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Shadow-Guide
Favourite films: La Haine (1995), Kundun (1997), Platoon (1986), Buffalo '66 (1998), Withnail & I (1987), Hamburger Hill (1987), Apocalypse Now (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Time Bandits (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Silent Running (1972), Shogun Assassin (1980), Bad Boy Bubby (1993), Enter the Void (2009), Seven Samurai (1954), American Psycho (2000), Come and See (1985), the Zatoichi film series (1962-1989), How Wang-Fo Was Saved (1987)...
Favourite TV shows: Dead Set, Tour of Duty, Yo! MTV Raps, Breaking Bad, The Boondocks, 15 Storeys High, The Wire, Black Mirror, Twin Peaks, I'm Alan Partridge, Red Dwarf, Brass Eye, Rick & Morty...
Favourite music genres: Underground hip hop/ boom bap/ 90s East Coast hip hop, Tibetan, roots reggae, traditional Native American, shakuhachi music, ambient, electronic, turntablism, folk, 60s rock/ British rhythm and blues, soul, old school or liquid drum'n'bass, jazz, blues.
Favourite musical artists: Genelec & Memphis Reigns, DJ Krush, Timber Timbre, Townes Van Zandt, Gene Clark, Gang Starr, The Pharcyde, CYNE, Vangelis, Seba, DJ Shadow (early days), Atmosphere, CunninLynguists, Cat Power, Beck (mostly early-mid career), Spirit Agent, Mark Lanegan, The Spencer Davis Group, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, David Bowie, Sage Francis, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Wu-Tang Clan, Jackson C. Frank, Jedi Mind Tricks (early days with Stoupe), The Doors, Deca, Mazzy Star, No Bird Sing, Naughty by Nature, Al Green, Bob Marley...
Favourite video games: Day of Defeat, Centipede, The Last Blade 2, Bust-a-Move, SNES Mario Kart, Goldeneye, Metal Slug 1, Bubble Bobble (arcade), Battle Chess (Amiga), Rampage (arcade), Cannon Fodder, Titanfall 1, Bad Company 2 Vietnam, Battlefield 1, Rescue (Spectrum), Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, Far Cry Primal, Medal of Honor - Infiltrator (GBA), Old Tower (Spectrum), Black Knight 2000 (pinball emulation)...
Favourite gaming platform: Arcade, Neo Geo, Atari Lynx, SNES, Megadrive, PC, Amiga, and Spectrum.
Favourite books: Tao Te Ching, The Sorrow of War, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Lord of the Rings, Factotum, Adventures Beyond the Body, The Kybalion, Hidden Truth - Forbidden Knowledge, NAM: The Vietnam Experience 1965-75, Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, I Am That, The Hermetica, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, Hua Hu Ching (Educate the Barbarians Sutra), Sing Backwards and Weep, Vietnam: The Decisive Battles, Egyptian Cosmology: The Animated Universe, Far Journeys (from the Journeys Trilogy by Robert Monroe), The Astral Plane: Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena...
Favourite writers: Wilfred Owen, Saul Williams, JRR Tolkien, Charles Bukowski...
Favourite comedians: Chris Morris, Stewart Lee, Steve Coogan, Doug Stanhope...
Favourite style of art or subject matter: Abstract, graffiti, lowbrow, spiritual, Tibetan or Asian, science fiction...
Favourite visual artists: Glenn Barr, Christopher Shy, Sam Flores, MadC, Alex Grey, Marc McKee, Debza, Munk One, Mode 2, Joshua Mays, Noriyoshi Ohrai, CANTWO, Simon Stalenhag, Jean Giraud (Moebius), Paul Heussenstamm, Doze Green, MEAR ONE, Futura, John C. Berkey...
Favourite photographers: Don McCullin, Tim Page.
Other interests: Philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, Taoism, Buddhism, Hermeticism, shamanism, alternative medicine, photography, film, music, poetry, writing, editing, interior design, skateboarding, video games, chess, reading, gardening, bonsai, science and technology, war and prevention, activism, animals, ancient history, anthropology, extraterrestrial life, meditation, lucid dreaming, astral projection and remote viewing...
