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3 September
The Ruby Suns - 'Sea Lion'
This album is a journey.. a sonic travel log... It's one of the most interesting albums I've heard in a while.. You feel like you need a steamer trunk and a seersucker suit to listen to it.. possibly a pith helmet... It's totally unique... It brilliantly evokes the feeling of being on a round-the-world trip... you start off in the Pacific Islands... you head off to South America... then Africa... yet it still maintains the indie rock vibe... it's a truly remarkable experience...The band being from New Zealand perhaps explains the distinctly island feel... It's uplifting and moody (track 6 perfectly exemplifies this)... the sound effects in between the songs really adds to the "voyage" vibe... It might take a couple of listens to get it... let it wash over you.. let it enter you through a different opening.. if you'll pardon the disgusting imagery... anyway... enjoy..
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Produced by Ryan McPhun |
5 August
Vampire Weekend - 'Vampire Weekend'
This album has received a ton of accolades from the critics since it came out and in my opinion, it is well-deserved... Perfect pop... What I love about the album is its influence... Instead of dipping in the usual well ( Velvet Underground, Clash, early 80s New Wave) punk bands lower their bucket in these days... they take from a most unusual source.. Paul Simon's Graceland.. and transform it into something unique.. Every song is a gem.. Love the liberal use of the mellotron on some of the tunes as well.. Great stuff..
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Produced by Rostam Batmanglij |
29 July
M83 - 'Saturdays = Youth'
Ever since doing my 80s list, I've developed a renewed appreciation for the sound and music of that era.. I've had a complete hankering to hear anything with cold sounding synths and icy vocals and tight production.. maybe my ears are just tired of hearing the same kind of thing I've been listening to all my life.. Anyway, today's pick of the week is a from a band who hails from my country of birth.. France.. But they don't sound it.. they sound British.. This album sounds like it couldve come out in 1986 off a soundtrack to a John Hughes movie even the album cover looks like a movie still from a lost film of that era.. there's even a Molly Ringwald lookalike there.. and that's doing me right, right now...
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Produced by Ken Thomas, Ewan Pearson |
22 July
Presenting... Walrus' New Music Pick of the Week
We here at Walrus, get many an email (most recently from our loyal fan, Grare) asking us "What new music is good out there?" The answer is, plenty.. It's just a pain in the ass to have to buy something without knowing what it sounds like.. It's a hit or miss proposition.. So starting today, we will be featuring a new album a week in this section.. our New Music Pick of the Week... That way, you can listen and get a feel for it BEFORE you dole out your hard earned money on something that could be a major bust.. and now, on with the pick of the week...
Fleet Foxes - 'Fleet Foxes'
This album is a stunner. It starts off with acapella harmonies that remind one of an Appalachian Beach Boys and from there you're transported into a verdant world of Americana where you can almost smell the pine trees and hear the woodland creatues scurrying about.... Interesting chord progressions, first-rate guitaring on this and terrific vocals.. great harmonies.. I love that everything is splashed with echo, giving it a timeless feel..
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Produced by Phil Eks |
PLOP!
While I was upstate in a junk shop, I came across this old carton of comics they had for sale. It was mostly early 70s stuff, DC and Marvel. A lot of odd titles I'd never heard of. I dig the early 70s stuff, 'cause it's kind of a transition phase between the 60s and 80s which were both far more consequential eras in comic books. There's a decided oddness to a lot of the stuff from the early 70s, it's both unsettling and fascinating. Artists like Mike Ploog and P. Craig Russell brought this dimension to the scene that was just very specific and unlike what had preceded it and what would come later. I suppose they call this era 'the bronze age' which is from the early 70s to mid 80s. However, I really think the new era or 'modern era' of comics starts in the early 80s, and even late 70s if you count titles like the X-Men.
Anyway, I digress…
Amongst the stuff I found in the junk shop was this title 'Plop' from DC. I'd never heard of it, but I immediately recognized the cover art - done by Basil Wolverton and Wallace Wood – and as I looked through it, I found that Sergio Aragones was heavily involved. It seemed to be DC's answer to both Mad Magazine, and I guess the underground scene in San Francisco. The interesting part was that it also had elements of Bronze Age superhero comic art, like Ploog in there as well.
Whatever it is, I'm really intrigued by it. It's a fascinating mesh of styles and genres, and you should really check it out… I'm sure you can find copies on Ebay!
Plop! – WE RECOMMEND!!!
The New “Retro” Section at IGN.com
I dunno about you, fearless readers, but we here at Walrus Comix have been fans of the Internet Gaming Network better known as IGN.com since they went online a DECADE ago. In fact, this internet staple is definitely one of our inspirations and has been an invaluable blueprint for Walrus to go by. Lately, though, I hadn’t really been visiting that much (I used to check in daily)… I don’t know, it had gotten a little stale… a little “samey”.. but then I noticed that the new “Retro” section they have.. and I got hooked again..
For anyone who is into the classic video games this is a goldmine… They actually review old games like they had just come out today, which is a terrific idea… it’s Walrusesque in its retro-genius! Plus, with articles like the “the top 10 Atari 7800 games” and the Released on this Day feature, in which they list which videogames were released on a particular date (eg. One of today’s being the Atari 2600 game Surround (pictured here) which I personally LOVED!) this will surely please the old school gamer in you.. I know it does me.. I even emailed them to write a piece on the Infocom text adventure, which they assured me will be upcoming so that was really cool…
Check it out if you are even remotely interested in classic gaming.. IGN.com does it again!
The “Retro” section at IGN.com – WE RECOMMEND
Melancholy Greetings
For those of you who feel 'caring enough to send the very best' is for wusses, have I got a greeting card company for you.
