[youtube]08xQLGWTSag[/youtube]

[youtube]EvWh6PMi9Ek[/youtube]

--tg

tQ's gone Film Festival continues with Sunday nights viewing of "The Hurt Locker". It's got to be good. It won the academy Award. After seeing the flick, I think Hurt Locker received the award as a screw you to Cameron. Which I am all for.

However, if it weren't for the Avatar snub codicil, I don't think The Hurt Locker would have won the Academy Award. It was gritty and cinema verite, but it posits the Theorem that war is bad and does bad things to your psyches. It was interesting to see the bomb disposal scenes but nothing different ever happened except for the tension that the bomb would go off. It was all matter of scenes to maximize tension without clear story to tie them together.

It was odd seeing a buff Ralph Fiennes as an SAS fighter. There was an officer who should have been wearing a red uniform the minute he decided to head out with the bomb patrol. In the end, we were back where we started. Just remember, War is Bad.

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--tg

Houston is part of the nouvelle noire group of authors (Yes, I just made that term up) He writes gritty detective fiction and gritty vampire detective fiction. Both groups are highly stylized with his hallmark being how does dialogue without quotation marks. But that's beside the point. His books are well written and interesting.

His latest book moves into an almost science fiction genre. It's about the onset of the sleepless plague in Los Angeles. It's one of those feel good end of the world stories in the vein of Soylent Green, The Earth Abides and The Road. But what's unique about his book is the timeframe. Rather than talking about what the characters do after everybody dies, Houston depicts what is happening while everybody is dying. The sleepless plague is a slow march to death. Everybody sees it coming and the best they can do is ride it out and hope for the best. But everybody can see there is no hope which lends fatalism to every action.

Park is a drug dealer on the hunt for one of the few ways to find comfort in the last days of the disease.It's a drug called Dreamer. It's not a cure. It just takes away the suffering. Javier is a hitman on the hunt for Park because has come across a hard drive with information on it that Park can't have. The whole book takes place in Los Angeles. You are surrounded by the landmarks of the city twisted by the plague. Streets are permanently impassable due to explosions. The Staple Center is now a 24 hour freak show. Gun Turrets scan the Santa Monica Beaches to keep people from coming illegally ashore. The Rich enclaves are now armed camps where the wealthy still struggle to maintain a semblance of their old lives.

It's a good book. It's just not a happy one.

This one is for Greg as he falls down the IC rabbit hole. There are two indie martial arts documentaries that are outstanding. Both have won awards in international film festivals recently.

Needle through Brick is well worth your attention. I just saw it last night for the first time and was very impressed. I know one of the main subjects, Eric Ling, professionally. He was trying to get me to go to Malaysia for some time. http://needlethroughbrick.com/

The other The Real Shaolin by a personal friend, Alex Lee. I met him at Shaolin years ago, when he was beginning the project. He used to live in L.A. but now I think he's living in Shanghai. http://www.realshaolin.com/

These two have set the bar for martial arts indie docs.

Another doc of interest is The Empty Mind. I saw this years ago and at the time, I liked it (haven't watched it since). There's one huge section of B.S. there that undoes a lot of the film and it's very surreal from my personal perspective, but you won't notice it unless I tell you as it's happening. This company has done several more docs. I saw Masters of Heaven and Earth but wasn't as impressed. Some of the other titles look intriguing. http://emptymindfilms.com/

Murphy plays straight man to Thomas Haden Church's Cherohonkee and a really cute little girl. Church is funny - he's great in self-absorbed roles. Murphy needs to get back to don-KEH!

...with 2 women:

So says <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.spokeo.com">http://www.spokeo.com</a><!-- m -->

Look yourself up!

Not really into either band. Just went to be social and log some RM time.

Everyone was excited about Silversun Pickups opening. They were okay, derivative of Smashing Pumpkins. Usually I like female bassists better.

Muse was surprisingly good. They were nothing like the CD my carpooling companion played for me on the way up. Muse is a tight little power trio with a spectacular stage show. Each band member was atop these pixalated screen towers that moved up and down and presented various images. Lots of lasers and that never gets old. The jams took some interesting turns, sampling vintage pop riffs, even the U.S. anthem. They didn't blow me away or anything, but they were much more entertaining than I expected. The stage helped a lot. When the music took a pop jingle turn, I could just gaze at the stage and be a-muse-d.

I've heard of this 'Pink Floyd' band in passing.

I guess I'll go if 'Glee' is a rerun that night.

More info here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rogerwaters.com/">http://www.rogerwaters.com/</a><!-- m -->

Date Venue Location Tickets
Sep 15, 2010 Air Canada Centre,Toronto, ON

Sep 16, 2010 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON

Sep 20, 2010 United Center, Chicago, IL

Sep 21, 2010 United Center, Chicago, IL

Sep 26, 2010 Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Sep 28, 2010 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

Sep 30, 2010 Boston TD Garden, Boston, MA

Oct 05, 2010 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

Oct 08, 2010 HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY

Oct 10, 2010 Verizon Center, Washington D.C.

Oct 12, 2010 Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY

Oct 15, 2010 XL Center XL Center, Hartford, CT

Oct 17, 2010 Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, ON

Oct 19, 2010 Bell Centre, Montreal, PQ

Oct 22, 2010 Schottenstein Center, Columbus, OH

Oct 24, 2010 The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI

Oct 26, 2010 Qwest Center, Omaha, NE

Oct 27, 2010 Xcel Energy Center, St Paul, MN

Oct 29, 2010 Scottrade Center, St Louis, MO

Oct 30, 2010 Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO

Nov 03, 2010 Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ

Nov 08, 2010 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA

Nov 09, 2010 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA

Nov 13, 2010 Bank Atlantic Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Nov 16, 2010 St Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL

Nov 18, 2010 Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA

Nov 20, 2010 Toyota Center, Houston, TX

Nov 21, 2010 American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

Nov 23, 2010 Pepsi Center, Denver, CO

Nov 26, 2010 MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV

Nov 27, 2010 US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ

Nov 29, 2010 The Forum, Los Angeles, CA

Dec 06, 2010 HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA

Dec 10, 2010 GM Place, Vancouver, BC

Dec 11, 2010 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA

Dec 13, 2010 Honda Center Honda Center, Anaheim, CA