i've wanted to do a review section since LB v.1 but i'm only now getting around to it. this area will be a bit skimpy for now but may end up being the most updated section of my web site. if you would like me to review something of yours or something that you are interested in please contact me. date before item reflects when i viewed the item or when it was published/released, not when i wrote the review.

| film | theatre | raves/parties/events | music | visual art | books |

Film, Animation, Anime, Videos 07.00.98 Kiki's Delivery Service (US Release)

Kiki's Delivery Service (US Release) . Columbus . Drexel Theatre Recently (summer 98) i went to the Drexel Theatre in Bexly Ohio to view Disney's americanisation of Kiki's Delivery Service. Kiki is an animated film by my favorite director; Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki has been referred to as "The Disney of Japan" but that term does not do him justice. Miyazaki-san is able to blend the world of his animations along with gripping plot and colourful characters in a way that I've seen no one else do so consistently. I have in my possession 3 fan-subbed Miyazaki films (original japanese dialogue that has english sub titles that were made by fans), one of which is Kiki's Delivery Service. Disney recently bought the distribution rights to all of Miyazaki's work and have begun to re release them in NorthAmerica and other parts of the world as well. Original Kiki's 9/10 | Disney Kiki's 8.5/10 All in all, Disney did a pretty good job of "converting" Kiki to a movie that most american kids would enjoy very much. However, their changes are such that an american adult would most likely enjoy the movie less. One of the most noticeable changes is Kiki's black cat Jiji. Jiji does not talk a whole lot in the Japanese version but with Phil Hartman as Jiji's voice in the american version and with disney behind the operation, Jiji might as well be named Mushu. Phil's portrayal of Jiji is somewhat irritating as he never shuts up and the ad-libbing is totally unlike Jiji's original character. The portrayal of Kiki by Kristin Dunst is pretty good and the part of the baker's wife, i feel, was portrayed excellently. So, if you have a 5 year old, get the Dubbed version. But Kiki is great for adults to watch to... so get the Subtitled version.

03.07.98 Burning Chrome 03.10.98 Hello (sex) Kitty 03.20.98 Wizard of Oz: Chicago

Wizard of Oz . Chicago . Madison Square Garden Productions It's hard for me to write an objective review because my sister played Dorothy. So, if you're looking for an honest review, you've come to the correct place. The acting was wonderful, as was the set. I'm really proud of my sister whom I think did an awesome job. Eartha Kitt was also a treat to see. Mickey Rooney was perhaps the weak link in the chain as he stumbled over his lines. I'm sure that he's got them more under his belt by now. The sound was either muffled or the diction just sucked because i found myself straining to hear the meaning of the words as the cast and chorus sang. The set was way better than the one that premiered at Madison Square Guardians, especially Munchkin land. They flying monkey is a pimp. Him and I had pizza and drinks after the show (a lot of the rest of the cast was there as well). And as always, the lion, played by Ken Page, kicked ass (no my handle does not come from the wiz of oz!).

Hello (sex) Kitty . Northwestern U . AAAB Mad Asian Bitch On Wheels!!! (I don't know if that's really her name) Big thanks to the AAAB (asian american advisory board) for bringing this piece of performance art to Northwestern's campus. It was entertaining, although I felt at times that I was excluded from some of the jokes because i'm not asian. Issues of discrimination towards bisexuals from both homos and hederos, love, self consciousness, and minorities in the arts as well as common human experience were covered in her performance. All in all, very cool, something that i recommend anyone to see if they have a chance.

Burning Chrome . Evanston . Next Theatre The Next Theatre took a big chance when they set out to adapt William Gibson's short story Burning Chrome to the stage. I can only say that they succeeded in ways that far surpassed my expectations. The story translation was not exact but they got their point across. My only complaint is that they really messed with the Finn's character. He's supposed to be a dirty decreped old man but instead he was quite young and silly. I'm sure that this was done as a way to add entertainment and most audience members are not hard core cyber punk fans so they didn't mind. Our (I went with haptiK and 3jane) tickets were quite far back in the theatre. I was a bit worried but they director made an announcement that there were empty seats closer to the stage and that people were free to move to them before the show began. We jumped up, ran, and scored ourselves front row center seats!!! PRIMO! werd. It was cool because the sound was loud and at times jarring. When Bobby and Automatic Jack punched for Chrome... so did we! The sound and lighting director(s) are to be commended for their efforts and success. Costumes were colorful and the sense-net units were believable. I was in awe and on the edge of my seat through this rollercoaster ride through cyberspace.

raves, parties, and other music and dance oriented events 01.17.98 Dark Star 02.14.98 Love Vigilante 02.28.98 Live on the Decks 03.06.98 Groove Rider at HOB 04.04.98 Dark Star 2 04.19.98 Enforcers

Enforcers . Columbus . Ele_mental Klepton was a great jungle party. Perhaps the best that Columbus had ever seen... until ele_mental came along and showed columbus the power of Reinforced Records. This tours, direkt from the UK made Columbus Ohio its only stop in the midwest. Though this was not strictly a DnB party, it definitely reaffirmed that Columbus is (in my opinion) the Drum and Bass capitol of the States. Titonton showed his columbus styles in his dj set and Monochrome gave a taste of it all with a live pa. But, without doubt, the stars of the event were Reinforced Records, UK. Dego led his crew with delightful Jazz, Techno, and Drum n Bass set... some trax only describable as "damn", "oh my god", and "word". The rest of the team didn't let us down and flexed some of the nicest dnb djing from the uk that i've ever listened to.

