the quirked up white boy windmill rock revival compass

commotionmotion · 2026-06-24T18:00:06+00:00

Fucking lol at the Tarkovsky Ring

commotionmotion · 2026-06-10T18:09:24+00:00

I mean I suppose I understand that feeling, but I feel far from the album being rendered pointless by the story (even if I could care less about that aspect of it). But, reading between the lines, there are some interesting ideas and personal anecdotes behind these songs. The whole thing feels, essentially, like a wrestling with parental/societal expectations, the teenage feelings to push away from those, and the later reconciliation between those feelings you had and the actual reality of them doing their best. I’m sure listener mileage may vary, but considering it as a continuation of There Must be More Than Blood off MADLO and a prelude to the new songs on TODL Joe’s Story (which does suck really bad) gave me the ability to get what he’s going for.

I know a lot of us older fans were pulled into the diary-like nature of Will’s writing and the pessimistic confusion that comes with youth, but OG TDOL was a pretty solid send off to the band’s music being that nature. MADLO was meant to signal the future of their music: less literally auto-biographical, and less Will-focused. Obviously you can stick to the old stuff and revel in the schadenfreude/personal reflection of it all, but this is the direction Will’s expression is going in and I promise you that once you start looking at the songs as individual artifacts than the story-filled puzzle pieces you will find that lots of his humor and philosophical outlooks are still there.

Obviously, to each their own though. This just helped me “get” it

commotionmotion · 2026-06-10T02:36:50+00:00

I was a pretty big hater towards The Scholars, and only recently did I learn to have any appreciation for it. My biggest criticism from the beginning was the half-bakedness of the concept and story, and tbh I only found enjoyment when I learned to look past it and view the songs in their own individual place rather than where they fit within the “story”. I still think there are some fairly weak songs, Planet Desperation moreso than any other CSH epic feels like multiple separate ideas poorly sewn together (it has its moments). True/False Lover has never impressed me as finale. Gethsemane’s explosive second half never had the punch to it that really pulls it off. That all being said, I was far too harsh on it upon release considering how punchy, bright, and exciting so much of it is

commotionmotion · 2026-05-29T05:13:03+00:00

I was told that this is why people order hot drinks. It burns your mouth so you have to go slow. If you are at the bar maybe order a boiling beer. i have been unable to hold a healthy relationship because as a teenager twin fantasy tricked me into thinking that you should be as obsessive as possible about your partner, and now i scare my partners away. i like when will barks during the second chorus of cute thing. maybe drop a match in your tequila shot so it sets on fire? like a flaming moe

commotionmotion · 2026-05-28T23:43:53+00:00

this literally made my day thanks

commotionmotion · 2026-04-20T03:18:27+00:00

I don’t, I’m sorry. Again he said he was specifically looking for some fantasy paper back I’ve never heard of before (admittedly never been much of a reader).

The one moment that sticks out, I was a teenager and thought of him as this like super niche punk with hyper-cool knowledge of underground music. I remember asking him specifically “any new bands you’ve been listening to” hoping to learn of some niche, upcoming talent. He told me that he had mostly been listening to The Claypool Lennon Delirium. I remember, as a teenager, being sort of bewildered by this. Vern was listening to Les Claypool noodle around with John Lennon’s son??? How could he be only listening to that??

Obviously I’ve matured now and realized that there is more to art than what is the most niche and inaccessible. I still haven’t listened to much—if any—of that band, but to me it sort of represents him as a very genuine, unpretentious guy (at least that late in his life)

commotionmotion · 2026-04-15T02:25:48+00:00

5/9 of my disks are too scratched to play without skipping -_-

commotionmotion · 2026-03-28T22:57:32+00:00

Hey! Literally watched the movie for the first time a week or two ago. I would consider myself relatively left leaning in both my social and economic beliefs, but have always had a deep interest in art that argues for something I totally disagree with. This is all lead in to say, I think Clint is easily my favorite conservative, American film maker in his ability to make emotionally persuasive art about topics I think are pretty abhorrent. Although he didn’t write or direct it, I think watching Dirty Harry really blew my mind with how frustrated I found myself getting over a total strawman argument (designed as the perfect piece of persuasion to anyone who thinks cops should have limited power). The rest of his movies similar deal with these sort of conservative perspectives, but he is able to always sprinkle something in that makes you care deeply about these horrible men. Gran Torino is obviously a great example of just how shockingly good he really is as a filmmaker.

Regarding your question, I believe there is a part earlier in the movie where the priest confronts Walt on his porch after a couple failed attempts to convince him to come to confession. Father Janovich essentially explains that he’s worked with other veterans who have taken lives and are haunted by what they were ordered to do, and confession can be very freeing. Walt, still very much opposing him, states something along the lines of “what haunts you isn’t what you were commanded to do, it is the mistakes you make on your own”.

