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Film Anvil! The Story of Anvil

March 6, 2010 - 11:34 am

anvil-movie-poster

“Anvil! The Story of Anvil”, was awarded the “Best Documentary” category at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards, which was held last night (Friday, March 5) at LA Live’s panoramic event deck in downtown Los Angeles. ANVIL also performed twice during the ceremony, which aired live and uncut on IFC. Below is a review of the film by Chris Gore. It’s good to see the Canadians having such a bang on year…first the olympics and now this! Rock on dear readers……rock on!

Rush is an epic band for the ages.  Rush is also Canada’s pride and their best-known musical act.  Rush has had hit albums for decades.  Rush can fill stadiums on tour.  Rush has universal appeal having been referenced in recent films such as Adventures of Power, Fanboys and I Love You, Man.  Unfortunately, Anvil is not Rush.

Anvil is also from Canada and has been around for decades, but they are not widely known outside their small fan-base and they certainly can’t fill stadiums. Heck, they can barely fill a living room.  Despite the fact that you’ve probably never heard of the metal sensation from the Great White North, Anvil is well-respected by members of other metal bands.  In fact, when Lars Ulrich of Metallica is asked about bands that have been together the longest there are only two that come to mind, The Rolling Stones and Anvil.

anvil-still

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Event The Ultimate Drive-In Movie Guide

October 26, 2009 - 9:29 am

Drive-In

Seeing a movie in a theater can be miserable these days.

Texting.

Talking.

Smoking.

It’s nearly impossible to freely smoke or send a text message to a friend during a movie without being bothered. Some get upset over this and even tell you to stop smoking or to put your phone away. The nerve! That’s when I tell them exactly WHERE they can GO!


Txting at the Drive-In

And then an usher usually escorts me out.

In any case, there is a place you can go, long forgotten by most moviegoers, in which you can do all of these things and more. Heck, you can bring a pizza, adult beverages and your own smoke of choice. Here you can watch a movie in a comfortable setting and enjoy the freedom to do whatever the hell you want.

It’s called… the Drive-In.

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Film Viva

August 3, 2009 - 12:26 pm

Viva

It is 1972.  And we can tell this not just from the vibrant colors, the giant polyester collars and the macramé owl décor, but because the narrator Barbi tells us we’re in suburbia in 1972.  We meet the striking brunette Barbi while she lounges fully nude in a bubbly tub reading a pornographic magazine.  On the surface, she seems like a simple housewife living the dream life… a beautiful home, a handsome husband and liquored up neighbors to help pass the time when hubby Rick is away.  But Barbi’s perfect world slowly falls apart when she loses her job and Rick scoffs at her disapproval of his long business trips.  With her best friend Sheila, the two set off on an adventure.  The two hit the town like innocents thrown to the wolves when they meet a nice lady that suggests they have sex with men… for money.  Barbi finds the idea of being a whore romantic and she changes her name to Viva.  Fully liberated and now in control of her own life, Barbi/Viva seeks to find herself in a new world of sexual freedom.

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Event The Geeks Takeover and Then Take Off

July 29, 2009 - 9:29 pm

DC Comics Heros and Villain at Comic Con

Long months after the San Diego Comic Con is over, shockwaves are felt throughout fandom. Buzz will continue to spread for projects that fans are excited about. The negative feedback from fans will require creators to go back to the drawing board and rethink their projects. And new discoveries will enjoy a wider audience. So it goes every year at Comic Con.

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Event Autographitti

July 29, 2009 - 9:27 pm

Adam West

Kings have signed proclamations onto parchment changing history… authors have signed letters to lovers and moved the world… and Adam West, Batman from the 1960s television series, will sign anything for $30 at Comic Con and may change one fan’s life. The autograph is perhaps the oldest collectible in history. And some strokes of the pen are the most highly sought after at the San Diego Comic Con.

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Event Real Rubber Monster Smackdown

July 27, 2009 - 11:01 am

Kaiju Big Battel

Punches will be thrown.  Kicks will connect. Backs will be smacked. It’s tense before the bout. And stepping into the ring wearing a rubber monster suit does not make it any easier.  At Kaiju Big Battel (SIC)… there will be blood.  It’s more than wrestling in monster costumes since the smackdown doesn’t just destroy the opponent, this match decimates a tiny model city built for destruction.

