Something I’ve realised about myself over the last 12 months [1] is that I’m very good at acquiring things - whether they be comics, games, books, movies or music – but I’m not very good when it comes to actually experiencing them. The more I acquire, the less time I have to work through everything. And as the piles of shame grow, the more overwhelmed I become, and the less likely it is that I’m going to look at any of it. So it sits on my shelf, or bedside table, or in my drawer, or bag, or coffee table, or hard-drive, and gathers dust. So much dust.

Writing all of that out aloud, it feels ridiculous to be overwhelmed by stuff that is intended to entertain. Surely watching movies and reading comics shouldn’t be a chore? My attention span is barely long enough to read a Tweet, let alone watch a whole 2 hour movie.  I’ve got a stack of Batman comics sitting there, staring at me, and all I can do is stare back. And if comics are hard, you can forget about books that don’t have any pictures.

I need a plan. I need structure. And I need discipline.

So, we start with the music. Taking a leaf from Sunky’s book, I’ve made a list of 30 albums that will go on my phone [2] and stay with me over the course of the next month or so. At the end of that month or so, I’ll cull the list and start again. Some of these artists have been with me forever, only I’ve never given this particular album a fair listen. Some were impulse purchased based on the quality of one or two tracks. Some were given to me or recommended by friends, and haven’t been listened to properly (or, y’know, ever), others I’ve lost touch with over the years and I’m hoping to get re-acquainted. And some I stole directly from Sunky’s list, on account of it’s a really great list.

It’s a small step, but hopefully the first of a few that will see me riding the New Year motivation bus for longer than the next week or so. Here they be:

• Alice in Chains – Alice in Chains
• Ammonia – Mint 400
• Barkmarket – Gimmick
• Bikini Kill – Singles
• The Black Keys – thickfreekness
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl
• Cat Power – You Are Free
• Deerhoof – The Runner’s Four
• dUES – Worst Case Scenario
• Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis
• Dinosaur Jnr. – Farm
• Fugazi – Repeater + 3 Songs
• Jeff Klein – The Hustler
• The Jesus & Mary Chain – Psychocandy
• M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
• Massive Attack – Mezzanine
• Mogwai – Young Team
• Nina Simone – Classic Album
• No Age – Everything In Between
• The Pillows – Moon Gold
• A Place to Bury Strangers – Self titled
• Radiohead – King of Limbs
• Red Sparowes – At The Soundless Dawn
• Sonic Youth – Washing Machine
• Tokyo Police Club – Champ
• Usurper of Modern Medicine – Acid Chess
• The Walkmen – Bows & Arrows
• The Weeknd – Echos of Silence
• Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
• Wolf&Cub – Vessels

Next up – working through my comic book pile of shame, and tackling some of those PS3, DS and Wii games [3]. So much to do, so little time!

———-
[1] That’s a lie, I’ve known it about myself for pretty much ever.

[2] We will forget for a moment that I’ll still be carrying my ‘back-up’ music on my iPod, at least for the short term. Cause some days you just really need to hear some Childish Gambino.

[3] Oh and you know, maybe even doing some writing at some point? But let’s not push ourselves too early.

Ramble over. Music wise it’s been a mixed year for me (we’ll get to why shortly), so for a change I’m going to expand my review out to include some of that life stuff.

Stuff I did

In April my lady and I travelled to Japan for 7 days, visiting Osaka, Hiroshima and Kyoto. I’ve always had an interest in Japanese culture, but actually visiting the place, seeing the sights and being around the people turned interest into love. It’s a magical place, and I’m hoping it won’t be too long till we’re able to return. In the meantime, I’ll continue spend as much time playing Yakuza and Final Fantasy as I can.

While I was in Osaka, I also made my a life commitment to one of my first true loves.

In an effort to become more active (that is to say, actually active), I started training in Taekwondo. So far I’ve learned that I’m fairly terrible in anything that involved hand, foot and eye co-ordination and I’m pretty much as unfit as I expected. I’m also incredibly un-disciplined. Classes are fun, and I enjoy it while I’m doing it, but making time to practice outside of classes has proven to be difficult. Which is to say that, while I’ve taken a small step towards becoming active Mark, I’m still a long way off actually sticking to this whole ‘self improvement’ thing.

Over the long weekend in October I made another life commitment, this one not Batman related. While on a trip down south with close friends, watching a beautiful sunset over the ocean, I decided it’d be a good time to propose to my lady. Fortunately for me she said yes, even if I didn’t have the foresight to have purchased a ring. We’ve had some amazing adventures together, and I’m very much looking forward to many years of many more.

A good chunk of my November and December were spent in the Philippines. The company I work for bought another company that uses an offshore call centre, so I was sent over for four weeks to train their staff in our systems. Any time my interest in work begins to wain, I’m offered an opportunity that reignites my interest. Working with the staff in Manila was an incredibly rewarding experience, and I can’t help but think that, if the staff at home were half as passionate about their work, I’d be less reliant on drugs to get me through the day.

Stuff I liked

Childish Gambino‘s Everything: I was already a huge Community fan, but when I heard Donald Glover was releasing music under the name Childish Gambino, I set about obtaining all I could. Fortunately, most of his past work is available on his website, I Am Donald. If you like any of it, make sure you go out and buy his album Camp

The Naked and Famous’ Passive Me, Aggressive You: Sure, our nation’s youth radio network kinda played the death out of Young Blood and Punching in a Dream over the last 18 months, but their debut album dripping with awesome, and has been my go-to for any time I’ve needed a pick-me-up during the year.

Post Rock Bands Red Sparowes, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Hideki Taniuchi, MONO: All bands I’d heard I should listen to, but it wasn’t until this year that I gave them the time they deserved. It was on a table in a tattoo studio in Osaka where I first heard Red Sparowes; the soundtrack to a truly transcendent experience. The rest have all been sitting in hibernation on my iPod until I was ready.

