generation interact with one another. Much can also be said about the performance of director Alex Karpovsky who plays off the textured performances by twin sisters Maggie and Tilly Hatcher. The progression of the story and the acting flow naturally which works well with this kind of storytelling. So much happens here and none of it seems forced.

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The Girlfriend Experience DIR: Steven Soderbergh/USA
Soderbergh is not the first director to link the economy with the world's oldest profession but the non-linear narrative structure that Soderbergh comes up with here is quite interesting and makes the film infinitely watchable. Real life porn star Sasha Grey plays Chelsea who provides the title's service. Her relationship with her clients is actually more escort than streetwalker, providing supportive conversation, arm candy and in many cases not even sex. They (the clients) are looking for the boyfriend experience which is needed as the film's progress is in line with with the collapsing economy, Chelsea providing the ear for their frightened economic theories while she seeks out ways to improve her status as an upscale escort. Soderbergh wisely uses Chelsea's relationship with Chris, her live-in boyfriend who doesn't mind his girlfriend's profession as long as it's short and detached as a means to see her emotional structure more clearly away from the job. Her professionalism though is compromised by two emotional slips, one of choice and one of reaction to a caustic review that gives us great insight into Chelsea's true being. It is an interesting view of pre-election 2008 in relation to this life and choices.

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Stingray Sam DIR: Corey McAbee/USA
Someone has to give Corey McAbee the funding to make more than one film every nine years! Stingray Sam is a another unique and completely entertaining science fiction western musical comedy done in short segments as the Flash Gordon serials were...Here you follow Stingray and the Quasar Kid as scam their way in finding and rescuing a young girl (played to wide-eyed perfection by Willa Vy McAbee, daughter of Corey) and to bring her back to her father. Each segment features a song by McAbee's band American Astronaut and the songs do not disappoint. This is truly "event" filmmaking which I would gladly see anytime. I want more Stingray Sam!

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Il Divo DIR: Paolo Sorrentino/Italy
Paolo Sorrentino's stylized and unique biopic on Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti excels due to it's uncannily restrained performance by Toni Servillo in the title role. As the viewer you watch in amazement as Andreotti sidesteps every scandal with his carefully chosen words and controlled expressions. The same words that define his relationship with his wife and God as we gain greater insight into his motivations. A stunning work.
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Antichrist DIR: Lars Von Trier/Denmark
"He" (Willam Dafoe) and "She" (Charlotte Gainsbourg) begin the film with and act of love which is immediately challenged by the accidental death of their young son. "He" is a therapist, emotionally dead and brutally controlling and "She", overwhelmed by grief has studied witchcraft and those studies may have drawn her to the conclusion that woman and their ability to produce offspring are inherently evil. They descend to Eden, a cabin deep in the forest where her fear is confronted, his controls is exerted and where evil is brought out. It is not a surprise that by the end of this film there is a dedication to Tarkovsky, as so many elements of his film making, especially that of Andrei Rublev, come into play here both in visual style and detached dialog. The epilogue scene in and of itself seems pulled from Takovsky's Rublev giving a nod to imbalance against the natural world. Their child is dead by fate and the only culprit they both feel is the mother. Much will be made of the sadomasochism in this film, which at times is tough to take, but is necessary to illustrate the contempt both characters have for the evil they feel is inherent in women.

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Aruitemo Aruitemo (Still Walking) DIR: Hirokazo Kore-Eda/Japan
Hirokazo Kore-Eda delicate non-melodramatic take on a family, who after 12 years is still coming to grips with the death of their eldest son, who died while rescuing a young boy from drowning. Kore-Eda carefully observes this family as the gather for one day on the anniversary of the accident. Death is a familiar subject to the director as he has studied loss in his previous films, "Maborosi" and" After Life". There are no large dramatic outbursts here, only the small regrets, sometimes voiced, mostly seen through facial expression and gesture. A well acted and at times surprising candid film about an family that may never fully mend.