'Melancholy Greetings' is the brainchild of David Zapanta, a remarkable artist, Walrus Comix staff member, diva of depression and all around swell guy. In these tumultuous days, rife with paranoia, neuroses, Prozac, and all around mishigos, his business is indeed booming! Creating unique greeting cards for a nation under stress, I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes the new Hallmark.
I think the vision can be summed up in their Mission Statement:
- To embrace and celebrate D.R.E.A.M., or the five basic attitudes of Depression Enthusiasm: Despair, Regret, Ennui, Apathy and Malaise.
- To foster a deeper appreciation of melancholia in optimists and pessimists alike, one postage stamp at a time.
- To continue being the Internet's #1 destination* for depressing epiphanies.
(*According to a 2007 poll conducted by the Depression Institute of Norway.)
The next time you have occasion to send a card of the greeting variety, please check out Melancholy Greetings at http://www.meatgrindermemos.com/
Melancholy Greetings – WE RECOMMEND!!!
The Subway Rambler Online
Old friend (and freelance Walrus Comix journo) Dave Kopperman is a talented guy... He's a cartoonist and a musician and a writer and a critic and an observationalist and sometimes he's an insufferable contrarian (who isn't around these parts?), but one thing is for certain, he's entertaining... So it stands to reason that his blog, the Subway Rambler has been one of Walrus Comix' favourites since its inception over a year ago.
Originally part of a bigger website, which is currently under construction (or rather, reconstruction), The Rambler has taken a life of its own... Dave posts every night around the same time, he's like the US Mail that way, rain or shine you can depend on your daily dose of Ramblings, infact, he's even better than the mailman, cause he posts on holidays AND Sundays too! His topics range from global disasters to the wonders of the mellotron.. in other words A to Z and everything in between... Recently, he's been uploading some songs from his first couple of solo albums which are definitely well-worth giving a listen to... His recountances and analyses of the time in which they were created, (which some of us at Walrus were part of) is a fascinating read as well.. Folks, check it out..
The Subway Rambler Online... WE RECOMMEND!!
The "Nilsson"
We here at Walrus Comix, see the "Nilsson Cap" as THE fashion forward move of the Spring season.. Available at most kiosks in the city and in flea markets and thrift stores around the world this colossal cap will sure to draw the attention of many an envious troglodyte.. Not only is it spiffy, it's practical too.. If it is drizzling out, it will protect your mane from getting soggy and stringy as lo mein and if you see a pretty lady on the street, you can tip your cap to her cheekily... Grow your hair and beard and you'll be working the Nilsson look reall horror show.. Just like Harry, God bless his sweet soul... It's a beautiful thing... Just make sure to keep a hold of it in a strong breeze..
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The Nilsson cap... WE RECOMMEND!
You're at work, you're at home, sitting at your computer... You want some new music to listen to... You're tired of your iTunes collection... You want something different... Hard Bop Jazz would be good... More specifically, Dexter Gordon would be perfect...
Voila! Walrus Comix recommends dextergordon.com, where they stream Dexter's music for free... That's right, all you need to do is go to the site, enter, and baby, you've got some incredible Hard Bop Jazz music to enjoy at your desk... You can't go wrong. Plus, there's plenty of videos on the site, and it's just one of those sites that's good for the soul...
dextergordon.com - WE RECOMMEND!
Parallels Desktop for Mac
(Contributed by H. Bannister)
So I am going to recommend a product that radically changed things for me, on the nerd front. No, I am not talking about Tivo, which clearly was a life-changing event as well. I’m going to rave about a software product called “Parallels”.
I
f your household is like mine, then you have different computer personalities under one roof: creative types, those content to only web browse the powerhouse sites (Ebay, Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, etc.). Then you have the individual who loves to chat and email, the person not afraid of a spreadsheet, and the inevitable porn hound. There’s something for everybody. Or maybe you are all of these things in one.
Well you’ve all seen the Mac vs. PC commercials. It’s no secret that the creative types always gravitated to the Mac operating system. It was more stable, looked better, recognized peripherals easily, and your Mac buddy raved about it in a cult-like fashion.
The Windows OS was bulky (with each new subsequent release), prone to dreaded ‘driver errors’ and “blue screens of death!”, susceptible to malware attacks, and on and on. Most of the PC-side complaints were richly deserved. But on the other hand, the hardware was dirt cheap. You had thousands of more software options on the PC side of things, including the business applications. And it was precisely because 90% of computers were running Windows and Internet Explorer, which made these products the targets of choice for malicious evil-doers.
There has been a confluence of events over the last few years, in the world of computing, to change the landscape. I’m going to suggest that it all leads up to buying a Mac, but your probably figured out already that it was my system of choice. First of all, Apple chose to adopt the same chip manufacturer (Intel, abandoning Motorola) as the PC. Essentially, the system processor s of the two products, are built on the same architecture.
Next up was Mac OSX, which is built on a very stable/reliable Unix operating system, built initially on years of open source development. When you factor in the clear Microsoft misstep that is Windows Vista, it seems to give Apple the lead in cutting edge design and technology.
Lastly, factor in the ‘gaming revolution’. Microsoft has of course, with the advent of their Xbox. The new game consoles are computers in their own right, with hard drives, optical drives, and internet networking. With the explosion of the game consoles, the onus was taken off the PC platform as a host for the gaming experience.
So what is the reason to stay loyal to the Windows/PC world these days? I can’t really think of an answer, other than purely budgetary considerations. From a product standpoint, you may need that degree of familiarity with Windows. It’s what all your relatives have, or on every computer in your office. It could be the sheer amount of software available, in brick-n-mortar stores, available for download, at minimal prices or even free of charge.
