It’s Friday (queue Rebecca Black), so I have a few things I’ve discovered this week.
Movie: CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980). The Italian title, Paura nella città dei morti viventi, translates literally to “Fear in the City of the Living Dead,” and it was released in the US in 1983 as THE GATES OF HELL. This film is a lot of fun. Viewers generally expect Italian horror films from the 80’s to contain over-the-top gore, bad dubbing, and a delightfully cheesy soundtrack. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD check all of these boxes. I found it streaming on Shudder after listening to an episode of Twitch of the Death Nerve discussing the film. This is the first of Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy, followed by perhaps his most popular film, THE BEYOND (1981), and THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981). These films do not look like Hollywood movies, and that’s part of what is so refreshing about them. All the effects are practical and low-budget, which gives it a grimy quality that’s difficult to find in more well-funded cinema.
Music: Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) was an Austrian-American composer. His music is often considered challenging, and doesn’t get as much airtime as other classical composers. I found, however, that the music spoke to me almost instantly. It’s big, it’s dramatic, it’s moving, and it’s really cool. I just put on a Schoenberg playlist on Spotify, but now I’m interested in collecting some of his work on vinyl.
Youtube: Can I make Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme FASTER than ordering one? Ethan Chlebowski runs a massively popular cooking channel on Youtube, and in this video, he attempts to make Taco Bell’s (in-)famous crunchwrap supreme from scratch in less time than it takes his brother to go out and get one. Does he succeed? I’ll let you find out. But now I really want to try this recipe at home. Spoiler: the scratch recipe looks 1000% better than the Taco Bell product.
That’s all, folks!
Jacob N. Given 