The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror
October 10th, 2011 by chocko
Bongo Comics annual Treehouse of Horror issue recently hit the stands and it features special guest artists and writers who tell a spooky tale involving everybody’s favorite animated family. The first story of this triple threat of terror is titled “Rosferatu” and was done by Zander Cannon and Gene Ha. Comic book fans might recognize this artist tag-team from Alan Moore’s Top Ten. The story is accompanied by some of the most creepiest renderings of the Simpsons drawn in a style inspired by old silent horror movies. The art and colors are top notch!
“Marge of The Dead” is a zombie tale which manages to throw in some Star Wars references including a light saber battle in which Marge ends up falling off a cliff and messing up her knee. After receiving a knee ligament transplant from a dead body, Marge begins to feast on brains! The art is by Tom Hodges (Clone Wars) and the story was written by Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s. Jane is no stranger to comic books. She writes her own book titled Lady Robotika. Check it out!
“Harvest of Fear” is by the legendary, Jim Woodring, best known for his anthropomorphic character, Frank. The story and art pays homage to the old E.C. Horror Comics. Bart buys a comic at a yard sale and gets pretty spooked by the scary tale within the book. Bart’s reality starts to unravel when the real world and the fantasy world of horror comic books collide. This is a truly fun read with a surprise ending.
Tags: bart simpson, comic book, halloween, homer, review, star wars, the simpsons
Posted in art, comic books | Comments (0)
Misfits – The Devil’s Rain
October 6th, 2011 by chocko
Devil’s Rain is the first album of new material by the Misfits in almost a decade. The current lineup is Jerry Only on bass and vocals, Dez Cadena on guitars and Eric “Chupacabra” Arce on drums. First let’s focus on the positive, the packaging of the CD is awesome especially the cover art. The cover of the album featuring the Crimson Ghost was done by Arthur Suydam, known for his work with Heavy Metal magazine and the Marvel Zombies series. The inside of the digipak also features more art by Suydam, the art from “Twilight of the Dead” single and killer photos of the band by Mick Rock. The CD, released on Misfits Records, also comes with a glow-in-the-dark poster of the coolest looking album cover ever by Suydam and on the reverse side-a new photo of the band!
At this point in time, Jerry is the only original member in the Misfits (maybe that’s why his name is Jerry Only?) and ever since Glenn Danzig left the iconic horror-punk band in 1983, fans have been having a tough time dealing with his absence. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Jerry on lead vocals. His vocals come up flat at times and just lacks the power or anger to be singing punk songs. I actually would prefer Michale Graves back singing again. The album isn’t bad, all the elements are there: campy, horror themed punk rock (at times a little metal) songs mixed with some vintage rock influences and homages to sci-fi and classic monsters. Dez Cadena (original member of Black Flag) is in his 10th year as a member of the Misfits and he sings on two songs on the album, “Jack The Ripper” and “Death Ray”. The album was produced by Ed Stasium who produced the 1999 Misfits album “Famous Monsters” and whose track record includes working on albums by the Ramones and Talking Heads.
One of my favorites out of the new 16 songs are the Ramones influenced “Dark Shadows” where Jerry actually sounds decent on the track and the song is catchy. I also like “Father” which asks the question “Father have I the curse of the vampire?” which is a cool lyric. Jerry also sings best on 50’s inspired tracks “Monkey’s Paw” (co-written with Daniel Rey) and “Where Do They Go?” which includes girl backup vocals and handclaps. So, definitely give this disc a spin, but don’t expect to hear vintage Danzig-era stuff.
Tags: black flag, dez cadena, jerry only, ramones, review
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Feist played a Harlem Crypt
October 5th, 2011 by chocko
On the eve of the record release of her new album, “Metals”, Feist played in a crypt at the the Church of the Intercession on W. 155th St. in Harlem, NYC. It was an adventure getting the tickets, a record store in Brooklyn, Sound Fix had 100 tickets for the first people that pre-bought the new album. We luckily grabbed the last two tickets the store had and drove to Harlem and found parking right next to a cemetery. The small crowd of about 100 people were led into the creepy, dark, basement of the church where Feist played nearly an hour and a half of mostly new music along with a band which included a fellow Broken Social Scene member-Charles Spearin, an orchestra and backup singers-Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath, aka the folk trio Mountain Man. The performance was filmed by Mason Jar Music and hopefully we see some footage soon.