The Twilight Singer’s Dynamite Steps: Any year that features a new release from The Twilight Singers (or any Greg Dulli project for that matter) is a good year. This year we were spoilt with both Dynamite Steps, and the Singer’s first ever official live album. It was also the year that the number ofTwilight Singers releases overtook the number of that other band he used to play with. And just as we thought he’d been able to escape the shadow of the amazing Afghan Whigs, they go and announce a reformation tour for 2012.

Podcasts: (See also: The reason music took a back seat this year). Here’s my theory – when you reach a certain age, the sound of musics in your ears becomes less appealing when compared to the sounds of people talking about things that you’re interested in. It’s why I figure older people listen to talk-back radio. And now I’m old, I guess this is where my brain is heading. So, this year my ears have spent much time listening to people talk about stuff that I like, including comics via the fantastic chaps at Noncanonical, nerdy interests via The Nerdist, and stand-up comedy via WTF with Mark Maron. I’ve been educated and inspired, and I’m hoping to do something with it all in 2012.

And I saw perform live:

Owen Pallett, The Antlers, Warpaint, Blonde Redhead, Les Savy Fav, Foals, One Day as a Lion, Primus, one of my teen heroes Slash, Rob Zombie, Third Eye Blind, Stone Temple Pilots, UNKLE (thanks Ryan), Gary Numan, The Grates (including an awesome hug from Patience), the disappointing Modest Mouse, The Hives, The Kills, Pulp, Elbow, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, the face meltingly good …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Mono, The Walkmen and the phenomenal The National.

———-
2012 is already shaping up to be a big year. I’ve tickets purchased to see Roger Waters perform The Wall in January, Laneway Festival and Roxette Feb, Henry Rollins in May, and European travel plans for July. Plus weddings galore and adventures aplenty.

And maybe more than 3 blog posts. But no promises there.

Also, since watching it I’ve found myself thinking about it more often than I like. If I say only one thing about it, it’s that it made an impression on me. Over the same weekend I also watched Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, which people often use as a benchmark of hard to watch cinema. Funny Games for me was a slap on the wrist compared to the brutal assault that was A Serbian Film. Is this a good thing? I’m not sure I could tell you, but I’ll do my best to try. I had the opportunity to see an uncut version of the film, which has been refused classification within Australia. According to Wikipedia, as of April 5th 2011, a censored version of the film has been approved, however I’m not sure if it’ll have much of a release.

A Serbian Film tells the story of Miloš, a semi retired porn star who decided to bow out of the business on a high, rather than fade away. He has a loving wife and son, but dreams of providing a better life for them all. When an opportunity for a big paycheck presents itself in the form of one last job – an “art film” being directed by independently wealthy director Vukmir – Miloš reluctantly agrees. He’s told nothing about the production, and even on the first day of shooting is fed direction through an earpiece while silent camera men watch on. At this point A Serbian Film plays like David Lynch does Bowfinger. It’s confusing, but there’s a palpable tension. Miloš and the audience are both kept in the dark.

The art film’s scenes turn from bizarre to sexual, and Miloš becomes apprehensive when things begin to turn violent. He expresses his concerns to Vukmir, threatening to pull out if he’s not let in on the story. By way of explanation, Vukmir shows Miloš a previously shot scene which I won’t describe here, but will probably become one of the most talked about scenes amongst viewers, and isn’t likely to be part of the version approved for this country. Miloš leaves, but his fate has already been sealed. His drink has been spiked. He begins to hallucinate, and finally wakes up in his house three days later, bloodied and bruised, with his family nowhere to be found. After retracing his steps, Miloš comes across a camera and set of digital tapes. Miloš – and the audience – are forced to re-live his drug induced actions over the previous three days.

To call A Serbian Film a horror film is to almost do it an injustice; it has very little in common with anything you’ll find in the horror section of your local video store. Even torture porn junkies and fans of films like the Hostel and Saw series are likely to wince. This is not horror for the sake of titillation, and there’s very little to gain enjoyment from. The gore effects aren’t necessarily frequent, but when they do appear they’re graphic and incredibly realistic. It’s not the gore that makes A Serbian Film hard to watch though, rather the violence and its sexual nature. Miloš is both the victim and perpetrator, and distancing yourself emotionally from his character becomes harder and harder as the film progresses. Just as things look like they can’t get worse, they do, then again, and again.

A Serbian Film’s greatest strength is likely to be what upsets most audiences. Horror as most people know it involves very little attachment to its characters. Stereotypical teens are painted in very broad strokes across the screen, with their sole purpose being to die in a painful and hopefully imaginative and entertaining fashion. Their deaths played out for the audience’s entertainment and amusement. There is no joy to be found in A Serbian Film. Our protagonist is an ordinary every-man who falls into an extraordinary situation. His motivations are only to provide a better life for his family, and yet the world he is drawn into is worse than he or anyone could ever imagine. Where we can laugh at the teen-slasher victim as they wander up the stairs to inevitable death as opposed to walking out the front door, there is no out for Miloš or escaping what he has done. It’s a slow, horrible, painful downward spiral, and the audience is brought along every step of the way. It’s not just dark, it’s bleak. Even in its climax there is no reprieve. No sign of hope or redemption for anyone.

There is some talk that buried within A Serbian Film is a political message, however the cynic in me doubts there’s much cross over in the venn diagram of people concerned about the plight of Serbians and people who will be drawn to watch “A Serbian Film”. While I’d be hard pushed to say I recommend it to anyone I know, I can’t say it’s a film that no one should see. As an experience it can’t be faulted, and if you think you’re prepared, it’s definitely worth tracking down.

