Christmas Gift Idea - 'Tis but a Flesh Wound

This Black Knight seems standard enough,

it's only after you see him like this,

that those in the know recognize its Pythonesque significance. If you don't get it, you really need to watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or at least the following scene on YouTube:

The Black Knight doll is available at ThinkGeek.

A Broken Wing and Nothing More

I'm really digging the album from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, "Sunday at Devil Dirt." The sweet voice from the Belle and Sebastian alum is the perfect counterpoint to the former Screaming Tree's brooding intensity. "Sunday" feels feels a bit like an album of Nick Cave ballads but that's not a bad thing at all. Their songs make me want to join the merchant marines and set out on an adventure full of fisticuffs, deals with Satan, and pale and tragic women. What can I say? I'm a romantic.

Here's the debauched and NSFW video to "Ramblin' Man" off their debut:

Riku - My favourite Finnish-American movie blogger

Billed as the most popular Finnish-American film themed blog, Richard Hourula's Riku Writes is certainly a blog worth checking out. Hourula writes thoughtfully about his greatest passion; movies. I don't always agree with him and he tends to focus on older movies but his engagement with his material is evident and well worth reading.

L'État Sauvage

The Samurai Buddha would like to call a moratorium on using the term "coup d'état," at least until a military junta shows up...

However, when one governs like "l'état c'est moi," a coup d'état might be necessary...

No one to blame but himself...

"To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it; for when we fail our pride supports us; when we succeed, it betrays us." - Charles Caleb Colton

Mickey Rourke Wrestles Botox

Here's the latest trailer for the upcoming Darren Aronofsky film "The Wrestler." Would anyone think less of me if I told them I cried watching this? It's just a trailer, after all. This film has been getting almost universally good reviews since it took the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year. I really like Aronofsky as a director. I even thought his last film, "The Fountain" was misunderstood and criminally lambasted. Check it out:

Sir Ben is no Minor Threat

Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley steps into Ian Mackaye's combat boots in a tribute to Minor Threat:


Sir Ben Kingsley STOMPS into the shoes of Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo.

Pretty Awesome!