The incredible sounding acoustics in the room brought out the best in the music. The percussion sounded thundering, voices were crisp and the orchestra of strings, brass and woodwinds punctuated the new songs while breathing new life into the older Feist songs. Although, “1234” was written on a set list, I guess it was later decided to “86” it.
The small audience was treated to such a fun and special night of music in an intimate space. Hands down, my favorite highlight of the show was Feist’s performance of the new song “Graveyard” where the polite crowd whooped it up when the song crescendoed and sang the “Whoa, oh oh oh! Bring them all back to life” chorus at the end of the song. The crowd started up the sing along again for no reason at the start of the encore, with the band and backup singers joining in too. The song is that catchy!
SET LIST
A Commomotion
Undiscovered First
Mushaboom
How Come You Never Go There
The Bad In Each Other
The Circle Married The Line
So Sorry
Bittersweet Melodies
Anti-Pioneer
Woe Be
Sea Lion
Caught A Long Wind
Graveyard
Comfort Me
Get It Wrong, Get It Right
ENCORE
Pine Moon
When I Was A Young Girl
Let It Die
video by hypeceo
photos by chocko
Tags: broken social scene, church of intercession, lelie feist, mountain man, new york city, nyc, secret show
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Shepard Fairey: artwork in Asbury Park, NJ
October 4th, 2011 by Mr. C
“The Rebel Waltz” mural (depicting Paul Simonon – The Clash)
“Mount Rush-core”
(Joey Ramone,Johnny Rotten,Joe Strummer,Glenn Danzig,Ian Mackaye,Henry Rollins)
Tags: art, asbury park, revolution, shepard fairey
Posted in art, community, mr. c, music | Comments (0)
greetings from asbury park
October 4th, 2011 by Mr. C
(panoramic pics by mr c)
Tags: asbury park
Posted in community, mr. c, photos | Comments (0)
All Tomorrow’s Parties at Asbury Park,NJ: the hip hop connection
October 3rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Chuck D, Flavor Flav, DJ Lord, Professor Griff, and the S1W’s better known as Public Enemy # 1 performed at the All Tomorrow’s Parties in Asbury Park, NJ last weekend! They were accompanied by a live band which added another layer of funkiness to the situation along with the familiar screeching sounds of the PE sirens! Ree-mix! Part of me wanted the tracks to sound exactly like the cuts from the album, but the live band definitely added another tiered layer of flavor in ya’ ear which included some heavy guitar solos along with the funk in your face bass guitar and drums! Public Enemy were scheduled to play the entire Fear of the Black Planet album, but since Mogwai had to cancel because of health reasons, PE stepped up to the plate and played a two hour set of organized chaos! Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and crew always puts on a great live show! Flavor Flav stepped onto the stage wearing a hoodie but it slowly got unraveled into a Walter Payton # 34 jersey which eventually got morphed into a Run DMC shirt wearing his famous large clock to protect his neck! What time is it?! Chuck D would swirl around the wireless mic like a steel chain used as a weapon before tossing it in the air, casually darting off to catch it, and then swinging the mic with a baseball bat motion! Home run! Flavor Flav went full boar with his familiar knee high stomps, alternating knock’em out, sock’em out, left fist-right fist two step moves! Besides Fear of the Black Planet, PE played hits like Don’t Believe the Hype, Bring the Noise, Can’t Truss it, Shut’em Down, Rebel without a Pause, He got game, & Black Steel in the hour of chaos to just name a few! Some fun moments from the show included a fan going on stage to meet Chuck D & Flavor Flav and to recite lyrics from Don’t Believe the Hype before he proceeded to stage dive back to the floor with NO apparent arms waiting to keep him afloat! Mind you, he was a big guy! Flavor Flav also showed his worth while playing Timebomb on the drums!
