Oh Michael

I’ve been spending my Tuesday afternoon watching some old MJ videos. In terms of music videos I think my favourites are ‘Thriller’ (of course), ‘Ghost’ and ‘Leave Me Alone’. I love the visual artistry in Michael's Leave Me Alone music video. The clip contrasts imagery with lyrics. It's bright and very uncanny featuring Michael going through a theme park (of himself). Very Salvador Dali inspired! The music video was nominated for Best Art Direction but was beaten by Madonna's 'Express Yourself'. Codswollop!

I’m pretty sure the Thriller video and Michael’s leather jacket triggered a love affair with me and the colour red. It was after seeing the Thriller video that I went to my first dance class too. Whilst on the subject of Thriller Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie does an interesting cover of the song as well as Imogen Heap, but nothing compares to the original.

Leslie Nielson, Dead & Loving it

I am in mourning after hearing that my favourite childhood funny-man Leslie Nielson died yesterday from pneumonia. I can't really imagine a child hood without Frank Drebbin. I think my local video shop still holds a massive grudge against me because I would repeatedly hire out the Naked Gun trilogy.

My favourite film of his is Dracula Dead & Loving it. I think it used to be played on channel 10 like all the time. Dracula Dead & Loving it, is a classic Mel Brooks spoof that pokes fun at Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula. The movie did pretty badly at the box office but received more of a following after it hit vintage VHS. If you can't remember it, look it up on YouTube and I'm sure you'll get those warm feelings of nostalgia (kind of like when you watch old ABC kid shows)

Dracula Dead & Loving It - YouTube Trailer

Mount Kimbie

With study taking over my life I have taken solice in Mount Kimbie's new LP Crooks & Lovers. My friend Shel showed me it when she was visiting Perth in September. The band is made up of a UK duo who met each other in college. This album has been a perfect companion this week with International Marketing melting my brain cells. Mount Kimbie absorbs eminence by layering sounds with real life sounds like chatter, the clicking of a tongue on the roof of a mouth, echoes and erratic slaps and claps. My favourite song is Before I Move Off. The songs feature syllables rather than actual lyrics making it a perfect record to have on during a creative vent (drawing, writing, reading, painting). When describing what 'Mount Kimbie' stands for Kai Campos (one half of Mount Kimbie) said;

"It's a place inside all of us where buses arrive on time. Not a cloud-scraping peak where the sunsets burn pink and white for miles, not a metaphor for the grandeur of creation, just a small town with reliable public transportation".

Suck

Last Friday morning after some heavy antics at the Scottsman my friend and I watched this movie called 'Suck'. I can't say that I am totally on board with the vampire fetish that seems to be sweeping the nations but there is a strange fascination about the subject so I was interested.

Suck is a slapstick-musical comedy that pokes fun at the vampire genre. Rob Stefaniuk wrote, directed and starred in the comedy. The film is about a struggling band trying to make their mark on the music scene (which is proving impossible so far) but when the lead bassist, actress Jessica Pare goes home with a vampire after one of the band's shows, she emerges the next day with a sexually charged charisma and a thirst for fame and blood. Her new image arouses the beginnings of stardom but sacrifices are made (moby gets massacred in a bath tub, but it's funny cos it's moby).

The movie features cameos by Alice Cooper, Moby, Henry Rollins, and Iggy Pop. This movie has received multiple awards in various film festivals, which is well deserved.

The other funny thing about this movie is how casual they act when they find out about Pare turning into a vampire. I loved how they treated Pare's vampirity as a drug problem and the ensuing dead bodies as an inconvenience to the band.

I also really liked how the film was shot, they use a concoction of dark and seedy sets juxtaposed with the beauty of the vampires.

For such an impossible budget this film has made me smile, squirm and laugh.

I highly recommend this movie as it is definitely a potential cult flick, the only negative things I could say about this movie is that the lead singer and main character, Stefaniuk is a massive downer and his blonde tips made me cringe.

Number Tooze

After some hard saving I decided to do some serious spending on some delicious Karen Walker sunglasses. It's been a heavy toss up between Karen Walker Super Duper Strength sunglasses and my beloved Karen Walker Number Two's. The shades come in mottled blue and black, I went with black because of the amount of lipstick I wear. I am now prepared for my holiday to the east coast in December & January to see JUSTICE at Summadayze! Considering the Aussie Dollar is doing so well I purchased these from Eyegoodies

Cherry Bomb

The biopic, The Runaways did not do a phenomenal job at the box office but in my opinion it was a damn good film. Stewart puts on her usual cool-dude facade that she maintains in reality smoking bongs in front of the paparazzi and flipping the bird when possible. It was Fanning who stole the show playing Cherrie Currie. This film revealed the grown-up in Dakota with one scene before Cherrie is about to take the microphone, pills are dropped on the stage and she grinds them with her high heels and snorts them right off the floor before launching into "Cherry Bomb". The songs in the movie feature Stewart and Fanning's voices which aren't bad at all. I am very disappointed that I won't be gracing Southbound this year to witness Joan Jett in the flesh.