I tried to reply to this a few MONTHS ago, but never got the chance, as this site was still at it's buggy stage.

Great fuckin' book! One of the topper-most of the popper-most! It's an epitome of not that great writing, but still great writing! Darn, the dialouge was so cheap and dry for the first two chapters, I almost put it down. Thank god I didn't! It's such an unintentional view of things from a time we can't quite see anymore.

Toward the end - what emotional glow. I don't really see it as fem/ant-fem lit. It's more of a drug culture book for me. The first time I read it, I was into speed, perhaps more so than I should have been. I dug the references and the lifestyle. The second time, if I could bring any political merrit to it, it would be a class thing. I've read it over and over again since then, and it's been pure entertainment, just like it was to the housewives who read it the first time,

Above and beyond though, it's a great book and so under-rated with actual lit and crit people. It's just a great snapshot of the times - pop/underbelly at it's best. How can you really go wrong with it, no matter what way you see it?

Hahahah! Then I was correct: there really isn't anything special about it.

My wife is on it. She thinks it's fun...sounds like a chick thing.

No idea. I've you on there though. I remember that pic there. There's a pretty nice little garage group there.

Do you do Facebook? I have an account here, but don't really "get it". It doesn't seem any better than crappy Myspace even though the technorati sez it is. Is it?! Tell me what I'm missing about it.

Catcher is very overrated. Salinger is pretty much a one (well, technically three) trick pony.

For my money, give me Tropic of Cancer as the ultimate nihilistic first person "fuck all" novel.

In response to Erik 4-A:
Nope, the ending of the Smith version is substantially different than the ending of 'the story' (by that I mean the original book).
In response to JensLowcut:
Some of us were interested in seeing a film adaption of 'I Am Legend', not a 'Will Smith flick'.
The movie was sitting in production limbo forever, and it was originally going to have Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role. (*shudder*)

Who cares about a Will Smith flick?

The Trip (Roger Corman) Chappaqua (Conrad Rooks) Angel Angel Down We Go (Robert Thom) Skidoo (Otto Preminger)

I am aware that El Topo (71) and I Drink Your Blood (72?) are from the 70's, but isn't that nitpicking? They both are examples of psychedelic cinema and are made with the 60's in mind. No one said they have to be from the 60's.

El Topo and I Drink Your Blood are from the 70s. Try take it seriously. The old garagepunk board sucked at fringe cinema, the new one is far worse.

I have to say that as much as I love the exploitation genre, I've never been a fan of rape/revenge movies like Last House on the Left where innocent people are tortured and raped. I want to see people cut up with chainsaws by a person wearing human skin or watch people's heads get crushed in a vice or watch zombies devour someone's intestines. That's entertaining. Watching a young girl get raped and then shot in the back of the head by some crazy people is not entertaining.


I also can't stand movies like Canibal Holocaust, Canibal Ferox, and there's at least a couple others which are almost exactly the same movie, where a bunch of people go into the rainforest looking for a lost news crew or whatever and kill a bunch of real animals for no reason. You have to wonder about the treatment of the indiginous peoples that play the canibals in these movies.

You know, this might be blasphemey, but I didn't like Gore Gore Girls. I dunno. I think the combination of nudity and gore just didn't work. In a way, it was almost too realistic. The joy of the gore trilogy and Wizard of Gore is that none of it is even remotely realistic.

The "detective" in GG Girls is fuckin' classic though.

I watched Don't Answer the Phone last night. Great 80's splatter. I think it's still a video nasty listed next to The Driller Killer, etc.

And I just got my all time favorite shlock from Netflix...Frankenhooker. That shit is fucking classic.

"Do you wanna a sandwich?"

Add the Gore Gore Girls & Wizard of Gore to the list!

The Ilsa series is damn fine top notch grindhouse. Leave it to Sleazy Mike to bring up by far the greatest werewolf, Naziploitation, sex horror comedy ever made.

No one should forget the godfather of grindhouse and gore- H.G. Lewis. I still rank 2000 Maniacs as one of the best out there.

Cause we all know that Robert E. Lee broke his musket on his knee and a thousand pieces shattered on the ground...

and cause you know the south's gonna rise again!

Here's the quick capsule "Arkive's Favorite Trash/Grind Cinema List":

-Thriller/They Call Her One Eye (the version without the needless porno inserts)
-I Spit on Your Grave
-The "Gore" Trilogy- Blood Feast, Color Me Blood Red, and 2000 Maniacs
-The "Last House" films- Last House on Dead End Street (GREAT death scenes), The Last House of the Left (great early Craven), and The House on the Edge of the Park (another creepy ass David Hess film)
-The Pinky Violence films and Lady Snowblood (Tarantino owes these movies money for Kill Bill)
-Fulci's Zombi (Zombi 2) and The Beyond (masterpieces of horror)
-the "giallo" films like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
-Women in Cages or Barbed Wire Dolls (because Jesus Franco directed it)
-Black Caesar (for James Brown's AMAZING soundtrack)
-Across 110th Street (great proto-blaxploitation with Yaphet Kotto)

Hear Hear!

