Agent Palmer

I have finally read Chuck Klosterman’s debut book, Fargo Rocks City and it was everything I thought it would be.

I understand that as a fan of Klosterman’s work, it is a bit odd that I picked up his sophomore effort Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto and then went on to read and own every other book he has published, save for his debut.

Well, I have remedied that mistake and his debut is on par with the wit and pop culture furnishings that I’ve become accustomed to.

When I’m doing research or writing post drafts “old school” with pen and paper, I listen to vinyl records on a turntable in the basement of my house.

I don’t exclusively listen to vinyl, mind you. It’s just something different. I also don’t consider myself a hipster, either. So I wonder from time to time, not only why I do it, but why there is a cult-like movement that occurred to bring it back?

Beginning with the heart-wrenching bus accident that claimed the life of Cliff Burton and then chronicling the band and its many players through the release of Death Magnetic, Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica by Mick Wall is brilliant.

Who better than Mick Wall, as classic a name in Rock journalism as there is, to chronicle the life and times of one of the biggest bands in the world.

Heavy Metal was released on Aug. 7, 1981. It was produced on a meager $9.3 million budget, but grossed nearly $20 million dollars during it’s initial theatrical release. Twenty-five years later, after some music industry scuffles about song rights, the film was re-released, as “Louder and Nastier than Ever,” in theaters on March 8, 1996 and later that year was released on VHS and Laserdisc, which sold over a million units. Five years after that in 2011, it was released on Blu-ray.

The film follows closely to the magazine it shares its title with, in that it was a film made up of 10 stories, although only nine were released. The only differentiating factor between the movie and the magazine, is that the movie is tied together with the Loc-Nar, while the magazine stories are not tied together at all in any given issue.

“In the middle of the earth in the land of the Shire, lives a brave little hobbit whom we all admire.” Thus starts the wonderful song, “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,” by Mr. Spock, otherwise known as Leonard Nemoy.

The song was recorded in 1967 for a variety series titled, Malibu U.