i watched the movie hostel the other night. written and directed by eli roth with an executive producer credit for quentin tarantino. in reality, he had very little to do with the film, but lent his name to his friend to help with the promotion of the film. many of the scenes, though, are inspired (or copied) directly from tarantino films, including pulp fiction, kill bill volumes 1 and 2 and from dusk til dawn.




it was thoroughly enjoyable, sort of a slasher gore-fest but also sort of a spoof on these films. and gory hardly cuts it, there's scenes of terrible torture, chopping of digits with metal clips, drilling of body parts with drill bits and garden tools, blow torches, chainsaws, sledgehammers, crushing of skulls with rocks and bats etc., not for the weak of stomach.




a group of three backpackers, one from iceland (who acts like every single icelander i met on my trip...they did a great job of that) and two americans (who act like the annoying american, loud stereotype, and yes if you go travelling in europe you will encounter them).


they start off partying in amsterdam, get locked out of their hostel (yes, this happens) and end up meeting a dutch pot-smoking dude who tells them stories of the best hostel in europe...where is it, you ask? in the town of bratislava, slovakia, where beautiful women throw themselves at americans. of course, the next day, they're on a train.


i am almost 100% sure that the train station used in the film was the train station in bratislava, nothing more than a few concrete, graffiti covered blocks and some rusty tracks...it certainly wasn't what they epected. they get in a cab and drive through gloomy fields towards the city. this part was wrong, bratislava's train station is right in the city, only a short bus ride to downtown.


the real city of bratislava wasn't used for these scenes. once they get to the city, it's actually the city of CESKY KRUMLOV in the czech republic. i recognized it right away, it was one of my favourite cities in eastern europe, medieval, cobbled streets, red tiled rooves on a cascading and crystal clear river, dominated by a grand cathedral and chateau on a hill in the center of town. you can see all my photos of bratislava here and of the czech republic (including cesky krumlov) here.


so they get to this city, and eventually they go missing from the hostel one by one. later we find out that they've been drugged and that rich businessmen from all over the world are paying "$25,0000 for americans, $10,000 for europeans and $15,000 for russians" to torture and mutilate them to death in a dingy old factory outside of town.


these are some screen captures that you can compare with my own photos of cesky krumlov:


this is the sequence where their taxi drives into "bratislva" (which is actually cesky krumlov, and this is definitely NOT how you get in, i don't think that's even a road, it's actually a hiking path that the taxi is on, just underneath a bridge which connects two parts of the hill chateau.)







this is my photo of the same place:





this is where they enter the town by foot, you can see the same bridge on the right side in my photo below:










and finally, a view over the town. you can see the church in the center:

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snakes...


snakes on a motherfuckin' plane...


and there's not a damn thing you can do about it...


so watch yourself the next time you board a jetliner. who knows, there might be snakes on a plane. and they're not wearing seat belts...


and they'll kill you...


not if sam jackson has anything to say about it...


newline cinema is releasing a jewel of a movie sometime soon, called SNAKES ON A PLANE.


note: THIS IS NOT A JOKE.


the title alone has sparked a huge cult following on the internet, sparking newline to reshoot several scenes in the film, upping it's PG-13 rating to R. the movie stars Samuel L. Jackson as a passenger aboard a plane that has been taken over by hundreds of poisonous snakes.


note: THIS IS NOT A JOKE.


it's almost so silly, it could just be good. there are hundreds of references to the film popping up all over the internet, several fansites and a fan blog lovingly titled SNAKES ON A BLOG. the author of the site is on a quest to get a ticket to the premiere...


the movie has spawned countless pages of fan art, fan music and songs, t-shirts, and even a fan-crafted audio trailer (which is hilarious, YOU HAVE TO HEAR THIS) and video trailer.

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a long time ago...in 2002, a friend and i took a trip from vancouver, british columbia to st. john's, newfoundland and back home again, a distance of about 16 000 km...the trip is chronicled in a film we made called "Dustin and Kiran Do Canada"...


i've uploaded just the opening credits and title sequence here...


the written verison of the trip is available by clicking here.


it's a 35MB video so be patient and let it load...i promise, you won't be sorry.

