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We *finally* got around to watching Sukiyaki Western Django on Friday — I’ve got a copy of the Japan-released DVD, and I’d been holding out once I learned it was making the circuit of art-house theaters here in the US. Sadly, though, it never came to Lawrence, although it’s coming out in the US on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 1st, and I highly recommend getting it.

Review, short version: It’s Far West: The Movie.

Miike filmed a mix of Yojimbo-esque ronin story with traditional Spaghetti Western trappings — and had his cast deliver their lines in phonetic (and, at times, nearly indecipherable) English. Everything about this film drips the Far West aesthetic — from the muddy western town with asian architecture, to the characters wearing costumes that mix Westerns, Samurai Dramas, The Road Warrior and Duran Duran’s video for “The Wild Boys”…..all this, and Quentin Tarantino in a cameo.

Plus, a soundtrack (which I now own) which mixes spaghetti western sounds with traditional asian instruments….and a version of the classic “Django” theme, in Japanese.

I cannot recommend this one more highly — as my Mom would say: “It’s the sort of thing you’ll like, if you like that sort of thing.”

Remember way back when I pointed out that this *isn’t* a close election, but the media had a vested interest in making it look like one, for ratings’ sake?

Read this post by Kos which spells out just how pathetic and obvious this has become.

It’s been a growing opinion of mine that we’ve got two different Republican campaigns.

Much like we’ve got a Cheney shadow-government behind the scenes of the Bush administration, I think we’ve got a far-right nutjob theoCon cabal pushing for Sarah Palin (either to ascend once McCain’s health becomes an issue, or to position her for 2012), and then we have McCain’s official campaign. The disconnect between what the campaign has done, and what McCain does himself has been too stark at times for me to not draw that conclusion.

For example — the recent lynch-mob hate-speech BS at the rallies, with supporters yelling “Terrorist”, “Traitor,” and “Kill Him!”. Most of it occurs at Palin appearances.

Today, Obama criticized the dangerous tone that McCain/Palin are purposefully stirring up…. and amazingly, the official response from the McCain campaign was to defend their supporters.

But also today — McCain tried to put the genie back in the bottle, asking his supporters to be respectful — and they BOOED HIM.

This is getting out of his control. That’s terrifying.