This is what leads me to a product called “Parallels”, for your Mac. You can install this application on your Mac and run any flavor of Windows in a ‘virtual’ environment. You can run both operating systems at same time, switching between the two at will. The software has a feature called ‘Coherence’, which allows you to run each OS together, without any need to ‘switchover’ between the two. With ‘Coherence’, you cherry pick your favorite elements of either OS, and run them both in same desktop. You can even run apps for one OS, from within the other OS. The Windows OS, run in virtual mode with Parallels, is every bit as familiar as a true Windows computer. The virtual mode does not run slow, on current hardware using Intel’s duo-core processors.
Due to a licensing issue (or brilliance on the part of Steve Jobs), you can run a Windows XP virtual computer in a Mac. However, the reverse cannot be achieved…one cannot own a Windows PC and use Mac OSX in a ‘virtual environment’ (well it is possible, but only for uber-geeks and certainly not ‘officially sanctioned’ by Apple). So the true benefit of enjoying both Operating Systems in one unit can only be achieved on a Mac system as the host.
With Parallels, you can easily delete and recreate your virtual Windows operating system. You can add different flavors of Windows (maybe to test drive Vista?). You can even get bold and install additional operating systems like Linux. It should be noted that Apple has a free alternative called “Boot Camp”, which allows a user to choose an operating system at computer start-up. I prefer and recommend Parallels, because there is no need to choose one OS or the other, or a need to restart to navigate between the two environments. “Boot Camp” partitions your hard drive, like a ‘fork in the road’ at start-up. “Parallels” uses the magic of ‘virtual operating systems’ to allow the simultaneous use of both (or many). It’s usually available for about $80 online.
Parallels for Mac - We Recommend
The Iron Giant (1999)
“The Iron Giant” is one of the best cartoon movies ever produced. The film did nominal box office, and was based on a wonderful English children’s book called “The Iron Man” by novelist Ted Hughes. (funny aside: most people think Black Sabbath’s classic metal song “Iron Man” was based on the Marvel superhero of the same name, when it was in fact based on Hughes’ literary character).
The style of the film is wonderfully reminiscent of the old Max Fleisher Superman cartoons of the 40’s (another highly recommended viewing experience). At its heart, is a truly touching fable of tolerance, friendship and courage. The film’s climatic ending always delivers in the tear-jerker department.
You will barely notice the voice-overs of the film’s ‘star’ leads: Jennifer Aniston and Vin Diesel (both pre-megastar) as the robot Iron Giant. Instead, you will be swept into the emotional story, through the eyes of the child Hogarth (voiced by Eli Marenthal).
In short, the Iron Giant is ‘war machine’ developed by an alien race that is never identified, fallen to earth in a state of reprogrammed amnesia. His violent programming wiped clean, the robot becomes sentient, in an almost infant-like state. With the help of a new friend, the boy Hogarth, the Iron Giant begins to experience life anew, with newfound wonder and appreciation.
The book (and this film as well), does have Cold War metaphors. The military paranoia, and crusade to destroy the supposed threat of the Iron Giant, were certainly plot elements born of a different era. But similarities can be found in movies such as “E.T.” and comic book characters like “The Hulk”. In the plot of this movie itself, there are numerous wonderful homages to “Superman” and the ‘noble alien’ among us.
The film was directed by Brad Bird, who rightfully went on to much more fame, with cartoon movie hits “The Incredibles” and “Rataouille”. The plot of the film differs almost completely from the novel by Ted Hughes (whom it should be noted, was the husband of tragic poet Sylvia Plath). It has been said that Hughes originally conceived “The Iron Man” as a vehicle to comfort his children, following the suicide of their mother.
“The Iron Giant” is available in its entirety on DVD or download. However, it should be noted that a popular “short 40-min. edition in 4 parts” can be currently viewed on Youtube.
The Iron Giant – WE RECOMMEND
Muxtape.com
The ‘mixtape’ has gotten a facelift. Remember all that pesky business of rewinding, stopping, starting again, and more rewinding, not to mention dropping the needle on the platter just at the right moment of concurrence with the release of the pause button? Well Now the only dropping you’ll be doing will pertain to dragging and dropping of your favorite MP3s.. No muss, no fuss. Sure the whole gestalt of the old school mixtape has plenty of nostalgic cache, but for those of you who are more into ‘product’ than ‘process’ this site is colossal. Just remember, each track has a maximum memory ceiling of 10MB, so you might have to compress some of your longer songs..
Check out my mixtape… http://zeitgeisty.muxtape.com/
www.muxtape.com – WE RECOMMEND!!
Battlestar Galactica – Season 3 on DVD
Battlestar Galactica is perhaps the greatest science fiction series ever committed to television. It was clearly designed, as with the greats of the medium, to engage current topics with allegorical stories and settings. All aspects of the human condition are covered, including the psychology of war, prejudice, dehumanization, honor and loyalty, and above all: morality.
The show has found a very loyal and rabid audience and has won a number of prestigious awards. It has had difficulty finding a huge audience unfortunately (in this age of trash reality TV, and for the limited reach of the Sci-Fi channel on cable systems). The series will end after this season, the fourth. With a final date as a sort of goalpost, series creators Ronald Moore and David Eick were able to wrap up most plot points, and not leave any element hanging.
With this being the final season for BSG, it seems a great opportunity to rediscover the previous boxed sets and seasons. I highly recommend the kick-off two hour movie DVD, which introduces the plot and characters brilliantly. As a stand-alone episode, the two-hour movie “BSG: Razor”, is a great interlude. You can even simply pick up season three, and get taken along for the wild ride this year, with the series’ conclusion. Battlestar Galactica Season 3 on DVD… WE RECOMMEND
Apricots
They’re delicious and good for you… They are a nitrilosidic fruit.. good for prevention of cancer.. Take the story of the Hunza for instance…. In the remote recesses of the Himalayan Mountains, between West Pakistan, India and China there is a tiny Kingdom called Hunza. These people are known world over for their amazing longevity and health. They live well beyond 100 years and have commonly been known to still father children at the age of 110. One of the first medical teams to study the Hunza was headed by world-renown British surgeon Dr Robert McCarrison. Writing in the AMA Journal Jan 7, 1922 he reported:
"The Hunza has no known incidence of cancer. They have an abundant crop of apricots. These they dry in the sun and use largely in their food".