Favourite quotes:
"Remember that every man is a variation of yourself." - William Saroyan
"I believe I am a reflection, like the moon on water. When you see me, and I try to be a good man, you see yourself." - Tenzin Gyatso, Kundun
"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave." - Mahatma Gandhi
"There is no great genius without a mixture of madness." - Aristotle
"Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunsets, make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock, make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eye, so that when life fades as the fading sunset my spirit may come to you without shame." - Chief Yellow Lark
"The highest test of the civilization of any race is in its willingness to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate." - Booker T. Washington
"They are gentle, loving, faithful, lacking in all guile and trickery. The words denoting lying, deceit, greed, envy, slander, and forgiveness have never been heard. They have no jealousy, no sense of possession. Real, what I thought a dream." - "Captain Smith", The New World
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind." - Major Michael Davis O'Donell (Dak To, 1st of January 1970, Vietnam)
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain..." - Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner
"If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. If you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth." - "Louis", Jacob's Ladder
"Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion." - Dylan Thomas
"One who looks outside, dreams. One who looks inside, awakens." - Carl Jung
"To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour." - William Blake
"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed." - Albert Einstein
"You walk towards your fear, you embrace your fear, you don't try to hedge it. That a part of real living as a human being, as a spiritual being, is to embrace and encompass your fear, your love, and not run away from anything because that's the life experience. And it's in that richness that I think we find the most beautiful art, the most beautiful music, we find the richness of what the human soul can offer, and I see all that richness buried under such bullshit." - Micheal Ruppert
"Dogs and angels are not very far apart." - Charles Bukowski
"There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock." - Charles Bukowski
"Maybe I finally found it, way down here in the mud. Maybe from down here I can start up again, be something I can be proud of, without having to fake it, be a fake human being." - "Chris Taylor", Platoon
"If you sacrifice your art because of some woman, or some man, or for some colour, or for some wealth, you can't be trusted." - Miles Davis
"What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite." - Bertrand Russell
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn." - Jim Morrison
"When the clock strikes me the story of Jesus will simply be told as a children's story where his name will be replaced with the name of every newborn and families will celebrate every birth as the rebirth of the messiah and all people will think of all people as chosen." - Saul Williams
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams." - Arthur O'Shaughnessy
"There is only one of us. One consciousness manifesting into different forms." - Ram Dass
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againAll of this has been extensively captured in some of the best films, television, books, and music ever produced. The freedom journalists had during the war was unprecedented and something we may never see again. This material is of great importance historically if we are to ever learn the lessons of the past and avoid unwarranted future conflicts.
The extreme violence of the war inspired films such as 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974). Its imperialistic nature was an underlying theme in the original Star Wars trilogy with the final battle involving the Ewoks having many similarities. The xenophobia of that cold war era gave birth to films such as 'Aliens' (1986) and 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956/1978). There are so many films that feature short scenes that are set during the Vietnam War or where the story involves disgruntled Vietnam veterans returning home that I have had to make a decision as to what to include in this list based on how relevant it is.
Regardless of this, I have searched relentlessly for all the films on the Vietnam War that are worth watching. There are a few obscure titles that I have recently acquired and may add to the list soon. Some television programs are unobtainable but I have included them due to positive reviews by critics. Also, 'Line of Sight: Vietnam' is missing from the video games as it is not yet listed on IMDB. Therefore, the list is a work in progress. I do, however, believe it to be the most comprehensive list currently on IMDB that separates the good from the bad.
"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind." - Major Michael Davis O'Donell, 1 January 1970, Dak To, Vietnam
Memorial website: www.virtualwall.org
Please bear in mind that the Star Wars trilogy refers specifically to the original theatrical versions before George Lucas altered them with CGI for the special editions. The same applies to 'THX 1138' and 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' in regard to the recently added CGI. I understand what the directors were trying to do with the updates but I strongly recommend viewing these films in their original state.
There are a number of projects on the internet by fans that aim to restore the original theatrical cuts of Star Wars in a high-definition format that are definitely worth checking out. The 'Despecialized' versions released by Harmy have been the most popular restorations to date but they are limited to 720p and involve a lot of post-processing to make use of the limited sources. There is a more recent fan project called '4K77' and '4K83' that has used rare 35mm film to create a 4K release without any alterations to the original material. The second film from the trilogy is still being finished. I recommend getting them without DNR for the most authentic experience.
