Butlins

Minehead

Here are some very blurry pics of the weekend, starting with The Stooges. Please note that the photographer was seriously out of it most of the time, and it's a wonder anything came out at all. Comets On Fire were my high point of the event:




While the low point must be the No Neck Blues Band...

...who were complete toss, in spite of the fact that the singer spent half the set topless. At one point a fire alarm went off in the venue and everyone thought it was part of the music.

Gozu

Finally got to see this the other night on Film 4, from Ichi director Takashi Miike, and it's absolutely effing nuts. Half porno Carry on Yakuza, half body-horror Twin Peaks, it also has one of the most sphincter-clenching death scenes I've ever experienced. Recommended.

San Francisco 1998

Beermats

For use with Hoffmeister, no doubt.

Let them eat crack...

Well no wonder kids are so hyperactive these days. Actually, they are quite tasty. Hope I'm not developing a habit. All together now: 'I'm living on coco rocks!'

Blue Soap

How's this for bargain of the year. Fourth Draw Down and Sulk, 2 of the best albums of the eighties in a box with loads of extra tracks for £6 in Fopp, or whatever it's called. I have both of these on vinyl, buthaven'tt listened to them for years. Completely forgotten how murky andclaustrophobicc they are, which I mean in a good way. I really dig The Glamour Chase as well, but the production is much more bright and shiny, while these sound like they were recorded in a partially flooded basement in winter. They sound damp and chilly, which I mean in a good way.

Interestingly I was listening to these last night in a herbal stupor while watching Shaolin Soccer with the sound turned down. It actually worked rather better than you might think. At one point a mass street-dancing scene was perfectly insynchc with Message Oblique Speech. Shaolin Soccer, by the way, is an absolutely great drugs movie.

The horror, the horror...

1. Reanimator
2. It's Alive
3. Brain Damage "Looks like you've got a real monster in there!"
4. Blade 2. When will I, will I be famous?
5. Quatermass and the Pit

6. Alligator People. Never actually seen this, but it's a great picture.

7. They Live

8. Night of the Demon. Or Curse of the Demon it was also called.

9. Eyes Without a Face. Absolutely nothing to do with Billy Idol.

10. Cat People. Nasty Kinki's finest hour. Shame on you for not getting it.

OK, kids, tis that time of year, and anything Dom can do I can do more ineptly. As before this ain't a top 10, I just like the pictures. Beat me and you can win a night out in a Hackney housing estate with the crack-whore of your choice. Now there's an incentive.

Spooky Cats

Fear and loathing in Hackney

This is a crap comic

Every once in a while I will be visiting a comic shop and decide, perhaps a little stoned, to take a chance on some first issue that catches my eye. You never know, you might be pleasantly surprised, or it could be worth something in a couple of years. But this is rubbish, and no amount of drugs can make it better. The 'story' as such is that some bunch of pumped-up trans-dimensional super-beings in stupid outfits turn up and fight another bunch of same, while shouting things like 'Only oblivion, Joanna, only death!'. And, er... that's it. Really. I don't know who any of them are, and I don't care. One chick even turns up in a pair of see-through pink panties.
I mean isn't that a little impractical when fighting trans-dimensional super-beings, or am I missing something? Perhaps it's a diversionary strategy. This bit did make me laugh;

Though it hardly justifies the couple of quid I spent on this nonsense. Warning, kids: dope and shopping don't mix!

Camden Lock, last week.

My start as an ebay mogul

Due to the need to reduce some of the clutter in my life, and hopefully make some money, I am now putting putting stuff on ebay. It's mostly recent comics at the moment, because they're top of the pile, but I shall be adding older comics, books, cds, vinyl, and other assorted crap in the future. Will be adding things every couple of days. You can find it all here.

More alien porn

The fossilised erection of a behemoth in Lake Mono, I think it was called, California.

Flying Nurses

Found this while sorting through some old comics. Charlton 1963. Writer and artist uncredited, unfortunately.

My road last night

2 Fast 2 Furious

2 Shit 4 Words.

The view from my room

The End of an Earache

Sad news this week. It seems that the Intrepid Fox, possibly the longest running alternative/rawk pub in London, is set to close. On September 11, which has a certain tragic irony about it. I've been going in there off and on since the early eighties when it was very punk and much rougher. These days I frequent it less, since it was featured in some Euro Rough Guide to London, and is now filled with dreadlocked Spanish children who think it's cool to skin up at the back, and moronic Scandinavian hair-metallers. But it still feels like a bit of history going, and is sad. Another piece of the seedy old Soho erased and turned into more fuckin yuppie flats. The closing party is on Sept 9, and should be some event.
And while we're on the subject, the're trying to do exactly the same thing to the Astoria, the bastards. Sign the petition to save it here: http://www.petitiononline.com/savethea/petition.html