It is interesting to note that the traditional Hunza Diet contains over 200 times more nitriloside (B17 Rich food) than the average American or Australian Diet. There is no such thing as money in Hunza. A mans wealth is measured by the number of apricot trees he owns. And the most prized of all foods was considered to be the apricot seed. It is very common for the Hunza to eat between 30 - 50 (ie. about 30mg of B17) apricot seeds as an after lunch snack. The thousands of seeds they do not eat they store or grind them very finely and then squeezed under pressure to produce a very rich oil used in cooking and to apply to the skin. The apricot is staple food in Hunza. They use the apricot, its seed and the oil for practically everything. In addition to the ever present apricot, the hunzahuts eat mainly grain and fresh vegetables. These include buckwheat, millet, alfalfa, peas, broad beans, turnips, lettuce, sprouting pulse and berries of various sorts. All of these with the exception of lettuce and turnips contain vitamin B17.
It is important to know when the Hunza leave their secluded land and adopt the menus of other countries, they soon succumb to the same diseases and infirmities including cancer as the rest of man kind.
Apricots… We Recommend! Only go easy on them.. you eat to many and you’ll be in the bathroom all night and the walls of Jericho will be crumbling down I can tell you!
Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do... by Studs Terkel
Speaking of bathrooms… No bathroom should be without a copy of this classic book from oral historian Studs Terkel.. Released in 1974, it tells the story of Americans from every walk of life.. every background.. every job… and how they feel.. It IS America.. and it is required reading…
This book never fails to pull me in everytime I pick it up... From the Waitress to the CEO everyone discusses life in this completely existential manner that it is so 70s and yet it is EVERY bit as relevant now as the day it was published… Run out now and pick up a copy for yourself.. it is the PERFECT bathroom read… WE RECOMMEND!
Cavett
Dick Cavett is our favourite talk show host of all time… His ABC run which aired from 1968 to 1975 is a strong contender for the greatest TV show of all time.. His guests ranged from Ingmar Bergman to Katherine Hepburn to Orson Welles to Janis Joplin… Woody Allen’s visits were a highlight. His dry wit and charm and conversational approach allowed for the guests to really bloom in the interviews… He made boring guests interesting… Thankfully, many of his classic interviews are now available on DVD now, which you should pick up immediately.. However, this we recommend is on his biography "Cavett", published in 1974… It’s a fast read and is full of entertaining stories of how he broke into the business and the many legends he came to know on that journey… Its out of print, but you can find used copies on Amazon and Ebay I’m sure… Cavett… WE RECOMMEND!
Onitsuka Tigers
These sneaks were initially made for the ’66 Olympics in Mexico.. They rank up there with PF Flyers and Kangaroos in our humble estimation as the coolest kicks out there… They feel super light, almost as if you’re not even wearing shoes.. The look is totally classic.. Evokes the vibe of going to the ‘Y’ with your father, working out in a stiflingly sweaty weight room, where the benches were all plastic and rubber sparkled.. Pinching your arms in the cheap equipment.. Still, these shoes make you feel good! They are a true gym shoe… Get yourself a pair.. Onitsuka Tigers – We recommend!
Academy Records
Academy Records is simply the best place to get vinyl in NYC. I’ve been a loyal customer for a decade now. My favourite location of theirs was on 10th street, but they just moved recently to 12th street… So head over there now.. the new shop is even better… boasting the best collection of jazz ever… and now they have TWICE the number of “New Arrival” bins.. These are the highlight of the Academy experience, you never know what gem you’re gonna find there… Check out their website and if you’re in the neighbourhood and you’re a vinyl fanatic, don’t miss out on this opportunity… Academy Records – We Recommend.
D. Manus Pinkwater
Daniel Pinkwater (or D. Manus) was my favourite author when I was a kid… He wrote quirky intelligent novels for children that are just as enjoyable for adults… I still pull out my old copy of Lizard Music (pictured to the right) when I’m blue to buck myself up.. It always works… It’s funny and readable and most of all the plot is terrific, as is the case with all his novels… The thing about Pinkwater’s books that I loved so much (and still do) was that the main characters were always fat, precocious weirdo children…. And as I was a fat, precocious weirdo as a child, they will always remain dear to my heart… Look him up and pick up a copy of one of his books (I suggest the anthology 5 Novels, as it contains another favourite of mine; Alan Mendelsohn: Boy From Mars)… Check out his website too for more info... D. Manus Pinkwater – We Highly Recommend
The Evergreen Review
My mother is an ultra hip woman… when I was a little kid I regularly stole from her record collection which had everything from Miles Davis to the Mamas and the Papas to Mozart… She didn’t mind… much. She was pretty cool about letting me and my brother ransack her old stuff, which was endlessly interesting to us… old campaign pins, vintage penguin paperback Agatha Christies, 45s, and her classic guitar made by Goya.. The ultimate 60s folk guitar… we played that thing until it was barely recognizable… There was one possession though that she wouldn’t let us touch, in fact, she wouldn’t even let us go NEAR… and that was her collection of Evergreen Review magazines that she had bought first run (she was an orignal beatnik).. and oh how I coveted them…
The Evergreen Review was a literary magazine founded by Barney Rosset, publisher of Grove Press. It ran from 1957 to 1973… The BEST writers of the generation all were published in its pages… Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Gunter Grass, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, Pablo Neruda, Vladimir Nabokov and Frank O’Hara, just to name a few..
