DVD | MISHIMA: A LIFE IN
FOUR CHAPTERS
Paul Schrader / Criterion
Criterion comes through again with another incredibly compelling release. The long and the short: Mishima was a conservative, gay militant Japanese writer/bodybuilder, who ended up committing seppuku in the office of a bemused and befuddled JDF officer.  The man was a goddamn Monty Python sketch—which makes Schrader’s thoughtful and sumptuous biopic all the more incredibly compelling. Schrader paints a devastating portrait of an anachronistic artist unable to cope with change, transforming a walking self-parody into a touching fable about the clash between tradition and modernity, interspersing moments from Mishima’s life with scenes from his beautifully written novels. The film is haunting, depressing and bleakly funny all at once—a rare find.

DVD | PATRIOTISM
Yukio Mishima / Criterion
This film serves mostly as a historical curiosity, bridging the gap between La Nouvelle Vague and the hilariously blunt exploitation films of the ’70s. But it makes a very worthwhile companion to the Mishima biopic, shedding further light on the writer’s tragicomic life. So I hope everyone will join me in a hearty “FUCK YOU” to Criterion. This should have been included with the above release; instead, they’re milking us for an additional 25 bones. CAPITALISM RULES!

BOOK | GOD IN A CUP
Michaele Weissman / Wiley
I like my coffee like my women—ground up and in the freezer. Consequently, I don’t have much taste for frou-frou specialty coffees, even if the beans were picked by virgin Mayan demi-goddesses after being shat out of a cat’s ass. But this book is a helluva read. Weissman artfully eviscerates the body of romanticism that separates coffee culture and the poor bastards that actually grow the beans, making some amusingly witty observations along the way. A good read for the coffee-obsessed.

BOOK | REAL WORLD
Natsuo Kirino / Knopf
Somewhere along the line, I apparently gave several publicists the impression that I absolutely LURVE nihilistic neo-noir Japanese prose. If you’ve ever read Ryu Murakami (not Haruki), then you should know what to expect: sex, drugs and violence, saddled down by third-rate pseudo-philosophical observations. Kirino sacrifices subtlety for a visceral punch, and her novel is all the poorer for it.

CD | AT MT. ZOOMER
Wolf Parade / Sub Pop
The new Wolf Parade album sounds vaguely like Spoon’s spectacular Gimme Fiction. This instantly makes them awesome, even if the vocalist isn’t nearly as sexy as Britt Daniel. It’s simple but well-crafted pop, with some stunning hooks and tasteful arrangements. In all honesty, I probably won’t spin this as often as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, but it serves as a good holdover until Daniel and company releases their next album.