Bear

Negura Bunget news: The band's not been the same after Sol Faur and Hupogrammos left, but I still like everything they've done till now and is very much looking forward to this.

Yeah, you've got a point but The Stalin is essential, not only for Japanese music and punk, but for punk in general. Should've been there for sure IMO.

Yeah, the LotR comparrison was exaggerated, but the point still stands though. Let's take Back to the Future instead. Yes, you can start on #2 og #3 without any single problem as they both stand fine on their own legs, but by watching the first you'll get to properly know the characters, the story, and not at leas the universe, and even though they are not connected the same way as LotR, watching the first one will improve on the second and third one. Same goes for Ip Man. There's not a problem starting on the second film, because it stand fine on its own legs, but you will miss a lot and by watching the first one you will make the second one better and more interesting than it is by its own. I have a general rule, but it might only concern me as I am quite the film nerd: Always start at the begining! And why didn't you want to watch Star Wars? I thought it was excellent, and while not on the same level as the original trilogy it's still superb and a must-watch IMO. Space opera done right.

Ancient will release their first album in 11 years this year. Now, I'm not a fan of the band but everything up until and including Trolltaar are fantastic, and there's some decent music to be found on The Cainian Chronicle and The Halls of Eternity as well. I can't say I expect anything good from this album, but I'll check it out just based on their 93-95 releases. Awful cover, but Nick Barker looks like one badass motherfucker on the new picture. He looks like someone I just do not want to fuck with: From the debut album: Great album, unique in so many ways. You won't find another album with similar atmosphere. They had something completely different going on. The imagery is really fucking cool too. The band looked amazing back then.

Because Japan, eels and porn are three words that are closely connected.

Thought that list looked fairly good, but the lack of Sabbat, G.I.S.M., X Japan, Disclose, The Stalin and general punk is quite disturbing. I also think both Feedbacker and Live At Roadburn 2008 is weird-as-fuck choices. But other than that it looks surprisingly good IMO.

Born Invincible - A martial arts tour the force by Joseph Kuo, and a rather straight-forward Joseph Kuo b-film. There's not too much story to dig into, but 60-65 of the film's 83 minutes are brilliantly choreographed fights with some nice acrobatics and cheese thrown in, as well as some badass, campy villains that you cannot help but dig. I love me some cheese, and I love meself some martial arts, and this is full of both. Great film! I love seeing seeing our hearoes "cheat" as well. "Cheating" heroes tend to be the best heroes. A cool cast too featuring Carter Wong, Jack Long and Lo Lieh among others. Badass! Challenge of the Masters - Straight-forward Chia-Liang Liu flick with Gordon Liu, Yue Wong and Lily Li in the leads. A much deeper film than Born Invincible takes brings up questions about discipline and morale. It's shot, choreographed and executed with such flair it looks like it was a mid-80's film, and not a film from 76 and that's very cool. Gordon Liu is the star here. He's got great acting skills and amazing screen presence. He was a star in the making at the time, and you could just see he was gonna make it. The kid had everything!

Even these; Strid Make a Change... Kill Yourself Xasthur Krohm Grisâtre

Perihelion Ship i a cool choice. Discovered the album yesterday, which finally made my total albums for January 3! A couple of listens and I am very impressed. Heard a lot of Opeth, Ihsahn and later Emperor in the band's sound, but not by any means a copy cat or anything. Looking forward to spinning it more. Will come back later.

Banshee Chapter - Found footage horror loosely based on H.P Lovecraft's "From Beyond", as well as the loose H.P Lovecraft adaption "From Beyond", mixed with the history of hallucinogenic drug experiments done in america. A completely different film than From Beyond in most ways, but there's some similarity, and it was a very good one IMO. Very simple and straight-forward, but super effective and atmospheric. I was really impressed with Katia Winter who's the driving force in the film. Super impressed with her. It does feature what I would call cheap jump scares, but they're well done and doesn't take away any of the atmosphere. So I didn't mind them at all. The Bay - Cool found footage "eco-horror" that did the trick, but without ever reaching the hights it so easily could've reached. It's very creepy and pretty effective at times, but a bit uneven. But when it works, it really does work. Some truly great special effects and lots of fun. The Mist - Dark, tense and eerie horror film that'll make think a bit about some things. I think the film is 15-20 minutes too long, but the cast is great, the atmosphere better and the plot even better. The monsters looked a bit weird at times, but there was one shot that was incredible and H.P Lovecraft worthy. Looked very Lovecraft-inspired, and the shot itself makes the film worth a look. I liked how the people in this film so easily was divided and shit. Very cool. I thought the ending was superb. So dark, dramatic and intense, man. Jesus.