But not only did it contain incredible groundbreaking poetry, essays and fiction it also was filled with some of the best illustrations, cartoons and photography of the time.. of ANY time... This publication is THE blueprint for everything a literary magazine should be…
I never did get to touch my mother’s originals… She still has them under lock and key and I don’t blame her, they’re a treasure. However, years later at a book sale (St. Agnes library on Amsterdam avenue holds an incredible one yearly) I found a hardbound anthology of the best of the Evergreen Review.. My heart leapt that I would finally get to peruse the pages that were denied me throughout my childhood. I rushed home, put on some John Coltrane on the turntable for mood purposes and flipped it open. It was like being transported to another time, a better time full of ideas, imagination and possibilities… It was a beautiful moment… I strongly suggest dear readers that you look for these magazines on ebay, abebooks.com or amazon.com (I believe the Evergreen Review reader is available there). Whether you find the originals or an anthology GET IT… This is a seminal reading experience. – WE RECOMMEND!
The Chuck Jones Collection 4 (1973-1976)
Very few things could pump more adrenaline into my pre-adolescent ticker than that rotating, conga drumming ‘Special’ intro that ran right before one of my beloved cartoon adventures.
Usually these ran around the holidays, be it a Charlie Brown Xmas, or Thanksgiving, or perhaps a Rudolph.. However, on rarer occasion’s, it was a Chuck Jones special. Let me tell you, catching a Chuck Jones on, was even more tantalizing as they weren’t associated with any holiday (Ok, there was the Grinch that’s ONE) it was merely art for art’s sake, and let me tell you they were brilliant and after watching this new collection, they still hold up. As a child, I felt a palpable anxiety which buzzed throughout the cartoon Rikki Tikki Tavi, which informed the material... There was an odd melancholy permeated the music and a disconcerting red glow to Rikki Tikki Tavi’s eyes -- a reflection perhaps of the duality of man?
Of course I was a very precocious child, and was absorbing all of this on a purely subconscious level.
The second main cartoon of the collection, A Cricket in Times Square, is a delight. I adored the book by George Selden, with the marvelous drawings by Garth Williams and Jones’ adaptation is remarkable. He captures the whimsical urban underground and again infuses it with an undeniably adult jitteriness. His work holds up, not only due to his astoundingly beautiful artistry, but moreover because he was able to add a sophistication to the material that was uniquely his. Chuck Jones Collection 4 on DVD– We Recommend!!
Rockin' steady; a guide to basketball & cool by Walt Frazier
Walt Frazier, basketball hall of famer and former New York Knickerbocker is one of Walrus Comix’ favourite human beings.. period. His eloquence, his style, his élan, his maximum verbosity and mainly his fucking COOL is peerless.
In 1974 “Clyde” (his nickname to those who don’t know) wrote his first book entitled “Rockin' steady; a guide to basketball & cool by Walt Frazier”. This is the BEST book ever written by a professional athlete. Bar none…
He goes over the finer points of defense, and offense, discusses various plays and statistics and talks about preparing for game day.. This is all terrific, illustrated in the vintage 1970s style.. Yeah this is all fabulous, but it’s the chapters entitled 'COOL' and 'A GENERAL GUIDE TO LOOKING GOOD AND OTHER MATTERS' that send this tome to the top of the charts..
The man actually gives you step by step guidelines on how to groom yourself, how to romance the ladies, how to dress, what kind of music to listen to.. chockful of pictures of Clyde from back in the day..
It’s out of print and pretty hard to find.. But any fan of basketball or the Knickerbockers or Clyde should keep checking ebay for this wonderful book- We Recommend!
The Baseball Helmet
We believe the hippest new trend in hat wear today is the baseball helmet. We here at Walrus Comix are following this development very closely. Sure, the ironic trucker hat will always keep it’s eternal position in the constellation of colossal head gear (we even have one available at our Walrus store, check it out), however, we see the baseball helmet as a star on the rise. It’s striking, and unexpected, and surprisingly warm on a brisk night. Try donning one of those throwback team jobs, like a 1970s Expos helmet, or perhaps a 70s Pirates deal (of course, here at Walrus Comix we wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything other than our beloved Yankees... but that's us) you’ll be ahead of the curve and the toast of the town, we guarantee. Try coupling the helmet with a pair of army pants a set of Kangaroo sneakers, and you should be shot, you’re so cool! are you kidding me?? Baseball helmets! – We Recommend!!
Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip
Tove Jansson was a genius. A national treasure in Finland... She created the Moomin Universe. Anyone who has ever read one of the Moomin books as a child knows what we’re talking about. These stories were filled with philosophy and longing and melancholy… They were decidedly not just for children.. These were tales from another world, sprung from a great mind..
The characters she created (Snufkin, Sniff, Moomintroll and his family just to start) were endearing and whimsical and each represented a different colour in the spectrum of the human condition… We HIGHLY recommend that you seek out one of the many books she wrote..
But this is not what we are recommending today. Today, we are recommending Moomin: the Complete Comic Strip… For you see, Tove Jansson was not just an incredible writer she was an even better artist… On top of the wonderful illustrations in her books, she also drew a wonderfully surreal comic strip based in the Moomin universe… It began its run in 1954 and was syndicated in newspapers around the world with millions of readers in 40 countries, EXCEPT North America.. It was never available over here until now.. You can now pick up two volumes of this amazing strip published by the terrific Drawn & Quarterly. They plan to reprint the entire strip drawn by Jansson before she handed over the reigns to her brother Lars in 1960. Get it now. – We Recommend!
