That Damn Nerd

I post things. You read things. So it works out.

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

Alfred Hithcock's Birthday Was Yesterday

As a belated birthday post (Hitchcock was born on August 13th) in honor of one of the world's greatest directors, here is a great interview I found of the late Alfred Hitchcock.

Enjoy! And once you're done, go watch a film to celebrate.

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

Jonathan's Top Ten

So in the wake of the BFI's Sight and Sound critics and directors lists, a friend of mine decided to make a list of his own using submissions from myself and some of our fellow cinephiles on Facebook. I personally hadn't thought about what I considered to be the ten greatest films but, after some serious reflection on a number of great films, I came up with my submission.

I hadn't really planned to share it on Tumblr (or anywhere for that matter) but since I spent some time thinking about it I thought that someone out there might appreciate it. I'm not, of course, saying that these will ALWAYS be what I consider to be the greatest films of all time as I am always in the process of finding new cinematic gems, but this is where I currently stand with regards to the greatest films ever made:

1. Citizen Kane (dir. Welles)

2. Breathless (dir. Godard)

3. Vertigo (dir. Hitchcock)

4. 8 1/2 (dir. Fellini)

5. The Rules of the Game (dir. Renoir)

6. The Passion of Joan of Arc (dir. Dreyer)

7. Tokyo Story (dir. Ozu)

8. Taxi Driver (dir. Scorsese)

9. Pulp Fiction (dir. Tarantino)

10. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (dir. Kubrick)

I was going to write a bit about why I picked each film for you guys, but I love each of these films so much that it would take me too long to list the reasons why they're put in my top ten, much less why they're in this particular order.

If you have a question about the list, my selection process, or any of the films (or just films in general) feel free to email me at [email protected] or tweet to me @JonathanLKrohn.

A bit of housekeeping: I am completing the screenplay for my first feature  this week, and once I do so I'm going to be getting the script protected by the WGA. Once this is done, I'll post a little bit about it here on Tumblr and open myself up to some of your questions regarding the film. So stay tuned!

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

A Fun Fact About A Strange Video

So earlier today this ad from Little Baby's Ice Cream, which went viral this week, came to my attention:

Creepy, right?

Well here's a fun fact about this company: one of its founders (Jeffrey Ziga) is a member of a great punk rock super-group called Armalite. How do I know this?

Well, like a lot of people with good taste in music, I'm a fan of the hilarious musician Adam Goren, of Atom and His Package fame. A few years ago, Adam "disbanded" the one-man-band that is Atom in order to focus on his family, only to resurface to form, record, and play shows as a member of Armalite.

Anyhow...enjoy that interesting music/ice cream fact.

(If you would like to check out some of Armalite's stuff, here's one of their songs:)

(If you haven't seen Atom's work check out this video:)

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

"You're not a fool, you're a poet. A dangerous poet."

Marquis Robert de la Cheyniest (Marcel Dalio) in Le règles du jeu (The Rules of the Game) by Jean Renoir

Film Quote of the Day: No. 1.

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

This is the entirety of the non-fiction and Python-oriented library I'm bringing to college (fiction library will be posted tomorrow:)

Volume One of Principia Mathematica by Russell and Whitehead (I don't own the other volumes as they are quite expensive and take time to get delivered.)

History of Madness (a complete translation, btw) by Michael Foucault (yeah I have some analytic books in my library. :p)

The two Nietzche books I actually OWN (obviously not the only two I've read): The Antichrist and Beyond Good and Evil.

The Essential Dialogues of Plato the first bit of philosophy I ever read.

An extra copy of Plato's Laws for some reason.

Situating Semantics edited by Michael O'Rourke and Corey Washington (a collection of fascinating essays on the work of John Perry complete with a response by the man himself.)

The complete script books for Monty Python's Flying Circus.

My Arabic to English/English to Arabic dictionary.

And my Klingon Dictionary (with both English to Klingon and Klingon to English).

I'm not sure why I'm bringing so weird a collection of books, but there it is.

(For the record: most of my reading material is digital. For instance, the vast majority of things I've read in philosophy and other academic disciplines has come from journal articles which can be downloaded from any number of places (JSTOR, Blackwell-Synergy, etc.))

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

Today I'm gonna recommend a new-ish band to you guys! The Correspondents are a great band from the rather underdeveloped subgenre of electro-swing. Like the band and the subgenre, the above music video for their song "Bad Ragsaw Boogie" is just a lot of fun and the idea for the video itself is so damn clever that it demands a watch. Every song I've heard by these guys makes me want to get up and dance, and they never cease to put a smile on my face. With great beats, hilarious vocal stylings by 'Mr. Bruce' (who also happens to have some epic dance moves), and a strong infusion of swing music, there really doesn't seem to be a way to hate the correspondents...unless you just hate good things.

I'm gonna shut up and let you watch them now.

Note: I want to start doing a weekly list of the ten most ignorant comments in social media for that week. If you've seen a dumbass comment on any form of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.) tweet it to me (I'm @JonathanLKrohn) or email it to me at [email protected].

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

Baccano! and Hellsing Ultimate

Only 25 days before move-in day at NYU! (YAY!)

