This week marks the 15th anniversary of the Coen Brothers' beloved cult film, The Big Lebowski. Although initially considered a bomb at the box office, the film found new life on home video and became a hit with college students (re: stoners, disenfranchised intellectuals) in the early 2000s. The film's protagonist, an unemployed pacifist who only concerns himself with bowling, drinking white Russians and smoking marijuana, became a reactionary hero ("...takin' her easy for all us sinners.") to the Bush Administration's post 9/11 America. That, and The Big Lebowski is simply hilarious.
To say that I love this movie, would be an understatement. I remember watching The Big Lebowski for the first time in segments over one week sometime in 1999, maybe 2000. Showtime was playing the film like crazy and I'd catch bits and pieces of it while I was doing homework or something. At first I only latched on to the curse words and crude jokes, it was enough to make me want to watch it again....and again. You get the picture. Before I knew it I was quoting the film like clockwork and, like I'd done with The Simpsons previously, was relating experiences from my everyday life back to the film. It was extraordinary. The weird movie I couldn't even bother to sit through had somehow become one of my favorite films of all time.
Walter Sobchak guards my DVDs
It's safe to say this film sparked my interest in many unknown subjects at the time (nihilism, Vietnam, Vladimir IIlyich Ulyanov Lenin, porn, Creedence Clearwater Revival, IN-N-OUT Burger), and it's overarching cinematic theme has become my own personal mantra: "Fuck it." I could rant and rave about The Big Lebowski all day and demand each and everyone of you pay homage to the film...but that would just be like, my opinion man.
So in my Prometheus review I posted the other day, I made a Spaceballs reference without even realizing it. Not sure if anybody picked up on it either (comments section made no mention at least) but it was later that day, as I read this article at Filmdrunk.com that I realized what I had done.
The filmdrunk post gushes over the 25th anniversary/milestone of Mel Brook's legendary comedic spoof of the sci-fi genre, Spaceballs. If you've never seen Spaceballs before, stop what you're doing and hunt down a copy now! It's literally one of the funniest movies ever made. I was only two years old when this film was first released but thanks to the power of VHS I probably watched it like 5,000 times as a small boy in the early 90's. In fact, I'm pretty sure I watched Spaceballs more times than Star Wars and Alien combined. So when reviewing Prometheus the other day, I said something about Michael Fassbender's character David making all the other assholes in the movie seem like major assholes in comparison, I subconsciously made a reference to this awesome Spaceballs scene:
Dear lawd that still gets me every time. I'll be 75 years old watching this with subtitles and still laugh my ass off. So here's to Mel Brooks and Spaceballs. Thanks.
Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots. April 29th, 1992. Time flies. I remember sitting there as a little kid wondering why the news was on all day and my afternoon cartoons were missing. I also wondered why my grandmother came to live with us that week and why I kept seeing fires on TV but no fire fighters doing anything about it. This was a pretty dramatic event that took place before our eyes on live television. I may have only been 6 years old but some of the vivid imagery has stayed with me two decades later.
I wasn't going to post anything about this but the other day I talked with a 21 year old co-worker of mine and she didn't have the faintest clue what the LA Riots where. Granted, she was a baby when they took place but that little revelation left me floored. Here's a brief clip to catch all you younglings/foriegn folks up to speed:
It's so crazy seeing old footage like that, or THIS insane gun fight between Korean store owners and looters. To think this all happened in a "modern" city like Los Angeles. I've made no real reference to the racial tensions or post 1960's socio-political inequalities that had built up for decades and ultimately led to the chaos of the 92' riots. Shit was bad in the city long before this event, but on April 29, 1992...shit got worse.
Here's Slayer and Ice-T's take on the whole event:
DISORDER
I was six years old when X-MEN #1 launched in the Fall of 1991. I remember having multiple copies of this issue and reading it constantly just about everywhere I went. 20 years later, my recollection of the story arch is vague (something about Magneto up to no good on Asteroid M) but the images from this issue are forever burned into my memory. Jim Lee's artwork is what did it. I had never seen anything this rad in my entire life. Sure, I was six, but man I simply could not wait for the next month's issue of X-MEN. Viewing Jim Lee's art was like a drug.