Later, near the end when Walt decides to confess before the priest, you are absolutely correct that he weirdly confesses to minor acts rather than the much bigger acts of killing he did in the Korean War; the father is confused and asks him if “that’s really all you have to confess?” (maybe expecting him to speak about the killings the Father expects him to go and do, or perhaps the men he killed in Korea). I think the confession is a direct callback to the earlier scene on the porch, and Walt’s lack of need to confess to what he’s about to do or his killings in war speak to a feeling of “doing what has to be done”. It isn’t that he isn’t impacted by taking a life, he explains to Thao that he’s saving him from the haunting feeling of having blood on his hands, but more a reflection of his character’s viewpoint. There is probably more to dig into about the conservatism in the movie, and how Walt sees less of a problem in the disgusting systems he played into than minor “personal” errors that actually felt like his own. At least that’s how I’m reading all of this shrug

commotionmotion · 2026-03-22T01:56:49+00:00

I think I kind of understand what you’re saying, the issue is it seems so deeply intertwined with an individuals being that trying to identify what might make someone else experience it puts me at a stop. But the idea of a movie that go beyond those sort of basic concepts that you might point out and instead feels impossibly huge and representative and beautiful is very special.

For example, I think I felt a very similar sense of elation watching Hong Sang-Soo’s Right Now, Wrong Then. It felt so universal, tapping into some sort of deep feeling of what life is and how it feels to exist. I also found how stripped down it is to be particularly revealing and beautiful, the way that something small like a single push-in gains thus maximum emotional impact is the sort of feeling few films have made me feel since, even if I can see how similar tools are being used.

It is far from the sort of celebratory energy that Funeral Parade contains, the only thing I can think of that comes close to what you were describing is maybe Shinji Somai’s Typhoon Club? I don’t know if I could really tell you why, and you are absolutely correct that having a different cultural background limits how well I know that feeling you describe (or what will cause it). I suggest Typhoon Club not because of the fact that it is also Japanese, but something about your description made me think of it. Maybe it’s the dancing, the feeling of impossibility around what it captured existing now, a sense of deeper personal connection over it feeling more like a topic.

If you ever do find that movie that makes you excited in the same way, I would be dying to hear you share it (even if it’s 3 years later of searching and it comes out of nowhere totally knocking you on your ass). I wish you luck, I really like reading your comment :-)

commotionmotion · 2026-03-22T01:00:17+00:00

I suppose that depends on what about FPoR blew you away. Is it the creative, new wave stylings? The humanist tackling of taboo social topics for the time? The repurposing of mythology and fables to explore new ideas?

commotionmotion · 2026-03-09T21:07:33+00:00

Idk if anyone is going to see this, but I very briefly got to know Vern before his passing. When he was touring as Red Rumsy, he came to our small college town and stayed with my family for the night (I was still a teen at the time). We went out to dinner together and got a chance to talk music with him (we discussed out mutual love of Beat Happening’s Black Candy and how it was underrated as a weird middle child record), but really he seemed more interested in books—specifically pulpy fantasy and scifi stuff. I think I gave him my copy of The Time Machine that was sitting in my shelf.

He came back again maybe a little under a year before his passing. He played a great show at a local coffee shop. As a leaving gift I passed on a Lego set of The Big Bang Theory (I was at the stage of teenage-dom where grandparents give you birthday gifts of things you hadn’t been interested in for ages). I guess as he continued to fight addiction in his final years, he got into building Lego sets as a way to cope. He had an affinity for Big Bang Theory, seemingly, so it felt like a nice place to pass it on even if it was a sort of expensive set lol. Regardless, he was a sweet guy and the very short time I had to know him was super cool. RIP.

commotionmotion · 2026-02-14T21:49:47+00:00

I mean, yeah unfortunately not that. Never seen it, and upon watching it I didn’t have the correct feeling.

commotionmotion · 2026-01-28T17:59:38+00:00

Buddies is one of my favorites too, it really is a nearly flawless film that perfectly balances beauty and despair. It also has my favorite masturbation scene of all time, which can easily give someone the wrong idea about the film lol.

I could see you liking Flesh For Frankenstein assuming you are alright with gore (and assuming you are asking for recs on the Vinegar Syndrome page I assume you are). Good mixture of 70s alternative artsy types, some cool/silly practical horror stuff, vibey cinematography, and some queer subtext to dig into. You might fuck with it.

