Second Round of eBay: The Great Purge: Part II

Selling records to buy one of these.

Planes Mistaken for Stars "Knife in the Marathon" LP (GREY)
Thrones "Day Late Dollar Short" LP
Pearl Jam "Ten" LP (OG Press)
The Dillinger Escape Plan "Calculating Infinity" LP (Picture Disc /1000)
Drowningman "Busy Signal at the Suicide Hotline" LP
Daughters "Canada Songs" LP (PINK)
Masami Akita (Merzbow) and Russell Haswell "Satanstornade" LP
Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream" LP (ORANGE)
Cult of Luna "Somewhere Along the Highway" LP
Old Man Gloom "Seminar III: Zozobra" LP
Old Man Gloom "Seminar II: The Holy Rites of Primitivism Regressionism" LP (BLUE)
Old Man Gloom "Christmas" LP (GREEN/RED)
Alcest "Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde" LP (BROWN)
Sunn O))) "Domkirke" LP (Unopened)
MF Doom "Operation: Doomsday" LP (New Reissue)
MF Doom "Mm..Food" LP
MF Doom and Madlib "Madvillain" LP
Blonde Redhead "Misery is a Butterfly" LP
Punch "S/T" LP (PINK)
AFI "December Underground" LP
AFI "Black Sails in the Sunset" LP (GREY)
AFI "Sing the Sorrow" LP (New/Unopened Colored Vinyl)
Old Man Gloom "Meditations in B" LP (/124)
5ive "S/T" LP (Tour Version #3/80)
Animal Collective "Feels" LP
Animal Collective "Merriweather Post Pavilion" LP
Animal Collective "Strawberry Jam" LP
Animal Collective "Peacebone" LP
Animal Collective "Summertime Clothes" LP (New/Unopened)
Animal Collective "People" LP
Animal Collective "Hollinndagain" LP
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "Pataphisical Freak Out Mu!!" LP
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "Power House of Holy" CD (Live for 2006 US Tour)
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "Last Convert in Tokyo" CD (Live)
Kakabata Makoto "Private Sound Drawing Series Volume 2: At Last You're Mine" CD (Solo Tour CD)
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "In C" LP
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "Troubadours From Another Heavenly World" LP
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "Original Motion Picture Sound Track Album for Ivan Piskov's Wild Gals A Go-Go" LP
Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. "Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness" LP
Khanate "It's Cold When Birds Fall From the Sky" CD (Tour CD)
Khanate "KHNTvsSTOCKHOLM" CD (Tour CD)
Conifer "S/T" CD
Disappearer "Demo" CD

First Round of eBay: The Great Purge: Part II

Sunn O))) - Oracle LP (1st pressing/clear vinyl w/ poster)
Sunn O))) - The GrimmRobe Demos LP (purple vinyl)
Sunn O))) - Black One LP (1st pressing/tour picture disc)
Sunn O))) - Black One 2xCD (mailorder/tour version #0051/2000)
Oren Ambarchi - Destinationless Desire 7"
KTL - 2 LP
KTL - 3 LP
Growing - Lateral LP
Growing - The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light 2xLP (yellow vinyl)
Growing - His Return LP
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountian LP
Lightning Bolt - Ride the Skies LP (double sided silk screened cover)
Kayo Dot / Bloody Panda - Split LP (grey/pink vinyl)
Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue LP (silver/copper vinyl limited to 105 copies)
Ocean - Here Where Nothing Grows LP (1st pressing/200 gram vinyl/letter pressed cover/limited to 500.)
Ocean - Demo CD
Boris / Merzbow - Megatone CD (Japanese import)
Boris / Merzbow - Rock Dream 2xCD (#2747/5000)
Boris / Sunn O))) - Altar 2xCD (#3959/5000)
Boris - Soundtrack from the film "Mabuta No Ura" CD
Boris - Dronevil-Final 2xCD (Japanese import)
Keiji Haino With Boris - Black: Implication Flooding" CD (Japanese import)
Boris With Michio Kurhara - Rainbow CD

Stuff I Found at Work

Today I found the ads/instructions/promo materials/schematics that came with two portable turntables that were used in classrooms and were circulated by the AV Department / Library Media Center for years. I thought they were kind of interesting so I scanned and uploaded them. For me they are a reminder of how much school AV/Library work has changed in the last thirty years. I've actually been thinking about this a lot, partially because I sometimes come across old forgotten equipment and partially due to a conversation I recently had with a man who has been repairing analog AV equipment in the area for about 40 years.

