In Iceland, Mostly Clear Consciences
Where is Pat Robertson now with his ‘Will of God’ sermon?
I’m just sayin’…
Archive for the ‘When I Reminisce…’ Category
FRANK MILLER’s RONIN WILL KICK YOUR AZZ…
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Editor’s note: All this ‘Kick Ass’ talk made me search the DP.com archives yesterday and I uncovered this ancient drop about one of my favorite writer’s graphic novels.
Fanboy Saturdays @ DP Dot Com just went up to 100 on the Fresh To Def-a-tron. With the news that FRANK MILLER’s ‘Ronin’ mini-series is about to be produced for the big screen we here at the site are preparing for the day that some Warner Brothers exec has the balls to greenlight the Dark Knight Returns for a similar cinematic debut.
FRANK MILLER’s ‘Ronin’ is epic piece of comic art and storytelling. Feudal Japan meets a future apocalypse in New York City. A masterless samurai finds himself transported one thousand years into the future to avenge the death of his master and save the world. Just like all the great dystopian futures we find that biological engineering can’t help itself but to find it’s evil potential. Corporations now control your body and your mind in this brave new world.
The landscape of ‘BladeRunner’ comes to mind when I look at some of the beautifully rendered splash pages that MILLER inserted into this graphic novel. The question of what defines humanity is the essence of the story and because FRANK MILLER is telling the story means that there will be plenty blood and guts throughout.
If you lived in New York City I would tell you to visit the Forbidden Planet store on Broadway @ 13th Street. All their fanzines and graphic novels are available for perusal and review. As long as I go in there without any money on me I’m fine.
KICKS ASS!
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
I know you can accuse me of excessive fanboy hyperbole for a number of things that appear on this page from sneakers to Raekwon, but when I tell you that ‘Kick Ass’ is the movie that the medium was created for I really mean it. I’m already making my plans for going back to see the film several times. It is a moviehouse delight to have an ‘OH SHIT!’ moment with several hundred other people.
Aaron Johnson is the young actor in the lead role who goes from a nerdy high school nobody into a crime fighting vigilante that gets beat up himself even more than he beats up criminals. Nicolas Cage(who I enjoyed in this role as much as his part in ‘Raising Arizona’) plays a revenge minded ex-cop. The movie’s biggest star is ultimately the smallest performer. Chloe Moretz is Cage’s potty mouthed pint sized partner and she is an assassin on the level of Elektra, for those of you familiar with the Frank Miller reference.
‘Kick Ass’ was developed from a comicbook title of the same name. It was written with all the self-referential comic nerd snark that made The Dark Knight Returns one of my favorite comic series of all time. ‘Kick Ass’ knows it’s insane and yet it still feels real because everyone is giving their acting performance in real time.
Fux any review that tells you this film is too violent. It isn’t. No one gets beheaded, impaled, dismembered or microwaved who doesn’t somehow deserve that treatment. And I promise that you will cheer as loudly as I did when some badguy gets offed. You may even laugh louder than I did. I’m gonna be checking this flick again on Tuesday in the proper mindset (shouts to 4/20).
The film that I closely relate ‘Kick Ass’ to is Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Kill Bill’ which I watched for the first time last week, true story. The idea of honorable revenge at any cost has been a theme of all my favorite kung-fu flicks. ‘Kick Ass’ takes those films and mixes in the action and dialogue of the Adam West Batman series to deliver some totally unlikely and completely lovable heroes.
But see ‘Kick Ass’ for the utter enjoyment of Hit Girl’s sailor mouth and broad sword mayhem.
Acknowledge Greatness…
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Robbie from UnKut is my brother from another mother. His collection of classic Queens rap is second to no one else, including people that come from Queens. From Killa Sha to Hydra to anyone that has made great music coming from the Q-boro Robbie has been the person to document this sound for the internets.
A year ago I was conducting a Sneaker Fiends Unite! NYC tour and I happened to meet up with this young dude in the Jamaica Terminal strip who saluted the Polo bear scarf I was rocking. Son said that he had some lifestyle that he wanted to bump so I took his math and gave him my e-mail. Little did I know that very afternoon Robbie dropped a post about this very dude.
Meyhem Lauren is a G in my book because he walks the streets unafraid to politic with anyone who might be down for the lifestyle like he is. I realized later on that he was down with Timeless Truth and was one of the cats that called in to the radio show when I had been in the studio. As the dots further connected I found out that he was the protege of DJ J-Love who was one of the ‘Lo heads that opened up the eBay system for Polo collectors and hustlers alike.
I’ve been connected to these brothers before we ever even met in the physical. Credit goes to UnKut, Timeless Truth and Meyhem Lauren for connecting the dots. Their trajectory is pointed directly towards greatness. I acknowledge this. J-Love gave me a copy of a double CD project that he launced with Meyhem titled ‘Acknowledge Greatness’. This was put out on J-Love’s label and it is quite an achievement for an independent project. J-Love produced the entire project which has some features from some of Queens classic emcees like those I mentioned earlier plus others like Cormega and Large Professor.
J-Love/Meyhem Lauren featuring Large Pro – ‘Queens Representatives’
I had to include this next track in this drop because it was both smooth and undeniably raw.
J-Love/Meyhem Lauren – ‘Fallen’
J-Love and Meyhem put themselves on the line for this project and the mislaunch by the distribution company is why many folks didn’t get to enjoy this album in it’s entirety. J-Love is reloading the ‘Acknowledge Greatness’ album for a re-release in the 2010 summer so keep an ear open for more music and the movement. You should already know that J-Love and Meyhem Lauren are some of the cornerstones for the ‘Lo-End Theory event.
Don’t say I didn’t tell you…
Acknowledge greatness.
Respect The Architects…
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
April 15th is the day most of us dread because we only think of it in terms of the statements we submit to the Internal Revenue Service, but April 15th should be an American holiday. Today is also the day that Jack Roosevelt Robinson played his first game as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Without this watershed moment in our country’s history we might still be using separate water fountains across the nation. It bears remembering that Jackie Robinson was as proactive off the field as he was on the diamond. He was an activist for equality in every walk of life and one of the greatest examples of the American ideal.
Let his memory make every April 15th a day to look forward to.