DO AS I TELL YOU!!!

The other day I mentioned that Jared is back doing what he does best; his Worldweird Cinema blog and today he's reviewing KADIN DUSMANI (aka Woman Despiser), i.e. the spiffy new Onar Films DVD release from our good hot-headed friend in downtown Greece Bill Barounis! You need to read Jared's review and you need to get this DVD. Do as I tell you! I received the film on Saturday and can't wait to watch it. XD
Now go here.

Never published!

Here's the cover for an issue of Banned in Britain that I never published. Cool cover, lazy editor. LOL. The film on the cover is the Indonesian MAKHLUK DARI KUBUR.

Jack J's 1970s: Columbo

I looked down and discovered my white T-shirt was full of blood. Not fake blood or tomato juice but real living human blood. All over my shirt. I was around 7 or 8 years old and I was sitting in bed watching an episode of Columbo and I got the biggest nosebleed ever!! (and lets not go into why I had a nosebleed! Picking your nose is a filthy habit but, hey, I was 7 yrs old for crying out loud!! LOL).

I haven't really watched Columbo since its original run back in the 70s and I have never watched a full episode of the "new" seasons (i.e. counting from season 8) so when I stumbled over a particularly cheap Columbo box at a local store I thought it was finally time for a re-visit. :-)

So far I've watched two episodes and I can certainly see why we followed the series religiously in my family in the 70s. It's pretty cool. Well, not "cool" like Fonzie but you know wha' ah mean.

The box I got contains the complete season 1 and also includes the two feature length pilots that were made prior to the series. There's no other extras.

When I watched the first episode (directed by Steven Spielberg no less!) I couldn't help thinking there was something that didn't quite sit well with me; Then I discovered the cause: it was in colour!!! The show was filmed in colour alright but we never WATCHED it in colour cos in my family we didn't get a colour TV until (I think) around 1980!! So obviously I switched off the colours and watched the rest in black & white. :-) :-) :-)

Fake Worldweird blog Vs. re-animated Worldweird blog!!!

Last year I decided to turn this crappy mess into "Worldweird the fake copy" blog because our friend Jared had decided to discontinue his "Worldweird Cinema" blog. Well, I'm happy to report that there's no need for a fake copy any longer as Jared has just re-animated the old floater! Good to see you back, mate!! Needless to say Worldweird is in the bar to the right on this page but you can also click here.

Tonight's purchase

Woo-hoo!! I won THIS tonight at one of Miltos' Greek auctions! It's JUMPING ASH (aka Tiaohui) from Hong Kong, 1976. On Hong Kong Movie Data base a nameless reviewer says:

Po-Chih Leong's debut film was a trendsetter in Hong Kong cinema. Shot from the shoulder, the fast-moving world of cops, informers, drug dealers and other crooks are evoked in a very lively and realistic way. The action all takes place in carefully selected locations, among them the walled city of Kowloon and Yuen Long. The film looks like a documentary and evokes the kind of excitement usually seen in news programmes. The story focuses on the battle between two gangs and starts in Amsterdam, where one of the gang leaders is murdered. The male protagonists Jia Lun and Chen Huimin provide memorable acting achievements as the just cop and the cold-blooded killer."

And now it's mine, all mine! XD

Nick Nicholson pisses off from hospital

Brilliant news! Nick has just posted a piece on what happened on Sunday when he had a heart attack and, not least, an account of what happened at the local hospital (Nick Nicholson lives in the Philippines). Certainly good news that he's getting better! The stay at the hospital was so awful that Nick just decided to go home again! As truly terrible as Nick's illness is, and as terrible as the whole incident is, I must admit Nick's report is pretty funny. And it certainly puts things into respective! The day before yesterday my grandmother fell and broke something in her hip. Then yesterday we went to the hospital and everyone in the family thought it was a DISGRASE that she had to wait a full day to get operated (because the hospital was busy). Well, I'm sorry for my grandmother but reading Nick's account makes you think we're pretty spoiled in northern Europe. There's one part where Nick mentions the guy lying in the next bed who's actually lying in puke... from the girl who had the bed BEFORE him!!

Read it all here.

