Gifts
We're planning an Ed Wood marathon sometime this month, but everyone was kind of bummed that I didn't have Orgy of the Dead, but it turns out Wood didn't actually direct that zombie stripper movie. He did write it though. So let me get this straight, there's a guy so low on the totem pole, he directed an Ed Wood script?! Thanks to my friends Isabel, Ludger and Shotgun, we need not have that marathon without that little piece of celluloid. Yay!
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Flipped Dollhouse Series 2, and this time, it's the real end. In order to tell a complete story in so few episodes (relative to American series anyway), the show had to shift paradigms a bunch of times. Though the first jump is a bit quick, you soon get in the groove. Far less episodic, what we're getting is a complete and apocalyptic arc. Now if I can only stop dreaming about mind wipes, I'll be able to move on. A couple episodes have commentary tracks, and the DVD also has outtakes, deleted scenes, a retrospective featurette, a round table discussion with Joss and some of the cast, and a comic book with yet another part of the grand story.
I then flipped It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Seasons 1 and 2 (let's call it a change of pace). I'd seen the first few episodes of the irreverent comedy a short while ago and longed to see the rest. It's the kind of half improvised stuff that speaks to me. The second season adds Danny DeVito to the cast (required by FX to sell the show) and though at first it breaks the guerrilla mood (you know you're watching Danny DeVito as opposed to all the unknowns who might as well BE their characters), he soon makes himself at home. Fun enough that I'll be springing for other seasons. A few episodes have always entertaining commentary tracks, and the DVD also includes scenes from the original pilot, a couple of actually informative making of features, outtakes and Kaitlin (Sweet D)'s audition... as Dennis. It's a fun, cheap package.
A
nother change of pace: The Corner. This 6-episode HBO mini-series is the seed The Wire grew out of, telling the true story of a family of addicts on the Baltimore streets. When I describe The Wire, I always talk about how each season adds another piece. First the cops and the drug dealers, then the unions, then politics, the school system and the media. You could also say The Wire Season 1 only added the cops because the addicts and corner boys get their due first in The Corner (though obviously not with the same characters). Shot documentary-style, though with an eye for the lyrical, The Corner is raw and real and often affecting. Though there are no extras on the DVD, look for the last 5 minutes of episode 6 for a quick update with some of the real people behind the stories told.
Our Kung Fu Friday selection this week: Ten Tigers of Kwangtung by Chang Cheh. The story is more or less like every Chang Cheh story - some guys want to kill other guys because those guys' masters killed some other guys. The trick this time is that there are a TON of characters introduced in the space of an hour and a half. 15 on the heroes' side alone! Though it's a bit confusing at first, it's a tribute to the director's prowess that we know who each of them are by the end. It's not quite as relentlessly violent as some other Chang Cheh films, though the kill shots are shocking and memorable. Some good choreography in there too. The DVD has a very good documentary on Chang Cheh, but sadly, it's the same one that's on Dragon Dynasty's release of The One-Armed Swordsman. Otherwise, there are trailers and a stills/promotion gallery.
Music: Couple weeks back, I reviewed the Doctor Who Specials soundtrack, so I can't help but make a comparison when talking about the superior soundtrack for Torchwood: Children of Earth. At half the length, it's more "of a piece" with recurring themes throughout never sounding repetitive. The music by Ben Foster falls into three broad categories: Melancholy pianos and voices for the children and Ianto, driving beats for the action, and strange atonal sounds for the 456 aliens. The best compliment I can give is that it made me want to watch Children of Earth again, something the Specials did not. Even the DC booklet is superior. Instead of a slim track by track comment, there's an interview with Foster and a running commentary that takes us through each Day through its music.
Books: "Cats Are Weird and More Observations - A Cat Book by Jeffrey Brown" is the sequel to Cat Getting Out of a Bag (also handsomely published by Chronicle Books). This second volume adds color - and I love Brown's color felts - which helps because it also adds a multi-cat situation. If the first volume covered the basics of cat behavior, this one nails down even more of their feline shenanigans and interactions. It's great work, well observed (he's really got my cat's number in some of these) and takes longer to read than you'd think. Or maybe it's just that I wanted to make it last a while, so I only read a few pages at a time.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
II.ii. New Arrivals - BBC '80
We're planning an Ed Wood marathon sometime this month, but everyone was kind of bummed that I didn't have Orgy of the Dead, but it turns out Wood didn't actually direct that zombie stripper movie. He did write it though. So let me get this straight, there's a guy so low on the totem pole, he directed an Ed Wood script?! Thanks to my friends Isabel, Ludger and Shotgun, we need not have that marathon without that little piece of celluloid. Yay!