This week's posting will include today's review of two animes (Baccano! and Hellsing Ultimate), a review of Geoff Johns' current run on the ongoing Aquaman series, a review of The Dark Knight Rises, my introduction of you to one of the best bands in an under-developed subgenre, and my two cents about people who use tragedies as an excuse to bash nerd culture. Ready? Let's begin!

Anime

Baccano!

Let me start by saying this show was cool. Damn cool. It couldn't have been cooler if Spike Spiegel descended from the heavens and joined the cast. Alright, maybe that would have made it a bit cooler, but I think that, with the exception of Bebop, there isn't a single anime that can be compared to this show in order to measure its coolness. This show is the second coolest anime. Of all time. Period.

Now, let me get a little bit of the plot stuff out of the way. The show has three different story-lines that we see occur simultaneously: one in 1930, one in 1931, and one in 1932. It's about the mafia, a train called the "Flying Pussyfoot" (shut up), people that can't be killed, robberies, speakeasies, insanity, and other stuff. And...that's about all I can say without giving away the plot. There is also a part where three groups attempt to rob, take hostage, and/or (depending on the group) kill the passengers on a train. Oh yeah, and there are immortal people in the 1930s' mafia. So...yeah. It's hard to explain. Don't worry about it. Just watch it.

Above being cool and just totally awesome, this show, when you boil it down to its essence, is just a show that deals with what it means to be human and the fleeting nature of our mortality. As the show drags on we meet the Immortals (people who have been alive since the year 1711...don't ask, 'cause that's a major spoiler) and through their own journeys we learn something about our own existence. One of them claims to have wasted their 200+ years, another has become cult leaders, another has been tormented by his fear and pain, another has become a happy wanderer trying to explore what he sees as a meaningless existence, and still another has become a power hungry maniac. In the end, we see that even someone with immortality, who views mortality as a fleeting existence, is not all powerful, is not all knowing, and that, in essence, their lives are just as boring, tedious, and mundane as your life or my life. Life might seem so short, but it's all about enjoying the story we are a part of and not getting caught up in the length. And, as we are reminded at the end of the show, "As long as stories are told they should not have clear endings...because they are enjoyable." And dammit all if life isn't a story that's enjoyable because of its lack of a clear ending. Props to the writers for an epic script.

Now, if you do plan on watching this show, I suggest watching the English dubs because, even though the accents seem forced at times, it's much better to watch people with New York accents--albeit forced New York accents--play characters with New York accents than have Japanese voice actors without New York accents play such characters. It just makes more sense.

Also, this show is rather intense. And by "rather" I mean very. But then again, it is a show discussing the issue of our mortality...so...I guess a good bit of blood is to be expected.

One last thought. This anime is really a character story. Yeah, there is an overarching narrative but it is, more than anything else, about a cast of characters. Claire Stanfield, Ladd Russo, Isaac and Miria, Firo, Ennis, the Immortals, Jacuzzi's gang, and so on, are all characters in which we become deeply invested. By the end of the show they all feel like old friends! We know about their pasts to an extent to be sure, but more importantly we know about who they are, what their dreams are, what they believe, how they feel about the events around them, how they view the world, and how they react to sticky situations. Yeah it's a narrative drama but it's one of the best character driven narrative shows I've ever seen.

My one criticism: there is a character named Jacuzzi Splot. That is all.

Final score: 5/5

P.S. Click here to watch Baccano! on Funimation's website. I wouldn't recommend watching it if you're faint of heart as it is a rather intense show.

Hellsing Ultimate (OVA)

God, I watched two epic animes this week!

Now let me get something off of my chest: I've never seen the original Hellsing. When I was looking at which anime I wanted to watch this week I was torn between the two, but, after reading countless reviews, I heard that Hellsing Ultimate was the much better of the two shows which essentially tell the same story a good portion of the time, except Hellsing Ultimate is truer to the manga. Maybe I will watch the original Hellsing at some point...but probably not...because this anime probably spoiled my view of the epic vampire Alucard.

So let me describe the plot to you, as it is very simple to understand (this will contain a few spoilers, but nothing major.) There is a vampire named Alucard. He is the most powerful vampire in the world. He is a servant to the Hellsing family(of Abraham van Helsing fame) which once captured him. They send him on missions to kill bad vampires and other meddlesome monsters. There is a group of rogue Nazis that created an army of vampires. They decide to invade England with these vampires. Meanwhile the Catholic Church gets pissed off with Hellsing (which is also known as the Holy Order of Protestant Knights) because they are Protestant AND fighting monsters and that's supposed to be the job of the Vatican dammit! And that's about it.

As you might have guessed there is conflict on a few fronts in this show, and let me say, this conflict is really engaging. REALLY engaging. (This conflict is also rather gory, dark, terrifying, and at times down-right sadistic so don't watch if you aren't prepared for that sort of thing. However, it should be noted that while this anime has a lot of very extreme violence, every bit of it is there for a purpose. Yes Alucard turns into a dog-like monster and eats people, impales a Nazi vampire with her own sword while drinking her blood in front of her, and rips out a guy's still-beating heart only to crush it in his hand, but all of these things things serve the purpose of giving us an idea of who this character is, why he is this way, and so on, all leading up to the reveal of who he was before he became a vampire.

