Author Archives: gloaminganddawn

So, I finalized the ‘Another Day, Another Movie’ list for post-apocalypse films. I shortened it from what I previously had down. This genre is one I’m curious about, as opposed to excited about diving into. Thus, I didn’t want to spend a whole month in it. So, it’ll be two weeks. Here is the final list.

Seattleites, let me know if there is one on the list you really want to watch with us, and I’ll try to make that happen.

1. Children of Men
2. Mad Max
3. The Road Warrior
4. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
5. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
6. Escape from New York
7. Logan’s Run
8. The Road
9. Time of the Wolf
10. La Jetée
11. A Boy and His Dog
12. On the Beach
13. I Am Legend
14. The Omega Man

I should have written about this already, as soon as I finished the fifth season. The season was fantastic. If you’ve never watched Doctor Who, you could just start with this season, since it’s a semi-reboot of the reboot. It’s also the most accessible the show has been to a non-scifi audience. It’s still scifi, but Matt Smith’s brand of humor hits a broader audience, and the production value is outstanding. The series also teaches an important life lesson, that bow ties are cool.

Again, I love Season 5; or Series 5 as I suppose it should be more accurately called, being a BBC show; or Series 31, to be most accurate. It was probably the best demonstration of telling a unified narrative that stretched out in a serial, scifi medium. Shows like Doctor Who, in which each episode is its own adventure, often make it difficult to have a single story play out during a whole season. Doctor Who writers always tried, but often the meta-narrative felt tacked on. The emotional journey of Doctor Who was always believable and engaging, but that was as far as it went; all that Bad Wolf stuff felt forced. Not so with the fifth season. They definitely started with the larger narrative, and then built the individual adventures off of that. Wonderful!

Also, the Van Gogh episode was the most nuanced and accurate engagement of depression I’ve ever seen on tv. Not in the broad strokes, but in subtle little moments that everyone else probably missed, but that meant something to me. There was an honoring or a solidarity of sorts. It was appreciated.

Just as importantly, maybe some of you remember when I mentioned that if the Doctor starts taking male companions around on a more regular basis I’d be taking my talents to the TARDIS. Well, say your goodbyes, bitches, because next season Rory is a permanent cast member for the whole season. It marks the first time a male companion has rounded the team out at three since 1975.

The bad news, they are splitting season six into two parts, so while more Doctor Who action gets underway in March, we have a big break coming up in the middle of the season. Booooo.

And as the trailer illustrates, the Ood are back this season. The Ood are one of my favorite recurring species.

As if we needed another reason to be thankful for Joel McHale. He brought this video to the world’s attention on Twitter.

**Update** I forgot to mention that the album is available to download for $8 at Amazon. Totally worth it!**

Many of you may be at the party already, but I just got here and I’m excited. My dear friend, Abby, shared this band with me, right before it seemed like everyone and their mom started mentioning them today on the internets. They were featured by Paste as “The Best of What’s Next.”

I am really digging them. Although, I’m depressed because they just played here in Ballard in December but I’d never heard of them at the time.

Side note, Joy Williams is crazy sexy.

They also do several awesome Michael Jackson covers, which is, well, awesome.

Wil Wheaton tweeted this and I just had to share it. I can’t believe it’s real, but it is. I… it’s… wow. I hope he deserved it, because this is harsh.

So, I’ll be gone forever. The reason is that I’ll be spending all my time looking at pictures on This Is Not Porn.

It’s pretty amazing. You should go to there.

It’s just awesome photos of famous people. Like:

Cary Grant and a cast member going over some script ideas.

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Katherine Hepburn skateboarding.

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An erudite Bruce Lee.

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And Akira Kurosawa and Francis Ford Coppola being Akira Kurosawa and Francis Ford Coppola in the same room.

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Yet, it offers so much more than that.

It also raises huge questions about life. Like:

With legs like these, why didn’t Einstein get into modeling?

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Was Alfred Hitchcock related to this koala?

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Why is James Dean about to punch Rock Hudson in the penis?

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What’s the deal with this doll, anyway?

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Or, just… why?

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If all that weren’t enough… how about Ernest Hemingway kicking a fucking can!

Alright, it’s time for another ascent to genre heaven with more ‘Another Day, Another Movie.’ For the uninitiated, ADAM is when I (in an awesome use of my time and energy) pick a theme, genre, etc., and then watch one movie in that category every day for at least a week, or as long as a month.

I’ve got three genres on their way before October’s Scary(ish) Moviefest 2011, and I was hoping for some suggestions from all of you out there in the internets. Here are the films I have planned for each upcoming genre so far, without much in the way of research.

Samurai Films:

I’ve already watched a bunch of samurai movies, first as part of the Western edition of Another Day, Another Movie, then because I fell in love with Kurosawa. It’s time to devote a few weeks of my life entirely to samurai films.

I’ve seen a bunch of these before. Obviously, there is a ton of Kurosawa. So far, I’ve got:
1. Seven Samurai
2. Yojimbo
3. Sanjuro
4. Ran
5. Throne of Blood
6. 47 Ronin
7. Harikari
8. Twilight Samurai
9. The Hidden Blade
10. The Last Samurai (Yes, I’m including The Last Samurai, sue me)
11. Samurai Rebellion
12. Love and Honor
13. Kill!
14. The Hidden Fortress
15. The Sword of Doom
16. Samurai Assassin

Kung Fu Films

I want to show China some love too, not just immerse myself in Japan. Thus, I also want to do a Kung Fu moviefest as well.

So far:
1. Enter The Dragon
2. Hero
3. Kung Fu Hustle
4. Kung Fu Panda
5. Shaolin Soccer
6. Game of Death
7. The Blade
8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
9. Ip Man & Ip Man 2
10. The Prodigal Son
11. Drunken Master
12. Fist of Fury
13. Iron Monkey
14. Supercop
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Legend of Drunken Master
17. 36th Chamber of Wu-Tang

Post-Apocalypse Films

In an entirely unrelated sub-genre, I also want to do post-apocalypse cinema. So far:
1. Children of Men
2. Mad Max
3. The Road Warrior
4. Beyond Thunderdome
5. Quiet Earth
6. On the Beach
7. 9
8. Logan’s Run
9. I Am Legend
10. The Road
11. Wall*E
12. The Dark Hour
13. The Omega Man
14. La Jetée
15. A Boy and His Dog
16. Wizards
17. Escape from New York
18. Day of the Triffids
19. Idiocracy
20. Time of the Wolf

Help with even more titles, along with other thoughts, would be GREATLY appreciated!

So, this is actually a video game trailer. Even if you hate video games, you need to watch it anyway. It’s that good. As written on Cinematical, you can just watch it as a short (3 minutes) zombie film.

Dead Island is a zombie game. It will take place on a resort island in Papua New Guinea.

Warnings: well, it’s a zombie game, so that’s what you can expect. Not scary, but there is some gore. The trailer is also sad, not funny or action-packed like most zombie related content. Then again, if it was just action packed you probably wouldn’t be able to call it a short film.

Seriously though, watch it.

I’ve been waiting forever for Brian or Emily to deliver on their promised Nerd Virgins posts, so that I could bust this photo out:

Instead, I’ll have to use it to call them out for their absence. It worked to get a non-music list out of Brian, hopefully it will work again. Emily promised a Batman post, and Brian promised a few more Lost posts, along with, perhaps, a video game post and a Harry Potter post.

We’re stiiiill waiting.