Further recommendations for specific versions/ cuts are listed below. I also recommend watching all films in their original language and with subtitles. If you watch a film that is dubbed you are losing half of the experience. A rare exception to this is 'Shogun Assassin' and some of the early kung fu flicks from the Shaw Brothers.
You may notice that a few films have considerably lower ratings from other IMDB users. I think this is mostly because people tend to dislike things they don't understand or have difficulty with. Rest assured all are excellent if you have an inquisitive nature or appreciate film.
BEST VERSIONS:
The New World - Extended cut.
A very poetic film with stunning visuals that you can easily get lost in. If you don't like slow contemplative films then you're not going to enjoy this film anyway.
Dances With Wolves - Extended cut.
For the same reasons as The New World.
Dark City - Director's Cut.
I think it's generally agreed among fans of the film that the theatrical release is the inferior version. There are many things that people dislike about it. Perhaps the biggest problem with the theatrical is that it gives away the mystery at the very beginning.
A Touch of Zen - Masters of Cinema limited edition Blu-ray set.
Masters of Cinema have recently released a restored high-quality Blu-ray three-disc set. All previous releases are of very low quality and have various issues with the transfer.
Apocalypse Now - Theatrical, 'Redux' and the workprint.
All versions are great, but it is definitely worth watching them in that order with the theatrical first. That way you get to see the protagonist in a different light each time.
In the theatrical Cpt. Willard is more serious, anti-social and moody but in the other two he is also seen to be outgoing and humorous. This is reflected in the general atmosphere of each version. So with the longer cuts there is a greater transition as they journey upriver to their destination.
The workprint has an impressive running time of about six hours. If possible watch this film on a big screen and with 5.1 surround.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Original theatrical release.
Blade Runner - Theatrical.
There are a few versions of 'Blade Runner' available. It seems that most critics favour the Director's Cut and 'The Final Cut'. I personally think the voice-over works better in the theatrical version. I find the appeal is similar to the narration for 'Apocalypse Now' in that it sets the tone and provides more depth to the story. It also makes the film more personal by providing greater insight into the thoughts and emotions of the main character. There is also a workprint but i've not seen it yet and an extended fan edit that takes all the extra or deleted scenes from each version and ties them into one film.
THX 1138 - 'Restored Cut'.
Only ever released on VHS and Laser-Disc as far as i'm aware but well worth getting a copy. It's almost a different film and you are spared the god-awful CGI monkeys that feature in the new version.
Star Wars - Original theatrical release.
The additional scenes look cartoonish and are already dated. The new CGI Jabba the Hut is an eyesore. Lots of tinkering in the special editions that are unnecessary and worse than the original versions.
The Empire Strikes Back - Original theatrical release and the special edition.
Additional CGI is fairly tasteful in the special edition and kept to a minimum. There are some subtle improvements made to the existing special effects.
The downside is that Boba Fett's voice has been re-dubbed. I felt that the original voice-over by Jason Wingreen better suited the cool persona that Jeremy Bulloch had skillfully portrayed from under his armour. Boba Fett had very little screen time yet he quickly became one of the most popular characters from the Star Wars universe. Even those few lines of speech played a large part in creating Boba Fett's mystique. Re-dubbing those lines felt like George Lucas was erasing a part of Boba Fett's personality and re-writing the history of film.
I had always imagined Boba Fett to have a more typical English appearance that matched his original slender body and gruff voice. He also seemed to fit the somewhat reserved ISTP Myers-Briggs personality type. I feel that Pedro Pascal, who plays 'The Mandalorian', is closer in character to the original Boba Fett mythos than Temuera Morrison.
The Return of the Jedi - Original theatrical release.
Entire scenes have been altered that have replaced classic material. Most of the new scenes involve soulless or obnoxious CGI characters that look totally out of place. Even as a child, the appeal of Star Wars for me was how seriously it treated its subject matter and the darker adult themes that gave it a sense of mystery. The special editions have lost some of that edge with the attempt to make it more "family-friendly" with these new cartoon-like additions.
The original music and atmosphere of both Jabba's palace and the ending scene felt more natural and had a certain magic to them. With the updated CGI version of the closing celebratory scene, George Lucas seemed to be more concerned with giving us a sense of scale and continuity, essentially missing the point of it all. The original was more focused on the characters and their warmth towards one another but the new CGI scenes detract from the intimacy of that moment.