Go ahead on Jon!
Couldn't agree more...dig.
Oh and everyone has gots to check the ILSA series of exploitation/grindhouse sin-ema

Planet Terror represented so much that is wrong with cinema nowadays. Over the top CGI effects, too much emphasis on action scene after action scene, completely mindless but not in the mindless ways of grindhouse.

Death Proof was made by someone who understood the pacing, style, and atmosphere of a real grindhouse film. There isn't a single vintage grindhouse film that is non-stop action. Most follow the "orgasm" rule: build up and build up and then BAM- you're coming with violence and/or sex. Just look at one of the best examples of true grindhouse- Cannibal Holocaust.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of CH. The (very pointless) animal killing ruins what could be a classic. Yes, Bergman, Fellini, Godard, and other "artsy" directors were pretty careless when it came to animals, but CH uses animal killing for no reason. It's not even shock value. But the pacing of CH is perfect for a true grindhouse film- about an hour of slow moving dialogue with bits of violence all expolding in the final reel.

All of those who thought Planet Terror was a "good grindhouse" film have never seen a real grindhouse film. The thought of having a machine-gun legged women propelling herself through a CGI created environment never entered into the mind of a real grindhouse director.

I rank Planet Terror with the new Star Wars, 300, 10,000 BC, or any other shit CGI masturbation made for 12 year olds who understand nothing of the world.

...and if the thought of listening to women talk for 30 minutes turns you off, maybe getting past a perputual 12 year old middle school boy mentality might help you in your love life!

Want to see real "women kick ass" films? Pinky Violence...Sex and Fury, Girl Boss Guerilla, etc. all starring the hot as fire Reiko Ike (who could actually act too). Just imagine- a super hot 70's Japanese sex goddess killing 30+ men with a sword...while naked...good stuff.

Yep, I just bought a new 80GB iPod to replace my 1st generation 5GB iPod from 2001. I love the convenience of plugging it into my car stereo and having thousands of songs at my fingertips. You can't beat iTunes and iPod together. I use an iMac, so everything works beautifully together.

Ipods? Do Vox make them?

I think Eric Idle for me. I can't say too much about his stuff outside of Monty Python, but I'm pretty sure he makes me laugh the most in Flying Circus... tough choice though.

yeh they,re both really funny, they were both in the film Feirce Creatures which is a must to watch if you find those films funny. Also the film Clockwise, with John Cleese is another really funny film.

Monty Python - The Flying Circus. I know the´re all amazing and as a group so tightly knitted package of essential comedy treasuries. But however, if you have to choose one of them, the one you identify the most, who´d that´ll be?

In my case it had to be a tie between Michael Palin or John Gleese. Both were stars in the film "Fish called Wanda", is that a co-incident or what? Michael Palin might win my vote because of his traveling series where he´s narrator as well the leading explorer. It´s not comedy per se but more like an enjoyable and funny doc-com where his sense of humor put together with exciting places...is ah, well appreciated.

I think this is a topic of importance in our political sphere of being fans of both below radar underground music and the internet.

What are your feelings on the pressure put by groups like BMI, RIAA, MPAA, etc. to control the flow of media through alternative channels (i.e. garagepunk.com)?

Here's my own personal story against the RIAA:

I was a member of a great mp3 trading group called AudioFix. We ran off a server on AudioGnome (which I think is now defunct). Unlike Soulseek or Napster, AudioGnome was completely closed server and had no central structure. Using a member's bandwidth, we traded extremely rare music (experimental, psyche, vintage, obscuro, etc.). We had some phenomenal members like WFMU DJ's, Italian radio hosts, the guy who runs ubuweb, etc. I was introduced to (and introduced some to) some amazing music that I still seek out today.

It is important to note that of the 100's of members trading, a very small percentage of the music traded was registered with the RIAA/BMI or like-minded organizations. Most artists were either part of the group or would be so happy someone was digging their ultra-rare music (if they even remember making it) to care. This isn't a scientific estimate, but I would say less than 5% of the music shared was part of the RIAA infrastructure.

Well it all came to end when the server provider found got a "cease and desist" letter from the RIAA. Their only evidence was that "mp3 and wma" trading was listed in the server description.

What gives the RIAA the right to shutdown servers of music not connected with their organization at all? Are they so draconian that they believe that all music is controlled by their group? What legal authority does the RIAA have against music not under their control?

Corporate fascism? Capitalistic defense? What do you think?

What about artists like The Tape Beatles, John Oswald, Negativland, DJ Spooky, turntablism who artistically appropriate other's work into new art?

This topic can veer into the PMRC, censorship, and the politics of music of course.

I usta have tons of Hawaiian print vans slip-ons when I was a yout in the 70's!!

I love 'em.

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