"This is the kind of film I love most—the kind I’m never really comfortable recommending to anyone. I can totally picture someone saying, “It’s awful,” and I’d be like, “Yeah. I see that.” Like, why is it so funny? And why, despite the constant silliness—an effete, vegetarian, sulky Dracula; Joe Dallesandro as a he-man socialist Brooklyn peasant; the jokes about finding young “wirgins”—is the overall effect so mournful and lonely? I think the answer has to do with the way the film never telegraphs its intentions. It modulates between horror, satire, spoof, porn, and tragedy, but imperceptibly. To catch the changes, you have to be in the flow of the movie, enthralled by it—and then everything works."

"Apparently someone is writing a 33 1/3 book about this 1981 album, which is universally regarded as Japan's masterpiece. It features electric guitar sounds previously possible only for Adrian Belew; the bass is so fretless it sounds like a moaning sea mammal, the gorgeous drums are so tonal they could be marimbas, the Prophet 5 synthesizer sits quietly in the mix making squiggly noises; and sometimes a violin plays, in a manner previously heard only in Chinese opera. The lyric and visual emphasis is on modern Chinese culture (like Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) without the spy-spoof parts) but not Chinoiserie – no pentatonic xylophones – and the implication that the future is Chinese is no more threatening than Kraftwerk implying the future is German. "We're young and strong in this party, building our visions of China." "