Machete, the name of the movie and the movies bad ass hero, (pronounced ma-chet-a) is a hell of a ride. Beginning life as a fake trailer shot for the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse, it tells the tale of an ex Federale named Machete who is hired to kill a Texas senator and then made into a fall guy for a much bigger baddie played by gentlemen who would fit right in in another summer blockbuster, The Expendables. But I’ll leave you to discover who has our hero Machete “Marked for Death.” Wink wink.

Machete is fun action fest that amazes you when hero, two minutes into the film has already taken out 5 men and encountered his first hot naked lady. It’s a movie that some may find a little hard to take seriously but takes itself very serious in the process. With a cast consisting of Danny Trejo, Robert Deniro, Jessica Alba, Michele Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan, and a few other familiar faces, Machete is a hell of a ride from start to finish.

Oh and if you ever feel the movie slowing down, then it’s probably preparing for titular hero for a brief rendezvous with one of his many leading ladies. Funky porno music and all.

Machete is a throwback to the time of Dolemite and Shaft without being as campy a throwback as Black Dynamite. It’s a modern action flick shot in a pseudo 70s style. Its set in modern day Texas with a bit of political allegory on the current illegal immigration situation which helps it hit very close to home. To make it simple, if you like Rodriguez’s films or Danny Trejo you owe it to yourself to see Machete.

Heres hoping Machete will return. He was a damn good end to a decent movie season.

So Harper Collins kindly sent me a review copy of Larry Doyle’s latest book, Go, Mutants! Doyle previously wrote I Love You, Beth Cooper. He’s also a television writer with The Simpsons and Beavis and Butthead to his credit, which might have given me insight into what I was about to get into, had I thought about it.

Mutants! quirky premise, a world where monsters from 50’s B-movies were real and their offspring now populate high-school, promised to be a hilarious read.  And it was, sort of.  The novel mirrored its B-movie inspiration, putting forth a mix of truly great moments and equally horrid moments.  The protagonist, J!m (the blue son of an invading big-brained alien) provided dry amusement throughout, but the narrative was a hodgepodge of painful puns à la Piers Anthony’s Xanth series, some truly witty laugh-out-loud moments, and excruciatingly low juvenile humor.  The writing style is a hodgepodge as well, veering back and forth between normal prose and movie-script, reminding the reader, as if the reader might forget, that the strange tale being read owes its existence to early horror movies.

Besides a blue, teenaged alien wannabe rebel, Mutants! also features a sentient slime blob, a radioactive man-ape, and an assortment of aliens, mutants and mad scientists.  Poking fun at the absurdity of high school and B-movies both, the novel is full of oddity and weirdness, and the end is no less twisted.  Proving just how crazy this tale is, the main character dies well before the end of the book (No, that’s not a spoiler; the narrative constantly hits the reader over the head with blunt two-by-four foretelling of J!m’s imminent demise).

It’s not a book I would reread; there are face-constricting moments I do not want to relive.  Yet if you’re a fan of alternative history, strange worlds, B-movies – or even just the tv shows for which Doyle has written – it’s worth a glance to see if you can take the groans along with the laughs.

A website was also set up for the title Go, Mutants! and can be found here.

Oh yes, the bar has board games like it’s sister bar Common Ground.

The bar is separated into two areas, the bar with plush red sofa seats along bay windows facing the street, and a basic table seated area (also lined with plush red sofa seats) with about five large screen TV’S. That this night were playing a Mets vs Braves game, that thankfully the Mets were winning. The bar also has an eclectic crowd. People from all walks of life seemed comfortable walking in and out of it, but that is probably due to the fact that is extremely close to the NYU’s campus.

Danielle: Low key bar high class ambiance. Like that it’s off in a bit of quiet nook of the city. Feels comfortable not quite on a main road but not so far off the beaten path. The guys who ended up sitting next to us said it best “this restaurant is kind of romantic but a feel of a sports bar with games to play”. The relaxed and more sophisticated sister to common ground bar.

Andrew: They class up the joint with books. A large book shelf in the big red couch seating area houses books like the Iron Crown, Ted Kopel Off Camera, and Disney War to name a few. Heady stuff if you want to come in and read over your burger and look deep, yet approachable.

Wasn’t too packed on a Wednesday night, not a huge place but would say about a quarter full with about 30-35 people,and others continuously walking in and out. After getting some specials we decided on two of their specialty cocktails, a Jalepeno Rita and a Lychee martini.

Andrew: I’m not a big alcohol drinker so while I enjoyed the lychee-ness of the drink every time I started to like it I got a little bit too much vodka with it. But if you like lychee and you like vodka I’m sure it won’t disappoint.

