Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom

While you might be deserving of some kind of punishment for all of the nasty things you've said about Prom Night over the years, you needn't be so hard on yourself. This movie just might break those who think Star Crash is the worst thing they've ever seen. Along with Things (also brilliant) it might be one of the hardest movies to finish because of how punishingly bland and dingy and interminable it can be. It's for masochists only.


But, then again, if you go into it expecting to be bored and confused out of your mind, maybe you could find some way to appreciate it. It's definitely a uniquely confounding thing. You won't know whose story your watching, what time of day it is, if you are in the past present or future, or even what movies are by the time it finishes. And what more could one want from a movie then that? Insight into the human condition??? pfffffft.

Oh, N'Awlens has its perks. When was this? Did he have Elvin Jones on drums at the time?

My preference is a little more sentimental. LPs were always the ideal form for me, given the attractive size. I've heard it described in foodie terms. An LP is like a platter. A CD like a paper cake plate. A cassette like a candy bar.

The 90s were a great time for vinyl hunting, as the pre-eBay era was full of various yard sales and flea markets with crates and boxes galore. But, likewise, a lot of my collection consists of albums that are a bit worn, a bit poppy, maybe a little scuffed. They're experienced, not virgin. And vinyl collectors who only seem interested in brand new 180-gram vinyl is irritating to me. Nothing against newer 180-gram pressings, obviously far superior to the flimsy factory pressings of the 1980s, and I have many. But, like books, the most interesting ones are those with creased spines. I want to know which ones you've been into.

I've never had any vintage Can either, although I taped a couple of their vinyl from friends in the 90s. But I also appreciate simply having Tago Mago on vinyl at all, and I appreciate these new colored vinyls of rare Can shows as well.

This was 1999. The rhythm section was unknown to me at the time, as I wasn't buying his current albums. Definitely wasn't Elvin. (I wish.)

__________________
Captain's Log
My Collection

Well, I would like to clarify that just because I thought Starcrash was a terrible movie doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

My record "collection" really kinda goes back to the days of my youth in the 70s and 80s when that's what we all listened to. Music just came on vinyl. Although my parents did also have a reel-to-reel.
I lugged around my late brother's record collection for years until Katrina took it. Eventually, I started coming across a lot of vinyl again, people just giving me their entire record collections if I would take it off their hands, etc. Over time I "found" a record store in town that has been continuously operating since the late 70s and started buying some again too. People would send me records for my birthday.
I upgraded my system significantly and now listen to my vinyl a good bit.
The point though of responding to your post (sorry, I got side-tracked) is that I have lots of older records from the 70s and 80s, and even a good number from the 1960s (mostly Classical) and I listen to them regularly, but if I have the opportunity to buy something I really care about on 180-gram, I buy it, in part for the great sound and in part for the longevity that format promises.
On the other hand, I do love the sound of crackling from a record and sometimes I will preferentially listen to older copies I have of a record over the new ones. Last weekend, for example, I wanted to listen to Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark and I chose my old copy with all its crackles over my 180-gram copy. And I was glad I did.

I ramble sometimes.

Not saying you didn't. But if enjoyment is the thing you're looking for,you should thank me for trying to steer you clear of this. A Night to Dismember is a terrible houseguest and, you must be warned, doesn't care one tit about your enjoyment. It will make you mourn how you spent the hour and six minutes it took from you.Then kick you into a hole in the ground and shovel some dirt on your face. Only those who hate using time wisely could possibly love it. Escape while you can!


10/10

Hey, I had no idea you liked DP! Me too; they're my favorite Classic Rock band, and I actually wrote a pretty big review of that record for the original Global Domination site (which has been unfortunately deleted since then : / ), since it's my favorite Deep Purple record (yes, even moreso than Machine Head). It's funny you should bring it up today, since this thread over on Metallum already had them on my brain again, but if I had to pick a favorite tune off of it, it'd be this one:



Rock on, baby!

Yeah, I'm a big fan of that particular record. Not so much on the rest of their stuff. In relation to the talk of record collections, In Rock I believe was the third one I ever bought when I decided that I was going to start building a wall of vinyl in my home (I believe the first five were rounded out by Procol Harum, The Animals, Supertramp, The Who). Next to a couple of Sabbath records, it is one of the only other 70s hard rock albums I really really love.

The thing is, now I've been reading all about it and I feel like not only must I see it, I must see both versions.
Especially now that I have watched I Dismember Mama.

Crumbs, I thought of you and your writing after reading this piece from internet villain Freddie deBoer, mostly because I think of you as an honest writer who's also (and this is a compliment, obviously) pretty weird.

