At what temperature does a freeway melt?

Usually when someone says “Emeryville”, us folks in the Peninsula and South Bay think “ah, Ikea” (before the one opened up in East Palo Alto of course). Now we’ll be thinking “melted freeway”. Early Sunday morning, a gasoline tanker truck crashed on the MacArthur Maze - the congested loops of interchange ramps bordering [...]

British al Qaeda inspired bomb team sentenced to life

Five members of an al Qaeda inspired team were sentenced to life today in Britain. It was one of the lengthiest jury deliberations in British history and with good cause. In addition to planning new attacks targeting nightclubs, trains and shopping malls, the team (Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmood, Salahuddin [...]

Kansas City Shootings started in the kitchen, ended at the mall

Earlier today a 67-year old woman was the first victim found in a Kansas City shooting spree that ended at a nearby shopping mall with three more fatally wounded, including the assailant. Three others total were wounded.
The first victim was found dead in her kitchen and family members revealed that one of [...]

DVD REVIEW [HE-SAID SHE-SAID] . [Early] . Happily N’ever After

SHE-SAID
The story of Cinderella has got to be one of the most replicated and remade romantic fairytales. I actually never saw the Disney classic, but I had the read aloud/along storybook/recording. Like most girls, I thought her dress was keen (the animals made it for her!). Unlike most girls, I thought the [...]

Blind Woman’s Curse dvd review early!

The third film in Nikkatsu/Daiei’s Rising Dragon series of female yakuza films, Blind Woman’s Curse marks quite a departure from the norm. This entry features a new heroine, new enemies, and a new theme: that of a period yakuza/horror hybrid. Meiko Kaji, in her first starring role, plays Akemi Tachibana, who, following the death [...]

Shh… government secret printed on roadsign

North Korea and their two biggest undisclosed targets (Japan and us) are on the cusp of negotiations (or rather they disobey and watch us sweat) yet again. Did our leader really believe their disarmament promises? Silly George. Silly Abe san.

Well, here’s a silly roadsign to ease the tension of potential nuclear war. [...]

Get whipped (literally and figuratively) in “Women’s Town”, China

Tourism official Li Jigang is hoping to secure funding for a very unique tourist trap. “Women’s Town” will exist in an 2.3 km² (0.9 mi²) area presently known for it’s heavy truck manufacturing, a far cry from femininity. In the Shuangqiao district in Chongqing China, the tiny village’s mantra will decree “women [...]

Toilet Trivia

Toilets filled with water aren’t usually the first thing you’d think would catch on fire. Earlier this month, some bidets in Japan defied common knowledge and their manufacturer Toto is in the “hot seat” so to speak. Sorry I just couldn’t resist. “The fire would have been just under your buttocks,” said [...]

What’s on Wednesday?

I am not a TV watcher and certainly not a fan of the reality TV blitz, but there are a few new shows that creeped into my Wednesday nights:
Beauty and the Geek - I think this show is on more than once a week, but I prefer not to know the schedule so I [...]

Oh Joy! Criterion to release The Face of Another and Woman in the Dunes!

Oh wow. This is super cool. If you read this site you know that Kobo Abe is my favorite author. Well, Criterion is set to release a box set of Hiroshi Teshigahara films featuring not one, but three Kobo Abe adaptations: Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, and The Face of Another. Now, Woman in the [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Sketches of Frank Gehry

When I was first introduced to Frank Gehry’s work, I honestly did not like it. Giant binoculars (Chiat/Day/Mojo Headquarters) and fish sculptures (Fishdance restaurant in Kobe, Japan), oh how literal. His Nationale-Nederlanden office building in Prague is Dali-esque at best and his Wynton Guest House looked like kinderblocks to me. Really, I [...]

Death Note (aka: Desu Noto) movie review

In Japan, there is a deliciously rabid exploration of the occult which Hollywood frequently shuns. For example, remakes of Japanese Horror moneymakers The Ring/Ringu and Dark Water were vilely diluted. So when Japanese filmmakers set out to bring the beloved manga Death Note to the live action platform, you know it’s going to [...]

Death Proof movie review

At just 80 minutes Death Proof is Quentin’s shortest film to date, and somehow his most interminable. Overly chatty and under-compelling, its tale of a stuntman/serial killer (a vehicular-homicidal maniac) lulls when it should wow and stalls when it should kick into high gear. The film is broken into two halves, the first concerning a [...]

Jared Leto blimped up to be John Lennon’s killer

You know Jared Leto as the thin-as-a-rail heroin chic pretty boy from Fight Club and Requiem for a Dream but did you know that he gained over 60 pounds last year? He plumped up to play Mark David Chapman (John Lennon’s murderer) for the upcoming film Chapter 27.

Leto binged on pizza, [...]

DVD REVIEW [Early] . Shinsengumi

If you enjoy samurai films, you already know of the two main types of films: those that seek purely to entertain, and those that seek to educate through serious drama and depiction of historical events. Shinsengumi is of the latter, a thought provoking historical epic that easily ranks with such notable films as Chushingura: 47 [...]

Collective Soul makes you want to kill

I hope this is the last blurb I post about Cho Seung-Hui, but this time it’s a quick opinion piece. Judge me if you will but some of the evidence supporting his “dementia” is pretty darn funny. For instance, his two roommates supposedly mentioned that Cho loved the song “Shine” by Collective Soul, [...]

Knocked Up // movie review // guest // Screener!

We’ve received another guest review, this time courtesy of Craig Merry, upstanding citizen and longtime friend of Dreamlogic.net. I know a lot of you out there are probably fans of either The 40 Year-Old Virgin or Freaks and Geeks, and therefore are interested in seeing this film. I know I am. Without further ado, on [...]

Virginia Tech shooter copycat emerges in CA

As soon as you begin counting the days ’till a copycat tries to take center stage after the Virginia Tech massacre, some meth addict waves his alleged AK-47 around. In Yuba City California, 28 year old Jeffery Thomas Carney threatened that he not only possessed the assault rifle but had bombs and poison in [...]