01.09.13

Gome of the Week
This isn't helping Portland's rep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Week's Link That's Probably Not That Great
Sly Records on Bandcamp - We went back deep into the vaults and pulled out pretty much every Sly release ever, and most of them are free. Get with it.

 

This Week's Movie You've Probably Never Seen
Lone Hero (2002)

I had understandably low expectations for this movie, and maybe that's why I was pleasantly surprised, but it doesn't explain why I ended up full-on enjoying the shit out of it.

It probably also helped that I celebrate the work of all three of the stars (Sean Patrick Flanery especially - dude's mad underrated), but really: I was actually invested in the events in this thing, and wanted to see how it would end. I never expected to write that sentence about a movie in which Lou Diamond Phillips plays the ruthless leader of a murderous biker gang.

Flanery plays John, a small-town guy who scrapes by with a role in the local old-west show, playing a villain. He's pals with Gus (Forster), an aging codger who lives in the woods in a trailer with a bunch of guns.

One night John and his friends are hanging out at the local bar after work, when Bart (Phillips, in reckless badass mode) and one of his goons roll in, fresh off killing a cop a few states over. They proceed to rob and wreck the place, beat the shit out of the bartender, and tell everybody there that they're dead if they talk.

The next day John sees Bart and his sidekick at the wild-west show, subdues them with his prop pistol, and calls the fuzz. Bart promises to kill John slowly, and soon hatches a plan to get his biker bros into town to clean house. They bust him out of jail, and he sets out on his mission of killing John and enjoying it.

Of course it's never that easy, and there's a girl involved, and one of the old-west actors is kind of a sniveling puss who wants to help the bikers, and the phones don't work because it's such a small town and they cut the phone lines...it's a whole big thing.

But is was not boring. And Lou Diamond Phillips talking tough and icing dudes is always a good time. Here is the trailer. Saddle up and ride.

 

 

 

This Week's Record You're Probably Not Listening To
Shanti Das - Servant of Peace (1975)

I'm not exactly sure what this is. It's a private-press record from Aloha, Oregon, and for some reason, it feels a little cult-y to me.

From the back, talking about the people who made the LP: "Some live with the Center Family in La Center, Washington; others are closely related to the Center. This spiritual communithy sprang out of the Center for Truth in 1973.

"The theme of both our lives and the elementary school being built is to live in God's Peace with ourselves, our brothers and sisters, with the land and mainly to live at peace with our Creator."

I think it's the "elementary school being built" line that creeps me out. Or the 20 minutes of chanting on Side B.

 

 

 

 

 

This Week's Hip New Slang Word or Phrase
heel tactics - A sweet thing to call flat-out evil things that people do.

Origin - Grabbing the ropes when the ref's not looking.

Usage - "Oh, dude. Have you seen my gallon of milk?"

"Dude, your milk? I took it out and smashed it in the driveway. It went everywhere."

"Dude, that was devious."

"Dude, I believe you're familiar with my heel tactics."

 

This Week's Top Ten List

The Top Ten Great Things About My New Wii U:

10. It is way more fun than, say, "human contact"
09. Pretty sure it can make waffles
08. I can watch YouTube on it, which is great, because I've been looking to paralyze my motivation in a different room of the house
07. It's "female," if you know what I mean
06. It has Batman inside of it and we have many adventures together and he seems to really "get" me
05. It filters water and can really quench a thirst
04. Downloadable content includes divorce papers that my wife and I can file online after she makes her inevitable "me or the video game thingy" ultimatum
03. It's got a fun social aspect to it where you can post notes to the community about what game you're playing and maybe one about what a loser you are because no one with any self-worth would participate in that
02. I haven't been to work in two weeks because it's got a hold on me, so this va-cay's been pretty killer, bros!
01. You can take the game off the TV and play it on the hand-held Game Pad, so other people can use the TV and talk about how they're worried about you

 

Cancel One Career