Family Fun

My mom and brother came to Los Angeles today. The first thing my mom did was make my bed. And when I say bed, I mean my half deflated, deflatable mattress.

May Mixtape

A bit early but I'm antsy. Here's my May Mixtape... with lame commentary!

http://branscume.muxtape.com/

1. Guided by Voices - I Am a Tree

I've loved Guided by Voices for a while now but I love them more than ever lately. And this song rules.

2. Motohead - Dr. Rock

Motorhead is awesome because they name their songs Killed by Death, Orgasmatron, Dr. Rock, and Love Me Like a Reptile (I don't even know what that means).

3. Throbbing Gristle - Walkabout

I'm scarred of Throbbing Gristle so I listen to them because I'm afraid of what they might do if I don't.

4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - West Country Girl

I finally got the Grinderman album but my favorite song on it would feel awkward to play, so here's one of my favorite songs off my favorite Nick Cave album.

5. Edgar Broughton Band - Madhatter

This is all you need to know about Edgar Broughton Band



6. Jonathan Richman - Closer

Cause it wouldn't be a mixtape without Jonathan Richman. My favorite part is at the end when he gets angry.

7. The Trees Community - I Will Not Leave You Comfortless

This Trees Community song gets included instead of any others purely for length.

8. Karen Dalton - Katie Cruel

Bob Dylan said Karen Dalton was his favorite singer. Who are you to say otherwise?

9. Pere Ubu - Cloud 149

Here's what some dude said about Pere Ubu; "Ubu are generally regarded as the missing link between the Velvets and punk."

10. Guided by Voices - Bright Paper Werewolves

Did I mention I like Guided by Voices?

11. Townes Van Zandt - She Came and She Touched Me

Speaking of Bob Dylan, here's what Steve Earle said about Zandt: "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that."

12. Todd Rivers - One Track Lover

Visual accompaniment.

Buddy, who's the most liquid businessman on the street?

Up until right now, I only knew Charles Durning as an actor, most notably as Waring Hudsucker in the Hudsucker Proxy. But Charles Durning is much more than that...

Actor Charles Durning landed on Normandy’s Omaha Beach as a 17-year-old Army Ranger in June 1944. Before leaving Europe, he was wounded three times and awarded three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star.

This is when it gets good...

Durning was the only man to survive a machine gun ambush on Omaha Beach - and he had to rise above serious wounds and kill seven German gunners to do it.

Months later in Belgium, he was stabbed eight times by a German teenage soldier wielding a bayonet; Durning eventually bludgeoned him to death with a rock. He was released from the hospital in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was taken prisoner. After escaping a subsequent massacre of the other prisoners, he was obliged by American forces to return to the scene and help identify bodies. Finally, a bullet in the chest a few months later ended his relentless tour of duty - and began four years of repeated hospitalizations for his physical and psychological injuries.

Jumpin' Jehosaphat!

As least the movie was good

Going to see a romantic comedy, by yourself, surrounded by couples... is kinda depressing.

That sounded funnier in my head.

I'm just sayin'

Remember when J.K. Rowling outed Dumbledore? After she said that I kept hearing people say things like, "OH, I totally see it too. Looking back at the books, it makes perfect sense!"

But seriously, would it have been a shocker to find out that any of the characters were gay after seven books that take place at a magic school?

Waste of time... or brilliant investment???

The first thing I did when I moved out to Los Angeles was find cool movie theaters and boy howdy, does Los Angeles have some cool movies theaters. Easily my favorite of them is The New Beverly Cinema. Here's their website - http://www.newbevcinema.com/

The New Beverly Cinema is strictly a revival theater, meaning they only show films not currently in theatrical distribution. Which is totally awesome. But wait, it gets better. All showings (with the exception of the midnight films) are double bills for seven dollars. Unbelievable.

Needless to say, The New Bev' (as it's commonly called 'round these parts) is my second home. I try to go as much as possible and I'm starting to wish I was keeping track of all the films I've seen there. So here is a vague, possibly complete record of all the films I've seen there in the last seven months.

The Thing ('82 version)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78 version)
Vanishing Point
Hell's Angels on Wheels
Mulholland Dr.
Blue Velvet
Army of Darkness
Big Trouble in Little China
Flash Gordon
Danger: Diabolik!
3:10 to Yuma ('57 version)
High Noon
Raising Arizona
Evil Dead 2
Riki-Oh: the Story of Riki
God Told Me To
Bone
Ms. 45
Commando
Pieces
Torso
The Parallax View
Network
Demons
Jaws 2
The Monster Squad
Night of the Creeps
Piranha
Magnolia
Streets of Fire
American Werewolf in London
Tremors
Bugsy Malone
The Phantom of the Paradise
Legend
Labyrinth
Creepshow
Mother's Day
Toby Dammit
Omega Man
Silent Running

Whoa, I think that's it.

