Heath Ledger killed the Joker (ha-ha). Everyone is concerned with originality and ownership. But c’mon folks, “Why so serious?”. If the ending results of an idea are more crisp and refreshed under new and loving inspiration, then I welcome them. Is this the case for The Gene Ween Band?  What?

“The Gene Ween Band is a side project of Aaron Freeman of Ween” says their official MySpace.

Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman, Dave Dreiwitz, Scott Metzger, and Joe Russo is the official band roster.   A dream team of some of indie/jam rock’s finest are the meat in this gumbo, branded with the Boognish seal of “WEEN”.  Does this overshadow the “Gene” & “Band” aspects?  Many will expect the universe.  Many will naysay. (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]

I got a myspace bulletin today that read “*SPOILER ALERT* Repost because I woke up and Im still mad.“  It was sent by California artist Alex Pardee and was an honest expression of his feelings about Michael Bay‘s latest  attempt to remake and capitalize off of someone else’s classic film work.  In reading the review, it was immediately clear to me that the style and tone was in the vein of the brand of content that we have tried to provide here on the site.  Filmmaker, Michael Bay, has been a personal issue of mine lately so, it was refreshing to read someone else’s take on the work of the director/producer.  Apart from disaster films (pun intended) like Armageddon , Bay has also been involved with the recent remakes of  The Hitcher, The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street.  I didn’t have the highest hopes for his version of Friday the 13th but, at the least, I can say that I had more faith in it than Will Smith‘s goal to remake Park Chan-wook‘s amazing South Korean film Old Boy or the wreckless casting of his son Jaden Smith‘s in the a new version of  The Karate Kid.

Alex Pardee, on the other hand, is an artist who’s work I enjoy and do have respect for. I liked his review so much that I actually contacted him today and he gracially agreed to allow us to repost it here on Monster Fresh.  For those who are unaware of Pardee‘s work, he is an accomplished illustrator, apparel designer and writer who has been featured heavily in publications such as Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose.   As his bio state, “Alex Pardee’s unique style is one conceived through watching years of horror movies, writing graffiti, and listening to gangster rap. His work best represents that of a circus sideshow cemetery.“  He has worked on toy series with Kidrobot and Zero Friends, done album art for The Used, Cage, and In Flames, and even has his own “cinematic” clothing line with Hurley called “Night of the Treeple“.  We highly encourage you to check out his plethora of work, buy his wares, and to go out and catch one of his exhibits if you get the chance.  For now, enjoy his review of the new Friday the 13th; I did.

-Dead C
(more…)

Popularity: 12% [?]

After seeing the Joaquin Phoenix appearance from last night’s episode of Letterman, I was reminded of a couple of other choice interviews conducted by the late night host over the years.  In the 80‘s, Crispin Glover was on the show and that got really uncomfortable.  The weird moments were brought by Harmony Korine in the 90‘s.  I figured that now would be a good time to try out our new polling feature and see if anyone had any feelings about which one of the interviews was actually the most awkward.  They all have unorthodox names and are groomed nicely so, I figured that part of it was a toss up.

Check out the videos below and vote.
(Remember: if you ever want to conduct any polls of your own, they can be posted easily in our forum, the Soapbox)

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Joaquin

Crispin

Harmony

Popularity: 4% [?]

Television today is so exhausted.  It seems that every time I turn on the old boob tube, there’s either a new reality show or crime scene investigator series going down.  Not to mention the remakes.  Beverly Hills 90210, Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon…  Come on people!  David Haselhoff is the only man allowed to drive KITT and Flash Gordon was corny as fuck to begin with.  Have we run out of ideas?  Have we been conditioned to just except this shit as entertainment?

I remember the good old days when I would get home from school, flip on the TV and rock the After School Specials.  There was nothing like sitting on the couch with my bowl of Cheerios watching Helen Hunt jumping out a second story window high on pcp just to show us kids that drugs are bad or, the A-TEAM.  Take a bunch of trained military lunatics, stick them in a pimped out molester van, add some action, a little adventure, and then just throw MR T in that bitch and we’ve got a show folks.  Even the sitcoms back then were good.  Taxi, Cheers, and the Cosby Show were simple concepts, but the content was funny.  I’m sure you’re reading this and thinking, “Fuck this guy, CSI Miami is the shit!” and I’m sure it is, but it’s played out.  In fact, it’s all played out.  That’s why you have to be more creative if you want to make a TV show that will get my attention.  Not even necessarily with the concept but, defintiely with the content.  That’s also why I was so excited when I read the  pilot script for a new project by the writers/creators of  It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX), one of my favorite shows currently on television today. (more…)

Popularity: 12% [?]

CONTEST HAS ENDED!

MonsterFresh.com, in cooperation with the Seattle Theatre Group, is giving away 2 free passes to see Antony & The Johnsons at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on Feb. 28th 2009. Along with the tickets, winner will also receive a limited edition silkscreen poster commemorating the performance. In fact, the poster is more than just “limited edition” because only 150 of them have been printed and they are not available to the general public. That alone is a nice collectors item.

CLICK HERE to enter“

Here are a couple of clips of Antony at work:

Antony singing Leonard Cohen’s “If it Be Your Will” from the documentary “I’m Your Man“

Antony featured on Bjork’s “Dull Flame of Desire“

Popularity: 3% [?]

Release Date: Feb. 19th, 2009

When I found out that kidrobot was slated to release a vinyl Quasimoto figure later this month, I had 2 thoughts run through my head.  The first was that it was a great idea and the second was, “Wait!  Why didn’t this exist already?“  A collaboration involving “planet Earth’s premier creator & retailer of limited edition toys” manufacturing a vinyl collectors figurine of DJ/Producer Madlib‘s nasally, rapping alter-ego seemed inevitable. (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]