October Records

Here are my record purchases/trades for October. I got some other stuff in the mail towards the end of the month that I still haven't looked at or played so I'm going to just include them in my November list.

In the last week or so I have been seriously thinking about simplifying my life. I'm not sure what changed. I mean, I've felt a strong desires to sell most of my crap a bunch of times before but it usually passes and I move on with collecting. I just sort of assumed that I inherited my collector/organizer qualities from my antique collector parents or that they just fit with my librarian personality, but I'm not so sure anymore. Now I look at my piles of records and just feel a weight or a drain. I've always owned too much stuff but now I think I need a change.

I have been ripping and selling most of my DVDs (as I mentioned in a previous post) and feeling pretty good about freeing up space and pairing things down. I had a bunch of stuff that I never got around to watching or was realistically never going to watch again, which was sort of pointless. Anyway, I decided to do the same with CDs so last week I sold like 75% of my CDs to a couple record stores and used the loot to replace my annoying Samsung Blackjack with an iPhone (I will definitely not miss Windows Mobile. Goodfuckingbye.).

I've also decided to cut my record collection by about 1/3-1/2 (6-7 crates, I guess) so I'll be throwing all that stuff on the eBay Machine in the coming months. If I know you IRL please get in touch if there's anything you're looking for. I'm pretty much purging anything that's not hardcore, goth, or contemporary classical. More details to come, as well as my first set of auctions.

OCTOBER RECORDS:
men's interest - demo tape
kim phuc - demo tape
capitalist casualties - dark circle 5" (pic disc w/ biohazard bag)
social circle - on the run 7"
deathrats - s/t 7" (PURPLE)
vaccine - demo 7" (CLEAR test press 18/20)
raw/nerve - teens in heat 7" (mailorder version)
total control - retiree b/w meds II 7"
infest - not over yet 7"(GREY)
born bad - tie one on 7" (BLUE)
total noise accord - s/t 7"
silla electrica - Tension 7"
sudor - ciudad imperial 7"
kim phuc - weird skies b/w suicide circle 7"
pavement - gold soundz 7"
social circkle - city shock LP (CLEAR)
pissed jeans - hope for men LP
pavement - slanted and enchanted LP (big cat pressing)
pavement - wowee zowee 2xLP
crude - attitude LP
skullflower - vile veil LP
morne - untold wait LP (BLUE)
HHH - demo/intelectual punks LP
paintbox - trip trance and traveling LP (YELLOW)
paintbox - singing shouting crying LP (ORANGE)
paintbox - relics LP (BLUE)
annihilation time - II LP
attak - zombies LP
jawbox - for your own special sweetheart LP (sealed)
rorschach - remain sedate / protestant LP(GREEN 22/150)
eddy current suppression ring - s/t LP
om - god is good LP
bill cosby - bill's best friend LP
iron age - the sleeping eye LP
om - conference live LP
jesus lizard - pure LP (reissue)
jesus lizard - liar LP (reissue)
jesus lizard - head LP (reissue)
jesus lizard - goat LP (reissue)
boredoms - super roots 10 LP
the verlaines - juvenilia LP (with promo photo and one sheet)
the lorries - crawling mantra LP
mdc - millions of dead cops LP (r radical pressing)
sun city girls - live at the sit and spin LP
man is the bastard / capitalist casualties - split LP
pink reason / hue blanc's joyless ones - split LP
mondo cane soundtrack LP (unopened sleeve)

The Verlaines Promo Stuff

Like tons of other people I know, I've been getting into a bunch of New Zealand bands (like The Clean, The Cakekitchen, The Feelies, The Verlaines, etc.). I've also been trying to track down some of this stuff on vinyl. The other day I scored a promo (cut corner) copy of The Verlaines "Juvenilia" on LP and it came with a promo photo and some 1986 promo materials from Homestead Records (press reviews, descriptions of releases, etc.). Someone I know asked me to scan this stuff and upload it for them. I figured I might as well post it here too.