The X-MEN animated series began airing the next year.
My favorite comic book became my favorite cartoon show. I collected it all during this point. For the next 8 years I was an avid X-MEN fiend. I read both monthly X titles religiously, bought all the action figures (re: TOYS) and dropped whatever I was doing to watch the cartoon every time it was on TV. Lets not forget about the stacks of trading cards also. I eventually expanded beyond strictly X titles, exploring more of the Marvel Universe and a few DC and Image comics as well.
The early to mid-90's were fun times for young comic fans. There were a lot of us also, in fact, a little too many. See, I was apart of the comic book speculation crash of 1993. People forgot that old comics were valuable because they were rare. That X-MEN #1 sold over 8 million copies. Yes, MILLION. Needless to say, most of my X-MEN comics from the early to mid 90's are worthless. That is to say, monetarily worthless. There's nothing more valuable than getting a young child's imagination going.
94' Flair X-MEN cards. so much WIN
My girlfriend works with special ed. kids. They may have learning disabilities but these kids still love music, video games and yes, comic book superheroes. I gave her a box of at least 1,000 old Marvel trading cards to distribute amongst her classroom. She says the kids LOVE them. I'm also in the process of trying to donate a large (and damn heavy) box of comics to a local middle school's after school reading program. Reading comics as a kid helped expand my vocabulary/comprehension skills and undoubtedly made me a brighter student. Not to mention all the good guys VS. bad guys story lines subversively crafted a clear distinction between right and wrong in my head. I hope these kids get as much out of them as I did.
Of course I'm not getting rid of all my old comic books. Hell, I still have a box of 1st appearances & crossover/event issues from the 70's and 80's that are worth a few grand and I plan on holding on to those ones for a while longer! Then again, I didn't get into collecting comics for the money. I was 6 years old folks. No, I got into comic books because Jim Lee's damn amazing artwork and the insane fantasy world it sparked in my head.
90's attitude
So while X-MEN #1 is now 20 years old and essentially worthless (with copies available in quarter bins across the country) Marvel knows a good thing when it sees one and will commemorate the anniversary of this iconic book by reissuing X-MEN #1 with modern computer ink/coloring updates. I haven't bought a comic book in years...but I'm getting this!
Yesterday marked the one year anniversary since I started Jim's Fear . I still remember sheepishly writing up that first post, wondering how I'd be able to come up with more original entries in the future, and expecting droves of negative comments for my, uh, odd choice of tunes. It ended up going over well since I had no followers and nobody really saw it anyways. HA.
It's been a year + 1 day since then and now I've got more segments here @ Jim's Fear than I can keep up with (Movie Reviews, Concert Reviews, Crunch Time, Female Obsession, Take a Guess/...And the Answer Is, plus the newly created DrumTHRONE)! That, and I've amassed a small group of, if not loyal I'd say, "genuinely interested" followers amongst the many spammers and troll blogs out there.
So thanks for following and or tolerating this random hodgepodge of blog I've strung together this past year. If I was to suddenly stop blogging tomorrow, I could honestly say it's been a fun ride. How much longer will Jim's Fear last? Who knows? I don't. Maybe, beyond infinity? And theeeere's the cheesy tie-in to this next song. My first post featured The Dillinger Escape Plan's "Jim Fear," one year (+ 1 day!) later and it's "Calculating Infinity."
We all knew it was coming. The ten year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. Ten years ago the world watched as thousands of innocent people died on live television. How many first responders risked their lives to help search for survivors and now find themselves on their deathbeds, battling strange cancers and respiratory diseases? What's the cost in dollars and more importantly, human life, from the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that stemmed from this single day?
No matter what you believe happened or who was responsible for 9/11, a tragedy is the best way to describe this event.
I could go on a long winded 9/11 Truth type rant here but I honestly don't have the energy for that right now. So while I'll spare you the conspiracy theory lecture, I'll end with this:
If there is a hell, I hope Dick Cheney enjoys his stay there when his pacemaker finally gives out. You got your "new Pearl Harbor" you bastard.