Although I probably would avoid it as a date movie.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I’m not sure if you read this blog or even know of its existence. If you do, um… Hi! Hopefully you’ve not read anything too shocking or suprising about me. In any case, this is a theoretical letter, so it doesn’t really matter if you read it or not.

Remember when I was in primary school, and I really, really, really wanted to watch Ghostbusters, but you thought it wouldn’t be suitable for me? It had recently been on TV, and my friend Brendan had taped it. We didn’t have a VCR at the time, so you called Brendan’s Mum and asked her if you thought it’d be Ok for me to watch. I sat in the next room, nervously listening in to the phone call, hoping for and praying for a positive answer. And it came. Brendan’s Mum thought that, while there were a couple of scenes that might be a bit scary, it was all very tame and I’d be fine. I went to Brendan’s house later that week after school and watched Ghostbusters for what would be the first of many, many times. And it went on to become on of my favourite films ever.

Then, remember when I wanted to watch Gremlins, so you called Chris’s Mum because she’d seen it, and she said that, although there were some scary scenes, I’d probably be Ok? And we all watched Gremlins and I was fine afterwards.

I learnt something from all of these phone calls. I learnt that, if I wanted to watch a movie that you didn’t think would be suitable for me, and I had opportunity to watch it, I should probably just go ahead and watch it without asking. For instance, one morning I was at a friend’s house, and my friend’s Dad suggested we watch Robocop (I won’t say which friend’s Dad, on account of you might still run into him at the local shops). Robocop was rated R [1], which meant I’d never be able to watch it at home. And I thought to myself “I really want to watch Robocop and there’s no way Mum and Dad will let me watch Robocop at home so I might as well take this chance and watch Robocop now!” And I did. And it was awesome. And to this day, I’ve never once wanted to shoot a policeman till his arms and legs fell off. It’s just never crossed my mind.

Having said all of that you guys did a pretty awesome job at being parents, and for the record in your position I’d probably have acted similarly. For instance, there’s no way I’d let my (theoretical) 10 year old son or daughter watch Robocop. I’ve seen it, and it’s pretty violent in parts, and I don’t think kids should be exposed to that. At the same time though, I also know that if my (theoretical) son or daughter really, really, really wanted to watch Robocop, they’d probably find a way, and there’s not much I could do to stop them. I can’t keep track of them 24 hours a day, and ultimately, all I could hope for is that by raising them well, they’d make the right decisions in life, and that they understand that movies are just movies, and shooting a policeman until his arms and legs fall off is wrong.

Many years later while we were in the UK visiting family, Mum, you relayed a story about how you really wanted to see a film (I really wish I could remember which one) that Nana didn’t approve of, but you went anyway, and she was very mad and didn’t talk to you over dinner. I wanted to tell you then about all the films I’d watched without your permission, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I imagine the list would be pretty long anyway. I do remember feeling relieved though, and knowing that we had that in common made me feel like I’d, somehow, done the right thing.

So yeah, sorry Mum and Dad. I think the lesson here for everyone is, when you tell someone they can’t do something, it’s highly likely that that’s going to want to make them do it even more. So rather than banning them from doing it completely, you should maybe take time to explain why you think them doing it is a bad idea, and let them decide whether they want to do it or not. I guess it’s just one of those things about raising children, huh? I think I turned out Ok though. At least, I hope I did.

Love to you both,

Mark

[1]  Which I learnt from the story Dad once told about a teacher he once worked with, who brought a stack of R rated films – one of them being Robocop – to a school camp for the students to watch, because he was under the impression R stood for ‘Repeat’.

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An Open Letter to the Australian Classification Board

Dear Australian Classification Board,

I’m not even sure if you read this blog, or know of its existence. If you do, um… Hi! Hopefully you’ve not read anything too shocking or illegal about me. In any case, this is a theoretical letter, so it doesn’t really matter if you read it or not.

Remember when I was finishing up at University, and I really, really, really wanted to watch Larry Clark’s film Ken Park, but you thought it wouldn’t be suitable for Australia? It’d recently been released in the US and Europe, and Margaret from The Movie Show was able to obtain a copy to screen in Sydney. You shut the screening down pretty quickly though. I think Margaret even spent some time in jail for it. I sat, over in Perth, hoping and praying that the decision would be overturned and Ken Park would be released to cinemas, but it wasn’t. Fortunately for me, a friend of a friend with a high-speed internet connection was able to obtain a copy of the film from a country where Ken Park was released, and later that week I sat down to watch it on my computer for the first of what was probably a couple of times. I wouldn’t call it my favourite film ever, but it’s definately one of Larry Clark’s best.

Then, remember the time when I wanted to watch Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs, so you watched it first and decided it wasn’t really suitable for me, but then you watched it again and said it’d probably be ok? And now I can just rent 9 Songs from most video stores in Australia? So I went to the video store and rented 9 Songs, and I was fine afterwards.

I learnt something from all of these decisions. I learnt that, if I wanted to watch a movie that you didn’t think would be suitable, and I had opportunity to watch it, I should probably just go ahead and watch it. For instance, one Saturday night recently I had the opportunity to watch A Serbian Film. I’d read interesting things about the film and people’s reactions to its content, and wanted to see and judge it for myself. Then I  read you’d refused the film classification in Australian, meaning it would never be commercially avaialble to view in this country [1]. And I thought to myself “Now I really want to watch A Serbian Film, and there’s no way the government will let me purchase a ticket to see A Serbian Film in a cinema, or rent or buy it on a locally released DVD, so I might as well take this opportunity and watch A Serbian Film now!” And I did. And it was pretty bleak, and I can see how you’d have reservations allowing people to see it. At the same time though, I’m an adult, I feel I was warned sufficiently about its content, and I knew what I was getting myself in for. And to this day, I’ve never once wanted to be involved in the creation or production of snuff films, or do any of the disgusting acts that are shown in the movie. It’s just never crossed my mind.

