Posts by John Castillo2

Amsterdam

13ghosts - Billy Dee

If you haven't caught the wave by now, you're basically just standing on the shore forever

Marissa Nadler - Drive

BVSC - Chan Chan

Morgan Brown4 said:Bringing this up because I just caught Zulawski’s "Moonlight in Silver" at a screening in Central Park—this totally wild piece of art SF that someone called a mashup of Stalker and Inland Empire, though if you ask me, it’s got a decent hit of Mad Max and maybe even Waterworld thrown in there. 😁

It’s a pretty confusing, hard-to-wrap-your-head-around flick. I might try watching it again someday, but honestly, hoping I don't end up with a massive headache this time around. 😁
I mean, sure, the movie is technically unfinished—they swapped out the missing footage for shots of Warsaw paired with the director's narration—but I doubt having the actual scenes would have made things any clearer. 😁

One of my all-time favorites.

You can make sense of certain bits of what Zulawski was aiming for, but the whole thing? No way. There’s zero point in trying to overanalyze it. "Moonlight in Silver" isn't just a movie; it's a state of mind.
You just gotta let it wash over you.

If memory serves, it stayed unfinished because the government thought Zulawski was plotting something against them, so right as he was finishing up, they shut production down and trashed all the raw footage.

That didn't quite stick, though, so about ten years later he finished it by using voiceovers over those clips of Warsaw.

Anyway, I usually recommend checking out Zulawski, even if it's not the SF stuff. He's killer in "Diabel," "treći dio noć," "l important C est aimer," "My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days"...

So, here’s the deal—I’m having a massive headache with this Samsung wireless dongle I use for my internet. Everything was running smooth as silk for years, until yesterday when macOS decided it needed to push some random system update. Now, since that update, the software just won't launch.
I already tried the whole "uninstall and reinstall" dance. macOS sees the device just fine and installs it without any drama, but then... nothing. Total dead end. No auto-run, no way to actually open the interface. I even tested it on a buddy’s laptop (running Windows 10 too) and it works perfectly there, which makes zero sense. Anyone have a clue what's going on?
Sorry if I'm rambling a bit—tech stuff is basically Greek to me. 😵

Andrew Martinez2 said:I’ve always had this vibe about her—like she stepped right out of Orphan—this kid who was way too mentally mature for her own good.
She’s a great actress, judging by her older stuff, though I haven't caught any of her recent work.☕

SPOILER FOR "ORPHAN"

In "Orphan," it’s not actually about some kid who grew up too fast—it's about an adult woman who looks like a little girl because of some weird medical condition. Plus, she's totally unhinged and is basically just playing a ten-year-old to pull off the scam. 😁

So glad someone finally started this thread, because I’ve been blasting them non-stop lately and they just hit different. I heard "Jessica" on some local radio station the other day and it was an instant trip down memory lane—it's one of those songs that’s basically part of my DNA. My old man actually had a tape of it recorded back in '87. 🙂
I dove headfirst into "Idlewild South," then moved on to a "Best of" compilation, and wrapped things up with Gregg Allman's final solo record, "Low Country Blues." Honestly? Absolute legends. The solos are insane, and that blend of rock, country, blues, and jazz is just perfection—they really know how to lean into those improvisational jamming sessions. So far, I haven't found a single skip in their discography. My current heavy hitters have gotta be "Revival," "Don't Keep Me Wondering," "Rambling Man," "Midnight Rider," "Blue Sky," and "Ain't Wastin' Time"...

I wouldn't exactly sell a kidney 😁, but man, I would give anything to see Springsteen live.

Every single time I pull up one of those five or six shows I've got saved in my home collection—it hits me all over again. 🙂

I'm really hoping I can finally make it happen next year, since word is Bruce is hitting the road for a massive multi-month tour with ESB (though, damn, it won't be with Big man Clemons 😢). 👍

The only thing is, I'm gutted because I almost certainly won't get to see him perform that "Seeger Sessions" stuff. Feels like that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing and it's gone for good. 😢

In the latest installment of "The spoiler" series:

George "The spoiler" Pavičić goes absolutely scorched earth spoiling Christopher Kieślowski's cult classic "Przypadek"—and then follows it up with a slightly less savage, but still pretty ruthless, breakdown of Jaca van Dormel's "Mr. Nobody." 😁

(Thank god I’d already seen both, otherwise this would’ve been a total disaster for my viewing experience! 😁)

SPOILER Quote: James Pavičić said:Just look at that final scene where the neighbors take Rea out to the lake so she can saw off her father's arm from his drowned body—all just to prove to the court he's actually dead. Right when you think the ordeal is over, Granik is like—wait, hold on, we aren't done yet. You gotta saw off the other one too, because the judge is gonna assume the dad self-mutilated just to dodge a prison sentence. That’s the whole vibe of “Winter's Bone”: brutally realistic, but somehow it feels almost biblical.

😂😂😂😂

This stuff belongs in an anthology. 😍

northerncrane4 said:How can you say "against who"? It’s not some calculated move—it's just pure spite, a total state of mind.

