deliriousmonk

[deliriousmonk]

What a funny day. I got attacked by a mangy little dog repeatedly and almost burnt my scalp off at 3 PM, but I'm unusually cool about it. Happy 91st to my favourite historical relic.

[deliriousmonk]

They're playing Enya in the wild

[deliriousmonk]

Here is the bi-weekly Songs of the Night that I wish I had on shellac. I watched another mid Matthew Modine movie today in order to forget about The Phantom Blooper (and Apocalypse Now), but to no avail. They should've made a sequel... and Hasford should've lived to write the third book.

Damned people, dying all the time.

Adam Raised a Cain - Bruce Springsteen

2. One More Time - Redbone

3. Ecoute-Moi Camarade - Rachid Taha

4. 好伴侶 - Chopstick Sisters

Ultradiskopanorama is a grand place to find obscure music. Check them out!

5. You're No Good - Linda Ronstadt

6. Wonderful, Wonderful - Johnny Mathis

7. I Want to Live - The Talking Heads

8. Black Sunday - Mephistofeles

9. The Pink Room - Angelo Badalamenti

10. I'm a Man - The Spencer Davis Group

[deliriousmonk]

A Short* Review of The Short-Timers

With a short SOTD selection at the end. Lots of shorts here!

Overview: 10/10. It's less than 200 pages, so a breeze if you don't have time for anything longer. Don't be fooled by it's length though, because it is one mean animal. Like Full Metal Jacket, it follows our main man, Private "Joker" Davis, through his trials at boot camp and into the jungles of Vietnam. Lots of the dialogue is the same, and the characters largely retain their original personalities, but there are a few major differences (and some minor things I'd like to discuss).

If you haven't gone through either and don't want any spoilers, quit reading rightttttt.... here. Scram.

Alright. Starting with Animal Mother. In the film, he is a bandolier wearing, Charlie killing war machine portrayed by Adam Baldwin. As Eightball remarks this about Animal Mother,

"Now you might not believe it, but under fire Animal Mother is one of the finest human beings in the world. All he needs is somebody to throw hand grenades at him the rest of his life."

And that's pretty much true if you ignore the fact that he was pretty much responsible for the deaths of three of his squad members. Good under fire indeed.

Aside from his general hatred for the Vietnamese, racism and his lame threats, Animal Mother isn't a half bad addition to your personal platoon... as long as he's not book Animal Mother, who is an entirely different beast. That version of A.M., who is straight up Satan himself, does not simply cuss out Joker and shoot blindly at empty buildings. His favourite past-times are as follows:

Fragging his lieutenant

Beheading dead VC

Keeping a fine set of rotted teeth

Chasing children

Shooting people's faces off

And probably more that I missed. There's a reason why Joker tried to knife him in the jungle.

Moving on to Cowboy, my favourite Stetson toting bandit. Why'd the bastard have to die? Ask Hasford. My main quibble is with Kubrick changing the sequence of his death. Originally, Private Cowboy gets his stuffing blown out by some VC sniper in the jungle, but they didn't kill him quickly enough for his liking. This results in Joker having to mercy kill his friend. The exchange is positively heart numbing, and I think it would've been better than killing off Cowboy naturally like they did in the film. It would've given Joker more of a chance to show how the war was impacting his decision making.

Anyways. Listen, I know the film and the book are going to be different, but it's almost criminal how much was changed. Everyone knows the iconic Mickey Mouse march; it's catchy, it's dark, it's disturbing. It also packs an inferior weight in comparison to the rest of the movie. The buildup from the sniper scene is wasted on a snap ending, which could've been greatly improved if they hadn't mushed around the places the platoon went through for brevity.

I don't know if anyone wants to watch a 3 hour film though. But if Apocalypse Now can do it, so can Full Metal Jacket.

Additional complaints/compliments:

Rafterman is one of those poser military "I got meself a hundred kills!" type in both mediums, so it was pretty good to see him get turned into a Flat Stanley by a friendly tank (this is novel only, unfortunately). It pissed me off to no end when he tried making light of the sniper execution.

I personally think Joker was more compelling in the novel. Yes, Matthew Modine is the love of my life. Yes, I think he was right to play Joker. But he lost out on a lot of good lines (who's fault is that?) and just became the generic anti-authoritarian edge head caught up in a war. Where's all the salt, man? Brother was saltier than Lot's wife. I would've liked to see more of his narration and internal dialogue.

What the fuck happened to Alice? Is he Eightball?

Fuck SOTD, this is getting too long. Here's a quote I like and Wovoka by Redbone. Nighty night, Tumblr.

“...Chaplain Charlie was an amateur magician. With his magic, Chaplain Charlie entertained Marines in sick bays and distributed spiritual tourniquets to men who were still alive, but weaponless. To brutal, godless children Chaplain Charlie spoke about how God is merciful, despite appearances, about how the Ten Commandments lack detail because when you're writing on stone tablets with lightning bolts you've got to be brief, about how the Free World will conquer Communism with aid of God and a few Marines, and about free fish. One day a Vietnamese child booby-trapped Chaplain Charlie's black bag of tricks. Chaplain Charlie reached in and pulled out a bright ball of death...”

[deliriousmonk]

The Short-Timers, Nightfall, Mission to Hanoi, and 50% of Eichmann In Jerusalem have all been completed. I might write individual reviews for all of these later; if not, there will definitely be one for The Short-Timers. Thus goes Books of June.

[deliriousmonk]

Full Metal Jacket, exact same story but instead of Leonard killing himself he just never went to Parris Island. End tweet.

[deliriousmonk]

Wading slowly into the pool that is Steely Dan, I find an underwater oasis... and water. Refreshing. Here are a few favourites from this week, courtesy of good old YouTube. Thanks to C for practically being my music guide for the past 11 months. Enjoy!

Haitian Divorce

2. Josie

3. Peg

4. Do It Again

5. Gaucho

[deliriousmonk]

"I do not act like myself on here." You very much do, there's just less lunatics stalking you. Thank God both of our former accounts are gone. 🙏

This is leagues better than seeing another scam in my inbox; it did scare me though. The lunatics are repelled by my lame aura. Thank God indeed!

[deliriousmonk]

Diane Keaton in the 70s

@cryingsaltbaby @franklinn97 @jasonvanhalen @alatariiels @fre-mood

[deliriousmonk]

It is too hot today. I blame Ronald Reagan for this.

[deliriousmonk]

Today, there is an impostor present among us (the king). Here is one good song for today.

Rock the Casbah - The Clash

[deliriousmonk]

Go Ravens

How does one make a choice without feeling like you're being ripped in two... send help.

[deliriousmonk]

How does one make a choice without feeling like you're being ripped in two... send help.

[deliriousmonk]

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's.... Song(s) of The Day. Back with a mild vengeance after a thousand nights. Enjoy! Or don't.

She Burned Me Down - Type O Negative

2. Hysteria - National Velvet

3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

4. Cupid - Sam Cooke

5. Signals (entire album) - Steve Brenner

6. Today - Jefferson Airplane

7. Amikor En Kissrac Voltam - Besh O droM

8. Woman's Work - Sheree

9. Smack My Bitch Up - The Prodigy

10. Thank You For Sending Me An Angel - Talking Heads

[deliriousmonk]

Got hit with the Big Three (people asking if I have autism, ADHD or- get this- am ''A.I.").

[deliriousmonk]

The Boomtown Rats, 1978

[deliriousmonk]

Found this in a Polish cookbook I bought at Value Village. There was also one of those old match strikers in there; it fell on my face. Date unknown (sometime in May), but I think this was taken in Connecticut.