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THE WORST OF THE YEAR BY FAR (EITHER DRAGGED TO SEE THIS ON A DATE OR JUST A REALLY BAD ERROR IN JUDGEMENT)

Kimjongilia DIR: NC Helkin/USA

A painfully short-sighted account of the current North Korea as done by American director NC Helkin. Accounts of the wretched state of the dictatorship are given by North Korean refugees in heartfelt testimony but the factual basis of the claims made seems thrown together here. All of the scenes of genuine human suffering are thematically pulled together with the help of interpretive dance which I found inappropriate. A more factual film with less concern about visual entertainment would've been a better treatment of the subject matter.

I Love You, Man DIR: John Hamburg/USA

Easily one of the most dreadful experiences I have had in a movie theater in some time. I usually find Jason Segal and Paul Rudd funny but this tired sort-of remake of a fairly mediocre Patrice Laconte film, "Mon Meilleur Ami" is a pure waste of time. In the Laconte film the main character's lack of friends is due to his fanatical devotion to work and his interests involving art. As we are in the USA, "I Love You Man's" hero is friendless due to his feminine nature and desire to please his woman. Add in some old gay jokes, projectile vomiting, fart jokes and an appearance by the band Rush and you have a very unfunny waste of time.

(500) Days of Summer DIR: Marc Webb/USA

Earlier last week I watched Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom, a film complete with some of the most mind numbing displays of sexual perversity and physical torture. That compared to "500 Days of Summer" is really a feel good joyride I would take again. "500 Days of Summer" represents a new age of "whine as you go" comedies for this generation (Away We Go and Nick and Norah fit well here). These are films in which characters hope that they are given things solely on their ability to constantly whine and complain about their dreams only to achieve them due to their entitlement. In "500 of Sodom, I mean Summer" the main character who is bereft of any humor, drive or backbone for that matter, whines about not having the girl, then when he gets her he whines about the status of their relationship which sets you up for the eventual whine about losing her. All of this is done in a "inventive" way of mixing up their 500 day relationship in a non-linear narrative (done before) so we don't believe that we are getting the same whine around that we have recently been getting in droves. The half a star I give the film is for Zooey's eyes which are quite sparkly.

Gentlemen Broncos DIR: Jared Hess/USA

So, without being too negative and to not give away too much of the storyline let me please sum up "Gentlemen Broncos"...Imagine if you will a third generation script of Wes Anderson's is found in a subway toilet by a drunken, amyl nitrate influenced Todd Solondz and Harmony Korine. After getting beaten up by slightly less intoxicated cops, the pair decide to re-write the script in the back of circa 1977 leather bar that only plays one-hit wonders of the early 1970s as a theme that evening. When they leave the bar at 4AM, they run into a even more intoxicated Michel Gondry who has glued his hand to a Lego penis he just made for a video of a Daft Punk song he already made a video for ten years earlier. Gondry then decides to shoot the script while watching the DVD of "Be Kind Rewind" in slow motion. Though that may sound appealing, it's really not, not at all. The one star goes to Jemaine Clement who does the most with the nothing character of a jerk science fiction writer. And even the most ardent Farrelly Brothers fan will be in awe and then bored of the multitude of bodily fluids and breast jokes being thrown around this movie. Edited down as quickly as one would do when handed such a disaster, this may go down as the worst film of this decade.

REDISCOVERED TREASURES (HAVEN’T SEEN THEM IN YEARS BUT WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THEM AGAIN)

Straight Time DIR: Ulu Grosbard/USA

It's been said that Hoffman who produced and co-directed (not credited) Straight Time was not happy with the final results which is a shame as some of his (Hoffman's) finest work is on display here. Hoffman cast much of this film which is a veritable who's who soon to be legendary actors, Theresa Russel, Harry Dean Stanton, Kathy Bates..All of whom turn in brilliant textured performances. Hoffman's performance is at his usual best but the character Max Dembo has flaws in his actions, he is set up to be much smarter than his actions would indicate and that is a huge problem within this film. A criminal's human weaknesses are excepted behavior (as in Elmore Leonard's novels they are essential to the character) but here bad judgments are consistently being made by Dembo and that contradicts his intelligence. This weighs down the plot and leaves too many holes in the storyline. All that said this is a rare glimpse into some of the finest acting of it's era and should be sought out.