Records I Bought

(I also bought the new Paramore but that was on CD)

Update: I've been slowly working on a complete record list/trade list. It will also probably include comics and video games. I'll post the URL when I'm done. What a pain in the ass project to take on...

I'll blame it on slow New England living, my new insanely early sleep schedule, and my girlfriend going to school out of state.

I have been getting a ton of emails from people asking me for MP3s or my copies of records/tapes I've mentioned on here (esp. Youth Attack stuff). I'm not sure why. This isn't an MP3 blog and I'll post links to anything I'm selling (I'll probably just continue to use the eBay machine). I don't flip stuff that often and I really only trade with 4-5 friends because I got sick of sending mint records and getting crap in return from people who don't know how to grade or handle records. Sorry.

I took another step in further simplifying my life. About 75% of my DVDs will soon be gone. I'm pretty much just keeping Italian genre films, my Criterion stuff, and some TV on DVD (Buffy). The jury is still out on Pinky Violence and some other minor collections. Next I'm going to tackle my VHS collection. I might try to open a temporary webstore for that stuff.

SEPTEMBER:
billy bao - i am going to kill all the rich man tape
diet cokeheads - demo tape
ripper - demo tape
semen - demo tape
trauma - 9 songs demo tape
ride at dawn - demo II tape
offering - black master tape
diet cokeheads - oral 7"
rattus - invades the US 7"
pisschrist - s/t 7"
dead uncles - cut down to sighs 7"
attack ss - no boss 7" (WHITE)
atentado - todo esta oscuro 7"
derribos arias - a fluor 7"
derribos arias - aprenda aleman en 7 dias 7"
toreros after ole - porom pom pero 2x7"
los nikis - aaaaghh!! 2x7"
ox pow- esperando en la calle 7"
la uvi - ya esta bien 7"
bondage t - les bouchers de verdun 7"
los crudos / huasipungo - nunca nada cambia 7"
rattus - khomeini-rock 7"
rattus - fucking disco 7"
intolerance - aspectos humanos de la vida animal 7"
giftgas attack - 8 track 7"
social circkle - i've got afflictions 7" (CLEAR)
infierno de cobardes - ciudad monstruosa 7"
wasted time - no shore 7" (RED no way fest)
wasted time - no shore 7" (west coast tour)
mourne - twilight burns b/w seams 7"
siniestro total - la luna sobre marin +3 7"
basura - no seas lesbiana mi amor 7"
vaccine - demo 7" (CLEAR silkscreened)
warcry - harvest of death 7"
G.A.T.E.S. / burning leather - split 7"
syphilitic vaginas / nunslaughter - split 7"
a history of compassion and justice? 7" comp
liberame 7" comp
taylor bow - thin air lp (CLEAR)
social circkle - city shock LP
king tuff - was deal LP
government warning - no moderation LP (RED)
nekheiu naatza - hail the new regime LP
napalm death - hatred surge/from enslavement to obliteration demos LP
gism - detestation LP (boot)
never healed - s/t LP
verlaines - bird dog LP (promo)
my dad is dead - and he's not gonna take it anymore LP
my dad is dead - let's skip the details LP
negativland - helter stupid LP
throbbing gristle - greatest hits: entertainment through pain LP
the dickies - stukas over disneyland LP
kai winding - mondo cane #2 sountrack LP
warcry - 10 tracks noise (demo) 12"
anxiety - pathetic 12"
vivian girls - everything goes wrong LP
derribos arias - en la guia en el listin LP
desechables - buen ser-vicio LP
siniestro total - el regreso II LP
TDK - carnevision LP
TDK - esto es una empresa capitalista LP
warcry - keep drinking attitude LP
teenage bottlerocket - they came from the shadows LP (GREEN)
syphilitic vaginas / abigail - split LP
rip / eskorbuto - zona especial norte split LP
drunkdriver/mattin - list of profound insecurities 12"
start a riot LP comp
reality part #2 LP comp (GREEN)
fiesta comes alive LP comp

