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Okay, so maybe there’s something to be said for not raising the dead. History seems to show that nothing good ever comes from it. Exhibit A: 1985’s Re-Animator.
Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s 1922 short story “Herbert West: Reanimator,” Re-Animator tells the story of a mad, young scientist who kills his mentor, an old mad scientist,while trying to bring him back to life. Dr. Herbert West is then, unsurprisingly, exiled from the University of Zurich to the now infamous Miskatonic University Medical School in Arkham, Massachusetts.
And yes, Lovecraft’s Arkham is the namesake of Batman’s notorious Arkham Asylum, home to such notorious reprobates as The Joker, The Riddler, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Bane. Small world.
Herbert West was convinced that animal life could be reanimated successfully after death because life is no more than merely a cellular reflex function; animals are nothing more than electrical machines. Dr. West was convinced that “the so-called ‘soul’ is a myth.”
West’s Promethean hubris will prove to have dire and fatal consequences. Or, as one famous margarine commercial from the 1970’s reminded us, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”
“Herbert West: Reanimator” is a modern-day re-telling (or, re-animation, if you will) of Mary Shelley’s 1818 classic Gothic novel Frankenstein. Mary Shelley, 21-years-old when Frankensteinwas originally
In todays Comics Supplement we'll learn a bit about the early years of synchronized film sound and we'll find out about the USA's favorite fiddler (in 1947 at least).
About all that we know about the featured TRUE Comics is that they were produced as a subsidiary to Parents' Magazine, which was edited at the time by Clara Savage Littledale (about whom there is more information here, and also over here). The books themselves were edited by Harold C. Field, and art-directed by Ralph O. Ellsworth. Artists and writers were not credited (although a frequent writer for the series was Louis Wolfe, so he may well have scribed these two stories). They are fun books, and well-produced, though.
Let's check out excerpts from two issues of the 1940s right after the jump-!
One word you should know when watching “Onibaba” is “bukufu.” The word is Japanese, but I promise if you search it you won’t have to clear your history. I’ll save you the trouble though (in case you’re afraid to look it up), and tell you that “bukufu” originally referred to the tent or housing of a military General or Shogunate. Later, during the Kamakura, very brief Kenmu and longer Muromachi period (the film takes place at the beginning of this period) “…it came to mean the seat of the Shogunal Military Government; later, all forms of military government.”
Hachi, one of the three main characters, returns as a warrior deserter. He references the two warring sides in the battle for land and power. Kusunoki Masahige fought for Emperor Go-Daigo and his Court against Shogunate Ashikaga, who fought for the (as he felt, “marginalized”) warrior class. Both sides seemed to be hard up for fighters as Hachi says he was offered the opportunity to live after capture as long as he
I first read about Irma Serrano within the pages of The Spiritual Journey ofAlejandro Jodorowsky. Better known as "La Tigresa", Serrano was an actor (in theater, soaps, and movies of the 60s), as well as a singer, and to some extent she was involved in politics. She was a senator, I'm not sure what her exact role was, except that it was certainly to the extent that she was involved in political scandals. She was arrested for publicly flirting with The President of Mexico, and they are rumored to have had an affair. Her first film role was alongside a Mexican wrestler named Santo, in the pulp film Santo Contra los Zombies. According to Jodorowsky, Serrano engaged in one conniving PR stunt after another, and practiced animal voodoo with the best of them. She had a refridgerator full of animal parts and supposedly a goat buried underneath her living room floor. Serrano is considered to be an icon of the golden age of entertainment in Mexico. Below, the song title appropriately translates to "Calling The Devil", from Serrano's first self titled LP, and I'm also including a clip of the aforementioned Santo Zombie movie's ending.
"To Boys and Girls, Brothers and Sisters, Mothers and Dads: PICTURE NEWS looks the same as other books, but with appearance and method of presentation the likeness ends. PICTURE NEWS reports the news, the news with its endless appeal and its prophecy of things to come, in action and speaking and color pictures.
Drawn pictures in bright colors with balloons, which are comics, have thrilled, amused, informed and taught. The U.S. Army has used them, so have important advertisers, and schools are beginning to know their value.
Most of these comic books have their virtues. Their millions of eager readers devour the drawn stories of dramatic adventures and sudden success. And many a comic character has become better known and admired and more widely imitated than Cousin Jack or Aunt Tillie.
