Tuesday, February 26, 2008

One, maybe two, Shamblers shows next month

The Shamblers are playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken on Wednesday, March 12th with !No Pasaran! and another group TBA. This will be our first show outside of New York, so be sure to come out and celebrate with us. We'll have copies of our BRAND NEW TAPE (the cassette-only "Shamblers Second Album") in tow!! Everything starts at 8:30. Be sure to tell your friends-- this is going to be a good one!

Also, we may be playing at Union Hall, one of our favorites, that Friday, March 14th, as well. I'll post an update when I know for sure.

EDIT: It's on. The Shamblers are playing on 3/12 at Maxwell's and 3/14 at Union Hall. Yes!

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Monday, February 25, 2008

The Oscars

I tuned into The Oscars late last night and caught the two major audio awards (mixing and editing), both of which went to "The Bourne Supremacy," which I have not seen but imagine sounds awesome.

Did anyone else notice the (ironic? intentional?) signal delay during the presentation of those two? Was that part of a joke that I missed the beginning of? It was like an old Godzilla movie for a minute there.

In any case, if you were wrapped up in the "Blade" marathon on TNT and missed the show, but need to know what happened to stay hip at the watercooler, check out the A.V. Club's blow-by-blow. It's the best of the bunch, as expected. Enjoy!

P.S. Of course, no coverage of last night's Oscars extravaganza would be complete without this clip of Gary Busey making things awesome for the rest of us. Utah, make it two!

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

The new BYOC kits are out!


Granted, these may have been released in January, and everyone reading this may have already published their own design mods by this point, but the BYOC site has been revamped and they've unveiled three new kits: a new digital delay, an updated Tonebender clone and an optical compressor.

I'm ordering the "Ping Pong" kit for sure, and as soon as their "Analog Delay" is retooled and re-released I'll be building a second one. That thing sounds good on everything.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Seeds!



Mark my words: as soon as The Shamblers turn that hippie corner, we're covering "Travel With Your Mind."

P.S. Sky Saxon, lost at the bottom of the world, shows up at 3:15 of this to do a ham-fisted Butch Willis caricature:



P.P.S. Bonus Butch:

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Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Boilermakers stopped by yesterday

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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Computer nerds



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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

"Look Out Haskell, It's Real!"

It's no secret around these parts, the best movie we watched last year was 1969's "Medium Cool." Obviously, we were a little late to the party, but it blew us away. If you haven't seen it, rent it.



Afterwards, you'll probably wonder how certain shots were shot and, generally, how the filmmakers of a low budget movie managed to pay a few thousand extras to riot in the parks and streets of Chicago on cue. They didn't. It just happened.

While there is an official DVD of "Medium Cool" out and available, there isn't a fancy Criterion disc or any sort of "40th Anniversary Edition" in the works (that I know of) to speak of. If there were, however, it would no doubt include "Look Out Haskell, It's Real!," a making-of documentary "released" in 2002, as a lauded bonus feature.

If you haven't heard of it, you're not alone. The documentary has made the festival rounds once or twice since its release, and is currently available to arthouses via Cinema Guild, a company which does not market to consumers. Both VHS and DVD "prints" of "Haskell" sell for $285, and rent for $85.

Does anyone know if "Medium Cool," a film school staple and prime candidate for lavish anniversary treatment, is being re-released in any form next year for its 40th birthday? I don't know anyone in the industry that would make that sort of decision, but imagine someone reading this does. If you know, please drop me a line, specifically as to whether or not "Haskell" will be included in the package. Thanks!

EDIT: It looks like "Haskell" is, in fact, available for purchase from Cinema Guild for under $30. Check the comments of this post for the link. Thanks again, Ryan!

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Sunday, February 10, 2008

Paul F. Tompkins



We were pulling for Paul on last Tuesday's "Best Show on WFMU Best Show Awards." He was nominated for "Guest of the Year" but lost to Ted Leo. Tough break, Tompkins!

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"The Search for Animal Chin"

Remember "Animal Chin"? It's a 2xDVD now! Click here to read more/buy it (you should). If you're cool with watching it on a tiny Embed screen, press "Play" on the video below.



In fact, all of the Bones Brigade videos you grew up with are on DVD. I'm not shilling for Powell, but if you haven't seen the Ray Barbee scene in "Ban This" in a while, you should give it another shake. There are some great moments in those "old" movies!

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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Decline of Western Civilization, pts. 1 & 2 (& 3)

  • Here's Part 1, which is still a VHS-only joint. I've heard a handful reasons as to why, and a few of them involve a legal bout with Greg Ginn, but I can't say for sure.


  • Part 2, "The Metal Years," had a proper DVD re-release a few years back. Plenty of laughs throughout.


  • I wasn't previously aware of a Part 3, but here it is. I haven't watched it yet-- anyone seen it? Should I give it an hour and a half of my time?


  • EDIT: Here's Salon's review of Part 3. From what I've been able to dig up on it, the third "Decline" was never officially released. It was screened (in 1998) at Cannes, the Chicago Underground Film Festival and Sundance (where it won the "Freedom of Expression" award) before enjoying a brief life as a VHS-only mail order thing. It will eventually be re-issued on DVD. Until then, the only place to see it is online.

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    Tuesday, February 05, 2008

    What?


    The question isn't "Why is Eat the Document on Google Video" so much as it is "Why isn't Cannonball Run on Google Video"? This snobbery will not stand. Someone. Please. Upload it tonight!

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    Saturday, February 02, 2008

    For $75,000 you can look like this asshole