Update

I've been MIA for a while and busy weeding my record collection, selling on eBay, starting a new job, watching Star Trek reruns (several incarnations), working on finally making a record trade list, and hanging out with my girlfriend in Vermont. I've also been watching a lot of Dragnet in hopes of seeing an episode about LSD that I saw as a young kid. I seem to remember it being pretty awesome. Anyway, now that I'm finally getting adjusted to my new gig (and getting up insanely early) I will be posting regularly again. In the mean time, here are my record purchases from the last couple months. Tons of killer stuff has been coming out lately. Lots to keep up with.

AUGUST:
merchandise - terminal jagger jane's addiction boxset tape
diet cokeheads - live tape
coke bust / sick fix - split live tape
limp wrist - s/t 7" (BLUE 6/25)
condominium - barricade b/w big plans 7"
middle america - scars 7"
the pinkerton thugs - life, liberty, and the pursuit of shit 7"
video disease - make me pure 7"
anger burning - warcharge 7"
failures - s/t 7" (WHITE)
drunkdriver - firesale 7"
migraine - s/t 7"
screeching weasel - suzanne is getting married b/w waiting for susie 7"
ecoli - judas cradle 7"
blank stare - third party 7"
subversion - 1983 7"
n/n - s/t 7"
aerosols - medicine 7" (CLEAR)
aerosols - s/t 7" (CLEAR)
crimen de estado - s/t 7"
warcry - nausea 7"
deskonocidos - s/t 7"
ecoli - rape 7"
crude - just go go ahead 7"
dromdead - donde esta tu dios? 7"
mark mccoy / mark telfian - split 7"
los ninatos / conservantes adulterados - jaen esta muerto split 7"
d-clone / morpheme - progressus split 7"
no bullshit 7" comp (GREY)
citizens arrest - colossus LP (die hard edition on RED)
das oath - s/t LP
das oath - mini LP (CLEAR)
leuzemia - s/t LP
mf doom - operation doomsday LP (repress)
rattus - s/t LP
government warning - paranoid mess LP (no way fest edition)
harold budd and brian eno with daniel lanois - the pearl LP
cluser and brian eno - old land LP
brian eno - more blank than frank (songs from the period 1973-1977) LP
michael brook with brian eno and daniel lanois - hybrid LP
brian eno and david byrne - everything that happens will happen today LP
pissed jeans - king of jeans LP
direct control - farewell LP
wasted time - and so it goes LP (GOLD)
galaxie 500 - today LP
galaxie 500 - on fire LP
polvo - celengrate the new dark age LP
polvo - exploded drawing LP
polvo - shapes LP
finnish spunk hard beat LP comp

JULY:
mind eraser - live 8 track
crucifix - dehumanization tape
los crudos - discography tape
hatred surge - deconstruct tape
fan death - demo tape
like rats - demo tape
flak - 2004 demo tape
hjertestop - demo tape
acid reflux - demo tape
melee - complete tape (czech discography)
warzone womyn / flak - split tape
otan - el indomable 7"
drunkdriver - knife day b/w january 2nd 7"
dinosaur jr - repulsion b/w bulbs of passion 7"
flak - s/t 7"
total abuse - demo 06 7"
hatred surge - 1st 7"
cult ritual - holiday 7"
capitalist casualties - the art of ballistics 7"
gameface - cupcakes 7"
obliteration s/t 7" (GREEN)
obliteration - this is tomorrow 7" (BLUE)
gorilla biscuits - s/t 7" (1st pressing)
government warning - arrested 7" (2007 west coast tour version)
government warning - executed 7" (no way fest edition)
government warning - executed 7" (RED)
delirium tremens - presagio de muerte demo 7"
deskonocidos - problemas 7"
capitalist casualties / stack - split 7"
disrupt / warcollapse - split 7"
sticks and stones / weston - split 7"
the repos / fourteen or fight - split 7" (RED)
jay reatard/sonic youth - record store day 7"
billy bao - fuck separation 10"
billy bao - dialectics of shit LP
billy bao - may 08 LP
cult ritual - s/t LP (tour version)
destino final - atarapados LP
drunkdriver - born pregnant LP
seizure - is money your god? LP
criminal damage - no solution LP (tour press with blank labels)
capitalist casualites - disassembly line LP
dinosaur jr - farm LP
wasted time - futility LP (RED)
government warning - paranoid mess LP (CLEAR)
crude - 1999 LP (PINK)
ultimo reorte - la larga sombra del punk LP
verbal assault - learn LP
brian eno - before and after science LP (polydor)
bl'ast - the power of expression LP
sir richard bishop - polytheistic fragments LP
animal collective - summertime clothes 12"
801 - live LP
articles of faith - give thanks LP (original pressing)
loser life - friends with a demon LP
limp wrist - 2nd LP

