Wuxia Pan Film review: Tai-chi Zero (plus trailer)

Tai Chi Zero film review

This is by far the most bizarro kungfu movie in many years. Part steampunk, part period action and all weird, with a horrible but amusing metal hip-hop hybrid soundtrack. The filmmakers didn’t really care about following action movie rules. For example there is a silent movie prologue that ends almost 20 minutes in before the opening credits which feel like they are in the middle of the movie. Through out all the film there are examples of strange but interesting moments.

The main character is named “the Freak.” And if I try to explain the plot you’ll see how weird it is. The Freak you see was born with a horn, if it gets hit it turns him into a wild kung fu zombie. This comes in handy when the town he goes to in an attempt to learn Tai Chi comes under attack. You see a group of developers are using a giant tank like steampunk-ish machine on tracks to scare the village out of the way to lay down a train line. Tai chi zombie horned hero to the rescue?

This is a great weird hong kong movie. Man I love it.

Tribute: Richard Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013)

Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013)

Sunday we lost one of the greatest story tellers of the 20th Century. Richard Matheson is author of more than two dozen novels, as many screenplays and teleplays. Unlike his contemporary Ray Bradbury or Stephen King who he was major influence on I believe most are familiar with his work but not his name. When you start naming his work people know right away. I Am Legend, Stir of Echoes,The Beardless Warriors, Duel, Somewhere in Time, What Dreams may come and probably most of all his classic Twilight Zones.

I read my first Richard Matheson novel in 8th grade, I was a young horror geek who was reading every Stephen King and Clive Barker book I could get my hands on. I watched a lot of Twilight Zone episodes because it was one of my favorite shows. I kept noticing that a lot of my favorite episodes were written by Richard Matheson. At some point I was at a local used Bookstore Cavet emptor looking through horror books and I saw several books by him. So I picked up a collection Shock II (still on my shelf) and I Am Legend. I instantly became a fan for life. Have read some of those books multiple times, my favorite being What Dreams May Come.

As reader who eventually wanted to become a writer Matheson was master of story-telling who had a no frills approach. To me he had almost no weakness, he was great at every aspect of story telling, this was displayed in his screenplays as well as novels. What I learned personally from reading Matheson was how perfectly he knew how to unveil moments of suspense. Matheson was master at giving you moments and flavors that ramp up suspense.

I was able to meet Matheson two times when I lived in Southern California. The first time I was in the same room with him at a screenwriting conference in LA where he was interviewed on stage by Harlan Ellison. This was great because Ellison started taking over the interview, like he does. Few stand up to Ellison but Matheson did asking his son author RC Matheson to finish the interview.

A year later Matheson released a small press novel and did a singing at So Cal’s all horror bookstore Dark Delicacies. Just standing across a table and saying Hi blew my mind, even more so than meeting Clive Barker I was star-struck. This is the dude who wrote about a planet of vampires in the 50’s and the thing on the wing of the plane in the 60’s… He was excited because I had a copy of his often forgotten Horror-western novel The Shadow of the Sun to sign.

Then at the 2005 Bram Stoker awards in LA after a panel about the Twilight Zone I got a chance to speak to him for a moment. I told him what an influence reading “I Am Legend,” was as a young man. I wanted him to know how heartbreaking the chapter where Neville tries to earn the trust of the dog was. He shook my hand and told me that he workshopped that novel in a class in 1954. That the teacher of the class pointed to that chapter and told him how powerful that chapter was. He said that chapter gave him confidence.

I Am Legend is a masterwork of both science fiction, and it’s author was always a hero to me. In that moment he was a human, and I felt connected to him beyond the stories. We as authors have that greatness inside, few however will grab it like Matheson did.

My personal Matheson collection minus the signed hardcovers shelved with my signed books. That copy of Shock II is the same one I bought in 8th grade.

My Top Ten Horror novels, #8 Ecological horror...

And number eight is:

I enjoy doing top ten lists and I have meant to do this one for awhile. The art of the horror novel is a very special one for me. My first horror novel that I remember reading was The Stand by Stephen King, it was my seventh grade year(I still have that copy which has note in the inside cover to do a Social Studies report!). Skeleton Crew by King and Clive Barker's Books of Blood had a bigger impact on me personally were talking novels at the moment. Over the years I have grown to love the feeling of closing the book on a well written horror novel.

