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Eddie's Media Corner
Eddie's Media Corner #9
Previous issues
This is the dawning of the Age of You Know What, and things aren't as bad out there in media land as I had anticipated.
In fact, if you kind readers will indulge me, I will let you know in the words ahead what twists my dials as Millennium Three kicks in. I must preface this edition with the disclaimer that I really don't get out much anymore. Oh, it's nothing medical, or even interesting. I just don't. And after all, with a plethora of brilliant television programs, movies, CDs and books at my disposal, why should I--or you for that matter--leave the comfort of our homes. Or our parent's homes, if we're really lucky.
So, I hear you asking, what is it that Eddie has been reading lately?
A fair question.
The most current book in the library is Dean Koontz's latest, From The Corner of His Eye
Hang on for a scary ride with Orange County's most frightening export. This one had me booing the villian and doubting my capacity to even read about this twisted bastard's evil exploits for a second longer, when as usual, Mr. K steps up the ante with a three-dimensional supporting cast and an amazing hero. Believe me, you'll NEED an infusion of that "heart" by the time it's introduced in the pages of this guaranteed top-ten thriller. And someone to clean up the fingernails from the floor. You'll be a mess, but it's all good fun and wll worth the ride. Check this out: Joe Stefko, Turtles' drummer extrordinaire and owner of Charnel House Publishing is issuing an extremely limited, beautifully bound, numbered and signed edition of this book. There's only one thing better than reading a good book, and that is reading a good book that is a pleasure to hold, and aestetically pleasing to the eye. Joe's books are always a tactile sensation as well as a literary one, and I highly recommend that the serious among you contact Joe through either his link at this very site or by clicking here on Charnel House. In this time of doubtful investments, this one's a lock.Friends of this column will also be familiar with my high praises often sung for another Orange County fantasy author, the brilliant Mr. Tim Powers. Everything you know is wrong. He's better than that. His most current release proves him to be miles ahead of any other author in the wide genre of dark fantasy. Declare by Tim Powers is an amazing testimony to organization, to layers of information laced with terror and intrigue, and to a slant on possible pasts and plausable futures that is at once disturbing and totally romantic. Under the guise of a "spy novel", Declare launches the reader into the covert life of one of history's forgotten heroes and the genuine players and situations that surrounded him. Keeping the story tense and complicated as well as filling actual holes in history is Power's forte and he is at his peak here. Tim usually takes the better part of two years to research a novel before he sits down at the word processor, and it pays off here...big time. I absolutely loved this book. You'd be crazy not to.
On the DVD front, I'm in heaven with my new laptop. I guess that we'll all have multiple DVD players in the future, and I'm all for it. So, for those who care, I've been watching the following at home and now, on the road.
Spinal Tap I know...No one needs me to tell them that this is the best rock movie (well, if you don't count A Hard Day's Night, also currently available on DVD), but man, if you don't own the disc on this one, you are a bona fide jerk! There is a solid 4 1/2 hours of brilliance on this little piece of plastic. A full comentary of the film, start to finish, with all three Tap members, in character and at the top of their improv game; nearly two hours of deleted scenes...in effect, a totally NEW Spinal Tap documentary; music videos, tv ads, theatrical trailers. Every DVD should strive for the perfection of this issue. Hats off to Mr. Reiner and all at Castle Rock.
Fight Club's on DVD now...you had better buy it. Or else.
American History X is yet another Edward Norton film that demands ownership.
All of the Kevin Smith films are out in beautiful DVD editions... they would be Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma. Smith is a genius, and I do believe that if I could ever just sit down for an hour or two with Jay and Silent Bob, we could solve all the problems of the universe. For the uninitiated among you, I highly, HIGHLY recommend viewing these flix in chronological order and pay special attention to the bonus dialog tracks and "making of" documentary footage.High Fidelity, one of the best movies of this or ANY year also deserved and received a brilliant DVD package. This one's a film that I can watch, and HAVE, over and over again. John Cusack reasserts his genius with every nuance of every role, and Jack Black of Mr. Show and Tenatious D fame not only steals the show, but pretty much sets up his future as an actor in his bravura performance. And the music rocks!
It also rocks in South Park; Bigger, Longer and Uncut, where Trey Parker's evil mind and Mark Shaiman's Oscar-caliber compositions have made the best musical for the screen since... well, I don't know...maybe since Tommy, another must-have disc.