Why is this so? Because the leading comic book characters personify the energy, dash, unbeatable spirit and the pure motives of our American ideal. And it is this ideal and that spirit that will make America enduringly great.
Now PICTURE NEWS for the FIRST time uses this new medium of action pictures and color and dialogue to make life real on the printed page. And life, as we know, has its ups and downs. It is what it is - life. And we, being what we are, work and play, and sometimes suffer and die to make life more secure and better. Everything that happens is news. Reporting it, is an important job. To PICTURE NEWS, it is a challenge." (from the "January 1, 1946" introduction to the first issue)
That is an excerpt from the long inside-front-cover mission statement for the new book, and in it, among other things, we'll learn about musician, composer and actor Hoagy Carmichael in a tidy little four-page tale. Come feast your eyes and glut your soul - right after the jump.
Quentin Tarantino's hypnotic Django: Unchained, like all Tarantino films, makes one consider the movies that influence his work. Media attention has focused on spaghetti westerns like the film's namesake Djano (1966), but for those savvy with the seventies, it is the forgotten genre of slave vengeance films, an offshoot of the Blaxploitation craze, that comes to mind. Movies like Mandingo (1975) and Drum (1976) made enormous sums at the box office. For all the chatter about the liberal use of the N-word in Django: Unchained, it doesn't come close to the audaciousness of its motion picture brethren of the 1970s that used the word in the actual title.
Today we speak with the man who starred, alongside Fred Williamson and D'Urville Martin, in the 1973 slave vengeance western - The Legend of Nigger Charley. He is one of the most prolific African-American actors of the last forty-five years, Mr. Don Pedro Colley.
Kliph Nesteroff: You became a steady character actor pretty quick. You did so many western television shows early on.
Don Pedro Colley: If you’ve ever looked at photos of old cowboys, of any old group in a bunch, there's always a Black person or two in that group.
Kliph Nesteroff: Let's talk abut a western film you starred in... the Legend of - you know what - Charley.
Don Pedro Colley: Well, the Legend of Nigger Charley is an authentic piece of history. It was based on a real person, a real story, from real life. It was very hard because the people that put it together were not concentrating on the story. They were busy playing Hollywood producer. There were girls around everywhere. Five girls at a time (laughs). “Girls, you go over there and sit. I gotta get in front of the camera!” Well, we’re supposed to have been riding through the desert for days and days and days, escaping from a plantation, yet our star looks like he just stepped outside of a shower! “Yeah, of course. I’m me. I’m too pretty. All that dust and shit? Give that to Don Pedro. He can have it.”
Kliph Nesteroff: Clearly you're referring to your co-star Fred Williamson, who was a staple of 1970s Blaxploitation. I've heard there was some kind of issue about the contracts with this film. Things were being done in a shady way or slipshod manner...
Don Pedro Colley: Well, it is a big challenge when you want to put out a project and Paramount is backing you and the project is named The Legend of Nigger Charley. It’s based on a real story. Even today people get a mouthful of gumballs and don’t know how to deal with the title, which is quite interesting. We were preparing to leave Hollywood and one of their representatives shows up at my house with a contract. Quickly scanning through it – it didn’t feel right. It didn’t look right. It wasn’t a type union contract, which was standard fare. I said, “Listen, my agents need to see it first before I sign it.” “God, you’re going to hold up production? Just sign the damn thing.” I said, “Man, I can’t. These are the people that get me work, my agents. All you have to do is send it to their office! I’ve never heard of a representative coming to my house with a contract.” That’s not the way show business is done and I was the bad guy because I was playing it straight. We get to New York and I’m there to participate in the casting of the film. I was already getting queasy feelings. I do not like to be associated with junk. It puts extra strain to overcome the junk around me and still salvage something. We were in New York, finished casting the rest of the people and I meet the director for the first time and the full nine yards. “Okay! We’re leaving by train to go shoot in Richmond, Virginia. Hurry up and sign this piece of paper. It’s your new contract.” "New contract? Send a copy to my agents.” “We don’t have time for that!” I said, “I can’t do that, man!” This was Paramount Pictures! We get to Richmond, Virginia and we go out to the plantation in Chester, Virginia. We get two whole days of film in the can. I’m in almost every scene. They come storming to my motel room. “Now you either sign this contract or we’re going to replace you.” This was the producer. He was in the hallway yelling at me. Larry Spangler. Jesus Christ, I can’t believe it. He’s trying to showboat me on the set and I was the only one there with motion picture experience on the bloody thing. Cast and crew had only done commercials in New York City. Making a motion picture is a whole different story. So he’s screaming at me that they’re going to fire me. He realizes in his bluff that he can’t because they’ve already spent so much of the budget in those first few days on location. It’s already in the can and can’t be redone. Paramount is queasy about the budget.