Generally you have been taken on a journey, often it is one filled with terror. The most important elements often come from well defined characters. For a horror novel to work to have to either care about the characters or imagine yourself in the shoes of the character. No story can be scary if you can't imagine yourself in the moment with the characters.

Imagine for a moment you lying in bed at 2 AM and someone starts to bang on the door. You will likely go to the door confused and sacred. In a novel that might not seem to be a scary moment but if you put yourself in the moment it will scare you. These are novels I find scary, and why. You may have read them already, and if not I hope you'll check them out. Leave a comment tell me what you think I missed.

David Agranoff is the author of two published novels the Wuxia Pan style horror fantasy crossover "Hunting The Moon Tribe," and the satire "The Vegan Revolution With Zombies. He is also the author of the Wonderland award short story collection "Screams From a Dying World." His next novel Bootboys of the Wolf-Reich is due to be released soon by Deadite press.

Number 10: (tie) Testament by David Morrell & The Girl next Door by Jack Ketchum Number 9: A Perfect Union by Cody Goodfellow

Number 8: The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner

Considered by most to be one of the most disturbing and predictive sci-fi novels of the late sixties. This is dystopic novel is 100% eco-horror. I last re-read during in 2006 and it felt amazingly fresh and predictive even then. It is hard to explain this novel but it is an environmental nightmare that is so well written it is almost impossible not to be creeped out.

Set in a future that seems alot like the GW Bush years with a propped up moron president fighting many wars and living through several ecological disasters. From the back cover "The water is polluted, and only the poor drink from the tap. The government is ineffectual, and corporate interests scramble to make a profit from water purifiers, gas masks, and organic foods. Environmentalist Austin Train is on the run. The Trainites, environmental activists and sometime terrorists, want him to lead their movement. The government wants him in jail, or preferably, executed. The media wants a circus."

This is one of the most frightening novels ever written, made more so by how many of it's plot points have come true. The picture Brunner paints is a world destroyed not by a super weapon, but our daily actions. A true warning novel like other warning classics Alas Babylon or On the Beach.

Train makes the radical environmentalists of today look pretty boring. Taking hostages and threatening to kill them if change doesn't come. The reality is when you see the picture and how bleak it could be you understand the stakes.

Writing wise Brunner uses a disjointed experimental style that is a little hard to get into, but if you take your time with this novel you'll see why it is a classic.

Book Review: New Taboos by John Shirley

New Taboos by John Shirley

110 pages PM press Outspoken author series

Since the outspoken author series started I have looked forward to this book. John Shirley is my favorite author, and he is certainly outspoken. This format makes for a cool little book that could serve as a great introduction not only to the work of, but the man as well. This book contains a novella called “A State of Imprisonment,” two essays called “New Taboos,” and “Why we need forty years of hell.” and it ends as all books in this series do with a interview with the author.

“State of Imprisonment,” is about a dystopian near future where the State of Arizona is turned into a state wide private prison for debtors. It is excellent novella that scratches the surface of the issues Shirley wanted to bring up but I could have read a whole novel on the topic. There is a wonderful moment of suspense towards the end, but really it is the state of privately run prisons and abuse of power that gets explored here.

For any one who reads Shirley's blog or facebook posts you know he has a tendency to write excellent posts reflecting on the world. The essays are highlights of this collection and makes me think the world could use a full collection of Shirley's non fiction musing. The essay New Taboos is an important exploration of the idea that our society lacks some important taboos. He does it with a bit more style but the author suggests polluting the world, and stealing from the people should be as taboo as shitting in public.

One of my favorite concepts brought up in the book comes in the second essay when Shirley ponders the idea that we might be evolving past empathy because of our massively expanding over population. The interview of course does a wonderful job introducing John Shirley, but the whole book does.

Check it out, it is a fantastic entry in this important series, but you should read all of them.

Book Review: Double Feature by Owen King

Double Feature by Owen King

419 pages Hardcover Scribner

In a family of writers that includes a father who is the world's top selling author and a brother racking up awards it would be easy to miss the the works of Tabitha and Owen King. I made the decision recently that I would read Owen's debut novel before reading another novel by his brother Joe Hill. I knew it was not genre, but that is OK because I am not a genre only reader to me a good and compelling story is all that really matters.