But still, mate. You don't start on the third of a film. It's not allowed as you'll miss out on so much fun. What was the other options?

Why would you start on Ip Man 3 and not watch the two first films? Such a weird decision. Watch the two first Lord of the Rings films? Nah, fuck that. I'll begin with the third! Watch the two first seasons of Black Books? Nah, fuck that. I'll begin with season three! Sorry, but I always find that to be so weird. You should just watch both films. Ip Man (9/10) is a modern martial arts classic and one of the finest martial arts films in recent time, and Ip Man 2 (8/10) isn't as good as the first, but still a damn fantastic film! Can't wait to see the third film. Big expectations, and I am so happy they dropped the CGI-Bruce Lee and went with an actual actor instead.

I'm not sure I've heard three yet, but I've heard one and I'm pretty sure it'll be on my top 3 at the end of the year. I actually expect it to be my #1 this year. Will get back to this later.

Discharge and Christian Death! Both releases could easily have been on my list another day. Fantastic!

Finished the following games: Hotline Miami - This game is nothing short of brilliant IMO. It's fairly straight-forward and repetitive, but it never gets boring and the soundtrack is fan-fucking-tastic! 10/10 Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Great game with lots of creepy, eerie and dark atmosphere, and certain elements makes it great. The fact that you can't kill, have limited light and will get fucked if you're in the dark too long is brilliant. The puzzles is a bit too easy for most part, but the atmosphere and game play makes up for it. 9/10 Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs - Decent enough, but a big disappointent. Starts out great, but there's certain limits here not found in the first game that takes away some of the pleasure, and the atmosphere never gets are chilling and creepy as in the first game. We were both entertained, but it's not a game I'll long to replay anytime soon. 6/10 Playing Slender: The Eight Pages now. Or, I started last night. Jesus fucking christ, as simple, straight-forward and repetitive as it is, it's really fucking effective. It sure as fuck managed to put a proper chill into me. Will continue tonight, after it's dark outside and my girlfriend's left. This shit is truly ceepy. You just get dragged into the game and have to concentrate to see the pictures, which makes it horrifying when the bastard shows himself.

Zzzzzzzzz.

Mud - Extremely pleasing coming of age-thriller with Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and some others. It's a very solid thriller, but on the other hand it's a damn fine coming of age tale, but the highlight of the film to me was the southern atmosphere and toxic envirement provided by several of the female characters. It's rare to see that type of females in films like this IMO. Really liked it! Top notch coming of age/thriller film. Very good! Exit Through the Gift Shop - I don't give a fuck if this is a hoax or not, I was proper entertained by the film. I thought it was really good, and it's really damn interesting. The film takes a look at a french shop-keeper/amateur "filmmaker" whos interest for graffiti makes him a star. Hoax or not, it was really fun.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens - Been looking forward to this film since forever, but I've been sceptical all the way, not expecting anything but another crap film. I'm not gonna lie to y'all. This isn't genius filmmaking. It's solid, but not much more than that. It's more or less a remake, and it's very safe from begining to end. Unlike what they did with the prequel, J.J. Abrams' goal here was qiote obviously to capture the classic Star Wars-feeling from the old trilogy. First and foremost please the old fans, while adding modern touches to please the new, younger generation and gain new fans. As boring that sounds, I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I had the feeling of watching a Star Wars film here, something I did not get from the prequel trilogy. So yeah, I am happy with that. The second thing is that I see this more as a film to get the franchise started again. It offers nothing new, but it's a safe, but extremely pleasing start to the new era of Star Wars. I can understand how that is displeasing to a lot of people. I can understand their disappointments. But I was not disappointed at all. I was surprised. The feeling of wathing a Star Wars film felt great, I had chills almost from begining to end and I had to fight to keep some tears of joy back at times. It was everything I had dared to hope it was gonna be, plus some more. My only complaints is a few standard Hollywood moments (Finn and Rey taking in eachothers mouth in the Millenium Falcon), Kylo Ren taking off his mask when he's questioning Rey and Snoke looking like a character that looked too fucking stupid for The Hobbit films, which says a lot considering how dumb, stupid and fake some of the characters in The Hobbit was. The trolls was awful. And Snoke looks like a fucking troll from The Hobbit. But everything else was on point, so those elements didn't bother me much at all. I can't wait for this year's spin-off, and I sure as fuck can't wait for the sequel. Oh dear! I am already on my way dying to watch 'em both.