Obskuriøst #11 out now

This piece of news will have zilch interest to international readers but old Danish fanzine readers might like to know there's a new issue out of Henrik Larsen's Obskuriøst. With issue #11 Henrik makes a return to the old days of 16 page mags. Most of the contents deal with books & comic books this time. Obskuriøst #11 is only available as part of another mag; Himmelskibet #20. Get it here. And get a free addendum here. Obskuriøst #10 is available in free PDF form here. Obviously most of the text is in Danish.

Nick Nicholson seriously ill

In case you don't read my other blog (on Filipino war flicks) I thought I'd just break the sad news to you that Nick Nicholson (who starred in a ton of action and trashy war flicks in the Philippines 20 yrs ago) suffered a massive heart attack on Sunday! :-(

You can read about the news on Bert Spoor's blog (Bert was another regular in those movies) and Nick's wife Annie is updating on Nick's blog.

Here's to hoping you get well soon, Nick.

Two weeks later...

Just before last Christmas my mum went into hospital for a minor condition; she needed fluids. Unfortunately, instead of following my dad's instructions that she had never needed any medicine the hospital staff filled her with medicine. ANOTHER PATIENT'S MEDICINE mind you! She almost died. It was the worst Christmas ever! Going into hospital every day for a week and not being able to get into contact with my mum until the (wrong) medicine was out of her system. A conversation we had with a Swedish doctor is engraved in my mind; After a long day of not knowing what was going to happen he told us we might lose her. It wasn't till hours later they found out about their mistake. The cause: Another very ill patient who needed strong medicine who happened to HAVE THE SAME NAME as my mum. In Denmark each individual person has an ID number in order for this not to happen!! Gee, the system sure works, eh.

Anyway, my mum got better and came home, and we got another 6 months with her. And now it's all different. She's gone and nothing will ever be the same. I've never lost anyone close to me before so this is a completely new situation that I have to learn how to handle. And it's not easy let me tell you that! If my mum had been an ordinary mum I would probably have been sad and gloomy. But as it is my mum was the best mum ever. No comparison. Without my mum I would have spent a childhood in some orphanage (yes, I was an unwanted bastard, LOL). My mum took me in. Saved me. And she saved my dad too. He was, well no need to dwell on the past so lets just say we both owe her a tremendous debt.

It's two week later and we're trying to learn how to crawl again. It's not easy but somehow life and the world moves along. At the moment me and my dad are visiting relatives in one of the other Scandinavian countries (where my dad originates from). It's fun to be here, most things in the stores are the same but slightly different, and the locals speak a similar language to Danish (yes, we are in Jylland). My family on my dad's side all live in hillbilly country. Believe it or not but yesterday my aunt talked to me in a serious tone (while explaining some complicated family matter) about cousin "interminglings" buried in the past that we shouldn't talk about!!!!! Reminds me of a piece of dialogue from the old movie GATOR BAIT: "Hey, that's your sister!" :/

Today, I had a pretty good pizza (which was nice) and my grandmother (my dad's mum) fell and broke her hip (or something) (which was terrible) so yes the world does move on, and it's in total disregard to what life brings us of happiness or sadness one way or the other. It all just moves on. Unfortunately, from now on it'll be without my mum.

No, none of this is film stuff but guess what; in contradiction to what a few of you seem to think this is not a film blog. It's a blog about Jack J. I just happen to write a lot about films!

I've already mentioned this as a reply to the post before this one but I'd just like to say thank you again to everyone who made a comment either on this blog, my Filipino blog, or sent emails, text messages, PMs, and phoned. It's all VERY much appreciated!!!!!

Jack J

Important message regarding Jack J

This goes out to everyone at the various forums I frequent (not least Cinehound, Dvdmanicas and Uncut.dk) and everyone that I'm in touch with, this means both Cyberspace people and real people.

I will only be posting this here so if anyone asks about me could you please let them know or refer them to this post. Thanks.

Unfortunately, everyone runs out of luck at some stage and this morning my mum passed away. I really don't feel like updating here or posting on message boards for the time being. So you'll have to live without me for a while. I don't know when I might return. If you're someone I owe something as part of a trade or otherwise; you will eventually get your stuff. Be seeing you.

Your friend
Jack J