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Flipped Dollhouse Series 2, and this time, it's the real end. In order to tell a complete story in so few episodes (relative to American series anyway), the show had to shift paradigms a bunch of times. Though the first jump is a bit quick, you soon get in the groove. Far less episodic, what we're getting is a complete and apocalyptic arc. Now if I can only stop dreaming about mind wipes, I'll be able to move on. A couple episodes have commentary tracks, and the DVD also has outtakes, deleted scenes, a retrospective featurette, a round table discussion with Joss and some of the cast, and a comic book with yet another part of the grand story.
I then flipped It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Seasons 1 and 2 (let's call it a change of pace). I'd seen the first few episodes of the irreverent comedy a short while ago and longed to see the rest. It's the kind of half improvised stuff that speaks to me. The second season adds Danny DeVito to the cast (required by FX to sell the show) and though at first it breaks the guerrilla mood (you know you're watching Danny DeVito as opposed to all the unknowns who might as well BE their characters), he soon makes himself at home. Fun enough that I'll be springing for other seasons. A few episodes have always entertaining commentary tracks, and the DVD also includes scenes from the original pilot, a couple of actually informative making of features, outtakes and Kaitlin (Sweet D)'s audition... as Dennis. It's a fun, cheap package.A
nother change of pace: The Corner. This 6-episode HBO mini-series is the seed The Wire grew out of, telling the true story of a family of addicts on the Baltimore streets. When I describe The Wire, I always talk about how each season adds another piece. First the cops and the drug dealers, then the unions, then politics, the school system and the media. You could also say The Wire Season 1 only added the cops because the addicts and corner boys get their due first in The Corner (though obviously not with the same characters). Shot documentary-style, though with an eye for the lyrical, The Corner is raw and real and often affecting. Though there are no extras on the DVD, look for the last 5 minutes of episode 6 for a quick update with some of the real people behind the stories told.
Our Kung Fu Friday selection this week: Ten Tigers of Kwangtung by Chang Cheh. The story is more or less like every Chang Cheh story - some guys want to kill other guys because those guys' masters killed some other guys. The trick this time is that there are a TON of characters introduced in the space of an hour and a half. 15 on the heroes' side alone! Though it's a bit confusing at first, it's a tribute to the director's prowess that we know who each of them are by the end. It's not quite as relentlessly violent as some other Chang Cheh films, though the kill shots are shocking and memorable. Some good choreography in there too. The DVD has a very good documentary on Chang Cheh, but sadly, it's the same one that's on Dragon Dynasty's release of The One-Armed Swordsman. Otherwise, there are trailers and a stills/promotion gallery.
Music: Couple weeks back, I reviewed the Doctor Who Specials soundtrack, so I can't help but make a comparison when talking about the superior soundtrack for Torchwood: Children of Earth. At half the length, it's more "of a piece" with recurring themes throughout never sounding repetitive. The music by Ben Foster falls into three broad categories: Melancholy pianos and voices for the children and Ianto, driving beats for the action, and strange atonal sounds for the 456 aliens. The best compliment I can give is that it made me want to watch Children of Earth again, something the Specials did not. Even the DC booklet is superior. Instead of a slim track by track comment, there's an interview with Foster and a running commentary that takes us through each Day through its music.
Books: "Cats Are Weird and More Observations - A Cat Book by Jeffrey Brown" is the sequel to Cat Getting Out of a Bag (also handsomely published by Chronicle Books). This second volume adds color - and I love Brown's color felts - which helps because it also adds a multi-cat situation. If the first volume covered the basics of cat behavior, this one nails down even more of their feline shenanigans and interactions. It's great work, well observed (he's really got my cat's number in some of these) and takes longer to read than you'd think. Or maybe it's just that I wanted to make it last a while, so I only read a few pages at a time.Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
II.ii. New Arrivals - BBC '80
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