I Eat With Gusto, Damn! You Bet

I think my Jonathan Richman vinyl selection has gotten to the point where I can brag about it. I currently own his first four albums, three of which haven't been released on CD.

Here, I'll show you...



If you don't know who Jonathan Richman is, he's a musician who first got attention when he formed the punk band The Modern Lovers. After that one punk album (it's punkiness is debatable), he ditched that whole schtick and starting writing rockabilly-esque love songs that range from the bizarre to the blissful.

I love Richman because I get the impression that he doesn't take himself too seriously but still gives his all in both his song writing and his live performances.

Richman is without a doubt at the top of my list of musicians I want to see before I (or more likely they) die. Based on clips of him on youtube, he seems to make sure everyone has a good time.

This is one of my favorites...

(take note that this is from 1978 and that all the band members have 70's mustaches and looks like they could easily be in Moby Grape or something, yet Jonathan... looks timeless.)

#$%@^&!

The name game taught me my first swear word.

We all know the name game. It's the one where you take a word and then you kinda contort it in a rhythmic pattern until you wind up back at the original word. For example...

Blog, Blog, bo bog, banana fanana, fo fog, me my mo mog. BLOG!

Fun right. Well, I remember when I first learned that song that I just had to show my mother.

"Oh Eric, that is quite delightful," she said. "JUST NEVER DO DUCK! OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Odd," I thought to myself. "Let's call her bluff."

"Duck, duck, bo buck, banana fanana, fo fu-"

And then she killed me. And so is the story of me and my first swear.

Warning - Violence

The Top Five Movie Shoot Outs (that I could find on youtube, off the top of my head)

Movie shoot outs are harder than you think. It's not just give a bunch of people guns and then wave the camera around. It must have detailed choreography and be shot in an aesthetically appropriate manner while laying out what is happening geographically to the audience.

I love great movie shoot outs and this here is a my top five favorites that I could think of off the top of my head and find on youtube. My only criteria for this was that many bullets had to be fired. No stand offs.

So here's my list. It's very violent.

5. Breaking News (2004) - Johnny To



4. Rolling Thunder (1977) - John Flynn



3. The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah



2. Miller's Crossing (1990) - The Coen Brothers



1. The entire movie Hard Boiled (1992) - John Woo

NOTE - This is only a small fraction of the jaw-dropping shoot out that is Hard Boiled. You should go rent the whole thing.



I'm sure I'm forgetting some. If I think of any more, I'll post them... I probably won't.

The best track is Liza

I updated this mixtape thing.

http://branscume.muxtape.com/

It's way better. You should make one too.

Who I want to be when I grow up

I'm obsessed with filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo. He's a wickedly funny and inventive filmmaker who makes some outstanding short films.

He just finished his first full length film and I'm itching to see it. It's called Time Crimes and the reviews for it have all been extremely positive. I mean, it's about time travel for crying out loud, it's gotta be great.

Check out the trailer...


Can't wait to see it.

He first starting getting attention though with this Oscar nominated short film, 7:35 in the Morning. I've seriously watched this more times than I can count.



How wonderful is that. I don't want to sound like Roger Ebert here, but I think that film is perfect. I really love everything about it. My favorite bit is the quasi-breakdown where a different person says one line and he runs in front of them and does that hand-on-the-chin-and-nod thing. (that's Vigalondo by the way).

That was the first thing I saw by him and ever since I've been scouring the internet searching for whatever I could find. Next I saw his "follow up" to 7:35, a short film called Choque. Even though this is probably my least favorite thing of his, it's still a lot of fun.



Next I found his epic Philip K. Dick trilogy, Code 7. This has everything I love about movies. It's ambitious and grand in scope, yet is incredibly minimal and clearly has no budget. It's also amusing and funny but still manages to be thought provoking and smart. Be sure to watch all three episodes.







The last short film I was able to find is Changing The World. Again, everything I love is there. Multiple universes and wacky science fiction all done with one actor in the confines of, what I imagine, is his own home.



Finally, I'll leave you with this. Even though I have no idea what's going on here, how can you not love somebody who would do this. He's the one on the right.