Having said all of that, I do understand where you’re coming from in some respects, and for the record, in your position I’d also have reservations. For instance, there’s no way I’d let my (theoretical) 10 year old son or daughter watch A Serbian Film, or Ken Park or even 9 Songs. I’ve seen them all, they’re all very confronting films, and I don’t think kids should be exposed to that kind of content. If my (theoretical) child ever showed an interest in watching these films or films of the same ilk, I’d explain to them why I thought it was a bad idea, and how when they’re older, they’d be welcome to chose what they watched, and expose themselves to what they’d feel was appropriate. At the same time though, I also know that if my (theoretical) son or daughter really, really, really wanted to watch A Serbian Film, or Ken Park or even 9 Songs, they’d probably find a way, and there’s not much I could do to stop them. I can’t keep track of them 24 hours a day, and ultimately, all I could hope for is that by raising them well, they’d make the right decisions in life, and that they understand that movies are just movies, and hanging out with Serbians who make snuff films under the guise of art, is wrong.

So yeah, sorry Australian Government Classification Board. I think the lesson here for everyone is, when you tell someone they can’t do something, it’s highly likely that that’s going to want to make them do it even more, and by trying to stop this sort of content being view by adults, ultimately you’re just going to draw more attention to it. So rather than banning them from doing it completely, you should maybe take time to explain why you think them doing it is a bad idea, and let them decide whether they want to do it or not. I guess it’s just one of those things about running a country, huh? I think I turned out Ok though. At least, I hope I did.

Love to you all,

Mark

[1] A Serbian Film will have a limited release in the US in an edited form, with an unedited version being made available digitally. Similarly, an edited version has been approved for viewing in the UK who, let’s face it, have a history that’s much worse than ours when it comes to banning films. Yet, A Serbian Film is still refused classification (banned) here. Via Dark Horizons.

While at the time I’d often browse the horror section of the video store shelves, the means to indulge my thirst – living at home with conservative parents – wasn’t always available. So, I made do with what I had. My second generation VHS dubs of the Nightmare films (1, 3, 4 and 5 at the time [3]) that I’d pull out of a cupboard whenever Ma and Pa were out. Even today the same covers stare back at me at the video stores. The cases may be thinner, and need to adjust the tracking gone, but for some reason, after all this time, a switch has flicked in brain, drawing me back and making me want to dive into that world of madness and Michael Berrymen [4].

A lot has changed over the years, and I’ve realised recently how much content I have to catch up on. I’ve watched from a distance as the Slasher movie crazy of the 80s turned in to the homogenised ‘Scary Movie’ teen-pop-horror from the 90s – Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend to name but a few. They in turn gave way to rise of ‘Torture Porn’ in the naughties – in particular the Saw and Hostel franchises. Now, we’re faced with the glut of needless remakes, where it seems Hollywood has all of a sudden run out of original ways to off teenagers -  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and more recently Friday the Thirteenth and A Nightmare on Elm St reboots. It’s as if someone decided that all these old concepts needed was a fresh coat of CG paint to appeal to a new audience, where is it was often their cheap 70s and 80s aesthetics that gave them their charm [5].

And all of this is just from the US. I’ve been scouring recommendations on IMDB and devouring Wikipedia articles, trying to build a list of essential foreign films to check out. I’m ashamed to admit that, after years of being fascinated by the work of Dario Argento [6], I’ve only recently sat down and actually watched Susperia, and I am now completely enamored. One of the most visually stunning films, horror or otherwise, that I have ever seen. I’ve also finally taken the time to sit down and watch Michael Haneke’s Funny Games [7], which was an interesting ride, and a film I’d not heard much about apart from some chatter on Facebook, A Siberian Film, which I think I might have to talk about in greater depth in on another day. Arguably, neither of these films fit neatly into the ‘Horror’ genre, but I still feel they warrant discussion on the same level.

Where this is all going, I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is that I am interested in trying to start a bit of a dialogue with horror fans, in an interest to try and see as much as I can. First port of call; below is a list of films I’ve had on my radar to watch for some time, that I’m hoping to check out as soon as I’m able. From there, I guess we’ll see. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

My list to watch:

1. Videodrome: My Cronenberg knowledge is shamefully lacking. Apart from The Fly, eXistenZ and the rather warped Naked Lunch, I’ve not had chance to see much else. I’ll be starting at Videodrome and working from there.
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978): Confession #1: I rate Zach Synder’s 2004 remake of Dawn very highly, and I’m a big fan of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, but I wouldn’t call myself a big Zombie fan. While I realise many purists disregard the above two films completely (“Zombies don’t run!”), I think they’re both great films in their own right. Confession #2: the only Romero Zombie film I’ve seen is Land of the Dead, which had a few good moments [8], but was ultimately pretty flawed. I’ll be starting at Dawn and working back/forward from there. Plus it was Buy 2 get 1 Free at JB today, so I’ve got it on Bluray.
3. More Argento: ‘Nuff said. Starting with the rest of the Three Mothers Trilogy and devouring anything I can get my hands on.
4. I Spit on Your Grave / The Last House on the Left / The Hills Have Eyes (Originals):  I’m throwing these all together in that they’re often mentioned in the same breath. Known mostly for their brutality, and all of a similar era. Plus I think it’d be interesting to look at Wes Craven’s early work compared to what he’s doing now.
5. Martyrs / Inside: The French Contingent. I’ve read great reviews about both films, and it sounds like the European horror resurgence is still alive and kicking. Having said that, I also check out Haute Tension recently, and despite it’s amazing style (it’s dripping with atmosphere, and it might contain the best use Muse’s New Born in a film ever), I couldn’t buy into its twist, so it left me very, very unimpressed. I’ll been keen to see what else the French have come up with.

Apart from this, I’ll  be revisiting some of my old favourites, including The Evil Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, to see how they’ve aged. And also cause they’re awesome.