Kliph Nesteroff: And the title? It blows me away that Paramount was okay with the title.
Don Pedro Colley: Well, in the interim the local newspaper gets a hold of the title of our movie. Agents from the NAACP came down to our location – to shut us down – because we were making this “totally offensive movie.” I finally got away from this idiot and I’m in my motel room and I can relax for a little bit. Phone rings. “Don Pedro. We need you down in the lobby! Quick! Hurry! The NAACP is down here and they’re trying to shut us down!” I thought, “What? This is a historical piece of Americana that we’re trying to get down on film! How dare these people?” I went storming down to the lounge where there were a group of these people with their briefcases and their goggle glasses. Black folks. I stormed into the room and said, “What the hell is this all about?” Their eyeballs pop. I said, “How dare you! This is a piece of American history. We don’t have to be proud of it, but we should support it so that we don’t ever have to go back there again! How dare you try to shut us down?” They said, “We felt this is Hollywood trying to exploit. We want to make sure…” I said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got it under control.” It was about that time that the Paramount Pictures front office called me in my motel room and said, “Don Pedro Colley. Listen. You will be our eyes and our ears on the set until we get our financial officer over there. Okay?” I said, “Thank you, sir. I will do that for you.” About three or four days later, by that time we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I remember he had red hair, the financial officer representative from Paramount Pictures. He had two secretaries with him. I had more trouble before the fella showed up with our assistant director from New York. This hot shot crew. It wasn’t a class A crew. None of them had shot anything more than commercials. So they were moaning and groaning when we were in Virginia about everything. “We gotta film in this fuckin’ jungle, blah, blah.” Typical New York crap. We flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico – wide open spaces. Within thirty seconds everyone of them had cowboy shirts and cowboy hats and cowboy boots and chrome tips on the end. It was pitiful. So two-faced. I was watching all this shit happen. This assistant director who wanted to prove he knew more than anyone else… he can’t call the shots, but that’s what he was attempting to do. He was trying to take it over from Marty the director. Marty would look kind of puzzled because he wrote this script. He wasn’t sure how to step up, while this assistant director is getting more and more powerful he thinks. It became disruptive. He had a group of cronies patting him on the back for being so bold in doing what he was doing. He had the audacity to shout at me one day to hurry it up because I’m holding it up. I’m on my horse, ready for this scene and nobody knows what the fuck is going on. I had just had it with him. I called him out by name. “You will never disrupt this set again. You are not the director. You are the assistant director. Please assist the project or get the hell off of it.” The star and the producer stopped cold and looked at me. This was what needed to happen because it was harming the production. "Damn that Don Pedro!" It just pissed me off beyond belief to work with these rank amateurs who were trying to look for quick glory. None of them earned it.
Kliph Nesteroff: What was writer - director Marty Goldman like?
Don Pedro Colley: A very nice fella. He was a writer and he had some director’s ability and ideas that worked very well. He was kind of easily persuaded by outside forces that a director shouldn’t allow.
Kliph Nesteroff: And working with Fred Williamson and D’Urville Martin?
Don Pedro Colley: I hate to talk against people, but they make me so mad sometimes. You have to give certain people that they’re whole growing environment was in a closed society. If you don’t develop certain strengths for surviving – then you don’t survive. Then when you get out into the world with all kinds of different people and a different atmosphere, your survival skills are left… you don’t know what to do. I don’t act like you or talk like you because I’m not from the ghetto, never been to the ghetto, I don’t know your common colloquial idioms. They say, “What is that?” I was on the outs. Blacks don’t like me, whites don’t like me… well, okay, fine. I don’t care. I’ll just put out good work and try bring tears to your eyes. That’s always been my situation. As an actor you work off the energies that come at you. It was them against me. They all wanted me fired. They couldn’t get away with shit. They were planning to jack up Paramount Pictures. I’m saying, “No, you can’t. This is our chance in history and you’re going to leave this stain on it by being cheap thugs?” In those days we had a kind of community of African-American folks and we met at some of the restaurants here and there and what’s going on and back and forth. Everybody knew everybody, but when it came to jobs they’d get very jealous if you got something bigger than they had. It lead to a lot of disruption and bad feelings. So I had bad blood with D’Urville Martin and Fred Williamson. He plays The Hammer and “I’m a star!” at all costs. Of course I know he’s full of shit. You know? Having worked with him and taught him literally how to act. When we got on this train to go on location in Richmond, Virginia, I schooled him for hours and hours and hours. How to do the lines, how to find the character, how to feel internals that make the wheels work. I don’t need you to be standing around with your shirt open to your navel saying, “I’m pretty!” Which is what you do Fred Williamson – just because you know you got this animal magnetism. And you piss me off. He always has five girls around him. Always. Plucking the hair in his armpit. Obscene.
