Who Says Westerns Can't Take Place in Australia?

I'm not normally a huge fan of westerns, but I know a good one when I see one. And I'll bet you haven't seen this one.

In 2005, an Australian western came out called The Proposition. Surprisingly penned by the ever-badassed Nick Cave, who you know I love, it tells the story of a police captain who forces an outlaw to hunt down and kill his older brother, or else the captain will hang the outlaw's younger brother. Ah, such western-film-plot-gold!

What follows is a downright poetic tale of the fallout as these men struggle to cope with the results of their faustian deal. And no surprise that it should be told so brilliantly. In his music, Cave has spun many such tales of brutality and love. Though it may seem odd that he made the transition to screenwriting, this movie is merely a feature length extension of what Cave has been doing for years.

Brilliant performances by Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, and John Hurt are complimented by a haunting and effective soundtrack by Cave that deeply connects the viewer with the characters.

As an example, Cave delivers such emotion with a repeated tune - spoken, sung, and even whispered, that seems at times like a hymn and at others a dirge, to imbue Guy Pearce's character with aura of both mourning and danger. Its quiet despair is highlighted by lyrics delivered almost subliminally:

'When?' said the moon to the stars in the sky
'Soon' said the wind that followed them all

'Who?' said the cloud that started to cry
'Me' said the rider as dry as a bone

'How?' said the sun that melted the ground and
'Why?' said the river that refused to run and

'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun

'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan

'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone

'No' said the moon that rose from his sleep
'No' said the cry of the dying sun

'No' said the planet as it started to weep
'Yes' said the rider and laid down his gun

It's not the greatest film or greatest western out there, but it was a damned good movie. Throw it on that Netflix queue; you won't be disappointed.

Batshit Insane

That's how Gene Ray's Time Cube web site was first decribed to me by a friend a few years ago. Amazingly, this crackpot is still going strong. His website professes to explain some unifying theory of the universe based on something called the Time Cube.

You have to read his web site for the full explanation, but it's practically too hilariously fucking crazy to get through. Thus, we're all too stupid to grasp his higher intelligence.

GIVE IT A TRY

Then there's all the little extras that add to the entertainment that this old racist ex-marbles-champ (seriously - he's an ex-marble champion) dishes out:

POWER ABOVE GOD

ARE YOU JEWISH?

ALL CLOCK FACES ARE WRONG

Ah, now I get it. Thanks, Gene.

"Out of the way...documenting."

Thank goodness I didn't waste my money. I had to go see Cloverfield, just because you all know how much I hate having shit spoiled for me. I had truly not expected to be impressed, but I really was.

I won't say much (again, keeping the spoilers at bay), but I will say the following:

The action was great. I do, however, feel for anyone who was in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001 and then sees this movie - the first 30 minutes were way too reminiscent of that morning. The filmmakers were classy enough about it to keep from being offensive, but man, it was tense in that theater.

On the other hand, unexpectedly, it was quite funny. Hud, the character holding the camera, starts out as a doofus, and never quite grows out of it. And there's nothing better in the middle of a disaster than a doofus making stupid comments...

--"What the hell is that?"
--Hud: "Something terrible."
--"And what's that?"
--Hud: "Somthing else, also terrible."

Lastly, let me say for the record - I totally fucking called it. Then again, maybe it was pretty obvious. All the same, to be safe, I should have put these next few lines up on here four weeks ago:

History shows again and again
How nature points up the folly of men.

Nice

The Whe Whole Album/Video:

They've also broken it up track, if you look at the bottom.


An Alternate Take of Reckoner:

Goodbye 2007, and Good Riddance

2007 is finally over, and I can’t say I’m sad to see it go. Not that I'm holding much of a grudge, but really, my relationship with 2007 didn’t work out the way I had hoped.

I had a nice little honeymoon with 2007. Work was calm. I even got a raise early in the year. I didn’t suffer too greatly from spring allergies for the first time in nearly half a decade. I even managed to complete my loss of 35 lbs and ran a pretty good time in the St. Patty’s race.

By mid-summer, though, things generally began to slide toward shitty status, and I found myself feeling a bit of estrangement from my beloved 2007. Work started to go to hell. My best friend in the office left (for much better things), people at work (the ones I wouldn’t normally expect it from) turned into real pricks. Nothing was really going right at work and nothing else really existed at all, which sucked.

Come the fall, I was trying to avoid 2007 altogether. I started trying to escape the soured relationship with booze. Money was far too tight. So was my schedule. People generally just pissed me off from every angle. I began to wonder whether 2007 had put them up to it.

Even worse, in October, my favorite author, Robert Jordan, succumbed to his battle with amyloidosis and passed away, half a book shy of completing his 12-volume epic tale, The Wheel of Time. Now 2007 was just getting mean.

I will admit that I was also able to medicate with some really decent Pop Dope. Some of this stuff made 2007 worth experiencing, for all the shit it doled out.

In film, there was:
- the hilarious Hot Fuzz
- the terrifying 28 Weeks Later
- the long awaited The Simpsons Movie
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- the imaginative Stardust
- the unbelievable Sweeney Todd

While, in music, there was:
- Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero
- Radiohead’s ingenious and ballsy release of In Rainbows
- The Budos Band’s epic Budos Band II
- Elvis Perkins’s heart-wrenching Ash Wednesday
- Grinderman
- The White Stripes’ best ablum yet, Icky Thump
- Bowman & Lisa’s stellar independent release, Fears & Accusations
- The Smashing Pumpkins’ fucking awesome comeback, Zeitgeist
- The Veils’ kickass Nux Vomica

Nonetheless, by the end of 2007, I was beaten, broken, and had run completely out of steam. Jaded and disillusioned, I am so glad to be leaving it behind. I have cautious hope for 2008.

Brandon Sanderson has been selected to spend the year completing the Wheel of Time, and has reported that the final book, A Memory of Light, was so heavily detailed in notes by Robert Jordan before his death that Sanderson will be able to write “this book to be very, very close to the way [Jordan] would have done.”

Also some exciting film events are in the works:
- M. Night Shyamalan will release The Happening
- the return of Indiana Jones (with Karen Allen!)
- a conceivably good Punisher movie
- the return of The X-Files
- Harry Potter’s next blockbuster

The same goes for music:
- the unexpected return of Sun Kil Moon!
- the unexpected return of Alice in Chains!
- Elbow’s fourth incredible album
- The Secret Machines’ latest (if I’m lucky)
- the highly anticipated return of Coldplay

The fact is, despite any good that came of it, I’ve had it with 2007, and I hope to hell 2008 is better. I am optimistic, even when it comes to all the personal shit that made me hate 2007 for, which I won't spew extensively here.

And so, I go into the coming year optimistically, with one last gesture back to 2007, which comes from the wonderful, wonderful, Hot Fuzz: