Holy Nards!

It has come to light, that an outright late 80's HBO classic that my little brother and I would watch EVERY time it came on was finally released on DVD a few months back...in a 20th Anniversary Edition w/ extras nonetheless! 1987's 'Monster Squad' was kind of The Goonies meet Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein meets Dracula meets The Wolfman...you get the point.

The premise of the flick, is that Dracula has just happened to come to a small town to find some sort of amulet giving him the power to rule the world and the whatnot. He enlists Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Gill Man (AKA Creature from the Black Lagoon) and The Mummy to help him out. It also happens, that there is a club of movie monster fanatics made up of several young rag-tag losers in same said small town that set out to stop them.

The film is so phenomenally 80's in the look, feel and dialogue...and you can't go wrong w/ all those classic monsters. I'll be netflixing this bad boy soon and it will be an experiment in nostalgia...hope it's at least a quarter of the fun I had with it at age 16. If you are one of those retro 80's nerds and/or sci-fi/horror geeks like me...you probably already have it in your que.

BONUS: My YouTube query for the trailer also unearthed the 1976 TV series of the same name where a pre-Love Boat/US Congress Fred Grandy solves crimes w/ wax figures of Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein brought to life. Enjoy the show opening HERE.

CLOVERFIELD!

You may or (more likely) may not remember the teaser trailer I posted a while back for the upcoming J.J. Abrams project. At the time, it was untitled and going by 1-18-08 (it's release date). Fast forward a few months, and the film is officially being called 'Cloverfield' and there is a brand spankin' new trailer...

Still looks like fun, but I hope the whole Blair Witch POV thing doesn't get too annoying. Guess i'll find out come January. BOOM!

Come On Pilgrim

Thanksgiving is a couple of days away, which means that Christmas (my favorite time of the year) is hot on it's heels. That said, before I go all yuletide on your candy asses, I have a lot of things to be thankful for:

• My best friend and lovely wife, Mrs. Famous.
• My sons, the dynamic duo, O and Lo.
• My entire family and extended family-in-laws.
• My Grandfather, tough as nails and still an inspiration.
• My brothers from other mothers, Kev, Kory, J.C. and Brad.
• My e-brothers from other e-mothers, Charles and Peter (What's happening?).
• ANYBODY who takes the time to actually read this labour of love.

I'm also thankful for the return of the seasonal Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash and, in an even more fantastic development, the Slurpee version of the same delicious beverage at my local 7-11.

So, while I drink copious amounts of dark beer while simultaneously watching football/my children run amok w/ their cousins and supervise my bro-in-law's first ever frying of the Thanksgiving day bird, may you be enjoying life and giving thanks for everything you've been blessed with as well.

Gobble Gobble, PEACE and God Bless!

Play Misty for Me

Wow. My best friend and movie junkie, Gep, has been talking this one up since the first trailer hit the theatres/web a few months back. I haven't been that interested in anything Stephen King in a long while, but this looks solid...and legitimately scary. I do recall enjoying the short-story this was based on in 'Skeleton Crew' many moons ago and like how the supposed safety within the grocery store turns no less dangerous than the enviornment outside.

Another King/Frank Darabont collaboration ala 'The Green Mile' and 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'The Mist' is in theatres next week and I may just have to go see this prior to it hitting DVD. Looks like total tub-o-popcorn fun.

KING KHAN & HIS SHRINES

'What is?!'

Okay, wayyyy late w/ this one, but i've become so enthralled by it's retro goodness that I had to spread the love. I became a moderate King Khan fan w/ the 2004 release of the last album w/ his Shrines, 'Mr. Supernatural'. He did some subsequent work as one part of The King Khan & BBQ Show that was more of punk blues thing...fun, but not funky as I like him.

A tongue-in-cheek retro revivalist channeling the 13th Floor Elevators...a Hindu James Brown fronting a dangerously funky garage rock/show band hybrid...a man who spews musical voodoo on par w/ the late, great Screamin' Jay Hawkins...the King is all that and more. While the last album (much more polished in it's production) leaned heavily on the 70's, 'What Is?!' takes another step back to the psychedelic 60's.

Retaining the funky, horn-laden ethos of the band w/ a garage rock twist, this album is painfully authentic sounding in it's raw production. You can practically close your eyes and see the lava lamp/black light posters and smell the hashish in groove-intensive tunes like '(How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way', 'I See Lights', 'No Regrets' and 'Le Fils De Jacques Dutronc'.

Throw in some equally fun moments of soul ('69 Faces of Love') and psychedelia ('Cosmic Serenade')...you've got the blueprint to the best key party and/or clambake EVER. Khan and his Shrines obviously don't take themselves seriously and to properly enjoy this album, neither should you...while the musicianship on display is tight, this album is all about cutting loose.

The album actually dropped back in May, but but better late than never...you can pick up 'What Is?!' and the previously hard-to-find 'Supernatural' on iTunes after you take a test-drive in my samplemobile to the right. Yount!

OHMEGA WATTS

'Watts Happening'

Overdue review, but I didn't want this absolutely tasty album go by the wayside. I practically street-teamed everybody I knew a few years back w/ the release of his first solo joint, 'The Find', and it looks like the sophomore effort is having the same effect. While the kids were too busy worrying about how many albums Ye and Fitty were going to move, Ubiquity Records and my man Watts slid another modern take on CLASSIC hip-hop into the mix, under the radar.