Feedback is welcome. What have I missed? What should I avoid? What are your favourites, dear readers?

——–
[1] In at least one case, literally.

[2] And yes, I know this was also a flaw in the Nightmare films. Somehow, to me at least, Freddy made it more interesting.

[3] We don’t really talk about A Nightmare on Elm St 2: Freddy’s Revenge; a movie that seems to want to talk more about the fear of repressed homosexuality in teens than it does actual horror. Although, to some audiences, I’m sure there’s a lot of cross over.

[4] One of the most iconic covers I remember from the VHS horror movie years was for The Hills Have Eyes; Michael Berryman’s slightly twisted face staring out, into your soul, still kinda haunts me today.

[5] I’m convince that, if cinemas could get their hands on decent prints of some of the old classics, there would be an audience that would pay to see them screened again. Stop wasting money on remaking films no one is asking to see re-made, and start reminding people of how Horror should be done.

[6] And I don’t just mean his daughter! *boom* *tish*

[7] I will admit, I did take the lazy route and watch the US remake, which I am told is shot for shot. The main reason being I was trying to eat my dinner at the same time, and didn’t want to have to bother with subtitles and miss any dialogue. If anyone thinks I’ve gone the wrong path here, please let me know in the comments and I will check out the original.

[8] See [6].

Some Cool Things (and Not Cool Things) from 2010

or: Another year of falling behind.

Rather than dwell on the failed plans, let’s just look at what came out, ok? A shorter list than last year, and no real suprises. Nothing you’re not going to see on anyone else’s list anyway. Music has been a bit up and down for me this year. Some of my most anticipated releases have failed to grab me, while I found a few bands who should’ve always been on my radar (I’m looking at you The National). So without any further adieu, and in the interest of getting this done before next year, here are the explanations:

The National’s High Violet: A definite highlight for me, and perhaps my favourite release. An almost perfect album.

Owen Pallett’s Heartland: It came out early on, but I’ve had it on pretty high rotation over the year. I’d been aware of Owen under his Final Fantasy moniker, but never got around to checking him out. And then I saw this video, and I was sold:

Warpaint’s The Fool: Discovered while researching for Laneway. It helped that they had the whole album up for streaming. I spent a whole day getting caught up in it. Beautiful.

Kyu’s Kyu: Despite only attending a handful of gigs that weren’t festivals, one of my live highlights was seeing Kyu open for Xiu Xiu at Amps. They weren’t even listed on the bill, but the twenty minutes they spent on stage I spent gobsmacked. An amazing surprise, and their debut album is fantastic.

Foals’ Total Life Forever: A departure from their first album, and a bit of a grower for me. Another potential highlight of the upcoming Laneway Festival.

Kanye West’s My Dark, Twisted Fantasy: However you want to label it (I’m going with Hip Hop for White People), and whatever you want to say about the man’s ego (yes, it’s gigantic), Kanye put out a great album.

Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs: I’ll be honest, this almost very nearly ended up on my disappointments list. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great tracks on The Suburbs, but it really didn’t grab me like their previous albums. And while both Funeral and Neon Bible growers for me, as much as I tried, I just couldn’t get The Suburbs to stick. I blame expectations for this one.

Batman, Green Lantern & Scott Pilgrim – It was a good year for comics. Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin and Return of Bruce Wayne has been spectacular. 2010 was also the year I started reading Green Lantern, which has been pretty rad (although I read it’s taken a dive of late), and everything Scott Pilgrim rocked my world. The books, then the movie, and then game, and then the soundtrack. Geeky goodness.

A notable exception and possibly my track of the year – if Triple J will please stop flogging it to death. I heard this one night in the car, and it’s the first time in a long time I’ve been knocked on my arse by a song. It’s everything I like about music, all rolled into one. An amazing drum line and fantastic beat, layers of noise and vocals, a nice build and a solid ending. It’s three minutes and twenty-nine seconds of perfection. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but my kind of amazing.

Disappointments

Interpol’s Interpol: When ”Lights” was released early in the year, I could barely contain my excitement. Where-as there’s a common opinion that Interpol are working on a schedule of diminishing returns with each release, I’ve found myself falling deeper and deeper in fan as they’ve progressed. The move from Bright Lights, to Antics to Our Love… all seemed perfect to me. Enough of the same yet just the right amount of different to make it work. Interpol was said to be a “return to form”. Daniel had found the Bright Lights setting on his amp again, and they were excited about going back to their roots.

And then, not long before the album was released, came the news that Carlos had left the band. The beginning of the disappointing end. For me, Carlos’ bass had been integral to the band’s sound, and while he was still on the album, you could almost hear him phoning it in.

My Chemical Romance’s Danger Days: True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys: Sitting in a drafts folder somewhere is an open letter I started to My Chem explaining my disappointment, and while I won’t go into the gory details now, the long and the short of it was, you don’t follow this:

It's Grant Morrison, and he has a ray gun!

With an album full of synth-y euro pop/rock. It’s just not good. And yes, I should probably be ashamed of even mentioning this here, but you can’t release a video with Grant Morrison holding a fucking ray gun and not follow up with something kick ass. Here’s hoping Garrard Way has some more comics in him. He’s good at those.

Lost: Yup.

And I saw perform live*:

The Voltaire Twins, (avoided) Mumford & Sons, Whitley, Daniel Johnston, Echo & The Bunnymen, Sunny Day Real Estate, Clutch, Isis, Placebo & Paramore & AFI (all from a distance), Jane’s Addiction, Jimmy Eat World, Faith No More, Pavement, Dinosaur Jnr, Pixies (viva la Marchapalooza), Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mark Lanegan & Dave Rosser (as well as completing my Gutter Twin’s autograph collection), Band of Horses, (avoided, again) Mumford & Sons, The Strokes, Kyu, High Places, (the face meltingly good) Xiu Xiu, Silversun Pickups, Birds of Tokyo (against my will) and

* It should be noted, I may have seen (walked past) more bands at festivals, however the above were bands I either planned to see, or saw full sets.