September 4th marked the 10th anniversary of one of my favorite albums of all time, Converge's 2001 epic, Jane Doe. The good folks over at Invisible Oranges wrote a nice little something commemorating the awesomeness of this record. Here's my own brief little rant for you all to enjoy...
Listening to Jane Doe is one of the most blissfully excruciating experiences you'll ever have in your life. First, the production is LOUD. Not in your face but rather through your face, loud. The opening guitar notes on "Concubine" conjure images of claustrophobic meth addicts in a confined space. Pure, unhinged depravity. The closing moments of the lumbering title track/album closer "Jane Doe" are emotional enough to make Oscar Schindler weep. Listening to this album all the way through flushes out every emotion under the sun.
The music is beyond metal and hardcore. Song's run the gamut from blast beats to space rock but no matter what genre Converge dabbles in, they always sound authentic. Jacob Bannon's lyrics and vocal performance on Jane Doe have become the stuff of legends. Chronicling the messy deterioration of a long term relationship, the story Jacob tells on Jane Doe constitutes the gnarliest "break up" album ever created. Good luck trying to decipher the lyrics though. Jacob's vocals are damn near inhuman and sounds like a dying velociraptor most of the time. All in all, this album is one of the most abrasive, painful and hauntingly beautiful records I've ever encountered.
Heaven in Her Arms
This album has gotten me through some dark times as it has countless others. The Jane Doe image has become this millennium's Misfits skull. People adorned their bodies with this album's iconic image and do all kinds of other crazy shit in it's honor. Like this:
Bitter...and then some!
I can honestly say this album has changed my life for the better. I know this stuff isn't for everyone, hell, even I couldn't understand what the hell I was listening too when Jane Doe first came out, but once it clicks, it's like some kind of amazing drug (I'd imagine). Celebrating a ten year anniversary is cool and all, but really, this is the type of record that will stay with you for a lifetime. Thank you Jacob, Kurt, Nate and Ben.
So this right here, this is my 100th post on the ol' Jim's Fear bloggy blog. Crazy. Thanks for all the support people. Here's a little song in honor of the occasion and to the next 100 posts.
My favorite movie of all time hit the big screen this week, last night and Saturday night to be exact, in honor of it's 35th anniversary and upcoming release on Blu-ray. Yes, I'm talking about Martin Scorsese's, Taxi Driver.
Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to either of the screenings =/ My girlfriend was sick on Saturday night so we stayed in and I was stuck working a late shift yesterday...so yeah. Don't cry for me though, I've seriously seen this movie OVER 9,000 times. I can quote from the book of Travis Bickle like right wing nut jobs quote the Bible. Even though I have two different versions of Taxi Driver on DVD, I'm still probably going to end up with the new Blu-ray. Its kind of sad if you think about it. Oh wells. I also don't regret missing this film on the screen all that much. Unlike my Back To The Future celebration, Taxi Driver isn't the type of movie you should enjoy with a large group of excited, positive people. No, Taxi Driver should be viewed alone, on a tiny beat up old television, while you brandish a pistol and plot revenge against all the fictitious enemies responsible for your life's misery. The way Travis Bickle would want it.
Notice I haven't referred to Robert De Niro once. That's because in my eyes, he IS Travis Bickle. He wasn't some dude pretending to be a deranged Vietnam veteran turned cab driver, whose Schizotypal behavior leads him to kill minorities & criminals, stalk underage prostitutes and the occasional assassination attempt on political figures. No, De Niro WAS this guy. Just as Christian Bale will always be Patrick Bateman, De Niro and Bickle are one and the same.
I really can't explain how important this movie was to my development as a person. I'm not some raging psycho or angry basement dweller by any means. No, I'm just a regular guy who was horrified when I saw how much I identified with Bickle's character. Travis is hardly a monster, but the dude CLEARLY has some issues. What does that say about me or about the society we live in? Damn you Scorsese!
So go watch Taxi Driver because it's so damn awesome. Yeah, I'm talkin' to you.
The Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision celebrated (and I use the term loosely) it's 10 year anniversary last night. Putting our political inclinations aside, I think it's safe to say that Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Jews, Gypsies, etc., can all agree that George W. Bush's presidency was the worst thing to happen to America since....oh let's just say The Civil War. During the 2008 elections even the most hardlined conservatives distanced themselves from Bush like he had the plague. They knew what was up, the Bush Administration not only dropped the ball, they annihilated it. But this is not a Anti-Bush rant.
ManBearPig has WMDs!
Could you imagine a Back to the Future type alternate timeline, where the Supreme Court handed Gore the presidency in 2000? Would 9/11 have happened? The war's in Iraq & Afghanistan? Would Gore have allowed the continued deregulation of Wall Street that Clinton and Bush seemed to have no problem with. Would the auto industry have tanked (even more so) with President Gore stuffing electric cars down our throats? Would Vice President Lieberman have morphed into the same asshole as the present day Senator Lieberman? Would we have finally killed ManBearPig? Just thinking about this boggles the mind.
The Bush v. Gore decision is tragic for two reasons. First, because it exposed that the supposedly neutral arm of the Judicial Branch was just as worthless as the rest of the partisan hacks in D.C. (handing Bush the presidency in a 5/4 split...fragmented along party lines). In his dissenting opinion, Justice Stevens wrote:
Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by today's decision. One thing, however, is certain. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.
Second, because it opened the Pandora's Box of mistakes and regrets that we all lived through under Bush. Would Gore have done any better? Who knows? Politicians have a knack for saying one thing and then doing the exact opposite, like the Pussy-In-Chief Obama who's backslid on just about everything he campaigned on in 2008 but that's a whole other rant. 10 years later and one thing remains perfectly clear, the American people did not get who they voted for. That goes for all the Bush supporters as well. I mean, technically, they voted for this guy:
Imagine if HE ran the country from 2000-20008? Shit might not have been so bad...
Twenty-five years ago, possibly one of the greatest events in all of human history occurred. No, I'm not referring to my birth for once, this is even MORE important than that. See, when I'm dead and gone in 100 years time and nobody gives a shit about my festering bones people will still be praising the genius of Robert Zemeckis' Back to The Future. This film rules on so many levels it's absurd. I watched the film on the big screen last night as part of the 25th anniversary celebration and fell in love all over again. I was so psyched I've decided to break my little self imposed blogging vacation to gush over the movie like a little school girl!
So get off your asses and break out your Back to the Future DVDs or Netflix the sucker right now, because as far as I'm concerned this films anniversary should be a federal holiday.
Yet another classic metal anniversary. Today is the 20th anniversary of the pinnacle of Megadeth's career, the release of Rust In Peace. I'm not going to write a wet, slobbery blowjob review of how awesome/inspiring/influential this album is....only because I'm pressed for time today, otherwise I sure as hell would! I recommend you head over to Invisible Oranges and read Cosmo Lee's in depth analysis of this seminal thrash masterpiece. In the meantime, heres a different look at my favorite song off this album, "Tornado of Souls." It's pretty rad how awesome the song hold's up in these different interpretations. Fucking Mustaine man...
(yeah, piano lady is a hard act to follow. Did you see that shit?)
(the dude munches the solo a little at the end, but FUCK)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
My first day on the blog and youtube decides to take a giant shit on me. Oh well.
I was only five years old when this album was released and cared more about MC HAMMER than Diamond Darrell. Of course I eventually transformed into a bitter/maladjusted teenager just in time to hop on the Pantera train for Reinventing the Steel. Needless to say I'm older, wiser, and even more bitter/maladjusted now and still celebrate Pantera's entire catalog (well almost, not that hair-metal shit).
Today, I suggest everyone spin this sucker at full blast and remember Phil's killer "I'll suck you Halford" vocals; Dimeba...Diamond Darrell's "too good for Megadeth" solos and Vinnie Paul's pre-douche bag identity (Hell Yeah? Fuck you man). Rex is and always has been cool as shit. DOMINATION.
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