While the rhymes on 'Watts Happening' are the same throwback backpacker fare as last go around (social issues, relationships, loving hip hop, etc.), the intelligence, consciousness and positivity comes through like a breath of fresh air in a stale room full of mainstream rap...and it's sure as hell a lot more fun. Arguably, Watts strong point has never been as an MC, but he does seem to be an increased confidence in his delivery and flow on this one.

Rhymes aside, this album truly comes alive in it's production and composition. The man can just make absolute magic behind the boards, turntables and synths. The beats are so funky, so FAT...known side-effects of listening to this album are toe-tapping and head-bobbing. The musical explorations into funk, neo-soul and even bossanova that are layered on top, while keeping things funky, keep each track fresh and interesting to listen to.

While I love DJ's like Cut Chemist and Shadow, this is not turntablism for turntablism's sake...samples or scratching are never the focus, they only come in to accentuate the full composition of the song. This isn't a just a DJ or a rap album, it's hip-hop as God intended it to be...fun, funky and informative.

Enjoy some of the good stuff in the sample area and if you really dig the musicality/production, seek out the physical album w/ the bonus disc of all the instrumental tracks at your favorite record shop. PEACE!

AMBFAD Book Club

'The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History'

I don't know if it's come across via this blog or not, but if and when i'm posed w/ the question of who i'd consider the greatest American rock'n'roll band to ever stumble across God's green earth...it's an extremely easy question for me to answer. Minneapolis's favorite sons (of no one), The Replacements, are by far my musical (anti) heroes and changed the way I both looked at and listened to music.

Legendary in a way that could never be pre-fabricated and/or manufactured...more infamous than famous...the 'Mats are remembered for both how amazing and how amazingly bad they could be both live and on record. Their amazing catalog of music and self-destructive behavior as both band/individual equally created a near-mythical status and cult-like following that still haunts the surviving members/alumni of the band to this day.

The band was soooo ahead of it's time and the droves of artists that reaped the dividends from their influence during the early 90's alt-rock boom would have almost been sad, if not that it was seemingly the band's mission that they never reach industry-success. I remember back in the late 90's driving w/ a co-worker much younger than I and after a half hour of being subjected to their recently 'greatest hits collection' he turned to me and said: 'wow. this is amazing...how is it these guys were never huge?'

Until this book's release, that was a question that could only be answered w/ a few hours of free time and cocktails of equal amount. Minneapolis rock critic and former Westerberg co-conspirator, Jim Walsh, does an admirable job of weaving modern-day personal and recorded accounts of the band's infamous history into book format. Confirming and (in some cases) debunking the lore that has been spun from those who were there and those who wanted to be there during their 12-year ride.

Not only does 'All Over but the Shouting' encapsulate all of those great stories into one place, but it serves as a huge love-letter illustrating how much this band meant and continues to mean to people. While I don't usually like 'oral histories' and the book would have been more interesting w/ Paul and Tommy's participation...it's still a great read for fans of the 'Mats and music alike. It was supposed to be released on 15-Nov, but found it's way to my local Border's last week.

In honor of this book that has been a long time coming, please enjoy my favorite 'Mats song of all time in the sample area. 'I'm in love...w/ that song.'

'THE HOST'

I'm usually not too big on foreign films, unless they are of Asian descent and feature either elaborately choreographed kung-fu sequences and/or giant monsters terrorizing entire cities. Lucky for me, I had a certain Netflix on ice since last month when a few hours opened up this past weekend for a movie that had plenty of the latter.

A South Korean film, 'The Host' received and continues to receive a large amount of hype since it's release in 2006. While the film is a good old-fashioned monster movie at it's core...this is most definitely not your father's Godzilla flick. Personal struggles amongst the film's protagonists are just as frightening as the beast they are trying to take down. Plus, there are no foam suits or chicken wire here...this film is visually stunning in it's capture of the dark surroundings that serve as the backdrop to an FX masterpiece of a monster on par w/ Jurassic Park.

There is some parity to the cautionary Atomic tale of Godzilla, as the creature's origins offer some light political commentary based loosely from an actual incident in 2000 (wiki it, fool). Never a heavy-handed anti-US statement, the film does a great job w/ making the government's handling of the incident just as scary as the monster itself. There film also has it's goofy/comedic moments, but unlike most of the Godzilla flicks...it's intentional when they happen.

Bottom line, it's a blast of a flick that has a little something for everyone...sci-fi/horror nerds and art-house film geeks alike. Avaialble via Netflix and it sounds like they are working on a sequel for 2008 as well. Enjoy.

SACHARINE HANGOVER!

Well, our first official Trick or Treating expedition was a success! Owen (bottom pic) loved his monkey costume the minute we put it on him, but Logan (top pic) wasn't nearly as happy. However, once we started going door to door and filling up their buckets w/ candy...the cowardly lion was practically pushing us over to get to the doors and collect his loot. They hit 8-9 houses, had an absolute blast and made nice little haul.

I rounded out my Hallow's Eve by FINALLY watching the one film in the 'Halloween' movie franchise i'd never subjected myself to...'The Curse of Michael Myers'. It's awfulness is a thing of legend in horror movie fandom and it more than lived up to the hype. I'd never seen a movie try so hard to have such a complex plot line and make so little sense. Eh, it was still fun to watch.

Speaking of flicks, I finally got around to watching a great one that we received via Netflix and will share my review in a post later today. Stay tuned!