Anamorph DVD Review

Conclusion

This is a gem of a find - an independent film (which means the stars lived in a greasy motel instead of in their own personalised trailers) that stars Willem Dafoe and Scott Speedman (of Underworld fame) in an engaging psychological thriller. Like The Silence of the Lambs, it features a team of special agents taxed and taunted by their perpetrator. Also like The Silence of the Lambs and Manhunter, the focus is on the characters of those doing the hunting instead of on the character of the hunted. But this is not a Robert Harris rip-off. It's more of an Umberto Ecco rip-off.

Plot

The serial killer in this film takes the anamorphosis technique as employed by Julian Beever to an entirely new level. By employing camera obscura, tattoos, finger painting (in a somewhate literal sense) and an elaborate pantograph, he anoints himself as the MacGuyver of the macabre. The blood and guts are almost as vile as agent Stan Aubrey's (Willem Dafoe) fascination with antique chairs.

There are some valuable life lessons to be learnt from the macabre staging of the murders. Of course I shall bore you with them now. You're welcome.

Thinking outside the box

Think outside the box has to be one of the most flogged of dead horses out there. Usually, when life coaches expect this quantum leap of faith from their victims, it results in us unsuspecting victims focusing on boxes. After focusing on boxes, we focus on the inside of the box, then we try to wrap our minds around the box to the outside.

This is usually followed by a blunt sense of irrelevancy to daily commuting, the numbing buzz of fluorescent lights, the flat-line sound of deadlines as they fly by, cafeteria food and the perpetual catharsis resulting from arriving at the water cooler only to find the coffee pot empty, filthy and surrounded by the optical illusion of cattle carcasses complete with hovering vultures and a tumble weed. Thinking about boxes or thinking differently about boxes has somehow failed to deter us lost souls from turning to debauchery for a paradigm shift. Perhaps there is something more fundamentally wrong with our thinking than boxes?

General Semantics and the Death of Some Square Boxes

General semantics is a mental hygiene regimen invented and endorsed by Korzybski. In our usual modes of thinking, logic is based on certain infallible axioms. These axioms are largely derived from Aristotle's laws of thought:

• The law of identity: Also noted as A is A. This means you are what you is.


• The law of non-contradiction: This means A can't be something other than A.


• The law of the excluded middle: This means either A is A, or A is not A. A can't be both A and not A at the same time. Thus, there is no middle way between being A and not being A.

General semantics reminds us that things are not necessarily so three dimensional as we are lead to believe by our dogmatic clinging to Aristotle's legacy. General semantics should not be interpreted as contradicting Aristotle's laws of thought. Instead, they remind us that some things are just unknown, ineffable and inexplicable. As an augmentation to Aristotle, here are the laws of general semantics:

• The law of null-A: Boolean logic, with only true and false categories for all its elements, cannot accurately map the full expressions of our universe. The law of null-A reminds us that some things fall in the murky areas between true and false. Much like Justin Bieber's gender, there are things that are best described in terms of probabilities, instead of with absolutes like A or not A.


• The law of null-I: The law of non-identity reminds us that no two events, no matter how similar, may be considered exactly the same. This actually echoes the law of identity of Aristotle, because it classifies two similar events as two separate events, each with its own identity.


• The law of null-E: The law of non-Euclidean geometry reminds us that Euclidean geometry is insufficient to describe our entire universe. Take a look at hyperbolic geometry and Gödel's (or Godel's) incompleteness theorems.

A hyperbolic triangle. These angles don't add up to 180 degrees.

How does this relate to Anamorph?

Anamorph will remind you that there are many ways to look at a situation. Sometimes, the tools you employ may be the problem. Different tools may give different results. And you don't have to think about boxes.

Director

Henry S. Miller

Cast

Willem Dafoe and Scott Speedman and some other people I don't care to google now.

Rating

Yeah it's aright.