La Haine - There is a specific English release that translates the French dialogue accurately but the majority of releases feature an Americanized translation that is poorly done. The language used in the British translation is better suited to the French street culture and drug scene. In the American version, they've also renamed at least one of the characters. I believe the superior version was released by Criterion.
Aliens - Theatrical.
A lot of the extra scenes in the director's cut look bad in regard to the special effects. The theatrical also flows better.
Valley of Flowers - Director's Cut.
The full film how it was originally intended. I suspect that the theatrical version was a dreadful decision by a marketing team to make the film more accessible to a commercial market.
2001: A Space Odyssey - I was lucky enough to see this with a live orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall in London. If they do it again I highly recommend going.
Bad Boy Bubby - 5.1 Surround.
Significantly enhances the claustrophobic atmosphere in the beginning. And don't watch the trailer. Watch the film not knowing what to expect. I think this is a wise thing to do with the majority of films.
Donnie Darko - Theatrical.
If you are watching Donnie Darko for the first time make sure you watch the theatrical. It is the theatrical version that makes this film a classic.
Reviews
Dead of Night (1974)
Haunting Low Budget Zombie Horror With an Anti-War Message
After reading other reviews that compared elements of the film to John Carpenter's 'Halloween' and the mention that the film had deeper connotations regarding Vietnam veterans returning home from the war, my curiosity got the better of me.
From the very beginning of the film it is abundantly clear that the production is very low budget and the film looks dated. The war scene looks like it has been filmed in the local woods and there are glaring inaccuracies to their uniforms. However, what the film does well is to create a very creepy atmosphere from the moment he is shot and you hear Andy's mother reminding him of his promise to return home.
The acting is often wooden and sometimes quite strange which actually adds to the film's creepiness. The sound and camera work is lacking at times but occasionally it excels with a number of unconventional shots that are surprisingly effective. There is also some interesting use of sound used to convey Andy's confused and primal state that reminded me of 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' (1974).
I felt the film started to drag a little in the middle but picks up again as it draws to a close. There are some memorable scenes with Andy that appear to be metaphors for PTSD in war veterans. It also touches on other issues such as alienation, depression and the Oedipus complex. The violence itself is not particularly gory or emphasized by today's standards and the film tends to focus rather on Andy's disposition and the effect it has on his family.
The film's conclusion is disturbing and unsettling. It left me feeling depressed but with a greater understanding of the loss experienced by victims of the war and their families. I was initially concerned that the film might reinforce prejudice towards war veterans that struggle to readjust to civilian life but the anti-war sentiment is so strong that I think the film is worthy of merit, even if it makes for difficult viewing.
The Secret NASA Transmissions: The Smoking Gun (2001)
Important Groundbreaking Documentary That Everyone Should See
The NASA footage in this documentary was provided by Martyn Stubbs, who worked as a satellite television manager. Stubbs stumbled upon an unencrypted NASA broadcast and noticed that there was a lot of strange activity surrounding the NASA missions that was not being shown to the public. He started recording the transmissions to VHS and went on to archive and study over 2,500 hours of intercepted raw footage.
The documentary is aimed at a mature open-minded viewer and does not try to spoon feed its audience an opinion. It doesn't sensationalize the material and most of the time just lets the footage speak for itself (which it does in volumes). This is possibly the best video evidence of extraterrestrial activity ever captured thanks to the enormous amount of time and effort Martyn Stubbs has invested into making it public.
Some of the UFOs shown are immediately obvious such as the "shooting stars" often captured in the background making intelligent manoeuvres and travelling in formation. I think most viewers will grasp that shooting stars are incapable of making sharp 90 degree turns at a high velocity. It's fairly easy to establish that these objects involve highly advanced technology that we are currently incapable of. When one such craft appears near to the crew on a spacewalk an astronaut reports its presence in a concerned manner but NASA headquarters routinely tell the crew to ignore it and carry on with the operation. This indicates that they are not part of the NASA mission and even the astronauts are not at liberty to discuss their rather obvious presence.
The documentary also introduces us to another phenomenon that astronauts have described as "space critters" or "fireflies" and something even more bizarre which is described here as "phenomena three" or the "second space phenomena". This documentary presents a wealth of new and groundbreaking footage which would keep any intelligent viewer interested for the duration.