Kliph Nesteroff: What was the reaction to the title of the film at the time?
Don Pedro Colley: Well, I researched it and in doing so found it was a real story. In reading the real story I saw that it was a mismatch of several other stories that came out of the same period. I wanted to bring as much realism as possible, so I was personally fine with the title. It actually wasn't as controversial as you might think.
I just can't resist pointing to this film today; I'm hoping I can get a few more unsuspecting people to watch this charming, scary and bizarre little gem (although I suspect a lot of regular WFMU people already know it - it's worth another viewing).
Like a lot of folks, I discovered it via the controversial show Mystery Science Theater 3000, where it became one of my favorite episodes. It stands on its own very well, however, and even though it is sluggish at the beginning, with a long sequence showing "children from around the world" in separate little musical numbers, if you stick with it it rewards with many nightmarish props and scenes that must have warped the minds of lots of matinee-going youth. It holds the distinction of being one of the few Christmastime movies to contain some genuinely creepy images without perhaps meaning to.
I think it qualifies as an essential holiday film, for those who like such things. See the video link below, after the jump.
The films listed below could all be considered "horror," the great bulk in the genre sense, with a significant few in the true-to-life, human-drama sense. Entries are by no means intended to be up-to-date or contemporary, though many are. A dozen-plus gems near-guaranteed to rock any cinéaste's watch list and/or Netflix queue.
Attenberg - A Greek drama, with a minimum of quirk and a lot of (tortured) soul; an alternately heartbreaking and humorous drama about two female friends, one who's deeply socially and sexually repressed (her closest connection being with her dying Father), while her girlfriend is basically the town tramp, continuously attempting to school her in the ways of love and men. Their stories arc, collide and intertwine, to a thoughtfully employed, rousing score of classic Suicide songs. Great, inspiring, slice-of-life stuff.
V / H / S - My favorite horror film of the year, with Kill List coming in at a very close second. V / H / S churns the handheld-shaky-cam technique to its most clever heights, with what's barely seen, or seen in a peripheral blur, to be the scariest material therein. The premise is also terrific, such that this collection of shorts are all presumed to be on unlabeled VHS tapes, found by some thieves in the house of a man who has either expired, or been rendered unconscious, in an easy chair, faced by a stack of snowy televisions. I love ideas; that's what keeps me coming back again and again to horror films, and V / H / S is simply overflowing. The film was a collaboration, a mash-up of sorts by some upper-echelon undergorund-horror writing and directing talent, people like Oren Peli, Ti West and Joe Swanberg. A tense and harrowing ride throughout. Don't try too hard to figure it out, or apply conventional narrative sense to the proceedings; just let it wash over, and prepare to be genuinely scared.
I happened to meet Linnea Quigley at a movie marathon the other night. She's known as the "Scream Queen", and she's been in over 100 low budget horror movies, including Creepozoids, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Night of The Demons, Sorority Babes In Slime Bowl-O-Rama, Silent Night Deadly Night, Don't Go Near The Park, and Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings. Return of the Living Dead is one of my favorite horror movies, and I saw it when I was 4 or 5 years old. She happened to be the first woman I ever saw naked, when in the movie, she spontaneously starts getting nude and dancing around in a cemetery, after fantasizing about how she wants to die in an awkward punk rock candor. My grandmother came running into the room, covering up the screen and saying "This is filth! This is terrible!" Linnea was a very good natured and upbeat person. She also does music (Horror Workout includes her singing a punk song) and film production these days, so I'm told. This highly educational film is going to be reissued, and it's not safe for work..