Ha! I know nothing of deBoer, but I don't mind this article. He zones in on exactly what I've found really aggravating to me about most writing that finds publication over the past ten (or more?) years. While he seems more focused on political articles, it seems to be the exact same kind of uniformity of voice that I constantly complain about in film criticism. It's like people are terrified of exposing anything about themselves in their writing, but what else of worth does a writer even have to offer? Does anyone really care how adeptly you can rework the press package you were given from an upcoming film? Does anyone need a critic to point out all the obvious thematic underpinnings of a work, when I'm sure anyone cares enough to do so, can do such easy lifting on their own? And, most importantly, who cares if some stupid **** you don't know likes or dislikes something? Since these now seem to be the primary functions of a film critic, is it any wonder they don't really have any kind of cultural voice anymore. Sure, writing can (theoretically) be easy, but these thought poseurs are now taking it to a pathological level.

I hope I'm an honest writer. That, above being good or insightful or some kind of dreaded tastemaker, has always been the purpose for me. To articulate my very specific response to what I'm watching and erase anything that can be figured out by the audience on their own time. I suppose weirdness is simply the gift that comes on its own the deeper you are willing to crawl into this tiny and probably sometimes irrelevant and self indulgent vantage point. Maybe that's why more people don't do it. Because being weird has somehow picked up all these negative connotations. That it makes you somehow less serious. But this is stupid. Just further proof that cowards are now in control of the cultural narrative.

What is written here gives me some hope that others, who are actually in the game, see what has been happening to their profession (whether it in the political world or the art world). And that maybe some of them actually care. Hopefully one day some of the gatekeepers will too, and realize their might be some kind of benefit in publishing actual points of view, and not these ****ing group consensus pieces they've been inundating us with for too many years. Maybe one day weird will once again prevail.

I can't vouch for the 'lost cut', but it is supposedly a completely different movie, with a different plot and different actors. Wishman isn't really a particularly great filmmaker, so what makes the version I like so interesting, is taking what I've always assumed is a totally terrible movie, and fashioning some kind of interpretation she was able to find among the surviving pieces. This makes it one of the most pure examples of cinematic nonsense I've ever seen. It's not really a funny bad movie, but it's a fascinating one.

lol. I Dismember Mama. Was it as unbearably uncomfortable to watch for you as it is for me? As said above, I really don't know what I think about it, I definitely don't enjoy it. But I can't dismiss it simply because of how creepy the whole thing is.

I like Freddie, in spite of calling him a villain--full disclosure, I've met him a couple of times socially through a mutual acquaintance. Those times, at least, he was a pleasant if slightly odd duck. He's been very open about his mental illness, so I'm not speaking out of school here when I say he's done some very wrong things in the throes of his illness (which is why in some circles he's certainly persona non grata). Well, this is all largely beside the point, which is that I've always appreciated his ruthless commitment to honesty, even when it makes him look bad (or doesn't tick the right boxes).

I kind of think that in some respects now is a good time to be a writer, as long as you don't plan or need to make a lot of money. There's a lot of space for writers who don't fit particular ideological criteria. The flip side to all this, of course, is you get a certain breed of cat for whom "honesty" is actually just their justification for being an a-hole--sometimes it's true, but being an a-hole still sucks, honesty is no excuse for it. (Though for many of these schmucks assholery just appears to be their brand of grift.) But for the truly odd, non-phony types marching to the beat of their own tuba, maybe there's a little window here to creep through. Worst case, I'll keep looking for you here.

One question: if Freddie deBoer is concerned with finding interesting writing online, why the hell is reading the comment section at Daily Kos?

Guys, have you been to his Letterboxd lately? Five stars for all of James Wan's movies!

"Some will say that I pay too much attention to Twitter, but a) people who wake up and reach for their phones to tweet and don’t stop until their head hits the pillow at night don’t get to make that complaint."


I don't use twitter. Never have. Can I say that Freddie deBoer pays way too much attention to the decidedly uninteresting "writing" on twitter? Or is that too casually sarcastic?


I don't want to weigh in on these "dynastic advantages" except to show my support for the rugged lineage of the rustic working class deBoer clan. Maybe I'll send him a flag of sympathetic heritage.

Hey now, In Rock's my favorite, but as far as I'm concerned, every single record that DP released from '68-to-'75 was at least good, if not great (yes, even Who Do We Think We Are?). I mean, Burn, baby!:

The story of the movie being "lost" is really curious. The way it doesn't add up and the way the cinematographer talks about it like it was never lost at all (of course, he had a print of it and could have produced it at any time for Wishman) is really interesting to me. What is that situation about? Why would allegedly spend 8 years of her life cobbling together a bizarre, totally unworkable "film" from bits and pieces, re-writes and new shoots, rather than just cut her losses and walk away, if the film was lost (to her at least), or why didn't she literally just ask the cinematographer if he had another print, which he did?
What the **** is the real story here?

I mean, it's definitely icky, the forced-striptease murder and the weird thing with the little girl make it pretty nasty and the main character really is just unpleasant but... I guess I've seen so many bad movies now, ya know?