The Top Ten Things I Downloaded This Year.
This was the year of Bit Torrent for me. What a wonderful tool, so much easier then the Kazaas and the WinMXes and the Soulseeks of the world. With BT, if you want something and it's there, you get it without any great waiting around, hoping that one guy that's sharing the Ennio Morricone CD or the British TV episode will come back online. (Unless of course, you're trying to get something that's 12 GB long, then you wait.) And the best part of BT is the members-only forums I belong to, where almost all of this stuff came from. Ask nicely, and promise me you'll be a good sharer and not a scumbag leech, and maybe I'll tell you where I got this stuff.
10. A McDonalds Training Film, Circa 1972 or so. HI-larious. Basically, it's about being courteous when taking orders, and the two actors playing the McD's employees are just terrible. And the paper hats and uniforms. High quality camp.
9. Do Dialectics Break Bricks? - French politcal nonsense coming out of the mouths of kung fu film actors. Good stuff, even if the print's not great.
8. A brief clip of The Undertaker rehearsing the end of his Great American Bash match in which he "buried" Paul Bearer "alive" in cement. How this got out to the satellite is unclear, but it offers an amusing glimpse behind the scenes of a PPV.
7. The complete discography of They Might Be Giants, which includes an awesome live radio concert from this past summer.
6. A nice clean copy of the out-of-print Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, which is now on a DVD in my collection. A big catch.
5. A lot of really amusing and goofy 70's pr0n, courtesy of Benitosan over at DV. We're talking Seka, John Holmes, Veronica Haven, the whole nine yards. Ron Jeremy when he was young and (relatively) thin. Sharon Mitchell when she was somewhat attractive, before the nose took over. Most is really high quality, which makes me happy.
4. The complete discographies of Goblin and Claudio Simonetti, as well as all of the available soundtracks to Lucio Fulci's movies. I love cheesy Italo-horror soundtracks, and this was like a direct shot of China White into my veins. Thanks to LeonX at DV for these.
3. MST3K Seasons 0(the KTMA season) and 1 Complete. Nice copies of both, particularly the KTMA ones, which are about the best quality I've seen anywhere around. (Bonus shoutout to the MST3K Digital Archive Project, which has been spiffing up episodes from every season and upping them.)
2. Culloden - A great TV film by Peter Watkins depicting the last battle ever fought on British soil in modern-news style fashion. Watkins was a filmmaker who made quasi-documentaries with nonprofessional actors, and I also acquired two of his other films. The War Game, which depicts the horrors of a nuclear war and was banned by the BBC, was released in theaters and went on to win Best Documentary at the 1966 Oscars. The Gladiators (The Peace Game) depicts a future where war has been abolished and countries instead play a variation of "Capture The Flag" to settle differences.
And the best thing I downloaded all year:
The Gray Album - D.J. Dangermouse - Yes, I know it led to a slew of imitators(Jay-Zeezer, anyone?), but it's audacious, amazing, and it just works. And the fact that EMI freaked out about it only made it more interesting to those of us who believe in artistic expression. Another mashup, almost as good, is The Kleptones' A Night At The Hip-Hopera, which melds Queen together with various rap artsts. I think it's been shut down also, but if you hunt around, as I did, you can find it out there.
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So that's the list. Honorable Mention goes to a flood of Brigitte Lahaie films recently released on DV and Empornium; a decent rip of the uncut version of The Burning; a nice file of all 8 Halloween film scores; and 42nd Street Forever, a great compilation of grindhouse trailers.
Next week: Top Ten Films I saw this year.
10. A McDonalds Training Film, Circa 1972 or so. HI-larious. Basically, it's about being courteous when taking orders, and the two actors playing the McD's employees are just terrible. And the paper hats and uniforms. High quality camp.
9. Do Dialectics Break Bricks? - French politcal nonsense coming out of the mouths of kung fu film actors. Good stuff, even if the print's not great.
8. A brief clip of The Undertaker rehearsing the end of his Great American Bash match in which he "buried" Paul Bearer "alive" in cement. How this got out to the satellite is unclear, but it offers an amusing glimpse behind the scenes of a PPV.
7. The complete discography of They Might Be Giants, which includes an awesome live radio concert from this past summer.
6. A nice clean copy of the out-of-print Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, which is now on a DVD in my collection. A big catch.
5. A lot of really amusing and goofy 70's pr0n, courtesy of Benitosan over at DV. We're talking Seka, John Holmes, Veronica Haven, the whole nine yards. Ron Jeremy when he was young and (relatively) thin. Sharon Mitchell when she was somewhat attractive, before the nose took over. Most is really high quality, which makes me happy.
4. The complete discographies of Goblin and Claudio Simonetti, as well as all of the available soundtracks to Lucio Fulci's movies. I love cheesy Italo-horror soundtracks, and this was like a direct shot of China White into my veins. Thanks to LeonX at DV for these.
3. MST3K Seasons 0(the KTMA season) and 1 Complete. Nice copies of both, particularly the KTMA ones, which are about the best quality I've seen anywhere around. (Bonus shoutout to the MST3K Digital Archive Project, which has been spiffing up episodes from every season and upping them.)
2. Culloden - A great TV film by Peter Watkins depicting the last battle ever fought on British soil in modern-news style fashion. Watkins was a filmmaker who made quasi-documentaries with nonprofessional actors, and I also acquired two of his other films. The War Game, which depicts the horrors of a nuclear war and was banned by the BBC, was released in theaters and went on to win Best Documentary at the 1966 Oscars. The Gladiators (The Peace Game) depicts a future where war has been abolished and countries instead play a variation of "Capture The Flag" to settle differences.
And the best thing I downloaded all year:
The Gray Album - D.J. Dangermouse - Yes, I know it led to a slew of imitators(Jay-Zeezer, anyone?), but it's audacious, amazing, and it just works. And the fact that EMI freaked out about it only made it more interesting to those of us who believe in artistic expression. Another mashup, almost as good, is The Kleptones' A Night At The Hip-Hopera, which melds Queen together with various rap artsts. I think it's been shut down also, but if you hunt around, as I did, you can find it out there.
---------------
So that's the list. Honorable Mention goes to a flood of Brigitte Lahaie films recently released on DV and Empornium; a decent rip of the uncut version of The Burning; a nice file of all 8 Halloween film scores; and 42nd Street Forever, a great compilation of grindhouse trailers.
Next week: Top Ten Films I saw this year.
posted by Jon M. at
2:09 PM
5 Comments:
You're not a loser, brother. If you look around at some of my friends' blogs, you'll see that we all pass the same memes around.
Yay!! The Muggery Top Tenery has began.
YAY!!
I loved the DJ DangerMouse Grey Album, but even moreso was the Double Black Album done by DJ... oh shit, I forgot, but it's Jay-Z vs Metallica's Black Album. Now, there is two of these out there, so beware. The one I got was the first one. Damn, I wish I could remember that DJs name...
Yeah, that one's really good also.
I wasn't a Jay-Z fan, but he does write good stuff, I must say.
I must have the McD video.
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