When two open digital libraries fall in love... this happens.
For our on-going video remix contest, WFMU's Free Music Archive and Prelinger Archives asked you to show us what video mashups of our collections would look like. From Betty Bop dancing the Charleston to modern jazz, to 1906 San Francisco set to dubstep... our remix children are deeply disturbing, abstract, violent, beautiful, and often half-naked.
We dare you now to find a comfortable chair in a dark room and watch all 122 entries. If you see one you like, log into the website, and click the thumbs up. You can vote for multiple videos, but only once. All voting will wrap up by 5pm ET on Monday, November 25th. The winner of the popular vote will take home an iPad.
So journey on, little monkeys! Vote now, and help natural selection determine the fittest.
We live in strange times. We are approaching the third and fourth wave of vintage retro music, particularly exotica revivals, a music style that is initially almost a mockery of traditional Polynesian music, but in itself a pretty wide open, otherworldy bastard of a music genre, among others. I never thought that Star Trek or Dungeons and Dragons would see so many generations of enthusiasm outside of their initial flashpoint, but there are workings and reworkings. People still think that the wing wong chong sounds in "China Girl" and "Kung Fu Fighting" are implements of traditional Asian music, even though to anyone outside of 1940, they hardly have a resemblance. Sometimes, though, reworkings of reworkings of concepts that never really existed in real life can be captivating. Such is the case with the marvelous people who are trying to make the half-imaginary mansions from the Addams Family and The Munsters, both TV shows filmed on generic stage sets, a reality.
It might be more than a little geeky, but I totally support these
folks who are trying to settle this problem once and for all.
For the Addams Family, it seems to be rather impossible. An architect named Mark Bennett did an entire book speculating the floor plans of several television sitcoms, but this blogger
points out the very obvious flaws in these plans, especially in the
(lacking) foyer to the Addams Family house. Both of these fellas are
cross referencing scenes from every episode of the series with one
single painting of a house in LA that is now demolished. The image of
the house was only ever painted from one angle, scenes from the series
were never shot there. It happened to be painted on glass, and they
would simulate rain in front of this painting when necessary.
Sometimes, they would zoom the camera all the way into the window to
show us more intimately what Pugsley or Wednesday were doing.
Vicki Bennett has been making audio and
visual collage since 1991, when the internet was a fetus and you
probably didn't own a computer. She creates her work with the nom de plume People Like Us.
It's a moniker that speaks to the role of the collective and popular
culture in her work, and a need to belong. Using collage as her medium,
she creates audio recordings, films and radio shows that mix and
manipulate original sources from both experimental and popular media.
Her work has been shown at Tate Modern, The Barbican, Sydney Opera
House, Pompidou Centre, Maxxi in Rome and Sonar, and she's hosted the
WFMU radio program Do or DIY since 2003.
Plus, she's a judge for the Past Re-Imagined As the Future
remix contest with the Free Music Archive. In this Q&A, Bennett shares that she's hoping to see
works that are engaging and transformative. As you comb through the
materials in the Prelinger Archives, she reminds us that these videos aren't just about the past, but also about the present, the future, and something timeless.
What first drew you to the practice of AV collage art?
That
there is a huge palette to choose from which means you can get started
right away. I've been making collages since I was about 16. I found that
I like working with audio and imagery with previously existing
conceptual/contextual associations, because it allows me to redirect the
focus of these associations into new stories, like a conductor or
director. It also appeals very strongly to my surreal, subversive sense
of humour - being able to turn things upside down. Collage has a very
long history and made huge statements, just by taking what already
exists and representing it in a new or different way - it has frequently
been political or politicized. Collage is not just about putting random
images together, collage is about composition, editing, and language.
It exists everywhere since all languages are a collage of content that
already exists.
How has changing technology influenced your practice?
The
coming of broadband, file sharing platforms, and the affordability of
high speed computers and editing software around 2000 changed everything
for me. No longer was I reliant upon finding things locally to work
with or borrowing other people's dat machines or cassette four tracks -
suddenly I could multitrack and edit in the way I always wanted to. I
was waiting for 10 years to do things how I really imagined.
When did you first encounter the Prelinger Archives? How has it played a role in your work?
As
soon as I got broadband in 2000. This really changed not only the way I
thought about making work but also opened my mind to just how much
things were going to change now that people could share, exchange and
converse. This was around this time that Brewster Kahle persuaded Rick
Prelinger to share some footage online for free at archive.org.