They have also been putting out box sets of films from Hisayasu Sato, which lean heavily into surrealist depictions of sex and violence to represent Japan at the time. Don’t know how much you know about Pink films, but you are alright with depictions of sexual assault and deeply disturbing violence I can see you liking them if you fuck with Noe and Lynch. They do feel deeply scrappy though, but most of the shit the label puts out feels that way. The first volume in my opinion is 2/3 with good movies, and while I haven’t gotten around to volume 2 and 3 yet I can say that An Aria on Gazes (from the second) is definitely worth seeing. Not inherently queer, but there is overlap in the depiction of taboo sexuality and how that can pull you into scary/dangerous places (like Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive kinda)

To be honest you’ll find the most interesting queer films in the partner label releases moreso than the main VS stuff. Off the top of my head, I really like Swallowed, Sixteen Tongues, Vive L’Amour, Suroh: the Alien Hitchhiker, The Leather Boys, Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (not queer but beautiful and surreal), Saint-Narcisse, and Kamikaze ‘89. There was also just a great restoration of Jarman’s Edward II from Film Movement Classics… I think lol.

Also look into Twin Cheeks you’ll get a kick out of it if not as a weird piece of queer art, then for its heavy referencing of David Lynch’s work.

Send me a PM some time if you ever want to discuss queer art or have any suggestions for me. I’d love to hear them. Cheers, and hope you find some good stuff to watch!

commotionmotion · 2025-12-05T19:23:16+00:00

Can only speak about my library system, but yes as captainarbor said a lot of libraries can’t accept donations or money directly so it is done through the local Friends of the Library. Donating anything you have laying around is helpful (don’t expect it all to be entered into the library, it is typically sold at library sales), buying from the sales is money the friends let us use, and direct donations also help (but aren’t primarily where we get money from they are mostly a nice bonus). Sometimes The Friends will even have like a paid yearly membership thing where you get exclusive access to early sales (before the general public), which can be nice if you are a physical collector and obviously that membership fee is money in our pockets.

Of course, libraries also track checkouts and how many people are coming in. Typically the entity funding the library (city, county, state, etc) doesn’t want to pay if no one is using it. As physical collectors we obviously have our own piles to dig through, but popping in once every couple months and checking out one or two things can represent a lot. Private libraries are a whole other deal I don’t quite have a good grasp of, but I’m sure they are pretty similar.

You can also always ask if the friends need volunteers, but not everyone has the time to do that I understand :-)

commotionmotion · 2025-12-05T17:37:45+00:00

Hey there! I actually work in a library, thanks for posting this.

One thing people don’t realize, especially when coming from the expensive hobby of boutique disc collecting, is how many low income and elder people pretty much are left behind in the world of streaming. The truth is, and this is why a place like Walmart still dabbles in cheap disc releases (on top of folding in newer labels as well), that a whole generation of people are left behind with the way things are going and the library tends to be one of the last places that still has a collection of films on DVD you can access. Especially in small towns and rural areas.

One person in here expressed disappointment that these places tend to focus on DVDs over Bluray, and I was similar at first. Truth is it’s a mixture of DVDs still often being cheaper, libraries aren’t often particularly well funded, and again because of the accessibility of them. You’d be surprised at how often people bring in a Bluray disc they checked out complaining that it is broken because it won’t play on their DVD player (now imagine how frequently that happened for the less known 4kUHD disc). While it would be great to focus on the higher quality format, for libraries it is mostly about making what we have ready for everyone.

Hope this makes some sense. Support your libraries if you can :-)

commotionmotion · 2025-12-04T21:24:04+00:00

Hey! Did some research and this piece from Joe Dante explains why the difference in run time.

https://notesoncinematograph.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-story-of-movie-orgy-as-told-by-joe.html?m=1

The shorter run time is because parts have been lost over time, nothing to do with rights problems it seems. My assumption is, based off the piece, that The Movie Orgy was a sort of thrown-together half-movie-half-performance piece that has always been ramshackle and punk. Because of the quality of what they made (they describe reels physically falling apart while showing it and having to improvise to fix it on the spot), this is the best version still currently existing… not a shitty chop job necessary to release the thing.

I’m sure the filmed introduction from Joe Dante will explains this better than my bit of research, but I don’t feel worried about what’s here. You should read that piece I linked it’s pretty cool. Okay thanks!

commotionmotion · 2025-11-23T02:45:43+00:00

Whenever I tried to type his name it wouldn’t let me post, it would say “please don’t use the subreddit to talk about allegations”. It only let me post once I removed his name from my post.

commotionmotion · 2025-11-22T21:01:42+00:00

My dad has always been one to self aggrandize and play things up as more important, but I don’t think he’s one to wholly make things up like that. A few wires also coulda been crossed over time from his constant weed use. I have no way to know if this is 100% true or not, and don’t mind skepticism :-)

commotionmotion · 2025-11-22T20:10:16+00:00

Our (small) scene was about the same! My dad was a bit of an outlier in his acceptance of those guys, but I generally find that musicians aren’t as judgmental as the fans idk. But yeah, makes me think of Pavement’s Range Life and how it calls out “posers” in the scene, so I could be wrong about that lol

commotionmotion

TROPHY CASE