Culture

Ever wanted a list of Shaw Brothers movies that got four or more stars from Kung Fu Cinema? Yeah, me too. So I made one.

George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead has entered the public domain, which means anyone who likes can digitize the whole thing and stick it up online for you (yes you) to download. And I’m not about to spoil a set-up like that by skipping the punchline (original). No bittorrent yet.

The Celestial Pictures DVD restoration of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is maybe the clearest print of a Hong Kong movie I’ve ever seen. It’s beautifully vivid. The only thing that’d beat it would be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I’m not sure I can count that. OK, look, it’s this pretty: Look at those reds and blues. They pop. In fact, my only complaint may be that it’s a little too vivid, but I’m not sure that’s not just my modern eyes watching a 70s Technicolor epic. ...

Sherman Cafe, in Union Square, has free wireless. The coffee is pretty good, too. Good place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon.

I just read the last issue of Cerebus. That’s it; ain’t any more. For an insane guy, Dave Sim sure draws a pretty comic. It never stopped being gorgeous. I wish I could say kinder things about it; I am staggered by the weight of it. Thousands upon thousands of pages. There have been few such extended achievements. When both he and Gerhard are dead, Cerebus will enter the public domain. He has arranged for the negatives to remain with trustworthy custodians, and they will be available to those who wish to reprint any portion of it. The attentive will notice that those two statements are not entirely congruent. Who knows? I’m going to spoil the end now.

Celestial Pictures is restoring and rereleasing 75% of the Shaw Brothers library on DVD (original). Alas, they’re all region 3 DVDs. If only I’d just purchased a region-free DVD player… Oh, wait. I did.

Who doesn’t need more books? Lorem Ipsum (original), the hot new used bookstore in Inman Square, is throwing a grand opening party (original) this Friday at 7 PM. My brother made their bookshelves. They have a blog (original). They’re cool. See you there.

Hey, look — liberal talk radio (original). That actually fits the pattern. The news media is slanting increasingly conservative, but the entertainment media is darned liberal.

Moriarty reviewed The Passion over on AICN; unlike most of the Passion reviews on AICN, his was fairly negative. I note his review not because of that directly, but because of some of the replies to the review: “Most movies that are made in Hollywood are anti-white? Hollywood is controlled by jews. Most Hollywood movies have British and German villains. Blacks are overrepresented on TV. They’re either seen as the “victim” or superior to Whites. Blacks are NEVER portrayed negatviely, whereas whites are always the villains. Clearly this is anti-white racism at the hands of Hollywood jews.” ...

William Cork is keeping a very good blog on The Passion. I pretty much concur with his thoughts on the movie, which are summarized here (original). I still think Mel Gibson is a well-meaning individual, but until he takes a deep breath and acknowledges that his father is a lunatic and that his movie is going to inspire hatred, it really doesn’t matter what his motivations are. Take a look at some Hutton Gibson quotes from the link above (via Orcinus): ...