Kool Keith, Ced Gee, & TR Love otherwise known as Ultramagnetic MC’s with the help of Kut Masta Kurt on the steels generated a bit of ultra g-funk themselves! Only Moe Luv & Tim Dog would be absent from the performance. It was great to see the swagger of Ced Gee and Kool Keith attack the stage! Kool Keith’s abstract lyrics accompanied by his high pitched tone is akin to a boxer shuffling back and forth with confidence in the ring to also know that he can still sting you with jabs of lyrical madness from outer space! Ced Gee is the total opposite as his no nonsense, pit bull like attitude comes straight at ya’ like a mike tyson right cross when he delivers his aggressive lyrical flow! Ced Gee’s ‘Delta Force one’ tune is still one of my favorite tracks from the Critical Beatdown album. Ultramagnetic MC’s style of sampling really changed the game of hip hop and added another funky dimension to the art form. TR Love & Kool Keith made sure to mention to the ATP crowd that Ced Gee was the mastermind behind all of the beats and production of Ultramagnetic! He also lent more than a helping hand in producing Boogie Down Production’s Criminal Minded. Mad ‘ree-speck’ mang!! The Ultra set that night included songs from the Critical Beatdown, Four Horsemen, & Dr. Octagon albums! Ego Trippin, Watch me now, one two-one two, Delta Force one, Ease back, give the drummer some, funky, & Poppa large were all represented!
El-P, DJ Mr. Len, & Bigg Jus collectively known as Company Flow, cold crushed the Asbury Park Convention center to a modest crowd before Public Enemy uprooted the stage! The ATP festival would be the 3rd reunion show for Company flow this year. Chocko is a big fan of CF and he attended the 1st reunion performance at Santos Party House in nyc last july. For myself, I’m a late comer to the Company Flow house party as I was stuck in a bubble listening to the Lost Boyz, Geto Boys, EPMD, & KRS-One. After listening to their set at the ATP festival, I asked myself: what took me so long to rock this funky joint?! My big bobble head really dug the Vital Nerve & the 8 steps to perfection tunes! I gotta catch up with the Funcrusher album!
Portishead was the headliner of the festival and they curated the event as well. It was much thanks to them along with the ATP organizers who made this smorgasbord of bands possible. It all started with the vision of the bands they wanted to see perform! Ultramagnetic MC’s, Public Enemy, Jeff Mangum, Swans, & The Pop Group are usually not mentioned in the same sentence but yet all have influenced many in the music industry. I might have found a music festival that is just as eclectic as my tastes in music!
Portishead also flew under my radar in the mid 1990’s. After I listened to their 1st album ‘Dummy’, I got hooked! Track # 2, Sour Times sounds like they share the same sample(Monk Higgins’s “Little Green Apples”) as Gang Starr’s “Code of the Streets”! The slow tempo, hip hop beats along with some funky sampling and turntable scratching coupled with the soul & jazz inspired vocals of Beth Gibbons really adds a trance like state of mind to groove in order to show and prove! Beth has that smooth, hypnotic, & mesmerizing vocals that sort of reminds me of Lisa Stansfield! Geoff Barrow, the drummer & turntablist is clearly influenced by hip hop which is why Public Enemy, Ultramagnetic MC’s, & Company Flow were on the same bill! Portishead played on Saturday & Sunday. I went to the Saturday show and it was amazing! The lead singer even surfed the crowd! I heard on Sunday’s performance, Chuck D came out on stage to lend some of his vocals from Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos to Portishead’s Machine Gun beat! Here’s the setlist and neat writeup of Portisheads’ performance on Saturday by Stereogum.
Reggie Watts, who I will loosely call the greatest entertainer provided a nice comedic relief to an otherwise dreary and rainy friday night on day 1 of the ATP Festival. I’m not sure how to describe Reggie but his mashup of improv with singing, the human beat box, sampling, recording loops on the fly, and comedy is something I’ve never seen before. He truly is a one man wrecking studio, a real talented mofo! Check this dude out if you get a chance! Your blood pressure will thank you!