Heretic (2003) by Morbid Angel Review

Conclusion

A tip of the hat to the fans, with Trey coming out of virtual retirement to make this album 20 years after the band's inception. As one of the original death metal bands, Morbid Angel maintains its quality and pure vision. The riffs are blessedly sick, like a "hirsute appendage of the upper lip, with graspable extremities", while the instrumentals are blessedly sophisticated.


Maze of Torment, performed live at Wacken Open Air 2006. Almost as much fun as giving a handlebar moustache ride.

Review

• At first listen, the riffs sound like sludge. Slow, deep sludge like a mudslide after heavy rain. After a few spins, the riffs actually reveal more than mere distorted pick scrapes and palm mutes. More like the incineration of magma devouring livestock.


• Quick tremolo rhythms emanate from the riffs. These tremolo rhythms are echoed by the flawless kick drum ostinati of Pete Sandoval. Pete and Trey Azagthoth are serious about living up to the Morbid Angel reputation, and Steve Tucker is not about to let them down.


• Steve Tucker has the kind of death growls I admire. It is the rasp of Leviathan cleaning his throat. It is the bark of Cerberus. It is the tearing of angel wings. It would make rottweilers soil themselves. It would make a rabid ferret envious.


• But all is not juvenile death metal. The band who once named Mozart as an influence are still blessedly sick, yet still blessedly sophisticated. Some tear-jerking er, atmoshperic instrumental tracks contribute to a greater concept that has something to do with the mystical Magician of the Tarot triangle and the majesty of the great old one, Cthulhu.


• A curious addition is the drum check. Presumably it is producer Juan Gonzales who asks Pete Sandoval to play the kick drum. Pete goes off at a tangent. And by going off at a tangent, I mean he delivers a ripping drum solo. After some impressive blast beats and fancy cymbal work nearly the length of 'Free Bird', Pete finally gives up. Juan then says: “OK, Pete. OK, Pete. Now can I just hear your kick drum, please?”.


• This is not a band trying to conquer the world, this is a band doing what comes naturally. As such, it lacks the juvenile energy of their early albums, but it is an enjoyable album for any fan of Morbid Angel because you can hear the band is having a whale of a time. A record made as if it were their last, just like all records should be made.

Track listing

Bonus tracks omitted.

1. Cleansed in Pestilence (Blade of Elohim)


2. Enshrined by Grace


3. Beneath the Hollow


4. Curse the Flesh


5. Praise the Strength


6. Stricken Arise


7. Place of Many Deaths


8. Abyssous


9. God of Our Own Divinity


10. Within thy Enemy


11. Memories of the Past


12. Victorious March of Reign the Conqueror


13. Drum Check


14. Born Again

Personell

• Trey Azagthoth: guitars; vocals.


• Pete Sandoval: drums.


• Steve Tucker: bass guitar; vocals.

Rating

The amazing pavement Picasso

Julian Breever is an artist who employs trompe-l'œil techniques to create extraordinary 3D effects on an ordinary pavement - with chalk.


The technique most employed by Breever is anamorphosis. Anamorphosis involves using a distorted projection which requires a particular observation point to be effective. To create this illusion, Breever uses a camera on a tripod and keeps checking every mark he makes. Breever's pavement artworks usually take 3 days to produce. He works for the sake of entertainment and a satisfying photograph providing conclusive evidence of his labour at the end.In his quest for making objects appear out of pavements, he faces many challenges from the elements as well as the authorities, but generally his efforts are accepted well.

"Art shouldn't be locked away in galleries and libraries and books. Art should be for everybody and not just art boffins, historians and so-called experts."

That is true. I just wish the wannabe graffiti artiste in my neighbourhood would spend some more time with a pad and a pencil before he scribbles on our walls.

Here are a few links with more on Breever:
Julian Breever (official web site)
BBC pavement Picasso feature
The page with the time-lapse video showing Breever creating the whitewater rafting scene