10 Top Psychos

Dirty Harry. Andrew Robinson shows us how it's done as Scorpio.
Exorcist 3. Brad Dourif is the Gemini killer. Now it only occurred to me when I saw these 2 pics together: Curly blond hair, nasal strips and zodiac tags - do you think Blatty was attempting an homage here?
The Hitcher. Rutger Hauer.
Battle Royale. 'The one who signed up for fun.' Surely J-rock's answer to Sid Vicious
Ghosts of Mars. Low on extras, and short on cash, John Carpenter visits the local Black Metal club and hires the first person he sees. "Don't worry," says Carp, "All you have to do do is shout 'GRRRAH...WAAARGHHH!!!!!' and wave a severed head around." Which is pretty much what he had planned anyway.

Ichi the Killer. Tadanobu AsanoBrotherhood of the Wolf. Vincent Cassel. Just an ace baddie. Expert shot and martial arts skills, check. Control over huge mutant dog-thing, check. Hideously deformed arm/claw, check. Incestuous relationship with sister, check. Oh I want to be him.
M. Peter Lorre
Cohen and Tate. Adam Baldwin goes over the top, and stays there.
A History of Violence. Ed Harris.

At long last blogger has allowed me to upload pictures, and seeing as everyone else is doing these quizzes I thought I'd give it a go. Here are 10 special sociopaths, not my top ten (Dennis in Blue Velvet would be a bit too easy), just ten I'm fond of. Some of the actors names I don't know myself, and since I can't be fucked to research it, just the film will do in those cases. Name that loon!

Bloggered Around

Well I've been trying to do a post, but I can't upload any images at the moment. It crashes my web browser every time I try. Anybody else having problems? Guess I'll try later.

The Stars, My Arse!

The Warthog Enclosure

I was cycling along the Regent's Canal today and stopped for a fag, as I often do, on a bench that faces the warthog enclosure in London Zoo. There is a boy warthog and a girl warthog. He was feeling randy, or bored. It's a pretty boring enclosure. So they headbutt each other for a bit, which for a warthog I have noticed seems to be the only form of social interaction, but then their heads do take up most of their mass, so they can't have much choice. He headbutts her into some kind of ritual submission, then tries to mount her. She ain't interested, walks off. He tries to mount her again so she sideswipes him with her tusks. Girl warthogs have tusks as big as boys. He gets the message and pretends he wasn't interested in the first place.

Now where have I seen that before?

Well, that's my day.

6 Irritating Things In Films

1. Inappropriate behavior when chased by psycho/monster. We've been over this before. Personally I never tire of seeing stupid young people die in creative ways. There are too many instances to list, but here's a few pointers to the screenwriters of the inevitable 'Wolf Creek 2': A) OK, you're traumatized, but only a complete tit would leave a high-powered rifle next to an unconscious psycho. Even if it's not loaded you can smash his skull in with it, or just hide it. B) You are lost in the outback, but at least you have a big truck. Then, quite rationally, you push it off a cliff, and C) you spend half an hour watching frickin home movies.
2. 'Let's split up.' This is essentially the same as above, but is particularly annoying. Even frickin gazelles know it's safer to stick together, so what do you do when hunted by psycho/monster? Wander off pointlessly in different directions thus making it much easier to be picked off one by one. Memo to the entire cast of Alien 3: You are idiots, and deserved to die.
3. War films. Never talk to your buddies about your girl/wife/kids/dog back home, let alone show them a picture. You will die in the next scene.
4. Spooky kids. Is it just me, or are you sick of cute wide-eyed children who wander around films seeing things that adults can't, like dead people, strange lights in the forest, or aliens in the cornfield. Shouldn't they be in school, anyway? Any form of Alien Abduction thingy will inevitably involve one of these little sods. Also, M. Night Shayamaian: you are guilty!
5. 'Try and get some sleep.' Or 'Try and get some rest'. Usually said by alpha male to girl in time of extreme stress, when her adrenalin levels are going batshit. Patronizing bastard.
6. Err... that's it. But I'm sure I will think of more.

Bugman

Evening Standard 10 July 2006

Red Skull

In anticipation of Dom's supervillain list I chanced upon this on the net. No idea where it's from.
Now in those days villains looked properly villianous. I always felt a bit sorry for the Red Skull. When you look like that there can't be many career options available to you. Social work is going to be out of the question, and I guess you're inevitably going to drift into extreme occult Naziism.

Here's tha Man hangin' with his homies.

Big Twat Week

As a further example of feline stupidty, following Spike's decision that the spin-dryer was a safe place to shelter from the apocylypse, Bat has come the conclusion that the best thing to do in a heatwave is sit inside a plastic bag. You figure. They wouldn't last five minutes on the savannah.