Kaiju Big Battel, an unofficial Comic Con event (open to the public of all ages), attracted crowds ready to witness live creature throwdowns inspired by old Japanese monster movies and TV shows.  What might surprise you most about Tokyo-flavored wrestling match is that it is not a Japanese invention at all, in fact, it came from Boston, Massachussets.  The ringmaster and creator of the live events and video series is the Boston-bred Randy Borden.  He created the original event as performance art as a student.  Randy describes its Japanese influence as, “…the cultural feedback loop. Japan takes American things and turns them into Japanese and we take them and turn them back.  We go back and forth with things.” In a way, it’s like pop culture eating itself, vomiting and then… well, you get it.

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Film The Real King of Cartoons

July 27, 2009 - 11:01 am

Spike

“I’m an anti-social outcast character. I’m also an anti-family values guy and I was tired of all the kiddie cartoons,” says the legendary Spike of Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation. “My hero is Lenny Bruce and I’m put off by the hypocrisy of our society such as getting upset about nipples.  Babies suck on those.”

The secret origin of Spike and his mini animation empire is not quite as dramatic as, say, being bitten by a radioactive Bugs Bunny, the beginnings of the fest grew out of boredom. “We put on the festival since there really wasn’t anything to do in Riverside,” Spike says. “The difference between yogurt and Riverside is that yogurt has an active culture.  So we did these shows at the schools and it grew from there.”

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Film Make Room for Tommy

July 26, 2009 - 10:33 am

Tommy Wiseau

“No one inspired me, I inspired myself.”  This is the proud proclamation of one Tommy Wiseau, the writer, director and star, really the entire brains behind The Room.  Maybe you’ve heard about this cult film and the crazy things people do when they see it.  Maybe you’ve heard someone quote the movie casually saying, “Oh. Hi, Mark.”  Or perhaps you remember the billboard of The Room featuring only Tommy’s pensive and pained expression looking down upon the traffic on Highland Avenue just south of Hollywood.  It was in Los Angeles, that this phenomenon was born when midnight screenings of the movie erupted in chaos… much of it planned.

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Art/Design The Ghetto George Lucas

July 26, 2009 - 10:33 am

Morgan Phillips

The next underground sensation is often discovered at Comic Con and plenty of candidates can be found in Artist’s Alley, or what is referred to at the con as “the ghetto.”  Perhaps this name comes from the fact that these simple tables display the wares of hopefuls selling their paintings, drawings or toys in the shadow of the looming booths from major film studios hawking the next Twilight. But it’s in this creative shanty town that you’ll find the not-so-humble Morgan Phillips aka DJ SuperGenius aka the Sucklord, his preferred name.  And he is the mogul and the mastermind behind all things Suckadelic.  A New York-based artist who is mult-faceted.  He makes music.  He makes films.  He makes toys based on his films.  He rolls through Comic Con wearing a badass Boba Fett custom costume wooing the ladies… he is a ghetto George Lucas.

Morgan Phillips

His Star Wars breakbeats CDs have sold over 1 billion copies… okay, not in reality, but in some imaginary universe.  What is not imaginary is his love of fandom which inspired his music. These tunes could only have been made by a true nerd with a wealth of geek knowledge — someone who knows music as well as the origins of the Sandpeople.  But how can breakbeat music that samples from the Star Wars films get noticed by fans, but go completely unnoticed by Lucas’ lawyers? “I’ve been pimping the Star Wars breakbeats for 10 years now and contrary to popular mythology, I’ve never received any cease and desist orders,” says the Sucklord, “I kind of sail under the radar.  I honestly think that it’s so small and niche that it doesn’t matter.”

Morgan Phillips

Everything the Sucklord does ties in: the music, the short films, even the toys which he makes himself.  The spray-painted and moded action figures are kind of cheap-looking, but that does not mean they are not cool.  “After  trying to navigate the designer toy industry, I couldn’t crack in, so I decided to hand manufacture the stuff myself.”

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Event Walk of the Undead

July 25, 2009 - 10:01 pm

Zombie Walk 2009

Young, old, tall, small, fat, fit and some were pregnant, but what they all had in common was a love of zombies.  A love so deep for films and fiction featuring the undead, they had no fear getting slathered in blood and make up. Nearly 500 Comic Con attendees gathered in the heart of San Diego for Zombie Walk 2009.  The 8 block hike through the downtown gaslamp district near the convention center was put together as a way to promote the Woody Harrelson zomedy Zombieland coming to theaters in the fall.  But this fact may have been lost during the walk, or stumble, through downtown.

Zombie Walk 2009

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