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it's deven's birthday on the 24th and he called the other day to see if i wanted to jump out of an airplane with him and 9 other friends on may 6th.


the conversation went something like this:

phone: doot dootle dootle doot doot doot doot doot dootle dootle doot doot doot doot
me: hello
deven: hey
me: what's up?
deven: yeah, so it's my birthday soon...
me: on the 24th, right?
deven: yes, very god parg...anyways i'm going to go skydiving and it's at this place and you go up in a plane ***and then about three minutes of explaining how it all works*** and it costs $200
me: uhh yeah, about that, um, i don't think i could do that...
deven: what? are you a pussy? c'mon
me: um, no, but i'll come take pictures of you guys getting ready
deven: fine then, you smell!


i don't want to say that i'm afraid of heights, because i don't have a problem flying or being in really high places and looking down (like places i've been, the cn tower, the eiffel tower, the international space station)


at the CN tower (yes, i went up)


up the eiffel tower...


with my crew on the international space station...

but if all i have between me and a horrible splattered death is a piece of fabric, it just doesn't sound so appealing...and it never has. i don't think i've ever wanted to go bungee jumping or skydiving in my life...and i'm not and i won't.

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i picked up bjork's new album medulla over christmas and i love it. in fact i bought four of her albums over christmas and they're all great. this is the latest single 'who is it?'...it might take some time to grow on you...check out the video on glorious noise...


Windows Media Player: http://wm.atlrec.com/bjork/video/whoisit_450.wmv


(if it won't open directly, save it and then click open, it may say it's corrupted, but it's not...it'll work)


and for all of you in korea, here's the korean bjork discussion forum

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i had the day off yesterday and decided to get the hell out of this apartment and walk around a bit. it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, everyone was happy, things were good...


first of all i headed out for a late breakfast (like 2pm) to Ricky's near bc place, had some 'BC Bennies,' read the paper, took my time...

one of the huge gates that mark the entrance to vancouver's chinatown...

then wandered down cordova, past all the new gastown developments to chinatown and the dr. sun yat-sen classical chinese garden. we used to go on elementary school field trips and i hadn't been in years. half the garden is free and half is pay, i just went to the free part (of course). there's a big pond with huge koi fish, some nice pagodas and carvings, a bamboo forest, waterfalls, bonsai trees and a lot of tourists. i overheard some german tourists making fun of the word 'loonie' (for you yanks out there, that's what we canadians call our $1 coins). they kept saying 'loonie' in funny voices and then laughing. i was going to punch them in their faces.

the koi pond...

the koi pond and pagoda...

the entrance to the bamboo forest...

blue flowers...

bamboo...

from the garden i walked past the 'thinnest building in the world.' it really is, it's in the guinness book of world records. the Jack Chow Insurance building on Shanghai Alley in chinatown is less than a metre wide. it's actually just that little front part in the picture...

jack chow insurance...

then through some of chinatown's massive dollar stores and past a lot of old chinese people with really bad teeth, and flattened chickens in the windows and dried lizards...


later i made it back to downtown and went to the vancouver art gallery to see the brian jungen and takao tanabe exhibits.

brian jungen is canadian born swiss-native indian (damn what's the politically correct way to say it) artist who takes modern, mass-produced, consumer goods and transforms them into sculptures either reminiscent of his background or reminiscent of natural things...


like native indian cermonial masks made of nike running shoes...


or a huge glowing capsule made of plastic patio chairs...


or these weird silver globules made of resewn nike silver soccer balls...


and my favourite are his huge (almost life size) sculptures of whale skeletons made entirely out of platic patio chairs...

there was also a teepee made out of the leather from 11 couches and a freight pallette beautifully hand-made out of natural cedar and some strange wall carvings, even a sculpture that utilized LIVE birds and Ikea products....

takao tanabe is a canadian born artist who studied chinese sumi-e painting and then developed his own style of very simplified landscape art...huge pieces, often diptych or triptych, and very striking. he has a way of capturing the essence of an outdoor scene, like i was really standing there...


the queen charlotte islands...


chilcotin plateau...


erringtom sunset...

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i just remembered that i saw dan akyroyd the other night at the roxy club...
weird...i was drunk, but now i remember...
yes dan akyroyd...

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click below to see a satellite view of ground zero just a few weeks after 9/11. it's incredibly detailed, more so than google earth.


http://www.viewpoint.com/demos/vpdemos/zoomview/wtc/#




and this gallery features a one year look at the world trade center area and ground zero as well as the pentagon for a year, starting before 9/11, during the attacks and after...


http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/9-11/#

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i've been so sick the last few days. spent the other night going agonizingly back and forth between freezing cold and boiling hot and woke up soaked in sweat but shivering. went to the doctor yesterday and got a regimen of penicillin to try and rid me of my tonsillitis. it's something i'm used to, i can honestly say that i come down with this at least 4 or 5 times a year. i had to call in sick for work tonight...luckily they were able to find someone to cover my shift otherwise i would've been working right now...


my roommate prepares for spending a day in the same room with me...

and i just had to try and take a picture of my tonsils because they are disgusting...they've got little splotches of bacterial pus and crap all over...
don't say i didn't warn you...

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