At Amoeba Hollywood we've been kicking around the idea of a Reptilesploitation sub-section in horror. Whilst it's easy to think of several killer crocodilian movies or films featuring man-eating-snakes, it's proven much harder to think of any featuring turtle terrors or lethal lizards. But the occasion of World Turtle Day has given me reason to think harder. Maybe they aren't horror films, but any of these are a great way to celebrate this Testudinal holiday.
There's a whole series of Gamera films brought to you from those crazy guys over at the Daiei Motion Picture Studio.
And who can forget those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- a group of heroes in half-shells named after gay artists and led by a sewer rat. What's the text about the subtext called?
I'm sure you heard about the giant turtle at Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi. Until now it was thought to be extinct until he (or she) has made some appearances recently... which is supposed to portend something big. Here's some footage accompanied by the kind of Vietnamese music you'll never hear at Ginger Grass.
It's Britney bitch! announces Britney Spears straight out the gate (Track 1, 0:00 - 0:02) on her brand new album, "Blackout" on Jive/Zomba (available at each Amoeba Music store) which, in reaction to fear of internet leaking of songs, was released on October 30th - a couple of weeks early of its initial street date. The big surprise is that the album is actually pretty darn good - a tight dance-pop collection on which the heavily processed voice of Brit often lashes out at the mean media - like in the vocoder-fed song "Piece of Me" - as heard in the above "non-official" video version that displays the Tabloid Britney that we are all too familiar with - like it or not. But putting aside all the tabloid self-references and all the other superficial stuff, what really strikes me most about this new Britney Spears album is its production, the music itself and just how expertly its producers (Danja and others such as Timbaland and Pharrell Williams) effortlessly channel pop's golden past. Take for example "Heaven on Earth" (scroll all the way down for still YouTube clip to hear audio) is a straight homage (rip-off?) to Donna Summers' 1977 Giorgio Moroder produced dance masterpiece "I Feel Love."