My internet world was filled with Scott Pilgrim love, and it was a magical place to be. I’d not seen this level of excitement since the days of The Dark Knight.

I have to admit to being a bit of a Johnny-come-lately to the whole Scott Pilgrim thing. As a comic reader the book was never really on my radar, which in hindsight seems really strange since it’s almost targeted directly at me. It was the news of Edgar Wright directing the film adaptation that piqued my interest. Being a huge fan of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz meant I was ready to jump on whatever he moved to next – and if his next move was Scott Pilgrim, I thought I better check it out. I headed out to my local comic emporium to collect the first book, only they didn’t have any in stock. Not only that, but it seemed acquiring a copy through their supplier wasn’t possible [1]. I didn’t get it. Didn’t they know there was a film adaptation coming soon? Directed by Edgar Wright no less! Surely there should be shelves filled with Scott Pilgrim books at this point? Eventually I found a copy at an indie book store. I read, enjoyed… and then found out the movie release was still months away. Kicking the dirt in my cons, I settled in for a painful wait.

Time passed. I began collecting and reading the rest of the chapters in the Scott Pilgrim saga, and by the end of the third book (Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness [2]) I was hooked. It was around this time the first teaser poster appeared on the internet. I picked up the fourth book. My excitement climbed. The teaser trailer hit the net. I almost exploded. I read the fifth book. The full trailer was released. I did explode. I began counting the days until I would be able to witness Scott Pilgrim come to life.

And a quick glance towards the internet told me I wasn’t alone.

The night of its Australian release I was plane-ing my way to sunny Queensland for a short holiday. My iPod loaded with the Scott Pilgrim score and original soundtrack. My satchel holding the sixth and final Scott Pilgrim book. I dreamt about returning home to play the Scott Pilgrim videogame. If there was a Scott Pilgrim t-shirt [3], I would’ve bought it. I briefly considered checking to see if mylifeisscottpilgrim was already in use on Tumblr [4]. Looking at our week’s itinerary there didn’t look to be many opportunities for a cinema visit. Fortunately for me, my very accommodating and understanding girlfriend found us a window, and on the Sunday night of opening weekend we found a cinema and along with her father, took our seats to witness the majesty that would be Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

It was at this point that I started to realise things weren’t quite going as I expected.

Being opening weekend we arrived early for relatively early for tickets. I expected to see queues. Masses. Geeks ten to twelve deep at the candy bar. Instead, the foyer was close to empty. “Not to worry”, I thought to myself. “They’re probably already inside. Geeks are a punctual people”. I bounded beaming to the empty ticket counter, we collected our snacks and headed to the cinema. The crowd I expected to see where nowhere to be found. We shared our screening with a group of seven or eight youths (who decided to sit directly infront of us) and perhaps a handful of other couples. “Not to worry,” I thought to myself. “It is Sunday night. I don’t imagine it’s a big night for geek film viewing.”

Lights dimmed. Previews. Ads. More previews. And then the Universal logo appeared, and I smile crept across my face and stayed firmly planted for the next ninety or so odd minutes.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was everything I hoped it would be, and more. A perfect example of a passionate director taking a comic and placing everything that’s good about it on screen for everyone to enjoy. Edgar Wright has always had an amazing sense of comic timing and pacing, but here he outdoes himself. A breathtaking editing job. Effects worked perfectly, pulling you into the world without turning into an onslaught CG image after mind-numbing CG image  [5]. The soundtrack and sound design was an amazing blend of musical genres, all glued together with crunchy 8bit goodness. Performances were spot on. The whole thing just exploded with life. As a package, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was the film I’d been waiting to see ever since the Super Mario Bros. Movie broke my teenage heart and made me think that no one would ever be able to capture the fun I have playing video games in a film.

Was it a perfect film? Not quite. There were scenes from the comic I was looking forward to seeing that didn’t make it, or altered to fit into its run time and (I imagine) budget. What I missed the most were the moments that developed Scott and Ramona’s relationship. On screen I just couldn’t see what Scott saw in Ramona, besides the fact she was really pretty. Like, really, really pretty [6]. The film rushed from ex-battle to ex-battle, not allowing enough time to show the rocky road of their relationship, as it did in often painfully real detail in the books.

Was it amazing? Heck yes. As soon as I left the cinema I started planning a return visit. Daydreaming of the day where I’d own the film on Bluray so I could watch it whenever I wanted.

Straight after the film I finished reading the last half of book six; I’d been holding off for fear of spoiling the film. I do think that the movie was able to massage out some of the issues I had with the book’s conclusion; without going into too much detail, it provided much more straight forward, easy to digest screen ending than the perhaps a little too convoluted and obtuse paper version. We’re not talking giant mutant squid levels of change, but enough to make it more cinema friendly for the masses.

I slept well that night my friends, content with the knowledge Edgar Wright had been able to take Brian Lee O’Malley’s books and work his screen magic. Here was a film that sat perfectly along side its source material. So much more than just another comic book movie. This film was sure to be a hit.

The next morning I woke to the news that Scott Pilgrim had opened fifth in the US, behind The Expendables and the weeks old Inception. I was stunned. Flummoxed. How could this be?