Too Many Records: eBay

Still trying to purge records and generally simplify my life. So far I've sold about 3-4 crates and I think I have about 2-3 to go. It's pretty time consuming.

I'm strongly considering doing the grad school thing (again...) and want to set some loot aside for that. Unfortunately, I think my Batman comic book and Criterion DVD habits also require some supplementary funding. Regardless, I've posted this week's list of records. Take a look (if you want) and if you know anyone who might be looking for this stuff then please pass this list/link on. Thanks!

Overcast "Begging for Indifference" 7"
Overcast / Arise "Split" 7"
L'antietam / Furnace "Split" 7" (WHITE/RED)
I Spy "Revenge of the Little Shits" 10"
Pelican "Pink Mammoth" 10" (PINK)
The Insurgent "Inside Every Kid" 10" (GREY)
Boris / Doomriders "Long Hair and Tights" LP (YELLOW / NEW)
Pelican / Mono "Split" LP (RED / NEW)
400 Years "The New Imperialism" 10"
Pelican "March into the Sea" LP (PINK w/ preorder slipmat)
Car Vs. Driver "Out of a Silent Sky" LP
ISIS "Live 4" LP (BLACK /100)
Car Vs. Driver "Deja Grateful" LP
Pelican "City of Echos" LP (BLUE w/ preorder slipmat)
Haymaker "It Only Gets Worse" LP
Spirit Assembly "Welcome to Lancaster County" LP
Pelican "The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw" LP (BLUE /100)
Daughters "Canada Songs" LP (PINK)
Black Dice "Miles of Smiles" LP
Creation is Crucifixion "Automata" LP
Ordination of Aaron "Immersion in a 90 mph World" LP
Pelican "Australasia" 2xLP (ORANGE /290)
Pelican "S/T" LP
Russian Circles "Enter" LP (CLEAR w/ black streaks /200)
Piebald "If it Weren't for Venetian Blinds, it Would be Curtains for Us All" LP (BLUE)


(http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/xtroymcclurex)

VHS Crap #3: 976-EVIL (1988)

Title: 976-EVIL
Year: 1988
Rating: R
Format: VHS (a used rental copy)
Price: $1.00
Director: Robert Englund (AKA Freddy Krueger and Buck from Eaten Alive)
Soundtrack: Pretty sparse and mostly droning synth tones. The main sonic feature of this film is the sound of phones ringing, which really sound like crap. I've never heard a phone or ringtone that sounded like the ones in 976-EVIL. Why didn't they just use a standard ringtone?
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjxqnUBV0Wc
Dummies: None to speak of.
Tagline (from the IMDB because the case is unfortunately lacking one): Now, horror has a brand new number. / ...it's for you. / Revenge is on the line. / When Spike dialed 976-EVIL, he knew it was an expensive toll call, but he didn't know that he'd have to pay for it with his soul.



I didn't last very long...

I said I would try to review movies as part of "VHS Crap" that "I don't know much (if anything) about and random buys." Well, it's just the third installment and I'm already breaking the rules. I've actually seen 976-EVIL at least once before, it's fairly well known, and I actually really like it. Oops...