M. Rohr's House of Fine Teas and Coffees (86th street between 1st and second)
Uptown is the new downtown.. Cozy atmosphere, great coffee and espresso.. Ok, so sometimes it's a bit too crowded with upper east side assholes, but overall it's better than the lower east side bull shit.. A bunch of smelly looking hipsters drinking greasy coffee.. Nahh.. Try this place.. Good pastries, and tastries… They make a fine avocado BLT, which technically is not a BLT, but so what.. Their couches are far less flea bitten than their downtown cousins, and they sell Linden cookies at the counter… Rohr's – We recommend!
Vynl (corner of 78th street)
Had a couple of bloody marys there as well as a BLT… The sandwich wasn't that great, but the drinks were quality.. Plus the waitress said me and dave 'brought the style' !.. So they get a we recommend solely on brownie points… The décor is ok, you know records tacked up and that sort of shit, and the food looked pretty good.. I'm gonna go back there and get drunk on bloody marys sometime soon, and perhaps order something more substantial… Vynl – We recommend!
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Ritz Diner (corner of 62nd street and 1st ave) Our old stand by.. I've only gotten food poisoning a few times from there.. Still, it was my fault for constantly ordering the tuna melt.. The tuna melt is a crap shoot… Their soups are decent, their onion rings vacillate between 2 different kinds of frozen, one of which is better than the other.. If you're lucky, you'll get the right kind.. Thursday's pea soup is a highlight, and the grilled chicken sandwich on a roll with lettuce, tomato and onion is always mediocre in a decent sort of way.. Just don't fucking forget the Russian dressing… Ritz Diner – We recommend.. |
Kangaroo sneakers
These 80s classics have not been taken over by the uber-hipster Williamsburg set, so please seek out a pair before they catch on and infect the cool with their retro-ironic smarmy patina.. They are truly colossal, sporting a handy pouch, where you can store anything from a couple of aspirins, to a key to a bus terminal.. The logo beats out that lame Nike swoosh any day.. Plus, they're the most comfortable sneaker I've ever worn, and that's no lie.. Kangaroos – WE RECOMMEND!!
The Kubrick Director's Series Boxed set
This set of films contains the following classics…
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Full Metal Jacket
The Shining
Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures
Aside from them all being totally essential films to anyone's collection, this set comes with so many extras, it's ALMOST too many!! Each film has interviews, behind the screen stuff.. They really went all out.. My favorite is the extra that comes with The Shining.. Jack Nicholson really was the coolest motherfucker back in the day… The Kubrick Boxed Set – WE RECOMMEND!!!
AppleWin Apple IIe Emulator
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Back in the 80s, computer nerds generally fell into two camps – The Apple //e-ers and the Commodore 64-ers.. Personally I was an Apple man all the way.. The graphics were slightly less pretty, yet it was a thinking man's machine.. The Commodore 64 was for the quasi nerd that could actually have a chance of getting a date, sometime before grey hair set in.. For those of you Apple nerds pining for your lost youth, you can always get a little bit of it back with this nifty Apple //e emulator from AppleWin.. Games like Wavy Navy, Captain Goodnight and Hard Hat Mack will send you traipsing down memory lane.. and might remind you of the time you were thrown out of the class assembly, and how everyone laughed at you as you had to march all the way up that eternal aisle to the principles office..ahem.. uh.. anyway… It's nice in a melancholy sort of way to see all the old familiar title..
Apple //e Emulator from AppleWin –WE RECOMMEND!!!!
Feudal
From Wikipedia:
"Feudal was chess-like board wargame originally published by 3M in 1967 as part of its bookshelf game line. It was kept in print by Avalon Hill after they purchased 3M's game division, until Avalon Hill was in turn bought by Hasbro. The object of the game is to either occupy one's opponent's castle or to capture all of one's opponent's royalty. There are six sets of pieces in three shades of blue and brown. Each set consists of six types of figures, which are limited not only in their method of movement but also their range of attack, and a stationary castle piece. The play area consists of 4 plastic peg boards hinged together. The board depicts empty, rough, and mountainous terrain. Feudal is for 2 to 6 players."
I played this game obsessively when I was kid.. It's a total gas, and a successful variation on chess.. There's also something marvelously evocative about the board and pieces… Something so late 60s in it's gestalt… Feudal – WE RECOMMEND!!!!
Pocket Money (1972)
Review by Stephen Johnson*
Anyone looking for a run-of-the-mill film won't like this movie but it has long been one of my favorites and has become something of a cult classic.
This was the same period when Sam Peckinpah was bathing movie theaters in Max Factor blood with his edgy oaters, and some may have expected Paul Newman and Lee Marvin to deliver a gritty contemporary Western of that genre. Instead, director Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke with Newman and Voyage of the Damned with Marvin) walks us slowly and comfortably in well-worn boots through this quirky buddy film based on the novel Jim Kane by Texan-Arizonan cowboy and author J.P.S. Brown, himself an interesting character.
These two cowboy pals have unwisely agreed to transport rodeo cattle for sleazy oddball Strother Martin and Martin's shifty flunky Wayne Rogers who's equipped with a superb twang and the ugliest pair of high-water, bellbottom pants in cinematic history. Both Martin and Rogers are "all hat and no cattle" in Texas vernacular but Newman and Marvin don't figure it out until it's too late.
Blessedly, both Newman and Marvin range far from the tough, cynical personas that made them famous. Newman is a simple (minded) cowboy and Marvin is a pompously loquacious but harmlessly unhinged sidekick whose subtle paranoia is almost as interesting as his 1940s suit, tie and fedora. Marvin's narrative-like observations and expansive body language rival his superb comedic efforts displayed in Cat Ballou.
The modern cowboys are on what could be an allegorical tale of the last cattle drive at the ragged conclusion of America's hippie era. They are not driving beeves to the rail yards at Fort Worth for a hungry young country, but punching stringy calves that will be roped at rodeos across the now-tamed Southwest. We're given an early clue that Newman might not be a movie cowboy in the John Wayne mold when we see the hectored Newman cajoled for alimony from his parasitic ex-wife and learn a herd of horses he purchased is infected with a venereal disease.
