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Saturday, May 23, 2009 ( 5/23/2009 09:45:00 PM ) Bill S. WEEKEND PET PIC: Another pic of Kyan Pup in the backyard. Next week, Dusty, I promise to feature you in a halfway decent photo.  THE USUAL NOTE: For more cool pics of companion animals, please check out Modulator's "Friday Ark." # | Thursday, May 21, 2009 ( 5/21/2009 12:24:00 PM ) Bill S.  "IT'S A SERIOUSLY HARDBOILED JOB." The title characters in Shirow Miwa's "mature" readers manga Dogs: Prelude (Viz Media) may hang around the Buon Viaggio cafe instead of a reservoir, but you know that Quentin Tarantino would recognize 'em anyway. An interlocking quartet of stories set in the criminal world, Dogs focuses on a foursome who all live on the fringes of that ultra-violent setting.First in line is Mihai, a grizzled former hitman returning to the city where he plied his trade after an extensive period of exile. He appears at the cafe where his slain lover once turned tricks, wanting to know the reason behind her murder. Next is Badou, a chain-smoking information broker who gets caught spying on a masochistic gang boss in the midst of a visit to the dominatrix. On the run, our scruffy anti-hero is also in the throes of a serious nic fit -- which ultimately proves his salvation. Third is the "blade maiden" Maoto, whose parents were slain when she was still a child. The girl was subsequently reared into young adulthood by the man she thinks responsible for her parents' demise (and the large "x" scar centered between her breasts) and trained in the use of swordplay. When she comes upon her teacher killed by another former student, she's driven to avenge his death even though she's unsure why she's doing it. In two of these tales, our protagonists struggle to make sense of their violent pasts; in the third, the hard-scrabbling Badou is just striving to stay alive with an army of gangsters after him. Much gun and sword play ensue. If these first three stories and their leads prove fairly straightforward pulp creations, Dogs' fourth piece, "Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark," takes things in a more s-f direction. Though the book hadn't given much indication of this in the earlier adventures, the whole shmear turns out to be set in an urban dystopia. In "Stray Dogs," mystery man Heine Rammsteiner comes to the aid of a mute girl "fetish mutant" who is being abused by her pimp. The young waif has a pair of wings on her back, "a relic from the past when genetic manipulation was still unrestricted," Heine notes, which makes her valuable property to her abusive handler. Heine is drawn to the girl since he himself has been subjected to the whims of unscrupulous scientists. Though the full nature of this tampering is not fully revealed in this "Prelude," it's somehow connected with a metal collar and something called the Spine of Kerberus, which gives him the ability to spit out bullets. This slip into the more brazenly fantastical reminded me of Kentaro Yabuki's more outlandish Black Cat (note the appearance of a stray cat in Badou's earlier story), though the book's language, flashes of nudity and occasional bloodiness probably put it beyond the age-range of your average Shonen Jump reader. Let's call it manga for the SJ fan who's grown into "maturity." Miwa's art can be sparer in places in than it needs to be -- especially when it comes to backgrounds -- but his action sequences are convincingly kinetic. He also provides some engaging visual character moments, most frequently when "Weepy Old Killer" Mihai and Kiri, the owner of the centerpiece cafe, are in panel. Mihai shows up in three of the book's tales, while info man Badou has a prominent role in the book's final story. The only story to not feature any of Dogs' other creations is "Blade Maiden," though I suspect that our scarred heroine will connect with the other regulars at Buon Viaggio in Miwa's more extensive follow-up series, Dogs: Bullets & Carnage. As a storyteller, Miwa may be a trace too beholden to the kind of absurdist random plot making that once placed Bruce Willis into the hands of a crazed and sadistic pawnbroker. Still, his ability to blend hard-knock action with an occasional flash of believable melancholy and broad humor is appealing. I know I found his four characters intriguing enough to make me want to see where he takes them all in a more extended fully rounded storyline, though comics readers looking for a more rigidly templated manga series may differ. Labels: sixty-minute manga # |Wednesday, May 20, 2009 ( 5/20/2009 02:59:00 PM ) Bill S. MID-WEEK MUSIC VID: In addition to the music, I love the art in this Neko Case video, which manages to evoke both Terry Gilliam and Eloise at the Plaza: # | Tuesday, May 19, 2009 ( 5/19/2009 10:28:00 AM ) Bill S.  OK COMMUTER After disbanding Grandaddy three years ago to spend some away time elevating himself, singer/songwriter Jason Lytle has happily returned to the home studio. Produced in his relocated digs in the wilds of Montana, Yours Truly, the Commuter (Anti) finds our thoughtful hero holding up in a snowbound winter, ruminating on life, mortality and decay. Usual themes for the former Modesto skateboarder (check out the photo of his scratched-up legs on the CD booklet!), but still appropriate for these struggling times.Lytle's first official solo disc sounds of a piece with the music he released as the leader of Grandaddy: lots of emphasis on strumming folkiness and mid tempo rockin' spiced with faux orchestral and electro flourishes. If the CD begins to flag a bit by the last five or six tracks (could've used a skate punk track like "50%," perhaps), a quick shuffle will get you noticing the disc's later sweeter moments like "Rollin Home Alone," which sounds exactly like Grandaddy fans can already hear in their minds. The opener title song sets things up succinctly, Lytle telling us in that high-pitched, contemplatively resigned croon of his that "I may be limping, but I'm coming home." The conflicting desires to sing to the world and hide away from it provide meaty lyrical subject matter -- in "The Birds Encouraged Him," a nameless boy tries to hide in a hole as the sounds of nature keep trying to force him out of it -- though at times the listener can't help worrying whether Lytle's own retreat into the mountains hasn't blinkered his distinctive eye for lyrical specificity. No refs to Ikea lamps or rusting El Caminos here, folks. Still, there are plenty of great tracks here for those who've loved this perennial indy cult spaceman. California-splashed "Brand New Sun" takes up the battered and bruised imagery ("I might fall down, and my back is bad") of the disc's opener and answers it with a paean to sol that I'd love to hear a croaking Brian Wilson cover. The melancholy "Ghost of My Old Dog" depicts the singer ruminating on passed pets as a misunderstanding lover jealously accuses him of thinking of an old flame. "It's the Weekend" provides Ramones-y spareness over some engagingly fuzzy guitarwork and keyboards. And every once in a while, the guy sneaks a trace of lo-fi prog rock into the mix, much as he did in the glory days of The Sophtware Slump. "Sudden death is just boring," our hero succinctly whines on Commuter's finale, "so I'm here for good." Great to hear, Jason. Labels: art-pop # |Sunday, May 17, 2009 ( 5/17/2009 06:12:00 AM ) Bill S. WEEKEND PET PIC: Here's a shot of ol' Kyan Pup covering a dirt spot in our pebbly backyard:  THE USUAL NOTE: For more cool pics of companion animals, please check out Modulator's "Friday Ark." # | |
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