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Trans-Europ-Express DIR: Alain Robbe-Grillet/FRANCE/BELGIUM

Robbe-Grillet has always been a unique storyteller...From the bizarre horror script he wrote for Renais' Last Year and Marienbad to L' Imortelle, he has always found new ways to to play with the structure of film narrative. "Trans-Europ Express" follows that innovative tradition in his narratives. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays both himself and his alter-ego smuggler in the film whose moment by moment actions are being written during filming by the director and screenwriters who are on the very same train he (Trintignant)is riding. The progression of the images and over-narration is also unique and highly entertaining. An amazing film experience.

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...

When Generoso is not sitting in uncomfortable movie theater seats or cooking delicious Italian cuisine, he can be found booking and promoting experimental music and film around MIT, or heard on their radio station, where his "Bovine Ska and Rocksteady" is a true institution in broadcasting Jamaica's best 60s imports.

Check it out in the greater Boston area on WMBR 88.1 or anywhere in the world at http://wmbr.org

Here's wishing him a speedy recovery from his recent surgery, and here's a picture of him and I crushing poor Sarah:

Radio Von Bittrich #3: December, 2009! (120m, 15s)

2009-11-21T11:14:00.000-05:00

Here it is, the obligatory "Favorite tracks of '09" edition, clocking in at an extra-special 2 hours in length! An hour is not nearly enough time for all I'd like to fit in here (hell, Edan's "Echo Party" alone is over 29 minutes long), and you may notice that I had to edit some tracks for length a little more liberally on this mix than I usually do.

I'm sure I forgot some classics, and that there are classics released this year that I haven't even heard yet, and for the sake of keeping things on a remotely even keel I've pretty much ignored all the great heavy/noise/metal/hardcore stuff (esp. since the last podcast was nothing BUT that stuff)!

I'm also aware that there's still most of December's release schedule to take in...

But you know what?

The mix is good so suck it.

Download the show here!

TRACK LIST:

1. Lady Gaga: Bad Romance
2. Raekwon (feat. Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Inspecta Deck): House of Flying Daggers
3. M83: We Own the Sky (Udachi RMX)
4. Keri Hilson (feat. Lil' Wayne) and Oneohtrixpointnever: Turn Off (Lone Wolf Blend)
5. Salem: Whenusleep
6. Drake (feat. Lil' Wayne and Santogold): Unstoppable
7. Lymbyc Systym: Astrology Days (One Am Radio RMX)
8. Broadcast: Sixty Forty
9. Rihanna (feat. Young Jeezy): Hard
10. Method Man and Redman: I'm Dope Nigga
11. Memory Tapes: Green Knight
12. James Blake: Sparing the Horses
13. The El Michels Affair: Shimmy Shimmy Ya
14. Thick Shakes: (Baby) You're a Starfish
15: Edan: Echo Party (JohnVonB Edit)
16: Gui Boratto: Take My Breath Away
17: Theophillius London: Always Love U
18: The Big Pink: Velvet (Gang Gang Dance RMX)
19: Coralcola: Egggirl
20: Times New Viking: Move to California
21: The Raveonettes: Suicide
22: The Vandelles: Lovely Weather
23: Assassins 88: Age of Consent
24: Jamie T.: British Intelligence
25: Theory Engine: Guard Your Grill
26: Lil' Wayne: I Gotta Feeling
27: Skream: Lone Don't Come Easy
28: Joy Orbison: Hyph Mango
29: The XX: Basic Space (Jamie XX Space Bass RMX)
30. Jay-Z: On to the Next (Galaxy Edition RMX)
31. Burial and Four Tet: Moth
32. Washed Out: Good Luck
33. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Soft Shock

Download the show here!

Tune in come January for an extra-special (even longer than this one) edition of the show, which will haphazardly collect a shit ton of my favorite jams of the aughts!

In the meantime, come see me DJ live at the Plough and Stars in Cambridge, MA with Coralcola and Katie Frothingham on Winter Solstice, Monday December 21st! It's FREE!!! Also, if you want to partake in a nice little pre-Christmas blunt sesh, look for me when Raekwon plays the Paradise on Thursday, December 17th. Peace out 4 now!!!