Horror fans note, Lucio Fulci's masterpiece of terror, The Beyond, is newly available for the first time in America, uncut and widescreen. It comes in two versions, with the second limited to 20,000 copies and preserved in an impressive metal case feauring posters and lobby cards from this lost Italian classic's original theatrical run. It's fun and repulsive too.
Sad to see that although many great TV shows are following the lead taken by HBO with their sets of Sex and the City and The Sopranos, like Fox's X-Files boxes, many shows are reluctant, or at least waiting for syndication before slapping the shows onto a disc. Buffy, we're waiting.
Who here has never seen Farscape?
It is an absolutely brilliant program broadcast in the U.S. on the Sci-Fi Channel. The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Hall of Fame people have combined to put together a series that, at any given time, rivals the best of Roddenbery's Star Trek. The characters are accessable, though not-neccessarily human, and the stories are full of valor and humor. Oh, did I mention that the space ship was alive and that the show also featured puppets. Well, more acurately Muppets. This IS a Henson show, after all.
It is to love.But if that's not weird enough for you, there is always, Lexx.
Lexx, quite simply, is the strangest, silliest, most bizarre, sexiest, prettiest, rudest, dumbest, smartest and currently, my FAVORITE program on television. These stone-freaks are a Canada-Germany co-production, and perhaps that says it all. But suffice to say that Stan --captain and idiot, Kai--the 2000 year old dead assasin, 790--the love struck robot head, Lexx himself --another living ship, and especially Zev (formerly Xev)--half love slave and half lizard (yummmmmm) have earned permanent places in my heart. Life without Lexx wouldn't be worth living. (sigh)Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David, creator of Senfeld, has his own HBO series and it's wonderful. The Invisable Man now rocks in syndiacation as well as on Sci Fi.
Dennis Miller, Chris Rock, Beggers and Chosers, Rude Awakenings, Stargate SG-1 for all you cable people,
I must publically take my hat off to close friend, Therese dePrez, she of the brilliant Production Design, for introducing me many many months ago to the music of Yo La Tengo. Let me say that again in case you didn't get that...
Yo La TengoThis is far and away my favorite band. In fact, to my ears, this is the best thing to hit music in decades, and I guess that I was among the last to know about them. I feel like the Close Encounters ship landed about ten years ago, and no one told me about it. Ira Kaplan and his wife and co-conspiritor Georgia Hubley have distilled music down to fantastic chord progressions, tender lyrics and inspired performances that have guided them on the tiny Matador record label to become alternative music's most popular couple over the past ten or eleven years. My first experience was hearing their classic, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (1997) , not more than a year ago. My jaw hit the ground. The elegance of Eno and the compassion of Ray Davies...unforgetable. Then I bought their more recent CD, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,(2000), and my "rush" could only be discribed as akin to that of first hearing Rubber Soul. I kid you not. If you're a romantic, of ANY age of musical taste, you will LOVE these guys. and soon you too will own, Electr-o-Pura President Yo La Tengo/New Wave Hot Dogs Genius Plus Love =Yo La Tengo May I Sing With Me Painful Fakebook Ride the Tiger Danelectro
There could be more, and I'm sure that they have a website...
When you click there, just tell 'em Eddie sent you.And finally, a gentle reminder, kind readers. For the best gift idea this winter, or to suppliment your own collection, it is MANDITORY that you purchase Rhino's latest DVD, Happy Together, The History of the Turtles
Formerly availble only on VHS, this great documentary (I can say that, because we didn't produce it, Rhino did) features clips from the Sullivan show, the Smothers Brothers, and tons of others as well as interviews, behind the scenes stories and little-known facts about the sixties happiest portly icons. Newly remastered in Rhinophonic Sound, the records that were hits more than thirty years ago finally surround you from all speakers and the effect is pretty amazing. Really. You should own this one.Ok...
That's it.
No more preaching to the initiated.
Enjoy your winter, watch the site for tour updates and keep your eyes peeled to this page for some very surprising updates in March and April. Thanks for spending a few minutes of your precious internet time with me.the artist formerly known as EDDIE
aka Howard Kaylan
01/24/01
Web design by Doug Grose for Flo & Eddie Inc.