Tags: all tomorrows parties, asbury park, atp festival, music
Posted in mr. c, music, photos | Comments (0)
Red Lanterns #1
September 29th, 2011 by chocko
You may have heard of Green Lantern and The Green Lantern Corps but The Red Lanterns are a group of aliens you don’t want to mess with. The first issue is a bit of an intro for the newbies. Atrocitus seeks revenge after The Guardians of the Universe, a group of immortal extraterrestrials who have the power to time travel and chop a planet in half, slaughter his people. Atrocitus forms the Red Lantern Corps, a blood thirsty band of misfits who go out to destroy and punish as “instruments of vengeance.” The leader of the Red Lanterns is in a bit of rut lately…feeling self doubt and feeling like his days consumed by hate just lacks the kick it used to have. Plus, he feels like nobody in the group respects him. After taking a break and receiving a blood prophecy, Atrocitus finds his purpose in life and off he goes into which is sure to be a life of relentless and bloody rampage. Will the rest of the Red Lantern crew join him for some revenge and violence? We shall see in future issues!
The story in the first issue is excellent and well paced. Kudos to writer, Peter Milligan who has worked on a ton of books for DC and Marvel including X-Men and Detective Comics. The history of the Red Lanterns is covered in the first issue, but it doesn’t get boring for the reader already well versed in the Lantern stories. The pencils by Ed Benes is amazing with attention to detail and the first couple of pages are a doozy. There’s the initial sequence where Dex-Starr, originally a house cat, flies through outer space bum rushes a spaceship full of bad, blue lizard-like aliens up to no good. The splash page is hilarious and the damage Dex-Starr does will get your blood pumping!
There is a little bit of info not covered in the issue, but the red rings the Red Lanterns wear send commands to the one wearing the ring to kill, hate, and destroy! The red rings are their power source, replacing their hearts and pumping red energy into their blood which is forced out of their mouths as they rage. It’s a big mess! If you can relate to violence, rage and a good old blood bath, then this book is for you!
Tags: comic book, dc comics, review, the new 52
Posted in art, comic books | Comments (0)
Portland Jam
September 28th, 2011 by chocko
Chocko recently landed the spaceship in the North West corner of the United States finding himself in Portland, Oregon…a city with great coffee, fun shopping, yummy food, and friendly people that love to ride bikes. Here are some places that you should check out especially if you’re on a budget! (The White Stag Sign pictured above is located at the White Stag Building, at 70 NW Couch Street)
About 80 miles west of Portland is Cannon Beach featuring the 235 foot Haystack Rock. It’s an amazing sight to see…you might recognize the beach from the Goonies movie. The drive to Cannon Beach is beautiful. There are mountains and forests for miles and miles. Sadly you can also see a ton of deforestation in the mountains.
Powell’s Books is an independent bookstore located at 1005 W Burnside and takes up a whole city block. If you’re a fan of books, this place will keep you busy. You’ll need a map to navigate all 4 floors of the Godzilla of indie bookstores. Open 365 days a year!
For snacks, try Voodoo Doughnut located at 22 SW 3rd Ave. and open 7 days a week and they’re open 24 hours. They got all kinds of doughnuts-vegan, ones with breakfast cereal as toppings and bacon too. I waited an hour one night for them suckers. If people in the Portland area see you carrying one of those pink voodoo boxes filled with doughnuts, good luck. You might as well be walking with a spotlight on you. Walk fast or you can kiss those doughnuts goodbye.
The gentle, cascading Wahkeena Falls is not too far of a drive from Portland. There’s a small bridge about a half mile hike from the base where you can get a closer look at the 242 ft. waterfall. The much more majestic 620 ft. Multnomah Falls is also in the vicinity and the Benson Bridge also offers a view that will knock your socks off, but be careful of the slippery trails and poison oak.