And Alucard isn't the only character that we really get invested in, there is Seras, Integra, Walter, and Pip as well...all characters with interesting stories that are actually made...well...just that, interesting. What's more, as a show that is actually currently being made (the tenth, and probably final, episode is in development right now) it marks a stark contrast to the other vampire shows on the market. The vampires are dark and brooding, not friendly or sparkly. They are the things of nightmares, not of wet-dreams. Furthermore, all of the characters (vampire or not) are complex, deep individuals who have some set of convictions, some goal, and some sense of purpose (or lack there of) that drives them throughout the show. Seras Victoria (the newly-christened vampire), for instance, is driven by a deep desire to somehow retain her humanity in her vampiric body, even though she knows she cannot. Alucard is driven by his servitude to the Hellsing family, his wish that he might one day die at the hands of the "higher beings" of humanity, ending his nightmarish existence, and his lust for blood. Integra is driven by a righteous indignation against the "unholy" existence of vampires and monsters and her family pride. The list just goes on and on.

Let me now touch on the art. It's epic. It's awesome. It's brilliant. It's (insert another adjective describing amazing anime art here.) The same could be said about Baccano! but I didn't want to mention it there, as I thought I had already said enough about the show. The art for this show is very unique and exquisite. Kouta Hirano does a great job bringing to life everything from the characters to things you might think are just plain simple...like flames. One of the most beautiful (yet darkest) scenes in the anime comes when Alucard crashes a plane into an aircraft carrier, sending the deck up in flames and creating one of the most harrowing backgrounds (if that's a thing) I've ever seen for a fight in an anime. It's brilliant.

Final score: 4.5/5

P.S. Click here if you want to watch Hellsing Ultimate on Funimation's website. As with Baccano! it is not for the faint of heart, so proceed with caution!

Next on tap for reviews are: Black Lagoon and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo.

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

Wow...just...wow...I don't know if I have the words for how amazingly awesomely hilarious this is. Whoever had this idea: thank you, you are brilliant. I never knew that I wanted the cast of Spongebob to dub Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, and the Godfather. Just...wow...

--Jonathan Krohn

P.S. This also taught me never to mess with Spongebob Corleone.

[thatdamnnerd-blog]

Deadpool: Dead Review

There have been a lot of changes in the Deadpool franchise over the years, but to a lot of us who really love the series the only change that really mattered was that from Joe Kelly to everyone else. (Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.) Joe Kelly, the creator, original writer, etc. of Deadpool was a wizard of the page: he pulled us into the mind of a crazy, invincible mercenary who said funny stuff, lived with a blind old woman, and was a hopeless romantic (at least in the very beginning.) Yes, Joe Kelly’s Deadpool has always been, to me anyways, the REAL Deadpool. Now, while I freely admit that there have been bright spots since the Joe Kelly era (Wade Wilson’s War, for instance) it’s generally been marred by the same old story-lines in its ongoing runs of both Deadpool MAX and Deadpool. Knowing my take on the Deadpool franchise as a whole, you can understand (I hope) how much it takes for me to say that I really liked something that DANIEL WAY (the current writer for the ongoing series) wrote for Deadpool.

That “thing” is Deadpool: Dead, a five part event in the ongoing series.

Now for starters, a little bit about the story line. It goes something like this: Deadpool has a vision of Death as a woman and realizes that the one thing he wants in the world is to die since, of course, that’s the one thing he can’t ever have…you know, because no one knows how to kill him with his amazing healing factor and such. Well, recently Deadpool has discovered a way around this: while fighting a copy of himself earlier in the ongoing series, a serum (aimed at Deadpool) had been shot into his counterpart and effectively nullified his healing factor (Yay!) allowing the bad-Deadpool copy to be killed. In order to get hit by the serum this time, Deadpool devises an elaborate plan based upon manipulation of all the people involved.

The thing that appealed to me about Dead was that it really brought us into the mind of Deadpool in a manner we haven’t really seen before. He manipulated everyone around him to get his way, and he did so rather effectively. He actually referred to his plan as a game of chess and each of the people he manipulated as different chessmen (pawns, bishops, knights, etc.) and he really played them effectively. Obviously we’ve seen ‘Pool manipulate people before, but, as far as I can remember, it hasn’t ever really been something this grand and elaborate…nor has it been with the goal to get killed! What Way did with this installment of Deadpool added a new depth to the franchise that is, frankly, quite wonderful.

It was a really enjoyable read. Original, clever, well-written, well-illustrated, and just well put together over all. Dead gave me that great feeling that I have whenever I read a really good story: it reminds you of something, you’re not sure what that something is, but whatever it reminds you of was pretty damn awesome. In all truth, that feeling is simply the nostalgia-high of reading a beloved comic book character that you’ve cherished and held dear for so long in a light (a good light, mind you) that you haven’t seen him in for a long time. If you like Deadpool, I’m sure you’ll enjoy Deadpool: Dead. 4 out of 5 stars.

–Jonathan