• Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | JG Ballard on CSI:

I suspect that the cadavers waiting their turn on the tables are surrogates for ourselves, the viewers. The real crime the C.S.I. team is investigating, weighing every tear, every drop of blood, every smear of semen, is the crime of being alive. I fear that we watch, entranced, because we feel an almost holy pity for ourselves and the oblivion patiently waiting for us.

• Miike's MPD PSYCHO is out over here now, or will be soon. In a fit of fuckitall, jetlag, and simply not being able to do math in my head even remotely, I picked these up for a bajillion dollars in Japan-- no subtitles, but, fuck it, I figured it could be fun. And it is. This was, I believe, a TV show...! I can't say I've seen anywhere near all of his films, but there are moments of real beauty and horror here. And, um, a guy with a phone lodged into his brain? Watching these on my laptop coming back from Tokyo, burst from exhaustion, I felt like I wasn't going to be able to re-right my internal compass ever again. Whenever I watch these (six episodes in all, on three discs), the same feeling comes back.

• Seijun Sezuki: I was never in love with TOKYO DRIFTER, but BRANDED TO KILL and some of his earlier movies out thru Criterion or elsewhere are pretty excellent-- not only is he 168 years old, but he has a musical (!) out soon (!!) that's supposedly fantastic (!!!).

• Maggie Cheung: celestial poise. That's kind of perfect, I think. Also: I can't escape Feuillade these days. Cosmic coincidences ring on.

• Speaking of: there's a great little piece by Haruki Murakami in the new Harper's about that very thing. Coinicidence, I mean. Not Louis Feuillade.

• This is entry number 666.

• I'm clearing up some details, but I hope to be able to talk about some upcoming comic stuff here soon. I'd like to start using this blog more as a work journal. Or at least as something more than it is now. The problem now like it was back in the POPLIFE days is that nobody wants you to talk about anything before it's in PREVIEWS, almost.