Over the next few days of conversation with friends, the inevitable talk of what we’ve been doing on holiday turned to Scott Pilgrim, which turned to people asking us this whole Scott Pilgrim thing was all about. They hadn’t heard of it? Had they not watched and re-watched the trailers? Weren’t they reading the blogs? Apparently not. It was after the third or maybe fourth conversation that the penny began to drop. Of course my internet world was filled with Scott Pilgrim love – that’s how I chose to view it. While the internet spans countries and continents and millions of people having billions of discussions, I spend most of my time over in my own, cozy little corner. I subscribe to a number of gaming, music and movie blogs, all of which the either target, or are written by the Scott Pilgrim crowd. I only talk to a handful of people on Twitter, and our conversations play out between updates from comic book writers and artists, musicians, actors and directors. Most of whom are either fans of the books and film, or even had a hand in creating it. Of course everyone inside my internet bubble everyone loved Scott Pilgrim and were singing its praise.

I don’t pretend to be smart enough to know why Scott Pilgrim vs. The World performed badly at the box office. A quick search of the Googles will point you towards many different theories, most suggesting the film was always going to be too niche to ever connect with the general film going masses. I’ve heard people saying they were confused by the trailers, thinking it was a kids film. Others have blamed the casting of Michael Cera, blaming the Cera-saturation point. Maybe people just don’t get it? I don’t even think it’s a case of people being sick of comic book films – most of the people I’ve spoken to aren’t even that aware of the film, let alone the fact it’s based on a comic.

I’m guessing if you’ve read this far, you’ve probably already seen the movie, but on the off chance that you’ve come this far and you’ve not seen Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and you’re still not sure about forking over the money for a movie ticket, this is all you need to know:

1. If you’ve ever played a video game and enjoyed it, you’ll like Scott Pilgrim.
2. If you’ve ever played, or even dreamed of playing in a crappy garage band, you’ll like Scott Pilgrim.
3. If you’re a fan of boy fights for girl’s love love stories, you’ll like Scott Pilgrim.
4. If you’re tired of Hollywood rehashing the same over and over again and reselling it to you in different packaging, you’ll like Scott Pilgrim.
5. If you have a heart, you’ll like Scott Pilgrim.

Please, go and see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. You won’t regret it.

———-

[1] My comic dealer attempted to explain the situation to me but most of it went over my head. Something about the fact that their supplier didn’t stock books by the company that was publishing Scott Pilgrim, which meant they weren’t able to order it directly. Word on the street was that heading up to the film’s release they would be printing copies of the book in Australia, meaning it would be easier to come by. As a consumer the concept of a producer limiting the sale of their product to certain regions has always confused me. I’ve learned to live with  the limitations placed on DVDs and Bluray discs (and by live with, I mean have found ways to get around), but to not be able to buy a comic that’s made of ink printed onto paper because I’m in the wrong country seems redonkulous.

Ironically, the week after the film’s release I walked into a major Sydney comic store to be greeted by a full shelf-and-a-half of unsold Scott Pilgrim books, all featuring a “Soon to be a major motion picture” sticker. From one extreme to another.

[2] Seriously, why did it take me so long to find out about Scott Pilgrim? I feel at this point someone should’ve well and truely come to collect my geek card.

[3] There probably is.

[4] It’s not.

[5] See: Transformers.

[6] Seriously. So pretty.

retcon v. to retroactively revise (a plot, storyline, character, event, history, etc.), usu. by reinterpreting past events, or by theorizing how the present would be different if past events had not happened or had happened differently. Also n.

I’ve decided this whole two blog thing was getting a little out of hand. I started the Tumblr [1] just to see what it could do, and quickly fell for its uncomplicated publishing tools. But as with all projects I undertake, the new didn’t leave much time for the old. The whole idea of the Tumblr was to have an avenue for quick, casual posts that I could throw together, as opposed to the infrequent music essay posts that ended up here.

That didn’t go so well.

So, rather than having one blog for geek stuff (comics, TV and video games) and one for music stuff, I’ve decided it all lives here now – a blog[2] in which Mark Ampersand writes about stuff. Hopefully this will mean more frequent updates also.

Tumblr, I shall miss your easy to make pretty layouts and glut of awesome Batman scans, but for now, my heart belongs to WordPress.

—–
[1] Plus, Tumblr sounds totally like The Tumbler, which is pretty fucking awesome, don’t you think?

[2] I hate that word so much.

Also while we’re here – new theme which is exciting, right? But why the fuck do all my links have a space after them? If anyone could help me out with making them look less lame, that would be awesome.

Hey there Guitar Hero,

Y’know, you and I have had some really great times. Me, with my fake plastic guitar, rocking out to hit songs from Muse in Guitar Hero III, and then Muse in Guitar Hero: World Tour, and who could forget that Muse song in Guitar Hero 5? I mean, you even let me rock out as the guy from Muse! He was even really, really short. Just like in real life.

But with the good came the bad, and as much as I like Muse (seriously, can we just go ahead and put out Guitar Hero: Muse and be done with it?), I can’t help but think that maybe you and I have begun to grow apart. Sure, we had some laughs with Guitar Hero 5, but even you have to admit, the spark just wasn’t there. Not like it used to be.

That whole Kurt Cobain thing left me a bit cold too. I mean, I’m not one to take these things too seriously, but letting me play as zombie Kurt Cobain (who looked, credit where credit’s due, like an actually, really real life zombie Kurt Cobain) while rocking out to Public Enemy and Anthrax, lacked some of what most people would call… taste.

Anyway, you’ve got a new game coming out, and even though it looks exactly like the same old shit, you and I both know I’ll probably end up buying it anyway. I’m predictable like that. And your bitch. I guess I’ll see you sometime later this year.

Fuck you.

Regards,
Mark

P.S. Could you at least look at letting me import all of my songs over from the last 17 versions of the same game I bought? Cause Rock Band lets me do that. It also lets me have a little credibility as a fake plastic instrument player by not trying to placate me with shitty looking celebrity based avatars. Have you played Rock Band? You should. It’s pretty ace.

