Some odds and ends I need to get on the blog, so I can make room for other items.
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I just saw the short film GOD AND SHAKESPEARE courtesy of NZSHORTFILM.COM. Being a fan of hyperbole and florid language, I quite liked it. Irreverent, and humorous, while having some heart to it. Good stuff. Plus the woman who makes an appearance as Venus…. HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA. (Yes I am quite mature).
There’s another one called FLAT at GUERILLAFILMMAKERS.COM. While the site appears to be out of date, the short film is still available for download. A well done cautionary tale. Ladies you should watch this one.
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Site of the day: The Earchives. You gotta love that name, and the fact that it’s Microsoft free. 
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The diverse downloading options for video are drying up as sites increasingly accept itunes and youtube as defacto distribution standards.
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I just saw the preview for THE WOLFMAN and it looks… FANTASTIC. But I admit to being a werewolf fan, but that said it still looks astounding. Though the director issues do not fill me with confidence. The preview may be the best thing about the film, but we’ll see.
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Archive.org offers two great silent version of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. Both versions come highly recommended.
http://www.stephenkingshortmovies.com/ is a site, that true to its name is filled with trailers and links to Stephen King related films, interviews, etc.
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Sidestepping into music for a second:
NO ESCAPE FROM THE BLUES:THE ELECTRIC LADY SESSIONS by James Blood Ulmer
I wanted to like this album more than I did. The strongest ones for me were tracks 3 (WHO’S BEEN TALKING), 4(GHETTO CHILD), 5(ARE YOU GLAD TO BE IN AMERICA), and #10 (SATISFY). But even these tracks were not a slam dunk for me, took a few listens on a couple tracks for me to give the thumbs up. The remaining tracks were even more problematic, the British have a saying,”taking a piss”.
Ulmer is an educated man, so there’s a sense of artifice, for me at least in his slurring words and making vocals unclear. It kind of takes me out of the moment. Though to be fair, Ulmer doing it is no different from generations of white musicians, from Elvis to Wolfman Jack to Eminem, making their careers adopting the sound of darker men, who paid dearly to forge such a sound.
So I don’t begrudge Ulmer the artifice, artifice perhaps being the wrong word, as Ulmer unlike others is of the same turmoil and tempermant that forged those who birthed the blues… however for me the songs failed for the most part to connect with me.
For me the strongest ones are the ones I mentioned, which he (with one exception) wrote. Which tells me there is some validity to my complaint. People write Blues songs for Ulmer, songs they want him to be someone else, Ulmer writes Ulmer songs. And it’s about his search for himself. And the difference is staggering.
When he sings his own songs, I believe them.
So all in all, It’s worth a listen, I mean it is sonically a well mastered CD, and the instrumentals are fantastic. Ulmer has some fantastic guitar work going on here. Ulmer’s skill is not open to question. But for me, after several listens, my reservations with the majority of the album remains. B-/C+.
I’ve recently ordered Ulmer’s debut album TALES OF CAPTAIN BLACK and really looking forward to it. I’ll provide a review just as soon as I can listen to it a few times.
