Thor vs. Odin, Bitch, out-of-print tapes from the mom & pop era, more...

Ok, we are all familiar with movie/metal star Thor, but are you are fan of Odin? You might remember them from Penelope Spheeris' Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. Anyway, I saw these forgotten legends last night at a bar in Tarzana. Finding an Odin CD or record is unfortunately next to impossible. I would say I was the youngest one at the whole sold out show (at age 28!?), but the kid that drove me there is not even 21. He is the most dedicated metal head you will ever meet who was not around during metal's glory years. He dropped $30 to get permission from the venue to videotape Odin because this performance, their third in the last five years, needed to be documented for historical reasons. Of course doing things like this pays, as now the Odin band members want to see the tape. The kid has no fear of going up to any band member, or for that matter calling them at home after researching them on the internet. Same goes for directors and stars of forgotten B-movies of the 80's. The people he tracks down are often shocked that anyone cares about them or wants to interview them. This band Odin, pretty much unknown to the outside world, are rebuilding their following, selling out this bar in the Valley is a step in the right direction. They fuckin' rock, no doubt.

I would also like to mention that the early Metal Blade band Bitch opened and played to a half-empty room. This band had like a thousand videos, I don't get it.

movies:

Over at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, a 3-D film festival is in progress. What did I learn? A faded 3-D print is a very unfortunate thing as the blues and reds fade and the 3-D effect is muted. The movie I saw, Gog, had a newly made print for the right eye (from a master), but was using the only print left in existence to project the image for the left eye. No master exists for that side any longer, which means that if the left print is destroyed or wrecked accidentally, Gog can never be viewed in 3-D again! Many other 3-D films are in danger of disappearing forever, not on DVD - digitized versions are of course fine - but there is a possibility that if not preserved it will be impossible to view these movie as they were meant to be seen, in a theater and in 3-D.

On to the subject of out-of-print vhs, here is what the new company Screamatorium DVD has to say:

The section of American copyright law known as "The Berne Act" states: films unreleased in the United States, including original version of films altered and/or edited for release in the United States, are not protected by American copyright; thus, they are considered public domain. All of our films have either never been released in the USA or are long out of print and have not come out on DVD yet. Once one of our films comes back into print it will be removed from our stock and not be sold anymore.

You know I like that! These guys will be making a DVD of Terror on Tour.

Recently, Lloyd Kaufman's outrageous writing on the subject of celebrities, the media, and the 9-11 disaster, has come to our attention again. Found via thehorrorblog.

I will see Idiocracy tonight at the expensive, Arclight Theater in Hollywood and intend to review it - so stay tuned.

Shit, I have more to say, but I forget what. I recently turned 28 and now am older, grubbier, gayer, and less successful than before - these things of course based on other people's observations.