It's The One-Armed Boxer!!

So, here's something I think you'll enjoy. It's called The Master of the Flying Guillotine. I've been in film class all morning and I still have four and a half hours of film tonight so I don't feel like writing all the details myself. So I quote from wikipedia:

Master of the Flying Guillotine is a 1975 Taiwanese / Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jimmy Wang Yu, who also wrote and directed the film. It is a sequel to Yu's 1971 film One Armed Boxer, and thus the film is also known as One-Armed Boxer 2 and The One Armed Boxer Vs. the Flying Guillotine.

The film concerns Yu's one-armed martial arts master being stalked by an Imperial assassin, the master of two fighters (the Tibetan Lamas) who were killed in the previous film. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lay low are unsuccessful when the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates competing in the tournament; a thai boxer, a yoga master, and a kobojutsu user.

The title refers to the assassin's unique weapon, the so-called "Flying guillotine" which resembles a hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain. Upon enveloping one's head, the blades cleanly decapitate the unlucky victim with a quick pull of the chain.

Musical tracks used in the film include "Super 16" by Neu!, snippets from Tangerine Dream's album "Rubycon", and fragments of "Mitternacht" and "Morgenspaziergang" from the Kraftwerk album Autobahn. The source of the music is variously uncredited or credited to a Chinese composer, depending on the presentation. However, because of the film's recent resurgence in popularity, the bands whose songs were used illegally in this film have begun to charge companies licensing fees if they want to show Master of the Flying Guillotine with the theatrical music track. While Pathfinder paid for the licenses for the DVD and theatrical releases, Australian DVD company Eastern Eye refused to do so, and instead created a new synthesizer soundtrack.

Master of the Flying Guillotine is considered a classic martial arts movie and has influenced many films of the genre that followed.

It was paid homage in Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill, which briefly used the film's droning theme music, an excerpt of the song "Super 16" by Neu!, during the House of Blue Leaves sequence.

The Street Fighter character Dhalsim's abilities also resemble those of an Indian fighter that appears in the film, with both characters using a yoga-based fighting style and having an unnatural ability to extend their limbs to attack.

The band From First to Last references this movie on their album Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count, titling a song "The One Armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine."

The album Master of the Flying Guillotine, released by Jumpsteady in 2005 features sound selections from the film. The main title track was featured in the cult film Mad Cowgirl.

In the video game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura it is possible to find a similar weapon. It can be found at a secret location(coordinates 750 W, 556 S) that does not appear on the map, and must be approached from the north to enter it. When the player enters the location he finds himself in front of the master while he is decapitating a chicken with the flying guilliotine and the frase "I dont care who he was" is heard (a footing from the actual film). If defeated, the body can be looted for an Aerial Decapatator, identical to the Flying guillotine from the movie, right down to the fact that it folds out when equipped.

So if that's all Wikipedia has cared to share with you, then this is all I'm going to share with you too. Really you should watch it when it's on like Encore or IFC or something. Maybe even rent or buy it. I mean...it's a 70's kung fu flick featuring krautrock and the inspiration for the street fighter thats arms can stretch! but if you don't want to wait, I guess you can watch these youtube videos....


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And i Never Miss!

The children gather in the front yard for the second time today.  "This time, we're gonna play Knife Fight!"  Some of the girls let out small gasps, while the tomboyish one exults.  One boy sits out (me) and the other three all decide to play.  The tomboy plays too, with more vigor and enthusiasm than the three boys combined.  "This is a Knife Fight!" she exclaims, "and i never miss!"

"Knife Fight" by Whistle Jacket

This band has been featured on at least one blog before, but i really like them and they sent me a CD for free.  I believe it is my duty to post something about them.  They really are nice guys (i'm assuming, of course.  They did send me a free CD after all.)  This song is from their newest album Start, Stop, Skip, & Jump.  Although "Say Hello" may be more immediate, i believe this song better embodies what the record is as a whole.  It sort of reminds me of perhaps what the Microphones or Adrian Orange would be playing if they picked up a few electric guitars and decided to write simple, poppy, garage-esque, psych-y, short little weirdo songs.  Or something like that.  If you love this song, you'll love the rest, trust me.

MGMT DIGG??1!?WTF??!

So at 12:46 am today I checked Digg.com for some news updates and was shocked to find not only a music video ranking at #3 on the front page, but a video of a song and band that I absolutely love, MGMT! After seeing them open for Of Montreal, I picked up their album and proceeded to be absorbed into the album for the next month. To describe them succinctly I would have to quote bolachis gratis. They are "Space Aged Glam Hedonistic Rebellion." The stand out song on their debut album, Oracular Spectacular, would have to be Time To Pretend which is a song about something I very much relate to at the moment. College. The video of the song was the one on Digg and it makes the song better. Well here is a link to the full album which I highly recommend....HERE and the video HERE

An Explanation (for Our Future Crimes)

Since we officially will start on Monday, the 18th day of February,  we thought it right to explain ourselves beforehand.  

We own the world.  

We here at Of Course are trying our best to be different.  We know you could go to any blog and find the latest music that Pitchfork or Stereogum things should be popular, but we want you to know about other stuff too.  As you probably know, there is other music than what is featured on those big name blogs.  You don't have to like Man-Man just because some group of twenty- and thirty-somethings thinks you should.  If you like Man-Man, go and listen to them.  I personally do not like Man-Man, and therefore, will not post anything about them.  We do post what we like.  If one of the other guys here likes Man-Man, they might post about Man-Man.  It is not in an effort to simply be different (which it is), but rather to let you all out there know more than just what is being shoved down your throats.  We own the world.  Not those giants.  We do.  You and us.  We own the world, we decide what to do with it.  Join us, won't you?