Dark Star 2 . Shanley Pavilion: Northwestern U. - Evanston lion's review: thanks to all of you that came out to ds2 at northwestern. those that stayed till the end i know had a great time, the "vibe" was definitely there. I for one danced harder than I have at any parties since the first darkstar last quarter. The whole evening was memorable but things really got moving when Sir K laid down house trax like nobody, including one of my all time favorite house trax called "porn king" (love that melody). then, my ass got kicked even harder when David Siska dropped mad Detroit stylez on the venue... a set which started off strong and just kept getting stronger. the free after hours party was super nice, giving everyone who attended it a chance to wind down. all in all one of my best nights of the year. good people, good music, great value at only 2 or 3 dollars admission. other review: much props to everyone at this...it was the greatest! never seen a party like this where so many people were dancing...very nice! great music! david siska ...he was da shit! he got me up and i never sat down! thanx again 89.3 great party! sammie =) ---- Dark Star 2 rocked. unfortunately, i missed Vince's set (thanks again though vince). everyone else that played really impressed me. dj Graham absolutely threw down and i hope to hear more of him in the future. Snuggles was as tight and dark as usual--dropped the 'james bond remix'--wicked!! Sir K played some really good house and Dave Siska definitely knows his techno. Graham was my favorite on the night though. the space was really cool and everyone there seemed to want to have a good time. lots of dancing and socializing. it had a nice old school vibe/ravey atmosphere. all in all, a lot of fun. hope there's a Dark Star 3. matt

GrooveRider . House of Blues: Chicago . Juice this event was a real let down. we had to stand outside, in the cold, for an hour. The flyer advertised $10 for a 10 pm till 4 am event. in actuality, the event went from 12:05 am till 3::40 am and the cost was $12. the hip hop dj sucked. grooverider played crowd popular tracks for the first 2/3 of his set. the last third was pretty good. He hardly dj'd depending heavily on fading in and out trax with intros. i was really hoping to hear some dub plates that are not available to the common jungle fan. the sound was also messed up (bass feedback and distortion).

Live on the Decks . Chicago price: $20 + $3 parking location: rout 66 skating rink, chicago sound: loud, many speakers lighting: blew goat nads... at points i thought that it was day time... and they were often times in my eyes.. blah. and synthetic fog machines always make my lungs feel like they are gonna fail me. talent: Nigel Richards(sp?) was really really enjoyable. loved his set, a real crowd pleaser he was. DJ Funk was kind of mainstream but his bass was very large, just like the booty in his trax.. loud mainstream booty. acidscouts: live pa? hmm, not very live. other dj's played some good some bad. security: police in effect, didn't give me any trouble. dancing and other fun stuff: battled with a girl in a red hat during richards' set; it was mad fun, hope to meet up again. i didn't really start having fun until atomic babies came on(3am?),,, unless you count the 20 min that i spent playing Capcom's Marvel Heros VS Street Fighter. met doris from detroit, she gave me a dum dum, (YummY!!) and saw some other kids from the list (animal) and from NU. the promoter was kind of annoying, always telling us to make some fucking noise and to get up and fuking dance

love vigilante . chicago . vibeonauts price & rating: 6.5 out of 10 for $11 bux... 4.5 out of 10 for $22 the space: pros: the building was really cool, it was an old theatre, awesome ceilings, great acoustics for the huge size. cons: the floors were slanted, making dancing _interesting_. synthetic fog!!! and smoke. man i could hardly breath when dancing hard. the sound and lighting: pros: tons of argon lasers and inteli beams, really quite cool speakers were positioned throughout the space to fill it better and reflectors and disco balls were used to make _more_ lasers cons: the argon was not calibrated correctly and a couple of lights were pointed weird (in eyes). the talent: pros: one of the dudes from funky techno tribe had a hard ass set of mostly electro. i danced my ass of. it was good. cons: cheesy techno tribe? the first guy (dan?) played poor trax. like stuff with poison, underworld, and pink floyd and popular lyrics. poor. deep dish didn't read the crowd real well and they couldn't beat match. price: pros: my friend was on the guest list so he split the cost with me so that i only had to pay 11 dollars. cons: this party was not worth 22 dollars and it was shut down at 5 am due to someone having a seizure or something to that effect. but it started at like 10 pm.. so it was like a 7 hour party but i still wouldn't have paid 20+ bux for it. security: cons: they were real ass holes, you couldn't stand in the lobby and they were always impatient. some kid had a seizure anyway (epilepsy?) pros: coat check overall: i would have rather spent the night with a beautiful and cool woman of my dreams but she lives far away. so it was better than vegetating on irc all night. i have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. i feel sorry for the ppl who had to pay 22 bux but i guess that it was rad for a chicago party. i think that people had fun, my bus driver home was cool.

dark star . evanston . wnur street beat price: 2 dollars 9pm-3am lineup: talented dj's from wnur 89.3 streetbeat including sir k, dave siska, christopher robin, yoshi, graham, pat foosheen, & verb location: northwestern university campus: shanely pavilion comments: darkstar was really really a fun time. phear keeping the scene real. the party actually had a vibe, more than i can say about parties costing $25 and getting busted at 2-4 in the morning... hehe. the lighting could have been a bit better but industrial dj edward kept the strobe going manually! anyways darkstar went really well, nice turnout and positive vibes, so maybe the people at wnur will throw another party or 2 before the school year is over.