The Houses October Built - Cool enough found footage horror celebrating the haunt houses trends in america during october. There's a serious lack of atmosphere and at times it's (I think at least) unintentionally funny, but it's entertaining. I bought the actors' performances, but the lack of atmosphere is disturbing, and they don't take it far enough. It gets awfully predictable and I wish we'd actually see some extreme haunt houses. Some houses where you are in actual danger. But it's OK+ for what it is.

Not very surprising, but still. Low.

Two liquor store's in Norway will finally ugrade their beer assortment. Right now they have around 250 different types of beer, but from around easter they will upgrade to around 400 different types. And there will be big changes every 14th day. This is fucking brilliant. Will have to go into town once a week to buy beer for the week(end) from now on. I can't wait! I will feel like I've walked into Heaven as soon a I enter those doors from now on, and I am already enjoying it like fuck as it is now. Hell yeah!

Plastic Tree. Their discography is very uneven, but their 3-4 best albums are fantastic. The Novembers never did it for me because of the vocals. It's one of very few bands where I can't look past the vocals no matter how good the music is.

Inside Out - I'll go straight to point: this is easily the best Pixar film since Finding Nemo, if not Toy Story 2 (bear in mind that I have not seen Toy Story 3 yet). Thought it was most excellent! I thought it was smart, very creative and super fresh, and very well-directed. Nice characters and a good, tight plot. Very mature too, which I don't mind at all. Best part of the film? The way it "legalize" sadness. It's not bad to be sad. While it's not a positive emotion in itself, it is, jus tlike joy, anger, fear and whatnot, an emotion we all need. It's healthy to be sad now and then, it's healthy to be angry now and then and so on. It might be a bit too complex for the youngest kids, but every 10+ kid should watch it. Simple as that.

Afflicted - Derek Lee and Cliff Prowse directed, wrote and stars this film as two friends, Derek Lee and Cliff Prowse, who goes out on a trip with a goal to document it all. It's a nice enough touch to the found footage genre and it feels fresh without really offering anything new or anything. Fairly straight-forwad and predictable, but very cool. Low-budget on. What makes it stand out a bit is the tone which is a lot different from the usual. I don't think it's excellent, but it sure is worth a look. I liked it! Triangle - Really cool psychologial horror flick that twists, turns and makes you ask a lot of questions throughout the film. It's interesting and tense, and Melissa George's performance is very, very good. Honest and emotional. I'm not sure if I can say anything more without spoiling it, and I really don't want to spoil it. Just check it out, guys! I can see this film gaining a cult following sometime soon. It sure does deserve it.

13 Sins - Black horror comedy that started out really well, but that just didn't manage to keep my attention for all the 90 minutes it lasted. It's a bit like Saw to be honest, but without the torture porn and with plenty dark, twisted comedy thrown into the mix. It's alright, but it's never more than just OK. My main problem here is that it doesn't go far enough to shock. It isn't bald enough. Shame, as the concept is really cool. The film is a remake of the thai horror 13 Beloved, and I really want that. It's supossed to be fantastic and much better, so I am looking forward to it.