For food we got their burger, which is apparently one of the or more popular items and a spicy fried chicken. Couple quick observations about the food.

Andrew McDonald: Oh my god, fries and the burger were great. Both were seasoned, and the burger was juicy moist and pretty damn big. Definitely recommended.

Danielle: The spicy fried chicken was decent, the outside was well seasoned and breaded but felt like the inside could use a little more spice. And don’t bother with the Mac and cheese unless they were having an off day, it looks great but the fries are a much better choice. Soooo good.

Funny thing is that with the Jalepeno Rita it actually adds an extra kick to the fried chicken, very yummy drink.

Chatted briefly to some guys in the table next to us who were having the dry rub wings, which looked and smelled great. It was the first thing that either of them had ever at this restaurant but both seemed to enjoy it very much and recommend. They also had the catfish which they enjoyed as well, so two positive recommendations on two different meals.

The bar had two options for desert a cheesecake and a chocolate brownie. We got one of each.

The brownie is good, and is covered with peanut butter cream and comes with chocolate Coco puffs. All and all I enjoyed it, it comes with caramelized bananas, not quite my speed but Danielle enjoyed it.

Also had the vanilla scented cheesecake, but unfortunately that night there was a glitch with the apples that normally come with it. So until we have it the way they intended we’ll defer on it.

Andrew: To wrap up our meal we played one of the board games the bar provided, Mr. Bacon’s Big Adventure. Danielle cheated, a lot, (D – Lies!) I got stuck in mustard marsh and then vegan alley. The game cheated soooo much but low and behold I won in the end. Mostly because cheaters never prosper. (D – More Lies because you won. So cheaters do prosper, ;P)

The West 3rd Common is a good place to stop in for food or to relax with a group if your in the NYU area. You can find it at the address or website below. Enjoy and tell them who sent you!

http://www.west3rdcommon.com/

1 West 3rd Street

New York, NY 10012

(212) 529-2059

Usually, my quest to find a great Father’s Day gift is long, fruitless and ends in complete frustration. This year though, I have found the best Father’s Day gift. As my dad has gotten older he has begun developing an appreciation for art, gardening, and many other simple things that bring joy and serenity into his life. So I knew that a workshop with The Digital Photo Academy would be the perfect gift.

The Digital Photo Academy offers fantastic photography classes ranging from beginner’s workshops, advanced workshops, and everything in between. They pride themselves in having small intimate classes with accredited professional photographers as instructors.

So on a hot Saturday afternoon I headed down to Tribeca to the Little Big Pictures studio for my first photography workshop. I arrived expecting to be bored out of my mind considering how little I knew about photography, but was surprised on how much I enjoyed the class. The class was small, but that was only one of the things that made the class so appealing. The instructor, famed photographer Frank Veronsky, was able to break down all of the walls regarding the ins and out of photography. He was patient and a true craftsman. He never staggered and he was completely invested into the material we were absorbing. Since the class was small and Mr. Veronsky was very attentive, I felt very comfortable asking a ton of questions.

I highly recommend this class to those who are interested in the real meat and potatoes of photography. I was astonished about how much detail went into photography. To me taking pictures was just aim, click, and hope for the best. So to discover that there were so many details that must align in order to get that perfect picture was a pleasant surprise. After the workshop I knew that not only was this a great gift for my dad, but definitely something we could possibly do together with my now growing interest in photography.

So if you are looking for the perfect gift for your dad this Father’s Day enter now to win a FREE Photoshop 101 workshop June 26th in Tribeca.  All you have to do is send us an email to Livingfreeinthenyc@hotmail.com with Photo in the subject, your name and we will pick a winner on June 20th.

The Digital Photo Academy Workshop classes fees are listed below:

Beginner  $50
Intermediate  $65
Advanced  $150
Understanding Composition $35
Digital Manipulaton $150
Composition in the Field $50

Along with there on-site workshops they also offer FREE webinars.

To find more info about The Digital Photo Academy click here.

Reading through each of the books, Avengers Academy #01 and Young Allies #01, I began to get an idea of what their plans truly were. Starting with Young Allies #01, the book kicks off with kidnapping in a small Colombian town that serves as an origin to the newly created, or newly recreated if your well versed in your Heroes Reborn Universe alumni, Toro. From there it jumps to snippets of conversation between a group of new young super villains, preparing for their New York City debut as the Bastards of Evil. From the conversation and their appearances later in the title we’re given clues about who their possible parentage may stem from. What about the other Young Allies, you ask?