Radio Von Bittrich #2: November, 2009! (59m13s)

2009-10-29T02:34:00.000-04:00

Another month, another slightly-belated podcast... Here in New England, especially with the passing of daylight savings, early November is accompanied by a sense of foreboding and dread. The sun will not shine after 5pm or over 50 degrees until at least mid-April.

Looking forward to living such a long portion of the year amid bitter, northern winds and dark, overcast skies means living with a trepidation for which there are very few adjectives, among them I would place extreme, brutal, heavy and unrelenting. Thus, those are the adjectives I kept in mind while formulating this month's RadioVonB.

Download the show here!

TRACK LIST:

Lightning Bolt: Colossus
Greymachine: Vultures Descend
Wildildlife: Stormbringer
Zombi: Surface to Air
John Primera y Doggy Fresh: Freestyle en el Pozon
Theory Engine: Pro_Re
His Hero is Gone: Like Weeds
The Creation: How Does it Feel to Feel?
Eyehategod: Shinobi
Kid606: Mr. Wobble's Nightmare
Revocation: Re-Animaniacs
Converge: Worms Will Feed
M83: We Own the Sky (Udachi RMX)

Speaking of all things loud, I managed to catch the Fuck Buttons/Growing show WZBC set up at BC's palatial O'Connell building this Halloween and it was incredible! The two acts will be on tour for the rest of the month. They're back in Boston to play at Great Scott on November 25th. Don't miss it! It would also behoove those of you here in Boston with a jones for volume to also see the Jesus Lizard and Animal Hospital at the Paradise on the 14th and Baroness at the Middle East Downstairs on the 21st ...but you knew that already, yeah?

...finally, to follow up on part of last month's news, Cold Cave are still coming to the Pill!!! The confirmed date is Friday, November 20th. See you there and LOOK SHARP!!!

...and if you haven't done it yet, download the show here!

Keep warm,

John Francis Von Bittrich

Radio Von Bittrich #1: October, 2009! (59m30s)

2009-10-01T23:14:00.000-04:00

...Salutations, oh my faithfuls (and new listeners too, I guess)! For this, the first online fucking edition of my fucking radio show, I'd like to point out that I can fucking curse now that I'm off the far-too-retro (and FCC-controlled) "airwaves". Anyway, there's no theme this month, just a hodgepodge. Figured that would be the best way to offer ppl a taste of what they might find posted here in the coming months. Never been much of a genre puritan, so fuck it! Oh yeah, I can also play major-label artists now that I'm doing this without ZBC!

anyway... where was I?
oh yeah...

Download the show here!

FUCKING TRACK LIST:

Cold Cave: Our Tears Help the Flowers Grow
The Vandelles: Die For It, Cowboy!
Assassins 88: Age of Consent
Skream: Love Don't Come Easily
Salem: Redlights (Coralcola's Fuckup RMX)
Broadcast: Sixty Forty
Jay-Z (feat. Kanye West): Hate
The Showcase Showdown: Here Come the Televampires
The Big Pink: Too Young to Love
Thick Shakes: Baby, You're a Starfish
Awol One + Factor (feat. Xzibit + B.Real): Brains Out (DJFingaz RMX)
Sexy: Crows
Ida Maria: I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked
Drake (feat. Lil' Wayne + Santigold): Unstoppable
Telefon Tel Aviv: Helen of Troy
Sparks: The Number One Song in Heaven

...Be sure to check out Coralcola live at the Whitehaus in JP on Saturday, October 3rd with Many Mansions, Alaskas and more. Then see Mikey Lee of Coralcola DJ at the Milky Way in JP for FREE on Satuday, October 10th. Oh and a little birdy told me Cold Cave will be making their Boston debut @ the Pill in November. Mais Ouis!!!!!

Also get yr hands on the new compilation Warp20 from Warp Records to get that Broadcast track and a lot more electro/ambience from namedrops like Autechre, Flying Lotus, Nightmares on Wax, Battles etc.

...and if you haven't done it yet, download the show here!

<3
JohnVonB