While on holiday, I managed to get caught up on some comic reading – specifically, my giant stack of Batman. I’m a better comic buyer than I am reader, and while I’d managed to keep mostly up to date with the goings-on over the Batman: RIP and Battle for the Cowel series’, I’d not yet had chance to dive into the aftermath.

Oh, in case you’re not up on these things – perhaps you’ve been living under a blissfully geek-free rock, or maybe you’ve been thrust back in time after being struck by Darkseid’s Omega Sanction – Bruce Wayne a.k.a. The Dark Knight a.k.a. Batman, is dead.

Or is he?

Dum dum duuuum!

Yeah, spoiler alert: he’s not. He’s been sent back in time, and come June we’re going to see how Grant Morrison plans to bring him back to now. But in the meantime, we’ve been left with a bevy of Bruce Wayne-less Batman books to keep us going. Here my take on how it’s all going. Or another way to look at it; whether or not my pull-list is going to become shorter this week.

Streets of Gotham
I was a big fan of Paul Dini’s run on Detective, so having him back in a similar format here is great. Even on his months off, there’s a fairly consistent tone to the book – something that couldn’t be said for Detective. So far, I’m really enjoying it, which means that Streets of Gotham will stay. Which is more than I can say for…

Gotham City Sirens
Yup. Sorry. Comics cannot be carried on eye-candy itself. While Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn together in a monthly book on paper (glossy paper, with lots and lots of pictures) looks good, in practice it just doesn’t work.

Why are they working together? If Quinn is such a pain in the ass, why don’t they kill her? Catwoman would not put up with this shit, seriously. As a one shot, or maybe a short series, I could see this working. Ten issues in however, it’s starting to overstay its welcome. My bad for being behind in my reading really. Dropping it.

Batman
It says a lot that I’m currently searching Wikipedia to remind myself of what’s happening in Batman right now. Seriously, I honestly can’t remember. Dick Grayson is now Batman, and he does some … stuff. And maybe Jason Todd is about too? I dunno. I mean, no one is surpised Dick got to be Batman, are they? Battle of the Cowl was always going to end that way. And to be honest, I’ve got no issues with Dick being Batman. He’s doing a pretty good job for now, I just don’t find him interesting on his own. Without a partner, it’s all “I’m never going to be able to replace Bruce, woe is me, being Batman is haaaaard!”

It’s when Dick-Batman is thrown into trouble with an off-sider that things start to get interesting. Seeing the Gotham universe come to grips with a new Batman has been fascinating. For now, Batman is staying on my list, but while I’m reading Batman, I’ll be thinking about…

Batman and Robin
Yup, loving it. Coming into this after Morrison’s run on Batman, I have to say I was a little intimidated. As great as Batman: RIP was, it was so dense in Bat-back-story that most of it went over my head. And then as if that wasn’t enough, he “killed” Batman off in Final Crisis! You need a fucking degree to understand most of that Crisis stuff! Multiverse-whu? Omega-who? My DC Universe knowledge can get me through a five seasons of Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited, but a Crisis? Man, that’s hard work!

So with some trepidation, I picked up Batman and Robin issue #1, and all that disappeared within a mater of pages. Sure, it has its cheesy moments, and yeah, Dick is still settling into the roll, but seeing him bicker with Damian Wayne’s Robin [1] is a real joy.

For me, growing up on the 60s Batman TV series, its been nice to see a little lightness injected back into Batman. And when I say “lightness”, this is still very much a not for kids book. While I understand it’s not for everyone, I’ve really enjoyed Morrison’s work here, and Quitely’s art has been amazing. Almost amazing enough to make me want to check out All Star Superman.

Almost [2].

Batman and Robin is great, but it’s not the best Batman book out there.

Detective
The best Batman book doesn’t even feature Batman in a main role. That’s right – Detective now belongs to Batwoman, and she’s awesome.

Kate Kane was introduced as Batwoman during that whole 52 thing that I didn’t ever make an attempt to keep up on. I  remember rolling my eyes at the news of Batwoman being back. And a lesbian. And a red head.

“Seriously?” I thought to myself. “A Bat-wranger?! What are they thinking!” [3]

News was Batwoman would eventually have her own book. Time passed. It didn’t happened, we all moved on. Then it turns out she’s getting Detective in the post Batman: RIP world, and all of a sudden it became my least anticipated Bat-book.

Until I read it. And it was glorious.

At times, Greg Rucka’s run on Batwoman: Detective reminds me of what I loved about Miller’s Year One, and there isn’t much higher praise than that. Her origin story is great, building Kate to be such a solid character. And the art is magnificent – J.H. Williams draws an amazing Batwoman, and for the first time in a while, I really feel I’m seeing art drive a story; it’s not just pretty for pretty’s sake.

So somehow, Bruce Wayne is dead (sort of), and the Batman book I’ve come to look forward to the most, isn’t even about Batman? What has the world come to?

If you forget about the cheesecake mess that is Gotham City Sirens, it’s a good time to be a Bat fan. Bruce Wayne may be dead (he’s not), but I don’t find myself missing him [4]. So then my question becomes, are DC bringing back Bruce too soon? I mean we’re talking comics here; no one stays dead forever, but would it hurt us to wait just a little bit longer? In issue #10 of Batman and Robin, Damian asks Dick outright – If Bruce comes back, does that mean he doesn’t get to be Robin anymore? While I’m sure The Return of Bruce Wayne won’t be as simple as that, I really hope we get to see more of the Bruce-less Gotham before we fall into the inevitable return to the status-quo.

_____
[1] Sorry, just in case you’re still playing catch-up, Damian Wayne is the new Robin. he’s the son of Bruce Wayne, and Talia al Ghul, who is the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul.

Hopefully that clears that up.

[2] But not quite, cause Superman is boring.

[3] Of course, I mean no offense to red heads. Some of my best friends have red hair.

[4] Probably because he’s coming back really, really soon.