He's still the lonely man of the saddle and lariat but he's living in the 1970s instead of the 1870s. Newman is not only softhearted but soft-headed and his uncowboy-like response is to be frustrated. This is a very interesting turn for Newman who was so taken with the character of Jim Kane that he purchased the film rights to the book.
Characteristically, the "showdown" of this film is not a gunfight between the rascals and the righteous but a comical encounter in a tacky Mexican motel room between the cowboys and their slippery employers. A television set, Martin's snap brim hat and Rogers' dignity are the only casualties. We know the Old West is dead because the spiteful gesture becomes the weapon of choice against banal con men that once might have been evil, land grabbing ranchers.
Watch for superb character actors Richard Farnsworth, Hector Elizondo and Gregory Sierra who provide good supporting performances in this film. The talented Terence Malick, who stumbled recently in his disappointing Thin Red Line, contributed to the script. Also take note of the carefully crafted portraits created by cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs. The final scene, replete with a final, inane conversation between Newman and Marvin at a tiny Mexican train station, is beautiful in the dusty timelessness of the Old West.
Not everything is explained in this movie including why Newman hates his nickname "Chihuahua Express" or the full story behind Newman's comically scary imprisonment. But, not everything is explained in life and therein lies a message.
Spend a quiet afternoon drinking in this visually interesting and very unusual buddy film whose seemingly disjointed vignettes imitate the goofiness of life rather than imitating textbook filmmaking. For those who watch and listen carefully, this film is full of smiles. Newman and Marvin as a Western Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn even seemed to have fun making this movie. Pocket Money is now finally available on DVD, pick it up... WE RECOMMEND!!
*Stephen Johnson is an accomplished journalist and author, Check out his latest non-fiction work, "Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion" at Amazon.com. You can read the first chapter at www.wiley.com as well.
Warren Oates
If someone asked me what my top 5 actors of all time would be, I would definitely place the magnificent Warren Oates up in the top 3 (just under Nicholson and Jimmy Stewart). Any picture this man was in, was made immeasurably better by his sheer presence. He portrayed in many of his films, the reality of the tragic man cut down to the bone, yet clinging to a sad shred of dignity with a desperation that just breaks your heart. Warren Oates could definitely break your heart. He could also make you laugh and think, or just make you stand slack-jawed in awe at how fucking good he was.
Starring in classics like Two Lane Blacktop, The Wild Bunch , and In the Heat of the Night, he brought to his performances a purity, a clarity that was so breathtaking… you just can't take your eyes off of him when he's on the screen! His persona was all at once cocky, vulnerable, shattered, and holy, and there's no better example of this than the brilliant film Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia directed by Sam Peckinpah.
Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia was a film written with him specifically in mind. Peckinpah considered Oates his alter-ego, and they were very close. It's a role of a lifetime, and Oates doesn't disappoint. Watch this film, and you are confronted with the truth; a truth so precise and clear, it's simply beautiful to watch, and it's all about the magnificent Warren Oates.
Recently at a screening for Two Lane Blacktop, Richard Linklater was listing reasons why viewers should love the movie. His sixth reason was 'Because there was once a god who walked the earth named Warren Oates'.
That pretty much sums it up for me. Warren Oates – WE RECOMMEND!!!!
Way before the Playstation, or Xbox, or even Nintendo, the home computer reigned supreme as far as gaming was concerned… Sure, there was the Atari 2600, and that piece of shit Intellivision, but they eventually petered out, in the wake of the Apple IIe, and Commodore 64… Personally, I was in the Apple IIe camp.. Wiling away countless hours, copying games onto diskettes, using programs like Disk muncher 2.0, I had a collection of games (which I meticulously kept track of with the help of the word processing program ‘Bank Street Writer’) which totaled more than 500 programs.. I kept them all in those dome shaped diskette holders, with the little keys for convenient lockage.. I was obsessed!
I’d sit in front of my computer all day, playing games like Ultima III, and Sky Fox, Captain Good Night, Lode Runner, and of course the ubiquitous Hard Hat Mack.. Still, no other game appealed to my sensibilities more than the Text Adventure (or Interactive Fiction Computer Game).. Yes, as hard as it is to believe, there was once a time where people enjoyed a gaming experience without graphics…
For those of you that can’t remember that far back, text adventures, were just that, little interactive stories where you as the gamer, would enter another world, using nothing more than ..gasp… Your imagination !!.. The major purveyors of these colossal games was a company called INFOCOM… They released games with odd names like ‘Zork’ and ‘Leather Goddesses of Phobos’.. They covered every conceivable genre; detective mystery, science fiction, romance, fantasy, etc… The writing was sublime, and you really felt as if you were entering into another world when you popped that disk into the drive… My favorite was a game called ‘Deadline’.. It was a Raymond Chandler-esque, noir-ish adventure where you played the role of a detective investigating the apparent suicide of a wealthy industrialist.. Of course it’s in fact MURDER!!...
The packaging that came with the INFOCOM games was elaborate!.. I remember the stuff that came with ‘Deadline’ well.. The diskette came inside a dossier, which included all the background of the case, the inspector’s casebook, even the pills (in a little baggie) from the toxicology report (they were candy of course).. It really added to the whole experience, in such a clever an inventive way…
Eventually the Text Adventure went the way of the dodo bird, with the advent of the Nintendo.. but with a little help from Ebay, you can still find copies of those glorious games… If you’re in the mood for a trip down memory lane, or feel like taking a break from Halo ten thousand, you should check them out.. INFOCOM.. WE RECOMMEND!!