We’re introduced to them right after that. If you haven’t seen the cover or some of the promo pages floating around on the internet, the Young Allies group is composed of Firestar, formerly of the New Warriors, Arana the Spider-Girl, Nomad the former Bucky from the Heroes Reborn Universe,and still relatively new hero Gravity. The group is joined by Toro once the battle begins with the Bastards of Evil, as all happen to be within close proximity to their debut attack.

The colors of Chris Sotomayor, artwork of  David Baldeon, and writing of Sean McKeever really knock this one out of the park. If you’ve been familiar with the Marvel Universe in the last few years then you’ll know most of the characters and its good to see these characters that may not be able to carry a stand alone book just yet, teamed together to hopefully form something very interesting and just as entertaining in future issues. Young Allies’s is a definite recommendation.

Avengers Academy introduces us to the first set of recruits, each who seem to have been handpicked as recruits by Norman Osbourne during his reign as director of the Initiative. The first team is comprised of six members, Veil, a young girl with the ability to break herself down into various gaseous states, Hazmat, another female able to project radiation and toxic waste from her body, Mettle, a man possessing the ability to turn himself into a metallic form, Reptil, whose body can morph into various dinosaur parts, Striker, whose body is able to generate vast amounts of electricity and Finesse, who is a polymath, a person who seems to be able to pick up and learn nearly anything at a highly accelerated rate.

The group teaching this next generation of heroes is Hank Pym, former Ant-Man turned Wasp, Tigra, Quicksilver, Justice and Penance now back to the code name of Speedball. As Pym explains to Tigra and Quicksilver, he feels they may be the best suited to train these new cadets as each of them has strayed from the path of heroism at times do to pressure or just bad decisions or in Quicksilver’s case, having a bad parent in a person like Magneto. During an argument towards the end of the issue, Finesse, displaying her ability for lip reading is informed that their group hasn’t been picked just because someone thought they were the best suited to be the next Avengers or because some of their powers might kill them. By the last page, these new heroes know exactly why they were chosen and what their mentors really think of them.

Again, this is another solid first issue. Christos Gage has crafted another fine title with new heroes being introduced into the Marvel Universe and I think it will definitely help in introducing this generation of comic book readers and fans to newer generation of heroes they can call their own. Mike McKone and Jeromy Cox are always excellent and the designs and colors for each of the new characters are fantastic.

Like I said earlier, I wasn’t sure what Marvel was doing with two new books so similar in style coming out the same day at the same time, but I think I get it now. Young Allies is the book for you if you want characters that have been around for awhile who are getting their moment to shine together. If you liked any of these characters this is the book for you, as I feel it will probably have enough of a connection with the old school Marvel Universe and the new stuff that keeps coming to find a healthy balance. But, if you like many out there, want new superheroes, superheroes that haven’t been around since your dad was a kid or for the last twenty or so years, then Avengers Academy is the book for you. These are fresh faced heroes with no connection that we know of so far to your dad’s or even grandpa’s generation. They’re here to make a splash in the Marvel Universe and hopefully, from what I am seeing so far, they stick around for a while to come.

Both books are on sale now at your friendly neighborhood comic shop.

In our increasingly Google-happy world, “liking” a band can be as surface an activity as mild thumbs up on Facebook, or as substantial as a collection of rare artist b-sides you snuggle at night.  When truly moved by a band or an artist, the likelihood increases you’ll research its members, their stories, and the inspiration for their offerings.  But to what end does this impact the listening experience?

Seemingly worthless trivia like “Jenny Lewis was the little red haired girl in The Wizard!”, or that her band mate Blake Sennet was the gangly kid from Salute Your Shorts doesn’t change anything about the music melodically.  Stevie Wonder’s blindness doesn’t change a single note or the emotional impact of Songs in the Key of Life, at least in the technical sense.  But it certainly lends itself, if only on a subconscious level, to enrich the listening experience.

In the case of Australian sextuplet Rudely Interrupted, Rory (23), Sam (25), Marcus (30), Constance (46), Josh (23), and Rohan (38) fill out a lineup of musicians who present with unique physiological and psychological challenges – from Autism, Asperger’s, Down Syndrome, blindness and (I’m sorry, most impressively) deafness.

The handicaps are more than just back story – they make an overt impact on the lyrics and the band’s sound.  Tragedy of The Commons is, at first listen, pure synth-rock which at times seems to dip into geek-rock territory by way of the lead singer’s nasal croon.  The band’s lyrics range from typical fare like relationship strife to the seemingly inherent coolness of green lights (or warmness of orange lights)… to zits.  And popping them.  Beyond that, there is a repetitive quality to the album that will work either to the band’s detriment or favor – you’re going to like it all, or nothing.