😁

So, basically, they just want to screw over the readers for no actual reason, just because they're feeling petty and contrarian by nature—just a mood thing! 😂

northerncrane4 said:Just pure spite.

But toward who??

1. Nope

2. No way

But they totally played me!

And I caught them red-handed.

But honestly? I didn't say a word.

Because... that's just how I roll 🙂

Get this—that exact song is playing right now 🙏. This whole thread totally triggered it.

😍

I saw something about this on HBO a few years back, if that's what you're thinking of 🤔. What was it called again?

Man, I don't know. I caught that documentary on VH1—just stumbled onto it by total accident.

Yeah, it's pretty depressing, especially seeing how many of them ended up.

😢

And another thing...

I gotta give props to the OP here.

Honestly, this is how you kick off a new topic—whether it’s books, music, or movies.

It's concise, but still gives enough meat to outline the band before the real debate starts.

Nice work, Edward Campbell. 👍

Sophia Wells72 and bluehound15 (never actually heard this track before) 👍

Just one of their killer covers—honestly, I might even dig this version more than the original

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ThPN8ZY4I

edit: stumbled upon this documentary a few years back—it was all about Dennis Wilson, specifically how he spiraled into alcoholism and ended up meeting such a tragic end by drowning.
It’s honestly gut-wrenching seeing someone fall that hard. Nothing worked—not his friends trying to step in, not the band members, not even rehab attempts...
They kept drawing comparisons to the legendary soccer star George Best, who went down a similar path.
That doc really messed with my head, mostly because of how skillfully they showed the contrast between the young, creative, insanely talented Wilson and the shell of a man he became at the end. 😢
Watching someone just unravel and degenerate—especially someone with that kind of talent—is always a uniquely heavy and brutal thing to witness.

This is the perfect music to just zone out to when you're hitting the road for a long trip toward somewhere you actually want to be.

It's such a "happy go lucky" band—honestly, it’s impossible to dwell on anything negative while listening.

You kind of get this... I don't know, almost childishly happy vibe going on.

And suddenly, you just don't give a damn about any of your problems. 🙂

My little contribution to the thread is:

Ba Ba Ba Ba Barbara Ann
Ba Ba Ba Ba Barbara Ann
(Ba Ba Ba Ba Barbara Ann)
Oh Barbara Ann, take my hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynoCrgl2gj0

It took me literally ten years to realize they were actually singing "Barbara Ann." I always thought it was just some random gibberish language, not an actual girl's name—you know, Barbara Ann. 😁

Also, being a huge basketball fan, I can't help but drop a random fact that probably won't interest anyone 😁, but Kevin Love—who happens to be the nephew of the legendary Mike Love from The Beach Boys—finished this NBA season as the league's top rebounder, most improved player, and an All-Star.

I bet his uncle Mike helped him out too, since he was at most of the Minnesota Timberwolves home games... probably sending him vibes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUaX52GbjSU 😍

There’s actually a silent film out there literally titled "Silent Film" 😁

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075222/

It's this brilliant parody by the legendary Mel Brooks, featuring an absolute powerhouse cast playing small roles—I'm talking James Caan, Paul Newman, Anne Bancroft, Marcel Marceau, Burt Reynolds... basically the same icons playing themselves. It follows the absolute chaos a director goes through while trying to shoot his very first silent film over the course of forty years.
Even though it came out in 1976, they shot the whole thing as a silent movie—you know, those little title cards popping up on black backgrounds between scenes—to really nail that vibe from the 20s and 30s comedy classics.

I remember I was absolutely dying laughing when I saw it for the first (and honestly, only) time about ten years ago. 🙂

Anyway, if you're someone who geeks out over both literature and movies, you've gotta check out Paul Auster's "The Book of Illusions." The plot centers around this fictional silent film star, Hector Mann. The whole book just feels soaked in this deep love for the silent film era and cinema in general.

Arthur Thomas said:The people whining about how "good music is dead" are usually just the ones coasting on whatever the mainstream feeds them—they aren't willing to actually dig for the high-quality stuff that isn't being shoved down everyone's throat. You’ve gotta distinguish between the lazy crowd who won't lift a finger to find anything outside of what's trending, and the folks who genuinely just don't have the time to hunt for gems.

Man, preach. I'm right there with you. 👍

Look, after years of digging through music, I’ve built up this massive library of bands I actually dig—and even within that pile, there are hundreds of albums I haven't even touched yet.
So, I can always just throw on something fresh from a group I already respect. Honestly, I almost never run into a situation where I'm out of new stuff that fits my vibe.
Since most of what I listen to stays within a pretty tight circle—think alt country / americana / dark americana / indie rock / indie folk / Singer - Songwriter / acoustic / post rock—it’s not exactly rocket science to use sites like Last.fm to track what's trending in those scenes. I can easily see which new bands are getting hype, who’s collaborating with whom, who sounds like who, or who’s pulling influence from which legends...
I just listen to whatever catches my ear, and if it hits, I download it. It’s really that simple.
As for staying motivated? That drive is always there. I don't think I'll ever lose that itch to hunt down great new music. 👍