976-EVIL showed up at one of my used VHS spots a couple weeks ago and I picked it up primarily because I remembered it including some pretty badass depictions of punks and bullies. I like that kind of thing. They ride motorcycles, skateboard in the school bathrooms, have insane haircuts, listen to punk tapes in the principal's office, and play poker in the projection room of their local grindhouse theater. Awesome. I am definitely a sucker for movies depicting young punks and their punk lifestyles. Either they are almost embarrassing to watch or the films create really striking images that actually become influential. For better or for worse, Suburbia and Repo Man have definitely impacted punk. Actually, I would say the same is even true of films like Pretty In Pink or The Return of the Living Dead. There is definitely part of me that credits my getting into The Ramones with how cool and badass Rudy from The Monster Squad is. This is a larger topic that I'll come back to later (I think there was a recent(ish) issue of MRR partially devoted to punks in the media so I'll have to dig through the archive for some research). Anyway, the point is that I picked up this copy of 976-EVIL to see punks doing punk things and it sort of delivered.

976-EVIL is about a geeky kid named Hoax (who reminds me way too much of Jake Gyllenhaal in Bubble Boy) and Spike, his pseudo greaser cousin. They are both in high school and live with with Hoax's mother, a truly creepy religious freak who seems to be taking advantage of Spike. The house they live in and some meager inheritance actually belongs to him. After losing a poker game and being forced to hand over his motorcycle to pay his debt, Spike randomly finds a small advertisement for a "Horror-Scope" hot line number (976-EVIL, obviously) that he immediately calls with no hesitation, reason, or consideration of how much said call will cost. The voice on the phone line seems to give advice, tell the future, and brings that future about. For instance, the voice on the hot line tells Spike to steal his inheritance and then causes it to rain fish for absolutely no reason. Yeah...

While Spike receives less than ethical advice and temptations from the Horror-Scope, Hoax finds the encouragement and supernatural power to exact revenge on a host of high school tormentors. He eventually even tries to steal Spike's hot girlfriend, a "Like a Virgin" era Madonna clone if you were to substitute the wedding dress for a weirdo school girl uniform. Hoax's powers end up turning him into some sort of evil werewolf and elf hybrid with big hands and he goes on a killing rampage, leaving only Spike, a paranormal investigator, and a sexy principal to stop him.

976-EVIL is notable for being director Robert Englund's (Freddy Kreuger) first film. It also includes some pretty awesome actors. Being a huge Northern Exposure fan, I was pumped to see Darren Burrows (Ed Chigliak on N.E.) as a sulky bully who harasses Hoax while bare chested and in overalls. Unfortunately, I thought his performance left a lot to be desired. Robert Picardo (the Doctor in Star Trek Voyager) shows up as a shady businessman. The actor who played Hoax, Steven Geoffreys, was also in Fright Night. This was before he decided to pursue a career in gay pornography. Sandy Dennis, who gives an awesome performance as the creepy religious mother, was also in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. J.J. Cohen, one of the bullies (I think), was also in Back to the Future I-III as one of Biff's friends and then as one of Needle's friends, which obviously rules because I think Back to the Future is basically the greatest movie trilogy ever made (see below for explanation).
While the plot doesn't make much sense and the acting is total crap (what else is new?), 976-EVIL is actually pretty decent. It's weird and convoluted, but it actually relies more on atmosphere and weirdo imagery than typical scare tactics. At points it actually sort of reminds me of Heathers or the family scenes early in Sleepaway Camp. There are really no surprises or shocks, and there is definitely a serious lack of suspense and gore. I would recommend it for people who are into cheesy shit along the lines of the first few Leprechaun films, Pet Sematary II, Child's Play, or the lesser A Nightmare on Elm Street films, but there are enough laughs to make it a good candidate for a group viewing.

Trilogies: It's when there's three of something
but they're also kind of like one thing when put together
(What I think about them and why none of them are as awesome as Back to the Future.)

• Star Wars is for children.
• The first two Godfather films are overrated and the third one sucks.
• After it's initial impact Lord of the Rings becomes totally absurd. Seriously, who still likes these movies? Who has the time to sit through those boring extended cuts? You could watch like three awesome movies in the same amount of time as one really long "epic" one.
• Mad Max is pretty cool. I'll admit that.
  
