Join me on Reviewtopia Talks

Hey, come and join me this Tuesday (9-25) at 9pm on Reviewtopia Talks!

We'll be talking about retro cartoons, TV shows, movies, and whatever else comes up. Call in, write in, ask questions. It's like a Public Access show of the Internet Age.

I'll be in my alter ego Anthony Sotelo, so I better start dyeing my hair black.

Pick of the Now: Dana Falconberry

Sweet, precious, and kinda eerie. That's how I describe singer-songwriter Dana Falconberry. If you know me (and chances are you just stumbled across this post while aimlessly Google searching and have no idea who the hell I am) then you'll know that I am a sucker for distinctive voices backed by folksy/bluesy/punky music (ex. Gogol Bordello, Amanda Palmer). Falconberry really drives a ghostly, lighthearted melody. Here's a song called "Birch Bark" which I found on the Annie Street Arts Collective recording.


I'd say she sounds like if the Ditty Bops died and returned as phantasms.

 

I'd put her under the same shoe-gazer umbrella that hovers above Lower Dens or former "Pick of the Now" recipient Sharon Van Etten. Now here's a song featuring back-up from that most versatile of instruments: an aluminum can.

 

Stylin' Music Vest

Another great find from those Raconteurs at Network Awesome. Circa 1985, the Music Vest allowed you to listen to music emitted from your awful tin-foil vest. I LOVE the fisherman dude. He is the coolest MF'er on the planet.

"Impure Moods" Outtakes

Outtakes from the "Impure Moods" episode. I still want to visit the Dinosaur Company.

ML: Impure Moods

On this episode of Memory Lane, I meet the 90s coffeehouse chick Savannah who is giving away a copy of the popular New Age album "Pure Moods." (As seen on TV!) Together, we riff this thing apart.

Watch IMPURE MOODS.

This is the first episode I've ever done with another person and I must say it is more fun to have someone to bounce dialogue off of. And yes, Savannah will return in future episodes. She has other nostalgic relics I can plunder.

Galaxy Laser Team

The very fun Secret Fun Spot Blog has an entry about a very unusual gumball-machine toy line called the Galaxy Laser Team. From the looks of it, the team of space people live amongst the STARS and are locked in some kind of WAR against an evil EMPIRE that is STRIKING BACK... I think it's a rip-off of Flash (AHHHHHAH!) Gordon.

Yes, these were the kinds of toys your could get out of gumball machines in those little plastic bubbles, or you could find them in sets at the grocery store, dangling from hooks like irresistible impulse items. From the picture above, I can see Hans Duo and Chuey, Garth Wader, Radiator D2, ...some chick, and Gamora Jr. But what really catches my eyes are the two normal space men. They're not sci-fi or fantasy... they're just a couple astronauts in way over their heads. In fact, I'd like to think that this is what happened to Poole and Bowman at the end of 2001: they got sucked into a cheesy sci-fi flick where laser-wielding apes do battle with Magneto who proudly displays his vibrator while a crab-turtle monster surrenders. And why does the woman come with a blood-pressure monitor? Is she the medic? Is hypertension the biggest problem in the future?

Check out Secret Fun Blog for more and also see panels from the very interesting comic that either spawned these toys or spawned from these toys.

Top 10 Inadverntent Nightmare Stuff

Straight from the depths of your nightmares, it's The Top 10 Inadvertent Nightmare Stuff.

This time around, I count down a list of scary things that aren't scary that are scary. Things that caused me nightmares for no discernible reason. Presented as a top 10 list! I know how we all love things in a list format.

With special guest The Horror Guru of Blood Splattered Cinema!

Music of the "Black Rainbow" Review

In case you haven't seen my review of "Beyond the Black Rainbow" you can see it on my Blip channel. It's about 15 minutes long which is how long I watched that movie before I gave up on watching anything ever again.

Trivia Time... the music of BtBR was composed by Jeremy Schmidt of relevant prog-rock band "Black Mountain." Here's "The Hair Song" from their latest album "Wilderness Heart."

 

I give the music of BtBR a tough time, but that's just because of guilt through association. Sure it sounds like dubstep in slow-motion and gets as grating as free-basing Clorox, but synthesizer magician Schmidt composes the perfect mood for the film that really makes it bearable. Listen to the sounds of this scene.

Makes you want to go to the arcade and spend all your quarters on Galaga, doesn't it? You know, plenty of critics have been giving this movie a hard time, and you'd think I'd agree with them, but the more the critics knock this movie, the more I want to like it. It's as though I have to be contrary... but changing my opinion means I would have to re-shoot the episode, and I'm not doing that.

In my actual review, there are two copyrighted songs I have sampled (Fair-Use, parody, Bill of Rights, and all that). One of these is Cream's SWLABR which I'm sure you've all heard me reference on plenty of occasions. The other is "Rainbow Man" from The Orange Alabaster Mushroom. At the time, I selected the song because it fit the mood and contained the word rainbow ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was too obvious). But I'm just now realizing how suiting it is. The Orange Alabaster Mushroom is a musical project from Canadian musician Greg Watson that sprang up in the early 1990s and recreated the textured sound of the late 60s. Seems similar to what Panos Cosmatos was doing with BtBR, eh? So here is "Rainbow Man" in full (pending Youtube take-down, blah-blah).

"Fear Her": A Testament to Doctor Who

You wouldn't think that I, the Obscure, would like something as Lame-stream as Doctor Who, but I've been addicted since 2006. Me, addicted to something? Never.

Before I became a regular viewer, I had some misconceptions about the long-running program. Here's a synopsis of what I thought the show was about: "A professor in a magic phone booth leaps through time and space, each leap taking him closer to home while also ensuring that his parents meet so he doesn't get wiped from existence. With help from Jerry O'Connell and John Rhys Davis, Mr Who (his first name is probably something like Bertrand or Wellington) constantly does battle with the evil Ransik (played by the villain from Commando), set to the music of Rockapella (and later that annoying musical trio that plays all the other characters). Based on the story by HG Wells."

Yeah, not even close. So one afternoon in 2006, I decided to finally watch an episode of Doctor Who. That episode was "Fear Her," one of the most universally-panned episodes of the new series. As someone new to the program, what did I think? I thought "Holy-Camolie, this show is AWESOME!" I then found season one on Netflix and began from the beginning... of the new series. Then, while I awaited the release of Season Two, I watched a lot of the old series and discovered decades worth of campy, crazy fun. Then I made my way through Season 2 and, when I watched this particular episode for the second time, I realized it was rather weak and ridiculous in comparison to everything else I had seen so far.

But I like to hold this episode as a testament to the greatness of the series: even one of its weakest stories is enjoyable and miles beyond a lot of other crap on TV. An outsider can really be drawn-in by the amazing character that is Wellington Who and the concept of time/space travel. Truly, one of the greatest story vehicles of all time.

On the other hand, if I had seen the episode "Love and Monsters" first, I probably would have reacted by saying: "this show sucks. You Who-vians are a bunch of freaks!"

Beyond the Black Rainbow: An Obscure Review

Oh my God, this is the best movie ever!
...
OK, no it's not. In fact, it's rather unbearable. But don't take my word for it. Take my spoken word for it. Check out my first ever straight-up film review of "Beyond the Black Rainbow," a Canadian sci-fi homage to the films of the late 60s, early 70s, and a bit of the 80s for good measure.

BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW: AN OBSCURE REVIEW

Trust me, I really wanted to like this film...