There are are hundreds of food carts in Portland. You can find a whole fleet of them parked around the perimeter of a parking lot on 10th Ave and Washington. All the food Chocko tried was delicious, but the favorite meal was the chicken pesto sandwich from Rotissol & Greens who specialize in healthy home cooking and for dessert, the banana pudding from A Little Bit of Smoke-a bbq joint right next door. So much food (inexpensive too!), so little time…gotta go back soon!
There are a ton of record stores in Portland, but the ones I went to were Everyday Music (1313 W. Burnside). They have a massive amount of stuff from vinyl (new and used), CDs and DVDs. I found some pretty good used CDs along the Sale wall. EM is a local chain and have several locations. Another store I enjoyed was Music Millennium (3158 E. Burnside) which has been around since 1969. They have a second floor devoted to vinyl and huge CD sections of every genre including hip hop, folk and classical. They host a lot of in-store events and their window decorations are the best! Another great Portland record store is Jackpot Records (203 SW 9th Ave). They have a great inventory that includes new and used records, CDs and collectibles. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips was in the house to promote the Strobo Trip Light & Audio Phase Illusions Toy which included a 6 hour song. The line wrapped around the block and the dude only brought 11 Strobo toys with him. C’mon now…
The Hoyt Arboretum in Washington Park was a highlight of the trip. There are 12 miles of trails to explore and plenty of trees, plants and flowers to see and smell. My favorite place was the Redwood Deck surrounded by huge redwoods and sequoias. I wanted to hug every tree there!
Another attraction in Washington Park is the International Rose Test Garden. Both the Arboretum and Rose Garden are free…no need to take the wallet out. There are 8000 rose bushes to check out and there is a really nice view of Mt. Hood from the Garden.
For $4 (roundtrip) you can ride the Portland Aerial Tram and get a spectacular bird’s eye view of the Lair Hill neighborhood and a bunch of highways and mountains. The tram travels back and forth between the South Waterfront Terminal and the OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University).
Food Fight! Vegan Grocery Store (1217 SE Stark St) is a great place to buy vegan mock meats and junk food. They also sell shirts, DVDs and stickers too. Herbivore Store (1211 SE Stark St) is located next door and sells vegan products, clothes, books, art and jewelry. Sweetpea Bakery (1205 SE Stark St) on the corner, sells vegan baked goods. I tried a pumpkin muffin. Damn good muffin! The Microcosm Store (636 SE 11th Ave) is located a couple blocks away and they sell zines and shirts. If you love zines then you must go there! They sell other things as well including shirts, movies and books. Microcosm Publishing puts out some of the best zines and books around. If you are planning a trip to Portland, I recommend picking up “The Zinester’s Guide to Portland” for info on cool, free, cheap and weird things to do in the Rose City.
(photos by chocko)
Tags: cannon beach, flaming lips, food fight!, haystack rock, herbivore store, hoyt arboretum, jackpot records, music millennium, oregon, review, sweetpea bakery, vegan, voodoo doughnuts, wayne coyne
Posted in art, food, music, photos, travel | Comments (0)
The Weird World of Blowfly (2010)
September 24th, 2011 by chocko
Director: Jonathan Furmanski
Starring: Clarence Reid as Blowfly, Tom Bowker, Otto Von Schrach
Genre: music documentary
The documentary, The Weird World of Blowfly is a wild ride with Clarence “Blowfly” Reid at the wheel. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, Clarence Reid was a well known writer and producer of many hit records from the R&B and Soul scene in Miami, Florida. Reid’s notorious alter ego, Blowfly donned a cape and mask while spitting X-rated raps and soul and disco parodies. Blowfly’s nasty party records sold like hot cakes, party people went to the shows and Blowfly became an underground sensation.
Before slipping away to obscurity, Blowfly joins forces with a drummer, Tom Bowker in 2005. Tom becomes Blowfly’s manager and drummer, they form a band, record new songs and take the show on the road. By this time, Blowfly is in his senior years and his arthritic knee and unhealthy food choices (the one scene where he’s eating a sloppy, greasy unidentifiable meal from McDonald’s is hilarious and sick!) ain’t helping the old man get the bills paid. The film focuses on Blowfly’s struggle for success while touring dingy bars in the United States and playing in front of unappreciative crowds in Germany.