Double feature is the story of a young indie filmmaker named Sam Dolan, whose father is a semi-famous B-movie actor Dylan Booth whose most famous role is playing a “Satanologist” in a bad horror movie. Sam is making his first movie a indie drama “Who we are” that sounds like a really snoozer. It might seem like the novel is about the making of the movie, but it is more of a collection of characters and history of the family involved in Sam's life.

The writing is pretty solid, the novel it self is often funny. Perhaps the best thing about the novel is it's humor which comes mostly from King's sarcastic narrative. I enjoyed most the relationship between Sam and his father who is the next best thing in the novel. A part of me thinks the novel might have been better focused on Dylan rather than his son.

One part of the novel almost lost during a 12 page unreadable stretch that started on page 53 that followed the production of the film. The idea was to do that part of the book in a super long unbroken paragraph. It was mess and bog down the narrative. I had to skip it I just could not take it.

I have to admit I didn't find this novel gripping at all. If not for the family connection I am not sure I would have given this novel a shot past the first hundred pages. That unending paragraph chapter really was a speed bump for me. I am glad I did because I laughed a lot I am just not sure I'll be running to the next book by Owen King. That being said if you are interested in film and like funny novels it is worth a shot. You might like it more than me.

Book review: The Vegan Solution by Matt Stone

The Vegan Solution by Matt Stone (w/Chris Randall)

131 pages Self-published

So lets get something out of the way. I've been strictly vegan since January 31st 1993. I became vegan for ethical reasons both environmental and animal rights. I didn't give a ding-dong about health reasons for the first two years. Still I more worried about cookies than health. The majority of my time as a vegan I have had a sweet tooth, but for me that doesn't me fruit. That means cookies, cake and such. I am not a potato chip vegan, but far from pure of diet. Balanced, Yin and Yang. The majority of vegans I know are like me.

For the record I don't eat a vegan diet. I have never eaten a vegan diet. For twenty years I have been vegan. That is how I live, that includes eating but a big difference between how Stone and I think.

I have known hundreds of long term vegans, and only have none two who I believe actually failed at veganism. This book is kinda of picture for those rare people, but the majority of vegans I will roll their eyes and call Bullshit on this book. I'm getting ahead of myself.

The book starts with a disclaimer where the author admits that he has no medical training infact in all the stuff about the author I see no sign that he is a MD or ND. Infact I see nothing but a self trained nutritionist and honestly when he is mocking people who have those degrees it makes me scratch my head. I know plenty of doctors don't know anything about nutrition, but I am not sure this guy does either. Alot of the sources listed in the back of the book are Wikipedia.

I have been very critical of Raw fooders, but If it is an issue of trusting this self-published author or Gabirel Cousins (a doctor running a successful raw foods retreat) I think I'll listen to Cousins.

This book starts right away with a literally STUPID introduction that undermines the professed mission of the book. Mocking the people your book is aimed at and belittling them is a pretty silly way to start. If I want to convince someone of a point of view starting by mocking and belittling is the single worst way. It also makes me think Stone is not a smart person. If the book was not a gift, I would have quit right there.

He also says "would it kill you to eat a piece of cheese? It's not immoral,or harmful to your spirit quest." Besides how insulting this is, to those of us who believe in Animal rights, eating cheese is very immoral. If Matt Stone was subjected to rape,torture and slavery to make dairy products for other people then he might feel differently. As a serious vegan we live with the curse of empathy, we don't want others to suffer for our benefit. Matt Stone however even states that if eating Babies (he must mean human babies since humans eat non-human babies like lambs all the time) helped with heart disease he would report it.

I admit I don't like his attitude, but if you are writing a book on this topic, attitude is a deal-breaker. That said I read on. Because the book was a gift.

P.16 is where Stone starts making all kinds generalizations. He assumes long term vegans will develop long term health problems. I know hundreds of vegans, I only know of a small handful, infact I can only think of two that I know who developed diet related problems. He also assumes that all vegans will escalate their diet to higher levels of purity. That escalation actually can lead to actual starvation, because people eating these ultra pure diets can lead to problems.