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Northern Exposure on DVD
If we were asked what the greatest television series of all time was, our response would be, hands down – Northern Exposure… Sure there are some close seconds, (Twin Peaks and The Sopranos automatically spring to mind), however, when it comes to sheer intelligence, humor, soul, and all around substance, NX wins the title.. The series had everything, the incredible romantic chemistry between Joel and Maggie, the brilliant monologues of Chris in the morning, the complicated friendship between Maurice and Holling, and of course the mystical Ed, and Marilyn adding humor and spirituality to the mix… The subject matter covered in the series had enormous breadth, ranging from the true nature of love to quantum physics.. Each character was meticulously developed and fleshed out, so by the end of the series you really felt you actually knew these people… It’s become a cliché to use the phrase ‘You’ll laugh and you’ll cry.’ when describing a series of this nature, but this is no sappy dramedy along the lines of ‘Judging Amy’, this is the goods.. I first got hooked on re-runs that ran on channel 11 NY at 1:00am around 1994.. I had initially dismissed the series on the first bounce as a Twin Peaks rip-off (I was a Twin Peaks/Lynch fanatic), I couldn’t have been more wrong… When I eventually got to the episode where Fleischman leaves (titled The Quest) I was bawling like a baby… It seems like for every part of my adult life, this series has had something in it to enrich it, or be of some comfort if I was feeling down.. Case in point, when I turned thirty, I re-watched the episode where Maggie turned thirty (titled Northwest Passage), and it helped ease the trauma, and brought me out of the locked closet I crawled into for 5 hours… 12 years after being off the air, the entire series is now available on DVD, and it’s imperative you get your hands on them… For the past 10 years, all we had to watch the series on were our old dusty VHS tapes, on which we had dutifully taped every episode off of A&E (when they ran the series in 1997),.. These DVDs come in the nick of time, as those tapes are literally disintegrating.. The DVDs come with some awesome extras (outtakes, deleted scenes, etc..) some of which had me laughing to tears.. Now, some of you may say the 6th season is not worthwhile as Fleischman leaves, and the Capras (the new Dr.) were horrible.. I say even those episodes had some merit.. So shut your mouth Captain bringdown! NX has given us years of unmitigated joy, and that’s the highest praise we can give..For anyone who’s a fan of the show, or anyone who’s a fan of great television, or television as art, we give our very highest.. WE RECOMMEND!!!!
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We are list freaks… Everyone in our vast entourage can tell you how many times they’ve been subjected to our incessant query, ‘What’s your top 10____?’ fill in the blank with anything from modern jazz records to types of bowel movements.. One could say we are the ‘Torquemadas of the Top Ten’… What made us this way? Was it just our naturally inquisitive natures? Perhaps.. Still, I think it might have more to do with The Book of Lists series by Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace, and Sylvia Wallace.. They may sound like a law firm, however, they were in fact the purveyors of an incredible hit series of books that ran through the 70s and 80s that provided a generation an endless amount of quality bathroom reading… With lists as varied as ’21 Famous people who breastfed their babies’ (Sophia Loren being one of them.. that baby was one lucky shit!!) and ‘Dr. Seuss’s 10 best cartoon characters of all time’, these books are a must-have, if you’re a ‘list-y’… They are intelligent, funny, and surprisingly sexy.. I remember getting hot and bothered by a few of them as a sweaty, chubby pre-pubescent… Still, back then a wooden chair, in the right light could get me hot and bothered… Check out Ebay and try and get a first edition, you won’t be disappointed.. The Book of Lists series (1,2 and 3) – WE RECOMMEND!!!!
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The Spinto Band
These young lads from Wilmington, Delaware are not only making some of the most intelligent and melodious music we’ve heard in forever, they’ve also got not one, but TWO fantastic warblers in the band… and no, they don’t have that typical, ‘Mom come pick me up at the mall, I accidentally sat on a corn cob’ whine to their voices, so common with kid’s today.. ‘Oh these kids today I tell you!’.. Did I mention that they’re all like 21 years old?.. We extra specially recommend you check out ‘Direct to Helmet’ first, as it may be a strong candidate for greatest song of the 21st century.. WE RECOMMEND!!
http://www.myspace.com/thespintoband
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The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky – DVD Boxed set
Finally after years of being screwed over by fuckwad Allen Klein (who had already gained notoriety for screwing over the Beatles and the Stones - whattafuckwad!!) Jodorowsky’s incredible movies are now available in fantastically re-mastered splendor… These films are what started what’s known as ‘the midnite movie’ and have had an impact on the indie film scene that has been monumental to say the least.. Take David Lynch for instance, Eraserhead was totally influenced by the works of Jodorowsky.. So, we can assume, if we believe in domino theory, that without Jodorowsky, there’d be no Lynch, which means NO TWIN PEAKS people!!.. Now that’s a scary thought... With the new re-mastering the colors are awe inspiring.. vibrant to the point of overwhelming, and the music is simply sublime… The boxed set comes with the soundtracks as well, which is a treat.. Personally, we feel El Topo is the masterpiece, but the other 2 movies, Holy Mountain and Fando y Lis are super too.. WE RECOMMEND!
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Saddle Shoes
For those of you interested in making a bold statement with your choice of footwear, we recommend the saddle shoe!.. Do I hear snickering? Somebody give that dodo a pinch in the mouth, ‘cause he’s a total douchebag with absolutely no sense of style, yeah him the one in the corner there with the angular haircut and thoroughly ghey guyliner… Saddle shoes are colossal.. Mark our words, saddle shoes are making a comeback…
Woody Allen wore saddle shoes when he was at the height of his coolness!!.. Now we’re not sure what he wears… Next time you wanna impress your date, wear a colossal pair of saddle shoes, you’re almost guaranteed to get laid like 10 miles of fresh asphalt… Just remember to wear your saddles whilst you’re a humpin’ and pumpin’, it’s sexier that way.WE RECOMMEND!!