Before this I was really in a difficult position sourcing well
transfered moving image - dependent on vhs rips from things from video
and tv. The films Rick shares are beautiful quality with wonderful
images, subjects and messages. I downloaded one film from archive.org
and emailed Rick and thanked him. Then I sent him a big package of CDs
and we started corresponding. We were in touch for years on a daily
basis exchanging ideas and so on. I made many films and two live
performances entirely from Rick's films.
The web site Rural Route Films decribes this low-budget backwoods hillbilly flick this way: "Originally released under the unfortunate title Miss Jessica Is Pregnant (it was filmed under the title Spring Night, Summer Night), this 1968 portrait of poverty-stricken Appalachia represents a unique moment in the history of the American independent film. Shot entirely on location in Southern Ohio, the story of a young couple, who may or may not share a father, marks the start of a movement in regional cinema that became increasingly popular through the 1970s and 1980s as filmmakers took up the task of exploring an America outside of Hollywood. Today the film allows viewers a unique glimpse back in time, to witness the concerns and constraints of the "New American Cinema" when it was first taking shape. That the film bravely confronts incest - the most taboo of all rural stereotypes - without prejudice makes it all the more singular." The trailer, which features brief nudity, can be seen over on YouTube.
All of which kind of brings to mind a couple of jarringly weird "brother/sister love" country 45s that were blogged here long ago.
Upload to your hosting service of choice (i.e. Vimeo, Internet Archive) and then submit your video entry via the competition website form (here).
Proper Creative Commons licensing is required. Attribute yourself by name and indicate which Creative Commons license you have selected for your video. Your submission must also include licensing and attribution (with hyperlinks) for the material you have remixed. You should do this in the video description field at the site where your video is hosted. You can also do this within the credits of the video itself.
All material from outside the FMA / Prelinger must either be original, or used under a CC license, or used with signed permission
Sept 28: Contest Launch! Entries are now accepted here. Nov 4: Submissions Deadline Nov 5: Judging and Public Voting Begins Nov 18: End of the Public Voting Nov 29:Winners Announced online and in a public screening at NYC's Anthology Film Archives
PRIZES
The two winners will each be awarded an iPad (3rd Generation with Wi-Fi, 16GB), engraved with the contest name as a trophy, in recognition of their innovative remix. One winner will be selected by the judges'. And the other winner will be determined by public-vote. If the winner is the same for both categories, the runner up in the judge's vote will be given the prize for that category.
JUDGES
We have hand picked an incredible panel of judges including Vicki Bennett (Musician and Filmmaker, People Like Us), Kirby Ferguson (Everything is a Remix), Ken Freedman (WFMU Station Manager, Free Music Archive founder), Mark Hosler (Artist, Negativland), Paul D. Miller (Musician and Filmmaker, aka DJ Spooky), Nina Paley (Filmmaker, Sita Sings the Blues) and Rick Prelinger (Founder, Prelinger Archives).
WINNERS SCREENING AT THE ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
This presentation will explore centuries of culture to demonstrate how remixing -- creating music from samples of existing music -- is a good metaphor for all varieties of creativity. Ferguson will discuss some of the myths of creativity, present several popular examples of remix-like technique, and show how creativity -- like remixing -- is the result of three basic techniques: copying, transforming and combining.
This will be at the Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Ave, New York, NY) on November 29th 8-10pm. You can reserve your free ticket here.
This contest is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Flick through any glossy fashion magazine today and more-than-likely,
you’ll be faced with the legacy of Guy Bourdin. This maverick French
photographer was no stranger to controversy both in his work and private
life, and he singlehandedly changed the face of fashion advertising due
to his uncompromising and highly innovative style.
The early 90s in America will not, I believe it is safe to say, go
down in history as a particularly tumultuous time. We had wriggled our
way out of the Cold War with nary a scratch, and save for blood
briefly drawn in desert storm, things remained relatively stable in the
US of A, the country feasting on the remains of the prosperous late
80s. And so, looking back at the 90s, one tends to associate the period
with a certain lightness and, well, “fun.”