I admit this is a problem, but a Raw fooder community problem not a problem with Veganism. I live in Portland, we excel in Vegan junk food. Tens of thousands of vegans who are not starved for calories. We have a vegan BBQ cart that sells battered deep fried sandwich cookies. So when Stone implies that vegans have a problem with dietary purity I laugh. Wrong dude. Raw fooder problem.

Again on page 19 he assumes that you will have health problems on a vegan diet, but as I read his book I thought he should have written about a raw diet, not a vegan diet.

The chapter that starts on p.21 with "Not doing so hot on a vegan diet?" When I read that I thought. Actually I am doing well can I quit reading? on page 25 he lists thirty symptoms of what he calls starvation. Things that he thinks might be a problem vegans experience. my problem with this 30 item list is everyone probably feels one or two of those things. But i don't feel that list is anything I relate too.

I understand that some get caught up in getting specific about getting certain nutrients. Again I think this is a raw fooder problem. I don't think about diet purity, if pop tarts are vegan I'll eat them.

There is a whole chapter called Vegan mistakes, most of them I find to be total crap.

not consuming enough calories -Raw food problem. For real - vegan cookies, Vegan cheese pizza, tofurky sausage three examples I ate in the last two days.

Being over puritanical. - Ethics I deserve firmness. Health not so much. I don't totally disagree, but again I know plenty vegans who eat junk food. He talks several times about vegans avoiding sodium. In 20 years of hanging out with hundreds of vegans I have never known a vegan who did that. Not once.

Consuming to many watery foods.- Again only raw fooders I have known to be the ones who eat 30 bananas in a day, or a 12 pound melon sitting. I can see that is a problem but not a vegan problem.

Drinking too much water - Ok that is insane. I have never heard of anyone being over-hydrated. on page 44 Stone admits that he has "not formally seen this documented anywhere I am aware of." Not even wikipedia?

He co-writes a few sections with a vegan, who has not been alive as long as I've been vegan, so I am not sure how valuable his opinion comes off. I think some one who has been vegan for a long time. Matt Stone randomly calls Dr. Joel Fuhrman a dick, but it is Stone that comes off as know it all jerk with very substance to back it up. He writes checks his ideas can't cash.

Not fan, my friend Ryan Love bought me this book. I see why he liked it. Why he thought he thought it was valuable. He made alot of the mistakes listed in this book. He had major food issues. I saw those as Raw food issues, and not vegan issues. The Advice in this book could been valuable to Raw fooders. The word vegan didn't need to be involved. In my opinion.

Book Review:The Shadow of the Soul (Dog Faced Gods #2) By Sarah Pinborough

The Shadow of The Soul by Sarah Pinborough

389 pages Published April 1st 2011 by Gollancz UK edition (U.S. edition to be released next year)

Last year the book that most blew my doors off was the first book in a series by the young British horror master Sarah Pinborough called The Dog-faced-gods trilogy. The first book in this series was my second favorite read of the year, and Pinborough was my favorite discovery of the year. That first book in the trilogy "A Matter of Blood" was a dark brutal hard boiled supernatural crime novel.

The novel is set in very dark times a very near future dystopia of future Britain that survives an economic collapse by surrendering to a mysterious cabal known as “The Bank.” London is recovering from a terrible terrorist attack. The atmosphere of the novel has a dark surreal feel, I pictured everything with a grey filter that made Oregon winters seem like southern California.

The first novel was in part a serial killer procedural, but followed the main character detective inspector Cass Jones as he followed and a murder investigation and discovered it was connected to his personal family tragedy. In this second novel Cass is trying to solve a mystery very different from the gruesome serial murders of the first book. Several students have recently committed suicide. They are all connected by the phrase "Chaos in the Darkness," that they either spoke or had written just before their deaths.

And it is all related to the "The Bank". In this dystopia of future Britain, the country survives an economic collapse by surrendering to a mysterious cabal known as “The Bank.” The second novel has similar structure but as you would expect the second explores the dark truth behind the "The Network" pulling the strings on the global economy and trying to bring about the end.

This second book doesn't feel as dark to me as the first one, but perhaps I was just more prepared going in having read the first book. The characters are vivid, the story well composed and the book is a page turner in general. We are inching closer to the end. Meaning a third awesome book, and the story is coming to a head. I intend to read it as soon as possible.