• The Matrix is for pseudo philosophical goth kids who never get off the internet long enough to read an actual book.
• The Mighty Ducks kind of rules but I think they only reference Pantera in one of them.
  
• Fulci's Gates of Hell films also rule but unfortunately don't include any hover boards.
• Same goes for the Evil Dead trilogy and Infernal Affairs.
  
• The Bourne Trilogy are alright but I'd rather watch the Friday films.
• I think Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy is actually " the greatest movie trilogy ever made" but it's not on TBS as much as Back to the Future is.
  
• I think I really like Mani Ratnam's Political Trilogy but I've only seen two of them.
• Same with the Three Elements Trilogy and Dr. Mabuse.
  
• I actually forgot about the Man With No Name and the Samurai Trilogy. I might actually like them more than the Three Colors Trilogy.
  
• Maniac Cop I-III are untouchable but Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar) is no Biff and Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is no Marty McFly. Whatever that means...
  
• The Home Alone movies are alright but I think there might be four of them and it's kind of awkward to watch an adolescent Scarlett Johansson in the third one.

Did I miss any?

Documentaries are Boring #1

I've never been all that into documentaries. I think my aversion may have either come from my dealings with lazy public school teachers and lengthy film strips or that long period of time when I was growing up and watched too much PBS because we only got about 5 channels. Regardless, I tend to associate documentaries with being bored and the parts of my schooling that I hated. I rarely ever watch documentaries (unless my girlfriend makes me) and haven't really seen that many. However, I was stuck in traffic for about four hours on Monday because of an insane accident on 95 North (you may have read about it if you live in New England) and happened to hear an old interview with Errol Morris on NPR where he talked about The Fog of War and Robert McNamara. The conversation piqued my interest in catching up on documentaries and filling in some holes in my viewing. Oh, if I remember correctly it also somehow inspired me to finally ditch the traffic and head back to my girlfriend's house for a bonus day of reading Roberto Bolaño on the beach.

Anyway, "Documentaries are Boring" is going to be a new series on Too Much Stuff where I will be watching tons of documentaries and reviewing them from the perspective of someone who doesn't really like documentaries. I will also try to keep the reviews short because I want this to be something that I could see someone like myself actually reading and getting decent recommendations from. I'm sure that most of the films will be things that nearly everyone in the world has seen (other than me, of course). So it goes. I'm also going to use a basic 1-10 rating system because I think that the contrast between trying to explain what you really think about a film and then reducing of those ideas into a number is kind of funny. It also sort of saves me from having to tie things up nicely and write terrible concluding paragraphs all the time.

Grizzly Man (2005) by Werner Herzog

Tonight I started my journey into documentaries with Herzog's Grizzly Man, which I'm sure many people have probably already seen (as I mentioned, I'm a little behind). I'm generally a fan of Herzog's work but for some reason I spaced on this film. I only watched parts of it on TV.

Grizzly Man is about Timothy Treadwell, an "amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife preservationist" who traveled to Alaska to live with bears for 13 summers until he and his girlfriend were actually killed in a bear attack in 2003. Throughout the last five summers of his trips Treadwell filmed over 100 hours of footage of both himself and the animals he interacted with. This documentary explores this footage as well as Treadwell's life through interviews and a return to the campsite of his last trip.

In Treadwell's footage a complicated image of a troubled man emerges. Treadwell finds himself living on a hazy divide between Man and Nature, unable to fully connect with either world. His paranoid role as a protector and researcher is complicated for the viewer by his rage against humanity and drastic mood swings. Who is he protecting the bears against? What is the actual role of his work? What does he really do?

Ultimately his cartoonish vision of harmony and justice in the wild borders on narcissistic or religious delusions of immortality. He begins to believe that he has returned to the garden and celebrates it with a perverse sense of triumph/perseverance. Despite living for thirteen summers steeped in the violence of some of Nature's most fearful predators, Treadwell loses his understanding of the harsh realities of life. Ultimately I think he misses all the signs of Nature's beauty and equilibrium that he has captured on film throughout the years. However, Herzog's view is much bleaker. At one point he says, "I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder" and I believe it is the invasion of this latter reality that ultimately destroys Treadwell, body and soul.
- 10/10