Invader Enters & Leaves Under the Radar

French street artist Invader has hit San Diego with his signature 80s adopted-style taken directly from the arcade game Space Invaders. There are a few scattered around the city. This one is on the Blick's Arts & Supply building at India Street in Little Italy.

I was more a fan of Asteroids and Battle Zone. Maybe I too can become a famous street artist drawing green rocks and geographic tank outlines on buildings if I just got off the weed.

A is for A-Team, B is for B Movie, C is for Complete Escapism

First off, thanks to my friend who clued me in about the best pirate movie site out there. I had a few friends over for some dinner, a little vaporized sativa and the A-Team movie. I remember watching the original series when I was growing up and it was never ever good. Each new season actually got worse (there were five seasons in total) until it was canceled in 1986. But thanks to our friends in Hollywood, every television show or toy with a modicure of commercial success is ripe for a remake, rebirth or (my most hated euphemism) re-imagination.

The A-Team movie though is wonderfully over-the-top, summer escapism. The plot is half-baked, but the casting for the film is stupendous. High praise for casting Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith, the man who loves when a plan comes together, and a scene stealing Sharlto Copley, of District 9, as the lunatic pilot "Howling Mad" Murdock. The plot moves like a rogue bowling ball tossed down a huge hill until scenes between "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Copper) and his ex-girlfriend Captain Charisa Sosa (Jessica Biel) cause the entire movie to come to a celluloid stopping halt. Beside this, it's flying tanks, implausible escapes and a fun time.

And for all those haters, with the economy in the toilet and tons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, whose interested in sitting in the dark pondering the dark realities of the real world? Light up and go stream the A-Team.

Larry Fessenden: Indy Film Hero

Fessenden needs to make and star in more movies beside I Sell The Dead (which had potential with Ron Pearlman and Dominic Monaghan, but ended up sucking). I wish I could give a more critical breakdown, but I fell asleep so there you go. Quality and even quantity doesn't have to be that monumental (thus the marijuana in our movie night; just like chocolate in your peanut butter or mustard on your hot dog). Stick to engaging films like The Room, Mega Shark Vs. Grant Octopus or Alligator which have all been previously and better reviewed on this site then this weak post.

Getting back to Larry Fessenden. Go rent Habit. It is one of the best modern day vampire films which he stars and directs. And while you are at it, also see The Last Winter which he directed. Fuck Avatar, this is an environmental parable and ghost story all wrapped into one. All together now: Larry Fessenden!

Alligators in the sewers? Are you high?

Why yes, there are. And, yes, I am. In Alligator, there is a big, goddamn alligator living in the sewer which has been feeding on a steady diet of dead, lab tested dogs for a good twelve years. Our male pattern balding cop (a very bad running joke throughout the entire film) is the first to face the monstrous reptile and live, but, surprise, no one believes him. That is until it breaks through a concrete sidewalk and begins a human buffet of extreme prejudice though out the city.

I have not seen this movie for many years and forgot about the side plots of the crooked industrialist's chemical dumping, corrurpt politicans getting their comeuppance, and wonky experimetal drugs causing insatiable appetites in any animal who ingests them.

Director and writer John Sayles has worked with these kind of themes before in Piranha and many of his other films. In more recent years, Sayles has made his stance more politically upfront in the pro-union Matewan and might-makes-right Men With Guns.

And in my slightly stoned state, I began to think about capitalism running around out of control (offshore drilling comes to mind) and decimating everything in its path for more marketshare and bigger profits. So weither this is a monster movie or clever metaphor in gator clothing, I would suggest giving it a try.

Lifeguard - Every Girl's Summer Dream

The notorious June gloom has descended onto our fair weather city causing us all to look out our windows and then go back to scratching around our places waiting for the summer to begin. Don't despair. Our glorious summer will be here soon. Pack up a little kush and rent Lifeguard to prepare you for the beach.

This throw back to more innocent times in Southern California will conjure up visions of black light posters, vintage vets and hairy chested, hunky lifeguards. Sam Elliott, my favorite biker with a heart of gold from Mask, plays the introspective Rick Carlson. Rick is a 32 year old lifeguard who has pangs of regret he is throwing his life away when he goes back to his fifteen year old high school reunion and reconnects with an old flame played by Anne Archer. In his attempt to go straight and lead a "normal life," he considers leaving the beach to sell Porsches for a living. But there is more to life then money, materialism and...well, it does get a little hippie, but the film was made in 1976 so you got to cut it a little slack. Well worth seeing while being baked as you wait on our Pacific waters to warm and the sky to clear.

On a personal note, Elliott's mustache should have won an Oscar for its awesomeness in this film.

Loving Your Own City...Its Good for You

It may be a snarky thumb in the eye from our friends in NYC (where the company who made this shirt resides), but I read it as a reminder to look at all the great stuff in my own city. So yes, go out there and do something in your city you can't do anywhere else. Hit up your favorite dive bar or go to your favorite restaurant or visit your best friends. Give it some love because that's where your ass is now. If you hate the place, I suggest moving.

This posting is dedicated to my friend Dave Brown for his positivity and his great site Holiday Matinee. Keep up the good work!

Super Badass!

This flip was done on a 566 pound bike. Amazing, skilled and stone crazy!

Skin Fruit @ The New Museum

I am sitting in a Seattle coffee shop thinking about getting back to my little corner of California, but this entry is about an amazing art show I went to last week in NYC.

The New Museum's current show, Skin Fruit Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection, was recently recommended to me as a must see and it was simply stunning. It's hard to write about much of the show as the work shown was so shocking, off-putting and disturbingly mind confounding...and I could not look away.

Jeff Koons' curated this show and being familiar with his work, I knew the art selected would be provocative and challenging. Art mediums ranged from written text on index cards to video installations to paint/canvas/elephant dung to towering sculptures looming over you in the story high gallery rooms.

I've bought the catalog to the show so I can track all the incredible artists there. Many of them were shown here for the first time in the in U.S. Since Dakis Joannou is a private collector, he's asked the New Museum to not allow photography of any kind and the guards are on you if you make any attempt to snap a shot. Thanks to Nini and her stealthy iPhone in getting the partial shot of Maurizio Cattelan's full size JFK in an open casket. He was in a full suit, but barefoot. Let the creepiness creep over you.

Death by Samari Sword in The Valley

The porn industry is weird & unpredictable and the talent drawn to that world are out of their fucking minds. Exhibit A lies below.

The War on Drugs Is Paying Off

Your tax dollars at work. Sickening.