The record is enjoyable as a whole, but it begs the question of whether I’d feel the same if I were oblivious to the undeniably uplifting back story.  Back-up singer and guitarist Rohan teaches music therapy in his off hours, and the band are already the subject of what I’m sure will be a fascinating documentary.  It’s the back story itself that deepens the listening experience.  Luckily for Rudely Interrupted, the music is capable enough to stand on its own.

On a warm summer night in 1973, a popular gay bar in the French Quarter burned down with everyone inside, killing 32 people and injuring dozens more. The worst fire in modern New Orleans history was also a mass homicide by arson, but during the weeks and months ahead, no one would be charged for the crime.

Remember the Upstairs Lounge is the installation of Skylar Fein which documents the circumstances of a horrific fire that tore through a southern gay community in 1973 in New Orleans. One would think an exhibit such as this would be considered depressing, morbid, or controversial. In the beginning, the creator Mr. Fein felt that way himself.

“I had no idea how you’d take death, what was essentially a mass murder and turn it into art. I had never done anything like it, and I would go to the studio and try to make art about death, and it was incredibly depressing. I dreaded going to the studio, and I said, oh my god, something has to change about this. But I finally got some pictures of the bar, the inside of it before the fire. It has pictures of Burt Reynolds and his famous Cosmo centerfold, a picture of Mark Spitz and his Olympic Medals, and that was my way in, because those things made me smile. I have to be able to smile about this and laugh.

So I started making work that related to that part of the story, the pop culture in the US in 1973, the gay pop culture, New Orleans culture in 1973, and that gave me a way into the story. It’s about death, but its also about life. Before these people died they were having a great time, and I feel its another way to honor them.”

As progress through the faux bar and make your way through the swinging doors, the images on the wall, invoked in me what I had heard and thought of as the 70s. At the same time they did bring out a level of sadness and a bit of anger for the ignorance of a single person to lash out at a single place and yet cost so many people their lives.

Contrary to what some of you may be thinking, as I was suspect to thinking myself, the arson that occurred that night is not believed to have been that of a hate crime, but of a belligerent patron of the bar who was ejected from it earlier in the night for causing trouble. A gay man himself who later committed suicide, although never proven to be the one who started the fire.

The installation drew massive crowds in New Orleans, many of which even remembered the bar and some of whom were even there that night, like the firemen who first responded.

Now the creator has brought this installation to New York. He doesn’t expect as many visitors as those that came to see it in New Orleans, he knows the people here can never make the actual deep personal connection that those from New Orleans could. Which is very much akin he believes, to how he, a native of New Orleans, can never truly know what its like to gaze across the New York skyline and not see the once standing twin towers.

Mr. Feins main purpose is in telling the story of this place, that for awhile stood as a cultural icon and meeting place for scores of people that now resides only in the memory of those who remember it and in celluloid for those maybe just now learning of it.

Remember the Upstairs Lounge will be at 447 West 16th Street, in No Longer Empty from April 28th,  2010 to May 30th, 2010. More information can be found here.

The image of the hostel brings forth the memories of the movies Hostel 1 and 2, where the dumb tourists get kidnapped and taken to a torture factory for the rich and deprived.

If that’s what your thinking, you watch too many movies my friend. The modern hostel is more akin to a dorm room at the average college, and is definitely a good deal if you want a room for cheap while exploring a new city.

That’s where a site like HostelBookers comes in.

Hostelbookers is a site very akin to Hotels.com, where they connect you with hostels in various area, allow you to see where they are located, get descriptions of the facilities and in many cases get a peek at the actual place itself. They also have user reviews so you can get an idea of what other people thought about the place during their own stay.

For example, the top rated hostel in New York was Urban Oasis, a hostel found on West 31st Street in New York City, NY. We visited it to see what exactly one of the best rated hostels in New York City looked like and just what kind of place would rank a 97.6% satisfaction rate on Hostelbookers website.

From outside the building you might make the wrong impression, as your greeted with a small hallway and elevator to take you to the top. But stepping into Urban Oasis I was quickly reminded of stepping into a friends living room, or at the very least a friends common area of their dorm room. Located on the 10th floor of their building, Urban Oasis doesn’t have to worry about loud neighbors overhead making noise long into the night, and is high enough from the street level that at least during mid day the sounds of cars, trucks and the city below didn’t seem noticeable.