Blowfly is the self proclaimed inventor of rap music, predating Sugar Hill Gang and Kurtis Blow, so it was nice to see legends such as Ice-T and Chuck D of Public Enemy talk a little bit about the controversial music of the masked man. One of my favorite scenes from the movie was a brief clip of Blowfly singing his X-rated version of Otis Redding’s “(Sitting on) The Dock Of The Bay” with Isaac Hayes on the piano. There’s some brief archival footage of early shows. Was that Henry Rollins in the front row checking out a Blowfly show? There’s also a tiny bit of footage from the “Fonky Party” video with Blowfly getting down with Rudy Ray Moore a.k.a. Dolemite. Check out the full video for some cameos by other Blaxploitation stars, Antonio “Huggy Bear ” Fargas and Jim “Blackbelt Jones” Kelly!
The movie is truly entertaining, weird and very funny. I enjoyed it and definitely put it up there with some of my favorite music documentaries such as Louie Bluie by Terry Zwigoff and Anvil! The Story of Anvil. During the opening weekend of the movie at The Quad Cinema in New York City, Blowfly sat and watched the movie with the audience and answered questions from the audience following the screenings. Check out Saturday’s q&a below. He was more than happy to sign autographs for his fans and even serenaded quite a few of them with his filthy songs. Check out the movie The Weird World of Blowfly but please leave the kids at home!
(photo by chocko)
FONKY PARTY
Jason Newman (freelance writer and editor) interviews BLOWFLY and Director Jonathan Furmanski at THE QUAD CINEMA in NYC 09.17.11.
BLOWFLY and Director Jonathan Furmanski at THE QUAD CINEMA in NYC
Tags: Clarence Reid, documentary, Jonathan Furmanski, movie, The Quad Cinema
Posted in movies, music | Comments (0)
GIRLFIGHT (2000) — friday night fights at the movies!
September 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Karyn Kusama
Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Ray Santiago, Santiago Douglas, Jaime Tirelli,
Genre: boxing drama
This film is on my top 10 favorite boxing movies of all time. It offers a look at a raw, gritty, and unglamorous look at boxing under the covers without all of the hollywood bon bons. Girlfight is Michelle Rodriguez’s breakout film and she defintely broke out with an intense portrayal of Diana Guzman, a troubled teen in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn with a Dad that was abusive to her mom. The opening sequence of the film would reveal that signature cold, death stare that cuts like a knife which Michelle Rodriguez would be known for. Those freaking eyes my lad, those killer eyes! She is one intense young lady with the looks and a left hook that kills! Diana’s bottled up anger would be present at school and at home with her father and younger brother. She would eventually find her solitude in the art of boxing as her anger would turn into rage with technique! A deadly combination! She discovers boxing when she escorts her brother, Tiny (Ray Santiago) home from training at the front street boxing gym after she pays the trainer for his services as instructed by the shit head dad! Diana adores the soft spoken and gentle Tiny as she acts like a bodyguard for him. She even cold clocks a boxer who lended a cheapshot to her little bro! Soon, Diana would seek out Hector the trainer (Jaime Tirelli) so she can fuel her anger with boxing and also to have an outlet to express herself and more importantly, express it on someones face! Hector would soon fill the shoes of that father figure that Diana wished she had. Suffice to say, she would also have a confrontation with the real dad in her own brooklyn way!
After being tweaked into a well tuned fighting machine at the renowned boxing gym in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn (Gleason’s Gym), Diana would not turn down any bouts including fights with males and a more established women boxer. All would get a chance to taste that Red Hook thunder with her thudding combinations in the ring! Things would get turned upside down as she meets Adrian (Santiago Douglas), a boxer from Gowanus who is looking to get out of the hood courtesy of his fists. Love would be their next opponent as they bob and weave through a few hood rats, obstacles, and emotional monkeys! A surprise bout in the ring between Adrian vs Diana scheduled by their promoters would test their relationship…and their chins!