I'm more of a peripheral student of the 1970's New York art film scene, and continually finding surprising new things to look at in that loose genre, I haven't worn it to a nub as with other film genres that I've studied since those days. Much of the interesting stuff from back then was really hard to see, it wasn't on cable or videotape - you had to know somebody. Recently my pardner was looking at film clips of legendarily-edgy actor Rip Torn and she pulled up this stunning scene from the end of Norman Mailer's self-written and directed 'Maidstone' (1970), and I found it a very compelling piece of footage, as I love studying very exreme theater and film experiments, and this one appeared to have gone totally haywire, or not; in my opinion, even though Torn is clearly high as a kite, he pushed the film into its most memorable area, reminding me of some scary psychodramatic theatrical 'happenings' that I've witnessed where there was little or no line between the 'drama' and the 'reality' of the moment. And of course Mailer makes such a ripe target to mess with. Some of the many famous names involved with this project were: D. A. Pennebaker, Isaac Hayes, and Ultra Violet. Even though this scene is rather harsh and scary (with some strong NSFW language), it's also hilarious in a David Lynchian kinda way, as it seems 'out of control' somewhat, but since the camera operator just keeps on running, and no one jumps in very soon to 'save' Mailer, at this point in the filming they must have known good and well what they were getting into.
Also included for your edification, the trailer from another Torn opus 'Coming Apart'... Enjoy.
These days, contemporary R&B seems to be a genre of music with specific attributes and qualities that are easily identifiable—things like slow grooves, smooth production values, and lush vocal arrangements. And, depending on the singer’s gender, the listener is treated to either a Diva or Lothario begging their beloved, earnestly trying to convince the apple of their eye that they need to consummate their love immediately.
While some of these elements can be found throughout the history of the genre, the scope of R&B used to be much larger, encompassing many different, and often disparate, musical styles.
Rhythm and Blues was initially a catchall term; coined after World War II, it was used to describe music made predominately for, and by, urban African-Americans. Under the Rhythm and Blues heading, different
From the land that brought you St. Olav and Hornorkesteret came the oxymoronic competition to place the images of Famous Norwegians on the tails of airplanes belonging to the national airline. When I last wrote about this contest, Euronymous (aka Øystein Aarsteth) of Mayhem was wa-a-ay out in front in the voting, so I was astonished when I checked the final results and discovered that the winner was Ludvig Karlsen, a “beloved Norwegian Gypsy Christian Evangelist.”
Whu? The only info I could find out about him was in Norwegian, except for one English-language website of Famous Gypsies which lists Elvis Presley as a Famous Gypsy, so I don’t know what to say about Mr. Karlsen. But apparently Euronymous didn’t win the poll because his family asked that his name be withdrawn.
If this had happened in the US, it would be because the Authorities and Officials would have “asked” the family to withdraw his name to avoid the embarrassment of having a Black Metal guy in corpse paint on the tail of their plane. But Norwegians are actually proud of their black metal and the global influence it’s had on popular music, so I think maybe the story about the family is legit.
For a taste of what Norwegian music is up to now, here’s a bit of Hornorkesteret performing their soundtrack for the great silent film, Nanook of the North.
For black metal, and all kinds of other dark doings, check out the archives of Wm. Berger’s great WFMU show, My Castle of Quiet.
P.S. about the corpse paint: It kinda makes them look like Boston Terriers or pandas, doesn’t it? So scary!
“But people like that can’t get hold of weapons now, and they’re easy to swim away from. Even if they found a grenade or a machine gun or a knife or whatever left over from olden times, how could they ever make use of it with just their flippers and their mouths?'' -Kurt Vonnegut, Galapagos
La Belle Verte is as close to a hippie commune as a sci-fi movie can get. Granted, it has some essential sci-fi prerequisites to make us comfortable: aliens, space travel, advanced programs, a critical eye on humanity. But there are some fitting absences. This is not the sci-fi of Starship Enterprises, high-tech gadgets made of shiny steel, or intergalactic battles with deadly rays of the shrink and/or freeze variety. In fact, there’s really no “science” involved at all.
The basic premise of the movie is this: a race of advanced human beings from a distant planet holds a community meeting on the summit of a mountain and decides they need to send someone to check in on Earth, as it’s been 200 years since their last visit. This is a problem because no one wants to go to Earth. It’s a gross and dangerous planet. People have archaic things there like cars and monetary systems. But at last, a woman named Mila steps up and says she’d like to go to Earth. The community gives her two programs to use (a kind of software for the mind). One activates whenever she talks with an earthling, and gives the listener a light jolt in the direction of a social and environmental consciousness. The second,