The owner and manager Szilvia was quite pleasant and was ready to answer any question and give me a tour of their space. Urban Oasis currently consists of 6 double rooms, ie 6 rooms that can hold the maximum of two people each and currently are booked up for the next few months this year. They have internet connections available for those who might need them, a decent sized flat screen TV, board games, washer’s and dryers and two full bathrooms on the facilities. I was even able to see peeking out through one of the windows that the Empire States Building lie right outside it if I looked up, giving a rather impressive view of the old girl.

Urban Oasis has been in its current location for the last year.  To say the least, I came away impressed with my first time in a New York hostel and may very well have spoiled myself by going to whats the best one New York has to offer.

If Hostelbookers top rated hostel in New York is indicative of then kinds of places they are recommending people to stay then I have to recommend the site totally. For those in need of a place to stay, that may definitely be cheaper than the average hotel in the bigger cities and don’t mind meeting and perhaps conversing with some new people along the way, HostelBookers is a definite site for you, and if your planning to come to New York later this year and tire of the average hotel experience, try Urban Oasis. They might just change your idea of what hostels can truly be like.

Further pictures can be seen at on Facebook or at our flickr page.

]]> http://thereviewzoo.com/2010/04/25/need-a-cheap-place-to-stay-consider-hostelbookers-com/feed/ 2 http://thereviewzoo.com/2010/04/25/kick-ass-kicked-ass/ http://thereviewzoo.com/2010/04/25/kick-ass-kicked-ass/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 03:25:47 +0000 Agm http://thereviewzoo.com/?p=474 To this humble Jersey Boy with a love of comics, Kick-Ass, well, kicked ass.

Based on a set of comics released just last year Kick-Ass, written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita, Jr, is published by Marvel Comics under the company’s Icon imprint.  Kick-Ass introduces us to the character of Dave Lizewski, played by Aaron Johnson, who asks the question so many comic book readers have probably asked themselves before, why hasn’t anyone ever tried to be a super hero?

As we quickly learn watching our hero, it’s because most people would probably get the holy hell beaten out of them and end up nearly dead in the hospital. But even after such a disastrous first outing,  and an undetermined amount of time in a hospital, Kick-Ass takes to the streets once more,  and in his second outing is much more successful. He succeeds in defending a local man from being beaten up by a couple of thugs and in the process gaining worldwide fame and notoriety.

As Kick-Asses fame grows, more heroes arrive on the scene in the characters of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl played by actors Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz, far more efficient and dangerous than Kick-Ass slowly gaining the attention of a major mob boss they are severely putting the screws too.

The violence, bad language, and shocking visuals continue to ramp up in increasing value till an amazing scene towards the end of Hit-Girl singlehandedly taking down an army. The introduction of Red Mist in the movie, played by Christopher “McLovin” Mintz-Plase almost seems superfluous even though he is introduced to us in the movie from very early on.

Many reviewers and parents groups out there seemed shocked at the true content of the movie, perhaps feeling that it was more a comedy then a hard boiled action movie due to the inclusion of a little girl as a superheroic character.

News flash America, she is an actress, she read lines, she acted in a role. She is not the character and just because she is in the movie it does not mean you can bring children her age to see it. If you do, after hearing its a rated R, you are a bad parent. I watched the move at 5 PM in the afternoon, and had a parent had his two 5-10 year olds wandering around behind me in it. Bad parents aside, the movie remains a good movie.

If your a fan of John Woo or Quentin Tarantino, like dark comedies, or action movies full of bad guys getting their due, Kick-Ass is fun ride and you should get a kick out of it.

But if your the type that believes an 11 year old saying cunt or cock is reprehensible and unforgivable, you might be happier at How to Train Your Dragon down the hall. And from the looks of the box office, many of you out there feel that way.

We briefly talked with  Stuart Wall, Co-Founder and CEO.

“We set this up so people can vote for the things they like, and then we’re able to curate it and say what the best deals in NY   are on a particular day. People can then choose to either come to the site and see that or get an email with the things we think would be relevant for them, so its a community approach to helping people find value in brick and mortar stores.”

Postabon was started by three guys straight out of Harvard, where like their about us section says, were looking for good deals on everything since nothing makes you want a good deal more than paying off student loans.  Postabon helps you find and share the best in-store discounts in the NY area.

The discounts and deals are found and generated on the site by the very people using it too find deals. Users can upload ideas through the website or their iPhone application. Deal finders for the site earn Karma points for every deal they post. The more points you accumulate the higher you can rank on Postabon’s Karma Board. The higher you get on the Karma Boards, the better chance you’ll have access to some site exclusive deals or be eligible for chances of winning prizes or invites to special events.

Postabon’s site is up and running with a new look and interface. Make sure to check them out.