Girlfight is a raw in your face film, y’all! Michelle Rodriguez is the urban Million Dollar Baby! Check out this joint if it somehow eluded you!
Tags: boxing, movies, mr c
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
Hong Kong TVB’s reality show: KUNG FU STAR
September 21st, 2011 by Mr. C
A reality show/competition in Hong Kong to search for the next new Kung Fu movie star cropped up on the TVB Channel last month! The show’s name is roughly translated as “Kung Fu’s new star” or “Kung Fu Supernova”. I’ve only watched the first episode and it was pretty darn entertaining! Some old school judges included the great Lau Kar Yung (The Young Master,Tigress of Shaolin, Shaolin Disciples,Dragon’s Claw), Shaw Brother’s favorite lady: Kara Hui Ying Hung (Dirty Ho, My Young Auntie, Lady is the Boss), & Tony Leung Siu Hung (Actor/Stuntman/choreographer: 36 Crazy Fists,Enter the Fat Dragon,Angel,Long Arm of the Law).
The hosts of the show boasts the slick duo of MC Jin, hip hop artist from NYC, currently residing in HK and Chin Ka Lok, veteran HK actor/stunt choreographer.
There were 12 contestants on the 1st show and two would go home that night! I think there’s a total of 6 shows! Some categories of competition include martial arts, stunts, & acting! The 1st episode included performances with the double nunchucks, a spear set, a karate form, a young lady doing a broadsword routine, a pole form, & the competitors running through a glass door?!
Here’s Lau Kar Yun & Tony Leung Siu Hung giving some advice to the contestants:
To be continued….
Tags: action, hong kong, tv shows
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
True Legend (2010) screening at Museum of the Moving Image + Rock Steady Crew
September 19th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Yuen Woo Ping
Stars: Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Jay Chou, Michelle Yeoh, Andy On, David Carradine, Gordon Liu, Cung Le
Genre: Qing dynasty period piece, kung fu action
True Legend was shown at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of the Fist and Sword programming hosted by Warrington Hudlin. Following the screening, Sifu Jose Figueroa, a Chen style Tai Chi specialist and Jo Jo Torres, one of the original founding members of the Rock Steady B-boy crew will discuss and demonstrate the dynamics of kung fu and breakdancing! Jose & Jo Jo have been childhood friends since elementary school while growing up in the Bronx. Why are they having a panel on b-boying and kung fu? Because this movie will put both of these elements on display! And because both of these art forms have been meshed together in urban areas since the kung fu craze & hip hop madness from the 1970’s!
As the Director & fight choreographer of True Legend, Yuen Woo Ping would deliver an old school vicious throwdown enhanced with technology accompanied by a simple plot: revenge, revenge, & more revenge! The drunken fist style would get a spotlight in this film to no-ones surprise along with a nice dosage of ground fighting inspired from the power moves of breakdancing! Yuen Woo Ping, if you didn’t know was responsible for cult favorites such as the Drunken Master, Drunken Tai Chi, Iron Monkey, Dance of the Drunk Mantis, Wing Chun, & the Tai Chi Master besides many, many modern HK martial art films! Woo Ping had an early vision of incorporating breakdance in his Fu movies with Donnie Yen in the 80’s like Mismatched Couples & Drunken Tai Chi. His father was the great Kung Fu film legend Simon Yuen who often specialized in drunken boxing playing the role of beggar So or Sam Seed aka Ol’ Dirty! All the old skool fans will know what I’m talking about!
The cast would reveal the ultimate who’s who list filled with old school, new school, every school, mixed martial artists, pop stars, & even contained the last performance by the late David Carradine before his untimely death. The lead character was played by the chinese wushu beast himself, Vincent Zhao (The Blade & Once Upon a Time in China) while being backed up with tremendous help from the kitchen including the capable Andy On and Jay Chou (Green Hornet). For the additional wow factor & for the salt over the shoulder effect, veterans David Carradine, Gordon Liu, & Michelle Yeoh would be the tie in for old school flavor! Even mixed martial artist, Cung Le was thrown into the True Legend wok to stir up the dragon’s flame! The fighting choreography was fast, furious, superhero like, and sometimes dreamy but the action still managed to come off as dark and gritty especially when the crazy Yuan destroyed anyone in his path with the 5 venoms fist style along with his stitched in body armour of steel to his flesh! This is one of those movies where the fight scenes probably dominated most of the screen time and thank god it did because it more than made up for the wack & lack of story! The setting of the movie takes place at the end of the Qing dynasty when General Su (Vincent Zhao) and his adopted brother, General Yuan (Andy On) barely get back to home base after a brutal battle. Su is praised by his leader and recommends to the emperor to promote him as governor for his brave mission. Yuan will rage on with deep disgust. However, General Su decides to retire from the cause to spend time with his wife and kid and concentrate on a life of martial arts while the brother heads back into the mayhem of the battlefield. When Yuan comes back from the war, he will unleash the beast with his deadly venom techniques! The first half of the film will concentrate on family dynamics and filial piety or lack thereof! Michelle Yeoh would make a cameo as a legendary healer from the mountains! The God of Wushu (Jay Chou) and the Sage (Gordon Liu) would play the role as the mysterious walk on water kung fu masters offering a beatdown in order to reach the next chow down! Is Su fighting for redemption or is he battling an inner demon? Su would eventually learn to develop some new techniques known as the drunken style while he encounters a drunk in a restaurant! Floor techniques from breakdancing would get thrown in the mix with drunken flare as windmills, freezes, and plenty of familiar down rock routines were used as a perfect weapon! The old Rock Steady Crew in attendance at the theater were hootin’ and hollerin’ when the familiar B-Boy moves were magnified on the screen! Head spinning and one armed freeze techniques was a sight to see from Beggar Su! It was definitely a fun sequence with solid choreography! The latter part of the film would segue into a fighting tournament with larger than life opponents in a win or die state of mind! General Ma, one of Su’s confidants from the militiary would find himself in this death match. Beggar Su and his son would stand by his side as his B-Boy backup ready to take battle on stage when called! The bottom line with True Legend is that if you are familiar with Yuen Woo Ping’s intricate fight choreography on his films in the past, you will surely appreciate the martial arts action being put forth in this project as well. Like I said earlier, the fight scenes dominate most of the screen time and just as well because the plot was nothing to write home about. The visuals were incredible, though! I’m not a huge fan of CGI but I felt in this case it really complimented the scenes in order to relay their super human abilities. I can only imagine the sensory overload if I actually saw True Legend in 3D! When the credits were rolling after the film, we all gave a nice applause in memory to David Carradine.
I can’t wait to purchase this film on Blu ray when it becomes available!
After the movie, sifu Jose Figueroa and Jo Jo Torres talked about their backgrounds and the influence of kung fu films with breakin’ and vice versa. Yuen Woo Ping would pay homage to the b-boys by implementing their culture into his films as early as the 1980’s with Mismatched Couples featuring Donnie Yen. He would do so again with True Legend!
This event ended with Jose, Jo Jo, and other O-G members of the 1st generation of the Rock Steady Crew forming a circle with the audience before they took the show to the floor! A nice steady mix of Jimmy Castor’s “It’s just begun” would light the fire for Jose as he swept the floor like he wanted to take down the crowd with drunken vengeance! I think Jo Jo Torres would of blew a load if “Apache” by the Incredible Bongo Band would of came on! Jo Jo did an amazing headspin as he cut up the floor like it was the 1970’s! The moves that father time has taken away was made up for by great energy and that B-Boy attitude! It was really fun to watch this old crew of masters from the Bronx get down!
Tags: hong kong, mr c, rock steady, yuen wo ping
Posted in art, movies, mr. c, photos | Comments (0)
